As she trudged back into the courtroom behind her lawyer post-lunch, I couldn’t help but notice that the mare looked like hell.

Her cerise mane, knotted and greasy, was reminiscent of rat’s nest. The brilliant mulberry coat that she’d inherited from her father now radiated a sickly pink. Eyes bloodshot, ears splayed, gaze trained on the floor: my heart almost went out to her.

Almost.

To be fair, the mare, Berry Punch, had just lost her only daughter; that had to sting, at least a little bit. As a stallion of barely twenty-seven years, I couldn’t completely empathize, but I did have a younger brother once myself. I’d imagine that it was much the same, as terrible as it was to think about.

This was neither the place nor the time for empathy, though. Especially not when I was the one being accused of murdering her seven-year-old filly.

Fortunately for me, it was looking as though I’d be acquitted. The crime scene investigators had found her daughter’s lifeless body at the bottom of a motel pool in the wee hours of the morning. Beyond that, they had absolutely nothing. Zero witnesses had come forward, and no substantive evidence had been uncovered. At this point, it was as good as her word against mine.

Perhaps that was why she looked as though she hadn’t slept in years:

She was Ponyville’s town drunk; I was a nuclear physicist.

She’d had a foal without ever knowing the father’s name; I had recently been elected treasurer of the Canterlot Committee for Energy Conservation.

She’d left her daughter unsupervised at a motel swimming pool; I’d left work to return home and take care of my pregnant wife.

Dishonest though it may be, I perfectly fit the bill of “innocent victim of circumstance.” She, on the other hoof, looked as though she were trying to play the court.

With a sigh, I panned my gaze across the courtroom, silently gauging all the other ponies present. Princess Luna, who was presiding over the proceeding, shared a hushed, curt exchange with the guardspony to her left, followed by a feeble sigh of her own. The panel of jurors—a variegated conglomerate of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies—sat stark still, almost unbreathing. The prosecution’s lawyer, similarly to my own, sat there impatiently tapping her hooves; as far as she was concerned, the case was as good as closed.

Shifting uncomfortably in my seat, I glanced down at the notes in front of me. In three and a half days of investigation, not much had been covered… despite the fact that the case was rapidly approaching it’s close. The whole endeavor had been very disorganized, and understandably so; in a nation so peaceful as Equestria, it was extremely rare that a court case as serious as this cropped up. My own lawyer informed me that this was the nation’s first homicide case in over eighty-five years.

Luna’s voice cut through the courthouse like a knife through butter, jerking me from my stupor. “Prosecution, are you ready to provide your closing remarks?”

Berry Punch let out a particularly loud sob.

“…Ahem,” Luna continued. “The defense? What say you?”

My lawyer gestured to me and I nodded, rising to my hooves. “Your honor, if I may?”

After seeing her nod in affirmation, I began, “This mare and her late filly were already such a poor, helpless family before this catastrophe; they had more than enough problems to deal with. Why would someone be so cold as to deliberately make their life even more difficult?”

I figured it couldn’t hurt to play the sympathy card. Making the jury think that I felt bad for this mare despite her supposedly groundless assertions would paint me as sincere, which couldn’t hurt my chances.

“Personally,” I continued, “I don’t believe anypony is capable of such evil. Especially in a nation so pure and unified as Equestria.”

Upon seeing I was finished, Luna nodded once more and turned to the jury. “I do believe this concludes the proceedings.” There was a tinge of uncertainty in her voice. She turned to her aide for confirmation, who then shot her back a reassuring smile.

After a moment, the foremare clambered to her hooves, and the rest of the jury followed suit. Slowly, they trotted out into the hall, headed off to some conference room in heaven knows were.

I glanced over at Berry Punch. Between trying to wipe away her black mascara stains, she glared at me and hissed. I shot her a smirk in response.

It was only a matter of minutes before the jury re-entered the courtroom. I personally decided to take that as a good sign. The crowd, however, broke out into whispers, nervous utterances passed about in anticipation of the decision.

Gavel met oakwood, and the hushed murmuring ceased. A small echo bounced about the cavernous room before the pure, unadulterated emptiness took hold. Gently, Luna motioned for the foremare to speak.

She took a deep breath and cleared her throat. Then: “…The jury finds Mr. Baryon to be innocent of all charges.”

Immediately, my lawyer gave me a hearty slap on the back, pulling my attention away from the quiet cheers echoing from somewhere behind me. “Congrats, my boy! Looks like you’re home free.”

“All thanks to you, of course!” I fired back.

He waved his hoof dismissively. “Gah, it was nothing, really.” With a wink, he added, “If anything, I should be thanking you for handing me such an easy case.”

We shared a burst of laughter, and I wiped a stray tear from my eye. Once our laughter died down, a guardspony trotted over to escort us back to the outside world. We fell in step behind him, the three of us strolling toward the exit of the courtroom.

I shot Berry a crimson smile as I strutted by.

…

…

…Her daughter had been my third victim.

What could I say? It was just far too simple to single out the easy targets. After all, who would believe a deadbeat drunk like her over someone charming and charismatic like me?