-Tambelon, City of Bells, Drog-

When I woke up, I did not expect things to get weird. It was weird enough that a group would come here, what happened was that surprisingly Tambelon came under attack not too long afterwards.

Why was it surprising? It is because things hadn’t changed for thousands of years, then the one event of Grogar saying we have visitors and to find them to bring to him or else. Well the or else came and it wasn’t from Grogar that said ‘or else’ actually occurred. It had come from the visitors too our continued surprise.

A Troggle is usually defined by what they lacked.

If you lacked muscle that Troggles are known for? You could probably move faster without all the bulky muscles getting in the way.

If you lacked the speed, you might be more resilient and it’s harder to move because your skin is thicker than most.

If you lacked some lower body strength, and most Troggles do, then you had upper body strength to make up for it.

I lacked speed and strength, I was considered an unfortunate since my size was also a bit smaller than most Troggles, but I was still a Troggle and nothing would change that. Where I lacked, there were other things that made me special. So I think my intellect made up for where I lacked in size, I was still quite strong physically.

Most Troggles probably didn’t take a lot of time to consider the state of things or why we listened to Grogar, just that we did as we always have. In this instance I could see something was going to change one way or another, it seemed inevitable.

The ponies and donkeys had always been under the yoke of the Troggles. These new ponies from beyond… they were able to fight back and weren’t backing down from the Troggles nor did they fear them. They were smart and even good at fighting in numbers, where I could see that my brethren were not nearly as capable in groups.

We were capable of individual action, but working together wasn’t exactly our greatest strength and I was seeing it personally. The ponies had to outnumber us to win a fight, but they were winning not by brute force, they were winning by smarts and wearing down our numbers slowly.

I wasn’t under attack… yet. I’m really thankful for that, but what I was seeing let me know that I was right about ponies and donkeys being quite intelligent and it being a bad idea to keep beating them down when their lots in life is already bad. I was bullied just as much for my short stature and I didn’t see a reason to constantly add on to their suffering that Grogar enacted while stating the name Gusty constantly.

Now things were in chaos and I wanted to be anywhere else except here, possibly wherever these new ponies came from if I could swing them letting me come with them when they eventually left.

I watched as a Troggle was attacked, he didn’t do much fighting back, I think it was the psychological problem of dealing with someone who shared many similarities with Grogar. Horns but not as long, scraggly beard… then I started to notice where she differed, she had bar shaped eyes and not the slits that could fill with the one dreaded color and no big teeth… at least those eyes weren’t glowing red and followed by a promise of immense amounts of pain.

She was like the same kind of being Grogar was in appearance, but functionally she wasn’t Grogar. She smelled of salt and water, what little of that there was in Tambelon that wasn’t constantly rationed. I saw her swing her weapon and the Troggle fell over, his skin didn’t get hurt, but his muscles under his skin certainly did get damaged by whatever this strange being had done when creating those flashes in the air coming from her weapon.

She was riding a large metal bird and they charged at me, she swung, but the bird stopped short and I felt my life pass before my eyes as my rock spear split in half. I was quivering and looking up at the strange metal creatures eyes. For some reason they seemed… not bad, and a little upset, but not at me?

“Dodo why did you be stopping?” She certainly had some of Grogar’s appearance, but she didn’t have his demeanor and I’m kind of glad for that, if highly frightened, that the metal creature stopped before ramming into me.

This Dodo warbled something to the being on their back and then turned to me opening their beak and after a moment something was poking out of it. Soon the beak held something out to me and the creature stretched it head out to me making a strange noise.

I took a sniff of the thing… there has never been a smell quite like that before in all of Tambelon’s history as far as we Troggles could remember, history wasn’t our greatest subject for numerous reasons and I’m quite sure that when we’re taught things it’s always been reinforced to never question Grogar’s rule. I was now doing that very thing that was taboo.

The smell… it clogged my nose in a cloying way, the bird shifted its head forward a bit and I found myself holding up my hand and then reflexively something was pressed into and I closed my finger around the strange object. It was squishy? The smell was very enticing at the very least.

“Dodo likes you? He is usually being smart about things like this… don’t know why he be finding you interesting, but I be trusting him on this.” This thing likes me female Grogar being that was not quite the same as him? Grogar had this presence, you had an entirely different presence, one that felt… far better. One that felt like it was worth following. “Dodo be thinking you’re friendly, go ahead and eat the cinnamon roll. We are being needed now Dodo, so please to be moving again? Pom is being in danger you know!”

This Dodo made some strange sounds at the being on his back and then they continued on their way, leaving me holding this warm food called a cinnamon roll.

I took a bite… then another slowly chewing my way through its soft texture of velvet… unlike other Troggles who would have wolfed it down. I slowly savored what has been given to me and then I looked after the strange duo as they ran off and continued fighting other Troggles, deflecting spears and looking quite incredibly terrifying while doing so with that weapon.

What was terrifying was that the being size or strength didn’t matter to her, she still fought like a terror, but she only attacked those who were by all rights attacking her first. Every other Troggle was having similar reactions to her as I was.

Here I stood with sticky fingers wondering how I would ever get another one of those things in my lifetime, there has got to be a better place to be than under Grogar’s rule or Tambelon if things like that food making creature existed. I licked at my fingers to get the last of it and then considered what I should do.

My insides warmed at the thought of more food like that, the food did that itself too, but if I wanted to get out of Tambelon then I would have to throw myself at the mercy of the ones who came here to face Grogar and hoped they succeeded.

…

I started following in the wake of the two with the half of my spear that still had my spears tip, I had no clue what I could do. I just knew that I could no longer look Grogar in the eyes and declare myself loyal after that. Our enemies were not here to fight us, they were here to fight Grogar… the Troggles are just in the way.

I didn’t know if they could even defeat Lord Grogar the all-powerful ruler of Tambelon, but I was hoping they could just so I could have better living conditions than here. Wherever they came from, it was very much a paradise compared to Tambelon.

Knowing a few Troggles as I do, they would have immediately surrendered to those attacking us willingly if Grogar’s defeat was to be assured. Otherwise they had to fight with all they had if they even felt a hint Grogar’s gaze on their spines.

As for me, I cared not if Grogar ended me for turning on him, I would face my inevitable quick death with dignity.

It was better than living like this for the rest of my life, I wanted to see what was beyond Tambelon and more!

I felt a chill travel down my spine and I thought I saw some strange creature for a second smiling at me as the air moved around me… that was something that just didn’t happen in Tambelon.

-Tambelon Castle, basement, jail cell, Jaded La Perm-

“Of all the places I could have appeared…” I grumbled as I finished considering the jail cell. I wonder how long it’s been since the prison has seen a prisoner, also if Grogar tortures people personally for entertainment.

What else was an evil despot going to do stuck in his own realm when he’s bored out of his mind? Gusty the Great didn’t separate Tambelon into its own pocket dimension without a good and just cause for doing so.

Looking through the slot of the door, there were lots of bones, the stench of rotting was permeating every crevice of this place and the door was smart enough to have its hinges on the outside instead of where I could have easily pulled them out and render the door entirely pointless.

Trying to break the door wouldn’t do me any good and it would take a while… maybe… wait a moment.

I looked at the edges around the doors frame where it was stuck within the surrounding stone… the stone around the door wasn’t solid stone blocks. It was instead made of cobblestone.

I drew my knife and slowly worked at the rock around the frame of the door. After a few chunks of stone quickly came tumbling out from a little prodding, a grin came to my face as I eyed the entire frame with a sudden feeling of whimsical greed. Wonder what I could do with it using magical alchemy?

“Jackpot.” It wouldn’t take me long to do either, I don’t think anyone’s maintained the walls around here in a long time.

-City of Bells, streets, Pom-

Hollow Heart ‘the Relentless’, now there’s a nightmare I almost wish we would never see again. Who knows how many hours of fitful sleep after burying ourselves alive don’t fail me now… at least Tianhuo hasn’t left my side for a second and that was very comforting with however much time I have left to live.

I had some doubts about our ability to deal with Grogar given how much trouble Hollow Heart has given us.

“Come on Pom, we’ve got this!” Love the enthusiasm Dolly and so did my god puppies, but we haven’t seen this guy in a while and he’s capable of throwing explosive darkness at us. Don’t remember him being capable of that before when I last saw him.

“Baa-baa fight?” Woof asked tilting his head thoughtfully.

“Of course baa-baa fight!” Don’t think Ruff quite understood why I didn’t like fighting or the concept of me not liking having to fight.

“Baa-baa need big nuzzles.” At least Tuft was the emotionally intelligent one and noted my state of mind at having to face Hollow Heart again. At least this time I had something of an advantage of numbers on him from the start.

“We protect you baa-baa!” Puff stated bravely while spinning up his tail and taking to the air slightly.

It was more than likely going to be me protecting them. Tianhuo, Arizona and I all knew that Hollow Heart doesn’t care about life in general, we could see it in his eyes.

Hollow Heart growled and spread his wings ready to start the fight.

(Music: Quest 64, Battle Theme)

“All dogs watch our backs while we fight him, do not try to fight him yourself.” If it was true that I was somehow responsible for being able to injure him, then this was going to require that I be in the thick of it.

I inhaled through my mouth and waited as Hollow Surged forward in a blur, I exhaled flames at him and dodged out of the way of the spike from his extending wing coming to pierce through my eye and brain. My flames allowed us to see him better with how fast he was moving in the dark shadowy way, in light he slowed down. Made sense to me as he was a shadow creature.

He flapped back and out of the way of Arizona’s right hoof going for the left side of his face on my right, Tianhuo immediately leapt up and her rear left leg snapped upwards in a rising crescent that struck him in a chin lifting him lightly in the air. He swirled away and out of the blow seemingly have taken the hit.

I knew what I saw wasn’t quite right.

I narrowed my eyes at the sight, Tianhuo managed to hurt him a little by clipping his chin, but the blow wasn’t as dead on as one might have thought by the looks of things. Hollow Heart had improved his evasiveness at least and wasn’t constantly attacking with wild abandon.

“We can only hurt him when in proximity to me, stick close.” I stated and Arizona looked a little concerned. “Don’t let him draw you off.”

“I barely even saw him move.” Arizona grumbled as the three of moved back to back while Hollow Heart circled around us.

“I’ll keep the area lit up, he cannot move fast in light.” Yeah, but the light can’t harm him Tianhuo and my flames barely did anything to him. Dolly and the puppies were spread out and I noted a few royal guards steering well clear of Hollow Heart with apprehension and fear. Instead they focused on the nearby Troggles.

I saw a movement from Hollow Heart, what was he… no… he’s going to…

I started breathing rapidly and I moved at high speeds to intercept him, it almost looked like hyperventilating to someone who didn’t know what I was exactly capable of. Tianhuo knew everything about me, except one thing, the ultimate secret of why a Chrysomallus dies after growing wings. Arizona was a little confused and she’s the one that can physically break physics with her unique physique.

Getting there in time I moved the royal guard out of the way and manage to barely back hoof Hollow Heart and he jammed me above the kidney with a wing, Tianhuo knocked him off of me a second later before he could dig it in any further.

“He’s going to try to exhaust us and try to attack our allies.” I said after a moment to catch my breath, he was going to attack the Royal Guard and move around constantly. He was already building up to fire an orb of darkness to fire at another batch of embattled guards, Tianhuo was drawn away from me to block it with her flames spewing up at it to disable it and that’s when Hollow Heart swooped in to attack her.

After a few seconds of hectic defense Tianhuo managed to burst away from him and using the light of her flames to slow him down.

“Well he’s already proving to be a hoof full.” Arizona commented as she watched Tianhuo approach back for us as Hollow went after one of my puppies.

All of my lovable dogs were helping with the nearby Troggles when Hollow Heart attacked Ruff, which was a poor choice of target. Ruff immediately dodged with a flip and lashed out with his rear paws to kick him my way, he didn’t hurt Hollow at all… but I certainly did when I increased the wool around my left hoof and kicked off with coiled wool springs from my hind legs launching me forward.

I slammed home into him, only for him to block my attack with his right wing and take the brunt of it with minimal injury.

Tianhuo promptly flying kicked him from above with her right hoof, slamming him into the street with a jet of flames assisting the blow.

He rolled backwards and slashed up Arizona’s right leg when she went for a stomp. The cow hissed and promptly rammed into him with her forehead, I was close enough that it looked like it hurt.

Still any damage done seemed to hurt him, but once he got far enough away he healed as he did within seconds. It was infuriating that we couldn’t keep Hollow in one place or stop him from attacking those who couldn’t see him coming. Any and every shadow he could sneak into was his ally as we’d lose sight of him for a few seconds before we saw him somewhere else.

Where… behind me!

I dodged out of the way of a lunging attack to stab me through the back out of my chest with a wing taking the shape of a spear. It grazed my side, I immediately sealed the wound and then pushed my body into him to wrap my wool around him.

My attempt to pin him down was less than successful when he temporarily turned into some kind of shadowy serpent and managed to slither out of my wools grasp, which should have been impossible, until I saw the flakes of dissipating darkness where my wool tried to grapple him and he sunk into the shadows again.

Tianhuo was immediately at my side lighting up the area.

“Where did he go?” Arizona grunted as we were near the entrance of the plaza of the city where fighting was currently going on everywhere. “Over there!”

It was too late for me to move, he was attacking what looked like an old pony in a hat and robe. The three of us were rushing to help before the old pony could get hurt, why was he even on the battlefield?

“Sword of light!” The old unicorn called out just as he was about to be taken out by the sharp shadowy wings and Hollow Heart froze in the air as a spear like brightly glowing magical sword pierced him through coming from the sky, but it didn’t seem to injure him, it just froze him place. Hollow’s following scowl spoke death for this indiginity. “Stygian I need your assistance old friend!”

A smaller and slightly frailer looking unicorn stopped directing some royal guards in a fight and galloped up to the trapped Hollow Heart, he narrowed his eyes at the figure of Hollow Heart.

“We can’t do anything to save him Starswirl, this guy… he actually wanted this. He’s far too gone and we can’t even hurt him… he has supernatural protections and has given up on his metaphorical heart a long time ago.” The unicorn, Stygian, stated with shock and horror as he looked over Hollow Heart’s figure. “If he still had his heart it would have been a major point of weakness. We can’t even forcefully return him to what he once was… he’s permanently like this.”

“Well his name is Hollow Heart, it’s only fitting at this point that he resembles a complete monster!” Arizona stated as we came up to the two unicorns. “How long will that hold him for?”

“Not nearly long enough for us to deal with him, he’s already breaking free, I’ve got nothing for how to deal with him Starswirl!” Stygian stated and I blinked at the name, Starswirl… as in the same guy that polluted another entire world with magical artifacts as a dumping ground? The kind of thing that led to Planet Petopia’s existence with the magic of Equus?

“You were the expert on shadow monster biology here Stygian, if you can’t think of anything, then I’m just as equally just as sunk. I really wished you didn’t take after me in this Gusty…” The old pony looked like he was in his own mind for moment. He suddenly snapped his head to the side with a lit horn. “Meteo!”

Hundreds of burning rocks rained down on a number of Troggles hitting them in the heads quite hard and a few even blocked several spear throws before colliding with the ground. In fact it was very precise number of rocks and they had all been very specific. This Starswirl guy was no joke at magic if he efficiently knew how many burning rocks he needed to not only attack but also defend all of us.

“We can hurt Hollow Heart, I don’t know why, but my proximity makes him vulnerable.” It wasn’t my Chrysomallus natural anti-magic capabilities doing that, I was quite sure on that. Why the only things I had on me that were unusual was… wait, that thing Jaded gave to me? I really needed to talk to that cat later about what it was. “What happens if we were to hit him right now?”

“You’ll only get the one blow, because it’ll free him from the sword of light’s paralysis. I would attack him, but… I know it wouldn’t do us no good as we can’t hurt him enough to stop him from healing from the damage in short order. Better he be locked in place and not attacking like a feral beast with a dark intelligence that promises suffering to those who face him.” Starswirl sounded smart and intelligent, but he was well over a thousand years old from what I heard of the tales of the Pillars of Equestra. The ones who helped build the foundations of current day Equestria. “I can only do that spell so many times though, banishment is impossible I’m afraid… I would not have another suffer this monstrosity.”

“Can you seal him in an area with us without any shadows for him to hide in?” That was probably the absolute dumbest suggestion I have ever stated in my life, why was I suggesting it?! What is wrong with… oh right… Chrysomallus, actively sacrificing myself for others, that is what’s wrong with me.

“Yes, we can seal off an area if Starswirl and I work together in unison, but we need to be undisturbed to keep it sealed.” Hearing Stygian say that, I tagged all my familiars and mentally told them to protect Stygian and Starswirl. Dolly being the oldest took the lead on this. “Yes, well, I suppose that would work if they are as strong as they feel… wait, are they all your familiars?! The only being with this many familiars, all of which are canines in nature… The world record breaking ‘Canine Queen’ Pom Lambchop, I really want to research you for a thesis on familiar bonds and how they affect the bonded! I would love to introduce you to my familiar Mr. Echo the fruit bat.”

“Later, if we’re all even still alive, busy!” I stated as I hastily motioned to the growling Hollow heart shifting the ‘sword of light’ thing was cracking. His was thrashing and the light was weakening as the darkness was coalescing around him, sparks of magical darkness and light were clashing and creating visible distortions in the air.

“Quite right, sorry, Starswirl shall we?” The two unicorns lit their horns and started to create an area to contain Hollow Heart in.

Arizona, Tianhuo and I moved forward and were sealed within the magical area with Hollow Heart.

“Tianhuo, fastball special!” I coiled the wool around my legs and then ran behind Hollow Heart, then launched myself up at his back and pinned his wings and legs with my limbs and wool to the best of my abilities. The ‘sword of light’ prevented Hollow from changing shape or ditching chunks of shadow to escape this time.

Tianhuo was using her flames to boost her spinning speed as she spun like a top and then sent Arizona hurtling towards the struggling Hollow Heart’s chest.

Arizona’s four hoof flying stomp was powerful enough to send a shockwave straight through Hollow heart and even injure my insides… but I just grit my teeth and bared it, Hollow Heart got the worst end of it.

“BAAGH!” Despite the injury I forced Hollow Heart to take, he still had the wherewithal to slam his right wing into stabbing my right shoulder. Arizona and I quickly fell away and Hollow quickly swept away into the air out of the way of a burst of angry flames from Tianhuo that kept him from capitalizing on getting another attack in on me.

“You okay Pom?!” Arizona asked as if the bleeding leg with a large gash was just a trifle to her. Probably was, given how tough Arizona is naturally. How often had Velvet beaten her half to death and she absolutely enjoyed every second of it? I never asked, as I really didn’t want to know.

“I’ll be fine Arizona, we have to focus Hollow Heart down!” As I said this as Hollow Heart slammed into the barrier keeping us in with him. It held up quite well to his attempts to bash his way out. He was a tireless and dangerous being, but he was trapped in here three to one… half the team responsible for his first downfall and I was mostly responsible his second.

I could suddenly feel it… Grogar was watching us once more. A shiver crawled down my back at the thought and what he was planning, we hadn’t seen much of him aside from when we climbed the valley walls. He really seemed to be the patient type and was almost amused to see me as he had stared after us as we ran with Hollow Heart hounding us constantly for twenty four hours if it has been a full day and a half since we got trapped here. It had certainly felt longer than that.

His gaze slide from us and towards… Starswirl? I get the feeling there was more to it when the gaze suddenly stopped looking over the general area as Hollow came down at us. Hollow seemed to absolutely refuse directly attacking Tianhuo, which was honestly fair as I wouldn’t want to fight Tianhuo either. So understandably Hollow saw me as the weak link in the group and I was his favored target in this situation, also he still clearly hated me from what happened last time we met.

Waiting until he closed in I inhaled quietly through my nose and then exhaled at the right moment, I dodge the two stabbing lances that his wings became, they wrapped behind me as he came with his hooves dripping with darkness.

I finally exhaled and dodged his next two attacks despite how little space I had to do it by tilting my head and then he was about to go for a bit with those large fangs of his, I followed the dodges with a bark blast that knocked him back an inch and stunning him.

This was long enough for Arizona to start with trying to break his spine with a flying buck as Tianhuo knocked his wings out of my path allowing me to move away.

I stepped to the left and Tianhuo went right as Arizona plowed Hollow into the ground between us, we were only just slowing him down as a second later he was lashing out a wing at me in an attempt to stab me.

The wing stopped an inch from piercing my eye as I blinked as Tianhuo had a sturdy grip on it, one shake, two shakes, Hollow tried to continue the stab and Tianhuo held firm with a glare. The lovely longma then took a hit that slashed across her abdomen that ripped some of her beautiful scale apart.

Despite the injury Tianhuo didn’t let go of the wing and instead launched a one legged buck with her right leg into his face and slapped her flaming tail around his waist. I exhaled a blast of flames into his face before he could bite Tianhuo or injure her further. Fire was nothing to a longma, no matter if they could wield it or not.

“Graggh!” My flames caused Hollow Heart to flinch long enough that Arizona hit him with a full charging ram to his stomach horns first. After grunting, he kicked Arizona bodily into Tianhuo sending them both tumbling and away, he then tried to jam both his wings into me with lightning speed.

I hopped back and he surged forward mouth open, I ducked under his clacking jaw and before he could bring his wings around I tore at his throat with my teeth, and then rolled onto my back pulling him above me and then I bucked him off onto his.

Rolling over my wool shifted to a more wolf like shape and then lunged on top of him to slash him up in a fury of magical wolf claw swipes. Somewhere in the middle of my damaging claw swipes he bucked up into my chin with his hind legs knocking me down and bloodying my face.

“Ugh…” I rubbed at my jaw as Hollow rolled and brought his right wing around to stab down on my as he got standing. His wing was knocked upward by Arizona and she lassoed him and pulled him into a blazing full speed kicked to the face that sent him back towards me and I bucked him in the neck with a crack.

Tianhuo followed up my neck blow with a dropping leg to the chest and then Arizona came down lashing out hers to smash his skull slightly inward, I brought my right hind leg up high and then stomped Hollow a third time on his stomach.

On the ground was a groaning Hollow, he stabbed both his wings up forcing Tianhuo and me back, then went at Arizona with a swinging hoof to her jaw. The blow didn’t faze Arizona and she grappled him around the waist and then started squeezing him with bone crunching force as she lifted him into the air and started to break his spine.

“May the power of hugs compel you, may the power of hugs compel you!” Having no clue why Arizona was suddenly shouting that, but her grip on Hollow was getting stronger and I could hear the cracking of bones. “By the power of Paprika… you, shall, fall!”

Crrrr-aacckk-KKKKkcccc-CRACK!

With a twist of her hooves the nasty sounding crunching noise as Hollow’s spine probably shattered from the force of the hug left me and Tianhuo shuddering, even then Hollow managed to break free of the grapple by kicking Arizona in the udders. The ones that were inexorably tiny for a cow of Arizona’s adult age, yes.

Despite how both half of his bodies looked quite odd with a broken spine, Hollow Heart was still alive after that. In immense amounts of obvious pain, but still quite alive and angry. Three to one he wasn’t so scary, but the temporary victory ended when a voice rang out around the square.

“Starswirl, so you are still bucking about hmmm?” Grumbled Grogar as he slowly walked up to us, he spoke in an even and fairly conversational tone. “Servant, to my side… now. I have taken notice of your failure and will deal with them myself.”

I tried to attack and finish off Hollow Heart only for him to disappear through the barrier in a burst of black smoke. Hollow Heart appeared right at Grogar’s side looking almost fine, his spine was still a mess as the back half of his body was floppy and he was still sporting various damaging claw marks and dripping with whatever passed for blood for him now. He was already recovering from the damage we had dealt to him quickly.

The area Hollow Heart was trapped in fell immediately as Starswirl glared at Grogar and Stygian took up a position at his side.

“You’re the reason Pom is stuck here, I’ll end this right here!” Shanty came in at high speeds riding Dodo, she swung for Grogar’s with all her might. “Grand Cleave!”

Dodo ended up embedded in a nearby wall, Shanty weapon was caught in Grogar’s left hoof and he ripped it from Shanty’s grip and tossed it away to punch Shanty in the gut. He proceeded to lift her by the neck.

“You’re quite a surprise, you actually made me bleed… I might take you as a wife when you get older.” Grogar stated flatly with a grim grin, he slammed Shanty into the street and she was out cold immediately. “So that’s the only reason why you still live, a constant threat to my life could be very interesting.”

Still alive and breathing, I saw what Grogar meant when a single drop of blood spill from a very tiny scratch. How did he handle Shanty’s cutting arc that well?!

“Get away from her!” I charged forward and tried to hit Grogar, he caught my right hoof and was about to say something when he raise his right hoof off the ground caught Tianhuo's left hind leg as she blazed at him with jet assisted speed.

He promptly slammed Tianhuo onto her face and tossed her away and then slammed his forehead against mine.

…

I was on the ground seeing stars and blinked blearily as Hollow Heart was about to attack me and Arizona was slammed into the ground next to me tied up in her own ropes.

“No… leave her, you can have her life later if she proves too troublesome. Now take my prize back to the castle.” Grogar stated as calmly he bucked a dented and battered Dodo away from himself, how long had I been out for? Dodo whined angrily as Hollow Heart carried Shanty away and that whining turned into a sad keening noise. “You all know what I want, I know you are not going to negotiate, but I welcome you to try and save everyone from me that you can. You are all in my domain and are making quite a mess. I will get out eventually, whether you let me out or I do so on my own. Whether you bring me my liberation or I come for it myself, it matters not, for I am inevitable.”

Calmly Grogar started walking away with the unconscious levitating form of Starswirl in his magical grip and I sat up to fire a Thousand Spear at Grogar’s back, it deflected off the air in a shimmer and a faint glow of his horns. He didn’t even look back at me and kept going.

“Shanty…” I reached out and the world grew black.

…

Coming too, I slowly looked about… every Royal Guard, Tianhuo, Arizona and I were all down. Starswirl was nowhere to be seen and even quite a number of Troggles were still lying about and groaning.

“How is she Mage Meadowbrook? You were out for a few minutes there, lay back down. Blacking out twice in as many minutes cannot be good for your health.” Stygian the small and thin unicorn sstated as an earth pony checked with mage in her name looked me over. “The Troggles we can handle… but Grogar… he devastated most of our forces that attacked him by himself. He wasn’t even trying, what terrifying power and he’s like this without his bell?! He even told the Troggles to not interfere.”

“Excuse me, but I want to help… if you can tell me what I can do.” A troggle stated as he moved over to Dodo and Dodo weakly looked up at him. Dodo whined and pointed his beak at the spear, the Troggle curiously held it out to Dodo and he ate it. The Troggle looked confused and then looked at the devastation. He helped Dodo sit upright. “My name is Drog… you can clearly see why we don’t challenge Grogar now.”

“Where?” My puppies were… I felt something in my heart drop, they were all injured even Dolly looked like a bloody mess, but Dormarch was propping her up as they came over to me.

“That guy… Grogar… nasty piece of... work… cut out for us...” Dolly stated while huffing raggedly, she felt like she had a few broken bones on top of horrendous bruising. Dormarch was the only one that looked okay, but that was because he could heal himself. "Lets go... after him..."

Dolly was clearly insane if she thought we were winning after that show of strength... much less with her injuries as they were. Also Grogar took Shanty and Starswirl, we had no other choice other than to go after him.

Author's Note

I'm finishing this story and not stopping at the end of the year, but Tambelon is going to take a bit of doing to finish.

Plus a few other things to take care of.