"The Decaying: The Blood-Curling Yell"

It was a beautiful winter evening in Ponyville as Shadow Blood flew back to his home. He was flying to his home instead of walking because he always hated the feeling of the cold snow around his hooves and legs. He had a circulation problem that always got funny in cold weather, so that didn't help either.
He worked as a foal sitter and enjoyed it as foals filled him with a happiness that he didn't get to experience from most things. Celestia's sun was setting over the horizon, to a passerby he likely looked like a large fluffy storm cloud thanks to him wearing his black fluffy jacket and fluffy beanie. He was near to his home when he suddenly felt a jabbing pain at the back of his neck.
"OUCH!!!" He yelled as he fought back tears and instinctively used one of his hands to rub back of his neck.

When his hand touched the back of his neck he felt a warm liquid.

"What the hell?" He said and immediately moved his hand from the back of his neck to the middle of his face to see what the mysterious liquid was.

He examined his hand and found a few drops of blood. Shadow Blood stared drops of blood moment before shaking his hand to get rid of it. He then wiped the tears from his face with his other hand. Shadow Blood thought he knew who caused him bleed and getting angrier at a certain sky blue pegasus.

“RAINBOW DASH, I'M TELLING TWILIGHT ABOUT YOUR TERRIBLE PRANK AND WHEN I CATCH YOU, YOU HAD BETTER PRAY TO CELESTIA! I'LL TICKLE YOU INTO SUBMISSION AND DRAG YOU TO TWILIGHT!" He angrily said while he turned around and looked behind him.

To his surprise, what he didn't see was sky blue pegasus. She was silently laughing on a cloud that was quickly disappearing with a rainbow trail behind it.

~o~

The sky was slowly turning to night time but thankfully his eyes had natural night vision with him being a hybrid, being a bat pony/pegasus hybrid had its ups and downs. His father was a bat pony and his mother was a pegasus. He had a bat pony's eyes and body/wings of a pegasus. His fur color was a shadowy black from his father and his mane, tail and eye color are dark crimson red, along with a unique wing color pattern design . It looked like blood stains covered his wings . His cutie mark was a grayish and shadowy figure with glowing blue eyes.

When he moved to Ponyville, everypony thought he was a King Sombra royalist due by his appearance. He was going to the town hall when he was jumped and arrested by a dozen Royal Guards that were wearing a lavender version of Celestia's Royal Guard's Armor.

It was at this point that his guide came out from the town hall, only to see a skirmish about to happen with him about to be pinned down by three Royal Guards and many more surrounded him.

She tried to yell at them to convince them to back off "HE IS NOT A KING SOMBRA ROYALIST!".

Three guards trotted to her and one of the guards asked her for some kind of proof. Shadow Blood and her mentally facepalmed themselves. Their only proof was his background papers and unfortunately, his background papers were late for some reason. She tried to reason with three guards to give more time to get his proof.

"Sorry Miss, we cannot release him unless you have proof. We're taking him to Princess Twilight and she can decide what to do." The guard said before returning to Shadow.

She planned to follow them and talk to Princess Twilight about this situation. The guard noticed her insistence and said to her, "If you follow us to Princess Twilight's Castle, we can discuss this issue."

“I already plan on it." She replied

“This has to be the most insistent mare in Equestria” he thought before turning to the other guards, "I think we are done here, any unicorn guards please secure the prisoner. Please follow us, ma'am."

Shadow Blood felt a tickling feeling in one of his limbs that slowly spread to his other limbs, including his wings. He suddenly realized they where securing him with their magic.

"W-wait a minute, can you please tell your friends to loosen up their magic slightly?" He said while trying to move his limbs, but his efforts remained fruitless.

His efforts were so bad, he imagined a big crowd of ponies that were laughing at him, saying "Ooooo, you got owned by guards were wearing a feminine version of Royal Guard's armor!!!"

"Mare guards will look great if they're wearing it, otherwise poor stallion guards will lose their stallion-hood." He thought to himself.

He was suddenly snapped out of his thought by one of the guards sarcastically saying something, but he didn't hear what he said.

"Sorry sir, I didn't hear what you said. Could you please say it again?" Shadow Blood said with an apologetic grin.

"Why should I loosen the bonds for you? So you can escape and continue to sacrifice ponies to King Sombra?" He repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"I have a lot of reasons why you should do it. First reason is my father is one of Luna's personal guards and she is a second mother to me. Second reason is my younger sister will unleash all of your darkest nightmares on you every time when you're sleeping and she is going to love every second of it. Third reason is my shadow guardian will haunt you and make you paranoid at every shadow you see. The fourth reason is I will sneak into your home and bite one of your limbs to leave a reminder why you should obey me. Last reason is my mother will be your worst nightmare as she carves dumb or idiot into your chest with a knife." Shadow Blood amusingly thought with a devilish grin.

"Why do you have that grin on your face, psychopath?" The guard suspiciously asked while he held his sword's handle for quick draw it from its scabbard, ready for anything.

"I'll definitely tell my mother about this hot-shot. She'll put him in his place." Shadow Blood created a reminder in his mind for him while he still wore the same grin.

"Last chance to answer my question. If you don't answer it, I'll personally throw you in a dungeon." The captain irritatedly ordered while he came within striking range of his drawn sword and placed it near Shadow Blood's face.

“DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM!? I AM SHADOW BLOOD, SON OF BLOOD NOVA, LUNA'S FAVORED!" Shadow Blood yelled in response. The guard swore he saw fire in his eyes.

Every guard, except the one with the blade against Shadow's throat, had an expression of fear or shock at the mention of his name. The one who did not have an expression seemed to be unaffected by what Shadow Blood said and was going to punch angry pegasus/bat pony hybrid with his other arm.

"DON'T YELL AT ME, DIRTY SCUM!!!" The guard bellowed as he tried to punch Shadow Blood's face with his other arm, but his punch was stopped by an anthro guard's hand.

“YOU DON'T EVER HIT SIR SHADOW, HOT-SHOT!” A female soldier medic threateningly yelled while holding his hand.

"HOW DARE YOU STOP ME, PRIVATE ANGEL HEART. LET GO OF MY HOOF OR ELSE I'LL DISCHARGE YOU FROM THE TWILIGHT ROYAL GUARD." The guard yelled while staring daggers at her.

“Hm, so he's a captain is he? I'll have to mention him to the princess if that's the case. Let's see what she does when she finds out about this...” Shadow thought as he watched the scene progress.

Meanwhile, the three guards that were pinning Shadow Blood got off of him as quickly as they could. They then began apologizing profusely as they tried to help him to stand up on his hooves, but his poor circulation made his legs numb and useless. The rest of the guards were rushing toward Shadow Blood.

"Sorry Sir Shadow, our captain is a newbie to his new rank and he has a giant ego. I'm honoured to meet you in person. My name is Max.” He said with an embarrassing look on his face.

”No problem, you guys are just following orders. I can't move due to my poor circulation, would you mind carrying me to Twilight or get someone to carry me, please?” Shadow Blood asked while he was laying on the ground.

“SHADOW BLOOD!” A familiar female's voice repeatedly said with a very concerned tone.

A dark pink earth pony mare with bright purple jagged stripes on her arms and legs fought through the crowd of guards to reach Shadow Blood.

“Motherly Rattle! Over here!” Shadow Blood excitedly said, smiling broadly.

When she saw him on the ground she rushed over and hugged him tightly.

“Are you ok?” She asked with a concerned tone of voice.

“Yes... squeezing... too.... hard....." He replied with some difficulty as he tried to breathe.

“Oops, sorry.” She apologised before loosing her hug on him.

“Thanks, sometimes you are like a python when you're hugging me.” He said with a chuckle.

“Sorry for interrupting your romantic moment with your marefriend, but we need to talk with Twilight about this situation," Max said with an apologetic grin.

Motherly Rattle stopped hugging Shadow Blood and turn toward Max. He earned a blush from the cute mare and thought it was adorable.

“I'm not his marefriend, because I already got a cute stallion." She embarrassingly said, the blush ever strong on her face.

Shadow Blood nodded, wearing a blush on his face aswell.

“Sorry, I thought your guys are a couple." Max said, eyes wide as he realised his mistake.

“No problem, we get it lot from everyone when they see us together in public ." Motherly Rattle reassuringly said.

“I'm ready to see Twilight.” Shadow Blood said as he tried to stand up.

“OK, I need to tell Angel Heart and my captain," Max said while he was pointing at them with his hand.

He cautiously moved toward the arguing match between Angel and Mr. Ego. They were at others faces and yelling at each other.

“TWILIGHT WILL STRIP YOU FROM YOUR NEW RANK IMMEDIATELY WHEN SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THIS!” Angel exclaimed.

“SHE WILL NOT STRIP MY RANK AND I'LL ARREST YOU FOR TREASON!” The captain fiercely said as he glared fiercely at her.

Max stepped between them to separate them part.

“ENOUGH!" He yelled while trying to forcibly hold them apart from each other.

“Captain, you need to lower your ego a whole lot please." He said bluntly as he began to lose his grip on them.

“NO, MAX. I'M GOING TO TELL PRINCESS TWILIGHT ABOUT THIS!” The captain frustratingly yelled while galloping toward to the crystal castle.

Max and Angel Heart were dumbstruck by the captain's actions. They watched him as he galloped away from them.

“Geez, he's stubborn as an old man.” Max said while looking at Angel.

“Yep.” She replied back while watching their captain is slowly disappearing as he galloped farther away from them.

“Is Shadow Blood ok?” She asked while looking at Max.

“He's fine, but he can't move due to his poor circulation.” He said.

“WAIT!” She worriedly shouted.

Max blinked his eyes and felt a strong breeze beside him.

“Angel?” He asked.

He waited for her respond, but she didn't answer him. He turned his head to where Angel was standing, only to find she was gone.

“Where did she go?” He asked himself while looking around for her.

Few moments passed before he found her talking to Shadow Blood.

“She cares about Shadow Blood a lot, maybe she has feelings for him aswell," Max said with a chuckle while moving toward to them.

“Did my captain hurt you?” Angel asked while looking over him for any injuries.

Shadow Blood looked up and saw beautiful anthro. He thought he had died and went to Heaven. Her eyes are breath-taking purple pools and her fur was ice blue color. Her tail and mane were light pink.

“Shadow?” She said while waving one of her hands across his face.

“You broke him.” Motherly Rattle said with a giggle.

“I know how to fix him.” She said with a devilish grin.

Motherly Rattle came closer to him and bit down hard on one of his ears.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH” He cried out while shaking his head.

“MOTHERLY RATTLE, WHY WOUD YOU DO THAT!?" He cried out while glaring at his attacker.

“You were staring at Angel Heart.” She replied with a smirk.

“Oh, sorry Angel Heart.” He apologised with a blush.

"It's ok," Angel replied with a short giggle, a small blush present on her face aswell.

Max finally walked over to them and found them blushing.

"What? Did I miss something?" He jokingly said.

They were quick to deny his question with a stream of “no”'s and “nothing at all”.

"Oh come on, I was joking with you guys." He said defensively, putting his hands up in air.

"You only missed Shadow Blood's love stare to Angel. I had to bite one of his ears to snap him out of it." Motherly Rattle said, before bursting into a giggle fit.

“Please, are we done with this misunderstanding? Because I think my patience has reached its limit for today.” Shadow Blood asked rather bluntly.

“Yep, Angel, does he have any injuries?” Max asked.

“No injuries that I can see.” She said with a sigh of relief.

“Good, that's a relief. Can someone volunteer to carry Sir Shadow Blood to the castle?

“I'll carry him, Max." Angel shyly said, slowly raising her hand in the air.

“Alright then," Max said, now bearing a calm expression on his face.

Angel carefully picked Shadow up like a foal.

“Are you comfortable?” She asked motherly while looking down at him.

Shadow nodded slowly while looking up at her.

“You guys would make a perfect couple together." Motherly Rattle cooed while earning blush from them.

“We should go before I skin Motherly Rattle alive," Shadow muttered irritatedly.

Max, Angel, and Motherly Rattle barely heard him.

“But if you did that, you not have me to tease you.” Rattle replied deviously .

Max sensed the tension between Rattle and Shadow. It's was so thick, he could probably have cut it with his sword.

“WE'RE GOING TO TWILIGHT'S CASTLE” Max yelled commandingly.

A short while after, Shadow slowly fell asleep in Angel's lovely embrace.

~o~

His flashback slowly faded away and left him confused.

“Why did I have a flashback about when I moved to Ponyville?” He asked with a puzzled look on his face.

Passing it off as daydreaming his mind turned to other thoughts.

“I wonder what happened to captain ego. Twilight said she fired him and promoted Max to captain, she didn't see him anywhere in Ponyville. He probably moved to new city or ETC thanks to his fear of my mother." Shadow thought satisfyingly.

Shadow suddenly coughed.

“Geez, I better go to Twilight's and report what Rainbow's prank did to me, before going home.” He thought.

The night was a breath-taking sight. The moon was a crest on this night of Equestria, and the stars were cascading and twinkling like the night was alive. Shadow looked at beautiful night created by Luna.

“Luna, this night is amazing.” He thought, before flying in the direction of Twilight's castle.

After a few minutes, he finally reached the crystal tree castle and saw two bat pony guards were guarding the main entrance of the castle.

“Hello, this a beautiful night isn't it?” He asked happily.

“Yeah, it is a breath-taking sight. But why are you here at this time of the night?" One of the guards said with a friendly smile.

“He might be here for Angel.” Other guard said with a devious smile.

“Maybe if she is off-duty. The real reason is I'm here to report Rainbow because one of her pranks caused me bled little."

“Do you need first-aid?” The first guard asked, slightly concerned.

“Nah, I'm ok. Are they busy?” Shadow replied.

“Yep, they're brewing all kinds of health potions with Zecora.” the first guard said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

“Ok can one of your guys can tell them about Rainbow's prank. Also, can you tell them that I think, I'm getting cold because of the winter's cold. So if they get any free time could they check up on me?." Shadow asked while he was coughing lightly in his hand.

“Yes sir, I'm going tell them now and you can stay in the castle tonight or go home.” the second guard said worriedly, before he opened one of the castle entrance's doors, went in the castle and shut it behind of him.

“I think I’m going to go home, good night," Shadow said nicely before turning toward the direction of his home.

“I hope you get better soon, and good night, I'll tell them you are at your home.” the first guard responded while waving one of his armoured hands to Shadow.

Shadow waved and smiled to the guard, before flying away.

It took a few minutes before he reached his home. Unfortunately, his coughing got worse.

Cough...

He flew toward his home's front door and grab his house key out from one of his jacket pockets. Then he put his key in the door's lock and turned it. The lock gave a metallic click, telling him it was unlocked. He opened the door and flew in his home.

Cough...

He immediately shut the door behind of him. Shadow had some difficulty removing his jacket and beanie but managed in the end and put them on the hanger pole beside him.

“I'll leave the door unlocked, so Angel or Twilight can get in and check on me. I better get cough syrup in me and sleep this cold off." He thought tiredly.

The moonlight illuminated the whole house as it shone through the windows.

Heavy coughing...

Shadow slowly moved to his bedroom. When he arrived he went to his bedroom's bathroom. He opened the medicine cabinet/mirror to find the cough syrup. Angel brought a special kind of cough syrup, apparently it is chocolate flavoured somehow.

“Bon Bon's chocolate flavoured cough syrup. You'll never have to force your foals or loved ones to take it. IT'S LYRA APPROVED!" He said as he read the cough syrup's front label.

The labels design was a candy heart character with a thermometer was sticking out from its mouth and an ice bag was on its head. The label's text was above the candy heart character, there was also a circle containing Lyra doing an “I'm better!” expression.

“What the hay, Lyra approved it and everypony knows Lyra is foal inside. No ones know how Bon Bon does stand Lyra as her wife, but love is blind." Shadow thought, amused.

Shadow broke the seal on cough syrup's cap by twisting one of his wings around it. Then he poked the protective plastic cover with one of his fangs. Shadow hesitantly sniffed and carefully poured the cough syrup into the bottle's cap.

“No guts, no glory.” He said courageously.

Shadow quickly downed the cough syrup in one gulp and he was surprised by its flavor.

“Damn! This stuff isn't half bad!” He thought aloud amazingly.

Shadow put the cap on the medicine bottle and resealed it with a twist with his wing again. He then put the goddess elixir back in his medicine cabinet and closed it.

“I think I'm better now. Thanks, Angel, for buying it for me." He thought to himself.

Shadow exited from his bathroom and went to his bed. After getting under the covers he slowly drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later

Shadow was awoken by a strange and warm liquid was running down the front of his muzzle and soaking into his pillow.

“I'm sweating? Do I have a fever?”He thought to himself.

Shadow slowly and carefully tried to get out from his bed, but he experienced the most intense pain he had ever felt in his whole life.

“AAAAAAAAAAARGH” He cried out like a filly.

Shadow started to get worried and fought through pain with his adrenaline that was now surging through his body. Every time, he moved any part of his body, he was met with pain that was like someone was repeatedly breaking every bone in his body. Shadow barely managed to get out from his bed, but he accidentally got little of his sweat in his mouth.

“What!? My sweat tastes like decaying meat!" He said, disgusted, before spitting the foul tasting liquid from his mouth.

Shadow had suspicions as to what it was, but he was hoping that he wasn't correct. He carefully and panicky to went his bathroom and looked into the cabinet's mirror. He was horrified what he saw there.

“NO, NO, NO, I'M INFECTED WITH THE DECAYING!” he screamed panicky before darting out from his bathroom.

The mirror showed his reflection had soulless black eyes that bled black blood. It made him looked like he was crying.

“I NEED TO GET HELP BEFORE MY ADRENALINE SURGE FADES AWAY! IT IS ONLY THING KEEPING ME FROM COLLAPSING FOR NOW!” He thought, panicking, while darting to his homes front door.

Unfortunately, The Decaying made him stop darting thanks to his legs starting to decay. His legs gave out under from him, and his mouth started to bleed.

“I WON'T DIE THIS WAY! He thought determinedly before beginning to crawl toward the door.

Shadow slowly crawled inch by inch. He acted like he was escaping from Tartarus and didn't notice the trail of decaying blood behind him. He finally made it to the door and used one of his wings to twist the door's knob before using his body like a battering ram to open the door. The door broke open and he fell into the snow.

“I CAN'T MOVE ANYMORE AND MY VISION START TO GET FUZZY! I HAVE TO YELL OR SCREAM FOR ANYONE FIND AND HELP ME BEFORE I BLACK OUT. I DON'T HAVE LONG LEFT!” He thought, still panicking.

Shadow took a huge breath, ready to yell.

“ANYPONY, HELP ME!:” He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Shadow heard a few hoofsteps coming towards him.

“Friends or foes, either way, I lost this fight. I'll miss you Angel, and my friends, and my family." He thought sadly with a sigh of defeat.

Author's Note

This story is my first story and I'm so proud for it.