“You look like shit.”

“Thanks.” I offer my reply in a dead pan voice to Force as I stare down at the pegasus.

“No, really. Why isn’t your mane all…poofy and cloudy, ya know? Like it’s just regular hair. You don’t look like you’ve slept in at least three or four days. Luna, are you sure it’s a good idea for him to attend this?”

“Yes. It should be beneficial. Although we are somehow already two hours late. We really need to get moving.”

I end up involuntarily rolling my eyes a bit. “I’ve been ready for hours. You all were the ones that wanted me to go to this thing, and then you drag your feet and tell me to wait so we can all go together. Also my hair went back to looking like this around the same time Elytra lost her Cleric abilities.”

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 0 (5)
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2 - Pending level up!

Followers: —-

I had to have Nightmare go pick up my order of clothes from Rarity since I can’t use Alter Form anymore. Luckily all of the measurements are right since I’ve shrunken back down to my original size pre-ascension. I guess as the God of Hope I wasn’t supposed to give up on life, but I’m just so tired. It’s strange that Chaos isn’t filling the gaps, but it might be because as a God of Chaos I have no followers. The “(5)” in my status leads me to believe the ranks are still there, they’re just inaccessible right now.

“Would you have even gone ahead without us? I think we both know if it were up to you you’d just go make another blanket cocoon on the bed.” Nightmare points out as she comes out of the bathroom. “I’m ready to go, though, so if everypony else is as well then let’s head out.”

…

“Why are we going towards the throne room? I thought the pretrial hearings were going to be somewhere else?” I point out as I notice we’re not walking in the right direction.

“I told Cadence what her fiance had been up to and she told Princess Celestia. Long story short, Captain Armor has recused himself from the case. As a Knight and Captain the only ponies capable of presiding over your case are ponies of equal rank or higher. If this was a civilian court then we could just have Blueblood or some noble take over, but this is a court martial. None of the Princesses originally volunteered, saying they’d be biased one way or another. After that it fell down to me or Shining, and between the two of us they correctly judged that Shining would be the more neutral party. Now that he’s out though, Princess Celestia has stepped up and swore she had the capability of being neutral. Citing the fact that she banished…well you know.”

I can only blankly stare ahead and slightly nod in response to Force. I only agreed to this because I thought it was just a pretrial hearing in some small meeting room. If this is in the throne room doesn’t that mean it’s public?!

Apparently sensing my new unease, Luna bumps my hip with her barrel as we’re walking. “It’s going to be fine, Ignis. I promise.”

“I hope you’re right.” Is all I mumble out as we go through the side entrance of the throne room. As soon as we walk in I want to shrivel up and disappear. The entire audience section is crammed full. They all turn and look at us as we walk up the center aisle. I don’t even know what type of looks they’re giving me because my eyes are glued to the floor.

“Welcome, Mr. Ferrum. If I could have you sit at the table to my right.” I hear Celestia greet me and just mumble out an affirmative response. After a few seconds I find myself sitting down next to a tan earth pony.

“Sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances, Your Radiance.” Wait…that voice?

I wearily turn and take a proper look at the stallion next to me. It’s the earth pony from the hospital. The one with the colt that had rabies. “Carved Oak? What are you doing here?”

“I’m your JAG, sir. Why do you seem so surprised?”

“With your name being Carved Oak I thought…I thought you’d have a job doing woodworking or something.”

He chuckles a bit before giving me a gentle smile. “That is my special talent, but it doesn’t quite pay the bills when you live in a place like Canterlot. My wife and I are…were, both guards. I actually met her on a case funny enough. She was going up for insubordination and I got assigned to be her defense counsel. We just hit it off. As soon as she was back to work after her sentence we started going out.”

Right. His wife was one of the ones we lost early on to the False Hydra.

“Anyways, sir, as soon as I saw your name come up I rushed over to volunteer for this.” He looks just as tired as I do. His eyes are bloodshot and everything.

“How hard have you been working on my case? I’m so sorry Oak, but I was planning to just plead gu-”

“I’ve been very hard at work! I had to track down a lot of ponies to get my case put together, but I managed to do it. Just barely. Don’t worry sir, this case won’t even make it to trial. I guarantee it. I have to repay you for saving my colt.”

I don’t know what to say. In fact I’m a bit confused why Celestia is just letting us converse like this. Aren’t I super late? They should’ve been well into discovery and filing whatever motions they had. I finally find the words to reply to the stallion. “Thank you.” It ends up being just a bit louder than a whisper, but he smiles at me in response.

“Now, I believe we were discussing the defense’s motion to dismiss?” Celestia finally decides to resume the hearing, I guess she decided I’d had enough time to talk to my lawyer. “Can I ask on what grounds?”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” Oak stands up and I can’t help but be impressed at the Day Guards dress uniform. It’s just a top, but it’s quite sharp and he has a surprising number of ribbons. “As I’m sure you know, our charges are broken down into very specific categories with very specific descriptions and requirements that must be met. My client is charged with “Dereliction of Duty resulting in the loss of 542 lives. Now, Dereliction of Duty has two types of charges, major and minor. In this case my client is being charged with the one categorized as “Major.””

He starts to pace a bit as he walks out from behind the table we’re both sitting at and he has me confused on where this is going. “The only real difference between the major and minor versions of this charge is that the minor charge is victimless. It’s typically used when said crime results in loss of property or some other object of monetary value. What is detailed in my motion is an explanation for why the charge against my client does not have one of its main requirements met. Preventable loss of life.”

Oh so his whole argument for dismissal is that it wasn’t preventable. Couldn’t they still push for the minor version of the charge? Or even just downgrade it to negligence?

Celestia seems to agree. “Even in a hypothetical world where you’re correct, that still wouldn’t justify a dismissal. I could see a downgrade of the charge being possible, though. Unless you still haven’t made your point?”

“I have not, Your Majesty.” She motions for him to continue. “Over the last three days myself and several others have gone out into Canterlot and selectively surveyed over 700 ponies about a hypothetical situation that is nearly identical to the one seen in this case. After explaining everything properly and answering any questions, you might be surprised to find all 764 said this was not preventable. Or rather, that they do not place their blame on my client.”

“Canterlot is a big city, Mr. Oak. Your client even has a substantial following with the public in this city. Why don’t you ask those questions to the parents that had to bury their foal, herds that had to bury one or more members? Do you think they’d have the same answer? Your sample size is not nearly large enough, I’m afraid. I will give you praise for managing to get that many responses in a mere three days, though.”

“I’m glad you said that, Your Majesty. I mentioned that we “selectively” surveyed those ponies, no? That’s because we used the census data and next of kin data to find and survey all 764 next of kin for every life lost that morning.” When he says that I can feel my breath hitch in my throat and it feels like I’m frozen in place.

I hear the main double doors of the throne room open, and somehow manage to turn and look. The corridor outside the double doors is crammed full of ponies all the way down and turning the corner. “Just in case, we arranged for all 764 to be here this morning. If you would like to verify their identities and circumstances, we can call them forward, Your Majesty.”

What? This is some misleading ploy right? Why would these people…. I collapse back into my chair and start to hyperventilate.

“Before that there’s still my original question. Why would this justify a dismissal and not a downgrade to a lesser charge?” Celestia asks with a completely flat tone. She’s so good at hiding if she’s surprised or not.

“Well I think it’s obvious that the loss of property and monetary damages wasn’t preventable, Your Majesty. The incident with Discord proved that. All of the buildings that were demolished would have surely still faced destruction. The only other thing you could downgrade it to is Negligence, but you’ll run into the same situation there. It also has a major and minor version of the charge with nearly identical requirements. I’d make the same argument for that, that I’m making now.”

“In that case, I’ll call your bluff Mr. Oak. I’m going to randomly select four ponies to cross the threshold and approach the throne. If you feel a slight pressure behind your right ear, that’s my telekinesis and you’re one of the ponies selected. Will those four come up now?”

I…… I just….. What is happening? I recognize so many of these ponies. They were at Night Court asking for the revival magic when I stopped by that night.

“Your Majesty…” The first pony to walk up was a yellow unicorn mare accompanied by a small pink unicorn filly.

“Mrs. Care, and hello little one…I don’t think we’ve met before. Mrs. Care if I recall correctly your herd lost its stallion and you lost your older filly?” It’s the most gentle I’ve ever heard Celestia speak, but I still can’t process what’s happening. I can feel my eyes shaking in shock.

“That’s right, Your Majesty. I actually remember right before I lost consciousness from half of the hospital collapsing. I was scared out of my mind, and I kept looking out the window wondering why I hadn’t seen the knight that fought Discord. I found out when I woke up a few hours later that he was completely missing for the first two or three hours of the attack. Then yesterday evening Mr. Oak stopped by and did his “survey” and any resentment I might’ve had for the knight…” She actually stops and turns to look at me. “For you. Vanished in an instant. You were tricked into thinking our towns near the border were under attack and didn’t hesitate for even a moment to charge straight there. Then we found out you were the one to heal everypony that was injured, even the ones on the brink of death…”

Her eyes start to well up as she keeps looking at me. “How can I blame somepony for trying to do the right thing, and even afterwards tried with everything they had to repel the attack and save everypony still left? I can’t. I just can’t. And I know they wouldn’t blame you either. I was buried under three stories of stone and I know I’m only alive because of your healing magic. I wouldn’t have lasted long enough for the rescue crews to find me and dig me out. Then my little filly would’ve lost both of her parents…”

The mare chokes up a bit and I can feel my own bottom lip start to quiver. “It’s not your fault, mister. You just wanted to save everypony, and I want you to be around to keep chasing that same goal for any hardships we might face in the future.”

Everything is blurry and I find myself blinking rapidly to try and restore my vision. Another mare comes up and gives her point of view during the attack. I only made it halfway through her speech before I had to put my elbow on the table and prop my forehead against the palm of my hand. Turned to a complete mess as more and more ponies came forward to speak.

After at least 50 ponies have spoken I feel a rising heat in my chest and my hair lifts up away from my back. Looking up at the stallion currently speaking I watch through tear filled eyes as a small golden orb floats out of the pony before floating over and into my chest. It’s the opposite of what happened during the attack…

They’re giving me their Hope.

At that point my quiet crying turns into a loud sob as my body grows a foot and half taller. Looking around to see so many ponies just giving me a soft, bittersweet smile. The stallion has stopped talking at this point and I’m just rubbing my eyes while trying to stammer out an apology and a thank you at the same time. Completely confused on which one I’m supposed to say.

“I think I’ve heard enough. It’s through my judgement that this court decides the charges against the defendant are not substantiated enough to warrant moving to trial. Case dismissed.” Celestia announces over my choked sobs. “I want to thank all of you for being here this morning. I’m sure it’s easy to see how impactful your presence was for Mr. Ferrum. Mr. Oak I want to thank you and your team for your efforts as well. I’m so proud to see all of my little ponies coming together to support one of our own like this. I really haven’t seen something like this in centuries. Ignis, I hope you’re able to see how valued you are in this kingdom now. There’s no way something like this could’ve been done if you didn’t mean anything to the ponies in this city.”

Wait, what? Why is she saying it like that? It almost sounds like…she knew this was going to happen?

“You seem confused, Sir.” I turn my blurry vision towards Carved Oak. “I filed the motion to dismiss pretty much the same day I accepted the case. I laid out the base of my argument, but obviously didn’t have the ponies interviewed yet. The Princess requested an audience with me to discuss the motion yesterday and ended up agreeing with me. I was going to go find your Vice Captain to have her tell you, but the Princess suggested this idea.”

Is that why it felt weird when I got here? I did notice that it didn’t feel like the hearing had already been going for a couple of hours. I look over at Luna, Nightmare, and Force and watch them walk over with big smiles. “So the reason you all took so long to get ready this morning…?”

“Was it to stall until we had all of these ponies in place? Yes.” Luna replies.

“And it’s why we were insistent that you attended last night.” Nightmare chimes in.

“The motion getting filed initially was the same morning Armor came out and tried to coerce a confession from you. The motion to dismiss probably had him panicking, and he wanted a confession before things could fall into place.” Force jumps in as well.

I finally manage to compose myself long enough to stand up and face all the ponies still in the throne room. Bowing towards them I yell out the only thing I can think of. “I’m still deeply sorry for failing all of you! But…thank you. Thank you so much!”

I immediately start sobbing again when I look out and see all the faint golden orbs and all of the bittersweet, caring smiles.

Ignis Ferrum - Divine Rank 5
Bladesinger 12/Paladin 2 - Pending level up!

Followers: 8,212

Author's Note

Thanks for reading. <3