> The confrontation > by Dianabel > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The confrontation > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was evening at the Everfree forest. The birds were flying, the animals were running around. But there was something that didn´t feel quite right. And that was the sound of hoofsteps. These were no common hoofsteps, they were heavy as iron, imposing and horrifying. A horned shadow was cast upon some animals. The animals ran away to hide when they realized where the shadow came from. It was the shadow of an enormous blue ram that walked around the forest. This ram was none other than Grogar, the Father of monsters himself. Every creature was afraid of him: small ones, big ones… Grogar didn´t bother to observe the trembling animals. He could tell that they were scared by the flickering of his bells and eyes. He smiled in satisfaction as he felt power flow through his veins. The Bewitching Bell may be Grogar´s biggest source of power but there´s a secondary source by which Grogar regained power throughout these years: fear. Many things have happened in these last thousand of years: King Sombra´s reign of terror, Discord´s rule, the birth of Nightmare Moon… And recently there have been numerous attacks and attempts to take over Equestria. Each of them failed but at least they produced enough fear for Grogar to absorb. And that´s why he saw the perfect chance to attack now. He had enough power and just when the princesses were retiring, leaving Equestria at its most vulnerable state in the hooves of an unexperienced ruler. But he knew well not to underestimate her. For she and her friends have saved Equestria from danger multiple times. Yet at the same time Grogar knew that he wasn´t like any other threat those ponies had ever faced. With his Bewitching Bell, he would be unstoppable. However, he didn´t retrieve as soon as he thought. While his minions were in Mount Everhoof, he spied them with his orb. Consequently, he was more than aware of their plans. Thousand years of ruling teach you to be especially careful with those around you. Many are the creatures around Grogar who have tried to attempt against him and all failed. Only one unicorn mare was able to partially defeat him, and that was Gusty the Great: the Wind Warrior that would take him out of the throne, according to his master, Lucena. That´s what she said in her prophecy. With just hearing her name his blood boiled with fury. That cursed mare almost killed him with the wounds she left on his body. If it wasn´t for his loyal lackey Bray, he would have died for sure. Even though he was banished and weakened, he still spied on Gusty with his orb, gathering lots of personal information that he could use against her. His greatest desire was to kill her. Nevertheless, a group of unicorns got ahead of his plans. Thanks to them, Gusty the Great was never seen again. He thought about her everyday: how they met, their fight, the day she defeated him…. If there was one positive thing that the Father of Monsters could say about his nemesis, it was that she was truly a worthy opponent. Gusty was powerful indeed. However, her powers were connected to her emotions. Therefore, if she was really scared or her fears got better of her, her winds went out of control. Because of that, Grogar didn´t think it would be so difficult to defeat her. Nonetheless, it was Gusty who ended up wining. Grogar stopped walking in front of a bridge. He had got to his destiny: The Castle of the Two sisters. He contemplated the ruins. In doing so, he noticed something shiny. It was the new form of the Tree of Harmony, now known as the Treehouse of Harmony. Grogar knew that the tree rose up again thanks to six different creatures, meaning that its spirit was still strong. Something had to be done about that. He crossed the bridge and went towards the treehouse. As he advanced, he appreciated it with more detail. He saw the pink crystal leaves, the tree trunk that harboured shiny vaults held by sparkly pillars, the stained-glass windows, the balconies… It was so gorgeous that even the Father of Monsters couldn´t deny its beauty. He tried to reach the door but before he could do that, something burnt his hoof, and thus, he discovered a force field. Grogar clenched his teeth in anger. “That coward!” he murmured. Just before he could try to destroy the force field, a voice spoke. “Don´t bother to try. It´s no use” Grogar stopped igniting his horns in surprise. A white flash made him squint a little. From there appeared a shining purple alicorn that resembled Princess Twilight Sparkle herself. There she was. The Spirit of the Tree of Harmony. And she was certainly not happy to see Grogar. “You are standing before my sanctuary of friendships and harmony. I will not let hatred and fear in!” the spirit said. Grogar smirked. “Such hostility” he answered mockingly in reply to the spirit´s animosity. “I thought you accepted every creature” he began to circle the spirit. “Not creatures with vengeful desires. You sent King Sombra to destroy me, didn´t you?” the spirit accused Grogar. “Not exactly. I did summon him for my team, but he decided to go on his own to conquer Equestria. He failed as expected. But I must give him credit for destroying you” As Grogar spoke, the spirit frowned. “Although I see that you rebuilt yourself” he stopped walking. He gazed upon the treehouse. “A beautiful construction indeed” “You can try to destroy it Grogar but it will rise up again and again and whenever is necessary!” “You´re like me” he chuckled. “No matter how many times they try to destroy us, we always come back again” “You seem too confident” the spirit replied, raising an eyebrow. “My dear, I spent thousands and thousands of years collecting power. I´m as powerful as before” “We shall see” the glowing Twilight Sparkle said in a challenging tone. She ignited her horn and prepared for combat. "Very well” said Grogar with a smirk. Grogar threw a yellow and black laser beam at the spirit. The spirit dodged it by flying. She zapped a rainbow coloured ray of magic at him in return. He created a magical shield to protect himself and tried to blast her, only to destroy castle ruins in the process. Frustrated, Grogar ignited his bells, and some magic tentacles appeared. They went towards the spirit and took her. The spirit gasped. She was pulled towards Grogar but she managed to free herself by hitting Grogar in the face with her magic, leaving a scratch on his face. Grogar yelled angrily. The spirit tried to take that moment to attack Grogar, but he channelled magic through his hooves before she could do anything. She was trapped again. This time she wasn´t able to escape. Grogar tossed the spirit against the wall and zapped. The spirit flew one more time with all her speed to avoid Grogar´s blast. She tried to attack Grogar in the air but failed. His beams destroyed hers. Fear was starting to arise on the spirit, but she knew perfectly well that she couldn´t show it. Fear would make Grogar more powerful. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out. She created a huge ball of energy around her and tossed it to Grogar, who summoned a force field. His force field and the spirit´s energy ball met, turning into beams. This was clearly the tensest part for both opponents, because none of the beams seemed to advance. However, the spirit´s beam moved forward and finally hit Grogar, leaving him on the ground. The spirit landed in front of Grogar. Just like him, she was panting. “You might be powerful, but without your bell you can´t defeat me” The spirit stomped her hoof. Suddenly, Grogar started chuckling. The chuckle turned into a maniacal laugh. Quite the opposite reaction that the spirit was expecting. She raised an eyebrow confused. “Don´t you know it? It´s almost in my reach” The spirit eyes widened. A slight panic was starting to arise in her, but she tried to keep it under control. “Wh- What are you talking about?” she asked confused. Meanwhile, Grogar stood up in four legs. “I discovered its location through my orb. Gusty hid it in Mount Everhoof” he said. “But. That´s impossible! Gusty casted magical winds and a spell that prevented any pony from knowing its location” Some small breezes appeared around the spirit while she was talking. “Like I said, I regained my abilities through time” “If that´s true, why didn´t you bring it?” the spirit asked in an accusing tone. The breezes disappeared. “Believe me, I would have. If it wasn´t for the fact that my minions are hiding it from me! “ The spirit wasn´t sure whether to believe Grogar or not. “Stubborn, huh?” asked Grogar with a smirk. “Well, let me show you then” Grogar ignited his bell and took out a ball of magic. In the ball, there was a vision of Grogar´s cavern. The spirit could see lord Tirek, queen Chrysalis and Cozy Glow reading a mysterious book. The three of them were having an inaudible conversation. Suddenly, lord Tirek took a bell out. It was Grogar´s Bewitching Bell! The spirit gasped horrified. “In case you´re considering it, this is not an illusion. This is something my orb is seeing” clarified Grogar Breezes were blewing again. These breezes turned into gusts of wind, and they were getting stronger, and stronger. “Oh, I can´t wait to see how your precious guardians fail to protect Equestria, to see all their friends reaction or how the princesses fall. Nopony will be able to stand against me. Not even the Spirit of Chaos!” Grogar emphasized the word “princesses” and “Spirit of Chaos”. The more he spoke, the more nervous the spirit got. The gusts of wind became a blizzard when Grogar mentioned the princesses and Discord. The blizzard didn't seem to bother the Father of Monsters. He just stood there, smiling evilly in satisfaction. His eyes and bells were flickering in an ambar aura. When the spirit saw Grogar's face, she realized the fatal mistake she had done: she let fear in. "You seem to take it personal. Right Gusty?" And just like that, Grogar finally hit his target. Everything happened so fast that the spirit didn't have time to react. When she was stroken, she gave out a yell of pain and collapsed. Once she was in the ground, there was a white flash. Grogar drew nearer it. After it faded, the spirit had a diferent form. She wasn't like Twilight Sparkle anymore. Instead, she was a white, glowing unicorn mare. Her bluish green and dark pink mane was flowing in the air. It was Gusty the Great herself! Gusty had her eyes closed. When she opened them, her blue eyes met Grogar's as she stepped up. "You knew it was me all along, did you?" she asked sadly. Grogar nodded his head. “After you defeated me, I wanted to know if there was more about Lucena´s prophecy to see if there was still a chance that I could return. I ordered Bray to look for Lucena´s book . Luckily he found it and I discovered something fascinating. Turns out what she told me before I killed her was just part of the prophecy. The whole prophecy was that this very Wind Warrior would become the Spirit of Harmony after she died. I guess she wanted to preserve all the harmony you would bring to keep me out of the throne forever. But if she wanted that, then she should have destroyed me inmediately!” Gusty sighed. “Then why didn´t you just wait to have the bell and then come to me?” “My initial plan was to corrupt you. But then I thought that would be too merciful. Fun isn´t something one considers when taking your revenge. But seeing you suffer…” Grogar chuckled. “Does put a smile on my face” Gusty clenched her teeth in fury. She tried to blast Grogar but something was wrong. Gusty´s horn didn´t produce any magic! She tried again and yet there was no magic coming from her horn. “What have you done?!” she asked in a mixture of desperation and anger. “With just a blast, I´ve weakened you” Suddenly, the tree´s sparkle started to flicker. Gusty also flickered. She felt a pain in her chest and grabbed it. She felt so weak that she fell to the ground. She looked at the tree. It had lost some sparkle, and so did she. What´s worse, she was disappearing! “Well, it seems that my minions have started their plans. They did have a great idea: spreading rumors in order to separate the three races. How convenient!” he said with a smile full of satisfaction. “With all the hatred and fear they will spread throughout the land, harmony will disappear forever!" he lowered his head to confront Gusty. "Which means you will disappear” Gusty shook her her head in desperation. "No!" Gusty exclaimed while she reached out her hoof. Once again, pain was in her chest. She grunted. "Tell me Gusty" said Grogar as he saw Gusty disappearing a little more. "How does it feel when everything is taken away from you while you´re not able to do anything? How does it feel?" Gusty gave no answer. "HOW DOES IT FEEL?" he yelled to make Gusty speak. Gusty whimpered. Tears were streaming down her face. Grogar laughed. "Look at you. My greatest nemesis crying helplessly in a curl. You always do that everytime I break your soul. Give up now Gusty! There´s no hope for you" There was silence for a brief time. The only thing that could be heard was Gusty´s sobs. But then she stopped. Gusty knew it wasn´t time to cry and give up. She frowned in determination. She inhaled and exhaled slowly. Then, she dried her tears. She finally looked at Grogar. “You might have broken my soul many times. But there is something that you have never broken: my faith” she said, with a weak smirk on her face" Grogar perked his ears in surprise. His bells and eyes stopped glowing. "How do you think I was able to defeat you? It was because of my faith. Faith is always more powerful than fear. And so is friendship. I might disappear but when all is lost, then all is found" Grogar clenched his teeth. He ignited his horns to blast Gusty. She closed her eyes, prepared to take the blow. However, nothing happened. “We´ll see” he answered. Grogar left Gusty and the endangered tree. She watched how his enemy faded away in the dark “Yes, you´ll see” she muttered. Gusty span her head. She saw the sun setting and the moon taking its place. The sky was now filled with stars instead of clouds. She appreciated their beauty. "Don´t worry, my girls" she said. "Help is coming, I´ll make sure of that" Gusty took a deep breath. She tried to ignite her horn. After some time and effort, she managed to conjure a little gust of wind up. She entonated a melody. "Little gust of wind, carry this melody with you" she ordered. The gust flew away in the sky wielding her melody. Gusty sadly laid her head on the floor. "Come on Dizzy. Hear it please" she said softly.