The next chapter is where it all goes to hell for you know who.

Well, that can be taken two very different ways.

3741294 Actually didn't mean Silver for a change.

This next chapter is going to be WONDERFUL!!!

Hmm, not sure if this bodes well for Silver...

pray tell, may we expect a new chapter soon?

Silver bringing down the house.

FINALLY!!! Some comeuppance where it desperately needs to go!

Looking forward for the rest!

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Oh No! Poor Blossom! Why would you do that!? Hasn't she been through enough?

Of shoes and ships and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings!

The next chapter is where it all goes to hell for you know who.

No, it all went to hell for you know who when he couldn't even kill a baby.

Because if it is, it sounds like the sort of thing I wanted to avoid.

Would have been forced into it once the shit hit the fan with Aqua, no foalnapping needed.

Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Spike, and Cadance all look horribly confused

Pinkie Pie confused? But she would laugh wouldn't she?

“They stole my fucking lyrics!”

I am guessing I don't remember this part.

“It would seem,” Princess Celestia begins, somberly, “that we need to discuss a great deal of things.”

Upcoming "Bluebloods Expelled from Royalty Party". There are a great many things to discuss and both Pinkie AND Rarity are fighting to be head party planner.

Do they not have some sort of friendship gulag out in the Badlands or up north, full of wide open spaces and no means of escape?

Borderlands 2 reference?

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Yeah, poor Cadance. She's gonna' have her first foal. Body gone to hell in a hoof-basket. No more wild tea-sipping shindigs late into the afternoon with Celestia. No more crazy early morning conversations with Luna over biscuits before Luna goes to bed. All that squalling means no more sleep. There'll be diapers to change and burps to be had. Oh, and wayward wanderers to corral before they can wander off that balcony at the palace. On call 24/7 and still has an empire to run.

The poor mare. I feel so sorry for her.

Is there any solid proof connecting Aqua with the kidnapping?

3743949 Nope. Only theories and what the mercenaries said [or were paid to say].

“Oh, you know... I wanted to start a new trend in formal attire,” I reply sweetly. “There are just so many Canterlot nobles I’m dying to see in a prison jumpsuit.”

Best line in the chapter, if not the entire story.

And I'm with Silver that choosing to act casually about everything is a far better way to take things than, say, totally freaking out about it like a certain newly minted princess might tend to do.

Feel a TAD bad for the prison warden, since I get the feeling she didn't realize what all was going on, but she'll end up in one of her own cells anyway.

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Short of zapping a bunch of ponies and gryphons in the head with truth/memory-recall spells, which would be highly immoral, I don't see how this could ever get back to Aqua. I mean, even if Silver herself submitted to a memory-recall spell and that whole ugly scene in the bathroom was brought to light, I'm not really sure if that's admissible in court. A smart Defense Lawyer would say the memory was magically tampered with, a hallucination, and/or Silver is borderline crazy and could have made it all up in her head because of some "childish bullying" by Auqa. And then there's messing with alchemy which is just another handy excuse for disproving Silver's memories.

Now, if they also memory-scanned Aqua... well. That'll never happen. I'm certain the Blueblood family would take steps to make sure it can never happen to her or any noble-- but leave out any protection for commoners.

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Karma Houdini, then?

3744735 I wouldn't be so sure of it. With noble houses like Blueblood, there's 'family first' and then there's 'Family' first. As far as 'court' is concerned, I can actually imagine it being agreed upon it being a 'private' hearing, ultimately up to the Princesses' judgement. Blueblood himself would obviously make himself a part of the proceedings, there would be four ponies to judge the sincerity of Silver's memories: the two 'neutral' judges, the former Captain of the Guard turned Prince-Consort on 'prosecution', and then the pony with one of the biggest interests in the case. I would like to think between Celestia, Luna, and Shining Armor, the three would be able to spot a tampered memory when they see one. Heck, if they deemed her memories sincere enough, I could imagine Blueblood himself offering his sister up to 'prove there is nothing to hide'.

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Magic does seem to add an almost overpowering element to things, doesn't it? It would certainly streamline court when your own memories are used to prove or disprove your actions or those of another.

"He's a cyborg, you idiot! His memory is admissible in court!"

Still, such deeply probing techniques must come as a very last resort when truth spells or lie-detection spells are more common and probably used by the guard. I also suspect those common spells can be tricked, just like lie-detectors here, either by technique or telling half-truths, something spies and politicians are adapt at.

p.s. I'm pretty sure someone's already done a Robocop crossover.

Now that was a fun chapter. Looking forward to the karma hurricane that is sure to come!

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So, if Aqua becomes such a political dead weight for the Blueblood House, could the family decide to cut ties with her for the "greater good"?

So, we meet again, Cliffhanger. How I loathe my encounters with you and your allies, always making me want more material to read. Speaking of which, I hope Aqua Regia has a handbasket big enough for her. She'll have plenty of food and water, but it will all be what she calls "commoner food", and no fancy wines. Just the generic stuff, water, and a few other drinks. Oh, and all attempts to make fancy food will result in the dish bursting into flames.

Oooh, castle intrigue. Twilight will indeed have her work cut out for her.
Looking forward to seeing Aqua get bitchslapped with the full force of Equestrian law.
Have to wonder if this prison corruption thing doesn't portend more shenanigans with the Blueblood family, or some other kind of overarching conflict regarding powerful ponies in the city.

I loved this chapter and the sweat reunion of Silver and Ice Blossom after worrying pur Ice Blossom half to death over Silver.And Aqua can finally be brought to justice and everybody can know what she did.And I loved reading this chapter and can't wait to see what happens next.I can't wait to read part 2 of this place be soon.

For something to obtained, something of equal value must be lost...

-Alphonse

You have NO IDEA how much I am loving this story!

Yesterday and the day before that, I just binged through When a Pony Calls and this. Funny enough, the thing that probably appealed to me most in this story was how he was so infamous with all of ponyville and the elements of harmony yet not a bad guy. That, and repairing his reputation wasn't a goal intended. Him(Er, you?) saying "Welp, screw Ponyville I guess." and going off to canterlot to live his life really made this fanfic feel original. I'm looking forward to more. Thanks for all you've done so far.

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Matters of the mind are tricky though, while memory magic might be able to detect a doctored memory, it may not be able to spot a false memory as false, if the owner of said memory believes it is the whole truth. We all remember things differently and sometimes people can convince themselves of untrue things.

If you've ever heard of "tulpa" then you might understand this, those who work on tulpa, convince themselves that the tulpa is real and impose said tulpa in the world around them, and in their head they hear the tulpa as if they were real. One could watch memories of the tulpa and not be able to tell they aren't real, if they didn't know any better themselves.

Diaries of a Madman caused sitting/couch rooms to feel weird to me.

3742710 Well, duh!

I want to see the Blueblood family destroyed.

*grins ear to ear while grinding an axe* So who's head rolls first?

Friendship gulag? Where have I heard that before?

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Don't we all?