“Then there is only one thing left to do.” Chief Justice declared. “For both sides to give their closing arguments. Prosecution, you may go first.”

“Very well, your honor. Ponies and changelings of the jury, you have heard many different testimonies. But looking at all of them, you should very easily tell that the ponies of this town have committed a grave crime against my queen and her race. They have made defamatory statements, ones that are plainly false, ones that clearly identified Queen Chrysalis as the victim of these slanderous statements, ones they were clearly at fault for making, and above all, ones that caused my queen and many other changelings great emotional damage. If you have any sense at all, you will know this to be true and convict those that are responsible.” Pharynx stated.

“And now, the defense may make their statement.” Chief Justice stated.

“Thank you, your honor. I will admit, the prosecution is right about one thing. You have heard many different testimonies. However, I must disagree in that they are all he claims they are. I ask you, is it really defamatory to make light of somepony on Nightmare Night? Is it false to act similar to an invader when the one you’re acting as did attempt an invasion? Can the ponies of this town really be held at fault for negatively acting as somepony they know did negative things? Can they really be blamed for the damage done to her reputation when she did pretty much all that damage herself? I hope you’ll ask yourselves those questions while making your decision.” Shining Armor spoke.

“Very well. Jury, you will now deliberate. Return to this room once you have reached a decision.” Chief Justice said with a gavel bang.

With that, the 12 members of the jury left the room to begin their deliberations. Everypony else in the courtroom began holding their breath, wondering just what outcome would be reached.

After many hours of intense debate, the jury finally returned to the courtroom. Once everypony, and everychangling, was seated, the judge addressed them.

“Has the jury reached a verdict?”

“We have, your honor.” The changeling acting as jury foreman stated. “We the jury find the defendants, Mayor Mare and the town of Ponyville…not guilty.”

A large and varied amount of emotions and reactions were heard across the courtroom. None were stronger than the reaction of Queen Chrysalis.

“WHAT?! What is this…this mockery of justice?!” Chrysalis shouted at the changelings in the jury.

“My deepest apologies, my queen, but the law clearly states that for a defamation suit to be considered, it has to meet all of many different torts, and there were some that we felt you just didn’t meet.” Kevin stated.

“Plus, in their defense, one of them convinced the rest of his fellow changelings that they should follow the law to the letter. He said it would be best that they play by pony rules since our court systems are so different from theirs. ‘We should see what a fair trial looks like from their perspective if we want to know more about ponies,’ he said. He also pointed out that the longer they stay in the room, the longer they have to go without feeding.” Cheerilee explained.

“Which one of you fools uttered such wretched nonsense?! I arranged for changelings to be on the jury so you would all support me! When I find out which one of you betrayed me, you will not live long enough to regret it!” Chrysalis snapped.

‘Note to self: Accelerate plans to move to Crystal Empire and try to make friends.’ The jury foreman changeling thought to himself.

“Wait, did you just admit to tampering with the jury to get some changelings placed there?” Chief Justice asked.

Chrysalis looked momentarily stunned at this. But she quickly regained her composure.

“No matter. I will appeal this baseless decision. I will drag this all the way through the highest levels of government if I must!” Chrysalis shouted.

“Allow me to save you the trouble.”

Everypony gasped as they saw Princess Celestia herself enter the courtroom. Once at the front, she turned and faced Queen Chrysalis.

“You wish to appeal this decision, do you not?” Celestia asked.

“You bet your plot I do! I will go all the way to the highest court to see that I am given what I am owed for having my name slandered!”

“I am the highest court. Or at least a part of it. As princess, I sit at the head of the tribunal that makes up Equestria’s Supreme Court. I have heard and received your writ of certiorari. It will be reviewed at the earliest convenience. But that will likely not be until after the countersuit is finished.” Celestia explained.

“Countersuit? What countersuit?!” Chrysalis demanded.

“The countersuit against you, of course. All of Equestria is now suing you and your changeling hive. You still committed crimes such as assaulting and impersonating royalty, assaulting countless other ponies, emotional manipulation, foalnapping, attempted violent takeover, attempted coup d'état, and many others. And you never answered for them. What, did you think we forgot all that? That we would just let that pass just because you sued for defamation? I’m confident saying all of that is more serious than having slander brought against you. Even if you’d won this case, we’d still have pressed those charges against you. Whatever you would’ve won here wouldn’t have done you much good behind bars.”

“…Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to reveal myself in a court of law. If I’d known I’d have all that hanging over my head…” Chrysalis muttered.

“I hope your lawyer is better at defense than he was at prosecuting. Until then, guards, take her away.” Celestia ordered.

Author's Note

Yeah, I don't know why I wrote this either.

Honestly, this was just one of those ideas that just entered my head and wouldn't leave unless I wrote it. I'd bet folding money a lot of stories are like that. The next story I intend on writing is like that, too.

Nevertheless, I am excited to get started on that story. It's one I've had in my head even longer. And I have a much more detailed plans for where I want it to go. I hope you enjoy it when I get it out. And I hope you enjoyed this one, too.

Before I wrap this story up, I'm going to add something for all the law nerds out there. According to U.S law, in order for a defamation suit to be won, several conditions must be met. The alleged defamatory comments must be:

• Defamatory. They have to be either written or spoken words that damage someone's name or reputation in some way.
• False. The plaintiff has to prove that the statements made are false. They can't be true or a matter of opinion. It must an assertion of fact that can be proven incorrect.
• Identification. A third party must be able to identify who the comments were made against. Be it by name, or a description of the person that leaves little room for assumption that the statement is referring to someone else. Even if no name is ever given.
• Published. The defamatory statement must reach a third party in some way. A private argument between two people where insults are thrown around is not defamatory.
• Fault. The plaintiff must prove that the statements were made with fault. That the one who made those statements had at least some comprehension that their statements would have some manner of consequences against the person they made the statement against.
• Damaging. The plaintiff must prove that they suffered some manner of damage or loss as a result of the statements. Be they financial losses, irreparable damage of reputation, loss of employment or property, or anything of the like.

All of these torts must be met in order for a defamation suit to be won. If even one is missing, you lose.

Personally, I don't think Chrysalis can meet the damage or false parts. The ponies didn't say anything that was either them playing around, expressing their opinion, or factually incorrect. Plus, the reputation of changelings was bad enough already after the wedding. The ponies' statements didn't really make it any worse.

But what do I know? I'm not a law expert. The only reason I know all this is because I had to learn it in relation to another field of study I'm involved in.

Anyway, like I said, I hope you enjoyed this story and will stick around for the ones I write in the future. Take care, everyone.