//------------------------------// // Chapter 12: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Part 4 (Un-Edited) // Story: Equestria's Heir of Conduits // by Akuma Kazama //------------------------------// Past She lets out a small 'eep' and teleports out of his grip and appears next to him, but a few feets away, a heavy blush on her face at being carried by him, his face, very close to hers, she felt his hot breath touch her skin, to which cause her to shiver a bit as he looks at her a bit worry "hey, you okay?" he ask her, a bit worry for her, as she reacted like that and saw her face was really red. All he got from her was a nod as she turns around and starts walking into the cave that the hidden door lead them to "let's just continue forward" she said as she continues walking, without looking back at him, to which once more confuse him, but let it slide and follows after, going deeper into this hidden room 'wonder what we will find at the end...?' was Nightshade's only thought as he follows behind Midnight. Present As they continue walking down the path of the cave, Nightshade decided to try something small with his magic to which he was able to created a small ball of light that iluminated the hallway for them more to which they continue on. As they made it down the hallway, they made it to some kind of training room, there were some kind of obstacle course around, some large holes with only a few stepping stones in a way of crossing over, but as it looks like, it has been years, if not thousands of year without use or maintenance, so it was in ruins, yet as Nightshade looks on, he could see at the other end a door way to the next room. Both him and Midnight slowly walks around the room, looking around for anything else out of the ordinary, as they explore the room more, Midnight notice a small rock like crystal at the far end, radiating raw magic, she quickly points towards it, while getting Nightshade's attention "Nightshade! look over there!" she shouts out to him as he looks over to where she was poiting and see's the crystal 'its just like the one of before' he thought as he goes towards it, but soon notice that it was across the large hole, he looks towards the stepping stones, he could tell that one wrong step and he would fall. Nightshade looks around for anyway to cross till he notice to the far right, some floating platforms. He quickly went over to the platform and got ready to jump over to it and as he did, the platform started to glow and soon started to move, same with the other platforms around it, making him stumble a bit, but regain his balance as he looks at all the moving platforms now. Meanwhile Midnight was in another part of the room, looking through some old tome's and books that were still intact till she felt the room shake, she looks over to the source, causing her eyes to widen as she saw Nightshade on a floating platform as more floated around him, turning it into an obstacle course, she put down the tome in hand and runs towards Nightshade till she notice, some kind of force field, blocking her any access and could only watch as Nightshade got ready for the course. Nightshade got into a running position to which he went off, once near the edge, he use Flash Step and appaer on the first platform, to which it shook a bit and soon it started to move, making him stagger a bit. As Nightshade got his balance back, he looks around for the next platform to move forward to the crystal, he notice a floating pillar, slowly spinning around and across from the pillar was the next platform, he took a deep breath, a plan slowly forming in his mind to go for the next platform. He jumps forward, using Flash Step to close the distance and landing on the spinning platform, he had to hold on to the pillar, trying to regain his balance from the moving pillar, after he regain a bit of balance, he ran towards the platform, making sure to time it right, as he made it to the end of the pillar, he jumps off and does the Flash Step once more, making it to the platform, but as he landed on the platform, it suddenly started to shake, soon shooting upwards, causing Nightshade to get into a kneeling position from the force of the movement. He grunts at the discomfort and started to the edge as he looks up, seeing he was reaching the ceiling and if he didn't move, it will hurt, so with a new found strenght, he push forward and soon started to free fall as the platform smash into the ceiling, he saw the next platform and a few pillars around it, going up and down, as he reaches one of the pillars, he let his chain loose and wrap it around the pillar as he then grabs the other end of the chain, soon stopping his fall and securing himself on the pillar, but he knew he had to move, so he started to think of a plan. He let the chains loosen a bit as he started to slide down the pillar, as he made it to the bottom, he twisted his body around, making him spin a few times, till he let go and flew off towards the platform as it started to go down, as he got near it, the platform suddenly shot up, making him miss the land, but he acted quickly and grabbed onto the ledge of the platform, following the platform up. As the platform continue going up, Nightshade was able to see the last platform near the crystal, to which he gave a mental grin and lets go of the platform as it smashes into the ceiling as he started to free fall towards the last platform, focusing magic around him, to which soon, launches him forward as a pair of etheral wings appaer over his back, giving a mighty flap of his wings, pushing him foward. As he made it to the platform, it gave a slight shake, but it didn't budge, so he slowly walks towards the crystal, grabbing it and gives it a slight tug, but it didn't budge, so he gave it another pull, but is still didn't budge, making his eyes narrowed as he gave one more hard pull, pulling it out as he started to absorb the magic of the crystal, overcharging him with magic as a new ability. As the vision came to his mind, he once more saw the human, falling off a cliff, holding a small filly in his arms as he charges up magic in his left hand and launches it up to the edge of the cliff, a long, light blue string of magic flew out of his hand and latches to the edge of the cliff, soon pulling him and the filly up, soon launching a few more to get to the top, reaching it and getting the filly to safety and to her worried mother, giving them a small smile, as the vision faded, Nightshade looks up in time to notice that the platform, started to fall, he focus magic to his right hand and launches it upward, attaching it to the wall and soon pulling himself up, he jumps off the wall and throws another Magical Tether, as he dubbed it, pulling himself to the next platform, as each one started to fall and for each one, he would swing to the next one, slowly making it over to Midnight, who was wide eyed in shock and awe with a bit of worry in her eyes. He launch one more Magical Tether to the edge of the cliff side of where Midnight was on, pulling himself forward and grabbing to the ledge, snapping Midnight out of it and soon, helping Nightshade up, just as the whole area fell down, all the platforms and pillars, falling deeper and deeper into the hole, soon vanishing from sight. As Nightshade got up, he gave Midnight a grateful look with a small smile as he looks over to the side, seeing that the door way was still there, he looks over to Midnight and smiles at her as he wraps an arm, around her waist, getting an eep from the mare and a blush as he said "hold on tight" to which she nodded her head and did what she was told as he focus a lot of magic on his right hand, getting ready to launch a Magical Tether. Once he had her secure, he launch a Magical Tether, across the room and towards the door, once it latch to the wall next to the door, he gave a small tug and soon they were pull towards it, causing also for Midnight to let out a shout in surprise as she holds on to Nightshade as they flew over the large hole and towards the doorway. Once they made it inside the hallway, Nightshade let go of Midnight - who felt a bit sad he let go, but didn't show it - who smile at him as they both started to walk down the hallway, Nightshade could feel some kind of energy at the end of the hall, like something was calling out to him, but he didn't know what it was, but as they made it to the end, they enter some kind of altar room, cause in the middle of the room was a strange looking altar that held some kind of belt with multiple crystal and a strange wrist band with a larger crystal on it, Nightshade walks closer to it and saw that the crystal look the same. Nightshade walks over to it and went to grab it, but as he touches it, he felt a sudden surge of energy enter his system, follow by a sudden vision, on how it works and something else, as the vision went away, he shook his head, his vision blurry, as he tries to shake the blurriness off, he heard another voice, that he hasn't heard before, right in front of him "huh, so your my new heir to all conduits? well got to say, am a bit impress by your skills" said the male voice, as Nightshade clear his vision, he looks towards the voice, causing his eyes to widen, he saw this figure once and it was when he unlock his magic abilities in his fight with Midnight when she was Nightmare Moon, standing in front of him was the first conduit in all of Equestria, Delsin Rowe.