The door closed behind Madame Nightshade, and she was surrounded by the sounds and scents of nature. Blinking, she squinted into an emerald glade. Leaves danced on luscious branches overhead, breaking the bands of light shimmering down. Birds darted left and right, their singing voices echoing across the banks of the forest.
Ahead of her, about twenty feet away, stood a pedestal with a glowing crystal. Just beyond the pedestal was a soft bed of flowers. A frail body lay limply there, his soft, slumbering expression aimed towards the heavens beyond the rustling leaves.
With a deep breath, Nightshade trotted forward. Butterflies and aphids scattered from her approaching hooves. The branches on either side of her swayed, although there was no wind.
When she finally reached the bed, her pace slowed. There was a rhythmic chirping noise, out of sync with the rest of the songbirds flutterying about. Nightshade came to a stop before the pedestal. She raised her hoof—but hesitated, fumbling instead with her sunhat.
Finally, weathering a deep sigh, she reached the hoof forward and twisted the glowing crystal atop the pedestal.
Like a dissolving bowl of colored water, the forest disappeared. The trees and birds and emerald grass faded away. As the crystal dimmed, an overhead light pulsed brightly, illuminating a gray room laced with monitoring equipment, most of which was bunched around the section before her. The bed of flowers was gone, and instead her brother lay on a med table, his body fused to several wires and bits of tubing. Both of his rear legs ended in casted stubs, and his nostrils were affixed to a breathing apparatus.
The rhythmic chirping persisted—a cold and mechanical tone of the monitoring equipment.
Slowly, with feminine grace, Nightshade knelt down beside her brother. She reached a hoof up and brushed the threadbare bangs that clung to what remained of a severely scalded scap. His ear was missing, though she had gone through great lengths and much expense to graft him a cosmetic one.
Several medals rested on a table beside him. But she ignored them, choosing instead to speak to his slumbering figure.
"We both know I cannot lie to you," she murmured. "I can lie to everypony else in this world, but not you." She gulped. "We've had a few... setbacks. The think tank is dragging their hooves. I know it. If I was a crueler pony, I would have made that useless cook who's attached to them disappear. Spark knows we could use less distractions especially at this point in time."
She bit her lip and tilted her head away, as if needing to avoid his gaze.
"Then... th-there was a zeppelin that crashed into the building next to where the think tank is being housed. I don't think the perpetrators involved knew who was located where and why, but this is quite likely the first of many signs that the debacle at Deep Ridge is coming back to haunt me. I don't know what I was thinking when I started those experiments..."
Nightshade winced. She bravely turned and looked back at him.
"That's not true, Novus. I knew what I was thinking. I only wish it had proven more fruitful... fruitful for you... fruitful for both of us..."
She reached out and gently grasped his one good hoof in both of hers. The limb was frighteningly light to the touch.
"It's my fault that you are like this. I should have done more to talk you out of joining the fight. But that's not where I failed you, and besides... I'm proud of the courage you have shown..."
She shuddered and steadied her voice as she nuzzled his forelimb lovingly.
"No, my failure is for h-having funded this war to begin with. I... I should have held back... and instead invested in scholars and experts in the sciences before that dayum Queen and her Council gobbled them all up to Spark-knows-where. Maybe then I would have already found the technology to cure you... and to bring you back to me..."
Her jaw clenched as a tear rolled down her cheek to touch his hoof.
"But soon, it will no longer matter. This blasted war will be over, and I'll no longer be bound to Ledo for fear of our employees' lives. Just as soon as I give Seclorum his gift..."
She smiled. It was something more than painful, something more than bitter. It was downright carnivorous.
"...this will all be over, and I will finally have the resources to do what's right in this Confederacy..."
Interesting turn of events.
So Nightshade is moving to END the war, not fund it.
Very interesting. We finally get to see the notorious Nightshade without her mask on.
Nothing is ever simply black and white. Not even a blind Zebra. Well...
2663554
Well, end the thing she started, anyway.
wow, really, wow.
i'm quite surprised and happy that she is against the Queen!
things are gonna get pretty darn interesting. :3
Well...VERY interesting turn of events indeed. Looks like she's one of the good guys in a way, after all.
2663661
True true. It's always nice to see characters that are less clear-cut. Especially after the bag-of-cats that was Pestiferous.
2663554 My only problem is that her method to "end" the war sure sounds a bit like a "Final Solution".
Wasn't expecting Novus to be like that, and definitely was not suspecting Nightshade's method to end the war. A twist is soon to come, i just know it!
Sounds like the Confederacy may find themselves embroiled in another conflict as soon as they stop fighting the Xonans. Nightshade doesn't sound like one to take the fight to the battlefield, though, which is where Ledo is strong. Will Dash and Eljunbyro be able to get out of this region while the Ledomaritan government collapses? It seems like Ledomare's resources are the only thing preventing Dash from making at least consistent progress.
Eh, not entirely redeemed in my eyes anyways. She started this war, she started those experiments, it seems she's fully aware of everything she did, so the consequences are hers to face now. What she's getting, she asked for.
Well, I seem to have been completely wrong about her. Ten sympathy points from the Guy.
I hope the chapter title is a Rush reference, then ImplodingColon would be a billion times cooler!
2664078
You aren't suggesting she plans genocide D:
2663661
By end it, you mean she's going Skynet on everyone's ass?
One - Metallica
2664530
A while ago, someone (Keratin, I think, but I can't be bothered to find the specific comment) was comparing Nightshade Industries to the Blue Sun Corporation from Firefly.
Well, I won't say I'm necessarily sympathetic to Nightshade, since it seems she had something to do with funding the war (maybe even starting it, I'm not certain), but it's still nice to see some depth behind the "puppet-master beeyotch".
I'm still trying to figure out Blue Shelf. This:
...I took to be a reference to Blue Shelf, a seemingly secret, government-run facility housing some top minds in the sciences. But at the same time, the fact that Blue Shelf had so many non-pony creatures (antelopes, buffalo, rams, etc.) makes me wonder if some of them were Ridgeside escapees. If so, what did the Council of Ledo want with them? And where does Belle fit into things?
Gosh, I love trying to figure out stuff like this!
2664393
It's more likely based on the general writing principle of "show, don't tell", though I guess you can't rule out a Rush reference. As a Rush fan myself, I would enjoy a reference.
I'm honestly not sure if I approve or disapprove of her little mutainy... it's a tough call, especially with so little information.
i am finding it hard to gauge nightshade, i mean she sounds rather heartless at first and then she is gentle leaving me to question what the weapon actually does. if it were to make things right then it would get rid of both military powers.
so is it an act of treason or cold hard diplomacy? i guess i'll find out.
2663661 She never said she started it, merely that she funded it. By the sound of it, she simply bet on the wrong horse when the Council declared war. She is an industrial tycoon after all.
2663753 2664323 Now, now now. Don't be so soft-hearted. All she did was showing a reason for her evilness. She doesn't act because of greed or spite, but that doesn't make her actions any better. She is the other typical kind of villain: desperate. She loves her brother with all her heart and is quite obviously willing to do just about everything to help him - as it seems, including genocide. This line
makes this pretty clear. She's losing it. She may be acting out of love, but she has become a black widow nonetheless.
Ceterum censeo Searinem delendam esse, for theirs is a simpler villainy.
I like the way the spinner of beautiful lies even surrounds the broken body of her brother with fanciful holographic projections of peace, tranquility and all that fruity stuff.
Desperation creates both dedicated villains and misguided villains - often causing wide scale damage before they collapse in on themselves. I hope the fallout from Nightshade's decisions aren't so serious.
Y'know, for all the evil characters that turn out to be at least somewhat reasonable, Ledomare hasn't really shown any side of herself that isn't horrid.
dayum?
2665295
This applies only in a "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" sort of fashion. It may be remotely likely that they'll end up on the same side at some point (knowingly or unknowingly), but I find it highly unlikely it will go very far. Nightshade has her own reasons for what she's doing, she has to put up some sort of front to not let here true intentions be made known, and that includes possible capture of any part of Rainbow's overall group. Soo...yeah...
(I hope that made sense.)
I'm starting to not hate Nightshade. Seeing as this happened before, with the good ol' Prime Enforcer, I'll have to wait a few chapters to see if I still like her...
Okay, so we can give her the "Not-as-big-a-jerk-as-she-could-have-been" award, but I still don't trust her. Ending the war is good, but at exactly what cost? And how do all of the experimentees fit into it all? And what exactly is her connection to Deep Ridge? I am liking that her motives aren't simply:
Step 1: Be evil. Step 2: Profit.
Gah, there's so many characters, with so many mindsets to consider. How you keep track of it all is beyond me.
> Just as soon as I give Seclorum his gift...
Intriguing...
IIIIIt's Dashie's evaluation time!
Huh. So I guess that Novus had to have been hurt on the Xonan warfront. In this scene I kind of feel bad for Nightshade - she seems to be more a victim of circumstance more than anything. And what's she planning to do in the Confederacy? Liberate it? These are my thoughts so far.
-MASH
As I suspected, Nightshade is a complicated character.
Nightshade is complicated.
-Spirit
Hmm, this is a very interesting turn of events. I wonder if maybe we've all looked at Nightshade in a different light and too harshly overall.
Huh, this chapeter changes things. For one Nightshade seems to now be hinted as less of a evil mastermind, and more of a misguided reluctant villain. She's only doing what she feels is necessary to help her family, and end the war
2734833 s coup maybe.
Ah, damn you once again, humanizing the enemy like that!
Started Wish You Were Here. Ah, feels like old times...
5780282 I'm not sure she IS the bad guy.
6011967 if she's not, she certainly isn't a "good guy."
6011967
The most horrifying of all evils. Are made by those who have assuaged their conscious and believe they are doing the right and moral thing. No matter what evils they do, no matter how immoral, or even barbaric their acts are. They see it as them doing it for a righteous cause.
She's kidnapped ponies, enslaved children, cut off their horns, performed numerous illegal experiments without consent of the individual, and has a habit of kidnapping others to work for her. Sure she's doing it for her injured brother, and to "save lives" regardless of the cost. To end the war she sees herself as responsible for. But it's with those assurances that she's on the side of good. That she can do great evil without remorse.
If even half of what has been implied is true, your ideas on "right" are pretty much like Shell's.
8065900
I disagree. She clearly has self restraint, and a form of moral compass.
What's more, she is aware that what she is doing to swing, and regrets her past actions.
This all indicates she is a good pony deep down, but has just made some major bad decisions and now she has to clean house before she can get back to her starting ground, even if it means "ending the war"
My bets, if she funded a fucking "Captain America Campaign" is that the next thing she's gonna pull out is a "Hellucarrier" and wipe out both sides, that way she can have peace.
Oh great now we got some Naruto anti-heroes seeking their own way of peace.
Merry Christmas btw.