The Overlord

Alex Masters was a simple person. He was a young man who liked to relax by reading and playing games on the internet and a fan of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. He agreed to take his friends to a convention that was happening nearby and while he was a fan of games, TV, movies, comics and books he wasn’t the type to cosplay or go to a convention. Since he was here he might as well buy a few souvenirs for himself, just to add to his collection of trinkets. He walked around, saw many cosplays as well as regular fans buying and selling stuff, then he stopped in front of a peculiar booth.

Unlike other booths this one had no particular theme, instead had many items from different media and franchises.

“Over here, stranger,” said a merchant cosplaying as the Merchant of Resident Evil 4.

Alex approached the Merchant, still in character so he might as well call him that.

“Welcome,” said the Merchant quoting the actual character.

“Are all of these for sale?” asked Alex.

“Yeah, pretty much,” said the Merchant no longer using quotes and speaking normally.

Alex observed all the items on the table and on the shelves behind the Merchant, then he spotted what he was looking for.

“Saw something you would like to buy?” asked the Merchant.

Alex took a metal cube, a black sword and a golden short sword that was in the shape of a key.

“How about 150 for the Mother Box, the Necrosword and the Key of the Gates of Babylon,” said Alex after he collected the items he wanted to buy, however, he noticed a reddish tint on the weapon that should be jet-black but he chalked up to how it was made.

"C’mon you can do better than that, it's not easy to get those," said the Merchant clearly wanting more.

“Add the Book of the E.N.D. and the books with all Ansem and Xehanort’s reports for 200,” said Alex after he took the four books and placing them on the table.

“That’s better! Thank you, sir, enjoy the convention while you can,” said the Merchant before he put the items in a bag.

"Is that all?" asked the Merchant after he handled the purchase to Alex.

“Yes, that will be all,” said Alex politely.

"Come back anytime,” quoted the Merchant before waving at him and say in his normal voice, "have a safe trip."

Alex just thought that the Merchant was referring to his trip back home, so he didn't think much of that particular phrase. When he was about to leave he suddenly felt that he was falling, looking down he saw a hole on the ground that it wasn’t there, no it wasn’t a hole it was a black vortex/portal looking thing, he fell and everything went blank.

In the Void

Alex woke up in a white empty space the only thing in this place was a black floating sphere.

“Great not only I’m probably dead, I am also in this empty space, that is what you get for living a life without goals or ambitions,” said Alex to himself.

“Not exactly,” said a deep and raspy voice coming from the sphere.

“Who are you?” asked Alex.

“I am Grogar. I was once a powerful sorcerer, but my arrogance led to my downfall. Unfortunately, I was killed before finishing a certain spell, but seeing as I am truly immortal and incapable of being permanently killed the only way for me to move on is if another soul takes my mantle,” said the black sphere, or “Grogar”, introduced itself.

“Sorcerer as in magic?” asked Alex, intrigued by the idea.

“You are floating in a void after what you thought was your death and talking to a black sphere, so yes,” replied Grogar, the sphere pulsating each time he used his voice.

“Why would you need me if you can resurrect yourself?” said Alex not understanding the reasoning of the disembodied sorcerer.

“That's the problem: I don’t want to resurrect myself. I need a compatible soul to give my memories, knowledge and power, maybe a few of my personality traits will be passed on,” explained Grogar letting the fatigue be known in his voice.

“So this is basically a second chance on a new world as an evil sorcerer?” asked Alex, still having trouble comprehending what was happening.

“More or less, after searching the multiverse for so long I just want to rest but because of my spell I can’t go to an afterlife or even reincarnate, someone has to take my place, this being has to mantle me in order for me to have a semblance of rest,” Grogar explained further, letting know why he was doing this.

“Why me?” asked Alex still having trouble accepting this turn of events.

“You just happened to be the most compatible soul that I have found. The fact that your imagination combined with my knowledge will make you an even more formidable sorcerer than I was in life is just a bonus. One can say I hit the jackpot when it comes to finding my heir,” said Grogar eagerly.

“And if I refuse?” said Alex just out of curiosity.

“I will simply continue my search and you will go to whatever world/timeline/universe your displacer intended to send you,” said Grogar simply.

“Displacer?” asked Alex once again confused by the unknown terminology.

“Yes, you are what many would call a Displaced, short for Dimensionally Displaced, a random or not person sent to an alternative version of a fictional, to you, world and in this case a version of Equestria, most of the times in the form of whatever you were cosplaying as or with a connection to the artifact that you acquired,” explained Grogar to make sure that Alex understood the situation.

“Did you said Equestria? As MLP: FIM?” asked Alex as he watched the show when he was bored once and became a fan ever since. Now that he stopped to think about it Grogar was a villain from MLP before G4, he never bothered with the previous generations but he heard a few names that later appeared in G4 so he made a little bit of research.

“Yes but a little different than your universe’s interpretation of Equestria,” said Grogar with amusement in his voice.

“How do you know all of this?” asked Alex finding all this too suspicious even if it's real.

“Child, if you explore the multiverse long enough you can find anything, basically every work of fiction and its variations is a reality in some other universe, that's how I learned about the displaced and other versions of Equestria,” lectured Grogar.

Alex thought about his options: he could live in another world as a powerful sorcerer, an appealing option since he was a fan of fantasy settings like D&D, Warhammer and so on, or he could go to a random world, according to Grogar, as he was supposed to go, which was a big risk since he didn’t know where and when he would end up, in the end, his choice was clear.

“I accept your offer,” said Alex after thinking carefully about his available options.

“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you accept my offer?” asked Grogar expressing some curiosity as well.

“Let's just say that I’m a big fan of villains and my favorite trope is the 'Evil Overlord',” said Alex smirking.

“Whoever is your Displacer he/she/it will either be amused or angry that you somehow ended up somewhere else,” said Grogar before chuckling.

The black sphere shot into Alex's chest and sank into his flesh, soon he grabbed his head as images, memories of Grogar flooded his mind and everything went blank.

Tens of Thousands of years ago in the world known as Mundus

Grogar was a simple farmer tending to the land and growing the food needed to sustain his aging parents and little siblings that were too young to work. Being the eldest it was his responsibility to provide for his family, his brothers and sisters that were old enough to work weren’t at home at the moment, they were at the temple praying to the gods for good fortune. But he knew better, the gods do not care for the insignificant mortals that pray for them and Grogar understood that to live was to do so with your own strength, although he had no problem with the ones that believe in the benevolence of the gods.

However, all of that changed when the gods went to war with one another.

The battles between alicorns and draconequuses were cataclysmic and reshaped the land, it was one of these battles that killed Grogar's family, his father who was a simple farmer like himself, his mother who was a former priestess of a small temple for the alicorns and his five younger siblings.

The eldest brother beside Grogar himself was a believer and would always make an offer to the gods, the offer being a small portion of his meal, and prayed to them every day. The two eldest sisters were beautiful and they always came to talk to him about his doubts, maybe they wanted to follow their mother's hoofsteps and become priestesses to help others in need. And lastly, his three youngest siblings that just learned how to read, he remembers their smile as they spoke the words written in the scrolls with simple lessons.

All of that gone in a single moment as the battle between the gods raged, the only reason he hadn't joined the ashes of his family on the farm was because of the simple fact he was in the city trading few of farm’s vegetables for a present for his youngest sister, she always liked the sound of bells.

Grogar made a few bells using scrap and the metal of old farming tools, their sound wasn’t that great but she liked them because her ‘big brother’ made them, she was the only one that didn’t get a present to commemorate the beginning of their education, so he went to the city and got a golden bell, it was simple but well made and it produced a soft and relaxing sound.

Now the only survivor was on his knees as he saw the smoldering embers of what was once his home while holding on his right hand a present he will never be able to give to a sister he will never be able to see grow. He didn’t know how long he remained there on his knees but when night fell he just wanted this suffering to end, so he took out a simple knife and he was about to join his family in the green fields of the next life, but a single thought stopped him, “Then what?”

This tragedy was just one of many in this petty war among the gods, the hatred Grogar felt against the ones responsible not only for the death of his family but countless others as well was simply unimaginable to him before this day. He wondered how can a mortal have thought so full of venom and not poisoned himself, even with this newfound hatred he felt numb to the rest of the world. Taking whatever he could salvage from his former home, he made graves for his family, they were empty because there were no bodies left to bury, he did not pray, he refused to entrust his family journey to the great cosmic wheel to the gods, so he only made a promise.

“They will pay, not only for what they did to you but for all the prayers they ignored in their immortal lives, for all the hopes and dreams they crushed as an afterthought, I may never be able to see you again neither in this life nor the next one but I will make sure that none will suffer in the shadow of the gods,” said Grogar more to himself them the graves. Then he turned and walked away never looking back.

Many years later

It took almost a lifetime but Grogar made it. Since the day he buried his family, he became a sorcerer, it wasn’t easy to get his first book of magic and it was even less so to find a master willing to teach him. Most mages wanted young students, minds that would accept the views and ideas of the masters more easily. It took him years of search and effort but he found a mage that didn’t care about age just dedication to the craft.

Grogar almost died but he became that mage’s first and only student. Grogar learned much from him and for that, he will forever be grateful, but when the mage taught everything he could he was proud that Grogar could now call himself a true user of the mystic arts.

To delve deep into the arcane can change how you see the world, changes that Grogar welcomed. Part of him hoped that this would quell the hatred that burned and consumed the core of his soul, but in the end, it only made it stronger.

It didn’t take long for the goat to delve even deeper not only into the arcane but also the profane as well. He started to learn how to use both light and dark magic and more often than not he found himself drawn to the darker aspects of magic, but he never rejected the light. To him, it didn’t matter which aspect of magic he used so long it could be useful in his crusade against the gods.

Almost nothing of Grogar's former self remained, his once light gray almost white fur became dark blue, his eyes green like the fields on the farm he grew up were now blood red, instead of a shirt and simple pants he now wears a flowing purple robe, the only connection he had with his former self was a small golden bell hanging on a gold necklace.

Grogar learned how to channel otherworldly energies through his body, the cause of the changes, he even learned how to become a god himself. The ascension can be done alone or with the help of an already ascended being. He loathed this part of the plan but to bring down the gods it was necessary and he refused to ask for the help of another god.

First Grogar did a splitting spell on himself tearing his own body, mind and soul in two different beings, then if everything went as he planned each being would start a ritual of ascension on their own. The end result was two aspects of a single being possessing two physical shells, with that done he just had to wait for his magic to returns. It took almost a year but his two halves to readied themselves to enact his plans.

One half took the form of a 9ft tall and muscular alicorn with a dark blue coat, gray mane and tail, red eyes with the iris being a brighter shade of red than the sclera, the sigil on his flank was a golden bell with a gray seven-pointed star behind it and the tip of his feathers being a lighter shade of blue, the alicorn kept the golden bell on his neck.

The other half took the form of a draconequus with golden eyes with black sclera, dark gray scales covering his lean and lithe torso, the same goat head and horns as before but with dark gray in colors, his arms were black avian talons with gray feather from his shoulders to his elbow, his legs were covered with dark green scales similar to a dragon, his tail was also like that of a dragon but it ended in a V shape with two sharp blades made of bones and on his back were four wings, two big membranous wings like a bat and two smaller feathered wing beneath the first pair.

The two halves left their secret tower after dressing themselves, but not before they activated its defenses, there were enough spells on it to make sure that neither the alicorns nor the draconequuses would ever find this place. After that each half started to walk in the direction of the territory of the pantheon they intended to bring down from the inside, Grogar was one step closer to his revenge.

A millennia later

Grogar's vengeance was done, the two pantheons were so focused on destroying each other that it was easy for him to become an advisor for its respective leaders. The gods on both sides were so sure of their own power that they never tried to improve themselves. It was easy to convince them in doing a ritual that would concentrate their “superior magic” and destroy their enemy when in reality the ritual would drain them of their power allowing the opportunity for Grogar, both halves, to kill all of them.

Both pantheons did so and with their power drained Grogar killed almost all of the old gods with the exception of an alicorn filly named Faust and a young draconequus named Discord. But to make sure his vengeance was complete he used most of the power from the dead gods to create a new world, a dead and barren world, he did that to make sure that the power of these gods couldn’t be used to bring them back. Now with most the gods dead, he will leave Faust and Discord to make a new and better world, he didn't particularly care for the minor pantheons that were under the alicorns and draconequuses.

Grogar knew himself and that was why he would let these two young gods create a better future free from the hatred and sins of the past. Each one of his halves looked at a dagger that they keep hidden all the time, these were not simple daggers but daggers made of a combination of metals that nullified magic, essentially these were anti-magic weapons that he made as a way to kill any god that found out about his plans before they were ready.

Then both halves of Grogar locked themselves in their secret tower, soon to be tomb, and plunged the daggers in their own hearts at the same time.

Many millennia later

Grogar opened his eyes, a singular being once again. What happened? He should be dead. So he closed his eyes and felt his magic, looking for answers and he found them. The world, the dimension he created despite being barren acted as an anchor, so long as that dimension existed in one form or another he would always come back no matter how long it took. That was the irony, in his quest to kill the old gods he made himself truly immortal something that not even the gods managed to do.

Grogar laughed, he laughed so hard that he cried, because as far as he knew he was forever barred from leaving this existence. He didn't know how long he laid there laughing/crying, it could have been days, months, years or even decades. In the end, he just got up and inspected the tower. His lab had become dust but the structure was still holding, so he did a dating spell only to discover that many thousands of years had passed.

Seeing that Grogar had nothing else to do here he created a cloak and left the tower to explore this new era.

Few months later

It seemed that with the death of the gods the old civilization collapsed in an event that was remembered as the Great Collapse or the Great Calamity, in which all tribes regardless of species have lost a great deal of history and whatever knowledge of the old world that existed in the present was in the form of stories and legends. There were even legends about him, the story of how he killed the gods and restarted the cycle of nature, they could never agree on the details of how it happened or how he looked, it was amusing to see the different interpretations of his legend.

Speaking of legend Grogar discovered what happen to the alicorn filly that he spared, she now was the patron deity of the ponies, who had separated themselves in three tribes, as well as other equine races to some extent but unlike the old gods she didn't interact much with mortals, only enough to let them know that she existed and protected them from harm. This protection had the unfortunate side effect of letting pony civilization grow quicker than the others and because they never solved their racial issues the three tribes remained apart from each other but all of them agreed that ponies were better than the “savages” that lives outside of their lands.

In the end, Grogar got what he wished, a world without the tyranny of the gods. Speaking of gods apparently, Discord found a little territory to be his playground and he stayed there, the only mortals tormented by him were the ones foolish enough to enter his lands without his permission and he made sure to place warnings outside for all to see.

Grogar couldn't die and didn't have a reason to live, might as well travel the world.

Few years later

Grogar got fed up with the attitude of ponies really quickly, as far as he was concerned they would either die divided or survive together. He used his dark magic to give life to the cold winds of the north and gave them the ability to feed on hatred. Once that was done he unleashed the newly created wind spirits, later called Windigos, at the unsuspecting ponies. The most amusing development was after that was a splinter group that was formed just before the ponies reached “their” new lands, which happens to be Discord’s playground. Grogar can’t wait to see Discord's reaction after he wakes up from his long, really long nap.

Foolish ponies, they almost gave enough power to his Windigos to freeze Discord’s playground but it seems that they finally managed to work together to drive the Windigos off. An interesting side note was that the Windigos after feeding on the hatred of the ponies for so long gave them a more equine appearance.

The splinter group that was formed during their exodus moved to the north of the newly named nation of ‘Equestria’ and was made of ponies that were tired of the fighting between the tribes. They wanted to get away from the constant bickering, so they created a magical artifact to keep the blizzard on the north at bay while they use their magic to shape and carve the crystal that they brought to the surface. Once again foolish and arrogant, their careless attitude disturbed the Umbrums that lived under the surface, but that wasn’t his problem.

Grogar had to stop his trip, both in the real world and in his memories, when he noticed a familiar alicorn standing in front of him on the road he was walking.

“Are you the one responsible for the hardship of my little ponies?” asked Faust with a serious tone.

Grogar took in the image of strength and motherhood before him, she was no longer the crying little filly kneeling before him surrounded by the corpses of her fellow alicorns bleeding on the floor of their city made of marble and ivory that floated above the clouds. He remembered the look of hopelessness and resignation in her light blue eyes as he walked toward her, only to turn in disbelief as he walked past her as if she wasn’t even there. He remembered the sound of her little hooves hitting the floor as she got up and run while he stood there with his back to her just gazing at the flames that engulfed the once-mighty city of the alicorns.

Now Faust was a tall and proud mare, about 10 ft tall, not counting her long and sharp horn, her long and silk red mane and tail, her beautiful marble colored wing wider than she was tall, she was wearing a simple white greek dress that didn’t hide her ample and bountiful bosom and with slits on the sides of her dress allowing her to show her wide childbearing hips and strong legs ending on hooves wearing a pair of decorated silver horseshoes.

“Indeed I am, Lady Faust,” said Grogar’s deep and old voice.

Noting the tone of familiarity in his voice, Faust observed the mortal, she assumed, in front of her. He was wearing a cloak that obscured his body and face but through the shadows of the hood came two horns, by the way, they curved down and forward she could tell that the stranger before Faust was a goat, a very big one at that, bigger than most minotaurs, she could tell that if it wasn’t for his hunched posture he would be the same height as her, not counting her foot long horn, on his extended right arm was a staff, probably a magical focus, that also served as a walking stick, on this arm she could see dark blue fur.

“You speak as if you know me on a personal level,” commented Faust curious and wary of the stranger in front of her.

“Indeed I do, I still remember as you played with my golden bell on the gardens of the Ivory Palace,” said Grogar as he used his free hand to pull back the hood of the cloak and show his face.

Faust took a step back, she remembered those red eyes, eyes from a dark blue alicorn stallion that watch over her as she played in the gardens, a alicorn that later killed all the inhabitants of the floating city she was born in, a alicorn that always seemed uncomfortable in his own skin, her father former advisor Lord Grogar.

“Grogar,” said Faust as her voice and legs tremble, memories of the fall of the Ivory City coming back to her.

“It seems I still haunt your nightmares, little lady,” said Grogar as he resumed his walk.

“Come to talk to me when you become capable of having a normal conversation,” whispered Grogar in Faust's ear as he walked past her.

As Grogar left Faust fell on her knees, even after all these years deep down she still that little filly that got away because of his mercy. She felt fear not only for herself but also for her daughters if that monster still lives then what will happen once he learned of their existence? Her maternal instincts told her to kill him, but her childhood trauma and the logical part of her mind told her not to move because if she did so he might kill her and later go after Celestia and Luna, it seems that she had no other choice but to face the demons from her past.

With Grogar

It was a surprise to see the princess again, she became a beautiful mare. When Grogar looked at her he wondered what life he would have lived, would his siblings have found mates? Had children? Would he still be a simple farmer or he would have become something else? That was the reason he couldn’t bring himself to kill either Discord nor Faust, despite their heritage, they were just children at the time and looking at them reminded him of happier days.

Alicorns and draconequuses because of their immortal lifespan rarely had children so it wasn’t surprising that Faust and Discord never had other children to play with, so he ended up filling the role of big brother in their lives, yet another reason he couldn’t bring himself to kill them.

Getting back to reality he continued to walk on the road maybe find something to distract him from his boredom.

Decades Later

Grogar somehow amassed an army and in his boredom, he decided to take over the world since he had followers of all species but the bulk of his forces consisted of the Troggs or Troggles, tribes of porcine beings that were rejected and ridiculed by other species for not being as advanced or as educated, for being "uncultured swines". It was easy to rally all of them to his cause since they already worship him from stories passed through the generations. The promise of giving them all a new world made it even easier for them to accept Grogar’s leadership.

The sorcerer discovered that he can manipulate the dimension he created, now named Tambelon. On that barren world, he made lush green fields, sprawling jungles, long and tall mountain chains and every other environment he could imagine and lastly he made a city, which was also named Tambelon, to be the capital city and center of his empire.

That world became synonymous with paradise for all the cults that worshiped Grogar around the world. After the entirety of his forces settled in this new world he trained and educated them, he won’t have uneducated brutes for followers. But on the day before his campaign started a group of visitors came to the plains where he built the portal that connected Mundus to his Tambelon.

Three alicorn mares in armor, Faust was leading the trio with the other two being younger than her, probably her daughters. One had a white coat and pink mane and tail, figure wise she was like a smaller and younger version of Faust, being around 8ft tall. The other one had a dark blue coat and a light blue mane and tail, had a more petite, to him, figure being around 7ft tall.

“Finally decided to visit me, little lady,” said Grogar to Faust.

“How dare you speak like that to our mother,” said Luna, no one ever dared to speak to her was such a tone. But this was her first time meeting another god, even if she was unaware.

Faust raises her hand motioning for her to stop when Luna and Celestia were about to attack.

“He is the only being on this world that can talk to me like that, he killed armies of gods when I was just a little filly after all,” said Faust much to the shock of her two daughters.

“So why did you come here?” asked Grogar intrigued by their visit.

“To make you stop this madness. You once killed most of the old gods to free the world from their tyranny. You may have traumatized me, but then I saw what my family did to the world, to the mortals. I won’t let you follow the same path as the gods of old,” pleaded Faust to Grogar.

“Is that what you think, that I killed the gods for the good of the world? Maybe I did but the main reason I killed them was vengeance, vengeance for what they took from me. Now I am condemned to simply exist without a purpose, so I might as well follow my desires,” said Grogar.

“Why?” asked Faust trying to understand the old goat's logic.

“That's the weakness and strength of beings with reason, logic, emotions and free will little Faust. Even you found a purpose, can you honestly say that you could've lived until now simply by just surviving? Can you imagine yourself living happily without your daughters? Or even your precious little ponies to protect?” asked Grogar almost passionately.

Faust thought carefully about the questions that he asked, she thought about the life she lived since that fateful day, she remembered all the friends she made and lost, the days she almost gave up, the day she promised herself to help mortals and not follow the same path as her parents, the first stallions that loved her for who she was and most of all the days she held her daughters in her arms.

“You are right. I couldn't have lived without them,” said Faust with newfound conviction but also with sadness knowing what was to come.

“Then you have your answer. This isn't for the greater good, I am simply following my heart’s desire, no matter how selfish it may be. I always dedicated myself to my own selfish goals, why change now? Even if some of my goals happen to have good or bad repercussions,” said Grogar showing his charisma, inspiring his troops to dedicated themselves not only to the god they swore to follow but also to each other and themselves as well.

“Then you leave us no choice,” said Faust as she and her daughters got ready for battle.

“So be it,” said Grogar with a tone of finality.

What ensued was the first battle of a long war of Grogar’s army fighting against the ponies and their allies, in which many enemies were captured and sent to Tambelon.

Five years later

Faust laid on the floor defeated, of all the battles between her and Grogar she knew he was holding back, to him this war was like a game of chess but this last battle he fought with a ferocity she had never seen before. He might be an enemy but he was the only being she had ever admired both in power and conviction, he didn’t care about what was right or wrong, he followed his own code and desires.

“This seems to be the end, my old friend,” said Faust as she coughed blood.

Grogar stood over her defeated form without his cloak, which showed off his muscular body full of scars visible through his dark blue fur, with the golden necklace and a gray belt holding his bondage capri pants that have small runes on the length of its chains and straps, he just needed a crown to fit the motif of warrior-king/conqueror.

“Indeed little lady, now its time to end this,” said Grogar as he channeled the spell through his golden bell to drain Faust of her power.

This only became possible thanks to Bray, a donkey and court jester who served as a spy for the Dark Lord in the newly formed nation of Equestria. Bray had many deformities that make it difficult to have a normal life, result of a curse placed upon him by a vengeful and petty unicorn mage, but he never accepted pity of anyone, pony or otherwise. It was no surprise that Bray ended as a court jester, seeing as he had quite a talent when it comes to singing, telling stories and making others laugh, besides it was the only way to use his own misfortune to earn money.

Bray traveled from town to town to make a living until he caught the attention of the royal sisters and was offered the job, but he and Grogar made a deal, Grogar would heal him in exchange for his services and loyalty for as long as Grogar needed. Bray accepted the deal and Grogar made him ageless so he could serve his new lord for as long as Grogar wanted. Under Grogar’s order, Bray used a special poison on the water supply of the city that would make all mages and the princess fall into a coma that was supposed to last a month, actually anyone with a big enough magic reserve would fall into this coma.

Grogar then launched attacks on all nations allied with Equestria, it was so sudden they didn’t have time to react and because of that many prisoners were captured that day, which rendered them a non-threat to Grogar. After that he attacked Equestria itself, two weeks into his campaign and his victory were almost a certain but Faust woke up earlier, he underestimated her alicorn physiology. For days they battle, for the first time, Grogar let go of his self-control and just enjoyed the thrill of combat. At some point, the daughters had woken up as well and joined the battle, with their mother they fought against him but in the end, he won.

The royal sisters were not too far from where Grogar stood and were about to witness their mother’s inevitable fate. Out of desperation, Luna attempted to save her mother by shooting a beam of energy from her horn against Grogar. Against all odds, and out of sheer dumb luck, she managed to hit the bell on his neck and destroy it, which caused the chain reaction that resulted in an explosion of magical energy that killed Grogar and knocked out the two sisters.

The sisters would wake up three days later and be informed that Grogar was dead. The body of the dark sorcerer was taken by his forces but remembering their mother's stories of him they decided to not take any chances. They pushed back Grogar’s army back to Tambelon and put as many barriers as they could between Grogar’s domain and Mundus before destroyed the gateway, the physical structure anyway. It pained them to do so, as neither they nor their forces couldn’t cross the gate, which made rescuing the prisoners from whatever horrors that existed on the other side impossible.

As for their mother’s body, after many days searching on the battlefield in which that calamity happened, they assumed it was destroyed for being in the epicenter of the devastation. The scarred land left in the wake of that magical explosion would later be known as Badlands. There was no commemoration to this victory, only the remainder of what they lost. Now they only had each other and they will face whatever threat comes their way together.

While the sisters mourn the loss of their mother a umbrum foal, disguised as a black unicorn, was found near the Crystal Empire. In a relatively unexplored part of Equestria, a strange creature made of the parts of different animals was sleeping, then the last draconequus started to stir. In a distant kingdom two brothers, a centaur and a gargoyle were getting ready for their journey. Inside Celestia and Luna’s minds, the dark magic from Grogar started to take root, more so in Luna than Celestia since she was the one that created a connection with the goat before the chain reaction.

Tambelon, Capital City, Palace's throne room, present day

Alex woke up sitting in a chair as he opened his eyes and looked at a dark throne room. He was sitting on a throne and was about to get up when the double door at the entrance was opened by a small, to him, anthropomorphic pony girl in a maid outfit followed by an equally small anthro goat girl also in a maid outfit. When he tried to move his bones cracked, which caught the attention of the maids, so they turned to the source only to see Lord Grogar move and look at them.

The goat maid immediately turned and ran to warn the Herald of the awakening of their lord, the pony maid, on the other hand, was frozen in place.

“You!” said Alex using Grogar’s deep and raspy voice, which brought the poor pony back to reality.

“Y-y-yes, my lord,” said the pony maid as she bowed.

“Do you know how to massage?” asked Alex.

“No milord I don’t,” responded the maid.

“Them bring someone who can,” said Alex as he tried not to move too much.

“Right away sir,” said the maid as she bowed and walked away.

Alex moved his new body just a little, which caused cracking sounds to be made with every movement, “How long has Grogar not moved?” he wondered.

“Probably many millennia, if I had to guess,” said the voice of Grogar in Alex’s mind.

“Holy-!!” started Alex but then took a deep breath and calmed down.

“I thought that you would disappear,” said Alex aloud.

“You only need to think to communicate with me, and I did disappear, what you are hearing is just an ‘echo’ of what Grogar once was,” said the echo.

“Like this,” thought Alex.

“Yes,” said the echo.

Their conversation was cut short by an anthro donkey in jester outfit entering the room but what surprised them the most was the tall red-maned alicorn following him.

Faust was alive and in Tambelon, but unlike the last time she was wearing a black greek dress and as she got closer to Grogar, Bray bowed.

“Master, you are awake!” said Bray but he was ignored as Faust now stood at Grogar's side and after extending her hands she started massaging Grogar’s shoulders. Alex just groaned in pleasure as he felt the stiffness of his muscles melt away.

“Tell me what happened after my death,” ordered Alex while looking at Bray.

“Of course my lord. After your death, Tambelon was sealed from Equestria but we manage to recover your body and the body of Faust. At first, we were confused and didn’t know what to do, then a pair of scroll appeared from a portal, they were your instructions and because they had your crest on them I knew they were real, so I followed the order in them,” said Bray as he presented a sealed scroll.

“Why are you giving me this?” asked Alex as a group of females of many different species arrived and started to massage his tired and stiff body.

“Apparently a letter from your future self with an explanation,” said Bray.

When Alex took the scroll he looked at the alicorn beside him and tried to understand the situation. It seemed that in his attempt to drain Faust of her power the incomplete spell ended up becoming something more akin to a contract spell that bounded Faust to him, she was now his servant, at least that was the most likely possibility since he couldn't think of any other reason. After this observation, Alex read the scroll that his future self sent to him.

“Bring me a pair of blank scrolls and a quill immediately,” said Alex to Bray.

“Right away my lord,” said Bray as he went to get the needed items and when he returned he presented the items to his lord.

Using his right arm Alex rewrote everything he read in the letter on one scroll and the instructions on the other. After that, he used Grogar's knowledge of time magic to open a small portal before tossing the two scrolls in the portal, then closed it.

“Now that I sent the scroll to your past self, tell me what is the state of my empire,” said Alex taking his time looking at his new dark blue-furred arms.

“After your death, your army broke up into many factions and each one took control of a section of land in Tambelon. They still follow the rules and laws you put in place and breaking them means facing the appropriated punishment,” said Bray before he paused to breathe. After that he continued, “Around a century or two later Faust woke up, just like it was written in the scroll and we thought that she would be an enemy at first, but she said that from that moment on she would be your servant and would wait for your awakening."

“Is that so?” asked Alex as he looked at Faust, who just smiled at her lord.

“What happened to the prisoners of war?” asked Alex.

“They became slaves, your laws were very clear when it comes to slavery, so all of them became part of the society in Tambelon and their descendants still serve your majesty to this day,” said Bray.

“Good to know that my domain is in good condition. Who is in charge right now?” asked Alex.

“Most of the land is under the rule of a council but there are many independent territories ruled by different groups/clans that would only submit to your authority,” said Bray.

“We shall continue this discussion tomorrow, right now I need to rest and heal,” said Alex getting up with difficulty only to be supported by Faust.

While Faust guided Alex to Grogar’s –and now his– room, the girls that were massaging his body bowed and returned to their normal routine, except one who noticed a bag near the throne, the young gryphoness inspected its content and decided it was best to deliver it to her lord. As they arrived he let his tired body lay on the bed and relax.

“Are you really Faust?” asked Alex after seeing the memories of Grogar.

“Maybe I am Faust after completely submitting to your will or maybe an echo of the true Faust that is no longer in this body, in the end, it doesn’t matter. What matters to me is only the will of my master, your will,” said Faust as she was sitting on the edge of the bed caressing Grogar’s horns.

“Very well,” said Grogar closing his eyes.

“Sleep well, master,” said Faust.

Dream

Alex found himself sitting on a chair with a small table before him and Grogar also sitting in a chair, looking around he saw that they were in a small cafe.

“Do you like it, it's from your memories, I particularly like this ‘coffee’,” said Grogar.

“I thought you said you are just an echo,” said Alex to his twin, appearance-wise.

“And I am, you are Grogar now since you have his memories, knowledge and power, I am just a facet of you. Think of me as an assistant that helps to keep your mind in order,” explained the echo before taking a sip of his coffee before adding, “if you equate your mind to a library I’m the librarian and you are the owner.”

“So should I consider myself Grogar now? Then what do I call you?” asked Alex, or better yet the New Grogar.

“Just call me Echo,” said Echo.

“I might know why you can’t die,” said Grogar.

“I already know, remember I am part of you, you are literally talking to yourself,” said Echo.

“Still, it helps me organize my mind, I still can’t believe that you essentially became a Daedric Prince, your soul, now mine, is so connected with Tambelon that as long one exists so will the other,” said Grogar.

“So the only way for the old version of Grogar to move on was to pass the mantle of Lord of Tambelon to another and the only way to kill you completely is to destroy your soul and the dimension of Tambelon at the same time, right?” said Echo, completing Grogar’s line of thought.

“Well, we better rest, tomorrow is a new day,” said Grogar.