CHAPTER 1

    It had been happening for awhile now; occasional jumps in arcane energy levels across various areas, the restless dead rising from their resting place and attacking the barriers that kept the wendigos at bay. The Celestial Empire had been tracking these attacks which they presumed to be from Lunar Republic necromancers.  Due to growing worry of attacks, the Celestial empire sent out a small caravan of soldiers and mages to investigate.

“It’s been almost two weeks!” Exclaimed Ace Swift, one of the soldiers sent to investigate. “When in Tartarus are we going to be there?!”  The stallion grumbled in boredom.

Velvet Dawn, the caravan driver, sighed and turned to the restless soldier. “Soon.” She replied, “The tomb of Gryfalder shouldn’t be too far from Whitemane. We will stop there to rest and then continue.”

“That’s what you said an hour ago! How do we know if you’re even leading us to the tomb? For all we know, you could be leading us to a Lunar ambush!” Ace challenged aggressively, pointing a hoof at the mare.

Velvet sighed and looked at him “Because if I was, you would already be de-”

The mare was cut off by the sudden lurch and loud crackling sound of the wagon wheel splintering. She felt the wagon begin to wobble and gasped, quickly ordering the wagon pullers to stop so she could examine the damage. “Bloody hell… this is going to take a while to fix..” She then called Ace over to help her lift the wagon. They had hit a boulder and needed to repair the wagon before they could travel further.

“You did this on purpose!” He growled as he pushed the large boulder out of the way. “Now we are vulnerable to an attack from those Lunar scum!”

She growled in fierce annoyance and couldn’t stop herself from snapping at him “Now explain to me why I would break my own wagon? It’s nearly the only thing that keeps me alive in today’s market!”

He drew his sword “How dare you speak to a superior in such a distasteful manner!” The stallion pressed forward, raising it into the air and preparing to strike. Velvet was unarmed, and untrained, and she began to back up slowly, wincing as he prepared to swing.

Then suddenly, just as he was about to swipe at her, Prince Blueblood caught his hoof “Don’t you dare even think for a moment about killing our navigator. If you do, then we will all be stranded here!” He huffed.

    The color drained from Ace’s face “So sorry sir! It won’t happen again!” He stammered, gulping in cold fear.

As soon as the Prince left the duo alone again, he turned right back to Velvet “Traitor.” He sneered. “Next time, you won’t be so lucky. I’ll be sure of it.” With his threat now assured, the buck headed back inside the wagon and onto his bunk

She snorted “Asshole.” and turned back to her work on the wagon. It had almost become nightfall. She sighed “Looks like another night out on the stars…” she took her blankets out of the caravan and went to sleep a fair distance away from the mages and soldiers, preferring the solitude of night.

Later that night she was awoken to the ashy smell of smoke instead of the watery dew that normally covered the new grass of night. She choked on the smoke and opened her eyes which began watering due to the reaction. “W-what..?” she looked at the caravan. It was lit ablaze. This caused her to scream in horror as she galloped over.

“Oh my celestia… it’s all gone…” she looked around the ruined caravan until she stepped in something squishy and wet. She looked down at her hoof and gasped. It was the corpse of one of the soldiers. She took a closer look at the situation and started to notice all the more dead ponies. Sadly, Ace’s body was nowhere to be found.

“Oh god…” She proceeded to throw up on to the ground next to her. Velvet never was one to stomach gore well, and this was just too much for her to handle.

Regaining her composure she began to trot in circles, trying to figure out what happened. The caravan must have been attacked by Lunar sympathisers of some sort, but how? And with that, why was she spared? Did they even see her?

She sighed, none of that mattered now. Now she would have to prepare for a fight. She quickly grasped a sword with her horn from a fallen soldier and began to trot off towards their previous destination, hoping she would find the rebels that had wiped out her team, before they found her. She sighed and looked down “I need to get help… then I can figure out what to do from there!”

She then turned her eyes towards the sun “Okay… so I should head the opposite way. That’s the way to Whitemane… Maybe I’ll be able to get some help there.” with her destination decided, she headed out into the wilderness.

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“Damn… it takes a lot longer to trot somewhere than to ride somewhere…”

After miles of walking, Velvet finally noticed a small camp. Perhaps there were some friendly hunters willing to trade some food with her, she thought. With a hop, skip, and a jump, Velvet entered the camp, hoping she would be greeted with open arms. She soon realized that she was very wrong. The camp was full of the Lunar Republic’s soldiers! They were laughing and eating the food from her personal stash!

Without thinking, she stomped over “Hey assholes! That’s mine!” She growled and drew her sword.

They turned to face her and laughed “Oh? Looks like we missed one lads.” A pegasus with blue fur and grey eyes sneered, trotting over to the,mare with a couple of his friends. “Come on. Put your weapon down and we promise to make it quick.”

She growled at them, ready to fight. But before she could make a move, an invisible hoof guided her own hoof as she sliced through his armor, killing him. “Wha… what?” She asked, bewildered.

They looked in shock, not at all expecting her to have cut through their thick armor. A stallion then whinnied, “Get her! She killed Silver!”

With a smirk, Velvet swung her blade, clashing against the spear of an enraged pegasus guard. With the flick of a wrist, she swiped the spear and sent it flying into the chest of an approaching captain. Soon, an earth pony dashed over to her with a swift left hook, bashing against her head brutally. As she fell to the ground, her vision blurring, she could only hear the sounds of shuffling hooves, and murmured speech.

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Darkness. Darkness everywhere.

Our hero soon found herself face to face with a large and ferocious beast. It's mane was white as snow and it's coat was as crisp as the harsh winds that permeated the battlefield. Velvet looked down at herself. She wore a hefty suit of armor and a peculiar helmet with lamb-like horns that curved around the sides. As she looked up at the beast, she could feel it's icy cold eyes staring into her soul. She gulped and took a ready stance. “You will fall, Wendigo Prime. Just as the other Wendigos have.”

“And what makes you say that, my sweet?” The beast asked with a voice as thick as the finest wool. “No… I say it is you who will fall victim to the very ice and snow we stand upon.”

“Oh yeah? Well… I certainly won't go down without a fight.” She snapped back, readying herself.

“Yes yes, good… prove that you have what it takes to finish what you started: Faustchild.”

With a giant leap, Velvet charged the beast, armed with a sword and shield, and sucked in a mighty breath.

“FUS RO-”

CRASH

Velvet suddenly shook awake as the carriage she now lay in hit a bump. Looking around, she saw she was on a carriage with a few other ponies she didn’t know. She went to stand and learned she was bound to the seat. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” She then looked at the stallion next to her who seemed to be under more bounds than she was.

“Aye. You’re not a soldier are ye?” Another who sat across of her asked. “It’s evident. You would have been captured immediately hadn't you been able to fight them all like that, but you lack discipline…” He then quickly added, “Gotta say though, you do have talent.”

She growled “I didn’t mean to kill him! I don’t even know how I managed to do such a thing!” she looked away. How had she managed that? She hadn’t fought anything more than a few parasprites, but another pony who had combat training… that was something else.

“Aye, don’t worry about it lass. It never gets any easier. The name’s Ricochet, but you can call me “Rick.” What’s your name girlie?” he asked with a hearty chuckle.

She turned back to the stallion “Oh… my name is… Velvet. Velvet Dawn.” She turned back away, trying to determine if the wheels were sturdy enough to withstand a rock or high impact.

“Are you okay?” He asked, trying to get her attention. “You seem awfully focused on something.”

She turned back to him with a small smirk “They didn’t disable my horn. Must’ve thought I would stay out until our death.”

He gave her a weird look “What do you mean death? We aren’t to be killed. I’ve learned about these Moon types. They try to indoctrinate you into their cause.” He paused, looking down before looking back up at her. “I hear if you reject the offer, you go to work camps… where they quite literally work you to death.”

    Her ears flattened as she heard this, and she silently gasped. “Oh god… we gotta get out of here!” She whisper-shouted in fear.

    He nodded “And I’ve got a plan for that. But you need to stay quiet!” He leaned forward and with his wet breath whispered “We use these bloody ropes against the driver and choke him out.”

    She looked around, quickly realizing they were outnumbered. “Okay... but we”ll have to make this quick..” She then quickly leaned down to his haunches and began gnawing on the rope.

    He chuckled lightly “Hurry this up. We won’t want the guards getting any idea’s.”

    She rolled her eyes “Mhm…” She broke through the rope and nodded up at him. The buck quickly moved to the front of the carriage, slinging a fair amount of slack over the seat and yanking back, choking out the driver.

The driver fought against the buck, causing the carriage pullers to freak out and frantically veer of the road. They quickly went down the side of the mountain.

    “Oh dear Celestia!” The buck shouted. “Hold onto something!” He cried out in a slight fit of laughter.