Harmony to Loyalty

Chapter 7

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I was ripped from my uncomfortable and unsatisfying rest with what felt like a torrent of water followed by a solid object colliding with my chest as I sat up as if the room was on fire. After taking a moment to examine my surroundings I noted that the unicorn guard had an empty bucket floating by him.

"The fuck was that for?!" I shouted in anger as he simply stared at me uncaring of my plight.

"Your trial starts in two hours, but you stink like the inside of an outhouse human, so you are to clean yourself before being presented in front of the Princesses" He ordered as he left me alone, I wanted to yell even more however after I made the mistake of snuffing under my arm even I had to agree that I needed SOME form of shower…even if it was just some asshole throwing a bucket of water at me, eh I'll take what I can get at this point. The solid object turned out to be a bar of soap as I took the object and ran it across my skin, relishing in the cleansing properties as the soap formed a lathery substance on my skin. Eventually after a good scrubbing I eventually realized that I now had the problem of soap on my body with no way to rinse it off. As if on cue another bucket of water was thrown on me without warning…did I mention that this guy was dead when I got my hands on him?

"You must be a mind reader or something" I muttered sarcastically as the guard simply left again as I was left to air dry, although I did smell marginally better I felt around my head and noted that my hair, which I estimated had grown another inch or so since I first got to this world, was wild and all over the place and touched my shoulder blades. My beard which I haven't been able to shave or deal with since I got here was quite full and rather bushy, I might've liked it if I had been able to trim it or deal with it in some way. So I'm pretty sure I looked like some crazy guy in the woods (which hits a bit closer to home than I would like to admit)…or a stereotypical metal head, eh either way I definitely looked ready to face royalty.

Eventually a group of about a dozen guards came to retrieve me, my arms were put behind my back and handcuffed with restraints that I could already tell I wouldn't be busting out of without a huge amount of strength, my legs were cuffed as well, but they still allowed for some level of movement, I just wouldn't be going for a morning jog in these things.

"You will now be taken to the courthouse for your trial, you are to stay within our formation at all times...please do not deviate or attempt to escape, we can't guarantee your safety should you attempt either of these things" One of the guards assured as I simply moved to where they wanted me to be, seeing no sense in wasting any time at this point. As we made our way up the stairs, down various hallways and eventually out the door I saw that we appeared to be somewhere in palace. I was led through said palace wordlessly as I eventually caught sight of what appeared to be the front gates of the palace. In that moment it dawned on me what the guard meant by guarantee my safety.

As the gates opened I was hit with a barrage of noise from the large crowd of ponies that had gathered, no doubt to catch a glimpse of the infamous human that the Princesses would cast justice on…or that's how Rainbow said the ponies of Canterlot put it. I had to say that as far back as I could remember I couldn't recall a time where I felt like I was in such a helpless situation, surrounded on all sides by guards and seemingly hundreds of ponies that all seemed to gather to gawk and hurl insults at me.

As we marched down each street, it seemed the crowd grew larger and more hostile with it. A few ponies attempted to throw various objects at me, I recalled a rock striking my face which drew a bit of blood from my right cheek, but I simply shook it off and kept walking, I wasn't about to show weakness in front of this mob, no fuckin way. After what seemed to be the twentieth pony yelled at how it was my fault that their kid, parent, spouse or whatever else was dead I just tuned them out. Most of them were just channeling their grief and anger onto me and besides, none of those things were caused by me or was even my problem in any way so their baseless accusations fall on deaf ears.

Eventually what felt like an eternity we entered through double doors to a large, elaborate building that I surmised to be the court house. I honestly didn't take note of much of the detail beyond that it looked like your typical court house, just built with what must've been an exorbitant budget. Our…FUN journey ended in a large court room that consisted of many rows of seats for spectators, many of which even I could tell looked to be ponies that were either well off or highly influential…for a lot of them they were probably both.

I was led towards the end of the room where the bar divided the spectator seating and the working area, there were two throne like seats situated on an elevated platform, each one with a banner behind it…no doubt the Princesses would take those seats. I had the immense honor of being put in the singular seat that directly faced the two seats, I noticed how there was practically nothing between my seat and theirs, although I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. I was led to my seat and forced to sit were then my chains were secured to points on the floor to ensure that I had no chance of running away…not that I could anyway with everyone around me.

Pretty soon the court room filled up with a good couple hundred spectators, most of whom were eyeing me, making me feel somewhat uneasy, however I maintained my stoic expression as I simply just waited to get this over with. To my right across the bar I saw the comforting sight of Rainbow, Applejack and hell even that really chill white unicorn was there wearing these really weird purple tinted glasses as well along with some others who I assumed were Rainbows friends. One of them was another white unicorn with a purple mane that looked like took countless hours to maintain who seemed to regard me with apprehension as well as disgust, although the look of disgust only surfaced when she looked at my hair…which I found both strange and annoying. The other was a pink pony who seemed to be bouncing in her seat that simply waved to me as if I wasn't tied down to a chair and being regard as a criminal, she just made me raise an eyebrow in confusion…strangely I felt like I've seen her somewhere before, but I couldn't really put my finger on where.

Pretty soon the guards called for silence in the court room and announced the arrival of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna as every single pony in the room complied. I turned my head toward Rainbow who gave me the best 'don't worry everything's going to be fine' look she could muster with a reassuring smile that…actually kind of helped in a way, it was good to know that I had SOME support in a city full of ponies that would probably hang, draw and quarter my ass if given the opportunity.

I felt an overbearing and powerful presence as I turned and watched as the Princesses entered the room. The white one with a pink, green and blue tail and mane walked with grace towards her throne which was to my right. Her size alone was rather unnerving as she probably rivaled my height, however out of everything it was her presence that practically screamed authority and power that unnerved me somewhat.

The dark blue one with a blue mane and tail walked just as gracefully to their throne on my left, although she wasn't as large or imposing as her counterpart she still commanded just about as much authority and power. Although when it came to her, for some reason I felt more unnerved by her than by her sister, I wasn't quite sure what it was but when I looked at her I just felt the presence of something…darker, it was hard to really describe.

It took an ungodly amount of willpower, but I ultimately kept my stoic expression even as I was being stared down by two powerful beings that no doubt could've juggled my ass into the next century if they felt like it. The dark blue one looked at me with a mixture of scorn and disgust, as if my very presence to her was an injustice. Although her stare certainly wasn't comfortable, it was how the white one stared at me that really bothered me, she didn't look at me with scorn, hatred, anger or even annoyance. No she looked at me with pity and something else that I couldn't get a handle on, what was with that look? Of all the expressions she could've had…why was it that one? Unless…

Unless she already knew what she was going to do with me…fuck.

"Before we began…" Celestia began as every pony in the room hung on her every word "…I would like to take a moment to introduce ourselves to the accused, since we have not had the opportunity to do so beforehoof" It took everything I had to not burst out laughing at that. "I am Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria" She motioned for her sister to speak.

"I am Princess Luna, I rule alongside my sister" She stated simply before Celestia turned to me.

"I would ask for your name if you would so please" She asked, although it may as well have been a command. I took a breath and composed myself as looked at her and answered.

"David Mori" I answered evenly as I maintained eye contact between both sisters, I was determined to not look meek or to yield to them in anyway.

"Thank you…now I assume you know the charges that have brought before you?" She asked as I honestly struggled for a bit to recall anything truly wrong that I…oh right, the assault and eye gouging thing is probably what she meant.

"…refresh my memory, I seem to have forgotten" I responded as I just realized that I answered in a pretty disrespectful way…then again I'm convinced that she's already sentenced me beforehand so…fuck it may as well do what I do best, be an asshole and have a bit of fun.

"Very well…" Celestia mumbled with a bit of an annoyed expression as I heard a few gasps from the audience, really? THAT elicits a gasp? Well then…by the end of this I might make the entire court room faint from over gasping and then I could just walk on out, wouldn't that be some shit? "…the first charge is that of assaulting multiple royal guards" She stated as I thought for a moment.

"How many exactly?" I asked as she looked at me a bit confused before motioning toward a pony to her left who I recognized to be Twilight.

"The report read that nineteen royal guards were admitted for medical care for injuries varying from bruises and scratches to…broken bones and one who is permanently blind in his right eye" She finished as the crowd gasped and mumbled to themselves. Ok…on reflection maybe that wasn't the best thing to ask since it kinda made me sound dangerous and crazy…but then again I just had to know if I clawed that guy's eye deep enough, which I did so victory for me.

"Huh…thought I did better than that" I mumbled as that comment didn't really endear me to the crowd in anyway. Although out of the corner of my eye I did see Rainbow looking at me like I had gone crazy, although I could tell that she shared in the humor of the joke.

"The second charge brought before you is for the permanent disfigurement of a royal guard" At that moment the pony to her left walked out for a moment and returned with a very familiar pony with a bandage over his right eye that walked towards Celestia and kneeled before her.

"You may raise Flash Sentry" Celestia stated as he did just that "Would you mind going over the events of the incident for the court?" She asked as he nodded.

"Of course my Princess, I and my squadron of pegasi were on a mission scouting along the roads for prison transports to intercept when we came across one that had been attacked. When we landed we came across this human surrounded with corpses and tried to approach him diplomatically, however when I called for his peaceful surrender he immediately attacks me and my men…" He continues to speak as I get lost in thought.

Oh wow, look at this motherfucker boldly lying to everyones face. That's not what happened at all, HE attacked Rainbow first and THEN I attacked…come to think of it he was wording this like I was the only human there even though…wait a minute, is he…is he lying on purpose to not have to disclose the fact that there were two humans instead of one? Perhaps…yeah that made sense.

Rainbow was an element of harmony, which I have been told is pretty damn important…especially to the Princess, so she certainly would have a vested interest in keeping Rainbow from being in my position. After all she couldn't have it out there that one of her elements had been traveling with the guy convicted of maiming royal guards, among other things.

I looked to Rainbow and was glad that she was like an open book since her face said it all, she had NO idea what this guy was going on about. Although even if she did I'm not really sure if I'd be mad about that, after all if it kept her ass off the chopping block I ultimately couldn't complain TOO much about that. So after thinking about it for a moment I had decided that instead of calling him out on what really happened, which would effectively call out Rainbow as being involved as well, I decided to play the part. So before Rainbow could screw up her way out, which she was about to do as I saw her about to say something I decided to speak first.

"I just have one thing to say" I stated as all eyes drew towards me, Flash Sentry looked at me as if expecting me to call him out, the princesses seemed to be looking at me in the same way. Yup I knew it, they were doing this on purpose and expected me to be none the wiser…well, let's shatter expectations the best way I know how.

"Now I know you probably are expecting me to see the error of my ways, like punching guards is bad, eye gouging is not cool and all that wonderful shit, but I gotta ask…how do you expect me to do that when this asshole can't even see half of what's in front of him?" I joked with the best shit eating grin I could muster.

Now to say that I got a reaction is…well that just doesn't even begin to do it justice. The onlookers gasped in wide eyed surprise, Flash Sentry looked like he was about to jump and rip me a new one, Rainbow's friends looked at me like I had grown a second head with the exception of the white unicorn with the purple tinted glasses who was forcing herself to not fall over from laughter and Rainbow herself who didn't look the least bit surprised at my stupidity.

The Princesses had two completely different reactions, Celestia's was what I expected as she looked downright offended and angered. Luna on the other hand seemed…uncertain, as if she didn't even hear the joke and instead was trying to analyze beyond my joke, maybe she saw through my bullshit, maybe she didn't…either way I couldn't tell.

"Enough! I will not have you make a mockery of this court room!" Celestia admonished harshly as I just shrugged without a care. It's not like they weren't already making a mockery of justice and the court system with this biased bullshit so what more damage could I do? Celestia and I had a bit of a stare down before I spoke.

"Trust me I think you're doing a fine job of that yourself" I shot back as I realized that I basically just directly insulted the omnipotent demi god that apparently controls the sun…at my own trial where said sun god is my judge, jury and most likely executioner…now I never said I was a smart man, but goddamn I hated my big fuckin mouth sometimes. Celestia looked about ready to blow her top until she simply sighed and composed herself.

"Now Twilight, I remember you mentioning a meeting that you had with the accused?" Celestia asked as Twilight nodded and stepped forward…I have the feeling that my words to her before were going to bite me in the ass, judging by the smirk that momentarily came over her face I'd say I was spot on in my assessment.

"Yes Princess Celestia we did have a conversation that was very…enlightening" Twilight answered as she very clearly didn't have a lot of good things to say. "We spoke rather briefly due to his unwillingness to cooperate…let alone the lack of even the most basic of manners" She admonished as I just rolled my eyes.

"What are you my mom? You were pawing through my stuff and in general pissing me off…so yeah, fuck you too" I shot back as she just rolled her eyes back at me.

"My point exactly" Twilight concluded as she walked back to where she was.

"I think this has gone on long enough…perhaps it would be best to just move right along to your sentence" She oh so politely suggested as I nodded in agreement.

"Please do, I have a lot of important things to do today so if you would please hurry it along" I ordered mockingly, don't say I didn't go down without some kind of fight.

"From what I can see, you have shown that not only do you not show any remorse or regret for your actions, but also that you are a danger to everypony around you as well as a danger to the harmony and balance of Equestria as a whole…"

'Jeez melodramatic much?' I thought to myself as she continued.

"…it pains me greatly to come to the conclusion that I have, for it was a decision that was not taken lightly…"

"Good god woman I get it, I'm a meanie bo beanie who won't say sorry to the poor asshole with the missing eye, but I already know for a FACT that you already had me judged before you even walked into this room…so please do everyone a favor and just get on with it already and quit wasting my goddamn time" I concluded as Celestia just sat there and didn't react in any way, everyone was frozen with looks of horror etched on their faces no doubt waiting for me to be disintegrated right then and there, with the exception of Luna who still seemed to be looking at me with uncertainty.

"Very well…David Mori for your crimes against Equestria as well as the danger you represent, your sentence is-"

"WAIT!" Rainbow shouted from her seat, which caused a stir among the spectators "Do we get a say?!" Rainbow asked as Applejack nodded in agreement and chimed in.

"Yeah Princess Celestia it only seems fair to-"

"I have already come to my decision, please respect that" Celestia pleaded in a way that sounded more like an order than an actual plea.

"BUT-" Rainbow was cut off by a loud boom emanating from Celestia's Hoof that slammed onto the ground.

"ENOUGH!" She ordered with an authoritative boom in her voice as the room grew deathly silent, Rainbows courage wasn't completely withered though as she opened her mouth to speak again.

"Rainbow" I addressed to her as she stopped and looked at me.

"Just…do what she says" I asked in a way that came off way more like I was begging than I would've liked.

"But…I-" She worded weakly as I continued to stare at her, pleading for her not to jeopardize herself more than she already have. After a few moments she backed down completely as I breathed a sigh of relief and turned back to face Celestia, though I couldn't help but notice Luna studying our interaction with relative interest before Celestia spoke again.

"David Mori…I sentence you to death, which will be carried out tomorrow" I had a lot of emotions run through my head all at the same time, anger, fear and dread to name a few. However the one emotion that I didn't have was surprise, I knew this was coming…though in the back of my head I couldn't help but hold on to the possibly that I might've been wrong, that perhaps things wouldn't turn out to be as bad as I thought they were going to be.

Goddammit I hate being right.

The room was full of ponies conveying a wide range of emotions, the overwhelming one was joy at justice being carried out, a sentiment held by the grand majority of ponies in the room. Some looked uncomfortable and conflicted, perhaps unsure whether the punishment fits the crime. Looking over at Rainbows friends I could see that the white unicorn, the purple maned one and the pink one looked absolutely horrified, Twilight's face was rather neutral towards the whole thing, no doubt she knew my sentence beforehand.

Big Mac looked somewhat unnerved as well as uncertain, I could tell that he still didn't like me much, but I guess it didn't go far enough to find the punishment justifiable. Applejack's face didn't resonate horror so much as it did anger and it certainly wasn't directed at me as she glared daggers at the Princess rather openly. Rainbow's face however was the one that truly got to me, she didn't look angry or horrified…she just looked broken, like something just shattered within her…but before I could contemplate any further her face quickly contorted to pure RAGE, rage so potent that even I felt a bit of fear for my safety. However that fear immediately dissipated as I saw her launch herself from her chair in a blur past a group of startled guards…straight for Princess Celestia.

'Oh god she's not…' I thought to myself as my question was answered before it was even asked. Rainbows hoof made contact with the left side of Celestia's muzzle with a loud smack before Rainbow seemed to lose momentum and sent herself sprawling onto the floor. The room once again grew deathly silent as the confrontation took place, everyones face including mine wearing a look of shock as it registered to Rainbow what she just did. Luna eyed her sister with a hint of fear, no doubt awaiting her sisters reaction all the while Celestia simply sat still, I'm not entirely sure if she was just keeping her composure or if she was just too surprised to register what just happened.

Then all at once the royal guards swarmed and apprehended Rainbow, she didn't put up any resistance as they lifted her up and started to drag her away. I attempted to raise to my feet, but before I could I felt a familiar pain on the back of my head and started to lose vision.

I'm not sure when exactly I came to, but when I did I recognized the familiar stone floor and iron bars as I attempted to raise to my feet. However I found the action to be rather difficult as I resigned myself to sit and lay my back on the wall.

"Goddamn I really need to stop getting head injuries, last thing I need is brain damage…" I mumbled to myself as I rubbed the back of my head, which felt tender.

"As if you need more of that" I heard a familiar voice joke from the other side of the wall.

"Rainbow? What are doing h-"

"I bucked the princess in the face remember?" She reminded me in a voice that implied that she still had a hard time believing that she did that.

"Oh yeah…well I'd say it was more like a flying dropkick but whatever…by the way that was insanely stupid you know" I scolded rather weakly, I wanted that to sound a bit more genuine but…dammit I was kinda jealous, I mean dropkicking the princess of the sun sounded like something I would do and boy did I want to.

"And insulting Princess Celestia to her face and being…uhhh well YOU, was smart?" She asked as I loudly sighed.

"Fair enough…though I'd just like to state for the record that I never claimed to be smart or sensible" I chuckled as I got silence in return, after a few minutes she spoke again.

"…I'm sorry" She apologized meekly

"For what?"

"For being stupid" She answered as I just laughed.

"No need to apologize, I mean you are pretty fuckin stupid…so I can't really be mad at you for being you right?" I asked as felt fortunate to have a stone wall in-between me and her.

"…did you just insult me and try to make me feel better at the same time?" she asked incredulously.

"Is it working?"

"Weirdly enough, kind of…though you're lucky that theres a wall between us otherwise I might've given you more brain damage" She threatened with a laugh as I laughed as well.

"Please no, I still need my brain sometimes" I joked as another awkward silence loomed over use, finally I decided to break it.

"Hey Rainbow"

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna get out of this…you know that right?" I asked

"…do you really mean that or are you just trying to make me feel better?" She questioned after a few moments of silence as I just shrugged.

"Why not both?" I replied as she didn't answer back, I got to my feet and stretched out my back and let out a yawn, I'm not really sure whether it was the long day or the consistent head injuries, but I suddenly felt extremely tired.

"Anyway I'm gonna take a nap now" I casually announced as I laid down on my rock disguised as a bed.

"How can you sleep at a time like this?!" Rainbow asked

"I already told you I have a plan, no worries" I answered as casually as I could, I was full of shit since I had no plan beyond punch things until I was halfway out of Equestria…which in my defense wasn't the WORST plan I've ever tried in my colorful life.

I shook those thoughts out of my head and lulled myself to sleep which at first was rather peaceful, but suddenly as I was dreaming my mind started to feel turbulent, like something was invading my headspace and causing a massive storm that made for a very chaotic and unpleasant experience. I saw flashes of various memories and heard soundbites from my past as they rushed past me so quickly and in such a unorganized fashion that I felt like my mind was about to overload on information and stress. However as quickly as it came the sensation left as the stormy seas of my mind calmed and I was drawn into a peaceful slumber once again. I'm not sure how long I slept after that, but as I rested a single word boomed into existence inside my mind and ripped me from my slumber.

"Awaken"

At that I sat up wide awake as I became aware of my surroundings, same old cell, same old stone walls, same everything. I groaned loudly as I rubbed my head which felt as if it had taken an internal beating, it was probably one of the weirdest feelings I've ever felt.

"David you alright?" I heard Rainbow ask from her cell as I got to my feet and nodded stupidly before I realized that she couldn't see me.

"Yeah I'm…I'm fine, just had a rough nap is all" I mumbled as I suddenly heard the door down the hallway open.

"Huh who's-" The guard's words cut off there as I heard him slump over immediately.

"W-what was that?" Rainbow asked quietly with a hint of fear as I just readied myself for anything.

"No idea…but I think we'll know soon enough" I whispered back as I was proven right by the sounds of hooves on stone that grew louder and louder with every passing second. After what felt like an eternity the figure came into view, causing me to go wide eyed at the realization of who I was staring at.

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Author's Note: and here's a cliffhanger because I hate all of you…well no I don't hate any of you…except for YOU…you know who you are.

Anyway although I think I could've written the court room scene a bit better, I still think I got across what I wanted to so I guess theres that.

Also next update will be delayed due to being out of town, so it probably won't be up until the 19th at the earliest and that's if I'm not too tired from the plane ride back so it'll probably be later than that, eh I'm an indecisive bastard but I know you love me.

Anyway until then, see ya next time.