Nightshade: Into the Fire

by JustPonyboy

Chapter 10

Nightshade stared at the smoldering heap of metal as Celestia's guards kept air traffic away from the crash site. He had been holding his umbrella so that Ace stayed dry, he handed the alicorn his umbrella. Ace yawned, rubbing his eyes with the sleeve of his rubber raincoat. His boots and pants splattered with mud.

A younger stallion met Nightshade halfway to the site, he was about to speak, but Nightshade cut him off. "Was there anypony inside?"

"N-no, sir. There were some footprints and a discarded helmet but nothing else."

"Thank you. Keep the locals clear of the area, there's still a lot of smoke, and we don't want anypony getting hurt."

The guard nodded and took off. Nightshade motioned for Ace to come over, and the prince shivered as he followed Nightshade over to the crash, he felt bad for waking the boy up so early, but he needed him. Maybe Ace could shed some light on the situation they were looking at.

Nightshade grabbed the umbrella from Ace and pointed at the discarded helmet, it was coated with speckles of red. The glass was shattered and slowly filling with rainwater, "Ace, you think you can do that thing with this?"

He nodded with another small yawn, the focusing gem turned clear, and he placed a hand on Nightshade's shoulder. He felt his whole body go numb as he was frozen in place with Ace and a sharp shiver ran up his spine, he'd never get used to that. The world around them darkened as a blurry, illuminated afterimage showed up. They were see through, but visible.

The same deafening boom shattered the light patter of rain that seemed ever-present in the Everfree forest. A metal door, bent almost completely beyond recognition, skid across the ground covered in burns. From the smoldering source of the smoke arose a pony-shaped mass, it tumbled away from the wreckage and hunched over before forcefully ripping the helmet from its head, taking in a massive gasp of air. He flexed his wings a bit.

Nightshade took this moment to glance at the discarded door, he hadn't noticed it before.

"Holy... Holy shit!" his sweat-drenched mane covering half his face as he squinted at his surroundings, whipping his head around left and right trying to get a sense of where he could have ended up. "T-trees? Are they real? Maybe I landed on a farming colony or Mainland Earth pony colony?"

He coughed hard and gagged a bit.

"Alright, cowpony this isn't your first rodeo... And now I'm talking to myself, while I'm doing that might as well make a note to scuttle the ship and put some distance between it and I. Shit's beyond repair and the last thing I wanna do is get busted by the authorities, again."

He stripped down out of his flight suit and tossed it back into the ship as the fire was starting up again. All he had now been his black jumper, he quickly went through the pockets. In his breast pocket he found a strange pair of glasses, with a sigh he pocketed them. In another pocket, he found a butterfly knife-style energy cutter and a taser. The pony took off running before the wreckage exploded again.

Ace removed his hand and Nightshade looked perplexed.

"Well," Nightshade started as he hit a button on his communicator, "That answers what was inside. But not who or where they're from- "

That was when he spotted some words written on the side of the ship. It looked as if it were painted clean and clearly at one point, now scratched to hell and peeling. 'Pegasi Cluster Research.'

He held the button, "Computer, can you look for any disappearances? Namely, from the Pegasi Cluster Testing facilities?"

"Why do I have the feeling this isn't a random inquiry?"

---

"What do you mean, she requested me?"

Celestia marched down the hall with one of Luna's stone-faced guards.

"Ma'am, she refused to eat until she spoke to you. We thought it would be best to bring it to your attention, we could have handled it with force, but this seemed like the better choice."

It wasn't long before they were standing outside the rust-colored mare's cell. True to the guard's word, she sat with her tray of food pushed away from her. Her magic straight jacket hadn't restrained her, so the princess knew she hadn't tried to get physical. The cell didn't look so much like a cell, if you had taken away the bars it could function as a living space.

"It's come to my attention that you've decided you don't need to eat. Why is that?"

The mare's pale red eyes looked up at the princess with a smirk, "How else was I going to be able to speak to you? You wouldn't give me the time of day if I just asked nicely, I knew you'd listen to these boys."

"You have my attention."

"I don't want anything major." Her ears flicked mischievously, "I just want to attend the Gala. I've never been."

Celestia could feel it. That wasn't it.

"Something's going to happen at the Gala. You just want to be there, so you can escape."

The pony snickered, her overgrown mane brushing the floor as she sat down.

"Oh please. I have no plans on escaping. But you're right. Somethin's gonna happen, but the question is... Do you believe me?"

---

Ginger glanced out the window into the rainy night, he'd spent all day at home. After all, he had no need to attend the orchestra practices considering he wouldn't be playing after his recent episode last month. No matter how much he attended practice and socialized he couldn't get medical clearance, as of recent he'd only been attending solely for Octavia, but that was out the window now. She tried to call him, but he had no intention of speaking to her. Not yet. He couldn't, he might have been overreacting, but he was used to getting what he wanted. 'No' was not what he wanted to hear. He was entitled to everything he wanted, why wouldn't he?

There was a clap of thunder as the rain came down harder, Ginger forced himself out of his bed, grabbing his glasses off his nightstand. The only thing he could think about right now? That zap apple cider and strawberry ice cream in his fridge, it wasn't healthy, but he was an adult, and he'd be damned if anypony tell him what he can and can't eat. He entered his kitchen with the energy of a sloth as he flicked on the light and threw open the refrigerator, he grabbed what he came for and right as he was about to head to his room he heard three booming yet rhythmic knocks.

"Rain must be coming down something fierce-" He was interrupted by the knocking again.

"Hello? Is anyone home?"

A voice called from the direction of his front door, out of instinct he almost rushed upstairs to get dressed but stopped himself. What the hell am I doing? Somepony's stuck out in that storm and here I am worried about someone seeing my pajamas. He thought as he put his snacks down on the counter and ran over to the door. He opened it slowly.

A sandy brown pegasus stood with his wings spread over his head in an attempt to protect himself from the rain, it was a clear failure as his black mane was drenched, and his fur was soaked. With the black jumper he wore, Ginger imagined he was a ground worker or a plumber, maybe. He held a pair of waterlogged boots in his hand, and that's when Ginger realized he had taken off his shoes.

"Oh. Hello." The pegasus managed a smile as he was lashed with rain, "You're the first house that answered- You wouldn't mind if I- "

Ginger opened the door, shutting it after the stallion entered. "Not at all. I'll get you a towel."

Ginger rushed off to the bathroom, the stallion graciously accepted the towel and began to dry off his mane. Ginger just stared at him, at a closer glance he wasn't much bigger than Ginger. They made eye contact and Ginger averted his gaze.

"I have a shower if you'd prefer that."

"Sure." He carefully placed his wet boots down, "Lead on- wait. This is your house, right? I hope I didn't force some kid to let me in, if that's the case, I can wait outside until your parents get home- "

"This is my house. Come on, it's upstairs."

Within an hour, Ginger's new guest had showered and Ginger was laying out some blankets and pillows on his floor next to his bed. Ginger had also taken the liberty of hanging up the stallion's wet clothing and giving him an extra shirt and sweats. Ginger sat on his bed, while his guest sat in the makeshift one on the floor.

"Alright. My name is Ginger. I figured we might as well get acquainted, that storm looks like it might stick for a few days."

"My name's Hazel." Ginger felt his face glowing when the stallion's brown eyes rested on him. "You know, you really didn't have to lend me any of your clothes- "

"I have too many anyway."

"So... Is there a reason why you were gonna eat an entire tub of ice cream and a bottle of alcohol?"

Ginger looked ashamed for a moment before taking a swig straight from the bottle, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Are you sure? I won't judge, and we have plenty of time."

"It's kind of a long story... I don't want to bore a stranger with a story about myself, but if you insist- It started with an obsession, really..."