Equestrian Doom

by tankmanbrony

Chapter 18: No rest for the Living

Stahl looked around the corpse littered battleground; he saw movement in a pile of bodies. He stared at it blinking, as the massive pile shifted. He backed away from Sunset Fall’s body and picked up a spear from the hoof of a dead soldier. He stared at the pile as a fist shot out. Stahl backed away as it pushed away the bodies and he saw various body parts shooting out of the pile, as if something was tearing something apart. Out of the pile he saw a pair of red eyes, stare straight at him, and it stood. A grey Hell Knight looked at him, yet its eyes were red not black.

“What is that?”

It grunted and a red plasma ball formed in its hand. He started backing up very fast, putting as much space between it and him as possible. He felt the heat pass over his head as the fireball streaked over his head.

It charged him jumping, claws out stretched. Landing on a pile, it turned over and slammed its fist into his ribs, yet he felt nothing, as if he was never hit. The demon than preceded to pummel his chest, blow after blow striking his chest as it grew frustrated and stopped.

“Mortal, what are you?”

It hadn’t broken every bone in his body, yet he had seen similar assaults splatter other soldiers.

He stood up; staring at the demon, than the ball dropped it had spoken, according to battle reports only Gorrog could talk. Why could this Hell Knight talk when all the others couldn’t, what made it so special. He saw the hand coming grabbing his head and lifting him up to its face. Stahl felt its hot breath on its face, its red eyes burning into his, the sheer anger radiating off the Hell Knight was overwhelming. He saw its muscles bulging as it tensed and a feeling of dread swept over him, filling the dark recesses of his soul.

The demon twitched and let him go, into what felt like a bottomless drop, the fall far longer than what it should have. He looked up and the demon was growing small, as the darkness enveloped him, drawing him deeper and deeper into sleep…

He jolted awake, and the first thing he felt was a weight to the darkness, as if something was casting a shadow on the ground. Looking up he saw the dark outline of a massive fortress in the skyline, it was not as big as Canterlot but a close second, and he noticed the battlements, the size of the walls and the strength of the position.

“We’re going to attack that?” he asked to no one in particular.

“Funny coming the pony that stood his ground against the demons at the Pass, who fought and survived the battles of Canterlot and the Field of Tears.”

Looking about, he saw the armored form of General Shining Armor, standing next to him. Taken by surprise, Stahl snapped to attention, giving the General a salute.

“No need for that, Captain, though I am need of your expertise, I am looking for capable officers to lead my soldiers in the assault on Gorrog’s citadel. The challenge is great but I’ll save you the speech, we know next to nothing about the inner fortress, as every scouting party we have sent over it has been killed to a pony, we can expect heavy resistance.”

“So why me, I’ll only lead defensive operations?”

“And thus you have a great understanding of how to halt attacks and the weak points of these strategies; also you are the most experienced officer in this army, the first pony to stand against the demons and win.”

He stared at Shining Armor for a few seconds and then pictured himself in the front lines of the assault, and he knew he would be there, once again fighting the demons.

“Stahl, you will be under the command of Commander Spike and will be leading his shock troops though the breach that Luna herself will make in the walls of his fortress, our armies will pour through the gap and make our way to the Hell Hole and that’s where things get difficult, we’ll need everypony there fighting, as from what we have seen Gorrog bested Celestia there and it plays some role in his power.”

“So you need someone who knows these demons”

“Yes and you’re the best.”

“I’ll do it…”

“Excellent, we shall attack in two days, time as twenty thousand trained soldiers shall arrive and we’ll possess the strength to strike”

Stahl walked away from the general and started towards his soldiers, each of which were the most hardened soldiers in the army, and when he told them that they would be leading the fight, and that on the other side of those walls, everything that Gorrog had thrown at them was waiting, several had reservations but they all would do their duty.

Two days passed and all around them, their fellow soldiers made their preparations to fight, blades were being sharpened, bows oiled and the ballista were moved into position to lay done covering fire when they advanced through the breach. Stahl saw Princess Cadence and Luna flying above the army as it marched towards the walls of the fortress.

Then he saw a shadow stretch above the field, looking up he saw the entire Third Army taking wing above the main body of ponies, all twenty thousand of them. Out from the citadel he saw the flying demons rise, Cacodemon and Lost Souls.

They closed with the walls flashes of light above their heads, deafening explosions going off in the air around them but they pressed on, heedless to the occasion casualties.

A flash of what looked like lightning struck the wall, blasting a considerable chunk of stone out of it, but it held the sheer size of the brick made destroying it difficult. Another blast from Luna cut a hole in the walls, and Stahl saw a large cloud of dust arise.

A roar greeted them, dark and full of anger, and dread crept down his spine. In the entrance stood Hell Knights and Imps. He saw a glow appear in their ranks as they ignited fireballs, and his front ranks almost faltered if they hadn’t had their fellows pushing into them.

“The worms wait for baited breath” he muttered.