Chapter 1
I'm lost. I have no idea where I am. I can't see, I can't hear, nor can I feel. I am lost.
"WHOOOSH" The wind whistles past where it was quiet only seconds before, I feel a dull but powerful pain in my wing. I open my eyes to see the castle wall fading in the distance. I am falling. I bet you're wondering who I am, or why I am falling, or better yet, why should you care. All good questions, but I can only answer two, so let’s begin with this morning. It was a normal day for the royal guard with the exception of the captains wedding, and the high alert they were on, so I guess it wasn't a regular day. We had all been called to the training grounds for a short briefing on the security detail for the day, and I was up on stage with Captain shining himself. Oh I should probable introduce myself; my name is Frostfur Winters, original right? Anyway, I am a pure white Pegasus, I am first in command of the royal guard, under Shining Armor of course, I am next in line for captain should, Celestia forbid, something were to happen to Shining Armor. I am the guard’s best hand to hand combat instructor, I am the best sniper in the guard, but I lack one thing very crucial, I have no disciple. I am not on the stage with the captain for a good reason; I am up here with my friend Randall, who also has disciple issues. We are currently being made an example of to the rest of the guard of what not to do on guard duty, I was up there giggling a little, and Randall was having trouble standing on his own. So if you hadn't already guessed why I’m up her, I’ll tell you, I’m hammered, not just drunk, but hammered. It took four people to get me up on stage because I couldn't walk right. However, once I was up there I was greeted by a bucket of ice cold water to the face, and a cup of hot coffee. The look of sheer disappointment in shining's eyes as he gave me the cup was enough to sober me up a little. So shining went on talking about how the defenses needed to be beefed up more, and the guard changes were to be tighter. At the end of the speech he turned to me, with the saddest look in his eyes that bore a hole into my soul and planted a seed of regret, he grabbed my ranking pin, and pulled it out, and replaced it with a private insignia instead of general.
He looked at the crowd and said with a wavering voice,
“For disorderly conduct, drinking on duty, and resisting the guard, I here by denounce you, General Frostfur Winters, to private Winters."
The sorrow from his words as he spoke them filled the room with the regret of mine as I heard them, the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife, and as I was ushered off stage, he turned to me, and told me to report to the west gate, with Randall, in half an hour for guard duty. -------------
About half an hour later I was standing in the west tower, by the front gates with Randall. Not a word had been spoken since we meet up for duty, not a glance exchanged since we were up on stage. Now I don't blame him for my actions, but I also don't want to talk to him right now on the fact that he was the reason why we were caught. I mean come on, sneaking up to the princess’s throne room and dancing around the thrones, seriously. If I wasn't hammered then I would have hit him so hard upside the head he would have a concussion. So we stood there, in silence, not moving, not saying a word. Then I saw something move around down below, I played it of as my imagination at first, but as I looked on it continued, and I several different places. I looked at Randall who was staring at the bushes with a confused look on his face. Now for those of you who don't know the west wall is the only wall that has flat land and greenery around it, the north and west walls company a sheer drop. So as I stare into the bush I make my knowledge known to whoever was down there, " Show yourself or I will fire blindly into the tree line!", my voice boomed loudly arose the stretch of land in-between the tree line, and the rustling stopped, not just in that one place, but everywhere I saw it. I reached back into the weapons locker, and pulled out an M16. I pointed it at the tree line and gave them a last warning. No response. I looked over at Randall and he nodded his head, so I shot, I emptied the clip, and when I stopped, I heard their screams. The noise coming from the bushes was not normal of any wounded being; it was high pitch but at the same time low and it was distorted, as if through a tin can. The rustling began again but this time it made its way closer, and this time it was everywhere, then it stopped. Nothing happened as I reloaded the clip, then a body fell out, it was a changeling there it bleed green acidic blood that killed the grass below, and as it died its body changed form. It went from changeling, to a baker he once saw in ponyville to a nameless shoulder, and many other things. I looked back at Randall and he was gone, then I heard the distinct metallic click and then a whirring from above, he had gotten into the turret. I had little time to cover my ears as the deafening booms from the gun filled the air. I looked out at the field only to see more and more of the changelings fall out and die, but what scarred me the most was the sheer number of them, there seemed to be hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies lying there and there were still more coming. Because of the shield shining put up the bodies began to pile up as the changelings tried to reach the wall out of reach from the turret, all in vain. Then the shield dropped, the wall of bodies fell and the changelings made it to the wall. After they hit the wall I came out of my bewilderment. I ran towards the alarm to warn the other towers, but as I got there the alarms started to go off like crazy. I grabbed some extra ammo on my way back and began shooting down the changelings that were now flying up the wall. Randall continued to shoot like crazy at the changelings that had yet to make it to the wall, only stopping to reload, or kill a stray changeling that made it up to the turret. As I continued to shoot down the changelings, Randall came up beside me and began shooting as well.
"What happened to the turret?" I asked him over the gun blasts.
"Ran out of ammo," He stated simply.
Now let me put into perspective as to what was going on, we were sitting in the tower shooting and shooting. Changelings kept dying, but the sheer number of them began to push them further up the wall, and a few stray changelings began to land in the tower. As one landed, I would turn and shoot, allowing two more to land in the tower. Eventually it became too much and Randall, being a unicorn, used a repelling spell, and shot them all out of the tower. With the chance given we began to shut the tower's heavy steal shutters. As Randall shut the last shutter, an arrow shot right through the crack of the almost shut shutter, and hit Randall dead center of the chest. Now our armor isn't thick, and is meant to be bullet proof, not knife proof. So this arrow went straight through his chest, and out of his back. With his last motion he shut the shutter and collapsed to the floor.
"Shit," I said as I ran over to him. I knelt down beside him as he lay there bleeding out on the floor. I tried to stop the bleeding, but the warm and thick liquid kept pouring out and bathing my coat.
"Stop, stop. There is nothing you can do, this arrow was poisoned, and I can feel it going through my body.” he said as he tried to push my hands away,
“I have but one request."
"What, what is it. I’ll do anything?" I said with a wavering voice.
“I want you to find my little sister, and get her out of this; there is a bunker underneath of my house. Take her there and she will know what to do." This he said with the last of his breath, and he died in my arms. Now it is known that the first stage of grieving is denial, then remorse, then anger. I skipped right to anger. I stood from the floor and dropped my light armor from my body; I walked over to the weapons locker and opened the old dusty box at the bottom. It contained an old steel chest plate, a pair of greaves, steal plated leggings, and gauntlets. I reached in and pulled the items out and put them on. I looked back into the locker and found what I needed, an old steel sword from the old wars, and a metal kite shield. As I grabbed them I thought to myself, today is the day where all of my training in this shit finally pays off. I looked one last time at Randall’s lifeless body, and said a prayer. I then walked out of the door. -------------
