With a small box in his hand, a man walked out of a rather dull cafe, the drizzle of rain bouncing off his figure and the pavement around him. He headed down an alleyway and about half way through he heard a sound; *click* then a voice, “Put the box down, as well as your wallet and your phone.” The man turned around.
"You want me to put down this box? My wallet? And MY phone!?" This new hooded man was looking nervous, his hand shaking, he looked about ready to drop his gun and run.
"Yes I do, now be quick about it." He proclaimed, fear evident in his voice.
"How about..... No." The man with the box seemed fearless in the face of death... as though he welcomed it.
"Come on man I don't want to shoot you." He uttered, his voice cracking, on the brink of tears for doing something like this. It was as if he had no choice but, of course, everyone has a choice, even now they both have choices.
“You point a gun at me and say you don't want to shoot.” he put his left hand behind his back “Guns were not made for threats, they were made for actions.” When he was close to the gun he put the box down with his right hand and grabbed the barrel of the weapon with his left. He pointed it at his forehead."If you don't shoot me now you'll regret it, if you do you'll regret it make your choice." He stated with a devil's grin.
A minute went by, the rain was stopping. The hooded man holding the gun had a terrified look on his face. When he looked into the mad man’s eyes one was blue the other green, his pupils were like a cat’s. He also had what looked like whisker but he was definitely human.
*BANG*
"Too late..." The 5'10” man with cat eyes said in an angry tone. "Too bad, I thought you'd do it." Meanwhile the hooded man fell to the floor in pain.
As the catlike man was about to leave he heard a whisper, "Go to hell!"
The menacing man turned and said his one liner, "How about n...." He couldn't finish as a bullet went through his skull.
He was now in blackness. After what felt like an eternity he woke up to hear a voice, a voice that made him feel fear for the first time since his father.
"You will be granted 3 wishes before I send you to another world. Be warned you will not get another chance at this life.”
"WHO ARE YOU?!? SHOW YOURSELF!" He screamed in panic. A large red flame burst out from the bottom of the void, as a large red centaur stood looming over the small man.
"Who am I? Take a guess."
With a grin, he remarked, "How about..." but was interrupted before finishing.
"Shut up James and take this seriously. If I had it my way, I’d be dining on your soul right now, but I’m under orders not to, so make your damned wishes so I can send you on your way!" Demanded the demon, who looked very vexed, and very hungry.
"Okay okay, just please never say that name." He pleaded in fear. He contemplated for a second, and knew all three wishes.
"I can ask for anything right?" he inquired, with a sly smile.
"Anything but immorality.” Confirmed the demon.
"One, I wish I was half cat." He stated. Swiftly, the demon grabbed him by the skull and sent flame from his hand into the very being of James.
James' body began to change his nails grew into long claws that were sharper than military combat knives. He began to grow fur from his new paws up to his thighs; from his hands to just above his elbows. In addition, he seemed to have grown some facial hair that made him more cat like. His whiskers became sensitive and his senses heightened, he had fuzzy black ears as well as a long black tail with a white tip. His muscles morphed into ones more suitable for jumping and running at great speeds, and finally, he grew to a height of six feet.
James took time to recover his thoughts after what seemed like his body being burnt to ash and rebuilt. Nevertheless, after an hour he was ready with his second wish.
"Okay, number two. I wish I had wings!"
The demon rolled his eyes and slammed his palm into James's chest. He felt his back tear open and bones grow from nothing, the pain was unbearable and he passed out before the process was complete.
When James woke, he found himself on a spit hanging over a fire. He screamed as he felt the fire sear his flesh. The demon picked up the spit and looked at the catman.
"So you are alive. Shame, I always wondered what cat tasted like." he laughed while licking his lips. “You have one last wish what will it be?"
James, scared out of his mind, looked at the demon "In-improved h-healing abilities."
"It is done. Also for miraculously surviving your transformation, I will grant you eternal youth." The demon said with a rather forced smile, while untying James from the spit.
"Where are you sending me?" James asked the demon who looked at him and spoke
"You'll find out soon enough you'll need a new name as well. Hmm... I think Nightshade will do. I’ll be taking your old memory, the only thing you'll remember is your new name. Bye."
And with that the demon was gone, and Nightshade was falling. At first he saw the Moon it was beautiful. Then he turned around and saw a castle, and a flash of light. Then there was a blue and black blare, that kind of resembled a centaur but with two legs and not four.
He looked back down as he was approaching the castle, and approaching it fast was an understatement. Nightshade waited for the inevitable impact to break his body into pieces, but the impact came and all he received was a light bruise to the head. He looked around to see a small crater and a looming creature of pure white with rainbow hair. It was then he passed out, into a dreamless sleep.
Nothing, there is nothing. I feel timeless, the silence is deafening. I am just waiting for something. I have this feeling that I need to do something but what that is, escapes me. For now I will wait for however long I must.
(Some hours later)
*drip*
A sound.
*drip*
Water...
*splash*
"COLD!" My eyes shot open, the feeling of being cold and wet dominates me. ‘What the hell, I’ll kill whoever did this!’ I thought. I look around to see someone... something.
"What the hell are you?" I shouted at the tall, half human half horse creature that stood there. On its flanks was two more of the same creature, though these were clad in armour. It didn't look that strong but I could feel something around them it was strange but my thoughts where cut short.
"What am I? I am an alicorn. More importantly however, what, may I ask, are you?" The presumably female creature said. There was a slight tone of anger and curiosity present, though it didn't show on her face. The guards didn't seem to notice, or if they did they didn't care.
I tried to move but couldn’t. It was then I noticed that my arms and legs were bound by chains.
"Don't try to escape. Put just a little too much pressure on those chains and you'll receive a nasty shock.” She warned, with slight amusement in her voice.
"My name... my name is Nightshade." I said, trying to remember what happened and what I actually am.
"Well now I know your name but not what you are answer the question this time and I'll unbind you from the chains." She said trying to make a deal.
“How about n... hmmm... I am human... or I was I think...I don't remember... There is nothing there but instincts. Eat and kill... EAT AND KILL! “ A guard walked into the cell and whispered something into the leader’s ear. "Princess the prince from the griffin kingdom has arrived.”
I remained silent. The princess huffed in slight annoyance "Ok... I’ll be on my way.” She turned to look at me, then noticed my ears. "How much of that did you hear?" she question.
"Not much... princess." I said with an ‘eat shit’ grin on my face, easily giving away that I heard every last word.
"I do hate to break a deal but... You'll be staying here for a bit longer. Although, I will release your legs so you can stand, it must be sore being on your knees all day.” She said as she walked out, her smug faces betraying that she thought she had insulted me. So you can imagine her surprise when she heard me laugh.
"Keep making jokes like that and we’ll be friends before long princess.” It seemed she giggled at my response, at least from what I managed to hear. I looked down to my legs and saw the chains gone, I don’t know how or when she did it, but my legs were free. Now all I have to do is find some way to free my arms and my wings.
From the small window in my cell I could see the Moon, the only view I had.
Hours have passed, and the waiting is killing me. I managed to get my hands free during the hours, but I know I must be careful to not let the guard notice, can’t let them know about my advantage. He, the guard, is just walking up and down the halls like he is some sort of programmed machine.
‘It’s rather annoying, every half hour on the dot he’s... wait he’s late... he’s been at this for seven hours hasn't been late once... odd.’ I contemplated in my head.
Just as that thought was processed a spear flew by and hit something fleshy. Following that, the air was filled with a gurgling sound. What I saw next amazed me;
Three griffins in Onyx black, walking by in almost complete silence. I shouted out to them "Hey, you three let me out of here and I promise I won’t kill you.” A grin crossed my face as one turned to face me.
"What can a freak like you do to hurt us? You’re bound by chains." The Griffin said in a monotone voice
"I won’t be bound for long. Not now that you did me a favour by killing that guard. I'll be free within the hour... With or without your help. The only difference is, that if you help me out of there I’ll cross you off the menu for my meal." I informed them, licking my lips in the process.
The leader of the three turned to me looked at me. "Huh, you WILL die if you fight us. Take my advice and don't try it... But if you do really want to die, its my duty to oblige your request, so I’ll be waiting in the royal gardens, for an hour.”
They walked on. I didn’t see them leave, but I assume they did. It took me forty five minutes of struggling to get out of the chains. Damn thing almost cost me my wings, almost pulled them off while trying to escape. I checked them out and confirmed what I suspected. “I won’t be able to use them tonight. Now time to get the fuck out of here. “I muttered to myself.
I walked through the halls and what I saw was surprising. Dead guards littered the hallways, everywhere. I turned a corner and saw two Griffin lookout guards in their black armour. Only there was the problem, they also saw me, and charged.
Griffin POV
The strange creature we saw in the cell, the one that threatened to kill us if we didn’t let him out, he was walking down the hall. ‘He must have gotten out and found us. It has been about fifty minutes after all.’ I thought myself. A look over to my partner was responded to with a nod, so in unison we pulled out our swords and charged.
The cat person crouched as if to charge but he didn’t, he disappeared. I scanned the area looking for where he had gone, it was then I saw a blur in front of us. Instinctively, I brought my sword up to block an attack... but I felt no impact, I wasn’t attacked, I didn’t even hear the clash of steel from a sword. I turned to look at my comrade, just to make sure he was okay... but what I saw... What I saw made my bowels turn and I felt like puking.
This beast, the cat thing, was ripping open his chest. Flesh and blood and gore sprayed everywhere, coating the walls and the floor. It looked as if the walls had just been painted red. To make it worse, this beast ripped out parts of the rib cage before delving into my friends chest cavity and pulling out his heart... what happened next I couldn’t believe, the cat creature ate his heart... he placed my friends heart in his mouth and ate it like some rare dish.
I lost it... "You bastard! I WILL... I WILL KILL YOU!" I screamed, a tear slowly rolling out my eye.
The last thing I heard before I saw the claws was the familiar voice of the cat beast. “No... no you won’t.” It was then... I fell into the cold embrace of death.
Nightshade’s POV
"Well then, now that that’s done, I think I'll..."
My thought was interrupted by a loud noise and something heavy flying into my chest, slamming me into the wall. When my vision cleared I saw the Griffin that challenged me lying on the floor. His chest was pouring out with smoke. I checked to see if he was still alive, but as I expected, he was dead.
"Well there goes my fun." I said to myself, while trying to pull myself out of the wall.
"Now then, what are you doing out of your cell?" I looked up to the source of the voices and was greeted by a rather large pair of breasts in my face. Just above those I saw the annoyed face of the Princess, the one that imprisoned me, and she was looking rather annoyed.
I thought to myself, ‘Think fast and come up with something witty.’ But all I could manage was “Umm...” I chastised myself, ‘Smart one, dumbass.’
"Well I suppose I should probably thank you. After all, it was because of your scuffle with these Griffin that I woke up in time to defend myself. My name is Celestia by the way, Princess Celestia. " She said, a small smile crossing her face.
All I could think of at that moment thought was that damn, she is beautiful. I berated myself again, ‘Wait, why am I thinking that? Stop it! She imprisoned me, I should be angry, but I’m not, my jeans feel tight and my face is bright red... and all I can do is admiring her beauty.’
"What’s wrong? Surely you’re not one to succumb to flattery so easily are you?" She said in a bored tone.
I turn around and say with my flushed cheeks "No, of course not, but maybe you should’ve umm... put on some clothes."
Celestial blinked and looked down to see, much to her horror, she only had a pair of panties on. Her face turned bright red, far more red than my own, and ran back into her room slamming the door behind her.
Ten or so minutes later she walked back out with dressing gown on.
"Well then, there’s a room down the hall to the right. Follow me, I shall guide you. Oh... by the way you wouldn't happen to know how many of my guards where umm...."
She seemed to struggle with the last word "Killed? About forty." I responded nonchalantly. She looked sad and for some reason that made me feel bad. Not sad, or angry, just bad. ‘But’ I reminded myself ‘I didn't kill them, why should I feel like this?’ I pushed it to the back of my mind, for now.
After five minutes of silent walking, we arrive at a door."You may sleep here tonight I'll see you in the morning we shall talk then." Celestia informed me.
I walked into the room and made a beeline over to the bed, lay down and curled up into a ball. Without realising it, I started to purr. Celestia smiled, closed the door and I drifted into sleep.
The sun rose above the horizon. Though Nightshade was already awake, sitting on the balcony ledge, watching as the night gave way to day. With what had happened recently, he was definitely unsure about what the future held. After all, he had been held captive just the night before, managed to escape but ran into, and foiled, an assassination attempt on the very person who held him captive. It was odd, all he wanted to do was kill those who had denied him his freedom, and feed on their flesh yet, they let him free and trusted him not to runaway in the middle of the night. He could’ve run if he wanted, but where would he go. This strange new world he was in? He knew nothing about. Nightshade barely remembered anything, and most of what he did came from impulse feelings and reactions.
A knock on the door aroused him from his thoughts. He headed towards the door, making a stop at his bed to slip on his sleeveless black jacket, which was adorned with a white trimming, before continuing to the door. Nightshade opened the door just enough to peer through, no more, no less.
"The Princess requests your attendance at the dining hall." said a white stallion standing across from the door. Nightshade thought about turning down the offer only for his stomach to protest for him to go. He opened the door fully and stepped out closing it behind him.
"Lead on then." Nightshade said, as he looked passed the guard into the garden to see the body bags of those who were killed in the struggles the night before. The walk to the dining hall was quiet; the guards stood like statues, showing no fear of him despite what happened last night, much to Nightshade’s surprise.
As they approached the doors to the dining hall, they were opened by a pair of Royal Guards. “Ma’am, I’ve brought the being you requested.”
"That is all you may leave now." the Princess said in a regal manner. As the guards, left the doors closed behind him and Celestia’s perfect posture turned into a slouch. “Well then is there something you woud like for breakfast? The chefs under my employ are the best our country has to offer." she said with a soothing smile.
Nightshade sat down at the rather large table and thought for a moment "Can they cook fish?"
"Yes they can, we have some left over from when the Prince of the Griffins was here. He left not long before you arrived." There was a hint of anger in her tone.
"Then fish it is."
"Is that all sir?" said a butler, who appeared behind Nightshade, surprising him somewhat.
"A...a...a glass of water as well please." The butler walked off towards the kitchen. "How did he do that?" asked Nightshade, slightly confused.
"He’s simply one hell of a butler." Celestia replied. "Any way, would you mind telling me how you ended up falling out of the sky?"
"I have no a clue, but it isn’t important is it?” Nightshade said, with a bored tone.
"What do you mean you don’t know?" now Celestia was confused.
"Like I said I don’t know the most vivid memory I have is looking up at the moon and turning around to see this castle, and something flying past me at impossible speed." Nightshade saw the princess tear up a bit, perhaps that is something she would not like to remember.
"Your food and drink sir." said the butler who was starting to both annoy and creep out Nightshade. "If that is all, Princess, I shall continue with my other duties." The butler seemingly disappeared.
The Princess and Nightshade sat in silence as they ate, she seemed to be having some sort of salad. Meanwhile Nightshade’s fish was cooked to perfection. After about 20 minutes or so they both fished eating and Celestia was the first to speak up.
"Well since you don’t seem to remember your past, maybe we could jog you memory with the items we found on your person while you were in the dungeon." Celestia said with a little bit of hope to learn more about the strange creature known as nightshade.
"Maybe but I have a feeling it won’t help."
"Well have to try and see wont we follow me." Replied.
They walked down into the gardens to a wooden gazebo. Celestia ordered the guards to retrieve Nightshade’s belongings. While they waited Celestia decided to find out just what Nightshade knew about the world... Which turned out to be nothing. He had the knowledge of an infant, at least well in most cases, he was able to do highest level math without any assistance from anything, which is remarkable given the best mathematicians in the country need an abacus some times. Their talk was cut short as the guard arrived back holding a box and two bags.
"Why don’t we start with the bigger bag first." he put his hand in and pulled out something that brought a tear to his eye from the sheer beauty it possessed. The object in question was an Onyx black Desert Eagle .44 Magnum. Nightshade looked it over and was so happy, like he had found something he didn’t know was missing.
The weapon’s magazine could hold eight rounds, though only 7 were in. Nightshade looked back to Celestia and explained to her what it was and how much it meant to him to have it back. Then making sure that the safety was on, he put the gun
into a holster made inside his jacket. He opened the slightly smaller pouch to find four more magazines, all full of eight rounds. Nightshade placed those in hidden pockets inside his jacket.
"Now what about this box? Surely something so large wouldn’t have more weapons inside it, at least I hope not." Celestia was slightly worried now.
"I have no clue, I don’t think it’s a weapon especially because the box is pink and has a bow on it." He said slowly pulling the bow undone to get at the box. As he pulled the top off the box, Celestia began drooling as inside was a triple layer chocolate cake, perfectly decorated with a chocolate cat smiling in the middle of the cake saying happy birthday, it was so cute it was almost a sin to eat it... almost.
"So princess would you like some cake then?" Nightshade asked, nearly drooling himself.
"Yes... if you don’t mind that is?" she really wanted a piece of the cake
"Well then shall you or I cut it?"
"If you don’t mind I think I should, the cake was obviously meant for you and no one should cut their own birthday cake." She said pulling a knife and two plates out of nowhere. Cutting a decent sized piece, she placed it on a plate and handed it to Nightshade. Then she cut a slightly bigger piece for herself and ate it whole. Nightshade laughed at her, even when she was eating cake like a mad person, she somehow remained regal.
SOMETIME LATER
"Well, now that we have had an early lunch why don’t you show me how you took out those two assassins by yourself?" Celestia asked
“I suppose I should, and it would give me a chance to learn what I’m capable of myself." Nightshade replied
"Well then let’s head to the guard barracks." The walk to the barracks was uneventful, Nightshade enjoyed the peace after the action filled couple of days.
Soon the sounds of grunts and the smell of sweet filled the air; the ponies here seemed to be working themselves to the bone. Celestia walked up to the officer in charge in asked something, Nightshade couldn’t quite make out what it was but the officer called over three guards. One Pegasus, one unicorn and an earth pony followed the princess back to Nightshade.
"Nightshade, these three will be your opponents." Celestia said with a very shady grin.
"Hello there my name is Star Chaser, my friends are Sapphire Spirit and Steel Bolt." the Pegasus said, pointing to the unicorn then the earth pony.
"Alright, how are we doing this, three on one?" asked Nightshade
"Well confident aren’t you, but sadly no, this is to test you to see who’s better maybe after the test well kick your flank in but for now it’s one on one." said the unicorn.
"Okay, when do we start." Nightshade questioned
"Well, the arena’s being papered for us, so about half an hour. We should be able to warm up in that time." the earth pony replied.
"Alright then, I’m gonna go for a jog then." Nightshade said "I’ll be back here in twenty minutes, can one of you show me the arena then?" The ponies just nodded and watched him run off.
True to his word, twenty minutes later Steel Bolt sees Nightshade jogging back grinning like a child. To his surprise, behind him are seven or so guards, chasing him at full speed.
"I WIN!" Nightshade shouted as he reached the barracks with a bunch of tired ponies behind him. "Come on, pay up." One of the guards took out twenty or so bits and handed them to Nightshade before collapsing.
"What was that about?" asked Steelbolt.
"One of them was bragging about how he was the fastest in Equestria, so I made a bet. Who ever got here first won. I put up this gem I found on my run for twenty bits." Nightshade explained.
"Okay then, let’s just go to the arena." he sighed
For the next five or so minutes, Nightshade rested observing the arena, which for all intents and purposes, was just a glorified hole filled with sand.
"It’s time to start testing you, you ready?" asked StarChaser
"Yea sure, let’s start!" nightshade said excitement clear in his voice.
The Pegasus flew into the pit and readied herself. Nightshade just jumped down, rolling when he hit the ground
"Hey, why don’t you fly, I mean you have wings." asked the Pegasus.
Nightshade looked back at his wings. "Hmmm... forgot about those, never used them, I’ll have to try them out later."
"3... 2... 1... START!" Celestia shouted
The Pegasus immediately took to the air picking up speed. When she was at top speed she dived and charged Nightshade, who took a crouching position to start with.
"I’ve changed my mind, I think I’ll try them now." said Nightshade, confusing the Pegasus.
Nightshade jumped high into the air, flapping his wings hard, gaining altitude fast soon breaching the cloud cover. He took a look around him to take in his new found freedom of the sky, however it was cut short as a bright yellow streak smashed into him, causing pain.
"Taking this fight to the sky. Got to be honest, not the smartest thing you could’ve done, especially when you fly like a newborn."
With those words, Nightshade was now annoyed, so he dived. His dive caused him to pick up so much speed he left a black and, for some reason, silver blur behind him. Looking back he could see Star hot on his tail, following him not far behind.Then he had an epiphany, an idea popped into his head. A mean, horrible idea. His face went from a scowl to a devious grin. He opened his wings to slow his decent, before pulling right up and shooting back into the sky, using the clouds as cover to hide his path. From there, he shot right into the heart of one of the clouds, hiding, waiting for StarChaser to appear. As expected, she burst through the clouds looking for him.
"Now, where did that coward go." she said, anger clear in her voice. It was now he chose to pounce, Nightshade jumped out from behind her and wrapped his arms around her, trapping her wings against his chest, she panicked and started flailing about to no avail.
"Going down." Nightshade whispered into her ear as he folded his wings and let gravity take over. They fell at exponential speeds, soon hitting terminal velocity. "I hope you’re ready for pain, because this is gonna hurt!" nightshade screamed barley able to hear himself over the wind.
On the other hand, Star Chaser was afraid she thought she was going to die, she could feel it in her bones. "You'll kill us both you insane nut job!" she screamed, they were about twenty seconds away from impacting the ground below.
"Okay how 'bout I don't then." flipping himself around, Nightshade popped open his wings and slowed the fall to a point where his legs could take care of the rest. By now Star Chaser had passed out, so Nightshade changed his hold from a bear hug to bridal style, carrying her down and falling into a roll. After making sure she wasn’t seriously injured, he brought her over to the others.
"What did you do to her to make her pass out like this... I don’t think anyone has ever beat her in aerial combat before."asked an opened-jawed Sapphire Spirit
"Ambushed her from behind, bear hugged her trapping her wings and allowed us to free fall until the last second and well... you saw the rest." he said with an amused tone. "So who’s next."
"I am." Steelbolt was anxious to test the new guy out.
"Okay then no wings means no aerial combat so I’ll stay grounded as well." Nightshade’s tail was swaying like a snake behind him and that only served to give Steelbolt a last resort idea.
Steelbolt got ready into his respective martial art style. Nightshade looked at this and took off his jacket, not wanting to be accidently shot by his own gun. Nightshade didn’t have any Close Quarters Battle (CQB) knowledge, so he figured he’d just wing it (pun not intended.
"3...2...1... GO!"
Immediately, steelbolt rushed toward Nightshade with a flurry of punches.Nightshade was just barely dodging the attacks coming, for this opponent he would have to take this a lot more seriously than before. Steelbolt came up for a kick but Nightshade ducked and grabbed his leg. A bad idea as he was sent careening toward a wall. Readjusting his body, nightshade landed leg first on the wall and with great speed, started running along it. With enough speed circling his opponent, he was able to create four after images on the wall, though he was getting tired and needed to end this soon. He jumped off the wall and rushed Steelbolt who had his eyes closed. The catman jumped towards him going to grab his throat, only to be side stepped and grabbed by the tail and thrown to the ground.
"He grabbed my tail. YOU fucking grabbed my tail!" Nightshade’s eyes went from serious to murderous as he charged at steelbolt once more. Only this time jumping and flipping over him grabbing his head at the same time then pulling backward slamming him into the ground but before he could get back up Nightshade flipped back around. Now in-between his legs, he grabbed then and lifted, then he started spinning. His veins visibly bulging in anger and effort as he threw the spinning stallion into a wall. The match was ended then and there for the safety of both competitors.
After a short five minutes rest, the cat man had calmed down and made his way back to the arena, getting ready for the third and final fight. Sapphire Spirit saw him waiting for her to enter the arena. She mentally noted not to grab his tail in the fight.
"3...2...1... fight!"
Night shade started running on all fours picking up speed, but before he could lunch an attack a blue ball appeared in front of him and exploded into a blue flame. He vary narrowly dodged this by changing the direction of which he was running. This happened several more times before a blue beam was shot at him, hitting him dead on in the chest sending him flying. In mid air, he regained his balance and readjusted his body so he would land on all fours. Nightshade looked at Sapphire who was in a barely transparent blue bubble. He charged at the bubble, dodging multiple lasers being shot at him and punched it, it felt like he was punching steel.
Another blast, from point blank, shot into Nightshade’s stomach, sending him skidding this time, but just as the first one faded another one was shot. Nightshade had no time to react feeling a slight bit of fear of what was about to hit him, he raised up his arms into an x to try to block it. He waited for the impact with closed eyes but it never came he opened one eye to see there was a black semi dome wall giving of a silver glow in front of him. He could see lasers smash into the wall, only to be reflected or dissipate all together.
This was a surprise not only to him but to everyone who was confused at the time. He had an idea. If he could put up a barrier why couldn’t he shoot lasers as well. So he dropped one of his arms and pointed it toward the mare trying to burst throw his shield. Nightshade concentrated on his target but what happened wasn’t what he had expected. What he wanted was to shoot a beam from his hand. Instead he had teleported a short distance towards the mare and was now griping her, though the two shields seemed to mix and stabilize.
The mare had no longer been casting her spell seeing as she was being chocked. While Nightshade had dropped his guard in surprise, still holding onto the mare. After about 30 seconds without air, the mare fainted and Nightshade let go, letting her body fall limp to the floor. He looked at the dome still around them watching as his changed the other slowly, it looked like darkness covering the night sky.After about a minute, the dome was completely black and silver. Nightshade slashed his claws at it causing it to crack and shatter mere moments after.
Celestia was speechless not only did Nightshade take down three of her elite guards with ease, he had magic which seemed to meld and corrupt, or maybe destroy other kinds of magic, making his more powerful. It seems that this cat will be quite useful after he’s been trained to control his magic.
"You, my friend, are vary capable but you don’t seem to have full control over yourself. Let me make you an offer." Celestia said.
"And what would this offer be?" Nightshade was curious to learn more about himself and what he could do, and well, this mare may be able to help him with just that.
"Let me train you in how to use and control your magic and join me in the new castle that is being built. In return, you’ll serve us as head of a special unit within our guard." Celestia explained blatantly.
"Oh, learn from a Princess sounds interesting, but about this guard... What would I be doing exactly?" Nightshade didn’t like the idea of being an authority figure in his own unit.
"Well, it seems your skills are best suited to stealth and killing. You will be placed in charge of a commando unit that will take out threats to Equestria."
Nightshade thought this over she basically just said be my personal assassin. He liked that idea... He liked that idea a lot. "I’ll do it... on three conditions." he said determined to get his way.
"And what might those be?" Celestia was curious as to what he could want.
"One, I choose whose on my team. Two, we are to be kept off the records at all times. We are to operate outside the law, we will have to in order to be effective. And three, I get my own private room in the castle."
Celestia giggled at that last one "Ok, Nightshade you will be fully in charge of your team and how you conduct your business."
"What about my room?" Nightshade asked.
"You may have your room if I get to put a collar around your neck." Celestia gave off a trolling grin not expecting his answers.
Nightshade sat in the sand thinking about this. He had to wear a collar like some kind of pet then he looked at her face he realised what she was doing. "Only if I get a nice comfy cushion next to your throne." Was his reply. He thought he had won now that it would be embarrassing for the both of them.
"Oh my, really do you want to be my pet so bad? Well alright then you may have your room.... and your cushion." Celestia’s grin grew bigger.
Nightshade had lost this war, he never thought she’d go through with it... But a deal is a deal and he wasn’t going to break it now. He put out his hand and Celestia shook it sealing the deal.
SEVERAL MONTHS LATER
Canterlot Castle was his new home, and Nightshade was lying on a comfy blue cushion at the foot of Celestia’s throne. He was topless most of the time only putting on his jacket when he got cold. He usually had orders to fill up his commando team or was learning about Equestria, the land that belonged to the Princess he served. He also learned a lot about how when Celestia banished her sister to the moon. Though, he still hadn’t recruited anyone for his team, no one stood out enough.
During day court, he would lie on his cushion or try to embarrass Celestia by acting like an actual pet cat and brushing up against her leg or playing with his tail. Celestia would respond by rubbing behind his ears witch made him blush slightly and made him stop whatever he was doing. Whenever a particularly annoying noble would enter and whine, Celestia would have Nightshade chase them around until he got bored.That could be within minutes or last for hours.
This became routine until one day when two guards brought in a unicorn mare. Nightshade had felt like annoying Celestia so he was on the back of her throne playing with her hair.
"Ma’am, this is the Master thief Shadowstep. We have brought her here today to be judged." The Guard explained with malice in his voice. This caught Nightshade’s attention. He looked at the mare, she intrigued him slightly.
He jumped down from the throne and walked over to the mare, acting like an oversized cat of course. He circled her twice and then walked up to the mare and sat down in front of her. He looked deep into her eyes. Then he knew he had found someone for his team. Nightshade walked passed her, brushing up against her he could smell the blood this mare had spilled and there was a lot of it. He walked back to Celestia and jumped on top of her throne, he then tapped Celestia’s head from behind.
She opened a telepathic link "What has you so intrigued about this mare?" she asked, somewhat shocked at his actions, never has he done this before.
"I want her." he thought
"Oh my, I know you don’t get out much, but you can’t mate with a convict." she said with a sly smile present on her face
A blush was present on the catman’s face now. "You know full well that’s not what I meant. I want her for my team, fake a public execution or something." he said annoyed.
"Oh come now, theft is hardly worth being executed." she said, herself now slightly annoyed at the idea.
"She has done more than steal, she’s a killer, I can smell the blood even if you can’t." Nightshade replied back. The telepathic link ended here and Celestia prepared to address the court.
"Well then, my little friend here seems to have taking a likening to you." Celestia said. The mare smiled knowing that since the Princess wouldn’t want her pet to be sad, she would spare her life.
"Though don’t get happy... that’s a bad thing for you. As he seems to only like two things. One being the food I give him to keep him loyal, and the other... well he likes the smell of blood." she got off her thrown and walked over to the now very nervous mare.
"You see he can smell blood long after it has been spilt, it gets him so excited it’s rather cute." Celestia circled the mare herself. "Meaning you’ve spilt blood before." she continued "so on the counts of theft and murder... I have no choice... I hereby sentence you to death by public execution." she walked back to her throne and sat down.
SOMETIME LATER
After a rather convincing public execution, the dark blue mare with a red mane found herself waking on a rather comfortable bed. She stood up, still rather drowsy, and walked over to the doors only to find herself locked in. She turned to see a balcony with a figure sitting on the edge.
"Umm... hello?" She called out. The figure simply looked back to her with terrifying eyes. She knew the look of a killer once she saw it and this person was defiantly a killer. Closing her eyes, she looked away only to look back and find the balcony doors closed and the figure gone. Then she froze as she felt furry arms wrap around her and claws at her throat.
"Hello my pet." said an unknown voice.
"W-who a-are you?" she asked, fear present in her voice
"Oh I’m hurt, truly. We have already met or don’t you remember the one who got you killed?" he said mockingly.
"The cat creature?... you... you can talk?" she sounded very surprised at this.
"Oh come now I can do more than that my pet."
"Why do you keep calling me that?!" she yelled as she tuned to face the cat.
"Why... because your life is mine... that’s why." he loomed over her like he was ready to kill her at any moment “I had you spared so you can join me. I know you like to kill, I can see it in your eyes, you know the rush of taking another’s life."
"And why should I be your pet when I can kill you and walk out of here?" she asked sounding confident.
The cat dropped the act and let his aura talk for him. Colour itself seemed to fade in his presence, as if he could kill just by looking at you. This unnerved the mare but also strangely aroused her. She fell to her knees under his aura waiting for him to kill her... but the moment never came... he didn’t kill her...
After sealing his aura he looked at the mare. "Now then, Shadowstep is dead your new name will be...” he paused thinking
"Phantom.”
Phantom nodded "I think I might be in love.” she thought to herself. After all, no one made her feel like this before.
"Now then, my pet, you will live in Canterlot with a new name and life. You will only kill when ordered to do so and you will not steal. Got that?" she nodded slowly
"Good, Celestia will have everything arranged for you tomorrow but for now, my pet how about you show me some of your... skills." he said with a seductive tone, a smirk crossing his face. And with that the night passed quickly.
Over the course of a year, the same happened, more or less, with another two criminals one male, one female. They obeyed his orders like pets should. He didn’t know if it was out of fear or respect or a weird mixture of the two, all he knew was he had a loyal team he called his own. And as time went one they went from being mere pets to something more... to people he cared for like family.
