The early morning sun spread its warming rays throughout Equestria, from the bustling metropolis of Manehatten to the quaint village of Trottingham. Ponies everywhere rose from their blissful slumber to begin the day's rounds, but unbeknownst to many, a crowd of ponies was already amassed at one particular location.

Sweet Apple Acres currently housed the majority of those who followed the leadership of Elder Smith, and they were all stuffed inside the same red barn they've been using since the time their group was formed. The ponies in attendance each snacked on a complimentary apple as they tried to figure out why a meeting was being hosted. They didn't see a need for one at the moment since their goal was basically completed, but none dared question the elder mare's authority.

The aforementioned mare tapped a hoof impatiently against the podium before her, the absence of her grandson at the meeting was slightly unnerving due to the fact that he never missed out on one before, not to mention that she hadn't been doing so well this past few days. Underneath all the indignation and shame she felt towards her granddaughters decision to oppose her she felt depressed, and the 'Justified' emotions that she had experienced before began to die away, leaving her as nothing more than a empty husk. Still, she felt no remorse towards running Twilight and her dragon out of town, although she was mighty curious as to who in the crowd decided to blow up the library. Big Mac's lack of an appearance would have to be ignored at the moment, she had a meeting to manage.

"Everypony please, settle down so that we can get this show on the road!" It took a couple of seconds, but the sea of conversations in the barn died down to quiet murmurs. Pleased by the overall silence, Granny Smith continued speaking, "Now Ah just wanted to let y'all know that our job for now is done, we finally managed to drive away one of the major contributors to the corruption in our town."

She didn't hear the usual enthusiasm in her group, or better said, the few who actually cheered. Many of them had been tamed by the reasoning skills of the 'Sinful' couple two nights prior. Not exactly to the point of them abandoning their cause, but enough to harm their spirits by smudging them with confused guilt.

"Our little get-togethers won't be as frequent as they have been for the past couple of days, but rest assured that we are far from being disbanded. No, as long as there is a single fillyfooler, coltcuddler, o-"

"FREEZE, NOBODY MOVE OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE!" spotlight beams shone in through the six windows near the ceiling of the barn, silhouetting the armored pegasi hovering just outside them. One of the ponies in the crowd disobeyed the direct order given and attempted to escape through the back door, only to receive a pair of tranquilizer darts in his flank, knocking him out instantly.

"What is the meaning of this!? Who are you and what are you doing trespassing on mah property!?" to say that Granny Smith was pissed off at how the pegasi believed they could just waltz in and take everypony hostage would be a complete understatement, "I demand to know who is behind all of this!"

"That would be me, Ms. Smith." the large double doors leading into the barn were bucked open by two of the Elite Guard, presenting the last pony everyone in the barn wanted to see at the moment.

Princess Celestia strode into the wooden construction, her graceful posture being framed by the first sun rays of the day, striking both awe and fear from those who weren't from the guard. Her magenta eyes scanned the crowd in record time, searching for anypony that seemed as if he or she were about to attack, but she found nothing other than shocked expressions and the one mare that had managed to ignite all the fury of Tartarus within her. Instead of just beginning what she had planned for the mare immediately, she addressed the two guards at her sides.

"I want a the perimeter secured via a class 3 telekinetic barrier, asap. Nopony leaves this barn unless I give the order, understood." her mask of composure had slipped off a bit on the flight over to the barn, revealing the calculated mare of war that the princess actually was.

"Yes your majesty." their synchronized response was punctuated by the bow they gave, and they made their way over to the unicorn squadron outside in order to set up a one-way shield. With the suspects kept under control, Celestia began her march towards the stage the one mare she hated stood upon. Granny Smith obviously didn't like the princess much either, due to how she kept a subtle glare fixated on her since the moment she arrived. The solar goddess walked up onto the platform, coming face to face with the pony that had caused so much strife against her beloved student, and she could barely hold back the berating session she had planned for her.

"You and I are going to have a nice little chat, Elder Smith, but unfortunately I must attend to my subjects first." Celestia mocked the mare by using the title she had endowed herself with, gaining a even greater glare from the old timer. The princess moved in to take the spot at the podium, looking down at all of the ponies that dared break her rules with what could only be called disappointing marring her face.

"My subjects, I stand before you today for a reason I wish I never had to see in my eternal life. You have gone against the very fundamentals that I have instilled since the beginning of times by not only extorting my student and her newly declared partner, but by also attempting to take both of their lives in cold-blooded murder. I am ashamed that I have to entrust all of my duties onto my sister just so that I can have the time to come and treat you as a group of uncontrollable foals, but this behavior is. Not. ACCEPATABLE!" the mask slipped away further, allowing the Royal Canterlot Voice to slip out as a result.

Nightmare Moon had a creepy aurora to her that allowed her voice to send chills down a pony's spine, Luna had her own ability to use The Voice, but the formerly unheard boom from Celestia's own variation of the Royal Shout set everypony present into their submissive modes. It imprinted the message she was expressing deep into their minds whether they wanted it to or not, and even a couple of guards outside the barn tripped over their own hooves in shock at the sudden noise. After regaining control of her volume, mostly, the solar princess continued speaking to the cowering crowd.

"This is not how I taught you to go about in life, my ponies...I gave you the freedom to do ANYTHING as long as it didn't contradict the rules of morality, yet you do something as lowly as this. And for what, please do regale me with your justification." nopony spoke after she finished, only silence answered her question. That is, until the lime mare next to her saw that she had to be the one to stand up for the group.

"That's just the way it's supposed to be, princess." Granny Smith basically spat out the title Celestia carried, expressing her dislike at how she could just arrive and ruin everything she had planned, "Nopony here would try and do something as ludicrous as loving a dragon. These are just the ways life wants it to be, it's the reason you don't see everypony swoonin' over something other than a pony, except for that student of yours. She defies everything the way of life has set up an-"

"Let me interrupt you right there, Ms Smith. You continue to justify your actions by saying that life wants it to be that way, explain to me how you know that. How can you possibly know what life wants?" Celestia wasn't in the mood to listen to the ramble the old mare was bound to fall into, instead opting to bluntly question the justification that was being repeated.

"Because I-I..we kn-" Granny was caught off guard by the princess' words, and how useless she felt against them. She couldn't even continue to stutter before the ruler of the day continued her verbal charge.

"How can you tell right from wrong?" the alabaster alicorn knew she had the mare trapped, At this point she was only breaking down the metaphorical wall the lime pony had hidden herself behind.

"It's...not ri-"

"Are you some kind of prophet that can just sense life's demands?"

"Will you stop INTERRUPTING me!" Granny snapped, her shield was down and her inner self exposed, completely at the mercy of the goddess before her.

"NO, not until you see the light of reason! You rant and rant about how the universe is your guide, backing you up on all the wrong you do, but it's all a lie. Do you know how I'm aware of this? Do you Ms Smith?" Celestia's wings unfurled themselves due to the hostility in the air. It was a basic reflex that the alicorn had no power over, and it intimidated the elderly earth pony even further, "I know because I am a part of nature itself, I wasn't born like you or anypony else. I personally spoke with the goddess responsible for life and death at one point, and she never spoke to me about these limitations you put on others. So tell me, what do you have to say for yourself now?"

"..." silence dominated the barn, and Granny Smith especially had nothing left to say. Anything she had once brought herself to believe had been destroyed by a single conversation, and she hated how much her arguments had been failing recently. Other than that, she felt nothing. Nothing but the sense of failure, depression, and newly arising fear. With the haze of her unjustified anger wiped away, she could now see how deeply she had screwed up. She had commanded the direct offenses against Twilight Sparkle and Spike, apparently destroyed city property, lost the love of her granddaughter, and done the one thing that could piss off the solar princess.

She messed with her child, and she was going to pay for it.

"Citizens of Ponyville, now I return to the matter of your offenses against my student. I know not what crimes each of you has specifically committed, but you as a group do. I request that one or more of you would please put an end to this foolishness and step forward so that I may have aid in investigating each and every one of your transgressions." nopony wanted to be a snitch so they kept their muzzles shut, all of them save for one, who barely decided to make his appearance at the open barn doors.

"Ah would your highness." melodramatic gasps were heard as the most loyal and devoted member of the clan marched forward to speak to his princess, reaching into a saddlebag he was wearing with his red muzzle to pick out a hefty book, hoofing it over to the national leader with a bowed head, "This here's the log book for our assignments, it's got all the names of all the members and the specific jobs they were assigned."

"Thank you, Big Macintosh, this will make my job so much easier. I'm actually surprised that you would be the one to assist me at a time like this, may I ask why?" Celestia was honestly glad that the burly stallion decided to help her out, but she was also curious as to how he could so readily aid her in a case against his own grandmother.

"'Course Princess Celestia. It's because Ah never really did any of these things because Ah felt like they were right, Ah did them because it was what mah granny wanted. Ever since she took Applejack, 'Bloom, an' me in she's taught us to do as she says. What finally caused me to change mah mind was a talk Ah had with mah stubborn sister, seeing her stickin' to what she felt was right was enough to push me to be more like her, to fight for what Ah want instead of what others tell me to."

"I'm glad to hear that Mister Macintosh, it's comforting to now that at least you were able to change from the oppressive nature Granny Smith has attempted to implant in you. That reminds me, guards!" the moment her beckoning call left her lips, six unicorns flashed into existence in front of her.

"Yes your majesty?"

"Please escort the suspects to their holding cells while I examine the severity of their crimes."

"Right away, Princess Celestia."

With the order given the guards began to bark at the ponies in attendance, ushering them out of the red barn like a shepherd would to a herd of sheep. Granny Smith stayed put though, not wanting to make it too easy for the guards. Just as one of the elites was going to hoist her away, Celestia called him off.

"She'll stay here for the moment, I've still got a conversation pending with her. The same goes for Mister Macintosh."

"Why didn't you let them take us away?" the red farm stallion spoke what was on both his and his grandmother's minds. They were probably the ponies that had the highest amounts of crimes committed in the group, so he couldn't see why the day alicorn would bail him.

"Well, the reason you're still here is because Sweet Apple Acres needs a capable workforce. Not to mention that you assisted me by hoofing over the log book, so I can soften the charges against you. Besides, Applebloom needs somepony to look after her, and I'm not entirely sure if Granny Smith would be the perfect influence now that I've heard about how she manipulated you throughout your life."

Celestia looked back at the withering mare, and shame filled her heart again along with the anger still coursing through her. This was a mare who had abandoned all regards on morality, trying to force her own views onto the world by putting herself at the top of a power pyramid that was bound to become corrupt. Ironic really, she became worse than we she tried to cleanse from Equestria. All of this, however, was simply the princess' mind wandering off. Now she had to do what had to be done, and she'd be lying if she said she felt bad for doing so. The goddess turned to face the lime mare again, to finally set an end to the insanity that had been brought about.

"As for you, I'm not even sure how I'm even capable of resisting the urge to simply kick you out of my country. You are charged with attempted murder, extortion, discrimination, and the destruction of public property. I haven't even looked into the other crimes you may have committed, but right now this is what you have bearing down on you. You're so lucky that you are in your elderly years, Smith, because if you weren't you'd be shackled in my personal dungeon for what you've done. No, instead I sentence you to live out the rest of your days under house arrest, and you're lucky for that."

"What!?" the gray-maned mare snapped to attention upon hearing her punishment, not liking it in the smallest of ways. Sure, she wasn't much of an outdoor person anyway, but she had bingo games to go to, and other senile friends who she could speak to.

"It is what you heard, you are hereby placed under home detention for the remainder of your life. Preen, Fling, please come down here." Celestia beckoned for two of the six pegasi standing guard at the windowsills, and they arrived with dull thuds against the ground, "These two will be your foalsitters from now on, just to make sure you don't go a repeat what you've already done. Lodgings for them will be constructed for them near your household, and will be fully paid for by the Equestrian Treasury."

"You can't do this!"

With but three taps of her hoof she commanded the guards to escort her to the building she would roam for the rest of her life. The pegasi standing to her left and to her right unfurled the wing the was pointed towards the mare, picking her up with their combined strength before she could object. It was a sight like that that showed just how brutally the Elite Guards were trained, to the point were they could lift weights with their wings. With the elder secured, the stallions began to walk away towards the house she lived in, with the red farm stallion following closely behind them.

"You can't do this to me! Who are you to lock me away in my own home!"

Celestia knew that talking to her at this point would be useless, that she should just concentrate on heading over to the crime scene to investigate the area, but she allowed herself a moment of foolishness of her own. Without looking back at the mare being hauled away, the sun deity lit up her horn as she summoned forth pitch-black shades from the shadows, placing them over her pristine magenta eyes before replying to the mare.