From the Archives of Truth

by Jade Ring

The Doom That Came to Tambelon

A number of great civilizations have risen and fallen in the relatively short span of time that Equestria has existed in it’s current form. Saddle Arabia was once the pinnacle of modern civilization and scholars still debate just how advanced the original residents of Stalliongrad were in their prime.

Very little is written about the great city of Tambelon, stronghold of a long extinct race of rams. What we do have is this short bit of writing from Der Vermis Mysteriis by Sir Ludwing Prance, a compendium of some of the more… shall we say maddening? Yes. Maddening portions of Equestrian history.

There lays in the Frozen North, just at the start of the mountains that lead to the Crystal Empire, a rather peculiar formation. There can be found there a number of stone monoliths, crudely carved and spaced unevenly. They stand at various heights and have been scrubbed smooth by the elements over the centuries. They encircle an enormous silver lake that never ripples, not even when rocks tumble from the nearby mountains. It is a cold, unnerving, and unnatural place.

This place, this tomb that infects the hearts of the bravest ponies with the keenest sense of fear and unease, was once the great city of Tambelon.

Tambelon. The very name of the city conjures images of the greatness it once held so many years ago. High towers of polished stone that held magical academies and thousands of tomes of ancient and powerful magics. Tambelon, a city where knowledge was prized more than any gold or gems. Tambelon, where the scholars of forgotten civilizations passed through and added their own immense knowledge to the endless libraries the city held.

In the olden days of Equestria, magic was studied and watched over by a race of rams. Blue of fur and red of eye, they studied and catalogued the primal and ambient magics of this land all in the name of simple knowledge. When the nation of Equestria was founded, the rams sent envoys to the rulers with gifts of great magical relics and tomes of incredible and beautiful magic. The rams gave these gifts freely and asked for no gifts in return.

All they asked was to be left alone to continue their studies.

As time passed, a dark shadow fell over the city. A ram called Grogar was accused of dabbling in necromancy and seeking one of the Forbidden Magics; that of immortality. Grogar argued that his researches were necessary as rumors had already reached Tambelon that the ponies had new leaders; twin mares that had fallen from the stars and appeared to be beyond aging. The city’s high council brushed off Grogar’s claims that the ponies would inevitably invade them for their knowledge and advised him to leave. The necromancer left peacefully, but as he left the word DOOM was on his lips.

Grogar left, Tambelon prospered… and time would prove him right.

Drawn north by tales of a great city made of crystals hidden away in the mountains, ponies began to travel through the lands near to Tambelon. At first, the rams gave food and shelter to these weary ponies, trusting that their original agreement would be kept.

That trust would prove to be displaced.

The unicorn tribe that called themselves the Higher Race believed that they were entitled to the ram’s great stores of magical knowledge and research. When they were turned away at the doors of Tambelon, they went mad with rage and attacked. The battle lasted nearly a week and when the smoke at last died the invaders had made away with several tomes of ancient and powerful magic.

It was then that Grogar returned with a new promise; that he could keep the city’s secrets safe forever.

The city’s high council agreed and allowed Grogar to set up his laboratory in the city’s great central tower. There, assisted by an elder pony and a shifty-looking mule, he sealed himself away and set to work. He toiled for an entire year and when pressed for what he was planning, he would give no answer.

One quiet evening, on the eve of the winter solstice, pony travelers camped out on the outskirts of the city began to hear the tolling of a great bell from Tambelon’s central tower. As they watched, a thick silver fog began to fill the city. They could hear from the mist a calamitous noise and the screams of the rams as they were attacked by someone or something horrible. The ponies hid but they could not escape from the sounds of the nightmare. What horror had been called forth from the stygian abysses that could undo a race as well versed in the magical arts as the rams of Tambelon?

As the sun rose, the fog disappeared into the ether and the ponies beheld what had once been the great city of Tambelon. Where once rose elegant towers and academies of the magical arts there were now only the blank slates of black monoliths coated in some viscous slime of unknown origin. Where the great tower had once stood was now a silver lake that never rippled even when the curious ponies dropped pebbles and stones into it.

Of the rams there was no sign.

Doom had come to Tambelon, only it had not come from outside… but from within.

Comments

[Aatxe360]

Doom had come to Tambelon, only it had not come from outside… but from within.

Only technically, as had the rams not accepted Grogar's offer, it would have come from without. Unfortunate that the Sisters knew none of the attacking unicorns until it was too late.

[Raistlin]

8012719

Something tells me Grogar was the one who "suggested" the Higher Race to visit Tambelon in the first place.

[Aatxe360]

8012826 Possible. That just makes unicorns tools.

[Jade Ring]

8012982 Believe me; the Higher Race were absolutely tools.

[Yami Vizzini]

Sounds like this story isn't quite over....