The trap was set. Twilight Sparkle had agreed to visit Ponyville, because if I knew anything about villains in Equestria, it's that they always tried to neutralize her first.
It almost worked for us!
It stood to reason they'd want to remove her before striking on Hearth's Warming for maximum drama, so I'd set up a scrying-detection field around her, since our villain was likely to be some kind of wizard, and I waited. The moment anypony attacked her or tried to spy on her with magic, Sunset and I would know.
It was a boring couple of hours waiting for a ping. By the time it finally came, I had almost fallen asleep.
"Quillon! We've got'em! They're hiding out by the swamp!"
I groaned. "Ugh, really? I have to go back there?"
Sunset smiled apologetically. "Seems like it. But I'm sure we'll wrap this up quickly, and then we can focus on Hearth's Warming."
I huffed at that as we set out. "Honestly, if it's a choice between thinking about that or spending all Hearth's Warming Eve fighting some villain, I'll take the fight."
Sunset sighed. "Not a holiday pony, huh? I had a rough first Hearth's Warming after I reformed, too. But my friends helped me through it... Sorta."
I quirked an eyebrow at that. "Sorta?"
She grimaced. "Well, they were also kinda why it was rough in the first place? There was a misunderstanding."
Friendship is dumb.
I thought friendship was power?
Dumb power.
I shook my head to clear it. "That's awful. I'm glad it worked out, though."
Sunset nodded. "Our friendship grew stronger as a result, and honestly, I had a good time once it was all resolved. Still, it's a vulnerable time for ponies."
I hummed at that. "That's probably what our villain is thinking, too."
Sunset's gaze darkened. "Probably. We've got to put a stop to them; this is a time ponies should be recovering from everything that happened this year, not another time of terror."
I winced slightly at that, but nodded. "Right. They deserve some peace with their families after everything I did."
Sunset snapped her gaze to me in alarm, looking deeply apologetic. "That wasn't what I meant!"
I shrugged. "It's a fact. I can live with it. Let's just focus on bringing down the badguy."
Sunset frowned, but nodded. "Okay."
We made our way into the swamp quickly and in silence. I could tell we were both nervous about what we might find, but the reason was probably different; Sunset was anticipating a fight, whereas I was worried that I had a direct hoof in motivating whatever villain we'd come across. To my surprise and concern, the spell led us directly back to 'Grogar's' lair.
"This is where we stayed when we were plotting against Equestria! Somepony moved in after we left?"
Sunset grimaced. "That can't be a good sign."
We shared a meaningful look and pressed onward, but we hadn't reached the entrance when a booming, familiar voice rang out to us from the balcony.
"I see I've been found out. But you've merely come to your destruction, little ponies."
I stared in total disbelief as Grogar strode out onto the balcony and stared down at us. There were minor differences between this individual and what Discord had shown us; a slightly different horn shape, an older appearance, and freaking red eyes.
Sunset scoffed. "Discord! Knock it off!"
"Uh, Sunset? I don't think that's—!"
Grogar roared at us, and bolts of yellow electricity blasted the entire region around where we were standing. Sunset had just barely managed to put a shield over it, and it shattered when the first blast hit it; she teleported us just in time for the second bolt to blast apart the ground where we had been standing.
We appeared inside the treeline, and Sunset was visibly frazzled. "What was that?!"
I fought down a panic response, clamping down on it with a cold determination.
"I think that's the real Grogar. He was trapped the same way Sombra was, in the aether; now, I'm not an expert on this, but using his bell might have made a bridge thingy for him, right?"
I knew Sunset was an expert on magic, and she didn't disappoint as her eyes lit up. "That was his magic focus! But he would need some kind of gap between the dimensions to escape from that place!"
"You mean like the windigoes tearing through it because Equestria was in chaos?"
A few trees around us exploded as Grogar started blasting nearby hiding-places. Sunset smiled uncomfortably.
"Yeah, like that. Oh ponyfeathers. We need to get help!"
I opened my mouth to agree, but then clamped it shut. When I spoke, it came from somewhere different than before.
"You're right; go for help. But if he gets away there's no telling how much strife he will cause, and I've studied his magic back when I was planning to betray him. I'll hold him here."
Sunset stared at me like I was crazy, but a nearby explosion shook her out of it.
"Quillon, he'll kill you!"
I smiled up at her, completely sincere.
"Don't worry; I'm a super hero. I'll pull through, one way or the other."
I didn't think I really would, but that wasn't the point. Sensing time was of the essence, and seeing I wouldn't be dissuaded, Sunset took off at a gallop for Ponyville. I took a deep breath and strode out of the treeline, Luna's hoof-crafted armor shining brilliantly as the sun hit it. I used a voice-augmenting spell.
"HEY, YOU OLD GOAT! I'M RIGHT OVER HERE!"
Grogar sneered down at me, halting his assault to leap over the balcony and slam his hooves into the ground. He strode up to me, and I strode up to him, determined not to show any of the fear I felt. He snarled down at me.
"Cozy Glow, isn't it? You've changed your appearance, but it doesn't fool me. You were one of the fools Discord duped with my disguise."
I raised an eyebrow, trying to play it cool. "S-so, how do you even know any of that?"
Grogar laughed – not the unnerving, sinister thing Discord had put on, but an off-putting guffaw. "Discord was a fool! He used my scrying sphere for all of his theatrics, and so I was able to gaze out from the abyss at what he saw, and at all of you!"
Oh. Well that explains that.
Good, you got your answers! Time to leave!
So, what? The great villainous Cozy Glow is a coward, now? I can take him!
... Then let's kick his stupid goat rear while he tries to brag!
Grogar grinned horribly down at me. "I know all about you, Cozy Glow. You were a fool to reveal yourself; you won't defeat me with social niceties, nor with the magic you stole from my bell!"
Speaking of which, I noticed he had his bell on him. Given that it was meant to be in the Canterlot Archives, I put together who had sabotaged the artifact-transfer process and manipulated Neighsay.
Got to give it to this old goat, he is much sneakier than he seems.
Grogar tapped his bell, expecting it to suck my magic right back out.
Nothing happened. He tapped the bell again, as if trying to kick it into working, and glanced down at it in confusion. I just laughed.
"Aww, is the widdle goat's toy bwoken? Maybe it's because I studied how your magic worked when I planned to backstab you, you old goat!"
I didn't give him time to process what I said or respond before I blasted him full-on, sending him flying back into the wall of our old hideout. He roared in frustration, and I saw his horns and bell light up as he prepared another lightning barrage.
"LAAAAME! Don't you know any other moves?!"
I formed an intricate spiderweb of energy just before he fired, and his blasts slammed against it, slowly deforming it into a ball of concentrated energy far in excess of what I'd ever held before.
So he has all of the magic that was wiped out of Tirek and Chrysalis by the powers of harmony. Great. He's just twice as strong as me.
AND NOW HE SUFFERS AT HIS OWN HORNS!
"DRAGON BALL!"
I fired the massive vortex of energy at him before he fully understood his attacks were being redirected, and I heard a satisfying yelp as the blast went off, wiping out the entire hideout and most of the surrounding terrain, leaving a massive crater. Soil, wood, and stone rained down from the sky, and I casually put up a shield to keep it off of me. I took to the sky and scanned the area, hoping to spot him lying unconscious somewhere nearby.
Instead, my shield was shattered by a bolt of power that knocked me right out of the sky. I heard Grogar scream "ARROGANT WHELP!" from somewhere in the crater just before I dug a trough through the dirt with my chanfrom.
"Ow."
Yeah, that didn't do it justice. My whole body ached from the electricity arcing through it, and I felt like I'd nearly broken my neck with that crash. Still, I forced myself to my hooves and readied a spell. Grogar climbed his way over the edge of the crater just as I cast it. He bellowed – almost a bleat-like sound – and charged at me, firing lightning blasts the whole way.
But I could see where he would fire based on his posture. My magic pushed my reflexes into insane overdrive, like the world was moving in slow motion, and I ducked under the first blast, charging a spell of my own, and bounded forward, sliding under the second. The third he over-corrected, hitting the ground in front of me and providing me with a screen of dirt and debris; I juked to the left, knowing he would end up pivoting the other way, and I was rewarded for my guess when his third shot missed outright.
He caught sight of me again and screamed in pure rage, but I leapt over his next shot, bringing us dangerously close together. Just as he fired his last bolt, I formed a reflective shield in front of me, and his blast rebounded directly into his eyes.
He screamed.
I cackled manically.
"YOU THINK YOU'RE EQUESTRIA'S GREATEST VILLAIN?!"
I leapt on his back, hooking my hooves around his horns, and blasted him point-blank with a flamethrower spell, right in the face. He howled and desperately tried to buck me off, to no avail; he shot spells randomly, but couldn't aim behind him.
"YOU'RE YESTERDAY'S NEWS! YOU FAILED, GUSTY THE GREAT PUT YOU OUT TO PASTURE!"
I blasted him in the back of the head several more times before he finally managed to kick me off. I flipped in midair and landed just in time to weave around a blind shot of his that came dangerously close. My voice grew even louder as I returned his assault with blasts of fire.
"AND I'VE GOT NEWS FOR YOU, GROGAR—"
I dove under one of his attacks and came up underneath him.
"—YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED THERE! FLYING HYDRA PUNCH!"
I actually cast a spell to grow myself in size just before I leapt upwards, giving him the force of a superpowered, adult pony straight to the jaw. He went flying back into the crater, and I dashed forward as quickly as I could to keep him in view. I just barely got a shield up in time to catch a blast from him as he landed, and I rebounded the shot on him. I charged up my horn, pouring everything I could into it; my rage born from the pain wracking my body, my self-hatred both for being a villain and for losing to the heroes, my resentment of my parents for what they'd put me through before I'd even had a chance to understand who I was, all of it.
Grogar staggered from the rebounded shot, and yelled up to me.
"YOU LOST AS WELL, FOAL! YOU'RE NO BETTER THAN I AM!"
I cackled down at him as my horn overcharged so much it began to emit arcs of electricity into the nearby area.
"You should know by now, Grogar! From your own experience, from watching us!"
I juked around another lightning blast and fixed my eyes on him, grinning like a crazy pony.
"VILLAINS ALWAYS LOSE! SAY HI TO SOMBRA FOR ME!"
I loosed the ridiculous overcharge in my horn, and the recoil sent me flying backwards like I'd been bucked in the face. I barely got a chance to see Grogar melting back into the aether with a scream before I slammed back into the dirt.
Something about his face – utterly disbelieving, horrified, furious – struck me as the funniest thing I'd ever seen. I started giggling, and before long went into full-blown addled cackling that would have done Discord proud.
I kept it up until I was out of air, and even kept laughing after that, until I finally passed out.