Terror in Equestria 11: Death and Destruction

Arrival at the Palace

It was late when LaurFa arrived in Canterlot and approached the palace. Given that there were no visible lights on, she couldn't help but wonder if anypony was even awake. Once she got to the gate, she was greeted by two guards.

One asked, "Halt, who goes there?"

The other added, "State your business."

LaurFa replied, "I am LaurFa, Creator Goddess and ruler of Alicorn Island and I need to speak to Princess Celestia."

One of the guards gave her a stern look and one asked, "Do you not know how late....."

The other guard, one who had met LaurFa before interrupted, "LaurFa, Princess Celestia is likely sleeping right now but I can lead you to the throne room and we can see if Celestia will wake to speak to you."

The guard threw the door open and she followed them to the palace. That was a first, her having to be escorted to the throne room since in the past she was simply allowed to walk there herself. Once they arrived the more friendly guard continued, "Wait here while I go and see if she will wake to speak to you."

LaurFa followed the orders and the guard headed to Celestia's chambers to wake her. When he knocked on her door all he heard was, "Go away! Don't you know what time it is?"

The guard knew better than to open her door so he loudly said, "Princess Celestia, LaurFa is here and she needs to speak to you."

In the past, Princess Celestia had always dropped anything but this would be the first time she wouldn't. The guard heard a yell, "Escort her to a guest room and tell her we can talk tomorrow morning." She raised her voice and added, "I'm trying to sleep, ok?"

When he returned to the throne room he said, "Your Majesty, I am sorry but she will not speak to anypony until morning." He pointed his wings towards a hallway and continued, "Follow me to a guest room."

LaurFa was shocked that the princess would not get up to talk to her. Initially she couldn't help but wonder why Celestia would not want to wake to speak to her over important matters but then figured that perhaps she had had a long day. Once they arrived to the guest rooms the guard ordered, "Pick one out your Majesty."

LaurFa nodded and headed to the one that Colgate always chose when she would be staying overnight, the largest one. Once she got settled in, she laid on the bed and couldn't help but notice how comfortable it was, so comfortable that it rivaled her own. She thought to herself, "No wonder Colgate always demanded this one, this bed is so comfortable."

A Discussion With Celestia

Several hours had passed and LaurFa was in a peaceful slumber when she heard a knock on her door. She shot up and asked, "Hello, who is it?"

She heard a much warmer voice than what the guard did the previous night, it was that of Princess Celestia. "From what I understand you wanted to talk to me?"

LaurFa replied, "Yes I do. Just give me a minute."

LaurFa got up and headed towards the door to see the princess waiting for her. She was embraced and greeted, "Good morning your Majesty, what did you want to talk about?"

LaurFa's stomach began to grumble and she asked, "It is something very important but do you think we could talk about it over breakfast?"

Celestia replied, "Of course we can."

The two headed down to the dining hall and while she was looking forward to some breakfast, she was a tiny bit nervous to talk about the missing Alicorn gems, especially since she had said that she was not sure if there were any more of them. Once they arrived Celestia summoned the chef and they ordered their breakfast.

While they were waiting Celestia asked, "So what is it that you wished to discuss with me?"

LaurFa asked, "Remember how Alicorn gems came up in the summit and I said that I'm not sure if there were any others?"

Celestia replied, "Yes, I do."

LaurFa continued, "Well I discovered that they do actually exist." Celestia's eyes grew wide as LaurFa continued, "But I do have some bad news, somepony apparently knew about them, went out there, blasted every hidden chamber open and stole them."

Celestia gasped, "What? Those Alicorn gems that we could have used were stolen?"

LaurFa continued, "Yes and to make matters worse, in a prophecy book I have learned that there were not seven gems but eight and the eighth was one of pure evil, one that the user could use to unleash a horrible wrath upon our world."

Celestia began to ask, "But who would steal them, who would even......?" She then slammed her hoof on the table and yelled, "Scootaloo, it had to be Scootaloo!" She became more agitated as she continued, "She probably wound up flying off to Marentreal and told Colgate about them!"

LaurFa said, "I was thinking that but I wasn't 100% sure. I thought maybe that with there being so many more of us than just her and Colgate that maybe she would know better."

Celestia asked, "Ok, this prophecy book regarding the gems, do you have it with you?"

LaurFa developed a nervous look on her face, "Well no. I was thinking that all of us could travel to Faustica and then we could go over it together."

Celestia sighed in disgust that LaurFa would not even bring the book with her so that they could go over it and know more when they tell the others. She sighed, "So about this doing all this traveling, how are we supposed to do it? None of us even have the ability to alter time to travel from place to place quickly and I doubt all of us will be able to simply fly through."

LaurFa again looked nervous, "Well it will likely take us an extremely long time but we may have to sail everywhere except the Crystal Empire and Unicornia."

Celestia developed a frown on her face the moment she brought it up. She asked, "Seriously, you would want us to have Scootaloo with us and the portal to Unicornia lies within the borders of Coastal Equestria. If Colgate truly is turning bad, we can't get caught in her nation."

LaurFa came up with a couple of ideas, "Well regarding Scootaloo, I'm thinking that once all of us are present, we should be able to scare her into telling us everything she knows and regarding the monarchs of Unicornia, since Scootaloo is close with Colgate, maybe she can deliver the message that they are needed and they could meet us somewhere."

Celestia replied, "Well that could work." She looked towards the exit and asked, "So when do you want to do this? When do you want to go rounding up the leaders and who do you want to get first?"

LaurFa replied, "Well I'm thinking we should leave as soon as possible and first I think we should get Scootaloo and then take things from there."

Celestia got up and began to head towards the exit, "Very well, let's get going. Let's just hope that Scootaloo doesn't get suspicious."

LaurFa agreed, "Let's hope not."

As they exited the castle and took off towards the Crystal Empire, Celestia couldn't help but be frustrated with LaurFa. She was not exactly in the mood to be flying long distances but what bothered her the most was that LaurFa didn't even bother bringing the prophecy book, that she just assumed that everypony was going to want to go to Faustica after already having traveled so far.