//------------------------------//
// Omake 1: Assault on Tambelon 
// Story: Equestrian Swordsman 
// by PrincessMoonzilla 
//------------------------------//

Omake 1: Assault on Tambelon

The area that is known as the Badlands today used to be a massive expanse of forest, called the Tambelon Fief. To most who ventured far enough into these ancient woods, it was almost comparable to the Everfree. Almost.

This forest was dark enough, yes, but not because of the clashing Harmonic and Chaos magic, but from one creature’s Necrotic magic.

Now, necromancy was not outlawed. In fact, it was commonly used in hospitals of all places. For a terminally ill patient, and normal healing magic wasn't working, a few doctors would give parts of their life energy in order to stabilize them to the point where they could heal naturally.

It was, however, frowned upon to control the dead, but not outlawed outright like Dark Magic, magic that corrupts everything of the user.

Then Grogar appeared.

Thousands of years ago, a goat mage known as Grogar rose up. Years before, the goats and griffins waged war for now unknown reasons, but the results were known everywhere. The goats were wiped out.

All that survived of the once prosperous mountainous clan was a small kid who was taken in by an unknown family, along with an alicorn and a draconequus, two previously unknown species.

While the alicorn was caring and the draconequus was free spirited, Grogar was consumed with grief and anger, but hid it well from his surrogate family. It took years, but eventually he had learned the art of magic. More specifically necromancy.

The first thing he did was the attempted resurrection of his clan mates. But what the young goat did was create the unholy creatures known as zombies, flesh animated by trapping the soul of its owner inside that were under the complete control of the castor. The sight and knowledge that he had not only failed in bringing back his true family and subjecting them to the unimaginable horror that such an existence brings, his mind became broken. He became consumed with grief and rage. He became obsessed with revenge.

He altered himself so then we was neither alive nor dead, an eternal limbo. A lich.

Next he constructed the focus for his magic, a small bell hung around his neck at all times, that would amplify it’s powers and range of control. Then, he started to conquer.

Eventually, he and his army had grown to an amount in which Grogar was comfortable enough to take on his main target, the ones to whom he owes all his pain and suffering, the griffins.

But to his dismay, the alicorn and draconequus had heard of his deeds and was adamant to bring it’s end about. One way or another.

And not even with all his power and numbers could hold against their combined forces, eventually sealing him inside of his own fortress located deep in a forest corrupted by his actions.

In grief of what they were forced to do to what was basically their brother, the draconequus placed himself into a magical slumber while the alicorn used all her power and helped to rebuild the world that had been affected by the goat.

Thousands of years afterwards, she grew weary of the guilt and burden, so she split herself into two, giving birth to two new alicorns to be raised under the guidance of Queen Platinum Blueblood.

And there Grogar lay dormant until a human was thrown into the world, causing a series of events that would lead to his revival…

===[1 year before the UEF Battle, 3rd POV]===

Surrounding Castle Tambelon were an army of undead creatures of all races, ready to serve their master’s will. Each was augmented by magic in order to be superior to the living in almost every way possible. None dared to go against this unholy army, who had previously destroyed the buffalo tribe’s capital, Roam.

Then, they arrived.

Seven figures stood at the brink of the possible destruction of the world.

“Man, an’ here I thought I looked mindless when drunk,” the large minotaur grumbled. This was Golden Hoof, a legendary warrior noted to be the only one to master a variation of one of the Green Demon’s signature moves, the 360 Pound Phoenix.

“Trust me, you look much worse,” the griffin said. Artemis Grimfeathers was a master of the bow, accurate enough to hit almost anything within her line of sight.

“Now that was rude. Was there any reason to be so crude,” spoke the zebra. Xante of the Ishvalan tribe was a leading expert in both potion brewing and bomb making. Sometimes both.

“T-that's a lot of zombies,” the young diamond dog stated. Baskerville was a young pup who had said to have made a deal with a demon straight from Tartarus, which was closer to the truth than some would admit.

“Of course there are, sweetie. But it's our job to clean up this mess.” This was Clover the Clever, a unicorn who had mastered over fifty spells, which was unheard of, and knew over three hundred.

“I'm just fired up to see this many enemies,” an adolescent drake said. Ignatious was an arcano dragon, a rare breed whose fire changed properties depending on where they hatched and grew up, along with a whole slew of other abilities.

“Well, I think it’s time to announce ourselves guys,” the last figure said. This was Roronoa Zoro, only known human and most wanted person on the planet.

All nodded and spoke their confirmations, getting ready for the charge.

When the first line of zombies noticed the advancing group, it was too late for them.

Golden Hoof twirled his battle axe over his head before slashing it horizontally. “Wind Scar,” he shouted as a blade of air was thrown towards his opponents. Everything that got in its way before it dissipated was cut in half before turning into dust. “Shame I can't keep a trophy from these wankers.”

Artemis took to the skies, firing arrows so fast her claw was but a blur to most. As she hit headshot after headshot, she thanked her past self for buying the Infinity Quiver from that Umbra guy. “Look on the bright side, now you don't have a pile of corpses as an excuse if you end up tripping.”

Xante was expertly dodging weapons flung in his direction, all while leaving little presents in his wake. He giggled maniacally as he heard the work of his beautiful creations. After all, true art was an explosion!

A hoard of zombies were headed towards the battle when they felt vibrations coming from beneath them. They leaped backwards as a hole appeared where they were. From said hole emerged Baskerville, shaking a bit from the anxiety. A few let out a chuckle as the pup seemed to slink deeper into the ground. Almost immediately, a pillar of darkness fired upwards before taking on the form of a massive, demonic canine, eyes glowing purple. More than one dissolved from the sheer sight of the towering monster. With a single swipe of its arm, the majority of them dissolved, with the rest being bitten in half. The pup was thankful that his shadow could do all the fighting instead of actually having to face them himself.

But the most damage was that was caused was from what the group had dubbed the “Monster Trio.”

“Explosion! Dragon Lightning! Gravity Maelstrom!” Spell after spell, Clover was quickly showing the reason why she was the only student ever taught by Archmage Starswirl, the stallion nearly every country agreed was the ‘Master of Magic.’ The zombies couldn't even get close to her, a Guardian Circle incinerating any undead foolish enough to enter the golden sphere of holy magic. The scariest part of her was the fact that she didn't even look tired even after firing off multiple high level spells.

Ignatious was swiping away at his enemies with unbridled glee. After all, all dragons enjoyed the hunt. He was just a bit more… enthusiastic about it that most. Three zombies surrounded him, stabbing him with their spears. The weapons went right through him, and he smiled. An explosion of fire that enveloped nearly everything in the vicinity went of. From it, a trail of fire shot out into the sky. When it was high enough, it began to take shape. It molded itself into the upper torso of a dragon, eventually leaving Ignatious with his lower half made of white flames hundreds of feet in the air. His left forearm turned into fire, and he readied himself.  “FIRE DRAGON EXPLODING FIST,” he shouted out, shooting his fist towards the army. The following explosion obliterated a massive amount of enemies. He laughed almost maniacally as he shot more destruction at them.

The final member of this ragtag group was less flamboyant in this actions. His blades were a blur, nothing getting within three feet of him without being shredded. Each slice was precise, clean, and elegant. Anything that got in his way, even the Skeletal Dragons, was destroyed in an almost demeaning manner. His eyes hardly ever separated from the focus of the attack, Tambelon Fortress.

It was your usual, cliche villainous castle. Victorian Gothic in architectural design, plenty of gargoyles (that may or may not have been sentient), and was large enough to nearly hold their evil ego. Spikes and arches everywhere, with the whole thing being completed with a tall tower directly in the center of it. Why is it that villains never try out Colonial or something?

“I’m going in,” the human told the others through the earrings each were wearing. “You guys stay out here and thin out their numbers.”

“Bad idea, Zoro,” Clover commented. “Grogar, in legends at least, could take on Faust and some spirit called Discord. They could both use tenth-tier magic like it was nothing.”

“Yeah, man,” Artemis commented. “The whorse has a point. He has God level magic. You have three metal sticks.”

“Now when the hell did that e’er stop him,” Golden Hoof said. “Go have fun, lad! RRRAAAAGGGHHH!HA! Two hundred sixty seven! I’m winnin’ ya damned bird!’

The human just shook his head, chuckling.

With amazing precision thanks to his now healed depth perception, Zoro launched his signature attack, cutting through both the enemies and terrain. Running at a decent pace, he headed straight towards the imposing castle.

“He’s going to get killed one of these days,” Clover said to the other five.

“At least we know that it’ll be dramatic,” the dragon commented before unleashing another torrent of white hot dragon fire. “And guys, I'm winning. Over six hundred.”

“Oh shove it up yer scaly arse!”

Inside the castle were not the usual pony or random beast as zombie soldiers. Zoro was taking down undead ranging from kirins to lynals, and was still looking for the damned goat!

“This place is a maze,” he groaned, running into another dead end. Trying to use Observation Haki, he wasn't able to determine where the necromancer. The only bad thing about all this was that he couldn’t find where there were zombies. So, doing the practical thing and being equally fed up with the lay out, he ran through the walls randomly until he found anything useful.

Only problem was that after a while he ran into and over a stairwell. He fell in an almost comedical fashion down them, arriving at the bottom, a small voice in the back of his head warning him about the stairs too late. “I hate you brain,” he groaned, getting back to his feet.

It took a few more minutes before finally arriving at the (stereotypical) final boss door, that was large enough to definitely contain a BBEG’s ego.

Popping his neck, Zoro pulled out two of his katana, mentally prepping himself for whatever lay beyond. He pulled his knee to his chest and let loose a kick that even Sanji would begrudgingly approve of, the doors slamming open.

Inside would be a majestic room were it not for the five skeletal dragons that took up a good chunk of it.

Zoro lept to the side as five torrents of purple, necrotic flames were fired towards him. The reason why he dodged and didn’t just Haki his way through it? See, necromancy is strange in that it is the only magic that ignores the effects of Haki.

He waited for the flames to die, listening to the footsteps of his prey. When one started sniffing where he previously was, he striked.

Rushing forward, he sliced the skull off of it in a second, not even waiting for it to dissolve before moving on to the next. He ran up one of their backs, motioning for the others. He then jumped out of the way as the three breathed fire on their compatriot. He spun and slashed off the legs on one of them, put away his blades, and with less strength than if this was a living dragon, swung it at another, them exploding in a shower of dust and bones. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough to dodge the last one hit him with its tail, sending him flying into the wall with more than one broken bone.

In the amount of time it took him to get his bearings, the skeletal dragon was on top of him, pressing it’s weight on his chest.

Reacting almost instinctively, Zoro pushed it’s leg up, redirecting it before the dragon could unleash it’s flames. He rolled out from under it, brought out his white katana, and sliced it vertically in half. It shuddered one last time before dissolving into dust and bones, like the others.
He got up slowly, feeling for exactly what was broken. Seven ribs, possibly more, and maybe a spinal hairline fracture. Damn.

He reached into the belly warmer, pulling out a vial of red liquid. A health potion.

“Hope this works,” he muttered, drinking it. His entire body shuddered, rejecting the magical liquid. He fell to his hands and knees, trying not to puke his guts out before the offending potion could do its job. In the meantime, he suffered the equivalent of severe food sickness while being punched in the gut as he felt his body shifting everything back to normal.

When he felt close to 90%, he let loose. He heaved, entire body shaking. Green bile mixed with a red fluid, whether blood or potion he didn't want to know. After this, I'm going to punch Xante in the face. Then help him collect materials for more.

As he stood, he felt something off. The room temperature had fallen a few degrees, barely letting him see his own breath. He had no time to react as a purple orb of energy hit him in the face.

He was confused at first, seeing as nothing happened, before he felt it. His left eye was vibrating, slowly building up pressure. So he did the only logical thing.

Zoro ripped out his eye.

He flung it aside, watching as it continues writhing, before becoming malformed, and finally exploding.

Holding a hand to his now bleeding socket, he ripped off a part of his overcoat to use as a makeshift eyepatch.

“Well well, seems like my informant was correct about you,” a voice said, disrupting the uncomfortable silence.

Zoro looked up at the source of the voice, finding it easily. On a balcony next to a convenient set of stairs was the lich. Whatever muscle mass he used to have was gone, with loose skin hanging off his bony frame. Dark purple fur with a few patches missing covered him, ethereal red eyes gazing down at the human. With every movement on his part, a small bell around his neck jingles.

“Grogar,” he asked.

”Yes, that would be me. I do apologize about the eye, but I wanted to see it for myself. Imagine, a sentient creature with no internal magic! The only things similar in that regard are the demons of Tartarus. Fascinating!”

“So no more eye bomb spells?”

“Quite. That was a little spell I mixed up a while ago. Uses internal magic to make the entire body one big explosion. Seems it also works on magically healed body parts. Need to take note of that…

“But that is not why you are here! No no no! Classic story here, No? Slay the evil necromancer, save the world from utter destruction, bed all the mares. Or stallions, I don't judge. It has been a few millennia since I’ve been awake.”

“Don't misunderstand, Goat,” Zoro said, pointing Wado Ichimonji at the lich. “I ain't doing this for the glory and gore. Technically, I lead things to this point, so you’re my mess to clean up. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Grogar just stood there, staring at the human after his proclamation. “Wow, just wow. Do you not have any sense of the dramatics? Oh who are we kidding, you samurai type are always to stoic, so its a given, I suppose. But last I checked, it was my cult who brought me back, not… Now I remember. Oh this should be good~!”

Shuffling was heard from Zoro's right, where a large doorway he hadn't noticed was. Twenty something zombies, all wearing robes similar to Grogar’s, led by a very familiar pony zombie to the human. He was Star Shield, a thestral who used to be the Captain of the Night Guard, a former member of Zoro's Party. And the only pony to learn Haki.

For three years he traveled with the strange band of misfits, laughing and fighting at their side. But that changed when they decided to hide out in some old ruins around three months ago. Turns out, he had been part of a cult that had been trying to resurrect the goat for hundreds of years, and they only needed one thing, his bell. Well, guess what was within those ruins? Yeah, after finding it, Star Shield attempted to poison Zoro, seeing as how he was the biggest threat to Grogar’s soon-to-be rule, and fled off into the night.

Zoro narrowed his eye, gazing at the group. If he was feeling anything at all, it didn't show. He raised his sword, and the horde rushed forward.

He swung his blade with precision, hitting each one in some sort of vital point, turning them to dust. One by one they fell, until it was only the undead thestral.

“I’m… sorry…” it moaned out.

“You're only sorry your master sent you to die,” Zoro responded before slicing it in half.

“Dang, now that was cold. No remorse for a former ally? And people say I'm bad!”

“You’re very talkative for an undead ruler of evil, you know that?”

 “Evil? No no no! I'm not evil. I'm just extremely unhinged and sadistic! Surviving genocide does that to you.”

The human just shook his head before rushing towards the necromancer, swinging vertically. Grogar's response was so turn into a plume of black smoke, avoiding the katana entirely.

“Hope you don't mind, but I've been branching off in umbramancy and Dark Magic. I've been meaning to ask, by the way; how is it that you and yours without magic are destroying my zombies? Holy weapons or that hockey stuff?”

“Yes,” was his response as he tried to get one hit on the goat.

“Oh you think you’re being cute, hm? Well, how about this?” The smoke surrounded Zoro not unlike a small tornado. Out popped a bony hand, shooting dark purple fire at him, burning his right arm.

Zoro screamed in pain as his arm burned, parts of his overcoat fusing to the flesh. He tried slashing at the smoke, attempting to make an opening, with no success. He even tried a Dragon Twister with no real effect other than making himself slightly dizzy.

Bolt after bolt of magic struck him, some he barely dodged. Just because he’s undead I can't sense him with Haki? That doesn't make any sense! Stupid Haki sensing bullshit.

 “Haha! I don't know the last time anygoat held out this long! Simply amazing! And there are others in your group, I wonder if-”

As he launched another spell, something stung Grogar. Pulling back, he was both impressed and angered. Up until his elbow, his entire arm was cut in half. Zoro was chuckling, ripping off the overcoat. He winced a bit as some burnt flesh was torn off, but nothing he couldn't handle.

“Thanks,” he said, tying a bandana around his head. “I need to stop relying on Observation so much. Its a bad habit. And now I know your tell. All your magic is released from your hands, so I just need to cut them off!”

Grogar simply looked at the swordsman, grabbing his arm. As he lined them up, an eerie purple glow was emitting from the cut, fusing the two back together. “Easier said than done, mortal. So what if you do? You can't kill me, as so many others have proved! You are but a simple warrior! A glorified thug! What is a thug to a God!”

“Screw you I’m Taoist!”

“Quite.”

As they went at it, it was clear that they had reached a standstill. Zoro still couldn't severely injure him, while every time Grogar tried launching a spell Zoro cut him off, quite literally.

After this had went on for a while, the necromancer had an idea. It was a simple cantrip, Smokescreen covered the area in a thick, black fog. In the protection, he quickly summoned a random undead, and used an illusion to make it a doppelganger, ordering it to attack. While that went on, he prepared a mid-level Dark Magic spell known as Psyche Copy, which downloaded the majority of the target’s memories and information on their personality and their quirks. The only downside was that it was physical contact only, but that was what the doppelganger was for. A distraction. Grogar quickly placed his hand on the back of Zoro's head.

And he wasn't disappointed by what he saw.

Zoro, startled, decided to try his hand at another Dragon Twister, getting a much better result and killing the fake goat.

He turned around, barely dodging a binding spell.

“You know, after all this is said and done, I think I'm going to need some more minions. I think your pack will do just fine~!”

He leaped out of the way of an attack by the human, smirking. “Don't you dare lay a finger on them!” And the necromancer continued his rant, ignoring the comment.

 “Maybe I'll start with the unicorn. Such a waste of magic potential, following you. Or maybe the little pup? Such an interesting ability, and young, so he’ll be easily influenced.”

“Shut up you bastard!”

“I do like the zebra, too. I see a lot of myself in him. But the one I think I'll love the most would be that scared, lonely kid from Denver, Colorado.”

That froze him right in his tracks. Zoro stood rigid, a cold sweat starting. “H-how the hell-”

“Oh that’s right. I know all about the little girl abandoned by Mommy~!”

 “Shut up,” he weakly responded.

“I know all about little Zarabeth Miller, who is too afraid to let people get close~! Too afraid to rely on others~!”

 “Shut up shut up shut up.”

 “About how she is too afraid to be weak, to be powerless~!”

“Shut up shut up shut up shut up!”

 “And most importantly, I know how afraid she is of going back to being Daddy’s little plaything~!”

That was the breaking point.

“AAAGGGHHH!!!”

Grogar felt a wave of… something go through him, shaking him to his very soul. What was that? Magic? No, he can't do that. His memories don't show him using it. What else… What about Haki? Observation, Armament… Conqueror?

While he was trying to figure out what that was, Zoro subconsciously activated Asura, all three eyes looking at the goat, filled with rage.

“Oh, a type of Astral Projection? Very well then. Now, let’s finish this.” Grogar readied his spells, confidant that this would become easier as his opponent wasn't in the right state of mind.

And the Green Demon went on a rampage.

===ooo000ooo===

Outside, was much the same as when their de facto leader stormed the castle, with them kicking major flank, as Clover would put it.

But that all changed pretty quickly.

“AAAGGGHHH!!!”

Everyone stopped what they were doing, turning towards the source of the sound.

“Zoro,” Artemis whispered.

Then they felt the wave of power, finding it nearly suffocating. All of the undead were also affected, the magic holding them together disrupting before failing all together. The army was no more.

“What in Tartarus was that,” Ignatious exclaimed.

“I don't know,” Clover replied, “but we need to retreat.”

“Retreat? The blazes is the matter with you, Whorse,” Artemis called out. “Zoro's still in there!”

“I know that, Turkey! But he was probably where it started! Either he was the cause of it, or he’s totally fine! Either way, we don't know what that was and we need to leave, now!”

“She’s right,” Golden Hoof agreed. “We need ta go, now.”

“But Zoro,” Baskerville whined.

“He'll be all right,” Xante reassured him. “He won't go down without a fight.”

The pup nodded, grabbing onto Artemis’s leg. She rubbed her talon on his back, trying to comfort him while the unicorn fired up the teleportation spell.

In a flash, they were gone.

===[One Week Later]===

For three days Zoro rampaged, destroying everything in sight. By the end of it all, nothing was left. No castle, no forest, no bodies. Only scars in the earth that could possibly never heal.

His group retrieved him when a scrying spell showed when he finally stopped. He was ragged, bloody and nearly broken. It was a miracle that he ever woke up.

“What doth thee think, King Somber Heart,” Princess Celestia asked the king of the Crystal Empire. They had just arrived, the thousands of troops finally arrived from the Frozen North in order to combat the necromancer Grogar.

“Very interesting,” he said, inspecting the ground. “Worrying, but interesting.”

“What is,” Princess Luna asked.

“Seems like somepony spread Grogar's ashes throughout the area.”

“Ashes? So then…”

“Yes. Seems like we were beaten to the punch,” he replied, standing up. “I can't say I'm not happy that my people don't have to fight, but I worry about who did this.”

“Hmm… there were reports of him in the area, but never any real confirmation,” the Solar Diarch contemplated.

“Then I'm in his debt! I personally don't know if I could go against something like Grogar! Haha!”

“Shall We return then, Sister,” Luna asked.

“Verily,” she responded. “We shan’t keep Our ponies here longer than necessary. We apologize for wasting thy time, King Somber Heart.”

“Think nothing of it,” he said bashfully. “It's always a pleasure to see you two again, no matter the situation.”

As the Sisters left, going to inform the army that they were headed home, something caught Somber’s eyes. It was a small bell, almost unnoticeable. Seeing how strange it was that this was the only thing still intact within this now barren wasteland, he pocketed it for study when he went home.

And no one heard it’s soft jingle.