To protect the society

Chapters

The choice is yours
The two tales
Where it gets complicated
The shadow of justice
The old and the new
Faith in justice
Hoping for the best...
Blind and blinding
The truth in all subjectivity
... and never fear the worst

The choice is yours

Author's Note

"This story doesn't have the ambition to teach anything about the legal system of any world and asks more question than are answered. The author just thinks some questions should be asked."
- The author.

The choice is yours

Twilight was taking a well deserved little two minutes nap between two books she was reading about an old epic pony war and particularly the debate between Luna and Celestia about the treatment of those who had been captured.

Those were very boring books to be honest, but the thirst for knowledge of the newly crowned princess was enough to help her go through it, even if she was learning about practices that had died so long that it had taken the status of mere legends.

But a knocking on her room’s door interrupted her nap about thirty two seconds before its end.

“I’m very sorry to interrupt you, your majesty.” said the guard that had opened the door. “But judge Fairy has arrived.”

Twilight instinctively asked herself what she could have done wrong for a judge to come see her, but she quickly remembered that she did have an appointment with him. He was simply twenty minutes too early.

She shook away the little frustration of having her splendid schedule disturbed in such a way and told the guard to let the judge come in.

“Your majesty!” almost gasped the judge in amazement, as he was holding the princess of friendship in very high regard. “It’s such an honor to finally meet you.”

The alicorn blushed, but kept her composure.

“The honor is mutual.” she responded. “Please tell me what brought you here.”

“Of course!” almost apologized her interlocutor, having realized, or at least thinking he had realized, that the princess had some very important things to do and that he had to make sure he wouldn’t be wasting any of her seconds.

“It’s very simple.” he began, taking a huge file out of his briefcase and deposing it before the princess. “Following the third principle of the Equestrian constitution and the article 23 alinea 6, letter c of the order on the application of the law, I come here to hereby hand over a judicial case to you. You’ll find all the necessary details into the case file.”

There is a theory saying that people take a huge pleasure when they have the opportunity to confuse someone else. The same could certainly apply just as well to ponies. And if it’s very arguable that it had been the Wright Fairy’s intention to confuse Twilight, another one would have enjoyed the lost expression on her face with quite a delight.

“The article 23…” she repeated, thinking out loud.

“Article 23, alinea 6, letter c of the order on the application of the law. Exactly.” helped her the judge.

It took him some time to understand that she had no idea what that specific part of the law was and how that was concerning her. She knew the third principle of the Equestrian constitution, that was basically putting the princesses in charge of everything in the land, but she had no idea what was specifically happening there.

“I need you to pass judgment on my behalf.” the judge began to explain. “Because I can’t, as I’m facing a conundrum. I’m utterly convinced that the suspect is guilty, but there isn’t enough evidence to technically prove his guilt.”

And as she understood the situation, Twilight began to turn pale.

“Did you…” she slowly tried to say, “Wouldn’t you consider asking princess Celestia about this?” she asked, almost hoping the judge would take the problem away from her, as she wasn’t feeling competent to decide on some pony’s guilt, or maybe was feeling way too competent about it.

“I admit I was about to submit the case to the Canterlot princesses, as we all used to until now, but I was told, to my biggest pleasure, that I should come to you. Be certain that I would have come directly to you, would I have known you have taken over that jurisdiction.”

He was apologizing, as he was really respecting Twilight as a princess, and didn’t want her to think she was just a second choice. In truth, he had almost been awaiting the day he would require the help of the new princess.

Overcoming the will to flee as far as ponyly possible, Twilight asked:

“What is the crime that is being judged?”

“He burned the house of his former girlfriend.” replied judge Fairy, before realizing his mistake and correcting himself: “I mean, he is suspected of having burned the house of a pony who he is related to.”

He looked down and added:

“You see why I can’t pass judgment? It’s just so obvious to me that he has done it, the risk I overlooked something is way too high. But I’m sure you’ll be able to find out what the right thing to do is just by reading the case’s file.”

Twilight wasn’t so sure about that, but she had no other choice than to accept the responsibility to pass the ultimate judgment on the case.

Judge Fairy thanked her in advance for her service to justice, assured her of all his respect once again and finally walked away, barely avoiding to crash into Spike as he was leaving the room.

“Who was that?” asked the little dragon.

Twilight only told him to reschedule the whole day to free her two hours and began to read the file the judge had brought her.

The two tales

The case’s file was showing basically two sides of the same story with three actors. The first one was a pony named Fire Anthem, an earth pony that had been in a very chaotic relationship with the second character, Face Full, who had been his girlfriend for a whole year, as he was in love with her, but had been proven several times that she was seeing other stallions. It had escalated to the point where he had hit her, two days prior to the arson. The night of the crime, he had come to apologize to her for what he had done, and tell her he had understood they would never work as a couple. He had knocked at her door, had convinced her to let him enter and had begun to explain.

But then, as he was trying to apologize, in tears, she had begun to tease him, taunt him and make fun of him, because she knew she had the upper hoof. She had taken him in to better humiliate him as she had for so many months before.

Feeling trapped, furious, Fire Anthem had pushed her away, making her crash onto the wall and making a spice rack fall and the spice’s bottles beak in a loud noise. That loud noise was heard by the third character, one of the neighbors who had also seen the stallion run out of the house. After that, Fire Anthem couldn’t even go back to his home and ran for a long time, until he finished inside a big bush where he decided to stay and mourn. He fell asleep and, when he woke up before the rising sun, went back home where he finally went to bed until the guards came and accused him of arson.

“So, basically, he did nothing wrong, right?” asked Spike.

“We don’t know.” replied Twilight. “This is just his version of the facts.”

“Well, it certainly looks like he did nothing wrong to me.” the dragon stated, as he was still a bit young and had that strong belief that the truth was always obvious.

It was, after all, his right to see the world in a Manichean manner.

The second story began the same way. Fire Anthem had always been a very jealous and violent boyfriend. Face Full was in love with him and wanted to believe she could change him, make him become a better pony and had even had some little successes here and there, but one night he looked even more jealous than ever before and hit her as she was trying to prove him she was completely innocent.

She had decided she should never see him ever again, but he came to her house two days later and, after a long time as he used her love to him against her, she finally let him in, as a part of her still wanted to believe there was some good left in that pony and that maybe, just maybe, the worst was done and the sun would soon rise after the darkness.

She was wrong. He began to justify his act, to explain why he had been right to hit her, why she was actually the one guilty of everything that had happened. She couldn’t believe her ears. She wanted to disappear, to flee from that nightmare, but there was no escape. He seemed even crazier than the day he had hit her. She began to fear what he might do this time. He was stronger than she was. He was also faster. She knew she had no way to win if he were to attack her.

She told him to leave her home, that she didn’t want to see him, that they were over, but he refused and became furious. He insulted her and threatened her. In tears, she tried to defend herself and responded that he should better go, because there was nothing he could do against her, that he couldn’t force her to do something she didn’t want to. She told him she was free, free to decide, free to love, free to reject him and that, in the end, he had no other choice but to accept it and move on.

The result she obtained was certainly as far away from what she had expected than was possible. He fulminated. In a second, he had violently thrown her against a wall while telling her he would take everything she had away from her until she would have no other choice but to stay with him.

Finding some courage from deep within her, she just shouted: “Never!”

He looked at her with the look an assassin would have and just said: “You can burn in hell.”

He looked around, then grinned and ran away, out of the house, leaving her alone on the floor, crying out of the physical pain and her broken heart.

But two hours later, as she was trying to figure out what she should do and still couldn’t find any good solution to her problem, she began to smell something weird, the same smell that a burnt meal would have, just way heavier. She ignored it for a few minutes, but it became so unpleasant that it took her away from her deep thought. She realized something was wrong and began to look around, until she saw the black smoke that was invading her whole house.

In panic, she went out, shouting for help, looking everywhere to make sure Fire Anthem wasn’t there, ready to jump on her.

Her neighbor heard her screams and alerted the fire ponies and the guards to make sure she would be in safety.

The fire ponies eventually extinguished the fire and the guards went to find Fire Anthem as, under her neighbor’s advices, Face Full had explained he was the one who had tried to fry her and kill her.

The fire ponies proved that the fire had been started inside the kitchen, where all the wood was stored. The window had been broken, proving somepony else had entered and making it a criminal case.

“That Fire Anthem guy is just mad!” Spike said out loud. “He must be locked away. What a jerk!”

Twilight sighed. She didn’t even reply to that one. Contrarily to Spike, she knew it wasn’t that simple. Still, she was envying her assistant’s feelings. The insurance to know what has to be done is something that is very comforting.

But for the alicorn, it was clear she had no idea what judgment she should pass at this point. The neighbor’s testimony only said that Fire Anthem had run away from the home after his visit, nothing more. After that, there was no certitude whatsoever, even if, just as the judge before her, she was doubting anypony other than Fire Anthem could have been the cause of that arson.

Maybe it was way easier than she was thinking. Maybe she should just follow her instinct. Maybe…

Where it gets complicated

Somepony knocked on the door. It wouldn’t have been weird, if no other than Rainbow Dash had opened that same door at that moment.

“Hey Twi’, Spike.” the multicolor pegasus said without much enthusiasm.

“Rainbow Dash?” asked Twilight, almost shocked by the strange behavior of her friend. “What is happening, are you feeling okay?”

Understanding the others could see how she was feeling, Dash suddenly rose from her sad looking attitude and, smiling, replied:

“Yeah, everything is alright, no need to worry.”

“Nice joke.” said Spike, laughing. “You had me for a moment.”

And the dragon left the room, sort of ashamed to have been tricked in such a smart way, as he had never imagined somepony would do something that subtle to manipulate him. And, of course, completely oblivious to the fact that Rainbow Dash hadn’t been putting any trick whatsoever.

“Hum… Twilight?” the pegasus began, strangely hesitant.

“Yes, what is it?” replied the alicorn, understanding her friend was about to ask something important. “How can I help you?”

“It’s just… you know…” said Dash, conscious that there was no way for Twilight to know anything at that point, but saying those words anyway as any other have and will in the entire universe for some weird reason. “I need to go somewhere and I would really, really appreciate if you would accept to come with me!”

She had sort of closed her eyes while saying those last words and, for a mere second, she was looking like Fluttershy. Twilight thought that there were more similarities between the two pegasii than she had previously considered.

“No need to feel so doubtful about it. Of course I’ll come with you.” she replied. “Where are we going?”

But at that very moment, an unknown mare entered the room, followed by the guards who had tried to prevent her to enter in the first place.

“Well, you let that other mare pass, so why should I have to wait?” rhetorically asked the unknown mare.

The guards tried to explain that Rainbow Dash wasn’t just any mare, but they could have spoken about the history of the moon and sun and have obtained the same result.

“Your majesty!” suddenly said the unknown mare, noticing the princess’s presence. “I’m sorry to come in without any invitation, but I have to talk to you!”

Twilight made sign to the guards to wait and asked what the mare wanted.

“My name is Grace. Grace Full. I know that you will pass judgment on a case touching my daughter and I thought I had to tell you something of the utter importance on that case.”

“What is it?” asked Twilight, not sure where this was going.

“I happen to know that arsonist since my daughter has chosen him for some reason only those younglings really know and I’ve seen what a despicable creature he really is. Don’t be fooled by his smile or his innocent look. He has made my life and my daughter’s life a living hell since he has appeared. He is a violent, good for nothing and stinking beast that must be taken away from society, not only for my daughter’s good, but also to protect everypony else.”

Twilight wasn’t sure how to react to that, and instinctively looked at Rainbow Dash who simply had no idea what was going on and why that miss Full was speaking about such things.

“My daughter is stupid, I’ll give you that.” kept on saying Grace Full, as nopony had interrupted her. “But it’s a mother’s duty to protect her offspring from themselves. She should have never even talked to that monster. If she had only listened to me, none of that madness would have happened. But what has been done is done, so even if I was right, I shouldn’t look back and just make sure he will be locked into a dungeon where his place is.”

Twilight politely thanked the mare and the guards took the mother out of the room, under her protestation against their brutal, impolite way, and her grateful words to the princess that she was certain to have convinced of what had to be done.

“Who was that?” asked Rainbow Dash, who was feeling so grateful not to have to manage such weird ponies in her daily job.

“It’s…” began Twilight, not sure how she should explain it. “It’s nothing. I’ve got to decide if a pony should end up locked in jail or not… But let’s get back to you!” she said, happy to let all judicial problems behind her and change her mind with her friend. “Where is it you wanted to go?”

Rainbow Dash looked down and stayed silent for a few seconds.

“What is it?” asked Twilight, not certain if she had said something she shouldn’t have.

“The jail.” Dash said.

“Yeah, what about it?”

“It’s where I want you to accompany me.”

“What?” Twilight asked out of surprise.

“I received a letter today. They found some new evidences in my father’s case, they have reopened it and found him innocent, so he will be freed in a few hours.” Dash explained. “I don’t want him to be alone when he steps out of the walls. I want to be there. I owe him that much.”

She didn’t say that she was also feeling incredibly guilty for having never gone to talk with her father since he had been imprisoned, that she had decided he was a bad person because he had been judged so by the judicial system, because the justice had said so. She still hadn’t accepted the fact that she had decided, long ago, that she had no father anymore.
And now, all she knew was that she had to go there and just be there for him, even if she knew she couldn’t amend for the way she had treated him during all those years. She was feeling it was her duty to show him she hadn’t completely forgotten about him. Even if it meant having to be judged by him, and probably hated or despised.

It was one of those situations where one had done what seemed right only to discover it was wrong. One of those very commonplace situations where all there is left to do is ask for forgiveness, from all those who have been wronged, including the one who has wronged.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t even sad. She was just confused, lost between what she had been believing until then, and what she was believing now, lost in a world where she had to trust what she was told to think, without any way to be certain she was believing what was true.

And deep within, Rainbow Dash was just a child. A little simple innocent child that was very impatient, because she knew she would soon see her father again, and that was making her happy.

The shadow of justice

“I’m glad you accepted to speak with me before seeing your father.” said No Nothing.

She was the prison’s psychologist and the only one who had dared to stop Rainbow Dash and, let’s be honest, mostly Twilight in their path to the cell of the future former prisoner. It is true that, as soon as they had seen the princess, every guard or employee of the prison had made sure to obey every will of her majesty, which had made everything very easy.

But No Nothing was a professional, convinced that procedures are to be followed for a reason. In that particular case, she had taken the time to analyze the file of the prisoner and had understood she had to intervene to soften the future meeting between the father and the daughter.

“You have to understand that more than a decade in an environment such as this institution leave some deep traces and can change somepony.”

“Yeah, sure, I understand that.” replied Rainbow Dash, who was both trying to hide the fact she was afraid from what had just been said, and was feeling more thrilled at the idea of seeing her father once again as she was coming nearer and nearer from him.

“Please.” said doctor Nothing. “I’ve been following your father for years now, and I need to warn you that he might be very different from what you remember. It can be very difficult for you to accept.”

“Excuse me, but what do you mean by different?” Twilight asked.

“Physically, the changes aren’t that important. He looks older, of course, and less energetic, but it’s on the psychological aspect that the changes appear the most.”

“My father is my father. I don’t care how much he could have changed!” stated Rainbow Dash, following her feelings and not appreciating a lot all those talks about how her father could be less than before.

After all she still had, in her head, the picture of that big strong pegasus and those two wonderful eyes looking at her with gentleness and care. In the picture, he was smiling at her and that was feeling great. She wanted to see him smiling at her once again.

“You must believe me when I say that years spent in a cell change your personality deep within. The healing process can take years. Some never heal, depending on how deep the suffering has been.”

“Wait just a second.” asked Twilight. “He was just imprisoned. He wasn’t tortured or anything, right?”

She had said that just after having looked around and seen the giant places for the prisoners to walk around in plain air, in the grass and in some beautiful parks.

“There is no torture in the sense you understand the concept. This institution has a pool, a cinema, and several clubs to allow the prisoners to exercise many activities. Each prisoner has his own room and there is at least one trip outside the walls, in group of course, to a museum for example, to allow them to go away from this place for a moment.”

“Sounds like vacations to me.” said Rainbow Dash who wasn’t really paying attention and, honestly, didn’t care about it and was quite satisfied to believe her father hadn’t suffered too much during his incarceration.

“It isn’t miss.” replied the psychologist. “Taking away a pony’s freedom has many side effects, some of which are still studied to this day. I said there is no torture taking place here, and we would never allow it, but being incarcerated is torture in itself.”

“What are you trying to say?” asked, almost aggressively, Rainbow Dash who didn’t want to think about such things and just wanted to see her father and get his forgiveness and begin to build a world where they would be together.

“I’m trying to tell you that some ponies die in prison and the one who come out are just shadows from those they once were.” No Nothing said.

Rainbow Dash looked down for a moment, to absorb those words, but then looked up again and just said:

“Are you finished? Can I go be a family again now?”

Doctor Nothing didn’t reply with words, but made a sign that they were free to go.

Once outside the psychologist’s room, guided by the jail’s director himself, Dash told Twilight:

“Can you believe that mare? Who does she think she is? She doesn’t know my father as I know him.”

Twilight didn’t reply. She knew that Dash was asking her to comfort her and assure her everything would be okay, but the alicorn wasn’t certain everything would be okay. She was just hoping it would.

“Here we are.” said the director.

They had arrived in an external part of the jail, before a door.

“Your father is currently inside here.” the director told Dash.

His good reflexes helped him to prevent her from going inside.

“He is being given his old belongings back. He will come out in a matter of minutes. I’ll tell him that you are waiting for him. Just wait here.”

The director went through the door and shut it behind him. Dash hesitated, but the fear of the meeting that was to come stopped her and she just stood there, looking at the door, waiting for it to open and deliver to her the one she hadn’t seen since so long.

Twilight took a few steps back, not knowing how she would handle the whole thing. She knew she was there because her friend was afraid and need some support, but now she was feeling like the fifth wheel, even more than a fifth wheel. She was feeling like she shouldn’t be there, that she should go somewhere to hide and let the father and his daughter reunite together without her to disturb them.

She was about to ask Rainbow Dash about that, but the door suddenly opened and both her and Dash jumped back, startled by that event they had been waiting for.

“Here you go mister Blaze: You’re free.” said the director, who had opened the door.

As he was saying those words, a pegasus appeared, slowly walking out of the building. He had a rainbow colored mane, and a light blue coat. He had a rainbow shooting star for cutie mark.

Rainbow Dash couldn’t believe her eyes. Of course he was looking different. Yes he wasn’t smiling like she remembered and he certainly looked a bit older, but altogether, it was her father. She first felt shocked, unable to move, then she felt happy, because she was finally given her family back, and finally she felt sad as she would when she was just a filly and instinctively decided to jump on her father and hug him.

He didn’t react. Well, he stopped walking, which is a reaction, but other than that, he didn’t react at all.

Rainbow Dash tried to hug him harder, to trigger some sort of magical reaction, some sort of miracle where her father would hug her too and cry like she was.

“Let me go.” he told her.

She didn’t let him go. She wouldn’t accept to let him go, now that they were allowed to be together. She would never let him go away ever again.

“Let me go.” he repeated with the same uncaring tone, without even looking at her.

She let go a little and went back just enough to look at him in his eyes, but he avoided her look and began to walk again, away from the jail and away from her.

“Dad!” Dash suddenly shouted, with the exact same voice she had used the day the guards had taken him away.

He stopped and just stood there. A very good witness would have been able to notice the shivers all over his body, the signs of anger, sadness and mostly violence restrained with more violence.

And then, the shivers stopped. He turned his head in his daughter’s direction, spit on the ground, turned away again and kept on walking.

“Dad?” implored, almost unconscious of the fact she was emitting any sound, the lost Rainbow Dash.

In a matter of second, a multitude of psychological reactions happened in the poor pegasus’s head. The first one was to feel she hadn’t tried hard enough and therefore she moved a few inches in the direction of the one she wanted to be loved by. But then was the guilt for everything she had done until that day which was telling her he was right to treat her that way and she had to disappear. Logically, her mind rebelled against that thought and decided her father was the one who was behaving in a bad way and she should go and demand for him to act in a better way. Simultaneously, the memories got blurred and her mind found an escape in the idea that her father was still guilty of the crime he had been accused of, in which case nothing had changed from before and she shouldn’t feel bad about it. Which obviously made her realize, as she wasn’t a filly anymore, that she didn’t care anymore if he was guilty or not and just wanted her father.

Dash felt a hoof on her shoulder and heard:

“Please don’t.”

It was doctor Nothing’s voice.

“It’s going to be okay, but it will take time. So for the moment, don’t do anything rash. Give him some time.”

As incredible as it may seem, Dash accepted the advice and just fell on the floor to try and gather her thoughts again, to understand what was happening, where she was, what she should believe and how she should act.

But as her friend was being taken care of by the jail’s psychologist, Twilight decided that she should act. She teleported and appeared before Rainbow Blaze, startling him.

“What is wrong with you?” she asked. “Do you have any idea how much you’re hurting your daughter right now? I admit I don’t know how much you’ve suffered, but nopony has the right to act like you do!”

Blaze looked at Twilight and realized he was facing an alicorn, a princess. He instinctively looked down and apologized.

“I’m sorry.” he said. “I don’t want to hurt her. I just think she would be better without me.”

“Well, she wouldn’t.” Twilight replied. “She needs you. And if you have any love left for her, you better turn back right now and go speak to her.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Blaze responded.

“Then go away, leave!” almost shouted Twilight with an imperial tone. “But know that you’ll regret it for the rest of your life. You have suffered a lot, and you’re confused, but you have a family, and you’ll find you’ve got a lot of friends out here. You are still a father and you still have a daughter. You’ve lost a lot in the past, do not allow yourself to lose her.”

Twilight thought of talking more, but didn’t find the words. In a way, she was regretting to have intervened already. She had no idea what she was doing, no idea if it was good, bad, useful or just careless.
So both the pegasus and the alicorn stood in front of each other in an awkward silence, until Twilight decided to leave as she had done enough damages already.

“The decision is yours.” she said.

And then, she teleported back to the jail, where she found Rainbow Dash and tried to comfort her as she could, making sure not to mention what she had just done.

But then, another pony slowly entered the room.

He had a rainbow colored mane, and a light blue coat. He had a rainbow shooting star for cutie mark.

A little silence ensued, and then the stallion said, with a shy smile and a tone that was betraying some old and dusty hope:

“Hello Dashy.”

In a dash, the daughter had jumped on her father and was hugging him, obtaining a hug in return, letting Twilight and the psychologist to look at each other with relief.

The old and the new

“You wanted to see me?” asked the jail’s director.

Twilight nodded. She had demanded to see him once again, as she had taken two decisions.

“I want you to find and send me the case file of my friend’s father. I want to know how he came to be wrongly imprisoned.” she told the director.

“Of course. I’m sure I can do that for you, it will just take some time.”

Twilight smiled. She was becoming accustomed with the bureaucracy and the mountains of paper it was creating. She knew the director would have to search through many and many documents until he would find what she had been asking for.

“Good.” she answered. “I also need you to tell me where a certain Fire Anthem is being kept. I know he is suspected of arson and I want to talk with him.”

The director thought about it for a few seconds and then replied.

“Fire Anthem? This is even easier. He is here, in the custody wing. I can walk you to him if you’d like.”

Twilight told him it wasn’t necessary and wanted the director to focus on Rainbow Blaze’s case file. She found a warden and went to Fire Anthem’s cell, as he had to be there at this time of the day.

“Do you want me to come in with you?” the warden asked.

Twilight preferred to be alone. Still, she knew the warden would stay outside, waiting for her, ready to intervene if anything were to happen.

The door opened and Twilight enter the cell that was bigger than she had expected, and immediately saw a young stallion with a dark red coat and an orange and red mane and tail. Fire didn’t say anything, probably too surprised to see a princess enter his cell, so Twilight took upon herself to begin.

“Hello. My name is Twilight Sparkle.” she said. “You are Fire Anthem, aren’t you?” she asked.

He nodded, still trying to understand why a princess wanted to speak with him. There was something funny in his awkward shyness.

“I’ve come here because I want you to tell me about what happened the night a fire happened at miss Full’s house.”

The name “Full” created a reaction of disgust on the stallion’s face.

“You won’t believe me if I did.” Fire said. “I told the guards and the inspector, but nopony believes me!” he added with a sudden burst of anger towards those he thought he owed his current situation.

“Please just tell me what happened that night.” Twilight asked.

So he told her the same exact story that was in the case file. She noticed that he would easily shout when telling his story, mostly when it was about Face Full who he obviously wanted to insult in a very vulgar way, but found enough strength not to out of respect for the alicorn.
He finished his story and waited for Twilight’s remarks.

“Let’s say I believe you.” the princess began. “Who would have put the house on fire? Who is the arsonist?”

“I don’t know!” shouted Fire with rage. “If I knew, I would have said it since the very beginning! I don’t know who did it, I just know it’s not me!”

“Miss Full says you did it. Given what you told me, it could have been you, no?” asked Twilight.

“Not it couldn’t have been me! Of course it couldn’t have been. Can’t you see that?” the young stallion responded with conviction.

“And why is that?” asked Twilight, hoping she would get some new information through that trick.

“Because I would never do something like that.” Fire replied, dampening Twilight’s hope. “I may be a bit virulent at times, but I’m not mad and I’m certainly not a criminal.”

“Did you tell Face Full she could burn in hell?” Twilight asked.

Fire Anthem hesitated a bit, and then replied:

“Yes. Yes I did. But I was angry at her, I didn’t mean it!”

There was actually only one question left Twilight wanted to know the answer of.

“Do you still love her?” she asked.

“What?” replied Fire, taken by surprise.

“Do you still love Face Full?”

“That cutthroat bitch?” rhetorically asked Fire.

“Yes.” confirmed Twilight.

The young stallion looked away in multiple directions, stood up, walked around, laughing in a maniacal way and then just sat against a wall.

“I know it’s crazy.” he said. “I know I should hate her. I do hate her.”

Twilight just waited a little longer.

“It’s just… I don’t control such things.” Fire said. “I just love her. I don’t know why, I just do.”

Twilight thanked him and began to walk away, but he called her out:

“What is going to happen to me? I didn’t light that fire!”

Twilight stopped and turned to the young stallion.

“Tell me… Fire Anthem, why do you have that name?” she asked him.

“It’s the mark of my passion for music, why?” the young stallion replied, not understanding what it had to do with anything.

“Thank you.” Twilight replied, before leaving the room and letting the warden lock the door behind her.

Faith in justice

“Your majesty?” gasped Face Full as opening the door had revealed an alicorn.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle. I want to talk with you about what happened the night a somepony lit your house on fire.” the princess said. “May I come in?” she asked.

“Of course ! Please!” replied the very cute young mare in an awkward way. “I’m sorry it might not look very decent, but I haven’t cleaned yet. I didn’t know you would come…”

The house was completely clean, everything was tied up beautifully and it was clear the young mare was more panicking than really worried about the housework.

Twilight was brought to the lounge where she found a stallion, a unicorn, that had obviously come to take company to the young mare.

“Oh!” suddenly realized Face Full. “Your majesty, please allow me to present to you my neighbor Emerald Prism.”

Mister Prism stood up and saluted the princess in a very distinguished manner.

“But I’m forgetting all manners. Do you want something to drink? Maybe something to eat? I’m not sure I’ve got anything suitable for a princess, but I would be honored if you would accept anything I’ve got to offer.”

Twilight assured her she needed nothing, but the young mare went to bring something anyway, way to panicky to realize her offer had been denied.

“Is she always like that?” Twilight asked the stallion.

“Not always your majesty.” Prism said. “She just wants everypony to be happy. You could say she is too kind for her own good.”

The unicorn had just finished his sentence that Face Full had come back with a lot of different drinks, from lemonade to milk, cider, coffee or tea. In horror, she realized she had taken the salt instead of the sugar, but Twilight prevented her to go back to the kitchen.

“I would like you to tell me what happened the day the arson took place.” she asked, once the young mare was sitting and calm enough to talk.

Face Full told the exact same story that was in the case file with a lot of tears and crying.
Once finished, she waited for Twilight’s reaction.

“Why did Fire Anthem choose to use fire against you?” the princess asked.

“What do you mean?” responded Face Full.

“He could have come and attack you directly. Why fire?”

“I don’t know.” she replied, realizing she had no idea. “He told me I could burn in hell though!” she added, remembering that fact.

“You said he was accusing you of cheating on him. Why did he think that?” Twilight asked.

“I’m not sure.” Face full answered. “I’ve got a lot of friends, and I have had a lot of adventures before him, so I guess he thought I couldn’t stay faithful to him. But I did…”

She was about to cry once again. It was almost painful to see.
Twilight looked at Emerald Prism who was obviously thinking that Face Full had suffered enough already, but didn’t dare to tell it straight in the princess’s face.

“One last thing…” Twilight said.

“Yes?” the young mare replied.

“Why are you named Face Full?” the alicorn asked.

“Because I cook a lot and love to eat all the time. My friends told me my face is always full, and they don’t understand why I don’t gain any weight. Why do you ask?” explained Face Full, who couldn’t see what it had to do with anything.

“Thank you.” said Twilight. “And thank you for the drink”.

She stood up and both Face Full and Diamond Prism accompanied her to the door. And then, just before she was about to walk away, Twilight asked:

“Do you still love him?”

“What?” Face Full replied, surprised.

“Fire Anthem, do you still love him?”

The young mare looked down, whispered something while blushing and quickly disappeared into her house.

“Yes.” said Diamond Prism. “I don’t understand it either.” he added, anticipating Twilight’s reaction. “But even now she tells me how much she loves him. I don’t know what it would take for her to see how dangerous he really is. I can just hope he will be locked away…”

Twilight thanked him for the answer and went away.

Hoping for the best...

“Hey Twilight.”

The alicorn saw Rainbow Dash and smiled.

“Hello!” she said. “So, how is it going with you father?”

She only then noticed something weird with her friend. It was very slim, just a little feeling that she couldn’t really understand.

“Everything is going great!” Dash replied. “Hey, he is awesome after all, no way it could go badly.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Those are very good news.”

“So… what are you doing right now?” Dash asked.

Twilight noticed the weird thing again, but the pegasus was smiling, full of energy, so she had no idea why she was feeling anything weird at all and decided her own stress was getting the best of her.

“Well, I’m trying to figure out if a pony is guilty or not and quite frankly, I have no idea how I’m going to solve that one. Also, I thought I would go take a nap and maybe read a good book.”

“Oh come on, you can’t go to bed just now! The day is still young.” Dash complained.

“What?” asked Twilight, not realizing what was going on.

“It’s decided, I have to take you out of those walls.”

“What?” Twilight asked again, slowly fearing where this was going.

She didn’t get a chance to ask a third time. Rainbow Dash took her by the hoof and took off through the corridors of the castle and into the sky up onto a cloud way above the ground.

“This is way better, right?” said Rainbow Dash with conviction.

Twilight looked down, got afraid by the distance to the ground as she still wasn’t accustomed to sitting on a cloud, but then slowly came to accept that she was maybe better there, with her friend, than in the castle where she would be constantly reminded of the tasks she had to carry out.

“We could stay there and just look into the horizon for a while.” Dash proposed.

“Look into the horizon?” Twilight asked laughingly. “Maybe I don’t remember well, but you are more the kind who can’t stand still and would like to race.”

“Well, everytime we race, you end up teleporting.” responded the pegasus.

“Which happens to be the only way I can keep up with you…” almost complained Twilight.

Rainbow Dash laughed.

“Yeah, I’m pretty fast, aren’t I.” she said with pride. “In the sky, I’m unbeatable.”

She had used a tone on the word sky that didn’t sound right. It was that weird feeling again. So Twilight decided there was more than she had previously thought.

“Rainbow Dash?” she began. “Is there something you want to talk about?”

But Dash was busy modeling a cloud into the shape of the alicorn, and another one into her own face. She seemed to be having a lot of fun. Then the pegasus came back on the cloud where Twilight was standing and lay at her side.

“I’m just wondering if it’s fun to stay still and look into the horizon for a few hours. That’s all.” Dash explained with a joyous tone. “Maybe it’s very fun.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Twilight said. “Why do you wonder about that?”

“Dad spends hours and hours just looking into the horizon and I’m not sure I understand it.” Dash replied with a smile. “I asked him if I could stay at his side and he agreed, but I got bored after a while.”

The while she was talking about had been exactly forty-six seconds.

“You think there is something wrong?” Twilight asked.

“No, of course not.” Dash replied with a smile. “I’m just impatient to learn to enjoy staring into the horizon and I wanted to practice a little.”

“Okay, let’s try it.” Twilight said.

They both lay down on the cloud and looked away, where the ground and the sky meet. And there was nothing there.

Nothing at all.

It was utterly boring.

That is when Twilight noticed Rainbow Dash had fallen asleep, mostly because of the snoring.

“Sorry!” apologized the pegasus with a little laugh. “I guess I still have a lot of practice to do.”

“Don’t worry about it.” the alicorn replied. “Do you want to try it again.”

“No. I better go back home. I’m presenting my father to Fluttershy tonight.”

So they both parted ways, making sure they would meet again soon, and Twilight went back into the castle to go to bed and maybe read a book to forget, be it for a moment, that she had the future of a pony between her hooves.

Blind and blinding

“Your majesty…” the guard said, trying to wake Twilight up.

The alicorn ignored the voice, the warmth of her sheets being way too comfortable.

“Mister Fairy is here and is waiting for you.” the guard continued. “You majesty?”

But to the guard surprise, Spike entered the bedroom, went to the bed, and shook Twilight to wake up her up.

“Time to get up!” the dragon said with some pleasure.

His duty done, he went away to prepare the comb she would use and a glass of milk to make her wait for a proper breakfast.

Twilight looked at the guard who, not knowing if he should arrest the dragon, just repeated that the judge Fairy was waiting for her in the hall. Understanding the situation, Twilight immediately got up, drank the glass of milk, combed her mane and went to the hall.

“Ah, your majesty!” the judge happily greeted her. “I was told you wanted to see me?”

Twilight had in fact sent a guard to summon him to her as she wanted to discuss the case with him.

“I’m sorry I had to rush you like that…” apologized Twilight.

“Absurd.” Fairy replied. “It’s an honor to be summoned here. I’m entirely at your service.”

Twilight smiled. The good mood of that judge was somewhat infectious.

“I need to know why you came to the conclusion that Fire Anthem is guilty.” she asked him.

The judge smiled.

“A wise choice. It means you are still considering he might be innocent. I’m happy to notice I’ve chosen well to let you judge that case.”

“Even if I were to decide he isn’t guilty?” Twilight asked, surprised by the judge’s reaction.

“Of course.” he answered. “I’m only interested in seeing justice prevail. I may be convinced that this young stallion is guilty, I can accept that I was wrong and I would more than gladly recognize I was wrong if I’m corrected by your majesty.”

Twilight blushed. She was blown away by the fact some ponies could trust her so much, when she herself doubted her own judgment in a big way.

“So what convinced you he is guilty?” Twilight asked again.

“It’s quite simple actually. He has the motive to do it, he has a violent personality, he had already hit the victim and had threatened her. Also, if I were to believe his story, I would have to imagine he would have stayed into a bush just long enough to stay away from his home until the arson had been committed and to be back home before the guards had arrived to question him. In my experience, it is the most plausible scenario. Given that he will simply be thrown into jail, which won’t kill him, I think it’s the safest to lock him away.”

“Maybe somepony else lit the fire.” Twilight proposed.

“Who?” asked the judge, not really asking, but just agreeing to pursue the pleasant debate they were having and that he was quite enjoying.

“The neighbor could have done it.” Twilight said. “Diamond Prism could have gone there and lit the fire.”

“He could have.” admitted the judge. “It’s just unlikely, as he has lived near miss Full’s house for years, since before she had begun to go out with mister Anthem. The motive seems quite weak.”

“Miss Full could have done it.” Twilight proposed.

“She could have.” confirmed the judge. “But such ponies usually forget to break the glass in the correct direction. Also, she had been attacked by the suspect that night, so she had already enough to make him pay. Sacrificing her house seems too extreme.”

“Maybe the fire was an accident.” Twilight argued.

“I won’t deny it is a possibility, even if it implies a big coincidence, as the accident would have happened the very same night as the fight with mister Anthem.” Fairy debated. “Also, if we go through all the possibilities, the fire could have been caused by the mother to incriminate her daughter’s boyfriend that she hates, or by an arsonist that just happened to have chosen that very house for his bad deed, or by one of the former lover of miss Full. None of those possibilities are totally impossible.”

Twilight looked down. She was being schooled by that judge she had summoned, but she was glad she was being schooled. In a way, she was hoping he would decide she wasn’t fit to decide what the truth was and would demand for Celestia to pass the judgment.

At least the sun princess would know what to do.

In fact, Twilight didn’t have to wait for the judge to demand it. She could put her pride on the side and just ask her mentor herself.

“Oh, I was about to forget.” the judge said. “The director of the jail institution has asked me to give you that file. He said you needed it as soon as possible and he is hoping he wasn’t too late.”

Twilight saw the file, which was Rainbow Blaze’s case, and smiled. The director might have worked that fast just to look good in front of the princess. But she didn’t need facts to know the truth there. He had just thought the princess needed an information, didn’t know if the information was vital or not and had assumed it was.
There was something about ponies that made them believe in the perfection of the princesses.

“Would you excuse me if I quickly glanced into it?” Twilight asked.

“Of course.” Fairy replied, as he could have been able to wait the whole day if asked to.

Twilight went through the file, ignored the nature of the crime that was way too terrible and went to the arguments of the judgment that had been passed.

She found them.

And she came out of her reading with a very pale face.

“Is something wrong?” the judge asked, suddenly worried, almost ready to call for the guards help.

“Yes. No. Maybe.” Twilight replied in a mechanical way.

Rainbow Blaze’s case had been a very complicated one. The proofs were indicating, at the time, that he was guilty, but there had still been a remaining doubt. The same doubt that had been confirmed recently and had led to his liberation.
No judge had sent Rainbow Blaze in jail. The order was signed by another pony.

Her royal highness, princess of Equestria, Celestia, princess of the sun.

As I have no other word to say it, know that Twilight threw up and, called by a very worried judge Fairy, the guards put her back in bed with one of them going to summon a doctor.

The truth in all subjectivity

Responding to Twilight’s wish, the doctor entered the bedroom as the doctor was leaving it.

“Doctor.” greeted the one leaving, having confirmed that the princess wasn’t suffering of any illness.

“Doctor.” greeted No Nothing who had come from the jail.

“Come here please.” said Twilight who was still lying in bed.

The psychologist came near the bed and sat.

“Are you feeling well your majesty?” she asked.

“Yes.” reassured her the alicorn.

A little moment awkwardly passed, as the doctor was waiting for Twilight to tell her why she had been summoned.

“I’m still new to this whole judicial mess.” the alicorn said.

“I understand.” Nothing replied. “I will help to the best of my capabilities.”

Twilight smiled.

“I was simply wondering. How come you didn’t tell anypony Rainbow Blaze was innocent?”

“I didn’t know he was innocent.” the doctor replied.

“But you have spent years as his psychologist. You must have realized your were talking to an innocent, mustn’t you?”

The doctor sighed. It was kind of painful for her to be remembered how blind she had been. She was feeling guilty for having been unable to do anything to help that stallion. Still, she knew she hadn’t done anything wrong.

“It is important to understand that a pony’s mind is a very complex thing.” she began to explain. “I once encountered a pony that claimed his innocence for years and made several ponies believe him, but one day suddenly not only confessed but proved that he was guilty. Some ponies are incredibly great when it comes to manipulation. Some ponies even tell you the truth when they say they are innocent, because they truly believe they are innocent, as they are unable to accept their own guilt. Some other ponies will make sure you believe they are guilty until it is proven they aren’t, may it be to cover somepony else of just because they take some pride in being guilty, or because they simply believe they are guilty to compensate for another guilt of something else entirely. There is a case, in our history, where everypony was guilty of a crime, even the inspector that was in charge of the case. In some other cases, nopony was guilty.”

“This isn’t sufficient.” Twilight said. “I need to find out what happened in a certain case. Can’t you help me?”

“I can try.” Nothing said. “But I can’t promise you I’d be right. In fact, I can assure you that my conclusions would be assumptions at best.”

“How am I supposed to throw somepony in jail if I have no certitude?” Twilight asked.

“Maybe you are not supposed to throw that pony in jail.” the doctor proposed.

“But if he is guilty, he will attack his victim again. And I would have allowed him to.”

“Then throw him into a cell and lock the door. This way, you will be certain to eliminate that risk.” Nothing replied.

“I can’t! I need to be certain he is guilty.”

“You can’t be certain.” told her the doctor. “Even what we call hard evidence, evidence that give the certitude of someone’s guilt, there is still a doubt. You can find some cases where the evidences were conclusive, but where the culprit was actually innocent.”

“In other words, you tell me we know nothing.” Twilight sighed.

“I wouldn’t put it that way. We know some things, and we have to do our best with it. I just think us ponies are lucky to have you princesses to guide us when we doubt our own judgment.”

Twilight didn’t reply. She simply thanked the psychologist and let her walk away. She then closed her eyes and tried to forget that weird world where lies are forming the fabric of the truth.

She opened her eyes as she was feeling the presence of another pony in the room with her. She looked around and saw Rainbow Dash, sitting in the middle of the bedroom.

“Dash?” she asked, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m delivering a letter.” the pegasus said with a smile, while coming near the bed,

Twilight got up, and took the letter from her friend’s hooves.

“What is it? Is it from you?” she asked.

“No. My father asked me to give it to you.” Dash explained. “I have to warn you, it might be very important.”

Twilight looked into Dash’s eyes, but got comforted by the certainty into the pegasus’s look. There was something reassuring in Rainbow Dash’s attitude. She seemed to always know what was to be done, even when she was wrong. Mostly when she was wrong. But Dash would always follow her heart and even if the consequences were sometimes pretty bad, like the time she kicked a dragon in the nostrils, you knew you could trust her to be doing the right thing, or what she thought was the right thing.

“Come on, read it.” said Rainbow Dash, thinking Twilight was hesitating because of the seriousness of the letter. “I want to go fly. I’ve got to train: there is a race coming and I intend to destroy my competition!”

“So why are you waiting for me to read the letter? You could have given it to Spike.” Twilight stated.

“’Cause I want to know what is written of course.” Dash explained.

Twilight was feeling the exact same weird feeling than the last time. In fact no, it wasn’t the exact same, it was way worse. She was under the impression there was a bomb about to explode around her. That impression the world is about to implode, kept together only by a tiny piece of wire.

And it was coming from Rainbow Dash. The same Rainbow Dash that was smiling before her. The same one that was looking at her with that confident look.

Twilight opened the letter. There wasn’t much written on it. It just said:

Please watch over my daughter for me.

Thanks for everything.

It wasn’t even signed. Twilight wasn’t sure how to interpret it.

“I should have known.” said Rainbow Dash who had read it as well. “He told me he was very proud of me. He said I should keep being awesome.”

“He said?” asked Twilight, before she realized.

She had understood what that weird feeling had been. She hadn’t noticed it before, because it was very faint, but now that her eyes were opened, it was almost obvious. Rainbow Dash was smiling. Not because she was happy, but because she had decided to be happy. And that smile was a controlled one, and her confident eyes were controlled eyes, and her confident attitude was the result of her will. Her whole body was forced to show only strength and optimism. Everything else was ignored or pushed aside.

“What happened?” Twilight asked, unable to hide how worried she was for her friend.

“I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ll be able to understand why.” Dash replied.

“When?” Twilight insisted.

“During the night. I don’t really want to talk about that you know.”

Twilight hugged her friend and Dash hugged her too.

“Are you feeling okay?” the alicorn asked.

“It hurts…” the pegasus replied. “I… it… it hurts a lot.”

“I’m so sorry.” Twilight said.

They stayed that way for a long moment, hugging each other, and for an external observer, it would have seemed like Rainbow Dash was comforting Twilight, which was a part of the truth anyway.

“If there is anything I can do…” began Twilight.

“I’ll be sure to ask. Don’t you worry, I’ll remember that one.” the pegasus replied with a little laugh. “I might even abuse it when the time comes.”

“How can you…?” Twilight asked, but stopped as she was feeling she shouldn’t push that matter too hard.

“He told me he was proud of me. He told me I should keep being awesome.”

Twilight understood and cried a little more.

... and never fear the worst

“How is Rainbow Dash doing?” asked Spike.

Twilight had to think about that one before answering. Since she had received that letter from her father, she hadn’t ceased to be amazed by the capacity of her pegasus friend to find happiness everywhere. It was like nothing had happened at all.
Of course, she knew it wasn’t the truth. Something had happened. But it was comforting to know that Rainbow Dash had accepted to see doctor Nothing every week.

“She is very resilient.” Twilight finally replied to her assistant.

“And what have you decided about that arson case of yours?” the dragon continued. “I imagine you’ll free the suspect, right?”

“Why do you think I would free him?” asked back Twilight.

“So you’re going to throw him in jail?” assumed Spike.

The alicorn smiled. Yes, she clearly envied that spontaneity, that capacity to see the world in a Boolean way.

“Why would I throw him in jail?” asked Twilight, thinking she should teach something to her assistant while having the little pleasure of messing with him at the same time.

“But you just said…” began Spike. “I don’t understand you anymore. Just make your mind.”

“Well, what would you decide?” the alicorn asked.

Spike thought about it a little and then replied:

“Well, the guy says he is innocent, so I should free him, but the others say he is guilty, so I should lock him up, but there isn’t enough proof to be certain he did it, so he should be free, but it is most likely that he did it, so the best bet would be to throw him in jail.”

Twilight quietly listened to the dragon’s thought.

“If he ends up in a cell, there is no way he could threaten anypony anymore, so that’s good, but if he is not guilty, then the culprit can still threaten somepony, which is bad, and if nopony is actually guilty and it was all an accident, then I would have sent an innocent into jail, but being locked up in jail isn’t such a bad thing. I mean, they have a cinema and a pool. We don’t even have a pool here. Why don’t we have a pool?”

Twilight frowned, but let her assistant continue.

“Okay, so you told me that he looks like a nice stallion, and she looks like a nice mare, even if they are both weird, so there is no indication there. And you can’t ask princess Celestia because she was wrong that one time. And you won’t send the stallion in jail, because you are afraid he will end up like Dash’s father. So you’ll free him, right?”

“You can’t do something just because you feel bad about something that happened to your relatives.” stated Twilight.

“Then you’ve decided to condemn him to prison.” Spike brilliantly deducted.

“I did ask princess Celestia.” Twilight said.

Now Spike was confused again. He couldn’t understand why that pony couldn’t just make her mind, take a decision and call it a day. She really liked to complicate things in his opinion.

“And what did she tell you?” he asked.

“To apply the law the way the law had been made to be applied.” Twilight answered with a little grin, knowing what effect it would have on the little dragon.

And what effect indeed. She could have told him that the division by zero is actually possible under the paradigm of the exploration of the limits of equations and he would have still felt just as lost.

“Okay, stop playing with me and just tell me what you’ve decided to do.” Spike said, frustrated.

“Fire Anthem is to be found guilty of arson and be sentenced to six months in prison and two and a half years of suspended sentence.”

“So you do think he is guilty!” triumphantly deducted the dragon.

“I’m just doing my duty as a princess of Equestria.” explained Twilight.

Spike sighed first and then began to laugh.

"Still, all that fuss for six little months of jail..."

Twilight didn't answer that. She just began to stare into the horizon. So the dragon asked another question:

“And what if you are wrong?”

Twilight didn’t answer. She had asked that to Celestia and Celestia hadn’t answered either. At least not directly. She had just said that the best they could do was hoping for the best.

And never fear the worst.

THE END

Author's Note

Two things to note for posterity.
First, this story is bad on so many levels... Maybe I should have taken away the whole deal with Rainbow Dash. Maybe that should have been its own story. Maybe I should have left Pinkie Pie in the mix. Oh well... And those names! Oh my god.

Second, I'm stupid. I've got a perfect opportunity to post the story chapter by chapter, but I guess I'm too lazy for that. Or I just don't really see the point anyway.

At least I had fun writing it ^^. And I hope I'll have fun re-reading it in the future.

[edit:] Yay, I had fun re-reading it. Also, the names are actually quite good (except no nothing). I also rediscovered so many references I have put in there. "Why don't we have a pool" for example... Oh well.

[edit2:] re-read it. It's actually a great story. It sort of moved me. I had forgotten how important those concepts are to me. It's badly written, I can see that, but it doesn't matter. I'm very glad I wrote it. I should really keep on writing lousy stories.