Episode 7: "The Rise of Emperor Grogar"
..
King Sombra was nothing more than a wandering spirit once more, wandering the darkness with nopony or nocreature other than himself for company. One moment, he was on the verge of conquering Equestria. The next he was back in the darkness from which he had been summoned. "Curse that Twilight Sparkle and her friends!" He loudly scowled, his green eyes and glowing red horn flashing in rage. "If I ever get out of this prison, they will all pay dearly for doing this to me once more!"
Letting out a loud roar, Sombra vented his frustration to anyone who would listen though there was no one else there with him.
Suddenly, however, he felt a vibration engulf his spirit! Before he could react, he was pulled from the darkness and soon found himself standing on a cold, gray surface. "What…what is this place?" He wondered, looking around to find himself not in Equestria and not in the darkness any longer, but on some kind of planet. "Am I…on the moon?" Wandering around, Sombra attempted to make sense of what was happening. It appeared he had been summoned to the moon, but why he didn't.
"HELLO!" Sombra yelled while using his royal Crystal Empire voice. "HELLO! ANYPONY HERE?! SHOW YOURSELF IF YOU'RE NOT AFRAID! TELL ME WHO DARES TO SUMMON ME HERE!" At that moment, he heard the sound of hoofbeats, followed by the sounds of light braying, the sounds of a herd of donkeys.
"King Sombra!" A loud voice cried out, catching the king's attention towards a group of donkey soldiers clad in gray armor, all standing on the edge of a small crag overlooking him. The leader was brown coated and had a red scar across his face. "Our lord and emperor has ordered us to bring you to him."
"Who is your emperor?" Sombra asked, completely unsure of the situation. 'What do you want with me?" But the donkeys said nothing and instead motioned for Sombra to follow them to their so-called "emperor."
A little while later, the donkeys led Sombra towards a large, gray palace in the middle of the moon. "What is this place?" Sombra asked himself.
Continuing to follow the donkeys, Sombra was led into the large palace, the place guarded entirely by donkeys and strange animal like creatures in black armor. Sombra had never seen anything like this before. "Who are these creatures?" Sombra asked the lead donkey, but got no answer much to his frustration. "Do you even know who I am?! I am King Sombra of the Crystal Empire and I demand answers!"
Instead of answering, the donkeys led Sombra to the doors of a throne room that opened as white smoke came out from behind them.
Stepping through the doors, Sombra found himself in a large and open throne room. Sitting on the throne was a blue ram like creature with a red necklace decorated with large yellow orbs.
"We've brought him as you requested, my emperor." The lead goat declared as he and his fellow soldiers bowed to the ram, much to Sombra's confusion.
"Emperor?" Sombra asked, looking around in confusion.
"Welcome, King Sombra," The ram said in a menacing voice, his yellow eyes with red pupils locked right onto his guest. "I've been expecting you."
"What's going on here?" Sombra asked. "Who are you? And why do you look familiar?"
"You may call me…Emperor Grogar." The ram answered as Sombra sharply gasped in shock.
…
...
Aboard the friendship express, a pair of pegasus ponies sat in a car with looks of remorse and regret on their faces. Looking out the window, a light pink female pegasus Pony sighed heavily in thought while a dark pink male Pegasus pony read a newspaper looking at the picture of the statue containing Cozy Glow, Chrysalis and Tirek.
"This is unbelievable, Queenie," The male pegasus remarked. "How could we have been so stupid? Putting our daughter second to our own personal lives?"
"We did what we had to do, King," The female pegasus replied to her husband. "Although, looking back now, I wish we didn't do it. Cozy became a monster...and it's all our fault."
Putting the newspaper down, King could only grunt in disgust. "All we can do is offer our forgiveness to Princess Twilight," King said to his wife. "Any hope we had of our daughter reconciling with us is clearly not going to happen. And if Princess Twilight wants to charge us for playing a part in what happened recently, then so be it."
The thought of being in a jail cell was second to the husband and wife with king and queen chess pieces for cutie marks.
"Either way, we caused this together," Queen said while sadly looking at her husband. "We might as well face it together."
As the train neared Canterlot station the two pegasus ponies disembarked and began to make their way towards Canterlot Castle.
…
...
On her throne, Twilight was looking at a note that was sent to her. Both she and Spike couldn't help but feel amazed at what was written on it.
"How could Cozy Glow even have a family, Twilight?" Spike asked as he hovered over to read the note with Twilight. "I mean, we never really knew where she came from and she told us she was an orphan, but it's a shock."
"Yes it is, Spike," Twilight replied, rolling the scroll with her magic. "The fact that Cozy is abandoned is somewhat saddening, but also...I feel like her parents are partly to blame for Cozy's current situation, Spike. This is clearly going to be my first test as a supreme princess."
Twilight then turned over towards the stained glass windows, her attention focused on the window that depicted the Legion of Doom's defeat and in particular, Cozy Glow herself. Ever since her coronation, Twilight had been asking herself one question: Why would Cozy act the way she did?
At that moment, the doors opened as two guards stepped forward. "Your highness," One of the guards said. "Two pegasus ponies who claim to be Cozy Glow's parents wish to speak with you."
Seeing the two pegasus ponies behind the guards, Twilight gestured for them to come forward.
"Princess Twilight Sparkle," King said nervously bowing to Twilight along with his wife. "I am King's Knight and this is my wife, Queen's Knight. We are the parents of..."
Raising a hoof to silence King's Knight, Twilight gestured for them to rise. "You don't need to explain that to me," Twilight interrupted as she stepped down from her throne. "I know why you're here. You have come seeking forgiveness for your daughter's actions. But, I must ask you something in return."
Both pegasus ponies gulped nervously upon hearing the question. "Why? Why would you allow yourself to let Cozy Glow become what she did?"
…
...
…
Meanwhile, in the gardens of Canterlot, the statue consisting the petrified bodies of Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow stood alone with only the surrounding bushes and beautiful flowers for company.
"This is so boring!" Cozy Glow groaned from within. "Being turned to stone stinks!"
"Well of course it does!" Tirek remarked. "Do you think that we can do anything looking like this? Just face it, we've been beaten and there is nothing we can do about it!"
"I was so close, this close, to having my revenge on Starlight Glimmer!" Chrysalis snarled. "These ponies think friendship will save them in the end?! If we ever get out of this, I'll make them see otherwise!"
"How do you propose we do that?" Cozy Glow asked. "And for that matter, are you sure nopony can hear us? Just because we're frozen in stone…"
"There will be a way out of this! There just has to be!" Chrysalis interrupted. "We just need a little help from somepony or someone very powerful."
But only one suggestion amongst the three could truly be considered. "The real Grogar?" Tirek suggested. "But he's only a legend, we all found that out. Besides, his bewitching bell was returned to Mount Everhoof after our defeat."
"If only he truly were real," Cozy Glow remarked. "We were too soft on our enemies last time and look what happened to us. We should've taken your advice, Tirek. We should've destroyed them while we had the chance!"
Chrysalis just snarled. "It's no fun destroying them if they haven't suffered! I want my enemies to hurt like I hurt! To know what it's like to have everything you care about taken away from you! Was that so wrong?! I think not!"
"Well in any case it doesn't matter, we're basically stuck here until who knows how long?" Tirek sighed. "To be honest, I could sure use some magic right about now. Do you have any to spare?" He glanced in Chrysalis' direction.
"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT, LORD TIREK!" Chrysalis yelled at the top of her lungs as her statue form visibly shook. "THIS ISN'T LIKE WHEN WE WENT TO RETRIEVE THE BELL BEFORE WHERE YOU JUST GAVE MY MAGIC BACK! I'M NOT A FOOL!"
"WELL, I NEED MAGIC TO SURVIVE!" Tirek bellowed! "HOW ELSE DO YOU THINK THAT…?!"
"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" Cozy Glow screamed, unable to take in the insulting remarks her cohorts were giving each other. "Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere! It only reminds me of my parents, how they always argued about everything! Face it, only the real Grogar can save us now. If he's out there."
…
…
Back at Grogar's palace, King Sombra stood at the throne of the creature he thought was Grogar. He was confused, he was puzzled at the fact that a legendary creature was sitting before him. "Are you really the father of monsters himself?" Sombra asked, still unsure of Grogar's true identity. "I thought you were there in that swamp."
"Of course I am he! The one who previously resurrected you was an imposter!" Grogar cried, rising from his throne and walking down to Sombra. "For over a thousand years, I have been imprisoned here on the moon thanks to that self righteous Gusty the Great."
"In this…palace?" Sombra asked again, looking around the spacious throne room. "How long have you had it?"
"Not very long," Grogar answered, walking over towards his crystal ball, a ball similar to what Discord had when he was disguised as the ram. "It was once the home of a so-called emperor of evil and his queen before strange creatures drove them away."
Activating his crystal ball, Grogar directed Sombra to look into the sphere where he saw Grogar and his minions standing before a large robotic figure and his army. "When I first arrived on the moon," Grogar explained. "I was left with nothing, no shelter, no power and no way to get revenge on my enemies. I approached the king of this strange army, asking him for a castle where I could live."
Sombra watched the crystal ball as it transitioned into the large castle that he was now in. "He gave me this castle to call my own," Grogar continued. "And thanks to him, I have now been able to grow my strength once more, raise an army strong enough to conquer Equestria!"
"Whatever happened to this king?" Sombra inquired, feeling ever more curious.
"He and his entire empire were eventually turned to dust. But he isn't important to me anymore," Grogar answered. "I have all that I need to survive," Grogar then stepped onto the balcony of his gifted palace and looked out on the galaxy below. "What I need now is a few more generals to lead my warriors. I watched your recent attempted conquest of Equestria, Sombra, and you are one of the best choices for me. With the right direction you could make a fine general."
Sombra couldn't help but chuckle to himself upon hearing these words. For the first time since being deposed long ago he was being respected as a leader. But he was still a tad bit confused. "Wait a minute. You saw me attempt to conquer all of Equestria?"
"I did," Grogar nodded. "You possess powers that I hope to find very useful for my goals."
"My ability to brainwash?" Sombra inquired.
"Not just that," Grogar declared while turning around to face Sombra. "You also destroyed the one weapon that the royal sisters could use against me."
"The Elements of Harmony?" Sombra realized.
"Yes," Grogar replied while smiling evilly and patting the evil unicorn on the shoulder. "Thanks to you, Sombra. I can breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that I won't have to worry about the elements being used on me."
But Sombra wasn't prepared for what Grogar said next. "And there's something else I've been meaning to ask of you," Grogar continued, turning back to Sombra with an evil grin still plastered firmly on his face. "I need a second-in-command, and my nomination…is you."
Sombra gasped at the honor suddenly bestowed upon him! "You want me?!" Sombra gasped in shock, unsure of whether or not this was true. "To be your second-in-command? What do you have really planned for me?"
"Why to give you what you want, of course." Grogar chuckled much to the dismay of his donkey lieutenant.
"But my emperor," Lieutenant Bray protested, getting Grogar's attention. "What about…?"
"SILENCE!" Grogar bellowed, stomping his hoof down. "Be lucky that I am not demoting any of you further."
Lieutenant Bray and his donkey warriors said nothing after that.
"Now Sombra, you may be granted this honorable position," Grogat declared. "But you will not have this position alone," Grogar turned back towards the balcony and powered up his horns in a gold colored aura. "In order to achieve what you so desire, you will have to learn to work with others. Going it alone was what doomed you the last time. A mistake I won't repeat!" With a loud crack of thunder, Grogar fired his power across space and towards Equestria!
…
In the skies over Canterlot, the powerful blast of magic from Grogar was aimed right at the Canterlot gardens where the statue containing the legion of doom stood.
"What is that?!" Cozy Glow shrieked as the magic hit the statue. "We're under attack!"
"I'm feeling…" Tirek started to cry out, only for the sharp pain of the magic to hit him square on!
Even Chrysalis was feeling the brunt of the magic. "Who dares fire upon me?!" She bellowed in a loud voice as the magic began to engulf the statue!
But then as quickly as it arrived the magic was gone, leaving the statue alone.
…
...
Back in the throne room, Twilight waited for an answer to come from her guests.
After a few moments, King's Knight stepped forward. "Princess, you must understand something," he explained. "Both my wife and I...we had no idea that Cozy would become the way she did. All we wanted to do was to make a decent living...by any means necessary."
"What do you mean, by any means necessary?" Twilight wondered. "What kind of jobs do you have?"
"..We're bankers for the royal Equestrian bank," King's Knight continued. "We are to go around and foreclose on homes whose owners could not pay their rent."
"Go on," Twilight continued.
"And for every house our bank foreclosed, we would get kickbacks from it," Queen's Knight added. "Most of these kickbacks came in thousands or even millions of bits."
As they spoke, both Twilight and Spike looked at each other with concerned looks on their faces.
"When did you give birth to Cozy Glow?" Twilight asked.
"About five years ago," King's Knight answered. "At that time we had foreclosed twenty homes, but even that wasn't enough. We wanted more and...we focused on trying to obtain more houses. Over time...we decided to put our careers ahead of our own lives...even if we had any foals of our own."
The more that they spoke, the more disappointed Twilight and Spike became in them.
"So, I became pregnant with Cozy Glow," Queen's Knightcontinued . "We gave birth to her and...right afterwards..."
"We...we abandoned her," King's Knight answered as Twilight lowered her head in shame and Spike looked at them with disappointment on his young dragon face.
…
Meanwhile, Sombra and the donkeys watched as Grogar reigned in his magic like a fisherman. A large blob of his magic came into the throne room and materialized to form Cozy Glow, Tirek and Chrysalis in their weakened forms, lying on the ground.
Opening her eyes, Chrysalis looked around to see where she was in.
"Rise!" Grogar commanded in a loud voice as Chrysalis and her comrades reluctantly did as they were told. "And face me, your new lord and master, Emperor Grogar!"
Rising slowly, the Legion of Doom were shocked at what they saw before them. "Grogar?" Cozy Glow asked, while flying over to Grogar and inspecting him. "Wait, is it just you again…Discord? I'm not falling for that again! Nu-uh!"
Snarling, Grogar motioned for Cozy to back away. "I can assure you that I am not Discord in disguise," Grogar said to the three villains. "I am the real Grogar, the first Emperor of Equestria and the Father of Monsters."
"So you are real?" Tirek asked, getting to his feet. "And not a legend as the stories say?"
"Of course I'm, not a legend," Grogar coldly hissed. "They only say I'm a legend because I have been imprisoned here for over a thousand years here on the moon, me and my loyal warriors."
"Yet Gusty the Great rose up and banished you," Chrysalis sneered, thus prompting Grogar to snarl at her. "Why not? It's true, isn't it?"
Grogar said nothing and proceeded to walk up to his throne, sitting down in it and motioning for Sombra to join him on his right.
"Why do I get the feeling he really is Discord after all?" Cozy Glow whispered to Tirek.
"Because, little pony," Grogar replied, somehow being able to hear what Cozy was whispering to Tirek. "Discord is a master of manipulation and wanted you to believe that he was me so that he could help Twilight Sparkle gain confidence. A foolish sentiment, but apparently it worked," Then he snarled. "But I am nothing like Discord! I don't show mercy to my enemies, not even sparing their lives."
Grogar then proceeded to power the gold orbs he had around his neck, causing the three villains to gasp in surprise. "However," Grogar explained. "Serve me, and I shall restore to you all what Twilight Sparkle took away from you. Watch!"
Harnessing the powers of his necklace, Grogar sent magical waves toward Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, enveloping them all with tremendous power! Said power caused Tirek to grow back into his third form (the form he had taken after draining magic from unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies), Cozy Glow to once again obtain large wings and a horn, and Chrysalis to regain her royal accessories (and glowing green eyes).
"Alright, I'm back to being an alicorn!" Cozy Glow cheered, her face filled with excitement. "Thanks Grogar!"
"Welcome back, babies! Oh, how I've missed you!" Tirek excitedly cried and promptly kissed the muscles on his arms.
"My power has returned!" Chrysalis happily exclaimed. "That meddlesome Starlight Glimmer won't know what's coming for her!"
"You won't be sorry, Grogar! With these powers there's no way you'll regret trusting us!" Cozy Glow cried.
"See that I don't," Grogar replied, regaining the villains attention. "Now, in order to keep what I have given to you, you must swear your allegiance to me and me alone! Fail to do this, and your powers will be taken away and you'll return to your prisons!"
Bowing to Grogar, Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow all did as instructed. "We pledge ourselves to you and only you, oh mighty Emperor Grogar." They all repeated, and Sombra joined them.
...
...
Twilight and Spike couldn't believe what they were both hearing...one of their worst enemies had been abandoned as a filly by two pegasus ponies.
"I can't believe you both would do something like this," Twilight remarked, "Do you even realize what you've both done?"
"We have, Princess!" King's Knight answeed while recoiling in Twilight's anger. "And both of us know we can't take anything back for what has happened, but all we can ask you for.. is for your forgiveness."
"We're...we're sorry for what we did," Queen's Knight pleaded. "All we can ask..."
"Just a moment," Twilight said a quiet, but stern voice. "Did you two even hear about what happened to me?"
"Yes, we did and we..."
"Part of the reason why was in the hospital to begin with was because of your daughter," Twilight sharply interrupted , the tone of her voice even causing Spike to jump back. "Did you even stop to think of the consequences when you abandoned Cozy Glow in the first place?"
"No, Princess, we didn't," King's Knight cried as tears formed in the corners of his eyes. "We screwed up big time and now we're paying for it! Neither of us can take back what happened, all we ask is to see our daughter's statue and send you our deepest apologies!"
Twilight merely gazed at the pegasus ponies and with a look of disappointment still plastered onto her face, she gestured for them to follow her out of the throne room.
…
"So what do we do now?" Sombra asked as he slowly rose along with his three other fellow villains. "The more we stand here, the more time we're wasting."
"Patience, Sombra, patience," Grogar answered, while walking back towards his crystal ball. "There's one more general that I need before we can begin."
"Sire, don't you think we have enough?" Lieutenant Bray suggested from afar, only for Grogar to give him a dirty look and use his magic on Bray, pulling him towards his face.
"Lieutenant," Grogar quietly and sternly spoke. "You are questioning my command. You know the penalty for anyone who dares to defy me, correct?"
Nodding a silent yes Bray was tossed across the throne room and into a wall, collapsing with a loud thud.
"Now, as I was saying," Grogar continued, giving no regard to the fate of Bray. "There's one more of you that I wish to recruit. He is viewed as an amateur in the eyes of Equestria, but he makes up for it with his army of creatures that once served him faithfully."
Activating the crystal ball once more Grogar motioned for his villains to look closely at the figure inside the ball, said figure harnessing the powers of a long staff and directing it to the sky.
"The Storm King?!" Cozy Glow gasped, looking back at Grogar! "Why do you need to recruit him?! All he did was let his minions do all the work, and then he got taken down by his commander! Just forget it, he's useless! And way too scary!"
"He isn't useless, my child," Grogar reassured Cozy while patting her head on the ad. "He trained and taught his warriors to the best of his ability. The Storm King once convinced a pony to help him hurt others in exchange for her horn being restored to her."
"But that wasn't the case," Sombra declared. "The Storm King merely used her for his own deeds, he never had any intention to keep his word. He's much like myself in that regard, but…" Another look from Grogar immediately silenced Sombra.
"How, may I ask, will you bring him back to life?" Tirek asked. "According to the rumors he was turned to stone like us, and then smashed to pieces."
"The same way I brought you three here," Grogar replied, tapping into the powers of his necklace once more. "Watch and learn."
The four villains watched as Grogar stood in front of the crystal ball and chanted an ancient spell in old ponish. The palace began to shake and tremble as Grogar activated his powers. With a crack of thunder and a flash of lightning, the throne room turned white with light! Once the dust had settled, a white coated satyr struggled to get off of the floor.
"Impossible!" Chrysalis gasped. "He's done it! Grogar's actually done it!"
The Storm King had returned!
…
…
…
"Rise, Storm King!" Grogar commanded. "And accept all that has been given to you."
Rising to his feet, the Storm King looked around to see the four villains and donkey soldiers surrounding him. It took him awhile to find his voice. "Where… where am I?" He questioned aloud. "I have a feeling I'm not in the ether anymore."
"Because you are not," Grogar explained, catching the Storm King's attention. "You are here, in my palace, and I, Grogar, am your supreme master."
The Storm King sharply gasped at what he was looking at before him, jumping back in fright.
"You…you can't be real!" The Storm King cried in disbelief. "I mean, you're a ram! Rams can't be mean."
"Of course I a ram, and I am mean!" Grogar retorted. "I am Grogar, the true emperor of Equestria, and the father of monsters!"
But the Storm King immediately dropped his frightened look and began laughing loudly. "True emperor, yeah right. I've heard it all before. Everyone talks a big game, but in the end they all bow to me." Then after laughing more he declared. "So, 'Emperor' kindly go chew grass or something!"
Snarling at this insult, Grogar fired a blast of his magic that sent the Storm King against the wall of the throne room in the same manner as Lieutenant Bray. Unlike Bray, the Storm King managed to get back up (albeit very slowly).
"You dare insult me in such a manner?" Grogar snarled. "I shall have you punished severely for your disobedience!" Twisting his front left leg, Grogar attempted to make the Storm King see that he wasn't fooling around.
The white satyr could feel his muscles tightening up in pain! Immediately, he dropped to the floor and winced! "Hey, stop it! Uncle! Uncle!" He cried. "I didn't mean…to insult you, really! I see now that you' are the real deal!"
Grogar continued to use his magic a little while longer before dropping the Storm King back onto the ground. The satyr whimpered in pain slightly as he rose back to his feet. "See that you don't insult me again, Storm King," He commanded. "Otherwise I will punish you more severely than what you just experienced."
"What do you mean?" The Storm King asked.
Grogar said nothing, he just backed away slowly while stomping his front right hoof three times. Immediately, the donkeys and orc soldiers began to grow nervous as a low, growling sound grew louder and louder, followed by a series of roars. A few moments later, a large brown bear with a large scar on the right side of its face entered the throne room. The bear's presence caused Cozy Glow to hide her face behind Tirek's beard.
"This is my pet, Scarface," Grogar explained to the Storm King. "He will do exactly as I tell him and if it means disposing of an insubordinate, it certainly wouldn't matter to him, or me."
Scarface got up to the Storm King, placing his front paws on the Storm King's shoulders, snarling sinisterly as his warm and disgusting breath came down upon the Storm King.
"Um," The Storm King stammered. "I…stand corrected…I guess."
Tapping his hoof again, Grogar commanded Scarface to back away from the Storm King. Then, he looked towards Tirek. "Like yourself, Lord Tirek," Grogar remarked. "My pet needs to consume in order to survive. You crave magic, he craves meat. And that includes worthless minions like all of you in this room. So be warned. Disobey me or fail me, and you'll be left to the mercy of Scarface."
Noticing the shaking form of Cozy Glow underneath Tirek's beard, Grogar pulled her out from behind it. "Don't be afraid, Cozy Glow," He sinisterly told her. "Just do as I command, and you won't be an appetizer for Scarface." Once again stomping his hoof, Grogar sent Scarface away as the large grizzly bear left the throne room.
"Now then, my loyal donkeys will show you to your quarters," Grogar commanded. "I trust you shall enjoy the accommodations here, my loyal minions."
Still reeling from the encounter with Scarface, the five villains were escorted out of the throne room, leaving Grogar once again alone as he smiled sinisterly with his yellow eyes glowing. "Very soon," he whispered. "Equestria will be mine once again, and nothing will stop me!"
…
…
Settling into their new surroundings, Grogar's five new lieutenants were trying to comprehend what it was they'd pulled into.
"I tell you, Tirek," Cozy Glow remarked as she got adjusted with him in their shared quarters. "That Scarface was really scary. Please try and protect me from him. Please!"
Tirek merely rolled his eyes in disgust as he stopped doing his exercising, putting down the weights he was using. "As long as you do what Grogar says, you won't be fed to the bear," Tirek simply replied. "In a way, I'm kind of glad we are working for the true Grogar this time."
"Why?" Cozy asked in a bit of a whimper.
"Because Grogar is my hero," Tirek answered. "Declaring himself emperor of all he saw. Being the son of a king who never understood me, I can relate to him."
"Your dad never understood you?" Cozy questioned. She had never given much thought to Tirek's backstory until now.
"He was always very pompous and wished for me to follow in his footsteps," Tirek sighed, once again getting back to work on the weights. "The land I came from was nothing more than a boring old wasteland. But I wanted to be better than him, so I sought the help of a wizard who taught me everything I needed to know."
"And did you manage to get your dad to see sense?" Cozy asked.
"No, because he disowned me. And then my brother Scorpan convinced the princesses to throw me into Tartarus to rot for eternity, while he returned home to take the throne meant for me," Tirek bitterly answered. "But now that I'm working for the real Grogar, I can show my father how I truly feel. Prove that he was wrong to ever reject me."
"By absorbing all the magic in Equestria?" Cozy Glow inquired while curiously playing around with a doll in Twilight Sparkle's likeliness. "Sounds complicated. To think, all I ever wanted was to be princess. But I never got the chance. In fact…" A small tear trickled down Cozy's face as she spoke her words, catching Tirek's attention. "…I was abandoned and sent to live in an orphanage."
This made Tirek get up and cross over to Cozy Glow, placing a paw on her shoulder. "Why were you abandoned?" He asked the filly.
"From what I heard they viewed me as a distraction towards their jobs.," Cozy sighed. "In fact, I don't think they ever loved me as their own child. That's why I did what I did, Tirek," Cozy sniffled, looking up at the powered up centaur. "Because I was angry and I want all of Equestria to feel what I felt when I was abandoned by my parents. They never taught me what friendship is nor were they even in my life, so why should I care about 'making friends' if it doesn't benefit me?"
"And where are your parents now?" Tirek inquired.
"Who knows where they are, Tirek?" Cozy Glow bitterly replied, looking back down towards the floor. "All I have now is you. And with Grogar's guidance, we'll make all those who made rejected us pay for what they did!"
…
...
Back in Canterlot, Twilight and Spike led King's Knight and Queen's Knight to the garden where the statue was. Upon seeing the terrified look on Cozy's face, Queen's Knight fell to her knees and sobbed in pity and disgust. All King's Knight could do was stare at the statue in disappointment in himself and his daughter.
"Should we let them have a few moments alone?" Spike asked while looking at Twilight.
"We might as well," Twilight replied. "Either way, they not only helped contribute to everything that had happened in recent days but they also played a part in putting me in the hospital, Spike."
As they left them alone, Twilight ordered two guards to stay with King's Knight and Queen's Knight while she returned to the castle. Instead of returning to the throne room, Twilight went into the royal suite and sat at her desk in deep thought. "Spike, can I ask you a question?" Twilight asked as she removed her crown and looked up at the ceiling. "Why would two ponies abandon their own foal?"
"Well, there are plenty of reasons, Twilight. But it's like they both said, they put their own careers ahead of Cozy Glow's own well being." Spike answered.
Twilight could only sigh in disappointment. To her, Cozy was just an ordinary pony who was put aside for something that wasn't even of any significant importance.
"Spike, everything that happened recently was for a reason," Twilight replied, turning around to face Spike. "I mean, me and my friends all becoming princesses, Celestia ad Luna moving into the Castle of Friendship and becoming teachers at the school, Ponyville and Canterlot becoming shared capitols. Cozy had none of those luxuries."
"So?" Spike questioned
"So, the point is that because of King's Knight and Queen's Knight, Cozy became what she did. And now it's too late to do anything about it."
Spike could sense the disappointment in Twilight's voice. "There has to be much more to this story than just being abandoned, Twilight," He suggested . "I mean, we may never know the whole story about Cozy Glow other than she was abandoned by two ponies who shouldn't even have been her parents."
But Twilight wasn't going to go along with her advisor's suggestion. Rising from her desk, she went over to the window and saw King's Knight and Queen's Knight being removed from the gardens by the two guards.
"Maybe now isn't the right time," Twilight said. "We'll know the whole story in time."
…
Meanwhile, in a far away, barren land, King Vorak sat on his throne in deep thought. He felt nothing but embarrassment coarse through his veins, disgust over the events of recent his eldest son had been involved in. "Dad?" He heard a voice call out, turning to see a young gargoyle enter the throne room. "You've been up all night. You should sleep."
"I can't sleep, Scorpan," The elderly king replied. "I can't stop thinking about what your brother has done to my friends, Celestia and Luna."
"Don't forget Starswirl and the other pillars," Scorpan added. "But do you think that perhaps this is all for nothing?"
This made King Vorak look down at his gargoyle son. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, are you thinking about coming to Canterlot and asking for Tirek's stone body? He's still family, perhaps we should…" Scorpan began to suggest.
"I want to punish your brother severely, Scorpan!" King Vorak interrupted, he would hear no further suggestions. "For too long your brother has caused nothing but pain and misery to the ponies of Equestria. He can no longer be among the living in Equestria. And being turned to stone is too good even for him!"
The sounds of his father's anger filled voice sent chills down Scorpan's spine.
"We leave for Equestria at daybreak," Vorak said to his soon. "Very soon, Tirek will be out of our lives, forever!"
"Dad, please reconsider! This is revenge against Tirek, not justice!" Scorpan pleaded.
"Silence!" King Vorak bellowed while glaring down at Scorpan. "Defy me and I will treat you the same way I treated that traitor, Sendak! Now leave my sight at once."
Doing as he was told, Scorpan left the throne room. "Must you let your hatred consume you, Dad?" Scorpan thought to himself as he left the throne room. "To use violence, even against your own son? I'm certain that there is still good in my brother. I just need to help him find that good in him, like Starwirl did for me."
Scorpan couldn't have known that his mission, as well as his father's, was already guaranteed to end in failure. They were not aware that Tirek had escaped his stone prison. They and many others assumed the Legion of Doom had been dealt with for good.
….
END OF EPISODE
….
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Since Grogar is on the moon, I wonder what effect it will have on Luna since she's sort of connected to it(unless she lost it due to retiring apparently..) or sense something?
Since Nightmare Moon was sent there before, wonder how things went due to the revelation Grogar was on there too.
I can see some potential here.
Scorpan is now regretting his own actions. Friendship can cause hurt even if it was an act of good. Monster are made, never born and sometimes families are responsible for it.
Where's Cozy glow?
And so it begins again!
The real Grogar is an emperor, and he lives on the same moon that Luna was banished to a thousand years ago? What a twist!
Sombra being second in command is going to be interesting, and I wonder how the troublesome trio are going to handle being part of an evil league a second time. Great job adding the Storm King to the mix too. While he did let his minions do all the work, he was the one who trained them up to be such a powerful army in the first place.
Good names for Cozy's parents, and I like the backstory too. I would've aged Cozy up at least three more years, though. Her appearance alone makes me want to say she's eight to ten years old, but that's just me.
Great chapter! Can't wait to see how Legion of Doom 2.0 works out.
Well that's interesting . I also like that you decided to get back the fact that maybe , just maybe , they have a chance to get a redemption in the end and didn't just condemn them to be vilains till the end .
9945015 And in case you didn't know, if you ever watched Power Rangers, Grogar's moon palace once belonged to Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. Even more so was that the palace was given to him by King Mondo and the Machine Empire.
Very good once again my friend. Though I might suggest you add a little psyche from Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow. They bow to Grogar a little quick for my taste. Show us a little of their thoughts I think, their reason for being so quick to bow. Fear of Grogar, gratitude for their recovered power, wanting to avoid being sent back and missing a chance to get revenge on Twilight?
Well, maybe you plan to have them redeemed. Which I like, they certainly could have been redeemed if Grogar hadn't been a fake. Even though I hate Chrysalis for turning everyone against Twilight at the wedding I might have liked her and the others being redeemed. Well good job. I'm planning on a long project myself serving as a prequel to Passing On Together.
9940525
Oh I'm really sorry! I didn't know!😖
I've been paying attention to the credits that you list for all these episodes. This is the first time I actually want to comment on them.
Patrick Stewart? Danny DeVito?
I'm going to pay attention to how they sound when the characters show up. Dick Van Dyck and Julie Andrews was odd enough; lets see how this works.
Meanwhile, how is it that ponies named "King's Knight" and "Queen's Knight" have cutie marks of a king and queen instead of knights?
Oh my ...
Turning someone to stone for hundreds of years is ... one thing. Turning them to stone for hundreds of years while aware of the passage of time, "alive" and in solitary confinement as it were, is horrible. That's ... there's no way I can believe that Equestria would ever impose a punishment of that degree.
Hmm ... Kickbacks? That's the sort of thing I could see in our world.
Millions of bits? ... That's just crazy. What do you see as the bit to dollar exchange rate? Do you really think that the income / wealth inequality issue of our world is in Equestria?
I love that you are still keeping Cozy interested in promoting friendship.
Well, now I know who King Vorak is. And yes, I can see Patrick Stewart playing that voice.
Lets see how the followup to this episode will play out. It feels like part 1 of a 2 parter where part 2 does not follow immediately.
9952933 That's okay.
9944855
I also read representations of Discord who could sense huge bursts of magic, but I let it slide since this is a new author for me.
Rarity: This is where the magic happens!
Me: This is where the magic happens,
this is where the magic lives,
our friendships weave together stronger
the bonds grow deeper lasting longer
Seeing what kind of ponies Cozy's parents are, I think they need to be cast into the bottommost bowels of Tartarus. No one who engages in that kind of employment is deserving of any kind of comforts....or perhaps Tartarus is too good for them. Hell I'd have Twilight cast them into a lake of boiling sulfuric acid for all eternity....them and anypony else who is in the same line of work.