Author's Note

This feels like my weakest chapter. Politics isn't my strongest knowledge base. Sorry in advance.

28: Tribunal

Saturday, January 15, 1008 A.L., Equestria

Twilight had only ever been in the Tribunal Hall once, and that was when she was being shown around Canterlot Castle by Princess Celestia only a few days after she hatched Spike. Unlike the House of Lords assembly hall or the House of Knights assembly hall, this one was a bit more austere, with two levels of seating, each set against the circular walls of the hall. The lower level was where all members of the House of Knights sat and the upper level was where this in the House of Nobles sat. Three seats on the upper level were reserved for the speakers of each house, which in this case included Prince Blueblood, Marchioness High Life, and Sir Iron Skull, the speaker of the House of Knights.

The room was circular, with a domed ceiling, a large chandelier hanging from the apex of said dome, and wall sconces which at one time held torches but which had been replaced with bright light bulbs. In the center of the room was a platform which was used for the defendant or accused to stand in. It was capable of floating around slightly and could move through the use of a lever. It was where Twilight, Celestia, and Luna were currently standing as they awaited the Tribunal to begin.

Twilight knew Blueblood and High life, but the third pony was one she didn’t know. Sir Iron Skull was a burly gray furred unicorn with an eyepatch and a scar that went down the same eye. His one good eye, a bright gold one, made Twilight inadvertently stand up straighter and taller due to its piercing gaze. His hair, which had once been a deep black, was now salt and pepper gray but still well maintained.

Unlike the nobility, who wore fine clothes and jewelry to accentuate their wealth and status, the only articles of clothing any of the House of Knights wore were metal peytrals with their knightdom’s sigils carved onto the center. Iron Skull’s own sigil and his coat of arms were the same: the relief of a roaring golden lion. It had been the sigil of his family, all of whom had become knights, for centuries. Many of the Royal Guard knights in the past had come from his family tree.

A clock on the wall read 9:59, meaning that things were going to begin in about one minute. Twilight knew that it might not start at exactly ten, mostly because a few seats remained empty, especially one which belonged to her father. Night Light had become a member of the House of Knights at around the same time that Shining Armor had become captain of the Royal Guard. He was the newest member of the House of Knights, and as such didn’t have nearly the same pull that other members did. Neither did he have his own knightdom. Of course, being the father of two new royals didn’t hinder his standing in the House. Now, though? Now that Twilight had been exposed for what she had done? She couldn’t be sure he would be here at all.

Those fears were put to rest as her father came in, wearing the peytral and sigil of his house, which just so happened to be a relief of his cutie mark since he was the patriarch of a new line. He took his seat, then looked somberly at Twilight. His eyes were sunken, as if he had stayed up all night. There was a deep seated sadness in his eyes, too. Twilight promised herself that, once these proceedings were over, she would pay her parents a long overdue visit. She had kept telling herself that she’d had no time to visit, and she’d also been too ashamed to face them, especially in the face of the favoritism she now realized her parents had shown to her and Shining when they had rejected Spike, who could have been like a second son to them.

The sound of the bells striking the hour came from outside, and the two guards moved to close the door. If anypony arrived late, they would need to sneak in. The doors closed with finality. Twilight looked around and saw that there were only three seats empty. Blueblood grabbed a gavel with his magic and brought it down. “Order, everypony! Order!” he called out. As the room quickly died down and some of the ponies adjusted in their seats, Blueblood continued, turning and giving a nod of greeting to the three princesses. The others in the room, however, bowed. “Your Highnesses,” he began, “thank you for coming.”

“Of course,” Princess Celestia said, taking the lead. “I hope that this meeting will help us to come to some sort of understanding.”

And so it begins, Twilight thought sardonically. She’d always hated this sort of political game of catch. False politeness was one of her pet peeves, although now she really couldn’t judge anyone about that sort of thing, considering her own spewing of hatred.

As everyone else raised their heads, Blueblood looked over at Iron Skull and nodded. The burly stallion straightened and nodded before he spoke. “Now then,” Iron Skull said as he lifted a stack of papers sitting in front of him, “Abdicatio et Ascendio has been invoked by the House of Lords. They have brought a list of reasons as to why Princesses Celestia and Luna should abdicate the throne. Some other reasons have been brought against Princess Twilight Sparkle as well.”

That revelation hardly surprised Twilight. She knew she wasn’t fit for the throne after what she’d done. Plus, she and the other two alicorns had read over the papers provided to them. Celestia, however, still stood tall. “Let us drop the pretense, Sir Skull, and the rest of you as well,” she said. “You may call them reasons, but they are charges.”

The older knight stiffened a bit, and his demeanor nearly faltered, but only nearly. He nodded, then placed the papers in front of him, putting a monocle over his good eye. “You have been given the list of the charges against you, correct?”

“We have,” Celestia said.

“Have you prepared any statements of defense?” High Life asked.

“We have,” Celestia repeated, “so which one of us would you prefer to hear first?”

“From you, Your Highness,” High Life said.

“Very good,” Celestia said as she stood taller, then turned the floating pod around to face the others. “Just to reiterate, the charges against me are as follows: negligence in my duties to my subjects, failing judgment in my choice of how to handle the crises that have plagued our kingdom in recent years and in choosing to rely on inexperienced ponies to solve problems instead of relegating them to the proper channels, complacency, the practice of nepotism, and failure to uphold the tenets of harmony, especially when it comes to the wellbeing of the creatures who live in this country who are unable to become citizens due to their race. Am I correct in this?”

Sweet Celestia, those are some trumped up charges! Twilight thought bitterly to herself. She’d seen them, of course, but it still felt like a slap to the face when she heard them being directed at her former mentor. Blueblood was the first to respond. “That is correct, your highness.”

“First of all,” Celestia began, “I want to start with the accusation of complacency. The kingdom has lasted for a thousand years under my rule alone. I have done all that I can to make sure that this kingdom is kept safe and secure from threat.”

“But if that was the case,” Iron Skull retorted, “then surely you would have attempted to do something about the racial inequality in this nation. Even you could be seen as guilty of this. Your school is only for gifted unicorns, correct?”

Maker above, he has a surprisingly good point, Twilight thought. Celestia, however, responded quickly. “I have done my best to ensure that the tenets of harmony are upheld in this nation, but if I were to enforce my own personal beliefs onto ponies, then I could become a dictator. We were given free will by the Maker Herself, and we have the freedom to do good and to do evil. And even so, in the past whenever I have tried to get certain new laws put into place, I have received backlash from both Houses. Only about half of the laws I had hoped to put into place to make Equestria a better place were ever passed.”

There were murmurs among the hall and even a couple of nods. Blueblood, however, wasn’t likely to give up so easily, Twilight surmised, and she was right. “Many of those laws you mentioned would have caused civil unrest at the time you attempted to have them ratified. Equestria was different during each of those times. The laws will likely be implemented much more easily now, but back when they were first proposed to the Courts, events would have likely gone differently.”

“Maybe so,” Celestia conceded, “but what you just described would have been temporary.”

“Perhaps,” Blueblood said, “but there’s no way to be sure that there wouldn’t have been casualties.”

“We have historical records from that time,” High Life added, “showing that the eras where you attempted to bring the laws into existence were a far more volatile time. Most, if not all, took place mere years and even a decade or so after Equestria’s founding. Even back then, there was tension between the three races, especially with the pegasi and their chiropteran cousins. Asking the citizens at the time to accept the laws you wanted would have likely gone poorly.”

“Still, those laws would have made Equestria a far better country than it is today,” Celestia said. “Which is why they are even now being put into place.”

“So noted,” Blueblood said, picking up a pen and writing something down.

“Your point is well taken,” Iron Skull said.

“Better late than never, is it?” High Life asked somberly.

Celestia sighed, but simply nodded. “Is there anything else here, because it seems as if we’re at an impasse.”

“We can return to this if we need to,” Blueblood said. “What charge would you like to address next?”

“I believe the one about my supposed negligence would be appropriate,” Celestia said.

“Very well,” Blueblood said as he and the other two shuffled through their papers. “There are examples here of negligence on your part, and it would appear most are of negligence to nonponies. One of them in particular stands out to us, and that is the rather poor upbringing of one Spike the Dragon.”

Twilight flinched, and she saw her father visibly wince as well, but it was brief. Celestia nodded. “I have read the examples.”

“Then it should come as no surprise that you placed an infant dragon in the care of not just young filly, but in the hooves of ponies who have been shown to neglect him and relegate him to the side,” High Life said.

“Why did you put Spike into the care of the Sparkle family?” Iron Skull asked.

“The dragon Spike was an egg I found centuries ago,” Celestia explained. “At the time, I had thought the poor dragon inside to be dead since the other eggs in the nest were smashed and the nest appeared long abandoned. I tried to hatch the egg myself, but nothing happened. I decided to make attempting to hatch the egg a test to see how foals dealt with failure. When Spike was hatched, I decided that it would be a good idea to have the Sparkle family raise him because I believed that being in a loving home would be a benefit for him.”

“And are you sure this wasn’t some sort of test?” a knight asked sternly.

“You do seem to have a talent of providing tests for those directly under your wing,” a noble observed.

“I would never use a foal of any species as some sort of test,” Celestia replied sharply.

“And yet, that is what you did with Spike’s egg,” High Life observed.

“I didn’t know at the time that dragon eggs can last for centuries,” Celestia said.

“But did you even attempt to reach out to the Dragon Lands?” another knight asked.

“We have not been on good terms with the dragons for centuries,” Celestia said. “It’s possible they may have seen me having an egg as some international incident.”

“But you could have asked,” Iron Skull insisted. “Would the Dragon Lord have sent dragons to invade because of a simple question?”

“I didn’t want to risk Spike’s safety,” Celestia said. “The Dragon Lord may have demanded that the egg be returned to a parent that didn’t want him.”

“He was born in our lands,” Iron Skull said, “and that makes him by default an Equestrian citizen by birth. That is the law. One of the laws that you managed to pass in the early days of our kingdom. Not many nonponies are born in our borders, but the law is the law. Not only that, but he was made a ward of the family of your personal student. A family who, by all accounts, never really treated him as family but more as a pet.”

The more Twilight heard, the more her heart sank. Being constantly reminded of her mistreatment of Spike made her hurt all the more and made her want to try and make things right with him. Celestia continued. “I admit that how I’ve handled things wasn’t ideal, and that will haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“What has been done for the young dragon to compensate him for his mistreatment?” Blueblood interjected. “He is a hero in the Crystal Empire, and that nation’s citizens have been clamoring for us to either send him to live with them or to have him recompensed.”

“He has been granted emancipation from his former adopted family,” Celestia said, “and once Ponyville is rebuilt, he will be granted a house of his own and a large monetary compensatory sum from the crown’s own pockets. As of now, he is receiving a stipend.”

“Will that be enough to undo the psychological damage done?” High Life asked cooly.

Luna actually stepped in now. “I will be ensuring that his dreams and psyche are well tended to,” she said.

“How, when your own psyche is as damaged as these reports say they are?” a noble asked.

“Peace, good sir,” Blueblood said before looking at Luna. “And so noted.” He looked back over at Celestia. “The other examples here, do you dispute them as well?”

“I did what I could,” Celestia said. “It wasn’t enough, I know, but I have to once more point out that the law about foreign creatures able to be naturalized and become citizens of this kingdom and subjects of the crown was one I attempted to have passed but each time I tried, it failed. And that was mostly in part due to the House of Lords blatant interference.”

Twilight was satisfied to see a small frown appearing on High Life’s face, but it vanished immediately. Blueblood nodded gravely. “The last time you attempted to have this law passed was about…sixty years ago,” he said as he looked over a paper. “That error will end very soon.”

“Would you like to move on to the next accusations?” High Life asked. “Perhaps the one about relying on inexperienced ponies to handle dangerous affairs, such as the sleeping dragon incident, the return of the Crystal Empire, Discord’s attempted reformation, Tirek’s escape and return, and even Nightmare Moon?”

Iron Skull then looked at Celestia. “Many of these incidents seem to be ones that could easily have been dealt with by more experienced ponies, and yet all of the incidents I just shared were dealt with by six inexperienced and very young mares.”

Luna flinched at the mention of Nightmare Moon, but Celestia stood taller and stepped slightly closer to her sister as she replied, “With the first part that you mentioned, like I mentioned earlier, sending soldiers or guards would have likely caused increasing tensions with the Dragon Lands. We had no way of knowing who was sleeping in that cave. I chose to send Twilight and the rest of the Elements because I hoped that by sending them, tensions could be eased.”

“And yet the report says here that the dragon was physically assaulted by your group and that somepony even attempted manipulation to steal his hoard,” Sir Iron Skull said.

Twilight kept her face still, but inside she was freaking out. How had they discovered that? Nopony else was there. Were there? Celestia looked a bit surprised by this. “I wasn’t made aware of those actions,” she said, and this time she shot Twilight a disapproving glance. Twilight knew that glance. It was her ‘We’ll talk about this later’ face. “Still, even with that, the dragon did leave.”

“But in that case, do the ends really justify the means?” High Life asked. “You could easily have sent a negotiator there instead. A professional one.”

“My reasons for that are the same as for me not sending the Royal Guard,” she said.

There were murmurs from the crowd and the three ponies in the judge seats looked at each other, then turned back to her. “Very well, let’s move on to another example. Why don’t we discuss how you sent six young mares barely out of their filly teen years to go against a returning alicorn of enormous power who could stop the day and who would have us live in eternal night? Not only that, but you allowed the young Spike to go down there, too.”

“Nightmare Moon’s purification needed the Elements of Harmony,” Celestia defended herself, “and those six were the ones I knew at the time would be able to embody those elements.”

“I know a certain human who would disagree,” a knight mumbled.

Celestia turned to the knight. “Those who become the bearers of the Elements aren’t perfect,” she admitted, “but they are meant to show that we should all strive to be better.” She then turned back to the three judges. “The Nightmare that had claimed my sister could only be helped by the Elements. I had to make an effort to get my sister back.”

“So you put your own desires over the good of the realm?” Blueblood asked. “Is the realm worth one alicorn?”

“I needed my sister by my side not just because she’s my only family, but because before she was corrupted, she and I balanced each other out. I would temper some of her more impulsive choices and she would help me come to a more determined decision in certain matters. We fit together like the ancient Hockaxia idea of yin and yang.” Celestia looked stalwartly at the ponies around her, her gaze sweeping across them all. “I needed her by my side to help make Equestria better. And the same goes for Discord’s first release. Only the Elements could deal with him.”

“Hmm, so noted,” Blueblood said, followed by the scratching of quill on paper.

“And yet you willingly released him to, what, gain his power for our kingdom alone?” High Life asked.

“There can be no harmony without chaos,” Celestia said, “and while I admit it was a gamble, I believed that having Discord by our side as an ally and friend instead of an enemy would be much better for us in the long run.”

“Tell that to Jason Wright and the families who were killed when Tirek escaped and joined with Discord,” a noble said darkly.

“Not to mention that everypony around him treated him poorly,” another noble said, “including five of the six Elements of Harmony. Is it any wonder he betrayed Equestria? His actions were spurred on by the same reasons that Jason acted against us.”

Twilight saw Celestia’s ears twitch, threatening to move downward, but centuries of composure had apparently been well worth it. “He did have a true friend,” she said.

“Take it from me,” Iron Skull said, “sometimes, one friend is not enough when you deal with prejudice and suspicion.”

Celestia nodded in agreement. “Yes, that is true,” she said.

“And what about the Crystal Empire’s return?” Iron Skull pressed. “Surely, you could have sent more than eight ponies and a dragon who was used as a pack mule. You could have sent the Guard, or any of us. Things could have gone quite wrong.” He leaned forward. “Did you really feel the need to test your student here with something that could have resulted not just in her and her former friend’s deaths, but in the enslavement of all of Equestria?” He held up another piece of paper, this one looking like a piece of paper from the Empire. “I have a written report here that explains just how powerful and cruel Sombra was to his subjects. He kept them under his control through a magical brainwashing helmet and even had some fight to the death for his own amusement. He would do unspeakable things to mares, as well, and his magic was beyond nearly all unicorns.”

“I sent Twilight and her friends because I needed somepony who was good with research,” Celestia explained. “With the Crystal Empire back, we needed to find a way to stop him.”

“Then why do I have a sworn affidavit here that one of the servants heard you and Princess Luna talking about this trip as a test to see if Princess Twilight was ready?” High Life asked.

Twilight felt a bit of heat emanating from Celestia, but she didn’t raise her voice. “Probably because it was true,” she said. “I did send her there as a test to see if she was ready.”

“Ready for what?” Blueblood pressed.

Celestia didn’t flinch when she replied with, “Ready to become a princess.”

“And why did you feel the need for another princess?” High Life asked. “Surely with your sister back and with Princess Cadenza, Equestria had no need for a fourth ruler in that regard?”

Celestia inhaled deeply. “I am immortal,” she began, “and as such I have learned quite well how to plan for the future years, sometimes centuries, in advance. I have seen the ebb and flow of the years around me, and starting last century, things began changing faster than they ever have. I wanted to find somepony who could help rule not in my stead, but alongside me, somepony who would have lived with the common folk and understood them.”

“So you’re saying that you’ve become somewhat…out of touch…with the common folk, or more specifically the common pony?” Iron Skull asked severely.

“Unfortunately, I have not,” Celestia admitted somberly. “I had hoped to have Twilight or whoever I chose, help me rule while I could take time to mingle with the common folk to see things from their perspective.”

“And you had no plans to retire?” High Life asked.

Celestia sighed. “There was a time when I had hoped to retire, yes,” she admitted, “but a short time ago I realized that Equestria did need a new guiding hoof, but one that was tempered by an older hoof with experience. Passing the crown to Twilight or anypony I had chosen would have been a mistake.”

“Would the timing of this change of heart coincide with this past late summer?” Blueblood asked.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Celestia replied, “but no. I decided this right after the past Summer Sun Celebration, long before I knew of what happened to Emperor Jason Wright.”

“So noted,” Blueblood acknowledged. “Now then, there’s one more prominent example we should discuss, and that is how you and your sister, alongside Princess Cadenza, handled Tirek’s return some years back. And this actually would involve Princess Twilight, too.”

“Why did you feel it necessary to give your magic to Princess Twilight, who you’ve just acknowledged, if not directly, is inexperienced?” High Life asked.

“Surely somepony more experienced like you, or better yet Princess Luna, could have taken that magic and taken on Tirek,” Iron Skull said. “I have dueled a few times with Her Highness, and despite being out of touch for a thousand years, she is an impeccable warrior.”

“Was this yet another test of yours?” High Life pressed.

“That is a small part of it,” Celestia admitted, “but I also chose to give her all of the magic because she was still fairly new with it. Her body was still adjusting to her new magic and her wings, and if any other alicorn had taken that magic all in, they would have suffered more severe consequences afterwards.”

“If that was the case, then why didn’t all four of you fight?” Iron Skull asked. “Tirek is ancient and has experience with magic, but Princess Twilight was still young.”

“At the time, there was not enough time to come up with a comprehensive plan,” Celestia replied.

“So you took another gamble with an inexperienced mare,” Blueblood said.

“She is the Element of the Magic of Friendship,” Celestia retorted, “and as such she has an extra layer of protection.”

“You just said that it was her youth and her being an alicorn for a short time that made her immune to any negative side effects,” Iron Skull pointed out.

“It was both.” Celestia replied.

“So noted,” Blueblood replied.

“Still, wouldn’t it have been better for the four of you to deal with him at once?” Iron Skull asked again. “Princess Twilight was still inexperienced with her magic and definitely more so when it came to combat. The amount of magic you had individually may have been weaker, but with more experience surely you could have accomplished the same thing.”

“The risk was too great,” Celestia said. “Tirek may very well have killed one or more of us had we gone against him. We may have defeated him, but it would likely have cost lives.”

“So noted,” Blueblood said.

Twilight held her tongue. She was becoming irritated by Blueblood’s constant repetition of those two words, but she wasn’t up yet, so she couldn’t do much. “Let’s move on to the next prominent charge,” High Life said, “that being the charge of nepotism. You have seen the examples in the charges, but one that is the most recent would have to be your appointment of Shining Armor to the captain of the Royal Guard some years ago.”

“I appointed him on his merits and not because of who he was related to,” Celestia said firmly.

“And yet, this report here suggests that there were three other candidates at the time of his appointment,” Iron Skull stated. “Three more experienced officers who had been with the guard for many years.”

“Four,” Blueblood amended, “including yourself, Sir Skull.”

Iron Skull waved his hoof. “I was too old then, so don’t include me there,” he replied, “but despite that, my point still stands.”

“While I acknowledge that the three other ponies you mentioned would have also made good fits for the Guard, I chose Emperor-Consort Shining Armor because he made a great fit,” Celestia replied.

“And what set him apart from the others?” High Life asked coolly.

“He has a master skill in defensive magic, for one,” Celestia said, “and while many might have seen his youth as an obstacle, I saw it as a boon for the guards. I have noticed a slight decline in the guard’s performances in the past few decades. Not that I’m blaming anypony in particular, but Shining Armor came to the interview for the position highly recommended not just for the reason I mentioned, but because he had fresh ideas for how to improve things for the Royal Guard. Something that, I’m sad to say, would not have occurred to the other candidates.”

“In short, you wanted to make the Royal Guard better through the use of novel and untested ideas?” Iron Skull asked.

“That’s a rather blunt way of putting it, but in essence yes,” Celestia said. “He had some ideas that would improve morale and discipline among the Guard.”

“So noted,” Blueblood said. “The last charge you touched on earlier, but I would like to reiterate it again for everypony to hear. The charge of failing to uphold the tenets of harmony to the best of your ability. As we have recently experienced, an entire town was instrumental in creating one of the worst crises in this nation’s most recent history.”

“We were lucky that nopony died,” Iron Skull said, and Twilight could hear a tremor of anger in his tone.

“Still, an entire town was wiped from the map, Sir Skull,” High Life reminded him, “and everypony there lost access to their homes and livelihood because of what happened.”

“To be fair, Discord had a major role in that,” Blueblood reminded her.

“But it wasn’t him who tormented Jason Wright, was it?” High Life countered. “He didn’t shoot lightning at him. He didn’t buck his chest and shatter his ribcage. He didn’t toss garbage at the human and call him a monster and freak, forcing him to live for three years in the deadliest forest in Equestria.”

Celestia actually seemed to let herself look pained. “I said earlier that I tried to uphold the tenets, but I will be the first to admit that I’m not perfect. I won’t deny those claims. I should have been more mindful. There is no excuse for that.”

The room went silent, almost as if nopony was expecting those words to escape from her lips. “So…noted,” Blueblood said.

“Now that those charges are out of the way,” High Life said, “the next set of charges should be discussed. Princess Luna?”

Luna stepped forward, standing tall and proud while Celetia stepped back, eyes on her sister. “We are here,” she said, “and the charges against us are mental instability, our own complacency and failing to uphold the tenets of harmony as well.”

“Somepony actually had the audacity to add another charge of inexperience at one point,” Blueblood said dryly, “but that was not your fault. Now then, the biggest charge against you is mental instability.”

“If you refer to the tantabus incident a few years ago, then we must confess that we did infect ourselves with one,” Luna admitted, “but we must also say that it was one isolated incident.”

“An isolated incident that you forced upon yourself for years,” High Life said. “I know a bit about tantabi, and I know they are extremely destructive to even the most stoic of mindsets.”

“And in your case, as you are an alicorn, that tantabus could have easily entered the real world with powers beyond anything we’ve faced before,” Iron Skull added.

“If my studies are correct, it would have drained your life force and eventually killed you if it hadn’t been stopped,” Blueblood concluded.

Luna’s ears twitched and moved down, but she nodded. “We hadn’t anticipated that the tantabus would emigrate from our mind to those of other ponies,” she said. “We simply wished to punish ourselves since we felt like we hadn’t been punished enough by others.”

“So in short, you are telling us that you are suicidal,” High Life stated.

“Not at all!” Luna said firmly. “We never wished to die!”

“If I remember right as well, the record for how long a tantabus curse lasted inside a pony was three months before the curse claimed said pony’s life,” Blueblood said. “How long was that tantabus inside you?”

Luna’s ears flopped to their side. “Four years,” she admitted.

A gasp of shock ran through the Tribunal Hall and there were murmurs of alarm that rose through the crowd. Blueblood picked up his gavel and brought it down. “Order, please, order,” he called out sharply. When everypony died down, he returned his gaze to Luna. “Were you made aware of special ponies called therapists or counselors who could have talked to you? They weren’t around here a thousand years ago, but they are now.”

Luna frowned, but nodded. “We were made aware, but we didn’t wish to burden our subjects with our problems,” she said.

“Oh, Luna,” Twilight heard Celestia whisper with a hurt tone. Twilight doubted anypony else could have heard that, but with her enhanced alicorn hearing, she was able to hear it.

“Very well,” Blueblood said. “Why don’t we move on since I can see this makes you uncomfortable. The next charge on the list is complacency.”

Luna shuffled and then straightened once more. “You mentioned that one of the charges that wasn’t included was that we had inexperience. We should remind the members of both houses here that we had a period of adjustment with which we had to deal.”

“Are you saying that this was your sister’s fault?” High Life asked.

Luna shook her head. “Not at all,” she said, “but as you said earlier, we were gone for a thousand years. We have been back for less than a decade.”

“A thousand years is a long time for change to happen,” Iron Skull said with an understanding nod. “I imagine it would take time. It would be like learning a whole new language, which in my experience, does take years.”

“Even so,” High Life said, “surely even you could have seen that the tenets of harmony were being violated.”

“Isn’t that our next charge?” Luna asked.

“The two are easily related,” High Life said in a tone that Twilight equated to a mother talking to a foal.

Luna sniffed and replied, “We admit that in our first few months, we sequestered in our private chambers. We felt out of place and out of time. When we did come back out, many ponies, including many here, still saw us as Nightmare Moon. I learned dreamwalking magic as a means to try and connect with our ponies, but that didn’t work for a while. When we weren’t doing that, we sequestered in the castle library, reading over the many history and law books. Would you call that complacent?”

“So noted,” Blueblood said, “and I feel like, since the other charge would fall under that same category, what you just said can apply there.”

“Even after a thousand years, the tenets of harmony have not changed,” Luna said, “so we will face those charges head on. We admit we have lapsed in many ways and it shames us that we have done so. We wish to be a better pony in the future and make our great kingdom even greater. Right now, other nations are looking at us under a magnifying glass and they see us as a nation of hypocrites. We wish to make our kingdom better for all.”

Nopony spoke for a while as they digested this. Apparently, nopony had expected this sort of reaction from Luna. Even High Life seemed shocked. Blueblood, though, simply nodded. “So noted,” he said. He then turned to Twilight, and the small smile that formed on his lips not only didn’t reach his eyes, but it sent a shiver of disgust down the young alicorn’s back. It was gone after a moment, however, and his face once more became serious. “And lastly, Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw her father straighten up. Twilight shot him one glance, and to her shame she saw a look of fear and worry on his face. She looked back to the three unicorns at the judge’s bench before stepping forward. “The charges against me, I believe, are mental instability, failure to uphold the tenets of harmony, lack of good judgment, foal endangerment, and cruelty.”

“That is correct, Your Highness,” Iron Skull nodded.

“Shall we start with the first one?” High Life asked.

“Very well,” Twilight said.

Blueblood held up a few papers. “These are reports not only from your teachers, but from a few witnesses in Ponyville about some of your abnormal behavioral episodes. Why don’t we start with the time where you cast the Want It, Need It spell on an entire town?”

“You caused a full-blown riot which caused several ponies to be injured, a few severely,” Iron Skull said in a severe tone. “It was by pure luck nopony was trampled to death.”

This makes no sense, Twilight thought. If Blueblood wants me to marry him, why bring up these charges? Unless he plans to have them dropped if I do marry him. She pushed down the thought with a second shudder as she nodded. “I was under the impression that I was supposed to send a friendship problem every week like clockwork,” she explained. “I hadn’t found one all week, and I was afraid that Princess Celestia would send me back to magic kindergarten if I didn’t send her a friendship report. So, I figured that if I couldn’t find a friendship problem, I should make one.”

“What gave you the impression that Her Highness wanted one of these so-called friendship reports weekly?” High Life asked. “Did she explicitly say that?”

Twilight shook her head. “Well, no, she didn’t,” she replied.

“So why didn’t you reach out and ask about it?” Iron Skull asked. “Seems to me that would have been the logical next step.”

Because that would have made sense and at the time I was a bit too far gone, Twilight mused sadly. “At that moment, I was not thinking that clearly,” she admitted. “I’m just glad Spike was thinking clearly.”

“Ah yes, young Spike,” High Life said with what Twilight suspected was false empathy. “We will get to him later, but back to the topic at hoof. This hasn’t been the only time you have experienced an episode like this.”

“At the royal wedding several years ago, you did seem to start acting unusually,” Blueblood admitted.

“I was right, though,” Twilight explained as calmly as she could.

“Yes, yes you were,” Iron Skull replied, “but the way you went about trying to expose Chrysalis was problematic.”

“You were acting a bit irrational, as I recall,” Blueblood said.

Twilight’s jaw clenched, but she couldn’t really deny it. She had been acting like a crazy pony. “I admit, I went a bit overboard,” she said with a nod.

“And there are reports about how you seem to idolize Princess Celestia to a fault,” High Life said. “That is a dangerous mindset to have. It borders on fanaticism, and I’m sure you know about how old pony religions led to fanaticism. Fanaticism which led to pony sacrifices to the old gods.”

Twilight nodded. Equestria had no official religion, and any old religion had basically died out whether by ancient holy wars or just lack of followers, but Twilight had read about many different types of religions and the fanatics who practiced some of the more violent ones. Sure, there were fanatics who practiced peace, but in many cases those were just as bad as they were so peaceful that they allowed abuses without lifting a hoof. “I know,” she whispered.

“Have you tried seeking help for these bouts?” Blueblood asked with a sincere tone, but Twilight knew there was no sincerity there.

“I haven’t had the time,” she said. “I have been too busy dealing with the fallout from…the invasion.” She couldn’t bring herself to say the name. “Besides, Ponyville has nopony like that there.”

Blueblood nodded. “So noted,” he said.

“Has the ascension to alicornhood been easy for you?” Iron Skull asked, “or the ascension to royalty? Surely the added pressure didn’t do you any favors.”

Twilight knew a question like this was coming. She inhaled deeply, heart racing. “Truth be told, I never wanted to be a princess,” she finally admitted. “I never wanted to be anything more than Princess Celestia’s student. I just wanted to live the happy life I was granted with my friends.” A tear shed but she wiped it away. “I was planning on eventually stepping down as a princess after I helped Ponyville get back on its hooves.”

She heard gasps from around the room, but it was the sharp but soft intake of breath from Celestia that broke her heart. High Life spoke up next. “Would you like to take a little break?” she suggested.

Twilight felt her jaw clench at the sickeningly sweet tone that escaped the marchioness’ lips, and she shook her head. “I can go on for a while.”

Or can you, you utter failure? a familiar voice said in her head.

She brushed it off, tensing up as she knew what the voice’s appearance would lead to, and she would not give anypony the satisfaction of seeing the results. She looked back at the three judges and made her decision then, and in Jason Wright’s own words, fuck Blueblood. “If you are going to list examples of the rest of my charges, I think I can save you the trouble. I am guilty of all of them. I failed to uphold the tenets of harmony when it came not just to Jason Wright, but with Spike as well. That leads me into foal endangerment and cruelty. I treated Spike as less than family and always called him only an assistant, qualifiers be damned.” Everypony went slack jawed at her language, including her own father although his face was grimmer than most. “I never attempted to include Spike in any family activities when I was younger.” Her father hung his own head in shame as well as Twilight continued. “I have not had very good judgement in my life, and I have been cruel, as we’ve seen in how I allowed Jason Wright to starve and eke out a Tartarus of an existence in the Everfree. So let me make this easier for all of you. Effective immediately I am stepping down as a princess of Equestria. I renounce any claim I have to the throne and will go back to being a common pony.”

There were murmurs around the group of nobles and knights, but a gravely and hoarse voice, one she had heard so often in her dreams, broke through all of that. Do you think this will absolve you of your crimes, Twilight Sparkle? Do you think I will let you get off that easily?

Behind the three judges, a human shaped shadowy figure appeared, hooded and cloaked, and covered in a familiar face mask that hid the horrific scars beneath. The one good eye that he had glared at her with hatred, blazing with a fiery red color. Not now, not now, Twilight begged.

However, the apparition, one that she knew was in her head, merely laughed in that same chilling way he had done. You will never be rid of me, Twilight Sparkle, he said, because I will always be here to remind you of your utter failings as a princess, as a decent person, and as a life form.

Please leave me alone! she shouted in her head, becoming more and more unaware that she was speaking aloud now. Shouts of alarm rose, but her focus was on the ever growing figure which seemed to begin to encompass her. Her heart rate increased and she stumbled back. I’m trying to be a better pony!

It’s too late for that, the apparition of Jason Wright said as he soared overhead, his glowing red eye narrowing on her. You will never be free. You'll always be known as the pony who created the Changeling Emperor with your act of rejection and cruelty.

Stop, please! I can’t take this anymore! She was on her knees, pleading and looking up at the apparition which only she could see. I can’t!

You have no choice, the voice of the human she had allowed to be cast out replied cruelly.

She was about to reply again but a comforting warmth surrounded her and another voice, this one Luna’s, whispered into her ear, “Sleep, now.” And Twilight fell into blissful oblivion.