Its been one week since the Cutie Mark Crusaders have been taken by the most powerful dark lord in Equestria, Grogar. From there he has taught them his strongest spells to further help him in his quest to rule Equestria and soon the ponies will fall beneath him. He has a plan for the three fillies in mind to help him reach his goal and it involves going to a place where nopony would dare trespass. This could be a test for the crusaders at using their newfound powers in an efficient way to his next phase of the plan.
"Um Grogar?" asked Sweetie Belle. "We forgot to mention this, wouldn't Twilight and her friends come looking for us? I'm sure they are missing us." She asks him as throughout the days they have been training they forgot about her sister and their friends attempting to search for them all over the lands.
"Oh no! We were so caught up in our trainin' we forgot about our sisters lookin fer us!" Apple Bloom said worriedly. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other in worry, the only crusader not worried is Scootaloo, who is currently drinking a glass of orange juice with a relaxed expression.
"Don't worry about it." Scootaloo said and wraps her hoof to Apple Bloom's shoulder. "I'm sure that Twilight and the others will come find us eventually. They'll be here any minute now."
Grogar looks at their direction, "I wouldn't count on those ponies rescuing you anytime soon. I have already made clone copies for each of you and they will be the ones doing all your tasks in Ponyville." Scootaloo frowns at the old ram's explanation of the clones taking their places at their homes. "With the copies there, we will be safe from any suspicion that you three are missing."
Apple Bloom smacks herself in the forehead while Sweetie Belle frowns and with Scootaloo, she just crosses her front hooves in disappointment. The Crusaders have no way of getting out of Grogar's scheme and no means of contacting anypony to save them. It would seem that they are stuck with him for who knows how long until the three fillies come up with a way to foil this villain's plan to take over Equestria.
"Now that we got our answer." Apple Bloom said as she rubs her head. "What do ya need us to to now?"
"Since you three have made progress training with all the spells I have bestowed upon you, its time for the next phase of the plan." Grogar said.
"What do you want us to do?" asked Sweetie Belle.
"We are going to gather as many monsters to make a powerful army and I know the place where there is a lot of those creatures. Now come, we need to get going." Grogar walks over to the exit of the cave prompting the Crusaders to follow him. The three fillies join him to go to their next destination. "We will be going to a place where monsters are banished for their crimes on ponykind. We are going to Tartarus!"
"What!!!" said the fillies in unison
Meanwhile back in Ponyville, something doesn't seem right back in the Castle of Friendship. " Hey Spike! Where did you put the Bewitching Bell?" asked Twilight Sparkle. She returns to the library to check on a few books and only realized that the artifact she was looking for went missing."Hmm, I should probably check to see if Starlight knows where the bell is." Twilight was looking around until she started picking up a book with her magic.
"You know, you should keep a close eye on those magical artifacts that you keep lying around." said the book.
"Ahh!" Twilight screams and she tosses the book on the floor. Only for the book to transform into the draconequus himself, Discord. Twilight takes a moment to regain her composure to glare at him. "You could have just knocked first before coming in here?"
"I would but I figured its more fun coming in unannounced." Discord said smugly. "Now do you remember the time I "Pretended" to be Grogar and gather your old foes to try and boost your confidence." He takes a mask in the shape of Grogar and wears it for a moment before tossing it away.
"Now, why would you ask me that question." Twilight deadpanned. "The last time I remembered that we had to stop Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow from destroying Equestria and saving the world no thanks to you." She points a hoof to his face.
"And, you are quite welcome." the draconequus said. "I believe that it might involve with a certain bell that just so happens to have gone missing." He points his bird claw over to the table in the library.
"Wait, you know what happened to the Bewitching Bell?" The purple alicorn asked him "Tell me where it is so that I can find it."
"Yeah about that, I need to explain myself first to why I am here." Discord snaps his fingers and a chair appears for him and Twilight. "Ahem, as you may have already know, I have the ability to sense magic from anywhere. Be it from pony, changeling, or whatever creature that has magic, I can sense where that magic is coming from. I was on my way to see Fluttershy for our picnic lunch, when suddenly I had a wild tingling feeling coming from the direction in Sweet Apple Acres. Naturally, all I had to do was snap my fingers and then I teleported. I saw a big pillar of magic being unleashed and I'm sure that somepony was casting a rather dangerous spell."
Twilight leans in to hear what comes next in Discord's story "What happened with the spell Discord?" She began to notice that Discord's expression changed from relaxed to feeling nervous and worried.
"That spell ended and I saw who came out of the Bewitching Bell, it was him the 'real' Grogar!" Discord exclaimed as he jumps from his seat.
"Are you positive your not making this up?" Twilight asks him to see if he was lying.
"I swear that it is the utmost truth, cross my heart hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye." Discord motions his paw to his chest to form a cross shape and materializes a cupcake, instead of jamming it to his eye he eats the cupcake. "Grogar has been released from being imprisoned in the bell for a millennia and now he has taken Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo to his old lair!" Discord said in worry.
"If this is true, then not only the Cutie Mark Crusaders in danger, then all of Equestria will be doomed!" The alicorn princess said she changes to a determined expression. "I have to save them, Discord, can you try to locate them see if you can pinpoint their location?"
"I'll see what I can do, and if I find them I'll be sure to let you know." with that said Discord snaps his fingers and then he teleports out of the castle.
Spike walks in the library with a feather duster and wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Whew! Dusting this place can sure be tiring." The little dragon said as he looks at Twilight not knowing what to do. "What'd I miss?" He shrugs his shoulders.
Appearing in a cloud of dark magic, Grogar and the Cutie Mark Crusaders find themselves on a mountainous region. The sky is covered in dark clouds and the area has a gloomy atmosphere. The ram and the fillies traverse the place for a few minutes until they have reached their destination. They all came across a very large door with red markings, a big circle lies at the center of the gate, down below seemed to be a lock with diamond-shaped engravings with a hole at the center. Here they stand at the gates of Tartarus until Grogar conjures up his bag to bring out a cone shaped key and inserts it in the lock. The key lights up and then the gates open up slowly enough for all of them to walk through them.
"Now, I want you three to go into Tartarus and break out as many monsters as you can." Grogar said to them. It wasn't long before a large beast approaches them, a very large dog creature with three heads named Cerberus. It growls at them making the fillies slightly scared but Grogar snorts and walks towards the beast. "I'll handle Cerberus, you just get inside and bring me a lot of monsters!" The Crusaders run past to enter Tartarus leaving the old ram with the three headed dog.
The creature raises it's paw to try to slam him but he leaps out of the way to avoid getting hit. He attacks Cerberus with a powerful magical blast that hurts the large dog as it howls in pain. It growls as it uses it's three heads to bite the sorcerer ram, however Grogar just teleports behind it and charges at the beast's back. He jumps and slams his hooves on the dog's back slamming him onto it's belly, then he jumps off the beast and lights his horns to levitate it up to slam it on the wall. He repeats this a few times until Cerberus whimpers in defeat, seeing this, he releases his magic hold and lets the creature go retreating back to Tartarus.
"That fight with Cerberus was merely a warm up." Grogar grinned in the victory over the three headed dog. He cracks his neck to shake off the feeling rush from fighting. He does a sinister laugh as if he is feeling refreshed after so many years. "I can feel my magic getting stronger, soon all will know my power that I possess."
Meanwhile, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo pass through the gates as they enter a very large cavern-like setting. It has a dark and foreboding atmosphere around them which made the Crusaders feel a chill from their backs. As from their right and left, they could see cages big and medium sizes contained within them are varieties of monsters. Manticores, chimeras, bugbears, cockatrices, cragadiles, timberwolves, and so much more even going as far by keeping a hydra in a giant cage. The Crusaders are left in awe at the sight of the creatures in different shapes and sizes.
"Wow! We've never seen so many monsters all in one place before."said Scootaloo. She goes over to one of the cages to take a look only for a manticore to snarl at them making her scurry to her friends. "Well, someones got an anger problem."
"Alright girls, lets release some them monsters." Apple Bloom said. "Ah'l handle the chimera, Sweetie you can take care of the bugbear, and Scootaloo, you can take on the manticore." She walks towards a cage and breaks the locked door with her enhanced earth pony strength. The chimera walks out ready to pounce on her, what surprised it was having the filly grow to giant sized to intimidate the creature. "Now ah don't want any trouble, yer gonna come with us the easy way, or the hard way." The chimera whimpers and knelt down surrendering to the giant filly.
Sweetie Belle opens the cage by using her magic and releases the bugbear. It attacks her by swiping its claws to try and strike her down. She teleports out of the way and shoots a beam of ice magic at the beast leaving it frozen and incapacitated. "I think you need to chill out." She raises her eyebrow smugly.
Scootaloo is having a rough time with the manticore as it attacks her with its claws and scorpion tail. She creates a tornado by twirling her tail in a circle and directs it at the lion creature making it spin in place until it got dizzy. Scootaloo flies forward and bucks the beast as it groans by lying on the ground. "And that's why you don't mess with me or my friends." She said confidently and then struck a pose.
The next few moments involved the Cutie Mark Crusaders either taming or beating the monsters until they are tamed. Apple Bloom pounds the ground with her hoof and unleashes some thorn vines at the timberwolves by wrapping them up and shaking them until they give up. Sweetie Bell went to try to take on a cockatrice, but unfortunately for her she was scared of looking at it so she closes her eyes and uses a spell to turn the bird creature to stone. "Okay! I think we can rule out cockatrices for when Grogar gets here!" shouted Sweetie Belle.
Scootaloo was busy dealing with a few cragadiles by flying over them while they were snapping their jaws at her. She rubs her hooves together to create a bolt of lightning and fires it at the rocky crocodiles making them yelp in pain. The next few monsters were more chimeras, manticores, and bugbears the Crusaders had to fight them off. Apple Bloom had to grow to their size and wrestles with a bunch of monsters. Sweetie Belle just lifts them all in a magical hold and spins them around until they got dizzy while Scootaloo join in by creating a big tornado to help her out.
With that said and done, the Crusaders were successful in taming the other monsters because they were either unable fight back or to scared to fight the fillies again. Things are going so well until they come across the big cage containing the hydra. The cage was massive and large enough to keep such a creature trapped in the cage. Apple Bloom pry opens the bars with her immeasurable strength until the hydra snaps its jaws at her. She steps back while her friends supported her off the ground, the hydra began to tear open the cage with its mouths and breaks it open setting it free. The hydra roars with its four heads and directs it's attention to the Crusaders.
"Welp, it looks like we need to work together to bring this big fella down. Are ya with me?" Apple Bloom asked her friends with a determined look.
"A chance to take down a hydra? Count me in!" Scootaloo spoke up.
"Lets do this together!" shouted Sweetie Belle.
The hydra attacks by slamming one of it's heads at them only for Sweetie Belle to teleport herself and her friends to higher ground. Apple Bloom grows to gigantic size to match the height of the hydra and tries to wrestle the beast. The creature uses it's heads to jab her at the neck and stomach areas prompting her to dodge to avoid getting bitten. Scootaloo flies up to the hydra's face and blew a raspberry to try and distract it, one of the heads try to eat her only to be hit with a magical beam from Sweetie Belle at a distance. The large beast attacks the three of them by swinging it's tail knocking down a few pillars and Apple Bloom onto her rump.
Scootaloo creates storm clouds by flying in a circle to direct it's attention to her, the hydra notices this and blows away the cloud with it's breath. Sweetie Belle launches some lightning magic to their heads to shock them. This causes the beast to get more angry and uses one of the heads to lunge at her. Apple Bloom gets back up and grabs the head that was about to attack her friend and pulls back to slam it on the wall. The hydra is not giving up and glares at the Crusaders in rage and keeps on attacking. Apple Bloom turns and gives the creature a giant buck making it fly across the room.
The hydra roars as it gets back up but unbeknownst to the large monster that a sonic rainboom created by Scootaloo was coming to it's direction and dive bombs into it in a big explosion. The creature was left in a daze for a moment until it gives up and falls to the ground on it's belly in defeat. Scootaloo flies by and sees the hydra on the ground then cheers for herself and her friends for overcoming the giant beast. "Aw yeah! That was..amazing..whew..that is all..the monsters taken care of!" Scootaloo lies down on the ground tired for flying around so much.
Apple Bloom shrinks back down to her normal filly sized self and starts to feel tired alongside Sweetie Belle after all the fighting and monster taming they had to do. They did a hoof bump in victory before resting up to catch their breath and recover their energy. It felt like the Crusaders were fighting for their lives after defeating so many monsters in Tarturus that it took everything they have to survive the battles.
"Well..we did it..we fought..all them monsters." Apple Bloom said tiredly.
"Yeah, that was...something." said Sweetie Belle as she gasps for air. "Now why...do we even...need these monsters again?" she asks to her friends. It wasn't long until Grogar shows up to greet them.
"So that I can obtain an army of monsters to seize the towns of the ponies." Grogar answered. The Cutie Mark Crusaders direct their attention at the old ram in concern. "I must say you three did very well at putting some of these monsters into their place. Now I can bring them to the lair to further prepare for the plan to succeed." He rings his bell and suddenly all the monsters in Tartarus except the cockatrices disappear in a cloud of dark magic.
"Sorry, we couldn't get any of the cockatrices." Sweetie Belle says sheepishly.
"It doesn't matter, as long as I have an army at my beck and call, I can take over Equestria regardless if I have less monsters to work with." Grogar said as a wicked smile crept up to his face."Now come I will take you back to the lair to rest up then we can move on to the next phase of the plan." He takes the three fillies out of Tartarus and closes the gates with Cerberus inside as the door closes and locks in place. He whispers to himself "I can't wait to get back to the dark city of Tambelon." He uses his bell and he teleports away with the crusaders back to his evil lair.
However, a certain draconequus was watching the scene unfold and he doesn't looked pleased. "So back to your old tricks again eh Grogar? This time I won't let you get away with it." With a sneer, Discord snaps his fingers and teleports away to someplace as for who knows what will happen to the Cutie Mark Crusaders as they keep working with the villain who will wreak havoc on Equestria.