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Chapter 23 - The trial - Part 1.
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Chrysalis had returned to her small room of stone and metal, disappointment was again her company and she could only watch through the small window as again her future was taken away from her, she hid from the world under the bed, doing things wrong had not worked, trying to do things right did not work either, maybe she did not deserve to be happy, Chrysalis closed her eyes and slowly let herself fall into the dark emptiness that filled her heart.
The queen in her small fortress heard her cell open and could see four cherry-colored hooves enter and stop in the middle of her cell.
"Chrysalis are you here?" Asked the figure in a feminine voice, to which the queen only shrank further into her hiding place.
"Chrysalis I know you are hiding under the bed, I can see your tail peeking out."
The queen stretched out her hoof to grab her tail and also hide it with the rest of her body, an action Cheerilee couldn't help but see, the teacher approached the bed and bent down to look under it and found the queen balled up hiding from the world and full of sadness.
"Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Cheerilee asked softly.
"Well, I'm where I belong, if the world wants me locked up alone and sad in this place...then I'll stay here, I don't deserve to be happy."
"You know that's a lie and no matter what anyone else says, you didn't do anything wrong and it's their problem if they can't understand that."
"Then why doesn't anyone want me to be happy?."
"We want you to be happy, right now Pistil is with Twilight and Red Bug figuring out the mistake of why you were locked up, Princess Luna was flying straight to Ponyville to personally take care of Clear Spark and keep him from going back to that slu... with his birth mother, I will stay as long as you want by your side so you don't feel alone, do you think we would do these things if we didn't want you to be happy?"
"No..."
"There are many ponies that want you two to be happy, there are so many that you could easily fill a whole town with them and there is such a town, it's called Ponyville, the place where you have your little home and there are all your friends waiting for you to come back soon with your son."
"And then why do these things happen?, I changed but the world doesn't want to accept it."
"The world will always give you blow after blow to knock you down and many times it will succeed but you have always been a fighter and you have always managed to get up, but now it is a little different because you are also taking the blows from your son, the times the world tried to knock him down you stood in the middle and took the blow for him as a real mother does."
Chrysalis stood silently listening to her friend's words.
"Are you going to make me believe that you're going to stop fighting for your son because a piece of paper tells you to?"
"No..."
"Am I to believe that you intend to let your son go back to that mare?."
"I'm not leaving him."
"Are you going to hide from the world under your bed for the rest of your life?"
"I'm not going to."
"Then what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to get my son back." Shouted the queen standing up breaking the bed in the process and approaching the bars of her cell to beat them until they were broken and getting out of there.
"WAIT!." Cheerilee shouted putting herself between the queen and the bars. "If you want to do this we must do it right, in my bag I have some bombs but-."
"You have some WHAT?" Asked a female voice coming down the hallway walking up.
"I have a bomb...bastic idea to help Chrysalis...but I didn't expect you guys to get here so fast so I couldn't...mention it." Cheerilee replied somewhat nervously.
"Cheerilee may I see your bag for a minute?, I'm curious about...your ideas and I'd like to check them out." Twilight asked with intrigue.
"You know you need a warrant to go through my personal belongings?". Replied Cheerilee to which everyone turned to look at Pistil.
"She's right, Law 1445-C." Replied the changeling nodding his head.
"Thank you, now if you'll excuse me I must go to the restroom and do completely legal things, I'll be back in a moment." Said Cheerilee coming out of the dungeon.
"May I know what-."
"I'm under no obligation to tell you Twilight." Cheerilee interrupted before disappearing down the hallway.
"Did you find out anything?" The queen asked.
"Petal Dance filed for an annulment of the adoption and made the complaint arguing that she was under a spell of yours and that's why she didn't remember her beloved son." Red Bug replied.
"You know that's a lie."
"We know but this is very good for you." Pistil said.
"Why would it be?" Asked the queen.
"Because now we can counter-sue Petal Dance and go to trial, and with the tons of evidence along with the army of witnesses on your side, Petal Dance can't win, there is even a high probability that she will end up in this prison and not you."
"And what should I do?"
"Prepare because tomorrow we will start with the final battle." The group nodded their heads certain that everything would go perfectly.
The next day everyone was in court waiting for the judge, on one side was Chrysalis with her lawyer, and on the other side was Petal Dance with a recently hired lawyer, there were some friends of the queen from Ponyville and other cities, in the jury, there were ponies of various types, a Yak and a griffon, no one was saying anything and the only thing that could be heard was the sound of a clock ticking every second of tension.
A wooden door opened and everyone stood up to see a unicorn appear, a light-colored mare of advanced age wearing glasses who sat in her stall and ordered some papers that she had at her side.
"Ms. Petal Dance, since you are the mother of the child in custody and the one who made the complaint against Ms. Chrysalis, I think it would be correct for you or your attorney to start talking, then it will be Ms. Chrysalis' turn and we will come back to you, we will use that order in reviewing the evidence and talking to those involved, is that okay with you?" The judge asked.
Petal Dance and her attorney nodded in agreement.
"Ms. Chrysalis, do you and your attorney feel that is correct, or do you want to add anything else?".
Chrysalis and Pistil muttered something to each other and both nodded.
"Perfect, then MS. Petal Dance, you may begin." Said the judge.
"Thank you, your honor." Said Petal Dance's attorney as he stood up. "I would like to begin by hearing the testimony of the perpetrator, Ms. Chrysalis may take the stand?."
Chrysalis rose from her seat and had to stand on the stand as she was too large for the stool, a guard approached the queen asking her to place her hoof on a book and swear to tell only the truth to which the queen nodded her head.
"Ms. Chrysalis please tell us what happened from your point of view the first time you encountered the colt and what you did after that."
"Okay, I was in the forest..." Chrysalis told the story once again as far as the lawyer had asked giving as much detail as possible. "...Then on returning to Canterlot, I returned Clear Spark to his mother who didn't look too happy to see her son."
"That's a lie." Petal Dance said.
"Ms. Dance please control yourself, you will have your time to speak." Replied the judge shutting the mare up on the spot.
"So Ms. Chrysalis, we all know how you came to the forest, for no one is a secret about the attack on Canterlot, but I have some doubts about your story that I can't understand."
"What would they be?"
"You said you first tried to scare the colt to steal his love, then you planned to use him to find his mother and steal their love, then you returned him to his loving and distraught mother, but at no point did you mention how you knew his mother was trying to abandon him in the forest."
"Well...no one leaves their foal alone in the woods, let alone one with his condition."
"So you assumed his mother abandoned him even though in your own story you told us that Clear Spark was waiting for her."
"I found him crying hours after his mother left him there."
"Everyone knows little ones exaggerate their stories, he could have only been there for five minutes for all we know, and how can we be sure you are telling the truth about the mother's reaction, we all know your past after all." Said the lawyer with a grimace.
"Because I am telling the truth." Replied the exalted queen.
" Attorney please limit yourself to asking the questions and not making judgments and Ms. Chrysalis I would appreciate it if you would also limit your outbursts." Ordered the judge, some in the courtroom began to murmur as did the jury.
"Your witness." Said the lawyer to Pistil who rose from his seat to begin.
"Chrysalis you told in your story that you found little Clear Spark alone in the woods didn't you."
"That's right."
"And you also said that after searching for a whole day you could not find the child's mother, right?"
"That is correct."
"And the next day, not knowing where the child lived, you approached the authorities in search of information about a missing child, could you repeat what the guards told you?
"That they had no record of any missing foal."
"So you mean to tell us that for two full days, the supposedly loving mother did not show up at any time to report that her child was missing, do you find that normal?"
"I don't think anypony can say that's normal."
The jury again murmured at the queen's responses.
"Thank you for your time Ms. Chrysalis, you may return to your seat." The queen walked to her seat next to her attorney.
The mare's lawyer stood up from his seat. "I would now like to call Petal Dance to the stand."
The mare stood up and sat where she has also directed swearing that she would tell only the truth.
"Ms. Dance, could you indicate in your words why you did not notify the authorities of your son's disappearance."
"I remember that day I was going to drop my little boy to school as I did every day but I forgot something at home, I asked my son to wait for me for a moment and that I would be right back, but I remember that I mysteriously lost consciousness and woke up the next day at home, I despaired like any mother and moments before going out to look for my son I felt someone knocking on my door, it was my beloved little boy accompanied with this harpy, I could do nothing but thank her for returning my safe and sound, but had I known at that moment that she was responsible I assure you that I would have attacked her at that moment. "
The jury murmured again.
"Thank you, Ms. Dance." Said the attorney before sitting down, Pistil stood up at that point.
"Ms. dance, I must say your story is curiously timely, as we have testimony from stallions and some mares who saw you frequenting the market the same day your son disappeared, we even have physical evidence of a ticket in your name when you checked into a luxury hotel in Canterlot that same night, can you explain how you could have done that if you were unconscious?"
The changeling took a ticket from the evidence and showed it to the jury who looked it over and murmured among themselves as they did so.
"I'm not going to ask you to air your private life in front of the court but your story is very convenient I must say, thank you for your time."
Petal Dance returned somewhat angrily to her seat, and the mare's lawyer stood up again and called someone else to testify.
"I would like to call Princess Twilight Sparkle to testify." To which the princess agreed in kind.
"Princess, could you tell us what Chrysalis' actions were during the Canterlot attack?".
"Objection your honor, the question has no bearing on the case."
"I'm sorry your honor, I will rephrase my question, Princess, in your experience is it possible that Chrysalis had the capacity or ability to hypnotize Clear Spark's mother?".
"She has the ability to do so."
"And is it possible that she hypnotized Clear Spark's mother for a long period of time for her own benefit?."
"It is possible."
"You think she has the magical ability to perform it and to have hypnotized Petal Dance for all this time, and that she would not think about her son?".
"The user of a hypnosis spell can create any idea he wishes and implant it in the pony he hypnotizes."
"Thank you, princess." Said the lawyer sitting down and allowing Pistil to ask her questions.
"Princess, your brother was hypnotized by Chrysalis during the invasion of Canterlot, could you briefly explain to us what that spell consists of."
"The user of the spell needs a high level of concentration and time so he needs the subject to which the spell is applied to make no sudden movements and to be calm, preferably sleeping, it requires a long time and a lot of magic to achieve it and it can extend its duration if he has contact with the subject at least once a day."
"Chrysalis was living in Ponyville for months in plain sight, do you think she would have been able to make that daily trip to keep the spell on Petal Dance for all that time without raising suspicion?."
"It would be impossible."
"Do you think someone else could have performed that spell?"."
"No, that spell is of a very high level and its magical signature limits only the pony casting the spell to be able to maintain it for the time, a normal unicorn could not perform it and if he can do it he could not maintain it for more than two or three days before becoming exhausted."
"Thank you, princess." Finished saying Pistil to which Twilight was able to return to her seat.
The jury and most of those present murmured at the queen's answers.
The judge looked at her watch and remembered she had an important appointment with the handsome owner of Canterlot's newest restaurant `L'insetto nero`.
"We will take a recess from the case and continue tomorrow morning at nine o'clock if you all agree." Both attorneys nodded and the judge tapped the gavel with the little wooden hammer everyone wanted to have before retiring to her office.
"This went much better than I thought it would, Petal Dance's lawyer has nothing to build his case on, tomorrow with the witnesses and the evidence we have, there is no way we can lose." Pistil said to the queen. " Take a rest Ms. Chrysalis, because tomorrow we will finish everything."
Chrysalis left the court together with her lawyer towards Canterlot castle knowing that everything would soon be over.
I KNEW IT!!! I CALLED IT!!!
I’m a lawyer. This was cute. :) I’ll let most of my nitpicks slide, but Pistil or any other attorney should NEVER say “there is no way we can lose.”
11475553
YES!!!!!
https://youtu.be/cphNpqKpKc4
Cheerilee is starting to scare me.
not really but still
This is shaping up like the court scene from "A Few Good Men", Celestia going to be the last testimony and blow her own plan out the water
I loved Cherilee's way of getting Chrysalis out of prison via bombs.
11475507
Yeah, still believing Celestia had something to do with this, and you provide some very good points as to how she can be behind it. We'll just have to wait and see in the next chapter.
11475656
Don't mess with Ms. Cheerilee; that's the moral of the story kids.
11475553
Funny, Counselor, I'm a crime scene investigator, and I was thinking much the same...
11475507
Once that's true. Well, that's a new kind of low for Celestia.
Because, Think about it? Celestia is FRICKIN willing to not only work with that slut/bad mother. But, IF she let Petal somehow win. Than poor Clear Spark will go right back to his terrible "biological" mother. So, Celestia herself is willing to DOOM a poor blind kid's life, over a over petty/hypocritical, and ridiculous thousand year old Grudge over Chrysalis!!??
I hope that Chrysalis, Cheerilee, Twilight ( And hopefully added the other Mane Six, Spike, and Shining for their own opinions? ), Candace, and especially Luna to definitely FLIP OUT and go tenderized her dumbass to paste. And to finally speak out her own hypocrisy, and giving out Celestia is acting no better, if not WORST than any previous villain, by personally sacrificing an innocent child's own happiness, over your own rather dumb pettiness over Chrysalis dark past.
Not to mentioned a potential war from the Changelings, for their Queen's unjust imprisonment. ( P.S. Seriously, Coto616? Why are you vaguely ignoring our comment section, never involve other characters like the Mane Five, Spike, Shining, and possibly Starlight. Their own opinions DO matter too.
And to never mentioned a potential threatening of war with the Changelings? You're also ignoring their own reactions as well. Or didn't show a flashback of seeing Twilight, Cadence, and possibly Luna realized their poor judgement, and apologizing? )
Anyway, if Celestia finally doesn't change, repent, and owns Chrysalis, her Changelings, and especially Clear Spark a huge ass apology. But goes full-on crazy and turn Daybreaker? Well, screw her!!! And just banished her to her own sun. Give her a taste of her own medicine, and somewhat of a poetic justice/karma over Luna's own previous imprisonment.
I think this can actually be used as an argument against Petal Dance in court. If Petal Dance didn't remember "her beloved son", then why would she have filed adoption papers for a son she didn't remember she had? How could Chrysalis have put Petal Dance under a spell when she's only been in contact with her once, and that being... however long it's been since the Royal Wedding? How could Petal Dance write a letter that literally disowned her own son to abandon him if she had no memory of a son in the first place?
At best, Petal Dance could argue that her memory was altered to the point of believing she didn't love her son. But that doesn't change the fact that child abandonment is illegal, and she had done it twice, one of those times being BEFORE THEY'VE EVER BEEN IN CONTACT! But lying in court is a felony, and I doubt Celestia has the proper authority to get her off the hook if she does lie. Perhaps in court, the first thing they should tell her is that lying under oath is a federal offense and that Celestia does NOT have the authority to protect her if she does lie.
I'm betting that Celestia hired that lawyer personally to be the best of the best... Either that or a ponified version of Rudy Giuliani.
I noticed that there are no Changelings in the jury (or at least no undisguised Changelings). Wouldn't that technically be considered a biased jury, like when a black person is on trial, and the jury is stacked with white people? (And yes, that is a thing) Legally, a lawyer can suggest that they recast the jury if they believe it is a biased jury. Although that goes both ways. Both the Defense Attorney and the Prosecutor can make that request.
He had a school bag on him. And in that bag was an uneaten lunch. So at the very least, he had been in the forest since before lunchtime. And since Chrysalis found him when it was getting late in the evening, that's a significant amount of time. And then there's the fact that there were several more Apples than normal, far more than a mere school lunch, implying that Petal Dance leaving him there was premeditated. That plus the fact that she had chosen to take him on a "scenic route" which was pointless for a blind foal, and that scenic route just happens to go through the forest...
She has a witness that can testify to corroborate that claim. I don't remember his name, but he's someone who knows Petal Dance well (if you know what I mean), and knows that this wasn't the first time Petal Dance seemed disinterested in him.
Technically this isn't lying, because she's pointing out what she was telling Clear Spark. And it all checks out. Clever... And I'll bet she was coached about what to say.
To be fair, perhaps there is truth to this. There was the attack on Canterlot, so perhaps she was attacked. However...
static.wikia.nocookie.net/aceattorney/images/4/4d/Objection%21_%28SoJ%29.png/revision/latest?cb=20210615182924
None of this explains how she got home in the first place. If she was attacked by a Changeling, and that Changeling took her home, how did that Changeling know where she lived? That goes the same with Chrysalis. How could she have known where she lived? If it was a random pony, why weren't the royal guards notified? I suppose that could be a question to ask that random pony, but we don't know who that pony could've been. If it was a royal guard who found her, how did they know where she lived? And again, why wouldn't it have been documented?
(Can you tell I'm a fan of Phoenix Wright?)
Preparing for a wedding (and being a bridezilla).
I think that the real question is, why would Chrysalis specifically target Clear Spark and Petal Dance? Her original goal was to take over Canterlot as a whole, not a single family that would have no power or influence.
11475589
I love the idea.
11476368
It is one of my favorite movies, if you need reference, here is the scene ~ Jasmine
https://youtu.be/cEiFhKOnS1Y
https://youtu.be/t7EksvnO9hI
11475562
Especially in the world of MLP. Saying "There's no way we can lose." is along the lines of "What can possibly go wrong?" and "Things could be worse.". There's like a universal force that summons karma to act on those words.
11475582
To me, she's just starting to sound like the Lunaverse's version of Cheerilee.
11475813
I have to disagree. First of all, Coto616 isn't ignoring our comments. Much of what's happening in the story is the result of the comments. In fact, the idea of Chrysalis getting a lawyer may have been my idea. And the idea of the Changelings going to war because of this doesn't make sense. The Changelings, this entire time, have been trying to get rid of the stigma against them, and a war would make all their effort up until now pointless. There's also the fact that them going to war may be going against Chrysalis's wishes. And why would they go to war when the problem is literally just one pony?
As for Twilight and Cadance, a flashback isn't needed. You saw them beginning to think after they had been addressed personally. Sure, it could've been done better, since it skips over any mention of them changing their minds and only learn it in the next chapter when Cheerilee told Chrysalis. So yeah, I'd agree that there was what could be considered a scene or two missing. But you saw the gears in their brains moving.
As for Luna, what was there for her to realize she was wrong about? All she did was follow what the law said. After all, she wasn't being charged for kidnapping or the attack on Canterlot during the royal wedding. Twilight and Cadance were just using those as an excuse because what Chrysalis did recently wasn't illegal. Luna wasn't in the wrong, she was just staying neutral. And by staying neutral, her judgment was purely based on what the law says. In fact, Luna was likely the most legally justified out of all 4 Princesses. Twilight and Cadance were morally misguided, which is why they were morally justified.
As for Celestia... we're probably more or less on the same page. And at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if she'll start forging evidence.
11473389
To those who have played Conan Exiles or know the game, one of the reasons for being sentenced to death in exile is to break a Pinky promise, so apparently, it's a severe charge.
Surprised they didn't have the abundance of Canterlot witnesses.