A week later, it's finally the day of Luna's trial. There to defend her are the Mane Six. Celestia is over it as judge. The jury is equal parts unicorn, Pegasi, and earth pony. As everything is getting set up, the jury argues amongst itself.
"She almost put us in eternal night!" hollers a unicorn stallion.
"A nightmare monster consumed her soul, she didn't know what she was doing," cuts in another unicorn, this one midnight blue in color.
"She should still be punished. She was in control of her demons," responds a pegasus mare.
"Quiet! All of you!" hollers Celestia. "The trial hasn't begun yet. Hold your horses!"
A few hours later, the trial begins. "Luna, please state your case," says Celestia. She then whispers to herself out of earshot of the other ponies. "I'm sorry sister."
"Nightmare Moon wasn't fully me. I was consumed by envy, jealousy, grief and pain. As a creature that feeds off of these, the nightmare force took over my body and boosted my bitter feelings. I didn't want to cause eternal night. The nightmare made me do it against my will. My free will was gone. I was consumed. Consumed," cries Luna bursting into tears. Luna then steps out of the seat and goes back to the throne in the corner of the room and continues to cry. The next pony into the stand is Twilight Sparkle.
"Twilight Sparkle," says Celestia, "please state your name and how you helped to heal Nightmare Moon and get Luna readjusted as you saw everything first hoof."
Twilight nods and answers the first question. "Hello, my full name is Twilight Polaris Sparkle. I am the former student of Princess Celestia, Princess of Friendship, and the Element of Magic. When Nightmare Moon first returned to Equestria, I and my friends, the other elements faced her and used our elements to heal her and return her to being Princess Luna. Not long after, her full power was returned and she came for her first Nightmare Night post banishment. I showed her around and showed her that she was loved especially by all the little fillies and little colts. She is an inspiration and help to them. When she was possessed by Nightmare Moon, she was just that: possessed. She wasn't in her right mind. She was under the influence of the poisonous nightmare force. It was poisoning her mind. Can't you understand that? Why are we putting her on trial then? Ponies change. Ponies can change. Why don't you understand that? Why are you such fools? So blind to this?"
"Thank you, Twilight Sparkle," responds Celestia. "You may return to your seat." Twilight nods and returns to her seat next to her friends. Over the following hours, the rest of the Mane Six state their sides. "Well, thanks every pony for stating your sides on this. I need time to mull this over. Recess!"
The ponies then go on recess and a few hours later, the call is made and the ponies don't care for it. They feel like Luna got off Scott free because she's Celestia's baby sister.
"Of course Celestia would name her own sister innocent," grumbles a stallion named Gusty Gloom.
"I mean, if she was influenced by something else, she didn't technically do it," responds a unicorn mare named Glisten Glow.
All the ponies then part ways after talking over it more for several minutes. They then go into their own houses and don't come out for the rest of the night, locking their doors to show they don't want to be bothered.
"Those two may have a point," sighs Twilight as she and her friends walk by. "But she was punished. Do they not realize she was banished to the moon? All of this was so stupid."
"I agree," adds Applejack. "That's much worse punishment than being sent to Tartarus or the Canterlot Prison."
"It's just wrong that they'd turn on her so easily. Ponies can be so dumb sometimes," adds Rarity with a sigh.
"Mmhmm," adds Fluttershy. "What they did wasn't right. They shouldn't have put Luna on trial before her own sister. What did they expect to happen?"
"Well, at least it's all over," responds Twilight, "and hopefully it stays that way."
"Yeah, hopefully," responds Applejack. "I pray on my parents' stars that it stays that way."
A few minutes later, the friends all enter Sugar Cube Corner and enjoy some sweets and chatter together before going upstairs to enjoy a nice sleepover to get their minds off the day's events. After the day's events, it feels like Equestria is tearing itself in three different directions and honestly that scares all of them, Twilight more than the rest of them. She can't help but feel unsteady, uneasy. Why would they turn on Luna now of all times? She'll have to look into it a little bit more, but that can wait until tomorrow. Tonight, she'll just enjoy the sleepover with her best friends the best she can. Tomorrow, she'll talk more with Luna and do more research on why the ponies are turning on their princess now when they never wanted to do so before. Something is up and Twi is determined to get to the center of it. Hopefully she can, but at the same time, she's worried maybe there was nothing else calling it and that's what she honestly fears the most.