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// Heart of the Storm 
// Story: Equestrian Doom 
// by tankmanbrony 
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Gorrog had been in extreme pain during his battle with Celestia no matter how hard he fought she always found a way to strike back until he had revealed why he had been selected to lead the invasion. Before that his fire balls never struck and his blows rarely collided with her. She had even tried to charge up some sort of magical energy in her horn to obliterate him, forcing him to use one the ability that was always taxing his ability to become invulnerable to damage. He activated immediately feeling the drain on his strength. She fired it towards him just he finished bringing the almost lighting like shield around him. The blast struck him. He saw the scorch marks forming around him as the magic did its damage. He emerged untouched roaring his defiance. Looking around he saw the the scorch marks were very deep into the rock and knew that even his extremely high heat tolerance wouldn't have saved him. Knowing what he would have to do next would be incredibly draining. He braced himself for the end of this fight. He had to use the power of the hell hole to fuel his strength for this due to massive toll withstanding that assault had taken. Hell Time had always been favorite of his when he was in combat but did so sparingly so when he used it Celestia had been completely caught off guard. She was used to slower yet powerful movements but when they were replaced by the blazing fast movements combined with his already impressive strength. Each blow though they felt at a normal pace for him was blindingly fast for her. His blows left a telling mark on her and each was brutally strong despite the twin holes  in his torso both bubbling blood from them. When at last the effects of Hell Time wore off he was surprised by her resilience suffering only a few broken ribs and other assorted bruising in the areas he had only hit once or twice any other area was bleeding and in the case of a few had bones sticking out of them. Such an assault would had killed and splattered a lesser opponent along the walls.  He picked her up by her neck his hand closing around her neck and held her over the Hell Hole.

She had no choice but to look down and stare at it. Her resolve held for a few moments before she began to struggle in his grasp he spoke to her. 

“Look at that soon enough my brethren in all their forms will begin to crawl out of that hole and into this land of yours. A pity you won’t be around to see it a least not truly anyway.” 
He allowed the look of surprise on her face to fall upon his face. “I like to keep my best opponents of a conquest as trophies to remind me of it and you were one of my best opponents yet too bad it has to end this way. "Now scream" he roared. "KNOW THAT I WILL BREAK THE VERY SOULS OF YOUR PEOPLE BENEATH MY IRON FIST AND CAST YOUR LAND INTO DARKNESS” 

He said coming as close as Hell Knight could to smiling as he ripped her horn out her head and rammed through the ruin of her rib cage. That was the only time she screamed in pain throughout the entire fight. She would have died had he not phased her from existence. He had plans for her.

He shook himself; he did not need to dwell on that he had an invasion to wage. To show that the artifact had chosen right when it had bestowed its powers on him. His first order of business was to not make the same mistake as his predecessors and tie himself down to only one source of replacements or have let himself become arrogant . So he had developed to ability of summoning other demons that artifact granted him along with the Main Three.  He stood up from his stupor and looked around seeing quite well in torch light provided by the masses of candles and braziers. He shuddered it was colder here then Hell even with heat of the Hell Hole and all the fire here but not enough to bother him. He would need to face this problem in stride like the rest of his mighty race. The five members of his elite Hell Knight guard surrounded him when he left the room and went into the hallway where they were stationed. Of all the hell knights here only they maintained their normal colors from Hell. Each the same color as him the only real difference was that they were one foot shorter than him and didn’t have the same capabilities as him. No hell knight equaled his power and not even the legendary Hell Hunters equaled his intelligence. Now that he removed one the strongest enemies he would have to face he knew that these ponies would try to go on the offensive judging by his actions towards them and they would pay for that mistake with the blood of thousands. His forces though not as large as he would like numbering only fifty five thousand. This represented a massive portion of his allotted strength. He needed to move and quickly several other bands had come out the Hell Hole and were dispatched as raiding parties to cities and towns. He had deployed a thousand demons in two separate thrusts towards Canterlot but these were merely feints on his part as they were going to receive the main body of his force in a pincer each arm poised to bite off most of Equestria along with whatever pitiful force they could muster to stop him. He would personally lead the assault when his army moved to the field.  He knew what lay in store for the towns ahead of his horde, death and destruction. He descended the stairwell and into the main courtyard of the citadel. His forces filling it with their bodies Imps, Maggots and other Hell Knights, the Cacodemons floating above with their Forgotten Ones as escort. 

“We march to war go now my brethren, for the glory of Hell” he shouted above the din. Answering him were the collective roars, hisses and screeches of his horde. “TO WAR” the power of his voice carried over the horde. 

Soon they were filing out of the gates and the sections that were outside the gates the main body of the army started moving forward. It was a sight to see the mass of Imps and Maggots, the towering Hell Knights, the Cacodemons floating over the horde the Forgotten Ones whirling around them, the Demons grunting as they assumed positions at the head and rear of the massive column they moved forward he saw several Arch-Viles who served as his officers under his elite guard. His armies’ strength was unmatched and it would not be long until it was to receive a long awaited member, a creature known as The Guardian of Hell. It would be unstoppable when sent against the pitiful armies of this nation. It would take an entire month to complete the operation he had planned. In the end his forces would crush Equestria  beneath a mighty blow.
The first feint he sent out to distract the equestrian armies had run into a problem. It had been stopped by a force numbering around one hundred and fifty mostly some type of dog but they were fighting alongside the Equestrian army. The Arch Vile in charge said it wouldn't be a problem and he would crush them within a few days. He wanted it down quicker but the Arch Vile didn't have the same quantity or quality of troops he did. He only had twenty Hell Knights compared to his five thousand. He also didn't have the cloud of Cacodemons to bombard his enemy from the air. He mostly had imps and maggots with the occasion Hell Knight to stiffen them. This resulted in poor siege troops, more or less harassment troops. He would use his Hell Knights and Demons to break through the gap. So Gorrog deemed it a nonissue. On the other hand the second feint had ravaged a village that wasn't prepared overwhelming its garrison in a matter of minutes and butchering the inhabitants.  It was advancing towards Manehatten. The officers in charge knew it was a suicide mission but that didn’t deter him from advancing into enemy territory, knowing that they take more ponies with them than they would lose. He knew that once the Guardian arrived he would bring a few thousand more demons with him. Those would be most useful in replenishing the demons they would inevitably lose. They would split the offensive at a small town and wrap around most the country side to damage as much of the food production capabilities of their adversaries. This underhanded tactic would force their armies into the open to be crushed by superior demon troops. 

His army fell on an isolated hamlet the next day it stood no chance several farmers had attempted to fight them but he had crushed them with only his personal guard with him when they approached him he roared at them and started the characteristic gait of a Hell Knight. He grabbed one as it attempted to stab him a pitchfork “a brave one" he though he then adjusted his two handed grip and with a wrench a loud scream the pony was torn in two. He turned and saw one of his guards bite a pony’s face off. He smiled while throwing the hunks of pony at now panicking farmers. He conjured a fire ball in his hand and slammed it into one the villager's faces. he felt the heat off the fireball start to melt the pony's face. It's scream was loud enough for him to crush it's head in fist.The rest tried to run when a one his five started after him 

“No let them go, let them bring tales of us to their cities” he spoke still fueled by the blood-lust that all the members of his race shared.

The feelings of invincibility that allowed them to slough off all but the most grievous of wounds. The slobber that adorned his face was starting to dry up signaling the end of his blood-lust. His brethren celebrated their victory with roars of victory and two started to eat the corpses as was often done at the end of a battle.  

“We shall drench their cities in their blood!” he roared loud enough that he would have sworn that the farmers heard him. 

The fellowship he and his guards had ran deep as each had been with the others for as long as they could remember and each had shared their fair share of blood and death with rest. The Hell Knights returned to column and continued the march. All were exceptional fighters as that was how you became prominent as a Hell Knight but all had an unusual bond which for some reason made them keep their Hell colors. None had ever lost a battle. Doubt would require several hundred ponies to converge on the six Hell Knights to make them question victory doubt was clearly unnatural for them to ever feel. The war was going well, for them at least it the beginning it always did. The true test was waiting for them in the Canterlot area where the majority of the enemy’s strength lay. It would take them at least before they arrived due to the slow pace of the march but that was not where he wanted to go. He had a different idea for the conquest one where he could cover his horde in blood and glory to draw every more demons from the Hell Hole. 

Several days later the arch-vile sent back his report the message was simple "we have pushed them back out of the pass the suffered heavy casualties when our Hell Knights and demons got to engagement range.

That was as expected terror was a powerful weapon wielded in excess by both demons and Hell Knights especially against first timers. Towns in the warpath would probably have advance warning of the horde’s presence and evacuate to safer ground. This would put strain on the surrounding countryside and if they went to cities than they were playing right into his hands. By walling themselves into the confines of city or specific area they’d concentrate and be one large ripe target for his army. He would also have to step on the terror raids on settlements perhaps even sending a few Hell Knights. Yes maybe a few Hell Knights. Soon he would have all of Hell's Gaze on him and with that one his old enemies would arrive. The Vargary. no matter this world was ripe for conquest and eventually he would restore Hell to its former glory.