Prince Night Shade

"It is in our nature to seek Justice against those who have wronged us and others. However, part of delivering true Justice requires knowing when to draw the line."

- Prince Night Shade

Prince Night Shade (his entry here) is Emperor Golden Scepter's fifteenth son, and is a demi-divine Alicorn Prince of the Terran Empire.

Appearance
Pre-Ascension, Night Shade was a tall, lanky, and slightly gaunt-looking Pegasus stallion with red eyes, a dark blue pelt, and a long black mane and tail. Out of his brothers, he resembles Golden Scepter the most, including eye color, and has been noted by his subjects to be a darker and creepier version of his father. This was true during his time as a champion of the Poenan Pantheon, but that reputation ebbed off after he learned the error of his ways and atoned for his mistakes. His Cutie Mark is a golden gavel poised to strike against a golden sounding block, representing his talent/preference for justice and law.

Post-Ascension, Night Shade is an Alicorn stallion who is as tall as his older brother, Prince Bright Eyes, in terms of height. His mane and tail are composed of rippling, ethereal darkness, and he has a long unicorn horn that Alicorns typically have. His Cutie Mark changed to depict a golden gavel holding up the golden Scales of Justice, balancing a loving heart on one scale and a merciless Equine skull (which changes depending where he is) on another scale. He and Bright Eyes are often mistaken to be twins, even though they're not.

His true form as an Alicorn is a mishmash of traits from various Pony tribes. This includes a Musical Pony's chest gem, the aquatic tail and gills of a Sea Pony, and later, the butterfly wings of a Flutter Pony once the long-lost Star Flower returned to Equus after spending three Ages lost in space. In Night Shade's case, his Flutter Pony wings are black swallowtail butterfly wings with blue and red markings. His brothers have all these traits as well, something that surprised them when they learned of it.

In terms of attire, Night Shade wears cobalt blue regalia/barding that's lighter than his pelt in color. Like his brothers, he wears a suit of magical powered armor in battle, which are colored dark blue with red accents and enhances his physical strength, speed, and endurance tenfold when worn.

Personality
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Emperor Golden Scepter
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Prince Fanged Paw
Night Shade and Fanged Paw's relationship was extremely strained at first. After developing a puristic, ruthless, and vengeful mindset, Night Shade would mistreat his older and younger brothers, sending Crimson Star into another period of depression while nearly succeeding in making Steel Barricade commit suicide out of guilt and self-loathing. This led to Fanged Paw beating up Night Shade in a cold fury, but they were forcibly separated by Written Word and Bright Eyes. Understandably, Fanged Paw would hate his younger brother long after Night Shade came back from hiding in Nocturna. But they eventually forgave and reconciled with each other once Fanged Paw saw his brother truly changed.

Prince Steel Barricade
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Prince Crimson Star
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Prince Death Shroud
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Mercy
Despite Mercy being a sentient divine sword, Night Shade loves and adores his adoptive niece. He feels a degree of kinship with her in that they're former members of the Poenan Pantheon, and has protected her from being reclaimed by the Poenans multiple times.

Although Night Shade has a number of reasons to hate the Poenan Pantheon, with their fanatical extremism being one, the Poenans' treatment of Mercy as their weapon in their crusades against Evil has increased the Terran Prince's hatred. It's because of this that Night Shade disagrees with Dikaiómatos on the latter's confidence that he'll protect Mercy from being purged of her sentience or becoming like the more radical Poenans once she's back in the group. In Night Shade's eyes, good intentions or not, Dikaiómatos is essentially trying to kidnap Mercy, and he still possesses a puristic mindset that may be harmful to her in the long run.

Rosy Dreams
Night Shade loves Rosy Dreams even though she's his adoptive niece. After Rosy Dreams was found in a coma and rescued from her abusive home by Bright Eyes and Written Word, Night Shade suggested that his brothers telepathically enter her mind so they could free the filly from whatever was keeping her imprisoned there. This led to Rosy Dreams waking up in the real world when, encouraged by Bright Eyes and Written Word, she gathered the courage to kill the dream entity created by her birth father, Sweet Words, to trap her inside her own mind.

At first, Night Shade's relationship with Rosy Dreams was strained. Due to horrific experiences with the dream entity that once lived inside her mind, Rosy feared her dark-pelted uncles, including Night Shade. However, this stopped after she was convinced by the other Terran Princes that Night Shade didn't mean any harm. As she psychologically recovered, Night Shade has encouraged his adoptive niece's protective tendencies by telling her to stand up for herself so she could protect others.

By his own admission, Rosy Dream's tragic past infuriated Night Shade so much that he developed the desire to throttle Sweet Words himself. Thankfully, Prince Red Blade would help him deal with his anger regarding this.

Silver Bane
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Princess Radiant Rapier
Both Night Shade and Radiant Rapier knew each other as they once worked for the Poenan Pantheon. After defecting, Radiant Rapier would meet and befriend him, and their similar domains and sins would allow them to get along very well. In one incident, they teamed up with Equestrian forces, Night Shade's family, and other benevolent governments to find Elysium, a hidden floating criminal haven, and succeeded in taking it down and arresting the entire criminal population.

Skotádi
Because Night Shade embodies Darkness as a concept and is a skilled wielder of darkness magic, many people believe that Night Shade's real mother is Skotádi, the Primeval goddess of Primordial Darkness, instead of Blessed Skies. This promptly got Golden Scepter laughing his head off when he heard of it. It is unknown what Night Shade thinks about this.

Skills
Alicorn Magic: As an Alicorn demigod, Night Shade possesses the combined magics of all Pony tribes, including those from lesser-known tribes such as Musical Ponies, Sea Ponies, and Flutter Ponies.


 * Pegasus Magic: Due to being a former Pegasus, Night Shade is good with Pegasus magic.

Psychic Powers: Despite not embodying Psionics like Golden Scepter or Crimson Star, or being as powerful as them, Night Shade is nonetheless skilled with psychic magic thanks to being Golden Scepter's son and being taught by his father when he was young.


 * Telepathy: Night Shade has telepathic abilities that allow him to read minds. His domain of Justice enhances this to greater degrees, allowing him to detect evil intentions and deception.
 * Psionic Telekinesis: Night Shade can manipulate the environment around him with his mind. His domain of Justice allows him to create nigh-unbreakable chains with psionic telekinesis.
 * Empathy: Night Shade has empathic abilities that allow him to read emotions. His domain of Justice enhances his powers to greater degrees, allowing him to detect evil intentions and deception.
 * Precognition: Unlike his father and brothers, Night Shade has a specific type of precognition that shows him the worst possible futures. This was initially interpreted as nightmares for years until Night Shade joined the Poenan Pantheon, where he discovered his nature as a psychic clairvoyant. At first, he used his precognitive abilities to stamp out Evil and crime before they could appear, but he was secretly haunted by his horrific visions. It wasn't until after he fled to Nocturna that he discovered a beneficial purpose for his precognitive abilities, using it to catch Nocturna's criminals ahead of time, and protect himself and allies from various threats. Night Shade's foresight ultimately influenced him to accept responsibility for his mistakes when Golden Scepter tracked him down to Nocturna, though this unexpectedly led to Golden Scepter tearfully reuniting with Night Shade and forgiving his runaway son, as the Radiant Emperor wanted to redeem him instead of punishing him as Night Shade expected him to. Because of the horrific nature of his foresight, Night Shade deeply sympathizes with Katastrofa, who embodies Bad Ends, and has greatly approved of Crystal Prism befriending the divine Draconequus.

Justice Magic: As the Alicorn demigod of Justice, Night Shade has unique abilities pertaining to delivering Justice.


 * Photographic Memory: Night Shade possesses a photographic memory that allows him to remember even the smallest details.
 * Supernatural Neutrality: Night Shade has the supernatural ability to look at court-submitted evidence and testimonies from both sides completely unbiased. This allows him to make the best possible decisions during a trial.

Darkness Magic: True to his name, as the Alicorn demigod of Darkness, Night Shade is an extremely powerful and skilled user of darkness magic.


 * Umbrakinetic Teleportation: Night Shade can teleport through darkness-based portals. One of his most most terrifying techniques consists of dragging his opponents through a portal into a realm of darkness, after which they would come out quite shaken. It's not known what exactly is inside, but it's agreed that whatever it is, it is terrible.
 * Umbrakinetic Transformation: Like Written Word and Steel Barricade, Night Shade can transform himself into an elemental being; in his case, he can transform himself into an entity made of darkness.
 * Umbrakinetic Speed: Night Shade can enhance his own speed with darkness.
 * Umbrakinetic Barriers: Night Shade can create barriers made of darkness so he can protect himself and his allies.
 * Umbrakinetic Constructs: Night Shade can create constructs made of darkness.
 * Umbrakinetic Tendrils: Night Shade can create tendrils made of darkness.
 * Umbrakinetic Beams: Night Shade can fire beams made of darkness.

Protection Magic: As the Alicorn demigod of Protection, Night Shade has unique abilities pertaining to defense and protection of himself and his allies.


 * Barriers: Night Shade can generate nigh-unbreakable arcane barriers to protect himself and his allies.
 * Mark of Protection: Night Shade can grant people a magical mark that allows him to know who's in danger, and warn enemies of who is protecting these chosen individuals.

Karma Magic: As the Alicorn demigod of Karma, Night Shade embodies both the good and bad aspects of Karma, being able to inflict various effects depending on a person's morality and actions. However, there is a catch to his Karma domain. If Night Shade does something bad, he will be cursed with the weight of his sins until he makes up for it. Crimson Star believes that Night Shade gained his domain as a reminder of the consequences that await him if he performs certain actions, a theory that Night Shade himself is starting to buy in light of the things he went through in Nocturna.


 * Retrocognition: Like Temnobog, Night Shade has the psychic ability to look into people's pasts. This allows him to determine whether people had been good or bad.
 * Karmic Empowerment: As living karma, Night Shade can empower himself and become stronger in proportion to his opponents' sins.
 * Healing: Night Shade can heal people of their injuries if their actions and morality have been good.
 * Blessing Inducement: Night Shade can give blessings to people if their actions and morality have been good.
 * Curse Inducement: If people's actions and morality have been bad, Night Shade can curse them by having their own sins catch up to them in some way. His favorite method of invoking this is casting his targets in a state of "psychic darkness", where the only things they see are the horrible atrocities they committed, the victims they affected, and the consequences that stemmed from their actions.

Psychological Manipulation: Like his older brother, Fanged Paw, Night Shade is skilled in psychological manipulation and warfare. He has an extensive knowledge of people's traits, behaviors, and triggers, which allows him to get certain information during interrogations and unnerve his opponents in battle via preying on their fears and insecurities.

Combat Expertise: To be added...

Background
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Trivia
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