Prologue

I lay between the dead bodies of my Mom and Dad; a scent of fresh blood and ashes wafted through the air, contaminating a place that had never before played host to such a sickening aroma.

My life used to be one of carefree fun and learning of the sky and stars above. I used to enjoy spending time with my mother, playing hide and seek, when they were killed my changelings.

I heard ponies scream as their life was viciously sucked out of them like juice through a plastic straw. Tears were falling from my eyes, and I thought why couldn’t I have died with them? Why did they take my parents and leave me to suffer?

I started to crawl across the floor, hearing glass crack under my body, looking for something to cover Mom and Dad. Maybe I could kill myself and join them that way. I shook my head knowing I was too much of a coward to even go through with it.

I wanted to stay with them for as long as possible, maybe even die by their sides; so I couldn’t let the guard find me... if they could.

As I searched for the tablecloth, I thought about how killing myself would affect my friend, Artemis. If my parents couldn’t stop those monsters, than there was no way his mom could, and it might just push him over the edge to know that I killed myself.

When I found the green monster, I knew it would easily cover all of us; now there was little chance anyone would find us. I smiled inside, everything would be okay; I would get to sleep with both my Mom and Dad, like normal fillies do when they have a bad dream. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I'll wake up and this would all be a bad dream, yeah, just a bad dream..

Looking at the tablecloth, I saw a few burnt circles; childish curiosity moved to the forefront of my mind, and since I was in a good mood, I decided to see if I could put my hoof inside without touching the edge. I succeeded the comforting thought of being able to accomplish something flooded my mind with euphoria that took my mind off of my dead parents. I tried it with my other limbs, feeling the urge to laugh as I completely forgot about my problems, but when I tried to do it with my right back leg, I felt a massive shaft of pain rocket up. It was then that everything came back into perspective. I remembered how Mom kicked me in that leg so she could get me away from the monster that took her life. I had fallen down the splinter ridden stairs pain and blood flowing from my torn body.

The pain that flared quickly overwhelmed my senses, and I closed my eyes tightly letting a loud whimper leave my mouth as I gritted my teeth, a righteous fire burning through my system.

It had been such a beautiful day when this happened; Mom signed me up for my first and thankfully last beauty pageant; I got to see Artemis again, and I even got a chance to learn about my dad. I still remembered the way Mom brushed my yellow coat; even the way I hummed as the brush scratched the itchy spots. I loved her so much that I didn’t care if I was a colt in a filly’s show, it was special to her so it was special to me.

When the pain subsided, I took a deep breath before taking the tablecloth back to what I half hoped would become my grave. Tears dripped onto the dusty floor; I slipped on a mixture of green and red blood. landing painfully on my bottom. IT was the blood of our enemies, terrifying changelings that looked nothing like the one's Mom showed me two years ago.The walls were covered in the stuff, making It look like Mom gave the house a green paint job, but it—

I slipped on another green puddle, sending a rather large shard of glass deep into the meat of my leg. Blood oozed out, splattering onto the floor. A scream ripped from my mouth as someone lit a bonfire under my legs; I tightly closed my eyes, grimacing as shafts of pain flowed through my body once again.

When the pain died down, I started to move again, but with each step I took, more glass lodged itself in my body, making more blood flow, and soon I started to feel faint. I had never seen pony blood before today and never had to think about death, but now those horrifying thoughts forced themselves into my mind.

Red marked my movements, but I wanted nothing more than to use this tablecloth to cover me and my parents, and i'd fight to my last breath until that happened.

I thought about this being just some horrible dream, and I felt a breif plume of hope, but when I took my next step, I knew this was real, I would have woken up when I felt the burning pain in my back leg. My parents really were dead.

As I neared my parents, I could only see Dad’s blood-splattered blue coat, but knew that Mom was right beside him; it’s not like she would have gone anywhere. I froze for a second as the idea of zombie ponies tickled my brain like a feather.

"M-Mom?" I said, my voice quivering. There was no response, not even the tell tale moan of a mindless zombie, and I breathed a sigh of relief, there was enough to deal with without the thought of getting my brains eaten.

Different colored blasts of magic glowed from outside,and heard the changelings cry out in pain. A smile cracked on my tear stricken face; the Canterlot army was more capable than I thought, and those changeling skum were getting what they deserved. I still couldn’t let either of them see me; I had to cover myself before they take me away from Mom and Dad.

Red-hot lances of pain ran through my body as I started my work; it was taking all of my strength to climb up Dad and pull the cloth over him, and I could feel my body weaken from all the blood I’d lost. Fear slowly bubbled in my stomach, which quickly rose to panic, but I beat it back. If Mom could perform the awesome spell that wiped out practically every single one of those monsters, then I can pull a tablecloth; I just had to think of happier times.

I remembered the pony-changeling war my friend Artemis and I had; we were evenly matched, but I won only because I had the Princess Luna figure on my side. It beat back an entire army of changelings by itself; Celestia was on my friend’s side, but everyone knew Luna's better.

I got to the other side of Mom and started to pull the cloth over her as well; it was tough and I felt that at any second I might pass out from blood loss, but I couldn’t give up, not when I was so close.

I never really knew my dad, he tended to stay away from me. The only thing I knew was the one rule he set for me; the one that forbade me from entering his room. If I hadn't broken that rule, I might be both dead and never had any chance to ever learn about him.

I did it, I made a little tent with the tablecloth, using Mom and Dad in the same manner like fillies used furniture for their little blanket forts, but my task wasn't over, and I felt the urge to pass out wash over me again.

I moved, swaying left and right as if I had just woken up, getting cut by more glass as the dark hole I created came into view. My body spasm in pain as I was wracked with painful coughs, and I could feel darkness sweep over my vision. I didn’t know if I was under the cloth or not, but I didn’t have enough energy to find out. I flopped to the glass filled floor, blood dripping from my mouth, giving up.

My eyes were sliding closed, and I doubted they would ever open again.