Stories of a Shade

by ConfettiColored

Chapter 15

SMASH! The yellow and green buff pegasus cultist got thrown into a wall by my knock back spell. I sighed and put his unconscious body over behind the receptionist counter with the others. How that doctor managed to hold out this long with nothing but a frying pan, I will never know. Regardless, things were going well. I had just called my siblings to come to the hospital and plan our next move. You know, it's weird. Among all the things that had changed since Blood Oath escaped, a cell phone was still just a cell phone.

"How are things going down here?" The Unicorn who had helped me earlier asked as she came down the stairs.

"Well, I'm defending this place with my life and I just knocked out a super-strong pegasus so that we can live another day in the Apocalypse. So, all in all, I'm having the time of my life," I replied sarcastically. "By the way, I never got your name,"

"The name's Sweet Heart," She said. "What's yours?"

"Vortex," I said. Then after a moment I said, "My brother and sister will be coming soon, so don't freak out when they arrive." The moment after I said that, the two of them burst through the door. Speak of the devil.

They looked like they had been through quite an ordeal. Their clothes were ripped, they were panting like a bunch of dogs, and their hair was caked with dirt and grass.

"What happened to you?" I asked.

"Oh, we were fighting dozens of Blood Oath's minions while you were here, not coming back to help," Roam said, glaring at me.

"I was here, defending the hospital while she operated on the injured. You all can defend yourselves, she can't," I said giving Roam the stink eye right back.

"Hey!" Sweet Heart snapped. "I was doing fine until you showed up!"

"You were defending a yourself and a bunch of injured ponies with a frying pan," I retorted, and Sweet Heart looked like she wanted to argue more, but I had been to logical for her to disagree.

"So... Vortex, who's this?" Artemis asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh, right, Roam and Artemis, this is Sweet Heart. Sweet Heart, this is Roam and Artemis," I said.

"Wow, Vortex, you just met her and you're already calling each other sweetheart. Good job, man!" Roam said, which caused my face to turn a brighter shade of red than a cherry.

"It's not like that! Sweet Heart is her real name!" I said.

"Sure it is," Roam said with a wink, which caused me to summon a bag of ice cubes and levitate it down his shirt.

"HEY!" He said, shuddering.

"You should have learned not to mess with me like that. I will ALWAYS get you back," I said with a satisfied smirk on my face.

"What were we talking about again?" Sweet Heart asked.

"Right. Did you find out where Blood Oath is?" I asked my siblings.

"He's headed for the Everfree Forest, trying to find a way to harness the power of the Tree of Harmony," Artemis said grimly.

"Oh. That's bad." I said.

"Really? Bad? That's all you're gonna say?" Roam asked.

"Yeah. What did you think I was gonna say?"

"I don't know, I thought you were gonna make some sort of sarcastic remark. I could use a good laugh right now. Why aren't you making jokes as much? What happened?" He asked.

"The world ended," I replied before turning to Sweet Heart. "Do you think you'll be fine here on your own for a while? We gotta go beat down the guy who caused this mess,"

"I'm not sure, this place isn't an armory," She replied, but Artemis had a solution. She summoned a large table filled to the brim with weapons.

"Take your pick," She said. Sweet looked shocked for a moment, but began looking across the table and picked up a shotgun.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" Artemis asked worriedly.

"Yes. You pull the trigger," Sweet Heart said, to which Artemis sighed.

"You've got a lot to learn. Take this," She said, handing her a small booklet. "That tells you how to use a gun, as well as safety tips. Study up,"

"Oh. I guess I don't know how to use on of these things. Thanks!" She said to Artemis.

"Alright, enough messing around. We gotta get going," Roam called out.

"Okay," I said. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up with you!"

"You wanna give your girlfriend a kiss goodbye?" Roam said mockingly, before a cast a withering glare his way, which promptly shut him up. When they had walked out of the hospital, I thanked Sweet Heart for fixing my wing again, and walked out with my siblings.

"So, in all honesty, what do you think of her?" Roam asked, and when I started walking to him with a fireball in my hands, he added hastily: "I'm not mocking you! Just asking!" I rolled my eyes and extinguished the fire.

"I don't know. She's kind and, I won't lie, kind of pretty, but I think I should focus on Blood Oath before anything else," I said.

"Oh," Roam said. He seemed to have wised up, since he didn't press the subject.

"So, how do we get back to Ponyville? The cultists destroyed the train, didn't they?" I asked.

"Yeah. I guess we just fly back," Artemis said.

"I agree. It's been so long since I've flown, I've forgotten how good it feels," I said, spreading my skeletal wings and taking off.

After about thirty minutes of flying the town of Ponyville came into view, and I went into a nose dive, but just before I got to the ground, something tackled me from the side. I was sent ten feet to the left, and looked at who tackled me. It was Rainbow Dash. I cursed under my breath. Why did I think I could just waltz on in in my current form?

"Listen, I can explain," I said, but she wasn't having any of that. She attempted to tackle me again without a word, and I flew strait up before going in a nosedive again. If I could just get in my pony form again, maybe they would listen to me. The problem was, the transformation needed a pony for the spell to work, and I doubted Rainbow would stay still so I could perform the spell. I needed someone who wouldn't put up a fight, someone who could apprehend effortlessly. Fluttershy. Duh. I flew at top speed towards her, she was treating the wounded, so she didn't see me coming. I he'd her in my magic grasp and performed the spell before she could even call out for help. Once the light died down, Rainbow saw me in my pony form and stopped charging.

"V-Vortex?" She stuttered.

"Yes,"

"Jeez, I'm sorry. I thought you were a Shade,"

"I am,"

"...What?"

"Yeah. I said I could explain, so if you take us to everyone else, I'll do just that."

"Alright, but if you try anything, I'll break every bone in your body!"

"Consider me warned. Let's go,"

Then she led me over to town hall.

Author's Note:

In case your wondering, Sweet Heart is a Unicorn with a red mane and a blue coat.

Comments

[ConfettiColored]

6909473 I talk about tech in one authors note. Outside at first, but then they sleep in their sleeping bags until Vortex fixes up the castle. So... Is it camping if they're inside, but in a sleeping bag? I don't know.

[ConfettiColored]

6909468 I'll try to do that.

[ConfettiColored]

6909505 I like short chapters.

[ConfettiColored]

6909495 The story has an Anthro tag. Also, yeah, but that would be an awkward plot point because they're the same age. Maybe I'll do some joke slice of life chapter about that later on.

[ConfettiColored]

6909484 Wait.. What? I'll fix that as soon as I can.