Colgate's Practice 2: A Royal Problem

After hours of Luna walking through the maze, she finally saw a green light at the end of the hallway. As she crept up to the entrance she could hear voices inside. One she easily recognized, that of Twilight Sparkle and two that she did not recognize. She heard one of the voices asking Twilight a question, then Twilight's answer and then a sadistic laugh from the voice she could not recognize. Finally she heard Twilight screaming in pain as she had begun to be lowered into the acid. Luna charged into the room and shouted, "Stop or die!"

Colgate turned around to see an enraged Luna. Colgate asked, "Princess Luna, what is wrong?"

Luna fired a powerful bolt of energy at not just Colgate, but Amethyst Star as well, knocking them down. Luna screamed, "What the hay are you doing to Princess Twilight?"

Luna saw the lever that controlled the up and down movement of Twilight. She rushed towards it to raise Twilight out of the acid but Colgate fired back at her first. Despite her only being a unicorn, she had enough power to knock Luna backwards. Using speed that even a Wonderbolt would envy, Colgate rushed to the lever and pulled it down, causing Twilight to descend further into the acid. Luna got up and charged at Colgate. She hit her with the force of a truck and knocked her flying. Luna pulled the lever back up, raising Twilight out of the acid.

Despite being in severe pain from half her legs having the hide stripped from them Twilight's eyes lit up and she shouted, "Princess Luna! I knew you'd save me!"

Luna replied, "Of course Princess Twilight. Thou knows that we can sense things like this and that we would save you."

Twilight could see some pain in Luna's eyes. She asked, "Princess, you look like you are going to cry. What is wrong?"

Luna broke down crying. She cried, "I wasn't the only one who came to save you. Princess Cadence joined me but once we got inside this place she activated a trap. A huge ax came swinging down from the ceiling and it cut her in half."

Twilight began to cry upon hearing this. Her and Cadence had always been very close ever since she was a filly. Colgate and her friend heard this and their ears perked up. Amethyst asked, "Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that Cadence is gone and we only have two monarchs now?"

Luna grunted, "Yes that is the case but thou acts like it is a good thing."

Colgate asked, "You know what that means don't you?"

Luna looked like she was ready to fire another bolt of energy at Colgate when Amethyst got in the way. She said, "Princess Luna, just listen to what she has to say before you do something you might regret."

Luna glared at her and replied, "Fine, but make it quick. Twilight needs medical attention."

Amethyst got out of the way so Colgate and Luna could make direct eye contact. She said, "You know princess, with there only being two monarchs there is only one pony standing between you and becoming much more than a princess."

By this point both Colgate and Amethyst were both standing in front of Luna with smiles on their faces. Despite her being able to overpower them easily, Luna had a nervous feeling about her. She asked, "No, we do not know what that means."

Colgate looked back at the suffering princess, looked back at Luna and replied, "If the other remaining monarch is taken out of the picture, you could crown yourself queen."

Amethyst asked, "How would the title Queen Luna sound to you?"

Luna had a stunned look on her face. For a very long time, dating back to when her and Celestia got into their fight before being banished to the moon, the title queen always sounded good to her. She asked, "Queen Luna? Seriously?"

Colgate replied, "Yes your Majesty, Queen Luna. There would be nopony to stop you from crowning yourself queen."

Amethyst added, "Well it is your choice. You can either share power with a power hungry pony who may try to remove you from the picture or you can do what it takes to become Queen Luna, ruler of all of Equestria."

Twilight shouted, "Princess Luna, don't listen to them! They're trying to persuade you into something you know is illegal."

Colgate said, "Queen Luna, you know there is no law against you taking out one who wishes to usurp total power don't you? You are a natural born Alicorn, you have the blood of a queen flowing within you, IT IS YOUR BIRTHRIGHT!"

Luna looked at Twilight, looked down at Colgate and had a nervous look on her face. She had grown closer to Twilight since she defeated Tirek but at the same time she realized that Twilight's captors did bring up good points. Luna asked, "Colgate, Twilight, could we take a few minutes to decide what we should do?"

Colgate smiled and replied, "Of course you can Queen Luna. After all, being the queen and sole ruler of Equestria, you can do anything you want."

Twilight shouted, "Princess Luna, don't let her get in your head. She is simply trying to manipulate you. Equestria was never meant to be ruled by one monarch. We can rule together and share power. You know I won't try to usurp power that isn't mine."

Luna had the words of both ponies running through her mind and just couldn't decide, until there was something about what Twilight said. Luna realized that she put a lot of emphasis on the word share when she was saying they would share power. Luna's paranoia was telling her that Twilight would eventually try to take what she was not entitled to. Luna finally stood tall and said, "We have made our decision."

Twilight saw Luna walking towards her and thought that she was going to take her down from the device she was trapped in. Twilight said, "Thank you Princess Luna! I knew you wouldn't let them manipulate you into killing me and seizing power that isn't rightfully yours!"

Luna sneered, "That is QUEEN LUNA to thee Twily!"

Luna threw the switch all the way down, causing Twilight to be lowered into the acid again. As she began to be lowered into it further and further Twilight was screaming in agony. She cried, "Luna, please stop! Colgate never sent Celestia to a dental hospital, she killed her and ate her."

Luna threw the switch back up and lifted Twilight out of the acid. Luna glared at Colgate and asked, "Is this true Colgate? Did you kill our sister and eat her?"

Colgate stood tall knowing that she had to tell the truth. She replied, "Yes Queen Luna, I killed her and ate her."

Luna's expression went from a glare to one of indifference as she asked, "Why did you do that?"

Twilight was stunned and worried that Luna had not gone into a rage. Colgate replied, "Because she lied to me. When I wrote that pain free root canal spell for her she promised me she would take care of her teeth. When she showed up with cavities and a rotten tooth she gave me the excuse that because she was an Alicorn, that she didn't think she should have to brush."

Luna smiled and said, "Well that was Celestia for you. Everypony always said that we were the stubborn one but they never knew the real Celestia. She was so stubborn most of the time that she made us look flexible"

Twilight shouted, "Princess, you're not even mad that she killed and ate your sister?"

Luna patted Colgate on the shoulder and replied, "No Twilight, we are not. Her killing our sister and the ax cutting Cadence in half has made it much easier for us to become what we were meant to be, Queen Luna, the sole ruler of all of Equestria."

Twilight started to cry, "But Luna, I thought family meant something to you, I thought tradition meant something to you, how could you just allow Colgate to manipulate you?"

Luna replied, "You know what Twilight Sparkle, after we were banished our sister dragged our name through the mud. SHE made everypony think we were evil. Even upon our return, everypony was still scared of us and still Tia played a bigger role in governing this nation than we do."

Twilight interrupted, "Well she did rule the day, which is much more important than ruling the night if you ask me." Twilight realized her error and corrected herself, "What I meant to say is that most of the governing happens during the day."

Luna's eyes began to shine white and she shouted, "SO, THAT IS THY TRUE OPINION OF US? THAT OUR RULING OF THE NIGHT IS NOT IMPORTANT?"

Twilight replied, "Well that's not what I meant to say."

Luna placed her hoof on the switch and pushed it down. Twilight cried, "Please no Luna! Please rethink this before it's too late."

Colgate and Amethyst shook their heads as Twilight was lowered more and more. Twilight was screaming in agony and as she looked at the three one last time. Luna with a smirk mouthed "good riddance" at Twilight. She let forth one final scream before she was completely submerged in the acid. Very quickly the iron chains disintegrated causing Twilight's remains to fall to the bottom of the acid pool. Colgate pulled up on a switch that caused the floor to close over the acid. Colgate smiled and said, "Queen Luna your Majesty, shall we head back to Canterlot and prepare for your coronation ceremony?"

Luna replied, "Yes! Thy Queen is most excited for this!"

Amethyst suggested, "You know your Majesty, we really need to get you a more impressive crown and a chest plate to match it!"

Colgate added, "Yes and I think a crown and chest plate with a moon made out of diamonds would look really good on you!"

Luna blushed and replied, "Stop it. Thou are embarrassing us!"

Colgate said, "Well everypony, let's get going. Be careful, I don't want one of us to wind up dying before we get out of here."

After an hour the four finally arrived at the exit. Colgate placed her horn into the hole, released some energy into it and recited,

"The enemies have paid the price, for in their torture they squealed like mice,
Now the hunt goes on, for more must disappear and be gone,
The princes of light are dying, which is most satisfying
Soon darkness will forever shroud the land and attacking us will not be in the outsiders' plan."

The door slid open and they headed outside. Once they got outside the door slid closed behind them. Luna was grateful for what Colgate and her friend had done. She also realized that as a queen she would need some high level officials, ones that wouldn't die. She decided to remedy that situation. She said, "We need you two to stand together."

While they gave each other odd looks wondering why, they did as they told. Luna's eyes began to shine and horn began to glow as she recited,

"The unicorns without wings can not fly, that can make their plans go awry,
when they need to get there in great haste, without wings it is like they are stuck in paste,
to be assured they get places fast, their wingless days must be a thing of the past."

Luna fired a bolt of energy at the two unicorns and suddenly they began to levitate. They felt wings sprouting out of their backs, they began to grow to the same size as Luna and felt their horns growing in length. After five minutes they floated to the ground using their new wings. They flew over to Luna and hugged her. Colgate said, "Thank you my Queen! Thank you!"

Luna replied, "Well you two are truly special. Thou shall play a prominent role in thy Queen's Equestria. What it shall be, we are not sure yet. Let us get going! We have big plans to make!"

As they flew to Canterlot, Luna was the happiest she had ever been in her long life while Colgate and Amethyst were ecstatic that they could fly and had immortality. While none of them communicated during the flight to Canterlot, they knew that good things were on the horizon.