Several changelings surrounded a steel grey unicorn stallion, who had a long, shaggy black mane and tail, and spots of white in it, who was cradling the corpse of a small, white pegasus filly, crying.
--------------------------------------------Several Minutes Earlier...--------------------------------------------
Quick Step was running, carrying his daughter, Gentle Smiles, on his back as he constantly maneuvered to escape the group of changelings that were pursuing them.
"I'm scared Daddy..." Gentle Smiles said, holding onto her father's neck for, quite literally, dear life.
"It's ok, Gentle, I won't let them hurt you."
He rounded a corner only to running into more changelings. He sighed, but kept running, avoiding them by running past them and dodging their various attempts at stopping them without slowing down.
A trio of changelings, standing on a roof, began shooting at them with their magic, forcing Quick Step to dodge as he ran, all while making sure Gentle wasn't slipping.
He ran down an alleyway that he knew not to be a dead end, only to see another group of changelings blocking his way. This time, however, he knew he wouldn't be able to slip past them and keep running: there were too many. He also couldn't just jump over them because several had taken to the skies and were charging their magic in order to attack.
He had only one choice.
He got into a house, ran to the top floor, which was well above the ground, jumped to another rooftop, barely making it, and kept doing it, all the while avoiding divebombing Changelings, and magical bolts launched by their fellows.
Eventually, he ran out of rooftops to jump and entered the house he had stopped at, knocking aside the few Changelings still inside.
Outside, he saw a lone guard, desperately fighting off a duo of changelings by himself, as the rest of his squadron seemed to have been killed by the changelings lying dead nearby, if not because he was alone, then because there were the corpses of what was presumably the rest of his squadron, if the guard armor and spears were anything to go by.
Quick Step leaped on the first one, strangling it with his magic and holding it down with his hooves.
The guard didn't pause and simply killed the second changeling, who had been distracted by Quick Step choking out his squad leader, and didn't notice the guard about to stab him till it was too late.
Unfortunately for the guard, several changelings leapt upon him, tearing him limb from limb.
A changeling fired a burst of magic, blinding Quick Step before running at him with a dagger.
He heard the sound of flesh being impaled, but felt nothing.
Once his vision returned, he cried out: Gentle had taken the stab meant for him.
He broke the horn off of the changeling's head, stabbing the foe in the neck with it before holding his daughter close as she smiled, happy her father was alive.
"I'm gonna see Mama, like the book says...Bye bye...Daddy..." She said. She then went limp, the heat began exiting her body, and her eyes drifted shut, all of her internal organs shutting down.
Quick Step was trying to stop this. "No...don't do this Gentle...please don't do this...please!!! Dear Faust, no...Gentle!!! GENTLE!!!"
Gentle said one last thing, her voice barely even a whisper, but Quick Step heard it with perfect clarity:
"I...love...you..."
Quick Step cradled her body, crying in absolute despair.
---------------------------------Back Where We Left Quick Step...--------------------------------
Quick Dtep gently laid Gentle's body to the ground, then grabbed the fallen guard's spear with his magic, holding it to his throat as if to kill himself.
He then let out a loud noise that could only be described as one thing:
A primal roar of unrelenting fury.
He leapt at the nearest changeling, stabbing it through the neck with the spear, passing through its somewhat flimsy carapace with ease due to the razor sharp steel.
He then smacked aside the one who tried to sneak up on him, leaving it to bleed out on the iron fence it had been impaled on as a result.
He faced the rest of the changelings, who stood in various combat stances, a few of them charging up their magic in order to attack from a distance.
He simply stepped forward, ripping the spear from the first changeling with his magic.
He saw nothing but red as he shouted three simple words:
YOU WILL SUFFER!!!"
'...I'm...Alive???'
Quick Step's eyes wouldn't open, but his hearing was coming back to him.
"-e's -ing up!!!"
"-r sure -tor???"
"His heart rate's risen. I'm sure he's awake."
Quick Step groaned. "Where...where...am I???" His voice sounded strange, as if there was something in his mouth.
"Hello sir!!! Glad to see your finally awake. I'm Doctor Fixer, and this is Nurse Kind Heart."
"It's...nice to meet you...I'm...Quick Step...Am I...in a hospital???"
"Indeed you are. You were in quite the nasty situation when we found you: most of your ribs were broken, you had a major concussion, one of your lungs was about to collapse, you almost lost your left forehoof, had third degree magical burns, and all of your knees were dislocated. After we got you stabilized you fell into a coma. You've been out of it for two years!!!"
"Do you have any idea why I was that bad off???"
"Well, we found you after the changeling invasion. Your a tough customer, I'll tell you that."
Quick Step, to his credit, remained silent.
"...Can you get me some ink, a quill, and some paper???"
"Of course."
--------------------------------------Six Months Later...------------------------------------------
Quick Step walked up to the podium, where many cameras began flashing.
"Mister Quick Step, why is it you've decided to publish your book???"
Quick Step adjusted the microphone before speaking. "It's rather simple, really. I want ponies to know that I'm no hero, that I didn't fight the changelings because of my morals. I only fought for one thing: Revenge. I lost everything because of them, but I am no better than them, for I took that from them and even more."
"Mister Quick Step, what are you going to do with the money made from sales of your book???"
"I'm going to donate most of the funds to the various charities formed to help the victims of the Changeling attack. The rest of the money will go towards my way of paying my respects to those who died on that tragic day."
"Mister Quick Step, can you tell us some of what happened that day, from an outsider's viewpoint???"
"...I don't see why not...Fair warning for those faint of heart, your going to want to leave the room, because I plan on going into excruciating detail."
About half of the ponies inside the building left, clearly not the type for the tale he was to tell.
"It all began, on that fateful day, that the changelings attacked..."
