Second Chances II: Love and Courage

Second Chances II: Love and Courage
By Hero541
Chapter 24: Trial and Error

Josh stood in front of the doors leading out of the jailhouse. His hands were locked in place behind his back by two unicorn guards and Warden stood at his side, casting an occasional glance to the human. The day for his trial had finally arrived, and outside could be heard what was probably the entire town of Ponyville all gathered there, some yelling insults and slandering the human, while others attempted to defend him.

“Sounds pretty crazy out there.” said Warden, his ears pinned back a little as he turned his attention towards Josh.

Josh said nothing, the butterflies in his stomach stealing his words to say. He felt himself beginning to sweat nervously and almost every muscle in his body seemed to tense up as he stood there. Though he’d said all along that he wasn’t afraid of this day coming, he dropped that facade almost as quickly as he’d ever said it once he realized the magnitude of this whole situation. Just don’t lose your shit he thought silently to himself Stay calm and just tell yourself that it’ll all be okay.

“Just so you know, Josh,” said Warden, removing his hat and looking up at the human who had turned his attention to the pony, “no matter what happens today, it’s been an honor to have you in my jail.”

Josh smiled a little at the stallion who he’d managed to become fast friends with.

“And it’s been an honor to be held here, I suppose.” he replied, eliciting a similar smile from Warden.

“You’re ready to move then?” asked the pony, replacing his hat once more.

Josh nodded and Warden turned back to all the other officers behind the human.

“Listen up!” he shouted, “He is to remain safe at all times! I don’t wanna see anypony lay a single hoof on him unless it’s one of his friends or his marefriend! Keep him protected no matter what, understand?”

Once he received a unanimous call of “Yes sir.” from the other officers, he turned back to the door.

“Here goes nothing.”

Light poured in from the open doorway as well as the shouts from all around as the ponies gathered continued their cacophony. As quickly as they could, the officers and Warden began to usher Josh out of the jailhouse, making a beeline for the town hall nearby. Ponies from almost every direction were shouting at the human as he made his way, most telling him that he was a monster and a menace to their society. The human hardly noticed any of it, doing his best to focus on what was directly in front of him rather than the noise surrounding him. The one time he did look up at all, he saw Derpy floating there, waving to him and blowing a small kiss his way, her askew eyes filled with tears.

Warden busied himself with giving orders to his officers, who so far had done a good job of keeping Josh safe. Occasionally, he’d sneak a glance towards his human friend only to see his full attention focused on what was directly in front of him.

“Somepony get up there and open up the damn doors!” shouted Warden as they made their final approach towards the city hall, prompting a guard from behind to worm his way up to the front and make for the large, oaken doors of the building. After what seemed like an eternity of walking past the huge crowd of gathered ponies, Josh and his escort managed to make their way inside the hall.

“Josh!” called a voice from ahead as the doors closed again, and Josh looked up to see his friends all at the front.

Pinkie rushed back to him, followed by Rainbow, Applejack, and Twilight. The four ponies all stopped short of their friend and stood there, looking up at him with concern in their eyes.

“How’re ya’ll doin’, Sugarcube?” asked Applejack, her green eyes not breaking their gaze from his blue ones.

“I’ve seen better days, AJ.” he responded, “However, not too bad, considering the circumstances.”

“Well, no matter what happens, we’ll be there for you.” said Rainbow, smiling wide at Josh as her magenta eyes began to water.

“Thanks, Rainbow.” he said, prompting her to float forward and wrap her hooves around him in a tight embrace.

“Now, Rainbow,” called a voice from behind the polychromatic mare, “it’s hardly fair for anypony but his marefriend to hug him first when he gets here.”

As Rainbow broke contact with her friend, Josh saw Octavia and Vinyl begin to make their way up, both with big smiles on their faces. The gray cellist stopped next to the other mares, allowing Vinyl to continue her walk towards her lover. Josh knelt on the ground in front of her as she reached him, allowing her to wrap her hooves around his neck and hold him closely.

“Everything’ll be alright, won’t it?” she asked, her voice surprisingly steady.

Josh felt a warmth fill his body that he hadn’t felt all day as she held him. He wished that the guards could let his hands free again so he could return her gesture, but he digressed to simply kiss her neck lightly.

“Of course it will, babe.” he said, looking deep into her eyes as she drew away from him a little, “After all, when was the last time I ever lied to you about something like that?”

She smiled and leaned in once more, pressing her lips to his and kissing him passionately. Josh felt her hooves on the back of his head, pulling him even deeper into the kiss and filling his body with the warm feeling once more.

“Now now, that’s enough of that, I think.”

The two lovers broke apart and looked up to the front once again where the voice had come from. Filthy Rich stood there, as smug as ever, staring at the pony and human on the ground.

“You won’t allow them one moment to be happy, will you?” asked Octavia, glaring daggers at the stallion.

“Think what you will, Octavia.” said Filthy, returning her gesture with equal measure, “It’s all irrelevant anyway. This trial has nothing to do with happiness. This is about rendering judgement on him for what he did to me.”

“Bullshit!” shouted Rainbow, flying towards the stallion and getting in his face, “This is nothing more than an excuse for you to turn this into even more of a show than it already is!”

“Says the queen of cheap theatrics herself.” replied Filthy, not even flinching as the polychromatic pony faced him down, “I may have been a little... overzealous in the past few weeks regarding this whole scenario, but that is no more relevant than their happiness. This is about sorting out the law, and that’s what I intend to do today, whether that relies on me ‘making a show of this’ or not.”

“Uh... guys,” said Warden, causing everypony to look his way, “It’s time to let them in here. You all may wanna take your places as fast as possible.”

Josh nodded and stood back up, looking down to Vinyl and smiling a little. Together, the two walked side by side down the aisle, only breaking apart once the unicorn had to allow Josh to take his place at the defendant’s table next to Twilight, who smiled at him and shuffled around some papers.

“I’ve got everything I think we’ll need to take this,” she said, whispering into his ear, “but in case things get a little dicey, I’ve got a backup plan.”

“And what exactly would that be?” asked Josh as Warden prepared to open the doors.

“You’ll see.”

Once Warden was finished giving orders to a few other guards, he opened the doors and ponies began to flood the hall. In no time at all, over one hundred others had filled the building, each one chatting amongst themselves as they awaited the beginning of the trial.

Warden closed the doors once more as the area was filled to capacity and made his way up towards the front. As he did so, the jury box filled up as well, several of its members glaring at Josh. After Warden reached the judges bench, he turned around and addressed the now silent crowd.

“In the case of Mr. Filthy Rich vs Mr. Josh Daniels, court is now in session.” he said in a very authoritative tone, “All rise for the honorable Judge Mayor Mare presiding.”

Everypony and Josh stood as Mayor Mare entered from behind the judges bench and took her place. Once she had been situated, she allowed the crowd to take their seats once more and glanced between Filthy and Josh.

“Well, gentlecolts,” she began, looking at them both with tired eyes, “it looks like this is finally it. Josh, since you are the defendant, your council may speak first.”

Twilight thanked the Mayor and took her place at the front of the assembly, clearing her throat and looking out amongst the crowd.

“My friends and neighbors,” she began, pacing back and forth as she addressed them all, “we are here today to decide the fate of my client, Josh, who many of you have known and loved for almost a year now.”

She glanced towards the human who merely nodded at her and smiled a little.

“He has been a friend and confidant to some of you, many times going out of his way to ensure that you were taken care of.” she continued, “Many of you here, I know, have witnessed how kind and caring her can be. This prompts a question to arise in my head that desperately needs an answer: what changed?”

The crowd began to murmur a little upon hearing those words, some crossing their hooves in defiance, while others simply got guilty looks in their faces.

“Filthy Rich here states things about Josh’s past, which even he has admitted are undeniably true, but what difference does that make really? Josh hasn’t committed acts like that since he’s been here, and the only reason he attacked Mr. Rich at all is because he was provoked. All of you should know and recognize by now that Josh has never shown any sort of violent tendency before that, even when upset or angry at somepony.”

The crowds muttering began to grow in volume slightly as Twilight finished her short speech.

“So, though he has admitted his guilt in this matter of attacking another pony, please remember that Josh is truly a kind hearted soul, and therefore not deserving of the hatred and intolerance that has been forced upon you all by Mr. Rich.”

Twilight widened her smile and trotted back to her seat, taking her place once again and looking over to Filthy Rich.

“Thank you, Ms. Sparkle.” said Mayor, turning her attention to Filthy Rich, “It’s your turn now, Filthy.”

The stallion replaced his usual smug smile and rose slowly, making his way towards the front to begin his speech. As he made his way up, several ponies clapped their hooves together, prompting a few glares from Rainbow Dash and Applejack up front. After a short while, Filthy took his place and began his speech, occasionally hazarding a malicious glance towards the human.

“Very well said, Ms. Sparkle.” he began, making a bowing motion in her direction, “I believe you may have managed to gain the upperhoof just now with that little speech there. However, you seem to have omitted one little detail from all that, one which can make a huge difference in this battle of words.”

“And what would that be, Mr. Rich?” asked Mayor, her head propped up on her hoof.

“I have forced no hatred onto anypony.”

Twilight swallowed hard upon hearing that, and Josh thought he saw her lavender fur turn a few shades whiter.

“The only thing I have done is present the evidence I have gathered to the lovely ponies of this town and allowed them to make their own decisions. After all, we don’t live under some sort of dictatorship.”

“All you’ve done is make him look like a monster!” shouted Pinkie who was being restrained by Octavia and Fluttershy so she didn’t rush the stallion up front, “And you landed him in jail and took him away from Vinyl and us and...”

“Mayor Mare, you may want to consider getting your courtroom under control here.” said Filthy, turning to the Mayor as the pink pony continued her tirade, “Unless you want absolute anarchy.”

“You’re hardly one to tell me to get things under control here!” she replied, her words dripping with venom, “All you’ve done out there is try and incite a riot against one creature who hasn’t done anything to you!”

“I never once told anypony to riot!” responded Filthy, his voice high and incredulous, “You all are missing the point here! I have done nothing more than showed the ponies of this lovely town who this creature truly is, how vile, cynical, and cruel he once was and has the potential to be once mroe. I did Ponyville a service greater than almost any in its history! I have no control over what they all do once they’ve been informed!”

Pinkie continued to shout at Filthy, who in turn was going back and forth with the mayor. As they all went on, more and more ponies began to join in, some shouting that Filthy was right, that they were never told to do anything to Josh or Vinyl, while others simply began shouting merely because everypony else was. Josh covered his ears as the noise became too much for him to have to handle. Goddamn! he thought, glancing around to see the chaos that now filled the room Somebody needs to get this fucking train wreck under control!

As the noise continued, Twilight activated her magic discreetly.

“ENOUGH!” shouted a loud, authoritative female voice, which silence everypony at once.

Josh removed his hands from his ears and looked all around for the source. As he scanned the room, the doors at the back flew opened and in walked two very tall ponies. One had a beautiful ivory coat and wings, a large sun shaped cutie mark gracing her regal flank. The other was a deep, intoxicating indigo with a white crescent moon on her own flank. Both had long, beautiful manes that flowed in a non existent wind.

“Filthy Rich!” said Princess Celestia, making her way up to the front of the courtroom, her sister, Luna, by her side, “We need to talk.”

Twilight clapped her hooves together next to Josh, who looked towards her.

“Was this your backup plan?” he whispered to her as the princesses passed by him.

“How’d you guess?” she asked, giggling a little.

Josh turned his attention forward once more. Not a single word was said as the two princesses of Equestria stood before Filthy Rich, glaring down at the stallion. Josh watched the regal alicorns with a mixed feeling he just couldn’t shake. I hope this all works out, Twi he thought as silence permeated every corner of the room.