Tracy rose from the sofa, watching from the doorway as they came in. Equestria hadn’t locked them in chains, or done anything else overly aggressive. After hearing about Princess Celestia in such detail, he felt more than a little relieved.
As soon as the three of them had made their way inside, somepony snapped the door closed from the other side, clicking shut. They were officially locked in.
Tracy wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting from seeing his friends in Equestria. Obviously they were all dressed, in clothing that crossed various thresholds of completely useless. Where Tracy would barely have thought about it, now he tucked his tail subconsciously. It didn’t matter that they were all in the same metaphorical boat.
Either by chance or some magic inherent in the doorway, they spanned the three basic tribes. One unicorn, one pegasus, one earth pony. Anton was the pegasus, he recognized that shade of evergreen from the second he’d crossed the threshold. The other two could’ve gone either way.
“I’ve been waiting to hear what the hell you were thinking for hours now,” Tracy said, doing his best impression of Twilight’s own expression when he’d arrived. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Both unicorn and pegasus glared at the earth pony. Even Tracy was momentarily taken aback by the size of him. Shoulders like that could probably pull the plow that would feed an entire village, or at least a Budweiser carriage. His mane was a curly red orange, vaguely similar to… no way. But then he spoke in Shane’s voice, and Tracy didn’t know what to think.
The doorway had taken a 5’4” human and turned them into a horse who could pull a barn. “They’re gonna say it was my fault, so we might as well start there. But none of this was supposed to happen. They shouldn’t have come.”
Anton scoffed, his wings moving entirely of their own accord. One shoved into the unicorn’s side—Marshall, then.
“Oh yeah, I’m sure we weren’t supposed to come. That’s the way to handle this.” He flopped onto his haunches, pawing weakly at the carpet. “It’s all ruined anyway. Might as well blame us.”
“Tell me what happened,” Tracy said, stopping feet away from them. “I don’t think we have time for a lecture on how damn stupid you three were. But before that, I need to know what the hell you were thinking. You broke into my house, you terrified my roommate, and you thought you could just… charge across a world you didn’t understand?”
“Nobody was supposed to find out,” Marshall said. At least he had the decency to seem embarrassed. “Your door was a single cylinder deadbolt, I had the right picks. We wanted to make sure the magic door thing had really happened, not just a… group hallucination, or drugs we’d taken, or hypnotism.”
Tracy laughed. “So you needed to break into Equestria for that?”
“No, we didn’t.” He glared at Shane. “Because apparently we brought an absolute lunatic. We could’ve paid you back to fix the door, but… then he had to make a run for it like this was a prison break.”
“I told you both not to follow me!” Shane shouted, stomping the ground with one of those powerful hooves. The stones actually shook as he did so, and Tracy had the sickening feeling of the entire mountain wobbling slightly. Just my imagination. It’s obviously not really happening. “Seriously, Tracy. Even you weren’t supposed to find out about it. This was me, nobody else.”
Tracy thought briefly back to his first moments in Equestria, when he had looked through those windows and imagined what the whole world would be like. But instead of finding out, he’d gone back to work, and spent months without knowing what was waiting for him.
“We were going to bring him back,” Anton added. “Before the clock struck twelve, or… however this thing works. Stop Shane from hurting himself. I guess you succeeded where we failed. Unless… you’re in jail too.”
Rose emerged from the kitchen, settling her arrangement on the table in front of them all. The smell of so many fresh vegetables was enough that even Tracy looked up, staring. Even in their prison, Equestria was taking care of them.
“Why do none of you have cutie marks?” Roseluck asked, confused. “I’ve never seen that on a pony so old.”
Tracy’s friends only looked baffled. “I have no idea,” he said. “It probably does mean something.” Maybe it was in the contract somewhere, those clauses he hadn’t read very closely about emergencies and crimes. He’d worry about that later. “Okay, Shane. Why did you do this?”
Shane shifted on his hooves, backing away like a child asked an uncomfortable question. He didn’t look back as he answered, just muttered to himself. “I like my odds in here better than back home,” he said. “It doesn’t matter that it’s horses—I can understand the language, that’s enough. I don’t want to go back.”
“See what I said,” Anton muttered. “He completely lost his mind. Wanted to run through to another world, and now…” He gestured down at them with his wings in vague frustration. “We’re in prison in another universe. Who knows what they’re gonna do to us. We didn’t even do anything cool first, it’s just bad.”
Tracy walked past them over to the table, taking one of the plates Rose offered. He wasn’t sure what half of these green things even were, but they were wet and cold and probably tasted as good as they smelled. A few seconds of experimentation proved the truth of that hypothesis, along with settling his nerves.
“This is great, Rose. Still not sure it counts as cooking if it’s just putting lots of raw food out on a plate.”
She rolled her eyes, snatching a strip of asparagus. “You don’t have to have any if you don’t want to. I just thought I’d give them a good meal before they go to court.”
“You make it sound so ominous.” Marshall was the first to the table, pulling nervously into a seat. His horn didn’t so much as flicker. How crazy would it be to learn how to make that work. At least it would probably end with getting his hands back. “How screwed are we, Tracy? One to ten.”
“I, uh… don’t think you’ll be sent to the moon.” He served himself several melon slices from the edible pony’s mouth. But the three of them only looked more bewildered. “I think there’s a good chance you’ll be able to go home,” he finally said. “I don’t know if Equestria even has an immigration system. But I had a permit, so I guess maybe there’s got to be something.”
“Equestria welcomes friends from all over,” Roseluck supplied. “But you’re from another universe. That falls under unicorn rules for summoning, I think. I don’t know any of them.”
“Magic, guys,” Shane whispered. He sat at the far end of the table, and didn’t take anything for himself. “Of course I would want to come here. I’d be crazy not to.”
The other two just groaned. Tracy didn’t argue, finishing his plate in relative silence. His own exhaustion was beginning to get the better of him—if the sun was going down outside, that meant he’d been up all night. It was Friday morning, or would be soon. Good thing I called it in.
They didn’t have much longer to wait, all things considered. The door clicked and rumbled, and a pair of royal guardsponies appeared in the opening.
Not the same ponies he was used to—their armor was silver, adorned with amethyst gemstones. They were both bats. “Three conjured trespassers required to appear for judgement in the Court of Night.”
Wait, what? Why would Celestia have court in the dark? “Can we come?” Tracy asked, following the three of them to the door. “They’re my friends. They don’t know what they’ve gotten themselves into.”
The guards looked at each other, then shrugged. “You can. The mare should follow us upstairs and wait until judgement is complete. Unless she wishes to join the prosecution.”
“No,” Roseluck said wearily. “They’re just idiots. I trust my roommate to make it up to me.”
Tracy winced as he heard it—but whatever waited at the end of that demand would have to wait. They shuffled up the steps in relative silence, broken only when one of his friends tripped on the stairs or nearly bumped into some priceless relic on display. Eventually they reached the main floor, and cut straight towards the throne room.
Where once the palace had been lit with massive skylights and occasional golden lamps, now every bracket glowed blue, casting eerie shadows as they crossed. Tracy slowed to study some of the oversized stained-glass, each one its own priceless work of art—but the guards and his friends didn’t seem content to sit there.
The princess rested on what looked like twenty feet of solid gold, with velvety fabric leading up the steps and water bubbling off one side in a living spring. There were even little lily pads floating in the water, eerie white flowers open to the moonlight trickling down from overhead.
Tracy might not be an expert on Equestrian lore, but he knew enough to know the princesses apart now. This wasn’t Celestia—he’d met this pony before.
Princess Luna looked just as regal as she had on the Equinox. She wore the same black crown, with a faint silvery moon set into its surface. She reclined in her throne, watching them approach without a word.
Nor was she the only one here. Temporary stadium seating rose against a nearby wall. It might’ve fit a hundred ponies if they all packed in close, but there were only a few seats taken. Mostly near the front row, where ponies wore official-looking uniforms. One sat in front of a typewriter, another had a sketchpad.
They all stayed well away from a booth near the front, where a familiar figure loomed. Discord reclined in that chair, wearing a strange red robe that flowed over his mismatched limbs, along with a black wrap that joined with an absurdly wide cap. The chair lifted too, and while it never rose out of the box exactly, it did make him almost as high up as the princess herself.
A bored-looking unicorn stood up in another booth, clearing her throat. When she spoke, her voice boomed over the court, and the general muttering fell silent. “The court recognizes three summoned spirits, entities, embodied minds of legend and terror, here named Anton, Marshall, and Shane. They are invited to sit.”
They did. At least they weren’t going to make a scene before this even started. Tracy hesitated for a moment in the aisle, looking to the guards with confusion. “Where should I go?”
One pointed with his wing, at the open chair just behind them, in the booth directly opposite Discord. Did that make him their… defense? They’re completely screwed.
He made his way over, attracting several curious stares. The unicorn in white tapped something against the wood in front of her—was she the judge, then, or was that still the princess? “Who are you?”
“Tracy Maxwell. I’m appearing as, uh… friend of the court?” There was a term for this, but Tracy had spent his whole life trying to stay as far away from court as possible. “Look, they’re my friends, and they don’t know what they’re doing. What’s that called?”
“That won’t be—”
The night princess stirred on her throne, wings rustling behind her. Though every guard and many of the visitors in the stands had bat wings, she didn’t. “I’ll allow it. Record him as defending council.”
The stenographer’s typewriter clattered, and Tracy took his seat.
“The beings before you are intruders from an adjoining universe,” the unicorn went on. “They appear under charges of trespassing, criminal vandalism, interdimensional incursion. The proposed sentences are…”
She levitated a pair of glasses onto her brow, squinting down at something. “Perpetual ensorcellement to the aggrieved party?”
“Yes,” Discord said, lacing his paws together in his lap. “It’s in my contract.”
I was so looking forward to this chapter! I can finally rest! Ahaha...
I am so sleepy. = 3=
Perpetual... bewitching/enchanting? Does that mean that the requested sentence is locking them into their Pony forms for eternity at the behest of Discord and his contract?
10394723
They don't have cutie marks, they are fucked
10394728
By what clause?
True. They reinforced the foundations after the Apple Rebellion of 487.
No one called them in. Legally speaking, this is a spontaneous demonic incursion. I'm pretty sure shotguns and chainsaws get involved at some point.
She wouldn't. It appears that immigration law falls to Luna in this universe. How Triptych-y. That or which princess judges the trial just a question of what time it is.
Of course Discord's in traditional Q attire. This is a trial, after all. Not for all of equinity, but certain forms must be observed.
As I said. From a legal standpoint, they're demons.
Massive improvement from last week's installment, with a fantastic cliffhanger. Definitely looking forward to seeing how the trial pans out.
Oh Discord... Always pursuing his own agenda.
Oh.... you guys are up shit creek and the rapids are coming up. Enjoy the three waterfalls that go uphill each way. It's Discord so I'm sure he can pull that one off.
Well, stupidity has its price I suppose. Tracy might not like the situation but in the bright side, his friends are three more reasons for him to renew the contract at the end of the year.
Well that certainly speaks for how much trust they have on their friend. The least you could do was try again when he was there.
Discord is legally a unicorn for this purpose.
You really should. Just to rub it in.
Quite interesting. Guess they really weren't supposed to be here.
Well, congratulations!
Of course. He is the vanguard of the human invasion after all, isn't he?
Well, I'd say that sucks but compared to the stupidity that happened, it balances out quite nicely.
I can't be the only one at least partially rooting for Discord?
Ok, pleading insanity is out because Discord is there, but they can still plead First Degree Stupidity, With Extenuating Circumstances.
Maybe Discord will settle for keeping the big guy and tossing the two small fish back until they grow some. Shane might like that.
Aha! There was a ring leader! Sort of figures, really.
And the others were definitely not all on the same page with it, by the sounds of it.
That...that is a good question actually, because Tracy had a cutie mark from day one, so what's different about these three that's caused them to not have that? I mean, I suppose it could be due to some overlooked clause in the contract but...I don't see why that'd be so. What benefit would that really give Discord? It's not like it'd even bother the affected ponies because obviously they don't have the foggiest idea what such a mark even is, so how could they miss something they never had in the first place?
No, I can't help but wonder if there's something deeper to it...maybe a sign of how accepting to be there in Equestria one is? Maybe Tracy was more mentally fit to be in Equestria than the others from the start (whether he knew it or not) and having the cutie mark signifies that? After all...cutie marks are in part all about accepting and embracing one's true self and coming to an understanding with that.
Ooh, Luna's getting involved! I wonder if it has anything to do with what she remembers of her past encounter with Tracy...but either way, I figured she'd get mixed up in this too--a writer doesn't go to all the effort of having Luna make a passing appearance and a few exchanging of words a few chapters back like this story did and not have plans to have her pop back up for a potentially more expanded role further down the line.
Well...she's not really wrong, is she?
Yes, yes, of course he did. Picard's not the only one who gets to see that outfit from time to time, I'm sure.
Had to look up "ensorcellement," but it only confirmed what we already knew--if Discord gets his way, Tracy's three idiot friends are going to be ponies for a good long while...
That said, though, what the heck's up with Shane? There's definitely more to his story there than what's been spoken thus far, details not even Tracy would know yet. I dare not speculate on what exactly just yet, but...given from his overall attitude towards what little he hints towards...I have ideas, and they aren't exactly...upbeat, shall we say?
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It'd have to be, as that's really the only "bewitching" that's been applied to them as of yet since they entered Equestria, plus we already know the contract specifically alludes to such a punishment for such violations.
Unless Discord has something else in particular in mind.
Big oof
And the discord shenanigans begin!
Yep, trapped in Equestria in pony form it is. Not surprising in the least, to be honest. That's definitely something Discord would cook up.
And yes, I've loved all the art, and headed over to all the artists' pages seeing if I could 'mish them for something myself. Haven't had any luck yet, but I'm definitely keeping them in mind.
10394776
As for why Anton, Marshall and Shane don't have marks while Tracy does I feel is farily self-evident myself and is just basic Cutie Mark logic; Tracy knows what he wants to do with his life, the paths he want to persue. Anton, Marshall and Shane have already been described as aimless and adrift in society.
Heck, it even seems to be the reason Shane decided to escape into Equestria like that. He doesn't know what to do with his life and feel lost and battered. In Equestria... there's magic, a new start. A way to get away.
At least that's my take on the situation.
Also, fun fact, the shirts they're wearing in the picture are the same shirts they wore in their human forms (Guess they didnt bother to switch clothes during their road trip )
Also, in the previous picture, Anton was the tallest and Shane was the shortest...looks like their roles have been reversed with Anton being such a smol pegasus and the big clydesdale Shane became.
Dude, if i was Fine Print, I would chew Rose right there, i would say "I saved your livehood, I helped your store, made it way better, and contenue doing so, and you have the gal to act the victim, for a situation i don't have any control over, nor is my fault, a situation that will have repercutions for ME, and you ask of me to MAKE IT UP to YOU?¡¡ as if you have to lose something?¡¡" Rose attittue is really getting to me, i wouldn't tolerate it, but it appear Fine Print would ¬¬.
10394812
Makes sense to me.
If Roseluck had a third sister, this would be absolutely Serendipitous.
10394749
That reminds me. I need to read the second book in Robert Asprin's Myth-adventures series. (Where "demon" is a short form of something like "dimensional traveller" and one character from the realm of Perv keeps having to argue that the term for someone from the realm of Perv is "Pervect", not "Pervert".)
(NOTE: It's been something like 5 years since I read the first one, so excuse any details I'm remembering slightly wrong.)
Is Discord wearing the robes that Q wore to convict the USS Enterprise crew by any chance?
10394867
The Trial of Humanity, indeed he is
10394776
I'm guessing those few seconds won't exactly "grease the wheels" in Tracy's favor, however.
Luna: Beheadings for everyone!
We can at least guess Shane found an opportunity to escape his Earth life. He must have been incredibly dreary or desperate to make such a life changing decision when it presented itself. The question is whether being Discord's plaything is considered an improvement.
10394812
If it ran on those rules, I'd be quite interested to see if those marks could change if a human decided to pursue a different direction. Heck, I want to see if a pony can change that too.
Well, Discord’s threatening them with enslavement should be enough for Luna to side with them just on principle.
oh, something about this reminded me of a strange story, i think it was called "pandemic"...
an evil version of Sunset Shimmer creates some sort of magical disease or contagious curse that turned humans into ponies.
Twilight figures out a cure, but it would not work on someone who had gotten a cutie-mark!
10394900
I know what you are talking about, I think it's part of the ponies after people series?
Well they sure are bucked. Also nice cliffhanger. Here's hoping Tracy can somehow get their sentence reduced for extreme stupidity reasons.
10394855
awesome! i had the entire myth series in paperback and i have several on my tablet from the barns and noble app. still love reading them. the big green guy would make a good anon.
10394900
You're thinking of this story:
- MLP: FiM
- Drama
- Mystery
The small Colorado town of Lazy Pines soldiers on through a bad outbreak of influenza in an otherwise typical flu season ... until the OTHER symptoms manifest.discord hoping to win fair and square by rule of law and order that funny
Oof. I wonder why Discord wants some random schmucks magically bound to him.
I don't think Discord understands how contracts work. They are only binding to those who signed it. You cannot include punishment of unaware/unsigned third parties in an agreement. The contract was never valid in the first place. If the punishment had been that Discord got to keep Tracey then since Tracey signed it he'd belong to Discord if and only if slavery is legal. If it's not then yet again the contract is void unless an exception is made. They can be forced to pay for damages and fees as well as jailed but that's about it.
10394812
That actually does make a lot of sense, more than what I had been thinking at least. You're probably on the right track with that.
10394892
With the details we've been given thus far on Shane, we can really only speculate, and I suppose there's no given reason to assume worst case scenarios just yet...but his overall depressed and dejected mood about it...I feel like there's more to it than that, like he saw Equestria as his last hope, so to speak...
But it could easily just be me reading waaaay too much into it, which was why I didn't want to get too into it just yet, not without at least a few more details. I expect we'll probably get some as soon as the next chapter as the hearing moves into the testimony side of things.
Oh, I dunno...she seemed like she was somewhat intrigued by Tracy, perhaps taking a slight shine to him and his life outlook even, judging from how their brief conversation went back at the Equinox.
But it's also Luna--she'll still take her job seriously so I doubt she'll show much if any favoritism. She'll rule in the way she'll feel will be most just for the situation, nothing more, nothing less (though that being said, I doubt she'll take Discord's side and let him just have his way on this).
10394974
Hey, the guy could always use some indentured servants running around to do his bidding.
10395011
There's a lot of things that make the contract legally unenforceable on our world, and likely theirs as well. Problem is that Discord intends to enforce it regardless, and not many have the power to make refusing to play along stick.
If Luna wants to refuse to play Discord's game, she should just declare his contract void, and have the three simply sent back home, maybe after paying for the door, possibly via a (few?) day's work. I'm a bit skeptical of how they seemed to be planning on having the trial without proper defense counsel present, and then dumping it on Tracy who knows exactly nothing of their laws. Discord better not be prosecution as that would be a massive conflict of interest.
I really do not have high hopes for Discord's behavior in this trial given what he's wearing. the last time i saw that outfit it was on Star Trek where Q was dead set on having as unfair of a trial as possible.
Also, Discord was the one who left an unsecured portal laying around. He really should have tied it to Tracy, so anyone else opening the door just sees an empty room.
So what?
Anton, Shane, and Marshall didn’t sign any contract with Discord. The Lord of Chaos’ has no legal discourse to impose any clause of any contract to n them.
Seriously. Let’s say you visit a friend’s apartment and they signed a lease saying any visitor on the premises forfeits the ownership of their car. Completely unenforceable.
I can’t see Equestrian Law being so different as to allow Discord that kind of recourse. Not unless Equestria completely abdicates their border, territorial, and immigration rights to him.
10395038
I mean, technically Discord could argue that it is the responsibility of the tenant to inform any prospective visitors of the rules and consequences of violating them. Whether the contract is actually enforceable under Equestrian law is a matter I am not qualified to speculate on.
Does that mean eternal servitude to Discord?
10394806
Not really. More indentured into discord's service wherever that might land them. Stuck as ponies would be a far lesser thing. At any rate this was exactly what I figured discord would be shooting for.
Seriously if Shane wanted to emmigrate to equestria, he should have asked Tracy for the paperwork.
10395038
Nope. The contract stated that if more than two persons came into Equestria from the door, the invited'd be stuck as ponies, or Discord's "toys" forever, I don't remember which.
How do you hold people to a contract they didn't sign?
ensorcellement (french) translates to Bewitchment/enchantment..."un-ending bewitchment to discord" doesn't sound quite right though....
So: why would Discord even want ponified humans... at all? I have some theories.
1. Amusing chaos. Discord, being that he is part of the court proceedings, is clearly Reformed Discord. Which means he is probably bored already, yet constrained by his desire to maintain relations with his pony friends. He can't cause a ruckus deliberately, nor be considered to deliberately be causing trouble. BUT! Our world has plenty of wacky beings ready to make a mess, and all he has to to is create a 'legitimate business venture' as a cover for an Equestrian Roach Motel. Humans - inevitably - check in, but they don't check out. They stay as ponies who Don't Know How To Follow The Rules. Fun forever!
2. We could go dark. Maybe Discord is using his 'legitimate business venture' to slowly build an army of transformed humans that, because of their humanity, are capable of violence, atrocity and war far beyond the comprehension of ponykind? Given time and mind-control of his ensorcelled eqimorphs, he could wrest the throne from Celestia the Old Fashioned Way. Through bloody conquest!
3. We could go light. Discord may - bear with me now - actually be trying to do a benevolent act here. Maybe he has seen ponies like Roseluck, who can't find a good mate. Maybe there is a shortage of stallions, or the population is going down, or he knows something that suggests Equestria needs New Blood to survive. Maybe he just wants to help poor humans who are unhappy on earth - because maybe he actually likes our chaotic - oh so chaotic - world and its peoples. Maybe Discord is trying to help Equestria technologically and culturally grow up by exposing them to the innate curiosity and inventiveness of the Monkey Mind as represented by humans transformed to live among ponies.
4. Maybe this really is all just a big mistake. Maybe Discord - who can create matter, space and time with a snap of a claw - is actually trying to make... money... through work. Maybe he wants to give a gift, a meaningful gift to... say... Fluttershy or somepony... and it has to be a gift he has actually worked for. Interdimensional renting is his... bizarre... way to 'work' at a 'job'. Maybe the gift he wants to buy is a thing that only exists on the earth, and maybe he cannot just zap gold into existence and sell it to an earthly gold merchant for some reason I can't think of. I don't know, I'm just pondering that maybe, in some way, Discord is trying to be good, and all of this is completely accidental.
In any case, I am adoring this story so very, very much.
10395108
Rule number 1 of contract law: The terms of a contract are only enforceable on the signatories. This rule overrides all others.
Well their boned
Woulda been funny if Shane had been wearing a Bud Man shirt.
This is going to be interesting.
Where's Twilight to throw the book at Discord when you need her to?
10395108
I believe it was; stuck as ponies.
Yet there is Tracy's loophole, They weren't invited. - Thus, they (beyond not having signed any agreement with Discord) are not covered by his Clause.
10395158
Except apparently Equestrian law considers them to be summoned entities, not people. They may not actually have rights of their own, barring royal intervention.
10395149
I like 4 and 1, looking forward to see what's up.
A possible explanation for number 4; different universe = different rules.
Let's say that Discord can take items from a to b, but because of rules between universes, he can't just magic something and use it in Tracy's home - so he needs to earn it, and make sure that his currency does not have a Magic origin - Thus, to buy something from Tracy's world; he'd need to earn the bits/dollars for it. (He could possibly have earned bits and then exhanged them in crude metal value, but where's the fun in that?)
10395295
You know, I hadn’t thought of that. The Hilarious way the court Described them certainly didn’t sound like anything with the legal standing to enter into any civil contract or be held accountable by the terms of the same.
The real question that needs to be asked is, Has this defense council seen Star Trek TNG or not?
If he has, and recognizes the outfit, and realizes that the rental company was something like Delance Real Estate, he can put 2 and (pi-2) together and see how this all comes around.
So here's the thing: Discord has no claim over these other three. Fine. But does he have claim over Tracy? If Tracy is trying to defend these guys, does that mean that he is breaking some other clause and going to be Discord's pawn?
What game is Discord up to anyways?
Note that they are NOT charged with breaking a contract, so penalties in the contract are meaningless. The question is, what are the actual laws of Equestria on these charges?
That is where Luna should focus.
Not letting Discord control things.