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// Return of the Dark Goddess 
// Story: Terror in Equestria 10:  The Return of Tirek 
// by StormLuna 
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Return of the Dark Goddess

Everypony had gathered around Colgate to commend her on how she was able to kill both their enemies.  Many of them praised her over her blowing Tirac to bits but it was Rainbow who was most enthused by what she did, "Wow Colgate, that was so awesome how you stood up to Tirek even though he was so big." 

Scootaloo grabbed her and added, "Yeah, he could have smashed you but you showed no fear, you showed him who's boss!"

Pinkie chimed in, "Yeah, you showed those meany-mean hooves' centaurs a thing or two!" 

Colgate replied, "Thanks but now we have bigger issues to worry about, such as rebuilding Ponyville." 

They all agreed and as Colgate continued to look around analyzing the damage.  Her thoughts would be interrupted when she heard Celestia ask, "Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?"

Everypony began to look around around and she was nowhere to be found.  White Magick went into a panic, "Twilight!  We have to find her and make sure she is ok!" 

Most of the ponies, with the exception of Ruby, Scootaloo, Colgate and her army, spread out in every direction looking for her.  As they watched them do this Ruby couldn't help but shake her head in disgust.  She sighed, "Good grief, the way they're fanning out you'd think that you were the one who was missing." 

Colgate replied, "Well you know how some of them are.  It doesn't matter that at one time she was a dark goddess, they still think she is some sort of prize rooster." 

After a couple of minutes Luna yelled, "I've found her everypony, I've found her." 

Despite not caring for her, Ruby, Scootaloo and Colgate rushed over towards where she was laying.  When they found her, she appeared to be lifeless.  White Magick began to tear up, "Twilight, please don't be dead!  Please be ok!" 

Colgate headed towards her, bent down and felt for a pulse and she had one.  Colgate stood up and said, "Well she ain't dead, she has a pulse."

A sigh of relief came from most of the ponies but something didn't seem right about her and Ruby was the first to mention this.  She asked, "Does she look different to you?  Is it just me or is her coat a darker color and look at her mane and tail, they look a bit darker too." 

Colgate gave her a nervous look and mouthed, "This can't be good." 

After being surrounded for a couple of minutes, Twilight sat up and opened her eyes.  What they would see terrified them.  Her eyes were green, a shiny green the way they were when she was a dark goddess.  Ruby flared up her horn and yelled, "It's her, it's the dark goddess!" 

Ruby fired a bolt of energy at Twilight but it would be deflected by a shield she put up.  She stood up, approached White Magick and laughed, "You thought you could cleanse me but you failed!  You failed!  You may have cleansed Sombra and Chrysalis but a dark goddess can never truly be cleansed, never!" 

When White Magic was approached by her and she said that,  a bright pink heart encircled him and then shattered.  When she saw this, Ruby knew what had happened, the life bond had been shattered.  She approached him and said, "I told you she was still a dark goddess!  I told you that she wasn't this sweet little thing she claimed to be." 

She looked around and laughed, "And here you all thought I was this innocent, naive little thing!"  She then grabbed Celestia in her aura, turned her head to where it was facing her and recited, 

"From another to me, 
that is where your allegiance will now be, 
you  thought your old commander loved you like pie, 
when all they wanted was for you to die,  
with me all shall be great, 
there shall be no hate."  

The energy quickly seeped into Celestia.  She gave Twilight a salute and shouted, "All hail the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, our one and only leader!" 

Everypony else gasped in shock and realized that things could go downhill in a hurry if Twilight began to cast loyalty spells on everypony.  Colgate yelled, "Don't let her get you everypony, don't let her make you her slave!" 

This brought out an amused chuckle from Twilight, "Oh so I see it is the traitor Colgate, the pony who thinks she can have it all."  Her chuckle turned into a laugh as she continued, "Well guess what, it ain't happening.  You'll be loyal to me" she then pointed to everypony else and laughed, "you'll all be loyal to me." 

Colgate scoffed, "Me loyal to you, I think not little Twily."  Before Twilight could say anything, Colgate fired a powerful bolt of energy at Twilight and imprisoned her in a cage.  Colgate circled the cage and laughed, "Well now, what was that about us being loyal to you?"

Twilight flared up her horn and easily broke out of her cage and laughed, "Oh so you thought the old Grogar trick would work on me huh?"  She approached Colgate and laughed, "So you've become one with his collar, how cute!" 

Colgate realized that dealing with Twilight would not be easy since even her enhanced powers would not ensure victory against Twilight.  Twilight grabbed Galaxia and Cosmos in her aura, forced them to look at her and cast the loyalty spell on them as well.  When Colgate saw this she shouted, "Retreat, we need to come up with a plan." 

Colgate and her remaining allies took to the sky realizing that they needed to do something.  When Colgate turned to the north and they flew over the Everfree Forest, they knew that this was not an all out retreat, that it was just them going someplace to regroup and make a good plan to defeat her.





Making a Plan

As they followed Colgate into the forest, they couldn't help but wonder where they were headed but would soon find out when they landed in a clearing that was near what was the Castle of the Two Sisters.  By this point, it was nothing more than a pile of rubble.

Colgate gave her allies a serious look and said, "Well this certainly changes things.  Here I thought we had saved the world and now we have the dark goddess to deal with, again!" 

They all knew that Colgate had dealt with her in the past and won.  Luna asked, "Colgate, what do you suggest we do?"

LaurFa added, "You've dealt with her before and won so you tell us." 

She cast her gaze at her army and remembered how unlike the centaurs they just defeated, that Twilight was not immune to their ooze.  She suggested, "I'm thinking that she may not be so hard to deal with after all."  She pointed her hoof at Lightning Storm and continued, "General, if you and what is left of our changeling soldiers can get her covered in ooze, we can and will defeat her." 

Scootaloo asked, "If we do manage to get her covered in ooze, what if she uses her magic to free herself from it?"

Luna added, "The fact that she was easily able to break out of that cage shows that her powers are far greater than they were the last time she was a dark goddess." 

Fluttershy asked, "What caused her to become a dark goddess again?  I thought White Magick had cleansed her." 

Colgate replied, "Well I have an idea.  When I destroyed the Rainbow of Darkness, it shot out of the broken pouch and seeped into her so that means that she will likely have Tirac's dark powers."  

Everypony's eyes grew wide and Rainbow asked, "Wait a minute, you mean that she could turn us into beasts?"

Colgate replied, "She could but I know how her mind works, she would rather us be mindless, subservient drones that she could actually use to assist her in taking over the world.  Magic-less beasts won't do and I'm certain she knows that."

Ruby suggested, "Ok, we know about how her mind works and that she has stronger magic but still, how are we going to defeat her."  She pointed her wing at Colgate and continued, "You have dealt with her as an enemy the most, you are in charge of this operation so it should be you who devises our plan." 

Colgate was not overly thrilled with how Ruby seemed to be expecting her to be completely responsible for what she thought would be either their success or their failure but knew that she was right.  She stood there for a minute in thought before replying, "Ok, what all of the Alicorns and dark Alicorns need to do is strike her with your energy and if at all possible, aim for the horn.  I think if it can be shattered, she can be subdued and taken down." 

Lightning Storm asked, "What about us changelings?"

Colgate replied, "Like I said earlier, cover her in as much ooze as you can and if she is able to break out of it, just keep it up anyway, it may slow her down enough that we can blast that horn apart" she then got a huge smile on her face and continued, "and then I can do what I should have done when we decided to banish her to the sun." 

Only two ponies knew what Colgate's true plans for her were, Ruby and Scootaloo.  Ruby asked, "Do you plan on ripping her open with your teeth and eating her heart?" 

Colgate replied, "Yes, that is my plan."  She knew that White Magick would likely object to it so she pointed his wing at him and continued, "And nopony is going to talk me out of this.  The only way to finally eradicate this evil is to kill it." 

White Magick was not thrilled with how Twilight had tricked him, seduced him and caused a fake life bond to form between them.  He agreed, "Do it Colgate, if you can finally destroy her, do it!" 

Ruby approached him and asked, "Really, you're not going to be upset if she kills your little Twily?"

White Magick became agitated, "She is not my little Twily anymore, I want nothing to do with her now."  He stomped his hoof on the ground and added, "And Colgate, I will help you kill her if need be." 

Colgate replied, "Good but I get dibs on the heart."

Out of all of them, Luna had the biggest concerns over her family.  She interrupted, "Colgate, what about my parents and my sister?  What are your plans for them?"

Colgate replied, "Well given that they are currently loyal to Twilight, I will cast the spell to put them in cages and once Twilight is wiped out, I will reverse the loyalty spells and then" she gave everypony a smile and finished, "we can restore order to this world." 

Everypony began to cheer over Colgate's plans.  For quite some time, even to Ruby, it seemed like Colgate wanted global conquest but at that point they could tell that that was not part of their plans.  They were certain that she would continue to rule Coastal Equestria but global conquest, they no longer feared any chance of her wanting that.





Plans of the Dark Goddess

In Ponyville Twilight was smiling as she had just returned to being a dark goddess and already had three loyal subjects.  She began to circle them and began, "Well you three, I am happy to have you as part of my extended family but now we must prepare for their plans."

Celestia asked, "Twilight......"

Twilight smacked her and yelled, "You either address me as your Majesty or Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, got it?"

Celestia began to tear up, "Yes your Majesty." 

Twilight again smacked her and sneered, "Just like you always were, crybaby Celestia!  Wah-wah-wah!"  She smacked her for a third time and continued, "Maybe I should just banish you to the void right now.  I have no use for psychological liabilities and I certainly don't want you to be the reason Colgate and her minions would win.

Galaxia protested, "Please your Majesty, please don't.  You know she gets like this but in the end does what she needs to do to win." 

Given that she showed her respect, Twilight decided not to turn Celestia into a beast.  She gave the three in intense stare and said, "Now for what I think we need to do, I think I need to duplicate the three of you multiple times over." 

This was something that had never been done before.  In all the time that duplication spells had been used in warfare, never had it been used on anything but dark Alicorns and changelings.  Cosmos asked, "Are you sure that is a good idea?  What if the duplicates weren't loyal to you?"

Twilight snapped, "Remember, they are EXACT duplicates so they will be plenty loyal to me and the more loyal ponies I have, the better!" 

Despite being unsure of it and deep down thinking it was a bad idea, the three knew that they had better not question her any further.  In unison the three agreed, "Very well, duplicate us when you are ready." 

Twilight got a huge smile on her face and replied, "Your Dark Goddess knew you'd come around."  She pointed at them and ordered, "Now stand together, all of you."

She lit up her horn, pointed it at them and recited, 

"From one to two, 
two to four and so much more.  
When one is simple mere, 
more and more shall appear."

As she recited this, she fired a bolt of energy at them and suddenly there were two of each of them.  She continued to cast the spell until there were sixteen of each of them, forty eight Alicorns in total.  While she knew they were all exact duplicates, she figured she better make sure.  She asked, "Who are you loyal to?"

In unison they all shouted, "We are loyal to our Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and no other!" 

Twilight replied, "Good, good.  Now we need to make plans on how to take out our enemies when they return." 

They all turned to Twilight and she could tell that they were waiting for instructions from her.  She stood tall and began, "As far as all of you go, I want you to fire energy at them and burn them.  I would advise you take their changelings out first because if they cover you in ooze, your magic will be powerless and you won't be able to move." 

One of them asked, "And what about you?  What will you be doing?"

Twilight replied, "I will be handling Colgate because I'm the only one with magic strong enough to do so."  She then stood tall and boasted, "And once they are all subdued, I will kill most of them first and force Colgate to watch."  Her boasting turned into a manic laugh, "And then I shall feast on her heart and this world will once again belong to the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle."  Her laugh became louder, "And all those laws I had so long ago, they will be enforced!  My subjects will pay me a 10% tribute or die and they will worship me or die!"

Her soldiers began to celebrate her plan and like she always had, she gobbled up all the attention.  For the first time in many millennia, Twilight truly felt on top of the world.  No longer did she feel like a weakling, no longer did she feel love for anypony except herself and she believed it was her destiny to rule over all with an iron hoof.