//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5 
// Story: Nightshade: Into the Fire 
// by JustPonyboy 
//------------------------------//

"Nights?"

Nightshade jolted awake at the calling of his name, sitting up on the couch before glancing to his left and relaxing when he saw Speed entering the living room. Morning sunlight dancing in through a nearby window warmed his face.

"I'm up, I'm up. What is it?"

She sat down on the couch next to him, "That kid is a mystery, huh? At 100 years old, all my jokes and innuendos go way over his head."

"Well," Nightshade sat up, "Celestia controls everything around him. The guard isn't allowed to engage in casual conversation with the kid if it isn't a greeting, Celestia wants radio silence. Strike's the only exception, Celestia's known Strike for a long time. Probably the only pony she truly trusts."

"Isn't Strike nearing her 50s? You'd think the woman would've settled down by now, right?"

"Believe me, both Celestia and Luna have tried to get her to resign or even just take time off. I don't think she really knows anything else, it's kind of sad, actually."

"Endie's watching over Ace right now, he passed out a while ago. You know, I've always wanted a shot at royalty."

"Speed, I'd rather not be put to a firing squad because you want to get with a prince."

"Who says I haven't already?" She smiled wide.

Nightshade shot up to attention, glaring at the mare next to him. "Speedstar- "

"I'm kidding. I'm not that aggressive. But I did notice something strange, he was beyond normal tiredness. Like he was sapped- "

"Of his energy?" Nightshade nodded as he led her into the kitchen, "We ran into a changeling yesterday living in Ponyville. Nobody seemed to be bothered by him, so we didn't cause a scene."

In the kitchen, Computer was putting the finishing touches on a small device on the table. It was a small, circular disk-shaped object. In the center was a blue filter over a mini 3d projector.

"Ah, Nightshade." Computer put his hands together, "Just the man I wanted to see. I dug through that dragon's brain you gave me and I found this."

He pressed a button on the device and a bipedal dragon was projected, the projection was relatively small. Roughly a foot in height. Nightshade looked confused as its mouth moved, but no sound came. Whatever it was trying to say, it looked angry.

"There was an AI in there. Took a bit of work, but here he is. Designation BRK-3N or Broken. It took a bit of rewriting of his brain, but he's now basically harmless, albeit a little mouthy."

Nightshade smirked, "He can't be that bad- "

Nightshade flinched as the AI was unmuted, "- And you can shove it up there if you think I'm here to be nice and give a shit about you or what you feel, you four-eyed fuck!"

Nightshade did a double-take pushing up his glasses, Speed stood there slack-jawed as the AI continued to curse them out in his almost Scottish-sounding accent.

"Don't look so lost, I'm right here, Magellan! You too, you harlot! You're lucky that idiot took that hit for you, I'd have- "

Computer muted the AI as it made vulgar hand motions.

"Pandora will sort him out." Nightshade nodded in agreement.

"What the fuck did I do?" Speed asked, looking confused.









Around midday, Nightshade and Ace took Pandora to the Royal Lab, most ponies didn't know there was one or a scientist who ran it. Celestia liked to keep things on a 'need-to-know' basis, and most ponies didn't need to know. Fortunately for Nightshade, who knew the scientist, he knew everything.

"Nebula," Nightshade stepped out into the lab with Ace in tow, "Been a while, huh?"

"It has. I heard you got yourself a new AI." Nebula, a sky blue stallion, looked up from the contraption he was working on. To Nightshade, it looked like a pair of metal wings. "Computer told me about how you ripped- "

He froze mid-sentence as he saw Ace standing behind Nightshade. Nightshade swore the scientist began to sweat slightly.

"Good morning, Prince Ace, I didn't expect you to be accompanied by Nightshade."

Nightshade motioned for Ace to sit down in a nearby chair, "Calm down, you don't have to do that. I brought him here because he has a bit of an issue, I figured you'd be up for coming up with a solution."

"Alright," Nebula relaxed a little, "Shoot."