//------------------------------//
// A Morning Meeting 
// Story: Terror in Equestria 10:  The Return of Tirek 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

After a night of good rest, the morning sun woke up Colgate and like she did every other morning, she tapped into the eye and before checking for problems anywhere else, she zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and found Tirac and Tirek waking up and like they were last time she saw them, they were arguing over when they would be able to set their plan in action.  Colgate could hear what they were saying and realized that perhaps the scenario she hoped would happen may come to pass after Tirac made threats to turn him into a beast once he could. 

Colgate saw this and laughed, "Please Tirac, the second that Rainbow of Darkness works, turn him into a beast and cut our threat in half!"

After she finished zeroing in on them she began to scan the rest of the forest more intently, searching for Dream Valley so she would know what to expect on the journey there.  After another fifteen minutes of looking she finally saw it.  In an extremely dark and hilly part of the forest to the northwest of Ponyville, she saw what appeared to be a crumbling pink castle.  When she saw this she cheered, "Yes, there it is!  There is where I can acquire not just an ancient relic, but even more knowledge!" 

She was jumping around but nearly bumped into the wall when somepony opened the door to check on her.  Colgate was surprised to see that it was Dark Night who came to check on her.  He asked, "Colgate, are you ok?  I heard you cheering about something." 

Colgate replied, "I'm better than ok general.  I did some spying and I have a feeling that the Tirek that caused Celestia and Luna problems in the past may wind up being turned into a beast once that Rainbow of Darkness has enough power again!" 

Dark Night had been in the room during the meeting the night before and knew what she was talking about.  He also heard them discussing about the dangers that magic thieves posed and that if Tirek was turned into a beast, that their problems would be cut in half.  He replied, "I can understand why you're happy then."  He then got a smile on his face and continued, "And then all we would need is that Rainbow of Light here in Coastal Equestria and we would have a huge advantage." 

Colgate said, "That we would."  She pointed her hoof towards her door and continued, "I think we should be going down for breakfast, I don't want anypony being suspicious of our actions." 

Dark Night noticed that Colgate seemed to be wanting more control and seemed less trustful of the other leaders.  He asked, "Colgate, before we go, can I ask you something?"

Colgate replied, "Yeah, sure." 

Dark Night asked, "I want to know something, why is it that you seem to be less trustful than you used to be and why is it that you seem to be at odds with White Magick these days?  You two used to be almost as close as you are with Scootaloo!"

Colgate replied, "It is his closeness with Twilight."  Her voice became more intense as she continued, "I know she is nothing to worry about but the day she cast that spell and became a dark goddess, I viewed her as an enemy and despite her having been cleansed for thousands of years and her being a weakling when it comes to magic, I still think of her as an enemy."  Again she pointed her hoof towards the door and continued, "Look, we better get downstairs so I can leave town before too long." 

Dark Night nodded and the two headed down to the dining hall and were met with curious looks by the other leaders when they arrived, especially because Colgate is never late for anything, especially meals.  Scootaloo gave her a concerned look and asked, "Colgate, you're never late!  Are you ok?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I'm fine and I have what could potentially be good news!" 

Scootaloo seemed to be the most thrilled out of them all, "What is it?  Did one of the centaurs kill the other?"

Colgate replied, "No but I have a feeling that Tirac may wind up using that Rainbow of Darkness on Tirek and cut our problems in half." 

While several of the other leaders began to clap their hooves, White Magick was not in the same mindset.  He spoke up, "Colgate, I don't think this is anything to celebrate.  He may turn Tirek into a beast but that isn't going to take away his magic stealing abilities.  He will only turn into a much nastier magic thief and may be harder to deal with." 

Colgate threw her hooves up in the air and sighed, "Well, I suppose we are going to have to find that Rainbow of Light to prevent that."  She cast her gaze towards White Magick and Twilight and continued, "So as soon as we are through eating, we're heading out." 

LaurFa asked, "What about the rest of us?  Do you want us to remain here or do you want us to head home?"

Colgate replied, "Just head home, I don't know how long this will take and I'm certain all of you have things to do in your nations."  Her stomach growled and she continued, "For now though, let's eat." 

Colgate summoned the chef and much to the dismay of everypony, she ordered the same thing for them all, steak, eggs, hash browns and cider.  Many of them were shocked because unlike her, other than Scootaloo, none of them ate meat.  One of them in particular protested, Twilight.  She said, "Colgate, not all of us are meat eaters like you!  Can't you order hay steaks for us instead." 

Colgate remembered that back during her time of being corrupted, that she would eat meat all the time.  She snapped, "Listen Twily, for thousands of years you ate meat so I don't see the problem.  Besides, the less variety of food the chef has to fix, the sooner we can get going." 

Everypony sighed in disgust but knew how Colgate was.  They knew that with her being the host of the summit and her love of meat, that they would likely all have to eat it but one pony never had cared for meat, Celestia.  She asked, "Colgate, I know that you are in a hurry to get going but for those of us who don't like meat, couldn't we have something else and then just leave once we are done eating?"

Colgate sighed, "Yes, you may."  She pointed her hoof at Twilight and White Magick and continued, "But you two are eating what I eat, it will be quicker and besides, you need a good filling meal for as far as we have to fly." 

White Magick sighed, "Very well, I know you're in a hurry."

Colgate gave the two a smile and replied, "Good.  The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get that relic and ready ourselves for an attack by those two." 

With the exception of Scootaloo, most everypony grumbled in frustration and sighed in disapproval when their meals arrived.  Colgate was not thrilled when she saw this but figured that if she simply remained quiet, that they could finish eating sooner and get headed off towards Dream Valley.