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// 36 Results 
// Story: Crushed: The Beginnings 
// by Silent Wing 
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After I woke up in my room for the first time, I was visited by an extremely upset Doctor Fine Stitch, who only came to yell at me, making it clear how irresponsible that stunt was. He almost dragged me back into the infirmary, but by promising him that I won’t leave the bed, except for bathroom breaks, he reluctantly allowed me to stay here.

I spent the next four days in bed, just like I promised, without anything special happening. While this may sound boring at first, it isn’t as bad as it may seem. Many ponies came to visit me on a regular basis and we spent a lot of that time playing games or simply talking.

Most of the time I was alone, I spent reading, coming up with new pranks for everypony, and worst of all, thinking about what to do with the ponies responsible for my current situation. 

Yes, they actually asked me what I find an acceptable minimum punishment, and if there are any punishments I won't allow them to use. The latter is the reason why King Gustav is upset with me. As much as he wants me to, I won't allow them to execute any of the ponies involved.

While he thinks that I show them too much mercy, by letting them live, it's actually the exact opposite. I don't grant them the mercy of a quick and painless death. No, I want them to suffer. I want them to know that it's their fault that I almost died. I want them to live with their guilt as long as possible. This is the sole reason why I am against the death penalty.

Honestly, I don't care what exactly happens to them, I just want them to live with their guilt for as long as possible. That and I never want to see those treacherous fiends again.


I think about other things I should possibly include, but my mind just draws blank. Just as if on command, I hear somepony knocking on the door. "Enter," I say without hesitation, curious who this could be.

The door opens only moments later and in comes Princess Luna. From the look on her face, I know immediately that I won't like where this is going. "Hey Luna, how's your day?" I ask her, trying to postpone the inevitable for at least a bit.

"It has been quite pleasant so far, except for the reason why I am here,” she replies to my dismay, coming directly to the point rather than slowly easing me into it. “There are a few ponies that would like to talk with you about what happened, if you feel up to it."

There it is, the one thing I didn't want to hear. I really want to say no, I really don't want to deal with this right now, but still I am unable to say no. "Send them in so we can get this over with." I inform her of my decision, fearing the worst.

"I fear that isn’t possible, simply due to the number of ponies involved.” A sliver of hope begins to rise in me, as she gives me that snippet of information, and I can only wonder who else would want to talk with me.

“So it isn’t Gabby Gums that wants to meet me?”

“No, but she would be the main topic we would talk about.” I sigh in relief about this news. Even if I am not looking forward to talking about them, it is still better than having to meet them in pony.

“Give me a moment to get ready.” With those words I toss the covers aside and walk directly into my closet. I look around for a few moments before I slip into the same dress I wore at the banquet in Griffonstone. I check in a large mirror if it fully covers the scar from where the Manticore ripped me open and sigh in satisfaction when I realize that this is indeed the case. 

After a moment of consideration, I also picked up my small crown, somehow having the feeling that this would be better for whatever will happen now. I look into the mirror once more before I walk back into the main room again, satisfied with what I see.

Luna then leads me towards one of the smaller conference rooms, upset that against all her protests I don’t let her help me. I may have flinched a few times when I put too much pressure on my wounded leg, but I managed to power through it and arrive at our destination only slightly exhausted.

“Hello everyone,” I greet the assembled ponies, griffons, and much to my surprise, a minotaur, as I enter the room. I am quick to take a seat waiting for somepony to explain what is going on here.

“Now that we are complete, let me introduce everyone before we come to the matter at hoof.” Princess Celestia is the one to speak up in a hurry, making it clear to me that she wants me to go back to bed as soon as possible. 

She starts the introductions with King Gustav and Queen Gertrude, who came to Equestria just for the trial before continuing with my father and moving on to the newly promoted Captain Shining Armor. Last is the minotaur, Judge Ironfist, who is serving as an independent adviser. His job is to make sure that the sentence is agreeable with both the griffon's and the Equestrian royal family. To be honest, to me that sounds more like a mediator than a counselor.

After the introductions are done, dad gives a very detailed report about what led to the chase and what exactly happened in the forest. However, what comes next is far more interesting, and while I didn’t pay much attention to dad’s part, my ears peak up when Captain Shining Armor begins to report the results of the investigation Princess Celestia launched.

“From all the ponies that were involved, we could already clear the teacher, Miss Cheerilee, of all charges. She spent almost the entire time of the Gabby Gums affair in the hospital, due to having a very bad pneumonia.”

I sigh in relief upon his words, remembering this and her substitute Eifel, a very nice cornflower blue earth pony. While he was almost as good as Miss Cheerilee, he always seemed to be very tired. I can only wonder why and would like to ask about him, when the unicorn beats me to it. “The same is true for her husband Eifel, who despite already having a full time night job took care of the lessons, when the head of the school board refused to hire a substitute teacher. Claiming that the school couldn’t afford that.”

“Next we come to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, the two fillies more commonly known as Gabby Gums. While their claim to have been pressured into writing all that gossip is true, they aren’t fully responsible for the last article.” My ears peek up at this, having trouble believing what he just said.

“It may be true that they wrote an article regarding Princess Silent Wing, but it wasn’t the one published.” I gasp in shock at this news, not having seen that one coming. Due to others having similar reactions, there is a short pause before he continues.

“On the day in question was a school board meeting. On the way out, Miss Spoiled Rich saw the article on the desk of the editor-in-chief. When she found it on the discard pile, she decided to spice it up immensely and let it be printed nonetheless. Apparently she had some bone to pick with Princess Silent Wing and Miss Scootaloo from when they humiliated her and her daughter at a modelling competition.”

“ARE YOU BUCKING KIDDING ME?” I scream at the top of my lungs, unsure if I heard this correctly. “Do you really want to tell me that all this only happened because of a blow to that old hag’s ego?” I continue much more relaxed, after taking some deep breaths to calm down. “If anything, she is the one that embarrassed her daughter and herself.”

“Would you mind telling us what exactly happened there, Princess Silent Wing?” Judge Ironfist asks me, speaking up for the first time. "It could be important for the upcoming trial."

“The competition was basically over, and we were in the middle of the award ceremony, when it happened. While her daughter Diamond Tiara had made third rank, I scored second rank, and Scootaloo had won. From then on everything went downhill. Spoiled Rich stormed on the stage, yelling at the judges, and I quote,  “How can those two worthless feather brains be better than my daughter? Just look at them, they are too stupid to even get a cutie mark.”

Needless to say that the judges weren’t pleased with that. Out of fear of what her mother would do to her should she not support her claim, Diamond Tiara said something similar, which led to her getting disqualified before both of them wound up being kicked out. Also, they got banned from all future events of this kind, both, as participants AND spectators as well.”

“That is a very interesting piece of information. I believe that the EFPS should take a closer look at the filly's living situation, if she is indeed afraid of her mother." Prince Luna proposes, earning only nods of approval from everyone present.  "Still, I believe that there is one more thing you had to report, am I correct Captain?"

"Indeed Princess, but compared to everything else it doesn't seem important. Nonetheless, after questioning everypony in Ponyville, the Royal Guard was able to create a list of those ponies that were part of the mob."

"Thank you for your quick work Captain. We will definitely put the information you gathered to good use." Princess Celestia replies before suddenly I am the focus of her attention. "Since you are the victim in this, do you have any suggestions for possible punishments, Wingy?"

"Well a few hundred hours of community service for everypony in the mob would be a good start." I begin with the easy part. I say the easy part, since this is the only thing that was unaffected by everything I learned since I entered the room.

After saying that, I stay silent for quite some time, trying to come up with anything that actually makes sense. Sadly my mind draws blank. Still, I know that they expect more from me, so I decide to give them some guidelines instead. "As long as I don't have to see any of them again for quite some time, and none of them dies anytime soon, I am fine with whatever you come up."

I instantly stare at the two griffons, hoping that they understand that this includes unfortunate accidents as well. "If it's okay with you, I would take my leave now." I add as an afterthought when something else I should do comes to my mind.

Much to my relief, no one protests and I am quick to step out of the room. However, unlike everyone thought, I don't plan to go back to my room just yet. Not if there is somepony I need to talk with first.

"Where do you think you are going?" I freeze in shock as I hear a very familiar voice from behind me, only moments after I started to walk towards my destination. Said voice did sound many things, but definitely not happy. "Your room is in the other direction."

I turn around, only to spot the expected midnight blue alicorn. While her voice didn't sound pleasant, her disapproving glare is even worse. "I am waiting."

It is with a heavy sigh that I admit what I am up to, hoping that she won't be too upset about it. It comes as quite the surprise when she lifts me up with her magic and places me on her back, but every possible protest about this treatment is silenced by what she says next. "I may have been okay with you walking back to your room, but the way to the dungeons would be much too far for your leg."

As much as I don't like to hear this, I know for sure just how true her words are, and I only have to think back at when I came here, to know that she is right. This makes it an even bigger surprise for me, when she uses her magic to place me on her back, and carries me