The Return of Tambelon

Doctorwhobox
serial_name=26-29 The Return of Tambelon
writer=Michael Reaves
series= Series 1
length=4 episodes
date=October 20-23, 1986
preceding=Sweet Stuff and the Treasure Hunt
following=Little Piece of Magic|

"The Return Of Tambelon" is the eighth serial in the United States children's television series "My Little Pony".

ynopsis

The ancient city of Tambelon disappeared 500 years ago. Now, it returns to Dream Valley - and all of the unicorns mysteriously vanish.

Plot

Part 1

The Little Ponies are playing Hide and seek. Paradise, who's it, reminds the unicorns they cannot wink out - that is, disappear to escape being caught. She closes in on Baby Ribbon, who panics and winks out anyway. She has trouble winking back in, and needs the help of her mother Ribbon to totally reappear. The game resumes, but Baby Ribbon is once again unable to find a good hiding place, and much to Paradise's annoyance she winks out for a second time. Ribbon also winks out to try and help, and finds herself in a dark, misty alley with no sign of her daughter or the others.

Worried that neither unicorn has returned, The Little Ponies hurry to stop the others winking out, but they're too late to prevent Galaxy, Fizzy, Gusty and Baby Gusty from vanishing. The sole remaining unicorn, Buttons, joins a search party, but she too is forced to wink out to avoid being crushed by a rockfall. An all-night search fails to uncover any sign of the unicorns' whereabouts.

As Megan sleeps, she dreams she's in a cave, where she sees Ribbon. Ribbon simply says 'Tambelon'. before a huge goat-like beast appears. Megan wakes up in a panic and tells the others of her dream. Paradise has heard of Tambelon before - it's an ancient city that resides in the Realm of Darkness, an 'in-between place'. It was last seen 500 years ago, when its ruler, Grogar, tried to conquer Ponyland. She can't remember why he disappeared, but knows that he swore he'd return and try again. She supposes that Tambelon is coming to Ponyland now, and that it has already taken over the space through which unicorns wink in and out.

Bray, a sneering donkey-like creature, delivers the unicorns their disgusting meal and then reports to Grogar - the beast Megan has seen in her dreams. Grogar tells Bray to spread the word that they're about to arrive in Ponyland.

Shortly before dawn, the Little Ponies are preparing to resume their search when Tambelon descends from the sky. When it lands on the plains a massive army of Troggles swarms out, armed with spears that imprison their victims in beams of light. Within seconds, they've captured every Little Pony in sight...

Part 2

Bray reports that nearly all of the Little Ponies have been captured, but Grogar isn't satisfied - he wants every single inhabitant of Dream Valley in the dungeons by nightfall.

The Little Ponies, Flutter Ponies, Bushwoolies and Grundles have all faced Troggle attack, and the few of each that escaped capture regroup in the forest, exchanging plans to infiltrate the city. Danny has the idea that one of them might be easier to sneak in than a whole army, and so Lofty flies Megan into Tambelon under the cover of darkness.

In the dungeon, the imprisoned Ponies knock a brick from the wall, exposing a tunnel. Galaxy, Heart Throb and Magic Star go through it to find an escape route. They discover an ancient bell, and Galaxy senses that it has some magic power. They then open a manhole onto the street, finding Megan and Lofty. Megan tells them to quickly get the others from the dungeon so they can rush the gates at the changing of the guard.

The group in the woods are unable to bear the wait, so Peach Blossom makes a reconnaissance flight to Tambelon. She sees the guards discover the escaping Ponies just before they reach the gates. A battle ensues, which the Ponies appear to be winning - until Grogar appears, just as they're pushing the gates open. He fires beams of light, capturing all of the escapees including Megan and Lofty. Peach Blossom makes a narrow escape and tells the others what she's seen. Danny laments that they've got to do something soon, or Grogar will rule all of Ponyland...

Part 3

Peach Blossom recalls that the bell around Grogar's neck glowed every time he used his magic. Wind Whistler supposes that it might be the source of his power, and all agree they must capture it. Molly suggests capturing Bray's voice on tape to lure Grogar outside the gates, but there's one problem - Danny's tape recorder is still in the Paradise Estate, which is now Troggle territory.

While Surprise distracts the Troggle guards, Danny rides Cherries Jubilee through Paradise Estate and emerges with his tape recorder. After sneaking into the Troggle camp to record Bray's voice, Danny splices the tape to say 'Grogar, this is your last chance to capture all those ponies!'. Masquerade disguises herself as Bray and with the taped line she's able to lead Grogar into an ambush. He proves more powerful than they expected, however, and takes charge of the situation, capturing Paradise and Forget-me-not and driving the others away.

Drog, a Troggle, falls foul of a rope trap set by Danny in the woods. As he hangs upside-down, he protests that he's a deserter. He says the Troggles were also conquered by Grogar, and that some, like him, wish to escape Tambelon. He also reveals Grogar's plan to banish the Ponies he has captured to the Realm of Darkness at midnight. As night falls, he leads the Ponies to a secret tunnel into Tambelon - but when they follow him, they find themselves surrounded by Grogar and his minions...

Part 4

As Drog is thrown into the dungeon with the Little Ponies, they realise he truly meant to betray Grogar. He explains that the Troggles remain divided between, some follow Grogar and some wish to escape. He thinks that with the Little Ponies' help, the rebels could still triumph - they just need to find a way out of the dungeon. Forget-me-not discovers a crack in the ceiling, but it's not large enough for a Little Pony to get through. Megan has the idea of using the gruel they've been given to eat - Buttons pours it into the crack, and Fizzy makes it bubble and expand. Part of the roof collapses, and Megan, North Star and Forget-me-not fly through it. Finding Bray, they steal his keys and open the dungeon door.

With scant minutes left until midnight, Drog rallies the rebel Troggles, and the Little Ponies race to the gates. They meet no resistance until Grogar emerges from a tall tower, firing bolts of energy at them. Paradise suddenly remembers the legend of his previous defeat - the ancient bell they found is the source of Grogar's power, and ringing it will disrupt his magic. As Forget-me-not draws Grogar's fire, Megan flies on North Star in search of the bell. A stray energy bolt from Grogar blasts down the gates as North Star delivers the bell a hearty kick. Tambleon fades away, returning to the Realm of Darkness and taking Grogar and Bray with it. All of Grogar's former captives celebrate their new freedom.

Notes

* Features the songs 'Where Have The Unicorns Gone?' (Part 1), 'Escape!' (Part 3) and 'Let The Bell Of Freedom Ring' (Part 4).
* Part 2 contains no song. It appears to have been cut from the campfire scene at the beginning - the characters simply jump from despairing at their hopeless situation to exchanging plans.
* How could Galaxy and Baby Gusty wind up in Tambelon from indoors if unicorns cannot wink through surroundings?
* The story includes every Little Pony featured in the series so far, with the sole exception of Truly, who appeared in Pony Puppy, and four of the Baby Sea Ponies.
* The Grundles make a return appearance from .
* The Moochic is the only major character not shown. Dialogue mentions him guarding the baby ponies and eventually becoming the last to be captured, but he never joins the Little Ponies.
* During the song 'Where Have the Unicorns Gone?' Megan hops aboard Rosedust's back and rides her out of Paradise Estate. For one thing, it is mentioned that Flutter Ponies never go to Paradise Estate, but even more noticeably, Morning Glory notes in 'The End of Flutter Valley' that Megan is too large to fly on the Flutter Ponies.
* When Lofty and Heart Throb fly at the same time, their wings turn brighter than the rest of their bodies.
* Several ponies seem to change between imprisonment and freedom without explanation. For example, Fizzy is at the campfire meeting early in Part 2, though all of the unicorns are meant to be imprisoned at this point. Whizzer is another example, she's originally imprisoned at first, (we know this because we see her running with Megan when they attempt an escape but it fails) but in the second half of the episode she seems to replace Masquerade, who was free, but is now imprisoned. Others include Sundance, Lofty, Shady, Posey, Cherries Jubilee, and Lickety-Split who were all captured but are also shown being free, while Sweet Stuff, who is originally free, suddenly appears in the dungeon. The Bushwoolies also go from free to captured without reason and so does the Grundle King.
* Spike, who is not originally in the episode, suddenly appears out of nowhere in Part 3 and attacks Grogar.
* In Part 3, after Danny obtains his tape recorder, he and Cherries Jubilee escape from the Troggles by jumping out the window, but the next shot shows them escaping through the front entrance of Paradise Estate.
* Although it looks as if Peach Blossom had been caught, it is actually Forget-Me-Not who is captured!
* Where does Peach Blossom get her immense vocabulary from? She doesn't have it in End of Flutter Valley!
* The Baby Sea Ponies' fates are never explained.

DVD Releases

* Region 1: Disc 3 of "My Little Pony: The Complete First Season"
* Region 2 (German): "Die Rückkehr von Tambelon"
* Region 4: "The Ice Cream Wars & Mish Mash Melee & The Return Of Tambelon"

External links

* [http://dreamvalley-mlp.com/songs86-3.html Song lyrics]