He facehoofed as he heard the familiar metallic groaning. Why had he jinxed it? The only thing he could hope was that Ace continued the cold behavior he was showing at the moment. It was mere moments before the front door swung open and four ponies walked in, all talking and laughing. Krystal, a deep blue crystal pony with a white mane, led the group. Behind her, Struck closely followed in her Wonderbolt bodysuit that seemed to always be on her. However, Nightshade's eyes darted to the two mares walking side-by-side, a grey-green pegasus with a neon green mane and an obsidian dark purple earth pony with glowing purple eyes and a pink mane. Hoping to intercept the whole group, Nightshade stood up and embraced Krystal.
"Nightshade," she looked pleasantly surprised, "We only left for three days, calm down."
While they began to talk Lucky watched as Ace seemed to glare holes into the crystal pony, Lucky was just about to ask what the matter was but the colt rotated on his stool and shot Lucky a small smile. It would have unnerved any normal pony, but with the company, Nightshade kept Ace was pretty normal compared to them. All Lucky could do was hope he stayed that way. It was mere moments before the blue-eyed soon to be prince locked eyes with the two at the door, an innocent gaze clashing with an emotion he hadn't quite felt before. The duo's look changed from inquisitive to predatory.
"Nightshade," The green maned pegasus slipped by said unicorn and Krystal. "I can't believe you weren't going to introduce us to your new friend- "
"Hooves off!" His tone sent a shock up her spine. She froze mid-stride, "Speed. Endie. This is Ace, he's..."
He couldn't tell them the truth, he'd seem like some kind of prize to them. Not ideal, although he hated lying it was the best course of action.
"He's a friend of mine. We met in Canterlot, in fact, he's very close to the princess. Comes around for tea every now and then. Isn't that right?"
Both stallions made intense eye contact as Nightshade attempted to get the silent message across. Ace slowly nodded, much to the relief of Nightshade, at least they had an understanding. The last thing Nightshade wanted was the duo to swarm him like hungry sharks.
"He's got a thing about personal space ya know? Claustrophobic."
"Oh." Speed didn't sound convinced and her partner equally so, "Well, Ace, it is lovely to meet you. Are you keeping this one Nightshade?"
"Please stop talking about him like a pet, especially when he's right here... And yes, I just need Computer to give him a once over."
The door swung open again, this time a ghostly white mechanical-looking pony silently strode in. He had no fur or mane and his eyes were glowing white.
For some reason, the robotic pony felt the need to clear his throat, "Nightshade. You needed me?"
The unicorn made a mental note to recalibrate Computer's voice sensitivity as he shook off the surprise, "Yeah. Biometric scan on the pegasus, send his data to Pandora."
Ace stared in awe, he'd never seen anything like this before.
"Alrighty then... 'Ace'. I'm going to give you a quick and painless check-up. Do as I say when I say it."
He took the colt's height, weight, hair sample, and Nightshade spoke up as Computer readied a needle.
"Wait, I don't think that's a great idea."
"Nonsense, I must- " he made brief eye contact with Krystal, "Ah, I see. My mistake. We shall finish this another time. Should I set the destination to the Valentine Manor?"
"Yep." The black unicorn turned to face Ace, "Alright... How do I explain this in a way that makes sense to you? Pandora is my ship, okay? A Tardis. I can use it to travel time and space, kinda like an interdimensional taxi that can traverse all of time- and I've lost you haven't I?"
He growled as he noticed the pegasus ignorantly nodding along, "Absolutely!"
The oblivious goofy smirk on his face nearly angered Nightshade as Lucky closed shop and they headed to what could only be described as a red wooden police box, How can anypony be so content with being absolutely clueless all the time? Nopony can be born that dumb. I'm genuinely surprised he hasn't forgotten to breathe! He really needed to talk to Luna, but for now, he needed to get back. The moment everypony stepped in, excluding Ace who repeated his previous behavior and stopped at the threshold, Pandora's central console lit up slowly as lights flicked on.
"Ace would you like to come inside? You have no need to wait for confirmation, we are your friends." Computer motioned for the pegasus to follow but stopped as he saw Ace tense up and look at the unicorn who was nonchalantly flipping switches on the console.
"Friends?" This time the smirk gave way to doubt as he carefully stepped inside.
Nightshade smiled, "Pretty cool right?"
"Why does this feel so... familiar? Yet..."
Ace stopped. Not because he noticed all conversations had ceased and all eyes were on him, he just stopped talking. But he was not deterred as he strode up to the controls, passing by Speed and Endie with a blank stare. His eyes seemed to be clouded. Nightshade had goosebumps at this point.
The thousand-yard stare suddenly fell back into the goofy smile, "Wow! This is awesome! It's much smaller on the outside."
Krystal lightly punched Ace's shoulder trying to hide her shocked expression, "Sure is kiddo. Tell you what, why don't I show you around? You can take a nap until we land."
He nodded as Krystal led him down a path that branched off from the Center circle console, "Wait, land?"
Once Nightshade was sure they were out of earshot he looked at the other five ponies in the room, "That was... unsettling. Look, I didn't want him or Krystal to hear this but... I need you all to do some digging on this kid and help me keep an eye on him. Somethings up..."
"If I may interrupt?" Computer hesitated before continuing, "If you remember our most recent adventure, we dealt with Discord and such. As you know, powerful beings who wield equally powerful magic tend to set off fluctuations on my scanners. Ace reads off the charts for magic levels similar to... Well, the princesses or even Discord himself. I only fear what he may be capable of."
Fuck. Nightshade shook his head. No wonder Celestia called in the favor. Why not just keep him in the castle? It's much safer... Unless...
He flipped one last switch and the ship silently dematerialized in the crisp evening air.