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// The Grand Summit 
// Story: Terror in Equestria 10:  The Return of Tirek 
// by StormLuna 
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Five thousand years have passed since the death of Grogar and the establishment of leadership around the world.  Every ten years grand summits were held and on the five-thousandth anniversary of his death and the summit was scheduled to be held in Colgate's black tower just to the west of Marentreal in Coastal Equestria.

When the morning of the summit arrived, Colgate looked forward to the arrival of some of the world leaders while she dreaded the arrival of others.  The first thing she did after getting out of bed was tap into the eye to not only check for trouble, but to monitor how close the other leaders were to arriving.  When she looked off to the north, she smiled in delight as Scootaloo was nearing the tower so without alerting her generals or even eating, she flew off her balcony and down to the base of the tower to greet her former commander. 

When she arrived, Scootaloo immediately rushed to Colgate and embraced her, "Colgate, it is so good to see you!" 

Colgate replied, "I know it has only been a few months but it feels like it has been forever."  She broke the embrace and asked, "So how has life been treating you up there?"

Nothing much had been going on and like she had her whole life, Scootaloo liked a bit of action in things.  She sighed, "Ugh, it has been so boring!  Nothing at all has been going on!"  After pausing for a moment she asked, "What about you?  Anything interesting happening here?"

Colgate replied, "Other than the economy reaching new heights, no but I would rather be immersed in boredom than have to deal with the likes of Grogar or the Dark Goddess again." 

Scootaloo added, "Me too!  Grogar was pure evil and Twilight was such a bitch back then!" 

Colgate couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah that is true."  Her chuckle then turned into a full blown laugh as she continued, "And I still remember what a bitch she was when we told her to stop flirting with White Magick." 

Scootaloo replied, "Yeah I remember that."  She became more serious as she asked, "Speaking of those two, we haven't talked about them much during our visits.  Do they interact much outside of our summits?"

Colgate replied, "Well she has been going to see him a lot more here lately, a lot more.  I watch her through the eye when she leaves and it seems like every time she leaves, her smile is bigger and her face is redder." 

Scootaloo's eyes grew wide as she asked, "Do you think he has finally got over the loss of Ruby Heart and they have something going on?"

Colgate looked up and saw not only White Magick, but Celestia and Twilight flying in as well.  She replied, "Well both of them are arriving so we could find out."

The three landed in front of them and immediately White Magick rushed to Colgate, "Supreme Commander Colgate, it is so good to see you!" 

Colgate replied, "White Magick, like it has been for the past five millennia, just call me Colgate.  You know you don't have to be so formal with me." 

While they were talking Twilight approached them and asked, "Hi Colgate....."

Dating back to when the then Dark Goddess wound up traveling around the world and ignoring her duties at home, Colgate had never cared much for Twilight nor did she trust her.  She replied, "That is Supreme Commander Colgate to you Twilight." 

White Magick was not thrilled by her reaction.  He asked, "Colgate, why does Twilight always have to be formal with you?  Why can't you just let your mane down around her for once." 

Colgate gave him a slight glare and sighed, "Please not now, I'm in a decent mood and I want it to stay that way." 

Soon the other leaders were showing up and while Colgate had plans on spending time with some of the leaders afterwards, she wanted to get the business aspect of things done so that she wouldn't have to be around Twilight any longer than she needed to.





Once everypony had arrived, they headed up to the dining hall where they would have their meeting.  While the meeting was normally just for world leaders, whenever the summits were held in Coastal Equestria, General Dark Night and General Lightning Storm would also be present, primarily for security details as other generals across the world were when they hosted the summits. 

Once everypony got seated Colgate pounded her hoof on the table and announced, "Welcome to the Grand Summit everypony!  As many of you know, it has been 5,000 years since the death of Grogar....."

Celestia added, "And 10,000 years since the coronation of Twilight!"

Colgate interrupted, "Uh-huh"  She let out a sigh and continued, "Well now, let's get to business.  Like I said, it has been 5,000 years since the death of Grogar and the restoration of what we hope will be never ending stability and peace."  She then turned her attention to Scootaloo and asked, "I know you and I talked about this a bit earlier but overall, how have things been in the Crystal Empire?"

Scootaloo knew that unlike it was when it was just her and Colgate talking, that she needed to be a bit more professional in this situation.  She replied, "Thankfully, everything has been uneventful.  We still have our crystallings, the crystal heart is strong and the crystal ponies are happy." 

Colgate said, "That's good to hear."  She then turned her attention to Luna and asked, "And how about the Equine Empire?"

Luna replied, "Like everywhere else, rather uneventful.  We've had large harvests over the past decade which has definitely made life easier and coal production has increased." 

Colgate gave her a smile and then moved on to Galaxia and Cosmos, "And what about Saddle Arabia?"

Galaxia replied, "Calm actually.  Outside of a few more dust storms than normal, nothing special." 

Colgate nodded and turned to Blue Star.  She asked, "And how are things down in Neigh Zealand?"

Blue Star replied, "Great actually.  The economy is good, crime is basically non-existent and I have not sensed any disharmony at all." 

Colgate again nodded, turned to LaurFa and asked, "And on Alicorn Island?"

LaurFa replied, "Just like it is everywhere else, things have been calm, peaceful and the economy has been good." 

Colgate nodded, turned to Celestia and Twilight and asked, "And what about over in Equestria?"

Even though it had been millennia since Colgate was their nemesis, Celestia was still a bit leery of her and Twilight was no fan of her.  Twilight sighed, "Why are you asking?  You should know since you are constantly monitoring us and the rest of the world with that eye."  

Her response irritated Colgate but she knew that she couldn't show any anger during the summit so she remained calm.  She asked, "Twilight, could you just tell us?  I'm in a decent mood and I don't want anything to change that." 

Everypony gave Colgate a nervous look and then gave Twilight a nervous look.  She replied, "Just like it is everywhere else, things are fine." 

Colgate said, "Good."  She turned to White Magick and asked, "How about your realm?"

White Magick held his head low and sighed, "Lonely, very lonely.  Things are stable and even though it has been five millennia since I lost Ruby, I still miss her.  I still miss having a special somepony in my life, a special somepony...."

Colgate interrupted, "White Magick, if you need to talk to somepony about things like this, we can talk about it later or perhaps you and Blue Star can talk about it." 

She then stood tall, spread her wings and proudly continued, "It is good to see that everything in your nations are stable.  As far as Coastal Equestria goes, the economy is spectacular, our crop harvests are at record highs, our iron and coal output are at record highs and like it is in Neigh Zealand, crime is basically non-existent." 

Like it had been during the past summits, there had been very little to discuss with there being so much harmony in the world.  With this being the case, the summits had been short but none of them wanted to have simply traveled so far for such a short meeting, especially the leaders of Equestria.  Twilight asked, "So Supreme Commander Colgate, since we know that everything is going fine for everypony, is there anything else we need to discuss?"

Colgate replied, "Well if any of you have any concerns, feel free to bring them up." 

Everypony looked at one another with curious looks and nopony said anything causing Colgate to sigh, "Well I know this summit is supposed to last several days so I guess for the rest of the time we can simply chit-chat, everypony can head over to Marentreal and do some sightseeing or simply relax" she then glanced towards Twilight and finished, "or you can head home early if you wish." 

The other leaders began gazing at one another and one in particular broke into a smile.  Twilight gave White Magick a smile and asked, "White Magick, what would you think about going to Marentreal with me?"

White Magick gave her a smile and replied, "Of course I would princess!"  

Everypony knew that the meeting was over so all but two of them, Colgate and LaurFa, headed out to go to Marentreal.  LaurFa could see that Colgate was not overly thrilled over what happened.  She asked, "I take it that it still bothers you seeing them so close?"

Colgate sighed, "Yes, it does.  I know it has been 5,000 years but still, I remember how much he loved Ruby and how much she hated Twilight."

LaurFa suggested, "I know this will likely be tough for you given how close you and Ruby were but you just need to realize that wounds do eventually heal and he did say he was lonely."  She saw Colgate roll her eyes and continued, "Besides, they just headed to the city together, that isn't a sign that they're suddenly dating or in a relationship." 

While Colgate wasn't thrilled over everything that was going on, she knew that LaurFa was right, she knew that she should just let things go instead of stressing herself out so much.  She sighed, "Oh you're right, I need to stop letting this stress me out."  She stood up and continued, "Well I don't know about you but I'm going to go tap into the eye and then rest for a bit." 

LaurFa said, "I think I'm going to head over to Marentreal and do some sightseeing.  I suppose I'll see you later."

Colgate replied, "See you later." 

LaurFa headed for the exit and Colgate headed up to her bedroom.  The first thing she did was tap into the eye and see what was going on across the planet and found nothing out of the ordinary.  Even though nothing strange was going on, she found herself zooming in on the gates of Tartarus to make sure that Cerberus had not left his post.  As she plopped down on her bed she just couldn't help but feel a sense of dread.  She couldn't help but worry about what would happen if Cerberus was to leave his post like he did so many millennia ago.