"Well this should be better than trade agreements at least." Ember leaned toward the griffon at her side. "What do you think, clear and cut case? If Rarity Belle is a resident here, then she cannot belong to the Runt-King." She gestured with a claw at the diamond dog sitting to one side.

"This is more than justice, there is diplomacy at stake here. The diamond dogs are the main party stirring up opinions about Equestria's changeling… situation. Bandyr, Bandyr Hotclaw." Bandyr held out a talon to the dragon and got a firm shake back.

"Well, Bandyr, it will be a fun little time regardless." Ember drew her hand back and grinned.

"You would make light of this situation, a king and a young female have their lives hanging in the balance." Bandyr narrowed his eyes at the dragoness. "The rumors of your kind seem false then, we had heard you were closely allied with the ponies."

"You listen to too many rumors, I think." Ember and the griffon, together with a Saddle Arabian prince, all sat in a little booth to the side.

"My Court will come to order!" Twilight Sparkle sat behind a podium and banged down the wooden gavel that was the sign of law more universal than any other. "Today we are here to listen to two accusations, but I am not to be the pony judging them. Three esteemed peers sit, the Dragon Lord Ember, Prince Elijah Trotting of Saddle Arabia, and Bandyr Hotclaw, ruler of Griffonstone." Twilight inclined her head toward her peers. "I am here only to arbitrate. As King Gruff is the senior of the two making accusations, we will hear his words first."

A diamond dog stood up, obviously Gruff. "That," he pointed at where Rarity sat, "is diamond dog bitch, heavy with her master's pups. She must be returned us immediately!"

"That is all of your accusation?" Twilight looked at the canine and got a sharp nod. "Rarity Belle, please state your defense."

Rarity, her coat brushed to within an inch of its life, got to her hooves. "Well, I am a pony and belo-"

"She is bitch!" Gruff yelled, gesturing at Rarity. "She mine by law!"

"By his law, maybe." Ember muttered and then was shocked when the griffon at her side stood.

"Please, Your Highness," Bandyr tilted his head to Twilight, "Your Majesty," he gave the same tilt to Gruff, "it must be established whose laws are in effect. I believe that since this is not an embassy of the Diamond Dog Kingdom, it must be pony law under which we must judge."

"But she not pony!" Gruff pointed at Rarity still.

"I have a witness who can attest to Rarity Belle being a citizen of Equestria. Princess Celestia, would you please rise?" Twilight smiled at her former mentor.

"I can attest that Rarity Belle is one of my citizens." Celestia's words brooked no argument. "She is a little, distanced from her pony self, though I understand she will resolve the matter within a year."

Bandyr nodded to the Princess of the Sun. "Then this allegation of ownership is against a pony, in pony lands. Pony laws stand." Ruffling his feathers a little, the male griffon sat back down.

"Now then," Twilight gestured for everyone to sit back down, "Rarity Belle, under the Equestrian law, do you recognize the ownership of King Gruff, of yourself?"

Rarity turned a look on the other diamond dog, her eyes sharp as blades. "No, I am my own self."

Gruff dropped a thick book on the table before him, his snout half open in a canine grin. "It no matter, Equestrian law two zero seven, paragraph five." The dog had clearly been practicing those words as they sounded almost completely bereft of his normal phrasing.

Twilight frowned at this, she hefted up her own copy of the laws of her homeland and flicked through them. "Any species not directly recognized is subject to their own laws as well as Equestrian." Her heart ran cold at that.

"She bitch, she no have collar and master. She mine." Gruff grinned. "By diamond dog law."

Ember rose slowly to her feet. "I am not familiar with the laws of your country, could you please show us," she gestured to the other two judges, "where it says in your laws that this is the case?"

Grinning wide enough that his tongue started to loll out, Gruff leaned forward and started writing something on a piece of paper. "By diamond dog laws, anything king say is law, is law. And this say bitch belong to me."

Gel flew, his wings pumping hard. He knew where he had last seen his target, he hoped Growl was as stupid as he thought he was. Rainbow Dash descended down, slowing her speed in a slight stall before pacing the changeling.

"Find anything?" Gel had to shout to be heard over the wind flowing past them. He grinned when Dash nodded. Both back-winged and hovered. "What?"

"The mutt is down there, didn't run far I guess." Rainbow pointed with a wing. "Why are we doing this again?"

"He can say that he turned Rarity into a diamond dog." Gel's vision narrowed in the direction Dash was pointing. He folded his wings back and was joined in his dive by a blue missile. Pulling up at the last second, both found their hooves on the ground after expert landings. "Growl! Get your tail out here!"

"Growl no here!" A voice called from behind some old trees. "Only squirrels!"

Gel stepped up to the trees, but not around them. "Growl, you remember what I said I would do, if I ever found you again?" Rainbow raised an eyebrow at the stallion's tone. "If you come out now I won't do those things."

"You won't?" Growl's head stuck around the trees but pulled back. "Why should Growl trust ponies?"

"Rarity." Gel sat down. "Rarity is in trouble and needs your help, Growl." The head reappeared. "Your king-"

"He no king of mine! I came here get away from bad kings!" Growl stomped out from behind the trees. "What they done to pony?"

"He claims Rarity belongs to him, since she is a diamond dog. Growl, I don't like you, you probably don't like me either," Gel was at least happy the dog was showing some concern.

"You right, but I like pony, she soft… warm." Growl had sensed a lot of anger and menace the night when the black pony had first come for him. "What I do help?"

"Come back, say what you did to her and that she is not a diamond dog." Gel held out a hoof to the dirty and unkempt dog.

"She is perfect pony…" Growl looked down at the hoof, then reached forward to grasp it. All too quick the hoof seemed to flow and wrap around first his hand, then his arm. "You trick Growl!"

"A little, but we are not hiking back there on hoof." Gel kept flowing, not intruding on the dog, however. Spreading his wings, the changeling could already feel air rushing under them.

"There will be a short recess." Twilight banged the gavel with her magic. She got up and trotted over to Princess Celestia. "I don't know if I can-"

"You are doing perfectly, Twilight." Celestia was resolute in her decision. "You are the right pony for this. Did Gel say how long he would take?"

"Why do you think I called recess? It was a long shot, but I am glad he went now that King Gruff has laid all his cards on the table." Twilight slumped onto a chair. "Is this another test?"

"Twilight Sparkle, I stopped giving you 'tests' when you moved here." Celestia put a white wing over her fellow princess' back. "Who is that?"

Turning to follow Celestia's gaze, Twilight gasped as a changeling walked calmly into the big room. "Excuse me, I understand my client is being accused of something?" Please Do smiled, glad to have the chance to prove to this town that she could help. "Miss. Rarity Belle," Please trotted over, her dark, hole-filled hooves clacking softly on the stone floor, "your representation is here."

"And you are, Miss…" Rarity blinked at the pony, but saw a grinning Muffins come in behind the changeling.

"Please Do, attorney at law and solicitor. A mutual friend said you needed representation and I would consider it an honor to serve." Please lifted her little case up onto the desk Rarity was seated at. "Now, please explain to me what has happened, and what was said."

"That," Twilight beamed at seeing Please talking with her friend, "is Please Do, the recent… incident, left her wearing a shell instead of just wings. I understand she represents her sister-"

"Daring Do." Celestia beamed in delight until she saw the stunned look on Twilight's face. "Oh don't look at me like that, those are wonderful books, makes me wish I was under a thousand again…"

"I am sure it will help Rarity to have somepony really on her side. I hate having to stay so neutral." Twilight lowered her head.

"Would you rather somepony that can't remain neutral do your job?" Celestia rubbed that wing along Twilight's back. "It is never easy, being a princess, but know that sometimes you can help most by not helping."

"Recess over, yes?" Gruff wagged his tail. "Have new charge." He pointed at Rarity. "When I claimed bitch, somepony attacked me! Red and gold."

"Sunset Shimmer. She is certainly a pony and didn't hurt you." Celestia gave the King a look that had warned off many monsters before.

"She monster! Fangs, nopony has fangs like that, even bat ponies." Gruff didn't care that he was using a bad slur for a thestral. "You tell us you no making monsters, what was that?"

"Very well, we will hear these charges after the current ones are heard." Twilight got up, letting Celestia's wing fall from her back. Walking slowly up and into her position, she presided over the court once more. "We are back in session." Just as the gavel came down she saw the doors open and an oddly resolute diamond dog march in. The gasp from Rarity and look she shot him took some wind from his sails. "Growl, I take it?" Twilight gave the slightest bit of a smile.

"Me Growl." Growl instantly hated himself anew for the look Rarity gave him. "Me here to help."

"You… what you doing here?" Gruff shot to his feet, pointing at Growl. "This outcast! Tells only lies, that why we sent him away!"

Please got that glorious tingle whenever she heard somepony say the wrong thing in court. "Your Honor, Judges," she gave a little bow to each, "I would ask for these charges to be dropped now. By Diamond Dog Law, Mister Growl is the owner of Rarity, and since he is not beholden to the Diamond Dog Kingdom, by their own King's word, she is not either." Growl, Gruff, Twilight, and Rarity all stared at Please. She wore the tiniest of smiles. "I heard there were further charges?"

Rarity wrapped her arms around the changeling's neck and squeezed. "All the dresses, just ask and you get anything you want. You, darling, are amazing." She looked past the mare to Growl, saw a lopsided grin on the dog's face.

"This not right!" Gruff shot to his feet. "Bitch is mi-" The gavel of law slammed down. Twilight looked to the three judges.

"How do you read this?" Princess Twilight had to fight to keep her wings from flaring in delight. She watched as the three diplomats conferred, then Ember stood up.

"We concur with the defense's argument, by his own laws, the owner of Rarity Belle is not covered by Diamond Dog law." Ember grinned as she gave the pronouncement. "And since she is not, we further find that Growl is not her owner."

"And their monster? We not find out what monsters ponies make to attack us?" Gruff banged a fist on the table. "We can't let ponies build army!"

Twilight got to her hooves. "Then we adjourn until tonight." She smiled and felt a lot happier for everything having come out, even if it seemed to be a self-contradicting loop-hole that saved the day.

"What's going on?" Cuddles snuggled in between her new mommies. She liked having two mommies better than having one, but she still missed her first mommy. "I can't see…"

Muffins leaned down to the filly. "You need to be quiet, even I am not supposed to speak here." She booped the filly on the nose and lifted her up with green-yellow magic.

"Who is that?" Cuddles pointed at Sunset, standing in the middle of the room with Please Do at her side.

"That is a good friend, a hero, and a princess all on her own." Rainbow Dash leaned sideways against Muffins, then felt one big wing curl around her. "It's cool, Twilight wouldn't let anything bad happen."

"We are now in session again." Twilight Sparkle banged the gavel. "What is now the second of two charges is laid against Sunset Shimmer. You have been charged with…" the alicorn blinked as she read the paw-scrawled notes before her, "attempting to kill the Diamond Dog King."

"Not guilty." Please Do slid smoothly before her client. "My client knows the extent of her abilities, if she wanted to kill the King, he would not be alive." She smiled, her two main fangs glinting in the oddly bright light within the room. It was night time, but the castle made sure each room was lit.

"You threaten me?" Gruff shot to his feet and pointed at Please. "Now you have monsters defending monsters? This madness! Nowhere is safe!"

Ember heard a muttering from beside herself, looking over to see a disgusted look on the Arabian Prince's face. She really hoped it was the canine the stallion was disgusted in. "Excuse me." The dragoness got to her feet.

"Yes, Dragon Lord Ember?" Twilight looked at her friend.

"The raising of changelings or… whatever this Sunset Shimmer might be, is not at stake he-" Ember yawned wide, showing off her considerable array of teeth. "Sorry, this is taking longer than I thought it would. But this is not the problem at claw and should be left for the diplomatic talks after these proceedings."

"The court agrees. Those grievances are with Equestria, not with these individuals. King Gruff, do you have anything to add?" Twilight toyed with the gavel, in her magic.

"That monster bit me, I never think I need guard in pony lands." Gruff grumbled as he sat down. Twilight and Celestia shared a look, they knew how fast the vamponies were, Sunset could have done what she was accused of.

"The defense calls Mademoiselle." Please Do stood up. "She will be an expert witness."

"Please summon-" Twilight got no further, the dark-colored thestral was opening the doors. "Mademoiselle, please, be welcome to my court."

"Your Highness." Maddie bowed deeply, first to Twilight, then to Celestia. "I heard you have need of me?"

"Please Do is defending Sunset Shimmer from some serious charges brought forth by King Gruff." Twilight gestured around to the ponies and canine in question. "We just need to ask a few questions about vamponies."

A gasp went up in the small audience as the mythical monster that stalked the darkness of Equestria was discovered to be literally right before them. "Is she a vampony?" Cuddles pressed her little snout in against Muffins' neck. "She looks too nice to be a monster."

"She is nice, in her own way. Sunset is nice as well, she is another vampony, and our friend." Muffins maintained her hold on the little filly, keeping her aloft with ease.

"You know a vampony? You are friends with them?" Looking to Rainbow Dash for a second opinion, the filly squirmed a little.

Rainbow reached up with a hoof to gently poke Cuddles on the nose. "Sure do, squirt. She is a nice mare, but I think I have an idea of why she got upset."

"Be quiet!" Twilight banged her gavel a few times until the muttering was silent again. "Please Do, your witness." She had spent the early hours of the day researching how to talk and how to control a court, Twilight didn't want to disappoint her friends, and particularly not Celestia.

Please cleared her throat. "Mademoiselle, you are not in trouble here today, and I understand you received a pardon for all past crimes, for a recent assistance with the guard?"

Maddie nodded to the changeling. "Correct."

"You are a vampony?" Please smiled around the two big fangs at the front of her face. Maddie nodded. "You have killed regular ponies before?"

Mademoiselle's face dropped, the sorrowful emotion plain on her features told more than her short, "I have," ever would. "That is, I have killed a pony."

A gasp went up in the crowd and there was a lot of noise, punctuated by Twilight's gavel. "Silence in my court!" When there wasn't immediate silence Twilight's horn glowed bright and a few of the noisier ponies found themselves outside the castle.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Please smiled up at Twilight. "Now, you have overpowered yet more ponies, have you not? To feed at the very least."

"I am not proud of my past. I have done these things." Maddie suddenly found herself disliking the changeling, some of her wounds had scabbed over, but poking made them raw again.

"Excellent. This was not hard? How easy is it for a young vampony to kill a pony?" Please's face was bright, smiling, as if she was not asking the most gruesome things ever. "Let me rephrase, if you got angry, and wanted to kill-"

"Then whatever it was would be dead before its heart beat again." Mademoiselle's stare could cut the air as surely as a hot knife would butter. "If I needed to kill, the pony would not know they were dead until it was far too late."

"And Sunset, she is a young vampony, but you judge her within her faculties and able to make rational decisions?" Please got a nod from the vampony. "That is wonderfully simple. She can't have been trying to kill the King, he is still alive."

Maddie blinked, she hadn't seen the angle the lawyer used coming, but found it oddly fitting that her horrible past coming to light would save her filly. "Did you need me any further?"

"My turn!" King Gruff glared at Please, then at Twilight, daring either to challenge his right. "Okay! Monster, when you kill, you young?"

Quickly reversing her opinion on Please Do, Mademoiselle stared at the canine. "Yes. I didn't have much control…"

"This monster," Gruff pointed at Sunset, "it young?" He got only a nod from the older vampony. "No much control, out of control." Gruff grinned widely. "Not well trained, tried kill me, wasn't fast enough."

Blinking slowly, Maddie contemplated how long it would take her to finish what her filly had started. She inhaled, taking barely one of her heartbeats, but nearly twenty of the canine's. "If she had lost control, I would not have been able to subdue her. She-"

"I done!" Gruff grinned widely, looking up at Twilight. "Don't need anymore. Your little monster got mad at me, tried kill me. It okay, failures happen."

Please really had to give it to the dog, he knew at least how to instill doubt into her arguments. The thud of Twilight's gavel almost made her jump. "Dignitaries, mares, gentlecolts." Twilight closed her eyes. "I think we have heard enough from both sides, judges, do you have your answers?"

"Guilty." Prince Elijah spoke the word clearly, smiling. "It is obvious you are training monsters here, I don't think you should let the things anywhere near us, considering how sloppy you are at it."

Ember's fury almost had her channeling power into her claws. "Not guilty." She looked at Twilight, then to Sunset. "It is known I count many of this town as friends, but not this mare. I taste the same rush of violence in her aura as any dragon. But she didn't try to kill him. She is an alicorn, with all the magic that brings, biting you? She was warning only, even if that bite is real."

"My fellow judges both have quite heated opinions." Bandyr stood up, ruffling his wings and raising his head. "But while they both speak some wisdom, this all ignores a serious lack in proceedings here, a witness to the potential crime." A wing pointed at Sunset. "That mare did indeed rush in, she did not bite the King, and even her charge wasn't until the King beset Rarity Belle. I saw this all happen with my own eyes. Sunset Shimmer made no move to kill, only protect. Not guilty."

Author's Note

A changeling clad in a corset that looked tight enough that she shouldn't be able to breath stepped onto the stage. A whip held in her green magic cracked. "More sex? Of course there can be more sex in this." Lifting a hoof to her snout, a shrill whistle issued from her.

Behind her a curtain raised to show nearly thirty ponies, changelings, griffons, and even a young drake, all coupling and screwing with wild abandon.

"You see? There is always room, for more clop." Velvet bowed deeply and turned. "Night! Where have you gotten to?"

Five hundred frickin' thousand words!

I wanted to give you lot something awesome, so have most of the trial in one chunk, you deserve it!

So I do this "Ask x" thing, x can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and ~~I~~ they will definitely hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories and of course, ~~I~~ They will answer the best question(s) in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer, try and keep it to one answer per post! ~~I~~ They will pick one question per chapter.

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