//------------------------------//
// Chapter XLIV 
// Story: Lessons in quirks 
// by Mike84 
//------------------------------//

	Frank gave a slight frown. "I know what this bag contains. What it should contain. After I have seen alterations been made to my map, in my own hoofwriting but without me having done them, I cannot be certain that nothing has been changed about the contents of my money bag. It should contain two golden-, seven silver- and nine copper bits and a little stone."
"A stone?" called Pinkie Pie. "Why do you carry a stone along Frankie? My sister Maud would like that!"
Frank either hadn't heard Pinkie's call or decided to ignore it: "To nothing else you might find in this bag do I claim possession or awareness."
Featherscribe gave a little snort. "Preemptive refusal of responsibility? Now I would be surprised indeed if we didn't find anything other than what you just named!"
Lady Justice cocked her head slightly and gave Featherscribe a scrutinizing look: 
"Featherscribe, as a judge I must ask if you are somehow biased against the defendant for reasons that got nothing to do with this hearing?"
Featherscribe hesitated for a few moments before he said: "If I was... if I am, it is because of a reason that does have to do with this hearing, though I have not yet addressed it. I request for the search of Mr. Blanket's money bag to be completed and I shall offer my apologies for what I just said in case my intuition failed me. After that however, I can address this final point and everypony may then decide whether or not I am being unduly biased."
Twilight and Frank both gave Featherscribe puzzled and especially in Twilight's case alarmed looks. The looming announcement of such a revelation made Twilight feel extremely uneasy.
Lady Justice acknowledged Featherscribe's declaration with a nod and proceeded to open Frank's money bag. The bag contained a speckled, rugged stone, two golden-, seven silver-, and nine copper bits and something that looked like a necklace. 
Frank seemed to sag a little when Lady Justice picked up the necklace. There was an amulet on the chain of the necklace in the shape of a silvery orb, a depiction of the moon perhaps, that sprouted two glassy, black wings. 
"What is this?" asked Lady Justice holding up the necklace. 
"A trinket that I have never before seen in my life", Frank said rather wearily. 
"Has anypony here seen this piece of jewelry before?" Lady Justice called to the audience, but there was only shaking of heads. 
Featherscribe cleared his throat and said: "I have not seen this before, but I do have a theory about what it is and where it belongs. To put this theory to the test, I need your assistance, Princess Twilight."
Twilight nodded silently, she was pretty certain what Featherscribe was going to ask and already had the spell to detect and analyze magic prepared when Featherscribe asked her to test the amulet for magical capabilities. Twilight was not really surprised about the result, but still felt rather numb when she announced: 
"This amulet is loaded with a levitation spell. It allows the wearer to cast that spell a few times before it needs to be recharged."
Featherscribe nodded, giving no sign of surprise or triumph and said: "With your permission, Lady Justice, I would like to test if this amulet allows for a pony other than a unicorn and without any practice in effecting magic to use levitation magic. Perhaps it would also be a good chance to return the money bag that was found in Mr. Blanket's sleeping bag to Mr. Rich?" 
Lady Justice nodded silently and Featherscribe slipped over the necklace. He moved to open a little trapdoor in the floor of the stage with one of his hooves but suddenly hesitated and then asked: 
"Princess Twilight, is it right that you have to concentrate on what you want to levitate and where you want to levitate it in order to cast such a spell?"
Twilight nodded. "You also have to make a very deliberate decision to actually cast the spell, so random thoughts or dreams of unicorns about anything flying anywhere do not manifest into actual levitation spells", she added monotonously. 
Featherscribe nodded and made a very concentrated face. The silver orb and the black wings of the amulet flashed a little and the trapdoor was flung open so fiercely that it might have knocked Featherscribe out had he held his chin a little more forward within reach of the door. He took a little jump backwards, the spell stopped, but the trapdoor fell open. Featherscribe walked to the edge of the trapdoor, looked down and the amulet flashed again. The bag which Twilight and Rainbow Dash had found the previous day darted upwards through the trapdoor. Featherscribe only just managed to stop it before it hit the ceiling. He then carefully levitated it in a somewhat serpentine descend towards Mr. Rich and finally dropped it onto the ground in front of his hooves with an audible clink. 
"This is interesting!" Featherscribe called and seemed almost enthusiastic. "I didn't feel the weight of the bag at all. I think I could lift much heavier stuff or even several items this way! With a little practice I think I could let them fly in a more straight line and a more constant speed too!"
"So you are saying that you think that a pony without much practice could levitate six money bags about, using this amulet?" Lady Justice asked.
"That is what I am saying", Featherscribe confirmed as he stripped off the amulet and placed it back onto the table in front of Lady Justice. 
"There is more I got to say about this", Featherscribe said. "When I was asked to act as the prosecution in this hearing I did of course investigate and try to gather as much information as I could about the case, same as I'm sure the defense did." 
Featherscribe took a little bow towards Twilight which she barely noticed. Mr. Rich gave an audible snort.
"I gave some thoughts about the defendant's possibilities to commit this at all. And I was in absolute agreement with the defense that this was nothing likely to have been done without the use of magic. But knowing that the defendant had studied at the Academy in Fillydelphia, reminded me of something I had read a little while ago."
Frank suddenly gasped and his jaw dropped. Apparently he knew what Featherscribe was going to tell next. 
"It is a bit of a hobby of mine to collect and archive newspapers. Perhaps working in a town office promotes a bit of an archivist instinct." Featherscribe gave a sheepish smile. "In any case I went through my archived newspapers and recovered this." 
Featherscribe had been walking over to a saddle-bag which he had placed at the edge of the stage before the hearing had begun and produced a newspaper from it which he now put onto the table in front of Lady Justice and leafed a few pages before tapping an article with one hoof. Lady Justice scanned the article. 
"Shall I read out the article to the audience, your honor?" Featherscribe asked. 
"I think a summary will do, Featherscribe."
"As you wish. This article tells about a professor of magical sciences at the Academy of Fillydelphia having lost a precious item in the possession of the faculty which he had borrowed for personal examinations. The item is described as an amulet in the shape of a winged orb that allows the wearer to enact levitation spells. The loss of the amulet is ascribed to the likable but careless abstraction of the professor's mind. The professor did not remember having borrowed the amulet at all but expressed his sorrow about the loss in a most disheartened manner. The Academy offers a generous reward to anypony who finds the amulet and returns it to the faculty. Mr. Blanket, perhaps it would have been sensible to return that amulet and go for the reward."
Frank looked desolate and shook his head. His voice was rather quiet and hopeless when he spoke: "I heard about this. It was the main gossip on the campus for a while. But I have never seen this amulet before and most certainly I have not stolen it." 
"Mr. Blanket", Lady Justice said. Her voice sounded very calm, gentle, even sympathetic now. 
"Are you absolutely sure that there is nothing you can tell us about this? Nothing that you want to tell us about this?"
Frank took a deep breath and Twilight couldn't tell for sure if this was a gesture of suppressed anger or a desperate sigh. When he spoke however his voice was calm, almost meek: 
"You believe that I am making all this up. That in the face of such a discriminating evidence I'm turning to denial, no matter what?"
Lady Justice gave no sign of confirming or denying Frank's estimation, but said: "Mr. Blanket, I think you understand that all this is looking very suspicious. I do not mean to talk you into anything, but I think as the representative of the law presiding over this hearing it is proper for me to point out that the laws of Princess Celestia's realm are not designed to exclude a pony from society if that pony has made a mistake... even a planned and deliberate mistake... if that pony is ready to answer and take responsibility for that mistake. If there is anything you want to tell us. Something perhaps that might make an all-out trial in Canterlot unnecessary, it would certainly be held in your favor. We are aware that ponies can end up in... situations where the lure of money can mislead them into actions they would not usually commit."
"Is that what it all comes down to?" Frank said quietly, almost as if he was talking to himself now rather than to anyone else. "That 'situation'? But no... you got good reasons not to believe me and all I got for you is my word."
Suddenly Frank seemed to brace himself. He raised his head and put on an expression of great dignity. His voice was firm and strong when he spoke up again: 
"I have nothing to offer but my word in the face of all that is speaking against me, but my word you shall have! This is not a trial, but a hearing that is likely to lead to a trial. For this hearing I have not been asked to take an oath to say nothing but the truth. I want to take that oath however! 
To you, Lady Justice and Featherscribe, to you in particular, Princess Twilight, and to everyone present, pony, dragon, owl, to every living being in Equestria, I swear in the name of Princess Celestia and her sun, in the name of Princess Luna and her moon, and in the name of all there is in Equestria, that I don't have any idea how the marking of Mr. Rich's house appeared on my map, that I didn't know about the location of his house, that I have never ever seen this levitation amulet before, that most certainly I have not stolen Mr. Rich's money and that I did not lie about anything I said here!"
The all-embracing formulation as well as the solemn presentation of this oath didn't leave anybody unimpressed and there was a moment of silence. 
Once again however, it was Featherscribe who ended it: "I take it then that you are not going to lie about anything that you are still going to be asked here?"
"I will not lie about anything relevant to this hearing, Mr Featherscribe!" Frank said with a slightly defiant tone.
"Then I think it is time for me to address the previously mentioned point on which any bias of me against you may be based!"
"That point was not about the amulet?" Twilight shouted surprised.
"Princess Twilight, I got no personal sentiments whatsoever attached to that amulet or the stolen money. I don't see any of that as something that I would admit as a cause for personal bias."
Twilight was aghast. Just how much more and how much worse stuff could possibly come?
"It has been emphasized before that Mr. Blanket decided to stand this hearing by his own decision. Just now he once again put a lot of stress on voluntarily offering an oath of impressive bombast. Mr. Blanket doesn't seem to be quite as constant in this determination as his words seem to suggest", Featherscribe began. 
"What in the name of Celestia are you talking about?" Frank asked, not trying to hide a gruff tone.
"This morning, when Inkhorn finished her watch over Mr. Blanket and brought him breakfast, he attacked her in an attempt to break free!"
"I did not!" shouted Frank and for the first time he really seemed to have lost all command over his voice. "That's a lie!"
Rainbow Dash stood beside Frank suddenly, holding out a hoof in his way as if to make sure that he didn't pounce upon Featherscribe. If Frank had had any such intentions, Rainbow Dash's blocking his way brought him back to his senses. 
"Inkhorn told me when she got home, before I set out to Town Hall. She said that when she brought up breakfast to Mr. Blanket this morning, he suddenly charged towards her in an obvious attempt to break from the storeroom in which he had been detained. Inkhorn could repel this attack easily by means of her magic without getting hurt or hurting Mr. Blanket, but she did tell me about this and I therefore asked Mr. Biceps to stand guard when I arrived at the town hall and happened to meet him."
"This is not true!" shouted Frank. "Nothing like that happened!"
"You are calling Inkhorn a liar then, Mr. Blanket?" Featherscribe asked and his eyes narrowed menacingly.
Frank took a deep breath. This was not a question he could simply confirm or deny without putting himself in a vulnerable position. 
"I believe Inkhorn is a pony of honesty and integrity. But I know that nothing even remotely mistakable happened. If Inkhorn says that I attacked her, I presume her to be under the impression that I did. But I know that I did not and I don't know what in Equestria could cause such an impression to her!" Frank stated as calmly as he could.
"Inkhorn is not here, is she?" Twilight asked slowly. 
"She has been guarding Mr. Blanket for most of yesterday and all through the night while I was preparing for the hearing", Featherscribe said. "Obviously she is too tired to now stand this hearing too. Even town officials need to sleep sometimes."
"But that doesn't make any sense at all!" a voice shouted from the audience. 
Scootaloo jumped up and flapped fiercely with her wings as she shouted it. Her wings did not allow for her to fly, but they extended and prolonged her jump enough so everypony saw and noticed her. 
"He could have left yesterday if he wanted to! At night, when nopony would have seen or noticed until long after!"
"What is that, little filly?" asked Mayor Mare surprised. 
Frank looked at Scootaloo and shook his head, slightly gritting his teeth. 
Lady Justice and many ponies in the audience didn't miss these signals. 
"Little filly, do you want to give a testimony here?" Lady Justice asked sternly but not unfriendly.
Scootaloo swallowed, but then she nodded. "My name is Scootaloo. I visited Mr. Blanket late in the evening yesterday."
"We did!" Apple Bloom shouted. "I was there too!"
"And me. We were all there together!" Sweetie Belle joined her friends.
"Sweetie Belle!" Rarity called. "What were you thinking?" 
"Y'all told us to visit Frank when you expelled us from the library!" Apple Bloom shouted, looking alternately at Rarity and Applejack. 
"But at the time when you left!" Rarity called. "Not at... when were you there anyway?"
Lady Justice struck the pedestal with the gavel. "Whatever need for discussion there may be, I don't think it is to be part of this hearing."
"Kids", Frank said almost imploringly. "Don't get yourselves into any trouble here!"
"We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie Belle called as if this was all the response necessary. 
"Young Miss Scootaloo", Lady Judge stepped closer to the edge of the stage so she had a clearer view on the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "You said that Mr. Blanket could have left if he wanted to. What did you mean by that?"
"Well, when we got there late in the evening we could just walk in, open the hatch and visit Frank." 
"He could have just left with us if he had wanted to", Sweetie Belle added. 
"We told him he could sneak out with us...", Apple Bloom said. 
"...and that we could hide him in our clubhouse until the real thief was found", Scootaloo added.
"Your honor, please...", Frank said, "...these are good kids! Please don't get them involved into this strange case!"
"You realize that assisting a detainee to escape or to hide an escapee from the law is wrong, right?" Lady Justice asked with a stern frown.
"Ha, you are in so much trouble now!" Diamond Tiara shouted from the ranks.
"Shut up!" all of the Cutie Mark Crusaders said with one voice and turning their heads to her in a single motion.
"Order!" shouted Lady Justice and wielded her gavel that didn't find a pedestal to hit here at the edge of the stage, so she stomped with one hoof instead.
"We don't mean no harm, your honor...", said Apple Bloom, "...but it is also wrong to detain somepony for something he didn't do."
"And how do you know that he didn't do it?" asked Lady Justice, stern again, but not unfriendly.
"He said he didn't do it...", Scootaloo began. 
"Every thief would say that!" Featherscribe interrupted.
"Featherscribe, I did not give you the floor. Let the witnesses give their testimony!" Lady Justice rebuked him.
"Frank himself told us he could be lying for all we knew", Sweetie Belle said. 
"Yes, and when then we told him it would be stupid to say that if he really was lying, he said... 'except if...", Apple Bloom was racking her brain.
"Except if I would think that you would think I didn't do it, because if I did I would not say this", Frank recited his own words almost mechanically.
"Yeah, that", Apple Bloom confirmed. 
"In any case, he wouldn't come with us", Scootaloo said. "He said that it would look like a confession if he did that. So why would he do that and not take the chance to escape and then the very next morning, with no real chance, try to attack Inkhorn and run away in broad daylight?"
Twilight couldn't help but giving the three fillies a short smile. "I think the witnesses are making a good point there", she said.
"And also, y'all are always talking about the money and how that could be stolen, but isn't it much more important how whoever is attacking ponies and make them forget things and feel miserable like poor Miss Cheerilee?" Apple Bloom said. "Nothing you said or found says anything about how Frank is supposed to have done that!"
Lady Justice ignored the general criticism and asked: "You say that when you got here yesterday in the late evening Inkhorn was asleep and you could just walk in?"
"Yes, she was", Apple Bloom confirmed. "We weren't even quiet when we got in as we just wanted to visit Frank and we meant to tell her. But when we found her asleep, she didn't even wake up when we were talking to her. It was then that we thought Frank could walk right out with us."
Lady Justice cleared her throat, but before she could respond, Featherscribe said: 
"Now kids, this is kind of convenient, isn't it? You are telling a story that makes your friend look good and the only one who was there without either being you or your friend was supposedly so fast asleep that you couldn't even wake her. And she just happens not to be around to contradict this fancy story and—"
"Featherscribe!" It was Applejack who spoke and her voice was icy and cutting. "Are you saying that mah sis is lying?"
The menacing tone of Applejack reduced Featherscribe to silence.
"She may be an annoying little brat sometimes...", Applejack said while she stepped forward and put a hoof on Apple Bloom's shoulder, "...but she ain't no liar! And if she says Inkhorn was asleep, then Inkhorn was asleep!"
Featherscribe nodded silently. 
"I would like to call to everypony's attention that Mr. Blanket not only stands this hearing by his own decision, but also didn't try to make a getaway when he had the chance after he already knew about the money bag that had been found in his sleeping bag", Twilight said. 
"You may have also noticed that he was, though in vain, trying to keep the fillies from getting involved into this even though he knew they were talking on his behalf! I do think it is proper to keep all this in mind when you judge the credibility of Mr. Blanket!"
"And what about the credibility of Inkhorn?" Featherscribe called angrily. "Are you calling her a liar?"
"Could maybe lack of sleep make Inkhorn... you know... see things?" Rainbow Dash suggested weakly. 
"What about Mr. Blanket himself?" Featherscribe countered. "Could not the mind of a studious pony with a demonstrated passion for his studies, a readiness to offer bombastic statements and the quirks often found among scholarly ponies 'see things'? No chance that he may be convinced of what he says but does not even remember now the things he did recently?"
"Mr. Featherscribe...", Frank said and put on his spectacles, "...am I to understand it as a good thing or a bad thing that you are now moving on from depicting me as a calculating criminal to depicting me as a crazy criminal with possibly less direct responsibility for his actions?"
Featherscribe snorted slightly. 
After some moments he spoke up again: "We have heard some very positive estimations of the character of a colt whom nopony present has known for more than two days, one of which said colt spent in detention." Suddenly Featherscribe fixed his look on Applejack. 
"Applejack, at an earlier point of this hearing, you said that Princess Twilight wasn't being uncritical about Mr. Blanket. What did you mean?"
The question clearly caught Applejack on the wrong hoof and it gave Twilight a fright too. 
"Well, Ah meant just what Ah said, that Twilight is not being uncritical about him", Applejack said evasively and looking very uncomfortable. These signs were too obvious for Featherscribe or anypony else to miss. 
"What makes you say so?" Featherscribe asked. "Did Twilight say anything critical about Mr. Blanket?"
"On the first day, Twilight did feel a bit uncertain about Mr. Blanket", Applejack said cautiously.
"What did she say?" Featherscribe insisted.
"Please don't say it, AJ!", Twilight thought frantically, but at the same time she knew that, representing the Element of Honesty, there was no way her friend would respond with anything but brutal honesty to the direct question. 
"She thought he appeared a bit manipulative", Applejack said. 
"But that was a totally different context!" Twilight called. "It didn't refer to this at all! The theft hadn't even been committed and it was just about..." Twilight didn't really know what to say. 
She didn't know if she was more upset by the satisfied look of Featherscribe or the injured look of Frank who looked like he was loosing the confidence he had gained through the initiative of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. 
Featherscribe's confidence seemed to be bolstered up a lot however as he proclaimed: "After just such a short time, Mr. Blanket managed to gain so much trust that in the face of all the evidence presented here, he still manages to make ponies doubt he has his hooves in all this. He even manages to make fillies want to help him break out of detention!"
"I didn't make them!" Frank protested.
"He didn't even want to break out of detention!" Sweetie Belle called.
"I think all this supports the princess' earlier estimation of him being manipulative!" Featherscribe continued. "And no matter the context, this too is important when judging the credibility of Mr. Blanket!"
Featherscribe took a deep breath and turned to Applejack again. 
"Applejack, you have a reputation as an honest pony, you have seen and heard all the evidence brought up here and you too have been in contact with Mr. Blanket. What do you think of him?"
"He does seem like a decent fellow—", Applejack began not looking at Featherscribe or Frank or anypony else.
"Are you certain that he did not steal the money?" Featherscribe pressed his point.
There was a moment of silence. 
"I cannot be certain", Applejack said.
"Applejack!" Apple Bloom shouted, backing away from her sister and giving her a very disappointed look.
"How can Ah be certain about anything with all this confusion and proofs for the one and the other? Ah can't make heads or tails out of all this and Ah can't claim that Ah could!"
There was total silence for some moments.