> Fall of Equestria: He Who Takes
>  by tooschoolforcool
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Powers that Be
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


~oOo~


Oryx battled the light for as long as he could remember. It was never a real threat to him. He was always too powerful. But now, the traveler had new guardians, and these… these ones were warriors to be reckoned with.
He fought bravely against the light in his final domain. But in the end, he was overwhelmed, just as his son, Crota, had been overwhelmed.
As he floated off into the abyss, and life faded from his body, he felt something… reaching out. Desperate to cling onto the land of the living, he grasped for it, only to find himself in a place of blinding light. He lifted his clawed hand to block out the brightness. He moved his wings, flapping them to raise himself from the ground. He looked down at the floor, the light being too unbearable to gaze at straight on, even if his eyes had adjusted.
“Oryx.” A voice spoke. It was regal, and it boomed across the blinding-white landscape. From the tone, he could tell it was female. “Destroyer of Light. You have committed untold atrocities in your time. You have lived for billions of years. You are first-born of the hive.” The voice continued. “But now, your life is ended. Slain by the guardians of the traveler which you so ruthlessly hounded.” Her voice was stern, and filled with obvious disapproval.
“If you hold such distain for me and my ilk, why did you rescue me from the void?” he questioned. “Why would you save me from the cold grasp of death?”
“As monstrous as your acts are, and as numerous, it is my firm belief that there are very few who do not deserve a second chance.” She sighed. “And, truth be told, I have great need of you.” This caught Oryx’s attention. If she needed him for something, it was possible that she would send him to battle. He yearned for war, for the chance to redeem himself for his failing against the guardians of the light Though, by the logic he had sworn his life to so long ago, he had lost, he still yet wished for more. Perhaps, just perhaps, he could yet redeem himself in the sword logic. “As you are a god of the hive, I too, am goddess of another race.” She said. “And now, they are in a time of great peril. Enslaved by another race, who hold them in their iron grip.”
Oryx was confused. “If your children are in such grave danger, why do you not intervene? What possible use could you have for me?”
The voice sighed once more. “By my own laws, I cannot directly intervene. But, I can send a champion.” She paused. “Oryx, you will be my champion. You will save my children from their fate, and you will bring great suffering to those who have caused it.”
“I thought you were a believer in second chances,” Oryx said. “Do these invaders not deserve the same mercy as I?” “NO!” The response was quick, and sudden, and was loud enough that Oryx flinched in surprise. “You, Oryx, you slaughtered peoples, indeed. But my children are now subjected to a fate worse than death.” The voice had calmed, although the Hive god could still detect horrible rage, laced throughout her tone. “They are treated as nothing more than property. Used as tools by their slavers. Forced to pleasure them at their will. You had your taken, Oryx, but my children…” She paused, and Oryx could swear he heard a soft cry of sadness. “They are broken. The caribou scum are of the very few in all creation who do not deserve a second chance.”
Oryx considered this. He too, found it disgusting what these ‘Caribou’ subjected this goddess’ creations to. He slew untold trillions, took the will of others, but.... he did not abuse those he dominated. His power was swift, and void of pain. But the caribou… they violated this goddess’ people. It was shameful, undoubtedly painful, and dishonorable beyond all other acts. Whether or not she required him to, he would bring them death.
“I will be your champion. I will be your blade.” He said. “I will rain death upon those who would commit such dishonorable acts.” The light-filled landscape filled with a presence of deathly joy, the kind he had felt when he went to avenge his son’s death. He knew the feeling. But this time, he would make sure it was fulfilled. “Good. Then I will send you to my realm, Equus. You shall free the nation of Equestria from the tyranny of the caribou. This is to be your redemption, Taken King. You must aid my children in their fight against their enemies. You must protect them. But be warned, Oryx. If a single innocent is harmed by your hand, then damn my laws, you shall feel my wrath.” Oryx almost shuddered. There was nothing more dangerous than a god-being who was defending their children.
His vision was filled with the blinding light, and then the void met him once more. 


~oOo~


The sound of flesh smacking against flesh echoed through the halls of Canterlot castle, accompanied by cries of pain and the occasional moan of pleasure.
The once mighty sisters, Celestia and Luna, had fallen from grace. The Caribou had come down from the north, conquering city after city as they swept through Equestria. The twin princess’ banners were either burned or desecrated, and left in heaps in the cellar of the castle.
Where the once-proud diarchs had once sat, upon their great thrones, the invader now stood, lost in the pleasure of violating his prize.
That prize being Celestia, Princess of the Sun.
She was bent over her sister’s throne, being fucked relentlessly by King Dainn, the ruler of the Caribou. Luna had managed to escape their fury. Celestia, as evidenced by her current situation, had not been so lucky.
In her attempt to shepherd her sister to safety, she had been captured and bound by the King, a magic-proof cover on her horn, runes glowing on it as she attempted to use spells. Her wings had been similarly bound, tied up against her back.
The princess screamed, both with unrelenting pain and unwanted pleasure as Dainn slammed into her, battering her walls with his cock. A mix of semen and tears, with the occasional bloody spot, stained the throne and the carpet it sat upon.
“Damn, even after all this use, this cunt still feels so good on my cock!” he yelled over Celestia’s wails. He continued to thrust into her, feeling her squeeze around his length as she climaxed. The feeling of her orgasm put him over the edge, and he came, pouring his seed into her.
The doors slammed open, which caused Dainn to swing his head around, his member falling out of Celestia’s gaping pussy, to gaze at whoever dared to interrupt his fucking of the sun-bitch. It was two of his guards, dragging a caribou who had seemingly descended into madness, babbling quietly about gods and kings.
“What is this?” Dainn yelled. “What is so important about one fucking insane caribou that you must interrupt me when I am rutting this cunt?!” He gestured to Celestia, smacking her ass, eliciting a yelp from the princess. The soldiers cowered, the king exuding an aura of dread to all who were near him.
“We found this one screaming in an alleyway.” One of the caribou said. “At first, we thought we should just kill him, but we thought that you might want to hear what he was saying.”
Dainn scowled. “And pray tell, what is so important that you deem it worthy of my time?” he asked. The soldier on the left kicked the madman, who had fallen to his knees, looking down into his hands, still whispering faster than Dainn could understand. “The King wishes you to speak, wretch. So, speak!”
“HE IS COMING FOR US!!” the caribou screamed, flailing his arms throwing his head up to meet Dainn’s gaze. “HE HAS SEEN WHAT WE HAVE WROUGHT, AND HE HAS FOUND US WANTING!!” he continued, his screams turning to wails of anguish, as if he was in horrible pain. “We have enslaved a nation, violated its people…” his voice faded away. “The scion of the Deep has judged us unworthy.... and now, the Taken King comes for us all.” His tone turned cold and grim, as he stared into Dainn’s eyes. Even as he stared at the king, life faded from his eyes, and he fell to the floor, dead.


~oOo~



Meanwhile...


Oryx woke in a field of rocks. He got to his feet, flapping his wings to help him up. He looked around, and saw his sword, Willbreaker, on the ground beside him. If he was capable of such things, he might have smiled. He had been forced to leave the sword behind on his dreadnaught when he fled from the guardians. It had been unfortunate - truly, it was a mighty weapon. He had broken countless tides of unworthy souls upon this blade, this veteran of a thousand, thousand battles. That word reminded him of why he was here. Battle. He glanced himself over. He still looked the same, and was still the towering, intimidating beast that he was. He flexed his wings, spreading them to their full breadth, reveling in the 
He reached out towards the sword, using his power to lift it from the ground and draw it into his grasp. He could feel an old power resonating through the earth. Not as old as him or his, but still. There was very little in the universe that was as ancient as he. As he surveyed the land around him, he saw something that made him catch his breath. It was his dreadnaught, buried beneath the mountain range. He guessed that it was no longer worthy to brave the void, courtesy of the goddess, but it would serve as a mighty fortress from which he would conduct his war on those vile caribou. The whole of his mighty superweapon was displayed, the rock parting for the canyon that ran down the side of the massive warship, and the enormous dome structure that it led to.
He entered the gigantic structure, and strode through its halls. They were emptier than usual. No worms crawling along the ground, and no thralls feeding upon them. To someone else, it might have felt lonely. But Oryx was used to such a feeling. Only two others in all creation were as long-lived as he, and he had not seen them in many years. Even his son, his only heir, the one living thing that was meant to outlive Oryx, had fallen before him. All things died before the Taken King. It seemed one of the only constants in the universe. At least, it had.
He swept out to his observation deck, floating over the black pool, and gazed out, past the mountains, into the land beyond. Equestria, the other god-being had called it. On this world of Equus. He would liberate its people, and slaughter the tyrants that enslaved it. And he would begin now.
The mighty god of the hive spread his titanic wings, and lifted off from the ground, his robes billowing behind him in the wind as he flew to the land beyond his domain.
As he flew off, he did not notice a lone pegasus mare, watching him, before she too, fled the scene.


~oOo~


A caribou soldier stood on the ramparts of his garrison, staring out past the river and over the expanses of the White Tail Woods. He had been stationed here, the northernmost garrison for the city of Los Pegasus, for two weeks, and already he had begun to get bored. Nothing exciting ever happened anymore. Sure, there were plenty of mares here to pleasure him, but the caribou reigned with such an iron fist that none dared to oppose their rule. There were no rebellions so squash, no fights to quell, nothing. He glanced over and saw another caribou exiting one of the towers that led out onto the ramparts.
“Hey!” the newcomer shouted. “Anything going on?” the first caribou shook his head. “Nah, there’s nothing there. I tell ya, I’m gonna go mad from boredom if this keeps up. Nothing ever happens anymore!” the second caribou nodded, saying, “Preachin’ to the choir, man.”
Suddenly, a sound like nothing they had ever heard before rang out across the night. It was a bellowing roar, and he would’ve said it sounded like something from the depths of Tartarus, only this sounded worse. It sounded like something that Tartarus would have spat back out because whatever made the noise was so evil that even the depths of hell could not bear to hold it.
As the roar went on, the color drained from both caribou’s faces. Inside the garrison, everyone stopped what they were doing. Caribou and stallions alike stopped mid-thrust, the mares they were raping freezing up too, the color draining from all their faces. It was as if all living things in the garrison had been replaced with ghosts.
Immediately after the roar ended, the air was filled with the sound of flapping wings. A figure emerged from the clouds that hung low across the sky, and dove down towards the ramparts. The caribou screamed.


~oOo~


As the vile creatures he knew to be the caribou screamed, Oryx laughed. It was a deep, rich laugh, that spoke of unspeakable evil and untold wisdom. He wanted to make them squeal as they died. Unfortunately, he could not kill a single one of them. Oh, how he wished he could - but no, the slaughter would come later. Now, he was beginning a war, and god or no, he would need an army to wage it. So, he would take them all. The once-loyal servants of the caribou empire would become his taken soldiers, and they would serve his will as if it were their own, because it would be. There was a beautiful simplicity in this, but Oryx did not have time to appreciate it. Time was of the essence. To terrify your enemy - this is a vital tactic in any war. And there were few things more frightening than an enemy who swoops in, in this case quite literally, kills an entire fortress of soldiers, and disappears without a trace.
The Hive god did not give the two caribou on the ramparts time to react. He lashed his hand out, wisps of empty flame dancing along his claws, and took them both. They were only the first. He landed on the wall, before floating lazily down into the courtyard of the garrison, his two taken caribou reemerging before their hastily-assembled comrades. Indeed, it looked as though most of the others had assembled, and were readying for a fight.
“Lay down your arms and surrender,” one of the caribou yelled, “and you will not be harmed!” he tried to say it with confidence, but most of the soldiers were shaking, and all of them were glancing back and forth between each other, their taken kin, and Oryx. 
Oryx growled, the snarling noise reaching the ears of the guards. “Pathetic.” He spoke, his voice deep and regal. “I can feel your weakness. It beckons to me.” He taunted them, and he could see the sweat dripping down their faces in fear of him. This was what he enjoyed the most. “I can taste your fear.” Oryx paused, glaring at the soldiers through his three great eyes. He was done with taunting. The fear was wonderful, but now was the time for action.
He gestured to the two taken caribou, their singular, glowing eyes making them look like cyclopes. “Behold your fallen brethren.” At this, some of the soldiers started to squirm in their place, visibly uncomfortable. “They are taken. And since I am in need of soldiers… I will take you all as well.” He held out his hand towards them, teal wisps of the Deep fluttering along his claws, before several of the soldiers erupted in the same fire, becoming taken before their fellow soldier’s eyes. They were horrified. Oryx could see it in their eyes. The ancient Hive god grinned evilly. This would be an entertaining war.
He suddenly remembered what the goddess had told him. The male Equestrians were being controlled through some dark magic by the caribou. He would have to take care not to take any of them by accident. He postulated that once the caribou in their presence were gone, the spell would end, or at least gradually wear off, and the stallions would return to normal.
As Oryx finished taking the caribou, his theory was proven correct. The stallions had entered some kind of dazed state, with some passing out, while others seemed to simply have an extreme case of motion sickness. Oryx looked to his taken. “Find the females. Free them from their bonds, and bring them to me.” The glowing soldiers turned, running into the garrison to search for the mares. Sometime later, they returned, with at least 15 mares in tow. Oryx was standing with his back to them, his hands resting upon the handle of Willbreaker, the blade’s tip digging into the ground.
As he turned around, many of the mares gasped in awe, or horror, or some combination of the two. Quite a few of them cowered in fear. Oryx shook his head. “You are safe, now.” He said. “You shall not be harmed.” Oryx looked them over. They were all scantily clad, and many were covered in bruises. They all looked as if they had been through hell. Normally, he would have viewed them as weak mortals, deserving of nothing more than death. But they had been put through such unimaginable suffering that even he could not bring himself to think it. He looked back to the taken. “You will stay here, and guard these females. Any and all caribou are to be killed on sight.” If anything other than caribou appeared, Oryx would know, and he would come. He was linked to every one of his taken. It was a distinct advantage. He knew everything that was going on around each and every one of his soldiers, and could plan accordingly. “For now, I shall return to my Dreadnaught.”
The laws of reality bent, then broke, as Oryx withdrew, falling in on himself like a dying star, until all that was left in the courtyard were the hiss of his taken and fifteen stunned mares.


~oOo~



Rebellion Headquarters, Smokey Mountains


A rebellion scout rushed into the war room of the rebel headquarters. Several figures were standing around a table. At the head, on the far side of the room, was Princess Luna, the leader of the Equestrian rebellion against the caribou. Although, it wasn’t much of a rebellion, since they hadn’t accomplished much.
“Princess Luna! Princess Luna!” the pegasus yelled, rushing to the table. When she got to it, she bent down, setting her hands on the table, gasping for breath. All the members of the war council were staring at her. “Yes, Rainbow Dash?” the lunar diarch said. “What is it?” Rainbow Dash had been the only one of the Elements of Harmony to escape the caribou. The only other one that could fly was Twilight, and she hadn’t had her wings long enough to have been a good enough flier to get away. Right now, her friends were all probably surrounded by caribou, being raped relentlessly. Rainbow shuddered at the thought.
“I-I found the cause of the spatial anomaly you asked me to look for.” At this, Luna’s eyes widened. She had indeed sent Rainbow to look for such a thing, but she had expected that there would be nothing, perhaps a stray wormhole or a small flux in spatial magic. “Really? Truthfully, I didn’t expect there to be anything.” Rainbow scoffed. “Yeah, neither did I. to be honest, I was kinda ticked off at you for sending me on what I thought was a wild goose chase. But… there was something there, alright.” The lunar princess was curious beyond all belief. “Well, what did you find?”
The pegasus struggled to find the words to describe what she had seen. “It was… it was this… this thing! In the Western Mountains. There was this massive structure inside the mountain range that definitely wasn’t there before. But what was really interesting…” Rainbow paused for a moment. “There was someone… something there.” Luna’s eyes widened. “Someone there? What do you mean?” “I mean, there was this platform sticking out of the side of the mountain, and there was this figure standing on it. It was massive, like 20 feet tall or something. I didn’t get to good of a look at it before it flew off.”
Another scout ran into the room, shouting her own message. “Princess Luna! The northern Los Pegasus garrison has been attacked! The caribou there have fallen!” the war council was shocked, gasping and looking around at each other with disbelief on their faces. “But how? We have not been able to do a thing against the caribou, and even if we could, I don’t remember sending any troops to take the fort.” The scout shook her head. “It wasn’t us, your highness. It was… well, I don’t know what it was.” Rainbow spoke up. “What did you see?” the scout looked over at her, and continued. “Well, there were these things there… they looked kind of like caribou, but they were so much different. Their bodies were black and white, and they had this one, massive, glowing eye.”
Luna steeled herself. She looked to Rainbow Dash. “Show me.” Rainbow nodded, and she exited the room, with Luna in tow. They took off, soaring through the air towards the garrison. They landed a good distance away from the fort, hiding behind an outcropping of boulders. Rainbow handed the princess her binoculars. As she looked through them, she saw black and white glowing caribou, with a singular, pupilless eye that took up most of their face. As she was watching them, every single one of the caribou-things on the ramparts turned and looked straight at her. She froze.
“Rainbow!” she said, her tone a forceful whisper. “I think they can see us!” Rainbow froze as well. But then the caribou-things did something strange. Simultaneously, all the ones on the ramparts raised their hands and beckoned for her to come. Luna was bewildered. What were they doing? “Now they’re waving for us to come over!!” Luna said. “What do we do?!” Rainbow screamed quietly, her voice hushed and panicked. “Should we run??” Luna thought for a moment. These things, whatever they were, had rid this garrison of the caribou. They obviously knew that her and Rainbow Dash were here, yet did not move to attack them. “I don’t think they’re our enemy… I’m going to go over there."
“WHAT??!” Rainbow whisper-screamed. “ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Luna shook her head, and laid out her case. “Whatever these things are, even if they aren’t friendly, they certainly aren’t being aggressive, so I think they are at least neutral towards us.” Before the pegasus could protest, the princess had already left the shelter of the outcropping and had begun to make her way towards the fort. As she neared the gate, the door opened, and she was met with one of the caribou-things. It spoke, its voice gravelly and filled with animosity, as if it was snarling as it spoke.
“Travel to the western mountains. I would have words with you.” With that, the doors closed, locking the princess and the pegasus out.


~oOo~



The Dreadnaught


Oryx tried once more to pierce through the veil between the worlds. If he managed it, he could perhaps call upon reinforcements in this war. He reached out, clawing towards the other side. The veil heaved beneath his might, and looked for a moment as though it were about to give way. Then - 
Rejection. The veil snapped back into place. Oryx was trapped. He scoffed, almost angry. And yet...
In his world, he had failed. But here, he could try again. Prove himself worthy. Prove that he was, indeed, the final shape. Whatever grand violations it took to maintain his connection with the Deep, it seemed his great power had not waned in the slightest. Yes, he would visit hell upon the caribou, and then he would turn his gaze outward - to a whole new universe of possibilities.
The Taken King grinned. Now, the war had begun.