Being brought down towards the City Square of the Crystal Empire in chains and being dragged on a wagon, the remaining ponies were brought before the entire creatures, broken and traumatized by the events in the throne room. Jeering and throwing stuff at their faces, the creatures had a fun time, mocking the ponies as they did nothing but stare at the ground. Their eyes were tear-stained, their wings and horns were either torn off or broken, and they were defeated as a result for their failures.

“Before we begin the trial, the ponies must first be shaved!” Avion commanded.

Hearing this, the dragons and griffins gleefully pulled their swords out of their sheaths. Running over to them, they started cutting their manes off and enjoyed every last minute of it. They cut their manes off to the where they were given a buzz-cut and were completely humiliated from their new look. After that, they were brought before Spike who looked at them as they kept their heads down.

“Court is now in session!” Avian shouted.

The creatures kept silent as the griffin prosecutor approached the Square.

“As you have already noticed, Your Honor, these four ponies have been detained for conspiracy in holding contempt for His Majesty. These four and their two remaining allies have aided and abetted with a draconequus known to them as Discord. The six of them and the creature have cooperated in an effort to make a scapegoat out of His Highness and banished him while he was trying to fix the statue as a form of repentance after everything he has done for these disgusting ponies. We may not have a clue about where the Princess of Friendship is, but twenty-five minutes ago, we have found her pink cohort down in the dungeon section of the castle. I may not have the logistics, but we can surmise that she was trying to free the purple alicorn from captivity and she seemed to have succeeded. Which leaves me to you, Princess of Love. Did you know anything about this?” the prosecutor asked, looking at Princess Cadance.

“I have no idea that Pinkie was heading down to the dungeon to free Twilight. But there is one thing I have to say to you and your king: that crystal embedded on your chest has carried your mind. This Creature has twisted your thoughts and judgement to suit its own various needs. Your Greed has eaten its way into your soul! And you have nothing left to love other than yourself! When you finish with us, you will not just stop here! You will kill more! Consume more! And you will never stop your genocidal campaign until Equestria becomes a wasteland! There will be nothing left for you to conquer and you will be filled with nothing but hate! But someday… you will all turn on each other. Do you hear me! The time will come when one of you will begin to suspect one another and there will be bloodshed across the land! And by the time you come to that turning point… it will already be too late.” Cadance said with a venomous tone.

The prosecutor turned to Spike who was listening very intently to Cadance’s speech. Getting out of his seat, he walked towards the wagon and the six remaining ponies were nervous over what he was going to do next. Then he said,

“Perhaps…”

This surprised the six of them when he seemed to be enjoying himself and this new feeling of power he now holds.

“There might come a day when the seven of us will have to kill each other. I might be their king, but I am aware of this new power I hold. This power… but this is our turning point. This Creature and I are as one. I may not be the same dragon you once knew, but unlike you, I decided to take responsibility and build my kingdom from nothing. We took back everything you stole from us and now you are here on your knees! So yes. I may be a monster, but your sister made me become this! I never wanted it to be this way, Cadence, but you forced me to take the initiative.” Spike rebutted.

He went back to his throne and sat back down, letting the prosecutor return to his duties.

“Your crimes concerning the interferences into our affairs and your methods of spreading friendship have made me come to the conclusion that I muster render you ponies the appropriate punishment that you all deserve. But the king is willing to share his leniency if the six of you conspire and share with us the details of the missing alicorn foal! In exchange for your cooperation, he will make your deaths painless.” the prosecutor informed.

“You really think I will give away Flurry Heart!? If you think I will surrender my daughter to save our skins, you better think again! Starlight and Sunset will find a way to defeat you! You just don’t know it yet.” Cadance boasted.

Having heard enough of Cadance’s speech, the prosecutor walked towards Avian who was carrying a scroll. He grabbed the scroll from his talons and started reading it. He said,

“The ponies who display no attention of cooperating with us will receive the follow: these criminals will be imprisoned for a thousand years! They will receive no water! No food! And nopony to keep them company as they will spend the rest of their short lives! They will be living their days in purification until the day they die! Does anybody object to this sentence they are about to receive?”

Nobody raised their hands or voices as the Mane Six, Cadance, and Shining Armor looked around in horror. Seeing this, the prosecutor said before closing the scroll,

“The court has spoken!”

Hearing this, the dragons pulled the ponies by their chains and loaded them into a cart before being pulled away by the buffalo.

“What will we do now, Your Highness?” Tirek asked.

“Burn it all. There is nothing left to keep.” Spike answered.

“But what of the materials in this kingdom, Sire? Surely, we can use their technology to strengthen your kingdom.” Tirek reasoned.

Spike slightly turned his head towards Tirek and gave him a wide, eerie-eyed look. He had no idea what was going through the centaur’s head, but he could only surmise that he was planning something. Instead of attacking however, Spike faced forward and said before going to Ember,

“Do what you have to do…”

Tirek immediately ordered every creature to start rounding up all the supplies from their fallen enemies along with the insides of their buildings. As for their enemies, the ponies were killed left and right. Some were burned, clubbed, eaten, stabbed, shot, garroted and impaled without mercy. The Crystal Empire was now in flames as they finished up their duties on the field. The soldiers were cheering and whooping as they finally defeated the last enemy stronghold.

***

From the distance, Starlight and Flurry Heart could do nothing but tearfully watch as their final haven of safety was burned to the ground. She turned around and walked away, but Flurry Heart tried going back only for her to be stopped by Starlight.

“C’mon, Flurry Heart. There’s nothing to come back to.” Starlight said as she held onto her and kept walking and trying to hold back the crying.