“Will the accused please take the stand?” As the aforementioned pony trotted up to the seat beside the judges’ bench, Thunder Tempest wrung his hooves nervously, and even the normally calm and collected Tight Ship was sweating from the nerves. The two had shown up to support their friend who was on trial, but now it was time for the most nerve-wracking part of the trial process. They had to wait for the judge to deliver the verdict. Their friend sat down and fixed her eyes on them. They could only hope now that their final gambit would pay off.
“Does the defence have any further evidence to present before the judgement is rendered?” called the judge.
“Yes, Your Honour,” stated the lawyer that Tight Ship had hired to defend their friend. “We would like to move that our client be magically tested by Her Royal Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, to fully ascertain that the client has not been magically tampering with anypony.”
The judge frowned and then began the next step. “Does the prosecution have any objections to this?”
“None, your honour.”
“Call in the Princess, then.” A few moments later, the purple alicorn walked into the courtroom.
“Your Highness, could you please explain the spell you are about to cast-briefly.”
“Yes, your honour. It’s a spell designed to detect if any magical mind manipulation spells have been cast by the target within the last year. I will project the results for the court. Magical manipulation will show up as green, and all other spells will show up as blue.” Her explanation finished, Twilight turned to the pony on the stand, and pointed her horn at her.
“Casting the spell, Your Honour.”
“Proceed, Your Highness.”
A purple beam shot from Twilight’s horn, and scanned the pony in question, while at the same time, a floating projection appeared above the Princess, displaying a full body diagram of a pony. Not a single ounce of green was on the projection. The defence lawyer rose.
“As you can see, Your Honour, my client has not cast a single mental manipulation spell within the last year, lending credence to my client’s claims that she has not been tricking ponies through the use of it,” the lawyer turned to Twilight Sparkle as the Princess made her way back to her seat, “Thank you, Your Highness, for coming on such short notice.”
“Does the prosection have any final evidence to declare?”
“None, your honour.” stated the other lawyer. The judge nodded.
“I will now render my judgement.” The tension inside the courtroom was palpable.
“I, High Judge Fair Call, of the Canterlot Board of Judges, hereby find the defendant...” In the silence that proceeded the judge’s final statement, a pony could have heard a pin drop.
“Not Guilty. Court Dismissed.” The judge magically levitated his gavel, and banged it twice, signalling the end of the case.
“YES!” Thunder Tempest propelled himself into the air and gave a cry, garnering a chuckle from the judge, who turned to the pony on the stand.
“You have some good friends there, you know,” smiled the judge, as he watched the pegasus practically dance around in the air, and then his unicorn friend magically pulling the pegasus back down to earth.
Cudenshoti of the Twenty Third Generation, known to her friends as Cuddles, smiled, “Oh, I know, your honour.” And with that, the changeling was escorted from the stand by the bailiff, and back to sort his release out.