After a good night's rest, Colgate woke up a bit earlier than normal and like she always did, she tapped into the eye to check on the world. Like she had been lately, she zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and discovered that rather than simply lazing around a pond and turning rodents into beasts, the two had begun to walk west. This brought back a memory to Colgate, that was the same direction that Grogar and his minions headed prior to their invasion of Ponyville.
After she saw that, she took a quick look across the rest of the world and noticed that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary although it looked like some ponies were setting up for a party of some sort in Ponyville. Colgate sighed, "Ugh, all play and no work, just like it normally is there."
After finishing checking on the world but before heading to breakfast, she headed down into the archives to get something that she believed she would need. She headed into the very back and grabbed the Rainbow of Light. She kissed it and said, "Well, today you will likely wind up in the hooves of the pony best suited to use you."
After placing the locket around her neck, she headed upstairs where she was greeted by her generals. Dark Night saw that she had the Rainbow on around her neck and asked, "I take it you think you will need that to bring her back?"
Colgate replied, "No, I plan on giving this to her because I believe that she would be the one most likely to understand its energies and be able to use it." She headed towards the dining hall and continued, "Alright, let's eat before I get going."
After they finished their breakfast, Colgate sat at the table deep in thought. She continued to have the words of the necessary spell running through her mind along with thoughts of having a very close friend and top ally back in this world. When she continued to just sit there, both her generals became concerned. Lightning Storm asked, "Colgate, are you ok?"
Dark Night asked, "Don't you think you should be getting here pretty soon?"
Colgate's head shot up as she replied, "Yes, I'm just in deep thought. I'm just making sure that I am going to be ready to cast this spell."
Dark Night said, "Well we know how you are, normally you're in a hurry to get everything done."
Colgate stood up and headed for the exit. Before she left and took off, her generals wished her well. She couldn't help but feel a bit excited, which is something that she had always preached against, that her old friend and ally would soon be returned to this world.
The closer to the entrance to Unicornia she got, the more she began to think. Not only did she have her concerns about telling her about White Magick's betrayal, but she had also begun to think about how Ruby would react to her using her spell and worried that she would likely interrogate her over how she came across it. She said to herself, "Ok Colgate, maybe you just need to be honest. Maybe you need to tell her about the trip to Tambelon, the duplication of Grogar's collection and in the event you need to use it, the acquisition of his collar."
Colgate had been in so much thought that it did not seem like that long until she saw the hills where the entrance was. She flew below the forest canopy and found the path that led to her destination. Like it had been for many millennia, it was not long until she was met by soldiers. Despite her having had to put up with it for ages, she was still a bit shocked when she was surrounded by spears.
One of the soldiers asked, "Who are you and why are you in these hills?"
Another soldier, one who knew who she was, spoke up, "It's Colgate everypony, she is likely coming to speak to the steward."
Colgate replied, "I am but I am also coming to visit Queen Ruby Heart's grave."
The one who knew who she was also knew a fair amount about the past and how she was close with her. He asked, "I take it you know your way to the cemetery?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I do."
Despite them knowing who she was and that she would not cause any problems, the soldiers still led her through the portal. Once they got into Unicornia, the soldiers wished Colgate well and she headed towards the cemetery.
As she headed in the direction of Ruby's grave, everypony she encountered gave her a salute, which she promptly returned. Once she arrived at the cemetery, she headed directly to the most regal headstone of them all, Ruby's. She knelt down and said, "Ruby, we all have missed you greatly but today shall be the day you come back to us."
Colgate began to focus deeply on the spell that she was about to cast. She lit her horn up, she began to glow and right as she began to recite the spell, her eyes began to shine blue,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be,
the fallen one still has many days to run free,
for potential the fallen one has a lot,
without life it would all be for not,
for life shall be renewed,
the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
As she finished reciting the spell, blue beams shot out of her eyes, into the ground where Ruby was buried. Colgate jumped back when she saw a white ball with a red tinge to it rising from the ground. She knew what was about to happen, she knew that very soon Ruby would return.
Colgate watched in anticipation as the ball continued to float above her grave. After a few minutes she began to wonder if the spell had worked but once the fifth minute passed, the ball popped and Ruby emerged from it. When she landed, she shook her head and asked, "Ugh, where am I?"
Colgate rushed to her and exclaimed, "Ruby, you're back!"
At first Ruby was a bit disoriented but then saw who it was that was embracing her. She embraced her back and asked, "Colgate! How is my number one ally doing?"
Colgate replied, "Well I am doing much better now that you have returned to us."
Ruby asked, "What do you mean........" She then noticed that she was back in her realm, not in Tambelon where she fell in her battle against Grogar. She continued, "Colgate, what am I doing here?" She then became more paranoid, "We didn't fail to defeat Grogar did we? We didn't get chased back here did we?"
Colgate replied, "No, we wound up slaying Grogar but as far as why you are here and not Tambelon, you fell in the battle and I had to use a spell to bring you back to us."
Ruby knew that out of everypony in the world, that she was the only one who had ever written a resurrection spell. She asked, "Wait a minute, how did you revive me? Did you write your own resurrection spell?"
Colgate pointed towards her palace and continued, "Ruby, how about we get to your palace and we can discuss this further. Some things are best discussed out of the view of other ponies."
Ruby knew how paranoid Colgate could get and how secretive she was so they took flight and headed towards the palace. When they arrived, they landed on the balcony and headed towards the throne room, where they would be met by steward Blazing Glory. Given that he was young and was not around when Ruby was in power, he cast his gaze at Colgate and asked, "Supreme Commander Colgate, who is this......"
Ruby too interrupted, "Colgate, who is this? Why is this pony sitting on the throne and where is White Magick?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, what has happened to White Magick can be discussed later but for now, we must get you back on the throne."
Blazing Glory had no clue what Colgate was talking about but knew that her talk of getting this pony he had never seen before back on the throne made no sense to him. He asked, "Colgate, what do you mean 'get this pony back on the throne?' He then turned to Ruby and asked, "Who are you and why does Colgate think it is time to get you back on the throne?"
Given that she had just been brought back, Ruby thought that this pony should know exactly who she was so she turned to her side so he could see her cutie mark. While the steward was far too young to ever have seen Ruby, he was taught about her in history classes in school, including what she looked like and what her cutie mark was of. He gasped, "It can't be you! You fell in the battle of Tambelon ages ago!"
Ruby cast a curious gaze at Colgate and asked, "Colgate, what does he mean that I fell in Tambelon ages ago?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, this is something that would best be discussed while we are alone." She then turned to Blazing Glory and continued, "And I would advise you clear your belongings from the Queen's sleeping chambers. She will be resuming her rule here in Unicornia immediately."
Ruby gasped, "Unicornia?"
Colgate replied, "Again, this is something that would be best discussed while we are alone." Colgate pointed her wing towards the exit and continued, "Blazing Glory, I don't want to have to repeat this again, clear your possessions out of the Queen's sleeping chambers."
Blazing Glory was still having a very hard time believing this but he did know one thing, he knew that Colgate was not a liar nor would she bring any old pony in to take over. Once he left, Ruby turned to Colgate and asked, "Colgate, who was that pony on the throne, what was that about me falling in Tambelon ages ago, why did you call this place Unicornia, how did you resurrect me and most importantly, where is my husband, where is White Magick?
Colgate got a nervous look on her face as she knew that Ruby was likely going to be shocked and likely angry over some of the things that have happened over the millennia. She began, "Ok, about that pony thinking it was ages ago that you fell in Tambelon, he wasn't joking, it has been 5,000 years ago since you fell."
Ruby's eyes grew wide as she gasped, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I have been gone for 5,000 years?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, it has been and many, many things have changed since then, particularly the amount of knowledge that I have."
Ruby asked, "Oh, and what other collections do you have now?"
Colgate replied, "Well it wasn't that long ago that I cast a duplication spell on the Dream Valley collection...."
Ruby interrupted, "Wait a minute, you FOUND Dream Valley after it having basically vanished off the map and what would possess you to go to Dream Valley?"
Colgate replied, "Well not only has Tirac returned with his Rainbow of Darkness, but his Equestrian counterpart, Tirek and his magic stealing ways have returned." She then levitated the Rainbow of Light off of her neck and presented it to Ruby, "And while I was out there, I found the Rainbow of Light."
Ruby grasped the locket in her aura and began to examine it. When she took a look at the back of it and saw the initials MW engraved into it, she knew that this was the real thing. She gave Colgate a smile and replied, "I am so happy you found this. With Tirac having escaped, this will likely be our only hope in defeating him." She then became more curious and continued, "Ok, I know you have the Dream Valley collection but have you found any interesting information in those books?"
Colgate replied, "Actually, yes I have. I discovered that Tirac had also invaded Dream Valley before they had the Rainbow of Light." She took a deep breath before continuing, "And you may find this hard to believe but it was actually Grogar who aided the ponies of Dream Valley defeat them and even more surprising, he revived the ponies who fell in exchange for some of their knowledge."
Ruby knew this but had hoped that nopony would ever find out that happened given Grogar's history with Ponykind. She replied, "Yes, that is true. He did use his magic to repel the Rainbow of Darkness before he turned against Ponykind."
Colgate replied, "And I hope you don't get mad at this but I along with General Dark Night headed out to Tambelon, I rose it from the depths, slayed the trogals that greeted us, duplicated Grogar's library and took his collar. The Dream Valley collection along with the Tambelon collection and his collar are in the most secure parts of my archives."
Ruby flared her horn up in anger, "What? You rose Tambelon from the depths, you duplicated his library AND you took his collar?" Her voice became louder as she continued, "What would possess you to do that? Why would you raise that cursed place from the depths?"
Colgate replied, "It was what I read in the Dream Valley collection about him being able to stop Tirac's Rainbow of Darkness. I believe that if I can cast the right spell on his collar, it will still have the same power but be filled with my magic, not Grogar's."
Ruby's anger calmed down before she asked, "Please tell me you rang the bell before you left. Please tell me you sank Tambelon back into the depths."
Colgate replied, "Don't worry, I did."
Ruby asked, "Alright, I know you have a whole lot more knowledge now but why are you calling this Unicornia. We haven't had that name since before White Magick took over, since before we had to flee through the portal!"
Colgate replied, "Well when Blazing Glory took over, I asked him what the name of the country was since I only ever heard White Magick refer to it as his realm. We talked for a while and given the tradition of the name and the makeup of the population, he re-instated the name Unicornia."
Ruby said, "Good, and I plan on keeping it. I remember how White Magick claimed it was discriminatory against non-unicorns and the thing is, there were hardly any non-unicorns at all! Other than the royal family, who were all Alicorns, almost every other pony was a unicorn."
Colgate replied, "And during all the visits I have made here, all I have ever seen are unicorns."
Ruby said, "I figured that but now on to more pressing matters."
Ruby had received answers about just about everything she wanted, except one. She continued, "Ok, I know that a lot of things have happened but I want to know one thing, where is White Magick, where is my husband?" She became more paranoid as she continued, "Did he fall in the battle of Tambelon too? Did Grogar take him down too?"
Colgate replied, "No, I'm going to tell you what happened. When I discovered that Tirac had escaped, I used my eye to scan the world and I found where Dream Valley is located. I initially planned on going out there alone but White Magick insisted that he come with me since he knew the layout of Dream Castle."
Ruby knew plenty about the dangers that existed in that area after the fall of Ponyland and asked, "Did he fall prey to some animals? Did some of those predatory plants out there get him?"
Colgate replied, "No. Here is the thing, before we left, Twilight wanted to go with us and he insisted that I let her go....."
Ruby flared her horn up in anger and yelled, "What? He wanted HER to go with you two?"
Colgate replied, "Yes and of course he wouldn't leave without her so she went with us and of course, she was overly clingy to him and what was worse was that he was close with her too."
With her horn still lit up, she became angrier, "What happened? What did she do to him?"
Colgate replied, "Well there must be something freaky about that place. I wasn't in the room when it happened but White Magick asked her to be his marefriend and then according to them, they life bond......"
Ruby fired a powerful bolt of energy at the ceiling she was in such a rage. She yelled, "Where is he Colgate? Where is White Magick and where is Twilight?" She stomped her hooves into the floor as she continued, "When I catch that little seductress, I am going to KILL her, I'm going to crush that life bond!" Her yell became louder as she continued, "And force White Magick to watch it."
Colgate became nervous as her friend was going into a rage but knew that she needed to provide her with all the information she could. She replied, "Well he brought her here, announced his intentions to marry her....."
Ruby screamed, "He did what?"
Colgate replied, "He told them of his intentions to marry them and everypony here said they would never bow to Twilight so he abdicated the throne and moved away with Twilight."
This sent Ruby into an even more furious rage. She screamed, "You know what, when I catch them, I will kill both of them!" She knew about how Twilight was in the past and thought that perhaps Colgate would be the same way. She continued, "And if you wish, I'll let you feast on Twilight's corpse."
Colgate got a huge smile on her face as she replied, "I would love to do that! I've wanted to rip that little tyrant's heart out with my teeth from the day she betrayed Equestria." She then became more calm as she continued, "But I think we should wait to take care of those who betrayed us until after we wipe out those centaurs."
Despite being so furious that she could kill both of them the second she saw them, she knew that Colgate made a good point. She replied, "Agreed. Assuming we have to be around them, I will do my best to tolerate them."
Colgate said, "Good." She then pointed her wing towards the exit and continued, "But now I think we need to make a decision. Do you wish to stay here until things become more dire or do you wish to aid me in rounding up the world leaders."
Ruby's eyes lit up as she asked, "Is my son still the King of Neigh Zealand? Would I get to see him?"
Colgate replied, "Yes he is still in power so if you wish, you could come with me and see how he is doing down in his nation."
Ruby said, "I can get myself re-established here later. I really want to help you with this and most importantly, be reunited with my son but I would like for everypony to know that I have returned before we do anything else."
Colgate gave her a smile, "I agree, I believe that the citizens here know that their queen has returned and that the name Unicornia has been reinstated to this land." She looked towards the ceiling and continued, "You wait here, I will head up to what will be your chambers again and see if Blazing Glory is there. If he is, I will tell him to go out, let everypony know to gather under your balcony and then I will introduce you."
Ruby returned the smile, "Alright, I shall await your return."
Colgate nodded and rushed up towards what would soon be Ruby's chambers and caught Blazing Glory as he was packing up the last of his possessions. He gave her a scowl, "What are you doing here? Does the queen need her royal rest or something?"
Colgate smacked him over what she considered disrespect. She snapped, "Look, you are a general in HER army so disrespecting her is something I would advise against." Her voice became calm as she continued, "Also, you need to notify the citizens of the city that they are to gather under her balcony so they will know she has returned and notify us in the throne room once they are all gathered. "
Blazing Glory knew that if he didn't do this, that he could be in serious trouble. He replied, "Very well Colgate, very well."
After he headed out to notify the city that they were to gather at the base of the castle balcony, Colgate returned to the throne room. She notified Ruby, "Well I sent Blazing Glory out to notify the city and he said that he would return and let us know once everypony had been gathered."
Ruby replied, "Good, I just hope it doesn't take too long."
Nearly two hours had passed and after what seemed to be far too long for both Ruby and Colgate, Blazing Glory entered the room. He said, "Your Majesty, everypony has gathered at the base of your balcony."
Ruby replied, "Good." She turned to Colgate and continued, "Shall we?"
Colgate answered, "Yes, let's do this."
As they headed out to the balcony, Ruby decided that she would wait in the back, out of sight while Colgate approached the edge to begin her address. She stood tall and began, "Citizens of Unicornia..."
As soon as she said this everypony gasped, "Unicornia?"
While all of the citizens had learned about the ancient history of their land in school, very little was mentioned about the days prior to White Magick and the days of Unicornia so Colgate wasn't shocked by this. She continued, "Yes, Unicornia." She heard them gasp again and continued, "I can tell many of you have likely never heard of the name but that is what it was called before White Magick took....."
The moment she mentioned the former king's name the whole crowd began to boo. Colgate understood why they were booing and continued, "I am sorry to bring him up but after he departed, once he became steward Blazing Glory reinstated the name."
What surprised Colgate was that a decent portion of the population did not know that he had done that. When they began to cheer, Colgate continued, "Now regarding Blazing Glory, he will be stepping down as steward as a member of the royal family has come to claim her rightful place on the throne."
The entire crowd went silent as they were unaware of who was still alive in the royal family with the exception of White Magick who had abdicated and Blue Star who was now the king of Neigh Zealand. She heard a pony yell, "Supreme Commander Colgate, who is it? Who is the pony you say is here to claim the throne?"
Colgate looked back, smiled and motioned for Ruby to step forward. She looked back towards the crowd and continued, "And now, it is with great happiness that I announce, after 5,000 years of absence, the new queen of Unicornia, Queen Ruby Heart."
As she stepped to the front of the balcony, everypony looked at her in silence. They had all been taught about her in their history courses when they were young and knew how long ago it was that she fell in battle. Finally one pony spoke up, "But how, you fell in battle in Tambelon over five millennia ago!"
Ruby began, "That I did but thanks to my dear friend Colgate and her use of a resurrection spell I wrote, I return to you. I have returned to resume my role as queen."
As soon as she said this, the whole crowd erupted in cheers, cheers of pure happiness. Throughout the whole crowd was the realization that the most beloved monarch in the nation's history had returned to lead and guide them through the uncertain times they were facing.
Ruby was thrilled that her subjects were so happy that she had returned but knew that she could not allow the cheering to continue forever. She raised and lowered her wings causing the crowd to go silent. She gave them a smile and continued, "Citizens of Unicornia, you have no idea how happy I am to be with you again but it will not be long until I will have to take a short leave to go with Colgate to her capitol near Marentreal."
The crowd gasped, "Why?"
Ruby continued, "A serious threat is roaming the lands outside of the portal, two threats to be exact. Tirac has escaped from Tartarus and carries with him the Rainbow of Darkness." She then pointed to the locket she wore around her neck and continued, "And this, the Rainbow of Light, is what is necessary to defeat Tirac. Without me available to use it, the lands outside the portal may fall and then he may come here to Unicornia and use his dark magic on us."
She then motioned for Colgate to step to the edge of the balcony. Colgate did so and continued, "And he is not the only one who has escaped Tartarus. Tirac's Equestrian counterpart, Tirek has escaped as well. He is a centaur that has the ability to steal magic from ponies. While the last time he did so was not long after the nation of Equestria had been established, history states that as he steals more magic, the bigger and stronger he becomes."
The crowd again went silent, not in shock or awe, but in fear. Colgate continued, "Do not worry, not only does Ruby have the Rainbow of Light, but I have my own ancient artifact that will aid in the defeat of those two, not only to protect the lands outside the portal, but Unicornia as well."
Colgate cast her gaze towards Ruby causing her to finish, "Do not worry my subjects, once we defeat these foes and slay them, this planet will be a better place."
Despite being nervous, the crowd cheered both Colgate and Ruby before they returned to the throne room. Once they returned Ruby asked, "Well, do you want to head out now or do you think we should wait?"
Colgate really wanted to get going and hold the elaborate feast that she had planned for Ruby so she replied, "Well I think we should get going. I would like to sleep in my own bed tonight, I want to hold that feast for you and most importantly, I need to tap into the eye and monitor the movement of those two, especially in the event that they have already went into one of the cities and either enslaved ponies or stole their magic."
Ruby nodded, "Very well then, let's get going."
The two took off towards the portal. Ruby felt a true sense of happiness knowing that not only did she have her kingdom back but also that the original name had been restored. Once they had passed the portal and flown above the forest canopy, she looked to the west and vowed to herself that regardless of how much wrath she rained down upon the two centaurs, that it would be nothing compared to what she would do to Twilight.