//------------------------------// // Berried In Legal Terms // Story: Silver Marriage // by cdcdrr //------------------------------// Chapter 15: Berried In Legal Terms The day had passed by, and it was mid-afternoon by the time Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon returned home. To spare herself embarrassment, Silver had insisted her wife would try her hoof at creating some of her own jewellery. Then at least she wouldn't have to feel it was just her fumbling amateurishly. And although she tried to praise Diamond as the obviously superior artisan, she had turned the compliment right back around by claiming she was merely competent, and not a natural talent like Silver herself. Despite the impasse, Silver Spoon felt good about herself. Even if her work wasn't worth selling, surely Diamond Tiara could handle herself better? Arriving home, Diamond saw Princess Twilight was outside, pacing about. She seemed nervous. Approaching, she greeted her resident alicorn ruler. "Afternoon, your highness. Have you been waiting long?" She asked, drawing her attention. "Oh, yes in fact. But that's not important. And you don't have to call me highness." Twilight reminded. "You seem a bit disappointed. Did the investigation not go well?" Diamond Tiara opened the door to allow Princess Twilight in, but she apparently decided to remain out in the front yard. "That's not the issue. I did gather more clues. I identified hoofsteps from a pony that was clearly not either of you two, and they matched one of two sets around Berry Pinch's home. I checked with Applejack to confirm my theory about the source of the rotten apples, and she confirmed she sold in bulk to Berry Punch. The last batch would indeed have been overripe by now. The stone thrown through your window had no marks of having been picked up by mouth or hoof like non-unicorn ponies would do, which suggests a unicorn threw it. Which is Berry Pinch's race. There was the newspaper page about Berry's mother's latest... legal problems from the Ponyville Express you were once the editor-in-chief to, Diamond Tiara. So I gathered up the more recent stories about Berry Punch from the Express. I hoped that, taking it all together, Mrs. Mare would take a closer look at your vandalism trouble and realize it's unlikely that it was Apple Bloom." Twilight retold. "So what went wrong?" Diamond asked, expecting the mayor had just stonewalled her efforts. "She concluded that it had to be Berry Punch instead of her daughter. She argued it was the more direct explanation for where the apple came from, the motive that you headed the newspaper that printed embarrassing stories about her, and that the hoofprints in the dirt at both houses could be hers because she has probable reason to visit her daughter's house. I'm sorry Diamond Tiara, but she just wasn't hearing any argument to the contrary." Twilight looked defeated, seeming to regret casting suspicion on Berry Punch. "I could have told you that." Diamond Tiara scoffed, but tried her hardest to mind her manners. "I appreciate your help, Princess. You've done us a service someone of your standing didn't have to do. Mayor Mare is just fixated on ponies who bother her like me and Berry Punch, and won't see the bigger picture." "I thought she was better than this. I'm disappointed with the mayor. All smiles in public, but deliberately obtuse about some ponies she privately doesn't like." Twilight sighed, her head hung low. "I should be heading home. Spike is no doubt worried why I've been out so long. If he's not been reading his comic books instead of ordering books that is." "I was going to offer you tea but I understand you'll want to go home." Diamond Tiara said. "I'm going to see the guard to try and get Berry Punch off the hook. She doesn't deserve to be framed for this, and I'd wager it'll only make things worse with Berry Pinch if she's arrested for her shenanigans. Good evening, Princess." She waved a polite goodbye. "Good night girls." Twilight wished back, not even bothering to tell them to forego the formal title. "You're going to see the guards right now?" Silver asked, seemingly worried. "Yes, I want to avoid Berry Punch being misblamed before it has a chance to escalate." She took notice of her wife's worry, and paused. "If Berry Pinch hears about this, she'll be going to the guard station instead of our house for more revenge. You shouldn't worry. And if I run into her there, I can handle her." "I hope so. Take care, sugar lump." Silver wished as she retreated back into their home. * * * The Ponyville guard station was a fairly unremarkable building for a police force. That it didn't have many ponies to staff it may have been the reason it wasn't a dedicated structure like they had in Canterlot or Manehatten. Entering, Diamond Tiara saw the it was too late to prevent anypony from dragging in Berry Punch, who was seated before the desk of the station's incompetent sergeant, Hot Grill. "I want you to confess!" The sergeant demanded, seemingly in the middle of his infamous interrogations. "I want to know what you were doing at that house!" "I don't know." Berry Punch sobbed, a confused mess of a pony. Sergeant Hot Grill was the perfect Bad Cop for an interrogation. It was just too bad this town didn't have a Good Cop to balance him out, and that often led to a miscarriage of justice. Diamond felt her stomach churn at what he was doing to Berry in her name, but didn't have the courage to interrupt him. Not many ponies in town would have. "You don't know? Are you implying that your horseshoes and all that detritus made their way over to Mrs. Diamond's house under their own power, deviously tracked prints all over the area, the proceeded to toss itself at the walls and windows until there was refuse and rotten apples all over the yard?" Grill hypothesized with only a slight hint of sarcasm. "...Yes?" Berry Punch must have endured this for a while if this seemed like an acceptable answer to her. "We got our evidence from Princess Twilight herself, who dutifully investigated, sacrificing her valuable time. She found hoofprints matching those outside your house, and an abundance of spoiled apples just like the ones in your storage shed. Are you saying the Princess is a liar?" Hot Grill roared at the mare, who shrunk back into her seat. "N-no!" "Then you admit those are yours!?" He continued, leaning in closer until Berry Punch couldn't back away any more. "I don't- Maybe it- I have no idea." She wailed desperately. "Aww, you have no idea. Maybe the judge will have an idea when we present him with these clues. Maybe he'll tell you about the crime you committed that you'll be punished for." He mockingly lectured her. "Alright, I did it! I did it, okay? What else do you want to hear from me? How much more are you going to pin on me before the Mayor's satisfied?" Berry Punch begged and sniffled. "So you admit. You admit to vandalism as a hate crime against Mrs. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon? You're willing to make a statement to my deputy confirming your guilt? As part of some plea bargain?" Hot Grill seemed satisfied with himself, and a lot less aggressive now. "Yes, yes! Whatever. Just stop harassing me. I'm sorry the mayor hates me and I can't do anything right! I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Berry wept, seemingly broken. Diamond shuddered to think how long she'd endured this. Not just today, but every time Hot Grill had brought her in for anything she may or may not have done. She had to tell Hot Grill she wasn't going to press the issue. She forgot all about Berry Pinch, who she had know was truly responsible, just to save her own conscience. Berry Punch was taken to the back of the station by a deputy while Diamond Tiara approached the desk of Hot Grill. "Ah, welcome missus. You may have seen we already have the culprit in custody. She confessed to the crime after throughout questioning." He greeted her, rather satisfied with himself. "You were shouting at her." Diamond Tiara pointed out, with disapproval in her voice. "Just exploiting her psyche. Criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot. Coffee?." He held up his own cup, revealing a dark black broth Diamond knew would suffocate her taste buds for days. "I've come here for Berry Punch's release, not for coffee." She spoke insistently. "I think she's already here for that." He nodded towards the entrance. Diamond Tiara turned back to see Berry Pinch enter, a purse tied around her neck. No doubt she's come to pay her mother's bail. Her eyes met Diamond Tiara's, and she felt extremely awkward after the way Hot Grill had treated her mother. Berry Pinch marched on, to speak to another mare at the station who led her away into the back. "Anyway, she's confessed, so this case is open-and-shut. You can rest assured this won't happen to you again." Hot Grill drew back her attention, leaning back with satisfaction. "This isn't done, you have the wrong mare. Berry Pinch was the one who did this. Your boss is deliberately misinterpreting Princess Twilight's evidence to match her vendetta against Berry Punch." Diamond Tiara explained, but found her words didn't affect him. "We'd have to do a closer identification of the hoofprints to find a match with Berry Pinch. But why should we, when her mother just confessed she did it?" He asked. "Because she is an emotional wreck who will confess to anything if you verbally abuse her enough. Meanwhile the real culprit is paying her bail." Diamond pointed towards the back, where the two Berries had disappeared. "Take it up with the judge, I've done all I am strictly required to do. This case is shut." "This case is a miscarriage of justice! Are you willing to make a fool out of our judiciary just because you are lazy?" Diamond Tiara was getting aggravated at his insufferable stubbornness. "I don't get what the big deal is. The law exists to be a deterrent against crime. The way I see it, we're making an example of a troublemaker here. Why should we care if it's the mother or the daughter if all we need is for one to serve as a warning for what will happen if you disturb the peace?" Hot Grill kept refusing, proving once more why family relations should never be the reason for an appointment to a certain job. "I am withdrawing my complaint. I absolve Berry Punch of all the charges." Diamond played her trump card. Better that she'd let Berry Pinch get away with this than allow this travesty to happen in her name. "You can't do that. This is a public order case. She'll be tried against the Equestrian justice system, and not against you." The sergeant denied, and Diamond Tiara didn't have the legal expertise to debate him on the finer points of the law. Not that she believed it would have been very hard. "This is mistake. You are going to let her daughter walk free." Diamond Tiara wondered just why Mayor Mare wasn't interested in getting to Berry Punch by bringing trouble to her daughter. Maybe she had standards, family values. "You might just make it worse by making her angry." "If this harassment was really her fault, she'll have to stop it. Berry Punch is already on thin ice so shortly after assaulting the mayor. If we have to haul in her mother for repeat offences while out on bail, she can kiss her bits goodbye." Hot Grill argued. Diamond Tiara was miffed he was making this about money, but she had to admit there was a point behind his reasoning that Berry Pinch would put her mom in more trouble if she did something Berry Punch was already suspected off while on bail. If she cared as much about her mother that she'd want to vandalize her home as revenge, Berry Pinch be smarter than to provoke the incompetent, lazy sergeant into locking her mother behind bars in anticipation of the trial. As Hot Grill got up to start filing away things from his desk, Berry Pinch and her mother re-entered the room and headed out the station, the daughter having draped her foreleg around a sobbing, distraught Berry Punch. As they moved past her, Berry Pinch stopped and leaned in close to Diamond Tiara. "This isn't over, not by long. I will hurt you, worse than you have my mother for getting her involved in this. And I will make you pray to Celestia that I'll end my torment of you." Berry Pinch threatened as she whispered into Diamond's ear before she put her leg back around her mother to steady her as they walked out the station. Diamond Tiara stood in place, long after they had left. She dreaded that Berry Pinch would fulfil that promise, and worried if she had gotten Silver Spoon in more danger by trying to get Twilight's help against the bullying.