The Belle of Tambelon

by Mr. Grimm

Clouded Judgement

Grogar stood over a strangely decorated cauldron, scowling as he poured the contents of several dark, twisted bottles into the glowering liquid within. The strange mixture gave forth wisps of smoke that wavered sickly in the air. Bray and Trixie watched nearby. Bray had seen Grogar perform such magic since he had signed on as his servant centuries ago, and so seemed much calmer than Trixie. At the moment the blue unicorn watched the goat work with a nervous grimace. The magic he was using was of a dark, malevolent variety, a kind that was used only for the most nefarious of purposes. Shortly after her humiliation in Ponyville, Trixie had obtained a book containing such magic in hopes of using it for revenge. What she had seen between its pages made her skin crawl, and shortly afterwards she discarded the horrifying tome.

She did not know in particular what spell Grogar was casting, but she did notice something strange. According to the book, the caster had to call upon spirits with near-unpronounceable names in order to give the spells power. Grogar did no such thing, and remained silent for the entire duration.

A sudden cloud of black smoke rose up from the mixture, causing Trixie to wince. Grogar smiled as it began to branch out with numerous tendrils across the room. They stretched out until the cloud dissipated into several writhing pillars, which snaked all over the ceiling. Trixie’s blood ran cold as one brushed against her horn, moving back into a mass with its siblings to once again form a dark cloud. It began to grow, spreading across the room like a malignant fog. The unicorn heard Grogar chuckle as it began to spread out the window, floating off into the breeze across Equestria, casting a shadow wherever it went.

Twilight Sparkle was in the middle of organizing the library when she heard an unusual commotion out on the street. It had to have been very loud, as when Twilight organized her books she tended to block out most things. The lavender mare peeked out her window to see what was the matter. She immediately saw what was wrong. A thick, dark cloud was spreading across the skies, bringing a shadow along with it. Twilight immediately knew it was not a natural cloud, as it was actually growing in size as it came billowing along on a powerful wind. Ponies stood frozen in the streets, their eyes locked on the cloud as it reached Ponyville. It darkened the world as it blocked out the sun, leaving it in a cloudy bleakness.

Twilight left her window and made for the door, galloping out into the now-gloomy streets. All around her she heard the denizens of Ponyville murmur fearfully, panic creeping into their voices with each passing second. Fearful of what was happening herself, Twilight looked around for her fellow Elements. She spotted Pinkie just outside of Sugarcube Corners, her body shaking, wobbling, and twitching in all sorts of ways. Knowing this to be a bad sign, the lavender unicorn rushed over to her friend. Pinkie spotted her and ran to met her halfway.

“Twilight!” she cried, “Something super-duper major just happened!”

“I know,” said Twilight as she looked up at the cloudy skies. She spotted several multi-colored ponies soar through the air, led in a V formation by a flash of cyan. Twilight’s eyes went wide with realization.

“No!” she cried, though she knew that the Pegasai were too far to hear, “Don’t!” But it was too late. The squadron of winged equines charged at the stormy vapor. Before they could touch the ugly mass, the clouds erupted into chaos. Lightning streaked across the sky like skeletal claws, striking out at the Pegasai like a wounded animal. The frightened ponies broke formation, and scattered across the sky in an attempt to land. The cyan pony descended haphazardly, as if injured. Twilight soon saw the reason for this behavior, as the Pegasus’s tail was on fire. Another moment passed before the winged pony dove into the duck pond near Fluttershy’s house. Twilight and Pinkie looked at each other, and then started sprinting to where the Pegasus had crashed.

Rainbow Dash burst through the surface of the water, gasping through the wet tangles of her mane. She flipped her head back, sending it out of face. The Pegasus then dogpaddled to the edge of the pond, spotting Fluttershy galloping up to the water’s edge.

“Rainbow Dash!” cried the cream-colored Pegasus, “Are you okay?” Dash untangled a lily pad from her mane as she stood to her hooves.

“Yeah,” she coughed, “I think so.” Her calm demeanor vanished, however, when she glanced back to see that her tail was nearly gone. Immediately she took on a look that was somewhere between utter fury and disbelief.

“My tail!” she cried, “That…UGH!” She roared in anger, stomping her hooves and flapping her wings, “When I find out who made that stupid storm, I’m gonna bash his rotten head in!” Fluttershy took a step back, clearly frightened of her friend’s rage. The cyan Pegasus continued to rant as two other ponies galloped over to Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy!” cried Twilight, “Is Rainbow Dash O-” The unicorn stopped as she saw the Pegasus throwing small rocks into Fluttershy’s pond. While she seemed concerned about the Pegasus’s anger, she was at the same time relieved to see she was alive.

“Wow, Dashie,” said Pinkie, “I’ve never seen you this mad.”

“Darn right I’m mad!” spat Dash, “Look what happened!” She turned around to show them her badly-burnt tail, which had been turned an ashy gray.

“I don’t see why you’re so upset,” said Twilight, “It’ll grow back.”

“You’re missing the point, Egghead!” Dash snapped, “I can’t fly without my tail! How am I supposed to get into the Wonderbolts now?”

“I think we have bigger problems,” Twilight sighed flatly, “Like, for instance, this unusual weather.”

Trixie stood behind Grogar as the necromancer gazed into a large crystal ball. The goat smiled as he watched the four mares within, his horrible teeth scraping together.

“Are these the Elements of Harmony you spoke of?” he snorted.

“Most of them,” mumbled the blue unicorn. Grogar’s dark smile broadened. Trixie could see unspeakably evil thoughts churning within his fiery eyes as he watched the ponies’ every movement, coming together to form a plan as bleak and twisted as his soul.

“This ‘Twilight Sparkle’, she is Celestia’s protégé?” Trixie nodded, unable to hide the bitter hatred in her eyes as she recalled the purple mare. Grogar gave her a loathsome grin. “I understand you are jealous of her?” Trixie gave a hesitant nod.

“I…Well, I guess I am,” she said.

“That is understandable,” Grogar said, “From what you’ve told me, she’s very talented. For an Equine, that is. But don’t fret. You may get to kill her in the future.” Grogar turned back to the crystal ball, allowing Trixie to silently express her horror. The mare began to sweat profusely as a miserable grimace dominated her face. She didn’t want to kill anypony. Humiliate, maybe, but never kill. She looked away from the goat and the crystal, trying her hardest not to think what was in the days to come.

Comments

[Azure888]

I DEMAND MORE MASTERPIECE!

[vazak]

Good work with this you manage to make Grogar a very intimidating villain It'll be interesting to see how Trixie copes with working for him.

[MariusIoannesP]

I admit that this story has a lot of potential. I really like how you've depicted Grogar and reimagined the Troggles. I've never been one to imagine Grogar as the ultimate source of evil in the MLP multigenerational continuum or whatever. I've always been more of a Tirek kind of guy. Still, I liked the little references to Tirek and Squirk from G1 MLP. Also very much enjoyed Tirek's opinions of the G4 villains, especially his utter dismissal of Discord and his mild respect for Chrysalis. I don't know if there will be more to this, but I hope so. In the meantime, I shall wait. Keep up the good work.