Equestria, Trottingham, 03-14-05, 9:22 A.M. A.N.M. (After Nightmare Moon)

The next morning saw Twilight and Rainbow Dash making their way towards the prison that housed Clever Marigold.

The prison itself was only one of several; Trottingham was fortunate in that there was a much larger detachment of Guards-ponies from the three primary branches of the PPP. As such, there were far more than enough to police its streets, which led to a much higher number of arrests.

This prison was actually a holding and processing center attached to the Guard barracks. This was to ensure that high profile detainees wouldn’t be able to escape easily. There had been numerous attempts in the past; fortunately, even those that had successfully broke out of their cells were stopped before they could leave the complex.

It came to no pony’s surprise- though they acted as it did -when a corporal ran up to both Rainbow Dash and Twilight. “Princess, I have distressing news; it seems as if Corporal Clever Marigold has somehow escaped her cell.”

Twilight did an excellent job of acting both shocked and concerned, Rainbow noted cynically. “Are you certain she’s done so?” she asked the pegasus.

Corporal Silent Aegis nodded. “The watch crystals saw her open her cell, then move a short distance away before teleporting away. The runes that record such traces were somehow disabled, as were those that prevent teleportation in the first place.”

As they entered the barracks, Twilight scanned all of the runes, as well as the watch crystals. To her sullen satisfaction, all of them had been subverted with a duplicated mana wavelength, one that she didn’t recognize. The duplication spell was familiar, however; it was a version of one she had created as a class project a few years back. Twilight snorted.

“Corporal, run ahead and tell your Commander that the recording crystals have been tampered with, and not by Corporal Marigold. I have reason to believe that she hasn’t even left the building since she was escorted there last evening.”

The corporal nodded, then galloped off to expedite her orders. Rainbow Dash looked at her friend, amusement dancing in her eyes. “Nice bit of acting there Twi.” She frowned. “I don’t know what his game is; how does he expect to trick you of all ponies? You were personally trained by Princess Celestia.”

Twilight sighed. “Most of what I received is available to any student of Celestia’s School.” She scowled, remembering those days. “Celestia did have a lot that she taught me; however, her lessons seldom delved into spell theory or practice. I had to learn most of that on my own.”

Rainbow shrugged her withers at that. “Little more than I expected; she likely didn’t have the time to teach you much more than that.”

Twilight nodded at that as they entered Prison Processing. Both ponies found not only Centurion Roulette waiting for them, but the local D.A. as well. It took everything both Twilight and Rainbow Dash had to act as if they weren’t aware of particulars.

For Twilight, her nature both as the Princess of Friendship and an alicorn made it doubly hard to be in the presence of the traitorous pony. For Rainbow Dash, her changing nature made it even more difficult to keep from administering the swift justice due to him.

Twilight had had both time and training in learning how to suppress her natural alicorn instincts. Many of the lessons in meditation that Celestia had given her over the years actually applied far more to pegacorns and alicorns.

Rainbow Dash, however, had little of that. It was only her military training that prevented her from killing the D.A. when he first killed his associate. Her nature was fast becoming that of a pegacorn; already, her instincts were more pegacorn than they were pegasus.

By their nature, pegacorns exemplified the characteristics that most ponies did. However, the sense of loyalty they had was doubly compounded by their dedication to justice. In the past, those that had done something that went counter to everything ponies stood for often fell under the hoof of an avenging pegacorn. It made them feared in ancient times, especially to criminalistic ponies.

Rainbow’s inner sense of justice had already deemed this pony guilty; while he had killed another criminal pony in front of her, this only compounded the fact that he already had several other deaths to his name. Added to that was the fact that he had betrayed the other ponies’ loyalties- such as they were -with such an unprovoked attack.

All of these things made it very hard for Rainbow to keep her temper in check. It also made her next actions completely understandable.

“Centurion, counsellor. I assume you got my message?” Twilight asked them as she and Rainbow Dash approached the two stallions.

“Yes, we did; unfortunately, I cannot take you at your word Princess Twilight. Clever Marigold is a companion of yours; as such, I believe any statement you make or evidence you show to me is biased.”

The corporal from earlier approached and handed a folder to Roulette. “Well, counsellor, it seems as though you’ve just shoved your hoof in your muzzle again.” He waved the folder. “I have here confirmation from our resident thaumaturgical expert, a pony trained at The University of Science and Thaumaturgy in Manehattan and picked for this position by the Diarchy, that what the Princess discovered was true. Furthermore, a First Class cloaking and obfuscation field has been detected surrounding Clever Marigold’s cell. One that is external, and bears the same signature of the other magics detected.”

Roulette pulled a crystal from the pouch that the pegasus corporal handed to him. He smirked as he used his mana to examine it. “And here is the record from the shielded recording crystals I ordered to be installed after you left last evening, on Princess Twilight’s suggestion.” He trotted over to the crystal reader at one of the nearby processing booths. The unicorn frowned; he had been unaware of that development.

Plugging it in, he keyed in the correct decryption sequence. They all watched the image that appeared above.

A unicorn stallion came from the visitor’s center. His tag showed him to be a custodian; however, anti-glamour charms on the crystal showed him to be a wanted thief and con pony. He cast several high-level spells; though the image became fuzzy briefly, the shield charms prevented the full disruption of the image.

The stallion walked over to where Marigold was sleeping. He rapped on her bars. The mare woke up and glared at him. He tossed a package at her. She stomped on it when it landed on the floor between her hooves. A flash showed the package disintegrating. The stallion shrugged before casting the cloaking field, which was high-caliber enough to block the crystal. One could see a bubble that fast dissipated, before showing a clear image once more.

The D.A. scowled as Roulette shut the image viewer off. “It seems as though this is yet more evidence of what Princess Twilight had already suspected; somepony or ponies is trying to frame Corporal Marigold for crimes she did not commit.”

“We’ve already conclusively proven that she was several hundred miles away in Ponyville when the first two murders were committed. As to the third, all witness statements have been found as false. Two of the witnesses were to have been found to have taken bribes for their testimony; the third- and most damning -has since remembered what she really saw, as it was discovered that she had been a victim of a vision-altering charm.”

“Use of such charms are completely illegal due to severe side-effects. Fortunately for her, the ones that she’s experienced are easily treatable.” Twilight frowned as she continued. “So, all that remains is to clear her paperwork, and Marigold will be free to go.”

“I think the Justice in charge of this jurisdiction is to make that judgement call, your highness,” the lawyer sneered.

“You’re all looking at her; I’m now acting Justice as the prior Justice was arrested for gross ethics violations.” Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Roulette all smirked at the D.A.’s shocked expression; they all knew it was an act. “Fraud, receipt of bribes, withholding evidence, witness tampering, jury tampering-- the list goes on. She’s awaiting deportation to Fort Last Hope as we speak, as much of that resulted in the incarceration of several innocent individuals.”

The D.A. scowled. “I protest; you can’t possibly take over! You’re biased!” The stallion continued to bluster as they all made their way to Marigold’s cell.

“Protest all you want; as soon as Marigold is released, we’ll be discussing your actions last evening.” Twilight said as they entered the holding cells. The lawyer frowned; there was no possible way they had anypony following him; he would have been alerted otherwise. He smirked inwardly; even though his second back-up plan to frame Clever Marigold had failed, it all played right into his main plan.

Twilight levered her horn at the empty cell that was supposed to house Clever Marigold. She cast her disrupting charms, frowning as she did so. There was a curious number of unusual wavelengths in the spell; while none of them were able to disrupt the charm bubble, none were necessary. So focused was she that Twilight didn’t notice the slight tightening of the muscles alongside the lawyer’s neck. Rainbow Dash did, as she had been keeping an unobtrusive eye on the treacherous pony.

As the charm bubble popped, the wavelengths that would have otherwise done nothing surrounded Twilight. She gasped as she felt the unicorn polycast a series of spells. One was a shield spell; the other two were concussive blasts, one targeting Rainbow Dash, the other Roulette.

The assassin levered a sharpened shard from inside Marigold’s cell, flinging it to penetrate the forehead of the prone Nocturne. A blast of sharp wind shattered the shard. He growled as he levitated several more from within the cell.

Rainbow Dash had had enough. Launching herself forward, she spun in a corkscrew manner, using her innate pegasus magic to blast every shard apart. She flipped over the back of the unicorn and brought all four hooves down on his back.

The pony collapsed, though he was far from helpless. He didn’t realize that he was finished; Rainbow wasn’t done. Quicker than thought, Rainbow used her skill in the Iron Wing discipline against him.

Two strikes were all it took. The first one severed his horn off, right at the base. The second cracked his neck, breaking all of his vertebrae and severing his spinal column. The pony was dead even before his horn hit the floor, blood pooling from his shocked muzzle.

Marigold looked at the pegasus with shock and no little admiration; never before had she seen such a display of skill. She walked over to where her superior was still prone. She helped him up to his hooves, dusting him off.

Rainbow looked over to where Twilight was still behind a shield of some kind. The alicorn’s horn was glowing a bright purple; her muzzle bore an angry expression Rainbow had seldom seen. “Everypony, stay right where you are; I only have one chance to get this right.”

Twilight’s horn grew ever brighter. Energy began to form around her in a shield; simultaneously, a similar shield formed around the outside of the barrier she was trapped under.

Once both had formed, Twilight summoned a ring of purple flames around herself. Rainbow frowned a bit; she’d seen the changeling queen that acted as an ambassador use a similar spell.

Twilight disappeared into the portal that opened up underneath her. Another ring of purple flame appeared behind them; almost immediately, Twilight appeared from it.

Before anypony was able to move, Twilight cast a double barrier spell around them. Each one of them were surrounded by an individual spell, with a larger dome around the group. Subconsciously mirroring her friend, Rainbow Dash cast a similar spell using her growing pegacorn mana.

Levering her horn at the trapped barrier, Twilight pierced it with a bolt of bright bolt of orange-colored mana. The barrier dissipated with a loud CLAP; flaming wavelengths flowed between the two sealing barriers.

Twilight grunted as she cast more of her power into all of the sealing barriers. Subconsciously, Rainbow Dash mirrored her casts, causing Twilight to tap into her barrier with her alicorn mana.

It was barely in time as the first two barriers collapsed under the onslaught of energies from the destructive barrier. Both Rainbow Dash and Twilight gritted their teeth and muzzles under the effort the wave put on the outside barrier.

After a tense thirty seconds of this, the last wave went out as quickly as it came up. Twilight dropped all of her barriers and slumped to the floor. Rainbow sat down abruptly as well; she was now fully aware that she had somehow cast a high level unicorn spell with her pegacorn mana with no training.

Clever Marigold had used the past couple of minutes constructively. Using the unlocking key that was in Roulette’s pocket, she had removed the locking limiter from around her horn. She then levitated a bottle of water that he had in there to his lips. “Come on, you stubborn foal, get up already!” The only response Roulette gave was a grunt as the water went down his throat.

It took several minutes before he was aware enough to speak. “Damnation! That concussive spell was designed to work against my very nature! Where in Tartarus did he learn such a spell?! Spells like that were only at the level of theories the last time I checked!”

“Up until a few months ago Commander; I’ve since been able to make several working prototypes,” Twilight said as she got to her hooves. “However, they were only supposed to be taught to my Dusk Guard, and only used as a last resort. When we get back to Canterlot, I’m going to have words with the Archmage! I told her my research books needed to be kept under lock and key!” Twilight stomped her hoof in aggravation.

Roulette shook the last of the spell’s effects away. He trotted over to where the assassin’s body lay. He stared in shock at the blackened horn on the ground, and the darker red of the blood that had pooled from the stallion’s mouth. “I was about to say that you went a little overboard, Miss Dash, in saving my life. I stand corrected.: He bowed to the pegasus, who blushed slightly.

“I would have said the same, except I witnessed everything both he and you did.” Marigold’s smile was heartfelt as she too bowed to the now-brightly blushing pegasus. “I’ve never before seen such a masterful display of both the Wind Blade and Iron Wing techniques; even Spitfire would be hard-pressed to match.”

Rainbow scratched the back of her head ruefully. “Heh, yeah, she said the same thing the last time we sparred.” She couldn’t help strutting a bit as she got up to inspect the dead pony corpse. She winced as she saw his broken neck. “Ugh, not my best; his neck shoulda stayed straight.”

Twilight walked over to inspect the body herself. She noticed the burst vessels alongside either side of the head, as well as the dark blotches where blood was pooling in the temples. “The arteries to his brain burst as a result of the corrupted dark mana burst he was channeling,” she said, gesturing to the blackened horn. “It’s a wonder that you struck there first.”

“Sensei said that whenever you’re dealing with a unicorn that has nothing to lose, go for the back, the horn, and the neck, in that order.” She shrugged a little. Her expression turned sad as she regarded the crumpled unicorn. “Shame that I had to take his life though, even though he deserved it.”

She snorted at the look on Roulette’s muzzle. “Oh, don’t get me wrong; I don’t give a rat’s ass that I killed him; he was deserving of death. He just isn’t gonna answer for all of the ponies he’s killed.”

Twilight nodded. “Exile is preferable, but in a case like his, it would have been either the chopping block or the gallows.” She swallowed. “And I would have had to give the order; you’ve saved me that chore Rainbow Dash.”

“Eh, I’m just glad that it was me that done him in, and not you Twi; you’re too kind,” Rainbow Dash said gruffly. She then swallowed a ball of bile herself, looking a bit green. “I just wish I wasn’t forced to kill him; it’s just as hard as Sensei said it would be.”

Roulette walked over and placed his wing over the pegasus in a gesture of camaraderie. “It’s never easy to take a life like this.” He looked around the cell block. “In any case, I do believe we need a little time to decompress. If you will all follow me.”

He led the group to the conference room off Prison Processing, after alerting the coroner to send a thaumaturgical team to remove the dead body. There was still evidence to gather.

A few short minutes later, the ponies were finishing up all of the myriad paperwork that had to be processed before Marigold could be released.

“There!” the pony in question said as she signed her name on the last of the sheets before her. She then rolled them up and proceeded to beat Roulette upside the head with them. “And this is for acting like a dunce that didn’t know who I was, ya big dummy!”

“Hey, ease up May! I was doing my best, okay?” the stallion said defensively as the other two mares watched bemusedly. The stallion grumbled as Marigold got in a couple more whacks before handing her documents over to Twilight for her to check over.

Rainbow looked at the other two ponies. “You two know each other, don’t you,” she said; it wasn’t a question. Roulette nodded.

“We went to school together; I haven’t seen her in years though, since just before I was deployed to Fort Last Hope.” He finished his own paperwork. “And I wasn’t pleased at all when I found out what she’d been doing with herself for the last few years.” He glared at the unicorn.

Marigold blanched at his glare. “I just got in over my head Rolly; I swear, I would have gotten out years ago,” she protested weakly. The stallion continued to glare for a bit before shaking his head.

“I guess I shouldn’t be too hard on you; if circumstances had been switched, I would have done worse I’m sure,” Roulette said ruefully.

Marigold then got up and gave the Nocturne stallion a big hug. “Aww, did I hurt your pride big fella?” she teased him, in a way that only an old friend can.

“Heh, not any worse than my wife does,” he teased. May narrowed her eyes at that.

“Anypony I know?” she asked him. He shrugged his withers a bit.

“You might have heard of her; then again, I’m sure all of Equestria has at one point or another. Beatrice tries to downplay her showpony past with those she meets, but it’s hard to live down that kind of reputation.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw frowned a bit; something about that name and the word showpony triggered a memory. Looking closer, she saw that the left hoof of the stallion had a wedding bracelet that had both Roulette and another pony’s cutie mark adorning it; a familiar wand-and-stars mark that Rainbow knew almost as well as her own.

“Wait, you married Trixie?” Rainbow Dash said in shock. “She told me that she got married, but you don’t seem her type.” Roulette just rolled his eyes at that.

“Yes, I get that all the time,” he said ruefully. “Ponies expect that with her family, she would be a traditionalist; not for her though. In fact, her career on the stage is part talent, part rebellion against her family.”

Roulette stomped his hoof in aggravation as he remembered something. “When I told her that Twilight was coming to town, she all but begged me to invite her to dinner.” He looked at the purple alicorn sheepishly. “I don’t know if you can make it or not Princess, but I would be glad to have you at my manor.”

Twilight nodded. “We’re not on any specific timeframe, and it will be good to see her again. I’m anxious to see how she’s progressing.”

Rainbow laughed at that. “Oh, she’s as big as a beached whale, to use her words,” the pegasus said, still chuckling. “What? I’ve been keeping in touch with her every bit as much as Twi has!”

Roulette shook her head. “I still find that odd; most ponies would have avoided somepony that had used Dark magic on them as much as they could.”

“I’m not most ponies,” Rainbow said heatedly. She sighed in aggravation. “Oh sure, I was upset in the beginning, but after Twi explained that Trix wasn’t in her right mind even before putting on that amulet, I started to forgive her.” Her expression turned sheepish. “I also started realizing that I had a lot of gall trying to show up a showpony; that’s like a swan calling a duck a water fowl.” Twilight snorted at hearing Rainbow repeat one of her oft-quoted metaphors.

“Still, Beatrice and I would love it if the three of you joined us this evening; though she’s understandably nervous in meeting you May,” Roulette said.

Marigold roller her eyes at that. “Rolly, we were foals for Celestia’s sake! You’re free to marry whoever you like, and I told you that before you shipped out!” Roulette smiled sheepishly at that.

“Yes, I know.” The stallion looked up at the approaching corporal who he had sent out for a very special package. “Well, there’s something important that needs to be dealt with, now that all of your paperwork has been completed.” He took the bound scroll and covered badge from the pegasus stallion next to him, then turned to Marigold.

“Clever Marigold, your actions during your regrettable and unwarranted incarceration are confirmation of what, until now, was simply a formality.” He presented the scroll and badge to her. “Your new badge of office, and commission.”

Marigold broke the Lunar Guard seal on the scroll and read its contents, nodding as she did so. “Well, I was expecting to get this a little later, but this merely confirms what Princess Luna told me in her briefing.” Her brows would have doubled as a level as she gazed at Roulette. “Was it your idea to use the past circumstances as my field test?”

Roulette sighed. “No, it wasn’t. However, the Code does allow for circumstances such as this. Besides, I was told to ask for your assistance dealing with the remainder of the conspiracy after you finished your stated task, and was told to use that as your field test.” He thumped the table. “Some purists might argue with me, but what was needed was a way to test your ethics, and not your crime solving abilities. You had already proved you were capable in Hoofington; by outright refusing their continued offers, you proved your loyalty to both the Lunar Guard ideals and the spirit of the Law.”

Rainbow frowned as she listened. “Wait, shouldn’t that be the letter of the Law?” she asked when Roulette paused. He shook his head, smirking.

“Not for Lunar Guard; our duties often have us outright breaking the law in order to save lives. Unlike those golden boys in both the Royal and Solar Guard,” he said snidely. Twilight snorted at that.

“And my brother says the same about the Lunar Guard,” she scoffed. “They would garner better respect among the PPP if they weren’t so Tartarus-bent on doing Black-Ops operations instead of their normal duties.”

“Shows what he knows,” Roulette said in response to that sally. He saw the expression on Twilight’s muzzle and made to clarify. “Don’t get me wrong, Princess Twilight; your brother was an excellent defensive and logistics Captain. I was proud to have him as a commanding officer when I served at Fort Last Hope.” He stomped the table again. “However, his attitude about the Lunar Guard reflects the teaching of both the Royal and Solar Guard; that we have a disregard of the Law because we’re so eager to break it.”

“What that fails to take into consideration is that the Law more often protects and preserves the lives and livelihood of the rich and powerful; the common pony often falls short because of this. And because it has had the job of protecting a very visible Princess, both the Solar Guard and the Royal Guard have had the misfortune of being under the scrutiny of ponies that disregard the Law in both its spirit and letter at every opportunity.”

“However, the Lunar Guard was charged with the defense and protection of the common pony; those first duties were given to us by our Sovereign, and we maintained the tradition after her Fall. One that most of us alive during that time didn’t follow because it was wrong, even though she ordered us to follow her.”

Twilight looked thoughtful as she chewed a bite of the doughnut she had been eating. “I’ve said something similar to Shiny a few times.” She waved a hoof. “All of what has happened recently brings credence to the old saw about what power does to ponies.” She scowled. “And there are many that strive for greatness who are woefully unsuited for such a position.” She frowned. “Huh; that’s sounds just as egotistical as whenever Celestia said it when I was a foal.”

Marigold leveled a reproving gaze at Twilight as she folded up her commission papers and tucked them in the pouch behind her new badge. “While I understand your anger towards the Solar Diarch, this take of over-analyzing and over-criticizing of Celestia’s past actions is getting on my nerves Twilight. None of us would be here were it not for her.”

Rainbow scoffed as she finished her last doughnut. “Yeah, right, as if. If she had actually done her job properly instead of making Twi and the rest of us jump through hoops to get the elements, Nightmare Moon’s return would have happened a lot better than it did. Then there’s all the sitting on her plot she did that pushed Luna to that point in first place.”

Twilight glared at Marigold, who was scowling at Rainbow Dash. “Clever Marigold, I have known Princess Celestia for over half my life, and consider her a second mother. And not once have I ever heard her say she was truly wrong about something. She didn’t even apologize to her own sister, and she was in far more need of doing that than anything else.” She stomped her hoof. “No, it’s all about pride; her pride.”

“And you want to know a big secret? Her pride could have cost all of us, and would have led me to declare Harmony’s Law on her.” Seeing the looks of confusion all but Rainbow Dash was wearing, she waved her wings. “These things were given to me as a result of both my past actions, and the acceleration provided by Star Swirl’s Unfinished Spell. A spell that stood a high chance of sending my friends to the Elysium Fields, and breaking the power of the Tree of Harmony. It’s only by Clover’s influence that all that happened was a Cutie Mark Swap.”

“By the by, that spell wasn’t even his; I’ve spent much of my later studies studying his work, along with Clover the Clever’s. Star Swirl didn’t use incantations often, and when he did, they didn’t follow that cadance. Not only that, he was a stickler for working alone, and wouldn’t have even contemplated a spell that needed the presence of the Seeds of Harmony to work. Or that all who bore them needed a bond of true Friendship.”

“No, that whole spell was her work, and likely was written just before Equestria was founded. And believe me, I don’t like the implications that gives, as there’s no evidence that Star Swirl had ever taken credit for a spell he didn’t write.”

“I feel that I’m a much better pony to criticize Celestia’s faults and stumblings because of what I and my friends have been forced to do. We’ve essentially been doing her job dealing with all of the Sealed-Evil-In-A-Can and Monster-Of-The-Week that has been cropping up lately.” Twilight snorted angrily. “Where’s the PPP been? Where’s Celestia been, whenever these events happened?” She stomped her hoof. “I’ll tell you where; guarding do-nothing nobles who only care about their own power, and how much they can get. And the one pony who could have done something more than what she did got her plot handed to her by a bug that had gorged out on love magic!”

Marigold scowled. “I’ll grant you that whole situation could have been handled better. I just don’t think it’s fair to criticize either one of the Princesses; they are doing the best that they can, and nearly always have a good reason for their actions.”

“Holding back the truth and being dishonest because one is too full of pride to trust those who love her is not a good reason for any of this!” Twilight shouted, her version of the Royal Canterlot Voice not leaving the room. “I’m sorry, but I need to be alone.” She then teleported away abruptly.

Marigold shook her ringing ears. “Did I strike a nerve?” she asked delicately.

Rainbow Dash frowned at her. “You stuck your hoof in your mouth is what you did.” She then sighed. “Twi’s been under a lot of stress recently, and Celestia’s inaction to really deal with anything concerning the nobles has her on edge. Just give her some time; unlike me, she’s incapable of holding a grudge.”

Marigold nodded. The three spent the rest of the morning talking shop, as the debriefing would have to wait until all evidence was fully gathered.

Author's Notes:

This one required a lot of editing work.

It ended up getting split into two chapters, as the slice of life fluff stuff that happens later in the day has little bearing on the action. That will be coming in the next chapter.

I've done this because I want to break from my habit of excessively long chapters. Five or six thousand words is far more manageable than ten.

Expect more soon; I'll likely keep on writing over the next few days, as the ideas are just hopping.

See you all next chapter!