//-------------------------------------------------------// Revelations -by winterman17- //-------------------------------------------------------// //-------------------------------------------------------// The Realm of the Dead //-------------------------------------------------------// The Realm of the Dead Welcome to the Underdeep where they all fall asleep and leap into a world that was never there never here, never where? _________________________________________________________________________________________ You are Death. You are the thing that everyone fears. Every pony, every person, every cat, dog, mouse, spider, everything in the universe fears you... And you love it to bits. The other horsemen are nothing without you. Sure there nice to have around, but they aren't anywhere near as powerful as you. They all remember your birth. A horseman is born when some new tragedy arises. War was first, when people started to distrust each other. Then there was Conquest, when people realized what they could do after locking there enemies in a dungeon. After that there was Famine, when all the supplies started running out. And lastly there was you, when everything became over crowded you killed the immortal, locked them in a weapon, and bound them to your shadows. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Underdeep where the reaper's birth shall mark a feast to give him strength to march upon the world of day that land of greed with the bones of their sad and lame _________________________________________________________________________________________ Unlike most people though, you were not teased for being the youngest. You are the strongest, you are able to fight a war against the gods, and slaughter them all. Along with your small empire, That gained the name Underdeep. It was called that because it was below the deepest point in any given planet that any given god could see. You built on the backs of your loyal demons, and used their bones to build your army, so that they could serve you beyond yourself. For anything that died with you was never truly dead. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Underdeep where the demons burn to greet the reaper with their flaming breath along with those saved from Death _________________________________________________________________________________________ Everything will see your empire. The trees and bushes, the ponies and people, everything. In fact you are probably the most outgoing person ever. You do make an effort to meet everyone at least once. Everything must die eventually, just not Death. Death is a constantly living fear. Eveything has instincts to avoid you, and some things gladly meet you. It makes no difference as far as you are concerned just so long as the army gets larger. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Underdeep where they all fall asleep and leap into their reapers arms with sounds of joy and sounds of pain. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Okay. Thats enough of that. "Silence you festering wasted flesh or I will build a coffin out of your bones!" You yell at the runt of a demon that somehow became your servant. "Yes Master." it hisses back. Your scythe materializes out of the shadows that make up your body and you swing it at the demon. His head is severed with a straight line through his neck as blood pumps out of it while his body still tries to breath. His head evaporates and joins the shadows while his body is suddenly writhing with maggots leaving nothing but the skeleton in a few seconds. You then get off of your throne of bones and kick his body into the magma below you. "Why can nothing stay quiet when I want it to? So much for my small period of reflection." You growl as you survey your empire. Your empire is made of a massive cavern in the center of any given planet. The roof is almost always changing, The funny thing is that Death leaving the planet causes a natural disaster to occur and destroy many beings. It's the same when you arrive too. You look down upon your kingdom and see the Mighty demons of your empire resurrecting a few buildings and mining the ore that always grows back. The ore is used to make weapons that transfer souls into them and make them stronger, and at the end of every war that you wage the weapons are melted down and you retrieve the souls. As evidence of this the is a massive blackfire pit being mined out of the center of this planet called Equeas. As you look around more, and see a few demons slacking off, and swimming in the magma. You quickly deal with that problem by electrocuting the slackers with so much electricity that the burned skin turns into the equivalent of tissue paper and the bones shatter. "Less slacking more smithing!" you yell at the weapon smiths under a big black stone pavilion beating the ore into shapes. You quickly decide you want a new servant, and before you can call out for one, the new one arrives. "Hello master", it bellows," I am your new servant." "I like you", You say marveling at the choice that other demons made. "I have a feeling these are going to be a good few years." You really do like your new servant. He is more of a bodyguard but he is getting you drinks when need them. You decide to promote whoever suggested this guy. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia doesn't know what to do. That is the first time in millennia that the horsemen have gone to the meeting, that and the fact that there was a rather large earthquake in Ponyville didn't help her either. Luckily nopony got hurt thanks to the magic she put around Equeas, but she knew what natural disasters supposedly meant and with the horsemen being at the meeting she couldn't dismiss anything too easily. Luna was in the library finding all she could about the horsemen, but she had been in there for hours and had only found three books. Celestia was reading them when a guard approached her and said she had guests in the banquet hall. The banquet hall was a lot like the throne room only there was a large table instead of thrones, and it had floor to ceiling windows. As the princess walked in the door, she stopped when she saw the visitors. "Hello princess" Said Conquest with a voice like a choir singing. "Hey princess!" Said Famine in his usual loud voice. All War did was nod his head in her general direction. She wondered where the fourth one was but was glad he didn't seem to have come with them. At least now she would still be able to talk. "Why are you here?" "We are here on a political mission" Said Conquest. Why did he have to send Conquest? Celestia thought, everyone knew Conquest was able to get lesser gods to agree to unreasonable terms, let alone normal people, who would do his bidding just to hear his voice. "I have never heard of the Horsemen doing anything political other than waging wars." "We are here to discuss your surrender" Author's Note Constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. Having fun Cortney? //-------------------------------------------------------// I am in Need of a Horse //-------------------------------------------------------// I am in Need of a Horse You knew what your brothers were doing in Canterlot. Gods this planet is horrible, all the cities have something to do with horses or the main families in them. At least on Earth the cities had decent names too, all of the city names here are childish. When I take over, i'll rename Canterlot and call it New-New York. That would be funny, you think to yourself. But still you couldn't get the thought out of your head. You wanted to see the look on the princesses face as your brothers told her the conditions of her surrender. You wanted to see them shake in fear at the very notion of war with yourself. But that would have to wait. For now you will have to wait in the Underdeep and supervise the demons who always seem to slack off at the most inconvenient times. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia heard what Conquest had said, she just couldn't comprehend it. In the end she excused herself. " Take all the time you need.", Conquest said, "I know it can be hard to make decisions under the circumstances" "why does he always have to sound like an angel" Celestia said under her breath. "I thank you kindly" Conquest says sounding genuinely endeared. Why does he always have to hear everything. Celestia thought it this time, smart enough not to make the mistake again. She tells the guard to get Luna and bring her down. "Would you gentlemen like something to drink?" Asks Celestia's new head of the scheduling depmartment. She happend to be a trained maid and other things of the like, which also happened to be she was picked over everyone else. She had the name of Feather Pen. "Wine" Famine bellowed, he seemed to have the same problem as Luna. "Scotch" Conquest almost sung, Feather Pen thought it a bit odd of a choice but didn't argue considering who they were. "Water" War said, which was rather ironic considering he was made of melting rock. While Feather went to get drinks she thought about War's voice. It was rather strange, Sure it had the tone you would expect from a pile of rocks, but it didn't have the volume to match his size, oh well. Back in the throne room, Celestia was scared by War's voice. The sound of rock striking rock was horrifying to hear coming from a burning face of no emotion other than the eternal expression of hate he seemed to have plastered on his face. Of course he was War after all. The drinks arrived, and Luna a few minutes later. "What is it sis-" Her eyes widened at the sight of them. "Hello Princess Luna" Conquest said. "Well hello" Luna cooed, She was the princess of the night, and she reserved the right to flirt with the guests. "Don't forget about us, Princess Luna." Famine said, He knew there was no need of yelling , his voice was loud enough. "Your ruining the moment mister!" Luna yelled back, she suddenly felt like she could an entire berry bush. "hush, both of you!" Conquest said loudly, "Now where were we dear princess" This time it was War who stopped it. He slammed the flat of his sword into the table. It rang with the sound of one thousand warrior's battle cries. It deafened everyone in the room for a few seconds. "BACK TO YOUR POLITICS!" War roared. That was the volume Feather Pen was expecting earlier. "As I was saying" Conquest sounded irritated, " the terms of your surrender are-" "SURRENDER!" Luna gasped,"Sister how could you let this happen!" "Do you want to go to war with Death himself?" The white alicorn asked. "No, but I will not surrender" "We'll call it a truce then" Conquest said, always the politician. "Agreed" Luna stated begrudgingly "My brother was not lying when he said he needed a horse, his breeders were killed in an "accident"." Celestia was immediately taken aback. She didn't want to, but she had to accept, she had to do anything she could to stop the invasion. As Luna looked at her with pleading eyes she said, "You can have anyone you want so long as I approve." "Decent enough" Conquest stated, "he will need six beings from this planet" "Six!" Luna yelled with wide eyes. "I agree, that is ridculous." "Do you really want to wage war?" Conquest asked, that was all that needed to be said. "Our brother wants six beings, King Sombra, the Queen Chrysalis, the strongest earth pony you will allow, the quietest earth pony you will allow, the fastest earth pony you will allow, and the smartest pony of any kind you will allow." The pricesses were terrified at the list and realized what you were making. "Anything else?" Celestia asked shamefully. "He also needs one of Luna's hairs, and a piece from the statue that holds Discord." "Fine" The princess of the sun said before her sister could argue. Everything asked for was delivered to the three brothers after a few weeks. As they said goodbye the sisters were terrified at what they had done, and they both sighed as the horsemen went beyond their feeling underground. _________________________________________________________________________________________ As you finish cutting a demon's throat out and shove it into his recently opened ribcage, a large magma geyser bursts out of the core just in front of you. You absent-mindedly throw the body into it, because you can't remember why you were mad at him in the first place. That and because you were interested in what your brothers had accomplished. Your three brothers descended with the geyser and showed you what they had solicited from the princesses. The gave you the hair and the piece of the statue for safe keeping. You weren't surprised to find King Sombra, and Chrysalis trying to hold back tears, they knew the stories. What you were surprised by however was that the more random ponies were mostly female, in fact only one was male. You soon remembered that Equestria was a matriarchal society though. You needed a new horse, and if the three earth ponies and unicorn were the best Celestia would offer then that was fine by you. You locked all of the offerings in a room with your brothers Conquest and War, You left Famine to talk to the demons, he seems to like it for some reason, but you could never find out why. You knew what your brothers were about to do, but forever being humanoid puts you off watching little ponies have sex. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Making ponies have sex wasn't really what War and Conquest were doing though. War was changing egg cells into sperm cells and then combining them via magic, he learned to do this when he needed larger armies to wage larger wars. And Conquest was using a spell to give all of the ponies unbelievable pleasure so that they would release their fluids. It wasn't busy work, but it took time. _________________________________________________________________________________________ When all was done you open the door, and you saw all of the ponies sleeping, except for Chrysalis. She looks horrified at what had just been done to her, she was the host for your new horse after all. "What seems to be the matter dear? Why do you cry and shake with fear? You've only just become the host for one of the greatest horses to ever live." You say as if you are genuinely curious. You use your own magic to speed the process of aging so that the foal will be ready. When Chrysalis is ready to give birth you cut open her stomach and see some of her ribcage too, you also see a blood soaked foal screaming along with his mother, as he starts to drown in her blood. You take out the foal as she screams louder not only at the pain but at the loss of her child. Her insides start to overflow with blood as she screams in agony, it's giving you a headache. How does a changeling scream so loudly? You slit her throat make her choke on her life force and then bury your scythe in her head. As you begin to see blood trickle down her forehead from the brain itself as your scythe dissolves into shadow along with her body. You speed the aging process a bit more until the former foal is now in the most prime second of his life, and then you freeze his age exactly there, a small side effect to this is that his coat tuns the same color as a dead body though. You also use your magic to fuse the hair from Luna into his body, and proceed to carry out the work of replacing unicorn horn with the piece of stone from the statue called Discord. You cut the horn clean of his body and you fuse the now perfectly fitting piece of stone to the top of his head, It fits and fuses so easily that you decide not to kill the person who forged it. You release the paralyzation spell that was holding him in place and put him to sleep, as you do this you decide that you will name him Despair, for he will bring despair to the hearts of your enemies. All of this was witnessed by the no longer sleeping ponies in the room. You let them all go and yell, "Whoever is fast enough to make it to the platform on the other side of the building gets to leave!" None of them move. "What are you deaf!?" Again no answer. "Run ponies, RUN!" They all bolt out of the door, and the demons eat them one by one. Only King Sombra is left standing at the platform when it starts to rise. You would assume he thinks he is going to escape and as he nears the ceiling you yell to him, "Nobody runs and makes it out alive!" King Sombra is now a bloody mess on the roof of the massive cavern. "Now I need a clean-up crew." You say laughing to yourself at the bad joke. "Well, at least I don't need a horse anymore" Author's Note I accept all constructive criticism and comments. //-------------------------------------------------------// On the Brink of War //-------------------------------------------------------// On the Brink of War After the time consuming process of growing a horse worthy of yourself, you feel very frustrated. You had your brothers ask for the most intelligent pony they could get their hands on, and they bring you a dimwit compared to any human you've ever met that doesn't have some kind disability. Training your new horse is a horrible process for the horse, and for you at the moment. The horse can't even grasp the most advanced fighting moves and it is tedious to try and teach it these things over and over. "How hard can it possibly be for the most advanced horse in centuries to kill a five thousand pound demon legionnaire using blades tied to your hooves! I've already gone through seventeen of my best trainers, and you have even learned to activate your armor!" "I am sorry, master." Despair said, his voice is somewhere between a growl and a hiss. "You're sorry! You think that will fix your incompetence! I thought you would bring fear to the hearts of my enemies, maybe you are not worthy of your name!" "Give him some time, lord." The trainer next to you said meekly. Turning to him you yell, "You dare to demand something of your superior! I thought we had that beaten out of you at birth!" " I shall leave now my mas-" "Silence you idiotic piece of waste! You will die for your grievances!" As you say this your scythe forms from the shadow. You shove the spear like end of it into the demons gut, and then you hit him with such force that you split the massive trainer into perfect halves. His lungs on both sides crumple and his heart still tries to pump even though it has been cut in two. The blood pours out on to the floor much like an exploding water balloon. "Drink horse, I will find you later and train you myself." As you leave Despair to take a small nap, you have the brilliant idea to visit the princesses yourself and complain. After your sleep you make preparations to leave your hellish empire. _________________________________________________________________________________________ War had an itch. It was an itch he couldn't get rid of until his brother authorized it. He knew the war with the princesses was coming, and he also knew it would be the largest war he will ever wage. He knew he would die in this, the most massive of wars, but he did not mind having to die in his own name. Or his brother's name for that matter, for War knew that in the end there would be nothing but Death and his Underdeep. Well that and the archangels but they were not important. And as he thought about things relating to his name he was interrupted by a pipsqueak of a demon, more of an imp than anything else. "War, your brother is planning to visit the princesses and has left you in charge for the moment." The little demon hissed at War with what sounded like disgust. "Very well then, carry on." The demons here never liked anyone here other than Death, and as a result they would treat anyone else with disrespect. War normally didn't mind this but since the itch he couldn't cure was constantly getting worse he decided that he would put the imp into a frenzy that would make him attack the next demon he sees, which was funny because War knew gthat the next demon the pipsqueak would see is the rather large bodyguard posted outside his door. "Someone get the cleaning crew!" War chuckled at his own bad joke. _________________________________________________________________________________________ The princesses had been worried all week, especially Luna who actually remembered the last time that the horsemen had been to a meeting of the gods. That had been a massive blood bath, Death went on a rampage and killed Ra, Bakasura, and Perseus. War had injured Ares quite badly, and Conquest sent an arrow into achilles, all the while Famine was giving everyone a massive stomach ache. Needless to say there were a lot of bloody chunks, collapsed lungs, tentacles, and beating hearts to pick up afterwards. Luna also remembered being slightly attracted to Death, of course she was halfway to transforming to Nightmare Moon at the time. "Guard, get me something sweet to drink!" the lunar god found that sugar calmed her nerves most of the time. "No need" Celestia said as she strolled into the room with a chocolate milkshake, it was almost disturbing how much she knew her sibling. "Thank you very much sister." "I am as nervous as you" the solar princess said, her voice reinforcing her words. "I am nervous not because the horsemen are here, but because I know they are preparing for war." "We will make sure they will not win." "Do you not remember what just Death's horse can do alone!" Luna was starting to get stressed. "I am fully aware of this, but they cannot possibly defeat about a hundred gods and thousands of legends along with their ancient armies." Celestia knew she was lying through her teeth, but she needed to reassure everyone in the room, including herself. "I suppose you are right." Luna said as a Feather Penn ran into the room. "Death is here to see you princesses." "WHAT!" The princesses exclaimed in unison. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Violent Terror was a legend that was simple enough. She was Nightmare Moon's best warrior, and she was also human. In fact, she was the first human to set foot in Equestria. She had extensive military training back on earth through numerous intelligence agencies, and through some underground fight clubs. She had been extremely attracted to Death when she had first saw him, she did not care that he was only humanoid, it was close enough for her. She loved his personality and wished to train with him. Violent Terror didn't look bad for a human woman, big breasts, decent curves, white, dark red hair, green eyes, and being forever frozen at the age of twenty three with no side effects didn't hurt her image. She wondered if Death would even give her a chance as she paced around in her own little section of Equestria. Her home didn't have much in it, a small kitchen, a few pictures of the wars she had been in, and a training dummy with a display case filled with knives to keep her skills sharp. She had heard that the horsemen she so admired was at the princesses castle, so she decided to visit him personally. _________________________________________________________________________________________ As you wait for the princesses to show their faces, you decided to take a look around their meeting hall. Its nice enough, floor to ceiling stained glass windows, a large round table with a few chairs, and high roof with large marble columns. Not quite your cup of tea, but it isn't bad. It'd be better if you added some hell fire on the columns, and a demon guard by tha- "Hello" Luna says, looking more calm than her sister. "Hello dear Luna" You growl through the shadows. "If it would be alright, I would like to ask why you're here." "I'm here for some idle chit chat, well that and War has a bit of an itch." "We wish not to go to war with you" "Ah, but my brother does" You say knowing that they can't prevent it. "If it comes to war I will personally ask all gods and legends to fight against you." Celestia says now feeling more confident. One of the windows suddenly shatters. "And if it comes to war then I will fight at his side!" It was Violent Terror, you had noticed her before at some of the meetings between the gods, and found her staring. You didn't feel anything that you would call love for her, you would kill her in a heartbeat just like anyone else, but you didn't think she would be a bad candidate for releasing your stress from time to time. "Soldier." Luna acknowledged her. "I am sorry my princess but I must fight with him for reasons that I feel you know." So she felt attraction for you. You were suspicious, that she had these feelings, but this confirmed it. You didn't mind, you had heard her story, and a well trained soldier was always accepted. Especially if they were loyal to you through emotion, instead of pay. "I feel it is time to cure my brothers itch, what do you think, love?" You ask in a deeper voice than normal, flaming the fire inside her. "Anything to please you." she said, knowing your power. "Good, we will give you till the first attack to prepare your forces." You growl. As you and your new woman, walk out you can imagine the horrified faces of the princesses. //-------------------------------------------------------// And now I am Become Death //-------------------------------------------------------// And now I am Become Death That damn horse has been a pain in your side for months. Your forces are ready, the siege engines have been built, the blades are forged, and you even had time to to acquire a few nuclear warheads in case things went to shit. But this horse is still not fully trained. At least now he knows how to use his armor though. "We will get through this training, even if it is the death of you!" War bellowed at the terrifying horse. You decided to put War in charge of the horse because of the advanced training he puts his army through. It was also something he had done ever since you had your first horse, he was a good brother like that, it's a shame that he will die in the war. "Lord War, I cannot achieve the balance needed for such stunts." Despair says with a strange sense of self-confidence. "Ready your armor Despair." War demands, he was trying not to yell but he failed. The piece of stone fused to Despair's skull was blessed with a magical property that allowed it to duplicate itself multiple times around the wearer. This was demonstrated before your eyes as black fire engulfed Despair. When the fire died down Despair was left wearing a suit of black stone armor plates separated by a green flames, as this happened War drew his sword and started to hack at the stone plating. Your horse, only now realizing this, was fighting back. It wasn't the most majestic of battles, but it was entertaining to watch. Both of the soldiers were accustomed to throwing their weight around to win battles so there was a lot of sparks as blade hit stone and flame, but not much else. You decided to leave them to their fighting and talk to Violent Terror. "Hello love, I was wondering something." "What would you like to know?" She asked using a very seductive voice. You had been growing the relationship for the few weeks that she had been here, and you knew what she wanted from you. "I was wondering what your real name is." "What do you mean?" "I know all legends had another name before they became famous. Tell me yours." "My name was Jennifer." She said rather happily. "Well then Jennifer, why don't we train together." You growl out. "Gladly." You were biding time until you had to bed her to keep her loyalty, but you knew she loved training with you so it would have to do. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia knew that this army wasn't enough. She knew it even as she looked out upon the thousands of trained royal guards, experienced griffons, and overly muscled minotaurs. Even the buffalo had joined the effort, but as she watched this cheering army that Nightmare Moon would be proud of, she knew that they didn't have a chance. "My princess," Said Feather Penn, "they are expecting you to say something." "I am well aware of this." "Would you like some water?" "No, thank you." Celestia stood to address her pony army with a look of false confidence. "I know what you have been through these past few months." Cheering. "I know that war is an unknown subject to most of you, and I also know that you are unaware of the enemy we are fighting." Worried whispers. "Has anyone here heard of the horsemen?" Celestia shouted into the crowd. About a thousand of the warriors raised their weapons. That was better than she thought, now she knew she would have at least three hundred thousand of her own ponies to help fight the war. "You way leave now if you wish, for they are our enemy." All thousand left. "For the rest of you who do not know, I will not tell you of the horrors the horsemen have committed, but know this, they are evil beings, and may look strange to you, my fearless ponies! But fighting in this war is a deed worthy of pride! You are protecting everypony here, and no matter the cost I will have you know, that we will be victorious!" Everypony there was cheering and stamping so loudly that Celestia did not doubt that Death himself could here it in his Underdeep. _________________________________________________________________________________________ You could indeed here the cheering in the Underdeep, and you knew it was time to rise and fight. "War!" You yell through the solidified shadows of your body. "Yes brother?" "I do believe that it is time to take care of that itch of yours." War just walks away from you, and up to the pedestal in front of your throne of skulls. In front of War is his long forgotten army that he created in his image. All manner of rock piles held together by fire, water, lightening, acid, and other various painful things. It was an army of merely hundreds, but just these five thousand atronach could eradicate an army of millions. Along with the demons from your own army, it could kill a few gods all by itself. "All soldiers at attention!" All the atronachs stood immediately, but the demons just kept cracking jokes. War saw this and slammed his sword against the handrail. The noise alone was enough to get their attention. "Today is the day we begin a war!" Cheering. "A war so glorious that it will end the world as anyone knows it!" More cheering. "This war will end all mortal wars, and exterminate all those that are unworthy of life!" The soldiers are now cheering loud enough to shake the Underdeep. "We will wade in the blood of our enemies and my brother shall feast on their souls! Our blackened blades will cut them to bits as we march down the streets of their pacifistic empire! And in the end I have no doubt in my mind that we will be triumphant!" In addition to the cheering they are now banging swords against shields. "There will not be any noteworthy resistance among these bookish, unconditioned, and out of practice ponies! Not even the mighty dragons of this world will stop our army!" Now even you were impressed by the speech. Your brother was known for his battle speeches, but he seemed to be pouring his heart and soul into this one. "After all the bloodshed of the incapable inhabitants of this world, this great war will continue with the gods and their ancient armies of the mighty spartans, the lost pegasi, and many more forgotten militaries! And through all of this we will prevail!" Well damn, he really is going all out isn't he. "And when all is said, and done, and dead, there will be one final front! An attack against the mighty archangels in heaven! Down with Gabriel! Down with Raphael! And down with Michael!" You find yourself standing and listening, your brother really has a talent for words, Conquest would be upset, and Famine would have a stomach ache. "And throughout this war I want you, all my loyal warriors, to remember one thing! You shall give no mercy to anyone!" With those last words you have the demons open the gates to the overworld, and with light streaming in from a crack in the roof of the Underdeep, and with all your undoubtably loyal soldiers rushing through it, and with Jennifer on your arm the entire time, you think to yourself... And now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. I suppose we all thought that, one way or another. Author's Note For some reason I feel that this is not as well written as the others, but I don't know. Tell me what you think. All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// The First Battle //-------------------------------------------------------// The First Battle As you hover above the gate to the Underdeep you find that you had more demons in your empire than you had originally thought, because after about half an hour of hovering the demons are still pouring out of the gate. And Conquest said that a twenty-foot wingspan of pure shadow was useless. As you look for somewhere to send your massive army, you see a gleaming metropolis not far off in the distance. "War!" You growl to your sibling. "Yes brother!" "March!" _________________________________________________________________________________________ The princesses had heard that your army had come at last, and Celestia was now chasing Luna through the air. When she finally caught up to her sister, she grounded her. "Luna you are overreacting." "All you want to do is sit and wait while Manehattan is destroyed!" "It is a necessary sacrifice, and it will create a martyr to fight for." "It is our business center!" "There is also a dragon guarding it, what else would you have me do?" "I wouldn't have you stand here and wait!" And with that Luna took off again only to be knocked down by something made of shadow. "I'm sorry ladies. Am I interrupting something?" You growl out as you slowly land. "Hello Death" Luna almost hisses at you. "Sore throat Luna? I can fix that for you." "There is no need. What do you want." Celestia demands. "an official proclamation of war. It's mostly for my brother, but he is okay without it." "This is not war, a war would mean that both sides are equal, this is slaughter!" Luna yells sounding distraught. "Very well then." "Is there any way I can convince you to delay?" The solar princess asks hopefully. "No. For you see I will start a fire, and watch it rise, through your city." And suddenly you were gone with nothing but a lingering shadow remaining. _________________________________________________________________________________________ As War marches forward to the city called Manehattan he is finally cured of his itch. This was it, this was what he was born for, and he would do it gladly. You appear next to him and your brother looks at you thankfully. He does not need to say anything, and all you do is nod your head in acknowledgment. As your amy comes to a stop in front of the great wall in front of the city that Celestia had no doubt prepared, you hover over the gate and address everypony there. "Hello all citizens of this great city!" Everypony stares at you with confused looks on their faces "This city is mine now, and your princesses can do nothing about it!" Everypony is starting to get worried. "Anyone who fights, dies!" You yell as a rock flies through your wing. "Go away! we have people here who will protect us!" called a nameless pony lost in the crowd. "Well then I just want you to know that your kings of commerce, and your crowns of greed, will not protect when my slaves are freed!" Then the gate burst off of its hinges and flattened about twenty ponies. As your army of demons charges in they look like nothing the ponies have ever seen. Some are massive, and some are small, but all have large wings, muscles, and weapons. "Let this war begin!" You yell to the sun knowing that Celestia can hear you. So many ponies were killed before your eyes in all manner of gruesome ways. To you right an Acidic atronach was was using himself to burn away the skin of a pony from the feet up and nothing was left behind. To your left a somewhat small demon was putting thousands of stab wounds into a guard pony which was now bleeding out everywhere. And in front of you was a curious sight. "Cutie Mark Crusaders Rebels!" about five little foals said in unison. "Well isn't that cute." "We are not cute, and we will win!" one in particular said, she had a brown coat and a reddish mane. "Well then you can die too." As you say this your scythe materializes in your hands and you swing it at them, but they all jump and land on top of it. After they get their balance you tangle them in a web of shadow and start suffocating them. you then throw them to the ground and slit their throats one by one leaving the one with the brown coat. You kick the bodies into the air and release the web so that the brown one will only be knocked out and you place a symbol on her saying that none of your soldiers should harm her. "Tell the world of what I have done and you just might live!" you yell to the remaining filly before she hits the ground and gets knocked out. You then see a shape starting to block out the sun. A massive red dragon flies to the battle and spews fire down upon your army. It doesn't do anything to your nearly invincible military, and now the dragon has lightening bolts peeling away his scales. The scales then fall to the ground and kill some ponies while others get imbedded in the pavement. As you look up through the burning skyscrapers you see the dragon circling, you jump onto his back, it has been a while since you have jumped that high. Now on the back of the panicked dragon you take your scythe and cut the scales away form the front of his neck and slit his throat. You then cut open his stomach and let his intestines fall out onto your army, and the demons eat them. The dragon has been roaring in pain the entire time so you bury your scythe into the red scales of his head and gracefully dive off of his back and land on the ground feet first. As you look up you see the now flame engulfed dragon crash into the largest two buildings in the city and set them on fire as they fall to the ground. "War!" War comes rushing over to you while cleaving ponies into halves with his massive ancient sword. "What do you need brother?" "Finish them off for me." "Will do." With those last words you fly above the city and watch the battle come to an end. the demons start eating the corpses, your brother and his atronachs start burning down the buildings, and way off in the outskirts of the city you see a reddish mane running away. You look at what you had done and thought it was good. Author's Note All compliments and constructive criticism are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// Reinforcements //-------------------------------------------------------// Reinforcements 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. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Souls of Thousands //-------------------------------------------------------// The Souls of Thousands At last you know the secret weapon of the princesses. The Elements of Harmony are as old as you yourself, and more powerful than your all three of your brothers combined. But Nothing is as powerful as Death, and peace will no longer walk upon this world. The only problem is that the Elements are a legitimate threat to your plans, for if they are trained and used properly, and combined with the armies of the gods, it can take away your brothers, and your military, but not you. No, you out of all must live and to do this the princesses must be crippled at once. "Bring the bombs!" You yell to a group of lazy demons. You watch as again the message is relaid to the gates of the Underdeep. Moments later, more monstrosities crawl forth from the gates, each one being exactly the same. Massive pairs of legs attached to a hammock-like body, and all five of them carrying custom built AN602 hydrogen bombs, and although only one was ever built on earth, War had his atronachs reconstruct a few of them, and he saved them for rainy days. They truly were beautiful weapons, each detonation being the equivalent of a fourth of the eruption of Krakatoa. The beasts were mere carriers for these terrors of technology, and the bombs would be carried by drones to their destination. "Fillydelphia, Hoofington, Cloudsdale, Baltimare, Trottingham!" You yell to the five drones that were sacrificing themselves to ensure your plan was complete. "Are you sure this is wise brother?" It was Conquest this time. "Dropping these bombs will destroy everything within miles of the explosion." "It is a display of power, and a strategical crippling of the princesses' empire. Fillydelphia and Baltimare are economic centers, Cloudsdale will throw the control of weather, Trottingham is a fashion capital, thus discouraging support from the rich, and Hoofington is on the opposite side of the everfree forest from Ponyville, just close enough for a warning shot at the Elements." "As long as you know what you're doing brother." "Relax Conquest, and I promise you can keep Luna when we're done." _________________________________________________________________________________________ As it turns out, that warning shot was closer than Death thought. Twilight Sparkle and her friends had arrived in Ponyville yesterday, and already misfortune has struck. They were in the town square when the bomb detonated. They had all seen the drone fly overhead earlier and were wondering what it meant, now they found out. "Y'all better get down!" Applejack yelled to her friends. They saw it all go before they heard it. An unbelievably large cloud of ash flew up above the clouds, and they had to avert their eyes to avoid being blinded by the light. Then they saw what the shockwave was doing to the Everfree forest. Trees had been uprooted and were now flying through the sky like oversized spears, and the air was visibly pushed out of the way to make room for the earth-shattering noise of the explosion, but Twilight, smart as she is, put a magical bubble around her friends to protect them. And through all of this, the group of friends could only watch as the ponies around them were thrown into buildings, impaled by trees, and as all of those who were unfortunate enough not to collide with something had their lungs ripped from their body through their mouths as the shockwave threw them into the air. This kind devastation was something that not even Twilight had expected, and she still couldn't get over the way Discord was butchered. She also wasn't sure whether it was the creature that exploded, or the metal thing it was carrying. Although the only thing made of metal she had ever seen that was that large is a plow, so she was just going to assume it was the creature, but if Death had more of those they were doomed. "Is everypony okay?" Twilight asked her friends Everypony answered yes in turn, and said nothing else because there was nothing left to say. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia was in her private quarters when she felt the tremors. Multiple tremors spaced about ten minutes apart, some worse than others and she was wondering what had been done. There was no army at the wall and the nearest city was hundreds of miles away. She knew who was responsible, but she also knew Death didn't use natural disasters as weapons. It was then she saw the shadows seeping between her hooves. "What have you done now?" "Why so irritable? All I did was drop five of the largest bombs mankind had ever created." You growl innocently. "Where did you drop them?" Celestia said rather calmly. "Fillydelphia, Baltimare, Trottingham, Cloudsdale, and Hoofington." "Hoofington is ten miles away from Ponyville!" She yelled worriedly "Well i'm sure Twilight was smart enough to do something. Besides, the Everfree forest probably blocked most of it." "Why!" Celestia yells as she sends a bolt of light towards you. "Well, I guess since your supplying the light." You say as all the lamps go out, and the windows become black, visibly dimming the room. More pulses of light fill the room, as Celestia fought against the monster that could have taken away her favorite student. "Why do you fight me?" You say as you cut a new groove in her horn. Celestia screams in pain, and you send shadows to grab her. The shadows wrap around her hind legs and shove her through the window. "You will not win!" "That seems to be an opinion at the moment." You say as you appear from the darkness of the room. Celestia is dangling from her rear hooves, being held by pure shadow, above a several hundred foot drop out of the top of tallest tower in the castle. "You're a monster!" "That hurts me princess, I think I'll leave now." You say slowly dissapearing. The shadow holding Celestia evaporates and the princess plummets. As she reaches about the halfway mark of the fall, the white alicorn finally regains her balance and spreads her wings. As she flies back to her room, she notices the massive clouds of ash slowly drifting towards Canterlot. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight and her friends had been scouting around for survivors, they had found the rest of the apple family and a few of the woodland creatures Fluttershy so adored. And as they walked away from the small town that had at one point been much more than dead bodies, broken trees, and flattened buildings, they swore they would destroy whoever was responsible. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Second Battle //-------------------------------------------------------// The Second Battle Sitting back in your throne at New-New York, still finding that name funny, you start to feel tremors. They were small tremors, but they got more powerful as it would seem they got closer. The tremors were are about half a second apart, as if an army was marching towards you. As soon as you put the pieces together you rocket into the sky, and what you see makes you burst out laughing. Ares took it upon himself to march to your city. Ten thousand ancient Spartans marching in line, and in phalanx formation, along with a large and strong looking god carrying a massive battle-axe and wearing bronze armor that covers all of his body with metal plates. "War!" you call, landing. "What is needed?" War says. "Rouse the troops and charge, Ares has decided to pay us a visit." "Very well." All around you the army wakes and gathers at the center of the massive factory of a city whose only citizens are soldiers. The athronachs are first to act on your call, then the klaws, after that the drones, and lastly your demons. The carriers cannot maneuver easily so they stay put. War just silently walks up to a piece of wrecked building sticking out of the ground and addresses the army. "This coward that calls himself my replacement has thought it a good idea to try and ambush us!" The klaws started to sharpen their claws. "He takes an army of a mere ten thousand to defeat our might!" The demons start cheering. "Perhaps, he is hoping for a repeat performance of three hundred for this fight, because that is all he will get!" The drones start flying in loops. "For even if his pathetic army puts up a fight, the most it will be is entertainment! And isn't that all we want here? Entertainment?" The atronachs start cheering with the demons now. "Aren't we all tired of waiting here, and doing nothing?" The klaws start stomping. "I say that we do something about this offense against our strength, that he would dare bring only ten thousand is an insult to our superiority!" Weapons are being thrust into the air by cheerful demons. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Slaughter them all and send a message! We will not be defeated! I am turning you loose upon this world, do as you wish with the inhabitants, butcher them, starve them, burn them, drown them, but show no mercy!" The stomping and cheering is rivaling even the marching of the fast approaching army. "Now my friends and trusted warriors, kill them all!" With that the drones flew off, the atronachs ran, and the demons jumped on the backs of the klaws and charged. The following battle was glorious in its own right. The army surged forwards, and the first wave of klaws were skewered, pieces of exoskeleton flying. The second wave was also speared since the second wave tried to jump over them. When the third wave charged in the spartans dropped their spears and switched to testudo formation, shields making a complete box around the ancient soldiers as Ares ran into the fight and started throwing klaws into the air, some chopped into bits, and spewing blood everywhere, and some intact. Then the atronachs showed up and started peeling away the armor plates with the various elements that comprised them. After that the klaws started shredding his flesh into strips that poured blood onto the ground in rivers, but Ares didn't say a word and just kept hacking with his axe, for mortals cannot kill gods. "Ah come on, thats not fair!" You yell to the exposed god that was slaughtering your army. "Well come and fight me then!" Ares bellowed to you. You flew towards him and landed in front of him. You, being the size of a tall human, were dwarfed by his height. Ares being about thirty feet tall was a monster on the battlefield, and it didn't stop him from taking a cheap shot at you. His massive axe, aimed for your head, came down only to be block by a quickly raised shadow. "Now, now, you should know better." You growl. The shadow that you raised, wrapped around the axe's handle, took it from him, and threw it into the formation of spartans. The spartans parted and tried to reform, but were slaughtered by a rain of tines from the drones circling above. Your scythe appears in your hand and you take of his left leg with it, and then his right leg. Ares, screaming in pain, was now brought down to your level. A duplicate of your scythe appears in your other hand and you drive both of them into his chest, blood seeping from the wounds. You then pull them out, take off his arms at the shoulders, cords of muscle pulling away from the flesh, and finally sever his head at his collar bone, and if you looked down you knew you could still see his heart beating. After that you watch as the klaws scramble and start to eat his organs that were strewn about the place and then make their way to the chest and rip massive blood-drenched chunks from it, eating them whole. "You will have your feast tonight, and then you will scatter to take down this empire." You whisper to yourself. After all of this you still fail to recognize any challenge that could be posed by the princesses, but then you remember the Elements of Harmony. You knew that the princesses were going to train them, but in what manner you didn't know. So you decide to hop on a drone and fly to the wreckage that is Ponyville to pay them a visit. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight Sparkle was running through the books that she had read that referenced the horsemen, and could only remember seven. She looked up to the sky wondering what time it was and saw the shadow of another one of those creatures. "Umm, ladies." "Yes, Twilight" Fluttershy responded. "There's another one of those flying creatures." Twilight said nervously. With that they all ran for cover, but finding none, and noticing that the creature was landing, they came back to meet it. That's when Twilight saw you and started screaming. All of the others looked around nervously, most likely for the cover that they didn't find. "Come down, Twilight. I'm not that scary am I?" "You. You killed Discord. You ripped him apart right in front of me!" As she said this all of the others gasped. "Yes I did, what is your point here?" "What is my point?" She said, shocked at your seeming innocence. "My point is that you are a murderer who likes to watch your victims bleed out instead of die!" "Yes I do, I find it is more fun when they put up a fight. Just killing them seems too professional, I am Death after all." Author's Note Constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// Luna, Conquest, and an Enraged Sun //-------------------------------------------------------// Luna, Conquest, and an Enraged Sun You hated it when people, or ponies in this case, just stared at you. Being Death it is only natural for you to kill people, but people get so offended when they either aren't used to it, or it is someone close to them, and that was exactly what was happening right now. Eleven ponies, a bear, two birds, a rabbit, and a raccoon, staring at you incomprehensibly for what you did. As you looked over the ponies four of them seemed to know you from what you looked like. Twilight of course, but also three others, an orange pegasus, a white unicorn, and a yellow farm pony. "You girls don't happen to be part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, do you?" They seemed shocked when you recognized their little gang. "Yes, my cousin ran here from Manehattan to tell us what you did." It was the yellow one who spoke up. "Well, I am sorry to tell you, but Manehattan no longer exists. It was burned to the ground, and turned into a factory of sorts." You say with an evil grin that no one can actually see behind the shadows. "Yeah, and you killed everypony there! You're a monster!" The white unicorn spoke this time. "Hush now, Sweetie Bell. Don't talk to him." Rarity says. "Now, Rarity, she has a right to speak. Perhaps she might like to see a few of the ponies from Manehattan?" You growl mockingly. As you said that you released three souls, two from the guard stationed there, and the other was the dragon's. The souls, in the form of balls of shadow, now expanded into shapes matching that of the bodies they belonged to, but now, when they reformed, they were skeletons. Two skeletal guard ponies and a massive skeletal dragon appeared behind the small group. "Well then, it looks like you girls have your own problems. I wouldn't want to be trouble, so I must say good bye." With that you decide to leave Fluttershy a gift, knowing that she loves new animals, you use a spell to alter the brain of the drone you flew here on, to make it less hostile, and more friendly. After that is done you spread your shadowy wings, and fly away. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna was lying awake on her bed, it was noon, but she couldn't sleep for some reason, and she found her mind drifting. Drifting somewhere she knew she could only indulge in her private quarters. It was drifting towards thoughts of Conquest. The handsome man was, as far as she knew, constantly humanoid, and she liked her pony body far better than her human one, but if he wasn't trying help his brother destroy them all, she might consider going out with him. She knew she was affected by his magical words but she couldn't help it. As her thoughts started to drift to other things involving Conquest (*wink*) she noticed the shadow under her bed get larger. She thought nothing of it at first, and looked away, but when she looked back the shadow was climbing the walls of her room. She screamed, and as soon as she did she heard guards banging at the door. She got off her bed and got stuck in the shadows. As the shadows started to engulf her room more fully, the sounds of the door being beaten on faded, and finally disappeared. The shadows started to retreat, and when they withdrew from holding her hooves she bolted for the door. She stopped suddenly when she stepped outside. She was looking at the ruins of Manehattan. The blackened wrecks of buildings protruding from the ground, the carcasses of monsters, producing more monsters, the massive machine being built on a platform, and worst of all, you. "Hello dear, Luna. Are you wondering where you are?" You say, sounding concerned. And you are legitimately concerned, you want your brother's present to be presentable. "Manehattan I would guess." Luna says, oddly calm. "New-New York, but close enough." "I see what you did there. Also, why am I here?" She seemed to be very calm about this. "You are here as a present for Conquest, he is very worried about this whole war, and I figured I would get him something to calm him down." "Well that's nice, in a twisted sort of way." "I'm glad you realize I'm not a horrible being. I simply enjoy the role I was created for." "Well, it could be worse. I could be a present for Famine, or you. War wouldn't do anything with me, but who knows what Famine would do? You would probably just kill me gruesomely." She said this all nonchalantly. You didn't mind, but it was a bit strange. Seems Conquest really did get her warmed up. "I know what Famine would do, but you wouldn't like it, and your right War wouldn't do anything to you. Although if I wanted to kill you I would have you put up a fight, besides, I already have Jennifer." "Jennifer? Oh, my soldier, so that's what her name is." "Yes, it is. Now would you like to meet your new owner?" "I suppose there is nothing I can do about it." "No, there isn't. It's a shame, I was hoping you would put up a fight." "I fought my sister, I know when I've lost." "Well, follow me then." She walked behind this figure that scared her so much that at times she couldn't speak, and when she found the house of her new 'owner' she didn't actually mind it. It was a large white marble building with designs made of solid gold on the doors and walls. "Here you are Luna, have fun." You say with an exaggerated gesture toward the doors. She watches you walk away, and thinks that since you didn't kill her she might actually enjoy this place for a while. She turns to the door and knocks three times. As the door opens, the gold glows and melts. It seemed to be some sort of lock spell, but she didn't question it. "Hello? Wait, Luna? how did you get here?" Conquest said with his voice of angels. "Your brother brought me here, he said something about calming you down." Luna said like she had nothing else to do. "Well, it doesn't help. I'm gonna go talk to him." In a moment Luna thought of just a few of the ways you would kill her if she made your brother unhappy and said, "You don't need to, let's just go inside." "Okay, fine but I'll talk to him later." Conquest said, obviously he had a thing for Luna, and he knew she had a human form which in his mind made it more acceptable. "Not if I occupy you." Luna was able to hide her fear very well, because Conquest, a master deceiver himself, fell for it. "Well then. I won't say anything if you won't." Conquest's attitude completely changed. "Let's get to it then." Luna said, gently pushing him into the room. She was enjoying the flirting again, but she would have to follow through if she didn't want to die. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Back in the palace, Celestia had enough of your games. She walked up to the guards banging on Luna's door. "What happened?" The solar god asked angrily. "We heard the princess screaming and are trying to get her out." "What!" She said wide eyed. Celestia used her magic to rip the door off of it's hinges. There was nothing there. Not an empty room, not a half of a tower, just nothing. Like that part of the castle never existed. "Noooooooooooo! Why couldn't you blathering idiots do something about this! What more incentive do you need to get off of your lazy asses and save my sister! You are worthless! I may as well fire you, or even better, throw you in the dungeon!" Celestia completely lost it now. She was done with your games, done with your torture, and done with this war. "He has forced my move! I will march to defeat him once the other gods have gathered at my side! No more waiting for us to be destroyed! I have worked for centuries to build peace and he has ruined it in a matter of months! He has destroyed my cities, killed my student, and now he has taken my sister, no thanks to you lazy pieces of shit, and as punishment you will be serving in the front lines!" All the guards in the room gasped. Celestia had gone berzerk, it was understandable, but she herself made swearing a crime, and now she was spewing foul words like they were air. They tried to calm her down but it was of no use. "Calm down! Calm down! What are you going to do! Arrest me! You worthless guards can't do shit! I am god here!" Celestia was in a rage, but fell silent when she saw a small shadow drifting in from the doorway. Captured inside was a magical voice message, left by you of all people. "Actually Celestia, your wrong. I am god here." Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// Always Changing //-------------------------------------------------------// Always Changing Your army had been loosed upon this world for several days now, the mech was about half done on the platform, and Luna was a great present for Conquest. You had heard no word from him since you got him Luna, and you decided to pay him a visit. You got up, out of your throne which had now been remodeled. Your throne was replaced with Black marble, and golden velvet for the cushions. It was also now sitting in front of a pool of magma from the Underdeep itself. The pool is a map of sorts, since magma from the Underdeep surrounds the core of the planet the molten metal is granted special abilities. If you know the right spell, the magma turns into a monitor that can show you anything currently happening on the planet. That is how you knew to send the message to Celestia. The entire building other than your throne and map, is empty and made from the void, therefore when you walk outside you can't see any of it. As you walk along the grounds of the factory you call a city, you think of how fancy Conquest keeps his room. He doesn't even use the demons as servants, he uses women dressed in solid silver armor plates covering everything private, but nothing else. Fortunately though, they are all blade sisters, and trained to the point of both martial, and for Conquest, sexual perfection. Not even bothering to knock, you walk into your brothers house of white marble, and disturb quite a few things. "Care to give me the time of day, brother?" Conquest, shocked at you just walking in without knocking, orders everyone to put their clothes back on and get you a drink. "Must everything be like ancient Rome with you?" You say taking the glass of scotch. "Could, be worse, could be ancient Egypt." "At least their gods put up a fight." You said. "Yes, well the sooner you leave, the sooner I can enjoy my new present." Conquest was annoyed. "Oh yes, Luna my dear, how are you?" You say with concern. You would like to think of her as a part of your family now that she was screwing your brother, not of her own free will, but over time she will develop stockholm syndrome. That and unlike the blade sisters, she is actually somewhat powerful, and beautiful you realize now that you see her human form. She has dark skin, not black, but very tanned, the kind of breasts you would argue shape over size for, long literally starry hair, dark blue eyes, and a very curvy figure. "Aside from this embarrassing little incident, I am fine." She said it like she was implying something. Which she was, in fact, implying something. She was very attracted to you at the moment, and couldn't find the train of thought that took her there. Then she realized that all the built up tension from the war and the constant smell of hormones in this place was causing her to develop a bit of a change in opinion, but not towards Conquest, towards the person that brought her here. As she expected though, she didn't care at all. Maybe it was the mystery of what you actually look like or the power you held, she didn't know, and even she would admit that a woman's mind is a messed up place. In that moment she decided that she was done with Conquest, and swore to herself that she would be all yours. "Well then, I'd better let you get back to your fun." You say as the fine crystal glass in your hand is swallowed by shadows. As you turn away Luna says, "May I walk with you for a bit?" "I don't see why not." You growl, wondering what she means to do. As you walk outside Luna follows and when you turn the corner she says, "Can I ask you something?" "Okay?" You state suspiciously, you were never fond of questions. She grabs your head, pulls you in, and kisses you, in less than a second. "Do you love me?" "No." You say as if it were anything other than her heart breaking. "Then why did you bring me here?" she asks, tears in her eyes. "As a present for my brother." "But I don't want him, I want you." You snort in laughter, "I don't care what you want, you are merely a present and that is all." "Well, then what can I do to earn your love?" She asks, tears crawling slowly down her face. "You can kill Famine, Jennifer, and break it off with Conquest all by yourself." You say laughing. "Okay." Luna says. She is no longer crying and already thinking of ways to eliminate Famine. "Okay, but I did say Break it off with Conquest, don't kill him, tell him your fed up with it, and no more interaction between you two afterwards." You say a bit shocked. You didn't expect her to go this far. As Luna left you heard something. It sounded like something with a million wings was flying. You look up and see a bunch of black ponies that look like swiss cheese, and as they got closer they morphed into duplicates of your drones. "Luna, look up." Luna turned her gaze skyward and saw the same thing. "Damn things are always changing." You say frustratedly. If anything was able to destroy your army, it were these damn changelings. You would guess that they are pissed that you ripped your horse out of their queen, but she had to die eventually. The changelings came in for a landing, and suddenly duplicates of War were everywhere. "Sorry brother!" "Isn't this like suicide?" War yells back jokingly. 'Don't know, don't care! Let's kill these weaklings!" With that your brothers started chopping changelings into bits. War charged straight in with a flaming sword and a battle cry, Conquest was standing behind shooting them with his bow, which was always entertaining because things tended to explode when his arrows hit them, and Famine was spinning around wildly, and slitting throats with his old dagger. That was when you saw Luna run up to Famine and drive a sword through him. No one else noticed but you noted it and hoped that she would follow through. While you were standing and watching Luna butcher Famine, Conquest was blowing changelings into bloody chunks, and war was cleaving off legs, heads, and entire bodies. You decided you wanted a bit of fun and yelled, "Save some for me!" And then you set about your work. Your scythe appears in you hand and you immediately swing it into the head of the nearest changeling, cutting straight through it and sending the brain spilling out of the skull in a bloody soup. Taking another swing, you hit five in a row cutting them all in not so perfect halves spraying blood on the ground and causing organs to fly everywhere. Then a drone carcass falls next to you, and it starts raining blood, and meat. Some of the changelings had taken flight and were fighting your drones, and Conquest was killing them indiscriminately, you would yell at him later, but it did give you an idea. Shadows burst from you body forming four legs, and sending you skyward. You gave the shadow legs spinning blades around where the ankles would be if they were actual legs and not tentacles, so that now when you moved anything near the legs would get chopped to bits. The legs you created also put you at the same level as the drones, and you lunged for them, cutting off their wings and dragging them from the sky. The actual drones, once they hit the ground, stood and ripped changelings into edible chunks, edible for the drones at least, and put up quite a fight before they bled out. As for the changelings, when you cut their wings of they plummeted to the ground and were smashed into a paste when they hit the rock. The discarded wings from the drones actually embedded themselves into the rock when they hit it, killing anything standing in the path. As you chopped a changeling in half you looked down and saw Luna, back in her pony form, spearing changelings with her horn and performing magic to burn wholes through them in lines as a massive black beam shot from her horn, you found the spectacle slightly impressive, then you went back to killing. The battle went on for hours, and by the time it was over the ground was crimson, with large wings sticking out every ten feet or so. You see one last changeling on your way down, and you grab him. "Heads up Conquest!" You throw it into the air and a second later it explodes into a red mist. With one last spin of the shadows to clear out the remaining wings, you are finally back to hovering slightly above the ground. "War, do you have any water atronachs left?" "Yes I do brother." "Have them clean this up. Luna come here." She walked over and on the way she went back to her human form. It wasn't really anything interesting to watch, one second you see her as a pony, you blink, and then she's a human. "Nicely done, now go break it off with Conquest." She turned away from you and walked towards your brother. "Hey baby wanna cleanup?" Your brother asks, quite obviously implying something. "You're dirt, and I hate you! Leave me alone and I never want to see you again!" She yells at him. She then simply turned around and walked away. You laugh as you see the dumbfounded look on your brother's face. "Apparently your present is sick of you brother, mind if I borrow her?" You yell mockingly. War laughed with you, but Famine didn't, he was dead. "Oh god! Our brother is dead!" Conquest yells as he finds Famine. You and War looked at each other and shrugged, he was a burden on supplies anyway. "It's okay brother, he wasn't useful at all. He had outlived his welcome by far, and besides he isn't gone, I have his soul." "Okay I guess. Now where is that good for nothing waste, Luna?" "You will not lay a finger on her or I will kill you. She is mine now." "You know I liked her, and you took her from me!" Conquest yells angrily "Well, no. It was her choice, what did you think we did when she asked me for a walk? That and even if it was me, did I really take anything from you? I give you anything you want, even though it horrifies me most of the time, and now you want to complain about a pony." "Fine, but I'll need a few more blade sisters." "If that sorts the issue out, then it isn't a problem. War, get me my horse." War took a pendant from around his neck and handed it to you. The shadows engulfed it and gave you power to summon Despair. You summoned him and the ground in front of you split open and Despair rode out. He had his armor on and was glowing with black fire. His armor also had new improvements to it, like blades that could extend from the hoof plating to find traction, or kill, and Jennifer was riding on top of him. "I see you have trained him War, thank you very much. Jennifer, get off of my horse." She dismounted quickly, and ran over to give you a kiss. In a second Luna was there and a knife was sticking out of Jennifer's neck. The stab was placed so perfectly that it severed the nerve connections in the neck so that even if it didn't go through her throat she wouldn't be able to breathe due to the brain being disconnected from the body. "Nice placement Luna, I am impressed . Now, as I promised you are all mine. Look for the burning stone in the ground, there is a door in front of it leading to my private quarters, make yourself at home, and feel free to have the demons build you anything you need, they are excellent crafters." "Thank you lord, I think I will." "Ooo lord, I like that title. It is so much better than reaper, well, not really but lord is fine." As Luna walked off War asked, "What was that all about?" "Stockholm syndrome, she wanted me to love her, so I told her to kill Jennifer and she would be the only one left. Hence, what happened here." "Seems simple enough, you also seem to be getting some of your old game back." "Back then corruption was so common, that it was understandable, this is just strange." "Enjoy it while it lasts, I know I would." "Well, it seems that things are always changing around here." Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Angel's Warning //-------------------------------------------------------// The Angel's Warning Fluttershy liked her new animal friend, but she couldn't understand it. The others told her to get rid of it since it came with the Horseman, but it seemed nice enough. They said it was the same species that set off the explosion. She didn't believe them, she loved all of the animals the same even this one. Come to think of it, she had never seen anything quite like this one before. It was really big, as tall as a pony, and three times as long. Half of it seemed to be covered by natural armor, and its wings were sharp on some parts of them. It looked like an animal made to fight, but it didn't fight anypony except for the skeletons that the mean horseman had summoned. Strangest of all she couldn't understand it, only her friends new this, but Fluttershy was born with the ability to talk to animals. She could hear all animals, and her other animal friends were scared of the new being, it seemed that they couldn't understand what it was saying either. That and it was so much bigger than all of them, so she could understand but still, it isn't nice to make fun of things because they are different, which was what the bear was doing right now. "I bet you can't beat me, little fly!" The bear had a really deep voice. "Amdolrjenbvirmaisunoav, iwuehbev iqupjwoijqfwehfe quyebveefehg." A series of clicks and squeaks came from the new animal. "That's right little fly, run away!" The new friend did exactly the opposite. It turned around, got up on its last fifty legs and revealed the defense mechanism it had. Most animals had teeth and claws that could be filed so they wouldn't hurt anypony by accident, but this one was different. In addition to the sharp wings and tail, inside where its ribcage would be if it were a mammal, it had hundreds of spikes. The spikes were at least seven inches long, made of bone, and were dripping with a powerful acid. "Wait no! We don't need to act like this! Calm down everyone!" Fluttershy whispered loudly. The bear roared and ran behind Fluttershy "Agvcbiweuomeuhv! Aihvrvher pewurhvoitjbt ceiwubcb!" "You know I can't understand you, but please don't hurt Mr. Bear, I know he was being mean but that doesn't mean he meant it." "Dybqcvwoiuvr, woicuhcccevg eicuwyhvc weichewv." It seemed to mutter to itself as it lowered itself, and continued to walk. "Now Mr. Bear, be nice to our new friend, I'm sure he doesn't want to hurt you , and he was just mad that you were calling him nasty names." "Everything all right back there Fluttershy?" Twilight calls behind her back. "None of my other friends can understand my new one, and I can't either." Fluttershy said worriedly. "Well let me do something about that." A little bolt of light shoots from Twilights horn, hits the drone, bounces, and hits Fluttershy creating a connection so that they can understand each other. "Can you understand me know?" Fluttershy asks hopefully. "I can always understand you, but you can never understand me." The drone sounds like he has gravel in his throat. "But I can now, see, I'm talking to you and I understand what you are saying!" "But that's impossible, I've never seen magic do anything like that before." "Why not, magic does good things like this all the time." Fluttershy was shocked. "Magic does good things too?" The drone was more shocked. "What do you mean?" "All the magic I've seen is horrible. It's been used to kill, maim, torture, deceive, and overpower. I've even seen it create life, but that life was then used to kill more." "That's terrible!" Fluttershy had a disbelieving face. "I am a creature of magic, but my race is used for air support in the war. We rain down acidic spines in great numbers, and we also drop bombs, those things that destroyed your village, I didn't drop the bomb, the drone that dropped it was killed instantly, but Death only creates life to kill more, and if you do not stop him in time he will wipe you out." "Well we have to make it to the princesses first, though." "Then tell your friends to get on my back." "Thank you so much Mister, what was your name?" "I don't have a name." "Well, we'll sort that out when we get to the princesses." She turns to address her pony friends. "Get on my new friend's back!" "Fluttershy ah'm not sure that's a good idea" Applejack said skeptically. "He says he'll take us to Canterlot!" "Ah still don't trust it." Fluttershy gave everypony the stare. In a moment the were arranged on the back of the friendly drone, and ready for take off. "Let's go friend!" Fluttershy yelled. As they took off she waved goodbye to her animal friends, and they were off to see the princesses. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna was sitting on the lap of her new lord and master, Death himself. Powerful beyond belief, the end of all things, and the true god among beings. She was watching the progress of his mighty army through the window of fire that showed him anything he wanted to see. Town after town were burned in his glory and the great metropolises of this planet were swallowed whole by great clouds of black shadow that swirled overhead, and gave off their own light, because he would not allow her sisters sun to taint the things he had been strong enough to take. "Luna?" You ask through shadows darker than the void itself. "Yes?" "What do you think about taking a trip to visit your sister?" "I would stand by your side and support you, no matter how much she tries to deceive me." Luna said loyally. "Good, let's go then." "Let me get some decent clothes on first. I may be nice to look at, but only you get to see it." Luna was in her human form wearing nothing but a black robe. It looked like your cloak but it didn't have a hood, because you wouldn't let anyone impersonate you. To be honest, she was nice to stare at but you didn't care either way. "Or you could change back to a pony." You say matter of factly. "I thought, you liked this form better?" She asked, not understanding the point of it. "I do, but if you show up as a pony rather than a human it will give your sister less to deceive you with." "Whatever you think is best." You looked away, and then looked back again, and she was standing next to you as a pony. As you walk out the door, Luna following behind, there is a blinding flash of light. You look up and a portal to heaven had opened against your cloud of shadow, incinerating the area around the portal, fortunately though, it was night. You look up to the ring of light that is destroying your wonderful cloud and you see it close, and slowly descending from where the portal was, is a speck of light. As it gets closer, you see that its a messenger from the archangels. An angel radiating light, with wings resembling a dove's and clad in golden armor. "Death, I would presume?" She said. She had a voice much like Conquest's, but your brother's voice sounded like five of these humble beings saying the same thing in unison. "Do not speak down to me, angel. It will cost you dearly." You growl, your voice dripping with malice. "Dully noted, I have come to tell you that continuing this war to the point of killing exactly five more gods, will result in a declaration of war against the archangels themselves." "What if I decide not to stop then? What if I decide to kill you right now, and imprison your soul with me?" "You have no power over angels, and cannot take them from heaven." "Ah, but that is where you are wrong. I'm not two hundred trillion aeons old anymore you little runt, and I have grown more powerful with time. Millions die everyday and come to me for refuge, how many do you let into heaven? I am more powerful than the archangels now, and not even they can stop me." "All I ask is that you stop this madness." The angel said. "Madness? This is war!" You yell. You shove her backwards with a wave of shadows, and open a gate to the Underdeep beneath her. You then follow her down, grab her with shadows and pull her close. What you didn't notice was that the angel drew her sword. You look down at the holy blade in your chest, and look back at the angel. "Do you know what you have done? How could you do this? The consequences will-" Your eyes go from sad looking to a vengeful glitter. "Is that pride I see? Didn't you know that pride is a sin!" You yell mockingly. You pull the sword out of your chest, and drive it through her wing. As she starts screaming you drive tentacles of shadow through her eyes, and into her brain. You pulverize her brain into a soup, rip her skull in half, and watch as the blood pours out of where here head used to be and only the lower jaw remains. Every part of her body is drenched in her own blood and the empty halves of her skull look back at you as they fall. The body still has a good few miles to fall before it lands but you don't stay to watch, and instead go back up to see Luna. "Shall we leave for Canterlot then?" You say, closing the fissure in the ground behind you. "I don't see why not." Luna says simply. Walking away from the engagement you laugh to yourself, that movie never gets old. You also start to wonder what gods you'll kill next, because most are very much like Xerxes in the fact that they call themselves immortal, but none of them truly are. Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Elements //-------------------------------------------------------// The Elements Twilight was wondering what Canterlot would be like, now that there was a blindingly clear statement of war. She ended up finding out about five minutes later when the drone flew into the view of Canterlot. The city was covered in Shining Armor's shield spell, and was prepared for defense. Just how prepared it was however, Twilight got to witness for herself. As soon as they came close enough to make out that there were ponies manning the defenses, they were fired upon. Spears of light poured from the shield, and the drone dodged them all. Volley after volley was dodged before the captain of the royal guard recognized them. "Cease fire!" He yelled, and the light stopped. Twilight's brother ordered the shield down to let them in, and when they were far enough the shield went right back up. "What are you doing here Twilie? Everypony thought you guys were dead! We heard that Ponyville was destroyed, and everypony was sure you guys were gone, but I knew you weren't!" The captain ran up to her sister and gave her a hug. "We barely survived, but we are here and that is all that matters, I would like to meet with the princesses please. I think they would want to know what happened." "It's just a princess now Twilie, Luna was taken and that entire part of the castle is gone." "How is that possible? I need answers Shining, and I also need to see princess Celestia." "Well okay, you can go see her, but I might have to kill this thing." "Now!" This time it was Fluttershy. "Don't you dare touch him, he's been through enough already!" "Okay, calm down Fluttershy. I'l see what I can do." "I'm coming with you then." "Okay, follow me. Twilie, go ahead and see the princess." Fluttershy followed her brother, and Twilight, needing answers, went to go see princess Celestia. They were waiting at the bottom of the main stairs for Fluttershy, who showed herself after about ten minutes. "Is he okay?" Twilight asked. "He is fine, they gave him food, and water, and a nice place to rest." "Good, let's go." Twilight said hurriedly. The Elements of Harmony made their way up the stairs and saw several legendary beings, who all bowed for them as they walked. Twilight didn't even doubt that they were real at this point, she knew where they had come from, and that they were here to help. She didn't know why they bowed to them though, and apparently neither did her friends, because they all gave her curious looks. They made their way to the throne room of the palace, and found Celestia pacing back and forth in the middle of the room. As she looked up she saw Twilight and her friends and found new hope. Now they had at least a chance of winning. "Twilight! I am so glad your here with your friends, we need your help desperately! And before you ask, no, I cannot answer your questions, but I need you to do something." "What do you need princess?" Twilight was more than a little flustered. "I need you and your friends to dawn the Elements, and train to fight in the coming battle." There wasn't much decision to be debated here, after all Twilight had seen Death rip apart Discord, been there when one of his bombs went off, and knew that he had taken princess Luna. She also knew that since the princess had called in beings from another world, she needed all the help she could get. "Okay, when do we start?" No one argued with her, they all knew the danger that Equestria was in, and everyone wanted to help. Celestia then used magic her magic to levitate six sets of armor over to them, each one was made of gemstone plates that were custom molded for each of the mares, and had each of the pony's element infused into it. "These sets of armor will protect you from just about anything that can hurt you, and contain each of your elements so that you can use them while wearing the armor. Also, once you put on the armor each of you will have either amplified magic, or their own magic, along with the knowledge to use it. They were personally made for you by Haphaestus, and fit perfectly to your form, so that there won't be any discomfort." "Well thanks princess, but we still don't know what ta do with 'em after we put 'em on." Applejack said. "You will know what to do soon enough, but I need you all to agree to this by placing your hooves on the helmet of the armor." They all walked over and placed their hooves on the helmets. The armor separated into individual plates and floated to the correct places on the bodies of the ponies. For Rainbow and Fluttershy the armor molded to their wings, and caused an increase to their wingspan, they now had crystal wings with a ten foot wingspan. The wings were able to move freely, and offered great improvements to their ability to fly. For Rarity and Twilight, armor increased the length, sharpness, and magical ability of their horns. Their horns, now about a foot long, amplified their power to the point where it rivaled Celestia's. As for Applejack and Pinkie, Applejack's armor gave her new found strength. Applejack was now roughly seven times stronger than her brother, who was the strongest pony in Equestria. Pinkie gained speed and agility, so that now she could be like the ninja she sometimes pretended to be. As far as the magic that the armor gave them, well, that was also unique. Applejack gained control of the rocks underneath her hooves, Pinkie gained the power to speed up or slow down time, Rainbow gained power over the wind, Fluttershy gained power over the animals, Rarity gained more powerful telekinetics, and Twilight gained access to all known combat magic. The entire group in itself gained pieces of a spell that will wipe out all of the enemies of the group. Celestia looked like she wanted to say something, but was completely silent. The group turned around, and saw shadows bleeding under the doors and blackening the windows, slowly taking over the entire room. "Well, what do we have here?" A growl comes through the shadows. "What have you done with my sister!" Celestia yells. "Why do you disrespect me?" You ask calmly. "You're a monster!" "That's mean don't you think?" "Yer nothin' but a bully!" Applejack replied. "And yet you're scared of me. The big tough farm pony is scared, the princess is scared, the diva is scared, the pink pony is thinking of a rave for some strange reason, the fastest pegasus ever is thinking of running-" "Am not!" Rainbow yelled defensivley. "Silence mortal! Even the leader of your little group is cowering. In fact, the only pony here that isn't afraid is the one that has every right to be. She has even met one of the terrors of my army but she is more courageous than you Celestia, mighty goddess of the sun!" The shadow that was overtaking the room crashed inwards, blocking out all light. It started to swirl around each pony and started forming shapes. "Your nightmares are here little ponies, and I will make them come true, every last one of them. I am so powerful that all living things fear me and they haven't even met me, everything fears death, and the man who doesn't fear anything is a fool. Are you fools? No? Then fear me. Fear me!" The shadows bellow at the individual ponies as they start to form shapes and show them different events. Applejack sees Big Macintosh lying on the ground, eviscerated, and bleeding, his insides spilled out on the floor, calling her name for the last time, while she tries to tell him that she is there. Rarity sees every dress she had ever made go up in flames, and she starts crying. Pinkie sees one of her parties being booed and made fun of, and just sits, staring uncomprehendingly at the sight. Fluttershy sees her animal friends tearing down her cottage in anger, because she wasn't there to help them, she just curls up in a ball on the floor and whimpers asking you to stop. Twilight sees Shining Armor's skin melt away until he is nothing but a skeleton. "What's wrong Twilie? What's the matter?" He asks, apparently not knowing his fate. All Twilight can do is stare with horror at her undead brother, and scream as he walks closer, constantly asking her what is happening to him. Rainbow sees someone trying to break the sound barrier, and failing. She laughs when they fly off in a random direction, but then realizes that she was laughing at herself when she notices everyone in the crowd pointing at her and laughing. All Rainbow can do is yell for them to stop, but it doesn't do anything. Celestia can hear her ponies yelling and sobbing, and wonders what on earth you could possibly be doing to them. The cloud of shadow never surrounded her though, and she was also wondering what was going to happen. "Everypony else gets a horrible vision! Where's mine Death, do you think you've already taken everything from me?" Celestia yells into the shadows. "I would like to believe that this little vision is terrifying enough." You growl as you walk out of the cloud with Luna next to you, bound with chains made of unbreakable shadow. "What?" She can't comprehend this, Celestia thought she had lost her sister forever. "What did you do to her?" She yells. "I took her with me, fed her, bathed her, and treated her nicely is all." "Let her go this instant you monster!" "Oh, but I think she would rather stay with me." "Let her go!" Celestia screamed in rage. "Well, i'll put her in between us, and then we can see who she chooses." "Just let her go." Celestia was pleading with you now. You walk with Luna into the space between you and Celestia, and walk away. What happens next though is something that not even Celestia could handle. You release Luna from her chains, and Celestia calls out to her, but all Luna does is get up, and walk back to you. "Well that's interesting." You growl with amusement. "No! Luna! Come back! This isn't possible! It's not real!" Celestia is sobbing with anguish. "Ah, that would be true if you were in that cloud, but as you can see, you aren't. Therefore this is entirely real." "No no no no no. This isn't real. No!" "Come now Luna, let's go home." "Yes, lord." Luna says not feeling the slightest bit of sorrow for her sister. "Kill me! Kill me Death! Do your job!" Celestia yells into thin air. The shadow had disappeared a while ago. She sees her faithful ponies lying on the ground in her throne room, weeping and trembling at the horrendous sights they had just seen, and realized that there was no hope. No hope for their survival. No hope for their sanity. And no hope for life anywhere. She decided that she wouldn't let you leave her that easily, so she shatters the window, and takes a few steps back. "Princess Celestia, what are you going to do?" Fluttershy asked, being the first to recover. "My sweet little pony, tell your friends that I said good bye and that I love them." With that last statement Celestia took a deep breath, ran forward, and jumped, hoping for nothing more than the sweet release of death. Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Five Gods //-------------------------------------------------------// The Five Gods As Celestia felt the air rushing through her mane, she started to remember the good parts of her life. When she saw her sister after one thousand years on the moon, when she found Twilight Sparkle and her reaction when she offered to to teach her, after she imprisoned Discord and everypony loved her, etc. etc. etc. She had a nice life, but now she felt it was time for it to end. There was a sickening crunch as every bone in her body was splintered. Her pelt was stained red, and her entire ribcage was poking out of her back. Celestia herself saw this, as her spirit floated up and away from the wreckage that was her dead body. She looked up and expected to see something glorious, but instead she saw you. "You cannot keep me from my peace." Celestia said calmly. "I am the keeper of souls, and I refuse to accept yours." "But you have taken everything from me." "Not today. Now leave this realm, it is not safe for anyone." With that you swung your scythe and ripped her soul in half. Celestia woke up, her chest heaving, struggling to get breath. Her body was already mending, but she was sore everywhere, and she felt half dead, already not quite sure if what had happened was actually real. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna was sleeping peacefully in her bed in the corner, while you just sat and stared through the flaming portal. As you did this you saw something that was a larger issue. Five gods rocketed towards New-New York and spelt doom for your headquarters. You hurry outside, and lock Luna in for her protection. "War!" "Yes brother?" "Prepare the legion." "Who is coming?" "Thor, Vishnu, Ra, Mercury, and Sobek." "Very well." So you and your brother began inscribing on the ground a symbol to summon the legion. It was a symbol of two connecting trees and both are flaming. When the symbol was finished the ground was set aflame and demons started to rise. Your glorious legion, the first one thousand demons to ever be created, old and powerful and undying. It was a perfect army that was never a sacrifice, since the demons could not die except by their creator's hands. "There is a threat to the end of this world!" War began. The legion listened intently. "Five gods are approaching this fine factory, and all of our forces are elsewhere! If this plan is to succeed we kill them, and make sure that they do not come back! You have been more than triumphant in the past, and I expect this to be no exception!" "We are Legion!" All thousand cried out in unison, slamming their fists into their chests. They ran to the battlefield and arrived just as the gods landed. Thor took action immediately and swung his hammer into the head of the nearest demon, effectively turning its head into a red mist as blood shot from his neck and into the air, while his windpipe collapsed from loss of pressure. Vishnu took on his multi-armed form and used four blades to chop four demons into halves, their innards spilling out on to the ground. When Ra landed he released a beam of heat, and you watched as demons the demons had their skin melted off, landing in charred blobs on the dirt, and fell to the ground, cooked medium-well. Mercury came down but he was chopped into pieces by the immortal demons, he was unprepared for the mass of demons that jumped on him and hacked at him, but did not die until Mercury had your brother's sword driven through his bottom jaw. When Sobek landed he was protected by the scales on his body, and he started eating the demons two at a time. "Well I guess I can't say that it is unfair!" You yell. "Foul creature!" Thor bellows and leaps towards you. You rush into the air to meet the foolish god, but when you reach his height you are unready, and his hammer slams into your chest. The hammer flies backwards, and Thor goes with it. You extend an arm and catch him on your scythe, his head falls off cleanly and you can see his upper throat sucking for air as his brain dies inside his skull. Vishnu saw this and chopped his way through the bloody wasteland to get to you. Vishnu was about three stories tall, with four curved blades that slice bone like butter. Vishnu swings, misses, and loses an arm. It was cut clean off, and the bone fragments spilled out with the blood. The scream of pain shook the earth as he lost another arm, his blood mixing with the dirt formed a red colored mud that he slipped in, and promptly landed on one of own swords being held by a severed arm. He lost a third appendage by doing that, and you dropped on top of him. You cut his chest, grabbed the flap of skin, and listened to a noise much like the ripping of fabric as you tore away the flesh with you bare hands. You step inside his body and splinter his ribcage to get through it, rip away the lungs as they get speared with his ribs, and shove your scythe directly into his beating heart. Blood drenched, you step out of the corpse and casually stride over to the hawk-like god melting your demons where they stand. You leap, and send your scythe through his spine, cutting away all of the nerve endings, and disconnecting the signals his brain sends to his body. Ra simply falls over and gets ripped apart, demons pulling out both sides of his spine from his back. Running over to the crocodile god that is still devouring the legion. You jump on to his snout, and shove your scythe into the top of it, piercing both of his jaws, his tongue, and the demon inside his maw. He tried to cry out but he ended up causing himself more pain as his mouth was split further. You yank the scythe out, slide under his scaly body, and slice open the lizard the entire way under. His guts spill on to the ground behind you, and it becomes more of a water slide made of blood than anything else. You chop off his tail at the base, stand up, walk over to head, and watch as the life leaves his eyes. "Your have declared war against the archangels, and you will be punished!" An angelic voice booms from the sky. "Come and get me then!" You yell back up to it. You walk back to your throne room and leave the legion, now about two hundred demons, and War to clean up the bodies. As you walk in the door to your throne room the void takes away the blood from your clothes. You sit down on your throne with a thud, and summon the window with a blast that wakes up Luna. "What's happening?" She says with yawn. "I've started a war, love." You say, patting your knee telling her to come and sit. Luna sat on your leg and watched the scenes with you. The pictures in the fire changed about every minute, each one hovering over the larger groups of your army. Blazing portals opening in the sky with angels pouring out of them. They flew down to the armies and they started chopping klaws to bits, and speared carriers with bolts of light. After seeng this you walk outside and slam your scythe into the ground which sends a shockwave through the cloud of shadow, ordering a retreat. You walk back inside and watch as all your troops retreat back to your city and as all the angels fly roughly in the direction of Canterlot. "We have a lot to do Luna." You say. "Whatever you need." She replies. "Are the sheets clean?" "Yes." "I guess we'll need someone to clean them then." You say with a playful growl. ________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia watched as angels descended from the sky, and three massive lights hit the ground with tremendous force. Realizing what they were, she walked out to meet the archangels. "Hello Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael." Celestia said nodding to each, in turn. All were wearing golden armor and brandished weapons of the finest craftsmanship. Raphael had light armor and a short sword, which in actuality was massive but it seemed short. Gabriel had medium armor, and a longsword. And Michael was wearing multiple three foot thick plates of golden steel that didn't show and inch of his body, and held a massive war hammer. "You commit suicide and even Death rejects you. We will not speak to you, you are truly weak." Michael had an unbelievably deep voice. "But these are my armies, recruited under my banner." Celestia pleads. "We are assuming complete command, you can sit in you room and feel guilty about your sister, this is a time of great war and you do not belong on the battlefield. Where are the Elements?" "Unless you respect me, I will not tell you." Michael slams down his hammer in front of her, and the ground beneath her rises. She was now at eye-level with the mighty angel. "You do not argue with me! Where are they?" He bellows in her face. "In the throne room." Celestia squeaks. "Thank you." He says, and Celestia falls to the ground. "I am sorry for my brother's rudeness, he is very stressed about this." Gabriel apologized for his brother, with a voice more beautiful than any other angel. "I understand." Was all she could say. As the angels walked past, her entire guard looked at her, only now finding out that she had tried kill herself, and looked away from her in shame. She had no power except her own now. Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// Death //-------------------------------------------------------// Death War does not decide who is right, only who is left. ________________________________________________________________________________________ It had been two days since the real war had begun, and now your entire army was here. All of the demons, the atronachs, the klaws, the drones, and the carriers, but something was different now. The demons would not be foot soldiers this time, they would be in siege tanks, and fighter jets, because the mech is finished. "Good luck brother!" War yells down to you as he climbs into the tungsten and lead monstrosity. The one thousand sixty foot tall piece of machinery had enough fire power to crack the flimsy shield around that accursed place for sure. War opened the deployment bays, and demons swarmed into the mech, some running to the feet to man a tank, others climbing up its back to pilot a jet. The rest of the army took formation, and War decided he would give a speech. "Listen to me soldiers!" The army fell silent. "These worthless pieces of filth that call themselves angels are just as mortal as you are! You may have thought they were strong before, but that is only because we were caught off guard!" The soldiers roared in approval. "The last of these ponies protect themselves with a shield like cowards, and they think we can't shatter it with our might!" Atronachs started stomping. "We will destroy every last one of them, and claim this place for ourselves!" Klaws struck their claws together. "I have heard that the archangels are there, and yet for them being so powerful, so righteous, and so arrogant, they hide behind the same shield! What do you think of them now!" Carriers started shaking the earth with massive foot-falls. "These blazing angels shall die in their own fire, and we will go up in glory!" War angled one of the arms on the mech. "So what will we do to them? Let's find out! Now soldiers, forward march!" War shot off one of the howitzers and the army charged forward. _________________________________________________________________________________________ "So you are the Elements of Harmony? You are nothing compared to what we created aeons ago." Michael insulted them. "I am offended!" Rarity gasped. "You have no right to be!" Michael yelled. "Please, don't get mad mister i'm sure she didn't mean it." Fluttershy whispered. "Speak up you pathetic little whelp! I can't hear you!" Michael bellowed. "Calm down brother, she is scared of you." Gabriel said. "Fine. I assume you all know what to do." "Yes, sir." Twilight said. "Then let's get started." As they walked out of the building, they found Celestia walking back in. No one asked her any questions though, they all knew why. They started to climb the staircase to the roof of the tower but then they heard a whistling noise. "Brace yourselves." Was all Michael said. The explosive artillery round slammed into the shield with an ear shattering bang. It caused a small crack in the shield, which was quickly repaired. "What was that?" Pinkie asked, flustered. "The start of a siege. Everyone head to your homes, it will be okay!" Michael yelled. All of the ponies scattered, and they could feel the ground shaking. Off in the horizon was the shadow of the largest army Equestria had ever seen. "We must start preparing. Now!" With that the Elements ran with the archangels to prepare a spell that would hopefully save them all. __________________________________________________________________________________________ You were flying above your army with Luna, when Celestia teleported behind you. "Hello Celestia." Luna flips around in mid air to give her sister an evil glare. "How did you know I was here?" Celestia asked confused. "Because your aren't stealthy at all. I take it the angels rejected you." "Yes, they said I was weak." "You are weak, I don't know why I called you sister!" Luna yells. "Why? Why do you hate me now?" Celestia said, tears in her eyes. "Luna, calm down. Celestia, she has severed her connection with you, and has devoted herself to me." "What have you done to her? Why did you do it to her?" She asked, grief stricken "Like I said a few days ago, she chose me." "I don't believe you, give her back!" The white alicorn yelled angrily. "I cannot, your nightmare is real. Also, if you keep arguing with me you won't get to discuss letting you live over dinner." "How did you know that's what I wanted?" "My own reasons. Now run ahead and set up a meal for about eight, I'll be with you as soon as I start the siege." Celestia, not wanting to risk her chances at surviving the war, did as you said. When you got close enough you had war release the tanks. Thirty tanks came out of each foot and formed a semi-circle around the shield, dug into the ground, and tripled the amount of barrels it could fire out of from three to nine. All of the tanks fired at once causing cracks in the shield that were not easily repaired, even by the twenty powerful ponies maintaining the spell. Then War started firing his howitzers and a few of the nuclear grenades, which caused massive cracks that were almost impossible to fix, The shield would be down in a matter of hours. You walk to the little tent that Celestia had set up for dinner, and were followed by Conquest, and six demons. As you entered the room Conquest and the demons sat on the sides of the table, and you sat at the head of it. Waiting for Celestia, and food, the demons started pounding their silver knives into the table. "Don't do that, you'll blunt them!" Celestia complains as she walks in the room with lots of greens, and for the demons, chicken. "Did you hear that lads, she says we'll blunt the knives." The largest demon said sarcastically. The rest of the started pounding the silverware into the table rhythmically. You saw where this was going and you made a fiddle, which you then handed to Conquest, who also knew where this was going and proceeded to play some light hearted music. "Blunt the knives and bend the forks." One demon sang out. "Smash the bottles and burn the corks." Another continued. "Chip the glasses and crack the plates!' One more demon sang. "Cause thats what our dear princess hates!" They all yelled in unison. The music picked up and they all started singing in unison. "Cut the cloth and tread the fat! Leave the bones on her bedroom mat!" "Enough all of you! Clean up your mess and apologize, we are guests here and we will not act in such a foolish manner!" You yell. As soon as they all leave the room you laugh. "Aren't they the funniest things sometimes" You say, half to Celestia and half to yourself, "Now If you want to be spared from this war I can do that for you. If I lose I would much rather you be in charge than Michael." "That is exactly what I want." "Then walk out the back door tonight, you will walk into an untouched section of the void, and will be protected from everything. You will be released into the real world when I have either been defeated, or have won the battle. Sorry about the demons by the way, they are always that chaotic, incase you were wondering." You say as you walk out the front door. _________________________________________________________________________________________ It was really hard to prepare a spell when you were distracted by a fracturing shield, massive explosions, and getting yelled at by an archangel for being distracted by those things. The nine pointed star was finally finished though, and you took your places just as the shield shattered. Shells and bombs poured into the city, and killed many of the inhabitants. "It's no or never Elements, wipe him out." Raphael roared above the panic. It was the first time that he had spoken and he seemed to be the mediator between his gentle brother, and aggressive brother. "Is everyone ready." Raphael called out. Eight yeses were heard. "Then channel your magic." _________________________________________________________________________________________ The shield had broken an hour ago, and the armies would have been evenly matched, if not for War sitting in his mech, and destroying everything with small nuclear weapons. You saw light rising slowly from the tallest tower and decide to take a look. You fly overhead and see that the strongest destruction spell ever made was almost complete. You start to fly down and stop it when a giant wave of light rips through the air, devouring you mighty cloud of shadow, burning your army to a crisp, and knocking you into the ground of the field in front of the city. You get up and see that your army is gone. You see that Conquest was burned just like everyone else, and War is sitting, ripped up and bleeding everywhere, in the failing mech suit as tanks blew up around him, and planes fell from the sky. "Goodbye brother!" War yells. You watch as your brother hits the self-destruct button. The suit fires all of the remaining weapons into the army in front of it, and sends the nuclear generator powering it into meltdown. It only takes a few seconds and the entire royal guard is gone. "You will not defeat me!" You yell in a voice filled with malice. Shadows explode from your body and separate into the shapes of various creatures. You open a fissure in the ground, and shadow surges forth, covering every square inch of the valley in it. The shadow starts to take shape and then fade as the skeletons appear. The skeletons of your army, skeletons of innocents, skeletons of natural war machines, skeletons of great generals, skeletons of master mages, skeletons of trained swordsmen, and the skeletons of your brothers. The manifest of all the souls you have ever kept were in this army, and you planned to squash these insignificant bugs with it. "Go forth souls, and do my bidding!" The skeletal army charged forward into the assembled armies of gods and warriors, and killed them all. In a few minutes, only the archangels and the Elements remained. Seeing your opportunity, you run into the fray and pull a sword from a skeleton. You hold it to your side in a close enough time that the pink element didn't see it coming. The armor she was wearing protected her though. "Clever Celestia, as always using the most powerful armor. Run from this element of laughter, I will laugh at your funeral!" You commanded the shadows and grabbed her by the hind legs. Your scythe appears in your hands but the pink pony doesn't say anything. She expected the armor to stop the blade, it didn't. Pinkie Pie was cut clean in half, and her legs cut away from the halves. You threw the quartered pony into the air, high enough that her friends could see the body, and blood rained from the sky turning everything red. The orange earth pony was the first to take action. She charged forward raising the earth around her in spikes, and impaled you on one. "I do not die, silly pony. I kill!" You get off of the spike of rock and grab her by the tail. Using your scythe, you cut it off. You cut off her mane too, and grab her around the chest with shadow. "Be honest with me, are you scared?" "No!" A shadow reaches across the battlefield and into the castle. It brings back Big Macintosh, morphs into a blade that cuts his stomach open, and spills his innards into the dirt for his sister to see. "Applejack. Help." He says weakly. "Are you scared now?" "You monster!" She said, sobbing. "You are a horrible liar." The shadows squeeze the farm pony so hard that the armor shatters and is driven into her. She falls to the ground and bleeds to death as a living pin cushion, filled with crystal needles. The war raging around you helps you transport yourself. You jump on to the skeleton of a carrier, and leap on to a skeletal dragon. You see a rainbow go past the dragon, circle around, and land on a wing. "Loyal to our friends are we?" You say, turning to stare Rainbow Dash in the face. "You should be kinder to others." A voice squeaked behind you. "I gave you a pet, did I not?" As you turn to face Fluttershy, Rainbow pounces on you, and lifts you into the air. "Two can play that game." You growl. You unfurl your massive twenty foot wingspan and knock the cyan pegasus out of the air. You notice Fluttershy try to attack you as your back was turned, and you swing your scythe into her bottom jaw as you spin around. The scythe went through her helmet, jaw, throat, brain, skull, and stuck out the top of her head, stained crimson. You hurl the body to the ground, and turn to receive a hoof in you face. "I will not let you hurt anymore of my friends!" The element of loyalty yells. "I haven't been hurting your friends. I've been killing them, have fun in my army!" You spit a shadow into her helmet and watch as her armor turns black. Rainbow is completely blind and you find it funny when she flies straight into the mouth of the skeletal dragon. It was then that you felt something dragging at your cloak, and when you look you see a blue aura around it. You fly down to the Element of generosity and raise your scythe. "Looking for a new style are we? A shame that such a beautiful pony has to resort to theft." You mock. Rarity gasps at the insult, but before she can rant her head is severed, her horn is cut off, and, wielding it like a dagger, you shove it into her now exposed windpipe. Twilight saw this and sent a wall of flame towards you. You fly through it and emerge about five feet away from her. "So the real magic is joining the party now, eh?" "You killed my brother, enslaved Luna, caused Celestia to attempt suicide, and took away the lives of thousands! What gives you the right to do that?" Twilight yells. "I do not know, why don't ask those precious archangels of yours, they charged me with this job. Have a nice life Twilight, and feel free to come and get me when I'm done." You growl through the shadows. You open the void beneath her, and trap her in the same room as Celestia. You at least wanted the ruler to be sane if you lost. Walking up the short stairs that lead to the city square, you call out, "Raphael, Gabriel, and Michael! Come and let me end you!" All of them fly down to meet you, and pull out their weapons silently. You manufacture another scythe out of the shadows to wield in your other hand, and dodge the hammer as it comes down shaking the ground around it. You swing at both Gabriel and Raphael as they dart in to hit you and slice the tendons in their legs spraying blood on the brick, but in turn they disable you legs as well. You cry out as the blade that the brothers wield actually cut through your armor of shadow, and enter your skin. You spread your wing and hover a few feet off of the ground and continue to fight. Spinning both scythes and launching them into the shoulders of Michael, who takes the pain with no acknowledgment of it, and you fall to the ground with a thud as the swords from the angels beside you scramble the shadow being used to make your wings. All you can do is watch as Michael's hammer starts its descent. Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// Imprisonment (End) //-------------------------------------------------------// Imprisonment (End) This battle cannot be won. Your realize a this little too late, and as the hammer's final blow comes down, you think, well at least I tried. The hammer strikes and nothing happens, except for the fact that now you can't move. "Your punishment for a strike against me and my brothers, shall be eternal imprisonment, and extermination of your army!" Michael bellows down to you. He swings his hammer, launches you into the air, and releases a shockwave that grinds the bones of your army to dust. You go flying over a ring of mountains, and over a forever burning forest. As you fly over the forest a massive void portal opens up in the middle of it. Chains made of light shoot out of it and entangle you. You scream in agony as the chains burn away the shadow around your body and reveal your true form. You are the first demon, your true body is black and muscular, each muscle emphasized by a small trail of fire, your eyes are blood red flame, and your hands have claws made of molten rock, just like the two inch horns on your head. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" You bellow with a voice like a million souls screaming in agony, as the pain becomes unbearable, and you start being dragged down to the void. You use the last of the shadow to separate you from your cloak, and watch as it floats away, screaming the entire time. You approach the portal in the void, fighting with all the strength you have left, yanking, ripping, and biting at the chains. When you enter the portal it doesn't close, instead it remains open, mocking you with the possibility of escape that will never come. Angels lined the walls of this prison, sent to guard you for the rest of time itself. You fall through deep dungeons, and the oldest caverns, and finally hit the ground, everything around you blazes with light to ensure that you cannot overpower anyone easily, use your shadows, or escape. You look up and feel the need to ask something of the angels. "Do you have the decency to allow me one last message!" you ask, screaming from the pain of holy light. "I don't see why not. Get him a shadow!" Raphael yells, he is your warden now. They brought you a shadow all the way from the surface, and it floated down to you. You say into the shadow a song that describes your prison, tell it to find the cloak, and tell it to bring the tattered fabric to Luna. You let go of the shadow, and watch as it floats skyward and out of your prison forged of holy light, it is your last hope. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Luna is sitting in her bed wondering why the sounds of the earth-shaking battle have stopped. She steps outside, and your cloud of shadow is gone. She thinks that you just pulled it over to help you, but then she looks down and sees your cloak land at he feet. She picks it up, walks back inside, sits on your throne, and stares at it. "Why? Why did it have to happen now? Why did it have to happen to me?" She says quietly with tears streaming down her face. She turns the cloak in her hand and puts her face in it so she can cry without being seen, even though no one is around. Then she sees the ball of shadow, and takes it. It opens in her hand and she sees your face as she remembers it. "Far over the misty mountains cold, through dungeons deep, and caverns old. The pines are roaring in the night, the winds are moaning on the height. The fire is red, it flaming spreads. The trees like torches, blaze with light." The message finishes singing and talks to Luna directly, "This is where I will be found, find someone to do it for you, give them my cloak, and have them bring it to me, I want to see you when I get back. I love you Luna, goodbye." The message says as it fades into the void around her. "Yes, lord." Luna says with new found hope, as she steps outside, orders Despair to follow her, and runs into the distance. ________________________________________________________________________________________ 10,000 years after the events of the war The war you waged is long forgotten. Celestia still reigns and Luna is nowhere to be found. But it shouldn't be said that Luna cannot be found. For she is in the heart of the everfree forest, and only a few ponies know this. He was sure he would be a hero once he found the princess and brought her back, and everypony would finally stop laughing at him. His name was Nightsky and he would never have a cutie mark. He was also larger than most ponies, and lots of other things that made him different, like only having one name. He came from a strange family, and an old one too. He was told that he was perfect, but he didn't believe it. A few days ago he was sent to meet his great great great great great great grandfather, who was supposedly over ten thousand years old. He was told that he was from a family created by him and the female captain of the royal guard about five thousand years back, he didn't believe that either, but he was going to try and find the princess anyway. Nightsky looked down and saw a cloak lying on the ground. He looked up and saw who he could only assume was princess Luna. "Hello Nightsky, I see you were finally sent on this quest." Luna said in a quiet voice. "How do you know my name?" Nightsky was a little more than freaked out. "Because you are from a friend, do you think I would be that ignorant?" "Wait, so Despair wasn't joking?" "No, he was not. He created your family to save my lord and that is what you will do if you ever want me to come back to Equestria." "Wait, so you're over ten thousand years old?" "My sister is older, now do you want to help or not?" Luna was getting impatient. "Yes, I'll help. What do I need to do?" "You have to free my master from his prison, where he was sent falsely accused." Luna knew he wasn't falsely accused, but it would be easier to get him to agree if she said it like that. "Your master? Is he more powerful than you or Celestia?" Nightsky asked curiously. "Yes and I promised him that I would free him, now are you sure you want to help." "Well family before everything else I guess." Luna almost felt bad for the little pony. "He told me where to go." Then Luna sang the location to him, just like you sang it to her in the goodbye message. "The misty mountains? That mountain range doesn't exist." "They are never spoken of, and no pony ever goes there because it is at the top of this world. You aren't supposed to be able to breath up there, but don't worry, you can. Now go, and leave me to my misery." Luna says tears forming in her eyes at the thought of you. "Anything else I should know?" "Just go, and make me proud." Luna said, walking off into the forest. Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted. //-------------------------------------------------------// When this mess started. //-------------------------------------------------------// When this mess started. The Princesses had a bad day every once and a while just like everypony else. Celestia had to interview ponies to find a decent scheduler because she knew from her schedule she didn't have time to do it herself, and her previous one had moved away from the city, and Luna had to spend all day reading up on what was acceptable since she still couldn't quite grasp popular culture from this day and age. As evidence of this, she had seen a mare walking down the street wearing shorter clothes she could have ever been allowed to a 1000 years ago if she decided to dress in casual wear, it turns out, the clothes was supposedly very fashionable. After both decided to take a break for the day they realized they weren't quite done yet, and they hurriedly met each other in the throne room of the palace, the throne room was made of marble columns and high ceilings, a massive red carpet down the middle with two thrones at the front of the room. There were two thrones now since Luna got back, one was white and gold, and the other was more of a black crystal. "Hello sister" Luna said as she saw the other princess walking towards her at a rather fast pace. "Hi" Celestia stated, slightly out of breath. Luna wondered if she needed to convince her sister to take-up an exercise program. "Are we ready?" The white alicorn asked, now that she had a chance to breath. "I am excited to see what new disagreements have arisen between them." She answered As they moved toward the thrones Celestia told the guards to make sure nopony got in or out of the throne room. This was important because even though the princesses were the strongest ponies in all of Equestria they were not invulnerable, especially when they weren't able to think straight. Luna and Celestia sat on their thrones and performed a ritual they performed every other month. They channeled their magic, spread their wings, and crossed the beams of light that shot out of their horns. Where the beams intersected the light stopped, and all of the magic went into a growing void, a window to another world. As of now the ritual was only starting, this was just the opener, if you will. Because the princesses are also gods they were obliged to visit their fellow gods every other month. Every god still in existence would be here, because if they missed the meeting without a good reason they were exiled. The funny thing is that all gods have multiple forms, even a human form, but nowadays they tended to be in pony form since Earth was always at war, and the other planets never trusted strangers that no one knew about. Every god you can think of went, even Discord who was know stuck in his stone prison in the garden just outside, most widely known Mythical people and creatures went to the meeting too. The entire space was Pitch black and endless but they could still see somehow, and every now and then there were a few tables with drinks set on them and music that sounded different two everyone according to what they liked, was playing from nowhere in particular. Of all the guests The Doctor was the nicest to everyone and although Luna could not get over how ugly that fez looked she always went to say hi. He was surrounded by many of the gods as always, and he was telling an epic tale. Luna pushed her way through the crowd. "Hello Doctor" Luna said. "Hello my dear Luna!" The Doctor said as he immediately took her hoof and kissed it. "There is no need for that anymore so I am told. I have been on the moon for a while if you didn't know." She shot an accusing glance at her sister and then continued to listen to the Doctor. "I am glad you're back, I was starting to worry." He said. "We have a few new guests tonight, very old people I'd imagine, although no one seems to like them very much." He said a bit saddened. "Oh well, I guess they just don't like being here." The Doctor stated cheering up very quickly. Luna then excused herself, wondering who the supposedly very old people were. It didn't take her long to find out, and when she saw them she felt a very strong urge to run. It wasn't a wonder why none of the other gods liked them, the group of four had unimaginable power. In fact when all of the brothers were working together they could do anything. She couldn't believe her eyes, she also couldn't believe that they had the gall to show up here! Sure they were always invited but the brothers knew they weren't wanted. Luna bolted to her sister. "Sister! I'm so glad I found you!" "What's wrong?" Celestia wondered aloud, half thinking it was another prank of Discord's making. "The four are here!" Luna whispered urgently. It took a second for the large white pony to remember who the four were, and when she did she started laughing. Completely confident that it was just another prank. "Hahahaha!" Celestia was laughing uncontrollably at the ridiculousness of the notion, "Even I'm not that gullible little sister, tell Discord I said hi though." She said, smiling. Then she noticed a seriousness in her sisters eyes she hadn't seen before. "Follow me." Luna said. As her sister led her to the despised group of four, she noticed that the other gods had made a wide circle around this area, worrying her even more. After a long while they were able to get through the crowed and passed the doctor who once again called a greeting but he was ignored this time, the princesses were too scared. As they neared the center of the circle the air began to get cooler, and the crowed was less dense than before. When the alicorn sisters passed through the last layer of the circle Luna started to tremble and Celestia stared with wide eyes. They started to back away instinctively because they knew those four beings in the center of the endless black void of a room represented. Celestia noticed this and before her sister could stop her she marched forward to the terrifying figures in the center of the room. She Stood behind the cloaked figure and said very angrily, "What are you people doing here." she said people, because unlike most, these four only had human forms. Three turned around and faced her. They stared into her soul with powerful gazes. One was called Conquest, His tongue was literally silver, and he was wearing bleached white robes and had a bow strapped to his back, his body was that of an athlete thin and very muscular, he also happened to be the best in the universe when it came to archery. Another was called War, he had the body size of a professional weight lifter but was made entirely out of melting rock and fire. He had a massive sword that was magnetized to his back due to his back being made of molten iron. The sword had ancient engravings, and was the larger than his back. The third was called Famine, he was extremely thin, like skin and bone thin, If he wasn't immortal he would have been dead one thousand times over. His wallet was massive and he was the only one who actually spoke. "Hello dear princess" he said loudly. He had the voice of a salesman at the market. The cloaked figure Celestia was standing behind didn't move an inch. Celestia was scared out of her wits right now and he knew it too. The ivory alicorn was turning into Fluttershy more and more with every passing second. As you turn around, you know she is about to run. You turn slowly So that princess won't bolt, but just stare at you terrified. You let out a small chuckle as you do so. When you turn around fully and look up at her you see her eyes widen even more at the sight of you. Celestia looks the figure called Death up and down. It wasn't the others she was worried about. She was the strongest god in the room, sure the rest would present trouble if they started a fight and she would definitely get hurt a lot but she could live through a fight with them. The figure staring up at her now was the sole power in the room. The figure was truly Death incarnate, he was wearing a tattered black cloak and had very large and intricate scythe on his back. the head of the scythe was the first thing she noticed as it materialized out of the shadows. It seemed to be moving very slightly almost as if the screaming faces were changing into others. She shivered as she noticed that the air was now freezing cold and the music had stopped. when she looked directly at the figure she suddenly became to scared to move. The figure called Death was nothing more than a terrifying scythe and a tattered black cloak, his entire body was like solid shadow. It was a scale of blackness that seemed to suck in the light around it, and was able to stand against even the void. When he opened his eyes Celestia nearly lost it. The eyes were nothing more than bright red lights that could blink, much like those in a scary cartoon. When the large white god lost it completely was when he spoke. "Hello Celestia, I hope you remember me." his voice sounded like he was constantly growling like wolf, yet speaking at the same time. "I remember you" Celestia squeaked, she sounded almost exactly like Fluttershy now. "I remember your brothers too." "Good, Good" You say, you enjoy her fear of you very much. "I wonder if you can help me." "What do you need?" Celestia manages to squeak out successfully. "I'm in need of horse." You say with an evil grin that no one can actually see. Celestia faints. "Well thats a shame" You say to your brothers, "I'm sure she would have been a joy to talk to." They all laugh, and you start to wonder why you even pay attention to them. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia wakes up in her throne with Luna staring at her intently. "What happened" Celestia asked. She wasn't entirely sure of what she had just seen. Her head also hurt because the spell ended suddenly and she was unable to prepare herself. "The Horsemen have come back." Author's Note I accept all constructive criticism and compliments. //-------------------------------------------------------// The Engines of War //-------------------------------------------------------// The Engines of War We all knew the world would not be the same. Some people laughed, some people cried, most were silent. ~ Robert Oppenheimer _________________________________________________________________________________________ Your city of New-New York was recently taken over and burned to the ground, by you. This passive waste of a city is a poor excuse for the expansion of a great empire. The ground is black, the is wall crumbling, and the sky is grey with ash that covers the sun. The ash, at least, is a good thing, for Celestia cannot see where the sun doesn't shine. "Fetch the machines of war!" You yell down to the massive army below you. The message is then relayed from demon to demon all the way back to the gates of the Underdeep. Within moments the gates tear a hole in the dirt, and all of hell breaks loose through it. The machines of war you were talking about aren't really machines. Well, they're half machine. Bio-mechanical factories climb their way up through the gates, massive mouths filled with three foot fangs, feet that are the widths of building foundations, and bodies that are the size of the pentagon. They can destroy armies, and produce horrifying soldiers. They must die to become useful buildings, but they are easy to kill if you have a scythe that can destroy anything. "Bury yourselves!" War bellows to the factories. With that the factories buried their feet into the ground to use as stilts so that the buildings cannot be flooded, and lowered their heads as doorways. As you go around and kill the factories you start planning what other city you want to siege next. Probably Fillydelphia, maybe that little town called Ponyville that you hear so muckh about. Anyway, back to readying the army. As you kill the largest factory he falls to the ground with a earthshaking crash. To most it wouldn't make sense why they don't just fall over but you know that all of their innards are actually machine parts. Their skeletons are steel, their hearts are pumps for molten rock, their stomachs are incubator and their brains are computers. About five of these giants climbed out of the pit and are now producing soldiers at maximum speed. except for the fact that they aren't really soldiers, rather they are insectoid beasts that will be used for transportation and special tactics. Two of the factories produce Klaws, named by the demons for their claws which are razor sharp and about five feet long. The creatures themselves have a white exoskeleton and a body that resembles a centipede. Two other factories produces Drones which are flying insectiods that have a dark green, almost black, exoskeleton with bodies like serpents and wings that taper from head to tail. The last factory produces creatures that are the size of the factory itself and are only stored in the factory for half their growing period so that they may be augmented to carry massive steel platforms that can carry Klaws and Drones. These massive creatures are simply called Carriers, because as you can see, demons aren't very good at naming things. Carriers are behemoths that can be at least fifteen stories tall and can spray an acid so powerful that it will literally dissolve just about anything other than bones. as for the creatures themselves, they look like stag beetles that have half steel exoskeletons. "Build me a throne, I need to rest!" You yell to the demons below you as you throw them some bones. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Twilight Sparkle heard from one of her old friends at Canterlot that Celestia was building an army, she thought that her friend was just pulling her leg, but now she was hearing whispers that Manehattan had been burned to the ground and decided that she needed some answers. "So ladies, I propose that we go to Canterlot and ask for some answers." "That seems like a wonderful idea Twilight, but shouldn't we send a letter first?" Rarity asked, always polite. "Good idea Rarity. Spike Write this down." "Fine." Spiked sighed "Dear Princess Celestia, I have been hearing rumors that there is an army, and that Manehattan is gone. I would like answers so I am coming to Canterlot with my friends to get some. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle" And with a last scratch from the quill the letter was sent in a blast of green flame. _________________________________________________________________________________________ Celestia had received the letter and knew that the rumors were true. She had built an army, and she knew that she had lost Manehattan. She doubted that the elements of harmony could help, but she knew that the elements had immense power, and at least they would slow him down while she waited for the next meeting of the gods in a few days. "Guards!" "Yes princess?" "Prepare the balloon dock. My faithful student is coming for a visit." _________________________________________________________________________________________ Your factories are producing at maximum speed, you're sitting in a throne made of simple charred steel with a beautiful woman on your arm, and you are watching the greatest empire ever unfold before you.The Klaws with their blades of iron are splitting logs like butter and carving trees into wonderful sculptures of you. The Drones are flying through the air and bringing essential materials from nearby areas, and the Carriers are still growing through their final stages. All the while there is an additional factory producing a singular siege engine. This, the newest of the factories, arrived a few days ago, and is now a large platform on the ground with massive machine arms growing out of it. A large mechanical walker is being constructed there and is only about two percent done. This legendarily large piece of pure machinery can carry nuclear warheads on its own, along with cargo bays in its back that can hold fighter jets, and vehicle bays in the feet that can hold carriers and siege tanks. When it is finished in about three months, it will be able to destroy an entire planet. In the end this monstrosity will be roughly two thirds the size of the Empire State Building, with nuclear warhead rocket pods on its soldiers, and howitzer anti-infantry cannons on its arms. surrounding the one hundred fifty foot wide wrists are rings of Davy Crockett nuclear grenades that can be fired three hundred at a time if you use both wrists. All of these horrifying engines of war will be the downfall of this low technology empire, that doesn't bother to use anything other than its own pathetic magic. Of course being Death you could do all of this without the fancy siege engines but what is the fun in war if you don't get to use all the amazing toys that come with it? "What do you make of this, Jennifer?" "I think that there is no way you can lose." "Well then, I think you deserve something special." you say as you pull her closer to you. You kiss her on the cheek, and you can see her mood has improved greatly. "Now, get out of my sight, I have business to attend to." You say as she walks away happily. "War!" Your brother comes running over while yelling at demons to do their job better. "What do you need brother?" "Lets pay the fine princesses a visit shall we? I have the feeling that they are planning something new." Author's Note All constructive criticism and compliments are accepted.