Terror in Equestria 10: The Return of Tirek

by StormLuna

Revealing the Bad News

Author's Note:

For those of you who are reading this and wonder why Twilight never had an encounter with Tirek, and there is no mention of the Tree of Harmony being part of his defeat, I started this series in July of 2013 prior to the start of season four so everything in the series past Twilight's coronation never happened.

After seeing something that could put Equestria in a whole lot more peril than the return of Tambelon, Colgate followed White Magick and Scootaloo down to the dining hall. When the other leaders saw the look on her face, they knew that something wasn't right. She took a look at them and said, "Everypony, we have a problem." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Well two problems to be exact."

Most ponies gave her nervous looks with the exception of two, White Magick and LaurFa. White Magick asked, "Tirac has returned hasn't he?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, Cerberus abandoned his post and it appears as though not only did Tirac escape from Tartarus, his Equestrian counterpart has escaped with him."

Everypony gasped in shock as they knew that dealing with both of them at once would be nearly impossible. One pony hung her head in despair, Twilight. Twilight knew that in the distant past that Celestia and Luna were able to cast Tirek into Tartarus and knew little about him. She turned to Celestia and asked, "Princess, how did you and Luna defeat Tirek after Scorpan notified you of his plans? Perhaps that could help us with defeating him."

Celestia replied, "When his brother notified us of his plans, he had not stolen enough magic to really cause us any problems."

Twilight again asked, "But how did you defeat him? You never told anypony anything except that you two cast him into Tartarus."

Celestia had a nervous look on her face but Luna would come to the rescue, "Twilight, like Celestia said, he had not stolen enough magic to steal Alicorn magic so we were able to just haul him there."

The fact that they had handled Tirek in the past brought a sense of relief to Twilight but it would not do so right away for others. Colgate asked, "Ok, you said that Tirek had not stolen much magic when you took him to Tartarus. What would have happened had he acquired more magic? Would he have been harder to deal with?"

Given that they only had to deal with him that one time, they were not overly familiar with him but one pony had an idea. LaurFa replied, "Had he stolen more magic, I have a feeling he would have been harder to deal with. If he is like the other magic thieves that once existed in this world, stealing magic would not only make him harder to defeat, but he would grow in size immensely. He could grow to the point where we would simply have to get in touch with Brevity, find a safe place, hope she came to see what was wrong and have her teleport us all away. There would be no saving this world."

Colgate said, "Ok, so if Tirek was to get too big and too powerful then we would simply have to bail and leave the citizens of Eqqus 1 to face his wrath? We would simply turn tail and run?" She raised her voice and continued, "If that would be your plan of action then be my guest but I will not just run away. I would fight to the death to protect the ponies of this planet."

LaurFa gave her a smile and replied, "Colgate, while I find it admirable that you would be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of this planet, I don't think you understand the powers a magic thief has. After they have stolen a lot of magic and have grown huge, they are almost invincible."

Colgate gave her an intense look and asked, "And you know this how?"

LaurFa turned to White Magick and ordered, "You're the one who saw a powerful magic thief go down, you tell her."

White Magick replied, "These magic thieves have been a problem that pre-dates Equestria, Ponyland had problems with them as well but the funny thing is, the villains that always plagued the ponies of that time did not want foreign invaders harming the inhabitants of Ponyland, they believed that was their job."

Colgate asked, "So tell me, what happened to the magic thieves. What did the villains of Ponyland do to make sure they didn't do what they believed was their job?"

White Magick replied, "It was kind of odd, Tirac used the Rainbow of Darkness on him and he was transformed into a hideous, unintelligent beast and then he killed it."

Colgate's ears perked up when she heard this. She asked, "Well that is good he killed it but this Rainbow of Darkness you mentioned. I learned in my mythology class that he would use it to turn ponies into beasts and then enslave them, is that true?"

White Magick replied, "Yes that is true and there was nothing that the ponies of the time could do to stop it. That thing's power is immense."

While Colgate and White Magick had been discussing this, the other leaders had been listening in. Some of them had nervous looks on their faces, Scootaloo, the one most like Colgate seemed fascinated by it but one, Twilight, had a look of fear on her face. She gave White Magick a nervous look and asked, "So if he uses this thing on us, what do we do?"

White Magick gave her a warm smile and replied, "If he does that, we will wind up being turned into beasts that he will enslave and if we don't serve his purpose, he will slay us."

Colgate couldn't help but do a facehoof when she heard this, she almost wondered if this was even the same pony she had known for so many millennia. She asked, "Seriously, you think he would be able to enslave us just like that? Do you not think that we would be able to write spells that would create a strong enough protection bubble to cause the energy of that thing to bounce off of it?"

White Magick replied, "Look, that thing has a lot more power than you think." He saw a scowl forming on Colgate's face and continued, "Look, I know you are one of the most powerful and well learned ponies in the world but writing a protection bubble spell that powerful would require a ton of work and a ton of thought....."

Scootaloo was not exactly thrilled seeing her mentor's abilities being questioned like that. She interrupted, "You know what, if anypony can write strong enough spells, it is Colgate!"

Colgate gave her a smile, "Thanks Scootaloo, at least somepony has confidence in my abilities."

White Magick got back on topic, "Listen, I know that you know the most advanced magic on all of Eqqus 1 and your abilities are only bested by mine and LaurFa." When he said this, a deep scowl formed on not just Colgate's face, but also Scootaloo's. He saw this and continued, "Colgate, don't get me wrong, you have spectacular abilities and your thirst for knowledge is unparalleled but LaurFa and I have faced things you have not and we needed to use more advanced magic than you have."

Colgate decided to simply drop the subject but decided to gather some more information, "Alright, this Rainbow of Darkness that Tirac had, what happened to it when you defeated him?"

White Magick replied, "You know, I don't exactly remember. I think he may have managed to hold onto it when we cast him into Tartarus."

Colgate's eyes grew wide with anger when she heard this. She screamed, "What? You just let him keep that thing when you cast him into Tartarus?" She raised her voice and her scream became angrier, "I would think that a leader as wise as you would know that allowing him to keep it would be a bad idea."

White Magick countered, "Listen, the magic of Tartarus not only drains the power of the villains thrown in there but any artifacts that they take with them."

Colgate continued, "And now that he has escaped and has that thing with him, who knows how soon it will be until he can start turning ponies into beasts." She became angrier as she finished, "When you defeated him, why didn't you just kill him? Why didn't you just turn him into centaur stew and lock that Rainbow of Darkness away somewhere that it would never pose a threat to anypony?"

White Magick threw his hooves up in the air and sighed, "Look, until you slayed Grogar, ponies never killed their foes, no matter how evil they were, we always banished them. It has never been the pony way of doing things."

Colgate glared at him and sneered, "Well perhaps it should have been. Had you killed Grogar back in the day" she pointed her hoof towards Twilight and continued, "your precious little Twily wouldn't have wound up being tied up in the elements like a common mule."

Celestia immediately yelled, "That was uncalled for and please don't refer to her as little Twily."

Colgate sighed and continued, "And had you had MY mindset, you would have killed Tirac." She then cast her gaze towards both Celestia and Luna and continued, "And had you two killed Tirek after Scorpan told you about what he was doing, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?"

The room went silent after Colgate said this. At that moment the other leaders, especially those who had dealt with the worst villains in the past realized that Colgate made a point, they realized that the ages old way of doing things did have serious flaws, the flaws of them returning.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Colgate had calmed down enough to return to a good discussion, "Ok, back on topic. This Rainbow of Darkness, you said it is nearly impossible to stop. Well obviously it was stopped since he didn't turn everypony into a beast."

White Magick replied, "Well back in the day, this girl named Megan Williams had this golden locket that had the Rainbow of Light in it. That was the only thing that could defeat that Rainbow of Darkness."

Almost immediately the wheels began to turn in her head. She saw this as a chance to perhaps take down not just one, but two foes, slay them and prove to everypony else that HER way was the only way. She asked, "So where is the last known location of this Rainbow of Light?"

White Magick replied, "I'm not sure if Megan Williams took it with her across the rainbow bridge or not but if she didn't, I would advise that we head deep into the Everfree Forest, find Dream Valley and search Dream Castle."

Colgate replied, "That sounds like a plan to me. I will grab a map and head out as soon as this meeting is adjourned."

White Magick suggested, "You know, I really think that you shouldn't go alone. That area of the forest is very tricky to navigate and if you aren't careful, you could either fall prey to creatures that are far worse than timberwolves or you could wind up getting into plants that could make you very ill. Also, I have been to Dream Castle so if there is anything left of it, I would know how to navigate it."

Colgate sighed, "Very well, whenever you are ready to head out and look for this artifact, we shall do so."

White Magick replied, "Well since they have escaped already, I would say the sooner the better." He suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute, I remember where it might be! It might be in the library!"

Both Colgate and Twilight's ears perked up when they heard him mention a library. Twilight gasped, "A library, a library!" She then became very enthusiastic and continued, "I know it is dangerous but do you think I could come too?"

White Magick grabbed her hoof, helped her off of her chair and replied, "Of course you can Twilight." He then cast his gaze towards Colgate and continued, "That isn't going to be a problem is it?"

The fact that Dream Castle had a library made Colgate very happy as well. The very first thought that went through her mind was that she could use her duplication spell on the library out there and add even more knowledge to her archives. She gave White Magick a smile and replied, "Of course it is ok. I know she has a love of knowledge so she may as well join us."

Both White Magick and Twilight were stunned by this. Twilight never imagined that Colgate would have no problems with her accompanying them on such a mission but White Magick couldn't help but be suspicious. He asked, "Seriously Colgate? I know you hate Twilight but all of a sudden it seems like you want her to come just because she has a love of knowledge?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I think it is important because perhaps she can learn something out there, something that will allow her to assist us in defeating Tirac and who knows, she may have the proper energy to use that Rainbow of Light."

Despite him still having his reservations about what Colgate's real intentions there were he replied, "Very well. I think we should rest up, get some food in our system and then head out tomorrow morning." She then cast her gaze at the other leaders and finished, "Meeting adjourned."

The meeting adjourned and Colgate along with her generals headed up to her chambers. Once they arrived Colgate closed the door and snickered, "You know something, this is a golden opportunity! I can use my spell on those books and with any luck, I can perhaps acquire that relic without them noticing."

Dark Night replied, "That would be great. Not only could you add a lot of new books to your archives but you could have something that would give Coastal Equestria a huge advantage over the other nations."

Colgate said, "That is right and that is why I'm wearing my saddlebags tomorrow because I certainly can't have his little Twily having something that may aid her in defeating them." She began stomping her hooves on the floor and continued, "I will not, I repeat, I will not allow that naive little thing to have an advantage over me!" She then pointed her hoof towards the door and finished, "You guys should get going. I need to scan the world and I don't want them thinking we are making any plans that they may not approve of."

Her generals left her chambers and Colgate tapped into the eye. The very first place she checked was the part of the Everfree Forest that she saw the two centaurs head into. She felt a bit less uneasy when she saw the two sitting there by a creek arguing over how long it was going to take for them to be able to act on their plans and how they would go about it. She laughed, "Perhaps if we are lucky, perhaps once it has enough power Tirac will use that thing on Tirek, kill him and then make this a bit easier for us!"