Wielder of the Orb: Third Time's the Charm

by TheMajorTechie

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, Science Fiction, Comedy, Adventure, Human, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Other
Length: 7462

A story that just about dumps one of the characters in its cover art and turns from a comedy into a fantasy adventure. Nothing much.

Oh, you thought I was done with rewriting this dumpster fire?

Guess what?

I'm not.

It seemed like Nightshade's life was already weird enough. Between her close friend and roommate Lightning Rod's antics and the weird "Magical Artifact" that she'd found one day in a thrift store, it seemed like nothing could surpass what she'd already seen before.

Well... at least, until some power-crazed entity from beyond comes searching for that same artifact that she just happened to stumble upon.

Talk about weird.

Cover art by Scarlet-Spectrum.

Old cover art by cipherscriptures, who at the time had the username Lokimonster when I requested art three years ago. Also, they've been offline for like half a year, so... yeah.

Not to be confused with Wielder of the Orb: Of Magic and Ponies or The Wielder of the Orb.

(Old short description: Your (probably) average, semi-stereotypical "powerful ancient artifact" story.)

Published 2019-02-11 06:50:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-07-15 05:23:42 UTC

IT BEGINS... AGAIN.

Author's Note

Let's get this started, eh? :trollestia:

IT BEGINS... AGAIN.

Nightshade jumped at the sound of hoofsteps approaching her bedroom door. Whirling around, the mare lifted up The Orb in defense, her horn's aura softly glowing around the artifact.

Hold on, y'all probably have no idea what's going on. I mean, neither do I at this point given how long it's been and the fact that I just threw out everything to start from scratch again, but still. Let's have a little bit of history, shall we?"

In this universe, long before the rise of the Princesses, or heck, even the ponies themselves, all magic in the world was held within a single unit. This "unit" can take whatever form it may be perceived as by its user, or "wielder". This could be anything from a wand to a spellbook, to even a good ol' glass ball of knock-you-out-with-sheer-weight... of which is its current form, and what Nightshade calls the "Orb".

Nopony knows where it came from. Nopony really knows what it even is, or why the heck it decided to randomly show up in a thrift store while Nightshade was looking for parts for her bicycle.

So that brings us back to our current predicament. Nightshade has less control over the Orb than a Pichu does over its electricity, but by Celestia's flaming mane, she's gonna use it.

"S-stand back!" she stammered, trembling as the door slowly creaked open. She mentally prepared herself for whatever was about to intrude on her, raising the Orb higher in the air for the optimal whacking position.

Opening an eye, she saw the dark silhouette of an alicorn.

Lightning Rod stepped out of the shadow of the hallway, yawning as he plucked the prosthetic horn off his head.

"Hey, Shady," he mumbled, wandering into the room, "'Sup?"

Nightshade let out a sigh, lowering the Orb. "Not much," she smiled at her roommate, "I was just studying."

"Hm? Studying for what?"

Nightshade lifted up her copy of Magical Spells and Incantations for Dummies.

"...Oh."

"Yeah," the mare joked as she gave Lightning Rod a playful kick, "Maybe that artificial horn of yours that you've been working on will let you try these out!"

"Hey!" Lightning Rod retorted, tapping the dark spiral of metal hanging from his hoof, "I can already pull off basic levitation with this! Once I can get it to work as well as a real horn, I'll be able to bring unicorn spellcasting to both Pegasi and Earth Ponies like me!"

"And I'll stick with your stomping hooves while I wait for you to make fix your big ol' Pegasus jetpack. 'Kay?" Nightshade chuckled.

"Just let go of both those projects, please," Lightning Rod snorted, rolling his eyes. "They both failed spectacularly, and all I got out of them were your laughs."

Shifting in her seat, Nightshade regained her composure, clearing her throat. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that," she grinned, "You know how I am this time of day."

"Potentially toxic like your namesake?"

Nightshade blew a raspberry at her roommate.

"Kidding," Lightning chuckled, ruffling Nightshade's mane much to her bemusement.

"Anyways, lemme read now. 'Kay?"

"Sure."

Lightning Rod hopped onto Nightshade's bed, humming a quiet tune to himself as he lay down.

Nightshade flipped a page, her eyes widening. "Oh?" she mumbled, "Ooh..."

"Hm?" Lightning hummed, "What is it, Shady? Something interesting come up?"

The mare leaned closer to the page before turning to her friend. "Nevermind," she dismissed, "Thought it was something that it wasn't."

"What did you think it was?"

"Spell for channeling energy into magical artifacts."

"Oh."

"Yup."

The conversation died down as Nightshade returned to her studying. The sound of her bed creaking pierced the room as Lightning rolled off, wandering to his side of the room to fetch his tools. He glanced back at his roommate.

"Shady," he began, "do you even know if that thing is a magical artifact at all?"

"Nope," Nightshade shook her head, "But I can feel it. Like, y'know that feeling you get when you suddenly jolt up from bed in the middle of the night, thinking that you just died but you're actually not dead because it was just a weird shot of adrenaline that your body just decided to splurt out in you?"

"Um... yeah, I guess, but that's a bit... oddly specific?" Lightning chuckled nervously.

Nightshade shrugged, returning to her book. She paused, glancing back up at the Orb.

Nothing happened.

"Hey," Lightning Rod called from the other side of the room, "I'm gonna go out and buy some things. You want me to get anything for you?"

"I'm good," Nightshade replied, still reading. "Though now that I think of it, something to drink would be nice."

A low rumble emanated from beyond the window. Nightshade stirred in her sleep, shifting her cheek to the next page.

The rumble grew louder.

Groaning, the mare lifted her head, squinting in the light of her desk lamp as she stared towards the window.

A dim face stared back at her. Rubbing her eyes with a frown, Nightshade took another look. The face was gone, as was the rumbling sound. Instead, the sound was replaced with a much more ominous whoosh as a flash of dark magic lit up the room behind her.

"Wha--hey!" Nightshade hollered, lighting her own horn and grabbing the Orb, "What's going on?!"

The shadowy claw that emerged from her desk shrank back, almost as if surprised by the mare's outburst. Moments later, it lashed out again, grabbing fruitlessly at the air as Nightshade backed away.

"Uh... back off!" she yelled again, swinging the Orb in front of her, "I have a heavy glass ball and I'm not afraid to use it!"

The claw seemed to follow the Orb's motion, swaying back and forth with each swing from Nightshade. Another flash of light caught her eyes as a second claw emerged from beside her, straining against the wall for the Orb.

Grunting at her exertion, Nightshade cast a spell she'd learnt only days ago. Immediately, the claws began to shrivel away as the magic forming them was channelled instead into creating a small crystal.

As the second claw faded into nothingness, Nightshade collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.

Wacky Magic Shenanigans

"Shady?" Lightning Rod called, entering the room with a bottle of juice in hoof, "I got you a drink. You go--"

The stallion paused, staring at his unconscious roommate.

Nightshade's eyes shot open as she smacked Lightning in the face.

"GETBACKGETBACK!" she shouted, throwing her hooves out in front of herself. "...Oh?"

Lightning Rod made a face, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Eh, sorry 'bout that," Nightshade smiled, "I... think I might've had some sort of nightmare or something. Whatever it was, holy heck was it weird."

The two fell silent for a few seconds as Nightshade contemplated the events from earlier, while Lightning Rod continued to nurse the slap mark on his face.

"Well," Nightshade breathed, picking up the Orb, "I think I'm gonna get back to studying. Figure out just what this thing here can do... besides mashing things to a pulp. Y'know?"

Lightning Rod shrugged.

"I mean, I can already feel this pull towards this thing, almost like I was... chosen by it. So I'd might as well figure out what I can even do with it, right?"

Lightning Rod shrugged again, still rubbing his cheek.

"Uhh, do a thing!" Nightshade shouted, swinging the Orb at a glass cup.

Nothing happened.

"C'mon! Abra-cadabra! Kazam! Um... Please! Ka-Chow?"

Nothing happened.

Lightning Rod knocked on the door.

"Shady, could you be a little quieter, please? I wanna sleep, y'know."

Nightshade rolled her eyes with a grumble, setting the Orb atop the cup as she trudged to her bed.

"...And I don't want to have to help you pick out glass shards from the carpet, either. I heard you put that crystal ball thing on top of your cup."

The mare let out an agitated hiss, turning over in bed and lighting her horn. The cup tipped over, letting the Orb fall onto the floor with a heavy thump.

Nightshade crept back beneath the covers into her blanket igloo.

A dull knocking panged through Nightshade's head.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

Clunk.

The mare yawned, lifting the covers and peering over the side of the bed to find the Orb, rolling itself against the bedframe.

"Hm?" she hummed, lighting her horn. The Orb rose as her aura enveloped it, lifting it into her lap.

"Huh."

Nightshade picked the Orb up again, this time with her hooves. Nothing in particular seemed to stand out-- no imperfections, no cracks, lines, or anything, really. It had even since stopped moving now that it was in her hooves. She lifted it up to the moonlight, peering through the translucent blue glass that made up the artifact.

The knocking sound abruptly resumed, louder this time, though it didn't come from the Orb. A dark shadow materialized over the moonlit window as the same face from before once again faded into view. Two spindly claws of black appeared on each side of the face, pressing themselves against the smooth glass of the window.

The mare took a shaky step back, swinging the Orb in front of her just as she did the night before. Unlike the last time, however, the claws didn't follow the motion of the Orb, instead continuing to be planted firmly beside the piercing red pupils of the face staring in from the window.

"Gg...iii-iiiiii....vvvve..." a guttural moan seemed to beckon from all around, "Yo...oooooouu... un-wwooooo...rrrthhyyyy..."

A different knocking sound filled the air.

"NIGHT!" Lighting Rod grumbled from behind the door, "Can you please stop it with whatever wacky magical shenanigans you're doing at the moment? Some of us need to sleep, y'know!"

His voice fell silent as Nightshade took another step back.

"Nighty?" Lighting continued, knocking a little softer this time, "Hey, you alright in there?"

The door clicked open as the stallion peered inside. His eyes widened as he caught sight of the creature lurking on the window.

"By Celestia's holy plot, Nightshade!" Lightning Rod shouted, pointing a hoof at the creature, "First you keep everypony up at night, and now we gotta deal with demons?!"

"Not now, Lighting," Nightshade snapped, "I gotta deal with this demon thing first."

"But I literally just aid--"

"Not. Now."

Once again, the knocking from before returned, this time coming clearly from the creature at the window; a third, disembodied, spindly hand slowly pounded at the glass.

"Rrrrrretuuuu...uuuurn... t-o... mmmas-terrr..." the creature groaned, its pounding growing harder.

Both Nightshade and Lighting Rod jumped as a crack formed in the glass.

"Heckin' thing is physical?!" Nightshade shrieked in surprise, "Last time around they were just magical constructs!"

Lightning Rod cocked a brow.

"Physical, you say?" he queried, "I think I might have something to deal with it, in that case..."

The stallion left without another word, leaving Nightshade once again alone with the strange creature of darkness at her window.

Author's Note

Just what could that heckin' thing be? :pinkiecrazy:

Evil Overlords and Extradimensional Beings, oh my!

"Rrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...tuuurn... tooooo... maa-ast...er..." the creature groaned again, clawing at the window, "Right...fuuuuullly hiiiiiiiissssssss--"

"I'm back!" Lightning Rod chirped, kicking the door open as he heaved a piece of heavy machinery into place at the doorway, "Night, open the window when I say go! And run like heck outta the way while you're at it."

Nightshade gawked at the device.

"What even is that thing?"

"Railgun. Built it myself. Neat, isn't it?"

The mare shook her head. "Y-y'know, just... let's just get rid of that demon thingy and forget any of this happened. 'Kay?"

"Yeah."

"Also, Nightshade?"

The mare glanced at her roommate, an eyebrow cocked.

"Might wanna cover your ears. This isn't exactly... conventional as far as railguns go."

Following Lightning's suggestion, Nightshade covered both ears with her hooves and crouched down, Orb underneath her as the stallion pulled a lever back on the railgun.

A mechanical whirr emanated from the railgun as a small, faux-leather pouch emerged from a hatch, followed by several magically-enchanted rings studded with gemstones.

"Ready?!" Lightning hollered, "Nightshade, go!"

Nightshade took a hoof off her ear, swiping the window open before making a mad dash to the side of the room. Lightning pulled another lever down, forcing the pouch to tip forward and open. A shrill, piercing howl filled the room as an unending stream of fur rushed before Nightshade's eyes and out the window, impacting whatever creature it was that had been there before.

Lightning Rod pulled the lever back up, cutting off the stream of blurry fur.

"What even were those?" Nightshade gawked, peeking out the window once the fur had exited, "They were coming out too fast for me to tell."

"Wolves."

"Wolves?"

"I mean," Lightning Rod shrugged, "What else do you think a Wolf Railgun would use as ammo?"

Nightshade shook her head, glancing back to the Orb for a moment before returning her gaze to the window. The echo of howls filled the air, combined with the eldrich screeches of whatever creature it was that formerly clung to the window.

"...Where did you even get so many wolves?"

"Eh, some merchant guy I met at a convention. Said that his Ogres and Oubliettes party didn't need an old bag of holding anymore and let me have it for a few bits. Though, I remember hearing him freak out about selling the wrong bag when I was leaving. Either way, he mentioned that it's a so-called nerfed item compared to the original that it was modeled after, so I think that somewhere out there, there's an even crazier bag filled with wolves."

"What."

"Bag I bought at some random convention is filled with an infinite supply of wolves that magically disappear after a certain amount of time. I decided to weaponize it."

"...Oh."

"Yeah."

The bed suddenly burst into flames as devilish laughter filled the room.

"Gah!" Lightning Rod exclaimed, swiveling the railgun at the bed, "Great, we're dealing with fire demons now, too?"

"MORTAL," a deep voice boomed, "OUR MASTER DEMANDS THAT YOU RETURN WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS."

Nightshade stepped back toward her roommate, the Orb held tight in her aura as she blew a raspberry.

The flaming bed extinguished itself as the black smoke of the flames formed itself into a wispy body, clearly facepalming.

"Okay, geez," the figure grumbled, its voice much, much higher pitched than it had been moments ago, "Just when I thought that the boss had sent us out on an easy job. Just... just hand that thingy over and we'll consider sparing your world when the time comes. No need to be bratty about it."

"What."

"Bah, world domination crap that I'm definitely not paid enough to assist in. Do you know how low the pay is for the position of Henchman?"

Nightshade glanced down at the Orb, then back at the wispy figure.

"So, you're just here 'cause it's your job?"

The figure shrugged. "Pretty much. Though, you kinda decimated the physical body of the other guy back there. Couldn't care less 'bout him anyway. He even gave me the creeps."

"Um..."

"Anyhow, I think I could probably just say that you overpowered me and the creepy guy that was on your window, so I'm just gonna go now. Toodles!"

Without another word, the smoke faded away, and the bed un-burnt itself. The room fell into complete and utter silence.

Lightning Rod cleared his throat, pushing the Wolf Railgun aside as he glanced at Nightshade.

"What the buck just happened?"

Author's Note

Interdimensional Magical Mayhem

Nightshade stuck out her tongue, closely inspecting the Orb in her hooves as she held it to her lamp. A dim twinkle seemed to emanate from within, coming and going every so often almost as if it were breathing.

"C'mon, we're almost there!" a faint voice shouted, "Just a little further..."

Nightshade furrowed her brow and leaned in closer to the Orb.

"I ca-can't," another voice responded, "I can feel him trying to pull me back now... please, leave me--"

"No! Are you insane?!" yet another voice yelled, "After everything we've been through, now you decide to start giving up?! We still got a world to save!"

The Orb began to shudder as the twinkle of light grew to a steady, pulsing ball of crackling energy underneath the glossy surface.

"Um, Lightning?" Nightshade called, looking away from the rattling Orb, "Do you think that it'd be normal for this thing to suddenly start talking and shaking?"

Lightning Rod shrugged from the couch.

Great, Nightshade snorted, Now I have to figure this out by--

A blinding flash of light followed quickly by a heavy whiff of ozone nearly knocked the mare off her hooves.

"WE'RE..." a strange figure exclaimed, its voice cutting off as it fell face-first onto the floor.

She heard a light thud as a large object materialized from the air and landed in front of its unconscious body, followed by three more figures similar to the first one. Naturally, the three landed on top of the first one, prompting a muffled thump from the floor upon impact.

"Aaaaaaaaand now we have visitors." Nightshade deadpanned, turning away from the mess before her, "I need a drink."

Lightning Rod nodded his head toward the mini-fridge in the corner of the room, his eyes now glued to the figures behind Nightshade. Muttering under her breath, the mare stumbled toward the fridge, taking out the can of soda from before and taking a sip.

"Soooooo..." she droned, setting the can on top of the mini-fridge, "Big question first. What the buck just happened?"

The bottom figure in the pile stirred, groaning as it appeared to reach for the large object.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Nightshade shouted, lighting her horn and taking hold of the object in her aura, "Wait hold up, is this... is this another Orb?"

Her question was answered by a searing pain in her horn, forcing her to drop the second Orb back to the floor with a yelp. She instead teleported her own back to herself.

"Urk." the mare heard the top figure moan, slowly lifting its head up, "Phew, Caleb, you need some deodorant or something!"

"Aaaaaand I'm gonna say confidently that that one's a girl," Lightning Rod began, "That, or they're just a dude with a girly voice. Next one's gonna be a guy. Gonna call it right now."

The next figure down in the pile also woke; this time, to a light punch from the girl figure.

"Ow!" 'Caleb' yelped, rubbing the area where the girl had punched, "Why'd you do that?"

"'Cause you're on top of Sammy and Brodie, ya doofus!"

She paused, turning around and spotting Nightshade and Lightning Rod.

"Ponies!" she cheered, rushing with open arms at the two, "Finally we jump to somewhere a bit more normal!"

Nightshade cringed as she lit her horn, picking up the excited girl and placing her back with her group.

"Brodie," the bottom figure muttered, "Your butt is on my face."

No response.

"Ooh, ooh!" Zoey squealed, pointing a finger at Nightshade, "This one's a unicorn! Do you think we're in a magic world again?"

"Oo-kay," Lightning Rod grumbled, "This is getting just a bit too weird for me. I'm just gonna--"

"HE TALKED AGAIN!" Zoey cheered, "We're in a world with talking ponies!"

With a heavy grunt, the bottom figure pushed 'Brodie' off of himself, rolling up into a sitting position as he began to dust himself off.

"Alrighty," he grumbled, pushing himself off the floor and dusting off his hands, "We've bought ourselves a bit of time for now. Based on Zoey's eagerness for this world, we'll probably be able to stay longer than usual simply due to there having some kind of existing magic in the first place. Now, where's the Orb?"

"Oh, so I guess we're irrelevant to this then," Nightshade hummed, lighting her horn and lifting up her own Orb, "Well, at least whatever I'm dealing with seems to be much more tame when it comes to this thing."

"Sammy, what're we gonna do now?" Zoey began, finally taking her attention off of Nightshade and Lightning Rod, "We busted into the talking ponies' house! We should say sorry to them."

"Er... yeah, sorry 'bout the mess," Sammy addressed the two ponies, "Though, given how I see that one of you two has an Orb of your own, I think things should start off with a bit of an introduction..."

Author's Note

Guess who's baaaaack? :trollestia:

Also, holy crap has it been a while since I wrote these characters (or in the case of Zoey, the original incarnation of the character). I'm trying my best to keep them as close as I can get them to what they originally were planned to be like, but things might've drifted a bit over time.

Also, I have absolutely no idea where this is gonna lead to.

Let the cringefest begin!

Author's Note

Let's top off our update streak with some good ol' Wielder of the Orb, shall we? :raritywink:

And yes, this chapter is very much going to be a cringefest.

Regular chapter next time (most likely)!

Let the cringefest begin!

"Okay, okay, so lemme get this straight: You are a different wielder or whatever of this Orb thingy, and you come from a parallel universe where I didn't exist, and you were the one that the Orb chose."

Sammy nodded. "That's what I said. My name is Sammy Gearings, and I come from a different universe, from a planet called Earth."

"Plus all that other stuff."

"Yes."

Nightshade scrunched her muzzle. "Gosh, why are you talking so weirdly? Everything you say just feels so forced!"

Sammy, for his part, stayed silent this time around, pursing his lips.

"I... yeah, I guess I've been a little too uptight," he sighed, letting his shoulders slump. "That's kind of just a default phrase that I turn to whenever we jump into a different reality."

Zoey pulled out a potato.

"Though, one more thing," Sammy added, ignoring the fact that his friend was currently carving a potato into the shape of a hotdog, "Is there a Twilight Sparkle in this world?"

"Psh. Yeah," Nightshade shrugged. "Why? I'm guessing you've heard about her if you know her name?"

Sammy shuddered, taking a step back. "Don't let her know I keep a diary. Every Twilight Sparkle I've come across has broken through the padlock and read it."

Nightshade raised a brow while Lightning Rod facehoofed. "Maybe just use a better padlock?"

"Tried that. She read a book on lockpicking and then lockpicked it. Every single version of her."

"...Yeesh, I don't think our Twilight would do that. What do you think, Lightning?"

"Yeah. Going as far as lockpicking just to read someone's diary sounds like something that would've happened in a badly-written middle school story."

A heavy thump took everyone's attention off of Sammy and his complaints about Twilight reading his super-secret diary.

"Hey look guys, my sister's here too!" Zoey exclaimed, "Say hi to Lisa!"

"Ponies!"

Zoey pat her little sister on the head. "You can pet the ponies later, Lisa, okay?"

"Okay, this is just getting weird now. Where'd she even come from?"

"I think..." Nightshade began, turning back to Sammy, "I think it might be a better idea for you to find a universe without another Wielder or whatever we're called. It honestly feels like time itself has frozen now that you're here, and we're all forced to live through the most random event of our lives."

Sammy nodded. "Yes, I agree with that," he responded, being repetitive in both his words and actions, "I'll take my friends and leave you alone for now then. If you need help, just... I guess find me somewhere? I don't know."

He turned away, nodding at his friends. Whether or not he actually picked up his own Orb at this point was irrelevant, because he was holding it now anyway.

They were gone in a single flash of light, and time began to flow normally again.

Nightshade was the first to break the silence.

"So that happened, apparently."

S O U P (and more, I guess. I have no idea what direction this story is going in at this point.)

Author's Note

Let's get this low-effort, bottom of the barrel story rolling again!

And then it ain't gonna see an update again for several months (again)!

So anyway, I'm not bothering to see what happened previously. Those last couple chapters were a mess. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

S O U P (and more, I guess. I have no idea what direction this story is going in at this point.)

Time is irrelevant, day is night and night is day! For whatever reason, no matter what time it was the last time 'round, it's now dinnertime! Y'know what that means?

Soup!

"I'd very much like some-- hey, wait, what was I saying?" Nightshade tripped over her own words, staring incredulously at the Orb. "...Lightning, what the actual buck just happened there?"

Lightning Rod shrugged. The lights around them flickered again.

"Oh ho ho, no you don't," Lightning pulled out his wolf railgun again, glancing about the room. "Night, you see anything?"

The lights went out because of course that has to happen when the lights are flickering.

"Ah! The lights went out!" screeched yet another demonic presence of the dumb kind sent by Anicetus or whoever the heck that guy is at this point.

That screech was then quickly followed up with a deep fwoomp and a howl as a stream of wolves pummeled yet another henchman. Problem solved.

"So anyway, about that soup," Lightning Rod cleared his throat, setting down the railgun. "Soup? Hey-- soup! Soup!"

Nightshade scrunched her muzzle, taking a step back from her roommate. This was getting weird, even by her standards.

"Soup!" Lightning shouted again, unaware that the author was forcing the chapter to be about soup. A bowl of soup manifested itself in front of him, and then he stopped yelling soup.

Nightshade blinked, watching her roommate drink his soup. "Um... so... that happened, I guess," she shook her head. "You know what? I'm gonna take a walk."

Just as before, the author no longer has any idea what time of day it is in the story, and so is assuming that it is currently the evening, or already nighttime. Regardless of the time, Nightshade wandered the park anyway. It was a neat little place-- a little playground for the foals, green, rolling hills, the works, as far as she was concerned. It was peaceful.

Of course, she brought the Orb with her, too. She couldn't risk having it be snatched away while she wasn't paying attention, after all. She felt the Orb slip out of her grasp as somepony snatched it away while she wasn't paying attention.

"Hey!" she whirled around to face a couple of colts. The one who was now holding the Orb blew a raspberry at her and took off.

"Hey!" she repeated again, "Wha-what are you doing?"

The colts kept running, their dark coats concealing them in the nighttime shadows. Nightshade slowed her steps, watching them vanish from view.

An eerie mist began to bubble from the ground. Frowning, the mare lit her horn, casting some much-needed light over the ground. The mist continued to rise, curling around her body and stretching into the air. The ground began to rumble, emanating a low, guttural groan-- almost as if it were alive. The trembling grew louder. Eyes wide, Nightshade switched her spell to a shield. The mist around her recoiled and hissed at the touch of her aura, retreating to instead wrap themselves about the shield.

A grumbling roar echoed into the night as the ground opened up.

Into the Abyss

Author's Note

Ay, guess what, we're gonna start an actual story arc for once! :raritywink:

Into the Abyss

Black. Darkness all around. Nightshade blinked, standing back up. The fall didn't appear to be too far, yet...

She gazed upward. There was no sky.

Nightshade lowered her head, craning her neck to see something-- anything. She could still feel it-- the Orb was still nearby, though its presence was fleeting, to say the least. Those two colts... or whatever the actual buck they really were, were probably taking the Orb away somewhere.

She blinked. Some vision finally began to return to her as her eyes adjusted to the dark. A dimly-lit path stretched before her, lined by eerie glowing mushrooms and grasses that seemed to consist of spider-silk. She took a tentative step forward, watching the ground light softly beneath her hooves. Another step. Another, and another. Nightshade looked over her shoulder, watching her glowing hoofsteps fade one-by-one.

Branches hung low overhead; twisted, spindly limbs seemed to almost reach for her every time she passed another trunk. She lit her horn, readying a charge of mana just in case.

The path continued on, wandering through the mutated forest without any end in sight. The Orb's presence had stopped moving any further from her, so she was at least now matching the pace of those two colts.

A disembodied howl tore through the air.

"Who's there?" Nightshade spun around. "A-anypony?"

Only the echoes of the howl came in response. She continued following the path.

How much time had passed since she fell down here? Half an hour? An hour? Two? She couldn't tell anymore. The dimly-lit path seemed to stretch on to infinity, and at times she swore she was passing by the same withered trees that she'd seen before. Another howl came and went, its echo fading again to nothingness.

Crunch.

Nightshade winced, lifting her hoof. Some sort of pasty-white fluid now coated it, complemented by specks of whatever it was that she'd just stepped on.

She shook her head, wiping her hoof on the ground and continuing. She could feel the Orb's presence growing closer again, so she was finally catching up, much to her relief.

Crunch.

Nightshade made a face, wiping her hooves again.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

"Kssssshhhhh..." the mare seethed, stopping in her tracks. Whatever it was that she kept stepping on, she couldn't see them. It seemed that they only became visible when she touched them... and inevitably crushed them under her hoof.

She reached a hoof forward, tapping around on the path. Nothing in particular seemed to be there, save for the usual clumps of dirt and trampled mushrooms.

Plink.

Nightshade raised her hoof. A creamy, almost metallic-looking shell emerged from the ground under her hoof, skittering off into the field of spider-silk grass surrounding the road.

Her stomach grumbled. At any rate, if she was going to be stuck down here for any longer, she'd have to start eating whatever those creatures were. Just from their looks, the mushrooms and grass were out of the question.

She raised her hoof up again, squinting at the crusty remains of the liquid in the dim lighting. This was blood of some sort-- the blood of the creatures she kept stumbling over. A cautious whiff didn't set off any alarms in her head, and it... looked like it'd be alright to consume.

A tremor ran up her spine as yet another howl echoed overhead.

This time, it was closer.

The Forest of Shadows

Nightshade lit her horn, once again readying an attack. Whatever it was that kept on howling, it was following her now. The Orb could wait for later.

Something moved in her periphery, rustling in the spider-silk grass. She swung her head around, putting her mana into a levitation spell and breaking a branch off one of the trees to use as a weapon. A shrill scream pierced the air as the blackened wood splintered with her tugs. The howls responded to the scream, louder even than the time before. Bright, blue-green lights began to flicker in and out of existence in the thin fibers of the grass, blinking and moving about like sets of eyes.

Come to think of it, they probably were eyes.

She waved the branch about. Maybe that could scare off the howling things. The branch screamed again, drawing even more attention.

"Quiet!" Nightshade snapped, enveloping the branch in a silence bubble. Any more than that and she'd be out of mana if she had to fight.

One of the howling things came close enough now for her to see. Just like the shell creatures, it was something she'd never laid eyes upon until now. Brown, spindly fur coated every inch of its body-- so much so, in fact, that it was hard to tell whether or not it even had a face. Up close, its individual howl really wasn't as intimidating as the howls that came from all around, but...

Her eyes shrunk to pinpricks as the howling thing grew to gigantic proportions, dwarfing even the tree she'd torn the branch from. A deep, booming howl emanated from the creature's mouth... wherever it was. She wasn't going to stick around to find out.

Nightshade took off, throwing the branch to the side. For a brief moment, the screams of complaint coming from the branch distracted the howling thing. Just enough time for a teleport.

Thump.

The mare groaned, rolling to her hooves. More shell pieces and pasty blood crunched under them as she stood up. The howling was still there, but at least she was able to get a decent distance away from it for the time being.

Her stomach grumbled again. She looked around-- no howling things in sight. Just her, the shell creatures, the spider-silk grass, and the screaming trees. Nightshade crouched down, lighting her horn. Little glints of light reflected off the metallic surfaces of the shell creatures buried in the ground. Some of them shifted under the soil, apparently discomforted.

She swapped the spell out for levitation, keeping in mind the locations of some of the shell creatures as she plucked a few from the ground. Some of the shell creatures writhed and squirmed against the hold of her aura, reminding her that these were living, breathing creatures she was about to eat. It was a long cry from a hayburger, that's for sure. Even then, some ponies ate meat, right? Animals like fish and stuff-- seafood.

Nightshade took a closer look at the closest shell creature. It didn't look aquatic, but... she glanced back at the spider-silk grass. It wasn't as if there was any other thing that looked remotely edible. Turning back, she opened her mouth, bringing one of the shell creatures closer.

"Wait," she paused, pulling the creature away again. "Fire. All the ponies I've heard of that eat meat cook it first to get rid of germs. Um... fire... fire..." her levitation spell flickered for a moment as she cast a concurrent spell. A weak flame ignited at the tip of her horn. Her earlier teleport took a hard toll on her mana reserves, so if it really came down to it, she'd likely have to gulp down the shell creatures raw.

Another chorus of howls rang through the air. She'd have to hurry if she wanted to build up her reserves fast enough. She pushed a little more mana into the flame, touching her horn against one of the screaming trees.

...She honestly probably should've thought that part through a little better.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

Nightshade clenched her hooves over her ears, dropping both her spells and stumbling backward.

The chorus of howls responded promptly, growing ever-louder by the second. Eyes wide, the mare lit her horn again, praying to Celestia, Luna, and whatever other ponies that came to mind for her spell to work. She could already feel the ground beginning to rumble with the heavy steps of multiple howling things, and the screaming tree was still not letting up even with the flames now fully engulfing it. She clenched her eyes shut, pouring everything she had into the spell. Just like the last one, it'd be a random teleport since she didn't even know where she currently was. At least that'd reduce the drain a little.

The rumbling grew increasingly violent. The howls by this point were overpowering the screams, and Nightshade swore she could feel a howling thing's breath on her neck.

Now.

She let the spell rip. Everything she had in her reserves coursed freely through her body, channeling through flesh and bone to the tip of her horn. She could already feel the flow of her mana beginning to diminish. Her vision began to blur and darken as a long-distance teleport tore her from reality.

Nightshade gagged, coughing out strands of spider-silk grass. She was alive, so at least that was something to be happy about. Honestly, with how low on mana she was, it wouldn't've been very surprising if she simply... didn't reappear.

And that was something that didn't happen, so she was still here. Tired, hungry, and more than a little scared --not to mention lost as buck-- but still here.

A shell creature skittered through the spindly grass. She slammed her hoof down over it, hearing the distinct crunch of its shell. Yawning, she brought her hoof to her lips and licked the remains of the creature off of it. Slowly, her eyes began to close as she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The Heir Apparent

"Nightshade!"

"C'mon, get up! You're safe now. Are you hurt?"

Nightshade groaned.

"Shady, answer me!"

She cracked an eye, a hint of a smile forming at the edge of her lips. "...I... I think I'm alright... thanks, Lightning."

"Thanks?" Lightning Rod raised a brow. "Thanks for what? You went missing for the entire night before somepony saw you teleport into the city park and collapse! I'm just visiting you in the hospital!"

Nightshade's eyes shot open. "Wait-- the hospital?! Oh, no no no, no I can't be back already, I--" she spun around to the window, staring at the view outside. "I need to go back! There's... there's something out there. And it's got something to do with the Orb... which I... uh, lost."

"Soooo... we're going on an adventure, then?" the excitement in Lightning's voice was already growing pretty obvious. "Do you know how long it's been since I've had the chance to test out my devices?"

"Yeah, yeah, but first, would you like to eat weird shell creatures instead of normal food?"

"What?"

Now fully awake, the mare sat herself up on the cot. "Lightning, do you have any idea what kind of things I was dealing with last night?"

He shook his head.

"Well, besides whatever the heck it was that teleported me back and stuff, I got sucked into this weird underworld kind of place."

Lightning Rod cocked his head. "You were sucked into Tartarus?"

"No, no!" Nightshade vigorously shook her head. "I mean an actual underworld-- like, everything was different. There was this spider-silk grass stuff that I didn't even dare eating, and a road lined with glowing mushrooms, and-and screaming trees, and--"

"Alright, so it's definitely not Tartarus, then. Neato."

"Definitely not neato, Lightning. Do you know how hard I had to push myself just to stay alive?"

"No--"

"I ate meat, Lightning! Normal ponies don't do that, and up until yesterday, I called myself a normal pony! The Orb, whatever the actual buck it is, has been screwing with my life one way or another, and all I can do to set things straight right now is to take back control of it. I... I have a feeling that that entire world I was in was a creation of the Orb."

"Oh."

Nightshade snorted at the one-word response, turning her attention back to the window. All she could do for now was hope that whoever it was taking charge over the Orb's powers was just as bad at wielding them as she was. Though... that part about eating meat just to stay alive might've been a fib. Who knows?

"The Orb, master."

The shadowy aura surrounding the two colts seized inward, wrapping its tendrils of wispy darkness around the Orb. There was no response to the two, save for a deep, rumbling hum of approval. Two red-pupiled eyes emerged from the darkness, looking between the two colts, then to the Orb in its grasp.

"Thissss... comes from the Heir Apparent," a voice from beyond the eyes rumbled. "You two have served me well."

The colts bowed. "We are honored to serve."

"But... before I reward you, I have another request..."

One of the colts raised his head. "A-another?"

The eyes blinked, focusing on the colt who spoke. "Yes... I desire a vessel. You shall do nicely."

In an instant, the shadows surrounding the two imploded onto the colt. The room remained silent the entire time.

Strange puppetry

Author's Note

Nightshade and Lightning Rod encounter the colt possessed by the main villain. It isn't all that obvious at first, but from multiple repeated "accidents" involving Nightshade when the colt is around, it seems that some foul play may be happening. Nevertheless, they take in the colt anyway, oblivious to the villain's plans to use his new puppet to get rid of the true wielder.

This story's a mess. It's always been a mess and it always will be. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

~~Now time to write another stupid chapter. I forgot what's even going on anymore.~~ Geez~~, it's been a while.~~

Strange puppetry

Morning! Er... the next morning? How many days had it been that she'd been missing again?

"Hey," Lightning Rod pushed the door open. "How 'bout we go out for a walk today? It's nice outside, and I think we both need some fresh air right about now."

Nightshade glanced out the window again, then back to her roommate, nodding. Orb or not, she just needed a break.

A light breeze blew through her mane. Nightshade closed her eyes, smiling in the warm morning sunlight. With Celestia's day came the bustling ponies of the city, and just to hear other ponies again, instead of the distant, distorted howling... she took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh.

"You done photosynthesizing there, Shady?" Lighting Rod jeered, tapping her shoulder with a wingtip. "Or are you planning on growing roots into the ground, too?"

Nightshade stuck her tongue out at her roommate before continuing to bask in the sunlight. Lightning Rod plopped himself down beside her on the park bench.

"There's a lot of foals here in the park today."

"Yes, and?"

"You should go join then."

"Ma-hey!" Nightshade frowned at Lightning, who laughed in response.

"Excuse me," a quiet voice interrupted. "Um... hi..." A dirty-grey colt stepped out in front of the two. "Do you know where my mom and dad are? I haven't seen them all day."

"Oh?" the mare hummed, "Well, we'll keep an eye out for them, then. You wanna stick around in the meantime?"

Instantly, the colt's face lit up. "Thank you!"

Nightshade nodded, watching him wander off again.

"Hey," Lightning Rod jabbed her with a wing. "Shouldn't we try and find his parents? You literally just said that we would."

"...Yeah, I guess we probably shou--ack!" Nightshade squeaked, rubbing her hoof. "Ow. Splinter--" She heard the colt chuckle in the distance. "--Hey, that's not funny!"

~~We don't speak of the arcane might required for a pony to remove a splinter with their own two hooves.~~

One removal of a splinter later, and everything was completely back to normal.

Mostly.

"Night, why are that colt's eyes glowing red?"

"Wha--" Nightshade turned to the colt from earlier. "No they aren't, ya doofus."

To account for the fact that the author has no idea what direction this story is going anymore, as well as to clear up confusion that both he and (probably) you, the reader may have, let's step back a bit and think about what the heck's even going on.

So.

Based on the previous chapter, it seems that Anicetus (or whatever the heck his name is at this point) has possessed the body of one of the colts working underneath him. From what I remember, the dude wants to make sure that Nightshade is either dead or out of the picture, and given how she's survived just about everything so far, he's decided to just do things himself.

Now then, since I don't wanna keep writing awkward "that child is possessed" and "no he isn't!" conversation, let's just assume that the colt's parents were never found, and Nightshade and Lightning Rod had a massive lapse in judgment resulting in them taking the somewhat obviously-possessed (thanks for noticing, Lightning!) colt in for the night.

...yeah. Uh, guess that's it for the chapter.