Reeka fidgeted with her fingers continuously as she and her sister were travelling in a carriage. Unlike Reeka, who was a bundle of nerves, the other troggle wasn´t appalled in the slightest, looking bored through the window. The red haired-troggle was already in a bad mood, but her sister´s constant finger drumming made it worse.

“Will you stop it?!” she exclaimed angrily.

“AAAH!” Reeka sprang from her seat scared. Once she was back on her seat she grabbed her chest. “Ugh! Don´t scare me like that, Draggle!”

“Geeze, calm down, Reeka! You´ve been like this the whole trip!”

“How can I calm down?! Crunch has literally been murdered by that Wind Warrior and you expect me to be calm?! You know we´re next, right?!” she grabbed her sister´s pink blouse.

“Ok, ok, ok! I get it!” Draggle pushed her sister away. “But your endless complaining doesn´t make it better!”

“What else would you have me do?!”

“I don´t know. Shutting up, for example?”

“Ah!” Reeka put her arms on her hips offended.

“Look, you´re not the only one who´s nervous about delivering the news, but you don´t see me saying nonsense! Besides, I´m actually doing something productive.”

“Oh!” Reeka perked her ears up. “You have a plan?”

“I´m thinking on how we could kill the Wind Warrior.” Draggle smiled evilly.

“Oh! You mean setting a bait inside a nasty trap and wait till she comes sniffing and then snap the trap? Or popping her in a boiling pot and when she´s done we butter her up? Or blowing her up with a cannon?” Reeka asked excited.

“No, you idiot!” Draggle kicked the back of her head. “I was talking about the ritual.”

“Oh…. Yeah that makes it better.” Reeka massaged the spot Draggle hit. "But you´re gonna have to work on your awful magic skills.”

“And you´re gonna have to work on your intelligence!”

“Oh you-”

The two sisters started slapping each other or pull each other´s hair. They stopped once they noticed the coach troggle staring estranged and disgusted at them after he opened the door. The two sisters rapidly came back to their normal sitting position.

“What?!” Draggle asked aggressively.

The coach troggle shook his head and cleared his throat.

“We´re at Grogar´s castle.” he informed.

“We´re coming down in an instant.” Reeka said in response.

The coach troggle bowed his head and left. Reeka looked at Draggle while closing her own fists together.

“So… who do we tell?” she asked.

Draggle rubbed her chin in thought.

“If we tell Grogar, chances are that he´ll have us killed.” she argumented.

“But if we tell mother, she´ll give us the talk for making her take the heat.” Reeka pointed out.

The two sisters shared glances in realization. In just a few seconds, they nodded their heads, having reached an agreement by reading each other´s minds.

“Grogar it is.” Draggle confirmed as she and her sister got out the carriage.

“Halt! Who goes there?” one of the troggles at a keep of the main castle´s wall asked.

“It´s Draggle and Reeka, Hydia´s daughters!” Reeka responded. “We bring important news to the emperor!”

“Hydia´s daughters?” the troggle asked confused. “Your highnesses!” he and his fellow soldiers bowed to them. “What news do you two bring?”

“Um… It´s better if we tell you inside.”

Another troggle on the keep gasped.

“You don´t suppose it´s related to Crunch, do you?”

“Let us hope not…” the troggle in charge muttered under his breath. “Open the gates!” he ordered. “The emperor is in reunion right now, so you´ll have to wait.” he informed them as his fellow guards prepared to open the gates and the two sisters went back into the carriage. “But don´t worry, you´ll be escorted.”

He turned around and looked down, looking for a troggle that could escort the two sisters. The first he laid his eyes on was no other than Thalia.

“Thalia!”

“Sir?” she greeted him.

“Escort Draggle and Reeka to the waiting room.”

“Draggle and Reeka? What are they doing here?” she asked confused.

“They say they bring news.”

Thalia widened her eyes.

“Well this shall be interesting…” she thought aloud.

Once the gates were open, the carriage passed to the castle´s entrance courtyard. Thalia walked towards it to bow to the two sisters.

“Hon Draggle. Hon Reeka.” she took out her helmet. “I will escort you to the waiting room.”

“Thanks Thalia.” said Draggle as they followed her. “But take all the time in the world, we have nooo rush.” she said half sarcastic half sincerely.

“Heh heh. Very funny.” Thalia laughed equally as sarcastic. “But if you saw the emperor right now you´d really take all the time in the world. The ram´s going to explode at any instant.”

Both sisters widened their eyes, fearing the task was going to be worse than they initially thought.

“Why do you say that?” Reeka asked, panic building inside her.

“Because Crunch is really late! And he´s not usually late. Unless something happens to him…” Thalia turned her head to the sisters. “You wouldn´t know anything about it, would you?”

The two troggles avoided eye contact at all costs. Reeka smiled nervously.

“Mm… Maybe…”

Draggle nudged her sister painfully.

“Ouch! I mean… You´ll just have to wait and see.” Reeka corrected herself. Then she nudged her with the same intensity as her sister in vengeance. In response, Draggle repeated the act, making it more painful than before. Thus, they started a competition on who could nudge the hardest.

Thalia in the meantime covered her mouth, afraid but also excited about the gossip the two sisters were about to bring to the table and its ramifications.

At the steps of the meeting room, Drog fidgeted with his spear, slightly tapping it against the floor constantly as he waited for Crunch to appear. But by the looks of it, it wasn´t going to happen.

“Drog! Drog!” Thalia called him, signing him to get closer.

At first, Drog was unsure to do so, since Grogar could open the door at any moment and punish him for not being there. However, Thalia seemed nervous, which meant she had important information. So, he decided to go to her.

“Thalia! What is it?”

“Hydia´s daughters are here. I think they bring information about Crunch.”

Drog covered his mouth.

“Dang! Why do you think that?”

“I told them about the situation and Reeka seemed nervous about the situation. I know she´s always expecting the worst to happen all the time but Draggle seemed anxious too.”

“Oh boy… You think it has to do with Gusty as well?”

“Most likely.”

Drog sighed.

“I guess we´ll have to tell him… But on the bright side, this could be a sign that we´re getting closer to be free from him, is it?”

“If we survive him, but I guess you could say so. Plus, you know I´m bad at keeping secrets so I don´t want to cause a fuss like last time.”

Drog nodded at her. The two troggles stared at the door, gulping nervously.

Meanwhile, Grogar paced back and forth impatiently. Sylenius and Hydia shared glances from time to time, not knowing what to say or do. If Grogar wasn´t around, they would be theorizing the different possibilities that could have happened to Crunch, and as much as they wanted, they also liked being alive.

But the tensest creature in the room was probably Bray. He knew that Grogar wasn´t restless because he was angry, but because he was nervous, even if he wasn´t showing it and denied it. But between Katrina being defeated by Gusty and now Crunch not appearing… This couldn´t be just a coincidence.

Every creature in the room raised their ears when Drog opened the door. Grogar laid his hooves on the table expectant.

“Um… My emperor… Sorry to interrupt-”

“Interrupt?!” Sylenius asked upset. “We haven´t begun anything! Where on earth is Crunch?”

Grogar raised his hoof to shush him.

“Continue.” he ordered Drog.

“Hydia´s daughters are here.”

“What?!” Hydia rose from her seat. “Why are they here?!” she asked upset.

“Apparently they want to speak to the emperor.”

“About what?” Grogar asked angrily.

“About nothing, my emperor!” Hydia answered. “Those two brats are only here just to ridicule me. Nothing intelligent ever comes out from their mouths.”

“Geeze, aren´t they your daughters Hydia?” Sylenius asked surprised at how she was talking about her children.

“Oh! So now you care about family?”

“No, I feel the same about them as you do, but I thought that you would go mama bear on me if I said it.”

“You have nothing to worry about, my emperor.” Hydia said to Grogar. “My daughters are just going to say something stupid to you.”

Very subtly, Drog frowned at Hydia. Although he didn´t have children, Isis and Acher did, and while it was true that they complained about Oak being too much from time to time, they never put him down or made fun of him, unlike Hydia. Gusty was also different to her in that aspect. The way she talked about her daughters indicated that she was a loving mom, which was another reason Drog liked her.

Grogar´s voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“While I agree with your assessment of your daughters´ intelligence, this time I do want to hear what they have to say.”

“No, no, no. I´m not letting my daughters ridicule me in front of you. Send your donkey instead!”

“I have a name, ma´am.” Bray asserted.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

“Go fetch them, Bray.” Grogar ordered him, ignoring Hydia. “Don´t take long.”

Bray nodded before turning around.

“But ask them what they want to tell him first, eh?” Hydia said to the donkey. “Cause if it´s something stupid, they´re not stepping in this room, you got me? And like Grogar said, be fast, I want to get rid of them as fast as possible.”

“At your service, your honour.” Bray mockingly put his hoof on his forehead, getting tired of Hydia´s commands.

“Hey, don´t mock me. Don´t mock me!”

“I´m not mocking you, I´m treating you the way you deserve. You might have a nobility title but I´m equally as important or even more because I´m the most competent vassal here. Careful.” Bray defended himself angrily.

“Bray!” Grogar scolded him for not moving.

“Yeah, let´s go.” Drog gently grabbed Bray´s foreleg, wanting to get him out of trouble with Grogar.

“Leave me alone, please.” Bray said to Drog as they left.

“Does he really think he´s better than us? Ha! He wishes.” Sylenius commented, offended by Bray´s remark.

“Where did you get that donkey from, my emperor?” Hydia asked disgusted.

Grogar gave no response. Something inside him told him that they had bad news. He knew Bray wasn´t going to listen to Hydia, but given the situation they were in, the emperor had to know as soon as possible, should that be the case. So, he got up from his seat and proceeded to leave the room and follow Bray, much to Hydia´s horror.

“What are you doing?!” she grabbed her hair. “Don´t go to them!” she ran behind Grogar.

Sylenius laughed at her panic.

“This shall be fun.” he thought aloud while following her.

At the waiting room, the two sisters, accompanied by Thalia, nervously fidgeted with their hands as they prayed for the emperor to appear as soon as possible. Finally, they heard the door opening. Though it was not exactly who they were expecting, it was a better option than Grogar.

Reeka sighed in relief.

“It´s just you, Bray.”

“Well, tell me quickly what´s the matter.” said Bray. “And it better be important, because I´m not here for nonsense.”

“Oh, you don´t need to worry about nonsense…” Draggle muttered her breath. She cleared her throat. “Ok, listen to me. We bring news about a problem. It´s a little grave, but that´s we´re here for, to solve it.”

“What do you mean with problem and grave?” Bray asked, preparing himself for the worst.

“We´ll tell you, but first I need to ask you all a question.” said Reeka.

“Ok, go ahead.” Drog implored her.

“Ok.” Reeka put her palms together in front of her nose. “Hm… Guys? Do any of you have blood phobia or anything of the sort?”

“But Reeka, what kind of question is that?” Bray asked impatient. “Please, we torture and kill ponies every day!”

“Why do you ask that?” Drog asked fearful.

“Gaueko, Crunch´s minion…. Hm? Came to us a few nights ago and gave us Crunch´s collar, eh? And it was stained with blood, but big stains of blood!”

“What?” Bray asked shocked.

“Are you sure it´s his collar?” Drog asked in disbelief.

Reeka took out the collar from her bag and showed it to Bray and Drog.

“Oh Crunch, you idiot…” Bray put a hoof on his temple.

“It´s Crunch´s, isn´t it? Otherwise, I don´t think Gaueko would have given this to us and asked to bring it to Grogar.” reasoned Reeka.

“Put it back!” Bray ordered panicked.

“Yeah, yeah, it must be his.” Drog covered his mouth tense.

“But put it back! Keep it out!” Put it back! Put it back! Put it back!” Bray shook his hoof rapidly.

“Ok, ok!” Reeka said upset while keeping the collar on her bag.

“I´m sorry to say this but that idiot had it coming.” said Draggle. “He thought he could do whatever he wanted and didn´t think before acting. I´m not surprised, I´m not surprised.” she shook her head.

As Draggle spoke, Bray started feeling dizzy due to stress. He panted heavily as he put his hoof back on his temple, closing his eyes and dropping his ears at the same time. Feeling that he would drop at any moment, he held on to the wall, but it didn´t prevent him from falling on his rear legs. Luckily, Drog and Thalia were there to prevent him from getting hurt.

“No, no, no, Bray, don´t, don´t, don´t! Get up, get up!” Thalia begged him worried while he and Drog were holding his front legs.

“I know it´s really bad news but we couldn´t keep something like this from the emperor.” Reeka said apologetically as Drog and Thalia helped him up.

“No, no, no! You did great!” Bray said with an insane smile. “Now we know we have to take action now if we don´t want to have violent deaths!”

“Ok, ok.” Drog raised his hands. “Fair enough. But do we know if Gusty did this?”

While Drog was asking that question, Grogar was getting nearer. He stopped when he felt the bells around his collar igniting. Though he couldn´t hear what they were saying yet, he knew it had to do with Crunch and for the misfortune of all, Gusty herself.

“What do you mean with that?! Of course she did!” Bray responded aggressively due to the intense anxiety he was feeling.

“I´m not sure. I mean, she definitely undid the spell that kept Crunch stone but she doesn´t strike me as the type that would stab him to death. If so, I see Majesty doing that.”

Bray forced a smile while joining his hooves together.

“Drog. SHE LITERALLY IS DESTINED TO KILL OUR LEADER!”

“Technically, to defeat our leader.” Thalia corrected him. “It´s not the same.”

However, she decided that staying quiet was the best option after noticing Bray´s glare at her.

“I don´t know….” Drog was still unconvinced, despite having been yelled at seconds ago. “It just doesn´t fit her. From my interactions with her, she didn´t seem bloodthirsty enough to do that.”

“That´s because that treacherous snake fooled you!” Grogar exclaimed to him.

Bray and the troggles turned around and bowed as soon as they saw Grogar´s eyes shining in the dark.

“Oh my…” Bray rubbed his entire face with his hoof.

“Yeah, those are the exact words Gaueko used to describe her!” Reeka remembered.

“Gaueko?” Grogar asked while going downstairs. Once he was on the floor, the light revealed his face.

Reeka and Draggle looked at each other nervously. They gulped and opened their mouth to speak, only to be interrupted by their mother.

“Giiirls!” Hydia greeted with a forced smile. “Whatever are you doing here?” she asked in a fake sweet tone.

“To deliver important news, ma´am.” Thalia explained.

“News? And what kind of news? Because if it´s something trivial like failing another practice, that doesn´t count.”

Getting irritated by the delay of potential important information, Grogar clenched his teeth. Without being conscious about it, he lit his horns.

“SILENCE!” he stomped his hoof.

The magic harnessed in his horns transferred to that hoof, creating a glance accompanied by a loud boom as soon as it touched the floor. Thus, every creature became silent. Then, Grogar walked to the two sisters.

“What is it about Gaueko?” he asked impatiently.

Reeka gulped, shivering in fear along her sister.

“He… He gave us this. A-And told us to bring it to you” she looked for the collar and showed it to Grogar.

“C-Crunch´s d-dead sir….” Draggle lamented. “At the Wind Warrior´s hooves most likely….”

The ram picked up the collar and examined it. To every creature´s surprise, he wasn´t exploding in anger. That didn´t make the situation less uneasy, however.

“See what I told you?” he said to Drog. “The Wind Warrior is like a siren. Innocent and inoffensive at first glance, yet the most calculative and deadliest creature.” he turned to Hydia and Sylenius, who were shocked at the sight.

Grogar made a signal to Bray, Drog and Thalia to follow him. The three creatures nodded and did as told. The two troggles opened the door for him and Bray.

“You two had better team up and start scheming on how to get her to me.” he said to Sylenius and Hydia. “And if you are smart enough, both of you will work together for that! This meeting´s over.”

“Wait!” said Draggle. “There´s something else we-”

However, by the time she began her sentence, Grogar had already closed the door in a loud blow. Every creature stared stunned at the door.

“Welp!” Sylenius broke the silence. “Looks like we have catching up to do.” he said to Hydia. “Any ideas?”

“Oh!” Reeka exclaimed excited. “Draggle and I were talking about that on our way here and-”

“Yes, yes, darling. I´m sure you have great ideas, but let the adults talk, will you?” Hydia said `affably´ while patting her head condescendingly.

“Oh. Ok…” Reeka said disappointed.

Draggle simply rolled her eyes unmotivated. Meanwhile, Hydia rubbed her fingers around her chin.

“I think the strategy should be separating the Wind Warrior from her little friends.” she smiled evilly. “Yes, she´s powerful and everything, but let´s be realistic. She wouldn´t have achieved any of that without help.”

“Ooh… I like that.” Sylenius drew a huge grin on his face. “I happen to have the perfect way to get rid of them…”

“That´s great and all, but who is going to capture the Wind Warrior?” Draggle pointed out.

Hydia and Sylenius widened their eyes. The first left out a nervous chuckle.

“Sweetie… What kind of question is that? Your mother, of course.”

Sylenius tried to hold his laughter, but he ended up roaring.

“You? With potion making? HA! Nah… Just let the ringmaster handle it.”

“So you admit it… You made a circus out of your territories.” Hydia shrugged. “Knowing that fact, I don´t think it would be safe letting the Wind Warrior at your hands.”

“You harpy!”

“I´m a witch, what do you expect?”

Hydia´s daughters stared at each other. Tired of seeing them wasting time with petty bickering, Draggle decided to take matters into her own hands. She stretched her fingers and arms before speaking.

“Since we can´t decide on who will take the Wind Warrior captive, how about we discuss about how to separate her allies instead? There´s one that is of particular interest. Two in fact.”

“Majesty and that Lancer soldier of hers. Yeah, we know, darling.” Hydia tried to shush her.

“Not exactly…” Reeka muttered.

“No.” Draggle continued. “They´re-”

“My dearies. Why don´t you go outside to take some air? The journey to here must have left your legs numb. Maybe you should help them regain consciousness.” Hydia pushed the two towards the door.

“Sure, but-” Reeka tried to reason with her mother but once again she was interrupted by her.

“Great! Glad to see we agree!”

Draggle clenched her teeth.

“Mom!” she scolded her.

“Draggle, the best way to address me is mother, how many times have I told you that?”

“Can you just listen to what we have to say? It´s important.”

Hydia stayed quiet for a moment. Then, she turned to Sylenius.

“Give me one moment.” she asked him. “You know, kids being unruly.”

“As long as you get rid of your brats, take all the time in the world.” Sylenius told her.

“Thank you.” she closed the doors.

She leant on the door and took a deep breath before turning to her daughters.

“Draggle, Draggle, Draggle. Why are you trying to participate on the conversation as an equal when you still don´t get your spells right?” she said in a passive aggressive tone.

Draggle looked away.

“I´m just trying to help.” she justified herself.

“Sweetie.” she grabbed her hands. “Until you learn your spells right you are of no help to me. The only way to help me right now is by standing out of my way.”

Those words stroke a nerve on Draggle. She looked down in shame, which Reeka noticed.

“But she does have a point though…” Reeka tried to support her. “We should organize with Sylenius to isolate the Wind Warrior.”

“But you say that because of your little mind, sweetie.” she put her finger on her forehead. “Don´t worry, I know you´re doing your best, but you still need to improve your thinking skills.”

Reeka stared disillusioned at her mother. Draggle glared at her when she started laughing.

“Oh darlings, I´m just teasing.” she said amused.

Reeka laughed nervously. Draggle, on the contrary, rolled her eyes.

“Oh Draggle, stop taking everything so seriously, when will you learn to take a joke?”

“So does that mean that we can intervene in the reunion?” Draggle raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Oh! Well, on that matter, I´ll say that is better if you stay out. It´s not personal really, but you´re still too young and unexperienced to say anything on the matter. Trust me, if we followed anything you said we´d end up in a really big jam. And you don´t want anything to happen to your mother because of you, right?” she said the last word in a more serious tone.

Both sisters sighed and looked down in shame.

“No mother.” they said on chorus.

“Perfect! See the bright side, you get to move your legs a little after being sat for such a long trip.” Hydia said with a smile before closing the door.

Reeka sighed tired. She looked worried at Draggle, since she seemed to be very upset by their mother´s words.

“Are you alright?” she tried to reach for her shoulder but Draggle slapped it away.

“I told you this was a bad idea! Why are you so stupid?” she asked angrily before walking away.

Though they frequently insulted each other, Reeka felt pretty hurt by those words. She leant against the wall and sighed while sitting down and hugging her knees.

Escolted by Drog and Thalia, Grogar and Bray returned to the reunion room.

“Leave us alone.” Grogar ordered the two troggles.

Drog and Thalia bowed their heads before leaving and closing the doors.

“I don´t understand.” Bray spoke once the two were alone. “How did she figure how to reverse Crunch´s spell? Not even Majesty knew how!”

Grogar closed his eyes.

“What are we going to do?” Bray asked concerned.

Grogar breathed though his nose before opening his eyes.

“I think the time has come to me to intervene.”

“You don´t trust Hydia and Sylenius, do you?”

“Those two are as pathetic and useless as Katrina and Crunch! There´s no way they will get her. But at least they´ll be able to hold her for me to make my move.”

“Which is….”

“Attack her where it hurts the most…”

Bray widened his eyes.

“A-Are you sure about that? That is a pretty big offense…. You yourself say it. She seems inoffensive but at the moment you least expect it, she backstabs you. I mean, look what happened to Crunch!”

“HA! Do you really think she stabbed Crunch? She did manage to reverse the spell that kept him stone, yes, but Drog was right on her not being that violent. If so, Majesty did that, or even Sarama. That dog was conspiring against him from the minute he became more powerful than her. In fact, I´m pretty sure she told Gusty his weak spot so she could get rid of him.”

“That makes sense, I guess…” Bray said somewhat insecure.

“Besides, I won´t take that step yet. But I will take them away from her, just like she took two territories away from me. An eye for an eye. But territories can be given back, or even better, she can give herself up in exchange. So, if she´s willing to collaborate, then I won´t have to take such measure. But if she doesn´t, I have no problem to do so. And if that happens, I´ll be guiltless. She chose that path, and she shall face the consequences. We both reached for the sword.”

“Yeah… Maybe she should have eaten them or something before going against you.” Bray reasoned with himself. “Quicker and easier!”

“No. She ate them the moment she brought them to this world. But by going against me, she´s devoured them.”

Bray widened his eyes when he heard the word `young´.

“Speaking of which, today´s Monday sir.”

Grogar sighed. If he was going to be away, he wouldn´t be able to see Discord. And most surely, he would wonder why. Today was going to be hard session.

“I´ll go now to Discord.”

Bray nodded his head and turned around to leave.

“Bray!” Grogar called him, making him stop and turn his head to him. “One more thing. Watch Drog and his friends closely. I don´t like how he thinks of Gusty…”

“Yes sir.” Bray said before leaving.

Although he couldn´t see his face, the fact that Grogar´s eyes and bells were glowing pretty much gave away Bray was feeling uneasy. He snorted in frustration. But as much as he tried to deny, deep deep down in his heart, he was afraid too. Ever since he discovered Gusty was the Wind Warrior, he constantly felt threatened and paranoid about a big punishment coming.

Back when he was cleric, he was constantly warned about the dangers of using black magic and guiding oneself by their dark desires. Grogar had committed many atrocities in order to get to the throne and keep it, but to him it was necessary. After all, he believed he was destined to make his kingdom the great force it once was and be the greatest emperor and sorcerer that had ever existed. And to be fair, with every demonstration of power, no matter how brutal or ruthless, there came satisfaction.

Nevertheless, sometimes those warnings roamed his mind and terrified him. Lately, for example, at night or when he receives news about Gusty defeating one of his allies, like right now, an image of himself surrounded by faceless red cloaked clerics came to his mind, as if he was taunted by Lucena and all the congregation for what happened to them those fateful days and all the ponies he has harmed and killed.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa, they would repeatedly chant.

Nonetheless, he would always remind himself he was the most powerful creature to ever have roamed the world. He had everything under his control, everything he created was a perfect war machine, and he was immune to every trick, even the most deceitful, which usually came from females, something that Lucena´s betrayal taught him so, and Gusty entering his life reinforced that belief.

Feeling the red cloaks appearing in his mind, Grogar shook his head and decided to focus on more immediate matters at hoof. Such as visiting Discord.

He stared at the ceiling, took a few breaths, and frowned determined before leaving.

Right now, Discord´s room was in black and white, with suave jazz music playing on the background. It looked like a detective´s room, with blinds pulled down, a desk, a lamp, and an investigation board; all floating along other furniture not characteristic of a detective´s room, that is. Discord and Butterfly wore fedoras and jackets with badges. The two stared at the board after Discord doodled it with a red marker.

“Okay, detective Butterfly. Tell me what you think about my awesome and smart theory.” Discord said to her.

The butterfly got out from his shoulder and flew around the board to examine it. Once she was finished, she turned her head to Discord and shook it while shrugging.

“What do you mean with you don´t understand anything?” he asked surprised and somewhat offended. “It´s really obvious! See, when I told dad about the Wind Warrior defeating Katrina, he kind of panicked, so I figured that the Wind Warrior is something he´s scared of.” Discord explained. “And all these red arrows represent the different things the Wind Warrior could be.” Discord separated his fingers to follow the different red marker trails. “Which is a warrior made of wind that can turn into a tornado, a hurricane, or a blizzard! But that´s when I realized that wind makes noise, so it could also be any instruments. Or a whistler! Or a teapot! Or perhaps a creature that uses wind!”

If Discord had a third witness, they wouldn´t blame Butterfly for not understanding. The position of the pictures wasn´t clear enough, aside from the trails just being scratches that were everywhere and led nowhere. Butterfly shrugged again.

“Katrina? Well, I´m not so sure who she is, but it looks like she was valuable to dad. Otherwise, he wouldn´t have reacted like that and act weird ever since. Nor he would have bothered to cover the windows or make the walls soundproof permanently.” he crossed his arms.

Butterfly nodded in agreement. Of all the things he said, this was perhaps the most factual.

“But thanks to you spying out, we got some info! Still, there are many questions that remain… Who really is the Wind Warrior? What do they want? And how do we get rid of them?”

Discord took a pipe and blew it, causing brown bubbles to appear. Butterfly took out a tiny straw to absorb the bubble. After tasting and swallowing it, she licked her lips with a smile.

“Exactly! It´s chocolate milk, your favourite and mine.” Discord winked an eye at her. “Okay, buddy! I think, that´s enough for today!” pulled down the blinds and let it go, so it could absorb the detective room and turn his room back to normal. “We still have a long way to go, but we´ve made lots of progress! Now it´s time to play! What do you want to do?” Discord wagged his tail expectant.

Butterfly took out a schedule and tapped at the first square. Since it was of really small size, Discord summoned a magnifying glass to read it closely.

“Oh right, today´s Monday…” Discord gasped in realization. “Which means that dad could appear at any moment! Good thing we´re over with investigation time. Quick, hide where you can!”

Butterfly flew to a board and closed its door. Discord snapped his fingers and summoned lots of flying books and a pair of glasses.

“Now, what was exactly the lesson he assigned me to read?” he wondered aloud as he put the glasses on.

Suddenly, he heard the door opening, as if he had summoned his father with those words.

“Leaving everything to the last minute like always, huh?” Grogar raised an eyebrow.

Discord took all the books and the glasses and hid them behind his back. Then, he laughed apologetically.

“Don´t worry. Lucky for you, we´re not discussing that today.” Grogar informed him while walking towards him.

“Oh!” Discord exclaimed excited, hoping he was finally going to take him out. “What is it about?” he flew to the height of Grogar´s face, but after seeing his glare, he realized it wasn´t a good idea. “I mean…” he snapped his fingers and came back to the floor, wearing a golden armour with blue sleeves, a blue cape and brown gloves. He cleared his throat. “Reporting for duty as ordered, sir.” he put his paw and claw behind his back.

“Huh, I like that knight-like attitude and obedience.” Grogar smiled.

Discord was about to smile back, but he quickly had his illusions demolished before he could.

“But you´re way too far from being a knight and will always be if you keep on being an idiot. Stop goofing around and take off that outfit, will you?”

Discord´s smile dropped.

“Sorry…” Discord apologizing before snapping his fingers, looking away hurt.

“My boy, I know you´re dying to be a monstrous soldier for me, but you don´t have what it takes. What the empire needs is a firm hoof to prevent the weak-minded from being so easily misled.”

“Misled?” Discord asked confused.

“Look, Discord. When you´re at the top, there´s always creatures that want to bring you down. They´re rebels. The rebels live outside the normal order, and while going against me is giving oneself a death sentence, it´s exhausting having to deal with them. But they have a way of inflaming others´ lowest instincts, so they must be stopped.”

“But if you always win and they can´t do anything against you, why is it a problem?”

Grogar noticed some ants at the windowsill, giving him a perfect metaphor to make Discord understand.

“Come here.” he ordered Discord to follow him to the windowsill. “For many years I´ve been taking care of the rebels.” seeing three ants, he stepped a hoof on them one on one. “One. By. One. And yet, for all my success, they still thrive.” he lifted the stone the ants were in, revealing a colony of ants living underneath. “So many ants are disturbing, aren´t they?”

“Well, not really.” Discord replied innocently, not getting the point Grogar was trying to convey. “In fact, the more, the more chaotic! Plus, company never hurts. Oh! Maybe I could also show them tricks or give them cooler features like you do, I´m pretty sure they would like it!” he blurted out excited.

But his smile vanished when he noticed Grogar´s glare at him.

“You want to be a weapon for me yet when you see ants, your first thought is befriending them?” he said coldly.

“Uh… they would be like allies! An army of giant ants!”

Despite the suggestion, Grogar was still glaring at him. Discord gasped in realization.

“Oh…. We´re not talking about the ants, are we?”

“Of course not.” Grogar said with his teeth clenched. “I´m using the ants as a metaphor for the rebels, since they are vermin. I should not have to explain you that! I thought you were smarter than that.”

Discord looked down in shame.

“Yeah, you´re right… So…” he lifted his head back. “What should we do about it, then?”

Grogar smirked before putting the stone on the ants, combining the magic and the strength of his hooves so the impact would be harder, causing Discord to widen his eyes. To make sure the ants were dead for sure, he moved it a little.

“Need me to explain it to you?” Grogar asked sarcastically while arching an eyebrow.

“No, I think you made your point quite vividly.” Discord said with some fear.

“Ah… Now, you´re getting it.” Grogar said with a satisfied smirk, putting a hoof on Discord´s shoulder. “You´re such a fast learner.”

Although supposed to be comforting, physical contact from his father made Discord shiver every time. He pushed his back a little from him.

“Which is why you must train hard now, boy. Very soon I´ll be leaving to deal with the rebels-”

“I´ll go with you!” Discord exclaimed excitedly.

“NO!” Grogar yelled at him.

Discord stepped backwards, scared and surprised by that scold.

“No.” Grogar repeated more calmly, shaking his head at the same time as Discord. “You still have a long way to go to be my masterpiece weapon, boy. I wouldn´t want you to embarrass me by being captured or messing up my plans.”

Worry rose in Discord after hearing those words.

“Am I that of a weakling?” he asked.

“Discord, right now you´re not living up to your potential. You´re just making a clown of yourself. Of course you´re a weakling.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. Lucky your father´s there to fix it, eh?” he smirked while surrounding him with his hoof.

“Yeah. That´s good.” as much as Discord wanted to smile, those words hurt too much to do so.

“Very well, that´s the attitude.” Grogar said while taking out his foreleg from him. “Worry not, these exercises are going to be really fun.”

Discord´s eyes lit up when he heard the word `fun´.

“What´s the first one about?”

“I want you to zap a living creature.” Grogar commanded him with a grin on his face.

Discord´s ears fell flat. The only living creature apart from him and his father was Butterfly. Did he know she was still there?

“Um… Yes, as you wish! But we don´t have a living creature here.”

No matter how hard he was trying to hide his fear, Grogar´s fear detection never failed. He gulped when the ram´s eyes shone.

“I´m not so sure about that.” Grogar responded coldly.

He scanned all the room while also paying attention to Discord´s facial expressions and fear levels. They were at their peak the moment he was looking at the board. He frowned determined before walking towards it. Panicked, Discord tried to stop him.

“No, don´t! There´s nothing there, I promise!” he put himself in front of the board, spreading his arms and wings as much as he could.

“Out of my way, child!” Grogar pushed him off with his hoof, tossing him to the floor.

Discord grunted when he hit the floor. He gasped horrified when he saw Grogar opening the door and discovering Butterfly, who looked at the ram with fear.

“No, get away from her!” Discord quickly flew back there. “Dad, no!”

He was so keen on protecting Butterfly that he lost control of his body. Instead, his fight response took over him, causing him to scratch Grogar with his lion paw, getting out a gasp from Butterfly and a moan from Grogar.

Discord´s adrenaline went down as fast as it peaked. He covered his mouth when he realized what he had done. Grogar massaged his cheek and saw blood on his hoof. Then, he stared at Discord in a mixture of anger and surprise. Discord dropped his ears and lowered his tail when his eyes met Grogar´s, gasping in fear. Grogar´s eyes shone harder, but Discord didn´t know if it was due to satisfaction due to gaining power or due to anger.

After staring at him for some time, Grogar smirked at him and chuckled.

“Looks like you do have that beastly instinct. I like that. I want to see that more.” he complimented him. But his smirk quickly changed into an expression of rage building inside. “But not against your creator. You´ve just made a terrible MISTAKE!”

Seeing Grogar´s horns glowing, Discord prepared to flee but Grogar held his tail with his magic. Still, Discord kept on trying to escape.

“No! No! No, let me go! Dad!” he begged.

“Father for you. And if you really like being around that louse, why don´t you go with it?!” Grogar while struggling to push him backwards.

“Bray! Help! Bray! Help!” Discord shouted, hoping he could help, although it the chances were zero.

“QUIET!” Grogar shouted as he tossed him to the board, hitting Butterfly with Discord.

The young draconequus tried to get out but Grogar closed the door and locked it with his magic.

“Scream and kick all you want! You´ll stay there as long as I think adequate.” Grogar told him before leaving and closing the door in a blow.

“Let me go! Let me out! FATHEER!” Discord begged from inside the board.

While going downstairs, Grogar bumped into Bray, who was panting in exhaustion from running upstairs.

“Sir, I heard screams. Is everything okay?” Bray clicked his tongue when he noticed the scratch on Grogar´s cheek. “Ooh… tougher day than usual, huh?”

“Yes, but an improvement, nonetheless.” Grogar smiled satisfied. “Because this.” he pointed at the scratch. “This shows he has potential to be a weapon. A menacing weapon. This means I didn´t fail, Bray!”

“Then why did you punish him? I thought he was screaming because a pony or a troggle discovered him, but after seeing that, it must be because you punished him.”

“Because he targeted the wrong creature. His creator, no less. I could be a good ally to him, but I can also be a terrible enemy. You know that better than any creature, Bray.”

Bray quickly turned quiet and looked down in shame. Having served and known Grogar for so long, Bray knew that no matter how loyal and close he was to him, Grogar still had power over him and could turn against him at any minute, even if it was due to asking questions to understand his actions. Although his role as confidant meant advising, disagreeing and making questions, Bray always knew when not to say anything or step back.

“Yes, of course…” he quietly agreed.

“Leave him. I´ll free him when I feel it´s adequate.”

“Yes sir.” Bray bowed his head while observing Grogar going downstairs. Then, he sighed. “When will you realize that you didn´t fail sir? He created himself, you just gave him the tools to do so, thus the result.”

He looked back at Discord´s door, feeling shivers when hearing Discord´s desperate pleas. Bray might not enjoy taking care of him, but he was just a kid at the end of the day. Unlike adults, kids didn´t understand the consequences of their actions nor were really aware of what they were doing. And as many times he provoked him, Discord was no exception. So, he always felt some sympathy for him and disagreed with Grogar´s methods. But rules had to be obeyed.

Bray sighed.

“It really is quicker and easier to eat your young.” he lamented before going downstairs, trying to shake the remorse away.

Author's Note

Hope you didn´t get scared by the title . It´s just a reference to Hozier´s Eat Your Young (really chilling song, by the way). Thought it was fitting for this chapter, and we´re near Halloween so why not?

Speaking of which, I wanted to celebrate Halloween with you guys by making an analysis of a villain! I still don´t know which one, but if you guys suggest me one I´ll gladly do so!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed today´s chapter!