Over the last five minutes, the children played and chatted amongest themselves while they waited for Ms. Cheerilee to finish talking with Applejack about what occured at school today. Even though the playground was destroyed, with kids being the kids they were, they easily found ways to entertain themselves by playing games such as Tag or Red Rover. The ponies who weren't playing around were the Cutie Mark Crusaders. While Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were talking to each other about what to do, mostly related to Starlight, Apple Bloom watched the conversation taking place between Ms. Cheerilee and Applejack. And she didn't like how it was going.

While they talked, Applejack's facial expression switched in numerous ways, and some of which she was expecting. First she appeared shocked, either mentioning about the part where the Playground blew up or how Starlight was suspected of blowing up the Playground, then her expression changed to anger as she looked down at Starlight and started saying something. She couldn't tell what she was saying due to being a little ways away and the sound of the kids playing around her, but whatever she said appeared to upset Starlight as he started talking back to her with tears in her eyes. Fortunately to her nerves, after he finished saying whatever it was he was upset with, Applejack gave him a calm sweet smile as she started talking again while patting his head softly. Still, whatever they were talking about made Apple Bloom feel even more guilty if he was telling the same story to Applejack and getting upset for it. She sighed to herself as she looked down in her lap, going into thought.

"Ah really can't understand what's goin' on, but Ah don't think he did it." Apple Bloom said, looking back to her friends.

"Look, we don't want to believe it either Apple Bloom, but his story just isn't making sense." Sweetie Belle replied. Scootaloo gave her a wierd look.

"In all honesty, a lot of things about him don't make sense." She commented.

"Girls, please!" She yelled, getting their attention. "Look, for all common senses' aside, what if he really didn't do it? Ah mean if one of us were in his shoes, we'd want our support in this too, wouldn't we?"

"But even if we do side with him, how are we suppose to convince everypony else that he's innocent?" Sweetie Belle asked. Apple Bloom rubbed her chin as she thought for a moment before walking away.

"Maybe we missed something on the playground." She suggested. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shrugged to each other before following her behind, completely unnoticed by the rest of the crowd.

"Doesn't look any better than we left it." Scootaloo commented.

It wasn't all too surprising for the trio. You can't really expect some playground-sized explosion to look any better than when it was first discovered. The only insignificant thing that could've possibly improved it was the fact the smell of smoke was decreased by a large degree than when it was found. Yet, as stated, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. There was soot everywhere, the playground equipment was desroyed, the grass was dirty, etc. Even the building was still covered in soot, although it appeared much lighter and possibly dried up.

"How are we suppose to find something that'll help Starlight?" Sweetie Belle asked as she looked around the dirt. "Even if something was here, it might've been destroyed when the playground exploded."

"I know, I know!" Apple Bloom replied as she looked around the ground. "But there's something on the tip of my mind here that just isn't making sense."

"Maybe you just have a craving for some McNutterbutter!" Scootaloo joked, laughing along with Sweetie Belle.

"Mmmhhh..." Apple Bloom moaned. "Maybe it really is nothing..." She mumbled.

"Aww c'mon Apple Bloom, you're worrying too much." Scootaloo commented, walking over to the tire swing.

"C'mon, why don't we just play on the tire swing for a bit and think about it later?" Sweetie Belle suggested. Apple Bloom just sighed as she went along with this, still a bit depressed she couldn't think up anything else.

"Yeah, I guess..." She muttered. "I just wish we could-!" Apple Bloom suddenly froze as her eyes widened intensely. "Wait a minute!" She yelled, quicky running over to the Tire Swing before Scootaloo got on it. Scootaloo fell back from the sudden jump scare of Apple Bloom rushing out in front of her.

"Ah!" She yelped. "What's wrong now?" She asked. Apple Bloom looked back towards the two surprised.

"Don't y'all realize the problem here?" She asked, looking like she saw a ghost or something.

"You mean side from the fact you suddenly yelled about a problem and pushed me aside?" Scootaloo asked with a raised brow.

"Nooo, I mean the Tire Swing! Look at it!" She commanded. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle stared at each other in confusion before doing as told. Unfortunately, there was little to see aside from what it was: a Tire fitted with rope to be used as a swing attached to a tree. "Now what do you see?" She asked.

"I don't know, a Tire swing?" Sweetie Belle guessed. Apple Bloom grunted as she rolled her eyes.

"Nooo!" She moaned, shaking her head. "I mean what about it?" Scootaloo squinted her eyes as she tried to focus on the Tire Swing, but no matter how hard she looked it didn't seem too unusual.

"I'm not really getting it. It's just a tire swing in the middle of the-" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's eyes widened in realization of what Apple Bloom was getting it.

"It's standing in the middle of the playground where the explosion happened. The entire tree was caught in the blast, but the Tire Swing itself is perfectly fine!...Hey would you girls mind stepping back? I can feel you breathing on my neck." She commented.

"Uhhh Apple Bloom? We're over here." Sweetie Belle stated, waving at Apple Bloom as she turned around. The sight Apple Bloom was greeted with when she looked towards the Tire Swing again almost terrified her; the Tire Swing itself suddenly grew a pair of menacing red eyes that gave off an angry glare. The wind began to pick up as the rope detached from the tree and begun spinning in place with the Tire Swing itself into a small mini Twister, making any visibility of the actual Tire Swing impossible. Dead leaves from around the Swing began swirl around as the twister itself began to die down.

In it's place left something completely different than what was there earlier; instead of a casual well-leathered Tire Swing with rope tied to it, there was a completely ruined-looking treasure chest, pretty ordinary like the pirates would have, but apparently aged with cracks in the wooden bits of it. Unlike a regular treasure chest, this one had a disturbing red-colored pupil demonic eye right in the middle of it's forehead where the lock would be located. It also had a row of razor sharp teeth on the top and bottom row of the chest's "mouth". And even more disturbing, the strange chest-like creature had a verily large blue tounge that slurped out of it's mouth. The Crusaders watched as the disturbing chest began to open it's big mouth (litterally), seeing a strange green drippy saliva drop from it's sharp teeth.

*Snap!*

"Ack!" Apple Bloom suddenly yelped as the monstrous chest closed snapped right at her, barely over an inch from her snout.

"Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle yelled worriedly as they ran over. Apple Bloom backed up a bit as the monstrous chest began opening it's massive mouth again, ready to take another bite.

*CHONK*

"Kyykkkk!" The chest-like creature squeeled as Applejack suddenly pressed her hooves harshly on the top of the chest, not only shutting it's trap tightly, but also causing it's tongue to be stuck between the mouth as well.

"And just what in the hoof do you think you are? Tryin' to mess with mah sister like that?" Applejack questioned, angered at the sight of the creature that almost attacked her sister.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom said happily and in relief, running behind her with the other Crusaders as they looked back. They were also greeted by Starlight and Ms. Cheerilee who watched as Applejack held down the creature.

"You girls al'raght?" Applejack asked a bit worried. "We came as soon as we heard the screamin'."

"Yeah, we're f'ahne." Apple Bloom replied with a nod.

"Oh, thank goodness that thing didn't hurt you." Ms. Cheerilee commented, swiping her forehead in relief.

"Speakin' of thing, what is it anyway?" Applejack asked, looking back at the creature as it tried to force it's mouth open again.

"Ah don't know. It was the Tire Swing one minute ago, now it's all some weird chest thing that attacked us." Apple Bloom explained.

"Why would it attack you though?" Starlight asked curiously. Apple Bloom looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo a little surprised before replying.

"That's actually a good question." She commented.

"All that happened was that we found out the Tire Swing didn't match the scenery. It was in perfect condition. Then once Apple Bloom realized it, it went out of hiding and attacked us." Scootaloo explained.

"And then it turned into a jackhammer." Starlight added. The rest of the group looked at him confused.

"A jack-what?" Apple Bloom asked before looking back to the shape-shifting creature in surprise. As Starlight stated, the chest transformed itself into a Jackhammer while the rest of the pony group was unaware of it, right under Applejack's hooves. The only similarity it retained from it's previous form was the single eye in the middle of it's "forehead".

*TITITTITITIITITITITITITITITI TITITITI-*

The Jackhammer started banging away at the ground underneath the groups' hooves, shaking the entire ground as it echoed like a mini-earthquake. It was surprising the class on the other side of the school didn't hear or feel this going on, although they were mostly rough housing themselves which could explain it. Applejack had the worst of the experience as her hooves were directly on top of the Jackhammer as it went on, and having pony-hooves on top of a non-stop pounding Jackhammers had a great tendancy to make anypony almost instantly numb after a few seconds. Even as she fell on her back, her entire body was practically frozen in position as it continued to shake violently as if she was still on it.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom said worriedly, rushing over to her.

"IiIiIiIi-CaAaAaAaAn't-StStStop-shaAaAaAking-" She replied in a completely disorderly and jittery voice. Fortunately for her, she eventually did stop shaking after a couple more seconds, quickly getting up again as she prepared herself for the strange thing she expected to attack. But, to her's and the rest of the groups' surprise, instead of simply coming back after her to attack again, the strange creature reverted back to it's chest-like form as it began sniffing around. It was rather strange to the group, but it sniffed around as it hopped from place to place like a dog, trying to find some sort of "scent". After another few brief seconds, the chest surprisingly grew thin branch-sized arms with glove-sized hands as it began digging in one spot, not caring where it was throwing the dirt that hit the building and the ruined playgrounds.

"Ok...now I'm getting more confused..." Applejack commented, raising her right brow questionably.

"I think it's looking for something?" Sweetie Belle suggested as she tilted her head a bit.

"But what could it be looking for around here?" Ms. Cheerilee asked aloud. "This is a school, not some dig site." Applejack turned her attention back to Apple Bloom.

"Hey sis', ya mind goin' to get Twi'? Maybe she knows somethin' bout this." Applejack asked. "I'm gonna stick around to make sure this th'ang doesn't try anything."

"Sure. I'll be back ASAP." Apple Bloom replied as she took off. Starlight blinked confused as he watched her leave, then back to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.

"What does tree sap have to do with coming back here?" He asked, earning a slight moan from the other two Crusaders as they rolled their eyes briefly. To them, it was going to be a long few minutes until Twilight got back.

A LONG FEW MINUTES LATER...

"See? Just like Ah said." Apple Bloom said to Twilight, finishing her explanation of the day as they finally arrived at the school. The scenery that greeted Twilight was pretty much what Apple Bloom expected, although she half-expected to see a bit more rough housing between the chest-thing and Applejack again. For the most part, it was still digging around the playground like it was when she left. Her sister came walking over as she finally saw the two, and the other two Crusaders seemed to be explaining something to Starlight as they sat near the school's outside wall.

As for Ms. Cheerilee, she was busy occupying her time by keeping the class distracted in the front of the school. The last thing she wanted was for the kids to start panicking at the sight or mention of some "chest monster" being in their school's backyard playground. To occupy their time, she assisted them with playing multiple games like Red Grover, Cluck Cluck Moo, or for the more P.E. variety, Dodgebull. And of course, as with the different names, the rules of the games were slightly different as well, though that would be discussed later.

"Hey Twi, glad you could make it." Applejack greeted with a relieved smile.

"Well when Apple Bloom told me there was an explosion at the school today, I just had to come over to make sure everypony was ok." She replied, looking back towards the chest-like creature as she did. "Though, I was a bit surprised when she also mentioned some transforming chest monster." She added. Apple Bloom's attention switched to the Crusaders as she saw them talking to Starlight.

"What have they been doin' since Ah left?" She asked curiously.

"Last Ah heard, talkin' about trees." Applejack replied as she looked back to their conversation.

"So a beaver is a type of bird then?" Starlight asked curiously.

"NOOO!" Sweetie Belle huffed, growing a migrane along with Scootaloo who was tired of explaining things. "A Wood Pecker is a type of bird, while a Beaver is a rodent that just makes beaver houses."

"Ooooh..." Starlight finally replied, seeming to understand. He hummed to himself briefly as he rubbed his chin. "So does a beaver fly like a Wood Bird then?" He asked after a bit. Sweetie Belle groaned as she rolled her eyes, lying on her back as she tried to relax. With another sigh, Scootaloo yawned lightly before looking to Sweetie Belle.

"I really don't think we're getting our Teaching Cutie Marks this way, Sweetie Belle." Scootaloo stated. The other three chuckled at the sight, understanding what they've been going through for the last ten minutes. "Ah give 'em credit for at least tryin'." Applejack commented looking back at Twilight. "So what about this chest thing? It ain't one of them changeling th'angs like at your brother's weddin' a few months back, is it?" She asked somewhat concerned. Twilight looked over at the strange creature that has been keeping the gang confused for the past couple minutes, watching as it continued digging around in frustration.

"Well for one, you don't have to worry about "what" it is. It's a Mimic." Twilight said.

"A mimic? Ya mean like a copycater or somethin'?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

"Well...sort of." Twilight replied calmly with a smile. "I read about them back when I was still living in Canterlot in Princess Celestia's Castle. While I was reading in the Library, I found them in a book detailing some of Equestria's known creatures." She explained as she looked back to it. "Supposedly, it's a creature known for Treasure Hunting. They often take the form of the chest you see now, but when it senses danger nearby, it changes into something related to it's surroundings."

"So...we're dealin' with a Treasure Hunter?" Applejack questioned, still confused.

"Exactly." Twilight nodded.

"But why did it attack me then?" Apple Bloom asked. Twilight rubbed her chin at this.

"Well, usually any sort of aggressive acts is just a bluff. If they're discovered while disguising themselves like something else, they'll usually try to act ferocious as a simple scare tactic." She added.

"But Ah saw this one ready to pounce on my sister like an angry bull that sees a red cape." Applejack stated a bit angrily. Twilight looked down as she thought for a moment.

"Hmm...well in that case, it's hard to say. The only thing that comes to mind is it's treasure." She suggested.

"Treasure?" Scootaloo asked somewhat curiously.

"Yeah. Like I said, Mimics are Treasure Hunting creatures. If it was truly aggressive, you would've have to have done something to it's treasure."

"But Ah didn't do a th'ang to it's treasure!" Apple Bloom replied defensively. "Ah don't even know what treasure it lost."

"Besides," Scootaloo started with a slight frown, " even if we did know what treasure it lost, it won't help us with our court problem..." She murmured, causing guilty frowns amongst the rest of the Crusaders. Applejack and Twilight looked at each other in confusion for a bit.

"Court problem?" Twilight asked. The three fillies remained silent for a few seconds with guilty frowns on their faces until Apple Bloom sighed.

"Starlight blew up the playground and we're having a court going on to see if he's innocent." Apple Bloom replied, causing a sudden gasp from Applejack and Twilight.

"Starlight told you he blew up the playground?!" Twilight stammered in disbelief. Luckily for her and the rest of the gang, Starlight was too preoccupied watching the Mimic continue to dig in it's chest-shaped form and long arms. The Mimic took a moment to take a breather, exhausted from digging by himself for the past twenty minutes. Sensing the strange creature's exhausted, and feeling somewhat sorry for it, Starlight smiled to himself as he began assisting him with digging in the hole the Mimic had just started with his own hooves. The Mimic was more or less surprised by this feat, but decided to shrug it as it quickly went back to digging with it's hands next to him.

"W-Well..." Apple Bloom began to mutter. "N-No, he claims he's innocent too. B-But-"

"Wait an Sweet-Apple-Acre-Buckin' minute: you're tellin' me not only do you think he's guilty, but you think he's guilty even after he told you he was innocent?" Applejack exclaimed. The Cutie Mark Crusaders lowered their heads even more shamefully as they sat down.

"I'm gonna go talk with him." Twilight said to Applejack before walking over to Starlight. "Hey Starlight! Can you come here for a minute..." She called over.

"Girls, Ah can honestly say Ah'm a bit surprised and ashamed of you. Esspecially you Apple Bloom. Y'all have a friend right now who needs you to believe in him, and you can't spare him the benefit of the doubt?"Applejack commented, looking at her sister more directly.

"Well it's not l'ake we "don't" want to believe him..." Apple Bloom complained.

"It's just...hard." Scootaloo said.

"Oh? And why's that?" Applejack asked, still unconvinced.

"Well...For one th'ang, he doesn't know how anything works around Equestria. For all we know he doesn't even know what this here trial is for anyway." Apple Bloom commented.

"Oh, and you just assume that instantly makes him guilty?" Applejack questioned with a raised brow. Apple Bloom simply lowered her head.

"Plus his story just seems to crazy to believe." Sweetie Belle added.

"And if one if you or your little friends were in trouble l'ake this, would you still believe them?" Applejack retorted, being returned with another head-downer.

"And to top it all off...some of the things he does is just weird. He could've done something that ended up causing the explosion anyway." Scootaloo mentioned.

"Girls, Ah don't know if you're aware of this, but everypony has their own little "wierd th'ang" that they do. Even you three do." Applejack commented, much to their surprise.

"We do? L'ake what?" Apple Bloom asked curiously.

"L'ake how Ah know a certain three little fillies that go around everyday doing random things everyday?" She suggested with a playful smile.

"But we're not doing it to be weird! We're trying to earn our Cutie Marks!" Apple Bloom explained worriedly.

"Ah know, Ah know. But that's what Ah'm sayin'. Even if he does somethin' that may seem weird, there's always a reason behind it. L'ake you three; you may have a reason, but not everypony knows it." She stated. The trio looked down in even more regret as they took to thought of what she said. She had a really good point to say the least. Despite the fact Starlight's done numerous things that may seem weird or different to everypony else, technically he hasn't done anything yet that proves he's guilty. And even if did do something to look like he was guilty, like Applejack said, they should still believe him. Apple Bloom sighed to herself before looking back to Applejack.

"We're sorry, sis." Apple Bloom apologized, with an agreeable nod from the other two Crusaders. Applejack gave them a sweet smile as she patted her head.

"Ah know you girls are, but Ah'm not the one you should be worried about right now." She replied.

"Ah know...We really should tell Star too, right?" She suggested.

"Well what difference does it make?" Scootaloo asked somewhat disappointed. "Even if we do apologize, it won't matter if he ends up getting in trouble when the rest of the class finds him guilty." She commented, earning unwanted agreement from the other two fillies.

"Look, what Ah'm about to say just stays between us, al'raght?" She stated, lowering her head closer to them as she whispered. "Star told me everythin' about what happened to day, and about what he said and didn't say in the trial. Trust me, he's innocent." She whispered. The three fillies gave a small, delightful, gasp at this.

"Ya mean you know what happened?!" Apple Bloom said excitedly.

"So you can help us with the trial then!" Sweetie Belle added excitedly. The trio were brought to confusion once again as Applejack shook her head, frowning somewhat upsettingly.

"Ah'm sorry girls, but Ah already agreed to Ms. Cheerilee that Ah wouldn't get involved in this. You can't ask me to speak on his behalf." She replied.

"Awwwww!" Apple Bloom moaned disappointed.

"But why tell us this if you're not going to help him anyway?" Scootaloo asked.

"Look, at this point, Ah don't care if he's found innocent or guilty." Applejack began with a calm smile. "Ah just want you three fillies to promise no matter how it ends, you'll do everythin' to prove he's innocent. Can you promise me that?" She requested. All three filles smiled again as they nodded.

"Uh huh!" They agreed in unison.

"Ah want a Pinkie Pie promise." Applejack stated.

"Cross my heart-" Sweetie Belle began, crossing her chest where her heart was.

"Hope to fly-" Scootaloo added, flapping her wings just for effect.

"And stick a cupcake in our eyes." Apple Bloom finished, touching her eyelid softly. Applejack let out a chuckle before giving Apple Bloom a small hug. "Now, Ah'm proud of y'all." She replied happily.

"Starlight, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom," Ms. Cheerilee called over, looking at the group from around the corner, "the trial will be starting any minute. Better hurry on over or you're going to be late." She mentioned before leaving again.

"And not a moment too soon." Applejack mumbled before gesturing them away. "Now go on and do what ya can. Ah'll be rootin' for ya." She cheered. She smiled as she watched the three fillies run off with Starlight quickly pacing up behind them. Once the four were out of sight however, she let out a moan-like sigh as she frowned again. "Y'all sure they'll be alr'aght?" She asked Twilight who walked over to her.

"Wellllll...Personally, I've done a little investigation myself. Between us, I can perfectly say I've figured out this little case already." She stated before looking in the direction the children ran off in worried. "I just hope they can figure it out too before it's too late."

"Ah, Ah'm sure they'll all be f'ahne." Applejack replied with a confident smile.

"Yeah, I guess." Twilight replied with an assured smile as well. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?..."

"Booooooo!" The Children sneered, boo-ing at Starlight's latest conversation and sharing of his side of the story. To everypony's surprise, even a tomatoe was thrown at his face from somepony in the Jury, but nopony saw who. It had been at least a half hour since the court began again, and it was getting worse by the minute. Diamond Tiara took no mercy in doing everything in her power to not only humiliate Starlight, and his friends if the chance ever occured, with his lack of knowledge of how things ran in Equestria, but the more she described even one topic of the scenario, the more she made him out to look like more of an enemy than just a simple colt who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Even Apple Bloom was having difficulty trying to keep everypony supportive of her side. Since her little chat with Applejack, she kept her word in trying to do everything to prove Starlight's innocence, even asking questions which he should know the answer to. Yet, everytime they were about to make a breakthrough with gaining at least some support from the pony crowd, with Silverspoons acting as part of the "Accuser" side, she would always call out Objection, and find something to argue with them to use against the defense. And as mentioned before, Starlight's lack of knowledge on Equestria or even topics related to it did little to help win him over anypony in the Jury.

Despite the Pinkie Pie Promise that was made, things were getting out of hoof for the three Crusaders. They were down to what appeared to be the last part of the Trial, seeing how Diamond Tiara stated she had a closing statement to make. And although Apple Bloom didn't know much about how courts worked, she was informed by Diamond Tiara that after her next few statements and possible investigations she had to present, the trial would be over and then the Jury would decide if Starlight was innocent, or guilty. And given how things were going, she didn't like Starlight's odds of being innocent. Almost as much as Applejack as she watched from behind the gate to the front of the school.

"Who threw that tomatoe?!" Ms. Cheerilee asked a little angrily, demanding to know. All the fillies and colts in the crowd looked at each other confused, as if none of them knew who it was. And they were right; nopony in the Jury did know. Diamond Tiara looked back to Silverspoons as she sneaked her way back into her chair without anypony noticing, both of them starting to giggle suspiciously. Although Apple Bloom couldn't tell what they were laughing about, given the recent tomatoe incident, she had a pretty good idea of what. As for Starlight, the Tomatoe throw didn't even seem to bother him as he simply slurpped up tomatoe casually, humming to himself in delight.

"Hmmm, juicy!" He said happily, earning for what seemed to be about the 50th group of laughs from the Jury for the day. Ms. Cheerilee looked back between the Jury and Diamond Tiara's table, then directly at Apple Bloom.

"Well Apple Bloom, do you have any finishing statements you'd like to make?" She asked calmly. Apple Bloom looked back to her friends with the same uneasy look they had before sighing, walking out of her seat as she stood in front of the Jury.

"Friends, classmates...Ms. Cheerilee-"

"Booorrriiiiing..." Diamond Tiara moaned, rolling her eyes.

"Diamond Tiara..." Ms. Cheerilee spoke in a warning tone. She kept her stern look on her for a few moments before smiling back to Apple Bloom. "You may continue Apple Bloom."

"Thanks Ms. Cheerilee." She replied before looking back to the Jury. "Classmates, Ah know what you're thinking, "He did it", or "He's guilty", but Ah can honestly tell you without a doubt he's innocent."

"Yeah, right!" Diamond Tiara spoke up again. "What evidence could you possibly have to prove he's innocent?' She smirked.

"Well...Nothing really, but that's just it." She replied again. "Look, Ah know Star may not seem quite...knowledgeable like some ponies 'round here. And Ah can really agree that some of the stuff we do here is weird. But are we any different?" Some of the small fillies and colts looked to each other a bit curiously, while at the same time, Applejack gave a sweet smile at Apple Blooms efforts. "Ah mean really, he doesn't know much. So what? That doesn't make him guilty of this cr'ahme. Ah mean none of us know everything that happened for the past, l'ake, thousand years or so, and we're for sure innocent, right?" She asked. Some of the children began to mutter to each other at this, while her friends, Starlight included, threw her a greatful and kind smile. Diamond Tiara began to grumble to herself as she noticed this, quickly whispering something to Silverspoons.

"Objection-!" Silverspoons yelled out.

"On what grounds?" Apple Bloom questioned.

"Probably the one she's standing on..." Starlight shrugged, getting more laughs from the classmates. Interestingly, these laughs sounded more positive and supportive compared to simply laughing at him.

"Your Honor, with all due respect, as of now, Apple Bloom is just stalling for time which we really can't waste any longer." Silverspoons said.

"No Ah'm not!" She replied a bit irritated.

"No, I mean litterally, can't waste." Silverspoons repeated, pointing to a clock inside the school which could be seen through the window. "School's over in less then thirty minutes."

"But-"

"I'm sorry Apple Bloom," Ms. Cheerilee interrupted regretfully, "but I'm afraid she's right. We have to be ready to go when School's over, and that means putting the desks and chairs back too." Apple Bloom moaned to herself at this, a bit disappointheed she couldn't motivate the class to choose innocent instead.

"Yeah, what she said!" Diamond Tiara sneered again, laying back in her chair a bit annoyed. "Not like it matters anymore, though." "Huh?"

"Oh yeah, she's right." Starlight spoke up again, knowing what she was referring to. "Sorry we had the trial thing guys. We were so busy with this we forgot Show 'n Tell." He explained. While Applejack, Ms. Cheerilee, and the other two Crusaders found this apology to be sweet, Apple Bloom could only moan again to herself, this time with guilt.

"Look, Star? Ah'm sorry too about earlier with whole Card Tower th'ang when you were just trying to help. But r'aght now, Show 'n Tell just isn't as important as this-" But just at that moment, her eyes widened as if a spark suddenly went off in her head, thinking about what she just said. "Wait a minute..." Apple Bloom mumbled to herself, rubbing her chin in thought as she looked down. Some of the classmates looked at her curiously as she began mumbling something inaudible to herself. Finally going over everything in her head, she let out a mild gasp before looking back at Diamond Tiara with a devious, in a good way of course, grin.

"Your Honor," she began as she looked back to Ms. Cheerilee, "before we ask the Jerky to vote, can we have one more pony speak on Star's behalf?"

"W-Well...If Diamond Tiara's side is alright with it..." She replied, unable to see what Apple Bloom was getting at. Diamond Tiara simply smirked as she closed her eyes to relax in her chair.

"Whatever. Call anypony you want. It's not gonna help you anyway." She stated.

"Well thank ya kindly. The Defense calls to the stand, DIAMOND TIARA!" She exclaimed, much to everypony's shock, esspecially Tiara herself as her eyelids popped open.

"W-Wait, what?!" Diamond Tiara stammered, even as Apple Bloom gave a simple smile back.

"What's wrong? Everypony knows you had nothing to do with this, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about...right?" She stated. Nopony else could see as a small amount of sweat dripped down the side of Diamond Tiara's face as she looked around the court.

"O-Of course not!" She replied confidently, gingerly walking her way to the stand as Starlight left to sit down at his chair. "There, ya happy?" She grumbled.

"Ah will be..." Apple Bloom muttered to herself as she walked back and forth in place. "Now then, Diamond Tiara, may Ah ask where YOU were during reccess this morn'?" She asked accusingly. Diamond Tiara blinked at this.

"What? What is that supposed to mean?!" She stammered. Apple Bloom turned back to the Jury.

"Can anypony of the Jerky recall seeing Diamond Tiara at Reccess?" She asked alloud.

"O-Of course they can! I was passing out lollipops to everypony this morning with Silverspoons. You know, as a little treat before what was supposed to be our Show 'n Tell?" She replied.

"I can vouch for her too." Silverspoons spoke up as she raised her hoof. "She was right next to me when we were." To Apple Bloom's disappointment, majority of the Jury remained silent at this, none of them seeing to be disagreeing with the statement...at least, almost everypony.

"Actually..." Dinky began to speak up, catching everypony else's attention, "I don't remember seeing Diamond Tiara when the treats were passed out."

"Yeah, me niether." Another green colt spoke up. As Apple Bloom expected, to her delight, everypony began commenting to each other how they didn't see Diamond Tiara at Reccess this morning. While they could agree everypony saw Silverspoons, not one of them could vouch for Silverspoons. Diamond Tiara began to grow worried as her secret seemed to be nearing exposure, but as always, Silverspons grinned as she adjusted her glasses.

"Objection, your honor." Silverspoons spoke up, taking the crowd's attention again. "May I point out while it may have appeared my friend here wasn't seen, can anypony declare that they saw everypony else in class within the large crowd?" She asked, looking directly at the Jury. "Anypony? Can anypony honestly say they saw her possibly leave the playground at all?" She asked again. The Jury looked at each other again, considering Silverspoons had an accurate and good-pointed statement once again. With so many ponies in the same crowd, it was hard to tell if everypony was in the same place or not considering everypony was gathered around. Even if somepony did leave the group, with everypony looking in the center of the group, they would've only been able to see in front of each other, not anypony else to their side or behind themselves. And the same goes for anypony who would've been somewhere else on the playground, like the Cutie Mark Crusaders were earlier.

"I did." Starlight suddenly spoke up, raising his hoof casually. The surprise of it was enough to bring hope and joy to Apple Bloom and the other two Crusaders, and shock and horror to Silverspoons and Diamond Tiara.

"Wait, really?!" Apple Bloom asked him excitedly. Starlight nodded with a simple smile.

"Yeah, I saw her leave while everypony was getting suckers-" He began to explain.

"Objection! Just hold on a minute!" Silverspoons demanded, standing as she looked back at him. "There's no way you could've seen if she left or not. You were playing with your friends on making the giant card tower!" She exclaimed.

"But I wasn't playing...at least not until the last few minutes of Reccess." He commented. Apple Bloom suddenly blinked at the realization of how the Crusaders' earlier rudeness worked to their advantage in the end here.

"Hey yeah! He's right! We were so focused on getting the tower of cards that-" Apple Bloom paused as she frowned slightly, drooping her ears, "-that we really didn't let him help out until the very end like we should have..." She admitted guiltily.

"But before then I saw Diamond leave." Starlight spoke up again, remembering back to the very beginning of Reccess. "While I was looking around, I saw her say something to Greyspoons while the large crowd was gathered around getting candy, then she left in a hurry."

"Why didn't you say that before at the beginning of the trial?" Scootaloo asked curiously from the Jury.

"Like I said, I didn't know it was a rule to tell the teacher before you left the playground. I saw her leaving just fine so I thought it was ok too." He explained, continuing everything he remembered. "By the time she returned, she ran back inside the school to do something. And when I was getting the card, I saw her running back to Silverspoons when she accidentally kicked the dust in my face when she passed me."

"So you're the reason he sneezed down our tower!" Sweetie Belle announced accusingly to Diamond. Diamond Tiara simply rolled her eyes as she waved her right hoof carelessly.

"Oh please! So what if I did leave the school early? Unless everypony forgot, this isn't about what I did during Reccess. We're here to make sure Starlight is accused as guilty, like he is I should mention, for blowing up our playground!" She yelled. Some of the ponies began looking at each other a little uneasy. If Starlight did have any supporters at this point, they were all a bit unsure as to who to vote for as the "right pony".

"Oh contraire, I had a little hunch about this whole th'ang when Star here mentioned the Show 'n Tell. And Ah'd l'ake to test that theory, thank you very much." Apple Bloom commented before putting her hoof next to her mouth to whistle.

*Pheeee-Heeew!*(note: I know I suck at sound affect noises, I seriously have no idea what sound affects are actually labled/spelled as aside from exploding and shooting noises and such XP)

"Hey, Chesty!" Apple Bloom called out loudly.

*chonk*

*CHonk*

*CHONK*

The repetitive sound of a rusty chest hitting the ground began to grow louder as the attention of all the little fillies, colts, as well as the older mares present, all shifted to the left corner of the school. As Apple Bloom expected, and much to Applejack's, Ms. Cheerilee's, Scootaloo's, Sweetie Belle, and Starlight's surprise, they saw the Mimic from earlier, who the Crusaders decided to nickname "Chesty", given the form he prefers to take. Chesty didn't seem to pay much attention to the kids he began to startle as his nose, wherever it would be on a chest, began to pick up the very familiar scent of his precious treasure, which began to grow as he began sniffing closer and closer towards Diamond Tiara, much to her nerves. And was made obviously oblivious to everything when Twilight came yelling after it.

"Hey wait!" Twilight pleaded to the Mimic.

"Ahhhh!" The children, aside from Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Starlight, began to screech in fear, hiding behind Ms. Cheerilee. "What is that thing?!" One of the kids screeched.

"Apple Bloom!" Ms. Cheerilee called out a bit angrily for frieghtening the children. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Ah know, Ah know, just give me some time here." Apple Bloom requested, casually walking over to the front door of the school and opening it. She whistled out to Chesty again, grabbing his attention. "Hey Chesty, the somethin' you're looking for in here?" She asked.

The Mimic made a mad dash past Apple Bloom as it began to search the entire classroom like an angry bull, much like Applejack described a few minutes ago. Fortunately the door itself was closed, because whatever chaos and pandemonium it was creating inside, it did NOT sound good. It sounded like an entire construction crew was at work from the inside, but instead of building and fixing everything like they should, the construction crew was doing a reverse job as in breaking and dismantling everything that was already built. A chair even got thrown out of a window at one point, which Apple Bloom smiled innocently and nervous to considering this was part of her idea, not her plan, however. After another few moments of scuffling and scrounging, an engimatic happy "Ghek!" sound came from the Mimic as it burst through the door again, holding somepony's saddlepack. Diamond Tiara's eyes widened in fear as she knew whose it obviously was.

"Hey!" She shouted worriedly at the Mimic. "That's my Saddlepack you creep!" she yelped.

"Apple Bloom, what is going on he-" Ms. Cheerile began to question before Apple Bloom interrupted.

"Just look." She replied. As Ms. Cheerilee did what she was told, she was surprised at the sight to see. The Mimic used it's shapeshifted arms to dig through Diamond Tiara's Saddlepack briefly before it's eye shined up like a star, delightfully pulling out one of the largest pure blue diamond's anyponys' ever seen. It had to be at least the size of a hoofball to be accurate. The Mimic squeeled in a strange language in delight, rubbing it's face against it in pure joy and happiness again after finding it's treasure.

"Woah, that thing's huge! And I've seen the diamonds my sister collects." Sweetie Belle said in surprise.

"And it seems just a little too big to be something your father would let you bring to Show 'n Tell, Diamond Tiara..." Ms. Cheerilee commented, looking at her sternly. Diamond Tiara began to sweat incredibly nervous as everypony in the class, Applejack and Twilight included, began to look at her suspiciously. It didn't help with the added pressure of Apple Bloom looking at her with a smug "victory" look either, but at this point she knew she was out of options as she finally cracked.

"OK! I admit it; I forgot to bring a Show 'n Tell item this morning and saw the diamond next to a tree in the Evergreen forest-"

"You went into the Evergreen forest?!" Ms. Cheerilee stammered in shock. "Tiara, your father will be hearing about this!"

"But I didn't actually go into the forest!" She whined. "It was just sitting next to a dead tree on the edge of the forest, but I couldn't pick it up while my dad walked me to school. So during Reccess, I had Silverspoons pass out suckers while I went back to get the diamond. But I had no idea it belonged to a Mimic, and that I swear!"

"Yet you left school grounds without telling anypony, AND you took something which you knew didn't belong to you in the first place." Ms. Cheerilee pointed out. Everypony simply stared at her for while she grumbled something to herself, either angry about getting caught, the fact she officially lost something that appeared to be of extreme value, or simply the fact she officially knows that she won't be able to use the Diamond for her Show 'n Tell item anymore.

"Um...not to bring up the annoying Trial we've had for half the day, but this still doesn't explain the explosion part..." Sweetie Belle commented.

"Actually, that part can be explained." Twilight spoke up, gathering the class's attention. "Mimics are transforming monsters, but they do have a bit of magic in them." She began to explain, using her magic to teleport the diamond the Mimic was holding behind her back. The Mimic's eye suddenly opened up in shock as it looked all around itself, completely unaware Twilight was hiding it behind her back. "Usually when Mimic is in total distress about something, which is easy in the case they lose their treasure again, they tend to-"

"Explode?" Starlight questioned speaking up.

"Exactly." Twilight replied with a nod.

"No, I mean-" Starlight shook his head before pointing to the Mimic again. Twilight looked back towards the shapeshifting monster as it began to light up at a rather fast pace.

"Oh-!" Twilight yelped, reacting quickly to the lighting-up monster as she cast a shield around the Mimic. Just as the shield finished surrounding the enranging Mimic, the Mimic itself appeared to explode, filling the entire inside of the Shield with smoke and fire from the explosion itself. Luckily, and thankfully, with Twilight having one of the strongest Magics in all of Equestria, the shield managed to hold the explosion just fine, although there was still a bit of suite around the outside of the shield. After removing the shield the smoke from the inside quickly began to blow away with the wind, leaving what appeared to be a basketball in it's place.

"Eh heh..." Twilight chuckled nervously, almost causing the school to explode due to her explanation. "As I was saying, they're not really well known for their temper, and once it gets out of hoof, they tend to blow up with their surroundings while shapeshifting again."

"Huh...I guess Starlight didn't blow up the playground then." Dinky commented. Some of the other students began talking amongst themselves as they all began to agree on the same subject. Then, all at once, they turned to Starlight again before saying in unison.

"Sorry, Starlight!" They all apologized at once.

"Nah, it's ok." Starlight replied with a casual smile. "I'm just glad everything worked out before tihngs got worse."

"Ah still don't understand why you made up that story about somepony with the goofy name?" Apple Bloom asked curiosuly, earning a just as confused expression from Starlight. "Made up? What are you talking abou-"

"Finally! I was wondering where this place was." A voice suddenly spoke up, catching everypony's attention and surprise. At the front gate of the School was a very familiar, at least to Starlight, chestnut Unicorn wearing a blue vest, which remarkably matched the exact description of the Stallion Starlight described seeing during his Trial explanation. Much like the one described, the Unicorn also had what appeared to be a baseball bag slung over his shoulders, as well as his blue unicorn filly who was riding on her father's back.

"Hey, you made it!" Starlight said excitedly as he ran over. The stallion smiled down at him as he approached.

"Sorry we took so long. We would've been here sooner but uhh..." The Stallion chuckled a bit as he scratched the right side of his head. "You never told us where the school was..." He commented. Starlight blinked to himself in realization as he looked down.

"Oh yeah...I thought I forgot something." He mumbled.

"Hi evewypony!" The small five-year-old filly lisped quickly, waving to everypony from her father's back.

"Umm excuse me?" Ms. Cheerilee spoke up as she trotted over. "But can I help you?" She asked politely.

"Oh, sorry Miss." The Stallion apologized, respectfully tipping his baseball cap. "The names Flank. Flank McNutterbutter." He stated.

All at once, aside from Starlight, the entire classroom burst into a fit of laughter at the name. Even Twilight and Applejack couldn't help out but snicker at the sound of his name, finding it one of the most humorous names ever heard of within all of Equestria. Even Ms. Cheerilee found herself victim of a smirky grin as she tried to hold in laughing, esspecially while she was standing right in front of him. Flank simply rolled his eyes playfully as he smiled.

"Yes, yes, I know. The name does sound silly. I tell ya, the name's haunted me all through my school life." He commented, chuckling at his own name as well.

"Well Fff-" Ms. Cheerilee paused again as she chuckled, "Flank, what brings you to our school?" She asked curiously. The other colts and fillies began to gather around as they too were curious of the mysterious stallion.

"Oh, well after running into this little guy here," Flank began, gesturing to Starlight with a smile, "he told me he needed help in making up "gift gathering" thing, and wondered if I could help out in anyway. So we discussed possible ideas and all, and I decided I'd help bring these." He explained as he began setting the bag down. Using his magic to open it, the children began to gather round even more curious as he began passing out authentic and well detailed Baseballs, each with an autographed signature, presumably by baseball players of whoever's team Flank McNutterbutter was on.

"Cool, autograph baseballs!" One of the fillies spoke up excitedly, reading the signature of her ball.

"I got George Hayson!" Another colt spoke up. Dinky looked closely at her baseball before gasping excitedly.

"Wait, I know you! You're one of the lead batters for the Magic Mitts!" She said excitedly, looking back to McNutterbutter. McNutterbutter smiled as he tipped his hat again.

"Ah, nice to know we have a fan here." He commented. Sweetie Belle looked at Dinky curiously.

"You know which team he's on?" She asked. Dinky nodded.

"Mh hm! Mommy takes me to the Baseball games every year for my birthday! Our favorite teams' the Magic Mitts. They're one of the few Unicorn-only baseball teams in Equestria! We even caught one of their homerun balls two years ago." She said happily. McNutterbutter began to rub his chin curiously.

"Two years ago...Two years ago..." He repeated as he suddenly remembered. "Oh, I remember now! You're that grey Pegasi's daughter, aren't you?" Dinky lowered her head down a bit shamefully.

"...Yeah, that's her...And why we can't go anymore." She muttered. She looked back up again with a slight frown as she heard him laughing.

"Heh haha! Celestia, how I've wanted to meet her. We really owe her one for that game." He commented, much to Dinky's surprise.

"Owe her? You mean you're not mad?" She asked curiously.

"Mad? Are you kidding?! If it wasn't for that Stadium fire, we would've lost the seasonal championship! With the replay game we had the next day, we won." He explained before lowering his head closer to her. "Listen, why don't we talk later on with your mother? We might be able to work out a seasonal V.I.P. (Very Important Ponies) pass for this year's games." He whispered, causing Dinky to gasp excitedly.

"Huh! Really?!" She asked.

"Of course, it's the least we could do for the family that helped us win the season." He stated. While observing the baseball she recieved, Apple Bloom turned her attention towards Starlight, still a bit confused.

"Hey Star, not that Ah really really REALLY don't appreciate this, but what did this have to do with Show 'n Tell?" She asked curiously.

"What do ya mean?" Starlight asked back.

"Ah mean, why did you decide to bring presents for everypony for Show 'n Tell?" Starlight raised his brow confused.

"Isn't that why it's called "Present"-tation?" He asked. A couple of the classmates around him chuckled at this.

"Star, that's not-" Apple Bloom paused suddenly as Starlight continued to smile casually, still seeming completely unaware of the idea of a real "presentation". Given after everything that happened today, and still feeling a bit touched that Starlight went through the trouble of helping her and her friends even after they were mad at him, she simply smiled as she shrugged it off. "Ehh...Ya know what? Neverm'ahnd, it's not important. Sorry about what happened at Reccess, Star." Apple Bloom apologized as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo walked over.

"Ya, sorry Starlight." Sweetie Belle added too.

"Yeah, we should've been nicer about it. I mean you were just trying to help and all." Scootaloo commented.

"That's ok. I'm just glad nopony's in trouble." He replied.

"Nopony but them..." Apple Bloom stated, gesturing back to Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons who were being scolded by Ms. Cheerilee, obviously about the trouble they caused and about how somepony else would've taken the fall for them. Starlight tilted his head curiously.

"Are they going to be ok?" He asked.

"Meh, more or less." Scootaloo muttered. The Children's attention switched back to Mimic as it transformed back into the chest-like creature it was known for. Seeing the Mimic regain conciousness, Twilight simply smiled as she levitated the giant Diamond over the Mimic's head. Much like a dog, the Mimic jumped for it before Twilight began luring it away, the Mimic following closely behind her.

"I'm gonna get this guy back to the Forest before anymore trouble happens. See you kids later." Twilight said, waving goodbye. The kids, Applejack and Ms. Cheerilee included, waved goodbye as she left.

"See y'all later, Twi!" Applejack said, waving goodbye. The Crusaders attention shifted back to Ms. Cheerilee as she walked over to them, finishing whatever conversation, and possible punishment-plan, she was discussing with the two forementioned troublemakers.

"So, I don't know about you three, but I believe someponies here and there learned something today..." She commented with a simple smile. Apple Bloom raised her brow suspiciously as she looked back to Starlight, then back to Ms. Cheerilee surprised.

"Wait a min, you knew Star was innocent all a'long, didn't ya?" Apple Bloom stated. Ms. Cheerilee chuckled.

"Girls, I know things have changed since I was a little filly, but if there's one thing I know from my teaching experience, it's telling when somepony is lying or not." She explained.

"But why go through the trouble of having this Court Trial thing?" Sweetie Belle asked confused.

"Like I said, a learning experience. Besides, I will admit my surprise and disappointment in learning this was the cause of a certain two fillies whose parents will hear about this..." She commented, looking back to Diamond Tiara and Silverspoons who had moody expressions on their face. "But anywho, did you three happen to learn something from today?" Ms. Cheerilee asked curiously. Apple Bloom simply smiled as she looked at Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo who smiled back, all of them agreeing to the same thing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today we learned that sometimes, it's hard to trust a somepony, and even harder trust somepony with a crazy story. But when a pony is a true friend of your's, sometimes you just gotta give them the benefit of the doubt, no matter how whacky or crazy they seem, or the things they say seem. Because when the time comes that you need help, they'll always be around to lend a helping hoof, one way or another.

Sincerely,

The Cutie Mark Crusaders!

Alot of the ponies began chatting to each other excitedly, mostly surprised at the sight of a famous baseball player at their school, glad about getting free autographed baseballs from the team, and happy at the fact that everything in the day worked out for everypony. Esspecially with Starlight and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, seeing how they were indeffinitely good friends at this point. The conversation switched to Ms. Cheerilee and McNutterbutter as they were finishing up their conversation.

"Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by again." Ms. Cheerilee thanked, bowing her head slightly.

"Not a problem Miss. We'd love to stick around, but Colgate's gonna get mad if we're late for supper again. Isn't that right, sweetie?" He asked, looking back to his little girl next to his front hooves.

"Mh hm." She nodded. "Last time he was, mommy made him sleep on the couch!" She commented.

"Yeah, that didn't work so well with my morning back pain the next day." He joked. The other two laughed at the humor of this. The conversation of the day then switched back to the mane kids as Applejack approached them.

"So, y'all ready to go?" She asked, looking over to the Crusaders and Starlight.

"Mh hm, but out of all of this, there's one more thing Ah still can't seem to figure out." Apple Bloom commented.

"What's that?" Scootaloo asked curiously.

"What took you so long to get here, sis?" She questioned. Applejack smiled uneasily as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Heh heh...well..."

*FLASHBACK*

"Derpy, remind me again; WHY did you cover all our trees with Duct Tape?" Applejack asked with a groan, using the ladder to climb as she pulled the sticky tapes off the trees.

"I already told you, we're expecting a severe storm to be coming soon. It might even be a Twister! I didn't want your apples blowing away." She replied respectfully.

"Derpy, Ah really do appreciate it, but can Ah ask you something first?"

"What?"

"Are you sure you didn't get this month's weather mixed up with next month's weather, again?"

"...Oops..."