Armageddon: The War of the Gods

“Lord, here they come!”

God turned from his throne to see the four he sent walk through the golden doors. God stood up, and walked over to the four of them. He wanted to see how the wretched Princess had responded.

“Father,” Jesus bowed his head. “Celestia was, uncooperative.”

“I would expect as much.” God concurred. “She does know how to proclaim her innocence. She will pay for her crimes.
And if she won’t, than her little land of ponies will be crushed.”

He turned to his left, and nodded. A winged man with shining blonde hair flew over to his side.

“Michael,” God said, “Prepare the armies. And hand me the Scroll.”

“Yes, my Lord.” Michael bowed, and flew off. God turned to Moses and Mohammad, and said to them, “We will be marching on their cities in only a few hours. Choose whatever weapons you wish. Jesus, I want you to show them your personal armory.”

Jesus nodded, and led them away. God then turned to Hercules, who had remained silent since entering the throne room.

“If you would,” God said, “Would you send for your father? I plan to have words with him.”

“Yes, of course.” Hercules said. “Will we be marching into battle as well?”

“We are not just fighting Celestia and her country,” God declared, “We will be fighting the entire planet. We need to have enough numbers to ultimately crush them. And I believe the Pantheon has these numbers. I know I have not been kind to them, but now I hope we can turn over a new leaf.”

Hercules nodded his head, and walked out of the throne room. God turned, and sat back upon his throne. He stroked his long, snow white beard as he waited for Michael to return with the scroll.

God was preparing for war. And he would open it with a bang.
***

The day after Jesus, Moses, Mohammad and Hercules had appeared to her, Celestia called an emergency session of the Grand Assembly. She had called in the Harmony Bearers as well. She knew she would need them.

As everypony shuffled inside the Assembly Meeting Hall, Celestia was pacing back and forth in the room behind. She had no idea how she would combat the armies of God. She had never even fought a war in five hundred years!

Celestia heard a knock on the door behind her. She turned around, and invited the pony inside.

“Your Highness, is everything alright?” The Prime Minister of the Grand Assembly, Charming Tongue, asked.

“Yes, I am alright.” Celestia answered.

“Then why have you called for an emergency session? The Assembly is quite nervous.” The gray-coated Unicorn explained.

“It is a matter to be spoken to the entire Assembly, Mr. Prime Minister.” Celestia explained. “If you could, please leave me be.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” The Unicorn bowed, and walked away. Celestia could see him trying to fix his amber mane, and readjust his monocle.

Celestia never did like the Prime Minister, but it was not her choice. The Assembly representatives were the only shred of democracy Equestrian citizens enjoyed. Of course, they were free, but they only voted for Assembly members, obviously.

Fifteen minutes later, the entire Assembly silenced in anticipation for Celestia’s arrival. She would speak on an elevated podium so that everypony would see her. The Equestrian flag –an illustration of Celestia and Luna galloping around the sun and moon on a white field– stood behind her. Microphones crowded the podium; they would broadcast the speech by radio across the country.

The Mane 6 sat in the front row, waiting for the Princess to address the Assembly. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack and Rarity had no idea what this could be about. But, Twilight had a nagging feeling in the back of her head that it might be about what she found in the library.

As Celestia opened the door to the Assembly Meeting Hall, all applauded their princess. She received a standing ovation, and was flanked by Shining Armor and Princesses Cadence and Luna. The Assembly had never seen such an entrance. They would soon know why.

As Celestia neared the microphones, she cleared her throat, and began her speech to the Equestrian people.

“Ponies of Equestria,” she began, “I wish I could address you and the Assembly in a better situation. Alas, I cannot. A matter of major national security has shown itself to me. This matter, if not dealt with properly, could and would result in the
destruction of our country and our way of life.

“Yesterday, it came to my attention that a faithful student of mine, who shall remain anonymous, found three works of
literature in the library.” Celestia continued, saying, “They were not Equestrian, and they were never seen by anypony else. Upon further investigation, I found these books to be the remnants of a past universe, one in which a species named man ruled, and not us ponies.”

Everypony in the Hall glanced at each other nervously at the direction Celestia was taking her speech. Celestia swallowed hard, and leaned further into the microphone. It was so silent a pin could be heard dropping three hundred feet away, and even Celestia would hear it.

“These men were created by a deity, much like all of you.” Celestia addressed. “You all know that I am the creator of you all. But you are not the first intelligent life. Where I come from, there are many of these deities. They all create their own universe in which they rule in, and we usually leave each other alone.

“But, I have broken rules set by them.” Celestia explained, “To be exact, I broke two major rules. One, a creator could not live inside its own creation. And two, a creator cannot create in another creator’s realm, or universe. And I have broken both rules.

“The creator of a once great realm, known as God, Lord, Yahweh and Allah, has been greatly angered by my actions. He sent to me four messengers, and they have told me that they will invade Equestria and our neighbors.”

She paused to let the statement sink in. Everypony was still; not one muscle moved inside the entire room. Twilight shifted uneasily in her seat. She couldn’t help but think that this was her fault. She was the one who found them. Although she tried to hide it, her friends picked up her uneasiness.

“Twilight, are you alright?” Fluttershy whispered, “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing,” Twilight replied. “I’m just thinking about what’s to come.”

They were both shushed by Celestia continuing her speech.

“Even though this war will wreak great devastation and death across Equestria,” Celestia declared, “We shall never falter. We shall fight in the fields, in the skies, in the oceans, in the streets, and in our minds. We shall not, will not, and cannot surrender!”

The Assembly gave Celestia resounding applause at that statement. Celestia levitated a glass of water, and took a sip from it before continuing. While she was giving the speech, in the back of her mind, she was thinking of different strategies of defeating God’s armies.

“From this moment on, I rightfully inquire General Shining Armor to transfer the position of Supreme Commander of the Royal Equestrian Army to myself and my sister Luna. And I ask the Assembly for the right to suspend the Assembly until this crisis has passed.”

“Your Royal Highness,” Prime Minister Charming Tongue stood from his seat, saying, “Princess Celestia, as Prime Minister of the Grand Assembly, I hereby suspend this Assembly until further notice by royal decree!”

He levitated a gavel, and smacked the podium he had stood behind. The Assembly stood, and applauded Celestia as she exited the Assembly Hall. Nopony would ever find out what was going through her head. In fact, Celestia didn’t comprehend half of the things flying around her mind.

“Your Highness,” Shining Armor said as Celestia exited the Assembly Hall. “We need to brief you on the status of our Armed Forces. If you would follow me, we’ll be off.”

Celestia nodded, and followed the white-coated Unicorn. As she entered the main corridor leading to the Assembly Hall,

Celestia was swarmed by reporters of every newspaper of every major city on the planet.

She sent a mental note to Twilight, instructing her to follow Celestia to the location. She felt that they would need that information.
***

“So that’s where Celestia decided to live?”

God turned to see that most of the Pantheon had arrived to speak with him. To be honest, God was quite surprised. He was only expecting Hermes to speak and relay back to Olympus. It was usually how he conversed with them.

“Yes,” God shifted in his throne. “It’s not unlike Earth, is it not?”

“Yes,” a man who looked remarkably like God said. He cleared his throat, and ran his fingers through his wispy white beard. The golden toga he was wearing glimmered in the light of the room, and the lightning bolt he held looked unstable and a messenger of his emotions.

“It is beautiful,” a woman said. She wore a simple white dress, but had an ornate golden crown with diamonds, sapphires and emeralds encrusted in it. Her long braided brown hair seemed to emanate its own light. “It brings back so many memories, Zeus.”

“That it does, Hera.” Zeus replied. “Now, tell me why you have called us here, God. Why have we shifted here?”

“I trusted Hermes would tell you this part.” God sighed. “Well, I trust you have met with Celestia, am I correct?”

“Yes, many a time.” Zeus answered. “She was kind-hearted in the beginning. Unlike us, my friend, she ruled with compassion.”

“Do not discredit us so, Zeus.” Another Olympian cut in. His curly gray hair was much shorter than either Zeus’ or God’s. His equally curly beard was much shorter and seemed to be in better order. He carried a bronze trident, and wore a sea-green toga. The embroidered toga moved without the Olympian himself moving, as if it was the ocean itself. “Remember we mated with mortals; we loved as she does.”

“Please, Poseidon.” Zeus held his hand up. “We needn’t talk about that. Now, what has Celestia done?”

“We have discovered that Celestia has broken two cardinal rules of the agreement we forged in the beginning.” God explained, “She has taken residence on this planet, and we believe she has created many hazardous creatures when Earth was still alive.”

“Well what could she have possibly made?” Poseidon queried, “You cannot make such accusations without saying what she exactly made.”

“Hear me out, god of the sea.” God said, “Remember, I am the King here.”

“Yes,” Poseidon nodded, and stepped back. “How could we forget your magnificent siege of Olympus, God of the Israelites?”

God let loose a small and unnoticeable smirk at that remark. After defeating Satan, he found his greatest achievement was the defeat of the Pantheon. He had believed that they could coexist ruling over the same planet. But when the pagans had begun killing and torturing his believers, he let loose his armies on Mount Olympus.

“If we all could get back to the subject at hand, thank you.” Zeus said, silencing his brother. “Now, what creatures has Celestia made?”

“My messengers have linked numerous creatures such as centaurs, manticores, and other more individual creatures.” God explained, “Such as the Minotaur, Kraken, and the Hydra.”

“If we had only knew sooner!” Hera exclaimed. “What are we to do?”

“Right now,” God looked down at the planet Equus, and continued, “I am preparing my forces for the invasion of the planet below and abdication and eventual execution of Celestia and Luna. I also intend on severely crippling the life there, preventing it from ever returning to the grace it possesses today.”

The gods fell silent. They had not expected such a harsh reprimand for Celestia’s actions. Zeus pondered on his decision, and saw that this really was an insult to his authority. He saw that God thought that Celestia put herself above God, and delighted in watching man contend with her more hostile creations. Apart from the centaurs, which generally aided man, all of her creations resulted in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of men.

Zeus smiled on this revelation. This was a punishment for a breach of rules; it was a war of pride. God’s pride was severely hurt by Celestia’s actions, and he was hiding behind rules formulated millions of years before to justify his actions.
Though Zeus had come to this conclusion, he found it best to tag along with God’s little war of pride. He was already trying to see how he could benefit from helping God in the long run.

“What would you have us do, Lord?” Zeus asked politely. “I am at your command.”

“I would prefer if you let your disgusting half-man, half-god spawns take high-ranking positions in our forces.” God said, lacing his words with stinging remarks at the Olympians’’ promiscuity. “Particularly Theseus, Hercules, Achilles and Perseus, as their feats are well-known in the Kingdom.”

“Of course,” Zeus answered. “Is there anything else Olympus can do for you?”

“Well,” God looked down, and turned to Poseidon. “When you were named god of the sea, did you have power over any body of water?”

“Do you really think I would go through a lot of trouble to see if I could?” Poseidon replied harshly. He received a sour look from Zeus, and sighed. “I could try.”

“It’s a start.” God said. He was surprised that the Olympians would easily pledge their support, but though none the wiser about why.
***

It had been three weeks since Celestia had given her address to the Grand Assembly. She had been on a tour through Equestria, inspecting the military readiness of the Royal Equestrian Army. She had taken the Elements of Harmony along with her, as a showpiece of Equestrian unity. But secretly, she was having them trained in the ways of war by Shining Armor and other high ranking officers. Celestia would need every able-bodied mare and stallion in Equestria to fight back the armies of another god.

On that day, she was inspecting the Army of Baltimare, a major port city. She had been in the city for two days, and had been inspecting the army in watching them drill and engage in war games with other detachments in the area.

She had mostly been happy with the city’s army, but she worried over whether or not it was ready enough to combat the invading force. There was also another worrying thought on her mind. Already, she had been hearing whispers of discontent from the Equestrian populace. The invading armies were nowhere to be seen, and the citizens were growing restless.

She had received telegraphs from Prime Minister Charming Tongue that the Assembly was considering overturning the royal decree. He declared that although he was supportive of her, he could not keep the secret meetings of more restless Assembly representatives. He also informed Celestia that there were a few radical representatives were speaking of revolt against her.

She shook her head as she trotted up to shake hoofs with another military officer. She needed to keep the issues of Canterlot in the back of her head. She needed to talk and listen to as much military information as possible to even hope to keep those worries out of her head. She only needed to focus watching the war games in the fields surrounding Baltimare unfold from the city walls.

“Your Highness,” the officer greeted. Celestia was already revolted by this stallion’s appearance. His mane smelled rank and looked greasy, his teeth were yellowed, and his breath was repulsive. He wore an uneven moustache that hung off his chin, and had dirt stains on his what would be elegant horn. His dirtied white coat showed he had not bathed in days, possibly even weeks.

“Let me introduce myself.” The disgusting Unicorn said in a sneery, high-pitched voice. “I am General Fearless Sword, chief officer of the Army of Baltimare. What a pleasure it is to have you grace us with your presence.”

“Quite,” Celestia said dismissively. Three weeks of overly dramatic formalities had run her ragged. “Can your army fight?”

“Fight?” Fearless Sword scoffed. “Why fight when we can decimate enemy resistance?”

“Explain to me how you believe this army can decimate the armies of a god.” Celestia ordered as she watched the army
engage in war games.

“I have developed a strategy to completely make enemy chariots and archers useless.” He declared, “If we have an entire corps of unicorns dedicated to the arcane arts of war, they can turn arrows back at enemy archers, dismantle chariots, melt metal, and breathe fire and ice.”

“Really?” Celestia asked, interested. “I request that you hand over the spellbooks and runes you found to me.”

“Oh,” Fearless Sword sighed, and looked away. “I’m afraid I can’t do that, Your Highness.”

“Why?” Celestia rose her voice in frustration. “I demand an explanation, General!”

“I cannot,” he said, “Because they have disappeared. Poof! Just like that, they’re gone! There is no rhyme, no reason!”

“Then I order you to send out an expedition to find these books, General!” Celestia shouted, “Do you not see that this invasion could end Equestria as we know it?”

“Yes, I do.” Fearless Sword ironically showed fear in the face of the angry monarch goddess. “I-I know what is at s-s-stake. J-J-Just let me acquire the r-r-right p-ponies for the j-j-job, and then…”

“No!” Celestia boomed. “I will not sit idly while you needlessly search the city for the books!”

She turned to Twilight Sparkle, who looked scared like a foal would after witnessing its parents argue. She turned, and
said, “Twilight, could you summon these books using your magic?”

“Well,” Twilight cringed at the labor involved of finding these books. “I believe I could, given I knew the titles and authors.”

Twilight and Celestia looked at Fearless Sword, who was startled, and said, “W-W-Well, there is the, um, oh, yes! The Sorcerer’s Guide to Warfare, by Albus the Stargazer, Arcane Warfare, by Wrathful Spirit, and then there is The Dark Realms of Arcaneum by Starswirl the Bearded.”

“Alright,” Twilight said. “Is that all, General?”

“All I could think of off the top of my head, yes.” Fearless Sword stepped backwards, as if wanting to leave this conversation badly.

Twilight closed her eyes, and strained as her horn began to glow. She reached out into the universe for these three books, but could not find them in the general vicinity. She reached throughout Equestria, and soon all of Equus, but could not find one copy.

She gasped as she opened her eyes and the glow dissipated. She felt faint, and immediately fell to the floor. Her friends immediately surrounded her, and tried to help.

“Oh good heavens!” Rarity exclaimed, “What should we do?”

“Ah’ll go get some water.” Applejack declared, “Ah’m a gonna see if that won’t wake ‘er up.”

“No,” Fluttershy said quietly, “We need to see if she’s breathing first.”

Rainbow Dash turned, and nodded at Fluttershy. She bent down on her knees, and placed her ear against Twilight’s chest. She heard the quiet lub-dub of her heart, and felt the rising and sinking of her lungs.

“She’s still alive.” Rainbow Dash said. “Applejack, go get that water. Pinkie Pie, see if you can’t wake her up.”

“Okie dokie loki!” Pinkie Pie yelled. She reached into her mane, and pulled out a leather bag. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at the obvious absurdity of her friend. Pinkie Pie ignored it, and reached inside with one of her hoofs. She groped around, and gasped as she grabbed hold of something.

She pulled it out of the bag, and saw that it was an air horn. She placed it next to Twilight’s ear, and pressed down on it. It let loose the compressed air, and it made an extremely loud noise. Twilight stirred, but didn’t wake.

“Oh,” Pinkie Pie sighed, “I thought I had her!”

She reached back into the bag, and pulled out a pair of large cymbals. She smashed them together without a different result. She tried furiously to wake her up with trumpets, noise makers, and an entire drum set. But when none of them worked, Pinkie pouted, and said this to her friends:

“Well it’s obvious that she just doesn’t want to wake up!”

Celestia rolled her eyes at Pinkie’s surrender. She trotted over, and touched Twilight’s forehead with her horn. Twilight gasped, and opened her eyes. Applejack had returned with the bucket of water, and sighed in defeat at the obvious power of Celestia.

“What happened?” She asked.

“You passed out after trying to summon the books General Fearless Sword lost.” Celestia explained. “You seemed to not be able to find them.”

“What?” Twilight shook her head, and turned to look Celestia in the eyes. “No. They weren’t anywhere on the planet at all.”

“Interesting.” Celestia mumbled to herself. She turned, and said, “General…”

She stopped herself because the General was not there at all. He had disappeared!

Celestia got up on her legs, and looked to see if he went anywhere. It had seemed that he had vanished into thin air.

“Where could he have gone?” Celestia asked.

“Have you checked behind you?”

Celestia turned, and gasped. She wasn’t looking at the fearful General at all, but a large male Changeling.

“Who are you?” Celestia demanded. “Name yourself, fiend!”

The Changeling smiled, and shapeshifted into the disgusting General Fearless Sword, saying, “Oh, p-p-please Princess Celestia, do not yell at me! I-I-I just need t-t-time to find those books!”

“You monster!” Celestia shouted, “State your business here!”

“Oh,” the Changeling said, smirking the entire time. “I am nothing but a distraction.”

Celestia turned to the sound of violent waves as Royal Guards tackled and shackled the Changeling. The ocean outside of Baltimare was black and looked extremely rough. She saw the immense waves smack against the docks, and turn them into splinters.

She gasped as she saw an enormous wave develop far off the coast. She watched as it bore down on the large port city, and grow larger the entire time. Celestia cursed under her breath. She needed to be more observant! How could she have not sensed this earlier?

She had no time to think that as she attempted to make a magical barrier around the city to protect it from the extremely large wave heading towards the city. She had made it too hastily and late though, and as the wave smashed into the barrier,
it easily dissipated it as if it was made of dust.

The wave smacked into the lower Docks District of the city, and completely engulfed it under water. As the wave kept rolling towards the walls, it took more and more citizens, carriages, stalls and small buildings with it. It was like nothing Celestia had seen before. This had to be the work of another sentient being, and not just nature at its worst.

As the wave hit the walls, and drenched Celestia in seawater, she used her immense magical powers to shove the ocean out of the city. She labored intensely, and sweat poured out from her face as she mustered enough strength to pick up the water and take it back into the ocean.

“Twilight,” she struggled to say, “Help… me… now.”

Twilight immediately got up, and galloped over to Celestia’s side. She closed her eyes, and soon, the combined magic of Twilight and Celestia began to push the sea back. Slowly, the sea receded from the city, but after they had finished their immense task, it was obvious the wave had done its damage.

The city was in complete ruin. What wasn’t flattened by the force of rushing water was either severely or partially damaged. There were few buildings in the entire city that escaped any damage. But the most heart-wrenching sight of all was the immense amount of dead ponies in the streets.

All had drowned underwater, and all of their coats and manes had dulled into a grayish shade of their original color. There were a few survivors that Celestia could see, but many citizens had died because of this unexpected show of force from nature.

Or from God himself, Celestia thought to herself. While he had not invaded Equestria, he had already destroyed a city.

Celestia knew that her time of touring was over. She needed to rally her forces, and prepare for the coming invasion.

Tell me what you think! I really want to thank everyone who commented and favorited this story so far. I am surprised that so many people had enjoyed this! In fact, I had expected to get a lot of harsh criticism for characterizing God as an angry and somewhat evil being. While he is not entirely evil, he is not entirely good either. I hope I cleared up all confusion about the Greek Pantheon, because I had gotten some questions as to why I included them. Next chapter: As Celestia and the Mane 6 rush to return to Canterlot, God and the Pantheon commence their final preparations for the invasion. What will come of the Changelings, who have showed themselves at this time, or of Equestria itself? Find out in the next chapter!