//------------------------------// // First case: Envious Apples FINAL // Story: Equestrian Judges! // by Zeno the Masked Writer //------------------------------// "EHHHHHHHH!" Mako spent most of the afternoon explaining to the girls what he had found at the Rich estate. Shiro was listening carefully and interjected only a few times to explain some of the evidence that he found. It was pretty easy to see to everyone that the real culprit to this murder was Silver Cane, however... "Even though we've found some pretty strong evidence. It still isn't enough to put that old codger on the stand." Mako explained while the girls stared in bewilderment. "B-But how! All the evidence points to Silver Cane!" Mako snickered a little as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a lighter while Shiro sighed. "The biggest problem we face isn't establishing guilt." Shiro explained while Mako sparked his lighter. "The real problem is putting that old fart on the stand." "W-WHAT!" The girls all said in unison. "All the evidence can establish his guilt but unless we have something that actually points to him then it's only speculation." Shiro explained while he looked back at the evidence trying to see if there was something they missed while the girls seemed to squirm in their seats. "B-But I don't understand. W-Why wouldn't what we have been enough?" Fluttershy asked in her usual timid way. Mako sighed and got up to get a pencil and a notebook. After a moment, he came back and started to write something down. "The three-day ruling requires a third party. Basically, another judge has to come and play as a mediator. Most judges need conclusive evidence to prove who's guilty, and everything we have here is just proof of foul play. But unless we can safely prove that Silver Cane was the one who hired Envy than we can't put him on that stand." Mako turned the page around to show some crudely drawn pictures of animals wearing little outfits with various names printed above them. Everyone was trying their hardest not to burst out laughing at his drawing. Even Shiro was having a hard enough time trying to keep a smile off of his face, meanwhile, Twilight was trying to change the topic. "So what can we do?" Mako laughed under his breath as he turned a page in the notebook and quickly drew another cartoon animal with the word "Envy" written above it. "We need to draw Envy out of hiding." Mako explained with a sly smile spread across his face. Suddenly everyone felt the atmosphere changed at the mention of bringing out the murder even Shiro was now stone-faced. "And how do you suppose we do that?" Mako ignored Shiro's question and sparked his lighter again and the flame seemed almost hypnotizing as it danced in his hands. "The seven deadly sins have two rules they follow. The first rule is that no matter what job is, a sin must always take credit for the crime." "Umm wouldn't be the other way around?" Rarity asked while Mako grinned. "Nope! These guys are professionals and they take their job very seriously. Anyways, the second rule is that every sin must leave clues in order to prove that it was them." The girls once again looked confused, of course, it's not every day someone explains that the most wanted criminals do the exact opposite of what you would expect them to do. "Every sin must follow these two rules or else they will face punishment." He explained with a grim tone Shiro noticed how spiteful Mako's last words were, however, he decided to just take a note of it rather than bring it to attention. Meanwhile, Pinkie managed to address the elephant in the room. "Umm, Mr. Mako? How do you know about these rules?" Suddenly everyone's attention was glued on the man but he still seemed as cool as a cucumber as he sparked his lighter again. "I've studied the way the sins have committed their crimes for years, and I've also handled enough of their cases to get the big picture. The sins live by these rules and at any time are they broken not only will they lose their power and rank but......" Mako seemed to trail off as ripped the page out of the notebook and sparked his lighter again catching the paper on fire. "They will also be exterminated." All the girls seemed to turn pale at how eerie Mako explained the punishment but Shiro only raised a puzzled eyebrow. "What about those who quit?" Mako shook his head and Shiro realized what he meant. Everyone was quite for a moment until suddenly the heard the tea Rarity had set up earlier. She rushed off to get it for everyone while Mako tried to calm everyone's nerves. "Look I promise none of you will get hurt. The sins only kill who they're contracted too so none of you are in any real danger." Mako's words seemed to lift a little of the heavy mood but it still lingered above everyone like fog. Rarity came back with a plate of tea and cookies which Pinkie dove into while the others calmly ate. Shiro took another sip of his tea and looked over to Mako as he stared at his tea. "So Mako what's your plan?" Mako Smiled as he reached over the table for a sugar cube. "Well, you could say that were going to test the waters." He explained as he dropped the sugar cube into his tea. It was early morning and Mako just got up and already he had a headache. He got dressed and walked outside and saw the whole town waiting outside the mayor's office, which had been crafted into a miniature courtroom overnight. Shiro was already waiting nearby. "Are you sure your plan is going to work?" Mako laughed as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his last cigarette. "Nope! It's a 30 to 70 percent chance we're not gonna make it out of this." Shiro looked over to see Mako grinning ear to ear as he placed the cigarette in his pocket. Mako pulled out his shades and put them on while Shiro gripped his blade. "But who cares! What's the point of life without a little risk! Besides, I'm feeling luck today!" The two walked towards the stage with the crowd silently judging them. On the stage was another man wearing a judges uniform with a very thick and swirled mustache. Mako felt his brow twitch at the sight of the man. "Tsk! Did they seriously have to send this joker?" Shiro walked over and shook his hand while Mako just nodded in his direction. Luckily enough he seemed nice enough to just accept this. "Ah! Mako and Shiro! It's a pleasure to meet you! My name is.......Joe!" He explained while Mako cringed at how bland his name was. Suddenly everyone turned their attention to the left side of the stage only to see Applejack walk on stage with restraints placed on her hands and feet. Mako clinched his fist at the sight of the girl, however, he did realize that he didn't get the chance to see her yesterday. He swore that he would apologize for that later. "Now then Let the Three-day Ruling.....BEGIN!" "HE! HE! HE!" Envy was currently enjoying his early morning daydreams about fighting in a bloody massacre. He felt the emotions of everyone in town as they swirled up the clock tower as he looked outside towards the mayor's office. "What a bunch of fuckin idiots! Even a drugged up monkey could find out what happened! But these ponies are so damn thick that they'd probably never figure it out in a hundred fuckin years." He yelled while laughing like a psychopath. Suddenly he noticed a shadow looming over him. "So your Envy?" A tomboyish sounding voice asked. Envy turned around to see someone hovering next to the tower. She was short with blue fur and a Rainbow colored mane with a big cheesy grin plastered on her face. "Heh....So who are you girly?" She Sighed before showing a big cocky grin while striking a pose. "I am Rainbow Dash! And I am the Hero of the people! The Pinnacle of Justice! The-" Before she could finish her sentence Envy grabbed his giant blade and pierced it through her stomach. Her face slowly contorted into horror as she felt the blade slide deeper and deeper into her torso. "You are one annoying bitch, you know that?" Envy explained in a slow and murderous tone. Suddenly he looked back to see something he wasn't expecting to see. Instead of the rainbow colored girl on the other end of his blade, there was now a barrel of cider in her place. He looked around and found her resting on a cloud nearby. Without a second thought, he vanished in the blink of an eye and cut the cloud in half but it was just another illusion. "What the fuck?" Suddenly he felt a surge of magic and turned around to see a beam heading right for him. He swung his sword and cut straight through the attack. However, he didn't notice a knife heading towards him which stabbed his shoulder. "YES! SCORE!" He heard the tomboy shout again. Envy reached over and touched the wound and watched as the blood trickled down his hand. He laughed slowly but after a while, it got louder and louder. Suddenly Dash didn't feel as safe as she was before. "So you and your little friends down there are the bait huh?" He asked with venom leaking from every word. "Fine by me.....LETS PLAY!" Suddenly the illusion Twilight created shattered as Envy landed on the ground. Twilight fell to the ground and tried to catch her breath while the girls covered for her. "Welcome to my web said the spider to the flies!" Meanwhile... "The trial of one, Mrs. Apple may now begin! The defense will now present who they believe is the culprit and what evidence to back up their claim. Once all is said and done I shall hand out my verdict dependent on what evidence has been presented." The crowds whispered amongst themselves as the judge explained the rules of the trial and needless to say they were more than upset at how unfair it seemed, however, Mako and Shiro knew all too well what this meant for them. "If we make one mistake it's all over. It's time to nut up or shut up!" "The person we believe is the culprit for the murder is.....Silver Cane." Mako exclaimed as the crowd gasped, however, no one was more stunned than Applejack. "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! SILVER CANE WOULD NEVER HAVE DONE THAT TO HIS OWN GRANDSON! I KNOW ALL TO WELL HOW HE FELT ABOUT SILVER LOCKET! YOU CANT JUST-" Applejack exclaimed before Mako interrupted her. "I understand how you may feel, however, what I'm telling you is the absolute truth......and I can and will prove it." Mako explained with an icy tone. "To begin we are gonna disprove the idea that Applejack is the culprit. First, let's start by destroying one piece of evidence that pointed to applejack being the culprit, the hat." Shiro explained as he pulled out to identical stetson hats and placed them on the table. "That's the piece of evidence that points to HER as the culprit?" "Yes, the hat you see here was found at the scene of the crime, however, if you couldn't tell at a glance than maybe this will help your judgment." Shiro exclaimed as he grabbed one of the hats and threw it to the judge who caught it. However, the second he touched the hat he felt the cold sensation burn his hand and caused him to throw it away. "WHAT ON EARTH!?" Mako walked over and picked the hat up with a glove and placed it on the table. "You see judge what we have here is a fake created from a certain material that the real culprit has had plenty of experience crafting." Mako explained as he poured magic into his hand and placed it on top of the hat. Suddenly the hat began to melt away into a liquid form and once again Mako used his magic to turn it back into a solid form. "The material used was silver extract and only one family has had access to this material as well as this much experience in crafting magic....and that family is, ironically enough, the Silver family." Shiro explained. "However, we know all to well that this isn't enough to prove our theory. But what we will show you next will make our claim much more believable." Mako exclaimed as Shiro pulled out the carving knife and a jar of melted silver. "W-What exactly are those?" Applejack asked only to recognize the carving knife. "These two pieces of evidence were found at the scene of the crime. The knife was found in a tree deep in the orchard while the jar or melted silver was found all over the orchard." Shiro explained while Mako looked towards the clocktower. "How exactly does this prove anything?" The judge asked with a confused expression. "Simple really if you were paying attention. For starters the scene where I found the knife had a spell cast around it so that no one could actually see what had happened. I managed to break the spell and found the orchard cut to pieces with traces of silver thrown everywhere." Shiro explained while the crowd seemed to question the point of what was being explained. "Again how exactly does this prove anything Shiro?" "Honestly, can none of you connect the dots on your own? It's simple, why was the orchard cut to pieces? And why was there silver extract scattered all over the place?" Shiro asked while everyone looked at him quizzically. "It was Envy who caused all the damage and if I was a betting man I would say the knife was used as a marker for a meeting." Mako explained as he and Shiro looked at one another than in a brief moment everything became clear. "How do we know this you might ask? Well because someone in the audience actually saw the exchange happen......In person." Mako said with a grin as the crowd gasped. "Well then who is this mystery person?" The judge asked as Shiro stood up and looked into the crowd. "That would be the younger sister of Applejack, Applebloom!" Shiro exclaimed as the crowd focused their attention on Applebloom who seemed to shrink under the crowd's gaze. "From her testimonial, she explained how she managed to see two people in the orchard late at night! Not only that but the time she found them was 7 in the morning, anyone care to guess who she found that night?" Shiro asked as the crowd began to center their attention on Silver Cane who didn't say a word. "One was Silver Cane and the other was Envy......Am I wrong old man?" Mako asked as he walked upstage to the old stallion who still watched with a blank expression. "Not a word to defend yourself? I'm not surprised really, but maybe what I have to say next will get you to open that trap." Mako exclaimed as the crowd grew eerily quiet. "Listen you old timer, I'll give you a choice here! Either you fess up to your crimes now and take your punishment like a man, or I'll tell the whole town about the Silver Family and not only will that ruin your reputation but also the rep of the Rich family as well." Silver Cane didn't budge an inch as he glared daggers at both Mako and Shiro. "We have all the evidence and after I found that hat in your room, and learning about crafting magic It was pretty easy to connect the dots. Trust me when I say.....you've lost." The crowd suddenly exploded into a fury of insults and angry comments as Mako and Silver Cane glared at one another. "DONT SAY ANYTHING SILVER CANE!" "THAT PUNK IS TRYING TO SHIFT THE BLAME ON A SENIOR! DAMN THAT HUMAN SCUM!" The crowd continued to chant, however, both Mako and Silver Cane didn't even notice them. "What's it gonna be old timer? Are you gonna tell them.....or am I?" Silver Cane remained quite much to Mako's jarring which he seemed to get more and more annoyed at by the second. Suddenly Mako heard the sound of a bell in the distance and grinned. "Shiro, it looks like our friend doesn't want to talk! It's time we start fighting dirty." Mako exclaimed while Shiro nodded. "LADIES AND GENTALMEN! INTRODUCING THE STAR OF THE SHOW!" Mako exclaimed as he pointed at the sky. Suddenly Shiro snapped his fingers and the area around the stage suddenly cracked like glass and soon dispersed completely and suddenly everyone could see five girls and a man with a gigantic sized sword stand before them all. "W-WHAT THE FUCK!" Envy shouted as he looked around at the shocked faces of the townsfolk. Silver Cane felt his blood turn ice cold as he stared at Envy and then back to Mako who had a huge grin on his face. "Well, old man? If you fess up now then you might be able to save some of your families pride! If not then what we show the crowd next will shatter your family name completely! The choice is yours!" Silver Cane felt anger grip his entire being as he shook his fists in blind anger while crowd stared at the new mysterious guest. "........It was me........" The crowd threw their attention back to the old stallion as Envy sneered as he realized that he had been tricked. "I was the one who ordered the assassination on my grandson." Silver Cane exclaimed as the crowd began to take a few steps back between themselves and the old stallion. "I KILLED HIM! I KILLED SILVER LOCKET!" TO BE CONTINUED!