• Published 9th Apr 2012
  • 10,763 Views, 471 Comments

Lost Tales from the Silmareillion: Morgoth in Equestria - Imperius



The Dark Lord is defeated and given a chance at redemption by Ilúvatar

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Gratitude

Ditzy could only watch in horror as her new best friend was devoured by the very storm that had nearly claimed her. The same one that he had just saved her from. Even as he tornado began to ravage the surrounding forest, ripping ancient trees from the ground and tossing them with all the care of a newborn with its toys, Ditzy hovered there in terrified silence.

“Ditzy!” a voice called. She looked around to see Rainbow Dash punching through the cloud wall above her. She winged her way over to the distraught pegasus, stopping to hover beside her. “Ditzy! You’re okay! I thought we lost you when you fell! Where’s Shadowfax? I saw him come after you.”

Ditzy didn’t respond, she couldn’t. She just turned to look at the massive tornado raging before them.

“Ditzy! Hey! Where’s Shady?” she tried asking again. Again she received no response. Narrowing her eyes, she followed Ditzy’s gaze, coming to rest upon the raging tornado before them. Slowly she put two and two together.

“He’s not... Shady didn’t...” she couldn’t finish.

“He got me out of it as it was forming, but he got caught in it right after he saved me.” DItzy said, her words barely audible over the gale. “He looked right at me...”

“No.” Rainbow said. “No, no, no. He can’t be in there, that’s an F-5 tornado! There’s no way he’ll be able to survive in there!”

“We have to get him out!” Ditzy exclaimed.

“I... Ditzy, I don’t think we can do that. This thing is huge, there’s no way anypony could go in after him.” she said, realizing that her friend might really be gone.

“There’s nothing we can do?” Ditzy asked, her voice quiet.

Rainbow squeezed her eyes shut, furious at herself for letting this happen. There had to be some way they could help Shadowfax, but she only drew a blank. She wouldn’t risk any of the ponies under her in a futile attempt to save just one pony who might very well be gone already, even though she knew every single one of the weather ponies would do exactly that without a second’s hesitation.

No, there had to be a way to save him. She couldn’t give up on him, she was the Element of Loyalty! What kind of example would she be setting if she just left her friend for dead? And on top of that, not only was her friend stuck in the middle of the biggest tornado in a hundred years, but said tornado was also bearing down on Ponyville. Her time was an extremely limited luxury.

Ideas formed in her head, each one more reckless and impossible than the last. One in particular stuck in her head, incredibly simple, and incredibly dangerous. Not just for her, but for everyone. But seeing no other possible alternative, she turned to Ditzy.

“Ditzy, I need you to go tell everypony to get away from the storm and fall back to Ponyville. I’ve got an idea.” she said.

Not even thinking to question her, Ditzy snapped a salute and took off. Rainbow herself sped off, but in the opposite direction out over the Everfree. It took her mere minutes to put a full five miles of distance between her and the raging storm, her desperation lending her speed. She put a stop to her flight and spun about to face the imposing mass of angry black clouds. In the distance she could see the hundred specs of weather pegasi retreating from the clouds back to the town.

She took a deep, shuddering breath and steeled herself. Her plan was, admittedly, not the best she’d ever come up with, and the only reason she dared consider it now was because of the direness of the situation. With one final deep breath of preparation she aimed herself at the storm front and launched herself at it.

The distance between her and the storm shrank dramatically as her wings propelled her forward at a mile-devouring pace. In just a few seconds the telltale resistance began to form around her outstretched hooves and a mach cone blurred into being around her, becoming steadily narrower as her speed increased.

She struck the storm just as the cone came to its narrowest and the resistance was at its greatest, threatening to snap taught and rebound her as it had so many times before. Just as she passed through the very center, into the black heart of the storm, she felt the barrier tear to pieces and all resistance melted away and friction ceased to hold meaning to her.

In that moment her speed increased exponentially, instantly doubling her already impressive pace. Within the next moment the land disappeared beneath her, Ponyville fading into the far distance and Equestria itself began to vanish beneath her as she propelled herself forward on a rainbow contrail at a pace nearing a hundred and thirty miles per minute.


Morgoth did not cry out as the cyclone took him. Nor did he cry out as the gale force winds snapped his wings like twigs. He may have grunted in discomfort as a piece of wooden debris the size of a cave troll struck him and shore his right wing from his back, but that was debateable. He did give a grunt of surprise as concentric rings of multicolored forced ripped through the storm, shredding the black thunderheads and scattering the storm in mere moments.

The blast wave eradicated the storm clouds, but its proximity to the ground also wrought untold havoc on the forest below, knocking trees flat for kilometers in every direction. It also tossed Morgoth through the air like a rag doll as the cyclone dissipated into nothing and its grip on him was released.

Tumbling through the air with all the grace of a rock, Morgoth realized that with one wing snapped in a dozen places and the other one gone, his prospects of surviving this fall were far from good. Perhaps he should have let the grey pegasus die after all, surely making new friends wouldn’t be nearly as hard as coming back from the dead. As he began to lose altitude he finally gave voice to his frustrations in his patently eloquent way.

“Damn it all to the lightless depths of the Void!” he roared.

It was then that something slammed into him at an incredible velocity, tearing him from the air. When he regained his bearings he looked up to find himself in the embrace of a familiar cyan pony, now trailing a brilliant chromatic streak across the sky.

“T’would seem that dramatic timing is thy forte, Lady Dash. I thank thee for thy timely rescue.” he said conversationally. “If thou wouldst be so kind as to wake me when this ordeal is nearer to its end, I would be much appreciative.”

Then, body pushed far further past its limits than it had any right to be, Morgoth gave in to the demands of his mortal body and passed into a much needed slumber.


Rainbow’s eyes widened as Morgoth’s closed, panic gripping tight her heart. She sped back to Ponyville with the unconscious stallion, riding the last vestiges of the speed granted by her sonic rainboom. Ditzy was there to meet her when she hit the ground, her eyes righting themselves as fear coursed through her, seeing the motionless body of her friend.

“Don’t worry,” Rainbow said quickly. “Shady’s gonna be fine, he’s just unconscious. We need to get him to a hospital though, he’s pretty banged up.”

“Oh, I hope he’ll be okay!” Ditzy fretted. “He saved my life back there!”

Rainbow draped the unconscious white pony across her back unceremoniously and made off to Ponyville General. “I know,” she replied. “I’m worried too, but he’s tough, he should be fine.” She then added a silent “I hope.” under her breath.


As he slept, Morgoth dreamed. He dreamed of past victories, of enemies broken, of terrible defeats. He dreamed of another time and place, where he ruled as king and none, not even the Valar, dared question his rule. He dreamed that he was once more a Vala, the greatest being upon all of Arda, and that he was free of the miserable life of servitude in the damnable land of harmony.

Morgoth now stood before a familiar, wretched figure who moaned and wept before him, chained upon one of the highest peaks of Thangorodrim. Morgoth smiled cruelly as the man wept. “Now truly I am king of the world; master of fate. Damned shall thy house be! Thou shall not question my power, nor shall thou defy me further!”

The Dark Lord spun on his heel and strode back down the mountain to his great fortress of Angband where he ruled as lord of all that fell beneath his gaze, the despairing moans of Húrin Thalion echoing after him.

Suddenly a presence was beside him as he walked, one that was familiar, though not expected. He did not mind it, but he did not truly desire it to be there.

“We are much more alike than I could have ever thought.” said his companion.

“In a sense.” Morgoth agreed. “Were it not for thy defeat I think thou might have became far more akin to me.”

“I am grateful I will never have to know.” Luna whispered, eyeing the land around her with mounting unease.

“How long hast thou spied upon mine dreams? Is thy curiosity now sated that thou hast learned of mine dark past?” Morgoth asked.

“I have watched since you fell into slumber, I sought to ensure you were safe. It would seem, though, that my concern was unneeded. Is this why you were sent to us? You became this Morgoth?”

“And so thou hast seen through my deception. Wilst thou now fly to thy sister, beseeching her to do away with me in the way of the Valar of Arda?” he asked, not truly caring.

Luna was silent for a moment. “No. I do not think I will. Everyone deserves a second chance.”

“I already had mine.” Morgoth said. “For three ages was I banished to the halls of Mandos. Three hundred years with naught but the dead for my company. Then I emerged and said to Manwë that my lessons were learned. It was a lie.”

“Were it that I were banished for as short a time as you, brother.” Luna said. “Celestia set me upon my moon for a full thousand. You would consider yourself lucky.”

Morgoth laughed mirthlessly. “I was banished a second time, this time to the Void. I came to thy fair land from that imprisonment.”

“And how long did that last?” Luna asked.

“In truth I cannot say. Perhaps it was minutes, perhaps it was millennia. In the endless blackness of the Void, who can say?” he said.

“I changed.” she said. “But not by myself. It was only through the aid of the ponies that now help you that I was brought back to the light. Give them a chance and you can be Melkor again.”

Morgoth glared at her. “I have never stopped being Melkor, this is but his true face.”

“I do not think that.” Luna said. “You were kind long ago. You sought to be benevolent as Eru is. I think that you are right, that you are still Melkor, and that you shall ever be Melkor until you fulfill the purpose of your name, but I think perhaps that this trial is what your name was meant for. Here upon Equestria you will arise in might and transcend Melkor and Morgoth both, and you will become unmarred.”

“Such unwavering optimism. Those upon Arda have long since lost all cause to hope as thou.” Morgoth remarked.

“You are not evil, Melkor.” Luna insisted. “You just wanted to be different from Manwë, so you concocted discord to go in opposition to harmony. You wanted not to shine as your brother did, but in an altogether different way.”

“And so I did, but I was chastised and berated for it, told my visions for Arda were not even my own, that my ideas were not of my own creation.”

“And they were not, but though Eru thought them up you were the one that dared sing them into being.” Luna said. “For what it matters, I thought your discord was a beautiful thing. It was a gift you gave us, because without strife to measure against we would have never truly been able to appreciate our own creation for what it was.”

“And that is all the good you ever saw for it!” Morgoth yelled, a rage overcoming him. “You only saw how it might benefit you! How it might make your own creations look more appealing! You only valued it because your own creations looked more appealing next to it! Never was it appreciated for what it was, for itself! Only for what it could do for your own damned harmony!”

Luna recoiled from the furious Vala. “I apologize if I have caused affront!” she quickly said. “I did not mean that it could not be appreciated for itself, but I am not one to judge such things. What I meant was that what they created would not be nearly so beautiful were it not for you. You made their creation complete, and no other among them, not even the Allfather, had the desire to make that change. What they have is only beautiful because of you.”

“And yet Eru only gives praise to them. He said as much to me, but in such a way that stole all credit. He said that any glory I would have had for myself instead belongs to him and the others.”

“Maybe there is a lesson to be learned in that.” Luna offered. “Perhaps it is better to perform your duty, thankless though it is, with only the desire that others be made better for it. After all, you are the eldest of us all, the older brother of every Vala and Maia, it is the duty of the eldest sibling to support the younger ones in their trials. Perhaps you did exactly what Eru intended you to do, but with the wrong mindset.”

Morgoth pondered her words. “So you think that he intended me to become ruination for them, but only so that they might feel more accomplished?”

“I do not claim to know his desires, truly only Manwë could say. It is merely a supposition. That perhaps he intended you to be the older brother in more ways than one, for you to be something for them to strive against so they might grow and become greater themselves. Perhaps you were made the greatest so that you had the strength to hold up the rest of them.”

Morgoth was silent for awhile, the only sound he made the sound of his ironclad feet against the iron surface of Thangorodrim as they walked to Angband. Her words resonated deeply within him. Had Eru only made him the greatest, not so that he shone the brightest, but so that, as Luna said, he had the strength to hold up the rest of them? Had he truly misunderstood Eru’s purpose for him so greatly?

“It is not the right of the strong to be revered for their strength.” Luna said. “But instead their duty to use that strength to raise those below them up higher.”

“You say that Eru made me as the pedestal upon which the others might stand?” Morgoth said. “I think that might only make me hate him more.”

“Think upon it, my brother. It is my duty to help all those with fear in their hearts, and I feel that your heart is drowning in fear. Fear that your father does not love you as you wish him to.” Luna observed. “Think long on my words, and think hard. Now awake, you have... visitors.” Morgoth could feel the smile in her voice as she spoke the last word.


Morgoth’s eyes cracked open and he squinted against the harsh light that flooded into them. He groaned in discomfort as the pain kept at bay by sleep now coursed through his body, reminding him of just how ruined he was.

“Yay! Shady’s awake!” chirped a familiar infuriating voice. As his eyes finally opened all the way his heart nearly gave out as a colorfully wrapped cylinder was forced into his face, then torn apart in a great cacophony of sound and confetti.

Pinkie Pie grabbed the party hat that fell out of the party popper and strapped it to Morgoth’s head before he could protest. “You ready for your We’re Really Happy You Didn’t Die party?!” Pinkie asked jubilantly.

Morgoth said nothing. No words came to mind that seemed to fit the situation. He instead looked around the room to take count of who was there. He needn’t have bothered, though, as a drawn curtain surrounded his bed, obscuring the room and only allowing two at a time to see him.

“Not now, Pinkie.” Twilight admonished, shouldering her way past the party pony and taking the conical hat from Morgoth's head. “He just woke up, he doesn’t need you blowing up party poppers in his face.”

“Oh, sorry Shady! I can wait!” she said as she withdrew behind the curtain, though by her tone it was very obvious she could not.

“How long have I been asleep?” he asked.

“You’ve been asleep for a week, you had us all pretty worried. We weren’t sure you were going to wake up at all.” Twilight said. “Oh, but on the bright side, to worst of the damage you sustained was to your wings, but since those only lasted for three days those are gone, so aside from a concussion and a few broken ribs the damage is limited to just cuts and bruises. Though you did get beat up pretty bad, I’d recommend you take it easy for a few days.”

“Where is the grey one?” Morgoth asked warily. “Did she survive? I swear if I went to such trouble and she had the audacity to die...”

“Here I am!” Ditzy announced, stepping inside the curtain as she heard herself mentioned. “I can’t thank you enough for saving me, I don’t know what I would’ve done if you hadn’t done that.”

“No thanks are necessary, I shan’t allow thee to escape me so easily.” he said, prompting a giggle from the surrounding ponies. He wasn’t sure why they were laughing, he’d told no joke.

“Ah, and what of the Rainbow one? Where is she? I must thank her for her timely rescue.” he said.

“Right here!” Rainbow announced, fluttering up and over the curtain and hovering two or so feet above the bed. “Ya feelin’ any better? You took one heck of a beating out there.”

“Far better than I would had thy timing been worse. Thou hast my everlasting gratitude, Rainbow Dash.” Morgoth said, inclining his head as much as he could without it hurting.

“It was nothing.” Rainbow insisted. “I would have had to do something crazy to stop that storm anyways, you getting in trouble was just the kick in the flank I needed to do it.”

“Regardless, I am grateful. Should my services ever be required in any way thou hast but to ask.” Morgoth pledged.

“Y’all tell Shadowfax we said hi too!” piped Applejack from behind the curtain.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Applejack, Spike, Fluttershy, and Rarity say hi. Now we should probably go, we were just coming to check up on you, but since you’re awake you’ll probably want some quiet. See ya later!” she said with a wave, flying over the curtain and out of sight.

Suddenly she popped up again. “Oh! I almost forgot, there’s two other ponies here who wanna talk to you as well.”

Morgoth felt his curiosity rise. Who could possibly wish to speak with him outside of the few he already knew? Two new visitors might mean that Celestia and Luna had come to check up on him, but surely Rainbow would have mentioned that if it were. He resigned himself to simply find out as it happened.

The ponies all filed out of the room saying their goodbyes, and then the two new arrivals entered the curtain. One was a brilliant white pegasus stallion with a golden mane and a brown feather marking his flank, and the other was a unicorn mare of deep blue with a white mane with a bright white star as her mark.

“My greetings to thee, friends. What brings thee here?” he asked. Curiously, the colt smiled as Morgoth said “friend.”

“We heard about what happened in the storm and how you saved Ditzy Do’s life. We just wanted to say that it was a great thing you did up there.” the colt said.

“And we wish you a swift recovery, we hope your injuries were not too grave.” the mare added.

“My thanks to thee for thy gratitude, and my injuries are minimal compared to what they could have been. I am told I will recover quickly.” Morgoth said.

“That is good to hear.” said the white pegasus. “We have heard you are new to Equestria, has your time here been enjoyable?”

“Aye, it has. I am blessed to have many friends here to make my stay all the better.” he said.

“Were those your friends who just left?” the unicorn asked.

“Yes, I shall be staying with them whilst I reside in Ponyville. They are making my stay most pleasant.”

By now Morgoth was growing suspicious of their odd line of questioning, and for some reason the pegasus was smiling ear to ear. He was sure he had never seen these two before, why did they question him so?

“It does us well to hear you are enjoying your time here.” the pegasus said.

“Though I think it wise that we take our leave now. You are likely tired and in need of peace and quiet. We shall leave you in peace now. Farewell friend.” the unicorn said.

“Farewell.” Morgoth replied.

He listened as the two left, waiting until their hoofsteps faded into the distance. Then he heard a slight shuffling outside of his curtain. “Spying now, art thou, Rainbow Dash?” he announced. “T’is considered rude to listen in on a private conversation.”

Rainbow Dash’s head appeared underneath the curtain to his left. “How’d you know I was there?” she asked.

“While thy speed and skill are great, thy subtlety is greatly lacking. I do not think sneaking befits thee.” he said with a small smirk.

Rainbow slid the rest of her body through the curtain standing up and stretching her wings. “So... I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about all that. I was responsible for you up there and I let you get hurt. I’m sorry I’m a lousy friend.” she said hanging her head.

“Thou hast no reason to apologize, Rainbow. I can think for myself and I made the choice to go after Ditzy. Art thou saying thou wouldst prefer that our places were reversed and that Ditzy were the one to suffer my misfortunes?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying at all! I wish neither of you were put in danger and I feel like it’s my fault that it happened.” she said.

“Thou cannot hold thyself responsible for all the woes that betide others. There are things that will happen in the world far beyond thy control. While thou art the embodiment of loyalty, this does not indenture thee to the service of everyone. If we are hurt then we are hurt, you could not have changed anything.” Morgoth said.

“But you guys were volunteers with almost no training and I let you work on a storm that size! I should never have asked you guys to come up there with me.” she lamented. “Some Element of Loyalty I am putting my friends in harm’s way like that.”

“Thou demonstrated thy loyalty greatly up there. My life is saved thanks to thee. Do not concern thyself with what could have been, it does not befit one so proud, only concern thyself with what is. And what I am is in thy debt for saving my life. I would rather be in thy debt than dead.”

Rainbow smiled a little. “Thanks Shady, you’re the best. And how about you make it up to me by treating me to lunch at Sugarcube Corner when you get out?”

“It would be my pleasure, Lady Rainbow.” Morgoth said.

“Awesome, see ya later!” Rainbow said, trotting off.

“Before thou takest thy leave, wouldst thou do me the kindness of telling me the names of the two that just visited me?” Morgoth asked.

“You don’t know their names?” Rainbow asked. When Morgoth shook his head she raised an eyebrow.

“I know no others than the six of thee and Ditzy.” Morgoth said.

“Well the pegasus said his name was West Wind and the unicorn said her name was Starbright. But that’s weird, they said they knew you.”