And They Shall Know No Fear

Grogar was furious. Several months of hard work, brainwashing the Canterlot aristocrats and seducing the guards loyal to the princess, creating the largest army since the time of the Storm King, and all for nothing! Outnumbered one to four, these dumb-ass pony guards couldn't even injure the Heavenly Host! The deadliest weapon that Grogar equipped those with was chemical grenades, which turned out to be simply useless. And as if that wasn't enough, a huge invading army assembled from Equus' most dangerous creatures was simply destroyed by a single pony in a matter of seconds. It was an absolute failure.

Reviewing the past events on his Palantir over and over again, the dark magician tried to concentrate, but the evil voices from the void laughed louder and louder, until at one point he was enveloped in darkness. Turning around, he only sighed irritably when he saw his so-called "partners." Four demons, four Gods. Everyone has their own peculiarities. Everyone has their own true goals. To the left of the ram, the God of disease Nurgle exuded stench and decay, opposite him on a huge throne made of the skulls of thousands of creatures, the God of Blood Khorne sat, a little further away, clearly wanting to keep his distance, the Thirsty One named Slaanesh smiled maliciously, on the left, without looking up from reading the book he wrote, Tzeentch froze in a meditative pose.

The first Emperor of Equestria was simply disgusted to be around these laughing creatures. He wanted to destroy them, but how could he do that? His strength was barely enough to inflict any significant damage on one of them, but they could send him into oblivion with a snap of their finger, or worse...

"Poor Grogar..." Slaanesh began with undisguised pleasure. "You tried so hard to beat those poor ponies just to fail..."

"Expected..." Tzeentch said, as if taking no part in the process.

"This would not have happened if you had shared more power with me, and not the crumbs that I received!" Grogar couldn't stand it.

From what he heard, the God of Blood flew into a rage, slamming his huge hand on the armrest. "You dare to blame us for your failure, you pathetic worm?!" His voice was like an erupting volcano. "You didn't use even a small fraction of your allotted strength to lose to the children who had just come out of their mother's womb!"

"Come on, brother!" suddenly, the God of Plague took the floor. His poison grenades looked very cute, but they didn't work...

"No wonder, because Celestia created her brood with the help of the powers of Anathema!" The God of Change stated. "We need a different tactic! And I think I know who will play a crucial role in it!" As soon as he snapped his fingers, a pony figurine appeared in front of Grogar, which Celestia loved more than life. "Princess Luna!

"Celestia's sister?" warlock couldn't believe his ears. "It won't work! They've been through this before! Princess Luna will never betray her sister again!"

Tzeentch waved away. "Trust me, we have many ways to seduce mortals! Millennia of deception and intrigue! Intrigues and conspiracies! We just need to hit the weak point and the alicorn is ours!"

"As with Horus, we will need more puppets! I think it will be very easy to seduce the Princess of Love!" Prince of Pleasure's laughter echoed through the area. "Just imagine, the whole Empire of this miserable world will worship me and make offerings!

"A lot of blood was spilled today! To my surprise, Celestia's children turned out to be first-class killers, and I always need those who know how to shed blood! I think soon, I will be able to gradually influence their minds! I will displace the voice of their beloved mother, replacing it with my own! They will be a powerful weapon in my collection! I can't wait to pit them against the World Eaters in my arenas!

They talked and talked. They made plans and cherished dreams. Their confidence in victory was absolute, and their guile knew no bounds. Grogar watched these arrogant creatures with annoyance, as if they had never noticed him, as if he had never existed.

And it really pissed him off.

But what Grogar didn't know for sure was that he was just a puppet to them, just like countless servants before him. Of course, the Gods lavished their pawns with gifts like demonism, but all this was nothing more than slavery. If he fails them, mercy will turn to anger and they will do to him what he did not do to other beings during his tyrannical rule. He will beg them for death, but they will turn a deaf ear to his pleas, focusing on the Great Game of all against all.

"Well, then it's settled!" The God of Change announced loudly. We will share with you some more of our strength! You will create an army of monsters and unleash them on Equestria! But not before the princesses create their new toys! In the heat of battle, you wound Princess Luna using Nurgle's best poison! And that's when our turn will come! The sisters are locked in battle again, the kingdom will be plunged into darkness, and we will quietly reap the benefits!"

"Blood will flow like a river! Skulls will fall like apples!"

"We will plunge this kingdom of harmony and order into True Chaos!"

"...when the living will envy the dead!"

"And Anathema's dream will die with him!

"You seem to have forgotten that Chaos is already in the service of ponies!" ancient villain smiled.

"Oh, yes, Discord..." disappointment appeared on Slaanesh's face.

"Your pathetic creation!" Khorne spat angrily.

"He won't be a hindrance to us! This circus performer doesn't have even a fraction of our power! He won't help the pony! And if he tries to interfere with us, he will be destroyed! Forever!"

Suddenly, four powerful beams of different colors crashed into Grogar's body, lifting him off the ground. Divine powers began to flow through his veins, replacing his native magic with the power of the Gods. His appearance also began to change. Long fangs began to grow from the mouth, the horns on the skull lengthened, the body became more muscular, and the eyes began to bleed. Powerful demonic wings grew out of the back, capable of scattering ponies in different directions with one swing.

The creature that had once been Grogar looked more like a mad beast, ready only to kill. And it was at this moment that the warlock realized that he had been given another chance, which he simply could not miss. And now he is ready to fulfill his commitment in this deal. He would do whatever these creatures wanted, because the acquired power was not enough for him, and much more was needed to implement further plans.

"Don't let us down, Grogar! Or you will know our wrath!

***

The next day, on the orders of Princess Twilight, a State Council was convened, which, in addition to the four princesses, also included aristocrats loyal to the crown, along with Elements of Harmony. Of course, the battle that suddenly unfolded in the capital was on the agenda. Hundreds of ponies who took up arms against Twilight and her friends were brutally murdered. Hundreds of mares and stallions were left without husbands and wives, hundreds of foals without fathers and mothers. The carnage that unfolded on the streets of Canterlot instantly spread all over the world. Dozens of photos of the traitors' bodies reduced to bloody mincemeat graced the morning newspaper bulletins across Equestria.

Treacherous blow that was supposed to overthrow the princess from the throne turned into a bloody message to the rest of the world, and its message was outrageously clear. Don't mess with us or the same thing will happen to you! Even the friendly kingdoms were seriously worried about what had happened. Without exception, everyone was afraid of the ferocious force created by Celestia in the laboratory, and therefore each country secretly began to develop plans to repel the hypothetical threat from the little ponies. Equestria understood this, and that's why a meeting of leaders from all over the world is scheduled to take place on Mount Metazoa tomorrow. Leading the delegation on behalf of Equestria will be Celestia, the pony who gave birth to these bloodthirsty monsters. Princess Luna will also fly with her sister, in order to protect her from unreasonable actions if necessary.

And now the first thing the audience decided to deal with was the question of the remnants of the guards loyal to the crown. After several interrogations, it turned out that not all of them were privy to the plan, some of them did not know about any rebellion at all. The first to speak was a legionnaire from Legiones Solaris, the First among equals named Solar Valdor, who offered to kill the remaining guards under the pretext of protecting Princess Twilight from further attacks, because if they could pose any danger, they must be neutralized. Proposal of Celestia's son caused shock among those present, except for Celestia herself, who watched the debate with a stony face. The former princess of these lands knew and saw too much from the Emperor, and therefore, when a verbal conflict began to flare up between Star Swirl and her son, she immediately separated them, reminding them of the importance of the meeting.

Valdor looked at the old unicorn with disbelief, considering him to be a senile oaf, according to the wizard, the Firstborn should learn the manners of communication with elders. After these words, the alicorn wanted to tear apart the annoying old man, and only Celestia's mental control over her child helped to avoid bloodshed.

After two hours of arguments and disagreements, Princess Twilight Sparkle decided to leave the survivors in the royal service, along with this, on the advice of Celestia, from now on it will be her children who will guard the peace of her faithful pupil in the castle, while the mortal guards will guard the city and its surroundings.

The next discussion was about expanding the Heavenly Guards program in the form of creating new legionnaires from the blood of other princesses. The Pillars of Equestria, led by Star Swirl, were strongly opposed to this idea. In their eyes, such warriors were insane death machines, not noble warriors, but monsters. To the surprise of many, Cadence followed Princess Luna in supporting this proposal. Yesterday's attack was not an isolated action, it will be followed by new, more horrific attacks. From now on, Equestria also couldn't fully trust her allies, who were clearly plotting something unfriendly against them.

Realizing the danger of the situation, Princess Twilight, despite the displeasure of her idol, decides to give permission to create new legions, but with one condition. The number of legionnaires in a legion must be limited. There are a thousand fighters in each of the legions. No more, no less.

Young princess also proposed the creation of a charter for the newly formed army, a kind of code in order to keep the cruelty and impulsiveness of the legionnaires within strict limits. Seeing the love of Celestia's children for their mother, Twilight understood that only her word would be the law for them, and therefore, she also suggested that other princesses in the future write each their own code, with minimal differences corresponding to their original nature.

That was the end of the meeting.

"Celestia!" Star Swirl called out to the alicorn, who was about to leave. "Can I have a word with you?"

At the same moment, the white alicorn teleports both of them into an open field somewhere in the south of the kingdom. "Of course, my old friend..." there was bitterness in the mare's voice.

"Listen, honey," unicorn took a step forward, "I understand how much you love them! How you love Luna and Cadance, but it's time to stop all this! You know that yourself! For so many years, you've been striving to create a comfortable environment for Twilight, and right now everything is only getting worse! Your creations..."

"Children!" Celestia interrupted him sharply.

The wizard sighed heavily. "Yes... Your children... And how long have you considered them as such? Or did He put you up to these thoughts?"

Star Swirl's words were like a knife through butter. A tremor seized the shocked mare, as the Solar immediately appears in a bright teleportation flash. The old unicorn immediately realized what a strong bloodline binds his former student and her offspring. Being a thousand miles away, the loving son felt his mother's excitement, ready to stand up for her. It seems that she herself did not realize how this could happen.

"That's what Luna told you, right?" a sad smile appeared on Celestia's face.

"Considering your unwillingness to tell anyone else about the source of your "visions", her actions can be considered fully justified!"

"Really..." alicorn's smile never left his face. "No, it's not about him... I overestimated my own strength, Star Swirl... I thought I was capable of not feeling affection for them... What a mistake... Despite our similarities, we have a number of differences... And the most important difference between us is attachment... He considers his "children" to be tools... Weapons! He created them for only one purpose-war! Wars across the Galaxy! The reunion of humanity! A dream built on blood... And now I'm going down the same path... No matter how long they try to stop me, I won't back down! I will do everything to save Equestria!"

"With your attachment to them, it will be very hard for your soul, child..."

"I know... And yet I will go to the end... Just like you and Luna taught us! New Legions will be created! We will defeat all our enemies and unite the whole world under our banner! Whatever the price...