Chapters Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
The morning after the battle to end all battles had arrived and Supreme Commander Colgate was waken up by the sun. She had got very little in the way of sleep as nightmares of her past plagued her. Throughout the night, visions of ponies who were slain by either her or her creations haunted her. When she headed to the balcony, she was hoping that perhaps the battle had been nothing but a nightmare but that would not be the case.
Seeing the carnage in full daylight was very hard on her. She looked out and then held her head low and began to sob, "How could I? How could I have allowed myself to do this?"
As Colgate was standing there on her balcony, she heard a voice yell, "Colgate, are you ok? It is time for breakfast."
Colgate turned around to see that it was Dark Night. She replied, "I'm alright." She then headed for the exit and continued, "I don't know what we're going to eat. I don't know if we have much in the way of food around here."
Colgate followed Dark Night down to the dining hall where they were greeted by Lightning Storm who asked, "Colgate? What is for breakfast?" He then made a suggestion he figured that their leader would love, "I'm thinking we should feast on enemy corpses! There is no shortage of them."
When Colgate fused the heart into herself, it altered her in more ways than just one. Not only did it remove the darkness from her but it also removed her desire to feast on the flesh of her enemies. She replied, "General, I don't think I can bring myself to eat the meat of our foes anymore."
"Seriously?" her generals gasped.
"Yes, seriously." replied Colgate.
Colgate then headed towards the kitchen to see if there was much of anything at all in there that would sound good. As she was doing this, the generals began to talk among one another, "I can't believe she is turning down the meat of our enemies! Normally she would have been out there feasting on them before dawn."
Dark Night, who was closer to Colgate replied, "Lightning Storm, I think when she fused that diamond heart into herself, it changed her. I don't think she is going to be eating the meat of other ponies anymore, I think she values the lives of others now."
Colgate returned from the kitchen a bit irritated, "Well generals outside of a few haycakes and some bacon, we have nothing in here." She headed towards the exit and continued, "I may just fly into the forest and eat what the ponies of eons ago ate."
She took off towards the forest and while both Dark Night and Lightning Storm saw a buffet lying right outside of the tower, they figured it would be best to follow their commander, especially if in the event she wanted to discuss anything about what to do now that the other leaders are dead.
Colgate flew fast, very fast. She flew so fast that neither of her generals could even keep up with her. Once Colgate got to a small clearing in the forest, she landed near a pond with some fruit bearing trees. Colgate immediately began to feast on the fruits and guzzle the water. After what she considered to be a decent, filling meal she stared at her own reflection. While she did like her new appearance, something very similar to what she used to be, so many things still troubled her.
"All this death," she said to herself "all this destruction, all this evil, far too many years, many years more than I should have survived." She then heard noises and flared up her horn in the event she needed to defend herself but saw that it was just Dark Night and Lightning Storm. "Come to have some breakfast with me?"
The generals saw what Colgate had been eating and it did not look one bit appealing to them. "We'll pass." they said in unison.
"Well suit yourself." replied Colgate.
It was quiet between the three for several minutes before Lightning Storm broke the silence, "Colgate, so what now? Do you plan on using that resurrection spell on the other leaders?"
Dark Night asked, "Do you plan on restoring the world to what it was before all this happened?"
Colgate held her head low and replied, "If I could do anything, I would undo everything. If I could, I would undo everything dating all the way back to Chrysalis initially corrupting Twilight. If I could, I would undo everything that led to the world falling into so much turmoil."
Again silence returned, an odd silence. Dark Night soon found himself staring at Colgate's cutie mark and a thought crossed his mind, something that could make Colgate's desire a reality. "Time travel!" he exclaimed.
When she heard those two words, Colgate's head shot up. "Time travel?"
"Yes Colgate, time travel! Your cutie mark is of an hourglass so I bet you could just travel back in time and stop everything from going wrong." replied Dark Night
Colgate said, "Just because I'm a time lady doesn't mean that I can travel through time." She dropped her head momentarily before continuing, "But if I remember correctly, one time Twilight used Starswirl's spell to go back in time but that only went back a week and only worked for a tiny bit. I'd have to rewrite it to where I could go back as far as I wanted and stay as long as I wanted."
Lightning Storm asked, "So I take it that is likely a no? I take it that isn't an option."
Colgate began to become more enthused, "Quite the opposite actually. I've written plenty of magic in my life and altering this shouldn't be too hard." She took to the sky and ordered, "To the tower generals, I've got a spell to rewrite!"
They too took to the skies and followed Colgate back to the tower. They could tell by Colgate's sudden enthusiastic behavior that she was thrilled by the idea and that they may not see a ton of her, especially if it was to take her a while to figure out the right spell.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
After returning to the tower, Colgate immediately headed into the archives. As she descended down the stairs, she felt a chill as she knew what was down there. She knew that it was all material that was obtained by her in ways that she knew was not right. When she got into the first chamber, she began to look around for the spell but could not find it. She then headed to the second chamber where what was once the Faustica collection was located.
As she began to go through it, memories of the day when Twilight acquired those materials came back to her. She remembered how it was that along with the retrieval of the jade Alicorn was why she had been transformed into an Alicorn to start with. She looked at all the material with a look of regret, "Why? Why did I ever agree to be an Alicorn to start with?" She raised her voice and continued, "I should have just told Twilight no! I should have just remained being a unicorn and a full time dentist!"
Once she began to search through all the materials, she was getting frustrated that she could not find it in there either. She knew that it would not be further back in the Unicornia collection and she definitely knew it would not be in the dark collections so she realized one thing, she realized that she was going to have to write her own magic.
She sat there in deep thought realizing that while she had written many spells in her life, that this could very well be the most difficult one of them all. She grabbed a quill, some ink and parchment and began to write down what came to her,
"Round and round the world has turned for ages Time is the unstoppable force for even the great mages, Long gone are the days when times were great For they have been destroyed my much hate.
The days of old long ago ended their turn, Yet to those I must return. As I go the visions of the past I must see, So I will know where I must be.
Colgate was unsure as to whether it would work or not but she figured that she and her generals needed to find out. She headed upstairs to find her generals in the throne room. She pointed towards the exit and ordered, "Follow me, I must see if this will work."
Dark Night asked, "Why must we accompany you?"
Colgate replied, "Because if it does work, we need to be in the same time so we can take a trip to Ponyville. That is where I want to return to."
Her generals nodded and they headed outside. Colgate pointed to the hill where she had done so many other things and continued, "Follow me."
They complied and when they got up to the hill, Colgate readied herself to cast the spell. This was something she had never done before and had no idea what would happen. She ordered her generals to stand next to her before she cast the spell. Once they were next to her she lit up her horn and recited,
"Round and round the world has turned for ages Time is the unstoppable force for even the great mages, Long gone are the days when times were great For they have been destroyed my much hate.
The days of old long ago ended their turn, Yet to those I must return. As I go the visions of the past I must see, So I will know where I must be.
As soon as she finished reciting the spell, they all became encircled in a ball. Colgate did not want to travel too far back at first, just a day to make sure that it did indeed work before choosing to go further back. As they were going backwards, Colgate saw the visions that had happened in the past day before powering down her horn and stopping the spell.
Up there on the ridge they looked down and saw the battle of the previous day going on. All the carnage was so hard for Colgate to watch but knew that seeing it was necessary for her to know if it worked. She turned to her generals and said, "Alright, let's get going to Ponyville. That is where I want us to travel back to."
She took to the sky and was followed by her generals. They made sure to fly well away from the battle as there were giant pegasi and dark gray beasts flying overhead. Once they got out of eyesight of the battle and the creatures involved in it, Colgate breathed a sigh of relief. While she did have her time spell that could have made the trip to Ponyville much quicker but given that they were already in the past, she had her concerns that stopping time could have serious consequences.
After many hours of flying, Ponyville finally appeared in the distance. When they landed, the sun was beginning to drop below the horizon and all they heard was silence, a deafening silence. The three began to walk around the deserted town and saw many, many cages. They saw cages that contained the remains of ponies that Colgate had imprisoned long ago. Like it was with the battle scene, she began to sob quietly when she saw this, "I've got to fix this, I have to make sure that this never happens."
They continued to walk around the town until they heard something. Colgate flared up her horn and said, "Be careful, who knows what that is."
They then heard horrible shrieking noises. Colgate had heard those before and realized that it had to have been some of Fluttershy's pets that she did not take to Canterlot for the attack. She was very quick to act and began blowing the little beasts to bits with her magic. Colgate was shocked when they just seemed to keep coming but finally after a minute of non-stop firing on them, she had wiped them all out. She walked over to the pile of dead beasts and felt bad. She did not feel bad because she had wiped so many of them out though, she felt bad that she had ever created the things to start with.
Finally Colgate decided the time to travel back had come. She said, "Alright generals, the time has come. The time has come to return to the past and prevent any of this from ever happening."
Colgate headed towards the west side of town and began to analyze everything very closely. That was the side of town that she lived on so long ago and felt that perhaps if she cast the spell in the right place, that they would wind up in her house, out of sight of everypony.
When she finally found where her house used to be she ordered, "Stand by me."
Lightning Storm asked, "Why here?"
Dark Night added, "You act like it is vital that we travel back right here."
Colgate replied, "I want us to go back here because we will arrive back inside my house from so long ago. I do not want anypony seeing us." She began to laugh a bit, "I don't want ponies going nuts over seeing me as an Alicorn and seeing you two with me." She broke into a full blown laugh, "We'd probably send the town into a full blown panic!"
Her generals gave an amused chuckle until they saw Colgate flare up her horn. They gathered by her as she began to recite,
"Round and round the world has turned for ages Time is the unstoppable force for even the great mages, Long gone are the days when times were great For they have been destroyed my much hate.
The days of old long ago ended their turn, Yet to those I must return. As I go the visions of the past I must see, So I will know where I must be.
Once she finished the spell, the three again became encircled in a white ball and as they began to travel back in time, the events of the past 20,000+ years began to pass by them, only in reverse. They saw so many things, some things that Colgate had fond memories of and others that disturbed her, even though they were moments where she defeated the dark goddess.
Soon Colgate knew the time to stop the spell had arrived as suddenly she was in what was her house. She began to lessen the power she put into the spell until they saw a six pointed star in the sky. At that moment, Colgate stopped the spell and peered out of her window. What she saw would please her, she saw the light fade from the star and noticed Twilight had just got her wings. She exclaimed, "We're back generals! We're back!"
Given that they had been flying for many hours, Colgate figured that before they started making any plans, that they had best find something to eat. Colgate turned on her lights and headed into the kitchen. She wasn't sure if her generals would be thrilled by what she found but she knew that it would be that or nothing, "Hay sausage sound good?"
Her generals, Dark Night in particular, gave her a look of shock, "What? No meat? You don't have meat in here?"
Colgate replied, "I didn't get into eating meat until I joined forces with Twilight. Before then, I pretty much ate grass, fruits and vegetables like every other pony."
She grabbed some sausages for the three of them and although it had been thousands of years since she last cooked something herself, it was as though she had never stopped cooking. She was able to cook them exactly like she liked them and after she finished cooking, she grabbed some bread, butter and a pitcher of cider out of the fridge. She sat it all on the table and said, "Eat up, I want us to depart to go take care of Sombra while it is still dark. Like I said earlier, I don't want ponies seeing the three of us."
"Sounds like a plan." replied Dark Night
The three began to eat and while Dark Night and Lightning Storm would have rather had meat, the meal was good to them. Being back in her old house brought back many, many memories for Colgate. It brought back memories of a simpler time, a time when harmony and peace were the norm for the most part and it brought back her memories of simply being Ponyville's dentist, a time she hoped to bring back no matter what.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
After finishing their meal and once all was quiet in Ponyville, the three exited Colgate's house. She turned to Dark Night and asked, "Do you remember the way to Sombra's realm from here?"
"That I do Colgate, that I do." replied Dark Night.
Colgate ordered, "Well you lead the say."
Dark Night took to the sky and Colgate and Lightning Storm followed him. As they were headed to the northwest, Dark Night was filled with a sense of dread. If there was one pony that he never wanted to see again, it was King Sombra. Even though Colgate had purged herself of all her evil, he still did not think it would be a wise idea to show any nervousness around her.
It was nearing dawn when Sombra's realm came within view. Like it always was, the place was covered in a dense overcast with the exception of a small patch of clear sky on the eastern horizon, one that allowed the sun to shine through. When Sombra's castle finally came into view, Dark Night was stopped in his tracks. He simply could not fly any further. He turned to Colgate and said, "Colgate, I don't think I can go any further. What if Sombra was to do something to me? What if he was to do something to us?"
Colgate pointed to his wings and began, "Dark Night, you are an Alicorn while he is just a unicorn." She then pointed to herself and continued, "And if he causes us any problems, I could easily take care of him, which I plan on doing." She then pointed towards Lightning Storm and finished, "But first I think we should have him covered in ooze."
Lightning Storm knew that was likely an order, "Yes ma'am! Will do, ma'am!"
This gave Dark Night the confidence he needed and when they finally arrived, the dark unicorn soldiers were already stirring and appeared to be getting ready for the day ahead of them. They then saw their target, King Sombra, out on his balcony. Even though he was a bit nervous, Dark Night landed on the balcony. King Sombra saw him and snapped, "Dark Night, what are you doing up here this early." Colgate and Lightning Storm then landed next to him and his jaw dropped open, "Wait a minute, how did you get wings?" He then pointed at his companions and growled, "And who are these two?"
Colgate ordered, "Cover him in ooze, now!"
Lightning Storm did as ordered and very quickly Sombra was covered, was unable to move and his magic was disabled. Despite being in such a vulnerable situation, his attitude did not change any. He yelled, "Who are you two, how did Dark Night get wings and how did you get a changeling in your service?"
Dark Night approached him, stood tall and replied, "It is a long story and likely a story you wouldn't be able to understand."
Colgate grabbed the king in her aura and added, "We don't have time to explain it but the time has come for a change in power. The time has come for MY general take on the role as king of the dark unicorns."
Dark Night gasped, "King of the dark unicorns? You really think I have what it takes to be a king?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I do." She picked Sombra up and continued, "Now it is time to make the transition in power official." She took off down towards the base and continued, "To the base!"
King Sombra began screaming and yelling in a fury as Colgate was carrying him down to the base. He was screaming that there was no way that an ordinary Alicorn such as Colgate could unseat him from power and that Dark Night would never become king. Once they arrived, Colgate sat the belligerent Sombra down and yelled, "Attention!"
The troops immediately gave her their attention but were shocked that it was somepony other than Sombra who yelled it. One of the dark unicorns asked, "Who is it that asks for our attention?"
Colgate replied, "I am the one who asks for your attention." She approached the troops, stood tall and spread her wings wide. The troops looked in awe at the Alicorn that stood before them.
She had their attention until Sombra began yelling, "Attack them you idiots! Attack them and free me from this ooze!"
With Sombra completely immobilized and being harmless, one of the regular hoof soldiers stepped forward and said, "No. We will not free you."
Another added, "I am not sure what is going on but I have a feeling your days of ruling are over."
Sombra began to scream at them, calling them traitors until Colgate continued, "Dark unicorns, you are correct, Sombra's days of ruling are over." She motioned for Dark Night to step forward and continued, "And now I present to you, your new king, King Dark Night!"
The soldiers knew that while Dark Night always put on a tough front when he was in Sombra's presence, that when he was with them on the base alone, that he was a much more laid back pony. One of the soldiers did have a question, "Your Majesty, how did you get those wings? How did you become an Alicorn?"
Dark Night replied, "That is something that I can discuss with all of you later but the blue Alicorn who is with me, Colgate, has other business she must tend to."
"That I do," replied Colgate "but first we must make this power change official. She grasped Sombra in her aura and ordered, "Tell me, did you have any dark plans prior to my arrival? Did you have any plans involving an attack on Chrysalis against Equestria?"
"No!" yelled Sombra, "Why would I conspire to do anything with her?"
Colgate knew that what Sombra was shouting was a lie but decided that she would not call him out on it. She simply wanted to get this done with so her and Lightning Storm could get to the changeling kingdom, get Chrysalis taken care of and stop the one event that cast the world into so much turmoil. She intensified her hold on the belligerent king and recited,
"You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."
Immediately, a black vortex opened up and began to swallow the king. He yelled, "Nooooooo!"
Once he had been sucked into the void, Colgate proudly stated, "And now it is official, who was General Dark Night is now KING Dark Night!"
The troops began to cheer wildly knowing that no longer would they have to live in constant fear of a short-tempered leader punishing them for doing anything wrong. They knew that life would be much easier now that they had a leader who would actually care about them.
Colgate turned to Dark Night and said, "Well I am glad to see that we have an ally of Equestria on the throne here now."
Dark Night replied, "Don't worry Colgate, if Equestria ever needs our help, we shall answer the call." He then remembered that in the times prior to Twilight's corruption that the dark unicorns were foes of Equestria. He asked, "You will be sure and tell the royal pony sisters that we are no longer enemies of theirs, right?"
Colgate replied, "And Princess Twilight and the royal family of the Crystal Empire." She then turned to Lightning Storm and continued, "Well shall we? Shall we finish my mission to prevent the terrors that would lie ahead?"
"Yes Colgate, let's do it." replied Lightning Storm.
Colgate then turned back to the new king and finished, "And good luck my friend. If you need any advice on how to rule, you know where to find me."
"That I do. Thank you for everything Colgate." replied Dark Night.
Colgate nodded and her and Lightning Storm then took off to the south. Once they got out of eyesight of Dark Night's new realm, Colgate stopped Lightning Storm and asked, "Are you ready for this? Are you ready for this flight?"
Lightning Storm asked, "What about your time spell? Couldn't you just use it and get us there in nothing flat?"
Colgate replied, "Given that we are not in the timeline where we came from, I would advise against this." She then realized that it was three days after Twilight's coronation so I think it would be best if we wait around, return to Ponyville under the cover of darkness and wait in my house until the right time comes."
"Very well, we shall go with your plan." replied Lightning Storm.
The two headed to the Everfree Forest to lay low before darkness would arrive and they would go to Ponyville and hide out in Colgate's house before the time would arrive to head to the changeling kingdom, get Lightning Storm installed as the new king of the changelings and then prevent the terrors of the future from ever happening.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
A New Leader for the Changelings
Two and a half days had passed and darkness again had set over Ponyville. Lightning Storm and Colgate had been careful to avoid making their presence known since they arrived but when the time came Colgate ordered, "Lightning Storm, the time has come. The time has come to prevent that dark future we all lived through from coming to be."
Lightning Storm replied, "Let's do this."
The two headed out and took off to the south. Unlike Dark Night, Lightning Storm was not one bit nervous. He was ready to take Chrysalis down and he knew that with Colgate present that Chrysalis wouldn't stand a chance. He knew that as they flew south, Colgate's plan was to make him king of the changelings but the most important thing was to stop that horrible future from ever coming to be.
Dawn was arriving in the changeling kingdom and the two arrived. Colgate took a look at the hive and saw that there was no clear opening and that there were guards stationed by the hive. Lightning Storm landed in front of them and saw that they were ready to attack. Both he and Colgate took to the skies and he yelled, "At ease guards, at ease."
Given that Lightning Storm was not created until after the banishment of Chrysalis, none of the guards knew who he was. Colgate however would be quick to act. She grabbed the guards in her aura and ordered, "Where is Queen Chrysalis, I very much need to speak to her."
Pharynx, the head of patrol sneered, "Why should we tell a pony anything?" He then became more suspicious and yelled, "You are a spy for Celestia, aren't you?" He then barked an order to the changelings that had yet to be held in her aura, "Cover here in ooze! Bring her down!"
A bright white bulb formed at the end of Colgate's horn and she released a ball of energy, throwing all the changelings back. This sent a clear message to Pharynx that unlike the Alicorn princesses, that Colgate would not be easy to bring down. He gave the same order and it ended with the same result, Colgate throwing them backwards with her energy.
When he finally realized that Colgate was a pony that was not going to be immobilized he asked, "Who are you and what do you want?" He then pointed to the changeling by his side and continued, "And who is this changeling? He does not look familiar."
Colgate replied, "My name is Colgate and this changeling with me is Lightning Storm. He has held a leadership role for a very long time and I have come to let you know that a change in leadership here is imminent. No longer shall you answer to Chrysalis, you shall answer to him now."
"And who are you to say this?" asked Pharynx, "Who are yo to come in here and remove our queen from power?"
Colgate replied, "And what of her officers? Where are they?"
Pharynx felt a bit unnerved being grasped in the powerful Alicorn's aura and replied, "Let me go and I shall lead you to him, the one officer who did not go with the queen on official business."
Colgate released her hold on him and the two followed him into the hive. The passages twisted and turned a lot and many, many guards were present but with Pharynx leading the two outsiders towards the throne room, When they arrived they were greeted by the changeling general, General Iron Sheath.
Pharynx addressed him, "General, I found these trespassers lurking on our grounds and they wish to speak to the queen."
Colgate decided to lie to the general, "Well general, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your queen will not be returning. As it turns out, she was going to visit with Sombra over some feeble attack to attack Equestria and when she mentioned them sharing power, he decided that was not acceptable and wound up killing her."
There were other soldiers present in the throne room when he yelled, "Did you hear that everychangeling? King Sombra killed our queen and now we must attack him! We must attack King Sombra and punish him for his crime against us!"
Colgate grabbed Iron Sheath in her aura and again lied, "You may not know this but I am close to Chrysalis and when I introduced her to Lightning Storm, she thought he would be great leadership material and told me that I was to come and install him as your new king."
The general was very good at pointing out liars and he did not pick up any lie coming from Colgate. He replied, "Well even though I was always the one who was next in line to the throne, I suppose will believe you." He turned to Pharynx and ordered, "Pharynx, go gather everychangeling and bring them here so that this changeling, Lightning Storm may be crowned king."
"Yes general." replied Pharynx.
Pharynx went to round up the other changelings and while Iron Sheath figured that the blue Alicorn was telling the truth, he couldn't help but be jealous of the changeling who would be taking over the throne. The whole time he was out gathering the other changelings, he gave the two a glare. Colgate could tell that despite what she had told him, that he was likely a bit suspicious of her.
When Pharynx returned with the whole hive, Colgate and Lightning Storm joined Iron Sheath up by the throne. Colgate tapped him with her wing and ordered, "Tell them, tell them what I told you."
Iron Sheath began, "Well everyone, I have some bad news. While she was visiting King Sombra over plans to attack Equestria, she brought up sharing power and Sombra wound up killing her over it."
One of the changelings asked, "And how do you know this?"
He motioned for Colgate to step forward. She stepped forward and began, "I am close with Chrysalis and what he said happened did happen. Now I am sure that many of you are wondering why I have this changeling you do not recognize but like it is with Chrysalis, I am close with him and she told me to come and put him on the throne."
Most of the changelings, including Pharynx stomped their hooves in delight but one did not, General Iron Sheath. He yelled, "I still don't think you are telling the truth! I still think you have some other plan on putting this changeling on the throne!"
Colgate replied, "Trust me, this is what Chrysalis wants and she told me that if anychangeling goes against her final wishes, that I am to banish them to the void." She lit up her horn and continued, "So which is it general? Will you respect your queen's final wishes or will I have to go through with what she instructed?"
He was staring into Colgate's eyes and saw nothing to the truth. He stood there for a minute before finally resigning to what he believed the former monarch's wishes were. He said, "Very well." He then bowed to Lightning Storm and asked, "So your Majesty, what is it you ask of me? What is it you ask of us, your subjects?"
Lightning Storm replied, "I do not ask for much but I will let you know this. No longer will we view Equestria as an enemy nation, we shall now view as friends."
Everychangeling knew that with their past, particularly with the invasion of Canterlot, that the ponies may not be so willing to accept them. Iron Sheath asked, "But what about the attack? Are the ponies going to so willingly accept us as allies?"
Colgate replied, "Not to worry general, I am very close with Princess Celestia. I will tell her about this situation and everypony there hangs on every word she says. When she tells the nation that the changeling kingdom is no longer their enemy, they will accept changeling kind and not discriminate against any of you."
The changelings began to cheer at the news that they could start fresh with Equestria. Lightning Storm in particular was quick to thank her, "Thank you Colgate, thank you! I look forward to us and the ponies no longer being enemies."
Colgate replied, "You're welcome." She then leaned down and whispered, "I had best get going if I am to prevent Twilight's corruption. I don't want all that death and destruction to ever happen."
He said, "Alright Colgate but thanks again!"
Colgate replied, "Well good luck to you Lightning Storm. I will forever be grateful to your helping me in my causes but for now, I must get going."
Lightning Storm nodded and Colgate quickly exited the hive and sped off towards the north. She was not sure exactly how much time she had but she did know two things. She knew that with her being in the past that using her time spell would likely not be a good option and she knew that she would have to fly fast, very fast if she was to stop Twilight's corruption.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
Stopping Chrysalis
As she was flying north, Colgate was flying with a much greater amount of speed than normal. She was flapping her wings at the same intensity she would while moving a time bubble but had not cast the spell so time was passing as it normally would. After what seemed to be forever to her, she landed in Ponyville in the late afternoon. She saw that there were plenty of ponies out and about but to keep an eye on the library, she would have to stay outside of her house. She wanted to catch Chrysalis before she went into the library.
An hour had passed and Colgate did a very good job of staying out of everypony's vision and then finally, she saw what looked like Twilight heading to the library. She knew that Twilight had planned a long meeting with the mayor that day and that she would not be getting out of it that soon and knew that she would have to find a way to take Chrysalis out of town and do what was necessary to ensure that the next twenty millennia would be peaceful and that love and harmony would remain the norm.
'Twilight' was heading towards the library with a smirk on her face. She knew that the day had come that she would brainwash Twilight to serve her and Sombra and be able to take Equestria for themselves. Right as she grabbed the door in her aura to open it, she felt herself being grasped in a light blue aura and was being dragged off, away from the library. She yelled, "What's happening? Who dares drag me away from my target?"
She continued to be dragged away for a couple of minutes until she was out of town entirely. When the aura disappeared 'Twilight' found a very large blue Alicorn standing before her. She was not one bit happy and knowing that Twilight was a princess now, that she could issue executive orders. She yelled, "Who dares drag me away from my home?" She glared at the Alicorn and yelled, "How dare you drag me away from the library! I should execute you right here!"
Colgate blasted her with a bolt of energy, causing her to take on her natural form. Colgate again grasped her in her aura and began, "I know what your plan is Chrysalis, I know that you are joining forces with Sombra in an attempt to corrupt Princess Twilight and cause not just Equestria, but all of Eqqus to fall into a state of despair and face horrible evils for over 20,000 years."
Chrysalis was in a state of shock that the Alicorn would know of her plans, "But how do you know?"
Colgate intensified her hold and replied, "I know because I have seen it, I have lived through it. I have even engaged in the evils that will take place." She then pointed to the heart that had been fused into her and added, "But thanks to this and my ability to travel through time, I am going to fix this." She raised her voice and finished, "I will see to it that you and Sombra will not be responsible for even one death, much less hundreds of thousands."
Chrysalis laughed, "Ha, you can not contain me forever and you don't have Somb......"
Colgate interrupted, "Oh I have already banished Sombra to the void and now the time has come for you to join him."
Chrysalis began to protest but Colgate would not allow it. She intensified the hold further and recited,
"You have committed treason and that is not in season, you are a threat to me and I simply can not let that be, I can no longer be annoyed so you shall be cast into the void."
A black vortex opened up and began to suck the changeling queen in. She was screaming that she would be good if Colgate would stop the banishment spell but very quickly it would be too late for Chrysalis. The moment the vortex closed, Colgate began to celebrate, "Yes, yes, yes! I did it! I did it! I stopped the darkness! I stopped the darkness!"
She initially wondered why something didn't happen that would be a signal to her that all the bad events from her future did not happen. She stood there for a moment wondering why until it hit her, that event likely wouldn't happen until that evening at the very moment she encountered Chrysalis. She then teleported to her house and said, "And now I wait. Once that happens, hopefully I will return to being a unicorn and I won't be cursed with an eternity of seeing those closest to me die."
A New Present
Finally well after the sun had set, Twilight got home from a long day meeting with the mayor going over matters of local governance. The day had been much longer than Twilight had anticipated. She sighed to herself, "I really hope this isn't what being an Alicorn princess is all about."
When she went into the library she was immediately greeted by Spike, "Wow Twilight, you were gone for a very long time. What all did the mayor talk to you about for it to take so long?"
"Matters of governance in general." Twilight replied, "She also talked about what to do when ponies are dissatisfied with me."
Spike began to reply when a white ball formed in the library and it let out a great shock wave. The power of it wound up knocking Twilight and Spike both up against the wall and caused them to be temporarily disoriented. When they got their bearings straight Twilight asked, "Spike, what was that?"
Spike replied, "I'm not sure but I'm thinking we should contact Princess Celestia if she knows."
Spike said, "Okey dokey."
Spike grabbed a quill and parchment and Twilight said, "
"Dear Princess Celestia,
I am not sure if you saw or felt it but there was a great shock wave that spread out across Equestria after a white ball formed in the library. I would appreciate it if you would let me know if you know what it was. I await your quick response.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle"
Spike sent the message and very quickly he coughed up a message that read,
"Dear Princess Twilight
I know about it and Luna and I are on my way. I think that we need to speak to Colgate over this as she probably knows the most about it. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Sincerely,
Princess Celestia"
Both were in a state of shock when they read the message. "Colgate?" Twilight asked, "How could she possibly know anything about this?
Spike replied, "I'm not sure but just trust the princess on this, I'm sure she has a reason for bringing her up."
While Spike wasn't thinking too much about Celestia bringing Colgate up, Twilight couldn't help but wonder. She knew that Colgate was a dentist and would likely find what happened as odd as they did rather than knowing something about it.
Colgate's Confusion
In her home, Colgate was ecstatic when the shock wave shot out of the library. She knew what it signified. She knew that it was time resetting itself and that she was no longer in the past, she was in a new present. She began to jump up and down in joy, "At long last, the terrors have been prevented! Hundreds of thousands won't die! I won't be cursed with twenty millennia of pure hell."
She hit her head on the ceiling she was jumping up so high. That caused her elation to change into a state of confusion. She headed into the bathroom and saw that not only was she still an Alicorn, but that she also still had the heart fused into herself. She gasped, "What? How is this? If I prevented that timeline from coming to be, why am I still an Alicorn?"
Colgate headed back into her living room and sat on her couch. What was a time of elation had turned into a moment of not just confusion, but a depressing moment. She was admittedly glad that she was able to stop all the evils from ever coming to be, she was depressed that she would likely still wind up living for many, many millennia, "Twenty millennia was enough, how many more?" A tear dropped from her eye as she continued, "I just want a normal life again, I don't want this eternal life."
After a few more minutes of realizing that a normal life would likely not be her destiny, she headed to her bedroom to get some sleep but then realized something. She realized that with her much larger size, that her bed was way too small for her now. She then figured she would just lay on the floor in her living room and hope that she could buy a new bed and try to live life normally without too many ponies questioning her about her new form.
That night when she finally got to sleep, she had vivid dreams, very vivid dreams. She had dreams about the events of what were the past 20,000 years for her. She had visions of the good events and the bad events but the ones that seemed to haunt her dreams the most though were the final years of when she willingly corrupted herself so she could rule the world in a state of hate and despair.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
A Discussion With Colgate
An hour had passed in the library and Twilight heard a knock on the door. She opened it and was greeted by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. She turned to Celestia and immediately asked, "Princess, what was that? What was that white ball in here? What was that shock wave about?"
Celestia replied, "I am not sure what it was as nothing like that has ever happened before."
Twilight then asked, "But what about Colgate? Why in Equestria would you think she would know anything about this?"
Celestia replied, "I'm not sure why but I have this nagging feeling that she may know."
Spike asked, "So when are you going to ask her about this? Are we going to ask her now or are we going to wait until the morning?"
Celestia replied, "While normally I wouldn't want to disturb somepony from their sleep, I have a feeling that we should go and ask her now."
Luna, who had remained quiet objected, "Sister, right now Colgate is having rather vivid dreams that may provide some insight into what this was. Besides, it would be very rude to wake her from her slumber."
Celestia sighed, "Very well but tomorrow morning we are going to go and see what this is all about."
The following morning arrived and Colgate woke up. She was tired, very tired when she woke up as the dreams from the night before very intense, they made her feel like she had lived all of that all over again. She got up and groaned, "Ugh I hope I don't have dreams like this every night. I feel another 20,000 years older than I already am."
As she was heading into the kitchen to start fixing some breakfast, she heard a knock on the door. Her initial thought was that there was no way she could answer the door in the form she was in without being questioned. She then heard a voice, "Colgate, we need to talk."
It was that of Princess Celestia. She knew that she would probably interrogate her over everything but knew that she had better answer. She opened the door and asked, "Princess Celestia....."
Her question would be silenced when she heard a very loud gasp. She saw that along with Celestia were Luna, Twilight and Spike all with their jaws hanging open. They remained in a state of shock until Colgate snapped them out of it, "I take it you have come regarding my new form?"
They broke out of their daze and Celestia replied, "Yes Colgate we have."
Luna asked, "May we come in?"
Colgate motioned for them to go in and take a seat. Once they were all properly seated Colgate asked, "So can I fix you something to eat?"
Celestia replied, "You can later but for now we need to talk." She pointed her wing towards Colgate and asked, "How in Equestria did you become an Alicorn? How in Equestria did you become bigger than me and what in Equestria is that in your chest?"
Colgate replied, "It is a long story, a very long story although I have a feeling Luna probably already knows some about it."
Luna replied, "I do but we all want to hear this from you."
Colgate began, "Like I said this is a very long story so could you remain silent until I finish this?"
The four nodded and Colgate began, "Very well then. What was over 20,000 years ago for me and just yesterday for everypony else, Princess Twilight was corrupted by Queen Chrysalis who was working with King Sombra to conquer Equestria. Once they had corrupted Twilight, it did not take them long to accomplish their objective....."
Twilight gasped, "How could I have been corrupted by Queen Chrysalis? She wasn't here yesterday!"
Colgate replied, "She was but I banished her to the void and I also asked all of you to just let me speak without interruption." She could tell that Twilight was about to ask a question about banishing but figured that she would let Colgate continue.
"Yes, the three did take Equestria until Twilight decided she wanted it all for herself so she banished those two to the void. It was after that that she decided she wanted a relic, the jade Alicorn, from Alicorn Island that would allow her to spy upon the world so she amassed an army to do so and that is how I became an Alicorn. Twilight learned transformation spells so she would have enough Alicorns to pull that off."
The four gasped and Celestia in particular had a look of shock on her face. Colgate allowed them to focus more before continuing, "Well Twilight got what she wanted and put me in charge of the military. Eventually she decided she wanted more so she used duplication spells to increase the size of her army and ultimately conquered the whole world." She then pointed towards Celestia and added, "And then she banished you to the sun for 'buying her and Shining Armor' from her parents."
After Colgate said this, Celestia turned to Twilight and snapped, "I did not buy you two! You passed your exam and willingly moved to the palace and........."
Colgate interrupted, "Princess, this is what Twilight said when she was corrupted and please, let me finish telling you this or this could take several days." Celestia gave Twilight another slight glare before Colgate continued, "And it was after that, that Twilight started taking her job as world leader not seriously so I turned the army of dark Alicorns and changelings against her and not only took Equestria away from her, but liberated the planet. After that, Luna banished her to the sun for her crimes."
Twilight then gave Luna a glare and before Colgate could continue, Celestia became curious about one thing, "Colgate, you brought up dark Alicorn and changeling armies? Why were they the soldiers instead of regular ponies?"
Colgate was irritated by the interruption but decided to answer the question, "Well when Twilight initially banished King Sombra and Chrysalis to the void, she cast loyalty spells on their troops and naturally I did the same to some of them to get them to defect to my side." She threw her hooves in the air and asked, "Now can I finish this without interruption, please?"
They nodded and Colgate continued, "Well things were tranquil for the next thousand years until both her and Celestia were freed from the sun and she got LaurFa on her side....."
Celestia gasped, "LaurFa? You mean to tell me that foreign powers got involved in all this? You mean to tell me that the Creator Goddess got involved?"
Colgate replied, "One of them sided with Twilight, who had proclaimed herself to be a dark goddess while I freed her sister Brevity Thrash from her banishment to Titan and she joined my side. Good thing about her, she knew a spell to cause atoms to fall apart and she unmade Twilight."
The four had shocked looks on their faces and things were suddenly starting to not make any sense but they knew Colgate was getting frustrated by the constant interruptions. Once they looked less confused Colgate continued, "And even during times when Twilight was not in this world, trouble arose. Lemon Hearts and Lyra Heartstrings, also ones Twilight turned into Alicorns, turned their backs on the global governments and in the end I had to split uranium atoms over Neigh Zealand to punish Lyra for attacking a military base near Los Alicornous."
Twilight was becoming increasingly curious and asked, "Magic really advances as time passes doesn't it? So much of this seems so foreign to me."
Luna added, "It does to me as well."
Colgate replied, "It does but continuing on. Later on nuclear fallout from a test I performed in the arctic drifted over Ponyville and caused Twilight and her minions to somehow reform. Twilight then again went for control of the planet, brainwashing Celestia and it appeared as though she was going to conquer the planet again and she succeeded. To escape her wrath, I along with the Creator Goddesses Brevity Thrash and LaurFa and some of my other allies, fled to another planet."
Celestia interrupted, "Fled to another planet? How in Equestria did you do that?"
Colgate replied, "It was thanks to a spell by Brevity Thrash that we were able to do that. Her magic was very advanced but eventually I was summoned back to aid in the dethroning of Twilight because she was demanding tribute from everypony again and then Twilight discovered something none of you are going to believe, she discovered that Unicornia actually exists."
"What? gasped Twilight. "You mean to tell me that it wasn't an old pony tale?"
Colgate replied, "Nope, after the fall of Ponyland, they fled through a portal here in Equestria and re-established their kingdom. Funny thing though, they captured you when you dared go to their realm and demand tribute. Now at the time neither the king or queen liked you because of you being a dark goddess."
The four continued to sit there and listen in shock but Twilight had a sick feeling in her stomach, knowing what could have been was a terrible future for her. Colgate saw their looks and continued, "Moving on, Twilight tried to cause more problems until their king, White Magick, used a purification spell on Twilight and removed all the darkness from her. After that, she didn't cause any problem for a very long time but we did have other evils return, evils from the time of Ponyland."
"Wait a minute" asked Celestia "You mean to tell me that many years in the future that old of evils will return?"
Colgate replied, "With Grogar, it was 15,000 years in the future. When Tambelon returned from the depths, he along with his minions came to Ponyville and managed to kidnap Twilight and her friends. He then did what he did in the ancient days, he took them to Tambelon and enslaved them." She pointed towards Twilight and continued, "Well except for you. He tied you up out in the elements and ordered his trogals to torture you."
Twilight asked, "You did save me didn't you?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, I along with my allies did save you but Queen Ruby Heart of Unicornia fell in the battle. Her and I had become very close allies and that was hard on just not me, but her husband, King White Magick as well."
Twilight said, "Well I'm glad you were able to save me."
Colgate continued, "Five thousand years later though, Tirek and his ancient counterpart Tirac, escaped Tartarus so we had to retrieve......"
Celestia interrupted, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me you are over 20,000 years old? You mean to tell me that you are nearly twenty times older than my sister and I?"
Colgate replied, "Yes I am. Anyway, White Magick, Twilight and I had to make an expedition to Dream Valley......"
Luna gasped, "Wait a minute, Dream Valley is real?"
Celestia added, "How did you find it?"
Colgate replied, "Ok, I suppose I should have brought up the Alicorn gems that allow ponies to spy upon the world with them. As we speak, LaurFa uses one on Alicorn Island to spy upon us. At the time, I had one made out of Sapphire that was tied directly to me and that is how I found it. Well that is how I saw a lot of things, Lyra's attack on Equestria, Grogar's capture of Twilight and her friends, the location of Dream Valley and the location of many other places."
Spike, who had been quiet asked, "Why did you have to make a trip to Dream Valley?"
Colgate replied, "We needed to retrieve the Rainbow of Light as it was the only artifact that could counter the Rainbow of Darkness."
Celestia again interrupted, "So basically the evils of Ponyland come back to cause us problems in the distant future?"
Colgate replied, "Yes. Luckily for us we were able to retrieve it and in the end were able to beat both of them but Twilight was struck by the Rainbow of Darkness and she returned to being a dark goddess so in the end we decided that there was only one way to end it all. I knew we had to rid this world of her so after one final battle against her, we broke her horn off and I cut her open and ate her heart."
Twilight gasped, "Wait a minute, you cut me open and ate my heart?" She then became angry and yelled, "What in Equestria will become wrong with ponies by that time? Killing our foes is never acceptable, especially killing other ponies and especially like that!"
Colgate replied, "Twilight, that is from a timeline that will never exist thanks to me. Anyway, me eating your heart while you were corrupted caused me to become the darkest, most evil being to exist until I fused this heart into myself."
Luna gave her an odd look and stated, "Tell me about it. From what I saw in your dreams, you became the embodiment of evil itself, you became the Goddess of Terror."
Celestia then asked, "Do we even want to know what you did or should we just assume you were beyond awful?"
Colgate replied, "Well over the millennia, the other leaders grew to distrust me and by the time that I wound up willingly corrupting myself using magic from Grogar and going to Midnight Castle and acquiring cursed objects from there, even my own generals thought I was far too gone."
Celestia asked, "What did you do Colgate? What could you have possibly done to become the embodiment of evil?"
Colgate replied, "Well I fused Grogar's collar into myself, I found a dark gem on Alicorn Island and fused it into myself, I sat on Tirac's throne and let his dark energy become part of me and I used wicked necromancy to create foul beasts that most ponies would never even think of. Then finally, I killed all the other world leaders in one final battle and claimed the world as my own so that I could force everypony to love me yet live in utter despair."
Luna added, "Luckily you had that general that convinced you to fuse that heart into yourself after you ripped it straight out of Ruby Heart's chest."
Celestia asked, "Wait a minute, I thought Ruby was killed by Grogar?"
Colgate replied, "I learned a resurrection spell and yes, I am thankful that he made that suggestion because had he not, I never would have purged the evil from myself or would I have traveled back in time to stop Twilight's initial corruption." She gave the four a smile and finished, "Basically, my banishing of Sombra and Chrysalis to the void prevented that awful future from ever coming to be."
Celestia asked, "So you banished Sombra and Chrysalis to the void. What is going to happen now?"
Colgate replied, "Well my dark Alicorn general, Dark Night is now the king of what was Sombra's realm and Lightning Storm, who was my changeling general, has been put in power as king of the changelings."
Twilight asked, "So I take it you brought them back with you so you could put them in power?"
Colgate replied, "Yes and now both the dark unicorns and the changelings are now allies of Equestria so don't worry, Sombra will never return neither will Chrysalis."
This brought out a smile from the four and then Celestia got an idea, "Colgate, I was thinking that perhaps you could be our ambassador to them since you know them."
Colgate replied, "Of course I will be. I know them personally and I have a feeling that they will trust me more but when I'm not meeting with them, I am hoping that I can return to my old life."
Celestia said, "About that, we are going to have to discuss your future further. For now though, I think we should have that breakfast you offered."
Colgate got up and replied, "Sounds good to me."
She headed into the kitchen and Twilight asked, "Princess, what do you mean you'll have to discuss her future further? You know that outside of being an ambassador to the changelings and dark unicorns, she isn't going to want to give up her practice."
Celestia replied, "Well it is just her new form and her immortality that will need to be discussed regarding her new role."
Twilight knew that Celestia made a good point but she knew Colgate well enough to know that she would not simply bail on her patients or want a new life that would not involve working in one way or another. She had a feeling that Celestia would likely force Colgate into a role in life that would not involve normal work, she had a feeling that Celestia would force Colgate into being a princess.
After preparing breakfast for all of them, Celestia decided that she would begin to discuss Colgate's future with her in a round about way, "Colgate, I am very happy that you prevented that future and have decided to be the ambassador to the dark unicorns and changelings, what other plans do you have now?"
Colgate replied, "Well I plan on doing what I have always done, seeing patients and taking care of their dental problems."
"About that." Celestia replied. She pointed towards Colgate and continued, "I am unsure if you can do that anymore. You are an Alicorn now and I'm not sure if you know this or not, but Alicorns don't hold regular jobs."
Colgate remembered this all too well from when Celestia had offered her the opportunity to become an Alicorn after she wrote a pain free root canal spell for her but she declined. "I know that" replied Colgate "but can't you make an exception for me?" She sat up taller and continued, "I saved this entire planet from falling into despair, can't you make an exception for me?"
Celestia sat there for a moment before replying, "Colgate, you know that your patients will be constantly questioning you over how you became an Alicorn and they will give you the third degree over that diamond heart you fused into yourself."
Luna added, "And you have so much knowledge about what has yet to come. While I know you wish to continue being a dentist, everything you know could be a valuable asset into keeping Equestria safe."
Twilight had a question as well, "Colgate, did you ever lead any militaries? Were you ever in any positions of power?"
Initially Colgate found that as the dumbest question she had ever heard given that it was often Twilight she would overthrow but she then realized that Twilight had never experienced those events. She replied, "Yes, many times. With every single leadership position I held, I was not only the nation's supreme commander but also the head of the military."
This gave Celestia an idea, "Colgate, what would you think about being the captain of the royal guard. I'm pretty sure that would be something you'd be really good at."
Given the nature of the royal guard, Colgate as she is now found their role as laughable. She broke down laughing, "Seriously, the royal guard?" She then became more serious and continued, "Look, if you want me to be in charge of them, I will transform them into an army to actually protect this whole nation, not just your castle."
This caused all four of them, Celestia in particular to gasp in shock, "But Colgate, we don't have any enemies! Why would we need an army?"
Colgate replied, "We may not now but I have seen first hoof what happens when nations turn on you."
The two primary monarchs looked at one another and began to whisper among themselves. Colgate was not sure exactly what they were discussing but knew that they were likely coming up with plans to convince her to not only leave her practice but move to Canterlot and be involved with the guard in one way or another.
Once they finished, Celestia turned to Colgate and asked, "Colgate, I know you likely have a lot of knowledge involving military tactics due to your millennia of handling armies and you have an immense amount of knowledge about what could be."
Luna added, "What would you think about becoming a military princess of some sort?"
That one word, princess, the one word that Colgate did not want to hear. Being royalty was something that never did appeal to Colgate. It was because of her disdain towards the role of what it would be that caused her to choose the title Supreme Commander in what was her past to begin with. She sat up tall and replied, "Look, all I want is my old life back." A tear began to run down her face as she continued, "I've been involved with the military for over twenty millennia and I just don't want that anymore." She was becoming more emotional as she finished, "All I want is to be a dentist again. I'd even gladly sacrifice being an Alicorn if I could just have a normal life again."
Celestia and Luna sat there in shock. They knew of many ponies who would jump at the opportunity of being an immortal Alicorn yet there was Colgate who was blessed with powers beyond imagination, immortality and the offer of being a princess yet she was rejecting it. When Twilight saw this she said, "Princess Celestia, I told you this is what she would probably want. I told you that she would not want any part of being a princess."
As Celestia and Luna saw the emotion that Colgate was showing, the two began to feel sympathy for the blue Alicorn. They could tell that she truly did want to be a regular unicorn doing what she loved most again. Celestia addressed Colgate, "While I would love to make it happen, there are no spells to transform ponies from one type to another and there is no way to remove that heart from you."
Colgate replied, "I know the spell to transform unicorns into Alicorns so I'm betting all I have to do is alter it and we'll have that spell. Regarding the heart, I believe that if the three of you grab it in your aura and yank on it hard enough, you will be able to remove it." She stood up and continued, "Wait here. It may take a while but I need to come up with what I think may be the right spell to transform myself back into a unicorn."
As Colgate began to head towards her bedroom to try and write a spell, she heard a voice yell, "Wait!"
Colgate turned around and asked, "What is it Princess Celestia."
Something had crossed Celestia's mind when she saw Colgate show the emotion she did. She asked, "Ok, I know you said you would be the ambassador to the dark unicorns and changelings since you put their new leaders in power but would you reconsider giving up your Alicornhood if you could continue to be a dentist and live as normal of a life as possible?"
Colgate's ears perked up at the offer. A great part of Colgate wanted to completely return to her old life but being able to remain a dentist despite being an Alicorn did sound rather appealing to her. She sat back down and said, "Give me a few minutes to think about it, alright?"
Colgate then headed back towards her bedroom to do some deep thinking but one pony would question Celestia, her sister Luna. "Sister, you know it is tradition for Alicorns to not have regular jobs. Why are you offering her this? Why are you willing to make an exemption for her all of a sudden?"
Celestia replied, "Luna, she did say she would be our ambassador to those she put in power and to me, that is enough. You have seen the dreams that she had. You know what she prevented by banishing Sombra and Chrysalis to the void. I think we owe her this, I think we owe her at least being able to live a somewhat normal life."
Twilight had her concerns, "Princess, how is she going to explain this away to all her patients? How is she going to explain that diamond heart she fused into herself?"
Celestia replied, "Twilight, I have an idea. I know Colgate isn't exactly a fan of much attention but I think that if we simply present her as a pony who wrote her own dental magic."
Luna questioned, "What about the heart?"
Celestia replied, "That I'm not sure but we'll figure something out."
Luna was still very unsure about Celestia going against tradition like this and allowing an Alicorn to hold a normal job, especially one in which she works with the public. Twilight too had her concerns but hers were more centered around how Colgate would handle the constant questioning by her patients.
Terror Zero: Returning to a Time of Harmony
While the princesses were discussing the situation at hand, Colgate was sitting in her room thinking about what Celestia had offered her. She had lived an extremely long life and felt like she just couldn't handle any more but given that Celestia would allow her to live as close to a normal life as possible, the long life didn't seem quite so bad to her. She also realized that the only pony that Dark Night and Lightning Storm may truly trust would be her and she didn't want to jeopardize the alliance with two new allies.
She also knew that what Celestia said about her knowledge was true. While the immediate threats were thwarted and Twilight would never cause any problems, events further down the road, namely Grogar, Tirek and Tirac would likely still happen. She also realized that she is the only pony who knows where Dream Valley is and knows where the Rainbow of Light is since it would be necessary to defeat the Rainbow of Darkness. After a half an hour of contemplating everything, particularly how her very presence may be what saves Equestria in the distant future, she came to a decision.
When she returned to her living room, she had a smile on her face and said, "Princess Celestia, I have come to a decision."
Celestia asked, "What is your decision?"
Colgate began, "As you have stated, I have a lot of knowledge about future events and there are some things that I am certain will still happen, things that are completely unrelated to Twilight's corruption. Also, I may be the only pony that King Dark Night and King Lightning Storm may trust. Also, I am the only pony who knows where Dream Valley is and knows exactly where the Rainbow of Light is located. Given that you will allow me to remain a dentist, I have decided to keep my Alicornhood, enhanced powers, the diamond heart and my immortality."
She saw a look of relief coming from the four, especially Celestia. That look of nervousness would return when Colgate finished, "There is one more thing I ask......"
Celestia asked, "What is that?"
Colgate replied, "A new bed. The bed I have right now is far too small for me."
Celestia laughed, "Oh don't worry about a new bed, we can handle that easily." She then became more serious and continued, "Now to hopefully nip any questioning in the bud, we shall present you to Ponyville in your new form."
Luna added, "What we will do is bring up how you wrote a pain free root canal for my sister and that we ultimately decided you were deserving of being ascended."
Colgate said, "Alright but what about the heart? How in Equestria are we going to explain that away?"
The princesses and Spike sat there in a state of silence not sure how they would explain it until Spike spoke up, "Hey, you could always say it was something that formed during her transformation because she cares deeply about all her patients."
Everypony gave Spike an odd look but it would be Colgate that would respond first, "You know, that might just work."
Celestia replied, "It might but we all care about everypony and that didn't happen with Twilight when she was ascended."
Luna suggested, "Colgate, would you still have the same level of powers without that heart? Would you still be able to take on the evils of the distant future without it?"
Colgate knew that the heart enhanced her powers significantly and she also knew that removing it would be more painful than fusing it into herself was. She replied, "I probably wouldn't. To face off against the evils of the distant future, I will likely need this. I know from experience that there are some foes that normal magic simply won't be enough to handle."
"Very well." replied Celestia. She then turned to Twilight and asked, "Could you and Spike go out and inform the town of an important event that will take place at the town hall at noon."
Twilight said, "Yes, we can do that." She then turned to Spike and continued, "Come on Spike, let's get going."
The two left, leaving Colgate, Celestia and Luna behind. Both princesses saw a bit of a nervous look on Colgate's face and this brought concern to them, "Colgate, what is wrong? Why do you look so nervous?" asked Luna.
Colgate replied, "I'm just nervous over how they will react and I'm not a fan of large crowds to start with. I also do have my concerns about how they are going to react towards an Alicorn that won't have any kind of royal title like Twilight does."
Celestia spoke up, "That could be a problem but I do think that maybe if we bring up how you will be the ambassador to two nations, you could use the title 'Ambassador Colgate.'"
Colgate was thrilled when she heard this. She never did want any kind of royal title attached to her name and agreed, "I think that is a great idea. Thanks for suggesting it."
Nearly three hours had passed and it was five minutes before noon. While the princess were calm and collected, including a smile on Celestia's face, Colgate was quickly becoming a nervous wreck. So many situations were running through her mind, situations such as ponies booing her, launching non-stop questions and the thing that scared her the most, no longer seeing her because of her new form. Princess Celestia stood up and asked, "Shall we? Shall we head over to the town hall."
Colgate did not respond for a minute and Celestia had to get her attention, "Shall we?"
Colgate lit up her horn and asked, "Could we teleport over there? I don't think I'm quite ready to face the whole town yet."
Celestia sighed, "Very well."
The three teleported into the town hall. Once they arrived, Luna peeked out the door and saw that the whole town was likely present and that Twilight was out talking with her friends before the ceremony. She also noticed that the clock tower was about to strike twelve. She turned back and said, "Well Colgate, it is time."
The clock tower struck noon and once it finished ringing, Luna and Celestia headed towards the exit. Celestia asked, "Colgate, I will give an address and when I open the doors, you will come out and be introduced."
"A-al-alright." stuttered Colgate.
Luna suggested, "Colgate, instead of thinking negative and focusing on everything that could go wrong, I think you should think positive and focus on what can go right."
Colgate gave her a nervous nod as Luna headed back outside. Five minutes later than scheduled, Celestia started the ceremony.
She began, "Citizens of Ponyville, as you all know it was not long ago that Equestria crowned Twilight Sparkle as the fourth Alicorn princess. We have had another momentous occasion happen recently as yet another pony wrote her own magic. The magic she wrote is something that will be beneficial to everypony and hopefully ease the fears of some ponies."
A pony out in the crowd yelled, "Well who is it?"
Celestia continued, "She shall be presented soon." She then continued, "Recently this pony, despite not having to, was able to vanquish two of Celestia's foes on her own. Because of her and a special spell she also wrote, Equestria has two new allies in the Kingdom of the Dark Unicorns and the Changeling Kingdom."
When Colgate heard Celestia bring this up from inside, she was mortified. She wasn't sure if Celestia simply said those things because she couldn't think of anything else to say or if it was part of her plan but after that, she was even more nervous but she knew she had to be strong. She knew that if ponies were to trust her in what part of her role would be that she couldn't show any kind of weakness.
Celestia then grabbed the doors in her aura and announced, "And I present to you all for the very first time, Ambassador Colgate!"
Celestia opened the doors and Colgate nervously stepped out onto the stage. Unlike it was with Twilight when the ponies of Canterlot cheered her arrival, the crowd went silent. They were in a state of shock as they stared at the large blue Alicorn. Colgate could tell that they were likely questioning why she was larger than Celestia, why she had a bit of an aura to her and especially wondering what was up with the diamond heart.
She was silent until Celestia leaned forward and said, "Say something ambassador."
Colgate stepped forward and began, "Thank you all for showing up but I want to let you know that if I don't say much, it isn't because I don't care about you, it is just that I get nervous in front of large crowds."
Colgate saw a majority of the ponies give her a sympathetic smile indicating that they either understood how she felt or were at least happy that she admitted what some may consider a fault. She continued, "Like Princess Celestia said, I did write a spell that will help many. A while back I wrote a spell for a pain free root canal that not only benefited the princess but also a friend of mine, Lyra Heartstrings."
The crowd stomped their hooves in delight and Colgate continued, "Regarding vanquishing two of Equestria's foes...." Colgate became increasingly nervous and could not come up with any kind of lie so she decided she would take a huge risk and tell at least a half truth, "I had a feeling they were planning on attacking and I was right so I used a spell to banish both of them to the void."
Nopony, not even Twilight had any idea what the void was but they had a feeling that because of Colgate, that they would no longer have to deal with those foes. The crowd began to cheer loudly and all three princesses had shocked looks on their faces. They knew that Colgate was incredibly nervous but they had no idea that she would reveal her banishing of the two villains to the void.
Once the crowd quieted down Colgate continued, "And since there were dissidents in both what used to be Sombra's realm and the Changeling Kingdom, I was able to put new leaders in power, leaders that will be our allies, not our foes."
Again the crowd began to cheer and Colgate began to think that perhaps this ceremony wouldn't go so bad after all until a pony in the crowd asked, "If I may ask, why are you so big, why does it look like you're glowing and what is that heart? Why does it look like it is part of you?"
This caused Colgate to freeze. She knew she couldn't be truthful about any of that so she had to come up with as quick of a lie as she could, "Well I just grew when Celestia ascended me and the heart, well, well....."
Celestia would step in to save the new ambassador, "The heart is a mysterious thing that formed when I ascended her. Why she grew so much, why the heart formed and why she has a bit of an aura is beyond anypony's comprehension but I do ask that you don't question her over it."
At first the crowd went silent before one pony asked, "Colgate, what about your practice? I have an appointment on Monday, will you still be seeing patients?"
"Of course I will." replied Colgate. "I may have things coming up that will cause me to have to reschedule appointments given my new role but I will still see patients as I always have." She then got a smile on her face and added, "And if you need a root canal, I will use my spell to make it pain free at no additional charge!"
When the crowd saw her smile and heard her offer, they began to cheer. Colgate was smiling as were the princesses. Celestia leaned over to Luna and said, "Well I guess this turned out alright after all."
Luna replied, "I do worry about her revealing some things but perhaps it was for the best she did."
After a couple of minutes of the crowd cheering, Colgate headed back into the town hall and was followed by the princesses. Celestia was curious about something, "Colgate, I know you were nervous but why would you bring up the banishing of Sombra and Chrysalis? I didn't think you'd dare mention that."
Colgate replied, "Look, I'm not a good liar and the truth just came out. Besides, the news seemed to make them happy and it likely made my Alicornhood more legitimate in their eyes."
Celestia said, "Perhaps but now for another thing that needs to be done, we must present you to Equestria in Canterlot as well."
Colgate had never been overly fond of the ways of Canterlot, particularly the higher class ponies that may be more judgemental but knew that this was something that would have to be done. She asked, "So do I simply tell them the same thing I told the ponies down here or do we need to come up with some sort of script for me up there?"
Celestia replied, "Well normally in your situation I would say that we come up with a script but we can't have conflicting reports about you coming up so we will simply let you tell them the same, or at least mention what you feel comfortable bringing up."
This caused Colgate's nerves to lessen some, "Alright, well I'm ready for this whenever you are."
Celestia suggested, "I think this would be best done next weekend because with tomorrow being Monday, I know you have appointments scheduled and I'm pretty sure you don't want to inconvenience anypony."
"You know me all too well." replied Colgate.
Initially ponies felt a bit uncomfortable around the much larger Colgate and so many of them wondered how Colgate got that heart into herself and why it seemed to give her an aura. Eventually though everypony did adjust to her new form and felt as comfortable around her as they did before.
Transitioning into a normal life, well as much as it could be normal, as an Alicorn was not all that hard on Colgate. She ran her practice as she always had for the most part, enjoyed her trips to the Changeling Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Dark Unicorns and once she felt the time was right, she convinced Princess Celestia that the time had come to open up relations with other nations, nations that would be major players in the future.
Author's Note
To understand parts of this chapter, Colgate's pain free root canal in particular, reading "The Royal Root Canal" would aid you in understanding it, or at least know about it.
