Author's Note

READ THIS FIRST....The preface of this story will be written in a narrative and first person view. Every other chapter after this one will be in 3rd person.
Don't rate this story based solely on this chapter

"The way things used to be" (Preface)

My father, Flash Century, once told me about the way things used to be. He told me of time before the great war, before Queen Shimmer took over.
"Back in my day the streets weren't cracked and stricken with weeds and grass. The buildings weren't crumbled or covered in vines and trees. Oh yes, things were better back then. The streets busy with cars and the people were not ruled by a monarchy, but democracy." He’d recall.
My father was the general of our little town if it could even be called a town. And he is one of the very few, if not the only person to have seen the rise of Queen Sunset in person, and escape with is mind and life intact. I am 19 years old, and my father is 38. He was about my age when she took over.
He told me of that fateful day many years ago.
“It was during my prime years.” he said. “I had just turned 18 and was about to graduate high school. It was the night of the Fall Formal, an annual dance held at our school. We had a very unique new student named Twilight Sparkle, and she was from another world called Equestria where ponies were the dominant species. Sunset Shimmer was my age then, and she too was from that same world.”
He told of how Sunset Shimmer had stolen, from Twilight, what is currently her crown, and how it was full of very powerful magic which she used to stop Twilight and her friends from taking it back.
“What she did with that magic, was terrible, horrifying even”, he paused.
“Everyone suddenly grew fur all over there bodies... Their ears turned into that of a horses, and tails sprouted out from their back there feet turning into hoofs.. They were controlled by the magic, causing them to believe anything she said and obey every command given to them.”
“There was fighting everywhere. Screams and crying soon filled the usual bustling city noises of cars and talking between friends as the others ran from the attacking forces. Many who were not willing to suffer the same fate took their life rather than see it fall to Sunsets will.”

This next part of the story dad never told me.

“Me and Twilight were able to get away to recuperate and plan our next move, taking weeks to do so. We fell in love with each other. I wanted to go with her everywhere, to never leave her side. We were going to fight together, or go down together. When we were ready Twilight made me stay behind. I wanted to go with her, but she left in the middle of the night.”
Twilight and her friends tried to stop them with their own magic, but Sunset somehow absorbed most of their magicial powers. Their personalities completely changed. Twilight’s friends were all captured and put into Stasis pods. Afterward she sealed the portal back to the world of equestria, forever.
The spell she had cast on others to make them worship her didn't work on Twilight and she could still think clearly.... yet she developed a horn, and a pair of wings just like everyone else. After that she cast another spell that put her into a sort of stasis, she couldn’t fight back and aged slowly, but was kept alive to witness Sunsets rise to power just like the rest of her friends.

Father would continue to tell me.

Twilight was a very close friend of his and that I was a very special person. He told me that if you weren't fighting back, or hiding, you would be captured and end up obeying the queen as one of her hybrid creations.
“There was much bloodshed, but no matter what happened we couldn't defeat Sunset. I ran away into the mountains, far from civilization. Where we started this very village. “
I always enjoyed hearing his stories.
I never knew my mother, but father said she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. When he would train me he would tell me of her, but always kept it down to a few sentences, never elaborating on the subject. I always assumed It was because it hurt him too much to think about the fact that she was gone. He told me that she had died by Sunset Shimmers hands.
He trained me to shoot and scavenge supplies, but I was mostly taught about how to fight in hand-to-hand combat, more specifically swords. Father always said that swords were better than guns because they don't run out of ammo, not to mention the fact that ammo was hard to come by in this day and age.
I became infamous among the queen’s soldiers, having fought in many battles and had a lot of combat experience. Soon even the queen herself wanted me captured. They called me the Phoenix, because no matter what happened I always rose up to defeat my enemies. And I always fought with my signature sword, which I also named Phoenix, Twilight had apparently made it for father and he passed it down to me.
It had a red and black guard and red design on the blade itself. The handle was wrapped on red and black fabric. It majestically glowed golden in the sunlight.
He said it had the same magic that the queen took from the crown.

A few days ago we found out that there was a small base belonging to the queen not too far away. While out on patrol we had a close call with a helicopter flying overhead, our squad only hidden by ducking in the waist high grass, which was blown around from the aircraft's rotors. We ventured in the direction that we had seen the helicopter fly in. Eventually finding ourselves on a hill midway up a mountain near our village, and we gazed down upon a clearing in the valley below. We couldn’t believe how big the base was and we hadn’t even noticed it till now. We couldn’t let them find out where we were. If we were to leave it alone, it would only be matter of time until they found our village, and by then it would be too late. We could move either, we had permanent settlements built and too many people. That left us with the only option. It was the only way to protect those we love.
We were going to go in, shut it down and destroy it before they could build it any bigger, and before they could discover us. It had to be done quickly and quietly.

Little did we know what would lie ahead.

Here is where our adventure begins.