It was in the afternoon that Colgate and her new acquaintances headed into the forest. While it, despite not being that dark, unnerved them a little while Colgate enjoyed the stroll through it. It was the type of place that she wished the Everfree was more like. Soon they reached a darker portion of the forest and saw a cave. Colgate pointed her hoof towards the opening and said, "Alright ladies, follow me. This is the cave that leads to my world."
Colgate stepped into the portal and her companions followed and they found themselves falling through a portal of swirling colors. Soon they came out the other side into a pitch dark cave. Colgate lit up her horn and asked, "Is everypony ok?"
In unison they replied yes. The five came out of the cave and noticed that while it was extremely dark, that it wasn't night. Colgate looked up and said, "Well it is daylight. I'm not sure exactly what time of day it is but follow me, I know the way to Ponyville."
They followed Colgate and began to hear growling noises and saw green eyes watching them from behind the trees. Rainbow asked, "Colgate darling, are you sure this is safe?"
Colgate fired a couple bolts of energy into the trees and blasted a couple timberwolves to bits. When they heard the whine and the sound of splintering wood at the same time, they were shocked. They wondered how such creatures could even exist. Cheerilee asked, "Colgate, why would we hear a whine and splintering wood together? Did you kill something and hit a tree?"
Colgate replied, "No. I killed a couple of timberwolves." Colgate lit her horn up as bright as she could and continued, "This forest is filled with them. Many ponies that come this deep into the forest do not make it out alive."
The four were so shocked that they didn't say much else until the forest began to thin a bit and they eventually saw an old castle in ruins. Rainbow in particular was in awe of it. She asked, "Colgate darling, what happened to that castle?"
Colgate replied, "That castle is extremely old. It even predates the time of Twilight's corruption by well over a thousand years. If they do come to the ceremony where I hand power over to Scootaloo, you will be able to meet Celestia and Luna, who long ago, called it home."
They were stunned that a structure could stand that long. While they had no clue exactly as to how old it would be, they could tell that it was likely older than even the oldest buildings in their world. Eventually they hit the border of the forest. In their world the forests tended to thin out gradually before having a solid border yet with the Everfree, a pony can go from being in a dark forest one moment to being in a wide open area the next.
The first pony to say anything was Scootaloo, "Ugh, we go from so much darkness to it being so bright."
Colgate replied, "Yeah, that's how our world is. The break between the forest and open land is sudden." As they continued south her tower came into view. She pointed her hoof forward and continued, "You see that tall structure ahead? That is my home."
The four sighed in amazement and wondered how such a tall structure could possibly be built. Cheerilee asked, "Colgate, how could ponies build something that tall?"
Pinkie added, "And how do you keep all of it together?"
Colgate replied, "Well the pony who called it home before I did used slave labor to mine the iron and then she used her magic to not only weld the material together, but to also cast a spell to prevent the iron from rusting."
Rainbow asked, "I take it Twilight Sparkle called it home prior to your living in it?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, she did."
They then saw the great blue eye that sat atop the tower. While three of them looked at it very nervously, Scootaloo couldn't help but look in fascination. She asked, "Colgate, what is that blue thing on top of your home? What do you do with it?"
Colgate replied, "It is what I have used for many millennia to monitor events across the world. With it, I can make sure that nothing threatens Equestria. In the past we were attacked. Because of me being able to see it happen in real time, I was able to send forces out to defend our homeland and then I along with some of my army headed out and then attacked the nation that attacked us."
Colgate mentioning sending forces out confused the four as violence never took place in their world. Colgate looked back and saw confusion in their faces. She continued, "When we arrive at my tower, you can read through the vast history books I have so you will understand the history and nature of my world more easily."
They began to look around more curiously as they entered Ponyville. To them some of the landscape looked familiar but other areas looked much different. One thing that really confused them though was the military base across from Colgate's tower. Scootaloo asked, "Colgate, what is that over there?"
Colgate replied, "It is the base." She saw Commander Scootaloo and her top two generals talking casually along the northern boundary of the base. She yelled, "Scootaloo, I need you and our top two generals to come over to the tower, now."
Scootaloo replied, "Alright." She looked at the generals and continued, "Come on, this sounds important."
They followed Colgate and her guests into the tower and up to the throne room. Not only were Scootaloo and the generals wondering what was going on, Colgate's guests were also wondering what was going on. What shocked them the most though were the appearances of the generals. While they looked evil to the four, they figured that they must not be given their closeness to Colgate.