> Terror in Equestria 9:  Return of Tambelon
>  by StormLuna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> A Morning Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

King White Magick finally did what he needed to do to keep his realm safe, he cleansed the evil from then Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and returned her to being an Equestrian princess.  Not only did he do that, he also cleansed the evil from King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis.  This caused most of the ponies to believe that evil had been cleansed of evil forever but two ponies knew that in the deepest, darkest places of the world that evil still existed and could only hope that it never resurfaced as it was worse than anything the dark goddess could throw at the world. 





Three days had passed since the cleansings had taken place and everypony was partaking in one final breakfast in Twilight's new castle prior for heading to their new lands.  As they sat down to breakfast Twilight still couldn't believe the grandeur of her new home.  She gave LaurFa a smile and said, "Your Majesty, I know I've thanked you a lot before but I still can't believe that you would create something this wonderful for me!" 

LaurFa replied, "Well Princess, after everything you have been through, I figured you deserved a whole lot more than a simple library like you used to live in."

Twilight replied, "Thanks but I have to admit, my favorite part of the castle is the library!  There are so many wonderful books in there!..." 

White Magick interrupted, "Speaking of books, when are we going to remove those from the old archives so the negative energy they may contain doesn't seep out and cause Twilight potential harm?"

Celestia replied, "Well I would like to get the materials that were in the Canterlot Archives back up there as soon as possible." 

LaurFa added, "And I would like to get those from the Faustica Collection back home where they belong." 

Luna couldn't help but chuckle, "It is a good thing that Brevity isn't here because even the mention of Faustica would anger her, especially after she changed the name." 

Galaxia knew of the history involving LaurFa and her betrayal of Alicorn Island.  She asked, "LaurFa, I know the ponies over on Alicorn Island will still remember about how you betrayed them."  She paused for a minute before continuing, "LaurFa, I'm thinking it may be best if Cosmos and I came with you before we head to Saddle Arabia." 

Cosmos added, "I do think that would be a good idea.  If we tell them that you have been freed of what was controlling you they may be more likely to warm up to you again since they trust us." 

It stung LaurFa that they believed the citizens may not receive her all that well but at the same time she knew that they spoke the truth.  She replied, "Yeah, that would likely be for the best." 

One new leader, Blue Star, had yet to speak that morning despite having legitimate concerns.  He finally spoke up, "Father, I know I along with the other leaders are set to head out today but what am I going to do?  I have a tiny military and I don't have a single civilian that will be living in Neigh Zealand!" 

White Magick replied, "Son, I will give you some dark Alicorn and changeling soldiers and the duplication spells.  I will also give you the proper spell to make some of them officer material."  He saw a slight look of relief on his son's face and continued, "And don't worry, some of the unicorn army will go with you as well but DO NOT duplicate them!  Only duplicate the dark Alicorn and changeling soldiers." 

He asked, "But what about civilians?  How will I get ponies to relocate to Neigh Zealand?"

White Magick began to say something when LaurFa interrupted, "Don't worry Blue Star, I'm sure that I can convince ponies from other countries to relocate there."

Scootaloo asked, "What about me?  Don't I get a military?"

Many of them knew about Scootaloo's past and especially how she would torture enemies back during the Great War and had their concerns, LaurFa in particular.  She asked, "Scootaloo, are you sure that we could trust you with a military?"

Galaxia added, "I know what you did so long ago was for the good of the world but I know what you did to General Black Feet, I know about the torture methods you used...." 

Most of the ponies seemed to agree with LaurFa and Galaxia but one did not.  White Magick interrupted, "Ladies, while I don't know about her past or if she committed any atrocities in prior wars, I do think that she should be given a military."  He saw a smile developing on Scootaloo's face and he continued, "Tell you what Scootaloo, I'll give you a few of my dark Alicorn soldiers, a few changeling soldiers, the duplication spell and the spell to transform some of them into officers." 

Scootaloo's eyes lit up, "Really?!"

Immediately LaurFa objected to this, "King White Magick, I know you mean well but I do not want to recreate the world that existed for so long.  I do not want to simply recreate a world where every nation is armed and has the ability to start another war!" 

Luna was not quite in the same mindset as she felt that White Magick had a good idea.  She said, "LaurFa, if things are still like they were a thousand years ago, there should still be soldiers like them in the Equine Empire so I don't see any problems with the Crystal Empire having the same."

White Magick got a case of the shivers like he did when the eye first spotted him but this time it was for a different reason.  Everypony saw this and Blue Star asked, "Father, what is wrong?  Why did you get the shivers?"

In a somewhat frantic voice he said, "Everypony, I have a feeling that every nation must be armed with a decent sized army because I have a bad feeling." 

Everypony gasped, "What about?"

He looked at LaurFa and motioned for her to join him in the next room.  She followed him to the next room and asked, "White Magick, what is wrong?  What do you have a bad feeling about?"

White Magick lowered his voice and replied, "I don't know exactly what it is but I have a feeling that all the negative energy that was released from the three I cleansed may cause an ancient evil to return." 

LaurFa's pupils shrank when she heard this.  She got a nervous look on her face and asked, "Are you talking about Grogar, Tirac or one of the other ancient evils from before I arrived?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, I am."

LaurFa and White Magick had both believed that it would be best if the ancient evils be hidden from everypony else but knew now that if White Magick is worried about was to come to pass, that everypony must know about it.  LaurFa suggested, "White Magick, we must let them know about this and then make plans on how to handle it if one of them were to return."  She pointed her hoof back towards the dining hall and continued, "Let's just hope that none of them freak out over this, especially Twilight since in her mind and heart she is very young compared to the rest of us." 

White Magick followed her knowing that this would likely terrify them, especially Twilight, but realized that the number one weapon when it would come to handling ancient evils is knowledge.  He began to realize that it may be more than just Twilight that he would have to invite to his realm.
> White Magick's History Lesson
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After LaurFa and White Magick had discussed his concerns and reasoning as to why each nation should have a strong military, they knew that things they had wanted to keep hidden from the ponies of the modern world would have to be revealed.  

When White Magick and LaurFa returned to the dining hall they saw that everypony was having a lighthearted, casual discussion but they went quiet when White Magick said, "May we have your attention please?"

Everypony went quiet as White Magick continued, "Alright, as you all know three days ago we had not only Princess Twilight Sparkle returned to us, but also King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis were cleansed of their evils but I do have my concerns that all that negative energy that was released may have a negative consequence." 

Everypony gasped in concern but it was Twilight who seemed the most concerned as she was one of those who were cleansed of evil.  She asked, "What is it?  What do you think might happen?"

Given that more ponies knew her and would be more likely to believe her, LaurFa decided to answer those questions, "Alright, what White Magick is going to tell you may not sound all that believable to you but trust me, what he is going to say is the truth."  She pointed her hoof at White Magick and continued, "The floor is yours."

White Magick stepped forward and began, "As many of you have probably been taught in your lives, before the founding of Equestria and the dark times that preceded it, there was this land known as Ponyland and it had quite a few dark evils that plagued it, perhaps among the darkest evils of all time." 

Everypony with the exception of Galaxia and Cosmos began to snicker a bit, particularly Scootaloo.  She laughed, "Come on, everypony knows that is all a myth and those evils are just fairy tales meant to scare." 

LaurFa gave her an intense glare as White Magick replied, "Actually no Scootaloo, everything that is in those mythology books here in Equestria are very real."

Most everypony gasped, "Seriously, they're real?"  

Celestia chimed in, "But how would you know?"

White Magick replied, "Because I was here.  I along with my wife were involved in the battles between the ponies of that time against Lord Grogar of Tambelon."  He took a breath and continued, "Thankfully the ponies of Dream Valley had Megan Williams on their side to ring the ancient bell and send Grogar, his minions and the city of Tambelon back into the deepest, darkest places of the world." 

The only two ponies besides LaurFa who knew anything about this were Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos.  Galaxia asked, "Alright, we know about that but you mentioned you had concerns about all the negative energy released during the cleansings having a negative consequence.  What is this negative consequence that you speak of?"

White Magick replied, "Here is the thing, I'm not sure if this will actually happen but I do have my concerns about what all that negative energy may do.  I have my concerns that it may cause Tambelon, Grogar and all of his minions to return."

Like Ponyland and Dream Valley, most of the ponies in the room had been taught that Grogar was a myth.  Out of all the ponies though, Twilight seemed to be the most curious.  She asked, "What would a return by Grogar mean for Equestria and this whole planet?"

White Magick could tell just by the way Twilight was acting that she was wanting to find out in a way that would be more than just his words alone.  He suggested, "What would all of you think about joining me as I return to my realm.  I have what is likely the most extensive library on the planet and you could learn a lot more there than simply from what I tell you."

Despite him already having told her about his library back home Twilight was the first to enthusiastically agree to go with him.  The other leaders, were a bit more apprehensive.  Galaxia and Cosmos really wanted to return to Saddle Arabia, Luna wanted to resume her old duties in the Equine Empire, Celestia was in a hurry to get Canterlot repopulated and restored and given that LaurFa knew quite a bit about the past she wanted to return to Alicorn Island.  Blue Star already knew everything there was to know and Scootaloo wanted to hurry up and get herself established in the Crystal Empire.  After hearing each leader's explanation for wanting to head to their new lands he said, "Alright Princess Twilight, I guess you will be joining me alone." 

Twilight developed a mile wide smile on her face and asked, "So when do you think we should get going?"

White Magick replied, "Soon but like I have said, I need to duplicate dark Alicorn and changeling soldiers, give the leaders the proper spells so they can duplicate them.  After all, if they are to build proper sized armies they will need them." 

Given that everypony would be a great distance apart if any ancient evils were to arise, one pony began to wonder how they would notify one another.  Galaxia asked, "White Magick, let's say one of those ancient evils were to return, how would we be able to notify one another if our worst nightmare was to come true?"

This was something that White Magick was unsure of but one pony did speak up, Scootaloo.  Scootaloo asked, "Supreme Commander Colgate!  We could always try to get in touch with her!"

White Magick didn't know much about Colgate except that she used to be a leader so he asked, "Why this Colgate pony?"

Scootaloo replied, "She is a time lady!  In the days of old she could travel the world, pick up other leaders and get back to Ponyville in just minutes!"

Before anypony else could say anything LaurFa suggested, "I remember how she would do that but I don't know exactly how we'd do it but perhaps if it came down to that, I might be able to contact them."

White Magick asked, "And how would you be able do to that?"

LaurFa replied, "I could try flashing my horn skywards and hope that the right energy would reach my sister since she can teleport from world to world." 

Luna added, "And hope that she brings Colgate with her?"

Many of the ponies present were pretty sure that it would work but two were more skeptical, White Magick and Blue Star.  Blue Star asked, "Are you sure that simply flashing your horn would do the trick?"

White Magick added, "You know, instead of waiting until everything is going downhill to contact her, I want to see if this works now.  I won't believe it unless I see it with my own eyes."

LaurFa replied, "Well I suppose I could try it.  It would be better to do it while everything is peaceful." 

LaurFa headed towards the exit and was followed by everypony.  Most everypony was confident that she could do it save two, White Magick and Blue Star.  They hoped that she would be able to but believed that the time Brevity along with the others returned was solely because of a sudden, one time burst of her energy being released. 

Once they got outside LaurFa pointed her horn roughly in the direction that she believed the planet Brevity and Colgate had gone to and began flashing her horn rather quickly as though she were trying to send a message.  Even though she didn't have complete confidence in herself, she could only hope that it would work.
> Return of the Supreme Commander
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Receiving A Message

Late evening had arrived in the eastern region of Saddle Arabia on what Colgate and Brevity Thrash have decided to give the name Eqqus 2.  They were looking off to the east when they saw what appeared to be a reddish-white light flashing rather quickly.  Colgate pointed at it and commented, "Is that a new star or something?  I don't remember seeing that before." 

Brevity stared at the light and replied, "Colgate, that is no star.  Brevity's sister needs us back home." 

It had not been that long since they returned and Colgate asked, "How do you know that?  Can you pick up some sort of message in the flashing?"

Brevity replied, "Yes, Brevity can pick up a message."  She paused for a minute to continue picking up the message.  Once the light finished flashing she continued, "Our sister needs not just Brevity, but also needs thee and thy generals." 

Colgate cast her gaze back towards her generals and ordered, "Dark Night, Lightning Storm, Brevity needs you two up here with us, now."

Once again the ponies realized that those that were leading them to their new lands would be leaving.  One of them asked, "Are all of you going?"

Another pony asked, "How long will you be gone for?"

Brevity replied, "With the exception of Frigid Wind and Deadly Cloud, yes the rest of us are going."

Colgate added, "How long we will be gone for I am not sure but we will be back.  Maybe they just need us for a bit of advice." 

Brevity ordered, "Alright everypony, gather around Brevity so that she may cast the necessary spell."

Brevity's horn began to glow pink and a yellowish-pink bubble formed around the four and she recited, 

"To the old world we shall go even if it is just for a brief while or so
Whether it be simply for what happened for us to see or if it is this world some wish to flee
Now the time for us to go has come and a brief stay is what awaits some." 

The bring pink ball dissipated along with the four inside it and like it did before, it caused the ponies of Eqqus 2 to wonder what was going on and just like the last time, the remaining officers had to reassure them that everything would be ok and that they would return. 





Another Return to Equestria

Five minutes had passed since LaurFa sent her message to Brevity and everypony was anxiously awaiting not only her return, but that of Colgate and her generals.  Most everypony continued to wait in anticipation but one had come to the realization that this likely would not happen.  White Magick sighed, "Well either they didn't get the message or you simply can't do it."

Blue Star added, "I guess it's a good thing that we didn't try this in a dire situation." 

Just as soon as he finished his statement a yellowish-pink bubble appeared in the sky above them.  LaurFa gave the two a smile and said, "Well it looks like it did work!" 

The bubble popped and out of it came two Alicorns, a dark Alicorn and a changeling.  The first pony to say anything was Brevity, "Sister, we got thy message.  What hast caused thou to contact us?"

LaurFa pointed her hoof at White Magick and replied, "I would suggest you speak to him about it." 

Brevity approached him and asked, "White Magick, why didst thou deem it necessary to have us return so quickly?"

White Magick replied, "I wouldn't say it is necessary yet but as you know I cleansed not only Twilight Sparkle of the evil that had consumed her but also King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis." 

Brevity said, "Yes, Brevity knows that." 

White Magick continued, "I may just be overly paranoid but all of that negative energy that fled out of them may cause something very bad to happen.  It may cause some ancient evil to return." 

Brevity leaned in and asked, "We take it that thy concerns involve a potential return of *Tirac or Grogar?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, it does." 

Brevity was not overly thrilled over them being asked to come over something as mundane as one big maybe.  She asked, "If one of them was to eventually return, what wouldst thou want us to do about it?"

White Magick replied, "Well this really involves Colgate more than anypony else.  We were thinking that if something was to arise, that she could use her time magic to notify all the leaders in a hurry." 

Brevity pointed her hoof towards Colgate and sighed, "Brevity would suggest that thou take thy concerns to her." 

White Magick nodded and headed over to Colgate and tapped her on the shoulder.  Colgate turned around to see the same Alicorn stallion that she had seen the last time she was in Equestria.  Given that she did not interact with him she was not completely sure as to what his name was.  She asked, "King White Magick is it?"

White Magic replied, "Yes but you can just call me White Magick."  He paused for a minute and asked, "Brevity said you are Colgate, correct?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, well Supreme Commander Colgate but you can just call me Colgate.  So what is it you wished to discuss with me?"

He pointed his hoof over towards Scootaloo and said, "Scootaloo said that you are a time lady and that you could travel the world in minutes during past wars.  Is that true?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, that is true.  It aided tremendously in war efforts and making sure that Equestria would not fall to any foes."  Her voice became more proud as she continued, "It even aided me in making sure that a foe of mine, one who attacked Equestria, was punished in due time." 

White Magick was not overly fond of her attitude, an attitude which he considered a bit arrogant but did not say anything.  He then pointed his hoof towards LaurFa and said, "LaurFa has a question she needs to ask you, it is one of great importance and one that would aid in global security." 

Colgate sighed, "Alright, I shall speak with her.  I just hope it doesn't take too long, Brevity and I are needed back home." 

Again White Magick did not like her demeanor and had his concerns over that whatever she was talking about being needed "back home" would cause her to not want to help but he held out a small amount of hope. 





A Discussion With Colgate

Colgate approached LaurFa, tapped her on the shoulder and asked, "LaurFa, you wish to speak to me about something involving global security?"

LaurFa replied, "Yes but I think everypony must have our attention while I do so."  Colgate sighed as LaurFa got everypony's attention, "Attention everypony.  Colgate is here and I think you need to pay attention to our discussion." 

Everypony went silent and Colgate could tell that this was likely not going to just be LaurFa asking for friendly advice.  She asked, "Alright, now that you have everypony's attention, what is it you want to talk about?"

LaurFa replied, "As you know, the last time all of you were summoned here it was because Twilight, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis were cleansed of their evil." 

Colgate sighed, "Yes and what does this have to do with me?"

LaurFa motioned for White Magick to approach the two and state their reason.  He began, "Colgate, from what Scootaloo has told me, you are a time lady and I believe that we may be facing a threat that would make your magic very valuable." 

Colgate asked, "And what is this reason?"

White Magick replied, "When I tell you the reasoning please do not laugh, snicker or think I am full of myself."  Colgate nodded in agreement and he continued, "Here is the thing, I have my concerns that all that dark magic that was released from those three that I cleansed may cause an ancient evil to return....an evil named Grogar."  

Colgate had been taught about Grogar, Ponyland and Tambelon many millennia ago in Celestia's school and unlike others in her school, she always had a nagging voice in her head telling her that such things were no myth, that they were historical fact.  She replied, "Alright, you have your concerns about Grogar and Tambelon returning but I still don't get why this would involve me." 

White Magick replied, "Like Scootaloo said, you are a time lady and have the ability to travel the world in minutes.  She brought up how you could gather up world leaders in nothing flat and that aided in saving Equestria on multiple occasions."

It was at that moment that Colgate began to realize what it was that they were going to ask of her.  She asked, "I take it you want me to stay here in Equestria and aid the world in the event Grogar or some other evil was to return?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, that is what we want." 

This was something that Colgate seriously was hoping would not happen but in one way she did miss what her and Brevity now referred to as Eqqus 1.  The wheels began to turn in her head and she began to think that perhaps rather than having to start completely from scratch that she could have a ready made nation, one that she used to rule over if she got the right deal.  She ordered, "How about you, me, my generals, Brevity, LaurFa and the other world leaders have a meeting in Twilight's dining hall and discuss this further."

LaurFa said, "You hear that everypony, all the leaders are to have a meeting in the dining hall." 

Colgate and LaurFa headed to the dining hall and were followed by the others.  While Colgate couldn't help but smile knowing that since her magic could aid this world immensely and that would likely allow her demands to be met, the others couldn't help but have a sense of doubt flowing within them.  They knew that the Colgate of old was smart and calculating and assumed that she likely had not changed any.
> Colgate's Demands
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once everypony had arrived in the dining hall they all sat down but given that she was going to be a large part of this discussion, Colgate sat at the head of the table much to Twilight's dismay.  She asked, "Colgate, this is my castle so shouldn't I be sitting at the head of the table." 

Colgate gave her a smile and replied, "Normally you would Twilight but since I am going to be in charge in this discussion, I figured I may as well be." 

The other leaders, especially those who were allies of Colgate's could tell that she had not changed one bit.  They could tell that she was still the same Colgate who liked to be in charge and keep order.  Colgate cast her gaze at the other ponies and asked, "Alright, so like you said earlier, all of you want me to return here to Eqqus 1 in the event Grogar was to return." 

Celestia asked, "Eqqus 1?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, Eqqus 1.  That is the title Brevity and I use for this place and we refer to what is our home now as Eqqus 2."  She took a short breath before continuing, "White Magick, you said that you believe that all the evil that was released when you did your cleansings may cause him and Tambelon to return.  What I would like to know is why you feel that way?"

White Magick replied, "I feel that way because that much evil spreading out across the world may cause it to return from the darkness it was cast back into the last time Grogar was defeated."

Colgate simply sighed, "Oh?"

White Magick continued, "And we are long overdue for Tambelon to return.  The first time he was defeated he wound up returning after just five hundred years.  It has been well over 10,000 years since then.  I have my concerns that he could return at any time." 

One part of Colgate could see where he was coming from but another part was frustrated.  She put her hoof up to her forehead and suggested, "I think I know why he has yet to return.  His returns back then were tied to the magic of Ponyland.  That magic ceased to exist the day Ponyland ceased to exist so I doubt we have anything to worry about." 

White Magick asked, "But the darkness of Sombra and Chrysalis....."

Colgate interrupted, "Are full of Equestrian dark magic.  Like I said, everything should be fine." 

Colgate's skepticism was starting to frustrate the other ponies in the room, particularly LaurFa.  She glared at Colgate and stated, "Colgate, I know you are making good points but none of us really want to take a chance." 

Luna added, "And you are the only pony with the magic to be able to alert us all in time so we can gather together and make a plan on how to defeat him or any other evil that may rise." 

Colgate was not enjoying all of what she considered paranoia on their part but knew that now would be as good of a time as any to finally act on what she was planning.  She replied, "Tell you what, I'll stay here since my magic is so valuable BUT I do have conditions that must be met." 

Everypony with the exception of Scootaloo and Brevity gasped in shock.  To many of them, especially Galaxia, this was a sign of Colgate being not just greedy but full of herself as well.  She asked, "Seriously Colgate, you have conditions that must be met?  Can't you just help us out of the goodness of your heart?"

Colgate replied, "Listen, on Eqqus 2 I have plans on establishing our Equestria but if you want me to stay here and give that up, I want something in return for the sacrifices I will be making." 

The other leaders looked at one another and quickly realized that if they wanted her help, that they would have to give Colgate something.  LaurFa asked, "Colgate, so what is it that you want?"

Colgate replied, "Well for starters, I was a leader in this world in the past and one part of my demands will be that I have a nation of my own to rule over."  She began to look around with a smile on her face and laughed, "You know, Equestria did fine with me before and I'm sure it would be do just fine with me again."  She continued to look around and continued, "And I must say, this castle here is quite posh.  I think it would make a great home and given that the base is still here, I think Ponyville would be a perfect capitol." 

With the exception of Brevity, everypony immediately objected.  Celestia raised her voice and said, "Colgate, I know you ruled Equestria for a long time but you can not have it back!" 

Twilight added, "Yeah, Princess Celestia and I will be ruling together and this castle is my home!" 

Colgate asked, "Well then, what about the Equine Empire?"

Luna, using the loudest form of the Canterlot Voice yelled, "No, thou will not take our country.  The Equine Empire is ruled by thy Queen of the Night." 

Colgate could tell that this was quickly going to go nowhere and knew there had to be a better way.  She turned to Twilight and asked, "Twilight, I'm sure you have maps in your library.  Go grab one, the most modern one you have and bring it up here." 

Twilight knew that Colgate meant business so she rushed to get a map, causing the others to wonder what Colgate was really up to.  Celestia, who was visibly the most upset over Colgate's current demands spoke up, "Colgate, why are you being like this?"  She got a nervous look on her face and asked, "You aren't going to try and take over the world are you?"

Colgate laughed, "Of course not!  Had I wanted to rule the whole world I would have after Twilight was banished to the sun and if not then, after Twilight was unmade."  She raised her voice and continued, "Listen, I had plenty of chances to rule the roost here on Eqqus 1 but I didn't.  I simply believe I should have a leadership role somewhere." 

Before their conversation could continue, Twilight arrived with a map.  She spread it out in front of Colgate and things generally did not look any different than it did a thousand years ago.  The Equine Empire was huge and one part of her wanted half of it but the half she would wind up with would be sparsely populated.  She then turned to Equestria and focused on the east coast, the part of Equestria that is not too far away from where Tambelon would return if it did.  She pointed her hoof to the northeastern coast and said, "The area that includes the cities of Fillydelphia, Manehattan, Neighark and spreading west to Marentreal, that is the territory I want if I am to give up what I have on Eqqus 2." 

Celestia slammed her hoof down on the table and yelled, "Are you serious?  That is basically half the population of Equestria!" 

Twilight added, "Colgate, isn't there something else that might look appealing to you?  Isn't there somewhere that you might want to maybe co-rule instead?"  She looked at Celestia and suggested, "Maybe she could co-rule with us here in Equestria instead of taking land and making her own nation." 

Colgate scowled at the two and then turned to Brevity.  "Well Brevity, shall we round up our soldiers and get going because they have clearly shown that they must not want my help to prevent any evils form destroying this world as badly as they claim."  

Just as Brevity was beginning to reply Celestia spoke up, "Fine!  You can have that territory!" 

Luna asked, "So what else do you want?"

Colgate replied, "Well I should be able to create a tower on my own so I won't worry about that but I will need knowledge and a way to see everything coming as it happens in real time." 

It didn't take long for most of the other ponies to know what she was expecting.  White Magick asked, "Colgate, are you wanting copies of every book in Twilight's archives?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I am."

LaurFa could understand her desire for knowledge but knew that she needed to make one thing clear right away, "Colgate, I am sorry but there is no more jade Alicorn for anypony to use.  It was shattered when Twilight's old tower collapsed on it."

Colgate sighed in frustration but then remembered the old legends of how the jade Alicorn was found in a cave on Alicorn Island.  She suggested, "LaurFa, I know that the jade Alicorn was found in a cave on Alicorn Island.  I'm wondering if there may be another relic in there that would give me the ability to see across the world?"

LaurFa immediately protested, "No Colgate.  We do not need somepony constantly scanning the world like that.  It bothers me enough that you're going to have a tower built but the fact that you want an eye with it is unacceptable." 

Colgate sighed, "Very well then."  She again turned to Brevity and continued, "Shall we get going?  I'm sure the ponies of Eqqus 2 are anticipating......"

LaurFa interrupted, "Fine!  We can go look for some sort of relic that you might be able to use." 

Colgate again stood up and suggested, "Well LaurFa, shall we?"

LaurFa asked, "You will be using your time spell to get us there won't you?"

Colgate replied, "Of course I will!  You should know that I don't want to spend days doing this."  After saying this something crossed her mind, if a gem exists that would aid her in seeing everything, that having somepony that can find gems would be useful.  She turned to Twilight and asked, "Where is Rarity at this time of day?"

Twilight asked in return, "Well normally she is at Sugarcube Corner but why would you need her?"

Colgate replied, "Because she can find gems and having her there will make things go by more quickly." 

Colgate got up and motioned for LaurFa to follow her.  They headed towards Sugarcube Corner and LaurFa couldn't help but feel irritated.  She thought it was bad enough that Colgate was demanding so much but thought it was worse that she would enlist another pony to aid them in finding a gem.

When they arrived everypony looked in shock to see Colgate there.  The first one to say anything was Applejack, "Colgate, you're back?  What are y'all doing back?  Ah thought you were staying on that new world." 

Colgate replied, "Why I'm back can wait until later."  She pointed her hoof at Rarity and continued, "Rarity, LaurFa and I need your help." 

Rarity asked, "What do you need my help with darlings?"

Colgate replied, "I know you can find gems and we need somepony to aid us in finding a gem on Alicorn Island, a special gem that will allow me to protect this world."

Before anypony else could say anything LaurFa added, "You see, she has decided to stay here in the event any kind of evil was to return and she thinks there may be another special gem there, one similar to the jade Alicorn, one that would allow her to see everything."

Colgate was giving Rarity one of those looks similar to the one she did so long ago when she sassed her on the base, a look that unnerved her.  She got up and replied, "Alright Colgate, I'll help you."

Colgate said, "Good.  I just hope your wings are still in good enough shape to help carry us along in a time bubble." 

Rarity gasped, "Colgate, none of our wings are that strong!  We haven't had to do much of any flying in over a millennium!"

Colgate sighed, "Well just try and fly as fast as you can then....she turned to LaurFa and added, you too LaurFa.   I don't want to be not only trying to keep that thing moving but carry you as well." 

The two nodded and followed Colgate outside. 

Once they got outside Colgate ordered LaurFa and Rarity to fly up beside her.  After everything was in order, Colgate did something she had not done in over a thousand years, she began the complex process of a time spell.  First she recited, 

"A bubble is what we need so from frozen time we  can be freed,
In this bubble we can move fast, while everything else is  stuck in the past,
It is frozen time which through we must pass so we  will never be late to class."

As soon as she cast it, the three were enclosed in a bubble but the next part was the trickiest because if Colgate didn't get it just right, time would be eternally frozen.  She poked her horn just barely out of the bubble and recited, 

"Tick tock, tick  tock, look at the racing clock,
What is short is time and being late is a  crime, we must finish on top so it is time I must stop, 
With time  froze, it is my enemies I shall bulldoze."

The moment she cast it time outside of the bubble was frozen and the three began to fly off to the west but Colgate became angry when LaurFa and Rarity was not flying all that fast.  She yelled, "LaurFa, Rarity, I need you two to fly fast enough that we can get this thing going and break the sound barrier." 

Rarity had never been involved in moving a time bubble and it had been ages since LaurFa had to aid in getting it going and she had forgot how fast they had to fly.  No matter how hard they tried, it seemed like they just couldn't get up to the right speed and while Colgate did have it moving at a decent pace, it still wasn't fast enough for her liking. 

She yelled, "Come on you two, I can't carry you and this time bubble at the same time.  Fly faster damn it, fly faster!" 

The growl in Colgate's voice reminded Rarity of the old Colgate, the one who had absolutely no patience and was partially responsible for her getting locked in the dungeon so she started flying faster and soon, despite LaurFa not having the strength to do, they were able to break the sound barrier and got to Alicorn Island fairly quickly. 

Once they arrived at the island they stopped right over what would soon again be LaurFa's palace so Colgate could undo the time bubble.  First she would have to recite the spell to unfreeze time, 

"Look  at the clock, it is stuck in place, with this there can be no pace,  
Everything is still but that does not fit the bill, 
For now the clock  shall again run so everypony can have fun."

As soon as she cast it, time outside the bubble began to run and the ponies of the world could return to doing what they were before.  Next she would cast the spell to undo the time bubble, 

"In the bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and  allows fun,
The bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst, 
From the  bubble we are now free and everything we can clearly see."

As soon as she finished the spell the bubble broke and they were able to float down to the ground but LaurFa's return would not go unnoticed.  One pony yelled, "It's her!  It's the pony who betrayed us and joined the dark goddess!" 

Another pony yelled, "Let's get her!  She must be punished for her betrayal!" 

Given that they were all Alicorns, Rarity and even LaurFa herself began to get nervous but Colgate remained calm.  She stepped in front of LaurFa and said, "Ponies, LaurFa is no longer corrupted by the dark goddess.  She is good now and will resume her leadership role here fairly soon." 

One pony yelled, "Never, we will not bow....."

Another pony came to LaurFa's defense.  He said, "Look, if Supreme Commander Colgate is vouching for her, then she means us no harm." 

The rest of the crowd knew that he spoke the truth but they did not go flocking to her like they did in the old days, they simply returned to their business.  Colgate saw this and asked, "Well since you aren't being mobbed by an adoring crowd, lead me to where you initially found the jade Alicorn." 

LaurFa nodded and the three took flight to the opposite side of the island where they found a cave in the side of a mountain.  As they headed in LaurFa got a case of the shivers as it had probably been at least ten millennia since she had last been in there.  They lit up their horns and headed into the old cave.

Almost immediately Rarity began locating gems but the three figured that if there was another kind of special gem, that it would not be located so close to the exit.  Colgate asked, "Rarity, now do you only have the ability to find gems or can you also tell what shape they are?"

Rarity replied, "Colgate darling, all I can do is find gems!  I've never even attempted to see if I can tell their shape." 

Colgate asked, "Well could you see if you can?  If we can find a gem, probably in the shape of an Alicorn, we can get back sooner." 

Rarity sighed in frustration but soon discovered that she could also tell what shape they were.  They continued to go further and further back and Rarity had yet to find any special shaped gem.  Finally after what seemed to be forever they reached the very back of the cave.  The back cave wall was completely devoid of gems which surprised the three and caused Colgate to wonder what was up.  

She began pounding her hoof on the wall and noticed something, it didn't seem solid.  She asked, "LaurFa, did you find the jade Alicorn in some sort of hidden chamber because this seems hollow back here." 

LaurFa replied, "It's been so long that I honestly don't remember.  All I remember is finding the jade Alicorn and the golden plate together." 

Colgate sighed in disgust as she felt LaurFa did know but didn't want to tell her.  She knew that LaurFa didn't want her having any advantages over the others but something in her mind was telling her that what she wants may be behind that hollow rock.  Without warning anypony she began firing energy at the cave wall until it fell in and revealed a hidden chamber. 

Colgate could see something in there given how much light her horn gave off.  She said, "Come on ladies, I think I see something in here." 

Colgate lit up her horn even brighter and in the cave were many, many gems but one in particular caught her eye.  In the center of the chamber, sitting on a pedestal was a gold plate with a blue gem on it.  The three approached it and saw that it wasn't any ordinary gem, it was a sapphire in the shape of an Alicorn.  Colgate began to inspect it much more closely and realized that this may be what she needed.  She turned to LaurFa and asked, "LaurFa, when you found the jade Alicorn how long was it until you decided to see if you could spy on the whole world with it?"

LaurFa replied, "It was quite a while until I took it up to my room and wrote the proper spell to see if it would work."

Colgate suggested, "Alright then, we are going up to your room and I'm going to see if this is what I need.  I didn't come all the way out here simply for a pretty plate and a unique gem." 

Her companions nodded and they headed to the exit of the cave before flying to the castle and into LaurFa's old bedroom.  Colgate saw a pedestal near the balcony and asked, "Was this where you set it?"

LaurFa replied, "Yes, it was." 

While Colgate knew the spell to change the color of the eye and change who can use it, she had no clue as how to activate it.  She asked, "LaurFa, could you give me the spell to activate this assuming it is the same?"

LaurFa replied, "Colgate, do you know how long it is since I have activated that thing?  I don't even know what the spell was, much less the energies involved in it." 

Colgate sighed in frustration, "Well I suppose we are going to be staying here until I can write a spell to activate this thing."

Colgate grabbed a pen and some paper and began to wrack her brain trying to figure out how to even begin when she heard LaurFa say, "I remember it!  I remember the spell for the jade Alicorn!"

Rarity added, "Perhaps the one for this one will be similar." 

Colgate replied, "Alright then, read it for me." 

LaurFa recited,  

"The jade Alicorn will help me see all, without it I might miss a brawl,  
While the distances are great, I can see all the hate, 
Wisdom is what  comes along with the eye so that overthrowing me nopony will try." 

Colgate wrote that down and said, "Alright but with this one being made out of sapphire, I have a feeling that the wording may have to be different."  Rarity began to say something when Colgate interrupted, "Give me some silence while I do this, I can not have any distractions." 

The two went silent while Colgate began thinking of what would need to be changed.  After an hour she finally came up with what she thought it might be and wrote down, 

"The Alicorn of sapphire shall allow me to see it all, without it I might miss a brawl,
Seeing all this ensures nothing I will miss, I will see if anything goes amiss,
Advance warning is what comes with the eye so deposing me nopony will try" 

Once Colgate got it wrote down she ordered, "LaurFa, set the plate and the sapphire Alicorn on that pedestal so I can see if this will work." 

LaurFa did as requested and Colgate headed over to it.  Her eyes began to shine blue, her horn lit up and she recited, 

"The Alicorn of sapphire shall allow me to see it all, without it I might miss a brawl,
Seeing all this ensures nothing I will miss, I will see if anything goes amiss,
Advance warning is what comes with the eye so deposing me nopony will try" 

As she finished reciting the spell, a powerful bolt of energy struck the sapphire Alicorn.  Suddenly a blue eye appeared above the palace and Colgate stared into the Alicorn and could see everything that was going on in the world.  Much to her delight, everything was going as it normally would and there were no problems.  She began flying around shouting, "Yes, yes, yes, yes it worked!"  Now I can take this baby home, get my tower built and then fire it up and monitor everything." 

LaurFa still didn't like how Colgate wanted a tower.  She asked, "Colgate, why is it you want a tower?  A tower is what Twilight initially had built.  Would you settle perhaps for a regular castle instead?"

Colgate replied, "No.  I want the tower to be similar to how Twilight's was because the platform on top was the perfect place for the eye and besides, I did like the whole design of that place."

She took the sapphire Alicorn and plate off the pedestal and the eye disappeared.  She began to look around and asked, "LaurFa, I also remember the jade Alicorn having a case.  Did you find that in the cave as well or did you have it made?"

LaurFa replied, "I had it made.  There was no case that came with it."

Colgate sighed, "Well I suppose I'll have to find something to carry it in."  She headed over to LaurFa's old closet and began digging around which did not please her one bit."  

LaurFa yelled, "Colgate, what are you doing in my closet?"

Colgate snapped back, "I'm looking to see if......"  She suddenly went quiet when she found something that nopony even knew existed, a secret compartment.  She said to herself, "Hmmm, I wonder what could be in here?"

She grasped the block that was hiding the compartment and removed it.  In it was a golden box, exactly like the one that held the jade Alicorn.  She removed it and exclaimed, "Well it looks like I'll have something to carry it in after all!" 

LaurFa was not thrilled when she saw what Colgate had found but knew that if she didn't let her use it, that she may simply decide to take the sapphire Alicorn and then return to Eqqus 2 so she replied, "Well that's good." 

Colgate opened the case and put the Alicorn and the golden plate in it.  Once she had it locked she began looking for something else, some saddlebags to carry it in so she wouldn't have to be holding it with her magic while she had time frozen.  She asked, "LaurFa, do you know if there are any spare saddle bags around?  Some would come in really handy right now." 

LaurFa levitated a pair out of her closet and onto Colgate's back.  Colgate thanked her and put the box in her new saddlebags and asked, "Well ladies, since we found what I was looking for, shall we get back to Ponyville?" 

LaurFa replied, "Yes, let's go."

Rarity added, "I think that would be splendid." 

Colgate led the two outside and cast the proper spells so that they could get going again.  Like it was on the way out there, both Rarity and LaurFa had trouble flying fast enough for Colgate's liking but eventually both were able to match Colgate's speed and the time bubble was flying right along.

It didn't take long for them to get home and once Colgate resumed the flow of time and undone the bubble, only two hours had passed and most of that passed while they were in the cave and figuring out how to get the sapphire Alicorn to work.

Upon arrival back in Ponyville, Rarity headed home while LaurFa and Colgate returned to the throne room.  When they arrived and Colgate proudly pulled the gold case she had her new acquisitions stored in, everypony but Brevity and Scootaloo were upset.  The first to say anything was Celestia, "Colgate, did you really have to do this?  Do you really have to spy...."

Colgate interrupted, "You mean monitor the world."  She sighed and continued, "Look, if you want me to aid in keeping Eqqus 1 safe, you'll be happy that I have what I need."  

Another pony who was not thrilled with Colgate having something she could monitor everything with was Galaxia.  Galaxia glared at Colgate and asked, "Alright, you have this thing and now you're going to build a tower back east?  What exactly is this tower going to look like?"

Colgate looked in Twilight's direction a bit nervously knowing that bringing up a dark tower directly may cause her to return to being evil so she replied, "I'm thinking it will be like the one that I used to live in when I ruled Equestria"  she turned to LaurFa and asked, "I want to know something, how did this castle get here so quick and how did Twilight get a library so quickly?"

LaurFa replied, "Well I created it for her, both the castle and they library."  

Colgate gave her an intense look and asked, "Well then, I suppose whatever magic it was that you used to create this and the library you can do for me as well, correct?"

LaurFa knew that Colgate would either take the sapphire Alicorn with her and return to Eqqus 2 or she might start banishing ponies to the void if she didn't tell her so she sighed, "Yes Colgate, I can.  I will just need to grab the books in Twilight's library in my aura for a minute or two and then I will be able to." 

Colgate gave her a smile and laughed, "That is good, I'd hate for Brevity and I have come all this way for nothing." 

LaurFa turned to her sister and asked, "Speaking of you, what are your plans?  Will you remain here as well in the event you are needed to unmake an enemy or are you going to return to what you call Eqqus 2?"

Brevity sat there in thought for a moment before replying, "Brevity has put a lot of effort into leading the ponies out of Saddle Arabia there so Brevity has decided she shall return to Eqqus 2."

Colgate asked, "Brevity, when do you plan on doing this?"

Brevity replied, "As soon as this meeting is adjourned." 

Twilight and White Magick, both of who had been rather quiet began to get up.  Colgate asked, "Where do you two think you're going?"

White Magick replied, "Well I assumed this meeting was drawing to a close so I thought we could leave and besides, I promised Twilight I would take her to my realm so I'm rounding up my soldiers and we are heading out so she can see my library." 

Twilight turned as red as an apple and said, "I'm really looking forward to this."  Her blush deepened further as she continued, "I can't wait to learn everything from the dark days you've talked about." 

Colgate had a feeling that the route to his realm was likely on the way to what would become Coastal Equestria and where she would have her tower built and asked, "Your Majesty, I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind if I were to join you two" she turned to LaurFa and asked, "LaurFa, so are you going to be joining me on route to my new capitol?"

LaurFa replied, "Well if you want this tower and that library I will." 

Colgate said, "I was hoping that would be your answer."  She then turned to White Magick and continued where she left off, "Would you mind if LaurFa and I joined you two as well?  I'm pretty sure your realm is on the way to where I will establish my capitol and I'll admit, I would like to see your library." 

While White Magick did not like the idea of LaurFa entering his realm and had his concerns about Colgate and her power hungry nature, he knew that allowing them to come would be in his best interests.  He replied, "Yeah sure, you can." 

Colgate gave LaurFa a smile and said, "Well it looks like we will get to go!"

LaurFa nervously replied, "It looks that way." 

LaurFa could tell by Colgate's smile that she likely wanted a whole lot more than to merely check out White Magick's library but knew better than to say anything.  It wasn't only Colgate's behavior that concerned her, Twilight's constant blushing at White Magick did as well.  She could tell that Twilight had developed a crush on the king but knew that he was married.  She just hoped that Twilight would not do that around White Magick's wife as that could spell doom for her.
> Pre-Departure Meetings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before departing for White Magick's realm, Colgate, LaurFa and White Magick both decided to have one final talk with those who were important to them.  White Magick approached his son and his part of the army with a smile on his face.  He said, "Well Son, it looks like your dream is going to be achieved.  You will finally have your own nation to rule over."

Blue Star nervously replied, "Yeah it looks that way."  He cast his gaze at his unicorn soldiers and continued, "I just wish all my soldiers could fly.  It would make life a whole lot easier."

This gave White Magick an idea.  He asked, "You know Son, I don't know why I didn't think about this sooner for our troops but what would you think about me turning your unicorn army into Alicorns?"

Blue Star asked, "You'd really do that for me?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, I will and I plan on doing the same with mine."  He sighed in frustration as he continued, "I honestly don't know why I didn't do that with our regular soldiers ages ago given I wrote the spell to do it!"

White Magick ordered his son's soldiers to all stand in one place and without question, they did so.  White Magick's horn began to glow white and he grabbed his son's soldiers in his aura and recited,  "The unicorns without wings can not fly, that can make their plans go  awry, when they need to get there in great haste, without wings it is  like they are stuck in paste, to be assured they get places fast, their  wingless days must be a thing of the past." 

As soon as he recited the spell, the unicorn army began to be circled in light and they levitated off the ground.  For nearly five minutes the army had no idea what was going on except that they felt themselves begin to increase in size, they felt wings growing out of their backs and felt their horns increase in size.  Once the energy dissipated they noticed that they were suddenly the same size as Blue Star and White Magick.  One of the soldiers exclaimed, "Wow, this is amazing!  We're so much larger now!" 

Another added, "And we can fly now too!" 

White Magick said, "Well my son needs soldiers that will be the most suited to help defend Neigh Zealand from its enemies." 

Blue Star hugged his father and said, "You know Father, I can't thank you enough.  This truly is amazing."  He cast his gaze towards his father's soldiers and asked, "Are you going to do that with your troops too?"

White Magick replied, "Of course I am!  I am going to need them to be bigger and I will need them to be able to fly if they are to aid us if Grogar returns." 

Blue Star nodded and said, "Well if he returns, just remember, Neigh Zealand will be here in a heartbeat to help you defeat him." 

White Magick replied, "Thanks Son, I really appreciate that." 





While White Magick was talking to his son, Colgate caught up with her former commander, Scootaloo.  She approached her and said, "You know Scootaloo, I'm so proud of you!  I'm so glad to see that you'll finally have a nation of your own." 

Scootaloo replied, "Thanks Colgate.  I just hope that I will get a good sized military." 

Colgate leaned close to her and whispered, "If you don't, I have both dark Alicorn and changeling soldiers and I will give you the duplication spell.  Then I will duplicate them to where I have quite a few of them, give you some along with all the spells I know."  She looked around and continued, "Follow me back into the castle.  I'll get some paper and write them down for you.  I don't want my number one ally to not have the same advantages I will." 

Scootaloo was shocked that not only would she offer this but that she would offer it the way she did.  As they headed to the castle she asked, "Colgate, do you not trust the other leaders?  Do you think that one day you and I may need to not just stop the tyranny of an ancient evil but depose them and have us take over the world?"

Colgate gave her a smile, "Perhaps but don't say anything."  She then bent down and whispered, "And when I get my tower built and get the sapphire Alicorn up and running we'll have to have a summit."  She then spoke more loudly again and asked, "So Scootaloo, what title will you be using up there in the Crystal Empire?"

Scootaloo replied, "I'm thinking I will use the same title I'm sure you will use.  I will become Supreme Commander Scootaloo." 

Colgate said, "You know something, you're like the daughter I never had."  She again whispered, "Let's get in the castle so I can get everything written down for you." 

Scootaloo nodded and headed into the castle.  While they were doing this LaurFa headed over to her sister who was preparing to leave.  She saw her sister light up her horn and yelled, "Brevity, wait!" 

Brevity depowered her horn and asked, "Yes Sister, what is it?"

LaurFa asked in return, "Brevity, I know you have this new world to establish but would you consider staying here at least for a while?"

Brevity was not overly thrilled over her request.  She sighed, "Sister, dost thou not remember how it took both of us to lead the ponies of this world to their homelands?  It was hard enough with just two of us but doing it with just me and Colgate's majors will be much more difficult!"  She raised her voice and continued, "If thou needs to reach us, thou knows how to do so!"

LaurFa sighed in disappointment, "Alright Brevity, I understand but if I flash my horn, you will be coming, right?"

Brevity replied, "Of course.  Both of us were responsible for aiding in leading the ponies out of Saddle Arabia in this world and I do not want to see these ponies suffer any."  Brevity then lit up her horn again and finished, "Well sister, Brevity should get going.  We shall see thee later if thou needs us." 

Before LaurFa could say anything Brevity cast the proper spell and returned to her home planet.  While everypony else was having their discussions, Twilight approached Celestia.  She embraced her and exclaimed, "Well Princess Celestia, I'm so glad that we will get to rule Equestria together again!"

Celestia replied, "I am too Twilight and I'm so happy that you will have a nice castle."  She leaned down and whispered, "But I am not thrilled with Colgate's demand for her own nation nor am I thrilled with her wanting a tower and I'm especially not happy that she will be monitoring the whole world with that sapphire Alicorn."

Twilight whispered back, "You never know princess, she might not have any bad intentions.  I do notice that she seems a bit power hungry but I don't think she will be anything to worry about."   She gave Celestia a curious look and asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

Celestia replied, "Of course you can!" 

Twilight asked, "Why is it that all the other Alicorns are big like you?  Why am I so small compared to everypony else?"

Celestia replied, "It involved a lot of spells that were cast during your corruption and when you were freed, the magic that made you larger left you as well." 

Twilight knew that what she said was the truth but still didn't fully understand it.  She asked, "Princess, do you know a spell to make me larger like all the other Alicorns?"

By this time Colgate and Scootaloo had left Twilight's castle and Scootaloo had all the necessary spells in her saddle bags.  Celestia replied, "I'm sorry Twilight but I do not."  She pointed her hoof towards Colgate and White Magick and said, "No I do not but I know those two do.  Colgate knows pretty much every spell that exists in this world and like White Magick said, he wrote all the magic of our world."

Twilight nodded and headed towards White Magick.  She knew that Colgate still didn't completely trust her and would likely not cast the spell on her.  She approached White Magick and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know a spell to make me larger like all the other Alicorns?  I think it would help us if we need to face any evil forces."

White Magick replied, "Of course I do Princess Twilight!"  He turned to where he was facing her and said, "Stand still while I cast this or it won't work properly."

Twilight stood still and faced him with a smile on her face.  He lit up his horn, grabbed her in his aura and recited,  "The small one wishes they were tall so that they won't have to crawl,  with height their future is bright and everything will be alright, for  the small one is small no more, with height their happiness shall be  galore." 

Once he finished reciting the spell Twilight found herself encircled in energy and felt herself increasing in size.  After five minutes the light dissipated and she was the same size as all the Alicorns.  She rushed to White Magick, embraced him tightly and exclaimed, "Thank you Your Majesty, thank you!" 

White Magick embraced her back and Twilight's face turned red.  While she knew that he was taken and knew that she would never have a chance of being with him, she still relished the moment of being held.  When she pulled back White Magick said, "Twilight, just call me White Magick.  There is no need to be so formal with me." 

Twilight blushed, "Well then, there is no need to be so formal with me either.  You can just call me Twilight or even Twily if you wish." 

White Magick said, "Alright Twily, sounds good." 

Two ponies were watching from afar in disgust, Colgate and Scootaloo.  Colgate whispered, "Alright Scootaloo, I have a feeling they are up to no good.  He would not cast a growth spell unless they are making sinister plans, plans to take over the world." 

Scootaloo whispered, "I don't think that may be the case.  Didn't you see the way she blushed when he hugged her?  I'm thinking that she may have had him cast the spell on her so she might have a chance with him!"

Colgate sighed, "You might be right but I don't think we better let our guard down.  All the leaders may be allies but I still don't trust Twilight and I likely never will.  For now though we have to put our distrust aside and all work together." 

After everypony finished their discussions they all gathered on the east end of town.  White Magick turned to everypony that was joining him and asked, "Well everypony, shall we get going?"

Each pony replied yes until it was Colgate's turn.  She said "Not yet.  I know we said that Scootaloo should have her own army and that I need to provide her since she will be heading to her new land soon." 

She turned to her regular soldiers and ordered, "Stand in front of me so I can duplicate you." 

Her soldiers did as ordered and she cast the duplication spell several times until there were 2,000 of each type for Scootaloo.  She said, "Alright Scootaloo, you shall have 2,000 of each type and if you need to replenish them at any time, such as in a battle, you know the spells now." 

LaurFa heard this and asked, "She knows the spells now?  How did she learn them?"

Colgate replied, "I know those things by heart so I decided that Supreme Commander Scootaloo should know them as well.  After all, if a leader is to protect his or her nation, knowledge of many spells is a must." 

LaurFa gasped, "Supreme Commander?  You're not going to turn the Crystal Empire into a military dictatorship are you?"

Scootaloo replied, "Of course not!  Colgate is going to use the same title and she isn't going to do that so why would I?"

LaurFa sighed, "Well alright, I just wanted to make sure."  

Before they started their trip east Colgate pulled Scootaloo aside, "Well Scootaloo, you have finally become what I groomed you to be for so many millennia.  Good luck up there and hopefully you will never have to be part of any wars."

Scootaloo replied, "I hope not either."  She turned to the north and continued, "Well I have to get going, I want to get up there by a decent time." 

Colgate nodded and Scootaloo yelled, "Alright troops, follow me." 

Her troops nodded and headed north with her.  White Magick looked back at everypony, his troops and allies and said, "Well everypony, let's march!" 

One of his unicorn soldiers saw him transform his son's forces into Alicorns and asked, "Your Majesty, are you not going to transform us into Alicorns like you did your son's?"

White Magick did a face hoof and gasped, "How could I forget about that?"  He pointed to the field to his right and ordered, "Alright troops, gather over there so I may transform you." 

His forces nodded and gathered together as ordered.  Once they were in place he grabbed them in his aura and recited, "The unicorns without wings can not fly, that can make their plans go  awry, when they need to get there in great haste, without wings it is  like they are stuck in paste, to be assured they get places fast, their  wingless days must be a thing of the past."

Once he cast the spell his unicorn soldiers, like it was with his son's soldiers, they were enveloped in a bright light for five minutes and once the light subsided, they were larger and now had wings.  His troops began cheering in glee once they saw their changes.  Once they had calmed down White Magick ordered, "Alright everypony, let's march!" 

Everypony began to march until a voice called out, "We're all Alicorns now so why march when we can fly?"

It was Colgate that suggested this and it sounded appealing to everypony.  White Magick agreed, "I do think it would be a good idea to fly, we'll get there much quicker." 

Everypony else agreed and they took flight towards the east.  White Magick was joined by Twilight as they led the way while everypony else followed.  LaurFa was flying by Colgate and asked, "Colgate, is it just me or does it seem like Twilight is kind of clingy to White Magick?"

Colgate lied, "You know, I haven't really been paying much attention to their interactions.  Other than her being excited over him offering to let her see his library, I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary." 

LaurFa replied, "Well I'm just concerned.  I know he is married and if his wife is as powerful as he is, if she tried anything there, his wife would do who knows what to her." 

Colgate simply shrugged her shoulders and they continued their flight east.  She knew that she had to try and show concern for Twilight but deep down she still didn't believe that she had been completely cleansed.  Despite her no longer having those green eyes of corruption, Colgate still had her concerns over her wanting to retake the world.
> Visiting White Magick's Realm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours after departing Ponyville, the hills in the eastern part of the Everfree Forest became visible.  White Magick pointed his hoof towards them and ordered, "Alright everypony, follow me." 

Everypony followed him and when they landed, the forest canopy was thick and it was just as dark as it is in the forest north of Ponyville.  This didn't seem to bother anypony except for one, Twilight.  She put her wing around White Magick and asked, "White Magick, is this area safe?  It seems awfully dark here." 

White Magick knew that she did not remember anything about her trip there when she was corrupted so he did not bring it up.  Instead he put his wing around her to comfort her and replied, "It's perfectly safe Twilight but if staying close to me will make you feel better, then I'll keep you close." 

Twilight's face turned red as an apple as she said, "Thanks White Magick, I appreciate that." 

Further back LaurFa and Colgate both watched in disapproval.  LaurFa leaned over and commented, "You know, if she keeps that up and he stays close to her like that, we may witness something very bad happen in his realm." 

Colgate asked, "Are you talking about his wife putting her in her place?"

LaurFa replied, "Yes and unfortunately, Equestrian ponies can not use their magic in his realm so not only would we be unable to help her, but I think we had best be on our best behavior while we are there." 

She would never admit it but Colgate honestly didn't care if anything happened to Twilight but she tried to appear as though she did, "Let's just hope she quits hitting on him and don't worry, I don't plan on doing anything that may cause problems." 

LaurFa simply nodded and soon they reached the chasm that led towards the vortex that would take them to his realm.  He ordered everypony to stop and addressed them, "Alright everypony, we are about to enter my realm.  For those of you who are from Equestria, you will be unable to use your magic in my realm." 

LaurFa, Colgate, her soldiers and generals did not question this but one would, Twilight.  She asked, "White Magick, why can't we use our magic in your realm?  Does it have some sort of strange magic of its own?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, it does."  He raised his voice and continued, "Also, I want to let you know that my wife isn't overly trusting of outsiders."  He began to turn around to continue marching but then turned back, "And one other thing, I think it would be best for all of you to refer to both my wife and I as 'your Majesty' rather than just by name.  Addressing me by name may cause her to think that not only are you up to something, but that I may be being taken advantage of."  

White Magick's soldiers knew this and LaurFa, Colgate and her soldiers weren't bothered any by it.  It did unnerve Twilight a bit though but she did not say anything because she knew that the stallion she had a crush on would likely be a much different pony around his wife. 





Eventually they had walked far enough through the chasm that the portal was in sight.  White Magick said, "Alright everypony, there is the portal that goes to my realm." 

Everypony simply nodded and followed him through.  The Equestrian ponies felt a slight shock as they went through and when they arrived on the other side, it was nice and cool.  Once they were on the other side White Magick said, "Alright everypony, follow me to the palace and remember, don't call me by my name." 

Colgate said, "Yes your Majesty." 

Both LaurFa and Twilight felt a bit nervous as they approached the palace but for different reasons.  LaurFa knew that Ruby Heart would remember her from the distant past and Twilight was concerned that she might be able to tell that she had a crush on White Magick.  Once they arrived at the palace the very first place they went to was the throne room where they were greeted by his wife, Queen Ruby Heart.

The very first thing she noticed did not please her, she noticed both Twilight and LaurFa were present and that Blue Star was absent.  She glared at her husband and growled, "White Magick, what are THEY doing here and where is our son?  Where is Blue Star?"

White Magick replied, "Honey, Blue Star was granted an opportunity that not only could he not pass up, but I gave him my blessing to do so." 

Ruby Heart's glare deepened and she asked, "So, what was this that you gave him your blessing to do?"

White Magick replied, "Well you see, after all the turmoil the world has been through, with the return of many ponies from Equestria's past and the need to re-establish a nation from old, he was offered a position of leadership and he took it." 

Ruby asked, "Oh and what was this position of leadership?  Is he simply some sort of high general or a second in command somewhere?"

White Magick replied, "No, he is now the king of Neigh Zealand. "

Ruby's scowl changed to a smile and she exclaimed, "I'm so proud of him!  I know that he'll be a perfect leader there!"  Her smile quickly vanished as she pointed her hoof at LaurFa and Twilight and ordered, "Now that I know what has happened with our son, tell me what are those two doing here?"

White Magick knew that she was upset over Twilight and LaurFa being there and knew that he had to try and calm her down.  He replied, "Honey, they are here because it is in the best interest of the entire planet."

She got up off her throne and headed straight towards LaurFa.  She began circling her to see if she could sense any negative energy or any ill intentions coming from her but found none.  This would not stop her from interrogating her though, "So LaurFa, tell me, why are you in our realm?  Why did my husband bring you here?  Why would he bring you here when you threatened to purge us so long ago?"

This question really unnerved LaurFa since the only reason she even came on this trip was to aid Colgate in establishing her capitol.  She replied, "Well you see" she pointed her hoof at Colgate and continued, "I'm here because her and I are on our way further east to establish her capitol and she wanted to see your library." 

Ruby gave LaurFa a glare before replying, "Alright, perhaps you don't have any ill intentions."  She then walked over to Twilight and growled, "And what about you?  Why would my husband bring a self-proclaimed dark goddess back to our realm?"

Twilight shrank back and found herself unable to speak.  Luckily for her White Magick would come to her defense, "Honey, don't you see that her eyes are no longer green and her coat isn't as dark as it was?"

Ruby really began to violate Twilight's personal space and went as far as sniffing before replying, "Well perhaps she isn't a dark goddess anymore."  This caused Twilight to stand straight up in relief but Ruby continued, "But I still don't trust her." 

White Magick gave her a slight glare and said, "Honey, I cleansed her so I know for a fact that she can be trusted." 

Ruby simply rolled her eyes before approaching Colgate.  With the same growl in her voice she asked, "Who are you and why did my husband bring you to our realm?"

Colgate replied, "My name is Supreme Commander Colgate and I will be the leader of Coastal Equestria as soon as I get my borders with Equestria established."

Ruby asked, "Supreme Commander and leader of Coastal Equestria?"

Colgate replied, "Your Majesty, do you think that you and I could talk about this more alone?"  She leaned in and whispered, "Somewhere away from Twilight." 

The fact that Colgate seemed to not trust Twilight caused Ruby to warm up to her some.  She replied, "Of course we can Supreme Commander....."

Colgate interrupted, "I would prefer if you simply call me Colgate, it would make me feel more comfortable." 

This really impressed her and caused her to realize that Colgate truly meant no harm, that she may even make a great ally.  She replied, "Well then Colgate, you may just call me Ruby."

White Magick was listening in on his wife's conversation with Colgate in shock.  Never in his life did he imagine that his wife would allow an outsider, especially an Equestrian, to be informal with her.  While he did not hear everything that Colgate had said, he had a feeling that Colgate did not trust Twilight and that may be why his wife was so friendly with her.





After White Magick had led Twilight and LaurFa out of the throne room Colgate and Ruby decided to talk further.  Ruby couldn't help but be curious about why Colgate wanted to discuss things away from Twilight.  She asked, "Colgate, what was it that you wanted to talk with me about away from Twilight?"

Colgate replied, "Well I may be jumping the gun here but I have a feeling that Twilight might have a crush on your husband."

A deep scowl grew on Ruby's face as she asked, "She what?  She has a crush on White Magick?"

Colgate replied, "I think so.  It seems like every time they interact she blushes and LaurFa and I both have our concerns about how clingy she seemed to be to him on the way here." 

Ruby's blood was already beginning to boil.  She snapped, "What?  She has been clingy to him?"  Ruby calmed down a bit so that nopony would hear them and continued, "How has she been clingy to him?"

Colgate replied, "Well when we were flying here she flew quite close to him and once we landed and began to walk, she got cold."  She lowered her voice and continued, "And when she said this, he put his wing around her to keep her warm and she really blushed then." 

It was not so much a matter of Twilight being clingy that angered her this time, it was the fact that White Magick had put his wing around her to keep her warm that angered her but she knew she needed to remain calm and wait until the right moment to address this.  She calmly asked, "Alright, now that I know that I can handle it but tell me a bit about yourself.  If we are going to be allies we should know more about one another." 

Colgate replied, "Agreed."  She took a deep breath and began, "Well I was born in a small town called Ponyville to two working class unicorns....."

Ruby interrupted, "You don't have to tell me your life story, I just want to know about how you came to be a leader and what you did before that."

Colgate nodded and continued, "Alright.  At one time, over 5,000 years ago dating back to before Twilight's corruption, I was a dentist.  I was known as the best dentist in Equestria but all that would come to an end when Twilight took over and decided that she wanted the jade Alicorn."

Ruby asked, "Are you telling me what I think you are telling me?  Were you at one time part of her government and aided in getting her this jade Alicorn?"

Colgate replied, "Yes but this was before she actually became evil.  At that point she was simply power hungry and it was her need for that relic that caused her to transform me, a couple of my friends, her brother and her friends into Alicorns." 

Despite knowing that Colgate was once on Twilight's side, she could tell that she obviously wasn't on Twilight's side now so she asked, "I know about the jade Alicorn but I'm curious, with her no longer being evil can she still use it?"

Colgate replied, "From what I understand when White Magick cleansed her of her evil, her tower collapsed and the jade Alicorn was crushed."  She got a smile on her face and continued, "And even if it hadn't been, she wouldn't have been able to use it anyway because all the magic she learned after her corruption by Chrysalis has been forgotten." 

Ruby got a huge smile on her face and laughed, "So she pretty much only knows the magic she knew a long time ago?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, that's it." 

She then asked, "What about you Colgate?  What kinds of magic do you know?"

Colgate replied, "I know everything Twilight knew before she was cleansed and then some.  Next to LaurFa, I'm probably the most well learned Alicorn in Equestria." 

This caused Ruby to see a great opportunity.  She figured that Colgate had probably learned everything she did through extensive studying but thought she might want to learn more.  She asked, "I'm curious, what would you think about being able to learn even more and become more powerful?"

Colgate asked in return, "How would I do that?  I don't know how long LaurFa will want to stay before we head east to establish my capitol, get my tower built and for her to give me copies of the materials in Twilight's castle." 

She chuckled, "Oh the good old book duplication spell, gotta love it, right?"  She then leaned down and whispered, "What would you think of being able to do that but with our collection?"

Colgate asked, "But how, I would have to grasp your collection in my aura and I can't use my magic here." 

Ruby liked Colgate and knew that she could be trusted so she decided to do something that she never imagined she would ever do, cast a spell to allow an outsider to use her magic in their realm.  She ordered, "Colgate, lean your head forward." 

Colgate did as ordered and Ruby touched the point of her horn against that of Colgate.  Her horn began to glow as she recited, 

"The outsider can not use her magic which is quite tragic,
It is knowledge that she seeks but with no magic she is meek
This is something that can not be because it is truth that she must see
Now her abilities she can use and her power she shall not refuse."

As soon as she finished the spell a stream of white energy flowed into Colgate until her horn started glowing.  She couldn't believe it, she couldn't believe that Queen Ruby Heart, who has always been so distrustful of outsiders, would cast a spell so she could do what other outsiders could not.  She embraced Ruby and exclaimed, Thank you Ruby, thank you!" 

Ruby gave her a smile and replied, "No need for thanks Colgate."  She cast her gaze down the hall and continued, "How about we go to the library now?





Colgate nodded and the two headed to the library.  When Colgate saw it she was beyond amazed.  She turned to Ruby and said, "Wow, this place is huge!"  She lowered her voice and continued, "Now to find that spell to duplicate your collection." 

Ruby simply nodded and led her to the book she would need.  She opened the book to the right page and pointed her hoof towards it.  Colgate gave her a smile and said, "Thanks!  I take it this is the spell LaurFa knows?"

Ruby replied, "Yes."  She then pointed her hoof off to the left towards some much older books and continued, "You know, once you get everything established in your capitol and your collection duplicated, there are some really powerful spells in there"  her voice became a whisper as she continued, "The most ancient spells known to ponykind, predating the dark days that followed the fall of Ponyland." 

Colgate's eyes grew wide as she asked, "You mean some of those spells were from Ponyland ponies?"

Ruby replied, "Yes, those.  Many think that the ponies of that time did not know much magic but they had more knowledge than we thought, magic that may aid us in defeating Grogar if he were to return." 

While Colgate began to look for the first part of the book duplication spell, Ruby headed off to find her husband and would not be thrilled with what she would find.  She found him by Twilight's side reading through an old spell book.  She gave her husband a glare and asked, "Honey, may I speak to you for a moment?"

White Magick replied, "Sure."  He cast his gaze at Twilight and continued, "I'll be back, this should just take a minute." 

Ruby grabbed him in her aura and began to drag her back off in the direction of Colgate.  She gave him an intense glare and asked, "May I ask why you are so close to her?  May I ask why you are helping her study?"

White Magick replied, "I promised her that she could come and look at our collection.  I just want to help her learn some things since she has forgotten all the magic she learned during her corruption."

Ruby got up in his face and snarled, "I know that BUT she never knew any of our magic and I do not feel comfortable with her knowing our magic."

White Magick pointed his hoof towards Colgate and asked, "What about her?  Why is it you seem to show so much favoritism towards her and why in the world would you cast a spell on her to where she can use her magic here?"

Ruby did not like where this was going but wanted to make sure he knew that she had good reasons for doing what she did, "Listen, she is very powerful and she is an ally of ours now.  I feel as though she has earned it."

Before White Magick could say anything else Ruby stormed off in the direction of Twilight.  She was bound and determined to see what it was that she was studying and if it was anything she felt she shouldn't know, she would take the book away from her.

When she approached Twilight she noticed that she was reading a history book, an older history book.  Twilight looked up to see Ruby standing over her and greeted her, "Hello your Majesty."

Ruby was not fond of Twilight but knew that she simply could not go putting Twilight in her place since she had not done anything wrong.  She replied, "I'm fine."  She looked down and asked, "So Princess, what are you studying?"

Twilight looked up and replied, "I'm studying some of your oldest history."  She became much more enthusiastic as she continued, "I can't believe everything I'm learning!  I was taught my whole life that Ponyland, Grogar and Tambelon were all old pony tales and now here I am learning it is true!" 

Ruby was glad to see that Twilight knew that their history was more than just a myth but wanted to know if she had been studying anything else.  In a calm, almost caring voice she asked, "So, have you been studying anything else?"

Twilight nervously replied, "Well I tried reading through a magic book but the spells in there were really advanced, even more advanced than Equestria's so I didn't even understand them." 

Ruby looked deep into Twilight's eyes as she said this and could tell that she was actually telling the truth.  She put her hoof on Twilight's shoulder and replied, "Yes, our spells are incredibly advanced and outsiders generally don't understand them and that is out of the rare few we give the honor of viewing them." 

Twilight simply nodded before she headed back to Colgate to find her memorizing the spell so she can duplicate their collection once she gets her tower built.  She gave Colgate a smile and asked, "Getting it down?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, I'm pretty sure I have the energies necessary to do this down.  All I have to do now is wait for all the books to be put back in place and I can do it." 

Ruby put her hoof on her shoulder, gave her a smile and said, "Good.  Out of all the Equestrian ponies, you are the only one I consider deserving of this."  She lowered her voice, pointed at Twilight and continued, "I'm sure White Magick would feel differently but I talked to her and she said that she can't even understand our spells." 

Colgate gave her a smile and replied, "That is good, it is proof that she truly was cleansed of everything, including her abilities to understand truly advanced magic like she had when she was corrupted."  She looked around and asked, "So when do you think we could get all the books put back in place so I can do the first part of the spell?"

Ruby replied, "Of course!"  While Colgate was putting the book she was studying back she headed back over to Twilight and tapped her on the shoulder.  She continued, "Twilight, I really need you to put that book back where you found it."

Twilight had really been enjoying reading about the ancient past and the horrible evils from the dark days but complied.  Once she put it back Ruby nodded at Colgate, signaling that she could begin the first half of the spell.

Much to the surprise of LaurFa, Colgate lit up her horn and grasped the whole collection in her aura.  She recited, 

"The amount of knowledge is great and with it I can prevent hate
It is smarts that I need so that wisdom can be my seed
The ability to duplicate is a must so my dreams of knowledge won't go bust
Now this duplication can be done so ignorance will be none."

As she finished the spell her eyes shone a bright blue for a moment before returning to normal.  She gave Ruby a smile and said, "Thank you Ruby.  Now once I get my capitol established and get my tower built, after LaurFa provides me with Twilight's collection, I can duplicate yours and then you can come to my realm and discover how I will have a distinct advantage over the evil forces that may return."

Ruby gave her a curious look and asked, "If I may, what is it that will give you this advantage?"

Colgate pulled a golden case out of her saddle bags and showed it to Ruby.  Ruby saw this and asked, "A golden box?  How is that going to aid you?"

Colgate opened the box and showed her the golden plate and the sapphire Alicorn.  Ruby had heard legends about how Alicorn gems can aid in spying on the world.  She gasped, "I know Twilight had that jade Alicorn but I thought she was simply full of herself.  I always thought the Alicorn gems were merely a thing of myth!  I never knew they actually existed!" 

Colgate replied, "They do.  At first LaurFa used one made of jade until Twilight took it and once I overthrew her, I used it but I have special plans for this one.  In the event somepony was to get into my tower and knew a spell to take over control of it like Twilight did and I did, I'm going to cast a protection spell on this."

Ruby's eyes grew wide as she commented, "You must be really good at writing your own magic."

Colgate replied, "I am."  She pointed her hoof over towards Twilight and continued, "She was good at it too but even during her time of corruption, I was still better at it and now that she has lost over five millennia of knowledge, she is pretty much a harmless, naive Alicorn who only knows what Celestia taught her."

Ruby gave Colgate a hoof bump and laughed, "Good, now just to make sure my husband doesn't fall into her little trap." 

Colgate replied, "While I don't know your husband much, I can tell by his demeanor that he will remain loyal to you.  Twilight is simply a young mare with a crush."

Ruby's stomach began to growl so she said, "I don't know about you but I'm ready for a meal."  She gave Colgate a smile and added, "I'm sure you are wanting to get going to create your new capitol but what would you think about a hearty meal before you leave." 

Colgate licked her chops and replied, "That sounds great.  After all, it is easier to accomplish things on a full stomach." 

Ruby and Colgate headed to get to the others and then headed to the throne room.  Colgate felt proud, very proud.  She had gained an ally in the one pony who distrusts pretty much every Equestrian alive and even better, she was granted the ability to use her magic in their realm.  LaurFa however was a bit worried that Ruby had established such a close alliance with Colgate.  While she knew that both would prove to be very valuable against Grogar if he were to return, she couldn't help but wonder that if Grogar returned and was defeated, that Colgate may very well try to take all of Equestria for herself.
> Departing for their Homes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After they all had a meal and some casual conversations, LaurFa and those who came through the portal were getting ready to leave.  Unlike it was in the past when White Magick and a few soldiers would escort them out, Ruby also joined them.  Ruby stayed particularly close to her new ally Colgate as she wanted to wish her farewell.  

Once they crossed through the portal and into Equestria, Ruby stood closer to Colgate and suggested, "I know you will have your own nation now but I would advise you keep an eye on your citizens in the event that they don't accept you right away."

Colgate replied, "Oh don't worry about it, once I get the blue eye up and running, I will be able to scan the whole planet.  I will even be able to see what is going on in Neigh Zealand and if Blue Star is having any problems, I could let you know." 

Ruby gave her a smile and said, "Good.  I know he is more than capable of ruling down there but like every other mother, I do worry quite a bit."  

While they were talking LaurFa approached them.  She asked, "So Colgate, are you ready to go get your capitol established and get your borders secured?"

Colgate replied, "Yes I am." 

LaurFa asked, "So how do you plan on getting a fence or wall built, whichever it is you plan on using?"

Colgate replied, "I will duplicate my regular soldiers many times over to get this built as quickly as poss....."

LaurFa knew that this would take quite some time and figured that if Coastal Equestria could get fully separated from the rest of the country in a hurry, that things would be better.  LaurFa suggested, "How about this Colgate.  I can use my magic on a map of Equestria, one where you have drawn out what you want your borders to be and a wall could automatically appear." 

Both Colgate and Ruby gasped, "Wow, you must really know your magic!"

LaurFa replied, "Yep, and it will also be with my magic how I will simply create your tower and everything that was in the archives out of nothing." 

Ruby suggested, "You know LaurFa, you said you can make it out of nothing.  I'm thinking perhaps you should make the area of whatever the archives would be larger because Colgate will have an addition of her own." 

LaurFa sighed, "I know.  I saw you allow her to use her magic in your realm so despite me not being thrilled with her going to have this extra knowledge, I shall make the archives bigger." 

Colgate gave her a smile and replied, "Thanks."  She turned to her generals and ordered, "Dark Night, Lightning Storm, could you round up our soldiers and ready them for our flight east?  I want to get to Marentreal before sundown." 

Her two generals said, "Yes ma'am!" 

Just as they were getting ready to leave Ruby gave one final request to Colgate, "I have one thing to ask of you, come back and visit sometime!" 

Colgate replied, "Oh I will and I do hope you'll come and visit me sometime as well." 

The two nodded at one another before Colgate, her soldiers and LaurFa took off towards the east.  

While Ruby was having one final talk with Colgate, White Magick was giving his farewell to Twilight, "Twilight, what did you think of what you were able to see of our library?"

Twilight gave him a blush and replied, "It was more amazing than anything I had ever seen!"  She gave him an embrace and continued, "Thank you so much!" 

This was the first time that White Magick even noticed her blushing at him and really didn't know how to handle it but one pony did notice it from afar and realized that this was the moment she would lay down the law.  Ruby stormed over towards the two and snapped, "Twilight Sparkle, may I ask why you are blushing at MY husband?"

Twilight was terrified to see Ruby up in her face yelling at her.  She shied back and replied, "We-well it is just that he is cute....."

Ruby interrupted, "And taken!"  She grabbed Twilight in her aura and issued her a warning, "Now you listen to me and listen to me good.  If you so much as bat another eye at my husband, ever, I will take it as a declaration of war." 

This terrified Twilight and shocked White Magick.  He pushed Ruby away from Twilight and gasped, "Honey, Twilight is no threat!  You know I'm loyal to you and would never look at another mare." 

This was Twilight's cue that she had probably better get going.  She did her best to keep a neutral expression on her face as she said, "Well your Majesties, I suppose I better get going.  I do hope that Celestia and I can build an alliance with you two." 

White Magick replied, "Well you know you have an ally in us and Celestia seems friendly enough that she will as well." 

Twilight gave him a smile but that quickly vanished when she saw Ruby's scowl, causing her to take off.  As she was flying away, White Magick was not thrilled with his wife's behavior.  He gave her a glare and asked, "Honey, why do you have to always glare at her like that?"  His glare disappeared as he continued, "Look, I know you don't like her blushing at me, I know you think she's going to steal me away from you and I know you still don't trust her but you should know that I will always be loyal to you." 

Ruby sighed, "I certainly hope so but as far as Twilight goes, I will always remember the evil Twilight I first encountered so chances are I will never trust her." 

White Magic began to head back towards their portal and said, "Come on honey, let's get back to our realm.  I don't want anypony wondering why both of us are gone." 

Ruby sighed, "You go ahead, I just need a moment, alright?"

White Magick shrugged his shoulders in frustration.  He could understand his wife still not trusting Twilight because of her past but it frustrated him and even angered him a little that his wife would think that he would be disloyal to her.  He said to himself, "Why would she think that?  Why would she think I'd abandon her for Twilight when I barely know her?"
> Colgate's New Tower
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours had passed since Colgate, her soldiers and LaurFa had departed White Magick's realm and finally Marentreal was off in the distance.  Once they got to within a quarter mile of the city Colgate ordered that they land.  She noticed that besides it being a good flat area for not just her tower but also the base.  She also noticed that there was also a forest nearby.  She pointed her hoof towards it and said, "This is perfect, we can use the wood from those trees to build the base." 

One of the dark Alicorn soldiers, one who was not around when the Ponyville base was originally built asked, "Seriously, you want just the six of us to build a whole military base?"

When Dark Night heard this he was not overly thrilled about Colgate demanding so much hard labor when it would be unnecessary as he remembered something.  He remembered how Colgate could easily construct and repair smaller buildings.  He asked, "Colgate, can't you just fire some energy at the ground and cause barracks and the base to appear.  It would be a lot easier on all of us if you did that." 

Colgate replied, "Actually yes, I can do that.  Not only would that save us from having to do a lot of unnecessary labor but it would also allow me to wait to duplicate all of you until it would be necessary." Colgate could see the relief on her soldiers' faces so she decided the time had come to take care of the big project.  She turned to LaurFa and continued, "Now about that tower." 

LaurFa still was not thrilled about Colgate wanting a tower like what existed in Ponyville and she was going to try and sway her desire.  She asked, "Colgate, please reconsider the whole tower thing.  Wouldn't a castle like the one I made for Twilight do?"

Colgate gave her an intense look and replied, "LaurFa, I am the Supreme Commander of Coastal Equestria, it would not look good for not only the leader of this nation but also the leader of the military to live in a fancy castle.  I want a tower and I want it dark like the one I called home for so long." 

LaurFa's jaw dropped open.  She gasped, "Leader of this fine nation AND leader of the military?  Is Coastal Equestria going to be ruled by the military like Equestria was when you were in charge."

Colgate replied, "Yes, it will be.  Besides Equestria was far better off when I was in charge than it was when dark goddess Twily was oppressing everypony." 

LaurFa sighed, "I know it was better."  She lit up her horn and asked, "Alright Twi....I mean Colgate, where do you want it?"

What she said did not sit well with Colgate but she figured that it would be best if she held her anger.  She pointed her hoof off to the left and ordered, "I want it there and I do have one question." 

LaurFa asked, "What is it?"

Colgate asked in return, "When you constructed Twilight's new castle for her, did it come with furnishing or did she have to furnish it herself?"

LaurFa was quickly getting frustrated knowing what Colgate wanted but figured that she needed to be fair, "It came furnished and I did put what was in her old archives in her upstairs library."  She saw Colgate giving her a curious look and asked, "Do you want all that material in your upstairs library or down in your archives?"

Colgate replied, "I want it down in the archives and remember, I need a larger archive than what the Ponyville tower had so I can put the duplicates of wh....."

LaurFa sighed, "I know, I know, you need more room for that material Ruby let you cast a spell on so you can duplicate it."  

She saw Colgate tapping her hoof impatiently and realized that she had best get the tower constructed.  Her horn began to glow white, she pointed it off to the left and recited, 

"Here there is nothing but land yet that is very bland,
This place is something nopony can call home and she can't be alone,
Now a tower of iron there must be so that for the commander a home will be,
Now a roof she will have over her head so she will always be ahead." 

When she fired a bolt of energy at the ground a great tower began to rise.  Colgate watched in awe as her new home began to rise in front of her.  There is one thing that she did know though, she knew that iron would rust and that is something she would have to prevent.  Colgate grabbed the tower in her aura and recited,

"The tower of iron is vulnerable to rust and standing tall is a must,
My new home must always be so that it is everything I can see,
Rust could leave me without a home and I'd be all alone,
Now that will never be and this home will always belong to me." 

Her energy struck the tower and made it immune to rust.  Colgate had a huge smile on her face and suggested, "Well troops, well LaurFa, shall we go in and take a look around?"

Dark Night enthusiastically replied, "Sure!" 

When they headed in Colgate couldn't help but notice that it had the same design and layout as the tower in Ponyville did.  She got a huge smile on her face and said, "Just like old times!  Now let's just hope that we won't have to face any threats." 

Colgate then headed to the two most important areas to her.  She first headed down to the archives and was impressed by what she saw but knew that she would need to create good locks for the doors.  Unlike the archives in Ponyville where there was a primary part and then the Starswirl wing, a door in the back of that wing led to a third, much larger room.  Colgate knew what this was for and said to herself, "Excellent, this room is going to be perfect!  It is behind the most doors and it has just the right amount of shelving!" 

She grabbed the empty shelving in her aura, lit up her horn and recited, 

"The amount of knowledge I will have is great and with it there will be no hate,
The smarts I will gain will make the advantage mine so everypony else I can keep in line,
The duplication must take place so I can fill this space
No longer will these books be denied of me and it is great times that shall be." 

Colgate fired a bolt of energy and suddenly the shelves were no longer empty.  She approached them and flew up to the higher ones, inspecting them to make sure that she had got every one of them.  Much to her pleasure everything was there.  She flew down to the floor and exclaimed, "It worked LaurFa, it worked!  Now just to get some good locks on these doors and I'll be all set." 

LaurFa replied, "Well I am glad that everything has worked out." 

Colgate headed back towards the exit and continued, "Now to head up to my bedroom AND get the sapphire Alicorn activated." 

Her soldiers and LaurFa followed her upstairs to her bedroom and like the tower in Ponyville was, her balcony was facing to the west.  Colgate stepped out on it and said, "What a beautiful sight, I can see that forest to the north, I can make out a faint outline of the hills where White Magick lives and the sky is a beautiful blue!"  She turned around and continued, "Speaking of blue, let's get the eye up and running!" 

LaurFa could only sigh in frustration because she still wasn't overly thrilled that Colgate would have the advantage of spying on the whole world but didn't say anything.  Like it was in her bedroom in Ponyville, there was a pedestal to set the gold plate on.  Colgate opened the golden box and set the gold plate on the pedestal.  She then set the sapphire Alicorn in it and readied herself to cast the activation spell.

She lit up her horn, grabbed the sapphire Alicorn in her aura and recited,

"The Alicorn of sapphire shall allow me to see it all, without it I might miss a brawl,
Seeing all this ensures nothing I will miss, I will see if anything goes amiss,
Advance warning is what comes with the eye so deposing me nopony will try"  

The moment she finished the spell the Alicorn began to glow and a great blue eye appeared on the top of the tower.  Colgate stared into the sapphire Alicorn and could see everything going on in the world.  At first she checked what was going on in Marentreal and things seemed to be going on normally.  After that her scan began to cover the rest of the world and one thing that did please her was that Scootaloo was being well received up in the Crystal Empire.  She said to herself, "Make me proud Scootaloo, rule with kindness but make sure they know you're in charge." 

LaurFa overheard this and asked, "So I take it things are going fine for Queen Scoo......."

Colgate interrupted, "LaurFa, Scootaloo is adopting the title Supreme Commander as she too will also command the military."

LaurFa's eyes grew wide and asked, "So you're telling me that the Crystal Empire will be ruled by the military too?"

Colgate gave her a smile and replied, "Yes, she is and personally I think that if every nation on earth were ruled by the military, we would all be much safer."  She gave LaurFa a curious look and asked, "I do have a question for you, does Alicorn Island even have a military or do you guys simply rely on your citizens and their powerful magic to repel any threats?"

LaurFa replied, "It has been so long since I ruled there that I don't even know.  If I know Galaxia and Cosmos as well as I think I do, they likely just relied on the power of the citizens to protect it." 

Colgate sighed, "I see."  She again began to scan the world and looking off to the west, she zeroed in on both Ponyville and Canterlot.  She couldn't help but chuckle over what she was seeing, well what she wasn't seeing.  LaurFa heard her and asked, "Colgate, why are you chuckling?"

Colgate burst out into laughter, "Get this, neither Twilight or Celestia even have an army!  They are going to rely on a few royal guards and that is it!"

Lightning Storm added, "You know something, I could go in there alone, cover them all in ooze and take Equestria for our Supreme Commander!" 

This did not sit well with LaurFa one bit.  She yelled, "Colgate, is that your plan?  Are you going to send him in to conquer all of Equestria for you and then move the capitol here?" 

Colgate was a bit unnerved by the anger in LaurFa's voice but did not show it.  She replied, "Of course not!  Lightning Storm was simply stating a fact."  She shrugged her shoulders in frustration and continued, "Well it looks like that if Grogar was to return, White Magick and I would be the only ponies in Equestria that would have armies to take him on." 

LaurFa knew that what she wasn't saying was completely true and countered, "Well Twilight does have her friends and if I remember correctly, Fluttershy is the toughest of them when it comes to handling enemies." 

Colgate got a smile on her face and laughed, "That is true now isn't it."  Her voice became more serious as she continued, "She did help me put Lyra in her place when I nuked Neigh Zealand and it wasn't that long ago that she was with me on Eqqus 2, perhaps I could convince her to move out here.  That way she will be more ready for battle and will be able to train with my troops."

LaurFa sighed, "Colgate, just let her stay with her friends.  If Tambelon does return and they are all needed, I suppose everypony could come here and train since this is the best place to launch an attack from."

Colgate replied, "That is true."  She then remembered how LaurFa was going to use her magic to secure Coastal Equestria's border with Equestria to make her new nation official.  She asked, "So LaurFa, now that I have this tower, how about we find a map and get that border wall created?"

LaurFa sighed, "Alright, let's get that map with your boundary proposal on it."

Despite having stored the sapphire Alicorn in her saddlebags, she also had the map with her boundary drawn on it.  She handed it to LaurFa and asked, "Well, shall we?"

Like it was with the tower, deep down LaurFa did not want to do this but she felt obligated to since Colgate was promised her own nation in exchange for giving up what would become Equestria on Eqqus 2.  She grabbed the map in her aura, her eyes began to shine white and she recited, 

"While the map is whole, that can no longer be so
The new line is what shall be fine,
The boundary must be strong so any thoughts of breaching it won't last long,
What shall separate us is a wall and that will be great for us all." 

LaurFa fired one final beam of energy at the map before her eyes stopped shining.  Colgate saw this and suggested, "Well shall we go see if it worked?  Shall we take another look at the world?"

LaurFa simply rolled her eyes and while she would never admit it to Colgate, she was secretly hoping that it would either be rather short or the spell would not have worked at all.  When Colgate began to scan the world again, she was very impressed with what she saw.  The wall that had appeared was even better than what she would have asked for.  She turned around and said, "Thanks LaurFa, that wall is amazing!"

LaurFa replied, "Thanks." 

Colgate became happier and exclaimed, "It is tall, it is thick and I tell you, it would take a whole lot to bring that baby down!"  She then remembered how lousy the border between Saddle Arabia and the Equine Empire was when the global war erupted.  She couldn't help but laugh, "Too bad you couldn't have secured the border back between Saddle Arabia and the Equine Empire back in the day!" 

LaurFa replied, "Remember Colgate, that was an inside job so the war would have erupted anyway."  Since she had done everything she had promised, she really wanted to get going.  She looked out the window and noticed that the sun was starting to drop towards the horizon.  She continued, "Well Colgate, you have what you demanded now so I think I shall get going." 

Normally Colgate would invite a guest of her level to stay but she could tell that LaurFa had no desire to stay and she didn't feel like having to put up with her anymore.  Colgate replied, "Well thanks, I really appreciate that."  She was curious about one thing though, she wondered where she would stay since she likely wouldn't fly all the way to Alicorn Island that day.  She asked, "So are you going to fly straight through or will you be staying somewhere on the way?"

LaurFa replied, "I'll likely spend the night with Twilight before I head home tomorrow."  

She headed to the balcony and took off towards the west.  As Colgate watched her disappear she said to herself, "So, you're going to stay with Twilight huh?  I guess I know what I'll be doing tonight."
> The Return of Grogar
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Return of Tambelon

While Colgate was getting her new nation established and order was being restored to the rest of the world, a cold wind was blowing across the rocky landscape north of the Everfree Forest, the type of wind that had not been felt in an extremely long time.  Accompanying this wind was a slow advance of dark magic, a magic that was bringing with it a dense overcast.  Soon the very earth began to shake and the hills began to collapse as a chasm opened allowing something to rise from the shadows.

The sky darkened as a long lost city rose from the depths.  After over 10,000 years of absence, Grogar and the city of Tambelon had returned.  Grogar was shocked that he had finally been freed from the darkness but was also angered that he had been banished for so long.  Soon though he would vow one thing, he vowed that he would get revenge on those who were responsible for his disappearance.  He vowed that he would punish Megan Williams and the ponies of Dream Valley severely for this. 

Not only had he returned, so did his trogal minions and Bray, his assistant.  Once Tambelon had fully resurfaced, Grogar looked around and noticed that things had not changed any since the last time the bell was rung.  One thing that did relieve him was that the bell around his neck which was destroyed the last time the Bell of Tambelon was rung, had returned.  

He called for his minions so he could address them.  Once they arrived he began, "Tambelon has returned my minions and now we must make them pay!" 

Bray looked up and asked, "Make who pay?"

Grogar believed this was one of the most idiotic questions he had ever heard.  He smacked Bray and yelled, "Who do you think you idiot?  The ponies of Dream Valley and Megan Williams." 

Bray never did like it when Grogar would smack him and belittle him but still held him in the highest regards and swore allegiance to him.   He asked, "My liege, so when do you want to do this?"

Grogar cast his gaze out at his minions and ordered, "Half of you will stay here while the other half, Bray and myself will march on Dream Valley, capture them, bring them here and enslave them!" 

Grogar gathered up the half of his trogals along with Bray and began their march westward toward Dream Valley.  During their march west, the areas north of the Everfree Forest had not changed much since the last time he was in this world.  Finally he saw the hills he always remembered, the ones he knew to turn left at.  As he and his soldiers turned southward and entered the forest, something seemed different to him, the forest seemed much darker than it did in the past.

As they continued their journey south and began to enter a rather hilly area of the forest, the amount of light reaching the forest floor was so low that Grogar had to light up his horns simply so they could see where they were going.  When they finally reached their destination, there was almost nothing there.  He could still see Dream Castle but it was in a state of disrepair and he heard nothing but silence, a deafening silence. 

He yelled, "What?  Where are they, where are those cursed ponies?"

Bray suggested, "Perhaps we were gone for so long that Dream Valley is gone, maybe all of Ponyland perished." 

This seemed to be a ridiculous suggestion to Grogar but the fact that Dream Valley was a decaying relic made him more open to that suggestion but still couldn't help but wonder, were there ponies anywhere else or had Ponyland and all ponies disappeared entirely.

Attack on Ponyville

Since what was left of Dream Valley was completely deserted, Grogar and his minions continued their march south, towards areas that would be much more hospitable for life than the cold wastes to the north of the forest.  When they emerged, the light seemed almost blinding to them.  After stopping for a minute to adjust to the light, Grogar looked off to the west and saw Canterlot.  He pointed his hoof and said, "There, that place is our target.  It looks like some monarch lives there." 

Bray noticed that it was built up on a mountainside and wasn't sure how they would even get up there.  He asked, "My liege, it is built up on a mountainside.  How are we going to get to it?"

One of the trogals looked off to the east and saw what looked like a quaint village.  He pointed off towards the east and suggested, "Lord Grogar, if we can't get to that place on the mountain, there is a small town to the east."  

Grogar was not thrilled with his suggestion given that the city to the west looked like the capitol but when he cast his gaze to the east, he saw what he thought might be a castle.  He ordered, "Alright, attacking that place to the east may not be a total waste after all." 

Grogar ordered his minions to march east and as they approached Ponyville, a quaint village with a castle appeared.  Much to his delight there were just a few guard ponies patrolling outside the castle.  One part of him wanted to wait until night to attack but another part of him wanted to see the terror in the eyes of the townsponies as he marched into town. 

Finally his urge to see the terror in the ponies' eyes won out and they stormed into Ponyville.  Nopony in town had ever seen anything like Grogar or his minions.  All they knew was that he had ill intentions and they began screaming and running in terror.  Grogar wanted to capture as many ponies as possible but he wanted the inhabitant of the castle the most, he wanted the monarch.

As he headed towards the castle he saw the few guards-ponies present charge at him but he did what he hadn't done in over ten millennia, he lit up his horns, fired energy at them and imprisoned them in cages.  He laughed sadistically as he tore the doors to the castle down and headed in, intent on finding the monarch that resided there. 

The castle was strangely empty as he went searching from room to room.  He was becoming frustrated until he heard a pony screaming in terror.  He headed towards the source of the screaming and discovered that Bray and a few trogals had subdued the castle chef.  Bray proudly presented him to Grogar and said, "My liege, we captured one of the inhabitants." 

Grogar could tell that this was not the pony in charge but figured he would be better than nothing.  He grunted, "Well it's about time you do something right."   He then cast his gaze at the chef and ordered, "Tell me where the pony in charge here is if you want to live." 

The chef was so terrified he found it hard to answer but knew he had better do so, "P-Princess Tw-Twilight is at Su-Sugarcube Co-Corner." 

Grogar lit up his horns as though he were readying himself for attack and ordered, "Lead us there and I might spare you." 

The Capture of Princess Twilight Sparkle

The chef did as ordered and led Grogar and his minions towards the sweets' shop.  Ponies in town were still screaming in terror and by the time they reached Sugarcube Corner, most of the town had emptied out.  Once they arrived Grogar marched in and found six Alicorns having some cupcakes.  Immediately he knew that one of them had to be the one in charge.  He lit up his horns, ready to imprison them but that would not prevent Twilight and her friends from striking him first.

Twilight yelled, "It's Grogar!  We have to defeat him!" 

The Alicorns began striking him with energy but they severely underestimated him.  He was easily able to imprison all of them, except one.  Fluttershy struck him in the eyes and was able to escape.  She knew that she had to go and notify Princess Celestia since she had no clue as to where to go and notify White Magick or Colgate. 

Once the other five were subdued, Grogar couldn't help but laugh.  He had seen powerful Alicorns before and knew that since they were Alicorns, that one of them had to be the monarch.  Before he could say anything Rainbow defiantly asked, "Who are you and what do you want with us?"

Twilight knew that with Rainbow's attitude that their captor may do a whole lot worse than simply imprison them.  She realized who it was that captured them and asked, "Grogar, what do you want with us?"

Grogar couldn't help but laugh, "I want Ponyland, all of Ponyland!"

Rainbow couldn't help but laugh over his answer.  She laughed, "Ponyland?  That's a good one!  Ponyland hasn't existed in ten thousand years!" 

Grogar lit up his horns and burned Rainbow with some energy.  He wanted his captives to know he meant business.  He gave them a scowl and ordered, "Stay quiet and I might let you live."  He turned to his trogals and ordered, "Get them back to Tambelon and make sure they don't escape!" 

Twilight and her friends were terrified as they were being led in cages north into the Everfree Forest.  Rainbow wanted to shout to let them go but knew better.  She knew that Grogar meant business and would likely have no problems killing her if she didn't keep quiet.
> Bad News Received
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a pleasant afternoon just west of Marentreal where Colgate had built her tower and a base for the soldiers.  Colgate had just finished having lunch with her generals and headed to the base to check on things before going to look through the eye.  When she and her generals arrived they found their army finishing up their lunch.  Colgate was walking around and it seemed like they were too at ease.  She yelled, "Attention!" 

This caused the soldiers she had to jump out of their seats.  They all stood at attention and waited for her to address them.  Ever since the relocation to Marentreal and the peace, Colgate had become much more relaxed than she used to be.  She broke down laughing, "Gotcha!  I bet you all thought something bad was happening, right?"

Her generals knew that nothing bad was going on but her regular troops, those who are not kept in the loop did not.  One of the soldiers gasped, "Yes, we did!  We thought that maybe Grogar had returned or something." 

Colgate calmed down and decided to address her troops regarding him, "Troops, I'll admit, I do have my concerns about him perhaps returning someday but for now, I'm not going to worry too much about it.  Once he returns, you'll know." 

Another one of the soldiers asked, "So what do we do until then?"

Colgate replied, "Just engage in normal training exercises like you always do."  She looked towards her tower and continued, "And right now, I'm heading up to look through the eye and see if anything out of the ordinary is going on." 

Her troops threw her a salute before she took off.  She landed up on her balcony and headed into her bedroom to see if anything was going on.  She first began to scan things off to the east and was pleasantly surprised when she saw that crop harvests across the Equine Empire were going along quite well.  She then turned her attention to the north towards the Crystal Empire.  There she saw Scootaloo training with her troops and working just as hard as she did when she was her second in command.  She couldn't help but chuckle, "You know Scootaloo, if you were my daughter you'd be a chip off the old block." 

She then turned her attention to the areas just north of the Everfree Forest and would not be pleased with what she saw.  She yelled, "What?  He's back?"

She began to zoom in closer and while she saw some trogals there, she did not see hide or hair of Grogar.  She then zeroed in on Ponyville and would be horrified by what she saw.  She saw that Grogar had not just rounded up Twilight, but four of her friends as well.  She saw Fluttershy heading off to the west and knew what she was headed to Canterlot for.  She sighed, "You stay safe Fluttershy.  I know you're tough as nails but still, stay safe." 

She then flew back down to the base with a completely different look on her face.  The soldiers could tell that something was going on so one of them asked, "Supreme Commander Colgate, what is wrong?  Why do you look so concerned?"

She flew up onto the platform that she normally addresses them and began, "Soldiers, I need your complete and absolute attention." 

All her soldiers lined up and stared her straight in the eyes.  Once she knew that she had their complete and absolute attention she began, "Troops, I have some bad news, very bad news."

General Dark Night asked, "He has returned, hasn't he?"

Colgate replied, "Yep.  Grogar, all his trogals and the city of Tambelon have returned and even worse, he has already attacked Ponyville, kidnapped Princess Twilight and four of her friends." 

Dark Night asked, "Where do you think he would be taking them?"

Colgate replied, "He is most likely going to take them back to Tambelon and imprison them, perhaps even torture them."

Despite knowing about Twilight's past and still distrusting her a bit himself, Dark Night couldn't help but be concerned.  He asked, "Colgate, so are we going to go and save her or what?"

Colgate replied, "Actually I am going to be going to round up all the leaders and once I return, I will duplicate all of you, all of us will train for a few days and then we will march on Tambelon."

Despite his age, even Dark Night knew very little about Grogar and his forces.  He asked, "Colgate, what sort of forces does he have?  Do they have a lot of magic?"

Colgate replied, "He is the one with all the magic.  His forces have none and aren't the brightest bunch so handling them will be easy, Grogar will be the challenging one."  Colgate began to get a bit irritated in being delayed by their constant questions and knew she had to get going.  She finished, "Troops, I must get going.  Like I said, "I'm going to go round up the world leaders, return, we will all train and then march on him and I know one of the world leaders will fill you in a lot more on Grogar than I can." 





Before anypony could say anything Colgate took off towards the west.  Given that it was not that far to the entrance to White Magick's realm Colgate decided that rather than using her time spell, she would fly there the old fashioned way.  Colgate did decide to fly at a faster than normal pace so she would get there in a decent amount of time.  

It was early evening when she landed in the hills outside of the portal to his realm.  She knew that she would likely be greeted by armed guards but surprisingly she was not.  She looked around cautiously and headed towards and into the portal.  It would be on the other side where she would be greeted not so pleasantly.  One of the guards poked with his spear and yelled, "Freeze!" 

Another asked, "Who are you and what are you doing invading the kingdom of King White Magick and Queen Ruby Heart?"

Colgate replied, "My name is Supreme Commander Colgate....."

The moment she told them who she was their demeanor changed entirely.  The same one who poked her with his spear said, "Oh, you're the one Queen Ruby cast a spell on so you can use your magic here, aren't you?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I am she." 

The head guard ordered Colgate to follow him to the palace.  Colgate pretty much knew that things would likely go ok but she did have her concerns as to whether Ruby would help her in saving those who were captured and given her distrust of Twilight, she couldn't help but wonder if she would even allow White Magick to assist her in what will likely be more than just a rescue mission.

When White Magick and Ruby Heart saw them bringing Colgate before them, Ruby rushed to her, embraced her and asked, "Colgate, it seems like it has been forever!  How is everything going?"

Colgate replied, "Well it could be going better."  Just as White Magick was getting ready to say something Colgate continued, "He has returned." 

They knew who she was talking about.  They gasped, "He?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, Grogar, his Trogals and Tambelon have all returned.  He has also invaded Ponyville, kidnapped Twilight and four of her friends." 

White Magick shot up, "What?  He kidnapped Princess Twilight?"

Ruby gave him a scowl before turning to Colgate and asking, "So do you want us to aid you in helping save them?"

Colgate replied, "Well I have a feeling this will be much more than a mere rescue mission.  I plan on rounding up all the world leaders, duplicating my forces and having us march on Tambelon with one primary mission." 

White Magick asked, "I take it you want to do more than just save Twilight and her friends, don't you?"

Colgate replied, "Yes.  For far too long have the ponies of my world simply banished their enemies places, I won't be satisfied until Grogar is slain.  He may not have invaded my nation or kidnapped any of my citizens but he is a threat to global security and must die."

White Magick could see where she was coming from and said, "Well if that is your plan, to not just rescue Twilight and her friends but kill Grogar, I shall....."

Ruby did not like the idea of White Magick joining in on this alone.  She knew that if he was to be the one to rescue Twilight, that she would only desire him further.  She interrupted, "You mean WE shall join her, correct?"

White Magick immediately objected, "Honey, you are a lady and........"

Ruby knew exactly what he was going to say and figured she would bring something up from the past, "Look, back prior to the fall of Ponyland, we aided the ponies in fighting against Grogar together so I don't see anything wrong with both of us doing this."  She then turned to Colgate and asked, "So when do you want to do this?"

Colgate replied, "Well we must first travel around the world and round up all the other leaders....."

White Magick interrupted, "But that will take us days!  Who knows what could happen to Twilight in that period of time."

Colgate couldn't help but point at her cutie mark and chuckle, "White Magick, I am a time lady!  With my time spells we can travel around the whole world and round everypony up in what would amount to less than an hour in real time."  Her stomach began to growl and she continued, "I'm thinking, before we get going I think we should have a bite to eat.  Moving a time bubble along requires a lot of energy." 

White Magick had written pretty much all of the magic Equestria has with the exception of time spells so he knew that she knew what she was talking about.  He replied, "Yes but as soon as we are done eating, I want us to do this so we can go rescue Princess Twilight." 

Ruby nudged him and added, "AND her friends and slay Grogar, correct?"

He saw the anger in his wife's face and replied, "Yeah, and that as well."  He then motioned for Colgate to follow him and his wife to the dining hall so that they could eat before going on this journey.  With them on her side, she knew that taking out Grogar would not be that difficult.  It was the problems that Twilight may cause between the two that concerned her the most.
> Rounding Up the World Leaders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After eating a hearty meal Colgate, White Magick and Ruby Heart headed towards the portal so that they could begin doing what it took to accomplish their mission.  Once they had returned to Equestria, Colgate ordered that they fly above the canopy of the forest.  She ordered, "Ruby, White Magick, I need you to gather right by me while I cast the proper spells."

They nodded and gathered around Colgate.  Colgate first cast the spell for the time bubble as she recited,

"A bubble is what we need, so from frozen  time we can be freed, 
in this bubble we can move fast, while everything  else is stuck in the past, 
it is frozen time which through we must pass  so we will never be late to class."

After the three were in the bubble Colgate poked the very edge of her horn through the bubble and cast the next spell to freeze time entirely.  She recited,

"Tick tock, tick tock, look at the racing clock, 
what  is short is time and being late is a crime, 
we must finish on top so it  is time I must stop, 
with time froze, it is my enemies I shall  bulldoze."

Once time was frozen Colgate asked, "So do you two do a whole lot of flying?"

Ruby replied, "Unfortunately no." 

White Magick asked, "I take it that we need to be able to fly fast to get this bubble moving?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, you do."  She knew that unlike Equestrian ponies who should be keeping their wings in flying shape, that these two who have lived in a closed off realm may not have as much need to fly around on a regular basis.  She continued, "Just fly as fast as you can, alright?"

The two nodded and before taking off Colgate finished, "First we shall travel north to the Crystal Empire to get Scootaloo.  She has strong wings and will be able to help us move this more quickly." 

The three took off and while Colgate was not expecting it, both Ruby and White Magick were able to not only move faster than she imagined, but they were moving fast enough that they were able to break the sound barrier.  It would not be long before the Crystal Empire would appear on the horizon.  Colgate slowed the bubble and before they crossed into the dome, she had the three land.

White Magick asked, "Colgate, why did we stop?"

Colgate replied, "You see that dome in front of us.  Inside of it lies the Crystal Empire.  Now I shall reverse the spells so that we can go and get Scootaloo." 

First Colgate had to unfreeze time outside of the bubble.  She recited, 

"Look at the clock, it is stuck in  place, with this there can be no pace, 
everything is still but that does  not fit the bill, 
for now the clock shall again run so everypony can  have fun."

Time outside the bubble again ran normally and finally she cast the spell to undo the bubble as she recited, 

"In the  bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and allows  fun, 
the bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst, 
from the bubble  we are now free and everything we can clearly see."

The bubble burst and the first one to say anything was Ruby, "Wow, I never knew how advanced of magic that you truly know!" 

White Magick added, "Are there any other time lords or time ladies in Equestria that can do this?"

Colgate replied, "There was one back before Twilight became evil and the odd thing is, he was a doctor."  She couldn't help but laugh, "Kind of odd, both ponies who can manipulate time took care of other ponies' health!"  She then looked at the dome and continued, "Alright, enough about that.  Let's get into the Empire and get Scootaloo." 

The three flew north and crossed into the protective dome.  While Colgate knew exactly what to expect, both Ruby and White Magick were in shock to see everything go from being cold and snow covered to being as nice as it would be on a warm spring day.  Colgate pointed towards the Crystal Palace and said, "You see that?  That is where our ally, Supreme Commander Scootaloo lives." 

As they approached the palace Colgate noticed the base that Scootaloo had built and couldn't help but smile.  Her smile grew when she saw her out leading a normal exercise.  She pointed her hoof down and ordered, "Down there is where we need to land." 

The three landed right behind Scootaloo and Colgate yelled, "At ease soldiers!" 

Scootaloo immediately stopped the exercise and couldn't he happier.  She knew that voice and turned around to see who she viewed as a mentor.  She rushed to her, hugged her and exclaimed, "Colgate!  It is so good to see you!" 

Colgate returned the embrace and replied, "It's good to see you too Scootaloo!" 

Scootaloo took a look at the two ponies that traveled with her and knew who one of them was but not the other.  She asked, "I know he is King White Magick but who is the mare that has accompanied you two?"

Before Colgate could introduce her Ruby Heart introduced herself, "My name is Queen Ruby Heart, I am White Magick's wife but if you are an ally of Colgate's, you may just call me Ruby." 

Again White Magick was in shock.  Not only had his wife grown close enough to Colgate to allow her to be informal with her but here she was allowing another Equestrian to be informal with her.  He asked, "Honey, are you ok?  You used to be so distrusting of Equestrians and now you are allowing two of them to be informal with you?"

Ruby replied, "Honey, I can tell that she is an ally of Colgate's and any true ally of hers may be informal with me." 

Colgate couldn't help but chuckle, "Well Scootaloo is like the daughter I never had, she's been tough her whole life, dating all the way back to when she was an adorable filly!" 

Scootaloo immediately protested, "I was not adorable, I was never adorable!  Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom might have been but I wasn't!" 

The three couldn't help but chuckle knowing that Scootaloo was indeed a lot like Colgate, keeping a tough attitude but could tell that she was horribly embarrassed.  After a brief moment of being flustered Scootaloo asked, "Colgate, so what brings you three up here?  Is the world in trouble?"

Colgate had a solemn look on her face and replied, "Yes Scootaloo, it is.  Grogar has returned and he has taken five of the Elements prisoner." 

Scootaloo knew exactly what she was talking about but both Ruby and White Magick were confused as to what she meant by "the Elements."  Ruby asked, "Elements?  When you say elements, what do you mean?"

Colgate replied, "At one point in the distant past, before Twilight's ascension and coronation, she and her friends wielded these objects known as the Elements of Harmony and it was them who saved Equestria from numerous foes...."

Before she could continue Scootaloo asked, "Who was it that escaped?"

Colgate replied, "It was Fluttershy who managed to escape.  While I can't be completely sure, when I saw that five of them were taken prisoner, I saw Fluttershy flying towards Canterlot." 

Scootaloo was becoming a bit impatient with them merely talking about what happened, she wanted to know what they were going to do.  She asked, "So what are we going to do?  Are we going to gather up the rest of the world leaders, travel to your capitol, train for battle and then march on him?"

Colgate replied, "You know me too well Scootaloo."  She cast her gaze to the south and continued, "Well shall we go and get everypony else rounded up?"

They all nodded and followed Colgate out of the Empire so that they could continue their journey.  Ruby asked, "Colgate, now that we have Scootaloo, who will we go and get next?"

Colgate replied, "I have decided that next we will pick up Celestia, then LaurFa, then Blue Star, then Galaxia and Cosmos, then Luna and after that, we will return to my capitol where we will train, I will eventually duplicate my forces and finally we will march on Tambelon to free those Grogar took prisoner and then slay him." 

White Magick added, "Well we need to hurry and get all this done.  I hate to think about what he is doing to Princess Twilight."

Again Ruby gave her husband a deep scowl before they took off and followed Colgate.  Once they had exited the Empire, Colgate cast the necessary spells so that they could quickly get to Canterlot.   Colgate ordered everypony to gather around her so she could cast the necessary spells so they could get to Canterlot.  With Scootaloo aiding in moving the time bubble, it did not take long for them to break the sound barrier and arriving in Canterlot did not take long.  When they arrived in the capitol, Colgate stopped the bubble and cast the necessary spells so that they could round up Celestia. 

When they approached the castle entrance they were greeted by a couple of guards.  One guard asked, "Halt, who goes there?"

The other added, "State your business."

Colgate stepped forward and replied, "We need to speak to Princess Celestia over very important matters."

The guards could tell that Colgate was serious and rather than leading them to the throne room, they allowed them entry.  When they headed into the throne room Colgate would be very surprised.  Not only was Celestia present but so were Fluttershy, Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra, who Celestia seemed to have grown quite close to.  Celestia looked up to see her guests and asked, "Colgate, what brings all of you....?"

Fluttershy interrupted, "Princess, you should know that they're here to ask us for help in defeating Grogar and rescuing my friends."  Before anypony else could say anything Fluttershy continued, "And I will gladly help you Colgate.  I will slay Grogar myself if I have to for the crimes he has committed." 

This brought out a smile on Colgate's face as she knew that Fluttershy still had the same fight in her that she did when she aided her in defeating Lyra.  Fluttershy looked at Celestia and asked, "Well?  Are you going to be joining us?"

Celestia had a nervous look on her face and replied, "Uh, yeah I guess I can."

This brought about a look of disapproval from Colgate.  She sighed, "Look, if you either don't want to help us save YOUR little Twily or don't think you have the ability to aid us, just let me know"  Her sigh became more of a growl as she continued, "because I have no room for weak links in my invasion of Tambelon." 

The fact that Colgate had the audacity to refer to Twilight in such a manner did not sit well with Celestia.  She snapped, "Do not refer to her as 'little Twily.'  She was my student and is a princess of Equestria."

Colgate gave her a glare and asked, "Well then, do you wish to aid in rescuing your fellow princess or will it be up to the rest of us to save her and her friends from Grogar?"

Celestia still had a bit of an unsure look on her face until she heard White Magick add, "Please your Majesty, Twilight is important to me and I'm sure she is....."

Ruby nudged him and sneered, "Oh and what does that make me, chopped liver?"

Celestia could tell that things may start going south if she didn't make a decision, "Yes, I will aid in this mission to save Twilight."

Colgate replied, "Good, now let's get going.  We still have LaurFa, Blue Star, Galaxia and Cosmos and Luna to get before we return to my tower and start training." 

Celestia asked, "What about Sombra and Chrysalis, don't you want them to come too?"

Colgate knew that neither one of them had ever fought in the type of battle that they would face and figured that they may only lessen their chances of winning.  She replied, "No and besides, I'm sure you'll need somepony or somechangeling to stay here and hold down the fort." 

Sombra added, "Don't worry Celestia, Chrysalis and I will take care of things if anything goes awry." 

Celestia replied, "Alright, sounds good."  She and Fluttershy followed everypony else outside the palace.  Once they got outside Colgate asked, "Fluttershy, are you still able to fly as fast as you did before?"

Fluttershy snickered, "You should see the inside of my cottage!  I've returned to racing and I'm running out of room for all my GOLD medals!" 

Colgate knew about Fluttershy's desire to return to racing and laughed, "Good, after we slay Grogar I'll have to check those out.  For now though, let's get going!" 

They gathered around Colgate and she cast the necessary spells so they could get to Alicorn Island more quickly.  With Fluttershy helping them out, despite Celestia not flying very fast, they were able to move the time bubble faster and it would not be long until they reached Alicorn Island.  Colgate again cast the proper spells so they could take care of business.  

Unlike it was in Canterlot, they were greeted by two guards at the gate.  One asked, "Halt, who goes there?"

The other added, "State your business." 

Given that Celestia was closer with LaurFa than any of the others she replied, "We need to speak to LaurFa.  There is an emergency in Equestria and we really need her help." 

The first guard replied, "Very well, I shall lead you to the throne room." 

They followed him to the throne room and LaurFa immediately rushed to Celestia and asked, "Princess Celestia, what brings you by?"

Celestia replied, "Well we are having a problem in Equestria."  She pointed her hoof at Colgate and continued, "But I shall let Colgate tell you about the problem, she is the one who detected it." 

LaurFa sighed as she knew exactly how Colgate knew about it first but did not say anything.  She asked, "Colgate, you saw this before anypony else so what happened?"

Colgate stated, "He has returned." 

LaurFa asked, "Seriously, Grogar has returned?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, he has.  He, Bray and his trogals have all returned.  Also, he and his minions invaded Ponyville and took Fluttershy's friends captive.  When I headed out to notify everypony, he was leading them to Tambelon in cages." 

LaurFa gasped, "Oh my, well we better get going right away." 

White Magick added, "I know.  The sooner we get going the sooner we can rescue Twilight." 

Ruby snapped, "Aren't you forgetting about her friends dear?"

Colgate added, "That and slaying Grogar and every last one of his minions?"

White Magick replied, "Yes, we need to do that as well." 

LaurFa could tell that things were likely going to go south between White Magick and Ruby if they did not get going so she suggested, "Well shall we?"

Colgate headed for the exit and was followed by everypony else.  Once they got outside Colgate ordered everypony to gather around her so they could get going to their next destination, Neigh Zealand.   Again Colgate cast the necessary spells and they took off towards the south.  Despite only Colgate, Fluttershy and Scootaloo being able to break the sound barrier, they arrived in Neigh Zealand rather quickly.  Colgate reversed the spells she cast and was shocked to discover that Prancington had already been mostly rebuilt.  They saw a building that likely was Blue Star's palace and it was not Colgate who led the way, it was Ruby Heart and White Magick.

As they were flying there they saw what appeared to be a military base not too far away and saw ponies engaging in exercises.  They saw an Alicorn leading them and they immediately headed that way.  White Magick landed directly in front of Blue Star and said, "Well Son, I see you are leading the exercises here." 

He was happy to see his father but was less than thrilled by what he said.  He replied, "Of course I am Father, why wouldn't I be."  He then saw Ruby, rushed to her and said, "Mom, it is so good to see you!" 

Ruby embraced him and replied, "It's so good to see you too Blue Star!"

Blue Star noticed that it was not just his parents that were there, but that Colgate and other leaders were also present.  He could tell that by the way she was carrying herself, that Colgate was likely the one in charge of the trip.  He asked, "Colgate, something bad has happened hasn't it?  Something has happened that you need me hasn't it?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, Grogar has returned and he has taken Twilight Sparkle and four of her friends captive." 

Ruby added, "And he has taken them to Tambelon." 

Blue Star sighed, "I figured he would return eventually but I didn't think he would return this quickly."  He again turned his gaze to Colgate and asked, "So what do we do now?"

Colgate replied, "Well we still have some leaders to gather before we head to my tower and start training for this.  Going up against Grogar won't be easy but I'm certain that with training, we can slay him and rescue the five ponies he took captive."  She motioned for everypony to gather around her and ordered, "Well let's get going, again." 

Colgate cast the proper spells and given that Blue Star could fly fairly fast, he was able to aid them in getting the time bubble moving even faster.  They arrived in Ridead much more quickly than they anticipated and after Colgate reversed the spells so they could go to the palace, Celestia speed towards it much more quickly than the rest of them.  When she arrived she bolted into the throne room and exclaimed, "Mom, dad, he's back!" 

As Galaxia was beginning to say something everypony else arrived and Colgate asked, "So did Celestia tell you the bad news?"

Galaxia replied, "Yes we did and I think we should likely get going at once."  She looked at the ponies that stood before them and continued, "It appears as though you have yet to notify Luna of this?"

Colgate replied, "That is correct.  Maredrid is the last stop before we return to Marentreal."

Both Galaxia and Cosmos stood up and headed towards the exit.  The fact that Celestia's parents were so eager to go brought a smile to Colgate's face.  Once they got out to the courtyard Colgate ordered, "You guys know the drill, gather around me." 

Once everypony had gathered around her she cast the necessary spells again and they took off for Maredrid.  Unlike it had been in previous trips, they were just barely able to break the sound barrier given that Galaxia and Cosmos hadn't done a lot of flying since retaking Saddle Arabia, with the exception of Colgate and Scootaloo, everypony's wings were getting tired.

When they finally arrived in Maredrid and Colgate reversed the spells, almost everypony was tired and their wings were burning in pain.  Fluttershy, who had been flying a lot and had stronger wings than most ponies was even winded.  She was breathing heavily and Colgate noticed this.  She asked, "Fluttershy, what is wrong?  You look horribly tired and you are grimacing in pain." 

Fluttershy replied, "Colgate, I have been keeping my wings strong racing but this moving a time bubble is something I'm not used to and we've traveled so far.  My wings are burning in pain!" 

Everypony else in their party nodded in agreement and Celestia, who seemed to be the most winded suggested, "Colgate, I know you'll likely say no but I'm thinking that maybe we should see if Luna would let us stay here for the night and then we could leave tomorrow." 

Colgate, who had always put up a tough front and was good at masking her pain did not react negatively.  She replied, "You know something Celestia, I agree."  Everypony who knew Colgate and how she operates gasped in shock.  Colgate continued, "I haven't had to move a time bubble this far in ages so even my wings are burning a bit."  She pointed her hoof towards Luna's palace and finished, "Well shall we?  We need to let Luna know what is going on and I don't know about the rest of you but I'm famished.  Let's see if Luna has anything to eat." 

Everypony was in a state of shock hearing Colgate not trying to act 100% tough like she normally does.  As they headed towards the palace everypony except White Magick was in a state of relief that Colgate was not in a hell fire hurry to get back to Marentreal.  They just hoped that Luna wouldn't be in too big of a hurry to get going.
> Meeting in Maredrid
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once they all arrived in Maredrid they headed towards the palace, where it had been like in other cities, they were greeted by guards.  One asked, "Halt, who goes th.....?"

LaurFa was in no mood to go through the typical guard pony question game.  She interrupted, "I am Goddess LaurFa and my company and I need to speak to Queen Luna right away over very important matters."

The guards looked over all the Alicorns before them and knew that it would be best to simply lead them to the throne room.  He headed through the gate and ordered, "Follow me, I shall lead you to the queen's throne room." 

They followed the guard but once they reached the throne room and Luna saw who it was, she immediately rushed to them, "Mom, Dad, Sister, it is so good to see you!" 

Galaxia hugged her daughter and replied, "It's good to see you too Luna!"  

Luna noticed that all of the other world leaders were present and asked, "What's going on, why is every leader here?"

Galaxia pointed her hoof at Colgate and replied, "I shall let her tell you since she is the one who first saw it." 

As Colgate stepped forward Luna was pretty sure about what happened.  She asked, "Colgate, he has returned hasn't he?" 

Colgate replied, "Yes, he has."  She looked around and continued, "Luna, I think we need to sit down and have a discussion about what we are going to do because not only have he and his minions returned, but they have taken Fluttershy's friends to Tambelon in cages." 

Luna snapped, "And you didn't go and try to stop him the moment you saw this?  You simply let him take them?"

Colgate did not take Luna's comment kindly.  She lit her horn up in anger and yelled, "Look, he was already hauling them up there when I spotted it and I have plans on doing a whole lot more than a mere rescue mission."  She powered down her horn and continued, "I plan on us marching on Tambelon and not only saving those five, but I also plan on taking my army in so we can slaughter every last one of them.  I won't be satisfied until Grogar is dead." 

Luna stood there in a state of shock hearing this.  For as long as she could remember, villains had always been banished one place or another.  She asked, "Colgate, that has never been the Equestrian way of doing things, we never slaughtered our foes.  Wouldn't it be acceptable to banish him back into the darkness by ringing the city's bell?"

Colgate replied, "Look, banishing doesn't work as well as everypony thinks it does."  She raised her voice and went on a rant, "Banishing sure didn't stop Twilight from returning now did it, banishing didn't prevent Sombra and Chrysalis from returning now did it, banishing didn't stop Celestia from returning now did it" she raised her voice and finished, "nor did it stop Grogar, Tambelon and his minions from returning either now did it?"

Luna could see where she was coming from so she sighed, "Well no, it didn't." 

Colgate continued, "But one can not be brought back from being slaughtered."  Her voice became more calm as she finished, "Luna, since you are part of the leadership of our world, I have come to ask you if you would be willing to aid us in this rescue and destroy mission." 

White Magick added, "Please your Majesty, we need to save Twilight.  I hate to think what she is going through right now." 

Ruby nudged him and added, "And her friends." 

Luna began to head towards the door and replied, "Yes Colgate, I will help all of you do this."

Colgate asked, "Good but do you think we could stay for supper and spend the night?  We're all pretty beat." 

Luna looked around at her companions and saw looks of relief on their faces.  She also knew that if Colgate was wanting to spend the night, that they obviously were tired.  Luna replied, "Of course you can!" 





After supper they all headed to the throne room to discuss things further.  Once they arrived Luna began, "Alright, we know now that Grogar has returned and that he has taken Fluttershy's friends captive.  Do any of you know anything more in-depth about him?"

White Magick replied, "I do.  Back in the days of Ponyland, my wife and I aided the ponies of Dream Valley along with Megan Williams in defeating him along with his minions."

Luna asked, "Oh and how is it you did this?"

White Magick replied, "My wife and I joined Megan Williams and the other ponies in our march on Tambelon, we freed those he took captive, Megan rang the bell in the city and it sunk back into the dark, deep places of the world." 

Luna commented, "Well that sounds simple....." 

Ruby interrupted, "Here is the thing though, Colgate has different plans for this though so we won't be able to ring the bell until after Grogar is dead." 

Luna asked, "So what sort of special powers does Grogar have?"

Ruby replied, "I'm going to let you know he has incredibly powerful magic, magic more powerful than any of the unicorns of Dream Valley and he very likely had the most powerful magic of anypony at the time."

Luna along with everypony else got nervous looks on their faces except for one.  Colgate stood tall and proudly stated, "That may have been true back then BUT he will be facing against ponies with both Ponyland and Equestrian magic so while he may have powerful magic" Colgate's eyes began to shine blue as she continued, "but I think we'll be able to handle him.  We'll disorient him a bit, cut that collar off his neck and then we'll make mutton out of him!" 

White Magick was not overly thrilled with what he considered an arrogant attitude.  He replied, "Colgate, I know it may seem that way but cutting that collar off of him isn't going to be so easy.  A mere steel blade won't do it." 

Ruby added, "The only way his collar was removed in the past was when the bell rung so we may not be able to slay him."

Colgate sighed, "Well I'll do more reading on him and if I find any information on that collar, I'll figure out how to remove it and if that doesn't work, a spear to the heart or a good old-fashioned beheading might work."

Luna gasped, "Colgate, seriously, you want to behead him?  Isn't there some less bloody way to take care of him?"

Colgate rolled her eyes, "Look, I want to make sure he won't return, alright?  I know the rest of you are into banishment and that is how Equestria has done it for ages but I don't think simply banishing him or ringing the bell to send him and Tambelon back into the deep, dark places of the world will suffice, I want a more permanent solution to this problem." 

Luna turned to White Magick and asked, "White Magick, is there any other way other than ringing the bell that will cause it to fall off?  Is there anything at all that would cut it off?"

White Magick replied, "You know, I'm not sure...."

Colgate was doing some thinking and then something crossed her mind, something that she thought would work.  She interrupted, "I've got it!  I'll use the life draining spell on him!  That will cause him to shrink in size and the collar will simply fall off, then we can exterminate him easily!"

While Colgate thought that would be a perfect plan, White Magick thought otherwise, "No, you can't do that.  If you do that, his energy will be transferred to you and you will turn evil like him." 

Colgate grunted, "Well maybe once we get back to Marentreal, I can do some studying because there has to be a way to remove that thing from him without merely banishing him and Tambelon back into the darkness."  

Everypony sighed in frustration because Colgate was being the same old Colgate she had been since back when she was a dentist, stubborn, very stubborn.  She heard their sighs and yawned, "Well I'm getting tired, how about we call it a night." 

It was getting very late so everypony agreed that it would be a good time to hit the hay.  As she laid there trying to get to sleep, Colgate knew that somewhere in her vast collection of books, that something had to be there.  She said to herself, "If it is anywhere, it will be in what I duplicated from White Magick's collection.
> Trouble in Tambelon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a dark and chilly day in Tambelon as Grogar was arriving with his captives.  As he was hauling them down into the dungeon he realized something, he realized that the moment he took them out of their cages that they would be able to use their magic.  He looked down at his assistant and growled, "Bray, how could I have forgot about disabling their magic?  Now they are just going to be useless captives, they won't be able to do anything." 

Bray suggested, "My liege, I'm pretty sure you still have horn caps from back when you were capturing the Dream Valley unicorns." 

Grogar replied, "You're right, I do."  He then smacked Bray and continued, "Go get five horn caps and make it quick, or else." 

As he took off to get the horn caps his captives couldn't help but be disgusted.  Twilight asked, "Grogar, why are you so mean to him when he mindlessly serves you?"

Rainbow added, "I don't know why he would be loyal to a jerk like you.  I would have took off a long time ago." 

Grogar fired energy at the two, burning them both.  He snapped, "He stays because without me, he would be nothing.  No, let me rephrase that, he would be less than nothing."

After his reaction the five decided it would be best to remain quiet.  Ten minutes later Bray returned with the horn caps and Grogar was not very thrilled.  He yelled, "What took you so long you idiot?  You should have been back five minutes ago." 

While Bray was unquestionably loyal to him, he never did like being referred to as an idiot.  He yelled back, "Look, I did as good as I could.  It's not my fault you have them up on a high....."

Grogar lit up his horns and struck him with a powerful bolt of energy.  He yelled, "You listen here you disobedient little fool, unless you want me to have donkey steak for supper, you'll shut up and not talk back to me." 

He knew that his overlord meant business so he replied, "Yes my liege." 

Once he had the horn caps he began to remove the ponies from their cages and using his magic, enchanting them, he placed the caps on their horns.  Once he had disabled the magic of all five, he called out to his trogals, "Come here and help me with these ponies, they have work to do." 

Almost immediately a trogal had grabbed a hold of each pony and began to lead them towards a cave.  Rarity looked to the side at the trogal leading her and asked, "What are you doing with us?  What is your overlord going to make us do." 

Grogar yelled, "Smack her, I didn't give her permission to speak."  The trogal smacked Rarity a few times and he continued, "Look scum pony, you are going to make yourself useful for the first time in your miserable pathetic life.  You and your friends are going to mine iron for me." 

Twilight asked, "But wh....."

A trogal smacked Twilight and Grogar yelled, "My slaves do not ask me why I want them to do something, they do it and they do not complain." 

Once they arrived in the cave it was rather dark so a couple of trogals had lanterns to provide a bit of light.  When they reached the back of the cave they saw five pick axes laying on the ground.  Grogar lit up his horns and ordered, "Now get to work ponies, I need iron and I need it as quickly as possible." 

Rainbow looked up and defiantly asked, "And how are we supposed to mine this without our magic?"

A trogal smacked her and Grogar yelled, "The same way the magic-less scum of your species does, hold the axe in your mouth!" 

All five had axes forced into their mouths and Grogar ordered, "Now get to work."  He then got to thinking of something and yelled, "Stop!" 

The five stopped working and Grogar ordered, "I know one of you five are royalty, tell me which one is."

None of them wanted to answer but Twilight figured that she probably better.  She replied, "I am Princess Twi....."

Grogar lit up his horns and burned her with some energy.  He yelled, "I don't need to know your name, knowing you are a princess is all I need."  He smacked Bray and ordered, "You and a trogal help get her out of here and make sure she doesn't escape." 

Bray replied, "Yes my liege." 

Bray asked, "What do you want us to do with her?"

Grogar was frustrated over the question.  He grunted, "Just wait a minute, since you're too stupid to know on your own I'll just aid in getting her secured."  He then turned to the remaining trogals and ordered, "Make sure they work and don't let them escape OR ELSE." 

The trogals knew what he meant by "or else" so they knew that they better keep a good eye on them.  As soon as he was done with them, he grabbed a hold of Twilight and began to drag her outside.  He began to think of what he wanted to do and figured that tying her up to one of the columns outside and punishing her would be a good thing to do.  He ordered, "Bray you idiot, go get me some rope and make it quick." 

Bray replied, "Yes my liege." 

As he headed off again Twilight asked, "Can't you be nice to him just once?"

Before she could finish her sentence Grogar smacked her flank and yelled, "If you know what is good for you you'll shut up.  I don't need some scum pony princess asking me questions."

Very quickly Bray returned with the rope and despite him following orders, Grogar simply grabbed it from him without thanks.  Grogar shoved Twilight to where she was standing next to one of the columns of the buildings and tied her to it, not giving her much room to move.  He gave a smile and laughed, "And now princess, you may be like every other pony princess, completely worthless!" 

The winds began to pick up and a cold rain began to fall, bringing more discomfort to Twilight than she was already experiencing.  While he was used to it, Grogar was no fan of the cold rain himself.  He looked down at Bray and suggested, "What do you say we go inside and celebrate the capture of a pony princess?"

Bray replied, "That sounds like a good plan my liege." 

Before they could leave the trogal asked, "What do you want me to do if she misbehaves, talks back or tries to break free?"

Grogar ordered, "If she does anything she wouldn't dare do around me, punish her as you see fit."  He raised his voice and continued, "Just don't kill her, that would be MY job." 

As the two headed inside to get out of the weather, the trogal stood guard pacing back and forth in front of Twilight.  Twilight knew it would likely be to no avail but thought that maybe she could turn the guard against his master.  She asked, "Excuse me, but doesn't it bother you how he treats you?"

The trogal did exactly what was ordered of him and he smacked her.  He sneered, "Listen pony, unless you wish to be punished further I would advise you shut up." 

Twilight sighed in frustration realizing that the chances of any of these creatures ever turning on their master was likely zero.  She just stood there wondering how everything could have gone so wrong, she wondered how it was that they were so easily captured and she especially wondered why nopony ever came to save them.
> Return to Marentreal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Breakfast in Maredrid

Morning had arrived in Maredrid and everypony was woken up by the sun.  As they all stretched and got out of bed, they knew that they had a busy day ahead of them, especially once they arrived at Colgate's black tower.  They knew that the moment they arrived, that she would likely immediately put them to work training and possibly duplicate her hoof soldiers.  

The first to arrive in the dining hall was Colgate, well rested and ready to go.  She began to pace around for twenty minutes until everypony else finally arrived.  She gave them all a look of disapproval and asked, "What took you so long?  We have a busy day ahead of us and I want to get home as soon as possible." 

Luna was not thrilled that she would behave like that in her castle.  She stood tall, spread her wings wide and replied, "Colgate, I know you are ready to go but this is my castle and I will wake up when I want to." 

Colgate rolled her eyes and everypony got sat down waiting for the chef to come and take their orders.  After their orders were taken Luna asked, "So Colgate, what plans do you have for us today?"

Colgate replied, "Well that will depend on what time we get back and it will depend on what I feel needs to be done."  She saw unsure looks coming from Celestia and her parents and continued, "I may decide for us to begin training today or I may decide to wait until tomorrow so that I can do some research on how best to handle Grogar." 

Ruby gave her a smile and replied, "Don't worry Colgate, whenever you have us do it, I am ready to train and train hard."  She turned over towards Fluttershy and added, "I will do everything I can to aid in the rescue your friends." 

Scootaloo added, "And I want to help you slay Grogar!"

White Magick continued, "And I want to make sure that Twilight is rescued before too much happens to her." 

Ruby gave him a scowl and everypony else could sense her displeasure over his concern over what seemed to be mostly Twilight.  As Colgate looked around at all the other ponies, they nodded in agreement over her plans for the day.  Once their breakfast arrived they all went quiet as Colgate kept true to the rule regarding meals that she has had in place ever since she became a leader, no discussing business matters during meals.





The Return to Colgate's Tower

After breakfast most everypony wanted to sit for a few minutes and continue their more lighthearted discussions except for one.  Colgate stood up, headed for the exit and asked, "Well everypony, are you ready to go?"

With the exception of Scootaloo, everypony else was slow to stand up and this irritated Colgate.  She gave them a glare and continued, "Look, we need to get going at once."  Her glare intensified as she stared straight at Celestia and added, "Especially if you want your precious little Twily rescued before Grogar has princess steak." 

Ruby couldn't help but laugh over the comment while everypony else, especially White Magick sighed in disgust.  Finally Colgate led them all outside and ordered, "Alright everypony, come gather around me and please please please, try to fly fast enough that Scootaloo, Fluttershy and I don't have to carry all of you." 

Colgate took off skywards and everypony gathered around her as she cast the necessary spells.  They took off towards the northwest and despite only half of them matching Colgate's speed, they were able to break the sound barrier and reached Colgate's tower in a decent amount of time.  After arriving at her tower and undoing the time spells, everypony landed and with the exception of Colgate and Scootaloo, their wings were tired and Colgate could sense it.  She headed towards her tower and ordered, "Follow me, I will lead you to the VIP sleeping quarters.  That is where you will stay until we head off to battle." 

Many of the ponies looked up at her blue eye and got a case of the shivers.  It reminded them of the times back when one pony or another was always spying on the world, always full of distrust and always ready to attack.  Colgate saw their reactions and commented, "Very impressive if I must say so myself." 

Celestia mumbled, "Yeah, very, very good to spy on us all." 

Colgate turned around and snapped, "Look at it this way Tia, if I didn't have this eye I never would have known that your little Twily had been captured." 

Colgate's constant disrespect and calling Twilight little Twily was really getting on Celestia's nerves.  She yelled, "Would you stop using terms like 'little Twily' when discussing her?"  She became a bit more emotional and continued, "She is a leader just like you and me, she does not deserve....."

Colgate interrupted, "Huh, I guess little Twily was right about you back in the day, you get too emotional."  She got up in Celestia's face and asked, "Am I going to have to send you home because of how emotional you are?"

Celestia replied, "Well no...."

Colgate interrupted, "I hope not.  I need as many ponies for this as possible and I certainly don't need any emotional weak links." 

Celestia sighed in frustration as Colgate led the other leaders up to the VIP sleeping quarters before heading down to the archives to do some studying.  Not only did she want to see if there was anything about how to take care of Grogar without having to ring the bell, she also needed some time away from those who seem to think Twilight is so important, especially Celestia. 





Rewriting the Spell

Once Colgate got down into the archives she headed to the very back, where her duplicate collection of White Magick's library was.  She began looking through the books, especially those regarding the evil villains of Ponyland and was becoming frustrated when she couldn't find anything about what his collar was even made of, much less what it would take to cut it off.

This frustrated her but she knew that there had to be another way.  She then thought about how she had brought up a life draining spell and wondered if she might be able to alter it.  She knew she had seen that spell before in the Faustica collection so she headed into the next room and it did not take her long to find it.  She opened it up to the proper page and it read,

"This pony is full of life
Yet this pony has caused a lot of strife,
The energy she has makes her strong
But that can not last for long,
From her to me the energy must flow
And with this my power shall grow,
Now the energy shall be mine
And all will be certainly fine."

She sat down and said to herself, "Ok, this is going to require some alterations since I am doing this on a male goat, not a female pony.  I also need to think about how I will cause his energy will be directed elsewhere, such as maybe skywards rather than into me." 

She sat there for roughly an hour trying to figure out what the right wording would be for this.  After an hour of concentrating, she grabbed a pen and some paper and wrote down what she believed would work, 

"The goat is full of life
Yet he has caused a lot of strife,
The energy he has made him strong
But that can not last for long,
His powers must become a thing of the past
For it is his tyranny that can not last,
Now his energy must go to the grave
And his death will come at the hooves of the brave."

Colgate looked over it and thought it sounded good but knew that she would have to find a way to test it and that meant only one thing, she would have to find a male goat somewhere.  She said to herself, "Well I'm likely going to piss off a local farmer but I must find a male goat and test this." 

After rewriting the spell Colgate put it in her saddlebags and headed upstairs where she would be greeted by Ruby and the other leaders.  Ruby asked, "Colgate where were you?  I was worried sick!" 

Colgate replied, "I was down in the archives doing some studying about Grogar and how we can either cut that collar off of him or drain him of his very life." 

The other ponies heard this and while they were not shocked, several of them sighed in frustration knowing that Colgate would not simply go in and ring the bell.  To a couple it seemed like Colgate was more concerned on wiping out Grogar than she was rescuing those who were captured, White Magick and Celestia in particular.  

Celestia asked, "Colgate, why are you so dead set on killing him when we already know how to defeat him?"

White Magick added, "Do you not care that Twilight may be suffering a lot right now?"  Ruby nudged him causing him to add, "And that the rest of Fluttershy's friends may be suffering as well?"

Colgate rolled her eyes and sighed, "Of course I'm worried about them along with the future of our nation.  If I were not, do you really think I would be making the plans I am?"  She lit up her horn and became more intense, "If I didn't care I'd just sit up in my bedroom and watch Grogar turn Tia's little Twily into pony burgers and not have a care in the world." 

Like she did earlier, Ruby broke down laughing over the comment but White Magick became furious.  He yelled, "How can you say such a thing about a fellow pony."  He turned to Ruby and added, "Look, I know you don't like Twilight and think she's trying to seduce me but Colgate's morbid remarks about her being murdered is nothing to laugh at." 

Ruby sighed, "Yeah you're right" she then giggled a little more, "but I know Colgate isn't really serious about that so I don't see what's wrong with finding a little humor in it." 

Everypony else sighed in frustration but Luna saw that Colgate had her saddlebags on and figured she was going somewhere.  She asked, "Colgate, where are you going with your saddlebags on?"

Colgate replied, "I think I have rewrote the life draining spell to where I would not absorb any energy and I altered it for goats but I'm going to have to go and likely anger one of the local farmers." 

Fluttershy knew where this was headed and did not like it.  She gasped, "Colgate, you're going to go and kill some farmer's goat?  That's just mean!" 

Colgate gave her a slight glare and replied, "Fluttershy, I have to make sure this works."  She raised her voice and continued, "Unless of course you don't care about the fate of your friends...."

Fluttershy interrupted, "But still...."

Colgate continued, "Look, sometimes sacrifices must be made and in this case, the loss of one goat's life will be worth it."  She continued to give Fluttershy an intense look until she headed for the door.  She finished, "And now if you will all excuse me, I must go and test my spell." 





Testing the Spell

After leaving her tower, Colgate took flight flying over the countryside looking to see if she could find any farms that may contain goats.  Once she saw a few farms she began to fly lower to get a better view but unfortunately for her, none of them had any goats.  She said to herself, "I'll fly fifty miles or more if that is what it takes to find one with goats.  This spell must be tested." 

After two hours of flying she finally found a farm that had goats on the premises but the bad news was that the farmer was out taking care of them.  While one part of her wanted to wait around until he was gone, the other part of her wanted to assert her dominance over her subjects and test her spell right in front of the farmer.  Finally her dominance seeking side won over as she landed down between the farmer and his goats. 

He immediately gave her a scowl when she landed and yelled, "You have ten seconds to get out of here before I call the cops!  Nopony trespasses on my land and gets away with it." 

Colgate laughed, "You're going to call the cops on me?"  She stood tall, spread her wings wide and continued, "Do you not know who I am?"

He looked closer and then it hit him who it was who was standing in front of him.  He gave her a salute and replied, "Oh my goodness, Supreme Commander Colgate I am sorry for my initial reaction."  His facial expression became curious as he continued, "What do I owe your visit?"

Colgate replied, "Lead me to your goats, well a male goat to be precise." 

The farmer asked, "A male goat?   What are you going to do with one of my goats?"

Colgate decided that rather than simply go in and sacrifice one of the farmer's goats without him knowing the reason, that she would tell him under an oath of secrecy why she had to do this.  She replied, "I am going to tell you why but I need you to swear an oath to me that you will not tell anypony about this, ever."

The farmer said, "I won't tell anypony." 

Colgate wasn't overly thrilled with his initial answer so she asked, "Under penalty of death, do you promise not to break this oath of secrecy?"

The farmer knew that whatever it was, it was serious business so he replied, "I promise under penalty of death, that I will never tell anypony about what you are going to tell me." 

Colgate gave him a smile and began, "Ok, I don't know what you have been taught about this but Grogar, the city of Tambelon and all of his minions have returned.  Not only has he returned, he has taken five ponies captive, five very important ponies and I along with my army are going to march in there, rescue those ponies and wipe out Grogar once and for all." 

The farmer, like every other pony in Equestria, had been taught that Grogar and Tambelon were pure myth but he knew that with Supreme Commander Colgate telling him this, that it is no myth but had a question, "Ok, Grogar has returned but what does that have to do with one of my male goats?"

Colgate replied, "Here is where one of them come into play.  I have altered a life draining spell to where it is designed for a goat instead of a pony and I need to see if it works."  She looked over towards the goats and continued, "I need your strongest, healthiest goat for this." 

The farmer was not thrilled with this.  He yelled, "You will not take my strongest goat......"

Colgate grabbed him in her aura and said, "Don't worry, the government will reimburse you, ok?"

He had a nervous look on his face knowing that Colgate may very well take a lot more than a goat if he didn't agree.  He replied, "Ok, I agree."  He headed over to the goats and led his strongest, healthiest goat to Colgate.  He asked, "Ok, here you go." 

Colgate simply nodded, pulled her spell out for a moment and memorized it.  Her horn began to glow and she grabbed the goat in her aura as she recited, 

"The goat is full of life
Yet he has caused a lot of strife,
The energy he has made him strong
But that can not last for long,
His powers must become a thing of the past
For it is his tyranny that can not last,
Now his energy must go to the grave
And his death will come at the hooves of the brave."

As soon as she finished the spell, the goat began to shrink and the energy of its life shot out of its head.  It wasn't even ten seconds until the goat was dead and Colgate knew she had achieved her objective.  She gave the farmer a smile and said, "Thank you.  Now I know this works and I can save Coastal Equestria and the rest of the world."  She saw a disgusted look on the farmer's face which angered her.  She gave him a scowl and continued, "Look, we will reimburse you for your goat, ok?"

The farmer knew of not only Colgate's status as leader of the country but also her powers.  He nervously replied, "Ok, I understand.  Thank you in advance." 

Colgate nodded and headed back towards her tower.  She was ecstatic that the spell worked and now felt that she could start training and making more formal plans for the invasion of Tambelon.  Once she arrived at her tower she headed inside and was immediately greeted by the other leaders.  Ruby was the first to ask, "Colgate did it work?  Did your spell work?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, it did."  She cast her gaze at everypony in the room and continued, "Alright, tomorrow we will begin training for this and I will begin to draw up my exact invasion plans.  I want us to be ready for the invasion in two days."  

Everypony nodded and Colgate finished, "Alright, get some rest everypony because the training I'm going to put you through tomorrow ain't going to be easy." 

Fluttershy remembered how things were in the past involving the changelings and dark Alicorns.  She asked, "Colgate, will the dark Alicorns and changelings be joining us too or will they not be aiding us?"

Colgate replied, "Yes Fluttershy, they will be training with us and some will be coming with us.  I'm sure the changelings' ooze will aid us tremendously in not only subduing Grogar but his minions as well."  She took a look at everypony else and noticed rather normal facial expressions and asked, "Any other questions?"

Everypony shook their heads and she finished, "Dismissed, training will start tomorrow morning immediately after breakfast." 

Everypony headed up to their sleeping quarters for some relaxation before supper and Colgate began to scan the world with the eye.  She zeroed in on Tambelon and saw that Grogar had put four of Fluttershy's friends to work mining and that Twilight was tied up, getting soaked with rain and smacked every now and then.  Colgate couldn't help but chuckle, "I bet Ruby wouldn't mind seeing that trogal smacking little Twily!"
> Training Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a good night's rest, Colgate woke up and the first thing she did was look into the eye and see if there were any problems other than the situation in Tambelon going on.  Luckily she noticed that the rest of the world was peaceful and mundane before turning her sights on Tambelon.  She zeroed in on it and noticed that Grogar had the ponies in the cave mining rather early and that Twilight was still tied up outside, in the elements.  What had been rain and changed to freezing rain at this point.  She also noticed that Twilight was being whipped and had a few open wounds.  Despite not trusting or caring for Twilight, even this bothered her, it bothered her enough to realize that she needed to train her forces hard enough that she could launch the invasion the following day rather than in two days. 

Colgate headed downstairs and was greeted by her generals, the other leaders and Fluttershy.  They noticed that she had a sad and distraught look on her face.  The first one to say anything was Ruby.  She asked, "Colgate, what is wrong?"

One thing Colgate did know was that she could not show that she had any sympathy for Twilight around Ruby as she did not want to lose the gift of using her powers in her realm that Ruby had given to her.  She replied, "Grogar has Fluttershy's friends out very early forcing them to mine for him." 

White Magick asked, "And what about Twilight?  What is he doing to her?"

Colgate replied, "Well she's still tied up out in the elements and it appears and the rain up there has turned into freezing rain and is falling much more heavily." 

Ruby couldn't help but snicker, "Maybe she'll wind up sparkling like an icicle does in the sun!  Twilight Icicle has a nice ring to it, doesn't it everypony?"

Colgate gave her a nervous laugh while White Magick just couldn't take it anymore.  He flared his horn up in anger and yelled, "Honey, she is suffering and I'm pretty sure she is going to get sick out there.  I know you despise her but I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy!  If we don't hurry up and rescue her, the poor thing may fall into....."

Ruby also flared her horn up in anger and snapped, "You know what, since you seem to care so much about your precious little Twily, maybe we should just part ways and you can get with her."  She got a grin on her face and continued, "And when our subjects learn that you fell for an Equestrian and chose her over me, you will be forced out and I shall rule alone." 

Colgate yelled, "Stop with the arguing!"  She calmed down and continued, "Look, after everything I saw this morning involving the deteriorating elements and the crimes Grogar is committing against those five, I have come to the conclusion that we will train hard today and then tomorrow morning, we will head towards Tambelon." 

Everypony was in a state of shock, especially Celestia.  She knew that Colgate did not care about Twilight nor did she mention her by name, the fact that she said "those five," she thought that perhaps she did care about her a little bit.  She asked, "So Colgate, what time will we begin training?"

Colgate replied, "Immediately after breakfast.  Don't worry though, we will break for lunch at 1200 before returning to training and we will stop for the day at 1800." 

Fluttershy, who remembered the training from long ago asked, "So Colgate, will we be training like we did when we trained to go take the jade Alicorn?"

Colgate replied, "Actually no.  That was only done for an invasion to seize a relic, this is going to be a full scale military invasion.  What we will be doing is firing weak energy at one another, just enough so that we can feel the energy of the other but not strong enough it will cause any pain nor will it knock us from the sky." 

Dark Night who had been rather quiet asked, "What about us?  What about the dark Alicorns and the changelings?"

Colgate replied, "The dark Alicorns and changelings will be having their own exercises.  Your troops will be facing off against the changelings in agility and accuracy exercises and like us, you will not use nearly enough energy to cause any harm to the changelings." 

Lightning Storm, who had been completely silent commented, "Oh, and when do you plan on duplicating all of us?"

Colgate replied, "Immediately after breakfast.  Now I will not be making thousands of you, probably just a hundred or so since our enemy has no way to duplicate his forces." 

This was something that neither the dark Alicorns nor the changelings had ever experienced before, plans of small scale duplication.  Colgate led everypony to the dining hall and continued, "Well let's get some food in our system and then get over to the base." 





After breakfast they headed to the base where they would receive detailed instructions on what they would be doing but the first thing she did was round up her hoof soldiers.  Once she had them all in one place she ordered, "Troops, I need you all to stand still and be alert."

In unison they replied, "Yes ma'am!" 

She had four of each type and knew that was not nearly enough so she would not have to cast the spell very many times.  She lit up her horn and recited,  "From one to two, two to four and so much more, when one is simple mere, more and more shall appear." 

She cast the spell and she then had eight of each but for her that was still too few, especially given who they were going up against.  She cast the spell four more times and in the end she had 128 of each, which she figured was more than enough since some would be staying home to keep an eye on things. 

Her generals stood up by her and the army stood before them waiting for them to begin their address.  Colgate began, "Troops, tomorrow we have a very important mission and we must not fail."

Dark Night added, "Tomorrow we will launch an invasion of Tambelon and we have two goals, one is to rescue five ponies who look a lot like our Supreme Commander, they will have wings and a horn and the other goal, slaughter everything else, including a goat with red eyes." 

Colgate continued, "Now this goat has very strong magic and could take you out if he struck you with enough of his magic." 

Lightning Storm added, "Because of this, we shall be engaging in agility and accuracy exercises today." 

Colgate continued, "What you will be doing is firing at one another with minimal energy and when it comes to the changelings, your goal will be to cover the dark Alicorns in ooze, immobilizing them and disabling their magic.  The dark Alicorns will also need to free their immobilized comrades with their energy."  She stood taller and asked, "Do you understand?"

In unison they yelled, "Yes ma'am!" 

Colgate asked, "Any questions?"

Again the yelled, "No ma'am!" 

Colgate replied, "Good, now get to work."  As her hoof soldiers began their exercises Colgate headed to her fellow Alicorns and ordered, "Alright, now that my hoof soldiers are engaging in their exercises, we shall engage in our own?"

LaurFa asked, "So how are we going to do this?"

Colgate replied, "Alright, Luna, Celestia, Scootaloo and Cosmos, you will be on my side while White Magick, Ruby, Fluttershy, Galaxia and LaurFa will be playing the role of the Tambelonian forces." 

LaurFa asked, "Seriously, we have to engage in this kind of exercise when the only one with magic up there is Grogar.  The rest of them should be easy to wipe out." 

Colgate replied, "Yes, I want us to do this and remember, only use a minimal amount of energy because I certainly don't want us harming one another, ok." 

In unison they said, "Ok." 

They all took to the sky and began their exercises.  Some of them wound up getting hit fairly often while Colgate and Scootaloo, who were the most agile of them all wound up only getting hit once the entire morning.  As they were doing this, Colgate couldn't help but be frustrated over the lack of agility so many of her fellow leaders had.  She knew that Grogar could not fly but still, she wanted them to be just as prepared as they would have been if they were going up against Twilight and her forces like they did in the old days.

As the day progressed, everypony was doing better and was becoming more agile during the exercises and at 1800 Colgate ended the exercises and gathered everypony at the base.  Once everypony was present she yelled, "Attention!" 

Everypony quit talking and stared straight at her.  She began, "Alright troops, I would say that today was a spectacular day of training.  At first I noticed that a lot of you weren't very agile and were a somewhat inaccurate with your firing but by the end of the day, I was very impressed with what I saw.  Because of this, I do believe that we will be more than ready to launch our invasion tomorrow.  Does anypony have any questions?"

White magic asked, "When will we be leaving and what time will we be arriving there?"

Colgate replied, "We will be eating an early breakfast around 0700 and hopefully we can leave by 0800.  Given that it is not too far away, we should reach Tambelon by 1100 and I do hope that this won't take too long.  Given our advantage in numbers and the fact that more than just one of us has magic, this likely won't take too long." 

White Magick asked, "So are we going to go and rescue Twilight right away or....."

Ruby gave him a scowl and interrupted, "Is that all you care about?  Is all you care about is your precious little Twily?"

Colgate added, "No White Magick, we are going to go in there, slaughter Grogar, his lackey Bray and all his trogals.  After that we will go and rescue those who have been taken captive."  She rolled her eyes and continued, "Any other questions?"

Nopony else had any questions so Colgate dismissed them and headed back to the tower.  Before she did so though, she headed to the armory and grabbed a sword, a titanium sword that she believed could either cut Grogar's collar off or perhaps cut him open. 

Once she returned to her tower, the very first place she went was up to her chambers to scan the world through the eye.  Like it was that morning, there was nothing out of the ordinary going on but once she zeroed in on Tambelon, she saw that the four Grogar had mining were being abused and yelled at because of a poor day of production.  She then saw a trogal whipping Twilight and another clawing her flank, trying to claw her cutie mark off.  She shook her head and realized that what they were going to be dealing with was much more sadistic than she initially thought.  Deep down, she had a good feeling that her forces would wipe out their enemy and save those five from the torture they were enduring.
> The Invasion of Tambelon
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Morning Discussions

The night passed all too quickly for Colgate as the sun rose before she was able to get too much sleep but realized that despite her fatigue, she simply couldn't delay the invasion.  She got up and looked through the eye and like always, she saw nothing abnormal except for in Tambelon.  What she saw looked worse, the freezing rain had turned into a blizzard and lightning was flashing everywhere.  Despite the terrible weather, Grogar himself was out punishing Twilight while her friends were being beat in the mine.  She threw her hooves up in the air, grabbed her sword and growled, "Alright, that's it.  Forget draining his life, I'm cutting him open and ripping his heart straight out of him." 

Normally she would wait until everypony else got up but this morning would be different as she went pounding on the bedroom doors, ordering that everypony get up and head downstairs for breakfast.  When they arrived they saw Colgate instructing the castle chef to bring them a large portion of food, of her choosing.  While none of them objected to what she had ordered for all of them, it did frustrate LaurFa.  She asked, "Colgate, you're ordering for us?   Why the hay would you do that?"

Colgate gave her a scowl, "If you saw what I saw this morning, you would understand why I want to hurry up, get out to Tambelon and put an end to the torture Fluttershy's friends are experiencing." 

At first Ruby gave her a slight glare but then realized that it was all of them that she sought to save, not just Twilight.  She sighed, "Well I can understand that and besides everypony, Grogar has been an enemy of ponykind since well before the fall of Ponyland and he must be wiped out."

This caused Celestia to gasp, "It involves what they're doing to them up there doesn't it?"

White Magick added, "What are they doing to Twilight?"

Ruby lit her horn up in anger, smacked him and yelled, "I am so sick of hearing about Twilight this, Twilight that.  I honestly can't help but wonder if you don't have feelings for her you shouldn't." 

Their meal was coming and Colgate yelled, "Would you stop with the arguing!  You know how I feel about business discussion over meals and after this, we're headed out."  Her voice became more intense as she continued, "Look, if any of you are going to be overly emotional or fight with one another, just stay behind.  I have no use for emotional weak links."

The room went quiet as their meals were served to them.  Colgate sighed in frustration over their arguing.  Out of all of them though, she was getting sick and tired of White Magick's obsession with Twilight and what she thought was a lack of focus on the overall mission.  Despite this though, she knew that with him having dealt with Grogar in the past that he was a necessity to succeed. 





Heading Out 

After a hearty breakfast they headed out to the base where the soldiers were finishing up their own large meals.  When Colgate arrived they all stood at attention waiting for her to speak, "Alright troops, the day has come.  The day has come for us to launch our attack on Tambelon and rescue the five ponies who were taken captive."

The soldiers all began to cheer knowing that they would be aiding in this endeavor until Colgate continued, "I do want to let you know that not all of you will be going.  Twenty-eight changelings and twenty-eight dark Alicorns will remain here to hold down the fort."  She turned to her generals and ordered, "Find twenty-eight of your own kind to stay here and guard the tower." 

They began going through their soldiers and picked the ones that would remain behind, led the rest up to Colgate and let her know that those were the ones that they would be taking.  Once she had everypony, her soldiers and the other Alicorns in front of her she began one final address, "Alright everypony, it is time for us to get going.  I need everypony to be completely alert and focused on this mission" she cast her gaze towards White Magick and Ruby and continued, "and I need everypony to keep their emotions in check.  I do not want any arguing, I do not want anypony breaking down and crying when they see what is going on with those Grogar is holding captive and for goodness sake, remember our goal is to slay Grogar, Bray and every single trogal.  Banishment is not an option, slaughtering our enemies is the ONLY acceptable way to handle this." 

Everypony knew that Colgate meant business but one pony had a question.  Fluttershy asked, "Colgate, I remember you used to do this a long time ago but are you going to be putting armor spells on us." 

Colgate replied, "Yes, once Tambelon is within eyesight, we will stop so I can cast the armor spell on us.  Yes it probably won't take anything more than a couple of strikes from Grogar to shatter it but it still beats nothing."  She then took to the sky and ordered, "Alright troops, to war, to victory!" 





Torture in Tambelon

The snow was raging in Tambelon and the lightning was flashing everywhere as Grogar and Bray were out making sure that the trogals were handling their prisoners properly.  Like they had been since they were captured, Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity and Rainbow were being forced to mine for iron in the cave that they had been working in.  Grogar approached them and noticed that not nearly enough rock had been chipped away as he hoped.  He smacked them and yelled, "Is this all you're doing you scum ponies?  You have mined next to nothing for me, you are no better than your little princess I tied up." 

They all shied back, except for one.  Rainbow Dash stood tall and yelled, "When our friends finally come for us, you'll be sorry!" 

Grogar lit up his horns and fired a beam of energy at her, burning her badly.  He yelled, "Shut up scum pony, if I want to hear your mindless babbling, I'll speak directly to you." 

Bray thought that his action was a bit extreme and asked, "My liege, was that really warr...."

Before he could finish his sentence Grogar picked him up and slammed him into the cave wall.  He yelled, "How dare you question my actions you idiot."  He fired a much more powerful bolt of energy at him and yelled, "You want to wind up like their scum princess?  You want to be tied up in the cold and tortured like she is?"

Very weakly Bray replied, "No my liege." 

Grogar glared at his trogals and ordered, "Make sure these scum do some work for a change."  He picked up Bray and ordered, "You're coming with me to check on their princess so you can see what will happen if you challenge me again." 

Grogar headed over to Twilight and would be delighted by what he saw.  It appeared as though she was falling ill, had numerous wounds from the whipping and had numerous claw marks on her flank.  He gave his trogals a smile and laughed, "Good job boys."  He then threw Bray to the ground and yelled, "You see this you idiot, this will be you if you question me again." 

Twilight heard his interaction with his assistant and asked, "Why must you always call him an idi....."

Grogar fired some energy at Twilight and yelled, "Shut up you scum princess.  Do not speak unless you are spoken to." 

The energy burned her to the point where it caused her to start crying.  Grogar looked down at his trogals and ordered, "Smack her if she doesn't shut up."  He then fired some energy at Bray and yelled, "Follow me, I don't want you providing that scum pony any comfort." 





Attack on Tambelon

Nearly three hours had passed since Colgate and her forces had left her tower and despite there being a blizzard, she could make out the city.  She yelled, "Stop!"  Her forces did as ordered and she continued, "Alright troops, the time has come.  I am going to cast an armor spell on you and then we head in there, slaughter every single enemy and then rescue those who have been taken prisoner.

Colgate ordered them to gather together and she lit up her horn.  Once they were all together she recited,  "The one without armor does not stand a chance, so it is what we must  enhance, the unarmed one will likely receive death, with armor he shall  continue to draw breath, without armor he will be torn to shreds like a  rag but with armor victory is in the bag." 

Colgate put enough energy that her eyes began to shine a bright blue and her body began to glow.  After she finished the spell she asked, "Any questions before we do this?"

Nopony said a word so she turned towards the city and yelled, "To war, to victory!" 

Her forces charged in and began firing bolts of energy, knocking trogals down.  Colgate was not one bit pleased when she saw that their enemies were not being incinerated with one hit.  She then realized that they were much tougher than they looked.  Her eyes were shining blue as she fired much more powerful bolts of energy at her enemies and while they did a great amount of damage to them, it took more than one hit to kill them.  

On the other side of the city, Grogar heard the chaos ensuing and saw that his city was under attack.  He lit up his horns and began firing energy at his foes but the fact that they were not even harming them angered him, it angered him so much that he picked up Bray and threw him directly at Colgate.  Colgate saw this and couldn't help but wonder if Grogar was in such a state of rage that he may not be focused enough and that she could perhaps take him out. 

With her sword in her aura, she sped directly towards her enemy but he would not be as distracted as she thought.  He fired a powerful bolt of energy at her, shattering her armor and knocking her from the sky.  He grabbed her in his aura and threw her against the side of a building and laughed, "You scum ponies think you can defeat me, I think not!" 

His comment angered Colgate but she knew that she had to keep her anger in check, she knew that she could not be emotional and become a liability so she grabbed her sword and sped skywards before swooping down and slashing the back of his neck.  Colgate hoped that this would do a fair amount of damage to him but all it got was a minor scream and a minor cut.  

Grogar again lit up his horns and began to fire energy at Colgate but could not score another hit.  From the other side of the courtyard, Ruby saw this and knew that one Alicorn alone wouldn't take down Grogar.  She sped towards the fight with her eyes and horn glowing.  Just as she got within hoofs reach of him, she fired a bright bolt of energy at her foe, knocking him backwards and causing him to scream in agony.  Colgate and Ruby smiled at one another, nodded and then took off towards their somewhat disoriented foe.

The two again sped towards Grogar and were shot down with his energy before they could reach him.  He stood over the two and then took a closer look at Ruby.  He growled, so it is YOU, it is the one who helped those Dream Valley ponies defeat me." 

Ruby stood tall and proclaimed, "Yes I was and this time, I shall be the one who helps the ponies of this world defeat you."  She fired another bolt of energy at him, knocking him backwards again.  Colgate too lit up her horn and fired a powerful bolt of energy, scoring a direct hit and knocking him to the ground.  This was when the two decided that they would go in for the kill.  They soared skywards before taking a nosedive, burning him with more energy but just as the two were ready to fry him at point blank range, Grogar lit up his horns, grabbed Ruby in his aura and flung her head first straight into the side of a building. 

Almost immediately Colgate's number one focus switched from being Grogar to being Ruby.  She flew over to where she laid and was horrified by what she saw.  She saw blood flooding out of her nose and her neck bent in a way that a pony's neck would normally not bend.  She began shaking her calling out for her to respond but received no response.  She felt for a pulse but was unable to find one.  

Grogar headed towards her and laughed, "Ruby Heart, this is what you get for aiding those Dream Valley scum."  He looked down at Colgate and continued, "And now I shall do to you what I did to her." 

The fact that he had killed Ruby sent Colgate into a rage.  She took off again and vowed to herself that she would slay Grogar, no matter what the cost, no matter the risk.  She launched herself at him and before he could stop her, she plowed her sword into his chest causing him to let out a deafening scream.  Unfortunately though, the stab did very little to stop him as his hide was very thick. 

Colgate knew there had to be another way.  For a brief moment she did consider stunning him long enough she could use the life draining spell but then thought about what he did to her friend and again realized that his death would be all that would suffice.  He continued to fire energy at her but continued to miss.  Then it hit Colgate, she wondered if she fired something powerful enough that if she shot light out of her eyes that perhaps she could blind him.

She again began firing powerful bolts of energy at him, burning him with each one.  Finally she flew to where she was at eye level with him and powered up her horn.  She again fired a powerful bolt of energy at him but continued to put more power into it until her eyes began to shine blue, she began to glow and finally, the light shot out of her eyes and went straight into his, causing him to be unable to blink.  Despite struggling and thrashing about, Colgate was able to keep the light shining in his eyes.  Soon he began to scream in agony as his eyes were beginning to melt.  

Despite the situation he was in, he was still able to use his magic and realized that if he didn't do something, he would perish.  He lit up his horns ready to strike but what neither Grogar or Colgate saw, was a figure standing on top of a building holding a sword.  As Grogar wobbled closer to the building, the figure jumped holding his sword out.  Right as he got level with Grogar, he reached his sword out and wound up cutting Grogar's collar off of him, completely disabling his magic.  

When the energy from the collar hitting the ground shot out, it broke Colgate's hold on Grogar.  She would be surprised when she saw who it was, it was Bray who had cut the collar off of him.  She asked him, "Bray, you cut his collar off of him?"

Bray replied, "Yes, long was I under his control but no longer.  I am free and I have you and your forces to thank for this."  

Grogar, despite being unable to see, had stood back up and Colgate knew that the fight wasn't over yet.  She cast her gaze at him and ordered, "Help me finish him off and I will see that no harm comes to you." 

Bray nodded and began slashing Grogar's legs while Colgate went in for the kill.  She reached her sword out and slashed his throat with as much pressure as she could, causing Grogar to go crashing to the ground.  He continued to thrash as both Colgate and Bray pounced on him and continued to stab and slash him.  Bray yelled, "No longer Grogar, no longer!  No longer am I under your control!"

Grogar tried to yell something but would be stopped as Bray slashed his throat one more time, severing his carotid artery, killing him instantly.  Bray began to celebrate over the fact that he aided in slaughtering his oppressor but the battle was far from over.  Colgate looked in the direction of the battle and ordered, "Bray, the remaining part of the battle is no place for one without magic.  You wait here behind his body while I take care of this." 

Colgate took to the sky and when she arrived to the battle, she discovered that the trogals were very hard to take down as even the changelings were having problems with them.  Colgate noticed that they always ran certain ways when energy was fired at them.  She yelled, "Watch how they run, they always go the same way when you fire energy.  Strike them there, strike them there." 

Once Colgate joined the battle and her forces followed her advice, they began to make quick work of the trogals and it would not be soon until all of them were dead and the battle was over.  When her forces stopped and returned to the ground, they looked around to see that every single trogal was dead and looking off to their left, they saw the much larger corpse of Grogar.  They began to celebrate knowing that they had achieved the objective their commander had set, they were able to slaughter every single minion of Grogar's.
> The Aftermath
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After the battle ended, Colgate and her forces stood triumphant in the city of Tambelon looking around at all their fallen enemies.  For Colgate, this was proof that her tactics worked and for the others, they were able to take care of this and could now save their friends but one pony would have different concerns, White Magick.  White Magick looked around and noticed that one pony was missing, his wife Ruby Heart.

He went into a panic, "Where is Ruby, where is Ruby?"

Colgate pointed in the direction of where she laid and led her there.  When he saw her bruised and mangled body, he leaned down and began to cry in agony.  Bray saw this and came out from behind Grogar's body to console him but would be stopped by Colgate, "Just let him grieve Bray, this is no time for anypony to be approaching him, particularly for one who he will think is an enemy."

Colgate decided that while White Magick was grieving, that the time to save those who had been taken captive.  She cast her gaze down at Bray and ordered, "Lead us to those who were taken captive and I guarantee you shall receive no harm." 

Bray nodded and first led everypony to the cave where they found Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie and Rainbow cowering down in the back of the cave.  Fluttershy is the one who ran to them, "Ladies, I'm so glad to see you!"

They replied, "We're glad to see you too!" 

Colgate approached them and noticed that they had been bound together and had horn caps on.  She suggested, "Before you continue with your reunion, let me take care of these bounds and horn caps."

Colgate removed the chains that bound them but discovered that she was not able to merely pull the horn caps off.  She knew that just like she does when using them on her enemies, that Grogar had enchanted them.  She sighed in frustration, "Ugh, why did he have to enchant them?"

The four captives sighed in despair when they heard that the caps were enchanted as they knew that when it comes to enchanted horn caps, that the only one that can remove them is the one who enchanted them.  Colgate saw the looks on their faces and wanted to reassure them, "Don't worry ladies, I'm sure that if I use enough power, that I can remove them." 

This brought a smile to three of them but a look of concern to the face on Applejack.  She asked, "Colgate, aren't you worried your power will shatter our horns too?"

Colgate replied, "Trust me, I know what I'm doing."  Colgate grabbed the cap on Applejack's horn and put enough energy into her hold until it first cracked and then shattered.  She gave the four a smile and continued, "You see, I know what I'm doing." 

She then did the same with the other three and finally they were free.  Everypony began to leave the cave when Rainbow saw Bray alongside Colgate and yelled, "Colgate, it is one of Grogar's lackeys, we have to slay him."

Rainbow lit up her horn when Colgate stood in front of him.  She gave her a stern look and countered, "Rainbow, he is the one who not only cut Grogar's collar off of him but aided me in killing Grogar when he slashed his throat." 

Rainbow gave her a strange look and asked, "Seriously, he cut his collar off?  She cast her gaze to Bray and asked, "Is what Colgate says true?  Did you really aid in slaying him?"

Bray replied, "Yes I did."  In a much happier tone he continued, "And I'm finally free!  I'm free from his control!"

Everypony in the cave watched him as he said this and could tell that he truly was free from his control.  Colgate turned to him and ordered, "Now lead us to Twilight, where is she?"

As he led them out of the cave, the snow had changed back to freezing rain and the lightning was worse.  When they got to Twilight they discovered that she too had a horn cap on but was tied to a column, had numerous open wounds, claw marks on her flank and had ice building up around her nose.  Celestia was the first to rush to her.  In a state of panic she asked, "Twilight, are you ok?"

Twilight was not all that coherent when she replied, "Princess Celestia, is that you?"

Celestia began to cry, "Yes Twilight it is me."  She then yelled, "Colgate, we have to free her and we need to remove this horn cap." 

Colgate approached the two, freed Twilight and like she did with the others, she shattered the horn cap that was on her.  She yelled, "Come on everypony, we have to get her inside before she falls ill." 

They headed into the only decent building in the city, the one that Grogar resided in.  It was chilly inside but it did have torches providing light and it was dry.  Once they were inside everypony had gathered around Twilight, with the exception of one.  Colgate headed back out into the storm to search for White Magick.  Once she reached him she discovered that he was still kneeling over the body of his fallen wife.  She approached him and asked, "White Magick, we need to get you inside."

Still in a state of agony he yelled, "Not without Ruby.  We have to get her out of this cursed place and get her buried." 

Colgate replied, "I agree, let's get inside before you start to get covered in ice the way Twilight did." 

He levitated his wife's body and followed Colgate inside.  He sat her down and again began to cry.  Despite being disoriented and not feeling well, Twilight heard his cries, got up and stumbled to him.  She had a sad look on her face as she knelt beside him and said, "White Magick, I'm......"

Before she could finish her sentence he pushed her away with his wing and snapped, "Leave me be Twilight Sparkle, my wife died in battle and I want one last moment alone with her." 

Twilight stumbled back towards the group where she laid back down on the floor.  Most everypony continued to give her a warm smile with the exception of three, Colgate, Scootaloo and LaurFa.  Scootaloo was the first to say anything, "Twilight, he just lost his wife.  Let him grieve, ok." 

LaurFa added, "Twilight, I know for a fact that you have a crush on him but I would strongly advise that you leave him alone until he gets past his mourning phase." 

Colgate finished, "And that may be quite some time.  Those two were very close and if not out of respect for him, leave him be out of respect for Queen Ruby Heart." 

Physically Twilight was already feeling bad enough but the way White Magick snapped at her along with the stern suggestions she received made her feel all the worse.  At that moment she hoped that she and White Magick would be ready to leave Tambelon soon and return home.
> Returning Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Departing Tambelon

Three days had passed and the storm outside refused to relent while temperatures inside continued to remain chilly.  What bothered everypony was that Twilight's health was not improving, it seemed to continue to get worse and White Magick was still not talking to anypony except for one, Colgate.  Nopony had been able to eat since before the battle and in the case of those Grogar took captive, it had been nearly a week.  

They had begun to have hunger pains and Applejack couldn't take it anymore.  She tapped Colgate on the shoulder and asked, "Colgate, I don't know when you're ready to do this but I think we really need to get going." 

Colgate replied, "Well let me talk to White Magick and Twilight to see if they are ready to go."  She approached White Magick and asked, "White Magick, do you think you're ready to go?  It's been three days and everypony is getting quite hungry." 

White Magick's stomach was growling loudly and he was beginning to feel a bit of hunger pain himself.  He replied, "Yes, I am ready to go" he looked down to his wife's corpse and continued, "besides, I want to get my wife buried before she starts to decay." 

Colgate nodded and headed to Twilight.  Twilight had heard what they had been talking about and before she could ask anything, Twilight said, "Yes, I'm ready to get home.  I want to leave and never see this horrible place again." 

Colgate replied, "Very well then."  She called out to everypony else and continued, "Alright everypony, let's get going.  Once I get my soldiers rounded up we will all head for home." 

White Magick picked his wife up in his aura and followed Colgate out the door, followed by everypony else.  Colgate headed to a much larger yet somewhat damaged building where her troops were gathered.  She opened the door and yelled, "Come on troops, we're heading for home." 

Her soldiers were also very hungry and began to cheer at the news.  Once everypony was gathered out in the courtyard they all readied themselves to take off to the south with the exception of Scootaloo, who was returning home to the Crystal Empire.  Before she left Colgate grabbed a hold of her and said, "You have a safe trip home Scootaloo." 

Scootaloo replied, "You know I will and besides, if I run into anything dangerous I'll slay it!" 

Colgate chuckled, "I know you will but still, when I get home I'm tapping into the eye and making sure you're ok.  You are like a daughter to me after all." 

Scootaloo embraced her former mentor and took off to the north.  She levitated Bray onto her back and ordered, "Hold on, this is going to be a long flight."

Bray replied, "Don't worry, I'll hold on tight." 

Colgate took to the sky and was followed by everypony else.  White Magick, Colgate, Bray and her army were headed to the southeast while everypony else was going to return to Ponyville before others would then head to their homes.  As they were getting ready to part ways, they all said their good-byes before parting ways.

Return to Ponyville

The flight back to Ponyville seemed agonizingly long for those who had been taken captive given that they had not eaten anything in nearly a week.  For Twilight, who had been abused much more than her friends, it was so bad that halfway there Celestia wound up having to grab her in her aura to carry her the rest of the way home.

By the time they finally reached Ponyville, everypony was exhausted as they landed at the base of Twilight's castle.  Despite having been carried in her aura for half the way, Twilight was by far in the worst shape, in even worse shape than she was when she was untied in Tambelon.  The moment Celestia saw the bad shape was in, she carried her into her castle and got her put in bed.  

Celestia sat by Twilight's bedside and began to weep seeing what a truly horrid shape she was in.  It looked like Twilight's wounds were beginning to get infected and she seemed to be getting weaker and weaker as time passed.  Celestia grabbed her hoof and began to cry, "I'm sorry this happened to you Twilight, I just wish I could have been here to protect you from Grogar." 

Very weakly Twilight began to cry as she asked, "Princess Celestia, am I going to die?  Is this going to kill me?"

Celestia lowered her head and replied, "I don't know but...."

LaurFa had entered the room and interrupted, "Not if I have anything to do with it."  She cast her gaze at Twilight and continued, "Once I think you are in good enough shape, I will transport you to Alicorn Island where the very energy of the land will aid in speeding up your recovery."

Celestia's ears perked up as she asked, "Really, you'll do that for her?"

LaurFa replied, "Of course I will, I would do it for anypony that I'm not on bad terms with."

Twilight was happy that LaurFa would offer to do this but wanted to know one thing.  She asked, "LaurFa, would it be too much trouble for you to stay here until I'm ready to be transported there so that you won't have to make an extra trip?"

LaurFa replied, "Of course I can Twilight, it wouldn't make much sense for me to have to make an extra trip back and forth." 

Twilight cast her gaze at both ponies and asked, "When do you think I will be well enough to make this trip?"

LaurFa gave her a smile, "Well now that you're away from Tambelon, in your bed and will be getting food in your system, I would say maybe a couple weeks and once I get you to Faustica, your healing process will speed up." 

Twilight yawned, "That sounds wonderful but for now, I really want to get some sleep." 

LaurFa nodded and Celestia remained by her side as she fell into a peaceful sleep.  Celestia was happy that Twilight was back in her castle where she belonged.  She did worry though that her healing process would be so slow that she would be unable to eat enough to survive long enough to make the trip, if there would be one at all.  All she could hope for was that she would begin to heal since she was home. 

Return to the Tower

As most everypony headed to the southwest in the direction of Ponyville, White Magick along with Colgate, Bray and her forces headed towards the southeast, first towards the portal to White Magick's realm and then Colgate would head east towards her tower.   Once they arrived over the hills in the Everfree Forest, everypony stopped but remained airborne since Colgate had far too many ponies with her to be able to land. 

As White Magick was holding the body of his fallen wife Colgate glanced at her body and then at him before asking, "White Magick, I don't know if you know when it will happen but I was wondering if I would be welcome at the funeral?" 

White Magick held his head low and replied, "I am sorry Colgate but I think this would likely be best if this were kept as an event solely for the ponies of my realm.  I know Ruby would probably want you present but when it comes to funerals, the ponies in general are very selective of who they want present, even among our own." 

Colgate nodded, "I can understand that entirely but I do hope that we can have get-togethers every now and then just to talk." 

White Magick replied, "Of course we can.  You are an ally and I have come to think of you as a very dear friend and I definitely know that Ruby would want us to stay in close contact with as much as she liked you." 

Colgate saw White Magick beginning to glance down towards the portal and knew that he was wanting to get his wife's body home and prepare it for burial.  She embraced him and said, "Well White Magick, I suppose this is a see you later." 

He returned the embrace and replied, "Yes, well see you later Colgate."  He cast his gaze at Bray and added, "And you too.  I'm so glad that we were finally able to free you from Grogar's control."  He then cast his gaze at Colgate's army and finished, "And all of you as well.  I am glad we had you by our side in this." 

They threw him a salute before he flew down below the canopy of the forest.  Colgate looked at her soldiers and suggested, "Well troops let's get home, I'm so ready to sleep in my bed again!" 

Colgate took off to the east and was followed by her army.  A couple hours later her tower and the city of Marentreal finally became visible.  As they landed at the base of her tower she lowered Bray off her back, faced her troops and said, "Well troops, we accomplished our mission."  She then let out a yawn and continued, "I don't know about you but I'm ready for a good long nap!" 

Before anypony could say anything else, Bray asked, "Colgate, I'm glad you liberated me from Grogar and made sure that none of the other leaders punished me because of my past but I have a question.  Where am I going to live and what am I going to do?"

Colgate chuckled, "I knew you were going to ask that and I've been contemplating that all the way home.  I have decided that you shall live in the tower with me and my generals and you will have a job."

Bray asked, "What will my job be?"

Colgate replied, "Your primary job will be to relay messages between the soldiers on the base and myself.  When you are not doing that, your other task will be to simply relax and enjoy life."

Bray was shocked at what he was hearing.  Never in his life did he imagine that he would wind up in a situation where he could finally relax and not have to worry about being abused or treated poorly.  He asked, "Seriously?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, oh and one other thing, prepare yourself for hearty meals because you will be joining my generals and I for meals."  She got a smile on her face as she added, "And we all like our meals large and full of meat and I hope you do as well."  She cast her gaze towards the stairs and finished, "Oh and I almost forgot, I need to get you settled into your sleeping quarters, follow me." 

Bray did as instructed and was thrilled when he saw the size of the bed that he would now be sleeping in.  He went in and immediately plopped down on what was the most comfortable bed he had ever laid on.  He rushed to Colgate, embraced her and exclaimed, "Thank you Colgate, thank you!" 

Colgate replied, "No need to thank me, you have earned it by aiding us in slaying Grogar and helping in freeing the ponies who were taken captive."  She pointed her hoof into his room and continued, "Make yourself at home, I have some business I need to take care of." 

Bray did as requested and Colgate headed up to her room.  The first thing she did was tap into the eye to look for trouble.  She first zeroed in on Tambelon and watched in awe as lightning struck one of the buildings causing debris to fall and ring the city's bell one last time, causing it to return to the deep, dark places of the world.  She then scanned the rest of the world and noticed that everything was normal and that nothing was out of the ordinary. 

She plopped down on her bed and said to herself, "Mission accomplished Colgate, hopefully no other evils will return to this world."