It had been one year since Twilight Sparkle was wrongfully convicted and unjustly put to death. A pony who was at one time a friend of Twilight's decided to right those wrongs, using any means necessary.
It had been one year since Twilight Sparkle was wrongfully convicted and unjustly put to death. A pony who was at one time a friend of Twilight's decided to right those wrongs, using any means necessary, even if it means using forbidden magic.
This story takes place one year after the ending of "Cheerilee's Garden" written by Unahim.
It had been one year to the day that Twilight Sparkle, protege of Princess Celestia, was wrongfully convicted for the murder of fourteen ponies and unjustly put to death. This was something that angered Colgate at the time it happened and it still infuriated her the more she thought about it. While she was not in town the day Twilight was convicted, she did know who was at least partially responsible for this miscarriage of justice, Sherlock Hooves, a pony that she did not particularly care for.
She knew that the "detective" was crooked beyond belief and had been paying attention to more recent court cases and it seemed like he always got a conviction, always. Another thing that irritated her was that Princess Luna was always the judge. She didn't know Luna all that well but did know that she was one of those types who always ruled against the defendant, always. She had thought that Princess Celestia would change things after Twilight's death but nothing changed. Because of this, Colgate decided that if the royals wouldn't change things, that she would change it herself.
When Colgate woke up that morning, she decided that she was going to do something. She decided that she was going to visit the grave of the unicorn who was not only wrongfully put to death but was also slandered in the worst ways possible. Because of all this, Twilight Sparkle was buried in the bottom most bowels of the Castle of the Two Sisters. While Twilight was not the closest friend of Colgate, she still sought to visit her grave prior to making her plans.
After eating breakfast, Colgate headed north towards the Everfree Forest. While she was headed in that direction, she had a couple of ponies question her why she was heading in that direction. Given the opinions that everypony in town had towards Twilight, she simply grunted and went about her way. Many ponies knew how she was on days that she wasn't working and figured that, like always, she didn't feel like being bothered.
As she headed through the forest, she could hear the growls of the timberwolves so she flared her horn up brightly, silencing them. They would often go after the earth ponies and the pegasi but they knew that a unicorn with a horn that shined that brightly was not one that was to be trifled with. After an hour, she finally reached the old castle. She took a look at the old bridge and while she couldn't teleport longer distances, she was able to teleport across it so that is what she did.
Once she got across, she headed into the old castle and began to search for the stairway that would lead her down into the bottom most parts of the castle. After thirty minutes of searching, she found a stairwell that went down. She was not sure exactly if it was safe to go down there so she flared up her horn and began to look for stairs that if stepped on, might activate some sort of trap. As she headed down, she saw multiple stairs that looked suspicious and was able to avoid them.
After what felt like an eternity to her, she reached the bottom level and began to look around. In there she saw numerous things that nopony would ever expect out of the Two Sisters, torture devices. She gasped, "What the hay, torture devices? Why in Equestria would they have such things?"
This did unnerve her but she continued to look around until she saw what looked like a headstone in the far right corner of the room. She approached it and sure enough, it was the headstone of Twilight Sparkle. She knelt down and could feel a special energy coming from it, the energy of Princess Celestia. She looked at the stone and sighed, "Well at least one pony cared about you, at least somepony other than just me knew that you were wrongfully convicted."
Once she finished her sentence she saw a lavender ball of energy rising from the ground in front of the stone, a lavender ball with Twilight's cutie mark on it. After a minute the ball popped and standing in front of her was an apparition of Twilight. She saw who was there and asked, "Colgate, is that you?"
Colgate replied, "It is me and although we weren't the best of friends, I have come to pay my respects."
Twilight asked, "But why? I wasn't the best of friends to you and the other girls and I'm sure you all believe I was guilty."
Colgate replied, "Twilight, I never once believed you were guilty off those murders. Why in Equestria would the most rational minded pony in all of Equestria kill her friends, her assistant and multiple foals? It made no sense to me and I have decided the time has come to set things right."
Twilight asked, "But how? I'm dead and everypony else is dead. In the end, as I was falling to my death, Celestia believed I was innocent but how are you going to clear my name? How are you going to pull this off?"
Colgate gave her a smile, "I have ideas and with the right amount of studying of certain things, I can pull this off. I will say this though, that Sherlock Hooves has got to go. He has an appointment with me next week and....."
The apparition of Twilight began to fade away, "No, don't kill........"
The apparition of Twilight was then gone, leaving Colgate to wonder what she should do. She knew that Twilight was going to tell her not to kill him. She then figured that even in death, Twilight would be a rational thinking pony and would give the best advice. At that moment she became conflicted on what to do. She knew that Twilight was most likely going to tell her not to kill him but her hatred towards him was too great, she was going to kill him. He wasn't the only one she was bound and determined to punish though, she was going to see to it that Cheerilee would face the music for her crimes and knew exactly how she would do it. She knew that she would have to find a book on ancient and forbidden magic, she decided that she was going to bring the true murderer back from the dead, even if it would cause her legal problems.
Colgate then decided to look around the bottom part of the castle to see if there were any books that would either provide her with what she believed she needed to know or if anything would point her to where the books she would need would be. She saw a doorway that led into another room. She went through it and was not thrilled with what she found. In the room she found a single table with a book on it. She groaned in frustration, "Ugh, was this all a waste?"
She levitated the book to herself and discovered that it was a book on the ancient days of Equestria, the days when the princesses had ancient warlords as enemies who sought to take the nation for themselves. As she was reading, she discovered that the princesses would capture them and bring them to the castle and torture them to death. She gasped, "So that's why they have torture devices down here. I never once imagined that they would do such things!"
She continued to read and discovered where the warlords had their own bunkers, ones in which they would use resurrection magic on fallen Equestrian soldiers only to torture them to death again, over and over. She then knew that they had to have books on the magic down there. Colgate cheered, "That's it! This is how I can bring that rat Cheerilee back!" She paused before adding, "And I can also take Hooves down with me, kill him and resurrect him over and over. I will say this, paybacks are going to be hell and both of them shall suffer my wrath!"
She then searched for the locations of the bunkers and discovered that the nearest one to Ponyville was in the badlands between Dodge Junction and Appaloosa. As she was doing research she noticed that each one had a different spell that had to be recited. She did learn that each one had a hole that a unicorn's horn had to be inserted into while casting the spell. She finally found the spell for the bunker that lied between Appaloosa and Dodge Junction,
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 reading this she clapped her hooves and cheered, "Yes, this is the spell and I know that nopony else likely knows this so once I get them in there, I can do whatever I want to them! She then knew when she could pull this off, right after Sherlock Hooves' appointment on Friday afternoon. She had enough sedative to pull this off but first thing was first, she had to dig up Cheerilee's remains with nopony noticing.
Colgate then headed back towards Ponyville with her plans running through her head. She knew that it would likely still be daylight when she returned but she did have plans on visiting the local cemetery. She was friends with some of those who were murdered, Applejack in particular because she had never once went to her with any dental problems. She even began to wonder if perhaps the apparition of the farm pony would appear to her too and perhaps aid her with some information.
Once Colgate returned to Ponyville she headed over to the cemetery. She knew that she likely wouldn't have too many problems if anypony asked her why she was visiting since she did have relatives buried there. Once she arrived she headed first to where her grandparents were buried. She looked down with a solemn look on her face as she had only knew them when she was young and they were good to her. She sighed, "Grandma, Grandpa, I really miss you two." She paused for a brief moment before asking, "Am I doing the right thing? Is my quest to bring Cheerilee to justice a good idea or could this be the undoing of me?"
She stood there for five minutes and didn't hear a thing. She thought to herself, "Maybe Twilight could come back because of the way in which she died. Maybe she has yet to cross over."
She then headed over to where Cheerilee's grave was on the other side of the cemetery. When she found it she sighed in relief, "Oh good, at least they didn't bury that rat anywhere near my family."
Once she discovered where she was buried, she rushed home to get the necessary equipment to not only dig the remains up but also to place them in. Once she got home she headed into her basement and began digging through things. She said, "Ok, I'm going to need a shovel, a body bag, and a good strong face mask, that body is going to stink after all."
By that time it was supper time so she decided to eat a larger than normal supper. While doing this would not be that much of a problem with her being a unicorn, she still figured that it would be best if she had a full stomach. After eating she noticed that it was dark outside and that there was nopony out and about. There were a few houses that still had lights on but those were a good enough distance away that she wouldn't have to worry about being detected.
She then headed towards the cemetery with a smile on her face. She had visions of not only resurrecting Cheerilee only to kill her again and resurrect her again but also of her facing justice in front of who would hopefully be an impartial judge along with a prosecutor who was not crooked and incompetent.
Once she got to the cemetery, she immediately headed to the area where Cheerilee was buried. She glared at the headstone and coldly stated, "Well rat, soon your time will come. Soon you will face justice but" she then began to giggle, "I'll get to have some fun with you first!"
She then began to dig up the casket that she was buried in and noticed that it was made out of gold. She glared at the casket and growled, "Ugh, this is probably the work of Princess Luna. I know she hated Twilight and probably gave this rat a fancy one out of spite."
She then opened the casket and the stench was so bad that she began vomiting on the ground. "Ugh, I knew she would stink but I never though it would be this bad!" She then took a closer look at the corpse and could tell that it had been nearly blown apart by Twilight's magic. She then laughed, "Wow Cheer, Twilight did a number on you but that will be nothing compared to my wrath. You will suffer worse than any victim of yours ever did."
She then began to take the remains and put them into the body bag she had brought with her. One thing she had to be sure and do was get as much of the corpse she could, every last bit that had yet to decay. Once she had recovered all of the remains, she closed the casket, placed it back in the ground and covered it. She did have one problem though, it would be obvious that something had been dug up so she used her magic to level the ground and restore the grass. She laughed, "Now just to get this home, stick it in my freezer and get ready for Hooves' appointment!"
Several days had passed and it was Friday. This was the day that Colgate had been looking for as it was when Sherlock Hooves would be coming down from Canterlot for his appointment. This was one thing that she always did enjoy, Canterlot residents coming to see her. It wasn't just because they could more easily afford their co-pays but in the event of hooves, make transporting her victims to the bunker in the badlands much easier.
That afternoon Hooves headed into Colgate's office with his normal snobbish look on his face. This was always one thing that Colgate despised about him but never let it show. It wasn't long until he arrived that Colgate headed out to get him. She said, "Come on back Sir, let's get you checked out."
That was one thing that utterly repulsed Colgate, having to refer to him as Sir because the princesses had done something to make him on a higher level than others. He headed back and got into the chair and Colgate continued, "You know the drill."
Hooves opened his mouth and Colgate cast her X-ray spell and while one part of her was not thrilled by what she saw, the other part of her was giddy because when she saw multiple cavities, she knew that she could sedate him for transport. She shook her head and sighed, "What in the world have you been eating, you have four cavities and it looks like you're developing periodontal disease."
The earth pony replied, "Well when you have to constantly put up with law breakers, you'd eat a lot of cake too."
Colgate shook her head and sighed, "That is a miserable excuse but I do want to get these cavities taken care of right away." She began to head towards a door and continued, "Don't go anywhere. Given your status, I'll handle these things right away."
Colgate headed down a stairway into her basement where she kept the strongest sedatives she had, sedatives that would knock ponies out for hours. When she returned he saw that she had a syringe with a large needle full of some sort of liquid in it. He wasn't sure what it was but he knew that it couldn't be anything good. He quickly tried to get out of the chair but Colgate quickly grabbed him in her aura. She walked to him, smacked him and yelled, "Oh no you don't! You're not going anywhere." She rammed the syringe in his neck and continued, "If you honestly think you're going to get away with the wrongful conviction and unjust death sentence for Twilight Sparkle, THINK AGAIN RAT!"
He yelled, "It was not....."
She then injected the sedative and almost immediately, he was out like a light. She then glared at the slumbering pony and giggled, "Now soon, you will learn exactly what happens to those who spit in the face of the justice system."
She then headed down into her basement and not only grabbed Cheerilee's remains but two boxes large enough to transport them to Appaloosa. She snickered, "Good thing they don't check luggage on the midnight train or I'd have to transport you myself."
Colgate then got Cheerilee's remains put in one box and put the slumbering Hooves in the other. She had her concerns that he may wake during the trip so she put a lock spell and a sound proof spell on the box she put Hooves in. She then grabbed a few more instruments to make the torture of her victims more brutal and sadistic. After she grabbed those items she giggled, "Oh this is going to be so fun, so so fun!"
Once it was 11:30 Colgate grabbed her boxes and headed towards the train station. She did her best to keep a neutral look on her face because she knew that if she had any kind of smile, she might draw suspicion from the conductor. Even though they never checked baggage of any kind on the red eye trips, she figured it never hurt to be too careful.
Just as she expected, she did not have any issues getting on the train despite her having a couple large boxes with her. Once she got on board, she was able to have her own private car. As the train headed south, she began to think about everything she could do to her victims. She also began to wonder what sorts of torture methods the warlords of so long ago had but most importantly, she knew there would have to be a resurrection spell. If there wasn't, she would have to write one herself and that would take much longer.
Three hours later, the train pulled into Appaloosa and so that she would not draw any suspicion to herself, she leisurely departed the train. She waited around for a minute before heading to the northeast, into the badlands. While it was a time of year where it did not get excessively hot, she still wanted to hurry up and get to her destination before it got too light. After all, if any pegasi was to see a pony walking in the area with two boxes, there was a chance they would go and notify the authorities of what they saw.
After several hours of walking, she began to sense movement coming from inside the box that Hooves was in. She set the box down, kicked it and laughed, "Just wait Hooves, you'll get out of there soon enough!"
She then picked the box back up and continued to walk until she saw what she thought was a tiny hold in the side of the cliff. She looked at it and sure enough, it was a hole. Colgate had to make sure that it was the right one though. She inserted her horn in the hole, released energy into it and recited,
"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."
The moment she recited the spell, a wall slid open and revealed a passage that headed into the rock formation. Colgate then picked up the boxes and carried them through before the wall slid back shut. One thing Colgate did notice though that there was a hole on the right side of the door, one that would allow her to get out. She did have her concerns that there may be a completely different spell to get out but figured that she could deal with that when the time came.
Once she got the two further down she saw that there were multiple doorways which led to various rooms but further down the hall was a doorway that had a dim green light shining from it, one that likely signified the presence of dark magic. When she took the two into that room, she saw that there were multiple torture devices in there. She clapped her hooves and cheered, "Yes, now I can take care of this." She saw something moving inside of Hooves' box so she figured that she would take care of him first, then mess with Cheerilee.
She set the two boxes down and began to open the box that Hooves was in. Once she got it open he immediately tried to get up and yelled, "What the hay? Where am I?"
Colgate grabbed him in her aura and laughed, "You are in what shall be your final resting place! You are about to learn what happens to those who spit in the face......"
Hooves yelled, "I did not do that. All the evidence pointed towards Twilight Sparkle and justice was served!"
Colgate grunted, "Whatever rat, now let's get you secured."
Hooves continued to struggle and Colgate knew that securing him in one of the devices would be impossible so she injected him with another dose of sedatives and almost immediately, he fell asleep again. Colgate then took him to one of the chairs and began to get him secured. She rammed hooks through his hooves with a smile on her face. He did let out grunts of pain as she did this but he did not wake up. Once she got him secured, she stood over the slumbering pony with a scowl on her face. "Ugh," she growled, "I hope he doesn't take too long to wake."
Colgate began to pace back and forth for several hours before Hooves finally began to stir. When Colgate noticed this she laughed, "Oh good, I see you're awake." He tried to say something but would quickly be cut off by Colgate, "Alright rat, the time has come to pass judgement upon you for the crimes you have committed."
Hooves yelled, "I never committed any crimes! It was that murderer Twilight Sparkle and now you have committed crimes."
Colgate sighed, "Uh-huh." She smacked him hard and demanded, "Now tell me, why was it that you think Twilight Sparkle was guilty of murder?"
He snidely replied, "Because everypony saw her kill Cheerilee, Cheerilee saw her kill them and she didn't want her turning her in, she threw water on the burning theater in an attempt to extinguish the fire, killing eight school foals! She lit the fire, her friends knew, she killed them to hide the truth!"
Colgate began to savagely beat him and yelled, "Hogwash, hogwash, hogwash!" She stopped beating him and yelled, "You actually expect anypony to believe this non-sense? I have never once heard a more poorly put together argument in my life!"
Hooves however remained defiant, "You know what, a bloodied piece of the theater floor was found in her bed....."
Colgate once again smacked him, "Yeah, uh-huh." She began to pace around the room angrily wondering what she should do when she stepped on a part of the floor and suddenly the floor opened, revealing what was a pool of sulfuric acid. She then looked up and saw hooks hanging from the ceiling and this gave her an idea. She turned to Hooves and laughed, "You know something, I'm being too nice!"
He snapped, "You're not being....."
Colgate then removed him from the chair and then levitated him up to the hooks and rammed his front hooves from them, leaving him hanging above a pool of acid. Colgate then noticed a crank that could be used to lower and raise any victim that was hanging. Colgate headed to the crank and began to lower Hooves to show him that she controlled his fate. He gasped in horror, "What, you're going to kill me with acid?"
Colgate laughed, "Maybe I will, maybe I won't." She paused before becoming more monotone, "Hooves, I am going to let you in on something. I have been monitoring what goes on with court cases up in Canterlot ever since Luna has returned from the moon and why is it that you always manage to get convictions? Certainly not every single pony who has been tried has been guilty."
Hooves snapped, "They were convicted because they were guilty!"
Colgate laughed, "Yeah, uh-huh." She then lowered Hooves a bit and continued, "Regarding a case not that long ago....one in which I attended. I remember how a stallion was accused of a bank robbery and part of your argument was that he was seen at the scene of the crime. However, the defense attorney brought up that none of the bits found in his home had serial numbers that matched those that were reported stolen. How can that be if he robbed the bank?"
Hooves was briefly rattled before regaining his composure, "That is a lie because the defense attorney....."
Colgate cut him off, "Has access to the same evidence that the prosecution does and I know Swift Justice well enough to know that he would not lie."
"But Princess Luna....."
Colgate immediately cut him off, "I'm curious about something, is Princess Luna in on all of this?"
Hooves became more belligerent and yelled, "Princess Luna would never......."
Colgate struck him with a bolt of energy before lowering him closer to the acid. Colgate raised her voice and yelled, "Tell me then, why is it she always gets a conviction?" She struck him with energy again before continuing, "I have even heard rumors that she personally accused Twilight Sparkle of not being able to handle her responsibilities down in Ponyville. Am I correct?"
Hooves froze upon hearing this. He knew that his captor likely knew much more than many would think. He nervously replied, "Well uh...."
Colgate lowered him further and stared him down, "If she did, she violated rule 7.33.8a of the Equestrian code regarding trials. Judges are supposed to be impartial and also, Princess Luna also knew Twilight personally which should have automatically disqualified her from overseeing that court case."
Hooves countered, "But she was the only one available, she....."
Colgate cut him off, "There was Judge Balanced Scales up there in Canterlot or there could have been a change of venue. That whole fiasco was nothing more than a kangaroo court. Princess Luna believed she was guilty and you believed she was guilty. A prosecutor is supposed to try and prove guilt, they don't automatically assume it!"
Hooves was finally beginning to see all the wrongs of everything he had been part of. He took a deep breath and knew that this would be taking a huge risk before replying, "Colgate, I know everything I did was wrong but would you spare me if I reveal everything involving Princess Luna, how she handles court cases and" he paused before gulping, "and the payouts she promises me if I make up lies and produce fake evidence?"
Colgate's eyes grew wide in shock as she gasped, "She did what? So basically you are bought off?" He nodded and Colgate threw in another question, "And what of Princess Celestia? Does she know about what her sister is doing?"
Hooves nodded his head which caused Colgate to become angrier and caused her to make a decision. She yelled, "You know what, forget about Cheerilee. She is nothing more than a mouse in a government full of rats, rats that must go!" She saw Hooves' eyes grow wide as she continued, "Perhaps it is time this corrupt monarchy goes. Any system that would allow such things to happen is inherently flawed." She paused before levitating him off the hooks and on to the floor and added, "And if you value your life, you will aid me in exposing them. You have benefited monetarily from this so which is it, will you aid me and live or side with the princesses and die?"
Hooves was seriously considering actually siding with Colgate but then became curious about how she wanted the monarchy to go and what she would replace it with. He asked, "Colgate, but how? How are you going to get rid of the monarchy? You know Celestia and Luna won't just step down."
Colgate grabbed him in her aura and stated, "A bloody coup must take place. We will expose the princesses, force them out and then spill their blood. The whole nation will be so mad at them that they will not care, I will be deemed as a hero who liberated them from a system that is inherently flawed." She paused before laughing, "To be honest, I could see them wanting me to take over, they will want me to be their queen and once that happens, every single rat who has committed injustices against the innocent shall be wiped out, and I mean every single rat!"
Hooves had a feeling that by Colgate bringing up every single rat, that she likely meant him too. He became angry, "So if I agree to help you you'll still wipe me out?"
Colgate grabbed him in her aura and held him over the acid and laughed, "Well of course, you are part of the system, right?" She lowered him down to where he was mere inches above the acid and added, "I already have dirt on those two, I don't need your help!"
He then let out one loud scream as Colgate dropped him into the acid. Once he sank into the pool Colgate laughed, "Well rat, you won't be making up lies anymore!"
She then went to the other box, the one which contained Cheerilee's remains and readied herself to open it. As she opened the box, a horrid stench escaped from it, a stench that caused Colgate to start vomiting. Once Colgate quit throwing up, she levitated the remains out of the box and got ready to resurrect the villain. She grasped the remains in her aura and recited,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be, the fallen one still has many days to run free, for potential the fallen one has a lot, without life it would all be for not, for life shall be renewed, the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
Immediately the remains became encircled in a ball and levitated off the ground. Colgate could see inside and tell that a pony was beginning to form. After five minutes the ball popped and to the ground dropped Cheerilee. She looked around, very disoriented and asked, "Ugh, where am I?"
Colgate clapped her hooves and cheered, "Oh good, you're awake. Now I can properly punish you for your crimes!"
Cheerilee was clearly confused as she wearily asked, "Wait a minute, how is it that I'm alive? Twilight killed me!"
Colgate laughed, "She did but it was only because you killed her friends, you killed her assistant and you killed eight foals. She simply wanted to wipe out the rat who caused Ponyville so many problems, the one who brought about so much heartache, the one who tore families apart."
Cheerilee was becoming more coherent, "I had to wipe those weeds out but still, how is that I'm still alive?"
Colgate smacked her and laughed, "Why should you care? It isn't like you'll last that long anyway!"
Cheerilee immediately began to rush away from Colgate yelling, "Help, somepony help!"
Colgate grabbed her in her aura and laughed, "Nopony can hear you and nopony will ever come looking for you here! Everypony else has forgotten this place even exists!" She knew that getting Cheerilee handled while she would be struggling so she levitated her to herself and injected her with some sedative, causing the teacher to fall asleep.
Colgate began to look around, trying to find which device that she could inflict the most horrific torture possible upon Cheerilee. She found a gurney on the other side of the room with hooks on all four arms and also noticed that they were connected to chains, chains that were connected to cranks that she could pull her legs out to the point where she could dislocate them. She clapped her hooves and cheered, "Excellent! This will work perfectly!"
She then began to insert the hooks through Cheerilee's legs, causing her to let out brief whimpers of pain before again going silent. Like it was with Hooves, Colgate began to pace back and forth waiting for her victim to wake up. Several hours had passed and Cheerilee finally began to come to. Colgate stood over her with a glare on her face and addressed her, "Oh good, you're awake. I didn't think you were ever going to wake up."
As Cheerilee was coming to she remembered her last interaction with her captor. She looked around and yelled, "Colgate, what have you done to me? Why am I here?" She paused before adding, "If this is over the fifty bits I owe you this is outlandish. Fifty bits isn't reason enough to torture me.
Colgate smacked her and firmly began, "Cheerilee, this has nothing to do with your debt to me. Yes I am not happy but this is over so much more." She smacked her again and continued, "During your miserable life you committed crimes that were unfathomable in the nation of Equestria. You killed fourteen ponies, eight of those being your students and since the legal system didn't have a chance to wipe you out, I shall do so in their stead."
Cheerilee yelled, "I had to you fool. They were all weeds, weeds that were destroying Ponyville. Those students, ugh they nearly drove me to suicide and Twilight Sparkle's friends, they were all weeds too!" The sudden thought of Twilight caused Cheerilee's mood to change, "And Twilight, she killed me! If anypony should be punished it is her! She was the worst weed of them all!"
Colgate struck her with several bolts of magic over her comment. She yelled, "Twilight Sparkle was a model citizen of Equestria, what she did was an act of self-defense from what I understand. She was no weed Cheerilee. You however, you are a rat that must be exterminated, a rat that must be purged from this land!"
Cheerilee calmed down and took in what Colgate had just said. She asked, "What do you mean Twilight Sparkle was a model citizen?"
Colgate got down in her face and yelled, "She was accused of killing those that you killed and because she avenged their deaths, that tyrant Luna and their rat prosecutor sentenced her to death!" She began punching Cheerilee and yelled, "It is all your fault you rat! It is all your fault that Twilight is dead!" Cheerilee tried to say something before Colgate continued, "And because of that, you will suffer on levels never before imagined!"
Cheerilee gave Colgate a smirk, "Ha! I tortured all those weeds in ways you could never imagine! The horror and pain they suffered through was unimaginable!"
Colgate laughed, "Perhaps but I can do things a rat like you could never do!" She paused for a moment before smacking her again, "You will learn this, you mess with one of Celestia's students, you mess with all of us!"
Colgate then took to the cranks and began to stretch Cheerilee's legs out to their breaking point. Colgate kept a good eye on her legs because she did not want to fully dislocate her legs. It would make what she wanted to do next much easier. Once she had all of Cheerilee's legs stretched out to their breaking point the teacher began to cry out in pain, "Stop, please stop! Please show me mercy!"
Colgate smacked her so hard she knocked half her teeth out before yelling, "NO! You showed Twilight's friends no mercy, you showed Spike no mercy, you showed those foals no mercy so why in Tartarus should I show you any!"
Cheerilee continued to yell defiantly but Colgate was too busy to pay her much attention. She headed over to the box that Cheerilee was transported in and grabbed multiple objects. When she saw what Colgate had she developed a look of horror in her eyes. She had a very strong feeling as to what Colgate was going to do. She began to scream and plead with Colgate, "Please, don't kill me, don't torture me! I'll admit to everything if you spare me!"
Colgate took a whip and struck her in the face before laughing, "No Cheerilee, your crimes are too great. The only way to rid the world of rats like you is to exterminate them!"
Colgate then took a knife to her torso and began to cut her open. She began to dissect her like one would a frog. Despite being secured in a way that restricted her movement greatly, Cheerilee was still able to wobble a bit that made Colgate's cuts less than perfect. Once Colgate got her skin cut open, Colgate took to her and began to feast on her flesh. Cheerilee began to scream in agony, "Stop, please stop! I'll confess, please I will confess!"
Colgate smacked her and yelled, "Too late rat, too late!" Colgate ultimately got all the meat ripped off of her yet she did not eat it as she would need it later on. She looked down at Cheerilee's racing heart and her rapidly expanding and contracting lungs and laughed, "Oh wow, your precious little organs are pumping so fast! Too bad you couldn't see it, you could teach your students about it." She then slugged Cheerilee and snapped, "Well you could had you not killed all of them!"
Colgate the leaned down and clamped onto the teacher's rib cage and broke it open, causing Cheerilee to begin convulsing. This did not sit well with Colgate, "Not yet rat, not yet! I'm not letting you go this easily!" She then cast a spell to calm her body down, ensuring that shock would not kill her. Colgate gave Cheerilee a smirk, "Now what should I do next?" She then grabbed a syringe and laughed, "Oh I know exactly what I will do and you're going to love it!"
She then rammed the syringe into her lung, causing Cheerilee to scream loudly and the lung to begin to collapse. As Cheerilee laid there gasping for breath, Colgate began to dance around her and yelled, "You do this Cheer, you do this to any of your victims?"
Despite having trouble breathing she gasped, "I did more than you ever coul....."
Colgate smacked her and laughed, "Well I'm not done. Give me time and your antics will look like foals play!"
Colgate continued to dance around, clap her hooves and cheer as her victim laid there, having more trouble breathing. Once the lung was fully collapsed, Colgate decided the time had come. She looked in her chest cavity, saw that her heart was racing again and giggled, "My my, your pulse is way too high! How about I do something to take care of that."
When Colgate leaned her head down into her chest cavity, Cheerilee knew what was going to happen next, she came to the realization that her captor was a true sadist. Colgate looked up her and asked, "Shall I? Shall I end your miserable pathetic life?"
Cheerilee was unable to give any response except for a look of despair in her eyes. Colgate clapped her hooves and laughed, "I'll take that as a yes!"
Colgate then placed her beating heart in her mouth and watched her victim's eyes and noticed the true sense of despair in them. Colgate pulled the heart out of her mouth monetarily and snarled, "And now RAT, you must know exactly how Twilight felt when she was sentenced to death." She then ripped the heart out, causing Cheerilee to scream one final time. Colgate began to chew up the heart but did not swallow it, she instead spit it into her chest cavity. She stood over the corpse and coldly stated, "And this is what happens to the worst of the worst rats." She then flared up her horn and giggled, "And now it is time for round two!"
She grabbed the corpse in her aura and recited,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be, the fallen one still has many days to run free, for potential the fallen one has a lot, without life it would all be for not, for life shall be renewed, the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
Immediately the corpse was encircled in a ball of light and after five minutes, Cheerilee was alive once more. While her victim had been physically restored, she was still secured as tight as she was before. Cheerilee was in a state of shock that she could die and somehow be restored, again. She gasped, "Colgate, how can you do this? How can you constantly bring me back only to kill me again?"
Colgate pointed towards her horn and stated, "Remember Cheerilee, I am a unicorn and we are the masters of magic. While you can only kill your victims once, I could continue to do this for hours or even days on end. You could experience a horrible death hundreds of times before I was to decide to haul you to Canterlot to face judgement."
Colgate clapped her hooves and cheered as she grabbed her knife and laughed, "Ready for round two Cheerilee! This is going to be so much fun, for me anyway!"
Colgate then got back to work again and enjoyed it just as much as she did the first time. After killing her victim a second time, she began to wonder how many times she should do this. Given that Cheerilee had killed fourteen ponies and was responsible for the death of another she stared at the corpse and laughed, "Sixteen times rat, you're gonna die sixteen times!"
After having killed Cheerilee sixteen times, Colgate lit up her horn and cast the spell one more time, reviving her once more. When she came to she was clearly shaken and had begun to break psychologically. She cried, "Please Colgate, stop! Please stop, I'll admit everything to the princesses."
Colgate removed her from the chair and replied, "Good. Now I can haul you up there, justice can be served and the name of Twilight Sparkle can be cleared. She may have killed you for what you did but nopony is going to care about a rat like you. You are nothing more than a rodent whose name means nothing, absolutely nothing."
Cheerilee tried to stand up but fell to the ground in pain. Given that Colgate did not remove the hooks from her hooves until after she brought her back again, the wounds remained and thus, she could not walk. She cried out, "Colgate, if you're taking me away, I need to walk."
Colgate kicked her and yelled, "I'll heal you when I'm good and ready. For now I need to find a spell to get out of here."
Colgate noticed that there were a few books in the room and hoped that she could find the right spell because she had absolutely no desire to have to look in another room nor did she desire to have to write her own magic because that can take plenty of time. After a couple of hours of looking through the few books in there she groaned, "Ugh, I'm going to have to write my own magic for this!" She returned to Cheerilee and stated, "This is going to take a while, writing magic takes time."
Cheerilee's stomach growled and she begged, "Please don't take too long, I'm getting hungry."
Colgate replied, "Guess what, I'm hungry too but we aren't going anywhere until I can get a proper spell written."
Colgate began to think about everything she knew about the dark warlords and the spell that she had to use to get in. She stood there for at least a couple of hours trying to figure it out, kicking Cheerilee every time she made noise while she was trying to concentrate. After three hours Colgate grabbed her captive in her aura and began to drag her towards the exit. She ordered, "Now be quiet Cheerilee, I can not have any noises being made while I am trying to see if this spell works or not."
Once Colgate got up to the exit she put her horn in the hole, flared it up 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 moment she finished reciting the spell Colgate was shocked when the door slid open. She grabbed Cheerilee in her aura and yelled, "Come on, I don't know how long this thing will stay open or if the spell will work more than once."
Once Colgate had got her and Cheerilee out of the bunker, the door slid closed behind them. Much to Colgate's delight, it was after dark but she likely still had enough time to get back to Appaloosa, buy tickets for her and her captive and then get back to Canterlot. She knew that the conductor would likely ask her about Cheerilee's condition but figured that making up the excuse that she needed added medical attention would be more than enough for them to not question her.
It was probably around 11:30 when Colgate had finally got her and Cheerilee to the train station. She headed to the ticket window and said, "I need two tickets to Canterlot."
The pony at the window replied, "Very well."
Colgate paid for the tickets and then received them. Colgate had sat Cheerilee up against the wall of the depot and was whimpering, "Please heal me Colgate, please heal me."
Colgate sighed in frustration, "Like I said, I will heal you when I'm good and ready." She then began to snicker, "But let's face it, your remaining life will likely be short so I will have no reason to."
Cheerilee sat there feeling a true sense of despair. She knew that her fate was likely not going to be a good one. She knew that Colgate was one of Celestia's students and that the princess would be far more likely to believe her than she would her, the one who had spilled so much blood. She figured that the best she could do was admit her guilt and beg for mercy, mercy that she was not sure if she would receive or not.
Once the train arrived, Colgate had Cheerilee in her aura and carried her over to the train. Colgate handed the tickets to the conductor and he gasped, "Why are you holding her in your aura? Don't you know that is illegal?"
Colgate lied, "She suffered some serious injuries and I am transporting her to Canterlot where she can get medical attention she can not get anywhere else."
The conductor nodded and allowed them entry onto the train. With it being midnight the two were able to sit in their own car but Colgate knew that the two would not not have that solitude for long given that the train would have to circle most of Equestria before finally arriving in Canterlot late in the afternoon or early in the evening.
With each stop as time passed, the cars began to get more full. It was not until probably five in the morning when ponies finally started getting into the car that Colgate was in. Many ponies saw her along with a severely injured earth pony leaning up against the window. Multiple ponies began asking her what was wrong with Cheerilee and in a completely neutral voice she told the same lie that she told the conductor. She knew that she could not show an ounce of emotion one way or the other if she was to avoid being suspected of what she did.
It was five in the afternoon when the train finally pulled into Canterlot. Given that she had to carry Cheerilee with her, Colgate was the last to disembark. Many ponies looked on in shock seeing the unicorn having another pony completely immobilized with her magic, carrying her towards the palace. Numerous ponies wanted to approach her over what she was doing but when they saw the injuries to Cheerilee's hooves and that Colgate was taking her towards the palace, they figured that the earth pony could not walk and that Colgate was transporting her in the only way possible.
When Colgate arrived at the palace, she headed in and immediately took her towards the throne room. Celestia was sitting on her throne the same way she had for over the past year, with a look of sadness. Colgate headed in and threw Cheerilee right to the base of the throne and stated, "Princess Celestia, I have captured the true murderer."
Princess Celestia looked at the pony laying there in shock and then turned to Colgate. She gasped, "But how can this be, she was blown to bits by" Celestia's voice began to break, "Twilight."
Cheerilee was moaning in pain when Colgate approached her, kicked her and snapped, "Shut up rat!" She then turned her attention to the princess and added, "I know but I have my ways of bringing ponies back, I brought her back so that she could face justice for the vile deeds that she committed."
Celestia was initially angry, "Colgate, you used resurrection magic? Do you not know how illegal that is?"
Colgate could tell that Celestia was not pleased and that she could face criminal charges herself but then decided to bring something up that could allow her to escape any legal problems. "Princess Celestia," Colgate stated, "I know the death of Twilight was very hard on you and as you know, whenever her name is mentioned ponies think of the most vile pony in Equestrian history." She saw the look of anger on Celestia's face lessen and continued, "Cheerilee already admitted her guilt to me so all we need to do is drag her out on your balcony, get her to admit her guilt" she then saw Luna coming into the throne room and finished, "and get her to fully exonerate Twilight Sparkle. This nation must know she was innocent."
When Luna saw Cheerilee laying on the floor badly injured and heard Colgate bringing up exonerating Twilight she gasped, "Wait a minute, how can this be? How is it that Cheerilee is alive and what is this about exonerating Twilight?"
Colgate knew that Luna would be far more likely to cause problems but hoped that by her telling Celestia what she did, that Luna may not be able to do anything to her. Colgate addressed Luna, "Luna, you must know that you are responsible for a grave injustice." She kicked Cheerilee and yelled, "Tell her rat, tell her."
Before Cheerilee could say anything Luna flared up her horn and reverted to the ancient way of speaking, "How dare thee Colgate, how dare thee use resurrection magic. Dost thou not know how illegal that....."
Celestia cut her off, "Sister, let Cheerilee speak." She glared at the teacher and ordered, "Speak. Tell us what you told Colgate."
Cheerilee whimpered, "I-I killed them, I killed them all." Celestia's eyes grew wide before becoming full of anger as Cheerilee continued, "You must understand, they were all weeds, they had to go!"
Celestia became angrier but it was not towards Cheerilee, it was towards Luna. She flared up her horn, struck her sister with a powerful bolt of energy and angrily cried, "You took her from me, you took her from me! Twilight was innocent but you took her from me!"
Luna had never seen her sister in this kind of rage before but knew that she couldn't cower down, "But sister, everypony else thought she was guilty! We couldn't not just go against their desires for her punishment."
Celestia turned around, grabbed Cheerilee in her aura and ordered, "Sister, go out and have the whole city gather around my balcony." She held Cheerilee higher and continued, "She shall admit her guilt and you will exonerate Twilight Sparkle entirely. Now that I know the truth, nopony will put up with your miscarriage of justice, nopony!"
Luna headed out to the balcony and flew off to notify the city and Celestia turned towards Colgate and said, "Colgate, I know how you did this was wrong but thank you." She leaned down, embraced the unicorn and began to cry, "But now Twilight's name can be exonerated, her honor can be restored." She then turned to Cheerilee and threw her into the wall before yelling, "And it shall be you who will be the scum of the land, your name will be forever tied to pure evil!"
Cheerilee cried out in pain as she hit the wall before continuing to whimper. Colgate turned to Celestia and asked, "So when should we take her out there, once your sister rounds up the whole city."
Celestia replied, "I think that would be for the best."
Ten minutes had passed before Luna returned to the throne room. She had an annoyed look on her face as she stated, "Well sister, I have done as you requested. The city has gathered under your balcony."
Celestia pointed her wing towards the balcony and ordered, "You go first and admit your wrongs and exonerate Twilight, then we shall bring the the true murderer out."
Luna sighed in frustration and headed out. Once she reached the balcony she began,
"Citizens of Equestria, as all of you know that it was a bit over one year ago that Twilight Sparkle" the crowd began to boo loudly upon hearing her name. Luna then continued, "While I know ever since then that name has been associated with nothing short of pure evil but evidence has been uncovered that has proven otherwise. Because of this, I am granting Twilight Sparkle a complete and absolute pardon."
The crowd again began to boo until Luna motioned for Celestia and Colgate to bring Cheerilee out to the balcony. When the crowd saw Cheerilee, they gasped in shock before falling silent. Celestia could tell that they were all stunned to see the pony that was believed to have been destroyed by Twilight's magic. Celestia first turned to Colgate and ordered, "Tell them, tell them how it is that she is alive."
Colgate cast a spell on herself to amplify her voice and began, "Citizens of Equestria, as you all know it has been a bit over a year since Princess Luna unjustly sentenced Twilight Sparkle to death. I knew Twilight would never kill her friends and eight school foals but I did know who did. I knew it was the rat leaning next to me. During an appointment with me prior to that theater fire, I knew something wasn't right with her. I could sense the darkness coming from her." She then cast a spell on Cheerilee to amplify her voice, smacked her and yelled, 'Speak rat, speak!"
Cheerilee was having trouble speaking but figured that maybe if she admitted everything, that she could receive mercy. She began, "Ci-citizens of Equestria, the accusations are true. Twilight did not kill everypony" *cough, cough* "I did."
That was all the more the crowd needed to hear to start screaming, "Murderer, murderer! Kill her, execute her, put her to death!"
Celestia figured that her confession was all the more she needed to hear. She turned to the crowd and announced, "Citizens of Equestria, because of the crimes of murdering fourteen ponies, eight of which had yet to reach adulthood, I hereby sentence Cheerilee to death IMMEDIATELY." The crowd began to cheer loudly knowing that the true killer was going to be put to death. Celestia had a bit of a smile on her face as she asked, "Colgate, would you do the honors?"
Colgate gave her a smile, "Absolutely!"
Celestia grabbed Cheerilee in her aura and suggested, "Shall we? Shall we take her to the courtyard so this can be done?"
Colgate replied, "Yes, let's do this."
Celestia grabbed the two in her aura and carried them to the courtyard. Upon landing Celestia cast a protection bubble around the two so that the execution could be carried out with no problems. Once Celestia flew back up the balcony she began her address, "Citizens of Equestria, today is a very bittersweet day for me. A bit over a year ago my protege, Twilight Sparkle, was unjustly sentenced to death by my sister but today, justice will finally be served as the true killer shall be put to death." She paused before continuing, "Colgate, you may begin."
Colgate gave Celestia a smile before pulling out her knife and beginning the process of dissecting Cheerilee. Cheerilee's cries of agony could be heard by the crowd which brought out a lot of cheering from them. Soon they began to chant, "Kill, kill, kill!"
Once Colgate had her dissected sufficiently, she began to eat the meat off of her victim. Cheerilee's cries got louder and the cheers from the crowd got louder and more jovial. Once Colgate had ate a sufficient amount of meat on her, she clamped down on her and bit her rib cage open, causing Cheerilee to convulse. Colgate snapped at her, "Not yeah rat, not yet! I'm not letting you go this easily and this crowd doesn't want this ending so soon!"
Colgate then took a syringe and poked a hole in one of her lungs, causing it to begin to collapse. Colgate stood to the side so the crowd could see the earth pony's lung collapse and see her struggling to breathe. The crowd continued to cheer and once the lung had collapsed, Colgate leaned down to finish the job. She pulled Cheerilee's heart out of her chest cavity and asked, "Shall I do it? Shall I end this pathetic rat's life?"
The entire crowd began chanting, "KILL THE RAT, KILL THE RAT, KILL THE RAT!" Colgate gave the crowd a smile and placed the heart in her mouth before ripping it out with her teeth and eating it. As Cheerilee lay there dead and blood was pouring out of Colgate's mouth, the crowd began cheering louder and a couple of unicorns in the crowd lit up their horns, causing there to be a fireworks show. As she stood there over the dead villain Colgate felt a sense of triumph. There she was, covered in blood, receiving cheers for finally wiping out who she considered the ultimate rat.
After about ten minutes of non-stop cheering, Celestia flew down, lowered the protection shield and escorted Colgate up into the throne room. Once they arrived Celestia thanked her, "Thank you Colgate, thank you. Finally, justice is served."
Colgate gave her a slight smile and replied, "For the most part but there is one thing you must know." Celestia developed a look of curiosity on her face as she continued, "I know that saving Twilight's life took a lot out of you but while you were recovering, your sister decided to take on the role of judge rather than contacting Balanced Scales for her kangaroo court of Twilight."
Celestia turned towards Luna and snapped, "Is what she is telling me true?"
Luna was at a loss of words as Colgate continued, "From what Sherlock Hooves told me while I was purging that rat from this world, not only did she oversee the court case but she also openly accused Twilight of the murders while she was on the bench." Luna began to become nervous as Colgate finished, "Princess Luna, in doing that you broke two laws. For starters, Equestrian court law forbids the judge from personally knowing the defendant and also judges must be impartial, which from what I was told you were not."
Before Luna could say anything Celestia flared up her horn and yelled, "You took her from me, you illegally took her from me!" Celestia began to cry angrily, "You knew this, you knew all this but still, you took her away from me!"
Luna stood there with not only a look of shock but a feeling of fear. She knew that her sister was hurt and angry but also wondered what else Colgate might know. Colgate turned to Luna and ordered, "Tell your sister about how you always worked with Hooves to get convictions. Tell her how you paid him to falsify evidence, evidence in that bank robbery case." She paused before becoming more snide, "To be honest, I wouldn't be one bit surprised if you did that with Twilight too."
When Colgate said that Celestia felt a much larger amount of fury flowing through her. She struck Luna with energy and screamed, "You monster, you convinced Hooves to falsify evidence so you could kill my student, so you could kill Twilight!"
Luna countered, "But sister everypony thought she killed them. They saw her destroy Cheerilee, this had to be done."
Celestia gave her a glare and stated, "Luna, that does not matter. As far as I'm concerned, I have no sister." She pointed towards the royal bedroom and ordered, "Now go. I have no desire to even look at you."
Luna departed the throne room and sighed, "You know Colgate, I never once thought this would happen. I never imagined that Luna would do this but at least justice has finally been served." She sighed before adding, "I just wish that Twilight hadn't been wronged like that."
Colgate gave Celestia a smile and suggested, "Follow me. I know the spell so if you want me to right that wrong, I shall do so."
Celestia got a huge smile on her face and hugged the still blood stained Colgate, "Really! You'll bring Twilight back to me?"
Colgate replied, "I will." She paused before looking at Celestia's stained coat and added, "Although I think that both of us probably need to wash our coats clean. If she sees you with blood stains she will be concerned and if she saw me covered in blood, it would likely freak her out!"
Celestia agreed and the two headed off to get showered. While she was in the shower, Celestia felt a sense of hope. She knew that what Colgate was using was forbidden magic but if it meant bringing her beloved protege, Twilight Sparkle, back to her that it would be well worth it.
Thirty minutes had passed and Colgate and Celestia both returned to the throne room. Colgate was the first to say anything, "Well this is better. I don't think anypony would want to see you with blood stains and besides, I'd be worried all that blood would permanently stain your white coat."
Celestia laughed, "I wouldn't think so but with you, they'd probably think you butchered hundreds!" She paused before adding, "Well I'm going to go charter a private train, you know how I feel about traveling by a regular train and with you joining me, I don't think a chariot would be the best option."
Colgate replied, "Probably not."
Celestia then headed off to charter the private train leaving Colgate alone in the throne room, or so she thought. Once Celestia was gone she heard a voice, "Colgate, can we talk."
She immediately knew who the voice was, it was that of Princess Luna. She turned around and asked, "What is it Princess Luna?"
Luna began, "Colgate, I know you know much about everything I have done but I do want to know one thing. I want to know what happened to Sherlock Hooves?"
Colgate had her own question, "Princess Luna, I will tell you but I want to know something. Why was it that you were taking on all these cases when Balanced Scales was perfectly capable of handling them and why did you bring in Sherlock Hooves to be the prosecutor? Why didn't you bring in Legal Eagle, the actual district attorney, to present the prosecution's case?" Luna remained silent as she continued, "Why, because you knew that Legal Eagle would not falsify evidence and actually be honest? Because you knew that Balanced Scales would see through your weak accusations and throw them all out?"
Luna replied, "Colgate, there are some cases where I....."
Colgate immediately cut her off, "That is a bunch of hogwash. He has handled cases like that before and Legal Eagle has prosecuted plenty of cases like that." She then approached Luna and continued, "And why did you accuse Twilight of murdering so many. You know something, I would think that after Twilight and her friends freed you from being Nightmare Moon, that you would be thankful to her rather than stabbing her in the back the way you did."
Luna countered, "But everypony saw her kill Cheerilee! Everypony thought she....."
Colgate cut her off, "Let's say somepony saw you do something like that and they wanted Celestia to put you to death over it? Would you still think some kangaroo court trial and a death sentence would be warranted?"
Luna froze when Colgate brought this up. At that moment she realized that everything she had done was wrong. She knew that her being the judge was wrong, she knew that bringing in Hooves was wrong and most of all, she knew that her accusations towards Twilight in court were wrong. She held her head low and replied, "Colgate, I never even thought about that. I felt so much pressure from everypony..."
Colgate again cut her off, "Well maybe you should have because chances are you have lost a sister. I believe you two need to have a good long talk AFTER Celestia and I take care of some....."
Celestia then returned to the throne room and saw the two talking. She approached Luna and asked, "What are you doing? Are you threatening Colgate in one way or another?"
Luna sighed, "No sister, Colgate was helping me see the errors of my ways and I think we need to talk later."
Celestia replied, "Perhaps but for now, Colgate and I have things to do." She then turned to Colgate and suggested, "Shall we get going? I really want to get this done."
Colgate replied, "Yes, let's get going."
As Colgate and Celestia were heading to the royal train, Luna stood there alone in the throne room with all of Colgate's words running through her mind. She began to think back to the night when Twilight died and had images of everything replaying through her mind and she began to have tears running down her face. She sighed deeply, "If only I could take it back, if only I could make things right."
An hour later the royal train arrived in Ponyville and Celestia and Colgate disembarked. Colgate began to walk to the north and suggested, "Shall we, shall we begin the process of righting every single wrong of the past thirteen or so months?"
Celestia happily replied, "Let's do this Colgate. I am so happy that soon everything can be made right."
The two then headed into the forest and like always, timberwolves were watching them and like she did the last time, Colgate flared her horn up and almost immediately the growling stopped. Celestia was shocked by this. She gasped, "Colgate, how did you do that? How did you get them to back off?"
Colgate replied, "The timberwolves see my shining horn and know that if they try to attack me, that I will blow them to bits."
It was an hour later when the castle of the two sisters became visible, causing Celestia to start feeling happier and happier. Once they got to the chasm Colgate suggested, "I'd advise staying off the bridge, it is very unstable."
Colgate then teleported across it and while having the same ability, Celestia flew across it. They then headed into the old castle and Colgate led them towards the proper stairwell. Following Colgate into it began to bring back sad memories of the night when she transported Twilight's body to the only place where she felt her remains would be safe. Once they began to descend the stairs Colgate warned, "Be careful where you step....."
Celestia interrupted, "I know Colgate. I'm the one who devised the traps here."
The two then carefully went down the stairs and then entered the bottom most bowels of the place. The two immediately headed towards the far right corner where Twilight was buried. As the two approached her burial site, Celestia was feeling two emotions, sadness and excitement. She had the memories of that night when she buried Twilight running through her mind but at the same time knew that soon this injustice would be made right, that soon Twilight would be alive again.
Colgate gave Celestia a smile, "You ready for this?"
Celestia nodded with a smile prompting Colgate to flare up her horn and recite,
"The fallen one's time has yet to be, the fallen one still has many days to run free, for potential the fallen one has a lot, without life it would all be for not, for life shall be renewed, the fallen one's past decisions need not be reviewed."
She then fired a bolt of energy at the place where Twilight was buried and soon a lavender ball emerged from the ground. The ball was shining brightly and remained there for five minutes until it popped and out of it emerged Twilight Sparkle. Colgate was ecstatic that she was able to bring back a pony who was truly deserving of it.
When the ball first popped Twilight was a bit disoriented, "Ugh, where am I." The first pony she saw was Colgate and she asked, "Colgate, is this real? Am I really alive or am I just an apparition?"
Colgate replied, "It is real and somepony wants to reunite with you."
Twilight looked off to her right and saw that Celestia was there with tears running down her eyes. She began to cry, "Princess Celestia!"
She then ran to Celestia who got down and embraced her. "Twilight, I'm so happy you're back! I never thought I'd see you again."
The two held one another in an embrace and cried tears of joy. While Colgate had never been the type to cry for any reason, she too had tears streaming down her face. She then wanted to bring everypony else back and suggested, "Twilight, Celestia, shall we. Shall we get all the wrongs set right?"
Twilight turned towards Colgate and asked, "What do you mean get all the wrongs set right?"
Colgate replied, "Twilight, I used a resurrection spell to bring you back and now I shall use the same to bring everypony that rat Cheerilee killed back."
Twilight knew what this meant, it meant returning to Ponyville. The very thoughts of it terrified her, "I can't go back to Ponyville, everypony thinks I'm a murderer."
Celestia gave her a warm smile, "Twilight, nopony thinks that anymore. Colgate did this to Cheerilee, hauled her up to Canterlot where she confessed and Luna gave you a full pardon. Equestria knows you didn't kill them, you don't have to worry anymore."
This did ease Twilight's fears some but she still had her concerns. Colgate motioned for them to follow her and once they reached the stairway Colgate warned, "Twilight, be careful. Some of these steps can activate traps."
The three then went up the steps back up to the main level of the castle before heading for the exit. As they were returning towards Ponyville Twilight couldn't help but be filled with doubt. Yes Colgate had brought her back but how many could she bring back? She wondered if maybe this was just a one time thing or if Colgate truly could return things to how they once were.
It was still dark when they came upon Ponyville and this concerned Princess Celestia. She also noticed that the moon was not in the sky which meant one thing, that she was late raising the sun. While she was happy to have Twilight back, she quickly flared up her horn and raised the sun. She gave the two unicorns with her a smile, "I can't believe I nearly forgot to raise the sun."
Twilight gave her a smile while Colgate stated, "It's alright princess. This is a special day for you." She paused before continuing, "Now let's go to the cemetery. The time has come to undo everything that rat Cheerilee did."
Once they got to the cemetery, Colgate led them to the back row of head stones, the row where everypony who had been killed was buried. Colgate headed to the far left where Spike had been buried as she figured that he should be the first one Twilight would be reunited with. She flared up her horn and cast the spell and quickly, a ball emerged from the ground and five minutes later, the ball popped and out came Spike. The moment he landed on the ground he saw Twilight. He yelled, "Twilight, is that you?"
He immediately ran towards Twilight, who immediately started crying tears of joy. She immediately started crying tears of joy and when he embraced her she cried, "It is me Spike, I'm so happy to see you!"
Colgate once again became more emotional but then got back to work on bringing everypony else back. Fifteen minutes later Colgate had cast spells on all the grave sites and everypony who had been killed was once again alive. While they were all reuniting one pony approached Colgate, hugged her and exclaimed, "Thank you Colgate, thank you. Ah'm so happy, we're all so happy that ya set things right."
It was Applejack. Colgate returned the embrace and replied, "Well I knew that Twilight never committed those murders and I wanted for things to return to normal. I know I used forbidden magic to do it but hopefully all our lives can return to normal. Hopefully everything can be like it was before everything went so wrong."
Another pony who came over to congratulate was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow flew straight into her, knocked her to the ground and exclaimed, "You did it, way to go Colgate!"
Soon Twilight along with the rest of her friends went over to Colgate, each one congratulating her in their own way. After each one congratulated them Colgate replied, "Thank you ladies, this was a matter of me wanting to set things right."
Twilight then embraced her and began to cry, "Thank you so much for believing in me Colgate. Even when everypony else thought of me as a murderer, you did what it took to clear my name and bring me back." She pulled back and then asked, "Why?"
Colgate looked her in the eyes and replied, "Twilight, it is because I know you. Yes you and I may not be as close as you are with your other friends but still, I know you. The Twilight Sparkle I have always known would never do such a thing. You are kind, caring, smart and you are probably the most rational thinking pony in Equestria. A pony such as you would never even commit petty theft, much less commit mass murder."
Twilight then suggested, "Do you think maybe we should fix that, do you think that we could become closer like we were when we were fillies in Celestia's school?"
Colgate gave Twilight a bear hug and exclaimed, "Of course we can Twilight! After everything we've all been through, I think friendship is more important than ever!" She then called out to everypony and shouted, "Everypony, I think we should go reunite with our families. The time for healing has arrived."
Everypony agreed with her and headed off to reunite with their families. Colgate was unsure as to whether or not she should go with any particular set of ponies or simply wait around and leave the reunions to be family only. She finally decided that it would be best if the reunions would be best left to be among those who were closest to one another.
As everypony parted ways to go and be reunited with their families Celestia approached Colgate, "Colgate, you should be proud of yourself. You righted the wrongs of the past year, you were able to avenge the deaths of so many, you reunited so many families, you brought the true killer to justice, you cleared Twilight's name and" Celestia then had a tear drop down her face, "and you brought her back to me. Finally I can feel at peace again." Celestia paused before adding, "What do you say we go to Sugarcube Corner and have some cake! I'm so hungry right now!"
Colgate gave her a smile, "I will as long as I can brush right afterwards! You know how I am when it comes to my teeth!"
Celestia laughed, "Same old Colgate! You right all the wrongs of over a year but still, your number one priority is brushing your teeth!"
Colgate broke down laughing, "You know it!"
As the two headed off to get a snack, Princess Celestia felt a sense of relief and elation. While she was happy that Colgate had brought her beloved protege back to her she also felt a sense of relief. She knew that the Elements would likely have to be used again in the future and with Colgate having brought the Element bearers back, she could have very well saved Equestria.
