Colgate's Practice 2: A Royal Problem

A few days passed and before everypony knew it, it was Hearth's Warming Eve. Most everypony was in a cheerful mood as they were out shopping for last minute gifts. Some of the locals were waiting at the train station to head up to Canterlot for the annual play that the city had put on for generations. Colgate was headed up there as well, but she was not headed there for a play, she was headed up to do some research. The train was packed to capacity and unlike everypony else, Colgate had a scowl on her face. A young filly saw this and asked, "Ma'am, are you not happy it is Hearth's Warming Eve?"

Colgate snapped, "What does it matter? This train is far too packed for my liking!"

The filly went running back to her mother crying. While the mother was upset that anypony would yell at her daughter, she could see that Colgate had next to no room to sit so she understood why the blue unicorn was so irritated. Finally after forty minutes, which seemed to take forty hours for her, the train finally arrives in Canterlot. Colgate rushed off the train with the speed of a track star while everypony else leisurely walked off the train. Not watching where she was going Colgate ran straight into Luna. Colgate looked up to see who she had ran into and said, "Oh I'm so sorry your Majesty. I just had to get off of that train, it was packed."

Luna replied, "Do not worry about it dear Colgate, we would have done the same thing."

Colgate said, "Thanks for understanding your Majesty."

Luna nodded and headed towards the main courtyard to make sure everything was ready for the play that night. Colgate headed to the local store to buy some supplies. She knew that if there was anything she would need out of the book, that she would need to copy it down because she just couldn't steal the book. She headed into the store and was greeted warmly by the clerk. "Happy Hearth's Warming Eve! How may I help you?"

Colgate replied, "Oh, all I need to do is get some paper, pencils and a saddle bag, nothing serious."

The clerk asked, "You don't have any foals or a husband you are getting a last minute gift for?"

Colgate snapped, "No. I don't have any foals or a bucking husband and I plan on keeping it that way." She raised her voice and sarcastically sneered, "Families are overrated."

The clerk along with everypony else in the store was shocked by the blue unicorn's attitude. After she was out of range the clerk said, "Ugh, what a grinch!"

Colgate headed to the office supply section of the store and grabbed a notebook and a pack of pencils. At the register she grabbed a saddle bag and proceeded to pay for her items. The clerk just gave her an icy cold glare after what had happened earlier. Colgate simply glared back at her and paid for her items. After leaving the store she headed to the cafe for a quick lunch before readying herself for what she hoped would be a productive night.

Before everypony knew it Luna had set the sun and raised the moon. Colgate was standing along the left edge of the audience. While she could clearly see the stage, she found herself looking up at the window to the library. Soon the intro to the play started and Colgate knew this was her chance. While everypony else was paying attention to the play, her horn began to glow and she teleported herself into the library. While the library normally has at least two guards on patrol, on Hearth's Warming Eve there were none. Colgate smiled as she realized that she had free reign of the library, that she could do all the research she needed to.

She used her horn to make light as she walked around the library. After fifteen minutes of searching, she found the book that she was looking for. In the one of a kind section of the history wing, she found "History of Pre-Celestial Equestria." It contained information about the battles, castles and bunkers of the warlords of those dark days. In it she saw a map of the locations of the bunkers. There were a few in the Everfree Forest, a couple in the southern mountains and one in the southern forest. She was reading through the information on each one. She knew that almost all of them had been destroyed shortly after Luna and Celestia deposed the warlords and took Equestria as their own.

She levitated the book and focused on it intently. Suddenly her eyes were shining a deep shade of blue and she saw the sites of all of them. They all had been destroyed except one, one that was not mentioned in the book. She clearly saw a bunker deep in the badlands between Dodge Junction and Appaloosa. She then saw the inside of the bunker, where the torture rooms were, which torture devices the warlords used, the locations of where the security measures were and deep in the center, she saw the throne room where the dark princes would make sacrifices to the gods. She set the book down and her eyes returned to normal. She quickly began to draw diagrams of the passageways, torture devices and security measures that exist within the bunker. She also saw a spell that had to be recited to enter the bunker. It stated that the following must be recited while a unicorn's horn is placed in the proper hole. It read,

The bunker is locked, from thy enemies it is blocked,
Crimes of the enemy must be paid for, to do this thou must unlock the door,
In we take the enemy, of which there are many
Inside we kill the bright ones, and the days of light shall be done.

After she read this she thought to herself, "Shouldn't there be a separate spell to activate the door upon exiting?"

She looked down further the page and found the same instructions but with a different spell,

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.

After she finished drawing her diagrams, she put the book back where she found it and teleported herself back to where she was standing before. Luckily for her it was as lights were flashing depicting a nasty storm Commander Hurricane was trying to handle. Nopony even noticed her absence or her return.

As soon as the play ended Colgate rushed back to the train station. Since she caught a train that was leaving just ten minutes after the play finished, it was not packed so Colgate was able to enjoy her trip home. When she got home she placed her diagrams in her safe so that when the time came, she could show this to her co-workers when the time was right. While she knew she had Sea Swirl and Amethyst's loyalty, she would have to hope that something would happen to gain Doctor Whooves and Twinkleshine's loyalty as well.