Today has truly not gone to plan. First, I found out Discord was Grogar the whole time, then our plot to divide the ponies brought the windigos of all things, then these annoying ponies pulled an army out of their flanks and now this?! Chrysalis thought, staring slack-jawed at the apparently still living legend before her. “You’re-”
“ALIVE?!” Discord shouted cutting off the villainess. “How?! You died over 3000 years ago!” Discord gasped all the color draining from his face.
“Of course I’m alive you fool! And I shall have words with you later.” Grogar growled pointing a threatening hoof toward the chaos lord. He trotted past all the shocked creatures as he marched up to The Mean 3. “As for you three, how and where did you get my bell?!” He stomped shaking the ground as his patience was wearing thin. Chrysalis snarled and leaped at the ram, planting herself at shield between them.
“I don’t care if you're the real Father of Monsters or not! Release us! We control the bell, and don’t take orders from some old fool!” She snarled horn pulsing with magic. Grogar raised an eyebrow and turned to the two behind her.
“Does this insect, speak for all of you I assume?” He asked barely phased by the queen’s threat.
“Insect?! HOW DARE YOU!! I WILL TURN YOU TO ASHES YOU POMPOUS-” Chrysalis’s rage was cut short as her muzzle was magically snapped shut by the ram’s magic. Not even bothering to give her attention he looked toward the other two still waiting for an answer.
“Well, I mean….” Cozy began intimidated by Grogar’s unwavering glare.
“Oi! Do you mind?! We’re in the middle of something here!” Rainbow Dash shouted from behind. The ram groaned in annoyance and turned to the crowd behind him.
“And what pray tell, am I interrupting?” Grogar asked not wanting to deal with anyone’s crap today.
“We’re in the middle of an epic battle! If it weren’t for you we’d be done already!!” Rainbow shouted hovering above her friends. Grogar looked between the three villains and the crowd of gathered creatures.
“Battle? I see no battle? All I see are bickering children fighting over the use of MY bell.” Grogar said.
“Children?! Why I otta!!” Rainbow yells charging at the ram only to be stopped by someone grabbing her tail. She turned expecting Twilight or Applejack, but to her surprise, it was Discord, who had terror spelled all across his face.
“Rainbow please, you do not want to mess with him! He’s more dangerous than you know!” Discord pleaded, taking a glance toward Grogar.
“Hmph, it seems you still know your place Discord,” Grogar said smirking. “Now if we're done with these games I’d like to find out how three buffoons stole my property.” He said turning back to the trio.
“Well, we sorta found it on top of Mount Everhoof?” Cozy explained, touching down. Chrysalis giving her a glare for revealing their secrets.
“Mount Everhoof? So that’s where that mare hid it.” Grogar muttered under his breath. “How did you know it was there?” He asked.
“Well, you or rather Discord told us where it was.” Cozy replied pointing to the draconequus. Discord gulped and jumped behind the Mane six in fear.
“What do you mean I showed you?” Grogar questioned, he already knew the answer but he wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth. No pun intended.
“Discord, in whatever idiotic scheme he thought up in his head, united the three of us together to take over Equestria. Where he would have us fail, all in an attempt to give Twilight Sparkle more confidence as a leader.” Tirek summarized. “All while posing as you, so he could have plausible deniability I assume. Honestly, a stupid plan, if you ask me. When we used the bell on him and drained his powers I thought he was planning to reform us or something to impress his so-called ‘friends’. Clearly, I overestimated his ability to come up with a reasonable plan!” Tirek mocked. Grogar growled and turned to the Chaos Lord who sheepishly smiled.
“You….YOU DARE IMPERSONATE ME?!” The ram roared, stomping his hooves to the ground making the earth shake. With the light of his horns, Discord was flung forward toward the former emperor’s hooves.
“Now now! Let’s not do anything hasty- ack!” Discord choked as he felt his throat begin to collapse as Grogar squeezed him with his magic.
“You are many things Discord, but even I didn’t think you were this much of an idiot.” Grogar growled, “After all I’ve done, this is how you repay me? First, you helped that blasted mare steal my bell, then you usurp my throne and take it for yourself, and now you go and disgrace my name by posing as me!? You ungrateful brat!! I should’ve let those hunters kill you long ago!” He shouted putting more pressure on his throat.
“Let go of him you monster!” Fluttershy cried out. She flew toward the two at lightning speed and stared him directly in the eye. “I won’t let you hurt my friend!” She yelled, tears running down her cheeks as rage-fueled her eyes. Grogar paused staring at the bold mare. He released the draconequus, falling to the ground Discord gasped for air. Fluttershy turned and flew to his side. Checking him over for any other injuries.
“You consider this fool a friend?” Grogar said staring between the two.
“Yes, and I won’t let you hurt him!” She said defensively standing in front of him.
“Fluttershy…” Discord said in awe of the little mare.
“Well, color me surprised. After all these years you finally made an ally without bewitching them.” Grogar snickered barely phased from the mares glare. “I didn’t think you had it in you my son.”
“SON?!!!” Practically everyone shouted.
“He’s your son!?!” Cozy exclaimed.
“Yes, yes he's my son, though adoptive son would be more accurate. I found him when he was a child. Cornered by some monster hunters I rescued him and raised him to be my assistant. Though he rarely followed my directions. Even when they were for his own good.” Grogar huffed. “I gave him a home, food, I even taught him some magic, and what does he do? Stabs me in the back so he could take my place as ruler of these lands.” Grogar snorted glaring at the two. “Then again, I suppose I would have done the same. But you will still pay for your impersonation of my identity.” He glared.
“Yeah well, we aren’t scared to fight you too you old goat!” Rainbow said as Twilight teleported Fluttershy and Discord back to them.
“First off, I am a ram you stubborn mare. Second, I have no interest in conquering Equestria.” Grogar proclaimed.
“What?” The elements said.
“It’s true! I honestly have no ambition to rule this or any other land. I took over long ago so I could go about and experiment as I pleased. But it proved to be more trouble than it was worth.” Grogar sighed.
“Then why have you appeared now?” Celestia demanded trotting forward.
“I sensed my bell being used, I came to investigate. Simple as that.” Grogar explained. “After the loss of my bell, I scoured the world for wherever Gusty the Great had hidden it. As the years passed by I realized the pointlessness of being a ruler. If I was deposed once, it could happen again. Besides I never did like dealing with the rabble and problems of others. I was more focused on my study of magic and the arcane.”
“But what about your reign of evil over all the ponies in the land?” Twilight asked.
“You ponies were the ones who forced my hooves. You kept taking more and more land, leaving little for anyone else. You had an extreme supremacist way of thinking back then. I didn't really care, but it became more and more annoying to go out and about without running into your idiotic guards, who wanted to attack everything that wasn't a pony, including myself. That and they kept trying to steal my stuff. So using my immense power I showed your arrogant ancestors that they were not at the top of the food chain.” Grogar deadpanned.
“That’s a lie! Our ancestors were stubborn but they weren’t conquerors!” A random pony shouted.
“Oh please, you ponies always think you're so high and mighty that you never do wrong. Well, you’re wrong. You can be just as bad as anyone else. I figured the best way to deal with you would have you fall to your own follies. Though I never thought you’d make those ice spirits so strong.” Grogar bemused.
“Ice spirits? Wait you mean the windigos? You created them?!” Starswirl exclaimed his hat having deflated a bit from that realization.
“Wasn’t that obvious? I am the Father of Monsters after all. Honestly, I just gave your negative emotions the ability to take physical form. Did you ever even wonder why they looked like you?" A long pause fell over the crowd. You could practically see the gears turning in their heads. Grogar face hoofed.
"Ugh believe me, or don’t, I could care less. I won’t deny that I didn’t indulge in some ‘evil’ business. But I mostly did so out of annoyance or boredom.” Grogar said rubbing his head. “But no you had to go and pry into other people’s business.”
“Okay, so you're not here to take over. Then why did you stop us from defeating those three?!” Rainbow asked pointing at the Mean 3.
“They have my magic and I’m not gonna let you fools, disperse it into the aether. Or lock away my property! We all know Celestia and Luna are notorious for hoarding away knowledge and ancient artifacts. Most of which they have so-called adventurers steal away from their original owners!” Grogar huffed. If you listen closely you could hear a certain pegasus cough.
“You dare call us thieves!?” Luna said taking a defensive stance.
“Oh I would call you worse you idiotic mare, but I don't have the time nor enough energy to care. I only want what is mine and mine alone!” Grogar said, rolling his eyes. Turning away from the angry alicorn, who was being held back by her sister. Grogar looked back to the three villains still trapped in his shield. Cozy and Tirek had reluctantly given up while Chrysalis continued her fruitless efforts. “Now I believe you three have something that belongs to me?” Grogar said grinning.
“RAAH! I won’t give up this power I worked so hard to acquire!!” Chrysalis hissed bashing her body against the shield. Grogar simply shook his head as his magic took hold of the bell. The shield fell just as the queen tried to break through it resulting in her falling face-first into the dirt.
“Tsk tsk, a former queen of vermin now a queen of nothing. Face in the dirt with no power left in her name. All because she couldn’t get past her petty grudges.” Grogar said as his magic grabbed hold of all three of the beaten foes. Struggle as they might even with their newfound power they couldn’t break free.
“And you…” Grogar said turning to the centaur. “A so-called lord, just trying to show he doesn’t need his daddy’s approval. Taking whatever he wants just so he could hide his pain, caused by the fact that his own brother chose these ponies over his own flesh and blood.” Tirek raged he kickback and swung at the ram. With a flash of his magic, the bell blasted the two and reduced them back to their previous forms.
“And finally this little one,” Grogar said looking toward Cozy. Rather than struggle, she whimpered in fear of him. “Poor little filly, all alone. Not a friend to turn to. Just these two failures that you rely on. But I’m assuming they at least paid you more attention then your parents did?” Grogar said calmly. A gasp drew his attention. “Oh, so no one bothered to look into her history?” Grogar asked, turning back to face the Army of Harmony. The elements and princesses remained silent. “No? I was the only one who investigated why a foal wanted to take over Equestria? Or where she came from?” No one said a word. The student six looked to their teachers hoping for an answer. But they were just as clueless as them. “You only thought of her as another villain?” Grogar asked, his tone full of disappointment.
“Did...did no one think to look into her past?” Gallus asked, his voice wavering hoping his teachers didn’t simply cast her aside. Then again, he and his friends didn’t pay her any mind either. Nor did they care when she was shipped off to Tartarus.
“We...well…” Twilight began but couldn’t remember any time she tried to look into why Cozy became bad.
“Of course you didn’t. You simply locked her away, in TARTARUS. Next to the very being that fueled her dark ambitions.” Grogar said the princesses looked surprised. “What? Just because I've been gone for so long doesn't mean I haven't been aware of recent events. It's not as if I've been hiding under a rock for all these centuries.” Grogar sighed. He looked back to the young filly, he set her gently down on the ground. Much to her and everyone's confusion.
“Child, I know of your deeds and your brilliant cunning. To be able to fool not only the princesses but also the heroes of the land is no easy task. Well, maybe not that hard considering they never noticed what you three were doing under their noses.” The mane six deadpanned at this much to the rams amusement. “But to keep the ruse up for so long and have no one suspect? That requires patience, knowledge, and skill way beyond your years.” Cozy didn’t know whether to be happy to be praised or on edge from how well Grogar seemed to know her.
“How do you know so much about me?” She asked, her curiosity overtaking her fear.
“My dear I’ve lived long enough to see a prodigy when it’s staring me in the face. And you are one. Your cutie mark is of a chess piece, the rook. A strong piece of a very strategic game. But also a very lonely and vulnerable one as well.” Grogar explained, kneeling to her level. “And your eyes...your eyes tell me all I need to know.” He said staring into her eyes. No malice, no hate, no anger. Just pity and concern.
...
...
...
*sniff sniff whimper*
A silence filled the air as Cozy’s quiet cries filled the air. Luna ceased her wrathful attempts to attack. The creatures gathered looked on in surprise at seeing the normally sadistic filly cry. Fresh tears flowing down her cheeks. Tirek and Chrysalis, still in Grogar’s grip ceased their struggling and turned to their young ally. They never had seen her cry like this. Was this just a ploy to lower the ram’s guard? No, this seemed different. This felt real.
Grogar sighed and patted her gently on her head. “Worry not child. I won’t pry any further, nor take my magic back from you. Yet.” He said letting that last word fill her mind. Letting her know that she will have to return it to him, one way or the other. Standing up straight and clearing his throat he turned to the Army of Harmony.
“Now then, I’d like to make a request, from both the current and the future to be rulers of Equestria,” Grogar announced. The ram waited for a response from the leaders. Twilight turned to Luna and Celestia who slowly nodded their heads. The three stepped forth with the elements, pillars, and a reluctant Discord in tow.
“What request do you want? Surely the first ‘Emperor of Equestria’ need not ask for our permission.” Celestia asked, remaining on guard.
“Simple princess. I want custody over these three.” Grogar said pointing to the three villains behind him.
….
….
….
“WHAT?!!”