Alternative Justice

Looking back, you don’t know how it came to this. It was stupid, is all you can think. There isn’t much else you can say about it. You weren’t thinking properly and you went and committed that unthinkable crime in Ponyville of all places. The heat of the moment got to you and now you are about to pay for it. You sit ramrod stiff and shackled to a bench inside the supreme courtroom of Canterlot. The very idea of what you did still gives you the chills, and as the memories of recent events pass through your mind, you shudder and shift uncomfortably in the hard, wooden seat. You want nothing more than to forget this matter altogether, but you just can’t seem to think about anything else as you wait for the judge to enter.

Per the practice of the highest court in Equestria, there is no prosecutor or jury. The whole room is vacant except for you and the statue-like guard that escorted you. All you are waiting for now is the great judge to enter. The thought of her opening the only other entrance to the room leading to the judgment seat snaps you out of your musings of disgust and suddenly makes you terrified. You have no recollection of any such case like this one that she had presided over, but your only guess is that she will be very harsh. Of all the laws you could have broken, it had to be the one with which she probably is going to have a problem.

You can only assume that the room is silent, because there is no way to tell. The inside of your head is anything but quiet, teeming with the possible reprimands and sentences spoken by the judge in a booming voice. She may banish you. She could throw you in a dungeon. Yet worst of all, she might throw you into a dungeon in the place that she banished you. By now, your coat is becoming almost drenched in your sweat that has been accumulating over what seems to be only minutes, though you know that you’ve been here for an hour or two. Whatever the scenario, nothing looks good on your end.

Why did it have to be you? It seemed like fate had always been against you since the day your parents died and left you in the poor district of Manehatten. Since then, you had to cheat your way through life to survive and break rules to keep going. If it was not for the uniqueness of the judgment seat before you, a throne made out of polished, white marble, this would not be an unfamiliar situation at all. You have been in smaller courts several times in your younger days for petty theft among other misdemeanors, but never for anything like this. Loneliness and justice had followed you for as long as far back as you can remember. As cliché as it may seem, one thought echoes through your mind: No one ever loved you or cared for you. You have always been alone.

As you sit there, your muscles sore from not having moved for so long and still sweating profusely, your mind embraces true agony. The misery of your wretched, lonely past and your growing anxiety about the approaching judge wage chaotic war against one another for control over your mind, neither one being able to best the other. They said that both suffering and joy were phases in everypony’s life, but for you, there had only been the former. Perhaps it would have been much better if you were never born, never to have endured the world’s hardships.

A noise in the distance causes your sensitive ears to perk up. You hear hoofsteps coming from some direction. You listen carefully and fear grips you as you realize they are coming from behind the door leading to the judgment seat. The sound is a droning march as the steps, which grow louder each time they resound, inch slowly but deliberately in your direction. The hooves are not bare, but are shod with shoes of tempered glass. Their owner has long been feared in legend and in myth. She gives riches to the good but impoverishes those who do evil. With perfect love she strengthens the defenseless, but with the words from her mouth she pronounces unspeakable restrictions on those who prey on the weak. As the loudness betrays her proximity, you begin to hyperventilate. Surely her wrath upon you will be terrible, her retribution swift. A princess is about to speak against you and no one will come to your aid.

The door suddenly is covered with a magical blue aura and swings open to reveal exactly whom you expected, Princess Luna, the lady of the night and mistress of the moon and stars. She is clothed in a robe of noble blue and royal purple whose front is emblazoned with her cutie mark, the unique symbol of her power as a judge. Her head is crowned with the diadem of the moon, the sign of her royal power. As soon as she enters, her gaze fixes upon you and it causes you to shrink down in terror. Her eyes are glowing white with god-like fury and her face displays her righteous anger. She makes her way to the white throne and sits upon it. There is a horrible silence that ensues for a moment as you are fighting the urge to soil yourself. You had faced many judges, but this was a different experience entirely.

Without warning, her wings flare and she opens her mouth to speak. Having never seen either of the princesses in person, you had no idea what was coming, so the booming and unrestricted power of the Royal Canterlot Voice made you cower as it assaulted your ears. “THOU DAREST HAVE THE AUDACITY TO TRESSPASS UPON THE HIGHEST OF OUR LAWS?”

The sheer volume of the words, to say nothing of the echo which comes thereafter, nearly causes you to yelp and attempt to flee. It is very apparent to you that you’ll receive no leniency from this mare. The terror which has taken hold of you prevents you from even stammering out a word, much less an answer. Yet she does not wait for one and continues in her olympian voice. “THE MERE THOUGHT OF REPEATING WHAT THOU HAST DONE SICKENS US. WE SHALL NOT REPEAT IT. THOU KNOWEST WHY THOU ART PRESENT. WHAT SAYEST THOU IN THY DEFENSE?”

You knew from the start that it would be best not to deny that you had done it. All the evidence and witnesses are against you. Yet now, cowering before the awesome majesty of Princess Luna, your survival instinct compels you to consider lying. But alas, you had prepared no such apology or hired an attorney to speak for you. As a few seconds pass by, you know that delaying your response will provoke another traumatizing shout from the one sitting on the throne, so you muster the drop of courage you have left and cry out as quickly as you can that you are completely guilty. You immediately swallow and prepare yourself for the worst.

To your surprise, the glow in the moon princess’ eyes fades and you are able to see her blue irises. The wrath that was there is now replaced by discontent coupled with something else, though that “something else” isn’t something you can place. She opens her mouth to speak again and you flinch, preparing for another onslaught, but her voice is not the same. It does not strike your ears mercilessly, but instead, her tone matches the look in her eyes. She says, “You acknowledge what you have done was evil beyond the measure of our time, correct?”

You sit up again and tense your shoulders as they were just moments ago. You agree with her in your own words. At this, Luna’s expression changes once more to a mix of astonishment and bewilderment. “What is your name?” she asks. You tell her and suddenly her face becomes calm. That look in her eyes that was only just barely visible before now dominates her visage. You recognize it as sympathy. Once more, the courtroom is silent. She looks off into the distance and her eyes glaze over as though she is remembering something.

After a moment, it becomes apparent that she realized she was daydreaming and she broke the silence again. Looking into your eyes, she says, “I knew your name, but I had to hear it for myself. You have inherited the name of your ancestor whom I knew in the ancient days before even the alicornian reign. She said something very similar to what you have just spoken in those days: ‘Of all the evildoers in this world, I am the worst.’

“In those days, the crime that you have now committed would have been considered commonplace, but even then, her numerous evil deeds were considered evil. And yet it was the sight of her brokenness and utter regret that caused my sister and I to wage war against Discord, who was the tyrant of Equestria at the time. ‘Like mother, like daughter. Like father like son’ as the saying goes. At that time, her crimes were forgiven when she asked for forgiveness, and now nearly fifteen hundred years later, her descendent is pleading in the same way. Answer me this, did your mother and father love you?”

You reply without hesitation. Your mother died giving birth to you and your father died when you were six. Having heard your response, the night lady’s voice now comes out softly. “It was the same with her. She had no neither family nor friend to comfort her until the twilight of her life.” She is quiet once more. Then says, “In this era, your crime is without precedent. The law prescribes that I sentence you to a six year reeducation in the Equestrian Mental Institution.” Though your heart has been beating very fast, hearing this makes it race. Once more, you start to breathe heavily. That specific sentence is the worst punishment that anypony can receive in Equestria.

Yet Luna continued, “However, your ancestor, by law, should have been sentenced to death many times over according to the law, though she was not. Because I embraced her and forgave her, I feel that I must offer a degree of leniency to you. There is one other punishment that I can prescribe to a case like this: I have the power to sentence you to one night in the Royal Correction Chamber. Is this something you would be willing to submit yourself to in lieu of imprisonment?”

At first, the sound of the possibility of escape makes you want to jump at the opportunity, but quickly, experience makes you hold your tongue. This would not be the first time that you were offered a choice. Lucian Ulrich Machiavelli, the prince of Canterlot did the same thing when he sat upon the capital's bema seat, and that ended in you losing flesh to the whip almost to the point of death. Had it not been for the most intricate magic, you would have died from those wounds. You shudder at the memory, and your voice trembles as you ask what that would entail.

“Love and discipline in the place of righteous judgment.” she answers.

This was a difficult decision. On the one hoof, those who entered the Equestrian Mental Institution were few, but those who did exited as different ponies who seemed to have lost themselves. On the other hoof, fear of the unknown will not allow you to take the alternative easily. The world had cheated you many more times than you had cheated it, and this wasn’t the time to give in just yet. The princess waits patiently as you debate with yourself. In the end, you think of the wisest thing to say and place the decision in her hooves. You tell her that you are her subject and the decision falls to her.

Hearing your response, she shouts in the Royal Canterlot Voice, “I SENTENCE THEE TO ONE NIGHT IN THE ROYAL CORRECTION CHAMBER.” Her horn glows with magic and she points it towards you. Seeing that she is about to cast magic on you, you close your eyes and prepare yourself for the worst again. Then everything is as quiet as it is dark.