I’m My Own Master
Chapter 6:
Your Maker

Beep... beep... beep...

That’s all Nightshade heard when he awoke to find himself in a hospital bed, hooked up to a heart monitor. Then he almost jumped out of his skin when he saw Twilight standing at the side of his bed with a concerned look.

“GHA-oh- it’s just you Twilight” Nightshade said with a small smile which soon faded as he looked down “Twilight did I hurt anyone?”

“No which was lucky, your heart almost stopped due to your brain well...” she couldn’t find the word

“Imploding?” Nightshade answered and she nodded

“Yes well you have been stuck here for a day and all of us were really worried, especially Applejack,” Twilight said worryingly

“I almost...” Nightshade dared to finish that sentence

“It’s not your-“

“Twilight it is!” snapped Nightshade “I’ve been dealing with these fucks in my head ever since I woke up and I have had no peace from them and it nearly consumed me!” Nightshade was trying his best to hold back tears “I don’t even know who I am anymore...”

“Yes you do, you’re Nightshade, my friend and the friend of all the others, heck even Discord!” Twilight exclaimed “We can help you; you just need to let us try, pushing us away won’t solve anything”

For once Nightshade felt Trust, something only offered by Applejack, he had come into a world with nothing and they were doing everything they could to help him and he just pushed them away... but no this time.

“Alright Twilight, what can we do?” Nightshade said with more confidence as he hopped out of the bed and saw her smile

“Alright we just need to get to my library, I’m sure there’s something there that can help armoured,” she said with determination

“Alright then let’s beat these guys!” Nightshade shouted with glee

For once he felt he could beat these nightmares once and for all

“I’m not going to let myself be consumed”

As the two of them walked the streets they went over every detail of the nightmares and voices and looked for any pattern, any clue that could lead to a weakness, just something. But then Nightshade got that feeling again and it was strong. They both then noticed what stood in front of them.

It was like the bots only its armor was different, the metal gave off a red sheen and his sides, chest core, upper arms and backs of his legs were plated with red metal and over his eyes was a red visor as he grinned.

“Who are you?” Nightshade asked as he glared at the being as it began to walk forward “Don’t you dare come closer!” he stopped and then continued “Alright then, Twilight get back!” she nodded and fell back

Once Night armored up he pulled out his blade and ran forward only to see blade be caught between the fingers catching Night off guard, the bot then proceeded to twist the blade until I shattered as Night fell back from the shock.

It then held its arm out and pressed a button that appeared and soon Nightshade was in utter pain as he felt electricity course through his being, then he faced the metal thing as he convulsed as he was lifted then had a dagger shoved through his arm as he reverted to normal and felt the electric pain stop only to be replaced with the sharp pain of the dagger.

“What are you doing to-“ Twilight was interrupted as the figure and her noticed Nightshade’s arm sparking and even he noticed and felt fear and pain like nothing before

“No-no-no-no-no! I-i can’t be a-a-“

“You’re not or at least not in some way,” said the figure “I needed to make sure and so it seems” the figure then wrenched the dagger out and threw it aside “Now if you wish to know more...; Twilight lets call the others and bring them to your castle”

“Um- wait Blaze is that you?” she said and Blaze just smiled and she frowned “You just-“

“Just do it,” Blaze said as he helped Nightshade as they walked towards the castle “Also I would have shown you were a-well cyborg if you didn’t try to stab me” but Night stayed silent

Later that night...

They all came up to the map room and saw Nightshade sitting, staring at his leg as he kept poking at it. Blaze then appeared in front of them, blocking their entrance

“Sorry I’ll only allow AJ in” Blaze said firmly

“Hey why only her and who are you?!” snapped Dash as she tried to get past

“Because Nightshade said so, that and the less you know about me the better” that shut them up as Applejack entered and he closed the doors

“Nightshade what- what happened to your leg?” she asked worryingly as he pointed slowly at Blaze and she got very mad “What the hay did you do to him?!”

“Don’t yell its-its not his fault,I attacked first” Nightshade said sadly, he just couldn’t face the reality of the situation

“Right then time to explain!” Blaze said clapping his hands together “You are not a cyborg nor a pony, somehow you're in between, you have a cybernetic skeleton and when your armor or anything activates your cells change to form it so yea that’s it in a nutshell”

“And you expect him to believe that!” Applejack argued and then saw Blaze’s smile

“Ok, then I guess I’ll just prove it and after the scan, KAI did they should be there or some of them...” Blaze said as he pushed a button and once again Nightshade convulsed as he felt the pain explode in his mind

“No stop you’re gunna kill him!” Applejack yelled but Blaze just watched and Twilight just stared, then he stopped yelling as he felt the pain vanish and he rose to his feet and saw the looks Twilight and Applejack gave him... Awe

“Wha-what is it?” Nightshade asked confused at this point

“I think they're staring at us” said a calm voice

“Yes well I think we should leave, I mean only that guy in the armor has helped,” another more menacing voice said

“Their kind of big” said a child like voice

“Well like the attention!” said a more happy voice

Nightshade then looked to his sides and saw mini-ponies looking back. One was a bright red; the others were dark blue, orange, and a light Blue. Nightshade was awestruck as he tried to form words

“Wha-wha-what are they?” Nightshade asked Blaze who wore a worried expression

“They are you or the fragments of you awoke I'm,” he said simply “I woke them”

“But what are they?” Applejack asked as she just stared at them

“They represent his emotions and from what Twi and Night told me he has experienced high levels of Fear, Hate, Happiness and Trust which make up him and also give bonuses and it seems they were filling in the blanks where the other emotions should be”

“Hate/Hate= weapons”
“Fear= senses”
“Happiness= speed”
“Trust= armor”
“Logic=strategy”
“Memories=strength”
“Creativity=fighting style”
“Deceit=Invisability”
“Failure=dome shield”

“But the others is why I'm here, something called Rampant stole his other fragments and as a last resort I threw him into another dimension at random and it has taken me ages to make a way here but thanks to me getting into contact with Twilight I got here” Explained Blaze as he looked at Nightshade “And no I didn’t tell her about you”

“But why not! I could have gotten these fucking voices out of my head sooner but no you hid it from me!” yelled Nightshade as his voice distorted into the red’s voice and then into the indigo’s “We were suffering and you left us to suffer!” then into the orange’s “We trusted complete strangers that could have been a threat whilst we waited!” and finally back to red as he pointed at Twilight "And you fucking knew all this time!!!"

“Look I’m sorry alright but that’s not important if he gets his hands on the others were all done for, my world and this one and if he does grab the last A.I’s your body will shut down or in other words kill you,” Blaze said strictly

“Wait so if he wins I’ll... die? “

“So what if we join him? What happens?” asked Rage

“You will be a puppet to Rampant,” Blaze said bluntly “he will only use you for his own gain”

“I-I don’t think i-i like this guy,” said Fear

“You guys can shut down for now,” Nightshade said sadly as he got up and they disappeared and began walking to the door

“Wait-i’m... I'm sorry” Twilight said in a sad voice “But where are you going?”

“Anywhere but here, I 'm-I'm not even real and I never will be Of course,” he said as his head hung low

“Yes you have! You’ve been here-“ Twilight was then interrupted

“No I haven’t I've been living a dream, reality is that I'm going to die as a fucking invention and live as an invention!” he snapped and then opened the door and walked off; he had nothing, no life, no real friends, nothing.

Nightshade sat alone in the dark night by a river, he just sat there, he was nothing but a project, a bloody machine or pony. He just felt colder than the world around him as he stared at his reflection as he grew angry.

“Grra! Why me! I-“was all he shouted as he hit the water, distorting his face and as it settled he saw Applejack’s reflection “Leave me alone”

“No, and I don’t care what he said you are real and you can feel emotions, doesn’t that tell you anything?” she said but he just grew more angry, not with her but himself

“No it only says that I'm very convincing, it’s all just programmed into me and nothing i do can change that!” Nightshade shouted “I wouldn’t even matterIf i got my memory back, not to mention i’m not even complete i’m a fragmented mistake... honestly who cares anymore”

“I do” Applejack said calmly making him turn to face her “I said i would help you and i will”

“Why? Why are you so god damn nice to me? I’m a fucking lab experiment, i mean come on i was probably made to kill so... why?” he said as he felt himself about to brake as she just smiled

“Because you’re not some bot you have a life and a darn good one at that, so don’t beat yourself up for it, i care for ya, bot or not and i will never see you differently,” she said with a warm smile

Nightshade felt something, it wasn’t hate, sadness or even trust, but happiness and not like normal, he felt something beat in his chest, the same feeling from weeks ago return and it was faster, then as emerald stared into crimson and soon they closed the gap.

Nightshade felt comfort, he felt...love. A feeling only a flesh and blood pony could feel and that is what he was a pony, not a machine. But a pony actually cared about him; even after finding out what he was she didn’t care. They held it for several minutes before parting.

“I Love you AJ” Nightshade said with a smile and she smiled back “And i don’t care what this Rampant is i want to spend as long as i can with you, you’re the only person who actually gives a damn about me”

“Heh i love you too Nightshade even if you're a bit odd, but... promise me one thing... don’t die” she asked as she saw him do a pinkie promise and then she hugged him and he returned it

“Like i promised you i won’t let anything harm you AJ...”

“And i plan on keeping it...”

“We should be looking for him i doubt Applejack would have found him” Twilight said worryingly but then saw Blaze’s smile “What are you so happy about? He’s been suffering and you have just let him walk out”

“Yes well i think he’s found the answer he was looking for” Blaze said as he glanced out the door and back

“There’s a reason i made you, and trust me when you get your memory back you’ll understand...”

Author's Note

Now that the secret is out what will Night do? will he embrace his abilities or suppress them for good?

Also this was my first time writing romance so don't take it out on me.

If you have any ideas on how to improve comment below.