"GRANDPA?!" Chrysalis shrieked, stumbling and falling onto her rear. I looked from her, to 'Grandpa,' and then to Quilt. She and Grandpa were holding each other's gaze, and while she looked at him with haunted slack-jawed bewilderment, he still wore that smug grin.
"Yeah, that's right, changeling," he declared, casting a raised eyebrow Chrysalis' way. "Grandpa. How 'bout that?" His grin split to a toothy smile that drew a low cry from Chrysalis.
"Old Ram Gruff?" Someone called. I looked around and saw the sheep of Ruffleton, particularly Shawl and the older-looking folks, gathering closer. Grandpa Gruff scanned the crowd who looked at him in wonder, murmuring and whispering. The whole town went silent when he laughed again and waved his hoof.
"Let's not get it crossed, now! Gruff was just the name I used while I prepared for my genuine resurrection," he looked over the crowd with a wide-eyed smile. "Now that it's all wrapped up, you can call me Grogar." Quilt's ears snapped back, I heard Cozy and Frill gasp, and the crowd wilted and stumbled back. Gruff scanned the crowd for a moment with a small smile, before raising a hoof an inch off the ground.
"Boo," he tapped his hoof on the ground and an ear-piercing thunderclap split the air. As the sheep scrambled, screamed, and ran for their lives, the light of the moon rapidly dwindled and vanished as a pitch-black veil of clouds spiraled out in the sky above the point where Gruff stood. He threw his head back with a hearty laugh and sighed as he looked at the rapidly darkening sky. "Ah, it's been so long since I've terrorized anyone directly! Mm, still just as sweet." He closed his eyes with a hum and rocked his head around with a subdued smile. I looked around at the sky, the village, Chrysalis, Gruff, or whoever the fuck he was, and stammered.
"Peter!" I blinked and turned to see Sunbeam yanking on my sleeve. Hasty was just to her side with a stone raised in his hoof aimed at Gruff, and both of them wore a look of desperation. Cozy and Frill meanwhile were on my other side. The latter had her forelegs wrapped around my arm, and her face partially buried in my sleeve, while the former was looking down at Quilt with concern and tears in her eyes. Then I felt Quilt slip from my grip.
"Quilt!" Hasty cried as she trotted up to Gruff. Cozy and I both made to rush to her side until Gruff turned and smiled down at her. The last of the moon's light vanished and the whole town was bathed in an eerie silence. While most of the village was dark except for dim light through house windows and the door of the town hall, Gruff's eyes shined as bright as a pair of bonfires, perfectly illuminating both himself and Quilt.
"Not bad, eh, Quili-lily?" Gruff asked with a grin and a tilted head. He waved his hoof at the village. "This is the true expression of everything I taught you since you were a lamb."
"Grandpa," Quilt said with a quiver. Gruff turned back to her with a surprised look. "Is it really you?" Gruff studied her for a moment then chuckled quietly and looked up in thought.
"Hm let's see," he hummed and rolled his head. "You were born on a Saturday in the middle of winter, Hem and Stocking named you after your Grandmother, you met Cozy when you were two, slugged your school-teacher at five, snuck your first drink when you were seven, burned all the wool off your right rear-leg at ten, and-" He hummed in surprise when Quilt shot forward and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. A small smile formed on his lips and he chuckled as she quietly sobbed into his coat.
"I missed you," she shuddered and tightened her grip. "I missed you so much."
"I know," he chuckled and scanned the village until his eyes fell on me. A deep unease rocked my entire being. He smiled at me as Quilt nuzzled him. Then she stopped and slowly pulled back, leaning on his chest.
"What happened to Mama and Papa?" She demanded with a low voice. Gruff raised an eyebrow at her. She shook her head and shuddered. "You.. You and Briefs, you were- I-"
"Ah, right, Hem and Stocking," he nodded sagely, before smiling at her. "I killed them when you were one." Cozy gasped and Frill cried out. Quilt remained motionless, looking him in the eyes.
"Wha-"
"Had to be done, Quili-lily," he declared, holding her chin with a hoof. "I had a plan to fulfill." Slowly she dropped off of him and took a step back.
"Plan?" She repeated with a huff, shaking her head at him. He nodded with a smile.
"My resurrection," he gasped and clapped his hooves. "I never got to explain any of that to you!" He giggled and sat, pointing a hoof at her like a teacher.
"Alright, one more lesson for old times!" She looked at him in shock while he cleared his throat. "Now, a few thousand years ago I ruled the world as the Lord of Despair. Uncontested and unchallenged, I was approached by an annoying little pony named Gusty." His horns crackled with energy and zapped the dirt, drawing an illustration similar to the one I'd seen in Twilight's book of Gusty the Great confronting Grogar. Quilt looked at the drawing with confusion.
"She rightly guessed that all my endless victories had grown stale, and the fear I was drawing from the world was bland," the drawing shifted to Gusty in a pleading position before a bored-looking Grogar on his throne. "She proposed something strange. She suggested I let her take my bell, the core of the greater scope of my creation magic." He laughed and leaned in.
"Stupid right? But then she added to it." The drawing changed again. Grogar was gone, and ghostly flowers began to bloom from the dirt all around Gusty. "If I lost my bell, and then let myself be 'defeated.'" He waved his hooves and spoke with a mocking tone. The flowers kept sprouting up all around him and Quilt.
"Peace would blossom." He gestured to the field of flowers with his hoof, and Quilt looked at it in wonder. "That way, when I eventually revived myself, I'd have an actual challenge." He stamped his hoof.
"I'd need to reclaim my bell, reconquer the world, and reunite my Empire of Monsters," he stamped his hoof as he named each item. Then he hummed through a smile. "But the truly tempting notion she offered? The proposal that won me over?" He leaned to Quilt, and she met his eyes.
"The terror I'd then feed upon would be so much richer." The field burst into flames which took the form of crying and wailing ponies and sheep. Quilt never took her eyes off him. "Those who have never known peace know only fear. It's natural for them. Standard. Stale." He raised a hoof and nodded with a sage smile.
"But those who have only known peace can be driven mad by fear when it crops up," he laughed darkly as the flames roared up and then went out. "You following me so far? 'Course you are! You're a brilliant little lamb." He nodded as Quilt just stared at him. His horns crackled again and a series of strange symbols formed in the dirt.
"She helped me with the preparations of a ritual of reincarnation. I'd let myself well and truly be killed, and then revive a few hundred years later," he chortled and tapped one of the symbols. "I even let her sneak this one in which delayed my reincarnation by a few thousand years, and ruined what would have been a perfect rebirth." He rubbed his chin with a wry smile.
"I think she planned to trap me in mundane, mortal flesh that would age and die like any other mortal," he grinned and leaned forward with his hoof under his chin. "But I was already setting up a big challenge anyhow, so I thought it'd be fun to find a way around that." He swept his hooves up with a serene smile.
"And so, with a little help from Gruff the Unrelenting of Griffinstone, ancestor of the current elder of Griffinstone, I was reborn," he shimmered and gained the appearance of an older sheep with a long beard of wool. "As a common Woollachian peasant." His image melted away, revealing his true self, and he looked down at Quilt with a smile. The dirt runes swept away and he leaned in with a wink.
"Now comes the fun part: How to build myself a proper body to house my true power?" He tapped his chin. "To my great fortune, the local sheep had a magic-using caste that was unsatisfied with the state of this sad little region. This told me that I'd been reborn in a race that had some potential for magic. With a little bit of effort and practice from a very young age, I was able to tap into a small portion of my full dark might." The dirt shuddered and rose, taking the shape of Briefs.
"Then it was easy to call up an old ally from Tartarus and house him in mortal flesh," he gasped, stuck his tongue out, and smacked himself on the side of the head. "Gotta remember to bring him back to life." He shook his head and waved a hoof.
"Anyway, sheep are so naturally inclined to obedience that we had an easy time getting even those haughty Longhorns to do what we wanted. With my tutelage, and Briefs speaking on 'Grogar's' behalf," he leaned and whispered loudly to her. "Claiming that I was dead and would reward them for their help. We raised the Longhorns to a greater skill level, and enflamed their desires, by which we snared them." He giggled and clapped his hooves together firmly.
"It was just a matter of picking the right ritual and bam! Back to full power," he cackled for a moment, but in an instant, his expression fell. "Then they screwed it all up." He took a long, heavy breath and sighed. He waved a hoof at me.
"Whether they realized it or not, their little blunder in making those outworlder vampires had drawn Celestia's suspicion. She felt the shift in the magical aether, I'm certain of it," he threw his head back with a groan. "Our mass sacrifice scheme would never succeed then. Even if we killed every last sheep in this valley, she'd be able to thwart the transfer of power, even if only at the last second." He groaned dramatically and shook his head. He narrowed his eyes and seemed to be struggling to put something into words.
"I," he hummed and clicked his teeth. He nodded. "I despaired then." He uttered a low, singular chuckle, and looked at her with bemusement.
"I'd never felt such a thing before, but I knew it right away. All that work, the fake identity, shearing my horns to help keep myself out of the cult's spotlight, my marriage to your grandmother," Quilt flinched at that, causing him to nod. "Yeah, she was the Mayor's assistant at town hall, and always had a crush on me." He shrugged.
"An easy in for eventually getting Briefs to the office. Anyway," he shook his head and grimaced. "All that work and planning seemed like it was for nothing. Celestia was on guard and would thwart me at the last. I wandered the mountains in my despair, wracking my brain for a solution." He looked up at the mountains on the horizon and smiled.
"Then I saw it. The river and all the little twists it made through the valley," he turned back to her. "At first I only went to it to slake my thirst, which reminded me of my mortality and made me angry, but then I noticed." The dirt around them shifted to a rough illustration of a river, with what looked like boulders impeding its flow. He swept a hoof at his drawing.
"Where stones hindered the flow, the water ruptured out in a spray, and I had an epiphany," he clapped his hooves together with a manic grin. "Compression. If I took a small amount of matured dark magic and focused it through a narrow reagent directly to my soul, the effect could, theoretically, be magnified. Maybe even enough to fuel my ritual of true rebirth." He rolled his head and hoof and then jabbed it at me.
"And I could use the Longhorns' blunder to make it happen!" He chuckled and looked back at Quilt. "Vampires naturally grow strong with time, and by their very nature absorb power from others. With just a little tampering and some careful planning, I could make one of them able to steal dark magic from his kin and accumulate it all into himself. Then we'd just need to let a few of them mature and set my modified vampire against them!" He laughed heartily and my jaw dropped. He leaned back and tapped his chin.
"New problem: The Longhorns had roused Celestia's suspicion. If she was anything like her father, she'd keep a close eye on this region even after she wiped out the cult," he hummed and rolled his head. "If we set aside a few vampires and let them mature and feed, they'd doubtless draw her attention. And even if they didn't, how to get their power into me?" He hummed happily and shook his head.
"That feeling of despair I told you about must've had an intoxicating effect on me. Briefs pointed out a few more efficient routes we could have taken, but what can I say?" He leaned in with a wink. "I was into the challenge." He nodded firmly with his eyes closed.
"A solution formed and we began working to put it in motion. Modifying a vampire to siphon dark magic from his fellows was easy. Done. What about Celestia? Well!" He whispered loudly again. "She tries to see the good in all creatures, so why not let my vampire have some good in him? Let him keep his soul! Let him be a decent fellow! Let him remember 'love.' If all went well, Celestia would show him mercy and maybe even help with my rebirth. Hah!" He held up his two hooves and adopted a severe look.
"We used that as a springboard. Briefs would look for some idiot who doubtless would one day find Equestria and try to conquer it. We give him the other three vampires, let them rampage, and then fall upon Equestria," he swept a hoof at me without looking. "Our boy, ideally being friends with Celestia due to her mercy, jumps to her aid and with her help kills them and absorbs their power. BOOM!" He slammed his hooves down and looked straight ahead with an even stare. Slowly, his eyes traced down at Quilt.
"Big gamble, I know," his face split into a manic grin. "But I was into it." He took a deep shuddering breath and sighed warmly. He stared at the empty abyss of darkness in the sky, scanning it with a happy smile. Then he tilted his head.
"But how to get that power to me?" He hummed and rolled his head with his eyes closed. "Once the Longhorns were destroyed, Briefs sent out his familiar spies, but years wound on with no news of any conquering lunatic. If my flesh failed before then, I'd die and be powerless, just like Gusty wanted." His eyes shot open, and he slowly looked down at Quilt with an unreadable expression.
"Then a knock came at my door," he said quietly and evenly. "'It's a ewe, Dad!' Hem declared." He smiled and laid down at eye level with Quilt.
"I had a granddaughter. I had my answer. Blood has power, just like I always taught you. Blood bonds can transfer power, and those formed by birth are even stronger for magic," he tilted his head. "Even if I died, if we could get that power in you I could resurrect myself." He jumped to his hooves and the dirt around him shifted into a wide circle that looked like a timeline of a sheep's life.
"So! I'd raise you, teach you my craft so you could awaken my modified vampire on your own, form a blood bond with him, and then when he killed the other three, I could draw that power from him, through you, to me," he leaned in with a smile as what seemed to be all the major events of Quilt's childhood spun in the dirt around them. "Briefs could steer you in the right direction once I was gone, but I had to make certain you wouldn't spoil my work. Had to be certain you'd wake him up with love, not hate." The dirt rose into the image of a much younger Quilt and Cozy.
"Despite myself, I raised you. I removed my son and his wife and raised you with every nauseating lesson I remembered those lowly ponies held so dear. Every lie, every sickening concept. I made sure you had friends," he locked eyes with her as he spoke. "It took years of careful planning behind your back to get it all right. To make certain you'd be so very desperate to protect your friends that you couldn't possibly act except out of love. It was easy of course, because you were a child." He frowned and looked to the side.
"And you loved me. Trusted me," he raised an eyebrow. "During that time, we also found the Storm King, and based on the profile Briefs handed me, we knew he'd not only conquer Equestria, but Woollachia as well." He smiled wryly at her.
"So there we had it! If we timed it right, news of him would reach Woollachia, you'd wake the vampire using what I told you was a ritual of summoning to protect your friends, Celestia would find out, they'd become friends and BAM!" He slammed his hoof down with a nod. His face fell into a grimace. "Then the Diamond Dogs attacked and I, well, learned that even spirits could throw up." He pursed his lips with a sad hum, but gradually looked at Quilt with a smile.
"But it still worked. You did wake the monster, you did bind yourself to him, and you did it out of love," he hissed with a wide smile. "It all worked. Even though Adam pried some of the truth from me and tried to screw it up. Even though he let the Elements kill him. Even after all that, it all worked." He crouched close to her.
"All that dark power straight into our bloodline Quili-lily. Matured, compressed, and wrapped in a neat little bow," he reached out and flicked her bow. He stood to his full height and took a deep breath. Quilt flinched and hung her head low. "Goodness me, but this is all so exciting. This is winning." He leered up at the sky with a euphoric smile. Silence gripped the town for a moment.
"You're lying," Quilt quietly declared, her head still low.
"Often, but about what in this specific case?" Grogar asked, looking at Quilt with a raised eyebrow. She weakly shook her head, but either due to weariness or heartache, couldn't raise it to look at him.
"You hated Briefs," she quietly replied. "When he-"
"Interrupted our time together, I got angry?" Grogar offered, causing her to flinch with her whole body and slowly nod. Grogar pursed his lips and nodded along. "You're right, I did. Wanna know why?" He raised his eyebrows and stepped closer to her, causing her to wilt with a whimper. He lay down in front of her and tried to meet her eyes.
"Because just like with the Longhorns, even though it was my own choice, I hated being reminded of what I was forced to do. What I'd become. I had to wait on mortal toadies to report back to me, while I babysat. I had to twiddle my hooves and play teacher, while others handled the real work for me."
"I used to conquer kingdoms on my own. Slaughter armies. And there I was, trapped waiting for others' help like an invalid," he spat and rolled onto his side to look at her face. "I hated having to let the Longhorns do the magical prep work, and hated having to let Briefs put most of it together, but I hated our time even more than that. Because beyond all of that, you were a constant, stark badge representing what I was reduced to." Tears fell from her cheeks onto the ground as she slowly stumbled over.
"Mortal. Old. Weak," he jumped to his hooves and snarled. "For crying out loud, I engaged in natural reproduction! Like some low-born primitive when I was the one who invented horrors that spat in the face of nature itself!" He scanned the empty village.
"I know this hurts to hear, Quili-lily. That's why I'm saying it," he turned his head to her shivering, weeping form. "Because of our blood connection your misery, your loneliness, your self-hatred filled my veins with a vitality I'd almost forgotten. It kept my aged flesh kicking just long enough to fulfill the last steps of my plan before giving out." He loomed over her.
"Those long years you were alone after I abandoned you? Your private crying sessions in our house? Your prayers for me to give you the strength to keep going?" He sat and brought his hooves together with a dramatic gesture. "Your soulful oaths that you were trying your best for me! Kept me sated so I could patiently await this day's coming." He laid flat and folded his forelegs, pressing his forehead to her.
"Even now that I'm back at full strength, the taste is still fresh on my lips. Maybe it's because we're kin, but your sorrow is simply exquisite. I do believe I'm addicted, Quili-lily," he put his hoof under her chin and turned her head to meet his eyes. "You always wanted to make me happy? Well then, chin up! And let Grandpa get a better look at those teary eyes." He let out a croak of pain as I seized him by the throat and ripped him off the ground. I dragged him up until he was nearly at eye level with me, forcing him to balance on just one rear hoof. He choked and sputtered as I snarled and crushed his neck with all my might.
"Kill that mother-scruffer!" Frill shrieked as she and Cozy grabbed Quilt.
"Rip his bucking head off!" Sunbeam added.
"Idiot," Chrysalis declared with a heavy quaver. Grogar's tongue hung out the side of his mouth as I squeezed and throttled him. But then he looked dead at me. My Evil Eye started screaming. Slowly he closed his mouth and held his head up, giving me a black stare.
He smiled.
With no subtlety or shift, his eyes turned black and his teeth turned into a vast array of needle-like fangs, giving him the overall appearance of a twisted angler fish.
He gently planted his free rear leg and started lowering himself down. I groaned and tried to keep him up, but he held his smile and went lower, and lower. I grabbed him with both hands and heaved to absolutely no effect. Finally, both his forelegs touched the ground and I was thrown off balance.
I fell back from him, huffing and puffing. His smile shifted to something less nightmarish and he tilted his head at me.
"My turn?" He asked. I stammered and choked at which he took a single step closer. Then he pursed his lips and looked off to his right. I shuddered and looked that way as well.
"Hello, Peter," Celestia greeted.