“Please state your full name for the record.”
“Trixie Silverlight Lulamoon.”
“Would you be considered, under any current Equestrian legal definition, alive?”
Trixie couldn’t help clench her jaw in resentment at the question, her claws flexing within their boots. The single lash of her tail was the most obvious reaction she gave to the question.
“No.”
As with the rest of the major government buildings in Canterlot, the Hall of Justice's pristine white walls shone under the sun outside. Its semi-circular frame, flanked by the two towers, was an imposing sight to everypony who passed nearby the frontal pool. The water was crystal clear, reflecting the blue sky and, along with the mirror windows, illuminated everything around the Hall. It was almost as if the building itself was the source of enlightenment.
The inside of the Hall of Justice was as imposing as the exterior. In a hard contrast to the pristine white marble of the outside, the inside had a more austere semblance. The floor was made of a dark wood, polished into a smooth but harsh surface. Once entering the main doors, the lobby was almost gigantic, with two hallways extending to the lateral towers and a bigger main one that extended immensely. The three corridors led to the different courtrooms and offices. Along the endless hallways, in between doors, there were various benches made of the same wood as the floor. The building served Equestria’s interests in both matters of civilian law and military, the latter being case for the small courtroom on the east annex where Trixie sat.
It had been several hours since the special court-martial for recruits Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust had begun. The Wonderbolts, being a special aerobatic flight demonstration team within the E.U.P. Guard, were subject to military jurisdiction, as were their recruits. While defendants could still be represented by civilian counsel, as was the case of Rainbow Dash and Lightning Dust, it was a military judge and a panel of three E.U.P Guard officers, one from each branch of the service, that sat in judgement.
“That has been the case for just over a month now, correct?” asked Swift Justice, the defense counsel.
“Correct,” Trixie responded stiffly.
The morning had been opening arguments by the trial counsel and defence counsel. The trial counsel, Word Doc, had argued that the actions of Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash had created an environment where a disaster such as the tornado was inevitable. He painted both ponies as reckless and used their conduct in training prior to the incident as proof. His main witness had been Spitfire, and he used the Captain’s own reports about Dash’s and Dust’s conduct during training to establish a history of endangerment and general disregard for other ponies. Swift Justice did her best to try and mitigate the damage, but even with Spitfire’s impassioned testimony that it was really her that fostered the environment of recklessness, that she was the one who insisted they push beyond what was considered safe and that her recruits were not wholly to blame for it, Trixie and her friends could see that of the three officers on the panel, only the pegasus colonel had been obviously swayed. The unicorn major and earth pony colonel remained impassive.
Rainbow Dash had not been greatly helping her case, often sitting slumped her seat with a morose look on her face. It had taken the work of all her friends and counsel to get her to not outright plead guilty to all charges at the start of the trial. When Lightning Dust had spoke up during that pre-trial meeting to suggest that Dash was crazy for wanting to plead guilty at all given the evidence, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight were all needed to hold Dash back.
“Technically speaking, you are not even a pony now. The magic that revived your body has transformed you into something else. But before that, you were nothing more than an animated corpse. Correct?”
Trixie squeezed her claws into the chair below her, fighting not to try and break it in half and use it to assault the mare before her. From their meeting before court, this was the part of their defence plan that Trixie hated the most. That she would have to be the one to say these words both angered and sickened her to no end. To have others apply such labels to her was one thing, but to willingly do it to herself was another. Still, the only other option was to let a pony she had come to see as a dear friend ruin her life.
That didn’t make it any easier and she could feel her stomach clench in rage at what she had to do. “Trixie was a pony whose body was successfully brought back by dark magic. This is an act not recorded since the Discord Era. The name for such a being is--” Trixie had to stop and swallow her dry throat. “The name for such a being is Necro Sapiens Sapiens.”
Trixie glared daggers at the pony standing before her on the courtroom floor while she sat in the witness box, not even the protection of her mask allowed while testifying. The outfit she wore that day was similar to her one from before. She had a vest to cover her barrel and hide the pattern of the Amulet on her chest. The cape and hat she wore, once again bearing the star pattern, were in a darker tone of purple but left behind with the rest of the girls on the gallery bench. She wore heavier boots on her feet due to her claws instead of the lighter socks from before. The biggest change was that instead of the veil she used to have, Trixie insisted on wearing a full-face mask. At first, Rarity objected against it, arguing that she wouldn’t help Trixie hide from the world, but Trixie convinced her that they needed to cover her blood-red eyes, or else she would be too intimidating. At the end, they settled for a white featureless one, as Rarity needed more time to design something less plain. Despite being taller than all but the lankiest unicorn mares and largest stallions, Trixie had been able avoid an overabundance of unwanted attention on her trip to Canterlot’s Hall of Justice.
But here, on the stand, she couldn’t hide from any pony. The mask had to come off exposing her angular, predatory features. There was no disguising the vivid blood red of her eyes. Her voice was still too grave and aggressive, and she had to speak clearly for the panelist and the judge. None could mistake her for a pony, but then again, that’s what they wanted from her. She just wished they didn’t.
That she had been forced into this situation, to say these things with her own lips, was humiliating on a level she had not thought possible to experience. Trixie never expected the day she would look back at the time the Ursa incident with longing. But that was the past now, when she had been alive
Trixie was no longer a pony, she was a dead thing. She had not truly been a pony for a long time. To have to admit that, in court and under oath, was…
… was the only way to save a friend. In the end, that is what would get her through it.
“Could you please tell the court how that condition came about and what it means in relation to what happened on the day of the incident outside the Academy?”
So Trixie did.
Word Doc’s cross-examination was even more humiliating. To argue that your own lack of heartbeat, lack of breathing, lack of all signs of life but movement meant that your friend could not have killed you because, actually, you were already dead, was the hardest thing Trixie had done in her life (and the period after it). To not be able to grasp at the straws that Word offered -- that wasn’t blood on the side of the cliff-face, it was necroplasm; the doctors and Celestia had never revived Trixie in the hospital that first time, she had died before ever returning to Ponyville -- was the worst of it.
In the end, she felt she had established what Swift had hoped they would; a murder charge cannot stand when the subject of that murder was not alive in the first place.
Swift Justice gave her a look that said that she understood what Trixie was going through, as Trixie walked by the defence’s table after leaving the stand. Testimony about unpleasant things was hard but necessary for justice to be served the look said. It was what they had agreed to before all this started after all.
That still didn’t mean Trixie liked her for having forced her to do it.
“Trixie is… going to go outside for a bit,” Trixie rasped to the rest of the girls as she rejoined them at their seats. She realized she was shivering when she secured her mask once more over her face. “She needs some fresh air... after all this.”
“I’ll go with you,” Fluttershy offered softly as she got up and slid off the bench.
Trixie nodded to her and gave Twilight an encouraging pat on the shoulder. Her fellow unicorn had been called to testify next, about her part as pilot and to act as an expert witness to reinforce what Trixie had said about her condition. About her death.
She wished she could be there to offer Twilight her support, but there was only so much pain Trixie could endure right then.
Trixie had recomposed herself by the time the verdict was offered. She had missed Twilight’s testimony on the more technical aspects of Necro Sapiens and her explanation for piloting a balloon into military controlled airspace, unannounced, that was the cause of the whole debacle. It was all information she had heard before anyway, so that didn’t matter.
Lightning Dust and Rainbow Dash both stood at attention alongside Swift Justice and Word Doc as the verdicts on the charges were read, Dash staring ahead stoically and not reacting while Dust would fidget a little after each charge.
The murder charge, the one that everypony was most concerned over, was dismissed. Trixie’s own testimony backed up by the evidence Twilight provided in the form of their studies to ‘cure’ Trixie seemed to have done the job.
The charges for failure to obey regulation, noncompliance with procedural rules, and those related to unbecoming conduct were all returned with guilty verdicts. Lightning Dust looked near panic but held back well; Rainbow appeared almost relieved.
The most surprising part came during the sentencing. In light of her position as Wingpony during the incident and past history of service to Equestria, Rainbow Dash was given an absolute discharge of her sentence; she would carry a criminal record for a period of one year, barring her from reapplication to the Wonderbolts or any other Equestrian military branch until the year was over and record cleared, but was not to be punished in any other way. Lighting Dust, for her position as Leadpony, was given a conditional discharge of her sentence; she would not serve prison time, but instead be referred to civilian authorities for a probation period of nine months and be barred from ever applying to join the Wonderbolts or any other Equestrian military branch again in the future.
Trixie couldn’t help think that Rainbow didn’t look nearly as relieved with the verdict as she would have expected.
As they stepped out of the courtroom, there was an air of triumph among them. Pinkie was the most animated of the girls, jumping up and down and sideways while constantly rambling about the future ‘Rainbow Dash is Innocent’ party she was going to throw once they were back home. Spike and Applejack couldn’t help but agree with the idea, and even Fluttershy seemed more animated than usual on the prospect.
However, there were two ponies who weren’t part of the celebration, despite one being the protagonist of the whole ordeal. Rainbow Dash and Trixie trotted slower than the others, almost stopping half down the hall. Twilight noticed this and trotted back to them.
“Is everything all right, girls?”
“Uh, it is,” Trixie replied, rather surprised she had beaten Dash to an answer. That did seem to confirm the hunch she had about the pegasus and why she was hanging back as well. She spared Dash a quick glance before turning back. “If it would be okay Twilight, Trixie would like a little bit of time to herself. It’s been a very long time since she has walked the streets of Canterlot and she feels drawn to do so. She’ll meet you at the train station when we’re scheduled to go home.”
“I… I don’t really know,” Twilight stammered. “I don’t want to leave you alone, not in your condition and all--”
“Dash will be with me.” Trixie spared Rainbow another glance. “Besides, I want to have a private word with her. If that’s alright.”
Twilight was about to respond when Dash interrupted her. “Relax, Twi. Like she said, I’ll be with her.” It was the most Rainbow had spoken since her testimony at trial.
That seemed to reassure the purple unicorn, and she nodded gave them a weak smile before going to rejoin the rest of their friends. If they wanted to find her or the others, they would be visiting Celestia at the palace for tea. Perhaps there might even be good news for Trixie.
The two blue ponies turned by unspoken agreement and made their way over to a bench in one of the smaller, quieter side hallways of the Hall of Justice. After a solid minute of sitting together on one of the hard wooden benches, Trixie decided she was going to take the white side.
“Well,” she began by looking at Rainbow out of the corner of her eye. “Are you going to tell… Trixie what’s bothering you?” She turned her head slowly to Dash, who was already looking at her. Trixie noticed she was still sporting that same sorrowful countenance she had since Trixie came back. “Rainbow, what’s going on with you?”
Rainbow Dash’ expression hardened more as Trixie talked. She closed her eyes for a second and let out a sigh. Opening her eyes again, she started, “You see, I--” Rainbow stopped all of a sudden as she looked at Trixie, making her tilt her head in confusion. “Trix, could you please drop that mask? It gives me the creeps.”
“Rainbow, you know why Trixie has to wear it.” She put a gloved paw over the featureless white mask that hid everything but her red eyes. “I don’t even look equine… anymore.” Trixie looked down at her claws. Even if Rarity’s boots hid them, she could still notice the deadly talons under the fabric. “I could, and would disturb some sensibles ponies.”
“Well, I’m not a ‘sensible’ pony.” Rainbow puffed her chest. She then quickly glanced at both sides of the hallway “And we’re alone here, so there’s no need for it.” Rainbow Dash put a hoof over the mask’s cheek, where Rarity painted Trixie’s cutie-mark. “Please, I want to see my friend’s face. The real one.”
Trixie imitated Dash’s gesture of looking both sides of the hallway. After she confirmed the place was empty, Trixie reached with a paw to the back of her head. A click was heard and Trixie held the mask within her claws and slowly lowered it. Rainbow couldn’t help but agree with Trixie’s decision of hiding her face. Although it wasn’t as disturbing as when she looked like the trotting dead --which she was at some extent-- Trixie’s new face was still unsettling. Because of the fangs and the sleeker muzzle, Rainbow couldn’t help but compare Trixie with the griffon she knew growing up, ready to hunt living prey. The illusion was stronger when combined with Trixie’s claws, taller build and darker colors, making her look like a nightmarish predator in the eyes of most of ponies.
“Better?” Trixie asked with some sarcasm, yet which Rainbow nodded approvingly. “Now it is your turn Rainbow.” She looked at her straight in the eye. “You were just pronounced a free mare. Why do you look as if you were just condemned?”
Rainbow Dash sighed in response and looked away. Trixie tried to understand her, she really did. So far, Trixie and Rainbow had proven to be very similar, and that made their friendship feel all the more natural. Their competitive natures, their prideful stances, their need of being better than before with each step. Those similarities made them understand each other easily, so not knowing why Rainbow seemed so defeated was not only new for Trixie, but it was almost as if she lost touch with her completely.
“Rainbow.” Trixie grabbed Rainbow’s hooves with her claws, causing the pegasus to flinch and look up at her. “Is it Trixie’s fault?”
“What?!” Rainbow Dash asked in a hurry. “Nonononono, no!” As she said that, she shook her head rapidly too. “Trixie I-- ugh…” She put pulled her hoof free and rubbed it over her forehead. “Trixie, is not your fault, it’s just--” As Rainbow waved her hooves in front of her, Trixie put her left claw over Rainbow’s shoulder.
“Then what it is, Rainbow Dash?” Trixie tried to keep her voice assuring, but the way Rainbow denied it so quickly made Trixie wonder if she really was at fault for Rainbow being like this.
“Trix, look.” Rainbow took a deep breath and sighed loudly. “It’s not your fault and I get you were trying to help me, but you shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?” Trixie asked in confusion. “You mean testifying… in your favor?”
“Yes!” Rainbow threw her hooves in the air. “I shouldn't be free of charges!”
“But Rainbow, that doesn’t make… sense.” Trixie stood up from the bench to look at Rainbow head on. “You were charged with… my death, but Trixie is… Well, that’s not the point. The point is that you’re… not guilty.”
“That’s not true!” Rainbow snapped at Trixie and then she quickly turned her head away. Trixie heard a faint whimper coming from her.
“Rainbow Dash, you are not at fault… for what happened to… Trixie.” She tried to assure her.
“Then whose fault is it?” Rainbow snapped back immediately. “Who made that damn tornado? Who was so arrogant to think that was a good idea?” Trixie tried to interrupt her, but Rainbow was talking louder and faster. “Tell me, Trixie. If I’m innocent, then who the f*ck is the one who almost killed all of her friends and succeeded in killing one?”
“But you didn’t--”
“I was at your funeral!” Rainbow shouted over her. “Damn it, Trixie! You were in a coffin that I carried and saw getting buried.” Her voice broke on that last word as she started to pant. Trixie realized she was hyperventilating and rushed to hug her tight.
“It’s all over.” Once again, Trixie tried to assure her friend. “The damage was undone… Trixie is back and we can all--”
“No.” Rainbow barely whispered between rushed breaths, but it was enough to make Trixie stop talking. “You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.” She pulled back from the hug to look at Rainbow in the eyes and saw that she was crying. “Dash, what happened to you?” In response, Rainbow clenched her teeth and shut her eyes tight as she whipped the tears from her face with a hoof.
“Trixie, I’m happy you’re back, but that doesn’t change what I did.” Rainbow opened her eyes again, but she quickly turned away. “I should be punished for what I did, that’s just what’s fair. That’s what’s right.” She closed her eyes again, hanging her head low in shame and regret.
The showmare sat on her haunches and gaped at her friend. The first laugh surprised her. “Heh.” Others swiftly poured out after it. “He he ha ha ha!” Rainbow opened her eyes to see what was going on, but she immediately regretted it. “Ha ha ha ha ha!” Early that day, Twilight commented that there was a residual magic effect that made Trixie look scarier to other ponies than she truly was. At first, Rainbow didn’t believe that, but now, seeing Trixie with her head thrown back, muzzle open exposing jaws full of predatory teeth and laughing like a madmare was just too much. “Ha ha ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
“Trixie!” Rainbow shouted as loud as she could. That stopped Trixie’s nightmarish laughter, as she looked back at her. “What the--” But Rainbow noticed two greenish black drops streaming down Trixie’s cheeks. “Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Trixie trailed off, a sad smile on her muzzle as she blinked the last few tears from her eyes. “It’s just too much irony… for Trixie to handle.” She used her gloved claw to wipe the necroplasm tears from her face, remembering how Rarity had to use a special fabric that could resist the acid, just in case. Trixie looked back at Rainbow, noticing the face of pure fear and confusion on her face, and decided to slow it down. “Here, allow Trixie to explain.” She sat down back on the bench. “Tell me, Rainbow Dash, have you noticed… how similar you and… Trixie are?”
“Okay,” Rainbow tilted her head. “What about it?”
“Well, I think I just found… the difference between you… and Trixie.” She smiled darkly while hanging her head lower. Rainbow couldn’t tell if the grin was merely sardonic or forced at this point. “You remember what Trixie… did the first time you encountered her?”
“You mean your show?” Rainbow thought about it. She really didn’t want to go back at that day.
Trixie waved her paw in dismissal. “After that. I meant what Trixie did… that night, after everything was said… and done.” She paused to let Rainbow think, but as soon as she saw the answer coming, she spoke again. “Trixie ran away.”
“So?” Rainbow Dash was still confused.
“Trixie ran away because… she knew what happened was… her fault.” She quickly raised her left claw to stop Rainbow’s eventual protest. “Don’t try to soften it, Rainbow Dash… I’ve come to terms with… what is my fault and what I… have brought upon myself.” She lifted the borders of her cape with both of her claws to show her body. “All of this, despite what you or Twilight… or Pinkie Pie or anypony… else says, is the eventuality… of my own doing.” She let the cape fall along her head. “And I am aware of that now.”
“Trixie, you…” Rainbow tried to calm her down.
“And here you are, Rainbow Dash,” Trixie continued headlong, ignoring the pony beside her. “Like Trixie, your actions could have cost ponies… their lives. Even though, in the end, nopony died… because of what we did, you still stood up… and said, ‘I did this. I will face the consequences… This was my fault and noponyelse’s.’” She raised her head, the smile still barely hanging on as green leaked from the corners of her eyes. “I can’t tell you how much… I admire you. How much I admire your courage.” Trixie clenched her teeth, feeling again how the weight of her actions did so much damage, especially to her friends. “If I was half as righteous… or strong as you are, none of this would be… happening.” Trixie stumbled, as if the weight of her own body was too much. She hugged Rainbow Dash tightly, pressing her down with her bigger size. “You don’t deserve to carry… the weight of Trixie's sins.” Trixie kept holding Rainbow Dash, afraid of letting her go. “Please, Rainbow Dash, don’t blame yourself for what… happened. Not when everything that has… happened is already Trixie-- It’s all my fault.”
They both finally collapsed under guilt and remorse, crying in each other hooves and claws respectively. It was like their own doubts were tearing both ponies apart. But despite it all, they held each other together. It was something Rainbow Dash was familiar with, while Trixie never suspected could even exist. And yet, despite the differences between them, they supported each other, as friends. After an undefined amount of time and more hugs than any of them would like to admit, Rainbow Dash and Trixie were ready to leave the Hall of Justice and out to the bright, sunlit streets of Canterlot.
“Would you really do that, Dash? Would you really give up the Show?” Trixie asked as she gazed down at the sprawl of Canterlot. Her and Rainbow Dash were perched along the railing that ran the length of a park a little ways away from the Hall of Justice. It was perched on the edge of a natural cliff of the Canterlot mountain and gave a breathtaking view down the city around and below it. “Twilight told Trixie about what you had said afterwards, how you felt the Wonderbolts rewarded the wrong behavior and you no longer wanted part of that, but you’re giving up what’s basically the reason you don’t nap twenty-four-seven. Would you really give up that big a part of your life? Could you even?”
“I don’t know, Trix.” Rainbow shrugged. She was standing beside Trixie, forelegs draped over the rail. “I get what you’re saying, and I’m grateful you care so much for me, but I just don’t know any more.”
“The Show is a harsh mistress; she demands much of us,” Trixie mused as she turned her gaze back over the plain. Reaching up, she brushed back a lock of mane that had blown free. “But the rewards she gives in return to those that persevere…” Rainbow swore she heard a deep, rumbling purr come from Trixie. “You’ve tasted them. You’ve felt the energy of the crowd, the energy of scores of ponies, their attention focused on you.” Trixie had her head tilted back and Dash could make out her eyes were closed. “A word, a simple wave of your hoof and they respond. They are yours, you command them. You control their every thought and feeling. They hang on your every action, watching. The breathless silence before the completion of the trick, and the noise afterwards. It rises... it rises, like a storm! As though you were the great Commander Hurricane himself! The thunder of hooves, as the applause roll over you. The chanting of your name... ‘Dash! Dash! Dash!’” Trixie lowered her gaze, her eyes open once more, and turned to the pegasus beside her. “Having been up there, having known that feeling, could you honestly give it up?”
Rainbow looked back and opened her mouth to respond but nothing would come out. Instead, she swallowed and looked out over city again. They were still high up on the mountain, but it was a height that was inconsequential to a pegasus. As much as she might have wanted to deny it, Trixie’s words still rung in Rainbow Dash’s head. Dash! Dash! Dash! The surge of victory each time she felt atop the podium, the rush as the applause of the crowds washed over her.
“Was it worth it for you?” The words slipped out of Rainbow’s muzzle before she realized it.
This time it was Trixie that was rendered speechless and forced to look away. Reaching up almost unconsciously, she began rubbing the spot on her chest where the Amulet had taken hold. Eventually the answer came. “When it was taken from me, and it was everything I had, I suppose it was. It must have been.” She dropped her paw down. “Even now I can’t say what I wouldn’t do to get it all back.”
“It really is that hard to give up, huh?” Rainbow mused, the lingering echoes of the chanting cheering from her earlier tricks echoing in ears.
“It is. It really is.” Trixie stepped away from the edge, all four paws on the ground once more. “But whatever choice you make, Rainbow Dash, promise Trixie it won’t… be made out of guilt… or fear.” Rainbow had turned and was looking back at her. “You’re a strong mare, Rainbow… Trixie would rather crawl… her way back to her… tomb than seeing you… lose that.” She then used her devil’s tail to whip Rainbow’s hindquarters.
“Eeep!” The pegasus vaulted the railing and turned, hovering in the air. “What was that for?!” she angrily asked.
Bemused laughter echoed from under Trixie’s mask. “Ever since Trixie came back from the tomb, she has seen you trotting instead of flying,” Trixie pointed a claw at Rainbow’s wings. “Stop it. Wonderbolt or not, that is definitely not you!”
“Oh.” Rainbow responded, her ears flicking down. “Okay, let’s say you’re right.” She didn’t want to admit it, but ever since the accident, she had indeed limited her flying, trying to remain safe on the ground like so many other ponies around her. “What’re you going to do about it?”
“A long time ago, in one of Trixie’s early shows, she discovered a whip can break the barrier of sound.” She whipped her tail in the air, producing an audible crack, making Rainbow shiver in response. “So giddy up and put those wings to good use.” Trixie smiled deviously under her mask. “Or rather than guilt is it laziness that’s holding Rainbow Dash down?”
“Wait, what?!” Rainbow’s eyes lit up in fire at the taunt. “I’ll show you who’s lazy! I could lap the palace grounds and be back here before the guards even noticed me! I could circle this whole mountain in ten seconds flat!”
“Hah!” Trixie barked back at her, her tail swishing about behind. “Foal’s play for Equestria’s Greatest Flyer! What else you got?”
“I’ll fly all the way from here to Ponyville, no train or balloon whatsoever!” She cracked her neck and forehooves in preparation. “And I’ll do it in under an hour!”
“Nice boast! Trixie would like to see you try,” Trixie sneered, though Dash could clearly hear the good natured encouragement behind it.
“You won’t be seeing nothing but my tail! I’ll be waiting at the station when you get back, Trix!” Rainbow Dash saluted with a hoof and shot into the sky towards the northeast.
“Three… two.. one…” Trixie counted down. At zero, Rainbow Dash passed again, flying in the correct direction this time. Trixie surprised herself when her ears actually managed to register Rainbow’s frustrated growling.
Then she was alone. Trixie turned back to the city, easily setting her sights on the spires and towers of the royal palace where it sat on the mountainside above her, and where she knew the rest of her friends were.
Trixie began heading out at a leisurely trot, down the mountain.