“So this is what my life has come to.” Tirek groaned as he carried the last of several boxes out into the middle of a field. It had been a week since their defeat and subsequent change of pace. He still could barely believe any of it actually happened.
*Flashback*
“What?!” The princesses shouted.
“Do you ponies need to get your hearing checked?! I feel like I’m always repeating myself.” Grogar groaned.
“Why in the name of Faust would you want to keep these three in your stead?!” Luna exclaimed.
“And what makes you think we would let you hold onto these three fiends?!” Celestia demanded. “They must be punished!”
“Oh please, what would you do? You have no magic, but I do!” Grogar reminded them as he placed his bell onto his necklace. “You have little to say in the matter.” Grogar chuckled.
“You forget, you stand alone! We stand united in friendship!” Twilight said proudly, the army behind her cheering. Grogar simply lifted an eyebrow. Cozy quickly took the opportunity to move away from the possible blast zone that was to be where Grogar stood. Twilight not giving up fired a beam of magic toward Grogar. Right as the beam came inches to his face, Grogar simply took a step to the side, lazily dodging the alicorns' magic.
“Seems you must learn the difference in our powers princess,” Grogar said in annoyance. Turning his head he looked and saw the ruins of Canterlot. With his horns glowing he fired a beam of magic toward the city. The ponies gasped fearing their beloved capital would be further destroyed. But upon reaching its target, instead of destroying what was left, the city was bathed in a magical glow. Suddenly the destroyed buildings began to repair themselves. The pieces of debris flying back into place. In less than a minute the entirety of Canterlot was repaired. A loud thud was heard as the ram turned to see everyone's collective jaws drop. “There I fixed your castle, now I demand two more requests as payment,” Grogar said nonchalantly. The princesses starred on in shock at how easily the ram repaired the damage.
“How...huh?” Luna said dumbfounded by what just happened. “Was that time magic?!”
“Indeed, a little rewinding of time in a small concentrated area can do wonders for repairs. As long as you know how to control it.” Grogar said proudly, “One wrong move and you could rupture the space-time continuum! Thankfully I am a master in all things magic, unlike some creatures.” Grogar said giving a deadpan glare to Starlight, who sheepishly chuckled. Shaking her head Celestia returned her gaze toward the powerful ram.
“Three things?! You’ve already demanded to keep these three in your care, what more could you want?!” Celestia demanded.
“Oh, just a bit of land so I can build a new home. I’d stay at my original lair, but it seems as the years past it changed from a nice little hideaway to a desolate swamp and I don’t wish to trot through mud and muck just to walk to and from my front door.” Grogar sighed. “And a guarantee from all of you that you will leave me to do as I wish.”
“And what makes you think we’ll even let you do any of those things?!” Applejack said glaring at Grogar. Grogar simply chuckled.
“Simple my dear,” He said lifting up his bell for all to see. “I still have both the princesses and Discord’s magic. Don’t you want it back? Or do you prefer I keep it all to myself?” Grogar laughed. The elements growled at the ram’s outlandish demands. Before they could voice their opinions however Grogar cut them off. “Need I remind you, I also was able to cancel out your Rainbow death beam? The one thing that has never failed you before? Hm?”
“That was just dumb luck! You won’t be able to do it twice in a row!” Rainbow shouted confidently. The heroes gathered into position and began to glow.
“Oh no, not again!” Cozy said taking cover behind her still bound allies. The three braced themselves for the attack. Grogar simply laughed as the hero's lifted up into the air.
“Go ahead! Give it your best shot!” He shouted, not even bothering to shield himself. The Pillars, Student six, Mane five and Spike again fired off rainbows toward Twilight who unleashed an even larger rainbow then the last one. It arched up into the sky as the gathered creatures behind them cheered in victory. It descended upon the former emperor with incredible speed.
“Heh, fools.” Grogar laughed as he lifted the bell and activated his spell. The bell rang out as a yellow and black beam fired from the artifact colliding with the rainbow. The two beams clashed in an epic struggle for power. The Army of Harmony gaped at the spectacle as the two beams fought for dominance. The representatives of harmony began to sweat as the beam struggle took its toll.
“Why isn’t this working?! It should be working!!” Rarity said straining to keep up the fight.
“Keep fighting friends we can beat him!!” Rockhoof shouted trying to boost morale.
“Okay, this is some bullspit! How is this guy so strong!!” Smolder shouted growing more annoyed by the second.
“He must be struggling as much as we are! Right?” Spike questioned taking a look at the ram. The color from his face drained as he saw Grogar conjure a lawn chair, drink, and sunglasses. The ram sat on the chair and started to relax, barely paying the epic beam battle any mind.
“Ahh. This is nice.” Grogar said, taking a sip from his drink. “So, dumb luck that I beat you was it?” Grogar laughed as his beam slowly pushed the rainbow back. The villains looked on as their jaws practically fell off from what was happening in front of them. On the ponies side the collective leaders and Army of Harmony fell over in shock, and in Discord’s case, fainted. “Are we done here?” Grogar shouted, pushing down his sunglasses. The heroes kept up their fight despite the odds. Grogar groaned and zapped his bell once more. The beam from the bell took the form of a giant claw and grabbed the rainbow. With what some would say cartoonish effect, it began to spin the rainbow, dragging along the heroes like they were tied to the end of a rope. Spinning faster and faster until the hero's connection to the rainbow snapped away, sending them flying into the crowd like bowling balls. With a thud and crash, the heroes groaned as they lay on the ground sore from the fall. The claw then grabbed hold of the rainbow and dragged it back into the bell absorbing the magic. The bell then returned to Grogar’s necklace and locked into place.
“Now are you ready to talk?” Grogar chuckled walking up to the crowd, dragging Tirek, and Chrysalis with him. Cozy trotting behind, not wanting to be left out in the open for an attack. Celestia looked between her allies and the amused ram, she sighed in defeat.
“Fine, you’ve proven your point.” Celestia reluctantly says.
“Sister! You can’t be serious!” Luna gasped.
“What choice do we have Luna? He’s demonstrated his power, and we cannot leave our magic in the hooves of this monster. As much as it pains me to say it, we must give in to his demands.” Celestia sighs before turning to Grogar.
“Good, good. But I’ll need confirmation from every leader here to leave me alone. Just because you agree doesn’t mean they will.” Grogar says looking to the other world leaders. They gulped under his gaze and nodded their heads profusely. “Excellent! In the name of the ancient ones, do you agree to my terms?” Grogar said lifting a hoof. Celestia gritted her teeth and shook his hoof, a magic swirl flashed across their forelegs as they did so.
“I agree to your terms.” She growled. The magic wrapped around their legs forming a magical chain before disappearing. Celestia quickly takes her hoof back in disgust.
“Excellent!” Grogar points his bell at the alicorn sisters, with a ring from his bell the magic within was returned to them. Grogar turned to take his leave.
“Wait what about me?!” Discord yells running up to the three after recovering from his fainting spell. Grogar looked behind him and smirks.
“Oh? You want your magic back? Very well I shall return it to you.” Grogar says turning around. Discord smiled as the ram faced him. “In a year.”
“Huh?” Discord said as despair overtook him.
“I shall return your magic as I agreed, but I still haven’t forgiven you for impersonating me!!” Grogar growled glaring at the poor chaos lord.
“But...but. How will I get home? I need my magic! I’m defenseless without it!” Discord cried out. Grogar simply grinned.
“Then next time you will know not to impersonate other people hm?” Grogar laughed, as the draconequus starred in horror. However before he could leave, Fluttershy flew out in front of him.
“Please don’t do this! He’s been tortured enough!” She begged. The ram raised an eyebrow and turned to see the pathetic fool curl up in a ball and rock back and forth.
“Ugh, fine. I’ll give him some of his magic back if only to stop this pathetic display of idiocy.” The ram turned, with another ring of his bell he gave discord a portion of his magic back. “There, you have enough magic to at least to go between here and your home. But the rest stays with me until I’ve decided that you’ve learned your lesson, boy.” Grogar growled. Discord nodded and quickly backed away with Fluttershy following suit. Grogar turned to his new companions with a grin. “Come along now you three. We have much work to do. I’ve already picked out a perfect spot for my new lair.” Grogar laughed trotting away, carrying the two as Cozy trotted close behind.
*End of Flashback*
Tirek was snapped out of his stupor as Grogar stomped his hooves. He trotted over to see what was to be done next. Grogar stood holding blueprints with magic. Chrysalis sat stubbornly kicking a rock away in annoyance. While Cozy munched on a sandwich.
“Alright, that’s everything. Now comes the hard part. I want this place built in three days. Between the four of us, we’ll be able to finish it by then. I’ve already set up a makeshift camp for us to sleep in till the lair/house is built. If I see any of you slacking, I won’t make you any food.” Grogar said conjuring a hard hat upon his head. “And I highly doubt you’ll be able to find a place anywhere else that’ll be willing to serve you food. So get to it!” He ordered conjuring three more hard hats on top of the three stooges.
“I really hate you.” Chrysalis hissed.
“Yeah, well you're not fun to be around either. Now get to work!” Grogar ordered hoofing over copies of the blueprint. Turning he wandered over to the temporary camp. The three looked at each other and sighed.
“Well, on the bright side, at least we aren’t being punished by the ponies?” Cozy said trying to lighten the mood.
“Honestly I’d prefer that over this humiliation.” Tirek groaned rubbing his temples.
“What do you think they were gonna do with us in the first place?” Cozy asked.
“Probably something like banishing us to Tartarus or going to that disgusting friendship school.” Chrysalis shuddered.
“I doubt it, I was half expecting them to turn us to stone,” Tirek said grabbing some wood.
“Stone? Maybe you two, but I’m just a kid! They wouldn’t do that to me. Right?” Cozy asked, grabbing some tools with her magic.
“Please, those fools were out for blood. I wouldn’t put it past them if they were going to do that immediately after they bested us.” Chrysalis huffed looking over the blueprints. “They did banish you to Tartarus after all.” Cozy whimpered at the thought. The other two gave pause as she collected herself.
“Well, whatever the case, let's just get this done and over with,” Tirek said laying down the wood for the foundation.
"Ugh, our misery will never end will it?" Chrysalis asked as she buried her face in her hooves.
"Nope." Tirek and Cozy sighed.