Puppets of Tragedy

by Iridescence T Wind

To Defend By Attacking

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Canterlot Throne Room: 9:21 am, October 21st, 0002 RoL(Return of Luna)
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It was early morning in the day court of Celestia's time of office. I had snuck in several eyes as I awaited the trial of Sharp Opera, the former tyrant of the underground kingdom of Sirens. He was a bit less worse for wear after I had last seen him, bandaged to the point where he was half a fish, and half a mummy in my eyes. The arm that Amber had shot to make him release me near the end of our scuffle was in a cast, the crossbow bolt probably having broken a bone in his elbow, or at least severed enough muscles to warrant the cast. His colors were muted from the magic drain I had done to him, magic which still coursed through my veins, after having captured what he had in terms of mana regeneration and storage reserves. He looked depressed, and rejected as a result of my actions, and it was a punishment in itself to no longer have even the semblance of magic. I watched as Celestia had her guards escort the Siren, who was now barely smaller than one of her guards, escorted in and to the front. From here, I could already critique what was wrong in this court room.

For one, it lacked the basis any good court room had. A jury, as well as a lawyer to defend the accused, as well as a lawyer to try and push that the client was guilty. She rambled off a long line of dialog that had barely anything to do with the case but to relist her title, as well as her present attending guards and politicians, as well as those names of the audience attending her court before she laid down an elegant version of what I myself had told her about Sharp, and some grievances and law breaking that he had committed in the distant past before he had sunken his kingdom underground. Past that, however, my blood broiled. She was going to go straight from the accusations, without any evidence mind you, to sentencing the tyrant with her biased view point of him. While he did deserve to suffer, it was an injustice to just how things were ran, especially after I had learned the truth about petrification. Sharp didn't even have the chance to head to a stand and testify his actions, not that such a stand existed in the first place.

It was abominable enough that I took action as Celestia started to say, as if she had any right to say after this mockery of a proper court room, "Now if there are no objections, I princess Celestia hereby proclaim that Sharp Opera is hereby guilt-"

A loud noise from outside the court room interrupted her, and she was puzzled. Her guards and the others watching this court hearing, also turned their heads to face the front door, rather than watch their princess continually like a bunch of puppies waiting for a treat. I spotted a number of crystaline cameras and pads of papers with pens, reporters, oh joy. Once more one of my puppets knocked on the giant doors that guarded the court room from the central courtyard of the castle. Before pushing it open with another puppet of mine. Revealing not only Aku, but myself as well as Nox and a few other puppets that had made my entourage as well as several Sirens who trailed behind me like they were ordered to. With my door opening, I yelled, "OBJECTION!" in the most lawyer like voice I could muster.

If Celestia was surprised, she didn't show it, her calm demeanor returning in place of curiosity, "And what do we have the pleasure of your company, Puppet Master?" she asked.

"Well besides you making a mockery of a court system that is?" I stated bluntly, in my arms I held the keys to my success, striding forward as my legs had recovered over the past week, I continued, "Besides from the laws stating clearly otherwise, your history with the accused leaves you biased. This is grounds for a rejection of your judgement alone, as well as several other key factors that make this court room a failure to even try and resemble a lack of the proper term, 'justice'."

If anything, Celestia was as much poker faced as ever, "Go on."

"You also leave a basic lack of a fair trial by not including a defense or prosecution to this case, and leave the basics of law jurisdiction by article 12, which I quote, is "Evidence ultimately determines the truth in court. The fact that you laid all these accusations at the fins of-" I was cut off as Shining Armor and his goons tried to send spells to try and arrest me, only to get deflected back at the guards from the Rosarie I carried that was being boosted from the magic supplies I currently had, "And for the love of Pete, Shining Armor, wait your turn." Aku chuckled.

"As I was saying, the fact that you laid these accusations at the fins of a former tyrant of another kingdom, which is also a jurisdiction you do not technically have in a court of law, but also lack any evidence to back up your claims."

"And what, pray tell, does thou plan to do about this?" That was Luna, having joined the court room from a side hallway, I wondered if she was just watching from the shadows or if she had been awoken by my intrusion, or if the Alicorn of the night had been curious to the individual that was being punished today.

I smirked, "Simple. create an unbiased court room with a new judge, and act as prosecution with actual evidence that I have gathered against what you claim is a legal defense for the accused."

The diarchy now were both curious, and Shining armor sputtered, "The princesses aren-"

"Please, Captain Armor, let us see how he wishes to proceed, if anything this will certainly spice up this morning." Celestia said, taking a sip from her coffee.

I had been expecting resistance of some sort, but apparently not. They were really going to let me go through with this? Huh. "I guess with your permission, its time to readjust the court room."

Without further ado, I whistled for cosmetic effect, as a pair of tables and chairs appeared near the audience, and my group of villains moved off to the side, giving paranoid glares at the guards until Celestia waved them down and caused them to back off. In front of the raised thrones of the sun and night, a smaller raised chair and table that had been made during the week before arose, with a gavel that could be gripped in a hoof. Alongside this, a row of chairs for my witnesses arised and i gestured for the sirens to take a seat. Off to one side of the court room, a jury booth was also dropped down via portal, and without further ado I started to pull ponies at seeming random from ponyville to fill the jury booth. As for the judge and defense...

"Luna would you please step forward, and act as the judge to this case?" I asked aloud.

That caused some surprise from the court, and I asked, "During our short meeting a week previously, you expressed both surprise and no past ill will towards the accused when we met. I would like to nominate you as the judge for this case as Celestia has far too much of a history with said accused that it would impair her judgement."

"My sisters judgement is just fine, thank thou very much." but at a glance to Celestia, who nodded and gestured for Luna to take a seat inside the judges table.

"Uh, what's going on?" one of the jury ponies I had grabbed, Roseluck if I remembered her name properly, asked.

"How in Equestria did we get here as well?" Applejack spoke, darn it. Meant to of grabbed Big Mac instead of her, but she'd do.

"Pardon the events, my little ponies." Celestia said to the jury, moving herself off the throne and trotting aside the jury booth, "It seems that we are in need of an jury to fulfill the role that this... experiment requires."

"Why does it require him?" Applejack pointed at me, and I held back a chuckle as Celestia explained

"He was the one who proposed this event to spice up the morning. Though I do not know where he is going with this."

"Nor do I..." Shining armor also added in, for what he was worth.

"Now all that is remaining is the defense. and I can't see a mare better qualified than..." Okay this was a dirty trick, even after the jury. I could spy the lavender mare eating breakfast with her young dragon secretary, and in a burst, a portal had opened beneath both her and her assistant and dropped them along with their breakfast onto the waiting hands of Aku, who brought the surprised duo to fill the chairs next to Sharp, who was eyeing me with a look akin to actual fear.

He was afraid of me, that I could see. In less than a day I had already taken his kingdom from him, as well as his magic and lead him through a fight that was ultimately deemed pointless against me, as he failed to kill one actual living being and instead destroyed nothing but toys.

Twilight Sparkle was enjoying pancakes that her assistant Spike had made for her, the young dragon himself enjoying a cup of coffee to wake himself up for the morning. They were talking about what they were planning to do for the day, before suddenly they found something odd. For one, their floor had vanished, and instead had turned into open air, and the second was that they were falling. A fall that started with a gasp of surprise, and ended with Aku catching the startled duo and their breakfast and depositing them, chairs, table and all next to the tyrant. Who shifted not so subtly away from Akus large hands.

"Wha-?" Spike muttered, rubbing his eyes, as he took another drink from his coffee, looking almost completely unphased by the sudden scenery change, "Am I dreaming or did we just fall through our floor, into Canterlot?"

Twilight, however, was a lot more freaked out, not just by the scenery change, but by everything that was going on around her in this courtroom.

Comments

[Atrunia]

Awesome... Just Awesome

[Architect of Realities]

We ask thou for more!

[Birs]

So, this is the first lesson from our Puppet Master?

[Moongaze14]

Really like how this trial was made.

[Slayer 10321]

WHY DO YOU TEASE YOUR READERS WITH SUCH SHORT CHAPTERS?!?!?!?!?

[MuzaWaza]

That ending.

[deadbutruning]

Ooh, you're really letting the oxygen out of my tank here!

we need more please

[HIEfan]

I love this fic!!

[Patch Job]

Okay, just gotta check, show of hands, who else put on Phoenix Wright music at the slightest mention of a trial?

Also, please update, short chapters (no matter how good) are always a killer, and not in the fun way.

[Cheesejellycommander4]

If you're going to update this infrequently, please post longer chapters. I mean no offense by this, just a recommendation that has to do with long wait times.

[Iridescence T Wind]

5553241 sorry that some chapters are short, usually try planning ahead and look for a safe stopping point rather than pausing in the middle of a conversation, or ending up with a 5k word chapter that would set the new expected minimum. Next chapter is probably going to be a bit long so I wanted to split it into two or more parts, thus the last chapter.

Also, I like to update when I can rather than to keep people waiting. So sorry if short chapters are a killer. My minimum word count for a chapter is 1.8k or so, though I usually try to target around 2.5-3k.

[Architect of Realities]

5553300 We are wondering if the eldest royal sister possibly planned in some way KNOWING he'll be watching/coming/being right there. He had stated his intensions on that particular subject and may have tried to draw him in, perhaps his actions are awakening her dormant sharpened blade of a mind? Or merely being interesting to her in a growing fashion, but we feel that the younger sibling may get a confidence boost from his actions or feel more empowered.

[Iridescence T Wind]

5553336 Its also interesting to consider what sort of risk Celestia would be playing if this wasn't her normal procedure, and she knew he was watching, but one would have to wonder if the puppet master would of taken the bait, if not, what her subjects would of thought of her if that was the case. Then there is also the matter of publicity in this event, if it goes south for the princesses, they may have a whole new set of problems in regard to their danger. Then there's still the puppet masters Angle in all of this. Does he result to a certain journal, or not? Is Celestia planning on capturing a second villain in a fell swoop? Or is it just that the PM's interruption is an interesting morning in an otherwise almost unremarkable day, so shes entertaining the Puppet masters view to learn more about him and his beliefs? I will try to answer some of these questions in the next chapter.

[Architect of Realities]

5553365 In any 'grand game' one must attempt to learn thy opponent through baits, traps and other tricks or simple measures to see what they might be capable of. With our humans so far we throw them into a world of possibilities and see how they grow into their own, admittedly some are far more disoriented than others.
What we see by discord's choice is one who has an ALIEN thought process, whom is intelligent, could get more experienced aid from other realms of displaced or give, has a CODE OF ETHICS they themselves had chosen to adhere to. Ours currently may suffer from worse positions but they are the 'characteristics' of what they will BECOME.. That is if no outside interventions try to deviate from our plans.

[nightmaster0]

This is certainly a interesting twist. Can't wait to see where this goes.

[rikusorasephiroth]

MOAR!

[The writing on the wall]

5554077 squat, childish and more over single-minded...

Well summarized sir/madam of my thought of this chapter.

[The writing on the wall]

I have to say I loved the opening of this section but it feels more like a "section" rather than a full fledged chapter. Simply put, the whole thing easily could have been part of a five to six, perhaps seven thousand word chapter. We have the set up. We have the gears in motion. Yet we lack the climax of the event or a "taste" of our main course.

You prepared wonderful green salad with vinegar and all sorts of fresh vege trimmings, but we still are hunger for the lobster bisque served in French soup bowls.

But I cannot as a fan and one who gave up writing, criticize one who has tasted true writing fashion with out some irony on my part.
I hope you find time to ad the second part of this story arc we are currently swimming though. if you are currently dealing with life(which is the main reason I`m here) do not sweat the details. We can all wait as I have stated many times before.

~The writing on the wall
P.S. Is doing the whole "The writing on the wall" thing duchy or is it my imagination?

[AuzzieJustice]

*excitement Intensifies*

[3volve]

what a surprise this pop up by the way some random portal appeared on my screen so eh go with the flow

[ShadowsInTheDark]

I see Nox in there 8D

[Brother Uriel]

Noooo!, plz continue! This is one of the best fics I've read because it's so funny! And has great characters... And spot on humor for when it's not making me die of laughter... I may also suggest a new puppet but I'm not too sure yet about him...

[Gotland]

I agree with you about tragedy villains you are a great writer Keep advancing this story Continuie please!

[Gotland]

Moreeeeee

[Coyote Pelon]

Yo, great chapter. It's totes awesome possum.:D Got an idea for a villain, if your still taking them.
Diego Brando (or Dio Brando) from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. He grew up in poverty with his mother. she dies from an infection she received from burning her hands holding soup to feed Diego, because they were too poor to afford a bowl and too proud to eat out of a shoe. Diego inherits her pride and vows to become rich and powerful by any means. He becomes a famous British jockey, gets rich by marrying a rich old chick who puts him in her will and dies, and joins the Steel Ball Run for the grand prize. (Spoilers) Through the race, he becomes rivals with Johnny and Gyro, joins sides with pres. Funny Valentine against his rivals, murders both innocent and evil folk to take the corpse parts for himself, teams up with Johnny and Gyro against the power hungry President, which leads to his death.
His stand, Scary Monster, allows him to take on dinosaur-like aspects, turn full-on fabulous dino, or turn other living things into different types of dinos via zombie virus rules.

[IkioStar]

5653777 Anthro means 'man'. Half-fish, half-horse people aren't human. There's nothing to dislike. It's a matter of being right or wrong.

[Iridescence T Wind]

5653777
5656499
Mermaid anthro horses, much confuse, much wow.

[IkioStar]

5656829 That's a funky image... A part human, part horse, part fish hybrid... Anyways, he was responding to the original comment which was for Chapter 'A Tale of Three Sirens' where I corrected you on your usage of 'anthro'. You had used it describe a half-horse, half-fish Siren when 'anthro' means/represents 'human'. You could probably used 'hippopomorphic' or 'equimorphic' and it would have been more accurate to what you were trying to talk about. (I'm probably misusing or mistyping the second one, but you should know what I mean.)

I mean, the Sirens aren't half-human, after all.

[Iridescence T Wind]

5657366 This honestly depends on which version of sirens we're going for. From the flying bird ladies who have mesmerizing voices that lured sailors to their doom, or on the Equestria Girls Sirens which to be in all honesty, are technically kelpies with siren like powers and a changeling method of feeding for energy. Adding an anthromorphic trait to the sirens doesn't help, and makes them resemble more of mermaids. Generally was writing this scene to give the Puppet Master some confusion in what he was dealing with. As an author i'm mean like that.

Though thanks for the clarifications though, it's going to help probably.

[IkioStar]

5657449 Nah, it's fine. Just wanted to say that 'anthro' was the wrong word as long as they look like kelpies. (Kind of why I didn't say the rest of the stuff. Also, turns out that if the Kelpie is female it's also a 'mer' 'maid'. 'Mer' meaning 'sea' and 'maid' representing 'female'. Just not a traditional picture of the word.)

[Skalula7]

pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/rsz/mlfw10401_medium.jpg
verbicidemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/sylvester-cat-cigarettes-coffee.gif

[Iridescence T Wind]

5692661 about 2/3rds the way done with the next chapter, Just have to continually go back and edit stuff, sorry its taking a while...

[TheNomad]

Why Bowser is a tragic villain.(scary shit)

Nuff said...

[Fireeaters]

Y U NO MOAR?!?!

[GhostRighter]

I was having trouble seeing Puppet Master as a villain, but now that he added jury duty...

[Kamen rider yokai]

Holy beast core! Wind you are a genius with this! I see I'm not the only one who arrived by sky. Only difference was that I landed on the castle of two sisters. Yeah the merchant wasn't aiming that time. Took my guy three months before discord was sealed to recover and train a recently gained keyblade there. This has made me rethink my not allowing crossovers until I'm done with the before bats events of season four from castle mania. After I'm done recruiting the various races against the heartless I'm going to open up for crossovers. But be careful I use ever note for my stories. Google docs always glitches on me when I'm typing.

[Hoppa_21]

Oh my god, this is perfect! A villain shows Celestia how you deal justice properly!

[josue]

6106431 the irony it is gold

[NotShadowLotus488]

6659858 Irony so strong I just had my suits pressed

[Animatorsnake]

NEXT TIME: TIME FOR LAW AND JUSTICE! PHOENIX WRIGHT STYLE!

[Thousand_Son_Sorcerer]

10782045
Objection!!!