The Judge slammed his gavel. "This court sees no reason to further prolong the trial." he said. "Nor is there any need for more time to decide the case against the defendant. This case is extremely clear. I see no room for misinterpretation of the facts. This court finds the defendant, Ms. Pinkamena Diane Pie..."

Pinkie Pie, now back to her usual colorful self, sighed and slammed her face on the table. Even though she had no memories of anything everypony claimed that she did, - her last memory being of her joining the very first Twisted Metal alongside her friends - their testimonies were enough to convince even herself that she was beyond salvation. The guilty veredict and, most likely, death penalty, waited for her.

"Just throw the book at me and get this over with..." she mumbled.

"HOLD IT!"

Pinkie quickly raised her head. Her defense attorney, a grey young mare, was standing on her hind legs and pointing her hoof at the Judge.

"Your Honor, I cannot allow you to pass judgement when there is clearly one big question left unanswered!" she said.

"A question left unanswered?" the Judge asked. "And what is it?"

She slammed her hooves on the table. "What happened to the real culprit of this case?"

"OBJECTION!" this time it was the prosecutor, a middle-aged dark green stallion, who shouted with his high-pitched voice. "What kind of question is this?" he asked. "It's very clear that Ms. Pie is the culprit, why else would she be the defendant of this trial?"

"OBJECTION! Remember the testimony of our previous witness? She claimed that 'Pinkie wasn't acting like herself since Twisted Metal started, it was like somepony else had taken over her body'!"

"So what? Many ponies show their true colors when the circumstance is just right."

She shook her head. "But not this witness. There is a mountain of evidence that proves she was being manipulated!"

"Oh, yeah? Then why don't you show the court this 'mountain'?"

She smiled. "Not only we have hundreds of witnesses, but the very Princess of the Crystal Empire claimed that she 'felt a dark presence approaching her castle' and that when she 'looked from her balcony, she saw a dark cloud of magic leave the arena and vanish when approaching the Empire', is that correct?"

"This doesn't prove that--"

"Not so fast, Mr. Prosecutor! I have another piece of evidence, one that a pony like you would call 'conclusive'!"

"Wh-What?!"

"TAKE THAT! I have here a Memory Crystal, the one discarded by yourself as 'just another piece of the damaged crime scene'."

"And what does that do?" the Judge asked. "Does it help a pony regain lost memories?"

"Well, not exactly, Your Honor. Why don't you explain to us, Mr. Prosecutor?"

"V-Very well." the prosecutor adjusted his glasses. "A Memory Crystal is a magic artifact natural from the surroundings of the Crystal Empire. It is triggered by direct contact with magic, but it can be triggered by accident when a very powerful spell is cast near it and, once activated, it 'records' the surrounding area. The duration of the recording is very random, and the timespan varies from seconds to hours."

"Why wasn't this piece of evidence submitted to court earlier?" the Judge asked.

"Because, as I said before, it was discarded as trash." the defense attorney explained. "Its true nature was discovered recently, in the last recess."

The Judge nodded. "Very well. I shall accept this evidence in the Court Record. Now, how do we 'play' this Memory Crystal?"

"We just have to charge it with magic. The process is completely harmless!"

"Bailiff!" the Judge called. The bailiff, an unicorn Royal Guard, saluted him and proceeded to charge the crystal. After a couple of seconds, the Memory Crystal started to glow an extremely bright white light.

Discord snapped his fingers and disappeared one fraction of second before Maud could plunge a switchblade in his stomach.

"I thought you weren't going to try to kill me!" Discord said, sounding indignant.

"I just wanted to be sure you were as good as I perceived." she placed the switchblade back into the inner pocket of her jacket. "I wasn't wrong."

"Maud!" Limestone called. Maud approached her three sisters.

Pinkamena's whole body was shaking. She tried to free herself, but her sisters held her tightly in place. This wasn't enough to hold her in place, though; Pinkamena used all of her strenght to push Marble and Limestone away and ran. She didn't got far, because her legs ceased to respond after a few seconds and she fell on the ground. She tried to crawl away, but started to cough really hard; with every cough, a small cloud of black smoke was expelled from her body. After several coughs, she fell on her side with her mouth hanging open, smoke still coming out of her mouth. The small clouds marged into a single and giant cloud with giant green and red eyes.

"NO!" the cloud said. "I SHALL NOT BE DEFEATED HERE! NOT SO EASILY!" King Sombra, now only a giant cloud of smoke, flew toward the Crystal Empire.

Limestone and Marble dragged the barely conscious Pinkie Pie to where Maud was standing and placed her down. Maud sat on the ground with Pinkamena's head on her lap, while she caressed her sister's mane. Soon enough, the pink pony's eyes slowly opened.

"M... Maud?" she called. "What... What hap-- Ow!"

"Don't move, Pinkie." Maud said, still stroking her mane. "Everything will be fine now. Everything will be fine!"

Soon after that, Soarin' and Spitfire landed in front of the sisters.

"Pinkamena Diane Pie, you're under arrest!" the yellow mare said.

The court was so silent that if somepony dropped a pin, even the Judge, with his hearing damaged due to old age, would be able to hear. The prosecutor and the Judge were both shocked. The defense attorney, who had her forelegs crossed, smiled.

"Well, Your Honor? Is this proof enough? My client was but a puppet this whole time, her actions were not her own. The true culprit of all the crimes commited - or, should I say not commited - by her..." she slammed her hooves on the table. "...Were in reality commited by that creature!"

The prosecutor flinched as if he had seen a ghost, then screamed: "N-NOOOOOOOO!"

Everypony in court was either shocked or confused by such unexpected turnabout. All their gazes then switched to the Judge, who had his eyes closed, pondering his decision.

"Hmm..." he said with a slight nod. "Does the prosecution wishes to raise an objection?"

"I-- I-I mean, th-the prosecution... I object to... To..." he said while sweating bullets.

"And do you have evidence to back up your ojection, Mr. Prosecutor?" the mare asked.

"N-N-No, but--"

She slammed her hooves on the table. "Then it's settled, Your Honor. My client is clearly innocent!"

He nodded. "Well, since the prosecution can no longer prove the guilt of the defendant after this last piece of evidence was presented..." he slammed his gavel once again. "I believe I am ready to pass judgement and bring this trial to an end. The court finds the defendant, Pinkamena Diane Pie..."

A rain of confetti fell in the courtoom.

"Whew, that was close..." the defense attorney said while sitting on the couch, feeling completely beat. "I am sorry if I made you almost lose hope so many times, Pinkie Pie, but this was just my third trial, so I'm still a little wet behind the ears."

"It's ok, it's ok." Pinkie Pie said while sitting beside her. "I really appreciate what you did for me, even though I clearly didn't deserved it... I still think I did all of those awful things, and this makes me feel so bad..."

"Pinkie..." she said. "I can't really explain to you, - you probably wouldn't believe me, anyway - but I have a... special ability. And I don't use it very much, only when there is absolutely no other option, but it allows me to know if somepony is hiding deep secrets from me. And I can tell that you aren't hiding anything, Pinkie. I believe you are innocent!"

"Thank you so much, but..." she looked at the door that lead to the corridor and, eventually, outside. "I can't say all of my friends think the same way as you do. Earning back their trust may be complicated!"

Once outside the building, Pinkie Pie noticed a small crowd of ponies waiting for her outside, each with a different expression on their faces:

Maud, Limestone and Marble - who were no longer wearing their clothes and masks - had tiny, almost imperceptible smiles on their faces.

Twilight Sparkle, who was flanked by Captain Shining Armor and Advisor Trixie, had glasses on and was reading some documents regarding the trial and only noticed Pinkie Pie was there when she was nudged by Trixie. She placed the documents and the glasses back in her saddlebag and smiled.

Rainbow Dash sitting on the ground with her forelegs crossed, glaring at the pink mare.

Rarity was hiding behind the cyan pegasus, still a little afraid of her earth pony friend - after all, she was the one who caused her death.

Applejack, Big Macintosh and Fluttershy were looking at everything but the former defendant, trying their best to not make eye contact.

Mr. and Mrs. Cake were the first to approach her.

"Are... Are you okay... Pinkie Pie?" Mrs. Cake asked.

Her response was a very tight hug. Cup Cake was startled and yelped. Carrot Cake was about to do something to protect his wife from Pinkie Pie's assault, but relaxed when saw what was truly happening.

"I was so scared, Mrs. Cake!" she said between sobs. "So, so, very scared. Forgive me for everything I did! I didn't meant to do any of that!"

Mrs. Cake simply hugged her back. Twilight Sparkle approached them.

"Please, don't send me back to that dark, cold, empty cell! I beg you, Twilight, please, don't do it!"

"Don't worry, Pinkie Pie." she said. "I'll make sure all charges against you willnbe cleared by the end of the week. It won't be hard, given the outcome of the trial and all that evidence collected. You're off the hook!"

She sighed in relief, then looked at her other friends. Applejack, Fluttershy and Big Macintosh were slowly approaching and Rarity was no longer hiding behind Rainbow Dash, who was now the one looking away.

"I..." she said. "I'm sorry I sent you to the nuthouse, Pinkie." she said.

"It's okay, Dashie!" she replied. "You were doing what you thought was right! And it's not like I remember the time I spent there, anyway."

Rainbow Dash tackle-hugged her friend, who was surprised, but soon hugged her back. Twilight was the next to join the group hug, folowed by Fluttershy, Applejack and finally Rarity. Not long after that, Maud pulled her sister away from the group hug between friends and into a group hug between siblings.

"Princess Twilight is an amateur and a fool." the red unicorn mare, Scorpio, said while slamming her hoof on the table. "How can she just forgive one of Equestria's most wanted criminals just like that? That trial was a farce! A sham!"

"She could have at least consulted us first." Cancer, a green earth pony stallion, said. "I mean, it wouldn't hurt. We're here for a reason, are we not?"

"You think she would take the chance?" Aquarius, the purple pegasus mare, asked. "That mare is not only an Element of Harmony, but one of Princess Twilight's closest friends. If the veredict wasn't 'not guilty', it wouldn't surprise me if she pulled a few strings to bail her out!"

"I blame that little pet of hers." Pisces, the blue seapony mare, said. "Ever since she became the 'Royal Adviser' or whatever the hay she is, she is practically the only pony allowed near her by that stupid captain, and the only pony Princess Twilight pays any attention to. Fifty bits that she's been manipulating everything from behind the scenes!"

"Now, now, those are not very nice things to say about your ruler behind her back, are they?"

"Who's there?" Taurus, the big, brown earth pony asked. "Taurus will smash you for eavesdropping!"

"Who else but little old me?" a flash of light later and Discord was standing on top of the round table, smirking.

"Y-You..." Aries said. "Sagittarius!"

In less than a second, Sagittarius, a light brown earth pony mare, grabbed her bow and shot an arrow at Discord, who grabbed it in midair, turned it into licorice and shoved it into the archer mare's mouth.

"I'm just here to talk so I would appreciate very much if you did not attacked me!"

"You are current Equestria's most wanted criminal!" Aquarius said. "We don't have to listen to you."

Discrd chuckled. "Then I guess I'll just have to show you."

He snapped his fingers and all the thirteen living creatures inside that room were gone.

Author's Notes:

So? Did you liked my reference/parody? Did you? Did you? Did you?!
Well, only one chapter left and we can wrap things up around here. Stay tuned!

And a little trivia here: in this fanfic, the Pies are descendants of Crystal Ponies who escaped the Crystal Empire 1000 years ago. That's why they work on a rock farm, it was the family business to deal with rocks, gems and other stuff like that. It is also why King Sombra managed to manipulate her so easily without the help of enchanted artifacts, like King Sombra's Door Of Nightmares or whatever that's called.

Also, this: