A Turbulent Change

by StormLuna

The Commander's Studies

Once they arrived in the basement they headed directly to the archives. Colgate's guests looked at the door and noticed that there did not appear to be a lock but did notice a hoofprint tile on the floor. Rainbow asked, "Colgate darling, what is that hoofprint on the floor?"

Colgate placed her hoof in the tile causing it to light up and then they heard a click as the door unlocked. Scoots was amazed by this, "Wow, that is just like the locks in my books!"

Colgate just chuckled a bit as they headed in. Once they were halfway in Colgate pointed her left wing at a couple sections of books. She said, "These are our history books, they contain everything from the creation of our world clear up to the end of the last war just a year ago." She cast her gaze at Dark Night and continued, "Could you get them any book they wish to read?"

Dark Night replied, "Yes, I can do that."

Colgate nodded and led Scootaloo towards the back where she unlocked the Starswirl wing and led her in. She headed to an obscure corner where she found a book on locks. She opened it to a page in the middle which described the energies involved in changing the locks. Scootaloo asked, "So is this the spell you used to change the locks back after Twilight altered them?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, it is."

While she was curious as to why she would need to study the energies involved in changing the locks and wondered why she just couldn't recite the spell and it would change, she knew that Colgate would not have brought it up if it was not necessary. Scootaloo began to stare at the book intently focusing as much as she could. Despite her having extremely powerful magic, she just couldn't go into the trance necessary to actually see the energies involved. This caused her to ask, "Colgate, how exactly do I figure out these descriptions? I'm reading them but I can't sense anything."

Colgate walked over by her second in command and sighed, "Scootaloo, you are going to have to stare so intently that you will go into a trance. When this happens, you will see images of ponies from the past doing this. That will cause you to feel the energy and know what to use."

Scootaloo asked, "So basically I will be seeing either you or Twilight using this energy?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, now focus. I want you to get this down."

Scootaloo nodded and continued to focus intently on the book. After fifteen frustrating minutes, a vision finally appeared in her head. She saw Colgate altering the lock from right after the death of the Dark Goddess. Once she felt the energy she asked, "So Colgate, can I cast this spell now? Can I make it to where these will be my archives and I'm the only one who can access them?"

While Colgate had initially planned on letting her, she noticed something about how her second in command stated it. She noticed that she put a lot of emphasis on the word "my." While it did not scare her any, it did make her think Scootaloo was wanting to rush things so she decided to make other plans, "Well I was initially planning on having you do it immediately, I think it would be best if you wait until after you take over."

She pouted, "After I take over? Why do I have to wait until then?"

Colgate could tell she was not very happy and replied, "I just think it would be best. Besides, you do still have to learn that spell to cleanse Neigh Zealand of all that radiation."

The commander sighed, "Oh alright. Where is the book I need to study for this?"

Colgate levitated the book to her and replied, "Here is the book you will need."

Scootaloo asked, "When I find it, will I have to stare intently like I did the last time so I'll know the energies? Who will I see doing it?"

This was one of those facehoof moments for Colgate as she thought her second in command would know that it had never been done before. She sighed, "Nopony has ever even written any spell to cleanse radiation because it has never been necessary." She saw a scowl forming on Scootaloo's face and continued, "You may have to find a spell to cleanse something else, such as wiping out a virus and alter it some to involve radiation. Regarding the energy involved, you will have to figure that out yourself."

This did not sit well with Scootaloo, "What? I have to figure this out myself? Can't you help me?"

Colgate replied, "Commander, this task has been assigned to you and you alone. Nopony was there to assist me when I created that hypercane that caused me to become a goddess nor was anypony there when I used enough energy to split uranium atoms either."

She mumbled, "Well you already had a spell for the hypercane and all you needed was strong magic to split those uranium atoms."

While Colgate could not make out exactly what she said, she could sense her building frustration, which caused her a bit of concern. To ease this concern, she headed back out to the main part of the library to see how her guests were doing and what they thought about the history they had read about so far.

---

Scootaloo was sitting there flipping through the pages of the book looking for any kind of cleansing spell that she could perhaps alter. While she had picked up an immense amount of knowledge through her times on the battlefield, studying was one thing that she did not like. She began snorting as she was looking through it, "Colgate said something about altering a virus cleansing spell." Her voice became louder as she groaned, "Where is it?"

After five more minutes of frustration, she finally found it. It read,

"Pestilence has wiped the land of life
This causes many ponies a lot of strife,
Seeing the desolation makes me mad
With others it makes them sad,

The pestilence must become a thing of the past
The sickness of this land can not last,
Now the virus must be wiped out
And life the land will no longer be without."

She read over this and went into deep thought, "Well it mentions cleansing the land so life can return but how do I alter this?" After ten minutes of thought she said to herself,

"Radiation has eradicated all life
For many ponies this causes strife,
Sadness is what the desolation causes many ponies to see,
With others madness is the emotion that shall be,

The radiation must be wiped out
Then life can return and wander about,
Now that the radiation is a thing of the past
Life can return to the land and forever it shall last."

Scootaloo looked down at what she wrote and smiled. She figured that since not only did she replace pestilence with radiation but also altered the wording some, that it could very well work. She wrote the spell down on some paper and headed into the main archives to find Colgate talking with her guests. She shouted, "Colgate, I think I have it! I think I have the proper spell!"

Colgate levitated the paper to herself and read over it. A smile formed on her face as she replied, "You know, this looks very good Scootaloo." Her smile quickly changed to one of frustration as she continued, "I just wish there was a place for you to test this before we travel all the way to Neigh Zealand."

Scootaloo replied, "Well you have that time spell of yours and given that we are both great flyers, I'm sure we could get it done in no time!"

Colgate sighed, "You're right Scootaloo. How about we do this tomorrow morning after breakfast?"

This did not sit well with Scootaloo since it was not overly late. She asked, "Colgate, you have that time spell don't you? This should only take us a few minutes. Let's just do it now."

Colgate's stomach growled as late afternoon arrived. She sighed, "Scootaloo, it is late afternoon and supper time will arrive before too long. Besides, I want both of us to have as much energy as possible, especially you. After all, you will need it."

Scootaloo grunted, "Ok. Well I am heading up to my room to clear my mind. I'll see you at supper."

She stormed upstairs and slammed the door behind her. Colgate's guests gave her a nervous look, Rainbow especially. She asked, "Colgate darling, I know she has a vast amount of military knowledge, but are you sure she is the one who should be taking over?"

Cheerilee added, "Her temper is quite volatile. What if she was to get mad over something and attacked another nation?"

Scoots added, "Or marched her army through the portal and declared war on us?"

Pinkie finished, "We certainly wouldn't want that and I don't think your world wants that either."

Colgate had a nervous look on her face as she realized that her guests made good points but also knew that despite her temper, that Scootaloo was not irrational, "Don't worry ladies. Like I said, I will drain that portal of its energy once you return to your world and if she starts anything, I'll take back control of this country and deescalate any hostilities she may cause."

Dark Night, who had been silent the whole time added, "I certainly hope so. The ponies of this world don't want more war and I certainly don't want more war either."

All five of them gave Colgate an intense stare before she replied, "Don't worry everypony. I will warn her about what my plans would be if she created hostilities. She knows I'd have the power to do it and that will keep her in check. Now let's get everything locked up down here, supper time is fast approaching."

The five nodded and after Colgate got the archives locked up they headed back upstairs. Colgate could only sigh in frustration as she heard her guests and Dark Night questioning her decision over who would succeed her. While she could see where they were coming from, she thought they would know that with her telling them she would intervene if things went downhill, that everything would be fine.

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"Careful, you don't want to be like Ceslesita." - DD