Terror in Equestria 11: Death and Destruction

A Treasonous Discovery

While Celestia and LaurFa were talking with Scootaloo outside, one pony had been watching from afar, Supreme Commander Colgate. As she watched their interactions and then listened in on their conversation, she became enraged, "That tyrant! That lying, conniving little tyrant!"

Dark Night heard her rage and like he had numerous times in the past, he headed up to her bedroom to see what had drove her into such a fury. He asked, "Colgate, what is wrong? Why are you screaming and who is a conniving little tyrant?"

Colgate flared her horn up in anger, "Scootaloo! She told them about my desire for the gems and she admitted to worrying about me having taken those relics!" She stomped her hoof into the ground and yelled, "General, the time has come. The time has come for me to do what I should have done long ago but trust me, if they think little Twily was bad, they will learn that Tartarus hath no fury worse than a leader who has been betrayed!"

Dark Night knew that Colgate could get furious and in this instance, understandably so, but he couldn't help but wonder what Colgate meant by them thinking she would be worse than Twily. He asked, "Well it won't be anything too bad will it?"

Colgate gave him a smile, "Oh it won't be too bad. I just have a little trip I have to make today, I need to go and search for some information after I look through the eye so I will know exactly where to go."

Without saying anything further, Colgate rushed up to her chambers and tapped into the eye, scanning the whole land for where Midnight Castle was. In the vision, it showed it as it was a long time ago so she had to take into account what time would have done to it. She thought to herself, "It may not even be visible anymore! The most that might be left of it would be a mound!"

She continued to look until she saw something strange in the Everfree Forest, something that appeared to be ruins that were almost completely overgrown by grass and trees. The closer she analyzed it, the more she began to think it may be where she would need to go. After analyzing that area, she zeroed in on the Crystal Empire and noticed that Scootaloo along with LaurFa and Celestia were out at the base casually talking. What caught her attention was that she decided to allow them to stay for a couple days because of wing fatigue before they would head off to the Equine Empire.

Colgate developed a sinister smile and she laughed, "Very good you three, take your time. The longer you take, the more time I have to do what I need to do!"

While she did not think a ton about it, Colgate had a feeling that Dark Night might try to persuade her out of doing what she had planned so without notifying anypony, she took off of her balcony and sped off to the north. There was one thing Colgate definitely was not going to admit to anypony, even those closest to her, was that her wrath would be unprecedented.

The Darkest Acquisitions

Colgate had been flying for four hours when she felt as though she had reached where the ruins might be. When she dropped below the forest canopy, it was dark, incredibly dark. She lit up her horn as brightly as she could and still she could not see things as well as she would like.

Eventually things began to look a bit familiar to what she saw in the vision and then she saw what she believed might be what she was looking for, a pile of rubble that was covered in moss and had trees growing out of it. She sighed in frustration wondering if the library would still even exist and if it did, if any of the books would even be salvageable.

Colgate continued to inspect the ruins and then noticed that an opening seemed to be visible. She began to levitate enough rocks away that she could find out. After removing probably a dozen rocks, she discovered that a passage still existed, a passage that led underground. Despite not being completely sure about the safety of it, Colgate entered hoping that she could duplicate the library and then get out of there before it could collapse.

The passage, outside of the light from Colgate's horn, was dark. Colgate remembered how there were torches that still lit the inside of Grogar's living quarters but the same would not be here. As she continued further into the darkness, she couldn't help but worry that everything was going to collapse in on her.

After a decent distance of walking, her light revealed a passageway that took off to the right. She remembered in the vision that it was a passage to the right that led to the library. When she arrived in the chamber she was shocked when she saw that the books in the library were still in pristine condition. She whispered to herself, "Yes! Now I can duplicate this, get out of here and make another addition to my collection!"

Colgate's horn began to glow brighter as she grabbed the collection and proceeded to cast the proper spell. Like it was in Tambelon, something seemed to be preventing her from duplicating it, only much more so. As Colgate continued to put more energy into the spell, she began to develop a headache but that was not about to prevent her from getting this done. She didn't care how long it took or how bad her headache became, she was not going to stop trying.

After what seemed to be forever to her, she felt it, she got that feeling that she had achieved her objective, she was able to duplicate the collection. While one part of her wanted to hurry up and get going, another part of her desired to continue exploring as the passage went deeper, much deeper. Eventually her curious side would win out and further back she went.

At the very end of the passage, she noticed a bit of light coming from a chamber. When she entered, she noticed that there was some torch light. She thought to herself, "Just like in Tambelon, dark magic providing a bit of light!"

She looked towards the back of the chamber and there was Tirac's old throne. In Tambelon, Colgate had no desire to sit on Grogar's throne out of fear of being corrupted. This time though, Colgate couldn't resist, she wanted to sit on the long dead villain's seat. As she climbed up on it and sat down, she could feel energy flowing into her, the energy of pure black magic, magic that she never imagined before.

As the energy continued to flow into her, visions of giant flying beasts, cloaked equine riders and directions on how to create both. The longer she sat on the throne, the more intense and realistic the visions seemed. After an hour, Colgate knew that she had best get out of Midnight Castle, especially when a piece of ceiling fell, narrowly missing her.

While she wanted very much to gallop out of the place, she saw something in the left corner of the throne room, behind Tirac's old throne and despite the risks, she had to check it out. What she discovered made her very happy, she discovered a barrel with nine swords in it and a larger sabre. She grabbed them in her aura and realized that they had been cursed in one way or another, a way that would give her forces another advantage against the enemy. She said to herself, "These will be perfect! Perhaps with these, I can stab my foes and make them into my slaves!"

Once she grabbed the swords she began to leave but noticed one more item in a far corner. As she approached it she was shocked to see what she found. She found a mask, a mask that looked like a pony's face twisted into something downright terrifying. She put her hoof up against the mask and felt the same evil in it that she felt in the swords. She said to herself, "Perhaps I should take this with me too. I'm certain I can make good use of it!"

After grabbing everything she found in her aura, she knew that she had best get out of the old castle and do so quietly. She knew that any more loud noises could lead to her demise so she walked out as quietly as possible. Once she finally exited what was left of the old castle, she fired some energy at the ruins, causing the entrance to be blocked once more. While she figured that the chances of Ruby going and casting the same spell were slim to none, she wasn't going to take any chances.

A New Chamber

Once Colgate returned to the tower, she was greeted by Dark Night, not in a pleasant manner but a concerned one. He took a close look at her and gasped, "Colgate, what happened to your coat, it is darker." He then took a close look at her eyes and noticed that the very outer edge of her eyes had turned gray. He continued, "And your eyes, they are darker!" His jaw dropped open as he finished, "And those weapons and that mask, they don't seem right!"

Colgate was in no mood for small talk but did want her general to join her in the archives. She pointed her wing towards the tower and suggested, "How about you join me down in the archives, I have things you have to see."

Dark Night followed her down into the back of the archives wondering what it was that she wanted him to see. Once they got to the back chamber, Colgate began blasting out rock to make room for what would be her darkest collection, the collection that would wind up having to be locked away with even more security than the Tambelon collection. Once she blasted out enough rock, she grabbed the walls with her aura and cast the spell to duplicate it. Like it was with the Tambelon collection, fresh shelving and the books appeared.

When Colgate saw this she was elated, "Well Dark Night, after I do some studying, I can accomplish my ultimate goal and make those distrustful leaders pay." Her voice became more sinister as she added, "And especially that disloyal little rat Scootaloo. She will find out how truly terrible the punishment will be for betraying me."

Like he had been earlier, Dark Night was a bit concerned but when he realized what it was, he was very concerned, "Is that what I think it is? Is that the collection from Midnight Castle?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, it is." She stood taller and proudly continued, "And now, I can do what it takes to fuse my gem into myself!"

Dark Night gave her a nervous look and asked, "Ok but about you being darker. Why did you become darker? That didn't happen when you duplicated the Tambelon collection."

Colgate gave him a slight smile, "Well let's just say I sat on Tirac's old throne, some energy flowed into me and I learned all sorts of things!" She became prouder and continued, "I will be able to create all sorts of things for what I want to do........." She then realized that she better not reveal too much so she would not make him worry too much. She continued, "Just things that would aid Coastal Equestria in the event we were attacked."

Dark Night was very nervous over how to reply to this given how dead set Colgate was in doing all of this. He asked, "And what about those swords, did you find them there too?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I did. I think they will give us an even bigger advantage against our foes." She held the sabre up and added, "And this, shall be my weapon. It shall be my weapon to cut our foes' heads straight off of them."

Dark Night gasped, "Wait a minute, you're going to go beheading our enemies now?"

Colgate replied, "Yes. If there are ones that are more difficult than others, cutting off their heads will make things far easier." She saw a nervous look coming from her general and continued, "Why the nervous look? You look like you are worried my methods won't work!"

Dark Night replied, "Oh I'm sure they will. I'm sure everything you have will lead to victory."

Colgate said, "Good. Now could you head back upstairs while I do some much needed studying?"

Dark Night simply nodded and did as requested. The very fact that Colgate would not only acquire the Midnight Castle library but bring back weapons, weapons that were most likely cursed, did bother him. He had been wondering about Colgate for a very long time but he now knew that the fears he had had since she ate Twilight's heart were going to come to pass, he knew that soon Colgate would make the things Twilight did look like foal's play.

While Dark Night was becoming more nervous, Colgate was thrilled. Not only did she have the collection she wanted, she also knew what she needed to do to create everything she needed to truly bring about the wrath she had been planning since the distrust began, especially with Scootaloo's betrayal.