The Friendly Plague

by TheClownPrinceofCrime

Battle of the Beasts

“What do you mean ‘save Equestria’?! Since when was it ever our responsibility to save it?!” Tirek shouted in anger.

“YEAH! Aren’t we supposed to be Equestria’s most feared enemies? We didn’t sign up to be heroes or anything like that!” Cozy added in agreement.

“You have to understand that even evil itself has its own enemy!” Grogar argued. “An enemy that serves neither side: good or evil! That very entity that can wipe out the existence of every species in Equestria! If we do not act now, Slash will both destroy Equestria and all of us here sooner rather than later!”

“Grogar has a point. Slash has gone to a point where he doesn’t care who he kills or what species he could wipe out. The Friendly Plague will exterminate everypony and everything in this world. Slash knows that.” Gusty added.

“Well, if he is capable of that much power, we can just take it away from him, destroy him, and then we villains can just rule Equestria by ourselves!” Chrysalis suggested. “Besides, why should we just leave Equestria in its perfect peaceful state after we will have neutralized its current threat?”

“BECAUSE IT IS NOT WORTH IT ANYMORE!!” Grogar shouted in frustration. The villains were startled by the outburst. “Gusty has shown me that evil has its own limits and will always fail those that follow it. I’ve already lost to her a millennia ago. So why should I repeat it the second time?”

“I don’t understand. Why the sudden change of heart? You’re not actually starting to accept the magic of friendship, are you?” Sombra asked, raising eyebrow.

“FAR FROM THAT! Even though I still detest the ideals of the magic of friendship, I now see that it’s just not worth trying to take over. However, there will be other pursuits I would love to follow for myself, you see. But for you four, it’s...it’s your calling.” Grogar said.

Groundbreak Tusk, Joypath, and Sharpbeak went up to the four villains and looked solemnly on them. “We will not force you to help us save Equestria from Slash’s tyranny, but you can choose to assist us in this endeavor. You do know that even evil has standards. If you wish to follow the same path that Slash is in, then you are more than welcome to do so.” Groundbreak sternly told them.

“Mmm-Hmm, you know how most villains always say that they will have their revenge and yet always end up being defeated again? So my point is stop wasting your time in trying to take over the world when you know you will inevitably fail.” Joypath added.

“The stakes are extremely high, and time is critically short.” said Sharpbeak. “With our combined forces, the resurrected threat will soon meet its just demise. If we remain divided amongst ourselves, we will embarrassingly fail and fall. There’s death and life right in front of you. Either one will determine your state of mind and heart. The choice is yours.”

Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow were conflicted with themselves once the ancient legends finished speaking to them. Their lust craved for power and domination. They knew that in order to gain these things, they will have to defeat the wicked panther which they had no problem with. But to leave Equestria in its safe hooves after the new villain is defeated was unthinkable. Sombra, having no mental conflict whatsoever, looked as if he was tired of having to deal with the decisions of ancient beings. Previously forced to join Grogar’s team and then being forced to not follow his tyrannical instincts was just outrageous to him.

After some silent moments of consideration and thinking, the trio came to a decision. “Okay fine. Perhaps we’ll help save Equestria...but only this once!” Tirek concluded. “Afterwards, I will just...retire from my career and have a vacation.”

“Yeah, I might join you, Tirek. Being a villain could be quite a workout, you know.” Cozy concurred.

“Ughhh, I suppose I can practice being a heroine for once. I really hope it won’t bite me in the back.” Chrysalis said, looking down on the ground. Everyone then looked at Sombra in expectancy. The dark unicorn groaned in irritation.

“OKAY, FINE! I’ll help! Stop looking at me like that!” he yelled. Chrysalis, Cozy, Joypath, and Gusty giggled at his reaction.

“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s save Equestria!” Joypath cheered.

“Very well. Gusty, I trust that you can safely guide us back to Equestria.” Grogar said.

“You know I can, Grogar. You know me.” Gusty smirked. She ignited her horn and shot a blast toward the wall of the living room. The blast struck the wall before it morphed into a large portal for all of them to enter. “Let’s go, everypony!” Gusty said. They all entered the portal that directly brought them back to Equestria. Once they exited the portal, it closed behind them. They found themselves in the outskirts of Ponyville.

What they saw shocked them: the houses were engulfed in flames, dozens of dead bodies littered the streets, the castle was destroyed, the school was also destroyed, and several animals were scattered abroad. “What happened here?” Cozy asked.

“It appears that my brother has successfully managed to turn some of those ponies into dangerous monsters to roam around freely. Yet he is not here, and no survivors are on sight.” Grogar replied.

“Oh well! Equestria’s wasted. Too bad. Boo-hoo. Let’s go. I’m leaving this—huh?!” Sombra mocked until being magically grabbed by Joypath. She glared at him and brought him close to her face.

“We. Are. Going. To. Save. Equestria. Together!!! If you want to be vaporized completely by Slash, then be my guest!!” she roared. Sombra’s face went pale as soon as she mentioned ‘vaporized’.

“NO! NO! Anything that doesn’t involve being vaporized, I’ll do it! I was just joking anyway!” Sombra said, smiling sheepishly.

“I hope you are. This is serious business.” Joypath growled.

Once the heroes and villains continued their path, they spotted a familiar being helping another familiar pony in recovering the survivors of the massacre. The villains especially were surprised to see them there. The two figures took notice of their presence and stood back. “Well, well, well, look who decided to show up! Big baddie Grogar and his team of little big baddies!” Discord greeted. He then noticed Gusty and her friends. “Ohhh!! Look at this! The legendary hero of Equestria and her foalhood friends are here too! It appears that Equestria is being filled with surprises today.”

“Discord?! What are you doing here?!” Tirek demanded.

“Uughhh, no. As if this day couldn’t get any worse...” Grogar muttered. Fluttershy hid behind Discord for fear of the villains.

“I’m simply taking good care of these poor ponies while assisting my dear Fluttershy.” Discord said before taking a look at the heroes and villains. “My, my, this is one heck of a crossover!! What is this? Are you guys like some sort of avengers or something? You’re here as if we’re in the endgame of sorts!”

“Spare me the subtle references, Discord! Slash is going to pay for all of his crimes he has done. The stakes are too high for us to fail. Now, if you would simply get out of our way, we would really appreciate that.” Grogar said.

“Maybe you can help us, Discord? We would love to have the Master of Chaos himself at our side!” Cozy spoke. Grogar glared at her.

“What?! No! He will waste our time and mess everything up!” Grogar objected.

“Most definitely! What do you say, Fluttershy? Those baddies can help us save Twilight and her friends, you know.” Discord asked her. Fluttershy was about to answer until something caught her attention. Applejack’s beast form burst through a few houses. She then roared mightily to the heavens. Everyone beheld her in surprise.

“THAT’S APPLEJACK! SHE’S GONNA DESTROY US!!” Fluttershy screamed.

“Applejack? You mean Slash turned them into monsters?” Cozy asked.

“Clearly!! Didn’t you hear me earlier?! Watch out!!” Grogar warned before jumping out of the way. The villains and heroes did likewise right before Applejack’s large rhino foot stomped on the ground where they formerly were. “EVERYPONY, ATTACK!!”

Cozy flew in the air and ignited her horn to blast her face. Her blasts struck the beast, causing her to focus her assault on the alicorn filly. While she was distracted, Groundbreak charged at Applejack’s large legs with hard force. His attacks were like pinches on her rough skin. Applejack kicked Groundbreak away from her.

Tirek looked up and saw her large dagger horns ignited and shot right upon him. He ran away from the deadly blasts and rejoined Groundbreak who just got up from the ground. “I need to have more strength to help you hold that beast off. It’s a pity you have no magic!” Tirek said.

“I might not, but Grogar has plenty of that.” Groundbreak said, turning to the ram. Grogar nodded and rang his bell before Tirek. The bell shot its burst of magic at the centaur; after absorbing the magic, he grew to his third large form almost to Groundbreak’s height.

“Ahhhhh, yes!!! Perfect!! Now I can help you, Tusk!” Tirek said before both of them went back to fight rhino Applejack. Suddenly, Spike, Rarity, Starlight, and Rainbow Dash in their monster forms approached them while roaring and screeching in anger and hunger.

“This is going to be quite a ride.” Sharpbeak said. “Mind if you can join me, Chrysalis? We can take on that flying pterodactyl beast.”

“I’ve taken predatory beasts before. So this will be no different! Haha!” Chrysalis boasted. They both flew off to pterodactyl Rainbow. Once the monster saw them, she spewed out large drops of acid in their direction. They dodged the incoming drops continuously until they reached to her back. Chrysalis combined her magic with Sharpbeak’s magic boomerangs and shot them at the beast’s back and neck. She screeched in pain and swatted them away.

“I guess this beast needs a little more force and a match!” Chrysalis shouted as she shifted into a roc bird. She clawed the beast with her talons relentlessly whereas Rainbow did likewise but with claws and talons. Sharpbeak flew up to them, twirled in the air rapidly until she became a twister to help disorientate the monster. Rainbow saw the twister too late before it swiftly knocked her out and tossed her to the ground. She landed with a thunderous thud.

“Watch out, Cozy, behind you!” Joypath warned as Spike gave an ear-piercing roar and breathed fire on her. Cozy shielded herself in her magical bubble from the flames. Joypath then grabbed her javelins, ignited them in pink magical aurora and threw them right at Spike’s back. Just before he could devour Cozy, the javelins punctured his skin. After ten seconds of roaring in pain, he was violently electrocuted until he passed out on the ground.

“Thanks for having my back.” Cozy thanked.

“Don’t mention it.” Joypath replied.

Grogar and Gusty shot their large beams of magic at Starlight’s and Rarity’s monster forms. Rarity ejected her fangs and lunged at them. They shot their beams right at her mouth, causing her to recoil in pain. She then shot large shards of crystals toward them. Suddenly, the shards turned to chocolate bars and fell upon the ground. Confused, they turned to see Discord grinning. “You know, you could’ve been nice enough to ask for help.” he said.

“We were doing just fine, Discord! You think we are useless against them?!” Grogar haughtily asked.

“Depending on how you use your intelligence and skills, Grogar. Good thing Gusty is here to give that good old help you need!” Discord stated. Without even looking, he snapped his fingers again, making the other incoming shards into flowers.

“I most definitely appreciate your help, Discord.” thanked Gusty.

Sombra shot his bursts of dark magic at Starlight. Infuriated that his magic had no affect on her sticky wormy form at all, he thought of an alternative tactic. “You may be resistant to my attacks, but can you resist YOUR FEARS?!” Sombra shouted. His eyes turned green and gave out green glowing purple flamed eyes toward the monster. After two seconds, the eyes disappeared from her face, and blasted Sombra with sticky goo. He was pasted on the grass while he tried blasting the goo off but couldn’t. “THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!! No one should be able to defeat their own fears!” Sombra lamented. Worm Starlight was about to devour him until Groundbreak and Tirek tackled her and held her down. Tirek blasted and tore off her sticky coverings, Groundbreak used his tusks to impale the blue orbs, which she had, to decrease her power since they were her sources of strength. Slowly, Starlight passed out.

“Come on! That was my moment to shine!” Sombra complained. Groundbreak and Tirek laughed together and released him from the sticky goo.

“I guess you have to give the others the spotlight, don’t you think?” Tirek said, smirking.

“Even I can’t disagree with the young centaur here. As we all say, ‘Better luck next time’.” Groundbreak added.

“Why does everypony hate me so much!” Sombra lamented in thought.

“Fluttershy, get those ponies to safety! Find some shelter!” Discord called out. She nodded and took the survivors with her away from Ponyville. He then went to Grogar and Gusty. “I guess it’s time to settle your family feud, old goat?”

“I know it is. Whatever he’s doing, he needs to stop now!! I will go alone and face him.” Grogar said with anger and determination.

“No! We need to do this—!” Gusty spoke before interrupted.

“Do not start this, Gusty! He’s my brother, my problem, my enemy! I’ll deal with him! And this is not up for a discussion!” Grogar said before teleporting out of the area. Gusty hung her head down in disappointment.

“Oh, don’t worry, Gusty. He’ll need our help. Heroes do that all the time whenever they are about to be defeated by the villain and so forth. You will see.” Discord nonchalantly said.

“Heroes do that?” Gusty asked.

“Seriously, you need to watch some action movies.” Discord muttered.