Year 2532, 34th of Chillwind, Hour 36 – Forested Hamlet – General POV

Under the shining night sky, tucked away in a small valley surrounded by pine trees lay a hamlet. The chilled northern winds gently rattled the shop signs and shuffled the stray autumn leaves.

The streets lay empty, as not a single soul was out at this hour. No one except a single military-grade gunship. It sat quietly in the center of the hamlet.

Underneath the cockpit of the gunship were five soldiers, Royal Guards to be specific. Adorned in the signature gold and bronze-plated armor, they each were occupied with various activities.

Three sat around a collapsible table. The stallion and mares were engaged in a calm game of Gin Rummy.

The fourth soldier tiredly stood, resting himself against the gunship and staring up the slope of a mountain. The fifth paced across the length of the cockpit, his ears nervously folded against his head.

Eventually, he broke the silence.

“What if she finds out!?” His pacing never lessened.

The mare closest to him at the table released a frustrated sigh, “She isn’t going to find out.”

“But what if she does?!” The worry in the nervous guard’s voice was apparent.

“Timber, relax.” The mare at the table rolled her eyes. “There’s no way Celestia knows what we’re doing. She’s not omni-sentient.”

You keep saying that, Major Glaze, but do you know if it’s true?

“Sweet Creator,” The other mare across from Glaze, flipping her blue and purple pastel mane from her eyes, spoke up. “Can you make him stop?”

“Sky Lace, be nice.”

“…”

“Alright, even though we’re technically off-duty; Timber, I order you to stop overreacting and complaining.”

“But—” Timber protested.

“Ay… I said quit it.”

Timber released a heavy breath, halting his pacing. Not long after, though, he walked to the lone stallion leaning against the gunship.

“Do you think Celestia is omni-sentient, Lieutenant Hanger?” Timber stood beside Hanger.

Hanger continued his vigilant gaze up the mountainside.

“Hmph, if Celestia was omni-sentient, Captain Grayblade wouldn’t be getting away with this.”

Timber began to correct Hanger, “What does that—”

Timber’s sentence was interrupted as loud crackling suddenly began in the direction of Hanger’s staring.

The five guards adjusted their gazes up to the sky in the direction of the sound. Dark swirling clouds began to form. As suddenly as the clouds appeared, four glowing bolts of lightning fell from the sky, each after the other. The boom of the strikes echoed down the mountainside. Residents began to exit their homes, confused by the thundering cracks.

Glaze set her cards face down on the table and rotated her chair towards the lightshow. She leaned back and stretched out her legs.

“Get comfortable, the show’s about to begin.”

General POV – Two Kilometers Northwest

A rain of blood and charred flesh fell from the sky. The smell of burning skin poisoned the mountain air. The hulking form of a Minotaur charged through the brush, hoping to escape the death that hunted him.

Not a second after, a smaller form of a mare unicorn followed the beast. Lightning coated her arms. Magical strength shone in her eyes and along her horn. With a snarl, the anthropony summoned lightning to her hand and threw a shower of bolts into the back of the fleeing Minotaur

Instantly, his flesh seared off. His chest burst, sending blood, organic material, and purple sparks against the brush. He shrieked in pain, before collapsing to the ground.

The mare, her face contorted with fury, ignited a new spell into her hands. In an elegant motion, she twisted her arms and moved her fingers.

A bright purple light shot from her hand into the corpse of the Minotaur. As the glowing light penetrated his body, his corpse was raised from the ground. After a few seconds, the Minotaur was placed onto his feet, his body hunched over like a zombie; a faint purple hue emitted from its chest and eyes.

The mare uttered one word; her thick Sarabian accent tainted with ethereal magical might:

“Kill.”

The corpse of the Minotaur roared, charging forward towards a campfire where another walking corpse mauled a screaming Minotaur to death.

The mare aggressively sauntered into the camp. She approached a single Minotaur. A chieftain adorned with skulls around his waist and intricate tattoos along his chest. He lay upon a broken tent.

The mare pointed to the chief, speaking another command to her undead corpses.

“Grab him.”

The two raised dead quit their senseless mauling of the other dead bodies and quickly pulled the Minotaur to his knees.

The mare stared into his soul, her angry glare and whitened eyes striking fear into his heart.

“You thought no one could stand against you,” she began. “but you underestimated who you were dealing with. You—” the mare harshly drove a finger into the beast’s chest. ”—made a grave mistake. You killed him. You murdered my only friend!”

A humming began to sound from the mare’s palms, growing louder with each second.

“And now, I will kill you. I want you to remember the name of Solaria Grayblade as I blow your dead body to every corner of Alheere!”

She brought back her arms, sparkling bolts of lightning crackling in her hands. As she prepared to explode the chieftain’s body, a hammer impacted with her side. The mare grunted and was thrown to the ground a few meters away.

With her concentration thrown off, the undead corpses lost their magical connection and fell to the ground.

“Come, Chief,” The hammer-wielding Minotaur said. “Let’s go.”

“Good work, Svelg.” The chieftain stood up and began to flee. “You got lucky this time!”

Both turned away from the collapsed mare and retreated into the forest.

Solaria’s POV

I groan in pain. The effects of my magical overload absorbed a portion of the hammer impact, but damage was still dealt. My ribs will be sore for the next few days.

If my left eye was still intact, both of those Minotaurs would be dead.

I lift myself off the ground into a sitting position, falling back against my right arm. All around me were the remains of a Minotaur raiding party; slaughtered through my own magical strength, and an emotionally induced overload.

None of them could stand against me, yet the one I was after had slipped through my grip.

I had failed. Despite my efforts, that faraking leathersack escaped!

My face contorted with anger; My fists were clenched tight. Jumping up, I ignited the Electrical Concussion spell into my right palm and focused the energy on a nearby tree.

As the magic touches the trunk, lightning bolts explode from within. Bark and chunks of wood fly away from the tree. With a low groan, the massive pine slowly tips away from me. The crash of its impact with the ground reverberates throughout the forest.

I scream, socking the trunk of another pine tree. Pain rockets through my left side, but nothing could hurt more than failing to avenge the only one I felt comfortable around.

Calm yourself. Now is not the time nor place for sorrow and anger.

After a few minutes of rest, I cover the fire left by the raiders in dirt and begin walking the distance back to the hamlet.

34th of Chillwind, Hour 37:52 – Forested Hamlet – General POV

“Here she comes.” Timber called to the others. The five soldiers, and most of the hamlet’s population, gathered in front of the gunship, waiting as Solaria approached them.

She was gripping her left ribcage, a look of discomfort across her muzzle.

“Are you alright, Captain,” Sky Lace asked.

Solaria breathed deeply.

“I’ll be fine.”

“Well, did you get him?” Sky Lace did little to hide her eager tone.

With a grimace, Solaria slowly spoke.

“No, Sergeant Lace, I didn’t.”

Most of the soldier’s expressions changed to dismay.

“But, how…” Sky Lace questioned, taken aback at Solaria’s failure.

“He was better equipped than I thought, but he hasn’t won yet. I’ll return in a few days and finish what he started.”

“In a few days?! He’ll be long gone by then!”

“That’s enough, Sergeant Lace. I’ll handle it.”

“But—”

“I said drop it!”

The venom in Solaria’s voice silenced Sky Lace. When there was no response, Solaria began to lightly hobble to the back of the gunship.

“Lieutenant Hanger, get the townsfolk back in their homes.”

While Hanger cleared the crowd, Glaze gestured for the rest of the soldiers to grab their equipment and board the transport.

As they boarded, Glaze watched each soldier enter the gunship. War Coach was frustrated, Sky Lace was angry. Only Hanger’s face was curved in a slight smile, his thoughts clearly on something else. Glaze’s face twitched. A million thoughts raced through her mind as she double-checked that everyone was on board, before joining.

The gunship’s bay door shut with a hiss; the engine thrusters initiating for take-off. The transport lifted from the ground, flying away with a loud thrum.

34th of Chillwind, Hour 40 – Canterlot Docking Platform 8 – Solaria’s POV

“Good work, boys. And remember – not a word to anyone.”

Both pilots confirmed my order with a nod. Satisfied with their response, I left the interior of the gunship’s cockpit. My squad was gathering their items they had brought with them.

All of them were disappointed, that feeling was apparent on their faces.

I had failed to deliver on my promise to them. It hurt more than expected.

A quiet cough touches my ears. Major Glaze was next to me, trying to subtly gain my attention. I meet her gaze, waiting to listen to her thoughts.

“Keep an eye on Hanger,” Glaze softly said. “Something about him this trip has been … off.”

I glance to the stallion in question. He’s casually waiting at the door of the gunship.

Glaze is right.

Hanger’s posture isn’t like the rest. He’s standing too tall. His expression is too calm. Everyone else has some form of sadness, or anger, plaguing them, but he doesn’t.

“Don’t worry,” I place a hand upon Glaze’s right shoulder. “I’ll check it out tomorrow. For now, however—” I raise my voice for everyone to hear “—I want all of you to get some rest. I’ll reassign tonight’s tasks for another time.”

A flurry of tired “Yes ma’ams” rang from around the gunship. I exit the vehicle and take the walkway from the landing pad to the main path, leaving my soldiers to handle themselves.

The night was absent of clouds, allowing the full shine of the night sky to flood the ground. Even the moon, just past its half-moon stage, and the light pollution of Canterlot hardly dented the sky.

After a short, 5-minute walk, the guard barracks come into view. My personal quarters were separate from the standard quarters; the perk of being the Captain of the Guard. I take the path heading to the left, reaching my quarter’s door.

With a flick of my wrist, a simple Telekinesis spell is used to unlock the door from the inside. I enter, close and relock, then face the simplistic bed across from the door, centered along the wall.

After taking a moment of rest, I suddenly notice just how heavy my armor is. Carefully sliding the helmet from my head and carelessly tossing it onto the floor. I work at undoing the bun my mane is in. As the pin is removed, my fiery red and orange locks fall around my face.

The gauntlets are next; by simply sliding a finger along a magically hidden (and sealed) crease traveling the forearm’s length.

A simple, yet efficient way to seal armor without the need of straps or locks.

The pauldrons follow the gauntlets, with the tasset, boots, greaves, and cuisses right behind. Finally, the chestpiece was all that remained. I unlock the seals underneath each arm, allowing gravity to pull the purple and gold armorplates from my body.

When the chestplate falls away, the pain from the hammer impact flares up. I wince, carefully clutching my ribs. Using the Swelling Reduction spell, the pain slowly dies down to a gentle throbbing.

I collapse onto my bed not caring to remove the under-armor. It was comfortable enough to sleep in, considering it is made to be a second skin.

Yawning, my body begins to fall asleep. Usually, the heaviness of sleep had little effect on me. It was a nice perk, allowing for multiple nights awake. The events of tonight, however, weighed heavily on my conscious, making my mind weary.

Not even crawling underneath the blankets, I drift off. The sleep is as uncomfortable as it had been since Stronghold had died.

Author's Note

Hoh boy, this took a while to do. But, it's finally done! Hooray!

To clarify, what I've done is completely rewrite the first two chapters. Then, had made a prologue, which became chapter 1, which pushed the original chapter 1-2 to become chapter 2-3. What I'm saying, if you've read this story already and are coming back to it, do not skip anything! While chapter 2-3 are similar to their originals, they are still different enough to be new chapters.

As always, enjoy! And, as an additional info bonus, I'm going to list every spell that is mentioned within the chapters down below the initial author's notes.

Chapter 1 Spells Conducted (in order of use)

Thunderbolt - Subject to the Offensive sub-category Lightning Element, this spell allows the caster to summon a literal lightning bolt from the sky. The bolt can be changed through size, blast power, and voltage. It is the most taxing spell of its category, as well as the most powerful.

Undead Corpse - Subject to the Conjuration sub-category Necromancy, when cast upon a recently dead body, it will bring the body back from the dead. While the body is brought back to life, the mind and soul do not. Instead, they are replaced with a small sliver of the casters soul. This allows the caster to easily control the corpses.

Electrical Concussion - Subject to the Offensive sub-category Lightning Element, this spell allows the caster to summon a ball of electrical charges at a chosen location. When the caster chooses, they can cause the charges to expand, resulting in the charges blasting out and creating an electrical concussion (basically like an electrical C4).

Swelling Reduction - Subject to the Defensive sub-category Healing, this spell affects any wounds, diseases, or bites that cause swelling. It is primarily used for sunburns or burns in general, as well as bruises.

--Thanks to HoneyBacho for proofreading and helping with world continuity.