Saving Twilight

by halo003qd

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Princess Celestia, Tragedy, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Sad, Princess Luna
Length: 6049

A different take on the ending of Scarlet Harvest

Cheerilee is dead. All of her friends are gone. Now after surviving what killed 14 ponies and witnessing things that would drive a normal pony insane, Twilight Sparkle is being accused of killing the very ponies she was closest to. As she is in her darkest hour with nopony else how can she prove her innocence.

This is a re-imagining of the ending to Scarlet Harvest a sequel to Cheerilee's Garden(both are authored by Unahim ((here)) Which I highly recommend reading before this.

If you find an error leave it in the comments please.(link to DA for OC pony reference here)

Published 2012-06-17 13:34:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-26 04:06:08 UTC

The Protector

When Twilight finally woke up, she felt strangely rejuvenated. She tried to move, and fear flared up inside of her mind. She was sitting inside of a chair, heavy chains binding her hooves together, so that she couldn’t move around all that much. Did Cheerilee catch her again? As she looked around, however, she realized that wasn’t the case. She was in a very large room, and a great deal of ponies sat on benches behind her, while Princess Luna herself sat on a raised platform right in front of Twilight.

Two muscular, armor-clad guards flanked her on both sides and an earth pony with a monocle and a brown-coat paced back and forth restlessly in front of her. A table stood next to him, but Twilight couldn’t make out the items that lay on top of it.

It was Luna who first noticed the unicorn had woken up.

“Ah, we see that thou hast awakened, Twilight Sparkle. Court is now in session,” Luna decreed with a booming voice which easily reached every corner of the room, and the few ponies who had been talking to each other immediately fell silent.

Twilight stared at the Princess in bewilderment. “C-court?”

The Ruler of the Night frowned. “Surely thou dost not claim loss of memory? We are here to pass judge thee for the brutal murder of fourteen ponies, eight of whom hath not reached adulthood yet.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight said, utterly horrified. “I killed Cheerilee, true-”

“Do we really have to do this? She even confesses!” the brown-coated earth pony said.

“-but I had nothing to do with the others; they were killed by Cheerilee!”

The crowd behind Twilight mumbled, and the earth pony in front of Twilight addressed the Princess.

“If I may?”

“By all means, sir Hooves,” the princess said with a nod.

“Ehem,” Hooves scraped his throat. “I’m sure you are familiar with my work, miss Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded, dumbfounded. She had several of his books back at the library, she had just never thought she’d meet him in person.

“Yes, we already knew that,” he continued. “This also means you’re well aware of my expertise. I was summoned here today to present the evidence my research team managed to scrounge up which, as you’ll soon see, strongly suggests you are guilty. You’ve erased your trail well, and no event can be directly tied to you, but when they’re all added together...”

“That’s absurd!” Twilight yelled. “Where’s Princess Celestia? She would never-”

“Our royal sister is currently resting in her chambers, Twilight Sparkle. The procedure to save thee took a lot out of her.”

Twilight nodded slowly, as she recalled the conversation she had overheard while she was out of it. “Don’t I get anypony to defend me?”

“Only if somepony like that can be found in due time,” Hooves said dryly. “In your case, due to the heinous nature of your crimes, and the debt of evidence against you, no such pony could be found. “

He would have continued but suddenly one of the ponies in the courtroom, a very dark blue Pegasus, stood up. “I will represent her,” the Pegasus said in a voice that was deep and threatening but also soothing as if he would be there to protect no matter what, ”I believe this mare is wrongly accused.”

Twilight could barely believe it, she had just lost all her friends, was accused of violently murdering them and 8 little fillies, and this colt was going to defend her, and on top of that he thought she was innocent.

“Oh thank you so mu…” The colt held up a hoof to silence her. He leaned in closer to her and whispered “I believe you are innocent but wait until after the trial to thank me or hate me whichever this way may go,” He gave her a reassuring smile.

The entire time this had been going on unrest had been growing in the crowd behind them.

“I can’t believe he thinks she is innocent!”

“Maybe she is controlling him!”

“What is wrong with him?”

“SILENCE!” Princess Luna boomed. "This shall be allowed, as Twilight Sparkle was originally allowed somepony to defend her,” The rest of the audience quieted down but murmurs still rippled here and there “Now colt, your name.”

“Prinz Spectre, Princess now if we could skip the pleasantries we happen to have a mare fighting for her life here,” the colt said with slight irritation in his voice, “Now, this proof you were talking about…”

“Very well,” Hooves replied, “I shall start with the Ponyville Theatre Fire.”

“Alright,” Prinz said. Twilight was amazed that this Pegasus that was defending her was so calm, if she was in his shoes (which in fact she almost was) she would be nervous as all buck.

“We have quite a high number of ponies who swore, under oath, that you were there amongst the first. Considering your later involvement in the slaughter of the only survivor of that event, I find that to be highly suspicious.”

“Mr. Hooves,” Prinz said raising his hoof mockingly as if wanting to be called upon in class, Twilight shuddered at the thought of school,” That is where I have to stop you and question Twilight about that night seen as how you weren’t there.” He turned and faced Twilight, “Twilight I want you to tell me the entire truth, was Cheerilee out of the theatre before you tried to douse the flames?” he dead-panned.

If it was any other time and he was not trying to help her she would have been terrified at how he sounded. She wracked her brain trying to remember the night that seemed like forever ago. Slowly she said “Yes she was out of the theatre and she got out a little bit after I got there with my friends.” She said failing to recognize the importance of such a little detail.

“She was out of the theatre after Twilight got there…,” Prinz said “which means she watched Twilight destroy the building,” Twilight inhaled deeply as she realized where he was going with all of this, “If Twilight really was the killer and wanted no evidence she would have arrived, immediately thrown the river on the building and then claimed an accident later on the grounds she didn’t know the building was unstable or that she accidentally put too much water on the building.”

When Prinz finished the entire courtroom was silent. He looked around and absorbed the faces around him, most of them had their mouths open, Twilight’s in amazement at what he had just concluded, Hooves’ at being disproved, and the audience’s because it actually made sense. He briefly glanced at Luna as he turned to take his seat again. Her eyes betrayed her disbelief but her face was stoic and unchanging.

Hooves quickly regained composure “Very well,” he said obviously discomfited by the fact this Pegasus was crafty, “Now Twilight, you were aware of our fruitless efforts to find any sort of evidence in the debris you created, were you not?”

“Yes,” Twilight said reluctantly, trying to at least sound cooperative.

“Then why, might I ask, did we find a piece of bloody theatre board in your library that you omitted to tell us?”

Had the crowd not been so interested then they might have started buzzing again but the courtroom was silent for a moment before Twilight responded.

“Oh this one is easy to clear up,” Twilight said, “Twist brought it to me when she found it. We wanted to establish that it really was blood before we caused a fuss.”

“Hm and who could confirm this?”

“Uh… Spike…Twist.” Twilight stammered realizing what this must look like.

“Both of whom are dead.” Hooves said in a “how convenient” kind of tone.

“OBJECTION!” Prinz suddenly yelled startling Twilight, who hadn’t expected it coming, “Sorry about that,” he said sheepishly to Twilight, “This proves nothing. Have you ever considered that Twist was maybe looking into the deaths of her friends? She may have suspected foul play after finding the board then went to Twilight, who also just so happens to be the smartest unicorn in the town, to get help. Twist had just lost one of her closest friends and Twilight’s friends had lost 2 sisters and a loving little sister figure. Why would Twilight, who went on adventures with these same friends to save Equestria not once but twice, suddenly go psychotic ad start killing everypony?”

Luna decided to interject at this point, “Maybe the burden of responsibility was too much for her and broke her senses?”

“So anyway,” Hooves continued, “about this fortress in the Everfree forest that has been conveniently reduced to rubble. How did Cheerilee know where it was and even more so how was she able to gain access as Celestia destroyed all the entrance gems?”

“She obviously missed one!” Twilight blurted out

Luna’s voice filled with anger as she completely forgot to use the archaic language she was normally preferred during
official matters. “How dare you push this upon my sister! She has done nothing but be kind to you and you have the audacity to pull her actions into question!”

Luna was seething at this point but Prinz once again dead-panned “Twilight never pushed anything on Celestia she only pointed out that she may have made a mistake and missed a gem that Cheerilee found.”

The entire room was silent. Nopony moved as Prinz Spectre and Princess Luna starred at each other, each seeking their own justice. The silence was broken by Sherlock Hooves, “Ehem yes… moving on,” he strode toward Twilight with a piece of parchment in his hooves, “This is a letter from your assistant Spike to Princess Celestia, it reads:

Ruins in Everfree.

Everypony else dead.

Twi went after Cheerilee

Send help

Translation: Twilight just killed everypony and is now killing Cheerilee, Spike too was killed, hm don’t like when your assistant betra…”

“This is enough!” Prinz’s voice boomed in the quiet room, “How about this translation: Everypony else is dead, Twi went after Cheerilee to stop her, send help in case. Another thing to consider if Twilight is one of the strongest unicorns in existence why didn’t she just collapse the fortress once all her friends were inside. Why was Cheerilee able to get away only to be killed so easily by Twilight? The whole logic is flawed based on the fact that the townspeople heard them fighting and saw Cheerilee be ripped apart. That sort of power wouldn’t have allowed Cheerilee to leave the fortress.” He then turned to Twilight, “Twilight what happened in there?” He asked with genuine compassion behind his voice.

“Well,” Twilight began, “after I left Spike I headed up the stairs and found what was left of Rarity,” Twilight suddenly burst into tears, “she was my friend and I couldn’t do anything to help her!” Twilight could do nothing but sob as the events of a few nights ago came flooding back to her. All Prinz could do was place a hoof on her shoulder and try to console her.

Luna was floored, no psychopath could possibly have this much sadness from having all of her friends ripped away from her, this much pain from being wrongly accused for all these heinous crimes, this much grief from being the only survivor of this horror. She. Was. Innocent.

Before Twilight could recover Luna was already sending the word to all her guards to tell everyone that the unicorn was wrongfully accused.

For Twilight things seem to move in slow motion. Her innocence being declared as Luna decreed “NOT GUILTY,” with a bang of her hoof and left to go find her sister. The many camera flashes of the newspaper ponies trying to get the best picture for the breaking news.

As Twilight walked outside she was met by the Family members of the deceased, who all embraced her for killing the real murderer and avenging all of the deaths caused over the past month. The entire group broke into tears as they held each other for support. As they turned to go home Twilight stopped. Could she just go back to normal life in Ponyville minus the comfort of her friends? No it was too much of a void that could not be filled.

“Twilight," Rarity’s father asked concern touching his already choked speech,"what's wrong?”

“I’m sorry but I just can go back. Ponyville is a rift in my memory that is too large to fill or even go near.” Twilight looked at all the ponies around her these ponies had just endured almost as much suffering as she had. “My friends, your family will always be with us and I will have it arranged to have the respective Element of Harmony personally delivered to your household as it should be with you the ponies that were blessed with their company the longest. The stain is too much and I am electing to stay here in Canterlot till Celestia knows when.”

“Actually I don’t know when,” said a white alicorn that had just glided off of her balcony to the courtyard below. “Please do not bow for I do not come to you as ruler I come to you as a comforter. The Elements of Harmony fought this evil till the very end and even then gave their strength to Twilight so she could bring swift justice to this unjust deed so fear not for your family members helped in cleansing this evil from the land.”

“Thank you Princess, but if you could excuse me I need to go speak with someone important.” Twilight said slowly turning to go back to the larger crowd.

“I understand my student, if you need anything at all then you just need find me.” Celestia said with compassion.

Twilight turned and ran back towards the crowd with tears of joy forming as she searched for him. When she finally found him he was standing away from everypony else. She ran up and nearly tackled him and broke into sobs which continued on for what seemed like forever. Eventually they separated, “I cannot thank you enough, I just don’t know where to start with everypony being against me and I was being accused but you believed me and I don’t even know you. Why?”

Prinz just smiled and looked back at her “I defended you because I knew you were innocent from the absurdity of the charges being placed against you. Everypony has heard of the mane 6 mares who saved Equestria on more than one occasion why would the leader, one of the most powerful unicorns in existence, and student of the Princess who could probably get her own castle if she asked, throw it away and kill her closest friends and family members, along with her assistant that she raised from an egg, and a classroom full of fillies. None of it made any sense whatsoever, plus I could hear the sound of lamentation in your voice, that much sadness could not come from a psychopath killer who just did away with her closest friends. There was also conviction in your voice as you tried to defend your actions.”

Twilight just smiled there really was somepony out there that still cared for her in her time of need when no one else believed what she had known to be truth all along. She leaned up towards him and quickly kissed him on the cheek,
“Thank you,” She said quietly. “You’re welcome,” he returned, “but now I must return home.” The Pegasus turned and flared his wings, “Be strong Twilight Sparkle.” And with that he propelled himself into the air headed home. Twilight watched him fly away and then turned and walked back towards Princess Celestia and the family that was essentially her own, and upon the breaking of dawn, the sun will shine down upon a new Equestria, changed by the actions of one mare..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author’s notes
Cheerille’s Garden is not my work I just decided to take a new approach on the ending.
Thank you to my proofreaders and to Unahim for creating the story
Disclaimer: some of the lines in this are not mine I took them from the original story.

One Final Moment

Practically this entire chapter is from the original unaltered ending of Cheerilee's Garden, so if you were ever wondering how the trial really went here you go. Thanks again to Unahim for writing the original.

When Twilight finally woke up, she felt strangely rejuvenated. She tried to move, and fear flared up inside of her mind. She was sitting inside of a chair, heavy chains binding her hooves together, so that she couldn’t move around all that much. Did Cheerilee catch her again? As she looked around, however, she realized that wasn’t the case. She was in a very large room, and a great deal of ponies sat on benches behind her, while Princess Luna herself sat on a raised platform right in front of Twilight.

Two muscular, armour-clad guards flanked her on either side, and an earth pony with a monocle and a brown-coat paced back and forth restlessly in front of her. A table stood next to him, but Twilight couldn’t make out the items that lay on top of it.

It was Luna who first noticed the unicorn had woken up.

“Ah, we see that thou hast awakened, Twilight Sparkle. Court is now in session,” Luna decreed with a booming voice which easily reached every corner of the room, and the few ponies who had been talking to each other immediately fell silent.

Twilight stared at the Princess in bewilderment. “C-court?”

The Ruler of the Night frowned. “Surely thou dost not claim loss of memory? We are here to pass judge thee for the brutal murder of fourteen ponies, eight of whom hath not reached adulthood yet.”

“Wait, what?” Twilight said, utterly horrified. “I killed Cheerilee, true-”

“Do we really have to do this? She even confesses!” the brown-coated earth pony said.

“-but I had nothing to do with the others; they were killed by Cheerilee!”

The crowd behind Twilight mumbled, and the earth pony in front of Twilight addressed the Princess.

“If I may?”

“By all means, sir Hooves,” the princess said with a nod.

“Ehem,” Hooves scraped his throat. “I’m sure you are familiar with my work, miss Sparkle?”

Twilight nodded, dumbfounded. She had several of his books back at the library, she had just never thought she’d meet him in person.

“Yes, we already knew that,” he continued. “This also means you’re well aware of my expertise. I was summoned here today to present the evidence my research team managed to scrounge up which, as you’ll soon see, strongly suggests you are guilty. You’ve erased your trail well, and no event can be directly tied to you, but when they’re all added together...”

“That’s absurd!” Twilight yelled. “Where’s Princess Celestia? She would never-”

“Our royal sister is currently resting in her chambers, Twilight Sparkle. The procedure to save thee took a lot out of her.”

Twilight nodded slowly, as she recalled the conversation she had overheard while she was out of it. “Don’t I get anypony to defend me?”

“Only if somepony like that can be found in due time,” Hooves said dryly. “In your case, due to the heinous nature of your crimes, and the debt of evidence against you, no such pony could be found. As the law does not require us to look further, you shall have to defend yourself. From what I’ve heard, you should be more than capable.”

Twilight bit her lower lip. She knew almost nopony ever went to court in Equestria, it just wasn’t needed that often. The three times a royal court had been assembled during her lifetime, the accused had been found guilty. She swallowed. “S-show me this ‘proof’, then.”

“Very well,” Hooves replied, “I shall start with the Ponyville Theatre Fire.”

Twilight nodded. She was quite sure she’d done nothing suspicious there.

“We have quite a high number of ponies who swore, under oath, that you were there amongst the first. Considering your later involvement in the slaughter of the only survivor of that event, I find that to be highly suspicious.”

“I wasn’t alone,” Twilight said defensively, “several of my friends were there, too.”

Hooves nodded. “Yet nopony dared say whether they had arrived with you or not, and now ‘luck’ would have it that all five of them are dead, so we can’t even ask them ourselves.”

Twilight spluttered. “B-but... t-that’s... How do you expect me to prove... ?”

“I don’t,” he said as he turned towards the crowd, addressing them more than he did the unicorn. “But here’s my theory: You lit the fire. The five of them were together when the fire started, and close by. Perhaps they had noticed something odd about you before, perhaps it was just by chance, but they arrived at the scene sooner than you had expected, which in turn forced your hoof, forcing you to save Cheerilee, or risk being discovered.”

The ponies behind Twilight started talking to each other again, muttering their agreement. To them, it all made sense.

“That’s a lie!” Twilight yelled indignantly.

“Oh, is it? Then why did you level the entire theatre building immediately afterwards, after your ‘friends’ had run in to investigate? Perhaps you feared they’d find something they weren’t supposed to find?” he said as he paced back and forth in front of Twilight. “Or maybe you just knew how difficult that would make our investigation, either way...”

“I just wanted to save the fillies!”

Sherlock Hooves frowned and took out his monocle, quickly polishing it with a piece of cloth before putting it in again. “Yes, you tried to ‘save’ them by sending a theatre-smashing amount of water in their direction, 100% guaranteed to destroy whatever was left of the building. Maybe if you were known as an idiot, miss Sparkle, but Princess Celestia’s student? Nopony in here is buying it.”

Sounds of agreement came floating from the other ponies again, and Twilight gritted her teeth.

“I panicked,” she said in frustration.

“Sure you did,” Hooves said sarcastically.

Twilight felt her blood boil at the way she was being treated, seemingly branded a criminal already. “Yes I did you bucking oaf!”

The crowd collectively gasped, and Luna leaned forward.

“Twilight Sparkle, if thou canst not adhere to a minimum level of decorum, thou shall be removed from this courtroom, and we shall finish this case without thee,” Luna reprimanded Twilight, who immediately regretted her choice of words.

“Thank you, Princess,” Hooves said as he continued, “Now Twilight, you were aware of our fruitless efforts to find any sort of evidence in the debris you created, were you not?”

“Yes,” Twilight said reluctantly, trying to at least appear cooperative.

“Then why, if I may ask, did we find a bloody piece of theatre floor in your bedroom, which you have omitted to mention?”

The crowd buzzed angrily once more, and Twilight actually heard a mare say “Outrageous!” somewhere close behind her.

“Oh no, it’s not what you think,” Twilight said lightheartedly. At least this one was easy to clear up. “Twist found that and gave it to me... We wanted to first check if it was actually blood and such before kicking up a fuss about it.”

“And who could confirm this?”

“Euh... Twist... and Spike, my assistant...” Twilight said, trying to think of any others she may have said anything to.

“Both of whom are dead,” Hooves said in a ‘how convenient’ tone of voice.

“Y... yes...” Twilight was forced to admit as she hung her head. This wasn’t going too well.

“I believe you when you say Twist was on to something,” Hooves said, making Twilight lift her head again, a glimmer of hope in her eyes, “that’s probably why you decided to kill her, after all.”

“What? No!” Twi said, once again outraged. “Cheerilee abducted her to the fortress out in the wood, so we went to save her!”

“Nopony canst enter our fortresses anymore, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna interjected. “Our sister destroyed all of the access crystals over a millenia ago. When we heard you hath made use of the facility, we went over there ourselves. We found it in ruins, a remarkable feat of magic. Only a few rooms were left standing, including the main entrance hall, where somepony hath quite clearly forced her way in. We know nopony with such power in Ponyville, aside from thyself, Twilight.”

“And,” Hooves added, “this power is also why we find it likely you were behind the theatre fire in the first place. It would have been easy for you to set it ablaze on short notice, and trap the fillies inside.”

Twilight stuttered, at a momentary loss for words. What was she supposed to say?

“Also, alongside the piece of crucial evidence you held back, we found a book from my hoof,” the earth pony continued, his voice growing slightly more troubled. “It is with some discomfort that I admit this book may have explained my methods in a bit too much detail, which would have easily rendered one such as yourself able to commit such a villainous crime undetected.”

Hooves took out his monocle and began cleaning it again, clearly troubled by the thought that his work may have been used for evil. The ponies in the gallery noticed his discomfort, and started talking once again.

“Such a good colt.”

“It really isn’t his fault.”

“I wish my husband was a bit more like him...”

Twilight gritted her teeth. Was this a criminal case, or a popularity contest?

“I’m telling you, it was Cheerilee!” she bounced the ball back at him.

“Yes, Cheerilee, the mare who shouldn’t even have known the fortress existed, much less been able to access it, was the one who lead you all there, I’m sure,” Hooves replied dryly, having regained full control of himself. “I’m sure it was a coincidence, too, that you happened to have a book on the Nightmare Rebellion brought over to your library a while ago, which details the location of every fortress used in the war, including the one you broke into.”

“I don’t know how she knew it was there, but she did,” Twilight said decidedly, a bit stubbornly, even.

“So how did she get inside? Princess Celestia destroyed all the keys, like Princess Luna says.”

“She obviously missed one!” Twilight blurted out.

Luna rose up on her hind legs and slammed her hooves onto the table in front of her, her voice filled with anger as she completely forgot to use the archaic language she was normally preferred during official matters. “How dare you push this upon my sister! When they brought you in, you were on the very brink of death, and no doctor wanted to risk the life of another to try and save you, having heard what you did. But my sister wouldn’t listen, and risked it all for you! And now you have the cheek to question her?” Luna leaned back again. “You disappoint me, Twilight. You have done much for your country, but I see the burden of responsibility has finally broken your senses.”

Nopony in the gallery dared move, and even Hooves seemed a bit shaken. Twilight felt absolutely dreadful, trying to sink away into her chair. An angry Luna was quite something, and not something she wanted to see again, at that.

“Ehem, yes... Moving on,” Sherlock Hooves finally managed, as he strode towards the table in front of the bench, and took a piece of parchment from it. “This is a letter from your assistant Spike to Princess Celestia, it reads:

Ruins in Everfree.

Everypony else is dead.
Twi went after Cheerilee.
Send help.

Translation: ‘Twilight just killed everypony, now she’s killing Cheerilee.’ Spike, too, was killed. Didn’t like it when you found out your assistant had betrayed you, did you, Twilight?”

“T-that’s not how it went!” Twilight said desperately. “When I left Spike he was still alive, honest!”

“So that means you admit both to having been the last one to see Spike alive, and to heading out with the express intent of killing Cheerilee?” Hooves said pointedly.

“W-well yes, but only because Cheerilee would otherwise have killed me!” Twilight screamed furiously, eliciting another bout of angry mumbling from the gallery.

“And how did you think she would do that?” the detective said quizzically.

“Well, she knew all the traps and secret entrances-” the unicorn began, but Hooves quickly cut her off.

“Oh come on now! Not only did she know about the place and how to enter, but she also knew where everything was? Something our Princess Luna herself can’t even remember?” he scoffed.

Luna scraped her throat. “Well, our memory of the time is very bad, but even so, we, too, do not believe a simple earth pony from Ponyville capable of this.”

“I’m t-telling you... s-she knew...” Twilight said as tears started filling the corners of her eyes. She was quickly reaching the limit of what she could take. Before she went to Ponyville she had always been alone, and that was fine, but ever since Ponyville she had discovered the joy of friendship and amity. She couldn’t handle everypony being against her like anymore, whispering behind her back.

“I was with the Princess when we responded to Spike’s message,” Hooves said, more quietly than before. “I saw what you did to Cheerilee... It... I... I still see it, in my dreams. Nopony should have to see that. She never stood a chance against you...”

“B-but... you can’t use magic inside of the fortress!” Twilight said. She couldn’t dispute that she had gone a bit overboard with Cheerilee, but the mare had deserved it. Twilight obviously couldn’t tell the court that, though.

Hooves glanced over at Princess Luna, raising a hoof questioningly. This wasn’t his area of expertise.

“It is true that most unicorns would not be able to use their magic within our fortresses,” Luna said slowly, “but the most powerful ones would be able to resist quite easily. Since thou hath destroyed the entire fortress by thyself, thou art quite clearly sufficiently powerful.”

“B-but... I almost died! Cheerilee stabbed me, repeatedly!” Twilight blurted out in desperation.

“That is a lie!” the detective said as he stomped a hoof down upon the floor. “There were no wounds upon your body when we brought you in! Your gross overexertion of your magical abilities was to blame for your condition. Your lies have finally collapsed in on themselves, murderer!” Hooves said triumphantly.

The crowd burst into angry conversations, and Twilight stood up on her hind legs, shouting in order to be heard. “The Elements of Harmony healed me!”

“The Elements are still inside of the palace!”

Twilight shook her head. “You don’t need any kind of jewels, or objects, to harness their power! They were inside the six of us!”

“Not even ‘Tia could use them without them being physically present,” Luna whispered softly, “and though thou art powerful, Twilight, thy art no match for our sister! We have heard enough. Twilight Sparkle, we hereby find you GUIL-" the word stuck in Luna's throat.

The whole crowd went silent as they stared at what was going on above Twilight's head.

Twilight looked up and couldn't believe it. There floating above her were the last things that she expected to see right now.

The Elements of Harmony.

"That is impossible," Luna whispered.

As everypony in the room stared the Elements glowed brighter and brighter until someone outside might have thought that the sun was being raised in the center of the room. Everypony looked away, except for Twilight, who stared at the glowing mass as if it weren't there.

When the glow began to subside what was left was unbelievable.

There standing before them were the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

"Impossible!" Luna exclamaimed, "Twilight Sparkle what sort of conjuration is this? First you kill them and then you disgrace them by summoning mock versions of them." Luna was fuming.

"But it isn't me, my horn isn't even glowing."

"She is correct" a voice stated.

A collective gasp went through the room. Luna froze. Conjuration could recreate the image of a pony but not the voice.

Rarity continued, "While we may no longer be here physically, our tie to the Elements have left us the power to send one last message, well not specifically that but that is what we chose to use the power on."

"What y'all are doin here ain't right. Twi just went through the same nightmare that we had to endure and you are going to kill her for avenging our murders." Applejack said

"Yeah she was just like woo and woo and woosh and then she went BOOM and the castle just exploded." Pinkie spouted getting looks from everypony in the room.

"Yeah it was pretty awesome what she was doing but all of that is beside the point that you are accusing her, I mean what went through your head, '14 ponies are dead' 'Who could have done it?' 'Obviously Twilight Sparkle, the Princess's pupil and is one of the most trustworthy ponies in Equestria,' Rainbow mocked.

"Umm... please don't kill Twilight she was only trying to make sure that Cheerilee didn't hurt anymore ponies," Fluttershy squeaked being able to be heard because the whole room was still in shock.

Luna was still awestruck with her mouth open in a very un-princess like fashion.

<<>>

Out side of the court room was alot more commotion than inside. Almost everypony from Ponyville was standing outside the doors in what bordered on an out of control mob, because while they were angry no property damage was being incurred, not yet, but the crowd would not wait forever to have their revenge on the one who took so much from them.

There was a bright light and the massive roar of the crowd was extinguished like a fire thrust into water. Cries for vengeance turned to disbelieving gasps as the light faded so ponies could see again.

"We love you all but this is uncalled for, why would Twilight, our best friend, start a murder spree? The whole idea is flawed and this anger is misdirected." Rarity started.

"Yeah Cheerilee's the bitch that did all of this," Rainbow stated rather bluntly while getting looks from the other 4, "what? It's true it was kind of bitch-y of her."

"Please forgive Twi' she was just in the wrong place at the time."

The crowd just kind of nodded in a dumbstruck way.

"We could only stay here a little while and that time is gone," Rarity stated, tears starting to form in her eyes, "We love you all and wish we could stay but alas this is good bye."

The slight glow that had been around the avatars started to grow to a blinding light. Everypony that was in Canterlot castle courtyard that night turned away and when the glow subsided all that was left was the element necklaces whose color dulled as they slowly floated to the ground.

As the necklaces touched the ground so too did the tears on everyponies muzzle including Luna and Celestia.

The sun slowly rose in sky signaling the start of a new Equestria changed by the actions of one mare.

A/N

This chapter down to the sentencing was written by Unahim the rest after "GUIL-..."was me. I originally had 2 different ideas of the way that I could end "Scarlet Harvest" and this was the second one. I know this one might not have been good but I had started it a long time ago and it was killing me just having it sit there unfinished. Any way I hope you enjoyed it and if you found an error smack that comment button and let me know.

Author's Note

These are the authors notes for the edit that I just did at 7:36 central time on January 8. Basically I got bored and went back and decided to make my chapters look pretty for any potential new readers.