She stood in front of them all, looking out on the crowd, and they chanted her name. Her name, which meant so much.

Twilight Sparkle

In the morning, it spoke of a time of peace, when the morning light was just beginning to shine, and the day was full of promises. In the evening, it spoke of comfort, the light dimming and promising a night of dreaming respite from the day's troubles. It also promised a visit with Luna, and her beautiful tapestry of stars, if one chose to stay up.

But her name meant more than that in this world. It meant 'Element of Harmony'. It meant 'Friend of Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash'. It meant 'Adoptive Sister of Spike the Baby Dragon'. It meant 'Librarian of Ponyville'. It meant 'Sister of Shining Armor'. Her name used to mean all of these things.

Used to. Now none of those, not even the last, was valid anymore.

But the meaning that had been the most dear to her, the one that it hurt the most to lose, was the one that she now wished had never come about. 'Loyal and Faithful Student of Princess Celestia'. Perhaps, if those words were untrue, what was to come would not seem nearly so painful.

When telling their foals stories at night, parents would be sure to warn them of the dangers of her. When studying Equestrian history, young students would be made to recite a paragraph not of her accomplishments, but of her failures, her shortcomings, her actions. When Celestia took a... different student, she would be sure to watch for some of Twilight's emergent qualities, and systematically eliminate them.

Because the crowd had given her name new meaning. Gone were the titles of care, love, and consideration, given to her over the years of her life. Now, her name meant 'Murderer, Traitor, Monster, Madmare'. Now her name would be spat upon by the lowest of criminals.

Now they were no longer chanting her praise.

Now they were chanting, "Death to Twilight Sparkle."

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Twilight Sparkle walked as best she could with the shackles on her hooves. They ground against her skin, damaging nothing but certainly interfering with her movement such that it was a chore just to walk. Compounding this discomfort was her horn, which was now no longer a horn so much as a large bludgeoning tool, given the magic-canceling talisman affixed to it. The caster that had given her this particular one had attuned it just a little too finely, resulting in a sapping of not only her magic but also some of her stamina. These, combined with harsh jostling from the guards at every opportunity and a lower intake of food in the last few days, resulted in a weary prisoner whose every movement was a little harder than the last.

But she would endure. She had to, if for no other reason than keeping her mind occupied with how she held herself would prevent her from dwelling on why they all hated her. She looked over the faces of the booing crowds as she walked towards the district courthouse, where her trial awaited.

She saw a young unicorn filly, holding her own horn and staring upwards at it, as if afraid that what she held would turn around and bite her. She saw the foal's parents arguing a few meters away. She saw the mother, a pegasus, point angrily at the unicorn father's horn, and then at their child, and finally at Twilight. Hatred was in her eyes, and with a few unheard words over her shoulder she stomped away, clearly planning to leave the spectacle.

She saw a couple arguing, although this time the mare was a unicorn and the stallion was an earth pony. The two were clearly in a heated fight, and the mare lifted her head up high, as if to strike the stallion. Terrified, he looked up at her, his eyes following her horn and filled with the fear of death itself. Others in the crowd saw this as well, and within seconds the mare was on the ground, groaning from where several hooves had impacted with her side.

And lastly, she saw another old unicorn, his face wizened with age and scarred from working with magic. He stared at her, without hatred, fear or contempt. Instead, all she found was pity. She looked into his eyes, and found a soul that simply could not understand what she had done, so much so that it could not even begin to hate her. She found a soul that looked - green?

Without any time to even flinch, Twilight was sent reeling from a blow to her jaw, delivered from a pegasus wing that had moved swiftly across the barrier on her left side. Instantly, the guards on either side of her stopped their marching and brought their spears down, leveling them not at first to the green pegasus that had delivered the blow, but at her. They swiftly adjusted their weapons, bringing them back upright, but not before giving the pegasus in question a harsh glare and an even harsher one to her, as if she alone had been responsible. Pushing her back into position, they continued their march towards the building in front of them.

Newsponies waited at the entrance, cameras held at the ready. They all wanted a piece of this story, a chance to report on Twilight, the murderer. Pegasi scrambled above, dodging others who were trying to enforce the no-fly zone above her, and snapped aerial shots that would surely give them an advantage over the other earth-bound reporters. Earth ponies and even one or two brave unicorns jostled each other in a competition to see who could get the closest shot of this tyrant. But the most noticeable thing was the questions shouted at her. "Twilight, why did you do it?", "Twilight, do you regret what you did?", "Twilight, how many have you actually killed?". They all wanted what she had already given them, an explanation.

"Twilight Sparkle, what does Princess Celestia think?"

That caused her head to snap to the right. Her guards, having heard the questions and seeing her reaction, stopped as well. There, a light blue earth pony with a grey mane. She smiled eagerly, knowing that she had hit her mark. She raised her pad and pencil before her, eager to take down any answers given. Her eyes begged for something, anything.

Twilight considered answering her. Considered telling her that Celestia alone was capable of understanding her actions. But then, she thought not of what her mentor was capable of understanding, but what she stood for. What she had taught Twilight every day, the values she had tried to instill. Twilight thought of what her mentor would truly think.

And so, with tears beginning to form and flow down her cheeks, Twilight turned her head and resumed her motion, walking slowly into the courthouse where her sentence awaited.

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She stared at the desk in front of her, not daring to look up at the faces around her. She wanted nothing more than for the day to already be over, even though it had barely just begun. Ponies were beginning to crowd into the room, although aside from the ones outside, the newsponies who usually covered these events were noticeably lacking. She tried to believe that Celestia had ordered it as a courtesy to her, that she had wanted to give her former student some modicum of comfort, a chance for a respite from further torture with more questions. But she knew it wasn’t true. The order had been given only to prevent the reporters from being able to access the nobility of Equestria.

She snorted. It would make sense, as the nobility were eager to grovel and please and would only serve to escalate the situation by attacking her further, leaving no room in the public mind for her possible innocence. As if there was any. Some of them might have even called for her early death, advocating skipping the trial and going straight to the executioner’s platform. And despite all that had happened, she knew that Celestia would still stand by some of her virtues, namely that a pony accused of such a crime as hers was innocent until given a fair trial by their peers in a court of law.

Although fair was a relative term at this point.

She watched the crowd. There were a few nobles and government officials she had known in this crowd, nobles she had grown to like. Fancypants, who had given her the first present she ever received inside of the palace grounds. Gilded Sheen, who had taught her all about the history of Equestria symbolized in the ornate architecture and craftsmanship that was spread around the palace. Silver Quill, who had taught her the beautiful art of calligraphy, resulting in a brief and humorous episode of graffiti around the palace grounds. These three, and others, looked back at her not with blatant hatred as the other nobles did, feigned or otherwise. They looked at her with a deep sadness, perhaps asking how she could possibly do it, like everypony else these days. Or maybe they were remembering a small purple filly, bouncing along the corridors, making them all laugh and play even when more pressing matters took precedent.

She also noticed that there was a markedly empty section amongst all of the seats. A rather large section. She wondered at first if more than a few nobles were not in attendance, but then decided that no, everypony was making a point to steer clear of that area. She wondered who it could be for. Most of the important ponies were here; in fact, there was no significant absence of any branch of government or noble house. But it wouldn’t make sense to leave empty seats when more groups could be represented. Why were those seats just left… vacant?

Her thoughts were cut off as the voice of the law clerk rose above the light din in the courtroom. “Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, the Equestrian District Court for the Central District of Equestria, Canterlot Division, is now in session. The honorable Oak Tenure presiding. Long live the Equestrian kingdom and this honorable court. May we forever remember our fallen Princess.” At this last line, the clerk clearly choked, struggling to hold back tears. A murmur of agreement and sympathy spread throughout the crowd.

Oak Tenure sat down at the bench, and began the only case on trial today. “Calling case number 21CR78382, Twilight Sparkle versus The Citizens of Equestria.”

And so the trial of the pony who had betrayed those that loved her as a friend, a sister, and a student, began.

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The trial had gone just about as she had expected it to go. Due to the sheer destructiveness of the spell she had used, and the magical nature of her… target, there were few witnesses who could actually claim to have been there when the disaster happened. A few pegasi could claim to have seen the magical blast light up the ground from far away, pulsing with the same hue as her horn. And unicorn investigators could give a positive ID on the magical signature as being directly from her. But no direct witnesses of the attack had shown up in the first three days of the trial.

Twilight was almost beginning to count her blessings; if they had not found any witnesses then she would not be further reminded of what she had done. She didn’t care about winning the case, there was absolutely no chance of that. She just didn’t want to see the direct result of her handiwork.

Then, when her defense was to begin, some of the survivors were brought in not as witnesses, but as members of the crowd.

They had limped in, at least those that could. One or two, such as Bon Bon, had suffered such terrible trauma that they needed a wheelchair to be moved in, legs completely shattered or spines rendered unusable. The others suffered similar, if less impairing, wounds. One unicorn, Green Tapestry if Twilight remembered her name correctly, had all of her fur singed off and several burn marks along her body, shivering in a coat provided to her by the court. Another had a charred and blackened surface where the right side of his face should have been, and clearly had trouble working his jaw open and closed. One pegasi had stumps where her wings used to be. And one earth pony walked in, nothing about him harmed except for the fact that his left hind leg was missing, replaced by a partial harness with a wheel.

These citizens, these ponies, these victims had come into the room, instantly silencing everypony and even giving the judge pause in moving along the proceedings. Everpony watched, mesmerized, as they made their way to the space that had obviously been reserved for them. A few nobles paled at some of the more horrific injuries, visibly wanting to leave. But none dared to break the hold of the grim spectacle before them.

Action finally occurred when Mrs. Cake, at the back of the line, moved into the courtroom. She had obviously been crying heavily, tear stain tracks matted her cheeks and her coat had not been groomed in days. Her entire body seemed to be moving low to the ground, as if her spirit was unwilling to lift itself up.

Her eyes, however, changed when they saw Twilight. First, a flash of recognition, their eyes finding each other at the exact same time. Then, as fast as lightning, that recognition turned to hatred. But this was not the hatred of one who had simply seen buildings and friends obliterated, it was more than that. This was a hatred born of seeing one’s life companion vanish in the blink of an eye. The hatred of seeing one’s livelihood turned to ashes, with only a husk remaining and not a prayer of salvation.

The hatred of a mother, who had lost her foals.

With a fury in her eyes burning hotter than Celestia’s sun, Mrs. Cake attempted to launch herself at Twilight, uncaring of the rail or the guards in between them. The guards moved to stop her, establishing a loose screen in between the crowd and Twilight as Mrs. Cake finished moving past the rail. With an anguished cry she threw herself against the guard’s armor, trying to duck underneath their bodies or find purchase in their group so she could climb over. They refused to budge, however, and she was soon left sobbing against their forms, hooves pounding at their armor slowly. With a low voice, the judge asked the guards to please remove her from the court, and they began to ease her back towards the exit.

She cried out, voice strong at first but then falling in intensity as she approached the door and ran out of energy.

“H-Her! That is her! Kill the mare who took my husband! She deserves to d-die, she needs to pay for what she did! I have n-nothing, my husband is dead and my life’s work is gone! And my foals…” At this, her voice dropped especially low, only the deathly silence of the courtroom allowed her to be heard. “My foals… Oh Pound Cake, oh Pumpkin Cake, my babies… You killed them!” She shouted directly at Twilight. “They were the world to me! I loved them so much, and now they’re gone! I never even got to hear them say their first words, oh…”

With a final, gentle push, the guards moved her outside of the courtroom, and shut the door. They returned to their stations, eyes staring straight ahead, although Twilight saw at least one set beginning to form tears. With a slow pace, the court resumed the trial, and her defense began.

It was laughable at best. The magical signature i.d. test was usually more than enough to get a pony convicted, so unequivocal was its conclusion. They could not fight that. There were only a few unicorns in Ponyville who had a characteristic purple hue, and none had either the motive or the sheer magical power necessary to accomplish what had happened. It did not help that her extensive training could not be denied or mitigated, so thorough was it. And on top of it all, her attorney, assigned by the court, clearly had no interest in seeing her exonerated. His amount of research done was exactly zero, his cross-examination during the prosecution phase had been a joke, and his planning of their defense phase was a few scribbled notes made more to look busy than anything. Within two hours, her defense was almost at a close. Only one element remained.

With a breath, Twilight got to her hooves after having them unshackled and moved to stand in front of the jury, which up to this point in the trial had been exceedingly passive. No stares of hate met her gaze, only stony resolution to remain impassive to what was to come. At least something in the trial was fair. She prepared her thoughts, and began.

“Ladies and gentlecolts of the jury, I stand before you accused of a grave crime. I stand before you accused of regicide. I have no defense. You have seen the evidence before you; I can find no fault in its integrity, or its indication of my own guilt. I do not deny that I committed the acts I am accused of. I only ask that you understand. What I did, I did for Equestria. The victim in question violated her own principles, and those of our society. She went against everything this noble court sta – “

At this, a voice in the crowd behind her let out an angry cry. “Blasphemy! Execute her at once! She is slandering the name of our Princess! Kill her, kill her!”

Oak Tenure immediately swung down his gavel, silencing the lone voice. “QUIET! I will have order!” He glared down at the crowd, daring another to speak up. “The next pony who cries out will be immediately removed from this courtroom!” He then looked to Twilight. "That being said, Ms. Sparkle, I demand that you refrain from unduly slandering the name of the victim, one whom you have already admitted to killing, might I add. Keep your speech restricted to your own actions.”

Twilight nodded before continuing. “I stand before you a guilty mare. My actions are clear for all to see, and I do not wish to delay punishment. However, I want to set the record straight. I speak to you not as a criminal, unrepentant of her actions,” she began to look every single juror in the eyes as she spoke, “but as a mare who feels every bit of emotion that you all do. I stand before you and I say that I have lost not one, but two dear friends. And I want to tell you something you may not believe. Something nopony may ever believe. I want you to know…”

With this she turned back to the crowd, watching all of their faces stare back at her, unblinking, waiting for her final admission. She raised her voice, hoping that Mrs. Cake was waiting outside of the door, listening.

“…that I’m sorry.” At this last word she cast a longing look at the gem that lay simply on the judge’s bench.

With that, she walked back to her assigned spot in the courtroom and allowed herself to be re-shackled, watching as everypony murmured upon what she had said before Oak Tenure used his gavel once more.

“Enough! Defense, do you rest your case?”

Her attorney gave her a hard sideways glance, as if he felt that her speech had been too forward, and then stood up. “Yes your honor, we do.”

“Very well. Jury, you have heard both sides of the case, and I would remind you that you are under oath to not discuss any of the case proceedings outside of this courtroom. I advise you to consider carefully all that you have heard throughout this trial, and I now dismiss you to the deliberation room, where you are to go over these proceedings until you reach a verdict on all counts.”

With a large shuffling of hooves, all the ponies of the jury stood up and made their way towards the designated chamber, looking at nothing but the wall as they made their way to the entrance. Twilight watched them go, knowing in her heart what the decision would be. With such strong evidence, what other choice did they have? She could only hope that her speech, taken on record, would show her to be something more than the heartless monster everypony thought her to be. Perhaps, someday, somepony would look back at the case and wonder if she was not, in fact, happy that she had done the whole thing. If maybe she had indeed harbored some regret, small as they might imagine it. Some day.

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With a click, the doors leading to the deliberation chamber opened, and everypony within the courtroom sat upright, staring at the jurors as they began to file in and take their seats. Twilight noticed that some of them cast angry glances at each other, and a few seemed very reluctant to sit next to each other, as if they had been in an intense argument. She wondered at that. One would think that the vote for her death would be unanimous. Perhaps, against all odds, there had been elements there during the deliberation that were unwilling to go that far?

After they had completed the appropriate procedures for welcoming the jury back into the courtroom, Oak Tenure cleared his throat and spoke to a member of the jury, a maroon pegasus. “Mister forecolt, has the jury reached a verdict?”

The forecolt stood up and looked straight at the judge, speaking steadily. “Yes your honor. As for count one, on the charge of mass slaughter of three thousand, five hundred and forty-eight citizens of Ponyville, Equestria, we the jury find Twilight Sparkle guilty . On count two, the fracturing of the Elements…”

Twilight let his voice drown out. It did not matter anymore. She looked further at the jury, wondering what each of them had said. Obviously, some had acted in her defense. But who? There was the businessman, but he looked to be at ease with his neighbors. The mare, perhaps, since she probably had foals of her own and would not want to make a mother go through the grief of losing a child like this, even after Mrs. Cake’s outburst. It wasn’t likely, but possible. Or maybe the well-aged stallion there at the end, probably content with his life and not wanting to deny anypony a chance at theirs. If that was the case, he was sorely mistaken. Even if she were not sentenced to death, her life would be one of misery, lived out in the most wretched of Equestria’s prisons.

The forecolt’s voice came back “…we the jury find Twilight Sparkle guilty.”

The judge nodded. “And what is your decided punishment?”

The forecolt looked once at his fellow jurors, before moving his gaze and fixing it on the wooden rail in front of him. “We the jury decide upon the death penalty for these crimes, your honor.”

The crowd murmured their agreement, although it was not as unanimous as it might have been days before.

Oak Tenure swallowed. “Your decision on the death penalty is noted. What manner of death is elected?” Under the Equestrian legal system, there were several ways in which a pony could be sentenced to death. They ranged from the lightest, tearing down any magical barriers that the subject had and literally stopping their brain activity, to the harshest, death by hanging, an archaic holdover from the very ancient times. Nopony had bothered to abolish any of the harsher options, however, since hanging and similar practices had not been used for over a millennium. The death sentence itself had not been given in over three hundred years. Everypony waited for the pronunciation.

With a deep breath, the jury forecolt spoke. “Your honor, we elect death by hanging, to occur no less than twenty-four hours from now.” Gasps rang out inside of the courtroom. They had all demanded death, and none would dare to violate the choosing of this particular option, but the use of such a draconian measure was unimaginable, even to those in the crowd who had studied history and knew how common hanging was back in the old times before harmony and even Discord. A few ponies found themselves, reluctantly, wondering whether this had been the right course of action after all.

Twilight, for her part, now knew exactly what had caused the jury to conflict with itself earlier.

Oak Tenure nodded slowly, shaken but unwilling to let it hamper him. “Very well. I will now remind the court that in a situation like this the Fifth Order of the Equestrian Princesses takes effect. All ponies who have been sentenced to execution must have their death sentence approved by a Royal Princess of Equestria, after the Princess has been duly notified and made aware of all proceedings. The Princess may, in light of the evidence, reject the death sentence and call a new trial for the pony being prosecuted. Princess Celestia?” He looked at the gem resting in front of him. “If you would, please?”

With a flash and a small crack, Princess Celestia appeared in front of the judge’s bench, eyes laying only on Twilight. Anypony who had been paying casual attention would have thought nothing remiss. Her mane flowed as always, her coat was its pristine alabaster color, and her pose held its usual elegant form. However, Twilight, and others who paid close enough attention, saw differently. They saw her eyes, bloodshot with clear bags underneath, pools of misery for any who stared into them. Her wings, usually clean and free of any imperfections in the feathers, had obviously not been preened in some time, feathers bent out of position and slightly dirty. And her crown, always straight, leaned to the side, and seemed slightly chipped, as if she had thrown it at something. Hard.

Celestia looked towards the judge. “Yes, your honor?”

Oak Tenure gestured to Twilight. “She stands before us accused and convicted of multiple crimes. The sentence elected via the jury is death by hanging. Have you had time to adequately review the evidence?”

Celestia looked at Twilight’s attorney, causing him to wilt a little in his seat. “Yes your honor.” She pointed to the gem that lay in front of Oak Tenure. “For the record of the court, I have used this viewing gem to observe the trial. I believe I have enough information to make a sound verdict.”

The judge nodded. “And what is your verdict, Princess Celestia?”

Celestia looked out over the crowd. Everypony waited to hear her decision. This was Twilight’s only chance at salvation. If Celestia refuted the death penalty now, an entirely new trial would have to be held again, with an entirely new jury and – hopefully – an entirely new attorney. If she rejected the death penalty, Twilight might still be able to get out of this alive. She might yet go on, although she wasn’t sure how good of an option that was.

Celestia then looked at Twilight. In an instant, countless emotions were communicated, as can only be done through the bond of a mother and daughter, a student and a mentor. Twilight understood everything that Celestia had undergone throughout the centuries, the actions she regretted, the feelings she harbored for all of her subjects. She felt Celestia’s deep remorse for all that had come to pass. And she felt her sorrow, deep and nigh everlasting, at what she had lost, and was about to lose.

Keeping her eyes locked with Twilight’s, and with a voice so controlled and emotionless that it seemed to be made of stone, Princess Celestia spoke. “I, Princess Celestia, former Diarch and now Monarch of Equestria, Alicorn of the Sun, approve the sentencing of Twilight Sparkle, daughter of Twilight Velvet and Night Light, to death by hanging. I approve this sentencing for the mass execution of three thousand, five hundred and forty-eight of my subjects. I approve this sentencing for the fracturing of the Elements of Harmony, one of the most powerful magical tools in this land. And I approve this sentencing for the murder of the other former Diarch of Equestria, Alicorn of the Night, my beloved sister, Princess Luna.”