Diamond Tiara was taken by surprise when a couple of Ponyville unicorn police ponies cuffed her legs and placed a ring on her horn that blocked her magic. "You are under arrest on charges of gross treachery. Many ponies are either dead or in griffin hands because of your greed for griffin gold." She wailed her innocence as they dragged her away. Celestia decided that because of the seriousness of her offence she would be tried as an adult in open court, in accordance with Celestia's belief that justice where possible should not only be done, but should be seen to be done.

Diamond paced to and fro in the little horsebox below the court, her chains clinking loudly with every step. I didn't do this dreadful crime, I love my country and my Queen and my family is one of the oldest and the richest in all of Equestria. They love me, my parents love and cherish me and there is no way that they would abandon me in my hour of need. I'm their favourite daughter. Right now they are no doubt busy hiring the best and most expensive lawyers in all of Equestria to defend me and clear me of the spying charges...Her thoughts of rescue were interrupted by the sound of a letter sliding under her door. She picked it up and opened it with her horn.

Your family are sickened by your crime and have decided to disown you. Therefore you will get no help nor visits from your family and will be known as Diamond X. You are no longer part of the Tiara family. It was signed by Many Books, the Tiara family lawyer. Diamond burst into tears as she realised that there would be no help and that her family already considered her guilty and had abandoned her to her fate. She was still crying when they hauled her up into the packed courtroom to face Celestia. Amongst the many angry ponies glaring at her was Sweetie Belle.

"Order in the court. Diamond X, you are charged with spying for the Griffin Kingdom resulting in the death of twenty ponies and the kidnapping of hundreds more. If you plead guilty now I might well lessen your sentence. Do you plead guilty or not guilty?"

"Not Guilty."

The trial went badly for Diamond; she had her talents but a knowledge of the law was not one of them. She was unable to tell Celestia who, if not her, had placed the gold bits in her garden, and all too soon Celestia found her guilty. "Diamond X, I find you guilty of the charge of spying, and you are very lucky that I do not support the death penalty, which is a punishment that you richly deserve. My sister has been alone since she was banished to the moon a thousand or so years ago; I think after all that time she needs some company." Celestia's horn glowed green and then blue. "When there you will be magically protected from the baking heat of the two week long lunar day and the freezing chill of the lunar night, also from thirst and starvation. As I said earlier, I do not support the death penalty, but you will never be able to return home again and will age as normal. Farewell, traitor."

Once more Celestia's horn glowed and Diamond vanished from the dock and from Equestria.

***

Princess Luna was reviewing her army, or rather, the piles of stone lifted into place with her horn that she thought were her army. She walked up and down as if on a parade. In her first days on the moon she had been enraged with her sister and had tried to teleport and then to fly away without success. After that she had spent a year exploring every cave and plain and mountain on the moon, renaming them as she discovered them, telling herself stories from time to time, playing games in the dust with her hooves, wondering if she was missed down there. After the first year she had come across pony tracks and followed them all over the place wondering where their owner might be, when in fact the tracks were just those of her own hooves. After the first decade she had used her alicorn magic to erect piles of stones which in her mind became guards and party guests and the occasional subject asking for favours. She stopped at a particularly large rock which long ago she had promoted to the rank of general. "General, your stallions stood still as stones on parade today, I'm proud of them and of you. Each of them is awarded an extra bit and they can have the afternoon off."

There was a pop and Diamond Tiara appeared upon the moon. Luna stared at her, her light purple fur the first colour other then her own fur she had seen in a while. She rarely looked at the greens and browns of her home planet as it hung like a beach ball in the sky, as it made her feel homesick. The only colours of the moon were the grey of moondust, the black of shadows and rarely the white of ice in a crater that puffed into vapour at once if placed in the sunlight, and this was the first time she had seen purple in many centuries. The shock of a real live pony temporarily snapped Luna back to sanity and she trotted over and planted a big kiss on Diamond's cheek.

"Company! It is so long since I have had company, real company! How did you get here? Have you been sent to bring me home? What's your name." Luna was bouncing around as if she was Pinkie Pie, she was that happy at no longer being alone.

"I'm Diamond Tiara, and I will never see my home again, somepony framed me for spying for the Griffins and Princess Celestia sentenced me to life imprisonment on the moon," Diamond replied sadly.