//------------------------------//
// The Search for Forbidden Knowledge 
// Story: Terror in Equestria 10:  The Return of Tirek 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

After a good night's rest, the morning Sun woke Colgate up and like she did every morning when she woke up, she tapped into the eye and like she did the prior night, she scanned abroad before scanning closer to home.  This time though, she did not bother with Canterlot or Ponyville, she instead focused in on the forest and would not be thrilled by what she saw.  She saw Tirac using the Rainbow of Darkness on a squirrel and noticed that he did manage to turn it into a beast.  At that moment she knew that she had to go to Tambelon and acquire the knowledge that she needed. 

After tapping into the eye, she rushed downstairs and would be greeted by her generals.  Dark Night saw a worried look on her face and asked, "Colgate, what's wrong?"

Lightning Storm added, "You look worried." 

Colgate replied, "Yes general, I am worried.  I tapped into the eye this morning and I caught Tirac using his Rainbow of Darkness to turn a squirrel into a beast." 

Dark Night gasped, "That is bad, isn't it?" 

Colgate continued, "Yes, it is.  That relic of his must be regaining its strength much faster than I thought it would so now it is imperative that I go and acquire the knowledge that I need to bring back Ruby.  With her on our side, we will be able to defeat those two and save not just this continent, but all of Eqqus 1." 

Dark Night asked, "So will you be heading there alone or will we be going with you?"

Initially Colgate wanted to make this trip alone but then she got a feeling that she probably should take one of them with her.  She asked in return, "Which one of you two want to come with me?"

Dark Night was the first to reply, "I would be happy to join you on this trip!"

Colgate said, "Very well then, after breakfast you and I shall venture to Tambelon.  It is a fairly long flight but I do not think it is so long that it will warrant me using a time spell." 

Neither one of her generals had aided in moving a time bubble but they did know about Colgate's impatience and intolerance of those who can't fly enough to help her get it moving.  Dark Night replied, "Alright."  He then suggested, "Well let's get some food in our systems and then get going." 

Colgate replied, "It sounds good to me." 





After breakfast, Colgate rushed back upstairs to grab two items she believed that she would need, her saddle bags and she placed the Rainbow of Light around her neck.  Once she got back downstairs Dark Night asked, "I take it you think we may need that locket?"

Colgate replied, "I'm pretty sure we probably won't but it doesn't hurt to be too careful."  She looked towards the door and suggested, "Shall we?"

Dark Night nodded and they headed off towards the north, in the direction of Tambelon.  As they proceeded north, things seemed much different than they did when they flew in to Tambelon to slay Grogar.  The skies were sunny, the temperature was quite mild and they were being pushed along by a southerly breeze.  Once they approached the area where the city was, they stopped flying and Colgate had a solemn look on her face.

Dark Night saw this and asked, "Colgate, what is wrong?"

Colgate replied, "General, it is just a matter of knowing what will happen when I raise the city from the depths, knowing I will see the area where Ruby lost her life."  Before he could say anything, she continued, "But if I want to act on my plans, it must be done." 

Dark Night nodded and watched as Colgate grabbed the ground in her aura, readying herself to raise the ancient city from the darkness.  As she began to focus more intently, her aura began to glow brighter, she herself began to glow and her eyes began to shine blue as she recited, 



"For many, many millennia the city has been lost
For a long time it was fine but now the absence may come with a cost,
For ages and ages Grogar was the city's host
But with his absence the city can provide us with the most,

Now the ground is the city's disguise
But now from the depths it must rise,
The city holds secrets that must be mine
And with them all shall be fine!"  



Once she finished the spell, blue beans shot out of her eyes and everything began to change.  Dark clouds rolled into the area, what was a gentle southerly breeze changed to being an icy northerly wind, lightning began to flash, a freezing rain began to fall and finally, the ground began to shake as the city rose from the deep. 

Colgate thought that once it resurfaced, that they would just be able to go in and take care of business but they would not be thrilled with what they would see.  While Grogar obviously did not return, his trogals did.  Colgate looked at Dark Night and yelled, "Trogals, slay them, we must slay them all!" 

The two began to fly over the city and strike the creatures with their energy.  For Dark Night, it took two or three bolts of energy to kill them but for Colgate, it was easy.  Like she did in the past, she watched their movements and timed where they would go so all it took was one bolt of energy to fry them.  Unlike it was in the past invasion, the trogals were the only enemy they had to deal with and within ten minutes, they had fried every single trogal.  

When they landed Colgate said, "Well I certainly wasn't expecting that." 

Dark Night asked, "I thought we killed all those things when we slayed Grogar.  How could they come back?"

Colgate replied, "It must be something with the magic of this place.  Even with Grogar being dead, apparently his little minions return every time it does."  The two landed, Colgate pointed towards the only building in decent shape and continued, "If he did have a library, I would assume it was in there." 

Dark Night nodded and they headed into the building.  Just like it was five millennia ago, just a few torches lit the first room so Colgate lit her horn up, fully expecting rooms further back to be completely dark.  As they progressed further back into the building, temperatures began to increase, causing Colgate to think that maybe they were reaching an important room.  

Eventually they entered a room that was lit by many, many torches.  At the front of the room was a throne, one that had goat horns on the top of it.  Colgate pointed towards it and suggested, "That must have been the throne of the old beast himself." 

Dark Night replied, "It looks that way." 

One part of Colgate wanted so badly to go and sit on his throne and become the first pony to ever sit on the throne in Tambelon but eventually decided against it, realizing that it could corrupt her.  She then saw a doorway to their left that led into another well lit room.  Colgate pointed towards it and exclaimed, "Dark Night, that might be it!  That might be what we are looking for!" 

Dark Night replied, "It could be." 

The two headed towards the room and when they passed through the doorway, Colgate would be pleased by what she saw.  While it was not huge by any means, Grogar did indeed have a library.  Colgate joyfully said, "Well it looks like we will be getting what we came for!" 

Dark Night agreed and Colgate grabbed the entire collection in her aura.  She was expecting the collection to be just as easy to cast the duplication spell on but she would be in for a surprise as there seemed to be some sort of enchantment placed on the books, preventing her from casting the spell. 

She let go and grunted, "Ugh, this one is going to be tougher than I thought!"

Dark Night asked, "So what now?  Are you simply going to go through the books, find the one or two you need and then we will go." 

Colgate scowled at her general and snapped, "No!  I did not come out here just to kill a bunch of mindless trogals and acquire a couple of books."  Her voice became more determined as she continued, "I don't care if it takes me all day, I'm duplicating this collection." 

Dark Night had his concerns that trying to do this may corrupt Colgate but knew that this is where her stubborn nature and her desire to become the most well learned pony on Eqqus 1, perhaps in the whole universe, would prevent her from even listening to him.

Colgate then remembered that unlike it was in Dream Valley, that she would have to recite the spell to put in enough power to complete it.  Again she grabbed the collection in her aura, she began to glow, her eyes began to shine blue and she recited, 



"The amount of knowledge is great and with it I can prevent hate
It is smarts that I need so that wisdom can be my seed
The ability to duplicate is a must so my dreams of knowledge won't go bust
Now this duplication can be done so ignorance will be none."



Colgate had to be careful as she finished casting the spell because the light that would likely shine out of her eyes may damage the collection.  As she said the final words, she looked down and like she expected, the power of those beams were intense, so intense that they left burn marks in the floor.  Once she finished the spell and stopped glowing, she gave her general a smile and said, "Well, I'm pretty sure it worked!"  

Dark Night asked, "That's good, so are we going to get going now?  This place is very unnerving." 

Colgate replied, "No, there is one more thing I want to see if I can acquire.  I didn't wear my saddlebags for the fun of it." 

Dark Night nodded and followed Colgate back outside.  He was not sure what else Colgate would want but it would not be soon until he would find out.   As they walked across the city in the freezing rain, they approached the long decayed corpse of Grogar.  Colgate glared at it, kicked it and snapped, "So you think you could just take Ruby out so quickly?"  She kicked it again and laughed, "Well soon she will be back while you'll still be lying there dead!" 

She kicked the bones and received no response.  She walked to the other side of the corpse and found the collar that Bray had cut off.  The bells looked just as shiny as they ever did and Colgate couldn't help but smile.  She levitated the collar to herself and continued, "And you my pretty, shall aid me in defeating Grogar's enemy!" 

Dark Night looked at this in shock and a bit of fear.  He asked, "Wait a minute, you're going to steal his collar and use it against Tirac?  He became more frantic as he continued, "Aren't you afraid that using that will corrupt you?"

Colgate replied, "No, because I have plans on casting a spell on this so that it will be filled with my magic, not Grogar's." 

Dark Night said, "Very well, you know how to handle magical items like this." 

Colgate replied, "That I do."  She then realized that the collar was not going to fit in her saddlebags.  She snapped, "Damn it Dark Night, how could I have forgot that this thing was this big."  She threw her hooves up in the air and continued, "Well I will just have to carry it home in my aura." 

Colgate grabbed the collar in her aura, nodded and the two took flight.  They began to fly over the city to see if there was anything else that Colgate may either find useful or simply want.  Once they finished checking to see if they needed anything else, Colgate fired a bolt of energy at the city's bell, causing it to ring and causing Tambelon to disappear back into the deep places of the world. 

Once it had completely disappeared, the weather returned to how it was when they were heading out there.  Dark Night couldn't help but be unnerved by everything Colgate had done but she couldn't be happier.  As they headed home, she began to think about creating more room for her new collection but more importantly, she knew that she would learn what she needed to restore somepony who had passed over 5,000 years ago, the one who would be most likely to be able to use the Rainbow of Light, Queen Ruby Heart.