Everypony in the small court room was staring at Jack. Every pair of eyes on the dark changeling was filled with both betrayal and hatred. Jack tried to avoid eye contact with the crowd, although he found himself looking towards Twilight. He had never seen a single pony with such a sad expression on their face, hers almost pleading to him. She had tried her best to represent him at the court, although her efforts were futile. Ever since the changeling attack in Canterlot, nopony wanted anything to do with a changeling. After the judge had granted permission for the minister to cast his spell to clear any changeling disguises, Jack found himself hit by a strong bolt and knocked to the floor. Still from the lower vantage point, he rested his head against the ground, barely able to maintain his gaze upon Twilight. 'Why didn't you tell me...?' Twilight mouthed.
"I... I'm sorry..." Jack said, closing his eyes and preparing for his punishment.
The room remained silence, and Jack felt his limbs seized by several guards. He let out one last sigh before he was escorted out of the room.
>---<
Jack jumped himself awake, shocked from the dream he had last time. He wasn't ready for the trial that would happen that night, and he was scared of what was going to happen. Twilight had agreed to represent him, although the minister seemed committed to 'bringing justice'. Barely awake, Jack attempted to get a look around him, although his vision was too blurry from the sudden rise from his sleep. As the rays of light pierced the windows of the library, Jack noticed Twilight working vigorously, writing extremely fast on a couple of scrolls. Spike was still asleep, cuddled up in a small basket beside the desk.
"Good morning, Twilight." Jack said, still trying to focus his eyes.
There wasn't a response from the purple mare, so he decided to take a nice long stretch. After ensuring his joints were still movable, he realized that his entire body was still exhausted and sore from the previous night. Looking back on the situation, he should have kept his distance from the changeling, they were quite unpredictable at times. That moment was lost in time, however, and he finally saw Twilight take a short pause in her writing.
"So..." Jack said, stepping off the small mattress, "What's going to happen? Does Ponyville even have a court?"
Twilight turned around to look at the speaker, and she rubbed her hoof against her head. She had bags under her eyes, so Jack assumed she either got very little or no sleep at all.
"Uhh... We've never really had a real case before. I'm putting together all the evidence against the possibility of you being a a changeling, but it's pretty tough, especially since you're quite new to Ponyville." Twilight said, then pausing for a moment. "I also assume that the 'court' would take place in town hall, seeing as it may be the only suitable place for such an event."
"You look exhausted; did you get ANY sleep last night?" Jack asked.
"No, but this isn't anything some coffee can't fix." Twilight stated, giving a yawn afterwards.
"So, how much longer until the court begins?"
"We never actually set a time, just sometime in the afternoon. It would be best to be there around noon, make sure we're all set up."
Jack nodded his head in agreement. He had always wondered what it would be like to be in a court room (although this was town hall, so it would be different), but he never expected to be the defendant.
"Oh, and Jack..." Twilight said quietly, "If there's ANYTHING you need to tell me, and I mean ANYTHING, you need to tell me now."
Jack paused, debating if he should really tell her the truth. If he did, he could risk Twilight assaulting him, beating him senseless and preventing the need for the court altogether. But if he didn't, and Twilight found out, the results could be even worse. Especially since he could be revealed in front of the entire town. The silence lasted for what seemed like an eternity. As Twilight shook her head and prepared to leave, Jack finally spoke up.
"Actually... There may be one thing..."
>---<
The doors to town hall flung open, standing in the doorway was both Jack and Twilight. On the way over, they had borrowed some old suits from Rarity, which took a while seeing as most of her old designs were stashed away in the small attic. Jack and Twilight both wore black suits, with a white shirt underneath and a small red tie underneath. The shirts were quite uncomfortable, at least since Jack had adapted to the four legged figure. Twilight seemed to shift uncomfortably as they walked, more than likely she wasn't used to the tight fit around all the limbs. As the pair entered the room, there were a few other ponies that had collected. Jack recognized some of them, although he still wasn't sure about their names. The room itself was a lot smaller than he had expected, although the ceiling was quite high. Jack and Twilight were greeted by a large, circular room, packed full of small wooden benches with three stands at the far end. The center stand was slightly taller than the others, and the two side stands each contained a small microphone. Despite the town’s efforts, it still seemed as if they had thrown the room together last minute.
Between one of the side stands and the wall, there was a mare quivering in fear. She had a dark orange mane with a light orange body, and her cutie mark was a few carrots. Jack was tempted to go ask her what was wrong, but he was afraid it may involve some sort of paranoia of changelings. It appeared that the room had been used prior to the current time, there was an occasional piece of trash left on the ground, and some of the benches weren't quite aligned.
"Comon, Jack. There's a washroom just over there if you need to get your outfit straightened out." Twilight said, sipping at her coffee.
"Alright, I'll be a minute then." Jack replied.
Ever since Jack told Twilight about being a changeling, she had been silent the entire way to court. She didn't seem to care, really, although maybe some of his emotional sapping powers had influenced her in some way. Then again, he never felt like he was draining anypony of emotions, unless it was a natural sort of thing.
Twilight nodded her head. Jack doubted that Twilight would have been so accepting of the news. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out.
Seconds passed, as Jack stared at his own reflection in the bathroom mirror. Those seconds turned into minutes, which eventually turned into hours. Everypony that passed by didn't acknowledge Jack's presence, almost as if he wasn't of any importance.
Walking down the streets with Twilight caused many of the ponies to stare. News traveled quickly in such a small town, and the possibility of him being a changeling was definitely important news.
The crowd outside the washroom had grown, awaiting the verdict on Jack, waiting to discover the changeling that had befriended half the town. Jack just couldn't bring himself to exit, until Twilight finally called.
"Jack, the jury is ready and court it about to begin!" Twilight called, just barely opening the washroom door.
Ordering coffee alone was a challenge. The mare responsible for the sales refused to serve Jack, seeing as he was going on trial soon. Perhaps the citizens of Ponyville were just overreacting, they had never had any sort of trial before.
She wouldn't enter the colt washroom. Although he shuddered to think who would come in after him should he chose not to leave. Piling up all the courage he had left, he pushed open the washroom door and took a step onto the tiled floor. The single step echoed throughout the room, causing the mass of ponies to fall silent. All eyes were on the grey stallion.
>---<
Two taps of the mallet and the courtroom fell silent once more. Mayor Mare had assumed the role of judge, she had been the only one in the past twenty years to experience a crime against Ponyville. Aegis was the prosecutor, being the one accusing Jack of being a changeling, and for obvious reasons Jack was the defendant.
"The case remains the same." Mayor Mare stated. "Minister Aegis has accused Jack... Do you have a last name by any chance?"
Jack shook his head.
"Well, that is not of importance at the moment. Minister Aegis has accused Jack of being a changeling. Should he be found guilty, we shall cast a spell to determine the truth. The only reason for the trial is the fact that the spell can be dangerous."
The room was filled with quiet whispers. Twilight turned to Jack, sliding her hoof across her mouth as if telling him to remain quiet. Another bang of the judge's mallet and the room fell into complete silence once more.
"I wish I could have told you sooner, but it's been so hard on me..."
Twilight remained silent. The entire library remained silent. Luckily for Jack, Spike was still asleep. Who knew what would have happened should he have found out the truth.
"I've apologized and I will keep apologizing. I'm sorry!"
"Prosecution, you may begin with your case." The mayor stated.
"Of course, your honor." Aegis replied, giving a smirk towards Jack and Twilight. "You see, Jack's behavior was rather irregular in my presence, compared to what I witnessed from other ponies. He was constantly keeping track of my location, and last night I caught him spying on me while I was preparing to rest. Furthermore..."
Twilight shook her head at the question. She still refused to talk to him, and it was almost time to go to court. The pair had already begun walking, and they expected to be there soon. Jack assumed her mind was still trying to wrap around the fact he was a changeling, despite the fact more than two hours had passed since he had told her.
"Twilight, please. I'm begging you, just do it for me. Do it for us." Jack pleaded.
"...I'll try"
"...And that, your honor, is why the defendant is guilty of being a changeling." Aegis finished.
The crowd began speaking up once more, Jack was fiddling nervously with his hooves and Twilight was reading over some of the scrolls she had written.
"Very well then. The defense may now stand." The judge stated.
It was surprising that the minister had not called up any witnesses, Jack found. Perhaps the minister didn't trust anypony besides himself.
"Your honor, I would like to present to you evidence that counters the minister's theory here." Twilight said. "You see, magic is common for any unicorn, such as myself, or in this case Jack. Although some unicorns may find magic difficult, sometimes they may be gifted in a certain category of magic. Jack, for instance, may not be able to cast basic spells without difficulty, however..."
A small flash of light emitted from Twilight's horn and it vanished. All that remained was the small parting in her hair, avoiding where her horn should have been.
"Illusion magic is always a possibility. It may be true that illusion magic is much more advanced, however past unicorn studies shows that there is the occasional 'gift' for a specific branch of magic. This occurs where a unicorn has a strong ability towards casting certain similar spells..."
Running into Rarity was not expected by either Jack or Twilight. The conversation could have gone better, especially since Twilight remained silent the entire time, nodding or shaking her head when a question was directed towards her. With one final look of anger, Rarity stormed off, leaving the two in the dust.
"Do you think that all of your friends will be like that?" Jack asked.
Twilight nodded.
"I'm kind of afraid of what will happen if we meet Rainbow Dash..."
After saying that, Twilight had developed a slight amount of fear in her eyes.
"...And I rest my case." Twilight stated, beaming proudly at her works.
"So be it. The jury will come up with a conviction by the end of the week. You are all free to-"
"WAIT!" The minister snarled. "I am NOT going to let a fool like you just walk out of here. I KNOW you're a changeling. It's FAR too obvious! I CANNOT STAND TO HAVE A CHANGELING BREATHING DOWN MY NECK FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!"
"Minister please calm-"
"NO! I'm sick and tired of this. We ponies already have enough problems to deal with as is! Having MULTIPLE changelings throughout the town doesn't make things any better! I'll deal with this myself, if I have to!"
A few ponies had risen from their seats, looks of panic across their faces. A couple of them began to cautiously approach the minister, his horn now glowing in a light yellow aura.
"You...Aren’t getting out of here that easily!"
A wave of energy was released from the minister's horn. Jack, as well as most other ponies in town hall, were blinded by the light. Feeling a sharp pain to his chest, Jack felt his hooves leave the ground as he slammed against the wall, knocking him unconscious.