Onyx slowly looked up at the Tower and slowly shook his head, taking his mind back to the task of helping the girls figure out why they are here. As they moved into the town, Onyx cast his magic at the dome, trying to figure out how Candance was able to keep the town safe and why it was affect Sombra so severely. As he looked at the girls, he could not honestly understand how he would ascend here because this was slightly different from what he remembered. 'The Filth is even denser than before… Sombra is slowly covering the land in it… I have to get the girls to use the Elements to with the heart along with Candance, but the heart is in no way able to accept Harmonic magic.'
Twilight and the girls were looking at the distracted Onyx being pulled along by Shining. Twilight looked at the girls and could tell he was worried about something important and that he was trying to figure something out. She spoke up, worried-looking at Onyx. "Everything alright, Onyx?"
Onyx sighed because it was truly something he could not keep hidden from them because it could affect them. He spoke with a distracted tone of voice, slowly explain while deep in thought. "Sombra is not just made of shadows he is made of Filth and is slowly covering the land… before we leave, I need to find a way to use your harmony magic to destroy it."
Shining sighed in sadness as he understood what Onyx was worried about because as the newest Alicorn, he was informed about the Filth. He questioned Onyx in thought, trying to work out how bad this really was. "How bad is it really compared to my and Candance's thinking?"
"That… whatever that was chasing us was a walking Filth den… that is bad because it could move into a city and completely infect it in hours if that is only a portion of Sombra and there is a sentient being in there…" Onyx trailed off, trying to think of an excellent way to explain what he sensed and felt when they were fighting the monster of Shadows. The girls whimpered because they knew that they were the only ones that could reliably cure it. Onyx, though, smiled in happiness instead of worry. "I have a cunning plan, though… I just need to refine it a little more."
'The fact that he is only slightly tapping into the Filth tells me that he has no idea that he is infected, but with how long he has been infected, his mind is forever warped even if were banish him.' What Onyx did not tell them is that Sombra was tapping into two sources of power, one made of Filth and the other made of Darkness. Onyx had already made way for himself to tap into Harmony and make a grenade. Why could he not use the same process to cure a Filth infected creature? He spoke with a strange level of resolve in his tone of voice. "Before we leave, I will find a way to banish the Filth from his body… I promise."
The girls just smiled slightly at what they thought was Onyx boasting. The only one amongst the group was Shining because he saw the same Shine in Onyx's eyes when he talked defense magic. Celestia had described that Shine as the connection that all Alicorns feel with their chosen domain as it were.
---Time Skip---
As the group walked through the town, Onyx hummed when he noticed that there were no Crystal Ponies out and about, which was incredibly confusing him. He slowly spoke a question that had been bothering him from when he watched the show and now when he was walking through the town. "Where are the citizens of this place? We would not be defending it if there were no people here, Shining?"
Shining nodded his head in agreement because if there was something that the Ponies of Equestria wanted from this place, we would take it back to Celestia. He looked at the empty street and the houses along the path in thought. As he spoke, his tone gave off a sense of melancholy. "When they are not going about their day, they are either in their homes or just laying on the grass around the city… they literally do their jobs or nothing else."
Onyx nodded his head because it sounded like depression, and that was not what he was sensing. It was almost as if the oily-like magic that Sombra was using was tainting them. Onyx hummed a suspiciously low town, almost as if he had figured something out. "Sombra has infected them with the strange magical signature that he has been using to generate the storm."
Shining nodded his head and motion for him to continue because it sounded like Onyx was looking into the magic around them and had already figured out a couple of problems they were having. The girls listened in as Onyx describe the magic that Sombra was using, and what it was doing to the ponies he could sense, along with infecting their moods. He slowly finished up in thought. "…Candance is keeping him from retaking control of the ponies in the barrier, but if it falls, the ponies will go right back to under his control, and I am not 100 percent sure how he is doing it yet."
Shining nodded his head and quickly tried to find a way to modify his spell so that he could target the two magics that Sombra was using so he could help his wonderful wife handle the situation. Twilight hummed while looking at the various bits of land around the city and could not help but admit that it was beautiful, but it was almost lonely at the same time. She could not help it as she spoke a question aloud in confusion. "What is the strange atmosphere that I am feeling around the city?"
"What you are feeling is Sombra's magic Twilight it is coating the City almost on a spiritual level." Onyx answered while he looked over the city, magically already seeing what Twilight was wondering about. Onyx spoke with a sneer in his voice. "I have no idea how he did or what magic he is using, but he turned this place almost into a shrine for his Oily magic."
"Sombra used to rein from this very castle before being banished to the Arctic north." Shining answered and explained about the thing they had found in the Castle about what they had found. He looked up at the Castle in thought as they reached it. He spoke almost weary and tired. "Honestly, we have no way to fight him, and the fact that Onyx was able to hurt him is what is now giving me hope."
Twilight nodded while the girls inspect the Castle's various bits and bobs, looking excited, especially Rarity. She spoke up in awe. "The crafters of this place loved it very much."
Twilight and Onyx were confused because, yeah, it is impressive, but they do not see the way Rarity does. Rarity seeing their confusion, rolled her eyes because as much as she loves, the two Onyx and Twilight are kind of dumb to the emotive side of magic. She smiled while rubbing her hand along one of the pillars. "They cast every bit of magic while they were in love this Castle is filled with it, almost saturated with it. Yes, there is Sombra's Oily magic, but it is barely able to infect this beautiful building, almost as if they had a way to throw it off."
Onyx casted his magical senses at the magic that crafted this place and blinked when he realized something and started laughing. Shining looked at him and realized that Onyx must have found an answer. Onyx spoke up after calming down and see the curious looks on their faces. "Sombra's Oily magic is being destroyed by the love Radiating from this building… its why he can not break through Candance's magic. It is literally weak against love."
"I see, I will never be able to help her fight off Sombra, will I, Onyx?" Shining questioned in worry because it was sounding like he would need love magic to destroy it. Shining slowly hummed before asking a second question. "What can we do to help Candance then?"
Onyx looked at him amused because he already had an answer to him, and he could give them a hint about the heart. "This Castle is a giant Runic Ward that is powered by love, but it is missing a couple of pieces… most of all, it is missing its core."
Twilight slowly planned out her various tasks in her mind and slowly explained for the group that were probably not following along. "1. Find the missing Core for the giant Ward/Castle. 2. Somehow raise the Spirits of the Citizens of the City so they can power the thing. 3. Find someone that can control…"
"The controller is already here, Twilight." Onyx teased Twilight, causing her to snap her head and look at him in confusion. Which just made Onyx snicker even harder at the group. "We have the Alicorn of Love in a giant Ward Scheme powered by love Twilight."
The girls blinked and realized that Celestia had to know that because she sent Candance alone with Shining and realized that they just needed to complete two Tasks for them to be able to Remove Sombra. Onyx, though, sighed because this was honestly not going to be easy. "If she just powers it with love, that would probably banish him again, but I would like to attempt to modify it so that harmony could cleanse the Filth from the land."
The girls nodded and marked that down as something only Onyx could do and wondered where the central conduit was at before noticing that Onyx was not following them to the stairs. They slowly looked back and watched him slowly move things around the middle of the Tower and uncover the ground. Twilight was the one to ask. "What are you doing, Onyx?"
"Getting to work on looking at this big old bastard so I can modify it to accept some Harmonic Energy." Onyx replied when he magically lifted the ground and uncovered a massive Runic Scheme right there made out of Crystal. He answered them in amusement. "After all, the Central Chamber is right here along with the place where you lot are going to place the core for the tower."
Twilight looked down at the uncovered Scheme in shock that they just walked through it. She spoke slowly, shocked. "Are you going to be able to modify that Onyx?"
Onyx slowly nodded, not knowing that he was flickering with ethereal wings, which was shocking the girls because they realized that Onyx was close to Ascension. Twilight though, smiled because this was the moment for Onyx to make his attempt. She slowly asked. "Will you be okay on your own while we head up to talk to Candance?"
Onyx nodded, waving them off while the Runes slowly flashed through his mind and slowly decipher themselves, not noticing the girls walk up with Shining, who was looking back at Onyx in shock. Shining spoke to the girls, not being able to voice it. "Did you girls not know that he was a potential?"
The girls looked saddened because this was an important secret that Onyx was keeping from them. Twilight was the one to answer. "No, he did not tell us but let me guess he was not allowed to, and Celestia was the one to inform him that he could not tell us."
Shining nodded, looking embarrassed that the girls were handling this better than he was. Before looking at Candance sitting on the throne.
---Ethereal Realm---
Harmony sat outside of the Castle, watching her Runic Godling work his magic on probably one of the few Artifacts that do not accept Harmony or Chaos. Discord plopped down next to her, watching as he flicked from Alicorn to Unicorn and back and forth. Discord slowly questioned the extremely focused Harmony. 'So, what does he need to do for you to 100 percent accept him as a Godling?'
Harmony hummed while looking over the Tower in thought and could not help but admit that modifying it is not an actual godly work but making it so it does not lose any of its effectiveness along with accepting her Harmony would be. Harmony slowly spoke with seriousness that is usually missing from her candor with Discord. 'He must keep the tower as strong as it is now along with making it accept Harmony.'
Discord let out a low whistle at the requirements that Harmony was asking for. 'That is going to be complicated, Harmony… do you think he can do it?'
Harmony hummed and nodded her head while breaking into a smile. 'Yeah, I honestly think he can do it.'