A Story Told

by Lil Penpusher

The Trial

“Let me go! I’m innocent!” Edmond shouted as two soldiers dragged him into court.

“I’m afraid, Edmond,” Fernand said to him as he walked past, “it is not your responsibility to determine this.”

The very next moment a door opened on the other side of the room. Out of the door stepped the elegantly clothed Rarifort, wearing a black suit with a golden collar and golden buttons. He slowly, and ever so magnificently made his way to his chair. The soldiers that had dragged Edmond into the room now pushed him forward, in front of Rarifort, to stand trial. Fernand smiled viciously as Rarifort finally took his seat. Everything was coming together just as he had hoped and imagined.

“Well, well,” Rarifort began, adjusting his mane briefly before looking down to Edmond. “You are this Edmond that I have been hearing about, hm?”

“You... have been hearing about me?” Edmond asked the judge.

“Why, of course. Townsponies have been spreading quite a bit of rumours about you, you know.”

“Rumours? What rumours?” Edmond asked once again.

Rarifort remained silent for a moment before leaning back in his chair. “No matter. Let us get to the point, shall we?”

“Your honour, this is all a big misunderstanding, you must believe me!” Edmond begged.

“Yes, yes,” Rarifort said mockingly, “I hear that fairly often, you see. Hence why it is my duty to find out whether you’re speaking the truth or not.”

“Trust in me, your honour. I am an honest stallion, perhaps the most honest in all of Baltimare. My friends, family and colleagues can tell you this just as good as I can!” the pegasus explained to the judge.

Rarifort stroked his chin briefly. “A mighty statement from someone like you, Edmond Dash. The most honest pony in all of Baltimare,” the white-coated unicorn said out loud. “Quite a strong claim you’re staking here, young Edmond. Especially since the most honest pony would hardly be found in court, no less in the position of the defendant.”

Edmond remained silent for multiple seconds. A weak breeze whispered through the window as all ponies present remained silent. Rarifort eyed Edmond suspiciously, while Fernand, watching and listening to all of this from the back of the room, could not resist but to grin. His plan, or so it seemed to him, was coming along perfectly. Every piece of the puzzle was falling into its place perfectly, and Fernand knew that the only piece left was Edmond himself.

“Your honour,” Edmond spoke up, breaking the silence in the room, “one cannot, and should not, gauge a pony’s amount of honesty, truthfulness and uprightness in court. How could you judge me on my honesty, your honour, while I stand here accused of crime, violence and murder?”

Rarifort, taken off guard by this response, tapped a hoof on the desk in front of him, thinking about what Edmond had said. “You surprise me, Edmond. Never have I seen such wisdom in a stallion this young, let alone one who stands trial in court.”

“Trial in court should play no role in a anypony’s judgement, your honour. I stand here accused of crime, and until your judgement falls I shall remain accused, but not guilty. And, your honour, would you not agree that accusations are but rumours? Myths? So then why would rumours and myths affect a pony’s reputation and uprightness?”

“You speak the truth, Edmond, the honest truth. Forgive me.”

Unnoticed by both of them, Fernand clenched his teeth, growing nervous and suspicious that his plan might yet backfire and fail. ”I just hope Rarifort makes himself paid, still,” he thought to himself, eyeing the supposedly bribed judge.

“You need not ask for forgiveness, friend. I can assure you, however, that I speak the honest truth when I say that I am innocent. I would repeat myself if I were to say that everypony I know could tell you this.”

“While I would like to believe you, Edmond, it is my duty to be in doubt, still,” Rarifort replied with visible regret. He was starting to like and believe Edmond, something that Fernand, too, saw. “As it happens, however, there is a friend of yours ready and willing to tell us more about what might have happened.”

Edmond looked up to Rarifort with a questioning look. “There is? Who would that be?”

“Your colleague and, so I have been told, old friend Danglarjack.”

That very second the main door behind Edmond opened, and the mischievous, uncanny pony that was Danglarjack entered the room. Everypony present, including the two soldiers next to Fernand, watched him as he made his way to the room’s centre, to where Edmond himself stood.

“Danglarjack? You?” the pegasus asked his friend.

“Aye,” Danglarjack replied in his usual raspy voice. “Wouldn’t wanna miss out on something like this.”

“I thought not. We shall have a fine cup of cider after this is done. On me, of course.” The cyan-coated pegasus laughed, unlike Danglarjack who eyed him with increasing disgust and hatred. It almost seemed as if his very eyes turned into a fiery flame, fed by his anger and jealousy.

“You seem to misunderstand why I’m here, Edmond,” Danglarjack replied in a low, deep voice. Edmond’s laugh ceased immediately.

“Huh? Pardon? What else could you be here for but to aid me?”

“Your friend is not here to defend you, I’m afraid. In fact, he is the one who pressed this charge in the first place.”

Edmond’s ears flattened, and his usually kind smile disappeared completely. “No...” he mumbled to himself in disbelief, “that can’t be right...Danglarjack would never do me wrong!”

The earth pony let out a loud puff before his so called ‘friend’ looked over to him. “Danglarjack, this is not right, is it?” He was afraid of what he was going to hear.

Danglerjack remained silent for a brief moment in which is dark, evil, hateful gaze fell upon Edmond. “Somepony’s gotta tell the truth, Captain.”

“The truth? The truth? But you know of the captain’s death as good as I do; you were part of his crew.”

“I may have been part of his crew, and I surely was aboard the vessel, as you were. Unlike you, however, I was not present at the captain’s death, as you were the only one with him in his quarters.”

“- as he had wished, might I add,” Edmond said. “You remember him asking all of you out but me; it was his order.”

“Actually...” Danglarjack said, looking over to Rarifort, “I do not remember anything of the sort. The way I see it me and the rest of the crew simply couldn’t attend the captain due to a rather strong wind bringing us off course. So, as it happens, while all of us were busy you had a prime opportunity of sneaking into the captain’s quarters; and murdering him in his weakened, defenseless state.”

“Danglarjack, how...” Edmond stuttered, holding back his tears, “why? Why are you accusing me of such terrifying, horrible deeds? You should know more than well that I, out of all the crew, would be the last to wrong the Captain!”

“Heh,” the earth pony chuckled. “The only thing I know more than well is that it was you who stepped in less than half a minute after the captain’s death to claim his title and rank.” Danglarjack smiled. Finally he could unleash his inner fury at Edmond. “Surely, this is all just a silly coincidence, hm?” he added in a mocking voice.

“That’s enough, Danglarjack. Even if you are right, there is no need for insults.” Rarifort stroked his mane once. “This is a court, after all...”

“So it is. And so I would wish for this criminal, this murderer and evil conspirator, to be found guilty at once. I have presented you with all evidence you need, your honour. This is the honest truth, I say, and it should be handled and respected as such.”

“And what evidence is there to support your claims, Danglarjack?” Rarifort asked, almost completely forgetting on whose side he was.

“Enough, I believe.” Fernand stepped out of the shadows at the back of the room. In his hooves he held the blood-stained dagger, the very image of it burning itself into Edmond’s mind forever. “This was found in young Edmond’s room. Hidden in his wardrobe, no less.”

“You see? Do you still believe me to tell lies? It is all there for you to see!” Danglarjack spoke up, almost shouting at Rarifort who immediately motioned him to quiet down. Edmond froze, stunned at how not only his friend but also Fernand were so sharply against him. A feeling of betrayal was starting to grow in him, and it was growing rapidly.

“I see...” Rarifort said quietly as Fernand passed him the weapon. “Edmond, what do you have to say against this?”

“What I have to say, your honour? Does it still matter? Your tongue wrongs your mind. Your mind has decided already, yet your tongue wishes for me to hope, still.”

“Not entirely true, I’m afraid. I’m very much keen on hearing your side of the story,” the judge replied, eyeing and inspecting the dagger, making it almost seem as if he were toying around with it.

“Well, your honour, if you wish I shall tell you the story, the truth, the honest truth.”

“Go ahead, then,” Rarifort acknowledged.

“As I had stated earlier, it is wrong to say that I sneaked into the captain’s quarters to wrong him, but it was his command and order that all but my person left him. Why he did this, I can’t tell you, your honour, but he did.”

“Hm,” Rarifort mumbled, nodding ever so slightly. “Go on.”

“During the few minutes we spent alone, the Captain told me of his last wish, knowing that he did not have much time left in our world. This last wish was to travel to Griffonstone and pass the Count an important message. I had kept this last wish a secret, however, as the Captain demanded of me, and so I had restrained myself from reasoning with any of the crew members about our change of course towards Griffonstone.”

“So, so,” Rarifort said thoughtfully. “Is this true, Danglarjack?”

The sailor looked up to the judge, quickly taking his eyes off of him again as even he could not deny this fact anymore. “Aye... he was a madman, steering us through a storm directly towards that damned city of Griffonstone. Most of us thought that if the storm didn’t cause us to sink, the griffons would surely eat us for lunch.”

“But they didn’t, did they?” Edmond argued. Danglarjack remained silent, only grumbling quietly.

“So then you see, your honour, that I had reason to be with the Captain and be with him alone.”

“That may be...” Rarifort said, stroking his chin once again, “but do tell, whatever was the message he gave you?”

“I don’t know myself, I’m afraid. All the Captain gave me was a letter which contained this ‘important message’. He asked of me not to open it, and so I followed his wish and refrained from doing so,” he explained truthfully.

“I see. And there was no indication on what the subject of this message was?”

“None, I’m afraid,” Edmond replied. Rarifort thought for a moment, his eyes briefly drifting over to Fernand and Danglarjack, both of whom seemed deeply uneasy about the judge’s performance so far. Just as Rarifort was about to speak up, however, it was Edmond who beat him to it. “There is, however, this second letter which the Count of Griffonstone gave me,” he said, pulling out a small, black envelope.

“A letter? From the... the Count of Griffonstone?” Rarifort asked to make sure he hadn’t misheard. He grew visibly nervous.

“Yes, your honour. He gave it to me after I had given him the captain’s letter. I do not know the subject however, nor have I ever heard of the letter’s addressee. ‘Rarifort’, it says, simply.”

Rarifort gulped deeply, levitating the envelope over to his desk. He leaned forward, truly finding his name on it. ‘Rarifort’, it said in bold print. He hectically turned the envelope over, only to spot the royal coat of arms of griffonia. He had seen it before. He had seen and cursed it until the end of days, sworn to himself that the very sight of it only brought pain and misfortune.

“Edmond Dash, father of Louis Dash,” Rarifort said loudly as he hid away the envelope in one of his suit’s pockets, “after taking Danglarjack’s description and the evidence at hand into consideration,” he said, briefly showing the dagger to Edmond once more, “you are hereby found guilty of wronging Captain Fleclerc and taking his life.”

Edmond remained silent all the while. He was frozen, completely paralysed. His mind was in a chaotic state as nothing made sense to him anymore. Accused of killing the very Captain whom he had served under so loyally by none other than Danglarjack, one of his oldest, best friends.

“I hereby sentence you to a lifelong visit to Hoofatraz. Your journey there shall begin by tomorrow’s sunrise, until which you shall remain in custody.” Rarifort spoke so clearly and trouble-free that it almost made him seem brutal. The respect and affection to Edmond had disappeared the very moment he laid eyes upon the envelope. “Do you have anything to say?”

Edmond remained silent as words failed to come out of his mouth. Tears began flowing down his cheeks as he heard the two soldiers from before approaching him from behind.

“I suppose not. Very well, then.”

Edmond shot a disappointed, betrayed gaze over towards Danglarjack, but to no effect. The pegasus was quickly apprehended by the two guards, and quickly escorted out of the room. Edmond failed to notice Fernand’s grin, nor did he hear his maniacal, evil cackle.

Fernand had won. his rival was dealt with at last, forever to be locked away in a small, dirty cell where he would rot until the end of his days. Edmond Dash would soon become nothing but a legend, a myth, a story told.

Comments

[Sollace]

Welp.

Empty comment section.

[Lil Penpusher]

8450818
Naht anymore!