//------------------------------//
// Episode 35: "Grogar's Endgame: Part 9" 
// Story: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 13 
// by twilightsparkle3562 
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PREVIOUSLY ON "MY LITTLE PONY"

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Cadence: "We all know what is to be done, right?"

Shining Armor: "Hold it! Don't move!"

Starswirl: "This pony…"

Shining Armor: "..is a wanted criminal!"

Cozy Glow: "I just want the Cakes rescued. We can work this out later."

King Sombra: "Why don't you just surrender and I will make your final moments easy?"

Cadence: "Now you're going to truly pay for all the crimes you've committed against the Crystal Empire!"

Shining Armor: "In the name of Supreme Princess Twilight Sparkle and the other princesses of Equestria, you are ordered to surrender!"

King Sombra: "My emperor has returned."

Grogar: "The time has come for the final conflict. Equestria will soon be mine!"

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Having absorbed the powers from his minions, Grogar towered over the battlefield with a smirk of evil deep in his face. The skies around him darkened thanks to the powers of his bewitching bell. All Twilight could do was look up at her enemy with a shocked expression! Yet while battered and bruised from her underground confrontation, she still refused to give up.

"BEHOLD!" Grogar bellowed in his own royal Canterlot voice, the noise reverberating across the battlefield! "VENGEANCE IS MINE! YOU ARE ALL ANTS AND I AM YOUR DESTROYER!"

Not wanting to stand by, Cadence took to the air and attempted to shoot at Grogar with her magic!

But it merely bounced off of him as he turned to the crystal princess. "Shoo, you pest!" He sneered, using his magic to force Cadence to the ground, much to Twilight's horror! "Your efforts are futile. There is no use in fighting me further, Princess Twilight! Surrender to me now and your end will be swift!"

Struggling to her hooves, Twilight looked up at her enemy and right away turned all of her attention towards Grogar's bewitching bell. "His power is in that bell," She thought to herself. "If I get that bell then he will weaken. I will have a chance to strike."

"Twilight!" A voice called as Spike and Rarity came onto the scene along with Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash also followed suit. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Spike," Twilight insisted. "I've got an idea to get that bell. It may be our only chance," Then she noticed that Fluttershy was missing. "Where's Fluttershy?"

"She's injured, Twi," Applejack answered with a concerned expression. Knowing that they would be down one member of the elements of harmony, Twilight and her friends had their work cut out for them. "Badly."

Standing behind Grogar, Tirek had finished strangling his clone to death and like Twilight, was trying to think of a way to catch Grogar off guard.

"Scorpan," Tirek whispered. "If I can help Princess Twilight and her friends get his bell…"

"He's too strong, brother!" Scorpan interjected. "What are you proposing?!"

"Fly me up to his back!" Tirek firmly answered, calculating his move. "If I can get my magic back, I can put him at a disadvantage and make it easier for Princess Twilight and her friends. With any luck, helping them will allow me to secure their favor when all's said and done."

Reluctantly, Scorpan did as he was told and picked up Tirek with his claws. Together, the two brothers flew towards Grogar's back as Twilight and five of her friends continued to figure a way out of the situation that they were in.

"Well, do you surrender?" Grogar thundered as a thunderbolt clapped in the skies. "You have no chance!"

But amazingly, Spike was having none of Grogar's thundering rants. He continued to have his eyes locked up on the giant demonic goat, and he began to flap his wings.

"Spike, what are you doing?" Twilight asked nervously to her adopted little brother. "Are you nuts?!"

"Trust me, I have an idea," Taking to the air, Spike hoped that his idea would be carried out to help Twilight and the others. "You know, you sure talk a lot for a dictator!" He shouted. "Princess Twilight and her friends are more powerful than you will ever know, Grogar!"

This caused Grogar to look down at the young dragon. "What?!" Grogar shouted, the gust from his voice sending Spike back slightly.

"She has more power, and she can take it away from you!" Spike thundered back, his wings beating more.

"Spike, are you crazy?!" Rarity whimpered.

"Face it, Grogar!" Spike shouted. "You're still just…second best!"

Snarling, Grogar raised his left foreleg and stomped it down hard, the soundwave reverberating throughout the battlefield and damaging both the castle and the already heavily damaged school of friendship!

"You are a brave dragon," Grogar remarked, slightly chuckling. "But guess what? You're not good enough to stop me! None of you are!"

And in a fit of rage, Grogar reared up and let out a loud roar as he powered his bell up! Then, he suddenly was struck by a powerful beam of alicorn magic, causing him to roar in pain as he nearly fell while doubling over in pain. "Who dares strike me?!" He demanded as Luna, Silverstream and Gallus arrived on the scene. "You!"

"Luna!" Twilight shouted! "Keep him distracted!" Then she turned to the remaining fellow princesses. "There is one way we can weaken Grogar's powers," she whispered. "We need the six students and all the pillars here."

"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked, before realizing what Twilight was planning to do. "You don't mean…"

"We're going to do the same thing to Grogar we did against Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis," Twilight firmly nodded. "But we need time if we're going to pull this off."

Just then, Twilight saw Celestia run by along with the other students. "Wait!" She called out to them. "You guys stay here!"

"What are you talking about, Princess Twilight?" Smolder asked with a snort of smoke. "Professor Celestia is going to need backup! That's where we come in!"

"Yona agrees!" Yona eagerly declared! "Yona ready to smash overgrown goat!"

"We have another idea," Twilight said firmly while gesturing to her fellow princesses. "The only way we can get Grogar weakened enough is if we knock the bell off of his neck. But to do that, we need you and the pillars!" She then saw Tempest Shadow leading several soldiers into battle against the giant Grogar. "Tempest, see if you can buy us some time while we get Starswirl and the others!" She ordered.

"I'll do what I can, supreme princess," Tempest saluted before turning back to the soldiers. "But time may be the one thing we don't have."

Acting fast, Twilight turned herself up to the sky and powered up her horn, preparing to cast a summoning spell to bring all of the pillars to the battlefield.

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Back at the destroyed Sugarcube Corner, Starswirl watched as Cozy Glow was placed into a cage along with Chrysalis. He could sense that there was something different about them now, as if to say that they were no longer evil.

Then the wizard happened to look up, and saw Twilight's beam of alicorn magic. He knew at once what was happening. "Capper!" He called to the humanoid cat. "I'm being summoned by Princess Twilight and the others! Can you continue helping out here?"

"Sure thing, bearded dude!" Capper called back. "Just be careful!"

Activating his teleportation spell, Starswirl disappeared from Sugarcube corner as Flash Magnus and the still small sized Rockhoof also answered the call along with Mistmane, Somnambula and Mage Meadowbrook.

Meanwhile, Tirek and Scorpan continued to fly overhead, trying to find a spot on Grogar's back for Tirek to land on.

"Brother, I can't hold onto you much longer!" Scorpan grunted, sensing that he was beginning to lose his grip on Tirek. "Have you found a spot yet?"

At that very moment, Tirek noticed an area just below the back area of Grogar's neck. "There's a spot!" He called. "Down below his necklace!"

"What are you going to do?" Scorpan inquired. Little did Scorpan know that Tirek had a small knife hidden under his left shackle.

The centaur had a plan to get his magic back and weaken the enemy that had made him see the light of his actions. "Throw me down!" He demanded.

"But brother…" Scorpan protested.

"DO IT, SCORPAN!" Tirek thundered!

Acting on his brother's command, Scorpan threw Tirek onto Grogar's back!

Taking the dagger, Tirek stuck it into the back of Grogar's neck!

The sharp pain caused Grogar to growl! "Who dares strike me in so cowardly a fashion?!" He demanded as he wildly turned his head around, nearly striking at Luna who only just managed to duck out of the way.

But Luna seized a chance and fired a powerful beam at Grogar's left ear!

Rearing up, Grogar opened his mouth in an attempt to consume Luna, but was unable to as she quickly dodged out of the way again!

Knowing that he needed to work fast, Tirek opened his mouth and slowly began to drain Grogar of his magic. Suddenly, Tirek began to feel his strength return to him as his body began to grow.

But Grogar was quick to notice this. "YOU!" He snarled as he reared up once more and threw Tirek off of his back, sending him back onto the ground while managing to land on all fours, back in his second form. "You dare attack me, Lord Tirek?! And after all I've done for you?!"

"I play by the rules now, Grogar!" Tirek shouted in response. "You showed me that being evil gets you nothing!"

"LIAR!" Grogar shouted back as he fired a beam of magic at the centaur, who used a shield spell to protect himself. "I gave you everything! Power, glory and this is how you repay me?!"

"You…gave…me…nothing!" Tirek shouted as he slowly began to regain his third form!

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Discord appeared to him. "Hey, that's what I once said to you, Tirek!" He remarked with a knowing smirk.

"Shut up and help me fight, Discord!" Tirek countered. "Princess Twilight needs to take him down! I don't care about anything else at the moment!"

"Well, someone did a complete 360 it seems," Discord replied, as he used his chaos powers to deflect the blasts from Grogar's power. "Wonder what made you change sides?" He thought, but kept said thoughts to himself as he continued to aid Tirek and the others in fighting Grogar.

Suddenly, as Grogar continued to fight, he suddenly began to feel himself getting weak as Celestia and Luna fired at his stomach area. "What?! What is happening?!" He thought aloud, then he saw Tirek back in his third form. "Tirek, you defy me further?!"

Grogar then tapped into his bell's powers again, trying to reobtain Tirek's power just as Twilight, her friends, the students and the pillars all assembled.

"Okay, we may not be at full strength," Twilight declared. "But we aren't to kill Grogar, we need his bell off of his neck. If we can do that, we might have a chance."

"What are you intending to do, Twilight?" Spike asked, before realizing what Twilight was intending to do. "You don't mean…?"

"We're going to free Chirin," Twilight firmly declared. "But we need to destroy Grogar first! Are you all in agreement of what is to be done?"

Looking around, Twilight got nods from the rest of her friends and together, they all looked up at Grogar's bell.

"You think we can pull this off without Fluttershy, Twilight?" Applejack questioned.

But there was no need to say such a thing, as Fluttershy happened to come fluttering forward at that very moment with Gusty the Great by her side. "I saw the summoning spell," She declared even as she winced in pain. "I'm ready to do my part."

"You sure you're up to this, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash questioned. "You don't look well."

Pinkie Pie insisted. "Twilight obviously believes we don't need to do it exactly like we did it before. You don't need to risk yourself."

Fluttershy shook her head. "All of Equestria is at stake, we have to do this together! After all, our former students are counting on us." And she looked to Ocellus and Sandbar in particular who firmly nodded.

"Alright," Twilight reluctantly agreed. "On my signal we'll all stand together. This has gotta work!" Standing together, the three groups rose into the air as Luna and the airborne fighters watched them from afar.

"Everypony and everycreature ready?!" Twilight cried as the lights of the rainbow shone from above them. "Aim for the bell!"

The sounds of Twilight's command caught Grogar by surprise as he attempted to fire upon the three groups. Before Grogar could act, the rainbow emerged and fired down on him, striking him in the chest and hitting his bewitching bell as he roared loudly in pain while the rainbow began to consume him!

"NO!" Grogar roared at the top of his lungs, pushing back against the rainbow with all his might! "I do not concede! You will never defeat me! NEVER! Darkness shall prevail!"

Gusty the Great watched the development with great concern and alarm! "They're losing!" She gasped and quickly turned to the other princesses and Shining Armor! "Quick, you must help me! Project my voice across Equestria, I'll tell everyone to give these guys their support! It's the only way!"

"We'll do more than that!" Luna roared as she and her sister stood side by side and powered up their horns! "Every bit of additional power shall help!"

Celestia nodded despite her weakened state. "This is no different than our fight with Megatron! Grogar must be stopped no matter the cost!"

"I'm ready to help too, and so's the rest of my family!" Shining Armor firmly said.

Cadence nodded. "You're quite right, dear. We didn't come all this way just to be spectators." And she, Flurry Heart and Shining Armor all started to power up their horns as well.

Yet even with the additional magic joining the rainbow, Grogar still would not go down!

Flapping her wings and making use of the magic provided to her, Gusty shouted out above the fray! "Hey man, all you creatures of Equestria! Pony or otherwise, you must listen to me! Grogar needs to be stopped or there's no future for any of us. Now's your only chance, give all your power and support to Princess Twilight and the bearers of harmony past, present and future alike!"

"Sounds like we're not quite out of the fray yet," Trixie commented as she looked to Starlight Glimmer. "Shall we?"

"Just a minute," Starlight replied, teleporting away and returning with Sunburst. "He could be the difference between victory and defeat."

"I'm ready when you two are!" Sunburst declared.

Chrysalis shrugged her hooves. "Might as well, there has to be an Equestria left if there's going to be any love to feed on." And soon, she was joining the trio of unicorns in powering up their horns, sending every ounce of magic they had towards the bright rainbow they could see in the distance.

Now bombarded from various sides by magic of all sorts, Grogar found himself on the losing side for the first time in his entire life. "No! NO!" He protested as he dug into the ground! "You… cannot… defeat… me!"

"IT'S OVER, GROGAR!" A collection of voices belonging to the pillars, the students and the princesses all roared at once, overpowering even his own royal Canterlot voice!

With that, the bewitching bell began to crack and Grogar could do nothing to stop it! The rainbow enveloped him fully, draining every ounce of magic both his own and that he had stolen!

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Then, just as quickly as the rainbow consumed Grogar, it disappeared as Grogar fell onto his left side, now reduced to his normal size. Opening his eyes, he saw that his bell was no longer around his neck.

Growling, Grogar rose to his feet as he saw the bell, his bell, in the possession of Twilight and her fellow princesses. Cracked and worn, but still whole.

"You see, Chirin," Twilight declared, holding the bell in her aura. "You will never rule Equestria! Every little ounce of power you once had is gone! Now, you will surrender and I shall make your return to your mother and your flock as quick and painless as possible."

But Grogar remained defiant, looking around to see most of his army either dead or mortally wounded. He then watched as Sombra and Arabus were taken captive by the pegasi and unicorn pony forces.

"Your forces are depleted, goat boy!" Rainbow Dash shouted. "Just admit it! You've lost"

"I will never surrender to you, Princess Twilight, nor to any of you," Grogar cried. "I shall get my bell back and destroy you all! As long as there is a single glimmer of light, there shall always be darkness. And where there is darkness there is evil."

"Chirin," Twilight sighed as she stepped forward, still holding the bell in her aura. "It's over. You've lost. It's time for you to go back to your family. They miss you. Haven't you caused enough damage and suffering for one lifetime? Don't you long to be with your own kind again?"

But Grogar still refused to surrender. He had one more final trick up his sleeve to finally defeat Twilight once and for all.

"Listen to Princess Twilight!" Celestia called as she limped over to him. "It's time to end this, Chirin!"

"So says the eldest daughter of the ponies who banished me to the moon all those years ago!" Grogar sneered, looking over to Celestia. "The same pony who banished her own sister to the moon herself!"

This caused Celestia to develop a hint of anger herself! "You dare to bring up Luna's banishment in my presence?!" Dark magic briefly seeped out of her horn! "For that you must be punished!"

"Celestia, wait!" Luna called as she landed beside her sister, draping a wing to stop her from doing anything rash. "We shall let Princess Twilight and her friends decide his fate. There's been enough violence for one day."

"Yes," Twilight said as she motioned for Tempest Shadow and several guardsponies to surround Grogar. "Grogar, in the name of me and my friends, the princesses of Equestria, you and your allies are all under arrest. You have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you."

Before Grogar could rise up on his hind legs and power up his horns again, Tempest and the guardsponies threw ropes over his back, forcing him back down onto the ground as Sombra, Arabus and even Tirek were taken captive.

"Take them to Canterlot," Twilight ordered to Tempest and her guards. "We shall put them on trial immediately for their crimes. Some of the defectors may be lucky enough to escape life in prison."

As they were being led away, Tirek looked over to Twilight with a look of repentance on his face. Even though he had helped defeat Grogar, he still was a wanted criminal along with Cozy Glow and Chrysalis.

"What happens now, Twilight?" Spike asked as Luna and Celestia joined them.

"For now…we recover and relish our victory, even though it doesn't feel like it," Twilight declared as she sighed and sat down on the ground, looking to all who had supported her. "We've won the day, friends. But there is another battle to be fought…according to the Equestrian laws of justice."

And it was clear that there was no mood for celebration from anycreature. As Twilight and her friends watched the villains being taken away, she could only think to herself one thought that summed up the entire battle that unfolded before them. "Next to a battle lost," She thought to herself. "The saddest thing…is a battle won."

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