The Engineer

by TCRG101

Chapter Two: This rings a bell

Engineer descended the stairs to the center of the main room, she found Grogar concentrating on his orb. "Grogar, there you are."

Grogar groaned, "let me guess, you want to complain about something too?"

Engineer was taken aback by this but continued on "yeah I'd like to complain about something."

Grogar slammed his head on the table and sighed "fine, get it over with."

Engineer dropped a metal ingot on the table causing it to shake, Grogar lifter his head off the table in shock and lifted his hoof to his head to sooth the headache he had started to develop.

"What's this?" Engineer had her arms crossed, a scowl on her face as she glared at Grogar.

"It's iron, aren't you supposed to be the expert?" Grogar replied a deadpan look on his face.

"It's pig iron, I could maybe make something good with just steel but all you have given me is useless damned pig iron!" Engineer paced the room as she ranted, Grogar closed his eyes and started to breath slowly and deeply. "I've been working for weeks trying to get my workshop set up the way I want it and all I have to work with is useless crap, seriously you put all this effort into this place but you couldn't get me any good materials to work with." Engineer continued to rant, ignorant of the growing anger that Grogar was trying to contain "you've barely been around and you haven't had to put up with those three idiots, and another thing why isn't their any meat in the kitchen I need my-."

"SHUT UP!" Grogar screamed "I've given you what I could so quit complaining, make do with what you have and stop bothering me!"

Enginner stormed out of the room in a huff, indignant at being yelled at. She made her way into a room in the cave that was made into a living area of sorts. She found that Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek were all sat there with board expressions on their face.

Cozy Glow looked up as Engineer entered the room "Aww sound like Engy got yelled at by big mean old Grogar, are your widdle fewings hurt."

"Shut up Cozy" Engineer slumped down on one of the vacant chairs in the room, "I've been tasked with creating stuff to take down the most powerful beings in Equestria and I've been given crap to work with"

"Aren't you supposed to be some kind of legend" Tirek interjected "maybe you aren't as good as we've been led to believe."

"I am that good, but unless I have the right materials I can't create and I've tried to talk to Grogar about it but either he isn't around or he is too busy to listen."

Chrysalis smirked "So what you're saying is that you're useless, if thats the case I might as well get rid of you, have one less annoying creature in my life."

"Shut up, or i'll crush you like the bug you are" Engineer threatened.

"Try me monkey" Chrysalis retorted.

Before the argument could go any further, Grogar entered "I am leaving, since its impossible to accomplish the work I need to do here. I suggest the four of you come to some kind of accord."

A chorus of protests was raised to this statement, but all four of them were silenced by a blast of magic covering their mouths. "I don't care how, but you must learn to work together, only then can we accomplish what you so greatly desire, the defeat of Twilight Sparkle and her Friends!" a muffled interjection from Engineer had him add on with a sigh "and Celestia and Luna."

With that Grogar removed the magic covering their mouths and left them to resolve their differences.

"Golly, it sound like we need to have a long talk about-" Cozy glow begun only to have found that the other three had vacated the room as well. Cozy sighed "well this calls for some baking."

---

Engineer was sat in her workshop staring at the lump of metal before her. She screamed in frustration and hurled it at the door.

As it hurled towards the entrance, the door suddenly opened and Cozy Glow entered, her eyes went wide as she spotted the projectile hurtling towards her and ducked just in time for it to sail just over her head. It clanged loudly down the stairs behind her, echoing through the room.

"Golly Engy, that almost caved my head in" Cozy said still getting over the shock of nearly being killed.

"That would have been such a tragedy" Engineer scoffed "now do you leaving so I can have some peace?"

"You sound tense Engy, do you know what would fix that? A team meeting" Cozy flew over landing on top of Engineers desk.

"Pass"

"Now now Engy, Grogar wants us all to work together and since he left me in charge-"

"No he didn't, no leave me alone so I can get back to work" Engineer shooed Cozy off the table and tried to get back to work.

"But you'll miss out on the cupcakes I baked."

"Probably poisoned cupcakes."

"I'm just going to keep bothering you until you come so, you might as well."

Engineer picked up another projectile to throw.

"And I spent my time back at the orphanage dodging things being thrown at me, so knock yourself out." Cozy buzzed into the air ready to evade.

Engineer was confused by this statement "What do you mean the orphanage?"

"Um, nothing" Cozy realised that she had said too much and tried to change the subject "so how about that team meeting?" smiling nervously.

Engineer sat back down dropping the hammer that she was gripping on the desk. "Fine, if it means you'll stop bothering me, i'm in"

Cozy clapped her hooves happily "Thanks Engy, see you there" with that she dashed out of the room.

Engineer thought about what Cozy had said "Cozy was an orphan?" Engineer shook her head, she couldn't worry about that now she had to attend this stupid meeting.

She made her way down towards the living area and found the others already gathered. Cozy was standing on a pile of precariously stacked crates, and a banner bearing the crude visages of Tirek, Grogar, Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Engineer was hung from two stalactites in the ceiling.

Engineer sat herself between Tirek, who was looking as board as Engineer felt, and Chrysalis who was enjoying one of the cupcakes that were on the table.

"Now that we are all assemble I shall begin" Cozy cleared her throat "Grogar wants us to work together to defeat our enemies, which means we need to trust each other"

"If we are to trust one another, perhaps inform Lord Tirek to stop trying to absorb my essence!" As Cozy was speaking, Tirek had taken the opportunity to try to drain Chrysalis of her magic. After being called out he spat a strange orange goo over a cupcake which he handed to Chrysalis.

"I wasn't doing anything of the sort" Tirek protested "how dare you."

"How dare I?!" Chrysalis stood from her chair, shoving herself face to face with Tirek. "Do you know to whom you are speaking" With that Chrysalis levitated the goo covered cupcake to her mouth and devoured it in short order.

"How could I not, you tell your log every five minutes."

Chrysalis hugged a strange purple coloured branch defensively prompting Engineer to inquire "what the hell is that log anyway?"

"Its her little coping mechanism for the fact that no one loves her" Tirek taunted. Chrysalis glared at Tirek, insulted and hurt by his assessment.

"Oh so it's like your obsession for working out to hide how weak you feel." Engineer smirked at her own little takedown.

Tirek only smiled back "Hah, big talk coming from such a scrawny little creature. With all that anger I can tell that you have issues, let me guess daddy didn't love you?"

"No, you?"

"This is why Grogar left me in charge" Cozy interjected earning her a cry back of "NO HE DIDN'T!" Cozy let out an exasperated whine before composing herself and flew down onto the table. "I think I know-."

"What are you doing?" Engineer cut in.

Cozy wheeled around to Engineer outraged at the interruption "I'm singing, what does it sound like I'm doing."

"But why though?"

Cozy scoffed "Its a pony thing, we like to break into unprompted musical numbers, now if you don't mind."

"Well I do mind, I agreed to your little meeting but I didn't agree to any musical numbers, so we won't be singing any songs today."

"Well it's a good song so I'm going to sing it, and if you don't like it, tough" Cozy took a breath to continue.

"ENOUGH!" the voice of Grogar echoed through the cave as he entered, stoping Cozy from singing any further. "I had hoped by now you would have resolved your differences, but apparently not."

"Damn it" Cozy exclaimed.

"Perhaps if we knew what the plan was, we would be better able to prepare!" Chrysalis countered.

"Assuming you even have a plan" Tirek added.

"Of course I have a plan" Grogar spat back "I have located an object of power, and it occurs to me this is the perfect test. The four of you will work together to retrieve it. Against this item, those ponies won't stand a chance."

Chrysalis strode forward "I have come close to ruling Equestria several times. Perhaps I should be the one to lead us."

Engineer laughed "Hah, thats nothing, my weapons almost conquered all of Equestria, I should be in charge."

Cozy buzzed up from the table "I nearly drained all the magic from Equestria, that was good."

Tirek rose from his chair "I absorbed all the magic of Equestria, I could feel it flowing through my body as I grew."

Before another argument could break out Grogar sent out a wave of magic, pinning the group to a wall. "Each of you failed to defeat the ponies!" Grogar roared, advancing on the immobilized group "My power is greater than all of your combined, this is but a fraction of it, Understood!?"

After getting noises of agreement out of them, Grogar released them from the wall, dropping them back down to the floor. "Now you shall retrieve the rest of it." Grogar continued "Thousands of moons ago, the self righteous Gusty the Great, unable to best me face to face stole my Bewitching Bell, a talisman containing much of my own magic. The Bell cannot be destroyed so Gusty hid it in a place it has taken me millennia to discover, an enchanted cave high atop Mount Everhoof, protected by magical winds that prevent anypony from reaching its peak. There the Bell has remained until now. Scale Mount Everhoof and bring me back my Bell."

Chrysalis scoffed "the ease of this task is laughable."

---

After retiring to her room to gather supplies, Engineer joined the rest of the group near the alter. She was carrying a large pack, and was wearing heavy duty winter gear.

"What took you so long?!" Grogar thundered.

"I'm scaling a mountain aren't I? That calls for preparation." Engineer answered back coldly. "Your Bell also probably has some magical protections, so i'm bringing something along to help with that."

Chrysalis laughed "you needn't of bothered, for someone of my power this task will be mere child's play."

Grogar smirked "I'm glad you think so, now that you are all assembled, I can teleport you to your destination. Get ready." His horns glowed yellow and a magical field enveloped them.

In an instant, their surroundings changed and an icy gust of wind assaulted them. Before them towered Mount Everhoof,
its peak extending up into the clouds.

The gang gawked at the imposing sight before them "well it sounded easy" Chrysalis remarked.

Tirek composed himself "Scale the mountain."

"Break through any spells guarding it" Engineer added.

"Retrieve Grogars Bell" Chrysalis stated.

"Together!" Cozy chimed in cheerfully. "I drew up a detailed plan with several visual aids to show how we can-."

Engineer ignored Cozy and began trudging towards the mountain, this was going to be difficult and she listening to that kid would only distract her from the challenge facing her. Tirek and Chrysalis seemed to have the same idea as they left Cozy behind, choosing their own paths towards the mountain.

She chose to forget about them, she had to focus on herself. She knew that in order to get the revenge she wanted, she had to scale this mountain. She gulped nervously as she took in the size of Mount Everhoof, but she trudged on regardless.

The alpine air was cold and fresh, she took in deep breaths savouring the outdoors. This was the first time she had been outside in months, or would that be in over a thousand years? A thousand years, it was still hard to believe that she had been sealed away for that long, to her it was instant from being in the throne room to being recruited by Grogar.

Everyone she knew from the past was dead, everyone except the Princesses. The Princesses, Celestia and Luna, they were the ones who had destroyed everything that she had held dear. They killed the King, they destroyed her work, they had turned Soboka against her, and they had sealed her away in stone.

After half an hour of hiking through the woods, she found herself at the foot of the mountain. She dropped her pack and prepared her gear, first she affixed spikes onto to the front of her boots, they would allow her feet to gain purchase on the sheer ice wall before her, next she pulled out a pair of ice picks which were decorated with a series of runes engraved into them, the runes would make it almost effortless to drive the picks into the wall. She slung the pack back over her shoulder and prepared to make the climb.

She buried the pick into the wall, stabbed her boot in and began to climb. She groaned under the weight of her pack, it was one thing to walk with it but it was another entirely to try to climb with it. Each time she pulled herself up her muscles strained under the weight.

As she begun to climb she climbed she heard a voice echoing from the mountain, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Cozy Glow must be running into her own issues elsewhere, oh well it wasn't Engineers problem.

As the echoing subsided, it was taken over by a strange rumbling sound coming from above her. As she looked up she was shocked to see a large clump of snow was bearing down on her, before she could react it barrelled into her, knocking her clear off the wall. She felt herself being thrown end over end, unable to tell up from down before she landed with a thud on the soft snow below.

She groaned as she lay face down in the snow, nothing was broken but she would definitely have some bruises. She looked around for her picks but they were nowhere to be seen, she shrugged off her pack and climbed to her feet, grimacing in pain from the fall. "Damn it!" she fumed, her picks were lodged in the wall over ten feet up, well out of reach.

She mulled over her options, she couldn't try to climb up to retrieve them, the wall had no obvious way to climb it. She could try to find the others and ask them for help, but even if she could bring herself to ask for their help they would just laugh at her. That was even if she could find them, for all she knew they had already retrieved it, they could have already made their way home without her. What if she was stuck here with no way to get back to the cave?

She was almost relieved to hear a rustling sound behind her, but as she turned her relief turned to terror. Staring at her were the reptilian eyes of a giant snake with the head and torso of a bull. She had to stand her ground, she decided, there was no way that she could outrun it in her condition, her only choice was that she could spook it. She reasoned that since its prey half was where its brain was, that if she put on a good enough show it there was a good chance that it could be scared off. She raised her arms above her head and screamed as loudly as she could at the creature.

The monster shrieked back exposing its fangs and reptilian tongue, so it was a predator, and continued to advance on her. Her plan hadn't worked! She didn't wait a moment longer and took off running, barreling into the woods to escape the monster. She heard it behind her, crashing through the brush in pursuit of its prey. She felt her heart pounding in her chest as the beast started to close the gap between them and fast. This was going to be the end for her, the legendary Engineer, freed from stone to embark on her quest for vengeance against two all powerful demi-gods, eaten by some monster in the middle of nowhere.

As she crashed through a bush she was surprised by the scene in front of her. Tirek and Cozy were embroiled in an argument around a campfire, they looked at her, puzzled by her sudden and dramatic appearance but then their expressions changed to shock as they saw the beast pursuing her. They were yelling something but she was too frightened to care what as she dived behind Tirek hoping to put something between her and the creature.

As if things could get any worse a second one appeared in the brush, this one however was focused on the first creature giving it what could only be described as a seductive look, the first creature ignored its original prey and slithered towards the new arrival.

"Quick it's distracted, let's go!" Cozy said.

"Wait" Tirek replied. The newly arrived creature roared at the first and transformed into Chrysalis, who then preceded to suck a strange pink energy out of the monster.

As Chrysalis sucked up the last of the energy the creature collapsed, crashing to the ground. "Mmm, so much love, I haven't eaten this well in ages." Chrysalis licked her lips savouring the taste of the 'love.'

Cozy gagged "so gross."

Chrysalis turned away from her meal "Just so we're clear, I didn't save you because I like you, I did it because, because I..."

"Need us?" Cozy Glow finished.

"Yes" Chrysalis hissed.

Tirek laughed "Clearly I was right to wait. Now tell me everything you learned, leave nothing out. You go first Engineer. Engineer?"

Engineer was sat down with her knees up to her chest and her head in her hands. "Whats with her?" Chrysalis asked.

"I don't know" Tirek said. "Hey Engineer, whats going on?" she said something in reply but Triek couldn't make it out, "What was that? Speak up"

"I SAID I ALMOST DIED!" Engineer screamed, tears streaming down her face "THAT THING NEARLY KILLED ME!"

"Whats gotten into you?" Tirek asked

"I'm scared alright, I thought I was going to be killed by that thing." She sobbed "I'm such an idiot, sure I'll just scale a mountain, steal an ancient all powerful artefact, and use it to take down the two most powerful creatures in Equestria, I couldn't make it more than ten damned feet! I'm a failure, I failed my the kingdom, I failed my brother, I failed my father, and now I've failed again." Engineer wiped her eyes with her sleeve "And look at me crying like a damned child, I'm so pathetic."

"Yeah you are pretty pathetic Engy" Cozy buzzed over to Engineers side

"Thanks Cozy, really cheering me up here."

"I mean, when I read those history books, talking about the great Diamond Dog war, and the horrifying Engineer who churned out such terrifying creations that she had to be sealed in stone for the good of Equestria. I imagined someone who wouldn't start bawling her eyes out after one minor set back."

"One minor setback? I made a fool of myself."

"Yeah? So did I, we all failed today too. I couldn't get past one little old guard, so if your'e a failure I guess we're all failures too."

Chrysalis smirked "Speak for yourself"

Cozy fluttered over to Chrysalis "Oh really? Then why don't you have the bell?"

"I almost reached the top, but was turned back by an impenetrable tempest of snow" Chrysalis proclaimed.

Tirek chuckled "Wind? The mighty Queen Chrysalis was stopped by some wind?" Chrysalis scowled, upset at being made fun of.

Cozy buzzed over to Tirek "Seriously? You're one to talk about wind since you're so full of it. I spent months with you in Tartarus and your farts could be used as an industrial strength pesticide, honestly Tirek, you stink."

Engineer smiled a little at the joke. Cozy flew over and landed next to her "so Engineer, you feel better?"

Engineer felt her stomach rumble "I feel hungry, did any of you guys bring anything to eat?"

Chrysalis replied "well I knew that none of you would, so I brought some food along, just because I need my servants to be in the best condition." She levitated a paper bag, seemingly from nowhere, and pulled out four cans of soup, taken from the caves kitchens. "Here Tirek, levitate them over the fire so they're hot."

"Aww you could have brought some marshmallows." Cozy was then hit in the face by a bag of the sweets "oh golly, thanks Chrysi!"

"Don't you give me one of those stupid nicknames!"

"So which of you wants what can?" Tirek asked as he cooked their food

"Oh I'm fine with just the marshmallows" Cozy said

"No, you can't just eat sweets for dinner Cozy Glow" Chrysalis said "you have to eat a real meal first."

Cozy pouted "You're such a sadist"

Tirek took the food of the fire, Chrysalis pulled out three bowl and spoons and handed them to Tirek. Tirek raised an eyebrow at this, as they seemed to be one short.

"I'm not having any, I've already had my fill from that creature over there. Tirek, you have mine." Chrysalis said

"Whats exactly did you do to it anyway?" Engineer asked "and I thought you ate regular food."

"Well I can eat regular food, even enjoy it, but it is nothing compared to draining the love from a creature." Chrysalis licked her lips and looked over at the bull-snake, it was trying to sneak away back into the brush. "Speaking of food" Chrysalis pounced on the creature, levitated it up to a tree, and begun entombing it in a strange green slime that quickly hardened around it.

The rest of the group watched as they ate, fascinated by the strange sight they were witnessing. By the time Chrysalis was done the gang had polished off their food and Cozy was skewering a marshmallow onto a stick.

"Why did you do that?" Cozy asked "Didn't you already drain it of love?"

Chrysalis climbed down from the tree, leaving her victim suspended. "I always save a little for the next day."

"You cocoon all of your... meals?"

"Of course" Chrysalis replied.

"So when you pony-napped Twilight and the others, you cocooned them?"

"Yes." Chrysalis seethed "Until that sow Starlight Glimmer freed them, corrupted my subjects, and stole my hive!"

"Starlight Glimmer? Thats a new name, who's she?" Engineer asked

"She's one of Twilights friends" Cozy answered "She's pretty good with magic, reckless, and loves kites for some reason."

"Those ponies do have weaknesses though, like that time I used Discord. I tricked him into helping me capture his so called friends."

"Discord? I heard about him when I was still with the Diamond Dogs. He's was a powerful user of chaos magic, he's still around?"

Chrysalis said "Yeah he came back big over a year ago and almost took over all of Equestria, until the 'Magic of Friendship' got to him." Chrysalis Sighed "Discord was really something until friendship ruined him."

"You should have seen Twilights face when I captured her friends." Tirek gloated "The look on her face was priceless, it was like this" Tireks parody earned a chuckle from the gang.

"She's so stressed out all the time" Cozy said "I wish I could've seen her face, when I nearly erased all the magic from Equestria."

Tirek balked "All magic was a little excessive, don't you think?"

"Eh, I think big." said Cozy "Besides, it would've been worth it just to see Twilight and her friends bow down to me!"

"Indeed it would." Tirek replied "Who wouldn't love to see those prissy ponies realize they lost everything?

A cloak of green energy enveloped Chrysalis, emerging from it was the form of Twilight Sparkle "I'm a pathetic pony princess, I made a detailed list of all the ways i'm a failure!"

Engineer jumped back, "What the hell just happened?"

Another wave of green energy returned Chrysalis to her original form "Oh right, you've never seen me use my ability. You see Changelings can turn into other creatures and mimic them, that where we get the name Changeling from."

"Thats awesome!" Engineer said.

"I once used it to pose as Twilights former foal sitter, I messed with her so much that I thought she was going to have a breakdown."

This brought forth another roar of laughter from the gang. Tirek smiled "You know, working with you three may not be the worst thing."

"Perhaps." Chrysalis replied "As long as it results in the complete destruction of our enemies."

"I wouldn't have it any other way" Cozy giggled "Do the pathetic princess thing again!"

Engineer added "And do Celestia this time!"

After a night of laughs the gang slowly drifted off to sleep, bellies full of warm food, and looking forward to the dawn. They may have failed at first, but if they worked together they knew they could do it.

Engineer awoke first, the campfire was still smouldering, and the sun was already perched high in the sky. She surveyed the slumbering forms of her companions, she decided not to wake them as she had something to attend to before they set out.

She tracked her path through the woods back to where she had the encounter with the creature, lying half buried in the snow was her bag, right where she had abandoned it. She reached down to grab it, but as she did a spasm of pain shot up her right arm, she yelped in pain, grasping her right shoulder. She was still tender from her misadventures and the adrenalin that had kept the pain at bay had completely dissipated by now, leaving her sore and weak.

She heard a rustling in the brush, she quickly spun around, relieved to see it was just Tirek. "What happened?" He asked walking over to her side.

"Just some pains, nothing to worry about." She reached back down to pick up her pack, only to see it scooped up by a big red arm. Tirek put the bag on his own back, and began to walk back to camp, gesturing her to follow.

"Well come on, thats everything isn't it?" Tirek asked. but he saw her looking at the sheer mountain wall in front of them, specifically, two ice picks jutting out ten feet in the air. "You want some help with that too?" She nodded "alright then" Tirek gave her a boost up "Grab em" he said. She plucked them from the wall and he lowered her back down. "Alright that's everything."

"Hey Tirek?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it kid."

---

With the four of them working together their ascent was rapid, easily bypassing every obstacle in their path. A hapless guard, a wild forest, fallen trees, rocky climbs and prevailing winds where all overcome. Until they found themselves near their destination, the cave containing Grogars Bell.

The final challenge was a magical shield covering the entrance. Chrysalis tried to probe it and was hurled back by it for her trouble.

"Lucky for you I brought a solution." Engineer proclaimed "Tirek, my bag please." Tirek handed the bag over to her, she started pulling parts out of it and started to assemble a device. "I suspected that we might face a magical barrier, so I brought this."

She proudly showed off her creation, which got a disappointingly lacklustre response from the others. "A crossbow? That's it?" Chrysalis asked.

"Not just a crossbow, it's a repeating crossbow." Engineer fished out a bolt and placed into the bow. "Loaded with magic draining bolts, each one will sap the barrier of some of its strength, now as long as I have enough bolts, I can take down the barrier and we can just walk in, grab the Bell and be done."

Engineer turned the crossbow on the barrier, firing off a volley of bolts, each one causing the barrier to crackle on impact. After firing off a dozen bolts, exhausting her supply, she confidently marched towards the cave. Only to be thrown through the air by the still intact barrier.

"You break anything?" Chrysalis asked. For a reply, Engineer lifted up the shattered remnants of her crossbow.

"Yep" Engineer replied.

Tirek laughed, "You brought that all this way, and it turned out to be useless."

"Well not useless." Engineer said, getting up from the ground "It definitely weakened the barrier, just not enough to get rid of it."

"What now then?" Tirek asked.

Cozy had an idea "Can you absorb it and make it go away?"

"I can only absorb magic from living beings" Tirek explained.

"Like her?" Cozy Glow said, pointing at Chrysalis.

Chrysalis snarled "Betrayal!"

"Not betrayal, teamwork." Cozy said "If Tirek absorbs your energy, he'll be strong enough to break through."

"And then?"

"Then he gives it back."

"I do?" Tirek asked confused.

"How do I know you won't take my magic and leave me?" Chrysalis asked.

"Would we do that to you?" Cozy replied.

"I know I would" Engineer interjected.

Chrysalis scowled at the both of them.

"I promise, I'll give you your magic back." Tirek said "Now what do you say."

Chrysalis paused for a second, before giving her answer "Do it."

Chrysalises horn glowed and green energy was pulled from it, into the maw of Tirek. As he absorbed magic Tirek grew to an enormous size, towering well above the rest of the gang. Chrysalises eyes glazed over and she collapsed into the snow, exhausted from having her strength drained.

"So much power!" Tirek exclaimed, kissing his biceps "Welcome back baby!" He fired off his magic into the barrier, creating a small opening in it. He was straining just to open it that much "It's not big enough for me!"

"Cozy, you can fit, go!" Engineer yelled.

Cozy Glow darted through the gap in the barrier "Keep it open, or I'll be trapped forever!" She yelled back.

"Would that be so terrible?" Chrysalis muttered, still lying, exhausted, in the snow.

Tirek was beginning to buckle under the pressure "Can't hold much longer!" The hole started to shrink "Hurry!"

Engineer watched on nervously, she would later think it strange that she seemed to be more worried about Cozy Glow, than the bell. Just as Tireks strength was almost about to fail, a pink blur shot out of the hole, directly at Engineer. She put her arms out and caught the blur, it hit her in the chest knocking her back a step. She looked down and saw the smiling face of Cozy staring back at her.

"Thanks for catching me Engy" Cozy said, buzzing out of Engineers arms. "Ta-da!" She exclaimed lifting up Grogars bell in her hoofs.

Chrysalis groaned "My magic." Tirek reopened his mouth, orange energy went from it to Chrysalises horn. As her strength returned, Tirek shrunk back down to his original size. "I-I wasn't sure you were going to give it back."

"Neither was I." Tirek said, surprised at his own generosity "But working together seemed smarter than to continue fighting."

"When we helped each other, it felt better somehow." Cozy said.

"Yeah, it was nice to have someone who could help me when I needed it." Engineer added.

"I haven't felt like this since before I lost my hive." Chrysalis smiled "Having others who will be there for you is, pleasing."

"All of these years taking power from ponies" Tirek said.

"When you use your power to help others" Cozy continued.

"And when you can trust others to help you" Engineer added.

"Yes it feels" Chrysalises eyes went wide "NOOOO!"

The rest of the gang jumped back at her outburst.

"The magic of friendship is like a disease!" Chrysalis hissed "An infection that spreads to those around you! I watched it infect it infect my hive, I will not let it get to us!"

Cozy raised her hoof "But, Grogar said we have to work together."

"Grogar is too powerful." Chrysalis paced back and forth as she plotted "We will have to do something about that. We will let Grogar think we're his loyal servants. In the meantime, we'll hatch our own little plan."

Cozy giggled "I love a good backstabbing"

Engineer smirked "I prefer front stabbing but i'm open to new experiences."

"After that, we can just go back to ignoring each other." Tirek said

"Alright, but what do we do with this?" Cozy said, referring to the bell she was holding.

"First, how are we getting back to the?" before Engineer could finish her sentence, Chrysalises horn flashed and they found themselves back home "cave?"

"It's a good thing you retuned my magic, or else you would have never made it back." Chrysalis said.

"So, you're back." The voice of Grogar echoed through the cave. Cozy dashed behind a rock, hiding the bell from sight. "So, how did your adventure go?"

Tirek nervously rubbed his neck "Not well, we may have failed to get the bell."

"YOU FAILED TO RETRIEVE THE BELL?!" Grogar thundered, slamming his hoof down. The gang flinched as they felt the cave shake.

"We're sorry, almighty Grogar." Cozy said.

"We worked together as you asked." Tirek added.

"And we got so close but." Engineer looked down at her shoes, trying to hold in her laughter.

"We just aren't as powerful as you." Chrysalis finished.

Grogar roared, firing off a blast of magic, putting a sizeable hole in a nearby wall. "Obviously! At least you finally did as you were told and worked together." Grogar skulked off, disappointed in the team that he had assembled.

As his hoofsteps faded, the gang roared in laughter. The fool had fallen for it!

"Quick thinking Cozy" Tirek rubbed Cozys head.

"Where should we hide the bell now?" Chrysalis asked.

"Well I think I know just the place, follow me" Engineer led them up the stairs towards her workshop.

The workshop was filled with all manners of strange machines. In the corner stacked neatly was a stack of metal ingots. She threw the shattered remain of her crossbow on a table, to be fixed at a later date. "Most of these machines are what I call, labour saving. I'm used to having a team of assistants doing the heavy lifting, and the hammering. They accomplish this through specially designed magic runes that save me time, and energy. Although is seems such a waste to use all this, just for the trash that Grogar gave me. Honestly it's like he wants us to fail with what I've been given." She pointed to a corner of the workshop filled with a pile of boxes. "Hide the bell in one of those."

"Hypothetically, what could you do if we got you something good?" Tirek asked.

Engineer grinned "Stuff that you would blow your mind."

"So if we were to find you the right materials, you could guarantee us victory?" Chrysalis asked.

"Give me enough leverage, and I could move the world." Engineer said.

"Thats a cool quote, who did you steal it from?" Cozy asked.

Comments

[TCRG101]

9902235
It's out now.
Turns out I write slower than I realised, apologies to y'all.

[GamePlayer64]

This is interesting, Take your time to add more

[GamePlayer64]

9888051
Who's to say this story's ending will be like the show? Authors who write AU Stories have the right to choose their own ending.

[Marytryne]

The moment there I thought the protagonist is THE engineer from TF2 and gotten himself in a different dimension... Again. This story totally got me off guard that i thought the protag is him but, you got my attention now and want to know more about her and friendship with Chrysalis, tirek and cozy.

[Windy0]

9918413
How's the next chapter looking by now?

[TCRG101]

9941617
Next chapter in a few days

Edit: Sorry guys, stuff came up it will be a few more days

Edit 2: Its out! The new chapter isn't from an episode of the show, so I hope it isn't too terrible, oh well, enjoy!

[Drafon]

It's... so... AWESOME!!!
(Prologue)

[nighters]

I feel sorry for the engineer to lose her family to be betrayed by a family member bonus is it happened all in one day all she did was help her father figure did what they wanted to flourish i wouldn't blame her to grieve and put a wrench into fate itself discord not gonna be happy

[Razzy]

Teamwork!

[Wizz Kwami of wisdom]

"Thats a cool quote, who did you steal it from?" Cozy asked.