Baa-Ram-Ewe!

-Petopia, several days after Mechanikat’s was incarcerated, Paw-tucket Lake, late night, Pom-

“My leg is all better and I’m going to start preparations to enter Tambelon.” I told Tianhuo. We had been sharing information on what Tambelon would involve. The retrieval team would be carrying a beacon, a beacon that once activated would give us directions to a portal opened at a random place to run to. “When I call upon Arceus and mean it, he’ll likely let you know when it’s go time. I’ll find and see you then when we go there.”

Once Dog Star Patrol had the Felonious Felines secured, they didn’t leave, instead they stayed to help rebuild Paw-tucket. Bat-cow had disappeared, in their eyes maybe, but I’ve been having some interesting talks with Udder Chaos.

Our four Paw Patrol friends had some skill in construction, but their specialist in that particular area in their team weren’t here, they were still doing their best and it was pretty good.

I’m kind of upset that no one was letting me help them, asking me to help them or was willing to let me help them. I was practically being forced to rest, which was a bit silly.

I was going over the things we needed in my head, while going over the history of Tambelon.

Tambelon was a small continent or island, well it was likely an island now, considering it was once part of the continent of Equestria before that portion of Equestria was excised to get rid of Grogar. The hero that did so was Gusty the Great, a unicorn along with an entire contingent of unicorn warriors that fought Grogar the demon goat in the lands of Equestria before the unification, before Celestia and Luna, where magic was still wild.

Said victory was won by intelligence and not power. The unicorns were definitely on the back hoof for most of the events that occurred in legends… a legend I find myself quickly approaching one hoof at a time.

Grogar’s bell, otherwise known as the Bewitching Bell, had a majority of Grogar’s power sealed within it by Gusty who barely managed to steal the bell. The bell had the power to take the magic of others and give it to the wielder or hold onto it until the wielder needed its power. This was really quite dangerous object for a unicorn to be near, much less direct any magic at, Grogar was basically immune to magical attacks while he had the bell. Any magic used on him just made him stronger when he wielded his bell.

Taking the bell and sealing his magic wasn’t enough for Gusty to actually defeat Grogar alone, however Gusty managed to even do that in the first place. For Grogar still had an army of Troggles.

Troggles were pig monsters with muscles and toughness on par or better than most earth ponies or even better than Arizona Arid herself. Even after his power was sealed away, the Troggles were naturally gifted with supernatural strength that could not be explained by magic. In comparison most of an Earth Ponies feats of strength, resilience and connections to nature was all part of their magic. Troggles didn’t need magic to be strong, they were a fairly hard counter to unicorns even without Grogar at his full strength as they were not only strong normally, like dragons they had a high magical resistance which apparently came from their mundane natures of strangely not having magic personally and their bodies rejecting an attempts at magical infusion.

The bewitching bell was currently sealed away and protected, Grogar must never make it back to Equus lest he find his bell and doom the world to his rule. Tirek stealing magic was terrifying, but Grogar… Grogar wouldn’t be stopped if he got his full power back. Twilight Sparkle was risking a lot by trying to rescue us or by even sending people into Tambelon with us.

Gusty the Great ended Grogar’s reign and banished his dark empire of bells, Tambelon, away from the world taking large chunk out of what was once part of Equestria by doing so.

With Grogar’s threat ended it eventually led to the unification of the three races of Earth, Unicorn and Pegasus Ponies, at least once they stopped squabbling amongst themselves. This resulted in the existence of the ‘EUP’ and other organizations forming when the unification of the three pony tribes and the lands of Equestria occurred, the EUP being a combined efforts of said tribes.

Thestral and Crystal ponies were already in the lands of Equestria before the three tribes, but it wouldn’t be until much later that they met the settlers. They had stayed well away from Grogar’s empire.

There were several things Tianhuo told me, the possibility of finding unicorns or other ponies possible being trapped in Tambelon when Gusty banished the dark city from the world. Said ponies could have been enslaved and for more than thousands of years their descendants might not know nothing more than a tortured existence under the reign of Grogar’s iron hoof and his Troggles. Never knowing the possibility of something more beyond the world in which they are trapped separated from Equus.

I would think it to be similar to what happened to the Crystal Empire and Sombra, only worse, at least the Crystal Empire had some modicum of resistance despite having their minds messed with. Also there was the being assaulted by the monstrous Umbrum.

The ponies who had been trapped in Tambelon with Grogar, if there were any descendants still alive, they were definitely not going to be helpful. In fact they might act like wild or trained animals if the things Grogar was said to have done were true.

Troggles could farm, but they were best focused in their martial capabilities or so the information on Troggles from what little could be found about pre-unification history.

One thing was certain, Grogar would still have the ability to survey his entire realm as it was intrinsic to him even without the bell to empower him. If he sensed something off, he’ll come after us with everything he has and who knows exactly what he has once he knows we’re there.

Grogar could only look at one area remotely at once thankfully. If he knew where to look, he’d never lose sight of us unless we split up. He was not perfectly omniscient, but he could be a terrifying opponent all the same as only his magic is weakened… not his physical body, which was that of a giant.

If one were to wonder how Grogar Cultists factored into this, they believed that Grogar was the true ruler of Equestria. Technically he was the ruler in Equestria before the three tribes came and the unicorns ended up defeating him despite the varying disadvantages against them. Gusty the Great had to be really something else to pull that off, larger than life… like most of my friends.

With all this in mind, we had to prepare. Food, water and medical supplies in excess… not just for us, but for any unfortunate souls we may come across if there were any. We had to avoid Grogar and escape his realm after entering, at no point would we be safe if Grogar was coming after us personally.

“Would you look at all of that?” I said quietly as I cuddled Dormarch sitting in my lap and we were looking to the sky at the stars. “Can you see the stars Dormarch? I’m sure out there somewhere, there’s another Pom in a another place and time looking at them as we are and we’re just among the many of infinite possibilities, so very small… never to experience all the wonders or terror life can throw at us within our lifetime. I wonder how many miss the beauty of it all, just rushing about in the mundane life and never thinking about what could be beyond us. You’ve been having so many nightmares of killing me, clutching to me so tightly… but I’m just glad you’re still here and that you’re still with us after we lost you. Second chances are very rare you know, as rare life is among those stars. I think I’d prefer the simplicity of being a farmer to all of this, but if I was just a normal farmer, then I wouldn’t have ever been here… with you.”

“Hey Pom, look at that!” Dolly drew our attention to the moon over Petopia, the planet of the pets where they come to relax and rest from their daily lives with friends and family. That is provided that family like Captain Gilturtle could make it here.

“Yeah, that’s something we haven’t done yet Dormarch…” He looked at me so curiously. “We haven’t howled at the moon together as a pack. Even if there is only three of here at the moment.”

“You do realize that the only reason it looks like dogs howl at the moon is so they can communicate long distances via what Dolly calls the World Wide Woof right? There’s nothing special about the moon to canines.” Dormarch received a few gentle pats on the head from me.

“You’d be correct if you were talking normal biology Dormarch, so what you said isn’t wrong… now try to take it into context of canines that live in a world of magic where there might be just a little more meaning to it then you might initially think.” After all, you can’t know everything about every world, in some worlds howling at the moon could have some meaning other than reaching out to connect with your family over long distances. “I want to howl at that moon, the big round white orb right there, with my son. Whether it is to be in song, just random howling, howling in memory of those lost in the pack or inviting in those new to it, maybe even send a message to the surrounding canines to join in the wonderment of the sky and everything out there being so very much beyond us.”

“Okay.” Dormarch looked up at me and nuzzled my chin. “How do we start?”

-Later that morning, traveler’s tent, Pom-

I would stretch out, but I was once again under dogs. I’m beginning to wonder if someone stuck a ‘sleep on me’ sign to my back. My back right leg was fine, unfortunately this meant more people were willing to use me as a cuddle toy on a pile of blankets.

Manipulating my wool, I tickled the canine I wanted to talk to lightly across the nose and she sneezed. Having woken up Mammoth Mutt, or Mam, I had something I needed to discuss with her.

Five minutes later, after a bathroom break, I was outside the tent and looking at Mammoth Mutt. She was a sweet little alien canine.

“The reason I asked you out here is that I need a favor from you… if you are willing to hear me out.” Seeing her tilted head, I didn’t hear anything forthcoming. “This favor might be a bit much for you, concerning it has to do with how to deal with grief. You certainly have a healthy way of dealing with it and I want you to talk to my traveling companions about Mammoth Mutt… the original one whose name you currently carry.”

“That… I…” Mam ran a paw over her right ear looking pensive, thoughtful and most of all… not unwilling to do it. Mammoth Miss has been going by her boyfriend’s codename ‘Mammoth Mutt’ for quite a while now. “Might have some ideas as to why you want me to do this…”

“I’m not seeking a death wish, but it might come to that… since Tambelon might actually be that bad.” Which is why I was going to ask around for canned food for the preparations, canned food will last us longer than normal perishables. We wouldn’t run out of clean water with Shanty around, just food.

“I’ll talk about Mammoth Mutt, the original one that is, maybe tell a few stories about Dog Star Patrol… it’s weird that I’m the heart of the team and mine is the one that is aching at times.” Mam was looking okay to me.

“Nothing should teach us to love what we have left even more than knowing the loss of what we once had.” Going into Tambelon, I was going to try and keep a positive demeanor the entire time I’m there no matter how gloomy it is.

“Should probably ask Krypto if he ever thinks about his home planet much at all… he was just a puppy when it exploded and he was sent away in a stasis pod.” The entire planet exploded Mam? Well at least I haven’t been quite that unlucky. “Stasis pod didn’t work all too well on the stasis part, became an adult in his sleep, but at least the rest of his lifespan is guaranteed to be long and healthy. Now if only Brainy would stop dancing around the issue and actually lick his cheek. So what are you going to be doing today?”

“I’m going to be busy gathering and amassing supplies, we’re going to need them for any number of things we’re heading into.” At least we had forewarning about the kind of things we’re going be possibly dealing with. “… Tell me honestly, how does Tusky feel about Dolly?”

“I think he actually likes her a lot. I think it would work if… you know, it weren’t for the whole thing you got going on getting in the way.” Thanks Mam, at least I know Dolly isn’t barking up the wrong tree.

“Nice to know, wonder if Dolly has calmed down since first seeing him?” The snort I got from Mam, along with a friendly smile basically said that, no, Dolly was still crushing quit hard. “To be fair, I think she’s like that with all dogs of Tusky’s type.”

“Wouldn’t be surprised at this point if she saw anyone of Tusky’s species and went tripping all over the place.” Mam sighed, she then brightened up with a smile. “Go on, I’ll tell the others what you’re getting up to and will have a talk with them.”

“Thank you, I need some exercise anyway and a tour of Paw-tucket in the middle of repair.” Rehabilitating my leg shouldn’t take too long and walking wasn’t a pain anymore, didn’t even need wool to prop of my leg. “Tell Dolly to at least get some affection or at least talk to Tusky about things get her feelings a little more fleshed out.”

“I’ll try!” A giggling Mam stated as I walked away.

-Midday, lunch, Paw-tucket emergency cafeteria, Pom-

“Then we found the pup packs were all repaired!” Marshal blew out his pup pack with that water laser blast. Everest was cuddled up to the fire and medical dog’s side.

Whereas Chase got his clawed up saving a slightly tired Dolly who put all her effort into smashing that dangerous machine down.

“Yeah, wish I could thank the guy who did that, these things are really complicated!” Skye followed up from where she was sitting next to Chase. “… So do you think they’ll give me another Fly Wheel built to my needs?”

Ten bits it was Bat-cow that fixed them, given she knows more about Paw Patrol than any other animal around here feasibly could as they are ‘new pets’ around Paw-tucket.

Which reminds me, the magical portals they shut down for the invasion should be working again. Nobody wanted any pet wandering into this realm in the middle of an invasion of evil alien cats.

“I’m sure they will, you were really good at flying it.” That and I think they would because Paw Patrol had gained the recognition of so many pets for doing so many big things in so little time.

Marshal and Chase’s efforts to hold off the cat-bots on the front lines and help make all the plans work being the most notable to the pets who were pretending to put up a front behind them.

Skye’s flying and leading the Fly Wheel teams certainly helped with the field trap and several bombardments.

I only had Everest set up for the one avalanche and snow boulder… she managed several accurate snow boulders.

Calmly taking a sip at my three bean soup, I relaxed as various pets around me were talking about how to rebuild Paw-tucket. I needed a lot of protein recently, in fact it was almost like I was hungering for…

“Pom is everything okay?” Glancing at Marshal, I smiled.

“Everything is fine, nobody got badly hurt and everyone who was hurt has been helped by the Sitrus Berries.” Knowing what I do about Pegasus nutrition facts and how they can eat fish… I’m going to either have a bean heavy diet or at least a heavy diet of high protein vegetables. “I’m only having a slight problem with the fact that I’ve become canine enough that I can probably ingest kibble and enjoy it. Didn’t use to have teeth like this.”

I poked my tongue at my small fangs or incisors to show the Paw Patrol puppies what I was talking about.

I was going to eat more things like Broccoli, red potatoes, spinach, lentils, edamame and brussel sprouts… maybe even some mushrooms. Yet I couldn’t escape the idea of wanting to eat fish or how the smell I remembered as being somewhat distasteful was now more of a haunting mouthwatering memory. Most of these things were readily available in Paw-tucket.

“Huh.” Marshal dropped the subject to go back to eating with his friends.

-Early afternoon, Paw-tucket lakeside-

Shanty thrusts her left hoof forward, she seemed to be highly aggressive at the moment.

“Are you angry that you couldn’t catch Mechanikat?” I asked gently as I parried her with a gentle breathe of air exiting my lungs.

“No, I’m being angry that I couldn’t be stopping trouble from finding you… that and that I didn’t think to be spending more time with you by simply asking you for it.” Shanty stopped and flopped onto her butt. “I’m not being nearly strong enough to protect you.”

“That’s alright Shanty, I’m the one that should be protecting all of you… because I’m your guardian. Whatever happens to me shouldn’t matter as long as you live longer than I do.” I sat down next to her and gave her a quick hug, she returned it immediately. “I said that I couldn’t protect you, all of you did well enough yourselves to get this far. You’ve grown to be something amazing and you haven’t gone off to have your own adventures as a pirate yet. You didn’t need me to protect or watch out for you at least, so there’s that. I’m making sure you live to chase your dreams.”

“What about my dreams of being able to visit you anytime I want when I need a safe port to rest at?” Shanty stated quietly ears falling back and not looking at me.

“I don’t think some dreams are feasible Shanty unless you’re willing to do the impossible, the one you’re thinking of requires that I make it through Tambelon intact and not growing wings out of my back.” Here I notice Shanty look at my wool and then narrowed her eyes. “That I get back home to Huoshan where I can see you off and you will have a home to return to with a family that will welcome you at any time. Tianhuo wouldn’t turn you away, my family is her family.”

“You didn’t be overusing your magic or pushing yourself… how is the gold wool already being halfway up your barrel!” Shanty was upset to find out the golden wool had not in fact stayed at my lower back and had almost reached my chest. “What is going on… wait... did you be calling me family?”

“We’ve been implying it a lot up to this point with me feeding you.” I said dryly trying not to meet Shanty’s gaze as she looked over my wool where it used to be white on my lower backside.

“Why is the golden wool getting worse even when you aren’t pushing yourself over your limits?” Did not want to answer the question Shanty. Not right now, but it would stop just shy of me growing wings… I’m the one that has to pull the trigger on those personally. My body was always going to be fully covered in gold wool eventually, it’s just happening faster since I used my energy to heal my leg faster.

Heh, I’m vitakinetic… used it to heal Dolly once, just took that one moment and expanded on it. Unfortunately it causes my golden wool to spread like an unstoppable plague.

I can accelerate my healing and do it with Dancing Flame, but I can’t heal instantly, nice to know I’m going to be as stubborn as ever. What doesn’t kill me… might not necessarily make me stronger, but being more informed helps.

“No comment, let’s just enjoy our day huh?” Trying for good cheer, it seemed that Shanty was glaring at me. “Just know that I love you Shanty and want the best for you. Which is never going to be the best ‘for me’ in any given way, shape or form.”

“I be hating that.” Shanty stated as she crossed her hooves.

“I know, I hate myself too on a variety of levels.” What I’m becoming, what I am and what I will eventually be. At least, I still have my housewife sensibilities… about the only thing about me that hasn’t changed. “Still trying my best here Shanty. I’m not perfect and I’m a walking emotional wreck, but I try to keep standing and moving forward.”

How can I be true to myself and my fleece if my fleece is going to be entirely different and I’ve become lupine?

“Can we be playing some games?” Finally Shanty wanted to do something that was not conducive to catching up to my increasingly anemic sense of self-preservation that was rubbing off on her.

“How about a game of pirate dice? Dolly would love to face someone who could eventually be a master at it.” I ran my hoof through Shanty’s tied back hair. “Also before that, can I brush you’re mane?”

“Yes.” Shanty stated almost too eagerly when she didn’t care about cleanliness in the slightest. “I be wanting some interesting memories of you at the very least if… if… just… I sometimes be wishing I can be getting drunk off of rum and am not immune to alcohol poisoning.”

“I’m quite thankful that you are immune and cannot get drunk!” Since you dink like you’re in a desert no matter where you are and you eat like Princess Celestia at all you can eat cake buffet. “What would I ever do with the eventual drunken goat sailor ear’ly in the morning~?”

“Pom, don’t be making me laugh!” Snorted out Shanty as she started laughing. “I am supposed to be being upset with you! Also… put me in a long boat till I’m sober~.”

-After load of games of ‘Pirate Dice’-

“So… how long has Dodo been able to do that?” I asked as I stared at the mechanical wonder levitating bits of metal with a faint blue glow from his wing.

“Since he be studying Mechanikat apparently.” Shanty said. “Maybe he can be throwing cannonballs with it?”

“Shanty, I get that he’s going to be your first mate, but he can’t perform absolutely every single duty on the ship you know.” I slapped a cup down as did Shanty and Dolly. I checked under my cup. “Five, fives.”

“Seven twos!” A grinning Shanty stated and we turned to Dolly.

“Eight fours.” Dolly said calmly.

“I be calling it!” Shanty removed her cup from her dice as did Dolly and I. “What?! How are you being so good at this?!”

“Do you ever wonder why my sisters and brothers are never willing to gamble their squeaky toys with me?” That answered the question and didn’t all at once Dolly.

“Knucklebones?” Shanty asked.

“Yes, Dolly isn’t as good at that.” That earned me a scathing look from Dolly.

“Sure, I know it’s almost the same thing as Yahtzee, but you have got to be cheating at it somehow Pom!” Hardly lost to Dolly in Knucklebones, now let’s see how Shanty does against me.

“Its simple addition and luck Dolly, also a little bit of strategy. Even a person with dyscalculia could play it.” I wonder if Tianhuo still had that pamphlet from Airship Mauled about the dangers of letting Jaded do math… why am I thinking of that more than an entire year later? “Speaking of which, we have a set date for when we are to head into Tambelon.”

“We do?” Smolder said coming over to play some Knucklebones with us.

“Ocellus, Knucklebones, keep score for us will you?” It wasn’t too long after I said this that a curious Jade Catkin joined us with her roommate Roxy, apparently their apartment flat got flattened by the invasion.

Our tent was warm and cozy, they were sleeping on me tonight… I had no delusions that they wouldn’t.

“Yes, we do have a set time and date for when we’re leaving. At least this time we’ll get the chance to say goodbye to the locals who have been very hospitable to our invasion of this mostly peaceful realm.”

-Equus, evening Canterlot, barracks yard, Tianhuo-

“So yes, that is the set time for Pom’s group going into Tambelon, our first group will consist of scouts which will be Jaded, me and the four puppies.” I held up a pointer. “We will be the first into Tambelon, hopefully we will not need a full scale invasion, but Discord and Fluttershy have prepared for that eventuality.”

“Thank you, I like being acknowledged.” Said Discord in the form of a three-dimensional representation of the word ‘acknowledged’, he looked weird when he was being a visual pun.

I shook my head and continued.

“We will be carrying three beacons, one we will ignite for when we want the random portal placement to try and escape Tambelon from.” This was going to quickly turn into a sunk cost fallacy, but I was willing to do such a thing for Pom no matter how inefficient it would be to throw ‘Royal Guards’ at the problem.

Sergeant Shady, Truly Noted, Duly Noted and Gallus were going to be among the number in the second group along with Gallus’s friends in Sandbar, Silverstream and Yona. They’ll come in when things go wrong, not ‘if’ they go wrong, WHEN they go wrong. Discord was involved in this operation after all, even if he wasn’t going to be the cause of things going wrong, his very presence was likely to have an effect on probability by sheer presence.

“The second, will be a one-time signal that Discord should send the random supply drops all over the place… playing hide and seek with our supplies while under attack should be amusing enough chaos, that he won’t actively find a way to make things worse and screw us over.” Seeing as I got a happy grinning nod from Discord, I rolled my eyes. Using chaos positively was hard, but we were the only one aware of what the supply crates would look like… hopefully they all had the same survival supply stuff in them and were not full of rubber ducks with varying motifs of horrific to goofy. I’ve already seen a bathtub full of rubber ducks that looked like Fluttershy and while they were cute, there was something unusually perturbing about it. “The whole point of this operation is to not let Grogar escape while pulling my… I mean while rescuing ‘the lost’, so the beacon for the random portal will be multiple uses. It’ll be capable of guiding us to the escape portal once it appears. Team two will have an escape beacon and so on in case something happens to the beacon of my team. Equus Arizona will be team three with the Foenum group. Team five is going to be the extreme emergency response only, as it will be Princess Twilight’s group. We will not risk the current ruling princess on this and it is better she is on the other side of the exit portal to stop any attempts of Grogar to pass through it.”

“Wait, you’re taking the crazy varmint in there with you first?” Applejack asked.

“Jaded is many things, but a good person is among one of them… somewhere in that distorted mass of pettiness in the form of Abyssinian shaped malice. That and she’ll be key to circumventing any defenses or security systems that may get in our way in case we run into issues of being captured.” Basically if the beacon gave off the wrong magic signature, namely mine, then it would alert Princess Twilight to not open an escape portal. “The third one-time use beacon is a panic button beacon and we will invade the entirety of Tambelon with as many capable and best jaded soldiers as we can with Fizzle at the head of team four.”

Jaded didn’t have any complaints and was lazily playing with a paddle ball toy… how was she going to try and destroy Saddle Arabia with that?

No, don’t think about it. That way leads to madness. Not everything Jaded ‘Freaking’ La Perm does is related to destroying Saddle Arabia, just a lot of stuff in recent history.

We were making sure the Grogar doesn’t get any chance to escape Tambelon to cause terror in Equestria.

“We will enter Tambelon as Pom is sent in by the god Arceus of the Pokémon realms who managed to get us a connection to talk with our wayward people. Unfortunately our entry point will be random, whereas Pom’s will be a set location by the god Arceus to give them a better chance to defend themselves in case they come under immediate attack.” I don’t mean to worry you Pom, but your god puppies and I would be the first into the breach. “To that end I’m leaving the Arceus given device here and will use Pom’s once I find her to communicate what’s going on in Tambelon, whether or not there are Troggles and or lost ponies from Gusty’s battle with Grogar’s Empire so long ago. We don’t know what Tambelon is like now, but the existence of Grogar cultists says a lot about him trying to spread his influence beyond his realm despite having more than ninety percent of his capabilities sealed away.”

-Jaded La Perm-

Come on little paddle ball toy, do your stuff… nobody here or in Saddle Arabia suspects a thing. Yes, almost to one thousand hits, nobody will believe it or even be able to think it was me once I completed the ritual.

Also I’m coming to help save you soon Pom, hold on to your sanity, because we’re going for a ride!

“Jaded La Perm, I actually know what you’re doing with the paddle ball… stop it.” Caught red clawed by Fizzy, I immediately drop the paddle ball toy and give her an innocent smile. I put my claws behind my back as I shoved the paddle ball toy away from myself with my left foot with Fizzy glaring deeply into my soul. “Good kitty, no international incidents until Pom is rescued… also I’m bribing you with alone time with Marie wearing a top hat if you succeed at not dying and without causing anyone on this mission too much trouble. I want you at your best and on your best, by that I mean your behavior.”

“You had me at Marie with a top hat.” Honestly that brought a big toothy grin to my face. Marie the snake head of Maries with a top hat, it was totally my jam and a good enough reason to succeed once I got eyes on what I would be dealing with.

We had no idea what the state of Tambelon was, but we at least knew Grogar was still active after more than a thousand years in the ripped off portion of Equus in a pocket dimension world after his loss to the unicorn Gusty the Great and her small contingent of unicorn warriors.

-Petopia, Paw-tucket, several days later, Pom-

“Arceus… we’re ready as we’ll ever be.” I blinked and then the white horse lama thing was standing before me as if he had always been there, I didn’t even flinch as he looked down upon me.

“You’ve gotten plenty of rest, but I have no idea what will happen from here, I can only assure you safe passage and arrival… as for everything else.” Arceus calmly looked at us. “It is up to ewe.”

“Tianhuo, my beloved god-puppies… I hope to see you soon.” I’d rather they wouldn’t endanger themselves for me.

I blink and the wagon was somewhere else. The skies were red, the air smelt stale and burned at my nostrils and throat, whatever that horrible smell was… it permeated absolutely everything. We were in a valley looking towards large round city with a large looming castle above it all in the distance beyond the valley.

“The air here…” Ocellus whimpered and was shivering violently. “What did he do to this place?”

We had taken our first step into a world of darkness.

-Castle Tambelon, Grogar-

I opened my eyes.

“It seems we have unwanted guests to the south and some have appeared all over the 'City of Bells'. Seek them out, round them up alive, maim them if they resist and bring them to me. I will decide their fates personally.” I stated with a bland even tone and the ever loyal Troggles quickly followed my orders without question. “It seems my cultist on Equus succeeded in giving me an opportunity, no matter how long it took for said opportunity to occur.”

A grin formed on my face as I started summoning an undying deadly creature from the shadows to my command.

A bat winged creature with malevolent red eyes formed from the shadows and bowed to me. I already knew his name, Hollow Heart, he would serve my efforts well.