//------------------------------// // Return of the Dark Goddess // Story: Terror in Equestria 5: One Thousand Years Later // by StormLuna //------------------------------// The following day arrived and everypony was gathered outside of Colgate's black tower, preparing for Twilight's return. Colgate said, "Ok, I know Celestia was banished to the sun in Canterlot but Twilight was banished right here at the base of the tower. I have been doing some studying and from what I read, they will return here. So we need to be prepared." Shining Armor asked, "Look, it is just Twilight and Celestia. Why is the army alert and ready to attack and why do all of you have your armor on? Twilight is not going to do anything." Colgate walked over to him and stared him down. She shouted, "Look Shining Armor, do I need to take care of you now or are you just saying this because Twily is your sister?" Shining Armor replied, "Look, she is my sister and unless she does something to me I will not turn on her." Scootaloo walked up next to Colgate and asked, "Oh and what would she have to do, try to kill you? You know something Colgate, I honestly think making him the commander of the military and first in line to the Supreme Commander's spot was a mistake." Colgate smiled at Scootaloo and replied, "You know Scootaloo, I think you are right. I should have known that when this day came, he would not know whose side he would take. Lightning Storm, Green Toxin, cover him in ooze. He is a traitor." The two officers shouted, "Yes ma'am!" They then proceeded to cover him in green ooze to make sure he couldn't cast any spells or fly away. Colgate replied, "Well Scootaloo, you are now General of the Army and first in line to the spot of Supreme Commander of Equestria. So Shining Armor, what do you think about that?" Shining Armor growled, "Listen, you do not know what you are doing. Putting a young pony such as her in power. What a joke." Scootaloo shouted, "Shining Armor, you do know that I am over 1,000 years old, don't you? I'm no young pony. What Colgate did was in the best interests of Equestrian security." Before Shining Armor could say anything a bright flash of light appeared in the sky. Then two Alicorns landed in front of everypony else. It was Princess Celestia and the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle. Twilight shouted, "I HAVE RETURNED! BOW DOWN BEFORE YOUR DARK GODDESS OR DIE!" Colgate fired a powerful bolt of energy at Twilight, knocking her out of the sky. She replied, "Oh Twily, I see you are just as arrogant as ever. Isn't that just adorable?" Scootaloo added, "Oh yeah, arrogant Twily is so adorable and precious!" Twilight fired a bolt of energy back at Colgate and Scootaloo but missed. She shouted, "Just you two wait! Once Celestia, Shining Armor and I gather an army your days are finished!" Celestia walked over by Colgate and said, "Oh and what makes you think I will help you? Being stuck in the sun with you for nearly a thousand years was bad enough. I will not, I repeat, I will not aid you in your quest to retake the world!" Twilight's eyes began to shine a bright green and she fired energy at Celestia. She hit her and knocked her backwards. She left a burn mark on Celestia's side and said, "Oh we shall see about that Celestia. You will help me if you know what is good for you!" Colgate stood between the two, glared at Twilight and said, "Twilight, you do not own Celestia. She will aid who she wants. You can not and will not force her to aid you." Celestia replied, "Thank you Colgate. I want to help you save the world from her tyranny." Twilight looked over at her brother and sneered, "Oh and what about you Shining Armor? Are you going to help your precious Supreme Commander or will you help me take back what is rightfully mine?" Shining Armor smiled at his sister and said, "I will help you little sis. All I need to do is get out of this ooze." Before Colgate could do anything Twilight melted away the ooze and the Sparkle siblings nodded at one another and took off towards the east. Both of them stuck their tongues out at Colgate and her forces as they left. "Why you little..." shouted Scootaloo Just as Scootaloo was getting ready to take of after them Colgate put her hoof in front of her and said, "Scootaloo, we will take them down in good time. I know where she is headed. If LaurFa does indeed help her, the time will come for HER return." Dark Night asked, "Her? Who are you talking about?" Colgate replied, "I am talking about LaurFa's sister from long ago. I have done some studying and she does have a sister. Once the time is right I will tell you more about her. We need to call a meeting for everypony so I can let them know about what I know." A few hours later Twilight and Shining Armor finally reached the coast and landed for a bit to eat. A very pleasant surprise greeted them. Besides some bushes with tasty berries and plums on them, there was a ship docked in the harbor as well. This made both of them smile. Twilight started jumping around like a filly and said, "Yay! Now we won't have to fly all the way there! We are so lucky big brother!" Shining Armor replied, "Yeah, we are. Yes it will take longer to get there but we will have longer to plan on what to do once we get to Maredrid and we won't get so tired." Twilight said, "EXACTLY! We will need to be careful once we get there. I have a feeling that LaurFa will be awaiting our arrival but it is her military that I am worried about. I am sure that they won't take very kindly to us coming." Shining Armor asked, "Twily, what makes you think LaurFa will be waiting for us?" Twilight replied, "I could see what was going on while I was in the sun and unlike Lyra, Lemon Hearts and Luna, LaurFa did not go to the summit in Ponyville. I also have a feeling that we can reclaim the loyalty of Luna and Celestia's parents. If we can do that, things will be looking very good for us." Shining Armor said, "Well Twily, I'm sure they will join us. You do have a knack of getting ponies to join your side, well most ponies." Twilight became enraged and shouted, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN MOST PONIES? I CAN GET ANYPONY TO JOIN MY SIDE!" Shining Armor asked, "Twily, what about Colgate? What about Celestia, Lyra, Lemon Hearts, Luna and all of the other ponies who defected from you?" Twilight growled, "Ok, ok. I hear you. Well when we have everypony else on our side and launch our final attack on Ponyville they will wish they had never betrayed me. Maybe I should banish them to the void or exact some sort of revenge on them. What, I don't know but let's just say that they won't like it." After an hour of eating and drinking fresh water they loaded the ship with enough food for a week. Shining Armor said, "Well little sis, these berries should have enough fluids in them to keep us hydrated. This is the one thing I hate about traveling by ship, the lack of fresh water." Twilight replied, "I know big brother, but all the ship travel will all be worth it once I am sitting in MY black tower again, ruling over MY world and sleeping in MY bed!" Shining Armor said, "Yeah I know you are still upset about not being able to sleep in your bed. Let's set sail while we still have this westerly breeze to push us along." Twilight replied, "Good idea big brother, let's get going." Shining Armor raised the anchor and they started their journey east across the Alicorn Ocean. The wind was pushing them along nicely. Twilight was hoping that the wind would continue to push them along but Shining Armor knew that nothing was certain when it comes to traveling by ship. In Ponyville Colgate is up in her room watching their every move with Scootaloo by her side. She said, "Scootaloo, now that you are General of the Army and first in line to the throne you will have more responsibilities." Scootaloo replied, "I know I will and I am happy that you have so much confidence in me. I promise you that I won't let you down." Colgate said, "I know you won't let me down. Why I ever gave Shining Armor the top spot is beyond me. Well they have started to sail east across the Alicorn Ocean and I am pretty sure we all know where they are going." Scootaloo replied, "Yes, they are headed to Maredrid. That is a given." Colgate said, "I am going to let you in on something. I have done some studying and there is some information from the absolute oldest scrolls that mention a sister of LaurFa. I will need to do more studying but on the back of one of the scrolls I discovered a spell that would release her sister from her banishment." Scootaloo's eyes grew wide and she spread her wings as she said, "Really?! What was her sister's name?" Colgate replied, "The name mentioned in the spell is Brevity Thrash." Scootaloo asked, "You mean as in the Brevity Thrash that Fluttershy transformed into when she went into that rage so long ago?" Colgate replied, "I'm not sure. Once I do more studying I will know for sure. If she is anything like what Fluttershy transformed into, if we have her on our side, I don't care how powerful Twily becomes, she will not be able to stop us!" Scootaloo asked, "So where would we have to go to recite this spell?" Colgate replied, "We will discuss that once we know for sure that LaurFa will aid Twilight. As soon as she does, we will go get Brevity because she will need to be trained and fitted for armor. For now we just wait." While Colgate was waiting for Twilight to get to Maredrid and gain LaurFa's allegiance, she continued to do more research on Brevity Thrash. She wanted to know as much as possible about her before she went to her temple on Alicorn Island to recite the spell and release her. Scootaloo was excited about this because she thought the idea of a powerful pony with an awesome attitude would not only give them a huge advantage, but would be fun to get to know.