The Rise of an Arch-Nemesis: Hail the Tambelon Empire

by Lord Shadow Eclipse

Prologue

Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I'm new to this and there's a lot I need to learn about this site. I'm aspiring to become an author one day, and I think that practicing my craft on this site could be quite salubrious for me. Any constructive criticism is welcome. Emphasis on "constructive". Also, I hope you enjoy my OC as the main villain as much as I do.

It was a cold day in the wild parts of the Crystal Empire. Dammit, every day was a cold day this far north! The cold air was biting the nerves in the scales of the young dragon that sat outside his temporary base of operations. This was cave in the mountains around the land of the Crystal Empire's Citadel.

The young dragon was of a slim, yet muscular build. His pronounced wings were long and thin, allowing for speedy flights through the sky. His scales were mostly dark gray, but his head and back spikes were a bright red. His sharp, reptilian amber-colored eyes surveyed the Citadel from the vantage point he currently occupied. He stared at the Crystal Citadel with disgust.

"What a Goddess-forsaken place to build an empire! Why couldn't these pathetic creatures build it further south?! Sure, the weather is dry and hot as Tartarus, but at least it's warm!" the dragon spoke to himself.

He knew better than to complain, though. His master had given him orders that made him come to this horrid place. Since the master saved him, he would always follow any order he gave him. Even if the master told him to kill himself, he would do so with a smile on his face. The master's orders were absolute. He could bring himself to ignore the cold air of this frigid environment if it meant making the master happy.

Besides, the master said that now was the perfect time to put his great plan into motion. According to him, he has everything ready to bring their shared dreams and desires into fruition. Together, they will reshape not just the Crystal Empire, but all of Equestria into an age of TRUE harmony. Not that toxic nonsense they always heard coming from the mouths of Princesses Celestia and Luna. However, the dragon had noticed that his master seemed to take a special interest in Equestria's current ruler: Twilight Sparkle.

Ever since she took the throne and claimed dominion over Equestria, she had established friendly relations with the Dragonlands, the Griffon Empire, Yakyakistan, the Hippogriffs (Seaponies), and even the Changeling Hive, and they were mortal enemies of Equestria! The master was taken by this development within the kingdom they both despised so much. He was watching the goings-on in Equestria for centuries, but he was especially interested in this group called "the Mane Six". The dragon remembered how angry the master was when he saw the Bugbear get defeated by this hooful of pony garbage, but he was furious when, during the Cozy Glow debacle, he received word that the monsters imprisoned in Tartarus remained imprisoned even when they helped these ungrateful wretches escape from that realm of misery!

However, the one thing that made the master the most angry was the fact that the Mane Six actually returned Starswirl and his pack of lap-dogs back from Limbo! The master appeared to know these individuals quite well. The dragon had never seen such hatred and rage on the master's face before. And it terrified him more than anything else. He had heard stories of the Pillars from his master. His stories about them were always the same: stories of how the Pillars were responsible for some of the greatest massacres in history. Well, not in Pony history. The history of his people: monsters. He compared their strength to that of a small army. He spoke of an incident where the Pillars destroyed a goblin colony just because they established a home a little too close to a Pony farming village. There was great sadness on his face when he spoke of how Starswirl had banished the Sirens to another world, altogether. He was watching as they destroyed three separate nests of vampires in one night! He was furious when the Pillars heard that he had driven the Rakshasa species to extinction. He had heard all of these stories of how the Pillars had destroyed countless monsters just because they existed. The dragon was more than happy to help the master make them pay for their crimes in blood!

The dragon returned to the cave to warm up by his Flame Crystal, an essential winter-environment survival tool. Unlike a regular fire, the Flame Crystal fed on its own infinite stores of magic energy, thus always producing a fire like heat no matter what the outside temperature. He took out a few amethyst's and started eating them when he heard a distinct ringing noise coming from his backpack.

He reached into his backpack and pulled out a small object that gave off a red, pulsating glow. The object itself was a small pyramid-shaped object carved out of a solid piece of obsidian. There were two runes craved into opposite sides of the pyramid: one to call someone from far away and another one to end calls. He gently tapped the pyramid with his claw to answer the message. He then set the pyramid on the stone floor of the cave as a dark mist rose above him, coming from the pyramid itself.

Suddenly, two bright red lights shone from the cloud of dark mist, and the dragon bowed respectfully and reverently in front of the unusual sight. He had to bow because he knew exactly who was talking to him: his master!

"Hello, master. Hail the Tambelon Empire!" the dragon cried out with no small amount of patriotism.

"Hail the Tambelon Empire" the mist replied.

"Have you got everything ready to accomplish the task I have given you, Spine?", a dark, yet smooth voice asked, calling his subordinate by name.

"I do, my lord. Everything is ready for me to carry out your orders without fail.", the dragon said, whose name apparently was Spine.

"Excellent. Just to be sure, I must ask, You know why we're doing this, right?"

"Of course: to right the wrongs of history and create a world where ALL are happy", Spine responded.

The mist seemed to smile at his subordinate's passionate tone as he responded to his question. Well, as much of a smile as mist could give.

"That is a perfect response. Do you remember who your target is?" the mist asked.

"Of course I do. I have to assassinate the current ruler of the Dragonlands: Dragon Lord Ember"