Grogar and Starlight have a history..... it wasn't pretty.
He thought she was going to be his forever. She had the ambition, She had the talent... but she lacked the focus.... and she lost her way. But now He's returned to remind her of who she really is.
SPOILERS FOR ALL SEASON 9! __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
It was another beautiful day in Equestria. Starlight was enjoying her third week as the new head mare of the school of Friendship. She was tending to her close personal friend Miss Philodendron. Starlight had successfully rescued her after Trixie's brutal attempted murder of her.
"You know she wasn't aware of how important you are to me Phyllis." Starlight said. There was a tense moment of silence, until suddenly Starlight gasped. "Don't call her such crude names!"
There was a knock on the door.
Starlight drew her attention away from her little green friend and payed attention to the door. "Come in."
The door opened and Sunburst came in with an anxious look on his face. "Starlight i have a serious problem here."
"Oh dear! What is it? Are the students hurt?" Starlight said in a clearly worried tone.
"Ummmm..... no." Sunburst replied.
"Are one of the classrooms on fire?"
"Ummmm..... well not exactly..."
"Well what is it? TELL ME!"
Sunburst cleared his throat before holding a book up to Starlight's face. "They don't want to learn Pony Latin!!"
Starlight's expression changed from worry to frustration in a flash and she planted her head firmly on her desk. However before she could express her annoyance with her new vice Head Stallion she heard something that made her blood go as cold as ice.
"STARLIGHT!!!!!!!"
It was a voice that Starlight knew well. Very, very well. And it seemed to have come from the front of the school yet they could hear it clear as day from all the way up in Twilight's old office. Both Sunburst and Starlight were looking towards the exit off the room.
"Leave Sunburst."
Sunburst turned around with a look of confusion on his face.
"What?" He asked.
"Take the students and leave out the back door, don't stop until you get to Canterlot. Tell the Princess i need her."
"But.... "
"Sunburst!" Starlight said in a very serious tone as if she were a mother telling her foal to stop doing something dangerous.
Sunburst finally nodded and left with the intention of following her every word. 5 minutes later the entire school was evacuated except for Starlight and the being of whom spoke. Starlight took in a deep breath and left the office. She walked to the front door of the school. And sure enough standing there with a furious expression on his old wizened face was the Almighty Grogar.
"Hello old friend." Grogar said. "It's been a long time."
Chrysalis, Cozy and Tirek were all sitting down either reading, eating or (In Chrysalis' regard) Making paper mache of Starlight Glimmer and then slowly burning it with fire from the torches on the wall. The smoke from the burning paper made Tirek cough.
"Must you do that?" Tirek asked the ex Queen with a clear sign of annoyance.
"Until i can get my hooves on the real thing... YES" Chrysalis hissed.
Tirek mumbled words too harsh to type.
"I'd give anything i could just to get my hands on that little wench." Chrysalis said.
Cozy stopped stuffing her face full of sweets to say mockingly to the big bug. "You are aware that i actually managed to incapacitate her during my hostile takeover of the school of friendship right? And i wasn't nearly as powerful as you."
Chrysalis turned to Cozy with veins throbbing from her head and furious anger on her face "Why you little bi.."
Suddenly Grogar bused through the door. "WHO'S BURNING STUFF IN MY LAIR?"
Cozy pointed a hoof directly at the Changeling and with her mouth full of food she said "Her."
"Nosy little Pegasus." Tirek said before returning to his newspaper.
"How dare you Chryssi! PUT THAT DOWN AT ONCE!!!" Grogar said in a voice that made Chrysalis intimidated. "Do you see this." Grogar pointed to the wooden walls of the room. "This is hoof carved mahogany IF YOU SO MUCH AS GET A MARK ON IT I WILL REPAINT THE ROOM WITH YOUR BLOOD!!!!!"
Chrysalis was chocked up... she had never been threatened so violently before. But she tried to remain calm and confident in the eye of the other two villains who were seated next to her so she left the room without saying a word.
"Well, this is a glorious day for Equestria." Grogar said.
"How so, Grogar?" Tirek asked slightly intrigued.
"Because a pathetic purple pony is going to be reminded of who she is and will join back with her former mentor. While i take over Ponyville for strategic advantage."
"Strategic advantage? Does that mean we are finally going to go to war?" Tirek asked getting his hopes raised.
"NOT YET!" The Ram said strongly. Much to Tireks disappointment.
"Oh golly. Can you tell us which of the ponies it is?" Cozy said with an odd sense of serious curiosity.
"What does it matter to you little one?" Grogar asked.
"Well i can't deny that my buddy Tirek over here spoke the truth earlier I am nosy."
Grogar used his magic to pull the little flying pony in closer to his face and said in a deep dangerous voice. "Watch that devious little mind of yours. You may have manipulated others in the past but i do not answer to you. Do you understand?"
Cozy was sweating and shaking but nodded firmly showing a sign of understanding. Grogar released his magic and let the filly go.
"But can't you just tell me anyway?" Cozy asked trying to put on her cutest voice so Grogar wouldn't threaten her again.
"OK FINE!!! If you must know...... It's Starlight Glimmer."
Both Tirek and Cozy repeated the name in unison. "STARLIGHT GLIMMER?"
"Is there an echo in here?" Grogar asked sarcastically "Yes it's Starlight Glimmer."
"You are aware that Starlight is the pony Chrysalis has a grudge against?" Tirek said.
"I'm aware." Grogar said looking at the still smoldering paper that Chrysalis left earlier. "Now ask me if i care."
And with that he turned and left.
Cozy turned to Tirek with awe on her face.
"Grogar is the most diabolical villain in the world. He had a hoof in making almost every threat Equestria has come across."
"His mind is sharper and more devious than all of us combined." Tirek replied.
Cozy's awe quickly changed to uncertainty.
"Should we tell Chrysalis?"
"Absolutely not."
Tirek continued to read his newspaper while Cozy continued to eat her double glazed caramel covered marshmallow marvel.
Starlight felt all sorts of emotions: Surprise, anger, fear, mortify, horror. But strangely enough the one emotion she felt most was confusion.
"Master?" Starlight said not believe that after 10 years he would just show up like this. "....It's been such a long time since I've seen you."
"You remember me?" Grogar asked.
"I spent 5 years following your every word.... of course i remember you."
"And yet you don't call, you don't write. I thought we were friends Starlight. We had an understanding... what happened? Why did you turn on me?"
"Because Twilight Sparkle and her friends showed me that what you were doing was wrong... what I was doing was wrong. They showed me true friendship."
"Wrong? I took you in when you were lost, I showed you the path to everything you ever wanted, You wouldn't be here without me..... YOU WOULDN'T BE ALIVE WITHOUT ME!!! Trust in your teacher and don't lose your way. I said that to you every... single... day."
"I'm grateful for everything that you taught me."
"Clearly i didn't teach you enough. Because i turned my back on you for five minutes and now you are on the enemies side"
"Five minutes?..... FIVE MINUTES!!!! YOU LEFT ME ALONE FOR 10 YEARS!!!"
"I had faith that you could accomplish all you set your mind to."
"I practically begged you not to leave me..... You can't tell me you don't remember."
"My dear old pupil..... I don't forget.... ANYTHING..... I remember that day as clear as though it were yesterday."
The builders had just begun construction on Starlight's old village. And Staright was speaking to Grogar via spell.
"And so we have everything in place.... like i said."
"Then why did you call me Star? I'm extraordinarily busy i have to rearrange the cosmos to free a Nightmare creation."
"Well.... you see the thing is.... there is one tiny little flaw."
"Uh huh." Gorgar replied in an impatient tone.
"Everything is in place except.... i don't have a way to contain the cutie marks."
Grogar put his hoof to his face and sighed. "So let me get this straight.... After 5 years of me holding your hoof every step of the way, I finally give into your demands of doing thing independently and now your calling me, begging for my assistance?"
"Master please..... i am desperate..."
"Starlight if your going to do this job you need to overcome hurdles on your own. I'm sorry but I've got bigger problems in the southwest region to deal with."
"WAIT MASTER PLEASE I NEED YOU!!"
"FIGURE IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!!" And the spell stopped working.
Starlight began sobbing.... She felt like this was another friend who had left her..... two times she felt shunned abandoned and alone.
It took her 2 days until she finally tried to find something that could help her. And to her unbelievable luck it only took 2 days until a certain pony came to the place for her rocktorate dissertation. Starlight mustered her courage and approached her.
"Psst! Do you know a lot about rocks?" She asked with a hint of what Pinkie Pie has commonly called 'nervouscitedment'
However the other pony had less emotion in her voice. "Yes." She said in the most monotone deadpan voice Starlight had ever heard.
"Have you ever come across some kind of super-powerful stone that can store the cutie mark magic of... I don't know... an entire village?" Starlight asked in a more persistent tone.
but the other pony replied using the exact same amount of deadpan "Yep. In the big cave." She pointed to a cave at the foot of the tallest mountain in the area.
Starlight quickly ran to it and found the most extraordinary thing she has ever seen. It was a room filled with hundreds of thousands of glass cases. Starlight had finally found what she had been looking for.
Starlight repeated the words her mentor had said to her many years ago. "Equality Starlight, Equality is key. Equality Starlight, Equality is key. Equality Starlight, Equality is key." She would say that to herself every morning. Until of course she lost her own evil despot town to the ponies who would one day befriend her.
"And for 10 years you became more and more powerful....You were on your way to being what i always needed you to be." Grogar said with clear pride.
"Well you taught me well......" Starlight said with a little twinge of embarrassment to her expression.
"And even after you failed me the first time and lost the village we had spent years preparing, plotting and concocting I was willing to look past it. Because i gave you one of the most powerful spells in Equestrian history. Star Swirls ancient time turning transmogrify spell. But then you didn't just fail me a second time. You became a backstabbing Traitoress."
"Sometimes i wish i never met you."
"I SAVED YOU!!!"
Starlight started to cry remembering how foolish she was to trust in this liar before her. She thought back to when they first met. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
(19 years earlier in Sires Hollow)
"Let's play Jenga" Starlight said to Sunburst.
"Ugh... again? Why don't we play something a bit more exciting like... Dragon Pit.
"Awwwww but i wanted to practice our magic."
"But how would we be practicing our magic? It's just tiny wooden blocks?"
"No silly we wouldn't be using the actual game.... We could play Book Jenga."
"Ugh.... fine."
After 5 minutes.
"DO IT DO IT DO IT" Starlight said with excitement. "go on Sunburst."
"Ummmm are you sure that's safe"
"Yes, absolutely, trust me."
"Alright." Sunburst said as he carefully tried pulling another book from the bottom of the pile and added it to the top.
Starlight watched in amazement and clapped her hooves once Sunburst had successfully gotten another point.
Starlight wanted to get a point herself. But unfortunately she was a little too clumsy and the pile started falling towards her. Luckily Sunburst managed to get a hold of the pile before it descended upon poor Starlight and with the great display of magic he had shown Sunburst had gotten his cutie mark.
He was so exited he couldn't even talk. He ran to his parents and they were thrilled.
But poor Starlight was left behind.... she didn't even have time to comprehend what just happened. And before she could say anything a mysterious voice spoke behind her.
"How unfortunate."
Starlight turned around with a fright. And standing before her was an intimidating figure. A creature she had never seen before. But he spoke softly and kind to her.
"Oh, I know. You miss Sunburst . You feel betrayed, abandoned. You're a loyal friend, unlike him."
Starlight finally got her tongue back and managed to ask. "Who are you?"
"Grogar. I'm an aficionado. And i have a gift... an amazing gift i have this powerful item called a palantir it allows me to see into Ponies dreams. Their want's and desires. Oh, I know yours. You dream of power, ruling over others. You dream of leading a great army."
Starlight was even more afraid now..... How did this creature know what she wanted.... How did he know that she would love to rule over others. She was a rebellious kid after all, but it was hard to blame her. She did have a father who was always too distracted with History to pay her any attention and a mother who had recently passed away, She felt so much built up anger. But with Sunburst she always had her mind kept in check.... Without him she felt lost.... but maybe this creature was giving her a chance to get a new outlet. But even in her young state she knew that everything has a price.
"...And what do you want?"
"I want to see a marvelous war." Grogar said with an evil expression on his face.
"I more or less meant... What do you want with me? I'm just a normal pony?"
"Oh you're not normal. I despise normality. Can a normal pony travel through time? I think not. Can a normal pony create a new type of Cutie mark? Please. Can a normal pony bring about the apocalypse and rule the world? No. Sadly, neither can I, not without help. I need a champion. One of two dear friends who betray each other."
Starlight got quickly defensive. "Sunburst didn't betray me. He was a loyal friend."
"Oh, really? What if I told you he's taken your place? He was watching you your whole life. Watching you perform magic stealing your talents. He was a bad pony"
When Grogar said the word "bad" he said it in an insulting tone. Which just made Starlight more defensive.
"DON'T TALK ABOUT HIM LIKE THAT!!! HE WAS..... NO HE IS MY BEST FRIEND!!!"
"Then why did he leave? He has forgotten all about you."
Starlight started sobbing. "No.... your wrong."
Grogar sighed and held his palantir to Starlight. "I wish i were young one. But observe...."
It showed images of Sunburst saving the crystal empire at The Crystalling.
Starlight was mortified.
"Is there any way i can prevent this?"
Grogar smiled and held his hoof out to the little pony in a comforting way.
"You remember those days.... don't you Starlight." Grogar said. "I was like a father to you... after all i am the father of monsters."
Starlight clenched her teeth through her tears. "I... am not..... a monster."
"You may try to be a hero. But you cannot deny it...." Grogar said as he came closer towards Starlight.
"GET BACK!!!" She shouted.
"It's in your nature." Grogar said walking closer and closer to Starlight.
Starlight used the same power she did on Discord to banish him from school grounds a little over a year ago. But Grogar was not affected by it. Starlight was horrified.
Grogar came right up to Starlight's face.
"You are mine... YOU ALWAYS WILL BE!"
Suddenly the front doors burst open and Celestia and Luna were standing there.
"STOP NOW GROGAR!!!" Celestia ordered in her Royal Canterlot Voice.
Grogar smiled again and turned to face the two Alicorns.
Grogar was taken to Canterlots thrown room by the Royal Sisters. He didn't resist. He knew that they knew that he was easily more powerful than the both of them combined. He simply wanted to talk. But the platoon of guards seem to think otherwise.
"Where is the new Royal?" Grogar asked smugly.
"This does not involve Twilight. This is between the three of us." Celestia said in a stern serious tone.
"Well four of us actually." Grogar said while turning his head to look at Starlight. "It used to be about just two of us."
"Enough!" Celestia said. "Guards take Miss Glimmer to my private chambers keep her there until our business has concluded."
"Very well your highness." The guards replied instantly and did as they were told.
"The rest of you leave." Grogar said ushering to the rest of the guards.
"You do not give orders here." The captain of the guards said.
Grogar stared daggers at the pony. "Now."
The ponies were terrified and immediately left. It was just the three of them Celestia, Luna and Grogar.
"Well My little nieces. Shall we begin." Grogar said smiling.
Luna was disgusted "We are not family you abomination."
"Oh i know.... but your mother was such an old friend i feel like we are." Grogar still had his smile.
Celestia said in her most intimidating voice "Don't speak about her again."
Grogars expression finally changed from smiling to frowning. "Fine! lets get to the matter at hoof....."
Up in Celestias private chambers Starlight was sobbing. As more and more memories of her past came flooding back to her.
She remembered the time when she crying her eyes out because Sunburst hadn't replied to her letter. Grogar came into her room and asked.
"What are you crying about my dear?"
"S....s.....Sunburst hasn't replied to any of my letters. I've written him 5 and he hasn't replied."
"He hasn't replied because they haven't reached him."
"Starlight stopped crying and looked at him. "What?"
Grogar showed Starlight the letters she had written for her friend and he burned them right in front of her face.
"YOU IDIOT!!!!" He yelled at her. "HE WASN'T YOUR FRIEND HE WAS YOUR ENEMY I AM THE ONLY FRIEND YOU NEED! NOW FOCUS ON YOUR STUDIES!!!"
He left and slammed the door. Starlight felt an emptiness. She didn't resume crying.... she simply did nothing.
Suddenly Starlight was taken out of her flashback by a knock on the door. "Yes" she answered.
Sunburst came into the room and hugged her. "I'm so glad your ok." He said as he squeezed her tight. Starlight was emotionless she had a blank expression on her face.
"It's Unacceptable. Unforgivable. To take one of my own." Grogar said.
"She is a pony." Celestia said. "Ergo she is MY OWN!"
"By the way, is she keeping up with her mind manipulating magic?" Grogar said retrieving his smug superior expression. He was enjoying this.
"She's not performing any Mind Manipulation Magic." A voice came from behind Grogar. Every one turned to see Twilight. Who had an extremely angry expression on her face.
"Well, well, well. I thought you weren't here Twilight Sparkle."
"And i thought you were a villain from a book. Nothing more."
"Did you say she wasn't performing any mind manipulation? Twilight, don't you know she has to? She must. Or perhaps you're worried she'll love it too much. She might still love me at heart."
"Oh you'd like that." Luna said angrily.
"Yes. Though it seems She has completely turned away from me. Correct Tia?"
"Correct." Celestia said shamefully.
"Then tell us why you want her." Twilight interrogated "It's one of your self-fulfilling prophecies, isn't it?"
"Well, one does dream of the cataclysm. And it's coming sooner than any of you expect." Grogar said.
"Then why do you need her? You seem so sure that you'll win then why not do it without Starlight, You are up to something Grogar." Celestia said.
"Me? I may write the script, but the characters have a tendency to do as they please. You, for example Luna, have an unseemly choice. Now, Tia, will you be reasonable and give me my pony?"
"I'm not one to cause trouble. But I need to think about all this. I won't make a decision hastily."
"You know, I always get what I want, in the end." Grogar said looking to Twilight.
Suddenly a door opened and Starlight walked though it. Grogar walked up to Starlight.
"Will you come with me?" He asked her. "Your decision needs to be made now. Join me.... or suffer the same consequences as these usurpers." He said pointing to the three pony princesses.
"No... I will not." Starlight said firmly. "You are my biggest consequence for the remarkably stupid decisions i made in my past I wish i was not as powerful as i am because then you wouldn't have wanted me on your side."
Grogar gave Starlight a frank look. "Understand something, Starlight. When I made you a ruler of your own city, it was not because I thought you had any value to me or specialty of any kind. It was because I thought you were the most gullible pony in all of Equestria. A hopeless, naive moron."
Starlight felt heartbroken. "Then I was not chosen for my prowess?"
"I only made you a ruler because I needed some pony who would quietly get more and more followers to join her and eventually even have ponies born in her ideology so they would become an army at your beck and call that would never disobey you. Until I was ready to take over Equestria myself. However you have chosen a different path. Instead of being that great pony i knew you could be you decided to become a principal.... A PRINCIPAL!! That's the lowest of the low. Well, soon you and your friends will be defeated, capture or killed. This pitiful building will be demolished and I will be done with you."
Grogar then left. Leaving Starlight to feel broken and defeated. One last twist of the knife to maker her feel worthless.
"He's wrong..... Starlight there is no other way to put it he's wrong.... our friendship was true. One day your going to remember that..... and your going to remember how much i love you... I remember the first time i ever met you... you were so angry and so lost.... But i saw the good you could do.... the true power you were capable of... and so i changed you for the better... And at that moment i decided i would do anything for you.... anythingI gave you a home, a family. I can honestly say you were one of my very best friends....."
Starlight had tears streaming down her face. "Thank you Twilight."
