Terror in Equestria 11: Death and Destruction

Two days had passed since the return of Brevity Thrash and everypony was sitting down for breakfast. The day had arrived that they would decide whether they would simply fly to Faustica or whether they would take the long voyage by ship. Once they got sat down Blue Star asked, "Well everypony, the day to leave has arrived. How do you think we should travel? Shall we fly or shall we go by ship?"

The other royals began to look at one another as not all of them had equal wing strength. They knew that Blue Star had strong wings, almost as strong as those of Colgate but they also knew that even though she had healed from her stab wound, that Celestia may not be in any shape to travel that far. Galaxia was the first to voice her concerns, "Blue Star, I know you have strong wings and would likely prefer it if we flew but I don't think Celestia could make such a long flight."

LaurFa agreed, "Galaxia is right, even if she hadn't suffered that wound, Celestia simply doesn't have the wing strength to fly that far and I honestly don't know if Galaxia does or not either."

They turned to Galaxia who nodded in agreement, "Well I'm thinking maybe it would be best if we went by ship."

Celestia agreed, "I agree with my mother, I say we go by ship."

The two were greeted with sighs of frustration as the rest of them had stronger wings. Blue Star asked, "Very well." He then turned to the others and asked, "What about you three? What is your suggestion?"

Luna suggested, "I think we should go by ship." She was greeted with scowls and continued, "Look, my mother and sister simply don't have the wing strength to fly that far."

LaurFa suggested, "I also think we should go by ship. I do not wish to see everypony wear their wings out and us not be able to make the full journey."

Brevity countered, "Sister, dost thou not know how long a trip by ship would take? It is several thousand miles to Alicorn Island from here! It could take us more than two weeks and if Colgate truly is unleashing evil upon this world, we have no time to waste!"

Blue Star added, "I agree with Brevity but I do think LaurFa makes a point. As much as I would like to just fly, some of us can not make that sort of journey so we shall go by ship."

Those who couldn't make that sort of journey flying let out a sigh of relief while Brevity developed a scowl on her face. "Blue Star, so when dost thou think we should depart? If thou asks us, we think that we should depart soon, the sooner the better."

Blue Star agreed, "You do make a point and I will see to it that the ship is stocked well enough by this afternoon that we can depart."

After breakfast Blue Star notified his soldiers that they were to begin stocking the ship for what could be up to three weeks for six ponies. Blue Star watched in approval as plenty of apples, plenty of water and plenty of oats were being carried onto the ship. While Blue Star was happy with what he was seeing, Brevity couldn't help but show some concern, "Blue Star, art thou certain that will be enough? There are six of us and the journey will take quite some time?"

Blue Star replied, "Yes, I am certain that there will be enough for us all."

Brevity remained skeptical but didn't say anything further. The time it took to stock the ship seemed to take forever to them and when it was finally stocked, it was mid-afternoon, much later than what they had hoped for. Blue Star turned to the others and said, "Well shall we, shall we get going?"

Everypony nodded in agreement and they headed towards the ship. One thing that none of them noticed was a dark figure approaching from the north. While they did not notice it, one of the guards did. He rushed to them and yelled, "Stop! We're under attack."

LaurFa couldn't help but chuckle, "We are not! Why would you say......."

"SHRIEK!"

Everypony looked up and were terrified when they saw a large gray beast flying overhead with what appeared to be an Alicorn riding on its back. Blue Star shouted, "Bring it down everypony, bring it down!"

Everypony from the guards to all the royals began firing bolts of energy at the beast. While it was letting out some groans of pain when it was hit, the energy did not seem to slow it down any. It swooped down, grabbed some civilians and then flew back up before dropping them to their deaths. The beast then again swooped down but went after something else, the ship. They then heard a loud hiss, "Destroy their ship, destroy their ship!"

The beast listened to its rider and smashed into the ship, causing it to sink. This angered all six of them but at that point they were more concerned with what was attacking them than they were the ship. LaurFa yelled, "Unmake them sister, unmake them!"

Brevity knew that doing so in that situation would be difficult but not impossible. She knew that she would have to get behind something, she would have to get out of the beast's line of sight. She was finally able to do so and readied herself to cast the spell. Her horn lit up and she recited,

"For this object was created in ancient times, long long before nearly anypony's time,
the atoms that hold this together are strong but that won't last for long,
for what was made can also be unmade for even atoms ultimately will go to their grave."

Brevity fired a pink bolt of energy at Rainbow and her beast but it would not reach them. Rainbow fired her own bolt of energy back and it deflected Brevity's beam and directed it straight into the palace. When the beam struck it, it vanished entirely. Brevity was in a state of shock while Blue Star became angry , very angry. He began firing energy at the beast and yelled, "You beast, when I get my hooves on......"

He would be silenced when Rainbow fired a bolt of energy at him, striking him directly. Rainbow flew off her beast and landed on the docks, right in front of the six Alicorns. She drew her sword and rather than going after them, she took off after some of the guards. She remembered how Colgate had told her not to kill many but that didn't mean she couldn't turn some others into creatures like her and instruct them to kill.

It did not take long for her to reach some guards. She let out a loud shriek as she stabbed each one of them. She would continue to stab them until she felt a blade in her back when a guard stabbed her. The stab did nothing more than cause her to lose her hold on her sword but it caused the guard a great amount of pain. It would not be long until Rainbow realized that she had best secure the ones she had stabbed as their coats were turning black and their breathing was becoming shallow.

The royals approached the figure and Celestia noticed like it was with Twilight, Rainbow's cutie mark was inside a much larger one, Colgate's cutie mark. She pointed to Brevity and asked, "Now do you believe us? Now do you believe that Colgate is using black magic?"

Brevity was horrified when she realized that Colgate had done this. She knew of Colgate's powers and realized that with her knowing that kind of necromancy, that anything was possible. She knew that they would have to maybe learn forbidden magic of their own. One thing she did know though was that they were going to have to hurry up and leave if they didn't want to suffer the same fate that Blue Star's guards were suffering.

She turned to the other Alicorns and yelled, "We've got to get out of here! We have to fly to Faustica!"

Without hesitation, they all took off to the north and hoped that Rainbow and her beast would not follow them. Once they got out of eyesight of the capitol, they slowed down when they noticed that they were not being pursued. They stopped, caught their breath and tried to regain their focus. Brevity was the first to say anything, "Good grief, how does Colgate know that kind of magic? We have never seen things like that before."

LaurFa replied, "With Colgate, anything is possible. She is likely taking risks that nopony else would to acquire such information, she is likely going to places nopony else would even dare to go. She has but one goal, to rule this world and make everypony suffer."

They all looked at one another and realized one thing, they had to get to Faustica. Blue Star was the one to address them, "Look, I know that some of you may not have the wing strength to fly to Faustica but I know a route that should have enough islands along it that we can stop when we need to." He turned to the two with the weakest wings and continued, "Galaxia, Celestia, will that work for you."

The two knew that they had no other choice at this point, "It has to." replied Galaxia.

Celestia added, "It will work."

Blue Star pointed his wing to the north and ordered, "Follow me. We must get to Faustica."

He took off to the north and the others followed him. He knew that Colgate had dark powers but after the attack on his capitol and actually seeing something similar to what attacked Celestia, he knew that they would have to figure something out. He began to wonder if one of them may have to take the risk of corrupting themselves and fight fire with fire. He began to wonder if perhaps the way to defeat Colgate and her minions was with their own black magic.

In her black tower Colgate had been watching the events unfold in Neigh Zealand over the past couple of days and initially was not thrilled by the return of Brevity Thrash. She knew of Brevity's powers but when she saw how Brevity's energy was deflected and the palace there was unmade, she began to wonder if perhaps she could force Brevity's own energy into her and cause her to unmake herself.

She then began to watch Rainbow stabbing more guards and turning them into her minions. She was initially thrilled by this but once she remembered the type of magic she had poured into her, her mood changed entirely. She growled, "Great, just great. I have a bad feeling that she may use those things against me." She then looked down and realized that rather than simply talking about it, the time had come to make good on what she had been telling those who were once her generals, the time had come to free them and cast strong loyalty spells on them.