“We need to talk.” It’s amazing how much weight four little words can carry, even if you’re expecting them. Whether or not they are phrased exactly that way, the message is clear enough: it is now time to be serious, so it is safe to drop the pretense that all is well. When Princess Celestia, immortal goddess of the sun and maternal figure to most of Equestria, says it, you know shit is quite serious.

Normally, when you are on the receiving end of that statement, you expect the one giving you the speech to look upset, disappointed, or even angry. Luna and Celestia show none of these emotions; they, however, just look tired, and that makes all of this somehow infinitely worse. They could be tired from any number of things: this whole coronation business, retarded nobility, politics, me...

“Yes, we do, Your Highness,” I reply meekly as I lead Ice Blossom to the couch opposite of the royals. She seems a bit awestruck at being in the same room as two of the most powerful ponies in the entire world, quite literally. Rather understandable, even if Luna doesn’t quite have the political clout Celestia has; most ponies seem to have a naturally-instilled reverence for alicorns after all. Turning to Blossom, I smile. “Blossom, you’ve already met Princesses Cadance and Twilight Sparkle, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and the Prince Consort of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor. Heck, if this morning is half as interesting as I expect it was, you’ve already met Princess Luna. Still...”

A small giggle escapes my throat as I have to usher my marefriend up onto the couch. “Blossom, my love,” I say again, nuzzling her and leaning against her as I try to find a comfy position on the couch. “These are my benevolent benefactors, Princesses Celestia and Luna.” Looking across the table at the two Canterlot royals, I grin. “I know this is a really strange time, Your Highnesses, but I would like to formally introduce you to the mare I love, Ice Blossom.”

Three ponies stare at me in utter astonishment; only two of them have horns, and amazingly, I am not surprised in the least who they are. While I do not doubt the fact that Blossom has met Luna, it’s still a given that she would be fazed by my attempt at breaking the tension in the air. Similarly, Shining Armor is just sitting there, staring like I’ve just marched a Nazi flag into a synagogue. It’s not so much the look of offense as it is the implied statement of “I can’t believe you did that, you moron.” Yeah, Celestia’s really the only other one in the room trying to hide a small smile.

I give a sheepish nod in Celestia’s direction before elaborating. “Yeah, it was an odd time for that. Since you can’t exactly meet my parents,” I say stroking Blossom’s mane with a hoof, “I figured introducing you to the two goddesses that helped me get on my hooves would be the next best thing.” Looking back at the others, I smile apologetically. “Sorry. Now that it’s out of my system, we’re here to address the charges I wish to press against Princess Aqua Regia, yes?”

Celestia’s smile is no longer hidden now. It’s almost more than a grin. “I was going to question your choice in formal attire,” she jabs playfully. “We can address that too, I suppose.”

“I... Yes,” Luna sputters, getting over the shock of my ludicrous behavior. “Let us discuss the imprisonment, first.” A stack of blank parchment appears before her in a blue flash, along with an inkwell and quill. “What can you tell us about the mercenaries that took you?”

Wow, straight to business, just like that. I guess they want to get to the bottom of this corruption stuff right away. Though I’d rather not throw the mercenaries under the bus—they were just doing what they were paid to do, even if they were breaking the law—they do need this information if they are to catch the ones that hired them. “Three griffons wearing bear skins,” I recount. “One carried a series of scrolls, one a spear, and the last a sword. Had a fourth accomplice not seen; possibly unwitting. A unicorn. Scryed into my room to make sure I was ‘alone’.”

“Was there anything distinguishing about them aside from the bear skins they wore?” Shining Armor inquires. “Any crests or colors?”

I give him an insulted look. “When you’re being held at spear point, being forced into a bridle, and having your wings strapped down, knowing your marefriend is hiding in the next room, scared for your life, it’s kinda hard to think about anything else,” I deadpan. “I could tell you a lot about the spear. Nine foot shaft, probably birch, steel tip probably. Hurts like hell when you get smacked in the back of the head with it. So no. Aside from the bearskins, I didn’t notice anything particular about them.”

The two princesses glare at me as a floating quill records my statement. Right, snapping at Shining Armor doesn’t help anything. Worse, Blossom looks incredibly disappointed in me now. Come on! I’ve been through multiple traumatic experiences that I’m working through; gimme a break.

“Right,” Luna says after a moment of silence. “Did they say anything that might implicate their employer?”

I pause for a moment to think about the late-night exchange. “They stated that they had an official arrest warrant. When I asked under whose authority and what grounds they were detaining me on, they told me ‘Princess’s orders’ and ‘No reason needed other than offense.’ Take from that what you will. Whoever employed them seemed really specific about leaving that suicide note.” Staring directly at Luna, I frown. “I never got a chance to read that, by the way. Can I see?”

The three royals share a look, before Celestia nods to Luna. “The contents of the letter, are... very personal,” the younger says, conjuring a scroll and levitating it across the table. “Whomever wrote this put a lot of effort into this, Silver. They know things that very few ponies know—things about you.”

I accept the scroll without a word and slowly unfurl it.

To whoever finds this,

This is not a letter of farewell nor a letter of apology. For who I am and what I’ve done, there can be no apology, forgiveness, or atonement. Though I am a pony, this was not always so. Nopony but the princesses and my therapist know this, but I am not even originally from this world. The world I come from is one of barbarous, conquering apes whose only delight is in finding new ways to kill each other.

“What the fuck?” I say aloud, glancing up from the paper. “Where the hell did they even get this information? It almost sounds like something I discussed with Clear Conscience, but never in that kind of light...”

“Keep reading, Silver,” Luna says in a solemn tone. “It gets much worse than that.”

When I first came to Equestria, I inhabited the body of a mare I tricked into switching places across worlds. Utilizing my newfound powers and contacts, I ingratiated myself with some of Equestria’s greatest heroes. I made them think that I was their friend, that I was some wounded soul who wanted nothing more than to be returned to my own body before beginning a rampage of violence, vandalism, and murder.

“What.”

What I haven’t told anypony is that the incident with that Ponyvillian foal, the one petrified by a cockatrice, did not happen as I explained. The foal was not initially running in the direction of the forest. Overtaken by my innate bloodlust, I herded him there; I wanted him to go into that forest. Ponies told me of the dangers of the place, and I relished in the chance to condemn a child to death there.

I even managed to play the victim, telling tales of a failed attempt at stopping the child from fleeing to its death. The thrill of bragging to a pony that you’ve just doomed a foal to death is something I can’t even begin to describe. Too bad that mare had to ruin it by basically ignoring everything that I said. It would have been more fun had they found the child immediately, but instead they had to go on a whole search of Ponyville.

Okay, so I lost my temper, defenestrated myself, and tried to murder her too. So what? In the end, I managed to get my body back, although it had become a pony body, and I managed to fool the princesses into thinking I was just a harmless dwarf pegasus, paying for my housing, and even sending me to university, where I can find new ways to hurt ponies.

Alas, I cannot keep up this charade; I am not a pony, and I never was. There are certain things a murderess like me cannot learn. Love, compassion, empathy, friendship, and allegiance are all concepts that have no meaning to a wretched thing like me. Probably the only thing ponies have ever taught me is regret and guilt.

When Aqua Regia raped me, she showed me what it’s like to be the one on the receiving end of malicious behavior. She taught me how much it hurt to be abused by others. What I did to that family of bakers in Ponyville by killing their foal... the guilt eats away at me every day. How can I live with myself knowing that I not only murdered a child, but also took pride in that fact?

The answer is that I can’t. Even if I can find a pony who thinks they love me, I can’t return that feeling, because my brain isn’t wired for it. I don’t belong here in this world. For this reason, I have decided to end it all. There is no point in looking for me. By the time this message is found, the currents will already be taking my body out to sea, where it can never harm another soul.

~Silver Script

I let the letter fall from my hooves. My ear twitches fervently as I stare at the hoof that held the unfurled parchment just moments before. After reading all of that horrific character assassination, my mind is racing. How could they have gotten enough details about my past in order to write such a twisted thing about me? What gives them the right to place the blame on me for all of that?

Sliding off of the couch, I refuse to make eye contact with anybody in the room. Every one of my muscles tenses up as I stalk into a large empty space in the room. I don’t even have to look to know that my tail is flicking violently behind me. The only thing I feel or hear is the pounding of my heart and my heavy breathing.

“Silver, are you—” Blossom begins to ask, before I cut her off.

“Prince Consort Shining Armor, your specialty is creating impenetrable magic barriers, yes?” I demand. “Are they sound-proof?”

With my eyes locked on a single point beneath me, I don’t bother trying to gauge his reaction. Instead, I can hear him reading the letter under his breath. “Silver, what are you thinking?” he asks, his voice level. “I understand that you are upset, but I am not going to imprison a pony without evi—”

“I am not upset!” I hiss back at him, sending streamers of spittle flying from my mouth as I stomp my hooves loudly on the tile mural beneath me. “I am asking you to prevent me from doing something incredibly stupid like burning half of Canterlot down in anger!”

“Surely you know better than to do that, Silver Script,” Luna warns, a steely edge in her voice. “Should you try anything of the sort, the Royal Guard would have no choice but to cut you down, and neither of us desires that.”

I turn around and give them all a flat stare. “I know.” Again I stomp my hooves in an attempt to prevent myself from lashing out and destroying something in this lavish sitting room. “When I’m emotional—pissed, especially—common sense goes out the window, which is why I want him to contain me. If I can vent my frustrations, I’m not likely to do anything stupid, which is a big probability at this point.”

I watch them all with a cold glare as tears of anger spill down my cheeks. There’s no doubt in my mind that I look very close to rabid at this point, so why are they so hesitant? “Look. Either someone conjures me up an angry dome, or we find out how flammable the nobles are! Maybe we find out if they taste like chicken. We could have a picnic!”

Strange how it’s not until I mention cannibalism that they decide the bubble is a good idea. The word chicken is barely out of my mouth before a magenta bubble of magic surrounds me, cutting off all sound to the outside. Maybe Shiny still remembers the memory I showed him when I was accused of bullying and sedition. Regardless, it’s exactly what I’d hoped for; large enough that I can move, turn, and in general lash out, but not so large that I have plenty of room to run.

As I begin to smile, I can’t help but lick my lips in excitement. “This is more like it!” I scream, venting all of my fury by bucking my back legs against the barrier. Much to my satisfaction, a low hum resonates through the confined space as my back hooves connect with the shield with enough force to knock me off balance but not bring pain to my joints. “If those motherfuckers think they can take everything that I’ve been through, twist it up like some kind of emo fanfiction, and try to play me off as a villain while faking my death, they’ve got another fucking thing coming!”

In the end, I have no idea how long I was in the bubble. It could be an hour, or even three. Time has no real meaning when you work yourself into such a frenzy that you can’t see anything but blood. Granted, much of the blood is my own, smeared on the inside of the bubble as my hooves began cracking one by one. I don’t even mind the pain, to be honest. As I lay on the floor, heaving and panting, I’m too tired to care.

When the bubble finally drops, sending all the smeared blood to the floor, a concerned Ice Blossom is right there at my side with a medical kit. She doesn’t care that my blood is coating her hooves and coat as she bandages my hooves or passes a cold compress for my bruised muzzle. Her demeanor is patient, caring, and surprisingly calm, given that I basically just behaved like a wild animal.

She doesn’t even seem all that upset as she uses her earth pony strength to ferry me back to the couch. “Sometimes, I swear you overdo things just to get me to coddle you,” she scolds, loud enough for Shining and the Princesses to hear. “I understand how furious you are, but all four of your hooves?”

“It worked with the lamia, didn’t it?” I ask in a teasing tone as she lowers me onto the—not that I can blame them—now plastic wrap covered couch. “Sure, I didn’t once stop my heart this time, but I bet you can still find some way to make me yours.”

“Ahem,” Princess Celestia interjects, reminding us both that we are in the presence of others. “Now that you have, erm—” She glances over at the blood covered tiles with worry. “Now that you have calmed down, we can discuss what has happened.” Lighting her horn up in that regal, golden aura of hers, she points it at me. “We will be monitoring your statements for deception. If any are found, my horn will glow red.”

I nod somberly and begin recounting the relevant events of the last five months. From my first encounter with Aqua to the events of my first estrus and finally up to last night, I spare them no detail. If either princess looks enraged hearing my recounting of how Aqua Regia held me down and violated me with her magic, Luna looks full of absolute, all-consuming bloodlust when I explain how Aqua Regia attempted to silence me the previous night. I dare say she is greatly offended by the idea that ponies still behave in the cutthroat ways of old. Not once does the aura around Celestia’s horn glow red during my entire testimony. The only ponies who manage to contain themselves, somewhat to my surprise, are Shining Armor and Blossom.

On Shining’s part, it may be because I somewhat expected him to be more reactant to rape given how special his little sister is to him, but at the same time, he also has all his guard training to keep him in a neutral position. He probably also realizes that a lie detection spell is only good if the person under the spell doesn’t believe what they are saying is the honest-to-god truth. That, and I don’t doubt that he realizes that with how close Celestia and Luna are to this, sponsoring me and all; he needs to play the neutral party regardless of his feelings or attachments.

Blossom is the real enigma here. I can believe that she’s used to hearing what has been happening, but given how she almost lost me last night, her face is more placid than the stillest lake. The only sign that she’s reacting at all is the chewing of her bottom lip, and even then, I can’t be sure if that’s anxiety or thought. What is going on in her head?

Finally, as my testimony draws to an end, the magic field surrounding Celestia’s horn dissipates. “That certainly sounds like enough of a testimony to bring Aqua Regia in for charges to be pressed,” Shining Armor says at last. “If she is cooperative, then there should be no need for a trial. Otherwise, we will likely need to sequester the witnesses mentioned in your story to prevent collusion or witness tampering.”

Ice Blossom looks confusedly from Shining Armor to the princesses. “Your Highnesses, why wouldn’t you want a trial?” she asks in all of her innocence. “Would it not do better to show the public that nobles who break the law are subject to the consequences like the rest of us?”

“Normally, yes,” Celestia explains, brushing a feather across her muzzle. “Unfortunately, Equestria’s justice system relies heavily on the judgment of the princesses to ensure due process is followed. Usually, only one of us is required to preside over such a case, but higher profile incidences or those involving the more wily of the nobility have always required a majority review by the princesses.”

“Traditionally, in the days of our diarchy, before my descent into the Nightmare,” Luna continues on for Celestia, filling a cup of tea for herself as she speaks, “Celestia and I both observed high profile cases. Following my banishment, Celestia held the position alone. Cadance took up my role when she grew old enough, but following my return, the three of us have alternated.”

Celestia hijacks the teapot from Luna’s telekinetic grip, pouring a cup for herself. “Now that there are four Princesses of Equestria, a high profile case such as this would require three princesses to preside over the case.” She lets out a sigh, offering the teapot to us. Blossom declines, but I pick up a saucer in my hooves and hold it out as the princess pours it into my cup. “Unfortunately, Cadance is only an Equestrian princess in title now, so legally, Twilight would be required to preside.”

“But as bright as she is, she is not ready for such a high profile case,” I hazard a guess. “You don’t want to mar the week of her ascension with a case like this should it go south. You’d still be able to make it public if she pleads guilty rather than face a trial, and it would still shake up the nobility.

“Even after everything I’ve been through, I’ve still put Twilight through more than her fair share of hardship,” I conclude, giving Shining Armor an apologetic smile. “If it gets it done today and Aqua gets everything that’s coming to her, then I don’t care whether or not it goes to public trial.”

The three royals rise from their seated positions and move off to the side of the room, opposite of my mess. I watch them converse in conspiratorial whispers, noting the furtive glances they throw in my direction. I suppose that begs the question what purpose the glances hold. They all look so tense, standing there and talking amongst themselves. Are they deciding how to handle me? Or how to handle Aqua?

It would seem Blossom is also watching them intently, as she turns to me when they back a few paces apart. “What do you think they are doing?” she asks, watching the three channeling mana into the tips of their horns. “Sil—”

“Captain Cutlass,” Luna shouts, silencing Ice Blossom mid-question. The Captain of the Guard—the very same pony that heralded my escape from prison—pokes his head through the open door. “Please send for Prince Blueblood, with haste. Inform him that he is being called upon as legal representative for his House.”

With but an “At once, Your Highness,” the unicorn ducks his head back through the doorway, leaving the five of us alone in the room once more. I must give the dude credit, though. He looks in on a conference between three powerful royals and two civilians, and he doesn’t even bat an eye at the puddle of blood in the middle of the floor. He’s either trained not to question things where the princesses are involved, or he somehow managed to miss the blood entirely. Either way, dude never says a thing.

Turning my attention back to the spellcasting at work, I actually take the time to acknowledge Blossom’s question and contemplate what the princesses and Shining Armor are actually doing. Celestia and Luna are both accomplished spellcasters in their own right, so I can only imagine that Shining is but a drop in the ocean when compared to them. Are they conjuring forth some demon? Halting time to exact some vengeful plan? Ripping a hole in the very universe to throw Aqua Regia in?

Above them, I can just make out what looks like a shimmering patch of air. Strands of magic, barely visible to the naked eye, trail up from their horns, knitting a circular pattern around that patch of air. Slowly, the air currents in the room pick up, rattling the tray of china and whipping everypony’s hair back and forth.

Then, just as their horns begin to flare at their brightest, Aqua Regia drops from the circle in mid sentence. “—can’t believe they made that whorse a princess just because her brother married into royalt—oof!” The moment the unicorn hits the ground, the three spellcasters cut off the flow of magic and glare down at the dazed noblemare. “What in Equestria just haa—oh my.” Looking up at Shining Armor, she pales visibly beneath her coat. “Prince Consort Shining Armor, how nice it is to see you.” When she turns her head, she catches sight of Celestia and Luna. “Aunties... to what do I owe this unexpected visit?”

“Perhaps it would be best, Aqua Regia, if you remain silent until your brother arrives.” The hate seeping through Shining Armor’s carefully measured voice could cut through a meter of tempered steel. Can anyone blame the guy though? Aqua just called Twilight the pony equivalent of a whore—because ponies love their pony puns—in front of him. Mare’s lucky he didn’t just punch her out. “It would be a shame if your mouth got ahead of you before Blueblood arrives.”

“Why?” she asks petulantly. “I have done nothing wrong!”

A low growl escapes the mare beside me. Before I have an opportunity to respond, Blossom leaps across the room in a mere two bounds, shouting, “Nothing wrong?” I dare say that is that last thing Aqua Regia saw or heard before Blossom cold-cocked her clean in the jaw. “Liar!”

Let me tell you. Seeing Blossom punch that cunt out? So fucking hot. Seeing her vanish in a flash of magic? Not so much. Then again, maybe punching Aqua Regia was a bit much, so it’s no surprise that they would send her to another room.

“Aqua Regia of House Blueblood,” Princess Luna says firmly, staring down at the red unicorn seated on the couch before her. “Do you know why you stand here before us today?”

The light-red mare gives a toss of her golden mane as her arctic blue eyes dart back and forth across the faces of Celestia, Luna, and Shining, almost as though looking for some indicator of how fucked she is based off of the welcome she received. “I would presume that I am here regarding my behavior last night.”

“Do not take that tone with us, Aqua Regia of House Blueblood; this is no jest, and should not be treated as such,” Celestia replies in a tone as angry as I’ve ever heard from her. Turning her steely gaze to the unicorn seated beside Aqua. “Blueblood, please inform your sister of the direness of the situation.”

For all the bluster that stallion seems to have when drunk or in a lascivious mood, he knows when to put his spine away. “Sister,” he says in a fairly frightened tone. “You do realize you stand charged with rape, assault and battery, attempted maiming, and public intimidation, do you not?”

“If we want to talk of assault, perhaps I should lay charges against that one’s foreign comfort horse,” she replies angrily, jabbing a hoof in my direction, sitting beside Luna and Celestia’s couch with Shining Armor. “That no-good mare attacked me for no reason!”

“Calling my sister a whorse, questioning her ascension, and then saying you’ve done nothing wrong seems as good a reason as any to me,” Shining Armor mutters darkly, just loud enough to be heard. He gives Blueblood a challenging glare. “Should we maybe add sedition to the list of charges?”

“That won’t be necessary,” Luna replies, shooting the prince consort a warning look. Returning her gaze to the nobles seated across from her, she quickly adds. “I would say that it would be fair to level charges against the mare, should we find no evidence that she had any reason whatsoever to attack you. That being said, if any of the charges laid against you turn out to be true, her crime will be written off as a misdemeanor, and she will be let off with a warning.”

From the look of Aqua Regia’s face, she obviously thinks that this is anything but fair. Hell, she looks like she’s struggling just to put together a sentence to refute that statement. Thankfully, her brother is smart enough to not allow her to speak. “That is very generous, Your Highnesses.” Giving a look to his sister, I see him mouth the sentence, “Let me do the talking.”

“The victim, Silver Script, has already been interviewed on the whether or not her story is credible, and between the three of us, we have detected no lies in any of her statements. There is no doubt regarding the charge of assault, given how many witnesses there were, but regarding the credibility of the victim’s testimony, we have character witnesses as well.” Celestia summarizes levelly. “Should the need become necessary, she has also permitted a viewing of her memories to corroborate that her statements are not false.”

“But Auntie, er, Princess Celestia!” Blueblood protests suddenly, his eyes wide and ears twitching. “Surely a memory can be falsified just as easily as one can deceive a lie detection spell by believing a circumstance.”

“Implying the princesses are so incompetent as to not recognize a bad memory,” I whisper to Shining Armor in a disbelieving tone. “I knew he was a drunken idiot, but I didn’t realize he was mentally handicapped.”

Ignoring the earlier mudslinging on Aqua’s part, Shining lets out a snicker before whispering back, “I’ve been waiting for this day for years.”

The white princess rises from her seat, spreading her wings threateningly. “Blueblood, you have long been irreverent in my presence, but you dare to question my competence?” she intones angrily. “I would think that between the four of us, we would be able to detect a compromised memory.”

“O-oh,” the noble ‘prince’ whispers, averting his eyes from Celestia. “So I am to be examining the memories as well, then.”

Oh hell no! I did not agree to having that arsehole poking around in my mind. I don’t care whether or not he deserves to know what kind of a twisted slut his youngest sister is! That man—stallion, whatever—is a drunken lout and a lecher. I half expect to come out of the memory to see him sporting a stiffy right in front of me. Ergo, I do not want him in my head.

“Relax,” Shining whispers beside me. It’s not enough to quell my unease, but it distracts me from “Just like last time, he’ll only see what he needs to see.”

“Or feel.”

“What?”

“Are you ready, Silver Script?” Celestia asks, jerking my attention back to the exchange between Celestia, Luna and the Bluebloods. “I understand that this will be uncomfortable for you to relive, but know that we are here to support you.”

I want to point out that I’ve undergone a memory viewing before, and that I’ll be reliving this in the most literal sense, but there’s really no point in getting snarky with the princess. “Nobody is ever ready to relive these things,” I say in my most defiant tone. “I will because I must.”

With a nod, Celestia approaches. Her horn is alight with gold in an instant. By the time the tip of her horn touches my forehead, I barely notice the others drawing near. My vision narrows until it’s a single point of light among the darkness. The last thing I hear before that point of light disappears is Luna speaking. “Cutlass, make sure this one doesn’t go anywhere.”

When the memory comes into focus, I’m momentarily worried for the outside world. See, I’m not exactly sure how the body reacts when you are undergoing the sensations of a memory. I recall that when subjected to the memory of eating meat, Shining Armor and the university’s chancellor were both rendered physically ill. Why would that be a problem?

The first moment of the memory begins with me voiding my bladder in the mare’s restroom. Yeah. If two stallions get sick from a memory, would ponies not have accidents as a result of a memory where they can feel their bladder voiding? Think about it. Two princesses, the head of a noble house, and a prince consort delve into a mare’s memories and immediately piss themselves.

My body tenses up at the sound of giggling interrupting the silence of the restroom. It’s not uncommon for gossiping mares to flock to the bathroom together, but in the memory, I’m on edge from my heat, rendered paranoid by Aqua Regia’s cucumber torment. Tentatively, I wipe myself clean, flinching as my oversensitive vulva is agitated by the low grade toilet paper.

Exiting the stall, I’m greeted by the sight of Aqua Regia and a number of her female cronies, just sitting there, giggling. All of them find something humorous except Aqua, who simply stands there, grinning. There isn’t any indication that they’ve been discussing anything. They’re just grinning and giggling.

“Aqua, I sincerely hope you aren’t here to subject me to another levitating cucumber,” my memory doppelganger dryly speaks as the memory directs her. The fear I’m experiencing as Aqua’s stooges position themselves to either side of me, trapping me between the stall door, which has been dragged shut by somepony’s magic. “I would assume a member of the royal family would be above such childishness.”

The mare takes on a look of mock offense, and her fan-fillies let out a number of unappreciative noises. Finally, Aqua’s figment of memory takes on a thoughtful, even concerned smile. “Oh dear, you’ve really got it bad,” she says in condescending false concern. “Let it be known that I am a merciful princess and am always willing to help a subject in need. Aren’t I girls?” Her cronies all snicker darkly, but it does nothing to alleviate the unadulterated malice behind their smiling visages. “I can help you out with your little heat problem... if you’ll let me.”

There’s nothing I can do to hide the unbidden revulsion that surges through the memory. It’s powerful enough that it distorts the entire memory, speeding up my next spoken parts so that it comes off as one rapidfire sentence. “Youcantakeyourhelpandshoveitupyourplot-hole, gofuckyourself.”

After that, Aqua’s response is multitudes more intelligible. “But my darling subject, that’s what I want to help you with!” Even as she says this, things happen in rapid succession. Her horn alights in an acid-green glow, and before her face forms a solid sphere of magic. At that same instant, the goons lunge at me, grabbing hold of my forelegs, and using their superior size to leverage me flat against the wall. The fear coursing through my veins as she approaches is only eclipsed by the dread I feel when she whispers, “You’ll thank me for this later.”

Reliving proves too painful, too shameful, and too embarrassing for me to finish entirely. A spike of pain lances through my skull as the lingering feelings of defeat and shame wash over me, just before Aqua asks me to pleasure her in return. My humiliation at being brought to orgasm against my will, and then reliving it while others relive it with me, reignites all of the repressed emotions and fears, sending an icy wave of panic through my system.

Even before my vision clears, I know that I’m crying. It’s not the tears streaming down my face or the sound of crying—you can’t really sob when you’re hyperventilating after all—that clues me in on the fact that I am crying. I think the only reason I initially realize that I am crying at all is the fact that somepony has draped a wing over me.

“Breathe, my little pony,” that pony whispers into my ear. “It’s over now. You did very well.”

“P-p-le-he-hease, d-d-don’t make me g-g-go through that again,” I stutter, after a failed bout of controlled breathing. “I-I-I promise to b-b-be good! I-I-I’ll leave the n-n-no-b-b-bles alone! Swear!”

Blinking away the tears, I look up at the pony comforting me—Luna—as she stares back down at me in horror. When she tears her eyes away from my tormented gaze, the moon princess looks over to Celestia. “I fear this was a mistake, sister,” she murmurs. “We should never agreed to having her relive this.”

“Well, Blueblood?” Shining Armor asks in a shaky voice, as though he too is perturbed by the episode of my dream. “Are you convinced that the memory is real?”

I can’t bring myself to look in the direction of the noble prince or his damned sister. Still his words come. “I am no expert in the mind, but the emotions and... sensations behind the memory felt real enough.” If I were in a better state of mind, I might even take some comfort in how disturbed he sounds. “Shall we take a break while I confer with my sister as to what we have witnessed?”

Celestia doesn’t even break her gaze with Luna. She just nods and says, “You have five minutes.”

All I want to do at this point is curl up and die. It’s simply impossible that the four of them missed the pleasure I took in my climax. Blueblood is likely to try and turn this on me, stating that it couldn’t have been rape because I liked it, and Celestia, Shining Armor, and Luna aren’t going to be able to deny that I enjoyed myself to some degree. They’re going to have no choice but to throw out the rape charge, and Aqua will get nothing but a slap on the wrist!

I shouldn’t have allowed them to my memories. Make them view Aqua’s memories; that’s what I should have done. Aqua’s going to go free, and I’m going to become one of those mares. That is all I’ll be now: the mare that cried rape. Knowing this, Aqua can come after me all she wants, and nopony will believe me!

“Silver Script, you have to calm down,” Luna states in a very commanding tone. “You have just relived a very traumatic incident, and you are now going into shock.” I try to pull away in spite of my injured hooves, but she pulls me tight against her side with a wing, and uses a free hoof to force me to look at her cyan eyes. “I need you to focus on my voice and listen to me, Silver.

“You are not a bad pony,” she intones in a soothing voice. “What happened to you, and what you felt because of it, is not your fault. Now, I need you to take long, deep breaths; by hyperventilating, you are severely limiting the amount of air getting to your brain.” Maybe it’s the sincere look in her eyes, or the way her voice rings true in my ears, but every breath seems to come easier. “You may be feeling dizzy, ill, or faint, and you are likely not thinking straight. This too will pa—”

“I don’t understand, brother!” Aqua Regia shouts in outrage. “She’s just some miserable commoner on a scholarship! She doesn’t even deserve all this concerned attention they are heaping on her, so why do they care so much about her? Look at her, all cozy with Princess Luna while I am on trial!” In spite of my reinforced fear of the mare, I find myself looking in her direction, only to find her glaring back at me. “Why must I be held a criminal for no crime worth mentioning?”

“Aqua Regia, you are crossing boundaries you do not understand,” Celestia says evenly, her voice seemingly barely contained. “This mare is owed a debt that can barely be repaid.”

“What debt, if I might ask?” Blueblood asks, a lot less aggressively than his sister, but no less challenge in his voice. “For all the research Aqua has had me put into the mare, she simply doesn’t exist before last spring. Her first recorded appearance is as a visitor to an out-of-town mare in the hospital. I have found no registration of birth, no record of childhood education, and no medical records. Despite all this, you are providing her shelter, education, and a rather lofty stipend for a mare who has never worked a day in her life.”

“I’m rather surprised you didn’t put two and two together, Blueblood,” Shining replies mockingly. “Didn’t you listen to Twilight’s coronation speech?”

The noble prince stares at Shining Armor in confusion for a moment, mouthing the word speech for a moment. “Oh,” is all he says. Despite the shaken expression on his face, there’s something off about him. It’s almost like he’s working something over inside that tiny mind of his. For just the slightest of seconds, the corner of his mouth pulls up in a smile.

It occurs to me that Blueblood and Aqua Regia have made believable denials in regards to knowing enough about me to have forged the suicide letter left by the mercenaries in the wake of my kidnapping. Who, then, is responsible for all that then? Is this all just some political game to some other noble?

Celestia steps forward, approaching the two nobles. “Now, are you ready to testify in your defense, Aqua Regia?”

The red noblemare shakes her head. “You’ve already made your decision,” she replies irreverently. “You’re going to side with your pet either way.”

“You do realize, Princess Aqua Regia, that a refusal to cooperate in these circumstances can be taken as an admission of guilt,” Shining Armor states in what surely must be a rehearsed speech. “If you do not wish to testify in front of Silver, the four of us can review your memories. There should be no problem there, unless there is something you wish to hide.”

Aqua glares at the lot of us—Celestia, Luna, Shining Armor, her brother, and of course me—with great malice. I can practically see the smoke pouring from her ears and nostrils, as though she were a highly agitated dragoness. “I am a princess! I do not submit to mind probes at the whim of a former guard! I will not be a participant of this gong show!”

A sad expression overtakes Celestia’s countenance as the foolish noblemare digs her own grave. “Let the record show that Aqua Regia’s refusal to testify does not contain any denial of the crimes for which she is charged.” Wait, who is she talking to? Is this being recorded magically or something pending review? “Further, her refusal to submit to a memory examination indicates guilt on her part. Seeing as there has been no defense made in the case of rape, and a number of credible witnesses that can be summoned regarding the assault, we see no other option than to find Aqua Regia of House Blueblood guilty on all charges.”

This kind of thing should be shocking to Blueblood, since obviously this isn’t going to play out well for his family either, so why is he smiling?

“Per the standard punishment for rape, Aqua Regia’s womb and ovaries will be rendered inert by enchantment upon processing,” Luna states coldly. “Further, she will be sentenced to five years in prison on the regard of the assault. For its part in these crimes, for the Head of House Blueblood could surely not have known what one of his own was up to, Silver Script is to be—”

“Actually, Your Highnesses, before you drag House Blueblood into these proceedings, I would like to present you with a document.” Blueblood is absolutely beaming with malevolence as he conjures up a scroll and levitates it over to the princesses.

The elder reads over the document, her face growing confused. “This is a writ of permanent familial termination, Blueblood,” she states in a tone that indicates a response is not welcome. “This is dated two months ago.”

Of all the ponies in the room, none is more shocked than Aqua. Her eyes brim with tears as she looks at her elder sibling. “Brother, what is the meaning of this? This is hardly the time for jokes!”

Grinning, Blueblood answers in a calm tone. “It’s quite simple, my dear. You have proved a threat to the standing and well-being of House Blueblood, so you have been irrevocably terminated from the family.”

Celestia and Luna share a look before glancing down apologetically at me. “Taking into account this disgusting turn of circumstances, we cannot in good conscience send Aqua Regia to prison when an even harsher sentence has been enacted.” What? No, Luna! You do not get to be merciful with this fucking cow! She’s done unto others, now do unto her! “Pending processing, we hereby sentence you to five years probation. You will be required to check in with your probation officer daily, and you will not go within two hundred meters of Silver Script or the university.”

“Do you understand the conditions of your sentence as they have been read to you?” Celestia asks. The mare formerly called princess blinks repeatedly for a few moments before nodding slowly to the princess. “Good. Now, for your disgusting attempts at circumventing your punishment for your sister’s crimes, House Blueblood will be required to liquidate fifty percent of its assets and donate them all to charity.”

“But that’s millions of bits worth of—”

“Sixty.”

My hooves ache in protest as I rise to my feet, but I don’t care. Between the shame I feel at having been forced to relive all that again, and the betrayal of Luna’s mercy freshly slapped in my face, I’m too numb to feel the pain. I don’t notice any of the ponies in the room or their cries of protest as I make my way to the door. How can something that went so right go so wrong?

I mean, Celestia and Luna have one job in this case, and that is to ensure that justice is served! What do they do? They give her a slap on the fucking wrists and a tight leash! So what if she’s stripped of all her belongings, her dignity, her family, and support? If that had been me, I guarantee I’d be straight back into a fucking jail cell! Fuck mercy; the bitch should hang for what she did!

Author's Notes:

Sorry about the delay folks. Things happen, then I lose steam, and then I randomly get steam and then bam. Chapter done. So here we are.
Somepony will explain to Silver in the next chapter why the princesses decided on Aqua's punishment is considered 'just', so don't fret if you don't think it makes sense to you. Ponies be crazy, don't forget.

Editing thanks go out to Refro, Kaidan, and our special guest editor [someone you'll probably be seeing a lot more of], Fourpony. So make sure to give them lots of hugs and cocaine and Adderall, okay?