It was four thousand years before the appearance of Nightmare Moon. Zaros the alicorn god of fate had grown content with his empire on his homeworld of Gielinor. The ponies under his rule had prospered and his empire was self-sufficient. After searching the multiverse for new worlds, he came upon a world very similar to Gielinor in structure, this world was called Equestria. He could sense the world was rich in Anima, which in turn would make it more than likely inhabited by native ponies already.
He returned to Gielinor and called his four Legates; the powerful generals who commanded his four legions within his military; to discuss his ideas and plans for starting over. One of Zaros’ four legates was Zarosian, he stood at the head of the first legion of Zaros’ military as his elite force and personal guards. Holding this position meant his title was Legatus Maximus. The second legion was commanded by a pegasus stallion called Zexian. The second legion was primarily focused on stealth missions and police work, this legion became known as The Praetorians. The third legion was commanded by a pegasus stallion called Zamorak, he was Zarosian’s younger brother. This legion was focused primarily on regular missions and acted as the main military force that undertook most combat related missions. The fourth legion was commanded by an earth pony stallion called Vetus. Statistically he was he weakest of the four Legates and as such his talents leaned more towards intelligence than brute force. His legion was focused on science and magical advancement, but took on low-level missions and acted as backup for the other legions when needed.
Zarosian, Zexian, Zamorak and Vetus gathered before Zaros at his request and heard his plans. They had all stood at Zaros’ side for millennia and were more than willing to follow him into this new venture. It was decided that Zaros’ oldest General; Nex; would remain behind on Gielinor to manage the empire. Her unit; The Praesul; were not part of the legions of Forinthry, but acted alongside them in times of need.
Zaros also consulted his Pontifices; the leaders of Church of Zaros; and offered them the chance to accompany him as well. Half of them obliged while the other half remained behind. The date for the journey to this new world was decided upon by Zaros and the Legates to be in one month, giving everypony; including the soldiers within the four legions; enough time to say goodbye to any friends or family they were leaving behind and to spend some time with them.
The date of the journey arrived and Zarosian led his legion directly behind Zaros across the multiverse. Upon arrival on Equestria, Zaros was nowhere to be seen. Zarosian ordered his legion to stay by the portal and set up a camp while awaiting the arrival of the second legion. Meanwhile he himself went to search for Zaros. This new world far surpassed Gielinor in terms of beauty, it was so rich in Anima that all the plants and trees seemed to radiate energy. He could sense Zaros’ presence off in the distance, so he focussed his mind on that location and teleported there. Once he arrived at his destination, he found Zaros sitting some distance away from a small run-down village. After asking Zaros what he was doing he received no response for a few moments.
Zaros responded in a puzzled voice that he had been observing the small village for several hours. He had noticed that the villagers spent most of their time cowering in fear, or taking vast amounts of food and resources; presumably as offerings; to the mouth of a huge cave in a nearby mountain. He implored Zarosian to stay with him and watch what was about to happen.
Zarosian sat next to Zaros, though curious as to his motives he knew that his emperor would never sit back and watch innocent ponies suffer. And these ponies were definitely suffering. As he watched, he noticed that the cave was definitely not empty. Five sets of giant eyes glimmered in the darkness within, each set a different colour. What appeared to be two giant claws; not too dissimilar to those of a dragon; could just about be seen reaching out of the cave towards the giant pile of offerings. This was no ordinary beast hiding within the cave, its size alone gave that away.
A small gaggle of very weak and sickly looking stallions approached the cave maw and added their meek looking additions to the pile of offerings. As they turned to walk away, two of the group fell to the floor; seemingly from exhaustion and undernourishment. The remaining three didn’t even look back at their two fallen group members, they just continued to walk back towards the settlement; albeit slightly quicker and more fearful than before.
Suddenly a loud sound filled the air, seemingly loud enough to pierce the heavens. Such a guttural sound that it even forced Zarosian to cover his ears despite his distance from its source. The two stallions on the ground were now cowering in fear, their eyes watering as they screamed out “Please Great Loarnab! Do not consume us, we beg forgiveness!” All the while the sound continuing.
The beast within the cave; now named as Loarnab; slowly began to emerge from the darkness. Dark black scales adorned its body, a bright red glow emanating from the scales of its chest. It had five separate heads; this was no Dragon; this was a Hydra. As more of the beast emerged from the darkness of the cave it became clear that this hydra was the cause of the state in which the village was in, it’s gargantuan size alone meant no ordinary pony could stand against it. It continued to advance towards the two cowering stallions as they screamed for mercy. Their small group ushered back inside a shoddy and broken down house, presumably to cower and mourn their fallen friends. As Loarnab approached the small pile of offerings it scooped them up in its claw with ease before the central head scarfed everything down. It screeched once again in that guttural way, filling the air and causing clear pain to all of the villagers as it continued its advance towards the stallions.
Zaros could sit back and watch this no longer. He sprang into action, surrounding the stallions in a magical purple barrier as Loarnab’s claw was about to reach them. He teleported in front of the barrier, his mere presence alone causing the giant hydra reel back in fear.
A telepathic voice rang through everyponies' ears. The giant creature seemingly capable of speech via use of magic. “Loarnab Scared.”
Zaros remained stoic and stared the giant hydra straight in the eyes of its middle head. “You are a foul creature. It is completely beyond my comprehension how such a vile creature as you ever ascended to godhood.” His horn lit up with a dark purple glow of magic as he prepared to cast a spell. “I will see to it that you never cause harm to these ponies ever again.”
Loarnab screamed its guttural sound again and tried to back off back into the cave but was stopped by Zaros’ magic taking a strong hold over it’s entire body. “Loarnab afraid! Loarnab stuck!” The creature continued to speak with magic, something which was still shocking to the villagers as they had never heard Loarnab speak a word other than its name before.
Zaros tightened the grip of his magic around Loarnab. “You do not deserve the divine energy which courses through your body, beast. It will serve a much greater purpose in helping those who you trampled over to gain it.” No sooner had the words been spoken, the red glowing energy that was emanating from the hydra’s chest scales began to be drawn from it. The red divine energy swirled around Zaros as it was drained from the beast, it’s heads twisting and writhing as they lost their energy one by one.
His eyes aglow with white light Zaros focused the divine energy; which had previously belonged to Loarnab; on one particular location, his portal.
The portal crackled with energy as it widened outwards, forcing Zexian and his legion to scatter slightly. As the last of its energy left its body, Loarnab the great hydra beast god was no more; simply a stone husk of its body which was left behind. The citizens of the nearby settlement slowly and cautiously began to emerge from their hiding places. They began to approach Zaros; looking like scared rabbits in the presence of a predator.
Zaros smiled and looked down at the scared ponies. “Do not fear me. I and my Legates came here from across the universe to start a new life. We will rebuild your settlement into the centre of a thriving empire.”
The ponies collectively let out a sigh of relief, some collapsing from the overwhelming situation they had just witnessed. Zarosian; who has been watching the whole situation; immediately sent a telepathic message to his Tribune and ordered his legion to come and give assistance, food and water to the ponies of the settlement. Within a few hours they had arrived and set up a camp; including medical tents and comfortable accommodation for the inhabitants.
Zarosian approached one of the stallions who had been taking an offering to Loarnab only hours before. “Are you feeling any better now?”
The stallion smiled, taking a sip from the water skin that the first legion had given to him. “Much better, thank you.” He shifted a little on the bed which he was laying on, wincing slightly as his bruised body moved.
“You still seem to be in quite a lot of pain, would you like the medical squad to check you over again?”
“No. Thank you. Your healing magic is like nothing I have ever seen before, I have only bruises left now.”
“The Cruor spellbook has many uses. We hope to help more settlements in the area as we expand and build. But we have to focus on rebuilding your settlement first. Does it have a name?”
The stallion smiled at Zarosian. “Our town was once called Sentlilen, but that name has long since faded into obscurity.”
Zarosian thought for a moment. “The capital city of our homeland on Gielinor was known as Senntisten, If there are no objections we could use that name to symbolise the rebirth of your settlement, and our new beginnings here.”
The stallion laid back on the bed, trying to relax himself. “I don’t think there would be any objections, we don’t even have a leader amongst ourselves any more. The beast destroyed all of that long ago.”
Zarosian levitated over some fruit for the stallion and placed it next to his bed before getting up and leaving the tent. He approached Zaros; who was coordinating the third and fourth legions that had now arrived on the world; and asked him if he had a moment to discuss the settlement. They both walked into the ruined settlement and looked around for a few moments. Zarosian was the one to speak first. “These poor ponies had been robbed of all structure and society. I only hope we can rebuild what they have lost.”
Zaros smiled. “We will do better than that. We will build up this settlement into a thriving city, and restore their previous quality of life to them.”
“We should call the new city Senntisten. It will remind us of the new start that we have here. Senntisten was the first city that you built after all.”
Zaros smiled again and placed his hoof on Zarosian’s back. “You know me so well, my Legatus Maximus.”