Twilight Sparkle and her friends had arrived at Canterlot about three days ago, and they were waiting for the princesses to finish something. In the time that Twilight was waiting today, all of her friends left to do other things so that she was left alone while waiting for the princesses, and she started to notice things around her. Things like an unusual amount of guards, a few columns of smoke from a camp of foreign powers, and the near by mountains practically burning because of what she could only assume would be the dragon clans. Upon noticing these things Twilights doubts of an army grew smaller, but there can't be a war know right? The last war here was waged thousands of years ago, why change know?

"Ah Twilight, I am happy to see you." Said princess Celestia with a relieved tone in her voice.

"Yes princess, as you know I would very much like some-"

"Answers? Yes I know. Now, would you please come inside."

"Okay, but I don't see how it would help."

"Twilight, do not be alarmed by what you are about to see." Celestia said in a calm manner.

"Okay? but I don- what is princess Luna doing!" Twilight gasps as she sees a window to void opening in the middle of the throne room.

"My sister is going to take us to the meeting of the gods."

"A meeting of the gods? But that's impossible seeing as though you are the only gods in existence."

"We are not the only ones that exist, the others are simply forgotten. Now, if you would follow me." Celestia says, trying to remain calm while pulling up a chair for Twilight to sit in.

"Are you sending me with you?"

"Yes, my student, I am taking you with me for there is something you must see. Now, sit down and channel your magic, that is all you must do."

Twilight did as she was told and suddenly she was somewhere else. It was pitch black and infinite, yet she could still see. There were tables with drinks on them strewn about the place, and lots of people and ponies talking to to each other in joyful and drunken tones. She had read about this place, it was called the void. It was exactly as the name described it, a massive unending void of nothingness, except for apparently tables, alcohol, and a lot of ponies and people.

"I didn't know there were so many other gods." Twilight said in wonder of all the creatures before her.

"They aren't all gods, most of them are legendary in one way or another." Said Luna walking up behind them.

"Well that explains a lot, but I didn't realize so many of these legends would be people."

"There is another planet far away from here called Earth, it is constantly torn by war and misfortune, but that planet is where all of the humans are from."

"That sounds like a horrible place to live, why would they stick around if it is that bad."

"Because they can make their way through the tough times without losing hope, and they have advanced technology to distract them." Luna said walking up behind them.

"It isn't as bad as the situation we'll be in though." Celestia mumbled.

Twilight heard the remark, and sounded concerned when she said, "Why is that princess?"

"Have you ever heard of the Four Horsemen, Twilight?"

"I have read about them in some really old books, but they were labeled as fiction."

"That is because most ponies cannot believe the horrors of the Horsemen."

"What do you mean? All I read was that they were the embodiment of various flaws in nature, but they didn't say anything about what they had actually done, if they did anything."

"Did they mention he names of the horsemen?"

"No." Twilight said, genuinely curious

"Their names are War, Conquest, Famine, and finally Death."

"Well, I could see how that would be a problem, but not a very large one considering that you are the goddesses of the sun and moon."

"Shhhhhhh. Don't say that here, he will butcher you if insult his power!" Luna whispered. She was absolutely terrified of the horsemen for some reason and it was making Twilight nervous.

"Why is she so scared princess Celestia?" Twilight sounded as bad as Luna.

"Because we are here to see them. Remember when I told you not to be alarmed by what you were about to see?"

"Yes." Twilight was as scared as Fluttershy in a public place.

"This was what I was talking about. Follow me, you must see this."

As the small group pushed trough the crowds Twilight noticed that it gradually got thinner the farther in they moved, and it scared her. Not the crowd thinning obviously, but the fact that these ancient fictional characters scared everyone here so much that even the princesses feared them. As they pushed through the final wall of happy drunken legends she saw the horsemen. At first she couldn't understand why everyone was scared. Two of the four looked pretty normal compared to everyone else here, and the other two didn't look very out of place either. One was an athletic human-looking god, the other was slightly out of shape, but didn't look strange other than that. The odd ones were the atronach and the cloak, a large pile of rocks held together by molten metal, with a massive ancient sword on its back, and the other was simply a tattered grey cloak by the looks of it. That got her really curious, until the she noticed that the princesses were shaking, and then they noticed her.

"Well brothers, it seems that Celestia decided to bring a mortal here." Famine bellows out in, what Twilight could only assume is a market voice.

"She is my sisters faithful student, and I will not have you mocking her." Luna said, always slightly more bold than her sister.

"We did not mean to offend such a beautiful being." Conquest said, going back to the flirting they left off with months ago.

Twilight didn't know what to think about these two. The princesses didn't seem to be afraid of them, in fact Luna was flirting with the man in the white robes, even though he had a powerful looking bow. In fact the only thing here they actually seemed to be afraid of was the tattered grey cloak, which was weird because it was just a cloak with no weapons attached or anything. Even the slightly chubby one had an old looking knife that had some kind of magic around it.

"You need to get over your urges. We have already played with ponies this year, brother." War grumbled at Conquest.

Conquest stuck out his silver tongue. "That doesn't count, that was business. How else were supposed to get a horse?" Conquest whined in his angelic voice. It made Twilight giggle a bit, but she then realized what they were joking about and shut up quickly.

"Oh yes I am very sorry dear mortal, we have not given you any attention as of yet. What is your name?" Conquest asked seeming curious.

"My name is Twilight Sparkle and I am princess Celestia's student. Who are all of you?" Twilight of course knew who they were but didn't know who got which names.

"Well I am Conquest, and I do all of the talking as you can see. The grumpy pile of rocks is War, he is a very skilled tactician. The chubby guy is Famine, he gives people stomach aches. And last6 but by no means the least of us, this is my broth-"

"I am Death, pleased to make your acquaintance." You growl through the massed shadows that are your body.

Twilight squeaked as she saw what was under the cloak that everyone was so afraid of. Under that old grey cloak was a solid shadow that formed the shape of human body. The Shadow also poured onto the floor and seemed somehow darker than the void itself, along with red eyes on the head that resembled the glowing eyes you could see in the everfree forest on nightmare night. He was scary enough, but he had no weapon that she could see, and was also very polite, even if his voice was creepy.

"I know you must be wondering why everyone is so scared of us, dear student. But they aren't scared of us, we're actually pretty weak compared to your mentors. What the gods are scared of, is Death himself." Conquest said in all seriousness, then he went back to flirting with Luna.

Twilight could understand why they would be afraid of death, but not why they were afraid of Death. Death had no weapons, and seemed to be nothing more than a symbolic entity, rather than an actual threat.

"Twilight." Celestia said.

"Yes princess?" Twilight said curiously. She was no longer scared of you and you sensed it.

"Here are your answers." She said simply before turning away and facing the crowd.

Twilight was getting more curious, and you were readying a cloud of shadows.

"Attention all Gods that are present tonight!" Celestia's words echoed through the void as it became quiet. "The last peaceful land is being invaded and we need your help!"

Everyone knew who was invading, and felt no need to ask. Twilight however was still putting together the pieces.

"Your forgotten armies will be appreciated, if not you yourself, if you wish to join our cause!"

There were quiet arguments among the crouds, and Twilight was still shocked by the confirmation that Equestria was being invaded.

"Anyone who wishes to help the last remaining empire strong enough to hold off the threat should come see me before you leave."

"Why don't we just end the problem here and now?" Ares yelled from a distant table, he had not taken off his bronze armor yet, which was probably a smart move.

"There is a war to wage and we should not waste our efforts here." Celestia said trying to diffuse the tension.

She had failed, and one by one the gods started to agree with the armor clad impostor that called himself a replacement for your brother, and you loved where it was going.

"I'll take care of him." Discord yelled. He was drunk off his rocker and insane enough to do it anyway. You would gladly add him to your collection.

"As long as I get the statue when your soul is mine." You growl to him.

"Deal, but I doubt it will come to that."

Discord wasn't a mighty god but his magic was fairly strong, and as proof of this he started to summon a purple flaming bunny from out of nowhere. As he did this the shadow cloud you had been preparing the entire time was now swirling around you like a slow tornado, and as the bunny came running toward you it was was swallowed by the shadows.

"Wrong move."

The shadow cloud splits into tentacle like shapes that lunge for Discord and grab him as he tries to back up. The tentacles pull him toward you quickly, and then hold him in front of you as your scythe appears in your hands, the faces on the head of the blade silently screaming for blood. You decide to indulge the weapon's request, and you slowly take apart the god of chaos. You cut off his tail first and listen to him scream for a few seconds, and then you cut off his body from the waist down, his bowls hanging like ropes from the hole where his pelvic bone used to be. The tentacles then pull his arms from his body and throw them into the crowd of gods, who are now staring, horrified, and unable to look away. You listen to his last scream as you finally sever his head from his mutilated body, cut one of the horns from his head, and drive it through his no longer beating heart.

"I hope you all prove to be a better challenge on the battlefield. Have a nice day." You say as you retreat from the void via a scattering of the shadows.

Twilight could just stare uncomprehendingly at the spot where the god that she had helped imprison, used to be standing.

Author's Note

Yay violence and gore! All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted.