Whatever happened to the Shadowbolts?

by RileySpook

Rating: teen
Tags: Human, Random
Length: 3474

Remember the Shadowbolts? No one really knows that much about them. They just disappeared without a trace. But when they decide to contact another universe, things get bad. Fast. Involves Humans vs. Ponies.

After the Shadowbolts disappeared, no one really knew what happened, or really cared for that matter. The Shadowbolts soon decided they would strike back, on a worldly scale. Epic battles ensue. Set just before the events of "Like a Bullet from a Gun".

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-04-10 19:25:39 UTC

Whatever Happened to the Shadowbolts? Part 2/2

After seeing the objects, Arthur ran back inside the communication tower.Beings a communications tower, it also had a radar, quite similar to an Air Traffic Control tower. He used this radar to contact all of the incoming aircraft, and he just wanted to check if the objects had an ID number, so he could see if they were friend or foe. Once inside, he started talking to himself.

"No ID, no registration, no aircraft type, what the hell are these things?!"

Running outside, still holding his assault rifle, he could see that the objects were closing the distance. Fast. Aiming his assault rifle at the sky, he called out an order to another soldier.

"Pick up the megaphone on the wall, and try to contact the pilots!"

Arthur was not a sergeant of any type, and he did not have control over any troops. But at this time I don't think anyone cared.

"Will do!"

The soldier ran over to the wall holding the megaphone. It was on the opposite side of the compound, so it took him about 30 seconds to get there. He pointed the device up to the sky, and started shouting orders.

"You are now trespassing over United States airspace. Please designate your intentions, or we will open fire."

To Arthur's and everyone else at the base's surprise, the aircraft spoke, not the pilot.

"How dare you give the powerful Shadowbolts orders! You may not treat us this way, we will be giving you orders soon!"

At the mention of Shadowbolts, Arthur grew confused. Looking around he could see some soldiers starting to turn paler than usual, and with this his suspicion grew. Running over to the soldier with the megaphone, Arthur took the situation into his own hands.

"What, or who, is "Shadowbolts"?!"

"You do not know of our existence? We are forgotton all throughout Equestria, what would it take to get some recognition elsewhere?"

Looking around again, he could see a few more soldiers turn pale at the mention of 'Equestria', and other started to run inside.

"Turn back now!"

"We will own you after this. Shadowbolts, descend!"

As soon as this was heard, all the other 150 objects took out what looked like some sort of rudimentary spear, they then dropped down vertically at amazing speeds, and as they grew closer, Arthur could make out wings.

"Open fire!" called out Jonathan.

Dropping the megaphoen, Arthur aimed up his assault rifle and fired 14 rounds into the air. 3 attackers got hit, blood spilling out of them as they fell at ridiculous speeds. A sickening crack was heard from the bodies as they made contact with the floor, obviously breaking a few bones in the process. After Arthur had shot his rounds, the rest of the compound started to open fire. Bullet shells smashed into the ground with a 'Ping' sound, and more bodies fell from the sky. Above all the commotion, Arthur heard the commander of the attackers yell something.

"Drop the bomb!"

At the first notice of a bomb, the attackers who were still descending started to retreat back up, and many soldiers in the area started to retreat to a safe distance. As the bomb fell from the sky, Arthur could see some of the wounded attackers slowly trying to crawl away from the compound centre, but their efforts were fruitless. As the bomb made contact with the ground, an ear shattering rumble was heard as dirt and stone, along with flames, began to lift up from the position where the bomb was milliseconds ago. Debris started to rain down apon the soldiers, and all the attackers in the vicinity had stopped moving, letting the shockwave send them flying. After the blast, attackers started to descend again, this time at much higher speeds. Arthur then noticed that the attackers had a similar body structure to a horse, or a pony to be exact.

Arthur looked over to a soldier who was hiding inside the building that Arthur had taken shelter in.

"Why are they ponies?!"

The response from the soldier was a quick shudder, before he ran out into the open. Arthur watched in horror as a pony landed on him, sending his spear directly into his spinal column. Blood spilled everywhere, and a blood-curdling scream was heard from the wounded soldier. Aiming his rifle up again, Arthur shot two rounds into the pony's head, sending him flying backwards, lifeless. The soldier was lying on the ground, the spear still stuck in his back. Blood was spilling out of him and painting the area around him a sickening dark red. Arthur knew he had no luck, and decided to concentrate on the battle at hand. Walking out of the building, he saw many more ponies land on the ground as the ones above were being cut down by the bullets from the mounted guns surrounding the area. The ones who were alive when they landed started making their way towards the troops who were still firing shots. Arthur saw one approach him, and he sent three rounds into his skull.

"Wow, I really am a better shot than I think I am!"

Over his self confidence he did not hear a pony land behind him. He only just whipped around in time to see the pony launch himself towards him, spear at full length. Having a quick reaction time, Arthur grabbed the spear just below the tip, and flew it round to the right, sending the pony on a collision course with the wall. Regaining his composure, the pony charged towards Arthur, and Arthur quickly bashed the pony in the head with the edge of his rifle. With a quick movement, Arthur picked up the spear and drove it through the pony's neck, causing him to fall forwards. Arthur's gloves were now covered with blood. Walking up to the corpse, Arthur wiped the blood off of his gloves onto the pony, and turned around to pick up his rifle.

Looking towards the compound for a second time, he could see many ponies land in a position to try and take out the mounted gunners. Most of them failed, but some of them managed to sneak behind them and jabbed their spears through their throats. Then, by some freak of nature, one managed to grip the mounted gun with his hooves and started to fire towards Arthur. Arthur quickly took cover behind a building, and could see the corners being chipped away by the rounds. Once the chipping of the corners had subsided, Arthur took a step round the corner only to the shot in the leg twice. Stumbling backwards, Arthur cried out in pain before hitting the ground.

Glancing down at his leg, Arthur could see that he was losing blood at a substantial rate. Someone from inside the building that Arthur was taking cover behind must have heard his cry of pain, because a door behind Arthur quickly opened, and he was dragged inside. After this, Arthur blacked out.

Waking up, Arthur could hear voices. Opening his eyes he saw that he was inside a building of some sorts, and gunfire was still raging outside. Regaining his memories, Arthur attempted to stand up, only to fall back down in a mass of searing pain.

"Ah! Fuck, my leg!"

"We need to get him to the medical bay!" said an unidentified voice from behind Arthur.

"I know, but that is on the other side of the compound. Hey can you please attempt to stand up again?"

Arthur tried at his second attempt, but instead of falling back down again, he was caught by two pairs of hands.

"There we go. We will help you to get to the window, and then we need you to provide some covering fire while we make our way over to the medical bay. Understand?"

"Yea."

"Good, here is your rifle." said the unidentified voice, passing the rifle to Arthur's hand.

Pointing the rifle out of the window, Arthur took a few shots at some of the ponies on the ground. Two shots missed, but the other four made contact with their targets, sending them to the ground.

"Go!" yelled Arthur.

"Okay, but cover us!"

With that, Arthur heard the door open and shortly after he saw two soldiers make their way into the open. They started sprinting across the compound at amazing speeds, and Arthur successfully held off any pony who came within 10 feet of them. After five minutes inside the infirmary, they appeared back outside. They signalled with their hands "Three, two, one." and then started to sprint back across, their hands full of what Arthur could see as medical supplies. All was going well until three quarters into their journey back, when a pony jumped off the roof on top of one of the soldiers. Arthur managed to shoot it off, but not before it plunged the spear into the soldiers leg.. Blood started to run out of the soldier's leg, and his friend was able to help him hobble over to the building where Arthur was stationed. Closing the door behind them, the wounded soldier fell down to the floor in agony. His cries were heard throughout the building, and this remined Arthur that he too, was injured.

Remembering the bullet wound in his leg, Arthur too fell down to the floor in pain. The unwounded soldier made his way over to Arthur first, and began to patch his leg up.

"It's only a flesh wound. You will be okay after we get you some morphine. Glynn! Give him the morphine shot!"

Arthur saw another soldier walk up to him with an injection is his hand.

"This won't hurt that much." Glynn said as he jabbed the shot into his arm.

A squeak was heard from Arthur, but he soon began to calm down as the morphine numbed his pain, and the soothing effect came on. This only lasted for about five minutes though, but when Arthur stood up he felt no more pain.

"Thanks guys."

"No problems. Now," said Glynn, picking up his rifle and heading to the window. "We have some animals to neutralize."

As he said this, many shells erupted from the rifle barrel. Bullet cases were scattered around the floor, as the familiar sound of gunshots rang through the air once more. Taking a look out of the window, Arthur could see that the number of ponies had decreased rapidly, and even the commander of the ponies in the suit had been shot down.

Through the gunshots, Glynn managed to say something.

"Not many more. Grab your rifle and lets give 'em hell!"

Picking up his rifle for one last time, Arthur headed over to the window. Leaning the barrel on the window frame, Arthur caught sight of some ponies stabbing a troop in the neck repeatedly all the way across the courtyard. Arthur fired a few shots at the pony, and the shots hit him in the hooves. Falling backwards in pain, Arthur finished him off with a bullet to the chest, piercing his heart and sending fresh blood everywhere. It was too late to save the soldier.

The gunshots continued into the late afternoon, until there was not a single pony left. Arthur got up, and made his way slowly to the communications tower. Opening the door and walking inside, he was about to sit down at the microphone when a sharp pain invaded his chest. Looking down, he could see a spear tip lodged through his ribcage, blood spilling all over the floor. He heard a voice over his shoulder.

"You've caused us too many casualties today. You world will be ours, and your villages will burn."

Arthur fell to the floor, gripping his wounded chest. The last sound he heard was a gunshot as a soldier burst into the room, shot the pony, and made his way over to the shaking mess that was once Arthur Strongpoint.

"Aaaaaarthuuuur....."

The following is the report sheet following the attack on base Delta:

Incident: Attack on United States Outpost Delta.

Casualties: 47 soldiers killed. Check [REDACTED] for more details. 150 attackers killed. No survivors.

Strange Obscurities: Attackers were a form of a type of horse with wings, given the mythical name of a "Pegasus". Able to hold spears in their forearm, even without fingers.

[CASE REDACTED]

Whatever Happened to the Shadowbolts? Part 1/2

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!"