Internecine

by Amit

Rating: teen
Tags: Tragedy
Length: 4006

Pipsqueak is the victim of a terrible crime.

Pipsqueak is the victim of a terrible crime, but a flaw in the legal code renders him as guilty as his attacker. The law is quickly fixed, but it isn't retroactive: if the perpetrator is convicted, so is he.

Twilight has always had a very strong sense of justice; she decides that she will somehow defend him and convict his attacker at once.

Then she meets her, and things get complicated.

A grimlight politico-legal drama set in Equestria a few years after the events of the series. Uses the same backstory as Dawn.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-13 13:05:54 UTC

Corpus delicti

Pronouncement on the Protection of the Foal

On the fifth day of the seventh month of the year 992 of our Princess the highly esteemed Elder of Celestia Sherry Aria the Long-Lived gave the Pronouncement on the Protection of the Foal before the Council of Scholars and a petitioner representing the judicial division of Canterlot. A stenographer named Ficklepen transcribed her words as so:

Line 1 - Sherry: The session has begun, and my word is Celestia's will. I henceforth decree that the wilful consummation of carnal desire may not occur upon a foal, or in its presence. Such behaviour is corruption of the fundamental innocence of the immortal soul of the minor and as such he that commits it shall be executed by death itself.

Line 2 - Petitioner: If a parent kisses its foal on the lips, is it permissible?

Line 3 - Sherry: It is permissible.

[ ... ]

Line 32 - Petitioner: If a foal permits the consummation of carnal desire upon itself, is it permissible?

Line 33 - Sherry: There is no consideration given to consent.

[ ... ]

Line 98 - Councilor Red: If a foal consummates its desire upon an unwilling individual, who is the culpable individual?

Line 99 - Sherry: A foal can be defended against without great fortitude. Therefore, if the unwilling individual does not repel the foal, it has aided in the corruption of the minor and the defence is untenable. The unwilling individual is thus itself guilty of the offence.

[ ... ]

Line 394 - Petitioner: There are no further questions.

Line 395 - Sherry: So be it. By will, logic and consensus, the law is in effect. The session is thus terminated.

—

Pipsqueak hummed to himself as he opened the door. It was dark, but he was not afraid; Luna was watching over him, he knew, and he knew just as well where home was.

He'd find it, at the very least; there were quite a few other foals walking down the street back home and the residential district wasn't particularly easy to get lost in.

A drunken filly’s voice came from behind him. “Hey, Pipsqueak!”

He stopped walking and looked up and around to see a grinning, red-cheeked face. “Oh, hello!” he said, smiling. “Scootaloo! The party really was wonderful, it really was.”’

“Heh.” She put one of her forehooves over his shoulder, coming up close to him; he could smell the alcohol on her breath. “You know what else’s wonderful?”

He laughed a bit uncomfortably, pushing the hoof gently off himself. “Er, Scootaloo? You appear to be a mite ankled.” His head tilted a very slight bit. “You do know you’re only a few years older than me, right? Not exactly overage.”

“You know Berry doesn’t give a flying—hic!—doesn’t give a flying feather ‘bout that kinda thing.” She put her hoof right back on his back, giggling. “You’re cute, followin' rules and all. Like a good little pirate.”

“Er, thank you,” he said, walking forwards a bit. “But I really ought to get going right now. My nanny's waiting for me.”

“Hey, wait,” she said, and pushed her hoof upwards, running it through his fur and grabbing the small of his neck. “Wait. I’ve got somethin’ to show you.”

“Will it take a while?” he said, and rubbed around her foreleg.

“Not too long,” she said, and laughed a bit. “C’mon. You’ve gotta learn how to—hic!—loosen up! C'mon.” She pushed forwards, bringing him along with her.

ELABORATE THIS SECTION LATER

Pipsqueak laid by himself for a while.

He coughed a bit and spat, walking down into the and into the street. He looked up and saw the moon.

“Luna?” he asked, rubbing at the bits of semi-dried fluid keeping to the strands of his fur, walking down the path. “Can you hear me?”

The Princess did not answer.

He went further down the street, towards the tree-house library; it was the only landmark that seemed familiar.

He would rather have gone home, but he wasn’t entirely sure where home was.

—

Twilight rubbed her eyes lethargically as she heard the pounding on the door.

“Spike?” she said, yawning as her eyes scanned the room. “Spike, is that you? Why are—”

She looked down to see Spike rubbing his own eyes in his little basket, and quickly got up. “Oh dear,” she said, pushing the sheets from herself. She quickly trotted towards the stairs, taking care to measure her steps as her side pushed against the safety rail. “Can’t believe they’d send it this late.”

The knocks came again, several magnitudes lower on the Richter scale than Derpy’s usual. She hurried, almost tripping as she reached the bottom of the stairs and searched for the lamp switch as her horn glowed. “Coming!”

Her hoof caught ahold of the cord she needed to pull and the place exploded in light; she shielded her eyes from the brightness and went up to the door, rubbing her eyes. A small Trottinghamian voice reached her ears as she opened it. “Twilight Sparkle?”

Not her usual mailmare, she supposed; she was a bit too tired to care. “Yeah, I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m waiting for a package from Trottingham, it’s probably about this big—”

She trailed off as her eyes opened to see a spotted little earth colt, his mane somewhat messed up. “Pipsqueak?” she said, shaking her head a bit. “What’re you doing out here this late at night?”

“I—” He looked at his hooves, taking a slight gasp as if unsure. “I’m lost.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Lost? Pipsqueak, you—”

Quite suddenly, she became aware of the damp trails running down from his eyes and the spots around his mouth; she blinked rapidly, kneeling down. “Are you okay?”

He nodded quickly. “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not.” She looked closer and touched a slightly crusty spot on his side; he winced, and as she looked over him she saw vivid spots of black and blue.

Disheveled mane.

Sticky fur.

Covered in bruises.

Late night.

The symptoms clicked, and her mouth went wide open.

Crying, stained, bruised, lost foal denying anything’s wrong coming lost to her doorstep in the middle of the night.

Her horn flashed and her magic engulfed Pipsqueak for half a second before it grabbed the nearest scroll and quill; without looking at the paper, she began furiously transcribing the knowledge she had magically acquired. Fluids, injuries, locations—she'd let the courts decide.

Spike’s tired voice came from behind them, along with the sound of baby dragon feet on wooden steps. “What’s all the ruckus about?”

“Who did this to you?

“You won't believe me. It was a pegasus and I'm an earth pony.”

Twilight grimaced. “I'll make sure he never hurts anypony again. Tell me who did this, Pipsqueak.”

He looked shamefully down at his hooves. “She was a filly. She was only a little older than me.”

Twilight shook her head. “That doesn’t matter, Pip. I need you to say exactly what happened. Spike,” she said, turning her head around and ripping her eyes off the little foal as she continued writing, “get ready to write a letter. Take down everything Pipsqueak says perfectly. After he's done, get him a shower and send the letter as fast as possible.”

The dragon yawned, walking over to the kitchen. “It’s two in the morning. I’ll go make breakfast, then—”

There was a purple flash, and he found himself staring into Twilight’s narrowed, bloodshot eyes. “Now.”

Spike fell to the floor with an 'oof'; as Twilight headed up the stairs, she heard the first half of Pipsqueak's sentence.

“You’ll tell Cheerilee and she’ll tell mum and I’ll get in trouble—”

She closed the door behind her and scanned the bookshelves. She had plenty of books on Equestrian law in the library, but nothing like this.

As she reached the top, her body and the few items she needed disappeared in a flash of purple light and reappeared in her Canterlot study.

She didn't realise her mistake until it was several hours too late.

Habeas corpus

The Daily Sun

TROTTER LAD VICTIM OF BRUTAL RAPE IN EQUESTRIA, ARRESTED AND CHARGED BY ROYAL GUARDS

6th January 2489

PONYVILLE, EQUESTRIA - It is a cold night in Ponyville - a quaint hamlet south of the bustling metropolis of Canterlot, capital of Equestria - and its inhabitants’ dear Princess Luna is watching over its inhabitants.

Or is she?

Rumours of a colt being the victim of a brutal rape by a pegasus pony and being placed under arrest after begging for help from Princess Celestia's personal student yesterday are spreading through Trottingham like wildfire. The Equestrian ambassador has so far steadfastly refused to comment.

By studying documents released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the Freedom of Information Act, however, the Daily Sun has found a diplomatic notice effectively stating that a Trottinghamian colt named Pipsqueak has been charged with the ominously named offence of ‘corruption of the fundamental innocence of the immortal soul of the minor’.

The primitive system of Equestrian law (based almost entirely on the interpretation of their dear Princess’ will) stands in stark contrast to Trottingham's parliamentary system; according to a panel of experts, Pipsqueak is essentially being charged with the crime of being raped by another minor, possibly as old as seventeen years old in the Equestrian system of consent, due to a small oversight in an old mare’s opinion.

Due to the opacity of the Equestrian legal system, little is known about the identity of the perpetrator. We have pinpointed the source of the original rumour: a letter allegedly sent to Pipsqueak’s mother by the Princess’ student, Twilight Sparkle.

“They just want to shut him up”, says the distraught single mother, leaning on the frame of her cottage south of Bridlestol. “That’s why none of the papers’ve gotten around to telling us about it yet. But I’ve got a paper! The Princess’ very own personal student, bless ‘er heart, apologising t’me. My little colt’s been right buggered, ‘e has. All I want’d was fer ‘im t’ave a better future and now ‘e’s going t’pay for it with ‘is blood.”

Her bags are packed. “Oh, these”, she says as we ask her about it, “I’m goin’ t’visit the poor lad and ‘ope for the best. It’s two months by boat, it is—I might as well start now.” She declined to show us the exact contents of the mail she received, but she confirmed the rumours.

Pipsqueak’s current situation is unknown, but various legal experts have suggested that he will be standing in court as soon as he arrives in Canterlot.

Let this be a warning to our dear readers: Equestria, no matter how kind its face might be, is still very much a place descended from the likes of Commander Hurricane and Princess Platinum. Keep that in mind as you read those brochures and decide to take a trip for work or play.

On second thought, don’t take a trip at all.

■ By Daily Sun Reporter

—

The track was bumpy and the railroad car was hard-seated; he had been sitting quietly for an hour, and was beginning to sweat quite a bit. The shower at the library had helped, certainly, and they hadn’t been rough with him, but the situation as a whole was fairly undesirable.

“Where are we going?”

The guards besides him said nothing; he felt uneasy.

“Can I see Princess Luna?”

The pegasus guard besides him glanced to the one on his left and then back down at Pipsqueak; he did not react, staring instead intently at the Unicorn Range out the window.

“Come on, Kick.”

“No talking with felon suspects.” He glanced over for a second. “No revealing names, either.”

“Come on. Does he look like a felon to you?”

Pipsqueak raised a hoof and spoke quietly. “What’s a ‘felon’?”

Kick shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Orders are orders and you know that.” He looked away a bit from his companion.

“Come on. Look at him.” He gestured at the quiet, bruised foal. “Worst case, he’s a kid that got lucky.”

Pipsqueak shuddered a bit. “Can I talk to my caretaker, please?”

The other groaned. “Come on. Just look at him. He’s scared, he’s lonely, he’s—”

“No.”

They both were silent for a while.

“I didn’t want to bring this up, Kick—”

“Don’t.”

“—but—”

“Don’t.”

“—you kinda owe me.”

Kick sighed and hung his hooves in surrender. “Fine, fine, fine!” He faced Pipsqueak. “What’s your guardian’s name, kid?”

“Her name’s Cheerilee,” he said, and shuffled his hooves. “She’s a teacher at the primary school, and she’s kind and—”

He interrupted him with a dismissive wave. “Right, right. Once we get to Canterlot, I’ll tell the guard to let her in if she calls up. Good enough for you?”

Pipsqueak didn’t quite think so, but he held his tongue and nodded; the other guard, however, for whom the question was intended, gave him a little grin of triumphance. “Good enough.”

Kick looked up and glared at his companion. “I might lose my job.”

He patted Kick on the back; metal clanged against metal. “Not if none of us say anything,” he said, grinning. “Will we?”

“Go buck yourself off a cliff.”

Pipsqueak looked up at both of them and decided not to say anything.

The rest of the ride was silent.

—

Scootaloo sat and shifted in place on the cold iron seats, twiddling her hooves in frustration as she tried to present her appeal.

“I’m like thirteen! He liked it!”

She looked between her captors, who did not move.

Her hooves went up to her chin as she glared at the wall. “What the hay’re you gonna charge me with, anyway?”

An uncertain voice came from the one on her right. “That’s one of the questions she can ask, right?”

“She had her charges read to her already.”

“This is stupid,” she said, and groaned. “Pipsqueak couldn’t get any if he tried.”

The guards stayed still, but the one who had been uncertain closed his eyes as well; she groaned in frustration and resorted to memory.

Unwilling something of the something minor’s something, she thought, corruption of the something or the other. Not good; the look on Dash's face was bad enough, but having to go to court?

She sighed out loud. Maybe she was a little tipsy, maybe been a little too rough. Wasn’t Dash’s business what she did, though, and it certainly wasn’t the law’s business.

“I’m gonna get out,” she grumbled, and pushed her little head back onto the oversized seat. “You just wait.”

They remained silent as the ponies in the carriage over.

—

Pipsqueak followed the guard in front of him onto the full railway platform. A handful of signs greeted his view; he could not read them past the series of guards holding the crowd back, but the sentiment was quite clear.

“Free the lad! Free the lad!”

“Immigrants,” Kick groaned, before raising his voice. “You need a permit to exhibit out here! You’re obstructing public commerce!”

Nopony seemed to listen, and the chanting grew even louder; as he seemed to try to puzzle out a way past, a particular voice came loudly enough to shatter eardrums.

“Excuse me, I’m his advocate!”

The crowd abruptly stopped chanting, a few groans coming from the back; a sheepish-looking unicorn, her purple horn letting the magic flow away from itself, quickly emerged. “Sorry,” she said, facing towards the crowd and walking backwards as the Royal Guards let her past, “Miscalculation with the spell.”

The other guard walked up from behind him. “You’re saying you’re this colt’s advocate, miss?”

Kick held a hoof up to the other guard and stepped aside. “It’s the Princess’ student.” In the background, the chanting continued, a few calumniations against the Princess and her student working themselves into the flow.

“Oh.” He stepped to the other side with as much grace as he could muster.

Pipsqueak came eye-to-eye with a very tired mare as she knelt, her saddlebags filled with what appeared to be paper. “Twilight? Twilight, why am I here? The guards said I was being arrested.”

She shook her head tiredly, grimacing a bit; the bags under her eyes were obvious. “I didn’t read enough while studying. I didn’t read enough and I made a mistake. A serious, serious mistake. I could’ve told Celestia before, I could’ve lied about the time—” Her breath came out in a long, slow push. “I’m sorry.”

He wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that, and so he kept his silence.

She shook her head and put her hooves gently on the foal’s shoulders.  “Look, Pip, I have t—”

She quickly interrupted herself; she’d find out at the identity parade, and she had spent enough hours agonising over it that she really didn’t want to know. “Nevermind,” she said. “Doesn’t matter yet. I’ll check the case later. What’s important is getting you out of here.”

He nodded quietly, and Kick grunted.

“Which is what we’re trying to do, miss, if you please. You can meet him in remand.”

Twilight nodded and stood. “Of course.”

The guards walked past, leading Pip along.

Nullum crimen

The Trottingham Independent

Broadsheet edition, 7th January 2489

Equestrian scholars agree new foal protection laws

By Glory Whisk

Canterlot, Equestria — Following the recent attack in Equestria on a Trottingham-born minor named Pipsqueak wherein both parties were charged with the offence of ‘corruption of the fundamental innocence of the immortal soul of the minor’, the legislative branch of Equestria—known locally as the Council of Scholars—has agreed a new set of foal protection laws absolving victims of rape by other minors of committing a crime.

Elder of Celestia Grayhoof Starswirl, the highest-ranking scholar in the Council of Scholars, has been quoted as saying that ‘this set of contradicting law is a disgrace to the dignity of our judiciary and to the consistency of Clarity.’ Clarity is the official name for the system of legislative reform practised by the Equestrian government.

Under the provisions set by the First Judicial Conference in May 23, however, no acts by the head of state can be applied retroactively whether in favour of or against the accused and as such Pipsqueak will be facing a hearing by the Canterlot Primary Tribunal next morning.

Most former cases regarding the offence were settled out of court, due to social pressures in Equestrian society; due to the dual criminality of the case, however, both parties are deprived of their right to manage their legal affairs and the state must force a prosecution.

Tensions are mounting as Trottinghamians are calling the prosecution ‘barbaric’ and are calling for its immediate dismissal; Equestrian law, however, does not permit the judge to call nolle prosequi, owing to the 892 Conference on the Rights of the Aggrieved.

Pipsqueak’s mother, having boarded a transport heading to Canterlot, was unavailable for comment at the time of writing and all other involved parties have refused interview. The other party in the case is as yet unknown, although she is believed to be a pegasus pony.

Useful notes on Ponyville:

Ponyville, where the crime occurred, is a prosperous suburban commercial district to the south of Canterlot with a hold on all commerical traffic running from Southern Equestria and is known for being the sole settlement directly remaining over the West Bank due to its defensive position near the Everfree.

It is currently forbidden from taking taxes from passing convoys and as such derives the plurality of its income from agricultural produce. Despite being a predominantly earth pony town, it is noticeably diverse and has some of the lowest crime rates in Southern Equestria.

Perhaps for this reason, all Elements of Harmony are known to have taken up permanent residence. This includes the instigator of the reform, Element of Magic Twilight Sparkle, who is also an official trainee legislator and the personal student of Princess Celestia.

—

“Sister.”

Celestia looked up from her papers to see a dark blue hoof coming towards her face; she moved as soon as it caught her eye, and it barely grazed her.

Her composure did not falter, and she took a deep breath as she peered at her sister’s furious visage. “You appear to be out of practise, Luna. What’s the matter?”

She pulled her hoof back quickly, but her attempt failed to dampen her anger. “Pretend not, sister,” she said, and her voice turned venomous. “Pretend not before me.”

She sighed and put one of her hooves up against her forehead. “What do you expect me to do?”

She shifted herself up on her hind-legs, pushing her arms hard up against her sister’s shoulders. “Do not be coy with me, sister. I care not if thou art disposed towards taking my power from me—I do not care for such petty things. I will push the stars and pull the moon as I always have. But do not bring this child under your twisted justice for the sake of our petty games.”

Celestia’s eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

She snorted in disgust. “I attempted to pardon Pip, sister. I was told that Royal Decree forbade it. Of all things, my intelligence mayn’t be mocked.”

“Luna,” Celestia said, shaking her head, “I can’t give pardons either. I stopped myself from doing that four hundred and thirty-six years ago.”

Luna found that it was her turn to be surprised. “Fewmets, sister. Thou wouldst not do something so foalish—I would never do something so foalish, so blind—without the world at my throat.” She gritted her teeth. “Why, sister?”

She sighed, gently pushing Luna from her—she stumbled a bit at the rejection of her gesture—and standing from her throne as she walked towards the nearest window. “I had a friend, Luna.”

“Everypony in the world is thy friend, sister.”

“I had a personal friend who was convicted of a terrible crime.” She looked down at her own hooves. “I could not pardon him for it in good conscience, and I knew that I would try.”

“So thou hast removed thy right of pardon—our right—because thou wert too weak to hold power? For some petty mortal?” She was practically seething. “And now thou hast condemned a foal innocent only of victimhood to imprisonment for the crime of being attacked? How couldst thou?”

She spoke heavily. “I have made many, many mistakes. Some of these mistakes have killed thousands. We have all made mistakes. Do you think that I do not regret this one? This oversight?”

“You cannot simply make an amendment to the Judicial Convention? You cannot simply repeal the royal edict?”

“A royal decree has never been repealed. I cannot overturn the entire legal system for a single foal, Luna. You know that. I never repeal them for a reason; I'm not infallible. Nopony is.”

“If thou art not infallible, perhaps thou shouldest not have thy position of infallibility, sister; this innocent foal has suffered by your foalishness, now, just as so many have.”

Looking back, Celestia might have said that her visage had splintered for the first time in decades.

“I can’t believe it.” A laugh issued from Celestia’s throat, a hoarse one; she turned around to her, showing a bitterly merry face. “I can't believe it. You would say that to me, spitting gum from a house with sugar walls? If not me, then who? You, the infallible Nightmare Moon?”

Luna stood in shock, and Celestia knew immediately that she should not have spoken.

They looked at each other for a while.

“I am not infallible,” she finally said, and turned around, walking towards the door. “And I never have pretended to be.”

She did not look at her as she pulled the tiara from her head and threw it to the floor. It bounced and landed upside-down on the carpet.

Celestia stared at her retreating flank until she was out the door, closing it behind her.

“That fat-headed, irrational mule,” she said, and decided not to speak further.