"Are you sure of this, Page?" Celestia asked as she paused outside the doors. Luna looked at me with concern from next to her.
"I am," I confirmed, "And I think the bit of theatrics will save us some significant headaches in the future."
Celestia nodded, "I don't disagree, but I worry you're pushing yourself too hard."
I smiled at her, "Buck, I already walked here. I can handle twenty meters more to my chair."
"...That's not what she meant," Luna said softly.
"I know. I'm fine," I told them firmly, "I told each of you before, I'm not made of glass."
"They worry about you," Midnight said as she and Twilight caught up, "Is that so strange?"
I shot her a look, "Don't you start."
Twilight smiled, moving up by my other side, distracting me by pressing her nose against my cheek, "Calm," she reminded me.
I shot her a look too before I turned to point my right hoof between Midnight and myself, "Just for the record, you and me, never a thing. Ever will."
Midnight looked amused, "Oh?"
"Yes. Because I'll never survive you and Sparks at the same time," I said firmly before I smirked and eyed Twilight, "All though, it is a nice mental image."
Twilight's cheeks turned a bit red before she glared at me, "Stop that!"
Midnight laughed, "He is your coltfriend, not mine. You deal with it."
"No thwacking with wings, it may kill me," I reminded Twilight cheerfully.
She glowered at me for a second before she shook her head, "You and Celestia really do belong together."
Celestia smiled.
Luna looked smug.
Then Celestia brought us all into order, "Everypony ready?" she asked, turning serious..
Everypony nodded and got into position. She and Luna in the front, everypony else behind them. Me to the right and Twilight and Midnight next to each other to the left. Everypony ready, the doors opened and we filed out into the throneroom. Even compared to the normal group of hangers around that usually filled it, the place was packed. Ponies standing shoulder to shoulder all the way from the open area before the thrones and to the gates.
Celestias and Lunas thrones were where they always were, but smaller ones had also been installed. A pair of purple ones, marked with a pink star and with darker purple pillows had been set to Celestia's left.
To Lunas right as another one was set up, a black and silver throne, same size and shape as Twilight and Midnights, marked with an empty scroll on the backrest and thick black velvet pillows.
Making a show of walking without a limp, I crossed over and climbed onto the throne with my mark on it, instantly missing the one back home. Mine back home was big enough that I could lay down comfortably on it, this one I had to sit on.
Also, the pillows on this one were way too soft.
All of which were things I was thinking of, doing my best to ignore the thousands of ponies staring at me. I never liked that and this was more than ever before at once.
So I did what I could and ignored them.
Celestia looked out over the gathered ponies and for once, nopony spoke for several moments before she spoke up, her voice ringing out over the throneroom clearly, “This trial has been called because of the attempted assassination of Prince Blank Page,” she said and looked towards the guards by the main gates, “bring in the accused.”
I love democracy. The attempt on my life has left me scarred and deformed.
Damn, I should have worn a cloak!
The gates opened and a quad of guards escorted the prisoner inside. The chains keeping his forelegs hobbled jingled as he walked, a ring fitted around his horn for security.
Neighsay looked like he had had better days. But he walked with his head raised and had clearly made an effort to look presentable. He wasn’t wearing his normal cloak, but his mane was in it’s usual brushed back style and his short beard was kept in order.
The crowd parted around him and the guards as they moved forward. Now things weren’t quiet, whispers moving back and forth across the throneroom.
They got to a halt before the thrones in the cleared area and he looked up at us.
Celestia looked down at him and I glanced at her. She looked calm. Luna looked calm. Twilight looked angry and Midnight had reached out and put a hoof on her shoulder.
Celestia and Luna looked calm.
But I knew both of them well enough to say that they very much were not. In fact, both of them were pissed. Really, really, pissed.
As in, just shy of astronomical anomalies levels of pissed.
Which, as the judges in a trial, was not the best mood, but the evidence was strong and as long as they played along with the plan, everything would not only go fine, but help change the optics of the situation.
“Neighsay,” Celestia said quietly, but her voice still seemed to reach towards every corner of the throneroom, “You stand accused of the attempted murder of an alicorn. Your magical signature has been recorded from a teleport at the site of the crime. In the search of your estate, a crossbow practice range has been discovered in your cellar, but a crossbow was nowhere to be found. The bolts discovered matching those fired from the attempted murder weapon. Your feelings towards the victim are well known. How do you plead?”
“Not guilty,” he said firmly, looking up at her, “I did not attempt to kill an alicorn, I attempted to save Equestria and its alicorns!”
The throneroom has been quiet, or at least it seemed like it had been, but a hush spread across the ponies there.
He raised an hoof as far as it could with the chains and pointed in my direction, “That thing is not an alicorn! Since it insulated itself into the court, Equestria has been heading towards ruin! Changeling infestations, attacks by chaos spirts, Centaurs! Griffons! Yetis! Monstrous vamponies!”
Neighsay looked around, “Do you all not see it! I know some of you share my view! We have to save our amazing country! With every minute passing, the very values of our society is crumbling away, eroding beneath that things influence! Corrupting our alicorns! Has there not been solar events never before recorded in our history!?”
Silence.
Nopony spoke.
Neighsay glared in my direction, “That thing is no alicorn! It’s a devil! A devil made pony flesh! It whispers secrets, corrupting the minds of our pure Princesses and leading us to ruin! We must destroy it before it’s too late! We must cast the monstrous creatures out and return to our solid traditions before the very fabric of our society is sundered!”
Celestia took a deep breath before letting out a soft sigh, “Neighsay, you have admitted to your crime. While the attempt on an alicorn's life is a rare one, thankfully, the precedent is firmly set. Banishment to Tartarus.”
He met her eyes pleadingly, “My Princess, I implore you. Please listen to me. It is not to late t-”
“And so I give my judgment,” Celestia said firmly, her voice as soft as diamond, “I sentence you to-”
“Princess Celestia,” I said, cutting her off, “I believe that in this case, perhaps a different sentence may be more suitable,” before I looked at Neighsay, “This pony is clearly… not well. I am no doctor, but his mental state is clearly unstable. Possibly paranoid schizophrenia or something similar. Banishing him to tartarus would be wrong in my mind. I understand there is a precedent in the judgment in this sort of crime, but in this case I believe we should make an exception.”
“How dare you! Monster! I’m not insane!”
I looked at him with pity, “We shouldn’t use that word.”
“I’m not insane! I’m not insane!”
Now the throneroom was no longer quiet. The whispering was back.
Neighsay spun around, looking around, “I’m not insane! Don’t listen to it! Can’t you see what it’s doing!?”
Celestia sighed softly, “I believe you may be right, Prince Page,” she said and shook her head, “I’m sorry, Neighsay. You did your duties well in the EEA in the service of the crown and I thank you, but now it is our time to take care of you. Guards, please escort Neighsay to the holding cell and prepare for his transfer to closed care.”
The guards moved to pull him away and now he was no longer keeping his composure. Yelling, ranting and raving. Ponies gave them even more room on the way back, shying away from him.
Made me wonder if I was actually right. But in the end it didn’t matter. It was not him we needed to banish.
It was his ideas.