//------------------------------// // Nightshade... and His Friends? // Story: MLP - Equestria Girls: The Magic of Friendship Extras // by MLPEG Lover //------------------------------// The battle has ended, the Rainbooms were victorious, all Nightshade can do now is return to his home. Unfortunately, that home, isn't a great one. In fact, it's technically not even a house. It's a school. Canterlot High School to be precise. Though, it's not what you'd expect it to be like. It's not all happy fun times here. This CHS is a wreck. All of Canterlot City is, at least! The buildings are crumbling, the sky is gray, and worst of all, there isn't another person living here for miles. Well, except for the few other people living in the school of course. Nightshade's POV Today, I was beaten. That was actually kinda surprising. That thing they did with their friends, very impressive. However, it's nowhere near good enough. They could barely beat me at my worst. Still, I did have to use a good portion of my magic. Whatever the case, I need a long nap after today. And then it happens. Not even three steps inside, and it happens. The pain. The excruciating pain. Not Again! It starts in my chest and slowly makes its way to the rest of my body! My... head! I can barely keep my hands steady as I reach into my sleeve to find one of my potion vials. Oh no, I used it already! If I didn't have my staff to keep me up, I would collapse right now. But I have to keep moving. Need to get to the science lab! Now! With every step I take, a wave of agony flows through me. I need to hurry up! I drag myself to the science lab door and struggle to even reach the knob. I eventually manage to get the door open and enter the room to find it full of clouds and... rainbows? Oh great, she's at it again. At least I know she's in here. "Nova... Nova... Potion Nova! I need a potion, now!" I didn't mean to yell, but at least I finally manage to get her attention. She then rushes from behind the table and the many vials, beakers, and, you know, all that sciencey, chemistry stuff sitting on top of it. A woman with a lab coat as white as her skin and purple hair with pink and blue accents. Her name is Potion Nova. And, as her name suggests, she makes potions. And I could really use one right now. However, in her effort to get to me quickly, she, defying all logic, trips on one of the rainbows. Falling forward and land right into me. I fall flat on my back, and she lands on top of me. As if I'm not in enough pain already. I groan out loud in pain and agony, and she, not wasting the opportunity, pours one of her potions directly into my mouth and down my throat. I gag for a second, but I can't argue with the results. The pain starts to subside. Nova gets up from on top of me and I sit up, letting myself readjust. "Another one!" I demand. This seems to catch her off guard, but she does give me another potion. I drink it down immediately and pass her back her vial. "Th-Thank you. I'm sorry for yelling at you like that." She takes her vial back and then shrugs her shoulders with a smile. "Nah, don't worry about it. I understand. But, out of curiosity, how much magic did you have to use?" I finally get back to my feet and walk around the lab. Admiring the rainbows that now decorate the place. "More than I would have liked to I'm afraid." "Then I take it Plan A didn't go as we hoped." "Nope. These magic agent girls got in the way. Completely sealed the crack back up." As I'm walking, I, somehow, hit my head on one of the rainbows. "Ow! How does this even work?! I though rainbows were made of light!" "Heh, you'd be surprised at what can be made possible when done by the right person." Though I doubt she did this on purpose. "So, if Plan A didn't work, then what about Plan B?" She asks as she tries to fan out the clouds through the doorway. "That's not gonna work either. Those girls are way too weak. They barely understand how their magic works, and I don't think I have time to wait for them to improve. I think my condition is getting worse." I start to get lightheaded, and everything begins to get dizzy. Definitely getting worse. "In fact, I could use another potion." She closes the door once all the rainbow producing clouds float out and passes me a third vial. "So, it's on to Plan C then." Well, that is true. Not that either of us likes it. "Hey, Plan C was the original plan. We just came up with A and B thinking they'd be better to go with. At least Plan C takes longer. I know it's not ideal, but..." "Yeah, yeah. We do what we need and all that." I nod my head and begin to gulp down the potion, though as I drink it, I notice a slight discomfort in her facial expression. "What, what is it?" Still uneasy about Plan C. "Oh, it's nothing just... You kinda take all the fun out of drinking my potions. They're supposed to do silly things, but they don't work on you." I'm starting to think you'd like using me as a guineapig. "Sorry to disappoint. You could always drink them yourself. I'd love to see you turn into a bunny, or grow wings, or turn your hair green for all I know." "Yeah, but I enjoy seeing the reaction of how surprised people are from drinking them. It's no fun if I already know what they do." It'd be fun for me to watch. "Speaking of no fun, he's brooding on the roof again. Could you go talk to him? Before he falls through one of the holes." Oh great. Talking to that guy is always a pleasure. "Ugh, fine. Just don't make any more rainbows inside." Not that this place couldn't use some color. "No promises." I make my way down the hallway, walking a little slower than normal, until my foot kicks something on the ground. I stumble and lean forward, almost falling flat on my face, but quickly regain my balance. I look down to see what I almost tripped over and find a certain someone sleeping in the middle of the hallway. Again! How did she not wake up after what had just happened! "Hey, Soprano. Wake up!" Soprano Flare is, well she's a bit of a handful sometimes. Okay most of the time. Which is weird for a girl who sleeps seventy percent of the day. "Soprano!" With a gentle kick to her side, her eyes finally, but slowly, open up. "Hey, come on." She whines. "I'm trying to get some sleep." "How many times have I told you not to sleep in the hallway?" "Did you ever say that? Huh, I must have dozed off when you did." Yeah right. "Don't you have homework to do right now?" "Yeah, about that." She yawns and gets up on her feet. "You see this weird guy in a black coat attacked my school and put the lives of all the students in danger. So, we weren't assigned any homework today." Oh yeah. I did kinda do that. "It was great, you think maybe you could do it again tomorrow?" "I'm gonna attack the school again just so you can get out of doing homework." "Ugh, fine. I'm going somewhere else to sleep." "Not in the hallway." "No promises." Well, I finally reach to roof, and I see him sitting on the edge. Welp let's hope this goes better than most of our conversations. "Uh hey. You keep staring of into the horizon. You expect it to say something to you." Great icebreaker man, really. I walk over to the edge of the roof, avoiding all the holes, and sat right next to him. This is Arcane Circuit. Or A.C for short. Grayish blue skin, dark white hair, and covered head to toe in sleek advance technology. And a scowl on top of that. Pretty much his signature look. He looks to me, and I can just fell the anger radiating off of him. "Why'd you hold back?" He asks. "Why didn't just take all the magic we'd need from the start? We could be done with this by now." "There wasn't a chance for me to do that." "Oh, really?" Here it comes. "Those stupid agents got in the way, but you could have blown them away with a snap of your fingers. But no, you hold back." "Look A.C, you may not like how I do things, but the results will be the same. You just have to trust me." I think what I just said, made him angrier. "Trust! Like you trust us to know all of your ridiculous plans. Like you trust me to actually get out on the field and take care of those agents. We've worked together for years and the rest of us don't even know your what you look like under that hood. Or if Nightshade is even your real name!" He does have a point, but this is all for the best. Even if he doesn't realize it. "Look I know you don't like it, but remember, you're not in any position to complain." He quickly grabs on to the back of my hood and tries his beat to yank it off my head. Not that that's gonna happen. Despite how hard he's pulling. "Why won't this stupid thing come off?!" "Uh, cause it's magic." I can't help but giggle. "Ugh, of course. So this is where we stand. You, calling all the shots, and me left in the dark." "You were watching the whole thing, so you know that I'm gonna need you to take action eventually." "Yeah, I know! I just... *Sigh* I was just hoping to finally get my wish granted and be done with this." Oh right, his wish. I promised everyone I'd grant a wish in exchange for help. But A.C might be growing a bit impatient. I better say something. "Look I know it's hard right now, but it's going to be worth the wait. We all have something we're after, but we can only get it if we work together. We're all friends, aren't we?" Or at least the closest thing to friends as this group of weirdos can get. "And friendship..." Finish my sentence buddy. ... ... "I'm not saying the rest." Darn it. "Fine. But if the saying is true, if we do this right, stealing all the Equestrian Magic we need should be simple. Right?" "Whatever." Good enough for me. Now's there's something else I have to take care of. I get back on my feet, and head back to the door going back inside. Once again, avoiding all the holes. "Now if you excuse me, I have another appointment to attend. Just don't stay out here too long, okay." "No promises." You know, somehow, I knew he was going to say that.