Rise, Rise. For I, am Entrigan
Log Date: 08:00:12 | Iron-Wood Fortress Year: 1000+
They have a saying on one of the planets we conquered. Sector VII C6-12, Earth. That you should never corner a scared animal, or to be more precise: “Never corner a rat”. Especially if it's got something to protect. I know. I’ve seen it me self a hundred times o’er since I was made to join these invaders. I’ve seen animals do all kinds of things both outstandin’, an’ surprisin’ when backed into a corner. Just like I saw my people do things that betrayed every morally right an’ sensibly accurate thing to do when they came.
That one thing that pushes them so far, always seems to rely on instinct tellin’ them to do one thing. The very same thing it told me to do the day they showed up to conquer my planet: “Fight.”
Fight, and keep fighting. Don’t give up.
Don’t stop.
Don’t quit.
Because it’s either you or them. It’s them or you. No one’s going to come and help you when they’ve got their own loved ones. Their own friends, their own families to worry about, especially if you’re just some stranger.
When you’re backed into a corner, when you’re struggling to make it through tough times, sometimes you’ve got to rely on help, you’ve got to be confident, even if things seem grim an’ times are lookin’ rough. Even if it doesn’t work out sometimes you’ve still got to try.
Dig deep, and hope it’ll all work out somehow, someway. Because the moment you lose all hope it’s all over.
Sadly for my kind, help, never came.
I suppose that’s how life is.
Sometimes we don’t get help. Sometimes, things don’t always go the way we planned an’ things go upside down an’ rightside up when we least expect it. An’ other times everything can just be peachy an’ perfect, makin’ life just grand. Going our way just enough that we don’t feel like things aren’t so bleak an' life arn't just a jerk after all.
The name's Apald Rauthix. I am part of this group. This task force, this team, this race of aliens, an amalgamation of a variety of species made to join their cause. A cause that has made us venture so far away from all our own individual planets that have now become a part of, a colony.
We came to this world, known as Equus searching for a new land to call our own. That’s what we do. We’re Scouters. We’re Hunters. We are providers. Like mine was, an’ like the others were, we conquer worlds, and integrate the species, the animals, and all other life there, into our society, into our system, into our chain of planetary systems that provide the base, their home planet the means to expand its kind everywhere across the cosmos.
The ones that don’t have anything to offer we mark, and return to later to claim as our own. It’s how they do it. Its as we’ve been told how they’ve always done it.
I call this race that conquers and captures planet after planet, galaxy after galaxy, by a pronoun and not by name because we don’t have a name for them. No one knows their name, they’ve had so many in the past centuries not even they remember their own name. Ones that have been tossed around for centuries by many of the other races here, they’ve been called so many different things by so many different worlds that as time passed they simply just forgot.
And so I call them, “they”.
Our arrival was brief yet swift. It didn’t take long to reach the planet, then scan the area for life. Needless to say we were astounded.
Equus, Equestria, the world had so much life, so much that we had never experienced or witnessed on any other planet before. Sentient life, like talking animals was not a surprise, it was something we'd experienced enough to become familiar with at this point, but it was this element they called, “magic”, that got our attention an' theirs as well.
For sometime we did not communicate with them. We watched. We studied, but no matter what we did we could not begin to fathom, let alone understand the concept of this “magic” that they seemed to wield and possess. That the whole world in fact seemed to hold.
For the first time in a long time. I saw these invaders were...at a loss for words. But as usual that changed soon enough. We received word from HQ, from the colony. We were to engage the target, capture the planet, and dwindle their hopes just like we had done the others. An’ so we did.
Orders were orders.
I had long lost my right to have a say in my actions if I ever wanted to continue living my life, on my ‘planet’ on my ‘world’, under their terms. We, the providers carried out our task. Staunchly, we attacked.
Their leader, a king, perhaps was unprepared for our assault at most. They themselves seemingly have ended a war if not moons but years ago. Our forces were quick an' brutal. We sent a warning after we conquered a city within their territory, that we were here for their land and wished to make them a part of something better. They should comply and accept being under the order of us, the hunters, the providers.
Griffon Kingdom they called it.
I was not surprised to see their refusal. After all, my kind had done the same.
A savage force of creatures, full of pride, did not take kindly to outsiders invading their territory demanding they fall in line an' obey our commands. An’ thus they attacked, our forces. It mattered not, we would have used force eventually.
They were no match for our weaponry. They fell like a moth attracted to a flame, brutes they were in battle but no matter the amount of savagery or force one has it means nothin' if they allow pride to blind them entirely in their goal, an’ fail to see the picture beyond the box.
The Griffin Empire was conquered within two days. Their king dethroned an' disgraced, an' their most prized possession taken an' tossed aside during the chaos of battle to assure they would not recover such amazing will and stubbornness..
I began to think, “Perhaps this kind was too prideful to ask for help when it was clearly open to them unlike it had been to my own. Perhaps, they thought they could do it all themselves an' were too confident in the face of an obstacle that they became blind to seek support an' wisdom.”
My leader soon gave orders for us to move on to the next target, a nation known as Equestria.
Log Date: 04:39:35 | Stonewall Sanctum Year: 1000+
Apparently I was wrong. Maybe these race of mythical creatures are smarter than I thought. During the war not all were captured, as some may expect in battle. There will always be those that make it an’ escape, just slipping through an obstacle enough to make way for hope to the future.
A griffin made it to Equestria, an' notified the queen there. My leader, one of them, gave us orders to prepare for battle as soon as this discovery was made. If they were like the griffons we’d need to be prepared so we wouldn’t lose any more troops.
No sooner had the queen been notified did she send out her forces to engage us. We prepared for battle, but were baffled to see instead she had come to negotiate on peaceful terms. I could do nothin’ but watch her in pity. She knew not the forces that came to plunder the world that her kind an’ the rest of this world, inhabited. It was a futile attempt, sometimes, as they say on Earth; “You’ve just got to accept things as they are and go with the flow.”
I know my kind could have. Perhaps things would have been different then an’ so many would not have been slaughtered.
...I digress.
My leader made it clear that that this was not a matter of coexistence but a matter of dominance an' assimilation, not a peaceful negotiation. Negotiations were off the table. They needed to spread their kind out as far as the cosmos would allow them. It was all they knew, all they had been taught to do since ancient times. An’ it was not something they were about to break now.
An’ to make this clear we desecrated the Griffon Kingdom from its once proud foundation in front of Celestia, the griffons, an' her army, right before their very eyes.
The sparks of war were initiated almost instantly. An' to my amazement, we were the ones that were defeated, forced to retreat.
I was astounded, never before had I seen a force of creatures wield such strange forces an' make them abide to their will. They were animals, nothing more but sentient animals. It confused me as much as it confused my comrades in arms how we had lost so shamefully. Not even the animals of Val Kreptinär or the cunning, hunters of Armaldeon, were able to defeat us. This magic was something else. It was something they saw that must be attained an’ put into our way of life. Our previous encounter would soon mean nothin’, because if the queen of those magic wielding entities has been smart. She would have never spared her enemy with kindness an’ allowed them to survive as a warning or chance for retribution.
The defeat we suffered did not, but teach us a lesson. To adapt, just like they did when they conquered Earth. Just like they did when they conquered Mars, Just like they did when they conquered my own world, an' just like they did every time they lost in a battle, in a war, in a game of wits. They did the one thing that changed it all.
Adapt.
We called HQ and got help.
More forces arrived. Information exchanged, we learned from our mistakes, we pushed forward an' attacked again. My leader swore we would not lose a second having been given a second chance.
Oh, but we did.
A second time we lost, again we were spared the penalty of death.
Again Celestia had made a mistake. An' I knew it would be their downfall.
My leader was livid.
An assembly was held. We were informed not to give up an' quit simply because we lost once or twice. That even if we needed more support, we should push forward an’ do what we came to do no matter what.
More support was called. Bigger, larger, better. We went o’er our past mistakes an’ fixed ‘em. We went o’er any tiny thing we missed, an’ fixed ‘em.
An’ after two moons of preparation. We were ready.
We charged Celestia’s fortress, Fort Venhetta, an’ Fort Ironhoof, an' conquered both. The queen was forced to retreat to a nearby safehold as we defeated an’ captured bits an' pieces of her army. An' all I felt as we did was nothin' but guilt.
Time passed on an’ things began looking bad for the queen an’ her forces. Every time we lost, we came back stronger, more determined than before. An’ every time she seemed intent on trying to spare us.
I don't know what it was about it. Neither did my leaders, neither did my comrades. We simply took it as it being a part of their species, because the griffons for a fact were not as merciful in our battle with them.
We would leave Equestria an’ its nation alone for sometime if we ended up having too many injured, go around an’ attack the other nations, conquer those so they didn’t prove troublesome in the near future. Minotaurs, dragons, zebras, horses, deer, primeape, wolf, fox, each race we defeated we learned, we studied from. Each time we lost, we went back, we became more cautious, more careful in how we approached them, an’ then attacked. Broke what we had learnt gave them strength, captured the strong an’ only allowed a few to escape purposefully, to inform the queen an’ her kind that wielded this strange form of magic so well, that we were hot on their tails. A mental tactic my leaders saw work many times on the countless other planets an' solar systems they captured in the past.
Days turned to weeks, weeks to moons, till finally there were only a few countries, a few escapees, remaining that banded together with Equestria’s nation an’ took a stand to stop us.
The final showdown, had begun. My leader had made it clear once a long time ago to my kind, to all races that they conquered, there was never room for negotiation. Sometimes you can’t reason with someone, sometimes you’ve got to accept things as they are an’ go with the flow.
An’ sometimes, you can do everything in your power to look for an alternate solution, even if it means not always following what’s best for you.
Stomp Stomp Stomp
“Soldiers assemble!” a voice shouted into the highest skies of cumulonimbus clouds. A griffin, scar across her beak, wearing the same Royal Guard armor that all members of Equestria’s army and now multiple races wore.
“The enemy force has us surrounded. We have been beaten. We have been humiliated! We have been defeated, tricked, and toyed with for four moons now. But I say enough’s enough! Your Princess, our leader, Princess Celestia, has done well to protect you! But what now? What now that we are surrounded by a powerful adversary and have no way of calling for help, when help has been stripped from us on all sides!” The griffin barked, her voice full of both anger and hints of concern.
There was silence from the brigade. Not a hoof, not a breath, not a claw could be heard. Not a bird, not a stag, no a word could be said.
The army stood in front of a large fortress, magical spells, heavy incantations placed around the surrounding perimeter to alert the group of the enemy as soon as they came.
Inside sections of the fortress were the injured and Celestia's stronghold. The injured stuck in tents, being tended to by every member of staff that knew medicine from all sides of the spectrum. The few zebras managing to escape offering the aid in herbs and medicine that could give this combined army the energy they needed to keep on fighting. The unicorns doing their best to mend the most severe of wounds, and the other allied forces putting in their bits and pieces here and there.
For a while the female commander, Captain Embrice, received not a reply from her allies. Her kind had been captured and she had been the only one able to escape thanks to their efforts. She was now quite literally the last griffin of her race as far as she knew, and when she had came to the princess of equines she expected this powerful queen that took down a dark force like Sombra, banished a monster like Tirek, defeated a god like Discord, and subdued her own kind back in the days of when their two kinds were at war into a treaty, to be able to help.
But then again in each case and scenario, Embrice tended to forget that Celestia hadn’t been alone in her efforts. This monarchy was once a diarchy. And now look at their situation without the savage and headstrong Luna.
The equine kindness would be their own undoing, Embrice had always thought with a scowl. Now it turned out it would be their undoing.
“Embrice,” said a voice from within the crowd of soldiers. The sea of troops parted to reveal a dark coated thestral, with a flowing deep blue mane, one wing bandaged and gold armor of the Solar Guard strapped to his body on all sides.
The griffon’s beak only dipped further into her scowl as she snarled at the thestral. “Umbris.” She said the word with distaste.
“A pleasure to always see our griffon recruit is still up and kicking. Now, would you be so kind as to stop working up the forces? They need to rest. The battle could start at any moment and we don’t need our remaining troops, getting too worked up before the battle even starts.” The thestral stated approaching the dais.
“They should be worked up!” The griffon screeched in rage, as she backed away from the approaching general. “Your Princess, has ruined our chances not once, not twice to defeat these invaders, but more than three times! We defeated them many times and could have ended everything there, but still Celestia desired to give them a chance. Why?! Why listen? Why offer someone a chance, when they already refused not once but every. Time. We. Battled! If it had been my king and our forces, we-”
“You would have lost. Just like you lost the moment you thought you had gained the upperhand. They are a race that learn from their mistakes as they did from their battles with us. They are alive and not just savage creatures, they're doing this for a reason. They have support, they have an army. If you had wiped out their army when you had, for all we know it could have meant the end for us all. But instead look. Each time Celestia spares their forces, ours own only end up injured, hurt, and captured.
“They have not killed our own, once like they did some of yours during your battle. Because their leader sees that we are not as quick to arms as you and your kind were when they arrived, and made it known they wanted your land. I assume that's because in the past they've met many worlds fight the moment they touched land” Umbris stated in admonishing undertones, as he stood in front of the griffonness.
Embrice’s claws dug into the surface of the dais on where she stood. Every fiber of her would attack this arrogant little disgrace for a pegasus had conditions been different, but when she glanced at the troops in her command she saw them watching her.
With closed eyes and grit beak, an eagle cry escaped her throat, before she turned and smashed the podium that had been by her side. Heavy breathing, and deep breaths were ushered as the injured general stood patiently awaiting calm to placate the griffon’s nerves.
“Now that you are done, I’ve come to inform you that the princess has news. She has discovered a way to stop this battle once and for all, return our allies, and drive these invaders off our world once and for all.”
Embrice perked up at this. But she did not move from her position. “That is?”
“I do not know.” The thestral stated honestly. “But” he stated before Emrbice could interrupt. “I do know that she is confident it will work, for now we must trust her decision, and focus on holding the enemy off till she can use the spell she discovered that could prove to be our turning point.”
Displeased as she was, Embrice said nothing. She merely begrudgingly nodded her understanding. She knew these ponies, say one bad thing about their princess, and they’d be up there defending her like they would their own parents. If she were really as great as they say then none of this would have ever happened.
“Sir!” a voice called from the distance, alerting the rest of the crowd a group of unicorns marched forward prancing on their hooves in a panic. “Enemy forces have arrived, they are here! They crossed the sensory spell just a few moments ago and we came here as soon as we could to inform you!” Private Leverage informed his superior officers and the rest of the armed forces.
The group remained silent as soon as their report had been delivered. While the two generals stood on the podium in silence looking at one another.
“Your orders sir?” Leverage issued after moments of silence had passed and the sweat him and his team had been making threatened to create a puddle.
Umbris did not say a word, he merely nodded his head to the captain, and said “Go ahead.”
Embrice turned on the dime and faced her troops, “Assume your battle stations immediately!” She barked. “We are going to protect this fortress and hold off the enemy forces till Princess Celestia can get us the help we need! Now move!”
And so in a matter of minutes, two armies met in front of the safehold that held everything of importance to the homeworlds of Equus. And the invaders stood their ground as their opponents came to meet them.
Dragons and minotaurs, griffin and pegasus, unicorn and earth pony, deer and zebra, fox and wolf, stood their ground as they faced their enemy.
Then one word was uttered before the sound of battle began.
“CHAAAAAAAARRRRRGGEEE!!!!!!” Generals cried.
“AAAAAAARRRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!” Their soldiers cried in due return.
And thus, battle began.
The sound of metal against metal, clashed against one another, as Celestia could hear her forces fighting to give her the chance she needed.
Pew Pews and Boom Booms could be heard from afar off distance as the princess of sun herself felt the full weight and pressure of their situation.
Why had this happened? Celestia found herself wondering as a shake from the ongoing battle disrupted the tranquility that her fortress held. Had it been a few years later, perhaps she would have been more prepared, more ready for something like this, but it had been only a year ago that she settled the issues with the griffons and seven years prior to when she had been forced to banish Luna to the moon.
Today in fact, marked that very day.
With a sigh of frustration, the alicorn pushed away past thoughts and quickly began her work in the stronghold. Books strewn all over the ground, mixed with parchments tossed all over from the previous strategies her and her generals had been construing in an effort to drive these invaders off their homeworld entirely, Celestia was starting to feel the full toll and pressure of it all.
Running things with Luna had been so much easier, being a full monarch had only made things more complicated than they need be, fluctuations in power, the war with the griffons shortly after her sister's banishment, the slow destabilization of their economy, the decision to give nobles power to counter said destabilization, all of this had been so much to handle and just when she finally thought things were going to start settling after all these years. This happens.
Boom!
Celestia’s ears faltered as the stronghold shook with the shockwave of an explosion, her expression hardened. She could hear it. All of it. The fighting, the breaths of each and every comrade out there fighting to protect her, to protect their families, to get back their homes, their loved ones. She could hear it all thanks to her enhanced hearing and right now, she knew that if she didn’t find something, anything to help stop this rapidly dangerous growing force, it would mean the end of everything she and Luna, had ever worked for. The end of everything Starswirl had taught them, had taught her, the end of her and her sisters ascension to prevent these kinds of things from happening again.
And the princess of the sun simply couldn’t let that happen.
Her horn lit, multiple books began to fly out of their shelves all around her, opening to pages, moving quickly and briskly as her eyes scanned each passing book. She needed to find something, anything that could help them get out of this situation.
Please she thought to herself.
Seconds passed, but in a situation like this it felt much longer than a mere second, it felt like hours. As each book turned to failure, and each parchment proved null and void, Celestia found herself questioning her past decisions as the seconds metaphorically and literally ticked away. Had she made the wrong choice in not showing the same kind of force her and Luna had in past aggressions?
Had she made a mistake in not standing up to these intruders, like she had done with the griffon empire when things like peace, and negotiation failed? Was it because she was tired of fighting and sacrificing so many, that she decided not to gravely harm an enemy force that refused to back down?
In the end I suppose it was for a good cause, though captured none were killed, aside from injury or wound. But was it the right choice? Celestia found herself questioning as her eyes scanned yet another failed parchment and tossed it aside.
Would Luna have approved of my methods? Would Starswirl be pleased or disappointed in what my actions lead up to regardless of how grave things now seem? Celestia wondered as she scanned yet another book and came empty once more.
Would you, father, mother, sister? have approved?
The seconds ticked away, and the sounds of battle grew as well. The sound of marching could be heard in the distance and the louder it grew, the faster the princess of the sun read.
Until finally her eyes fell upon a spell and a myth, that may be the end of it all.
“Keep pushing!” Celestia heard one of her Solar Guards, Sunny Sky,” yell from the distance. “We’ve got to hold them off till the princess is ready!” Celestia could hear the struggling voice say.
Hesitation passed over her. Starswirl had warned Celestia once oh so long ago, that there were always repercussions in the use of summoning powerful entities beyond their knowledge. The dangers were unknown, the damage it could cause irreparable.
But- Celestia’s ears perked up as she heard more and more of her allies struggle in the battle afar, and steeled her nerves.
She would have to settle for whatever came with this call.
Placing the spell on the ground, Celestia closed her eyes, and focused.
Silence filled the dimness that was this room, the stronghold shook with a force once again, bits of debris, dust and mortar chipping off the ceiling and falling to the ground as the battle shook it once more with its force.
The princess remained resolute. She blocked out all the sounds that had perturbed her, cleared her mind of all the thoughts that disturbed her, and focused on this one and only spell, tapping into the ley lines that filled the world, and focused.
When Celestia’s eyes opened, they were filled with magical energy, and brightened up the benighted room that was the foundation for her stronghold. With magic flowing through her, she read the spell:
“Ego voco in genius, daemon nocti.”
I call upon a demon of the night
“Daemon in quod rectus fascia”
A demon that shall only do right
“Qui omnes videre haec eo superi”
Let all who see this demon’s might
“Curre et fugio”
Run and flee
“Cum non sed quamquam”
With nothing but spite
“Invoco daemon militi”
I call upon a demon of might
“Unus hic non fugiat”
One that shall not run
“In facio perculia uel solis”
In face of danger or the sun.
“Invocat qui certe quia pugnat”
I call upon you who shall surely fight
“Enim haec, quo bono, justo et recto.”
For that which is good, just, and right.
As the incantation for the spell was completed, a tetragrammaton circle formed as Celestia’s magic lifted both her and spell in the air. With the words spoken and the spell completed, a circle was burned into the ground, below them, and the spell burning itself to ashes.
Celestia could feel it. Forces that were never meant to be tampered with awakening. Answering her call.
Her magic pulsed in response to the negativity, but she fought the urge and pain it gave her. Her eyes pulsed brighter with magic, as this being, an entity that may save them all was summoned or bring them a worse fate was called, and in a flash of blinding white light, Celestia awoke to the face of a man standing before her.
And when she looked up at him, he merely smiled down at her. "Hello" he said still smiling. "You called?"
The spell was complete.
They have a saying on my planet, “You can’t force the methralope to jump off a bridge when it doesn’t want to”, an’ I believe the saying applies here.
Even with our advanced technology an’ our skill these guys are still putting up a strong fight. But regardless it was only a matter of time till they were all too tired to keep on fighting.
With Celestia’s forces down, we moved into capture the leader. But to our surprise, just before we got inside her stronghold, my leader stopped us an’ said something was coming out.
An’ something did. It was one of the species whose planet we had captured, Sector VII C6-12, Earth.
We were all surprised, asked him what he was doing here, but when he didn’t respond my leader confronted him an’ demanded to know what was going on.
The human said nothing to us really. He looked around at the captured allies, looked at all the war and mayhem we had brought, then looked at us and started saying something.
“Change Change”
I immediately began to get a bad feeling about this.
“O’ Form of man.”
“Free the prince forever damned.”
“Release the might from fleshy mire”,
Immediately I told my leader we should leave, back away from this being, because if my sense were right he was not human.
“Boil the blood, in the heart of fire!”
I was ignored and order to stand down.
“Gone, Gone --”
“Sir I really think we should leave” I tried once more, trying to get my comrades to join me.
“The Face of MAN --”
“I said stand down soldier 10026!” they ordered.
“Rise, Rise-” the human chanted as flames began to envelop his form.
“SIR!” I shouted pointing in the human’s direction, as his form began to change in my very eyes.
“I said stand down soldier!” He commanded once more grabbing Apald by the collar of his suit.
“For I am-”
“Sir!”
“SILENCE!”
“The demon, ETRIGAN!”
On earth it is said you never corner a rat. Now I know the reason why such a saying exists.
Etrigan as he called himself, laid waste to my entire platoon. Apald tried to warn me, but I didn’t listen.
He wiped the floor with us, took on hits from our plasma blasters like they were just fleas. Took on plasma cannons and walked out of them as if they were nothing and only give him the smallest of tans. Took on the forces of our superiors like they were just children playing with an adult, who had years of experience under his belt.
We were demolished.
We were destroyed.
“For every one hundred you throw at me, I shall return a thousand times fore.
“For every life you take, you will pay the price in the face of my wrath, and as your underlings quake.” The demon would say as he destroyed our advanced gear and knocked out our most practised fighters.
“For every time I face a whelp, that surely requires mine own help.
“I shall make you fall, in favor of mine master’s call.” Etrigan stated.
The battle lasted only five hours.
My team, my superiors and all other forces were beaten by one man. By one demon.
We retreated, and swore off conquer of this race. We returned their kind to them, we fixed what we had destroyed as best we possibly could, and we left their world promising never to attack the phoenix queen and her servant ever again.
The sun has it ways. And help surely does come in all sorts of ways.
“Every time I hear a call, remember this princess your enemies will fall. But do not forget the price you will pay, for with great power, means great sacrifice each and every day.
“Trials arise anew, and sometimes a few. But never forget to get help when it's due. And victory it shall, surely come to you.”
With words of wise spoke once more, and evil thwarted and kicked out the door, the demon Etrigan, made his way out of Equestria’s gates with his duty complete, he returned home to continue his duties under a human’s feat.
Author's Note
Initially when I was making this it was going to be more focused on Etrigan, but the more I started typing the more I decided to focus more on Celestia and her view of things since Etrigan is just a one shot I thought up of.
I like think that shortly after Luna's banishment a lot of stuff didn't really go Celestia's way or as she envisioned things would. Destabilization of the economy as both princess shared these jobs when they were a diarch but suddenly dropping to a monarch without any planning would throw Celestia off quite a bit. So she had to slowly get back into things, enlist help from the nobles around Equestria, get them to be a countermeasure in Equestria's economy, fix power fluctuations, deal with the disputes between the griffons, before finally getting things to settle down after a couple of years.
And then when it seemed like things were settling, BAM! This happens. That's probably my own theory on why there aren't many discussions on what else happened during Celestia's rein, not meaning this to be a headcanon just something I cooked up cuz I was bored and wanted to try out some writing again.
Anyway enjoy!
