> Equestria's Heir of Conduits > by Akuma Kazama > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: A Conduit's Arrival (Edit) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The low rumbling sound of a train and the conductor’s voice could be heard. “Alright, last stop: Ponyville.” A pair of orange smokey eyes opened for the world to see. The owner of the eyes, Nightshade, was an Earth Pony Stallion, 6 foot 9, light grey, almost a color of ashes, with black mane and tail in an unkempt style with red tips. He wore a black and red plaid shirt, skinny jeans, Eris black sneakers, a black sweatshirt with a hood was on the other side of him, next to the sweatshirt was a sleeveless custom made jacket, on the back of the jacket was a two headed bird in a star position, one half red, the other blue. Nightshade slowly got up and stretched his sleeping muscles, cracking his neck to the side. “Damn - Now I know why Sis said not to sleep in the cart section,” he said to himself. Nightshade looked towards the window to see the slightly modernized town of Ponyville in the distance. He quickly put on his black sweatshirt and pulled the hood up, only his muzzle visible, then put on his trademark jacket. Searching one of his pockets, he found his phone. Checking the time, he then pulled a duffel bag out from under his seat, in which he had a few sets of clothes, some bits, his computer equipment and his Playstation 4, which he got for Christmas from his aunt. Nightshade then checked through the rest of his things to find his headphones, some games for his PS4, and his sketchbook. Once he checked that everything was there, he pulled out a guitar case from under the seat. Opening it, he checked to ascertain his acoustic’s condition. Satisfied, he closed the case and sat on his seat, waiting to get into town and to find the house his mother got him. His eyes softened a bit, remembering that day. His father died in a car crash, his mother and sister were the only others to survive unharmed. Shortly afterwards, they were admitted to a Manehattan hospital, but they were surprised to find Nightshade’s whole body covered in smoke, ash and orange embers. At first they panicked, but they couldn't find any burns, nor could any other injuries be found on his body. His aunt, who had come to visit, was shocked at what she saw, and after that their aunt took them in and helped them in any way she could. A soft smile appeared on his face, as he remembered what his aunt said. -10 years ago- Nightshade was in his aunt's library, looking around awe in all the books surrounding him- as a child, it seemed to tower above him. He turned his head the left and saw his aunt with a book. “Night, sweetie, come here,” she asked in an elderly voice. Nightshade complied and went to his aunt. He took a seat next to her and saw the book in front of them, he read the title ‘Family Tree’. His aunt looked towards him and said “Nightshade, what am about to show and tell you is one of our family secrets, so promise me, you won't tell anyone except your mother and sister.’ Her voice was serious, and so Nightshade nodded his head in understanding. So his aunt went on to explain what he was; a Conduit and what that was, and the descendant of one of the most noble ones at that: Delsin Rowe. She explained how there were humans in Equestria before, and how this lone Conduit, helped everyone to coexist together, about how he fell in love with a mare and had a family, his good deeds, his powers and everything else. Nightshade was in admiration and awe at all of this. He looked down at his hand, smoke and embers dancing and swirling around his hand and arm. He clenched his fist, determination in his eyes and with one thought in mind. ‘I’ll make you proud Delsin... and my family too.’ -Present day- Nightshade had trained his powers since then, improving them as much as he could, discovering new ways to use his abilities; he even made some for magic tricks. And on his 18th birthday, he decided to move to Ponyville. He also learned that he got his powers from his father’s side, to which he would promise to use them, in his memory and honor. He gave a heavy sigh, which made a smoke ring came out of his mouth, in the shape of a star with two eagle heads. Giving a slight smirk, he quickly absorbed the smoke, luckily before a conductor came asking for his ticket. Nightshade gave him the ticket, to which the stallion ripped it in half, giving him the other half and wished him a nice day. A few minutes later, the train slowed down as it approached a station. “Last stop Ponyville, please wait for us to stop and remember to take your belongings. Have a nice day.” After that, Nightshade got up, scooped up his duffel bag and guitar case. He got off the train with the crowd of people that came to Ponyville. After getting clear of the crowd, he put down his duffel bag and pulled out a piece of paper to see where his new house was. Seeing how low the sun was in the sky, he remembered the the Sunset Celebration was tonight. He quickly asked around for direction and the time of the celebration before setting off to find his new home. Exploring a little, he found the Town Hall as a landmark, he checked the note again, then looked around for a while until he found the two story house he was meant to find. Approaching it slowly, still looking around with a slight feeling of nervousness, he unlocked the door with the keys he had been given then quickly got inside, closing the door behind him quickly. “Ah... Home, sweet home” Nightshade said, a content smile on his face. He explored the house for a bit, and after that he set up his game system on the living room, his guitar case in his new office/music room and his duffle bag in the master bedroom, he then decided to take a quick and refreshing shower, after the long trip. After that, he went to his duffle bag, grabbing a grey shirt with his star logo on the left side, loose fit black jeans, a pair of black converse all-star, he rolled the sleeves on the shirt up to his elbow. He clipped his wallet chain tight and secure, grabbed his phone and checked himself in the mirror, deciding to let his hair down for a change. Nightshade looked towards the window, seeing the night coming in. “Well, better hurry, don’t wanna miss seeing a goddess,” he said to no one with a light chuckle. Nightshade made it on time to the Town hall, he got inside to hear the Mayor begin to address the crowd. "Mares and Gentlecolts! As Mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" she said to kick off the celebration, which was met by a chorus of cheering. "In just a few moments, the town will witness the magic of the sunset, and celebrate this, as the longest day of the year!" Nightshade felt a sudden change in the place, he looked toward a window and saw the moon had an image of a mare, but the image swiftly vanished, after four points of light merged into the moon. "And now, its is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." "R-Ready?" asked a light yellow pegasus mare to a flock of birds, the birds then began to sing a song "...Princess Celestia!" said the Mayor... But the Princess did not teleport in. Ponies began to whisper, some were worried, others scared, but Nightshade still felt something was going to happen. 'This doesn't feel right' he thought "Please r-remain calm! There must be a reasonable explanation!" said Mayor Mare, trying to calm the crowd. Suddenly, a large navy blue cloud resembling the night sky swirled up and became a tall Alicorn, similar to Celestia, but much darker, black in color. She stood around 7 feet tall, her mane was that of the cloud before her and the color of her pitch-black coat and wings. She also wore a light blue dress that show her impressive H-cup breast, the dress was cut on her left side that show a symbol that got his attention; a white crescent moon. Icy blue-green eyes with slitted pupils gazes over the crowd before they shut then the strange Alicorn stretched her wings out to their full length of 15 meters. "Ah...it feels good to get out and stretch one's wings after a thousand year nap," joked the Alicorn to herself before addressing the crowd of stunned and horrified ponies. "Oh, my precious subjects! I've missed you... it's been far, far too long.." Everyone was froze in fear "What?" she asked in a regal, yet somewhat cruel, voice, "Has it been so long that my own subjects don't recognize me?" "What'd you do with our Princess?!" demanded a rainbow maned Pegasus girl before trying to rush at the strange Alicorn, but an orange mare with stetson hat stopped her by grabbing her tail. "Am I not familiar to any of you? Has my imprisonment hindered your memories of the legacy of the crown?" the Alicorn asked as she hovered over a frightened light pink-haired mare. "Do none of you know the legend? Has no-one seen the signs?!" Nightshade scanned the area, then saw some smoke coming out of a small air vent, he slowly backed towards it, never breaking eye contact with the Alicorn, who for some reason was looking at him. Suddenly a purple unicorn spoke up "I did! I know who you are, you're the Mare in the Moon; Nightmare Moon!" The gathered ponies gasped in fear, while Nightmare Moon smirked revealing the fact that she possessed fangs. "Well, well, well...someone remembers me...but do you know why I'm here?" The unicorn gulped in fear "You're here to... to..." "Remember this day, little ponies, as if it was your last! For from this moment forth, THE NIGHT SHALL LAST FOREVER!" said Nightmare Moon as lightning flashed and sparked from both her body and struck the building, breaking windows open. Nightshade had heard enough. Holding his hand out towards the smoke, it glowed orange as it flowed through the air, around and into his arm, getting the attention of all present, as well as Nightmare Moon "An interesting ability, young stallion" said Nightmare Moon with some boredom in her voice. Nightshade simply smirked "Yeah, well... had to get your attention somehow," he said, smoke and ember dancing around his arms. Both Nightshade and Nightmare Moon look at each other. Everyone else took cover from them, knowing a fight would happen. Nightshade extended his right arm towards her, as if he was going to catch something, but more smoke and embers swirled around the arm, some fire visible in the black smoke. Nightmare Moon's horn glowed a night blue and an ethereal broadsword appeared, which she took hold of, pointing it towards Nightshade. "Never fought a Goddess before.. this will be fun," Nightshade mentioned. Nightmare Moon had a cold look on her face. "And to whom are we giving the honors?" Her voice had a bit of sarcasm, but also sounded just slightly intrigued. He smirked and fired a ball of compressed smoke and fire at the Alicorn, who simply deflected the projectile with her ethereal weapon. "Name's Nightshade. But to you, your opponent." > Chapter 2: Small Rumble and Meeting New Friends (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After Nightmare Moon deflect the blast of smoke, Nightshade ran forward, leaving a smoke trail behind him, the dark Alicorn smirk and summon ethereal sword and send them towards him. Nightshade saw the swords getting near, he quickly transform into a cloud of smoke and ash, speeding forward and dodging the swords, Nightmare send more to try and get him, but he kept on transforming in a cloud of smoke and ash, dodging them left and right, once near, he focus smoke and ash on he's feet and hands, quickly launching himself into the air, dodging a few more swords. He extended his arms down, shooting smoke and fire out of his hands, also giving him a slight boost, gaining more height and hover over Nightmare Moon. Nightmare look slightly impressive "not bad, young stallion" she said with a dark grin, she launch an energy blast at him, but let see you try to dodge this! she said, but Nightshade just smirk and burst into a cloud of smoke/ash going through the blast, once he was near, he added energy to his right fist with smoke and ash, he launch his fist toward her, but in the last second Nightmare Moon activated a magic shield, both attacks collide causing a small shockwave of power. The small crowd of ponies in Town Hall, including six mares, we're in shock and awe "how does he do that?" whisper the purple coat mare unicorn in awe. Nightmare Moon smirks and expended her shield, pushing Nightshade away and making him crash into a wall, Nightshade grunted in pain, but looks towards Nightmare "I got to say that thy can fight well, how about thou join us?" she ask extending her arm towards him, Nightshade slowly got out off the wall, landing on the floor on his feet, he wipe a bit of blood from his mouth and extend his arm to a vent, absorbing some smoke "sorry, but no" was is only reply, running at the dark Alicorn with smoke/ash on his arms. Nightmare Moon gave a disappointment sigh "shame, you could have been a fine warrior" she said and cast another blast of magic at him, to which he dodge it again turning into a smoke cloud. Nightshade kept on turning into a smoke cloud, dodging her attacks "come on, honey is that all you got" he ask with a mocking tone, he focus smoke in his hand and throws a condensed ball of smoke at her, she grab it with her magic "is that all you got" she asks with a mocking tone, till the smoke bomb exploded and covering her smoke, causing her to cough and let her guard down. Nightshade ran at her and quickly smoke dashes at her, once he was near, he lash out a right hook with smoke and ember around the fist, that connected follow by a left hook and then a reverse roundhouse kick, but the Alicorn was able to react quick and block the kick "impressive again young stallion, but not good enough" she said and grab his, spinning him around and threw him towards a wall, hard. Nightshade quickly smoke dash forward, once more catching her off guard and grab her arms for a grapple, but to both their shock and sudden pain, a dark blue energy started to flow from Nightmare Moon to Nightshade. Nightshade try his hardest to let go, but couldn't, soon visions/memories of a another Alicorn appear on his mind, he could feel the sadness, loneliness and pain in each vision/memory, Nightmare Moon horn glow and fires a magic blast at him, pushing off and into a wall hard, his vision slowly darkens, the last thing he saw was the orange coat mare with a cowboy hat run towards him with another one with a pink coat, and the Mayor screaming to grab her at the guards for the whereabouts of the Princess, soon after just the sweet embrace of darkness. -Few hours later- Nightshade could hear voices around him, all sounded worry and one excited, he couldn't make his eyes open, so he stood still for a second and focus on hearing. "Do you think he's okay?" said a quiet female voice, there was some shuffling around, he decided to wake up, with a grunt, he slowly got up, getting a few gasps, a hand was place on his chest "woah there pardner, ya got to rest" said a female southern voice. Nightshade just grunts and pushes up "can't....." he opens his eyes to see himself surrounded by six mares and a dragoness, he looks at the dragoness first, she look to be at her late teen, she had purple scales with spiky green scales, she wore a green tank top that matches her green eyes and also shows her impressive C-cup breast, a pair of denim jeans as well with green converse. The second was a unicorn mare and had a light purple coat with a darker purple mane and tail with a bright fuchsia strip in it. She wore a white blouse that show her C-cup beast, under a purple jacket with a matching skirt that shows her slender curves as well, they also stopped at mid thigh of her, she had a pair of long socks with a pair of school shoes on. The third mare to her left was also a unicorn only she was pure white and had a purple mane and tail. Her attire was by far the most unsuitable for the situation at hand considering she was wearing a white dress that stopped just above where ankles would be and her dress also hugged her impressive DD-cup breast, Nightshade had to use his willpower to not stare. He still had to say she looked good in that dress though, plus a pair of white high heels with the ropes wrapping up to below her knees. Another one of the mares stood out as well since she had the weirdest mane color he had seen of ponykind yet. Her mane and tail looked like a rainbow and she had a cyan coat. Her attire consisted of a jean jacket over a white t-shirt that hug her B to C-cup breast, while she had on a pair of athletic shorts with a pair of rainbow converse 'fitting' he thought, while inspecting the rest. The next one in the lineup was what I could only assume was a farm mare if her stetson was anything to go by. She had an orange coat with a blonde mane and tail. She wore a button up plaid shirt that was tied off so it displayed her toned stomach and ample D-cup breast 'is she wearing a bra?' he thought to himself, since he had a perfect view, but couldn't tell. Her bottom's consisted of a pair of tight denim shorts and a pair of cowgirl boots. Then came a bouncing ball of pink energy, she was completely pink save for her mane and tail being only a few shades darker. She wore a tight tie dye shirt that complimented her D-cup breast nicely with a pair of skinny jeans with some light blue converse. The last mares appearance was hard to judge since she tried to hide herself in her excessively long mane. She had a butterscotch coat with a light pink mane and tail. She wore a green turtleneck sweater that hug her impressive DD-cup breast, almost E size with a white skirt that stopped at her mid calf and a pair of white slippers. He blinks a few times, trying to get adjusted to the light and in time to see the orange mare put a hand on his shoulder "woah there, take it easy, you were hit hard pardner" she said with her southern accent, he just grunts in respond and looks around "smoke" he mutter weakly, they look confuse at him "smoke? why do you need smoke darling, that's bad for you" said the mare with the white coat, he just groans in respond "I need smoke....." he groans out, the purple unicorn gave him a puzzle look till she spoke "to do the trick you did at the Town hall, which was a bit impossible, how did you do that?" she ask, going into questioning, before he could speak the rainbow mane mare flew at him with a slight glare "she's right, how did you do that? are you a spy? are you with that alicorn we saw at Town Hall" she said with a glare, she was pull back by the orange mare "calm down sugarcube, remember HE fought her" she pointed out. He grunts in respond, slowly getting up and looks around, the first thing he notice was that he was in a library, he also notice he was on a couch, six mare arguing about something, he couldn't tell, he looks around till he notice a fire place make some decent smoke, he extended his arm towards the fireplace, getting the dragoness attention, since the rest we're arguing about going after Nightmare Moon, soon the smoke flew at him and dance around his arm, but he notice a slight dark glow around his arm as well, follow by his whole body, he could feel it healing him up, he let out a sigh of relief, getting the mares attention, who gasp in shock and awe seeing him do that. He sighs and got up like it was nothing and started to jump on the tip of his heels, to wake up his legs, the mare's look at him in shock, the purple unicorn soon was on his face "how did you do that? is your body made out of smoke? are you healed up already? this is impossible?" she kept saying, Nightshade roll his eyes and cover her mouth "settle down there, first how about a name?" he ask, causing the mare to blush, while the rest blush lightly, the dragoness snickers a bit. The purple Unicorn clear her throat "right sorry, my name is Twilight Sparkle and this is my number one assistant; Barbara, she's a teen dragon" she said and the dragoness waves in 'hello'. Next came the earth cowpony mare "howdy partner, mah name's Applejack" she said with a deep southern accent, then the rainbow mane mare "sup, sorry about before, am Rainbow Dash, Fastest Flier in Equestria" she said boostly, Nightshade just looks at her with a raise eyebrow. Suddenly his vision was filled with pink, pink and more pink, he leans back to see the pink mare "Hi-my-name-is-Pinkie-Pie-what's-yours?-How-did-you-do-that-smoke-thingy-are-you-a-Unicorn?-No-that-be-silly-since-you-don't-have-a-horn-hey-wanna-be...." her one long sentence was cut short by the white fur mare, covering her mouth "sorry Darling, she's get a bit, exciting from time to time, am Rarity and I must say, your clothing is very....unique" said the now known Rarity will letting go of Pinkie Pie's mouth. Nightshade looks at them amusingly, but smiles at them in respond, getting a light blush from both of them, he turns around and looks at the last mare, who was hiding behind her mane "and what's your name?" he ask her, she longs at him shyly "am Flutters...." she said a bit quietly, but since he was a Conduit, he had a bit of super hearing, so he nodded at her, giving her a gently smile "well is nice to meet you all, am Nightshade and I know your gonna ask, especially Twilight, what I am is a being that went extinct for years, yet am the only one left, what my kind are call Conduits or to be specific, beings with powers" he said to them. And we that Twilight went wide eyed and got way too close to him "your a Conduit!?!?!" she squeal with excitement, forgetting about Nightmare Moon, Nightshade jerks his head back and away from her's "hey, personal space" he said a bit uncomfortable, Twilight not noticing and was still in her scientist mode, leans forward towards him. Before Twilight could move any further, Barbara grabbed her by her tail and pulls her away "Twilight your getting a bit too close, almost about to kiss him" she said with a slight tease on her voice, causing Twilight to blush, soon later the girls all started to look for a book on Elements on Harmony, while Nightshade was absorbing some smoke to heal, but when he absorb too much, he suddenly had one of those flash of the memory as he held his head in pain, but of the different mare, she looks like she was looking at him "please...." she said, as tears stream down her face "help me, please...." she whimpers softly and suddenly the vision vanish. As soon as the vision came, it left and he looks out the window towards a dark forest, feeling the slight presence of the link of the vision coming from the forest, he was about to speak up, he heard they girls gasp and said together, although Twilight voice sounded curious while the rest sounded in fear, beside Barbara, who was at his side when he had his slight headache, Barbara looks concern at him "hey, you okay? do you need to sit down?" she ask, he shook his head and points towards the forest, while the girls kept fighting, he moves and smirks lightly at her and with a wink, he smoke dash through the fireplace and up the chimney, heading back to his house for a change of clothes. Nightshade flew up high into the night sky, looking like a shadowy figure flying to his new house, once near, he quickly smoke dash into his own chimney, entering his home and quickly went towards his room, while unbuttoning his shirt. Meanwhile the girls were on their way to the forest or as Twilight discover it, the Everfree Forest, she try to convince them to let her do it alone, but they decline and continue to follow her and Barbara, but before they could continue arguing, a yawn interrupted them, they look for the source and found Nightshade, with the outfit he came into town with, sitting on a branch, looking at them with a grin "how about we stop discussion this and do something about?" he ask them, a silence filled the area around them, till each one slowly nodded and walks forward with Twilight letting out a sigh and Barbara a giggle at her, all the while Nightshade gave a slight smirk as he tilts his head towards the forest, the vision still fresh on his mind 'hang out, we're coming' was all he thought as he got off the branch and join the girls into the Everfree Forest. > Chapter 3: A Journey to the Elements (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The group of six mare, one dragoness and stallion move forward into the forest, Twilight was able to get an old map of the forest, so they took the basic and safest path she could find on the map, while they kept on walking, the girls told their reason why the forest was dangerous, as well as Rainbow Dash saying other things to scared them, Nightshade had an eyebrow raise at her trying to scare him, flying near him as she says it, thought it did scare Fluttershy, who cling to his arm at the scare attempts. Nightshade looks around for a bit then asks “so, what exactly makes the Everfree Forest so dangerous, anyway? looks peaceful to me, beside the darkness around us” as he said that, a trembling and clinging Fluttershy looks at him “You s-say you’re not s-s-scared?” she ask with a stutter on her voice, Nightshade rubs his neck sheepishly “Actually.....” he admitted a bit “this is the creepiest place I’ve ever laid eyes on. But I’m just wondering, what precisely make these woods so unnatural? Why do the animals eat each other here? Why do the clouds move all on their own accord? I mean it reminds me of the place back where am from, near Manehatten.” “Well no one knows” said Rainbow Dash in the spookiest voice she could muster, as she hovers over. “You know why? Because anyone that’s came in here has… never…. come… OUT!” As if on cue, the ground gave in as soon as her voice rose to a shout! Suddenly the ground collapsed before them, trees washing away in the sudden landslide and nothing but blackness was suddenly visible before them, with the rolling ground under their feet, Nightshade push Fluttershy away in time for her to take to the sky and catches Rarity while Rainbow Dash catches Pinkie Pie with her grabbing on to Barbara. Twilight and Applejack we're sliding down fast, while Nightshade was able to grab onto a root on, trying to get his bearings, soon later Applejack also was able to grab a root as well, while Twilight kept sliding and almost fell down the cliff if she didn't grabbed on in time to the edge. But just before she could fell, in the blink of an eye, she found herself hanging on to Applejack’s hands while the rest of her dangled over a cliff, Applejack was trying her hardest to pull Twilight up, but couldn't “Applejack!” she screamed in panic and fear “what do I do?” Applejack looked into Twilight’s eyes with a completely straight face. “Let go,” she instructed calmly. Twilight looks at her with a wide eyed expression "WHAT!!! ARE YOU CRAZY!!!!" she scream in more fear, AJ shifted onto her rump and braced herself, digging the heels of her cowboy boots into the soft earth to save them both from tumbling over the edge. Her gaze returned to Twilights's and she put everything she had into her next words “trust me Sugarcube, let go” she said with strength and a firm tone that everything will be alright. Twilight looks at Applejack in the eyes and could see the honest true coming from her eyes, so with a deep breath she lets go and falls down, screaming, but suddenly gets caught, she opens her eyes to see that both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy caught her, Twilight smiles at them and was about to speak, till on Fluttershy's side, more weight got there, making all three fall a bit down quick, soon getting control over this, she said "sorry gals, am not use to carrying a ponies weight, beside small animals." Applejack saw the girls down on the ground, but not Nightshade and just when she was about to look around, the edge she was on gave in and broke apart, getting everyone's attention, all of them going wide eyed "APPLEJACK!!!!" the girls scream, Nightshade lets go of the branch and use his powers to push himself forward to the edge, once near he leaps off and dives down, using his powers as smoke thrusters, going towards Applejack. Applejack for her part was wide eyed in fear, as she looks up at the shinning moon, as she looks more, she suddenly saw a figure jumping off and diving towards her, now seeing it was Nightshade, using his powers as he gain distance from each others, she could see it in his eyes, the determination on catching her, made her blush a bit at this. Nightshade for his part was pushing his power's through his arms to catch up with Applejack, gritting his teeth a bit, as he was getting near, he move his left arm forward to catch her, slowly reaching her, everything went in slow motion for both Nightshade and Applejack, as his hand grab her arm, soon pulling her to him and into a hug, twisting his body around, so his back was towards the ground, his whole body soon cover in smoke, wrapping around Applejack as well. Soon time move forward as both Nightshade and AJ fell down, a smoke trail left by him, before any of the girls could react, they landed hard on the ground, creating a dust cloud around them, the rest of them ran forward "Nightshade!!! Applejack!!!" they scream in fear and panic for their friend. As they make it to the crater, the dust cloud started to fade and soon they same a unharmed AJ on top of a smoking Nightshade, as his powers return to him, he looks to Applejack, who had her eyes close and shook her out of her funk, as she snaps her eyes open and looks around to see that she was safe "h-how?" she ask a bit shock and then looks down to see herself on top of Nightshade, quickly remembering and the position she was in, to which she quickly got off of him, blushing hard while he use his powers to quickly stand up, dusting himself off. Nightshade soon finish dusting himself and looks over to Applejack "you okay?" he ask concern, all she could do is nod her head and as she did that, Rainbow Dash flew towards Nightshade with a grin on her face "that.......was.......AWESOME!!!!" she said and did a mid air flip, soon Twilight was in front of him "how did you survive that!?!? it's impossible to survive that kind of fall!!!" she said in shock, all the while he move a hand in front of her and show's her his powers once more "come's with the power's" was all he said, making her pout lightly. Once that was done, they continue their journey to the sister's castle with Rainbow Dash telling them how she saved them, beside Nightshade saving Applejack as she continue to talk about it and was suddenly stop by a roar, follow by them screaming "MANTICORE!!!!" and surprisingly, it was Rarity who attacked first by doing what she had in mind at the time: bucking the manticore in the face. In response, the monster roared again, this time with much more fury. Screaming in fright, Rarity ran back to safety of her friends, the threat chasing after her. Nightshade reacted fast and smoke dash forward and jump kicks it, making the Manticore stagger a few steps back, while he took a fighting stance, his powers flowing around him, soon follow Rainbow and AJ running to his side to fight off the Manticore, while Twilight stays beside Fluttershy, preparing her magic while Fluttershy shakes in fear of the beast and the beast roars, going to attack Rarity. The manticore was just about to swipe off at Nightshade's side when it felt something land on its head. It was Applejack, riding the monster rodeo-style. The manticore expelled orange mare off its back, only to be encircled by Rainbow Dash. Dash flew faster and faster, creating a mini rainow-colored hurricane. The beast swung its tail, and in a mighty THWACK, Rainbow Dash was propelled backward. Nightshade smoke dash in her way and caught her, setting her down and quickly smoke dash at the Manticore, smoke/ember dancing around him, about to deliver a powerful blow till “WAAAAAIIIIIIT!!!!!” shouted Fluttershy, stopping the fight. She quietly walked toward the enraged enemy, and began to soothe him with baby-talk “what’s the matter, you big old fuzzy-wuzzykins?” she ask softly. Twilight blinks a couple times in confusion. “…what? What are you doing? Run, Fluttershy! Run away, before that thing eats you alive!" the manticore showed Fluttershy thorn that was stuck in his paw. “Oh, you poor thing, don’t worry, I’ve got it. Now this is going to hurt just for a teensy-weensy second…” and with that she pulls it out, getting the Manticore to roar “RRRRAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRRR!” "FLUTTERSHY!!!!!" scream out the girls while Nightshade was about to smoke the Manticore, but the now-friendly manticore started to repeatedly lick Fluttershy’s hair in thanks until it resembled a massive cowlick with Fluttershy just giggling and skipped on her merry way towards her friends. “…What just happened?” ask Twilight as she looks at the girls, then at Fluttershy, said mare turn towards her and smiles “Twilight......... you've got to learn that something’s big and scary, doesn’t mean that you can’t offer your hand in kindness for it,” lectured Fluttershy, then giggles lightly “besides, you should see how my pet bunny gets when I give him a time-out. That old softy back there is nothing compared to Angel” she said happily as she skips pass them, the rest following her, letting out a few giggles and Nightshade lets out a light chuckle As they continue forward, the fog had returned, deepening around them once more as they again entered the thick forest, but this time at least, they had the road under their feet to help guide them. As the dark shadows grew thicker, and the fog grew heavier about them, the close group stepped into a thicker canopy that formed overhead, preventing any bright light from piercing the woods. Nightshade let his powers flow through his arms to light up the area around them a bit, as the girls huddle a bit closer to him for the light and the slight warm he gave out with his powers. Soon they we're surrounded by trees and as they stare on, a face formed in the woods before them, giant and bestial with gaping jaw and demonic eyes. Unmoving and unblinking, the dark monster started them down... right up until Dash spoke up "there... is another, to the right.” Pointing and gasping softly, the group started to move to the left in hopes of shifting away from the gathered hunting demons, only for a third to appear to their right... and then a fourth, a fifth....... soon, they were surrounded, more than a dozen bestial unmoving and unblinking faces each panting for breath and light by an baleful fire that glowed inside their open mouths, its blue grey flames dancing wildly. Nightshade started to draw on more of his powers, knowing they wouldn't be able to fight so many bestial demons without his assistance. Twilight was doing the same with her magic, same with Rarity, Barbara got in a defensive stance, breathing a bit of green fire, the rest got ready as well, till the sound of laughter? reach their ears, as Pinkie was bowled over before the closest of the beasts, bawling with delight. All those gathered turned their gaze back and forth from one another in shock at the situation before them. They gasped, even as the face before them suddenly faded as realization sunk in that it was simply a gnarled tree trunk, once the fog’s dim light had faded. “Wh... What?” Pinkie Pie darted from one demonic face to another, still laughing, while offering an assortment of odd reactions to the monstrous faces that lay before them. Even making funny faces in return, sticking out her tongue and acting like a monster herself even as she said, “Bleh. Ooo!” as she continue to do that, Nightshade and Barbara couldn't help but chuckle/giggle at the pink mare. Twilight gasped in shock as even more of the demon faces winked out, clearing form the woods and revealing still more gnarled trees, she turned to call out harshly to the jester attempting to drive away the demons and their shadows “Pinkie, what are you doing? Run!!!” but the silly mare’s response was so very different from what the gathered friends could have ever expected, as in a singsong voice she called out. “Oh Twilight, Nightshade, girls, don't you see?” she paused for a breath, then true singing suddenly broke out, follow by instruments “When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...” Twilight's shoulders fell and looks towards Rarity “tell me she's not...” Pinkie pops out between those two and sang “the darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown,” continued the boldly singing filly. She continued dancing and darting about from one beastial face to another, laughing out before the faces even as a kick here and a wave of a hand there drove away still more of the ghost lights. Quickly, it became clear something more was happening here. Not one of demonic faces had been real, and still none of them had moved, Rarity's own exasperated tone confirmed her fears “she is.” Pinkie pops up beside Nightshade, who was looking at her amusingly as she sang “I'd hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw, but Granny Pie said that wasn't the way, to deal with fears at all!” Dash had to turn to look around, her eyes wide, suddenly realizing what Pinkie had already started, her voice questioning the joyful mare, as she looks towards her. “Then what is it?” she ask and got her respond “she said, Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears, you'll see that they can't hurt you, just laugh to make, them disappear!” So Pinkie skips happily towards a demonic tree and laugh at it “Ha! Ha! Ha!” and to their shock the face poof out of existent, who could question the results of this, as suddenly with this silly song and swift laughter, Pinkie had removed over half the demons’ presence. The dramatic effectiveness of this display of joy before the dark spirits around them drew an audible gasp from the gathered herd. Soon Pinkie took the spotlight once more and sang her heart out “So, giggle at the ghostly, guffaw at the grossly, crack up at the creepy, whoop it up with the weepy, chortle at the kooky, snortle at the spooky!” after that, she took a deep breath and sang in one go “and tell that big, dumb, scary face to take a hike and leave you alone, and if he thinks he can scare you, then he's got another thing coming, and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...” At this, Pinkie Pie took one deep breath and sang out, stretching her arms up high “Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!” as Pinkie carried on, the others couldn't resist the joyful display of the delighted fuzzball of pink energy. All were laughing warmly and feeling somehow a bit of this day’s stress had dropped off their hearts, a sudden flash enters Nightshades mind and tickled something he heard before, but couldn't remember, but let it slide for now. As all the trees vanish, the girls, dragoness and stallion, slowly calm down their breathing, smiling as the feel more energetic somehow, beside Pinkie having more and still giggling, soon they continue forward, the fog was clearing out and soon found themselves near a lake, the waves thrashing around, follow by the sound of crying? they follow the sound, to see a sea dragon with a short/long mustache, as he thrashes around, causing the small tidal waves. As they got near the sea creature, it/he/she? gave a loud cry and splash water all over them, when it/he/she thrash around, Nightshade had a twitching eyebrow while Barbara, who was next to him, blew a small flame to dry some of their clothes a bit, soon they heard him, showing it was a male as he said "oh what a world, what a world" the sea serpent cry out in agony, Twilight walks forward, once her clothes dried off, thanks to Barbara and ask "excuse me sir, but why are you crying?" the serpent looks at them and said "oh I don't know, I was stand here, minding my own business, when out of nowhere this strange blue smoke cloud flew by me and taking my beloved mustache clean off" he told them, leaning down to show his cut of mustache. Then he started to act more dramatic and said "and now I look simple horrid" as he said that, he fell back into the lake, once more splashing water on them, Rainbow Dash look a bit ticked off and mutter "oh give me a break" to which was follow by AJ's reply's "is that what this fuss is about?" but what they didn't expect was Rarity to get in between and say "why of course it is, how can you be so insensitive" she said as she walks towards the serpent, who had his head lay on the ground in front of them. All the girls look at Rarity as she goes on about the Sea serpents looks, meanwhile Nightshade was thinking on what the Serpent said 'blue smoke cloud past by? either a surviving smoke conduit or Nightmare Moon' he thought as he kept thinking, soon felt another wave of memories enter his mind, but he soon found himself in some kind of void, he looks around in confusion "where am I?" he ask himself out loud as he walks forward "please help me" whispers out a voice, he looks forward to see a younger version of Nightmare Moon, but difference, the mare was young, light blue mane, tail and fur, night sky eyes and also an Alicorn as well, Nightshade saw her slowly fading away, so he started to jog to catch her. But as he started to jog, the mare started to fade a bit faster, he soon had to go into a sprint to catch up to her, he extended his right hand forward, but he was too late, his hand went into a cloud of smoke, he soon felt himself grab something, he quickly jerks his hand back to him and saw himself pull out a long chain, that wrap around his arm "the hell?" he ask himself, looking at the chain, wrap around his arm, but as he inspects the chain, he heard a light whispers "that is all I can do for you, please.....help me.....please" whispers the voice, he soon found himself being shake awake by a worry looking Barbara, he blinks a few time and looks at her, as she said "hey, you okay? you spaced out on us" she said to him. Nightshade looks at them, till he felt something on his right arm, he looks down and saw the chain wrap around his arm tightly, he quickly put his hands/arms into his jacket's pocket and smiles at them "yeah, just thinking" he said and they nodded in respond, but AJ looks at him a bit more till they cross the lake with the help of the Sea Serpent, who now had a purple mustache on his missing one and notice that Rarity cut off her own tail to help the Serpent. As they continued down their path, the fog cleared up, Dash had taken over the lead of the group, able to now see the others from the air after taking flight. The mare scouted high overhead whipping back and forth in the air above them, hunting. And then, she spotted their objective; a castle ruin on the other side of a short gully. There was even a bridge across the gap, though it couldn't be too sturdy, considering its age. Shooting back to the ground before the group, she couldn't help but offer a proud grin. “I found it! Its only a few hundred feet ahead across a old wood bridge” she told them as they sigh in relief. The murmur of joy from the others was clear, even Pinkie Pie cried out with delight “Way to go Dashie! You've done it” grinning with delight, she posed proudly and accepted the congratulations from all those around, before turning to guide them on. Only as they arrived at the bridge did they realize the real problem before them, the bridge must be a hundred years old and had been allowed let go, hanging over on the far side, as if someone had untied it. “Nutbunnies... well it looked like the bridge isn't an option now is it?” Pinkie said with a crestfallen look as she spoke, but was nearly be bowled over by Dash's slight nudge to the ribs “what? come on, this is no challenge, I'll just fly the bridge back over again.” how could so small a flight in the thinning fog be any real trouble, right? Nightshade had a feeling something was gonna happen as him and the girls look to Rainbow Dash, who flew to the other side, tying one end of the rope and went to the other one, till the fog started to pick up and before they lost sight of her, three Pegasus appear, walking towards her, Twilight yell out a warning, but the fog cover the whole area "what are we gonna do!?!" ask a worry Pinkie, follow by Fluttershy nodding in agreement, Nightshade was looking around left and right, Barbara was trying to calm down Fluttershy, since she was shaking a bit. Before anyone could react, they heard a yell from the other side "LET ME GO!!!!" "RAINBOW DASH!!!" scream the girls, Nightshade curse and ran forward, focusing all of his powers to his feet and launch himself high in the air and smoke dash forward, into the fog. Meanwhile RD was trying to fight off three of the Shadowbolts that wanted her to join them and leave her friends behind, but she wasn't going to abandon her friends and they didn't take her answer likely, soon they attack her, while RD trying to fight them off, the two stallion Pegasus held her in place, while the mare walks forward with a dagger "sorry, but you and your little friends are in the way of our mistress, you should had accepted our offer" said the mare with a sneer, about to stab RD, who close her eyes, praying for a miracle. Before the mare could stab RD, she was tackle to the side, the figure extended his arm to the stallions and fire two blast of smoke at them, letting RD go and giving her the chance to fly off and free. Rainbow Dash looks down and saw it was Nightshade who tackle the Shadowbolt mare down, to which said mare was struggling to break free from his grip, while also trying to stab him with the dagger she had in hand Nightshade was struggling holding the mare in place, though it didn't help, since the outfit she was wearing was revealing a lot of cleavage and he was trying not to look, while holding her arms in place, so she didn't stab him, while she pushes harder to stab him, Nightshade quickly smoke dash through her and was above her, quickly delivering an elbow drop to her back, getting a yelp of pain, he rolls to the side and dodge her swipe with the dagger as he looks at her, she growls at him, soon she and the other stallions vanish in a cloud of smoke, heading towards the castle ruins. They jog lightly towards the castle ruins, well Twilight ran, follow by Barbara following behind her, soon they made it inside and the girls with Nightshade saw Twilight levitating five stones around her, looking at each one and gently puts them on the ground, Pinkie ran forward and started to count them "one, two, three, four, five.....wait, there's only five!?!?" she said, making Twilight worry "but where's the six one?" she ask looking around. But before any could react, a green smoke started to filled the room, the girls, Barbara and Nightshade started to feel sleepy, slowly one by one fell to the floor, knocked out into their dream realm, Nightshade was on his hands and knees, using all his willpower to stay awake, his vision was slowly getting blurry, he looks up from the floor slightly, to see a pair of familiar heels, walking towards him, soon stopping in front of him, he try looking a bit more up, but soon the darkness consume his vision and he fell into unconsciousness, the last thing he saw we're the girls, been gather. > Chapter 4: A Nightmare's Truth; New Power's? (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nightshade groans awake, slowly opening his eyes to see himself in some kind of dungeon "the hell? GIRLS!?!" he screams out in shock, looking around and tries to move, only to see he was chained up and hang up on a wall, he try using his powers, but felt extremely drain "the hell? why do I feel so empty?" he ask himself, feeling weak, he looks around for anything he could use. Another groan could be heard, he looks towards the source and saw Barbara hanging on the other side, seeing her unconscious body, he tries to break free, but couldn't he could only feel more weak A dark feminine chuckle could be heard, follow by a familiar voice "thou is finally awake" Nightshade, looks up to see Nightmare Moon in front of him with a predatory grin, he let out a growl at her and tries to grab her, but couldn't with his tied up hands, causing her to chuckle "thou is really amusing, thinking that thy have won or can" she said, tracing a finger on his left cheek sensually, making him jerk his head away. Nightmare Moon just chuckles darkly yet seductively "now, now, thou will be good or thy little friends will be killed" she said with a light sneer, at that Nightshade snarls and tries to break free "you fucking bitch!!!! what did you do to Barbara, to them!!!" he yells at her, till she move and punch him in the gut, causing him to hunch over, while she smirk at him "thou will be silence" she said darkly, Nightshade looks up at her and just growls at her as she just laughs at him, turns around and starts walking away "and now to finish off the rest of thy allies" she said, walking out as Nightshade looses conscious. With Twilight Twilight groans lightly and slowly wakes up, she open her eyes and looks around seeing herself in another room, but soon notice that Nightshade, Barbara and the girls weren't there, before she could yell out for them and dark chuckle was heard and she looks towards the source making her go wide eyed in fear, seeing Nightmare Moon in front of her with a dark grin. Twilight went wide eyed and looks around for her friends, then looks at Nightmare Moon, then looks behind the Alicorn and saw the Elements, she took a deep breath and got up shakily, getting ready to face of the Mare in the Moon. With the girls The remaining mares groan awake slowly, the first one to wake up was Applejack, who groan and looks around, seeing the others "ya'll alright?" she ask them, till she notice that Barbara, Twilight and Nightshade wasn't with them "huh where is Nightshade, Twilight and Barbara" she said and as she said that, the others woke up and look around, not seeing them and soon they got worry. Each one getting up, Rarity helping Fluttershy up, soon they started to look around for the other three, calling their name to see if they could get a reply, but when they didn't get one back, they got worry, never noticing a few magic burst coming from a tower outside. With Nightshade We could see Nightshade hanging on the wall, thinking on anyway to escape, he looks up slightly, seeing Barbara still knocked out, he continues to look around trying to find anything he could use, Nightshade held his head in shame, he felt weak, he felt hopeless, as he continues to look down, he snaps his head up, his eyes widen, remembering what his aunt told him before. Flashback A 10 year old Nightshade was panting in the backyard of his aunt's house, smoke and ember dancing around him as he continues to practice with his powers, he looks towards the tree in front of him, he kept panting till he straighten up, he started to take a few deep breaths, focusing into his core, where he felt his power. As he continues to focus, smoke and ember started to swirl around him, like it was focusing around him, as he does that, a few feet away was his aunt, smiling at him, seeing his determination in training his powers, as she watches him call upon his power from his own body, as she saw the progress she smile wider seeing Nightshade do a move, it only took his father to master in two years, yet he did it in two weeks 'you would be proud of him, Shade' she thought as she continues to watch over Nightshades training. Flashback Ends Nightshade smiles at the memory and soon started to focus on his core and just like before, he could feel his power starting to flow around him, he looks at his body seeing smoke and ember dancing around him, once he had enough, he let it all out and burst into a cloud of smoke/ash/ember, soon reforming onto the floor, taking a few deep breaths, once he got his breathing under control he went to get Barbara down from the wall chains, while thinking 'hang on girls, we're coming.' With Twilight Twilight was panting slightly, the Elements around her and the special she had for the spark at the ready as she looks at the shock Nightmare Moon, seeing she was about to be defeated by a foal. She started to focus her magic into the five orbs of the Elements, a spark slowly forming around her horn, as she does this, Nightmare Moon saw this and quickly turn to smoke, dashing towards Twilight, but made it to late as she pushes the mare away, as the Elements starts to glow, making her look at them in horror, while Twilight smiles in victory, till they drop down around Nightmare Moon, showing it didn't work and causing the dark blue mare to laugh out in victory, stomp on the ground hard, breaking the stone elements into pieces, making Twilight watch in horror. As Nightmare Moon continues to laugh, both never notice a slight cloud of smoke, flowing in the air a bit, nor did Twilight notice Barbara running towards her till she was next to her "Twilight! are you okay?" she ask, getting both mares attention, but before Twilight could speak, Nightmare Moon yells out "you!?!? how did thou escape!?!" the only answer she got was a smirk from the teen dragoness, causing the dark blue mare to growl. But before she could react, a blast of concentrated smoke hit her head on, causing her to jerk backwards, hissing in pain as she looks towards the source, seeing Nightshade, but she then notices his whole body in some part of his body was leaking out a steam like smoke of his power, as his eyes glow a orange color, he clench his fists as more smoke circle around his fist, the chain he was given before wrap around his right arm securely. (Imagen Luffy's Second Gear, but without the purple line and instead of steam is smoke) Nightmare Moon growls at him as her horn flares to life, Nightshade got into a evasive stance he made himself for the use of his smoke dash, but more extended it. Both look at each other, waiting on the other to make a move, to which Nightmare Moon attack first, sending a blast of magic towards him, but Nightshade lean to the left and burst into a cloud of smoke going left, appearing in a crouch and jump, turning into smoke, dodging another blast of magic, in mid-air, he twisted around, using his smoke powers and let the wind flow around him, helping dodge another blast of magic, soon he smoke dash once more down, appearing in a crouch and launch forward, when he was near, he turn to smoke, dodging a blast of magic in point blank and causing Nightmare Moon to growl in annoyance. Nightshade soon appears behind her, leg sweeping her legs out, catching her by surprise and knocking her down and quickly punch her on the stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs an as he did that he was push by a blast of magic, causing him to grunt and crash into a wall, he pulls himself off the wall as Nightmare Moon gets up, meanwhile Twilight and Barbara were away from the fight in a safe distance. Nightshade grunts, leaning forward and made a mad dash at the dark blue mare while she summon ethereal blue swords, sending them at him, as he watches the swords get near, he smoke dash left and right, dodging the swords as best as he could, be still got cut around his body, once he was near he let loose the chain, his smoke powers flowing through the chain and swung at the Alicorn mare, hitting her hard and causing her to stagger slightly in shock. He saw the opening and continue his assault on the mare, swinging the chain around his body and hitting her with ease, like it was second nature to him, as he continues his onslaught, Twilight and Barbara watch in awe, seeing Nightshade fight against a Goddess and be able to push her back, as he continues to attack Nightmare Moon, she recover and caught the chain, pulling on it and dragging him towards her, to which she grab him by his throat "ENOUGH!!!!" she bellow loud at him, causing him to gasp and let go of the chain and struggle to break free. Twilight and Barbara saw this, yelling out "NIGHTSHADE!!!" as they shout this, Twilight started to prepare a magic blast, but before she could cast the spell, she was knock back by a spell, courtesy of Nightmare Moon. While Barbara went to check on Twilight, Nightshade saw this and lash out his hands towards her, grabbing her arms, but as he grabs her, the same feeling as before when he grab her in Town hall, the same energy started to flow into him, causing them both pain, but more to Nightshade, as visions filled his mind, memories starting to flood his mind. Nightmare Moon/Princess Luna's Memories As the memories play, a young female voice spoke as the memories shows an image of a young mare looking at the moon "oh Tia made the moon glow, pretty" said the young mare, soon her horn started to glow, her face full of concentration, but after a few minutes stops and looks up, seeing nothing new in the night sky, causing the mare to sigh sadly. The memory soon change to a teen Alicorn mare running towards a running yelling out a name "Tia, Tia, Tia!!! come look, I did it, I raised the moon!!!" said the mare as she knocks on the door, on the other side was a older mare, doing a stack of paperwork and scroll, till she heard the young mare and gave a tired sigh, replying "I can't right now Lulu, am busy" she said, never noticing from the other side of the door, the young mares sadden and hurt face, her head low, till she said "okay sister" slowly turning around and walking back they way she came. As more memories enter his mind, he saw a few of the mare casting a few spells, to reading books, practicing fighting styles and final one where she was looking at everyone out playing and having fun in the day, while they sleep during the night, it continue show that as the mare whispers quietly to herself, her voice filled with sadness "why doesn't anyone enjoy my night? why thou they sleep during my beautiful night, why?" she ask herself quietly, letting out a few tears fell, as Nightshade saw this, he started to realize why Nightmare Moon wanted to spread eternal darkness. As the memory continues on, he started to see the jealousy in the young mares eyes to the older mare, seeing everyone enjoy the day and not her night, soon witnessing the Nightmare Moon's transformation, he continues to watch, as she went and fought the older mare, he could see the older mare having a hard time fighting Nightmare Moon, seeing that it was her sister, till he appears in the final moment, seeing Nightmare Moon over the older mare, grinning evilly at her "the night shall be everlasting, they will never see their precious little sun" she sneer at the mare, till he notice the older mare blast her and pull out one last trick, noticing that they were the Elements of Harmony. As the older charge the spell and fire at Nightmare Moon, he saw the beam continue towards the moon, till he notice the face of Nightmare Moon printed on it and heard a whisper as the memory started to fade "am so sorry Luna, please forgive your elder sister, for being selfish and never noticing, please forgive me, please" as the whisper finishes, he suddenly appears in a dark abyss, floating around aimless as he looks around till he notice in the distance a small patch of earth? As he looks closer he could see the young mare on her knees, crying into her hands, whispering over and over 'am sorry' or 'please forgive me Tia' and over the mare he could see Nightmare Moon looking at the mare sadly. Back to reality As the memories finish their was sudden burst of raw magic that cover both Nightmare Moon and Nightshade, blinding both Twilight and Barbara "what's happening!?!" yells out Barbara at Twilight as they couldn't see anything else. With the girls As they others continue to look for the others, a sudden noise caught their attention, following the noise they found the source at a nearby tower, as they look at it, Applejack yells out "come on yall, looks like their alright at it, we better hurry" they others nodded and quickly went down a corridor, towards the tower. Back to the fight As the surge of magic continues, it suddenly let out a huge burst, separating both Nightshade and Nightmare Moon away from each other, both crashing into walls, Nightshade let out a pain groan as he slowly pulls himself out from the wall, landing on his hands and knees, breathing hard, but as his vision clears, he notice a white flow of energy/magic around his arms (white for neutral till he chooses his path) causing him to get wide eyed, remembering something his aunt said 'this can't be.....did I really....?' he thought to himself till he heard a groan from the other side. He looks over and saw Nightmare Moon getting out of the wall, glaring at him, but was slightly more soft "w...w..what have thou do? h...h...how did thou see thy memories of thy night?" she ask, slowly standing up, while also earning a confuse look from Twilight and Barbara. Nightshade slowly started to get up, but slips slightly as he spoke "I.....I inherited my ancestors power's" he said, slowly getting up, putting his hands on his knees "though I n...never thought I get his specialty" he grunts out, fully standing up, the energy still flowing around his arms, he looks down at it, then back at Nightmare Moon seeing her charging up another spell, going wide eyed, he rolls to the side, dodging the fireball she launch. Nightshade moves his hand forward to try and launch a spell or anything, but only a slight spark appears, making go wide eyed 'the hell!?!? I can't cast a spell?' he thought, looking up, seeing a giant ethereal sword going towards him, causing him to jump back from it. He slowly got up and saw the anger face of Nightmare Moon "still thou fights, after seen thy memories, thou knows our reason and pain, yet thy fight, why!?!?!" she demanded as Nightshade got up, ready to fight, powers or not, he looks at her with a serious and determination on his face "cause am fighting for my friends, am fighting for Ponyville, am fighting for the world, but right now...am fighting for YOU!!!!!" he roars up without fear as a slight spark of energy flows around him, both stood there, watching each other, Nightshade looks at Nightmare Moon determined to fight for his belief of his and was gonna do it, even if it kills him. > Chapter 5: Conduit vs Goddess of the Night part 1 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Both Nightmare Moon and Nightshade looks at each other, neither one moving while on the other side, Twilight and Barbara we're looking at them, in scare for Nightshade and fearing for his life, while he just looks around quickly, never letting Nightmare Moon out of his sight. As he looks around, his brain starts to work in overdrive 'ok, I have Delsin's power of copying other powers, so now I have magic, now the question is........HOW AM I SUPPOSE TO USE IT!?!?' he roars in his mind, thinking of any solution, while dodging Nightmare Moon's attacks, he try to call his own new magic powers, but was only able to make a spark, making him curse mentally, till an idea pop into his mind, looking down at his chain, he unwraps it from his arm and swings at Nightmare Moon, magic flow through it and to everyone's shock, a blast of magic came from the chain and towards her, causing her to make a shield, but a small crack appears on the shield, making Nightmare Moon worry and Nightshade to grin. Nightshade ran towards Nightmare Moon, while dodging her blasts of magic, not being able to smoke dash is really bad, but the year of training he did paid off, as he dodges her attacks left and right, once he was near he lashes out at her with his chain, magic flowing through it, turning his chain into a long magic whip that he was able to use easily, but only for a short time, before being push back by a blast wave of magic from Nightmare Moon. Nightshade flew a few feet away and recover from the blast, wrapping his chain around his arm as he slowly got up, wiping some blood of his chin, while Nightmare Moon dust herself off "impressive young stallion" she said with a mocking tone, Nightshade growls lightly, standing up, Nightmare Moon smirks darkly and summons her magic, send a bolt of lighting at him, to which he quickly dodge to the side, soon later getting up, running as he dodges more bolts of lighting. Meanwhile both Twilight and Barbara were slowly making their way towards the elements "come one Barb" said Twilight quietly as they slowly made their way towards the elements, getting near to them. But just before they could reach the elements, Nightmare Moon appear in front of them, her horn glowing, readying a magic bolt "and those thou think thee is going?" she ask darkly, causing both girls to freeze in fear and for Nightshade to go wide eyed, running towards them, everything started to to go in slow motion, Nightshade could feel his heart pounding into his chest as he tries to make it over in time. As he runs towards his vision started to fade and soon replace with another scene of a young colt and filly about to get crush by a falling building and a few feet in front of him he saw, himself? He squinted his eyes a bit and went wide eyed seeing a face he only seeing in pictures 'Delsin!?!' he thought in shock, seeing the lone human conduit running to save the kids, as he ran towards them, Nightshade notice that Delsin was flowing with magic or more specific around his feet, just as Nightshade blink, he was gone in a flash, as if Delsin just teleported, seeing him grabbing the foals and soon once more flashing away from the falling building. As the memory fades, Nightshade could hear Delsin's voice as he saw the move "Flash Step" as that was said, his vision got to normal and saw himself still running towards Twilight and Barbara, as new information enter his brain, as that happen, on instinct he was channeling magic on to his feet. Soon Nightshade felt it as he flash in front of them, arms spread out as he took the magic blast straight on, protecting Twilight and Barbara, soon time continues on, as Nightshade was sent flying into a wall, getting Twilight and Barbara to go wide eyed "NIGHTSHADE!!!" both yell in shock and fear while Nightmare Moon was slightly impressive, but was smirking nonetheless. Nightmare Moon then turns towards them, her smirk still in place and charges her magic once more, but before she could react, there was another flash and suddenly Nightshade appears in front of her, delivering a strong punch to her stomach, knocking the air out her lungs and pushing her away from them with a magic enhance punch. Nightmare Moon was send flying a few feet till she use her wings to stop herself from crashing, holding her stomach in slight pain as she stares at Nightshade shock, as he stands there, arm stretch out cause the punch, his front torso was slightly burn cause of the magic blast, but overall was fine, although panting slightly heavy. Nightmare Moon growls, charging her magic once more while Nightshade tense his legs and suddenly vanish in a flash of light, appearing in front of her, shocking the three girls once more, taking the chance, he started delivering a serious of punches at Nightmare Moon, pushing her bit back, but when he was about to deliver a right hook, she grab his punch, twist it around and knee him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him and soon started to swing him around, launching him into a wall as she fires a blast of concentration of magic, pushing him a bit more into the wall. With a grunt, Nightshade push himself off the wall, falling to his hands and knees to the ground, his clothes dirty and cut in a few places, blood slightly seeping from his head, mouth and a few cuts on his body as he slowly stands up. Nightmare Moon narrow her eyes at him and said "why those thou keep fighting us? Thee will perish by our hands and thou know's it" as she said that Nightshade stood up fully, breathing heavily. He lifts up his head, causing her to slightly gasp and unconscionably take a step back, his eyes were glowing white (neutral in karma for his magic) as he slowly starts walking towards her "like I said, am fighting not for me, am fighting for my friends, for Ponyville and like before for YOU!!!" he roars at the end as a burst of magic as it wraps around him, slowly healing his wounds, only slightly. Once it was slightly heal as his head snaps towards her direction and suddenly vanish in a bright flash, but before she could react, Nightmare Moon hunch over as a fist impacted into her stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs, she only caught a glimpse of white glowing eyes before a kick hit her to the side of her stomach, launching her into a wall, shocking Twilight and Barbara at his new found strength and power. Nightshade soon vanish once more, using Flash Step to reach Nightmare Moon, when he was near, he lets his chain loose and wraps it around both of Nightmare Moons leg, and before she could react, he pulls the chain, dragging her with it, smashing her and dragging her around the room, till he let her go and send her flying to the other side of the room "give up Nightmare Moon and let us free you from that darkness!" he yells out at her as he watches her slowly get up, magic flowing around her, healing her up, as her mane cover her eyes, but suddenly magic burst out from her body as her face snaps up, showing an angry snarl directed at Nightshade. As she looks at him, she snarls and shouted (Royal Canterlot Voice) "WE HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THIS, THOU SHALL DIE FOR THY MEDDLING!!!" she shouts as more magic came from her, as this happen Nightshade got ready for the worse as he slightly gulps and could only think one thing 'oh shit' was all he thought as he prepare himself for the worse, but suddenly heard running looks to his left seeing Barbara standing beside him, taking a fighting stance as well, causing him to go wide eyed and before he could say anything, he heard movement to his right and saw Twilight also getting into a fighting stance, even thought it was a sloppy one, he looks into their eyes could only see their determination. With a sigh, he looks over to Nightmare Moon as a smirk slowly forms on his face, both side's getting ready to fight, but neither notice the elements giving of a slight glow. > Chapter 6: Conduit vs Goddess of the Night part 2 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As both parties look at each other, Nightshade turns towards Twilight and whispers "Twilight, if you can, am gonna need you to cast a shield spell when she cast a bolt spell on me, Barbara and of course you, also if you can, retaliate with a few spells as well, got it?" he ask, not wasting time in the matter, they were in a life or dead situation and was gonna make sure they make it out alive. Twilight gave a shaky nod, her horn glowing lightly with magic, he then turns towards Barbara "with some information I know about dragons, I know you are slightly resistance to magic, a fighter and can use your flame, can you do any of those" he ask the dragoness in a whisper, Barbara nodded slightly and said "yeah, but my flame isn't big, so I can only use it up close" she said as he nodded, looking back at Nightmare Moon, who was readying up a spell. Once the spell was charge, she launches it at them and Twilight on cue uses a shield spell on them, blocking it from the spell, Nightshade on cue ran towards Nightmare Moon with Barbara right behind him as she let out a small stream of fire from her lips. Nightmare Moon saw this and once more fire a few lighting bolt spell at them, Nightshade saw this and grabbed Barbara's arm, son both vanish in a flash, appearing in front of her and before she could react, Nightshade moved to the side, revealing Barbara who was taking a deep breath, soon letting loose a burst of green flame at the Goddess, who barely had time to summon a shield, but that cost her as Nightshade once more use Flash Step, appearing in front of her and punch her on the stomach, knocking once more the wind out of her lungs, he then follow up with an uppercut, follow by back kick, pushing her a few feet away from him and Barbara as they both move back for extra space. Nightmare Moon growls and summons ethereal swords around her, sending them at him and Barbara, Nightshade saw this and reacted quickly, grabbing Barbara bridal style, getting a blush from the dragoness and uses Flash Step, dodging left and right. As he continues dodging, Twilight was charging up another shield spell, once finish she yells out to them "guys, over here quickly" as Nightshade her heard, he quickly flash towards her, while dodging Nightmare Moons ethereal swords, once near Twilight activated the spell, protecting all three from the attack. Nightshade looks around, looking for anything they could use for a distraction, he soon notice a rusty sword nearby a suit of destroy armor with a plan slowly forming, he ran towards the sword, surprising Twilight and Barbara at his action, Nightmare Moon saw him and quickly started to launch bolts of magic at him, but he kept using Flash Step, dodging left and right as he made his way towards the rusty sword. Once he was near, he dove forward, sliding towards the sword, once it was at grabbing reach, he took it, doing a 180 and standing up quickly, sword in hand, pointing it at Nightmare Moon, he looks at the sword, noticing it wasn't much rusty, but still look dull. Nightshade got into a slightly sloppy sword stance that he was able to learn only a few steps from his aunt's books, he held the sword on his left hand, while he let loose his chain on his right hand, getting ready for another hard fight. Nightmare Moon scoffs at this "thou thinks thee can hurt us with that puny sword?" she ask with a slight snarl as her magic flows out of her, making a few sparks appear around her, Nightshade didn't answer but ran towards her, ignoring the shouts of Twilight and Barbara, as he was getting near, he Flash Steps to the side and swung his chain as it took the form of an Energy Whip, snapping at Nightmare Moon, who quickly summon a shield to protect herself, but as it collides, a small shock-wave of magic appear at the contact. Nightshade gave her a slight smirk "if I can get a reaction like this, then yes" he said back, once near he swung his sword in a downward slash, making contact with her shield and causing sparks to fly as he tries to push forward. But Nightshade had to jump back quickly to avoid a slash from Nightmare Moons Ethereal Swords as they floated around her, she gave a evil like smirk and soon the swords at him, ready to strike him down, while he takes a sloppy defense stance, blocking as much as he could, but still got a few slashes on his body 'shit, I got to think of something quickly or else am screwed' he thought, blocking another slash, but grunts as he feels a slash at his back. Both Twilight and Barbara could only watch in shock and fear, Twilight try casting a shield around him, but it didn't reach in time or would get cancel, she felt helpless that's when she remember the Elements, looking over to the left, she saw the Elements on guarded 'this is my chance!' she thought with determination, she looks over to Barbara and told her what she was gonna do, at first she was a bit nervous, but agreed and soon both of them ran towards the elements in order to help Nightshade. Meanwhile Nightshade was having a hard time protecting himself, he was panting heavily, cuts and bruises all over his body, he looks over to Nightmare Moon who was giving him a smug look. Nightmare Moon slowly walks towards him "thou is a formidable foe, but thou will fail" she said as she charges up another spell, aiming at him. Nightshade was panting hard, holding the sword in a weak defense, readying himself for the spell she was about to cast and just as he got ready, she blasted him into a wall, causing him to cough up blood and to knock the wind out of his lungs as he slides down to the floor. As that happens, Nightmare Moon lets out a evil like laugh, getting Twilight and Barbara attention, causing them to gasp and scream out "NIGHTSHADE!!!!" this got the mare of the Moon's attention as she looks over to them, seeing Twilight next to the Elements, getting the spark for them, she quickly teleported towards them to stops her. As Nightmare Moon got there, her ethereal swords at the ready to strike Twilight and Barbara, time slow down as both girls saw the blades getting near them, as Twilight continues to summon the spark for the Elements, just as the swords were about to reach them, a spark appear around the Elements, causing a bright flash to cover them, follow by the sound of blade meeting flesh. As the light dies down, Twilight and Barbara looks up, causing them to go wide eyed and scream, while Nightmare Moon was slightly wide eyed, but was smirking, right there, blocking Nightmare Moon's ethereal swords was Nightshade, each sword stabbing him through his chest, stomach, shoulder, arms and legs as he hunch over the two girls, protecting them from the swords. Both girls were shock at what they are seeing, but before they could shout out to him, the swords were pulled out of him with a sickening 'squelch' and he was thrown at them, pushing them away from the Elements as they started to glow around Nightmare Moon, causing her to panic "no, no no, no, NO!!!" she shouted as she was about to try to cast a spell, while both Twilight and Barbara were trying to stop the bleeding on Nightshade, but as Twilight puts her hands over his wound, he slowly was absorbing a bit of her magic to heal some of the wounds. Twilight looks up just in time to see Nightmare Moon shatter the Elements, causing her heart to sink "no...." she whisper to herself, seeing their only hope be destroy in front of them as Nightmare Moon let's out a victory laugh "the night will last FOREVER!!!!" she yells out as her mane turn an eternal night sky blue, flying into the sky and creating a night blue like sky. Just as Twilight and Barbara were about to lose hope, they heard a familiar shout "hold on sugarcube's we coming" follow by other shouts of their names, soon five familiar mare's appear by the entrance of the room, as the spotted Twilight, Barbara and Nightshade, but when they saw him, they went wide eyed and quickly ran towards them, while Nightmare Moon scowls at them as her magic started to flow around her, charging up her magic. Soon all five mare got in front of them, protecting Twilight, Barbara and Nightshade from Nightmare Moon, making Twilight and Barbara go wide eyed at seeing them getting in front of them, to protect them. Nightmare Moon looks at them and said “you truly are a fools, I was going to make your death quick, but now I’ll truly make you suffer, this battle was over the moment the Elements shattered yet you continue to prolong the inevitable” as she said that, she flare her magic once more to prove her point. At that moment Twilight had an epiphany, the answer had been staring her in the face the whole time and she hadn't seen it until now, she…she would not give up, she got up, leaving Nightshade with Barbara as he heals “It’s not over, you think you can destroy the Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong; because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here in these ponies” the shards of the five elements began to glow with new life and surround the five ponies, the five and the dragoness looked at the phenomenon in awe. Twilight then looks towards Applejack “Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!” The element reconstituted. The element of Honesty now resided on the farm mare’s neck in the shape of a gold necklace with an orange and green apple-shaped gem, then towards Flutthershy “Fluttershy, who tamed the Manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness!” once more the Element manifested into a gold necklace but with a pink butterfly-shaped gem, shaped similarly to her cutie mark which suited the animal talker, this time it was now the Pony of Laughter “Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter!” her shape was that of a blue balloon-shaped gem that looks similar to her cutie mark, then she looks towards Rarity “Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity!” the proper pony’s gold necklace contained a purple diamond-shaped gem, similar to her cutie mark, then towards RD “and Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!” and who could forget the boisterous flier whose element manifested as a gold necklace with a red thunderbolt-shaped gem, similar to her cutie mark, “the spirits of these five ponies got us through not only your forces but every challenge you threw at us, thanks to them and another friend of mine I finally realized the truth behind the elements” as she said that, the five mares floated in the air. Nightmare Moon scoffs at her "your still missing the six Element and without it, you'll fail" she said as she floats in the air as her magic flares more to life. But confident, Twilight Sparkle continued “but it did! A different kind of spark, I felt it the very moment I realized that they are willingly gonna fight for me, Nightshade and Barbara is the moment I realized they care for us, just like I care about them. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that the ponies I met and that traveled with me here this night are my friends, hence how I discovered the secret that recreates the sixth element, ignited by the spark that resides in all of us…the element of... magic!” at long last the lost sixth element manifested itself as a gold tiara with a set of oval-shaped sapphires and a magenta star-shaped gem, similar to Twilight’s cutie mark. It rested upon her head and with that the Elements activated. But before they could do anything, Nightmare Moon shouts at them “I WON’T BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!” with that she fired all the power she could muster at them, a blast that is to kill them, but before the beam could reach them, a grey blur flew in front of them and soon summon a shield, blocking the attack from hitting them, to which soon cause an explosion to happen around the figure. As the dust settles in, the figure could be seen as Nightshade, causing the girls to gasp, but soon the notice he had his arms stretch towards Nightmare Moon as a white shield was hovering in front of him and the girls, blocking the attack, but soon they looked closer to him and notice a white glow around him, but Twilight knew what it was 'he's using magic!?!' she thought in shock and awe. Nightshade lower his arms as the shields vanish, revealing his eyes glowing white as he looks towards Nightmare Moon, he grins at her "round 2" was all he said as he got into a fighting stance 'I need to give the girls a chance, if what that books says is true, I need to stall her' he thought as he got ready to fight for his life, their and Luna's. > Chapter 7: Conduit vs Goddess of the Night Final Part (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The mane six, Nightshade and Nightmare Moon were in a stalemate while Barbara took cover, all three parties didn't move as they look at each other, Nightshade eyes look between the girls and Nightmare Moon as magic flows out of him, he knew he couldn't keeps this up, he didn't even know where he got this sudden boost, all he knew was that he wanted to protect the girls from Nightmare Moons blast. Nightshade looks over his shoulder towards Twilight and the gang "girls I'll keep Nightmare Moon busy, while you ready up for whatever you need to do on her" he said as he lets out a burst of magic, cutting off any argument they could have as he Flash Steps towards Nightmare Moon, who quickly summon her magic to blast him away, but he reacted quickly and Flash Step behind her as he delivers a reverse roundhouse kick towards her back, as it makes contact, she was send flying towards a wall to the far end and away from the girls. Nightmare Moon crash into the wall with a grunt, soon pulling herself off the wall as she looks towards Nightshade, growling at him. She quickly concentrated her magic and fired a blast of magic at him, he thrusts his right arm forward as a white shield, blocking the attack. Nightmare Moon growls once more and keeps firing more magic at him as he continues to blocked them with his magic shield, but with each blast a crack would form on it as he gave out a few grunts in trying to hold it for as long as he could, but couldn't as the finally blast broke the shield and blasted him a few feets away, he corrected himself quickly, aiming his left hand towards her, his magic flowing around his hand and fired his own magic blast at her, catching her off guard, not knowing he could do that as well. Nightshade quickly got up and Flash Steps towards her, chain at the ready but she saw him and quickly summon an ethereal sword and swung at him, he barely had enough time to block it with his chain as he pushes magic through it, causing the chain to glow white, hardening it. As both weapon clash against each other, a small shockwave appears around them as they try to push each other away, as they push more and more, their faces inches closer as they locked eyes with each other "thou knows how to fight, how would thee like to join us? We could give what thou heart desires" she said with a purr to him, causing him to shiver slightly "nope" was all he said as he did a quick leg sweep at her follow by a point blank blast of magic at her. Nightmare Moon flew a few feet away, till she teleported behind him and pushed him to his knees as she growls at him "thou dares!?! We can give thee what thou hearts desire and thou rejects us!!!" she shouts at him as she summons more ethereal blades to cut him down. Nightshade was wide eyes as the swords came at him, everything went in slow motion as he looks at the blades getting closer and closer to him, suddenly his eyes glaze over slightly and then return to normal as he soon focus all his magic around him as time continues normal, he then shouts out, pushing his arms to each side "Shinra Tensei" as he shouts that as an invisible like force, pushes all the blades and Nightmare Moon away from him, as that happens he fully falls on all fours as he starts breathing hard from using to much magic "holy......shit" he said, remembering a curse he heard his aunt say and decided to voice it out. Nightmare Moon slowly got up as she slowly started to lose patience, she then suddenly feels a sudden burst of magic, she looks towrds the girls as she see's them surrounded by harmony magic as they floated into the air. As this happen, another glow appear behind her, as Nightmare Moon turns, she went slightly wide eyed as she notice that Nightshade was also cover in the same aura of harmony magic, he looks at himself as he feels a warm and new energy, he saw his wound slowly heal as he stands up, he looks over to the discard sword, he extended his hand towards it as a white glow covers it, soon calling the sword towards him, as it flew towards him, handle first. Nightshade grab it and the glow started to cover to sword as well, slowly changing it to withstand the new energy and power to it, as the glow dies down, a new sword was in place, an elegant looking katana. Nightshade looks at his new weapon in awe, he could feel it radiating raw energy from it, in a comforting way, he gave it a few test swing and grins, he looks towards Nightmare Moon and got into an offensive stance "where do you think your going? am not done yet!" he yells out as he Flash Steps towards her. Nightshade appaers in front of her and swings at her with a downward slash, Nightmare Moon quickly summons a shield to block, as the katana made contact, a small shockwave appaer around them as small cracks started to appaer around her shield, causing her to go wide eyed, he gave her a smirks as he rears his other arm back, his chain wrap around the fist and he thrusts it into her shield, causing more shockwaves to appear and for more cracks to form. He kept on punching the shield till it broke with one finally punch to which also connected with Nightmare Moon, who stagger a few times, Nightshade took this opportunity and attacked her, he drop his katana and started to deliver a few heavy punches at her. Nightmare Moon growls and suddenly pushes him off as her magic started to gradient from her body, but suddenly another surge of magic appear, both Nightshade and Nightmare Moon looks towards the source, seeing the Mane Six all hovering in place as harmonic magic flow out of them, causing the dark alicorn to go wide eyed and aim at them, but Nightshade got in the way as he charges up his own magic. Nightmare Moon growls as she charges up her own magic, as all three groups charge up their magic something clicked in Nightshades mind as both him and the girls launch a blast of harmony magic at Nightmare Moon as the dark alicorn as both attacks collide, something in Nightshade snaps and soon his vision was covered in a bright light. Void As Nightshade vision clears up, he notices he wasn't in the castle anymore, as he looks around he heard a soft whimper and looks towards the sound and saw Nightmare Moon struggling to stand, he narrow his eyes and started to walk towards her as he started to remember everything she did in trying to stop him and the girls, the things she might have done to him and Barbara and in almost killing Twilight, a growl escape his lips that got her attention. Nightmare Moon looks up in time to see a kick to her chest pushing her on to her back as Nightshade got on top of her, his hand on her neck, causing her to gasp "you.......fucking......bitch" he growls out in anger as she gasp in pain and tries to talk "please..........all.....we ever.......wanted.......was for........my little......ponies to.......love our......night" she chokes up as tears came out of her eyes, making him pause. Nightshade thought for a minute, sure she didn't harm anyone at the beginning, except when he got her attention and saw the guards get launch, all she wanted was for others to notice her night, he for one enjoy the night more than the day, hell he even saw her memories about having her night be appreciated, even before she transform, he looks down at her and instead of seeing a tyrant, he saw a lonely mare, wanting her night to be loved, but she tried to hurt his friends and the citizens in Ponyville. Nightshade only had one thing in mind 'what do I do?' he thought to himself as he felt that he was in a crossroad, not knowing what to do. Karma Choices Spare and redeem Nightmare Moon: Nightshade was slowly putting pressure on her neck as he could see her struggling for air, but as he saw her eyes, he could see the guilt slowly rising in them and soon saw that she accepted her fate, till he remember something his father once said that caused him to loosen his grip and slowly let got of her neck, making her gasp for her and to tenderly hold her neck as she looks up at him, only able to muster up one word "why?" was all she ask him. He looks at her with a sad smile "that's not who I am, my father once said 'Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future' since then I moved forward, not letting anything stop me for a better future and you can change that as well, if your willingly" he said as he got up and extended a hand towards her, giving her a small and gentle smile that got him a small blush from the dark alicorn. As she tenderly grab his hand, he pulls her up as Luna appears as well, confuse she looks around till she spotted Nightshade, she gasps and ran towards him, hugging him "Sir Nightshade thou is alright" she exclaim happily as he lets out a small chuckle as he smiles at her "was there ever any doubt?" he ask as they both let out a small giggle as they did, he felt a warm feeling going through his body. Luna looks over to Nightmare Moon and saw the guilty look on her eyes and with that, she went over to her and hug her, surprising her as Nightmare Moon looks down at Luna, seeing a small smile filled with forgiviness, causing her to choke in sob and soon hugging her back, Nightshade saw this and gave a warm smile at the scene, soon a bright light cover his vision...... Killing and absorbing her magic: Nightshade was slowly putting pressure on her neck as he could see her struggling for air, but as he saw her eyes, he could see the guilt slowly rising in them and soon saw that she accepted her fate, till he remember something his father once said that caused him to loosen his grip till he remember what she did. With a shake of his head, he growls and puts more pressure on her neck as the life in her eyes slowly started to fade and as it did, his own magic started to slowly absorb her own magic into his, as he felt more power entering him. With one final push, he snaps her neck as she lets out one final silent scream of pain and fell lifeless as her body turn into particles of magic that Nightshade soon absorb, a few minutes later Luna appaer, looking around and spotted Nightshade, she gave a small smile and ran towards him "Sir Nightshade thou is alright" she exclaim at him, as she hugs him, he gave a small chuckle "was there ever any doubt?" he ask her as she let out a small giggle, soon a bright light cover their vision.......... > Chapter 8: A Nightmare's Second Chance; Protector+ (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past As Nightshade vision clears up, he notices he wasn't in the castle anymore, as he looks around he heard a soft whimper and looks towards the sound and saw Nightmare Moon struggling to stand, he narrow his eyes and started to walk towards her as he started to remember everything she did in trying to stop him and the girls, the things she might have done to him and Barbara and in almost killing Twilight, a growl escape his lips that got her attention. Nightmare Moon looks up in time to see a kick to her chest pushing her on to her back as Nightshade got on top of her, his hand on her neck, causing her to gasp "you.......fucking......bitch" he growls out in anger as she gasp in pain and tries to talk "please..........all.....we ever.......wanted.......was for........my little......ponies to.......love our......night" she chokes up as tears came out of her eyes, making him pause. Nightshade thought for a minute, sure she didn't harm anyone at the beginning, except when he got her attention and saw the guards get launch, all she wanted was for others to notice her night, he for one enjoy the night more than the day, hell he even saw her memories about having her night be appreciated, even before she transform, he looks down at her and instead of seeing a tyrant, he saw a lonely mare, wanting her night to be loved, but she tried to hurt his friends and the citizens in Ponyville. Nightshade only had one thing in mind 'what do I do?' he thought to himself as he felt that he was in a crossroad, not knowing what to do. Present Nightshade was slowly putting pressure on her neck as he could see her struggling for air, but as he saw her eyes, he could see the guilt slowly rising in them and soon saw that she accepted her fate, till he remember something his father once said that caused him to loosen his grip and slowly let got of her neck, making her gasp for her and to tenderly hold her neck as she looks up at him, only able to muster up one word "why?" was all she ask him. He looks at her with a sad smile "that's not who I am, my father once said 'Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future' since then I moved forward, not letting anything stop me for a better future and you can change that as well, if your willingly" he said as he got up and extended a hand towards her, giving her a small and gentle smile that got him a small blush from the dark alicorn. As she tenderly grab his hand, he pulls her up as Luna appears as well, confuse she looks around till she spotted Nightshade, she gasps and ran towards him, hugging him "Sir Nightshade thou is alright" she exclaim happily as he lets out a small chuckle as he smiles at her "was there ever any doubt?" he ask as they both let out a small giggle as they did, he felt a warm feeling going through his body. Luna looks over to Nightmare Moon and saw the guilty look on her eyes and with that, she went over to her and hug her, surprising her as Nightmare Moon looks down at Luna, seeing a small smile filled with forgiviness, causing her to choke in sob and soon hugging her back, Nightshade saw this and gave a warm smile at the scene, soon a bright light cover his vision. Back in the Sister's old Castle A groan escaped his lips as he slowly open his eyes to be greeted by sunlight and Barbara looking down at him in worry till she notices him waking up and quickly hugs him "Nightshade! your okay!" she said with relief in her tone and also getting the attention of the other girls, who were looking at their new accessories, they run towards them and started to ask him question after question. "Y'all alright Sugarcube?" "Oh My Gosh, you alright dude" "You okay Nighty?" "Are you okay Darling?" "Uuuumm, are you okay, if you don't mind me asking" "Are you okay Nightshade" said each girl in their own way as they looks him over to see if he had any other wound on him while he gave them a small smile while saying "am fine girls, nothing to worry about" he said as he slowly got up, using the katana to support himself a bit. Suddenly the brightness of the Sun’s glow drew his attention. He looked on in surprise at the newest arrival. It was none other than the Princess of the Sun herself Celestia, she stood around 6 feet 9, almost 7 feet tall, even in heels, white fur with a light green, blue, pink and looks to flow in the wind as it switches to other colors as well, wearing a white with yellow dress that shows off her curves and impressive bust size, a E-cup size, light violet eyes, she also wore a golden tiara with a few other accessories. The ponies bowed in reverence of the new arrival, except Nightshade who was looking around the room for someone, while Twilight ran up to her and happily hugged the ruler, overcome with so much emotion that any thought of decorum flew out the window to which the taller mare returned the gesture, “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student I knew you could do it“ as the Princess said that, Twilight seemed stunned at this revelation “Princes…you…you made it seem like it was an old fairy tale. Nightmare Moon’s returning…why?” she ask her mentor. Princess Celestia looks at Twilight and smiles at her “I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more, I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart, to which never would have happened if you were approaching it like a mission, your feelings wouldn't have been genuine. Now I hope another as well will be ready to open her heart.” Celestia turned her attention to Luna and was about to call her till she notice another figure next to her, causing her to go wide eyed "Nightmare Moon!?!?" she screams out in shock. As she shouted that, the others looks towards where the Princess was looking and to their shock, Nightmare Moon was next to Luna, who was slowly waking up, before the girls could get the Elements ready, a white light flash past all of them and got between them, revealing it was Nightshade as he extended his arms out in a defenses kind of why as he held his katana in reverse grip, shocking them. Twilight was the first to shake it off "Nightshade, what are you doing? get out of the way, before Nightmare Moon-" "No" she was cut off by his sudden reply as he held his ground, as he looks at them, but more specific, at Celestia, who was looking at him back. Nightshade looks at them with a blank look as they try to reason with him to move out of the way till Princess Celestia spoke "why are you trying to defend that monster?" she ask, but said it the wrong way as he send her a hard, cold glare that shocks her to the core, never receiving a glare like that from her little ponies. As Nightshade glares at her, he said "cause I know what really happen to make her like this" he said, making Celestia goes wide eyed as he continues "this all happen cause of ponies not showing the night the same love the give their sun" he said as he looks at the Princess dead in the eye "and as her older sister enjoys it, she never notices her own sister slowly succumb to their own demons" he said as he looks behind him to see both Luna and Nightmare Moon awake, and listening to him. He soon turns back towards the Solar Princess "but the thing is, she never was possess or taking over, it was all her own emotions, revealing her darker side, something that her sister could have prevent if she wasn't so ignorance" he said, getting gasp from the girls and Barbara as Celestia continues to looks at him, the guilty in her eyes, slowly showing "but even so, Nightmare Moon and Luna have something in common" he said while Celestia looks a bit confused, but lets him answer "their one in the same, to the point that both of them are your sisters" he said, making all off them, minus Luna and Nightmare Moon go wide eyed. Before anyone of the girls could say anything, Celestia raised her hand to stop the girls from saying anything and looks towards Nightshade "and the reason to that?" she ask him as he looks at her in the eyes, unconditionally making the Solar Princess blush lightly "it's pretty clear that even you, would notice it, after all, Luna turn into Nightmare Moon, it wasn't dark magic possessing her or something taking over, it was her emotions" he said as he looks towards Nightmare Moon and gestures "she's Luna emotion in second form, to which his jealousy, loneliness and sadness" he said as he looks at Celestia, who couldn't help but feel ashamed of herself, since she knew that she cause her sister to get in that state. Soon Nightmare Moon got up and slowly walks next to Nightshade, looking at Celestia with a guilty look "and we would li......I mean I would like to say, that am sorry for what I did those thousand of years ago and tonight......I just wanted our night to be loved and appreciated" she said as she bows her head in guilt and shame, but as she did, she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looks to the side to see it was Nightshade who put a hand on her shoulder as he gave her a small smile, to which she reply with one back and a small blush on her face. She soon felt a hand grasp her own, giving it a light squeeze, she looks towards the source and saw it was Luna, giving her a small smile, to which Nightmare Moon respond with one of her own all the while Celestia looks at the scene, remembering when she had a moment like this with Luna and could see the resemblance of them on each other. As she remembers those time, she took in mind what Nightshade said and looks between Luna and Nightmare Moon, as she did, she could see the resemblance and couldn't help but feel bad, she then looks towards Nightmare Moon's eyes and could see that everything she said and was doing was genuine, she looks towards them and took a deep breath as she starts to walks towards them, more especially towards Nightmare Moon and Luna, Nightshade saw this and took a few steps back while still being in range in case she tried anything towards Nightmare Moon. As Celestia stood in front of them, she looks at Luna, then at Nightmare Moon, then back Luna, doing this a few more times, seeing more and more resemblance “Princess Luna and Nightmare Moon" she said, fully getting their attention, the princesses of the night, stood opposite of Celestia and looked hardly over the age or twelve or thirteen, It was obvious the Elements split her from her darkness caused this affect The Svelte alicorn had the makings of an early bloomer at that age with the same gown she wore in the Mindscape except reaching to above her knees instead of at her ankles, the way her ears held low and her expression the shame that the younger Alicorn held on to was obvious, she then looks over to Nightmare Moon and saw her wearing her damage battle outfit and gear, a few scratches here and there. Soon Celestia looks at them both “It has been a thousand years sister...... I mean sisters, I’ve waited so long to say this” Luna and Nightmare Moon seems to seize up as they brace himself for her wrath “I’m sorry” both Luna and Nightmare Moon seemed stunned silence, but more so Nightmare Moon since her tone was sincere. Despite remembering the memory she saw during the battle reminding her of their sisterly bond she felt and believe what was going to happen in the real world would be anything but that. “I failed to be there for you and because of my mistakes you had to suffer for a thousand years. No matter our differences we are family and we should never let anything tear us apart, Its time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?" she ask them. Princess Luna looks down for a minute till she shouted "I'm so sorry!" she ran up and threw her arms around Celestia, more happy tears running down her face, "I missed you so much, big sister!" Celestia began to tear up as well and said "I've missed you, too" she then looks towards Nightmare Moon "and how about it? let's end this now and be a family........sister?" she ask, causing Nightmare Moon to go wide eyed and tear up a bit, soon joining in the hug, soon all three alicorns were hugging each other. The girls all cheers at the scene, happy to see the alicorns happy as Nightshade smiles at the scene, never noticing a light blue glow on his back, except Barbara, who walks towards him "hey Nightshade, your back is glowing" as she said that, everyone looks towards him and soon notice the glow as he tries to look over his shoulder, but turns around, showing the mares that his denim jackets two headed eagle had change with the blue eagle been a bit more bigger while the red one was a bit more smaller. The girls were confused, except Celestia, who was wide eyed and slowly walks towards Nightshade and looks at the symbol "it can't be...." she whispers to herself and turns Nightshade around and looks him deep in his eyes, as she did that, it cause him to blush as the Princess of the Sun looks at him deeply, till she gave him a warm smile "tell me, your name is Nightshade, yes?" she ask as he nodded her head, making her smile bigger remembering an old friends last words 'this world will one day be in peril, but before that day comes, a hero will be reveal and last of his own kind will help bring harmony and peace' were the words she thought as her only friend told her that. She then lets go of him and smiles at him "thank you for helping in rescuing my little sister and opening my eyes to Nightmare Moon" she said as Nightshade just gave a slight grin "no problem, am happy to help those in need" he said as he smiles at her, then a both Lunar Goddesses, who blush in respond, soon Celestia thought of something and looks towards Nightmare Moon, who looks back at her "we need to do something about your appearance or our little ponies will go into panic" she said as Nightmare Moon sadly nods in agreement, she knew that her subjects will fear her. Then all three alicorns started to discuss on the issue of which race they would turn Nightmare Moon into and what name she would have in that new form, as they talked, the mane six and Barbara walks over to Nightshade, soon asking him a lot of question, more so, Twilight "how were you able to use magic? How is it even possible!?" she ask him in shock while her new friends thought the same thing, all he did was give a nervous chuckle "well.....it's started like this......" he said and a soon started to explain, how we was able to somehow absorb a bit of magic from Nightmare Moon at Town Hall and then later on in the fight right here, he then explain the few visions he receive with abilities for him to use with his magic, as he explain all that the girls were in slight awe at his tale while Twilight had pull out of nowhere some paper and quill, writing everything down. Before he could say anything else, a bright light got their attention as the girls and Nightshade looks towards the source to see, Celestia's horn glowing as she uses a spell on Nightmare Moon to which her body slowly started to change, as soon has it happens, the lights fades down, to reveal a new Unicorn mare, she had a midnight blue fur with a darker blue mane, she was wearing a similar dress like Luna, so her Cutie mark was visible, showing with was the night sky with the full moon in the background, she soon open her eyes to reveal ocean, almost lunar blue eyes. The girls looks at the new unicorn in awe as said unicorn looks at her new look, she then looks towards the other two alicorn "so......uuum, how do I look?" she ask shyly while they smile at her "you look good" said Celestia while Luna nods in respond, smiling at her, then she looks towards the Mane Six and Barbara, who also said that she looks good, great, beautiful, etc. making her smile and then she looks towards Nightshade, who was inspecting his Katana for a bit till he felt a gaze on him and looks towards the unicorn and smiles at her "you look beautiful Nightmare Moon" he said, causing her to blush as she looks towards the floor shyly till she said "call me Midnight Moon" she said as the now named Midnight Moon smiles at him and the rest, as they smile back. Soon the group finish up there and started to make their way back to Ponyville, Princess Celestia and Luna talking with each other to catch up with Twilight sometimes asking a question, AJ and RD were talking with each other, about who was the bravest or stronger or even the fight of Nightshade with Pinkie saying that he was awesome, doing sound effects, Fluttershy and Rarity were talking about a few other things while Rarity mostly talk about how brave Nightshade was in protecting them as they prepare the Elements with Fluttershy adding her own opinion and finally was Nightshade, who had his Katana resting on his shoulder while talking with Midnight and Barbara. As they made their way back into town, Nightshade couldn't help but think that his life will take an interesting turns of events, but he couldn't help but grin at his life getting more interesting 'let's see what the future brings to life' was all he thought. > Anti-Chapter: A Nightmares Fall; Thug- (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past As Nightshade vision clears up, he notices he wasn't in the castle anymore, as he looks around he heard a soft whimper and looks towards the sound and saw Nightmare Moon struggling to stand, he narrow his eyes and started to walk towards her as he started to remember everything she did in trying to stop him and the girls, the things she might have done to him and Barbara and in almost killing Twilight, a growl escape his lips that got her attention. Nightmare Moon looks up in time to see a kick to her chest pushing her on to her back as Nightshade got on top of her, his hand on her neck, causing her to gasp "you.......fucking......bitch" he growls out in anger as she gasp in pain and tries to talk "please..........all.....we ever.......wanted.......was for........my little......ponies to.......love our......night" she chokes up as tears came out of her eyes, making him pause. Nightshade thought for a minute, sure she didn't harm anyone at the beginning, except when he got her attention and saw the guards get launch, all she wanted was for others to notice her night, he for one enjoy the night more than the day, hell he even saw her memories about having her night be appreciated, even before she transform, he looks down at her and instead of seeing a tyrant, he saw a lonely mare, wanting her night to be loved, but she tried to hurt his friends and the citizens in Ponyville. Nightshade only had one thing in mind 'what do I do?' he thought to himself as he felt that he was in a crossroad, not knowing what to do. Present Nightshade was slowly putting pressure on her neck as he could see her struggling for air, but as he saw her eyes, he could see the guilt slowly rising in them and soon saw that she accepted her fate, till he remember something his father once said that caused him to loosen his grip till he remember what she did. With a shake of his head, he growls and puts more pressure on her neck as the life in her eyes slowly started to fade and as it did, his own magic started to slowly absorb her own magic into his, as he felt more power entering him. With one final push, he snaps her neck as she lets out one final silent scream of pain and fell lifeless as her body turn into particles of magic that Nightshade soon absorb, a few minutes later Luna appaer, looking around and spotted Nightshade, she gave a small smile and ran towards him "Sir Nightshade thou is alright" she exclaim at him, as she hugs him, he gave a small chuckle "was there ever any doubt?" he ask her as she let out a small giggle, soon a bright light cover their vision. Back in the Sister's old Castle A groan escaped his lips as he slowly open his eyes to be greeted by sunlight and Barbara looking down at him in worry till she notices him waking up and quickly hugs him "Nightshade! your okay!" she said with relief in her tone and also getting the attention of the other girls, who were looking at their new accessories, they run towards them and started to ask him question after question. "Y'all alright Sugarcube?" "Oh My Gosh, you alright dude" "You okay Nighty?" "Are you okay Darling?" "Uuuumm, are you okay, if you don't mind me asking" "Are you okay Nightshade" said each girl in their own way as they looks him over to see if he had any other wound on him while he gave them a small smile while saying "am fine girls, nothing to worry about" he said as he slowly got up, using the katana to support himself a bit. Suddenly the brightness of the Sun’s glow drew his attention. He looked on in surprise at the newest arrival. It was none other than the Princess of the Sun herself Celestia, she stood around 6 feet 9, almost 7 feet tall, even in heels, white fur with a light green, blue, pink and looks to flow in the wind as it switches to other colors as well, wearing a white with yellow dress that shows off her curves and impressive bust size, a E-cup size, light violet eyes, she also wore a golden tiara with a few other accessories. The ponies bowed in reverence of the new arrival, except Nightshade who was looking around the room for someone, while Twilight ran up to her and happily hugged the ruler, overcome with so much emotion that any thought of decorum flew out the window to which the taller mare returned the gesture, “Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student I knew you could do it“ as the Princess said that, Twilight seemed stunned at this revelation “Princes…you…you made it seem like it was an old fairy tale. Nightmare Moon’s returning…why?” she ask her mentor. Princess Celestia looks at Twilight and smiles at her “I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more, I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart, to which never would have happened if you were approaching it like a mission, your feelings wouldn't have been genuine. Now I hope another as well will be ready to open her heart.” Celestia turned her attention to Luna and was about to call her till she notice her little sister hidding behind a stallion from her "Luna?" she ask worry, to which cause said mare to flinch and hide more behind the stallion, who was looking at the Solar Princess with narrow eyes. Celestia started to walk towards them and for each step, Luna would slowly start to tremble, feeling like she will be send once more to the moon again by her sister. Just as Celestia was near, Nightshade moves forward and blocks her path, making everyone go wide eyed, but Celestia looks at him and narrows her eyes "excuse my little pony, but I would like to talk with my sister" she said as she try to go to Luna, but was once more blocked by Nightshade, who gave Celestia a slight palm strike, pushing her away and once more shocking everyone in the room. Twilight was the first to react "Nightshade, what the buck are you doing!?" she ask, cursing a bit in shock at his action, but when she looks into his eyes, she took a step back, as he looks towards Celestia and spoke "what am doing is, keeping my prosime to her and that's protecting her" he said as he looks at Celestia, who was rubbing her stomach from the palm strike as she looks at him. Celestia was slightly confuse at that and ask "but she's my sister, I have the ri-" "shut up!" he shouts at her, cutting her off as he looks at her dead in the eyes "you have no right, not after what you put her through" he said, shocking Celestia and confusing the Mane Six and Barbara. Nightshade looks at Celestia and continues "I saw her memories of that day, the things she went through before she turn into Nightmare Moon and it was all your fault!" he shouts at her, then takes a step forward "over a thousand of years and you don't do anything to show your little ponies the beauty of the night, only your sun" another step "even when you two ruled, they only loved YOUR sun, but never saw her night" another step "you say your her sister, yet you didn't notice her pain, her sadness, her loneliness or jealousy" another step "and because of that, she fell into depression and consume by her darkness into creating Nightmare Moon and what was your idea?" another step, standing in front of her "you send her to the moon, instead of helping her out before she get's consume anymore, you think that being in the moon would have help her? NO! it made it worse and now look at her" he said as he points towards the little Luna "she's scared of you, afraid that you will send her back to the moon!" he said with a growl as he looks at her, his body suddenly acted on his own and slaps her, making everyone gasp in shock while Celestia was in shock and wide eyed. Nightshade not missing a beat said "you better wake up and remember what you did and that it was your fault for ignoring your sister's feeling, it was your fault for not helping her out or to fix it so that everyone would see the beauty of the night" he said as he glares at Celestia, she looks back at him in shock while absorbing his words and as he continues to speak, everything he said was true and would cause her to look down in shame, knowing she was the one that cause her little sister all this suffering. He then looks at her with a scowl and felt a tug on his arm, he looks towards the source, seeing it was Luna with a sad yet understanding look and with a sigh he moved to the side, letting Luna walk over to a now crying Celestia, who was on her knees. As the Lunar Princess comfort him and the girls looks on, they never would have notice a red glow on his back and his jacket two headed eagle design changing slightly, once done, a red eagle was visible and was a bit bigger than the blue eagle head in the design while his clothing took a bit darker shade, but still looks the same. > Chapter 9: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Part 1 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Few Months later It's been a few months after the fight and the return of Princess Luna with Midnight Moon, who Nightshade offer her a room at his place in the guest room till she could get her own place she wants to, to which she was grateful, after making it back to Ponyville to which a big party was thrown by the party pony herself, Pinkie Pie. Soon afterwards, everyone was having a good time, eating, drinking and dancing, to which later was celebrated the staying of Twilight, Barbara and the Home coming for Nightshade as the new residents of Ponyville. The next few months were normal for the citizens of Ponyville, soon we could see at Sweet Apple Acre, we could see Applejack, Twilight and Barbara on the path towards the farm with AJ carrying to barrels of apples while Twilight uses her magic to carry two more as well, all the while Barbara started to search through the apples, throwing away any that looks nasty or rotten for her to eat. As they kept walking, AJ looks over her shoulder and smiles at them "thanks for the help yall" as she said that, Twilight smiles back "no problem AJ, were happy to help or am happy to help" she said as she looks over to Barbara, who was busy looking through the barrel of apples, for an apple to eat. Twilight then looks over to Applejack and ask "so, why were you by the marking, like you were looking for something or someone?" she ask her while Aj had a light blush till she shook it off "well I was looking for Nightshade and was gonna ask him for help, but he wasn't home nor Midnight Moon, all that was there a note saying 'be back soon'" she said while both Twilight and Barbara thought on Nightshade on what he's doing. With Nightshade and Midnight Moon Nightshade and Midnight were making their way back to the old sister's castle, a few days back, he got a letter from the Princess of an artifect that belong to a belive friend of her's and that would help him with his powers, so he ask Midnight to help him find it, since she had better memory of the old castle than the other two Princesses, so he ask her and she happily accepted and soon both of them went out to the old castle. Nightshade was wearing his usual attire, except for his denim jacket, so he was only wearing his hoodie and flammel shirt, his hood up to cover his head and over his shoulder, after getting a sheath for his katana, was safetly secure and on his right arm was his chain, wrap around tightly and secured, while Midnight was wearing some trench boots for the walk and terrain, pair of jeans, a white tank top with a lunar blue jacket with her cutie mark on the back, to which were made by Rarity, who happily made her the set of clothes. As they made it to the castle, Midnight couldn't help but frown slightly, the castle always brought back bad memories, but before she could revisit them, a hand on her shoulder got her attention as she looks over to see Nightshade giving her a comforting smile, making her smile back, she got a second chance of life, all thanks to this one single stallion and she wasn't gonna let it pass, she was gonna live her new life to the fullest and with the one she slowly started to love, at that she blush lightly, but still smiles back at him as they both started to walk into the old castle ruin. As they walked inside, they made it to the main hall, some of the halls and doorway's were caved in, but as they continue walking down the hall, they made it into the Throne Room, Nightshade looks over to Midnight and said "well on the letter that Celestia send, she said about a hidden room in the Throne Room, remember anything?" he ask her, as he looks around the room "let me see" she said as she closes her eyes and starts to channel her magic, getting a feel for the room as she search through her memories, trying to find anything about a hidden latch or room. As she looks through her memories, Nightshade started to look around the room, he slowly walks over to the thrones, looking at each one and inspects them for any kind of switch, button or lever 'if I was a secret and hidden room, where would I be and where would the switch be' he thought to himself as he looks around the throne's. As he kept looking around, Midnight opens her eyes and looks up a bit, above the thrones as she saw a broken rope up there that looks to be almost rotten "Nightshade!!" she said getting his attention as she points up to a rope above him, to which he looks up as she said "we got to pull that rope to reveal the door" she said to which Nightshade nodded his head. Nightshade turns around and looks towards the wall, seeing it was climable, but some of the rumble could break out, but he needed to take the risk, so with that in mind he kick up, grabbing to a open crack and starts scaling up the wall, as he was reaching half way, the wall started to rumble a bit and before he could react, a part of the wall he was on broke from the wall, making him go wide eyed and to Midnight to gasp. Nightshade looks left and right, before spotting to his far right a flag pole, taking another risk, he climb onto the upper part of the broken wall and quickly jumps towards the pole, just as the wall breaks and falls on top on of the thrones, as he reach the pole, he saw that he wouldn't make it, so he unwraps his chain uses it as a whip, wrapping it around the pole and swings to the other side and lands on a broken column as he pulls his chain back, wrapping it back around his right arm. Midnight let out a breath, she didn't know she was holding as she looks towards Nightshade as he was slightly panting, she felt her heart tighten when she saw him almost fell and if he did, the wall would have crush him. Nightshade was panting slightly, his heart pounding, he never had this kind of thing happen to him, he always free-run on buildings, climbing through alleys, but this? He never had to think this quick in his feet, to which he need to do again, since everything inside this throne room is rotten or breaking apart, he quickly looks over and saw another section of the wall he would be able to climb up to reach the rope, so he quickly turns and runs up the wall, follow by kicking off the wall and quickly smoke dashing to the other wall section, once he reform, he grab onto a small crack on the wall, making sure he had a firm grip on it. Once he had a firm grip on the wall, he once more started to climb up the wall and towards the rope and as he did, he notice that the rope was old and would break if it was force 'great, so much for it being easy' he thought to himself as he follows the rope's line to see to where it connected to and soon found it attach to a hook that looks to be so kind of mechanism 'hmmm that should do it' he thought as he gave a quick glace to his chain and soon an idea for in his mind. As he continues to climb up the wall, he mentally commanded his chain to unwrap, to which it started to do, but it was mentally exhausted, but he had to admit, it was very useful and he had to thank Luna for that little added feature, but the mental strain was killer, but he had to do this quick. Once he was near enough, he threw his right arm towards the hook as his chain flew towards it, as the chain reach it's end, he grabs the other end as the other end reaches the hook and wraps around it, but as it was secure, he lost balance and broke of the wall, hanging onto the chain, but with his weight we was able to pull the hook down and soon the old castle started to shake as if a lot of soldiers are marching into the place and suddenly the two thrones started to move apart as the stairs leading towards the thrones, soon started to go down, as this happens Midnight could only look wide eyed, since she never remember this part of the secret room or anything like it as started to appear in front of them. As all of this happen, Nightshade was in the same position as Midnight, he never would have imagen a secret room like this in a way aa he hangs above the entrance, after a few seconds later it stop and the entrance to a whole new room was reveal, once he saw that it stop, he tug on his chain to loosen it up a bit and soon started to fall, but he quickly wrap the chain around his arm and landed in a crouch position, hard on the floor and got up as if, it didn't hurt, all they while Midnight watches this, wide eyed 'how resistance is he?' was her only thought. Nightshade dusted himself off and made sure his katana was safely secure on his back, he then looks towards Midnight and grins "well looks like we're on the right path" he said as she nods her head dumbly and soon joins him by his side and with a nod, both started to walk towards the entrance of the new room and start going down, all they while a thought pops into Nightshade's head 'I wonder how the girls are, bet they would love to see or be here' he thought with a mental chuckle, not knowing of the chaos that was happening in town. > Chapter 10: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Part 2 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past Nightshade dusted himself off and made sure his katana was safely secure on his back, he then looks towards Midnight and grins "well looks like we're on the right path" he said as she nods her head dumbly and soon joins him by his side and with a nod, both started to walk towards the entrance of the new room and start going down, all they while a thought pops into Nightshade's head 'I wonder how the girls are, bet they would love to see or be here' he thought with a mental chuckle, not knowing of the chaos that was happening in town. Present Nightshade Midnight were walking down a set of stairs, after finding the entrance to the hidden room that Celestia mention on the letter, as they continue on, their vision would darken without light to which Nightshade lifted up his right arm lightly and soon his powers started to flow around his hand, making a makeshift light, lighting up their vision more. As they continue going down, Nightshade couldn't help but feel like something bad would happen, but he shrug it off as both him and Midnight soon were making it to the bottom floor and as they did, both went wide eyed, seeing a large catacomb, but the stranges thing was that in the middle of the room was a statue of a strange creature, on its right arm was some kind of rope or chain, Nightshade looks at it, feeling like he seeing it before, meanwhile Midnight was looking all over the Catacombs, in a few areas with some holes on them to light up the room a bit. Both slowly walk down the steps of the catacombs "did you remember this place being here?" Nightshade ask her as she looks around a bit "I...don't know, I don't remember much of this, maybe find something to jog my memory, but I do remember a bit of this" she answer as both split up a bit and start to look around the area for anything. As Nightshade was slowly walking towards the statue to inspect it, Midnight was walking towards the side and notice a small destroy section, upon closer inspection, she notice it is some kind of study area with a few destroy books, but one caught her attention, it looks like some kind of journal, she walks over towards the table and picks it up, a bit of dust falling out of it, to which she dusts it off to see a strange symbol on the book that she couldn't tell what it was, since the book was really old looking, she gave a mental sigh 'maybe Nightshade will know' she thought as she turns around to look towards Nightshade, who was looking up at the statue, his hand lightly gracing the stone as he lightly rubs away some dust on a stone table on the statue. As Nightshade looks at the statue, his fingers lightly gracing on the stone table on it "The First Conduit of Equestria...." he mutters to himself as he reads it to himself as he looks up to the statue a bit up close, he looks at it a bit more closely and notice something glowing on the statue's chained hand, he looks at it a bit closer and saw some kind of crystal on it. With a curious gaze, he place his left foot on the stone table, making sure it was in place and wouldn't let loose, he gave a mental nod, he jumps up, kicking himself up to the statue, grabbing to the stone chain and slowly climbing it up, as he did this, Midnight stood a few feet away, watching him climb up the statue, curious herself as well. Once he reaches the hand, he looks to see a strange glowing crystal, he could tell it was radienting magic after he unlock his own magic core, he could feel all the raw magic energy, he slight gulp, he took a hold of the crystal and as he did, on instinct, he started to absorb some of the magic coming out of it, to which soon his whole body was being surrounded by a very light blue glow. Ignoring the raw magic entering his body, he started to pull hard on the crystal, but it wouldn't budge, he gave a slight grunt and quickly grabbed it with both hands, to which had another reacting of magic, as more started to flow into him, but he just ignore it and started to pull on it once more, as he did this; Midnight was on the far side down, looking up at him with slight awe at the magic flowing around him and into him, never seeing something like this before. With one last and hard pull, Nightshade was able to pull it out, but since he use both of his hands, he lost balance and started to fall down, but luckily, he was caught by Midnight with her magic in time, but was only for a split second, since the magic aura around him got absorb into him and it cause a slight headache for Midnight, but Nightshade was able to land on his feet in time "finally" he mutter to himself as he straighten himself and looks at the crystal, after the energy stop flowing into him, he then looks over to Midnight and saw her rubbing her head "you alright?" he ask her to which he receive a small nod. He then looks to the crystal once more, giving it a once over till he notice Midnight carrying some kind of journal "hey, whatcha got there?" he ask her as she shakes off her headache and looks down at the journal "oh this? found it over there" she said as she points towards a small secluded section with some books and desk "everything there was destroy, except this and thought it might have something or if you would recognize the symbol on it, even if it is a bit old to figure out" she said as she hands it to him, while he pocketed the crystal. He grabs the journal and opens it, the first few pages were unreadable, except some letters in the first page, which were D.R. After passing a few more pages, he got to one that was readable, he decided to read it out loud, for Midnight to hear it "after coming into this world on pure accident, never thought I be a hero once more, even after the death of my brother, I still couldn't do it, even thought I continue forward and I achieve my goal, making conduits and people coexist together, still......... it was tiresome to continue being a hero, but other conduits pick up the hint and now I could retire........till I met that one continue with those dimensional like powers....." he reads out loud, going a bit wide eyed at what he just readed, follow by Midnight, who had the same look like him at hearing that. Nightshade turn a few pages till he landed on a page with a image of the crystal he found on the statue "man, this crystal's pack a punch, just like those Core Relays and are more useful after unlock my Magic Core, heh.......... I can do a lot with this magic from the Unicorns basic, to those abilities from those games Eugene show me before, but it's a shame.......this freaking crystal are scatter all over Equestria, only know of a few in Ponyville and abit in Canterlot, but nothing more............still......" he reads out loud as he then takes a quick glance to his pocket, when he pocketed the crystal, as he was lost in thought, Midnight was trying to remember anything about those crystals. He gave a small sigh and lets out a small grin as well, as he closes the journal and passes it back to Midnight, how was a bit confuse, but takes it back as he pulls out the crytal and inspects it closely 'so......with this I can unlock a power for my magic? hmmmm, lets test it ou then' he thought as he grips the crystal with both hands. Nightshade took a deep breath as he slowly started to focus on his surrounding, eyes close as he started to feel the flow of magic all around him, as he could feel the crystal slowly absorb some of the magic around them, he let out a small smile on his face as he started to slowly absorb the magic around him as well, as he holds on to the crystal tightly between his hands, soon a grin slowly started to form on his lips, he soon snap his eyes opens, as they glow a light blue 'hope this works.........' was his only thoughts as he got ready. > Chapter 11: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Part 3 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past Nightshade took a deep breath as he slowly started to focus on his surrounding, eyes close as he started to feel the flow of magic all around him, as he could feel the crystal slowly absorb some of the magic around them, he let out a small smile on his face as he started to slowly absorb the magic around him as well, as he holds on to the crystal tightly between his hands, soon a grin slowly started to form on his lips, he soon snap his eyes opens, as they glow a light blue 'hope this works.........' was his only thoughts as he got ready. Present As he got ready, he took a deep breath and slowly started to squeeze the crystal, to which he started to absorb all the magic inside it, to which the crystal started to get absorb into him as well and before he knew it, he was lifted into the air, as he was slowly struggling to contain the extra enegy flowing into him, but as he did, he had another vision of Delsin, levitating some stuff, from books to rocks, to larger rocks and even a wall, but with both hands, he also notice some kind of field around him and it look like it would intensified the heavier the object he would carry. Just as the vision came, the surge of energy that was going into his system, causing his magic reserves to expand a bit more for the extra energy, just as it came, it went and Nightshade fell to the floor, he was able to land on his feet, but the energy outburst left him dizzy, making him stumble a bit and before he could fall, Midnight was quickly by his side, catching him in time "are you alright?!?" she ask out a bit loudly in shock at what she just saw. Nightshade let out a low groan in respond as his vision slowly got better, as he looks around blurry, but soon clearer,once his vision clear up, he straighted up and looks towards Midnight and gave her a grateful smile "thanks for catching me and I honestly don't know, but.........." as he gave the slight past, he lightly lifts up both his hands, as magic started to flow around his arms, to which he notice was now a light blue 'huh, my magic change from white to a light blue, odd' he thought to himself as he looks towards a blocked pathway that had a large piece of the wall from above crash down, blocking another way for them to explore. He walks over to the destroy wall, as Midnight walks behind him a bit confuse as he stand in front of the destroy wall, he extended both his arms to the sides as he focus all his magic around himself, bringing his hands to his chest, he focus a lot of magic in the center of his body and soon spreads his arms to the sides, summoning the familiar field of magic, as he did this, he lifted his hands a bit up to which the rumble of the wall started to slowly go up as he lifted his hands up. As he does this, Midnight was looking at him in shock, since this walls and rooms were made to be magic resistence, yet here was Nightshade lifting up the wall with ease, she also notice he was straining a bit, but either than that, he was lifting it up with ease as he slowly started to move away from the door as he slowly drags the wall away from the pathway, once the pathway was clear, he drop the wall a few feet's away, to which, breaks apart once it hits the ground, he looks over to Midnight with a grin "ready to explore" he said to which was responded by a giggling mare, as she nods her head, walking towards him and soon both walk into the hallway. As they continue walking down the hallway the soon make it to a destroyed bedroom, to which confuse them both "huh, this is odd" said Midnight as she walks around the room, inspecting every part of the room, as she did this Nightshade looks around the room, it was a decent room with a queen size bed that would fit two or maybe three ponies on the bed, he was a bit more confuse as he looks around more as well 'this is odd......if am right and with what we saw up in the first room, this place was like a study, but it's also a bit like a place to sleep or....' his line of thought stop there as he notice something sticking from under the bed. Nightshade walks over to the bed, crouching down lightly and looks under the bed, looking around till he notice a small chain attach to a door under the bed, he gave a slight grin, moving a bit back and standing back up, using his new powers, to which he dub for now Kinetic Pulse, to which he levetas the bed and moves it back as much as he could, to reveal the hidden door, as he does this, Midnight watch him with a bit of a wide eyed expression. He lets the bed drop and walks over to the door, grabbing the chain and pulls upward, opening up the hidden door as he looks up to Midnight and gives her a adventurous grin "ready to explore a bit more?" he ask her as he got ready to jump down the hole, to which she couldn't help but giggle at him as she nods her head, soon following behind him as they both jump down the hidden door. Down the Hidden Door Nightshade landed a bit hard on the ground on his feet as he reaches the bottom, but didn't feel it, since his powers absorb the damage, then his ear gave a light twitch as he looks up to see Midnight coming down, fast at him, screaming. He quickly extend his arms out and catches her in the bridal carrying position, he could see her shaking a bit from the fail, but slowly starts opening her eyes, as she didn't feel herself hitting the floor hard as she felt herself be grabbed in a gentle embrace, she looks up to the source and blushes hard as she see's that Nightshade caught her in time and was holding her in the bridal, carrying position. 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. > Chapter 12: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Part 4 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. > Character Bio and Skill > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's a bit of a rundown on Nightshade's abilities, his looks, personality and more. Name: Nightshade Karma Title: Protector Nickname(s): unknown, for now till later on in the story Age: 18 Gender: Male/Stallion Species: Anthro Earth Pony Conduit Appearance: He's around 6 foot 9 tall, light grey, almost a color of ashes coat, with black mane and tail in an unkempt style with white tips. Cutie Mark: His mark is of a two headed bird in a star position, one half red, the other white. (represents is neutral Karma) but as of now, its the same with the exception of the white half turning light blue and being a bit bigger while the red side shrunk a bit. (now representing his karma being good, for now) Clothes: He wears a black and red plaid shirt, skinny jeans, Eris black sneakers, a black sweatshirt with hoody, a sleeveless custom made jacket, on the back of the jacket was a two headed bird in a star position, one half red, the other white. (but with his choice, it change the same as his cutie mark, representing his Karma) Bio: Nightshade was a special case. 10 years ago, he discovered that he held powers over smoke and embers, triggered after an accident that unlocked his Conduit genes, in which it also cause his father's death. Genes he inherited from his ancestor, Delsin Rowe. After 10 years of practice, he has mastered the 'gifts' revealed to him as a mere child. Today, on his 18th birthday, he is on the train to Ponyville, to start a new life there and to continue his training. But he doesn't know of the other 'gifts' he inherited from his ancestor, nor of the new ones he'll get. Here's the list of power's he has so far in the story: Smoke Powers -Drain Smoke -Smoke Dash -Air Boost (like Car Boost, but uses the smoke inside his body that is stored up and pushes it through his feet to launch himself into the air) -Smoke Thrusters -Vent Dash Advance (can go through any area that has smoke flowing through, like a chimney and heals up a bit every time he does it) -Smoke Shot -Cinder Blast -Sulfur Bomb -Cinder Missile -Orbital Drop (once available after Karma choice) Magic Powers(with his karma choice picked, his magic will be a light blue till further notice and his powers will be a mix from a few series till further notice, so bare with me) -Magic Blast (till further notice) -Flash Step (till further notice) -Shinra Tensei (till futher notice) -Kinetic Pulse (till further notice) His weapons as of know are these: -Enhance Long Chain: a gift he got from Luna when she send that help signal through her magic that was absorb by Nightshade through Nightmare Moon's Magic. -Long Katana: a rust up sword, turn katana when Nightshade fully took Nightmares Moon Magic and uses to fight her off to ready the Elements, a bit of the Elements magic is fused in the Katana, but they don't know it.....yet. So for now this the basic run down, if during the story he has anything new added to him or any new skill or ability I will add it here and put a notification next to the title of this chapter like this => (Update) if this is added, then something new his added here and it will be on it for three days, once the days pass I'll take it off till I add something new to it and also if you want a bit more of a background story for Nightshade let me know it the comments. Also am still working on the next chapter, didn't have much time, since I got a new job and its leaving me tired, so I tend to fell asleep sometimes, if not......often, so be patience with me and my grammar for those, as I friend likes to call them 'Grammar Nazi' so bare with me on this. So I hope this side of a chapter of our hero, helps out a bit in knowing him and his skill set, etc. tell me what you think or if you want to add something to him (nothing drastic) or a small comment on him, until the next chapter, later!!!! > Chapter 13: Mysterious Artifacts and Gala Tickets!?! Final part (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past 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. Present Nightshade was in complete shock at what he was seeing and who he was meeting, standing in front of him, is or was the first human to be in Equestria, especially the first conduit, no one knew how he got into Equestria or to his methods, but everyone knew him as a great hero, his stories in helping the Princesses fight of Eris, the Goddess of Chaos, helping fight of King Sombra and much more, earning him the title of a True Hero. As Nightshade looks on at Delsin, Midnight was a bit confuse at his shock face, she looks towards where he was looking at, but saw nothing, she then looks back at Nightshade and lightly shook him out of his shook, asking "are you alright? your spacing out" she said, to which made him look at her with a slight blank expression and was about to say something till he saw Delsin, doing a 'shh gesture' at him, telling him to keep quiet on him and mouthed 'I'll explain later' to him, to which made Nightshade, slightly nod and his eyes widen a bit as he see's Delsin vanish out of thin air, Nightshade blinked a few times and shook his head, soon turning back to the table. He walks over to the table and grabs the wrist band, looking at it closely and soon puts it on his left arm, opposite to his chain, he felt a sudden pinch on his arm as he puts the wrist band on, but ignores it, as he see's the crystal starting to glow, changing different colors till it took a light blue with a type of wisp flowing in it, if he recalls the information he recived, that meant that he had his magic, instead of his smoke abilities, he then looks over to the belt and saw, two crystals on it, glowing. One was glowing a light blue with a wisp, while the other one was glowing a smoky orange, he grabs the belt, looking it over, once more recalling the information on the belt, suppose to help him access his powers, in case he couldn't find a source for it, but it only had one use till it starts to slowly recharge. With a nod, he wraps the belt around his waist, putting it on, as he did this, Midnight looks on in slight awe at the items, she remember those ideas, being custom order and made for one person and seeing it once more, was a breathtaking sight. As Nightshade made sure that he had both the wrist band and belt secure on him, he also attach his katana to his belt on his left side, once secure he looks over to Midnight and smiles at her "well......guess, we found what Celestia wanted us to find" he said with a slight grin as he looks around, till he notice a small crack on the other side of the wall from the entrance they came from. He walks over to the wall, lightly gracing the wall, feeling the hollow point and with a slight grin, he charge up his magic and fires a Magic Blast in point blank, making a new pathway, making Midnight go wide eyed, never remembering that pathway being there, he looks over to Midnight, seen her surprise as him at the hidden pathway, so with nowhere else to go, but forward, they continue on. As they continue walking down the path, they could see a small light at the end, they looked at each other and nodded, soon going into a jog, making it to the end as fast as they could. Soon they made it to some kind of room andno way out, as they look around, Midnight notice the light and looks up to the source, seeing a hole up in the ceiling and some vines had it close, as she looks for a way to cut them, Nightshade spots another one of the crystal in the middle of a platform, as he walks towards it, Delsin appears next to him, walking with him as he also notice the crystal "hey, a crystal shard" he said, to which Nightshade glance at him and then back at the crystal, soon reaching it and picks it up. Nightshade looks back at Delsin with a look that said 'explain' to which Delsin nodded "in short, this shard have between new powers or upgrades for your current powers, I had these scatters all over Equestria, while in here I had the shards for my magic powers or in shorts, for your magic powers" he explain as Nightsahde absorbs all this information and gave him a nod as he got ready. He grabbed the crystal with both hand and started to absorb the energy from the crystal, to which soon he felt the power flowing into him, he could feel himself recharge and new, as flashes of a new ability comes to his mind, he could see Delsin focusing magic to his back as he crouches down and soon jumps up, but from his back a pair of etheral wings burst out, giving him a boost, launching him into the sky, soon another came, but this time it was him, hovering in place and around, using the wings to move around as he decended to the ground. As the info of the move comes to his mind, he flashes away as Nightshade shakes his head from the slight dizziness, he looks over to Delsin, noticing the grin on his face, he shook his head once more and looks over to Midnight, noticing that she was using her magic to remove some of the vines that are blocking the hole in the ceiling, he looks up and narrow his eyes, charging up his magic and soon let out a Magic Blast at the vines, blasting them away and clearing the ceiling up, fully. As the vines and debris fell down from the ceeling, light shone down at Nightshade, as Midnight looks on in slight awe and with a blush, since the light was giving Nightshade a knight like glow to him, he soons looks over to her and smiles, offering a hand to her, to which she lightly takes it, her blush slowly growing. As he grabs her hand, he pulls her close, soon pulling her up into a bridal style, carrying position, making her blush more, he crouches lightly, as his back started to glow a bright light blue, as he felt that he had enough energy on his back, he jumps up, letting the magic out of his back, letting out a pair of light blue wings to spread out of his back, as him and Midnight flew high into the hole, she holds Nightshade close as she and him flew up. Nightshade looks up, seeing the light getting close, to which he push a bit more magic to making the wings give a hard flap, pushing him further upward, breaching through the hole and flying into the sky of the Everfree Forest, once over the forest, he started to hover in place, while he looks over the area, looking for Ponyville, but Midnight, who open her eyes, looks over the view, making her go wide eyed in awe, she then looks to Nightshade and made her blush, as the sun was behind him, giving him a knight like look, to which made her blush up a storm at him. Soon Nightshade saw Ponyville and soon started to hover towards the town, to which soon was spotted by a few Pegasus, that were shock at the scene in front of them, an earth stallion flying or hovering in place and towards Ponyville, carrying a unicorn mare. Soon he made it to the Golden Oak Library and gently lands in front of the door, he then lets Midnight down as well, as both of them dusted themselves off any dirt or grimace they had on their clothes as Nightshade went to knock, only for the door to open on the first knock, soon followed by screaming and shouting, both Nightshade and Midnight look at each other confuse and decided to enter, soon looking at an amusing yet confusing scene, all the girls were telling/asking Twilight about some tickets, while said mare was having a mental breakdown and the dragoness was trying to calm them down. Nightshade gave a sigh as he walks over to them and soon was behind the girls to which he gave a loud cough, getting their attention as they stop asking Twilight about a ticket and soon look towards him, looking him up and down, noticing his clothing and new accesories, to which was Rarity who spoke firts "Darling, what happen to your clothes and where did you get that beatiful belt" she ask, looking him over then her gaze fell on Midnight and her clothes as well "Midnight, dear, what happen to you as well?" she ask as they girls, looks at them confuse, while Barbara helps Twilight up. He just looks at them with a raised eyebrow, but said "well....we can talk mine and Midnight's clothes later, but right now, I would like to know, why are you five harrasing Twilight about a ticket?" he ask and saw they about to say something, but he raise a hand to stop them "if your gonna deny it, look at her and tell me, she isn't about to have a mental breakdown" he said as the girls looks towards Twilight and couldn't help but cringe at seeing her friends state and soon they felt guilty of what they did, even Pinkie's mane and tail went flat. He looks over to Barbara and ask "can you filled me in, on what we miss?" he ask as he gestures to himself and Midnight, to which the young teen dragoness, nodded her head and soon told him, how it all happen, from Twilight getting two tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala, to the girls finding out, to Pinkie shouting it to the whole town, to the town chasing Twilight around and finally to her and Twilight teleporting into the Tree house to her friends waiting on them to continue on with asking for the ticket. As Barbara told this, Midnight was next to Twilight and was helping her calm down, while Nightshade looks at the rest with a deadpanned look "do you all realize that she is Celestia's student right?" he ask and he recieve a nod in respond "and said Princess send her the tickets, right?" he recieve another nod, but filled with confusion "to which, if one of you had told her to ask, said Princess to send her more tickets or even her to ask her for more tickets, just so she doesn't leave her friends behind, could had and would had work, right?" he said and soon came the realization of that and they started to look everywhere except at him, Twilight, Barbara or Midnight as Twilight had a look of realization and soon started to make a letter to Celestia. As all of this happen, Nightshade was looking on with an amusing looks as he glance to the side, seeing Delsin, leaning on a bookshelf and also looking at the scene with an amusing look as well, he then glance back at Barbara as she got a reply back from Celestia and read out some words "Dear Twilight, why didn't you say so and am sorry for any trouble that it brought you" soon as those words came out of Barbara mouth, six golden tickets flew out of the letters and landed on each girls hand, whoever wide eyed. Soon all the girls started to walk out the door to celebrate, as they did, Barbara had a sad look and was about to go, till she burps out another flame with a letter, to which she read it and said "and of course one for you, Nightshade and Midnight as well" as she read that, three more golden tickets appear and two flew towards Nightshade and Midnight, as Barbara grabs her ticket and smiles happily, soon skipping out the door as the two remaining look at their tickets, then back at themselves, till Nightshade gestures for Midnight to follow them, to which gave him a small smile and left following the girls and dragoness. As they left, Nightshade close the door and let his hand grace over the orange stone, soon absorbing some smoke and Smoke Dash through the chimeny and to the top of the tree house/library as he gaze all over the town. He then looks down, seeing the girls laughing and heading out to eat, he then looks to his left and saw Delsin floating there, looking at him with a grin, to which Nightshade gave back as he jumps off, smoke trailing behind him as the moon's light shrouded him in darkness, only showing him as a shadow of the night to those that gaze towards the moon as he headed home, intended to get some answers. > Chapter 14: A normal day? Nope! Part 1 (Un-Edited) > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Past He then looks down, seeing the girls laughing and heading out to eat, he then looks to his left and saw Delsin floating there, looking at him with a grin, to which Nightshade gave back as he jumps off, smoke trailing behind him as the moon's light shrouded him in darkness, only showing him as a shadow of the night to those that gaze towards the moon as he headed home, intended to get some answers. Present It was a new day in Ponyville, as ponies around were happily talking with eachother, shopping, eating and such. Up in one of the houses roof was Nightshade, looking at the peacful day, wearing some black baggy pants, a white tank top, running shoes, his bracelet and belt, plus a custom, sleeveless jacket with his symbol on the back from Rarity, he looks around town, thinking on what to do today. But his thoughts were interrupted by a mare screaming out 'stampede' he looks over and saw that it was Rainbow Dash that scream it out, he looks towards where she was looking and saw the Stampede heading towards town, not wasting any more time, he Smoke Dash toward the entrance of the town to try and stop the stampede, he went from roof to roof, left and right using Smoke Dash as he made it to the last roof, concentration smoke to the end of his shoes and use Air Boost, launching him high into the air, as he soars towards the entrance, noticing a filly by the entrance playing with a ball, not noticing the Stampede. He tilted his body towards the little filly as he saw that everyone in their panic, haven't notice the little filly in danger of the Stampede, as he flew towards the little filly, seeing the Stampede almost on the little filly, he let his hand graze the light blue stone, absorbing the magic inside, his body letting out a light blue glow as he absorbs the magic. He soon landed in front of the little filly, who notice the Stampede and was wide eyed in fear, till she notice Nightshade land in front of her, he waves his arms from cross position to a wide spread position, letting out an etheral shield to appear in front of him and the filly, protecting them from the Stampede, as the animals ran to the side of it, a few smashing into the shield, but Nightshade held it on, only letting out a few grunts from the force. As this continue on, at the other side of this chaos was Applejack, on top one of the cows as her dog barks at them, trying to hoard them away from Ponyville, he could see both her and her dog, coordinating the hoarding in pefect sync, soon he saw that the cows were shifting to the side, he looks behind him a bit, still holding the shield up as he saw the cows going to the right and away from Ponyville, he gave a mental sigh, as he continues to hold the shield up, protecting the filly and himself as he waited out for the cows to go away. As the cows die down, he release his hold on his shield and fell down on one knee, panting lightly as the little filly ran towards him "Mister! are you ok?" she ask him, as he gave her a small, tired smile as he slowly got up. Meanwhile, everyone in town were celebrating and congratulating Applejack, for hoarding the cows away from town, but the celebration die down, as a mare was running around left and right, her face filled with worry as she ask everybody for her daughter and her whereabouts "as anyone since, my little filly! oh where is she!?" she was panicking as she then went wide eyed and looks towards the outskirts, especially from where the cows came, to which made everyone look towards where she was looking, coming to the same conclusion, as a few mare went wide eyed, covering their mouth, as he that had their fillies or colts with them, hug them close to them. Before anyone could say anything, Rainbow shouts out and points out "look over there!" as she said that, everyone looks towards, where she was pointing at, they could see a figure walking towards town, noticing it was Nightshade and on his shoulder was a small filly, holding on to his head and holding a few flowers in her hands as well, they could see the small filly, smiling and giggling happily. As they made it to town, the mother mare, went towards them as she saw her daughter on the stallions shoulder, soon Nightshade lets the small filly down, to which she ran towards her mother, soon mother and daughter, embrace each other, crying tears of happiness, as Nightshade smile at the scene, he felt his soul become lighter at the scene, he was about to leave till, the little filly ran up to him once more and hug his leg "thanks for saving me mister!" she said happily as the mother, smiles fondly at them and mouthed a 'thank you' at the stallion, as the filly gave him an orange flower and soon the little filly lets go, going back to her mother, both leaving back to their home. Nightshade smiles at them, as he waves goodbye to them and was soon tackle by a pink blur, to which made him grunt in surprise as he see's Pinkie Pie on top of him, looking him in the eyes with a wide smile and before he knew it, he was surrounded by the rest of the mare's, as they congratulated him on saving the little filly, to which cause him to chuckle nervously and rub the back in his head, sheepishly. Afterwards, he was able to get Pinkie Pie off of him and got up, to which a few of the residents cheer for him in protecting the little filly from the stampede to which, once more made him chuckle sheepishly at all the praise, he didn't do much, he just did what anyone would had done, when Applejack saved the town from the stampede, later on, Applejack left to her farm to start applebucking at her farm. Later on the townsfolk decided to hold a small ceremony for Applejack, for her being the most reliable pony in the whole town, to which brought us to see everyone at Town Hall, Nightshade was on top of rooftop, having a better view of the whole ceremony, he could everyone talking with eachother, he soon spotted Twilight walking to the podium with a stack of cards in her magic, making him raise an eyebrow at this in slight confusion. She soon cleared her throat, getting everyone's attention "welcome everyone, today we are here to honor, a pony we can always count on in matters great and small" she said as she flips to the next card, as she once more cleared her throat "a pony's, who contribution is-" as she was about to say, she was cut off by Rainbow Dash flying in with a huge grin on her face "did you see, how Applejack threw herself in there? What an athlete!" she said as she did a double fist bump into the air, she then slams her hands on the on the stand "this week, she's gonna help me with a new flying trick and I know it's gonna be so awesome!" she said as she smash her cheeks together, making a cute like face. Nightshade couldn't help and be amuse at the scene that was playing in front of him from above, he then saw Twilight push Rainbow Dash away, while saying "exactly! and-" as she was about to continue, Pinkie Pie pops out of nowhere and right in front of her, soon saying "and this week I get to run Sugarcube Corner for the first time!" she said as she puts on a innocent face. Twilight moved to the side and looks at Pinkie Pie "and what is that, suppose to do with Applejack?" she ask, slightly confuse at the random thought that Pinkie said, to which, she got two blinks from the pink mare as she then respond "oh, Applejack, one of the best bakers ever, is gonna help me" she said with a big smile "Applejack makes everything great, so free samples for everyone!" as she said that, everyone started to cheer to that, Twilight having enough of this, push Pinkie away as said "huh, thats great, now if I can just get to the point-" and once more she was cut off by Fluttershy, who was slowly climbing up to the podium from the right side to Twilight, lightly poking said mare in getting her attention. Twilight gave Fluttershy a side glance and finish her sentence "interrupted" she said with an annoyed look on her face, soon Fluttershy stood right next to the mare "Twilight, am so sorry to inturrpt you, but I just wanted to mention that Applejack is also helping me this week with the official bunny's seeing, where we count all the cute little bunny's that have been born this season" as she said that, she looks at Twilight with a shy smile, while said more had an annoyed look to her face "she's gonna help me gather them with her wonderful herding skill" she said with a smile, to which turn into an innocent frown at Twilights slight and annoyed glare. Twilight then turn from Fluttershy and looks out to the crowd and said "anyone else? anyone?" she ask and as she looks at everyone, she notice that Nightshade wasn't here, so she looks around to see, if she spots him, while also saying once more "anyone? no?" as she saw that no one was gonna inturrept her again, she use her magic to pick up her cards once more and continue with her speech "well then, as I was trying to say, I-" she stop as she soon looks to her side and see's the Mayor looking at her with a big smile on her face, Twilight couldn't take it and shot her arms into the air as she toss her cards in the air with her magic, letting out a frustrating groan "ugh! nevermind" as she said that, she turns around and left. Soon the Mayor clear her throat and said "and so, with out further a do, it is my pleasure to give out the prize pony of Ponyville, to the most intrigrated and helpful pony of all Ponyville, Applejack!" she said as she waves her hand towards where she thinks, that said mare is standing at, as a pair of curtains open up, revealing no one there, as everyone's cheer started to die down, except Barbara, who had her eyes close, to which she soon open her eyes as she heard everyone stop cheering and looks around, soon feeling embarrass for cheering by herself a bit. Soon the Mayor feel a bit awkward herself and nervously cough into her hand, to which was followed by Barbara, who rub her arm and said "awkward" as everyone were looking around for Applejack, till they all jump at a familiar accent "am here, am here" said Applejack as she walks towards the podium, carrying a basket full of apple's, while releasing a small yawn, her eyes showing the lack of sleep she has been getting. As Nightshade looks on and could see that AJ was sleep deprive and it was affecting her, as she went on with a small speech, she grabbed the trophy and left, along the way, she was dropping apples left and right, he was a bit worry about her health and he saw Twilight with a worried look as well, having a plan in mind, he Smoke Dash towards her farm to see what is the cause of it.