Whatever happened to the Shadowbolts?

Whatever Happened to the Shadowbolts?

A One-Off Story

This morning, it was hot. And not just hot, it was VERY hot. As in around 40 degrees Celsius hot. Well, considering this was Iraq this was fairly normal. Do any of you live in Iraq? I didn't think so.

"Get up! Up!" shouted Jonathan. He was in charge of the base. He was a dick, to say the least. "That means all of us, Arthur."

"But I was sleeping..."

"I was too, you little shit. But we have to get up, remember? This is the army, you know."

"Y'all don't say!"

Arthur spoke with a very strong southern American accent. Arthur wasn't a very southern name, and he knew that. He didn't care though. The only thing he cared about was getting the job done the easiest way possible. His ways were almost always wrong, and even himself was surprised sometimes that he did not get reprimanded.

"What the hell do you even want me to do today anyway?"

"Well," said Jonathan, pushing Arthur off the army grade bunk bed. "Since you are a radio operator, I will assume it will involve the radio."

"No fucking shit." Arthur mumbled under his breath.

"What was that? Hmm?!"

"Nothing, sir."

"I should hope so. You will be making a transmission call to base codename Merit to the west of us. We are running low on weapon supplies, and I require you to submit the orders to a..."

Jonathan pulled out a folder, most likely holding the content's of today's mission.

"Ah, yes. You will be submitting the orders to a Jackson Recoil. He is on a test, and he will be appearing out of stasis near here."

"Excuse me? Stasis?!"

"Ugh." sighed Jonathan. "He is testing a prototype teleportation project that has nothing to do with you. Now, please get locked and make your way over to the communications building."

"Sir, yes sir!" said Arthur, as he walked out of the room, Jonathan exiting in the opposite direction.

"So," began the hooded torturer. "We believe that you are one very, very talented unicorn."

"Please, I don't know what you want! Please, just let me go!"

The unicorn was strapped to a chair, the binds securing her neatly in place. The hooded ponies who had taken her from her house while she slept had still not revealed their true identity. She had a dark red mane, flowing down to her shoulders. Her pale blue eyes' only emotions at the moment were fear, and regret, even though she had nothing to regret. She was dead terrified of the 3 ponies who were in the room.

"Oh, all we want is a spell. Just a simple measly spell. We will let you go afterwards." the pony was lying.

"Then please, I will do anything! I just want to go home!"

"We know, we know." another pony had stepped forward from the shadows of the dark room. "But baring in mind, we are going to own your home soon, and we will own another world soon!"

"But, but," the orange mare in the chair was lost for words. Even she knew that there was no way that a normal pony could travel between worlds, unless there was some high-powered magic involved. "That doesn't make any sense!"

"Ah hah," the third pony from the shadows stepped forward. "But that is where you come in! We have heard rumours that you are one very powerful unicorn, and we need you to make a portal possible for our many friends."

"But there is only three of you..."

"Only three of us in this room, but we are quite strong. We have over 400 willing ponies in our army, and they would give up their lives for us. We are the three in command. They; they are the cannon fodder."

"You sick, twisted mo-"

Her rant was interrupted by a hoof to the jaw.

"We didn't say you could talk back to us now, did we? Just stay calm, and everything will be alright..." A sly smile started to appear on her face.

"Really, I'm not such a good spell caster! If you want a spell like that, you should get Twilight Sparkle, she's the princess' bucking assisstant for crying out loud!"

"Oh, that's some salty language there young lady! Don't you kiss your mother with that mouth?"

"Don't you bring my mother into this..." she said, her muzzle turning into a deep, nightmare-ish frown. "Who are you?!"

"Ah! I'm glad you asked. We, are the great and powerful Shadowbolts!" she said this with a much louder tone than before, and all the ponies in the room removed their hoods. They all looked the same, apart from their manes. They had a very dark helmet on them, with yellow lensed goggles. They were dressed head to toe in a black flight uniform, and on their flanks was a skull shaped costume cutie mark.

"The, the Shadowbolts?! I thought you were banished!"

"We were banished from the surface, but there is no rule preventing us from staying underground. Now, onto business." she said this while untying the ropes holding the mare in place with her teeth.

"We need you to cast a world-breaching spell."

"But those take days to prepare, and the energy needed is way too hi-"

"Hush now, we have a new thing we need to try out. It's called an adrenaline shot."

"Adrenaline shot? Is this going to enhance my magic capabilities?"

"You catch on quick, dear." she said as she brought over the shot in her hoof. "Now hold still..."

"YAAAAAAAH! Buck! That hurt!"

"Do you feel different?"

"I feel hurt... but I also feel stronger, I feel like I can take on anything."

"Good, now cast the spell."

"Are you sure this will work?"

"Just cast the spell."

"Tell me that you are sure!"

"Just. Cast. The. Spell." she said through gritted teeth.

"Tell me that you are-"

"CAST THE FREAKING SPELL!" she screamed this with enough force that could make the Royal Canterlot Voice jealous.

"Umm....... okay...."

The mare's horn began to glow brightly, as she poured all her concentration into the spell. Sweat began to run down her cheeks, and pain began to build up in her fore head. She was about to stop, when a large "THWOMP" was heard and the room was lit up in a white glow. Before her stood a pure white oval, pulsing in and out. It gave off so much light it was near blinding.

"Good, open the doors."

A large amount of clanks were heard and the doors burst open, revealing hundreds of bustling ponies.

"Guards, execute Mrs. Darayle. Soldiers, get into this portal. Make sure not to drop the bomb on your way in. Good luck."

"Execute! Wait, I thought we had a deal?! You bastards!" she barely had enough time to squeak out this last sentance before she was dragged off through the doors to her impending doom.

"Yes," began Arthur over the comm lines. "We would like you to carry some weapons aboard your shipment. We ran low on weapons after the last engagement, and we need some now. We are attacking an insurgent base shortly."

It took a few seconds for the reply, but through the headphones came a very grainy message.

"Yea, I gotcha. I will bring some supplies for the next run. But I mean, teleportation? Really? What was wrong with just some elbow grease?!"

"I know, seems like a stupid concept to me. I'll see you when you drop off the packages."

"Okay. Recoil over and out. *white noise*"

"Well, that was easy." said Arthur to no one. "Better just wait for my next assignment."

Ten minutes passed before a message came through the headphones for the second time.

"Station comms, repeat station comms. We have over 150 unidentified flying objects heading towards base Delta. Stay on high alert, repeat high alert."

"Fuck!" shouted Arthur, grabbing the michrophone. "All units in base Delta, prepare for an overpass. 150 class A-14 objects heading directly this way, get to preparation stations!"

Arthur went to the door, grabbed his assault rifle, and opened the door. The sudden insurge of light made Arthur cover his eyes.

"Holy shit..." mumbled Arthur as he looked up into the sky, the objects in the distance. "There's so fucking many... GUARDS UP!"