Nightshade: Into The Fire

Nightshade crept through the lab, glass crunching under his hooves. He tried to cast a light spell but it fizzled out before the magic left his body. Right. Not as strong as his. Fuck. A roar sounded somewhere inside the labs, he hurried over to the nearest lab table and began rummaging through the drawers.

"Come on, come on. You idiots gotta have something," He grabbed two bottles that were half empty. A dead scientist lay on the floor and he gagged as he tore a bit of fabric off of the lab coat and wrapped it over his mouth, "You don't need it anymore. I hope this works."

He felt heavy stomps entering the lab and ducked under the desk with the concoction still clutched in his hands, he pushed up his glasses with his wrist and steadied his breath as he sensed something entering the room.

A thud.

Get closer.

Deafening boom.

Come on.

The third step vibrated the floor right next to Nightshade, he shot out from his hiding place throwing the bottle in the air using. He focused his magic and the bottle shattered in the thing's face as he put distance between them. Nightshade finally took a good look at the creature. It was a freakishly large dog, he didn't think much of it until it turned around. It had six glowing red eyes and a mouth full of bloody razor-sharp teeth. It's skin blackened to the colour of obsidian, he could see tubes hanging out from various parts of the body as he thought.

Whoever this doctor was, she didn't finish her work... This was ongoing experimentation.

Nightshade's mind swam the longer he looked at it, it was just filling his mind with fear with only one word.

Run.

He flipped over a lab table and took off, knocking down the stacked up empty cages that lined the walls. He charged through a pair of plastic flap doors, a pair of metal doors shut behind as well as ahead of him locking him in the strange small hallway. Hoses pointed out from opposites walls and a mist began to spray over him gently, it smelled clean and if it was toxic, well he would've been dead already.

He almost relaxed when the door behind him caved inwards slightly, Oh fuck fuck fuck.

He ran to the door ahead of him and began to pry it open with the weak assistance of his magic. I'm not gonna die here!

Once he got it open just enough he slipped through and he caught a glimpse of the experiment bursting a claw though the other doors as it slammed back shut. With his new headstart, he darted through the seemingly neverending labyrinth of laboratory catching only remnants of what horrors took place.

He cleared a set of doors and looked around, A lobby! That must mean... He looked and there was the elevator shaft, empty. He hatched an idea as he ripped the sleeve off of his shirt. Oh, Rarity is gonna have my ass for this. He leaned out into the shaft, the metal rods were still there even though the elevator had fallen!

There was a distant roar and a massive crunch of metal, Now or never Valentine...

He wrapped the bits of the sleeve around the palms of his hands before jumping out and grabbing the elevator cord, he began his slow descent with a sigh of relief as he heard the hell hound's steps fade. What the fuck were these guys doing here?

Nightshade felt dizzy as there was a strange thrumming he could feel in the air, the air felt electric. His hooves gently made contact with the roof of the fallen elevator. How they were going to get out was another issue he would worry about, he hoped Ace didn't run into the monsters or worse, the hound. He lowered himself into the partially collapsed elevator and entered the doors, 'Reactor Control' read the faded red paint on the wall.

He jogged down the hall, following the directions on the walls until he came across the reactor control room. The door was bent inward and there was rubble scattered around the door, through the glass on the door he could see Rita passed out on the floor and- Ace! Ace sat on the floor next to the agent covered from head to toe in soot and dust under the control panel. He picked up a bit of concrete that was on the floor and smashed in the window.

"Here's Valentine," He stuck his head in an attempt to lighten the mood. He stepped in and Ace wrapped him up in a hug, "Calm down kid, it was nothin' I couldn't handle."

"She won't wake up," Ace stated quietly, "She's breathing but- I crawled through some vents to get here, there was smoke everywhere."

"She'll be alright. We just need to overload the reactor- "

There was a bang and Nightshade held his arm up defensively before he was thrown to the floor, his left arm felt completely numb. "What- What the fuck?"

Ace stared in silent horror and the gem began to light up as he reached for Nightshade, "Let me help you- "

The words struck fear into Nightshade, he couldn't let Ace touch him. Not this time.

Nightshade's mind kicked into overdrive, "N-no! Don't! I'll be fine. Shut off the coolant valves, that should give us enough time- "

The gem flashed a defiant white as Ace's wings spread wide, "Okay I think- "

Everything went white.

Nightshade jolted awake the moment his head hit Pandora's metal floor, he turned his head and thought he saw Ace with a glowing halo and a white aura trailing him before the prince collapsed onto the floor.

Nightshade fought to sit up but computer restrained him, "Calm down Nightshade. He'll be alright, but I need to fix you up stat."

"What happened?"

"Ace... Well, I'm not even sure if it was 100% him, he carried you and Rita out of the facility. The explosion was something else, I should've taken a video. Just know it's done. We did it. Now do me a favour and sleep."

When he awoke again there was a dull pain in his arm, he glanced down at his left only to see a metal replacement. He was in Pandora's medbay, the bed was just as uncomfortable as he remembered. Computer stood by with a sombre look.

"I'm sorry, there was too much damage to recover your arm... Even for me. As morbid as it sounds, I've been ready for just such an occasion. You should experience no feeling of disconnect between the limb and your body. I've taken the liberty of dropping Ace off at the manor and left Rita in Luna's care."

Nights frowned.

Nightshade stared at the arm as he flexed his new fingers, "Hopefully we can make this look like it isn't a metal arm?"

"I'm already way ahead of you. But Ace already knows, I'm afraid."

There was a long silence, judging on how Ace reacted after that explosion he could only wonder what the kid thought.

"How'd he react?"

Computer facepalmed, "Something along the lines of- 'Wow! Does he have a robot arm? He's like the part you now!'"

Nightshade laughed and laid back on the bed. Computer began to walk out, "Yep, that's Ace for ya. Oh, one last thing Computer?"

"Yes sir- " He turned and rolled his eyes as he was met with Nightshade flipping him the bird with a devilish smile, "I swear, you get a new prosthetic and that's the first thing you do? I'll apply the covering when we land."

"I love you too!" Nightshade called after him as he walked out. "Fuck... Rarity's still gonna beat my ass over that shirt, it was silk too..."

Pandora rumbled slightly.

"Okay, that one was pretty funny."