The Princess of all Equestria sat on her golden throne.
The sun that hung over the castle at the top of Canterlot cast rays that illuminated the hall, Celestia did not contain her trademark smile and calm personality, anyone with a pair of eyes could see very easily.
Her mane and tail burned like a passion never seen before, unlike his colors similar to the rainbow completely, his docile and gentle aura had been replaced by one of extreme anger and irritation, even if not showing, anyone present in the room could very well know.
The Ruler of the Sun was not happy.
The Messenger knew it well, his horrified smile and the sweat that was streaming down her face showed.
"So Manehattan fell, along with one of my best legions?" She asked in a calm but firm voice, completely masking the fury she faced.
"That has been what S-Shining Armor r-reported y-yes..." He told trying his best not to not to stutter.
"And Gallus?" The Monarch asked with a tint of hope in her voice.
"S-s-slain P-princess." He said looking down in sadness.
Her aura for a moment flickered, her calm expression had changed one to complete surprise.
"Y-yes, h-his b-body was confirmed found w-with the rest of the remains of the Legion of t-the Sentinels of P-purity, N-no s-survivors m-m'am..."
"No survivors...?" She asked with an expression of complete shock.
"Yes ma'm, 26,789 are confirmed dead with the rest being missing...."
This was something that had not happened for thousands of years, since the time of the Great War there has never been a conflict that had killed as many as this recent one was.
Years after the conflict that ended Chaos, 'war' became something much more symbolic than anything else, when two races wanted to resolve it was always up to her and in recent years her sister to resolve everything peacefully in some conference between all the kingdoms.
And when conflict somehow started, it was always something much lighter, the sides always met in an open field and exchanged insults with each other and often threw things at each other, it was much more rare for them to either side to enter in any kind of physical confrontation, and when one side 'lost' by giving up, those who persevered were considered winners, and 'war' would end the losing side by giving some insignificant piece of land or tribute to the other.
But this supposed human leader?
He is taking the meaning of war to another level.
Not even when she took on Discord or Umbra's armies did things go beyond the level that this Warlord was taking, he was not occupying territory to only expand his empire, he was completely decimating entire cities and towns.
She didn't believe the reports at first, thinking that possibly the majority of the deaths should be due to some kind of catastrophe, but now?
With the death of a friend with an entire army? This could not be ignored, she had already been informed of the alleged capture of one of the Elements of Harmony, and with the level of brutality and savagery that he is taking in his conquest, she cannot leave a Pony- no, a friend in the hands of such barbaric beings.
"I want you to bring me the humans captured from the fight, whether they are injured or not." She says with her expression returned to normal.
The Messenger was silent for some time, looking at the floor and sweating even more, Celestia raised an eyebrow at that.
"Is something wrong? Speak."
He lifted her face to face hers after adding a lot of courage.
"It was not possible to capture any human Princess, neither alive nor dead."
"What do you mean by that? Explain!" She roared infuriated
"T-there w-was o-o-only o-one h-human m-my l-liege! I swear!"
"DO NOT PLAY WITH ME! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Her aura flared, her mane and tail bursted out in blazing fire as she got up in a fit of rage, the flames engulfing all the throne room and scaring all those around her with her fury, no one had ever seen their ruler so much infuriated.
The Messenger, in a moment of total despair, would throw himself on the floor with all his strength, kneeling in such a way that his head touched the floor.
"I-I-I-I S-S-S-SWEAR! I w-would never lie to you g-glorious p-princess! I-i s-swear the reports s-say that the h-human leader s-single-handedly wiped out the e-entire army! That's what t-they said in the report!" He exclaimed in utter terror while kneeling in complete fear, shaking all the time he tried to appease the princess
Celestia came out of her sudden furious urge, looking around at everyone while her tail and mane returned to normal.
She felt enormous guilt together disappointment with herself at seeing her subjects' looks of fear and complete terror, she had never lost her temper like today, and she shouldn't have been so aggressive towards someone who was just doing her job.
Sitting normally she tried to hide her red face in shame.
"My most sincere apologies, my little pony, I shouldn't have snapped at you like I did, forgive me." She says with a hint of sadness as she lowers her head in shame.
The Messenger looked at his monarch in surprise, but got up quickly and would move his arms in front of him frantically and dismissively.
"N-n-no! I-i-it was n-n-nothing princess! I a-also couldn't believe the reports myself! B-b-but they came from extremely reliable sources! I swear to you!"
She felt very uncomfortable for what she did, but after a few apologies (And many 'It was nothing' by the messenger) She dismissed him and ended the audience session right there and immediately left the throne room, his mind totally lost in his thoughts to even notice in your surroundings and the worried looks of the guards.
Since Luna's return, relations between the two sisters have not been the best, even with their best attempts at bonding with their little sister and with the attempted help from the elements it was not enough, they simply disagreed on too many things to be able to get along, to understand each other.
Mainly because of humans, she will never understand that it is necessary to keep them chained, she has not been there, she has not seen cities decimated and entire continents destroyed by these crazy simians.
They were and still are just like what the reports say, bloodthirsty maniacs, they know nothing more than to backstab and kill each other for the stupidest possible reasons.
Religion, skin color, geographic possessions, power or whatever small reason they found to decimate themselves by the thousands.
She saw with her own eyes when the human kingdoms were discovered, at first glance she simply shrugged, they could be numerous, but they were too focused on internal disputes to even think about gazing their eyes outside their own borders.
She was foolish, never having expected a human to have the ability to ascend like her and her sister, it was one of the biggest mistakes of her life, humans are and have always been a mysterious species, arising basically from thin-air and expanding alarmingly quick, the only thing that kept them contained and in check was their own internal conflicts.
A human managed to do exactly the same thing that she and Luna had suffered a lot to achieve with the pony tribes, he had unified all the city-states in a single flag.
And then, he did something that no mortal in all the thousands of years she lived had the courage to do, he challenged her, not only she but Discord at the same time, it would be foolish if it was only a mere human.
At first glance she totally underestimated him, again a mistake, how could a being of one of the only species lacking magic have the ability to fight on equal terms with them?
And again he achieved the impossible, he won, battle after battle, he expanded and completely humiliated the forces of Harmony and Chaos at the same time, what the history books do not show, was that the Human did not use magic, unlike the 'Black Magic' that he used, they were something entirely different, he created something that could rival magic! Something that only her descendents managed to achieve!
Even studying everything about the human Emperor she could for thousands of years, the origin of his powers maintain a mystery to this day, very little could be discovered, the humans destroyed or disappeared with all the books and notes he had made, one of the biggest file burns in history, a gigantic library that would make Twilight have an orgasm was totally burnt down.
Nothing but ashes were left, thousands of historical documents, research, old poems and philosophies destroyed, their superstition cost their entire legacy.
She sighed as she walked between the huge golden corridors, Guards flanking them in greeting as she passed.
Celestia still couldn't believe that the promise that her oldest enemy made was true, and he finally was making its comeback.
She put her hand on her face as she sighed, she was foolish, she should have known that that monster would not be banished in the dark for long, after all, that was his domain.
"Faster Luna! The throne room is not far away!"
She screamed at her sister as she ran down the decaying stone corridors, her golden armor with many symbols of the sun next to her helmet shone in a beautiful glow with the beat of the sun, her sister, in her dark blue armor with symbols of the moon, ran at her side.
Taking a quick look outside, she could have a brief glimpse of the huge combat taking place outside the walls, the many siege equipments with thousands of troops, being a combination of golden and black troops from the ponies of harmony together with the forces of the various of terrifying beings of chaos charging in the intention of conquering and overwhelming the walls.
This siege would be marked in history as the first and only time that the forces of Equestria and the forces of the Discord Empire came together and fought side by side, and debated as the last definitive battle against the forces of the unified Empire of Humanity.
The corridor trembled at the sound of explosions, screams and roars of combat.
Along with Luna, Celestia had infiltrated the Castle with a contingent of Royal guards to challenge and finish off the Human Lord once and for all.
Leaving the army of Equestria in the hands of a group that managed to be as competent as legendary, the 'Pillars of Equestria' as they were affectionately called by the troops, they were placed to fight alongside their counterparts of the Discord Empire, the also legendary but feared Champions of Chaos, Celestia knew that the battle would be in good care at their hands.
They ran through several corridors and rooms where rooms after rooms were passed, even with just a glimpse of what was inside them already left Celestia feeling sick.
However, even with all this, the sisters moved forward, facing a huge door, their surroundings destroyed.
"Discord...?" Luna asked in surprise.
"Most likely, he wouldn't wait for us, let's go before something bad happens!" Celestia says as she crosses.
Inside, she was faced with a scene that completely horrified her, Discord screaming in agony and writhing hysterically on the floor by what could only be described as something that came from the depths of Tartarus what was happening in front of the sisters, Discord's life seemed to be sucked in while he received a burst of lightning.
The source of everything stood proudly on top of the God of Chaos, the figure that brought so much pain, something that the Princess of the Sun could only describe as the personification of darkness.
With a huge black robe that covered his entire body together with a hood, white mask that had two red stripes above his eyes, it easily resembled a human skull, but the most horrifying thing was not that.
Behind his mask, something was not right, it was impossible to see his eyes, and not even his jawline or mouth, it was like he was just pitch black, only darkness.
What followed was a battle, in which Celestia never thought have to relive again, because in that battle, even with her greatest rival and her best friend at her side, the most powerful beings in the world, she was afraid.
Those lifeless eyes, the aura of darkness and death together with powers where could devour the magic in their bodies, along with his complete lack of life.
She had never admitted it to anyone, but that day, she was the only one she was truly afraid of, and now, it was back.
A sweat ran across her face.
Faust help them.
Pillars of Equestria: The Pillars of Equestria are a legendary group of Ponies that lived in Equestria brought together by Stygian, and the previous protectors of Equus before the Elements of Harmony were created. For over a thousand years they were trapped in Limbo with the Pony of Shadows, and until then they maintain to the modern day, their sacrifices and deeds will be forever remembered by Equestria.
Starswirl the Bearded, a legendary and powerful Unicorn representing the Element of Sorcery.
Mage Meadowbrook, a earth pony that represented the Element of Healing, being also nicknamed 'Mother Mage' for her caring attitude towards her soldiers.
Flash Magnus, representing the Element of bravery, a noble Pegasus part of the royal guard at that time, well know for his cunning and effective tactics.
Somnambula, a Pegasus born within the town of the same name, she represented the Element of Hope. Mistmane, a elderly-looking Unicorn born within Neippon, and holding beauty to out-match even the most beautiful of Kirin, she represents the element of Beauty.
Rockhoof - the strongest of the members of the group, and an Earth Pony representing the Element of Strength.
Champions of Chaos: They were created as a counterbalance to the Pillars, taking all the aspects of a living being that Discord considered 'Decent', they were the most horrifying, bloodthirsty and feared beings in history, being physically modified, transforming their bodies into horrifying things in the design of their master, they were the main rivals of the Pillars in the Great War.
Fork Tongue, a black dragon with red eyes and one of the most hated champions, bearer of territories gained in surprisingly questionable ways to this day, was Lord of Deceit.
Barbwire, A silver griffin and most feared of them all, a bloodthirsty and brutal commander with no mercy on anyone, not even his troops, he was the lord of cruelty.
Dark Light, a traitorous red and black unicorn who abandoned the teachings of Equestria and joined Discord, a feared magician who created horrifying arts, banned by their terrifying effects that can break even the strongest of warriors, she was the lady of misery.
And lastly, Double Cross, the most mentally unstable, the most insane of the group, Discord's favorite, a gray Diamond Dog, the least trustworthy of all in the group, the lord of betrayal.
