Part 7 The Defense Part 1
“Where are Applejack and Pinkie Pie?” Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity had met up with Fluttershy outside the courtroom, with their evidence in a saddlebag ten minutes ago. Now they were waiting for the two earth ponies to appear.
“I’m not sure,” Fluttershy responded. “Maybe they’re running a little late?”
Twilight exhaled sharply through her nostrils, calming herself.
“The trial starts in one minute and thirty-six seconds,” Twilight realized the seconds she said this, made it one minute and thirty-three seconds. “We can’t wait any longer.”
“I’m sure they’ll show up, Twilight,” Rainbow Dash said, though she had doubts as they proceeded into the courtroom. “If you want, I’ll go look for them.”
“No,” Twilight immediately answered. “Spike’s going to need all of his friends here today.”
Rainbow Dash nodded her understanding, and wished the purple alicorn good luck. Her three friends then trotted over to their seats.
Twilight took her seat at the defense chair, placing her saddlebag on the table, removing only a scroll. Soon, Spike was led back to the seat beside her. He eyed the saddlebag curiously and wanted to ask Twilight what was in there. Noticing his glance, Twilight shook her head, indicating he would see in time. The judge and jury took their places once again. She noticed Cadence and Dr. Saffron sitting at the prosecution desk, wordlessly.
“Is the defense ready to make their opening statement?” The judge asked Twilight.
“Yes, your honor,” her calm demeanor and confidence intrigued many scientists, who already thought the case was closed. “Today, the defense intends to prove that dragons are far from the most dangerous creatures in Equestria, that the defendant has many traits that prevent him from being property, these qualities and capabilities reveal the ethical dilemmas of forcing him to submit, and that setting him free is the right thing to do, not only to protect his inherent rights, but to set a precedent for how dragons will perceive us.”
Giving a moment for her statement to sink in, Twilight rose from her stand and approached the witness table. “The defense calls Rarity to the stand.”
The white unicorn delicately rose from the many ponies gathered, and made her way to the witness podium. She sat down in the chair and lifted her hoof.
“On the elements of harmony, I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.” She recited the oath, before lowering her hoof.
Spike could only wonder what Rarity would say in his defense, as she mentally prepared herself. Twilight had given her a short summary of what to expect, but remained vague to prevent a potential cross examination from revealing she had told Rarity what she would ask before the case began.
Twilight continued, “Please state your name and occupation.”
Rarity, exemplifying all the dignity of a well-educated and respectable lady, responded, “My name is Rarity. I am a fashion designer and seamstress who works at Ponyville’s Carousel Boutique.”
“How long have you known Spike?” Twilight already knew but the court had to hear this.
“I first met Spike when you and he first came to Ponyville years ago.” Rarity stated. “Ever since then, he’s gone out of his way to help me in any way possible.”
“The prosecution recalled the events that occurred on his first birthday at Ponyville,” Twilight began, “where were you during this whole event?”
“I was abducted by Spike when he was fully grown, though I didn’t recognize him at the time,” Rarity replied. Spike seriously didn’t see how reminding the jury of that day would help his case, but he had to trust Twilight.
“So you personally witnessed him, and were almost injured during this event.” Twilight hoped her plan would work. “Can I assume you stopped being friends after this?”
“Absolutely not!” Rarity said louder than she intended, but remembering this was a formal trial, quickly recomposed herself. “I could never stay angry with Spike. He had no intention to harm any pony.”
“Then how did you forgive him for his actions?” Twilight asked.
“After he returned to normal, I saw him staring at a footprint he made in his grown state. He was on the verge of tears, thinking he could have hurt some pony.” Rarity explained. “And when all was said and done, he did what he could to make amends. He returned everything he had taken, spent the rest of the day helping to clean up Ponyville, and promised never to let his greed control him again.”
“So you’re saying he seemed to feel guilt?”
The white unicorn nodded vigorously. Every Ponyville citizen concurred with Rarity. Many citizens still remembered Spike’s rampage, but they remembered his attempts to atone for his actions much more vividly. That was part of the reason no pony held this whole event against him. The other was that Spike was their friend.
“May I ask what do you personally think about Spike?” Twilight questioned her friend. Cadence considered interrupting to claim this was off topic, but withheld her objection. Rarity’s opinion of Spike was likely relevant to the case at hand; Twilight wouldn’t ask her this unless she had reason. Anyways, Cadence had done enough harm already.
“Well,” Rarity tried to consider carefully how to express her sentiments. “Quite frankly, Spike is an incredibly sweet little dragon, who is always willing to help me with any chore without demanding anything in return. He has often come to my shop and assisted me in organizing my belongings, maintaining the shop, and acquiring gems for special orders.”
“He searched for gemstones just for you? He didn’t ask to eat any of them?” Twilight hoped the jury would recognize how out of character this would be for their typical notion of a dragon.
“No, he did not eat them,” Rarity stated. “Spike always puts the happiness and well-being of others before himself.”
“Could you give some examples of when he did so?” Twilight wanted to keep the prosecution from interrupting and calling Rarity’s account biased.
“Certainly,” Rarity took a deep breath. “Once, he worked hard to help me gain the attention of a certain some pony even though he—,“ she stuttered a moment. “Even though he could have been doing better things. Another time when we went out hunting for gems, Diamond Dogs kidnapped me and Spike brought my friends back to save me. I also recall an event where I read a magical book that cursed me, causing me to alter Ponyville in rather extreme and impractical ways. Spike was the one who snapped me out from that state by telling me that I had gone too far, even though he didn’t want to hurt my feelings. Though I believe, his greatest feat of selflessness was saving the Crystal Empire. When you were trapped in Sombra’s crystals, he took the Crystal Heart to Cadence even though his life was in danger. His actions made him a hero of the empire. He became an even greater hero when he saved ponies at the Equestria Games by melting a massive, falling block of ice caused by a mishap. Time and again, Spike stands up and makes selfless sacrifices for his friends. And those are only the ones I know about.”
Spike blushed under Rarity’s praise. He remembered each of these events and was pleased to know some other pony hadn’t forgotten. Then again, he supposed the Crystal Empire had never really forgotten his feat, considering they built a statue for him. Truth be told, his friends didn’t have to constantly recall his exploits. He just did what any of them would have done in his situation.
“I must say this,” Rarity’s eyes fell a bit, “Spike is a dear part of our family, a friend to every citizen in Ponyville, and hero to the Crystal Empire. If we lost him, I don’t know what we’d do.”
Twilight thanked Rarity and dismissed her. As the unicorn walked past Spike to the audience, she shot him a brief reassuring smile that he returned with a thankful grin. Twilight returned to her desk and picked up a scroll, handed to the bailiff for an examination, and placed it on the evidence table.
“Ladies and gentle colts of the jury,” she addressed the ponies in the stand. “The prosecution stated that dragons are dangerous and encounters with them often lead to unfortunate consequences. She implied dragons are rampaging monsters.”
Twilight shook her head and unraveled the scroll, “We must face the facts. Of all creatures in Equestria, none has the potential to be more deadly or dangerous than ponies.”
Many of the jury blinked uncertainly, or felt slightly offended by the statement.
“Rarity testified that with her magic, she nearly transformed all of Ponyville in a fashion rampage. I myself can attest that I nearly drove all of Ponyville to war over a doll with spell. One of my friends nearly threw the town into chaos when she made clones of herself, and we almost couldn’t find the real one. And I’m sure every pony is already aware that pegasai are capable of controlling the weather and making hurricanes. I doubt any pony could estimate just how much destruction the princesses could cause if they so wished. One of them controls the night and could cast eternal darkness on the land or plague us with nightmares. The other controls the day and the rising of the sun. If she lost her mind and went rogue, she could prevent the sun from rising, which would destroy crops and starve all of us. Ponies have incredible destructive potential.”
Twilight then picked up the scroll, “Can any pony give the name of or identify any dragon that has done something abominable? How many dragons live in infamy?”
If it was possible, the room became even quieter as ponies contemplated her question.
“No pony knows? But I thought we already established dragons were monsters. Surely, you can recall at least one dragon guilty of countless transgressions?” Twilight challenged them. No pony answered. “Well, how many ponies live in infamy?”
She turned to the scroll. “There’s King Sombra, who oppressed and enslaved the entire Crystal Empire. There’s Starlight Glimmer, who until recently, stole cutie marks from other ponies, robbing them of their special talents and destinies. Nightmare Moon threatened to drown the world in eternal night until she was banished to the moon.”
She placed the scroll flat on the table. “It’s painfully clear; dragons are not the real threat to Equestria. Yes, they certainly can be dangerous, but very few of them have committed serious crimes in comparison to ponies. No dragon has ever enslaved its own race or stole other dragons’ destinies. And while some dragons have attacked individual cities, none have ever threatened the entire world.”
Pausing for a breath, Twilight stood resolutely firm, “We commit atrocities, abuse our fellow ponies, even stripping them of inalienable rights. We can control the weather, we can alter the world in ways no other being can, and if we chose, we could unbalance the world. Is it any wonder dragons take great pains to stay away from us? To them, we’re the monsters. And if we allow Spike to become a lab rat for the science department, what kind of message does that send to other dragons? It will confirm their beliefs and drive a wedge between Celestia’s citizens and dragons forever. Ladies and gentle colts, if we truly want to understand dragons and avoid future conflicts, we must change the way we behave. We must prove that their assumptions about us are wrong, starting now.”
She paused to let her words sink in. The jury seemed to grasp the logic of her argument, and was reconsidering its position. Twilight decided to press on.
“The prosecution stated dragons are beasts, not on the same social level as Equestrian citizens,” Twilight said. “Now, I’d like to call an animal expert to gauge just how true this statement is. The defense calls Fluttershy to the stand.”
Conscious of hundreds of eyes staring at her, Fluttershy made her way to the witness stand, reminding herself Spike was counting on her. She almost tripped, but quickly regained her balance and took her seat. She clasped her hooves uncertainly, and the judge startled her by asking her to recite the oath. Raising a slightly shaky hoof, she softly spoke, yet was very audible in the quiet courtroom.
“On the elements of harmony, I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.”
Twilight smiled to encourage her, and the pegasus saw her friends from Ponyville offering similar encouragement. She would not fail.
“Please state your name and occupation.” Twilight prompted.
“Oh, my name is Fluttershy. I take care of animals,” she explained, “I’ve been doing it ever since I was a filly.”
“And given your personal experience, how would define an animal?”
“Well, an animal is typically an organism that reacts to its environment in unique ways, “ Fluttershy felt comfortable talking about something she enjoyed. “We too qualify as animals, but we’re not animals in the typical sense because we have abilities that other creatures simply do not. Six common subgroups of animals are birds, fish, amphibians, mammals, reptiles, and insects.”
“And how much do dragons fall into any of these subgroups?”
“They don’t,” Fluttershy answered, “dragons are honestly in a class of their own. They’re not reptiles because they breathe fire, can fly, and they aren’t coldblooded. They aren’t amphibians because they don’t have permeable skins or complex reproductive needs. Even though they fly and lay eggs, dragons aren’t birds because they have teeth, not feathers or beaks. But most importantly, dragons can talk and think for themselves. Unlike most animals that live in the present, if you asked Spike to recall every memory he’s had in Ponyville, he easily could. No other animal I’ve ever met could read, write, or think on the same level for themselves on the same level as Spike, especially given the fact he is a baby.”
As she paused to let the pegasus’ words sink in, Twilight reflected how thankful she was that Fluttershy was discussing something she was passionate about; this made testifying before all these ponies without stage fright so much easier.
“The prosecution also compared dragons to beasts,” Twilight recollected. “Given your firsthand experiences with animals and some dragons, how true would you say this statement is?”
Fluttershy considered the question a moment. “It’s true dragons can be dangerous. But they never consciously seek to harm others. In all the centuries of dragon migrations, no dragon has ever attacked a pony of their own accord. In the last dragon migration, thousands of dragons flew directly over Ponyville, but not a single one raided our homes.”
The judge and jury considered this. Indeed, dragons could be violent, but they never truly sought out ponies to harm even when given the opportunity. Seeing the audience apparently agreeing with her, made Fluttershy more confident, spurring her onward.
“There was one time when we had to stop a dragon from breathing smoke into the sky over Ponyville.” Fluttershy recalled. “He only attacked us after Rarity tried to make off with his treasure and Rainbow Dash kicked his face. And even then, I could talk him down and make him see reason. He agreed to leave with his treasure and never bother us again.”
Many ponies present did a double take. Was this timid pegasus actually saying she could talk down a dragon? Either she had magic of her own, or dragons were not nearly as dangerous as they had initially believed. Ponies caused that dragon in Ponyville to become violent only after provoking him, and another pony was capable of negotiating with the dragon.
Twilight thanked Fluttershy and dismissed her. The pegasus smiled nervously and left the stand. When she reached her seat in the audience, Rainbow Dash patted her shoulder with a beaming smile.
“I’m proud of you, Fluttershy,” the blue pegasus whispered. “That was really brave.”
Embarrassed, Fluttershy’s cheeks turned red. Nevertheless, she grinned and said, “Oh, thank you,” and turned back to the trial.
“Ladies and gentle colts,” Twilight’s voice reverberated around the courtroom. “The prosecution stated that even though the defendant hatched from his egg, he is still property of the science department as this is the case with reptiles and birds. However, you have just heard that due to their physical features, dragons do not qualify as amphibians, reptiles, or even birds. This means the prosecution’s previous statement was a fallacy, comparing dragons to such creatures is inaccurate and misleading. The defendant is unique; the science department has never owned an animal remotely like him. This begs the question, is the defendant really a simple beast that can be owned?”
Twilight took a deep breath, pausing to let her words sink in with the jury. “The prosecution is correct in assuming dragons can be a great threat to Equestrian citizens. There’s no denying they can kill and injure us. But the prosecution is incorrect in assuming experimenting on a baby dragon could solve our dilemmas or help us understand them. Fluttershy was more than capable of pacifying a dragon even after it was provoked. Scientists like Dr. Saffron claim they want to understand dragons. How many researchers actually try to talk to dragons?”
Dr. Saffron winced when Twilight mentioned her by name. Every other pony considered Twilight’s question. No pony had ever thought to try engaging a dragon in conversation. They seemed too beastly to even tolerate another being. Was it possible that they could be reasoned with?
“As long as we treat dragons like beasts and animals, how can they be anything else to us? If we can only perceive this one side of them, that may be inaccurate, then we will never understand dragons, no matter how much scientists might discover by experimenting on Spike. And if they treat Spike as a lab rat,” Twilight stared at Dr. Saffron hard, “they will be equating studies on him with the studies of any other animal, not accounting for his unique properties that such experiments would not only ignore, but possibly even obliterate. If you treat him as a monster, then you destroy the possibility for him to be more than that.”
She broke her gaze from the doctor, who seemed remarkably deflated. Twilight nodded, so far so good. Now would come the hard part. “But instead of debating whether or not the defendant is merely a monster or not, why don’t we find out how similar he is to us by simply talking to him? The defense calls Spike to the stand.”
Spike rose from the defense table and quickly crossed to the witness stand. He took a seat and lifted his hand to recite the oath.
“On the elements of harmony, I swear –,”
“Wait a minute!” A scientist in the audience interrupted, “He can’t swear on the elements of harmony! They hold no authority to a dragon.”
“Order!” The judge slammed his hammer on the gavel. “Given that this dragon has lived among ponies all his life and personally witnessed the power of the elements of harmony, his oath will be good in the eyes of the court. Now I’ll have no interruptions from the science department, or I’ll overrule the jury and give a verdict here and now!”
The judge nodded to Twilight, who smiled appreciatively at the bearded stallion. At least, they had an ally in him. She turned to Spike and motioned him to continue the oath.
“On the elements of harmony, I swear to tell the truth and nothing but the truth.”
Spike lowered his hand, and sat back the chair. Remembering Twilight’s warning, he could only wonder what she had planned and felt nervous. Then, he remembered his promise and that she was looking out for him. The purple dragon resolved to answer her every question.
“Please state your name and occupation,” Twilight prompted him.
“My name is Spike,” the drake answered. He considered if being Twilight’s assistant was an occupation and decided it could qualify. “I’m your – I mean Princess Twilight Sparkle’s number one assistant.”
After giving him a brief smile, Twilight levitated several items from saddlebag on the defense table to the bailiff including a picture that Spike could not make out, several of his comic books, his apron, and his Rarity doll. The last item made him blush heavily. After the bailiff finished inspecting the items, Twilight laid them, not on the evidence table, but the witness stand before Spike.
“Could you please identify these items for the jury?” Twilight turned to Spike. He glanced over all of them, trying to discern what his protector wanted him to say. Remembering Twilight ordered him to be completely honest, he decided to simply state what all these things were to him.
“These are all mine,” he answered. Twilight nodded, urging him to continue. He examined the comic books. “I collected these comics because I think the Power Ponies are awesome. I mean their adventures are really cool and the writers really develop their characters through intricate story arcs, showing how they all grow as teammates and as friends. Plus, the action sequences are well choreographed, the villains are complex and tragic, and I genuinely feel emotional attachment to these characters.”
Spike stopped speaking when he realized he revealed himself to be somewhat of a geek. No pony seemed to mind. In fact, many in the audience seemed intrigued that a dragon could find value in comics. It was rather unusual for a monster to appreciate comic books. It was especially unusual that the supposed monster could articulate why he appreciated these comics.
“And this picture?” Twilight levitated the picture into his hands, and he now recognized it as a photograph containing Twilight, himself, and their five friends.
“This is us with our friends,” Spike smiled. “We took this picture to celebrate our two years of friendship. It’s a precious memory.”
Many of the spectators shared his smile. He truly seemed treasure this moment and this photograph. Perhaps it wasn’t a gem, but the little dragon seemed to treasure its sentimentality more than he could love any jewel. Then again, some of them, particularly those who did not know him personally, believed he was merely imitating what he thought sentimentality to be. After all, how could a dragon truly feel anything?
Twilight levitated the apron over to him.
“It’s my apron,” Spike was a little embarrassed at admitting he owned an apron. “I wear it whenever I cook a meal for us.”
“You’re saying you know how cook?” Twilight hoped the jury could understand her point in showing this item.
“Yeah,” Spike was a bit wary of the eyes staring at him. “I had to learn.”
Twilight frowned, not understanding what he meant.
Spike shrugged apologetically, “To be fair Twilight, your cooking skills are so-so.”
There was a resounding chuckle reverberating through the courtroom, as every pony appreciated the dragon’s humor. He even grinned a bit, realizing his statement was pretty funny.
Spike’s smile immediately faded, replaced with profuse sweating and flushed cheeks when Twilight presented his Rarity doll. She just had to bring that to court.
“Um, that,” Spike tried to think quickly. He decided to tell some of the truth and rambled, “I made that one day when I wanted to try sewing. I had a lot of white and purple threads so I thought it would be fun to make it look like Rarity. She is my friend after all and I thought maybe it could be a great gift–.”
Twilight motioned for him to stop so she could ask him a question.
“You’re saying you learned how to sew just to make a doll? Why?”
Spike twiddled his fingers, “I don’t know. I just thought it could be fun.”
“You learned to sew because you thought it would be fun?” Twilight wasn’t mocking him; she just wanted to make a point to the jury.
“Sure,” Spike said a little higher than he would have liked. “I mean every pony does something for fun, right?”
Twilight could sense this was having the desired effect on the jury. They recognized that no monster should be capable of sewing or cooking, much less seeking to learn such tasks and enjoying them. These items were demonstrating how Spike was a living being, just like any other Equestrian citizen, and hopefully, this would persuade the jury that the science department owning him was the equivalent of slavery. Of course, Twilight could go on endlessly demonstrating how Spike valued items for their personal value, rather than their monetary value, but that wouldn’t be enough. She had to prove he was truly capable of emotions to show tearing him away from her was ethically wrong. Fortunately, she already had set her plan to prove this in motion. She only hoped Spike would cooperate. If he did, she could only hope he would forgive her.
Finally, she retrieved another item that Spike had not seen from her saddlebag. He recognized the fire ruby as she handed it to the bailiff, who inspected it slightly too long with wide appreciative eyes. Twilight cleared her throat, prompting the bailiff to reluctantly return it to her. She placed it on the table before Spike.
“This isn’t mine,” the little dragon said, confusion evident in his voice. “Well, at least not any more.”
“Well then, could you please tell the jury who this ruby belongs to and why it isn’t yours anymore?” Twilight kept her face impassive, refusing to preemptively betray her intentions.
“I gave it to Rarity,” Spike explained. “It’s hers.”
“Why? This would have made for a nice snack wouldn’t it?”
Spike returned to twiddling his fingers. “I just thought she might like it more, you know? I mean all I was going to do was eat it.”
The jury could see Spike was capable of generosity, even with gems. But Twilight knew that wasn’t going to be enough. She took a deep breath.
“You seem to have quite an interest in Rarity,” Spike’s eyes widened and he blushed even more deeply. “In her testimony, she reported you often visit her and offer to help with her chores. You made a doll resembling her, and you gave her a fire ruby that you were planning to eat. Why?”
Spike stammered, his voice choking, “I-I d-don’t know what you mean?”
“Let me rephrase this,” Twilight looked him straight in his green eyes. “What do you think about her?”
Suddenly, everything began to make sense. Rarity’s testimony, his doll resembling her, the fire ruby: all these pieces of evidence had built up to this one moment. When Twilight said he would have to reveal some very personal things, she really meant he had to reveal his longstanding crush on Rarity. He didn’t want to believe it. She would never make him do this in front of every pony. She couldn’t. His eyes fell from hers to the fire ruby.
Slowly, the little dragon shook his head and replied, “I’d rather not say.”
Forgetting her position as his defense attorney, Twilight placed her hoof under Spike’s chin and lifted his gaze. Her face expressed an apology for her actions and a kindness, he had always known since he hatched. He recognized she was sorry to do this to him, but she was desperate to protect him. Her eyes blazed with her fierce devotion, reminding Spike what Twilight had said before, “everything I do, I do because I love you.”
The court noticed her emotional expression, and for the first time, several scientists considered how separating Twilight from her little dragon would break her. The purple alicorn remembered this was a formal courtroom and lowered her hoof. The expression that the entire court had witnessed was suppressed but still very present.
“I’m sure given the circumstances, Rarity won’t mind.” Twilight never broke off from this mutual gaze, and Spike found himself magnetized to her purple eyes, unable to look away.
Without words, Twilight told her assistant to ignore every other pony in the room and just talk to her. He tried to, he really did, but his disobedient eyes strayed into the audience where Rarity stared at him. When he saw her encouraging smile, he nearly melted, his tongue became tied and unyielding. He felt insignificantly tiny under the eyes of the hundreds of ponies present, but he felt significantly more miniscule under that beautiful unicorn's gaze. Any resolve he once had, vanished under those blue eyes.
The entire courtroom leaned forward intrigued. What was this dark secret that the little dragon was reluctant to share? Cadence couldn’t let this go on. As a prosecutor, she had to intervene not only for her case, but to protect Spike.
“Your honor,” the pink alicorn rose. “The defendant is unable to answer the question. The prosecution moves to end questioning and resume the trial.”
The judge sighed as he acknowledged her point. They could not sit here all day, waiting for the dragon to speak his mind.
“Motion carried,” the judge said. He lifted his hammer to slam his gavel and finalize the movement.
Within a second, Twilight’s eyes changed to reveal her boundless panic. She was going to lose Spike. They would never see he could feel. Spike saw her panic and realized what was about to happen. He was going to lose his family forever. As the hammer fell, Spike’s tongue untied, his eyes squeezed tight, and he screamed the truth.
“Ever since we’ve met I’ve always had a crush on her!”
The hammer stopped a mere inch from the gavel. Every pony stared at the little dragon as his face fell to the stand and he covered his head with his hands. Twilight rubbed a comforting hoof across his back, gently caressing the trembling dragon.
Every council member, every scientist, every member of the science department finally saw Spike in a new light. He wasn’t a monster; he was an individual capable of expressing generosity and truly feeling love. What’s more, he could feel love for another pony? This was unheard of, but no pony doubted it. This statement was completely logical in terms of everything that had been demonstrated with this little dragon. If he could feel love for another pony, then there could be no doubt he truly loved Twilight and experienced the same emotions they could, even though he was a dragon. On the inside, he was no different from any of them.
Noticing the little dragon’s overwhelming embarrassment, the judge turned to the jury, “Perhaps, we should take a brief intermission.”
It wasn’t as much a suggestion as an order, but the jury unanimously agreed. Twilight led Spike, whose face was buried in his hands, outside of the courtroom and soon several ponies had left the courtroom discussing everything they had heard and vocalizing their disappointment with the science department. Dr. Saffron sat beside Princess Cadence, unmoving. This was unprecedented. She never in her wildest dreams could have anticipated this. She rose from her seat and motioned Silver Stone in the audience to follow her outside. She was about to make a seriously risky move, but for once, she was resolved to do the right thing.
Twilight’s gathered friends watched the doctor exit the courtroom in a hurry. Rainbow Dash had rose to find Spike and offer him comfort, until Fluttershy put a hoof on her shoulder. She turned to look at the yellow pegasus.
“We should give him some space,” Fluttershy said. “Let Rarity speak to him.”
Rainbow Dash looked down the aisle, and realized the white unicorn was nowhere in sight. Begrudgingly, she sat back down, wondering if Spike would forgive Twilight for making him confess his affections. Then she looked up at Cadence, and wondered if any pony would be forgiven when this was all over.
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I think the introduction of Dr Facts was a wise move, since it shifts the antagonist away from Saffron (who was straining credibility to be trying to be a sympathetic character that simultaneously was basically trying to experiment on a child). For a kind of ludicrous situation, you kind of need an appropriate villain. Saffron - while not Maddox - was also a bit too close in being (aside from the whole "experiment on dragons" thing) a nominally reasonable individual - the seperation/othering of a different species (in a world fill of sentient/sapient species) is rather less than that between organics and an android (where androids are not common) . Moving her away from the antagonist role was definitely the right move.
I have some suspicions about who Dr Facts might be - though admittedly the only other alternative is some random scientist.
I am half expecting the last chapters opf this story to devolve into some sort of action sequence if Twilight wins and Dr Facts sets thing in motion to kidnap Spike anyway or something...!
(As that would likely result in Dr Facts getting a few hooves to the face (preferably fom Cadance, who I think deserves it (though my opnion of caddy and butt-kicking are somewhat biased)), so that would be win-win...)
6984075 Yeah, when I was writing the story, I kind of realized that by making Dr. Saffron more sympathetic and reasonable I lowered the tensions in some ways. So, indeed, Dr. Facts is becoming the more Maddox character who serves to raise the stakes. In contrast to Dr. Saffron, a scientist with morals and reservations about her actions, Dr. Facts is a more immoral scientist. I don't know about an action sequence, but Pinkie Pie and Applejack are on the hunt for him. And no pony escapes Pinkie Pie! At least, few ponies ever do.
Good story so far. Interested to see how the conversation between Spike and Rarity goes.
Personally I'm hoping if Rarity gives him the 'just friends' speech, Spike will cut her off and say he's fully aware she doesn't like him that way. Mostly because I don't like the idea that Spike is so clueless as to miss all of Rarity's 'I'm not interested in you' signs, and that it's more he truly thought he could change her mind.
6987659 I'm glad you're liking it so far. I am currently working on the next chapter where they have a conversation, and after that, the trial recommences. I noticed that you've posted many comments on this particular story, regarding your thoughts on what works and what doesn't and what you enjoy. I'd like to thank you for not only following this story but offering me constructive criticism so I can improve and be careful with the development of my story.
6988713 No problem. And thank you.
Awkward City.
I'm loving this story! Well thought out and written!
the plot thickens the doctor is feeling a bit of guilt dr facts is probably a criminal or a semi-criminal spike blurted out his crush and the jury and most others learn spike ( and other dragons ) have feelings and emotion and I kind of forgot some bits
Dawww I love silver spike I’d totally read a spin off of their adventures together:) also maybe this’ll come up in the next part but I really twilight to ask what she means and is to spike