//------------------------------//
// Prologue 
// Story: Thy Flesh Consumed 
// by tankmanbrony 
//------------------------------//

Thy Flesh Consumed, 

Prologue:
The guards watched slowly as the sunset, it had been a full year since Gorrog had been defeated at his citadel and since imprisoned in an endless sleep, no demons of any kind had been spotted in the time since, except in the memories and dreams of those whose lives had been torn apart by their devastation. Princess Luna had ordered the construction of a monument to the war and the lives lost in it, an Alicorn locked in combat with a Hell Knight.
Turning to his partner Stalwart Shield wondered why they guarding the frozen form of the Hell Knight, it had been over a year and he had not moved a muscle, not even to breath, but until he grew cold they were to guard his body. Stalwart had him chained by the legs and arms. 
He had volunteered to command the garrison that guarded Gorrog, but his watch had ended and was returning to his quarters to get a nights rest before he resumed his duties the next day. A veteran of every major battle in the Demonic-Equestrian War, Stalwart was an excellent commander and had been the closet companion to the legendary Captain Stahl, who had been the first pony to stand against a demon army and win. 
Stalwart stopped dwelling in the past and focused on the present,  the glass of water on his chest jumped and he stared at it. 
“Did anyone else see that?”
“No, Captain, but I sure heard it.”
“Thanks, Shadow Dancer” he said to the black unicorn next to him. He was somewhat of an enigma, not much was known about him except that he was one of the survivors of Fillydelphia, leading a small group of ponies out of the city as the demons were occupied crushing the Royal Guard garrison, and moving onto slaughtering the population. 
The glass jumped again, spilling some of the water onto the floor, and Stalwart swore he heard a ripping noise, than silence. He put his ear to the outside wall, and heard heavy breathing, of some large animal. 
He gestured to his fellow soldiers to return to their daytime posts and returned his ear to the wall.
“Stalwart, it’s a minotaur, he is injured,” but stalwart was puzzled that the minotaur had ventured this close the base, Princess Luna had told him personally that the base was virtually unknown to even the native Equestrians. Stalwart intended to interrogate him about how he found the camp, but judging by his face, he assumed that he came here under great duress. 
The minotaur looked over his shoulder and stared pleadingly into Stalwart’s eyes.
“Please help me, I know you border guards have done it before, for other minotaurs.”
The desperation in his eyes and the fact that he didn’t know what they were doing convinced Stalwart sufficiently enough to let him in, but he would not go anywhere new Gorrog.
“What drove you over here” he asked, after the gates had been opened to allow him entrance. 
“You have no idea; they were terrible monsters, each one towering over me, their faces and bodies black…   except one, his eyes burned like a pair of malevolent suns. They’re coming.”
The terror of this minotaur reminded him of terror of the first ponies who fought the demons. He was beside himself with fear, constantly looking over his shoulder. 
“Hey you guys take him into the barracks, keep him safe, I’ll go and check the surrounding country side.”
He climbed up the steps to the top of the wall, it was wooden and made of thick oak posts dug into the ground each about eight inches thick, crowned on the top by sharpened tips, and archers walked on a wood boardwalk that was connected to the walls. This gave him a protected place to watch over the surrounding land as it was relatively flat, except for the large mountain behind them. Which the camp was in fact built into. It also served as a border watch post and due to its resident unicorn’s ability to send letters directly to Luna immediately allowed this outpost to be well informed to what was happening. 
Stahl took out a small set of binoculars and scanned the area around them, he saw no changes, other than the footprints of the minotaur ran up the path leading to the camp.
It was dark, out as the moon rose into the sky and Stalwart relaxed his guard slightly, his experiences in the war not letting him relax it fully. 
A red flash caught his attention, pulling up his binoculars, Stalwart saw the demon, it was massive, red and holding a red fireball of immense proportions, dwarfing those used by Imps and bigger than a Hell Knights. 
Then his gaze rested on the eyes of the monster, he saw their red glow, the shear hate behind them, pulsing and filling him with dread.
“Raise the alarm, they have returned.” 
The soldiers looked at him, the dread in their eyes, demanding to know that he was lying, that this was some cruel joke.  But the sudden red light streaking over  the fields towards them only confirmed Stalwart’s statement in their minds.
“All Soldiers battle stations. The demons have returned and have brought a new type of demon, archers to the walls, everyone else concentrate at the gate.” 
The ground shook as the demon ran towards them, its eyes moving up and down as it ran, its heavy steps shaking the ground. 
“Brace yourselves” he yelled as the demon closed the gap between them.  He could finally make out its face, its eyes were the most prominent feature he could see until it entered the light of the torches and he saw the large of horns that curled around its head in front of its face. It had a smooth face than a Hell Knight but for its nose, which was a single triangle shaped nostril.
Stalwart jumped off the wall as the demon charged them, being peppered by arrows as it ran up the hill side towards them.  He felt the ground shake as an explosion tore into the wall close to the barracks.
That was all the distraction the demon needed to rip the gate off its hinges, its massive bulk now fully visible to them, the bulging muscles that covered it put a Hell Knight to shame. The flames its eyes, caused the soldiers around Stalwart, veterans of the Demon War to cower. Than it spoke, its voice deep, hard and full of fire.
“So this is where they are holding Gorrog, secluded but not heavily guarded. I am surprised but not impressed, Abkesh move in and find Gorrog.”
One of the most infamous demons of the Demon War appeared next to the demon, in a flash of red light. A black Hell Knight stood next to the demon, shorter by a good five feet.  Now they had thought the Hell Knights were big but this thing towered over even them.
“What are you” said Stalwart in awe of this massive demon and taking a step back as its gaze was directed towards him. 
“I am the Baron” and with that he conjured a fireball and incinerated a pony who was trying to edge close enough to stab him with a spear. 
The Black Hell Knight disappeared into a flash of fire and only the Baron stood in front of them, one to forty were the odds, all the troops handpicked from the best companies in the entire Equestrian Army.
The Baron strode forward raising his fist and slamming it into Stalwart, knocking his off his feet and sending him though the wall into barracks. Looking he saw the blood splatter that covered the barracks, looking up he saw the minotaur’s entrails holding him to the rafters of the barracks a glowing pentagram, surrounded him.
The stench of death pervaded the air and Stalwart looked at his rear legs, one was broken yet he couldn’t feel it. Crawling towards the door he tried to ignore the screams of his fellow ponies as the Baron signal handily butchered them. He had to reach the letter, the black ribboned one. This information had to reach the Princesses, they had to be warned. This had to be dealt with before it sparked a second Demon War.
A roar of pure rage and hatred, erupted from the depths of the mine, and it intermingled with the screams of the dying to reproduce the feel that the battles of the war had. He looked and saw across the path, the message room, and on the desk the letters that would be sent to Luna and the High Command directly, but ether way he had to get to those letters. The green flame that would transport them to the Princess was already lit, but the distance which he might have covered in a feet short steps before, was agonizing long as he struggled forward, his broken legs hobbling him, he picked himself up and raised his broken leg pulling himself along. Grabbing the door frame, he pulled himself inside and collapsed onto the floor.  
Grabbing the desk he pulled himself up, sitting down, he grabbed the black ribbon letter and held a corner of it to the green flame, and let go as it immediately burst into ashes.
Leaning back into the chair he closed his eyes, the deathly silence was strangely comforting.
He didn’t notice the footsteps of the Hell Knights outside as they ferried Gorrog’s still form out into the open. The Baron stood outside the mountain entrance but due to his size he couldn’t enter, so he waited as the Lord of Hell Knights was brought before him.
“Abkesh, prepare your brethren, Gorrog shall reawaken and he shall raise his army once again.”
A pentagram formed on the ground, Gorrog’s limb’s in each point and his head in the top most point.  The pentagram in skull glowed in unison, his body regaining the power it had once possessed as Hell reawakened the furnace of fury and rage that sustained him.
“Arise Gorrog, Lord of Hell Knights and heir to the power of Hell, Arise.”

Stalwart felt the a sudden dread fill him, the monster who had killed his friend had returned, and a new one had slaughtered his fellow soldiers, yet something calmed him, soothed his anger and let him slip into a quiet sleep.


Gorrog, open his black eyes, he felt the presence of his guards and another demon, far more powerful than them. Shaking himself he rose, and froze staring. In front of him, stood a Baron of Hell.
“I thought your kind had passed from Hell”
I thought you were dead, things change Gorrog, now is not the place to inform you, we must escape here, as I am certain the ponies sent word to the other ponies.”
“Gorrog, they have returned, your greatest enemy, even as we talk they prepare to invade this world.”
Gorrog’s jaw dropped, he wished they had let him sleep.