"Alright now! Attention, everypony! The Court of Canterlot will now come to order! The Princesses Celestia, Luna and Twilight presiding."
The alicorns took their places. The court was being convened outside, with all the Defenders and a good many former Rebels present. These Rebels had already accepted whatever 'punishments' the princesses gave. All that remained were the six Rebels that had spent two full days confined to a comfortable guest room.
"First up, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom!" announced Starlight, as two Royal Guards escorted the fillies to stand before the princesses. Before anything further was said, Scootaloo pointed a hoof at the three.
"We aren't sorry!" She shouted. "We're rebels, and proud of it! I know we stormed your castle and tried to assassinate you, but we don't apologise!"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom chimed in.
"What Scootaloo said!" Sweetie Belle added, stamping a hoof. Luna snickered quietly at their display of defiance, and her fellow princesses looked vastly amused. Celestia cleared her throat.
"Just so I understand this" she said,"You three are confessing to attempted assassination, attempted takeover of Equestria, and you are not apologising for it. Am I correct?" The three fillies glared up at her.
"We will never apologise!" Scootaloo announced determinedly.
"Never! Not even if ya threaten to send us to the moon!" Apple Bloom said, with feeling. Sweetie Belle took a step nearer, ignoring the two guards who moved to block her path. She glared up at the princesses.
"I will never apologise!" She shouted. "My sister died for the Rebel cause! She wouldn't say sorry for it, and neither will I! If I go down, I go down a REBEL!!!" Luna giggled. A nudge from her sister made her straighten up a bit.
"Very well then." Celestia said calmly, glancing at Twilight. "Princess Twilight?" Twilight swallowed a giggle and focused on the Crusaders.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders," she said. "You are guilty of attempted assisanation and attempted world domination. You have refused to show repentance for your actions, and as such will now face harsh sentencing." Luna was struggling to keep from laughing. "As punishment for these crimes, we hereby sentence the three of you to be executed."
"Oh...oh my..." said Fluttershy, who was standing close enough to see the three fillies shudder at the words.
"Um...excuse us one second." Scootaloo said, pulling her friends close in a group huddle. Her voice carried easily to most ponies listening, because she didn't bother to lower it. "Girls, we got problems."
"Ah'll say!" Apple Bloom exclaimed loudly. "Ah'm not hankerin' to die! We're just fillies!" Scootaloo nodded. Sweetie Belle, however, was not swayed.
"We are not just fillies!" She yelled. "We're Rebels! Til the end!!"
"Well, if we apologise, maybe they'll just throw us in a dungeon or something and not kill us." Scootaloo reasoned. Sweetie Belle stamped a hoof.
"I will not apologise!" She shouted. "My sister gave her life on the battlefield, she died with honor and bravery and...and courage! She died a REBEL!! And I may not be on the battlefield, but I'm gonna do just like she did! I'm gonna die a brave, unrepentant Rebel!!!!" Nearby, a certain white unicorn with a purple mane giggled at the filly's words.
"Sweetie Belle, listen to reason!" Scootaloo pleaded. "We don't wanna die, and you don't either. You know you don't."
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom offered. "Do ya really wanna walk up to that there wall over there and look down the barrels of ten nerf guns?! Do ya??!"
"Live as Rebel, die as a Rebel!" Sweetie Belle insisted. "I will never say sorry! I did what I had to, and I'd do it again!" Scootaloo sighed as Apple Bloom shook her head.
"Alright." Scootaloo said. "Then I guess we'll see ya again someday." She and Apple Bloom looked at each other. "Oh ponyfeathers. What am saying?!" She looked back at Sweetie Belle. "Sweetie, if you're gonna give up your life, then I'm gonna do the same. We Crusaders never abandon each other!"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom said. "Together we live, together we die!" The fillies shared a group hug before turning back to the waiting princesses.
"We are Rebels to the end!" Scootaloo announced.
"Very well." Celestia nodded to Starlight, who motioned to the ten ponies armed with nerf guns. The unicorn then looked at the fillies.
"Lets go."
Side by side, the Rebel youngsters marched solemnly and courageously to the wall and took their places along it. They looked at each other, then stared hard at the 'firing squad' that faced them. Starlight stood by and took a deep breath.
"Ready! Aim.." The ponies aimed their nef guns. "FIRE!!" With soft pops, the guns went off and a spray of foam bullets struck the three fillies gently. A quick look passed between them, and then the three of them proceeded to die.
Spectacularly.
Sweetie Belle uttered a screech and clutched at her chest with one hoof, flailing the other. She threw herself on the ground and squirmed and twitched and kicked before uttering a long, low wail. She jerked one leg, then shut her eyes and lay completely still.
Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had delayed their own deaths in order to watch their friend. Now, Apple Bloom let out a shriek, flopped on the ground, and went into a series of gyrations that one could only assume were meant to be death throes. She sputtered and gasped and panted and kicked. Finally she lifted her head, tensed her whole body into a still statue, uttered one gasping cry, and died, letting her head flop onto the ground as her body relaxed. Scootaloo, meantime, had sprawled on the ground and was actually wailing.
"Oh, I'm dying! Oh, no! Life is over! Don't forget me, Rainbow Dash..." she kicked and flailed, then let out a shriek. "REBEL FOREVER!!" And then she went limp. One leg twitched, and she was completely still.
The princesses, watching from their seats, were trying desperately not to laugh at the completely ridiculous and utterly theatrical deaths of the fillies. Celestia waved at Starlight, who lifted the 'corpses' in her magic and levitated them over into the crowd of ponies, where they could ressurect and watch the remaining sentences.
"General Rainbow Dash, Commander Spike, and Commander Trixie Lulamoon!" Starlight announced, as said ponies were escorted up by the guards. They hadn't seen the actual 'execution' but the dramatic shouts of the fillies had reached them. They had heard the remarks from them beforehand. Even Dash had to admit that they had showed great courage. She and her two companions stood before the Princesses, straight and still, meeting their gazes squarely.
"You three." Twilight said, narrowing her eyes. "You declared war and set out to takeover Equestria. You also would have assassinated us had Commander Fluttershy not stopped you."
"And you took Gummy!!!" Pinkie yelled indignantly, before nuzzling her returned pet.
"Exactly." Twilight said firmly. "That adds aligatornapping to your list of crimes."
"We were taking prisoners!!" Dash huffed. "But yeah, ok, I should have left him alone."
"Yes, you should." Twilight said. "You are all going to be severely dealt with. Severely."
"Trixie does not like that idea." Trixie said. "But Trixie refuses to be sorry for any of her actions in this war."
"Yeah, I'm not sorry either!" Spike added boldly, only to cringe at the withering glare Twilight shot his way.
"Trixie and Spike, you two are sentenced to be executed," She said. "Unless, of course, you choose to denounce your actions against us and apologise."
"Ha! The Great and Powerful Trixie will never apologise!" Trixie announced. She waved a hoof. "Besides, even if Trixie wanted to apologise, she wouldn't. Not when her brave Second Greatest Assistant and her friends went so willing to their deaths. Trixie can do no less."
"Agreed!" Spike said. "They died bravely. As did my dear Rarity before them...though she died in battle, but she would have died just as bravely had she be executed, too! So I'm going to do the same!"
"Very well, then." Celestia spoke up. "You will be executed."
"Wait, what about me??" Dash demanded. "You can't execute my top officers and not me!!!" She was ignored as Starlight led the other two to the wall.
"It was a pleasure fighting alongside you." Spike told Trixie, extending a claw. Trixie accepted.
"Trixie was honored to fight with you as well." The pair glared at the waiting firing squad. Starlight choked back a laugh.
"Ready! Aim! FIRE!!"
Spike and Trixie were not going to be outdone by the deaths of the fillies. Spike let out a yell as he grabbed his chest with both claws and swayed.
"Gah...I'm...hit...ohhhhhh...." he fell to the ground and thrashed. "Can't...breathe...feel...life...slipping...uggggghhhh." He gave a gasp, and a jerk, then lay perfectly still. Trixie, however, did not die so easily. She screeched out as if in terrible pain and staggered around before falling to the ground.
"Oh curses! Oh ow! Oh darn! Trixie is finished! Her last act! Her greatest of great finales! The Great...and...Powerful Trixie...is...no...more!" She flailed and thrashed briefly, then flopped out on her belly and lay still, eyes shut. Starlight was shking with silent laughter as she levitated the two over to where she had put the Crusaders. Then she waited.
"General Dash." Twilight rose and stared down from the small platform at her friend. "You are hereby sentenced to go to the wall! Right now!" Dash winced.
"Ok, ok, I'm going!" She said, and went to stand where the others had stood seconds before. The firing squad had retreated, weapons lowered. "Hey, I thought you were executing me!"
"Oh no, Rainbow Dash." Twilight said ominously. "You are facing a far, far worse fate than death."
"Oh come on, Twilight!" Dash said. "What could possibly be worse than-" she broke off as she found herself staring down the barrel of Pinkie's biggest party canon. She shuddered. "Oh Sweet Celestia..." Pinkie Pie stood ready, hoof on the cord. Gummy was standing beside her. "Twilight!!! Just kill me!! Please!!! Don't do this!!! Just kill me!!"
"Nope." Twilight said.
"You really asked for this, you know." Starlight said. Dash gulped.
"Is this about Gummy?" She asked her grinning 'executioner'. "Because I'm really sorry I took him, war or not. Please, Pinkie, don't do this!"
"Ready..." Pinkie said.
"No, Pinkie, please!!"
"Aim..."
"Pinkie Pie, I swear i will never touch Gummy again! Please!!!" Pinkie gave a delighted grin.
"FIRE!!!"
BOOM!!!!
Dash's scream of protest was completely drowned out by the massive layer of cake batter, cookie dough, icing, ice cream, and whatever else that fell on her, obscuring her from view. Pinkie giggled gleefully.
"Mission Revenge accomplished!"
The massive ball of goo shuddered and heaved and Dash arose from its sticky depths, scowling.
"Somepony shoot me." She said. "Or I'm gonna start another war...with Pinkie!" Pinkie yelped and scrambled to safety with Gummy just as Starlight blasted Dash with a dose of magic that sent her tumbling back into the goo.
"Alright, everypony!" Twilight called. "I hereby declare this war, this trial and this court, over!" Cheers rang out as ponies settled to eat cake and talk about the fight. The Element bearers and their siblings sat together with Celestia and Luna.
"Excellent job dying, Sweetie." Rarity said. "I have never been more proud!" Sweetie Belle giggled.
"Ah'm sorry I fought against ya, sis." Apple Bloom said, looking at Applejack.
"Aw, thats ok, sugarcube!" Applejack said. "Next time, ya can fight on my side."
"This was so awesome!" Scootaloo said. "I totally want to do it again!"
"Me too!" Sweetie Belle agreed.
"Next year," Dash said as she joined them, still wiping icing off her muzzle. "The Rebels are taking Canterlot. And Equestria. We won't fail this time."
"Sure, Dash." Twilight smirked. "You won't succeed."
"Ha!" Dash said, in a tone of voice that said she accepted the challenge. She looked over at Fluttershy, who eeped. "I'm sorry I scared you with my threat, Flutters. It wasn't a serious one. I'd never hurt you. But still, I shouldn't have said it."
"Oh. Its ok, Rainbow Dash." Fluttershy said with a soft smile as she reached out to put a foreleg around her friend. "I know it was all part of the game, and you'd never hurt me."
"Really, Fluttershy??" Twilight said incredulously, one eyebrow arched. "Are you sure? Cause I swear I remember you hiding in the castle dining room. Under a table. With your animals."
"I was nervous." Fluttershy said, blushing. "And...and the animals...well..." Angel hopped up to her and scowled, as if daring her to continue. "Um, ok. Maybe I was scared. But...but I never did think Dash would really truly hurt me." Dash grinned.
"Good!" She said. "And by the way, Flutters, the way you took us down in the throne room? Totally awesome!!!" Fluttershy blushed again.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie was impressed." Trixie added.
"Yeah, that was so cool, Fluttershy!" Scootaloo piped up. The pegasus hid behind her mane at the praise.
"Next year, you're on my team, Shy!" Dash said.
"Ooh, can I be on your team again? Can I? Can I? Huh?" Pinkie bounced excitedly.
"Yeah, Dash. Take her." Applejack said. Dash smirked.
"Sure thing, Pinkie. But absolutely NO CUPCAKE HATS!!" Pinkie was so busy bouncing she missed that part. Everypony munched their cake and laughed and talked.
"I can't wait til next year!!" Pinkie squealed, echoing the sentiments of all of them. It would be fun.
"But next time..."Dash warned, all eyes on her as she spoke her dire prediction. "Next time, Equestria will be ours!"