//------------------------------//
// Chapter Three 
// Story: Tales From Riversdale: Life Without Harmony 
// by Rare80 
//------------------------------//

Romero waits in a cold room, its walls made of stone.  He’s deep within Canterlot Castle now, waiting to see Celestia for his trial.  The holding room he’s in looks suspiciously like a jailcell.  He can’t help but think that he’d been placed here on purpose.  It had been several days since his confrontation in Ponyville.  He hadn’t made much extra money since then.  He sits on a wooden bench, a nervous sweat drips from his forehead drips and down his face.

The door suddenly swings open, and the purple alicorn from the other day trots in.  She is now adorned with a good amount of regal jewelry, leaving no doubt to what position she holds.  She avoids eye contact with Romero.  When she speaks to him her tone is now deeper, sharper, and a lot more harsh now.  She now has the stereotypical cold disposition Romero expected to see from Equestrian Princesses.

“Have you collected your stuff?” she asks.

“Uh, y-yeah,” Romero stammers a bit, as he continues to dread his upcoming trial.  He takes a deep breath in order to catch a grip and calm down.  He builds up the remainder strength he has left to get up off the bench, and slowly drags his hooves on the way to the door.

“Good.  I’ll personally escort you to the courtroom.”  The purple mare holds the door open as he leaves.  He then stays absolutely quiet as they walk along a maze of hallways up to the courtroom.  Romero stays attached to the alicorn at the hip, making sure he doesn't get lost in the large castle.  All the guards in the castle stared at him suspiciously.  The alicorn that had defended him a few days ago has completely changed her attitude, she continues to actively avoid eye contact with him.  Romero tries not to overthink everything and stress himself out, something he’s prone to doing.  When he and the alicorn got to the courtroom the castle guards open the double doors and Romero walks in to take his respective seat.  He looks around and notices that he has quite the audience this morning.  He has no idea whether it was normally like this, or if giant angry mobs appear every time a Cavallian is dragged to court.

Soon enough, Princess Celestia clipts gracefully in to the courtroom, the court rises and bows in reverence to the ruling Princess.  Romero looks around frantically, and notices that the only one not bowing, was him.  Was he supposed to bow as well?  She’s not his Princess, so that doesn’t make sense.  The least he could do was stand out of respect.  He should probably do something.  Crap, now she’s already seated.  Did he just mess this whole thing up literally seconds into the trial?  Now he’s panicking.  Anxiety overcomes him.  He’s sweating bullets.  He reaches into his apron and pulls out a napkin.  He then gently dabs his forehead.

“This is Case 701, Apple v. Hazelnut.  Court is now in session.”  Princess Celesta looks and sounds a little less regal than he expected.  Honestly, it looked like she’d been up all night.  Her eyes are narrowed, and her mane looks a tad disheveled. 
“The court will now recognize the presence of the honorable Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, representing the plaintiff.  I’ll take it that you’ve sworn in all the parties involved in the in the witness and testimony on the plaintiff’s side?

“You are correct, your majesty,” Twilight Sparkle answers back.

“Splendid.  The court recognizes all parties involved with the plaintiff.   AppleJack, accuser, Princess Twilight Sparkle, representative, and Rainbow Dash, witness.”  Celestia takes a moment to shuffle through some of the paperwork she had sprawled upon her bench.  “We’ll swear in the defendant, and then we will be seated.”  Celestia rotates her seat towards Romero, and she places her left hoof on her chest and raises her right hoof to about eye level, expecting Romero to mimic her.  “Mr. Hazelnut, please stand and repeat after me:  I, Romero Elias Hazelnut, do solemnly swear that the testimony I will give in the case now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, under pains and penalties of perjury.”

Romero does indeed follow Celestias lead, standing, and placing his left hoof on his chest and raises his right.  “I, Romero Elias Hazelnut, do solemnly swear that the testimony I will give in the case now pending before this court shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, under pains and penalties of perjury.” 

“Great, everyone can now be seated.”  Celestia’s tone is calm and pleasant, Romero is still a little hopeful to get out of this ordeal relatively unscathed. The courtroom shuffles as the ponies around them are seated.  “First, we will begin with the plaintiff’s party, and then we will get to the defendant.  Twilight, when you’re ready, feel free to begin.”

Twilight skims though an old-looking textbook of sorts, skimming through it and whispering details with the other two.  Then she finally spoke up, “After a few days of relentless research, I have become very acquainted with the defendant’s homeland.  First the basics, Cavalla located on a small continent close to 850,000 square miles, or 2,166,000 square kilometers.  Cavalla is ruled by a democratically elected official called a ‘President’.  Cavalla is split up into twelve political, and regional areas called ‘districts’.  Among its major exports include iron, steel, petroleum, along with plastics, paints, and other polymers; leading it to have a heavily industrial economy.  It has a population of about 280,500,000, making it the most densely populated country in the world.  This high population density is a major reason for its low safety regulations, high unemployment rate, high poverty rate, and high crime rate.  The Cavallian Ecomonic Bureau reports that the GDP of Cavalla increased of an annual rate of about 1.8% for that last—”

Princess Celestia then loudly clears her throat in order to catch Twilight’s attention and she quickly stops her speech.  “Dearest Twilight,…”  The princess interjected, “This is a court case not a book report.  Please spare myself and the audience of this geography lesson and just begin with the events that unfolded last Friday morning.”  The Princess looks very annoyed, as she has her head in her hooves, and her face is painted thickly with a look of dismay.  “Please remember that my time is precious.”  Twilight then slowly nods her head, and she begins shuffling through some of her paperwork.

“The events according to the plaintiff are as follows.”  Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat as she continued.”  The defendant, Mr. Hazelnut trespassed on the western end of the Apple Family’s farm at about 10:30am, then the defendant stole crop, honeysuckle apples, amounting to about 320 bits worth of cider sales.  After committing the crime, and being confronted, he fled the scene.”

“Perfect.  Thank you, Twilight Sparkle."  Celestia nods at her fellow princess, and offers a warm smile.  This puts Romero on edge knowing that the two of them seem very close.  He knows that the chips are already stacked against him, but he doesn’t know to what degree.  “I assume that these claims are supported by the witness testimony of Ms. Rainbow Dash, correct?”

“No, your Majesty.”  Twilight answered.  “Ms. Dash appears as a witness to confirm the amount of product lost, and the amount of revenue they would’ve generated through cider sales.”

“There is no need for that, I know from personal experience that the Apple family’s cider sells really well, thank you.”  The court chuckles at the Princess’ statement. The princess leans back in her chair behind the bench.  She directs her attention towards Romero.  “Mr. Hazelnut, you don’t deny these claims, do you?”

Romero offers a flat, “No, ma’am.”

“That’s ‘your Majesty’,"  Celestia snaps.  "In this court you will refer to me as ‘your Majesty’, understand?”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

Celestia takes a deep breath and continues.  “If this were a normal civil case, it would be an easy one.  However, due to the international implications of this, it must be handled with extreme delicacy.  This large crowd present today is very unusual for a case of this type.  I attribute this to the fact that there are two princesses present for this case instead of just myself.  Therefore, I feel compelled to say that this is my sixth international court case this week.  This is very tiring and taxing on my body and mind.  Given the muddy and complicated history between these two countries, no case like this is easy.”  The over-stressed princess takes a moment to rub her temples in order to ease an oncoming headache before continuing. 

“Anyway, we will continue with the issue in front of us.” Celestia takes a moment, using her magic to shuffle through several documents resting in front of her.  She continues, “So, Equestrian authorities say in their statement that a large sack of apples as found in the defendant’s carriage.  The stolen cargo was returned to the plaintiff.”

“Permission ta speak, yer majesty?”  AppleJack blurted waving her right hoof in the air for attention.

“Granted.”

“The whole reason I’m perusin’ this here issue is because the apples that were stolen were cider makin' apples, and the stolen apples won’t keep ripe in time for cider season.  Ah’m requestin’ a statement fer the difference of the amount of money lost on cider sales, not the value of the apples themselves.”

Celestia exhales and leans back into her chair again.  “I understand this, AppleJack.  There is no doubt that Mr. Hazelnut did irremedial damage to your farm, and the defendant does not deny that.  You must also understand that according to his migrant documents, that after close to a dozen trips to Equestria this is first criminal act on his part, of any kind.  Perhaps something a little lighter than the usual lifetime denial of visa should be considered here."  Celestia then turns her chair towards Romero and continues.  "Since you’ve made a habit of coming to Equestria often and has behaved himself for the most part.  I assume, Mr. Hazelnut that you’ve made these long frequent trips to Equestria so you can better provide for your family.”

Romero shakes his head, “No, ma’am… uh, I mean, your Majesty.  I live alone.”

“Are you employed?”

“Yes, I am.  It’s just that my rate of pay and my job sometimes isn’t enough to cover rent and my other living expenses.  So, I come to Equestria to sell my coffee every now and again.  Because of the exchange rate, If I sell my coffee at the same rate that I do back home, I’ll pretty much doubling my money every time I come down here.   But to be honest, If all things were equal, given the choice, I would rather just stay home.”

The court gasps and the audience begins to whisper and mutter among themselves.  Romero was confused, not knowing why his statements caused such an uproar.  Celestia uses her magic to bang her gavel.  “Order in the courtroom, please!”  Then, she waits a moment for everyone to calm down.  “So, you’re honestly telling the court, that if you could, you would live out your whole live in a land without Harmony?”

Romero shrugs, “Yeah, I guess.  I really don’t see much of a difference.” 

The courtroom bursts out and an overflow of negative emotion pours down on the head of the young stallion.  He was afraid this would happen.  “ORDER!  ORDER!”  Celestia bangs her gavel again, this time with a lot more force and purpose.  “I will not have discourse overtake my courtroom!  Either behave yourselves, or see yourself out immediately.  This is a civil legal proceeding, not a circus!”  An obviously irked Princess Celestia snorts angrily as it seems that the entire courtroom was taken aback by her sudden outburst of anger.  Romero is not surprised, this was how she expected her to act all along.  According to some of his friends back home, this was exactly how Equestrians truly behave, and it was now manifested in the Princess herself.  Romero wonders if something worse than permanent banishment awaits him now.  Maybe jail time.  Maybe an execution, he has no idea.

Celestia lowers her head, looking defeated.  She mutters to herself, “Have we all fallen so far, that this is where it comes to?  Ponies turning into monsters, over apples?”  Hardly anyone in the courtroom was close enough to the bench to hear her clearly.  Romero heard her, but had no idea what she meant by that.  “Mr. Hazelnut, your testimony is a confusing one.  I’m awarding the total of 320 bits to be paid to the plaintiff in within 180 days of this ruling.  Furthermore, that the defendant’s travel visa to Equestria will be revoked for the next five years, effective immediately.”  A small celebration takes place of the plaintiff’s side.  They softly congratulate each other.  AppleJack hugs Twilight, and slaps hooves with Rainbow Dash.

“However…” Celestia continues.  “It’s has been becoming more and more clear to me this age-old rhetoric between our two nations is not only unhealthy, but may be acting as a self-destructive wedge to completely tear all of pony kind apart.  Since the beginning, it has been the sole mission of this nation to spread love and Harmony to all nations, big and small.”

“Unfortunately, even as your ruling Princess, I know precious little about this nation of Cavalla.  However, despite our rocky relationship the Equestrian economy relies heavily on Cavallian-made goods.  They are a powerful trading partner, and we cannot afford to lose them as an ally.  Despite this, most ponies that reside in Equestria must trace their family linage all the way back to before the first Heart’s Warming Eve to find an ancestor with Cavallian origins.  Since then, vile rumors have been swirling around to the point where even I know not what to believe.  Therefore, to find out more about our strange neighbor to our west I am sending Princess Twilight, AppleJack, Rainbow Dash, along with Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy along with Mr. Hazelnut on the first ship headed west--.”

“Wait a minute!”  AppleJack blurted out, completely interrupting the Princess’ judgement.  "He’s the criminal here, an’ yer gonna go 'round punishin’ us?”

“AppleJack, this is not a punishment.  This is a mission on the behalf of Equestria, and on the behalf of Friendship; into the land of Cavalla.  You will be assigned there for the next 60 days.  You will report your findings to me on the Elements of Harmony, and if any trace of them reside there.  You will observe their behavior, their culture, and their livelihoods.  It’s time we've torn down these old prejudices once and for all.”

“THAT’S NOT FAIR!”  Rainbow Dash interjects.  Her wings unfurl and she flaps up, hovering a few feet above the courtroom. Her voice breaks from the raw anger in her tone.  “You’re sending us away when we did nothing wrong.  Why are you treating us like them?”

“It may not seem fair to you, Rainbow Dash, but my ruling is final.”  Princess Celestia is obviously done arguing about this.  She drops her gavel with a loud *BANG* as she gets up out of her seat, and begins to leave the courtroom.  AppleJack and Rainbow Dash continue to plead with the Princess as she walks out the door.  She ignores them completely.  Her message was already clear.  She's had enough.  Meanwhile, Romero stands there motionless, doing his usual staring at the floor.  He wonders to himself just what the heck he’s gotten himself into.