Trial and Error
City of Guilds
Chapter 6: Trial and Error
Rarity was lying down on a plush pillow, enjoying a morning tea prepared for her by some of Isperia’s personal assistants. Rarity was unsure of why Isperia would offer such things to her, but she wasn’t about to deny the chance to indulge herself. The white unicorn greedily sniffed the tea, and the sweet taste to come filled her senses. A sigh passed her lips as she brought the teacup to her lips. However, she was stopped by a loud yelling coming from down the hall.
“Judge Rarity!” screamed a Vedalken servant as he ran through the halls of New Prahv. “Rarity, Judge Rarity.” The Vedalken, named Vix, burst into the room in which Rarity was having her tea. “I-I-I’m terribly sorry, madam.”
Rarity arched an eyebrow quizzically, but then she remembered that she had yet to put on her clothes. While she had no problem with nudity, as it wasn’t an issue on Equestria, on Ravnica it was considered a taboo. So she normally walked around the districts or the guildhall in her extravagant judge’s clothes. But whenever she could, read: her morning tea, she enjoyed lounging about, without having to worry about her absurdly long train catching on something.
The Vedalken was standing at attention, its hands behind its back, facing out the door. “Milady, Isperia has requested that you preside over today’s trial.”
The unicorn judge sighed dramatically before replying. “Well I suppose that if Isperia herself requests it, I should go, so tell me, what shall I be presiding over?”
“The trial to decide ownership of the body of Myczil. On one side, the Selesnya Conclave, represented by Fluttershy. On the other, the Golgari Swarm, represented by Applejack.”
Rarity nearly choked on her tea. “Where is Isperia?”
“She is in her private garden. Why, Milady?”
With a speed that would make Rainbow Dash jealous, Rarity threw on her Judge clothes and galloped out the door heading for her mentor’s private chambers.
Isperia was lazing around her personal garden. One of the benefits of being the leader of a guild was that anytime you wanted vacation time, you could just take it. It helped that Isperia had Rarity as a protege. As if on cue, said protege burst into the room panting and wearing her headdress backwards.
“Rarity dear,” Isperia cooed, “what has you so frazzled?”
“Today’s trial.”
“It’s the trial of the century. I would think you would be glad to be presiding over something so... important.”
“I have to decide between two of my friends!” Rarity yelled, “Both of them have good reasons for wanting Myczil’s body; I can’t possibly...”
“You can and will,” Isperia’s voice echoed through the chamber. “You are an Azorius judge. You will not back down from a case of this magnitude.” Isperia stopped and breathed in and out from her large nostrils. “Besides,” Isperia cooed softly, “this is a fitting last test before I appoint you the official head judge of the Azorius guild.”
“H-h-h-head judge!” Rarity squealed. “That means that I... that I-”
“Would receive a larger living accommodation, significantly larger salary, and numerous other bonuses,” Isperia said sweetly. “Why you would live like... a princess.”
The words washed over Rarity like a wave; promises of wealth and royal fantasy played out in her mind. The fantasy came to an abrupt end, however, when she remembered that in order to achieve it she would be forced to betray one of her friends.
The unicorn started to slink away when Isperia called back to her. “Rarity, if you do not wish to preside over this case I can always find someone... less involved.”
“No,” Rarity responded. “With no disrespect to my fellow judges, one of the members of this case is a Golgari, and I know that she won’t be heard out by anyone else.”
Isperia chuckled, “Someday you will have to learn, my prodigy, that certain creatures are undeserving of your generosity.”
Rarity stood at the podium of the main judgement chamber of New Prahv. The central podium where she stood was carved of solid gold and made specifically for Rarity’s height. The rest of the room was pristine, pearl-colored stone. The benches where the onlookers for the day’s trial were sitting was made of varnished wood with blue plush seating. The two podiums in front of Rarity were also pony-sized. One was the old podium that would be set up for Rarity when she was presiding over a case; the other was crafted after the fourth time in three months that Twilight had been to New Prahv. A banner of the Selesnya symbol was draped over the right podium, with a Golgari banner thrown haphazardly over the other.
The double doors at the back end of the room opened and a throng of people came through. The various people began taking seats at the back of the room. Not just Azorius, Selesnya, or Golgari, but people from all guilds took seats at the back. After all of the bystanders for today’s trial sat down, Fluttershy entered the room. Clothed in a simple green and white dress, the yellow pegasus walked nervously over to the Selesnya podium and took her seat. Applejack, clothed in rags, sat herself down at her podium as well. The Jedav from the previous day, accompanying Fluttershy today as well, began to snicker at the undead farm pony.
“Ah suppose ya ain’t impressed with mah choice of dress?” the Golgari muttered through gritted teeth.
The Jedav’s snickering broke out into a chuckle. “If you can consider that a dress, then I suppose that the trash in the bin the corner is technically food, isn’t it?”
“Now that wasn’t very nice,” mumbled Fluttershy.
“Ah see that you’ve improved your sense of humor; still sucks, but at least you can pretend that you’re clever,” Applejack countered. Rarity barely managed to silence her own growing laughter at the proceedings. The Jedav muttered something unintelligible and took her place in the audience.
Rarity walked over to Applejack, earning her a dirty look from the Jedav. “Before the trial begins I would like a chance to converse with my friends, I’m sure that you believe that this will not impact the outcome of the trial; you don’t think me biased, do you?” Rarity said with smug smile. The Jedav silenced herself and started muttering prayers under her breath. “Hello Applejack, it is a pleasure to see you well.”
“It’s good to see you too. Sugarcube, and good to see that one of us hasn’t changed, still as fancy as always,” Applejack said with a smile.
“Well,” Rarity responded with mock hurt in her voice, “better to be dressed fancy than to be dressed in rags.” She ribbed. “Honestly dear, where did you find that outfit? The trash outside of a tannery?”
Applejack gave a hearty laugh before redirecting her sight towards the Jedav. “Ya see, that is how its done.” She laughed a bit more before regaining a more serious composure. “Seriously though, Jarad said that I’d have a better chance if I went clothed, but I don’t really have any money... at all.”
“Well it is true darling, the people of Ravnica are far less accepting of free-spirited things like that, but still, you could have asked...”
“Nah,” Applejack quickly rebutted, “I needed to do this myself, I can’t just go running to my friends when I need help.” Rarity opened her mouth to argue, but Applejack continued, “besides, you would’ve gotten in trouble for helping out a participant in the trial, specially a Golgari.”
Rarity sighed. “Alright, you win, but,” she added quickly, “I will take you shopping after this is all over. I think that we could both use a little catching up, especially in the wake of the princesses wanting to take us back home...”
“Ah’m not going back.” Applejack stared back at Rarity. “Ah can’t, the princess won’t take me back like this.”
Fluttershy opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by Vix yelling to Rarity, “Judge Rarity, it is time for the trial to begin.”
Summoning up all the professionalism she could muster, Rarity approached the podium with her head held high. While the idea that one of her friends would be unable to go back home scared her, there were matters that, while not more important, were more currently in need of her attention. “This is the trial for the rights of burial of the body of Myczil, son of noted heroes of the Dissension crisis, Fonn and Jarad.” Getting a good look at the audience Rarity noticed that the room was packed with people of all guilds; all different kinds of creatures, from goblins to merfolk, dotted the seats.
“Judge Rarity,” whispered the Vedalken.
Rarity snapped herself out of her stupor. “On the one side, we have the Selesnya who wish to bury Myczil’s body with the body of his mother, Fonn, at the base of the World tree of Vitu-Ghazi, so that their souls may join the Worldsoul.” Murmurs of agreement echoed throughout the hall, and more than a few Selesnya mages began chanting about the Worldsoul.
“It looks as though the audience certainly knows who they wish to have the body,” the Vedalken servant muttered.
“And on the other,” Rarity shouted, “we have the Golgari, represented today by Applejack, who wish to have the body for the guildmaster, Jarad, Myczil’s father, to be buried as he wishes.” Rarity took a second to readjust her headdress before continuing, “We shall start by hearing the summation of the arguments from each side; we shall begin with the argument from the Golgari representative, Applejack.”
Applejack stood up to her podium. “Thank ya kindly, miss judge, I would like to start by saying why I’m here instead of Jarad.” The undead farmer cleared her throat. “Jarad sent me because he thought that having a guildmaster in the proceedings would tip things in his favor and wanted this to be a fair and honest trial.” As she spoke, her accent grew less and less pronounced. “Ah, I mean, I was chosen to represent him instead, and so I would like to start by arguing that Myczil is his son.”
“But he is Ravnica’s hero,” shouted the Selesnya Jedav accompanying Fluttershy. “His body should not be hid away in some filthy, smelly corpse-pit, it should be celebrated with a statue and feast.”
“Both of which can be accomplished without the physical body, miss...” Rarity chimed in.
“Ane is my name,” replied the angry Jedav. “And should you really be taking her side so early in the trial?”
“I am taking no one’s ‘side,’ I am merely relaying that the current argument path you are pursuing is rather weak.” The unicorn turned her eyes towards her shy, butter-colored friend, “Also if memory serves, Fluttershy is supposed to be the one defending your side.”
Ane sat down quietly, and gave a not-so-subtle look to Fluttershy. “Umm, well, umm.” The butter-colored pegasus breathed in deeply, and exhaled loudly. “Well, I would argue that he was a member of the Selesnya guild at the time of his death, which balances out the advantage of the Golgari having a living relative,” she robotically intoned.
Applejack grumbled. “Ah understand... I mean, I understand that,” the undead farmer gulped and attempted to recomposed herself. “But I would also like to say,” she began, her accent feeding back through, “ah know that you Selesnya don’t have much respect for us, but mah master wouldn’t dump his son, his son, in a corpse-pit like some common garbage...”
“‘Common garbage?’” Ane responded furiously. “Is that what you think of the average Ravnican citizen who gets thrown in one of those?” The crowd muttered amongst itself, giving dirty looks to the flustered farmer.
“Ah didn’t mean it like that!” Applejack quickly denied. “Ah was... ah mean, I was just trying to...”
“That is enough,” Rarity yelled, slamming a gavel against the podium. “You will not continue to engage in such underhanded practices as twisting somepony’s words to try and change the verdict!”
“You Golgari are all the same,” Ane continued, heedless of Rarity’s complaints, “just a bunch of undead monsters; you probably just want to bring the body back to life so that you can continue to play undead pretend, not tied to mortality like the rest of us.” The crowd began shouting along with Ane at this point, screaming slurs against the Golgari in general.
“Enough!” screamed Fluttershy. “Selesnya Jedav Ane, how you could try and use shame and twist words to get the trial to go the way that you want?” Ane was instantly silenced and bowed. “You would insult the guild, all for one trial? I will not allow that; you will stay silent for the rest of the trial.” Fluttershy seethed for a few more seconds before slipping back into herself. “Please, keep quiet and let me handle this.”
“Thank ya kindly Fluttershy,” Applejack bowed. “Would ya like to speak for now, make a point for yourself?”
Vix stepped up and cleared his throat. “Well, since Miss Rarity is the judge…”
“I don’t mind,” Rarity quickly retorted. “I’m actually quite impressed that the two are monitoring themselves.”
Fluttershy cleared her throat. “Well, I believe that, as he committed himself to living as a Selesnya, in the spirit of his mother Fonn, that the body of Myczil should be given to the Selesnya guild to be buried at the Centennial Guild Celebration.” The crowd muttered contentedly amongst themselves. “We of the Selesnya guild wish to honor the passing of Myczil with a tribute to him and his accomplishments during the celebration. I understand Jarad’s wish to bury his son himself, but I believe that it would benefit us both if we came to a compromise; we may have his body during the Centennial Celebration and afterwards he will be given to Jarad to be buried as he sees fit.”
“Fluttershy!” Ane cried. “Trostani gave us very specific orders; we cannot stray from these orders. The body must be ours and ours alone.”
“But Jarad is just as much a hero as Myczil,” Fluttershy retorted. “He helped in the banishment of Szadec, and it would be disrespectful of us to demand the body of his son for our own purposes.”
“That’s because your guild just don’t like Golgari,” Applejack stated matter-of-factly.
“Yes,” Ane responded similarly. “For the same reason that a gardener dislikes a weed in the midst of their flora.”
“Ane!” Fluttershy reprimanded.
“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I’m not here for compromise either,” Applejack said softly, “Jarad doesn’t trust Trostani, and I don’t trust her either.”
“As you can see, Fluttershy,” Ane whispered in the butter-colored pegasus’s ear, “the hatred between our guilds is mutual.”
“Ah have a good reason,” Applejack retorted. “Ya’ll know that Ah’m a Golgari, and that I personally serve Jarad.” Ane and Fluttershy nodded. “Well Ah happen to know that Trostani is a liar.”
“I object to this statement, Judge!” screamed Ane. “This is defamation of character of the highest order. I demand that this Golgari wench be removed from this hallowed courthouse.”
Rarity winced and turned to Applejack. “This is a very serious accusation, Applejack. If you do not have proof then I will have to remove you.”
“Ah do.” Applejack smiled. “Like Ah said, I am a servant of Jarad, and occasionally I tend to the corpse-pits.”
“Please get on with it,” Rarity asked politely, noticing the hostile stares from the crowd. It wasn’t as if Applejack was insulting her opponent, nor even the Jedav that was berating her. On Ravnica it was a criminal offense to defame a guildmaster, particularly to try and use that as evidence in a trial.
Applejack nodded. “Ah happen to know that ya’ll aren’t burying devkarin like Myczil in your garden, because several devkarin members of the Selesnya have shown up in our pits.”
The devkarin in the crowd gasped and all turned to Ane and Fluttershy, anger in their voices and confusion in their eyes. This confusion was seemingly mirrored however by Fluttershy, who looked oblivious to the claim. Even the non-devkarin in the crowd began to shoot unpleasant looks towards Ane and Fluttershy. Fluttershy looked around the room in a frightened manner, Applejack giving an apologetic look back.
“Damned monster,” muttered Ane. She leaned over to Fluttershy and began whispering in her ear. “Madam Fluttershy, do not let her change the conversation.”
“But,” Fluttershy whimpered, “why would we do that? Why wouldn’t we simply bury them properly?”
“Why do you doubt Trostani?” asked Ane.
“Applejack would never lie,” stated Fluttershy “I know she wouldn’t! She’s the Element of Honesty!
“Perhaps when she was alive,” Ane said with mock sorrow. “But she has been corrupted by undeath; you cannot let her win the body of Myczil. Trostani is counting on you.”
Fluttershy steeled herself; she gulped down her fear and her apprehension. Trostani was the reason that she had survived this long on Ravnica, and she had to repay her. “I may not know anything about this accusation. That would be a question for Trostani herself, but I do know that it doesn’t have anything to do with the current case.”
Applejack stared back blankly at the butter-colored pegasus. “What are you talking about? Myczil is a Devkarin!”
“He is also a hero,” Fluttershy retorted. “The idea that we would treat a hero, of any kind, the same way that we treat anyone else is a silly prospect.” Applejack’s jaw dropped, stunned by the frankness that her formerly pathologically shy friend exuded. “Furthermore,” Fluttershy continued, “I find it difficult to buy the sadness of a father that refused to even attend the trial.”
“Ah told ya, he didn’t want to…” Applejack attempted to say.
“Scare us,” Fluttershy finished. “Or try and push the trial in his direction; that much I do buy.” Fluttershy waved a hoof towards the audience. “But he should have at least showed up.”
The audience of the trial began to mutter amongst themselves, searching for the absent guildmaster. Rarity wanted to slink back into her room. She wanted someone else to take over. Vix tapped her shoulder. “Madam, perhaps you should retire to make your decision; I don’t think that there could be any more evidence.”
Rarity nodded, and slammed her gavel as hard as she could into the podium, startling Fluttershy into a prone state. “I shall retire to my office. I will look over the evidence as it stands and will come back with a verdict.” She looked pleadingly at both of her friends. “Is there any other piece of evidence that could tip the trial?” Fluttershy nervously shook her head; Applejack, holding back tears, shook hers as well. As quickly as she could, Rarity exited the courtroom, dashing for her room. She burst through the door and began ransacking her fridge for her white chocolate.
“You seem...” Vix muttered as he finally caught up with the judge, “frazzled, more so than earlier I mean.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Rarity said through a mouthful of chocolate. “I knew that it would be hard to have to rule in favor of one friend against the other, but not like this.”
Vix tapped his chin, searching for the words to cheer Rarity up. “Well, you have done this before,” he stated. “Miss Twilight Sparkle was also a good friend of yours if I’m correct, and she’s in her almost every other week. I mean, one of the podiums that your friends were using was made specifically for her.”
“Yes, that is true,” Rarity conceded. “But it isn’t palpable to this situation.” She swallowed her mouthful of chocolate, burying her head in the sky-blue pillow of the nearby bed. “Twilight always admitted to whatever she was accused of; there was never a decision. She would turn up, hand a bag of zinos over to the person that accused her, and then just leave.” Tears began to fall down Rarity’s face, and a sniffle began to fill her voice. “But I want both of them to be happy. Neither of them did anything wrong.”
“I wouldn’t exactly agree,” Vix muttered. “I mean, no offense to your friend Applejack, but a Golgari isn’t exactly a paragon of society, and...” He paused and shuddered. “I never thought that the Selesnya guild was just as cruel.”
“There is only one choice here,” Rarity sniffled. “Fluttershy is the only reasonable choice; even after the revelation about what the Selesnya do to devkarin, she is right. He’s a hero. They wouldn’t dare to treat him that way.”
“But you don’t want to let Fluttershy win?” Vix asked.
“It isn’t that,” Rarity assured him. “I don’t want either of them to be disappointed, but if I do give it to Applejack then the Selesnya guild will most likely say that I’m biased, and then someone else will be brought in, someone who won’t even give the time of day to Applejack.”
“I hate for this to sound selfish, but you need to think about how this affects you as well, Rarity,” said Vix. “It is very noble of you to think of your friends before yourself, but this isn’t simply about them. If you side with Applejack, and they try to accuse you of being biased, then you’ll be out on the streets as a bonus.” Rarity looked sadly at Vix. “I know, Judge Rarity, that you are a good person, but perhaps you need to be a little selfish today.”
“But Applejack will hate me,” Rarity said through the veil of tears. “I don’t want any of my friends to hate me.”
“It must be hard,” Vix replied. “But it’s important that you are able to continue living first, and I believe that it would be rather difficult to continue your investigation into the Scry Tome without your current position.” Rarity’s head shot up. “Don’t worry, madam, I will keep your involvement in the case a secret, but Shining Armor will probably find it difficult if he’s down one inside woman, or mare in your case.”
“Yes, you’re correct. As much as it pains me to go against Applejack in this case, I must; it’s for the good of all of Ravnica,” Rarity said loudly to herself. She used the golden comforter to begin wiping down her tear-stained face. “As much as it pains me to side against my friends in any circumstance, it must be done.”
Rarity began walking slowly down to the courtroom, with only Vix’s hand on her shoulder stopping her from bolting the other way. Finally the white unicorn reached the doors to the courtroom and, after a sharp inhale and exhale, she gulped back what tears remained and walked back into the room.
Immediately all eyes on the room fell on her, all of them pleading for her verdict. Applejack’s eyes were the only ones that showed concern; once Rarity made eye contact with Applejack, the farm pony wore a look of defeat. “I have made my decision,” said Rarity. She paused, mostly in an attempt to keep herself from crying as she saw her undead friend begin to tear up. “In the name of the Azorius guild, lawmakers of Ravnica, I hereby turn the body of Myczil over to the Selesnya guild.” The audience of the trial seemed quite a bit smaller than it was when she left, but those still there cheered with praise for the Worldsoul. The Jedav, Ane, wore an insufferable smirk on her face. Fluttershy simply smiled and turned to face Applejack, who was already leaving the courthouse.
“Applejack!” cried Fluttershy as she exited the courthouse chasing after Applejack with Rarity and Ane in hot pursuit. “Wait please, I’m really sorry about all of this.”
“Stop, Fluttershy, ah don’t want to hear it!” Applejack screamed back. “This was mah one chance to pay back Jarad.”
Fluttershy’s expression grew dark, “Do you mean that you have some kind of contract with him, because if so you should have told me...”
“No!” Applejack screamed back, scaring Fluttershy into a prone state at the base of the steps to the courthouse. “Ah’m tired of people and ponies thinking that I’m some brainwashed zombie. Jarad saved mah life. I’d be burnt to crisp if not for him. Ah wanted to repay him; Ah always have, but Ah can’t even do that.” Tears were now flowing freely from the undead farmer;s eyes. “Ah just wanted to repay him for what he did for me, so I don’t want to hear some patronizing apology from the servant to a bunch of lying plants!”
Ane drew her sword and stepped closer to Applejack, who responded by twisting some of the vines in her hooves into something resembling a claw. “You will not disrespect our guildmaster. If you continue to say such things, then prepare to say your last words, Golgari scum.”
Applejack stared back into the Jedav’s eyes, a twisted smile on her face, “You call us the monsters, when you throw your own people into corpse pits; screw you Ane, and screw your guildmaster as well.” Ane flung herself at Applejack, heedless of the warnings of Fluttershy. The undead farm pony swung her massive vine-arm towards Ane, who nimbly sidestepped. Applejack just kept moving though, using the momentum to launch herself upwards, dodging Ane’s strike. The Golgari quickly sucked the vines back and sprung them back outwards, wrapping Ane back in the vines and used them to snap her neck.
Fluttershy went white, and Shining Armor burst out of the courthouse just as Applejack was running away. Rarity started back into the courthouse, only to see Cadence walking over to her husband. “How did things go with Celestia?” Rarity heard Shining ask.
“She won’t agree to Pinkie’s demands,” Cadence said. “Celestia said that she plans to wipe Pinkie’s mind and possibly Applejack’s as well. She won’t accept allowing the ponies here any longer. She wants them to return and plans to...”
Rarity couldn’t hear anything else, as she was ushered back into the courthouse by Vix, and she made a mental note to inform Applejack about Celestia’s plan.
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2002398 Yep, very true, but, I think that I mentioned this somewhere, this takes place two hundred years after the Dissension Crisis, so therefore the people of Ravnica believe that the Dimir no longer exist.
Sorry if that wasn't made clear
Shit just got real.
Decent story. I really liked the premise, and it's been executed well so far. I think Applejack is more of a Gruul, but you still gave her a good reason to be Golgari. There are a few issues, though.
The first is that some characters have gone through so many changes it's utterly implausible to believe it's been only one year. I think it should be changed to two years, maybe even three or more. Then changes like Pinkie Pie going full-on Rakdos are more acceptable. But one year is too short. Heck, it's less than one year, as shown by the fact she was like that even in the flashback, making it all the more unbelievable.
Another issue is the grammar. The first chapter in particular has poorly formatted dialogue, ranging from improper capitalization to improper comma/period use. You may want to get it checked over. It improves later on (or at least I noticed it less), but still has some errors that could be fixed. Again, having a proofreader check it all over would be a good idea.
Hopefully future updates will be coming faster than this last one!
2377692 Thanks for the feedback, both complaints are ones that I am working on. I've been working to explain the ponies sudden changes, especially with Pinkie I've been trying to hint that she was repressing a very Rakdos side all of her life, and she just let it out when she came to Ravnica.
In regards to the grammer, I haven't been able to get anyone to proofread so I've been going back through and redoing it myself. I went through the first four chapters last week, so if that was when you read them pray tell, because it means I have more work to do
And I will try to get the next chapter out faster, it's just that I'm trying to get this story, Eternal Darkness, and Mask of Fear all ready for EQD, and trying to update this and ED. But the next chapter is probably a bit shorter so it should be sooner than this one.
2448092 Hmm, good point. And I can safely call myself original now, as I don't think that there has been a magic card with that restriction.
I like the fic, I was a bit taken back by the sudden change (and still am) but the fic is good enough for me to keep reading.
HOWEVER... I think you should increase the amount of time that went since the ponies vanished and the princesses came to ravnica by 1 year or 2 AND I would like to see this Celestia get her ass kicked a bit, I don't realy like her.