Starlight Glimmer was escorted into the courtroom's antechamber by the Pie Sisters. Seeing Pinkamena's cheerless expression was unnerving for obvious reasons, but even Maud's stoic expression was somehow different than the one Starlight had become so familiar with. So, Starlight didn't even bother speaking to them, considering that the two battle hardened earth ponies had been forced to leave their home and fight in a war that she had created.
However, all of this was essentially blown out of Starlight's mind when she saw Princess Celestia standing before her in the small antechamber. The prisoner was only partly aware of Chancellor Neighsay standing next to the Alicorn princess, as Celestia had a cold, hard stare fixed right onto her.
"Starlight Glimmer of the Origin Timeline," Celestia said authoritatively, "I trust you understand why you are here?"
Unable to find her voice, the wide eyed Starlight merely stared up at the Princess of the Sun and nodded.
Celestia gave a curt nod back in return and said, "Very well. In a few moments, you will be put on trial for crimes against equinity. The sheer amount of pain, suffering, and death caused by your actions is. . .unspeakable." Celestia's eyes narrowed as she bore down over the unicorn, "There have been countless battles against Sombra's forces. I've seen my little ponies carelessly slain, or dragged off to be enslave by him. This once beautiful land is either converted by Sombra or stripped of its resources in order to fight him. The battles constantly end in stalemates or loses! Holding him back is the best we can do! I must constantly watch my precious ponies-!"
Chancellor Neighsay cleared his throat loudly.
Celestia shut her eyes tightly and stepped away from Starlight, who was still standing but breathing heavily. Celestia opened her eyes and cleared her throat before continuing, "All ponies. . .all creatures deserve a fair trial, and you will receive one. I will oversee the proceeding, while your fate will be decided by a jury selected to represent all of Equestria. Soldiers who have seen active duty, volunteers who have given their time and energy to the war effort, civilians whose lives have been changed by this war, refugees who have lost their homes, business owners who have had to make radical changes in order to survive in this new normal, and so forth. They do not know of the investigation, the activities of the Time Turners, or exactly how you were able to cause this war. All of that will be revealed during the trial, so no bias or preconceived notions will taint the justice here. Chancellor Neighsay will act as prosecutor in this case. As for the defense, I must say that we are showing you quite a bit of generosity. You may call upon any pony from your timeline to act as your defense attorney. We will make use of our Time Portal Spell to retrieve them. The same will apply to any witnesses you or your defense attorney wishes to take the stand. Understood?"
Starlight nodded again, her initial fear now turned to tepid resignation to the situation she was in.
"Do you know who you would like to call upon as your defense?" Celestia asked.
"Princess Twilight," Starlight said without hesitation.
Celestia's banged her gavel three times and announced to the courtroom, "The trial of Equestria v. Starlight Glimmer is now in session."
Starlight sat next to Twilight, and there was a clear difference between the two mares. Twilight had a look of determination and carried herself in a professional manner, while Starlight was the very definition of downtrodden. She cast a quick glance at Celestia, who was solemn, with a strangely tired look in her eyes. Then she looked at Chancellor Neighsay, who stood like a stallion on a mission. No that her attention wasn't solely focused on Celestia, Starlight noticed that this Neighsay looked more or less identical to the once she was familiar with. He still wore the same regalia, except now he wore two medallions, one of the EEA and another for the Time Turners.
When Neighsay turned to glare at her, Starlight cowered in her seat and whispered to Twilight, "I can't do this. I can't do this. Just let me plead guilty-."
"No," Twilight whispered back strongly, "Just be calm, and let me sort this out for you. I have a backup plan all set. If I can't exonerate you, I can still fix it so everypony will be happy. Trust me."
"How does the defendant plead?" Celestia asked.
"Not guilty," Twilight responded immediately.
"Really!?" Neighsay remarked in disgust.
There was some chattering from the jury, which was silenced by Celestia's gavel.
"Prosecutor, please remain professional," Celestia said sternly.
Neighsay bowed and said, "My apologies, your Majesty."
Celestia nodded, and she said, "Prosecutor, you may proceed."
"Thank you, your Majesty," Neighsay said, and he got up and stood before the jury. He hardened his gaze as he channeled all his emotions into a passionate manner of speech, "Mares and stallions. . . for too long we've had so many aspects of your lives ruined by this terrible war against King Sombra. We've all given up so much, and some ponies have even lost their very lives. The little things that brought us so much joy, things we had taken for granted, and now all gone! Sacrificed in the name of the war effort. And the fact of the matter is, that all of this suffering, all of this pain, the loss of homes, livelihoods, and lives, is the fault of the mare than stands on trial this very moment!"
Twilight stood up and said loudly, "I object! The prosecution is trying to create an emotional response without showing any evidence that my client even is responsible for the things he is saying!"
Celestia nodded and said, "Objection sustained. Prosecutor, please get to the facts."
Neighsay nodded, and he continued, "Several months ago, the Crown had learned that time travel magic had been used by an unknown party, and that said time travel was connected King Sombra's rise to power and the subsequent war. A special task force of gifted individuals was put together, and after countless hours of hard work, a spell was created that could look into the past, and even into branching time lines. By tracking the magical signature of the traces of the aforementioned time travel magic found, we were able to observe the inciting incident which changed our world for the worst."
Neighsay's horn glowed, and a large magical window appeared in the room. The window showed Starlight Glimmer coming out of a time portal in Cloudsdale, and then secretly casting a spell on the filly Rainbow Dash to hold her in place.
"Now, as you are all very intelligent ponies, you may wonder what this small change has to do with King Sombra," Neighsay said, "Well, after some more research into the time line from which Starlight Glimmer is from, we found the answer."
Neighsay's horn flashed again, and the window changed to show Twilight Sparkle standing in a lecture hall with images being projected onto a large screen behind her.
The Twilight in the image explained, "I can speak from my own experience that the power of Cutie Mark Magic is very real, and in the instance of my friends and I, it can be traced to a single event! Without Rainbow Dash's race to defend Fluttershy's honor, this rainboom wouldn't have happened. Fluttershy might never have discovered her love of animals. Applejack might never have realized that she belonged on her farm. And Pinkie Pie might never have decided to leave hers. It might be hard to imagine Rarity without her sense of fabulousness. But it's even harder to fathom what my life would be like. Without this rainboom, I might not have gotten into magic school. Celestia wouldn't have taken me on as her pupil or sent me to Ponyville to meet my friends. And the most powerful thing about Cutie Mark Magic that I found is the connection I share with them."
The image then panned over to reveal Starlight Glimmer sitting in the audience, smirking.
Neighsay cleared his throat and said, "Twilight Sparkle, along with the five ponies she spoke of, were bearers of six powerful artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. These artifacts would've possessed sufficient power to defeat King Sombra. However, Starlight Glimmer's used time travel to deliberately prevent these six ponies from connecting. Therefore, the Elements of Harmony were never acquired by their bearers. Without this powerful defensive weapon, Equestria was defenseless against King Sombra. Therefore, the blame for King Sombra's advance and the destruction of so many lives falls upon the head of Starlight Glimmer."
The window vanished, and the ponies in the jury all appeared quite shocked by this revelation. Twilight, however, appeared quite confident. She leaned over to Starlight and said, "Okay, I know just what to do here. It'll be fine."
"Defense, you may call your first witness," Celestia said.
Twilight nodded, and she stood up and said, "I call Spike the dragon to the stand!"
Nearby stood a version of Sunset Shimmer, who opened a portal next to her and stepped through. It closed behind her, and another one opened a few moments later. Sunset returned with Spike next to her, and she guided him to the witness stand as she closed the portal behind her.
Once Spike was seated, Celestia said, "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"
"Yeah. I do," Spike said as he nodded his head.
"You may proceed," Celestia said to Twilight.
"Thank you," Twilight said politely, and she approached Spike and said, "Spike the dragon, were you present when King Sombra was defeated in our timeline? . . . Which appears to have been dubbed the Origin Timeline, huh, interesting. . ."
"Well, yeah, I sure was," Spike replied.
Twilight snapped out of her musing and nodded, "Ahem. Yes, good. Now then, what was used to defeat King Sombra when he had first returned along with the Crystal Empire?"
"The Crystal Heart."
Twilight raised an eyebrow, as if surprised to hear this, and continued, "Not the Elements of Harmony?"
Spike grinned and said, "Nope. It was the Crystal Heart."
The jury started to chatter in response to this fact, which put a smile on Twilight's face.
"Alright then. So, who used the Crystal Heart to defeat Sombra?"
Spike folded his arms and answered, "Princess Cadence."
"Not one of the Element Bearers?"
"Nope!" Spike said with a shrug.
"I OBJECT!" Neighsay roared in rage, and he pointed an accusing hoof at Spike and shouted, "This dragon is lying by omission!"
"Sustained," Celestia said calmly, "Prosecutor, you may cross-examine the witness."
Neighsay sneered at Spike and said to the room at large, "Technically, I needn't bother asking any questions. Using the Time Window Spell, we studied King Sombra's defeat in the Origin Timeline very carefully. I could simply use it again to show the jury what truly transpired. . .but, perhaps a cross-examination would do more to help defame the characters of those who would dare defend Starlight Glimmer!"
"Hey!" Spike said angrily.
"Spike the dragon, who found the Crystal Heart?" Neighsay asked.
"Well. . ." Spike said as he twiddled his thumbs, "Twilight did, but-."
"Why was Twilight Sparkle at the Crystal Empire?" Neighsay asked, although it sounded more like a demand.
"Celestia sent her there as a test, but-," Spike began nervously.
"Who delivered the Crystal Heart to Princess Cadence?"
"Oh, um, that was me!" Spike answered quickly.
"Is it true that you were hatched by a magical surge from Twilight Sparkle?" Neighsay asked in a slightly calmer tone of voice.
Spike blinked, looking a bit confused by the change of pace, and he said, "Huh? Oh, yeah, I was. But what does-?"
"Was that magical surge caused by Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom?"
Spike's eyes widened, and he gulped and answered, ". . . Yes."
"Therefore, did Starlight, or did Starlight not, remove two of the key players in King Sombra's defeat from the equation by preventing the Sonic Rainboom by preventing your own birth and removing any possible reason for Celestia to give Twilight Sparkle any test of any kind?"
"Twilight, we're losing!" Spike shouted out in a panic.
"Objection!" Twilight cried out, "Why did the prosecution begin the proceedings by claiming that the Elements of Harmony were what defeated Sombra when he is apparently well aware that they weren't used?! He's trying to trick us!"
"I claimed no such thing," Neighsay replied calmly, "I merely said that the Elements possessed enough power to defeat King Sombra, not that they were ever used to do so. What I was inferring was that in a situation where the Crystal Heart in unobtainable, as it is now, the Elements of Harmony could be used instead to either destroy Sombra out right, free his mind-controlled soldiers, or at the very least stop his advance without jeopardizing the homes, lives, and livelihoods of countless innocent ponies. However, due to Starlight Glimmer's actions, the Elements of Harmony are inoperable, and the Tree of Harmony from which they came has been confirmed to be dead."
Twilight was both greatly frustrated at the unicorn before her and deeply disappointed in herself. This Neighsay was clever, and just as hard to deal with as the one from her own timeline. The same terrible feelings from when her school got shut down were making a powerful comeback right in the pit of her stomach. So, Twilight realized there was only one thing she could do.
"The defense rests," Twilight said, and she turned to sit back down next to Starlight.
Spike suddenly found himself being grabbed by Sunset's magic, and he cried out, "Hey, wait! I want to stay here with Twilight and Starlight! Wait!"
Sunset ignored the dragon's protests and sent back through another portal, swiftly shutting it once he was through. Meanwhile, Twilight leaned in next to Starlight and said, "It's fine. It'll all be fine. I couldn't exonerate you, but I can still protect you, and help this world too. Just wait and see."
What followed was a long series of testimonies from other members of the Time Turners. The only exceptions were their versions of Twilight and Starlight, who did not physically come to the trial, but sent in statements nonetheless. Twilight couldn't bear to face what had been stolen from her, and Starlight feared she would be unable to contain her anger. At any rate, the intelligent ponies all explained the chain of cause and effect that Starlight Glimmer had disrupted, and how it turned Equestria from a land of beauty and plenty to one trapped in a constant war that seemingly had no end in sight. Considering Sombra's immortal phantom-like nature, there was truly nothing to keep the war for going on for all of eternity provided Equestria didn't either surrender or simply slip up one too many times.
And so, with Princess Twilight unable to refute any of the claims made, and with all the evidence pointing to the immobilization spell Starlight cast upon the filly Rainbow Dash as the sole reason for this world's misfortune, the jury was allowed go off and deliberate on the fate of Starlight Glimmer.