• Published 16th Sep 2017
  • 2,042 Views, 173 Comments

The Mare from the Moon - Evilhumour



Three hundred years after discovering the truth about herself, Doa is finally ready to leave the moon.

  • ...
1
 173
 2,042

Chapter Twenty Eight

Spliced waited in the darkness. She sat on the floor, ignoring the bench she had found earlier as her mind screamed at her that she didn’t deserve such comforts for what she had done in the past. She had no idea of how long she had been in the dark room, time slipping away from her quickly as she tried to endure her mind yelling at her at number of all the lives she had taken when there was a sudden change in noises coming from outside of her prison.

Tilting her head to the door, she head a mare’s voice saying, “-t’s about time; I’ve been waiting for far too long at this point and-” at that moment the door opened and a blinding light entered the room, causing Spliced to block her eyes. “...What is the meaning of this‽” the mare snapped to someone. “Why are there no lights on here‽ How long have you left her in the dark?”

“We didn’t leave her in the dark!” a stallion protested before he began to sputter. “I mean, yes we did but she had full control of the lights the entire time!”

Spliced’s eyes were taking a bit longer to adjust to the sudden brightness and if she could convince herself that she deserved to see, she would have killed herself right there to reset her eyes.

Right,” the mare said clearly disbelieving what she was told. She was dressed in a half suit and had a very steady glare directed to the two soldiers. “I need to speak with her, alone, to make sure.”

“I’m afraid we cannot do that ma’-” the same stallion protested only for the mare to interrupt him.

“I have been waiting long enough to speak to her and if you do not allow me now in the next five seconds, I’ll hold you and everyone here in contempt,” she snapped, stamping a hoof onto the ground.

“You can’t be serious-” he started.

“One.”

“Look we can talk about this-” the stallion was now looking panicked.

“Two.”

“Shut up, Standing Orders, I’m trying to hear Captain Comet!” the other stallion barked out as he tilted his head to the side and was no doubt listening to some orders.

“Three.”

“Sir, please hurry up as I think-”

Four.”

There was a loud clearing of static as Comet’s voice cut in from the other stallion’s helmet. “Miss Preview, this is Captain Comet. You have authorization to speak with your client as well as escort her off my ship, provided that you allow the monitors to remain activated at all times. Everything said between you two will remain sealed and confidential unless Genome attempts some sort of escape.”

Preview frowned at that before giving a reluctant nod of her head and said as such. “Thank you sir.” She then turned her attention to the soldiers and tilted her head to the door which they reluctantly walked through, casting looks back onto Spliced. Preview let out a sigh of relief when they were finally alone and turned to face Spliced. “Are you okay Miss Genome? Have they left you alone this whole time in the dark… with no food?”

“They did leave me here, but it is not their fault about the darkness or food,” Spliced said as she stood up weakly before shaking her head hard enough to snap her neck. Feeling revived after her restoration, Spiced noticed that Preview didn’t seem that disturbed about her sudden death. “I did not deserve such luxuries miss Preview.” That seemed catch her eye, causing her to frown for some reason but only for a second or two.

“Please, you can call me Legal Preview if you want,” the mare said in a calm voice, placing a hoof on her side and began to walk her to the door. “I’m your legally appointed lawyer, for your upcoming... Hearing,” she frowned at the word, causing Spliced to raise an eyebrow before something hit her. “It’s a real mes-”

“You’re a unicorn!” she said a bit too loudly, causing Preview to pull back in surprise. “I’m sorry, I was just surprised to see that one of your kind is a lawyer because back in my time, none of your kind could have ever gotten that far.” Spliced then cringed at the unintentional speciesism she had just uttered.

Preview just gave her a blank look before her eyes widened. “Oh unicorn; that’s the term the other dimension uses! Sorry, I’m not quite used to it but it is gaining a lot of traction along with pegasus, alicorn and all the others, except for earth pony.” She gave a friendly laugh, shaking her head before looking back at Spliced.

“And it’s okay, it has been almost four hundred years for you; a lot has changed.” Preview let out a sigh as they walked down the ship, with hovering monitors with armaments that should properly have been set to stun following them. “After your imprisonment, the people of Hesturland and, by proxy, the galaxy as a whole was left with a stark realization. Even though the Pures won, if they kept up their old behaviour, there’d be no one left in the galaxy as the population was that low. So they made concessions; so many in fact it was if the Thirds had actually won the war. From there, things really began to change for the better,” Preview let out a happy sigh as they reached the hatch of the ship, getting close examination by the soldiers manning the area. Spliced could see more monitors flying in to keep track of her and she had a feeling that there were hidden people watching her every movement in real time. “Equal rights, full citizenship, the works. Everything got better that day, Genome.”

“So it seems that I was the one holding everyone back,” Genome muttered to herself, but not soft enough as it caused Preview to stop mid step and turn to face her.

“Genome, I’m fully aware of how smart you are and so I’m going to cut the fat and ask you outright; do you feel you’re mentally competent to handle a trial?” Preview stared hard at her, which Genome had to respect.

“Absolutely not,” Spliced answered her. “I’m teetering on a full mental breakdown with severe depression issues and episodes which I’m sure will only get worse as times goes on. That said, I have to do this trial; I need to fix what I broke.” Spliced began to tremble as she spoke. “If I don’t do that, then my oncoming depression will be far worse. I do deserve to suffer, that is true, but I need to fix what I broke Preview and I cannot do that without access to the correct materials.”

Preview looked at her before sighing. “I promise that it will not come up during the trial, Genome,” Preview then shook her head and flashed her a sad smile. “That’s the least of things we need to worry about, anyways.”

“This trial,” Spliced said, guessing the issue before looking around herself for the first time. The world was as she remembered it; Hesturland hadn’t changed at all during her four hundred years in her moon base prison. Towering bland metal buildings were in front of her with zipping shuttles everywhere, with hints of greenery here and there. She could smell the faint chemical exhaust from the shuttles in the sky and the hovering billboards that didn’t have proper antigravity installed. While it was recognizable as her old home, she felt so... detached from it, and for a moment felt a twinge of longing for Ponyville. “How bad is it going to be?”

“It’s going to be tough, Genome,” Preview said as she stepped in a shuttle and gestured for Spliced to step inside. They waited for one of the monitors to zip inside and attach itself to the back of the shuttle before they took off. “Already they had a massive turnout of judges having to recuse themselves due to bias in either direction for your case and being unable to guarantee a fair trial.” Preview gave a snort at that, shaking her head. “That is not counting the fact your trial is very atypical to the point where they are not even sure which way they want to take it. At this point, it is taking the appearance of a parole hearing although you will not be actually be put up for early parole,” she said as she continued to drive them through the city. “We’ll also have to against someone trying to prove you are not being honest with us and you don't deserve to be transferred to a new location.”

“How long do we have to prepare?” Spliced asked, a sense of dread growing in her chest.

“Our opponent had the entire two weeks of your incarceration to prepare, we will only have two days,” Preview said as they pulled up to a hotel that had a large number of armed figures standing with their guns in their hooves and talons aimed at her. “I promise to do my utmost to ensure you receive the best service.”

“Preview, why are you doing this?” Spliced turned to face the other mare. “This can only harm your future career if you defend someone like me.”

“Because you deserve this,” Preview placed a hoof on her shoulder. “Whether or not you think so is regardless of the fact; you turned yourself in after you escaped and you proved that you know what needs to be done to heal everyone and are willing to do so.”

Spliced let out a slow breath she had been holding in before she stared at Preview. “Do we have any character witnesses?” She had been dreading to ask this question but she had to know.

“Sorry, there will be none. I had tried to get in touch from those you were staying with in the other dimension but none of them came over and I don’t have high enough clearance to know exactly why nor do I have enough to go over to ask them myself.” Preview sighed sadly. “This will be very difficult to win with only two days to prepare but I am sure we can do it.”

“Then let’s prepare,” Spliced said with a surge of confidence entering her. Despite her knowing that she deserved to suffer, she also knew she had to do this right and would do everything in her power to make it so.