Jongoji245's The Return of Tambelon

by Jongoji245

Chapter 4 (Old Timeline): The Battle

Back at Canterlot, a conference was underway. The children, Zecora, Schnookums, and now Princess Luna were now missing. Each leader of a race sat in a chair discussing what to do. Applejack moved back and forth, a sense of guilt evident on her face.

“Oh, this is my fault.”

“It’s not your fault, Applejack.”

“Yeah it’s just bad luck! First you two had bad luck, then maybe we have bad luck, then all of Equestria will have bad luck, and maybe-”

“Pinkie!”

Suddenly the doors flung open as a blurry figure zoomed in, tripped and slid on his face to a halt on the table.

“Is that a Sleipnir?”

“I thought they were extinct!”

“You are not welcome here! Guards!” Said Bray

“Wait! Let him talk!” Shouted the farm pony.

Applejack raised Zipper up to his feet. The young Sleipnir panted heavily before giving a deep breath and erected his head up high.

“WearecurrentlyhidinginasecludedspotinthelostcityofTambelon. OurfurtheranalysisrevealsGrogartalkingtoadoubleagentonCanterlot. However wehaveyettoknowwho, butinvestigationintheprimaryareashoulddeterminetheidentityoftherealtraitor!”

Bray’s eyes widened as the doors were slammed shut but Celestia’s magic. The Princess of the Sun looked at her guests with grim content. If anyone did any harm to her subjects, relatives or otherwise, all Hell would break loose. Celestia turned to the Element of Honesty and gave a nod. Applejack walked around the table and gave each official a good stare before moving on to the next. When she approached Bray, the donkey tried to remain confident as he could. Applejack stared him from eye contact to the bottom of his hooves, before slowly backing away. The donkey let out a sigh of relief.

“Take him.”

Bray was now discovered, nopony could ever escape honesty. Guard ponies surrounded the donkey and escorted him out. Twilight Sparkle immediately herself and her friends back to the Castle of Harmony. Reaching the round table, their cutie marks shined out and began to circle their next destination. As our view gets closer, the city of Tambelon appears in it’s physical form.

Zecora, Diver, and Chelsey snuck around the city for an exit.They found a drawbridge surrounded by two soldiers. Chelsey eyed a ladder before looking at Zecora who gave a little chuckle. Zecora revealed herself to the soldiers. The goats began to approach the Zebra, oblivious of what's coming.

“I must say, you lasted much longer than than other Zebra's we've captured for past tournaments.”

“It pleases me to be the first, but I'm afraid you are not prepared for the worst.”

The mountain goat began to charge at the Zebra, his head lowering as he got closer. Just when the goat was just point blank range, an explosion rumbled the ground.Chelsey jumped off the building and onto the goat. The second goat attempted to help his assaulted comrade before being thwacked on the head by Zecora. Knocking him out, the group of ponies looked behind them as a fire blazed in the night sky.

Grogar looked from his balcony to look at the upbringing. The large goat furrowed his eyebrows as the flames reflected out his pure red eyes. Nightmare Moon walked behind him.

"I will crush this rebellion!"

"No! You will protect the Grand Bell."

"But I-"

"You will find out."

Nightmare Moon dissipated into smoke and drifted away.

"It's time I end this rebellion, yes..." Grogar growled as his body began to become smoke.

In another sector of the city, the wyvern, Baku, and Schnookums began tearing away at the city and the soldiers that fought against them. The Baku projected nightmares into many of the goats, stopping their attack. Schnookums was bombarded with catapults before grabbing a building and throwing it at them. The wyvern hovered above them as she breathed out a poisonous gas.

While the destruction above ground continued, Cosgrove and Screwball walked further underground, not minding of the seismic activity unless it took a chunk off the ceiling. As the colt got closer he noticed a morbid sight. Bones littered the floor, some of which has maggots feasting on what scrap of flesh is left. The Hipparion's tired eyes widened as he looked at Screwball.

"And to think that ponies are a domestic kind." Said Screwball.

Traveling further, they come to a large grotto. At its center was a moss covered object hanging from the ceiling.

"There it is. Das Grand Bell."

Cosgrove approached the bell and rubbed it, removing some of the grime, revealing the original gold finish.

"Well, guess it is now time again to play the hero again. Let liberty ring." Scoffed Screwball.

"No, we are all heroes in this."

Screwball merely chuckled at the thought before disappearing. Cosgrove shook the sleep from his eyes as he turned around to buck the bell. However as he raised his haunches, a chunk of rubble fell down from the ceiling and hit him in the head.

Back at the surface, the battle goes well for our heroes. Many of the soldiers have been defeated, a few have been recruited by Trog to help.

The night became much darker as clouds shrouded the moon. From the central tower smoke flowed from every alcove. All that remained similar to Grogar was his two red eyes. The rebels look in horror at the monstrous site.

"Your souls are mine." Grogar immediately unleashed a barrage of fireballs, each one decimating a city block or two. Even those still loyal to Grogar were caught in the crossfire.

Back to Cosgrove, being knocked out and was already tired from staying up all night, the Hipparion was well in dream land. However, rather than having the usual vision of a windy summer meadow, it was a dry winter. Ahead of him was his next opponent had the tournament continued. Nightmare Moon was looking at the resting place of Night Dancer.

“It always brings a heavy heart to one who has lost somepony dear to them.”

“Luna, please, this isn’t you!”

“Oh yes. This was something I should’ve done to your Brobdingnag months ago! You have made a fool out of me. But no longer.”

Cosgrove furrowed his eyebrow. There was no way of getting his friend free by talking.

“I’ll try to keep this interesting then.” said Cosgrove as he assumed a defensive pose.

Luna scoffed, “You’re kidding, right?”

“I don’t kid.” Cosgrove crouched down, ready to take her on.

Nightmare Moon smiled as she lit up her horn and fired at the viewer. Back in reality, Tambelon was in flames. Chelsey and Zecora opened the drawbridge, allowing the citizens and prisoners to escape. The two ponies along with Diver took cover at one of the buildings.

“What is taking them so long!?” shouted Chelsey

Grogar had a few other troubles as well. Schnookums stayed behind, his fight instinct resorting him to throw chunks of debris at the dark entity. The chunk’s couldn’t hurt him, but they did drive the goats nerve.

“You stupid animal! I will grind you into pulp!” Shouted Grogar.

Suddenly, the shadows lifted the Brobdingnag off the ground. The wyvern tried to stop him but was shoved aside. The three ponies watched as Schnookums was brought before the goat. Schnookums squirmed to break free but to no avail.

“This is my world now. YOU have now place in it!”

With a large blast from his horns, Schnookums was shot out of the air. A loud moan filled the air until Schnookums collapsed with a massive thud. The ponies walked towards the fallen beast, but there was no sign of breath.

Back in Dream Land, Cosgrove was hiding behind a series of rocks. One after the other, the Hipparion would land a few blows, but each retaliation from Nightmare Moon would reduce the amount of hiding spots. The cursed Alicorn chuckled.

“It’s a shame that the one thing this close to saving Equestria is just a fossil pony, not a great beast.”

Those last two words rang into his ear. Nightmare Moon pinpointed hoof steps behind a series of rocks, she would have anticipated blasting him, but something was off. The sound of each step was delayed for a brief while longer and heavier sounding. The first thing she saw coming out of the rocky outcrop wasn’t a hoof, but a clawed hand with the knuckles touching the ground.

This was a beast she had never seen before. The head was more primate than equine, there were claws in place of hooves, and a large tail that was ornamented with a series of large quills. The animal slowly rose on it’s hind legs. Not as tall as Schnookums, but he still dwarfed the Alicorn in size.

“So I brought the beast within you?”

Cosgrove roared at her before extending his claws and throwing them at her. The cursed alicorn dodged the attack, but it left some deep claw marks on the ground. The monstrous animal chained the attack with a horizontal swipe that was missed before thwacking her with his tail. Nightmare Moon raised some of the boulders with her magic, but those were easily dodged despite the beast’s large size.

The animal pounced at Nightmare Moon and sunk his teeth into her throat. Energy began to siphon from her and changing the beasts color to a more dark hue. Even his eyes became more feral. Using what remained of his will power, Cosgrove released the cured Princess. The darkness of her cursed form began to take hold within the colt. A series of lights illuminated from his body before he pointed his head to the sky and shot out an orange beam from his mouth. Luna watched as the beast’s body returned to his original color scheme. As the beam faded, it was replaced by a sound similar to a bray but much deeper. Cosgrove collapsed onto his knees.

“Are thou-”

“Ring the bell.” Said Cosgrove in a rather deep voice.

Back in reality Grogar made his advances at the young horse, merpony and zebra. When his bell was fully alit, the mountain goat reared up. The ponies winced at his finishing blow. But something was off. Upon unleashing his power, the bell around his necklace shatter and crumbled to the ground.

Suddenly a large rainbow pierced the skies and wrapped around the now powerless mountain goat.

“Nooooooo!!!!!”

When the blinding light faded, nothing was left, but a teal colored bell. Light began to pierce the night sky as the Elements of Harmony in Rainbow Power descended to Tambelon. As they landed on the ground, those that remained to fight joined up with them. Their faces were still grave as they had suffered a great loss. Looking to the sound of hooves, they looked to find Princess Luna, now with a bite mark on her neck and an unconscious Cosgrove on her back. They then looked back up at the sky as for the first time in a thousand years, the sun finally shone on a reformed Tambelon.