Rule #4:
A villain is always a step ahead, that’s why is vital to collect information in every way possible
Bright started his Saturday morning as always: literally catapulting himself out of his bed and then run downstairs to have breakfast. It was one of the few weekends with his father at home, opening the door to countless possibilities: they could go to the park, or go walk around town or simply stay in the backyard training; it didn’t matter, because all that Bright wanted was to spend time with Flash Sentry.
“I don’t know, maybe I was too harsh with him; at least he was home yesterday, I don’t like the idea of attacking dad” Bright said while brushing his mane.
So he went to the dining room just to check with huge relief that his father was the one making breakfast; Twilight always did her best but to be honest she wasn’t very good with the house-work. In fact Bright created the Z-Bots way back before he became a villain, precisely to become the Castle’s servitude.
“Hey Bright, are you ready for our day together?” Asked Flash happily while serving his son a portion of eggs with haybacon.
“I’m always ready dad! Is mom joining us today?”
“No, she haves to check a thesis for a PHD”
“Come on!” Complained Bright.
“You’ll get it one day champ, after all you have your mother’s brains. Anyway, what do you want to do?”
“We’ll see, but I want to train at the evening!” Said Bright firmly.
“That’s the spirit! Have you hear it darling? We have a young warrior among us, maybe he’ll become a general one day!” Said Flash to Twilight who was precisely walking downstairs to join them.
“Maybe, but who knows!” Smiled Twilight. “Good morning you two, have a good sleep? You didn’t stayed awake too late reading, right Bright Spark?”
“Look who’s talking! But no, I was too tired yesterday” Protested the colt crossing his hooves.
And the small family ate happily, even if Twilight was busy for the day she did her best to enjoy those small moments with her husband and her son; and also promised them to do her best to join them before lunch. So when they finished breakfast, Twilight walked back to her study while Bright and Flash headed to the main door and opened it right before Princess Celestia could knock it.
“Godmother! It’s been a while!” Cheered the colt.
Celestia embraced the little one with her wings and kissed him on the forehead.
“Bright Spark, look at yourself, I swear you get bigger each time I see you. How are you?”
“I’m great, thank you Godmother. Have you came to speak with mom? I’ll call her right away”
Flash just bowed to his boss.
“Hello Princess Celestia, what brings you here?”
“A very urgent matter I’m afraid. Bright, do you mind if I speak with both of your parents alone? In the meantime I would like you to go play outside” said Celestia frowning.
The kid nodded confused but did not questioned her; as for Flash, he was clearly annoyed.
“Come on! I had a very long week and all I want is to spend time with my son. Is it truly necessary for me to be here?”
Celestia was about to answer but Twilight had just joined them.
“Flash, if Princess Celestia came all the way to here that means this is very important. Please?”
“And I understand the importance of family Commander Sentry, all I’m asking is an hour of your time, I promise” said Celestia.
Bright by his way was already heading upstairs back to his room.
“Bright Spark, I said I need you to go play outside” reminded him the Princess of the Sun.
“I know Godmother, I’m just going to get my baseball cap, I won’t take long, I promise” said the colt innocently. “Dad, I’ll be at the park or at Rarity’s playing with Lumi”
“See you in an hour then” sighed Flash resigned.
So the colt got what he was looking for and ran to the park.
“This kid is more mature than his father from time to time” giggled Twilight.
“It happens. So, shall we go to the Thrones Room?” Asked Princess Celestia.
So the three of them headed to the room where Twilight locked the door. The place haven’t changed too much during the years, it only had a few new decorations like a pottery vase that Bright Spark had made but not much more.
“Okay Princess, what brings you here?” Asked Twilight.
In the meantime Bright walked happily around Ponyville; and knowing that he couldn’t count on Lumi that early he simply went to the park where he sat on a swing and pressed a hidden button on his cap.
Back in the Thrones Room, the vase (decorated with glitters and such) emitted a very soft light (almost imperceptible) and started transmitting right to Bright’s listening device that was on his cap.
“So what happened, Princess Celestia?” Asked Twilight again.
As an answer, Celestia threw the two business cards on the table where Flash took them and made an exasperated face-hoof.
“Come on!”
“That’s why I asked you to stay Commander Sentry. If I’m not mistaken, you already had an encounter with Mister Z and Le Puppè right before your last shift finished, right?”
“What have they done this time?” Asked Flash.
“They broke into the Canterlot Archives and trashed the place” explained Celestia.
“Did they took an important spell with them?” Asked Twilight fearing the worst.
“No, their robbery attempt was frustrated by the Security System, but they didn’t seem to mind since their real goal was to introduce themselves to me”
“WHAT?” Shouted Flash and Twilight at the unison.
“As you heard. Apparently the whole idea of their intrusion was to challenge me and show me that there’s nothing I can do to stop them”
Flash frowned.
“So you actually fought those morons?”
Celestia nodded.
“Exactly, their behavior was childish and stupid, but at the end they did showed me they were stronger than I thought. Why did they attacked the Canterlot Archives if they weren’t trying to steal an important document? Simply to deliver a message, to show the Crown that whatever we try, they’ll always have the advantage. And to make things worse they didn’t stole any spell but they took away my five hundred year old golden chandelier right before they gave me their cards”
Flash shook his head.
“So they were just calling for attention?”
“Precisely, but why? And more important, who’s attention?”
“What do you mean?” Asked Twilight.
Celestia frowned and shivered as she remembered one of the darkest and scariest moments of her life.
“Thousands of years ago Luna and I fought a powerful foe, yes I know what you’re thinking: another one. But unlike the others, this one was different and I can say the scariest and most powerful until now. He caused countless massacres, destroyed population after population always proving to be invincible. Not only ponies, griffins, minotaurs, centaurs, cats, goats, literally every single living being on earth. His motives? It wasn’t to conquer them all, it wasn’t get more power: no. He just hates us with all his heart, he considers us nothing but bugs that deserve to be crushed. He was pure evil”
Flash made an understanding nod.
“He was being evil just for being it”
Celestia nodded again.
“Usually evil doers do what they do chasing a goal, and at the end they get so obsessed with that goal that they end up falling to see more than they want to see, or when they reach it, grow overconfident and fall; or maybe they get more and more ambitious and the most they have the most they want and at the end they have more that they can handle causing them to fall as well”
“So?” Asked Twilight.
“But Grogar wasn’t a common evil doer, he caused all that devastation not because he wanted to get something; the devastation itself was his goal. And what made him truly frightening wasn’t his overwhelming power, but his ability to feel magic, allowing him to prevent all his opponents’ moves before they do it so he always won practically without fighting”
“So how did you defeated someone like that?” Asked Twilight.
Celestia made an ironic chuckle.
“Defeat him? Are you crazy? It is impossible, we were lucky he retired voluntarily”
“What?” Asked Twilight with a shiver.
“His power, actions and status of invincible made him a reputation; and it was rumored that he was the Lord of Villains. So obviously his position of the mightiest was envied by the other villains and they defied him one by one… but they all became helpless and trembled in fear once they were in his presence. Luna and I witnessed how monsters like the Storm King, Chrysalis, Squirk, and even Tirek’s teacher, Lady Catrina escaped screaming in fear when Grogar looked at them straight to their eyes… and it was obvious he was running out of patience every time they defied him and ran away before the encounter began”
Twilight and Flash shivered; by his way back in the park Bright only raised an eyebrow, this seemed interesting.
Celestia continued:
“According to Discord, the day Tirek defied him he finally had enough; and with a single attack he crushed all of Tirek’s bones to the point of crush his spirit as well, and sick of being surrounded by such weak creatures, he retired forever… at least we hope so”
Twilight finally understood.
“So you think Dolly and Z want to copy this pony…”
“Not a pony, a ram. And I’m not sure if they know what they’re doing, but I can tell you that if they continue acting like this, they maybe end up attracting him and that would be the end of Equestria and all of its surroundings. Commander Sentry, capture those two have become our top priority. You have faced them before, so when you return to Canterlot, you’ll have your own task-force waiting for you to take command. We must stop them while we can”
Flash bowed to the Princess.
“I’ll do my best, Your Highness”
“And Twilight, I know it’s been a while but I need you and your friends ready to fight any time now. The unknown nature of Z and Dolly is that worries me so we must be ready to face them every way we know”
“You can count on us Princess Celestia!”
On his swing, Bright laughed happily.
“So it’s official, we’re on the big leagues now! This is so great, I can’t wait to tell Lumi! Hahahahaha!” He laughed deactivating the transmitter on his baseball cap.
“Hey, you’ve been too long, I want to use the swing!” Protested a kid behind him.
Bright turned and Weather Master, the young son of Thunder Lane and Cloud Chaser, paled.
“Oh Bright Spark… I’m terribly sorry… I’m leaving now…”
Bright shrugged and jumped out of the swing.
“Easy, I’m on very good mood today”
And he left happily to the sledge and soon enough his father came looking for him. Flash seemed worried, but forced a smile to not worry his son as well.
“Dad?”
“Sorry champ, is just that I have a very long day before me when I go back to work on Monday; but you don’t worry. What do you want to do?”
Bright smiled and said he would like to go to Fluttershy’s animal refuge on the town outskirts. Flash agreed while Bright was happily thinking that now he’ll spend a lot more time with his father even if he wouldn’t know. A good villain was always a step ahead.