Terror in Equestria 11: Death and Destruction

As Scootaloo headed off towards Colgate's black tower, she had a feeling that her mentor would be ecstatic over the news that she had discovered. The flight back to the black tower was much longer than the flight from the Crystal Empire to Canterlot. By the time the black tower was finally approaching on the horizon, Scootaloo's wings had begun to hurt a bit. That was one thing she would never admit to her mentor though as she had no room for any kind of weakness in her circle of allies.

Colgate was out at the base engaging in a training exercise and when Scootaloo landed next to her, Colgate yelled, "At ease soldiers, at ease." Once the training exercise had halted Colgate pointed to the tower and ordered, "Follow me and report."

Like it had been at the summit, something didn't seem right about Colgate. She seemed to be more formal with her than normal but any nerves she had, she could never show. With Grogar's collar having been fused into her body ages ago, she knew that any angry outburst from Colgate could result in her being imprisoned in a cage.

Once they arrived in the throne room Colgate ordered, "Report. What did you discover after I left?"

Scootaloo began, "Well I do have information that you need to know. LaurFa is planning on looking in the cave on the west side of Alicorn Island for more Alicorn gems."

Colgate flared her horn up in anger and yelled, "She's doing what?"

Scootaloo replied, "She wants to find more Alicorn gems and she promised to give one to each leader so they can spy on you."

Colgate was so angry that she fired a bolt of energy into the floor. Scootaloo became a bit nervous as she began to go on a rant about how nopony trusted her and that something had to be done because of this. Once she had calmed down she asked, "So when does she plan on doing this?"

Scootaloo replied, "She didn't say but then every leader got angry when the same question was asked and she said she wasn't sure if there were any gems left."

Colgate asked, "Oh?"

Scootaloo replied, "Yes, they got mad." She began to laugh as she continued, "They got so angry that they all stormed out and headed home early! They ended the summit much earlier than normal."

Colgate got a huge smile on her face as she realized that she could use this to her advantage. She had a look of determination on her face as she replied, "You know, if disharmony begins to form between them, my ultimate plan may be much easier to achieve."

Scootaloo asked, "What plan?"

Colgate became more sinister, "Doing what I should have done when Twilight was banished to the sun and I was viewed as a hero. Perhaps the time has come for me to go on my own quest for conquest and with them all fighting, taking everything as my own will be easy."

Scootaloo's eyes grew wide as she asked, "Take everything? You aren't planning on taking the Crystal Empire too are you?"

Colgate knew that the words she had used were likely not the best and that she would have to eradicate any nervousness that she may have given her ally, "Of course not. You are like the daughter I never had Scootaloo so of course I would never try to take your nation."

Scootaloo gave her a weak smile, "Well I just wanted to make sure." She again became a bit nervous and continued, "Can I ask you something and you won't get mad."

Colgate had a feeling that it may very well be something that would irritate her but knew she had to keep her cool, "Yes, you may."

Scootaloo asked, "Here lately you don't seem to be yourself. You seem to be more hostile at the summits, you have grown more distant with every ally except for me and your response over how things have been here, it just seemed odd and a bit dark."

Colgate couldn't help but laugh, "Oh regarding the answer, I just felt like being sarcastic because of their distrust." She then became more serious, "And regarding me growing distant from my other allies, it is their distrust that has caused me to do so. Even Ruby, who was such a strong ally at one time, constantly stares at my collar with suspicion. If they aren't going to trust me, I'm not going to be as close with them."

Scootaloo could understand where she was coming from but even she had her concerns, she still wondered why it was so important to have those broken relics but like so many other things, she knew that she could never let Colgate know about it if she wanted to stay on her good side. One thing she wasn't overly good at at that moment though was coming up with a response and this made Colgate curious, "Scootaloo, what's up with the silence? Normally you're quick to dismiss their concerns."

Scootaloo knew that she had better tell the truth given the powers of the pony asking, "Well I'm going to admit, I am curious as to why you would take shattered relics with you."

Colgate wasn't thrilled with her response but like she always does with her, she kept her cool, "Scootaloo, I did that in the interests of not just our nations, but the whole world. Given that LaurFa is a creator goddess, I do not believe that her hooves are the best ones to be trusted with such powerful relics." Her voice became more intense as she continued, "If she was to get them repaired and restored, her power would be unimaginable, every other leader combined may not be enough to stop her."

This brought out fear in Scootaloo's eyes, "Seriously, she would have that much power?" Colgate nodded her head and Scootaloo continued, "Well then it is a good thing you have those. Ever since you betrayed Twilight so long ago, you have only ever did what was good for this world."

Colgate gave her a smile, "That is right and I'm going to admit this, the very fact that they still distrust me after ten millennia makes me wonder if they aren't the ones making sinister plans, if it isn't them who want to enslave this world."

Scootaloo added, "That is pretty bad. If you had any sinister plans you would have worked on repairing those immediately and conquered them thousands of years ago!"

Colgate couldn't help but smile as she knew that she did have one ally who still trusted her, an ally that she could count on to be loyal to the bitter end. Colgate became much more cheerful and suggested, "Enough of this negative talk! Let's go get my generals and have the chefs fix us a hearty, meat heavy feast!"