//------------------------------//
// The Testimony of Applejack 
// Story: The Price of Cider 
// by StormLuna 
//------------------------------//

Princess Luna headed into her chambers while the defendants were brought up from the dungeon and everything was situated.  Finally Luna came out of her chambers.  The bailiff, Purple Mane, said, "All rise.  Court is now in session in the case of Equestria v Flim, Flam, Filthy Rich and Diamond Tiara."

Luna gets to the bench and says, "You may be seated.  Prosecutor, why has this been brought before the court?"

Gray Wings replied, "This has been brought to court because it is believed that the four defendants all each played a role in the recent crash in cider prices which not only caused many cider producers to go bankrupt but also caused the stock prices of cider bottling companies to crater, which resulted in two companies having to shut down."

Luna asked, "Does the defense have anything to add?"

Ivory Tower, the public defender replied, "Not at this time your honor."

Luna said, "Well I believe that we need to hear testimony from the individuals involved."

The prosecutor called Applejack up to the stand.  She looked nervous and saw Luna motion for her to go up to the stand.  Applejack headed up to the stand.  Luna asked, "Applejack, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of perjury?"

"I do your honor." replied Applejack 

Gray Wings, the prosecutor, asked, "Applejack, what do you think might have caused this situation to come to be?"

Applejack replied, "Well the first time that I even met Flim and Flam was two years ago when we were unable to produce enough cider for everypony in Ponyville all at once for a day.  Well they arrived with this Super Cider Squeezy 6000 machine that they used to make cider at a much faster pace than my family could doing it the old fashioned way.  They challenged us to a cider making contest in which the winner would be the sole provider of cider in Ponyville."

Gray Wings asked, "Applejack, how did this contest turn out?"

Applejack continued, "Well at first we were not doing so well.  They were greatly outpacing us but then we asked if my friends, who are like family to me, could help us.  Flim and Flam agreed that having them help would not violate contest rules.  Once they started to help, we began to outpace them.  They then fixed this setting on their machine that caused it to suck whole trees into their device and turned off the quality control scanner.  This caused all apples, good or rotten to be converted into cider.  Given that they sucked whole trees in, naturally branches, rocks and dirt wound up in the cider."

Gray Wings replied, "Please continue."

Applejack continued, "Well once they did this they were greatly outpacing my family.  When the hour was up they had outproduced us significantly.  We had lost and were getting ready to pack up and leave town when ponies started to taste their cider.  It was horrible and they were ran out of town which allowed us to continue to sell our cider in Ponyville."

Flam shouted, "YOU KNOW WE WON THAT CONTEST FAIR AND SQUARE.  HAD IT NOT BEEN FOR THOSE UNGRATEFUL PONYVILLE PONIES WE WOULD HAVE RAN YOU OUT OF BUSINESS!"

Luna shouted, "ORDER IN THE COURT.  Applejack, please continue."

Applejack replied, "Well after that I figured that Flim and Flam probably hated us for that and we were always leery about them maybe returning."

Gray Wings asked, "Did you know that Flim and Flam were in Ponyville on the day that Juice Bottle payed Sweet Apple Acres in excess of a million bits for 1,000 barrels of cider?"

Applejack replied, "Well I didn't know until we saw them walking around town when we got out of the bank after depositing the check.  As we headed home we saw them headed to Barnyard Bargains.  We didn't even think anything about it until we received the news of the cider price crash nearly a year ago."

Gray Wings asked, "So what was your reaction when you learned of the cider crash and the fact that you would not be able to sell any cider?"

Applejack replied, "Well naturally I was devastated and I was scared that we would lose the farm.  At first all I was concerned about was us keeping the farm but then I remembered seeing Flim and Flam about a year ago when we deposited our check.  I thought maybe they had something to do with it but I wasn't sure.  Now I am pretty sure that they did indeed pay Mr. Rich a visit and convinced him to help them in crashing cider prices to bring down my farm."  

Gray Wings said, "Your Honor, I am done questioning the plaintiff."

Luna asked, "Does the defense with to cross-examine?"

Ivory Tower replied, "Of course we do!"  

Ivory Tower walked up to Applejack and asked, "So you thought you saw Flim and Flam going to Barnyard Bargains.  What would make you think that they would want to do anything to crash cider prices?"

Applejack replied, "I think this because of how upset they were when they were chased out of town because of the poor quality of their cider."

Flam shouted, "Poor quality cider.  It was just unique and different and those ungrateful jerks just didn't like it."

Luna shouted, "Order in the court.  Bailiff, put a muzzle on him.  Such outbursts are not allowed in my courtroom."

Purple Mane put a muzzle on Flam and Luna said, "Applejack, please continue."

Applejack continued, "Well as I was saying the townsponies did not like their cider so they left town.  While they pretended to be all joyous when they left, I could sense that they were very unhappy.  I had this feeling that someday they would return in one way or another to try to bring down Sweet Apple Acres."

Ivory Tower threw his hooves up in the air and was clearly flustered.  He was not quite prepared for such an honest pony.  He said, "The defense rests."

Applejack asked, "Is there anypony else the prosecution wishes to call to the witness stand?"

Purple Mane feeling confident that Applejack's testimony would be enough to get a conviction, decided that he would not need Juice Bottle or anypony else in the Apple Family to testify he told Luna that he did not plan on calling anypony else up to the stand.