//------------------------------// // 22) Grogar's Portal // Story: The Ghost of Cozy Glow- A Redux // by SapphireRose87 //------------------------------// {Betty} Every week off and on, Cozy Glow would appear to me and tell me how things were going with her working for Princess Twilight. She often expressed to me how badly she wanted to crossover, but for some reason, she couldn't and had no idea why. So, shortly after the race with Rainbow Dash, I finally forced myself to take a break, but then, Cozy Glow appeared to me again and she had the usual frown on her face. By this time, I had checked out a handful of books from the library, trying to do some research, so I could figure out how to help Cozy Glow crossover. But no matter how much I researched, every book said the same thing. If a soul hasn't crossed over from the Land of the Living to the Land of the Dead to start their afterlife, then there is some sort of unfinished business that they need to sort out.  I find it hard to believe that Cozy Glow has any loose ends to tie up in the Land of the Living. According to her, her parents are already dead, so there's nothing to clear up there. She had already gotten closure for every bad thing that's happened to her and moved on. The only thing she hadn't gotten closure for, was Tirek manipulating her into thinking that friendship equaled power and that she drained the magic from Equestria because of it. Then, she was manipulated even further by Discord, pretending to be Grogar, which in turn Tirek wanted to outdo Grogar and wanted Cozy Glow to trick ponies into thinking she was doing things for their benefit. But the truth is, Tirek was manipulating Cozy Glow for his own selfish ends. I was sitting on the bed talking to Cozy Glow. "I don't know what to tell you, Cozy Glow. I've done all the research I can. I'm sorry..." Cozy sighed and said while wistfully looking to the right, "Don't worry about it Betty. You really did everything you could do to help me." When suddenly she paused and looked at me with a horrified look in her auburn eyes. "O...Kay, what's that look for?" I asked. "I'm being summoned! It's uh, something important, so I gotta go!" Cozy Glow said. "I'll be back." I shrugged as Cozy Glow disappeared without another word.  * * * {Dae} I was sitting in my office, finishing up the rest of my royal duties for the day. And when I was done with that, I went to my bedroom and laid down. I smiled as I looked up at the ceiling thinking about Betty. Betty has no idea how awesome she is, and I find it funny that she won't accept the fact that she is the Child of Prophecy. But the prophet did say that she would have the strength of an Alicorn. At the same time though, it almost seems that she does and from what I can sense, her powers are only getting stronger. I also can't wait until Betty finally kills that abusive witch she has for a biological mother! Fluttershy is her mother now and I'm happy she’s finally in a good home.  No sooner as I started thinking about Betty, there was a knock on the door. I went to answer and gave the formal greetings to Parada. This time when I saw her, I was concerned because she looked frantic. "What's wrong, Parada?" I asked. "It's Grogar!" Parada shrieked. "Excuse me?" I said while raising my right eyebrow. Parada took a deep breath and let it out, "Grogar has been spotted by the prison at the Middle Ground. There's evidence that he is starting to build the portal he had been talking about ever since he was locked up. He's probably using all nine of the Death Walker abilities, but no one knows exactly how he's doing it? Betty needs to be summoned, ASAP!" I nodded. "I'm on it, I'll contact Celestia and Betty will be here as soon as she falls asleep." Parada nodded and I dismissed her and headed to the Middle Ground. * * * {Betty} Right after I went to sleep, I woke up in the Land of the Dead. I have no idea why I did it, but I jumped about a foot in the air when I turned around and saw Dae was there to greet me. Dae chuckled, "Well, hello to you too Betty." "Okay," I said, "why have I been summoned?" "Grogar's been spotted over by the prison in the Middle Ground." Dae answered while frowning. "For some reason, it's been found out that somehow, Grogar was able to use all nine of the Death Walker abilities. We have to-" Before Dae could finish his sentence there was a loud boom off in the distance. I looked over to see lighting strikes over by the prison in the Middle Ground. "Uh, Dae?" I asked. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Or have I lost my mind?" "I'm seeing the lighting strikes alright! That's concerning, because there's no need for rain or thunderstorms or anything like that here!" Dae exclaimed. "Well then, let's go!" I started running towards the lighting and Dae was right behind me. * * * After I got to where I saw the lighting strikes, I couldn't believe my eyes. A large mirror, about a foot off the air over a platform, had electricity going through it. I could only assume that's where the lightning strikes were coming from. I looked to see Grogar rolling on the ground in laughter, as if he were having the best of times.  "I'm tickled pink!" Grogar laughed a sinister laugh, "I finally have all of the nine Death Walker abilities, darkness, light, glass, fire, wind, water, iron fist, copper blade, and earth! Mah, ha, ha, ha! Thankfully, I had nine willing souls from that stupid prison I was in to combine with the Death Walker abilities. Oh how I've waited for this day! Once I have my portal complete, I will make the ruler of Heaven and the ruler of Hell step down from their thrones and I will be a great and powerful leader! I will have Equestria's universe all to myself! Mah, ha, ha, ha!" "Hey Grogar! You stupid old goat!" I shouted. "There's no way I'm letting you take over the universe! Not on my watch!" Grogar looked up at me and smirked. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the Child of Prophecy! I'm honored they would send you here to stop me! Why, if I can drain your powers, I'll be ruler over the  universe for sure! Come here you! Daddy wants a hug!"  "Yeah, not gonna happen!" I said. Most of the time, I would turn my staff into a blade to disable my enemies. This time, I combined my glass and light powers instead, to turn my staff into a shield to deflect Grogar's magic.  I kept moving around as quickly as I could, while using my shield to deflect Grogar's magic every time. I smiled at the new, frustrated look on his  face. "Would you stop being so stubborn and come here already?" Grogar growled. "Hmm, yeah no," I taunted. I stuck out my tongue at him. I continued moving around and after a while, Grogar was starting to get on my nerves almost as much as I was getting on his. I looked over and saw Dae watching me fight Grogar with an amused look on his face.  What is so funny? I thought. I'm not laughing Betty, I'm just watching on the sidelines as the peanut gallery for now. Dae thought. I'm only going to jump in if you need me. I paused after deflecting one of Grogar's attacks. You know something? I might need your help after all! Gee, I thought you'd never ask! Dae teased in his thoughts. This is not the time for teasing Dae! I thought.  I found out that I had light powers after I caught a beam of light from Luna that started my power surges. As I was training with Scarlett, I figured out that I can use a magic wielder's beam of light against them. Since the portal looks like it's made up of mostly light- Are you crazy? If you're thinking what I think you're thinking about doing, I doubt that will work. Dae thought. Just then, Grogar aimed one of his attacks at Dae, and he quickly drew his blade to deflect it.  "Damn it!" Grogar growled. "I thought for sure that would work!" "Yeah, and there's no way you're making me step down from the throne!" Dae snapped. "And what do you rule over?" Grogar asked with a quizzical look in his yellow eyes. "I'm the King of Hell," said Dae, "and there's no way you're taking away my kingdom from me either!" Grogar gave Dae a smug look. "Well now, you should just step down and hand the throne over to me because whether you like it or not, I'm taking it from you." ”You’re arrogant, you know that?” Dae mused with a smirk on his face. “Somebody really should put you in your place!” The next thing I knew, the ground started shaking. I looked at Dae to see the pissed look on his face and rightfully so. As Dae was shaking with anger, I seized my opportunity and went towards the portal.  I think you're nuts, but hey, I'm not stopping you because I'm going to kill Grogar! Dae thought. Works for me! I thought. I could hear loud bangs, as Dae and Grogar started to intensify their fight. Once I slipped past them, I turned my shield back into my staff and put it away. I put both of my hands on the portal and I kept pushing on it, while trying to absorb its magic. Soon, I heard nothing at all. * * * The next time I opened my eyes, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Everywhere I looked, I was sitting in some sort of beautiful, well-kept field and it seemed to go on for miles. While this place is nice and all, I thought, I have to destroy that stupid portal and help Dae stop Grogar!  "Welcome, Child of Prophecy," I heard a voice say, "The Divine has been waiting for this day to meet you." I turned around to an old man dressed in white robes with a yellow halo floating above his head.  "Uh, first of all, I'm not the Child of Prophecy," I said, "I wish people would stop calling me that! Second, my name is Betty and third, if you yank on my tail I swear..." The man chuckled, "Okay fine Betty, I won't yank on your tail. In case you're wondering, you're in Heaven now. You came here when you came through the portal. Now if you would please follow me, the Divine wants to have an audience with you." "Okay," I said, "who's the Divine?" "The Divine is the ruler of this place." The man explained. "You have gained her interest in you because songs here have been written about you. Now, follow me." I followed the man over to a tall yellow gate. I looked past the gate to see a bunch of steps leading upwards to where I had no idea. The man took out of his robes the biggest key I had ever seen! The man chuckled, "Yeah I know, you're not the only one that's had this reaction to seeing the big yellow key. It's necessary to open the big yellow gate." The man then opened the gate and we entered and started climbing the steps. As we were climbing, I kept wondering what on earth would the ruler of Heaven want with me? I'm not dating the ruler, unless Dae has some sort of alter ego or something. But once we got to the top of the steps, my jaw dropped in awe of what I saw. There was a huge gold throne and sitting on it was a woman. She looked like she was my age, but considering she's the ruler of Heaven, she's probably much older than that. She had a small gold crown on her head and she was dressed in white robes and had a gold sash around her waist. She also had brown sandals on her feet. I stared at her thinking, I'm just going to assume this is the Divine the ruler of Heaven.  "Welcome Child of Prophecy, Death Walker Betty Jewel." The Divine said. "It's about time I got a chance to meet the one who so many songs are written about! It's an honor to meet you." I blinked. "Uh, an honor to meet me? Why?" "What part of the phrase, Child of Prophecy don't you understand?" The Divine asked. "Oh, I understand what it means," I answered, "but you've got the wrong Death Walker, lady!" "Betty! Some respect-" The man started. The Divine laughed, "It's okay Charlie. Obviously, Betty hasn't quite accepted her talents yet or what she will become. Trust me, I was like that when mom handed me the throne. Yes, from what I was told, the first Kings and Queen of every realm in the Land of the Dead were created by the Icebreakers. I have no idea why things are set up the way they are now and I don't worry about it either, because it doesn't really matter. " "Okay," I said, "why did you want to meet me?" "Well for starters," said the Divine, "there are a hundred songs written about you. I like all of them to tell the truth. As mother always told me, the woman who rules over Heaven shall never tell a lie. Because one lie told by the ruler can corrupt the whole realm. Do you want to know who's been writing these songs about you?" I nodded. The Divine pointed and my jaw dropped when I saw my dead teammates. I stood there, stunned when my teammates bowed to me.  "No!" I cried. "Don't bow to me! I'm the one that got you killed and I'm-" Before I could finish my sentence, a young woman named Amelia came running up and hugged me tightly.  She was one of the team captains on one of the individual teams that got killed. "No, don't say that Betty," Amelia chimed reassuringly, "we took the job, knowing how dangerous it was. You can't protect everyone, you do realize that right? We got killed because someone or something ambushed us. The last thing I saw was a goat-like creature staring at me with madness in his eyes." My eyes went wide in terror which quickly turned into anger when I realized who that was. But just to be sure, I asked her, "Did the goat-like creature say what his name was by chance?" "Yeah, he did but only when he knew I was about to die," Amelia said. "He said his name was Grogar." I gasped. "He's that stupid goat I was fighting before I came here! He's going to pay now! I'm going to make sure of it!" Amelia let go of me and smiled. "I figured you would say something like that. You will take care of him for us. I know you will." I turned around to see the Divine sitting on the throne smiling at me. "Well, Betty, you must get back to where you came from. Go, stop Grogar before he destroys us all!" The Divine pointed a finger in front of her and a portal opened up. I nodded and stepped through it, ready to avenge my teammates by killing the one who killed them, Grogar.