Terror in Equestria 9: Return of Tambelon

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Colgate replied, "Yes, I am she."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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