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// Last Meeting at the Tower 
// Story: Terror in Equestria 10:  The Return of Tirek 
// by StormLuna 
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After several hours of watching the two centaurs through the eye, Colgate saw that they had finally reached the outskirts of Canterlot.  In most instances, this would anger her but in this scenario it excited her.  She watched them continue to use their magic, Tirac was turning some ponies into beasts while Tirek continued to steal magic.  What really excited her was that she heard them talking about what there next target would be.  While neither one of the two knew what the name of Ponyville was, Tirek pointed his finger in the direction of the small town and suggested that they strike it next. 

After finishing spying on them, she then spied on everypony who would be joining her in their endeavor to slay the two.  She first saw that Scootaloo was over at the base having a conversation with her generals.  She then turned her attention to Marentreal and noticed that they were gathered in two separate places.  She saw that Ruby and Blue Star were eating an early supper at the cafe while the others were at an outdoor concert.  She then took to the sky and headed to Marentreal so she could get them, Scootaloo and her soldiers so they could head to Ponyville and wait for the arrival of their foes. 

She headed to her balcony and headed off to the east, into the city.  The first place she headed to was the cafe since it was on the further side of town so she wouldn't have to double back when she got the others.  When she arrived at the cafe, the two were shocked to see her.  Ruby knew how Colgate worked and figured that something must be going on.  She asked, "Colgate, is everything ok?"

Blue Star added, "Yeah, normally you wouldn't come out looking for everypony.  I thought you were having that special meeting with Scootaloo and your generals." 

Colgate was a bit frantic.  She replied, "Ruby, Blue Star, you two have to come with me."  She took to the sky and shouted, "Now, we have no time to waste!" 

Ruby said, "But we haven't finished our meal and we still have to pay for it!" 

Colgate grabbed the two in her aura, pulled them up and shouted, "We don't have time for that!  We need to get the others, get to my tower and then get going!" 

They knew that Colgate likely wouldn't say anything around other ponies but realized that something bad was going on so they followed her to grab the others.  The concert they were attending was a quiet concert featuring ancient music, music from the era when Colgate was still a dentist.  When the three landed they were immediately greeted by a security pony, "Get out of here!  You have to pay admission to attend this." 

Colgate flared up her horn, grabbed him in her aura and snapped, "Do you not know who I am?"  She slammed him into the ground and continued, "Look, I'll go where ever I want and at this moment, that is to tell some ponies that they need to come with me." 

The security pony looked more closely at her and then realized who it was.  He apologized, "My apologies Supreme Commander, you may enter and gather those who you need." 

Colgate nodded and headed to the front row where everypony else was.  She shouted, "Come on everypony, we have to get going, now!" 

Multiple ponies in the crowd tried to shush her and the pony sitting closest to her, LaurFa, said, "Colgate, can't you see we're trying to enjoy a concert here." 

The pony next to her, Galaxia, added, "And what could possibly be so important we have to go now?"

Colgate grabbed them in her aura and snapped, "You should know that is classified around other ponies."  She dragged them away from the concert and into the sky where they would be joined by Ruby and Blue Star.  Colgate pointed towards her tower and ordered, "To the base, now!" 

Most of the ponies following her grumbled in frustration, wondering why Colgate would so rudely drag them away from what they were doing and wondered why she demanded they follow her to the base.  Once they arrived, Colgate saw her generals leading a basic exercise and ordered that they land down by them. 

Once they landed, Colgate landed in front of them and barked, "Attention." 

Many of the ponies had never seen her be like this before but the growl in her voice brought back not so pleasant memories for Rarity.  She remembered how Colgate was towards her when they were training to go and acquire the jade Alicorn and that she sounded the exact same this time. 

Colgate said, "I'm sure many of you are wondering why I have brought you to the base and not into the tower." 

LaurFa asked, "Actually yes.  Why are we gathered here?"

Colgate replied, "Because the time has come.  Our foes are currently in Canterlot turning ponies into beasts and stealing magic." 

In unison Celestia and Twilight gasped, "What?"

Colgate repeated, "You heard me, they are in Canterlot right now and are using their dark powers." 

Celestia asked, "So are we going to be flying out to Canterlot tomorrow?"

Colgate replied, "No.  As all of you know, when I spy on the world with that eye, not only can I see things but I can hear them as well.  They have decided that they will go to Ponyville next and that is where I think we should take them down, Ponyville." 

Rarity asked, "Colgate darling, why Ponyville?"

Rainbow added, "Yeah, why Ponyville?  It has had to deal with so much violence over the millennia that it shouldn't have to deal with war again."

Colgate replied, "Look, Ponyville will experience violence whether we are there are not.  Also, there is more open space in Ponyville and if we hurry up and get there" she then pointed at Twilight and continued, "perhaps Twilight can have her chef fix us all a filling meal prior to taking on those two." 

Twilight had a nervous look on her face as she had no desire to allow Colgate in her castle, much less have a meal prepared for her.  White Magick was standing next to her and saw this.  He nudged her and said, "Twilight sweetie, I know you don't like her or trust her, but she does want to save this world.  I think you should agree to this." 

Twilight gave him a nervous look and then turned to Colgate and replied, "Ok, I think we could do that."

Colgate said, "Good, that way we will all have full stomachs for our battle against them."

LaurFa asked, "So when do you want to leave?  Do you want to leave tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon or when." 

Colgate replied, "We must leave now.  What will likely happen is that Tirek will likely arrive first and then Tirac and his beasts will follow not too long after." 

Everypony groaned in frustration as they realized that this would require that a large part of the trip be made at life.  Colgate could sense their frustration and added, "Look, if we don't head out immediately" she then pointed at Twilight and her friends and continued, "your families and friends could either be turned into beasts, have their magic stolen OR perhaps even be killed."

Everypony gasped in shock when Colgate said this and were even more surprised when she pointed at Fluttershy and finished, "And your critter friends would either be eaten by the beasts or by one of the centaurs themselves." 

This sent Fluttershy into a furious rage, "Come on everypony, we have to get going, now!" 

Colgate was thrilled to see Fluttershy in such a fury again but knew that she couldn't be that emotional.  She raised her wings and lowered them as she said, "Fluttershy, you need to calm down so you will be focused."  She then looked towards her tower and ordered, "Dark Night, Lightning Storm, follow me.  I need to check on one more thing before we depart." 

The two shouted, "Yes ma'am!" 

The three took off towards Colgate's balcony and headed inside.  The first thing Colgate did was tap into the eye.  She was pleased when she saw the two leisurely wandering around the city before heading inside the palace.  She said, "Good.  Perhaps they will wait until tomorrow to march on Ponyville." 

Her generals heard this and were curious as to what she saw.  Dark Night asked, "So what is going on?"

Colgate replied, "Well they are just lounging around Canterlot and have headed inside the palace there, perhaps to simply relax for the night." 

Both of them knew that Colgate had said that Tirek had gotten quite large.  Lightning Storm asked, "Wait a minute, if Tirek is huge, how did he fit inside the castle?"

Colgate replied, "He is indeed big but he isn't as huge as our allies think he is.  I have a feeling they think he is likely twice or three times the size that he is."  She began to head back towards her balcony and continued, "Now if he is able to steal Alicorn magic, then he will get bigger, much bigger."  She then began to shudder, "And if he was to steal my magic, it would be game over." 

They both knew that Colgate's powers had been amplified many times since she cast the spell on what was Grogar's collar so they both got nervous looks on their faces and realized that preventing Colgate from having her magic stolen was vital.  Lightning Storm said, "Colgate, with that being the case, I would gladly sacrifice my own magic if it would mean you are able to keep yours." 

Colgate gave him a smile, "I appreciate that general but his hunger is never satisfied so if you can avoid having your magic stolen, do so."  She then turned to Dark Night and added, "The same goes for you.  Don't try sacrificing yourself for anypony because it would be all for naught." 

The two nodded and Colgate continued, "Well let's get going, we have a long flight ahead of us." 

Colgate took off towards the base and was followed by her generals.  When they returned everypony was curious as to what was going on.  Instead of it being a world leader or one of Twilight's friends asking, it was one of her hoof soldiers, "Supreme Commander Colgate, what is going on?  What are your plans?"

Colgate replied, "As of right now, the two centaurs appear as though they will not be moving towards Ponyville until tomorrow so if we leave tonight and fly straight through, we should arrive in Ponyville by early morning and have time to eat and mentally prepare ourselves for this." 

Most everypony seemed to be going along with her plan until Rarity brought up something, "But Colgate, what are we going to do about sleep?  I'm sure that we can't go up against them if we're tired." 

Rainbow suggested, "I have an idea, why don't you just use your time spell?  That way we could get there in nothing flat." 

Applejack added, "That way we would get to Ponyville in a hurry and we'd have time to sleep." 

Colgate replied, "You know, that would be quite the challenge.  I have never created a time bubble that huge and I don't know how many of you would be able to fly fast enough to carry those who can't." 

Fluttershy asked, "Well it's worth a shot, isn't it?"  

Colgate replied, "Well I suppose but I am going to need as many of you as possible to fly as fast as you possibly can."  She raised her voice and continued, "Even if it is so painful you can't handle it, alright?"

Everypony nodded as Colgate continued, "Fly up here and gather around me so I can do this." 

Without saying anything, everypony took to the sky and gathered as close to Colgate as they possibly could.  Colgate knew that creating a time bubble that large would be difficult but getting it moving would be far more difficult.  Colgate lit her horn up and cast the first spell.  She was impressed that she was able to create one that large and next, she cast the spell to stop time outside the bubble.

She ordered, "Alright everypony, fly as fast as you can so we can get this going."

At first they were not moving along any faster than they would be if they were just flying normally but trying to move a time bubble at that speed was much harder on their wings.  She looked back and could tell that not that many ponies were flying fast enough to allow them to break the sound barrier.  Colgate barked, "Fly faster or I'm undoing this thing and we'll just fly all night if we have to." 

The thoughts of getting to Ponyville close to sunrise was something that nopony wanted to go through.  They wanted to get some rest and knew that the only way to get that was to push themselves to the limit and then some.  Everypony, even the dark Alicorns and changelings began attempting to fly faster.  For the changelings, this was impossible given the structure of their wings.  Just when Colgate was getting ready to undo her spells and fly the old fashioned way, they broke the sound barrier and were cruising along. 

This was something that pleased Colgate.  While she would never admit this to anypony except her generals and perhaps Scootaloo, trying to move that thing along before they broke the sound barrier was even painful for her.  As they sped along, Colgate looked forward to their arrival in Ponyville, slaying those centaurs but what she looked forward to most was a meal that was many many millennia overdue.