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Chapter I: Legions of Doom and Gloom.1,058 words
Chapter II: Has-beens and Hazbins2,009 words
Chapter 3: A Storm is coming.......and leaving.1,346 words
Chapter 4: Pay Negotation1,596 words

Chapter 4: Pay Negotation

Tirek chuckled nervously as he was surrounded by Cozy Glow and Chrysalis, who had murder in their eyes. Why they intended to harm their co-worker you may ask? Well, they just discovered that they were working for free, while Tirek was being paid!

"What do you mean 'that's coming out of your paycheck'?!" Chrysalis hissed, approaching like an arachnid staring down its prey.

"Well, well I mean I, I'm being paid!" Tirek explained simply.

"How are you being paid!?" Cozy Glow screeched.

"W-w-w-well, I have a set pay schedule!" Tirek explained, hands up defensively and looking for an escape route, knowing full well Chrysalis would be able to overpower him in his current form. Cozy Glow was more of a schemer than a fighter, so he just ignored her and kept the focus on the Changeling, which was slinking over the counter.

"And how exactly do you have that?!" Chrysalis growled, now only three feet from Tirek.

"I-I-I asked for it!" He explained quickly, hands up defensively as Chrysalis lurched closer, backing him up until his hindquarters bumped into the liquor shelves.

"And who did you ask, exactly?" She growled, now inches from Tirek's face. Her breath smelt of roses and chocolate, oddly enough.

"Pal...pal..palpatine!" He explained. "I just knocked on his door and asked for a pay and he gave it to me!"

Chrysalis blinked. "You mean we could've just asked!?"

"I just assumed since I was the mascot I don't get paid! Why did you think you aren't being paid?" Cozy Glow asked Chrysalis.

Chrysalis blinked, now that she thought about it, she didn't know why she didn't ask.

Tirek blinked, using her moment of confusion to slip out of the way and walk to the side several feet away to safety away from her immediate vicinity.

"...so do you wanna...ask Palpatine for a salary?" Cozy Glow asked, tapping Chrysalis on her thigh and getting her out of her confusion.

Palpatine sighed. It was a sigh of deep, deep annoyance, as his eyebrow twitched and his hands clutched a mug of fresh Caf, black and bitter as he enjoyed it.

He sat at his desk in his office, a dark and gloomy place that reeked of oppressive power. A swiveling chair was mounted into the ground behind the metal desk. Upon it were a computer, a hologram that showed his name, and a cup of pens and a pad he had for notes.

He sipped the freshly brewed Caf, provided by a brewer he kept on a shelf to his left. On the room's back wall was some imperial propaganda poster with something written in Aurabesh, and on the right wall was the Sith Code framed. In the back below the sign was a small bookshelf with some books about Sith Philosophy, as well as his own published texts.

The room was silent, save for a clock ticking above the entry door, and the breathing of the two sitting in front of him.

Chrysalis and Cozy Glow both sat in the mildly uncomfortable chairs provided to them, sitting across from Palps' desk.

"Repeat to me what you just said." He demanded in his raspy voice.

"We would like a salary, sir," Chrysalis said, the emotions coming off of Palpatine scaring her slightly.

"Y-yeah! Like the one Tirek has!" Cozy Glow insisted.

Palps sipped his Caf and popped his lips. "I thought I heard as much."

"Does that mean you'll do it?" Chrysalis asked, shoving down her nervousness.

"Why should I?" Palpatine replied.

"Ex...excuse me?" Chrysalis blinked.

"Why should I pay the two of you? Do you want money? Work for it. Tirek does and that's why he gets paid." Palpatine explained shrewdly. "What do you two contribute?"

"Well, I show people to their seats, and provide a pleasant sight for villains who may have just come from a battle!" Cozy Glow insisted, giving her best cute face.

Palpatine however, was not amused.

"Noted..." He said sourly. "Bughorse, what do you provide?"

Chrysalis held back her annoyance at that nickname, instead she composed herself. "I do the same that Tirek does! And more! I take orders from tables!"

Palpatine nodded, sipping his Caf again.

"Is that all you do?" Palpatine asked.

"Wh..what do you mean?" Chrysalis queried.

"I mean, all it sounds like is that you are redundant." He said, his glare visible from under his hood. "And redundancies are best left...culled."

Chrysalis gulped, nodding. "Wh...what else would you have me do?"

Palps got up, looking out a window into the bar at the door, and sipped his Caf, his black imperial robes fitting well beneath his dark purple Villain Pub uniform.

He examined the bar, its comers and goers. As an idea formed in his head.

"You will enforce our ban list." He smiled.

"Ban list?" Chrysalis asked.

"Yes, I have banned several troublemakers and risks to the pub. While this is a place open to all villains, that is also a threat. As some villains are....worse than others." He explained. "Either because of rivalries with other patrons, being known problem causers, or a genuine threat to everyone here."

"Who's banned?" Chrysalis asked curiously.

"Oh, the Chaos Gods, Homelander, Deadpool, and Plankton, just to name a few." He said, sipping his caf and turning to face Chrysalis. "You will act as a security guard, as well as maintain your current role. If you see someone banned enter the pub, your job will be to either tell Bouser the Bouncer or remove them yourself."

Chrysalis considered this, then nodded. "How much will I be paid?"

"$8.75 an hour," Palps replied. "Is this.....acceptable?"

Chrysalis nodded. "It is."

"Good, good, good!" Palps cackled. "I will give you a copy of the ban list. You start tomorrow."

Chrysalis was satisfied, deciding to leave the office and celebrate elsewhere. Palpatine chuckled as she trotted out, before sitting in his chair again, locking eyes with Cozy Glow.

Strange, he thought, looking her over. I believed she had left by now.

After a full minute of silence, as the filly seemed to be judging him, Palpatine spoke first.

"What do you want?" Palps asked, annoyed.

She smirked, an arrogant little smirk. A smirk that vexed Palpatine greatly.

"You know, Tirek was always more of a brute, and Chrysalis, while clever at times, was mentally broken by the time we had met in person. And from accounts of Thorax when he visited the school of friendship, as well as the meek fool Ocellus, her greatest vice was her hubris. She could barely see ahead for things like threats or assumed her power and presence made her immune to failure. Ironically it was this head-up-her-own-flank thinking that had lost the 'queen' her kingdom."

Palps raised an eyebrow but said nothing besides a chuckle.

"And don't get me started on the flamboyant idiot that was King Sombra! Yes, he was powerful and competent for a time,, his trouble was keeping his goal once he had it." Cozy Glow observed, fluttering onto the desk so she and Palpatine were eye to eye. "And Grogar, man. Grogar according to the myths was a great horror! A father of monsters and a master of dark magic! Some sources say he invented dark magic and could even raise the dead!"

At that, Palpatine raised an eyebrow, impressed.

"Yet the Grogar we met wasn't even Grogar! It was that fool Discord in disguise!" She spat, sounding insulted. "My entire time knowing Twilight, was nothing but meeting so-called legends who could barely stand up to their legend."

Palpatine sighed. "What is your point, child?"

"You are nothing but another failed legend." She said bluntly. "Your greatest feat of manipulation was abusing an emotionally stunted and mentally unstable boy with too much power than he could handle! Oh sure you manufactured a war too, which I guess was impressive. But do you know what I see now? A scarred old fool, who barely holds a candle to his legend."

Palpatine blinked, anger tricking through his body as lightning darted from finger to finger. Yet he sighed, unable to act.

Cozy Glow smiled wider. "You may be asking, how do I know all this? How do I know you wouldn't have attacked me? Well, I always adored legends. So in my free time, I read yours. And this bar's."

Palpatine said one thing. "You know nothing. You are simply not worth my energy."

"I know about Charon." She said simply.

That, got a reaction.

His eyes widened, as he summoned his lightsaber to his sleeve, igniting it and holding it to her throat. He growled, the saber humming as its edge was left at her neck.

"I know you won't kill me. And if you don't want this secret spread, I want an actual, proper salary. Not minimum wage like you conned Chyrslais with." She smiled.

And, she was right. Palpatine sighed and snuffed his saber, sitting into his chair.

"Grrr....fine!" He growled. "Be gone. I will provide you with what you want!"

Satisfied, Cozy Glow turned around and headed to the door. Before turning back and saying, "and if you fail to uphold your end of this bargain, I will spill the secrets of the bar."

With that, she left the office and slammed the door behind her.

Palpatine sighed deeply, sitting in the chair and drinking the rest of his Caf.

"Who knew a child could be so cold?" He muttered. "At least all she desires is money....and if that changes, it gives me time to think of something."

He sat in his chair and sighed, putting his mug down.

Author's Note:

Wow, that was more lore heavy than usual!

As usual, tell me who you want to see attend the pub! Aside from that, tell me who you'd like to see banned! Now that doesn't mean they won't appear mind you. Just if they do, it will be interesting.

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