The Ending of the End - 4 Parter

Grogar surveyed the assembled group of villains opposite himself at the scrying table with a shrewd, calculating look.

“Our efforts have succeeded,” Grogar declared. “Equestria’s forces are spread thin across the land, foolishly attempting to seek us out.”

The scrying orb showed various groups: the royal guard, changelings, griffons, yaks, dragons and other creatures searching across Equestria. Shining Armor and Sunburst led a patrol of guards across the snowy plains of the north. Finally, the orb settled on Twilight Sparkle and Spike speaking with Flash Magnus, Stygian and Mistmane.

Then, with a wave of Grogar’s hoof, the orb grew dark again. “They will find nothing. Their fear betrays them.”

The ancient, cracked bell on his collar shone with lurid yellow light. As it brightened, so did the carved symbols on the studs of his collar.

“Our efforts?!” Chrysalis huffed irately. “We’ve been doing all the work while you… ”

The changeling cut herself off as Grogar, looking unperturbed, casually lit his horns. “You were saying?”

Beads of sweat ran down Chrysalis’ forehead as she continued in a more deferential tone. “I… I only mean that we might be more successful if you help us.” She spat the word ‘help’ like the foulest curse imaginable. “Starlight Glimmer was at my mercy! I could have destroyed her right there!”

“And why did we not trap Twilight Sparkle as well?” Tirek added. “As long as she’s out there, she’s dangerous!”

Grogar chuckled malevolently. “Patience. Soon, you’ll have the chance to break your enemies. And those ponies will suffer.”

“Um, Grogar?” Cozy Glow interjected, causing everyone to look at her. “Don’t get me wrong, we’re all super thrilled about crushing our enemies, but uh… what about you? It kinda sounds like you’ve got a grudge too.”

Grogar frowned and glared at the filly. His bell clanged and streams of magic rose out of the studs of his collar, coalescing into a vision.

“Eons ago, in the darkest era of Equestria, I reigned over this land with an army of unspeakable creatures, created from the shadows that ponies came to fear.”

Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy saw dark, shadowy figures shrieking and howling as enormous footsteps shook the land beneath them. A few in the background had vaguely recognizable features. One had several heads darting out of a giant reptilian body. Three fish-pony hybrids sang hypnotically as they flew overhead. A titanic bear lumbered past a few broken huts. Others in the foreground were completely alien. A winged creature with jagged teeth swooped over fleeing pegasi. A horned, tentacled being grabbed a unicorn. Earth ponies struggled to outrun a giant wolf-like creature.

“My powers drained the very will of my enemies!”

The vision shifted to show a towering, dark city, radiating waves of magic as ponies cowered or bent their heads in surrender. Screams were audible in the background.

“Those who resisted control chose rebellion… but they could not defeat me.”

The image shifted to show a large group of armored unicorns assembled on a hill, with the Father of Monsters hovering above them. A pillar of light shone down from the sky, trapping Grogar. The sorcerer unleashed a burst of magic, breaking his bonds and knocking back the army of ponies.

“Until the cowardly Gusty the Great cast a powerful spell, banishing my stronghold and its minions to another realm - locked by a powerful magic seal that I cannot break!”

Gusty fed her power into a glowing white crystal, which shot a blast of magic into the sky. The trio gasped as the dark citadel and most of the shadow creatures were sucked into a swirling black portal, though a few ran away and faded into the obscure edges. Now freed from the city’s malevolent control, pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies converged on Grogar from all directions. The last thing the vision showed as it faded was Gusty making off with Grogar’s Bell as he wailed in outrage.

Chrysalis grunted smugly. “I told you those ponies cheat.”

Tirek rolled his eyes and Cozy Glow stifled a laugh.

“Silence!” Grogar snarled, making the others flinch. “My designs have only just begun. I will destroy that accursed unicorn’s legacy, and together we will make Equestria tremble once again!”

In the throne room of Twilight’s castle, the Pillars of Equestria, Twilight, and Spike gathered around a series of scrolls held in Stygian’s levitation. The room seemed bare without the holographic glow of the cutie map.

“From Sunburst’s notes, it appears that Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow escaped with a powerful spell. One that is indeed not their own,” Stygian explained.

“And once we find this… league of villainy,” Flash Magnus continued. “We will surely rescue Twilight’s friends as well!”

“And return hope to our fractured land,” Somnambula said, hovering above the group.

“I made a list of places we can check,” Twilight said, looking to Starswirl. “But I was hoping you’d know something about the magic they used.”

The wizard stroked his beard. “Hmm, since our struggle against the tyrant King Sombra, I have felt the return of ancient, dark magic to Equestria, power older even than I. The residual aura Sunburst describes is the same. It is as though this power has directed our enemies against us…”

“So, you’re saying there’s something worse than our worst villains out there?” Spike asked nervously.

“And somethin’ hiding them too,” Mage Meadowbrook added. “Since Princess Twilight wrote to us, Mistmane and I have been trying every location and scrying spell we can think of, but nothing’s worked!”

“Fear not, friends!” Rockhoof said, thumping a hoof down that shook the entire ruin. “We shall search the old-fashioned way.”

Stygian levitated Twilight’s list in front of him. “The Hollow Shades is a good place to start. It has many connections to ancient evils of the past. The Pony of Shadows drew power there centuries ago.”

“Then let us make our preparations and be off! We have not a moment to lose!” Starswirl declared.

The Pillars walked off to ready themselves for the journey ahead. Rockhoof began sharpening his shovel, while Flash Magnus and Somnambula ran some sort of defensive drill as they dodged and weaved in the clouds. Mistmane sipped a potion that Mage Meadowbrook gave her, strengthening her magic. Starswirl and Stygian stood off to the side, taking additional notes on Sunburst’s scrolls.

Twilight sat down on one of the rocks dejectedly, placing her head in her hooves.

“It’ll be okay Twilight…” Spike assured, flying over to her. “Stuff like this has happened before and we always pull through.”

“That’s just it, Spike, whenever we’ve had to face some massive crisis, I’ve always done it with my friends,” Twilight replied. “And when they needed me most, I wasn’t there for them because I’m supposed to take over for Celestia and Luna.”

“But you’re doing everything you can to find them! That’s what a good friend would do,” Spike countered.

“And while I’m here, Equestria is falling apart! Everypony is so blinded by fear they can’t remember what friendship is. If I’m abandoning them now, what kind of princess does that make me?” Twilight exhaled sorrowfully. “Everything was going so well! We defeated Sombra, I finally learned to stop panicking and now this happens!”

Spike placed a claw on Twilight’s shoulder. “I know things look bad, but after we find our friends we–”

“Look around, Spike,” Twilight asserted, standing up off the rock. “Even if they were here, it’s like nothing we do matters! Our worst villains are back, more powerful than ever. The School of Friendship isn’t safe. The Elements are gone. We tried to spread friendship, just for everypony to forget about it when things are at their worst!” Twilight looked away sadly. “None of our efforts made any difference…”

Flash!

A burst of white magic spat Discord out, making Twilight and Spike jump back.

Discord appeared frantic, sweating literal buckets onto the stone beneath him. “PLEASE tell me you found Fluttershy!”

“Discord?” Twilight asked hoarsely, regaining her bearings. “No, we – ”

“Oh, of course you didn’t! Look at this!” Discord snapped his talons. Nothing happened. He snapped a second time. Again, nothing.

“Look at what?” Spike asked.

“This spell should take all of us right to Fluttershy! Or bring her here… or tell me where she is…” He kept snapping over and over to no effect before slumping over in defeat.

The Pillars noticed Discord and walked over, all of them but Starswirl reacting with surprise to the draconequus.

“But you’ll help us now? No fake outs?” Twilight asked hopefully, regaining some optimism. “That’s great!”

Discord laughed nervously. “Yup. That’s me! Always ready to help!”

Spike raised an eyebrow and looked at him with a deadpan expression. “Yeah… not buying it.”

Discord sighed. “Alright, fine. I have a confession to make. Now, don’t get upset, everypony… but I might’ve, with the noblest and most honorable of intentions, accidentally let all this happen.”

Spike gawked. “You mean you knew Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy were going to attack the school and kidnap our friends? And you didn’t tell anypony?!”

“Not exactly!” Discord said, raising his arms defensively. “I knew those three were on the loose and planning somethingbig. All the mayhem at the Summer Sun Celebration a few weeks ago? That may have been Chrysalis, Tirek and Cozy Glow trying to steal an ancient spell book…”

“Ah! So you merely allowed sworn enemies of Equestria to steal a tome of powerful magic!” Starswirl growled, glaring at Discord.

The draconequus looked at Twilight pleadingly.

“I didn’t want to interfere! Look what a great job you did defeating Sombra!” Discord snapped his fingers, materializing six crude representations of Twilight and her friends made from different colored rocks and a large black pebble with a frowny face on it for Sombra.

“Friendship is magic!” the six stone figures cried out in squeaky voices. A miniature beam of rainbow light shot out from between them.

“NOOOO!” pebble-Sombra screamed, crumbling into dust as the light hit it.

“Remember all the confidence you gained?” Discord offered, gesturing to the stone six whooping and hoofbumping in triumph before crumbling away. “I thought that once Twilight beat three baddies, she would have to believe that she’s ready to lead Equestria!”

“That was your plan?!” Somnambula demanded, pointing at the smoking remains of pebble-Sombra. “To place your own friends in danger?”

“I was hoping for a big climactic showdown! Winner take all! Except, of course, you’d have an extremely good-looking safety net…” Discord motioned to himself. He looked around desperately. “How was I supposed to know the villains wouldn’t play fair?”

The Pillars looked at each other with disbelief.

Spike flew up to Discord’s face, burning with anger. “Our lives aren’t just some big game you can mess around with Discord!”

“Now the entire realm is threatened due to your folly!” Starswirl shouted, pointing at the chaos spirit accusingly.

Discord cringed back and his smile wavered. “But lucky for us, I’m here now! I can help you fix everything!” Magic zipped and crackled around Discord’s paw as he put it in snapping position.

Twilight stared at Discord with a distant expression. “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!” Discord reassured. “You did everything on your own, I just helped you along a little.”

“Discord…” Twilight said, looking up at him, “go home.”

“W- What?” Discord murmured hoarsely, the magic fading from his paw. He looked at Twilight in shock.

“Go. Home.” Twilight repeated, her tone cold. “I don’t want your help. Not anymore.”

While the other pillars looked on with concern, Spike and Starswirl fixed their gaze on Discord.

“Like you said, we’ll handle this on our own,” Spike said, not meeting Discord’s eyes.

“Oh… okay,” Discord croaked, looking away in shame. “I… I’ll just go then.”

Discord hung his head and poked the air with his talon. The empty space tore apart and a yawning dimensional portal opened to chaos. Discord slid inside without a word and the void closed itself, leaving the ponies and dragon in silence.

“A wise decision, Twilight,” Starswirl huffed crossly. “He was a liability.”

“Did we do the right thing?” Spike asked, turning to Twilight. “I mean, he is our friend…”

“We cannot compromise the realm’s safety because of one so-called friend!” Starswirl asserted, joining the other Pillars as they went off to continue their preparations.

“I hope you’re right, Starswirl,” Twilight said, her expression conflicted. “Because I might’ve just lost one more friend today.”