"You see, a while back, we were sent by Grogar to retrieve his Bewitching Bell." Tirek started to explain.
"His what?!" Shining Armor asked, remembering Starswirl mentioning something like that.
"The Bewitching Bell is an ancient talisman of great power. Legends say it fueled Grogar's most powerful-and evil-magic. It was supposedly stolen from him by Gusty the Great and her Unicorn Warriors, then concealed by magic. I've always wanted to find out where it was. If a powerful artifact like that was out in the open where anyone could reach it, then it's trouble. It wouldn't be good if ponies like Caballeron or monsters like Ahuizotl were able to access it." Daring spoke up, she was limping along behind the others.
"Are you okay? You're limping." Spike said
"Thanks, I hadn't noticed." Daring said sarcastically. "I'll be fine. I was injured by Caballeron's goons before I was taken down here."
"Like I was saying, Grogar sent us to retrieve his Bewitching Bell from where Gusty had hidden it, Mount Everhoof." Tirek was inturrupted yet again.
"Mount Everhoof?!" Spitfire, Soarin, and Rainbow exclaimed.
"Now what?" Tirek asked impatiently
"The three of us have been up there before, and never seen it. There's even a whole outpost that harvests Everplant. How can it have been hidden up there and nopony has ever found it?" Spitfire asked
"You've gone up there before? How?" Cozy asked
"The weather is rough, but if you're a good enough flier, you can make it to the outpost. They even run deliveries across Equestria, so it's not impossible to reach." Soarin replied
"Well we had enough trouble getting up there, and worse, Grogar sent us to retrieve it so we could learn to work together." Cozy said, gagging
"We were forced to, in the end. The bell was at the very peak of the mountain. Unless you have been to the top, you would not have seen the cave in which it was hidden, or the magic barrier surrounding it. We had to work together to get to the top, by using all of our skills and not fighting. Chrysalis agreed to relinquish her magic so I could break the magic barrier. Then Cozy flew in and got the bell, I returned the magic to Chrysalis, and we left the mountain." Tirek said
"A cave? Soar, we sheltered in a cave during that big storm on the mountain, remember?" Rainbow asked him
"Yeah, but it wasn't at the peak, and we didn't go far enough in to see if there was anything there." Soarin responded
"It wasn't at the peak Tirek, there is no peak on that mountain, just random ledges and caves in each one." Chrysalis argued
"Alright, enough. The point is, we retrieved the bell." Tirek finished
"Then where is it? Grogar wouldn't need you anymore if he had it, and he wouldn't need to bring the mares down here." Discord said
"Well..." Cozy zipped away and returned holding an ancient, teal colored bell with strange markings.
"This is our deal." Tirek said, gesturing with his hand to the bell. "We let you go, you take the bell and hide it, far away from Grogar." he explained
"May I?" Daring flew up to Cozy and took it from her, landing. She winced a little as she shifted it in her hooves, examining the markings and cracks. "It's genuine. This is the real Bewitching Bell." Daring reported
"What would we do with it?" Twilight asked
"If you let me take it, I can put it in a museum. I'll even guard it personally until Grogar is defeated, no pony will be able to get their hooves on it." Daring suggested
"Or maybe I should take it. I can put it in the Canterlot vault, with official guards to insure it's safety." Shining Armor objected
"We could hide it in the private Wonderbolt Museum. Since all the 'bolts know it's there, we'd be able to guard it from the air and the ground, maybe post guards that rotate out." Spitfire said
"The Crystal Empire's light and love might be able to stop Grogar from attacking and finding it." Cadence added
"My chaos realm could easily disguise the bell's presence." Discord said
"Why are you even friends, you can't even agree where to hide this." Chrysalis spat
"We aren't friends because we never fight, we're friends because we care about each other." Twilight said.
"So, what do we do with this thing?" Spitfire asked, gesturing to the bell with her wing.
"I think...that Daring should take it. She has the most experience with ancient artifacts, and I suppose her knowledge of its power will help her hide it more securely among museums." Twilight said
"A museum, now that I think about it, is not the best place for this yet. I can hide it in my home, though. There are plenty of other artifacts I've been deciphering to conceal it." Daring said
"Now that you've all finally agreed, can you go?" Chrysalis hissed
"Why do you care?" Scootaloo asked
"In case you haven't noticed, I feed on love, and even with all your bickering there is plenty of that here for my taking. Unless you would like for me to go into a feeding frenzy, you should leave." Chrysalis spat
Chrysalis' horn lit up with her sickly green magic. She tugged on a rock jutting out of the wall. A trapdoor opened above them.
"This trapdoor will take you above, then this foul beast can teleport you away." Tirek said, pointing to Discord
"Just because you haven't considered reforming doesn't mean it's a bad thing." Discord retorted
"But you know, you acted like friends to retrieve the bell, you said so. You worked together." Twilight said
"That's why we want it out of here!" Cozy exclaimed "We almost became friends with each other over that bell. We're villains, we can't be friends."
Twilight sighed in exasperation.
"Now leave. Never speak of this allegiance again." Tirek said. They headed up.