Guardians of Equestria : The Emperor's March

“Hey Lord Balgo! One of them is running away!” pointed out a Scaler. The emperor eyes glew a dark purple, ready to give chase, but ultimately chose not to. He took out his coffee once more and took another sip of it as the other Scalers looked on, horribly confused at their leader’s action.

“Let her go, she’ll announce our arrival to the other inhabitants. We still have a war to prepare, and lots of blood to spill.” decided the gargantuan lizard with an amused expression, slightly shaking his coffee mug at the same time.

“Huh? But ain’t that bad? We still have the element of surprise here.” objected one of the troops.

“Not necessarily, I have a plan yet again. A fun and twisted plan that is for sure going to cause some damage around here. You just relax and let the actual smart Scalers do all the hard work.” affirmed their leader while staring at the sky, imagining how sweet the results will be. “I’m going to need a few days to prepare it, however. But it will be worth it in the end. I assure you.”

He turned his attention towards a little filly that immediately ran inside her house once he saw her. “Guess that must be the little sister. How heartbreaking, we have separated two siblings from each other.” The wind around him began to howl, indicating the arrival of his friend Aruba on his flying carpet.

“Hey good buddy, I just sensed the presence of three ponies heading straight to Ponyville from the forest right over there. We should check it out.”

Lord Balgo raised in eyebrow in interest. “Alright then, Aruba and I will have a look in the forest. You on the other hand, will have to do some cleaning around here.” The Scalers looked at each other in disappointment.

“Why is it always us?”

Balgo and Aruba were in the Everfree Forest in search of the three ponies coming straight for Ponyville. They looked around as they were moving deeper into the dark forest.

“Gee, it will be quite hard to find three ponies in such a dark forest.” said the genie as he took out his pipe.

“Bold of you to make such a statment. Nothing's safe from my eyes.” responded Lord Balgo as his hands began to glow a dark purple. Soon, his eyes glowed just like his hands, and he looked around before pointing in a specific direction. The world around suddenly shifted, taking them right to their targets though they remained hidden with an invisible spell.

“So, we get to kill these ponies, right?” asked Aruba calmly.

“Of course, they’re of no use to us alive and plus; I'd like to create a zombie army...”

However, right as they were about to strike them down, they were surprised by the scene playing out before them. The three ponies they were hunting down were an entire family composed of two parents and a little baby that looked no older than 13 months. They were being attacked by a new species of animal the Scalers haven’t seen before. Wolves made out of tree carvings were viciously attacking the parents as the mother desperately tried to shield her child from the predators. The father was holding his own quite well, bucking the wolves back as they approached him.

"Write that down, Aruba. Write that down." Lord Balgo instructed.

"Aye aye, sir!"

The father was caught off guard when his wife screamed in agony as she was bitten in the flank by one of the timber wolves. This distracted him long enough to be bitten in the throat by one of the predators. At this point, it was over for him, his jugular being torn out, he was thrown onto the ground and died not long after as the others went on to feast on his body. They started biting down on his chest and made quick work of their new snack.

"Ferocious indeed, but wood is flammable. These creatures are useless to us. I suppose I must make my own monsters for this conquest." Lord Balgo commented.

"May I make a suggestion regarding your next creations? I, uh, would like to see some desert themed creatures for once." politely asked the genie.

"Let me see what I can think of."

More timber wolves attacked the mother’s legs, causing her to fall helplessly on the cold forest foliage. She dropped her baby during her fall, and it landed just in front of the timber wolves. The baby began to cry, injured from the impact. The muscles in her legs were torn apart from the timber wolves' strong bite, leaving her unable to get up.

She watched powerless as the timber wolf opened its mouth wide and leaned forward to take a bite out of her baby. Suddenly, a large foot stomped on the wolf, shattering it into a million pieces. Her eyes widened as she saw an enormous bipedal lizard standing in front of her baby. Lord Balgo bent down and grabbed the baby in its arm, looking curiously at it. The other timber wolves growled angerly at him before charging forward. Their assault was cut short by a hurricane of magical sword being flung at them, slicing them all in half. Aruba soon joined Balgo’s side as he looked at the baby before setting his gaze on the mother. She looked at both with a very pitiful expression.

“Please... don’t hurt my filly, she's all I have.” she said weakly. Lord Balgo looked once more at the child in consideration, or lack thereof. After thinking for a moment, he grinned.

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt your filly, lady.” The injured unicorn pushed through the pain to tell the duo her last wishes.

“Take her... to Ponyville. I know someone who will take care of her.” The emperor’s face soon turned into a twisted and malicious expression that sent a chill down the pony’s spine.

“Perhaps you didn't understand me correctly. I won't hurt your filly, but it will be your kinsmen who will do the necessary evil. I'll show you what I mean.” The mother’s hope shattered as her face expressed nothing but horror as she tried to plead to Lord Balgo, but it was too late. The little pony was struck by a bolt of dark energy and in a few seconds was transformed into something else entirely.

The pony's body shifted into that of a Scaler covered in bandages, a mummy to be more precise.

"Wh-What have you done to her?!" She screamed. As her head slowly fell on the floor and as she struggled to keep her eyes open, she saw her child turning around to look at her with two swords in hand.

"A test of loyalty for my new beast. Come on now; show me your cruelty."

The mummy lifted its two swords above its mother and brought it down with tremendous force.

“Ok then, its pretty strong. Now what?” questioned the genie, taking another puff from his pipe.

“More. We gather more monsters to turn this war into a monster mash!” answered the cruel emperor.

“Like the townsfolk?”

“Not really. We could transform all of ponykind into obediant monsters but then; what fun would there be left? No rebellions, no adversity... what we need is to let them have some hope so that they can oppose us.” explained the emperor as he started to walk back to Ponyville.

“I think I'm starting to understand your point of view. The fun's in the getting, not in the having so you want to lose only to then reclaim everything back? Funny how you're treating life as a game but hey, that's why I like you.”

“Now that's great to hear. Some of these ponies have stronger magic, these must live so they can provide me a nice challenge.” confirmed a satisfied Balgo.

Filthy Rich ran through the darkness of the Everfree Forest alongside his wife and daughter. Behind them were a small group of Scalers chasing them down. They just needed to lose their pursuers and they will be safe from the invaders. They have been running for minutes and were getting tired, their legs were slowly hurting more and more but the lizards did not show any sign of slowing down any time soon. Thankfully, their pursuers were still far behind; they still had a chance to escape from the forest safe and sound.

Suddenly, they heard a very odd noise coming not too far from their current location. It was the sound of leaves shuffling somewhere in the bushes of the forest. Diamond Tiara noticed their pursuers have stopped running entirely and looked in direction of the odd noises; looking nervous. It didn’t take long for them to start backing away as they muttered something and left quickly.

“They’re... no longer chasing us.” said Tiara, trying to catch her breath. Filthy Rich stopped to take a look back, smirking at the realisation that they have successfully escaped their pursuers.

“Heh looks like they sent a bunch of cowards after us. I can’t believe that’s all it took to take over Ponyville.” arrogantly proclaimed the rich business pony. On the other hand, Diamond Tiara looked quite remorseful.

“Are you sure this was a good idea? I’m leaving Silver Spoon behind with these monsters...” said the sad earth pony.

“Bah, it doesn’t matter. We’ve escaped from Ponyville with a lot of money. I’ll just start a new business over in another city and we’ll filthy rich once more in no time. You can always make new friends when we’ve settled down.” said Filthy Rich, dismissing his daughter’s concern.

He then proceeded to resume his travel down in the dark woods. His wife followed him in a heartbeat as Diamond Tiara stayed behind a little longer to look one last time at where Ponyville was located, thinking one more time about Silver Spoon before quickly picking the pace to not fall behind her parents.

The Everfree Forest was eerily quiet today. There wasn’t a single sign of life around them. It was as if every living creature in this forest was gone. Diamond Tiara looked around nervously as her parents seemed to pay no mind to this odd fact. “Why is it so quiet in here? Isn’t there supposed to be all sorts of danger waiting for us? So far, there’s nothing.” spoke up the filly, no longer able to keep her fears inside.

“I... uh, I have no idea.” replied Filthy Rich, also completely in the dark as to this strange occurrence.

“I-Isn’t that a good thing darling? There’s no manticore coming after us. We should feel relieved, not nervous.” said Tiara’s mother, putting on a smile to hide her nervosity.

Suddenly, the sound of leaves shuffling and creaking could be heard once more from the bushes. This time however, it was closer and accompanied by labored breathing. This scared the entire family who were now frantically looking at the folliage in search of the source of the noise. They were walking at a much quicker pace. Sweat was dripping down their faces now as their legs began to tremble uncontrollably. The shuffling was heard once again, this time at a slightly accelerated pace. The noise was following them, no doubts about it. The situation was a crescendo of rising fear as the noise began to increase in frequency, getting faster as the ponies were picking up in speed. It all culminated in a terrifying otherwordly screech echoing throughout the forest.

It sounded like a moose, albeit sounding much more twisted and unnatural. Leaves began to fall from the bushes right next to them as something large plowed through the nearby bushes. Diamond Tiara squealed and got closer to her father, cowering behind him. The forest was silent once more, until something jumped out of the dark and bit Tiara’s mother in the leg and began to drag her away.

Filthy Rich quickly dove in to take a hold of her wife’s hooves, pulling with all his strength. The earth pony noticed that even in the darkness, he couldn't see anything attacking his wife but her legs was still bleeding badly. He struggled a lot to stop the beast from dragging his wife away. Her screams became so loud to the point that they were hurting Tiara’s ears. Her leg was slowly starting to tear itself off from the pressure of Filthy Rich and the beast pulling in opposite direction.

Suddenly, the beast swiped at Filthy Rich, slicing off his nose, causing him to accidentally let go of his wife and she was dragged away in the forest. The stallion watched in fright as it bit down on her innards and lifted them up. Then, said innards disappeared into nothingness. The monster is invisible!

Diamond Tiara felt a stream of tears running down her face. They came from a mix of terror and sadness at the horror she had just witnessed. Her father was deathly pale, still clutching his missing nose that was bleeding profusely. “We've got to get out of here as quickly as possible!” said the rich pony before gesturing at his daughter to run with him.

They ran was fast as they could through the dark misty forest, constantly looking over their shoulder to see if the beast was coming for them. They couldn’t hear the noise of metal scraping indicating it was not chasing them, yet. Both their hearts nearly skipped a beat when the sounds returned, even faster this time. They were accompanied by the creature’s moan, sounding much more threatening than before. Diamond Tiara was slowing down, her father kept on distancing himself from her. Her heart was racing even faster this time as her entire body began to get hotter and hotter.

“Daddy! Don’t leave me behind!” she screamed in a broken voice. The sounds of the beast were getting dangerously near her. She was crying so much to the point that her vision was blurry. Suddenly, a large shadow ran past her and lunged at her father. Filthy Rich looked back just in time to feel the a strong gust of wind right in his face. He screamed in terror as the monster slashed him with such force that it tore his flank and back legs from the rest of his body. His upper body fell on the ground, and he didn’t even have the time to react to the beast digging its claws into his torso. It ripped out his organs and devoured them right before his very eyes. In his panic, he swung his hooves at whatever was attacking and as it collided with the beast, the monster materialised right before his very eyes with a loud screech.

Tiara came to a complete halt and watched in horror as her father was being eaten alive before her. The beast suddenly threw a quick glance at her, making her snap out of her trance. She turned around to run as far away as possible but was stopped by the beast's strong arm hitting one of her back legs. The strike didn’t just break her leg, it tore the broken bone out of it entirely. She screamed in agony as she fell on her stomach. The beast resumed its gruesome feast as the little filly crawled away. She was screaming and sobbing at the same time as more tears flowed down her faces. After a while, she couldn’t crawl away anymore, she had lost too much strength. Realising that it was over for her, she let her head hit the floor in defeat, crying even louder. Her cries stopped when she heard the metal scraping getting near her. The beast was done with Filthy Rich, and now it laid its eyes on her. Eventually, it walked in front of her, and she could finally get a good look at the monster that took her parents away.

It was a black mass in a humanoid form with the head of a deer's skull. Its muscles and veins were completely exposed, with multiple bodily fluids always leaking from it. The most disturbing of all were its eyes; they were completely empty but with one little catch; two white pupils staring back into Tiara's soul. The thing had a blank stare that chilled Diamond Tiara to her very core.

It grabbed her by the head and lifted her from the ground, up to its face. Upon closer look, she could see the death in its eyes. Its jaw opened slowly, and it kept on opening past the point where it should reach its limit. Its gaping maw was now nearly touching the forest floor with how wide it was opened. A large, muscled tongue came out of its jaw. It slowly wrapped itself around Diamond Tiara’s neck as it let go of her head. The tongue drew her inside the beast’s mouth as the filly closed her eyes in resignation. The bones in its lower jaw began to creak as it slowly prepared to take one big bite out of her.

“I should have listened to you, Silver Spoon.” was the last thing Tiara thought about before the beast closed its jaws in an instant, leaving nothing behind of the little filly.

“Lord Balgo...”

Images flashed inside the beast's mind. That of a Tauren, a Tauren he must hunt down as request by his Lord.

As they were walking to the mayor’s office, Balgo and Aruba noticed something odd in one of the stores in town. Confetti were seen being blown away through a window on the upper floor. “Looks like someone is having a party in there.” said Aruba as he flew closer to the building.

“Let's pop in unannounced, shall we?” exclaimed a jolly Lord Balgo as he too walked towards the shop, motioning at the mummy to follow suit. He looked at the sign above the front door. It read “Sugar Cube Corner”. The genie teleported in the shop first as Balgo squeezed through the small door, bending down as to not hit the ceiling of the place.

Aruba had to step off from his flying carpet since his size was very close to that of the emperor before walking upstairs to look at the source of the confetti. Once he opened the door leading to the correct room, he was surprised to find a party being thrown inside with only one pony present, the rest of the guests being just objects. The pink pony quickly took notice of the arriving giants and quickly hopped to them.

“Ooh! Hello there! Nice to finally have some guests, I've been locked inside my house and have been unable to invite any pony for my party today! So, will you forget about your evil scheme and just have a good time?” blurted out the pink mare rapidly as she bounced around excitedly.

“You’re quite the eccentric type, aren’t you? What’s your name?” replied Lord Balgo in amusement.

“My name is Pinkamena Diana Pie! But ponies just call me Pinkie Pie, and I like that name better! Why don’t you join my party, so I won’t be the only one here?” quickly said the earth pony as she got really close to the emperor to observe the mummy that was following him.

“Woah woah, don’t get that close to us, you’re invading our personal space.” exclaimed Aruba as he pushed off Pinkie Pie from his friend. Lord Balgo however, seemed to get rather irritated. This pony reminded him of the one Scaler he despised. The one Scaler he hopes won't show up to this evil party.

“You remind me a lot of a certain Scaler who loves to call himself my friend, he’s just as talkative and energetic as you are, but sadly he's nothing more than a thorn in my side. If you're lucky enough, this fool will come to this world.” This peaked Pinkie’s interest, who loved to make new friends all the time, seeing as she was the friendliest pony there is in Equestria.

“Wooo, now you’ve got me all excited to meet this Scaler! What’s his name?”

“He’s called Mugen. It’s a name that has something to do with infinity, as he always says so himself. Don't get your hopes up, I'll tear him apart should he dare show his face around here.”

Now inside the mayor’s office that he took for himself, Balgo was sitting down, watching the rotten mummy moving around her new home. The door to his office opened and Aruba came in and moved in next to him.

“Aw, isn't she quite the fierce monster.” said the genie as he looked at the baby-like mummy shuffling around the room.

“Gotta admit, this new beast sure looks strong. It'll provide a good test for my new challengers.” responded the emperor.

“I just have to point this out, but this baby is just a normal unicorn that you turned into a mummy. How can we use this as a test for the more powerful beings of this world?” pointed out Aruba.

“We can't, that's how. I'll just conjure something stronger from pure nothingness. In the mean time, I'd like to see these ponies unknowingly murder one of their brethren.”

“Ho ho! That'll be delightfully sour!” The door opened once more, revealing a stressed-out Scaler coming in. He hesitantly approached the two, throwing a curious glance at the baby unicorn on the floor before setting his gaze back on Balgo.

“I... have something urgent to do. You see, today is me daughter’s bloody birthday and I promised her I would get her a buncha gifts for her. So... look, I really need to get back to me daughter... i-i-it's just for a few minutes, aye?” Lord Balgo looked at the Scaler with a less than pleased look. Before ultimately taking on a friendlier expression.

“Well, if it's just for a few minutes... I suppose it wouldn’t hurt. However, you need to provide payment.” He grinned as the smaller Scaler looked around nervous.

"Wh-What kind of paym-" In a split second, his tail was torn off. He screamed in pain as he clutched the gaping wound in his rear end.

"That kind of payment! And don't worry; tails grow back." He explained as he tossed the severed tail to the ground.

"Argh! Th-Thank you my lord... Thank you." thanked the pained Scaler as he left through a nearby portal summoned by the emperor.

Aruba took a puff from his pipe. “Hey... we don’t even know that baby’s name. And since her parents are dead, I guess we’ll never know.”

“It doesn’t matter what her name was. Her parents gave her a name, but they’re no longer with us. It’s our baby now, and we get to name it. It's pointless overall as she's scheduled to die but hey, doesn't mean we can have fun naming things, ay?”

Aruba smirked. "And since this creature is based upon the theme of the desert, I should have the privilege to name it, correct?"

"Have at it."

"Let's call her; Sayad Sehra, the desert hunter."

A Scaler in heavy power armour was waiting just outside the Everfree Forest. He looked very impatient as he paced around and kept on checking the time, getting more and more frustrated with each passing minutes. Silver Spoon was standing not too far from him, wanting to get any news about her friends escape. She was allowed to remain outside, but only to receive the news about her friend's eventual capture because she pestered her captors to the point that they caved in. Finally, a small group of his brethren arrived. Kryser looked at them, unimpressed. “So? Have you caught them or not? ‘Cuz, I don’t see any ponies with your group pal.” One of them moved closer to the armoured Scaler.

“We didn’t catch them, but-”

“But what? You were supposed to catch a bunch of defenseless ponies! How could you fail at such a simple task?! You’re going to ridicule all of us with your incompetence!”

“They’re dead! That’s how!” Any sign of aggression in the armoured Scaler vanished.

“Oh, really? What killed them then?” he asked curiously.

"Lord Balgo beat us to the punch. A wendigo devoured them all." said a disappointed Scaler. "Now that means the forest is off-limits to us, his beasts aren't one hundred percent harmless to us after all."

“Great. It would seem that the emperor is taking my concerns seriously." And with that said, he quickly left the scene. Silver Spoon nearly lost her balance after hearing the bad news. Diamond Tiara and her have been very good friends for a long time, she didn’t want to believe that she was dead. Her fear of the Scalers has been replaced with desperation to the point where she approached the group with ease.

“Is it true? Is my friend... dead?” asked the filly, her voice trembling with emotion. The Scalers exchanged quick look before settling on an answer, clearly trying not to hurt her feelings too much.

“Well, we didn’t see them die per say... but-"

"They're dead, get over it." finished another one.

Distraught, she slowly lowered her head until she was now looking at the ground and walked away at a slow pace as the group watched on in pity.

After the entire city was secured, ponies were allowed to freely roam outside their homes. They were still guards posted everywhere keeping them from escaping. The Cutie Mark Crusaders chose to have a meet-up on the bridge to discuss about the situation. The three fillies saw the emperor, followed by the genie making their way onto the mayor’s office. On their way, they met up with a skeletal Scaler with a torn cape who then followed them.

Witnessing this sight, they expressed their worries regarding the invaders and what the future held for them. They wished the Guardians, princess Celestia and Twilight would come quickly to rescue them from the reptiles. During their conversation, Sweetie Belle noticed Silver Spoon sitting at a bench by herself. She looked awfully sad which tore at the young filly's heart. “Hey girls, look over there.” Sweetie Belle pointed at the filly sitting by herself.

Applebloom and Scootaloo noticed Silver Spoon, and both reacted quite differently. Applebloom looked at her bully with a mix of pity and satisfaction seeing as Silver Spoon would always bully her for her blank flank alongside Diamond Tiara. Scootaloo, however, was absolutely fucking thrilled at this sight.

“Finally, something bad happened to her. She and Diamond Tiara always got everything they want and always had things going their way. Serves her right for taking her whole life for granted.” said the young Pegasus.

“But what if it was something terrible that happened to her. What if she really needs some pony’s help? Don’t you find it weird Diamond Tiara is nowhere near her at a time like this? They’re practically inseparable!” responded Sweetie Belle, wanting to sway the others in helping out Silver Spoon.

“Come to think of it, yeah that is weird. These two are always seen together!” added Applebloom. Scootaloo objected to the idea of helping her bully, still feeling bitter as to everything she had to endure from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Sweetie Belle looked at her friend with puppy eyes in a last-ditch attempt to convince her friend. Scootaloo didn’t seem fazed at first, but quickly gave in after a mere few seconds.

“Ugh, fine! We’ll see what’s wrong with Silver Spoon but if this is something trivial, I'm not helping her in the slightest!” The Crusaders approached the lonely filly and Sweetie Belle was the first to speak up.

“Uh, hey there Silver Spoon. You don’t look so good... and that’s worrying us.” The silver filly looked at the trio with a rather defensive look on her face.

“What? So, you’ve come to mock me when I'm all by myself?! Come to take your revenge for all the bullying I've done, blank flanks?” Replied the filly with anger. Sweetie Belle was taken aback by this unexpected response. Scootaloo responded in kind.

“So that’s how you see us, huh? Just a bunch of insecure fillies who will take every opportunity to be just as mean as you are? We’re better than this, better than you are Silver Spoon! We don’t bully other ponies just because they don’t have a Cutie Mark!” Silver Spoon looked at Scootaloo with a furious expression, her eyes nearly tearing up in the process before running off.

“Scootaloo! I don’t think that was the right thing to say...” said Sweetie Belle.

“Well, it looks to me like she doesn’t want any help!” shouted Scootaloo. Applebloom wasn’t sure which side to take in the heat of the moment. Her two friends eventually turned their attention to her, their faces clearly telling her: Who do you agree with? After what felt like forever, she finally found her answer.

“I think we should give Silver Spoon a second chance. Maybe she’s really stressed out and didn’t mean to snap at us like that.” Sweetie Belle smile at Applebloom’s decision while Scootaloo looked somewhat annoyed but didn’t hesitate to follow them in their idea to help Silver Spoon out. They just have to give her some time before they’ll make their next move so that hopefully, she’ll be more inclined to listen to them.

“Oh, you’re already preparing to go off somewhere?” Aruba looked at Lord Balgo, who was preparing a small bag filled with various items. Terra was now present in the office, having been called in by the emperor himself.

“It’s nothing much. I’m just going on a walk in Equestria, that’s all.” replied the emperor.

“Ho ho ho ho, man! I see where you're going with this.”

“I'll be back in a couple of days, maybe even more if it's a whole lotta fun.” Lord Balgo placed his bag on his back as he moved towards the exit.

“Don’t worry about it. I won’t forget to take care of her.” The tyrannical emperor walked up to Terra who was standing silently observing the whole scene.

“And what am I supposed to do here? I want nothing more than to take my revenge on this rebel leader back home. None of this is my business!" exclaimed the skeleton.

“Relax for a bit, won't you? Your a little too tense for someone who's been given a second chance. Remember, I GAVE you your undead body. Without me, you're just a corpse, so I'd suggest you play along or else it's back to the abyss for you. Heed your emperor's words, and your revenge shall come in due time.” He growled at Terra before leaving. They watched through the window as Lord Balgo slowly made his way out of Ponyville.

Aruba finally left his flying carpet to stand on the floor of the mayor’s office and took out a pipe from his magical chest. “Your losing your privileges there, girl. Stay on his good side and then maybe your live will be half as good as mine.”

“... You're nothing more than a puppet with no agency, genie. I obey his commands, but I have my own objectives. Can you say the same?”

“My goals are the same as Balgo. I don't need to change who I am just for the meaningless search of identity. He gave me everything I ever wanted, and I forever thank him for it. It's you who should question herself, ex-swordsman.”

“You disgust me, puppet of the emperor...”