//------------------------------// // The Castle of Nightmare // Story: My Little Mages: The Phantasm of Philanthropy // by Foxhelm //------------------------------// The passage through the Everfree was surprisingly short, it was if the ground itself was moving, bringing the small army closer and closer to their destination “I don’t recall traveling this fast the last time we were here.” Fluttershy commented. “We didn’t come here the last time.” Sweetie Belle pointed out the absence of her, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom the last time the group was there. “Can we discuss this at a later point!” Luna exclaimed as she flew faster up ahead of the group. The rest of the run was silent, save for some labored breaths and within twenty minutes they arrived at the castle. “Well, that took shorter than usual,” said Twilight, “we usually got assaulted by some of the flora or fauna when got a fourth of the way here.” “Ooh, Ooh, I know those two,” said Pinkie with excitement, “they’re a wonderful pair of twins that…” Twilight cut her pink-clad friend off, “What I said was a more academic way of saying plants and animals.” “I know,” said Pinkie in her usual chipper voice, “but it’s more interesting knowing a pair of mages with those names, and imagining the pair attacking us since they’re some of the biggest softies you would ever meet.” “Wow, way to go off topic Pinks,” said Rainbow Dash, “we’re about to re-fight the Nightmare and rescue Rarity from its hold, and you’re going way off to unrelated stuff that’s of little consequence.” “It’s called trying to relieve some of the dramatic tension. And you weren’t complaining about me relieving your tension last night.” “PINKIE!” Rainbow shouted as she covered her reddening face with her hands. “Can we focus on the matter at hand.” Twilight rhetorically asked. “I have to admit, Nightmare really shaped this place up,” Twilight comment in slight awe of the restored castle. Luna looked around, “Screams that it has been bedazzled,” she commented. “No, it’s been Rarified,” Scootaloo countered. Earning her looks of confusion from everyone but her friends. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle looked at each other, as if to say ‘oh great, not this again’. “Should wah add that to our CMC dictionary?” Apple Bloom asked. “It’s not a dictionary, it’s a collection of colloquialisms we have developed. I am going to put in the cadences pool.” Sweetie Belle commented as she jotted the term down, “We’ll put it to a vote later.” “YES!” Scootaloo shouted as she jumped into the air, “I was not shot down right off the bat!” The rest of the group gave a quick look of confusion before returning to the matter before them. “Now ain’t tha time, Sugarcube.” Applejack said as she led the way in. “Nightmare Rarity is waiting for us in the throne room.” “How do you know?”Sweetie Belle asked. “Simple, Nightmare had a strong urge to be the ruler when it was Luna as Nightmare Moon and Rarity has been enamored with being the spotlight for quite some time,” said Pinkie, with a curt nod like she was agreeing with something. Everyone more or less rolled their eyes as they all continued into the castle, through the courtyard and then into the throne room. There they saw Nightmare Rarity lounging in Celestia’s old throne, right next to her was a black serval. “Oh Serena, our guests seem to have arrived.” “What did you do to my sister and Opal!” Sweetie Belle shouted as she was about to run in front of everyone, only to be stopped by Applejack. “Well I needed a more fitting warbeast, and while Opal-wopal was a lovely name, Mommy needed to give her a more imposing name.” Nightmare Rarity said as she rubbed her cheek with Serena’s affectionately. “What about my sister! Give me back my sister!” Sweetie Belle all but screamed. “And our friend!” Twilight announced. Nightmare Rarity looked at everyone in front of her. She stopped showering her affections on Serena. “I think not, I rather enjoy this body. It is just absolutely fabulous, Darlings.” Nightmare Rarity then covered her mouth the back of her left hand as she laughed with a ‘huhuhuhuhu’. “Nightmare,” declared Rainbow Dash loudly, “we’re here to take you down, again.” Nightmare Rarity just gave her, and the rest of her uninvited guests a deadpan look, as she stroked her serval, before saying, “That depends on how well you last,” with the wave of her hand shadows gathered from all around and formed into a variety of large cats, all colored black, a baker’s dozen in count not accounting for Serena/Opal. Luna was not having any of this, as she dove at Nightmare Rarity, tackling her and forcing her out of the throne room and through one of the opened windows. What neither knew was that the window in question was the window that Luna had looked out of as she changed the crescent moon to a total lunar eclipse a millennium ago. As Luna flew she took her and Nightmare Rarity to a turret of the castle. All the while Twilight was able to see the location and it corresponded with the location of the emergency teleportation circle. However, she and the others had other matters to attend to. “So, what do we do?” Fluttershy asked nervously as Serena/Opal leaped into the throne as the shadow cats started to encircle the eight mages. Applejack took to a knee with the point of her sword in the opponents and started chanting a prayer. At the same time, everyone seemed to form a circle around her, with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle as the interior ring as the four older mages formed the exterior ring. “What kind of cat works in groups?” Scootaloo asked confused. “Lionesses,” Fluttershy answered. “You might want to ask Zecora if she’ll be a guest teacher the next time you cover exotic fauna.” “SIT LUX!” Applejack suddenly shouted as a light jettisoned from her and hit the five most in front of her causing them to vanish, breaking apart in the light. Applejack then started to pant, “Well that took more… Ah wish Big Mac was…” Applejack couldn’t finish her sentences as she tried to regain herself but was wobbly in her stance. “Ya okay, Sis?” Apple Bloom asked with a small concern frown on her face. Applejack had a hard time standing on her own, “Ah’m a paladin, not a cleric.” she stated. Just then the five shadow cats reformed. “BUCK MY ORCHARD!!!” “If Granny heard that…” Apple Bloom started only to earn a glare from Applejack, “But this can be between the two of us.” Apple Bloom finished subdued. “Anyone with any other ideas?” Rainbow Dash drew her bow and started firing bolts of elemental light into the thirteen shadow cats. Causing the cats to more or less exploded. “That took…” Rainbow Dash started only to stop as the shadow cats started to manifest again. “Okay that didn’t work,” said Rainbow Dash with fear and annoyance, “every time we knock one down it just springs up a few seconds later.” “Twice is not every time!” Twilight countered. “However, a unified magical attack seems to be our best choice,” Twilight commented as she tried to assess the situation, “but if the spells are incompatible it might make things worse. These are shadow magic, that means they’re vulnerable to light magic, I haven’t learned any light spells that could be of use to us in this situation.” “Et’s a risk we're gonna have ta take,” said Applejack, “Ah got a ‘cleansing light’ spell, but et’s a short range spell, only ten feet ‘r so.” “I could cast an ‘entangle’ spell,” said Fluttershy, “but at best it could only hold up two of them.” “I can shoot anywhere ya want me to,” said Rainbow, “because I’m awesome, I could probably add in a wind or fire spell to boost its effectiveness, not sure how that will help us here though.” “I’m sure I can pull out a flash bomb from somewhere,” said Pinkie, “but will have a range of around fifteen feet, and because of the delayed activation time they’ll be able to retreat to a distance that prevents from getting hit, and won’t make them stay down for an extended period. We need something to keep their shadows from reforming them.” Twilight took all of that into consideration, “Girls, we don’t have enough time, and this would be easier if Rarity were assisting us. I know a spell for bringing the spells you all said you have together, and that includes Pinkie’s summoned item. As far as I know, this ‘power merge’ spell hasn’t been used the way we’re about to, so be prepared for something horrific.” While the older mages tried to form a plan, Scootaloo began to use her hands as sign-language to communicate with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle (When you spend at least 80% of your free time trying to discover your talent, you learn a few things). It was a simple plan, Apple Bloom would light a candle and Sweetie Belle would sing to make it grew driving the cat’s away, The three then stepped forward, Apple Bloom lite the candle she had and Sweetie Belle then started to sing, “This little light on mine, I am gonna let it shine, This little light of mine, I am gonna let it shine, This little light of mine, I am gonna let shine. Let it shine, Let it shine, Let it shine.” As Sweetie sang the light of the candle grew and grew and soon the entire room was awash in light. The shadow cats roared and bellowed in pain as they were torn apart by the light. As the last one of them completely vanished into the light, “Hallelujah!” Apple Bloom shouted as if she was singing. “Natural light… empowered by song,” Twilight said with surprise as she and the other older mages looked around and found that no sign of the shadow cats manifesting again. “How did we miss that?” “Well, both divine light and elemental-light didn’t work, so I thought maybe natural light given a musical boost might work,” Scootaloo said with a grin forming on her face. “That was so awesome, little buddy.” Rainbow Dash said as she rubbed the top of Scootaloo’s head like a big sister. She then readied her bow and pointed at Serena. “We got one more cat to skin.” Seeing the challenge, serval Serena returned to her feet, ready for her own fight. Hissing at the elementalist. “We cannot hurt her!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed forcing Rainbow to lower her bow. “She’s still Opal!” Sweetie continued. Everyone looked back and forth among each other unsure what to do. Then they all heard a propeller, “Tank?” Rainbow asked as the tortoise and the other pets arrived. “What the...?” “They got Opal, let’s save Rarity!” Spike exclaimed as he ran into the room. “Come on he said as he ran past the transmuted cat. “Spike! Wait up! You don’t know where to go!” Twilight all but scolded her familiar as she and the rest started to follow the young dragon. Fluttershy was the last to leave, mostly out of concern for her companion, however, she saw that none of the pets needed her as Angel, Winona, and Owlowiscious alternated between distracting the transmuted Opal until Tank, using his shell, knocked Opal out. Angel then turned to face Fluttershy and held up his left paw as to give her a thumbs-up and smiled at her. Fluttershy smiled in turn and turned around to catch up with her friends. Once the two crashed in the spot that Luna flew to, Luna leaped back into the air and landed across the room. Nightmare Rarity then got back to her feet and brushed herself off, “Well that was just rude!” “You took over another being!” Luna challenged. “Oh Darling, while the initial action was forceful, Rarity didn’t resist, in fact, it was like she welcomed me in. Which is quite surprising, most people would have put up some sort of resistant, but that’s neither here nor there.” Nightmare Rarity answered back. All the while the two walked in a circle in the room, watching each other, sizing each other up. “Regardless if Rarity elected to…” Luna the stopped. If Rarity didn’t resist…” Luna’s eyes started to glow as she looked at Nightmare Rarity. Confused at what Luna was doing, Nightmare Rarity paused as soon she was frozen, “What are you doing?” What Nightmare Rarity didn’t know was that Luna was reaching into Nightmare Rarity to find Rarity, after a few seconds Luna found the psyche of Rarity on a fainting couch reading a book. “Oh Princess Luna, Darling, how are you?” Rarity asked as she looked up from her book. “Rarity, what are you doing?” Luna asked confused. “Oh just waiting for when whoever tried to possess me slips up.” Rarity answered as she returned to her book. Even without seeing Luna befuddled face, “I am saving my own strength for when she’s at her weakest. You cannot believe how similar she is to the Diamond Dogs.” Rarity was still reading the book she had. Still feeling the presence of Luna. “No offense, your grace, but if you linger here any longer, she’s going to figure out that I am not lost to the ethers. So run along, Darling.” Luna then snapped out of it and she was no longer in the mindscape of Nightmare Rarity and back, in reality, a little flustered over the event. Nightmare Rarity was also very shaken and off balance, “Well that’s a new one.” Nightmare Rarity commented. “But now we get down to the brass tacks.” Turning to Luna, “We shall see who is the true Lady of Shadows!” she declared to challenge Luna. “Nay, I was never that,” Luna stated as she manifested a longsword and weighted chain that seemed to be crafted from the night sky itself, “You and I, Nightmare, we have always been the Princess of the Night, The Maiden of the Moon; part darkness and part light. The only reason that you exist separately from me, is because I let darkness grow with no light to temper it.” “That is both a beautiful and foolish sentiment,” said Nightmare Rarity as she manifested a rapier and main gauche, “but sentiments will not earn you a victory.” The two then dove at each other. As Nightmare Rarity and Luna engaged each other, Twilight and the rest ran in the castle trying to reach their friend from behind. “Okay run the plan by me again?” Rainbow Dash asked. “We have to exorcise Nightmare Moon out of Rarity. With Princess Luna focusing on Nightmare as she currently is, it’s possible Luna could result in overkill.” Twilight commented as they ran. “I get that, but how are we supposed to do that? If AJ’s holy magic can barely dismiss five of those shadow cats, which returned ten seconds later, I doubt she has any spells to exorcise Nightmare from Rarity. And I doubt anyone else has any spells that could be more effective.” “Ah told yah, Ah would have ta use the use the Fire Ruby Spike gave Rarity!” Applejack exclaimed. “A combination spell,” said Fluttershy, “just like the elements combined our magic together to stop Nightmare Moon if we use a combination spell to bring out her true nature and enhance her willpower we might be able to enable her to reject the presence of Nightmare on her own.” “I like where you started there, Fluttershy,” said Twilight as they followed her along the causeways, “but the way that Princess Luna described the possession, it might be a partial merger, we’re gonna have to add in something to destabilize any anchors Nightmare’s presence has regarding Rarity for something like that to work.” However, the group was forced to a screeching halt as an arrow of elemental darkness was fired into Applejack’s left arm forcing her to relinquish her hold on the necklace with the fire ruby Spike gave Rarity causing it to fall down to the bottom of the tower the eight mages, and the dragon, were climbing. “AH!!!” Applejack shouted as she leaned back to the right her back against the wall as she slowly felt her left arm go numb. The all looked up ahead and to their left and saw Nightshade and the Tantabus hovering in the air. “You will go no further,” The Tantabus declared before he dove at the group slipping into the shadows only to reappear behind Pinkie Pie. “HOLD!” He shouted as he stabbed Pinkie Pie with a needle right in the nerve of her shin, only to find it had been a lifelike blow-up doll as it popped with an explosion of confetti in his face. “Fool me once shame on you, Uncle Tanzanite!” Pinkie exclaimed as she brought her mallet down on him from behind, only to bounce off of his head like it was nothing. Pinkie started to laugh nervously as she threw the mallet to the side as she started to dig into her pockets trying to find something to fight with. As the Tantabus was about to slice her across the chest, she screamed. However, before the priest’s blade made contact with Pinkie’s flesh, it was caught with a clang, as Applejack blocked it with her own sword, granted she could only use her right arm alone at this time. “Daring but foolish.” The Tantabus commented as he pulled back, and grabbing the hilt of his sword with both hands, brought his blow down with a greater amount of force than Applejack could handle, causing her to drop her blade as if the shock wave of the blow shattered the bones in her arm. Applejack stepped back, her arms mostly useless at this point. However, before the Tantabus could press home his advantage, Pinkie Pie slipped passed Applejack and picked up Applejack’s sword and the two started to fight. All the while Rainbow Dash was firing shots to intercept each of Nightshade’s attacks, as Fluttershy tended to Applejack’s injured and temporarily disabled arms. Twilight was at a loss at what to do, they had just lost the means to exorcise Nightmare out of Rarity, both with the apparent loss of the fire ruby and the use of either of Applejack’s arms. She needed a new plan, but she was getting nowhere and fast. Then Sweetie Belle spoke up, taking command, “Scoots, distraction, AB look for something to scrounge up and make into some kind of weapon, I’ll see about supporting everyone,” the young bard then turned to the young dragon, “and Spike, find that freaking fire ruby before things get any worse.” Sweetie then started singing a song about friendship and family that common among Hearth's Warming plays. Spike scurried away in the direction the gem had gone, down the stairs as fast as he could. Twilight was impressed at how quickly Sweetie Bell took up the role of party leader, making quick tactical decisions that factored in the lack of equipment the CMC had at the moment. It probably wasn’t the best idea to leave their starter gear back in Chantalot for this. Unsurprisingly the song got Scootaloo and Rainbow fired up, literally. Scootaloo was manifesting a fire aura, elemental monk techniques were not all that common to see, running on instinct Scootaloo was throwing ranged fire punches and kicks in the general directions of both the Tantabus and Nightshade. Rainbow’s arrows took on a more fire based theme as she readied her shots, and started moving around to make herself a harder target while also acting as distraction help her friends get into more advantageous positions. Twilight was starting to think about what to do. Just then a fist of fire and arrow of fire made contact with Gloom Mark. The fire burnt Nightshade’s hand, causing her to let go of the bow. Seeing a chance to reduce the number of foes. She watched the bow fall and making some surprisingly fast and advanced mathematical calculations she then cast a spell to destroy the burning bow, ensuring no one could ever use it. “Azarath Metrion Zinthos!” Twilight shouted as she cast the spell she once used in her fight against Nightmare Moon, the better part of a year ago. With Gloom Mark reduced to ashes, “Yeah!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “Try to stop us now!” While Nightshade did fall to her knees as she held her side, gritting through the pain. “You will pay for that, you skank,” Nightshade she almost roared like a wounded hippo. She then rose back up and held out her hands. “Oh please, what are you going…” Rainbow then fell to the ground as she started to bend and contort against her will. She cried out in immense pain. “Rain…” Twilight started but was cut short as she and all the others started to fall to their knees as their bodies started to bend and contort as well. They each shouted in pain save for Applejack. “When did she learn this?” Applejack asked gritting through the pain as she was forced to bend backward straining her back just short of the point of breaking it. “Oh, my mother taught me that when I was five,” Nightshade replied. “You see blood, and the human body at large is mostly made of water. True for all of us, from regular mortals to natural demigods. I am in my forties, you little girls, I have been using this for over a decade longer than any of you have been alive. This is also my backup melee weapon, like all Wonderbolts, like Spitfire’s twin swords and Soarin’s iron fist. However, we all rely on our bows first and foremost.” “Then why didn’t use it to stop us before?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I still had Gloom Mark, what need would I have for a trick like this when I had the most powerful elemental bow ever seen? Just because I changed my element to darkness from water doesn’t mean I lost all the abilities tied to it, in fact, this little trick seems to have gotten a bit of a power boost from my element shift.” As Nightshade continued to bend each of the heroes, alternating who was bent which way, Rainbow Dash had an idea. It was like a scene in a Daring Do book, Daring Do and The Gem of the Vampire Queen, in which Daring Do was forced to contort against her will after her rival, Dr. Caballeron, used the titular item to gain influence over blood, in a rare backstabbing of Ahuizotl by Dr. Caballeron. In it Daring Do was able to break free of Dr. Caballeron by making him lose concentration on her at just the right time, a knack Daring Do had. In the case of the book in question, Daring Do tricked Dr. Caballeron to throw her across the room and when Dr. Caballeron then turned his focus to torturing Ahuizotl all the while thinking Daring Do was knocked out. It was a gamble, but Rainbow Dash didn't have a better idea. “So this is just a trick.” Rainbow Dash remarked trying to get under Nightshade’s skin. Nightshade just focused her hold on her causing her to give a scream of pain before giving a few labored chuckles, “you were right, this is more of a spectacle for entertainment than combat.” Nightshade, who up that point had been assured of her capabilities, started to lessen her grip on the others as she poured more of her focus on Rainbow Dash. There was one thing Nightshade hated more than being passed over, and that was being mocked, especially by, in Nightshade’s eyes, privileged little girls. Rainbow Dash started to regret her plan as soon as she felt her lungs collapsing on themselves, her heart slowing down. She soon lost focus. “Say hello to Silverbolt for me!” Nightshade shouted as she made Rainbow’s body levitate and threw her across the room. As far as Nightshade could tell Rainbow was dead. She then returned back to the others. “Oh, you’ll see her soon enough.” Nightshade then continued to contort and bend the bodies of the others. Rainbow coughed and sputtered after she hit the wall, faking unconsciousness while manipulating the air around her had almost sapped all her strength. It had been gambit that paid off. However, it was far more taxing than she had anticipated. She needed time to regain her strength and power, time her friends likely didn’t have. She need a way to divert Nightshade’s attention from Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie or Applejack, any one of them had a few spells that could tie up the ex-Wonderbolt long enough for the others to catch their breath. But the question was, which of her friends should she free so they could save the others? Chances were Rainbow would only have one shot, two shots if she was really lucky before she returned to being helpless state and lost the element of surprise. But soon she heard Scootaloo scream out in pain, “MY ARM!” Rainbow Dash knew she had to act. She grabbed her bow and in a near instant was back on her feet and sent an arrow of fire right to Nightshade’s heart, which would have made it mark had Nightshade been alone. The Tantabus knocked the fire arrow of course with his sword and sent it flying back causing it to land at Rainbow’s feet causing the girl to turn and jump back. After forcing Rainbow Dash back, the Tantabus then landed behind Nightshade, “Glad someone finally has my back.” Nightshade said as she made the others contort forcing them to the ground. “About that,” The Tantabus started. Despite being in pain, and being contorted against her will, Pinkie’s Pinkie Sense went off, her left eye started to spasm, “Wait, the last time that happened… NIGHTSHADE LOOK OUT!” Pinkie cried. Nightshade was confused at what the pink-clad jester was getting at, only to learn too late as the Tantabus plunged his sword into her back. This ended her hold on everyone, which was not a surprise, but what was surprising was that instead of the blade coming out the other side of Nightshade’s body, it seemed to just dissolve into her body. She knew being stabbed in the back would hurt, but this was stupefyingly painful. She had been betrayed before, and as she heard chanting, in a tongue she didn’t understand, from the Tantabus, she felt her mind slip back into another memory. It was two weeks after Nightshade’s rage. She was now bound in a straightjacket and to something like a dolly, secured to across the chest, each arm, across her waist, each leg and both of them. Only her head was allowed to move. To her right was a JAG officer functioning as the prosecutor of the court-martial. Right next to her to her left was the one assigned to defend her. In front of her was the current Marshal of the ESM who would be functioning as the judge. She turned to see the people in attendance and she could see Princess Celestia, Officer Shady Tree, Wind Ryder, Air Strike, Spitfire and a few others. The Marshal spoke, “Nighting…” “NIGHTSHADE!” Nightshade shouted causing everyone the courtroom to shake in slight fright. “Nightingale was a stupid little girl, I am not Nightingale! My name is Nightshade! GET IT FUCKING RIGHT!” “Nightingale!” Shady Tree exclaimed in horror and concern. “Piss off, Shade! You threw me out the door two weeks into being my foster mother! You promised to be my forever mother! You promised on my mother’s grave!” Nightshade said as she turned her head to look at Shady Tree. “ORDER!!! I will have Order in this courtroom!” the Marshall shouted as he pounded his gavel. After everything was quiet again, “Nightshade, you stand here accused of six counts of murder and one count of manslaughter…” “Seven counts of murder, get it right!” Nightshade projected. After giving an exhausted sigh, “How do you plea to the charges?” the Marshall asked. The JAG assigned to defend her started to speak, “My client pleads in…” but she was cut short. “Guilty as charged, mother fuckers!” Nightshade projected silencing her attorney as she entered the plea. Shocked at this, “Nightingale!” Shady Tree exclaimed. “My client is clearly suffering…” “Oh piss off!” Nightshade exclaimed cutting her attorney off after she turning to her. “The insanity plea works at best 1 out of 10 times and that’s being ridiculously generous.” Turning to face the Marshall. “So what’s the sentence old timer? Death? Life Imprisonment? 25 to 50 of hard Labor? What?” She asked. “Upon your admission of guilt, you are sentenced to life imprisonment at Stonlingrad Penitentiary in solitary confinement with a chance of parole in 30 years, your rank and status as a Wonderbolt will be stripped, all your records will be stricken from the records and all other rights tied to them will be revoked forthwith.” The Marshall decreed. Princess Celestia rose, “Marshall, don’t you think that’s a little extreme,” the monarch spoke up. “And normally I would agree with you, your majesty,” said the Marshall as he shook his head, “but the fact is that she committed an atrocity that hasn’t been seen in this nation since the time of our founders. As such her punishment should also act as an example to guard against any future cases. Let us also not forget she admitted to willingly performing the acts without being coerced and against the advice of her legal counsel.” “What’s the matter? You can’t just kill me?” Nightshade asked as she laughed. “Of course you can’t. All you can do is just shine the brass.” Nightshade laughed again. “All the while just standing there and looking pretty. That’s the only thing a princess is good for.” Nightshade scoffed and continued to laugh at the princess and her perceived impotence as Nightshade was rolled out. Two weeks after the court-martial, Nightshade was in her highly restrictive cell. She heard the sound of a chair being set down on the other side of her cell’s door, the warden had been instructed to not allow her to leave the cell for any reason. The sound of the door’s transparency spell coming to life caused her to look over and see Shady Tree on the other side wearing the special headset that allowed her to speak to and hear Nightshade. Nightshade said nothing, she just waited for Shady Tree to say something before she could throw it back in her face. “Nightie,” Nightshade almost smiled at the old nickname that only Shady Tree used… almost being the operative word, “I know you probably feel betrayed, but I couldn’t look after you as I was back then, even without sizable a promotion I wouldn’t be able to care for you, so I made sure you were in the care of people who could.” Nightshade didn’t respond, she really didn’t know where this was going, Shady Tree took long sigh, “I kept investigating everything with your mom’s disappearance and death, something about it all didn’t sit right with me,” Nightshade still kept quiet, she had a few thoughts about how Shady was trying to reconcile that weren’t right to voice at the moment, “About a month or so after you started school I found what was wrong, the coroner was on the payroll for one of the people your mom decided need to go down with her, he was working for us under a nearly undetectable alias. But that’s not all, turns out your mom cared enough about you that she left caches all over the city with things like places that were best for you to learn and work, even a surprising amount of money was supposed to be squirreled away at many of them, but all that prep work was undone during her torture, it was all stolen from you. I found out it all just a few days before I received word of your crime, I wanted to tell you sooner but it took just this long to get a few minutes with you at the holding facility, and when I tried to tell you at the trial you wouldn’t have any of it.” “That’s one hell of an ‘I’m sorry’ speech,” said Nightshade with contempt dripping from her voice, “even if the smallest amount of any of that was true, and I believed one iota of that, it doesn’t change anything between us. And let’s not forget I have been bounced around all of Mystica from foster home to foster home, on average spending less than two weeks in each one, so ‘placed in the care of people who could’? Bite me!” Nightshade calmed down slightly before she continued. “So now that you’ve said your piece just leave.” Nightshade turned away. “Nightie…” Shady started Nightshade turned around and pointed her right index finger at Shady accusingly, “No! You don’t get to call me that! You don’t get to be forgiven! You made the promise to love me and raise me like you were my mother! To do all the things a mother could! To never send me away and you made that promise while the dirt wasn’t even settled on my mother’s grave! You were the adult! You knew that if there was a chance you couldn’t fulfill that promise you shouldn’t have made it and you still made it! And the fact is you broke it! My mother may have slapped me around, she may have whored me out, but she never hid from me how desperate our situation was! She never lied to me! She never broke her promise!” Nightshade’s words dripped with anger, with fury, with ire, with wrath, and with hate. It was clear she felt betrayed. She then turned away and walked to her cot. “There’s the door.” Nightshade finished as she laid down on it and dismissively pointed to the door out. Shady just got up in silence and started to the door. “I still love you, Nightingale. I always will.” Hearing no response she left Nightshade to the hollowness of her cell. As the Tantabus pulled his blade out, Nightshade felt all her magic pulled out as it passed from her. She was reduced to almost nothing, weaker than she was as a child. This moment was a thousand times worse. Back then she could use her magic, she could fly around her small cell. She was never this powerless before, even when she did the unspeakable things her mother sent her out to do, she still had some form of power. She was for once in her life, truly and utterly broken. She fell to her knees. The Tantabus then fled the scene by slipping into the shadows. Seeing Nightshade in this state, and knowing now was the most likely chance she would get to get answers to her questions, Rainbow Dash plowed passed her friends and took Nightshade by her shoulders. “Tell me!” Rainbow ordered the now powerless Shadowbolt. “Are you my mother?” Rainbow asked. Nightshade was still silent, no matter how hard Rainbow shook her. Nightshade looked into Rainbow’s eyes. She had seen those eyes before, “You have her eyes,” Nightshade said just barely audible. “WHO!” Rainbow shouted. “Whose eye?” “I should have figured Blaze would have picked her.” “Who?” Rainbow asked. “You really are the stupid one. Your fucking mother, you twat. You have your mother's eyes.” Nightshade said with a smirk starting to grow on her face, a smirk Rainbow was not able to see it. Rainbow froze and slowly stepped back as the statement’s implications dawned on, “You mean you’re not… that you…” “You’re the one that never vetted that statement. I needed to throw you for a loop, and it worked. You had someone to talk to and see if what I said was true. You didn't do the research.” Nightshade said with a slight chuckle. Rainbow Dash charged at Nightshade as if to pound her into pudding but was stopped by Applejack running interference and catching the younger elementalist in an embrace. “She ain't worth it, Sugarcube. She ain't worth it.” Applejack said holding Rainbow Dash with a degree of difficulty. “I mean I knew the guy wasn’t really anything special, figures a lameo like him would have such an intellectually challenged brat,” Nightshade added having seen that she got the responses she wanted out of Rainbow Dash each and every time she spoke. She couldn’t help but picture Rainbow Dash dancing to what beat she drummed, wiggling like a worm on a hook. “Let me go, she’s mocking my dad,” Rainbow practically screamed in wrath almost breaking free of Applejack’s hold. “She’s baiting you,” said Twilight assisting Applejack in holding Rainbow back, “she’s trying to get you to assault her, she wants something to go her way since she failed so utterly.” “Can’t sah Ah blame her.” Apple Bloom commented. That comment earned her glares from everyone but her big sister, “Think about it, The Tantabus just pulled her magic right outta her and left her here to fend for herself. She’s outnumbered and has nothin’ left to lose.” “Bloom’s right, Sugarcube. Let it go, yah can’t win this one.” To everyone’s surprise, Rainbow took a deep breath and said, “I guess you guys are right, besides beating on someone so low isn’t something a hero should ever do, I doubt all the people I look up to would do anything like that.” Applejack and Twilight release their friend, believing her to be collected. However, Nightshade could not contain her laughter at the comment. After a few seconds, the younger elementalist round-house kicked knocking the Shadowbolt out cold. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t administer a little justice for anything she’s done up ‘til now.” Her friends and their sisters just gave her a set of disapproving stares. Scootaloo, on the other hand, was torn between praising her hero for sticking to her principles and making a show of disapproval alongside her friends. “Come on wah got to go!” “Wait for me!” Spike said as he finally caught up with the rest as they renewed their trek, the jewelry that the fire ruby was made from dangling over his shoulder and making jingling noises as it moved.