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// This is NPR 
// Story: Friendship is Revolution 
// by ultiville 
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"Sorry to interrupt you, Karl, but I've just had word from Maria outside the John Adams Courthouse that after several days reviewing the evidence and deliberating, the Supreme Judicial Court has just released their ruling on the Twilight Sparkle case.  Maria, our court reporter, has read the opinion and is at the courthouse to tell us about it and the reaction of the crowd there.  Maria?"

"I'm here, John.  There's a lot of excitement here outside the courthouse at this historic ruling, which is only just now making its way among the crowd that was here waiting for it."

"I bet there's a lot of energy there, Maria.  Now, for our viewers that might not have caught the beginning of the story, remind them what's at stake here."

"Well John, I'm sure everyone remembers a few months ago when Twilight Sparkle, the character from the children's show, seemed to have emerged from our televisions and was waiting tables at a local bar.  Well as you know, it turned out she was actually of all things a robot, made by one David Lasombra, a local engineer for Google.  But she claimed to have forgotten this, and to all appearances is intelligent and aware enough to want to live on her own.  Obviously this is totally new legal ground, John, and Mr. Lasombra filed suit to regain possession of her.  Now, this case isn't the one he brought, because the Supreme Judicial Court, in an unprecedented move, decided that before they could rule the case on its merits, they had to decide Twilight Sparkle's legal status.  The question they've just decided, then, is whether she counts as a person, or as a thing.  If she's a person, then she's entitled to the protection of the state constitution, so Mr. Lasombra's case would be thrown out - you can't own a person in Massachusetts."

"Fascinating, Maria.  And they've now decided the issue?"

"Yes, John, that's correct, court reporters have just handed out the text of their ruling, and the crowd here is reading it over, that noise you can hear in the background is the reaction as they're mostly figuring it out now."

"And you've figured it out, right Maria?  Tell our viewers what they decided."

"That's right, John.  They've ruled that Twilight Sparkle is in fact a person, making her the first non-human person recognized by any government, as far as I know."

"What about that Roman emperor who made his horse a senator?"

'I'll have to get back to you about that one, John.  The other interesting thing here is that while several of the judges have written supporting opinions, the ruling of the court was unanimous."

"So what does this mean in practical terms, Maria?"

"Well, it means Mr. Lasombra's case is effectively dead, most of all.  Federal law doesn't really have any statutes that apply here, and this is the highest court in the state, so appeal seems unlikely, and Lasombra should have no legal recourse. Of course, there are still questions to be answered on the federal level, for example citizenship issues and so forth.  This is a major victory for Ms. Sparkle and her supporters, but this is still very much new legal ground, and if federal courts don't agree that she should be considered a person, there could still be a lot of difficulty for her."

"Well, thanks Maria, now--"

"Sorry John, but it looks like Ms. Sparkle and her friends are coming out now.  There's a lot of excitement in this crowd.  I'm going to go try to get a look.  Wait, some of the excitement isn't towards the courthouse doors, there's...there's a man up on one of the statues in the common, and it looks like he's armed.  Yes, as you probably heard, he's fired several...several shots at the group coming out.  The crowd is thick but I've seen several purple flashes from the entryway, I can't tell what's happening up there.  The crowd has broken out in chaos, but I'm trying to get a view of the entryway.  Wait, I can see it now, I can't see anyone, but there's blood in several places on the stairs..."

End of Act 1