The Rise of Nightshade

by Brickbrock24

Chapter 4: Nightshade's Sister

The Rise of Nightshade
By: Brickbrock24

Chapter 4

Spike sat in his cold cramped cage, alone and afraid. his ears ringing with the boisterous shouts of the malevolent army outside the tent. His stomach growled fiercely at him, begging for nourishment. His body still ached from the heartless punishments from his captors. Smith prayed to Celestia that Twilight Sparkle and her friends were not suffering as much as he was at the hoof of Nightshade. He looked up and saw Nightshade’s hefty and wealthy friend Sponduli Moolalli enter the tent. In his mouth, he carried a plate with a bunch of cheese slices with little red chunks embedded in them.

“Bonsoir, mon petit ami!” he said, setting the cheese plate down on a large supply crate. Sponduli picked up a slice of cheese and teasingly waved it in front of Spike, “You want zee nice, tasty cheese? Do you, hm? Mmmmmmmm… Sharp cheddar with habanero bits in it. I know you’d gladly kill your best friend for some of zis quality cuisine. Care for a slice?”

“Y-yes, please,” said Spike, his mouth becoming a flood-zone at the sight of the food. The look and smell of Sponduli’s cheese slices were painfully tantalizing to Spike. If his arms were just a little longer, he’d be able to reach the slice that the gluttonous entrepreneur waved in front of him.

“Well, too bad!” shouted Sponduli, “None for you and all for me!” He scarfed down the habanero cheddar cheese in front of Spike like a savage animal. Sponduli reached to his cheese tray and grabbed half a dozen more slices and stuffed them into his mouth in a way that got stains all over his face and mouth. He looked at the face of the famished, now angry dragon and chortled.

“You’ll pay for that, fatso!” yelled Spike in a fit of rage, “If I weren’t in this cage, I’d teach you some manners!”

“Oh, put a sock in it, you little prole!” said Sponduli, his mouth still stuffed with cheddar, “Zee metal zat your cage eez made of eez impervious to any flames zat you, petit enfant, could ever hope to spew. Zee chances of you escaping ‘ere are about as slim as zee chances of anypony beating Nightshade at a game of chess. Even if you did miraculously get out of zere somehow, mes amis and Nightshade’s army would recapture you faster zan you can say ‘cornucopia’ and you’d be back to square one.” Sponduli ended his criticism and grabbed a slice of cheese from his plate. He waved it in front of Spike and resumed his cruel teasing, “Now come on, petit garçon, try to grab zee gourmet cheese! I can ‘ear your stomach making zee rumblies!”

“Sponduli! Stop teasing him!” said a soft, but firm voice from the other side of the tent. Another pony, a unicorn, had walked into the tent and judging by the look on her face, Spike could tell she was quite cross with her blubbery friend. The unicorn herself was about the same height as the unusually short and stout Sponduli Moolalli. Her coat was marshmallow white, much like Rarity; but her quiet voice reminded Spike more of Fluttershy. Though, she definitely was not as shy as her. Her eyes were blue, just like Fluttershy’s eyes. Her mane and tail were the same intimidating crimson color as Nightshade, both of which weren’t styled in any particular way. She wore a small flower barrette in her hair that had a tiny malicite crystal in the center. Her cutie mark was a yellow helenium flower.

The white unicorn approached Spike’s cage. She knelt down and spoke in a soft, non threatening voice,

“Hi, little dragon. My name’s Zinnia, what’s yours?”

“Spike...”

“It’s really nice to meet you, Spike. Aww, you must be starving! Here, have a ruby.” Zinnia levitated medium-sized ruby over to Spike, who wolfed it down as if he had never eaten a meal in his life.

“Aw, way to be a buzzkill, Zinnia!” moaned Sponduli, taking another bite of habanero cheddar, “You know, your brother’s not going to be too pleased with your unauthorized feeding of Twilight Sparkle’s pet.” That comment made Spike want to sock Sponduli Moolalli right in his nose. Twilight thought of him as far more than just a pet.

“Well, I’m not letting my brothers torment this little guy any longer!” shouted Zinnia in a stern voice, which caught Sponduli Moolalli off guard, “None of what my brothers are doing is right! For the past two years, Nightie and Sky Blade have been doing nothing but ruining ponies lives by the thousands and plotting to plunge Equestria into darkness! Why Sponduli?! Why are you funding this atrocity?!”

Sponduli didn’t know what to say. It didn’t matter because seconds after Zinnia was up in his face, she was on the verge of bursting into tears,

“Nightie…” she mumbled, trying to hold back the deluge, “What did he do to you? You’d never be this cruel to anypony, not even on your worst day…”

“Well, you’d better believe it!” said Spike, “What would your parents say if they saw what your brothers were doing?” Spike failed to notice Sponduli trying to signal Spike to stop talking with weird gestures, “I mean, they’d probably give that freaky-eyed ketchup head spankings and-”

“And what, exactly, you scaly whelp?” said an ominous, unmistakable voice. Zinnia turned and saw that her brother Nightshade had entered the tent. By the look on his face and the bags under his eyes; Spike, Sponduli, and Zinnia could tell he was fit to be tied, “Go on, let’s hear the end of your hilarious story that desecrates my family’s name! As if my week wasn’t bad enough already!” To the left of Prince Nightshade stood Sky Blade. The way he stood and walked on his back legs like Spike did made him large and intimidating with his magnificent green mythril armor and his sheathed broadsword. Spike didn’t recognize the pony to the right of Nightshade. One of the first things he noticed about him was, aside from some of the things he wore, that he lacked any kind of natural color whatsoever. His coat was a light ash color, his smooth, spiky mane was a darker shade of grey, and his eyes were a lighter, almost silvery, shade of grey. He wore a dark navy blue bandit mask that had two diamond shaped malicite crystals sewn into each side near his ears. The colorless pony wore a black rubbery jumpsuit that looked like a lightning proof suit used by pegasus racers. Over the black jumpsuit, he wore a white buttoned shirt with long, slightly wide sleeves that looked like they could conceal things. Along with a green scarf, the pony also wore a belt that wrapped around his shirt like a sash that had many pieces of small, sharp, and slender metal pieces in the little pockets on the belt. The pony walked with Nightshade in a powerful, smug, and threatening manner and seemed to not have any kind of emotion on his face whatsoever.

“Nightie, you look terrible,” said Zinnia with concern, “Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright!” snapped Nightshade, his harsh tone stung his sister like a bee, “Ever since that bibliomaniac alicorn and her friends stole my box of mementos, I’ve been in such a black mood! I can’t sleep a wink without my doll, Snowball!”

Spike snickered at the fact that Prince Nightshade still slept with a doll, but he didn’t do a good job hiding it. Nightshade snarled and savagely shocked Spike with a painful bolt of dark magic.

“What have you got against dolls, scrub?” said Nightshade, “There’s nothing wrong with it! Besides, I could be making fun of what you do while you saw logs. I can hear you you mumbling in your sleep, “Oh, Rarity, please go to the prom with me!”” a flush of embarrassment shone on Spike’s face as Prince Nightshade rattled off more quotes, “”Oh, Rarity, I’m having such a wonderful time slow dancing with you! Kiss me, baby, kiss me right now! Let’s get married and live in gingerbread house together! Swear not upon the moon about our love!” I mean honestly, child, do you really think you have a shot with that foppish marshmallow? I’ll eradicate your dream by crushing your crush tomorrow, little dragon, when I claim Canterlot in the name of Prince Nightshade, Equestrian lord of the Nightmare Legion! Then I’ll celebrate my victory with a Nightmare Night themed dance party! Hehehe… I love that song! It’s my favorite of all time!”

“Not to mention you’ll be crushing your crush tomorrow, Nightshade...” murmured Sponduli under his breath.

“If you lay one hoof on Rarity,” threatened Spike, clutching the bars of his cage, “I’ll-”

“You’ll what?” laughed Prince Nightshade, “Try to harm me with more empty threats? If I didn’t need you for what I have planned, I wouldn’t hesitate to flip a coin to decide how I’d execute you: my brother, Sky Blade, lopping off your head or Roger using you for target practice. Or maybe I’d turn you into a living bomb and launch you into Canterlot via catapult seconds before you detonate! Now zip your lip or your owner’s gonna have to rename you ‘Mangle’!”

“Nightie…” said Zinnia, trembling as she summoned the courage to speak up, “Please stop it…”

“I don’t want to hear it, Zinnia!” Nightshade yelled, causing his sister to cower into a corner and become even more tremulous than before. It was becoming harder for Zinnia to hold back her tears, her brother’s foul attitude pierced her heart like a knife. Nightshade turned to Sponduli, “Gimmie one of those cheese slices!” he said as he snatched a slice of habanero cheddar from the plate.

“Oh non, non! Don’t eat zat, Nightshade!” shouted Sponduli, “Zat fromage ‘as-” But it was too late, Nightshade popped the cheese into his mouth and chewed it up vigorously. Suddenly, Nightshade began to sweat bullets and pant like a dog on a hot day.

“Aaaaah! It BURNS!! My mouth is on fire!!” he screamed as the spice pounded his tongue without mercy, “Quick, somepony, get me milk! GET ME MILK!! THAT IS AN ORDER!!” About 30 seconds later, a Darkling who had heard Prince Nightshade’s cries burst into the tent with a tall frosty glass of milk on platter. Nightshade quickly took the glass from the soldier and chugged the down the milk. He gasped for breath for a moment and then turned to Sponduli with anger, “Why in the hay didn’t you tell me there were habanero peppers in the cheese?! You know I hate spicy foods!”

“I tried to warn you, mon ami, but you would not listen!” said Sponduli defensively, “It’s strange, you’re usually not zis impulsive, Nightshade.”

“Vot you say about my brother, comrade?!” said Sky Blade, who decided to speak up. He held his hoof onto the hilt of his sword in a threatening manner.

“Leave him alone, you two!” said Zinnia, “It’s not his fault!” Nightshade looked daggers at his sister for a moment. Then, he turned to Sponduli,

“Please exit the tent, Sponduli,” he said to his fat friend.

“Pourquoi? Ce que j'ai fait?” asked Sponduli Moolalli.

“Don’t worry, you haven’t done anything wrong, my friend,” assured Nightshade, “But I’d like you to leave the tent, please.”

“But I do not want to leave, Nightshade!” Nightshade stared directly into Sponduli’s eyes. Suddenly, his honey-colored scleras began to glow ominously. Nightshade took a step towards his wealthy friend and said,

“Yes, you do want to leave this tent.” Sponduli Moolalli’s pupils suddenly became wider. He stared blankly back at Prince Nightshade as he responded in a droning voice,

“I do want to exit zee tent…”

“You have other things that you must do today.”

“I ‘ave other things zat I must do today…”

“You will take your leave now.”

“I will take my leave now…” Sponduli picked up his cheese tray and walked out of the tent in his hypnotized state of mind.

“What in the world did you do to him?!” asked Spike, both amazed and horrified by what he had just witnessed.

“I see some of Twilight Sparkle’s curiosity has rubbed off on you, whelp,” said Nightshade, turning to face his prisoner, “My eyes have many powers, little dragon. Powers that are beyond your understanding. You see, I-”

“Prince Nightshade!” shouted a Darkling unicorn as she suddenly came into the tent, “We’re having some technical difficulties assembling the weapon code-named: “Bucephalus”.”

Nightshade sighed, “Ugh, I told you idiots a thousand times already, it’s “Righty-Tighty! Lefty-Loosey!” Do I seriously need to hold your hoof with everything?!”

“There’s no need to blow a fuse, Nightie!” said Zinnia.

“Shut up!” shouted Nightshade to his sister. He turned back to the Darkling, “Is there anything else that you wanted to tell me?”

“Yes, my lord,” answered the soldier, ”Tunneling progress is about eighty-six percent complete at this point and should be completed during tomorrow’s siege. Hitchcolt has perfected the Dark Ooze. It has successfully transformed an Earth pony we captured into a perfect Darkling. Your army eagerly awaits your orders and will not rest until we have taken Celestia’s great city!”

“Excellent, you are dismissed,” said Nightshade. The Darkling saluted and turned to exit the tent. Nightshade turned to Zinnia and shot her down with a fierce glare, “Why, Zinnia? Why do you not support my efforts to cleanse the injustice that the pathetic followers of Celestia have plagued upon this realm? Do you not love me anymore?”

“You’re not going to cleanse Equestria, you’re going to obliterate it!” shouted Zinnia, she suddenly had the courage to stand her ground, “And of course I love you, Nightie! I can’t believe I have to say it! But this isn’t you! That dark magic is corrupting your mind!”

“Lies, Zinnia! All lies!!” screamed Nightshade. Spike noticed that Sky Blade and Roger were stepping back to give the two ponies room. “Why do you continue to defend the ungrateful mules of this ungrateful realm, Zinnia?! Why?! Don’t you remember what they did to me?! To our home?!” Sadness suddenly mixed into Nightshade’s tone, “...To Mom and Dad?” Nightshade paused for a moment and watched the memory of his parents tug on Zinnia’s and even Sky Blade’s heart strings. He continued, choking up a bit, “How could you defend the ponies who constantly made fun of my eyes?! How could you defend the ponies who started horrible rumors about me?! How could you defend the ponies that would constantly tease us because we didn’t have our cutie marks?! Do you not remember the bullies who would hunt me down and beat me nearly half to death?!”

“Nightie… I…”

“Our lives were stolen from us Zinnia! Our house went up in flames because of Celestia’s bumbling goons! They made up some stupid excuse to hunt us down and we had to go off the grid! We had to eat rats, Zinnia! I’m fighting for you, Zinnia! For all of us! I want Equestria to know what it means to suffer! Everypony will pay for the pain they made my family endure!”

“But that isn’t the answer, Nightie!” Zinnia protested, “You can’t keep dwelling on the past like this! That malevolent magic is manipulating you, Nightie! It’s turning you into a monster!”

“I will not stand here and listen to you criticize me, Zinnia!” yelled Nightshade, his face was redder than a beet, “Quit defying me!”

“No! I can’t even call you “Nightshade” anymore! You’re no better than those bullies who used to beat you up!”

“What did you just say to me?!”

“You’re a monster who enslaves ponies and turns them into monsters!”

Then, out of the blue, Nightshade was greeted by another painful headache. Purple lightning coursed around his head as he clutched it in pain. Nightshade’s anger and the corruptive magic in his body took hold of his mind. He spun around and struck Zinnia with a powerful kick from his hind legs. Sky Blade and Roger, who had just been standing near the entrance of the tent, suddenly sprang into action. They pulled Nightshade away from Zinnia and pinned him to the ground.

“Are you insane, brother?!” yelled Sky Blade in disbelief as he struggled to keep his squirming brother down, “Vot’s gotten into to you?! Do you know vot you just did?!” Nightshade answered, but the voice that came out was not the one belonging to the the crimson-maned Earth pony. It was the ominous demonic voice that mixed in with Nightshade’s normal voice three nights ago,

“Ahahahaha! Of course I do, you sniveling oaf! Obedience comes with a stiff penalty, especially for my sister! But who cares about her? I mean, if she won’t support me and help me teach Equestria a lesson, why should I keep her alive? Aaaaah! Destruction! Sweet, sweet destruction! Canterlot will burn and Equestria will be consumed by darkness! The Dark One will be pleased! Yes! YES!! I must help sustinate him! Ahahahahaha!! More malicite! Precious malicite, the seeds of evil!! It must be spread!! The Dark Ooze must spread, too! Break into the Weather Factory… and inject it into clouds! The history of Equestria’s final moments will be written with the blood of equines! Long live the Nightmare Legion!! Nyahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!”

The violent purple lightning suddenly disappeared from around Nightshade’s head and the sinister demonic voice had vanished.

“Sky Blade…” said Nightshade, his voice was all of a sudden sickly and hoarse, “My head… it feels like it’s on fire…”

“Nyet, Nightshade!” screamed Sky Blade, shaking his brother with concern, “Ve have battle tomorrow! You can’t get sick!” Nightshade wasn’t really listening to Sky Blade. He seemed to be lost in his own world,

“Mommy…” he muttered, “Daddy… H-help… me… I m-must… protect… what little… I h-have… left…” After uttering those words, Nightshade fell unconscious on the tent floor.

“Aw, mother Equestria! He’s out cold! I hope he vakes up by tomorrow evening!” said Sky Blade, panic was now flooding his mind, “I’ve got to get little brother to his bed!” he turned to Roger, “Comrade Roger, help Zinnia get back up on hooves!” Sky Blade went back on all-fours and threw Nightshade’s unconscious body on his back. He exited the tent yelling, “Move! Move! Make a hole! The prince is down! I’ve got to put hustle to muscle to get him to his room! Get me some doctors over here!”

Roger went over to Zinnia and extended his hoof to help her up. But Zinnia wouldn’t take it. She just laid on the floor, sobbing a monsoon out of her eyes. From his cage, Spike could hear her utter,

“Nightie… Why…”

After witnessing these events, Spike prayed to Celestia that Twilight Sparkle and her friends would be able to thwart Prince Nightshade’s destructive plans for Equestria.

Author's Note:

What will the outcome of Nightshade's inevitable siege of Canterlot be?

Stay tuned for the next chapter and find out!