A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 24: The Ending of the End, Part 1

A curious expression crossed Discord's face for a split second, as if he already knew that Grogar was back, which was not unnoticed by Sombra. The draconequus quickly recovered, however, as he laughed right in Sombra's face. "You mean to tell me the legendary Grogar has somehow returned, and he brought you back? I didn't know you had a sense of humor, Sombra."

"I'm serious!" Sombra barked, deciding to explain further. "Grogar is very real, and he's brought Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow together to do his bidding. I don't know why he hasn't made a move yet, but he's responsible for summoning me. I didn't want to team up with those I saw as beneath me, so I left to take over the Crystal Empire by myself."

Discord looked at Sombra with a curiously blank expression, as if he didn't know how to respond in this sort of situation. "…You're actually serious. Grogar somehow came back after being gone for thousands of years, and he decided to bring you, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow together to do his bidding?"

"He claimed that he witnessed our failures and decided that we needed to work together to defeat Twilight and her friends. Not that I'm one for that sort of thing."

"Then why hasn't Grogar made a move yet?" Discord asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Do I look like Grogar to you? Look, I have nothing to gain if I was lying, anyway, but if you won't give me any credence, I'll just tell Twilight herself." Sombra muttered, to which Discord quickly backtracked, surprisingly.

The draconequus almost looked a bit panicked, quickly doing a 180. "Oh, no, no, I believe you! It's peculiar that Grogar hasn't done anything yet, but he's obviously still a threat. I can inform Twilight while you help with preparations for her coronation. You were doing that since you live in Canterlot, right?"

"Erm…yes." Sombra found Discord's reaction…peculiar, to say the least, but he had no reason to distrust the draconequus, right? After all, being weird was practically his entire personality. "Well, if you're to inform the princesses and Twilight about the danger, then that's good."

"Yes, yes, just to make preparations in case they're taking so long to plan some sort of grand plan or something. By the way, from what I've learned ponies panic easily if they're going to run around and cause chaos from just a few talking apples, so as much as I'd love that, probably best not to spout off that Grogar, Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow are back, hm?"

Sombra raised an eyebrow, finding Discord's behavior odd, even for him. Though he dismissed it again, finding nothing particularly wrong with not wanting to cause a panic. "I…I suppose that makes sense."

"Good, good! Oh, we're running low on apple turnovers. I have to replace those. If you'll excuse me…"

Discord headed back over to the wedding reception quickly, leaving behind a confused Sombra.

---

That had been a few days ago, and today was now the day of Twilight's coronation. Any suspicions Sombra had of Discord were at the back of his mind at the moment, as he was helping out with last minute preparations for the coronation like setting up the tables outside with his magic.

He had noticed ponies were on edge, however, especially amongst ponies of different kinds. Unicorns, pegasi, earth; they all wanted to stay with their own kind, as if there was suddenly bad blood between the different pony races. But that couldn't be correct; they all lived in harmony now, right?

He chalked it up to nerves due to the transfer of power, after Celestia and Luna had ruled for what seemed like forever. It was still a bit surreal to him that Twilight would become the new ruler of all of Equestria, though it was the logical choice.

On the day of the coronation, he was helping Applejack with transporting apples to Canterlot. For some reason she didn't want him to teleport them in front of the castle since she was afraid it'd "change the quality of the apples," so he resorted to just holding up half of the buckets of freshly bucked apples with his magic.

"Thanks for doing this, Sombra. Call me old-fashioned, but if Trixie managed to teleport the Cutie Map away, I'm not takin' any chances when I've bucked the finest apples in Sweet Apple Acres. Even if all that fancy teleportin' would save me the work." Applejack explained, pulling a cart full of buckets of apples as they arrived in Canterlot.

"Even if I may not understand it, I'll respect it. It's good to use my magic for more beneficial things, for once." Sombra mused, before they were stopped by a royal guard.

"HALT! You both have official business here?"

Sombra and Applejack exchanged a look, especially Sombra since he was familiar with Canterlot now. He didn't recall this being necessary before. "You seriously don't recognize us? We're here to deliver apples for the coronation."

"Uh huh. Well, it is necessary to supervise your preparations due to the increased security necessary for the coronation. Especially with the presence of a former enemy of Equestria."

"Oh! Uh…I suppose if it's for security and all that."

Applejack looked unsure, but followed the royal guard while Sombra resisted the urge to point out that he had done plenty to redeem himself, at least he thought he did. It was quite insulting to be treated otherwise when he thought that he had gotten past this, only making him more suspicious that something was wrong.

“Where are you dropping off the apples, Earth pony?” The guard asked quite rudely, like he didn't trust one of Twilight's friends for some reason.

Applejack was taken aback like this as well, as she narrowed her eyes. "…On one of them tables in front of the castle."

The guard gruffly escorted them to the castle, Sombra looking quite suspicious of the guard's peculiar behavior as he kept his gaze on the royal guard. Ponies were acting strangely for some reason, and if he was going off of what Starlight had told him of Chrysalis' takeover of Equestria, this could be another changeling attack.

Applejack started off loading the buckets of apples from her cart, as Sombra arranged them on one of the tables set up for the coronation. The royal guard insisted on inspecting each bucket however, much to Sombra and Applejack's annoyance since it was slowing the process down.

Applejack soon perked up however when she saw Twilight coming with Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Spike, running towards them. "Twilight! There you are! You mind tellin' your friend here that I don't need an official guard wherever I go? Especially if he ain't gonna help carry apples?"

The royal guard had followed Applejack as well, much to her displeasure.

"I appreciate you taking such good care of my friends, but we're fine now." Twilight said with a smile, the royal guard giving a wordless nod before heading off, but not without giving Applejack and Sombra a glare.

"It was the strangest thing. He kept callin' me "Earth pony", like I didn't have a name. And watchin' me like he thought I'd steal the silver!"

"Indeed. I initially thought that this could be just due to the transfer in power, but I'm starting to think something is wrong." Sombra remarked, before a loud crash interrupted him.

A pile of cupcakes came tumbling out of the front doors of the castle, Pinkie sticking her head out while she was covered in frosting. "Do not go in that kitchen!"

"You look like you were in a sugar war." Rainbow commented, looking quite worried about what could've possibly happened.

"For some reason, the bakers are super grouchy with each other. That unicorn chef started throwing dessert at Mrs. Cake! I tried to help, but I got caught in the crossfire! Tasty, tasty crossfire." Pinkie said, as she licked a cupcake stuck to her front hoof.

"I'm starting to agree with Sombra that this isn't just pre-coronation nerves…" Twilight murmured, before she was interrupted by a groan from Discord.

"My aching metatarsals! You know, you forget how convenient snap-travel is." Discord looked disheveled and tired, since he had obviously walked a long way. Fluttershy flew over in concern, while Sombra looked on with a raised eyebrow.

"You're telling me you walked all this way here?"

"Yes, actually. And I have a confession to make. You see, I might have made the teeeeeniest boo-boo. All very well-intentioned and noble on my part, of course, but-"

"Get to the point, Discord." Applejack interrupted, wanting to hear the truth.

"Sombra, you know how you came back and tried to take over the Crystal Empire? Well, that was slightly my fault. And by 'slightly,' I mean…I brought you back."

"Y-You what?" Sombra never stammered, but this was a moment that took him completely off guard. That couldn't be! Discord wasn't Grogar, and he knew for sure that Grogar was the one who summoned him. That is, unless…

"Why would you do such a thing!?! No offense." Rarity quickly added, knowing that Sombra was good now, but surely Discord didn't plan that, did he?

"Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Which is why I also brought back three other villains who are now on the loose and not really big fans of yours. So…my bad."

Twilight and her friends gasped in shock, save for Sombra who was practically seething. He had kept his temper in check, but how could he pretend this was fine. Discord, his first friend, had been lying to him all this time? He walked right up to Discord, probably looking quite comical since he was shorter, but he still visibly struck fear into the draconequus.

"You had the audacity to think you could reform me when you were the one who brought me back, along with Tirek, Chrysalis, and Cozy Glow as Grogar? And you didn't even warn the others when I finally told you that Grogar was a threat!?! You…you lied to me!"

"Celestia was the one who made me your reformer, first of all. But…it was a well-intentioned lie, honest! I promise, I can explain-"

An ominous dark aura formed around Sombra's horn, and he looked ready to try and kill Discord right then and there, before Twilight quickly interrupted. She was in shock, but she knew that she couldn't let Sombra go through with his vengeance.

"You'd better explain to the princesses. They'll know what to do better than I, since obviously every obstacle I've faced was a lie."

---

The explanation was very, very lengthy, and by the end of it all, Celestia and Luna looked extremely angry, not able to understand why Discord thought his plan was a good one, even if it was well-intentioned.

"Let me get this straight. You wanted to boost Twilight's confidence, so you brought back Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, and Tirek to attack her!?!" Luna exclaimed in shock.

"Don't forget Sombra!" Discord added, probably to try to lighten the situation while Sombra scowled, using all of his self control to not try to attack the draconequus right then and there. To learn that he was lied to and used in order to boost Twilight's confidence…it made him feel pathetic.

"And while you united these three villains, you pretended to be Grogar!?! Even worse, you failed to tell us when Sombra told you your own plan!" Celestia scolded, unsure how Discord could even mess up this badly.

"Discord, how could you do this to Twilight?! And us!?!" Fluttershy was in tears, Applejack holding up a hoof to her back to comfort her while she glared at Discord.

"Look what a great job you did defeating Sombra. All the confidence you gained. Remember the cheering? The hoof-bumps?"

"Except it was all a lie." Twilight muttered from her place on the throne.

"A well-intentioned lie!" Discord pointed out, which didn't help the situation at all.

"For all the time you've spent with us, you really haven't picked up too much in the way of friendship lessons, huh? Even Sombra's learned more than you!" Applejack shouted.

Twilight was now obviously doubting her capabilities as the next leader of Equestria, the exact opposite of what Discord wanted. "You've been setting up challenges for us the whole time, haven't you? None of our successes were actually real!"

"Of course they were! You just had an extremely good-looking safety net." Discord was obviously trying to put a positive spin on his horrible plan, and it wasn't working.

"And how was that supposed to help again?" Spike asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I intended to prepare Twilight for anything by orchestrating an epic attack at her coronation."

Rarity ran up to Discord, obviously angry as she stepped on his goatee. "You beastly beast! Don't you know how much this day means to Twilight!?! And me! I made her dress! Why wait until now for such a horrible plan!?!"

"You don't take a final exam on your first day of class. Just think, after defeating three baddies, Twilight would have to believe that she's the leader we all know she is!"

Sombra facehoofed, while Celestia flew over to Discord, the draconequus shrinking back from her imposing presence. "You have made a grave misjudgment, Discord. Do you have anything else you'd like to tell us!?!"

"Isn't that the understatement of the day." Sombra muttered, while Discord looked very sheepish.

"Would you like the good news, or the bad news?"

"That wasn't the bad news!?!" Luna asked incredulously.

"All my chaos magic is... gone. Trapped in Grogar's Bell."

Spike sighed, faceclawing before deciding to look at the positive side of things, if there was anything positive. "So what's the good news?"

"Well, we have Sombra's help now, thanks to me!"

"You didn't even plan for that though. You expected that I'd die from being defeated, and that you wouldn't have to see me again. You treated me as if I was expendable!" Sombra yelled, obviously hurt as he turned his back to Discord.

Discord looked deeply sorry for what he did, trying to find the words to at least attempt at apologizing. "Sombra, I really didn't mean-"

Celestia interrupted Discord, focusing on the task at hoof. "Twilight, Luna, we need to make a plan. Maybe it's not too late to stop this disaster from happening!"

"I…I need some time to think first." Twilight said, unsure about what to do. She never had to deal with three villains at once before.

"Well, there isn't any time! Look what I overheard them saying!" Discord snapped his fingers, only for nothing to happen. "Ugh! Just listen to my voice and use your imagination!"

"Let the fool go. Without magic, he's no threat. Besides, we have plans."

"The "Lame Six" are so busy being perfect, they haven't even noticed what we've been up to. Have I mentioned how great revenge is?"

"I hope you got a name picked out for your future kingdom. Because it's time to destroy Equestria!"

Somehow, Sombra managed to recognize who was who during his limited time with them, while Discord reverted to his normal voice. "They're probably on their way to attack Canterlot right now!"

"Then we'll stop 'em!" Pinkie said excitedly, while Twilight wasn't so sure.

"How!?! Stopping Sombra by himself was hard enough! And that was with Lord of Chaos training wheels!" Twilight pointed out, Sombra snorting in some sort of dry amusement at being considered a challenge.

"With my support, their defeat will be swift so I can throttle Discord at a later time." He muttered, side eyeing the draconequus who he didn't plan on forgiving anytime soon.

Discord eyed Sombra warily, while Celestia landed next to Twilight. "Twilight, it doesn't matter if Discord set up your successes or not. We believe in you and always have."

"Lean on your strengths to counter your weaknesses." Luna advised, while Twilight tried to think.

"My strengths?" Twilight then looked at her friends, who offered comforting smiles.

"Right! Spike! Send a letter to Star Swirl! Tell him we need the Pillars to guard the border of Canterlot! If the villains are coming for a fight, we'll have one waiting for them! With Chrysalis on the loose, she'll go after Starlight! Warn Cadance and Shining Armor! They're our final line of defense if we fail! The ultimate battle for the fate of Equestria is coming!"

Sombra listened to this plan intently, his eyes narrowed as he readied himself for the battle to come, courtesy of Discord. Well, if he was truly going to prove himself, this will be the opportunity to do it.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

frankly, i will never understood how discord thought this was a good idea/why to do this

[ShuTodoroki]

11556083
I didn't either tbh, I suppose it was for plot.

[Bronycommander]

11556090
guess so

[Late_Night]

wonder if this story's almost over or not
hope it's not, there's still more to be tapped here

[ShuTodoroki]

11556122
Still have a few chapters to go!

[Misty Shadow]

Oh man, I've been waiting for this, seeing Sombra react to how Discord bamboozled him. Really entertaining, but it also kind of makes me cringe how Discord is actually even worse here than he was in the finale with how he not only did something this stupid, he also lied to the pony he was in the process of reforming. Imagine if Sombra had went back to the dark side over this.

[ShuTodoroki]

11556674
It's certainly tempting on Sombra's side to go back to being evil just because of this, but at this point it's a pride thing where he's determined to prove himself and show that he's better than Discord. For sure, Discord's a lot worse in this finale due to both being stupid and lying to Sombra.