Five thousand years after the slaying of Grogar and the restoration of normality, the most wicked villains in the history of Equestria return with a dark relic from the ancient past. It is up to the world leaders to defeat this evil or face the end.
Five thousand years after the slaying of Grogar and the restoration of normality, the most wicked villains in the history of Equestria return with a dark relic from the ancient past. Defeating them and saving the world will be a huge challenge but when one of their own returns to her old ways, things will only get worse.
Ten millennia ago, not too long after the ascension and coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle, she had an unfortunate encounter with Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra. After the encounter, she became corrupted into a pony who had one mission, to conquer all of Equestria and eventually the entire planet.
After taking Equestria, Twilight decided she wanted more, she wanted everything and to do this, she transformed not only her friends but also Colgate, Lyra Heartstrings and Lemon Hearts into Alicorns and it worked, she acquired the jade Alicorn, which allowed her to spy upon the whole planet. After acquiring the jade Alicorn and casting a powerful spell that transformed her into a dark goddess, the self-proclaimed Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle achieved her goal. With one final attack on Alicorn Island and the defeat of those who were on the side of good, the Dark Goddess achieved her objective, she united the entire planet under one banner, hers.
Eventually, once Twilight started traveling the world more than doing her job, her second in command, Commander Colgate used loyalty spells to turn the military against the Dark Goddess, took Equestria for herself and granted independence to the other nations of the world. After this Twilight attempted to retake Equestria and the world but failed, she was banished to the sun along with Celestia, who she had banished after her victory that gave her the world for the duration of her sentence.
One thousand years passed and while the world was at relative peace, everypony knew that eventually not only would Princess Celestia finish her sentence for crimes she committed when Twilight was a filly but so would a wrathful Dark Goddess.
One thousand years later Twilight Sparkle and Celestia returned to Equestria and Twilight recruited Celestia along with then Equestrian Commander Shining Armor into aiding her in taking the world back into her possession. She believed that after Celestia felt that she didn't get the respect she deserved and defected from Colgate to Twilight, that she would have a much easier time retaking the planet but Supreme Commander Colgate, leader of Equestria and its military, discovered a spell to free an incredibly powerful Alicorn from ancient times to assist her and was easily able to recruit her into her forces. This pony, Brevity Thrash is a Creator Goddess and is the sister of Creator Goddess LaurFa, who after having had a loyalty spell cast on her, joined the Dark Goddess.
While Twilight was sailing around the world and gaining allegiance from various leaders, Colgate decided to use psychological warfare upon her enemy and cast a storm spell so strong that she herself was transformed into a Goddess. Despite her spell being used for deadly and destructive purposes, she became a different kind of Goddess, a goddess of pure good. Eventually after gaining the allegiance of other world leaders, Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle launched an attack on Ponyville believing that she could reclaim Equestria and thus, the entire world. She failed and her punishment was severe, as was that of her allies. She along with the Creator Goddess LaurFa, Princess Celestia, Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos (Celestia and Luna's parents) were unmade using a spell that only Brevity Thrash knew, a spell that caused atoms to completely fall apart and it was this spell that returned the world to peace.
While the world remained in a relative state of peace, after three thousand years had passed, the world had changed dramatically. Harmony and ponies working together had become a thing of the past as each nation had become militarized and international trade had begun to cause economic inequalities among the nations of the world. Some produced commodities of higher value while others produced ones of lower value. This economic inequality eventually led to envy, hatred and in the end, a global war. The nations that were at an economic disadvantage declared war upon the nations that were doing more well off but new and brutal tactics used by Supreme Commander Colgate and her second in command, Commander Scootaloo quickly brought what became the *axis powers to its knees, especially a uranium atom splitting spell that Colgate had learned. It was easily the most destructive and deadly spell in the history of Ponykind and after using it and rendering an entire nation uninhabitable, the war ended but peace would not return.
Because of radioactive fallout from Colgate's nuclear testing, the five villains that were unmade and once deemed to be gone forever, returned. Unfortunately for the allied forces, their return occurred while Colgate was abroad and Equestria quickly fell under the control of the Dark Goddess and her allies. During this time, after many millennia of absence, the Crystal Empire returned along with three individuals who would wind up making the most unlikely of allies, Princess Cadence, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis. After using a powerful dark loyalty spell, Cadence too becomes a Dark Goddess and declares war on Equestria. In what would be a rather short battle, Twilight killed Cadence and banished her allies to the void. After planning exactly what needed to be done, Colgate and her allies launched their invasion on Ponyville and when it was apparent that Colgate and her allies could not win the battle, they along with Brevity Thrash teleported to a new world, Eqqus 2 and after that, the primary world became dubbed Eqqus 1.
Twilight Sparkle then held the world in her possession for another thousand years before discovering a sect of ponies that had avoided her detection ever since she rose to power and she sought to properly punish them since they had their own King and Queen. To her, this was unacceptable and vowed that they would bow to her and nopony else. These ponies would prove to be no pushovers as she was captured by them and had some of her military seized before she was released. Twilight however did not plan on leaving this sect alone but they made their own plans, plans to not only put an end to Twilight's reign but to end the era of the Dark Goddess entirely. Their leader held special abilities that nopony else did, a spell known as "the rite of cleansing" a spell that would eradicate the evil from her and return her to the state she was prior to her initial corruption by Chrysalis.
It was a surprise attack by this sect and their leader, King White Magick, that caused Twilight Sparkle to not only fall but be cleansed. Along with this, all her loyalty spells were broken, those she had banished to the void were freed, all the magic she learned while she was corrupted was lost and the power that she stole from some ponies was restored to them. This event also caused her ancient dark tower to collapse and along with it, the destruction of the jade Alicorn that allowed her to see all. This event caused some of the ponies who fled to Eqqus 2 to return to see what had happened. In the end even King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis were freed from their evil by the cleansing spell.
Not long after the cleansing of who were once three of Equestria's worst villains, fears surfaced that a much darker, more ancient foe from the ancient past may return and while Colgate had returned from Eqqus 2 for a brief time, she was convinced to stay since her time spells would prove to be valuable. This however would come at a price, the price of her not only taking part of Equestria from Princess Celestia and Princess Twilight to create her own nation, but all the knowledge that Twilight had access to, her own tower and a relic that would allow her to spy on the world, under the guise of protecting Equestria.
Also after her cleansing, Princess Twilight developed a crush on King White Magick, who unfortunately for her was married. While Twilight was viewed very negatively by Queen Ruby Heart, Supreme Commander Colgate of what became Coastal Equestria, won the queen's favor and was allowed a very rare gift, one that would aid her dramatically in accessing even more knowledge so she could become the most learned pony on all of Eqqus 1.
After Colgate established her new capitol and had all the books she could ever dream of, the ancient evil, Grogar, whose return was feared and predicted by some, finally happened. After that he captured Twilight and four of her friends causing Colgate to use her time magic to round up the global leaders and lead a march on Tambelon to slay Grogar and free those he took captive. During the attack Queen Ruby Heart died in action before Grogar was slain but in the end, they accomplished their mission and forever destroyed an ancient evil.
Now it has been 5,000 years since the death of Grogar and 10,000 years since the coronation and ascension of Twilight Sparkle. While the world has returned to a peaceful state, the distrust and hidden hatred of one world leader and the risks of another ancient evil returning could not only put the very existence of Equestria at risk, but all of Eqqus 1.
*axis powers. The axis powers played the roles the axis powers of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Imperial Japan did in World War II.
Five thousand years have passed since the death of Grogar and the establishment of leadership around the world. Every ten years grand summits were held and on the five-thousandth anniversary of his death and the summit was scheduled to be held in Colgate's black tower just to the west of Marentreal in Coastal Equestria.
When the morning of the summit arrived, Colgate looked forward to the arrival of some of the world leaders while she dreaded the arrival of others. The first thing she did after getting out of bed was tap into the eye to not only check for trouble, but to monitor how close the other leaders were to arriving. When she looked off to the north, she smiled in delight as Scootaloo was nearing the tower so without alerting her generals or even eating, she flew off her balcony and down to the base of the tower to greet her former commander.
When she arrived, Scootaloo immediately rushed to Colgate and embraced her, "Colgate, it is so good to see you!"
Colgate replied, "I know it has only been a few months but it feels like it has been forever." She broke the embrace and asked, "So how has life been treating you up there?"
Nothing much had been going on and like she had her whole life, Scootaloo liked a bit of action in things. She sighed, "Ugh, it has been so boring! Nothing at all has been going on!" After pausing for a moment she asked, "What about you? Anything interesting happening here?"
Colgate replied, "Other than the economy reaching new heights, no but I would rather be immersed in boredom than have to deal with the likes of Grogar or the Dark Goddess again."
Scootaloo added, "Me too! Grogar was pure evil and Twilight was such a bitch back then!"
Colgate couldn't help but chuckle, "Yeah that is true." Her chuckle then turned into a full blown laugh as she continued, "And I still remember what a bitch she was when we told her to stop flirting with White Magick."
Scootaloo replied, "Yeah I remember that." She became more serious as she asked, "Speaking of those two, we haven't talked about them much during our visits. Do they interact much outside of our summits?"
Colgate replied, "Well she has been going to see him a lot more here lately, a lot more. I watch her through the eye when she leaves and it seems like every time she leaves, her smile is bigger and her face is redder."
Scootaloo's eyes grew wide as she asked, "Do you think he has finally got over the loss of Ruby Heart and they have something going on?"
Colgate looked up and saw not only White Magick, but Celestia and Twilight flying in as well. She replied, "Well both of them are arriving so we could find out."
The three landed in front of them and immediately White Magick rushed to Colgate, "Supreme Commander Colgate, it is so good to see you!"
Colgate replied, "White Magick, like it has been for the past five millennia, just call me Colgate. You know you don't have to be so formal with me."
While they were talking Twilight approached them and asked, "Hi Colgate....."
Dating back to when the then Dark Goddess wound up traveling around the world and ignoring her duties at home, Colgate had never cared much for Twilight nor did she trust her. She replied, "That is Supreme Commander Colgate to you Twilight."
White Magick was not thrilled by her reaction. He asked, "Colgate, why does Twilight always have to be formal with you? Why can't you just let your mane down around her for once."
Colgate gave him a slight glare and sighed, "Please not now, I'm in a decent mood and I want it to stay that way."
Soon the other leaders were showing up and while Colgate had plans on spending time with some of the leaders afterwards, she wanted to get the business aspect of things done so that she wouldn't have to be around Twilight any longer than she needed to.
Once everypony had arrived, they headed up to the dining hall where they would have their meeting. While the meeting was normally just for world leaders, whenever the summits were held in Coastal Equestria, General Dark Night and General Lightning Storm would also be present, primarily for security details as other generals across the world were when they hosted the summits.
Once everypony got seated Colgate pounded her hoof on the table and announced, "Welcome to the Grand Summit everypony! As many of you know, it has been 5,000 years since the death of Grogar....."
Celestia added, "And 10,000 years since the coronation of Twilight!"
Colgate interrupted, "Uh-huh" She let out a sigh and continued, "Well now, let's get to business. Like I said, it has been 5,000 years since the death of Grogar and the restoration of what we hope will be never ending stability and peace." She then turned her attention to Scootaloo and asked, "I know you and I talked about this a bit earlier but overall, how have things been in the Crystal Empire?"
Scootaloo knew that unlike it was when it was just her and Colgate talking, that she needed to be a bit more professional in this situation. She replied, "Thankfully, everything has been uneventful. We still have our crystallings, the crystal heart is strong and the crystal ponies are happy."
Colgate said, "That's good to hear." She then turned her attention to Luna and asked, "And how about the Equine Empire?"
Luna replied, "Like everywhere else, rather uneventful. We've had large harvests over the past decade which has definitely made life easier and coal production has increased."
Colgate gave her a smile and then moved on to Galaxia and Cosmos, "And what about Saddle Arabia?"
Galaxia replied, "Calm actually. Outside of a few more dust storms than normal, nothing special."
Colgate nodded and turned to Blue Star. She asked, "And how are things down in Neigh Zealand?"
Blue Star replied, "Great actually. The economy is good, crime is basically non-existent and I have not sensed any disharmony at all."
Colgate again nodded, turned to LaurFa and asked, "And on Alicorn Island?"
LaurFa replied, "Just like it is everywhere else, things have been calm, peaceful and the economy has been good."
Colgate nodded, turned to Celestia and Twilight and asked, "And what about over in Equestria?"
Even though it had been millennia since Colgate was their nemesis, Celestia was still a bit leery of her and Twilight was no fan of her. Twilight sighed, "Why are you asking? You should know since you are constantly monitoring us and the rest of the world with that eye."
Her response irritated Colgate but she knew that she couldn't show any anger during the summit so she remained calm. She asked, "Twilight, could you just tell us? I'm in a decent mood and I don't want anything to change that."
Everypony gave Colgate a nervous look and then gave Twilight a nervous look. She replied, "Just like it is everywhere else, things are fine."
Colgate said, "Good." She turned to White Magick and asked, "How about your realm?"
White Magick held his head low and sighed, "Lonely, very lonely. Things are stable and even though it has been five millennia since I lost Ruby, I still miss her. I still miss having a special somepony in my life, a special somepony...."
Colgate interrupted, "White Magick, if you need to talk to somepony about things like this, we can talk about it later or perhaps you and Blue Star can talk about it."
She then stood tall, spread her wings and proudly continued, "It is good to see that everything in your nations are stable. As far as Coastal Equestria goes, the economy is spectacular, our crop harvests are at record highs, our iron and coal output are at record highs and like it is in Neigh Zealand, crime is basically non-existent."
Like it had been during the past summits, there had been very little to discuss with there being so much harmony in the world. With this being the case, the summits had been short but none of them wanted to have simply traveled so far for such a short meeting, especially the leaders of Equestria. Twilight asked, "So Supreme Commander Colgate, since we know that everything is going fine for everypony, is there anything else we need to discuss?"
Colgate replied, "Well if any of you have any concerns, feel free to bring them up."
Everypony looked at one another with curious looks and nopony said anything causing Colgate to sigh, "Well I know this summit is supposed to last several days so I guess for the rest of the time we can simply chit-chat, everypony can head over to Marentreal and do some sightseeing or simply relax" she then glanced towards Twilight and finished, "or you can head home early if you wish."
The other leaders began gazing at one another and one in particular broke into a smile. Twilight gave White Magick a smile and asked, "White Magick, what would you think about going to Marentreal with me?"
White Magick gave her a smile and replied, "Of course I would princess!"
Everypony knew that the meeting was over so all but two of them, Colgate and LaurFa, headed out to go to Marentreal. LaurFa could see that Colgate was not overly thrilled over what happened. She asked, "I take it that it still bothers you seeing them so close?"
Colgate sighed, "Yes, it does. I know it has been 5,000 years but still, I remember how much he loved Ruby and how much she hated Twilight."
LaurFa suggested, "I know this will likely be tough for you given how close you and Ruby were but you just need to realize that wounds do eventually heal and he did say he was lonely." She saw Colgate roll her eyes and continued, "Besides, they just headed to the city together, that isn't a sign that they're suddenly dating or in a relationship."
While Colgate wasn't thrilled over everything that was going on, she knew that LaurFa was right, she knew that she should just let things go instead of stressing herself out so much. She sighed, "Oh you're right, I need to stop letting this stress me out." She stood up and continued, "Well I don't know about you but I'm going to go tap into the eye and then rest for a bit."
LaurFa said, "I think I'm going to head over to Marentreal and do some sightseeing. I suppose I'll see you later."
Colgate replied, "See you later."
LaurFa headed for the exit and Colgate headed up to her bedroom. The first thing she did was tap into the eye and see what was going on across the planet and found nothing out of the ordinary. Even though nothing strange was going on, she found herself zooming in on the gates of Tartarus to make sure that Cerberus had not left his post. As she plopped down on her bed she just couldn't help but feel a sense of dread. She couldn't help but worry about what would happen if Cerberus was to leave his post like he did so many millennia ago.
Like he had for longer than most anypony can remember, Cerberus stood guard at his post and for the most part, with the exception of the time he left his post over ten millennia ago, he had done a good job. The number of villains he kept contained to Tartarus are many. Many were ones who caused problems in Ponyland along with the biggest enemy that Equestria had ever known.
In Tartarus conditions were dark and dreary. The worst villains in the history of Eqqus 1 were held captive in cages, cages that kept them from interacting with the other villains but every now and then villains do manage to escape their cages but are normally captured by Cerberus and returned to their cages before they can cause much trouble.
Another day had arrived and like it always was, it was dark and dreary in Tartarus. Every villain was locked up in their cages and most were drained both physically and psychologically. They all knew that barring Cerberus leaving his post, even if they could break out of their cages, there would be no escaping to freedom.
Despite being drained physically, there was one villain who was not in a state of psychological despair, Tirek. Out of all of them, he was the only one who had ever escaped and had been biding his time, waiting for the right moment, waiting for Cerberus to either abandon his post again or perhaps simply not be paying attention. After doing some thinking he realized that it would have to be the latter of the two since Cerberus had not left his post in a very long time.
On a daily basis Tirek would watch the gate but it seemed like Cerberus was always guarding the gate and was very alert and wasn't just going to abandon his post. He also knew that if he wanted to be able to take over Equestria and enslave the ponies, that he would have to have a secret weapon. He knew that merely draining them of their magic would not work in the event that he was captured before had been able to steal a lot of it. He began to look around at the other villains and saw one that may have something he could use as a weapon, a villain somewhat like him, the fellow centaur named *Tirac.
Tirek's face developed a slight smile on his face but that quickly vanished when he realized that simply escaping from his cage would be hard enough without Cerberus noticing. He also knew that getting Tirac to let him use the Rainbow of Darkness to aid him in his quest would likely be impossible. He then whispered to himself, "I've got it! I will simply tell him that once I have enslaved all the ponies that I will free him!"
Tirek continued to keep his eye on Cerberus and then much to his delight, he turned his back on those who he was keeping captive and headed right up to the entrance of Tartarus. Tirek knew this was his chance so he was able to squeeze out of his cage, walk up the stairs that led away from the platform he was imprisoned on and headed to another stairway, the one that led to Tirac's cage.
When he approached his fellow centaur's cage, he was greeted by a slight glare. He was unsure as to whether Tirac knew his name so he greeted him, "Hello, my name is Tirek."
Tirac was not to thrilled about having a visitor. He asked, "Tirek huh? I want to know something, how did you get out of your cage without being noticed?"
Tirek pointed his hand up towards the exit and said, "Cerberus is not watching us and I think this might be our chance of escaping and getting revenge on those ponies."
When Tirek brought up getting revenge on the ponies, Tirac looked up a bit but not out of excitement, but out of curiosity, "Revenge against Dream Valley and Megan Williams? I like that idea."
Tirek had no clue as to what his counterpart was even talking about. He asked, "Megan Williams, Dream Valley? What are you talking about?"
Tirac replied, "You know, those ponies in Ponyland and that human friend of theirs."
Tirek wanted to laugh but knew that if he wanted to have a chance of using the Rainbow of Darkness on Equestria, that he would have to be respectful. He said, "That place and that Megan Williams no longer exist. The lands beyond the exit are known as Equestria and are ruled by two powerful pony princesses."
Tirac gave him a look of disapproval and grunted, "I see but how is it you wound up in here?"
Tirek was not thrilled over the question but again knew he had to be respectful if he were to get his fellow centaur to allow him to use his weapon. He replied, "My tyrant brother began to befriend the ponies and he even notified their pony princesses to confront me. Before I could steal enough magic, they caught me and threw me in here."
Tirac had a feeling that Tirek was going to ask to use the Rainbow of Darkness. He gave him a glare and objected, "No, I will not just let you use this. This is tied to MY magic and MY magic alone." He saw Tirek begin to try to say something and continued, "If you wish to do this, we shall do it together." He then pointed his hand towards the other villains and finished, "And we WILL NOT free the others, we will not free anyone who would dare challenge us for power."
Tirek realized that he would have to trust the other centaur if he was to do what he wanted to do. He replied, "Very well." He looked towards the gate and continued, "It looks like that mutt is still away from the gates, let's go."
Tirac managed to squeeze his way out of his cage and the two centaurs began to head towards the exit. When they arrived at the gate they were shocked to see that Cerberus was nowhere to be seen. Tirek laughed, "Heh, heh, heh, now let's do this!"
As they exited the gate and headed out into the open, Tirac asked, "You've been out here more recently than I have, where is a good place to take cover until we act on our plan."
Tirek pointed off in the direction of the Everfree Forest and replied, "We shall go to the forest. There we can lay low until my powers return to their full strength."
Tirac asked, "Lay low until your powers return to their full strength?" He glared at Tirek and continued, "You mean to tell me that your magic draining powers are not at full strength?"
Tirek gave him a disgusted look, "No! I have been locked away for a very long time and this place drains villains of their powers."
Tirac gave him a scowl and asked, "So how long is it even going to be until you will be able to steal pony magic again?"
This was something that he was not sure of given how long he had been locked away. He replied, "I am not sure but it could take a couple of years if not longer."
This angered Tirac greatly. He grabbed Tirek by the throat and yelled, "You mean to tell me that we are going to have to wait years to do this?"
Tirac had made quite a bit of noise and given that they were still within eyesight of Tartarus, Tirek was concerned that he may alert Cerberus to their whereabouts and if they were to get caught, a much worse punishment than banishment could await them, especially him since he was in his small, scrawny form. He snapped back, "Be quiet! Cerberus might hear us." He pointed his hand off to the left and continued, "Now come on, let's just get in the forest and we can discuss things in more detail."
Tirac knew he was right so he followed him towards the forest. He was not thrilled that his companion would take so long to have his full powers restored but realized that having to wait and take cover in the forest before exacting revenge on the ponies would be preferable to remaining locked up in Tartarus.
It was mid-afternoon and Colgate was watching as most everypony except two were returning from Marentreal. She noticed that White Magick and Twilight were not returning and she decided that she was going to find out why so the first thing she did was tap into the eye and it did not take her long to find them. She saw them walking through the old historical district taking a look at the oldest buildings in the city.
When she saw the two talking, laughing and noticed that they were walking very close together, Colgate couldn't help but sigh in disgust. Despite it having been 5,000 years since her passing, Colgate still felt that White Magick shouldn't be bonding so much with Twilight because of how much Ruby Heart despised her. She sighed, "I'm sorry Ruby, I'm so sorry you perished in Tambelon so long ago. If we could do it over again, I would gladly sacrifice myself if it meant you would have survived."
After watching them for a few more minutes her spying would be interrupted when Scootaloo came up to notify her of the return of the others, "Colgate, almost everypony is back."
Colgate looked back her way and sighed, "Everypony except Twilight and White Magick."
Scootaloo knew about how Colgate felt about the two being so close. She suggested, "I know it bothers you and you think that despite her having been dead for five millennia that he is being disloyal to Ruby Heart but perhaps it is time for you to finally move on. Perhaps it is time for you to just realize that White Magick is lonely."
Had anypony else suggested this to her Colgate would have likely screamed and yelled at them but given that Scootaloo was like a daughter to her, she reacted differently. She replied, "I know Scootaloo, I know. I was close with Ruby and seeing this still bothers me."
Scootaloo suggested, "Since most everypony is back, maybe you should just come down and chit chat with everypony before Twilight returns."
Colgate replied, "You know something, I think I'll take you up on that. Yeah I'm not as close with the other leaders as I am with you but they are all far better than Twilight, even her wannabe mother Celestia is better!"
When Scootaloo and Colgate returned downstairs, the other leaders for the most part were happy to see her. Celestia however was not, "So Colgate, why weren't you down here when we arrived? Was it because you were spying on Twilight?"
Colgate gave her a glare, "I was tapping into the eye but what I was scanning the world as usual and luckily nothing is going awry right now....."
Just as she said this, Twilight and White Magick arrived in the dining hall. While White Magick had a smile on his face, Twilight had a whole lot more than a smile on her face, her face was redder than an apple. The first to ask them anything was Celestia, "So, did you two have a good time in the city?"
Twilight put her wing around White Magick and replied, "You bet we did! We visited the libraries, White Magic bought me lunch at the nicest restaurant in town and we visited the old historical district."
White Magick could see a scowl forming on Colgate's face and asked, "Colgate, can we talk somewhere, alone?"
Colgate pointed outside and the two headed out to talk. Once they got outside to where they were out of earshot of everypony, White Magick continued, "Look, I know you still can't help but remember how much Ruby hated Twilight and think that me being close with her is a sign of disloyalty but you have to understand, it has been 5,000 years, 5,000 years for pony's sake!"
Colgate asked, "I know ponies back from your era life-bonded, didn't you two life-bond?"
White Magick replied, "The Ponyland ponies did but we were not of the Ponyland race, we were different so no we did not life-bond."
Colgate rolled her eyes causing White Magick to continue, "Look, I know you and Ruby became incredibly close, incredibly quick and most of it probably stemmed from your hatred of Twilight." His voice became more intense as he continued, "I want to ask you something, why is it you hate Twilight so much?"
Colgate raised her voice and yelled, "Because she betrayed Equestria! She oppressed ponies on a global scale, she enslaved the ponies of Fillydelphia, she thought she was the best thing in the world and if you didn't have that special magic in your realm, I hate to think what she would have done to you and Ruby Heart when Blue Star captured her."
White Magick countered, "That was when she was corrupted. She has been free of that corruption for five millennia." He put his hoof on her shoulder and continued, "Colgate, you know I respect you and see you as an ally but you need to let the past go, you need to respect the fact that I am lonely and spending time with Twilight helps me fill that void of loneliness."
Colgate mumbled, "Yeah, spending time with an innocent little thing that has been scheming from the moment you cleansed her."
White Magick was getting very frustrated over how Colgate was trying to interfere with his personal life and decided to ask something, "Colgate, since you seem to know so much about ponies' personal lives and how they should deal with romance, how many romantic relationships have you been in? How many ponies have you ever been in love with?"
Colgate found this as a ridiculous question but figured she would answer it, "Look, I have been busy my whole life. Before the whole world descended into chaos, I was a dentist, most likely the best dentist in Equestria. After that I was the commander of the military and once I finally did what I had to to liberate this planet I was the Supreme Commander of Equestria. I have not had the time nor have I ever desired romance. My motto has always been business first and that is how I have handled things my entire life."
At that moment White Magick realized that this was something that Colgate really should not be approaching him over because she knew absolutely nothing about it. He replied, "Listen, I honestly don't think you are the one to approach me over this. You have been all work for your whole life. You don't even understand what it is like to be lone......" White Magick got a case of the shivers and switched the topic, "Colgate, you need to get up to that eye of yours now. Something really bad has happened."
When he said this, Colgate knew that something had gone awry so she galloped up to her chambers and began to scan the world and would not be thrilled by what she saw when she zeroed in on the gates of Tartarus. She saw that not only had Cerberus abandoned his post, but that two centaurs were heading off in the direction of the Everfree Forest. She screamed, "That mutt, that bucking mutt!"
Several ponies heard her scream but only two rushed up to her chambers, Scootaloo and White Magick. Scootaloo asked, "Colgate, what is wrong? Why are you screaming something about a bucking mutt?"
White Magick added, "Some ancient evil has escaped, hasn't it?"
Colgate figured that this would be best discussed around everypony so she replied, "Yes but I think it would be best if we discussed this with everypony." Her voice became more grim as she continued, "Let's just say that what I just saw will make handling Grogar look like foal's play."
The other two leaders nodded and the three rushed downstairs. Colgate realized that with what had happened that she would have to put her hate towards Twilight to the side as it would take not just all of them, but a huge army and magic so advanced that nopony except White Magick may even know to handle one of the foes she saw escape.
After seeing something that could put Equestria in a whole lot more peril than the return of Tambelon, Colgate followed White Magick and Scootaloo down to the dining hall. When the other leaders saw the look on her face, they knew that something wasn't right. She took a look at them and said, "Everypony, we have a problem." She paused for a moment before continuing, "Well two problems to be exact."
Most ponies gave her nervous looks with the exception of two, White Magick and LaurFa. White Magick asked, "Tirac has returned hasn't he?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, Cerberus abandoned his post and it appears as though not only did Tirac escape from Tartarus, his Equestrian counterpart has escaped with him."
Everypony gasped in shock as they knew that dealing with both of them at once would be nearly impossible. One pony hung her head in despair, Twilight. Twilight knew that in the distant past that Celestia and Luna were able to cast Tirek into Tartarus and knew little about him. She turned to Celestia and asked, "Princess, how did you and Luna defeat Tirek after Scorpan notified you of his plans? Perhaps that could help us with defeating him."
Celestia replied, "When his brother notified us of his plans, he had not stolen enough magic to really cause us any problems."
Twilight again asked, "But how did you defeat him? You never told anypony anything except that you two cast him into Tartarus."
Celestia had a nervous look on her face but Luna would come to the rescue, "Twilight, like Celestia said, he had not stolen enough magic to steal Alicorn magic so we were able to just haul him there."
The fact that they had handled Tirek in the past brought a sense of relief to Twilight but it would not do so right away for others. Colgate asked, "Ok, you said that Tirek had not stolen much magic when you took him to Tartarus. What would have happened had he acquired more magic? Would he have been harder to deal with?"
Given that they only had to deal with him that one time, they were not overly familiar with him but one pony had an idea. LaurFa replied, "Had he stolen more magic, I have a feeling he would have been harder to deal with. If he is like the other magic thieves that once existed in this world, stealing magic would not only make him harder to defeat, but he would grow in size immensely. He could grow to the point where we would simply have to get in touch with Brevity, find a safe place, hope she came to see what was wrong and have her teleport us all away. There would be no saving this world."
Colgate said, "Ok, so if Tirek was to get too big and too powerful then we would simply have to bail and leave the citizens of Eqqus 1 to face his wrath? We would simply turn tail and run?" She raised her voice and continued, "If that would be your plan of action then be my guest but I will not just run away. I would fight to the death to protect the ponies of this planet."
LaurFa gave her a smile and replied, "Colgate, while I find it admirable that you would be willing to sacrifice yourself for the good of this planet, I don't think you understand the powers a magic thief has. After they have stolen a lot of magic and have grown huge, they are almost invincible."
Colgate gave her an intense look and asked, "And you know this how?"
LaurFa turned to White Magick and ordered, "You're the one who saw a powerful magic thief go down, you tell her."
White Magick replied, "These magic thieves have been a problem that pre-dates Equestria, Ponyland had problems with them as well but the funny thing is, the villains that always plagued the ponies of that time did not want foreign invaders harming the inhabitants of Ponyland, they believed that was their job."
Colgate asked, "So tell me, what happened to the magic thieves. What did the villains of Ponyland do to make sure they didn't do what they believed was their job?"
White Magick replied, "It was kind of odd, Tirac used the Rainbow of Darkness on him and he was transformed into a hideous, unintelligent beast and then he killed it."
Colgate's ears perked up when she heard this. She asked, "Well that is good he killed it but this Rainbow of Darkness you mentioned. I learned in my mythology class that he would use it to turn ponies into beasts and then enslave them, is that true?"
White Magick replied, "Yes that is true and there was nothing that the ponies of the time could do to stop it. That thing's power is immense."
While Colgate and White Magick had been discussing this, the other leaders had been listening in. Some of them had nervous looks on their faces, Scootaloo, the one most like Colgate seemed fascinated by it but one, Twilight, had a look of fear on her face. She gave White Magick a nervous look and asked, "So if he uses this thing on us, what do we do?"
White Magick gave her a warm smile and replied, "If he does that, we will wind up being turned into beasts that he will enslave and if we don't serve his purpose, he will slay us."
Colgate couldn't help but do a facehoof when she heard this, she almost wondered if this was even the same pony she had known for so many millennia. She asked, "Seriously, you think he would be able to enslave us just like that? Do you not think that we would be able to write spells that would create a strong enough protection bubble to cause the energy of that thing to bounce off of it?"
White Magick replied, "Look, that thing has a lot more power than you think." He saw a scowl forming on Colgate's face and continued, "Look, I know you are one of the most powerful and well learned ponies in the world but writing a protection bubble spell that powerful would require a ton of work and a ton of thought....."
Scootaloo was not exactly thrilled seeing her mentor's abilities being questioned like that. She interrupted, "You know what, if anypony can write strong enough spells, it is Colgate!"
Colgate gave her a smile, "Thanks Scootaloo, at least somepony has confidence in my abilities."
White Magick got back on topic, "Listen, I know that you know the most advanced magic on all of Eqqus 1 and your abilities are only bested by mine and LaurFa." When he said this, a deep scowl formed on not just Colgate's face, but also Scootaloo's. He saw this and continued, "Colgate, don't get me wrong, you have spectacular abilities and your thirst for knowledge is unparalleled but LaurFa and I have faced things you have not and we needed to use more advanced magic than you have."
Colgate decided to simply drop the subject but decided to gather some more information, "Alright, this Rainbow of Darkness that Tirac had, what happened to it when you defeated him?"
White Magick replied, "You know, I don't exactly remember. I think he may have managed to hold onto it when we cast him into Tartarus."
Colgate's eyes grew wide with anger when she heard this. She screamed, "What? You just let him keep that thing when you cast him into Tartarus?" She raised her voice and her scream became angrier, "I would think that a leader as wise as you would know that allowing him to keep it would be a bad idea."
White Magick countered, "Listen, the magic of Tartarus not only drains the power of the villains thrown in there but any artifacts that they take with them."
Colgate continued, "And now that he has escaped and has that thing with him, who knows how soon it will be until he can start turning ponies into beasts." She became angrier as she finished, "When you defeated him, why didn't you just kill him? Why didn't you just turn him into centaur stew and lock that Rainbow of Darkness away somewhere that it would never pose a threat to anypony?"
White Magick threw his hooves up in the air and sighed, "Look, until you slayed Grogar, ponies never killed their foes, no matter how evil they were, we always banished them. It has never been the pony way of doing things."
Colgate glared at him and sneered, "Well perhaps it should have been. Had you killed Grogar back in the day" she pointed her hoof towards Twilight and continued, "your precious little Twily wouldn't have wound up being tied up in the elements like a common mule."
Celestia immediately yelled, "That was uncalled for and please don't refer to her as little Twily."
Colgate sighed and continued, "And had you had MY mindset, you would have killed Tirac." She then cast her gaze towards both Celestia and Luna and continued, "And had you two killed Tirek after Scorpan told you about what he was doing, we wouldn't be in this mess now would we?"
The room went silent after Colgate said this. At that moment the other leaders, especially those who had dealt with the worst villains in the past realized that Colgate made a point, they realized that the ages old way of doing things did have serious flaws, the flaws of them returning.
After a couple of minutes of silence, Colgate had calmed down enough to return to a good discussion, "Ok, back on topic. This Rainbow of Darkness, you said it is nearly impossible to stop. Well obviously it was stopped since he didn't turn everypony into a beast."
White Magick replied, "Well back in the day, this girl named Megan Williams had this golden locket that had the Rainbow of Light in it. That was the only thing that could defeat that Rainbow of Darkness."
Almost immediately the wheels began to turn in her head. She saw this as a chance to perhaps take down not just one, but two foes, slay them and prove to everypony else that HER way was the only way. She asked, "So where is the last known location of this Rainbow of Light?"
White Magick replied, "I'm not sure if Megan Williams took it with her across the rainbow bridge or not but if she didn't, I would advise that we head deep into the Everfree Forest, find Dream Valley and search Dream Castle."
Colgate replied, "That sounds like a plan to me. I will grab a map and head out as soon as this meeting is adjourned."
White Magick suggested, "You know, I really think that you shouldn't go alone. That area of the forest is very tricky to navigate and if you aren't careful, you could either fall prey to creatures that are far worse than timberwolves or you could wind up getting into plants that could make you very ill. Also, I have been to Dream Castle so if there is anything left of it, I would know how to navigate it."
Colgate sighed, "Very well, whenever you are ready to head out and look for this artifact, we shall do so."
White Magick replied, "Well since they have escaped already, I would say the sooner the better." He suddenly remembered something, "Wait a minute, I remember where it might be! It might be in the library!"
Both Colgate and Twilight's ears perked up when they heard him mention a library. Twilight gasped, "A library, a library!" She then became very enthusiastic and continued, "I know it is dangerous but do you think I could come too?"
White Magick grabbed her hoof, helped her off of her chair and replied, "Of course you can Twilight." He then cast his gaze towards Colgate and continued, "That isn't going to be a problem is it?"
The fact that Dream Castle had a library made Colgate very happy as well. The very first thought that went through her mind was that she could use her duplication spell on the library out there and add even more knowledge to her archives. She gave White Magick a smile and replied, "Of course it is ok. I know she has a love of knowledge so she may as well join us."
Both White Magick and Twilight were stunned by this. Twilight never imagined that Colgate would have no problems with her accompanying them on such a mission but White Magick couldn't help but be suspicious. He asked, "Seriously Colgate? I know you hate Twilight but all of a sudden it seems like you want her to come just because she has a love of knowledge?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I think it is important because perhaps she can learn something out there, something that will allow her to assist us in defeating Tirac and who knows, she may have the proper energy to use that Rainbow of Light."
Despite him still having his reservations about what Colgate's real intentions there were he replied, "Very well. I think we should rest up, get some food in our system and then head out tomorrow morning." She then cast her gaze at the other leaders and finished, "Meeting adjourned."
The meeting adjourned and Colgate along with her generals headed up to her chambers. Once they arrived Colgate closed the door and snickered, "You know something, this is a golden opportunity! I can use my spell on those books and with any luck, I can perhaps acquire that relic without them noticing."
Dark Night replied, "That would be great. Not only could you add a lot of new books to your archives but you could have something that would give Coastal Equestria a huge advantage over the other nations."
Colgate said, "That is right and that is why I'm wearing my saddlebags tomorrow because I certainly can't have his little Twily having something that may aid her in defeating them." She began stomping her hooves on the floor and continued, "I will not, I repeat, I will not allow that naive little thing to have an advantage over me!" She then pointed her hoof towards the door and finished, "You guys should get going. I need to scan the world and I don't want them thinking we are making any plans that they may not approve of."
Her generals left her chambers and Colgate tapped into the eye. The very first place she checked was the part of the Everfree Forest that she saw the two centaurs head into. She felt a bit less uneasy when she saw the two sitting there by a creek arguing over how long it was going to take for them to be able to act on their plans and how they would go about it. She laughed, "Perhaps if we are lucky, perhaps once it has enough power Tirac will use that thing on Tirek, kill him and then make this a bit easier for us!"
After a night of good rest, the morning sun woke up Colgate and like she did every other morning, she tapped into the eye and before checking for problems anywhere else, she zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and found Tirac and Tirek waking up and like they were last time she saw them, they were arguing over when they would be able to set their plan in action. Colgate could hear what they were saying and realized that perhaps the scenario she hoped would happen may come to pass after Tirac made threats to turn him into a beast once he could.
Colgate saw this and laughed, "Please Tirac, the second that Rainbow of Darkness works, turn him into a beast and cut our threat in half!"
After she finished zeroing in on them she began to scan the rest of the forest more intently, searching for Dream Valley so she would know what to expect on the journey there. After another fifteen minutes of looking she finally saw it. In an extremely dark and hilly part of the forest to the northwest of Ponyville, she saw what appeared to be a crumbling pink castle. When she saw this she cheered, "Yes, there it is! There is where I can acquire not just an ancient relic, but even more knowledge!"
She was jumping around but nearly bumped into the wall when somepony opened the door to check on her. Colgate was surprised to see that it was Dark Night who came to check on her. He asked, "Colgate, are you ok? I heard you cheering about something."
Colgate replied, "I'm better than ok general. I did some spying and I have a feeling that the Tirek that caused Celestia and Luna problems in the past may wind up being turned into a beast once that Rainbow of Darkness has enough power again!"
Dark Night had been in the room during the meeting the night before and knew what she was talking about. He also heard them discussing about the dangers that magic thieves posed and that if Tirek was turned into a beast, that their problems would be cut in half. He replied, "I can understand why you're happy then." He then got a smile on his face and continued, "And then all we would need is that Rainbow of Light here in Coastal Equestria and we would have a huge advantage."
Colgate said, "That we would." She pointed her hoof towards her door and continued, "I think we should be going down for breakfast, I don't want anypony being suspicious of our actions."
Dark Night noticed that Colgate seemed to be wanting more control and seemed less trustful of the other leaders. He asked, "Colgate, before we go, can I ask you something?"
Colgate replied, "Yeah, sure."
Dark Night asked, "I want to know something, why is it that you seem to be less trustful than you used to be and why is it that you seem to be at odds with White Magick these days? You two used to be almost as close as you are with Scootaloo!"
Colgate replied, "It is his closeness with Twilight." Her voice became more intense as she continued, "I know she is nothing to worry about but the day she cast that spell and became a dark goddess, I viewed her as an enemy and despite her having been cleansed for thousands of years and her being a weakling when it comes to magic, I still think of her as an enemy." Again she pointed her hoof towards the door and continued, "Look, we better get downstairs so I can leave town before too long."
Dark Night nodded and the two headed down to the dining hall and were met with curious looks by the other leaders when they arrived, especially because Colgate is never late for anything, especially meals. Scootaloo gave her a concerned look and asked, "Colgate, you're never late! Are you ok?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I'm fine and I have what could potentially be good news!"
Scootaloo seemed to be the most thrilled out of them all, "What is it? Did one of the centaurs kill the other?"
Colgate replied, "No but I have a feeling that Tirac may wind up using that Rainbow of Darkness on Tirek and cut our problems in half."
While several of the other leaders began to clap their hooves, White Magick was not in the same mindset. He spoke up, "Colgate, I don't think this is anything to celebrate. He may turn Tirek into a beast but that isn't going to take away his magic stealing abilities. He will only turn into a much nastier magic thief and may be harder to deal with."
Colgate threw her hooves up in the air and sighed, "Well, I suppose we are going to have to find that Rainbow of Light to prevent that." She cast her gaze towards White Magick and Twilight and continued, "So as soon as we are through eating, we're heading out."
LaurFa asked, "What about the rest of us? Do you want us to remain here or do you want us to head home?"
Colgate replied, "Just head home, I don't know how long this will take and I'm certain all of you have things to do in your nations." Her stomach growled and she continued, "For now though, let's eat."
Colgate summoned the chef and much to the dismay of everypony, she ordered the same thing for them all, steak, eggs, hash browns and cider. Many of them were shocked because unlike her, other than Scootaloo, none of them ate meat. One of them in particular protested, Twilight. She said, "Colgate, not all of us are meat eaters like you! Can't you order hay steaks for us instead."
Colgate remembered that back during her time of being corrupted, that she would eat meat all the time. She snapped, "Listen Twily, for thousands of years you ate meat so I don't see the problem. Besides, the less variety of food the chef has to fix, the sooner we can get going."
Everypony sighed in disgust but knew how Colgate was. They knew that with her being the host of the summit and her love of meat, that they would likely all have to eat it but one pony never had cared for meat, Celestia. She asked, "Colgate, I know that you are in a hurry to get going but for those of us who don't like meat, couldn't we have something else and then just leave once we are done eating?"
Colgate sighed, "Yes, you may." She pointed her hoof at Twilight and White Magick and continued, "But you two are eating what I eat, it will be quicker and besides, you need a good filling meal for as far as we have to fly."
White Magick sighed, "Very well, I know you're in a hurry."
Colgate gave the two a smile and replied, "Good. The sooner we get going, the sooner we can get that relic and ready ourselves for an attack by those two."
With the exception of Scootaloo, most everypony grumbled in frustration and sighed in disapproval when their meals arrived. Colgate was not thrilled when she saw this but figured that if she simply remained quiet, that they could finish eating sooner and get headed off towards Dream Valley.
After she was done eating, Colgate got up and watched in disapproval while Twilight and White Magick were eating their meal at a much more leisurely pace. She began to pace back and forth and sighed, "You know, perhaps I should head out first and you two can follow me."
White Magick replied, "Colgate, I have been there before and I know the layout of that castle and you don't."
Twilight knew that Colgate was not only impatient but also could tell that she seemed to think that her way was the only way. She added, "Look, just give us a little bit more time to eat."
The two gave one another a smile and began to eat at a faster pace. While this did please Colgate, the smile they gave one another did not. She grumbled, "If Ruby were still here, she would have put Twily in her place."
Ten minutes later the two were finally ready to leave and before they could leave, they would be approached by those closest to them. Scootaloo said, "I know you're tough as nails Colgate, but be careful. You never know what lurks in that part of the forest."
Colgate embraced her and replied, "Thank you for your concern Scootaloo but I think everything should be fine." She leaned down to her ear and whispered, "When I duplicate that library and bring that relic back here to Coastal Equestria, I'll invite you down and we can celebrate!"
Scootaloo added, "And then we'll take those two centaurs out!"
Colgate nodded while the others were sent off by those closest to them. Blue Star approached White Magick and said, "Good luck Father, I hope you can secure that relic for ponykind and we can take care of those threats."
White Magick replied, "Don't worry Son, I will."
Celestia approached Twilight and said, "You stay safe Twilight. That part of the forest is very dangerous and I don't know exactly what is there but it could cause you a lot of problems." She pointed her hoof towards Colgate and added, "But most of all, be careful around her. I could easily see her trying to do something to you, something that could harm you."
Twilight whispered, "Don't worry, I will."
Before Celestia could say anything further Colgate yelled, "Come on Twilight, we should have been gone twenty minutes ago, chop, chop!"
Twilight gave Celestia one more smile before replying, "Alright, I'm coming."
Twilight gave Colgate a nervous smile as they headed out the door and took flight towards the west. Given that they simply took off without looking at a map White Magick asked, "Colgate, do you know exactly where we're going? You didn't even look at a map."
Colgate replied, "Look, I took a look at where that place is through the eye so I know exactly what to look for and I know exactly where it is."
White Magick said, "Very well, lead the way."
Expedition to Dream Valley
After what took a great part of the day, they finally reached the hilly area of the Everfree to the northwest of Ponyville. Colgate pointed her hoof off towards where she believed Dream Valley was and said, "Follow me."
The two followed Colgate and when they dropped below the canopy, it was dark, very dark. It was much darker than it was in the area surrounding the entrance to White Magick's realm. Twilight was the first to land and almost immediately, she felt a vine grab her by the leg. She began to scream causing White Magick to yell, "Twilight!"
White Magick used his magic to break the vine, swooped down and carried Twilight to the entrance to Dream Castle. When Colgate landed in front of her she snapped, "Look Twilight, unless you want to be plant food, watch where you land, ok?"
Twilight shied back and replied, "Ok Colgate, I will."
The three headed inside and lit up their horns. It was horribly dark in there and not too long after they entered, a chunk of ceiling fell and landed right in front of them. Twilight wrapped her wing around White Magick and asked, "Are you sure this place is safe?"
White Magick put his wing around her and replied, "Don't worry Twilight, if I see anything falling towards us, I'll grab it in my aura."
Twilight blushed, "I know you will White Magick and I really appreciate that."
Colgate looked back, saw her blush and sighed in disgust, "Enough of the cute filly act TWILY, we are here to acquire a relic, not flirt with one another."
White Magick snapped, "Don't call her Twily!"
Colgate rolled her eyes and continued to lead the three. She lit up her horn brighter and saw what appeared to be the old throne room. She commented, "So this is where Queen Majesty ruled before the fall of Ponyland."
At this point White Magick and Twilight walked up to where they were leading Colgate. He said, "Alright, I know the direction to the library from here. It isn't too far."
Twilight became excited, "Library, oh I'm so excited! I can't wait to see it!"
Colgate added, "AND find that relic."
Twilight sighed, "And that too."
The three lit up there horns much brighter, bright enough to the point where it was easy for them to see. When they finally entered the library, both Twilight and Colgate were excited, although Colgate did a far better job of hiding it. Twilight began flying around to where she could see everything, including the materials on the top shelf. She exclaimed, "Oh look at all these books! Think of all the knowledge that's in here!"
White Magick suggested, "Well I think you should take some down and look at them. Outside of an unstable ceiling, this place should be safe for you to study to your heart's content."
Twilight gave him a smile before flying around to find some books she would be interested in reading. Colgate however, was not one bit happy. She knew that until every last book was returned to its proper place, that she could not cast the spell so she decided to try and find that relic. She began looking around the library in obscure corners and was noticed by White Magick.
When he saw this he asked, "Colgate, what are you doing? I thought you would want to do some studying too."
Colgate replied, "I'm searching for that relic. If I can find it, it will aid my, I mean our cause in handling those centaurs immensely."
As Colgate was searching every last crevice for the Rainbow of Light, White Magick couldn't help but watch with a look of suspicion on his face. He knew that finding it would be necessary to take on their foes but he had his concerns that if Colgate found it, that she may make demands for the ponies of Equestria to use it, demands such as much more territory.
Thirty minutes later, Colgate began to become frustrated that she had not found it. She glared at White Magick and yelled, "I thought you said it was in the library! I'm not seeing it anywhere."
He knew that he certainly couldn't show it but White Magick was kind of happy that she could not find it. He nudged Twilight and asked, "Twilight, think maybe since Colgate can't find it that maybe we should look for it." He then cast his gaze at Colgate and added, "And then you can do some studying."
Twilight replied, "I think that would be a wonderful idea!"
Colgate added, "That sounds good to me but I think perhaps you should search somewhere else, search another room because it might be in there."
White Magick replied, "Good suggestion Colgate." He grabbed Twilight by the hoof and added, "Come on Twilight, let's go look for that relic."
Twilight blushed deeply when he grabbed her hoof before the two headed over to the next room. Colgate whispered to herself, "Excellent! Now to put those books back up on the shelf and cast that spell! It will be one more step towards me being the most learned pony in Equestria!"
Colgate levitated the books Twilight was studying back up onto the shelf before grabbing the whole collection in her aura. Her horn began to glow brighter and her eyes began to shine blue as she focused more intently on duplicating the collection. The collection almost seemed enchanted to Colgate but that would not lessen her desire to duplicate them. She put more power into her spell and after what seemed to be forever, she completed the spell. She looked at all those books and snickered, "Soon duplicates of you will be where you belong, in my archives!"
Once she had finished the spell she decided that she would again search for the relic. She saw a doorway that led into what seemed to be another room. It seemed like something was calling her to it so she approached it and would be shocked by what she saw, she saw a bridge with a rainbow colored portal. She gasped, "It's real, it's actually real! The Rainbow Bridge is real!"
She felt drawn to the portal but had a feeling that she had better not go through it. She did approach it and at the very base of it, she saw a golden locket, one that resembled what she had been taught the locket looked like so many millennia ago. She levitated it up to herself and took a much closer look at it and sure enough, it was the Rainbow of Light. She looked at the back of it and saw the initials MW. She gasped, "MW, Megan Williams!" She flew back into the library and cheered, "Yes, yes, yes! I found it!"
Her cheers caused White Magick and Twilight to come rushing in her direction. White Magick yelled, "What? What did you find?"
Colgate proudly held the locket up and replied, "I found it, I found the Rainbow of Light!"
White Magick grabbed it from her and began to examine it closely. After several minutes of examining it and finding the initials on the back he said, "Yep, you found it. Now we should be able to defeat not just Tirac and his Rainbow of Darkness, but Tirek and his magic stealing ways."
Colgate grabbed it back from White Magick and placed it in her saddle bags. She cast her gaze at the two and suggested, "Well shall we get headed back home?"
White Magick was not thrilled that Colgate would grab it away from him when he was the one who understood its energies the most. He asked, "Colgate, are you taking that with you? Are you going to take it back with you when I'm the only one who truly understands its energies."
That was exactly what Colgate wanted to do but realized that doing so may jeopardize their friendship and their alliance. With a neutral expression on her face she replied, "Look, I'm the only one who has saddle bags and it would be much easier for me to carry it."
White Magick and Twilight gave one another nervous looks but knew that Colgate did make a point. He replied, "Very well but once I accompany Twilight home to Ponyville, you are going to give it to me."
This was one thing that Colgate did not like, somepony telling her that she better do anything, especially handing over something that she believes would give her an advantage over other leaders. She sighed, "Very well but now I think we should get going....."
Even though they were in the darkest part of the forest, when they first arrived they could see that it was still daylight. At this point, it was already night and neither White Magick or Twilight wanted to be flying a long ways in the dark. Twilight asked, "Look, it is already dark and I don't know about you but I don't want to fly such a long distance in the dark."
White Magick added, "Neither do I."
Colgate had no problems with it at all but knew that since she would have to hand over the golden locket eventually, that staying out there for the night would be in her best interests. She sighed, "Very well but once it gets light, I want us to fly out and find food before we go flying too far."
The two nodded and when they saw Colgate sit down and lean against a bookcase, White Magick and Twilight did the same. They powered down their horns but Colgate kept hers lit up for long enough that he saw that White Magick had pulled Twilight's head under his as though he were providing her comfort and protection. Despite being told by multiple ponies to let it go, including the one she is closest with, she still couldn't help but feel that he was being disloyal to Ruby. She thought to herself, "I should have known he would fall into her trap eventually."
As the three were leaning up against a bookcase, there were creaking noises and they heard a small piece of ceiling fall in a neighboring room. This didn't bother Colgate one bit, it brought a bit of concern from White Magick but it scared Twilight. She asked, "Are you sure this place is safe for us tonight? What if a piece of ceiling was to hit us in the night?"
White Magick replied, "I promise you you'll be safe Twilight." He pulled her even closer to him, wrapped his wings around her almost entirely and replied, "Don't worry, if anything falls, it will hit my wings and not you."
When he wrapped his wings entirely around her, she felt truly safe and began to feel a true connection to the king, she began to feel a deep love towards him. She blushed, "Thank you, you have no idea how much this means to me."
Despite it being pitch dark in there, Colgate could tell that he was holding her far, far closer than he ever had before. Despite not wanting to bring too much attention to herself, Colgate sighed deeply in frustration. She began to mumble but neither of the other two could understand what she said. White Magic wasn't thrilled over it and said, "Colgate, I know your feelings about this but she is scared, she wants me to protect her from any ceiling that might fall."
Colgate mumbled, "Whatever, I should have known you'd fall prey to her eventually."
White Magick sighed, "Enough already. Maybe you should go into a neighboring room if you're going to be like this."
Colgate lit up her horn and replied, "Very well. I'm going to try and get some sleep while you protect your precious little Twily."
Colgate's constant name calling was getting to him but he decided that he would not give her the satisfaction of a response. Once it was clear that Colgate had at least went around a corner, Twilight nuzzled her head further into White Magick's shoulder and asked, "Why does she hate me so much and why does she think you're falling prey to me?"
White Magick had hoped that he would not have to share any of this with Twilight since most of it happened during her corruption. He replied, "Twilight, it involves things that happened during your corruption. Even though you have been free of evil for over 5,000 years, she still views you as a tyrant who did many bad things."
Twilight replied, "Really, she thinks of me like that?" Her voice began to break as she asked, "I know that can't be all of it, some of it has to do with Ruby Heart, doesn't it?"
White Magick continued, "Actually yes, it does. When Ruby first met you, you were corrupted and even after your cleansing, Colgate still didn't trust you. Actually it was that distrust towards you that won her Ruby's favor, so much that she cast a spell that allowed her to use her magic in my realm."
Twilight asked, "And why did Ruby hate me so much? She should have known that I would never take you away from her."
White Magick replied, "You have to understand, she had a very protective nature and outside of Colgate, she distrusted outsiders."
Twilight asked, "But what about Colgate? It seems almost like her hate has to do with Ruby's hate towards me. It seems like she thinks you are being disloyal to her even though she has been gone for thousands of years."
White Magick replied, "That is what she thinks but that is far from the truth. I loved her dearly in life and there will always be a spot for her in my heart but I'm going to admit, I have been alone for over five thousand years and that loneliness has really begun to take a toll on me."
Twilight asked, "Really?"
White Magick replied, "Yes, it has." He lit up his horn so he could look her in the eyes and continued, "I have been very lonely for quite some time but the time we spend together fills that void. When you are visiting my realm and when we went to Marentreal, I began to feel young again. I began to feel happy again, happy like I did when I first met Ruby." He gazed deeper into her eyes and continued, "When I'm with you, I feel whole again."
Twilight's heart began to melt as she realized that perhaps the king was developing the same feelings for her that she had developed for him. She clung to him as tightly as she could and asked, "Really? I make you feel whole again?"
White Magick replied, "Twilight, to be honest, I feel even more whole when I'm with you than I did when I first met Ruby." He pulled her close and continued, "I want to ask you something but even though we've grown really close, I'm afraid to ask."
Twilight said, "You shouldn't be afraid to ask me anything."
White Magick asked, "Princess Twilight, when I lost Ruby I never thought I would be able to love again but as we have grown closer, I realized that perhaps I can but now, I feel love again." His voice began to break as he continued, "Princess Twilight, would you be my marefriend?"
That question, the question she had hoped to hear for so long had finally been asked. She replied, "Yes King White Magick, yes I'll be your marefriend!"
White Magick pulled her in for a kiss and when their lips met, something special began to happen. Both of them felt a surge of warmth flowing through their bodies, the type of warmth that had not been felt by either one of them. As their kiss deepened, they began to be encircled in a pink aura that was shaped like a heart. Once the aura became bright enough that it was illuminating the room like the noonday sun would, they felt it. They felt something that nopony had felt since before the fall of Ponyland, they felt themselves life bond.
When they broke the kiss, the aura remained bright and strong. Twilight gave him a smile and asked, "Did we just life bond? Are the stories of Ponyland ponies bonding true?"
White Magick replied, "Yes Twilight, it is true. While we did not directly say it, the love between us along with the special magic of this place allowed us to become what we truly desire, we became one."
Twilight began to cry tears of joy, "I love you White Magick, I'm so happy that we are finally together!"
White Magick too began to cry tears of joy, "I love you too Twilight." He calmed down a bit and continued, "I know we have foes that are out to destroy Equestria and make life difficult but as long as we are together, we can overcome anything."
Before Twilight could say anything they heard a snarl from the adjacent room, "Ugh gag me, enough of that sappy nonsense." She wound up stomping loudly and continued, "Now that you two are an item, could you two shut up so I can get some sleep?"
White Magick sighed, "Very well." He then turned to Twilight and continued, "Shall we get some rest?"
Twilight replied, "Yes, we should."
White Magick muzzled Twilight and said, "Good night Twilight, I love you."
Twilight replied, "I love you too, sweet dreams."
The two cuddled and for the first time in many millennia, White Magick felt whole. He never imagined that the Alicorn that was a dark goddess the first time would wind up being his marefriend and neither of them expected to life bond given that they are no where near close to being of the race of the Ponylanders that would life bond on a regular basis.
In the next room, Colgate sat there in the dark with a scowl on her face. She knew what happened and reflected back to how much Ruby and White Magick loved one another and even though it had been many millennia since her passing, she still couldn't help but be upset. A smile developed on her face and she whispered to herself, "Just wait until his subjects learn he life bonded with an Equestrian, they won't stand for it!"
The following morning arrived and the first to rise was Colgate. After what happened the previous night, she was not able to get much sleep and was in a foul mood. She also felt that they should get going so that she could get home by a reasonable time. She got up and headed into the library where she would find White Magick and Twilight in a peaceful sleep, embracing one another lovingly.
She glared at the couple and began to think about what they day would bring. The very first thing she knew would happen would be something that would make her cringe, them professing their love for one another and playing the "cute lovebirds" role around her. She said to herself, "Alright Colgate, its just for the rest of the day. If you can get through this, you can return home and begin making your own plans to take on your enemies."
As soon as she finished saying that, Twilight and White Magick began to stir. They opened their eyes and the first to say anything was Twilight, "Good morning sweetie, I love you so much."
White Magick replied, "I love you too Twilight."
Colgate gagged, "Ugh, you're going to start with that already?"
The two glared at Colgate and White Magick said, "Colgate, please don't be like this. I know you think I should be alone forever and think I'm betraying Ruby but I'm not." He took a breath before raising his voice, "You know what, I bet Ruby would want to see me happy, I bet she would want to see me feel whole again."
Colgate grunted, "Perhaps" she then pointed her hoof at Twilight and continued, "with anypony but your precious little Twily."
For the first time in his life, White Magick flared his horn up in anger towards Colgate and yelled, "That's it! I can not take anymore of you calling her names." His glare intensified as he continued, "Perhaps it would be best if you just left early." He turned towards Twilight and added, "I don't know about you but putting up with this is unbearable."
Twilight clung to White Magick and began to cry, "It is unbearable. I don't know how much more of this I can take!"
White Magick glared at Colgate and suggested, "You know, perhaps it would be best if you just left now. Twilight and I can head back to Ponyville later."
Colgate got a huge smile on her face for two reasons. She smiled, "So are you going to stay in Ponyville with your precious little Twily or will you be returning home?"
White Magick had a bad feeling about what might happen if he took Twilight home with him given her past and he certainly did not want to take her somewhere that she couldn't access her magic. He replied, "I think I will be staying in Ponyville with Twilight."
Colgate's smile became bigger as she continued, "You know, I can't help but wonder what your subjects would think of you bailing on them for an Equestrian and I'm certain they won't be thrilled you life bonded with her! You know, they may even consider it treason!"
White Magick suddenly became sick to his stomach. He definitely did not like what she said but he knew that they may very well view him as a traitor. He had a nervous look on his face as he replied, "They might....."
Twilight saw his uncertainty and realized what could happen to him, she became worried that his own subjects may overthrow him over this. She interrupted, "White Magick, I know your subjects will be angry and may depose you so I will understand if you go back without me. You can still come and visit...."
White Magick interrupted, "Twilight, you are more important than that."
Both Twilight and Colgate gasped, "What?"
White Magick continued, "Twilight, my love for you is infinite and if my subjects will not accept the fact that I love you and that we will be together forever, I will abdicate."
Twilight began to cry, "Really, you'd put me ahead of your kingdom?"
White Magick gave her a tender kiss and continued, "Yes Twilight, I will."
As she watched this, Colgate's level of respect for White Magick plunged. To her it was irrational and treasonous to put a single pony ahead of one's own nation. Colgate glared at him and asked, "So, are you going to go and tell your subjects about this yourself or will I have to do it for you?"
White Magick knew this was something that he would have to do but realized that it would be best if he did not do it alone. He sighed, "I will go and tell them about Twilight but I want Twilight joining me."
Twilight gave him a nervous look and asked, "Are you sure? I can't use my magic there and what if somepony was to do something to me?"
White Magick gave her a smile and replied, "Don't worry Twilight, I won't let anything happen to you."
Colgate gave the two a stern look and asked, "So, when do you want to go and tell your subjects that you put an enemy ahead of them?" Her voice became more snide as she continued, "When are you going to go and tell them that they better embrace her because one of your own is not good enough for you?"
White Magick screamed, "Enough! You know what Colgate, you can come with us and if they can't respect who I love, I'll leave and then you can help them find a new leader."
Colgate turned around, began to walk away and said, "Very well then. Let's get some food in our systems and then take off."
White Magick gasped, "Colgate, you really want us to fly that far in one day? That would be imp......"
Colgate replied, "Don't worry, I have my time spell and assuming somepony is in half-way decent shape, we can get that time bubble moving and get there at a decent time."
Twilight and White Magick looked at one another wondering if they should go with Colgate's suggestion. After gazing into one another's eyes for a minute, White Magick spoke up, "Very well Colgate, we shall go with your plan."
Twilight added, "But first let's get some food in our system."
By the time she said this, Colgate was already half way through the next room. Once they got outside, it was dark and dreary like it was when they arrived. Luckily for them though, there were plenty of bushes with fruit on them. Although Colgate had not eaten anything like that in thousands of years, she began to gorge on a plum bush.
Twilight and White Magick were a bit more apprehensive about eating something wild without even thinking about it. Eventually though, they knew that they would have to have full stomachs if they are to aid Colgate in moving a time bubble halfway across Equestria.
After the three had finished eating, they flew above the forest canopy to begin their long flight east. Twilight was a bit slower to get high enough above the canopy so that Colgate could cast the proper spells. She glared at Twilight and asked, "Twilight, are you going to be able to do this? Are you going to be able to help move a time bubble?"
Twilight had a nervous look on her face as she had never aided in moving a time bubble nor did she even know anything about how time spells worked. She replied, "How do you move a time bubble?"
Colgate threw her hooves up in the air and shouted, "What, you don't know how to move a time bubble?" Colgate then realized that never in her life, whether she was corrupted or not, that she had never had to assist in moving a time bubble. She continued, "Look, just get up by me and White Magick so I can get us all in the time bubble and simply try to fly as fast as you can."
Twilight knew that Colgate was likely going to be demanding a lot of speed from her, speed that she did not have. She asked, "What if I can't fly fast enough? What if my wings aren't in good enough of shape?"
Colgate did a facehoof and had a bad feeling that it may be up to her and White Magick to carry her or even worse, if he hadn't stayed in good shape that she would have to work her wings to death carrying it alone. She sighed, "Well just try and keep up. I doubt you'll be able to break the sound barrier but oh well, we should be able to carry...."
White Magick interrupted, "Colgate, I have my concerns that even I may not be able to fly fast enough because I haven't been working my wings out as much as I should."
This did not sit well with Colgate. She glared at the two and yelled, "Seriously? You think I can move a time bubble AND carry two ponies with me at the same time?" She lowered her voice and continued, "Tell you what, how about you have Twilight ride on your back and at least try and fly fast enough to help me get it moving alright?"
White Magick nodded and motioned for Twilight to get on his back. Once she did this, Colgate gave her an intense glare before casting the proper spell,
"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."
Colgate looked around and noticed that everything was as it should be. She poked the very tip of her horn through the bubble and cast the second spell,
"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 she did this, time outside the bubble was frozen and they began to fly east. Colgate was flying fast enough that if she were on her own, she could have easily broken the sound barrier but with White Magick carrying Twilight, he was unable to fly as fast as he could. Colgate saw this and yelled, "Let her try and fly on her own, she's slowing you down, alright?"
When Twilight heard this, she flew off of his back and began to try and fly on her own. Since he was no longer carrying any weight, White Magick was able to fly much faster but the much slower Twilight was still holding them back. Colgate looked back and snapped, "Twilight, if you could even fly just a little bit faster, we could get this to work!"
Twilight began to flap her wings harder and despite it hurting, she finally got to going fast enough that they were able to break the sound barrier. For Colgate, this felt like old times, moving a time bubble. For White Magick, who had only aided in moving one a couple of times, it was a bit uncomfortable but for Twilight, it was horribly uncomfortable as she had never did this before. It would not be long until Twilight began to cry in pain, "My wings, they hurt so bad! Can't we please slow down."
Colgate ignored her question while White Magick gave her a concerned look and replied, "Twilight, it won't be too much longer, I promise and I certainly don't want to see you face Colgate's wrath."
Twilight gave him a smile and tried her hardest to get through the pain. After what seemed to be forever, Colgate ground the bubble to a stop 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."
Once she recited this, time outside of the bubble resumed and then she recited the final spell,
"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 popped and the three headed below the canopy to near the entrance to White Magick's realm. Like it always was, it was chilly and like she always did, Twilight began to shiver. White Magick saw this and like he always does, he put his wing around her and gave her a smile.
Eventually they reached the chasm that is right in front of the portal when they heard a voice yell, "Freeze!"
The three found themselves surrounded by soldiers with spears but those would be lowered rather quickly when they saw who it was. One of the soldiers apologized, "My apologies your Majesty, we heard ponies in this area and we simply reacted."
White Magick replied, "It is ok soldier. It is good to see you're doing your job."
The three headed into White Magick's realm and like it always is when she crosses through the portal, Twilight felt a slight tingling sensation and was suddenly unable to use her magic. As they headed towards the palace, many of the ponies were watching them. Despite her and White Magick having grown close, they still watched her with suspicion and given that she had won Ruby's favor so long ago, they simply gave Colgate smiles, which were returned with the same.
Once they headed into the palace, despite having been visiting the king for a long while, Twilight was still met with glares of suspicion by the guards. White Magick ordered, "Look, I have an announcement that must be made so if you could round up everypony in the city, I would greatly appreciate it."
A guard asked, "What time do you plan on making this announcement?"
The king replied, "At 1700 hours. I am tired after our trip and I know Twilight is exhausted."
The guard threw him a salute before heading out to notify the city that the king was planning on making an announcement. After the guard left, Colgate asked, "So what are you going to tell them?"
White Magick gave her a glare before looking lovingly into Twilight's eyes. He replied, "I am going to let them know about how Twilight and I love each other, how we life bonded in Dream Valley and how someday she will be my wife and thus, queen."
Twilight embraced him and gasped, "Really, you want me to marry you someday?"
White Magick replied, "Yes Twilight, I do." He gave her a gentle kiss and continued, "And if they can't accept the fact that you will one day be queen, I will abdicate and return with you to Ponyville."
Twilight's jaw dropped open when she heard this. She asked, "Really? You would really give up everything, including your crown, just to be with me?"
White Magick replied, "Yes Twilight, I would. You have no idea how special you are to......"
They heard a gagging sound coming from across the room. It was Colgate, "Ugh, gag me." She then approached the king with a glare and continued, "And if they don't accept Twilight as their new queen, which I am certain they won't, you are just going to betray your subjects, abdicate and leave your kingdom without a leader?"
White Magic replied, "Yes, I would." He saw a huge smile developing on Colgate's face and knew she was up to something. He gave her an intense glare and asked, "Wait a minute, you have plans don't you? Are you going to invade and annex MY realm?"
Colgate laughed, "Of course not! I'm the only outsider that can use her magic here but if you betray your subjects, I'm certain I would be the one they will come to for advice on who to replace you with."
After so many millennia of trusting Colgate and believing that she was a wonderful leader and a true ally, he finally began to see her true nature. He finally saw the Colgate that took charge of that meeting in Twilight's castle so long ago. He yelled, "You're hoping they reject Twilight, aren't you?"
Colgate's facial expression became more neutral as she continued, "No, I'm not. I simply think they will, I'm not saying I hope they do."
White Magick rolled his eyes and sighed in disgust. He was not sure exactly what would happen if his subjects rejected Twilight and he abdicated but he was sure of one thing. He knew that Colgate would likely play a part in determining who would take over and realized that just like Coastal Equestria, his realm would likely be ruled by the military.
The time for White Magick to give his address was fast approaching and he was becoming more nervous by the minute and Twilight could sense it. She embraced him and asked, "Are you sure you really want to do this? Are you sure you want to make them pick between me being queen or you abdicating?"
White Magick replied, "Yes Twilight, I do. You mean far more to me than a kingdom, you are the most special, most precious thing in my life."
The two cast their gaze across the room and saw Colgate with a deep scowl on her face. While he was not completely sure, he had a feeling that Colgate's disapproval was based in not just how she feels he has betrayed Ruby, but many, many millennia of him being the rock that kept his realm stable and peaceful.
Another thirty minutes passed and all had been quiet in the throne room until a guard entered, "Your Majesty, the city has gathered outside the palace so whenever you are ready."
White Magick gave Twilight a smile and asked, "Shall we? Shall we go and tell them the good news?"
Twilight replied, "Yes, let's do. I just hope they will accept me."
Before he could say anything Colgate sneered, "Well I shall join you. I'm certain they will look to me for advice since I was a good friend of Ruby and I'm not betraying them."
White Magick simply rolled his eyes and as they headed out onto the balcony, the ponies of the city began to cheer until they saw Twilight by his side. As they reached the railing, a pony out in the crowd yelled, "It's her, it's the dark goddess that put a spell on our king!"
Another yelled, "Banish her, get her out of here!"
It was also a known historical fact that it was Colgate who had won Ruby's favor so they were far more receptive of her. The same pony yelled, "Colgate, help get her out of here!"
Another yelled, "Break the spell of the dark goddess! Get us our king back!"
Before Colgate could say anything, White Magick yelled, "Silence! I have an announcement."
The last time White Magick had yelled like that was long before any of the citizens in the city had even been born but they did know one thing, that a yell from him meant that they had best be quiet. Once everypony was silent he began, "Citizens, I want to let you know that I have called you before my balcony over very important matters."
One pony yelled, "Does it involve Colgate and the dark goddess? Are you going to have Colgate purge her from our kingdom?"
For the first time in ages, and the first time ever towards one of his own subjects, White Magick flared his horn up in anger. He yelled, "No, Colgate will not purge my true love!"
The entire crowd went silent when he referred to Twilight as his true love. Everypony stood there in a state of silence, the type of silence was deafening. Soon everypony developed a scowl on their face as they knew that back in the past, that Queen Ruby Heart was his true love. One pony finally screamed in anger, "What? The dark goddess, an Equestrian, is your true love?"
Another pony yelled, "Traitor!"
A third yelled, "Tyrant!"
White Magick realized that this was quickly going to turn into a violent mob if he didn't do something. He flared up his horn and yelled, "Silence!"
Again the crowd went silent as he continued, "Listen, let me explain, ok?"
Despite having scowls on their faces, the crowd motioned for White Magick to continue. He began, "As all of you know, for quite some time after losing Ruby in the battle of Tambelon, I was devastated. For thousands of years I was devastated but eventually I became lonely, very lonely and that is when Princess Twilight of Equestria and I began to grow closer."
The entire crowd began to boo and again call for Colgate to run Twilight out of their realm and break the spell Twilight had placed on their king. He was becoming frustrated with them and yelled, "Listen, Twilight never cast a spell on me and she is not evil!" He raised his voice further and ordered, "Again, let me explain everything, ok?"
The crowd again went silent and he continued, "Look, I'm not going to go into too much detail with the way you are acting but I'm going to tell you something. Tirac and his Equestrian counterpart have escaped from Tartarus so Twilight, Colgate and myself had to go to Dream Valley to acquire a relic, a relic that will aid in defeating them."
The crowd gasped in shock when he mentioned the escape of Tirac. He could tell that they were no longer angry but concerned so he continued, "While the three of us were out there, something magical happened, something that was thought to only happen to the ponies who lived in Ponyland." He saw them begin to scowl again and continued, "Twilight and I life-bonded, we love one another and will be together forever."
The crowd knew what this meant and immediately began to boo his announcement before one yelled, "Her, our queen? I will NEVER bow to her, never!"
The rest of the crowd shouted, "Here, here!"
Another pony yelled, "Colgate, you have to break the life bond, you have to save our king!"
Colgate yelled back, "If I knew how to I already would have. I don't like this any more than you do."
When White Magick heard this he knew that he could no longer be an ally or a friend to Colgate. He knew that she held onto the past so much that she may actually aid in a coup if given the opportunity. This would only become more apparent when Colgate flew down into the crowd and joined them in the booing over his decision regarding Twilight.
He finally realized that the time had come to tell them about his plans. He stood tall and announced, "You know what? If you will not accept the fact that I love Twilight, we life-bonded, that before too long we will be married and she will become Queen Twilight, I shall abdicate and leave you all leaderless."
The entire crowd began to boo and started chanting the word "tyrant" towards him before turning their insults towards Twilight, calling her a seductress and a dark goddess. This caused Twilight to break down crying and hide behind White Magick. She sobbed, "Why? Why do they hate me so much?"
White Magick held her close and replied, "Probably because of the history books regarding when you first arrived here and they don't know how much you changed. They don't know you are a sweet and loving mare now."
She continued to cry, "So what are you going to do?"
White Magick replied, "Well I'm going to abdicate and we'll go back to Ponyville." He turned back towards the crowd and continued, "Since they think she is so great, they can have their beloved Colgate help find them a new leader."
Twilight realized that the stallion she loved so much was not joking when he told her that this was what he would do if they rejected her, she knew that he truly did love her more than anything. She gave him a kiss before stating, "I love you so much White Magick. I don't know how you will be received by the ponies of Equestria but I'm sure it will be a lot better than this."
Before heading back to the balcony he replied, "I love you too Twilight."
As he approached the edge of the balcony the boos erupted again. For the first time in his life, he lit up his horn and fired energy towards his subjects. Luckily for them though, Colgate fired a bolt of energy of her own that prevented him from striking them. He gave the crowd a glare before continuing, "You know what? I'm done. Effective immediately, I am abdicating the throne and since you think she is so great, you can look to Colgate for leadership." He then turned around, grabbed Twilight by the hoof and asked, "Shall we? Shall we return to Ponyville?"
She gave him a smile and they took off, heading towards the portal. Before they could get out of earshot, they heard the crowd erupt into cheers and heard them chanting Colgate's name. This disgusted the two but at that point, they no longer cared. They had each other and that is all that mattered.
White Magick and Twilight had left what was his realm prior to his abdication, leaving his former subjects leaderless and with an uncertain future. One pony, one who was very close to Queen Ruby Heart prior to her passing in Tambelon, Colgate, knew that a new leader must be established. Almost as soon as White Magick had left, Colgate found herself surrounded by ponies.
One pony asked, "Colgate, what are we going to do? We have no leader."
Another asked, "Colgate, would you take over? Would you become our queen?"
While Colgate was flattered that one of them wanted her to be their new leader, she knew that she couldn't. She replied, "I am sorry but I already have my own nation that I rule over. For me to be able to be your leader, your realm would have to be annexed into Coastal Equestria." She saw some of the ponies have looks of disapproval and continued, "And annexing your realm into my nation is not in my plans. You have been your own sovereign nation for longer than Equestria has existed and I will do whatever it takes to make sure it stays that way."
When they heard this, they knew that Colgate was not a power hungry pony who wanted to take over, they knew that she was a true ally that would protect them during this time. One pony asked, "I know you will but still, what are we going to do as far as a monarch goes?"
Colgate replied, "Well for right now, you may have to have somepony else take on the role of monarch" She paused for a minute and continued, "Are there any ponies that are related to Blue Star, White Magick or Ruby Heart still alive?"
Everypony looked around and shook their heads indicating that there was not. She replied, "For right now, I would have the top generals in your military take on the executive role." Everypony's jaws dropped open as that was a completely foreign concept to them. She knew enough about their history that they would question it. She continued, "I'm going to let you in on something, not only am I the Supreme Commander of Coastal Equestria, but I am also the head of the military. Coastal Equestria has prospered under me so if it is done right, a nation governed by the military can fare very well."
They gave Colgate a nervous smile but they still weren't sold on the idea entirely. One pony asked, "Now would this be just a temporary thing or would it be permanent?"
Colgate replied, "Tell you what, I will head over to your military base and talk with your generals. That way we can figure out who not only wants to take on the executive role for your country but also who would be most fit to do so."
They all gave Colgate a nod before she took flight and headed towards the base. Given that they had been transformed into Alicorns after the cleansing of Twilight, they all knew who she was. Their top general, General Blazing Glory threw her a salute and said, "Supreme Commander Colgate, I know you have been placed in restoring leadership here. What are your plans?"
Colgate replied, "For starters General, you may just call me Colgate, it would make me feel more comfortable. As far as what my plans are, I believe it would be best if you or one of the other generals took on the executive role for the time being."
The general's eyes grew wide with shock. He gasped, "Really, you think our nation would be best ruled by a general? Are there not any relatives of White Magick left?"
Colgate replied, "Well given that Blue Star is the king of Neigh Zealand, no." She then began to look around and asked, "I had been allies with White Magick for a very long time but I am curious, what is the name of your country? White Magick has always just referred to it as 'his realm.'"
Blazing Glory replied, "Well before White Magick ascended to the throne, his father, Red Star, had called it Unicornia since outside of him, almost all the population of our land were unicorns."
Colgate had heard that name before. Then it hit her, there was a kingdom long, long ago in Ponyland that was named Unicornia and she wanted to know why White Magick's father chose the name. She asked, "About the name, was there any other reason he chose that and why did White Magick abandon the name?"
Blazing Glory replied, "Well in the past, our land was located not too far away from the Volcano of Gloom and once these witches that lived there unleashed this purple liquid upon us, one that destroyed everything in its past, those of us who survived fled, found this portal and have lived here ever since."
Colgate asked, "Very well but why did White Magick abandon the name?"
Blazing Glory replied, "He did it because he felt it was discriminatory against non-unicorns."
During all of her visits to the realm, she had never seen any type of pony except for unicorns and Alicorns. She gave him a smile and asked, "From what I see, outside of the army, everypony in this land is a unicorn. Would you ever consider reinstating the name?"
The general felt that while White Magick had brought stability to their country, that the treason of running off to marry an Equestrian princess warranted one of the things he did be undone. He replied, "You know something, if I were to take over here, I would reinstate the name."
Knowing that White Magick did this, she couldn't help but wonder what one pony that she was very close to thought about it. She asked, "So what did Queen Ruby Heart think about this?"
Blazing Glory replied, "Oh she was furious, beyond furious. Unlike him, she believed in a majority rule system and since almost all the ponies were unicorns, she believed that the name should stay. She did not believe that we should be a nation without a name."
Colgate replied, "I see." She then decided that the time to ask him about what she headed to the base for had come. She asked, "Blazing Glory, since you are the top general in the land, what would you think about taking on the executive role of Unicornia?"
The general noticed that she had already began calling their country Unicornia as it was prior to their fleeing into their realm which meant that she believed he was the one to take over. He replied, "I think it would be great to restore the nation of Unicornia and bring about a sense of pride to our populous again."
Colgate said, "Good, very good." She pointed towards the balcony of the castle and asked, "I do have a question, is there a line of succession here or is it simply whoever wants to take over?"
Given that the line of succession had never needed to be used he was not sure. He suggested, I honestly don't know but I do think that perhaps we should go to the library, I'm sure we could find something there."
Colgate replied, "Agreed, let's get going?"
They headed towards the library to see if there was anything involving a line of succession in what would soon be Unicornia again. Once they arrived at the library, they began their long, arduous search. While Colgate was rather patient in her search, Blazing Glory was more impatient. He continued to say, "There has to be something, there has to be something!"
Colgate noticed that he was becoming frustrated and began to search at a quicker pace. After two hours, she finally found a book, one of the oldest books in the library, that went over the ancient laws and rules, including the line of succession. She said, "General, come over here, I found something!"
Colgate and Blazing Glory began to read the pages that involved a line of succession. He repeated what it said, "If the king falls in battle or perishes in some other way, the queen is to take over sole possession of the throne. If she too falls in battle or passes, then the eldest descendant shall take over, going on down to the youngest child. If nopony in the royal family is in the nation of Unicornia, the top general of the military shall take over as a steward for a period of 180 days. If no relative comes forward to claim the throne, the general shall declare himself/herself as the sole monarch of the nation of Unicornia on the 181st day at dawn."
Blazing Glory gave Colgate a smile and said, "Wow, so if nopony related to the royal family comes forward, I will become king?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, you will." She began to exit the library and suggested, "How about you get your soldiers to get everypony to gather at the base of the balcony and we let everypony know what the current situation is."
Blazing Glory said, "That sounds like a plan to me."
The Rebirth of Unicornia
An hour had passed and the citizens of the city were again gathered at the base of the balcony. Normally the city was turning in for the night by this time so everypony was very curious about why they had been called there at such a late hour. Once everypony had gathered and the crowd went quiet, Colgate approached the front. She began, "Citizens, as all of you know, White Magick betrayed all of you today by running off with an Equestrian princess, leaving you leaderless."
Everypony began to boo loudly, which was what Colgate was expected. She raised and lowered her wings, motioning for the crowd to go silent. Once they were silent she continued, "Like most other nations, back when Unicornia was first founded, there was a line of succession which was used when the king and queen of that time fell and naturally, it was White Magick who took over that role but today, that line of succession must again be used to establish leadership here."
A pony in the crowd yelled, "But how, Blue Star is the king of Neigh Zealand and Queen Ruby Heart fell in battle many millennia ago."
She looked back, motioned for Blazing Glory to approach the crowd before continuing, "Regarding that line of succession, there is a rule involving a situation in which no relative of the monarch is present to take over. Because of that, your top general, General Blazing Glory shall be your steward for the next 180 days and if no relative of White Magick comes forward to claim the throne by the 181st day, General Blazing Glory shall become your king."
The crowd was unsure how to react to his given that never before had a member of the military held control over their nation. Blazing Glory could sense their uneasiness and figured that he had best at least gain their confidence. He began, "Hello everypony. For those of you who are unfamiliar with me, I am General Blazing Glory. I was the second in command under Blue Star before he left for Neigh Zealand and after that, I was commander of the military prior to White Magick's betrayal."
After a minute of uncomfortable silence, a pony in the crowd asked, "General, I know you have an immense amount of knowledge when it comes to leadership and battle. I just want to know, you don't plan on creating a military dictatorship, do you? If a relative of the royal family was to show up, would you allow them to become king or queen?"
White Magick replied, "Of course I would. I am a stallion who values law and order and I would never break any laws. As steward, it is my job to take care of the throne and protect the citizens of this nation from all threats, both internal and external."
"This nation," that was a term that nopony alive, not even Blazing Glory had ever heard their land referred to since White Magick simply referred to it as "their realm."
A pony in the crowd asked, "This nation? Are you going to reestablish us as a real nation, a nation with a name?"
Blazing Glory gave the crowd a smile and replied, "Yes. As everypony knows, prior to the rise of White Magick, we were a nation when we lived outside of the portal, a nation with the name of Unicornia." The entire crowd nodded their heads prompting Blazing Glory to continue, "Effective immediately we will no longer simply be known as a realm, we shall be referred to as the Kingdom of Unicornia, as we were so long ago."
The entire crowd began to cheer loudly, more loudly than any crowd had in many millennia. Colgate approached the new steward and said, "I knew they would like this news and I know they will accept you while you are their steward and when the time comes, I know they will gladly welcome you as their king."
Blazing Glory asked, "I have a question, if I ever need any leadership advice, can I come to you?"
Colgate replied, "Of course you can!" She pointed towards the crowd and suggested, "I must be returning home as my generals are likely wondering about my whereabouts. I would advise you fly down and mingle with your subjects."
Blazing Glory embraced Colgate and said, "Thank you so much Colgate, thank you!"
Colgate replied, "Anytime."
As the new steward flew down into the crowd to mingle, Colgate headed towards the portal to exit the new nation of Unicornia and head home. Once she crossed back into Coastal Equestria, she thought to herself, "I know they are happy with what has been done, but I can make them even happier. It might be illegal in some places but the time has come to bring back my number one ally." She got a smile on her face as she said to herself, "Now to return home, duplicate the Dream Valley collection and then acquire the information I need the most" she turned to the north and finished, "I must raise Tamelon from the deep and duplicate Grogar's library, I must learn how to raise those who have long been dead."
While Colgate was aiding the ponies in what was White Magick's realm find a new leader, White Magick and Twilight flew through the portal and turned west, towards Ponyville. At first their flight was strangely silent and this brought out concern from her. She looked over towards White Magick and asked, "Are you ok? Are you having second thoughts?"
The former king had tears running down his face as he replied, "I'm ok but I still can't believe they would cast me aside like that, for as long as the realm has existed, they cast me aside like I'm nothing!"
Twilight flew closer to him and put her hoof around him. She gave him a look of concern and said, "I'm sorry they did that. I never imagined they'd do that to you."
White Magick broke into an angry cry, "They cast me aside for Colgate, Colgate! They cast me aside for a pony who is responsible for more deaths than every villain combined!"
Twilight wasn't sure exactly how to respond at the moment so she gave him a smile and pointed towards the west, motioning for him to continue to fly with her towards Ponyville. After what seemed to be forever, they began to fly over Ponyville but given the situation they were in, Twilight continued to fly west.
White Magick noticed that and asked, "Twilight, we've reached Ponyville. Why are you flying past it?"
Twilight gave him a smile and replied, "I have decided that Princess Celestia needs to know about 'us.' She was my mentor a long time ago, the co-ruler of Equestria and my closest friend."
White Magick gave her a smile and said, "Very well then, you lead the way."
Twilight smiled back and the two continued to fly towards Canterlot. As they approached the capitol, White Magick looked in awe as he had never seen a city built into the side of a mountain. When they landed, they headed directly towards the palace. When they approached the entrance they were greeted by two guards who initially had stern looks on their faces. Once they saw that it was Princess Twilight, they allowed them to pass.
As they headed towards the throne room, Twilight asked, "You remember Princess Celestia, right?"
White Magick replied, "She is the one with the sun cutie mark, right?"
Twilight confirmed, "Yes, she is."
Once they entered the throne room, Celestia immediately ran up to Twilight with a smile on her face, "Twilight, it is so good to see you!"
Twilight embraced her and replied, "It's good to see you too!"
Celestia broke the embrace, approached White Magick and continued, "White Magick, it is so good to see you."
He replied, "It is good to see you too."
Celestia turned to Twilight and asked, "So what do I owe this visit?"
Twilight became excited as she replied, "I have some truly wonderful news. When White Magick, Colgate and I went to Dream Valley to get the Rainbow of Light, we life bonded! We were in the library in Dream Castle and we realized that we were made for one another!"
Celestia knew that the only ponies ever known to life bond were the ponies of Ponyland and that that race of ponies had died off long before she and Luna were born. She asked, "Are you sure? Is it even possible for ponies outside of that long extinct race to life bond?"
Twilight replied, "Well we were looking into one another's eyes, White Magick asked me to be his marefriend, we kissed and then we were surrounded in an aura in the shape of a pink heart."
Celestia learned through history books what would happen when two ponies would life bond back in the day and developed a huge smile on her face. She motioned for them to approach her and she gave them both a tight embrace, "Congratulations you two!" She broke the embrace, smiled at Twilight and continued, "I remember how studious you were and I never imagined you would find a special somepony like this." She then turned to White Magick and added, "And such a regal, truly deserving one at that!"
White Magick held his head low and replied, "I wouldn't say I'm regal....."
Celestia interrupted, "Of course you are! You are the king of your own realm for pony's sake!"
He got a nervous look on his face and replied, "About that, thanks to Colgate and the distrustful nature of the ponies in what was my realm, I decided to abdicate to be with Twilight."
Celestia gasped, "What?" Then she realized that he had brought up Colgate and wanted to find out why she was partly responsible. She asked, "You brought up Colgate and her being responsible. How could she have possibly been responsible for that?"
White Magick took a deep breath and sighed, "Well this might take a while to tell you." Celestia nodded and he continued, "As everypony knows, Colgate was the leader here in Equestria for quite some time and from what I understand, she has had a very negative view of Twilight for many, many millennia."
Celestia replied, "Yes, she has."
White Magick nodded and continued, "Well it was not too long after Twilight was cleansed that Colgate joined us on a trip to my realm. A lot of this had to do with my wife and her distrust of outsiders and once she learned of Colgate's distrust of Twilight, she gave her the ability to use her magic in that realm."
Celestia asked, "Ok but what does that have to do with Colgate turning them against you?"
He continued, "Ruby was beloved by all of our subjects and when she died in the battle at Tambelon, I was devastated, Colgate was devastated and so were they. I don't know if Colgate had any control over them or not but it seemed like as soon as Twilight and I began to grow close, Colgate began accusing me of betraying Ruby and soon my subjects pretty much did the same. They even went as far to call me a traitor and a tyrant for life bonding with Twilight."
Celestia gasped, "They called you a tyrant just for falling in love again?"
White Magick replied, "Yes, they did. You see, the culture has always been that when a couple gets married, they are together forever. Even if one pony passes before the other, the surviving pony is not to remarry because his or her partner in life will be with them on the other side." He began to become sad as he continued, "It had been 5,000 years since Ruby lost her life and all that time alone caused me to get lonely." He put his wing around Twilight and finished, "And it was Twilight who brought joy back into my life, she made me feel whole again and the fact that we life bonded, is proof that she is the one I am truly meant to be with."
Celestia gave the two a smile and replied, "Well I am glad that Twilight has made you feel whole again but what now? What are your plans now that you are going to be staying with Twilight?"
Before White Magick could say anything, Twilight said, "Well he has mentioned marrying me since we life bonded. I'm not sure if that would make him a prince or not but I do know one thing, we plan on being happy together."
Celestia gave them an approving smile before remembering them talking about going to Dream Valley. Her look became more curious as she continued, "You mentioned going to Dream Valley. How did you find that place given it is not on any maps and what did you go for?"
White Magick replied, "Well Colgate found it easily by tapping into that eye of hers and like I said, we went to find the Rainbow of Light so we can defeat the two centaurs who escaped Tartarus."
Celestia gasped, "You went to Dream Valley to acquire the Rainbow of Light?"
In unison both of them nodded yes before Celestia continued, "Did you find it? Did you find what would help us defeat them?"
Twilight joyfully replied, "Yes, we did!" She then turned to White Magick and asked, "Uh, where is it? Colgate gave it to you before we left what was your realm didn't she?"
White Magick's jaw dropped open when she mentioned it. He became very nervous and replied, "No, she didn't! Everything went so bad right before we left....."
Twilight realized that this was not good at all. She shrieked, "What, Colgate has it?"
Before White Magick could say anything, Celestia interrupted, "I take it that is bad?"
Twilight began to panic, "Bad? Bad? Of course it's bad! Colgate probably won't know how to use it and I know for a fact that she won't let us have it because she hates me."
While Colgate had never directly came out and said it, Celestia could tell simply by the way she treated Twilight that Colgate hated her. She sat there in thought for a minute before suggesting, "White Magick, I know you two have been friends and allies for ages, maybe you could ask her if we in Equestria could use it to defend ourselves against those two."
White Magick held his head low, "Princess Celestia, Colgate and I are no longer friends and I doubt she would allow anypony from Equestria to use it because of Twilight." He began to become more agitated as he continued, "I know how her mind works. She would either demand a lot more territory if she was to give it to us OR she would use it herself, defeat those two and then demand we thank her with more territory or she would simply duplicate those soldiers of hers, march them in here and take all of Equestria for herself."
Celestia remembered how many chances Colgate had, when she was the ruler of Equestria, to take the whole planet as her own, but didn't. She asked, "Are you sure about that? Yeah I can see her wanting more territory but everything......"
Twilight interrupted, "Don't you remember how she was back when we called her back from Eqqus 2? Don't you remember how she wanted all of Equestria to simply be here if we needed her?"
White Magick added, "I don't know about you but I honestly don't want Colgate taking the whole country. Living under her rule would be horrible."
Celestia replied, "True but we need to either hope that she will use that thing, defeat them and not demand anything or perhaps she would be willing to hand it over to somepony else, perhaps a leader of a foreign country."
At first White Magick thought that he could contact his son over the matter but then thought otherwise knowing that she may see him as an enemy as well. Then it hit him, he knew who the one leader was that she may let have it. He suggested, "What about Scootaloo?"
Twilight replied, "I wish we could but they basically have a mother/daughter type relationship and I know Scootaloo probably hates me too."
Celestia sighed, "Well we'll figure something out." Her stomach began to rumble causing her to continue, "How about we have some supper. Perhaps if we get some food in our system we can figure something out."
The two nodded and followed the princess towards the dining hall. They could tell that Celestia didn't seem overly worried about Colgate having the Rainbow of Light despite seeing for herself in the past how Colgate really is, that she would do anything to stick it to Twilight, including putting a good portion of the continent in grave danger.
While Blazing Glory was down mingling with the subjects of what was now Unicornia, Colgate headed back towards Marentreal, towards her tower, looking forward to sleeping in her own bed again. As she was heading home, she couldn't help but be happy to have not only been partly responsible for placing a new pony in power in what was White Magick's realm, but to also restore the name that White Magick abandoned so long ago, Unicornia.
When her tower was visible in the distance, Colgate sped up her rate of speed before landing by the base, where she was immediately greeted by her two generals. Dark Night, the one she was closer with, rushed to her and immediately embraced her. Colgate was no fan of physical touch so she broke the embrace rather quickly and asked, "Dark Night, what is up with the hug?"
Dark Night replied, "Well I was just worried about you, I was worried that something would happen out there."
Lightning Storm added, "Places like that are quite dangerous."
Colgate gave the two a slight glare and replied, "You should know that there isn't a single danger out there that I couldn't handle." She pointed her hoof towards the tower and continued, "Follow me, I have some interesting news, news that could benefit us greatly."
The two nodded and followed Colgate towards the tower. Once they arrived they headed to the one place where they were guaranteed to not be walked in on by any of the regular soldiers. They headed to the very back room where Colgate closed the door and began, "Alright generals, I'm certain you are wondering why I have brought the two of you here."
Lightning Storm replied, "Actually yes, I am."
Colgate began, "Well as you know, I along with White Magick and Twilight headed out to Dream Valley to acquire an artifact that would aid us tremendously in defeating Tirac and his Rainbow of Darkness." Colgate stood there silent for a moment before realizing something. She realized that she had never given White Magick the Rainbow of Light so she grabbed it out of her saddlebag, levitated it around her neck and proudly continued, "And before you ask, yes we found it! We found the Rainbow of Light!"
The two got smiles on their faces as they knew that this gave Coastal Equestria a distinct advantage over their neighbors to the west. Dark Night asked, "So what are you going to do if White Magick wants it?"
Colgate replied, "About White Magick, he is no longer the leader of his realm. His subjects got fed up with him loving Twilight so he abdicated and a general of theirs has taken over as their steward." She got a huge smile on her face and continued, "He has went to live with Twilight so if he wants it, there will be a hefty price to pay, and I mean a very hefty price!"
Both of them knew exactly what Colgate wanted causing Dark Night to ask, "So what territory would you want to annex?"
Colgate knew that there was plenty more in the population to be had further down the east coast and the areas that spread a couple hundred miles inland. She replied, "I want the whole east coast along with the lands that spread inland a couple hundred miles, basically a good portion of the population of Equestria."
Dark Night had a feeling that the relic may only respond to the energy of certain ponies and given Colgate's nature, that it may not work for her. He asked, "I know you have this thing but what if it won't work for you? What if you don't have the right energies to use it?"
At first the Colgate was irritated by the question but then realized that her general could be right. She replied, "You know, it may not work for me." She then remembered how full of love that one certain pony from her past was and continued, "But, I have a feeling that I may be able to bring the one pony back to us who would be able to use it. I just have to do a ton of studying and likely write my own magic."
The two gave Colgate a curious look as at first they had no clue what she was talking about but then something crossed his mind. He asked, "Are you going to try and write a spell to resurrect Queen Ruby Heart?"
Colgate gave him a smile and replied, "Yes but I have a ton of research to do and I also need room for the Dream Valley collection that I cast the duplication spell on. I have a feeling I may be able to find information on what I need in there."
Both of them knew that there was no more space in the archives and that space would be needed. Lightning Storm asked, "What are you going to do, you have no space."
Colgate stood there in thought before replying, "You know what, there isn't anything really necessary of keeping underground in Twilight's old collection or the Canterlot collection. I can simply relocate that upstairs to where the main library should be, create a special lock for it and then place the Dream Valley collection down here. Such ancient information must not be kept above ground in the event something happened to the main part of the tower."
Colgate headed back up to the first section of the archives and began grabbing books in her aura to take them upstairs. She glared at the two and continued, "Could you two help me?"
They both nodded in unison and began to help Colgate move the books. While she really didn't want to store any materials outside of what would amount to leisure reading above ground, she knew that for right now, she had no choice. She figured once Tirac and Tirek were defeated, that she would have all the time in the world to put everything underground.
After three hours of relocating the books and re-shelving them, Colgate decided to go downstairs and move each section of books up one room before using the book restoration spell to put the Dream Valley collection on the shelves. She flew up to the top shelf and then inspected everything to make sure that nothing was missing. Once she discovered that all was good, she gave her generals a smile and said, "Thanks generals, I couldn't have got this done today without your help."
In unison they replied, "You're welcome Colgate."
Colgate's stomach began to rumble and given that it was getting late she continued, "What do you say we go up and get something to eat. After the day we've had, I think we could use it."
The two nodded and they headed upstairs. Colgate was happy that not only had she discovered that she did not surrender the Rainbow of Light to who she no longer viewed as an ally but that she also was able to get room cleared for the Dream Valley collection and there was one more thing she would need to do to act on what she hoped could be done, study and study hard before writing her own magic, incredibly difficult magic.
The following morning arrived and like she always does, the very first thing Colgate did was tap into the eye to make sure that everything was going alright. Unlike it was in the past where she would scan abroad before checking on things closer to home, she zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and would not be thrilled by what she saw. She saw that Tirac was beginning to get his Rainbow of Darkness to work. While it was only putting out a tiny amount of energy, not enough to do any damage as he failed to turn a squirrel into a beast, it was beginning to gain its strength back.
Once she saw this, she knew that she needed to get to studying and figure out how to perhaps write a spell to resurrect Ruby Heart, since she believed that she would be the one with the proper energy to use the Rainbow of Light. When she got downstairs for breakfast, her generals could tell that something was not right about her. Lightning Storm asked, "Colgate, what's wrong? You look kind of nervous."
Colgate replied, "I am nervous." Given that Colgate had not even fixed their food, much less began eating she began, "Well I have some bad news. I tapped into the eye this morning and Tirac's Rainbow of Darkness is beginning to regenerate."
Both generals knew that this was bad news but remained calm. Dark Night asked, "So, what are your plans?"
Colgate replied, "I must study everything I can from the Dream Valley collection today because I have a feeling that what may help me with my goal is located in that collection."
Dark Night asked, "I take it that it is going to be a busy day for you?"
Colgate replied, "Very busy unless I find what I need early."
After breakfast, Colgate headed down to the archives to do the research that she felt was necessary. Once she arrived, she began to go through the whole collection and grabbed the books that she believed would be most likely to help her. As she began to read through the first book, she was learning plenty of fascinating things, including how Dream Valley came to be.
That however, was not what she was looking for so she moved on to the next book. The book discussed in great detail the magic of the ponies of that time and how it worked. Like most Equestrians, she had been taught that the ponies of Ponyland did not have much in the way of magic but like she had learned from White Magick and his collection, they possessed more magic than Equestrians thought. While Colgate did find this fascinating, it still wasn't what she was looking for.
Colgate continued to go through book after book of what she thought may contain the information she was looking for, anything that may lead her in the direction to perhaps bring Ruby Heart back. When she reached the final book that she had grabbed, she had become frustrated and her patience was growing thin. She opened the last book and grunted, "Well let's see if it's in here."
It was not too long after she began reading that she became absorbed by it and realized that it may actually contain something useful because it went into detail about the very first attack by Tirac. She knew that in the past they had used the Rainbow of Light to defeat him but couldn't help but notice that there was no mention of the relic in the account. She thought to herself, "How could they have defeated him without that thing? How could they have fought back against the Rainbow of Darkness?"
In the account it went into detail about how Tirac marched into Dream Valley, accompanied by beasts, and began to use his relic on the ponies and turn them into beasts. It also went on about how those that Tirac did not turn into beasts, he killed in cold blood. Colgate thought to herself, "If he did that, how did they fend him off? How did they save those who got turned into beasts?"
Despite knowing that Tirac's Rainbow of Darkness was regaining its strength, she couldn't help but be drawn into the book deeper and deeper. Finally she hit a part of the book that completely shocked her. She screamed, "What?"
Colgate's jaw dropped open when she read the next part of the account, the part that went into detail about who marched in to help them.
"Things were not looking good for us here in Dream Valley as Tirac and his beasts continued their attack. The Rainbow of Darkness has turned many of our citizens into beasts and those who were not turned into beasts were slain by the centaur. It was at that moment that those of us who had holed ourselves up in the castle heard a great scream and saw a bright bolt of red energy. We stared out the window to see what was happening and we were shocked by what we saw. We saw the Lord of Tambelon had marched into Dream Valley with his trogals but rather than attacking us ponies, he was attacking Tirac. We heard him screaming something about revenge for his invasion on Tambelon.
We watched in shock as his bells would light up and he would fire energy at our enemy, striking him and causing him to scream out in pain. All our remaining citizens took shelter in the castle as the battle continued between the two creatures. The battle was unbelievable, Tirac tried his hardest to use his dark rainbow on Grogar but his energy always repelled it.
Finally, it was Grogar who defeated Tirac, which allowed us to banish him back to Tartarus and while it took extensive studying to write the proper magic, we were able to save our fellow ponies from being beasts forever. The most surprising thing however, was that in exchange for some of our knowledge, that Grogar used his magic to revive those who fell in the battle. We provided him with the knowledge he requested and as promised, he revived those who fell in the battle."
Colgate couldn't believe what she was reading. Never in her life did she imagine that at one time Grogar actually helped the ponies of Dream Valley given everything she knew about their history with him. She thought to herself, "I wonder what caused him to turn on them? I wonder why he would go from saving them to enslaving them?"
This was something that Colgate, despite the whole world possibly being in danger, had to find out. She thought to herself, "I wonder, did Tambelon have a library? Did Grogar have his own collection that I could duplicate?"
Colgate continued reading through the book and found nothing that stated why Grogar would turn on them. Once she finished the book, she said to herself, "Perhaps that would be in a later volume of their history."
She returned the books to the shelves and then began to look at books detailing the times that followed the defeat of Tirac. After another two hours of searching, she found what she was looking for in a volume that detailed the times of 1,000 years following Grogar aiding them in their first defeat of Tirac.
"The times are troublesome here in Dream Valley as the unicorns of our home have been disappearing. For a very long time we could not figure out why until we caught the kidnapper, Lord Grogar of Tambelon. We were shocked as to why the one who aided us in defeating Tirac would suddenly turn on us. We were bound and determined to find out so many other ponies along with Megan Williams, armed with the Rainbow of Light, marched on Tambelon to not only rescue our fellow ponies, but to confront Grogar, get answers and then cast him and Tambelon back into the deep places of the world.
When we arrived in Tambelon, we launched an attack upon the city, slaying many, many trogals before the Lord of the city met us in battle. Many, many of our forces were imprisoned in cages by his dark magic before we were able to remove his collar, rendering him powerless. At that point we finally confronted him and learned that his hatred of Ponykind stemmed from his belief that we did not give him all the knowledge he requested.
There was to be no reasoning with him nor was there any excuse for what he did to our fellow ponies so after rescuing our citizens, Megan rang the bell in the city and cast Grogar and his minions back into the deep places of the world, hopefully never to return."
Colgate couldn't help but be fascinated by everything she read but noticed one thing, that everything she had read seemed like it was not like your normal history book, that it was actually a first hoof account as told by the author. She began to search the books, trying to see if there was mention of who wrote them but much to her dismay, there was no author but she had learned enough that she knew what she could do to bring Ruby back to the world. She knew it would likely be illegal across all of Eqqus 1 but to her that did not matter, she knew that Ruby would be a valuable ally and may understand the energies of the Rainbow of Light well enough to use it.
After a whole day of studying, not even breaking for lunch, Colgate finally emerged from the archives around 1830 and was met by a concerned Dark Night, "Colgate, are you ok? It's not like you to skip meals!"
Colgate replied, "Dark Night, I need to speak with you and Lightning Storm after supper. I have found some information that will not only shock you, but all of Ponykind."
Both of them gave their leader curious looks but given that supper was coming up and that Colgate still didn't like to discuss business matters over meals, they knew that they would have to wait to hear what Colgate had to tell them.
After supper, the three headed to the throne room where Colgate got their attention. She began, "Alright generals, today I learned some information that will not only shock you, but it could aid tremendously in our effort to bring down the two centaurs that escaped from Tartarus.
Lightning Storm asked, "What is it? What is it that you learned?"
Colgate began, "Alright, first you may want to hold onto your wings because this will likely shock you." The two nodded causing Colgate to continue, "The first thing I learned is that Grogar was not always an enemy to ponies and Dream Valley. I learned that at one time he actually aided them in bringing down Tirac the first time he invaded Dream Valley" she then pointed to the Rainbow of Light which was still draped around her neck and continued, "prior to them having this."
Both generals gasped, "Really, Grogar helped them defeat Tirac?"
Colgate replied, "Yes. There must be something special about his magic because he was able to repel the Rainbow of Darkness with his magic and that has given me an idea. I am wondering if I was to be able to retrieve that collar of his, if I couldn't use the magic it gave him against Grogar."
Lightning Storm asked, "Seriously, you would risk corrupting yourself by using dark magic to defeat the two centaurs? Wouldn't using that locket around your neck be enough?"
Colgate replied, "Yes I would risk it but that isn't the only thing I learned while I was studying. According to the history book, they gave Grogar some knowledge in exchange for him to use his magic to resurrect those who fell in battle." She became more excited as she continued, "He knew magic to bring ponies back from the dead!"
Just like Colgate did when she first learned of this, her general's mouths dropped open. Dark Night asked, "Seriously? He brought ponies back from the dead?"
Colgate replied, "Yes he did and you know what this means, right?"
Lightning Storm asked, "I take it you are going to try to go to Tambelon, assuming he had a library, find it, duplicate it and then study the materials to see if he may have written it down?"
They knew about what happened with Tambelon when lightning struck the bell. Dark Night also asked, "I know you are likely planning on going out and planning on duplicating the library but how are you going to access it? Wouldn't you have to raise Tambelon from the depths?"
Colgate replied, "Yes and writing magic to do so will be tough but if I want to duplicate that library and resurrect Ruby, then I will have to." She then concluded the meeting, "Dismissed, I need to go and check on the world before turning in for the night."
As Colgate headed up to her chambers, the two generals gave one another nervous looks but Dark Night was visibly the most nervous. Lightning Storm asked, "Dark Night, you look downright terrified. Do you have really bad feelings about this?"
Dark Night replied, "Yes, I do. I remember what happened when Twilight used dark magic, it wound up turning her into a dark goddess and given that Colgate's magic is far, far more powerful, I could see her corrupting herself and becoming even worse!"
Lightning Storm suggested, "I know but she may have the power to resist the darkness. For all we know, she could turn the dark magic that Grogar used to revive Ruby into good magic. She has the smarts to do it and I know for a fact that she would never use dark magic on anything, especially when it comes to Ruby Heart."
Dark Night sighed, "Oh you're probably right. I just remember what Twilight did and my anxiety is likely getting the best of me."
Lightning Storm said, "Don't worry, Colgate isn't like Twilight." He then began to head towards the stairs and suggested, "How about we simply trust Colgate and get some rest."
Dark Night replied, "Very well, let's do that."
Once Colgate got into her chambers, she shut the door and the first thing she did was tap into the eye. That night she decided to scan the rest of the world prior to zeroing in on the Everfree Forest. As she started to monitor the world she said, "Everything looks fine in the Equine Empire, Neigh Zealand looks normal, nothing is going awry in Saddle Arabia, the Crystal Empire looks peaceful" she then zeroed in on Ponyville and Canterlot. There she saw Twilight and White Magick out at the cafe having a romantic dinner and sighed, "How far he has fallen, all the more reason for me to find out how to bring Ruby back." She then zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and noticed that the two centaurs were resting by a pond, drinking water and eating berries. She continued, "Well at least they aren't out trying to steal magic or turn ponies into beasts."
Once she was done scanning the world, she plopped down on her bed but rather than shutting off the light and trying to get to sleep, she began to go into a trance, thinking that perhaps she could figure out how to raise Tambelon from the depths. As she continued to lay there and go deeper into thought, she suddenly found herself out at the site where the city once was. She saw herself grabbing the ground in her aura, her eyes shining a deep blue, the skies darkening, the ground beginning to quake and freezing rain falling prior to her pulling it back to the surface. She also saw herself reciting the spell,
"For many, many millennia the city has been lost For long time it was fine but now the absence may come with a cost, For ages and ages, Grogar was the city's host But with his absence the city can provide us with the most,
Now the ground is the city's disguise But now from the depths it must rise, The city holds secrets that must be mine And with them all shall be fine!"
She remained in the trance for nearly an hour before coming out of it. Once she came out of the trance she immediately wrote the spell down, knowing that she would likely need to take it with her. She gave herself a smile, "Well Colgate, tomorrow could be the day, tomorrow could be the day that you learn how to bring Ruby back."
She then realized that if she was to do that the following day, that she would need plenty of rest so she shut her light off, got under her covers and fell asleep.
After a good night's rest, the morning Sun woke Colgate up and like she did every morning when she woke up, she tapped into the eye and like she did the prior night, she scanned abroad before scanning closer to home. This time though, she did not bother with Canterlot or Ponyville, she instead focused in on the forest and would not be thrilled by what she saw. She saw Tirac using the Rainbow of Darkness on a squirrel and noticed that he did manage to turn it into a beast. At that moment she knew that she had to go to Tambelon and acquire the knowledge that she needed.
After tapping into the eye, she rushed downstairs and would be greeted by her generals. Dark Night saw a worried look on her face and asked, "Colgate, what's wrong?"
Lightning Storm added, "You look worried."
Colgate replied, "Yes general, I am worried. I tapped into the eye this morning and I caught Tirac using his Rainbow of Darkness to turn a squirrel into a beast."
Dark Night gasped, "That is bad, isn't it?"
Colgate continued, "Yes, it is. That relic of his must be regaining its strength much faster than I thought it would so now it is imperative that I go and acquire the knowledge that I need to bring back Ruby. With her on our side, we will be able to defeat those two and save not just this continent, but all of Eqqus 1."
Dark Night asked, "So will you be heading there alone or will we be going with you?"
Initially Colgate wanted to make this trip alone but then she got a feeling that she probably should take one of them with her. She asked in return, "Which one of you two want to come with me?"
Dark Night was the first to reply, "I would be happy to join you on this trip!"
Colgate said, "Very well then, after breakfast you and I shall venture to Tambelon. It is a fairly long flight but I do not think it is so long that it will warrant me using a time spell."
Neither one of her generals had aided in moving a time bubble but they did know about Colgate's impatience and intolerance of those who can't fly enough to help her get it moving. Dark Night replied, "Alright." He then suggested, "Well let's get some food in our systems and then get going."
Colgate replied, "It sounds good to me."
After breakfast, Colgate rushed back upstairs to grab two items she believed that she would need, her saddle bags and she placed the Rainbow of Light around her neck. Once she got back downstairs Dark Night asked, "I take it you think we may need that locket?"
Colgate replied, "I'm pretty sure we probably won't but it doesn't hurt to be too careful." She looked towards the door and suggested, "Shall we?"
Dark Night nodded and they headed off towards the north, in the direction of Tambelon. As they proceeded north, things seemed much different than they did when they flew in to Tambelon to slay Grogar. The skies were sunny, the temperature was quite mild and they were being pushed along by a southerly breeze. Once they approached the area where the city was, they stopped flying and Colgate had a solemn look on her face.
Dark Night saw this and asked, "Colgate, what is wrong?"
Colgate replied, "General, it is just a matter of knowing what will happen when I raise the city from the depths, knowing I will see the area where Ruby lost her life." Before he could say anything, she continued, "But if I want to act on my plans, it must be done."
Dark Night nodded and watched as Colgate grabbed the ground in her aura, readying herself to raise the ancient city from the darkness. As she began to focus more intently, her aura began to glow brighter, she herself began to glow and her eyes began to shine blue as she recited,
"For many, many millennia the city has been lost For a long time it was fine but now the absence may come with a cost, For ages and ages Grogar was the city's host But with his absence the city can provide us with the most,
Now the ground is the city's disguise But now from the depths it must rise, The city holds secrets that must be mine And with them all shall be fine!"
Once she finished the spell, blue beans shot out of her eyes and everything began to change. Dark clouds rolled into the area, what was a gentle southerly breeze changed to being an icy northerly wind, lightning began to flash, a freezing rain began to fall and finally, the ground began to shake as the city rose from the deep.
Colgate thought that once it resurfaced, that they would just be able to go in and take care of business but they would not be thrilled with what they would see. While Grogar obviously did not return, his trogals did. Colgate looked at Dark Night and yelled, "Trogals, slay them, we must slay them all!"
The two began to fly over the city and strike the creatures with their energy. For Dark Night, it took two or three bolts of energy to kill them but for Colgate, it was easy. Like she did in the past, she watched their movements and timed where they would go so all it took was one bolt of energy to fry them. Unlike it was in the past invasion, the trogals were the only enemy they had to deal with and within ten minutes, they had fried every single trogal.
When they landed Colgate said, "Well I certainly wasn't expecting that."
Dark Night asked, "I thought we killed all those things when we slayed Grogar. How could they come back?"
Colgate replied, "It must be something with the magic of this place. Even with Grogar being dead, apparently his little minions return every time it does." The two landed, Colgate pointed towards the only building in decent shape and continued, "If he did have a library, I would assume it was in there."
Dark Night nodded and they headed into the building. Just like it was five millennia ago, just a few torches lit the first room so Colgate lit her horn up, fully expecting rooms further back to be completely dark. As they progressed further back into the building, temperatures began to increase, causing Colgate to think that maybe they were reaching an important room.
Eventually they entered a room that was lit by many, many torches. At the front of the room was a throne, one that had goat horns on the top of it. Colgate pointed towards it and suggested, "That must have been the throne of the old beast himself."
Dark Night replied, "It looks that way."
One part of Colgate wanted so badly to go and sit on his throne and become the first pony to ever sit on the throne in Tambelon but eventually decided against it, realizing that it could corrupt her. She then saw a doorway to their left that led into another well lit room. Colgate pointed towards it and exclaimed, "Dark Night, that might be it! That might be what we are looking for!"
Dark Night replied, "It could be."
The two headed towards the room and when they passed through the doorway, Colgate would be pleased by what she saw. While it was not huge by any means, Grogar did indeed have a library. Colgate joyfully said, "Well it looks like we will be getting what we came for!"
Dark Night agreed and Colgate grabbed the entire collection in her aura. She was expecting the collection to be just as easy to cast the duplication spell on but she would be in for a surprise as there seemed to be some sort of enchantment placed on the books, preventing her from casting the spell.
She let go and grunted, "Ugh, this one is going to be tougher than I thought!"
Dark Night asked, "So what now? Are you simply going to go through the books, find the one or two you need and then we will go."
Colgate scowled at her general and snapped, "No! I did not come out here just to kill a bunch of mindless trogals and acquire a couple of books." Her voice became more determined as she continued, "I don't care if it takes me all day, I'm duplicating this collection."
Dark Night had his concerns that trying to do this may corrupt Colgate but knew that this is where her stubborn nature and her desire to become the most well learned pony on Eqqus 1, perhaps in the whole universe, would prevent her from even listening to him.
Colgate then remembered that unlike it was in Dream Valley, that she would have to recite the spell to put in enough power to complete it. Again she grabbed the collection in her aura, she began to glow, her eyes began to shine blue and 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."
Colgate had to be careful as she finished casting the spell because the light that would likely shine out of her eyes may damage the collection. As she said the final words, she looked down and like she expected, the power of those beams were intense, so intense that they left burn marks in the floor. Once she finished the spell and stopped glowing, she gave her general a smile and said, "Well, I'm pretty sure it worked!"
Dark Night asked, "That's good, so are we going to get going now? This place is very unnerving."
Colgate replied, "No, there is one more thing I want to see if I can acquire. I didn't wear my saddlebags for the fun of it."
Dark Night nodded and followed Colgate back outside. He was not sure what else Colgate would want but it would not be soon until he would find out. As they walked across the city in the freezing rain, they approached the long decayed corpse of Grogar. Colgate glared at it, kicked it and snapped, "So you think you could just take Ruby out so quickly?" She kicked it again and laughed, "Well soon she will be back while you'll still be lying there dead!"
She kicked the bones and received no response. She walked to the other side of the corpse and found the collar that Bray had cut off. The bells looked just as shiny as they ever did and Colgate couldn't help but smile. She levitated the collar to herself and continued, "And you my pretty, shall aid me in defeating Grogar's enemy!"
Dark Night looked at this in shock and a bit of fear. He asked, "Wait a minute, you're going to steal his collar and use it against Tirac? He became more frantic as he continued, "Aren't you afraid that using that will corrupt you?"
Colgate replied, "No, because I have plans on casting a spell on this so that it will be filled with my magic, not Grogar's."
Dark Night said, "Very well, you know how to handle magical items like this."
Colgate replied, "That I do." She then realized that the collar was not going to fit in her saddlebags. She snapped, "Damn it Dark Night, how could I have forgot that this thing was this big." She threw her hooves up in the air and continued, "Well I will just have to carry it home in my aura."
Colgate grabbed the collar in her aura, nodded and the two took flight. They began to fly over the city to see if there was anything else that Colgate may either find useful or simply want. Once they finished checking to see if they needed anything else, Colgate fired a bolt of energy at the city's bell, causing it to ring and causing Tambelon to disappear back into the deep places of the world.
Once it had completely disappeared, the weather returned to how it was when they were heading out there. Dark Night couldn't help but be unnerved by everything Colgate had done but she couldn't be happier. As they headed home, she began to think about creating more room for her new collection but more importantly, she knew that she would learn what she needed to restore somepony who had passed over 5,000 years ago, the one who would be most likely to be able to use the Rainbow of Light, Queen Ruby Heart.
When Colgate and Dark Night got home, the very first thing she wanted to do was see if her duplication spell on the Tambelon collection had worked. She had one problem though, she had absolutely no where to put it and she wasn't exactly thrilled over simply placing the materials in a place that would not be secure. She also knew that since they were on shelving when she duplicated them, that it would likely be best if they were on shelving when she cast the spell to cause them to appear.
Once they got inside the very first place they headed to was the archives so that Colgate could at least blast out a room further back to store the knowledge that nopony, outside of Dark Night, could ever know that she had. As she unlocked each door and they headed further back into the archives, Dark Night couldn't help but be curious what Colgate's plans were. He asked, "Colgate, where are you going to put them, none of the rooms down here have enough shelving."
Colgate replied, "You'll see."
When they reached the back of the third chamber, Colgate lit her horn up and began blasting away at the wall, creating an opening that would soon be the fourth and most secure of her chambers. After twenty minutes of blasting, she had created a room large enough that the collection should fit in. Unlike the other chambers, which were created by LaurFa when she made the tower, the walls were not smooth, they were jagged. This did not sit well with her but she had a feeling that if she did not duplicate the collection soon, that she may be unable to do so without going to Tambelon again and recasting the spell.
After thinking for a moment, she figured that perhaps she should just duplicate the books right then, even if they would simply be lying on the floor. She lit up her horn and grabbed the walls in her aura and cast the proper spell. Much to her surprise, not only did the books appear, but so did shelving and the walls became smooth like the ones in the chambers closer to the exit. She began to fly around, checking each shelf to see if all the books were there. She began to cheer, "Yes, yes, yes! They're all here!"
Dark Night replied, "Good, I really didn't want to have to go out to that place and kill more trogals just for you to try that spell again."
The room was not only perfect for her to store her new collection in, but also what was Grogar's collar and the Rainbow of Light since she planned on storing things that nopony else could ever know about in. She turned to Dark Night and said, "Not a word to anypony, not even Lightning Storm about this, alright."
Dark Night replied, "My lips are sealed."
Colgate said, "Good. Now I just need to get a much more secure lock put on this room and we will be all set."
Dark Night asked, "A much more secure room? How could you make it more secure than the others. You are the only one who can get into the others with those hoofprint locks."
Colgate pointed towards the wall and continued, "A plan on adding a safety feature that will involve a hole in the wall, one designed to only fit my horn and react to my energy and it will have to be done while my hoof is on the lock tile."
Dark Night could tell that this chamber was truly one that Colgate never wanted anypony to get into but wondered why she wasn't quite as secure with the first entrance to the archives. He suggested, "You know, the very first entrance down here isn't all that secure. I was thinking that maybe you should add that kind of lock at the stairway that leads down here too."
Colgate smiled, "You know general, that is a brilliant idea! Not only could I put that safety mechanism up there, but on each door that leads further and further back here." She looked towards the exit and continued, "Now let's get out of here. I need to go up, tap into the eye and I'm sure you need to go over and check on the base."
Dark Night nodded and Colgate headed up to her chambers to tap into the eye. The very first place she checked on was the Everfree Forest. What she saw made her realize that she needed to find that spell, bring Ruby back from the dead and do what it took to wage war on the two centaurs. Without even checking on the rest of the world, she rushed down to the archives, locked herself in and began to go through her new acquisitions.
At first she was not thrilled as some of it was the knowledge that the ponies of Dream Valley gave to him in exchange for resurrecting fallen ponies. As she continued to go through the collection and found nothing, she became more frustrated. Three hours had passed until a certain book began calling out to her, a book that did not have the same energy to it as the others. She grabbed it off the shelf and began to go through it, bound and determined to see if it was the one she needed.
After nearly thirty minutes she found something near the middle of the book. She read it and gasped, "This is it! Life restoration spells!" She began to focus on the book intently, trying to absorb its energies entirely as she read,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be, the fallen one still has many days to run free, for potential the fallen one has a lot, without life it would all be for not, for life shall be renewed, the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
Once she finished reading it, she was in a state of shock. It wasn't because the spell was worded a bit differently than Equestrian spells but the images she got while it was read. She got a huge smile when she realized that it was not Grogar who wrote the spell, nor was it LaurFa, nor was it Queen Majesty, it was Ruby herself that wrote the spell.
She jumped up and down, "Yes, yes, yes! I won't have to alter the energies after all!"
She continued to stare at the book intently so she could easily remember it instead of having to take the book with her to Unicornia to cast the spell at Ruby's grave. After fifteen minutes of staring at it intently, she headed upstairs and was greeted by an anxious Dark Night. He asked, "Colgate, you were gone for a good part of the day again! Are you alright?"
Colgate was all smiles as she replied, "Actually, I'm better than alright. I found the spell I need and discovered that it wasn't even written by Grogar so I won't have to alter the energies of the spell."
Dark Night asked, "Seriously? If he didn't write it, then who did?"
Colgate replied, "I don't know how that book got to Tambelon but I focused hard enough on the book that images of Queen Ruby Heart herself writing it became visible to me." She began to jump around and continued, "It is HER spell! I know for sure that I have what I need now!"
Dark Night said, "Good, so are you planning on heading out tomorrow morning to go and revive her?"
Initially Colgate wanted to head out that night but figured that getting a good night's rest would likely provide her with the energy she needed to cast that powerful of a spell. Colgate replied, "Yeah, that is the plan. Tomorrow morning after breakfast I'm heading out. The biggest problem I have is do I let her resume her role there in Unicornia or do I bring her here first, let her know what is going on and then have her help me round up the other world leaders?"
Dark Night suggested, "I would let her make that decision. She will once again be a queen after all."
Colgate replied, "Good suggestion general, good suggestion."
As the two headed towards the dining hall for supper, Colgate couldn't help but think about just one thing, bringing Ruby Heart back, seeing her resume her role as queen of what was now Unicornia and having a good talk with her. There was only one thing she dreaded, breaking the news to her about White Magick's betrayal.
After a good night's rest, Colgate woke up a bit earlier than normal and like she always did, she tapped into the eye to check on the world. Like she had been lately, she zeroed in on the Everfree Forest and discovered that rather than simply lazing around a pond and turning rodents into beasts, the two had begun to walk west. This brought back a memory to Colgate, that was the same direction that Grogar and his minions headed prior to their invasion of Ponyville.
After she saw that, she took a quick look across the rest of the world and noticed that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary although it looked like some ponies were setting up for a party of some sort in Ponyville. Colgate sighed, "Ugh, all play and no work, just like it normally is there."
After finishing checking on the world but before heading to breakfast, she headed down into the archives to get something that she believed she would need. She headed into the very back and grabbed the Rainbow of Light. She kissed it and said, "Well, today you will likely wind up in the hooves of the pony best suited to use you."
After placing the locket around her neck, she headed upstairs where she was greeted by her generals. Dark Night saw that she had the Rainbow on around her neck and asked, "I take it you think you will need that to bring her back?"
Colgate replied, "No, I plan on giving this to her because I believe that she would be the one most likely to understand its energies and be able to use it." She headed towards the dining hall and continued, "Alright, let's eat before I get going."
After they finished their breakfast, Colgate sat at the table deep in thought. She continued to have the words of the necessary spell running through her mind along with thoughts of having a very close friend and top ally back in this world. When she continued to just sit there, both her generals became concerned. Lightning Storm asked, "Colgate, are you ok?"
Dark Night asked, "Don't you think you should be getting here pretty soon?"
Colgate's head shot up as she replied, "Yes, I'm just in deep thought. I'm just making sure that I am going to be ready to cast this spell."
Dark Night said, "Well we know how you are, normally you're in a hurry to get everything done."
Colgate stood up and headed for the exit. Before she left and took off, her generals wished her well. She couldn't help but feel a bit excited, which is something that she had always preached against, that her old friend and ally would soon be returned to this world.
The closer to the entrance to Unicornia she got, the more she began to think. Not only did she have her concerns about telling her about White Magick's betrayal, but she had also begun to think about how Ruby would react to her using her spell and worried that she would likely interrogate her over how she came across it. She said to herself, "Ok Colgate, maybe you just need to be honest. Maybe you need to tell her about the trip to Tambelon, the duplication of Grogar's collection and in the event you need to use it, the acquisition of his collar."
Colgate had been in so much thought that it did not seem like that long until she saw the hills where the entrance was. She flew below the forest canopy and found the path that led to her destination. Like it had been for many millennia, it was not long until she was met by soldiers. Despite her having had to put up with it for ages, she was still a bit shocked when she was surrounded by spears.
One of the soldiers asked, "Who are you and why are you in these hills?"
Another soldier, one who knew who she was, spoke up, "It's Colgate everypony, she is likely coming to speak to the steward."
Colgate replied, "I am but I am also coming to visit Queen Ruby Heart's grave."
The one who knew who she was also knew a fair amount about the past and how she was close with her. He asked, "I take it you know your way to the cemetery?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I do."
Despite them knowing who she was and that she would not cause any problems, the soldiers still led her through the portal. Once they got into Unicornia, the soldiers wished Colgate well and she headed towards the cemetery.
As she headed in the direction of Ruby's grave, everypony she encountered gave her a salute, which she promptly returned. Once she arrived at the cemetery, she headed directly to the most regal headstone of them all, Ruby's. She knelt down and said, "Ruby, we all have missed you greatly but today shall be the day you come back to us."
Colgate began to focus deeply on the spell that she was about to cast. She lit her horn up, she began to glow and right as she began to recite the spell, her eyes began to shine blue,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be, the fallen one still has many days to run free, for potential the fallen one has a lot, without life it would all be for not, for life shall be renewed, the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
As she finished reciting the spell, blue beams shot out of her eyes, into the ground where Ruby was buried. Colgate jumped back when she saw a white ball with a red tinge to it rising from the ground. She knew what was about to happen, she knew that very soon Ruby would return.
Colgate watched in anticipation as the ball continued to float above her grave. After a few minutes she began to wonder if the spell had worked but once the fifth minute passed, the ball popped and Ruby emerged from it. When she landed, she shook her head and asked, "Ugh, where am I?"
Colgate rushed to her and exclaimed, "Ruby, you're back!"
At first Ruby was a bit disoriented but then saw who it was that was embracing her. She embraced her back and asked, "Colgate! How is my number one ally doing?"
Colgate replied, "Well I am doing much better now that you have returned to us."
Ruby asked, "What do you mean........" She then noticed that she was back in her realm, not in Tambelon where she fell in her battle against Grogar. She continued, "Colgate, what am I doing here?" She then became more paranoid, "We didn't fail to defeat Grogar did we? We didn't get chased back here did we?"
Colgate replied, "No, we wound up slaying Grogar but as far as why you are here and not Tambelon, you fell in the battle and I had to use a spell to bring you back to us."
Ruby knew that out of everypony in the world, that she was the only one who had ever written a resurrection spell. She asked, "Wait a minute, how did you revive me? Did you write your own resurrection spell?"
Colgate pointed towards her palace and continued, "Ruby, how about we get to your palace and we can discuss this further. Some things are best discussed out of the view of other ponies."
Ruby knew how paranoid Colgate could get and how secretive she was so they took flight and headed towards the palace. When they arrived, they landed on the balcony and headed towards the throne room, where they would be met by steward Blazing Glory. Given that he was young and was not around when Ruby was in power, he cast his gaze at Colgate and asked, "Supreme Commander Colgate, who is this......"
Ruby too interrupted, "Colgate, who is this? Why is this pony sitting on the throne and where is White Magick?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, what has happened to White Magick can be discussed later but for now, we must get you back on the throne."
Blazing Glory had no clue what Colgate was talking about but knew that her talk of getting this pony he had never seen before back on the throne made no sense to him. He asked, "Colgate, what do you mean 'get this pony back on the throne?' He then turned to Ruby and asked, "Who are you and why does Colgate think it is time to get you back on the throne?"
Given that she had just been brought back, Ruby thought that this pony should know exactly who she was so she turned to her side so he could see her cutie mark. While the steward was far too young to ever have seen Ruby, he was taught about her in history classes in school, including what she looked like and what her cutie mark was of. He gasped, "It can't be you! You fell in the battle of Tambelon ages ago!"
Ruby cast a curious gaze at Colgate and asked, "Colgate, what does he mean that I fell in Tambelon ages ago?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, this is something that would best be discussed while we are alone." She then turned to Blazing Glory and continued, "And I would advise you clear your belongings from the Queen's sleeping chambers. She will be resuming her rule here in Unicornia immediately."
Ruby gasped, "Unicornia?"
Colgate replied, "Again, this is something that would be best discussed while we are alone." Colgate pointed her wing towards the exit and continued, "Blazing Glory, I don't want to have to repeat this again, clear your possessions out of the Queen's sleeping chambers."
Blazing Glory was still having a very hard time believing this but he did know one thing, he knew that Colgate was not a liar nor would she bring any old pony in to take over. Once he left, Ruby turned to Colgate and asked, "Colgate, who was that pony on the throne, what was that about me falling in Tambelon ages ago, why did you call this place Unicornia, how did you resurrect me and most importantly, where is my husband, where is White Magick?
Colgate got a nervous look on her face as she knew that Ruby was likely going to be shocked and likely angry over some of the things that have happened over the millennia. She began, "Ok, about that pony thinking it was ages ago that you fell in Tambelon, he wasn't joking, it has been 5,000 years ago since you fell."
Ruby's eyes grew wide as she gasped, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that I have been gone for 5,000 years?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, it has been and many, many things have changed since then, particularly the amount of knowledge that I have."
Ruby asked, "Oh, and what other collections do you have now?"
Colgate replied, "Well it wasn't that long ago that I cast a duplication spell on the Dream Valley collection...."
Ruby interrupted, "Wait a minute, you FOUND Dream Valley after it having basically vanished off the map and what would possess you to go to Dream Valley?"
Colgate replied, "Well not only has Tirac returned with his Rainbow of Darkness, but his Equestrian counterpart, Tirek and his magic stealing ways have returned." She then levitated the Rainbow of Light off of her neck and presented it to Ruby, "And while I was out there, I found the Rainbow of Light."
Ruby grasped the locket in her aura and began to examine it. When she took a look at the back of it and saw the initials MW engraved into it, she knew that this was the real thing. She gave Colgate a smile and replied, "I am so happy you found this. With Tirac having escaped, this will likely be our only hope in defeating him." She then became more curious and continued, "Ok, I know you have the Dream Valley collection but have you found any interesting information in those books?"
Colgate replied, "Actually, yes I have. I discovered that Tirac had also invaded Dream Valley before they had the Rainbow of Light." She took a deep breath before continuing, "And you may find this hard to believe but it was actually Grogar who aided the ponies of Dream Valley defeat them and even more surprising, he revived the ponies who fell in exchange for some of their knowledge."
Ruby knew this but had hoped that nopony would ever find out that happened given Grogar's history with Ponykind. She replied, "Yes, that is true. He did use his magic to repel the Rainbow of Darkness before he turned against Ponykind."
Colgate replied, "And I hope you don't get mad at this but I along with General Dark Night headed out to Tambelon, I rose it from the depths, slayed the trogals that greeted us, duplicated Grogar's library and took his collar. The Dream Valley collection along with the Tambelon collection and his collar are in the most secure parts of my archives."
Ruby flared her horn up in anger, "What? You rose Tambelon from the depths, you duplicated his library AND you took his collar?" Her voice became louder as she continued, "What would possess you to do that? Why would you raise that cursed place from the depths?"
Colgate replied, "It was what I read in the Dream Valley collection about him being able to stop Tirac's Rainbow of Darkness. I believe that if I can cast the right spell on his collar, it will still have the same power but be filled with my magic, not Grogar's."
Ruby's anger calmed down before she asked, "Please tell me you rang the bell before you left. Please tell me you sank Tambelon back into the depths."
Colgate replied, "Don't worry, I did."
Ruby asked, "Alright, I know you have a whole lot more knowledge now but why are you calling this Unicornia. We haven't had that name since before White Magick took over, since before we had to flee through the portal!"
Colgate replied, "Well when Blazing Glory took over, I asked him what the name of the country was since I only ever heard White Magick refer to it as his realm. We talked for a while and given the tradition of the name and the makeup of the population, he re-instated the name Unicornia."
Ruby said, "Good, and I plan on keeping it. I remember how White Magick claimed it was discriminatory against non-unicorns and the thing is, there were hardly any non-unicorns at all! Other than the royal family, who were all Alicorns, almost every other pony was a unicorn."
Colgate replied, "And during all the visits I have made here, all I have ever seen are unicorns."
Ruby said, "I figured that but now on to more pressing matters."
Ruby had received answers about just about everything she wanted, except one. She continued, "Ok, I know that a lot of things have happened but I want to know one thing, where is White Magick, where is my husband?" She became more paranoid as she continued, "Did he fall in the battle of Tambelon too? Did Grogar take him down too?"
Colgate replied, "No, I'm going to tell you what happened. When I discovered that Tirac had escaped, I used my eye to scan the world and I found where Dream Valley is located. I initially planned on going out there alone but White Magick insisted that he come with me since he knew the layout of Dream Castle."
Ruby knew plenty about the dangers that existed in that area after the fall of Ponyland and asked, "Did he fall prey to some animals? Did some of those predatory plants out there get him?"
Colgate replied, "No. Here is the thing, before we left, Twilight wanted to go with us and he insisted that I let her go....."
Ruby flared her horn up in anger and yelled, "What? He wanted HER to go with you two?"
Colgate replied, "Yes and of course he wouldn't leave without her so she went with us and of course, she was overly clingy to him and what was worse was that he was close with her too."
With her horn still lit up, she became angrier, "What happened? What did she do to him?"
Colgate replied, "Well there must be something freaky about that place. I wasn't in the room when it happened but White Magick asked her to be his marefriend and then according to them, they life bond......"
Ruby fired a powerful bolt of energy at the ceiling she was in such a rage. She yelled, "Where is he Colgate? Where is White Magick and where is Twilight?" She stomped her hooves into the floor as she continued, "When I catch that little seductress, I am going to KILL her, I'm going to crush that life bond!" Her yell became louder as she continued, "And force White Magick to watch it."
Colgate became nervous as her friend was going into a rage but knew that she needed to provide her with all the information she could. She replied, "Well he brought her here, announced his intentions to marry her....."
Ruby screamed, "He did what?"
Colgate replied, "He told them of his intentions to marry them and everypony here said they would never bow to Twilight so he abdicated the throne and moved away with Twilight."
This sent Ruby into an even more furious rage. She screamed, "You know what, when I catch them, I will kill both of them!" She knew about how Twilight was in the past and thought that perhaps Colgate would be the same way. She continued, "And if you wish, I'll let you feast on Twilight's corpse."
Colgate got a huge smile on her face as she replied, "I would love to do that! I've wanted to rip that little tyrant's heart out with my teeth from the day she betrayed Equestria." She then became more calm as she continued, "But I think we should wait to take care of those who betrayed us until after we wipe out those centaurs."
Despite being so furious that she could kill both of them the second she saw them, she knew that Colgate made a good point. She replied, "Agreed. Assuming we have to be around them, I will do my best to tolerate them."
Colgate said, "Good." She then pointed her wing towards the exit and continued, "But now I think we need to make a decision. Do you wish to stay here until things become more dire or do you wish to aid me in rounding up the world leaders."
Ruby's eyes lit up as she asked, "Is my son still the King of Neigh Zealand? Would I get to see him?"
Colgate replied, "Yes he is still in power so if you wish, you could come with me and see how he is doing down in his nation."
Ruby said, "I can get myself re-established here later. I really want to help you with this and most importantly, be reunited with my son but I would like for everypony to know that I have returned before we do anything else."
Colgate gave her a smile, "I agree, I believe that the citizens here know that their queen has returned and that the name Unicornia has been reinstated to this land." She looked towards the ceiling and continued, "You wait here, I will head up to what will be your chambers again and see if Blazing Glory is there. If he is, I will tell him to go out, let everypony know to gather under your balcony and then I will introduce you."
Ruby returned the smile, "Alright, I shall await your return."
Colgate nodded and rushed up towards what would soon be Ruby's chambers and caught Blazing Glory as he was packing up the last of his possessions. He gave her a scowl, "What are you doing here? Does the queen need her royal rest or something?"
Colgate smacked him over what she considered disrespect. She snapped, "Look, you are a general in HER army so disrespecting her is something I would advise against." Her voice became calm as she continued, "Also, you need to notify the citizens of the city that they are to gather under her balcony so they will know she has returned and notify us in the throne room once they are all gathered. "
Blazing Glory knew that if he didn't do this, that he could be in serious trouble. He replied, "Very well Colgate, very well."
After he headed out to notify the city that they were to gather at the base of the castle balcony, Colgate returned to the throne room. She notified Ruby, "Well I sent Blazing Glory out to notify the city and he said that he would return and let us know once everypony had been gathered."
Ruby replied, "Good, I just hope it doesn't take too long."
Nearly two hours had passed and after what seemed to be far too long for both Ruby and Colgate, Blazing Glory entered the room. He said, "Your Majesty, everypony has gathered at the base of your balcony."
Ruby replied, "Good." She turned to Colgate and continued, "Shall we?"
Colgate answered, "Yes, let's do this."
As they headed out to the balcony, Ruby decided that she would wait in the back, out of sight while Colgate approached the edge to begin her address. She stood tall and began, "Citizens of Unicornia..."
As soon as she said this everypony gasped, "Unicornia?"
While all of the citizens had learned about the ancient history of their land in school, very little was mentioned about the days prior to White Magick and the days of Unicornia so Colgate wasn't shocked by this. She continued, "Yes, Unicornia." She heard them gasp again and continued, "I can tell many of you have likely never heard of the name but that is what it was called before White Magick took....."
The moment she mentioned the former king's name the whole crowd began to boo. Colgate understood why they were booing and continued, "I am sorry to bring him up but after he departed, once he became steward Blazing Glory reinstated the name."
What surprised Colgate was that a decent portion of the population did not know that he had done that. When they began to cheer, Colgate continued, "Now regarding Blazing Glory, he will be stepping down as steward as a member of the royal family has come to claim her rightful place on the throne."
The entire crowd went silent as they were unaware of who was still alive in the royal family with the exception of White Magick who had abdicated and Blue Star who was now the king of Neigh Zealand. She heard a pony yell, "Supreme Commander Colgate, who is it? Who is the pony you say is here to claim the throne?"
Colgate looked back, smiled and motioned for Ruby to step forward. She looked back towards the crowd and continued, "And now, it is with great happiness that I announce, after 5,000 years of absence, the new queen of Unicornia, Queen Ruby Heart."
As she stepped to the front of the balcony, everypony looked at her in silence. They had all been taught about her in their history courses when they were young and knew how long ago it was that she fell in battle. Finally one pony spoke up, "But how, you fell in battle in Tambelon over five millennia ago!"
Ruby began, "That I did but thanks to my dear friend Colgate and her use of a resurrection spell I wrote, I return to you. I have returned to resume my role as queen."
As soon as she said this, the whole crowd erupted in cheers, cheers of pure happiness. Throughout the whole crowd was the realization that the most beloved monarch in the nation's history had returned to lead and guide them through the uncertain times they were facing.
Ruby was thrilled that her subjects were so happy that she had returned but knew that she could not allow the cheering to continue forever. She raised and lowered her wings causing the crowd to go silent. She gave them a smile and continued, "Citizens of Unicornia, you have no idea how happy I am to be with you again but it will not be long until I will have to take a short leave to go with Colgate to her capitol near Marentreal."
The crowd gasped, "Why?"
Ruby continued, "A serious threat is roaming the lands outside of the portal, two threats to be exact. Tirac has escaped from Tartarus and carries with him the Rainbow of Darkness." She then pointed to the locket she wore around her neck and continued, "And this, the Rainbow of Light, is what is necessary to defeat Tirac. Without me available to use it, the lands outside the portal may fall and then he may come here to Unicornia and use his dark magic on us."
She then motioned for Colgate to step to the edge of the balcony. Colgate did so and continued, "And he is not the only one who has escaped Tartarus. Tirac's Equestrian counterpart, Tirek has escaped as well. He is a centaur that has the ability to steal magic from ponies. While the last time he did so was not long after the nation of Equestria had been established, history states that as he steals more magic, the bigger and stronger he becomes."
The crowd again went silent, not in shock or awe, but in fear. Colgate continued, "Do not worry, not only does Ruby have the Rainbow of Light, but I have my own ancient artifact that will aid in the defeat of those two, not only to protect the lands outside the portal, but Unicornia as well."
Colgate cast her gaze towards Ruby causing her to finish, "Do not worry my subjects, once we defeat these foes and slay them, this planet will be a better place."
Despite being nervous, the crowd cheered both Colgate and Ruby before they returned to the throne room. Once they returned Ruby asked, "Well, do you want to head out now or do you think we should wait?"
Colgate really wanted to get going and hold the elaborate feast that she had planned for Ruby so she replied, "Well I think we should get going. I would like to sleep in my own bed tonight, I want to hold that feast for you and most importantly, I need to tap into the eye and monitor the movement of those two, especially in the event that they have already went into one of the cities and either enslaved ponies or stole their magic."
Ruby nodded, "Very well then, let's get going."
The two took off towards the portal. Ruby felt a true sense of happiness knowing that not only did she have her kingdom back but also that the original name had been restored. Once they had passed the portal and flown above the forest canopy, she looked to the west and vowed to herself that regardless of how much wrath she rained down upon the two centaurs, that it would be nothing compared to what she would do to Twilight.
It was early in the evening when Colgate and Ruby Heart arrived back at the tower. As soon as they landed, the first place they headed was not into the tower, but the base. Colgate found her generals leading the few soldiers she did have in standard exercises. She yelled, "Attention!"
Immediately they stopped and her generals approached her. When they saw that Ruby was with them Dark Night said, "Queen Ruby Heart your Majesty, it is good to see you have returned." He then turned to Colgate and added, "Colgate, it is good to see that you were able to bring Ruby back to this world."
Colgate pointed towards her tower and continued, "Follow Ruby and I to the tower. Tonight we are going to have a feast of epic proportions to commemorate her return."
Dark Night followed them into the tower and into the dining hall. Colgate ordered, "Dark Night, go notify the chef that he is to prepare us a feast" She began to head up towards her chambers and continued, "while I go and see if there is any trouble going on in the world."
Dark Night saluted her and headed off to notify the chef while she headed up to her chambers. As she headed up to tap into the eye, she couldn't help but feel proud and feel a sense of satisfaction that not only had she returned Ruby to the world, that she also had an extremely powerful ally to aid her in taking down the current threats to the world.
Once she tapped into the eye, the very first place she checked was the Everfree Forest to see if the two centaurs were still there but would not be pleased when they were no longer there. She became agitated and snapped, "Damn it, they're gone!" She then calmed down and continued, "Well they couldn't have gone too far in just one day."
Unlike she would have in the past, she did not check the rest of the world. Instead, she began to check along the borders of the forest and was not pleased when she saw that the two were headed west, in the direction of Vanhoover. Colgate screamed, "Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
Dark Night heard her screams and rushed up to her chambers. He asked, "Colgate, what's wrong? Why are you yelling?"
Colgate yelled, "Cancel the feast. We will have an adequate meal tonight, I must figure out how to alter the magic of Grogar's collar and then we must round up the world leaders."
Dark Night had a look of fear on his face, "They've begun their attack haven't they? They've launched their plan to destroy Ponykind, haven't they?"
Colgate replied, "Well they haven't yet but it won't be long until they will. You go tell the chef to have an adequate meal ready in two hours time. I must go to the archives and find a way to alter the energy of that collar."
Dark Night nodded and rushed downstairs to make the change of plans. After changing the meal plans, he rushed into the dining hall in a state of panic, which brought out concern from Ruby. She saw his state and asked, "General, what is wrong? You are acting like somepony is coming to kill us."
Dark Night continued to breathe heavily for a minute before finally calming down enough to reply to her, "Your Majesty, I don't know exactly what happened but I know it involves those centaurs with the way Colgate was acting. I have a feeling they are likely on the move."
Ruby's jaw dropped open, "General, what are Colgate's plans? I'm sure she has plans."
Dark Night replied, "She does, she plans on us having an adequate meal in two hours. Right now she has headed to the archives to alter the energy in Grogar's collar so it will match her energy, so it will be a magic of good and not evil."
Ruby asked, "And then what?"
Dark Night replied, "I'm not sure if she will want us to round up the leaders after supper or whether she will want us to wait until morning."
Ruby suggested, "Well if they have already gained enough strength to begin their assault, I would suggest the sooner the better."
While Dark Night was talking to Ruby, Colgate was down in the back of the archives, looking through the Tambelon collection to see if there was anything in there about how Grogar had taken control of the bells in his collar or if it was simply something that was directly tied to him, something that there was no spell for.
She was starting to become frantic as she was not finding anything. She had become so frantic that she was not even re-shelving the books, she was simply tossing them in a pile on the floor. What she hoped would only take a couple of hours wound up taking much longer. Four hours had passed and she still hadn't found anything. Eventually her search would be interrupted by two voices, that of Dark Night and Ruby.
Ruby saw Colgate tearing through everything and asked, "Colgate, are you ok? It is almost 2200 and none of us have eaten!"
Dark Night added, "Colgate, you need to calm down. You aren't going to find anything in the state you're in."
Colgate had a panicked look on her face. She turned to them and replied, "Look, just tell the chef to fix you something. I can't stop my search right now."
Ruby suggested, "Colgate, I think you should wait until after we round up the world leaders to do this. I know you get impatient but you need some food in your system and with as late as it is, I think you need to get some rest."
Colgate snapped, "No! I'm going to figure this out."
Ruby replied, "But you need your rest if you're going to be able to create that time bubble and actually fly fast enough to move it."
Colgate had always been the stubborn type who would generally never take advice from anypony but deep down she knew that her friend and ally was right. She hung her head and sighed, "Very well. We shall have a small bite to eat and with as late as it is, we will wait to leave until tomorrow."
Both of them knew how Colgate was when it came to things like this, they knew that she would likely be in a hurry. Ruby asked, "We will be having breakfast before we leave though, won't we?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, we will." She looked towards the exit and continued, "Well let's get upstairs, have a bite to eat and then get to bed."
Once they arrived in the dining hall, Ruby wanted answers from her ally. She said, "Colgate, I want to know why you are so frantic to alter that collar and I want to know why you think you need it so quickly."
Colgate replied, "Look, both centaurs have left the forest. They are headed towards Vanhoover and what if we were to encounter them while we are on our journey rounding up the world leaders."
Ruby asked, "I don't know a ton about modern geography but is Vanhoover anywhere near where we will be going. Do we have a high chance of encountering them?"
Colgate replied, "No, the city of Vanhoover is nowhere near where we will be going."
Ruby suggested, "Very well then. I think for right now we need to focus on getting food in our system and getting some rest."
Like it did earlier, the suggestion frustrated Colgate but again she knew Ruby was right. She replied, "Alright, that is what we shall do. We will eat a late supper, get some rest, eat breakfast in the morning but after that, we are leaving immediately."
Both replied in unison, "Very well, sounds like a plan."
After a decent supper, the three headed to their chambers and like she always does, Colgate tapped into the eye and saw that the two centaurs were still a fair distance away from Vanhoover and had stopped to rest for the night. She thought to herself, "Good, they stopped to rest. Maybe we can get everypony rounded up and launch our attack on them before they get too strong."
When the following morning arrived, Colgate was rejuvenated and was ready for what was going to be a day of intense, very long distance flying. Like she did every other morning, the first thing she did was tap into the eye and noticed that the two centaurs were again headed west, towards Vanhoover. Despite them walking at a leisurely pace, she knew that she would have to get going as soon as possible.
After noticing no other problems across the world, she headed downstairs to find Ruby waiting in the dining hall with a fatigued looked on her face. She asked, "Ruby, are you ok? You look awfully tired."
Ruby yawned, "Actually yes, I am. I didn't sleep much."
Colgate asked, "Are you going to be able to help carry the time bubble today? If not, you can stay here because you know how I am."
Ruby again yawned, "I'm sorry Colgate but I don't think I'm going to be able to join you. I'm simply too tired."
In most instances, a pony being unable to aid her in moving a time bubble would infuriate Colgate but with Ruby having just returned and the fact that she was an ally of hers, she understood entirely. She suggested, "Well I think perhaps you should just stay here and rest."
Ruby knew how Colgate was and how she liked to get things done in a hurry. Ruby agreed, "Thank you for being so understanding because I honestly don't think I would be much help."
Colgate nodded and before they knew it, their meal arrived. While Ruby was eating hers at a rather leisurely pace, Colgate was scarfing hers down as were her generals. Unless it was during times of war, they never scarfed their meals down and this caused Colgate to become curious. She turned to them and asked, "Dark Night, Lightning Storm, why are you eating your meals so quickly?"
The two looked at one another before Dark Night replied, "I know neither one of us have ever aided in moving a time bubble but we're wondering if you'd want us to join you."
Colgate said, "While I appreciate your desire to help me, I'm thinking that it would be best if I did this alone."
Dark Night replied, "Very well, you do what you have to do."
Once Colgate was completely finished with her breakfast, she got up and turned back to Ruby, "Now you get some rest, once I get everypony back here we will make plans on how to deal with our enemies."
Ruby had a feeling that with her going to be bringing everypony back, that she would likely return with some ponies she would not exactly want to see. She asked, "So are you going to be returning with those two?"
Colgate replied, "Yes but I can perhaps have some of the other leaders keep them occupied if you do not wish to see them."
Ruby suggested, "At first I think that would be good but once I'm feeling well enough, I want to talk to White Magick. Maybe my presence alone will shatter that life bond he developed with Twilight."
More time had passed than what Colgate had initially wanted and she was running behind. She replied, "Alright, that sounds like a plan but for now, I must get going. I want to get back in a reasonable amount of time."
After finishing their discussion, Colgate headed outside, took to the sky and readied herself to cast her time spells. Once she got a decent distance up in the air, she turned north and 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."
Once she was in the time bubble, Colgate poked the edge of her horn through it 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."
Once she had froze time outside of the bubble, she took off quickly and given that she had nopony to carry with her, breaking the sound barrier was effortless. As she sped northwards, she couldn't help but think about how nice it was to be doing this on her own and not have to be carrying slow ponies along with her.
It would not be long until she saw the Crystal Empire so she ground to a halt and first cast 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."
Once she unfroze time she cast the spell to undo the time bubble so she could go about her business,
"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."
Once she had popped the bubble, she crossed over into the Empire and headed straight towards the palace where it would not take Colgate long to find Scootaloo outside running a training exercise with her troops and this gave her an idea. Despite things beginning to go downhill across the world again, she still wanted to have a bit of fun so when Scootaloo was giving her soldiers orders, she landed behind her and yelled, "Attention!"
This caused Scootaloo to jump a bit but when she heard the voice of her long time mentor, she rushed to her and said, "Colgate, it's so good to see you!"
Colgate replied, "It's good to see you too but I wish the reason I came up here wasn't for the reason it is."
While Scootaloo didn't know exactly what was going on, she figured it was likely something bad. She asked, "Did Twilight turn evil again? Is she a dark goddess again or is it something else?"
Colgate couldn't help but chuckle, "Oh how I wish it was just Twily going bad again." She became more serious as she continued, "We have had not just one, but two villains escape from Tartarus."
Despite being one of the toughest ponies around, this really unnerved Scootaloo. She asked, "Who? Who escaped?"
Colgate replied, "Look, we can discuss this further once we get everypony rounded up and are back at my tower." She got a huge smile on her face and continued, "And besides, I have a couple of things to show you, things that will aid us tremendously."
She took flight and continued, "But for now, we need to get to Maredrid and pick up Luna."
Scootaloo took flight and got right next to Colgate as she cast the proper spells. Before they got moving Colgate asked, "Think you can keep up?"
Scootaloo replied, "Of course I can! You should know that out of all the world leaders, that outside of you, I'm the only other one that keeps her wings in shape!"
Colgate gave her a smile before they took off and with Scootaloo aiding in moving the time bubble, they broke the sound barrier quicker. For both of them, it seemed too easy moving it on their own, it felt so good that they didn't have a slow pony with them that they would have to carry but knew that it wouldn't stay that way as most of the other leaders don't stay in as good of shape as them.
Eventually the two would see Maredrid approaching on the horizon so they slowed down so Colgate could cast the proper spells so they could go and tell Luna what was going on. Once they arrived at the palace they were greeted by guards and like always, they were questioned, "Halt, who goes there?"
Another guard continued, "State your business."
This was something that had really grown old on Colgate despite most guards having never seen her. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "I am Supreme Commander Colgate of Coastal Equestria" she pointed her hoof at Scootaloo and continued, "and this is Supreme Commander Scootaloo of the Crystal Empire and we need to speak to Queen Luna."
Once she stated who she was, the guard allowed them entry and led them to the throne room. He said, "Your Majesty, you have company."
Luna was not expecting any company so when she saw them she developed a bit of concern given that they weren't the type that would just show up for a friendly chit chat, "Colgate, Scootaloo, what is going on?"
Colgate replied, "Well as you know, both Tirac and Tirek have escaped from Tartarus. I have been monitoring them and unfortunately, Tirac's Rainbow of Darkness has regained enough strength that it can now turn small animals into beasts."
Luna asked, "And what about the magic thief?"
Colgate replied, "I have yet to see him steal any magic but the two are headed towards Vanhoover as we speak and I have my concerns that once they get there, Tirac will create an army of beasts to unleash upon ponykind and Tirek will drain them of their magic and grow huge."
Luna asked, "I take it you want me to help you two in saving Equestria?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, it would be much appreciated."
Luna stood up, approached them and asked, "So who else will we be gathering?"
Colgate replied, "Your parents, King Blue Star, LaurFa and your sister."
Luna asked, "What about White Magick and Twilight. Won't we need their help too?"
Colgate developed a scowl at the very mention of the two. She snapped, "Look, things have happened involving those two that would take a great amount of time to discuss and right now, we don't have the time." She headed towards the exit and continued, "Let's get going, I want to get everypony rounded up in a reasonable amount of time."
Once they got outside, the three took to the sky and gathered together so that Colgate could cast the proper spells. Before they took off Colgate asked, "Luna, are you going to be able to keep up and help us move this thing?"
Luna knew how Colgate was and wasn't overly thrilled with the tone of voice she always used but knew that it had to be done, "I try to keep my wings in decent shape so I hope so."
Colgate rolled her eyes and they took flight towards Ridead. Much to Colgate's surprise, Luna had been keeping her wings in much better shape than she expected and they broke the sound barrier quicker than before and in what seemed to be almost no time at all, the city of Ridead was visible on the horizon so Colgate ordered them to grind to a halt so she could cast the proper spells.
As they flew towards the city, Colgate said, "Wow Luna, you must be keeping in better shape than you're letting on."
Luna replied, "Dear Colgate, I have had a feeling that this would be necessary so I have been working on my wing strength for quite some time."
Colgate nodded and they headed towards the palace. When they arrived, like it was everywhere else, they were questioned by the guards, "Halt, who goes there?"
Being questioned at her parents' palace did not sit well with Luna. She got in the guard's face and said, "I am here to see my parents over important matters."
The guards had seen Luna before so they quickly apologized before leading the three to the throne room. When they arrived, Luna immediately rushed to them, "Mom, dad, it is so good to see you!"
Queen Galaxia, her mother, said, "It is so good to see you too!"
Luna replied, "I am happy to see you but I wish it wasn't under the circumstances it is."
Cosmos asked, "Oh, and what are the circumstances?"
Luna pointed her hoof at Colgate and replied, "Let Colgate tell you, she is the one who saw it."
Colgate took that as the signal to tell the king and queen. She explained, "As you know, two of the worse villains in the history of ponykind have escaped from Tartarus. I have been monitoring them and Tirac has been using his Rainbow of Darkness to turn creatures in the Everfree Forest into beasts."
This brought out a great amount of concern from the two, especially knowing that countering that would be next to impossible. Galaxia asked, "So what are we going to do? In the history books regarding that thing, only the Rainbow of Light could stop it and that artifact was lost with the fall of Ponyland."
Despite not only having revived Ruby, but her also having it, Colgate was not about to tell them about everything right then and there. She replied, "Well your Majesty, we shall go more in depth over this once we return to my tower." She looked towards the exit and continued, "We need all the help we can get to wipe this threat out so we would appreciate it if you would help us."
The two looked at one another, nodded and Cosmos said, "We shall help you since this could affect the whole world."
Colgate replied, "Good." She pointed her hoof towards the exit and continued, "You know the drill, follow me."
Everypony headed outside, took to the sky and all gathered around Colgate so she could cast the proper spells. Before they took off she asked, "Galaxia, Cosmos, think you'll be able to help us move this?"
Neither of the two had been the types to keep their wings in top shape so all they could do was give her nervous looks. Colgate continued, "Well just don't slow us down too much. It is a fair distance to Neigh Zealand."
They all began to head to the southeast and while most of them were able to get the bubble moving fast, Galaxia and Cosmos were slowing them down enough that they simply couldn't break the sound barrier and this was infuriating Colgate. She snapped, "Come on you two, you're slowing us down. Fly faster damn it, fly faster."
Luna was angered that Colgate would treat her parents that way. She was so angered that she reverted to the long abandoned way of speaking, "Colgate, how dare thee speak to our parents that way! They are flying as fast as they can."
Colgate snapped, "Well they need to try harder, we need to get moving."
Finally the two were flying fast enough that they were able to break the sound barrier. Once they did that, it would not take them too long to reach Neigh Zealand. Once they arrived over the capitol, they slowed down and Colgate cast the proper spells so they could get Blue Star and then get going again.
When they approached the palace, they saw him out leading exercises with his military and this pleased Colgate. To her, it was him still being as alert as she and Scootaloo were. Like she did with Scootaloo, Colgate landed behind him and ordered, "Attention!"
This caused Blue Star to jump and turn around to see who had issued the order. When he saw who it was he said, "Colgate, it is so good to see you."
Colgate replied, "Likewise...."
Blue Star saw that she did not come alone, that she had several world leaders with her. He asked, "Colgate, why do you have so many leaders with you?"
Colgate replied, "Well not just one, but two evils have escaped Tartarus and since it could be a threat to the entire planet so I am rounding everypony up and we shall take them down before they can leave Equestria."
Blue Star asked, "Who is it? Who is it that escaped from Tartarus?"
Colgate replied, "Tirac along with his Equestrian counterpart, Tirek."
While Blue Star did not know much about the latter, he knew plenty about the former. He asked, "So does he have the Rainbow of Darkness with him?"
Colgate replied, "Yes he does and he has already used it on some creatures in the Everfree Forest."
Blue Star knew that things would quickly go downhill if he began to use it on ponies. He took to the sky and said, "Well we better get going. If he starts using that on ponies and has an army of beasts, defeating him will be next to impossible."
Colgate too took to the sky, looked down at the others and ordered, "Come on everypony, you know the drill."
They took skywards and gathered around Colgate where she cast the proper spells. Before they took off towards the north Colgate asked, "Blue Star, how good of shape are your wings in?"
Unlike Luna's parents, he flew around regularly. He replied, "Don't worry Colgate, I keep them in good shape so we shouldn't have any problems."
Colgate said, "Good, now let's get going."
With Blue Star aiding in moving the bubble, they were quickly able to break the sound barrier. Despite time being stopped outside the bubble, even with them having broke the sound barrier, it took for them what amounted to hours to finally reach Alicorn Island. Once they arrived they stopped and Colgate cast the proper spells, they flew to the palace and were greeted by guards.
One asked, "Halt, who goes there?"
The other added, "State your business."
Given that she was the one in charge of rounding everypony up Colgate replied, "My name is Supreme Commander of Coastal Equestria and with me are several other world leaders and we need to speak to LaurFa."
One of the two had been a guard for ages and remembered Colgate from a prior visit back when Brevity was in charge. He replied, "Supreme Commander, how could I have forgot that was you!" He turned towards the entrance and continued, "Follow me, I shall lead you to her throne room."
As they followed the guard to the throne room, Galaxia and Cosmos couldn't help but remember how long ago they were the ones who resided in the goddess's palace. When they arrived, the guard said, "Goddess LaurFa your Majesty, you have guests."
Given that she knew her better than the others, Galaxia was the first to approach her, "LaurFa your Majesty, it is so good to see you!"
LaurFa replied, "Galaxia, we have been friends for what seems to be an eon, there is no need to be so formal with me!" She then noticed that she was not alone, that she had many ponies with her and continued, "What is going on? Why are there so many other ponies with you?"
Galaxia looked back and said, "I will let Colgate tell you since she seems to know the most."
Colgate stepped forward and began, "As you know, the Equestrian continent has been relatively calm for the past 5,000 years but recently two of the most evil villains of all time have escaped....."
LaurFa interrupted, "Oh?"
Colgate continued, "Yes. Tirac has returned with his Rainbow of Darkness and his Equestrian counterpart Tirek has also returned."
LaurFa asked, "And I take it that you are here to ask for my help in casting them back into Tartar...."
Colgate corrected, "You mean slay them, correct?"
LaurFa never was a big fan of slaying the enemies of ponykind given the negative energies that could potentially be released yet she knew that Colgate would have it no other way. She replied, "Yes, I mean slay them."
Colgate gave her a quick nod before turning to the exit and suggesting, "Well shall we? We still have to see if Celestia will help before heading back to my tower."
LaurFa noticed that Colgate had left two ponies out, Twilight and White Magick. She asked, "What about Twilight and White Magick? Won't we need their help too?"
Colgate cringed at the very mention of their names but knew that LaurFa was likely right. She replied, "Yes, we will have to get them as well." While she was pretty sure that everything she had said indicated that she would help, she just wanted to make sure. She continued, "So I take it you are going to help us?"
LaurFa replied, "Yes, I will."
Colgate nodded and headed towards the exit with the others following her. Once they got outside Colgate took flight and said, "Alright everypony, you know the drill."
They all took flight and gathered around Colgate so she could cast the proper spells. Once they took off they again had trouble breaking the sound barrier because like Galaxia and Cosmos, LaurFa had not kept her wings in that good of shape. Colgate looked back and snapped, "Come on you three, I want us to get to Canterlot in a decent amount of time."
LaurFa asked, "But Colgate, with time outside the bubble being frozen, it will be the same time whether we go or fast so what does it matter?"
This was the first time that anypony had ever said such a thing to Colgate. Deep down this infuriated her but knew that if she wanted LaurFa's help in defeating her foes, that she would have to remain calm. She replied, "Look, it takes less time for us to get there so just try to fly faster, ok?" She then raised her voice and continued, "That goes for you too Galaxia and Cosmos."
She turned her head back forwards and much to her delight, the three of them were able to pick up the pace enough that they were able to break the sound barrier. After what was a few hours for them, they saw Canterlot approaching in the distance so Colgate again ordered them to stop and cast the proper spells so they could get to the palace and get Celestia.
When they approached the palace, like everywhere else, they were greeted by guards. One asked, "Halt, who goes there?"
The other was not so stern when he saw who was part of the group that stood before them. He said, "Galaxia, Cosmos, Luna, I take it you are here to see Celestia?"
Galaxia replied, "Yes, we are here to see Celestia over important matters."
The guard nodded and led them to the throne room where Celestia was enjoying a slice of cake. When she saw that her family was present she dropped her cake, rushed to them and exclaimed, "Mom, dad, sister, it is so good to see you!"
The first to say anything was Galaxia, "It is good to see you too my daughter!"
Celestia noticed that her family was not alone. She noticed that most of the other world leaders were with them, including the one that she believed was responsible for not only bringing heartache between two ponies, but also causing one to abdicate, Colgate. She pointed towards Colgate and asked, "And what brings you here?" She then pointed towards Scootaloo and continued, "And what brings your top ally as well?"
Colgate was not thrilled with the way Celestia was talking to her but knew that she had to keep her cool in this situation. She replied, "Princess Celestia, as you know both Tirac and Tirek have escaped from Tartarus but the two are now headed towards Vanhoover to begin using their dark magic on the ponies that live there."
Celestia countered, "Yes but right now I think we have more pressing matters, the situation involving White Magick and Twilight."
When he heard his father's name, Blue Star jumped into the conversation. He asked, "What about them, what about my father is it you know?"
Princess Celestia replied, "Well during a trip to Colgate out to Dream......."
Colgate interrupted, "Look, we can discuss this later. For now though, we must finish gathering the world leaders before we go to my tower to make plans on how to handle those two."
Blue Star asked, "Listen, I just want to know what happened with my father."
Colgate replied, "Well you'll be able to find out when we travel to Ponyville to pick him and Celestia's little Twily up."
Celestia shouted, "Do not call her 'little Twily.'"
Blue Star was curious as to what happened and why he would be in Ponyville with Twilight and not in his own realm given everything that was going on. He ordered, "Tell me......"
Colgate snapped, "Look, you'll find out when we get to Ponyville." She then turned towards Celestia and asked, "So will you be joining us in our effort to wipe those two out?"
Celestia got a nervous look on her face given that she had not kept her wings in good enough shape to help move a time bubble and knew how Colgate would react. She asked, "Colgate, you're not going to be mad if I can't help move the time bubble much will you?"
Colgate replied, "Ponyville is close enough that there is no need for us to use a time bubble and besides, I'm sure most everypony's wings are likely very tired."
Scootaloo boasted, "Well mine aren't!"
Colgate gave her a smile, "And that is why you're like the daughter I never had, you're tough like me." She turned towards the exit and continued, "Come on everypony, lets get going."
When they left the palace and took to the sky, everypony felt a sense of relief that they would not have to work themselves to death moving a time bubble. Even Colgate and Scootaloo, two ponies who have tough attitudes and wings stronger than most, felt a sense of relief that they could simply fly and feel the breeze blowing in their faces.
After what was a rather short flight from Canterlot, the leaders arrived in Ponyville. For some ponies, arriving there had no significant meaning but for one it did. Blue Star knew that his father was there, likely visiting Twilight and had plans on confronting him over it. The very first place the group headed was to the castle where Celestia knocked on the door, "Twilight, it's Celestia! I need to speak to you."
Normally when Celestia would knock on the door like that, Twilight would immediately answer. They all stood there for several minutes until it was clear that nopony was going to answer. This brought out frustration from them until Colgate suggested, "Perhaps she is at Sugarcube Corner stuffing her face with her friends."
Celestia glared at Colgate over the comment but didn't say anything. When they arrived at the sweets' shop, it would not be Celestia who would enter first but Blue Star. As soon as he entered, he saw not only Twilight with her friends, but he saw that she and White Magick had their wings around one another and this did not sit well with him.
He flared up his horn, stormed over to his father and yelled, "Father, what is the meaning of this? Why do you have your wing around her?"
White Magick was a bit shocked and Twilight was terrified when they saw Blue Star with his horn lit up. White Magick sat there in silence for a minute before replying, "Son, it is a long story that I think it would be best if you and I talked about alone."
Blue Star pointed his wing at Twilight and asked, "So Twily, what kind of spell did you use to seduce my father?" He grabbed her in his aura and began to examine her closely to see if perhaps she had any negative energy in her but found none. That would not stop his interrogation though, "Well? Tell me, what kind of spell did you put on my father?"
White Magick broke his son's hold on her, pointed his wing towards the exit and suggested, "Son, how about we go outside to discuss this? Discussing this in front of Twilight's friends is not something I want to do."
Blue Star nodded and they left the sweets' shop while the others headed in. Twilight was happy to see the one she was closest with, "Princess Celestia, it is so good to see you!"
Celestia rushed to her, hugged her and replied, "It's good to see you too Twilight." She then turned her head towards the exit and continued, "I hope nothing bad happens between those two. The last thing we need is Neigh Zealand declaring war on us because they do have a standing army."
Twilight cast her gaze at Colgate and added, "And I know if he was to, Coastal Equestria would too and Colgate would duplicate that army of hers into an unstoppable force."
Luna overheard them and suggested, "Maybe it is just a family argument, maybe nothing bad will come of this."
In unison Twilight and Celestia replied, "I hope not."
While Twilight and Celestia were talking, Colgate approached the other side of the table where a once fierce ally of hers sat, Fluttershy. She stood there analyzing her before kneeling down and commenting, "It looks like somepony's kept her wings in shape!" She then embraced her and continued, "Fluttershy, it has been too long. How are you doing?"
Given what had happened recently and Colgate's treatment of Twilight, Fluttershy wanted no part of her embrace. She shoved her back and sighed, "I am doing fine."
Colgate was shocked by her behavior, "Fluttershy, what's wrong? We used to get along so well."
Fluttershy rolled her eyes and continued, "We did until Twilight was reformed and yet you continued to treat her like she was a dark goddess. For five millennia you have continued to distrust and hate a pony who is sweet and nice like she was before her corr......"
Colgate could tell that even talking to Fluttershy was going to be a challenge but believed that there was one thing that she could bring up that would get her to talking more. She leaned closer and asked, "So Fluttershy, has Twily told you about what has happened?"
Fluttershy grunted, "Yes, her and White Magick life bonded and because of that, you caused his subjects to not accept her and he abdicated."
Frustration was beginning to build up in Colgate but she certainly couldn't let it surface if she wanted the side of Fluttershy she remembered to come to the surface. She asked, "And what else?"
Fluttershy was quickly growing tired of Colgate thinking that she would actually wanted to talk to her but gave her one more answer to placate her, "Yes, she has. We all know about the villains who escaped......."
Colgate interrupted, "So has anypony told you that one of them used his dark magic on some animals in the Everfree Forest and turned them into beasts?"
For the first time in many millennia, a fury built up within her. Fluttershy slammed her hoof into the table and screamed, "He did what?" She stood up and continued, "Where is he Colgate? We need to go and destroy him, no matter what the cost."
This brought a smile to Colgate's face as she knew that bringing up Tirac harming animals would cause the same Fluttershy that aided her in nuking Neigh Zealand to come to the surface. She replied, "Right now he and a magic thief that goes by the same name are headed towards Vanhoover to steal magic and turn ponies into beasts."
Fluttershy looked towards the exit and asked, "So when are we heading out? When are we going to go and kill them?"
This brought out a bigger smile from Colgate but she knew that Fluttershy would have to be calmed down, she knew that she couldn't be that emotional and that they needed plan. She replied, "Fluttershy, we are all going to head to my capitol out by Marentreal, go over things further, I will duplicate my army, we will train hard and then we will fly out to destroy them." She then leaned in closer and whispered, "And I'm going to share a little something with you. I have an ally and I have a couple relics that should ensure victory."
Fluttershy got a grin on her face, the same type of grin that she had when she decided to join Colgate on her quest to punish Lyra for her attack on Equestria. This brought an even bigger grin to Colgate's face as she asked, "So I take it you are willing to aid us all in saving not just Equestria, but perhaps the whole planet?"
Fluttershy yelled, "Yes, I'm more than willing to help you destroy them!"
Her friends noticed her sudden outburst and this brought out a bit of curiosity from them. Rarity asked, "Fluttershy darling, what do you mean you're willing to help her destroy them?"
Rainbow was sitting a bit closer and knew what was going on. She gave Fluttershy a glare and asked, "What? You're going to help her in another war? You're going to help her after everything she has done? You're going to help her even though she hates Twilight?"
Fluttershy replied, "Yes, she told me what one of those villains did to some creatures in the forest and just like it was with Lyra, the only way to take care of it is to join Colgate."
By this point all of her other friends along with the princesses were paying attention to the situation. While the rest of her friends were sitting there in a state of shock knowing that Fluttershy would be joining an enemy of Twilight, Twilight herself wasn't shocked, she was hurt. She gasped, "Fluttershy, how could you? How could you join forces with.....?"
Colgate had a feeling that this would quickly turn into a situation where emotions would flare up and she did not want that. She interrupted, "Twilight, don't think of it as joining my side, think of it as her joining me to defend her nation and protect the critters that she loves so much." She then approached Twilight and continued, "Princess Twilight, you are a leader in this world just as much as all the other leaders are. They all have decided to take on this threat to eradicate a threat to global security." Her voice became more intense as she continued, "What about you, will you join our alliance to protect your homeland or will you simply blow it off and not care what happens?"
Twilight's pupils shrank when Colgate said this. The last thing she wanted to do was have to join Colgate in any sort of battle but realized that with the other leaders, including Celestia, were going to be joining her that she had likely better. She sighed, "Yes Colgate......."
Colgate interrupted, "That is Supreme Commander Colgate to you Twilight."
This immediately brought out a negative reaction from Celestia, "Colgate, if we are all going to be fighting on the same side, why must she have to be formal with you."
Colgate stood there for a moment and realized that Celestia was right. She sighed, "Very well, she doesn't have to be formal with me."
Fluttershy gave her friends an intense look and asked, "So everypony, will you be joining us or will you just stay here and not care?"
Rarity was the first to oppose the idea, "Fluttershy darling, we haven't been involved in any kind of war in several thousand ye....."
Colgate interrupted, "Ladies, this is not going to be a war. This is going to be us going out to take down two of the worst villains in the history of ponykind. This will not be ponies versus other ponies, this will be us ponies up against two centaurs, alright?"
They began looking at one another and nodded until finally they gave their responses.
Rarity said, "Very well Colgate, I will join you."
Applejack added, "Sure, why not."
Pinkie continued, "We'll teach those meany-mean hooves centaurs a lesson."
Rainbow stood tall and announced, "Just like old times, us ponies going up against evil."
With the exception of Twilight, the whole room erupted into cheers although Scootaloo's reaction was more of a yell, "Watch out centaurs, ponykind will not show you any mercy!"
Colgate let everypony continue to cheer for a minute before raising and lowering her wings causing them to go silent. She pointed her wing towards the door and suggested, "I like this attitude everypony but I think we had better let White Magick and Blue Star finish their talk before we head out.
A Bitter Argument
While Colgate was inside mustering up support to gather as many allies as possible, White Magick and Blue Star had headed outside to go over the situation involving Twilight. Once they got far enough away that they would be out of ear shot, Blue Star asked, "Father, what is going on with you? I want to know why you and Twilight had your wings around one another?"
White Magick replied, "Look, a lot of things have happened in the past five millennia and I'm going to admit, being alone for so long took its toll on me, I began to get lonely and feel empty."
Blue Star sneered, "Oh and let me guess, your little Twily made you feel better?"
If there was one thing that White Magick hated, it was when other ponies would refer to Twilight as "little Twily." He snapped, "Look, I know you don't like her and probably think I'm betraying your mother by being with her but you know what? For the first time in ages, I feel whole again."
Blue Star rolled his eyes and grunted, "Oh yes, the little seductress made you feel whole again?" He raised his voice and continued, "Do you not remember our customs? Do you not remember our beliefs that if a couple marries and one passes, that the other is not to marry because the fallen one will be awaiting them on the other side?"
White Magick yelled, "You know what? When Twilight and I joined Colgate on a trip to Dream Valley to retrieve this relic she believes will aid us in defeating Tirac, Twilight and I life bonded so that right there is proof that we are meant to be togeth....."
Blue Star scoffed, "Life bonded? Don't make me laugh, you know that only the Ponylanders life bonded, our kind never did and I know Equestrians don't do it so don't feed me those lies."
White Magick knew that this was going to spiral into a back and forth shouting match if he didn't try to deescalate the situation so he calmly said, "If you don't believe me, talk to Colgate. She was out there when it happened."
Blue Star replied, "I know Colgate......"
White Magick interrupted, "Look, Colgate hates it that we life bonded but she does know we did so if you want the truth, talk to her."
Blue Star calmed down a bit because he knew that if he was suggesting that he speak to the pony that likely hates it the most, that he was likely telling the truth. Just as he was about to say something he heard a female voice shout, "Alright everypony, everything is all settled." Her voice became more joyful as she continued, "It looks like we're going to have more help than I thought!"
Both of them gasped in shock when not only did the world leaders follow Colgate out of the sweets' shop, but so did Twilight's friends. Blue Star looked at the collection of ponies in front of them and said, "This is amazing!" He then approached Colgate and whispered, "Those centaurs are toast now!"
Colgate replied, "Now let's not get ahead of ourselves. I still need to work my magic on a certain relic I have and I do have one more ally waiting for us back at my tower, an incredibly powerful and intelligent ally."
Blue Star gave her a curious look and asked, "Who? Who is this ally you speak of?"
Colgate replied, "You'll see." She then turned back to everypony else and asked, "Ok, there are far too many of us for me to use my time spell so how shall we do this?"
Nopony had any real idea but suddenly one crossed her mind. She pointed at everypony behind her and said, "How about you all take the train to Marentreal while I, White Magick and Blue Star will travel there in a time bubble."
Blue Star asked, "Why would it be us three that would do that? Why not any of them?"
Colgate replied, "Because I need some time alone with both of you over extremely important matters."
Everypony began to talk among themselves until eventually they decided that Colgate's plan sounded good. Colgate pointed towards the train station and ordered, "All of you, go catch the train to Marentreal." She took to the sky and continued, "And you two, follow me. We have things to discuss alone when we get to the tower."
The two nodded and joined Colgate up in the sky before she cast the proper spells and they took off to the east. It did not take them long to break the sound barrier but as they were cruising along, White Magick and Blue Star couldn't help but wonder why Colgate was so adamant that they speak to her alone and Blue Star couldn't help but wonder who this ally was and why she spoke about her so highly.
After what was a couple hours inside the time bubble, they saw Colgate's tower approaching so they ground to a halt and Colgate cast the appropriate spells so they could take care of business and so Blue Star could meet this ally that Colgate had brought up in Ponyville. Once they landed, Colgate wanted what she knew would be a strange reunion to take place outside. She turned to the two and ordered, "You two wait out here while I go and get this ally I told you about."
Blue Star asked, "Why can't we just go inside to meet this ally of yours, why do you have to bring her out here?"
Colgate had her concerns about how Ruby and White Magick would react towards one another and did not feel like having to any repairs caused by damage from magical energy that would be discharged. She replied, "You just do, ok?"
The two gave Colgate nervous looks while Colgate headed inside to get Ruby. She knew that she was tired earlier so the first place she headed to was the bedroom she had been staying in. While she did not find Ruby, she did see the Rainbow of Light laying on the nightstand and in Colgate's eyes, that was not the best idea. She grabbed it and began to search for her. The next place she searched was in the dining hall.
When she arrived, she found her in eating a slice of cake. She levitated the Rainbow to her and suggested, "Ruby, I would advise you wear this at all times."
Ruby levitated the locket around her neck and asked in return, "Why? There is nopony around that would take it."
Colgate replied, "With guests coming soon and given the power that thing has, I simply think you should not let it out of your sight."
Ruby said, "You do make a good point so around my neck it shall stay."
Colgate pointed her wing towards the door and suggested, "How about you follow me? I have a couple of ponies with me that I think you should get re-acquainted with."
The fact that Colgate said re-acquainted and not meet caused Ruby to get a feeling as to who it was. She lit up her horn and yelled, "Colgate, I do not want to see White Magick and I certainly don't want to see that little seductress."
Colgate tried to calm her down, "Ruby, I am going to admit that White Magick is out there but there is another pony who I think you will be much happier to see."
Ruby's ears perked up as she asked, "Wait a minute, my son is with you too isn't he?"
Colgate replied, "He is." Ruby got up and began to follow her as she continued, "Now I know this is going to be a very strange reunion and there will be a whole lot to catch up on but I know that Blue Star will be ecstatic to see you."
Ruby replied, "I know I'll be happy to see him."
Ruby raced towards the exit before Colgate could get up in front of her. She said, "Ruby, I am going to go out and have them close their eyes and then I will have you come out and with any luck this won't be too odd of a reunion."
Ruby added, "And perhaps my presence will shatter that life bond."
Colgate commented, "I hope so as well."
A Long Awaited Reunion
Once they reached the door, Colgate turned around and requested, "Ruby, I know seeing White Magick will be hard but could you please hold your temper? I do not want Blue Star to suddenly feel like he has to pick between you and his father."
Ruby rolled her eyes and replied, "Very well, only for you Colgate."
Colgate nodded and headed outside. The first thing they noticed is that nopony had come with her. Blue Star asked, "Colgate, where is this ally you told us about? I thought she would be with you."
Colgate ordered, "Alright you two, close your eyes."
Despite wondering why they would have to close their eyes, they did as requested. Colgate then opened the door all the way and motioned for Ruby to come out. As soon as she got outside she couldn't help but scowl at White Magick but then focused on Blue Star with a huge smile on her face. Colgate ordered, "Ok you two, open your eyes."
They opened their eyes and both of them were in a state of shock. The first one to say anything was Blue Star. He noticed that the pony with Colgate looked exactly like his mother. He gasped, "Wait a minute, it can't be you."
Ruby turned to the side so they could see her cutie mark and at that moment, they both knew who it was, they both knew it was Ruby. Immediately Blue Star rushed to her, embraced her and exclaimed, "Mom!" He then broke the embrace, looked her in the eyes and asked, "But how? You perished in the battle of Tambelon thousands of years ago!"
Ruby gave Colgate a smile before turning back towards him and replying, "Blue Star, you can thank Colgate for this. She found the resurrection spell I wrote a while back and was able to bring me back."
Blue Star again embraced her, "I'm so happy you're back mom! I've missed you so much!"
Ruby replied, "I've missed you too!" She then cast her gaze towards White Magick and sighed, "Oh, it's you."
White Magick knew that Colgate had probably told her about everything that had happened involving him and Twilight but wanted to try to keep things civil. He approached her and commented, "Ruby, it has been so long. It is good to see you."
He went to embrace her but was quickly froze in place by her aura. She got up in his face and ordered, "Now tell me, is what Colgate told me true? Did you really life bond with that little seductress? Did you life bond with your little Twily?"
The way she spoke about Twilight angered him but given that Ruby had him held in her aura, he decided it would be best to hold his anger. He replied, "Yes, we did. There must be something strange about Dream Valley but it just happened, we realized we were meant to be together and we life bonded."
She released her hold on him and decided to bring up the same thing that Blue Star had brought up earlier, "You can life bond with your little Twily all you want but you know how our belief systems are. You should know that if both of us were to perish, you would be with ME in the afterlife, not the seductress dark goddess."
Her referring to her as a dark goddess angered him to the point where he just couldn't hold it. He screamed, "Look, she is not a dark goddess anymore! Don't you remember how I cleansed her, don't you remember how different she was when I invited her to our realm....."
Ruby flared her horn up and corrected, "You mean Unicornia."
White Magick gasped, "Unicornia? It hasn't been called that since my father fell to the smooze in the days of Ponyland!"
Ruby replied, "Well once you abdicated and Colgate put a steward in place, he restored the name and when I reclaimed the throne, I kept the name."
White Magick gasped, "You......."
Ruby interrupted, "Yes, I decided to restore the legacy of our kind, I decided our nation should have an actual name, I decided to restore our kind's pride...."
As Ruby continued to list everything she had done by restoring the name Unicornia to what was now her nation, White Magick couldn't help but notice something around her neck. He looked closer and gasped, "Wait a minute, you have the Rainbow of Light?"
Ruby grasped it in her aura and replied, "Yes, I do. Colgate gave it to me not long after she brought me back."
This caused White Magick to grow suspicious about why Colgate never gave him and Twilight the ancient relic. He asked, "Colgate, was this your plan all along? Was it to retrieve it, not give it to me like you promised, bring Ruby back and give it to her assuming that she would be the only one who could use it?"
Colgate replied, "I brought Ruby back because I believed her time was cut short and once I found that spell of hers, I was bound and determined to bring her back."
White Magick asked, "I get that but still, why did you give her the Rainbow of Light when you said you would give it to me and Twilight?"
Ruby flared up her horn and asked, "Wait a minute, you said you would give it to him and that little seductress?"
Colgate replied, "When we were out in Dream Castle, I was the only one with saddlebags and I simply told them that so I could be the one to carry it instead of having his little Twily wearing it." She then gave White Magick a smile and added, "And when you decided to run off so quickly after abdicating, you never asked about it and it was at that time that I decided that Ruby would be the one to wield it."
White Magick lit his horn up in anger but one pony did not want to see this turn nasty, Blue Star. He interrupted, "Look, lets just be happy mom is back and we have this weapon to aid us in this endeavor."
Colgate agreed, "I agree with Blue Star. Let's be happy we have it and let's be happy we have such a powerful pony to wield it." She headed back towards her title and continued, "Look, I need to go down into the archives and work on something, something that will give us an additional advantage."
Ruby had no desire to have to be around White Magick any longer than she needed to and despite wanting to spend more time with her son, she thought that perhaps she should join Colgate in the archives. She asked, "Colgate, I don't know what you'll think about this but could I join you?" She gave her a smile and continued, "Besides, I want to see all what you have added to your collection using my spell."
Colgate had a feeling that if an argument were to break out between her and White Magick that Blue Star may find himself in a situation where he would have to choose who to give his allegiance to. She replied, "Yes, you may join me." She began to walk towards her tower and finished, "Blue Star, White Magick, head to the dining hall while Ruby and I go to the archives."
The two nodded and followed Colgate and Ruby inside where they would part ways. When Ruby saw that Colgate had to not only step on a special tile on the floor but also insert her horn into a hole in the wall and discharge energy to open the doors, she realized that Colgate must have things she wanted kept secret. She asked, "Colgate, are you sure you want me joining you? With everything you have to do just to get down there, it seems like you don't want anypony but you knowing what is there."
After the first door swung open, Colgate turned around and replied, "Ruby, you've been down here before with Dark Night so of course I want you down here!"
Ruby nodded and followed Colgate down into the archives. As they were headed down to the very back, she remembered about how Colgate had not only duplicated the Tambelon library but also had taken Grogar's collar. She knew that Colgate had plans on casting a spell of some sort to cause the bells to be tied to her and wondered if perhaps her using the Rainbow of Light on them may aid in her success.
As they headed down into the archives and Colgate continued to unlock each door, Ruby couldn't help but wonder what else she may have in there other than what she had already told her. When they reached the back room, Ruby couldn't help but shiver when she not only saw Grogar's old library, but his collar as well. She pointed at it and asked, "Ok, I know there is a reason you took that thing but what is it? Why would you bring such a cursed object back here?"
Colgate replied, "Don't you remember what I told you? Don't you remember me telling you how I discovered in the Dream Valley collection the account of how Grogar used his magic to repel The Rainbow of Darkness?"
Ruby replied, "Yes and I know you plan on casting a spell on that thing to replace Grogar's magic with your own." She then held up the Rainbow of Light and asked, "Can't we just rely on this? Must you use that thing?"
Colgate replied, "It does not hurt to have more than one option. If just one of these two fails or is not strong enough to repel it, together we can certainly repel it and with any luck, defeat those two so I can slay them."
Slaying enemies had never been something that, outside of Colgate, ponykind had ever been overly fond of. Ruby asked, "Colgate, must you slay them? Won't casting them back into Tartarus be sufficient?"
Colgate replied, "No. They escaped once and I do not want to see them return again."
Ruby had her concerns about negative energies being released from the killing of villains but knew that Colgate wasn't like other ponies. She knew that Colgate didn't believe in anything except slaying her foes so she decided against voicing her concerns.
Colgate's Discovery
After what seemed to be a fruitless discussion with her ally, Ruby watched as Colgate began to go through the books in the Tambelon collection. She knew that Colgate likely had to read through the books from that collection to figure out what she wanted but given what happened in the past, she just didn't want to be around the collection. She said, "Colgate, I'm going up to a different part of the archives, being around all of these things that belonged to Grogar is just too unnerving for me."
Colgate had already become immersed in the books, looking for the information she sought and replied, "Alright, sounds good."
Ruby could tell that Colgate was already so absorbed with her search that she headed into the room that had her old collection in it and began to read through copies of what her collection held. As she did this, Colgate began to read a book that had been calling out to her. For nearly an hour she continued to read it until she found something she didn't expect, she discovered that while the collar had belonged to Grogar since its creation but she also found out that it didn't always have his magic tied to it. She learned that it was the collar itself that fed his magic and to her, this was a problem.
She thought to herself, "So without that collar, he was simply a harmless, overgrown goat?"
After staring at the book and then the collar for a few minutes, she realized that if she could alter the energies the collar held, that she could amplify her already powerful magic multiple times. She exclaimed, "Jackpot! I'm already powerful but with this thing, I could crush anything and everything!"
Ruby overheard her, went rushing into the back of the archives and asked, "Colgate, what do you mean you could crush everything?"
Colgate had become more excited than she would like as she replied, "I found something amazing here. Grogar himself had no magic, it was the collar that gave him all his powerful magic!"
Ruby asked, "Ok, but what does that have to do with you crushing things?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, I already have very powerful magic and an immense amount of knowledge but with this thing, my powers could be amplified multiple times!" She held the collar up and continued, "With this, I could take on every villain combined and be victorious." She got a sinister smile on her face and laughed, "And blow Twily to bits with a single bolt of energy."
One thing Ruby always did like was Colgate's hatred of Twilight but realized that one pony having that much power would have its risks. She glared at the collar and asked, "Are you sure about this? Are you sure that taking control of that thing is such a good idea?"
Colgate knew that Ruby was no threat but the paranoid side of her would determine her decision. She snapped, "Of course it is a good thing. If the Rainbow of Light isn't enough to destroy that Rainbow of Darkness, I'm sure that combining my already strong magic along with what this will give me will make it certain."
Ruby noticed something about what Colgate had said. No longer was she talking about defeating the ancient relic, she had began to talk about destroying it. She gasped, "Colgate, I know that will give you more power but don't you know the dangers of actually destroying something like that? It could release so much negative energy that it could destroy Eqqus 1."
Colgate protested, "Oh I'm sure everything will be fine and besides, if we can wipe those two out, there will be two less evil creatures we will have to deal with in the future."
Ruby again knew that Colgate was not going to listen, she knew that with Colgate, it is either her way or no way. She threw her hooves up in the air and sighed, "Very well, you do what you think needs to be done."
As she headed back towards the front of the archives, she couldn't help but wonder if Colgate didn't have other, not so pleasant plans. Given that she was an ally of hers, Ruby didn't want to believe it but deep down, she thought that perhaps Colgate wanted one thing and one thing only, global domination.
Altering the Collar
After Ruby left, Colgate wanted to continue to read about how the collar gained Grogar's energy but then realized that since he was just an aggressive yet harmless goat without it, that something else had to have happened so she put the book down, grabbed the collar in her aura and realized that perhaps if she went into a trance, that she could figure out how it aided him so much.
She focused on the collar intensely, trying her hardest to develop a connection with it. After fifteen minutes of staring at it, she went into a trance and saw images of a time long, long ago. She saw an image that shocked her, she saw images of three witches forging the bells from the Volcano of Gloom before placing them on a collar, enchanting it and then giving it to Grogar.
Colgate knew that taking control of an ancient relic would not be easy but she had confidence that she could do it. As she continued to focus on the images of the past, she watched as the witches placed the collar around his neck and then recite an enchantment spell to make it to where it would only work for him,
"The power of the collar is great, With it are sewn the seeds of hate, The goat as of now has no magic, Yet this is something tragic.
The collar and its bells will give him the power he will need, To achieve his greatness this is what he will need, Now he can take foes on head to head, And in the end his enemies shall be dead."
Colgate knew that the spell would need to be altered in a way that would include energy of pure good yet not lessen the power of the collar any, perhaps even strengthen it. She sat there in thought for a moment, trying to figure out what exactly to recite and what kind of energy to pump into the relic. After nearly an hour of focusing on it, she grabbed it in her aura and her eyes began to shine blue as she recited,
"The collar's power is beyond great, With it I will be able to eradicate the seeds of hate, While I possess powerful magic, Only having what I have is tragic.
This relic will provide me with the power I need, To achieve absolute power this is what I will need, Now those who stand in my way I can make sure they're dead, And I shall rule with a level head."
As she finished reciting the spell, a powerful bolt of blue energy struck the relic and it took on a drastic transformation. Not only was the collar itself restored, but the bells on it took on a different appearance. What was once a silver bell in front had transformed into a metallic blue bell with her cutie mark on it. The secondary golden bells on the sides had become silver and also had her cutie mark on them. She gave the altered collar a smile and placed it around her neck.
As she placed it around herself, she felt a huge amount of energy surging into her, the type of energy she knew that she would need. She also felt herself begin to grow physically, not so much that she would tower over allies but enough that she would be visibly taller than them. Once the growth and energy surge were complete, she headed towards the exit to find Ruby reading books in the Dream Valley collection and said, "Well I did what I wanted to do. I altered the energies in the collar."
Ruby approached Colgate and the first thing she noticed was that she had grown. She gasped, "Colgate, what happened to you? We used to stand at the same height but now you're probably a foot taller than me!" Before Colgate could say anything Ruby continued, "And the collar, every bell has your cutie mark on it!"
Colgate replied, "Yes, it does. I know now that this collar truly does belong to me. Its energy is tied to me and with it, our victory is certain."
Ruby continued to analyze her further and it looked like the collar had became part of her, that it looked like it had fused into her. She put her hoof up to Colgate and tried to move the collar but it wouldn't budge, not even a little bit. She gasped, "Colgate, did you do something to make it become part of you?"
Colgate replied, "Well if I did it wasn't intentional but I do know one thing, this has strengthened my power many times over." She stared at the locket hanging around Ruby's neck and suggested, "Perhaps we should do the same thing with that Rainbow of Light. Perhaps we should tie its energy directly to you."
Ruby had an extremely nervous look on her face and asked, "I don't know Colgate, I don't know if tying this directly to me is such a good idea. What if it was to be LaurFa that was the one with the proper energies to wield it?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, you are my number one ally and I would not have given you that thing if I weren't sure you were the one to use it." She leaned towards her and continued, "Besides, if we tie it directly to you, she could not take it and try to wield it herself."
Ruby knew exactly who Colgate meant by she. The last thing Ruby wanted was for Twilight to maybe get a hold of the Rainbow but something just didn't seem right about this, she simply wasn't comfortable with tying an ancient relic to herself. She said, "Colgate, I think it would be best if we left things the way they are."
Colgate sighed, "Very well." She pointed her wing towards the exit and continued, "Let's get going. I am sure everypony else will be here soon and there are certain ponies I do not want being in my tower without me being present."
Ruby knew who Colgate was talking about and could understand her concerns. She replied, "I don't blame you, let's get back upstairs."
Ruby began to head back upstairs and was followed by Colgate, who locked each door on the way out. As they headed out, Colgate felt like a new pony, a much more powerful pony than she had been before. She knew that with the extra power she now had, that the chances of failure in their upcoming mission were zero.
When they got out of the archives, Ruby began to head towards the dining hall while Colgate began to head up towards her chambers. She was unsure as to whether Ruby should be going into the dining hall without her given the chances of a major argument erupting between her, her son and who was her husband. She suggested, "Ruby, how about you come up with me before we head in there. I have to tap into the eye."
Ruby wasn't overly fond of what almost seemed to be an order from Colgate as she replied, "Everything will be fine. You go on up and see what is going on."
Colgate sighed, "Very well but please don't get into a fight with White Magick inside my tower, alright?"
Ruby nodded and they parted ways. As Colgate headed towards her chamber, she couldn't help but wonder how the other leaders would react, particularly Twilight. She laughed to herself, "Oh I bet when little Twily sees me now, she will cower back in fear and know not to cross my path!"
As she arrived in her chambers, the very first thing she did was tap into the eye and the first thing she scanned was other places across the world. She was pleased when she saw that everything was going normally, she then noticed that the train from Ponyville was approaching and this brought a smile to her face. She then looked off in the direction of Vanhoover and was angered by what she saw, she noticed that Tirac had turned many ponies into beasts and that Tirek had grown a fair amount as he was stealing magic.
She began screaming every obscenity at the book. She was so loud that she had attracted the attention of her generals down on the base. Both Dark Night and Lightning Storm flew up to Colgate's balcony and headed into her chambers. Dark Night asked, "Colgate, what is wrong? Why are you screaming so loudly?"
Lightning Storm added, "Is it those centaurs?"
Colgate yelled, "Yes, it is." She pointed her wing towards the door and continued, "Follow me down to the dining hall. We shall await the arrival of the others and then we can have a meeting about how we will handle them."
The two nodded and they followed Colgate down to the dining hall where they were greeted by her first guests, Ruby and those she brought with her. Blue Star and White Magick's jaws both dropped open when they saw Colgate and what was around her neck. White Magick gasped, "Colgate, is that Grogar's........"
Colgate interrupted, "It WAS Grogar's collar but now it is mine. Take a look at this, it has my energy tied into it now and it has become part of me."
White Magick approached her and he took a closer look at it. Not only did he see how the collar and bells were different but he also saw that Colgate had grown. He asked, "How Colgate? How did you do this and WHY would you alter it?"
Colgate replied, "I will go over everything in more detail when the others arrive."
They also noticed that her generals were with her and this brought concern from them. Blue Star asked, "Colgate, why are your generals with you? Has something happened? Have those centaurs began using their magic on ponies?"
Colgate sighed, "Look, I'll tell everypony what is going on when the others arrive, alright?"
It was not long after that when Colgate heard pounding on her door. She answered and the other world leaders along with Twilight's friends were surprised to see Colgate's new appearance and many of them, even the normally tough Scootaloo gave her a nervous look when she saw a collar around Colgate's neck. Colgate saw this and asked, "Scootaloo, why the nervous look?"
Scootaloo knew that she couldn't show too much nervousness around her mentor. She replied, "Oh, I'm just surprised. It looks like you have grown and why in Equestria do you have a collar around your neck?"
Colgate pointed her wing inside and replied, "I will tell everypony everything when we get inside."
Everypony knew that was her way of telling them to follow her. Once they arrived in the dining hall, everypony would be even more shocked when they saw who was there. LaurFa's jaw dropped open as she asked, "Ruby, is that you?"
Ruby replied, "Yes, it is me." She then turned towards Twilight, flared up her horn and began to approach her. Twilight was terrified when she saw her, so terrified that she hid behind her friends. Ruby snarled, "Well, well, well, I see it is the cowardly little seductress."
Twilight was terrified but her friends were not. Fluttershy flared her horn up and snapped, "Just who do you think you are? Who do you think you are to go after Twilight?"
Colgate could tell that things would go downhill quickly if she didn't stop this so she yelled, "Ruby, Fluttershy, stop it! Right now is not the time for confrontations. Things have happened that require us to prepare to take on the biggest threats this world has seen in eons."
Both Fluttershy and Ruby calmed down and saw Colgate pointing her horn towards the table and knew that was her way of saying to take a seat. Everypony sat down and began to watch Colgate as she began to circle the table. After a moment of silence, LaurFa asked, "Colgate, I know something has happened but I want to know a couple things. What is that around your neck and why is it that you are suddenly taller than the rest of us?"
Colgate initially wasn't thrilled that somepony would ask a question that would delay her in getting to the issue at hand but then figured that perhaps it happened for a reason. She figured that this would be her chance to let everypony else know about her enhanced powers, to make sure that nopony would dare cross her.
She gave most of them a smile and replied, "Well let me tell you something. When I along with White Magick and his little Twily headed to Dream Valley to retrieve" she pointed at the locket around Ruby's neck before continuing, "the Rainbow of Light, I decided to use a spell that Ruby had taught me to duplicate that collection and create replicas that I now have down in my archives."
They all knew about how Ruby had perished in the battle in Tambelon and were curious about how she had returned. Celestia turned to Ruby and asked, "How Ruby, how were you able to return from the dead?"
Ruby pointed her wing towards Colgate and replied, "Colgate used a resurrection spell that I wrote to bring me back. After all, my subjects do need a queen and I will be a valuable asset to our struggle ahead."
Twilight glared first at her and then at Colgate. She snapped, "NO! The only reason Colgate brought you back was to try and shatter the life bond between me and White Magick!"
Neither one of the two gave Twilight the satisfaction of a response. Colgate continued, "Well, now that all of you know how I was able to bring Ruby back to our world," she pointed her wing towards her collar and continued, "I suppose I should answer LaurFa's question regarding the collar and my size."
LaurFa replied, "Yes, please tell us." Her tone of voice became more of a sneer as she continued, "I'm quite certain it is something bad though."
Colgate continued, "Ok, back to the Dream Valley collection. I was reading through it and I discovered that there was a time, before they had the Rainbow of Light, that Tirac had attacked Dream Valley and began to use his relic to turn the ponies into beasts. Now I know you'll likely not believe this but at one time Grogar was not an enemy of ponies and he used his magic to repel the Rainbow of Darkness. Even more surprising, he assisted in forcing Tirac back into Tartarus before turning on ponykind."
Everypony's jaws dropped open. White Magick gasped, "Seriously? You mean to tell me that you found something in one of the books that I didn't know happened?"
LaurFa added, "I find that very hard to believe."
Colgate sighed, "Tell you what, after the meeting I will take you down into the archives and you can read about it."
The two knew that Colgate would not offer to do that if she were lying about it. White Magick sighed, "Very well, I believe you but still, how did you get that collar and why is it that you are taller?"
Colgate replied, "You see, after reading about that I decided that I could acquire a relic that would aid us in defeating the Rainbow of Darkness in the event that the Rainbow of Light wasn't enough."
Everypony who didn't know about it already gasped in shock. Twilight asked, "Wait a minute, are you telling us that you somehow acquired Grogar's collar?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I did. After I found out what I did, I raised Tambelon from the depths. After Dark Night and I killed off some trogals, we went into what was his palace, I cast the duplication spell on his library and before we left, I went over by his corpse and took his collar."
Twilight flared up her horn, grabbed Colgate in her aura and yelled, "You raised Tambelon from the depths? Don't you know how illegal that is?"
Colgate quickly broke free of her hold, flared her horn up and as she fired a bolt of energy at Twilight, the bells on her collar lit up right as Twilight became imprisoned in a cage like she did when she and her friends were abducted by Grogar so long ago. She snapped, "Listen Twily, Tambelon lies within what is Coastal Equestria and I will do what I please within my borders."
Everypony in the room gasped when they saw this. LaurFa stood tall, approached Colgate and demanded, "You release Twilight from that cage, now!"
Colgate fired another bolt at Twilight, causing the cage to disappear. She sighed, "Oh fine." She then turned to Twilight and snapped, "Let me tell you this though little Twily, if you even attempt to grab me in your aura again, your punishment will be worse, far worse."
At that moment everypony, even her strongest allies knew that something had happened with her. They knew that her temper was suddenly much more volatile and knew that even challenging her would be a mistake.
LaurFa said, "It is obvious you have his dark powers but tell me, why does it look different?" She leaned in closer and saw that every single bell had her cutie mark on it. She again stood tall, spread her wings and continued, "And how is it that it has your cutie mark on it?"
Colgate replied, "Well I found the original spell in the Tambelon collection that went into detail about how the witches that lived in the Volcano of Gloom forged it for Grogar and cast a spell on it to tie it to him. After going into a trance and focusing on his collar, I knew what I had to do to tie it to me. Long story short, I cast a spell that made it mine."
Everything Colgate was telling them not only gave them reason to be concern, but in the case of some of them, it terrified them, especially after seeing what she did to Twilight. Twilight cowered back and asked, "So do you now have both your magic and his magic or do you only have his now?"
Colgate knew that this was her chance to strike fear into the heart of Twilight and let the others know about how truly powerful she was. She boasted, "Don't you worry Twily, I still have my own and I have Grogar's but the funny thing is, my powers have been amplified numerous times since I tied myself to this."
LaurFa again approached Colgate and noticed something odd about the collar. Unlike it was with Grogar, that it was worn like a necklace, it appeared as though it had actually become part of Colgate. It looked like something that could not be removed. She asked, "Colgate, how did you do this? How did you get this collar to literally become part of you?"
Colgate replied, "I have no idea. It was just that when I put this around my neck, that it became part of me and that I grew a bit." She gave everypony a smile and continued, "So unlike it was with Grogar, this baby can't be cut off and I won't have to worry about losing my extra powers!"
With the exception of Dark Night and Lightning Storm, everypony gave her a nervous smile. Colgate continued, "Why the nervous looks? You all should see this as a good thing because no matter what happens, we won't have to worry about me not being able to attack them with all my magic."
Scootaloo, who felt like she could say more to her than others asked, "Colgate, I know you're happy that you have this extra power but that isn't going to corrupt you will it? It won't cause you to turn on us will it?"
Colgate replied, "Scootaloo, you should know I would never do......"
Celestia interrupted, "If that is the case then why did you imprison Twilight in a cage?"
Colgate replied, "Because she attacked me, that's why."
Twilight shouted, "Well that is turning on u......"
Colgate interrupted, "Alright, I think we have gone over everything involving how I got bigger and how I tied this collar to myself. Now it is time to discuss what is actually important."
Luna asked, "And what is that Dear Colgate?"
Colgate replied, "I tapped into the eye earlier today and I have some really bad news. Both centaurs have reached Vanhoover. Tirac has used the Rainbow of Darkness on many of them and Tirek has stolen a lot of magic and because of that, he has grown large enough that he has taken on his red form." She then turned to Celestia and Luna and asked, "You two have handled him in the past so what is the best way to do this?"
Celestia replied, "Well given that he was not huge when Scorpan alerted us about his activities, casting him into Tartarus was fairly easy. When we confront him, draining him of his powers and throwing him back in there will not be so easy."
Colgate scoffed, "Throw him back into Tartarus? That is not an option here, we will not rest until not just him, but Tirac are both how I want them, dead."
By that point everypony knew that even trying to reason with Colgate over slaying their enemies was pointless so they simply nodded in agreement but one would bring something up, LaurFa, "So Colgate, since you have all these extra powers and seem to have taken charge here, how do you want to do this? Do you want us to fly out and attack them immediately or do you want to wait until we can catch them in the act of attacking a city?"
Colgate knew that it would likely be best if they headed out to wipe them out immediately but a part of her wanted to confront them there, at her tower. She replied, "Well Vanhoover is a total loss and I'm not sure where they will head next. I will say one thing though, with Tirek continuing to get bigger, those two will be able to move along much more quickly."
LaurFa suggested, "If that is the case, don't you think it would be best if we head out immediately to take them on?"
Colgate replied, "Look, I want to take them on out in an open area, an area where I think we will have a tactical advantage." A growing part of her was wanting to dismiss the meeting and have a private meeting between those that she knew would likely support what she truly wanted, Scootaloo and her generals. She pointed her wing towards the exit and finished, "Dismissed. You may go to Marentreal or relax somewhere, I just need time to think and monitor those two."
Everypony nodded and began to head towards the exit until Colgate ordered, "Scootaloo, Dark Night, Lightning Storm, could you three follow me? We need to talk."
Scootaloo asked, "Why? We went over everything in the meeting."
Colgate replied, "Not quite." She pointed her wing towards the archives and continued, "Some things are best kept between the strongest and closest of allies."
The three did not question Colgate and followed her down. As they headed through each door, Colgate closed and locked it. When they got to the very back of the archives where the Tambelon collection was stored, Colgate asked, "Alright everypony, I want to know something. What do you think the current situation is with our allies?"
The three looked at one another before Scootaloo replied, "Well, it seems like none of them are taking this seriously. It seems like none of them want to slay our enemies."
Dark Night added, "I'm going to be honest with you. I think most of them, even Ruby, aren't entirely sold on your plan and I could see some of them, LaurFa in particular, turning on you after we slay those two."
Lightning Storm finished, "Personally, I think Twilight will be nothing but a liability and those friends of hers, I could see them betraying us after we do this."
Colgate agreed, "I know Ruby is a close friend of mine and a strong ally but I know she doesn't exactly like my extra powers." She turned to Scootaloo and continued, "I know you are a bit nervous but remember this, you are like the daughter I never had and I know you wouldn't betray me."
Scootaloo replied, "Nope, I'd never turn on my mentor."
Colgate nodded, "Good." She then focused on all three of them and continued, "Now for the primary reason I brought you down here. I know some of the leaders want to do this as soon as possible but I have other plans, much more satisfying plans."
Out of the three, Dark Night knew how her mind worked the most. He asked, "Do you want to wait until they get here, regardless of how big Tirek is and how many beasts Tirac has accompanying them?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, that is what I want. I want to bring them down here and then there is something else I want. I want to take the heart of a little tyrant on MY soil."
Scootaloo gasped, "Wait a minute, you want to do all this just for that? You seriously want to take that big of a risk so you can kill and eat Twilight on your own soil?"
Dark Night questioned her decision, "Are you truly sure about that? Wouldn't it be easier if we took him on somewhere else, such as in Equestria?"
Lightning Storm suggested, "What if he was to be headed towards Ponyville before too long? What if we killed those two there?" He then began to laugh, "And then you could feast on Twilight at the base of her castle!"
Colgate developed a huge smile on her face, "You know general, I like your way of thinking! Doing that there would be much more satisfying!" She looked towards the exit and continued, "For now though, let's conclude this meeting. I need to go tap into the eye" she turned to Scootaloo and continued, "and you try to act normal around the other leaders. If they ask you anything, just make something up, something that would be mundane and have nothing to do with this, ok?"
Scootaloo replied, "My lips are sealed."
She turned towards her generals and they added, "Don't worry, we won't say a thing."
Colgate replied, "Good, now let's get going."
The three left the archives and were followed by Colgate as she locked each door on the way out. Once they got upstairs, she rushed up to her chambers and immediately tapped into the eye. When she zeroed in towards the direction on Vanhoover, she noticed that Tirek was larger than he was before and Tirac had roughly a dozen beasts. One thing that did bring a bit of a smile to her face was that they were headed towards Canterlot. She said to herself, "Excellent, once they do what they want there, they will likely head to Ponyville!"
After several hours of watching the two centaurs through the eye, Colgate saw that they had finally reached the outskirts of Canterlot. In most instances, this would anger her but in this scenario it excited her. She watched them continue to use their magic, Tirac was turning some ponies into beasts while Tirek continued to steal magic. What really excited her was that she heard them talking about what there next target would be. While neither one of the two knew what the name of Ponyville was, Tirek pointed his finger in the direction of the small town and suggested that they strike it next.
After finishing spying on them, she then spied on everypony who would be joining her in their endeavor to slay the two. She first saw that Scootaloo was over at the base having a conversation with her generals. She then turned her attention to Marentreal and noticed that they were gathered in two separate places. She saw that Ruby and Blue Star were eating an early supper at the cafe while the others were at an outdoor concert. She then took to the sky and headed to Marentreal so she could get them, Scootaloo and her soldiers so they could head to Ponyville and wait for the arrival of their foes.
She headed to her balcony and headed off to the east, into the city. The first place she headed to was the cafe since it was on the further side of town so she wouldn't have to double back when she got the others. When she arrived at the cafe, the two were shocked to see her. Ruby knew how Colgate worked and figured that something must be going on. She asked, "Colgate, is everything ok?"
Blue Star added, "Yeah, normally you wouldn't come out looking for everypony. I thought you were having that special meeting with Scootaloo and your generals."
Colgate was a bit frantic. She replied, "Ruby, Blue Star, you two have to come with me." She took to the sky and shouted, "Now, we have no time to waste!"
Ruby said, "But we haven't finished our meal and we still have to pay for it!"
Colgate grabbed the two in her aura, pulled them up and shouted, "We don't have time for that! We need to get the others, get to my tower and then get going!"
They knew that Colgate likely wouldn't say anything around other ponies but realized that something bad was going on so they followed her to grab the others. The concert they were attending was a quiet concert featuring ancient music, music from the era when Colgate was still a dentist. When the three landed they were immediately greeted by a security pony, "Get out of here! You have to pay admission to attend this."
Colgate flared up her horn, grabbed him in her aura and snapped, "Do you not know who I am?" She slammed him into the ground and continued, "Look, I'll go where ever I want and at this moment, that is to tell some ponies that they need to come with me."
The security pony looked more closely at her and then realized who it was. He apologized, "My apologies Supreme Commander, you may enter and gather those who you need."
Colgate nodded and headed to the front row where everypony else was. She shouted, "Come on everypony, we have to get going, now!"
Multiple ponies in the crowd tried to shush her and the pony sitting closest to her, LaurFa, said, "Colgate, can't you see we're trying to enjoy a concert here."
The pony next to her, Galaxia, added, "And what could possibly be so important we have to go now?"
Colgate grabbed them in her aura and snapped, "You should know that is classified around other ponies." She dragged them away from the concert and into the sky where they would be joined by Ruby and Blue Star. Colgate pointed towards her tower and ordered, "To the base, now!"
Most of the ponies following her grumbled in frustration, wondering why Colgate would so rudely drag them away from what they were doing and wondered why she demanded they follow her to the base. Once they arrived, Colgate saw her generals leading a basic exercise and ordered that they land down by them.
Once they landed, Colgate landed in front of them and barked, "Attention."
Many of the ponies had never seen her be like this before but the growl in her voice brought back not so pleasant memories for Rarity. She remembered how Colgate was towards her when they were training to go and acquire the jade Alicorn and that she sounded the exact same this time.
Colgate said, "I'm sure many of you are wondering why I have brought you to the base and not into the tower."
LaurFa asked, "Actually yes. Why are we gathered here?"
Colgate replied, "Because the time has come. Our foes are currently in Canterlot turning ponies into beasts and stealing magic."
In unison Celestia and Twilight gasped, "What?"
Colgate repeated, "You heard me, they are in Canterlot right now and are using their dark powers."
Celestia asked, "So are we going to be flying out to Canterlot tomorrow?"
Colgate replied, "No. As all of you know, when I spy on the world with that eye, not only can I see things but I can hear them as well. They have decided that they will go to Ponyville next and that is where I think we should take them down, Ponyville."
Rarity asked, "Colgate darling, why Ponyville?"
Rainbow added, "Yeah, why Ponyville? It has had to deal with so much violence over the millennia that it shouldn't have to deal with war again."
Colgate replied, "Look, Ponyville will experience violence whether we are there are not. Also, there is more open space in Ponyville and if we hurry up and get there" she then pointed at Twilight and continued, "perhaps Twilight can have her chef fix us all a filling meal prior to taking on those two."
Twilight had a nervous look on her face as she had no desire to allow Colgate in her castle, much less have a meal prepared for her. White Magick was standing next to her and saw this. He nudged her and said, "Twilight sweetie, I know you don't like her or trust her, but she does want to save this world. I think you should agree to this."
Twilight gave him a nervous look and then turned to Colgate and replied, "Ok, I think we could do that."
Colgate said, "Good, that way we will all have full stomachs for our battle against them."
LaurFa asked, "So when do you want to leave? Do you want to leave tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon or when."
Colgate replied, "We must leave now. What will likely happen is that Tirek will likely arrive first and then Tirac and his beasts will follow not too long after."
Everypony groaned in frustration as they realized that this would require that a large part of the trip be made at life. Colgate could sense their frustration and added, "Look, if we don't head out immediately" she then pointed at Twilight and her friends and continued, "your families and friends could either be turned into beasts, have their magic stolen OR perhaps even be killed."
Everypony gasped in shock when Colgate said this and were even more surprised when she pointed at Fluttershy and finished, "And your critter friends would either be eaten by the beasts or by one of the centaurs themselves."
This sent Fluttershy into a furious rage, "Come on everypony, we have to get going, now!"
Colgate was thrilled to see Fluttershy in such a fury again but knew that she couldn't be that emotional. She raised her wings and lowered them as she said, "Fluttershy, you need to calm down so you will be focused." She then looked towards her tower and ordered, "Dark Night, Lightning Storm, follow me. I need to check on one more thing before we depart."
The two shouted, "Yes ma'am!"
The three took off towards Colgate's balcony and headed inside. The first thing Colgate did was tap into the eye. She was pleased when she saw the two leisurely wandering around the city before heading inside the palace. She said, "Good. Perhaps they will wait until tomorrow to march on Ponyville."
Her generals heard this and were curious as to what she saw. Dark Night asked, "So what is going on?"
Colgate replied, "Well they are just lounging around Canterlot and have headed inside the palace there, perhaps to simply relax for the night."
Both of them knew that Colgate had said that Tirek had gotten quite large. Lightning Storm asked, "Wait a minute, if Tirek is huge, how did he fit inside the castle?"
Colgate replied, "He is indeed big but he isn't as huge as our allies think he is. I have a feeling they think he is likely twice or three times the size that he is." She began to head back towards her balcony and continued, "Now if he is able to steal Alicorn magic, then he will get bigger, much bigger." She then began to shudder, "And if he was to steal my magic, it would be game over."
They both knew that Colgate's powers had been amplified many times since she cast the spell on what was Grogar's collar so they both got nervous looks on their faces and realized that preventing Colgate from having her magic stolen was vital. Lightning Storm said, "Colgate, with that being the case, I would gladly sacrifice my own magic if it would mean you are able to keep yours."
Colgate gave him a smile, "I appreciate that general but his hunger is never satisfied so if you can avoid having your magic stolen, do so." She then turned to Dark Night and added, "The same goes for you. Don't try sacrificing yourself for anypony because it would be all for naught."
The two nodded and Colgate continued, "Well let's get going, we have a long flight ahead of us."
Colgate took off towards the base and was followed by her generals. When they returned everypony was curious as to what was going on. Instead of it being a world leader or one of Twilight's friends asking, it was one of her hoof soldiers, "Supreme Commander Colgate, what is going on? What are your plans?"
Colgate replied, "As of right now, the two centaurs appear as though they will not be moving towards Ponyville until tomorrow so if we leave tonight and fly straight through, we should arrive in Ponyville by early morning and have time to eat and mentally prepare ourselves for this."
Most everypony seemed to be going along with her plan until Rarity brought up something, "But Colgate, what are we going to do about sleep? I'm sure that we can't go up against them if we're tired."
Rainbow suggested, "I have an idea, why don't you just use your time spell? That way we could get there in nothing flat."
Applejack added, "That way we would get to Ponyville in a hurry and we'd have time to sleep."
Colgate replied, "You know, that would be quite the challenge. I have never created a time bubble that huge and I don't know how many of you would be able to fly fast enough to carry those who can't."
Fluttershy asked, "Well it's worth a shot, isn't it?"
Colgate replied, "Well I suppose but I am going to need as many of you as possible to fly as fast as you possibly can." She raised her voice and continued, "Even if it is so painful you can't handle it, alright?"
Everypony nodded as Colgate continued, "Fly up here and gather around me so I can do this."
Without saying anything, everypony took to the sky and gathered as close to Colgate as they possibly could. Colgate knew that creating a time bubble that large would be difficult but getting it moving would be far more difficult. Colgate lit her horn up and cast the first spell. She was impressed that she was able to create one that large and next, she cast the spell to stop time outside the bubble.
She ordered, "Alright everypony, fly as fast as you can so we can get this going."
At first they were not moving along any faster than they would be if they were just flying normally but trying to move a time bubble at that speed was much harder on their wings. She looked back and could tell that not that many ponies were flying fast enough to allow them to break the sound barrier. Colgate barked, "Fly faster or I'm undoing this thing and we'll just fly all night if we have to."
The thoughts of getting to Ponyville close to sunrise was something that nopony wanted to go through. They wanted to get some rest and knew that the only way to get that was to push themselves to the limit and then some. Everypony, even the dark Alicorns and changelings began attempting to fly faster. For the changelings, this was impossible given the structure of their wings. Just when Colgate was getting ready to undo her spells and fly the old fashioned way, they broke the sound barrier and were cruising along.
This was something that pleased Colgate. While she would never admit this to anypony except her generals and perhaps Scootaloo, trying to move that thing along before they broke the sound barrier was even painful for her. As they sped along, Colgate looked forward to their arrival in Ponyville, slaying those centaurs but what she looked forward to most was a meal that was many many millennia overdue.
After what was nearly three hours inside the time bubble, Colgate saw Ponyville approaching in the distance. She ordered everypony to stop so she could cast the proper spells to unfreeze time and undo the time bubble. The final mile of their journey to Ponyville was flown at a slow pace and when they landed by Twilight's castle, almost everypony, even the top flyers were in visible pain.
Fluttershy, who had among the strongest wings in the group had a grimace on her face, "Ugh, I don't think my wings have hurt this bad in ages."
Rainbow, who was almost as strong as Fluttershy added, "I know, right."
Colgate sighed, "Well had we been able to break the sound barrier immediately, your wings wouldn't be hurting so bad." She turned to her soldiers and asked, "How about all of you, how are you doing?"
Lightning Storm replied, "My wings hurt like hell and I'm sure the changeling hoof soldiers are in similar pain."
Colgate turned to them and they nodded in agreement. She then turned to Dark Night and asked, "What about you? How are your wings feeling?"
Dark Night replied, "They hurt but not enough to go complaining about it."
Colgate then turned to everypony else and could tell that they were all in excruciating pain. She pointed towards Twilight's castle and suggested, "How about we go inside, get something to eat and then get some rest."
Twilight objected, "Who do you think you are to be telling ponies to go inside my castle?" She was very leery of Colgate but knew that she couldn't remain afraid of her since they were on the same side. She approached her and continued, "Listen, I am a princess of Equestria and you are just a foreign dignitary here. I will let ponies know if they can go in there."
Colgate flared up her horn and the bells on her collar began to glow. She laughed, "Well then Twily, perhaps my soldiers and I should just head a few miles east of town and wait until those centaurs destroy you and then come in and wipe them out."
When the bells on her collar lit up, Twilight knew that Colgate was getting ready to put her in a cage again so she hung her head in defeat and sighed, "Very well, I'll let you handle things."
Colgate returned to normal, lifted her head up with her hoof and joyfully replied, "Good girl Twily, good girl!"
White Magick saw how she was talking to her and was not thrilled. He stepped between the two and yelled, "Would you stop it Colgate? Would you please stop talking to her like she is a little filly?" Colgate tried to say something but he continued, "I'm sick and tired of you constantly either calling her 'little Twily' or referring to her as a girl!" He raised his voice and continued, "She is a princess and needs to be treated as such!"
Colgate sighed in frustration and ordered everypony to go into the castle. Once they were inside, Colgate asked, "Twilight, go and order a steak for all of us."
Many of the ponies began to gag over the prospect of meat and Colgate learned that her desire for meat would not be fulfilled when Twilight replied, "Colgate, hay steaks will have to do because I do not eat meat. I don't know of many ponies that do anymore."
Scootaloo chimed in, "I do but hay steak will be fine for me."
Colgate sighed, "Very well then, I won't exactly be full without my meat but hey, perhaps after we slay our foes tomorrow, I can get some fresh meat in my system."
Everypony with the exception of Twilight gave her a curious look. Scootaloo asked, "Are you going to feast on one of the centaurs after we kill them."
Colgate gave her a devious smile and laughed, "Perhaps so or maybe I'll kill and eat something else."
Applejack immediately became suspicious and yelled, "We'll you ain't going to kill one of my family's pigs I'll tell you that much!"
Colgate continued to laugh, "Oh don't worry, pork isn't on the menu for tomorrow." She then pointed to Twilight and continued, "Now could you be a dear and go order us a haysteak, some hay fries and some cider?"
Colgate nodded and outside of her soldiers and Scootaloo, she was met with looks of nervousness and suspicion. Colgate began to wonder if they didn't know what her true intentions were for after they killed their foes. Their continued staring really began to bother her but she decided that with it being meal time, that it was not the right time to discuss it.
Thirty minutes later, half of the ponies had fallen asleep when Twilight and the chef returned with their meals. Colgate saw this and yelled, "Attention!"
Twilight added, "Ok everypony, your meals are here."
As they began to eat their meals, there was an uneasy silence among everypony. Ever since Colgate had a position of power and not long after Twilight was corrupted, business items would not be discussed over meals but never had they been completely quiet.
During the meal, some ponies kept their eyes glued on Colgate, wondering what kinds of plans she had in the event they were able to defeat the two centaurs, Ruby had her eyes glued on White Magick and Twilight hoping that she could maybe destroy their life bond after they wiped out the centaurs while Colgate focused on one thing, her meal. Despite her simply focusing on her meal, she was thinking about everything that she would do after Tirek and Tirac were killed, things that she felt that would be owed to her for saving the planet.
After a quiet meal, Colgate got up and asked, "Twilight, where are your guest rooms? I think we all need to get some sleep before morning arrives."
Twilight pointed her hoof towards the stairs and replied, "Follow me."
They all followed her and once they got upstairs, they saw multiple rooms to their sides and at the end of the hall, they saw a huge door that was lavender in color and had Twilight's cutie mark on it. Colgate began to focus intently on it and Twilight was not enthused by this. She stood in front of Colgate and snapped, "No, you will not be sleeping in my room, alright?"
Colgate laughed, "Now why would I want to sleep in your chambers? You should know that I would never sleep in somepony else's bed!"
Twilight sighed, "I know how you are. I know that you think since you are in charge of this that you should get all the benefits of the top pony."
Colgate rolled her eyes as Twilight began to assign bedrooms. She pointed at the one furthest from her bedroom and ordered, "Ruby, Colgate, this one will be for you."
The two headed in and shut the door while Twilight continued to assign bedrooms. None of them except for the one she put Colgate and Ruby had a balcony on them and it was rather small. This however was not a problem for Colgate. While Ruby headed towards her bed immediately, Colgate headed towards the balcony and Ruby couldn't help but wonder why. She asked, "Colgate, aren't you tired? Don't you think you better get to bed?"
Colgate replied, "Canterlot is within eyesight of here and I want to see if they are up to anything, I want to see if they might be heading this way and attack us at night."
Ruby gasped, "Colgate, there is no way your eyesight is that good! Nopony could tell if they were doing anything from this distance."
Besides her magical abilities improving dramatically, so had her eyesight. She laughed, "Oh you'd be surprised. This collar has boosted a whole lot of my abilities, including my eyesight." She went quiet and continued to scan the areas off to the west of them before continuing, "There is no activity off that way so they must be getting some sleep." She then headed to her bed and finished, "Now to get some much needed rest."
It took Ruby a while to get to sleep but for Colgate, it was easy. It was not even five minutes after laying down that she had fallen asleep. As she laid there, Ruby, who had been showing some skepticism towards Colgate's plans of killing their foes realized that given her powers, even if bad things were to happen after slaying them, that she would likely be able to restore everything with no problems.
After a shorter night's rest than anypony would have liked, the sun rose and everypony woke up. While Ruby was stretching wanting to lay down for just a few more minutes, Colgate was up, out on the balcony and staring to the west. What she saw caused her to pull Ruby out of bed with her aura and this did not sit well with her. Ruby snapped, "Colgate, what's going on? Why are you dragging me out of bed?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, they're heading this way. We must wake everypony and prepare for what could determine the fate of this whole planet!"
Ruby suggested, "Well let me out of your aura so we can make sure the others are up."
Colgate released her, they headed out to the hall and began pounding on each door, yelling for everypony to get up. After everypony else had exited their room and gathered in the hall, Colgate forced Twilight's door open, went in and yelled, "Twilight, get up."
Twilight woke up with a scowl on her face as she was not thrilled that the pony that she considered to be a foe of hers would barge into her bedroom. She demanded, "I want to know why you would barge in here and wake me up."
Colgate screamed, "The time has come Twilight. They are coming towards Ponyville. We must be ready and alert for their arrival."
Twilight calmed down a bit and asked, "And how could you possibly know this? You don't have your eye."
Colgate pointed towards her neck and replied, "Ever since I became one with this collar, ALL of my abilities have improved, even my eyesight." She headed towards the exit and continued, "Now come on, we need to have a good filling breakfast and then final plans need to be made on how to handle those two."
Twilight couldn't help but be frustrated over how Colgate seemed to be in charge of the whole situation but felt like there was nothing she could do to change that given Colgate's enhanced abilities. Once they got downstairs into the dining hall Colgate ordered, "Twilight, could you get your chefs to fix us all four eggs, six pieces of hay sausage, hash browns and have them bring in plenty of cider?"
LaurFa, who was not overly hungry that morning asked, "Seriously, you're ordering for all of us, again?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I want us all to be full and if you don't want to eat your whole meal, I'm sure either myself or my soldiers would gladly take it."
They simply nodded and Twilight headed off to place their order. When she returned, she was expecting another quiet, tense wait but would be surprised. Colgate began, "Alright everypony, even though we are waiting for our meal, I think we need to plan on how exactly we are going to do this."
They all gasped, "What?"
Colgate could tell that they were stunned that she would even consider talking about business during mealtime but figured that she had reasons for doing so. She continued, "Alright, I am not sure what time they will arrive but I do think we need to be ready for this." She pointed at her hoof soldiers and continued, "I am going to duplicate you until there are around 500 of each of you."
Ruby had only been involved in one battle that included changelings and dark Alicorns so she didn't know why they had to be duplicated. She asked, "Why do they have to be duplicated?"
Colgate replied, "Because that way we will have more soldiers. The more dark Alicorns we have, the more forces we will have that can burn them with energy and the more changelings we have, the more ooze we can cover them in and hopefully immobilize them." She then pointed towards Twilight and added, "Just ask her, she's used them for the same....."
Celestia interrupted, "Shhh.....remember, we can't bring those times up."
Colgate rolled her eyes and continued, "LaurFa, I want you to try and contact your sister and tell her she is needed. She has powerful magic and if it looks like we won't be able to kill them, she can always unmake them."
LaurFa replied, "That is an option as long as somepony doesn't split uranium atoms!"
Colgate rolled her eyes and continued, "Ruby, when they are coming into town, the first thing I want you to do is use the Rainbow of Light to turn their pack of beasts back into ponies, alright."
To some of the ponies, particularly Twilight's friends, it seemed like they were not going to have much of a role in fighting the centaurs at all. Rainbow asked, "Colgate, what are the rest of us supposed to do? It seems like you only have plans for specific ponies!"
Colgate replied, "I want all of you to burn them with as much energy as you can and please, if it looks like Tirek is about to steal your magic, teleport behind him and continue your attack."
They nodded in unison and Rarity asked, "What about you? What will you be doing?"
Colgate replied, "My primary goal at first will be using my new powers" Colgate pointed at her collar and continued, "that my collar gave me to fight against the Rainbow of Darkness. If I can destroy it, Tirac will be much easier to wipe out and then Tirek will be easier to kill."
They all nodded and outside of her military, Ruby and Scootaloo, everypony else was still leery about killing them but knew that anything short of permanently wiping them out as threats was unacceptable in her eyes. Before Colgate could bring anything else up, their meals would be brought in to them which caused Colgate's mood to change drastically. She joyfully said, "Alright everypony, chow down and remember, no business talk while we are eating!"
As Colgate sat there chowing down with a smile on her face like everything was completely fine, her allies couldn't help but wonder how in the world she could just go from being very serious to being so carefree. While none of them would admit it, not even her military, they liked the carefree Colgate much more.
After what was a filling breakfast for all of them, they all felt a bit less stressed but still knew that the foes they were about to face would be a huge challenge. For those who had been taking part in wars since the very first confrontation against Twilight, they knew this would likely push them to their limits. For Ruby and White Magick though, they felt that defeating their foes was likely given the relics they had, it was Colgate's plans for them that brought out more concern.
After letting their food sit for a few minutes Colgate pointed towards the exit and ordered, "Alright, let's go out and wait." She pointed towards her hoof soldiers and added, "While your stomachs are still full, I want to get you duplicated."
Colgate headed towards the exit and was immediately followed by the others. Once they were a decent distance from the castle she pointed towards an empty area and ordered, "Troops, gather over there so I may duplicate you."
Her hoof soldiers did as ordered and Colgate lit up her horn, pointed it in the direction of her soldiers and recited,
"From one to two, two to four and so much more. When one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."
Like it had been in the past, for each soldier she had, there were now two. She continued to cast the spell until she had 500 of each type. She gave her much larger army a smile and then turned to her allies. Given that only during her corruption had Twilight ever duplicated troops, she looked at the larger army in shock. She asked, "Colgate, how were you able to do that? How could you just make more of them?"
Colgate knew that she simply couldn't bring up her past regarding duplicating them nor did she want to go into too much detail in the event she was to remember what happened and transform back into a dark goddess so she replied, "It is just a spell to assist armies in taking down evil."
She then took to the sky and cast her gaze to the west and realized that it would not be much longer. She returned to the ground and said, "Alright everypony, they are likely ten miles away so clear your minds and prepare for their arrival."
Everypony began to calm themselves down but that would not last for long as dark clouds began to roll in from the north, lightning began to flash and thunder began to boom around them. Once a freezing rain began to fall, memories of Tambelon began return to them. For some of them, memories of being enslaved returned to them, for Twilight memories of being tortured and tied up in the elements came back to her and for Colgate and Ruby, memories of their confrontation with Grogar returned. These memories would only get worse when they heard the laughter of Grogar accompanying the storm.
Ruby had a look of pure terror on her face. She wrapped her hooves around Colgate and asked, "It's him, isn't it? His spirit is causing this storm, isn't it?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, he is." She saw that everypony else was looking unnerved and continued, "Fight the fear everypony! His spirit can't hurt you, he is trying to aid our enemies by scaring us!"
For her allies, this was difficult, very difficult. The only other ones that were not affected by it psychologically were her generals. After a few minutes they finally saw their enemies approaching town. She yelled, "Ruby, use the Rainbow on the beasts, use the Rainbow on the beasts."
The first of their enemies to enter town were the beasts. They were hungry and immediately began to go after them. Colgate screamed, "Into the sky, get into the sky!"
Everypony became airborne and Ruby pointed the locket towards the beasts and for the first time since before the fall of Ponyland, it was opened but nothing came out. Ruby screamed, "It's not working Colgate, its not working!"
Colgate ordered, "Hold it in your aura, maybe that will work!"
Ruby did as ordered and the Rainbow shot out of the relic and as it struck each beast, they returned to being ponies. Some had their cutie marks and some did not. Once every beast had been transformed back into a pony, some of them returned to the ground to take them on while Colgate, Scootaloo and Ruby remained airborne.
The first centaur to arrive in town was Tirac and he was not one bit pleased that his beasts had been returned to their natural form. He unleashed his Rainbow of Darkness on the ones who had not escaped town and once again, they were beasts but this time, they were more aggressive and immediately went for the allies that were on the ground. Galaxia was the first one that would get attacked.
As it sank its teeth into one of her hind legs, she began screaming in pain and calling out for help. Despite knowing that in reality she would be killing a pony, Colgate fired a powerful bolt of energy at the beast and killed it. She realized that perhaps the best option when it came to the beasts was not to return them to being ponies but simply to kill them. She flew over to Ruby and suggested, "The ones that he transformed back, let me handle them. You save the power of that thing for a battle against the Rainbow of Darkness."
While Galaxia was able to get airborne and out of reach of the beasts, some of the other allies were in a panic. The one who was in the biggest panic was Twilight. She began to run away from the beasts that hunted her but was soon backed up against her castle. Despite Colgate hating Twilight, she fired bolts of energy at the three beasts that had her trapped and blew them to bits. Twilight was so grateful for her saving her that she took to the sky and hugged Colgate, "Thank you Colgate, thank you so much!"
Colgate broke the embrace and ordered, "You're welcome but we must stay focused. Try taking down those beasts or attack Tirac." Suddenly a much larger centaur entered town and Colgate continued, "Or worry about him! Up here in the sky we are not safe from him."
Twilight nodded and began to fire energy at Tirek, as did many of the other allies. Colgate pointed at her changelings and yelled, "Cover them in ooze, immobilize them!"
Her changelings did as ordered, they began to swarm the two and cover them in ooze but something was different about them. No matter how much ooze they got covered in, it was not even affecting either one of them. For Tirek, they were just a minor inconvenience so he fired a ball of fire at them and killed many of them instantly. Colgate realized that changelings were no match against the two so she ordered them to retreat.
Tirek soon though would find himself being burned by the energy of the dark Alicorns, many, many dark Alicorns. The bolts of energy he had been struck with by the normal Alicorns was not harming him but something was different about them, their energy was darker and began to burn him. Colgate ordered them to circle him and burn him continuously and that is what they did.
While Tirek was being burned by dark Alicorn energy, Tirac saw what Ruby had around her neck and readied himself to unleash his Rainbow of Darkness. He shouted, "That thing may have defeated me in the past but not this time! This time I'm destroying it!"
Colgate shouted, "Ruby, use the Rainbow on Tirac, use the Rainbow!"
Ruby grabbed the locket in her aura and swung it open at the same time Tirac opened his pouch and unleashed his Rainbow upon her. The two Rainbows met in the middle and the two began an epic struggle. For Ruby it was taking a lot of her energy just to keep up the fight while Tirac was having no problems keeping his Rainbow going. Ruby began to grimace in pain and shouted, "Colgate, I don't know how much longer I can do this. His power is too strong."
As soon as she said this, the power of the Rainbow of Darkness overwhelmed her Rainbow and sent her flying. As the battle raged on, Colgate's focus shifted from the two centaurs and to her friend Ruby. Seeing her go flying brought back so many bad memories, bad memories of that fateful day in Tambelon. She landed by her and noticed that she was still alive but that the Rainbow had been shattered, the locket was broken.
Ruby looked down at the broken relic and began to cry, "What are we going to do? We'll all be beasts in the end!"
Colgate replied, "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Colgate took to the sky and returned to the battle and saw that some of Twilight's friends had turned to beasts and were going after the others. Colgate ordered, "Head to the skies, don't let them get you."
When they returned to the skies, Colgate saw that Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity had all been turned to beasts. She knew that with the Rainbow of Light having been destroyed, that they could not be returned to their normal form. Something crossed her mind though, she thought that perhaps if she destroyed the relic that turned them into beasts, that they may return to normal because she was not about to kill them unless she had no other choice.
When Ruby finally returned to the battle, it did not take Tirac long to notice. He laughed, "Without that relic, you are nothing you BEAST!"
He opened his pouch and the Rainbow of Darkness began to speed towards Ruby but it would not reach her. Colgate fired up her horn, the bells on her collar began to glow and a powerful bolt of energy fired out of her horn. Like it was with Ruby and the Rainbow of Light, their beams met in the middle but Colgate had one advantage, the relic she had had become part of her.
Despite the struggle not bringing any discomfort to Colgate, she knew that this had to end sooner rather than later, she knew that more energy would be needed to do this. While Colgate's dark Alicorns continued to burn Tirek and the others were firing energy at him, Colgate began to glow. Soon she appeared as though she was a bright blue sun in the sky which brought the entire battle to a stop.
Her energy began to push the Rainbow of Darkness back into its pouch and finally, Colgate's eyes shot blue beams out of them as she unleashed the final surge of power that caused not only the Rainbow of Darkness to be shoved back in, but for it to break entirely, causing the Rainbow to strike one final victim, Twilight Sparkle. The raw energy of the Rainbow sent her flying and while they couldn't be sure, it looked like it actually seeped into Twilight. This caused Colgate to get a bad feeling but she couldn't worry about that at the moment, she had two centaurs to take down.
She began to analyze the stunned Tirac who was feeling around his neck, trying to find the pouch. When he discovered it was not there, he screamed, "Noooooo! It's gone, noooooo! Curse you ponies, curse you"
Colgate decided the time had come to kill her enemy. She again lit her horn up and her bells began to glow. She fired a bolt of energy at him which quickly began to burn him. His screams turned into cries of agony and again Colgate began to glow blue as she fired a much more powerful bolt of energy, the bolt of energy that would blow him apart.
When he blew apart, a powerful surge of magic that spread skywards, causing the clouds to turn brown and the rain to become painful. With the exception of her army and Tirek, the rain had begun to sting them. Colgate knew that this couldn't last but when she noticed that the other centaur had begun grabbing her dark Alicorn soldiers and slamming them into the ground, she knew she had to finish him off before she could try and clear out the skies.
As Colgate headed towards him, she would be shocked when she saw Tirek steal the magic from everypony except Twilight. Tirek grew tenfold and suddenly Colgate looked like a bug compared to him. She would not be thrilled when Tirek laughed, "Surrender now you weak minded Equine and I might let you live!"
Despite how huge he was and realizing that her chances of defeating him were slim, she would not back down. She countered, "You may think you have won but you have not. You have seen my powers, you saw what I did to your cohort and if you do not wish to suffer the same fate, you will surrender, now!"
Tirek laughed, "Ha, you kill me! You're no bigger than a bug, how are you going to kill me?"
Colgate mocked, "Oooh, you're no bigger than a bug, how are you going to kill big bad Tirek?" She then fired up her horn and yelled, "Like this!"
She fired a powerful bolt of energy at him that struck him right in the eye. He was shocked that such a tiny opponent could inflict pain upon him but it would not take long for his eyesight to return. He swung his fist at Colgate and yelled, "Alright little bug, your magic is mine!"
A ball formed between Tirek's horns and he opened his mouth, readying himself to steal her magic. When she saw this, she took skyward and got out of his line of sight. She knew that she was at a huge disadvantage given how big he was although being small would make it harder for him to steal her magic.
She continued to fly well above him but would not be thrilled when she saw him begin to launch balls of fire at the buildings in town. She knew that he was dead set on burning Ponyville to the ground. Despite her not having lived there in many millennia, she still felt a connection to the town. She thought to herself, "How am I going to do this, how am I going to bring him down?" She then remembered the life draining spell that she was originally going to use on Grogar and said to herself, "I've got it, I'll drain his very life from him! I'll just have to fix it to where it would be for a centaur and not a goat."
She remembered how it was difficult enough to alter the spell for a goat but do it for a centaur may not be as difficult if she altered the one for the goat inside of the one for a pony. She looked down in disgust as he continued to set the town ablaze. She knew the time had come to end this had arrived as she did not want him to find Twilight and take her magic as well.
Given that she was so small, she was able to land on the top of his head without noticing. She leaned her head down to where her horn was making contact with his scalp and she recited,
"The centaur is full of life Yet he has caused a lot of strife, He thinks he is invincible But that kind of thought is not sensible, 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 she began to drain his energy, he began to shrink in size and he had no idea how it was happening. There was nopony present with the Elements to be doing this like it was with Celestia and Luna. He saw nopony around with magic until he had shrank down to his scrawny form and the same blue Alicorn that had mocked him before was now in front of his face, larger than him.
The ball of energy that contained much of his life and all the magic he had stolen was floating above Colgate's head. He gave Colgate a snarl and ordered, "Give me back what is rightfully mine, weak minded equine!"
Colgate cast a spell to break the ball of energy, causing not only the magic he stole from ponies to be returned to them, but his life force spread into the sky and exploded, clearing out the skies. All that remained was a powerless Tirek defiantly standing up to the much larger Alicorn.
He continued to throw insults at Colgate until she eventually tired of it. While there were many ways she could have killed him using magic, she decided to do it the way an earth pony would. She grabbed him by the neck, bent it in a way that it should not be bent until she heard it snap and then his body went limp.
Colgate placed her hoof on his neck to feel for a pulse but none was to be found. Colgate noticed that the others, including those who had been turned into beasts, were coming to and that they all seemed to be ok. The first to run to her was Ruby, "You did it Colgate, you did it! You killed them, you saved the world!"
Colgate corrected, "You mean we saved the world. This was a team effort."
When she said this, everypony began to cheer loudly and like her soldiers would in the old days, they all began to chant her name, "Colgate, Colgate, Colgate!"
Colgate looked around and noticed that many of her dark Alicorn and changeling hoof soldiers had perished. Dark Night and Lightning Storm approached her with solemn looks on her faces. She commented, "This is always the worst part of every battle, the loss of life."
Her generals and everypony else agreed. They all stood around Colgate with smiles on their faces. For the first time in an extremely long time, Colgate felt like they were all on the same page. She thought to herself, "Good, right now they're with me and perhaps now I can take what I should have after Twilight was banished to the sun." She then began to snicker, "And perhaps I'll take little Twily's heart while I'm at it."
Everypony had gathered around Colgate to commend her on how she was able to kill both their enemies. Many of them praised her over her blowing Tirac to bits but it was Rainbow who was most enthused by what she did, "Wow Colgate, that was so awesome how you stood up to Tirek even though he was so big."
Scootaloo grabbed her and added, "Yeah, he could have smashed you but you showed no fear, you showed him who's boss!"
Pinkie chimed in, "Yeah, you showed those meany-mean hooves' centaurs a thing or two!"
Colgate replied, "Thanks but now we have bigger issues to worry about, such as rebuilding Ponyville."
They all agreed and as Colgate continued to look around analyzing the damage. Her thoughts would be interrupted when she heard Celestia ask, "Hey, has anypony seen Twilight?"
Everypony began to look around around and she was nowhere to be found. White Magick went into a panic, "Twilight! We have to find her and make sure she is ok!"
Most of the ponies, with the exception of Ruby, Scootaloo, Colgate and her army, spread out in every direction looking for her. As they watched them do this Ruby couldn't help but shake her head in disgust. She sighed, "Good grief, the way they're fanning out you'd think that you were the one who was missing."
Colgate replied, "Well you know how some of them are. It doesn't matter that at one time she was a dark goddess, they still think she is some sort of prize rooster."
After a couple of minutes Luna yelled, "I've found her everypony, I've found her."
Despite not caring for her, Ruby, Scootaloo and Colgate rushed over towards where she was laying. When they found her, she appeared to be lifeless. White Magick began to tear up, "Twilight, please don't be dead! Please be ok!"
Colgate headed towards her, bent down and felt for a pulse and she had one. Colgate stood up and said, "Well she ain't dead, she has a pulse."
A sigh of relief came from most of the ponies but something didn't seem right about her and Ruby was the first to mention this. She asked, "Does she look different to you? Is it just me or is her coat a darker color and look at her mane and tail, they look a bit darker too."
Colgate gave her a nervous look and mouthed, "This can't be good."
After being surrounded for a couple of minutes, Twilight sat up and opened her eyes. What they would see terrified them. Her eyes were green, a shiny green the way they were when she was a dark goddess. Ruby flared up her horn and yelled, "It's her, it's the dark goddess!"
Ruby fired a bolt of energy at Twilight but it would be deflected by a shield she put up. She stood up, approached White Magick and laughed, "You thought you could cleanse me but you failed! You failed! You may have cleansed Sombra and Chrysalis but a dark goddess can never truly be cleansed, never!"
When White Magic was approached by her and she said that, a bright pink heart encircled him and then shattered. When she saw this, Ruby knew what had happened, the life bond had been shattered. She approached him and said, "I told you she was still a dark goddess! I told you that she wasn't this sweet little thing she claimed to be."
She looked around and laughed, "And here you all thought I was this innocent, naive little thing!" She then grabbed Celestia in her aura, turned her head to where it was facing her and recited,
"From another to me, that is where your allegiance will now be, you thought your old commander loved you like pie, when all they wanted was for you to die, with me all shall be great, there shall be no hate."
The energy quickly seeped into Celestia. She gave Twilight a salute and shouted, "All hail the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, our one and only leader!"
Everypony else gasped in shock and realized that things could go downhill in a hurry if Twilight began to cast loyalty spells on everypony. Colgate yelled, "Don't let her get you everypony, don't let her make you her slave!"
This brought out an amused chuckle from Twilight, "Oh so I see it is the traitor Colgate, the pony who thinks she can have it all." Her chuckle turned into a laugh as she continued, "Well guess what, it ain't happening. You'll be loyal to me" she then pointed to everypony else and laughed, "you'll all be loyal to me."
Colgate scoffed, "Me loyal to you, I think not little Twily." Before Twilight could say anything, Colgate fired a powerful bolt of energy at Twilight and imprisoned her in a cage. Colgate circled the cage and laughed, "Well now, what was that about us being loyal to you?"
Twilight flared up her horn and easily broke out of her cage and laughed, "Oh so you thought the old Grogar trick would work on me huh?" She approached Colgate and laughed, "So you've become one with his collar, how cute!"
Colgate realized that dealing with Twilight would not be easy since even her enhanced powers would not ensure victory against Twilight. Twilight grabbed Galaxia and Cosmos in her aura, forced them to look at her and cast the loyalty spell on them as well. When Colgate saw this she shouted, "Retreat, we need to come up with a plan."
Colgate and her remaining allies took to the sky realizing that they needed to do something. When Colgate turned to the north and they flew over the Everfree Forest, they knew that this was not an all out retreat, that it was just them going someplace to regroup and make a good plan to defeat her.
Making a Plan
As they followed Colgate into the forest, they couldn't help but wonder where they were headed but would soon find out when they landed in a clearing that was near what was the Castle of the Two Sisters. By this point, it was nothing more than a pile of rubble.
Colgate gave her allies a serious look and said, "Well this certainly changes things. Here I thought we had saved the world and now we have the dark goddess to deal with, again!"
They all knew that Colgate had dealt with her in the past and won. Luna asked, "Colgate, what do you suggest we do?"
LaurFa added, "You've dealt with her before and won so you tell us."
She cast her gaze at her army and remembered how unlike the centaurs they just defeated, that Twilight was not immune to their ooze. She suggested, "I'm thinking that she may not be so hard to deal with after all." She pointed her hoof at Lightning Storm and continued, "General, if you and what is left of our changeling soldiers can get her covered in ooze, we can and will defeat her."
Scootaloo asked, "If we do manage to get her covered in ooze, what if she uses her magic to free herself from it?"
Luna added, "The fact that she was easily able to break out of that cage shows that her powers are far greater than they were the last time she was a dark goddess."
Fluttershy asked, "What caused her to become a dark goddess again? I thought White Magick had cleansed her."
Colgate replied, "Well I have an idea. When I destroyed the Rainbow of Darkness, it shot out of the broken pouch and seeped into her so that means that she will likely have Tirac's dark powers."
Everypony's eyes grew wide and Rainbow asked, "Wait a minute, you mean that she could turn us into beasts?"
Colgate replied, "She could but I know how her mind works, she would rather us be mindless, subservient drones that she could actually use to assist her in taking over the world. Magic-less beasts won't do and I'm certain she knows that."
Ruby suggested, "Ok, we know about how her mind works and that she has stronger magic but still, how are we going to defeat her." She pointed her wing at Colgate and continued, "You have dealt with her as an enemy the most, you are in charge of this operation so it should be you who devises our plan."
Colgate was not overly thrilled with how Ruby seemed to be expecting her to be completely responsible for what she thought would be either their success or their failure but knew that she was right. She stood there for a minute in thought before replying, "Ok, what all of the Alicorns and dark Alicorns need to do is strike her with your energy and if at all possible, aim for the horn. I think if it can be shattered, she can be subdued and taken down."
Lightning Storm asked, "What about us changelings?"
Colgate replied, "Like I said earlier, cover her in as much ooze as you can and if she is able to break out of it, just keep it up anyway, it may slow her down enough that we can blast that horn apart" she then got a huge smile on her face and continued, "and then I can do what I should have done when we decided to banish her to the sun."
Only two ponies knew what Colgate's true plans for her were, Ruby and Scootaloo. Ruby asked, "Do you plan on ripping her open with your teeth and eating her heart?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, that is my plan." She knew that White Magick would likely object to it so she pointed his wing at him and continued, "And nopony is going to talk me out of this. The only way to finally eradicate this evil is to kill it."
White Magick was not thrilled with how Twilight had tricked him, seduced him and caused a fake life bond to form between them. He agreed, "Do it Colgate, if you can finally destroy her, do it!"
Ruby approached him and asked, "Really, you're not going to be upset if she kills your little Twily?"
White Magick became agitated, "She is not my little Twily anymore, I want nothing to do with her now." He stomped his hoof on the ground and added, "And Colgate, I will help you kill her if need be."
Colgate replied, "Good but I get dibs on the heart."
Out of all of them, Luna had the biggest concerns over her family. She interrupted, "Colgate, what about my parents and my sister? What are your plans for them?"
Colgate replied, "Well given that they are currently loyal to Twilight, I will cast the spell to put them in cages and once Twilight is wiped out, I will reverse the loyalty spells and then" she gave everypony a smile and finished, "we can restore order to this world."
Everypony began to cheer over Colgate's plans. For quite some time, even to Ruby, it seemed like Colgate wanted global conquest but at that point they could tell that that was not part of their plans. They were certain that she would continue to rule Coastal Equestria but global conquest, they no longer feared any chance of her wanting that.
Plans of the Dark Goddess
In Ponyville Twilight was smiling as she had just returned to being a dark goddess and already had three loyal subjects. She began to circle them and began, "Well you three, I am happy to have you as part of my extended family but now we must prepare for their plans."
Celestia asked, "Twilight......"
Twilight smacked her and yelled, "You either address me as your Majesty or Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, got it?"
Celestia began to tear up, "Yes your Majesty."
Twilight again smacked her and sneered, "Just like you always were, crybaby Celestia! Wah-wah-wah!" She smacked her for a third time and continued, "Maybe I should just banish you to the void right now. I have no use for psychological liabilities and I certainly don't want you to be the reason Colgate and her minions would win.
Galaxia protested, "Please your Majesty, please don't. You know she gets like this but in the end does what she needs to do to win."
Given that she showed her respect, Twilight decided not to turn Celestia into a beast. She gave the three in intense stare and said, "Now for what I think we need to do, I think I need to duplicate the three of you multiple times over."
This was something that had never been done before. In all the time that duplication spells had been used in warfare, never had it been used on anything but dark Alicorns and changelings. Cosmos asked, "Are you sure that is a good idea? What if the duplicates weren't loyal to you?"
Twilight snapped, "Remember, they are EXACT duplicates so they will be plenty loyal to me and the more loyal ponies I have, the better!"
Despite being unsure of it and deep down thinking it was a bad idea, the three knew that they had better not question her any further. In unison the three agreed, "Very well, duplicate us when you are ready."
Twilight got a huge smile on her face and replied, "Your Dark Goddess knew you'd come around." She pointed at them and ordered, "Now stand together, all of you."
She lit up her horn, pointed it at them and recited,
"From one to two, two to four and so much more. When one is simple mere, more and more shall appear."
As she recited this, she fired a bolt of energy at them and suddenly there were two of each of them. She continued to cast the spell until there were sixteen of each of them, forty eight Alicorns in total. While she knew they were all exact duplicates, she figured she better make sure. She asked, "Who are you loyal to?"
In unison they all shouted, "We are loyal to our Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and no other!"
Twilight replied, "Good, good. Now we need to make plans on how to take out our enemies when they return."
They all turned to Twilight and she could tell that they were waiting for instructions from her. She stood tall and began, "As far as all of you go, I want you to fire energy at them and burn them. I would advise you take their changelings out first because if they cover you in ooze, your magic will be powerless and you won't be able to move."
One of them asked, "And what about you? What will you be doing?"
Twilight replied, "I will be handling Colgate because I'm the only one with magic strong enough to do so." She then stood tall and boasted, "And once they are all subdued, I will kill most of them first and force Colgate to watch." Her boasting turned into a manic laugh, "And then I shall feast on her heart and this world will once again belong to the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle." Her laugh became louder, "And all those laws I had so long ago, they will be enforced! My subjects will pay me a 10% tribute or die and they will worship me or die!"
Her soldiers began to celebrate her plan and like she always had, she gobbled up all the attention. For the first time in many millennia, Twilight truly felt on top of the world. No longer did she feel like a weakling, no longer did she feel love for anypony except herself and she believed it was her destiny to rule over all with an iron hoof.
Two hours had passed and Colgate and her allies had come up with what their plan was. Unlike it was with the centaurs, Colgate knew how to handle Twilight and was already envisioning them winning and then achieving the ultimate victory, feasting on Twilight's corpse.
She took to the sky and ordered, "Come on everypony, let's go and finally eradicate evil from this world. We wiped out the centaurs and Tirek was beyond huge so little Twily shouldn't cause us too many problems."
Scootaloo suggested, "Colgate, you may not want to underestimate her. If she does have the powers of the Rainbow of Darkness flowing within her, she could turn all of us into beasts!"
As much as Colgate wanted to either dismiss her suggestion or snap at her for glorifying an enemy, she held her temper. She knew that letting her emotions get the best of her would not be in their best interests. She replied, "I know Scootaloo, I know."
She then pointed her finger off in the direction of Ponyville and ordered, "This way everypony, let's finish this once and for all."
When they got within eyesight of Ponyville Colgate saw something that would not please her. She ordered her allies to stop, pointed towards Ponyville and said, "Look everypony, Twilight has duplicated Celestia, Galaxia and Cosmos multiple times."
All of them were concerned about what these duplicates were capable of but it was Luna who was the most concerned. She asked, "Colgate, what are we going to do? We can't just kill all of them because three of those are my real family!"
Colgate replied, "I honestly don't know. I have only ever dealt with duplicated dark Alicorn hoofsoldiers and changeling drones." She continued to float there and asked, "Luna, I know they are all exact duplicates but is there any way that you might be able to pick the real ones out?"
Her question irritated Luna. She threw her hooves up in the air and replied, "We can't! They are exact duplicates......"
Ruby interrupted, "What if the real ones are more powerful? What if the duplicates of your relatives aren't as strong."
Most everypony just rolled their eyes at the suggestion except for Scootaloo. She said, "You know, these are normal ponies we are talking about. Ruby might have a point."
Applejack added, "You know, they may be like changelings when they duplicate a pony. They may look the same but only the real ones have memories of those who are important to them."
Colgate replied, "You know, that is a good idea." She turned to Luna and continued, "Look, this isn't going to be easy and there is a chance that your relatives may be hurt....."
Luna yelled, "No, nopony is going to risk hurting my family!"
Colgate pointed her hoof at the changelings and ordered, "Since Luna doesn't want there to be a risk of her folks getting injured or killed, cover ALL of them in ooze and after we kill Twilight, we can find which ones are her real folks." She turned to Luna and asked, "Is that going to be ok?"
Luna replied, "Yes Colgate, that would be fine."
Colgate nodded, cast her gaze at everypony and ordered, "CHARGE!"
In Ponyville Twilight was still receiving adoration and cheers from her forces. She had fought in many battles before but this would be the first time that she would not have any dark Alicorns or changelings and knew that things would have to be differently.
She turned to her forces and barked, "Attention!"
Every single one of them stood towards her at attention. She began, "Alright everypony, we need to be alert and ready for their arrival but there is one thing different about this battle. In the past I have always had dark Alicorns and changelings but this time I don't." Her forces simply nodded and she continued, "Ok, I don't know if you remember this or not but try your hardest to not get hit by changeling ooze and if you see that one of your comrades are covered in ooze, use your magic to free them."
One of the Celestias asked, "Twilight, what if they strike us all at once and we're all rendered powerless?"
The question did not sit well with Twilight. She approached her, smacked her and yelled, "Typical Celestia, nothing but a whiny little filly full of doubt." She approached several of the others, smacked them and yelled, "Maybe I should just banish you all to the void right now!"
One of them seemed a bit more defiant than the others and mocked her, "Ooooh, maybe I should just banish you all to the void!"
One of the Galaxias laughed, "You'd only be hurting yourself!"
One of the Cosmoses added, "You know, for a so-called dark goddess you sure aren't a very good commander."
Twilight fired up her horn and burned each of the three with energy and yelled, "How dare you disrespect your dark goddess! Nopony disrespects the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and goes unpunished!" She pointed her wing off to the right and ordered, "You three, get over there, NOW!"
The three headed off to the right of the others and awaited the fate. Given the way Twilight had been talking, they knew what was going to happen. They knew that they were going to the void and knew that they had best not challenge her if they didn't want to suffer the same fate.
Once they were standing where she ordered, she lit up her horn and recited,
"You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into....
Before she could finish the spell, she heard a voice yell, "Charge!"
Twilight looked up and saw that Colgate and her forces had arrived. What confused her though was that the only ones going after her forces were the changelings. She thought she knew how Colgate worked and the Colgate she knew would never do something that would spare lives. When she noticed that her forces were quickly getting covered in ooze she yelled, "Take them down you idiots! Free the ones immobilized you idiots!"
Almost immediately they began to fire at the changelings and dark Alicorns but as the millennia had passed, the dark Alicorns had become much more agile and the changelings had become much, much tougher. What bothered Twilight the most was that her forces could not fry the changelings. She took to the sky and figured that if her forces couldn't do it, that she would do it herself.
The very first one she headed towards was a dark Alicorn who once served under her, Dark Night. She confronted him and yelled, "Well, well, well, look who it is. It is the tyrant who betrayed me so long ago." She lit up her horn and laughed, "Well your tyranny ends now. Nopony betrays the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, nopony!"
She lit up her horn hoping to strike the general with a powerful bolt of energy but quickly found herself covered and ooze, plunging to the ground. Dark Night saw who it was that saved him and said, "Thanks Lightning Storm, I appreciate it."
Lightning Storm replied, "Don't mention it." He then saw the changelings were covering more and more of Celestia's forces in ooze. He pointed at Twilight and ordered, "Cover her, cover her now."
Every single changeling headed towards Twilight and began to soak her in ooze. It would not be long until she was completely covered but then something happened that had never happened before, Twilight flared up her horn and blew all that ooze off of her. She took to the skies and laughed, "Nice try but that won't work anymore."
Colgate saw what had happened and then realized that there would likely be only one pony who could handle her, herself. She pointed to her changelings and ordered, "Cover the rest of them in ooze! Make sure they can't help the dark goddess."
Twilight's forces who had not been covered took to the sky hoping that perhaps if they were flying and took them on, particularly the changelings, that they could kill them. While they did this, Colgate took after the one pony she wanted to take down the most, Twilight.
Twilight was not one to be chased so when she saw Colgate coming she did not continue to fly away, she stopped and decided to confront her enemy. She laughed, "Well, well, well, look who it is!" She flared up her horn and sneered, "It is little miss good mare, the one who would never take everything as her own. It is the one who loved giving everypony independence."
Colgate, who had been contemplating global conquest lately, began to rethink things when the dark goddess returned. She realized that if she was to attempt that, that it would make her no better than her enemy. She got up in Twilight's face and replied, "What I did was in the best interests of this world. A one world nation is not what this world wants or what it needs." She reached her hoof out, smacked Twilight and added, "And this world certainly doesn't want to have to pay tribute to anypony."
The fact that Colgate smacked her did not sit well with the Dark Goddess. She lit up her horn and readied herself to go on the offensive. She laughed, "You may have never claimed it all as your own but now you are about to learn what will now happen to those who disobey their dark goddess!"
When she flared up her horn, Colgate knew what her plan was. She saw that her horn was the same color as the Rainbow of Darkness and was not about to be turned into a beast. She flared up her horn, the bells on her collar began to glow and she fired a bolt of energy at Twilight, at the same moment she fired energy at her.
The two began to be pushed further apart by the energy. Their energy met in the middle and neither one could make a dent in the other's energy. Both of them were fighting the other as hard as they could. Compared to her battle against the Rainbow of Darkness when Tirac wielded it, dealing with it this time was much harder. At first Colgate was unsure why but then it hit her, like what was Grogar's collar had become one with her, the Rainbow of Darkness and Twilight had become one.
Twilight knew why Colgate's power was so great but given that she had never faced Grogar, she had no clue how the power of that collar worked. She thought to herself, "How do I do it? How do I crush her?" She then decided that she had no other choice but to exert so much energy into this that it may leave her vulnerable later on. She began to glow a dark lavender as she put more energy into the power struggle and then green lasers shot out of her eyes.
Colgate's energy was beginning to be shoved back into her and she knew that if all her energy was to get shoved back into her, it could shatter her horn and then the world would likely be at Twilight's mercy, and chances were that she would wind up being executed. She too knew that using so much energy it could make her vulnerable later on had to be done. She too began to glow a bright blue. Blue beams shot out of her eyes and met the green ones of Twilight. Now not only was their magic fighting the other, so were the beams from their eyes.
This was something that had never happened before. The only one to have ever used their beams directly on another living being was Colgate when she used them to melt Grogar's eyes in Tambelon. She continued to put more energy into her fight and could hear Twilight grunting in pain.
The rest of the battle had stopped entirely. Not only were Colgate's forces watching this in awe, but so were Celestia, Galaxia, Cosmos and all the duplicates of them. Despite them being on opposing sides, one of the Celestias approached Ruby and asked, "What is going on up there?" She then saw that Colgate began to glow much brighter than the darker glow of Twilight. She continued, "Why is Colgate's glow so much brighter?"
Ruby replied, "Because Colgate's glow is of pure good while the one you have been brainwashed by is full of nothing but malice and evil."
The duplicate flared up her horn and yelled, "How dare you say that about Twilight! She is not evil!"
Ruby fired a bolt of energy at the duplicate, striking her down and rendering her unconscious. Meanwhile, everypony else continued to watch the battle in awe. As Colgate continued to glow brighter and brighter, the pain she had felt began to subside and despite things going downhill for her and the pain becoming greater, Twilight continued to show defiance. Everypony could hear her yelling, "No, you will not defeat your dark goddess.....never, nopony defeats the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle!"
After nearly an hour of non-stop battling one another with their energy, Colgate mustered up every ounce of energy that she had, began to glow brighter than the sun and increased her energy output tenfold. Very quickly Twilight's dark energy was shoved into her and she went flying backwards. When Colgate felt no more resistance, she stopped with the power and flew in the direction that Twilight had been thrown and was pleased by what she saw.
What she saw laying below her was the dark goddess, legs broken, wings broken and her horn shattered. This brought about a lot of joy from Colgate. Many things had been done to Twilight in the past when she was defeated but this time Colgate was bound and determined to destroy her evil once and for all.
After a rather long magical battle against the dark goddess, Colgate had won. She had done what it took to save the world from Twilight and her evil ways for a third time. This brought out a sense of relief in her because global oppression had been averted again. What would bring an even better feeling from her was what laid below her.
There laying below her was Twilight. Her legs were broken, both of her wings were broken but more importantly, her entire horn had been broken down to a stump. She stood over her and laughed, "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Why it is the defeated dark goddess my dear!"
Twilight tried to get up but quickly fell back down and screamed in agony when she put weight on her broken legs. Despite this, like she always did in situations like this, she screamed, "You haven't won yet! When I am healed I will return and kill all of you! All shall bow to the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle!"
Colgate laughed, "Without that horn to cause us any problems, I think we're pretty safe."
Twilight began to grit her teeth, trying to shoot energy out of what was left of her horn but was only getting a few black sparks. She shouted, "What did you do? What did you do to your dark goddess?"
Colgate became more stern as she continued, "I have put an end to your tyranny once and for all."
Twilight had been defeated before and always managed to come back. She scoffed, "You end my 'tyranny' once and for all? Your dark goddess thinks not, she has risen before and she shall rise again!"
Colgate began to lean down and said, "In the past we banished you to the sun, we unmade you and you were given the rite of absolute cleansing but none of that worked." She licked her chops and continued, "This time though little Twily, there will be no coming back."
Twilight screamed, "Nopony calls me little Twily, you either call me your Majesty or Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle or die!"
Colgate leaned down further and again laughed, "Well somepony is going to die, but it isn't going to be me!"
Twilight sneered, "Oooh, who is going to die?" She then scoffed, "Let your dark goddess guess, you think you are going to kill her!"
Colgate replied, "Actually yes." She motioned for everypony to come forward to say something to their foe before she would end it once and for all.
The first one to say anything was Applejack. She said, "You know Twilight, when you first came to Ponyville you were such a good friend and then you became a monster."
Rainbow added, "And you had the audacity to brainwash us all to serve you....some friend you were."
Pinkie added, "Yeah, you were a meanie-mean hooves doing that!"
Rarity continued, "Twilight, you can claim you were brainwashed by Chrysalis so long ago but I find that hard to believe."
Fluttershy finished, "I don't understand Twilight, you were so nice and then you become so mean to everypony who cared about you."
Twilight spat at them, "Well you were all horrible friends but you know what Rarity, you were the worst of them all! You were a disobedient little brat when I wanted the jade Alicorn, you helped my tyrannical parents escape Equestria and worst of all, you killed Spike!"
Rarity spat back, "Spike hurt Fluttershy and burned Ponyville to the ground. He deserved to die!"
Twilight again began to scream at them but the five had turned away to give somepony else a chance to confront her. Luna was the next to approach her, "Twilight Sparkle, out of all the villains of Equestria, I think you are the worst."
Twilight laughed, "Seriously, worse than Tirek, worse than Sombra, worse than Discord when he went bat shit crazy and worse than Colgate with all the atrocities she has committed?"
Luna stomped on Twilight's face and snapped, "No, you are the worst. I know of the things you have done to not just myself but especially my sister. You conned me to banish her to the sun when I was under your power, you banished her to the void on multiple occasions, you brainwashed her and don't even go trying to lie about you using her as a sex toy when she was under your power." She again stomped on her, pointed her wing at all the ponies she duplicated, "And you duplicated my family in an attempt to retake the world."
Much to Luna's surprise, three ponies approached Twilight, it was her family. She looked at the three and gasped, "Mother, Father, Sister, is it really you? Is it really the REAL you?"
Celestia replied, "Yes, it is." She kicked Twilight in the gut and snapped, "And now Twilight, it looks like you will finally pay the true penalty for what you have done."
Galaxia spat on her, "You know Twilight, you have done many, many bad things but using my daughter as a sex slave was by far the worst."
Cosmos snapped, "Hopefully Colgate will make your death painful, very painful."
Twilight spat back at them, "Oooh, I hope your death is painful. The worst part was using your daughter as a sex slave!" She got a grin on her face and continued, "I don't know why I kept that crybaby around anyway, it's not like she was that good in bed to start with!"
The comment was enough to make Celestia snap. She began stomping on her chest and yelled, "You know what? I wish I would have never taken you in as my student. That day when your magic went haywire I should have just assumed you were too reckless to be in my school." She gave Twilight one final glare before finishing, "May your death, however Colgate will make it be, be the most painful thing anypony could ever experience."
The three turned away and LaurFa was next to approach her, "Twilight Sparkle, I should have known that you could never be cleansed, I should have known you would be nothing but pure evil for the rest of your days." She turned to Colgate and continued, "Those times when we punished her, I wish we would have realized that death was the only option for her."
Twilight laughed, "Says the pony who was calling me mommy after I freed her from the void."
LaurFa sighed, "That's right but thanks to Colgate, I was able to rediscover who I really was." She turned to Colgate before turning back to Twilight and continuing, "And if Colgate weren't the one to carry out your execution, I would gladly do it in her place."
Twilight again laughed, "Oooh, so now the daughter of the dark goddess wants to kill her? Well it won't work, you can't kill a dark goddess!"
LaurFa figured she had said enough to Twilight so turned away from her and walked off. The next two to approach her were Ruby and White Magick. Ruby was the first to say anything, "Well, well, well, so the little seductress has been defeated and is now living in her final moments."
White Magick gave her an intense glare and snapped, "You know what little Twily, I should never have cleansed you, I should have destroyed you!" He turned to Ruby and continued, "I'm sorry Ruby, I feel so horrible that I fell into her trap. I just hope that one day you can forgive me and maybe give me another chance."
Ruby watched him closely as he said this and could tell that he was indeed sorry. She replied, "Well we can give it a shot but I can't guarantee anything. Maybe someday, if things go right, we can be together again."
Twilight scoffed, "Ooooh, so the royal couple are getting back together huh?"
Blue Star joined his parents and snapped, "Twilight Sparkle, this world has seen many, many evil villains and while you have not been quite as terrifying as the others, you are the worst. Not only have you brainwashed ponies but you used seduction to tear my parents apart." He got in her face and spat, "You used seduction to tear apart what was a perfectly happy couple!"
Twilight laughed, "Oooh, so you're here to yell at your dark goddess over your father's infidelity huh?" She turned to White Magick and continued, "It was HIS choice to fall for me! It was his choice to become clingy to me and it was his choice to cheat on his precious little wife!"
White Magick had had it with her. He flared up his horn and fired an immense amount of energy at Twilight, one that caused her to scream out in agony and left a huge burn mark on her torso. He snapped, "Ok, maybe it was but I was in the wrong, ok?" He turned to Ruby and continued, "Again I am sorry......."
Colgate stepped forward and stopped the conversation. She said, "You two can talk about your future later, we have a punishment to carry out here." She pointed her wing at Twilight and continued, "Look, I know you wanted to inflict pain on her but I like my Twily raw!" She then laughed, "I don't want her well done!"
Twilight mocked, "Ooooh, I like my Twily raw!" She again attempted to discharge energy out of what was left of her horn but only got a few sparks. She shouted, "Just you wait, I'll rise again and it will be you who I eat raw!"
Colgate began to laugh so hard she had to lean on Ruby to keep herself standing, "Yeah right little Twily, you can't even get energy out of your horn!" Colgate then turned to Scootaloo and asked, "Scootaloo, is there anything you wish to say to little Twily?"
Scootaloo replied, "No, I do not wish to glorify her by speaking to her."
Colgate said, "Very well." She then turned to Twilight and continued, "We shall allow you to lay there for a while and make you think about everything you have done over the millennia."
Twilight snorted, "Your dark goddess is surprised you're not just going to rip her open and eat her now!"
Colgate laughed, "I'm not that hungry yet. Now little Twily, lay there and think about everything you have done. Maybe in those final moments, right before I rip your heart out you will finally realize that everything you have done was wrong."
As Twilight laid there, she began to think about everything that had happened over the course of 15,000 years and was trying to figure out a way to get out of being put to death and be given another chance to survive and ultimately, return to power and rule things her way.
Two hours had passed since everypony had confronted Twilight and everypony was still standing outside, not too far away from where Twilight was laying. Twilight had been screaming and yelling the whole time but none of them gave her any attention, they simply decided to let the belligerent dark goddess lay there and scream.
Finally Colgate had had enough of her yelling. She walked over to her and yelled, "Would you shut up already? I can hardly hear myself think!"
Twilight mocked, "Ooooh, big bad Colgate can hardly hear herself think!" She then laughed, "Have you ever been able to think to start with?"
Colgate kicked some dirt in her face and snapped, "Look, just shut up already, ok?" Twilight began to say something as Colgate continued, "Twilight Sparkle, the time for your punishment has arrived."
Twilight scoffed, "Oooh, what are you going to do? Are you going to burn me alive, drown me or cut me open and eat me alive?"
Colgate ignored the questions and began, "Twilight Sparkle, for a good part of the past 15,000 years you have done nothing but cause problems for this world. You have brainwashed ponies, you have banished ponies to various places, you used Princess Celestia as a sex toy while she was under your control which could pretty much be counted as rape, you wound up destroying the entire Crystal Empire which led to the deaths of over 2,000 ponies....."
Twilight spat, "That may be true but that is nothing compared to what you did! You wound up splitting uranium atoms to not only kill well over 100,000 ponies but destroy an entire nation and render two large islands uninhabitable for well over a millennium. If anypony is truly evil, it is you Colgate!"
Colgate replied, "Twilight, what you did was an unwarranted act of aggression while what I did was a counter-attack against a nation that attacked Equestria during war time so the situations were completely different."
Twilight yelled, "But still, you have more blood on your hooves than everypony else combined, and that includes the villains of the world!"
Colgate sighed, "War is war Twilight and anything goes." She then became more serious as she continued, "Twilight, we could continue to go on and on with this but all you are doing is delaying the inevitable, your punishment."
Something crossed Twilight's mind and she was going to bring it up hoping that it would spare her. She said, "Colgate, don't you remember how I was corrupted? I wasn't my real self!"
Colgate was quickly getting frustrated. She groaned, "Just like you are corrupted now and there is only one way to fix this, we must rid this world of you."
Twilight yelled, "You can't kill me! You will never kill me because you can't kill a dark goddess!"
Colgate sighed and stood over Twilight, staring down at her, licking her chops. She leaned down and laughed, "And now I shall have what I have been waiting 15,000 years for, Twily heart!"
Colgate clamped down on the hide on her torso and bit into it........."OOOOWWWWW!"
Blood began to run down Colgate's face as she took her first bite of Twilight, "Mmmm......you taste so good, you know that little Twily?"
Despite having a bite taken out of her, Twilight's defiance continued, "You haven't seen the last of me! I'll be healed, rise and kill you all!" She then glared at Colgate and added, "And it will be you who gets eaten!"
Colgate, along with everypony else, began to laugh. Colgate snickered, "Oh Twily, you're so adorable when you get like this!" She again kicked Twilight in the head and continued, "You can claim that all you want but there is no coming back from death!"
Colgate leaned down and again took a bite flesh out of Twilight's torso. Realizing that it would be easier, she knelt down and continued to feast on her flesh, causing Twilight more and more pain with each bite. Eventually she had ate enough flesh that she had exposed her rib cage and the organs that lied beneath it. She motioned for everypony else to join her around the fallen dark goddess, "Come here everypony, you have to see this!"
Everypony gathered around her and for some, it was too much. Below them laid Twilight, screaming in agony with her ribs and internal organs exposed. Galaxia ran back and said, "I can't see anymore of this, I can't handle seeing her like this."
While most everypony backed away, White Magick, Ruby Heart, Scootaloo, Dark Night and Lightning Storm joined Colgate around her. Ruby scowled down at her and laughed, "So little Twily, still think you're going to rise up and kill everypony?"
Twilight screamed, "Just you wait you bitch, I'll rise again and kill all of you!"
White Magick kicked her and laughed, "My my, such foul language for a pony whose fate is being decided by her enemy."
Colgate wanted to inflict more pain upon her enemy before finally finishing her off. She leaned down and ripped her rib cage open, directly exposing her internal organs. Twilight's screaming became deafening and those who surrounded her watched in awe at how hard her organs were working. Dark Night glared at Twilight and commented, "You know, I'm surprised you have a heart."
Colgate added, "I am as well but it is good that she does because if she didn't, I wouldn't have a tasty meal waiting for me."
Twilight screamed, "You'll never be rid of me, you can't kill a dark goddess remember?!"
Colgate leaned her head down towards Twilight's organs and asked, "Any last words you little tyrant?"
Twilight, in a stern voice replied, "Yes. As dark goddess of this world, I curse all of you! I curse this world to nothing short of pestilence, death and destruction. May all of you suffer for the rest of your miserable, pathetic days and when you all join me in the depths of Tartarus, I will laugh at you pathetic fools for thinking you could claim this world as yours."
Colgate couldn't help but laugh over her statement. As she continued to lean down and said, "And now Twilight Sparkle, I am going to feast upon something I have waited 15,000 years for." She leaned down into Twilight's chest cavity and grabbed her heart in her mouth, readying herself to eradicate evil once and for all.
Before she could rip into her heart, she heard one final scream, "Curse you Colgate, curse you!"
Colgate then clamped down on her heart and ripped it out, causing the fallen dark goddess to let out one final scream. As Twilight perished, a wave of energy shot out of her body, causing all of the duplicates she had created to disappear. When Colgate stood up, she had blood pouring out of her mouth. Some of her allies couldn't stand the sight of her so they turned their backs to her but three, Scootaloo, Dark Night and Lightning Storm, began to cheer when they saw the sight.
When Colgate finally swallowed the chewed up heart, she licked her chops and said, "Well everypony, mission accomplished. After over 15,000 years of her causing this world problems, Twilight Sparkle is no more."
Scootaloo began to eyeball the corpse and asked, "So what are you going to do with the rest of the body?"
In most instances, Colgate would share her kill but this was one thing she was not about to share with another pony. Twilight had been her enemy for far longer than she had been anypony else and decided that she should be the only one to taste her. She replied, "I plan on taking the corpse home with me and tying it up for the sport of crows."
Scootaloo gasped, "Seriously, you're not going to share your kill?" She pointed her wings at Lightning Storm and Dark Night and continued, "This is so unlike you, normally you always share your kills!"
Colgate replied, "I know but with this one, I want to send a clear message. I want everypony to see that not only have we achieved the ultimate victory, but that this is what will happen if you get on the bad side of any of us."
The three sighed in frustration knowing that Colgate was not joking but Colgate's mind began to drift elsewhere, to Ruby and Unicornia. She turned to her and asked, "Ruby, now that evil has been completely destroyed, do you plan on returning to your side of the portal or do you plan on relocating your citizens into our realm?"
This was something that Ruby was not thrilled over. She asked, "What, you want me to relocate my citizens to this realm and give up my country?" She approached Colgate and continued, "No Colgate, I will not sacrifice my nation just so we can live in a larger country."
Colgate put her wing around her and replied, "Actually, how about you and I head into what used to be Twilight's castle. I know there are maps in there and I am more than willing to give part of Coastal Equestria to you so you'll have your own......"
While Ruby was happy that Colgate would offer to sacrifice territory for her nation, something just didn't seem right about it. She replied, "While I appreciate the offer, I think for now I will keep Unicornia where it is. I really don't think my subjects would be up for a mass relocation."
Colgate gave her a smile, "Very well then, I respect your decision." She turned towards White Magick and then back to Ruby and asked, "Ruby, what is your decision about him? Do you wish to keep your ties cut or do you wish to give him another chance?"
Ruby was very unsure as to whether she could trust White Magick ever again, much less love him. She also knew of the anger that would rise at home if she was to get back with a pony that has been deemed as a traitor. She turned towards White Magick and said, "I am sorry White Magick but after everything that has happened, I could never see you in the way I did before." She then turned to Colgate and continued, "And I do have my concerns that if I reunite with a pony who is a known traitor, that I could very well be forced out."
Colgate replied, "That I can understand entirely."
White Magick asked, "But where will I live?"
Blue Star replied, "Well Father, you can come live in Neigh Zealand but do know this, Neigh Zealand is MY nation and you will have no leadership role there, your identity would be hidden and you would simply be a private citizen."
White Magick protested, "But I am your Father, I should not have to hide my identity!"
Blue Star replied, "Very well. You may reside at the palace and the highest of a role you would have is being a general of some sort."
While he was not thrilled with this, White Magick knew that this would likely be the best situation he would get. He sighed, "Very well, I shall return with you."
Given that that situation seemed to be resolved, Colgate believed that only one more issue needed to be taken care of, properly locking away the now broken Rainbow of Light. She approached where it lied on the battlefield, picked it up and said, "Now what to do with this. Yes it is broken but I still think it needs to be locked away."
Ruby replied, "Agreed." She then pointed towards the empty pouch that Tirac had and added, "And I think that thing needs to be locked away as well."
LaurFa added, "That is true but where are these shattered relics going to be stored?"
Colgate looked down at the locket and then at the pouch and the wheels in her head immediately began to turn. She chimed in, "The back of my archives would likely be the most secure place." She levitated not only the pouch to herself but Twilight's corpse as well. She continued, "Now that I have everything I need, I suppose we can consider this a complete success and all head for home."
Everypony gasped seeing everything Colgate had and began to wonder why she would want both of those relics. LaurFa was the first to say anything, "Wait a minute, you're taking those relics with you along with Twilight's corpse?" Her eyes grew wide as she continued, "You're planning something, aren't you?"
Celestia added, "You've got conquest on your mind already, don't you?"
Even Ruby had her concerns, "Colgate, while I would normally never doubt you, I just can't help but wonder why you want all this. It seems like you are adamant that you take them down into your archives." Her voice became more concerned as she finished, "Do you really think your archives are the safest place or are you going to try and figure out how to restore them, fuse them into yourself and become so powerful you could conquer the whole planet?"
Colgate replied, "Ruby, in the past I had my chances to claim Eqqus 1 as my own on two separate occasions but I chose not to so you don't need to worry about that."
Despite Twilight having done so much wrong, one pony in particular, Celestia, wasn't overly thrilled with her plans for Twilight's corpse. She asked, "Colgate, must you really tie her body up for the sport of crows? Couldn't you just give her a proper burial here in Ponyville instead?"
At first Colgate had no desire to give her such an honorable disposal but then realized that perhaps that would be for the best. She replied, "Very well." She levitated the remains to Celestia and continued, "You may give her a proper burial." She then turned to her generals and what remained of her army and finished, "Troops, let's get going. If we're lucky, we can get home in time to have a huge victory supper."
Her soldiers shouted, "Yes Ma'am!"
Colgate nodded and they all took off to the east. After they left everypony else began to talk among one another. LaurFa asked, "Is it just me or does she seem like she has plans for those relics?"
Ruby also asked, "You mean like what I said earlier?"
Celestia added, "Yes. That collar has already made her powerful enough but if she was to find a way to do all that, she could become so powerful she could conquer this planet without any military assistance."
Scootaloo, who had been like a daughter to Colgate continued, "I am a very close ally of hers but even I have my concerns."
When the rest of the leaders heard this, they got an idea. Ruby asked, "Scootaloo, given that she is like a mother to you, do you think you could perhaps keep an eye on her and if she starts doing things that may lead to what we fear, would you tell us?"
For Scootaloo this was not an option. Colgate was like the loving mother that she never had but saw an opportunity as well, "Let me think about it, alright?" Given that they asked this of her, she knew immediately what she had to do but had to be secretive. She looked off to the north and finished, "Well I better get home to the Crystal Empire. All of you have a good one."
After she took off, she couldn't help but wonder what the other leaders were up to. While Scootaloo did have her concerns about Colgate's desire to store those broken relics, she still trusted her more than the other leaders. One thing kept running through her mind though, should she tell Colgate about what they asked of her or not?
Ultimately she realized that if she did tell Colgate about this at some point, that she would likely ask how long ago they asked her to keep an eye on her and report to them so she did what her gut was telling her. Once she got out of eyesight of Ponyville, she took off towards the east to notify her mentor of what was going on.
After slaying the dark goddess, Colgate and her troops had been flying for a great deal of the day until a familiar sight appeared on the horizon, home. This was a welcome sight for her as not only was she looking forward to a tasty meal and sleeping in her own bed, but she was also looking forward to getting those relics locked up.
When they finally landed, without saying anything, Colgate immediately rushed into her tower to lock her new acquisitions up. This brought out some concern from her generals. Dark Night was the first to say anything, "Lightning Storm, why do you think she was so adamant about being the one to store those things?"
Lightning Storm asked, "I take it you have your concerns about all of this?"
Dark Night replied, "Yes, I do. While she has never done anything evil in the past and has never been a threat to this world, I can't help but wonder. I can't help but wonder if her eating Twilight's heart could have done something bad."
Lightning Storm added, "I know what you mean. While it seemed like a good idea right after she was killed, the fact that she ate it while Twilight was a dark goddess could be a bad thing, it could very well lead to her doing things that could devastate this world."
While Dark Night and Lightning Storm were having their discussion, they saw an orange Alicorn land next to them. She turned to the two and said, "Dark Night, I really need to speak to Colgate, this is really important."
Dark Night replied, "Well she went down into the archives to lock up those relics. I don't know if she may have left the door open since we are here alone but you can always go see."
Scootaloo nodded and headed into the tower. She noticed that the door to the archives was locked but to her, this was too important. She banged on the door and shouted, "Colgate, it's me Scootaloo! I have to talk to you!"
Down in the archives Colgate was opening the door to the very back room when she heard the pounding and the yell. She knew that out of all the leaders, Scootaloo would be the only one to be so frantic to talk to her. She headed back up to the exit, still carrying the relics in her aura. When she opened the door and saw that it was Scootaloo, she motioned for her to follow her down into the archives.
When they got to the back room, Colgate asked, "Scootaloo, what are you so frantic about? Why were you pounding on the door so loud?"
Scootaloo replied, "It regards something the other leaders asked of me after you left."
Colgate flared up her horn in anger and snapped, "What is it? What is it that they asked of you?"
Scootaloo replied, "Well they seem to think you are up to something, even Ruby, and they know how close we are. They asked if I would keep an eye on you and report anything suspicious to them."
Colgate slammed her hoof into the floor and yelled, "What, they want you to keep an eye on me?"
Scootaloo replied, "Yes. I told them I would think about it but you know that I would never do that. I am thinking though that if I am friendly with them, simply tell them you are up to nothing bad, I could get them to share information with me and I could tell you about what they're doing."
Colgate said, "Good." Her voice then began more intense as she continued, "So they think I'm up to something do they, even Ruby?" She again flared her horn up in anger and continued, "Well from this point on, they are on their own. If they have to face of against a villain, we will simply secure our borders, form our own alliance and when they fall, then we'll go in, slay the villain and then take their lands for ourselves!"
Scootaloo liked the idea, "That sounds like a great plan. It was because of you that Twilight is dead and it is because of you that those centaurs are dead and this is how they repay you? That is very disrespectful if you ask me."
Colgate suggested, "Ok, you said you are going to try and get closer to them. What I want you to do is get close with them, earn their complete trust and then report everything to me. While I can see and hear everything with the eye, I can't monitor them all the time nor can I read their minds." She spread her wings wide and continued, "Do that and I will make it worth not only your while, but it will be much to the benefit of the Crystal Empire."
Scootaloo knew that Colgate was a pony that would stick to her words and make sure things went well for the Empire. She extended her hoof out and gave Colgate a hoofbump. She said, "To an even stronger alliance?"
Colgate replied, "To an even stronger alliance." She pointed towards the exit and continued, "Well how about we go upstairs and have the victory feast I promised my army."
Scootaloo said, "That sounds good to me."
As they headed upstairs, Colgate couldn't help but feel that she was being betrayed by the other leaders, especially Ruby given that it was her who resurrected her and got her put back in power. So many things were running through her mind at that moment but one thing was sure, she would never aid them in facing off against another villain again.
