Just A Slice

When the siege unicorns broke through the palace doors, shattering the wood and blowing them off their hinges, Zwei Handier rushed forward, roaring his battle cry and charging into the ponies beyond the door into the palace. He stabbed a unicorn in the throat and pulled his sword out as the Commander landed in front of him, wings outstretched, blades shining red with the blood of dozens, and started into the scrambling soldiers. The Commander swept into them like a hot knife into butter, and the soldier's ranks melted before him. He cut down more then sixty ponies before Zwei's eyes and bellowed orders for the ponies to follow him. Zwei sprinted with the others in his unit after the Commander. He led them up a narrow staircase to a door with countless spears poking out of it. The army rushed forward, but fell in waves as the spears carved deadly swaths into their ranks.

The Commander pointed at Zwei and several others and ordered them to follow him to the flank. He followed obediently, as did fifty others. They raced through the halls, jumping over the dead and struggling to keep up with the pegasus commander. Eventually they came to a rather small door in the side of the room and they could hear a pony shouting commands to the troops inside. They almost ran in until they realized that the Commander had not gone in before them. They turned to look for him and saw him standing over a blue mare, a pretty one in spite of the slashed throat. The troops watched in silence, waiting for an order, as he just stood there gaping over her. He collapsed to his knees and the small unit spread out, fearing an invisible foe.

The Commander flinched suddenly and began crying, silver stars dribbling down his cheeks. He hunched over, his spine jutting out, and screamed like a banshee. The others around Zwei fell to the ground covering their ears, but he could only watch the commander. He could literally see the sound waves shivering from not only the pegasus' mouth, but from his chest. Wave after wave of sound crashed against the walls and the stones began to crack. His scream stopped, and he lay whimpering on the ground. Zwei was about to help him up, when he began to just float from the ground, levitating without a unicorn's magic. He burst into flames and they could see his body twisting. Grotesque lumps started poking out of his skin and his coat dissolved, showing pink muscles in between flames. His flesh burned from his body and he started screaming again, this time even louder, but it was deeper, more like a roar. The ponies around him started panicking, but held their ground looking about wildly for whatever was doing this to him.

The Commander opened his eyes and they shone with the brilliance of the sun, just an orange glow, no actual eye. His screams continued and the ceiling started crumbling above them. A few chunks of stone landed on the soldiers and the walls continued to shiver and break apart. The Commander's hooves began shifting and fingers or talons started growing out of where his hooves used to be. His spine twisted backwards, as did his hind legs and scales grew over the open muscles as his limbs stretched to unnatural lengths. His scream was endless, he didn't even pause for breath, just continued to breath out pure destruction around him. Two horns sprouted from either side of his mouth and his teeth narrowed to long, razor sharp fangs, his tongue suddenly forked at the end, splitting apart with a sickening rip. He curled into a fetal position as he transformed and his scream ended, but Zwei could see waves of energy pulse into him. The air pulsed in the silence and he could hear his very heart beat. The Commander spread out suddenly and a wave blasted out of him. Zwei and the others were thrown into the wall and some out the windows from the sheer power of the concussive blast.

Zwei crawled to his hooves and looked up, into deep, golden, reptilian eyes. He could feel his throat open and he collapsed to the ground in a pool of blood. His blood.