A New Ending

The gavel slammed against the abused wood, echoing through the chamber, demanding order amidst the chaos of arguing ponies and changeling soldiers. “Order!” The changeling in the judge’s robes demanded. “This is a court of law, not a farm! I will have order!”

“A court of law!?” One voice rose over the din, and Princess Celestia rose with it. The goop amidst her feathers quivered in the sunlight as she turned her glare on the unimpressed changeling judge, then swept it over the undisguised changelings crowded into the jury box. “I see no such thing. All I see is an obviously-biased court holding a mockery of a trial, an insulting jest at justice’s expense!”

“The former princess will be seated or she will be found in contempt and removed from the courtroom,” the changeling droned, his voice carrying throughout the room. The spear-wielding changeling soldiers at the sides of the defendants’ box took a step in her direction, but Celestia merely resumed her seat with a dainty ruffle of her feathers and a glare levelled at the group.

“Now then,” the judge scanned the seven ponies crammed into the defendants’ box, pausing over each of the mares in turn. To nopony’s surprise, the Bearers of Laughter and Kindness hid their muzzles in their hooves when his eyes passed, though the others maintained their defiant glares as long as they could. “The defendants are charged with abuse, neglect, attempted murder, libel, overt xenophobia, and forgery. How do they plea?”

The group responded with wide-eyed shock. “Not guilty!” Thundered Rainbow Dash’s reply, once again to nopony’s surprise.

The judge-changeling snorted, obviously having been waiting for just such a response. “Then let the trial of the Element Bearers commence!” He announced, turning to the changeling waiting in the prosecutor’s box. “Does the prosecution have any opening remarks to make?”

“We do, your honor,” the changeling said as he took to his hooves, his jet-black armor and helmet having been replaced with a well-pressed suit. The changeling strode to the front of the chamber, just beneath the judge’s podium, then swept his hooves out, motioning over pony and changeling alike with the theatrics of an actor in a play.

“Changelings, ponies…my fellow equines,” he said, rocking back and forth on his hooves. “We are gathered here to right a wrong, committed so long ago by these mares you see arrayed before you.”

He motioned over the defendants’ box. “These mares are guilty of nothing short but the most outrageous and heinous of crimes, committed against one of our own for the sin of being different! Of not fitting into their norms!”

“That is a lie!” Twilight leapt to her hooves. “We defended Canterlot from the changelings, nothing more! We were attacked and defended ourselves!”

“The defense will not speak out of turn or she will be found to be in contempt!” The judge bellowed as Twilight bared her teeth, her shoulders rising and falling in anger. Only a gentle hoof from Rarity got her back into her seat. The judge nodded, then motioned for the prosecution to continue.

The changeling in the suit eyed the six like a lion watching a gazelle stretch its neck out to reach a drink of water. He grinned knowingly. “I’m afraid you have your incidents switched up, but let’s allow the evidence to do the talking, hmm?” He hissed. “The prosecution calls Miss Roseluck to the stand!”

At that, the doors leading into the room burst open, and a trio of changelings led the captive mare to the front of the room, her usually pristine mane falling in sweaty bunches over her shoulders. Twilight’s heart had to go out to the mare: her hooves quivered against the tile, making a sort of rattling sound with every step, and even the non-changelings could feel her anxiety spike on seeing the sheer number of equines in the room. Still, the guards led her firmly, yet gently, allowing her to get herself situated at the front of the courtroom, and even walking her through a few deep, calming breaths before leaving her to the prosecutor.

“Miss Roseluck of Ponyville, I assume?” The changeling asked.

“I-I…” she swallowed, blowing a strand of red mane out of her mane. “Y-Yes, that’s me.”

“How long have you been a resident of Ponyville, Miss Roseluck?” The changeling asked, staring nonchalantly at his hoof and picking at a bit of loose chitin.

“N-nearly ten years now,” she replied, her voice quivering but still coming on strong. She turned to the defendants, and Twilight gave her the strongest, most hopeful smile she could manage. Roseluck managed a tiny half-shell of a grin back. “I-I moved there from Manehattan when I’d heard about the temperate climate. Plus, it was a farming community, so I knew the soil would be p-perfect for my flowers.”

“Ah, you’re a flower mare?”

“Y-yes sir,” she whimpered.

“Good, good, now, do you recall a certain day about five years ago? A day when your town gained a new resident?”

“I-I’m not that good with new ponies, not like…”

“Oh, nonono, Miss Roseluck, this wasn’t a pony,” the lawyer said, his piercing gaze drifting to the pony as his tone took on a deep, serious and resonating quality. “Think back, Miss Roseluck, surely Ponyville gained one new resident that stood out from all the others?”

“I…that was so long ago…I…”

“Was it really so long ago? So long that you’d forget something so tremendous as a new species arriving in your little town?”

A rumble echoed through the courtroom, ponies talking in hushed tones, whispering what in Equestria he might possibly be talking about. For her part, Roseluck’s eyes darted back and forth over the room, pausing at Twilight’s wide and confused eyes and, finding no solace there, shooting around again in a fruitless search for comfort. “I…I…”

“Perhaps you merely require a reminder,” the changeling cut her off, then stood at the head of the room, waving for the bondslings to escort her to the side, as if saving her for something. “The prosecution calls His Eminence, Jason Wright, to the stand!”

Of course I was standing on the other side of those doors, where else would I be? This was the moment I’d been waiting two years for, after all. The moment I got to shove their crimes right into those little hypocrites’ faces. All of them, not just those six ringleaders, but the whole bigoted country. And yet now, right when I need it most, my strength is nowhere to be found. My trembling hands rest on the set of mahogany double-doors, and still it takes nearly a full second to build up the force to open them. Once they do, however, I find everything I need to keep my stride. Mostly in the shocked, surprised, and hopeless looks around me.

Yeah, that’s right bitches, look who’s back. I drink in their faces, those shocked and confused looks, and the defiance! Ooooh, I’m gonna have fun with these girls. You hear that, Dashie? I’m going to beat that hateful little glare right out of your face. And Miss Fluttershy: if you could just stop fucking shaking like the tiny little coward you are for two goddamned seconds, sit up, and at least look like you’re contributing something to this entire process, instead of quivering like the useless pile of…

“Your honor?”

I turn my masked head to the prosecuting changeling, realizing I had just been staring into the defendant’s box for a few minutes while breathing creepily through my respirator. I have to grin behind my mask. A little trick like that can only help me.

I stride through the courtroom, passing the rows of ponies and changelings and just daring one of those little puke-colored fucks to throw something, really give me an excuse to unleash. When nothing of the sort is forthcoming, I let my gaze drift over the courtroom. I’m finished with the defendant’s box, I’ve afforded them all the attention they deserve. Instead, I focus on the outsider: the background pony, the secondary character, the one who was there but wasn’t a part of that exclusive little club. The one who might just corroborate everything.

Not that I need a corroboration, Sunbutt was right about this being a farce of a court, but it would be nice to have something else to ram down those little bitches’ throats. Maybe make one or two of them cry. That’d be nice.

At the front of the room, I turn on my heel and whip around to face the entire court, arms crossed behind my back, an impossibly powerful figure standing before them. Black tunic. Dark, heavy pants. Gas mask. My bulk almost keeping me from crossing my arms. I am a scary motherfucker.

“Everypony: the king of the changelings, and now of Equestria!” The lawyerling gushes, grinning at the assembled crowd. His grin widens at the scowl the princess aims at us. “Emperor Jason Wright!”

I raise my gloved hands, calming down applause that comes from the changelings only, the whole bunch of them whooping and whistling. Some little stallion in the front manages the audacity to boo me, standing on his hind hooves and yelling at the top of his little pony lungs. I snap my fingers, and immediately two burly changelings pick him up and physically drag him from the room, doing it so fast I barely have time to watch the hateful glare on his face melt into panic and fear before the doors slam shut on him.

Let’s see how that one likes a night in the Canterlot dungeons, just a bit of a scare to shut him up. Abuse of power? Maybe. Completely petty use of resources? Perhaps. Satisfying as shit that I can do this to somepony just for booing me? So totally, utterly, and completely yes.

At last, the time has come. I reach up, unbuckling the mask, continuing to wheeze through the respirator until it finally leaves my face. Ponies everywhere gasp at the long, stitched-together scar running down the side of my features, shredding through a milky-white eye and reaching down to my neck. I am honestly so damn lucky that stalactite didn’t kill me.

The effect on the defendants’ box is instant. Pinkie whimpers and shrinks back in her seat while the others all gasp. Only Celestia remains as she was, hardly moving, as I set the mask down to the side of the judge’s bench. I smile at them, which only increases the looks of revulsion on their little faces. “Yeah, I know,” I chuckle. “It doesn’t look good.”

Suddenly, I whirl on the defendant’s box. “But considering the fact that I’m holding each and every one of you at spearpoint, the least you could do is fucking pretend! If not for my sake, then for your own sorry asses!”

No reactions, except now most of the looks of revulsion have settled back to calm, collected, steely neutrals. Well, Fluttershy has gone back to quivering with her muzzle in her hooves and Pinkie has tears shimmering in those big, blue eyes, but still.

I relax, grasping my own wrists to keep the shaking from getting too bad. I knew before the attack this would get pretty emotional, but I have to stay relaxed.

“Emperor?” The lawyerling asks timidly. “With your permission, we’d really like to…”

“Of course,” I announce, spreading out my hands. “But I think I can take the initiative from here.”

The lawyer nods and backs off. I sigh, inhaling and exhaling slowly. My heart races as I face the crowd, looking them over, gauging the growing unease radiating off of everyone, pony and changeling alike. Then I turn to the rose-maned pony off to the side. “Now, Miss Roseluck, I’d like to repeat the prosecution’s question: do you remember that day five years ago when a new resident came to Ponyville?”

“L-l-l…” she stammers, eyes wide, locked on me, her mouth motoring incoherently.

I roll my eyes, stepping up to the little pony and, in one smooth motion, flicking her across the nose. She cries out as if I just smacked her full across the face, and the resulting bedlam and cries in the courtroom only feeds the overreaction. I sigh and raise my hand. Somehow, that results in quiet in the room. I guess one demonstration was all that I needed.

“Now, Miss Roseluck,” I repeat. “Do you or do you not remember that day five years ago when a certain someone came to your little town?”

“I…I…” she stammers, trembles, and then swallows, calming herself with another quick breath. Twilight nods her approval. “I do not, I’m sorry.”

“Oh really?” I put my arm up on her bench, leaning nonchalantly. “Look, I know it’s been a while, but I thought I wasn’t that forgettable.”

“Wh-what?”

“I mean, really,” I turn and glare at her. “I know my appearance has changed somewhat, but I’d think you little bitches would remember the day I came to town.”

“Wh-wh…” finally, that damn stammering stops, and she gapes, her eyes widening as she looks up at me. I see something pass over her massive stare, a faint glimmer, and finally the dam breaks. “Oh, dear sweet Celestia, it’s you.”

“Yes, it’s me,” I smile, finally glad at some progress. I stick out my hand. “Jason Wright. I’m afraid we haven’t been introduced, what with the panicked screaming and rock-throwing and everything.”

“I don’t…”

“Speaking of,” I continue, hand retracting. “Let’s see if you really do recall that day. Picture if you will: a young, starry-eyed lover of ponies, ready and waiting to meet the characters he so adored.”

“What are you…”

“So, he shows up at the door of Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship, Bearer of the Element of Magic, because if anypony can accept him, it’s her. If anyone can give him a start on his new life in Equestria, it’d be her. And what does she do? Do you remember?”

“I…yes…yes I do…” she gasps, a hoof going to her mouth.

“What did she do, Roseluck?” I ask, spreading a hand out to the crowd. “Explain it to the nice ponies here, nice and loud for them.”

“She…slammed the door in your face,” Roseluck shook her head, staring off into space. “She yelled something and she just slammed the door in your face!”

I grin. Bingo. “And what did you have to think of me after that, Miss Roseluck?”

“I…I just tried to ignore you…I mean, if she turned you away…”

“There we go!” I announce, turning on one heel. I glare down at little Miss Twilight Sparkle, who is now looking even less comfortable than she had a moment before. “If the Princess of Friendship couldn’t be around me, then why should anypony else, right?”

Murmurs race around the courtroom. Twilight shifts awkwardly while I grin. It’s starting. “Why should anypony…say…give me some means of income? Take the risk of giving the big, awful monster a job? Even care if he runs off to the woods so he can slowly waste away in a godforsaken cave, alone, uncared for, living on the edge of exposure and starvation?”

The gasps and whispers of utter shock melt some of the contempt that had been growing in the room since I stepped in, but I’m gonna need a lot more than that before all this is through. The most satisfying look is on Celestia herself: the widened eyes, the gaping mouth, the complete disbelief. I could’ve just told her the sun was a ball of hydrogen floating in space without any regard to her magic, and her reaction might’ve been the same.

Without any regard for courtroom proceedings, she stands out of her seat, not even glancing at the changeling guards pressing the flats of their spears to her sides. “It can’t be!” She says breathlessly. “Somepony…must have shown you some compassion…right?”

“Somepony,” I chortle, shaking my head. “You want to see some examples of pony hospitality, princess? Alright, I’ll show you.” I unbutton my tunic and pull it off over my head, exposing my body to all in the room. The gasps are all I need to know it’s had the desired effect. Then again, how couldn’t it? The network of scars crisscrossing my torso scared the hell out of me when I first saw them in a mirror, in my new chambers in the Badlands.

“Oh my dear Sweet Celestia…” Rarity gasps, sounding as though she was going to be sick. What, seeing your handiwork and the damage it’s done a bit too much for ya, you stuck-up piece of shit? Tough.

“You like? I think of it as the perfect model of pony hospitality to outsiders,” I chortle, running my hands over a couple of divots visible on my chest. “Remember these, Applejack? From the very first time we met?”

“I…I…” she croaks, then that same shimmer passes over her eyes. What was that, some pony thing? How they expressed realization? “Oh my stars an’ bars, I do.”

“Do you remember the very first thing you did? How you greeted me when I stepped on your farm in a futile search for work?” My placid smile turns into a dark grimace. “The two broken ribs you gave me that I had to nurse myself?”

She shakes her head, her wide, horrified eyes never leaving mine.

“Yes, Applejack,” I said. “You did this. You, and your rainbow-maned whore of a friend.”

“Huh-hey…” Rainbow starts. “D-don’t go…”

“After all, your bucks could never have done anything like this, now could they?” I turn, revealing the long, jagged patch of skin in the shape of a lightning bolt across my back. A fresh round of gasps and quiet murmurs grip the room. “No, this was more your forte, Rainbow Dash.”

There’s a few moments of silence, broken by a quietly murmured: “ohmygosh…”

“You did this to me, all of you,” I whisper, pulling my tunic back on. “And that’s where the charges of fraud come in. Fraud that you are somehow representative of all of harmony, when really you’re nothing but a bunch of bigoted, hateful, spiteful little…”

“Stop this right now!” Twilight screams, standing up in her box. I whirl on her, an eyebrow arching, watching as she snorts in anger. I arch an eyebrow coolly. “Stop these insults!”

Fluttershy, showing a modicum of courage for once, tugs at Twi’s foreleg, begging her to sit, but Twilight carries on regardless. “Y-you just barged into town, and you expected things to work out!? Y-you could’ve had a chance if…”

I smack her then. It happens before I even realize what I’m doing. My arm just rears back and I backhand her right across her face. A bit of spittle goes flying out the corner of her mouth and plants on the wall beside her. I take no small satisfaction in watching such a display from the regal wittle princess, and I’m not ashamed to admit that.

She looks up at me, her massive eyes wide and stunned, the goop around her horn shimmering. Five years ago, that look would have opened my heart and forced me to pull her into a hug to let her cry any of her troubles out. Now, it’s all I can do to keep from hitting her again. “Fuck. You.” I hiss. “A chance? You dare tell me I would’ve had a chance!?”

“I…yes?” She quivers, recoiling back. She’s not used to being treated like this. Maybe that’s the whole problem.

“Three. Years.” I reply. My fists clench until they shake, my fingernails cutting into my palms. “Three years I spent waiting for one of your chances! Three fucking years, you cunt! When was it gonna happen, huh!? When!?”

I don’t even take the time to listen to whatever half-ass excuse she has for me. I just rear back and hock a nice, big, phlegm-filled loogie at her, satisfied in the glistening bubble of mucus and saliva as it slides down the front of the defendant’s box. Still, not as much satisfaction as I could have. That had been meant for her cheek. I guess my aim isn’t as good as I thought it was.

“Everything,” I say, my voice low, almost like a growl in the back of my throat. “Everything you see here, everything you see around you, is your fault. Because five years ago, you, the Princess of Friendship, turned away a creature for being different.”

“I…” she stammers. “I didn’t…”

“Others hurt me more, don’t get me wrong,” I cut her off, not interested in hearing any excuses. My desire to learn why they did what they did left me a long time ago, in the cold, dark hollow of a tree growing by the road to the Badlands. Now, I just want to twist the knife. “You weren’t the worst, but you were the first. Everything I went through, every rejection, every single iota of pain laid on me for being different, started with you. Once word got around that not even the Princess of Friendship herself wanted a thing to do with me, that was it. Any chance I had of living a nice, happy life in Ponyville died that day on your doorstep.

“Just think: all that pain and sadness, and this, my justice,” I spread my hand out to the desecrated courtroom around her. “All because the Princess of Friendship didn’t want to make a friend.”

My grin widens. I don’t have to say the rest: she’s a smart little pony, she can put what I’m implying all together, but I want to hear it out loud. “All because you failed, Twilight Sparkle. You failed miserably.”

Her jaw works up and down, opening and shutting. She’s reeling as if she’d just been punched. “I-I didn’t know…” she whispers.

“You didn’t bother to know!” I scream, the old rage bubbling up within me. “You didn’t care! As far as you were concerned, you were fine with me going off into the woods and dying somewhere! You, the Princess of Friendship!”

My hand rears back for another backhanded slap against her face. By some incredible force of will, I manage to drop it back to my side, once again rejoicing in the cringe I’d earned from the little pony, her reacting to the expected blow. She’s learned her lesson from last time, no need to get cruel. Instead, I fall to eye level with her and glare into her massive, tear-filled eyes. “The fact that you wore that title for so long sickens me. All it took was something a little bit different to come along, and you turned your back on everything you’re supposed to represent. You repulse me, Twilight Sparkle. When I arrived on your doorstep, I wanted nothing more in the whole world than to be your friend. Now, I don’t even want to look at you.”

I pull my mask back on, keeping my head bowed, my back to everypony. Silence reigns but for the wheeze of the respirator, doing its job to force my breathing to calm down. “What has the jury determined?” I whisper, my heart still racing as I face the plain wood of the judge’s stand.

Breaking out of their stunned trance, the lead juror-ling stands to deliver the verdict. “On the charge of fraud and impersonating the Elements,” he says, his eyes wide. “We hereby find the defendants guilty.”

“Assault?”

“On the charge of assault,” this time the changeling takes a moment to find Applejack and Rainbow Dash in the crowd, levelling his cold gaze on them. “We hereby find the defendants guilty.”

“Neglect and general abuse.”

His gaze shifts to include the remaining four, the four who’s abuse may not have been physical, but who’s charges had been raised specifically so they would be included just for this moment. “Guilty.”

“And,” this time I turn, my large, plastic lenses falling on the princess of day. “Promoting a system of institutional racism designed to further a pony-specific agenda while neglecting the needs of all others?”

“Now, hold on…” Rarity starts, but a single glare from me shuts her up. Obviously, she doesn’t want to have her perfect mane ruined by human saliva or a good smack from a human hand. Nice to know she’s willing to sacrifice her values and stand down in defense of her mane. Wish I could say I was surprised.

“Guilty,” the changeling says, maintaining eye contact with her.

This time, it’s Twilight’s turn to look around, desperate for some amount of comfort. Her massive, wet eyes scour the room, but only find a bunch of ponies with their gazes averted, or worse, with scornful glares levelled her way. Surprisingly, little Miss Roseluck is part of the latter group.

“How could you?” She asks, shaking her head, angry tears streaming down her face. “All of this is your fault!”

I grin. Very nice, but see, it’s not enough that the Element Bearers are seen for the little bigots they are. All of Ponyville has to pay.

“Now, now, Miss Roseluck, you can’t give Twilight and her cronies all the credit for what’s happened here!” I laugh good-naturedly, earning a satisfying cringe from most of the ponies in the room. “That’s just selling yourself short!”

“Wh-what?” She asks, her glare turning into a wide-eyed gape in a heartbeat.

“After all, if it wasn’t for you and all your fellow townsponies going along with their cruelty and hatred, I might have actually been able to establish a real life for myself in your bigoted little community,” I continue, glancing at my fingernails and picking a speck of dirt out from beneath them. “All it would’ve taken is for just one of you to question anything that was happening to me, to just ask ‘why’ one time. To actually wonder what I’d done to deserve that amount of suffering.”

I turn to her, easily, placidly, and run a finger through her mane as she sits there on the edge of tears. “But no. Not one of you did. Just think: all of this could’ve been avoided if just one of you had shown me a single act of kindness at any point during those three years. That’s all it would’ve taken.”

The gleam returns, and her entire body shivers with it, as if the realization of the full weight of her crimes is physically hitting her. A pink blur in the corner of her eye tells me Pinkie is doing the same, and by the time I turn to her, all I see is a dark-colored mare with a straight mane, her massive eyes locked with mine, her shoulders hunched. Tears crawl down Pinkie’s cheeks. I scoff and turn back to Roseluck.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers, trembling as I glare down at her. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“Little late for that, dontcha think?” I growl. Thing is, I already have what I need. The looks of mixed disgust and revulsion from the ponies in the audience: the ones I’m about to send back out into the city’s general populace, that’s all I need.

Your downfall starts here and now, Sparkle.