//------------------------------// // Chapter 53. An Offer Declined // Story: Dust on the Wind // by Sparky Brony //------------------------------// Little did I know the shit storm I unleashed with my capture of the Admiral. I get back to a home missing half of our family, Sunset, Irony, Moon Shadow, and Dr. Ray are gone, and from my texting to them, it will be a couple of days. So I head home and rest, knowing that the guards escorting the Admiral will put him in holding. Yes, we've built a jail, of sorts. Though it's rarely used. The next morning I'm woken very early to banging on the door. I glance at my phone, 4:18AM. What the fuck? I see everypony in bed with me is still snoozing peacefully, so I flutter downstairs to the living room, a quick trot has me at the front door. "Geez, the door is never locked, what the fuck?" I say as I open the door, then I immediately bow. A midnight blue alicorn is standing there. "Princess Luna." I scuttle back and point into the living room, bidding her entrance, she gracefully walks past me and goes to the large open room. Her wings are up, and not in any royal capacity, the Alicorn of the Night seems to be more than a little upset. "Oh, get up, we aren't in Equestria, Lightning Dust." I quickly comply, then move to one of the couches, I hop up on a couch, and indicate to the Princess to sit, she looks at the large chair, then settles herself into it. "This is rather unusual, Princess Luna." She frowns at me, "As are your actions, Lightning Dust." I furrow my brow, "What are you talking about?" She sighs, "You arrested a human military member." I find my wings spreading in anger at her tone, "I was acting in my capacity as a Royal Guard, as a Wonderbolt. That man ordered the murder of twelve ponies." She sighs, "I've heard, though I would like to see the evidence, but you violated US law in doing so." Huh? "What are you talking about?" is what I say. "I don't know if you remember, but back in 2003, a law was signed, it protects military members from being arrested for war crimes, what you specifically did." I shake my head, "Uhh, Princess. There was no war." "That doesn't matter. As a member of the US military, he can't be arrested for such actions." I growl, "The President mentioned that, but he said that was specific to the Hague, in regards to actual war crimes, he said it didn't apply." She raises her voice, "Oh, then why did I get a phone call today from a member of the Joint Chief of Staff of the Army? You have ruffled a lot of feathers in the Pentagon." I wave a hoof, "When the extent of his crimes are brought out, they will feel differently." She returns with a growl of her own, my wings snap to my sides in response, I feel a thrill of fear down my spine, "Lightning Dust, we must cooperate with the humans, no matter what has been done to you, you have to remember, we are an extreme minority here in this world. We have to worry about such things." We sit in silence for a minute or two, then I perk up, "I have an idea, you should preside at his trial." It's time for her to furrow her brow, "Me?" I nod, "You are a Princess, the only Princess on Earth, since Princess Celestia decided to go through the portal the last time it was open. You are the leadership of Equestria, surely you remember presiding over court cases." She nods slowly, "It is true, I did. But…" "Princess Luna, make this a full blown affair, the deaths of ponies needs to be addressed. He was responsible, and Dr. Phillips is already dead himself, otherwise I would have him here as well. But Admiral Volker was responsible for the deaths of the ponies. He needs to be held accountable." She thinks for a moment, "I think we can make that work, though I will have to invite some military brass to join us at the trial, in an advisory role." Once again, we lapse into silence, until she breaks it after a long time, "And if he's found guilty." I suppress my queasy stomach, "Death." She shakes her head emphatically, "Equestria does not believe in the death penalty." I spring to my hooves, "But banishment, we can't banish him, he'll just go back home and not have a worry in the world." I think for a long time, then I feel as though I have a light bulb above my head, "I know." I explain my idea, and at first, she looks confused, then finally, Princess Luna starts to nod in agreement. "We will have to do that, provided he is found guilty." I growl, "I'm certain he will. Remember, I had to study law just like any other Royal Guard member." "Well, I'll have to see the evidence." I shake my head, "If you are the presiding judge, Princess, you can't see it, until it's presented." She nods, "Oh, yeah." She then chuckles, "You know, my life while cursed by Discord did not at all prepare me for this." I have to laugh, "Maybe not, but you are still Princess Luna, with thousands of years of experience as ruler of Equestria, along with your sister." She laughs, "Got that right, Lightning Dust." *** You can't accuse Equestria for not having a swift trial, within a week, a gavel is lifted magically by Princess Luna. "To all here, Court is now in session." She says regally, smacking the gavel gently on its base. She barely even notices the several cameras set up in the court room. While the trial isn't being broadcast live, it is being recorded. And also, Princess Luna had a wonderful idea, all court room officers, everypony with an official capacity when it comes to this trial, was some form of Royal Guard or military member in Equestria. Princess Luna as Judge, she had rank in the EUP, Blue Sky, a crystal guard, is a bailiff. And several other members of the guard are present. Equestria typically has no jury trials, trusting instead the will of the Princesses. After a few moments, a side door opens, and the human is led out. He was allowed his Navy uniform for his trial. And his own lawyer, along with a pony familiar with Equestrian law assisting him, over the objections of Admiral Volker. On the prosecutorial side, a former lawyer from Equestria, a fairly small profession back home, is handling the prosecution. I've had to turn over all the evidence provided by Twilight Velvet to the court. And I had to go over that evidence with him, it's rare for a stallion to be a lawyer in Equestria, though he had some other ties to the crown that I found out about, and he was more green around the gills than I was in the end. He finally hops off of his chair, and stands before the Princess. "Good morning Princess Luna. We are ready." The pony lawyer on the Defense side stands, along with the human lawyer and the defendant, "We are ready as well, Princess." "Proceed." The princess intones. The prosecutor clears isr throat, "To all who don't know me, my name is Kibitz, I will handle the prosecution." Luna smiles as she nods. He steps in front of the bench, "I am here today, to balance the scales of justice. When Discord banished us all, he put us in this world, and when we started to change back to our true selves, we caused more than a little distress to both the normal person and the governments of the world as a whole. This planet ended up closer to a worldwide conflict on the magnitude of the early world wars of the last century, than at any time since. I will admit, this was in no small part due to the fact that ponies are not native to this world." "That however should not remove the responsibility of those who deliberately killed ponies, or in the case of the defendant, by their orders, ponies were subjected to horrific experiments, and knowing fully well…" The human lawyer stands up, shouting, "Objection." Princess Luna smiles as she intones, "Overruled, we are following Equestrian law here. You will get your chance to respond." Kibitz smiles a bit at the Princess, "Thank you, Princess." He looks at the assembled humans and ponies, "As I was saying, knowing fully well that the experiments would end the lives of the subjects. He ordered them transferred. Under Equestrian law, and under United States law as well, he is as guilty as those who performed the experiments." Kibitz walks slowly over to his table and sits contentedly. On the other side, the human lawyer and the pony lawyer bend towards each other, after several moments, the human stands up and stands before the Princess. "Good morning, Princess. My name is Marcus Phillips, a former major in the United States Marine Corps, I served in the capacity of Judge Advocate General, I am now retired, though I've come through at the request of the Admiral here. I am here to defend against these spurious allegations. An officer of the United States Military cannot be held accountable in a foreign court for their actions in commission of their duties. I intend to prove that and prove that the actions of Admiral Volker were reasonable, given the circumstances involved. I sit in the audience and suppress a snort. If they are going to go with the just following orders defense, this will be a quick trial. *** I come home after a long day in town, I trot through the empty house, where is everypony? I check the bedrooms, nopony there. I finally find someone, in the laundry room in the basement. "Oh, Alan. Where is everyone?" He turns a smiles at me, "Hi Dust, all the foals, along with Irony, Moon Shadow, Mindy, Helen and Sunset, as well as the other stallions, headed out for a while. I think they are shopping in Minnesota, they said they would be back tonight." "Any word on the book?" He sighs and shakes his head, "Sunset wrote a message to Princess Twilight, still no response as of yet. She says she's certain the book on the other side is still there, otherwise the magic would have died. But apparently nopony has noticed it as of yet." I frown, from what Irony told me, Equestria was going to be in shambles for a long time after the ponies returned, though I would think most of the work would be done, or nearly so. I finally shake my head, then walk over to Alan, rearing up on two legs, letting my wings spread for balance, I put my forehooves on his shoulders, and reach up to kiss him. He kisses me back as his arms wrap around me, but when I tease his lips with my tongue, his lips remain stubbornly closed. I pull back and look at him, today has been emotionally exhausting. "Alan, please?" He frowns, and amazingly, he looks a little scared, "Dust, I know we've talked about it before. I'm not really comfortable with anypony but Mindy." My ears fold back, "Mindy isn't here, and I know she would approve, Alan, we all love you. And I really need you right now." He pulls back a bit, "Dust." He sighs, "I'm sorry." I pull out of his arms, landing on all fours, I don't know what to do with my wings, I don't want to fold them at my sides, they end up fluttering of their own accord, "Alan, I know Mindy has explained it to you, we all belong to each other, and while for a while, it was okay for you to be exclusive with Mindy, even to the point of excluding yourself when all of us are feeling amorous, but you are a stallion in our herd, in our family. We all love you, you know that right?" He nods. I feel myself wanting to growl at this insufferable human, but I can't. He means too much to me. "The time has come for you to be included with the rest of the herd. I'm not asking for much, Alan." I turn back to him, the tears that were threatening to overtake me start to fall, "Alan, I need you. Please?" My voice gets really small at the end. My wings droop to the floor, why am I crying over this? I just need someone, right now, I hurt too much otherwise. He kneels down, "Dust," He puts a hand on my withers, "You are asking me for more than I'm willing to give. I love all of you mares, you are so nice to me, and you've been very loving. And yes," He smiles and blushes, "I've vacated the room when you ponies are in an amorous mood. But I am not ready for such activities with the rest of you. Mindy and I are still discovering each other, you have to understand." My hoof comes down on the tile of the laundry room with a sharp crack, I look down, the tile I've hit is shattered, I look up at him, venom in my eyes, "Alan, I'm sorry I met you, and I'm really sorry I introduced you to Mindy." Without another word, my wings power me down the hall and up the basement stairs. I crash through the door and am barely able to open the back door, though I think a pane of glass or three are cracked as I slam the door. My wings really take over, and I power straight up, picking a direction at random, I streak off. After several minutes of flying, I find a likely cloud, I land on it and curl up. Feeling truly miserable.