It was late at night in the town of Ponyville, most of its residence were asleep, Twilight Sparkle however was not, it was not an uncommon sight to see the window of her bedroom lit up as she worked at some project or another. This was one of those nights.
Spike watched as Twilight paced back and forth, the gears turning in her head, he hoped that this time that she- "Terrible." She said. No such luck.
"What's wrong with it this time?" He asked, he had just read back a letter that she had written, he had been reading them all night, and each one had found its way into the now overflowing trashcan in her office. "Is it too formal?" He asked "Not formal enough? Too long? Too short? Not firm enough? Doesn't have the right tone?"
"Everything!" Twilight took a deep breath "Sorry for shouting Spike, but this letter is too important, it's vital that it be perfect."
"Why? You send letters to the Princesses all the time." Spike said.
"This letter we're sending is in effect, telling the Princesses they were wrong about a decision they made, and that I want, no, demand that it be rectified." Twilight said as she returned to her pacing. "I need to make sure that they understand how firm I'm being without coming off as disrespectful."
"Twilight you're forgetting something." Twilight turned to Spike, she gasped as he belched fire over the letter, sending it to its destination. "You're a Princess too."
"Spike! What have you done!?" Twilight said stamping a hoof.
"Saved you hours of worry and me some comic book time." Spike said as he flew out the door before Twilight could respond.
Twilight sighed, she did feel much of her anxiety leave her. Spike was right, she would have been at it all night and probably have sent nothing in the end, now at least the Princesses would hear her.
Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Engineer sat around a table within their home waiting for Chrysalis to join them. Cozy and Tirek watched as Engineer anxiously paced back and forth.
"Can you stop that?" Tirek snapped.
Engineer jumped slightly at Tireks voice "Who crapped in your breakfast?" she asked.
"He's just a bit moody." Cozy said "Its sunk in that after today he won't be able to absorb any more magic."
"That doesn't give him the right to shout at me." Engineer responded "He knows that if he tried to take magic from the ponies that he'll end up back in Tartarus just as scrawny as when he first arrived."
"I know that, the last thing I want is to spend another thousand years imprisoned." Tirek said "But it's still frustrating to know that after today, however much magic I have, that will be it, and you pacing around like that it not helping."
"Well excuse me if I'm a bit nervous that we'll be taking on Grogar today." Engineer shot back "We have no idea how it will end, just how strong is Grogar? We have no idea! So I think I'll pace all that I wan't."
"Golly, you two sure are on edge, would it help if I sang a song?" Cozy asked.
"NO!" Engineer and Tirek said in unison.
Before things could devolve further, Chrysalis arrived. "He's nowhere to be seen, so we can proceed with our plans to-." Chrysalis stopped as she felt the tension in the air, she groaned "Whatever petty squabbles you have can wait. Engineer sit down, Tirek, get the bell, and Cozy, look less cheerful."
"I'm just so excited." Cozy said as she zipped into the air "I can't wait for us to work together and beat that stupid, ugly, bossy, grumpy, goat into a pulp, then suck out his magic and reduce him into a pathetic creature that will rue the day that he dared to tell Cozy Glow what to do!" Cozy laughed maniacally as she lifted into the air. She then settled back into her chair with an innocent smile on her face "And that's why I look this cheerful."
"Understandable." Engineer said.
Tirek blew out one of the torches in the wall, and pulled on it, revealing a hole in the wall concealed behind it. He retrieved the hidden object within, Grogars bell, and placed it on the table.
"According to the book we stole from the Canterlot Library, this artefact can steal any creatures magic." Tirek said.
"Kind of like you." Chrysalis added.
"Correct, it holds that magic until it is released by the spell in the book." Tirek said. "That magic can then be absorbed by any creature, amplifying that creatures own magic. With this spell, all the magic contained within is our's for the taking." Tirek began to salivate as he imagined this ancient magic coursing through him.
Cozy took the bell from Tirek "You're drooling on the bell."
"Lets try the spell before Grogar gets back." Chrysalis said "I can't wait to foil that old goats master plan."
"Take my hand." Tirek said, confusing the group, "So that we'll all be part of the spell. Unless you'd prefer I take all the magic myself."
"Fat chance, you're not going to hog all the magic Tirek." Engineer said.
"I don't know why you're so excited Engy, seeing as you won't be effected by the spell." Cozy said.
"What?" Chrysalis asked.
"The spell did say it enhances a creatures magic, and seeing as Engineer has no magic of her own, I don't think that she can absorb any." Tirek said.
"But it can't hurt to try Engy" Cozy said. The four of them gathered in a circle around the bell, hands and hoofs together.
"What we do, we do together." Chrysalis said. "Once we defeat Grogar we'll be free of him once and for all."
Tireks horns glowed as he prepared the spell, the bell began to levitate and vibrate, it began to glow, becoming brighter and brighter.
The bell rang loudly and a flash of light blinded them for a moment, the magic contained within was released.
The dawn broke over Canterlot Castle, signalling the start of a new day, after raising the sun Celestia moved on to the next stage of her morning ritual, preparing breakfast for Luna and herself.
Celestia entered the castle dining room, she was pleasantly surprised to see her sister already sat at the table reading a letter. "Oh, Luna, you're here early, I'll go get breakfast ready."
"I asked the chefs to prepare it today." Luna said, putting the letter down on the table. "We have something to discuss."
"Okay." Celestia said as she took a seat opposite Luna. "What's wrong?"
"Read this." Luna levitated the letter over to Celestia who picked it up and began to read.
Dear Princess Celestia and Princess Luna
As I'm sure you're aware, magic began to disappear from Equestria a few months ago and after some investigation it was discovered that it was due to a plot by one of my students named Cozy Glow. She was attempting to steal all the magic in Equestria and establish herself as a dictator. For this crime you sealed her away in Tartarus. I believe this was a mistake.
After some research into her background, and some reflection, I have come to the conclusion that she is not evil, but instead misguided due to her circumstances. While the task may be difficult, made more so by her current predicament, I believe that I will be able to teach her the true meaning of friendship and guide her back onto a path where she can live a happier life.
That is why I intend to retrieve her from Tartarus, I hope to have your blessings in this task, but if you disagree with my mission I understand. But I hope you understand that this is something I must do. I can not, in good conscience, allow a young, angry, scared kid to be kept imprisoned for any longer.
As always, your faithful student, Princess Twilight Sparkle
P.S. If I do not receive a reply within thirty six hours, I will assume that I do not have your blessing, and I will head to Tartarus without it.
Celestia set the letter down and paused for a second before saying "I trust her. If she believes that Cozy Glow can be reformed, then I guess we should to, she is the Princess of Friendship." She looked over to Luna "Do you disagree?"
"No." Luna said, "It's that last line that's been bugging me."
"Oh, right." Celestia said "When did she said you this letter? We need to send her a reply saying we approve."
"No! The line before that." Luna said
"Well she is a Princess, she's allowed to call her-"
"NO! The last line of the message! I can not in good conscience, allow a young, angry, scared kid to be kept imprisoned for any longer." Luna shouted.
A look of confusion ran across Celestias face until she realised what, or rather who, Luna was referring to "Oh, her."
"Yes, her." Luna said, as she calmed herself. "We made a promise."
"I know." Celestia said.
"It was his dying wish, he begged us." Luna added.
"I know!" Celestia yelled before composing herself. "I'm sorry, but it was never the right time.” Celestia sighed “There was always the risk that she would fall into the wrong hands."
"But has been a thousand years sister, most have forgotten about her” Luna said.
Celestia sighed, “Exactly, she’d return with no family, no home, and no friends. She’d be completely alone, she is alone.” Celestia looked over the letter she had received from Twilight, as she did an idea started to grow in her mind "Unless."
"Unless what?" Luna asked
"What if she wasn't alone?" Celestia asked back "What if there was someone else like her, someone who was young, smart, and hated our guts? Someone who was angry at the world? Someone who was lonely? Someone else who needed a friend?" Celestia glanced at the letter.
Luna looked at the letter then back at Celestia "You don't mean-"
"Yes I do” Celestia said. “Now are you with me?"
Grogars lair was an awful place, hidden away in a rotting, forgotten swamp, the crumbling rocky structure was covered in moss, giving the impression of an old ruin, lost to time, the effect added to by the crumbling pillars dotted around the area. But inside the lair, a strange orange glow illuminating it, lay his treasures. He had spent months preparing facilities for their arrival, food, entertainment, accommodation, and of course the workshop.
All of it so that his plan would come about, and it all hinged on four creatures, united by hate, to fulfil his design. Grogar cackled outside his lair, those four had been quite troublesome, but it will be all worth it in the end, probably. He took a deep breath, time to make the next step, hopefully it would all go as planned. And if it didn't, well, he did have contingencies.
"Here we go." He said to himself, as he entered his lair. "I have returned!" He announced "Twilights coronation is approaching and we are going to ruin it." Grogar looked around the room, disappointed to find it empty, he couldn't help to feel a bit annoyed that no one was here to witness his arrival. "Where have they gotten to now?" he asked aloud.
Grogar approached the orb in the center of the room, he cast a spell on it to show him their locations, starting with Chrysalis. He was puzzled with what he saw, it was him starring into the orb, he cast the spell again, maybe he had made a mistake. But it still showed the same result, "Piece of junk." He growled.
The sound of Chrysalis laughing echoed through the chamber, Grogar tensed up, the sound filled him with a strange feeling, something he hadn't felt in a long time "Show yourself Chrysalis." He barked, his eyes scanned the room looking up towards the ceiling, the feeling growing with each second. "Where are you?!"
"Right behind you." Chrysalis said. Grogar spun around his horns glowing, ready to put this pest in her place, only to find no one there.
"What game are you playing Chrysalis?" Grogar shouted.
"The same game I've always played." She said, her voice seeming to come from everywhere, "Only you have been too much of a fool to see it. You've been blind to so much, you didn't even notice that one of my wings had changed color."
"You expect me care about such insignificant details!" He yelled to the ceiling.
"That's your problem, you don't pay attention to the details, and after today, you're going to regret it." Her voice echoed.
"Quit your posturing changeling, we both know what the outcome will be if you face me alone." Grogar smirked "That's why you're hiding in the shadows like a coward."
"I already told you Grogar, I'm right, HERE!" Chrysalises face appeared right in front of him, her glowing green eyes stunning him for a second, before he could shake off his shock her horn glowed bright as a green goo spat out of her horn, binding his hooves to the floor. He tried to use his magic, but the material somehow stopped him from using his magic.
Chrysalis laughed as Grogar struggled to break free, she was covered in a coat of black armor, obviously work of the Engineer. What was more shocking was the power that she seemed to wield, where had it come from?
"Are you done Chrysalis?" Cozys said, as she flew into the room from a hallway, wearing her own set of armor... And with a horn! She was an Alicorn now!! "We wanted to do some monologging too."
"Too be honest, I couldn't care less about the speeches, I just want to get this whole thing wrapped up." Tirek said, and he was a hell of a lot bigger than Grogar remembered.
"What is going on!" Grogar shouted "How did you get so powerful!"
"With this." Cozy said, and Grogars blood ran cold as he realised what that feeling that had building up was, it was fear. "You know what this is right?" Cozy asked "That's right it's your bell!"
"You had it all along? Why didn't you tell me?!" Grogar yelled.
"You're an asshole, duh." Cozy answered. Chrysalis made a grunt in disapproval, "What? I think the situation calls for a little swearing."
"Just drain him of magic already." Tirek said.
"Fine." Cozy said as she rolled her eyes. As she approached Grogar, he began to pull more and more against his restraints, trying in vain to get free. But as Cozy got near enough, a grin came across his face, his horns glowed intensely as he used them to smash the ground he was standing on, freeing his hooves. Cozy shielded herself with her magic from the debris, and while she was distracted Grogar leapt through the air, seizing the bell with his mouth.
He landed on the table in the center of the room. "YOU FOOLS THOUGHT YOU COULD BEST ME?!" He bellowed as he latched the bell to his collar. "Before I would have rewarded you, but now you will serve me or be destroyed!"
"Plan B?" Cozy asked
"Plan B" Tirek and Chrysalis replied in unison.
Tirek fired a blast of magic at Grogar, who hastily pulled up a barrier to block it. While his concentration was on the giant centaur, Cozy took off at high speed while Chrysalis seemed to fade out of view. Grogar fired a spell back at Tirek who dodged behind a pillar.
Before he could take the initiative a spell seemed to hit him out of no where throwing him off the table, he slammed into the ground before scrambling back to his hooves. He seized some nearby rubble with his magic and threw it in the direction the magic came from, which clattered harmlessly into the wall.
While his attention was pulled away, a blast of magic struck him in the head from above, knocking him to the floor, he rolled onto his back, just in time to see Cozy giggling at him, he launched a barrage of magical attacks at her, which did nothing but amuse her as she dodged between them with ease.
Tirek came out from behind the pillar to launch another strike against him, which Grogar stopped with his own magical blast. But this time Tirek pressed on sending stronger and stronger waves of magic against him. As he strained under the effort of defending himself, Cozy and Chrysalis joined in sending their own magic at him from every angle, Cozy using her speed and Chrysalis her stealth to sneak in a few hits.
Grogar knew that he couldn't take this for much longer, as the onslaught sent him running for cover. He needed to even the odds, and fast. He formed a plan as fast as he could, as a blast from Tirek destroyed the boulder he was cowering behind, reducing it to dust. Dust! He dove behind another rock, but this time with a plan.
As Tirek reduced his shelter to rubble, Grogar again raced for a new position, but this time he seized the pebbles that were all that were left of his previous cover and hurled them into the air at Cozy who dodged them effortlessly. But that was only a ploy as he kept a grip on the rocks flying through the air and began to whirl them around the room, until, there! One of them clanged into something invisible, he sent a blast at Tirek to keep him distracted while he honed in on Chrysalis. "Got ya!"
Just before he fired off the blast, a pair of hooves wrapped around from the back of his head covering his eyes. "Guess who!" Cozy said. The spell went wide missing the target, he roared in anger, reaching back with his fore hooves grabbing the annoying filly.
"You're going to pay!" He snarled.
"Are you sure about that?" Tirek said, Grogar turned around just in time to see a massive red fist punch him in the face. The punch sent him flying through the air before he splashed down in the pool of water surrounding the entrance to the lair.
Grogar was feeling many things at that moment, pain, regret, pain, anger, pain, embarrassment, and of course pain. But all of that was soon overtaken for a new thought, air! He burst out of the water gripping onto one of the stepping stones leading to the entrance as he breathed in that precious oxygen. He pulled himself up onto the stone, discovering new places on his body that could hurt, before, turning back to his foes.
"Well Grogar?" Chrysalis asked as she rematerialised. "Do you want to keep this up, or just hand the bell over to us, so that you can get out here with whats left of you?"
Grogar knew that if he handed over the bell he would lose his magic, and he really didn't want to get the snot beaten out of him. So he went with the third option, he used what strength he had left to create an explosion in the water, the water screened him from view as he ran for it. He saw the light of the exit and sprinted towards it, he could just make out a silhouette step into view. The Engineer!
He wasn't taking any chances so as he charged for the exit, he poured what was left of his strength into his horns, if she wanted to be in his way then she would suffer the consequences, he lowered his horns towards her and charged. He saw her brace herself, crossing her arms to absorb the impact. There was a loud clang as his horns hit metal, the impact causing the Engineer to slide backwards a few feet before she ground to a halt. The good news was that he had made it outside, the bad was that he had been stopped dead in his tracks.
"That's all you got?" She asked, he looked up just in time to see an armored fist heading straight for his face, the blow knocked him down into the ground, where he didn't stay for long as he felt a hand grab one of his horns, pulling up to be face to face with the Engineer, although face to helmet would be more accurate. Her other hand grabbed the bell hanging from his neck and tore it off his collar, she then released his horn, dropping him back to the ground.
There were many things that Grogar wanted to say at this point, but the only same that came out of his lips was a pained groan, he also took the opportunity to take his first real look at the Engineer.
"Damn, I'm good." Engineer said, taking the opportunity to show off her armor. She was covered head to toe in black metal, the metal was covered in tiny runes that glowed with a dull red color. He tried to look into her eyes, only to find no vision slit, she was somehow seeing through the metal of her helmet. Grogar watched as she lifted up the bell to inspect it, almost invisible joints in the armor flexed and bent to accommodate a full range of movement, but despite its flexibility her armor was strong, the headache he had now was proof of that."I've really outdone myself. " Engineer said with a chuckle. "It seems that you underestimated how powerful runic magic can be, otherwise you wouldn't be in the pathetic state you are."
While Engineer was bragging, Grogar, again, tried to make his escape, running past her as she made no attempt to stop her. He ran down the walkway that led away from his lair onto solid ground, his eyes locked on to a pillar standing in the tree line, if he could make it there then he would be safe. But just feet away from safety he felt his body locked up, a glowing black field surrounded him, he tried to cast his own spell to counter, but the strain of battle had sapped him of all his strength.
"Did you really think, that I would let you escape, Grogar?" Engineer said as she approached him, the black field of magic spun him around to face her. She had her hand outstretched in front of her the same black field holding him in place surrounded her hand, as the runes on her armor glowed brighter. "Your bell is quite extraordinary, it's capable of giving magic to a creature without it, which I was able to further enhance with a few tweaks to my armor." As she approached, he saw Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis rush out of the entrance of the lair, they relaxed when they saw that Engineer had the situation in hand.
"Well done, Engineer." Chrysalis said. "Now that Grogar is defeated-."
"Enough speeches." Tirek said. "Engineer, hurry up and drain the goat, I want his magic."
"Now now Tirek." Cozy said. "We all agreed to share Grogars power, remember?"
"Fine, fine, just do it already." Tirek replied.
"You got it." Engineer said, lifting the bell, all four of them cast a spell on it together, it rang ominously and then began to glow, before a black and gold beam shot out of it. As it enveloped Grogar, they watched as he at first struggled, and then began to change. His body was wracked with grotesque changes, as bones snapped into new shapes and body parts changed into strange and horrifying new forms. The four of them recoiled in horror as the misshapen being finally stopped its terrible transformation into-.
"DISCORD!?" All four of them said at once, In the confusion Discord felt the spell binding his body release, he got up and started to run, but was stopped by Engineer stamping on his tail, causing him to fall flat on his face
"Ow!" He said, rubbing his nose as looked back at them "You have my magic, what more do you want?"
"Are you serious?" Cozy asked.
"Grogar, the cretin that conscripted us into his mad plot, turns out to be, you, Discord." Chrysalis hissed "And you don't think we would have questions?"
"When you say it like that, it does sound kind of stupid." Discord said, "Well I will be more than happy to answer any and all questions just as soon as you, take your foot of my tail!"
Engineer responded to this by applying even more pressure, causing him to yelp in pain. Tirek decided to intervene "Let him up, Engineer."
"Seriously?" Engineer asked.
"He's no threat now that his magic is gone." Tirek said. "And if he does try to run, you have my permission to do whatever you want."
Engineer let out a huff, but relented. Discord rose back to his feet and dusted himself off. "So, what would you four like to know?"
"What the hell is going on would be a start!" Cozy shouted.
Discord jumped at her outburst, before nervously answering, "Well, you see, my good friend Twilight Sparkle, is going to be taking over as ruler of Equestria soon, so I figured to boost her confidence, that she could beat a whole group of villains and fell really good about herself. So, I pretended to be Grogar, gathered up Equestrias most dangerous, and would lead them in an attack just before her coronation, and as leader, I could ensure that whatever plan that we had would fail, and that her and her friends could feel really good about defeating the big bad guys. End of story."
"End of story?" Chrysalis growled "What about us?"
Discord hesitated before answering "Well, you four, would be defeated and then probably turned to stone like I was. So sad, but not really."
"YOU ASSHOLE." Engineer sprang forward, delivering a knee to Discords stomach, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
"Asshole isn't enough to describe you Discord." Cozy said.
"A dick?" Tirek offered as an alternative.
Chrysalis turned around to face Tirek "Don't encourage-"
"No, a cunt." Cozy declared.
"Cozy Glow!" Chrysalis snapped "Never say that word ever again!"
Discord took the opportunity to start to crawl away, but Tirek saw him and smirked, "Look Engineer, he's trying to escape."
"Oh, I am going to enjoy this", Engineer said, cracking her knuckles as she approached the fleeing draconequus. Discord found himself with his back against a pillar, with an angry Engineer bearing down on him. "Well Discord, It seems that you won't be seeing your new pony friends ever again, so sad, but not really."
"Wait, Engineer!" He said. The fear evident in his face.
"What?" She asked.
"You were wrong, I do know how powerful runic magic can be." Discord tapped on the pillar three times with a claw. It began to glow blue, then a trail of blue magic ran across the ground like lightening heading for their lair, The four of them followed it with their eyes at it reached their home and for a moment nothing happened, but then a flash of light caused them to shield their eyes. For a moment, Engineer heard a loud roar, then she couldn't hear anything as she felt a blast of air slam into her that nearly knocked her down. It took what felt like minutes but were in reality seconds for her hearing to return, and the first thing she heard was the sound of rushing water
Engineer pulled her arm away, that was shielding her view, to find that the lair was gone. "No, no, no, NO!" Engineer screamed. It had happened again, where she had lived, where she had worked, her home had been taken away. All that was left was a segment of the walkway leading to where the entrance used to be, and a rapidly filling hole in the lake.
"Oops." Discord said, "Wrong failsafe." The four of them spun back around, and fired the most powerful magic they had. But before it could slam home, the pillar glowed again, this time green, and Discord disappeared, leaving the pillar to absorb the barrage.
They stood there silently, processing what had just happened. "He's gone!" Tirek roared. "That bastard destroyed our home and escaped."
"You idiot Engineer!" Engineer cried. "Why didn't you see it, he had damned explosion runes and teleportation runes rigged up out your front door. But you were too stupid to see it."
"That's enough Engineer." Chrysalis said. "None of us saw this coming, and now he's probably running off to the Princesses to tell them some story about finding us in the middle of nowhere, and draining his power."
"But that means-" Cozy began.
"That it's only a matter of time before the Princesses are bearing down on us." Chrysalis finished. "We need to get moving, now!"
"They did this." Engineer hissed. "Celestia and Luna, they weren't happy with ruining my life just once, so they sent their lackey to do it again."
"I have to disagree with you there." Tirek said "Discord isn't anyones lackey, and only he would come up with a plan like this."
"We don't have time for this." Cozy said. "Let's just absorb the magic in the bell and then we need to get going."
"We can't." Tirek said. "Discords magic is chaos magic, it is far too unstable for any of us to use. I was only able to use it after absorbing magic from almost all of the ponies in Equestria, only then could I control it."
"Fine then let's just go, we need to find a new place to hide." Cozy said.
"No." Chrysalis said. "We gave them their chance, we just wanted to live our lives, but they wouldn't let us!" Chrysalis looked around at her allies "Well, I'm tired of running and hiding, we will never be free until those that seek to harm us are dealt with once and for all. The magic we got from Grogars bell, as well as Engineers armor has made us stronger than ever before, and with Discords magic gone, that might be just the advantage we need to win."
"But what if we lose?" Cozy asked.
"It's too late for that Cozy." Engineer said. "Chrysalis is right, they will never leave us alone, Celestia and Luna will never leave me alone, unless we finish it ourselves. I'm in."
"Me too." Tirek said. "If there is magic to be taken, I'll be there."
"Well Cozy, what will it be?" Chrysalis asked.
Cozy looked around at the group, all of them seemed determined to see this through, she took a deep breath, and gave her answer. "Let's do it."
Twilight Sparkle was flying over the Everfree Forest, she had her saddle bags with her, filled to the brim with notes, photographs, charts, and other information that might be relevent. She was strangely calm, even though she knew she shouldn't be, Celestia and Luna had asked her to meet them out the front of the old Castle of the Two Sisters, the ruins located deep within the Everfree Forest. They had asked her to come alone, not to bring even Spike with her, which could mean only one thing in her mind, they didn't want any creature to see the Princesses argue.
But Twilight was ready, she was going to show up an hour early, ample time to set up the presentation she had planned. If Celestia and Luna agreed, then good, if not, so be it. No matter what, she was going to Tartarus and getting Cozy Glow. Twilight sighted the castle, and started her decent, she landed within the courtyard, just by the giant crystal treehouse that was the reincarnation of the old Tree of Harmony. She immediately took off her saddlebags, she only had an hour to go over her notes and make sure that her arguments were-.
"Hello Twilight." Celestia said. Twilight looked up in surprise, Celestia and Luna were already here.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, I know why you asked me here." Twilight said.
"You do?" Luna asked.
"I know you were the ones to send Cozy to Tartarus, but I know that it was the wrong call." Twilight continued.
"Oh, that, that's actually not-" Luna was cut off.
"If you just let me prepare I will be able to convince you." Twilight said, going back to pulling things out of her bags.
"Well you see Twilight, we asked you here to-" Celestia tried to get control of the conversation.
"Please Celestia, just give me a chance." Twilight continued. "If you hear me out about Cozys past, If you knew about where she lived, and knew about who ran the place and is, thankfully, not running it anymore after she, well, fell down a flight of steps and broke her neck."
"Twilight." Celestia interjected. "We already agreed to release Cozy Glow, remember, in the letter we sent asking you to come here?"
"Huh?" Twilight said, pulling out the letter in question. "No it doesn't, It says Dear Twilight, we respect your opinion as Princess of Friendship in this matter. But before you proceed, please come to the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest, there is a matter of great importance for us to discuss. Signed Princess Celestia and Princess Luna"
"Yes it does." Luna said "The we respect your opinion part."
"What?" Twilight said. "I'm sorry, but when you lead with that and then follow it with a but, it sounds like a no. It sounds like, you brought me out here to give me a dressing down."
"We apologise then." Celestia said. "I'm sorry that we didn't communicate more clearly. If you believe that Cozy Glow can be reformed then we believe it too. In fact we have sent some guards to Tartarus to retrieve her already."
"Oh, thank you two." Twilight said. "I feel a little silly now, I had a whole presentation prepared because of a simply miscommunication."
"Of course you did." Luna teased. Celestia and Luna chuckled, If there was one thing they could count on, it was for Twilight to over prepare.
"Then if you haven't brought me here to discuss Cozy Glow, what is the important thing you wanted to talk about?" Twilight asked. The smiles faded on the Princesses faces.
"Tell me Twilight, have you heard of the Engineer?" Celestia asked.
"The Engineer? I don't remember much, wasn't it a Diamond Dog who made weapons or something?" Twilight asked back.
"She was a genius, a thousand years ago she served King Rex the Despoiler, manufacturing weapons and armor for his army." Luna said.
"He used it to conquer vast swaths of old Equestria, so we assembled an alliance of species to confront him, gryphons, hippogryphs, ponies, and of course some rebelling Diamond Dogs." Celestia continued. "They rebelled against their king because they believed that the Engineer was somehow controlling him, she was something that no creature had ever seen before, he had found her while hunting in the mountains and ever since had developed an affinity for her, and treated her as his own daughter."
"They were convinced that she was the problem, and we allowed ourselves to be convinced of that too." Luna said. "With their help, we ambushed King Rex, killed him, after which his army surrendered."
"Then what happened?" Twilight asked.
"Luna and I went ahead of the army with a small personal guard." Celestia said "We met with the kings son Soboka, we had heard that he was against his fathers conquest, and we hoped with his help, we would oust the Engineer and restore peace to Equestria."
"Instead he told us the truth." Luna said. "The war was always King Rex's idea, and that Engineer only served him because, he was like a father to her, and that she was a sister to him. He begged us to spare her, he offered up his kingdom, his own life in exchange, but we couldn't accept. The allied army, was bearing down on the capital, and they wouldn't be as understanding as us, so we made a deal with him."
"What deal?" Twilight asked.
"He would pretend that everything they said about the Engineer was true, and take his place on the throne of the Diamond Dog kingdom." Celestia said. "We would, turn Engineer to stone, and tell the other allies we had thrown her into the sea, but in truth we would hide her away, until she was forgotten, and then we would free her."
Luna sighed. "It was terrible, we couldn't let anyone else know, not even our own guards. So we couldn't tell her what the plan was, and she didn't come quietly to say the least. I can still hear her scream, but we thought we knew what we were doing, that she would thank us later, when she knew the truth."
"I'm guessing your plan didn't work out?" Twilight asked.
"No, it didn't." Celestia said. "It seemed alright at first, there were some minor grumbling, some of the allies wanted to punish her themselves. But we were sure it wouldn't last long, once tensions cooled, we could tell everyone the truth. How naive I was."
"In International diplomacy, tensions were never cooled." Luna said. "Their was always one nation or another on the verge of doing something stupid, if we told them that the Engineer was alive they would think that she had somehow mind controlled us."
"But barely anyone knows about Engineer now, why haven't you freed her already?" Twilight asked.
"After Nightmare moon, I was in a very dark place." Celestia said. "I was paranoid that if I let her out that, someone might take her and use her to conquer Equestria. I had only been able to defeat Rex, Discord, and Sombra with my sister and without her, I couldn't risk it."
"Then King Soboka died, and left his kingdom to Celestia." Luna said. "He left it to her in the hopes that she would free his sister in exchange. But now my sister knew that if Engineer was freed, she wouldn't believe the truth. And rather than being abducted by some wanna be dictator, would seek one out, or become one herself."
"But now Luna is back." Twilight said. "Their are four Princesses, Discord is on our side, we have the Elements of harmony, and the Pillars of old Equestria. If there is anytime to release her it's now, where is she?."
"That is why we have brought you here Twilight. The Engineer is located in the depths of this castle" Luna said. "We figured that it would be easier to reform her if she made a friend, and the same with Cozy Glow."
"We were going to ask you to do it." Celestia said. "But it sounds like you've already said yes, you have said yes right?"
"Yes." Twilight said. "It will be a challenge, but with the power of friendship, the Engineer and Cozy Glow will be freed, for the betterment of all Equestria."
There was a flash of green light, and Discord appeared above their heads, upside down. He fell face first into the dirt, with a thud.
"Ow." The muffled voice of Discord said.
"Discord! Are you alright?" Twilight asked.
"No." He said, "I am pretty far from alright."
"What did you do this time Discord?" Celestia asked jokingly
"I messed up, I messed up bad." He said.
"What did you do?" Celestia asked again, this time seriously.
"Oh I have messed up really, really bad." Discord repeated.
Celestia was getting worried now "What! Did! You! DO!!!"
"Calm down Pharynx." He said to himself. "You're just asking her to join you for lunch." Pharynx checked the map again, he was close. He had brought along a basket filled to the brim with food, some of which he hoped she could eat, it wouldn't be much of a date if he ended up poisoning his girlfriend. His girlfriend, the Engineer. He didn't expect to be dating a legendary creature from old Equestria, or for her to have such a cute butt.
If his calculations were correct, she would have kicked Grogars ass by now and would be in quite a good mood. Just the right time for him to show up and ask her out. They could find a nice spot in the forrest, eat, talk, and then do... other stuff.
"This is it." He thought aloud as he descended into a clearing near some ruins. "Hello!" He yelled "Am I in the right spot!" He looked around excitedly, but couldn't find the lair. He checked the map again, this was the place, but no lair. That's when he noticed it, scorch marks in the grass, rubble and debris with no moss meaning they were recent additions, there was a lair here and it had been destroyed. A sense of dread came over him. What if they had lost, what if Grogar had defeated them, or-.
He shook his head, he couldn't think that, she had to be alright. "Please be alright." He dropped the basket and headed home, he had no choice if she was in danger she would need help. He had to tell his brother the truth, if Engineer was in danger he had to help her, no matter the cost.
"Please Engy, please be safe."