Author's Note

The riders will be referred to what their names were in life.

Global Attacks

After Colgate had sent her riders off to bring about terror across the world, she headed up to her sleeping chambers so that she could monitor them. She knew that it would likely be a few hours before the first attack would begin in Ponyville but still, she decided she would monitor all of them and make sure that they were heading in the right direction.

As she tapped into the eye, she would be delighted when she saw that they were headed in the right direction. She would be even happier when she saw what was Fluttershy approaching Ponyville quicker than she thought. "Hmmm..." she thought, "Perhaps those giant beasts can fly a lot faster than what I gave them credit for."

Attack on Ponyville

It had only been a couple hours since Fluttershy, her pet and her beast had departed the black tower and Ponyville was already in the distance. As she approached the town, she ordered her beast to land and she along with her pet dismounted not too far away from her old cottage. The moment they dismounted, her pet could sense the body heat coming from the animals that were present. When she heard it let out a shriek she hissed, "Feast on their flesh my pet, feast on their flesh!"

The creature immediately took off and went after the animals. The very first one it took off after was the largest, a bear. When the bear heard it and saw it charging at it, it did not run in terror. It was a fair amount larger than what was pursuing it so it figured that it could easily take the thing out. That would not be the case though as it immediately latched onto the bear's leg and began to feast. Fluttershy watched on in joy as it was quickly bringing down its target. It would not be long until the bear would succumb to blood loss.

Once the creature had finished off the bear, it looked like it was going to throw up. Initially this was not sitting well with Fluttershy until she approached the creature and when it did throw up, it was not meat that it threw up. She saw that it appeared to be a baby version of it and much to her delight, the baby began to grow rather quickly. Once it had fully grown, Fluttershy hissed, "Feast on the rest of them! Feast on them all!"

The two creatures immediately took off the other animals and given that they were smaller, they were able to consume them in one bite and as they continued to feast, they would hack up more of themselves until all the animals were dead and she had sixteen of the creatures. She pointed towards Ponyville and hissed, "Come my pets! More meals await!"

Fluttershy's beast remained outside the town but she along with her pets headed into town. The first thing she noticed were quite a few ponies nearing starvation locked away in cages along with some ponies banging on the cages trying to free their fellow residents and others who had resigned to the fact that the others were going to pass and were living their normal lives with many in the market. Before Fluttershy could even say anything, they sensed the body heat coming from the ponies and charged into town.

When everypony heard the loud shrieking, they began to run in terror. Some began to race out of town but others were in such a state of panic that they were panicking and running into one another which made them easy prey for the creatures. When Fluttershy saw that some may escape, she knew that her Master would not be thrilled if any survive so she headed back to her beast, mounted it and ordered it to take after them.

It did not take very long for it to catch them and when it did, she ordered it to land and again she dismounted. As the ponies saw the two creatures that stood before them, they were frozen in shock. One pony could sort of tell who the rider was. She gasped, "Fluttershy, is that you?"

Without responding, she took her blade and plunged it deep into the pony's abdomen, killing her immediately. She began to stab others but figured her beast must be hungry. She hissed, "Feast on them my pet! Feast on their flesh!"

Almost immediately, the beast took to the other citizens of Ponyville, consuming many of them whole and the ones that it did not get right away, Fluttershy beheaded with her sword. She knew that nothing short of killing everypony would upset her Master. After finishing them off, she returned to town to see that everypony, except those in cages, had been eaten. She approached her pets, which now resembled more of an army and hissed, "You have done well my pets, you have done well."

While the ponies that were in the cages had grown very weak from lack of food, some were still able to scream and yell. One yelled, "You beast, you will not win! Colgate will not win! The forces of good will prevail!"

Fluttershy approached the pony and hissed, "If you say so!"

She then pushed her sword through the gaps of the cage and rammed her sword straight through the pony's throat, killing him. Others had resigned themselves to their fate and figured that a quick death by a blade would be preferable to the long drawn out process of starvation that they were currently going through so they began to yell the same thing. This however did not work the way they thought it would. Fluttershy had her concerns that simply killing them may not be what her Master would want, she realized that she would prefer that they starved to death.

She was however going to make sure that no magical force would free them so she, her beast and her pets simply decided to stay in Ponyville to ensure that they did starve like what her Master likely wanted. There was plenty of food for her pets to consume and continue to expand what she viewed as an army to feast on any living being, outside of her Master, that would attempt to remove her.

When Colgate saw the events that unfolded in Ponyville, she couldn't help but cheer in glee. Yes Ponyville was but a speck on the global map but it was a site of great significance to her as it was the place where at one time, the dark goddess resided and ruled. She laughed, "One down, four to go!" She then remembered that the Witch Queen would have a mission before too long and corrected herself, "I mean five more to go!"

Attacking the Empire

After seeing events unfold in Ponyville exactly the way she had hoped, Colgate returned to scanning the world through the eye. She knew that both Rarity and Applejack likely would not reach their destinations for quite some time so she decided to search for Pinkie and Rainbow. The first one she noticed was Rainbow heading off in the direction of Neigh Zealand. Initially she was not thrilled that she did not terrorize Canterlot as she had instructed but then something else crossed her mind, the leaders that betrayed her. She thought to herself, "Good, go and attack those tyrants! Go and wipe them out!"

She then began to scan again and noticed that Pinkie was not too far away from the Crystal Empire. She got an evil grin and thought to herself, "Oh this is going to be too funny! When that little rat learns of an attack on her precious subjects, her reaction will be priceless!"

Something else began to run through her mind, "I've got it! I'll drag that little crybaby up here, project what is going on for her and FORCE her to watch her subjects cower down and flee in terror! That will certainly teach her a valuable lesson! It will teach her what happens to the subjects of those who betray me!"

She then headed down to the dungeon to retrieve her former ally. When she arrived, she was greeted by not only Scootaloo but her formal generals. The first to say anything was Dark Night, "So Supreme Commander Colgate, how is this terror you plan on unleashing going?"

Initially Colgate thought perhaps he was being sarcastic but then could tell by the tone of his voice that he was actually being respectful and asking the way a general normally would. She replied, "You and Lightning Storm will find out eventually."

Both gave her a nervous, "Ok."

She then grabbed Scootaloo in her aura and dragged her out of her cell. This was something that angered her, "Colgate, what are you doing, where are you taking me?" She raised her voice and screamed, "You're going to kill me, aren't you?"

Colgate gave her a chuckle, "No I'm not going to kill you but I do think there is something you need to see."

Scootaloo couldn't help but wonder what she meant by that but had a feeling that whatever it was, it could not be good. She became more nervous as Colgate was leading her up to her sleeping chambers and would be even more worried when she sat her on her bed and ordered, now watch closely Scootaloo and you will see what the worst punishment is for betraying your mentor.

Colgate fired a beam of energy at the sapphire Alicorn and suddenly what she was seeing earlier was projected for Scootaloo to see. Scootaloo would be terrified by what she saw, she was terrified when she saw a large gray beast with what appeared to be an Alicorn rider on its back. She immediately knew that whatever it was that it would not bode well for her subjects.

"No!" Scootaloo screamed.

"Just watch little rat, just watch." Colgate laughed

It was a calm day in the Crystal Empire and ponies were readying themselves for a crystalling as a new foal had been born just a couple days earlier. Like it always was, ponies were gathered outside of the crystal palace. Normally such a ceremony would not take place without their leader present but everypony knew that their supreme commander was away on necessary business. When that was the case, one of her generals would take her place.

Once the ceremony began, like it had always been, the couple stood on a platform in front of the crowd and their foal was presented to them. They lowered their heads and began to pump the same love and light as they always did but this time it would not reach the purity crystal.

*SHRIEK!*

Everypony's attention shifted from the new foal to the terrifying sound. They looked up and saw a dark gray beast with what appeared to be an Alicorn rider on it's back. The beast swooped down and grabbed some ponies in it's claws before flying up higher into the sky. The beast flew far above the crowd before dropping the ponies to their deaths. Many of the ponies were scrambling around in fear and bumping into one another but two were frozen in fear, the foal's parents.

When Pinkie saw this, she saw an opportunity to bring about more terror to the citizens of the Empire. She ordered her beast to land right in front of the parents. She dismounted her beast and approached the terrified parents. The father nervously asked, "Why? Wh-why are you doing this?"

Pinkie hissed, "Because attacking and killing ponies is FUN!"

She then eyeballed the foal before grabbing it in her aura and pulling it away from the mother. She jumped out trying to get her foal back but to no avail. She began to cry, "Please, don't kill our foal! Please, please don't kill our foal!"

Pinkie hissed, "Very well, I shall not kill your foal." She then held the foal in front of her beast and it immediately ate it. She gave the parents a laugh, "I promised not to kill it but my friend here is a different story."

Seeing their foal being consumed by the beast brought out different emotions in the two. The mother broke down crying but the father became angry, incredibly angry. He swung his hoof out, hit Pinkie and yelled, "You will not get away with this. When Supreme Commander Scootaloo learns of this, you'll be sorry!"

"Want to know what else would be fun?" asked Pinkie. She then raised her sword and stabbed both of them. When the two fell Pinkie became much more protective of them, especially once they began to turn black and their breathing became erratic and shallow. She knew what was going to happen and realized that she would not have to be the one to finish off the Empire.

When the two finally turned all black, Pinkie began to hiss, "Fun, fun, fun!"

It would not be long until the two now black equines stood up and asked, "What is it you wish for us to do?"

Pinkie ordered, "The rest of the citizens of the Empire, kill them! It would be fun, fun, fun!"

The two immediately charged out into the city and began to tackle the Empire's subjects. Given that they had no weapons to kill them with, they did the one thing they could think of. The moment they tackled them, they slammed their heads into the ground and then bit their throats open. Seeing this brought a great amount of joy to Pinkie and although her Master had told her to not kill too many, she figured this was fine since she never said anything about having others go on a killing spree.

Pinkie figured that her job of spreading terror to the Crystal Empire was complete but then a thought crossed her mind. She believed that she could get in Colgate's good graces if she made life even more miserable for the citizens of the Crystal Empire so she took the heart out of its holding place, causing the skies to turn orange. This brought out even more panic from the citizens of the Empire as they believed that perhaps Sombra had returned and was coming to enslave them.

Pinkie then took the heart and began to stab more citizens of the Crystal Empire, creating more minions. As she did this she continued to hiss, "Fun, fun, fun!" Once all the citizens were either dead or had been turned into mindless minions of hers, she stood tall and proclaimed, "I Pinkie Pie, the Witch of Sadism do hereby claim the Crystal Empire for Supreme Commander Colgate, the Goddess of Terror!"

When Colgate stopped projecting what she was seeing, she turned around to see Scootaloo crying, "How could you? How could you kill so many innocent ponies?" Her voice became more snide as she continued, "Oh wait, you've never cared how many you killed. Just like it was when you nuked Neigh Zealand, you enjoy high death totals."

Colgate approached her, smacked her and yelled, "If I remember correctly, you were happy when I did that. If I remember correctly, you were on MY side when I did that so I don't see why you are complaining about it."

"That was a long time ago Colgate. That was back when you were a good pony....." Scootaloo protested.

Colgate slammed her hoof down on her muzzle and broke it. "That doesn't change the fact that you supported me in that mass slaughter so that makes you no less guilty!" She smacked her again and yelled, "Remember your torture of General Black Feet Scoots? Remember how you waterboarded him? Remember how much fun you had doing that? Remember how you beheaded him despite him telling you everything you asked of him?"

"But...."

Again Colgate smacked her, "You are no little angel Scootaloo. Had you not been my second in command, you would have been deemed a war criminal and put to death."

"But...." Scootaloo tried to speak again.

Colgate began to slam her head into the floor and yelled, "Never mind, you're coming with me."

Since Colgate had shown Scootaloo what she wanted her to see, she dragged her back down to the dungeon and threw her back to her cell. She gave Scootaloo a smile and laughed, "Don't you worry Scootaloo, you won't be stuck in here forever. Once I need you, you shall receive your freedom."

"No I won't!" yelled Scootaloo. "You'll probably just wind up doing something horrible to me with all that black magic you know!"

She then turned to her two former generals and continued, "And as far as you two go, I'm thinking your freedom shall come much sooner, well depending on how things go over the next couple days."

Both of them gasped, "Really?"

"Yes, really." She then gave them a smile and continued, "You know something, since you two do seem to be showing at least a little bit of loyalty, your rations shall return to that of what they once were."

Lightning Storm gasped, "You mean we will get meat again?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, you will." Her stomach began to growl and she continued, "For now though, it is time for my meal. I shall bring everypony's meals down to them after my supper."

Colgate left the dungeon and headed up to eat her supper before returning to tapping into the eye and monitoring the activities of her other minions. While she was still angry over what her former generals had done in questioning her decisions, she did have fond memories of how they had helped her in the past and made a decision, she decided that after her minions achieved their objectives, that she would write an iron clad loyalty spell, cast it on them and then free them.

Raiding Ridead

One day had passed since what was Rarity in life and her beast when they saw Ridead approaching in the distance. She had Colgate's words ringing in her head, her demands that she return the riches of Saddle Arabia to her and was set to do just that. Once the city was clearly visible, she readied herself to attack.

It was another day in Ridead, one that mirrored most every other day. The citizens were out in the market selling their wares, everything from the fabrics only they can provide to the tangerines that grow in the far south of their country. The peace though would be shattered rather quickly,

*SHRIEK!*

When Rideadians looked up, they saw a large gray beast with what appeared to be an Alicorn rider. Unlike ponies in other parts of the world, the Saddle Arabians were not so quick to panic. There was not much most of them could do but the unicorns began to fire energy at the beast, hoping to bring it down. Much to their dismay, the beast didn't even seem to notice they were firing on it, much less even being affected.

Once Rarity landed in the center of the market, she drew her blade and proceeded to find out where the crown jewels were but would be distracted by items in the market. She first approached the stand selling robes and hissed, "These robes, they are simply divine!" She then grabbed them in her aura and continued, "And they are mine, all mine!"

The unicorn selling them was very unnerved by the creature that was taking his robes but he wasn't about to allow some monster of an equine to take his products. He fired a bolt of energy at her horn, causing her to drop the robes. He yelled, "These are not your robes you beast!" He then began firing energy at her and continued, "If you want my robes, you will have to pay for them!"

"Wrong answer darling," the beast hissed. She drew her blade, cut the unicorn's head off, grabbed the robes and hissed, "The robes are mine!"

Seeing this caused all the other Saddle Arabians to rush away from the market with great haste. Once the market had cleared out, Rarity began grabbing more and more items hissing, "Mine, mine, they're all mine!"

Eventually some of the guards approached her and were met by an amused chuckle from her. A guard ordered, "Drop the items, now!"

Rarity took off her hood to reveal herself for what she was. When the guards saw her black pits for eyes, they all shied back. Rarity could tell that they were scared and figured that this would be her opportunity to seize what she wanted. "The crown jewels, lead me to them now!" she hissed.

The guards simply nodded and led her towards Ridead Tower. To get there, they had to lead her through the throne room. As she was walking through it and saw the thrones, something began to cross her mind. She figured though that she would wait until she saw all the gems they had, she figured that it would likely be something she would love.

Once she got to the treasury and saw all that gold and all those gems, she was immediately in love, "Oh my, it is all just so divine!" She then pulled her sword out, held it to the guard and proclaimed, "Saddle Arabia, it is mine, all mine!"

The guard objected, "Yours, never! Saddle Arabia belongs to Queen Galaxia and King......."

Rarity lopped his head off, held it in her aura and headed out to the balcony. As she looked out, the streets were still mostly deserted with the exception of a few guards and a couple of the bravest unicorns. She held the guard's head in her aura, raised her sword skywards an loudly hissed, "Look upon me Saddle Arabia, for I am your new leader, the Witch of Greed, for I am RARITY!"

The unicorns that were out there immediately objected. One shouted, "Never, we only bow to Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos!"

Rarity flew down from her balcony, pulled her sword and held it up to the unicorn. "What was that commoner? What was that about those two? Rarity hissed.

Seeing those black pits for eyes did scare the unicorn somewhat but not enough to cause him to become obedient, "I'll say it again you beast! We bow to none other than Queen Galaxia and King Cosmos!"

Rarity let out a screech and plowed her sword into the unicorn's abdomen. Once he dropped, his breathing became shallow and given that he was not of any royal origin, he began to succumb to the poison much quicker than Celestia did. Other equines looked on in horror, realizing that their fellow citizen would not be with them much longer. Once he finally succumbed and turned completely black, he got up and hissed, "Rarity, how may I serve you?"

This thrilled her. She realized that while Colgate would likely be unhappy, she decided she would turn as many Saddle Arabians into her minions and take the nation and its wealth for herself. She hissed, "Restrain as many as you can even if it means breaking their bodies."

He obliged and immediately began tackling other Saddle Arabians and restraining them well enough that she could stab them and turn more of them into obedient minions, minions that were loyal to her. It took her a great part of the day but by sunset she had transformed every single resident of the city into her minions. At that point, she no longer cared what Colgate would do to her, she believed that with an army of minions that she could take her down and claim not only Saddle Arabia as hers, but the whole planet.

Colgate was watching this in her tower and went into the type of fury she used to, "That wretch, that miserable pathetic wretch!" She grabbed her sabre and screamed, "When I get my hooves on you, you will learn that just as quickly as I brought you into this world, I WILL take you out!"

After going into her fury, it suddenly hit her. She realized that pouring greed magic into what was once Rarity was a huge mistake. She stomped the floor and yelled, "Once Applejack and Rainbow accomplish their objectives, I'm writing a new loyalty spell, casting it on my former generals and freeing them. Nopony dares disobey The Goddess of Terror, NOPONY!"

Marking Maredrid as Hers

It had been quite some time since Queen Luna had first headed to Marescow and then off on official business with her family and the citizens of Maredrid had become quite concerned. While they were not completely sure as to why she had been gone for so long, rumors had spread that a "great terror in the west" had awaken and was on a quest to bring about darkness upon the whole world and enslave them all. Given what the rumors entailed, many believed that it was the dark goddess that had returned.

Around lunchtime when the market below Luna's balcony where a guard was standing. The guard too had heard of the rumors but knew that it was part of his job to calm down. Like he had been every day since Luna departed, he approached the edge of the balcony, which quickly got the attention of the city's citizens. Before he could say anything one of the residents shouted, "Where is Luna, where is our queen?"

The guard replied, "Like I have been saying for a while, she is off on official business."

One pony yelled, "But what about the dark force in the west? Is it the dark goddess, has she returned?"

"Look, I don't know. As far as I know Twilight Sparkle has been dead for......"

While the guard was responding to the question a black shadow flew overhead and they heard a loud

*SHRIEK!*

When they heard the shriek, they looked up and saw the same thing that ponies in other cities had been seeing. The crowd began to run in all directions hoping to get away from what I saw. While Applejack did have a desire to simply attack, she remembered that her master had told her to simply take over and lie to them about what happened so once the courtyard was clear, she landed and dismounted her beast.

Ponies were peering out their windows in fear as what appeared to be a cloaked equine was walking around, holding its sword in its aura. Finally a guard approached the figure and asked, "Who are you and what is it you want?"

Applejack hissed, "I have come to deliver the message that Luna is dead and I have been sent to take over for her."

The guard knew it was a lie, "You lie you beast. I know for a fact that nopony would send something as vile as you to take over for her."

This did not sit well with Applejack but she knew that she simply could not go slaying the ponies in Maredrid if she wanted their loyalty. She pointed her sword at the guard and hissed, "Trust me." She then turned towards the ponies that were hiding in their houses and continued, "Trust me y'all, y'all have nothing to worry about. I am simply here to spread the sad news regarding your queen and the fact that I have been sent to take over."

The ponies in Maredrid knew that the rider could have easily stabbed the guard or beheaded him but did not do so. The ponies began to emerge from their houses and one asked, "How was it that our queen died? What was it that caused Queen Luna to fall?"

Applejack knew well enough how to get the citizens of the city not only on her side, but on the side of her Master. She hissed, "Your queen fell in battle against the Dark Goddess Twilight Sparkle but worry not about the dark goddess. Fortunately for us all, Supreme Commander Colgate prevailed and has slain her."

One thing Applejack did not take into account was that the fact that Colgate had consumed the dark goddess's heart many millennia ago was known by ponies on a global scale. One pony yelled, "You lie, the dark goddess was killed by the supreme commander many, many millennia ago!"

Another yelled, "What REALLY happened?"

The questionings and accusations of the ponies was not sitting well with Applejack but unlike her fellow riders, she knew that Colgate could easily take her out and continued to follow orders. "Citizens of Maredrid, what I tell you is the truth. The dark goddess, like she has in the past, found a way to return to our world but Colgate wiped her out. She has sent me here to not only rule over your land, but to protect it from others who may not have your best interests in mind."

One pony yelled, "Such as who?"

Again Applejack lied, "The dark goddess has again corrupted the leaders of Saddle Arabia and as I speak, they are making plans on coming in here, attacking and enslaving you, all of you!"

The ponies began to talk among one another and Applejack heard some of them still doubting whether what she said as true or not. Unlike what her counterpart further to the south in Ridead did, she remained patient, hoping that she could eventually win them over. She pointed her sword skyward and loudly hissed, "Galaxia and Cosmos are making plans to enslave all of you and only I can prevent that!"

Despite the menacing appearance of the creature before them, they finally began to cheer for her. One pony asked, "No disrespect but what is your name?"

She knew that she simply couldn't come out and tell them who she was so she lied, "My name is Applejack, former Element Bearer and ally of Supreme Commander Colgate, the one who defeated the dark goddess."

The ponies began to chant her name and while many wondered why a former element bearer would have taken on such an appearance, they knew that the tens of millennia had taken their toll on everypony and that the events that had taken place did cause change in some ponies, especially those who had been exposed to the most evil.

In her black tower, Colgate was watching with a smile on her face. Unlike the disobedience that Rarity had taken part in, Applejack was following her orders exactly as instructed. She did not kill anypony who was not disobedient and she was able to get the citizens of an enemy nation to buy into her lie. She said to herself, "Good job Applejack, thanks for securing the loyalty of Little Miss Luna's subjects for me."