Slander

by Pandora

First published 16th of December, 2013

After a particularly heartless bullying session with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the Cutie Mark Crusaders decide that enough is enough, and decide to get back at them once and for all. However, they go a bit too far, and have landed in prison.

“They’ve gone too far this time,” Sweetie Belle finally said, quietly, looking up at her friends. They nodded in agreement but didn’t meet her gaze. Apple Bloom was slowly dragging a ragged toothbrush back and forth inside her mouth. Scootaloo was gazing at her wings, wondering inwardly if the words painted there were correct. Sweetie Belle slowly rubbed one of the faded black marks on her coat. “I feel violated.”

“We all feel violated, Sweetie,” Scootaloo spat, slamming her hoof onto the floorboards. The old treehouse shook slightly and dust fell from the rafters. The orange pegasus looked up at her friend to see she had recoiled back slightly. “S-sorry… it’s just… they snuck into our homes. And who knows, did they drug us at the party?”

"Well, what do you suggest we do to get back at them?"

Marked

Sweetie Belle was crying. She was alone.

The wind howled as it traveled its usual path through the quiet town of Ponyville. The sign on Sugarcube Corner creaked slightly as the breeze blew it, the hinges squeaking on their metal hold. A stray autumn leaf bounced along the ground, the crisp edges making a slight crackling sound, like a book being dragged across sandpaper. This time Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had gone too far.

The fifteen year old filly hugged herself tightly, her forelegs wrapped around her shivering form. The small newspaper that had been draped over her slumbering body laid on the ground a few meters away, the front two pages flapping slightly in time to the gusts that were sweeping through the town. There were black marks around her eyes and on random parts of her body made by a permanent marker to give her the look of a dirty, homeless pony. And it was all her fault.

Just earlier that evening she had gone out with her two best friends, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom, to a party supposedly hosted by Rumble’s parents. As it turned out, the promise that there would be parental supervision turned out to be an elaborate ruse concocted by Rumble so that the fillies and colts invited would be able to convince their parents or guardians to go. Sweetie Belle had been foolish enough to stay, only swayed by three glasses of wine and the promise that “we could get party-attendee Cutie Marks!” made by Scootaloo, her voice slurring from many more glasses than she could count.

So Sweetie Belle had stayed on the grounds of getting Scootaloo and Apple Bloom home safe, as the latter had already landed herself a prime spot at the cider table and was talking animatedly with some of the other colts there. There were a few fun things to do, Sweetie admitted, like dancing, talking with some of her friends from outside school, and Karaoke. She had wowed the crowd of partygoers with her singing expertise, even getting a couple compliments wondering why she hadn’t found her special talent yet. Her heart had soared and she had a glass handed to her of hard cider, one she had never tried before. She could remember the elation she felt, the applause of the crowd, but mostly she could remember the hard stares that she had been given by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

And the fact that once she had drained the last of the glass of cider into her belly, Diamond Tiara let the corner of her mouth slide up into a slight grin.

The rest of the party was a blur, and as it went on it became black altogether. She vaguely remembered stumbling home, mumbling a quick “goodnight” to her sister Rarity - who was still sitting at the kitchen counter waiting for her to come home - and sliding into bed, not bothering to brush her teeth.

And then she woke up on a park bench with a newspaper draped over her, black marks all over her white fur, and a photo of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon making faces not even a drunk could make while a peacefully sleeping Sweetie Belle lay in the background in her hoof. The photograph hadn’t even been taken at the park. It had been taken in her room.

Sweetie Belle threw the photograph on the ground and stomped on it with her rear legs until the faces of the evil fillies were ground into the dirt and mud below. Wiping crusted tears away from her eyes, she forced herself to her feet, trying not to pay any attention to the splitting headache coursing through her brain. She groaned and rubbed at her eyes, a feeble attempt at making the pain go away. Taking note of her surroundings, she summoned her strength and made her way towards her sister’s Boutique. Maybe she would be able to explain the marks in the morning, and hopefully Rarity wouldn’t go ballistic about not being able to get them out. She’d have to cross that bridge when she got to it.

Scootaloo fluttered her wings, still hanging upside down from the tree that she found herself in when she woke up. Her mind was groggy, and she couldn’t deduce from her situation what had happened during the night. All she could make out was the photograph she held in her hoof, showing a grinning Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in front of herself, hanging upside down from a tree by her hindlegs. There was some sort of writing on the side of her body, under her wings, but she couldn’t make it out. Scootaloo reached up a hoof to rub her bleary eyes, accidentally letting the photograph fall to the ground twenty feet below. Her hooves reached out to try and catch it two seconds after it already happened.

Processing the new information her brain had been given, she curled her abdominal muscles and raised her head up to inspect the ropes that bound her to the tree branch. Studying the knot and making a decision, she kicked her legs sharply to the side, loosening the knot enough for her legs to slip through. What Scootaloo didn’t realise was the ramifications of her actions, and noticed too late that she was falling. She bent her body slightly to steady herself, her wings quickly picking up speed before crashing into the ground with a sickening crack.

Scootaloo lay on her back for a while, letting the stars gradually stop spinning around her head. The night sky shone brightly above her, each star a pain to her drunken eyes. She squeezed them shut and felt her head with her foreleg, not noticing any cuts or scrapes. Throwing her hoof to the side, her body weight tilted and she found herself rolled over, splayed out onto the ground on her belly. The dress she had worn to the party was far beyond repair at this point, the shreds of the purple material still hanging onto Scootaloo’s slender frame. Her hoof reached out for the photograph and grasped it lightly, pulling it back towards her. She raised her eyes to see the writing, and noticed the big, red letters had spelled something out.

“DEFORMED.”

Her eyes traveled away from the photograph and towards the side of her body where the same letters were reflected back at her. She blinked a tear away from her eyes.

Apple Bloom spit out the disgusting remains of dozens of chewed apples from her mouth, stretching her aching jaw. The strong taste of hard cider was still present on her breath, making her gag slightly before retching, even more apples coming out of her gullet and onto the grassy ground below her. Her lips were cracked and she flicked her parched tongue across them, feeling every imperfection.

The filly fell to the ground where she had awoken, splayed on her side, numb and tired with the effort of vomiting. Her eyes traveled down her body, seeing a small marking on her flank. Her head buzzed with excitement before she saw what the stencilled image actually was, a simplistic drawing of herself with her tongue wrapped around it, a sultry look on her face. Apple Bloom was confused, as she had explicitly remembered trotting home after the party with a colt, although she couldn’t remember who exactly it was. Her sister had turned him away at the door… she had been angry about something…

But now Apple Bloom was alone in the dark, in a secluded area of Sweet Apple Acres. She turned her head and looked behind her, seeing a small photograph on the ground. Picking it up and bringing it to her face, she looked over the image. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were standing in front of a comatose Apple Bloom, both chewing apples in their mouths. Silver held a stencil in one of her hooves while Diamond laughed. It was a simple photograph, and it told the young filly how she had gotten out of her house in the first place and received the stencil on her flank. But then Apple Bloom turned the picture onto its back and saw another one, this one containing both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon spitting the remains of their apples into the filly’s open mouth.

Apple Bloom dropped the picture and turned over, dry heaving.

The three fillies sat in silence in their clubhouse, still the simple wooden treehouse they built five years ago. The decorations on the inside had largely remained the same, save for a few tables here and there, and most noticeably a large white wall that doubled as a projector screen for the second hand projector Sweetie Belle bought on her trip to Canterlot.

“They’ve gone too far this time,” Sweetie Belle finally said, quietly, looking up at her friends. They nodded in agreement but didn’t meet her gaze. Apple Bloom was slowly dragging a ragged toothbrush back and forth inside her mouth. Scootaloo was gazing at her wings, wondering inwardly if they were right. Sweetie Belle slowly rubbed one of the faded black marks on her coat. “I feel violated.”

“We all feel violated, Sweetie,” Scootaloo spat, slamming her hoof onto the floorboards. The old treehouse shook slightly and dust fell from the rafters. The orange pegasus looked up at her friend to see she had recoiled back slightly. “S-sorry… it’s just… they snuck into our homes. And who knows, did they drug us at the party?”

Sweetie Belle nodded. “I think so. I could see them looking at me funny.”

Apple Bloom’s fake Cutie Mark had been washed off come morning, scrubbed meticulously by the filly’s hooves until nearly five in the morning after she had snuck back into the house. Applejack hadn’t asked any questions in the morning, and she hadn’t brought anything up. She took the toothbrush out of her mouth and threw it across the room, leaving it to clatter to the floor underneath a wooden chair.

“They’ve been at this for nearly five years now,” Apple Bloom fumed. “And we’ve never done anything to get them back. Do you girls think it’s time?” Nods of agreement went around the circle.

“But Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle addressed, “they’ve done everything in the book. What original prank could we do?”

“I dunno,” Scootaloo spoke for Apple Bloom. The attention turned to her and she puffed out her chest, her wings still feebly trying to hide the red words on her side. “But whatever we do, it has to ruin them.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little drastic?” Apple Bloom asked, raising an eyebrow. Sweetie Belle shook her head.

“At this point,” she countered, “it’s what they’ve done for us tenfold.”

A knock at the door of the clubhouse made Apple Bloom jump. Scootaloo stood up and trotted to the door, looking out the small window. When she couldn’t see anypony, she opened the door an inch and looked down. The day’s copy of the Foal Free Press lay silent on the doormat. The filly leaned down and picked it up with her teeth, shutting the door quickly and turning around, carrying the paper back inside. After noticing her quizzical look, Sweetie Belle gestured with a hoof over towards the wooden table in the corner. Scootaloo promptly flicked her head to the side, flinging the paper onto the table. Before turning away, however, the filly noticed something familiar on the front page. Something she had seen recently.

“Oh no…” she quietly whimpered, dashing back to the table and ripping the rubber band off from around the off-white pages. She picked it up in her hooves and rolled it out, being met with the exact sight she had been worried about. Her stomach came up to her throat and she let out a small wail. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle scrambled to their feet and came to her side, gasping in unison.

Four photographs adorned the front page, with a small subtext in the corner. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had been doctored out of every single photograph, leaving the fillies alone in the pictures.

“Partying Too Hard - Why These “Cutie Mark Crusaders” are a Menace to Ponyville.” Sweetie Belle squeaked out.

“Guest column by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon…” Apple Bloom agreed.“Still think it’s not time, Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo breathed.

“Nope.”

Two weeks (of chiding from guardians, suspension from school, and grounding), one day, two cans of clear grease, two rocks, a length of rope, a new camera, a slingshot, a paintbrush, and a can of red paint later, the Crusader’s master plan was set up, waiting quietly in the bushes behind a for-sale house on the outskirts of Ponyville. The three adolescent fillies stood close by, a pair of binoculars pressed up against Scootaloo’s eyes. She slowly lowered them, scowling.

“I thought you said that they were going back to the school for Saturday morning journalism class,” she growled, turning to Sweetie Belle, whose eyes were narrowed in concentration. A light emerald glow surrounded her horn, her detection spell in full effect.

“Yeah, that’s what Firelock told me. They’re still inside.” Sweetie Belle rubbed a hoof on the side of her head to make her headache subside. “Keeping up this spell is hard…”

“We need it to judge the trajectory,” Apple Bloom replied, staying near the slingshot. A length of rope attached to two rocks sat loosely in the sling portion, slack against the two holding pieces of the slingshot. “‘Sides, you learned this spell two years ago. Haven’t you been practicing?”

“Of course I have,” Sweetie Belle countered, turning around and giving Apple Bloom a dirty look. “Keep in mind I first learned how to use magic two years ago also. Can’t exactly perfect a spell you learned when you first started using magic in two years.”

“Plus, Apple Bloom, that spell is extremely taxing on magical reserves,” Scootaloo said, looking back at the orange earth pony. The other two Crusaders looked at her with one eyebrow raised, in a questioning manner. “What? Daring Doo and her unicorn companion had to do practically the same thing in Daring Doo and the Pleasu-”

“You’re saying that we’re doing a plan that you learned from a fiction novel?” Apple Bloom interjected, shooting a dirty look at the pegasus. Scootaloo recoiled.

“What? Daring Doo stays with Neighton’s Laws of Physics. It’s not like it’s on another planet or anything.”

“I’m not saying it is, I’m just asking how in the blue hell are you doing to know if it’ll work or not?”

“Because it worked in chapter 10 when-”

“Girls!” Sweetie Belle sighed, “they’re leaving! Get in position!” Apple Bloom sprinted to the side of the slingshot, grabbing the contents with one hoof and pulling it back, keeping them steady. Sweetie Belle let down her magical aura for a moment before lighting it again, sending their camera floating over towards the road in front of Diamond Tiara’s mansion. Scootaloo grabbed the buckets of grease in her hooves and vaulted over the bush, running on her hind legs to the side of the house. She could hear the chattering of the two evil fillies, and then the door slamming. The voices slowly grew louder, and Scootaloo turned her head and nodded back at her friends, seeing both of them nod back, their eyes narrowed in concentration.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon appeared around the side of the house, completely oblivious to the orange pegasus hiding beside them. She took a deep breath.

“PAYBACK, BITCHES!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, throwing the two cans of grease onto the ground in front of her enemies. They screamed, a spectacularly girly shrill that hurt Scootaloo’s ears, and whipped their heads to the side, slipping on the grease and leaping into the air, turning onto their backs as they fell back to the earth. The pegasus could hear the snapping sound of the slingshot behind her, knowing Apple Bloom fired at the right time. The two rocks and string impacted the two ponies like she had hoped, wrapping around both of them and binding them together, letting them fall back onto the ground. They struggled, laying in the grease.

She heard the snap of a camera shutter, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight times behind her, the snickering of her friends, the sharp cries of the two fillies rolling on the ground. She turned quickly, galloping back behind the bushes and kicking the slingshot to shreds. Sweetie Belle activated her levitation spell, grabbing all of the broken pieces in her magical hold and levitating them up, dropping them on top of Diamond Tiara’s mansion. Apple Bloom grabbed the can of red paint and the brush and ran up to the side of the fillies, painting “WE’RE BAD, SEXY LITTLE FILLIES” on the ground beside them. Scootaloo picked the camera back up off of the ground and snapped the shutter a few more times, locking in the moment forever in film. The trio then took off running through the brush, leaving the cries of the fillies behind, only just aware of the sound of a slamming door from the mansion and the high pitched voices of their parents.

There was a knock on the door of Carousel Boutique.

“Come in!” the sing-song voice of the local dressmaker rang out throughout the building, reaching the ears of the Royal Guard standing outside. He brushed his unkempt gray and blue streaked mane behind his ears and pushed open the door with a hoof, taking three steps inside before tapping his hooves on the ground, looking straight forward.

“What can I do fo-OH! Well, what do I owe the pleasure of a Royal Guard today?” Rarity asked, her cyan magical aura placing one of her current projects - a red dress with black hems - back onto one of her ponyquins. She trotted up to the guard, sashaying slightly.

“Miss Rarity, I presume?” the guard spoke, his gaze never shifting.

“The one and only!” The stallion nodded slightly and reached into his brown saddlebags, pulling out a scroll with a black ribbon. He unravelled it with his teeth, spreading it out in front of himself.

“On behalf of the High Solar Court of Equestria, I have been issued an arrest warrant for Sweetie Belle.”

Rarity’s jaw hit the ground.

A Royal Guard tapped his hoof on the door of Sweet Apple Acres, his wings lightly fluttering against his sides. His eyes wandered around nervously, but shot straight forward when the sound of hooves on loose floorboards caught his ears. The door swung open and he was greeted by the smiling, freckled face of an orange earth pony mare standing in the entryway.

“Why hello there!” she greeted, laughing slightly. “What can I do ya for?”

“Are you Applejack Apple?” He inwardly cringed at the redundant name, immediately thinking of ten different, more fitting ones.

“Eyup! I hate to repeat myself, but… what can I do ya for?” She was still grinning. The stallion sighed lightly, knowing that smile was mere seconds from being wiped off her face. He leaned his head over his side, his wings immediately stopping their fluttering, and pulled another, nearly identical scroll from them. He hoofed it over to her, waiting until she opened it to continue.

“On behalf of the High Solar Court of Equestria, I have been issued an arrest warrant for Apple Bloom Apple.”

Applejack’s smile turned into a frown. Her eyes narrowed and she gathered in a deep breath. The stallion slapped his ears against his head instinctively.

“APPLE BLOOM APPLE, GET YOUR FLANK DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW!”

The large Ponyville Orphanage, an imposing, brutalist building near the countryside, appeared at the top of a small hill in front of a third royal guard. Her horn bristled slightly with energy, and his gray aura slammed a carriage door shut behind her. Two fillies, flanked by two Royal Guards on each side, sat in hoof cuffs on the benches inside. Their faces were scared, yet they didn’t dare look up. The mare let out a small sigh, always hating to make an arrest. Due to the friendly and harmonious nature of Equestria, this was not something she had to do very often except for the occasional minor noise complaint or petty theft.

But arresting fillies? That was a whole other story entirely. This was the first arrest of a juvenile pony that the mare had ever made. She shook slightly as she ascended the concrete steps to the entrance to the orphanage, sending out her magical tendrils and enveloping the door in her gray aura. The door swung open, the hinges protesting as it opened completely, revealing a small front desk at the end of a large, simple hallway. A single, old unicorn mare sat behind the desk in a rolling chair, a pair of deep blue spectacles perched on the bridge of her snout. She glanced up slightly to check on the intrusion, looked back down, and then swung her head back up as the realisation of who her visitor was sunk in.

“Welcome to the Ponyville Orphanage,” she droned, slowly pushing the chair back from behind her and standing up to her full height. The Royal Guard started slowly trotting down the hallway, gulping audibly.

“Ehrm… is your name Ms. Primrose?” she asked, avoiding any direct contact with the older mare’s eyes.

“Indeed, it is. I have been running this orphanage for fifty years now.” Primrose shifted her weight from one crinkly, old foreleg to the other. “Are you here to drop a foal off or to pick one up?”

“Well, you see, neither,” the guard said, averting her gaze to her saddlebags. She fired her horn and the left one opened, a scroll with a black bow floating out. She levitated it in front of her eyes and dropped it into the waiting hooves of Primrose. “Uh… on behalf of the High Solar Court of Equestria, I have been issued an arrest warrant for a Ms. Scootaloo.”

The once pleasant smile on the old mare’s face turned to dejection, then anger.

“I knew nothing good would come of that foal. All she lives for is making trouble. Messes other ponies have to clean up. And with those friends of hers, sometimes I don’t see her until after curfew, at best.” She wrinkled her nose and fired her horn, making the guard detect a voice amplification spell. “SCOOTALOO. COME TO THE MAIN ATRIUM AT ONCE.”

Primrose turned back to the guard, smiling that same sickly sweet smile again. “She won’t be long now.” The guard gave a curt nod and glanced around the room, locating a small marble bench along one of the walls. She trotted over to it and sat down, gazing at the ceiling, where an ornate grayscale mosaic was laid out. She wondered inwardly why anypony would even bother creating a mosaic in grayscale. Color was a large part of art, and she was a major art fanatic. The picture depicted a pegasus and a unicorn reaching out to each other from across a large chasm. It could have been pretty good, the guard thought - if they had used a little bit of color to liven it up a bit.

A clopping of hooves from down the hallway filled her senses and snapped her back to reality. She looked down and glanced to the side, where Primrose was leading an orange pegasus filly by the ear. The guard levitated a clipboard out of her saddlebags and glanced at the data.

“Well, here the rascal is,” the voice of the old mare permeated her mind. “Don’t worry about making her stay for too long. She hates it here anyway.” The guard could have sworn she heard the filly say “damn straight” but couldn’t be sure. Primrose turned on her hoof and walked back to the entrance desk, seating herself again and picking up the same papers as she had been busy with when the guard had walked in. The orange filly stayed standing in front of her, seemingly unsure as to where to look. She had settled on the clipboard in the guard’s hooves.

“Alright there, just a few questions before we leave,” the guard started. “What is your name?”

“Scootaloo,” the filly replied, not taking her eyes off the clipboard.

“Last name?”

“Don’t have one.” The guard nodded.

“Age?”

“Sixteen next month.”

“Height?”

“One point three meters.”

“Alright,” the guard finished, putting away the clipboard. “That’s enough for now. However, a mental evaluation team is on the carriage to get more information from you regarding your emotional well-being on the way to Canterlot. You will be interrogated while you’re in Canterlot, however.” The guard stood up to leave, clamping her saddlebags shut and running a hoof along her mane.

“Just a quick question,” the voice from behind her said.

“Mhmm?” she answered, obviously only wanting to get this over with. The job was already straining on her emotions. She hadn’t even known what the filly had done to warrant such treatment.

“Why am I being arrested and not Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” The guard had no idea who those two fillies were, and even why they would be arrested anyway. Honestly, she hadn’t been handed down any information about the case against them, other than the arrest warrant and the guarantee that she would see to the pickup and drop off. So she chose the easy answer.

“I’m not qualified to answer those questions, Ms. Scootaloo,” she replied, turning back around to the door. “Now come, the carriage is waiting.”

“Another question?”

“Why not.”

“What’s your name?” The guard smiled slightly, then remembered to keep professional and inverted her smile, turning it into a curt frown.

“Kale.”

“Kale? That’s a nice name,” the filly replied. Kale reached out with her magical aura again, grasping the door and pulling. A rush of white light illuminated both of their faces as they stepped outside into the cool autumn air. They walked down the path together, and the unicorn opened the back of the carriage, her magic immediately knowing the magical lock combination. The other guards in the carriage bed nodded slightly at the intrusion, and Scootaloo hopped up. She was immediately hoof cuffed by one of the guards, and once she was secure the guard nodded at Kale to close the carriage bed. She went around the side and hopped into the driver seat, giving minor instruction to the team of four pegasi pulling the carriage to Canterlot.

The carriage lurched, but the fillies didn’t look at each other. Only until they were airborne did Scootaloo quietly observe their current situation.

“Welp. We’re fucked.”

Author's Notes:

This is going to be a very fun adventure story. This is the first story where I've actually planned out the entire plot before I started writing, meaning that I have every location, every twist mapped out. Hopefully this will get much better reception than any of my other fictions.

All the chapters will be this long or longer. I will have one or two "interludes," which will be at maximum 2,000 words, but hopefully I can keep all the chapters at 4,000 - 5,000+ words.

Also, the map I'm using for the series is this one: http://static1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111203153816/wtwe/images/7/7d/Equestria_and_beyond_rev_8.jpg

After the entire book is done, I'll post a photoshopped picture with a red line of where they traveled. It'll be pretty boss.

Have fun reading!

*kiss*

Detained

The imposing iron door slammed shut behind Scootaloo after she was roughly thrown into a small holding chamber. She allowed a small groan to escape her lips and picked herself up, brushing herself off and grimacing at the door as if waiting for someone else to come in.

After a while she lowered her gaze and flapped her wings timidly, turning around to survey the room. It was definitely small, a concrete structure with a similarly styled table in the center, a bright white light shining onto it. A pane of glass which reflected the pegasus’s face back to her. After reading enough fiction to last multiple lifetimes, she assumed the glass was a one-way mirror; a popular interrogation technique. Her heart fell with a sudden realization. She was being interrogated.

“H-hello?” the timidly called to no one in particular. Her voice echoed around the room for half a second, and eventually the silence of the room fell all around her again. Scootaloo walked over to the table and pulled out one of the chairs, hopping up onto it and putting her hooves together in front of her. She tapped them a couple times on the table impatiently, wanting to get it over with while at the same time afraid to start.

“Deep breaths, Scoots,” she thought to herself as she closed her eyes, placing her right hoof over her heart and pushing outwards, letting out a breath as she did so. A sound from the hallway startled her and she opened her eyes again, hearing the loud clopping of hooves coming closer to the doorway from outside in the hallway. The door swung open to reveal a burly unicorn stallion with a clipboard levitating behind him. He stepped inside and closed the door again, making the loud banging sound echo throughout the chamber.

“So, Ms. Scootaloo,” the deep voice of the stallion yawned. His voice was coarse, and Scootaloo could tell that he was old for his profession. “How are you today?”

“Could ask you the same thing,” she countered, looking him dead in the eyes and ruffling her wings slightly. She figured directly answering the interrogator’s questions would harm her in some way, giving them more material to use against her. More crimes admitted meant a worse case for the three friends.

“True, very true,” the stallion admitted, pulling out the chair opposite Scootaloo and sitting down, dragging a hoof over his unkempt black mane. The filly stole a glance at his flanks, seeing a cutie mark in the shape of a speech bubble adorning them. This stallion’s special talent was persuasion, she figured, but one would think that the guards would have made him wear something covering them. It was a fairly easy bit of reference, and it would’ve taken a complete moron to not notice it. And Scootaloo was definitely not a moron. She had bullshitted her way out of more than one dire situation before, she was positive she could do it again. “But, I asked you first. So, I repeat my question, how are you?”

“Wondering why I’m here,” the filly replied, her face showing perfect indifference. The stallion sighed.

“Considering the charges brought against you, I’d be more than surprised if you didn’t. Now,” he adjusted some paper on the clipboard and flipped the first sheet over to reveal another one that Scootaloo couldn’t see directly, “my name is Quick Thought, and I’ll be getting as much information as I can from you.” The eyebrow raise coming from the filly across from him was all too clear, “without force, of course.” The eyebrow went back down.

“Quick Thought, huh? Persuasive.” The filly raised a hoof to her chin and smiled slightly. Quick Thought chuckled slightly.

“You’re very perceptive.”

“I try.”

“Now, you are aware of the charges, are you not?”

“I’d be more comfortable with them if you were to read them to me.”

“You know your stuff, kid, I’ll give you that.” A small blush streaked across Scootaloo’s face before she quickly brushed it off, turning back to her poker face. “Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who I assume are friends of yours-”

“Far from it,” Scootaloo interjected, glowering. Quick Thought shrugged and made a note on the clipboard with a pen he had pulled via telekinesis from his bag. He twirled it in the air as he continued.

“I see. They claim assault, two counts of harassment, indecent exposure, and nine counts of public embarrassment.”

“Public embarrassment is a thing? And they claim?”

“Do you think these allegations are correct?”

“If all went according to plan,” Scootaloo commented with a smirk. Quick Thought raised an eyebrow and made a couple notes on the clipboard before turning his attention back to the filly.

“You don’t disagree.”

“I don’t see why I should. Considering how much shit they put us through, I think it’s only fair.”

“So you decided to send photographs taken at the crime scene into the nationwide newspaper, Equestria Daily.”

“They posted our embarrassing photographs in the school paper before, nine times if I can remember.”

“And the editor allowed them?”

“Diamond Tiara is the editor.” Quick Name scowled and looked down at his papers again.

“Well, they didn’t tell me that tidbit.” He scratched his mane and flipped through the pages once again. Scootaloo watched him before letting her gaze wander to the one-way mirror on the side wall. She couldn’t make out any figures on the other side, much to her chagrin.

“May I ask a question, Quick?” The unicorn looked up from his papers and gazed down at the filly.

“Sure.”

“Who brought the charges?”

“Their parents, of course. They’re not of legal age yet.”

“You are aware of how much money their parents make, combined, correct?”

“I don’t pry, but yes, I hear Filthy Rich is a very wealthy gentlecolt.”

“And how much would they pay to get their own fillies tracks cove-” Scootaloo was interrupted by the squeaking sound of the door swinging open, causing both her and Quick Thought to turn and see a Royal Guard standing in the doorway. He cleared his throat a few times, staring directly at the blank wall behind Scootaloo.

“That will be all, Mr. Thought,” he said, keeping his gaze locked. “I am ordered to escort Ms. Scootaloo back to her holding cell. You are requested in the Inquisitor’s Office immediately.”

“Good Terra, what does she want now,” Scootaloo could hear Quick Thought grumble softly under his breath.

“If you will, filly, please follow me,” the guard spoke again. Scootaloo pushed her chair back and stood up, cracking her neck from side to side. An irritating kink had appeared during her quick conversation with the interrogator, if she could even call him that. He was much too nice and understanding of her situation. “Now, please.” That got her attention. She shuffled her hooves towards the door and passed by the Royal Guard, who drew his spear and kept it laying on his shoulder. He motioned with his head to the left, and she started trotting off in that direction down a long, concrete hallway.

Walking took a good two minutes, and Scootaloo kept silent through the entire ordeal. She figured that speaking up would only aggravate the guard, so she kept her distance.

“We’re here,” the gruff voice behind her stated firmly, jerking his spear towards a cell where the filly could hear two hushed voices talking back and forth. The door was magically opened, and Scootaloo felt a force on her hind legs pushing her into the room. She fell forward onto the ground and the clanging of the door slamming shut behind her resonated through the hallway, the trotting sounds of the guard getting farther and farther away.

“Scoots!” a young voice piped up, one she instantly recognised. “Are you alright?” Scootaloo grumbled something unintelligible, pushing herself up onto her forelegs and shaking her head.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she hastily replied, letting out another groan. She felt something soft and warm brush up against her flank, and then a hoof found its way onto her neck, rubbing it softly.

“What happened?” Apple Bloom’s voice sounded, coming from behind her. She relaxed slightly at the massage her friend was giving her, but when it stopped she let out a small moan. The earth pony and the unicorn took their places in front of Scootaloo in the small cell, listening intently for her story.

She recanted her experience to the best of her ability, leaving both fillies shocked.

“You mean to imply,” Sweetie Belle hesitated, “that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s parents are behind all this?”

“I dunno, Sweetie,” Scootaloo replied, looking downcast. “But I do know that there’s no way they’ll have a case in court.”

“We’re going to court?” Apple Bloom asked, confused.

“Yep. I dunno either,” she added, seeing the awkward look in her friend’s eyes. “I assumed this was something they could settle out-of-court, but you know how absolutely bitchy their parents can be.” Her friends nodded in affirmation.

“The meeting of the Royal Solar Court is now in session. All rise for Princess Celestia.”

The audience and the three fillies rose from their seats in the massive court hall and bowed, their snouts brushing the ground. Princess Celestia gestured with a hoof for all to sit, and a wave of noise notified the fillies that the audience had taken their seat again. The appointed attorney for the trio, Legal Note, gave them a sage smile before taking his seat again.

“So, what do we have here,” the melodious voice of the princess floated down to the crowd. “Sisters of the Elements? This’ll be interesting.” The princess leaned forward in her seat, looking towards the left side of the hall where Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were seated, fake tears in their eyes, accompanied by their hard-faced parents. Scootaloo shuddered and turned back towards the princess.

“Prosecution may call it’s first witness.”

“Thank you, Princess,” the prosecution attorney stated quickly, picking up a pad of paper in his orange aura and bringing it to his eyes. “I call Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to the stand.” The two fillies pushed themselves off their seats and sauntered towards the witness booth, looking at the floor. Apple Bloom let out a small snort of disgust and Sweetie Belle elbowed her in the side, glaring. They passed the bailiff, who made them place their right hooves on the book of Ráhd and swear themselves in.

Once the fillies were situated, Princess Celestia motioned again to the attorney, who promptly trotted up to the stand.

“Please state your name and spell your last name for the record.”

“Diamond Tiara, T-I-A-R-A.”

“Silver Spoon, S-P-O-O-N.”

“Like they couldn’t spell ‘spoon’” Scootaloo whispered, meeting the same elbowy fate as her friend.

“Alright, girls, I know this is a touchy subject so I’ll be quick. Just answer the questions to the best of your ability, okay?” The two fillies nodded in response, Silver Spoon even reaching up a hoof to wipe her nose. Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Can you tell us what happened to the best of your ability?”

“We were walking out of my house,” Diamond Tiara started, stuttering on her words, “to go to the meeting for the school paper.” She sniffed again, looking down at the three fillies below her, sneering slightly. “But then these three were hiding behind my house… they jumped us. Then they sent the photos into Equestria Daily and they got published.”

“Why did they get published?” the attorney continued, trotting back and forth in front of them.

“Featherweight, an old acquaintance of those three’s, works there as an intern. Apparently they asked him to do it.” The attorney nodded.

“Has this affected the way other ponies see you two?”

“Very much so. We practically can’t go anywhere without laugher following.” The trio grumbled at that one. They all knew that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had promptly bullied the other students into not talking about it with them around, and making them even more antagonising and powerful than before.

“That’s all for now,” the attorney stated, trotting back to his seat. Legal Note stood up from his seat and walked towards the fillies, Scootaloo noticing a slight glare in his eyes.

“Your honor,” he started, looking up at the princess, “if I may?”

“You may begin your cross examination,” she replied. Legal nodded and started moving again, his pad of paper following closely behind.

“So.” That one word was enough to make Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon look up, and Scootaloo swore she could see a hint of fear creep into her eyes. “How was your school life before all this?”

“It was… alright,” Silver Spoon hesitated, looking down. “The fillies were really nice to us.”

“Why were they nice to you?”

“I dunno,” Diamond Tiara mumbled. “We were popular, I guess.” Legal Note moved his eyebrows up but said nothing, turning instead back to Princess Celestia. He raised an eyebrow before turning back to the two fillies. They were just as confused as the rest of the crowd.

“Are you two bullies?”

Boom. Straight and simple, directly towards the heart of the matter. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon gasped, looking at each other. They mumbled a few incoherent words and glared at their attorney, who just shrugged with a “you’re on your own” look on his face.

“Please answer the question,” Princess Celestia said, leaning on her hoof and tapping another against the desk.

“No, of course not!” Diamond Tiara burst out, glaring.

“Really?” Legal said, smirking. “I could get at least twenty more witnesses in that seat saying you are. I’m going to repeat the question. Are you two bullies.” The second time was more of a statement than a question, and the two fillies looked at each other again, sharing a silent debate.

“Objection.” The quick sound from behind Legal made him turn and raise his eyebrows at the prosecution attorney. “Badgering.”

“Badgering?” Princess Celestia repeated. “Really? It’s common knowledge in Ponyville that these two antagonise fillies and colts alike. What’s stopping them from saying so in the court of law? Overruled.” The attorney shrank back into his seat.

“... yes…” Diamond Tiara said quietly.

“And have you ever antagonised Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom?”

“Maybe… once or twice…”

“Once or twice, huh? Have they ever tried to get back at you two for your hostility?”

“I guess this was retribution,” Silver Spoon offered, the ending of her sentence raised up like a question. Legal nodded and turned back to the three fillies.

“That’s all for now.” Scootaloo could see the two fillies deflate. “You may step off the stand.” Princess Celestia nodded.

“Prosecution may call its next witness.” The prosecution attorney nodded and stood.

“I’d like to call Filthy Rich and Fleur D’Lis to the stand.” Slowly the parents of Diamond Tiara stood and trotted to the stand, their heads held high and their eyes closed. Scootaloo snarled, but this time wasn’t met with an elbow to the ribcage. She glanced over at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and was pleasantly surprised to see both of them with varying degrees of anger on their faces.

“Now, Mr. Rich, how has your daughter’s life been affected by this calamity?” Filthy shifted in his seat and looked up at the attorney with hatred in his eyes.

“It’s been awful. God awful. Her friends have been laughing at her, and those fillies there,” he said, pointing a hoof accusingly at the three friends, “haven’t made it any better. They never even said sorry!”

That was the last straw for Scootaloo. She knew that she had to get both Diamond Tiara and her parents back for the BS they were putting through the ringer. This was a court, and it was their duty to tell the entire truth. Legal Note had already convinced them to say they had been bullies their entire lives, but now Filthy Rich was saying - falsely again - that they weren’t. Rage built up inside the pegasus and she let out a long breath.

By the time her internal rant was done, the prosecution attorney was wrapping up his direct examination and Legal Note had once again trotted up to the stand.

“So, Filthy Rich,” he began, pausing to adjust his glasses and flip over a couple pages on his notepad, “I have taken some issues with your statement just back there.” The attorney turned to Princess Celestia, who smiled slyly, and walked back to the table, picking up his notes again.

“So. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were just up on the stand, claiming to be bullies. Yet you have stood here, under oath, to tell the entire truth and nothing but the truth. So,” he concluded, stepping closer. Filthy Rich shrank back while Fleur D’Lis merely pinched her snout in between her hooves. “What was a lie?”

Silence. One could have heard a pin drop in that courtroom. Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exchanged a victorious look, while Sweetie Belle was too busy noticing the judges to nonverbally comment.

“Girls, look over there,” she said under her breath, her pointing hoof barely visible to anypony watching. “The jury.” Scootaloo turned her attention to the ten old ponies seated in the five-by-two seats, not paying attention to the rest of the trial at hand. “Filthy was just proven to be a liar, why aren't they looking?”

But Scootaloo knew exactly why.

“Who brought the charges?”

“Their parents, of course. They’re not of legal age yet.”

“You are aware of how much money their parents make, combined, correct?”

“I don’t pry, but yes, I hear Filthy Rich is a very wealthy gentlecolt.”

“And how much would they pay to get their own fillies tracks covered?”

“They’ve bought off the jury.”

“What?” Apple Bloom hissed, glaring at Scootaloo. “Do you even know what you’re saying?”

“She does have a point, Bloom,” Sweetie added, returning the earth filly’s stare.

“But… but why?”

“Because they’re dicks?” Scootaloo offered. Sweetie Belle shot a glare her way and turned back to Apple Bloom.

“Because they know that if they don’t cover their foal’s tracks and get those photos destroyed, they will never be able to get anything respectable out of life! Do you not understand? Equestria Daily is one of the most widely spread papers in all of the Known World. They’re protecting their children’s futures while throwing ours out the window!”

Apple Bloom sat there, her mouth hanging open, before she was shaken back into the present by Sweetie Belle.

“Don’t worry, Bloom,” she said, smiling softly, “I’m sure Princess Celestia will take care of it.”

The alicorn princess she was currently speaking of sat on her podium, unbelief evident in her countenance.

“How do these ponies even live like this?!” she thought to herself, shaking her head slightly while Legal Note continued to impeach Filthy. “And I thought I had taught them better.” She stood up suddenly and glared down at the ponies in the witness stand.

“That is enough, Legal Note,” she stated matter-of-factly, “I’m sure we know they are lying by now.” The attorney nodded and returned to his seat next to the fillies, who each congratulated him in turn. The redness of a blush became evident on his cheeks. “Now, if the prosecution has no more witnesses, let us move on to the defense. Legal?”

“Yes, your honor. I call Sweetie Belle to the stand.”

Sweetie Belle shakily stood up with help from a couple of smiles from her friends, and made her way to the podium, stopping to be sworn in. She fumbled with the wooden door for a couple seconds before finding the latch with her magic and pulling it open, setting herself down in the witness seat. Celestia nodded at Legal Note for him to begin again, and he obliged.

“Now, Sweetie Belle, have you ever been bullied by Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?” Sweetie Belle raised a hoof and coughed into it, bringing it back down to her side.

“Yes, I have, many times.”

“And how long has it been going on?”

“Objection, your honor, leading question,” came the timid voice of the prosecution attorney.

“I think it’s perfectly valid. Overruled.” Celestia said, her eyes half-lidded. Scootaloo could see Filthy Rich glare at the princess and mutter something into Fleur’s ear, which made her shrink back into her seat. Scootaloo leaned over to Apple Bloom, whispering.

“I think Fleur has no say in this,” she said, motioning towards the model.

“I think you’re right,” came the hushed response before they turned their attention back to the trial at hand. The line of questioning had already ended, just a couple more questions about what kinds of things Diamond Tiara had done, and what the fillies had done in response. Sweetie Belle made her way back to the seat and Scootaloo gave her a pat on the back, getting a sheepish smile in response. Apple Bloom was called onto the stand with more or less the same questions. Soon it was the pegasus’s turn.

She stood up and brushed a purple lock of hair out of her eyes, gulping audibly. One hoof after the other she carried herself towards the witness stand. The bailiff took her right hoof and placed it on the book of Ráhd, repeating the same phrase.

“Do you swear to tell the truth?”

“I do,” she simply replied, turning towards the stand and sitting down in the seat. Legal Note paced back to her from across the room, coming to a stop directly in front of the pegasus.

“Please state your name and spell your last name for the record.”

“Scootaloo Runwing, R-U-N-W-I-N-G.” Legal Note nodded and gave the filly a small smile, turning towards Princess Celestia.

“Your honor, I’d like to treat this witness as hostile.”

A murmur went through the crowd, most likely from confusion. Back behind the table, Apple Bloom turned to Sweetie Belle, raising an eyebrow in a confused stare. The unicorn rolled her eyes and leaned into her friend.

“Having a hostile witness means that they can ask leading questions without objections,” she whispered, getting a nod from Apple Bloom. However, their silent discussion did nothing to help Scootaloo, who was stuck on the stand without a vowel or a clue to understand what was said. However, it must have been good, as the princess nodded.

“By all means.” The attorney turned back to Scootaloo and turned a couple pages in his pad of paper.

“So, Ms. Scootaloo, how many times have you attempted to ‘get back at’ Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon for their bullying behavior?”

“Just the one time,” she answered truthfully.

“Do you think your actions were justified?” the attorney asked, pushing his glasses down on his snout. Scootaloo thought for a moment.

“Yes. Considering how much they did it to us, I think our actions were completely justified.” Legal nodded and turned back to the crowd, pacing along the length of the platform.

“What kind of things did they do to you?”

“Diamond Tiara blackmailed us into pulling up sh… dirt… on other ponies to put into the school paper, the Foal Free Press. She had our own images and was going to publish them if we didn’t keep making other ponies’ lives miserable. Our ‘retribution’ was that stunt, yet much more… effective.”

“What did they do to you the night of the party?”

“Excuse me, Legal, but… what party?” Princess Celestia cut in, gesturing with a hoof.

“There was a party for the fillies and colts at school hosted by one of their classmates. These fillies can tell you about what happened in the aftermath of the party that prompted them to attempt retribution on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.” Princess Celestia thought for a moment, then waved a hoof, asking him to continue. The attorney turned back to Scootaloo. “Should I repeat the question?”

“Nah, I got it,” she replied, running a hoof through her purple mane. “Pretty sure we all got either drunk or drugged and blacked out, however we heard from both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom’s guardians as well as my orphanage leader that we got home safe that night. I woke up tied face-down in a tree, hanging from my hooves, with the word ‘deformed’ written under my wings. I could have broken my neck getting down from that tree. Sweetie Belle woke up with marks all over her body in the freezing cold. Apple Bloom woke up with regurgitated apples in her mouth and a fake cutie mark on her flank. We were all taken out of our homes, and woke up with photographs accompanying us of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon with us in the background.

“They had trespassed into our homes, taken us literally from our beds, left us out in the cold, mocked us, spit apples into my friend’s mouth, marked up my friend’s fur, and then published those photographs in the school newspaper. I could have died, and we all could have gotten hypothermia.”

While Scootaloo was speaking about the photographs, Legal Note had gone back to the attorney’s table and taken the photos out, locked in protective plastic wrappers, as well as a copy of the school newspaper, and placed them on Celestia’s desk.

“Your honor, I’d like to submit these as evidence.” The princess nodded and took the photographs from the attorney, looking through them. Scootaloo noticed a hint of disgust when she flipped through the evidence. Legal turned back to the filly in the witness chair. “That’s all, Scootaloo, you may go.”

Scootaloo stood and trotted back to her friends who gave her encouraging smiles the whole way. She smiled herself, too.

“Now,” Princess Celestia’s voice boomed over the crowd, the voice magnification spell present on her horn, “if there are no other witnesses, I’d like to give the judges a recess for the ruling. You are dismissed.”

Princess Celestia once again trotted into the courtroom, accompanied with the bailiff's voice asking the crowd to stand. She waved a hoof and the congregation sat back down.

“Now, judges, I’d like to hear the ruling,” she said, her hoof under her chin. The three fillies sat where they had four hours earlier. Scootaloo was shaking slightly, worried about the verdict. Sweetie Belle took notice.

“Scoots,” she whispered, “don’t worry about it. Even if the jury has been paid off, there’s no way Celestia’s going to allow for a vote like that to pass through.” Scootaloo nodded, but her anxiety wasn’t helped by her friend.

One by one the judges stood, the same chant ringing out.

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

“Guilty.”

With each guilty verdict, Scootaloo shrank into her seat, squeezing her eyes shut. Princess Celestia’s eyes burned with rage and she stood up from her seat quickly, glaring over the assembled jury.

“This is an abomination,” she spoke, her obvious attempt to reel in her anger and disbelief faltering slightly. “You all have mocked the integrity of this courtroom, you have mocked the lives of these three, perfectly innocent fillies, and most importantly you have mocked me, your princess of the sun. I have no idea why this case was even brought to court, much less why you are completely oblivious to the integral standings of the mares you see before you. This problem could have been solved at home.

“Instead, two ponies, parents of the prosecution, wanted to bring it to me. Have obviously forced the jury into doing what they want them to do, probably under the influence of monetary gain. They should be the ones sitting it that defense chair, not the way it currently is.”

She paused to take a breath. The jury shank back into their seats and shook in fear. The angry whispers from the crowd were poignant throughout the airy chamber.

“This vote has been overturned. Court convenes tomorrow morning.” She turned to the bailiff. “We need a new jury.”

The three fillies sat in their cell, not speaking to one another. The patrolling Royal Guard passed by their cell for the umpteenth time, his stoicism causing him to avoid looking at the detained prisoners. Once he was out of earshot, Scootaloo shuffled.

“This is bullshit,” she said under her breath. Her friends nodded in unison.

Many hours had passed from their court session, yet nowhere was a clock that Scootaloo could use to tell exactly what time it was. She had considered asking the guard, but it was obvious he didn’t want anything to do with the prisoners.

Suddenly a banging sound traveled down the hallway. Scootaloo opened her eyes wider and shuffled over to the bars of the cage, peering down the corridor. What she saw was completely out of the ordinary.

The patrolling guard was knocked flat on his back, his spear rolling lazily on the ground beside him.

“What…” was all Scootaloo could manage. Thoughts were flying through her brain at a thousand miles per hour. What could have done it? Exhaustion? No, it couldn’t be that late, probably only a couple hours into the morning, maybe three AM. Heat? No, those guard suits were designed to keep the wearers as comfortable as possible. Rainbow Dash? No, sh… wait...

“RAINBOW DASH!” Scootaloo cried out upon seeing the blue pegasus hanging upside down above the cell.

“Sh! Keep it down, kid, you’ll bust us both!” she whispered, holding a hoof to her mouth and fluttering down to the bars.

“Shit! Sorry!” Scootaloo replied, looking over at Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who were both in a state of comatose shock. “Why are you here?”

“To get you out of here.”

“Are you crazy?” Scootaloo stage whispered. “Celestia said they’d have a new jury tomorrow, and we can easily win the case!”

“Sorry kid,” Rainbow Dash said, “but it isn’t that easy. I was walking through the castle grounds when I overheard two of the previous jury members talking. So I hid and listened to them.”

“So? What did they say?” Scootaloo eagerly asked.

“I can’t give you specifics, but it revolved around the bribery of the past jury, and the fact that the next jury has already been paid for in advance.” The crusaders were once again thrown into a state of shock, but Rainbow continued. “Celestia can only overturn a vote once, meaning that you guys will be found guilty.”

“So how will you get us out?” Sweetie Belle asked from behind Scootaloo, looking at Rainbow with a worried expression. Rainbow reached a hoof behind her back and pulled out a key ring, choosing one and inserting it into the lock on the door to the cell. The door swung open with a loud creak and the fillies shuffled out one by one.

“Come on,” Rainbow urged. “We gotta run.” The group took off down the hallway, jumping over the unconscious body of the guard.

Conditioned

“Of course it’s under the table, do you really think I’d want that on my expense records?” Filthy Rich paced in front of his oaken desk, the luxury Canterlot Hotel room illuminated by the midmorning sun. Twilight’s sunrise colors had just swept across the sky, bringing with it the light of a new day by Celestia. A lone candle flickered on a wooden desk in the middle of the room, flashing unstable light towards an occupant of a chair.

The light illuminated some of his features, others were lost in the blinding sun coming through the window directly behind him. He had a orange coat and a simple brown mane, unkempt and sticking out all over the place. His right foreleg rested on the arm of the chair while his other lightly tapped against the side of his head. The stallion shifted his body slightly, revealing his silhouette and two rows of perfectly straight teeth, as well as a rounded horn.

“How much are we talking?” he said in a tenor’s voice, still tapping the side of his skull. Filthy Rich stopped pacing and looked towards the desk.

“One thousand bits.” The stallion opened his mouth to protest, but Filthy cut him off. “Each.”

Seemingly pleased, the stallion leaned back even farther in the chair and put his hind legs onto the table, stretching out and popping the muscles.

“Alright, what do you need me to do.”

“First,” Filthy said, pulling an item out of one of his saddlebags and flipping it open, revealing a dozen cigarettes. “Want a light?”

“No, I don’t smoke,” the stallion replied.

“Alright,” Filthy said, placing one in his mouth and lighting the end. He inhaled slowly and took the cigarette out of his mouth, blowing smoke out of his nostrils. “The three fillies who were supposed to be held for retrial for the assault of my daughter have escaped, along with one of the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. I think that the bearer broke them out, considering the guard found a night watch unconscious about an hour after their escape.”

“So, you want me to hunt them down?”

“Not… exactly.” Filthy said, putting the cigarette back into his mouth and resuming to pace around the room. The stallion gave an almost imperceptible raise of his eyebrow. “That may end in some sort of beating or murder, both of which I don’t want on my hands. Only to have a pegasus scout logging their every move. Only one, not to draw suspicion.”

“So, what are you proposing.”

“Simple. I have connections, you have connections, and the bearer has connections. I issue a seizure warrant for one of the bearer’s close friends, pay my connections in the royal guard to have it approved, and take them in. For questioning.”

“Questioning? I’m assuming I’ll be doing the… ‘questioning?’”

“Precisely.”

“And if the bearer refuses to return?”

“You give chase.”

The stallion grinned and leaned forward into the light, just enough for the rest of his face to come into view, including the massive scar running down the right side of his face, causing his right eye to be a dull, black color as opposed to the vibrant blue of his left.

“You’ve got a deal.”

The three fillies and one element bearer had only stopped in Ponyville long enough for Scootaloo to grab her scooter and for Rainbow Dash to fill her saddlebags with food and water. Then they were off again, Rainbow Dash pulling Scootaloo and two other fillies–with skis attached to their hindlegs–across the hilly terrain.

“What’s the plan, Rainbow?” Scootaloo called out from below her idol, watching her every move with intrigue.

“I don’t know, but I think we should head to the Southwest. Stop in Cowpenhagen and refill on food, then keep going in the same direction.

“Across the Mild West?” Scootaloo replied, confused. Rainbow nodded but didn’t turn around.

“Yep. If we can get all the way to Boardor I’d be happy.”

“Why the hell are we going to Boardor?” Apple Bloom piped up from behind Scootaloo. The orange pegasus turned around to see both of her friends staring up at Rainbow Dash, frowns adorning their faces.

“Because it’s out of Equestrian Control.”

“Come on, Rainbow,” Scootaloo piped up, “it’s not like we’re murderers. I don’t understand why we need to go all the way down to Boardor, much less leave in the first place. It would have been an open and shut case.”

“With Filthy Rich on your tails?” Rainbow Dash scoffed, rolling her eyes. “You might as well be murderers.”

“What do you mean?” Sweetie Belle asked, an eyebrow raised.

“I once pulled a massive prank at one of his wives fashion shows when I was sixteen. Needless to say I had to stay out of big cities for about four years.”

“Why?”

“Because when someone hurts Filthy’s pride, something inside his cruel heart just snaps. That’s why he paid off two sets of judges and pay for holding a trial that would befit a murderer. He wants you three locked away for a really long time, just for a prank.”

The fillies were silent for the next few minutes, thinking about what Rainbow Dash had said. Inside of Scootaloo’s mind, however, her brain was fighting with itself. Part of her wanted to believe that it wasn’t that big of a deal and Celestia could overturn anything she wanted to. But thinking back to her fragmented memory of her elementary school classes with Ms. Cheerilee, she knew that Celestia and Luna ran Equestria on a citizen-led basis, meaning that if an arrested pony were to be put in prison, they would have to hold a hearing for it. The plaintiff would pay higher amounts to get a larger and more noticeable trial, and they were kept fair by Celestia or Luna only able to overturn a jury’s vote once per case.

The jurors were appointed ahead of time, and only the first jury had their names released to the public. The backup jury however, if one of the princesses were to call for a reconvention, was kept secret to prevent against fraud. It would be extremely difficult for a pony such as Filthy Rich to get the names and addresses of the ponies in the backup jury, but not impossible for the kinds of connections someone that rich could have. But then, she came to an interesting observation, one she hadn’t thought of before in the adrenaline rush that came from escaping the dungeons and into the outside world.

“Rainbow, why didn’t you go to Princess Celestia or Luna with that information?”

“What information?” was the simple reply. Scootaloo sighed.

“About the jury being paid off.”

“I had no proof, other than what I heard. That would be blatant hearsay in court, and Celestia would probably be angry at me for suggesting that a pony would be willing to pay off two sets of jurors, even in her extremely angry state.” She coughed before continuing. “Plus I needed as much time as I could get to grab you three and head out. Couldn’t just leave you there to suffer.”

Scootaloo raised an eyebrow.

“How do you know so much about law and the hearing structure?”

“Let’s just say I’ve been in some unsavory encounters in my time.” Scootaloo chuckled. Of course Rainbow Dash would have been in court before. Some of the stunts she had told the orange pegasus about couldn’t have gone unpunished. Scootaloo and the other girls chuckled slightly, and after a couple seconds even Rainbow Dash did. “Alright, you three,” Rainbow chuckled, catching her breath. She pulled a map out of her saddlebags with her hooves and held it up in front of her face, the headwind flapping the edges slightly. “We’re coming around the left side of Manehattan. We should be out of Equestria in less than thirty minutes.” Shouts of approval came from behind the pegasus as she put the map back into her bags.

But what none of the company knew was of the emerald green eyes watching them from the clouds above, judging their every move and hearing their every word. The pegasus mare chuckled as she grazed the surface of the wispy clouds below her, royal blue coat tickling with the strange, soft sensation. She looked up and brushed a piece of silver mane out of her eyes and licked her lips, judging the distance from the group below her to the border of Equestria, almost unable to be seen in the distance.

She chuckled and picked something off of a holster on her belt and held it up to her hear. A crackling noise was heard in the earpiece and she coughed.

“Envoy, this is Nightingale.”

“Alright, Night, what’s the purpose of your message?”

“Status report. Above your pay grade.”

“Well, you don’t have to say it like th-”

“Just get me the leader.”

“Alright, alright, fine.”

Another crackling noise was heard, and then silence. A stallion’s voice spoke on the other end.

“Ah, Nightingale. Good news?”

“Very. They’re almost out of Equestria.”

“Did you overhear any specifics?”

“They’re going to Cowpenhagen in Glascow to restock on supplies.”

“Thank you, scout. Get back to base and rally a pegasus team.”

“To intercept where?”

“Cowpenhagen. Where else?”

“I like your thinking, sir.” Another click and the line went dead. Nightingale replaced the earpiece in her holster and took one last look at the unsuspecting group of ponies below, smirking at their mirth. Then she placed a blue hoof on the cloud and kicked, sending her flying in the opposite direction, back towards Canterlot.

“Here,” Filthy Rich said, passing a paper over the desk of an administration’s assistant.

“What’s this?” the assistant said, flipping over the paper and noticing the stack of bits attached to the parchment. Without another word, she pulled the bits off and placed them in her saddlebags, not looking at the words written on the paper. Pulling out a green stamp, she placed it on the page and lifted it off again, a bright green “approved” visible over the writing. “Need it today?”

“Yep, if it isn’t too much trouble,” Filthy said, glaring.

“Not at all, Mr. Rich. I’ll send some guards and you’ll be o-”

“I have my own people working on it.” The assistant raised an eyebrow, but quickly lowered it upon noticing the stallion’s look.

“O-okay.”

“Thank you.” Filthy turned on a horseshoe and walked out the door, the assistant watching after him. She scratched her head and moved the document into the box marked after approval, sifting through the contents slightly before deciding to put it in the middle. She grimaced and rubbed her head again.

“Hopefully it’s for the best,” she thought to herself as she went about her usual business.

Meanwhile, Filthy Rich turned down a side street and walked into the Canterlot Hotel, going immediately to the elevators and hitting the button for the eleventh floor. The elevator shook and started to rise, the mirrors lining the walls reflecting the stallion’s tan coat and brown mane. He raised a hoof to his ear and pressed into it, coughing.

“Gentlemen,” he started, “she’s ready for you.”

“Good,” came the simple reply.

Back near Ponyville, a team of five ponies were assembled on the edge of the Everfree Forest. Glad in black hoods, save for one dressed as a royal guard, they all carried various kinds of weapons. Two pegasi held one-hoofed crossbows while a unicorn had a sword strapped to her back.

“All right,” the one dressed as a royal guard said, “let’s do it.”

The five militia members traveled along the edge of the forest until a house was visible in front of them. They quickly moved to the back of the house, moving closely along the perimeter. A chicken coop to their right buzzed quietly with the everyday movement of the animals within. The “royal guard” flicked his head upwards, motioning for the others to climb onto the roof. The pegasi obliged quickly and the remaining earth pony and unicorn teleported together, their padded hooves quietly stepping onto the roof of the home.

With the movement out of the way, the “royal guard” knocked on the door loudly enough to hear birds and other animals scattering inside. A timid cough was heard within and the door swung open to reveal a butter yellow pegasus staring up at him. Her facial expression showed fear. The “guard” coughed.

“Um… hello?” the pegasus eeped, attempting to hide behind her mane. The “guard” rolled her eyes.

“Are you Fluttershy?”

“Y-yes…” The “guard” opened his saddlebags and pulled out a pair of hoofcuffs, slapping them around Fluttershy’s front hooves. A blush spread across her face as she stammered out a quick, silent objection.

“By order of the Royal Court, you are under arrest for assistance of a wanted criminal.”

“Wh… what?”

A black-clad hoof quickly slammed into the pegasus’s head from behind her, causing her body to crumple to the ground unconscious.

“Good work,” said the “guard” to the other militia member standing behind the incapacitated pegasus. “Search the house.”

The pass between the border of Equestria and Glascow was easy, since the borders were postly unpatrolled due to an old agreement between all of the governments of the Known World. Soon enough, the group had crossed the Eternity River (with help from Rainbow’s wings) and the city of Cowpenhagen was in sight.

“Alright, you three, we’re only stopping for an hour or two. Don’t run off.” When the three fillies responded with a mock salute, Rainbow banked right and headed for the city, the skyscrapers easily seen in the distance. Three fillies were pulled to the right along with the cyan pegasus, the terrain changing slightly and causing their heavily waxed skis to jump a few feet. Scootaloo grabbed her scooter’s handlebars and fluttered her small wings, letting her grab slightly more airtime than her two friends before the wheels collided with the ground again. The handles turned with the impact, but the pegasus easily got it back under control in time for the second bounce.

The four ponies took off the connecting harnesses and stowed both them and the scooter on the outskirts of the Glascow capital city of Cowpenhagen.

“Alright guys,” Rainbow spoke up, the fillies turning to listen. “We have one hour. You three stick together and grab some food before coming right back here. I’ll head over towards somewhere I can grab some supplies, and then we’re leaving, got it?” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo nodded while Sweetie Belle didn’t look too convinced.

“Where are we going to get food?” she asked. “Have you ever been in Cowpenhagen before?”

“Only once or twice,” Rainbow Dash admitted, “yet I have a good enough feel for the city to know where you need to go.” Seemingly happy with her answer, Sweetie Belle nodded. “Make stick to the ground, no flying for you, Scoots.” Scootaloo’s visage visibly slumped at that. “Head down this street and take a left…” Rainbow peeked around the corner before continuing “... three blocks down.” Sweetie Belle looked back to her friends with a questioning look, almost as if she was asking them if it was a good plan. Apple Bloom eventually nodded before Rainbow continued. “Apple Bloom, since you’re the oldest, you’re in charge of making sure everypony is in the place where they need to be.” Apple Bloom nodded again, a determined look on her face. Rainbow smiled.

“Alright, team, break!”

With that, the group went their separate ways, the three fillies sticking together as Rainbow Dash flew off to a separate part of town.

A few minutes later, the cyan pegasus sped down a side street, her wings gradually bringing her to a complete stop at the end. A main arterial was right in front of her, and she could see ponies trotting up and down the street at a brisk pace. Carriages bumped along the cobblestones while sellers harped their wares from the shops around the bustling marketplace. Soon enough she spotted her destination, a small supply shop on the other side of the street. Rainbow Dash carefully poked her head around the corner, looking for any royal guards. Seeing none, she trotted slowly out of the side street, onto the sidewalk. Waiting for a break in the steady stream of carriages, she tapped her hoof against the sidewalk anxiously. She was worried about the fillies and what kind of trouble they might be getting into.

Second thoughts filled Rainbow Dash’s head. What if breaking the fillies out of prison was a bad idea? What if Celestia had overturned the vote a second time? Sure, it would enrage a lot of ponies and probably end up with the judges participating in a strike as Celestia was the main judge and wrote the Equestrian Laws during the founding of the country. If Celestia herself broke one of her own laws, that would make her citizens think that Celestia saw herself as above the law, and that was the last thing that Celestia needed after the 1000 Years, with many new evils arising from their prisons. Being unable to defend Equestria against foes was Celestia’s foremost duty, and that ability would be hindered if the citizens went into rioting or full—

“Hey, lady, you gonna move?”

A voice from behind the cyan pegasus caused her to jump and all her inner thoughts and connections to shatter into a billion pieces, falling onto the icy ground of her subconscious.

“Uh… heh, yeah… sorry,” Rainbow stammered out, before noticing that the light had changed, an image of a white pony silhouette trotting having replaced the red pony silhouette. The mare stepped forwards and quickly trotted across the street and up to the door of the supply shop, pushing open the door with a hoof and trotting inside, the sound of a bell jingling greeting her ears. The door swung shut behind her with a slam, a pair of bells on the handle jingling and the busy city traffic outside being muffled slightly. An old stallion behind a long counter featuring many different kinds of saddlebags looked up and smiled softly.

“Well, what can I help you with today?”

Rainbow Dash sighed and opened her saddlebags, fishing around inside for a moment before pulling her head out.

“Me and a few friends are living away from it all for a while. What can I get for 600 bits?”

It was dark all around her when Fluttershy awoke. Her head throbbed with pain, and she tried to move a front leg so she could press against the back of her head. She quickly found that her hooves were locked in place on the arms of an uncomfortable metal chair.

“H-hello?” she asked to no one in particular, the constant, fearful motions of her eyes only making her headache more excruciating.

“Good afternoon, Fluttershy,” a voice spoke from the shadows. Fluttershy let out a soft ‘eep’ before bowing her head in fear, trying to make herself as small as possible. A mechanical noise came from behind her head and two metal arms wrapped around her head from the back of the chair, forcing her eyes open.

“What am I… doing… here?” Fluttershy whimpered, a tear running down her cheek. She sensed a movement in the shadows and attempted to move her eyes so she could see who–or what–it was, but the bars around her face prevented her eyes from moving very far. Whatever was with her in the darkness laughed a booming, menacing laugh from directly behind her. Fluttershy squirmed in her seat, a cold sweat beading on her skin and dripping down her fur. Something warm and wet blew on the top of her scalp and she shivered, whimpering and attempting to curl herself even more into the fetal position.

“Oh… Fluttershy… we are going to have so much fun with you…”

Author's Notes:

This just keeps getting crazier and crazier. Don't worry, everything will be finalized and shown, connecting together to make all of this seem actually legitimate.

If you haven't known, I have a YouTube channel with an entire EP of original music for this fiction. You can find it at http://youtube.com/PandoraTypography.