Colgate's Practice 2: A Royal Problem

Colgate and her co-workers returned to the maze and headed towards the door that would lead them to the room where Whooves and Twinkleshine were trapped. Amethyst asked, "How far is it to the entrance to the other room? Is it quite a ways or is it right around the corner? I will admit, I am nervous that something might happen and we will get trapped somewhere."

Colgate replied, "It will only take us a few minutes and besides, as long as you follow me and don't go bumping into the walls, you will be fine."

Five minutes passed and they ran into what appeared to be another dead end. Before anypony else could say anything Colgate said, "Alright, this is the entrance to the other room. Get ready to fire at them. We need to knock out Twinkleshine first since she is a unicorn, then we'll handle the doctor. Ok, let's go!"

Colgate placed her horn in the hole and released some energy into it. The door slid open and just like Rainbow did, the doctor and Twinkleshine rushed for the door but were immediately knocked out cold. The three entered the room and the door closed behind them. Colgate knew that this room was something special. She said, "Amethyst, Sea Swirl, get Whooves strapped to that table over there while I get Twinkleshine secured with those cuffs hanging from the ceiling."

They did as they were told and thirty minutes later their two captives were coming to. Whooves woke up to discover he was strapped to a table with numerous metallic instruments on it's sides while Twinkleshine found herself hanging from the ceiling by two hoof cuffs. She was shouting, "Hello, is anypony there."

A voice from the shadows said, "Yes, there is."

Twinkleshine asked, "Amethyst, is that you? Are you ok?"

Another voice replied, "Yes, she is ok."

Whooves asked, "Sea Swirl, where are we? Where is Colgate?"

Colgate walked into the center of the room and replied, "I'm right here. I'm perfectly fine."

As she was saying this Amethyst and Sea Swirl walked out into the light as well. Their captives looked at them with desperate looks on their faces. Whooves asked, "Colgate, how did this happen to us? Could you help us out of these contraptions?"

Colgate began to snicker, "Oh doctor, you must not know me as well as you thought. You should know that we can't have you two revealing any information about this place."

Twinkleshine began to struggle and scream, "Wait a minute, you did this to us? Does Rainbow know about this?"

Colgate levitated Rainbow's head in front of them and replied, "Yeah, you could say she knows about it." She then tossed the head so hard at Twinkleshine that it got caught on her horn. Twinkleshine began to vomit and struggle, trying to shake the head off of her horn. Eventually the head fell to the floor and hit a special stone. Part of the floor slid open and underneath it was a pool of some sort of clear liquid.

Twinkleshine shouted, "You killed Rainbow? How could you?"

Colgate replied, "She knew too much and she was a loud mouth. She had to be silenced one way or another."

Colgate looked towards the pool of liquid. She said, "Wow, I sure didn't expect this. Even after over a thousand years this place still has some water in it?"

Amethyst walked over to it and sniffed the substance. She whispered, "Colgate, this isn't water. It smells like sulfur."

Colgate walked over and smelled the liquid herself. She whispered back, "Damn, this place must have some sort of powerful magic to it for a pool of sulfuric acid to still exist."

Twinkleshine began to struggle and shout, "What are you saying? You're going to drown me aren't you?"

Whooves shouted, "How dare you! Do what you want to me but don't you dare hurt my little sister!"

Amethyst laughed, "So doctor, what extent would you go to make sure your baby sister isn't taking a bath?"

He began to cry. He said, "I'll do anything to keep her safe."

Colgate replied, "Alright. It's showtime ladies."

Colgate threw a switch that began to lower what appeared to be a saw towards the doctor's left hind leg. He began to struggle imagining what the pain would be like. He shouted, "Stop!"

Colgate laughed, "With pleasure!"

She threw the switch back into the upright position and the chains that held Twinkleshine in place began to lower her towards the acid. The doctor figured that a little bath wouldn't hurt her. As she continued to be lowered towards the liquid she could smell the stench. She was shouting, "Whooves, that isn't water! It is acid!"

Whooves knew that sometimes his sister can be a bit melodramatic so he continued to let her be lowered. Finally the bottoms of her hooves hit the acid and she began to cry out in agony. Whooves shouted "Please don't hurt her."

Colgate asked, "So you want the saw to continue it's downward journey?"

Whooves cried, "Yes, just stop hurting Twinkleshine."

By the time Colgate got the switch activated to lower the saw again Twinkleshine's hooves were entirely submerged in the acid. The doctor raised his head a bit to watch in horror as the saw began to cut his left hind leg off. He was crying out in agony, almost as loudly as his sister was screaming for them to stop. They paid no attention to her though, as it was Whooves who determined her fate. As it finished cutting his leg off he shouted, "Stop! This hurts so much!"

Colgate laughed, "Well ok, it is whatever you want!"

She threw the lever back up and actually began to raise the saw. The results would horrify Whooves though, as his sister began to be lowered further into the acid, but at a much slower rate. She was crying out in pain, "Brother, please make it stop! I don't want to die!"

Whooves said, "Stop, don't let this happen to her. Do what you want to me, just don't keep lowering her."

Colgate replied, "Alright doctor, it is whatever you want."

Colgate moved the mechanism to where it was above his front right leg and threw the switch. Twinkleshine's descent stopped while the saw began to descend towards the doctor's leg. He closed his eyes and prepared himself for nightmarish pain but was bound and determined to not let his sister suffer any worse than she already was. The saw penetrated his front right leg. As it began to saw through his hide and then his bone, he was screaming out in agony but realized that his sister was more important than his leg was.

Eventually the saw had cut his leg off and stopped going down on it's own. The three stood around him, covered in blood laughing. Colgate unlocked the other two hoof cuffs and said, "Alright doctor, I have a deal for you."

Whooves replied, "Oh, and what is that?"

Colgate said, "Walk over to your sister and you're free to go. The three of us will even heal you completely and let you out."

The doctor was suspicious of what Colgate's true plans were but then he heard the cries of his sister. She cried, "Please big brother, just trust her. A tiny hope is better than none at all."

Whooves yelled, "Buck you Colgate! I don't believe you!"

Colgate smacked him so hard it knocked a couple teeth about. She laughed, "My my, such language! We'll have to teach you some manners." She then looked at his teeth laying on the ground. She pointed at them and asked, "So doctor? What caused you to stop taking care of your teeth?"

Whooves shouted, "I never stopped! You just hit me so hard they came out!"

Sea Swirl got an idea. She walked over to Colgate and whispered, "Hey, think we ought to punish his sister over his teeth?"

Colgate got a sadistic smile on her face. She walked over to the switch and said, "Sure, good idea!"

She threw the switch and Twinkleshine continued to be lowered into the acid. Her cries were excruciating as the acid began to turn red. As she continued to be lowered, more and more of her hide was being disintegrated and she continued to lose more and more blood. Colgate threw the switch again causing her to actually be lifted out of the acid. Colgate noticed that most of Twinkleshine's hind legs were nothing more than bare bone. She cried, "How could you? What caused you to become so sadistic?"

Colgate laughed, "If the steroid queen were here she could tell you."

Whooves shouted, "I'm the one who discovered the steroid usage, not you! Why are we being punished and not her?"

Amethyst laughed, "Don't worry, she'll be punished in due time."

Colgate added, "You two are being punished because you know too much. We can not take the chance of you two telling anypony about this."

Sea Swirl finished, "Oh, and if we were to take you two out of here in this kind of shape, we'd get arrested. So you two have to die."

Twinkleshine began to struggle and scream again. Colgate put her hooves over her ears and shouted, "Take the wretch down and make sure to not accidentally drop her in the acid."

The two did as they were told. While they were taking Twinkleshine down, Colgate uncuffed the doctor's two remaining legs and leaned him up against the table. Upon standing Twinkleshine's hind legs shattered as the bare bone could not support the weight of the rest of her body. When the doctor saw his sister's back legs snap causing her to fall onto her stomach, he began to cry. He tried to stand up on his two legs. While it was not easy, he managed to remain standing. He wanted to go and help her, but he wasn't very confident in his walking abilities. Colgate saw this and said, "Ok doctor, remember our deal?"

Whooves growled, "Yes, I do."

Colgate replied, "Well, it is still on. All you have to do is walk over to her and put your hoof on her and you will have fulfilled your part of it. Upon doing that, the three of us will heal you and lead you out of here."

The doctor said, "How am I supposed to walk with only two legs?"

Amethyst smacked him and laughed, "That's your problem doc, not ours!"

Whooves scowled at the three but then started out towards his sister. He managed to walk towards her, slowly but surely. About thirty minutes later he reached his sister and put his hoof on her leg before setting it back down. He said, "Alright you three. I did my part, now you do your part!"

Colgate saw Rainbow's head laying on the ground. She picked it up and threw it at Whooves. She said, "Hey doc, think fast!"

When the head hit him he fell face first into the acid. He was screaming loudly as the acid was burning his face and the inside of his mouth. Twinkleshine, despite only having use of her front legs sprung into action. She grabbed him and pulled him out of the acid, but not before his face was disfigured severely, his eyes were damaged and half of his tongue had been eaten away.

Twinkleshine pulled him onto his back, hugged him and said, "Don't worry big brother, they said they will heal us and lead us out of here."

Twinkleshine motioned for their captors to come over and heal them. She said, "Alright, he did his part and he is suffering. Now you do your part."

Colgate laughed, "Oh my dear Twinkleshine, you two are far too trusting."

Twinkleshine began to tear up and asked, "Why?"

Colgate smacked her and replied, "We lied." She threw a dagger down at Twinkleshine and continued, "You know, this is no way for your brother to live. It would really be more of a horrible existence. If you had a heart you would do the only merciful thing possible."

Whooves tried to shout, "Twnklks, pls dnt!"

Amethyst smacked Twinkleshine and said, "Don't listen to him Twinkleshine. I know he is trying to be strong but you know he is in horrible, agonizing pain. He won't even be able to eat with as bad as that acid burned the inside of his mouth."

Sea Swirl continued, "Well it's your choice. You could either have him lay there in agony and starve to death, which could take days or you could do the humane thing, and make his passing immediate."

Twinkleshine grabbed the dagger, headed over to her brother and said, "Please forgive me big brother, I can't stand to see you like this anymore."

Whooves started screaming, "Nnnnnn" as Twinkleshine began plunging the knife into his chest until she hit his heart. As he drew his last breath she collapsed on top of his remains and started sobbing uncontrollably. Colgate kicked Twinkleshine and laughed, "My my, you must have really hated him. For a sister to kill her own brother, that takes a lot of hate!"

Twinkleshine lunged towards Colgate and began to curse her and demand that they heal her and show her the way out. Amethyst said, "Wow, what a selfish sister you are. You kill your brother and you want to just get away with it scot-free?"

Sea Swirl added, "Yeah, you must truly be heartless!"

Colgate finished, "Twinkleshine, what you did was absolutely horrible. How you will be able to live with yourself for the rest of your miserable, pathetic life is beyond me. Oh well, come on ladies, let's heal this heartless bitch and get going."

Twinkleshine shouted, "NO!" She grabbed the dagger and plunged it deep into her heart. She let out one last agonizing scream before falling limp. Colgate nudged her and got no response. She said, "Well ladies, let's go."

Amethyst said, "Let's take care of one more thing." She kicked Rainbow's head into the sulfuric acid and stepped on the special stone, causing the floor to close back over the pool. Colgate saw this and said, "Good idea Amethyst, now let's get going."

They followed Colgate back out into the maze and headed towards the exit. When they got to the end of the maze, Colgate lowered her horn, placed it into the hole and recited the 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.

The door slid open and they exited the bunker. Colgate told them that they will hike through the rest of the badlands to Appaloosa rather than returning to Dodge Junction because they would be less likely to be questioned if they returned home from a different place. It took them four hours to hike to Appaloosa and another two hours to get home. When they got home the sun was rising. Colgate said, "Alright ladies, let's go to my house and get some breakfast, I'm so hungry!"

"Me too!" replied the other two in unison.

They decided that they would wait a while before trying to lure Twilight into their trap. They also realized that they would need to come up with a good lie to explain the absence of Whooves and Twinkleshine. While Amethyst and Sea Swirl were wracking their brains trying to come up with one, Colgate knew what the perfect one would be, and his patients would believe it without even thinking twice.