//------------------------------// // Of Course This is Safe... (Right?) // Story: The Wielder of the Orb // by TheMajorTechie //------------------------------// Darkness. She felt like she was floating in a vast sea of darkness, she could not move, or see anything. She only existed. Then in the distance a prick of light appeared, it seemed to come closer. She felt the floor under her feet, she was in some sort of mansion. There were windows, but the only light that existed came from the “Orb” in front of her. The Orb, she could feel energy radiating from it. Pure power.  The Orb called to her, pulled at her. She wanted to take it, to use the power it held for her own desire, but that thought scared her. It scared more than anything ever had before. It could not be right, all that power, just sitting there for any pony to take. It had to be some sort of elaborate trap. And yet, she walked towards it, there was no way for her to stop. She reached out a hoof and touched the smooth surface of the Orb, energy crackled, filling the room and then-         Nightshade woke up with a jolt. She had that weird dream again- some sort of feeling, that strange pull. It felt as if something had tied a rope around her soul, tugging relentlessly into some unknown direction. “It was the Orb”, she whispered to herself, “all of this, it must be the Orb…”         After stopping for a moment to recover from the dream, Nightshade finally crawled out of bed. She winced as her hooves touched the cold floor. It was the middle of winter, and on the second floor where her room was, it was especially cold. She promptly made her way downstairs, the pleasant smell of breakfast bringing her fully into the waking world.          Nightshade shivered as she left her room, her little brother, Juniper Glow, was already sitting at the table with their parents. He was throwing manners to the wind, and stuffing so much food into his face that it was dripping. For some reason, her brother’s current lack of manners was being totally ignored by her parents, who were deep in conversation. “Juniper, be polite.” She reprimanded. “Oh, good morning, sweetie. I didn’t know you were up yet.” Her mother said sweetly. “Of course I’m up. Just because it’s winter break now doesn’t mean I’m going to sleep all the time. Too much stuff to do.” Juniper continued his rampage of destruction on his breakfast, occasionally sending bits and pieces of eggs and toast flying across the table. “Juniper!” yelled their mother, “Stop that messy habit, please.” Juniper only truly stopped his flailing about when he got a look from his father, who then turned to Nightshade, “So, what are your plans for today, sweetie?” Juniper shrugged. “I really don’t know, dad, It’s the weekend, you know that I don’t have any activities on weekends.” Nightshade gave her brother a blank look, “You know he wasn’t talking to you, right?” Juniper shrugged, Nightshade sighed. “I’m gonna hang out with my friend, Lightning, at Sugarcube Corner. We’ll see how the day goes from there.” Nightshade stood up, and began making her way towards the door, her saddlebag filled to the brim with various papers and trinkets, though most of it was on botany and chemistry. “Wait!” Nightshade paused, and turned to see who called her. Juniper waved at messy hoof at her. “Bring me a cookie?” Nightshade sighed. “Fine, I’ll get you a cookie. Bye, mom! Bye, dad!” She made her way out the door, onto the mildly busy street. From there, she navigated the streets until she arrived at Sugarcube Corner. Boom Nightshade jumped as the sound of thunder shook the area. “You fall for that every time,” giggled a light blue pegasus as he glided down to the ground. “Lightning… Not funny.” Nightshade grumbled. Lightning Rod rolled his eyes and tossed his yellow mane out of his face, “Aww, come on, it’s just a joke, Rainbow Dash does that all the time. And also, don’t forget, it’s Electro, not Lightning.” “Lightning, maybe you should spend some time around other pegasi that don’t like to scare the wits out of their friends.” Suddenly, Lightning Rod’s face became stern, “Anyways, do you have the papers?” Surprised at the sudden sobriety that had taken over her ‘friend’, she quickly jerked back. “Uh… yeah, I have them right here.” She levitated the binder filled with various documents into Lightning Rod’s grasp. “You should have all the information you need for that potion of whatever that you’re making.” “Herbal remedy,” corrected Lightning Rod, “if my calculations are correct, the remedy should have the ability to grant any race of ponies with a limited subset of controllable magic of the type you unicorns have.” Nightshade raised an eyebrow, “And why are you doing this, Lightning?” Lightning Rod replied in a clearly annoyed tone, “As I’ve told you before, it’s Electro, and I’m only doing this so that I can access certain types of magic that normally I wouldn’t be able to use. Namely, control over certain electromagnetic wavelengths.” Nightshade sighed, “Li--Electro, isn’t there already technology for that? I mean, those scientist guys over at Canterlot Laboratories have literally been spewing out all sorts of crazy things. Take this for example,” She tossed a small cylinder from her saddlebag, “This is a special type of flashlight that can emit both infrared and ultraviolet waves at once, using the same semiconductor alloy as many other LEDs.” Lightning Rod caught the flashlight in his wing, “Yeah, I know that, it’s just that… well… I just wish that I was born a unicorn, so that I could truly feel what it’s like to have active magic flowing through me…” Nightshade raised an eyebrow, “You do have active magic flowing through you, earth ponies do too. Pegasi are the only race that can make cities out of clouds, and make the weather obey you, even fly! Just because you don’t have the particular magic of a unicorn doesn’t mean you aren’t magical. Earth ponies are as well, neither of our races are as strong, or have the ingrained talent to grow things so well. We all have our own special brand of magic.” “Yours is just the awesomest.” Nightshade shrugged as she turned to find Pinkie Pie in her face, as usual. “Hi!” chirped Pinkie happily, “Whatcha talking about?” Lightning Rod turned Nightshade back towards himself with a wing. “Shh…” he whispered, “I don’t want anyone else to know my plans.” Pinkie leaned in close, putting a leg around Nightshade’s shoulder. “Ooh, so we have a coltfriend here now, do we?” Nightshade face hoofed. “No, Pinkie. Lighting and I are simply talking about our plans for what we should do tonight.” Pinkie only grinned. “Ugh!” Groaned Lightning Rod. “You really could’ve said that in a less uh… suggestive manner…” Nightshade grinned as she got a wonderfully devious idea, “Oh, yes, Pinkie Pie, Lightning and I are most definitely a couple, so you should really plan a party to celebrate the occasion.” Pinkie’s face lit up, and she struck a salute. “Yes ma’am! One extra-large shipping party coming right up!” The pink mare disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Nightshade and Lightning Rod the peace that they had wanted. “So... “ began Lightning Rod, “About the plan… I think that we should meet up with the rest of the team at the-” Lightning was cut of by the fuzzy mane of the same mare that had been bugging him and Nightshade just a moment ago. “At the what?” said Pinkie, “I need to know exactly where the party’ll be!” “Right here, Pinkie, at Sugarcube Corner.” Nightshade quickly suggested. “Alright!” Chirped Pinkie, “I’ll get straight to it!” Pinkie once more vanished from sight, leaving Nightshade and Lightning Rod alone. “So as I was saying,” continued Lightning, “I think that we should meet with the rest of the team in my lab behind my house.” Nightshade cocked her head to the side. “Why?” Lightning held up a paper. “Well, it does have all my equipment, doesn’t it?” “Wait, so we’re still going on with that plan you were talking about earlier?” Nightshade said in confusion, “The one that’s supposed to grant you limited spellpowers?” “Exactly,” replied Lightning Rod, “I’ve already prepared it, anyways. What’s the point in wasting perfectly good potion ingredients?” Nightshade sighed. “Alright, let’s see what we can do.” The two left Sugarcube corner, leaving the usual tip for Pinkie’s hospitality. Just as they disappeared around the corner, Pinkie burst from the kitchen in an explosion of multicolored confetti. “PARTY TIME!!!” She yelled, ultimately grabbing the attention of the customers. Suddenly, she noticed that Nightshade and Lightning Rod weren’t there. “Huh,” she grumbled, “I wonder where they went.” Nightshade trailed Lightning Rod as they made their way to the familiar little shack behind Lighting’s house. Emblazoned across the shack in large, blue block letters, was ‘Electro’s Lab of Curiosities’. Lightning Rod stopped at the doorway to the shack, momentarily pausing to check his surroundings. “Um… Lightning… I mean, Electro, I have a question.” stated Nightshade. Lightning Rod turned and replied, “And I have an answer.” “Why does your lab have such a funny name? The last time we were here, it was just ‘Lightning-Lab’”. Lightning opened the door. “Eh, I just felt like it. I’ll probably change it again in a week or two.” The door lead to a short, spiraling staircase down into the ground. Obviously, the shack itself was far too small to actually hold an entire laboratory. As the two ponies descended into the lab’s main hallway, she was hit with the familiar, musty smell of old books and machinery. The two finally arrived in a small room filled with various boxes of chemicals. All around the room were centrifuges that seemed to never cease their movement. At the center of the room was a small table, piled to the top with dirty flasks and other items of the sort. Lightning picked up a small quartz vial that held a translucent, blue-green fluid. “Here it is,” he announced, “the unfinished potion. All I need is for you to cast a weak enchantment on it. This fluid is made from liquefied crystals, so it should be able to absorb any sort of magic you throw at it.” Nightshade eyed the mixture warily. “So you want me to just randomly zap it?” Lightning nodded. “Yeah. These specific crystals cancel out any spell effects, and only absorb the raw magic in and of itself. So… yeah, just zap the thing.” Nightshade nodded, and charged her horn. One brief moment of spellcasting later, the tonic began bubbling ferociously, as if in attempt to escape the vial altogether. Lightning began to raise the vial to his lips, before being stopped by Nightshade. A look of worry flashed in her eyes. “Are… are you sure that this is safe?” she asked. Lightning nodded again. “Of course this is safe.” Just before he sipped the vial, he whispered to himself, “I hope…”