A sky chariot flew through the brisk morning air carrying two passengers, one Human and one Kavim. Artex had told the Apple family that he was going to be unavailable to work for at least a couple of days as the very first trial of New Humansville was arranged. The Apple family had been completely understanding and sent their best hopes with their only Human family member.

Due to the official capacity with which he was going to be acting, Artex had decided to wear his formal robe for the trial. He and Razor both knew the trial wouldn't be finished in a single day and they were well prepared for it to continue for a week or more. Despite the gravity of their reason for heading to New Humansville, Razor was excited. She had only been to the town one other time and that was for the funeral and signing of The Unity Pact. She dearly wanted to see how Humans at large interacted with each other. Their culture was so different and she would be lying to herself if she said the thought of watching them among themselves didn't titillate her senses.

Razor and Artex stood side by side in the small sky chariot both enjoying the morning's breeze. The sky was clear and they had already passed Canterlot. Razor glanced up at her companion and frowned internally, 'He's so serious. He needs to smile more.' she halted that thought with a vengeance, 'Oh Razor you idiot, of course he's upset! One of his people is going to be on trial and he has to decide their fate. The weight of the responsibility must be enormous for him.' If Artex noticed Razor's concern, he gave no sign. He just continued staring straight ahead into the sunrise.

The sky chariot landed in the Town Square a few minutes later and Razor and Artex disembarked. As soon as they stepped off the chariot took off again to land on the roof of City Hall. It and the two Guards were to wait for the two Magistrates to contact them once the trial was over. The two Pegasus Guards had lucked out. Their orders stated that while they waited for the Magistrates to finish with the trial, they were permitted to do as they pleased so long as they stayed within the confines of the field surrounding New Humansville. The two Guards unhitched themselves from the sky chariot and decided to explore the unfamiliar town and its strange inhabitants.

Down below, Artex and Razor were already talking with C.W.G. Captain Joyner,
"So you're saying the charges are assault on two Officers, Resisting Arrest, Attempted Murder of two Officers, and Illegal Practice Of Magic." Artex rubbed at his eyes, "Why couldn't it have been something simple like Public Urination or Indecent Exposure? Hell I'd take Unlawful Carnal Knowledge Of Another to THIS!" he rubbed the bridge of his nose, "Jesus, when it rains it pours I guess."

Captain Joyner crossed his arms,
"So who are the Magistrates? I heard you got to chose."

"Razor Wit, myself, and Mario Le Blanch." Artex said evenly.

Mike nodded his head thoughtfully,
"That's not a bad choice. Any one of the regular residents would have already formed opinions and might cave to the social pressure of outspoken public opinion. Mario doesn't care what anybody thinks of him. He tried to hide Kyle's murder, but when we asked him directly if he did it he came clean immediately. I'll be honest Mario makes me really uneasy, but I honestly can't think of any alternatives except Ashley and Beacon. They don't care what others think, but I have no idea how they would handle the choice."

"Yeah," Artex agreed, "They were on the list of possibilities, and if I can't get in touch with Mario I'll be asking Ashley next."

"Speaking of which, how DO you plan on contacting Mario?" Mike asked.

Artex waved his right hand dismissively,
"I'm going to walk around the perimeter of New Humansville tonight calling his name. Other than that, I have no ideas. I think he'll respond though. Even if he says 'no' the novelty of somebody wanting to find him should draw him out."

Mike shrugged,
"Hey it's your show. I'm not legally allowed to discuss anything more with you since one of my Officers is the Prosecutor."

Artex' eye rows knit together,
"And who is the Defense?"

Mike smiled,
"Ready for a shock?"

Artex sighed and rolled his eyes,
"Oh GOD what now?"

"I'm here." said a mare's voice from behind Artex, "Could one of you please direct me to the local head of the Civil Guard?"

Artex, Razor, and Captain Joyner all turned around to find a single Unicorn mare wearing a hooded black cloak behind them. The cloak obscured nearly all of her body, only the tips of her hooves could be seen, she was concealed from head to tail. The hood was pulled up covering her face so that only the tip of her teal muzzle could be seen. She wore a pair of saddlebags but they bore no mark to indicate who she was.

Joyner crossed his arms,
"And you are?"

"I am a Rectifier. I have been ordered by my superiors to come here and monitor the trial. We do not normally get involved with any but the most severe cases. I am not here to try to supersede anypony's authority, I was told, rather explicitly, that opposed to my normal work, I am merely an adviser here and have only the authority provided to me by the Captain of the Guard." the mare explained.

"The guard in this town are called the C.W.G. or Community Welfare Guardians. I'm Mike Joyner, C.W.G. Captain of New Humansville and you are...?"

"I am not allowed to divulge my name publicly. It is a policy of the Rectifiers. I apologize if that isn't what you wanted to hear, but do I have my orders from my own Captain." the mare stated, "The reason for this is so we may go about our business without fear of being recognized, as some might attempt to sway our judgement in regard to cases."

"So what exactly do you do?" Mike asked.

"We ensure that in all cases the accused, if convicted, is not dealt with too harshly or too leniently, or to enact certain severe punishments or services. In cases of murder, thankfully rare that they are, the Rectifier copies the victim's memories then implants them into the perpetrator, edited for the sake of the victim's family. The murderer is subject to every memory of their victim up to and including their own death and everything they felt as they died. In most cases the murderer's guilt is powerful enough to end them, in those rare cases where the murderer lives, they are free to go. Not a single Pony dealt with in this way has ever committed a similar crime. Rectifiers are some of the only Ponies allowed to use Mind magic and we do so only very rarely. As yet, I have only had to become involved in two cases. As I already stated, my power here is limited to what you say I have Captain, otherwise I am an adviser and nothing more." the mare knelt and bowed her head.

Artex looked to Mike,
"Your show."

Mike opened his mouth to speak just as an ear piercing scream sounded from the North field. Captain Joyner moved like greased lightning and was halfway across the Town Square before Artex, Razor, or the Rectifier could move. The emissary team took off after the captain and the Rectifier brought up the rear. Due to Rainbow Dash's hard training, Artex actually caught up to Mike before they reached the orange grove around New Humansville. They sped through the trees with other Humans and Ponies joining them. They halted at the edge of the orchard and looked outward.

The Humans and Ponies working in the fields were gathered close to the orchard and all looking and pointing toward the treeline in the distance. The Humans were pointing, but the Ponies seemed to be unable to see what it was that had startled their bipedal counterparts. Artex followed the pointing fingers and squinted his eyes. It took him a few moments to see it but when he did he bit his lower lip.

"What is that?" Joyner asked.

Artex sighed and started walking out toward the lone figure standing just outside the treeline waiting patiently. Joyner, Razor, and the Rectifier followed him with Darryl, and Eduardo emerged from the crowd and following behind a moment later. As he crossed the field, Artex ran over different scenarios in his mind and began planning. He had hoped it would happen after the Unity Pact Was made public, but the fact that it was apparently happening BEFORE the public announcement puzzled him. From a distance the figure looked to be waiting stoically at the edge of the treeline, but up close he could tell it was shaking violently.

The Emissary slowed his run to a jog and then to a walk and eventually stopped roughly five fathoms from the solitary figure. Joyner, Razor, the Rectifier and Darryl and Eduardo joined him after a few moments.

Artex took in a deep, calming breath,
"I am Artex Rias," he spoke in Velensovth, "Emissary of Human affairs. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?"

Razor and the Rectifier both looked at Artex as if he were completely insane,
"Artex!" Razor hissed quietly, "What are you doing? Do you know what that is!?"

Artex nodded his head subtly,
"I do."

The small figure took half a step back before it caught itself,
"We... we have met before." it said quietly.

Artex raised his left eyebrow,
"Alana?"

The undisguised Changeling nodded,
"Yes... I..." she shot a worried look at Razor and the Rectifier, "I... made it look like I left that day. With so many new Ponies around, none would question another that they didn't know and assume somepony else knew. I heard everything that happened at the meeting..."

She was interrupted by Darryl,
"Um question, why are we standing around talking to one of the things that was disguised as the hot redhead Bobby had around him?"

Artex' head snapped around to his old friend,
"You knew?" he asked, "How?"

Darryl tapped his head,
"Even on the meds I could still tell something was off about that one. Once Bobby told us it wasn't Human or even a Pony, I already knew." Darryl crossed his arms sourly, "My questions remains unanswered, why are we here talking to a shapeshifter that nobody believed me or Kaneesha about?"

"That," the Rectifier said calmly, "Is a Changeling. They attacked Canterlot a few years ago. Their Queen imprisoned one of our Princesses, Cadence, and planned to let her starve to death while the Queen paraded around and nearly married the Princess' fiance, Shining Armor, while in the disguise of Princess Cadence. During the invasion, their Queen, using the power of Shining Armor's love for Cadence, bested Princess Celestia and cocooned her while the other Changelings went about subduing the civilians for food. Were it not for a thin victory that day, every single Pony in all of Equestria, every stallion, mare, and foal would be cocooned up to serve as food for these creatures, them." her posture was neutral and calm, speaking almost as if she were detached, it was as creepy as any of the Humans had ever seen in a Pony.

Artex interrupted her,
"Rectifier that's enough..."

"My family was there." the Rectifier said simply, "All of them." she took a step forward, "I almost lost everything that day." she turned her eyes to Artex, "Why are we talking to this Changeling?"

Artex rubbed his eyes,
"Because I specifically designed The Unity Pact to cover them and any other race that wanted to live here, so long as they chose to do so peacefully."

Alana lowered her head and stepped toward the Rectifier, radiating hostility,
"Do you think we wanted to invade?" she asked, "Do you think we wanted to leave our hive, fly ourselves to exhaustion, and enter a land where the residents have their heads too far up their own plots to care about other nations? We were starving. Look at me." she said gesturing to herself, "I mean really look at me. I'm nothing but skin and bones! You're saying you almost lost your family that day well I DID!" Alana screamed, "Nearly every one of us who were thrown from Canterlot all but exploded! I saw my parents and my sisters swell up, bloated beyond belief, as their skin split open! Have you ever heard the screams of twenty thousand as their bodies ripped open, as their organs swelled and burst!? My mother shielded me with her own body to give me a chance!" she wiped her muzzle and continued, "You think you have it so bad? I've seen my hive-mates whither and die from malnutrition. The Queen gave us a glimmer of hope and we took it. Were you in our position, you would too! Yes we invaded, but we didn't kill anypony. It wouldn't have made any sense to do so. Besides if we had cocooned everypony in two generations the invasion would have been pointless because all of you would have died of old age. Even beyond that, our Queen could have killed Celestia but did she? No. Why? Because we have no idea how to raise and lower the sun and moon and without those, even we would die. Invade and capture first, show our might. Once we could not be ignored, we bargain with the rest of Equestria for the release of our hostages. Trade love for freedom. It was crooked, but it was better than nothing." she turned to Darryl, "You saw through my disguise. How much did I eat while I was here?"

Darryl snapped his answer right off,
"Nothing. The whole time you were here you didn't eat a thing."

"Yet we eat solid food just like you do. Do you know why I didn't eat?" she asked, "The food was too rich. I had to slowly gain my strength back I nibbled here and there, enough not to rouse suspicion. I used up the last of my magic just forming the disguise, but it worked. Every one of these tall creatures who saw me was concerned and showed me love and kindness. It gave me just enough strength to carry on. I attached myself to the one with the most love and concern for others." she lowered her head, "I used him so I could survive, but what choice did I have? Once I was found out the Princess was right there. I expected her to kill me. According to our Queen it was in line with what we were told, but she didn't kill me. She let me go." Alana raised her head, "THAT is what brought me back. I listened to the meeting and the laws and I saw hope. My Queen may or may not have lied to us, but what I was told and what I saw and experienced were very different things. I ran and Celestia didn't stop me, so I returned. I left after the meeting to think out here and I came to a decision. I cannot get back to my hive, I am far too weak. Here I have a chance." she turned her eyes to Artex, "When you made the Unity Pact I saw it for what it was. It was an invitation, not just for your kind or Ponies, but for every race. You saw what happened with me, you knew and you reached out and now it is law."

Alana took a deep shuddering breath to steel her nerves, standing tall for the first time,
"The invitation was made," she looked straight into Artex' eyes, "And I accept."

Like the man said, 'When it rains, it pours.'

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