From the moment he was isolated from his boss and superior, Red Flames felt like he was being humiliated: relegated to a lowly pony who had been at the top of the world and now here he was, being treated like a common criminal. Before he could think any more thoughts, he heard a sound at the door to his cell the night after Dr. Novocain had testified at the trial.
"Your highness," said the guards standing outside Red Flames' cell and then, the door opened to reveal Princess Celestia on the other side, her face scowling with anger as she walked into the cell.
"Close the door and do not enter until I say so," she ordered and doing as they were told, the guards shut the door, leaving Celestia alone with Red Flames. "Do you understand why you are here and not with your comrades?"
"Let me ask you," hissed Red Flames, clearly not showing any respect for the elder princess of Equestria. "Why do you do this to me? You annul my marriage, you strip me and my superior of our ranks and you treat me like a school colt. What else can you do to humiliate me, you decrepit dictator?"
Celestia did not take this lightly at all and in a fit of rage, raised her front left hoof and smacked Red Flames across the face, knocking him down to the floor. The former deputy mayor of Rainbow Falls growled as he rose to his feet, his eyes still locked on Celestia.
"How dare you strike me, your highness?" remarked Red Flames, rubbing the spot where Celestia had struck him.
"Well then you should watch what you say in my presence," barked Celestia as Red Flames sat on the prison cell bed. "I've separated you from Blackheart and Sergeant Enforcer so as to not allow you to talk of any escape. I've said it before and I will say it again, Red Flames. You are a creature of pure evil."
"No," whispered Red Flames. "I am not the creature of pure evil. You are the creature of pure evil, Celestia. You and your sister! We are the future of Equestria and once we are acquitted of the outrageous charges you have accused us…"
"SILENCE!" snapped Celestia, opening her wings in anger, the sounds of her angry voice causing Red Flames to fall flat on his back. "The reign of Blackheart is over, Red Flames! You are stripped of your rank and yet, you deny that you have your position! I gave you your ranks and I took them away!"
Red Flames spat in Celestia's face, only making Celestia more and more angrier. To Celestia, this was nothing but disrespect and part of her wanted to administer justice right then and there. However, she maintained her composure and took a deep breath, taking the disgusting act against her with a grain of salt
"I'm not going to fight with you, Red Flames," she said after a brief silence, her anger popping out at certain points. "I don't have the time, nor do I have the patience to do so. To put it simply, Green Sleeves doesn't deserve to be married to you and what you tried to do to her wasn't justice, it was attempted murder! Just be thankful you are possibly being given the chance to live the rest of your life in Tartarus and not being put to death in the center of Canterlot!"
Celestia then turned to knock on the door and have the guards escort her out, however Red Flames rose up and stopped her, laughing like an amused pony who had just heard a funny joke. Upon hearing this, Celestia turned to glare at him.
"You find this amusing?" she rebutted, raising an eyebrow. "Would like me to pass judgment on you now, Red Flames? Is that what you want?"
"No, I think I find your threats amusing," he laughed. "Almost as amusing as the whole sham of a trial you are putting us through. No matter what you say or do, you will lose and we will win. And once we win, you and your sister will be put on trial and we will execute you for false imprisonment."
Intimidated, Celestia had enough of the false threats that Red Flames was making and knocked on the door of the cell, causing the guards to open the door and allow her to pass out of the cell.
…
The walk away from Red Flames' cell seemed like forever for Celestia. Even as she walked, the sounds of Red Flames' taunting her continued to be heard. No sooner did she walk farther and farther away did the threats against her start to creep in.
"Increase security throughout the castle," she said to a guard as she neared her quarters. "No threat made by the prisoners will be carried out and if there is anypony making threats against Canterlot, do what you must do to stop them. Is that clear?"
"Yes, your highness," answered the guard and entered her quarters. As she entered her quarters, Celestia was feeling fear for the first time since the trial began. The spine in her back was chilled with fear and there was that lingering fear in the back of her mind of perhaps, just perhaps, that Red Flames' threats against her and Luna would be carried out.
"I cannot let the fears get to me," she thought to herself. "A rescue attempt will never be carried out. Justice will be served and the nightmare of Rainbow Falls will be over. But, there is only pony to blame for allowing these monsters to assume their positions…and that somepony is me."
Exhausted, Celestia removed her royal accessories and climbed into her large bed, eager to start falling asleep as soon as possible after another exhausting day of testimony. Then, suddenly, a loud noise was heard…
BANG!
BANG!
The sounds of the bangs woke Celestia up and she ran over to her bedroom as fast as her body would let her. Looking out the window, she was horrified to see that a building had been blown up and flames were sprouting out. Before she could make another move, she saw Luna race over to the scene.
"What happened here?" demanded Luna as several of Luna's night guards began evacuating the entire area. "Who did this?"
"We are not sure, your highness," said a night guard.
"Find whoever is responsible for this, you hear me?" ordered Luna, glaring down her night guard. "Find the pony responsible for this and bring him to me!"
The night guard gathered several comrades and they immediately began scouring the streets of Canterlot. From her room, Celestia watched and there was no doubt in her mind of the horror that her kingdom was experiencing.
…
Meanwhile, from their guestroom, Green Sleeves was awakened by the blasts and darted over to the window.
"What was that?" cried Irish Coffee, the pain in his body being felt.
"A message," answered Green Sleeves, nervously. "A message that Blackheart, Red Flames and Sergeant Enforcer will be rescued and those guarding them will be killed."
The blast was clearly a warning sign to everypony from Blackheart's supporters that this whole trial was far from over and that revenge would come in full force….
…at least in their minds…