The Stars, the Seal, and the Kraken

by CLAVDIVS CAESAR

Chapter 10: Quaff this Kind Nepenthe

"Do you understand these rights as I have explained them to you?"

"No."

Sergeant Copper Shield groaned, remembering the various times petty criminals had pretended to not understand their legal rights, whether as a stalling tactic or just to annoy him. He usually explained to the former that if they didn't want to answer any questions they could just invoke their right to silence instead of wasting everypony's time, while for the latter, getting up and leaving them alone in the box for an hour or five usually bored them enough not to try it again.

He wasn't used to dealing with perps who genuinely did not get it.

Maybe it's a language barrier, he thought to himself. His Equestrian's pretty rough.

"Alright. Vulrask, was it? What don't you understand?"

The Valusian sat awkwardly on the chair, its seat just slightly too low to be comfortable with his long legs. He picked up the sheet of paper in front of him with his right hand, while his left, shackled to the table, drummed thoughtfully across the wood surface. His slitted eyes read and reread the printed text, his scaled brow furrowing in confusion. "Vulrassk," he replied, emphasizing the 'S'. "It say... I have right to remain silent. I not have to answer questions?"

Copper Shield nodded. "That's right. And I'm not allowed to keep badgering you until you break down, either."

Vulrassk looked back up at the police officer, his confusion deepening, before looking down again. "And it say I have right to... legal counsel? Someone who work to protect my rights, help me understand what going on?"

Copper nodded again. "We have professional lawyers on our side, it's only fair that you have access to one as well."

Vulrassk shook his head, his eyes closed. "This make no sense."

Copper paused to rub the bridge of his snout before speaking again. "What makes no sense? It sounds to me like you understand it pretty well."

Vulrassk sighed. "Perhaps is, what is phrase... Language barrier." Copper suppressed a laugh. "What I not understand is... Why?"

Copper blinked. "Why what?"

"Why I have rights? I criminal, yes?"

Copper flinched. As much as he loved the idea of just letting this monster stumble blindly into a spontaneous confession, especially after he'd tried to eat the schoolteacher, he knew that safeguarding his rights now would help the prosecution down the road. Besides, he reminded himself, it's the law.

He held up a hoof, hoping to silence the suspect before he said anything damaging. "You've been accused of a crime, yes. And we have a limited legal authority to detain you while we conduct an investigation. But that's all, until a court of law makes a determination of your guilt or innocence."

Vulrassk stared at him, his incomprehension plain on his face. The sheet of paper drooped in his hand.

"Alright... You're confused. Would you like someone to help you make sense of all this?"

"I... Yes. Would like that. Very much."

Copper Shield let out a tense breath. "Good. You just invoked your right to counsel."

---

"What the hell, Luna?" shouted Delta, the stamp of his hoof resonating loudly in the small room. "I mean, what the actual flaming hell?!"

"HEY!" snapped Twilight, putting herself between him and the princess. "I don't care how angry you are, she is still your princess and you do not get to speak to her that way!"

Delta glowered at Twilight over the tops of his glasses. "Stop me."

Just as she looked about to try, Luna interrupted, her voice stern. "Twilight." Once she had her attention, she continued. "Delta Green is of such great value to me for many reasons, but among them is that he is one of a very few ponies who are willing to speak to me thus." As Twilight stared at her in confusion, she explained, "Yes-ponies are poison to good leadership. As my sister puts it, every leader needs somepony to call them on their crap."

After a tense moment, a muffled snicker broke the silence. "Sorry," said Rainbow Dash with a smile, "I just imagined hearing that in her voice."

"All this time," Delta muttered, still staring daggers at the princess. "The whole time I've been busting my flank looking for answers for you, and you've already had them locked away somewhere. I don't believe it."

"You never did," said Luna icily. "Why start now?"

"Whoah, there!" Applejack stepped cautiously between the bickering ponies, wearing an obviously forced smile. "How 'bout we stop tradin' barbs like a pair o' rowdy hedgehogs an' move on t' some more important questions, like 'Where is it?'"

"There's another I'd like answered first," said Twilight, looking up at the princess. "Why?"

Luna met Twilight's eyes for a moment before looking away, and took a long, deep breath before speaking. "I need you to understand, Twilight, that I value the written word and its power even more than you do. Over the long span of my life, even before my banishment, I have seen knowledge fade and vanish, ponies believing it to no longer be of use in their time, preserved only in handwritten tomes or collections of scrolls like insects in amber. I have seen the turn of the ages bring about a day, long after the ponies who made that choice were themselves forgotten, when it was needed once again. I have seen ponies' lives saved by such vital lore, and seen them enriched by the art and literature of a bygone age thought lost forever and joyously rediscovered. I have been granted a perspective beyond yours, a long view made possible by a life measured in centuries." She paused to turn her gaze back to Twilight's. "I tell you this so that you will take my full meaning when I say that the Necroneighmicon is the only book I have ever wished to burn."

Twilight stared at her in horror for a long moment. "Buh... Burn?! Why-- I mean, how could you even think that?"

"Clopcraft had little accurate information about the book on which to base his fiction, a fact for which I must claim some personal responsibility. For his purposes, he imagined it to reveal great cosmic truths too horrible for mortal minds to bear. But he misjudged only the nature of the book's malevolence, not the scale of it. It is no mere scholarly treatise, Twilight, but the memoirs of the Mad Arabian himself. Any who read it must confront the full measure of his wickedness and depravity; I myself have only read a scant few pages, and I did not purge that memory from my mind solely so that I would remember why it must never be read again in any but the most desperate of circumstances. The evil between its covers is neither grand nor cosmic, but terrestrial... and wholly equine."

Twilight swallowed hard. "B-but... Knowledge itself can't be evil! It can describe things that are, but that just gives you the tools you need to stop it, right?" Rainbow Dash's words from two days prior came to mind: "Cognitive dissonance."

Luna leaned down to nuzzle gently against Twilight's neck. "I understand, Twilight. I could not believe it myself, until I opened the book. But also, you must know that knowledge, even if not intrinsically evil, can be dangerous; it is for this reason that access to certain sections of the royal library is restricted. Never have I encountered a book with information more dangerous than this one: Its author was an authority on the darkest of arcane arts, drawing power from sources akin to that of the kraken."

Twilight felt her skin crawl as another lie to children was revealed. "You're... You're talking about antinomy."

"Isn't that a metal?" asked Applejack.

"That's antimony," corrected Pinkie. After noticing the stares she was getting, she muttered darkly, "Rock farmer, duh."

Twilight closed her eyes for a moment and shuddered. "Black magic. The Left-Hooved Path. It... It's what I was talking about when I said that curses don't exist. A power alien to ponykind, but that can be called upon with rites and symbols. Candles, pentagrams, spooky chanting, all that sort of nonsense. It's rich fodder for cheesy pulp authors like..." She groaned. "Like Clopcraft."

"So," said Delta, his voice soft, "why didn't you burn it?"

"For the very reason Twilight just gave: So that the knowledge could be turned against the evil it describes, should it become necessary. And it has. We have exhausted all other avenues of research; I did not want to admit it, for reasons I hope you now understand, but the information we need has not been copied elsewhere. I kept it secret, even from you, to ensure that it would only ever be our absolute last resort. But as you said, we are out of options."

Delta was quiet for a long moment. "Alright. I understand. I know what you've faced before," he said, glancing briefly at the drawer marked CASE NIGHTMARE SHADOW, "you wouldn't say this lightly." He sighed. "So. Next question. Where?"

Luna took a deep breath, holding it a moment before answering. "The Scholomance."

"WHAT?!"

Luna and Delta flinched at volume of the simultaneous outburst, and turned to blink at the seven ponies staring at them with identical wide-eyed, slack-jawed expressions. Trixie was the first to recover, after a fashion. "Th-th-the Scholomance? The actual factual 'school of dark magic run by Nightmare Moon' freaking Scholomance?!"

It was now Luna's and Delta's turn to gawk. Luna turned towards him and asked, "Is that honestly how it is remembered?"

Delta's eyes darted back and forth between Trixie and Luna before he burst out laughing. Luna simply glowered at him ineffectually until he caught his breath.

"Oh jeez... Sorry, Luna," he said, removing his glasses to wipe his eyes. He tried to compose himself, but his smile wouldn't go away and intermittent snickers still escaped his throat. "It's just... Oh wow, that's too perfect."

Trixie summoned the courage to interject. "Uh. I should mention that the version I heard about was a folktale, by the way. No one believed it was actually real, at least not anymore. Like Nightmare Moon herself, I suppose."

Delta cleared his throat. "Yeah. That. It was part of your sister's effort to mythologize you before your return. It just so happens that Trixie's mother used it in the backstory of her stage persona, which I'm guessing she told them all about. it's actually a pretty obscure legend these days."

Luna cocked an eyebrow at him and Trixie in turn, before cracking a smile herself. "Ah. I believe I understand your... amusement."

"So what's the real Scholomance, then?" asked Trixie.

"The legend is not entirely inaccurate," Luna answered. "It was a school of magic, but a quite ordinary, if prestigious one; rather like Celestia's is now. While my sister has always been more powerful than I, I had a greater command of the theory of magic and its more subtle applications. She felt that I would be more suited to the position of headmistress of the capital's magic academy, a position I held proudly for generations, until... Well. You all know, I think."

Twilight nodded. "How do we find it?"

"You've already been there. We stood in what remained of the main dining hall when you used the Elements to restore me."

Twilight blinked. "Really? I had no idea, I thought it was just another part of the castle..." She shook her head slightly to focus herself. "So where did you hide the book?"

"I do not remember," Luna replied. Smirking at Twilight's wide eyes, she explained. "But we have something that does. I purposefully removed that information from my memory, so that it could not be extracted from me against my will, and stored it in a compass which I had my sister lock away. It is perhaps fortunate that I did so; had I access to such lore when... When I..." Her breath caught in her throat as she looked away.

Delta Green's usual snide expression fell from his face as he looked at her with worry in his eyes. "Luna--"

"No matter," she said hastily, clearing her throat. Stepping towards the desk, she levitated a white cardboard box from the floor next to it and placed it on top. A horn-written label on the side read "N.M. Kraken - artifacts". Lifting the lid, she unpacked a small wooden box, like a jewelry box, from a layer of yellowed newspaper. "A cheap trinket at the time," she said quietly, "but now an antique worth hundreds of bits, if not thousands. And yet its true value was never suspected, even by you, was it, Delta?"

Delta Green's worried, distant eyes snapped back into focus. "What? Oh. Oh. Wait, the catalog says that was recovered from a broken-up cult back in..." He paused, blinked, and his smirk returned. "Heh. Pretty clever of Celly, there. I guess she decided the Archive was finally a safer place to store it than her own nightstand, eh?"

Twilight stared at Delta, one lower eyelid twitching. "Princess Celestia, my friend and mentor, falsified an accession record?" Groaning loudly, she added, "If this keeps up I'll be out of illusions to shatter by the end of the week."

Luna smiled at Twilight as she floated the wooden box towards her. "While within the walls of the Scholomance itself, simply cast a spell upon it to increase its magnetism and it will lead you to the book. Remember, not even Delta and his assistants, nor their predecessors, could find it on any of the previous searches of the site, so if its directions make no sense, just remind yourself that it is extremely well-hidden."

As Twilight gingerly took the box and placed it in her bag, Delta rummaged through the cardboard box on his desk. "Hey, Lu, think we should lend 'em this while we're at it?" he asked, lifting up a stone about the size and shape of a large starfish, shot through with streaks of dull green.

"Oh, definitely!" she said excitedly, taking the stone with her own magic and offering it to Trixie. "I believe you will find this to be most helpful."

Trixie took the stone and examined it. Its upper face was roughly hewn in the shape of a star, with a symbol carved crudely into the center resembling an eye with a flaming pupil. Confused, she turned it over and saw that the underside was cut smooth and polished to a mirror surface, and etched into it with a jeweler's precision was the Elder Seal.

"The Star-Stone," he explained. "Supposedly recovered from a valusian warlock slash priest slash whatever in the last days of their empire. We knew about the Seal from a bunch of different texts, but this is where we got the precise measurements we've used to protect our cities. We've tried to duplicate it, but whoever made it -- we're pretty sure it wasn't the valusians -- had better means of precision manufacturing millennia ago than we do today."

Trixie's eyes grew wide, and her grin followed. "A template!" she shouted. "I... I can use this as a template!" Seeing the confused looks from Twilight's friends, she went on. "The miniature Seal I made first, remember? Before I made a full-sized one? Once I had it just right, I could copy it however many times I needed to, but with this--" She wrapped a foreleg around the stone and clutched it to her chest like a teddy bear, nearly bouncing with glee. "I can just skip that step entirely and copy directly from this! I could project a full-sized Seal in a matter of seconds!"

"Hold on," said Applejack, "If y'all had this thing locked away, why didn't ya bring it with ya when ya went out to meet the kraken?"

"We did not wish to risk losing it," Luna explained, "and from my aerial vantage point I could have used the larger one over the city just as easily. But even with a template, crafting such a precise illusion takes more time than the kraken ever allowed us."

Trixie's grin faded. "Yeah, when I said 'a matter of seconds', I meant around ten or fifteen. That's forever in a fight. It's a big advantage, but if it comes to it somepony still needs to cover me."

"That won't be a problem, Trixie," said Twilight. "I'll watch your flank." Her ears flicked abruptly in the direction of another muffled snicker, but by the time her eyes followed she saw only polite, smiling faces. Sighing, she added flatly, "We all will. Right?" That, at least, was answered by enthusiastic nods.

Twilight's eyes unfocused for a moment as she went over a mental checklist. "Okay! If I'm not mistaken, this is starting to shape up into an actual plan. We should probably hunker down for the night and try to get some sleep -- if we're lucky, the kraken will spend tonight plotting and licking its wounds -- but in the morning we can gather our gear and strike out for..." Her enthusiasm abruptly faltered. "...The Everfree Forest. Where the kraken is hiding out. And is possibly crawling with valusians to boot. And all this to look for a book that's said to drive mad those who read it, so I can study it cover to cover." Putting on a stoic smile, she said cheerfully, "Well, what's important is never easy, is it?"

The words she kept to herself expressed her feelings more succinctly. Buck my life.

---

Shining Armor took a sip from the mug of mediocre coffee between his hooves as he watched the sun set behind the city walls. He focused his attention on it, trying with little success to push the images of the ponies inside the aid station from his mind. The brilliant colors bleeding through the sky just seemed to remind him of the jarring absence of color within. Instead, keeping his eyes on the sight only prevented him from noticing the pony creeping up behind him.

"Lieutenant Armor! What's the meaning if this... lollygagging?!"

Swiftly setting his mug down on the folding table, he stood, whipped around and saluted smartly at the young mare. His crisp military composure didn't last long, though. Smiling broadly, he lunged forward and wrapped a foreleg around his sister as their necks entwined. "It's called a coffee break, Twiley. And seriously, 'lollygagging'? Who says that anymore?"

Twilight nuzzled her brother warmly before pulling away. "Princess Luna, for one." Her smile faded as she met his bloodshot eyes. "Jeez, Shiny, you look beat."

Shining allowed himself to slump a little after their embrace. "Double shift. Still got an hour and a half to go, then I can finally get some rack time. Been running on coffee and MREs all day." With a soft groan, he sat back down on the bench. "Plus, among all the unicorns in the service with a talent for defensive magic, I'm the one with the most juice to throw around, so they've been running me ragged casting your mind shield spell on just about everypony. Which is why I'm drinking my coffee like this," he added, as he lifted his mug to his lips again with a hoof instead of his magic.

Twilight reached up and patted her brother's shoulder. "You poor thing," she said, smiling gently.

"You're looking good, though, all things considered." He paused for a long moment, smirking faintly. "No more eyepatch, for one."

Twilight blinked for a moment before screwing her eyes shut with a groan. "Please don't remind me of that. It's... not one of my proudest moments."

Her brother smiled warmly at her. "As I recall, Little Miss Predestination Paradox, that ended with you casting a time travel spell without prior study. That's pretty impressive, even if you were a bit off your rocker at the time. Heck, maybe more so."

Twilight blushed faintly at the praise. "Yeah, well, I hadn't slept in a few days by that point. Remind me to tell you about the tactile hallucinations sometime," she said with a shudder.

Shining Armor winced. "Yeah, had those once during finals week."

"Well, if you'd just practice good study habits through the whole term--"

"Hey, I'm done with school. You're the one doing post-grad."

Twilight rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, fine, I'll drop it. But as soon as you've got a foal in kindergarten, by my authority as their aunt I'll be making sure they learn good habits from the start."

Shining stifled a chuckle. "Sure thing, Twiley." After a pause, he perked up suddenly. "Oh, hey, speaking of foals, you'll never guess who I ran into earlier. Your old sitter!"

"Cadence?!" she said excitedly, before being struck with worry. "Oh no, was she hurt?"

"What? OH! no no no, she was working. Aside from the injuries -- nothing too nasty, thankfully -- a number of ponies who hadn't gotten a mind shield got a bit too much of a look at the kraken. She was able to help a lot of them recover with her magic." Slumping slightly into his seat, his face darkened. "Most are okay now, and the ones that aren't are at least doing better, but it was pretty awful. There was one earth pony, we had to talk him down from a rooftop. Nothing we said got through to him. Cadence got him to back away from the edge by using her magic just to make him feel loved, but he was so far gone she nearly overchanneled doing it."

"That poor stallion... I've seen what even a faint glimpse can do to a pony. But he's recovering, right?"

"Yeah, he is, and the others, too. Once the hospital finished handling injuries and beds started opening up, we've been moving the worst cases there to recuperate. All they seem to need is is time, rest, and somepony to talk to, but we can't afford to leave them unsupervised. Even the ones that aren't so bad, no one wants to take any chances."

Twilight nodded somberly. "How many do you still have in there?" she asked, cocking her head towards the tent.

"About a dozen or so, I think. They sent a carriage to bring another few to the hospital about an hour ago, after they'd discharged a few more." He shook head weakly. "I remember the first time I walked into that tent, as if it was only a minute ago. I swear, hoof to Celestia, the first thing I thought of was that nightmare you had as a filly, when those bullies at school told you that sick urban legend about how rainbows are made."

Twilight grimaces for a moment at the memory, but them smiled and gave her brother a gentle nuzzle. "Well, they've got you to watch over them now, just like I did back then." She turned her eyes towards the spires of the palace, silent for a long moment as her expression darkened. "Shiny... If it really came down to it, would you die to defend Equestria?"

Shining Armor blinked in surprise at her grim question, but didn't take long to answer. "Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't give up without a fight, but a choice between saving my hide and defending the Realm is no choice at all."

"What if your life wasn't enough? What if you had to give up your mind, or... or even your soul?"

This time he paused before answering. "Well, I dunno how it would come to that, but... I suppose I would." Rising again and taking a few steps to stand beside her, he continued, "But you wouldn't."

Twilight whipped her head around to face her brother, finding a smile on his lips that seemed at once both kind and a bit smug. "What?! You can't really think I'm less dedicated to the Realm just because I don't wear a uniform! After everything I've done, everything I've been through?"

"And after all that, you're standing right here in front of me, alive, relatively sane, and with your soul as secure as anypony's." Seeing her anger suddenly deflate, he said, "I was right, though, wasn't I? This is about you, not me." Twilight simply nodded. "Your dedication isn't the issue, Sis, it's just that, well, you're a lot smarter than me."

"Oh come on, I know I give you a hard time about your studying, but you're not stupid."

"And my GPA at West Horn is proof enough of that. But that just supports my point. You're still an intellectual titan compared to me."

Twilight blushed and looked bashfully away at her brother's praise. "Um, thank you? But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Remember the scene in Curse of the Yeti, where Ahuizotl forces Daring Do to choose between saving her father's life and her own?"

Twilight's eyes lit up and her mouth curled into a smile. "Oh, yes! One of my favorite parts! The way she managed to save both herself and her father--"

"--Made my jaw drop," her brother interrupted. "But you saw it coming. That's my point. Every time you read about a villain putting the hero in some false dilemma like that, you always see a way out, sometimes more than one. You almost never miss the one the author uses, either." He reached up to put a hoof on her shoulder, and looked her square in the eye. "Whatever it is you're expecting to face, Twiley, I'm sure it doesn't have to be a binary choice. If it were me, I'd pay that price for the good of Equestria, but you'd find a way to not have to. Someway, somehow, you'll make that coin land on its edge."

"Thanks," said Twilight, smiling warmly at him. "I wish I shared you confidence, but... Hm." Her brow began to furrow slightly, and Shining Armor could already see the gears turning behind her eyes as she recalled Princess Luna's words from earlier that day.

"I purposefully removed that information from my memory..."

Shining Armor watched quietly as his sisters' eyes darted back and forth, not truly looking at anything, and her forehoof tapped thoughtfully on the ground. Gradually, a determined grin spread over her face, soon matched by his own. "Got an idea, Twiley?"

"Yeah," she answered softly. "I just might." She snapped out of her reverie to meet his gaze again. "I need to make another late trip to the library." Her smile turning slightly sheepish, she added, "I'll, uh, use the front gate this time. And leave the catsuit at home."

"That's probably for the best; I don't need to overhear another round of comments from the night shift like I did last time, certainly not about my kid sister."

Twilight's smile faded a bit. "Oh. Well, I hope you didn't break too many of their bones for making fun of me."

Shining Armor blushed slightly, but his pale coat showed it more clearly than Twilight's. Looking away nervously and scratching the back of his neck, he said, "Er, actually, most of what I heard was less derogatory and more... appreciative. Apparently, black is a very flattering color for you."

Not even Princess Luna's coat could have hidden Twilight's blush.

---

Copper Shield's hoof hovered an inch away from the door. After several moments, he sighed and tapped against it.

"Come in," called the mayor's voice from inside. Copper noticed how weary she sounded, even through the door.

Copper slowly opened the door and plodded through. "Evening, Marigold. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Her tired eyes perked up at the sight of the gruff detective. "Copper! Oh no, nothing urgent, anyway." She scanned the paperwork littering her desk and sighed. "Honestly, I think I'm just trying to put off the trip home. Even with a police escort I don't really look forward to setting one hoof outside right now." Groaning quietly, she leaned back in her chair. "What about you? Any progress with that beast you have in custody?'

Copper grimaced inwardly. "That's what I came to talk to you about, actually. He's invoked his right to counsel. I need a rope-a-dope." Like many towns too small to have their own public defender's office, Ponyville often conscripted practicing attorneys to represent defendants.

"I see." Marigold's expression turned dark as she steepled her forehooves in front of her. "Who did you have in mind?"

Copper Shield looked at her for a moment, his eyebrows rising slightly.

Marigold's eyes grew wide. "No." Her forehooves dropped to her lap. "No, no, no, no, no." She jumped to her feet, her chair banging into the wall behind her as she sputtered incoherently. "I... That... No! Hell no! How could you even think-- NO!"

Copper rode out her fit with quiet understanding. "Name anypony in town who'd respond any more favorably, and I'll eat my hat."

"You aren't wearing a hat."

"But I own one. It's quite nice, actually."

"Whatever. They're not the mayor. Why should I have to defend that monster?"

"Marigold--"

"Don't you 'Marigold' me!" she shouted. "That... thing... attacked Cheerilee! It would have killed an-an-and eaten her! Any one of the ponies in this town would have been bad enough -- Rocky was bad enough -- but Cheerilee? Every filly and colt in this town loves her; even the ones who hate school think she's the best thing about it."

"I know, Mar," he said quietly.

"Can you imagine if it had succeeded?" she asked, propping her forehooves on her desk and leaning across it. "Can you imagine having to tell her students that she wasn't going to teach them ever again? Can you imagine a town full of grieving children?"

Copper swallowed.

"BECAUSE THAT'S ALL I'VE BEEN DOING SINCE I HEARD THE NEWS!"

Copper flinched and looked away. Marigold stared at him furiously, her jaw clenched. After a long silence, her breath hitched and she slumped down, her rear hitting the floor as she rested her chin on her desk.

Copper waited before speaking again, but she seemed not to have any more to say. "If not you, then who?" he said softly, stepping forward. "There's only two other active members of the bar in town, and neither has your experience in criminal law. We can't request somepony from another town because no one will travel with that huge monster still on the loose."

Marigold said nothing, her expression dour.

"You should have seen him in the box, Mar. He didn't understand anything. He knew the words, but it's like the entire concept of defendant's rights was alien to him. The case needs a pro."

She looked up at him, then down again.

Copper knew he had to play his trump card; he just hoped she wouldn't hate him for it. His throat felt dry, and the words tasted bitter in his mouth. "Remember your first campaign? During the debate, when they took questions from the public, someone asked how you could live with defending a suspect you knew for a fact was guilty. You said that their guilt or innocence didn't matter, because it was your job; the Crown needs to be made to work for a conviction, to dot every 'i' and cross every 't', and not be allowed to cut a single corner. Because doing so--"

"Doing so protects the rights of every pony, including the next suspect whose guilt may not be so certain." She closed her eyes, sighing deeply. "Damn you, Copper. Damn your ability to be so... so right all the time."

Copper chuckled weakly, trying to hide the guilt that twisted his stomach into knots. "You used to love that about me."

Marigold opened her eyes and gave him a weak smile. "It's why I married you."

"Heh, yeah." Copper's own smile faded. "It's why you divorced me, too."

Marigold looked away with a frown. "Copper, I--"

He held up a hoof. "Forget it. Water, bridge, et cetera. Will you take the case?"

Marigold stood up and looked him square in the eye. "On one condition."

"What's that?"

"That we make it to Berry's pub before last call, and you buy."

"That's two conditions."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Deal?"

"Sure. Deal."

Comments

[Misdirection01]

Nice, I wasn't expecting an update for this fic. Good chapter, hope to see more soon!

[Snowybee]

I've looked back at this fic more than once in the past, hoping for signs of life. I'm surprised I could still remember the full title. Welcome back, my friend!

[Trinary]

Oh, awesome! An update!

This is a really epically awesome story. Ah, I like that Luna's has contingency plans too, that's not just one of Celestia's past times.

And Twilight getting compliments from her catsuit? Oooooh...I'd love to see the look on her face. XD

Please keep writing! This story is just too good!

[Lordlyhour]

Awesoooome

[The Dungeon Maestro]

A Cthulhu Mythos crossover!?!?!?!? This is definitely going on my read later list.....

[notMurphy]

Cthulhu Mythos & no sex/gore tags? Have a thumbs up

I'm looking forward to reading this.

[FinalFan]

Hmm, I'm glad I had this favorited on the off chance it wasn't dead. Hopefully this isn't the last gasp of a dying volcano, but the first in a series of beautiful eruptions of poorly chosen metaphor!

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

oh, hey, you've updated, yay. I'll read it more...

[Giant Robot]

an, UPDATE?

[nightelf37]

FINALLY! Almost forgot I had this faved.

[Shantara]

Awesome! This was well worth the wait! And yeah, Twi, you should definitely watch that flank.

[Rebonack]

Well!

That was fun.

It's always nice to see someone resolving between the branch-y and star-y interpretations of the Elder Sign. I can't help but note that there haven't been any hyper-spatial geometry shenanigans yet. Hopefully those will come in time.

[anowack]

....ok, I pretty much cracked up at trying to explain the right to remain silent. That scene may actually be a first in the wide world of Lovecraft-inspired fiction.

[RTStephens]

Nice to see this return!

It appears that the ponies are gearing up for another adventure. The fun never stops!

Very cute scene with Shinning and Twilight. It's neat to see scenes like these before the wedding happens.

Looking forward to more!

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

2993912

I'm afraid I don't get either of those references.

[Giant Robot]

3003932
They're characters that appears in Delta Green adventure modules. Well, Mr Shiny is anyway.

[FashionablyHospitable]

Retuuurned. Mr. Shine! Him diamond!

[Jirodyne]

How can the monster be... be... defended?! It makes no sense! The laws would be for PONIES, not extinct pony eating species! They have no rights according to the law! And being a pony eating murdering species, if there was any law about them, it would probably be along the lines of protecting ponies that killed/murdered/tortured them! The story was going good up to that point. Then it's starting to go down the path that leads to thumbs down and authors and their stories being blocked

[Stryke]

Been slacking with getting to this next chapter. Great stuff though and definitely looking forward to the next one and the trip into the Everfree.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

3087532

Let's do a bit of search and replace, here, for demonstration purposes.

"How can the monster be... be... defended?! It makes no sense! The laws would be for AMERICANS, not child-murdering terrorists! They have no rights according to the law! And being child-murdering terrorists, if there was any law about them, it would probably be along the lines of protecting Americans that killed/murdered/tortured them! The story was going good up to that point. Then it's starting to go down the path that leads to thumbs down and authors and their stories being blocked "

If you can't see what's wrong with that, then I will not for one second lament the loss of your readership. And you don't get to play the "but they're a different species" card, either. Firstly, they're a fully sentient species, Equestria is home to or at least visited by several others; the law would have to be species-blind to be fair. And secondly, dehumanizing the enemy -- claiming that "they're not REAL people" -- has be used to justify countless atrocities thoughout history and indeed still is.

If you'd stuck around to see where this went, maybe you would've changed your mind... but honestly, I suspect your would've hated it. As it is, you'll probably never see this, but I couldn't leave this steaming turd you left on my story unanswered.

[Ack Sed]

Glad to see this is still alive!

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

So, so sorry it took so long for me to get to this. As I said, I'd pay real money to have Vulrassk go all Perry Mason in the courtroom. Even as a gag chapter. And the offer's legit, too. Anyway, I agree. He needs legal counsel. It's his right, even if the concept is completely foreign/alien to him.

Great job, here. Glad to see Trixie as pretty much part of the gang. And you watch that flank, Twilight.

[CLAVDIVS CAESAR]

3418609

...Wow. I"m simultaneously proud that I managed to evoke such feelings, and really sorry that I did.

[CDRW]

I've read the first three chapters, and I'm hooked.

[Smoker]

The oc delta green is really getting on my nerves. Just the way he talks to the princesses aLone pisses me if. He's that douche who knows everything, who KNOWS he knows everything, and he rubs that intelligence in other people's faces. Not to mention that unless he is somehow the kraken in disguise or some other twist, he's completely unnecessary to the plot.

[Vinyl Nexus Scratch]

2993378 There are Cthulhu Mythos stories with sex in them? wwwwwwaaaaaaaaahhhhhttttt?!

[Vinyl Nexus Scratch]

3224035 Vulrassk: First Valusian Lawyer (who may have eaten someone)

[SPanDXltd]

Screw this story, write more stories about Derpy.

[SIGAWESOME]

6957973

has the Laundry developed a COCKATRICE STARE gun yet?

Yes, but the Black Chamber has specifically requested them to withhold it until CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN is in effect as per DEEP SEVEN's "request"...

[Borg]

9199735
The point is that they're linked; partying, experimenting sexually, and experimenting with drugs are all correlated. For example, college parties tend to involve alcohol (and a lack of moderation in its consumption), which is a good social lubricant for encouraging various experimentation. If nothing else, if you spend your time alone then there's nobody to supply you with drugs, have sex with you, or party with you. (Well, I suppose you could make an argument for counting experimenting with really wild ways to masturbate, but that's not exactly a quintessential college activity.)