He was the best lawyer pony around. With the voice of a master orator and the look of a stallion who has spent many years enjoying the sophistication of Canterlot, Francis Lauponi, the brother of Britten Lauponi, never lost a case after fifteen years of practicing the profession. Unlike his brother, his was a prosecutor hired and trained by the Canterlot Royal Guard. He was the best of the best; able to use his silver tongue to woo the jury and his piercing gaze to see any path to winning a case. His long golden mane perfectly matched his flawless white coat and cerulean eyes. He spoke with a refined western Equestrian accent that captivated mares and intrigued stallions. When he spoke his words seemed to flow from his lips like a river and lingered in the air so that ponies could wishfully latch onto them.

I had watched him myself several times and I despised the miser. I had no problem against foreigners, but those who used their eccentricity to deceive were vile. Neither had he any respect for any of his clients; considering them like pariahs with whom he had to force himself to associate. But if he treated his clients like uncleanly mules, he treated the defense as though they were a plague on the world. They were guilty simply for standing trial. Even if he knew for a fact they were innocent, he would twist the facts the best way that he could until the situation seemed so convoluted that the jury was misdirected to believe the defendant was certainly deserving of the maximum penalty. How I hate men like him who manipulate the sacredness of justice!

And of course, the Terrible Three had made arrangements for him to stand against Pinkie in her trial. And with the testimony which was sure to come against her, she was being led like a lamb to its slaughter. Nor did it help that she was a poor mare. Having sold everything she had for the joy of her friends in the town, she could not afford a lawyer. She was assigned a public defender. I will not say that he was bad, but his inexperience would spell her doom. Right from the opening statements of the trial, I could tell that she had no hope for acquittal.

Through the broken speech of a very shocked Rarity, the prosecution had proved to the jury that the murder was done in a closed room situation. There was only one door in the parlor which was closed until Rarity reopened it. All of the windows were locked and would have made sound if unlocked and opened. There was no sound that was made during the murder except for the toppling of chairs and the sound of the gagging victim. There were no hoofprints anywhere that didn’t match those of Pinkie, Rarity, or the late Mr. Lauponi. Pinkie was found by Rarity with a knife (the proven murder weapon) in her mouth on top of the victim with his blood all over her muzzle. I really must say that though I saw it with my own eyes, Pinkie’s defense was very weak. I stood in the front of the courtroom, forcing myself to watch and madly hope for any kind of salvation for my beloved friend.

“So, Miss Pie, let me see if I understand zis correctly.” The silver-tongued prosecutor said. “You expect ze court to believe zat three monsters just appeared from out of nowhere into Miss Rarity’s parlor, killed a pony without making a single noise and then just disappeared again. ’Ave I ’eard zis correctly?”

Pinkie said with a pleading tone, “Well I know it sounds crazy but that’s what happened.”

“And you also claim zat Discord, a statute which has been shown as of today to be in the Canterlot Gardens, came to life and smeared ze blood from the murder weapon on your muzzle, and zen threw you onto ze victim?”

I slapped my hand to my face. The Three had built an exact replica of Discord’s statue and replaced it… “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” I said.

Her voice was shrill and panicked. “Yeah, that’s really what happened.”

“Thank you, Miss Pie. No need to shout.” He paused and looked at his notes on the prosecutor's bench. “Is it not true zat recently you went through ze ordeal of nearly losing a good friend?”

Pinkie hesitated. “Yes, my friend Rainbow Dash almost died.”

“And ’ow would you ’ave felt if she died?”

“Well, I would have felt really bad, but she didn’t-”

The sly attorney knew he could not let her finish and quickly continued. “Thank you Miss Pie. Is it not true zat whenever a new pony comes into Ponyville, you take it upon yourself to ensure zat zey are ’appy?”

Pinkie did not see the aim of this question and perked up for a moment. “Yes, I always want people to be happy.”

“And is it not true zat you failed multiple times in making ze victim ’appy?”

“…Uh, yes.”

“Thus would it be too much of a stretch for me to say zat you became frustrated with zis pony?”

“That’s… I don’t think… I…”

I was staring her attorney down. “Are you going to do something today?” I asked without expecting an answer.

Finally the slow lawyer stood up. “Objection your honor! The defendant has a right not to incriminate herself.”

“Thank Celestia, he does have a brain.” I thought. The mayor, who was presiding as a judge over the trial would surely not let her answer that question. But unimaginably, the Terrible Three were in the courtroom unseen. Like a snake, Fear whispered words into her ear. “Curse them!” I thought. “They have the power of inception as well? This is pure folly!”

Yet fairness is a scarce found concept in the real world and thanks to Fear’s interference with the mayor’s thoughts, the judge answered, “Overruled. The court will wait for an answer.” I roared a curse.

Pinkie answered, “I don’t think that I was too frustrated.”

Although, obviously not what he was looking for, the haughty stallion smirked and said, “Your honor, I ’ave no more questions.” Truly, this was not looking well.

“Thank you, Mr. Lauponi. Mr. Lackwit, your witness.”

The young stallion approached the witness stand nervously and spoke without confidence. “Miss Pinkie, had you ever seen these creatures who you say did the murder before?”

“Yes, I saw one of them about a month ago along with the whole town.”

“So the whole town was witness to the existence of at least one of these murderers?”

“Yes.”

“Can you remember any one in particular who saw this?”

A twinkle of hope glittered in Pinkie’s eye. “Oh yeah, I remember that she made little Breezy Sky cry.”

The lawyer looked to the judge. “With that, would the court please allow Miss Pie to step down from the stand and allow the defense to call Miss Sky?”

The mayor approved, and the little earth filly climbed up into the witness stand. A large stallion in bronze armor approached and swore in the filly under oath. Then, Pinkie’s attorney asked, “Miss Sky, did you see the female creature that was described by Pinkie Pie?”

The little filly answered confidently, “Yes Sir.”

“And would you say that along with you, most if not the entire town saw her?”

“Yes Sir.”

Mr. Lackwit looked to the mayor again. “Your honor, I have no further questions.”

The mayor asked, “Does the prosecution wish to question the witness?”

“Yes your honor.” The charlatan approached the filly. He spoke perhaps a little harsher than he should have to a foal. “Miss Sky, I ’ave spoken with your parents and zey say zat you ’ave had a record of nightmares. Is zat true?”

The poor thing probably felt very intimated. Her voice shook as she said, “Yes Sir.”

“And ’ave you ever claimed to ’ave an imaginary friend?”

She looked down. “Yes Sir.” A low blow for a public setting.

“Do you zink that it is possible that you could ’ave imagined this?”

“…Well, Sir then whole town-”

“I’m not asking about ze townsponies. I am asking about you. Do you zink it is possible zat zis recollection could ’ave been one of your nightmares and zis creature a figment of your imagination?”

“No Sir.”

“Why not?”

“I remember it too well.”

“Do you not remember what you dreamt of last night?”

“Well, I do.”

“If I asked you, could you describe it to me?”

The filly was now appearing very uneasy. “…maybe.”

“So, are you saying zat because you zink that you remember what could ’ave been a dream well, zat makes it reality?”

“Um… yes.”

“Would you say zat is good logic Miss Sky?” There was a long silence. “Miss Sky…”

“No.”

Once more, he smiled. “I ’ave no further questions your honor.”

Like Breezy Sky, several other witnesses of Fear’s appearance were brought to the stand. They were so sure of what they saw. Yet that trickster was able to make each of them believe what they saw was an apparition of a mass hallucination. Imagine that! An entire town full of ponies who each had the same illusion; how preposterous. Yet he spoke so convincingly and with such substantial assuredness that what they saw was fake. He twisted the facts well and pointed triumphantly to other obscure cases which he said resembled this one. In the end, he made them all doubt, and no one truly believed that they saw Fear.

The mayor turned to the green stallion. “Mr. Lackwit, have you any more witnesses?”

“Your honor I call Rainbow Dash.” Rainbow Dash, hearing this, stood up in the back of the courtroom and approached the witness stand. She was then sworn in. “Miss Rainbow, how would you describe your relationship with Pinkie Pie?”

Rainbow Dash looked like she was not mentally present. Her face showed that she had recently been crying and tried to cover it up. Her visage was sullen and she looked grim. When she spoke, her voice was low and humble. “She’s my best friend.”

“And have you ever known her to do anything like what she has been accused of?”

“Never.”

“And how would you say that she treated every new pony that came into Ponyville looking depressed, as the victim clearly was?”

“She always treated them great. Like they’d been friends forever.”

“Can you think of any reason that Pinkie Pie would do anything like this?”

“No.”

“Thank you Miss Rainbow. No more questions.”

When prompted, Francis loomed to work his art. “Miss Dash, ’as the defendant ever done anything zat seemed out of ze ordinary, aside from ’er generally ecstatic personality?”

“I can’t think of anything.”

He smiled. “Please tell the court, do you recall the defendant’s reaction to ze events surrounding ’er last birthday. I believe zat you were witness to zis?”

She blushed. “Oh … that. Yeah, she may have done something a little out of the ordinary then.”

It was visible that he was controlling an urge to smile. “Could you please describe to ze court what she did, Miss Dash?”

She hesitated and her voice broke when she finally answered. “She had a party with a lot of things that she acted like were her friends.”

“What sort of zings?”

She breathed heavily before saying, “Things like a pile of rocks.”

“So would you say zat assuming a pile of rocks to be animate would be classified as insanity?”

She clearly did not want to answer the question. I could see that she was starting to tear up. “Yes.”

“Last question: Being the best friend of ze defendant, in your opinion, do you believe zat she was responsible for the murder of Mr. Britten Lauponi?”

That should have been no difficult question for the bearer of the Element of Loyalty, but the situation made it difficult. The evidence was stacked so much against Pinkie, I do not blame the blue pegasus when she finally burst into weeping and through sobs, answered, “Yes.”

“Your honor, I believe that the witness should be dismissed.”

The mayor spoke, “Indeed, Miss Dash,” but Rainbow had already rose and bolted out of the courtroom. After this, the situation only worsened. Fluttershy and Applejack were likewise called to testify, and though they spoke well of Pinkie the best that they could given what questions they were asked, the manipulator had both of them disown their friend. One by one I watched each of them fall to the might of Discord who was laughing hysterically. In my day I associated with a lot of ponies who did not approve of stallions shedding tears. It was not considered masculine among them. But my heart broke when I heard the two say that they believed their friend had done something so heinous.

Fear called out, “You have done well Discord. You have managed to turn even the greatest of friends against one another. When our enemy has been vanquished, we will feast for seven years on account of your deeds alone.”

Discord responded, “All in a day’s work. Let’s just hurry and finish this boring case. I enjoy the end not the means.”

In the end, Twilight was called to the stand and sworn in. I wanted to cover my ears at this point. I wanted to go back to my home in the west and live out the rest of my days not thinking about the unfair judgment of a good pony. Yet I still forced myself to watch. I would never be able to forgive myself if I forsook Pinkie like this now. So Twilight was questioned by Mr. Lackwit and gave good testimony based upon his questions. Likewise, she was forced to testify against her friend, being compelled by the clever lawyer. Yet in the end, when she was asked whether or not she believed that Pinkie had done the act, she answered strongly, “No.”

I was greatly surprised as was he. Additionally, Fear, who seemed never to be surprised, said audibly, “This was not to be expected.”

“Why not?” The word-weaver asked. “You surely do not believe in zis idea of these reappearing and disappearing assassins do you?”

“I trust in my friend.”

“But to trust zis type of logic is madness.” There was a pause. I sighed. Of course the defense did not object. Inexperience will be the death of us all.

Yet during this pause, Twilight was preparing a speech. In a short, few seconds, she was ready. I did not see it coming and was awestruck by it. Her words did not flow from her mouth like those of a mortal. They were ordered in such a way that revealed both knowledge and wisdom that would take anypony else centuries to obtain. She answered, “I do not know for sure about these things. I did not see them, because I was in Canterlot at the time. But there is one thing that I do know for sure. My friend, Pinkie Pie, would never do anything of this sort.”

She spoke this sentence with such intensity that the tension could suddenly be cut with a knife. Fear spoke an elongated “Ah,” and said, “Though we foresaw this possibility, I did not expect it to occur. So it appears that the mare may be granted her life. And if that is so, Suffering, you may be in for quite a treat. Effectively, you will have your cake and eat it too.”

While Fear was commenting, Twilight continued. “I can speak of this as much as any other pony. Because although I was not a depressed mare like the many who now owe all their success and joyfulness to Pinkie, I was one who resisted all her attempts to befriend me. Yet she was determined. She knew that even though I was not suffering as they were, I was denying myself one of the greatest joys that anyone could ever experience: the joy of friendship. I had done nothing for her. She had no reason to help me out of the silent comfort of the grave which I dug for myself. And when she tried to help me out of it, I resisted. But she persisted until I knelt before her assiduousness. And then I was able to see what she was truly trying to show me: the light which was so much more beautiful than the darkness to which I was so accustomed.

“The truth of my claim is evident in every aspect of her life. She has given all she had to achieve the one goal of making everypony in Ponyville joyful. I have not known her as long as others in Ponyville who have been with her since her coming, but I have known her long enough to know that she loves all of us with an unimaginable passion. She shows her love in this: She has suffered much more than anyone should on our behalf. She has spent all she had in order to make us joyful and she is now living on charity. But her dedication to this by no means is limited to monetary sacrifices. She has no life other than to achieve the goal of loving us and making us joyful. She has even on several occasions pursued this endeavor so vigorously that she neglected eating and sleeping, despite the concern of her friends. This is what I cannot understand. Because while it would be easily understandable if she suffered on behalf of a good pony who did much good for her, this is not the case. Rather, she suffered for all of us despite that we resisted her gifts and friendship.

“You also hold against her the reaction she had during her previous birthday. She tried to make new friends for herself when she thought that all of her real friends had abandoned her. You look upon this and see madness, but I see something wholly different. While you believe that this is the business of a madpony, I believe that this only enhances her character. Her purpose, the reason that she has to exist, is to make others happy, and when she thought that mission was a failure, she became depressed. Can you imagine the kind of suffering you would endure if that which made your whole life worthwhile was stripped from you? This does not show insanity, but instead it shows dedication to an ideal. Having no reason to live is the same as being dead. Any normal pony would have committed suicide, but there she was, trying to fulfill that seemingly hopeless goal in her own way.

“Thus, with that rebuttal, again I say it: I cannot seem to understand it. It does not make sense. She has no visible motive for doing what she does, yet she does so anyway. My only guess is that there is something she sees that we do not see; something that she realizes that we cannot realize that drives her towards this awesome altruism. She claims that just the sight of her friends smiling gives her the greatest and most lasting joy. And I believe this to be completely true. But I also believe that she endures for another reason. In addition to the absolute joy which she receives in seeing other ponies feel the same joy that she feels, I believe that her passion can be attributed to her pursuing a prize; a prize that most ponies cannot see.

“I do not know either what that prize is, but whatever it is, I think I can speak for everyone in this courtroom when I say that we wish we all could have it. It is for that reason that I cannot bring myself to the belief that my friend committed such an act. It would go against her very nature and her life’s mission. It does not logically make any sense that someone who so relentlessly follows such a life would do something like this which so drastically contrasts with all of her previous actions. For that indisputable reason, I cannot disown my friend who loves me.”

The whole courtroom was silenced. For about twenty seconds, not a sound could be heard. Finally, Mr. Lauponi said with mock confidence, “Your honor, I ’ave no more questions.”

The mayor took a moment to realize that she needed to respond. “Oh, right. Ah, Miss Sparkle, you may step down. Mr. Lackwit, do you have anything more?”

The defense attorney likewise did not respond until a moment later. “Uh, your honor, the defense rests.”

The two lawyers then gave their closing statements and the judge and jury departed for the moment. For two hours there was absolute silence. Even Discord, who could rarely keep still for more than five minutes, was quietly awaiting the verdict. No one even moved. No pony left to eat lunch, but they all sat in their seats and awaited the return of the thirteen. The seconds passed by like minutes. I gazed penetratingly at the clock, and the second hand seemed to be so much slower than it always moved. This was the day which I had been waiting to see. This was the moment that The Terrible Three had planned for since they heard rumors of Pinkie Pie’s influence. It had barely been two years since she came to Ponyville, but it seemed like so long ago. Each day that she spent in the place was better than thousands anywhere else on the planet.

I thought back to Twilight’s speech. It was the worst and only blunder that the prosecution had made. I clung to that, forgetting all else that had happened. Surely her testimony would be sufficient. A faint gleam of light appeared. Surely she had evoked ethos, pathos, and logos in such a way that it overshadowed the deceiver. I had never heard her speak like this before. Perhaps this was an action of one of the Fates. Perhaps fortune had smiled upon Pinkie and made it so that no one could overcome the authority of the spirit with which Twilight spoke. Perhaps heaven had decided to do away with the unfairness that was placed on Pinkie and stand in her defense. Thus, as the judge and jury reentered, I had a hope.

When all were seated, Mayor Mare asked, “Has the jury reached a verdict?”

“We have your honor.”

The titanic bailiff grasped the paper which held Pinkie’s fate and placed it open on the desk of the judge. “Pinkie Pie, please rise.” The mare stepped from her chair and faced gazed at the judge. The mayor read slowly, “Of the charge of murder, being the unlawful killing of a pony by another pony with malice aforethought, we the jury find the defendant, Pinkie Pie, not guilty.”

I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief. It was like a weight had lifted from my shoulders. She was going to be alright, I thought. Yet when I looked to The Terrible Three, expecting an uproar or awestruck faces, they were not at all fazed.

The judge continued, “On the charge of ponyslaughter, by the mitigating circumstance of schizophrenia, we the jury, find the defendant, guilty as charged.”

It hit me like a freight train. The deceiver had done it. Despite everything that Twilight had said, Pinkie was pronounced legally insane and guilty of killing an innocent. Hearing this, Discord laughed sadistically and Fear and Suffering roared triumphant shouts. The world was suddenly spinning and I was not sure if I could trust my senses. Was I hearing everything right?

“Have you anything to say, Pinkie Pie?”

The pony did not answer for a moment. Finally, she said, “If I am innocent, I don’t blame any of you.”

The voice of the mayor rose and nearly echoed through the courthouse. “Pinkie Pie, you have been deemed a hazard to yourself and society by your actions; convicted of ponyslaughter and pronounced insane. By the power vested in me by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the monarchs of Equestria, I have the right to sentence you to death by lethal injection. But because of your past record of philanthropy, I hereby sentence you to a life in the Royal Equestrian Mental Institution of Canterlot.”

The sound of the gavel echoed through the courthouse. Next Chapter: The Endgame: Tribulations Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 14 Minutes