“It’s better than being stuck in a coma, that’s for sure.” Koto agreed with a nod.

“I shall go back to debating with my sister. Before I go, do you have any suggestions for the Quartet’s punishment?” Luna asked, wings shifting.

The five exchanged glances with one another for a moment or so before they turned back to the princess.

“What are the options, apart from life in prison or Outlaw Island?” Nagare asked, brow arched.

“Banishment, really.” Luna answered.

“Then banish them wherever.” Rekka sighed, waving a hoof dismissively. “Outlaw Island’s not good enough for them.”

“Very well then.” Luna replied with a nod. She promptly went out the door and about her business.

“They want those two unicorns banished?” Celestia asked, brow arched.

“Yes.” Luna answered with a nod. “Where, though, they didn’t say.”

“That’s a good thing. It means we can decide where to banish them.” The white mare replied, eyes narrowing briefly.

“On the sun or moon?” The blue mare asked, blinking.

“Neither.” The solar princess replied, shaking her head. “I would rather them punished while they were still living, and then punished even more once they die. The sun and moon are too good for them.”

“You can’t mean…” The lunar mare trailed off, eyes widening.

“I’m afraid so.” Celestia stated, nodding her head slowly. Her horn glowed briefly, and a few moments of silence passed. “It’s the only place befitting those two.” She said just as the doors to the throne room opened. A guard stepped in.

“The public trial is ready, Your Majesties.” The guard said.

Celestia looked towards the guards. “Gather everypony you can.” She said.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The guard replied, turning tail. Just as he was about to leave, Luna spoke up.

“Be sure to bring the foreign ponies too.”

“To join the crowd who will witness the trial?” The guard asked, looking back at the lunar princess.

“Yes.” The night blue alicorn answered with a nod. The guard nodded back and went out the throne room. The room was deathly quiet again, and neither of the sisters spoke another word until the throne room had a few noble ponies enter through the doors.

One noble, Prince Blueblood, approached the sisters. “Why are we having a trial on this fine afternoon?” He asked, brow arched.

“Let’s just say two ponies have done horrid things, endangering all of Equestria in the process.” Luna answered. “Please, take your place amongst the crowd, the trial will run much smoother that way.”

Blueblood and the first few nobles obliged quickly. Then, a few Wonderbolts entered with Spitfire heading the group. The orange pegasus trotted to the sisters.

“Before we take our places,” Spitfire began, “can I ask who’s on trial?”

“We will divulge nothing about the defendants until the trial begins.” Celestia answered. “The nobles here would surely be frightened half to death if I told you who was on trial.”

The orange pegasus thought it over for a moment. “Fair enough.” She said, her group taking their place on the opposite side of the room.

After that, the ten foreigners arrived, six of which Spitfire noticed that were being helped to walk by the magic of two unicorn guards. They took their place in the middle of the side the Wonderbolts had occupied, and the aided six were sitting down on the floor once they got to their destination.

“I see you are recovering fast.” Celestia remarked, flashing the group a small but warm smile.

“I’m glad I don’t have crutches attached to my body this time around. Being crippled kinda sucks.” Rekka replied, smiling back.

“Aren’t we all?” Nagare commented, smiling as well. He had his forelegs in the air splayed apart above his head like he was about to bow down and worship something.

“The trial’s going to begin soon. We’d best keep quiet.” Takashi pointed out, and the rest of the group shared a collective nod.

Twilight and her friends, as well as Discord, Harry the bear, and the vultures entered next. Discord went to the lot of ten and patted the five disguised alicorns and their unicorn companion on the heads before taking his place next to Fluttershy, whose group was perched next to the nobles.

In a matter of moments after that, the whole place was packed with ponies from basically everywhere in Equestria, with some bringing in clouds to make room for the wingless. On the other side, Yuuki almost immediately recognized the older unicorn with white pelt and light green mane she’d first met in Manehatten and waved a hoof to her. She smiled when the unicorn waved back.

Clamor was running rampant amongst the crowd, almost twice as much as the Gala, and so were guesses of who was to be on trial and why. The room was nearly overflowing, so the doors had to be closed to keep the crowd from growing any larger than need be.

Tenmei found Braeburn sitting next to Applejack. He smiled, remembering how the stallion helped him in Appleloosa. He had also spotted Shining and Cadence striking up a conversation with Twilight. About what, though, he didn’t know because the rest of the crowd drowned the three out.

“At ease, my little ponies!” Celestia bellowed, her voice quickly silencing the room in a heartbeat. “The trial shall soon begin, and the defendants’ crimes made known to all so their mistakes will not be repeated!”

The room was deathly silent for another few moments, and then the doors were flung open once more. Baki and Maki, who were bound in shackles, were dragged to the sisters by guards who glared at them the whole trip. Another series of guards brought a caged Yoneko, who was mumbling incoherently to herself as her set of escorts stopped to ensure her bonds were secured. She shrieked as the guards checked her binds, but her words were nothing short of gibberish mixed with slurred Japanese.

As soon as the guard left her cage and closed the door, the altered pegasus stopped her caterwauling. She too had been dragged before the sisters, but the guards made sure to still keep her a reasonable distance away from those who had harmed her beyond repair.

“We should’ve killed you sooner!” Maki growled, only for a guard to quickly put a horse tack on his face and tighten it around his muzzle. The unicorn, who no longer had a horn to begin with, struggled fruitlessly against his binds. His leader did the same thing, but neither was going anywhere anytime soon.

“You two are not going to be doing anything.” Celestia replied, eyes narrowing at the duo. “For your sort of evil has not been seen since the times of Discord and Nightmare Moon before they had been reformed. No, your evil does not match those two--it transcends it.” She added rather bitterly.

Luna rose her head away from the two to look at the crowd, all of whom had eyes poised intently on the hornless unicorns. She noticed some glares amongst the crowd, but she had seen enough to perfectly understand why that was so.

“We’ve done no evil!” Baki lied, quickly getting a horse tack of his own.

Luna quickly directed her gaze back to him. “You’ve no right to speak, you foolish cur!” She hissed, now glaring at him herself.

“I share similar sentiments with my sister.” Celestia remarked, rising up from her throne and taking a step towards the now-hapless duo. “The two of you have created monsters aimed at a small group of ponies, endangering countless other lives in the process--carelessly, may I add. And that is only the tip of the iceberg.” She began, her words eliciting a few murmurs from the parts of the crowd who had witnessed said monsters.

The alicorn of night rose up herself, also taking a step forward. “No, this iceberg goes much deeper. Your monsters, your destructive antics, have stricken some of our little ponies with horrific nightmares.” The lunar princess began. “But that isn’t all--you had the nerve, THE NERVE, to abduct at least five ponies and do inexplicable harm to them! In fact, one of them is in that cage over there having to be detained because of your actions!” She hissed, raising a hoof and pointing it at Yoneko for reference. “Guards, let the crowd see her--just this once!”

The guards obliged, carefully hauling the once-more-shrieking cyborg out of her cage. Almost everybody in the room shared a collective gasp of shock and terror upon seeing just what was once an ordinary pegasus.

“What have they DONE to her?!” Spitfire cried, eyes wide.

Rarity put a hoof over her forehead and proceeded to faint. Twilight shook her head and blinked to make sure she was seeing this anomaly correctly.

A few ponies turned green in the face at the sight.

The cyborg stopped screaming, darting her head frantically every which-way she could manage. The ponies in the crowd she was surrounded by were horrified by her appearance--perhaps confused, even--and her panicked mind jumped to one conclusion: they were judging her based solely on what she looked like now. “Just let me go! I did nothing wrong!” Yoneko pleaded, fruitlessly struggling against her binds with tears already falling down her face.

Luna’s horn glowed, and her aura briefly surrounded the cyborg before she closed her eyes and stopped squirming. “Sleep, troubled mare.” She said as the guards slowly put her back in her portable cell. “We know of what they’ve done to her--they’ve trained her to use as a living weapon. Through torture, extreme experiments, and chains, they have molded a scarred being capable of unimaginable destruction at the slightest provocation!”

The crowd shared another collective gasp of horror.

"And that's not even the end of it!" Luna cried, all eyes once more on her. She waved the accusing hoof at the hornless dunces before her. "They have threatened the lives of me and my sister! For all I know, they very well may have threatened Princess Cadance as well with one of their abominations! In fact, they fooled us with an illusion once to throw out a member of the royal family who had honestly done nothing wrong!"

Yet another collective gasp. The ten foreigners simply nodded amongst themselves.

“What is more,” Celestia began, “is that there happened to have been a third amongst these two stallions you see before you. At first, she was very much like them. But as their dark deeds and agenda unfolded before her, she began to have her doubts, from what we were told. Upon receiving the same treatment that was given to at least five others, she decided enough was enough. As a result, she shall be spared from judgment.”

Luna shook her head. "We still don't know what it is they're after, and we'd rather not let them attain it, whatever it is! Enough damage has been caused by these two alone!" She cried.

“What will their punishment be?!” The crowd shrieked in unison, the voices sounding like a single roar from a great beast.

“Death is too kind for these monsters who dare call themselves stallions, and so is Outlaw Island. Only one solution for the likes of them remains: banishment.” Celestia and Luna answered in unison, horns glowing brightly. A portal depicting a series of dark rocks appeared, and everyone present could make out a gargantuan three-headed bulldog patrolling a few rocks, one of which had two open cages loaded with shackles.

The two unicorns began struggling more and more as auras of gold and blue lifted them into the air and dragged them closer to the portal.

And closer.

The portal then swallowed the two up and closed just seconds after they crossed to what lay in wait on the other side.

“This trial has been adjourned. We implore you to not make the same mistakes these two have done.” Celestia said, eyes wandering off to the snoozing cyborg. “As for the mare in the cage, please return her to solitary confinement.”

The guards obliged, taking themselves and the cage out of the throne room. The crowd began to disperse, at first one by one. Then, in moments, the throne room was nearly emptied, save for the group of ten and the guards who helped six of them.

“Celestia, Luna, can me and my companions speak to you in private?” Raki asked, eyelids slanting a bit as she spoke.

Author's Note

Epilogue's next. :D

~Dragon