Frisk was determined not to let this...IDIOT...get away with anything. The brown-haired, green eyed Asian-American half breed was panting heavily, chest falling and rising as he peeked his head over the fallen-down crystal table he was sitting behind before ducking down again. TA-SEWWWW! A bolt of raw, magical power shot through the air, Frisk cringing as he heard Bernard Braugh hissing in fury, the white-haired, goggles-wearing Earth pony angrily lowering the magical cannon he'd crafted. Frisk had to admit that the setup had been impressive. Nobody'd seen the ambush coming. The Crystal Empire had been celebrating it's bicentennial that week and Frisk had yearned to come and see adorable little Flurry Heart, Cadence, Shining Armor, and just enjoy an entire day's worth of beautiful crystal art, good food, friends, and lovely dances...

Topped off with, of course, the best fireworks display ever. The dragon capital of Hearthstone had worked out a deal with the Crystal Empire: in exchange for getting to engorge on crystals straight from the Empire's heart itself, the dragons would help produce some of the best fireworks you'd ever seen. Yet just when they'd all been sitting in the main courtyard, right in front of the Crystal Heart with Ember about to light the first firework, a special rock-based one with an almost magical core that, if you stuck a fuse into it, would produce FANTASTIC effects, well...

That was when the Braugh family had attacked. Bernard Braugh and his immense, huge extended family had been mostly a big fat nuisance all across Equestria, popping up every now and then to hand out pamphlets, loudly yell in the faces of stone-faced guards who were trying not to scream back, and to...of course...throw things at the Princesses. And really, ANY royalty. They HAAAAAATED royalty.

Out of nowhere, a firework had been turned right in the direction of the crowd, and Dr. W.D Gaster, who'd been unnoticed in the crowd until the very moment he was suddenly THERE, standing tall, proud and furious, had barely reacted in time. He'd raised a hole-filled hand up, the explosion blasting away inches from everyone's faces, knocking him back a few feet as other explosions rocketed through the city, Cadence's eyes widening as she saw HIM standing atop a castle rampart. Bernard Braugh, covered in bandoliers, wearing his big goggles, and remarkably spry for a 70 year old stallion, was ordering his many family members to swarm in, and above all...to GET the royals.

The Royal Guard had rushed forth. Tables had been kicked about. Frisk had leaped through the air, managing to tackle one Braugh who had rushed at FLURRY of all ponies, trying to snatch her away. "Oh NO you don't!" He'd yelled out, grabbing it by the ears and tugging the stunned, also-white-haired Earth Pony back before launching it through the air, making it land on one of the crystal tables. The table didn't break, but the Earth Pony almost DID, moaning at it's sprained back as Frisk leaped behind another table, avoiding a shot from Bernard himself.

"The whole damn political system is corrupt! All you're doing is protecting the plutocracy with your misguided Determination! You're defending a rigged system! We need elections!" Bernard proclaimed, the bandoliers bouncing off the vest he wore.

"Dude, seriously, nobody in the Crystal Empire actually WANTS elections." Frisk shouted back, exasperated. He'd seen Bernard spitting on Twilight's face and felt his blood boil. He'd almost punched Bernard right there, in fact, he'd had his fist pulled back and was inches from the stallion's muzzle before Spike had yanked him back one week ago. "They did three polls! Only, like, 20 percent were even remotely interested! All across Equestria."

"The rights of the minority are being trampled on by the majority! They can't be protected by the big money makers and shakers here!" Bernard snarled, firing at the table again as Frisk jumped out of the way and raced along the courtyard, towards him.

"You're just trying to force your beliefs down other people's throats with violence and hate speech, how's that not being the very thing you hate?" Frisk demanded. "Why is it so hard for you to admit that the monarchies here in Equestria actually work?"

"You're just too dumb to know any better. You're just a stupid human kid!" Bernard snapped, ducking expertly as Frisk's punch failed to connect...before a bone shot through the air.

"Catch!" Gaster proclaimed, Frisk grinning as he leapt up, Bernard blinking stupidly in surprise before Frisk caught it expertly and slammed it down hard on Bernard's cannon, snapping it in half. The Earth Pony stared stupidly at it, white hair flopping about in the wind before the rest EXPLODED and launched him backwards with an agonized cry. Snarling, he wheeled about...before seeing Flurry Heart, Cadence and Shining Armor trying to race their little darling off.

"Oh no you don't!" He yelled out, barreling at them, hooves held high, trying to grab them as they turned to see his furious face...but then Dr. Gaster's magic held him in midair. For a moment it looked like he was being held up by the scruff of his vest...and then he was forcibly launched through a nearby tree and into a yard over a wall, Frisk barreling after him with the bone Gaster had given to him, a furious, baleful expression on his face.

"How DARE you try to hurt her!" He angrily yelled out at Bernard, Gaster coughing and spluttering, for now big, thick dust clouds were billowing out from the exploded sections of city, almost choking all their lungs as he waved his holey hands about. He made his way over to the royal family, Cadence shielding her beloved little Princess Flurry Heart from the dust as Shining Armor nodded appreciatively at the good doctor.

"Thank you." He said softly. "It's good you were here."

"I am here, there...everywhere." Dr. Gaster intoned with a little bow. "Luckily for you, I happened to be more HERE today than-"

It was then that he heard a loud KRUCHA-KRAK noise, followed by an absolutely HORRIFIC screeching wail, and eyes turned in the direction of the cry. Gaster raced over in the direction along with Shining Armor, the two peering over the surface of the wall as the dusty smoke began to clear...

After about five minutes, long, sobbing wails filling the air and loud sniffling and stammering echoing through their ears...there it was. Frisk was there, standing in front of Bernard Braugh...

Who's left hoof had been completely twisted the other way by a horrific bone strike. He was essentially crippled.

"...F-Frisk?" Gaster asked. "What...what happened?"

"I...I don't know, I..." Frisk began to stammer. The way he was talking, it was pretty clear he wasn’t being entirely truthful. He wouldn’t even meet Gaster’s eyes.

"He broke my leeeeeg!" Bernard sobbed out. "Somebody help! I can't feel my hoof! I-I want him ch-charged with-with first class assault!"

"Frisk, this is...very serious." Shining Armor murmured. "...Gaster...take him to the local hospital. You're the one with the medical and science degrees, after all. I'll stay with Frisk." He intoned, people staring at the sight over the walls, murmuring and muttering to themselves as Gaster sighed and hovered Bernard away.

"You're lucky that the kingdom believes in very good socialized medicine." He grumbled, Frisk cringing as he covered his face with both hands.

"Shining, I swear, I didn't touch him!"

"Look, we'll settle this out. We'll have a hearing, we'll look over the evidence and get this sorted out. I'm sure he just bashed his own leg in, all we need to do is check for his hoof prints." Shining offered to the terrified little kid. "And I'll find a public defender to formally dismiss the case tomorrow at the hearing before me."

"Before you?"

"Of course, I'm acting judge of the Crystal Empire." Shining remarked cheerily...

...

...

...

... "...what do you MEAN there's no hoof prints on that bone?!" Shining Armor demanded to know, mouth agape, staring at Harsh Justice, the grey-toned unicorn sighing as he held up a small, snazzy metal clipboard.

"I analyzed it, sir. There's...no hoof prints on that bone Frisk Dreemurr used. Not a one." The newest public defender of the Crystal Empire remarked. "The ONLY prints whatsoever are from Frisk. Any DNA at all from Bernard Baugh can't be conclusively pinpointed to him picking it up with the tips of his hooves or the like. All there is is the large crack in the bone from where Bernard says Frisk slightly broke it on his leg." He added, hovering Exhibit A from off a nearby table and in front of Shining Armor, people in the gallery murmuring, whispering and muttering as Bernard sat at the Prosecution table, acting as his own attorney in this case.

Frisk moaned, burying his head in his hands. This was not good. There was no real evidence that Bernard had faked the injury. What was he going to do? All that was left if physical evidence wouldn't help him was witness and character testimonies.

And he knew that wouldn't exactly help his case. After all, the last words he'd angrily yelled out before racing off after Bernard had been a furious "How DARE you try to hurt her". ANYONE would think that Frisk had finally had enough of the Earth Pony and had allowed his anger to slip after seeing someone trying to hurt a little infant.

“Let’s call the first witness.” Shining Armor sighed then as he rubbed his temples with his hooves, Harsh Justice sitting down behind the desk as Frisk grumbled quietly, Spike the Dragon being called up to the witness stand. People hollered and hooted, punching at the air, grinning, blowing kisses and tossing flowers over at the little dragon as he nervously waved up at them. He finally took his seat, giving a bow to his many adoring fans. “Spike, I understand that you’ve seen Bernard Baugh threatening Twilight Sparkle, my sister?...what happened on that day?”

Spike cringed as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, Bernard was yelling outside of Twilight’s castle during a Q&A section when Twilight was answering questions about humans about a week after the monster kingdom first arrived here. She and Ms. Alphys were behind a desk and then Bernard started yelling about how, well...his whole “anti king” thing. Like “Oh we’re just going to keep getting oppressed by this new dictatorship you’re willingly letting in” and all that.”

“And do you remember what Twilight said?”

“Well, she said “Mr. Braugh, this is a Question and Answer session with new beings from another plane of existence. Unless you can phrase your complaint in the form of a genuine question in relation to the topic at hand, please leave because you’re being disrespectful and disruptive”.” Or at least, she tried to. Bernard kept jabbing his hoof at her and saying “You’re part of a rigged system” and all that as he got closer and closer through the crowd. Ponies were kind of moving aside because he was sorta shoving them and he was kinda...well...loud. And scary.” Spike remarked.

“OBJECTION. Calls for a conclusion!”

“Spike, a bit less...commentary, please. So they were moving out of the way and allowing him to come closer to the desk where Twilight and Ms. Alphys were? Then what happened?” Shining inquired.

“He...spat at Twilight.” Spike grumbled darkly, claws digging into his chair. “Frisk was sitting nearby and he didn’t much like that. He said “HOW DARE YOU” and rushed forward and was about to punch Bernard in the nose for that but Fluttershy managed to hold him back...and then held ME back when Bernard kept yelling at Twilight for being a “symbol of the oppressive rigged dictatorial system”.”

“Frisk, I’m surprised you tried to punch him so quickly.” Shining Armor confessed, looking confused as Harsh Justice rose up.

“Sir, this is NOT the first time Bernard had done this in front of Frisk.” He insisted, unfurling a scroll that stretched out loooooong across the room, finally flopping to a halt at the Judge’s bench, Shining Armor staring down in surprise. “In fact, Bernard Braugh had done this three times before. He’d thrown a tomato at Twilight when she’d been showing Mr and Ms. Dreemurr around Ponyville, and it had hit Frisk instead, he’d yelled at them inside of Ms. Muffet’s store, and had confronted Twilight and Frisk at Burgerpants’s restaurant in a particularly ugly scene.”

“Oh HELL YEAH it was ugly.”

Burgerpants had been quite happy to talk about all that had happened as he was called up to the witness stand, the cat-like monster putting out his cigarette as he leaned back in his chair, reddish fur bristling a bit as he glared at Bernard Braugh. “The guy was going on and on about how “Oh you’ve literally stolen the platform of my “Independence Party”.”

“Independence Party?” Shining Armor inquired as Harsh Justice “he-hemmed”.

“That, sir, is the Political Party that Bernard Braugh...well, attempted to make. He didn’t get enough signatures submitted in time to register as one for the Canterlot Parliament to consider him a functioning political party like the Green Delegation did about two years ago.”

“It’s a rigged system.” Bernard remarked. “We were supposed to get 50,000 signatures but they didn’t accept all the names I put in.”

“Because you had to submit them by May 30th, sir.” Harsh Justice groaned, rolling his eyes. “And then you had to present them to the Parliament. You were the only one who even showed up there. You had WEEKS to prepare.” He reasoned.

“We could have been accepted in with a simple voice vote! I showed up the next day with plenty of my supporters then.” Bernard snapped back, pointing accusingly at Harsh Justice.

Yes, it was true. If you wished to be considered a political party to be entered into the Canterlot Parliament that helped craft laws for the constitutional monarchy that was Equestria’s ruling body, you needed to either have 50,000 signatures on a petition sent in by May 30th, beginning in January...or appear with a quarter of that number for a VOICE vote done the next day on March 31st. Most people felt that was a decently low bar. After all, you could probably get a petition of 50,000 to leave Joseph Pony the Child Soldier-Using Zebracan Sociopath out in the Deep Jungles alone! The voice vote was a bit different, it required you to convince other members of Parliament to allow you to join in, but that wouldn’t be too difficult if you could just charm enough folks.

“80 of your supporters didn’t even show up! And you were very clearly outnumbered in Congress by every other party. None of them voted in favor of you. Maybe if you hadn’t spent months claiming they were illegitimate and rigged and beholden to special interests, you could have gotten them to allow you to join Parliament-” Harsh Justice groaned as he shook his head back and forth. He had spent ten hours straight last night researching Bernard Braugh’s shenanigans. The case was driving him nutty.

“I have video evidence PROVING our voices are loudest!” Bernard proclaimed angrily, holding up a video camera.

“Bernard, we’ve been over this in my chambers.” Harsh Justice groaned even more loudly. He’d studied that footage for 4 hours straight. “Of COURSE it sounds louder to you, you were filming from right in the middle of your delegation, of COURSE their voices sound louder, they’re closer to you!”

“That’s the same argument Twilight made.” Burgerpants admitted with a nod. “He didn’t much like that. He almost lifted up a chair and made it look like he was gonna bean Twilight over the head with it.”

“Hey, I never actually threw it!” Bernard Braugh muttered.

“Well thank you for clearing THAT low bar.” Burgerpants grumbled as he rolled his eyes. “Frisk said “That guy’s a big bully, why can’t he leave you alone” and Twilight says “He’s a frustrated pony that’s just lashing out in the only way he can think of. I don’t think he’ll ever be retrospective enough to realize his own faults”.”

“So Frisk had seen Bernard threatening Twilight before and was getting frustrated.” Shining Armor said as he leaned back in his own chair. “Did he ever try anything on Celestia? I don’t remember hearing about it.”

“He made this.” Harsh Justice said as he whistled, a laptop being brought in by Dr. Gaster, who became the next witness to take the stand as the good doctor snapped his bony fingers. The image was magically blown up for the audience in the courtroom, everyone looking on in shock. There was a large picture of a “Royal Hit List” with crosshairs at the top aimed squarely at a picture of Celestia, and listing off various ponies and monster friends of her, including Princess Luna.

“That...was version one. After a VERY worried and concerned Mr. Shinedown stopped by his home and flat out told him this could easily be interpreted as a threat towards the authorities, he changed the crosshairs to telephones and then said the whole thing was just about calling them up over and over. To essentially bug them into changing their ways.” Dr. Gaster commented. “...I’m not going to comment on how much I believe this. No doubt Mr. Braugh would raise an objection.”

“You were the last one who saw Frisk and myself before the incident occurred, correct?” Bernard Braugh asked as he rose up and walked over to Gaster as best he could, hobbling along. “Tell me. What do you remember? Be as vivid in detail as possible.”

Gaster frowned darkly. The skeletal man with holes in his hands closed his eyes and hung his head a bit, lines running up and down from his dark sockets before he spoke quietly.

“The air is thick and heavy with smoke. Frisk’s face is filled with fury, this much I can tell through the foul dust clouds choking the city and our lungs. He yells “ "How DARE you try to hurt her”, racing over in the direction you had landed whilst I made my way towards the Royal Family. Cadence’s face is filled with concern and fear and she’s wrapped her arms around Princess Flurry Heart to shield her from the dust. Shining Armor nods appreciatively up at me, thanking me for my assistance. He said “Thank you, it’s good you were here”.” Gaster went on, speaking slowly, deliberately.

“Yes...go on.” Bernard inquired calmly.

“I gave a bow to them, I say “I am here, there...everywhere. Luckily for you, I happened to be more HERE today than anywhere else.” Or at least, I tried to. Then a horrific sound fills the air, the sound of breaking bone and an awful, screeching wail. I race towards the sound with Shining Armor and I peer over the surface of the wall Frisk had leapt over, the wall Bernard had landed over, and then I saw...I saw Bernard Braugh was there.” He looked up at Bernard, frowning. “Your left hoof was absolutely twisted up by what had clearly been a bone strike.”

“That’s what I thought.” Bernard Braugh said, smirking a bit as he made his way back towards his desk. “No further questions.” He said as he gave Harsh Justice a big grin with slightly cracked front teeth.

“This all looks very, very, VERY bad.” Shining Armor admitted to Frisk as Frisk hung his head, Harsh Justice rubbing his chin behind his desk. He was looking back at the bone, then at Bernard, then at Frisk. “Councilor, do you have anything to ask of this witness?”

“No, I don’t think I do. There’s only one defense for charges this heinous. That’s the truth. So therefore...I am calling my own client to the stand.”

“This is going to be so embarrassing.” Frisk groaned as he covered his face, shaking it back and forth as he made his way to the stand and sat down in the witness box, biting his lip.

“Mr. Frisk. I know what you’re loathe to talk about. It was something I wasn’t keen on talking about for a long time either.”

Frisk stared up in surprise as Harsh Justice took in a deep breath and brushed his grey hair back. “I...have...a similar issue. So as someone who understands what you’re going through, I am going to ask you only one thing. Explain everything that happened immediately after you raced after Bernard Braugh and leapt over the wall.” Harsh Justice demanded to know as he steepled his hooves.

Frisk cringed as he rubbed the space between his eyes. “Alright, alright. See...there I was, bone in my hand, pointing it right at Bernard while he’s lying there, on his back, one hoof held up over his face. He’s begging me not to hit him, and I give him an angry glare, I was SO mad with him trying to go after Flurry Heart after all the other stuff he did. I felt he’d finally crossed the line, and was about to start really showing him the full extent of hanging out with Sans by using a few choice curse words when...well…”

Frisk slumped a bit in his chair and nervously managed to squeak out something barely audible. “I saw a butterfly.”

“...you what?” Harsh Justice asked, looking at Frisk, head tilted.

“...I saw a butterfly.” Frisk said more loudly. “It was being assaulted by the huge dusty wind clouds and looked positively terrified and trapped, lying near a rock to the right. So I tossed the bone down and ran over to it and cupped my hands over it. I made my way through one of the dust clouds and when I was sure I could release it safely, I put him in a garden over another small wall, then headed back towards Bernard. That’s when I heard the crack noise and him yelling. I couldn’t really see much, the dust was everywhere and I was rubbing my eyes, but when it cleared enough, his leg was broken and the bone was lying near him.”

Silence. Absolute...total...silence. Nobody said a word in the courtroom. And then…

“...you...couldn’t have broken his leg...because you were CHASING A BUTTERFLY?” Shining Armor asked, mouth agape as Harsh Justice shrugged.

“Well, the thing is, sir...Frisk is on the autism spectrum. Specifically, he has Asperger’s Syndrome. Those with such a learning disability have a tendency to lose sight of things and focus in on things they really, REALLY like. Almost to an obsessive degree. It’s as if they lose sight of the rest of the world. Attention Deficit Disorder is somewhat similar, though for Frisk, it’s less about being unable to sit still or being constantly distracted and more...well, he has a thing for butterflies and small, cute animals.”

“I’d sometimes run after squirrels and butterflies and stuff at the orphanage when I was supposed to be meeting with new potential parents.” Frisk mumbled. “My learning disability had a tendency to make it difficult for me to socialize with people. I mean, one of my biggest ways of getting the other kids to leave me alone was to try and kiss them.”

“You did that before you fell Underground? Intriguing.” Dr. Gaster mused aloud. “I wondered where the flirting came from.”

“Well then...if you didn’t hit Bernard, then...who did?” Shining Armor inquired, Bernard looking stupefied as he stared at Frisk.

“You’re not BUYING this, are you? I mean, he’s probably not really autistic!”

“Are you an actual doctor, Bernard? Because I’ve spoken with them and they’ve confirmed the diagnosis.” Harsh Justice intoned as Bernard grit his teeth in anger, wincing a bit as Harsh Justice stared at him, then at the bone. “...wait a minute.” He said. “...there wasn’t enough on there to confirm for hoof prints but there was DNA on here from two spots. One here, and one at the upper end of the bone.” He mumbled as he examined the crack in the bone weapon. “...I’ve got it! Dr. Gaster, summon another bone! This time, for me!”

Gaster stared in confusion, the audience looking about at each other before he shrugged and snapped his bony fingers. A moment later, a large bone manifested, and Harsh Justice walked over...and tried to pick it up.

With his TEETH.

KR-KRRKK. A barely audible sound, but it was there. Everyone, especially Bernard’s eyes, widened wide as Harsh Justice lifted the bone up...now showing slightly...cracked...teeth.

“Now I know what really happened.” He said, turning on Bernard. “You broke your own leg, didn’t you?” He glowered, spitting the bone down onto the floor. “You picked it up in your teeth and used it to break your leg so you could blame it on Frisk. And I think if we did a comparison of your dental records to this little indentation-crack area on Exhibit A…” Harsh Justice mused aloud as Bernard got more and more pale.

“Th-this is a travesty! The entire justice system’s corrupt! It’s illegitimate and ri-”

“GET. HIM. OUT. OF. MY. COURT.” Shining Armor snarled, banging his gavel down hard as bailiffs dragged Bernard out the back with a wailing cry, Shining Armor imaginary-rolling-up-his sleeves. “I am going to PERSONALLY put him in the dungeon for this myself!”

“You have a dungeon?” Frisk asked, looking astonished.

“We HAD a dungeon. I’d been using it as a wine cellar. Ah well. I need to cut back anyway.” Shining Armor sighed. “I’m sorry we doubted you, Frisk. Just because it looked bad, that didn’t mean we shouldn’t have given you the benefit of the doubt.”

“It can be hard to balance presumption of innocence with the rights of the accused.” Harsh Justice admitted. “The law insists we view both the accuser as credible until proven otherwise, yet at the same time, the defense is supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. It is a hard, often conflicting way of getting justice. And the system is unfairly balanced in favor of the prosecution.”

“I’m just glad this time it all worked out.” Frisk said with a sigh. “Thanks for getting me off.” He told Harsh Justice, who gave him a calm smile.

“Well...it was my job.” He remarked. “Besides, I’ve...been in your horeshoes.” He told Frisk, leading him down from the witness stand. “I have OCD. It allowed me to become a great lawyer, but often at the expense of...social interaction. My obsessions blinded me, and it’s taken time to tone them down.”

“Does that mean you can do stuff like…quote Monty Python from memory?” Frisk asked, tilting his head to the side as Harsh Justice gave him a look...before grinning.

“Mr. Shining Armor, can I make a suggestion torture for Bernard Braugh?”

“Sure! What?”

…

…

…

…”Gloves. Moustache. Hankerchief.” Harsh Justice remarked, Bernard Braugh now tied to a table, looking around as Frisk, Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Shining Armor and Cadence all stood around him, wearing green doctor’s garb, with Frisk putting a hankerchief-esque doctor’s hat atop of Harsh Justice’s head. Bernard blinked nervously before Harsh Justice held up a toy hammer, the others holding up similar instruments, Harsh Justice giving Bernard a big, goofy grin and saying in a loud, dumb voice, “I’M GOING TO OPERATE!”

“OPERATE!”

“OPERAAATE!” All of them proclaimed, bonking Bernard Braugh over his body with the various toys, over his chest, his leg, his stomach.

“...hello?” He nervously asked, looking around in confusion.

“Oh! We forgot the anesthetic!” Harsh Justice remarked in that same dumb voice, everyone calling out “Anesthetic” as Dr. Gaster burst through the wall, grinning as he held up a gigantic anesthetic gas container, lifting it up.

“I’m going anesthetize you!” He proclaimed, bonking Bernard Braugh over the head, knocking him out. “Ahh. The wonders of socialized medicine.”