//------------------------------// // The Shadowbolts // Story: End of the Beginning: Darkness Falls // by NerdyByrd //------------------------------// Even though Rainbow Dash knew that they were Shadowbolts, she didn't know who they were. Like, there was seven of them and none of them look like the Shadowbolts she met in the Everfree Forest. They all gave Rainbow Dash a sickening grin, and they all looked almost exactly the same. All of their coats and manes were dark, but their eyes were bright. "You know", the mare standing in the front said," We are really honored to come face to face with Spitfire and The Element of Loyalty." Her coat was dark grey, and her pitch black mane's silver tips shimmered in the light of the rising moon. Her eyes was blood red, and her coat was a grey that almost looked black. For some reason, she stood out the most to Rainbow Dash. Maybe she's the leader. "Aren't we guys", she addressed her group. They all murmured in agreement. Spitfire was the first to speak to them. "Who are you and what do you want?" "Who are we", mare repeated," Let's just put it this way. We're your worst nightmare." "I don't like the sound of that", Soarin said backing away. "Me neither", cried Dark Meadow," I am outta here!" Rainbow Dash watched as one of the stallions disappeared to back of the group, and reappeared in front Dark Meadow. How he did he do that! Dark Meadow tried every way possible to slip past, but the stallion had him block. Rainbow Dash knew there was no getting past that stallion. He was bigger,and appeared to be stronger. In fact, all of Shadowbolts seemed that way. Finally, Dark Meadow walked slowly back to them. Rainbow Dash could tell that he was terrified. "So any last words before we take you all out", their leader said with a hissed. Rainbow Dash saw Spitfire shaking, but her voice remain calm when she replied. "You didn't answer our questions", Spitfire pressed. "Fine", their leader said with a sly smile," We are the Shadowbolts, and we are here to take over Equestria." Horror was the only thing Rainbow Dash could feel. And then a couple second later after she heard the word attack, all she could feel was pain. Rainbow Dash felt a throbbing pain in her head and it shot down through out her spine. Rainbow Dash got up as fast as she could only to be struck again in the jaw. She open her eyes and looked up to see the leader smiling down on her. The leader had grip on Rainbow Dash's uniform, and jerked her upwards. Luckily, Rainbow Dash was quick enough to kick her in the stomach, sending tumbling over backwards. This also made her let go of Rainbow Dash. Unluckily, Rainbow Dash only crawled a few feet away before she was pulled backwards by her tail. Rainbow Dash felt the leader jump on top of her, and stuck some blade into her. Rainbow Dash screamed in pain. Suddenly, the weight that was her was gone. She looked up to see the leader being flung into a tree. By a black figure. "Moonlit Mist", cried a Shadowbolt mare who was on top of Spitfire. While the mare was distracted, Spitfire flung her off. The black figure ran out of woods and back into the woods; over and over. Each time, it slammed another Shadowbolt into the ground. "Quick, retreat", Moonlit Mist cried. She looked directly at Rainbow Dash. "We will be back." The Shadowbolts ran off, disappearing into the darkness. Rainbow Dash looked around for the black figure, but it gone. "I thank whoever that was who saved us", Silverlining said panting. "Yeah, well I'm not sticking around to see if it changes it's mind", Dark Meadow yelled, already fleeing into the woods. Rainbow Dash took the blade that was in her right foreleg. It was a dagger. A very pretty dagger with a strange patterns and shapes on the blade. She couldn't explain it, but there was a type of strange sensation when she touched it. Spitfire called out to her, interrupting her thoughts. She stood up and ran after everypony, not wanted to get left behind. When Spitfire saw the dagger, she asked for it. So, Rainbow Dash gave it to her. Rainbow Dash didn't know why Spitfire wanted the dagger, but she decided not to question her. 7 or 8 minutes later, which was about half the time it took to get to the wall, they made it to the railroad. Unfortunately, there was something missing. "WHERE IS THE TRAIN", Painted Wind yelled. "Where are we suppose to do now", Soarin groaned," We all obviously need to go to the hospital." Rainbow Dash glanced down the railroad. Why did this place seem awfully familiar? Then she saw it. An old wooded sign with intricate patterns and ivy all over it. Even though it was faraway, she knew for sure it had Welcome To Shadowfalls written across it. "Follow me", Rainbow Dash said," I know where to go." *** "Ms. Dash, I know you said you knew where you were going, but are you 100% sure", Painted Wind asked nervously. They been walking through town for half an hour, watching houses turn into apartments. This change happened pretty quickly because Shadowfalls is small town. Rainbow Dash knew this because this was her hometown. She also knew she was mad, because this was probably the 100th time she had answered this question. "Yes", Rainbow Dash said irritably," I know where I am going because this where I am from." "I thought you were from Cloudsdale", Soarin said obviously confused. "I am", Rainbow Dash quickly said," I mean I lived here before Cloudsdale. Like, this is my hometown. I was born here, and lived here until I was nine or so." "Oooooooooohhhhhh", they all said at once. "Yeah", Rainbow Dash said nodding. She looked up and saw the hospital, smiling. Then, she looked at her right foreleg where the dagger was. Silverlining helped her stop the bleeding, by tying a part of her uniform she ripped off around the wound. She said she could get another uniform later. Rainbow Dash sighed. She walked in and trotted up to the desk. "My name is Rainbow Dash, and I-" "Say no more", the mare behind the counter said," I'm getting Felix." She got out behind the counter, and ran down the hallway. "Who's Felix", Spitfire asked. "He's the doctor that I see when I break something", Rainbow Dash answered. "Interesting name", Fleetfoot commented. Two minutes later, Felix comes running down the hall. His mane was blonde at the roots and black at the ends. He had green eyes, a white coat, and the bottom of his legs were black. Rainbow Dash knew for a fact that he had surgical tape and a scalpel for a cutie mark. He immediately grabbed Rainbow Dash by the hoof and dragged her down hall. "Follow me", he said in a firm voice. She could hear the Wonderbolts chasing after her. "We been doing a lot of following lately", Dark Meadow called out to her. Yes. Yes we have. Before Rainbow Dash knew it, she was sitting on a hospital bed. They were all crammed into one, tiny little room. Well, it wasn't tiny, but wasn't made for seven ponies. And the number turn into eight when Felix came in. Rainbow Dash and Wonderbolts were patched up, which was good. The only bad thing was she had to sit there listening to Felix's lecture. He yells a lot when she injured. Mostly because ever since she learn how to fly, she got hurt on a daily basis. Rainbow Dash learned how to fly when she was four. Luckily for Felix, and for her, he began to work at the hospital when she was a little younger than seven. Rainbow Dash was pretty sure that ponies could here his yelling all the way in Saddle Arabia. "How many times have said to do something safer." "Well", Rainbow Dash said slowly," I was kinda doing my job at the time." "Then find a safer job", Felix snapped at her. Rainbow Dash jumped back. It startle her but she wasn't surprised he did this. It was one of those things where you didn't know when it was coming, but you knew it was coming. Felix sighed, pressing his hoof against his forehead, and then he began ranting again. "Rainbow Dash", he said," You broke and sprang your wings about six times by the time you were eight. You know how bad that is?" "Bad", she halfway said, halfway asked. "Yeah that's bad", Felix said rising his voice," And that's not counting leg injuries, head injuries, and time you got your head stuck in a metal fence!" Everypony burst out laughing. She let out a heavy sigh. She remembered that. Long story short, she was flying really fast, wasn't watching where she was going, and somehow manged to lodge her head in between the bars of a metal fence. The hero of that day was lots and lots of butter. Her mother rushed her the hospital, and then smothered her with love. She still heard the others laughing until Felix jumped all over them. "What are you laughing about", he asked looking at each and every one of them," Because you were with her when see got injured, you will be dealing with something I don't have to! Her mother!" This shut them all up real quick, but snapped Rainbow Dash out of her silent shame. "What", she cried. Felix nodded and said," I'm getting your parents." "Uuuuuuuggggggghhhhh", Rainbow Dash cried. She knew how her mom got. She plopped backward onto the hospital bed. Great. She was prepared to be humiliated, and to have the Wonderbolts pee themselves. *** "So, which one of you idiots put my daughter's life risk", Rainbow Dash's mother said, glaring daggers at them. Rainbow Dash looked a lot like her mom. The both had a cyan coat and magenta eyes. The only difference was that Rainbow Dash had a rainbow mane. Her mothers mane was light blue and dark blue at the tips. And her mane was also put up in a spiky bun. She also had three rain drops on her flank. Usually, her mom can keep a cool head. Usually. But that wasn't happening today. Rainbow Dash could tell that the Wonderbolts were trying so hard not to pee themselves. Rainbow Dash didn't know for certain how everypony felt about her mom, but personally, she thought her mom was pretty scary when she was angry. Rainbow Dash winced as her mom began to yelled at them about being idiots, and how they were terrible at their own job. To focus on something else, Rainbow Dash looked up at her dad. Her dad didn't look much like her. He had a purplish, grey coat with piercing yellow eyes. His cutie mark was a white ball with three streaks coming out of it; one red, yellow, and blue. What they did have in common was their rainbow mane. All of her siblings, her dad, and herself of course, have something rainbow about their mane. Weather it's the entire mane or just a small portion of it, it was there. Her dad also had a calmness about him. She couldn't remember last time he yelled. That why looking at him made her feel better. He was always reasonable, always caring, but was never a pushover. You couldn't guilt trip him, or make him feel bad. That what she admired about him. He was almost perfect balance, but he wasn't completely perfect. Her dad was keeping something from her. Her mom was in on it too, but Rainbow Dash could never could figure it out. So, she didn't think about it much. The one thing she got from both her parents was wings. Her entire family was made up of Pegasi. "Rainbow Dash", her mom called her to attention. "Yes", Rainbow Dash answer. "Your friends can stay at our house until morning. If the want to stay any longer, they're sleeping in the shed. Let's go home." Rainbow Dash nodded. Her mom was very strict about strangers coming into the house. The fact that Rainbow Dash knows them is the only reason why their allow to stay one night in house. Probably, after that one night, they won't be able to step one hoof in the house again. Rainbow Dash and the Wonderbolts followed Rainbow Dash's parents down the streets, making another long trip back to the suburbs. Finally, the made it to her house. A house that was a soft blue, and had a black roof. It's huge for one pony, but decent for eight. Well, her and her brother Hope moved out already. Wisp didn't leave because he was thinking about moving to Ponyville, and was saving up for it. Rainbow Dash stepped inside and immediately felt the need for sleep over come her. She would've hit the floor her dad hadn't be right behind and caught her. Her dad lifted her up into his forelegs, and began to hover slightly off the ground. Rainbow Dash try to fight sleep, but it was useless. Her eye lid closed, and the last thing she could remember was the smell of earth and some type of flower.