All too soon the transformation was completed and Grogar revealed himself as a full fledged draconequus. His eye color hadn't changed and neither had the color of his fur. But he now displayed (among other things) a black eagle claw, a midnight blue lion paw, bluish-white antlers that loosely resembled his earlier appearance and a short snake tail a cobalt blue in color. He had grown even taller, as if he had stacked two of himself in his previous form on top of one another. "There, all done," He declared as his voice had deepened ever so slightly and was carried on the wind. Then he looked down at his opponent. "And from the look on your face right now, I reckon you are too."
"You... actually did it!" Shining swallowed hard. "I hope you're satisfied."
The newly formed draconequus nodded as he used some of his magic to lift the prince up and hold him in the palm of his lion paw, his bewitching bell still dangling from his neck that no longer bore a collar. "Oh I am. And you should feel privileged that you forced this transformation upon me."
The prince could only bring himself to say. "All I feel is disgusted by your presence! But at least now you truly look the part of 'Father of Monsters'. And you found a body that matches your ego."
Grogar just laughed as he set his foe down on the ground. "That's right, you may as well live boldly for what little time you have left. But I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye to you just yet. After all, I need time to get used to this new body. So once again, you'll help me warm up."
"I can't! I've nothing left to fight with!" Shining protested as he could only bring his own to produce a few faint sparks and nothing more. "End this now and get it over with! I won't budge."
Grogar wasn't persuaded. "I may have broken you in spirit, but I haven't broken you in body. You will fight me again whether you want to or not. I can literally rewrite the laws of reality as I see fit now," He proceeded to conjure up some strange, glowing orbs in his eagle claw and lion paw and bring them down both to Shining Armor. "Here, take these! This is not a request."
Reluctantly, the young prince accepted the orbs and found his energy reserves be suddenly restored.
The draconequus smiled. "Just a small taste of what my new powers are capable of. It's almost more than you can handle."
"Chaos magic! I should've known!" Shining gasped anew!
With a toothy grin Grogar replied to his opponent. "Now you see why I was so hesitant to embrace it. But that little lights show you put on made me realize how much of a fool I'd been. I could have bested you without the chaos magic, but using it to power myself up would ensure nothing would be left to chance," Then he stomped a foot down. "I've given you a second wind. Do not make me regret it."
Shining grit his teeth, realizing the hopelessness of the situation he found himself in. He could easily refuse Grogar's offer and die now while taking some of the chaos magic with him, but it would serve little purpose since it would just free Grogar to continue his rampage unchecked. On the other hoof, he harbored no illusion that he might be able to stop an opponent that was now basically Discord but stronger and without any desire to be good or even play games. It was a loss for him and Equestria no matter what he did.
Rather than wait for an answer, Grogar decided to launch an attack! "I'm sorry, was I speaking a foreign language to you or something? I specifically said you had no choice but to fight me, did I not? You surely know that you can't hope to use chaos magic against me, if you do I can easily just absorb it back into my bell and leave you drained. And that's the least I can do before our time is done. The fight starts and ends only when I say it does!"
Reluctantly, the prince realized his opponent was right. "Fine, Grogar! If it's a warm up you want it's a warm up you're gonna get! In fact, by the time we're through you'll be scorched!" He tried to roar in a defiant tone, determined not to show fear even in the face of what seemed like an inevitable end.
"Ah yes, that's what I like to hear! It's always more fun to crush my enemies both figuratively and literally when they think they have hope." The draconequus declared as he began to laugh. And in his mind he was thinking. "Welcome to the last fight you'll ever have, Shining Armor! I know what your destiny is, and it's one you can't hope to avoid. So the question now is, how will you waste the last moments of your life? What feeble resistance will you attempt to display?"
Wisely, Shining Armor didn't take the offensive against Grogar. Even if this was just a "warm-up" he had no reason to believe the draconequus would hold back (except for the possibility of still adjusting to his new body's capabilities).
Grogar didn't wait long to make his move. "Let's resume this horror show, shall we? If you can't think of a move I most certainly can!" He rushed forward only to suddenly snap his fingers and disappear. He subsequently reappeared a split second later behind Shining, blasting him hard in the back! "Oh, it's so good to be so bad!" He cackled with delight. "Now what will you do, oh prince?"
Rather than reply with words, Shining instead opted to slowly walk forward once he had recovered. His horn charged slowly as he unfolded his wings not unlike a protective shield. He didn't have a smile on his face but he wasn't exactly frowning either.
Grogar interrupted by using one of his talons on his eagle claw to pull Shining Armor close and then slam him down towards the ground. "Come on, try harder! Make this interesting! I know you've got more than that! Don't tell me I wasted that transformation just to find you tapped out so soon."
"You're the one who wanted to fight me," The alicorn protested. "I told you I wasn't up for it."
"Don't insult me! There's no point in holding back! And I've already given you some of my magic, so you're not getting any more freebies," Grogar hissed as he stomped a foot down again. "Fight me with everything you have, or die now and stop wasting my time!"
Shining managed to respond by charging up his horn, and flying up to strike at Grogar in the face. He hoped the close range attack would at least do something. But the attack was shrugged off without fanfare. And a series of quick hoof punches met with similar results.
Grogar yawned. "Oh, how sad. I guess it's true, you really are nothing with those feeble friends of yours."
"My friends are not feeble!" Shining growled and grit his teeth in protest. "And I'm more than capable of holding my own under better circumstances."
The newly formed draconequus just frowned. He wasn't satisfied with the answer. "You know what, I think this little warm up is over. I was hoping to squeeze a little bit more out of you, but I guess that's what I get for betting it all on a fool's gamble. You will go out not with a bang but with a whimper. Perhaps you should've heeded the advice of those princesses you were replacing and let them handle this. At least then you'd still be alive." He began to concentrate tons of magical energy into his paws in preparation for an attack to literally incinerate his opponent.
Shining Armor, for his part, just stood there and prepared to accept his fate. "Sorry everyone," He thought. "I did the best I could. Now the rest of you will have to pick up the slack and finish what I started."
Yet suddenly, before Grogar could make his move, a dazzling and blinding flash of light shone down from above! The winds picked up as a voice unfamiliar to Grogar but instantly recognizable to Shining Armor called out. "It's not over yet, Shining Armor."
"Cozy Glow?!" Shining gasped in surprise as he saw the sparkling, glowing form that represented the filly's spirit.
The spirit smiled. "You must not lose hope. Harmony cannot be defeated."
Grogar, for his part, only hissed and roared as he tried to attack! "Stay out of this! You're a mere child meddling in forces beyond your comprehension!"
But Cozy Glow effortlessly blocked Grogar's attack simply by standing in front of it. It went right through her and then disappeared. "One of your creations brought me to life, Grogar. And another one took my life away. Yet it was thanks to this very pony that I was given freedom for however short it was. I know full well what's going on here."
"You're... going to fight alongside me? Take control of my body like the Tree of Harmony once did?" Shining hopefully asked. "Together we might actually stand a chance."
Cozy shook her head. "Alas, that is beyond my power. And even combined I fear it would not be enough to counter a creature as strong as Grogar is now," She was quick to add. "But fear not. There is still much I can do that doesn't relate to combat."
Shining blinked in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Simply take my hoof and I'll show you." The spirit answered as she extended one of her glowing hooves out towards the weakened prince, who grabbed it without much hesitation.
Grogar knew he couldn't stop this in spite of his new powers and abilities. But in protest he cried out! "You can't leave now, coward! I told you that I am a creature of my word, and I meant it when I said I would see you fall."
"Well, there's a first time for everything, Grogar," Shining Armor replied as he began to teleport away in a glow of sparkles. "You'll just have to wait. You got your warm up. But my fate isn't finished yet. I'll be back, and then we'll settle this once and for all!"
Frustrated, furious and dismayed, Grogar could only watch as his enemy disappeared as if he'd never been there before. "How dare he make a fool of me!" The draconequus thought to himself. "That pathetic prince can run and hide all he wants! It won't save him or the land he cares so much about from my wrath! The reign of Grogar will not be denied!"