Colgate's Practice 3: Nipping the Problem in the Bud

The following day Colgate and her soldiers arrived in Ponyville. As she exited the train the engineer asked, "Colgate, do you want me to stay here or do you want me to return to Canterlot?"

Colgate replied, "We are home so you may return the train to Canterlot. Be sure and tell Luna that we thank her for allowing us to use the train."

The engineer nodded as the three headed towards the castle. Colgate said, "Well it will be nice to have a good meal tonight. While the food we ate while we were gone was alright, nothing beats the food the chefs fix."

When they arrive at the castle Colgate opens the door to find something she did not expect. In front of her was Luna and Amethyst, both scowling at her. Colgate asked, "Queen Luna, Amethyst sweetie, what is wrong?"

Amethyst screamed, "YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT IS WRONG! I KNOW WHAT YOU DID WHILE I WAS GONE!"

Colgate replied, "Well I did what I had to do. I finished my mission......."

Amethyst began to cry, "You finished your mission and made your choice huh? I should have known you would pick your bloodthirsty ways over me!" She kicked the wall and continued, "I WANT A DIVORCE!"

Colgate went silent. Tears began to run down her face as she replied, "You don't mean that do you? You know I love you."

Amethyst began to cry in anger, "You say you love me? Why didn't you stop me from leaving to go be with my mom when I gave you that ultimatum? Why didn't you just say I choose you right then and there?"

Colgate replied, "Well I......"

Amethyst interrupted, "I know exactly why. It is because you just had to go kill the Cakes isn't it? You knew that if you chose me right then and there that you couldn't go and kill them. I know spilling blood and taking lives is your true love, not me."

Luna glared at Colgate and asked, "So Colgate, is this true. Dost thou care more for torture and killing than thy wife?"

Colgate replied, "No, I love Amethyst more than anything."

Luna yelled, "Then why did thou LIE to us when thou requested that train to go abduct those 'bad patients?' Why did thou claim Amethyst was ill when thou knew that she was perfectly fine. We do not much care for lies, especially when somepony lies to us! We find that as most disrespectful. Perhaps we should remove thy wings and banish thee to the sun!"

Colgate could tell that things were going downhill for her in a hurry. She began to wrack her brain trying to figure out how to turn the tables and expose Amethyst and her lies. She glared at Amethyst and asked, "So Amethyst, have you told Luna about how much fun you had killing Donut Joe? Have you told her about how you took part in the deaths of Apple Bloom, Applejack, Fluttershy, Mulia Mild and Gustave le Grand?"

Amethyst went from thinking she had won Luna's favor to being very nervous. She replied, "Well I, you see, uh, no, I haven't."

Luna glared at her and asked, "So Amethyst, thou claims to be sick and tired of Colgate's bloodthirsty nature when thou actively takes part in it? Hast thou taken part in any other tortures?"

Amethyst replied, "Well the only ones I didn't take part in were the cases involving Twist and the Cake Family."

Luna asked, "So it is a matter of who she tortured to death, not a matter of that she was doing it. Are we right?"

Amethyst replied, "Well....." she sighed knowing that she had to tell Luna the truth. She continued, "Yes, it is a matter of who she went after, not why she went after them."

Luna glared at both of them and said, "Well, we think that all three of us need to have a meeting. We know thou hast probably done many things that we do not know about."

The two looked down in defeat as they realized that Luna had caught onto their lies. They followed Luna into the throne room where she would begin to question them. She decided she would start from the first moment she met Colgate. She asked, "Colgate, we remember when thou went up to Canterlot and hired Amethyst and Sea Swirl. Thou said that Pinkamena and Lyra simply went to Manehattan and never returned. We want to know, what REALLY happened."

Colgate realized that she finally had to reveal the truth, which she had spent nearly two decades hiding. She stood tall and replied, "I will tell you what really happened your Majesty. Regarding Lyra, she had become defiant and threatened to expose a secret I was holding at the time and I could not allow that to happen. So I took her into the basement of my practice I had at the time and killed her."

Amethyst gasped, "You did what?" She realized that the pony she loved so much had been hiding a dark past, that she hid her darkness from her from the moment she hired her.

Luna ordered, "Please continue."

Colgate continued, "Well regarding Pinkamena, when she was still in her Pinkie Pie state she caught me stealing a large meat grinder from the butcher and I could not allow her to reveal that information so I had to do what a pony has to do."

Luna asked, "Colgate, we remember seeing Pinkie in her Pinkamena state. How long was it after thou were caught stealing the meat grinder and the time of Pinkamena's execution?"

Colgate replied, "Several weeks your Majesty. It was after her witnessing me cut Moondancer open to retrieve a tooth I forced her to swallow that she turned into Pinkamena."

Luna was stunned by this. She asked, "Thou killed other ponies in thy past? How many were killed before thy old practice was destroyed?"

Colgate puffed her chest out and almost in a proud tone of voice she replied, "Well let's see, there was Moondancer, Rarity, Lyra, Pinkamena, Bon Bon, Filthy Rich, Thunderlane, your sister and Dr. White Tooth."

Luna screamed, "What? You LIED about Dr. White Tooth killing those ponies too?"

Colgate replied, "Yes, I did. I had to lie so that I would not get locked up."

Luna stood there in shock. While she knew that Colgate was telling her the truth, she couldn't help but wonder if she was hiding anything else. She asked, "Colgate, what else was thou involved in before the explosion that destroyed thy old house and practice?"

Colgate replied, "Well, about that explosion. I am the one who was responsible for that explosion."

Luna asked, "How wast thou responsible for the explosion? It is believed that it originated in the basement of the hardware store."

Colgate replied, "Well, I'll tell you how. That day I headed to the hardware store to purchase a ten gallon propane tank even though I didn't need one. I discovered that they keep the tanks in the basement so that night after everypony went to sleep I broke into the hardware store. I headed down into the basement, released the valves on all the tanks, cranked the heat as high as it would go and got out of there. I knew I had to be at home when the explosion took place so that nopony would suspect me."

Luna asked, "Colgate, how didst thou know the explosion would wipe out thy house?"

Colgate replied, "I knew it because I knew that gas line that served the hardware store served that whole row of buildings on that side of town. I knew the blast would direct downwards and rupture the line, which would then cause every building it ran under to explode and burn." She paused to catch her breath for a minute and continued, "And there is something else I must admit. The whole time from when I hired Lyra until the explosion I was running a secret dental hospital where I would torture ponies with bad teeth to death. I needed a way to destroy the evidence of it and a natural gas fire was the only way to do it, and obviously it worked."

Luna's jaw dropped open when she heard this. She had not expected Colgate to not only be so honest with her, but to go into so much detail about what happened. Luna asked, "Colgate, how didst thou know a natural gas fire would work?"

Colgate replied, "Well natural gas burns very hot and I knew it would melt away those spiked chairs, the meat grinder, the chainsaw and it would definitely incinerate the bodies into dust. Yes the explosion almost claimed my life but in the end it was worth it."

Luna smiled and said, "We thank thee for being so honest about thy distant past. Amethyst has told us about thy recent past involving the bakers. Is this true?"

Colgate replied, "Yep, every bit of it. I am responsible for the deaths of Apple Bloom, Applejack, Fluttershy, Twist, Donut Joe, Mulia Mild, Gustave le Grand and the entire Cake family."

Luna shouted, "THOU KILLED APPLEJACK? THOU KILLED THE ONE PONY I THOUGHT OF AS A TRUE FRIEND?"

Colgate replied, "I guess I did."

Luna had always been good friends with not just Applejack, but the entire Apple family. She broke down crying, "I don't get it Colgate, how could thou kill her? She never had a single cavity and yet thou executes her like a common pony with bad teeth."

Colgate replied, "Luna, I'm sorry I killed her but she was involved in making sugary treats that have caused many, many cavities and gum diseases. I simply couldn't allow that to happen anymore. It was the same with the rest of them, I just couldn't allow it anymore."

While Luna was angry that Colgate had killed Applejack, she was satisfied that she had got all the answers out of her. Deep down she wanted to kill Colgate but honesty is one quality she values in ponies and given Colgate's honesty, she just couldn't do anything to her.

She looked at Amethyst and asked, "So Amethyst, what art thou hiding from us? We know thou had problems with Colgate's bloodthirsty nature but from what we understand, thou hast taken part in many, many tortures with Colgate. What caused thee to suddenly be against it?"

Amethyst replied, "Well, it is just a matter that I grew tired of it several months ago."

Colgate interrupted, "Come on Amethyst, don't lie to our queen. You got more pleasure and was more sadistic in the torture and murder of Donut Joe than I was."

Luna asked, "How long ago was this?"

Amethyst replied, "It was a few months ago." She began to cry and finally admitted the truth, "Alright, I admit. It was only the murder of Twist and the Cakes that bothered me. With the rest of them, I was perfectly fine with them and enjoyed doing it."

Luna asked the two, "Is there anything else thy queen should know about?"

Amethyst replied, "Your Majesty, I have committed other crimes. When Colgate and I argued over what was done to Twist and the Cake Family, I smacked her."

Luna's eyes began to glow white and she yelled, "What? Thou smacked Colgate? Dost thou know of how serious of a crime that is?" She looked at Colgate and asked, "Did thou smack her at any time?"

Before she could say anything Amethyst interrupted, "No your Majesty. Colgate never once hit me. When she would get mad she would simply go to her office and shut the door until she cooled off."

Luna sighed, "Good grief, we don't really know what to think of all this. We know something must be done but we don't know what. We shall stay with thee for a couple of days and think about it. Once we have made a decision we shall let thee know." She yawned and continued, "Were are thy VIP sleeping quarters? We need to take a nap."

Colgate replied, "It is up the stairs, third door to your left."

Luna nodded and headed up to her room. In the throne room Colgate and Amethyst glared at one another. For the first time since they had known one another, there was a sense of hate radiating from the two. Colgate was extremely angry that Amethyst would ask for a divorce and bring Luna here so her past would be exposed while Amethyst was angry over Colgate hiding her past. That night Colgate would sleep on a couch in her office while Amethyst slept in their room.

Luna was laying there that night trying to get to sleep but just couldn't come to terms with everything she had heard that day. It also bothered her that two ponies who once loved one another more than life itself would hardly talk to one another and wouldn't sleep in the same room. She hoped that rather than there being a divorce, that she could bring the two to some sort of reconciliation and most of all, she hoped she could restore the love that once existed between the two.