Rise Of The Black Ranger

Knila finished wrapping the towel around her waist as she shook her head to get any lingering water out of her hair which immediately curled up before she walked out of the bathroom.

Five minutes later Knila and Nadine stood in the centre of the room across from Alexis who was smirking at Knila who didn’t say a word, Nadine meanwhile was enjoying her new outfit with a smile on her face the outfit consisting of a hooded top with transparent fishnet material near the chest with the chains that attached to the tight black pants including the spiked collar that Alexis had suggested before.

Meanwhile, Knila who was heavily blushing was wearing only a very small and revealing pink Swimsuit that only barely covered her chest.

Nadine let out a whistle, “Didn’t know you were into that Knila” Nadine commented as she and Alexis saw Knila just covering her body, “Shut up Nadine…” she muttered getting a laugh from Nadine, “What you look good in it!”.

After a moment she spoke in a mutter to Alexis, “And you were right I do regret that choice” Alexis meanwhile still had a smirk on her face before handing her another outfit.

The second outfit consisted of a piece leather suit that covered her upper body the outfit seemed similar to that of a one-piece swimsuit that had multiple buckles and straps as well as an accompanying hood the outfit also had leather thighs highs the whole outfit looked to be skin tight.

Knila looked at her body with wide eyes before saying, “Where do you get these ideas for outfits from!?”.

“Have you met some of the residents in the town… especially that former Changling queen?” Alexis points out.

“Fair point…” Knila muttered.

“That makes a lot of sense actually,” Nadine said in response

“She asks for new outfits whenever she wants to seduce anyone new,” Alexis responds with a shake of her head.

“Of course she does…” Knila said with a shake of her head before looking at the outfit again and thinking to herself, “I'm not gonna lie this is kinda comfortable”.

“Knila are you admiring her handiwork?” Nadine asked Knila causing her to flinch, “What, I don’t know what you're talking about” she heard Knila respond immediately with a nervous laugh.

“I’ll take it as a compliment… Also considering the fact you fought my brother I assumed you’d need it rather resistant so it shouldn’t tear easily if you did choose to go out in it… and if you wanted to turn a few eyes,” Alexis responds,

Knila glanced back at the outfit before thinking it over and nodding in agreement, “Thank you” she said before asking, “Do you have anything else that I can wear casually since I don’t think this would be good for me, I'm not Nadine”.

Nadine raised her hand to respond before stopping and nodding in response, “Fair”.

“Well there would be a leash you could get for her to keep her in line… but let me see,” Alexis responds before walking to a nearby cupboard and pulling out a black long sleeve and blue jeans before handing them to Knila.

“This works,” Knila said as she grabbed the pants and shirt before going into thought before saying, “I think I know what to do I’ll just wear this under these clothes and if I end up in a fight and if these get shredded I won’t end up naked again”.

She slowly put on the Jeans and pulled them up to her waist before fastening the button into the hole afterwards putting on the black long sleeve, the outfit overall looked somewhat tight but still manoeuvrable as well as emphasizing her curves, “Much better” Knila said before looking to Alexis and saying, “Can I make a request?”.

“Depends on the request,” Alexis responds calmly with a smile.

“Fair enough” Knila replied with a nod before asking, “Could you make a cloak of sorts for me with Shade’s mark and colours on it as well as a mask?”.

“Can I ask about the reason you want that?”

“it's mainly to help keep my identity a secret to some and another is that the cloak I had before was shredded by Shade”.

“I can understand the mask then… but why a cloak with his mark on it?”

“I have a feeling that after a bit I'm gonna do some assignments for him eventually and if I encounter an enemy I want them to know I'm not on their side, You don’t have to make the cloak if you don’t want to though”.

“What do you mean by assignments?” Nadine chimed in.

“Missions, I want to help Shade with the cult since he helped me and I believe doing that is good enough to repay him for bringing me back from the brink”.

“Why a cloak again though, you want to look like one of the grunts from the cult?” Nadine asked with a brow raised.

“Guess I got used to it wearing subconsciously when they were still controlling me” Knila replied with a shrug.

“Clearly” Nadine responded before turning to Alexis and asking, “You have any ideas for anything else just so she doesn’t look like the cult members because I don’t want anyone in this place that was in the cults grasp to have a panic attack whenever they see her and misunderstand her for being a cult member”.

“Most of the creatures here know the difference between the two logos but how would you want it modified,” Alexis responds as she sits back at a desk and creates a dark grey cloak from her body. It had black linings on the arms as well as the back that connected to the hood with clips on the shoulders that looked to be able to separate the hood from said cloak entirely with the back section of the cloak being blank from where Knila remembered the cult symbol was.

“They had the symbol on the back of those things right?” Nadine asked getting a quiet nod from Knila.

“Yep they did, but let’s change it to something else and I think I know what I want it to be” Knila stated, as she looked over Alexis’s shoulder finding her creating some basic designs on a sheet of paper showing the front of back of the cloak with a large version of Shades mark emblazoned on the back, the colours having not yet been added.

“Could you change the mark on the back to a yellow raven” Knila suggested.

“I can do it, but you did say you wanted Shade’s mark on it. Where exactly?”

Knila went into her thoughts for a moment before suggesting “Could you add it at the side of the hood then?”.

“I should be able to,” Alexis responded modifying the design on the drawing before looking back to Knila, “This what you were picturing?”

Knila gave her a nod in response, “Yep this is what I was picturing”.

“Okay then,” Alexis responds before laying out the cloak on her desk, “this may take a while.”

“If that's the case we can probably take care of that a-hole of a robot with Shade” Nadine stated.

“He said he’d be back after half an hour right?” Knila asked.

“You do realise he is going to try and get information on the cult out of it… right?” Alexis points out as they hear a knock on the door before hearing Shade's voice from outside.

“Girls, how is everything going in there?”

“We're done for the most part Shade” Knila replied raising her voice slightly.

“Your good to come in!” Nadine added, as the door opened and Shade walked into the room closing the door behind him.

“What do you think?” Knila then asked as she motioned towards her and Nadine’s outfits.

“I think my sister has spent a bit too much time making outfits for a specific Changeling Queen to help her get the attention of men,” Shade responded as he gestured to Nadine's outfit, “and why exactly are you wearing a dogs collar with… is that my mark for the tag?”

“It wasn’t gonna be there at first but she made the suggestion” Nadine replied.

“And you still said yes to it…” Knila commented in a mutter.

“C'mon Knila, don’t be a prude it looks good!”.

“I’ll be a prude as much as I want to thank you very much”

“It makes you look like you want to be treated like either a slave or a pet by me,” Shade responds, looking at Nadine, “Which or it or is there another reason?”

Nadine shrugged, “Guess I just like looking like that”.

“Be glad I stopped her before one of the other things she was gonna ask for, she was gonna ask Alexis to add a leash into the mix….” Knila commented.

“So it was to be treated like a pet dog and led around like one then,” Shade replies as he shakes his head at her, “If she wants to try that I’m sure I can wrap a chain around the ring on it and lead her around like one on her hands and knees for the few days.”

Before Nadine could even say anything Knila interrupted her, “Nadine I swear to god if you say anything I will punch you so hard you’d wish you weren’t able to talk” Nadine In response just defensively raised her hands.

“Knila, Maybe let her have at it once. If she does it and has me treating her like one I’m pretty sure she wouldn’t ever ask for it again,” Shade points out.

“I- but…..fine” Knila replied with a tired groan.

“Yes!” Nadine shouted with a grin.

“I hate you so much sometimes…” Knila muttered only getting Nadine's trademark smirks in response.

“Alexis… Can I ask you to create the full suit for her? Every part,” Shade requested.

The group heard a chuckle from Alexis as she looked at Nadine, “A full custom outfit in that design for her… I think I can do that for you. Do you want me to create all the extra bits as well?”

“That would be great. Maybe set them up if you get the chance. One set in my room and the second set in the throne room,” Shade responded.

“It may be just for this one moment but I am glad my little brother isn’t here at this very moment…” Knila said to herself before asking, “Are we going to see that robot, or are you doing that walk first if it's the latter I think id rather stay here”.

“it's not that bad Knila” Nadine replied.

“Nadine”.

“Yeah?” Nadine said in response.

“Please shut up, just…no” Knila replied before leaning against one of the walls of the room and pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I was going to say we go deal with the robot now. I think you’ll enjoy the show,” Shade responds with a smile.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Knila said with a smile of her own.

“Agreed can’t wait to see that guy get a taste of his own medicine” Nadine added with a smirk.

Shade simply nodded in response reopening the door, “And Alexis. I’ll bring them back after we’re done if there is anything you are still sorting.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Alexis responds with a nod as Shade walks out the room.

Knila and Nadine follow close behind him as they stepped out into the hall, instantly beginning to pass other monsters again.

While they did this Knila and Nadine noticed some of them were staring at them, some towards Knila’s chest but the majority towards her and Nadine's behinds.

Knila's eye twitched for a moment as Nadine noticed it as well before following her lead, the two turning around for a moment and speaking in unison, “If your gonna stare, take a picture it’ll last longer” causing them to look away from the two before they began walking behind Shade again.

But one of them decided to be a bit handsy and looked to be attempting to grab at Knila who immediately just grabbed their arm and squeezed causing it to writhe in pain, “Hands off” she spoke in a cold tone before shoving them back.

Nadine who looked to the two just gave out a chuckle in response before she and Knila followed behind Shade again before the three turned the corner.

“You’re both still getting a lot of attention,” Shade responds as he continues walking without looking back.

Knila didn’t reply only sighing as Nadine looked be thriving from the looks that directed toward her and Knila.

“If you don’t mind me asking how far is this area your keeping the robot locked in?” Knila then asked.

“Not too far,” Shade responds as a doorway opens up beside them and he walks into it.

The two walked into the doorway not far behind him Nadine’s arm behind her head while she let out a low whistle before they heard the passage behind them close.

“What do you plan on doing to the robot specifically once we're in the place he’s held in?” Shade heard Nadine ask.

“Well, I’ll let you both get payback first for what he did to you all before I do anything myself. But after… I intend to get everything out of him,” Shade calmly states, “My only request is you don’t kill him.”

‘I….. I’ll try to restrain myself from doing that, but if he says anything about what happened back then I can’t promise anything” Knila replied.

“Depending on what he says about that, will dictate his fate after I’m done,” Shade responds as he reaches the bottom of the stairs.

“Understood…” Knila and Nadine quietly say as they reached the bottom of the stairs as well.

Shade then turned to the side before opening a large door against the wall and walked inside as the girls were close behind him. Once inside the room the group saw that the walls had large desks and tables scattered around, many with what looked to be mechanical weapons or strange belt-shaped objects placed on them in different stages of completion, while at the back of the room stood a robed figure with purple hair who was wearing a mask to cover her face standing infront of the seemingly unconscious body of BL-495-1 who was stapped to a large metal table that was standing upright, the robots head slumped forwards.

“Finally he’s the one strapped to a table for once” Nadine stated in a cold tone.

“Who did that damage to his body?” Knila said out loud seeing the deep slices and dents on the robot's body.

“It was a mix of your brother and his friends doing,” the cloaked figure responds, “He’s still operational so I have him shut down while I made a few… changes to his setting that Lord Shade requested.”

“Oh well, nice one Jason” Knila muttered to herself before Nadine asked, “What were those changes exactly?”.

“Oh we just enhanced his ability to feel pain and added a new order to allow us to remotely increase his pain sensitivity when we desire.” the robed figure states, “when he first wakes up he’ll get hit by all the pain from that damage in an instant.”

“That’s kinda cool yet terrifying at the same time” Nadine commented.

“Yeah but at least if he says anything he’ll feel a lot of the pain we felt in that place in spades” she heard Knila say.

“Lord Shade. Are you ready to begin his tests?” the robed figure asks looking at Shade.

“You girls ready?” Shade asked looking back at Knila and Nadine.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Knila stated as Nadine gave a quick nod towards him, “Yep I'm ready. Let’s do this”.

“Okay then.” Shade responded, “Twilight. Wake him up.”

“Of course Lord Shade,” The robed figure responds with a bow of her head inserting something into the BL-495-1’s neck.

After a moment of silence BL-495-1’s head twitched in place before it lurched forward his eyes shooting open as the group heard him scream in pain his body writhing in place he continued the moment feeling like it was going longer than it was before he stopped the group hearing him gasp out trying to get his breath back.

“Welcome back BL-495-1” Twilight calmly says as she steps away from the bound robot.

“What, where am I, what the hell did you do to me!?” he shouted towards her

“All I did was stop you from breaking down completely. It wasn’t in Lord Shade’s desires for you to do so,” Twilight responded.

BL-495-1 in response just attempted to break free from the table but failed to do so, as Knila and Nadine just looked at him in silence.

Noticing the two he then shouted towards Knila saying ”HU-RPM-P1 free me now!” before getting a scoff from her, “Go to hell”.

Shade then walked towards BL-495-1 stopping infront of him and looking him in the face, “How do you like the preparations for the first of today's many tests?”

BL-495-1 looked Shade in the eyes before his own widened, “No, No you can’t do this, you bastard!”.

“Why not, you and the cult didn’t have a problem doing tests on kids and other humans” Knila stated venom lacing her tone.

“Either way. It's time for the first test… this one is not unpleasant for you luckily,” Shade responded as BL-495-1 saw red sparks covering Shade’s hands as they moved towards the robot's open wounds before they struck them setting them alight with a red flame.

BL-495-1 just grit his teeth as he as he felt a burning sensation at his open wounds the group heard him make grunts of pain as he writhed in place his eyes clenched shut this continued for what seemed like a minute before Shade pulled away his hand prompting BL-495-1 to gasp out to get his breath back again.

“There we go that wasn’t so hard,” Shade responded as he held a mirror up to show BL-495-1 the area where his wounds were before, “What do you think about the repairs?”

“What, how the hell did you do this?” BL-495-1 said as he looked to see the damage that was caused by Jason and the others were replaced with black metal but near one of the bits of black metal he also noticed something glowing right next to it.

“What is that, what did you put on my body!?” he shouted as Shade just came closer with the mirror carried in his magic as he saw that it was Shade’s mark and once he realized it he attempted to break free again shouting like a madman.

“Silence!” Shade ordered glaring at him the new mark beginning to glow in a crimson light as he spoke.

BL-495-1 immediately went silent his mouth closed as his eyes looked around the room glancing to Twilight and then to Nadine and Knila as for once he looked panicked.

“What’s wrong big guy? scared.” He heard Nadine say before he heard her add, “Good”.

Shade then stepped away taking the mirror with him before looking at Knila and Nadine, “Have fun,” he then clicked his fingers allowing BL-495-1 to speak again.

He looked up to then see Nadine and Knila in front of him both of them having glares on their faces.

“Hello, you two miss me?” BL-495-1 said with a weak smirk trying to keep his bravado but the two could tell it was wavering as Nadine just raised her leg and slammed her foot into his head, “Hell no”.

BL-495-1 just let out a grunt of pain in response as he felt Nadine pressing her foot into his head harder than before Knila saw Nadine twist her body around swinging her other foot to the side of his head causing him to let out a grunt of pain again a small dent being seen on his cheek as he let out a low laugh.

“At least those test’s taught you how to actually hit someone,” BL-495-1 said with a mocking chuckle before spitting to the floor.

“Shut up”.

“Or what subject 9 you’ll kill me you don’t have the guts for it, you always hated fighting its why we always forced you into fights for tests to get you to hurt someone to get you stronger!”.

“Shut up…”.

“What you know I'm right!” BL-495-1 shouted with a grin before he felt Nadine slam her fists into his face, her knuckles getting progressively more and more bloody until Nadine was pulled back by Knila.

Nadine broke free and went to hit him again but stopped midway through for a moment before she pulled it back and looked at her hands and saw that they were shaking, that they were bruised and bloody while BL-495-1’s words made her remember the tests back at the lab before she just backed away and stood towards the entrance.

“I told you that you didn’t have the guts for it…” BL-495-1 said with a mocking chuckle.

Knila meanwhile just glared at him before the others saw her hair extend in the air before it shot forward and wrapped around his neck.

“Oh so are you gonna be the one to do it… huh, Knila are you doing this for what we did to you back at the lab?” he said before feeling Knila tighten her grip on his neck.

“Shut up”.

“Oh come on you have to be somewhat curious about what we did to you when you were unconscious aren’t you?”.

“What the hell are you talking about!?” Knila screamed, tightening the grip on his neck again.

“You have to be…a bit curious….how do you think we got all those human children yet we started with just one woman because before that they weren’t in high supply in Equestria you know”.

Knila’s heart dropped as she realized what he meant, the woman whispering, “N-no”.

“Yes Knila, every human subject, every single one of them that came after you, are your spawn you supplied us with the process of giving us more subjects, to use, to experiment, to exploit for our own ambition and honestly I think you deserve a good round of applause!” BL-495-1 said that sadistic smile returned once he saw her face and then laughed.

Knila’s eyes widened as they began to tear up as she let out a shaky breath as those fresh tears started to stream down her cheeks as she remembered the tests where she fell unconscious and all the times that she began to produce milk afterwards while BL-495-1 continued to laugh.

“You want to know what happened to them too, your boys and your girls, the boys became some of our prime test subjects some died of course but some became the strongest of the bunch, and your girls let’s just say once we had them aged up they held the same role as you when you were still there” BL-495-1 spoke, Knila’s breath hitching as despair showed the woman's face her hair removing itself from his neck.

“Don’t be sad at least your children are helping in a cause bigger than themselves” He then added as he looked like he was about to speak again however before he could Shade appeared infront of him his fist swinging into BL-495-1’s face a loud crushing sound being heard as blood splattered to the ground beside him running from the robots face.

“Shut the hell up now!” Shade ordered glaring at BL-495-1 an almost dark aura coming off Shade, as a sudden pressure bore down on everyone in the room. Knila placed her hands over her mouth her eyes wide, while Nadine just looked in a shocked silence her mouth agape.

Shade then placed his hand over BL-495-1’s jaw healing it instantly the jaw now being covered by the same black metal that was on his chest. Shade’s form still towering over him his gaze never leaving the bound robot.

BL-495-1 spat out his blood to the floor before looking up to Shade, “Heh you look angry was what I said too far?”.

“BL-495-1. Code 76529816-Shade. Reduce pain resistance to zero. Amplify pain sensitivity by 1000%,” Shade stated, his voice cold and emotionless.

“You didn’t, no you can’t do this!” BL-495-1 screamed before seeing Shade walk to the side.

“Twilight. Please get me the saw,” Shade calmly said ignoring BL-495-1’s screams.

“Of course Lord Shade,” Twilight responded as BL-495-1 heard her walking around the room behind him.

As she did Shade picked up a knife from a nearby table before running it over BL-495-1’s right arm, leaving a shallow scratch on his arm.

BL-495-1 felt an indescribable pain at that moment when he felt the knife leave the shallow scratch, it felt like multiple knives digging into it, the pain being nothing but excruciating as he let out a low scream before attempting to catch his breath.

“How does that feel bastard…” He heard Knila say as he slowly looked at her, seeing that her eyes were red from her crying.

Shade didn’t give him time to respond to her though as he cut him again, this time a slightly deeper one on his cheek as he shook in place attempting not to scream so he held his breath but failed due to the lingering pain as he then let out a scream that tore through his throat.

Shade then pulled the knife away placing it back on the table beside him, “How does that feel?”

“...Screw you…” He gasped out.

“Let's see how long that bravado lasts shall we,” Shade responds as Twilight passes him a saw which he holds out infront of BL-495-1’s face. “You know what this is for right.”

“I…I have a slight idea for what” he spoke his voice slightly hoarse.

“Girls… what should I remove first!” Shade shouts to Nadine and Knila.

“Remove his left arm” he heard Nadine say before looking back to Knila who hadn’t said anything yet the woman only gave a nod in response.

Shade didn’t respond only nodding as he slowly lowered the saw towards BL-495-1’s arm resting the blade against the end of his shoulder, the blade slowly scraping against it. “Anything to say for yourself before we start.”

BL-495-1 just looked at Shade again before repeating, “Screw…you”, before Shade began to slowly saw through his arm causing the robot to let out a scream of pain as each slow saw caused a gnawing and excruciating pain over time the most noise Shade and the other’s could hear was a pained gurgle coming from BL-495-1’s throat.

After a few minutes of slow progress, the arm came away from the body falling to the floor before Shade set the open wound alight searing it shut before looking to BL-495-1 finding that he was shaking in place from the lingering pain, his eyes quickly jittering from area to the room to another before heard Nadine speak again, “Take his other arm”.

“No!” BL-495-1 shouted before saying, “I know where her offspring are being kept!”.

“What?” Knila said in a whisper.

“Start speaking, before I start on the next one,” Shade calmly responds picking up the arm on the ground and holding it infront of BL-495-1’s eyes where he could see it. “Or do I need to start to make your other side match?”

“They're back at where we had her and her runt of brother some may have been deployed but some have been put in a form of stasis so they’re still young, the facility is in the mountains you can find them there!” BL-495-1 blurted out.

“How do we access it?” Knila spoke.

“What?” BL-495-1 said with wide eyes as she replied, “You heard me, how do we access it”.

“You need a specific code or identification from an implant you won’t have any trouble since you still have yours do you not?”.

Knila slowly brought her hand to where the chip was in her head before quietly nodding, “Well you can access it then”.

“No… you’ll be the one to get us in,” Shade responded coldly as BL-495-1 saw the arm Shade was holding ignite into flames the entire arm changing to black metal with a crimson eye on the palm. “Once your experiments are done that is.”

“You’re not gonna be let off the hook just because you told us this” Nadine spat.

BL-495-1 looked to Shade before saying, “I can get you lot inside without anyone alerting the others they won’t be any the wiser of what happens especially since the place is barely occupied by our grunts who are usually sent out to find others for the lab including that one’s little brother”.

“What’s with your group's fascination with my little brother!?” Knila screamed.

“He has a lot of stuff that was implanted within him barring from his inhuman amounts of strength he also has an exoskeleton grafted to his bones its safe to say that we’d rather have what we created with us rather than against us since he’s the catalyst to some of our successful experiments” BL-495-1 replied.

“You love digging yourself a deeper hold don’t you,” Shade responded moving the saw to his other arm, and placing the left one on the table next to him. He then placed his face next to BL-495-1’s ear. “Once we're finished with this arm, it's time to fix the rest of your body to something more… appealing to us.”

“N-no-” BL-495-1 attempted to say but only ended up screaming after he felt Shade begin to saw through his other arm, while the robot’s screams went on for what seemed like forever before Nadine and Knila heard him begin to quiet down as all they began to hear was raspy breathing and gasps from him.

“There we go,” Shade responds holding the removed arm up infront of BL-495-1 as it ignited changing in design to match that of the other arm, before being placed next to the first one, “that wasn’t so hard was it?”

Any words that the robot could have said at that moment were just replaced with just his pain-filled gasps and whimpers, before he felt a hand under his chin lifting his face to look at Shade’s, the smile on his face causing BL-495-1 to shake in fear before he heard Shade say, “Do you want your new arms back?”

BL-495-1 trembled in place his eyes wide as he was unable to look away, the fear making him unable to respond well enough, only able to give a fearful stutter, “Y-yes…yes I-i do”.

“If I give them you back. What will you offer me in return?” Shade asks as he traces a finger over the unchanged metal on BL-495-1’s body, the path he traced changing to black metal, as his finger moved across his chest.

“I-i…..I don’t know”.

“If I return them to you. How much are you willing to sacrifice to the real Shade,” Shade calmly asked tracing his finger around BL-495-1’s old cult mark.

BL-495-1 just glanced at his still severed arms before looking back to Shade and still feeling the lingering pain from them being removed before he spoke, “E-everything” fear still in his voice, “I'm willing to sacrifice everything”.

Shade leaned in towards BL-495-1’s ear, “Do you know who I am now?”

“Y-your Shade, The real one” he replied with a stutter.

“And what do you think of the cult's version of me?” Shade asked.

“He’s a fake…using your name to further his own goals…”.

“Who do you serve?” Shade asked again tracing a cross in the air over his old cult mark on his chest, ensuring BL-495-1 could see his motions.

“I-i serve you, the real Shade not the fake,” BL-495-1 shakily responds before he saw Shade’s hand raise towards his head as he shook in place, only to feel a hand pat him on the head. “W-what?” BL-495-1 whispered out of shock before he centred his eyes back on Shade.

“Good boy,” Shade responds, “In that case in return for reattaching your arms, you agree to serve me for the rest of your life without question. Understood.”

“U-understood L-lord Shade” BL-495-1 replied once again feeling Shade’s hand rub his head, BL-495-1’s eyes went wide from shocked at what was happening at the moment so much that he was utterly speechless.

He then saw Shade’s holding both of the removed arms in his magic before being placed over where they had originally been, before the arms began to merge back together with the rest of his body, flames spreading from where they reconnected spreading the black metal further over his chest his old mark remaining untouched.

His reaction to seeing the black metal spread was more so of a stunned silence until it stopped his eyes wide before he saw Shade place the mirror in front of him again seeing the black metal take the majority of his body, “W-what is this?”.

“If you're serving me for the rest of your life. I thought it best you matched the rest of my guard's armour. There are a lot of things we need to fix though, and you have a lot to tell us about the cult as with us finishing the rest of your modifications,” Shade states as BL-495-1 saw Shade’s hand cover the old cult mark on his chest with his hand sparks appearing below the covered area.

BL-495-1 winced slightly from feeling the sparks and after a moment he saw Shade pull his hand away revealing that he had changed BL-495-1’s old mark to that of Shade’s own.

“What do you think of your new mark?” Shade asks the mark brightly glowing on BL-495-1’s chest.

BL-495-1 just looked at his new mark intently, “How did you do that, it's like the old one wasn’t even there” BL-495-1 said confused.

“Think of this as your god erasing what he dislikes from his servant's forms,” Shade responds, “Once I have finished there will be no trace of them remaining anywhere on your body.”

“Understood, Lord Shade” BL-495-1 replied as he felt Shade place his hand on his head, BL-495-1’s thoughts of the cult flashing through his head, one of a cell block with people in them and the second of a large hall filled with tanks organised row by row with people in them especially children frozen in place.

After a moment the parts of the cult he thought about were being slowly modified along with the thoughts of the cells and the room with the tanks before Shade saw some aspects of the cult that he exhibited that he chose to remove entirely, causing the demeanour of BL-495-1 to change and after Shade finished removing those aspects he pulled his hand away from BL-495-1’s head.

“What did you do to him?” Nadine asked Shade, walking up to the two with a brow raised as she looked to the BL-495-1 who just tilted his head.

“I essentially reprogrammed him,” Shade responded calmly before releasing BL-495-1 from his binding as BL-495-1’s arms twitched slightly before he raised as he looked to his hands, “He fixed me”.

“How do they feel,” Shade asked his hand rubbing over the mark on the shoulders.

“They feel…better like a clear improvement to my old one’s”.

“Do you have anything to say to the people here?” Shade asks gesturing to Nadine and Knila.

“I…I'm sorry for everything for the awful things that me and the cult had done, I'm sorry for all of it” he said bowing his head forward, “You don’t have to forgive me, with all those horrible things I did I don’t think I’d forgive myself”.

“That's a good boy,” Shade calmly says patting BL-495-1 on the head like he would a young child or pet.

The robot flinched slightly before he heard Knila answer him “I can’t. At least not yet every time I look at you I remember those tests and that anger but maybe after some time I can learn to forgive you”.

“Same here” they heard Nadine add.

“Understood, take as much time as you need” He replied with a nod as he looked to the floor.

After a moment of silence, Knila looked to Shade and asked“So….what now Shade?”.

“Well. There are a few things we need to finish off for him… one possibly being a new name as we want him to move as far away from the cult's system as we can, and a few other minor fixes.”

Nadine hearing this just leaned forward looking at the robot's face who just looked towards her with a tilt of his head, “.....Yeah I got nothing”.

“Well before we continue with him. I need to get the rest of the modifications we need to add finished, so either if you need to talk with my Lord in private about anything you can,” Twilight responded, “and if one of you want to I could use an assistant for a bit.” Knila and Nadine just look at her in silence, “Oh! And Subject 9. When we last did one of your blood tests we found some… strange results if you have some time would you be willing to try and help me understand them?”

“Oh alright then…” Nadine hesitantly replied as she slowly looked to Knila who just gave her a quiet nod in response before Nadine walked toward Twilight.

“H-hey Shade,” Knila said getting the attention of Shade who looked toward her, “Do you think you and I could talk outside for a little bit?”.

“Sure,” Shade replies without a moment's hesitation walking towards the door, as Knila immediately followed behind him and after a few moments of them walking they were outside as Shade looked at Knila. “What did you want to talk to me about. I imagine there is a lot after that.”

“I-its about” attempted to speak but stopped immediately her face going red slightly as she attempted to find the words before she felt a hand rubbing her neck.

Her face just went completely red before she remembered what Alexis had told her before she took a breath and looked toward Shade, “S-Shade would you be willing to take me as a….” She attempted to say but stopped at the last half.

“Take you as my what,” Shade calmly responded pulling her into his chest, as his wings wrapped around her, “Take your time, don’t force it.”

Knila felt her heart beat like a drum as her blush had her face beet red before Shade heard her stutter out, “Would you be w-willing to take me as a….wife?” as she looked up to him.

“You do understand what you are asking… right. You do know about me and Luna… are you sure you are okay with that?”

She gave him a quiet nod in response, “Yes I do and I'm completely ok with it”.

“And you definitely do not think you're skipping a step or two first,” Shade responds, “Maybe slow down before deciding you want to be married to a man over 500 times your age?”

Knila in response just looked away from him her face showing a dejected look before she looked back up to him and asked, “A-are you rejecting me?”.

“I’m not rejecting you. Why would you think that I am?” Shade asks, “What I meant was why do you even want to be with someone who is so much older than you.”

“Because….I don’t care if you’re older than me, I want to be with you” Knila replied, before adding, “and for the first time in so long I've felt something real with feelings like that it doesn’t feel like a part of me just faking it”.

“All In all I want to be with you because… I love you” She then whispered before she slowly reached her hand to his face gently placing it on his cheek as she slowly caressed it the two stayed like that for a moment until she pulled her hand away. As soon as she did Knila felt something reach around under her before she was suddenly lifted until she was looking Shade in the eyes before he kissed her on the forehead.

Knila looked him in the eyes in silence as she felt her heart beating like a drum in her chest fast and hot in anticipation of something, anything. Shade didn’t do anything for a couple of seconds before Knila felt his wings push her chest into his body, his arm remained under her holding her in place, “Knila. Just to confirm one last time you understand. I am already in a relationship with Luna. I know herds are still a thing some ponies have, but if it blows keep going on like this regarding the number of women I have been married to me. Are you sure you’ll still be okay with it?”

“Yes, I’ll be okay with it” Knila replied as Shade felt her heartbeat, before he leaned in again, this time kissing her on the lips, holding it for a couple of seconds.

Knila felt like she was on cloud nine during this as she kept her eyes closed and pushed into the kiss her heart still beating fast and after a moment the two pulled away from each other a thin string of saliva connected between the two, Knila panting out for a breath as she looked to him with a smile.

“Are you feeling better now?” Shade asks with a smile as he brushes her hair out of her face.

She gave him a shy nod as she replied, “Yeah, I'm better now, honestly I feel great”.

Shade just nods back in response before saying, “For now how about until we make a final decision on things, we place ourselves as just boyfriend and Girlfriend for the time being.”

Knila smiled at him, “I’d be okay with that” she replied before she hugged him, her chest squishing against his as the woman covered her mouth to prevent a moan as her blush came back full force, and after a moment Shade felt the chest of her shirt grow damp.

Shade decided to not so say anything about what he felt, not wanting to cause Knila to get any more embarrassed than she already was.

After a moment he felt her move one of her arms to her chest to separate her damp shirt from his chest as he heard her mutter, “S-sorry…this had been happening since I woke back up”.

“Let me guess you need something to drain them?” Shade calmly replies as he rubbed the back of her neck, “Do you want me to take us somewhere and try and sort it?”

Knila didn’t answer him for a moment before giving him a shy nod in response before she felt her body move slightly as she was being held like you would a sleeping child.

“T-Thank you Shade” he heard her stutter out before she thought to herself, “This is so embarrassing…”. She then saw Shade's horn begin to glow before they disappeared in a flash of light and moments later reappeared in an entirely new place as she saw a long window behind her.

“Where are we?” Knila asked Shade while she looked around.

“Right now… the easiest place for us to get someone to help with that little problem,” Shade responded walking towards the window letting Knila look out of it as she saw a large chamber filled with cots below them, small bodies in each of them.

“Is this place a nursery?” Knila asked as she felt Shade slowly place her back on her feet.

“It is… but the kids here aren’t exactly orphans… I doubt any of them even ever met their mothers considering what the cult did to them all.”

“All that heartache and for what, more test subjects?”.

“No… test subjects seem to be from your labs… these were all bred to be used as weapons to sell for profit by the cult,” Shade replies with a shake of his head.

“I may not like the circumstance they were in before but at least they're safe, I think their mothers would at least be glad for that” Knila responded.

“There mothers know they are here… they just don’t know which children are theirs… it may be easier to explain after you see them.”

“If that’s the case then lead the way ” she replied as she at the window to see the cots again as she slowly followed behind Shade.

“You may want to prepare yourself,” Shade responds as he reaches the door.

Knila then nodded then took a deep breath holding it in for a moment before letting it out the woman did this two more times before saying, “Alright, I'm ready”.

“Okay then,” Shade responds before opening the door and walking inside as Knila followed behind once they were inside Knila now realised the true scale of what was infront of her, the room looking to go further than she could see while around the room were creatures of all shape and sizes looking after the children, some of which were standing naked as they held one of the infants to one of her breasts as she seemed to be feeding them.

Knila looked on in silence as she looked at all of this unfolding in front of her before looking back to Shade and saying, “Is this what you meant when we were looking through that window, that some mothers wouldn’t know which kid is there’s and would just feed a random with the little knowledge that it may or may not be theirs?”.

“Considering that some of them have had their bodies merged with multiple races they don’t know if the child is even of their own race. Every creature down here is either some of my guards or the mothers the cult forced to have the children on repeat for who knows how long… Kind of like you but they were constantly aware of it happening.”

Her hand twitched in response to this as she slowly placed it against her stomach with an unreadable expression before she closed her eyes before took a breath again, “To be completely aware of it every time it happened and too not even know what your child even looks like, I wouldn’t wish that on any mother” Shade could tell that there was a pain in her voice, “I don’t even know what my own looks like other than Jason”.

“I know there is not much I can for you about them right now until we go after them,” Shade responds rubbing Knila’s neck again, “but right now this may be the best way to deal with your little problem. But if you are too uncomfortable doing this I don’t blame you.”

“N-no I'm ok with doing this” she replied as she then looked to the cots taking a deep breath before she slowly walked up to one of them and looked over it seeing what looked to be a canine-like infant in the cot its fur being a dark black its ears being a small v-shape with a small tail poking from under it.

From what she could see the little one was asleep but not wanting to disturb it she went to walk away but hearing a yawn she stopped and turned back around seeing that it woke up its eyes still closed before it opened them showing its vibrant green eyes that looked around the cot before it landed on her the two making eye contact with one another before the infant smiled at raising its hands towards her.

Knila looked toward the infant in silence before smiling and slowly reaching into the cot and gently picking it up, “Hello little one” she whispered towards it as she lifted it towards her chest and slowly rocked it from side to side until she heard a low stomach growl as she saw its demeanour changed to discomfort, “Are you hungry?” Knila then said as she placed the infant on her left arm and used her right to pull up her shirt revealing one of her breasts before bringing the infant up to it, and after a moment she felt the infant suckling from her.

“Aren’t you Just adorable, is that better little one?” Knila said giving a soft smile to it, its eyes glancing towards her while it fed before she switched to her other breast and while this went on Shade could hear her hum a low melody towards the infant which over time caused its eyes to slowly close until they were completely shut and it stopped feeding prompting Knila to gently place it back into the cot.

Afterwards, he saw Knila pull her shirt back down before seeing her lean over the crib looking at the infant in silence.

“You doing okay,” Shade asks looking at Knila.

“Yeah” Knila replied going quiet before saying, “You know even if this isn’t my child it feels good to actually watch over them”.

“That's probably what the other think as well,” Shade admits as they saw a blue-scaled dragoness walk towards them, with a young hatchling with matching scales in her arms.

“Lord Shade. It’s good to see you down here,” the dragoness responded as she rubs her head against him affectionately, before looking to Knila, “I assume this is your first time down here?”

“You would be correct in that assumption” Knila responded before saying, “I'm Knila, it’s a pleasure to meet you”.

“Likewise I suppose,” the dragoness responded as she kissed Shade’s neck.

Knila’s cheeks went red for a moment before she looked away turning her attention back to the infant in the cot.

“I don’t remember there being any of your race down here though,” the dragoness states, “is there a reason your down here?”

“Just needed to relieve some pressure…..” Knila replied in a mutter her embarrassment clear in her tone.

“I assume it was a cult injection into them. These things never drain fully now, mine refill to bursting after a minute each time.” the dragoness responds as the Hatchling in her arms stops feeding before she places it on her shoulder patting its back.

Knila then looked to her chest before placing her arms over her breasts, “Yeah It was and I understand that feeling very well especially back when I was still in the labs".

“You were in one of their labs?”

“Yep…locked in their cells and tested on nonstop and was controlled by them like a tool and after a recent revelation, I now know I have more kids than I realized” Knila answered before sighing, “I hate the cult so much…”.

“At least they haven’t ruined your wings to the point I’ll never fly again,” the dragoness points out uncurling her wings and Knila saw that a large majority of them were missing, while the inside the wings looked to have been sealed shut.

Knila winced slightly as she looked at the dragonesses wings “I'm sorry you had to experience that”.

“Don’t be. In any case, I would assume if I hadn’t been through it I doubt that I would have ever met Lord Shade,” the Dragoness replies as she once again rubs up against Shade as Knila saw an almost lustful look in her eyes.

Knila glanced at the two in silence before electing to just look at the infant again not knowing what to say at that moment as she attempted to distract herself with its sleeping form her blank look changing back to that of a smile as she looked towards its face.

“Ember. Your leaking again,” Shade responded gesturing to the Dragoness who simply smiled back at him, seemingly not bothered about it.

“Blame the cult for it. When you capture some of them again, let me help with the punishment. I’m sure I’d be able to get a few of them to behave.” The Dragoness responds by blowing a small wisp of fire from her mouth.

“You’d be surprised…” Knila muttered in response as she remembered what the robot had said to Nadine before shaking her head, “They're always persistent with messing with your head”.

“Oh trust me. After what they did to me. I think I could let some of them get a good mouthful of the results of their efforts,” Ember responded with a smile before turning and walking away, “I’ll see you next time you need to empty yourself.”

“It was nice to meet you” Knila then said before she stood up from leaning over the cot.

“We should probably get back to Nadine soon,” Shade suggests looking at Knila.

“Yeah, we should let's go” Knila replied with a nod before walking towards him and gently grabbing onto him before they teleported back to the lab.

Once they reappeared back outside the lab Shade rubbed Knila’s head again, “You feeling better now.”

“For now at least” She replied with a nod before she began to walk towards the front of the lab and once she made it to the door she pushed it open and walked through.

Once she walked in the first thing she saw was Nadine who was spinning around on a chair while looking to be in her own world before she noticed Knila standing at the entrance, “Oh welcome where did you and Shade go?” Nadine asked.

“Went to take care of something, you don’t need to worry about it” Knila replied as she walked up to her.

“Cmon what did you two do, wait did yo-” Nadine was about to say before Knila interrupted her, “Whatever depraved thought in your head get rid of them cuz none of that happened”.

“Aw your no fun….” Nadine replied with a mutter.

“I'm just not a pervert”.

“So exactly what I just said?” Nadine replied causing Knila’s eye to twitch slightly.

“As much I want to smack you upside the head for that I'm not going to, what have you and her been up to while we were gone”.

“Something to do with blood tests, apparently something in my blood is weird” Nadine then said causing Knila to look at her confused.

“What I said was that the test showed something with your DNA is weird. In the labs, some of your samples seemed to absorb a certain type of light and store it.” Twilight responded, “considering I was captured before the tests could be completed on this I don’t know if they learned more about them in a further test or not.”

“I don’t understand all of it but I think I get the gist of it, doc,” Nadine said giving a thumbs up.

“Any idea why they're able to do that?” Knila asked.

“If I knew I’d tell you,” Twilight responded, “I was hoping she would have had an answer on why.”

Shade paused looking at Nadine, “Nadine… before you appeared in this world, do you remember anything about the event leading up to it?”

Nadine went to reply but stopped for a moment going into deep thought before saying, “I think so, it was an event that had a lot of people in costumes I was wearing one too, it was one of the characters in a game one of my friends played, her name was…Fetch I think?”.

“Well, your a Displaced that's for sure. Do you remember any about this Fetch character?”

“If I remember correctly I think she had powers like stuff she can shoot from her hands and I think some form of super speed”.

“Right. I’m just going to say this. You likely have the same powers as she did. So maybe you use that light you take in to allow you to use your powers?”

Nadine just looked to the light with a brow raised before slowly raising her hands toward it causing it to flicker slightly causing her to flinch back slightly, “You sure this isn’t gonna hurt me in some manner?” she asked looking back to Shade.

“I don’t even know who this Fetch is to know what you can do,” Shade points out, “what I just said is wild speculation at best.”

“Fair point…” Nadine replied with a sigh before extending her hand out again this time have her arm fully extended towards the light which flickered again before the light within it could be seen flowing out of it and towards her arm and absorbing into her skin as the light itself then looked devoid of energy, “That….felt weird”.

“Do you feel any different?” Knila asked.

“If I'm being honest here I have no idea” Nadine admitted as she looked at her hands looking at the both of them in silence trying to make some hand motions to see if anything happened before clenching her fists which caused them to have a neon glow as she looked on with wide eyes.

“I would say it’s best for you to try and work out how to use them in your own time… while not in a tight space,” Shade suggested as he looked to BL-495-1, “Twilight is that special upgrade sorted yet?”

“Almost, it just needs adding to him, but I thought it best you were back for when we did,” Twilight responded walking over to BL-495-1, “Besides after this I think a new code is needed anyway considering the trait this adds. He’d be more like some kind of scout or mole if it works as intended.”

“What are planning on doing with him to have him be like that, a double agent or some junk?” They heard Nadine ask.

“Well it was either that or…” Shade began to say only for Twilight to jump in.

“The original plan was to reuse some of his old system protocols and modify them, along with this modification with other things added to his limbs to make him into some kind of special forces type variant to either capture cult members of use or eliminate high profile members who are hidden out of our reach normally… or have diplomatic immunity to place the blame elsewhere.” Twilight explained calmly. “We were thinking a small blade hidden in his wrist he can extend and retract at will along with some other weapons hidden inside his robotic limbs.”

“So it would be like an assassin?” Nadine asked with a raised brow, adding, “For what it’s worth it doesn’t sound like a bad idea but what would you have him do once you implement that?”.

“You do realise the cult wasn’t just your one test lab… right,” Twilight responded, “they have a lot of bases all with different purposes and tons of benefactors from all reaches of society… especially rich nobles who would just buy their way out of jail or have diplomatic immunity.”

“He would spend most of his time finding information on where the cult hide or in some cases act as a body double for a captured cult member while we would… have a nice long chat with them,” Shade adds.

“But it will only be possible if this works once inputted,” Shade added holding up a small black disc with Shade’s mark on it.

“So he’d take their place while you did what you need to do with them?”.

“Pretty much… and if some are of greater importance well… I still have some knowledge on how the cult brainwashed captured subjects we could employ, to make them more compliant,” Twilight states with a cold dismissive shrug.

Knila and Nadine went silent after hearing Twilight say this, with Nadine immediately backing up and going behind Knila who could be seen clenching her fist out of instinct.

“I take it you don’t like the idea,” Twilight responds, “we would only be employing it against those who would be useful pawns or hold control of a useful resource.”

“It’s just hearing compliance just makes me remember what they did to control me, just bad memories overall” Knila replied as she took a breath.

“Would it help if I said his first target would be to capture is the scientist they used to drug and satisfy you when your more… intimate tests were done, and also was the one who currently cares for the more carnal needs of the female subjects?”

Twilight and Nadine just looked to Knila who had an unreadable expression on her face before seeing the woman's hair begin to wave around, “.....I don’t have much of a problem with it anymore now”

“I thought so,” Twilight responded before walking toward BL-495-1. “Now it’s time for us to continue with your new upgrades. Are you ready?”

“Yes I am” he replied with a nod

“Good. Please turn over onto your front, so I can access your back for this part,” Twilight ordered.

BL-495-1 did what he was told with a nod as he turned his back being in clear view so Twilight can do what she needed to do.

As soon as he turned over the group saw that BL-495-1 back was largely unaltered compared to the rest of his body with the metal he had before still there along with a large cult mark on the base of his back, “Is that supposed to still be there?” Knila asked.

“It was not. But we’ll make sure that mark is erased before we are finished,” Twilight responds as her horn begins to glow as a large panel on BL-495-1’s back opens up relieving the inner workings of BL-495-1 which had pumps, cogs, and tubes working in tandem with each other along with a square panel to the upper right section of it.

“Looks like they never applied any new upgrades to you after I left,” Twilight calmly says as she levitates the object into BL-495-1’s back sparks suddenly lighting up inside as the object seemed to fuse into his body.

BL-495-1 could be seen tensing up slightly before the group heard him breathe out, “Will never get used to that.” he muttered.

“If you manage to help Lord Shade I’m sure that in the future he will gift you with more things so you can help him,” Twilight states as she closes the hatch as it is sealed and the light from her horn faded, “Now my lord if you would do the honours of setting that in place we can get this mess on his back removed and deal with the other parts.”

Shade only rolled his eyes as his hand was placed on BL-495-1’s back flames rapidly covered the entirety of it as they saw the old mark begin to be burned away, Shade’s mark quickly replacing it as his body changed to match his front.

“I take it the changes are done with my back now correct?” BL-495-1 asked as he glanced back to the others.

“For now,” Shade responds his hand resting on BL-495-1’s wrist, “Did you know that your arm has a small needle made to inject a drug into a target?”

“No, the guy who did the upgrades prior didn’t really tell me, liked being vague about it found it annoying if I'm being honest” BL-495-1 replied his wrist igniting before a hidden blade extended out, the blade being segmented parts before the same happened with his other arm, “Huh… interesting,” he said out loud before looking to Knila and Nadine, Nadine being in Knila’s arms with wide eyes.

“Are you… ok?” BL-495-1 asked.

“Yeah… I’m fine” Nadine replied before she was set back onto the ground by Knila as they saw him retract the blades back into his wrists.

“What's the drug that's injected when he stabs the needle into someone, is it like something that causes someone to go unconscious?”.

“I think I depended on what they wanted at the time,” Twilight responded, “Most of the time we used either hallucinogenics or a drug called Midazolam.”

“Midazolam, what's that?” Knila asked confused

“A strong drug used to knock someone out causes drowsiness, and memory loss while also putting the target to sleep quickly. We improved upon it to make it almost instant and last up to 16 hours with a single dose.” Twilight calmly states, “If we needed to keep something down longer we hit them with a new dose as soon as the first was about to wear off.”

“Yikes….” Nadine muttered in response.

“At least it’s effective…but back to him, what happens now?” Knila said pointing towards BL-495-1

“I’ll deal with the last few changes and updates myself, then set him to a rest mode to make sure his systems reboot correctly before reinstating him with a new code number before making sure he has no bugs in his systems,” Twilight responds.

“How long will I be in rest mode?” BL-495-1 asked looking to Twilight.

“A couple of hours at worst.”

“Understood” he replied with a nod before leaning his back onto the table and laying in place.

“And while I finish up here. I think you three need to get everything else sorted,” Twilight calmly states ushering the three of them out of the room.

“I get it Twilight I get it,” Shade replied with a chuckle as he left the room.

“Ok we're going, we're going, jeez….” Nadine said as she walked out of the room behind Shade with Knila silently doing the same.

Once the group left the room Shade looked at the two of them, “Maybe I should get you back to my sister to get the rest of your things in order.”

“Alrighty then,” Nadine said with a smile as Knila gave a nod in response, “Let’s go then, She’s probably done with that thing I asked her about while we were gone”.

Giving the two a nod he began walking with them close behind but after a few moments of walking, he felt Knila grab onto his hand looking to his side to see her next to him the woman blushing as she did so before feeling Shade’s wing rub her neck.

“You know maybe I need to put another order in for you… Something super absorbent.” Shade suggests with a smirk.

Knila in response just let out an embarrassing squeak. while Nadine just looked at her friend's demeanour in amusement as all that could be heard from Knila afterwards was incoherent babbling from her while the group continued to walk back to Alexis’s.