Chapter 4: Errant Venture
Spike was reading a report given out to many of the troops of how a group of Diamond Dogs and ponies had held off a group of demons numbering around five hundred for three solid days before being forced to retreat. Fortunately their reinforcements had arrived and they beat back the horde .They had held a pass against a demon horde and later destroyed it. He only hoped the rest of the army had the same courage especially since most if not all ponies had never seen something as gruesome as battle. He didn’t know what he was doing when the wraiths attacked just some part of him knew that leaping on it and biting its neck was good idea. What scared him was what would happen to Rarity and him if he refused Gorrog. Twilight had relayed Celestia’s last moments to him and she was an alicorn princess and he was a baby dragon. The Hell Knight had even gone so far to rip of her horn and used it to finish her. This was truly a monster and he knew that refusing would like get him a similar fate. It was night again when the pressure of a large hand appeared on his shoulder.
“Spike I have come for my answer I hope you considered wisely!” he now recognized Gorrog’s voice now as he wasn’t illuminated by the hellish light in the last vision. He rubbed his eyes and looked around something he couldn’t do in the previous dream. Than as of nowhere a green light appeared. It one of Gorrog’s fireballs. He held both of his hands out to Spike one open the other holding the fireball.
“Choose Mortal”.
“No” spat Spike “I won’t betray my friends”
“you choose poorly very poorly” was all the response he got.
The vision was fading but seeing no reaction from Gorrog scared him more than a flurry of death threats. This was the demon that had single handily killed Celestia and he had an army at his back a powerful army judging by the reports he had read. He even had a personal guard of five other immensely powerful Hell Knights each one exactly the same as him except for their size. He was one foot taller standing head and shoulders above Celestia and yet the perfect control over himself was what scared spike the most. He turned away and began walking down the hall towards Twilight who had gone into the library to read some books. The latest report had the demon horde only days from Canterlot. The speed of their advance was only matched by the destruction left in its wake. Whole villages slaughtered, foals screaming as the demons flooded the village eating their family and turning to them. Only horror stories that defied the imagination were left from the survivors. This horde had no mercy and its leader had asked him to join it. At first he thought it was a good idea but later he figured that the only reason that Gorrog had spoken to him was that he would be removing an Element from the picture by ensnaring Spike to kidnap Rarity as he knew from the start that she would never go along with it.
“Twilight I have something to tell you” he started.
She turned and said “what Spike.”
“You know Gorrog well he offered me a deal.”
She stared a look of shock transfixed on her face. “Tell me everything” the sudden flash of angry in her voice surprising him.
“A few days ago on the same night he sent you the fight between him and Celestia, he showed me an army of ponies fighting a horde of demons. The army of ponies was led by Rarity. In the beginning they appeared to be doing well. I saw Rarity fight a Hell Knight and she lost.” He paused for a breath. “He told me that if I didn’t want to see her suffer that I had to turn her and myself over to him. I refused his offer today”
Twilight was surprised by the sudden outpouring of emotion from Spike. “Spike he said that he’d burn Canterlot to ashes?” she was incredulous that with forty thousand soldiers in the city that the horde would be able to take it.
“You haven’t seen his army in action they out number us and most of them are stronger than your average soldier.”
Twilight already knew this as she had been gathering as much information on the demons as possible having interviewed the Defenders of the Pass. They were famous for holding for three solid days of fighting against an enemy five times as numerous as they were. They had only retreated when their commanding officer was wounded in single combat with a Hell Knight. He was recovering from the various burn wounds. The diamond dogs that had fought alongside them had also been celebrated by the ponies and they had been offered a place in the platoon. They had accepted a few days ago and were busy telling many of the untested soldiers how to fight the demons. Fifty of the hundred and thirty strong force had died during the three days they fought the demons. Heavy casualties had been sustained by both diamond dogs and ponies. This was why the First and Second army groups had been ordered to stand in defense of Canterlot.
A pair of Luna’s night ponies marched in one saying “you have been summoned to the quarters of Princess Luna” Twilight started out Spike jumping on her back.
They marched to throne room joined by several other night ponies. Spike was wondering why such an escort was necessary until they passed several corpses of night ponies and royal guards. They all had large burns over their bodies except for one he was in two pieces missing part of the midsection. Twilight was about to ask when one of their escorts said
“a trio of Cacodemons surprised them. This is the result.”
This hit Twilight hard she had heard similar tales from survivors of skirmishes but had never seen the aftermath for herself. This was completely different than what she’d expected. She paused for several minutes just staring before her stomach turned over and she vomited on the floor. Spike nudged her and she continued walking. He too was disturbed but not as much as Twilight. He had seen similar sights when Gorrog had visited him. He had seen a whole battlefield covered in similar scenes but never in this detail. Only when they had arrived in the meeting room did Twilight fully recover. The room had a map of Equestria on the wall and several pins in it each connected with a black thread. That represented the territory conquered by Gorrog. The forward edge was dangerous close to Canterlot and was about to envelop it. The rest of the bearers had already arrived and were waiting for her.
Princess Luna spoke “I have called each of you here because our enemy is only five days from Canterlot. His forces will smash into our walls and attempt to breach them.”
The ponies stared at her expecting for her to continue. “
Each of will be placed in charge of seven to eight thousand troops each. We must hold the line against this evil”
“They do have one weakness” Twilight said “they are extremely reckless when they attack. While this doesn’t sound like a weakness they always fight in a frenzy always attacking never reconsidering a charge.”
“So they don’t ever give up” said Applejack
“they don’t ever get scared” said a surprised Pinkie.
“These creatures fight with unmatched ferocity but recklessness.” She was about to continue but a letter appeared with a flash of green light.
“It appears that our latest intelligence has Gorrog turning his host towards Fillydelphia the demons we have been seeing marching towards Canterlot were nothing but a feint.”
“They giving are up so easily why turn away from Canterlot and towards Fillydelphia” asked Twilight.
“That city only has two regiments to defend itself; it will fall in a matter of hours before his army.” Said a stunned Luna.
How quickly can get a large enough force to Fillydelphia with sufficient strength to stop them?” asked Twilight.
“We could take the Pegasi divisions there faster than those slow lame demons.” said Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow how well do you think nine thousand Pegasi would hold up versus fifty seven thousand demons?” rebutted Twilight.
“We can’t just abandon them” said a soft voice from the back of the group. It was the first time Fluttershy had spoken up during the entire meeting. “I mean we wouldn’t like if they abandoned us to those monsters.”
They all knew her history with the demons to know that she had meant to use the word monster despite her avoidance of the word.
When the evacuation of Ponyville had occurred her animals had been left behind and a fly over by a recon team confirmed an absolute desolation of the surrounding countryside. When she had heard this along with the assumption that her animals had been killed she had cried for days. It had been two weeks since the evacuation of Ponyville and the surrounding towns. Returning to matter at hand Spike thought of how to save Fillydelphia.
“Couldn’t we just evacuate them to a safer area?”
“It would take a long time to evacuate several hundred thousand ponies and would possibly cause a panic” said Luna.
“Couldn’t we just arm the populace and overwhelm the demons with raw numbers.” Said Spike before any of the others could interrupt him.
Luna spoke first “that might just work but the losses would be grievous even if they succeeded in repelling the demons.” Some losses are better than outright slaughter.”
“Spike if we use your strategy do you have any idea of high the casualties would soar on our side.” A voice from behind them interrupted the conversation.
“Twilight we can’t help this city other than telling it to start pressing its civilians into service and sending to fight the monsters crawling at their doors.”
They group turned to a tired looking General Shining Armor.
“He made us think that the hammer blow would fall on Canterlot not Fillydelphia and we acted accordingly. He played us like a fiddle and our ponies are going to pay the price of our failure.”
‘This is unacceptable we can’t stand idle while my subjects are slaughtered by the thousands and an entire city put to the torch by these monsters!” Exclaimed Luna “this will not go unpunished Shining Armor ready the army we march when the Third Army is completed hastiness has only hurt us.”
“That task will take about two more weeks by than the demons will have moved on to another city or destroyed a massive part of the countryside our ponies will suffer greatly while we wait for our strength to peak.”
“General have you ever tried to raise an army after millennia of peace of prosperity. It is no small task.”
“Is it possible to use our current armies to fight the demons in pitched battle?” asked Twilight.
“Twilight you’ve seen how the demons fight and that was outnumbered once forty to one and later two to one. We lost twenty good soldiers in two small skirmishes and the first time Gorrog was just pretending to fight the second he was trying to goad Celestia in taking him on personally. We’ve been playing into his hands the entire time. He could have opened a portal to hell in his cell for all we know. He could have demons wandering Canterlot right now ready to strike at any moment. He spoke to you and me in our heads what makes any of you think he couldn’t repeat that feat.”
“Spike, when you get so informed on our adversary’s strategy and strengths and how did you get information his motives and strategy” asked Shining Armor?
“He’s been in contact with Gorrog twice” Blurted Twilight.
“What in tarnation” said a surprised Applejack. “
Spike continue” thundered Luna above the din. “This information could save lives so I demand that he be allowed to speak uninterrupted.”
The silence was palatable. He started haltingly describing how Gorrog had spoken to him of how he felt a pressure on his shoulder that felt like a very large hand. How he had been shown what he could only describe as visions and how he saw the massive army that fought against the ponies. He finished with the choice that Gorrog had offered him how if he had chosen to accept the demon’s offer that he would have preserved Rarity from harm. How he refused the demon and the threats he made.
“Why you why not someone in charge of troops or with a larger ability to affect the war?” asked Shining Armor.
“Maybe it was because he thinks o’spike here would betray us but he wouldn’t would you Spike? Said Applejack.
He was very nervous everyone was staring at him with looks ranging from sympathy to suspicion. A night pony entered interrupting the meeting much to his relief
“Princess we have a problem several Hell Knights have appeared in the city along with twenty imps!” “How did they get inside the city?” Luna looked furious.
“Princess we don’t know how they got in. We’ve prevented them from causing too large of a panic but we are losing soldiers.”
The terror that he heard of from the guards was very real. The meeting had been adjourned very shortly after Luna ordered Twilight to oversee the destruction of the demons. He had accompanied Twilight all the way up to the barricade that the soldiers had assembled. Fifty soldiers had been fighting the demons for an hour now slaying six of the imps and one Hell Knight. He ducked as Hell knight’s fireball smashed into a section a few feet down. A large object hit him in the side of the head. He felt a trickle of something wet roll down his head. He looked around dazed. As is vision came back into focus he looked at what had hit him. a soldier’s hindquarters was on top of him. He looked up and saw another flight of red fire balls arc over the barricade. This was immediately followed the roars of Hell Knights as they surged through the hole in their defenses. One bent down and picked him up causally brushing the soldier’s body off him. He squirmed in its grip only causing it to hold him tighter. “Put him down” said a very upset Twilight “Now.” The Hell Knight turned dropped Spike and conjured a fireball in its hand. “Spike move” she shouted to him. He ducked as she shot a bolt of magic straight through the Hell Knight. It dropped to its knees a gaping hole in its chest and reached for her. Its fist closed on empty air as it convulsed and started to burn its roared to the heavens as it dissolved into fire. Its roar caused the other Hell Knights to turn towards her. Seeing the death of their comrade sent them into a rage one threw the soldier in its hand at her like a rock. The others charged her each one ignoring everything around them except for the few soldiers who got in their way. The first to reach her raised its hand to punch her but was interrupted by a large blast from Twilight’s horn. Spike turned to her and he saw the fear in her eyes and suddenly he felt something change inside him he didn’t know but when he turned back to the hell knights he notice they weren’t so much taller than him now. In fact only the tops of their bodies were above him. He roared deep and guttural at them causing the remaining four turn to him. They all conjured fireballs surprised by this new threat and launched them at him. He threw up his arms to shield his face from the blasts. A large cloud of smoke obscured his vision but he heard the approaching footsteps of the Hell Knights as they closed in on him. The first thing he saw was fist hurtling towards his face. He caught the fist and pressed himself against the Hell Knights body biting out its throat and pushing its body into the next Hell Knight. It didn’t make it there but caused the others to pause long enough to cover them in fire from his jaws. They emerged a few moments later unscathed from the furnace of his breath. The three Hell Knights charged him. One dropped halfway to him a hole the size of a pony in its chest he saw Twilights horn glowing as she turned to help fight the imps the were now attacking in earnest as the battle started to turn against them. He punched the first Hell Knight his claws digging into its skin. The other one had circled around him and grabbed his tail and started to pull it it’s muscles straining as he let go of the other Hell Knight. He swung his tail causing the other Hell Knight to fall to its knees and decapitated it with a return swing. The other Hell Knight started to back up when he turned to it. He leaped at it when it swung its fist into his underside. He buckled coughing up blood. He grunted trying to get up when the Hell Knight slammed his head into the cobblestone street. He swung his tail into its shoulder causing it to back up dragging him with it. He turned over and grabbed a broken spear off the ground and drove it into the Hell Knights chest. It collapsed and burned away. He turned to face his next attacker when he saw there were none the demons had been routed after he had distracted the Hell Knights. The soldiers had slain all the imps expect one that was contained in a purple orb. He turned to look at Twilight. His found her staring at the street it was soaked in blood both the red of the ponies and black of the demons overall they had lost twelve soldiers putting down the demons.
“So this is what we have to fight” he said looking around at the slaughter. “this is going to be a long war”