Terror in Equestria 5: A Thousand Years Later

Four days later Twilight and Celestia were just leaving Maredrid and had set sail for Ridead when they saw an Alicorn approaching from the west.  Twilight immediately thought it was Colgate coming after her to destroy her so she started firing energy at the Alicorn.  Celestia could see that it was not Colgate, but Shining Armor.

"Stop!" shouted Celestia

Twilight screamed, "Whose side are you on?  Her's or mine?"

Before Celestia could say anything Shining Armor landed on their ship shocked that Twilight would fire energy at him.

"Twilight," said Shining Armor "Why are you firing energy at me?"

Twilight replied, "Shining Armor, I thought you were Colgate but you're just as bad.  After all, you took her side when Luna banished me.  I ought to fry you with energy."

Shining Armor said, "Twily, I am loyal to you again.  I want to help you remove her from power.  I overheard her telling one of her generals that  she wants to kill us both so the Sparkle family will be no more."

Celestia shouted, "WHAT?  She wants to kill both of you?"

Shining Armor replied, "Yes.  Twilight, remember how Spike and I were always so paranoid about you leaving Colgate alone there in Ponyville?"

Twilight said, "Yes Shining Armor, and it appears as though your paranoia was actually foresight.  She always seemed so loyal, she seemed like the perfect Alicorn to me, but instead she betrayed and supplanted me.  I feel like it is all my fault for not having her come on the trips and leaving you home instead."

Shining Armor added, "Well it is just not that.  She has turned all your friends against you, they are all almost as powerful as her now.  The only things of hers that she didn't teach them was her spells to lock and unlock the archives and some sort of time spells she was discussing with Applejack once."

Twilight shouted, "TIME SPELLS?  She is a Time Lady, isn't she?"

Shining Armor said, "Yes, she is.  Remember when we were sailing east to Maredrid from the east coast of Equestria when we were having all those meetings?  Remember how we remember everything grinding to a halt for a few minutes a couple of times?  Well that was her freezing time so she could do whatever it is that she did to get Lyra to Ponyville so quickly.  She has the ultimate ally on her side, time."

Twilight's eyes began to shine green and she shouted, "Well she will learn that in the end you do not cross the path of the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle and you sure the hell don't threaten my life or my family!"

Celestia said, "You know Twilight, I guess you have to be careful on who you give what powers to.  When I discovered you not only transformed Colgate into an Alicorn but gave her a ton of power, I had a bad feeling she would do what she did."

Twilight started to cry and said, "Why didn't you tell me and I would have given the power to somepony else."

Celestia replied, "You already hated me at that time and you wouldn't have listened to me.  Also, by the point I did learn, she had already gained the loyalty of most of your forces and had you tried to remove her as commander, they would have fought to the death for her."

Twilight asked, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that she didn't cast loyalty spells on them?  She simply earned their loyalty?"

Shining Armor replied, "Yes Twilight.  I think it is just something about her that causes her to gain the respect of the military.  I know once she was bragging about not having any Canterlot influence and how she worked hard for everything that she ever had in life.  She said you were raised by Celestia and had things handed to her on a silver platter.  That is what won them over.  They preferred the idea of a leader with her background opposed to your background."

Twilight asked, "If she hated ponies with Canterlot influence, then why did she give you the job of general of the army and second in command?"

Shining Armor replied, "Well Applejack decided that she would rather work full time on the farm so she just gave me the job since I was loyal to her and had military experience."

Twilight asked, "Well why didn't you just do something to overthrow her and claim Equestria for yourself?  You knew that I would eventually be free and that I would return.  You knew that Equestria could belong to the Sparkle siblings eventually."

Shining Armor replied, "Well I never even thought about it because of how powerful she had become.  I didn't want to wind up in the void or have Luna banish me to the sun with you two."

This hit Twilight wrong.  She shouted, "WHAT?  SO, I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH TO BE AROUND?  YOU WOULD RATHER BE COLGATE'S SLAVE THAN BE WITH YOUR SISTER?"

Celestia said, "Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle, put yourself in his hooves.  What would you have done if you were in his situation."

Twilight growled, "I would have done what he did.  Well I guess at least he has a good thousand years of information that we can use against her."

Shining Armor said, "Well given that she never shared much with me and with things being so calm all over the world, there wasn't much information to be had.  Any important information she did have she didn't share it with me.  She shared more information with all her officers and her friends than she did me."

Twilight asked, "Who do you mean by 'her friends?'"

Shining Armor said, "Your former friends.  I think she only wanted me to be general of the army so that if we had a serious attack, that she could make me lead the charge and die in battle."

Twilight said, "You're probably right.  I wouldn't put it past the miserable wretch.  I do have a question.  Even though he hates me now, what happened with Spike?  Did he move to Canterlot with Rarity?"

Shining Armor said, "Yes, he did.  But someday around 500 years ago, I remember seeing a full grown dragon flying away from Canterlot heading to the southwest."

Twilight said, "To the southwest?  Do you think he was headed to Dragon Island?"

Shining Armor replied, "Yeah.  Rarity reconciled with her friends and she was crying about her Spikey-wikey flying away to go be with his own kind."

Twilight asked, "I know he was very mad at me when I was banished, but do you think that if we were to go there that he would remember me and forgive me?"

Celestia smiled and said, "Maybe.  But the problem there is that while dragons will co-exist with ponies everywhere else in the world, their island is the one place they don't want ponies to be.  A majority of ponies who have gone there have been killed.  The crew that we sent out to get the egg Spike was in was the only one to escape Dragon Island, and that was because they were never seen."

Shining Armor asked, "What about the great dragon migration, when they migrate from their western island in the Pegasus Ocean to their island in the Alicorn Ocean and vice versa?  Do you think that if Twilight went into the dragons' rest area in Equestria that he might remember her?"

Celestia replied, "He might but going in there is extremely dangerous, as Twilight herself learned."

Twilight said, "Yeah, good thing Rarity cobbled together a dragon costume or we would have been eaten for sure.  You have no clue how much disdain those dragons have for ponies.  The way they talked you would think that they viewed ponies as the scum of the world."

Celestia replied, "Yeah, I remember you telling me that after Spike ran away from home when he was wondering where he came from."

Twilight started to cry and said, "I miss Spike so much.  Is he forever grown or do you think if he saw me and remembered me that he would return to being a baby dragon?"

Celestia replied, "I wish, but like all other creatures, once a dragon has grown up they stay grown up."

Twilight asked, "What time is it?  My stomach is really growling."

Celestia said, "It is 6:30 in the evening."

Twilight shouted, "Already, well I guess when you're talking with friends, time really flies!  Before we know it, we will arrive in Ridead!"

Shining Armor said, "I know.  Don't worry little sis, I will do whatever I can to help you reclaim your world and most of all, I will not let Colgate kill us like she wants to."

Celestia asked, "What would she do with me?"

Shining Armor replied, "She would probably banish you to the void.  It is the Sparkle family she wants out of the picture.  Since mom and dad passed over 900 years ago, Cadence and I never had any foals and Twilight never had any foals, we are the only Sparkles left.  She views us as the number one threat to the world."

Celestia got a terrified look on her face and said, "No, please no!  Please don't let her banish me to the void!  I'm afraid of bees!"

Shining Armor asked, "What does being afraid of bees have to do with getting sent to the void?"

Twilight replied, "I tested my banishing spell on a bumble bee and now it is in the void.  I threatened her with that earlier when she made me mad.  Don't worry Celestia, neither one of us will let her send you to the void."

Celestia said, "Thanks Twilight, now can we go eat.  I am starving."

Twilight replied, "Yeah, we can.  I'm starving."

The three ponies headed into the ship's cabin to have supper.  All they had for their voyage was apples and some hay as there is not much variety in a meal aboard a ship.  After that they decided to stay under deck and simply relax and forget their troubles for the rest of the day.  They figured that they would deal with them when the time is right.