Gorrog and Little Horn, had been walking until the sun rose and they made camp near a large boulder, using it as protection from any wind that might rise, but they refrained from lighting a fire to preserve their secrecy. Little Horn huddled close to Gorrog’s warmth, the waves of heat from his mouth clouding the air with a slight trail of moisture.
First light hit Gorrog’s eyes and he rolled over. They had entered Pony country yesterday, and today they would follow a road until they came across a town. The closer to Canterlot the better.
“Little Horn, soon we shall be entering the village where I first made demons know in Equestria, it is likely to be high alert, due to my return and the opening of the Hell Gate. Remember do not attack them unless I give the word.”
“Understood, but why are we not ransacking the village and obliterating every soul in it?”
“Because, I need them now, for one of the few demons who ever rivaled me is coming, I can feel her power as she draws closer to the Hell Gate, why she is taking her time I know not, but she will arrive eventually. Now I have fought her before, she has pulled off a similar feat when fighting The Bringers of Wrath, and it was incredibly successful, and I unwittingly helped her in doing it by crushing them, and sending the surviving demons into her fold. Now this time, it seems I am the Bringers of Wrath and the ponies are Hell’s Fist.”
“I see, though I have a question, do you know how many nations there are even excluding Equestria, we know of several, ranging from the Griffon Kingdoms to the Tribal Zebras.”
“You underestimate the size of her army, it is vast, it earned the name Black Tide and for good reason.”
Gorrog, started walking in the direction of a road, which Little Horn had spotted the previous day. Gorrog’s long steps carrying him towards his goal, to which Little Horn struggled to keep up with but managed.
They walked in silence, careful to avoid causing a disturbance as their presence caused wild animals to flee, and the dread Gorrog subconsciously emitted caused most ponies to know something was there. Little Horn on the other hand, had a far more mundane affect, mainly due to his appearance. The trio of horns on his head, alone would make you grotesque as a pony, but combined with his other deformities, the line of bone line of bony spikes running along his back, the fleshy remains of his cheeks, and most of all his left foreleg, which had changed into a claw, similar to that of a crab.
They past several abandoned carts, which put Gorrog on edge.
“Little Horn, we might be attacked soon, these were not abandoned by choice, the harness on this one is bloody, the other one, is smashed. Wait, Little Horn this is too clean a break to be a Hell Knights.”
Gorrog and Little Horn paused staring at each other, the breeze drifting softly, bringing with it stench of blood and fear.
“Little Horn, whatever is causing this, I want to know, and we might intervene.”
“Gorrog, if it is ponies who are under attack why intervene at all, why not simply wait to see the outcome and slay the victors?”
“Because I need to make contact with Princess Luna, we need her army and I fear that she will not help us, especially if I am correct, I ate her sister.”
A scream cut off their conversation as they saw a mare come running down the road pursued by creatures he recognized, they had fought besides the Ponies during the war, but now they seemed to be chasing one down, all were armed.
“Little Horn I shall deal with these creatures, scout ahead and I shall return to you shortly.”
Turning away from Little Horn, Gorrog ran towards the pony, a plasma ball in his hand. The three diamond dogs had taken notice of him and Gorrog saw recognition flash across one of their faces, along with fear.
The mare, froze as Gorrog approached, his stride taking him past her in two steps and he towered over the diamond dogs, eyes fixed on them.
They started backing up, Gorrog following, his black eyes boring into their souls.
“No amount of gems is worth this!” shouted the lead diamond dog, and he broke and ran.
Releasing his plasma ball Gorrog let it drop to the ground and it exploded. The blast shook the very air and caused much of the surround dew to evaporate in a cloud of steam. Using the cover he now had Gorrog advanced, and launched his hand forward where the diamond dog on the right had been, and he felt something soft but it recoiled away from him before he could grasp it.
Gorrog started running forward, his heavy footfalls echoing across forest road. The scent of the three diamond dogs was pungent and their fear coated the road, he followed his hulking body crashing though the branches that hung above the road.
The plasma ball was streaming steam at this point and it made his movements painfully obvious.
“Quickly we need to move before the beastie catches us!”
Gorrog paused and slowly made his way up the small hill in the road. In front of him, he could see the town, it was burning.
Gorrog scanned it, his sight falling on everything on the edge of the town, a few ponies running out of it and a few guards fighting in small skirmishes along its border.
“Forward you maggots, fight!”
A large diamond dog walked forward, his lower jaw jutting out, and his body was covered in thick crude iron armor. His helmet was painted red, and it had a hinge in it for the jaw armor to move with. In one hand he held a mace. Along his belt he had an assortment of crude but judging by its continued use and size, effective weapons, ranging from saw edged daggers to a moderately sized axe.
Several smaller diamond dogs, advanced around him, into a group of soldiers, who were blocking the street in front of them.
The diamond dogs, from what Gorrog could see, vastly outnumbered the ponies, he could intervene but doing so would weaken him, and might not give him the results he wanted, but from what he had seen form the three diamond dogs, his reputation preceded him greatly. So by fear alone he could win.
He watched as several more diamond dogs emerged from holes in the ground to join the melee at the end of the street.
He stood up from his position of over watch and moved towards the village and approached altering his course to avoid going to close to the diamond dogs.
He peered down a side street, and saw several ponies, with their backs to him, watching the battle in the other streets unfold.
Gorrog, strode down it, and for the second time, made his way into the village. His footstep resonated in the air, and the ponies turned to face him.
“It is true, he has returned, the Black Scourge!” shouted one of the ponies.
Gorrog turned to face the pony, who trembled with fear.
“You appear to be in need of assistance, and yes I have returned.”
A murmur spread throughout the crowd, they were shocked, thinking that the Hell Knight had come to bring death and ruin as he had one year ago, the offer of assistance was a shock.
A group of diamond dogs rounded the corner and charged, several had full armor, others carried crude spears, and two carried halberds. Slavering they charged, barking at each other, sending themselves into a battle rage.
Gorrog, bent over, and issued a reply, a deep and throaty roar, his joy at once again throwing himself into the fray, sent him sprinting towards them.
He closed the distance rapidly, and tackled the largest diamond dog. Bringing his fists down on its face, and noticed that these creatures had extremely tough skulls.
“Run dogs, for the Black Scourge, has returned!” Gorrog shouted, his voice carrying into the rest of the village. “I have come, to reap your souls!”
Gorrog stood up, the diamond dog beneath him to dazed to stop him and probably had several broken bones.
Rising to his full eleven feet of height Gorrog, stared down the others, and started towards them, as they raised their weapons, pikes, spears, a few clubs and a halberd.
He grunted and several flinched, it was all the opportunity he needed, striking with his clawed hands, ripping the throat out of one of the smaller ones, and slamming his corpse into the next one. Their armor while it was tougher than pony armor, only slowed Gorrog, as he leveraged his brute force to simply punch it inwards, leaving dents in it a few inches deep.
Than Gorrog felt the bite of steel as it tore into his flesh and he looked over his shoulder to see on of their pikes lodged in his back, its blade sticking in several inches.
“A worthy effort, but futile” and Gorrog slammed his fist into the diamond dog’s chest plate, the metal how strangely held, not giving way as Gorrog smashed his fist into it.
Shaking his hand, he took a long look at the diamond dog, something was different about it, or more likely its armor. The diamond dog staggered into a wall, clutching his chest.
A few of the others backed off, this creature was far too strong for them to fight, and they didn’t have the strength in numbers to overwhelm him yet.
Gorrog swung around, and grabbed a diamond dogs legs, and pulled them out from underneath him. Smashing his shoulder into his back Gorrog felt the satisfactory sound of the spine snapping.
As he was crouched over the body of the diamond dog, several others jumped on him. They pressed themselves into him, and using whatever knives they had on hand they stabbed him, their brutal assault bringing him to his knees.
“That’s right beastie, it bites doesn’t it! The boss will be most happy with your head!” The dog cried.
Than Gorrog heard a gurgle and the sound of tearing flesh, cutting the dog off.
“These mortals will never learn will they?”
Looking up Gorrog saw Little Horn standing in front of him, his claw covered in blood, that he was licking off.
“So my lord shall we purge these foul creatures from their pitiful lives?”
Gorrog cracked a brief grin on his face and nodded. Throwing off the dead bodies of the diamond dogs, Gorrog moved down the street, kicking over the body of a pony, looking down upon its ruined form.
The pony was missing half the skin on its face, but the soft rise of its chest, alerted Gorrog that it was still alive. Crouching down Gorrog stared at it, something was familiar about this pony, but he could not place where.
Shrugging Gorrog moved on, seeing the havoc that the diamond dogs had wrought, the doors of several of the larger houses had their doors broken in, and several windows smashed in each.
As Gorrog moved closer to the end of the street, the sounds of combat intensified, along with the screams of the civilians caught in the crossfire.
Than Gorrog saw the large fight in the center of the town, diamond dogs fighting the garrison, each locked in their own individual conflicts.
Gorrog conjured a plasma ball and aimed for the largest group of combatants, attempting to identify which side to throw it on to inflict maximum damage. He gave a signal to Little Horn, and threw the plasma ball, arching it over the battleground and into the group of fighters.
The blast dropped several diamond dogs, and flung several ponies across the square.
Roaring Gorrog moved in, his massive body and the loudness of his appearance drawing the attention of every soldier and raider in the square.
“He has returned, the Butcher of Fillydelphia!” Cried a pony.
“The Big Beastie has come back, for another beating.” A diamond dog shouted form the mob.
Gorrog braced himself and conjured two plasma balls in his hands, and cleared his throat, a loud grunting noise that resembled the crackling of fire.
“Ponies, I wish to treat with the Captain of your regiment, and as for you curs, I will give you roughly five minutes to leave or I will kill every last one of you, and feast upon your souls!”
The diamond dogs, started backing away from the enraged demon, except for one, who moved forward. He was the same large diamond dog who seemed to be in charge of this warband and the diamond dog, who was clearly scarred by years of battle and raids stared Gorrog in the face.
Tall for a diamond dog, he stood at seven feet, and was hunched over in his arms he held a mace and snarled at Gorrog.
“I know you beastie, you are the one you commanded the host of demons, that fought at Canterlot. I was there when you tore the city gates off their hinges and fought the Princess of the Moon, and threw the drake, Spike against one of the city walls. You are a monster of great strength, we shall leave as you demand.”
Gorrog was surprised by the fact that this diamond dog was smart enough to leave on his own accord, and watched as the warband left the town at a blast of the chieftain’s horn. But he could not ponder that for long as his thoughts were interrupted by a ring of leveled spears and other weapons.
“Ponies, it will take more than your feeble strength to stop me, so lower your weapons, and bring forth your commanding officer!” Gorrog snarled.
The officer detached himself from the rest of the cluster of soldiers, and gave a stand down order. Gesturing to a large building he started walking to it, followed by Gorrog.