The law exists to protect Equestrian citizens, and must be enacted in a fair and even manner. Prince Blueblood knows this; he's accepted punishment for his numerous minor disturbances of the Equestrian legal system, without ever trying to slip out of it.
Fluttershy is in violation the law. Ergo, she must be brought to justice. That's just logic.
Now if only he can get the captain of the guard and his annoyingly lackidasial aunt to cooperate...
Made for the eighth FTP competition. Cover art by hwaho.
Chapters (1)
That was fun.
It's not often you see Blueblood portrayed as a stickler for proper proceedings.
Good show! I particularly liked this bit:
An excellent dénouement, in my view.
This was the best legal thriller about a changeling ever.
I just find it really weird that this is considered a "thriller".
An amusing court-house rebuttal to that story "Would It Matter If I Was?"
One of the most respectable Bluebloods I've ever seen. I also loved the distinction between coolness, awesomeness, and radicalness, and the perennial legal issues of ponies not recognized by the electromagnetic spectrum. Still, given her secret and alleged talent, I'm surprised Fluttershy never got that permit. Bit of an oversight by Pinkie there.
In any case, a wonderful bit of quick fun. Thank you for it, and good luck in the contest.
Well, that was entertaining
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The prince pointed to his royal flanks. "See this? It's a compass, not a propaganda billboard."
Blueblood being a fair and responsible arbiter of law and order is the most unique portrayal of the character I've ever seen. I hope you continue to use this characterization in future stories, because everything in The Trial of Fluttershy Flutters was awesome, cool, and radical.
Bravi.
I like this.
It makes Blueblood a dick, but for all the right reasons.
And so, this is faved.
Because reasons other commentators have already given. :D
Isn't it kinda favoritism if the law says one thing but the hero turn a blind eye to Fluttershy? If the law is wrong or unreasonable, then bloody change it.
What's his beef with Fluttershy?
6717108 Well, the "desperate measures" thing probably covers it for all six of the Mane 6. On top of that, it'd probably be very questionable about whether the Elements were "stolen" given that Celestia probably set up those six ponies to take possession of them.
It might be questionable whether the Elements are Equestrian government property at all, in fact. They were left in an abandoned castle for a thousand years, at some point a case could probably be made that ownership had been relinquished and they were fair salvage. Daring Do probably gets off on that one all the time (assuming she's real and "Daring Don't" wasn't just a self-insert fanfic Rainbow Dash wrote in the Mane 6 journal that one time).
As Prince Blue Blood left the court room, he sneered, thinking of the captain's question.
Of course, Blue Blood had ensured there would be no laws against actually being a changeling--did Shining actually think the prince was stupid? Noling in their right mind would ever make a law against himself!
6717108 Would you care to clarify that statement?
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Technically speaking, Fluttershy was declared not guilty on three charges, had two postponed until such a time as 'The Stare' could be registered as magical or not, three more postponed due to the involvement of a pink pony (which apparently complicates matters enough that it's a legit reason for postponment in Equestria), and one dropped thanks to extenuating circumstances on a national level. She was, however, sentenced to a fine and remedial education for one charge.
Holyshit! Featured on the day it was posted!!
Woot! Congrats, Masterweaver!
6717108 How did the heroes turn a blind eye to Fluttershy? She was put on trial, and each of the ten charges was addressed. Some were dismissed, some postponed due to lack of evidence, and one was upheld. All in strict accordance with Equestrian rules and procedure. Nothing in the story suggests that the laws are wrong.
Wow, a portrayal of Blueblood as a respectable pony who upholds law and order and is only the antagonist because here it's his job to be? As opposed to being a one-dimensional, over-the-top jerk and a caricature avatar for pony bigotry like he is in countless other stories, especially changeling ones?
Sign me up!
Everyone has already said it but I'll say it again, this Blublood is really well done. I never liked it when fanfics would take a character who was just a jerk and make them a complete monster. Obviously you do too but it's great you didn't just go in the other direction and make Blueblood a complete gentleman (gentlestallion?) with no explanation. Here he's jerkish but not unreasonable.
So, legal thriller, awesome zingers, a convenient distinction between awesomeness, coolness, and radicalness that I will totally keep on file, and a good Blueblood.
On the other hand, Blueblood being a prosecutor is a bit too situational for me to go all "HEADCANON ACCEPTED" and use that characterization for any work I ever do involving that character. No real fault of the story, though.
THUS BEGINS THE SPELLCHECK!
I believe you meant to say much
collaboration. You spelled it right all the other times.
THUS ENDS THE SPELLCHECK!
Good story.
Bluebood used "Petty Bureaucracy", it's super effective!
And if we made manipulation illegal, I'd never get anything done.
Masterweaver, please have my babies! Not the current one, as I am rather attached to her, but any new ones from now on.
My headcanon has always ben that Fluttershy's a changeling.
I can always count on Masterweaver for something a little different.
How lovely! You really convey their characters well in this spin on Blueblood. I cam see him raging at the bit at the Pink pony problem.
T'was a really cool read!
Well, that improved my mood a bit. Thanks, I needed that.
Just to add to what everyone else has already said, I quite like your portrayal of Blueblood- still comes off as kind of an arrogant jerk, but also a quite competent prosecutor. I like seeing him doing something rather than just showing up as a hate sink for fans. And probably enough references to the other Mane Six to get an idea of some of their reactions at least to this, that was good too. Combine that with a Fluttershy changeling fic and a courtroom setting makes for a particularly memorable fic, so, yay!
Gotta love technicalities when it helps us, and absolutely hate it when it helps the opposing side
I'm not fond of the pink pony provision. For on thing Fluttershy's documentation needs to date back to earlier than her adoption of a ground-based lifestyle.
Well, this was an entertaining read Masterweaver, thanks.
This was excellent. I seem to remember another story featuring blueblood being a bit of a swine, but also the greatest legal political mind in equestrian history. Can any one remember what is was called?
That last line was fuckin' awesome.
*sees story* Oh look a thing!
*Reading story* Hmm, this is pretty interesting. Different too.... i like this thing.
*reads last line* Hmm, minor respect for Blueblood budding.
*finishes reading story* Hmm, this was a nice thing.
Perhaps this is why Blueblood was a jerk in BTE. Always having to think the worst of ponies due to his prosecutor's job.
A man who sticks to his principles. Gotta respect that.
I like it when stories actually give Blueblood characterization outside of the absolutely hostile reaction the fandom had toward him for being rude to Rarity. Feels more realistic, and he, at least in his own mind, has very good reasons for what he's doing in this story.
It's so refreshing.
Certainly one of the many Bluebloods that I like. It's rare to have a Blueblood that doesn't act as public hate sink, and it's quite fresh when I see one that's quite well-written. Oh, and d'aww, Flutters.
This is a pretty well-written Blueblood. I like it.
6718165 ditto on the Blueblood case.
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They're not. Celestia and Luna stole the Elements remember? No no no, they might have said they were only borrowing them but by registering them as the property of the Equestrian government they have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they had no intention of returning them.
First off, let me start by saying that i really liked the story. It was a very good piece of fanfiction in a legal setting
Now, purely for fun and in no seriousness I will make some random musings about the equestrian court system in general as presented in this fanfic from a legal point of view.
On the equestrian court system in general:
On the whole it seems competent and reasonable, always a treat when shown as such in fanfiction.
The only exceptions were:
The "Pink Protocol" which was a) simply insane and b) obviously a quite funny joke
The implied by contradiction rule that if less than 10 charges are brought against an individual they have to plead either guilty to all of them or innocent to all of them even when they are completely unrelated. This rule is at best silly. If the individual charges are still judged and sentenced separately then the law only serves to waste the courts time and resources processing crimes that the perpetrator are willing to confess.
If on the other hoof the accused can only be found either guilty on all counts or innocent on all counts, then the Equestrian justice system is horrifically terrible. As such i assume that it is the first case, since silly laws are indeed a "thing" however much one might wish otherwise
Finally whoever was in charge of the investigation seems rather incompetent what with not having discovered that a pink pony was involved, or what kind of "mind manipulation" was used beforehoof thus necessitating all those postponings, but that is a very minor nitpicky thing that probably made the story flow, much much better than it would have done otherwise.
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On the subject of government property:
That the Elements have spent as long as they have in an ancient ruin is not good grounds for an argument towards them not being owned by the state of Equestria.
This is because being more than a thousand years old they would likely be owned by the state, due to the likely equestrian equivalent to the quite common laws about archaeological funds and other similar antiquities, even had they in fact been owned by somepony else originally.
On a sidenote: the argument about implied permission through manipulation is very clever, bravo!
*Alondro eye-narrows* I'll soon take care of that little legal oversight...
*later that day, after Celestia (who's also a cherngelerng... conveniently for Alondro's purposes) is deposed, along with Luna (also cherngelerng... also conveniently...), cherngelerngs are sent to live on crummy reservations... with the buffalo. And given blankets infested with Pony AIDS.
6717167 *Alondro runs around spraying everypony with RAID. The ponies who drop the ground twitching in agony are clearly CHERNGELERNGS!! Of course... since he sprays it in their faces...* THEY'RE EVERYPONY!!! IT'S TOO LATE!!!
6717228 Yes, but on technicalities that Blueblood himself never, ever, at least in this story, went with. *shrug and grin*
And if we made manipulation illegal, I'd never get anything done.
I'm actually rather surprised you've memorized this... thesis...
Oh man, I'm loving this by the sentence.
While I am sickened at the miscarriage of justice that has been performed here, there's no law against being a changeling.
Just wait until Trump is elect—oh wait, silly me. Immortal Matriarchy.
Very nice story, MW!
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It's nearly 2016. Why do people still do this?
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