//------------------------------// // The Case // Story: Trials and Tribulations // by _SilverTongue //------------------------------// Trials and Tribulations By Silvertongue123 Edited by Ancient Lionturtle and Luna’s Guard With help from Dusk Quill Chapter 1: The Case “The jury has found the accused guilty of theft, attempted murder, and assault and will be sentenced to forty years in prison for his actions.” There was a deep sigh of relief from the prosecutor who had fought hoof and tail to convict Orange Stripe of his heinous crimes. The prosecutor was the best know lawyer in all of Equestria, Silver Tongue. Silver Tongue was a tall, white stallion who had won a number of highly publicized cases, including Derpy vs Canterlot, which involved an illegal name change. Silver Tongue looked towards the accused as the guards led him to the back room to arrange transport to a prison somewhere in Equestria. I hope to Celestia he goes to the Moon Prison, he thought. The Princess had sentenced a number of ponies to the Moon Prison for murder and higher crimes, but never for theft or bribery, Silver Tongue still hoped for Orange Stripe to be sent there. However, looking at the stallion, Silver’s expression changed from triumphant to dejection. Orange Stripe had an interesting appearance. An orange, white striped coat, with a matching mane, accompanied with a cutie mark of an orange and white pair of shoes. Supposedly Orange Stripe was a fantastic runner and had had the potential to compete in the Equestrian Olympics. Instead, he had turned to crime, and had been running from cops ever since. Orange Stripe turned around slowly and glared at Silver Tongue, those cold, orange eyes pierced Silver to his core. He turned his own blue eyes away from the accused and back to the papers in front of him. Shifting his attention to his client, he saw she was bursting with tears. She was a fairly well known pony in the area, Manehattan. Her name was Gentle Heart, well known for her work in rehabilitation of ponies that had lost family members. Orange Stripe had posed as a stallion who had lost his wife and daughter in a horrible fire and needed financial aid. After Gentle Heart had kicked him out of her center, he tried to bribe the security ponies to let him back in, but when they refused he tried to strangle one of them with his hooves but was pinned down and arrested for Gentle Heart. “Thank you so much Silver Tongue, that stallion was bad news all along, and justice was served to him because of you!” she exclaimed. Silver Tongue just shook his green mane and packed up the evidence and pictures he had used for the case and put them in his brief case, then, using his unicorn magic, levitated the brief case and proceeded to walk out of the court room. He slid through the throng of ponies surrounding the door and left quickly and quietly out the front doors of the court house. When he stepped out he was assaulted by the smell of Manehattan, congested and disgusting. He despised the city. While walking through the crowds, he caught a glimpse of himself reflected in a department store window, his gavel cutie mark reflected back at him The story behind his cutie mark was simple. His father, Strong Arm, was a poor man and had little time for anything but work in the mines outside of town, so Silver grew up alone, as his mother had run away because she couldn't handle living in poverty. Silver never had friends, but would always try and persuade ponies to take his side on any issue. Sadly,he never was assertive enough to convince them and came off as weak. One day while he was trying to convince his school class to elect him as class president, he was laughed at, but he put his hooves down and argued why his plan was much better than any of his other class mates'. He won the election and had received his gavel cutie mark as a result of his debating prowess. He sighed, looked away from his reflection, and kept walking. He arrived at a street corner to signal a taxi pony and after a moment, a yellow chariot appeared with a pegasus pony pulling it. “Where to?” asked the taxi pony, his eyes lazily drifting toward a blue stripe in Silver’s mane. “The Estates on the West End,” Silver Tongue replied. The taxi pony listlessly set the timer on the chariot and took off. Flying was something that Silver Tongue enjoyed in a city that offered so little. He was able to see Manehattan from the sky where the lights were beautiful. Then it turned from city to the suburbs, where Silver Tongue lived, and everything was made more amazing by the night, the colors stood out more and the city looked alive. Silver Tongue was at peace for once in his busy life. The taxi pony swiftly flew towards the West End, the richest part of the suburb, and when he arrived at the gate of the Estates, he calculated the price of the ride. “45 bits.” the taxi pony requested. Silver Tongue opened his briefcase, pulled 45 bits out of a side pocket, handed them to the bright yellow and white pony. The taxi pony took off, and Silver Tongue was left alone at the entrance to his neighborhood. He slowly walked up the to the massive gates and went over to the sleeping guard, who promptly awoke from his slumber after Silver Tongue had nudged him a few times. Crossed Shields had been with the neighborhood for 40 years. The grey stallion had always been a loyal guard, but he had been getting old and had become a little more careless. “Welcome back Silver Tongue,” Crossed Shields said shaking his head to wake up, “How was the case?” “It was a victory for me once again,” Silver Tongue quickly replied looking at the old stallion, pitying him. What made you choose this path? He thought to himself. “Always a victory for you.” The guard chuckled. He opened the gate with a special key which he had pulled from the guard house. The earth pony was getting older and older and Silver Tongue feared the worst for him. “Thanks, be safe!” Silver Tongue said politely as he passed the guard and entered into the lovely neighborhood of the West End. He trotted through the gate, his light green hooves trailed along the ground as he continued down the long avenue, the lights on the street lamps lit his way across the gigantic neighborhood. As Silver Tongue passed large house after large house, he finally reached his own mansion, with large oak trees, a beautiful flower garden, hedges, and the pleasant fountain that he had installed in the center of the lawn at the request of his wife, Morning Star. He walked slowly up the steps to the large wooden door and pulled a key from his briefcase, and using his unicorn magic, put the key in the keyhole and unlocked the door. He sat for a second, as he put the key away, and thought of the look of regret and fear on Orange Stripe's face as they took him away. This job is really getting to me, but he deserved his punishment. He then shook his head, took a deep breath, and turned the door knob with his hooves and walked into his home. “Daddy’s home!!” The excited squeal was the first thing Silver Tongue heard when he stepped into the spacious front room. Little Blossom, his daughter, rushed towards the door with a joyous countenance. She hugged her dad with her hooves and rushed back to the living room, which was hidden from view by a staircase that led to the second floor. Little Blossom was a small filly, with a yellow coat and purple mane with a blue stripe like her father’s. She had her father’s blue eyes, too, though, and was a joy to him and his wife. After a pause, he heard a pair of hooves trot slowly towards the entrance as he watched his wife enter. Morning Star was a light purple mare, with a light red-orange mane which had always reminded Silver Tongue of a sunrise. Her violet eyes added to that impression, along with her cutie mark, a sunrise with a large star in the middle. She had received her cutie mark after going through some hard times. One morning, she woke up, watched the sunrise, and her sad feelings melted away. She realized her calling in life was to be the star that brought an end to the dark. Her father, Light Heart, and her mother, Bright Dawn, had been taking a morning stroll when a tree had fallen on them and crushed the life out of them. For a while she had been depressed and thought her life was over. She had to move to her grandparents', who tried to raise her as best as they possibly could. One morning she was watching the sunrise on the porch of her grandparent’s house and thought of what her parents had told her about the morning star. “You see that?” he father would always ask, pointing to a faint star in the morning light. “Yes I do see it!” she would always respond. “Well, if you ever run into any trouble, just remember that the morning star will always be there for you at night and in the day. Always remember that it’s there for you.” Her father would always point that out, while her mother would explain the stars to her. “They are celestial beings that watch out for ponies in danger,” her mother would explain, “they will always bring hope into your life if you believe in them She then realized that she needed to be a light for other ponies and help them and in a flash a sunrise with a star in the middle had appeared on her flank. “You’re late again,” Morning Star remarked, “How was the case?” “Oh it was fine, and the jury took forever to deliberate which is why I was so late,” Silver Tongue responded carefully, he looked at his worried wife and smiled, “but I’m alive.” Morning Star started blankly at him for a few seconds, but then returned the smile, trotted over, and nuzzled his cheek. “I’m glad you’re home,” she said warmly, “Dinner’s ready.” Silver Tongue trotted over to the kitchen and looked at the clock which hung on the wall beside the table. It read 10:00 pm. The little filly had followed her parents and was anxiously waiting for her dad to tell her about his day. “Little Blossom, you need to go to sleep,” Morning Star said after she followed her husband’s blue eyes to the clock. “Awwww mom, why do I have to go to sleep? Daddy just got home!” “Blossom, please obey your mother, we will talk about it all in the morning, I promise,” Silver Tongue said and smiled at her daughter, “We’ll talk about while we play your favorite game, Monopony,” he added hopefully, looking into his daughter’s eyes with love and care that only a father could provide. “Ok, Daddy I love you!” the unicorn filly trotted up to her room to go to sleep, after wishing her parents good night and hugging her father again. Silver chuckled and wished his daughter good night. He had always been amazed by the energy and excitement of his little filly. “So what happened at the court house?” Morning Star had been watching Silver Tongue and had noticed recently he had been gloomy whenever she brought up the court house. She had a knack for noticing the small things. “I won the case," he sighed,"But I don’t know what to do anymore. Honestly, I feel as if my job has lost its charm, I feel like I’m harming more than helping and it’s too much for me to handle,” he sighed, “I know it’s good for me to help people, but I have put too many ponies away and charge way too much for my services.” He looked back to the number of cases he had turned away because the ponies who needed him were too poor to pay. “Silver, you do your job well and have helped many ponies by bringing criminals to justice. You are the best lawyer pony in all of Equestria and deserve a good pay! Don’t let that get to you, you have a family you need to support and money is the only way to do that,” Morning Star said pointedly hoping to cheer her husband up. “But Starry, I charge 200 bits an hour for my services! A case usually takes 20-40 hours for me to do research on it and do the actual case, that’s a lot of money.” Silver Tongue said as he put his head between his forelegs and began massaging his temples. When Silver Tongue had started as a lawyer, he had charged very little for his services but as he grew more and more famous in the law market, he increased his prices drastically so only the rich could afford him. It had dawned on him during this case that he had lost the love for his job and money was his only drive. That scared him. Manehattan had changed him from a pony who loved a challenging case to a pony who loved money. He needed a change of scenery as well as a change of heart. “We need to move,” Silver Tongue decided, “This town is ruining me. We have to leave.” While Silver Tongue relayed his worries, Morning Star had used her magic to levitate a plate of salad over to him. “I made this for you and you need to eat it,” She instructed, “It will make you feel much better.” Silver Tongue began to eat, but the urge to leave the oppressive environment of Manehattan was still burning in him. His wife knew that, and some part of her agreed with that decision. Morning Star had nothing to do in Manehattan except gossip and walk Little Blossom to school. She wanted a new city. The neighbors prided themselves in the most trivial matters. Who had the most money, the largest house, or best hair. It was all too much for her to handle. Her neighbors were artificial, putting on a fake persona to appeal to each other, and she hated it. She remembered her past life, before she met Silver Tongue, she lived in the country and had always loved nature, taking walks with her parents. She missed her parents and the peace she felt in nature. After Silver Tongue had finished his meal, he put the plate by the sink, and set off to go to sleep. Morning Star trailed along beside him looking at him thoughtfully. They climbed the stairs,walked into their room, turned the lights off, and climbed into the bed. “Will you be ok if we move?” Silver asked quietly, resting a foreleg on his wife’s shoulder. “Yes, I will always support you,” she reassured him. The clock read 11:45 pm. -------------------------------------- A/N: Both my editor and I would like to thank you for your feedback. It means a lot, and really has helped the story evolve. Thanks so much