Over a week had passed since Luna had resumed her duties and Celestia had yet to call in her owed favor. Of course the sudden rash of criminal activity in Canterlot was no doubt influencing Luna’s sister in staying on the job.
With a sigh Luna looked at the ransacked shop around her. The seemingly erratic assortment of items made it nearly impossible to guess the nature of the store as the ransacking had left everything from bones to potions to metallic knickknacks scattered about. To her right was a unicorn stallion clad in the golden armor of the Canterlot guard, speaking with another stallion, who appeared to be the storeowner. To the left was a unicorn mare, also wearing Canterlot guard armor, sifting carefully through the store looking for clues.
When the stallions had finished talking the guard approached Princess Luna. “What was stolen?” she asked.
“Giving the sate of his store he wasn’t entirely sure, but he did mention that two of his channeling rods were missing.”
Looking over the a knocked over barrel Luna took notice of several rods, mostly made from copper, silver and even a few gold ones, with elaborate etchings around their surfaces. “Channeling rods, the easiest of magical artifacts to craft. Did he bother to say why type of needle in a haystack we are searching for?”
The guard shook his head. “When I tried to press the matter her became… forgetful. He promised to pass along a full list of missing items in the morning, once he’s had time to do a proper inventory.”
“So they were ebony steal then?” Luna half asked, half laughed.
The guard nodded. “Most likely. I can’t think of any other type of channeling rod that anypony would be shamed to admit owning, or selling.”
“And thou said two went missing? That is most troubling. Come sunrise be sure that my sister is informed of this.”
“Of course, your majesty. But if you don’t mind my asking, what’s so special about two channeling rods going missing?”
“Between this and the robberies over the past week, that brings the number of conveniently unspecified channeling rods stolen up to six. A number favored by the dark magic rituals that ebony rods are infamous for.”
A grim frown appeared on the guard’s face as he gave one last nod and returned his attention to investigating the crime scene.
With one last look around Luna concluded that there nothing more for her to learn here and took her leave of the store.
* * * * * * *
Luna lowered the moon and the rising sun quickly removed the resulting twilight. After returning to her camber, Luna had just settled into her bed for the day when a knock sounded from the door. Getting back to her hooves Luna said, “Enter!”
The princess of the night raised an eyebrow when two pegasi of the Canterlot guard entered her chamber, and relaxed it slightly when her sister followed behind them. Judging from the grim looks on all their faces Luna made her guess as to the reason for the visit. “Has there been a break in the case of the Canterlot crime wave?”
“You could say that. Are you aware of the enchantments placed on guards helmets these days?” Celestia answered, with a slight nod.
The question drew Luna’s attention to the fact that one of the royal guards had a helmet wrapped in one of his front legs despite the fact that he was still wearing one. Bringing a hoof to her muzzle, Luna answered, “I believe Captain Shadow Wing mentioned something about that upon my taking command of the night guard. Something about the helmets record what the guard has seen and heard in the last day or so, is that what you speak of?”
“Indeed. Now if you could be so kind, could you please explain this?” Celestia said, charging her horn with magic and touching it to the extra helmet being held by the guard.
The golden glow of Celestia’s magic flowed around the helmet for a moment and then a beam of white light shot out of it, becoming an illusion a few feet in front of the helmet.
At first Luna wasn’t sure what she was looking at, as the spell seemed to be showing a massive blur, but after a few seconds she realized that the bulk of the image was a wall and that the guard must have been leaning slowly out from behind cover. As the image shifted the scene became that of a Canterlot alleyway the illusion presented an image of Luna standing before a closed door.
“This is what the helmet recorded last night. Not long after you left the investigation at the magic relics store,” Celestia answered her sister’s raised eyebrow.
As the illusion continued the Luna within it closed her eyes and summoned magic around her horn. The blue glow of the illusion Luna’s magic became black as her body grew and her coat turned dark, silver armor appeared as she became a perfect likeness to Nightmare Moon. With a pulse from Nightmare’s magic the lock on the door before her shattered and she entered into the building.
The illusion’s point of view shifted as the pony wearing the helmet moved up to the now open doorway. Inside Nightmare Moon seemed to be ransacking a bakery of all things. “Halt! What are you doing?” a stallion’s voice came from the illusion.
“That, dear Private, is none of your business!” Nightmare Moon said in response, quickly firing a blast of magic at the illusion’s viewpoint.
The guard wearing the helmet dodged the first attack and a short brawl followed, although the illusion was shifting back and forth too much to make out what was really happening until the final image showed the viewpoint being thrown to the floor and the illusion went black.
With another pulse of Celestia’s magic the illusion vanished entirely as she said, “At that point the guard blacked out so obviously he didn’t see or hear anything more for the spell to record.”
“Is he alright?” Luna asked.
“Minor injuries aside he’s fine. But that brings us back to my first question. Would you care to explain why he saw what he did?”
“The obvious answer is illusion magic. Combined with recent events I am inclined to suspect it was a shadow puppet.”
Celestia nodded. “Agreed. However, there is a problem. Based on this evidence, both the storeowner and guard have chosen to press charges against you. Can you provide an alibi? Somepony to who can confirm you were somewhere else when this happened?”
Luna shook her head. “No. I returned here alone, and leisurely enough that I doubt the guards testimony as to the time of my return would vindicate me.”
“I see, then I have no choice but to place you under arrest until the formal investigation is complete and a trial can be held.”
With a raised eyebrow Luna asked, “Sister, do you truly mean to drag me into court on such petty evidence at that?”
“I would hope you will walk into the court, being dragged in would be very un-regal. Kidding aside, the laws have changed in the last thousand years. The will of a princess isn’t as absolute as it use to be. And as I said, the guard and storeowner made the choice. The citizens have the right to press charges against us freely these days. Don’t worry about it, sister, I get dragged into court at least fifty times a year on frivolous lawsuits. But we still need to go through the motions and hear out the case.”
After a short sigh Celestia continued, “However, seeing as these are criminal charges and you can’t provide an alibi up front, you will have to wait in a cell until the trial. Don’t worry I’ve already arranged from you to have access to the law books, so you can catch up on the changes all you like. Also, I asked for Twilight Sparkle to serve as your council. Trust me she’s memorized everything she’s ever seen in book form.”
“No.”
Celestia tilted her head to the side at the unexpected response. “No?”
“Forgive me if I do not wish to have Twilight Sparkle’s aid. Judging from the time I spent with her, I doubt that she is involved in the shadow puppet matter. However, logic condemns her at every step, so forgive me if I forgo her aid on the off chance that I am mistaken about her innocence. If I am to be confined I shall need Captain Shadow Wing to serve as my emissary while I prepare for this trial.”
“Logic condemns Twilight?”
“Unless you mean to say you are the guilty party, yes. Aside from you and I, only the ponies of Ponyville have seen Nightmare Moon as more then just a depiction. Only the ponies of Ponyville have seen the shadow bolt uniform. And unless I am mistaken, Twilight Sparkle is the only unicorn of Ponyville with both the magical power and skill needed to even attempt creating a shadow puppet.”
Suddenly Celestia found herself staring blankly into space. “Why didn’t you tell me these details before today?” she said barely loud enough to be heard.
“Thou didn’t ask. Now, seeing as Starlight Castle does not have a dungeon, I presume we are headed to Canterlot. Guards, feel free to lead the way,” Luna said, effectively ordering her own arrest.
* * * * * * *
When the day of the trial came, Celestia entered the dungeon, making her way to her sister’s cell. Finally approaching the cell, the princess of the sun didn’t find things quite as she had expected. “Sister, are you mad at me?” she asked in a sorrowful tone.
Looking up from the book she had been reading Luna tilted her head to the side. “Not at all. What gave thou that impression?”
“I didn’t think you the type to prefer hardwood to cushions.”
The comment made Luna look down at the hardwood bench, supported by two chains, that she was currently reclined on and then to the plush couch in the middle of the cell, that currently had a pile of books stacked on it. “Ah yes, that. I figured if we were going to put on a show of being like the commoners that I should enjoy the default accommodations of the dungeon. Besides, compared to a thousand years banished to the moon, three days in a jail cell is a walk in the park.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose it would be. Regardless, the preparations are complete, let’s get this trial over with. Come, sister,” Celestia said as she opened the cell door.
Four unicorn guards took up position around Luna as they walked. After a short moment of walking in silence Celestia asked, “Have you had any luck in finding the true culprit?”
Luna shook her head. “No. It hardly seemed appropriate to be giving orders from a jail cell. Needless to say this has stalled my investigation and I only had one other I trust enough to aid me in the matter. I hope to hear from him after this trial is dealt with.”
* * * * * * *
Meanwhile, at the courthouse a royal guard was speaking to a gathering of ponies in the halls. “…and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Here.”
“Good, if those who’s names were call will please fallow me,” the armored stallion said, turning to lead the way further down the hallway.
Among those following the guard were Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Scootaloo. As they walked, the pegasus filly looked up to her honorary sister and said, “Rainbow Dash, I’m nervous. I’ve never been a witness before.”
Dash wrapped a wing around the younger pegasus. “Don’t worry about it squirt, all they do is make you sit in a chair next to the judge and ask you questions. It’s not like a school quiz or anything, so there are no right or wrong answers. All you have to do is tell them what you can and if you don’t know anything about what they ask you, just say so.”
The unicorn in the guard armor came to a stop in front of a wooden door that looked just like every other door in the hallway. “Okay kid, you can wait in here. We’ll come get you when it’s your turn to testify. If you need to use the bathroom just knock of that door on the other side of the room and a guard will escort you to the restrooms,” the guard said with practiced ease that proved he’d given the speech more times then he’d like to remember.
The room was well furnished with a couch, snack table, water fountain, potted plants, pictures and the like. Scootaloo gave a soft whistle as she beheld the high-class waiting room.
“Hey what gives?” Dash complained as the guard’s hoof shot up to prevent her from following.
“This room is for her, we have another for you,” the guard said with a sigh.
Rainbow Dash glared back at the guard. “Where Scoots goes, I go.”
The guard rolled his eyes and sighed. However, Twilight Sparkle answered on his behalf. “Rainbow, didn’t you read the summons letter we got? We are here as witnesses. That means we have to wait separately so we can’t talk to each other and ‘get our stories straight’ as they say. To make it easy for them to tell if any of us try to lie on the stand. But once we’ve testified we can join our friends to watch the rest of the trial.”
“Meh, fine. See you in a couple hours, Scoots,” Dash conceded.
Twilight looked at the blue pegasus indignantly. “You really didn’t read the summons letter, did you?”
“Of course I read it! I’m here aren’t I?”
“Well I don’t know about you, but my notice clearly stated that I was call to testify by the defense, that means Luna. And since the prosecution goes first, that means we’ll likely be waiting longer then just a couple of hours,” Twilight explained.
“Okay then, see you in a few hours, Scoots,” Dash corrected. Then turning to Twilight, she rolled her eyes, adding, “Happy?”
“Very,” Twilight Sparkle said, practically beaming.
Content that the matter was resolved the guard closed and locked the door, and then led the remaining witnesses to their own virtually identical waiting rooms.
* * * * * * *
“I can’t believe you didn’t want a proper defense attorney to represent you,” Celestia whispered to her sister as they entered the courtroom.
“The lunar court may not be busy, but it’s not dead, sister. I’ve presided over enough cases cleaning up your backlog to know how this goes these days. Even with the differences described in the books you gave me for this type of trial, I am more then capable of presenting my own defense, thank you. And besides, it’s not like I am without council.”
Taking her seat at the defendant’s table, Luna turned to the dark blue pegasus, with a yellow mane, wearing a cloth suit, and said, “Lieutenant Night Sky, I trust you will catch me if I say something incorrect.”
The lieutenant gave a weak smile. “I’ve defended the actions of the night guard more times then I care to count. Although, I’m more accustom to presenting the case myself, I will do my best to serve as your council. And from what you’ve shared, I’d say your planed defense should do fine.”
“Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Luna said as she took the time to look around the courtroom. Breathing a sad sigh at the realization that it had not changed since she’d last seen this place.
The general layout was the same as the lunar court, with polished wood dominating the furniture scene. The color scheme of the non-wood parts of the room differed greatly however. Where the Lunar court had blue carpet and silver, the solar court had a white carpet and gold ornaments.
By now Luna even noticed that the guards in the golden Canterlot armor, that escorted her to the courtroom, had not come in. Instead, the guards inside the court wore armor made of a green metal. While otherwise of the same design as the armor of the royal guard it didn’t have the emblem of the royal guard. Instead the green armor had the image of a blindfolded earth pony mare, holding a scale in her mouth and a book with one of her front legs.
Luna’s eyebrow rose slightly, as she’d never really noticed this detail before. While it was true that Mare Justice was commonly depicted as any of the three major breads of pony, Luna had grown so accustom to the pegasus version used in the lunar court that she’d never really taken the time to notice that Canterlot used the earth pony version.
Glancing over to the prosecutor’s table, Luna saw two stallions, one was a unicorn and one was a pegasus, and a unicorn mare. Judging from the suit, Luna guessed the unicorn stallion with the light green coat and yellow mane was the lawyer. From his white coat and blue mane it wasn’t hard to guess that the pegasus was the guard who’s been attacked. That left the unicorn mare with the pink coat and blue mane as the storeowner.
A hush fell on the room as Celestia ascended to the judge’s position. Once in place, the princess of the sun looked over the room and with an emotionless voice she said, “We are here today for the case of ‘citizens vs. Princess Luna.’ Given the circumstances, I refuse to pass judgement on my sister and hereby recuse myself.” Looking to a unicorn stallion standing to the side, Celestia added, “Judge Noble Spirit, I trust you will hear the case justly, and deliver a fair verdict, whatever it may be.”
The brown-coated stallion in the judge’s robe with a graying mane stepped forward and said, “I will weigh the evidence presented to me and judge the case according to its merit.”
“That is all I ask of you.”
With that Celestia stepped down and walked over to the audience area where she sat down next to Twilight’s friends, as a mere spectator.
Taking the judge’s seat, the soft green glow of Noble Spirit’s magic lifted the gavel and with one strike of the hammer he said, “Court is now in session. Our first matter of business, will the attorneys please state their names and the names of your clients for the record.”
The unicorn in the lawyer’s suit stood up and said, “My name is Thgilon, my clients are Private Stratos Hoof, and Miss Peppermint Stride.”
When the judge’s gaze moved over to the defense’s table Luna stood up. “I, Princess Luna shall present my own defense, Lieutenant Night Sky shall serve as my council.”
With a nod the Noble Spirit said, “Let the record so reflect. Moving on, the charges against Princess Luna are assault and vandalism, Princess how do you pled?”
“No guilty.”
“So noted, prosecution you may present your case now.”
In the hours that followed the prosecution called several witnesses, mostly neighbors of the bakery, who testified to hearing noises that sounded like a brawl and seeing Nightmare Moon or Luna fleeing the scene afterwards.
During her cross-examinations, Luna simply asked to confirm that saw these things with their eyes. Of the witnesses who happened to be unicorns she also asked if they had bothered to use a magic sight spell to see the magic of the pony fleeing the scene or otherwise check for illusion spells. Unsurprisingly, they had all said ‘no’ in one way or another.
Miss Peppermint Stride had finally finished attesting to the damage to her shop and finding Nightmare Moon standing over a beaten guard only for the alicorn to flee when she came down stairs to see what the commotion was.
“Thank you, Your Honor, I’m done with this witness,” Thgilon said, returning to his seat.
With little more then a nod from the judge, Luna got up and approached the storeowner. “Having the luxury of being among my accusers surly you know my opening questions. So let us not waste time confirming what you saw with your eyes and skip to the important part, did you use a magic sight spell to see what magics were in play?”
Looking down slightly the unicorn answered, “No.”
“So you have no clue if an illusion spell was in play or whom might have been hiding behind the vision of a thousand year old villain of legend?”
“Well, no. But everypony knows that you were Nightmare Moon.”
“‘Were’ being the operative word. Past tense.”
“Well if you didn’t wreck my shop who did?”
“I had been working on that since I ran across a ‘Nightmare Moon’ in Ponyville, baring the break I had to take as a result of this trial that is. Details aside I do have another question for you. Do you have any combat training?”
“What?” Miss Stride said with eyes wide in confusion.
“Do you have any combat training, do you know how to fight?”
“No! I’m a baker, I’d never hurt anypony on purpose.”
Luna smiled. “I see, than don’t you find it odd that Nightmare Moon would be willing to fight a royal guard but not you to get whatever she was after in your shop?”
“I… yes that is odd.”
Looking to the judge, Luna said, “Thank you Your Honor, I too am done with this witness.”
Noble Spirit nodded. “Prosecution, I believe you have one more witness to call. And to be honest I am growing rather curious as to why you think Princess Luna is even tied to this case.”
With an overly dramatic flare Thgilon said, “Yes, the crux of the case comes from my final witness, I’d like to call to the stand Private Stratos Hoof!”
Once the pegasus had been sworn in, Thgilon said, “Why don’t you set the stage for us, sir. What led you to your encounter with Nightmare Moon that fateful night?”
“Well, as a member of the royal guard charged with protecting Canterlot, I was flying patrol that night when I saw something odd, Princess Luna descending into an alleyway,” Stratos began.
Raising a hoof, Thgilon interrupted, “One moment. Why would you consider seeing the princess of the night, at night, odd?”
“By itself I wouldn’t, but the thing is I thought I’d seen Princess Luna flying away from Canterlot a minute or two earlier. I thought it was odd that she came back so suddenly like that, So I decided to go see what made her do that, and went down after her.”
The prosecutor raised his hoof once more. “And this bring us to our most important piece of evidence. Your Honor I would like to enter into evidence Sir Stratos’ helmet. Now if we could have a demonstration area set up, so that it may play back its recording despite the courthouse’s dampening field, I would like to show you what Sir Stratos observed.”
With a nod from the judge, two unicorns wearing the armor of the courthouse guard came to the center of the room. When their horns started to glow a ring of light appeared on the floor between them. A third guard brought out the helmet in question and a small table, placing both in the center of the ring of light. He then charged his horn with magic and touched it to the helmet, causing it to play back the same images Luna had seen before.
When the playback had finished Thgilon turned to the pegasus on the stand and said, “Now, seeing as Princess Luna has raised the possibility of illusion magic, forgive my observation but that brawl looked rather real to me. Care to share your insight on the matter sir?”
“Yes, as you saw, during the course of the brawl I managed to get my hooves on my opposite and I can assure you that the pony I fought was in fact that size. So unless you’re saying it was Princess Celestia who brawled with me there was no illusion magic in play.”
“Well seeing as Princess Luna is actually of a slightly small build then both Celestia and Nightmare Moon how would you explain what we just saw?”
Stratos gave a dismissive shrug and said, “Simple, what you saw was what happened. It wasn’t illusion magic. It was a transformation spell. And even though I’m no unicorn, I work with enough of them to know that a spell like that requires a relatively powerful unicorn to cast, or better yet an alicorn.”
Turning to the judge, the prosecutor gave a confident smile and said, “There you have it Your Honor. That is why we have every reason to suspect that Luna was in fact the one hiding behind the disguise of Nightmare Moon! The privet here saw Luna herself cast the transformation spell just before braking into the bakery that night!” After a moments pause he added, “I am finished with this witness, Your Honor.”
As the prosecutor returned to his seat Luna stood up and approached the witness stand. “I will not contest that you saw what you saw, and felt what you felt. However I would like to know, considering that we have already established that transformation magic was at play, why it is you think that it was me you fought that night? After all shifting a transformation spell isn’t that much harder the casting one to begin with. So is it not possible that whomever thou fought was already using a transformation or similar spell when you first say them as Luna?”
After a short pause the pegasus answered, “I’m no magic expert, but doesn’t that give us the same problem as the illusion theory? Aren’t you one of the few ponies in Canterlot even capable of that level of magic?”
“True, but just because I’m capable of doing so doesn’t mean I did it. One more question for you. What could I, Luna, princess of the night, possibly want by braking into a bakery in the middle of the night? Do I not have access to both Canterlot and Starlight castles? Could I not just get baked goods from either of the royal kitchens?”
“I don’t know, I guess so. How am I supposed to know what my attacker wanted from a bakery? I’m not the one that broke in.”
Luna gave a slight nod. “Fair enough. Although there is one more flaw in thy theory that I am at fault that I would like to point out. As you may know the E.U.P. guard was formed after my banishment one thousand years ago. I have hardly had the time to figure out the armor of the night guard. And as much as I hate to admit it, I have yet to figure out where the armor of Celestia’s guard hides the marking that denotes the difference between lieutenants and privets. Yet I couldn’t help but notice that Nightmare Moon called you by rank without hesitation. Forgive me if that tells me that whomever thou fought is more familiar with the royal guard then I.”
Stepping back Luna added, “I am done with this witness.”
Judge Noble Spirit gave a slight nod. “Prosecutor, did you have anything more to add?”
“No, I will address motive in my closing arguments, the prosecution rests, Your Honor.”
Looking up to a wall clock the judge said, “Very well then. Considering the time, now seems an appropriate time to break for lunch. We’ll adjourn and meet back here in one hour to hear the defense’s arguments.” With that he sounded the gavel to dismiss the court session.
* * * * * * *
With everypony back in the courtroom the judge gave the gavel several whacks. “Court is now back in session. Princess Luna, I believe that you were about to present your defense.”
“Yes, Your Honor. Seeing as the prosecution was kind enough to bring up the nature of the magic clearly observed by Private Stratos Hoof, the first witness I wish to call to the stand is an expert on magic, Miss Twilight Sparkle.”
Once the unicorn was sworn in Luna asked, “During the formality questions you stated your occupation was a ‘student of magic under Celestia,’ is that correct?”
“Yes, I am also the one who wields the element of magic of the elements of harmony if that helps.”
“Certainly doesn’t hurt, as it is that expertise in magic that I wish you to share with the court.” Turning to the judge Luna added, “Your Honor, if we could play back the recording on Private Stratos’ helmet, I’d like Twilight to see what we are seeking to understand.”
“Fair enough,” the judge said, and the images were showed again.
As the last of the illusion played Twilight muttered, “Oh my. That doesn’t look good.”
“Yes,” Luna agreed. “But looks are all they are, as I can personally assure you that I was not there. And that begs the question, what magics could be used for an imposter to present that show you just witnessed?”
Twilight Sparkle brought a hoof to her chin for a moment. “Hmm, given the clearly physical nature of what the camerapony fought, the obvious first guess would be a transformation spell… But it would have to be a pretty high level magic user to go right from one transformation to another, if your saying that the Luna in that recording was also a transformation.”
“While I personally doubt it, let’s humor the idea for one moment and tell me how many magic users do you think could pull off a stunt like that?”
“Well I wasn’t exactly a social pony before I moved to Ponyville, and Ponyville isn’t exactly a high population center for powerful unicorns. Although, from my time in Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, I would say maybe about… 22.5% of my classmates had the potential to pull off a spell like that.”
With a raised eyebrow Luna gave a slight nod. “I see. However I wish to present you another theory, Miss Sparkle. Are you familiar with the shadow puppet spell?”
“I read about it once, when Celestia gave me access to the restricted section of the Canterlot archives, but that was a long time ago. I’m sorry, I didn’t think to brush up on dark magic when I got the summons asking me to testify. Sorry!” Twilight apologized with an increasingly high pitched tone of voice near the end.
“That’s quite alright. All I need is your opinion, from what thou knows of the shadow puppet spell, could one have been used to create the effect seen in the recording?”
Visibly relaxing Twilight answered, “Oh yeah, easily. Summoning a shadow puppet at all is such a high level spell that shifting it from one form to another would be easy by comparison. Unfortunately the recording was taken without the use of magic sight so it’s impossible to tell exactly what magics were in play in the recording.”
Motioning to the pegasus at the prosecutor’s table Luna said, “Twilight Sparkle, meet Private Stratos Hoof, the camerapony of that recording you saw. As you can see, being a pegasus it is a bit much for us to ask for him to have used a magic sight spell during the incident. I do however have one more question for you, Twilight. From what you know of the shadow puppet spell what would happen if the pony casting it stopped channeling magic?”
“From what I remember of the diagrams the shadow puppet spell requires continuous channeling. So if the caster stopped the puppet would evaporate.”
“Thank you.” Turning to the judge, Luna added, “Your Honor, I am done with this witness.”
“Cross examination may begin,” Judge Noble Spirit declared.
The prosecutor walked up to Twilight. “Miss Sparkle, I have just one additional question for you. How many ponies do you suppose could cast a shadow puppet spell?”
“I’ve never even tried a spell like that myself, so I can’t say for sure where the exact skill level needed is.”
Thgilon rolled his eyes. “I’ll settle for your best guess.”
“Well it’s a safe bet that Princesses Celestia and Luna could do it. Princess Cadence should have the raw power for it, but I’ve never known her to branch out into other schools of magic like that. Truthfully I’d probably have better odds of pulling off a shadow puppet spell then she would. Hmm considering that I’d also say maybe 4.5% of my classmates at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns would have both the power and general skill level needed to attempt a spell like that.”
“Thank you, I’m done with this witness,” the prosecutor said as he returned to his seat.
Standing up Luna said, “For my next witness I wish to call Rainbow Dash.”
A moment later a court guard returned with a drowsy looking cyan pegasus, even as she took the witness stand Dash shook the sleep from her eyes. Once she’s been sworn in Luna asked her first question. “Enjoy your nap?”
Rainbow Dash gave a sheepish smile. “Heh, yeah. Sorry but those waiting rooms are way too small to practice flying in, and nopony told me to bring a book to read. So yeah… the only other way I know how to sit still that long is to take a nap.”
Smiling back Luna said, “Yes, pleasantries aside, do you recall the night we stood guard outside the Cloudsdale weather factory?”
“Objection!”
All eyes turned to the prosecutor’s table, were the cry had come from.
“Approach,” the judge commanded. Both Luna and Thgilon walked up to the judge and he addressed them in a whisper, “What is the objection? Miss Dash hasn’t even begun to testify yet?”
“That’s just it, Your Honor, what possible relevance could an event in Cloudsdale have to a crime in Canterlot?” Thgilon whispered back.
Noble Spirit nodded slightly. “He has a point. Where are you going with this Princess?”
“Seeing as I believe the same pony is behind both events I suspect you will see the same connection I do by the end of Miss Dash’s testimony.”
“Very well I will allow it.” Speaking loud enough for everypony to hear, the judge turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Miss Dash you may answer the question.”
“Of course I remember that night! We totally nabbed that bad guy trying to sabotage the reservoir. Well as much as we could anyway. So there we were, talking to pass the time when I saw movement toward the factory. So I flew off to intercept him, but when I yelled at him to stop, he just bolted for the factory so I zoomed of after him. He was trying to ditch me by doing a corkscrew around the big pipes, but I was too fast, so naturally I was keeping up with him when-”
“Miss Dash!” Judge Noble Spirit yelled.
“Huh?” Rainbow said, surprised by the harsh tone in the judge’s voice.
“Will you please remain seated while testifying?”
Only then did Rainbow Dash realize that she was now hovering several feet above the witness’ stand. Zipping back into her seat in the blink of an eye she said, “Sorry.”
While silently giggling at the exuberant performance, Luna raised a hoof to stop Dash from continuing. “Rainbow Dash, perhaps thou should skip to the part where you pinned our culprit down and got a good look at him.”
“Sure thing. So, short version. After an awesome and heroic chase I pinned the guy down and got quite the shock when I recognized the jumpsuit he was wearing. It turned out he had a shadow bolt uniform on! It startled me enough that I lowered my guard and he kicked me off of him once-”
“Miss Dash?” Judge Noble Spirit interrupted with a much softer tone then the first time.
“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash responded nervously and quickly checking to make sure she was still on her seat.
“What is a shadow bolt uniform?”
After breathing a sigh of relief that she wasn’t in trouble, Dash explained the origins of the illusions she knew as the shadow bolts and their connection to Nightmare Moon.
“I see, continue.”
“Okay so he kicked me off of him and tried to make a break for it, when blam! Luna blasts him back to floor. Then instead of being stunned or whatever Luna meant to do him he starts dissolving into this glowy black magicy stuff. And well I guess that’s it,” Dash finished her story.
“Not quite, after that, thou asked me what that thing we fought was. Do you recall my answer?” Luna asked.
Looking down slightly and staring off into space Dash thought for a moment. “Umm… I think you said it was a shadow puppet or dark puppet or something. Whatever it was, you basically said it was some fancy spell that looked like a pony.”
“Indeed, Thank you Rainbow Dash.” Turning to the judge, Luna added, “Your Honor, I am done with this witness.”
“Did you wish to cross examine?” Noble Spirit asked, taking notice of the prosecutor’s look of disinterest in Rainbow Dash.
Thgilon shook his head. “I merely wish to renew my objection to Rainbow Dash’s testimony. The fact that somepony used a shadow puppet spell in Cloudsdale hardly seems relevant to a break-in in Canterlot.”
The judge rolled his eyes before saying, “Your objection is noted for the record and overruled. Considering Luna’s theory, establishing that somepony is using shadow puppets to cause mischief seems a relevant enough point to me. Miss Dash, you may step down from the stand. Princess Luna, you may proceed with your defense.”
With that Rainbow Dash gave a nod and flow quietly across to room to join her friends in the audience area. Standing up once more, Luna said, “As Rainbow Dash’s testimony proved that somepony has brought shadow puppets into play of late, my next witness will testify that said somepony can make shadow puppets in the image and likeness of Nightmare Moon. I wish to call to the stand one of three whom could tell the same tale, Scootaloo.”
A couple minutes later a court guard returned with the orange pegasus filly, who walked with her eyes looking downcast as if she were the one on trial. “I said I’m sorry and I’ll fix it,” Scootaloo muttered low enough that only the guard and judge heard.
After quickly fetching a booster to add to the witness stand the guard looked the filly in the eyes and whispered back, “A pity you’re needed out here, now if you’ll excuse me I have a pillow fort to unmake.”
With the booster seat in place Scootaloo’s head was at about the same height as any of the adults who had preceded her.
“Don’t worry about him. Fillies your age usually get a little antsy waiting in those rooms as long as you did. Why the last one broke a vase if I recall, so building a pillow fort is no big deal,” the judge said to try to cheer up the filly.
“So what do I need to do now?” Scootaloo asked while still looking downward.
“Well first we need you to swear in a witness.”
Scootaloo frowned as she responded, “Dad said I’m grounded for a month if he catches me swearing.”
“This is a different kind of swearing. Your dad is talking about swearing as in saying bad words. We are talking about swearing as in making a serious promise.”
“Okay, sir. What am I promising?”
“Well you look old enough to have been in school for a while, have you seen those fill in the blank questions before?” Judge Noble Spirit asked. Scootaloo nodded, so he continued his explanation, “See that little plaque on the rim in front of you? I need you to hold your right hoof up and read it out loud, but instead of reading the part in the brackets fill that in with whatever that is to you.”
Scootaloo’s eyes found the bracketed section and finding it to be <whatever is sacred to you> she made an ‘uh’ sound as she tried to think of something appropriate and not embarrassing to say in the middle of a crowded room.
“Most ponies say things like ‘with Celestia as my witness’ or ‘by my honor as a member of the royal guard’ at that part,” the judge suggested. Although he couldn’t help but smile slightly in anticipation of the typically amusing choices of ‘sacred’ things young ponies gave during the oath.
After giving a quick nod Scootaloo lifted her hoof up and said, “I swear, by my honor as a cutie mark crusader, to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so Heaven help me.”
Nobel Spirit smiled softly and said, “Very good, now for the last part of the technicalities I need you to state your name and occupation for the record.”
The filly tilted her head to the side. “What’s an occupation?”
“It’s a job. What adults do to earn money-” Judge Noble Spirit began, but was cut off when the filly responded far more quickly then he’d expected.
“I don’t think I can do that,” Scootaloo said, lowering her head slightly, as sweat became visible on her forehead.
With a laugh the judge finished his explanation. “That’s okay, at your age nopony expects you to have a paying job, so you can just say you’re a student and name the school you go to.”
Perking right back up Scootaloo said, “Oh okay! My name is Scootaloo and I’m a student at the Ponyville Schoolhouse.”
“Very good Scootaloo, you are now sworn in. Princess Luna you may proceed.”
Approaching the witness stand Luna greeted the filly, “Hello again, Scootaloo. Thou should relax a little, I’m the one on trial here, not you.”
“Heh, yeah, sorry. We really should try to meet someday when one of us isn’t in trouble.”
That drew a soft laugh from Luna. “Agreed, our current record is dismal isn’t it? However ever it is one such time I need you to recount for the court. Do you recall the night the nightmares invaded Ponyville?”
“Sure, I guess, but you know I got hit by a nightmare spell that made me sleep through most of it. I don’t really remember much of what happened in my nightmares. Just that you came and helped us break free of the nightmare world, then we woke up in a cage in that cave. After that you kicked Nightmare Moon’s flank and busted us out!” By the end of her story Scootaloo was taking swings at the air with her hooves.
Luna nodded but asked, “I’m going to need you to clarify some things. First let us start with who the ‘we’ and ‘us’ you mentioned are.”
“Oh right, my friends Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were in the cage with me too.”
“Next, could you please be a bit more detailed about what you saw when you first awoke, Scootaloo?”
Tapping her hoof on her chin Scootaloo responded, “Okay, let’s see… We were in a cage. It was off to the side of the room. There was a campfire in the middle of the room. You were to one side of the fire, and Nightmare Moon was on the other side.”
“And when you first awoke, was I using magic?”
After a moment’s pause Scootaloo shook her head. “Magic? No your horn didn’t start glowing until you summoned that sword I made in the dream world.”
Luna nodded. “Thank you. Lastly, when I ‘kicked Nightmare Moon’s flank’ as you said, can you tell the court what happened to her?”
“After you beat Nightmare Moon she kinda dissolved into glowing, dark magicy bits or something. It was really weird.”
A smile graced Luna’s face as she said, “Hmm, that sounds familiar, thank you. Your Honor I am done with this witness.”
With a nod the judge asked, “Prosecution?”
The prosecutor stood up lazily, not even bothering to look at the filly as he approached the stand. “Scootaloo was it?” he asked, finally looking at the witness. The filly nodded. “Alright then. First off, when you woke up in that cave, are you absolutely one hundred percent certain that Luna’s horn didn’t even have the slightest glow to it?”
Scootaloo looked upward for a moment before answering. “Yeah I’m sure. The cave was pretty dark, so even the sparks from Sweetie Belle’s horn looked like flares. So yeah, I’m sure there wasn’t any glow on Luna’s horn when I first woke up.”
With a raised eyebrow Thgilon asked, “Who’s Sweetie Belle and why did she have sparks coming from her horn?”
“Sweetie Belle is one of my friends. That’s her right over there,” Scootaloo said, pointing to the unicorn filly in the audience area, who promptly waved back. “Some times sparks come of her horn when she gets excited. In the cave I guess it was because we were all cheering for Luna when she was fighting Nightmare Moon.”
“I see. Forgive my curiosity, but seeing as Luna had the choice of several witness in the cave, do you know why she chose you, and not, say, Sweetie Belle to testify on her behalf?”
Scootaloo Blinked for a moment. “I don’t know. Luna’s right there, why don’t you ask her?”
“Mainly because at the moment you’re the one sworn to testify. So go ahead I’ll settle for a guess,” Thgilon said, leaning in uncomfortably close to Scootaloo.
The filly pulled her head back slightly, reclaiming what personal space she could while remaining in her seat. The beads of sweat returned to her forehead as she mentally scrambled, trying to guess the motives of a princess.
“Objection!” the shout drew all eyes to the defense’s table, where Lieutenant Night Sky was standing as the clear speaker. “Your Honor, he’s badgering the witness! Knowing that her friends are present, if he doubts the truth of her words he can call one of them as a rebuttal witness. Likewise he can call on Luna to answer this question, there is absolutely no reason to press further with this line of questioning!”
“Question withdrawn,” Thgilon said the instant Luna’s council had finished speaking. Turning away from Scootaloo, he added, “I have no further questions for this witness.”
Back at the defense’s table, the lieutenant whispered, “Sorry for speaking out of turn princess, but I gave you a full two seconds to speak up yourself.”
“I did not see the harm in allowing Scootaloo to guess.”
“That’s not the point. He was clearly just trying to get her to say something foolish, so the judge wouldn’t take her testimony as seriously.”
“I see, in that case thank you lieutenant,” Luna finished the whispered conversation.
Back on the stand, Scootaloo looked up at the judge and asked, “Can I go now?”
“Yes, little filly. You can go,” Noble Spirit said.
In and instant Scootaloo vanished in an orange and purple blur as she darted across the room. Even Rainbow Dash barely had time to react and catch the incoming filly missile. As Dash set Scootaloo in the empty seat next to her she whispered, “You did good squirt.”
Looking to Princess Luna, the judge said, “Defense, that was the last witness on your pre-trial list. Is there anything more you wish to add?”
“Yes, Your Honor, there is,” Luna said as she got up and took two pieces of paper over to the judge. “These are the written reports of the official investigation into the break-in at Miss Peppermint Stride’s bakery. One from the original investigation team, and another from the magical crimes investigation team at my request.”
Pointing to portions of the reports with her hoof, Luna continued, “Please take note that both failed to find any evidence that I have ever been in the bakery. Not so much as a fur, mane, or tail hair of mine was found, not even a feather. It is also worth notice that all of these were found in relative abundance from Private Stratos Hoof. In fact the physical evidence suggests that the private engaged in the brawl alone, further enforcing my theory that he fought with a shadow puppet is more likely the case.”
After a moment of reading Noble Spirit looked up and said, “Prosecution this is pretty damaging to your case, did you have any further evidence that can place Luna at the scene of the crime?”
Thgilon grinned, drawing a few raised eyebrows. “No, I don’t think I need to.”
“Very well then. Defense did you have anything more to add?”
“No Your Honor.”
“Then you may make your closing arguments. Prosecution, proceed.”
With that Thgilon got up and walked into the middle of the room. “Through the course of this trial Princess Luna brought up a rather intriguing point. What could she gain by braking into a bakery? Furthermore, given the evidence I do not doubt that the creature Private Stratos Hoof fought with was indeed a magical construct. But that poses an even better question, What could any high level magic user hope to gain by braking into a mere bakery?”
Pausing for a moment the prosecutor sneered at Luna. “I would think the answer is obvious, Only Princess Luna had anything to gain by such a pointless crime! Thanks to Luna’s own witnesses we have heard the tale of how she heroically saved Cloudsdale from a shadow puppet. And then the how a shadow puppet tormented the town of Ponyville only for their dear Princess of the night to save the day again. And now you ask me to take it as mere coincidence that the very moment Luna returns to service as our princess of the night that a shadow puppet starts causing trouble in Canterlot? Causing a crime wave that’s crimes always takes place at night mind you, so who is it that comes to play hero for the citizens but Luna?”
“No, it seems obvious to me, that by playing both sides of the law, only Luna had anything to gain! I dare to wonder just how much longer this crime spree would have continued before Luna came back with yet another tale of facing down a shadow puppet and ending the troubles in Canterlot, and earning the same adoration and praise she found in Cloudsdale and Ponyville!” Thgilon’s closing words oozed with sarcasm as he ended his speech.
Once the prosecutor had returned to his chair, Luna took the floor. “It would seem that our friend has already forgotten Scootaloo’s testimony. She clearly stated that I was not using magic when she saw both myself and the shadow puppet in the likeness of Nightmare Moon. Considering that Twilight Sparkle was quite correct in noting that the shadow puppet spell is in fact a channeled spell, that makes it rather impossible for me to have been the one casting the spell that Scootaloo and her friends saw me fight.”
Looking to the prosecutor, Luna continued, “Thou clams that I seek fame for my deeds?” Luna returned her gaze to the court in general. “Funny, to the best of my knowledge there were only four ponies that even heard around the events in Cloudsdale. My sister, Myself, Rainbow Dash, and whomever cast the shadow puppet!”
“The clam that I am behind the crime wave in Canterlot is outright preposterous! Perhaps a reminder is in order that I am in fact the princess of the night! And perhaps I was merely doing my job? After all I hath been seeking the caster of the shadow puppets ever since Rainbow Dash and I encountered the one in Cloudsdale. So naturally, once the evidence suggested that the crimes in Canterlot were connected to dark magic, I took a personal interest in the situation. And so I propose a counter theory, perhaps I was getting too close to finding the true culprit, and what better way to stall my investigation, then frame me for the crime? As you can see I am not only one with a potential motive for this pointless crime. So from what I see, there is no evidence that I committed the crime of which I am being accused, and many reasons to doubt that I am the culprit of this crime. Need I say more?”
With that Luna returned to her seat. Looking over the courtroom Judge Noble Spirit said, “I see no reason for prolonged deliberation on this matter. As the prosecution has failed to connect Princess Luna to the crime in any meaningful way, I find many reasonable doubts as to Luna’s guilt, not least of which is the fact that the events in Ponyville prove that somepony else is using shadow puppets to illicit ends. As such I have no choice but to declare that, on the charges of assault and vandalism regarding Private Stratos Hoof and Miss Peppermint Stride’s bakery, I find Princess Luna not guilty!”
With a bang of the gavel most of the room erupted in applause. Turning to the prosecutor Luna said, “I trust there are no hard feeling?”
“Why would I be upset? You fell for my trick perfectly.” The instant Thgilon finished speaking his body began to dissolve into specks of dark magic that flickered out of existence.
As if on queue the doors to the courtroom flung open with a resounding crash and a unicorn of the royal guard came running in. “Princess Celestia! Come quick somepony has broken into the arcane artifacts vault!”