Suppertime Discussion

Three days had passed since Scootaloo returned to the Empire and Colgate began to think about what would happen if LaurFa did manage to find more Alicorn gems and what the consequences of that could be. She said to herself, "Them spy on me, I think not. That is unacceptable, she must not find any more."

Normally Colgate would have a discussion with her generals over most things but this was something that she figured would be best done alone. She knew that would be best because going solo would make moving the time bubble beyond easy. The only issue would be actually retrieving any further Alicorn gems assuming they existed without being noticed. She then realized that given how bright her horn glowed that she could easily find them during the night.

One thing she also knew is that this would require a larger supper than normal. That evening when she and her generals gathered for supper, both of her generals couldn't help but notice the size of her meal. Dark Night was the first to say anything, "You really hungry tonight?"

Lightning Storm added, "I know you like your meals big but I haven't seen you eat something this big in ages."

Colgate wasn't overly thrilled that they would ask about the size of her meal but then something crossed her mind, Dark Night was a strong flyer and perhaps having two ponies engaging in the endeavor of retrieving any Alicorn gems, assuming there were any left, would make life easier. She gave her two generals an intense look and began, "Alright generals, I learned something from Scootaloo during her visit that would not be in our best interests."

The two had noticed that over the years Colgate had become more paranoid and were thinking that it would be nothing important. Lightning Storm asked, "What is it that she found out? What is it that might not be in our best interests?"

Colgate continued, "Well at the last summit after I departed, Scootaloo learned that LaurFa wants to search for more Alicorn gems in the cave where the jade and sapphire Alicorns were found." She turned to Dark Night and added, "And we must make sure she that she does not succeed, we must make sure she doesn't find any more."

Dark Night gave her a nervous look, "And what would we do to prevent her from finding them assuming they exist."

She continued, "Once the sun drops below the horizon, you and I are heading to Alicorn Island, heading to that cave and finding any further gems even if it means blasting out that side of the mountain."

Dark Night's jaw dropped open, "But that will take forever just to get there and what if we were to get spotted?"

Colgate reminded him, "Remember, I have my time spell and if anypony spots us" she pointed to her collar and continued, "I will simply put them in a cage and we will bring them back here and deal with them appropriately."

Lightning Storm, who didn't appear to be taking part in this mission asked, "Why would you need those gems anyway? It's not like you have anything to hide."

Colgate developed a slight smile, "Perhaps not but I still do not want anypony spying upon me. It is MY JOB to scan the world and my job alone...."

Dark Night added, "You mentioned imprisoning anypony who caught us, bringing them home and dealing with them appropriately. What exactly do you mean 'dealing with them appropriately?'"

Colgate laughed, "Oh nothing in particular. If they are a higher up, torture them and make them spill the beans and if they are a civilian, use them as a bargaining chip."

At that moment the two realized that Colgate's plans may not be simply acquiring what she needed to prevent espionage against her. They began to realize that the fears they had about Colgate not just fusing Grogar's collar into her but also eating Twilight's heart may be coming to pass. Dark Night asked, "Ok, I know you want those gems but must you capture anypony in the process." He did not like that idea and figured that there would be one way to get her to change her plans, "Colgate, you know carrying somepony home with us would slow us down. You certainly wouldn't want that, would you?"

Colgate sighed, "Oh you're right general, you're right." She looked out the window and saw that the sun had set. She stood up and added, "Dark Night, grab our saddle bags and let's get going. I want to get this done and make sure nopony spies upon us."

Lightning Storm noticed that she was not being brought up and asked, "What about me Colgate? Don't you want my assistance as well."

Colgate replied, "Lightning Storm, while I appreciate the offer, changelings simply can't fly as fast as we need to move that time bubble along at maximum speeds." She headed towards the exit and continued, "Come on Dark Night, let's get going."

Retrieval of the Alicorn Gems

Lightning Storm sighed in frustration as he was left in the dining hall but knew that Colgate was right about changelings and their inability to fly fast enough to break the sound barrier. Once they got outside Colgate ordered, "Get up here by me."

Once Dark Night joined her off the ground, she recited the first part of the spell,

"A bubble is what we need, so from frozen time we can be freed,
in this bubble we can move fast, while everything else is stuck in the past,
it is frozen time which through we must pass so we will never be late to class."

Once Colgate cast that spell, the two were inside a bubble. Like she had done in the past and had to do it that way, she poked the very edge of her horn through the bubble and recited,

"Tick tock, tick tock, look at the racing clock,
what is short is time and being late is a crime,
we must finish on top so it is time I must stop,
with time froze, it is my enemies I shall bulldoze."

Once she cast the spell, time outside the bubble had frozen and she ordered, "Come on Dark Night, let's get going."

Like she did in the past, she had to keep her horn poked just barely through the bubble so that frozen time would not enter the bubble and freeze them and the outside world forever. Given that both of them were great flyers, they broke the sound barrier in no time. That was one thing that Colgate always loved, was breaking the sound barrier in nothing flat and shortening the time of the trip significantly.

By the time they reached the west side of Alicorn Island, Colgate knew that once she unfroze time that the sun would be up and they would have to be careful about not being spotted. Once they stopped Colgate recited the third part of the spell,

"Look at the clock, it is stuck in place, with this there can be no pace,
everything is still but that does not fit the bill,
for now the clock shall again run so everypony can have fun."

Once she cast the spell, time was running normally outside the bubble again and Colgate cast the final part of the spell,

"In the bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and allows fun,
the bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst,
from the bubble we are now free and everything we can clearly see."

Once she cast the spell, the bubble burst and what shocked Dark Night was that the sun was shining. He asked, "Wait a minute, how can the sun be shining? It was dark when we left."

This question irritated Colgate but she did not want to make him feel stupid or uncomfortable. She replied, "General, Eqqus 1 is round so while it was dark back home when we left, the sun is still shining here." She did not want to discuss the issue for so long and she continued, "Alright, let's find that cave."

Given that she had been there before, Colgate knew exactly where it was. She saw it immediately and ordered, "Follow me Dark Night, let's get this taken care of."

When the two headed into the cave, Colgate was thrilled because it looked like nopony had even set hoof in there in many, many millennia. The first thing she did once they got in was start pounding on the sides of the cave. Dark Night saw this and asked, "Colgate, why are you pounding on the walls like that?"

Colgate replied, "There was a chamber behind the back wall that contained the sapphire Alicorn. Now LaurFa claimed that the jade Alicorn was just buried in the rock but I don't believe her. I have a feeling that all of them are likely going to be in chambers."

Dark Night nodded and too began to pound on the sides of the cave. After ten minutes and not a horrible distance into the cave Dark Night said, "Colgate, come here. This sounds hollow."

Colgate's eyes grew wide and she began firing energy at the rock until she blasted a hole in the side of the cave and lit her horn up as she headed inside. It would not be long until she would find one of the gems she was looking for, a ruby Alicorn. When she saw the color of it she gasped, "Wait a minute, are these supposed to match the ponies they would be given to?"

Dark Night replied, "You know, they very well could."

Colgate commented, "Hmmm....Ruby. This one was likely the one that would be given to Ruby."

Dark Night replied, "Yeah, probably."

Colgate began counting to herself, "Ok, one down and one, two, three, four, five, six. If that is indeed the case, six more to go!"

Along with the gem was a golden plate which did not surprise Colgate. She added, "It's a good thing we brought our saddle bags."

Once they retrieved the items, they got back to searching the cave. Not too much further back was a hollow spot and after she blasted the cave wall open, they discovered a topaz Alicorn gem. Given that it was blue in color, Colgate shouted, "Topaz, this must be the one that was meant for Blue Star!"

Dark Night commented, "Well that is two down, five to go!"

Colgate nodded as they retrieved the items and continued further back. The next chamber would be a bit further back, adjacent to the one where her sapphire Alicorn was. Once they got further back, they had to keep their horns lit. Once they found the next hollow spot, they blasted it open and discovered another red Alicorn stone. Colgate took a good look at it and continued, "Garnet, the same color as LaurFa's mane!"

Colgate's smile got bigger as she had now found three of the necessary stones, "Three down, four to go!"

One thing Colgate noticed was a doorway in the side of that chamber and decided to follow it. It let to a passage that had doorways on each side of it. She headed into another chamber and found an orange Alicorn gem, a citrine Alicorn. Colgate began jumping up and down and continued, "Citrine! This one must be intended for Scootaloo!"

While at first Dark Night wasn't completely sure about doing this, seeing the Supreme Commander so happy reassured him. He said, "Alright, four down, three to go!"

Colgate nodded before heading back to the passage. Right across from them was another doorway into another chamber. In it was a yellow sapphire Alicorn, which surprised Colgate, "A yellow sapphire Alicorn, I'm guessing this one is meant for Celestia, or should I say WAS!"

She retrieved it along with it's plate and continued, "Five down, two to go."

They returned to the passage and headed further back and into another chamber. When they headed in, they discovered a white diamond Alicorn. Colgate's smile became bigger as she retrieved it along with it's golden plate. She said, "Well Dark Night this one has to be for Galaxia, one more and we will have acquired what we came for."

Dark Night replied, "Good, I have my concerns that we may get caught if we stay around too much longer."

Colgate sighed, "You know if we get caught I can just put them in a cage, leave them here and we can head home."

Dark Night gave her a nervous smile but was not going to say anything over leaving somepony to die in the caves, especially given what a good mood Colgate was in. As they headed back to the hall and into the chamber across from them, they quickly discovered a dark blue Alicorn gem. Colgate inspected it and was shocked by what it was, an incredibly rare blue spinel. She jumped up and down and yelled, "Blue spinel, this gem must have been meant for Luna!" She headed towards the exit and joyfully said, "We got them all Dark Night, we got them all. Now nopony can spy on us!"

Once they got back out into the hallway Colgate looked off to her left and saw the cave wall had begun to glow. She said, "That's weird, it's glowing. It wasn't before."

Colgate approached the back of the hallway and began blasting away at the rock. She would be interrupted when Dark Night suggested, "Colgate, I think we should leave that one alone. I have a bad feeling about it."

Colgate gave him a frown and replied, "General, whatever is in there is very important. I believe that if we don't get it, THEY WILL and all of them could use it to destroy Coastal Equestria."

Dark Night knew that when Colgate got in that mindset, that there would be no reasoning with her. It took her nearly five minutes of blasting the rock until she finally revealed a much larger chamber, one decorated with blue banners with hourglass symbols and banners with images of her collar. She continued to look around and couldn't help but notice that everything in there was symbolic of her. She became excited, "Dark Night, do you see this? All these images are related to me!"

Dark Night was in shock as he looked around. He replied, "That is odd, very odd."

As Colgate approached the center of the chamber, she did not find a colorful Alicorn gem in a golden plate, she found a black diamond in the shape of her cutie mark laying on a platinum plate. The moment she picked it up she seemed drawn to it. She inspected it further and in a dreamy voice she said, "My precious!"

The way she seemed drawn to the gem and what she said when she held it up scared Dark Night. He nudged Colgate and asked, "Are you sure you should take this?"

Colgate pulled the gem closer to herself and snapped, "Don't touch this, it is MINE!" She grabbed the platinum plate and yelled, "And this is MINE too!"

Dark Night jumped back and gasped, "Ok, ok. I won't touch them!"

Colgate initially gave him a scowl before a smile returned to her face, "Well Dark Night, shall we get going? I think we have retrieved everything we need."

Dark Night nodded and followed Colgate back through the passage, back into the main part of the cave and the exit. Once they got outside, the sun had set long ago. Colgate faced Dark Night and said, "You know the drill."

Dark Night flew by Colgate while she cast the necessary spells. The trip home was rather quick and once she returned to her black tower, the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon. The first thing she did when she landed was levitate Dark Night's saddlebags off of him and headed straight towards the archives. As she headed in Dark Night asked, "Colgate, do you need....."

Before he could finish his sentence, she slammed the door shut and locked it behind her. Dark Night was very unnerved by how secretive she was with the gems and was completely terrified over not just the black diamond, but by what she said when she touched it. He couldn't help but wonder what she meant by "my precious."

Securing the Alicorn Gems

After slamming the door shut in Dark Night's face, Colgate headed down into the archives, closing and locking each door behind her. Once she entered the last chamber, the one that contained Grogar's library, she immediately grabbed hold of the black gem, held it up to herself and said, "Don't worry my precious, I will find a way to ensure we are never parted. I will make sure that we become one someday."

She continued to sit there, gazing at her new acquisition lovingly until she saw an image in the gemstone, an image of a map with the location of Midnight Castle, the ancient home of Tirac. She then saw the castle as it was in the past, then a pathway going down into the deepest bowls of the palace where a library existed. She then saw the book that held the spell to fuse it into herself and then finally, the page it was on.

Colgate snapped out of her daze when she saw this and realized one thing, that she had to go to Midnight Castle, cast the duplication spell on Tirac's library, create her own copy in an even further back chamber and then fuse the gem into herself. She then began to laugh, "Those other leaders will soon find out what the punishment for distrusting me shall be. Eqqus 1 will be mine and all shall love me in despair!"

Author's Note

Time Bubble Spell

"A bubble is what we need, so from frozen time we can be freed,
in this bubble we can move fast, while everything else is stuck in the past,
it is frozen time which through we must pass so we will never be late to class."

Freeze Time Spell

"Tick tock, tick tock, look at the racing clock,
what is short is time and being late is a crime,
we must finish on top so it is time I must stop,
with time froze, it is my enemies I shall bulldoze."

Unfreeze Time

"Look at the clock, it is stuck in place, with this there can be no pace,
everything is still but that does not fit the bill,
for now the clock shall again run so everypony can have fun."

Undo Time Bubble

"In the bubble time continues to run, but now the time outside runs and allows fun,
the bubble must burst so we can quench our thirst,
from the bubble we are now free and everything we can clearly see."