//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: Arguments and trespassing oh my. // Story: The Evil Bunch // by Puzzling Frost //------------------------------// “Ugh, I hate the sun.” Chrysalis hissed as she heaved more stone slabs into place. Lunch had gone surprisingly swell, though she would never admit it. The heat continued to grow as she and her cohorts continued to build their base. With the boost of love energy she received the work had gone much faster for her, however, they were still nowhere near done. The framework had been finished, now they just needed to fill in the walls. She had ceased her fights with the centaur, fighting amongst themselves didn’t help in the past. It wouldn’t help now. “That ram’s horns must be too large for his head! Pinning us between Canterlot and Ponyville? That's utter madness!” She huffed. “Well not much we can do about it now,” Cozy said. Her horn glowed and the stones began to heat up and merge sticking to place. “You’re getting the hang of magic very quickly aren’t you?” Chrysalis said as she pulled out more slabs. “Eh, it's not that hard. I just think about what I want to happen and my horn does the rest. I’m honestly surprised I got the hang of it so quickly.” Cozy said, shrugging. “I mean all the unicorns I’ve known have always said that magic takes years of practice and patience and even then it can be hard to cast spells.” “That may be due to Grogar’s magic flowing through you,” Tirek said, carrying four bags of cement. “That or it's due to your extreme intelligence. His magic is extremely powerful, I was able to control it due to my familiarity with absorbing so much magic, but even still I felt the power overwhelming.” Chrysalis nodded her head in agreement. “Indeed, I never felt so much power in my life, not even during my invasion of Canterlot did I feel such power.” Chrysalis sighed. “I felt the entire world was within my grasp. But our power high seemed to have blinded us from obvious flaws in our plans.” She groaned. “Yeah, now that I’m thinking about it we ignored several red flags,” Cozy said. “We should’ve taken all of their magic in the bell or at least have Tirek eat it. Maybe then Starlight wouldn’t have freed the elements and their dragon.” “We should have dealt with them the moment we had them in our clutches! Ugh, it was a complete repeat of my rampage across Equestria. I let all that power get my head when I should’ve destroyed those pathetic ponies!” Tirek growled as he crushed a brick in his grasp in anger. “Next time I get a chance, I’m taking them out without hesitation! No monologue, no maniacal laugh, no stalling, just destroy them!” Chrysalis chuckled a bit. “If we get another next time.” Cozy pointed out drawing her allies' attention. “Grogar has us under lock and key. With the bell in his hooves, he could drain us dry and leave us in the dust. He could take us out even without the bell!” Cozy said, lowering her head in defeat. “Please, he may be powerful, but he’s no god,” Tirek said, rolling his eyes. “Um, I’m sorry did you see a different battle then we did? Grogar wiped the floor with the Elements! Even when they used their magical rainbow death beam, he kicked their flanks and barely even sweat! He was drinking lemonade and sat like he was on a beach for goodness sake!” Cozy huffed. “And yet he let them go. Who’s to say they won’t try again and win next time?” Tirek pointed out. “If I’ve learned anything from fighting those obnoxious fools is that they don’t forget and forgive so easily.” Cozy looked to her centaur cohort in confusion. “Um, aren’t they all about the whole forgiveness and redemption thing?” Cozy asked. “I mean toward beings like us who won’t fall for their schemes and make us complacent puppets!” Tirek sighed. “Please, after the beating we gave those ponies, I bet they’re glad not to mess with us,” Chrysalis said. “You mean the beating HE gave them.” Cozy pointed out. “We did our fair share of destruction and damage! We divided the ponies! We stole Celestia and Luna’s magic! We destroyed Canterlot!” Chrysalis hissed. “And then the students of Twilight’s school knocked some sense back into everyone, bringing every last creature on the face of the planet to help defeat us! I told you two we should’ve dealt with the students at Twilight’s school as well! Without them, the ponies would still be at each other's throats and the wendigos would have deterred any outside forces!” Cozy said. “Well if you were so worried about it why didn’t you do anything about them?” Tirek questioned. “I thought Chrysalis would handle it! I even asked her to take care of those six stubborn teens while she went and attacked the school! But I guess revenge was more important than tying up loose ends!” Cozy said turning and getting in the queen’s face. “Grr watch your step their brat! I wasn’t the one who was almost overwhelmed by six mares and a baby dragon! If it weren’t for Tirek and my arrival you would’ve been defeated!” Chrysalis hissed back, Tirek took a step back as the two looked ready to kill each other. “Those ‘six mares and a baby dragon’ were the ones who defeated all of us multiple times!” Cozy growled back horn glowing threateningly. “Tirek had to deal with the Pillars, I stormed Canterlot first by myself! I faced down the royal guard, the princesses and those seven!! All you had to do was take out the Headmare and her scared students!” “Please, the royal guard is a pathetic excuse of a military! They fell easily to multiple conquest attempts, and those sisters never did anything! The first time Celestia tried I beat her with just the love I feasted off Shining Armor! And that Headmare, turned my entire hive of loyal changelings against me in less than a minute! Of course, I would focus on her! She turned my hive against me!” Chrysalis yelled as her horn began to glow. The two locked horns and flew in the air just waiting for the other to try something. “ENOUGH!!” Tirek yelled, drawing their attention. “Keep this up and you’ll bring Grogar’s wrath down on all of us!” Tirek stomped. “Oh please, old big horns back there went off to gather more supplies. Besides I’ve wanted to test out more of my magic, and miss queenie over here is just asking for a magic blast to the face!” Cozy said as her horn began to glow. “Need I remind you that magic you wield is Grogar’s? He did say he would take it back from you eventually, and I don’t think you’d want him to come back and see the two of you duking it out and destroying his new property!” Tirek pointed out, crossing his arms. The three glared back at each other before relenting. Tirek sighed in annoyance as he turned back to work. However, a noise drew his attention. He looked over to his left and stared at the nearby treeline. “Tirek could you hand me more bricks?” Cozy asked. She turned to see the centaur ignoring her. “Ugh, I’m not going to call you Lord every time I need your attention Tirek!” She said. The centaur still didn’t look to her, eyes twitching she flew over to the centaur. “Hello? Anypony home?” She said waving a hoof in his face, the centaur shook from his stupor and grabbed the filly before crouching down. “Hey! What are you-” “Shh!” Tirek hushed, clamping the fillies mouth shut. “There’s something watching us.” He said as he motioned over to the treeline. Confused Cozy followed his gaze and starred toward the trees. “Hmm? Ma Mon’t Mee Momhing?” She tried to say as she removed the centaur's hand. “There’s someone there. I know it.” Tirek huffed back. Keeping his eyes on the treeline something caught his eye. “There!” He shouted before firing a blast of magic, the blast hit a nearby tree and with a boom, its top half was destroyed. “What in Tartarus is going on here?!” Chrysalis buzzed having been drawn by the explosion. The three looked on as the smoke cleared. A male pegasus in burnt camouflage groaned as they stumbled out from the smoke. “Mommy, can I get off the swing now?” The pegasus groaned before plopping down face-first into the dirt. They groaned and looked up to three annoyed villains looking down on them. “Well, what have we here? A spy perchance?” Chrysalis hissed as her horn glowed lifting the stallion by his wings. “Oh, I’ve been waiting for a chance to let off some steam.” Cozy grinned manically. “What are you doing here pony? Tell us or prepare for a world of pain.” Tirek growled cracking his knuckles. The pegasus yipped at the sight of the three, desperately trying to run only to fling around in mid-air as Chrysalis’s magic held him. “Ahh!! I don’t wanna die!” The pony whimpered. “Oh be quiet you blundering fool! Who are you!?” Chrysalis hissed. “S-s-s Swift Wa-Wing.” The stallion stuttered in fear. “Well then, ‘Swift Wing’. Why are you out here?” Tirek huffed making the stallion flinch. “Uh...I was lost. I was trying to find my way to the nearest settlement for directions!” Swift gulped. “Tsk tsk. Now that’s not a nice thing to do. Lying won’t help you now.” Cozy singsonged in her ‘sweet’ voice. “It’s the truth! Honest, I swear!” Swift said sweating profusely. “He’s lying! He was spying on us for the ponies! Why else would he be out here? In camouflage no less?!” Tirek said pointing accusingly at the stallion. “I was trying to hide yes, but from the local wildlife here! I didn’t know anypony was out here! Please don’t hurt me!” He begged. "Hiding? Hiding from what exactly?" Chrysalis asked. Suddenly the ground began to shake as roar came from the tree line. The four turned to see a pride of fifteen Manticores marched out of the treeline. "From them!" The pegasus gasped. One of the Manticores looked around and saw the crater left from Tirek's attack. It turned to the four and growled. "What's got them so miffed? Cozy asked. "This entire section of the forest is Manticore territory! Didn't you all see the claw marks on the trees?" Swift asked in a panicked voice. The three villains looked to each other and looked back at the nearby trees. Indeed several tree barks had various claw marks on them. Including the one Tirek destroyed. "Oh....so that's what those were." Cozy deadpanned as the pride roared and charged toward them. "Gah! We're all gonna die!" Swift cried out. Tirek rolled his eyes and stomped his hoof in the ground making a hole. He grabbed the pony by his mane and shoved him into the hole with his head sticking out. "Stay here and don't try anything! I've been needing to release some pent up frustration." Tirek grinned as he cracked his neck. "Agreed." Chrysalis hissed as her horn began to glow. "I always wanted a Manticore rug." Cozy grinned maniacally, "Get them!"