Terror in Equestria 10: The Return of Tirek

by StormLuna


The Rebirth of Unicornia

Finding a New Leader

White Magick and Twilight had left what was his realm prior to his abdication, leaving his former subjects leaderless and with an uncertain future. One pony, one who was very close to Queen Ruby Heart prior to her passing in Tambelon, Colgate, knew that a new leader must be established. Almost as soon as White Magick had left, Colgate found herself surrounded by ponies.

One pony asked, "Colgate, what are we going to do? We have no leader."

Another asked, "Colgate, would you take over? Would you become our queen?"

While Colgate was flattered that one of them wanted her to be their new leader, she knew that she couldn't. She replied, "I am sorry but I already have my own nation that I rule over. For me to be able to be your leader, your realm would have to be annexed into Coastal Equestria." She saw some of the ponies have looks of disapproval and continued, "And annexing your realm into my nation is not in my plans. You have been your own sovereign nation for longer than Equestria has existed and I will do whatever it takes to make sure it stays that way."

When they heard this, they knew that Colgate was not a power hungry pony who wanted to take over, they knew that she was a true ally that would protect them during this time. One pony asked, "I know you will but still, what are we going to do as far as a monarch goes?"

Colgate replied, "Well for right now, you may have to have somepony else take on the role of monarch" She paused for a minute and continued, "Are there any ponies that are related to Blue Star, White Magick or Ruby Heart still alive?"

Everypony looked around and shook their heads indicating that there was not. She replied, "For right now, I would have the top generals in your military take on the executive role." Everypony's jaws dropped open as that was a completely foreign concept to them. She knew enough about their history that they would question it. She continued, "I'm going to let you in on something, not only am I the Supreme Commander of Coastal Equestria, but I am also the head of the military. Coastal Equestria has prospered under me so if it is done right, a nation governed by the military can fare very well."

They gave Colgate a nervous smile but they still weren't sold on the idea entirely. One pony asked, "Now would this be just a temporary thing or would it be permanent?"

Colgate replied, "Tell you what, I will head over to your military base and talk with your generals. That way we can figure out who not only wants to take on the executive role for your country but also who would be most fit to do so."

They all gave Colgate a nod before she took flight and headed towards the base. Given that they had been transformed into Alicorns after the cleansing of Twilight, they all knew who she was. Their top general, General Blazing Glory threw her a salute and said, "Supreme Commander Colgate, I know you have been placed in restoring leadership here. What are your plans?"

Colgate replied, "For starters General, you may just call me Colgate, it would make me feel more comfortable. As far as what my plans are, I believe it would be best if you or one of the other generals took on the executive role for the time being."

The general's eyes grew wide with shock. He gasped, "Really, you think our nation would be best ruled by a general? Are there not any relatives of White Magick left?"

Colgate replied, "Well given that Blue Star is the king of Neigh Zealand, no." She then began to look around and asked, "I had been allies with White Magick for a very long time but I am curious, what is the name of your country? White Magick has always just referred to it as 'his realm.'"

Blazing Glory replied, "Well before White Magick ascended to the throne, his father, Red Star, had called it Unicornia since outside of him, almost all the population of our land were unicorns."

Colgate had heard that name before. Then it hit her, there was a kingdom long, long ago in Ponyland that was named Unicornia and she wanted to know why White Magick's father chose the name. She asked, "About the name, was there any other reason he chose that and why did White Magick abandon the name?"

Blazing Glory replied, "Well in the past, our land was located not too far away from the Volcano of Gloom and once these witches that lived there unleashed this purple liquid upon us, one that destroyed everything in its past, those of us who survived fled, found this portal and have lived here ever since."

Colgate asked, "Very well but why did White Magick abandon the name?"

Blazing Glory replied, "He did it because he felt it was discriminatory against non-unicorns."

During all of her visits to the realm, she had never seen any type of pony except for unicorns and Alicorns. She gave him a smile and asked, "From what I see, outside of the army, everypony in this land is a unicorn. Would you ever consider reinstating the name?"

The general felt that while White Magick had brought stability to their country, that the treason of running off to marry an Equestrian princess warranted one of the things he did be undone. He replied, "You know something, if I were to take over here, I would reinstate the name."

Knowing that White Magick did this, she couldn't help but wonder what one pony that she was very close to thought about it. She asked, "So what did Queen Ruby Heart think about this?"

Blazing Glory replied, "Oh she was furious, beyond furious. Unlike him, she believed in a majority rule system and since almost all the ponies were unicorns, she believed that the name should stay. She did not believe that we should be a nation without a name."

Colgate replied, "I see." She then decided that the time to ask him about what she headed to the base for had come. She asked, "Blazing Glory, since you are the top general in the land, what would you think about taking on the executive role of Unicornia?"

The general noticed that she had already began calling their country Unicornia as it was prior to their fleeing into their realm which meant that she believed he was the one to take over. He replied, "I think it would be great to restore the nation of Unicornia and bring about a sense of pride to our populous again."

Colgate said, "Good, very good." She pointed towards the balcony of the castle and asked, "I do have a question, is there a line of succession here or is it simply whoever wants to take over?"

Given that the line of succession had never needed to be used he was not sure. He suggested, I honestly don't know but I do think that perhaps we should go to the library, I'm sure we could find something there."

Colgate replied, "Agreed, let's get going?"

They headed towards the library to see if there was anything involving a line of succession in what would soon be Unicornia again. Once they arrived at the library, they began their long, arduous search. While Colgate was rather patient in her search, Blazing Glory was more impatient. He continued to say, "There has to be something, there has to be something!"

Colgate noticed that he was becoming frustrated and began to search at a quicker pace. After two hours, she finally found a book, one of the oldest books in the library, that went over the ancient laws and rules, including the line of succession. She said, "General, come over here, I found something!"

Colgate and Blazing Glory began to read the pages that involved a line of succession. He repeated what it said, "If the king falls in battle or perishes in some other way, the queen is to take over sole possession of the throne. If she too falls in battle or passes, then the eldest descendant shall take over, going on down to the youngest child. If nopony in the royal family is in the nation of Unicornia, the top general of the military shall take over as a steward for a period of 180 days. If no relative comes forward to claim the throne, the general shall declare himself/herself as the sole monarch of the nation of Unicornia on the 181st day at dawn."

Blazing Glory gave Colgate a smile and said, "Wow, so if nopony related to the royal family comes forward, I will become king?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, you will." She began to exit the library and suggested, "How about you get your soldiers to get everypony to gather at the base of the balcony and we let everypony know what the current situation is."

Blazing Glory said, "That sounds like a plan to me."


The Rebirth of Unicornia

An hour had passed and the citizens of the city were again gathered at the base of the balcony. Normally the city was turning in for the night by this time so everypony was very curious about why they had been called there at such a late hour. Once everypony had gathered and the crowd went quiet, Colgate approached the front. She began, "Citizens, as all of you know, White Magick betrayed all of you today by running off with an Equestrian princess, leaving you leaderless."

Everypony began to boo loudly, which was what Colgate was expected. She raised and lowered her wings, motioning for the crowd to go silent. Once they were silent she continued, "Like most other nations, back when Unicornia was first founded, there was a line of succession which was used when the king and queen of that time fell and naturally, it was White Magick who took over that role but today, that line of succession must again be used to establish leadership here."

A pony in the crowd yelled, "But how, Blue Star is the king of Neigh Zealand and Queen Ruby Heart fell in battle many millennia ago."

She looked back, motioned for Blazing Glory to approach the crowd before continuing, "Regarding that line of succession, there is a rule involving a situation in which no relative of the monarch is present to take over. Because of that, your top general, General Blazing Glory shall be your steward for the next 180 days and if no relative of White Magick comes forward to claim the throne by the 181st day, General Blazing Glory shall become your king."

The crowd was unsure how to react to his given that never before had a member of the military held control over their nation. Blazing Glory could sense their uneasiness and figured that he had best at least gain their confidence. He began, "Hello everypony. For those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I am General Blazing Glory. I was the second in command under Blue Star before he left for Neigh Zealand and after that, I was commander of the military prior to White Magick's betrayal."

After a minute of uncomfortable silence, a pony in the crowd asked, "General, I know you have an immense amount of knowledge when it comes to leadership and battle. I just want to know, you don't plan on creating a military dictatorship, do you? If a relative of the royal family was to show up, would you allow them to become king or queen?"

White Magick replied, "Of course I would. I am a stallion who values law and order and I would never break any laws. As steward, it is my job to take care of the throne and protect the citizens of this nation from all threats, both internal and external."

"This nation," that was a term that nopony alive, not even Blazing Glory had ever heard their land referred to since White Magick simply referred to it as "their realm."

A pony in the crowd asked, "This nation? Are you going to reestablish us as a real nation, a nation with a name?"

Blazing Glory gave the crowd a smile and replied, "Yes. As everypony knows, prior to the rise of White Magick, we were a nation when we lived outside of the portal, a nation with the name of Unicornia." The entire crowd nodded their heads prompting Blazing Glory to continue, "Effective immediately we will no longer simply be known as a realm, we shall be referred to as the Kingdom of Unicornia, as we were so long ago."

The entire crowd began to cheer loudly, more loudly than any crowd had in many millennia. Colgate approached the new steward and said, "I knew they would like this news and I know they will accept you while you are their steward and when the time comes, I know they will gladly welcome you as their king."

Blazing Glory asked, "I have a question, if I ever need any leadership advice, can I come to you?"

Colgate replied, "Of course you can!" She pointed towards the crowd and suggested, "I must be returning home as my generals are likely wondering about my whereabouts. I would advise you fly down and mingle with your subjects."

Blazing Glory embraced Colgate and said, "Thank you so much Colgate, thank you!"

Colgate replied, "Anytime."

As the new steward flew down into the crowd to mingle, Colgate headed towards the portal to exit the new nation of Unicornia and head home. Once she crossed back into Coastal Equestria, she thought to herself, "I know they are happy with what has been done, but I can make them even happier. It might be illegal in some places but the time has come to bring back my number one ally." She got a smile on her face as she said to herself, "Now to return home, duplicate the Dream Valley collection and then acquire the information I need the most" she turned to the north and finished, "I must raise Tamelon from the deep and duplicate Grogar's library, I must learn how to raise those who have long been dead."