It's A Wonderful Case

by Winged Cat

Court Hour

Of all the rooms in all of Canterlot, Prince Blueblood was almost more familiar with the courtroom than with those of his own estate. Done up in wood decor that had been remodeled twice that he had seen, it was exactly symmetrical yet the sides were so different. In the center along the back wall was a raised podium behind which the judge sat; a cubicle to the judge's right contained a station for the court reporter, while to the judge's left was one for witnesses. Two medium-length tables in the middle faced each other and the judge, one table for the prosecutor, one for the defense. A raised box of seats behind the prosecutor held the bailiffs' station, with gear to quell a small riot, which Blueblood had seen used exactly once (resulting in the first remodel). An identical one behind the defense held a jury, in those cases which required one. Opposite the judge was a gallery where members of the public could watch the trial.

Today there was no jury, and the only bailiff was the royal guard who had been following the case. The gallery was packed with merchants, Royal Ribbon in the first row, most of them glaring at Ling. Ling was not looking at them, instead just quietly looking at the defense table as if it might have answers. Blueblood sat to her left, shielding her from some of the gallery's glares, while Twilight settled in behind the prosecutor's table.

Without formality, Luna stepped in from the back of the room and proceeded to the podium, telekinetically rapping the gavel there once as she approached. "Court is now in session. Be advised, we will call a recess if..." She stifled a yawn. "...we are not finished before it is time for us to raise the moon." Her gaze swept the courtroom. "Twilight. I had not expected to see you in such a position."

"I am here to honor my friend," Twilight replied, no emotion in her voice.

"We hast done so on the field of battle, long ago. While the means may change, we assure thee, we understand thy sentiment. Now, the charge is murder. How does the defendant plead?"

"Guilmmmph," Ling tried to reply before Blueblood stuffed a hoof in her mouth.

"Before that, if it please the court we wish to address a lesser matter: a theft, which should illuminate details of the murder charge." Blueblood tried not to sweat, tried to seem more confident than he felt.

"OBJECTION!"

Blueblood looked at Twilight, but the outburst had come from Royal Ribbon behind her.

"We are here," the merchant continued, "to see that changeling pay for her crimes!"

"You mean the transducer?" Twilight guessed. "Do you know what happened to it?"

"Seeing as neither councilor has a problem with this digression, objection overruled. Defense may proceed." Luna banged her gavel while staring daggers at Royal Ribbon.

"Thank you, your highness, this won't take long." Blueblood smiled. "Councilor Twilight, do I understand it correctly that you are capable of illusion magic?"

Twilight nodded. "I'm not as good as a changeling, but I could pretend to be somepony else if I wanted to."

"And thus, this transducer of yours. Perhaps we should keep the full capabilities out of the court record, but is it fair to say that, if were attuned to you, its user would also be capable of producing disguises?"

Twilight nodded. "But it's attuned to Ling...oh, wait! Changelings have illusion magic too."

"Not...exactly. While they are certainly capable, I believe it is still attuned to you. I also have reason to believe it is in this courtroom. You said that you could disable it remotely. Could you shut it off?"

Twilight blinked. "It's here? Alright..." Her horn glowed briefly.

With no sign of pain or sensation, Ling suddenly twisted, inverted colors, faded, brightened, and reformed into a cyan pegasus with unkempt rainbow-hued mane and tail, bruises on her head and sides and scars from cuts that had clotted without much care. On a chain around her neck was a metal and crystal gadget that sputtered, glowed unevenly, sparked tiny lightning bolts along its surface for a few moments, then stopped completely.

Twilight froze, mouth wide open.

Blueblood grinned. "Your highness, defense motions for dismissing the murder charge, on the grounds that the alleged victim is not deceased."

Luna blinked. Blueblood was uncertain if she had seen far wilder, or was just too tired to react at this hour. "Does prosecution have any objection?"

Twilight leaped over the tables, tackled her friend, hugged tight, and commenced shedding tears of joy. "Rainbow Dash Rainbow Dash Rainbow Da-ha-haaash!"

"We take that as a no. Motion granted. Case dismissed; we are going back to bed." Luna rapped her gavel and walked out.

The merchants in the galley grumbled, until the bailiff toggled on a rose-aura shield at the front of the galley, entirely cutting off the galley from the rest of the room. Although the merchants would have been able to overpower the shield with concentrated effort, they took the hint and filed out the rear exit, giving Rainbow Dash withering glares as they left.

Rainbow Dash weakly struggled in Twilight's embrace. "Oww! Weren't the charges dropped? Why are you trying to crush me to death?"

Twilight loosened up her grip and looked her friend in the eyes. "Rainbow Dash, it's over! Stop pretending! You're not a changeling! You're not dead!"

Rainbow Dash blinked, expression completely blank.

"I believe," Blueblood sighed, "it is not an act. Miss Dash, if I might hazard a guess, are you currently rather confused?"

"Well...yeah?" Rainbow Dash looked around the courtroom. "Wait wait, are you saying I'm Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight gasped, eyes growing wide. "You don't remember?"

"Councilor Sparkle...ah, I suppose it's Princess Sparkle again, now that the case is over. Canterlot General Hospital offers anti-amnesia therapy, if you could kindly telep-"

FLASH

"-ort us, yes, well." Blueblood took a moment to verify that they were in the hospital's lobby: a utilitarian affair, with seats along the walls, a window to one side that served as the main check-in, and patients and nurses scattered around all looking at the trio. "Ah, next time aim for the street outside please. It wouldn't do to teleport right into the path of a patient, now would it?"

"Aheh, sorry."

Rainbow Dash squirmed free of Twilight and scooted away from her. "What the buck's going on?!? Why'd you bring me here?"

"Easy, easy." Blueblood pointed to the nurse's desk. "Ah, Princess Sparkle, could you start on the paperwork to get your friend some care? Meanwhile I shall, as she has quite reasonably requested, explain things."

Twilight looked visibly torn. "I, w-well...Rainbow Dash, I don't want to leave you...promise me you won't run off?"

Rainbow Dash backed away a step further, tripped against a seat, and found herself with her back to the wall. "You're the one who was just trying to kill me. Tell you what, if he'll fill me in I'll wait around long enough to hear it."

"Princess Sparkle," Blueblood droned in what he hoped was a soothing voice, "I know you are beholden to logic so please consider this: there is a certain amount of paperwork that needs to be done before Rainbow Dash will be admitted, and I would hazard a guess that your superior organizational skills will lead you to complete it considerably faster than I could, perhaps in as little as half the time as I would need."

Twilight only needed a moment to consider. "You're right." She teleported to the nurse's desk.

"Or at least," Blueblood sniffed once Twilight was out of immediate earshot, "she'll find paperwork half as dreadful as I would."

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "You're not half bad. Alright, so...how'd I get here? Why can't I remember? Why do I hurt so much?"

Blueblood smirked. "I am afraid you have suffered an entirely too well-deserved blow, from a mare who punches rock for practice."

"Whoa. Who'd I piss off?"

"A great many ponies, but one in particular that you did not mean to. What I surmise happened, is that you stole this gadget..." Blueblood lifted Rainbow Dash's amulet telekinetically. "...which enabled you to duplicate Twilight's magic, after a fashion. You then came here to assist your commanding officer Spitfire, as you possessed a point of wisdom she desired. Perhaps you anticipated that this would lead to unpleasantness, and so 'borrowed' your friend's device in preparation. To blow off steam after your attempted assistance turned into an argument, you used the device to disguise yourself as a changeling and waltz into some of Canterlot's haughtier shops, playing no actual malice but giving them a good scare. Although, I do not think you anticipated how serious your argument with Spitfire turned out to be."

Rainbow Dash sighed. "I think...I remember that. I don't even remember what it was about, I just remember feeling really bad afterward."

"From what I can gather, it was about her style of training. She takes pride in being the commander of the Wonderbolts, but her skill set is incomplete. You know how to be gentle where she does not, and she wished to learn. But it was an awkward meeting, as both of you are prideful and stubborn." Blueblood poked Rainbow Dash. "I could tell from our interview this morning. In the future, you would do well to be less arrogant to somepony who is trying to help you."

"Eheh." The pegasus blushed. "You know, I was surprised when you kept trying to help."

"Yes, well. Too much stubbornness can be a problem, but I find a little bit is a virtue. Anyway, while a clash of egos like yours had a foreordained result, you still considered Spitfire a friend. The argument left you feeling so bad that you were desperate for any quick fix to the problem, rather than going back and talking it out."

The pegasus looked at Blueblood, hopeful. "Did I find one?"

"No, and of this I can be certain because there was not one to be found. But you tried. Seeking to make up and get past it, you donned your disguise, pretended you were a changeling who had captured Rainbow Dash, and goaded Spitfire into 'rescuing' you. Perhaps you thought that would give you an excuse to talk again without needing to apologize. But rather than leading her on until you could drop the disguise and pretend to be rescued as you planned, she got the drop on you, punching you into the street from some distance above it, which is when you acquired the majority of your present injuries including your amnesia. Her view was obscured by a cloud, so she did not see that the blood and feathers came from your body; she only gained sight of the impact zone after you had had a chance to crawl away from it. In her fury, she leaped to the conclusion that the changeling had slain you in displeasure for being hit. I believe you recall events from there."

"Is that when I was hurting so much, then those merchants found me and chased me to you?"

Blueblood nodded. "Quite. There were no other witnesses. Everypony else just took the word of the commanding officer of the Wonderbolts. Even when you molted in jail, a result of the disinfectant spray, everypony there rationalized reasons why your feathers were suddenly around, yourself included. Unbeknownst to you, the device was stuck casting the disguise spell, so when you saw a changeling in the mirror, you assumed you must be a changeling, and perhaps you were afraid you had killed her since everypony was saying you did. You, and I admit Princess Sparkle and I, ascribed your hearing Rainbow Dash's voice in your head to magic, but of course it takes no magic to talk to yourself."

Fetching a hoof mirror off a nearby table, Rainbow Dash looked at her reflection. "Huh. So is this what I really look like? More awesome than a changeling." She gently rolled the mirror back and forth and moved it around, checking herself from multiple angles.

"I see your personality was not much altered. I believe Princess Sparkle subconsciously recognized you despite your disguise, but her mind overrode her intuition. If I may be so bold, you and she have a friendship to die for."

"Tch. Dying's easy." Rainbow Dash smiled up at Blueblood. "Maybe I can't remember everything, but I know this much: my friends are worth living for."

Comments

[Emperor]

Looks like I got most everything right, though I did miss the bit about the disinfectant causing her feathers to come off.

[Swashbucklist]

Ohhhh... I forgot about the transducer...transductor...thing. My theory was that Rainbow had been a changeling her whole life, and in the end the rest of the cast would be stuck facing the ugly truth of their prejudices.

Welp, good mystery.