Komm, Süßer Schein

Twilight sat on a wooden chair. Of all the things she wished Celestia had taught her, the seemingly imperturbable aura the elder alicorn managed to project on her appearance, crafted and perfected over centuries, was certainly one of the lessons she thought would have been most helpful.

There were reasons Celestia hadn't taught it to her, of course. For once, it could not be taught so simply, being the result of years of experience. Secondly, it was Celestia's signature behaviour, Twilight needed to find one of her own. And lastly, her detached aura had become a prison to Celestia at times, one she'd tried to break out in the last years of her reign.

One of the reasons she'd passed on the throne to Twilight. The isolation she'd built around herself had cost her one student already, and she'd come to realise how her choice had perhaps been the wrong one. If she'd thrown Twilight horn-first into action when Nightmare Moon had come back it was in no small part because she believed herself incapable of actually teaching friendship to her student.

Twilight understood why Celestia had wanted to avoid a successor as distant from her subjects as she'd appeared. That did not change how the purple alicorn was now stuck on the chair, her flowing mane seemingly filling with knots by itself, her wings tense, her feathers ruffled and her limbs itching for movement. She looked nervous. Which would have been a perfectly acceptable thing, had the pony sitting on the other end of the room not been the picture of serenity.

It was infuriating. Cozy sat there, a book and a velvet pillow between her and the chair's cushion to make up for her stature, and she smiled. Not the innocent smile of a little filly heading for a walk in the park, or at least of somepony who pretends to be one. It was the smile of a power-crazed maniac who'd razed Canterlot to the ground, and who would do it again if she had the chance. The smile of someone who knows more than you do.

Something which was, most likely, exactly the case. That did not help Twilight's nerves in the least. Cozy's request to read the Codex had to be fulfilled, of course. She did need to know the laws she was being put on trial upon. It was a perfectly reasonable request. It would have arguably been against the law to not let her read it, as it would have prevented her from defending herself as well as she could.

And she'd read it. All night long, if the guards were to be believed, and the bags under her eyes the morning after had been a pretty decent piece of evidence supporting the claim. Along with the amount of coffee the filly had drunk once she'd been escorted to breakfast. And now she smiled.

Twilight stared at her own mane for a moment. She'd never noticed how it could look like stormy clouds, much less how it seemingly could replicate some semblance of lighting in the form of magic sparks jolting through it. Idly, she pondered if she shouldn't have felt fear instead of hate. The truth was that she did not want to even consider the possibility. She did not want to accept that Cozy had found a way to beat her.

Twilight had tried to read the Codex. And in fairness, she could have probably done it. She'd gotten through books longer and more complex than it, though it was close to the top in both regards. But she'd chosen not to. Because, while certainly... While probably written with what appeared to be good intents, the Codex was dangerous. It was old, and it had been closer to more sources of raw magic than any book should have realistically been able to withstand. There was a strange, compelling aura to it, and Twilight did at times wonder if it was even possible to break its laws.

That was not to speak of what those laws actually were. Not anything any sane pony would have found reasonable, on the base of common sense even without any knowledge of law. Sunburst's continuous visits to his therapist could attest to that. It had been written by ponies whose only knowledge of laws and ruling came from the tyrannies they'd faced, approved by Celestia only because they'd needed some form of certainty. No one really knew what its full contents were.

No one, but the filly sitting in that room with her. And that filly was smiling. It was ironic, that the greatest threat she had so far faced in her rule over Equestria was in the form of a book. But there was hope. That maybe the Codex wasn't as twisted as she feared. That Cozy most likely wouldn't be able to exploit it all that much. That even with all that said, Cozy winning her trial was absurd. Not after what she'd done. At most, she'd be allowed a chance to redeem herself, and Twilight would give it to her.

The alicorn shook her head, and focused back on the situation she was in. Sunburst stood at one side of the room, the Codex at his side. Apart from him, Twilight and Cozy, the room was filled with ponies and a couple of other creatures, though most of the presents were members of the Royal Guard, Gallus included. Luster was among them as well, somewhere in the back. And, of course, the jury.

It had been hard to find proper members. As per the Codex's instructions, in a rare instance of the text lining up with common sense, they needed not be biased towards one or the other pony, a rather complicated matter when one was a beloved Princess and the other had been fought by most of Equestria and beyond. But Sunburst had managed to assemble a suitable group. A small one, but that was what the Codex requested. Ponies of old had had an apparent fear of large democracies, as weird as that seemed.

Pound and Pumpkin Cake had been too young to remember Cozy properly, and had never known Twilight all too personally, so they'd been an acceptable pick, at least to round the numbers. A griffon by the name of Giove and a dragon called Ash, both born after Cozy's imprisonment, were joined by a relatively young changeling known as Antenna. Beside them, a bespectacled unicorn from the Crystal Empire, fresh out of his law studies. And to avoid chances of an even split, Sugarcoat had gently accepted to step in. She'd been rather unsurprised by her new equine body, compared to other members of her species.

Grogar's Bell, brought there as a necessary piece of evidence, sat on a table in the middle of the room, closely guarded by armoured ponies and magic seals. In front of it, there more as a peacekeeper of sorts than as a real judge, an old earth pony going by Silver Swirl sat on a wooden chair. Twilight had never heard of him, which was actually a good thing given the context.

"I believe we can begin," he spoke, looking up from a bundle of papers.

The murmurs from the creatures slowly died down.

"Very well." He cleared his throat. "The present assembly has been gathered here to judge the accusations moved against the newly crowned Princess of Equestria, Cozy Glow, by the current ruler of our country, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and to establish what the rightful punishment should be for her crimes should we find her guilty of them, all in accordance to the laws of our country. Before I begin, is there any question any member of the jury would like to ask?"

"Yes! You didn't tell me about this, you told me we were playing poker!" Trixie's voice, rising from the crowd, shouted towards Sunburst.

"Trixie, please. You are not even here," Sunburst replied.

Trixie's holographic form disappeared, and everyone looked at Sunburst.

The stallion sighed. "Sorry. She's annoyed because I can't be to our session with Starlight."

Everything went back to silence.

Silver blinked. "Very well." He turned to the small pegasus. "As you and all the presents already know, you are accused of having taken part in the destruction of Canterlot, something you were punished for by being imprisoned in stone. You have previously been found guilty of attempting to remove all of Equestria's magic, something you were punished for by being sealed in Tartarus. Once we have solved the first of the two accusations, we will decide of your new condition, now that you can no longer be kept there. So I formally ask, Princess Cozy Glow, how do you respond to the accusation of having taken part in the destruction of Canterlot?"

The filly adjusted her paper crown over her curls. "Personally, I find the accusation quite absurd. I am no more than a pegasus filly. Tirek and Chrysalis were behind the destruction of the city, I was merely abducted by the former and kept as a hostage."

Twilight bit her tongue.

"Princess Cozy, there are multiple witnesses claiming they saw you take part in the assault and in the subsequent battle. Not one of those present there claims otherwise, in fact," Silver explained.

"And I say all of them have something to gain from lying about this," Cozy replied. "Twilight's friends. Guards working for her. Political leaders she has ties to. Beside all that, she's the ruler of this country, no one would risk upsetting her. She has willingly covered up her mistake. I was innocent, and Princess Twilight is trying to hide the truth by spreading an altered version of history." Cozy stomped her little hoof on the wood for emphasis.

A sound went through the crowd, much to Twilight's dismay. Most of them were young, born after she'd taken the throne. They had no reason to believe her the monster Cozy was claiming her to be. But they had no reason not to believe the pegasus either. To them, she was the innocent filly she always pretended to be.

"Please, listen to me." Cozy turned to the jury. "I ask you to judge the situation purely basing yourselves on facts. I am a pegasus and a filly, and I could never have done what I am accused of. I did try to steal Equestria's magic once, this I cannot deny, but I have changed. And think about it. How could I have done what they claim I did, when I don't posses any magic? Was that not the entire motivation of my previous crimes, the thing that shaped their execution? Is it not absurd?"

The members of the jury exchanged looks with each other, most of them nodding.

Silver placed his gaze on Twilight. "How do you respond to this, Princess?"

The alicorn stood up. "As others will claim, Princess Cozy did indeed have magic at the time. It is the entire reason this trial exists in the first place, and I would like the members of the jury to recognise that fact. Cozy Glow was an alicorn at the time of her attack on Canterlot, after she'd stolen Grogar's Bell and used its powers to ascend."

"Lies!" Cozy almost yelled. "Don't you see? This is all just a play to justify her crimes. She's simply looking for a way to have me imprisoned again in a formal environment, so that you may stop questioning her actions. All a lie. I was unjustly punished, I was innocent, and I was never had a chance to redeem myself. And look at this!" She held up her crown. "Crowned in secret, with a piece of paper. Am I really a Princess, or is this not all just a play from her? I'm being treated like a pawn. If anything, she may have found some other fact which makes me a Princess, and she's now trying to cover it up."

Another murmur shook the room again.

Twilight took a deep breath. "I-"

"What? What other lies do you have to feed them? The facts are against you, Twilight!" Cozy yelled.

Something snapped inside Twilight, just for a moment. "You were an alicorn at that time, and I can prove it!"

"An alicorn?"

"Yes."

"Me?"

"Yes!"

"And you can prove it?" Cozy asked, suddenly calm.

Twilight wasn't sure what unsettled her the most. The filly's smile, or the rustling sound of pages from where Sunburst sat. The scene suddenly became distant, and she barely heard the orange unicorn as he stepped in and asked to interrupt the trial momentarily.