After the prosecution decided that they would not be calling anypony else to the stand the defense realized that it was time to call the defendants to the stand. Luna asked, "Who does the defense wish to call up to the stand first?"
Ivory Tower replied, "I would like to call Filthy Rich to the stand."
Filthy Rich headed to the stand. Luna asked, "Filthy Rich, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of perjury?"
"I do your honor." replied Filthy
Ivory Tower asked, "Mr. Rich, the prosecution believes that you are guilty of fraud involving sending a false report to cause the price of cider to collapse. What do you think would lead them to believe such a thing?"
Filthy replied, "Well now that I know that Applejack and Big Mac saw Flim and Flam heading to Barnyard Bargains on the day that they deposited that check from The Equestrian Juice Beverage Company I can understand why. If I were in their hooves I would feel the same way."
Ivory Tower asked, "What went on when Flim and Flam were at your store?"
Filthy replied, "We talked about business. We talked about the cider market. They were talking to me about cider prices."
Ivory Tower asked, "Did you guys discuss anything else? Things that might cause artificial deflation in the market?"
Filthy replied, "Nope. That is all we discussed."
Ivory Tower replied, "Alright, that is all."
Luna asked Gray Wings, "Does the prosecution wish to cross-examine?"
Gray Wings replied, "We do your honor."
Gray Wings walked up to the stand and asked Filthy, "Alright, you said that all you three talked about was cider prices. Are you sure you did not discuss things such as artificial deflation of cider prices?"
Filthy replied, "No, I....oops, I meant no we did not."
Gray Wings asked, "Mr. Rich, you and the Flim Flam Brothers met on the day that Juice Bottle paid the Apple Family 1,210,000 bits for one thousand barrels of cider, is that correct?"
Filthy replied, "Yes, that is correct."
Gray Wings continued, "Well it is now known about the cider making contest two cider seasons ago and that the Flim Flam Brothers were ran out of town even though they won the contest. Wouldn't you think that they would have some sort of vendetta against Sweet Apple Acres?"
Filthy replied, "Well yeah,.."
Gray Wings interrupted, "Alright then, it would only make sense that they would come to you to get you to artificially deflate cider prices since you do have the know how to do that, would it not?"
Filthy rolled his eyes and replied, "Well yeah."
Gray Wings asked, "Did you read the report in the Neigh York Times that mentioned that a cargo ship with three billion barrels of cider on board were to be shipped into Vanhoover?"
Filthy replied, "Yeah, I did and I was wondering where in the world they got a ship that large and what country managed to produce that much cider to ship over here and still have some for their own country."
Gray Wings asked, "Who sent this report? Surely the report had a source."
Filthy was getting nervous and broke into a cold sweat. He said, "Uh, uh, you know, I don't know if it had a source on it or not. I don't remember seeing one."
Gray Wings asked, "Mr. Rich, you are a businesspony and I am sure you read the financial section of the paper all the time. When reports like this are published, don't they usually have a source, such as a news agency?"
Filthy replied, "Well yeah. This was the first one I had ever seen that didn't have a source."
Gray Wings decided to get a bit more aggressive. He got up in Filthy's face and asked, "And why do you think there wasn't a source on this one? I have never heard of a news article such as this not having a source, simply being printed in there like somepony made it up."
Filthy leaned back in the chair and replied, "I honestly don't know why it wouldn't."
Gray Wings said, "Your Majesty, that is all I wish to ask this one."
Luna said, "Filthy you may be seated." While Filthy was headed back to his seat Luna asked, "Does the defense wish to call anypony else to the stand?"
Ivory Tower replied, "Yes your honor. I would like to call Flim to the witness stand."
Flim headed up to the witness stand. Once he got there Luna asked, "Flim, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of perjury?"
Flim replied, "I do."
Ivory Tower asked, "Flim, you are being charged with accessory to artificially deflating the price of cider. Did you indeed ask Mr. Rich to aid you and your brother in doing this?"
Flim replied, "Now why would I do that? My brother and I hold no ill will against the cider producers or the cider bottling companies here in Equestria. Besides, we got out of the cider business not too long after that cider making competition."
Ivory Tower asked, "Alright, is there any type of commodity or commodities that you two are involved in?"
Flim replied, "Well we do own strawberry fields down in Stallifornia and we do own a couple of gold mines in the Equine Empire so we are not hurting financially so why would we want to bring down cider prices and hurt fellow entrepreneurs?"
Ivory Tower said, "Good point there. Your honor, the defense rests."
Luna asked, "Does the prosecution wish to cross-examine?"
Gray Wings replied, "Yes we would your honor."
Gray Wings walked up to the stand and stared straight into Flim's eyes and asked, "Flim, now you said that that you would not want to harm fellow entrepreneurs? Could you please elaborate on that?"
Flim replied, "Well given that we own our own farms and mines we know how much a crash in those commodities would hurt not just us, but the companies that purchase those commodities from us. I certainly wouldn't want that to happen to us. I really feel for everypony who has been affected by this."
Gray Wings asked, "What caused you to get out of the cider business entirely and do you hold any ill will towards the cider industry?"
Flim replied, "Well after the debacle two cider seasons ago word spread fast about what had happened with us. Nopony would buy cider from us so we just decided to sell our orchards. We inherited the strawberry fields and gold mines from our father who passed not too long after that and that is how we bring in money now."
Gray Wings asked, "After you sold these apple orchards, did you still own any stock in cider bottling companies or did you purchase any stock in them?"
Flim replied, "We sold all our shares in Nutritious Beverages, Inc. which was the only company's stock we ever owned."
Gray Wings got up in his face and asked, "So did this crash in the cider market hurt you or your brother any?"
Flim replied, "No, we did not lose a dime on it."
Gray Wings was confident that he had got all he would need out of Flam. He said, "Your honor, I am through questioning this defendant."
Luna said, "Flim, you may be seated." As he was returning to his seat Luna asked Ivory Tower, "Does the defense wish to call anypony else to the stand?"
Ivory Tower figured that Flam's testimony would be a carbon copy of Flim's so he decided that he would call Diamond Tiara to the stand. While it is generally uncommon for fillies or colts to have to testify, he believed that she could charm Luna into acquitting all the defendants. He said, "The defense would like to call Diamond Tiara to the stand."
Diamond Tiara turned pale and Luna could tell it. She said, "It's ok Diamond Tiara. Come on up to the stand."
Diamond Tiara headed up to the stand and Luna asked, "Diamond Tiara, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth under penalty of perjury?"
Diamond Tiara replied, "I do your Majesty."
Ivory Tower approached the filly and asked, "Diamond Tiara, what do you remember about the day that Flim and Flam visited Barnyard Bargains?"
Diamond Tiara wanted to keep things simple and act more childlike. She replied, "Well I do remember that they were very nice ponies."
Ivory Tower asked, "Did you hear any of the context of your dad and them talking business?"
Diamond Tiara replied, "Yeah, I did. They just talked about business and cider prices."
Ivory Tower said, "Thank you Diamond Tiara. That is all I have to ask her."
Luna replied, "Does the prosecution wish to cross-examine?"
Gray Wings replied, "Yes, I would."
Gray Wings stared straight into the soul of Diamond Tiara. He felt as though he could hit the ball out of the park by scaring her into telling him everything. She looked terrified as he asked, "Diamond Tiara, the answers you gave Ivory Tower seemed very vague. Could you elaborate on that for the court?"
Diamond Tiara began to tear up and she replied, "Ok, I will tell you everything. It was the day that Juice Bottle paid the Apple family so much for all that cider. Flim and Flam did come into the store to talk to daddy. I was back there with them while they were talking. They asked him if he would do something to cause cider prices to crash so it would hurt Sweet Apple Acres so they could buy it."
Gray Wings replied, "Alright, what else happened."
Diamond Tiara's voice began to break as she continued, "Well daddy agreed and eleven months later he wrote a letter to the newspaper in Manehattan where he lied about a tanker with a whole bunch of cider being shipped to Vanhoover. At first he didn't want to write the letter so I begged him and he did it. He put the letter in an envelope addressed to the newspaper and put a stamp on it. He still didn't want to mail it so I grabbed it and ran it to the post office because I wanted to see Apple Bloom suffer because Miss Cheerilee likes her better because she gets better grades."
Gray Wings asked, "And who is Miss Cheerilee?"
Diamond Tiara was about to cry as she continued, "She is my teacher. When I heard about what happened with the cider prices and how this hurt Sweet Apple Acres I was so happy. I knew that this would make her have to move so I would never have to see her or that ugly bow in her hair again and most of all, I could get Miss Cheerilee to like me more. I was jumping up and down shouting I was so happy!"
Gray Wings had a smile on his face and said, "Alright, I am through questioning her your honor."
Luna asked, "Is there anypony else that the defense wishes to call to the stand?"
Ivory Tower replied, "No your honor, the defense rests."
Luna said, "Well I am going to go back to my chambers to go over all of the testimony and I will be back with my verdicts in an hour. Court is in recess."
Gray Wings looked at the Apple family and Juice Bottle and said, "I think we have this one in the bag. If this works the same way other cases of fraud like this does, all of you should get reparations from those who wronged you."
Applejack replied, "That is wonderful to hear Gray Wings."
Over on the defense's side of the court room, things were not so joyous. Filthy Rich scolded his daughter. He growled, "Diamond Tiara, do you realize that you probably just sealed all of our fates? Chances are Princess Luna will convict all of us. I hope you are proud of yourself. You can kiss your comfortable life goodbye you little traitor."
Diamond Tiara cried, "But daddy, he looked so intimidating. I was so scared and all that just came out."
Flim and Flam just scowled at Diamond Tiara and the defense attorney just had an indifferent look on his face. He figured that as long as he got paid, who cares whether he wins the case or not. He was just glad that this was almost over.