James looked up the military preparations for the trial as Luna raised the moon. Snipers would be placed in and around the building, with orders to fire on anyone trying to rescue the prisoners or attack the proceedings. Three Guards, fully armed with the best rifles, would be guarding each prisoner, with orders to shoot escapees on sight. Pegasi Guards would fly around the courthouse as the evidence was laid out and questions asked. Lawyers would be forbidden to contact third parties, with a lifetime jail sentence for doing so. No unsupervised visits would be allowed, and the dungeons where the leading culprits - Chrysalis and Raneiro, along with their highest officials and generals - would be searched five times every day, with each cell being entirely overhauled and scanned.
Meanwhile, in prisoner of war camps, most prisoners were in the process of being released, except for the perpetrators of the Gryphos Massacre, who had been chained in their barracks and denied contact, and whose facilities were also being searched daily. Shining Armor would be overseeing the first major release of prisoners the next day.
So far, everything looked alright, security-wise, and it appeared as though it were watertight. Naturally, though, he wondered what else could be done.
He set down the paper he had been reading, yawning as he did so. The preparations would take a few days. In the meantime, when he wasn't busy with the military protection for the trial, he would free to explore the palace.
James walked over to the door in the side of the room and walked onto the small balcony beyond it. The cool night air was refreshing, as was the sight of the moon in the night sky, which was clear of clouds. The distant stars twinkled as he leaned on the stone railing.
He looked down and to the right at the northern districts of the city on the side of a mountain. The occasional pegasus flew over the buildings, but most inhabitants were either in bed or going to or from local taverns or pubs or other places where nighttime entertainment occurred. It was, or so it seemed, peaceful.
He heard, or thought he heard, the sound of bat wings. He looked up and got a glimpse of a thestral flying behind a pillar, after which the presumably Lunar Guard was out of sight.
"They're good, aren't they?"
James turned to his left, where Princess Luna was lowering herself from the air. "You got a rare glimpse of one of my Guards at work," the Lunar Princess continued. "Most never see them at all."
"I guess I'm fortunate, then," James replied, budging over to the right to make more room for her.
"They're very devoted," Luna said, turning her head so that both eyes rested on him.
"I noticed during the war," James said. "They always did go at the enemy with a certain elan. I hope you appreciate their duty and sacrifice."
Luna's face became sorrowful for a moment. "Don't think that I don't know what they've done," she said. "I've had to deliver letters to distraught fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters. I've been to burials and I've seen, and in some case personally given, medals given to veterans who will be physically crippled for the rest of their lives, and pray that that does not stretch into emotional and mental crippling as well. The thestrals gave it their all, as did the entire kingdom." She sighed.
"Sorry to bring it up."
"No, it's alright. My sister and I do appreciate the work of our Guards. My sister sees them as her children, and I do not leave them out of my plans. I just hope they don't have to fight anymore wars, though I have my doubts that that will be."
"Yeah."
They both looked off the the balcony for a few minutes, saying nothing.
"Is our military ready to do it's part for the trial?" Luna asked at last.
"It is. I suppose in normal times they'd be considered 'extreme,' but..."
"The past year hasn't been 'normal times.' I'm willing to accept whatever proposals you have, provided they do not feature torture or anything else expressly forbidden by law."
"Alright. Well then, let's go inside and I'll show you the list."
They did just that. Luna inspected it for several minutes. "Do you really believe that three whole brigades - twelve thousand ponies, at full strength - is necessary?"
"For one thing, please remember that your sister came up with that."
"Ah, yes, thank you for the reminder. And 'one thing' implies another."
"The other being that these brigades are combat veterans of the late war. They've been depleted, so that's probably something more like six thousand, but they're made up of the best. They know the security measures and the risks. Excepting something unseen, no one will get through them while they live."
"I believe you. As for the idea of shooting anyone who trespasses-"
"For one thing, if they are trying to get inside, they'll have to fight fully armed and veteran soldiers, meaning they will probably be armed themselves and trying to harm those same soldiers. I'm not saying that we should shoot everyone who tries to get in. I'm making sure that the orders include restraints. But we both know what diehards for the griffon cause were willing to do back in Gryphos. We need to be prepared for that eventuality here."
Luna flinched at the memory. "I suppose you have a point. And I agree that any prisoner who tries to escape will be doing so at their own peril. However, I'm worried that these measures will be harmful to any innocents caught in the crossfire."
"I think there's a simple solution for that; block off the streets near the courthouse and make sure that the streets we'll be using are clear when transporting the prisoners to and from the dungeons."
"That will take considerable time and effort," Luna answered, "and it would likely cause traffic to become congested. We could try flying the prisoners to their destination instead, though that could be risky, as they could potentially attempt to fly away or be freed by diehards."
"Could you teleport them there?"
Luna thought about it, then shook her head. "Teleportation is not as easy as Twilight may make it seem. It requires knowing where your destination is, otherwise one could end up inside a wall or in an immeasurably small space, both cases being, needless to say, fatal. Hence why Twilight usually only teleports very short distances. Most unicorns don't bother with it, and it's easy to see why. Trying to transport the prisoners across the city would be very difficult, not to mention exhausting and dangerous."
"Okay, so teleportation is out." James sat back down and rested his head on his hand. "I suppose we'll have to transport them down the streets... and hope that there is no plan by diehards."
"We haven't been idle, you know; my sister and I have approved a proposal by Shining Armor to check incoming trains and airships, and to patrol the edges and streets of the city, with an aerial patrol of pegasi Guards, with pegasi from the regulars who are either staying on permanently or haven't yet been demobilized. As of tomorrow, those patrols will be enforced by the Royal Guard during the day, and my Guards are already on patrol tonight, not only protecting the palace, but the streets as well."
"Good. At least we're doing something pro-active." James sighed. "Let's hope its enough."
"Hope and pray," Luna said, and James nodded enthusiastically.
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Shining stood inside the gate of the prisoner of war camp outside of Canterlot, situated at the bottom of the mountain. Today, the griffon troops who had either been captured or surrendered would be released, along with the many diamond dogs and the few minotaurs that had been taken alive after being too badly wounded to continue fighting.
"They deserve to rot in there," one soldier nearby muttered. "They wanted our land, and for our wives and foals to be their slaves. They can stuff it."
"We're trying to end the conflict," Shining replied. "Keeping them all imprisoned isn't exactly cheap, and it will only make things worse. I don't want a camp revolt, which would happen sooner or later if we did what you're suggesting."
"If they try it, they'll be sorry," the soldier answered. "I say we let them-"
"No," Shining interrupted. "We have our orders. And I personally agree with those orders. We're releasing all who were not complicit in war crimes. If you want to complain, I suggest you talk to Princess Celestia, but I wouldn't waste your time trying. She's set on this."
The soldier - a brown earth pony stallion - sighed and said something foul under his breath. Shining pretended not to notice.
A file of griffon soldiers began to march past them Shining eyed them with caution.
The griffons and their former allies bore many different expressions. Some, especially soldiers previously from penal battalions, looked happy to be alive and free at last. Others looked warily at the ponies, all armed with bolt actions rifles, as they trudged past. The diamond dogs all looked submissive, though much like the penal soldiers were all too happy to be getting out. The few minotaurs marched with their heads down in utmost shame.
But not all of the griffon soldiers looked happy. Several cursed their pony captors as they walked, and other spat at the hooves of the pony troopers. Others just glared in furious defiance. Shining had anticipated this response, and per his orders, none of the Equestrian soldiers responded with gunfire or with words, but many stared angrily back at the defiant former captives.
One griffon looked particularly contemptuous. Shining felt some sense of having seen this griffon before, but couldn't remember.
Suddenly, a memory came flooding back in a flash;
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One of the Gatling bunkers was still shooting as griffon soldiers came right up to the firing holes. What happened next was horrible. The ponies inside, surprised, tried to escape, but the enemy tore at the sandbags and wood, ripping the weak structure apart. They shot both gunners... and kept shooting them well after they were dead. One of their officers fired both of his pistols into one of the corpses, and two of his soldiers began tearing at the bodies themselves.
"Thought you could do that to us and walk away or give up?" one of the killers demanded.
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This griffon had shot one of those Gatling gunners, whom Shining now remembered had tried to surrender.
"Seize him!" he shouted, pointing a hoof at the offender.
Four soldiers converged on the griffon he'd pointed to. The other ex-prisoners gave them a wide birth.
"What do you think you're doing?" the griffon yelled as he was tied up and brought in front of Shining.
"You're under arrest for the murder of an Equestrian soldier after his surrender."
"I don't-"
"Don't lie!" Shining yelled in his face. "I saw you! You were in that counterattack, and you helped butcher a bunch of Equestrian soldiers in Gatling bunker!"
"Oh, those guys. They had it coming to them, thinking they could give up after shooting down hundreds of us-"
One of the soldiers smacked the griffon in the face as hard as he could using his hoof. The griffon howled and fell over, with the soldier standing over him, furious and ready to continue.
"That's not acceptable," Shining said, waving off the soldier and staring at the griffon. "You don't get to choose to kill surrendering soldiers."
"Don't be a hypocrite, horse," the griffon said defiantly. "Your people would have done the same thing. They probably did, and didn't bother mentioning it. Clean out your own house before-"
Shining used his magic to force the griffon's beak closed. "Take him away. And investigate for any others who did the same as he did."
"Yes, sir," the four soldiers chorused; the one who had whacked the griffon dragged the prisoner away.
"I do wonder though," one of them said as the others left. "Maybe he's right and some of ours... I wouldn't be surprised."
Shining opened his mouth to disagree, but then thought about it. The enemy had had many nasty surprises, including beam rifles and their Gatling guns. Chances were, at least one Equestrian soldier had done something just as bad. It really would be hypocrisy if that was let go, and Shining, as Captain of the Royal Guard and an enemy of criminals, couldn't let one guilty party go free and jail the other.
"Alright, we'll investigate both sides, though I doubt anypony on our side is going to willingly speak up."
"We'll do our best, sir."
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James made the small number of changes Luna had wanted him to make after getting up that morning. He looked it over once more before sitting back down on his bed.
While the transport of the prisoners - James could hardly bring himself to describe them as "defendants," as that would imply that they might be innocent - would be far from risk-free, the soldiers would be taking the best care possible to both prevent escapes as well as civilian casualties. Hopefully, weapons fire would not be necessary.
Luna had added a particularly harsh line; "In the event that a prisoner should break free of their bounds, and be on the verge of escape, their guards are to consider their sentence at once to be 'execution' and carry out that sentence immediately."
Not so soft as I would have expected a year ago, he thought to himself as he re-read the orders.
He yawned anxiously. The prisoners would have a hard time escaping on their own, and the multitude of military pegasi would be able to intercept the even if they were able to run from their guards. Not that that was likely, given how Celestia had given instructions that all of the prisoners were to be chained to very heavy iron balls to keep them from doing any such thing, with the keys to them being held by a random Guard within the guard detail.
Everything seemed to be airtight. It was just that that was keeping James from being able to rest on it. Quite a few things had seemed "airtight" before - the massacre in the Gryphos Square came to mind - and had turned out to be less than so.
Regardless, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to make everything perfect, so he set the orders back on the desk where he had picked them up, and walked out the door.
The palace, as always, was brightly lit, and Royal Guards were everywhere; security was being tightened everywhere until the trial was over. James made his way - gradually, as the palace was quite big and it was easy to get lost - to the dining hall and entered.
All three Princesses were calmly eating breakfast at the table, chatting, as he came in. Celestia was sipping tea while reading a newspaper. Luna held a donut to her mouth with her magic while holding a piece of paper with a hoof. Cadence was munching on an eclair and looked as if she were in a personal heaven, at least for the moment.
Celestia turned toward the door as James closed it behind him. "Ah, good morning, James. I was just finishing a delightful article in the Canterlot Times."
"Is it about donuts or eclairs?"
The Princess laughed. "That would be nice as well, but no. Anyway, how go the preparations?"
"They go well." James folded his arms across his chest. "We've got good security, and the prisoners aren't going to be bale to fly the coop, outside interference or not. In the meantime, I assume the gathering of evidence and the non-military related stuff is going well?"
"It is. We have most of what we want already, but we're mostly waiting for griffon and changeling witnesses to arrive. Then the trial will begin in earnest." Celestia's smile faded. "It's an ugly business. The ex-rulers' former subjects mostly want them dead, and this will be a greater display of hatred than I know what to do with."
"It's bad, Auntie, that's for sure," Cadence said, finishing her eclair. "I'd prefer to just send them to prison and be done with it. No need for all the jeers and disgust."
Luna sighed. "I know. And if their crimes had only been against Equestria... Yet that is not the case, and we must obey the law ourselves, or else prove ourselves to be walking in their hoof - or claw - steps. In order for us not to usurp power as tyrants do, we must needs be loyal to the principles of law and order."
James sat down in one of the chairs. "I'd prefer to keep the crowds away from the prisoners as we transport them. Regular ponies, changelings, and griffons will be there, and no doubt all sorts of stuff is going to be thrown at them... and, incidentally if accidentally, at us who are guarding them."
Luna made a disgusted face. "Undoubtedly. I'll be making a decree that that's banned under pain of arrest for the pony, griffon, or changeling responsible. As much as I would like to, though, the catcalling and jeering and whatever other verbal slurs the crowd might throw at the defendants is not so easily stopped. There is such a thing as freedom of speech, however foolishly some might choose to wield such freedom."
"The war is over," James said, taking his gun out of his holster and examining it, "and yet the only thing that's changed is the type of fighting."
"We ask just one more offensive from you, against the defendants in this trial," Luna replied, softening. "One more campaign. A legal one. It'll be over eventually."
"Will it?" James asked, putting the pistol back. "Just about every nation in the world has noticed the war; how long do you think it'll be until another eruption, with even greater caches of weapons?"
"Don't think that has escaped our notice," Celestia answered, looking and sounding worried. "I have fears for the future. At least we have one where Equestria is free to pursue its own course, and not that of a foreign tyranny. We'll be keeping an eye out, and trying to stop any future wars. Our recent victory, and our allies, old and new, will probably be enough, for the near future, to hinder further military actions, though I'm not going to lean on that, and we will be watching the world for the rest of our reign in case similar tyrants arise."
"Good." James shut his eyes and breathed in and out. "It seems the epilogue to this war is about to begin," he murmured picking up a chocolate-frosted glazed donut. "Let us pray and hope it ends well."
"With Providence and justice and fairness, it will be," Luna replied earnestly.