The Manual of Heroes

by Kaliann25

Eighth Principle

Eighth Principle:
Unlike villains, a hero always accepts the responsibility for his/her actions

There was no doubt that Grogar was a monster. The incarnation of evil itself. He had always been.

Born in the distant mountains of Ram, he was separated from his family when the sorcerers of his land noticed his natural talent for magic. Grogar’s amount of magic power was below average. But what made him to stand out among his pairs, was his sensibility.

For some reason, Grogar learned how to feel the fluctuation of magic through those around him, giving him the chance to guess his opponents’ moves before they did them. That, plus his creativity and quick thinking, made Grogar a distinguished magic fighter.

And he called the attention of the most powerful mages in the world. He defeated them all, becoming one of the most lethal magic warriors in the world, not only the land of Ram.

At the tender age of twelve, Grogar was considered invincible. Even a young Lady Catrina, who already had over a thousand deaths in her victims counting, was defeated with ease. She cried for mercy after only fifteen minutes.
During the early years, Grogar felt happy, and proud. But, with each easy victory, he slowly grew more and more frustrated, and angry. Mostly angry. He didn’t know why, all he knew was that he didn’t enjoy his battles anymore.

Even those who called themselves gods, or demigods, ran in fear. And one day, he lost it.
A young and confident Tirek was stupid enough to defy him. Grogar was excited, thinking this could be the creature who defeated him. He even allowed Tirek to steal part of his power before start fighting for real. But, even with the extra advantage, Triek ended up all beaten, and crying in fear after two minutes.
Furious, Grogar almost kicked him to death.

But Tirek got lucky. After the disappointing encounter, the next idiot who defied Grogar, was killed horribly. His screams of agony were heard all over an entire continent. Grogar was no longer amused for his battles, all he wanted was to punish those who were weaker than him, only for existing. Grogar grew bitter, starting to despite every single form of life on earth.

One day, however, everything changed. The Silver Cowbell appeared before him, and made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. The Cowbell, or, the Destroyer of Worlds, promised Grogar he would find, eventually, a worthy opponent, in exchange to become his messenger of death.
When he accepted, the Destroyer of Worlds granted Grogar with an insane amount of power, and the eternal life. He became the almighty Overgoat everyone feared. Now, Grogar was truly invincible.

When he realized his mistake, Grogar destroyed all life in half of the world, and disappeared in the island of Tambelon for generations.

But the Silver Cowbell knew it was only a matter of time, when Grogar finally get sick of waiting, and destroy the world once and for all.

And then, the right time came. When Bright Spark and Luminositè walked into scene, and ruined everything.

It all started when Grogar heard the rumors about the two so-called villains, who defeated Tirek, and crushed his confidence. The Overgoat, persuaded by the Cowbell, went to face them.
For the Silver Cowbell, this was the beginning of the end. Grogar would defeat Mister Z and Dolly in a matter of seconds, and his rage would make him destroy the entire world. Including the Cowbell’s other face, the Tree of Harmony, protector of the world.

As the Tree of Harmony, the Protector/Destroyer of Worlds have already talked with Bright and Lumi, recognizing their privileged minds, and the madness inside them. But he never thought they had any chance against Grogar. But, surprise, their non-magic weapons ended up being key to give Grogar his first defeat in history.
Well, this wasn’t too bad. Grogar would return seeking for revenge, more powerful and angry than ever before, and the two young geniuses would die, with the rest of the world.
But then, they revealed their ultimate weapon: the nuke.

At first, Grogar recovered the joy in his life. Finally, he have found opponents worthy of his power. Hell, yeah! And, also, they were merely children. Their potential was limitless. If they were able to defeat him at the age of ten, he could only imagine how their next battle would be.
But instead of the glorious fight he dreamed about, he went sick. First, the vomits, the loss of hair, the bone pain, and the increasing weakness. Then, the metallic taste on his mouth, the constant spiting of blood. And the protuberances that grew around his body.

Whatever the two of them did to him, was killing him slowly, and horribly.

And, here he was, five years of living hell, Grogar faced the ultimate humiliation. To allow the inferior villains, along with his two true rivals, to see him in this state. Dying out of radioactive poisoning.

---

In the meantime, in Equestria, nopony knew what to say or what to do.

“Know what?” asked Bright, looking at those around him. Unlike his usual self, he seemed insecure, and scared. Mostly, scared.

“Bright Spark, are you okay?” asked Twilight, approaching.

The young colt jumped from of his chair, and began to walk in circles, clearly affected for this. “It can’t be, it can’t be! You can’t die, you can’t die like this! YOU SURVIVED THE EXPLOSSION!! Why are you even affected by this?”

“Bright…” said Flash, hugging his son.

Bright pushed his father away, as he resumed his walking, this time a bit faster. “Dude, why didn’t you say something? I could figure something out! I could save your life!”

“Bright!” called him Twilight, holding him with her magic.

He turned to her, looking at his mother with concern. Panic. Something Twilight would never expect from her son.
Tears began to run through his eyes.
“Mom… I broke my promise! How should I suppose to face you now? I BROKE MY PROMISE!” He shook his head violently. “I swore to all of you that I would never take a life! But that’s why I just did. I TOOK A LIFE!”

He turned to the agonizing Grogar. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING EARLIER? I COULD HELP YOU! I WOULD SAVED YOUR LIFE!!”

Celestia looked at him with concern. “Bright, calm down. It’s okay, it was all an accident. And, not even I would saved his life if I were in your place. I can’t believe what I’m saying, but, yeah. This death is not something to be regretted.”

“We both swore to you we would never kill.” said Luminoitè. “Besides, he was the perfect test subject. Immune to almost everything. His skin was, at least, three times, more powerful than our suits. Suits that are alicorn-proof! Also, his power was equivalent to two of our batteries. Batteries that can power-up Equestria, Mount Aris, Zebrica and the Changeling Hive at the same time! He was the perfect opponent, someone we could fight without containing ourselves. This supposed to be an epic fight, but instead… is nothing but an execution.”

Rarity hugged her daughter. “Lumi, back then, you saved our lives! Don’t feel bad for doing what you did! It was him, or us.”

Lumi looked at her mother, tilting her head. “I don’t understand, mère.”

“What I mean, is, none of us blames you for this. I still remember that fight, every single detail. And I remember he pushed you two to your limit. Lumi, Bright, you saved our lives. We will not blame you for this, it was only necessary.”

Lumi cleared her tears, and cuddled with her. Rarity embraced Lumi, in an attempt to calm her down.

“But, do not let your madness win.” said Rarity softly.

In the meantime, Twilight nuzzled with Bright. “You know, Bright Spark? I’m kind of glad to see you like this.”

“But I broke my promise. I swore to you I would never kill, and I…”

Twilight hugged him with her wings. “Bright, don’t you realize? This demonstrates me you do have feelings. Even if there’s only a little, you have empathy. There’s hope. You would never be a complete sociopath, my greatest fear.”

Bright raised an eyebrow. “Wow. You do know how to comfort me, mom.”

“Bright, you know what I mean. Also, between the two of us, I’m relieved that Grogar is dying. He was really scary.”

“For real?” asked Bright, suspicious.

“For real.” said Twilight.

“Also, I’m glad you decided to fight from here.” said Luna. “Now, the Silver Cowbell can do nothing to force you to take Grogar’s place. In my I never imagined you would ever defeat him for good.

“Yeah, we though that, eventually, he would win.” sSaid Celestia. “This changes everything.”

“Yes, we lost the best enemy we ever had.” sighed Bright Spark.

“We broke a promise to our mères.” added Luminositè.

Luna nodded. “Yes, but also, you refused to take Grogar’s place. And, if everything that Grogar told us was true, there’s no destined Destroyer of Worlds. Not anymore. You have delayed the destruction of our world for, at least, a few millennia.”

They stayed in silence, until Bright Spark looked at the monitor.

“I guess we should warn the others the nukes are on their way.”

---

In Tambelon, none of the villains dared to move, or to make a sound.
They simply couldn’t believe it. How this pathetic and agonizing creature could could be Grogar? And all thanks to this two teenage ponies?

“They actually defeated them.”

“I thought it was only a rumor. That they defeated him the first time.

“I was there. I saw the weapon that did this to him.

“This was unexpected.”

Finally, Bright and Lumi turned to the monitors.

“Hey guys, I don’t want to spoil your fun, but, I just threw a bunch of nukes to the island. They would be there in no time.”

That made all the villains to pale in fear.

“Yeah, if I were you, I would run. Fast.” said Lumi.

Grogar, possessed by the Silver Cowbell, looked at the two teenage ponies.

“No! COME HERE, AND ACCEPT YOUR FATES!”

Lumi looked at the Overgoat with a small smile. “Oh, excuse moi, but we don’t have any intention to become the destroyers of worlds. So, we hope that this weapon blows you up too, cloche.”

“Do you actually think you can destroy me? I’m a GOD! A GOD!”

“Yes!” the two kids said in the unison. “We know we will destroy you.

“No, seriously, get out. The nukes will be there in precisely five minutes.” said Bright.

Lady Catrina’s Island:

The Cat Sorceress was happy, in her role of hostess of the mother of all parties (of evil). It was a shame that half of the villains were at Tambelon, because they would have a lot of fun with her.
Suddenly, she felt a bunch of teleportation spells, of people appearing of her island.

“Hey, what’s going on?” asked Catrina, opening the door.

Chrysalis, leading the villains who were at Tambelon, smiled weakly. “Hi there, Catrina. Do you think it is late to join your party? I brought some Changeling Mead. Made out of pure love. Delicious!”

Squirk presented Catrina some bottles, from his bar. “Hi, I brought drinks. Let’s get this party started!”

Sombra brought some ‘crystals’ that were actually pills. Don’t ask.

“Okay, what happened with Grogar?” asked Catrina.

“Isn’t that obvious?” asked King Charlatan, presenting her a tray of fresh sushi. “HE IS DEAD!”

“WHAT?”

“Madness is more powerful than pure evil. The lunatic duo destroyed Grogar.”

Catrina smiled. “For real? They killed the monster?”

“Yes he is!”

The sound of multiple cheers was heard three islands around Catrina’s. The monster was dead. The world was now a happier place.

---

Back in Equestria, Bright and Lumi calmed down a bit. Only a bit, because they were still really affected for what happened. They killed someone, but no one seemed to care.

Then, a flash of light invaded the castle, and a mountain of presents materialized in front of there.

Bright and Lumi were not in the mood to see what was going on, so Flurry approached, and read the card.

“Huh…”

“What is it?”

“It is a tribute, for the two heroes that killed Grogar.” informed the littlest alicorn.

Bright frowned. “Great, and I guess this is only the beginning.”

“It could be.” agreed Twilight. “But, our lives can go back to normal. At least for now.”