Chapter 4: The Final Accusation
Applejack groaned as the clock on the wall chimed for the fifth time. This had to be one of the most miserable nights she’d ever experienced. She had spent hours literally burning the midnight oil as she pored over her legal texts, searching for anything that could give her some idea of how to handle this whole mess. Inevitably, though, judges in similar situations had resorted to passing the buck to somepony else, and she couldn’t find any instance in the past millennium when Celestia had needed to make such a judgement call.
Speaking of whom, the night sky outside was beginning to lighten in preparation for the sunrise. Applejack leaned back and glanced over the scroll where she’d scribbled down the few ideas she’d been able to come up with. Granted, she still had plenty of time before her decision was expected—the Ducal Court was not scheduled to reconvene until mid-afternoon—but as inspiration wasn’t cooperating with her, she was seriously considering postponing it until the next day. Then again, in her experience, putting things off rarely helped solve any problem, and it didn’t seem like this would be any exception.
The Princess was attempting to remember if she and the other Bearers of Harmony had actually had any wacky misadventures in procrastination from which she could glean valuable life lessons when the door to her study suddenly opened. “Good morning, Applejack.”
The palomino alicorn smiled as her seneschal walked through the door. “Mornin’, Merry. You’re in early. Need some overtime pay?”
The pegasus laughed in response. “No, I just figured you might want to talk to an underling who’s actually brave enough to refer to you by your birth name today.”
Applejack sighed and nodded. She liked the stallion who stood watch outside whatever room she happened to be in each night, but he wasn’t much of a conversationalist. “Beats goin’ through more books lookin’ for answers that probably ain’t there.”
“But doesn’t that make your job easier? If there’s no precedents, you can just use your own judgment, right?”
The Princess snorted derisively. “Honestly, I’d rather have some guidelines to help me make my decision than blaze a new trail. Not only is it easier for me, it’s less likely to get folks in a tizzy. That’s sort of the whole point behind precedents.”
Merry May looked confused. “Is this decision really that tough?”
Applejack nodded. “It would be tough enough even without taking into account the fact that I already knew that this was basically a suit between a stuck-up twit and a pair of fast-talkin’ hucksters.”
“I get the part about Flim and Flam, but is it really fair to judge Diamond Tiara based on how she acted as a filly?”
“Oh, this has nothin’ ta do with how she treated Apple Bloom. This is about Zap Apples.”
“You know, I was wondering about that. Why did she want to make artificial Zap Apple Jam in the first place?”
“Cuz we stopped sellin’ it to her.”
“Why?”
“I refer you back to my description of her as a ‘stuck-up twit.’”
“Come on, AJ, I can tell there’s a story behind this.”
“Yeah, there is, an’ maybe if y’all ask real nicely, Apple Bloom will tell it to ya sometime.”
“You mean you weren’t there?”
“No, I mean I ain’t gonna talk about it.”
Merry May raised an eyebrow. “Am I going to have to start using your title to get you to cooperate?” she asked.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
The pegasus leaned forward with a sly grin on her face. “Indeed I would, Your Serene Immortal Highness of Equestria, Daughter of Harmony and Wellspring of the Harvest, Benefactress of the Herd, Bearer of Honesty, Duchess of Ponyville, Appleloosa, and the Southern Expanse, Queen of the Fertile Valleys, the Very High and Very Powerful Princess Mara.”
“Seriously, Merry, don’t.”
“But, Your Serene Immortal Highness of Equestria, Daughter of Harmony and Wellspring of the Harvest, Benefactress of the Herd, Bearer of Honesty, Duchess of Ponyville, Appleloosa, and the Southern Expanse, Queen of the Fertile Valleys, the Very High and Very Powerful Princess Mara, it’s only right and proper that I use your full title. After all, your status conveys a certain sense of dignity, and as the personal seneschal of Her Serene Immortal Highness of Equestria, Daughter of Harmony and Wellspring of the Harvest, Benefactress of the Herd, Bearer of Honesty—”
“Alright! Alright! You win. I’ll tell y’all what happened.”
The pegasus smiled in victory as she sat down in a nearby chair to hear her Princess’ tale. Applejack began, “Well, the whole thing started after Filthy Rich died. He’d spent years cultivating a good workin’ relationship with Sweet Apple Acres, but apparently, he never got around to explainin’ to his daughter that you can’t take a business relationship for granted. It must have been about three or four months after she took over as CEO of Rich Enterprises that she learned that the hard way.”
“Three or four months?” Merry took a few seconds to mentally review what she’d heard over the past few days. “That’s right before she proposed the new hospital wing, right?”
“I believe so, but I don’t think the hospital has anything to do with what happened. Anyway, it was right before the Zap Apple harvest was due to begin—I know, because Big Mac had just hired some temporary help, on account of I was too busy with royal functions, and I’d already asked the Zap Apple trees to push back the harvest date twice. I was gettin’ ready to make a diplomatic visit to Zebrica at the time. I think y’all had gone ahead to make security arrangements, which is why you weren’t around when Diamond Tiara strolled into the farmhouse an’ demanded that we renegotiate the price of our Zap Apple Jam.”
“Why’d she do that? Was she looking for sympathy or something?”
“That was my first guess, but it was pretty clear after a few minutes that she wasn’t tryin’ to be all that sympathetic. Her lines were so well rehearsed that I got the impression that she’d had this idea for a while, but it was only now that she was in charge of her company that she had the chance to go through with it.”
“Okay, so... what did she want?”
“She wanted us to lower our prices.”
“Uh, that doesn’t seem too bad. I mean, don’t most ponies want lower prices on the things they buy?”
“Yeah, but I’m willin’ to bet that most ponies don’t expect sellers to price their goods so low that they can’t make a profit.”
“What?!”
“You heard me. Diamond Tiara said that since my royal stipend more than covered our expenses, there was no reason for us to charge her any more than the cost of production on the jam.”
“She wanted Sweet Apple Acres to become a nonprofit corporation?”
“You could say that. In fact, if she’d stopped there, she might have had a good point. The problem was, she also wanted us to maintain our previous business relationship, which was a nice way of sayin’ that she still wanted Rich’s Barnyard Bargains to be the sole distributor of Zap Apple Jam. But if we’d done that, the Equestrian government would have ended up indirectly subsidizing her business.”
“She wasn’t willing to lower her prices as well?”
“Actually, it wouldn’t have mattered. You see, changin’ the price of Zap Apple Jam ain’t gonna change its market value. And when y’all sell somethin’ for less than it’s actually worth to your customers, you end up with a shortage, because the lower prices mean more customers, but that don’t mean you can just increase the supply. We used to run into this problem for years with our cider business when Granny Smith was still in charge. She refused to raise prices over the years, since she thought that would be price gougin’, since we’d just be earnin’ extra profit without doin’ any extra work. The result was a crazy long line, and a lot of thirsty, unsatisfied customers.”
“Um, yeah, I remember waiting in those lines myself,” Merry replied, her tone indicating that she wasn’t exactly sure where her Princess was going with this.
“But,” Applejack continued, “if there was a crazy long line for Zap Apple Jam at Rich’s Barnyard Bargains, those customers would be spending time in her store, lookin’ at all her other products. The ones that couldn’t get their hooves on any jam would probably be tempted to buy somethin’ else as a consolation, which means more bits in Diamond Tiara’s cash register. So really, either way, she profits.”
“And she actually told you all this?”
“No, but Big Macintosh figured it out almost immediately and called her out on it. That’s when she tried playin’ the sympathy card, which is why I think that causin’ a jam shortage was her original plan, though obviously I can’t prove it.”
Merry May winced. “Let me guess: she tried to claim that doing what she wanted would honor the memories of Filthy Rich and Granny Smith.”
“Pretty much, only worse.”
“How?”
“Well, you have to understand that Diamond Tiara has always seen us primarily as ‘Apple Bloom’s family.’ I mean, she does show me respect, but she doesn’t respect me as a pony so much as she respects ‘Princess Mara’ as an abstract concept. As a result, she got in the habit of assumin’ that what was true for Apple Bloom was true for me an’ Big Mac. Now, she knew that our parents had died before Apple Bloom was old enough to remember them, but somehow she forgot that my brother and I are a lot older. So, when she told us, and I quote: ‘You don’t really know what it’s like to lose a parent!’ Big Mac got, well, upset. An’ when Mac’s upset, he stops holdin’ back his opinions. Pretty much told her that she was a spoiled, self-centered brat who thought that the world owed her an easy life, plus a few choice words I don’t care to repeat.”
“Ouch,” Merry said. “You have to choose between her and two ponies who tried to snatch your home away from you by exploiting Granny Smith’s stubbornness? No wonder it’s hard.”
“Don’t I know it. Anyway, Sweet Apple Acres took over the distribution of Zap Apple Jam soon afterwards.”
“And that’s why she wanted to make a knock-off,” the pegasus said. “Well, that, or it’s why the FlimFlam Brothers were able to convince her to finance one.”
“That’s the sort of thing that can wait for the inquisition,” Applejack replied, staring out her window as Celestia’s Sun began to crack into the horizon. “Right now, I gotta decide which side’s gonna get it easy from here on out.”
Merry May laughed. “Maybe you should just rule in favor of the FlimFlams on the grounds that it’s Diamond Tiara’s fault that there’s even an issue to sue over.”
Applejack joined in with a chuckle of her own. “I don’t reckon ‘She started it’ is gonna go over too well in Court.” The laughter continued for a few seconds more. It was an entertaining notion, but there was no way it could work. Princess Mara was going to be creating a new precedent here, which meant that she had to use logic that could actually be applied to almost every case in every docket in Equestria. It wasn’t as though there was an easy way to determine who was responsible for the existence of a lawsuit... or was there?
“Applejack? Are you okay? You’ve got that ‘deep thought’ look on your face.” When this didn’t seem to work, the pegasus tried more drastic measures. “Your Serene Immortal Highness...”
The Princess blinked a few times as her seneschal’s voice penetrated her concentration. “Huh? Oh, uh, yeah. Say, Merry, d’ya mind if I had some time alone? I need to think about some things....”
––––––––––
Mara’s throne room was filled to capacity that afternoon, to the point that several dozen ponies had to be turned away lest they violate the fire code. There were several reasons for this. For one thing, the Princess was expected to announce a key ruling in a case that had received a lot of attention in the Equestrian news media, so there were quite a few reporters present. For another, there were more than a few scholars who believed that this ruling might create important new precedents, so many of those same reporters had brought along legal experts who could explain possible implications of the ruling to them in time for them to meet their deadlines. However, the main reason that there were so many observers that day was the possibility that today’s proceedings would feature an even bigger spectacle of jurisprudence gone haywire. Indeed, many had come prepared with safety gear, hard hats, and earplugs just in case things got totally out of control.
Diamond Tiara was looking around the room with an uneasy expression on her face as she sat in her chair. One couldn’t say that she looked nervous, but neither did she exude confidence. Silver Spoon sat beside her, her countenance as stony as it had been since the trial’s commencement. Their counterparts at the defendants’ table seemed to be in higher spirits, but a closer inspection would give the distinct impression that the jokes and laughter that Flim and Flam were exchanging with their sister were meant to distract from their actual emotions, rather than conveying them. It seemed that all of the trial’s participants had been seized by a vague, gnawing uncertainty that would only be resolved once the Princess had made her pronouncement.
Eventually, Merry May walked into the room, signaling that that resolution was drawing near. “All rise. The High Court of the Duchy of Ponyville is now in session. Her Serene Immortal Highness Princess Mara, Duchess of Ponyville, Appleloosa, and the Southern Expanse, presiding.”
Mara slowly ascended the dais and sat in her oaken throne. She let out a long, slow breath before she began speaking. “Be seated. We have heard testimony from both sides of the grievance between Diamond Tiara and FlimFlam Brothers, Inc., and we have made a decision which will determine which participant has the burden of proof in the forthcoming inquiry. Today’s session will, unfortunately, have to be abbreviated due to our other duties, so this Court will adjourn immediately after we conclude our remarks.”
The Princess took another breath. The formalized part of the day’s proceedings was over; she no longer had to keep using the majestic plural. “I must begin by noting that on the basis of the testimonies provided, it was very difficult for me to reach any sort of decision. This is in no small part due to the performance of both the plaintiff’s and the defendants’ counsels, who have demonstrated remarkable skill and shrewdness in their efforts to tear opposing testimonies to shreds, whether through Ms. Slim’s strategy of twisting all of Ms. Tiara’s actions to make them look self-serving, or Ms. Spoon’s valiant attempts to convince each of the defendants’ witnesses to recant their testimonies, allowing her client to win the accusation phase by default. I feel that congratulations are in order for both of you, as you have met and exceeded the usual expectations I hold for lawyers in general.”
Both attorneys appeared to be distinctly uncomfortable after listening to Mara’s damnation via faint praise, which suited the Princess just fine. “Okay, on to business. First, the good news: neither Diamond Tiara nor the FlimFlam Brothers are complete monsters who heap shame and disgrace upon the whole of ponykind through their continued existence. Indeed, although their motives are sometimes questionable, the testimonies have shown beyond a doubt that all of them are willing to help out other ponies who are in trouble, and since I personally think actions are more important than intentions, that’s saying a lot.”
The Princess paused for a few seconds to let this sink in before continuing. “The bad news is that intentions still do count for something, and in that regard, neither the plaintiff nor the defendants come off as being particularly admirable. On the one hoof, Diamond Tiara strikes me as being incredibly self-centered, and her acts of goodwill seem to be motivated by a desire to feel good about herself or to advertise the fact that she isn’t the spoiled brat that everypony thinks she is. On the other hoof, Flim and Flam don’t seem to honestly care about anypony else. They never intentionally initiate their own acts of goodwill, nor do they bother to make sure that they’re actually helping those who receive their charity. Their callous irresponsibility makes it difficult to classify their actions as ‘good deeds;’ a more appropriate term would be ‘fortunate mistakes.’
“Or, to put it succinctly: I’ve concluded that all three of you are massive jerks, charlatans, scalawags, shallow reprobates, and/or just plain rotten to the core. By all rights, I should be trying to figure out a way to declare that all of you are losers... which you are, but only in the general sense of being worse than nearly every pony, donkey, mule, zebra, or griffon who doesn’t have a criminal record. In a legal context, unfortunately, I’m obliged to declare that somepony is the ‘winner.’” Mara paused for dramatic effect, which seemed to be effective, given that several audience members took the opportunity to strap on their headgear.
“Anyway, after wasting a solid night’s sleep looking over every legal precedent I could find, I think I’ve found a way to do it. I’m going to start by declaring that the testimonies provided during the accusation phase are utterly inconclusive. Both the plaintiff and the defendants are willing to do the right thing on occasion, but the cross-examinations revealed a tendency for both to do so for the wrong reasons. Now, there is ample precedent that allows for jurists to incorporate their own personal knowledge of the participants when making judgments in the accusation phase. Quite frankly, I suspect that both parties were ultimately hoping that I disliked the other party more.” The chagrined looks on the attorneys’ faces suggested that this particular barb had hit uncomfortably close to home.
“Well, I suppose there’s no sense in pretending otherwise: I dislike all three of you on a personal level, and it’s my firm belief that the fact that I couldn’t find a way to recuse myself from this case has exposed a flaw in the Equestrian legal system that my Sisters and I will need to address in the near future. In the meantime, that still means that the accusation phase is inconclusive, because the idea that any of you might be more ‘likable’ than the others makes me nauseous.” At this, Flam yawned widely, while Flim started doodling on a pad of paper. Apparently, the twin unicorns had anticipated a dressing down, and their reaction was one of stupefied boredom. Diamond Tiara, meanwhile... well, much to Mara’s surprise, the pink earth pony actually appeared to be troubled by what was being said, though whether her expression was one of remorse or denial was impossible to determine.
The Princess continued, “Thus, it is my belief that there exist no precedents that I can use as a guide, so I’ll have to fall back on ‘doing what seems right.’ And in this case, what seems right is to take my cue from our criminal trial system, where the burden of proof lies on the prosecution, who are the ones who actually initiate the process. Therefore, I have decided to place the burden of proof on the plaintiff, as none of the court costs and legal fees associated with this case would even exist had she not made the decision to sue the defendants in the first place.”
As expected, Flim and Flam reacted quite positively to this pronouncement; the euphoric smiles on their faces suggested that they were just barely managing to resist the temptation to break into song. Similarly, their lawyer was grinning smugly, as if this outcome was a direct result of her legal prowess. The plaintiff’s table, meanwhile, was much more subdued. Diamond Tiara simply stared at her hooves with blank expression on her face while her attorney began jotting down notes—presumably, her mind had already moved on to the next phase of the trial. Of course, several animated conversations broke out amongst that fraction of spectators who had been all but certain that the businessmare would avoid the burden of proof, but all in all, it was a far better reaction than the Princess had anticipated.
Mara rapped her hoof on the armrest. “Order!” Once the spectators had quieted down, she spoke again, this time with a smile on her face. “I have an additional announcement to make. Now, the reason I’ve had to make this seemingly arbitrary decision is because the accusation was deemed inconclusive. However, as a result of my research, I have come to the conclusion that the accusation process hinges on the subjective opinion of the presiding jurist, which in turn means that it is left to the jurist’s discretion whether or not character testimonials are ‘conclusive’ in the first place.”
The Princess paused and took a deep breath; in all likelihood, what she was about to say would end up causing quite a stir. “Well, I happen to think that an inherently subjective process like accusation has absolutely no place in the search for justice, and, therefore, I intend to treat all future accusations in my Court as being as inconclusive as this one, and will therefore be placing the burden of proof on the plaintiff in every civil trial I judge from here on out, and I strongly encourage every other jurist in Equestria to do the same.”
The silence that followed lasted for nearly thirty seconds as the audience tried to work out the implications of the Princess’ statement. Then, a huge cacophony erupted as every lawyer in the throne room began loudly protesting the sudden and completely unwarranted decision to discard more than one thousand years of legal tradition and all of the associated precedents and billable hours that came with it. Mara rapped a hoof on the armrest and the court quieted down. “I understand that this will mean major changes to the legal profession, which is why I have prepared the following advice.” The Princess levitated a scroll out from behind her throne, unrolled it, and cleared her throat before continuing: “It is the official recommendation of the Lady of the Soil that all ponies in the legal profession who are dissatisfied with her recent decision shut their traps and just deal with it, cuz I ain’t gonna be changin’ my mind on this’n for nopony. Court’s adjourned, y’all.”
––––––––––
“I must say, Applejack, you’ve certainly caused a stir in the last week.”
The Earth goddess chuckled at the understatement. “Well, thank you kindly, Celestia. That’s exactly what I was hopin’ for.” In the wake of the controversy surrounding the case, both of her Royal Sisters had taken it upon themselves to pay a visit to the World Tree to discuss the aftermath.
Luna was a bit more wistful than her older Sibling: “Of course, given how exciting your announcement was, it seems a shame that the denouement was so anticlimactic.”
“I really don’t care if it was anticlimactic,” Applejack replied. “Wakin’ up the next mornin’ to learn that the case had been settled is the best possible endin’ to that mess imaginable. I got to skip the whole inquisition, and I didn’t even hafta render a verdict.”
“And yet the newspapers are saying that it was the defendants who compensated the plaintiff, even though you ruled in their favor. Do you not find this odd?”
Applejack eyed Luna with mild confusion. “Why would I?”
“Well, it seems to suggest that Ms. Tiara would indeed have been able to prove her case, or else they would not have paid her. Yet were that the case, I would not have expected her attorney to have put so much effort into the accusation phase.”
“Oh, well, that’s easy enough to explain. Ya see, they only offered her 15,000 bits, which is less than five percent of what she was askin’ for in damages. I’m guessin’ that the FlimFlams didn’t really care all that much about winnin’, an’ they just wanted to put this whole matter behind ’em as soon as they could. Since they likely didn’t think Diamond Tiara could actually prove anything, they just offered her a way to cut her losses while still savin’ some face, and the fact that Diamond Tiara accepted the offer probably means she really couldn’t have proven it.”
“So, who was actually at fault?”
“How am I s’posed ta know?” Applejack asked rhetorically. “I didn’t get around to the inquiry.”
“But are you not at least somewhat curious?”
“Not enough to want to spend any more of my time thinkin’ about those ponies. Besides, that ain’t why yer here, and you know it.”
Celestia nodded. “Indeed, your decision to completely abandon the accusation process has far more wide-reaching implications than the scope of this squabble. Are you certain you can handle the blowback?”
“Are you sayin’ that you two disagree with me?”
“No, but—”
“Then it don’t matter,” Applejack said. “If neither of you is gonna be an obstacle, then handlin’ the consequences will be a snap.”
“I’d caution against overconfidence, Applejack,” Celestia said in her gravest tone of voice. “Ponies in the legal profession are not going to be happy—and to answer the question that you’re probably forming in your mind right now, yes, they can be an effective obstacle. Remember, lawyers make up the majority of the legislature, and you’d be surprised what creative lawyers can do when they’re angry.”
“Celestia, one of those ‘creative lawyers’ turned a calliope into a weapon of mass distraction in the middle of my throne room. Besides, this is gonna be worth the trouble it brings.”
“But what if they convince the general public that you are in the wrong?” Luna asked. “After all, the accusation process has always been portrayed as a means for the virtuous poor to seek justice within the legal system. No matter how powerful you are, it is extremely difficult to rule over a disgruntled populace.”
“Like I said in Court, accusation is inherently subjective, and justice oughta be as objective as possible. Besides, the way I see it, even though it might be more difficult for less fortunate ponies to bring cases against rich ones, this also means that the rich can’t just sue the poor an’ rely on their better reputations, either. Also, ditchin’ accusation means that lawyers ain’t gonna waste time or resources on it, which means that legal fees will probably go down, makin’ it more affordable to hire a good lawyer in the first place. If the legislators wanna explain to their constituents why they’re against somethin’ like that, well, they’re more than welcome to try.”
Celestia smiled. “Spoken like a true Princess,” she said wryly. “It’s amazing to think that you’ve developed such sharp political instincts in only twelve years.”
“Well,” the erstwhile farmpony replied, “I’ve gotten a lot of good advice along the way. So, out of curiosity, are the two of you gonna be followin’ my lead in your own Courts?”
“I most certainly intend to,” Luna said. “If the three of us are united on this matter, it will make the transition easier to accept.”
“I agree,” Celestia said.
“And I think this is where I make my entrance,” Merry May said as she walked into her Princess’ study with a bottle of applejack. “From Big Macintosh’s private reserve,” the pegasus explained as she set the bottle on a side table and poured out three glasses.
“Care to join us in a little toast?” Applejack asked.
“I might as well, since you’ll probably order me to if I say no. Let me get another glass.”
“Why? Looks like you got enough to me. There’s one for Celestia,” Applejack said as she floated the lowball glass to her oldest sister, “one for Luna, and one for my loyal seneschal.”
“You will not be participating?” Luna asked, clearly surprised.
“Oh, I’m participatin’, all right,” the palomino alicorn said as she levitated the bottle of applejack in front of her. “I just won’t be needin’ a glass, is all.” She raised the bottle into the air. “To Diamond Tiara and the FlimFlam Brothers. May they never be required to bother me ever again.”
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well that was hilariously in character, I could so see Applejack doing that well played.
SQUEEE!!!!!!!!!!
Been doing that a lot lately, dunno why.
Brilliant ending too.
"May they never be required to bother me again."
Amen, AJ. Amen. And her 'declaration' at the end of the court session was hilarious. "Screw the rules, I MAKE them!" In essence, anyway.
Lovely.
Ouch! You know you've stuck your hoof in it if you've managed to make Mac so mad he tells you off!
Hah!
Oh shit! Now that's the way to set a legal precedent. Nice going, AJ.
That settles that. AJ is my favorite Princess ever!
And this is why Applejack is the best shiny princess on the whole shiny planet. She don't give a shit about anybody else, 'cause she's the damn princess.
Also, Merry May's techniques of persuasion are devious, adorable, and a wonderful touch.
I loved reading this fic.Long Live Princess Applejack!
Wait, this means the story is over. Ah man, I was just getting into it. I hope you do more in this universe. Please do, you write the Appleverse very well.
You know, the fact that she did have preexisting relations with both parties of the trial means that she could have legally passed it onto Celestia and/or Luna's courts. Oh well, then we wouldn't have had a good story, would we?
Glad to see the ending turned out well
2128480
You win.
my favorite line,
2129403
The story already addresses this point, didn't you see Applejack's statement about not being able to recuse herself (i.e., decline to hear the case on grounds of potential bias)? Equestria had only one princess for a millenium, so for that whole length of time, Celestia would have been the sole arbiter of the highest court. If she refused to rule on a case, who else could take over?
Not terribly surprising that they never developed a specific legal mechanism for this, even though there are now options.
So sad that it has ended already, but I guess it had to end sometime. Good work, you set up the ruling flawlessly and the final resolution was exactly what they both deserved.
Well-played, sir, well-played. That there was some good fanfic.
Hah! Now that's how you end the court.
Great ending to a great story.
A very fun fic, both to read and to watch coming together.
That, mares and gentlestallions, is the difference between a leader and a politician. A politician identifies and discusses problems and a leader solves them, as Applejack did here. Yeah, she'll probably make a few lawyers have to work harder to put their foals through expensive schools but that's what everypony has to do.
Why do I hear Applejack listening to a complaint before laughing and saying: "Absolute Triumvir, remember?"
I think ill just go ahead and say the best part of the story was all of it
Aww - you ended it.
Ah well, 'twas good while it lasted.
And that final scene was perfect.
One royally-declared Dealwithit.gif coming right up.
i16.photobucket.com/albums/b15/ultra1437/Memes/ibx7mxJlLVaXp5.gif
Hah! Take that, lawyer ponies!
Nicely done.
:D
Can't be serious when ya got a bottle of Applejack floating by yer face.
2330552 - Wait, are you seriously saying you think "Dominick the Donkey" is worse than "The Christmas Shoes"? I mean, it's hardly the best Christmas song out there, but at least it was never meant to be taken seriously.
Another fun story. I always seem to learn something when I read your stories for that you have my thanks.
Okey Dokey, It took ME FOREVER to Figure out How to Do this, But I've Finally Come Up With Something THat Resembles A Cover Image: fc03.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2013/190/9/b/final_accusation_title_card_by_page_turner_the_pony-d6csbor.png
Adding the like and fav. I've loved this fic even before I've joined Fimfic. It's amazing to see Applejack being put into this sort of situation, and having to blaze new trails to reach a better answer.
And here, I hate to be that guy...
Frankly, it's difficult to believe no one out of over nine hundreeeeeed(
) people caught that.
...
What?
Other than that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable experience!
It is such a pity it's over...
Anyhow, keep up the good work!
2934022 - Er, what exactly did you catch?
2934436
2934469 - It doesn't say that. It says "Flim and Flam." And no, I didn't just change it to save face.
2935718
Oops, my bad...
I just don't know what went wrong!
3052508 - Because it gives the impression that Jesus wants you to celebrate his birthday by purchasing material goods for others, because material goods make people happy (despite the fact that Jesus himself repeatedly said in no uncertain terms that this wasn't true).
2935718
Ha! You really didn’t.
Well done.
Sounds quite a bit like our politics here. To quote Abraham Lincoln, "By the power vested in me by this giant bald bird, the President shall not be the shiniest of two turds"
I didn't expect to see those words together here.
5173676
I assume you mean my last sentence there? Very well, I added a spoiler tag to that.
Do note that I don't recall if spoiler tags were available back when I posted that comment. And the lack of any system to track my own comments means I can't really go and put spoilers on sensitive information.
So as a general rule of thumb, if a fic you read was written several dozen weeks ago, avoid reading comments, as they will contain unmarked spoilers.
I have reviewed your story in the Goodfic Bin. Congrats, you've been accepted. Here's your ribbon.
i.imgur.com/GizVyc0.png
Ha! I just read this yesterday, Eve of Crusaders of the Lost Mark, and there's an Angry Diamond Tiara Message right now! Coincidence is amazing!
***
2935718
Were you joking before? 'Cause it now says (still says? Has always said?) "Flam and Flam"...
That was a good story, and an excellent resolution. By the way, can you point me to any sources regarding the real-life analogue to the "accusation" phase that you presented in this story?
8043087 - I can't remember off the top of my head where I first read about the real-world process that I've adapted into "accusation" for this story, but I believe the usual term for it is "trial by oath" (as opposed to, say, "trial by ordeal" or "trial by combat"). Searching for that term should get you some good information.
8043907
Your case is rather similar to this real world case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slade%27s_Case
This is that trial by oath you mentioned: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compurgation
Does that help?