Nightshade: Into the Fire

by JustPonyboy

Chapter 7

Nightshade sighed as Pandora landed in the forest, despite what he told himself, there was no way he could truly prepare Ace for what they might see. He just hoped it wouldn't be a bloodbath. He stepped out into the thick forest, the canopy was so thick that there was barely any light streaming through. The unicorn sparked up his purple magic and illuminated as much as he could, Ace would just have to stay close to him.

"Computer," He spoke into the communicator, "How far out are we? Why didn't Pandora just land us near or inside the facility?"

"Well sir, she got a bad feeling," Computer's hologram displayed next to Nightshade as Ace trailed behind him looking at all the foliage in silent awe, "As far as the distance from the facility, the entrance should be through this next clearing. If-"

The hologram abruptly fizzled out. Something wasn't right and Nightshade could feel it, as they slowly entered the clearing all the noise and animals just seemed to fall silent. It was so quiet that Nightshade could faintly hear Ace's almost asthmatic breathing. Before him was a large fenced-off region with a small metal building in the center.

"How could anyone miss this? A big-ass clearing in the middle of the woods... Unless- "

"Luna used to teach me an illusion and labyrinth spells to ward off ponies or to contain them until guards arrive," Nightshade raised an eyebrow and Ace smiled weakly, "It was just in case somepony 'tried something' as she said."

"Right." Nightshade continued up to the fence, teleporting them inside the fence. "It could also be a perception filter, but that makes more sense. Alright, Vixen. You piqued my interest, now you have my undivided attention."

The two entered the building and Nightshade was unimpressed, it was a plain white room. In it seemed to be only a lone front desk, papers scattered all over the floor. Nightshade turned to see Ace keep looking around and concentrating.

"What? You hear something?"

"There's a draft," His hands lit up and the focusing gem on his forehead turned white as he gently pressed his hands against the wall, "Like there's some type of doorway or something..."

Nightshade was about to move Ace back from the wall when he remembered what happened last time, he stood back and watched as the young prince slowly ran his hands across the painted wall before suddenly pushing his hand forwards.

"I hit something!"

He waved a hand over the portion of the wall, and it revealed an elevator that sat open as if awaiting their entry, it made Nightshade's neck hairs stand on end. Nightshade entered first, Ace slowly stepped in, but the moment he cleared the threshold of the doors they slammed shut.

"Thank Celestia!" A voice came from an intercom somewhere in the elevator, There was a screen just above all the elevator buttons. There was a fuzzy image of a gray pony in a lab coat, her white mane looked wild. "I've been trying to get a hold of you for the last few days now, you're late."

"Whoa okay first off," Nightshade grew irate, "I'm not your personal superhero, I take orders from no pony. Secondly, who the fuck do you think you are? You better let us outta here before I come down there an-"

"This ISN'T about you, so shut up a second!" Her shout silenced Nightshade, "I'm not Doctor Vixen, she's dead. It's Lunar Agent Rita. Might know me as Ritz or Crackerjack- look, none of that matters until you can get me outta here. This place- I was given orders to shut this place down. Erase it. That went awry when Doc V decided to unleash her new pet on her colleagues... Too bad, her pet didn't think much of her. You would not believe the amount of evil shit these guys were doing- "

"You still haven't explained why you reached out for me- "

"I'm getting there..." She turned the camera towards a glowing chamber, "I'm stuck in the reactor room. The door jammed, and I can't get it open. I was supposed to overload it, but without those eggheads tending to it... It's starting to melt down. Has been since she released that hellhound, I don't know how many of those scientists are still alive but I... I have my orders. I don't want to die down here. The only pony who knows I'm here is Luna. If I survive this shit, I'm quitting. I can't do this anymore."

The camera turned back to Rita, who lay in the fetal position on the floor underneath a control panel.

"If you're stuck there and everyone's dead, then who's controlling the lift?"

"I don't know, why?"

The elevator suddenly dropped, Nightshade left the floor and hit face-first into the ceiling. The video feed disconnected as the elevator began a free-fall.

"SHIT SHIT SHIT!"

Ace clapped his hands together and held his breath as he hit the roof and suddenly the elevator stopped, throwing them both to the floor. The focusing gem turned translucent. It let out a distorted ding as the doors struggled to open, Nightshade pried them open, tossing Ace out. He leaped and cleared the doorway just as the elevator fell again, ten seconds passed before he heard a deafening crash. If Ace hadn't stopped the lift, if he wasn't here, I would have- Nightshade shook his head as he tried not to think about what might have happened. Thank fuck for that focusing gem.

"I guess there's no turning back now..." Ace whispered.

Nightshade carefully helped Ace off the floor and looked around, a sign near the empty elevator shaft read 'Floor 7 - Offices'. Nightshade sighed, he didn't know how many floors this facility had, and worse off he had to protect Ace. Yeah, protect the kid who's saved my ass twice now. Then again it was really because of the gem...

"You okay Ace?" Ace nodded and that was good enough for Nightshade as he awkwardly grabbed his hand and the prince raised an eyebrow, "Don't make that face, I'm doing this so we stay together. Based on what Rita said and what Computer told me, it isn't safe."

They walked away from the elevator and through the lobby leading them directly into a giant office space, cubicles and all. Only portions of the room seemed to be lit up, in the areas that were illuminated Nightshade could see cubicles splattered in blood and viscera. The smell almost made him gag, Ace was covering his nose with his elbow. Oh shit. They carefully made their way into the office, Nightshade constantly scanning the tops of the sections for any movement. Why didn't I bring a gun? Note to self, always carry just in case.

Nightshade froze as he heard a noise, it was quiet at first. A series of seemingly random clicks but it sounded gargled and strained, like whatever was making it couldn't breathe properly. Then it rounded the corner of one cubicle. A bipedal figure wearing the tattered remains of a button-up shirt and faded black pants, there was no fur remaining on the exposed parts of its body only bloody bubbled up the skin. It had no eyes, just blackened cavities where they should have been. Nightshade caught the terrified look in Ace's eyes and clamped his hand over Ace's mouth but not before a small squeak escaped his lips. The pony, if one could even call it that at this point, snapped its head in their direction wheezing and groaning aggressively as it slowly lumbered towards them. Nightshade tensed as it approached, looking back at Ace holding a finger to his own lips as he uncovered Ace's mouth. Nightshade held his breath as it walked closer, the smell intensifying. It smelled of rot, death, and...

Magic burn residue?

The two stayed still and held their breath until it blindly wandered all the way down towards the lobby. Nightshade looked at Ace, the boy had tears in his eyes. Ace suddenly pressed his thumbs against Nightshade's temples and left the charcoal unicorn with a mild headache.

"Sorry, it was the only way I could cast it." Ace's voice sounded clearly in Nightshade's head despite his lips never moving. "It's a telepathy spell. I thought it might be helpful... I still haven't worked out all the kinks though-"

"I... Think... Whoa, that's freaky," He thought able to slightly hear his own voice echo in his head, "Alright, we need to get down to the reactor floor. That, without a doubt, is more than likely the bottom floor. That monster that we just saw- "

"I could sense its pain... And the smell... The horrible smell, maybe we can help-"

Nightshade saw Ace getting misty-eyed and he put a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"As much as I'd like to see if there was a way to save them there isn't time. That reactor is boiling and I want to at least save one life... As I said, this place must be crawling with them. Not to mention the runaway experiment. It seems like they only respond to sound. With any luck, we can reach the reactor, without killing anypony, save our trapped agent and make sure this place and whatever evil shit went on here never sees the light of day. Then I need to have a serious talk to Celestia about what we saw here."

"Mom won't be too happy you brought me here- "

"She won't be if you don't tell her," Ace's eyes widened at the thought, "It'll be our secret, but right now we gotta move. Rita's time is running out."

Nightshade grabbed Ace's hand again as they began to creep through the desolate office dodging the occasional stumbling monstrosity, they were nearing the stairwell when Nightshade spotted a light. It flickered repeatedly until he turned to look at it. It began to flash seemingly randomly until he recognized the pattern, it was an SOS. The two darted over to the stairwell door and it swung open, they entered and the scientist behind it softly closed it.

"Finally they sent a rescue for us. I was beginning to think nobody was coming." Nightshade glared at the pony, he was one of the ones who caused this.

Nightshade found trouble moving his mouth but once he did he spoke softly, "Listen we need to get down to the reactor, do we need special clearance?"

The scientist looked taken aback, "R-reactor? Why would you need to go there? We need to get out- "

"Listen, we have an HVI we're meant to extract you can come with us down to the reactor or give us the clearance so we can leave once we have our primary target. No matter what we still have to get our HVI before me or my associate can leave."

"Fine," He took off his ID card, "This should get you down there but hurry, I don't want Cerberus to find us."

Nightshade took the card, contemplating asking the question before deciding to just descend the stairs.

"We aren't actually saving him, right? He's one of the bad guys right," Ace's voice resonated in Nightshade's head.

"No. We aren't he doesn't care about the lives lost here, Rita was trying to prevent all of this. Until we get her out of here and destroy this place... Nothing else really matters. Okay?"

They both flinched at a roar somewhere deep in the bowels of the facility, this was getting dicier and dicier as they continued. Nightshade began to hurry down the stairs, they cleared about three floors when an explosion rocked the stairwell. A fierce blaze started below with an earthshattering rumble Nightshade momentarily let go of Ace's hand to brace himself on a door before realizing his mistake. The landing for the next few floors of the stairs was missing and Ace tumbled down the stairs, falling into the smoke. Nightshade caught a glimpse of the gem turning solid gold as the prince vanished below, yet he didn't hear a sickening thud or any hint of injury.

"I'm- I'm okay! The smoke's really thick though, I don't think it'd be safe to fly through."

"Fuck." Nightshade slipped in the door he was standing next to. 'Testing Lab'. "Ace? Keep going down, stay hidden. I'll meet you down there. Just my fucking luck, huh?"

He stared into the maze of animal cages and small test containers. This was not gonna be fun. Nightshade crept through the lab, glass crunching under his hooves. He tried to cast a light spell but it fizzled out before the magic left his body. Right. Not as strong as his. Fuck. A roar sounded somewhere inside the labs, he hurried over to the nearest lab table and began rummaging through the drawers.

"Come on, come on. You idiots gotta have something," He grabbed two bottles that were half empty. A dead scientist lay on the floor and he gagged as he tore a bit of fabric off of the lab coat and wrapped it over his mouth, "You don't need it anymore. I hope this works."

He felt heavy stomps entering the lab and ducked under the desk with the concoction still clutched in his hands, he pushed up his glasses with his wrist and steadied his breath as he sensed something enter the room.

A thud.

Get closer.

Deafening boom.

Come on.

The third step vibrated the floor right next to Nightshade, he shot out from his hiding place throwing the bottle in the air using. He focused his magic and the bottle shattered in the thing's face as he put distance between them. Nightshade finally took a good look at the creature. It was a freakishly large dog, he didn't think much of it until it turned around. It had six glowing red eyes and a mouth full of bloody razor-sharp teeth. Its skin blackened to the color of obsidian, he could see tubes hanging out from various parts of the body as he thought.

Whoever this doctor was, she didn't finish her work... This was ongoing experimentation.

Nightshade's mind swam the longer he looked at it, it was just filling his mind with fear with only one word.

Run.

He flipped over a lab table and took off, knocking down the stacked up empty cages that lined the walls. He charged through a pair of plastic flap doors, a pair of metal doors shut behind as well as ahead of him locking him in the strange small hallway. Hoses pointed out from opposites walls and a mist began to spray over him gently, it smelled clean and if it was toxic, well he would've been dead already.

He almost relaxed when the door behind him caved inwards slightly, Oh fuck fuck fuck.

He ran to the door ahead of him and began to pry it open with the weak assistance of his magic. I'm not gonna die here!

Once he got it open just enough he slipped through and he caught a glimpse of the experiment bursting a claw though the other doors as it slammed back shut. With his new headstart, he darted through the seemingly neverending labyrinth of laboratory catching only remnants of what horrors took place.

He cleared a set of doors and looked around, A lobby! That must mean... He looked and there was the elevator shaft, empty. He hatched an idea as he ripped the sleeve off of his shirt. Oh, Rarity is gonna have my ass for this. He leaned out into the shaft, the metal rods were still there even though the elevator had fallen!

There was a distant roar and a massive crunch of metal, Now or never Valentine...

He wrapped the bits of the sleeve around the palms of his hands before jumping out and grabbing the elevator cord, he began his slow descent with a sigh of relief as he heard the hell hound's steps fade. What the fuck were these guys doing here?

---

Nightshade felt dizzy as there was a strange thrumming he could feel in the air, the air felt electric. His hooves gently made contact with the roof of the fallen elevator. How they were going to get out was another issue he would worry about, he hoped Ace didn't run into the monsters or worse the hound. He lowered himself into the partially collapsed elevator and entered the doors, 'Reactor Control' read the faded red paint on the wall.

He jogged down the hall, following the directions on the walls until he came across the reactor control room. The door was bent inward and there was rubble scattered around the door, through the glass on the door he could see Rita passed out on the floor and- Ace! Ace sat on the floor next to the agent covered from head to toe in soot and dust under the control panel. He picked up a bit of concrete that was on the floor and smashed it in the window.

"Here's Valentine," He stuck his head in an attempt to lighten the mood. He stepped in and Ace wrapped him up in a hug, "Calm down kid, it was nothin' I couldn't handle."

"She won't wake up," Ace stated quietly, "She's breathing but- I crawled through some vents to get here, there was smoke everywhere."

"She'll be alright. We just need to overload the reactor- "

There was a bang and Nightshade held his arm up defensively before he was thrown to the floor, his left arm felt completely numb. "What- What the fuck?"

Ace stared in silent horror and the gem began to light up as he reached for Nightshade, "Let me help you- "

Nightshade's mind kicked into overdrive, "N-no! Don't! I'll be fine. Shut off the coolant valves, that should give us enough time- "

The gem flashed a defiant white as Ace's wings spread wide, "Okay I think- "

Everything went white.

---

Nightshade jolted awake the moment his head hit Pandora's metal floor, he turned his head and thought he saw Ace with a glowing halo and a white aura trailing him before the prince collapsed onto the floor.

Nightshade fought to sit up but Computer restrained him, "Calm down Nightshade. He'll be alright, but I need to fix you up stat."

"What happened?"

"Ace... Well, I'm not even sure if it was 100% him, he carried you and Rita out of the facility. The explosion was something else, I should've taken a video. Just know it's done. We did it. Now do me a favor and sleep."

When he awoke again there was a dull pain in his arm, he glanced down at his left only to see a metal replacement. He was in Pandora's medbay, the bed was just as uncomfortable as he remembered. Computer stood by with a somber look.

"I'm sorry, there was too much damage to recover your arm... Even for me. As morbid as it sounds, I've been ready for just such an occasion. You should experience no feeling of disconnect between the limb and your body. I've taken the liberty of dropping Ace off at the manor and left Rita in Luna's care."

Nights frowned.

Nightshade stared at the arm as he flexed his new fingers, "Hopefully we can make this look like it isn't a metal arm?"

"I'm already way ahead of you. But Ace already knows, I'm afraid."

There was a long silence, judging on how Ace reacted after that explosion he could only wonder what the kid thought.

"How'd he react?"

Computer facepalmed, "Something along the lines of- 'Wow! Does he have a robot arm? He's like the part you now!'"

Nightshade laughed and laid back on the bed. Computer began to walk out, "Yep, that's Ace for ya. Oh, one last thing Computer?"

"Yes sir- " He turned and rolled his eyes as he was met with Nightshade flipping him the bird with a devilish smile, "I swear, you get a new prosthetic and that's the first thing you do? I'll apply the covering when we land."

"I love you too!" Nightshade called after him as he walked out. "Fuck... Rarity's still gonna beat my ass over that shirt, it was silk too..."

Pandora rumbled slightly.

"Okay, that one was pretty funny."