• Published 4th Oct 2015
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Stories of a Shade - ConfettiColored



Ever wonder why Dark Magic is so powerful? Enter the world of a family of outcasts gaining acceptance to find out why...

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Chapter 21

The weirdest part was the delayed reaction. I didn't even feel anything until I looked at the damage I had sustained. That's when it hurt. Like, an ungodly amount of pain. Everything felt hot and cold at the same time, like I had just gotten inside after a freak snowstorm, or like a bout of the flu. I even felt it hurting where my leg used to be; I think they call that a phantom pain. Well, at the very least, I didn't feel it for very long before I collapsed from blood loss. After that, I can only guess I slipped into a coma or something, pretty expected, right? Well, my time spent asleep is all a big blur, which is a little odd, considering I usually remember my dreams. All I know for sure is that I woke up in a hospital, and surprisingly, my first thought wasn't the pain, instead it was me wondering if I was still alive or not. Then the pain hit, which answered that question for me. The pain wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before, but it still hurt all over.

I looked around the room. There was no other patients in the room with me, nor any doctors. My leg still hurt, even though it wasn't there. I tried to climb out of bed, but I got a shot of pain throughout my whole body when I did.

"Okay," I said to myself when I was back on the bed. "Guess I'm not getting out of bed anytime soon,"

The clock said it was nine thirty in the morning. I saw a note on my bedside table, next to some flowers that looked as if they had been there a while, and my phone plugged into the wall. I levitated the paper to myself and read it.

Dear Vortex,

Hey, we don't know when you're going to wake up, but in case you do when there aren't any doctors around, just give us a call and we'll be there right away.

Love,

Roam and Artemis

I brought the phone to myself to myself and dialed Roam's number. It rang for a few seconds before he picked up.

"Hey, bro. What's up?" I said, trying to act casual.

"Vortex! Okay, we'll be right over!" He exclaimed.

"Hey, wait, you don't have to drop everything to come see me, I'm fine!" I said back, but all I heard in return was the dial tone." Well, guess I'm getting some company,"

Just then the door burst open, and my brother walked into the room.

"That was fast," I commented.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Roam asked franticly.

"I'm fine, take some deep breaths. You're hyperventilating," I told him.

"Really?" He asked, starting to calm down. "Oh, I thought the loss of your leg would have hit you a little harder,"

"Meh. I'll just build a new one; Not much surprises me anymore," I said nonchalantly. "So, where's Artemis? She probably wants to kill me for putting myself in so much danger,"

"Well, she tries to make it seem like she's mad at you, but every time she yells or something like that, you can tell it's just an act," Roam said. "As for where she is, she should be coming by in a few minutes.

"Make that a few seconds," I said, looking in the doorway where my sister was standing with a cold, hard look on her face. "If you're going to punch me, please avoid the face, it hurts a lot there,"

"If you ever scare me like that again, I will beat you senseless and drag your unconscious body back home and lock you in your room for a month with no food," She growled, still staring at me like I had broken the law.

"I love you too, sis," I said tonelessly; right now I was just happy to be alive, one-legged or not. "Before you unscrew my head, why not give me a hug?" I asked, holding my arms out for an embrace, before wincing at the sudden spike of pain. Artemis continued to glare at me for a second, before smiling kindly at me.

"I can't stay mad at family, even though you're the most insufferable being on the planet," She said.

"You flatter me," I said with a smirk. "So, when can I get out of this bed?"

"I'll go ask the doctor," Artemis said before stepping out of the room, leaving me alone with Roam.

"So how long have I been asleep?"

"It's been three months. In other news, Celestia passed a law to give Shades the same rights as ponies, so long as they're not, you know, murderous,"

"Cool," I said, which caused Roam to look at me like I had lost my leg-oh, wait. Never mind.

"Really? All you have to say is 'cool'?" He asked.

"Considering we all killed a Unicorn that had brought about the end of the world, yes. I kind of expected Celestia would pass a law like that.I guess you could say he was 'blood'-thirsty," Roam sighed after I finished me sentence.

"Good to know you haven't changed much," He said with a grimace. Well, it's not just the Shades. The law extends to other creatures, like golems and Windegos,"

"That's nice," I said.

"Hello, Vortex. May I come in?" A professional-sounding voice said from the doorway. I looked over to see Doctor Horse standing there with my sister standing behind him.

"It's a free country," I replied. "You know when I can get out of this room? I've got things I need to do,"

"Like what?" He asked curiously.

"Like building a new leg," I said simply.

"We've got a prosthetic one here already," He said absentmindedly, looking at an x-ray. "Your bones have been healed. Does it hurt when you move?"

I tried to get up, but it still stung, like I had picked a fight with a swarm of bees.

"Yep," I grunted.

"How would you describe the pain?" He asked.

"Like there's a bunch of needles poking me," I said.

"Hmm. You're body is perfectly fine, so you're probably just experiencing the placebo effect," The doctor deduced.

"Placebo effect? You mean I only think I'm still hurt?"

"Yeah, you should be able to get up, at least as soon as we attach the prosthetic leg. I'll go get it,"

"Thanks," I said as he exited the room. Huh. I didn't hurt anymore, I guess it was the placebo effect. Well, that problem resolved itself quickly. It's like I'm in a bad fanfiction or something!

"Okay, here it is," The doctor said when he came back after about a minute of awkward silence once he left. "I'm going to need you to go to sleep for us to put this on, okay?"

"Done. Whatever gets me out of this room faster," I said, bracing myself for the sleep spell.

~~~~~

When I woke up in the Dreamscape, I immediately regenerated my leg, so I wouldn't have to hop around everywhere. After that, I routinely started searching for a child's dream, before I remembered that Blood was dead, and as such, I didn't have to run away from him any longer. With a whoop of satisfaction, I darted up into the sky at an incredible speed, before beginning to mold my dream how I liked. I don't think I've talked about this before, but doing that feels awesome. You feel like a god, able to do anything with the whole world at your fingertips, with your only limit being your imagination. Nothing you do here is real, but it still feels great. Up until Blood came along, I took that ability for granted. Now that I knew what it's like not being able to control dreams, I felt bad for my siblings. That doesn't mean I didn't go on a massive power trip, though. I created an island made of waffles, surrounded by an ocean of syrup, along with a gargantuan waterfall of pulp-free orange juice, complete with a temple worshipping Batman in the center of the island. Because reasons. It's not weird, shut up. So I pretty much just fooled around there for a while until I heard the ear-grating sound of an alarm calling me from beyond the Dreamscape. For once, I was excited to wake up. I did just that and found my siblings and the doctor looking at me with happy looks on their faces.

"Well, you going to check out your new limb?" Roam asked. I pulled the comforter off the bed to find that I had a metallic leg attached to the stump that used to be there. It had a silver sheen and looked really nice, but when I got out of the bed to try walking, I fell flat on my face. I heard the snickering of Roam as I got up.

"Not. One. Word," I said slowly, before using my wings to provide balance as we walked to the lobby. I was checked out soon enough.

"So, what do you want to do now that you're out of the hospital?" Artemis asked me.

"Sleep," I said immediately, teleporting home and crawling into my bed. I closed my eyes and fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

The End

Author's Note:

Oh. Boy. :facehoof: I'm not nearly as proud of this now as I was when I started writing stories. I'm told that means that I'm getting better, which is a silver lining, I guess. This morning, I decided I was getting this story outta my way, so I could focus on other things without this being constantly in the back of my mind, even though I know this is a REALLY rushed ending. I'll remaster this after my next two stories. Don't know how long that'll take, though.:applejackunsure:
(P.S. How To Train Your Dragon reference. Love that series.:twilightsmile:)

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