Dark clouds swept over the mountain range that bordered the north. Beyond that lay nothing but flat plains of fertile soil until you reached the desert. Small homesteads with only a few acres of land dotted the territory, staying well away from the forest.
Everypony knew the forest was haunted. It was rumored to be where souls went after ponies passed away. That would certainly explain the howls that Whistle heard every night. But what was coming toward her small farm would be worse than haunted forests - much worse.
Stories had preceded the dark cloud, and they spread like wildfire, despite the fact that everypony was about fifteen miles from their nearest neighbor at least: a powerful and ancient ram known as Grogar was declaring himself the emperor of everything from the mountains in the north to the desert in the south; everything from the east coast to the west, everything he saw and wanted, it was all his.
Whistle dropped the bag of seeds she had been carrying and looked fearfully at her husband, Panther. His gray coat and black mane would have matched the dark cloud perfectly, but his wide green eyes were filled with fear. He used his magic to lift the harness for the plow off his shoulders and raised a magic barrier over the farmhouse as Whistle dashed inside. He stood on the porch, intent on at least slowing the darkness down. Whistle wished she could help him, but while her husband was a unicorn, she was just a pegasus, and something told her that this cloud wasn’t something that could be controlled with pegasus magic.
A strong wind kicked up, blowing Whistle’s green mane into disarray and rustling her white coat. A cry came from her newest child, who was a unicorn, like her father, but shared her mother’s looks. Whistle’s other child, a cold about seven years of age, tucked a blanket around his little sister and looked at his mother. As always, Whistle was struck by how alike Panther and Ocean Breeze looked, the only difference being Ocean’s sky blue eyes.
“Mom?” he asked, uncertainty mixed with fear in his voice. “What’s going on?”
“Take your sister and get into the cellar now,” Whistle ordered, looking nervously behind her at the ever-approaching cloud of darkness, and her husband who bravely put himself between them.
Ocean Breeze nodded and flapped his wings, lifting himself into the air, and allowing him to use both of his front hooves to pick up his unnamed sister. His parents had given him permission to name her, but none of the names he’d come up with sounded right.
He tugged the rug away from the center of the sparsely furnished home, revealing a trapdoor underneath it. Prying up the wod, Ocean Breeze lowered himself down through the hole, ignoring the wooden steps that had been placed there. The cellar had a single cot, big enough for two ponies, several shelves full of preserved foods, and a barrel of water in the corner. It was designed to be a shelter from the tornadoes that frequently occurred in the area, and Whistle hoped it would protect her family from whatever was coming.
But it might already be too late. A tendril of the dark cloud began rapidly approaching their small farmhouse, attracted by the yellow glow of Panther’s shield. Whistle let out a cry of fear and raced outside to join her husband. The cloud solidified into a towering blue ram with piercing red eyes, long horns that curled around his head, and a cold sneer.
Behind Whistle, Ocean Breeze and his sister peeked up out of the cellar, watching silently.
“You’re that emperor everypony’s talking about,” Panther said, taking a step forward and tilting his head as he studied the ram’s face. “Grogar.”
The ram’s sneer twisted into a sinister smile, not any warmer than the previous expression. “So you’ve herald of me,” said, his voice heavy and powerful. “Good, good…”
“What do you want?” She meant it to sound brave, but it came out more like a whimper.
Grogar barked a laugh that echoed across the mountains, resonating deep in Whistle’s bones. “Why, I thought it would be obvious, my little pony,” he said, taking a few steps forward and lighting up his horns. Black lightning crackled across his horns as Panther and Whistle hurriedly backed up. Panther gritted his teeth and dug his hooves into the wooden floor, preparing to fight. “I want the world, and I’m going to start right here.”
At that last word, he lunged, slamming into the magical barrier, causing cracks to appear in it. Whistle and Panther looked around fearfully as cracking sounds began to emit from the damaged shield, which didn’t sound too good. Grogar lunged again, making the barrier shatter, shards falling from the sky like bits of glass. Whistle and Panther quickly diverted their attention back to the ram as he lowered his head and charged.
Being a pegasus, Whistle easily dodged him, but Panther wasn’t so lucky. Grogar slammed him against the wall before using his magic to lift him into the air, immobilizing him. Whistle cried out in protest, but it did no good.
A bell rang. Panther dropped to the floor, weakened, eyes glazed over. Grogar laughed triumphantly as Whistle landed next to her husband, brushing his bangs out of his eyes, urging him to get up. When all he did was moan, Whistle cried, “What did you do to him?”
Grogar said nothing, and Whistle realized he was staring into a globe, watching dark shapes inside it, frowning. He was also wearing a bell attached to his harness, which seemed to be glowing.
When the ball he was holding went dark again, Grogar roared, throwing the orb through one of the windows, shattering the window, although the globe seemed essentially untouched.
“This doesn’t make any SENSE!” he shouted. “The only pony who could’ve had the power to defeat me should have been right HERE!” He stopped, turning slowly to Whistle, an evil look dawning on his face that didn’t look too good to her. She began backing up nervously, looking behind her every now and then to make sure she wasn’t going to run into anything. She spotted two pairs of eyes peeking out from a small gap underneath the trapdoor to the cellar, and she knew that if she tried to go down there, she would lead the monster directly to her children.
“Unless…” Grogar said slowly, still advancing on Whistle, “it’s somepony else entirely.”
He blasted his bell with his magic, and Whistle felt her strength slowly sapping away. It was only when she collapsed to the floor, unable to stand any longer, when she realized that the familiar tingling sensation she always felt was gone - and with it, her magic.
Ocean Breeze ducked into the cellar again, taking his baby sister with him. She was struggling and looked like she was going to start crying; even at such a young age, she recognized that the situation was very bad. Ocean himself was shaken by what he’d seen. But he knew that there was nothing he could do to help his parents, and they would have wanted him to take care of Gusty.
Gusty. The name hit him like a lightning bolt, and he instinctively knew that it was the right one. A small smile came to his lips. Even amidst all the fear, he had finally found the perfect name for his little sister.
Grogar studied the body of Whistle in front of him. He threw back his head and laughed, the kind of laugh that rang across the mountains and echoed in every corner of the land. To celebrate his victory, he lit up his horns and blasted magic in every direction, creating a magic shockwave that kicked up dust for the next ten meters.
When the dust cleared, Grogar was standing alone in a pile of rubble and debris. The weakened bodies of Panther and Whistle were reduced to ashes. The only thing left was an orange and yellow globe that resembled an eye - his seeing ball.
Picking it up, Grogar left the farm, wanting to leave it as a desolate place to stand as a reminder of what would happen if you dared stand in his way.
Lack of organization meant that the land was easy to conquer. Within a few days, the land that would one day be Equestria fell to a cold-hearted villain who ruled with an iron fist of terror and suffering for everypony.
But freedom would come. For now, though, the future is uncertain.