Vying for Her Love

As they headed towards the castle Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts had nervous smiles on their faces while Colgate had a look of confidence and determination on her face. Yes she knew that the chances of swaying Celestia's views on polygamy were not very high, she knew that she could not go into this situation without any confidence.

The walk seemed to take longer than normal but eventually they got there. When they arrived at the castle they were greeted by a guard who asked, "Halt, who goes there?"

Given that Lemon Hearts works for Celestia she decided that she would be the one to reply, "We need to speak to the princess."

He took a closer look at the three and said, "Oh Lemon Hearts, I'm sorry about the initial gruff question. He opened the door and asked, "I take it you know the way to the throne room?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Yes, I do."

Lemon Hearts led them to the throne room. As they were headed down the long hallways, they were nervous, Twinkleshine especially so. When they finally arrived, Celestia smiled and said, "Lemon Hearts! What are you doing here today, it is a holiday?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "I know it is a holiday but the three of us have to talk to you. It is about something very important."

Celestia took a look at the three and knew what it was likely going to be about. She said, "Lemon Hearts, I have already told you that I will not change my stance on plural marriages. You know that if I give the three of you an exception, everypony will demand an exception."

Colgate, who often had a better way with words and knew her history better started, "Your Majesty, I understand why you banned polygamy but you have to look at that situation. The situation back then involved stallions controlling the lives of many mares and fathering many, many foals. The situation with us would involve three mares and would not involve any foals."

Celestia replied, "That is true but it still involves a marriage between multiple ponies and there is the chance of one of you beginning to control the others." Celestia knew how the three operate and that Colgate already plays the stallion role in their household. She continued, "And I also have my worries that one of you may begin to dominate the other two, and I do not want one pony to be controlling the others."

Colgate said, "Princess, you know that none of us would try to control the others."

Lemon Hearts added, "Celestia, you know I've told you things about how things are in our household. You know that no one pony would try to control another."

Celestia knew this quite well as Lemon Hearts had often talked about Twinkleshine's more subservient role as the homemaker. She looked at Twinkleshine and asked, "Twinkleshine, from what I understand you are the one who stays at home all day and does the housework. Is that correct?"

Twinkleshine replied, "Yes your Majesty. I keep things at home clean."

Celestia knows that often those in that role are the ones who are controlled. She asked, "Twinkleshine, ponies who are in that role are often the ones who are easily controlled and manipulated. Have either one of these two ever tried to assert any dominance over you?"

Twinkleshine replied, "Well no." She then giggled and continued, "But Lemon Hearts and I have asserted our control and dominated Colgate in the bedroom!"

Celestia put her hoof up to her face and sighed in disgust, "That is more than I want to know. All I care about is how you are treated over all." She raised her voice and asked, "So, none of you have tried to force your ways or order another one around?"

In unison the three replied, "No your Majesty, we haven't."

Celestia sat there with her wing up against her face deep in thought. While she could tell that the three did truly love one another, she also knew that she could not just go bending laws for one set of ponies. She knew that if she did that, she would simply have to do away with the ban and that would lead to the problems of the past returning.

Celestia started, "Look, I know you three love one another very much but I can not simply bend the rules for you three."

Twinkleshine asked, "Why not?"

Celestia replied, "Because if I do, then I would have to let everypony engage in plural marriages."

Colgate asked, "Your Majesty, what happened in the past involved stallions forcing their way on mares." Colgate got a huge smile on her face as she got an idea. She continued, "Princess, what if you altered it so that mares could engage in plural marriages but not everypony else?"

While her marefriends thought this was a spectacular idea, Celestia was not going to budge. She replied, "Colgate, if I did that then I would have ponies all over Equestria claiming that I am sexist against stallions. They would think that I favor mares and likely even accuse me of wanting to engage in a plural marriage myself." She was getting frustrated and snorted, "And I don't need ponies having that perception of me."

Lemon Hearts asked, "What ponies would perceive you like this?"

Celestia replied, "Well I'm sure there are still a few ponies out there that have the old beliefs of that sect. Then you have the ponies who would simply see it as me showing favoritism towards Lemon Hearts since she works for me and like I said, you would see ponies who would label me as sexist."

Colgate asked, "Your Majesty, you are the most powerful pony in Equestria. Why would it matter what they think? If they tried to start some sort of rebellion or protest, couldn't you just go put them in their place and banish them to the moon or throw them in Tartarus?"

Celestia couldn't help but laugh a little, "Oh Colgate, you don't understand much about ruling a country do you?" She then became more serious and continued, "Look, I am a benevolent princess, I am not a dictator that forces her ways upon her subjects. I just think doing that would be wrong."

Colgate asked, "But your Majesty, don't you think it is wrong to prevent me and my marefriends from being married too? Doesn't it feel wrong to be letting your subjects control your decisions?" She thought for a moment and continued, "In Saddle Arabia their leaders rule things their way. Why should Equestria be any different?"

Celestia replied, "Look, this isn't Saddle Arabia and the culture there is very different. Having hard line rulers who want things their way is normal. Equestria never has been that way and it never will."

Colgate grunted, "Well I guess whatever you decide will be what we have to live with."

Celestia looked down at them and could see tears running down Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts' faces. She seriously began to wonder about changing things but then she saw the look of anger and disgust in Colgate's face. Colgate's reaction, albeit silent, caused Celestia to decide that she did not want to bend the rules for a pony who was that angry at her. She stood up, spread her wings wide and said, "I have heard your opinions and reasons for wanting this and I have come to a decision."

Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts looked up with nervous looks on their faces while Colgate had a scowl on her's as she had a feeling what her decision would be. Celestia continued, "I am sorry but I am not going to bend the rules so you three can all be married. The risks are too high and I do not feel like having to eventually allow polygamy for all."

Lemon Hearts began to cry, "Well thank you for listening your Majesty."

Twinkleshine grabbed Lemon Hearts and began sobbing uncontrollably while Colgate stood there looking like she was about to explode. Colgate then snapped, "Come on girls, let's just go home. I should have known that she wouldn't listen to us."

They headed out of the throne room and Celestia just sighed. Deep down she wanted to make an exception for them and was considering it until Colgate's disrespectful and selfish behavior came to the surface. She simply would not cave in to a pony who thought she should run things like ponies do in another country.

As Colgate and her marefriends left the castle and headed home, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were sobbing quietly while Colgate was so angry her face was an angry red. Once they got home though, Colgate's true anger would come to the surface.

Once they got in and shut the door Colgate screamed, "Damn her! Damn that Celestia! Why the hay must she be so damn stubborn? Ugh what I wouldn't give to knock all her teeth out right now!"

Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts, while they were devastated, also knew that Colgate's behavior may have been part of what caused Celestia to decide not to give them an exception. Lemon Hearts raised her voice and said, "You want to know something Colgate? I have a feeling that she might have granted us an exception BUT you just had to go challenging the way she runs things."

Twinkleshine added, "Yeah, I could see it in her eyes that she was considering it UNTIL you just had to bring up how she shouldn't let anypony else tell her how to run things or influence her decisions." She became angry and screamed, "Look, I know you meant well but it is not wise to challenge Celestia's way of doing things!" She slammed her hoof into the floor and continued, "And it was likely your fault she decided the way she did."

Colgate was not thrilled over what she considered them lecturing her but she didn't feel like arguing at that point. She was angry enough as it was and she did not want to get so mad she would have to take a few days away from the office. She grunted, "Look, I need to be alone for a while. We can talk more later."

Once she got up into her room she slammed the door shut. Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine stayed downstairs and began to talk. Twinkleshine asked, "Lemon Hearts, could you see Celestia's eyes when we were first talking, how they seemed almost sympathetic to us?"

Lemon Hearts replied, "Yes, I could. But then Colgate had to take charge of the conversation and act like she knew what would be best. She had to act like she knew more than Celestia did when it comes to this sort of thing."

Before too long they could hear Colgate screaming, yelling and cursing up in her room. It was moments like this that they seriously wondered if Colgate was indeed the one but in the end they would always realize that this was part of her and that they loved all of her, both the good and bad parts.