The day of the trial had finally come. Twilight was nervously rushing around, double checking and triple checking everything while Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash just sat there feeling numb. Even though they had a ton of evidence damning Thunder Chaser, there was that tiny voice in the back of their minds saying the trial might not have the optimal outcome in some regard.
Finally there was a knock on the door of the room they were staying in, breaking all the ponies out of their respective state of mind. Twilight cautiously opened the door with magic to reveal Princess Celestia standing there. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo bowed and Twilight rushed forward to hug her mentor.
"It's time." Celestia said simply. She led the three ponies outside, down the stairs and away from the castle.
"Princess Cadance and Princess Luna will not be attending. All of them but I have engagements. I however, will be there." Princess Celestia announced.
"I-is that a good thing? Do you think something bad is going to happen?" Scootaloo asked.
"You have a plethora of evidence, my personal lawyer, and not to mention, two Elements of Harmony on your side." Celestia soothed. "One being a princess herself. I am not allowed to pass judgement, even as a member of the jury, but I see no way this can end up in any way with Thunder Chaser not in a jail cell, my little pony."
Scootaloo relaxed a bit at that.
And then it was time. All four ponies entered the court room, Celestia taking a seat by herself. The juror stands were far from filled, but still featured quite a few ponies neither Rainbow Dash nor Twilight recognized. Holding their breath they made it to the prosecutors table on the left and sat down. Waiting for them there was Morning Skies and Celestia's chosen lawyer, Stone Quill. He had a brown coat, a dark blue mane, and glasses. His cutie mark was a quill and parchment. He nodded to greet them, and encouraged them that the case was in the bag.
The silence built for another few moments when the door burst open, an old looking pony with a brown coat and a gray mane came ambling through, followed by Thunder Chaser bound in a wheelchair, being wheeled to his seat by a nurse pony. As tense as the situation was, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride when she saw what she did to him.
After Thunder Chaser and his lawyer made their way their way to their table, the nurse pony bowed her head to the two, and moved to a seat as a juror. Three more ponies entered, the first in a blue police suit, and the second holding two large manila folders, and the third holding nothing. They took their respective places in the courtroom.
"That's the bailiff, the clerk, and the court reporter." Twilight whispered to Scootaloo. Scootaloo nodded numbly.
As more and more ponies filtered inside, the tension grew thicker. It actually felt to Rainbow Dash as if she could cut it with a knife.
Finally a large pony with a wig arrived. The bailiff shouted out "All rise! Judge Stone Slammer presiding." As he entered the room, and after the judge made his way to his desk, everyone else was allowed to sit down. He waited patiently as the clerk found, and handed him a paper.
The judge cleared his throat and stared at Thunder Chaser. "Mr. Thunder Chaser, you currently stand here being accused of eight different charges. They are, in order: Foal abuse, domestic abuse, violation of royal house arrest, breaking and entering, attempted murder, aggravated assault, and foalnapping. How do you plead?
"Not guilty to all charges, Your Honor."
Of course that snake couldn't just make things easy.
"Very well. Stone Quill, you may proceed." The judge ruled.
"Of course, thank you, Your Honor." Stone Quill said. "I'd like to call Morning Skies to the stand."
Morning Skies gave the group a reassuring nod as she moved to stand in the middle of the courtroom.
"Now Ms. Morning Skies, you're here with Foal Protective Services and already turned in your report, correct?"
"That is correct." Morning Skies simply stated as the clerk handed the judge a document.
"Can you please tell us what you put in your report?" Stone Quill continued.
"Certainly. A little over two months ago, Princess Twilight asked me to come examine a filly named Scootaloo, who she said had been the alleged victim of abuse, coming from her father. While we waited for Scootaloo and her guardian Rainbow Dash to come, Princess Twilight told me the stories both Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash had told her. After a crippling accident where Thunder Chaser nearly lost the ability to fly after getting his wing caught in some heavy machinery, he turned to alcohol as an escape, slowly becoming an alcoholic, and abusing his daughter and wife because he couldn't handle his anger. Despite running away at several points, Scootaloo returned to the household to feed herself, not wanting to turn to petty theft. This happened twice, until Thunder Chaser got to a new level of violent and broke both his daughter's wings."
There came some gentle gasps from the crowd, but Morning Skies continued unabated. "She ran away from home and lived in a treehouse for just over a week, before convincing her surrogate sister Rainbow Dash to take her in for the weekend. Once there, while distracted Scootaloo dropped a plate, and the sound of it shattering induced a PTSD attack. Rainbow Dash eventually calmed her down, and after the filly cried herself to sleep, retrieved Princess Twilight. The next day Princess Twilight brought Scootaloo in and performed a spell on her that let us all see recent damage her tissues had taken, portrayed by a light. Scootaloo lit up like a Hearth's Warming Tree, having injuries all over her body. Most notably damaged though, were her wings, which were pure white, and her left foreleg under the joint, where she had reportedly broken it after being pushed off a cloud by her father in an attempt for her to learn to fly. Miss Scootaloo has shown heavy signs of abuse and PTSD as a result."
There was quite a bit of murmuring in the background, silenced only when the judge slammed down his gavel and yelled at them to keep order.
"Now if there's nothing else to add..." Stone Slammer paused, waiting to see if Morning Skies had more to say. "Let the cross examination begin."
The older lawyer moved to stand in front of Morning Skies. "So you're saying miss, that all your evidence is based on the word of an impressionable child, and a shoddy spell that could be twisted to show any result?"
Thankfully, Morning Skies had kept a cool head throughout the process. "It's no meaningless conjecture when young Scootaloo starts flinching and hiding upon the simple sound of a plate breaking. According to Ms. Rainbow Dash, the filly was inconsolable until convinced that nobody was going to hurt her, several minutes into the panic attack. As for the spell, while it was indeed casted by Princess Twilight, who I'd daresay has a very trusted reputation, it could in all likeliness be performed by any unicorn in the room if they understood the spell."
"I do, in fact know of that spell. Ostende Dolore" The judge spoke. "Miss Scootaloo, please stand in front of the court."
Scootaloo looked at Rainbow Dash desperately, hoping there was some way out of it. Being scrutinized by three mares she knew while under that spell had been mortifying enough, but in a room full of strangers and Princess Celestia? Scootaloo could feel a panic attack oncoming. Rainbow Dash gave her a pat on the head and a nod, and gently gestured Scootaloo off with an "I'm so sorry."
Scootaloo stood in front of the judge, looking about ready to wet herself. The judge's cold look softened as her gazed at the filly, and he set his jaw.
"I can see you're intimidated, Miss Scootaloo. If you wish, we can bring in the curtain. That'll just have you, me, the two lawyers, and the court reporter. Would you like that?"
Scootaloo nodded furiously, unable to even open her mouth.
The judge slammed his gavel on his desk, earning a wince from Scootaloo. "Bring in the curtain."
Somebody magically brought in three carts with curtains hanging down, much like you'd see in a hospital. They arranged them around Scootaloo so the view of almost everyone in the room was blocked. A moment later the jury gasped as the unmistakable shape of a filly started shining through the curtains. The spell was broken and the curtains were wheeled away. Upon a nod from the judge, Scootaloo sprinted to the table Rainbow was at, sliding underneath it and hiding under her legs, face buried in her coat. Rainbow gently rubbed her back as the attention was fixed back on the judge, who nodded at the elderly lawyer. "No further questions, Your Honor." He and Morning Skies returned to their respective seats, as Stone Quill took the stage again.
"If there's nothing left I'd like to call Ms. Rainbow Dash to the stand." He announced.
Rainbow meanwhile, still had the filly having a deathgrip on her. Her attempts at moving were blocked by Scootaloo wrapping both of her forelegs around Rainbow's. Not knowing what else to do, Rainbow Dash gently kissed the top of Scootaloo's head, prompting the filly to look up at her.
"It's okay Scoots, I'll be right back. I'm only going a couple feet away." Rainbow reassured her. Scootaloo released her grip and proceeded to hide under Twilight. Rainbow Dash walked to the stand and sat down, looking at Stone Quill expectantly.
"Ms. Rainbow Dash, can you please tell us your story, coming from when Scootaloo came to visit you for the weekend?”
Rainbow nodded. "Friday afternoon after school got out, I had agreed to meet Scootaloo in a clearing nearby to give her some flight lessons. She ended up bringing her entire class, because some schoolyard bully had told her anybody who could perform a Sonic Rainboom would never waste her time with Scootaloo. So I pulled off a Sonic Rainboom, grabbed Scoots, and we went back to my house."
Several ponies gasped at the nonchalance in which Rainbow described shattering the sound barrier.
"After that." Rainbow continued. "She told me her parents were out of town, celebrating their anniversary and she had nowhere to go. I tell her she can stay until they get back and prepare the guest room for her. Nothing happens until the next morning, when I went to go wake Scoots up before she slept in too much. I could tell by the squirming and moaning that she was having a nightmare. When I woke her up she even seemed scared of me for a while, until she could recognize who I was. We ate, and started on the dishes. Scootaloo wasn't paying attention and dropped one, instantly screaming and throwing herself into the corner of the room, where she started crying and making herself as small as possible, as Morning Skies said. After I convinced her to open her eyes and see I wasn't going to hurt her, she started looking at me like I was going to attack her, even asking why I hadn't attacked her because she broke a plate. She ended up crying herself to sleep in my arms, I put her down and got Twilight, and Morning Skies covered everything else. Ever since her breakdown she's been too terrified to even move if I so much leave her sight range or am not explicitly close by. I mean, I left for five minutes once to tell my work I was taking some time off to care for Scootaloo, and when I returned she was in the same place as when I left, shaking like a leaf."
"And then, a couple days later, I'm reading Scootaloo a bedtime story, and I hear something break, so I tell Scootaloo to hide, and see this bastard had broken into my house, wanting to hurt me and torture Scootaloo. So naturally I charge at him, because he's obviously gearing up to attack me, and we end up fighting. He did this:" Rainbow pointed at her torn ear. "This:" Rainbow pointed at the scar over her eye "And a bunch of other stuff that got me locked inside a hospital for two long months. So he manages to sink a knife into one of my lungs, and I'm stunned, so he grabs Scootaloo, takes off with her, and almost escapes with her. Had he escaped with her, Scootaloo probably wouldn't even be alive by this point. So I start flying up, trying to spot him while passing out AND bleeding out, and I see him going toward the Everfree Forest. I go into a dive, Rainboom into him, grab Scootaloo right before he hit the ground, and pass out."
The judge nodded. "Silver Pots" he gestured at the elderly lawyer. "do you have anything else to ask?"
"No, Your Honor." Silver Pots replied. He looked like he hated being there.
"You may return to your seat then, Miss Dash." The judge said.
Rainbow Dash walked back to her seat with a sense of pride. Scootaloo immediately left Twilight and cuddled into Rainbow's side. Rainbow gingerly lifted one of her still recovering wings and pulled Scootaloo into a winghug. Twilight meanwhile, gaped at Rainbow Dash. She'd been dreading Rainbow Dash giving her testimony because she was sure Rainbow would start screaming, or do something to get held in contempt of court, making this whole trial a lot more difficult to deal with. As she watched Rainbow Dash gingerly boop Scootaloo's nose, Twilight gave off a small smile.
Rainbow Dash really has grown a lot as a pony since this whole thing started.
"Lastly..." Stone Quill drew out. "I'd like to call Princess Twilight to the stand."
Twilight blinked, having been staring at Dash. She cleared her throat, ruffled her wings a bit, and took the stand.
"Now Princess Twilight, can you tell me your version of the story?"
"Certainly." Twilight began. "The same night that Scootaloo had that first PTSD attack, Rainbow Dash exploded into the library and startled me." Hearing some confused murmurs behind her, Twilight decided to clarify. "I work as a librarian in Ponyville, and live above it."
"Regardless, Rainbow Dash begins yelling something about Scootaloo, and I assume it's just her overreacting to Scootaloo banging herself up a bit trying to venture for her cutie mark. Of course, that all changes when Rainbow Dash informs me that she thought Scootaloo was being abused, then physically pulled me out of the library and to her house. Scootaloo woke up and after much pleading, told us the same tale of her abuse. I, having an understandably angry response, teleport the three of us back into the library, write a hurried letter to Princess Celestia and Morning Skies each, then ask my dragon assistant Spike to instantly send them with dragonfire."
More confused rumbling.
"Princess Celestia writes me back instantly, reminding me of the Ostende Dolore spell, granting Rainbow Dash and I temporary guardianship of Scootaloo, and authorizing me to put Mr. Thunder Chaser here under royal house arrest. Of course the next day I perform the spell with Morning Skies, and that was the extent of my involvement for a while.
"After a while though, I woke to a shiver down my spine and a dull throbbing in the base of my horn. Part of royal house arrest involves me installing a... sort of tripwire spell, and that was the trigger. So I rush around searching for either Thunder Chaser or Rainbow Dash, and I see the Rainboom. Only one pony in history has done that, so I knew it was Rainbow Dash. By the time I reached her, she was... she was bleeding out in a pool of her own blood, tightly curled around Scootaloo, her last thought having been to protect her from the impact. I... I thought she was dead for a moment, until I saw her twitch. Not too far off, I also saw Thunder Chaser, who was screaming in pain. I picked all three ponies up telekinetically, and got to Ponyville general as fast as I could. As I know Rainbow Dash's medical record states..." Twilight paused as the clerk handed the judge a copy of Rainbow Dash's medical record. "She had 9 broken ribs, a broken wing, a fractured wing, a punctured lung, a severely damaged, and at the time blinded eye, a torn ear, and a concussion. She obtained each of these injuries in the battle with Thunder Chaser after he broke into her home."
The jury gasped again.
"Silver Pots, you may begin your cross examination." The judge ruled.
"Just one question, Princess Twilight." Silver asked. "Some of the injuries you've stated make no sense. You've stated Rainbow Dash was blinded in one eye after the attack, but both of her eyes seem to be working fine now, regardless of the scar. Could you explain that?"
"But of course." Twilight smiled. "Tradition pony magic can't heal that sort of ocular damage, that is fully true. However, we have a zebra who lives in the Everfree Forest and has a fix for just about anything. She helped me make an eyepatch that would slowly break down the injured tissue and replace it with healthy tissue, helping it seal itself back up. Of course her vision will never be as good as it once was in that eye, but it's better than blindness."
"And the hospital just let you bring in an unknown medical item and apply it to a patient without testing or anything?" Silver pressed.
Twilight paused nervously. "Both Zecora and I have upstanding reputations in Ponyville. I spoke to a doctor about it, and after signing some paperwork, they authorized it."
Silver grumbled. "No further questions, Your Honor."
"Very well Ms. Twilight. You may return to your seat." ruled the judge.
"Thank you for your time, Your Honor." smiled Twilight.
"Are there any other witnesses you'd like to call, Stone Quill?" Stone Slammer questioned.
"No, Your Honor."
"Very well then. Silver Pots, take the stage."
"Of course, Your Honor" Silver said, turning to Thunder Chaser. "I'd like to call Thunder Chaser to the stand."
Stone Slammer held up a hoof. "In lieu of your condition, Thunder Chaser, stay where you are." Thunder Chaser nodded appreciatively.
"Thunder Chaser, can you please recount your version of the story?" Silver asked.
"I can. So as in regards to the kid running away... Yes, I did resort to alcohol after my wing was injured, and I will admit that sometimes I got angry and may have shouted at the kid, but I never hit her. As for the magic whatever, I'm fairly certain they covered the scamp in something that will make it glow under the spell. Anyways, my daughter likes running away. Kid is at the age when they get all rebellious and hate their dads. I was always worried, but deep down I knew that in a city like Ponyville, she'd be alright.
"So when she decided to go missing for the weekend, I got concerned. We hadn't traded harsh words the night before, she just vanished unprompted. I didn't know where she would go, so I just searched around my home and hoped for the best. Then saturday morning I wake up to find a princess all angry looking, breathing down my neck. She goes on to tell me what a terrible stallion I am, and threatens me saying I'm not allowed to leave the house. Apparently my daughter had been telling sob stories about me. I ain't no abusive dad. I raised her and loved her and kept her fed all her life, then she decides to go say I've done all these terrible things. And then I find out that Princess Celestia authorized this, and just gave her student and her student's best friend guardianship of my daughter? With no legal process? I call that flagrant nepotism.
"Anyway, I recall my daughter going on and on about this "Rainbow Dash" character, saying she was the scamp's 'fearless idol' or some nonsense. I know nothing about the broad though, except she's fast and strong, so I take a knife with me in case she decides to attack me out of nowhere. And after I found her not so subtle home and knocked on her door, that's exactly what she did. So yeah, we fought. And then I realized my daughter is being watched over by some psycho! So I grab her and book it, trying to save her, and the last thing I hear is a giant explosion, then all of a sudden I'm hitting the ground and can't move, all because this CRAZY BITCH decided I needed to be paralyzed for trying to save my daughter's life."
Rainbow opened her mouth to scream at Thunder Chaser, but Twilight, who had been expecting it ever since he started talking, shoved her hoof in her mouth and shook her head at Rainbow. They had a solid case, no need to weaken it by throwing a fit.
"Stone Quill, you may commence your cross examination." Stone Slammer ordered.
"Certainly, Your Honor." Stone Quill responded. "Mr. Thunder Chaser, we have a clearly unbiased spell cast from the judge, official records from FPS, and three witnesses to the fact that Scootaloo has been suffering from the symptoms of abuse. Not only that, but we have a record that your wife was inducted into a home for battered mares, a place specializing in helping mares with being the results of domestic abuse. If you mean to tell me you've never hit your daughter, can you explain all those away?"
"I dunno." Thunder Chaser frowned. "I'm not the only pony in her life she had interacted with. Maybe she got into some fights at school, she was always a confrontational type. She also crashed a lot on her scooter. Or hay, maybe one of them-" He pointed his good hoof at Rainbow and Twilight "-did it. Maybe they covered her in some junk that would show up on the spell. As for my wife, she's been trying to push forward a divorce, this was probably just an attempt to make the court more sympathetic to her cause so she can take more of my stuff."
"So just to clarify..." Stone Quill smiled. "Is that two element bearers, ponies that have saved Equestria on many different occasions and are seen as national heroes, nevermind the fact that one is a princess, and the other literally has your daughter clinging to her in fear... are either lying, or trying to cover their own flank assuming they beat your daughter themselves?"
Thunder Chaser grit his teeth. "Well maybe she got in fights at school. Again, she was always a little firecracker."
Stone Quill fired back. "We both saw the size of those injuries. Those bruises were about the size of a fully grown stallion, not a young foal."
Thunder Chaser said nothing.
"And as for the breaking and entering." Stone Quill continued. "The lock on the front door of Rainbow Dash's home was found to be broken, and the door broken off the hinges, a telltale sign of breaking and entering. Neither you or Miss Dash were in any state to break down a door after the fight, but you insisted you simply knocked on it?"
Thunder Chaser weighed his options for a moment. "Alright, so I did start off with a knock, but as the panic set in more I may have tried... knocking a bit harder."
Stone Quill smiled again. "Which constitutes as breaking and entering, if I'm not mistaken." Stone Quill turned to the judge. "No further questions, Your Honor."
"Very well." sighed Stone Slammer, banging his gavel against his desk. "The court will reconvene in one hour to pass judgement."