Random Thought · 6:53am Jan 13th, 2018
As I dove into research to make sure that I at least get some court procedure right for Brotherly Bonding Time's next chapter, a thought occurred to me. At what point do I draw a line between something that would fit into Equestrian culture and something as close as possible to how a real trial might work (give or take a few things, I've never been to a trial, so I have to rummage through stuff on the web and worry that I'm missing something)?
The show has had villains being reformed and forgiven despite doing worse things than Kazam did, because... they didn't have friends, and hey, they said sorry, so it's second chance time! I will admit, I am tired of the repeated explanation of an antagonist's behavior because of a poor social life. I get that it's a little girl's show about friendship, but I got sick of that excuse when The Great and Powerful Trixie played that card in 'No Second Prances' back in Season 6. Kazam's story is that he's just an arrogant, spoiled brat that got carried away with power hunger and might just be a little sadistic.
But, I digress. Equestria is clearly more merciful than our world, so I'm having some doubts on how this trial should work. I also get the feeling that just about every other fanfic would have Celestia be the judge, while I'm debating having a non-alicorn be the appointed judge.
That, and I'm also trying to figure out how to spruce witness testimonies up so the chapter isn't boring. So far, Trixie has the most potential for an amusing scene, Silk Shimmer for some background info, and Tomato for a more emotional scene. I at least have the chapter's ending in mind.
But anyway, I'm getting stuck on a stupid thing again.
Always keep in mind it's not our world, and so specific laws and customs may differ, but the rules do have to add up to something that produce a workable system which in turn result in something faintly recognizable is what we see on the Show, in terms of culture. For instance, Equestria obviously doesn't have slavery, but it explicitly ("Trade Ya") has voluntary indenture for fixed terms.
Everyone has their own model of how the country works. The model I choose in my stories is that of an enlightened liberal despotism with a flavor of both the Anglo-American cultural sphere and an idealized Oriental monarchy.
One factor to consider when you think of characters being shown mercy is that the Ponies are generally merciful by our standards: they need very strong provocation to kill; especially to kill someone who is no longer an immediate threat to them. This is part and parcel of a general basic decency that the Equestrians seem to possess as a culture.
Another thing to remember is that the Princesses have no clear analogue in any Western culture; indeed, in any real-world human culture at all. They are immortal and super powerful goddess-queens: and ones who do not usually take undue advantage of their great power. They are enormously loved and respected, in part because of their generally high moral standards.
And in pretty much every case where extreme mercy was shown to a genuinely serious criminal offender, the person in question was either pardoned or paroled by one of the Princesses. Open it seem to be a sort of combined pardon and parole, where the pardon was made conditional upon performing some sort of service to the Realm.
Luna was pardoned and restored to her previous office and honors. Discord was basically pardoned on condition that he stand ready to aid the realm; the fact that he was then forgiven a second time is one of the reasons why I think that Celestia liked him especially; something also supported by some of her reactions to him in social situations. Starlight Glimmer was essentially paroled to Twilight Sparkle's custody after Celestia had delegated the decision of her disposal to Twilight.
Mini of the minor villains who were seemingly pardoned either did nothing illegal or nothing very illegal under Equestrian standards. Keep in mind that Equestria seems to have a culture very tolerant of pranking; far more tolerant than is our own. There are things in this regard that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie do that would be quite illegal in our own culture.
With that in mind, consider that the worst that Gilda ever does is to behave threateningly and steal a small amount of fruit. The worst that Trixie ever does when not under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet is prank hecklers and perform rather dangerous stunts. Gilda and Trixie are rather annoying characters, but they are not really criminals. Flim and Flam are arguably semi criminals, depending upon how you assume Equestrian advertising law works. They don't, for instance, do anything that would have been illegal in the United States of America in the 19th century.
As for some villains, like Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra, they aren't pardoned, though Starlight Glimmer was apparently extending the offer to Queen Chrysalis in the season six finale episode. I'm guessing the Twilight Sparkle would have stood by Starlight's decision, and Celestial probably would have supported Twilight.
The thing to remember is that as absolute monarchs, the Princesses have tremendous discretionary powers, and they tend to use them to offer defeated foes mercy. This probably comes both from the virtue of kindness, and from a more diplomatic calculation that powerful defeated foes offered mercy may become powerful future allies.
Anyway, those are my immediate thoughts on the matter.
The thing about the Princesses forgiving villains is, as 4772618 points out, they usually do that spontaneously. If you want an example of the Equestrian justice system that's a little more similar to earth, look at Trouble Shoes: they had wanted posters with his name on them and posses, and they threw him in jail when they caught him. If the CMC hadn't explained that his alleged crimes were all accidents and proven it on the spot, he probably would have seen a judge. And I doubt Celestia was going to plop on a powder wig and head to Appleloosa, so feel free to invent an OC judge who's not a Princess.
You can also have the defendant not showing clear remorse, which has always seemed like a dealbreaker with the Equestrian justice system.
In regards to your witness problem, it sounds like you've already solved it. The #1 way to fix bland characters in MLP stories is to just add Trixie.
4772618
I agree, and only want to say one thing, it shouldn't be exactly like earth court. Like Jordan said, it needs to be constant to what the show has shown us, but cause it's aliens on an alien world, it shouldn't be like what humans do.