Meeting at Sugarcube Corner
After what was a rather short flight from Canterlot, the leaders arrived in Ponyville. For some ponies, arriving there had no significant meaning but for one it did. Blue Star knew that his father was there, likely visiting Twilight and had plans on confronting him over it. The very first place the group headed was to the castle where Celestia knocked on the door, "Twilight, it's Celestia! I need to speak to you."
Normally when Celestia would knock on the door like that, Twilight would immediately answer. They all stood there for several minutes until it was clear that nopony was going to answer. This brought out frustration from them until Colgate suggested, "Perhaps she is at Sugarcube Corner stuffing her face with her friends."
Celestia glared at Colgate over the comment but didn't say anything. When they arrived at the sweets' shop, it would not be Celestia who would enter first but Blue Star. As soon as he entered, he saw not only Twilight with her friends, but he saw that she and White Magick had their wings around one another and this did not sit well with him.
He flared up his horn, stormed over to his father and yelled, "Father, what is the meaning of this? Why do you have your wing around her?"
White Magick was a bit shocked and Twilight was terrified when they saw Blue Star with his horn lit up. White Magick sat there in silence for a minute before replying, "Son, it is a long story that I think it would be best if you and I talked about alone."
Blue Star pointed his wing at Twilight and asked, "So Twily, what kind of spell did you use to seduce my father?" He grabbed her in his aura and began to examine her closely to see if perhaps she had any negative energy in her but found none. That would not stop his interrogation though, "Well? Tell me, what kind of spell did you put on my father?"
White Magick broke his son's hold on her, pointed his wing towards the exit and suggested, "Son, how about we go outside to discuss this? Discussing this in front of Twilight's friends is not something I want to do."
Blue Star nodded and they left the sweets' shop while the others headed in. Twilight was happy to see the one she was closest with, "Princess Celestia, it is so good to see you!"
Celestia rushed to her, hugged her and replied, "It's good to see you too Twilight." She then turned her head towards the exit and continued, "I hope nothing bad happens between those two. The last thing we need is Neigh Zealand declaring war on us because they do have a standing army."
Twilight cast her gaze at Colgate and added, "And I know if he was to, Coastal Equestria would too and Colgate would duplicate that army of hers into an unstoppable force."
Luna overheard them and suggested, "Maybe it is just a family argument, maybe nothing bad will come of this."
In unison Twilight and Celestia replied, "I hope not."
While Twilight and Celestia were talking, Colgate approached the other side of the table where a once fierce ally of hers sat, Fluttershy. She stood there analyzing her before kneeling down and commenting, "It looks like somepony's kept her wings in shape!" She then embraced her and continued, "Fluttershy, it has been too long. How are you doing?"
Given what had happened recently and Colgate's treatment of Twilight, Fluttershy wanted no part of her embrace. She shoved her back and sighed, "I am doing fine."
Colgate was shocked by her behavior, "Fluttershy, what's wrong? We used to get along so well."
Fluttershy rolled her eyes and continued, "We did until Twilight was reformed and yet you continued to treat her like she was a dark goddess. For five millennia you have continued to distrust and hate a pony who is sweet and nice like she was before her corr......"
Colgate could tell that even talking to Fluttershy was going to be a challenge but believed that there was one thing that she could bring up that would get her to talking more. She leaned closer and asked, "So Fluttershy, has Twily told you about what has happened?"
Fluttershy grunted, "Yes, her and White Magick life bonded and because of that, you caused his subjects to not accept her and he abdicated."
Frustration was beginning to build up in Colgate but she certainly couldn't let it surface if she wanted the side of Fluttershy she remembered to come to the surface. She asked, "And what else?"
Fluttershy was quickly growing tired of Colgate thinking that she would actually wanted to talk to her but gave her one more answer to placate her, "Yes, she has. We all know about the villains who escaped......."
Colgate interrupted, "So has anypony told you that one of them used his dark magic on some animals in the Everfree Forest and turned them into beasts?"
For the first time in many millennia, a fury built up within her. Fluttershy slammed her hoof into the table and screamed, "He did what?" She stood up and continued, "Where is he Colgate? We need to go and destroy him, no matter what the cost."
This brought a smile to Colgate's face as she knew that bringing up Tirac harming animals would cause the same Fluttershy that aided her in nuking Neigh Zealand to come to the surface. She replied, "Right now he and a magic thief that goes by the same name are headed towards Vanhoover to steal magic and turn ponies into beasts."
Fluttershy looked towards the exit and asked, "So when are we heading out? When are we going to go and kill them?"
This brought out a bigger smile from Colgate but she knew that Fluttershy would have to be calmed down, she knew that she couldn't be that emotional and that they needed plan. She replied, "Fluttershy, we are all going to head to my capitol out by Marentreal, go over things further, I will duplicate my army, we will train hard and then we will fly out to destroy them." She then leaned in closer and whispered, "And I'm going to share a little something with you. I have an ally and I have a couple relics that should ensure victory."
Fluttershy got a grin on her face, the same type of grin that she had when she decided to join Colgate on her quest to punish Lyra for her attack on Equestria. This brought an even bigger grin to Colgate's face as she asked, "So I take it you are willing to aid us all in saving not just Equestria, but perhaps the whole planet?"
Fluttershy yelled, "Yes, I'm more than willing to help you destroy them!"
Her friends noticed her sudden outburst and this brought out a bit of curiosity from them. Rarity asked, "Fluttershy darling, what do you mean you're willing to help her destroy them?"
Rainbow was sitting a bit closer and knew what was going on. She gave Fluttershy a glare and asked, "What? You're going to help her in another war? You're going to help her after everything she has done? You're going to help her even though she hates Twilight?"
Fluttershy replied, "Yes, she told me what one of those villains did to some creatures in the forest and just like it was with Lyra, the only way to take care of it is to join Colgate."
By this point all of her other friends along with the princesses were paying attention to the situation. While the rest of her friends were sitting there in a state of shock knowing that Fluttershy would be joining an enemy of Twilight, Twilight herself wasn't shocked, she was hurt. She gasped, "Fluttershy, how could you? How could you join forces with.....?"
Colgate had a feeling that this would quickly turn into a situation where emotions would flare up and she did not want that. She interrupted, "Twilight, don't think of it as joining my side, think of it as her joining me to defend her nation and protect the critters that she loves so much." She then approached Twilight and continued, "Princess Twilight, you are a leader in this world just as much as all the other leaders are. They all have decided to take on this threat to eradicate a threat to global security." Her voice became more intense as she continued, "What about you, will you join our alliance to protect your homeland or will you simply blow it off and not care what happens?"
Twilight's pupils shrank when Colgate said this. The last thing she wanted to do was have to join Colgate in any sort of battle but realized that with the other leaders, including Celestia, were going to be joining her that she had likely better. She sighed, "Yes Colgate......."
Colgate interrupted, "That is Supreme Commander Colgate to you Twilight."
This immediately brought out a negative reaction from Celestia, "Colgate, if we are all going to be fighting on the same side, why must she have to be formal with you."
Colgate stood there for a moment and realized that Celestia was right. She sighed, "Very well, she doesn't have to be formal with me."
Fluttershy gave her friends an intense look and asked, "So everypony, will you be joining us or will you just stay here and not care?"
Rarity was the first to oppose the idea, "Fluttershy darling, we haven't been involved in any kind of war in several thousand ye....."
Colgate interrupted, "Ladies, this is not going to be a war. This is going to be us going out to take down two of the worst villains in the history of ponykind. This will not be ponies versus other ponies, this will be us ponies up against two centaurs, alright?"
They began looking at one another and nodded until finally they gave their responses.
Rarity said, "Very well Colgate, I will join you."
Applejack added, "Sure, why not."
Pinkie continued, "We'll teach those meany-mean hooves centaurs a lesson."
Rainbow stood tall and announced, "Just like old times, us ponies going up against evil."
With the exception of Twilight, the whole room erupted into cheers although Scootaloo's reaction was more of a yell, "Watch out centaurs, ponykind will not show you any mercy!"
Colgate let everypony continue to cheer for a minute before raising and lowering her wings causing them to go silent. She pointed her wing towards the door and suggested, "I like this attitude everypony but I think we had better let White Magick and Blue Star finish their talk before we head out.
A Bitter Argument
While Colgate was inside mustering up support to gather as many allies as possible, White Magick and Blue Star had headed outside to go over the situation involving Twilight. Once they got far enough away that they would be out of ear shot, Blue Star asked, "Father, what is going on with you? I want to know why you and Twilight had your wings around one another?"
White Magick replied, "Look, a lot of things have happened in the past five millennia and I'm going to admit, being alone for so long took its toll on me, I began to get lonely and feel empty."
Blue Star sneered, "Oh and let me guess, your little Twily made you feel better?"
If there was one thing that White Magick hated, it was when other ponies would refer to Twilight as "little Twily." He snapped, "Look, I know you don't like her and probably think I'm betraying your mother by being with her but you know what? For the first time in ages, I feel whole again."
Blue Star rolled his eyes and grunted, "Oh yes, the little seductress made you feel whole again?" He raised his voice and continued, "Do you not remember our customs? Do you not remember our beliefs that if a couple marries and one passes, that the other is not to marry because the fallen one will be awaiting them on the other side?"
White Magick yelled, "You know what? When Twilight and I joined Colgate on a trip to Dream Valley to retrieve this relic she believes will aid us in defeating Tirac, Twilight and I life bonded so that right there is proof that we are meant to be togeth....."
Blue Star scoffed, "Life bonded? Don't make me laugh, you know that only the Ponylanders life bonded, our kind never did and I know Equestrians don't do it so don't feed me those lies."
White Magick knew that this was going to spiral into a back and forth shouting match if he didn't try to deescalate the situation so he calmly said, "If you don't believe me, talk to Colgate. She was out there when it happened."
Blue Star replied, "I know Colgate......"
White Magick interrupted, "Look, Colgate hates it that we life bonded but she does know we did so if you want the truth, talk to her."
Blue Star calmed down a bit because he knew that if he was suggesting that he speak to the pony that likely hates it the most, that he was likely telling the truth. Just as he was about to say something he heard a female voice shout, "Alright everypony, everything is all settled." Her voice became more joyful as she continued, "It looks like we're going to have more help than I thought!"
Both of them gasped in shock when not only did the world leaders follow Colgate out of the sweets' shop, but so did Twilight's friends. Blue Star looked at the collection of ponies in front of them and said, "This is amazing!" He then approached Colgate and whispered, "Those centaurs are toast now!"
Colgate replied, "Now let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still need to work my magic on a certain relic I have and I do have one more ally waiting for us back at my tower, an incredibly powerful and intelligent ally."
Blue Star gave her a curious look and asked, "Who? Who is this ally you speak of?"
Colgate replied, "You'll see." She then turned back to everypony else and asked, "Ok, there are far too many of us for me to use my time spell so how shall we do this?"
Nopony had any real idea but suddenly one crossed her mind. She pointed at everypony behind her and said, "How about you all take the train to Marentreal while I, White Magick and Blue Star will travel there in a time bubble."
Blue Star asked, "Why would it be us three that would do that? Why not any of them?"
Colgate replied, "Because I need some time alone with both of you over extremely important matters."
Everypony began to talk among themselves until eventually they decided that Colgate's plan sounded good. Colgate pointed towards the train station and ordered, "All of you, go catch the train to Marentreal." She took to the sky and continued, "And you two, follow me. We have things to discuss alone when we get to the tower."
The two nodded and joined Colgate up in the sky before she cast the proper spells and they took off to the east. It did not take them long to break the sound barrier but as they were cruising along, White Magick and Blue Star couldn't help but wonder why Colgate was so adamant that they speak to her alone and Blue Star couldn't help but wonder who this ally was and why she spoke about her so highly.