Chapter 36
The Elite sat on a bench that was in a specifically-designed castle courtroom. Princess Celestia was in a judge's stand while Ember, Spike, and Garble sat on thrones on the side. Behind Celestia was the magic mirror with the face of Dragon Lord Torch in it. Discord was with the accused as they sat at a table facing the stand while the prosecutor-Sven Gallop-was sitting at the other table facing the stand.
A guard stepped forward as he announced, "The Case of Her Majesty, Princess Celestia's court versus Miss Rainbow Dash of Equestria and Miss Gilda of Griffonstone set in the following brief. Accused is the pegasus, Rainbow Dash and the griffon, Gilda of attacking the castle of Canterlot to the endangerment of it's residents and guests."
Celestia magically took a gavel and told Sven Gallop, "Counselor, you may proceed with your opening statement."
Sven stood up and cleared his throat, "Your Highness, it is quite clear that these two ruffians had intentionally attacked the castle without any regard to anyone else's safety! How many guards have been injured while they and several other griffons have penetrated the palace?! I ask you, how many? Too many! And as a result, Prince Spike was force to cut down a number of the Selected-"
Discord stood up shouting, "Objection! The number of mares getting cut from the Selection is irrelevant to the case!"
Celestia banged the gavel, "You may say your piece when Sven is done, Discord."
Sven motioned, "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted… His Highness, Prince Spike was force to cut a large amount of the Selected mares all because those two," pointing to Rainbow and Gilda, "and other griffons attacked viciously a couple of weeks before Nightmare Night. So I highly recommend this pony and griffon are sentence to prison… for life."
There was a collective gasp from the Elite, Spike, and Rainbow.
Sven took his seat and Celestia turned to Discord, "The defense will now make their case."
Discord stood up and paced around the area as he spoke, "Members of the court, what my fellow counselor has fail to realize, is that my clients were merely trying to get into the castle for a noble cause. Yes, it was poor judgment on their parts for hurting those guards but it was under an act of desperation! Ever since the Idol of Boreas was taken, Griffonstone has been completely poor and ruined. And these screenshots prove it!" he magically put up a slideshow as pictures of Griffonstone looking like a dump were shown to the entire room.
Spike hid a smile under his claw. So far Discord was showing pretty compelling evidence on the griffons' behalf.
Discord put the slideshow away and continued to speak, "As such, the griffons need their idol back so they can return Griffonstone back to a thriving society benefiting both the griffons and the different species surrounding them!"
Sven called out, "Objection! There is no proof that the Idol of Boreas was taken by the dragons!"
Celestia sighed, "I'm afraid that's true, Discord. There is no evidence that suggests the dragons took the idol…"
Discord gestured, "Which is why I would like to call Miss Gilda of Griffonstone to the stand."
There were murmurs as Gilda begrudgingly took the stand. Discord faced her, "Miss Gilda, would you please the court why exactly do you and the other griffons think the dragons took the Idol of Boreas."
Gilda scoffed before replying, "My Grandpa Gruff was on the Griffonstone Honor Guard and he was right there when the idol was stolen! He said a red dragon broke into the castle and took it! And because that idol was our pride and joy, we fell from greatness and ended up in the squalors!"
Discord voiced while facing the court, "Hm… that seems oddly specific don't you think? The fact that her grandpa said it was a red dragon and not just any dragon… Obviously the event was so traumatic that the dragon's features were burned into his mind causing a-"
"Objection! This all just circumstantial evidence! There is no solid proof that a dragon broke in the Griffonstone castle!"
"And yet there were eyewitnesses at the scene of the crime!" Discord countered.
"Can you produce these witnesses?!" Sven challenged.
Discord said, "Alas, I cannot. But I can produce the next best thing! I call Miss Applejack to the stand!"
Applejack's eyes went wide as everyone turned to her in surprise. Slowly she made her way to the stand and once she sat down, Discord asked.
"Miss Applejack. Last month, during one of the attacks, you saw a figure flying pass you and because of that, you followed it."
Applejack being nervous of being put on the spot, unsteadily replied, "R-right, I did."
"And you soon discovered that figure was Miss Rainbow Dash, correct?"
"T-that's right, too…"
"And so because you followed Miss Dash you had listened in on why she was working for the griffons and the reason why they were attacking the castle! So can you tell the court exactly what they said?"
Applejack bit her lip as her memory scrambled to remember then she spoke, "They was certain that a dragon took the idol and that Rainbow was needed to find the hiding place in the castle. She even said that she was goin' leave the griffons if she didn't find it soon, she felt she was betraying her country by siding with the griffons."
Discord inquired, "Now I ask you, how can the griffons' make up that a dragon stole their most valuable object if they were not certain that it's happen. Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Gilda had no idea they were being watched as you can tell by their shocked expressions right now."
It was true, while Applejack was talking, both Rainbow and Gilda had been stunned to learn that she overhear them.
With a smug look, Discord stated, "I have no further questions."
Once he sat down, Sven stood up and approached Applejack, "Miss Applejack, are you certain you overheard, or could it be possible that they caught a glimpse of you and said those things on purpose! To make you think they were not the true victims in all this!"
There was another collective gasp and Rainbow looked like she was ready to pounce but Discord held her back.
Applejack frowned, "I can tell when someone is lyin', and Rainbow Dash and Gilda were doing no such thing… They did not see me at all, and Princess Luna can tell you the exact same thing."
Sven scowled before proclaiming, "Our dear princess needs her rest at this moment, so we cannot get her statement until tonight." he told Celestia, "I have no further questions for the witness."
Celestia looked down at Applejack with a small smile, "You may return to your seat, Miss Applejack."
AJ tipped her hat to her as she went back to sit with the Elite. When she did, she caught the looks of Dragonia's royal family. Garble was glowering, Ember was emotionless, Dragon Lord Torch was frowning, and Spike was looking at her in concern. She gave him a tiny smile to reassure him she was fine and that made him slightly smile back.
Sven declared, "Now, I would like to call Miss Rainbow Dash to the stand!" In seconds, Dash took the stand as he began to ask, "Miss Dash, what exactly is your relationship to Miss Gilda of Griffonstone?"
Rainbow responded, "She's one of my oldest friends, we met at Junior Speedsters Flight Camp."
"Uh-ah… Now why exactly did you team up with her to get the Idol of Boreas back?"
"I was in hiding so I wouldn't have to sign that form for the Selection."
There was a large gasp this time.
Torch bellowed through the mirror, "YOU REFUSED TO BE PART OF THE SELECTION?!"
Rainbow shouted back, "Yes, I refused! I didn't want to marry for the sake of peace between our two worlds!"
Celestia spoke up with a furrowed brow, "Lord Torch, why does it matter if the mare did not wish to sign a form? The agreement was that any mare who was willingly to participate can sign up to enter the Selection. Luna and I didn't want our subjects to be forced into this. Does this mare have a good reason to hide herself from signing the form?"
Applejack suddenly spoke up, "If that reason was a talkin' letter that was threatening to cause another war between dragons and ponies, then I say that's a pretty good reason."
Rainbow pointed, "Exactly! Thank you!"
Celestia and Discord exchanged a look before facing Torch with a disapproving frown. Even Ember and Spike were glaring at Torch with Ember saying, "Dad… What did you do?"
Torch stated, "What I had to… I made your unicorn aunts cast a spell so that every mare in the pony world would sign up so that we could find a mare that was submissive and easy to handle."
Everyone gawked at this revelation.
Celestia scowled further as she addressed the dragon lord, "Lord Torch… you have forced my subjects to something they probably did not want… That was not in the original agreement Luna and I had made with your great-grandfather. However I am willing to let it go on the condition that you find the Idol of Boreas and return it to the griffons." she could see he was not pleased with this but he did not argue back. She continued, "Circumstantial evidence or not, I'm inclined to believe my subject." she faced the entire court, "I, Princess Celestia sentence Miss Rainbow Dash and Miss Gilda to one year of community service for attacking the castle as their reasons for attacking was purely out of nobility to save Griffonstone." She banged her gavel down, "Court is adjourned."
Spike and Applejack sat on the floor of her bedroom as they went over what happen in the trial with him saying.
"Dad wasn't happy you spoke out like that. But the all the same…" he slightly smirked, "I'm glad you did… It gave Celestia the chance she needed to put him in his place."
"Well he can't keep controlling everything and everyone like that."
"No. No, he can't. All the more reason I can't wait for Ember to have the scepter. It controls every dragon and once she has it, she can make changes for the greater good."
"And while she's ruling the kingdom, what do we do?"
He gave an impish smirk while leaning in closer as he took her in his arms and said, "What else?" then he began kissing her neck making her feel like pudding. The kisses grew more fervently around her collarbone and shoulders as he made it up to her face and onto her lips.
When they took a breath, Applejack uttered, "How many kids do you want?"
"As many as you want…" he muttered.
"Really?" she smirked mischievously, "Then you wouldn't mind if we had twelve then, do you?"
That made him get out of his trance as sweat went down his brow, "Um, maybe we should just have two, or three at most."
She chuckled, "Relax, I was only kiddin', I would only be able to handle four at most."
"As long as one of them doesn't become like my father, I'm fine with that."
"That won't be a problem, Spike."
He slightly frowned, "You can't exactly guarantee that, Applejack. Because genetics do tend to sneak up on you. In fact, it's a miracle in itself how I never inherited his character."
"Maybe that's because you're not related to him." she said before she could stop herself.
Spike's brow furrowed in confusion, "What's that suppose to mean?"
Applejack sputtered, "It's… Never mind! Forget I said anything!"
Now Spike was even more confused as he inquired, "Applejack, what's going on…? Do you know something, I don't know? Because if you do, you need to tell me."
She bit her lip as she stood up and slowly backed away.
He crossed his arms, "I am not leaving this room until you tell me what you know!"
She turned her head away and sighed, "I was goin' to mention this later… but…" she faced him with sad eyes, "Spike, I have reason to believe that you're not a prince of Dragonia…"
His mouth dropped in shock before he shouted, "You're lying! You have to be!"
She gasped at his accusation and yelled back, "What?! You know I don't lie!"
"Well, you used to! Big Mac told me so! So who's to say you're not lying now?!"
"I do! Yes, I used to lie! But that's when I was a filly and didn't know better! My brother almost lost an arm because mah lies!"
There was silence between them before Spike voiced, "I just don't know if I can't believe you…"
"I know it's a shock, but whenever I see you, your sister, and cousin together, you look nothing like them and from what I can tell from that the magic mirror today; you definitely don't look anything like your father. I even talked to your sister about this and she was very vague on how you came to be… Now I don't know if this is true but it certainly is not impossible."
"That I'm adopted?" he questioned.
She nodded her head.
This was all too much for him. He needed some room to think. Without saying goodbye, he ran out of the room.
Applejack looked on in forlorn and held her head, I did it again… I pushed him away…
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Ooh, this is getting intense. I wonder if Ember or Torch will suddenly reveal to him that he isn't actually related to them.
Peace. Not Piece.
"can believe you."
Other than that, another great chapter.
...
No. It doesn't matter. It must be overcome.
Great chapter. This is getting very interesting
8260038
by the way, she's right on how you say peace. Not trying to start anything, but that's how it's written in many other books.
Great chapter :D
Dang, AJ, you and your big mouth.