Patriots of Equestria, Part 1

"How could I possibly have risked endangering Equestria again if it meant resorting to drastic measures?" cried Instant Justice as he stared at the four angry princesses that were glaring furiously at him. "I think you put them up to this!"

Instant Justice pointed at Starlight Glimmer who simply just stood there, taking the side of her teacher and fellow equals.

"No," said Twilight, vehemently. "She did not. By personally executing Hopper before he had a chance to speak, you committed not just murder, but you sent a message that the ponies of Equestria are nothing more than vicious monsters!"

"That is not true!" shouted Instant Justice, slamming his hoof down hard and growling slightly. "I have done nothing wrong, your highnesses! These monsters need to be exterminated and its ponies like me who keep this land safe! You know what the trouble is with you four? You are too soft when it comes to dealing with hardened criminals!"

Both Celestia and Luna were shocked to hear such an accusation coming from a pony that they trusted with keeping the laws of Equestria pure and just.

"Instant Justice," snapped Luna, angrily glaring at him. "How dare you accuse us of such nonsense? We believe that criminals deserve at least a chance to prove their innocence and what you did was unlawfully kill a criminal without our orders and what's worse, in our names!"

Instant Justice felt shocked at such an accusation. As far as he was concerned, he never said such a crazy statement when confronting Hopper in his final moments.

"I never said such a thing!" he protested. "I can assure that if he lived, he would have escaped and did far worse again! You should be honored that I protected Equestria once again from creatures like that Hopper."

But the princesses didn't agree on this. Yes, Hopper was dead, but the way that his death was carried out was wrong and they knew it. It didn't matter if they were soft or not, there was one thing amongst the four of them and that was that violence never solved anything.

"Regardless of alliance," said Celestia, firmly. "What you did was wrong, Instant Justice and we cannot be honored of something evil being carried out. Nevertheless, we understand what you are going through right now. We know your son was among the ponies that were injured in the bombings at that marathon, so perhaps maybe you should step back and focus on him right now."

"I know you want me to, but I can't let him suffer any more than he already has," cried Instant Justice, pacing back and forth slightly.

"Everypony has been suffering because of what they did," remarked Twilight. "The last thing anypony wanted to hear let alone see was a pony acting as a judge, jury and executioner which is what you did. Equestria does have a judicial system that must be followed."

Part of Instant Justice wanted to go over to Twilight and strangle her for saying such a thing. As far as he was concerned, there were times that a judge and jury would not simply put away a murderer and this was one of them.

"The princesses are right," said Starlight Glimmer. "What you have done is enough and the last thing I want is to see anypony get hurt. Why can't you just accept the fact that Hopper is dead and we must all move on from all this?"

"Because I am a father and a law pony who takes his job seriously," said Instant Justice angrily, storming off to the door. "I would rather die than to stand here and be berated for doing a service to Equestria in its time of dire straits. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to visit my son who is recovering from an amputation!"

He slammed the door and left Starlight, her friends and the princesses shocked and in disbelief over what was displayed in front of them.

"He just doesn't understand," said Twilight, indignantly as Starlight looked over towards her. "He just doesn't understand."

"Of course he doesn't understand," replied Starlight, sitting in a chair. "He is in denial at the fact that what he did was lawfully done. Has he always been like that, Princess Celestia?"

"No, not as far as we are concerned," said Celestia. "I guess that ever since we were all taken captive by Chrysalis, Instant Justice has been on edge to make sure nothing like this ever happens again."

Still, there was the matter of Chrysalis possibly returning, wanting to avenge the death of a fierce and loyal follower.

"Should we prepare for Chrysalis' potential return?" asked Shining Armor, taking off his helmet. For a few moments, the entire room was in complete silence as everypony contemplated the fact that the evil Changeling threat was not over, not by any means. "Give me the orders and I will begin preparations."

"Yes," ordered Celestia, looking over at Shining Armor before turning over to Thorax. "We must prepare for a likely return from Chrysalis. Just because she is no longer ruler of the Changelings, she is still a legitimate threat to us. It's most likely that she will be even more dangerous than before and we must be ready."

Thorax nodded in agreement at Celestia's suggestion, knowing very well of what was now at stake.

"I will have my forces ready themselves as soon as possible," replied Thorax, nodding his head firmly. "You can be assured that you will have my full support in the potentially upcoming confrontation that is about to take place."

Starlight was the only one in the room who didn't want to have another confrontation, despite the fact that Chrysalis was targeting her and her alone for revenge. There were enough ponies who had gotten hurt already and the last thing she nor anypony else wanted was anymore bloodshed.

…

Meanwhile, in a cave not far from the borders of Equestria, a pair of green eyes glowed in fury while the creature who possessed the eyes was growling slightly like a rabid animal.

"So, my most loyal follower is dead," snarled the creature, as she walked into the light revealing herself to be none other than Chrysalis herself. "Killed by Celestia's stooge of a lawmaker. Well, there is no question in my mind that my thirst for revenge just got a little bigger."

Chrysalis watched as whatever Changelings were loyal to her came towards the cave.

"Soon, I will finish what I had started and nopony, not even that mewling grub, Starlight Glimmer, can stop me!" Chrysalis cried and let out a diabolical laugh loud enough for all to hear. "DO YOU HEAR ME, EQUESTRIA? I WILL BE BACK!"

To Be Continued…