Your worships. Estimable members of the jury... My lords and ladies in the upper galleries, and esteemed members of the Press -
I stand before you today not as a member of this Governing Body as is my wont; but as what my Fortunes have made me: Exile and Casteless, my outward Projection finally in accordance with what my learned colleague from the Prosecution so eloquently describes as the Beast within.
Come now, take credit where credit is due. It was a masterful oratory, most moving and profound, as it surely must be to have accomplished the unanimous Ruling that it did. I particularly enjoyed the segment where you cast several unfounded Aspersions upon my Person and Character; insults that would have been in the right of any free Citizen of this Great and Glorious Nation to sue for damages sustained as result of Slander and Calumny - civil rights that following the Sentence and ruling of this august Body I now no longer possess. In one fell stroke you have revoked my rights to Citizenry along with that which most of us surely take for granted. Well played, well played indeed.
There is one irrevocable Right remaining, regardless - one that is currently beyond the Court's power to strip; therefore, I need not thank your worships for this privilege of a few moments to make these closing statements. It is a historic Moment to be sure, and doubtless the media will be eager to record what I have to say. I fear you will have to put up with more of this old lion's rambling, for there are points which I needs must make ere you are free of my tainted Presence.
Yes, my dear friend - I can see you down there in the gallery doing your very best to draw my attention. That is one blessing I admit to not have foreseen - the senses of this form that you have forced upon me proving to be so much better than my own. I can feel the very tension that surrounds this Courthouse. I can smell the cold sweat of fear and hear the whispers of unease. My barrister friend over there has gone to great pains to compose a speech for me therefore, one that he assures me will do much to assuage your Fears, convey my wholehearted desire of Cooperation and by that token perhaps secure one or two creature Comforts (pardon the pun) that may yet be granted during this period of Probation. Alas I fear I must disappoint him, for I seem to have misplaced my Script and so must attempt to make these Statements on my own.
Given the news coverage that has been following my Trial and Sentencing, I would assume that there is no need to revisit the specifics in detail. The Elixir has done its job, allowing you to see the truth of the matter with your own eyes. I stand before you all no longer dissembling as a Wolf among sheep but marked and revealed by the perverse nature of my carnal Appetites. There is no point in protest, so I shall waste no one's time in doing so: you see for yourselves that I am indeed the Monster of your nightmares; one that has walked in your midst for decades without any of you being the wiser.
As you can see, I am what you collectively label as a `furry'. My...appetites are decidedly Unorthodox; therefore, Society in its Wisdom has declared my existence problematic. Shameful. Profane. And so, you devise a solution to identify the undesirables in your midst: a Drug that, once taken, permanently warps the Body to more closely resemble the workings of the Mind. An otherwise harmless Pharmaceutical that has the marvelous property of identifying potential Offenders by species alone. Homosexuals... Transvestites... Sadomasochists... Pederasts and bestiality...all species-coded for civilian convenience:
Foxes for the homosexual, horses for those drawn to bestiality, marsupials for babyfurs, birds of prey for those who feel unease in their birth gender...and as for pederasty or cub love - well, you need look no further to see for yourself.
You intend to shame us in the Streets, to force us into the open wearing our inclinations as scarlet Letters for all `right-thinking' folk to see and shun. You think that by doing so you guarantee your Safety, that the ability to identify potential offenders before they ever offend is some great Asset.
Let me assure you that it is not. Have we learnt nothing since the Inquisition? Since Salem? Witch hunts are never the answer. As a former Citizen of this Country, I was raised with the assumption that men were to be considered innocent until proven guilty. Good people of the Court, what then is my crime? Have I ever transgressed or done personal wrong to any member of you? Am I to be judged entirely based on what I MAY do, instead of what I have actually done?
Senator Simmons: We have carpooled in the past. Invited each other to backyard barbecues and birthday parties as neighbors do... I babysat for your son and daughter while you were attempting to repair your relationship with your wife. I attended ballet recitals and soccer practices on your behalf when the demands of your Station and Status excused you from your promises and responsibilities. Will you not look me in the eye? Have you truly nothing to say?
Lady Llewellyn: Was I not present at your most recent nuptials? Was I not the one who accompanied you down the Aisle when your own father the Lord Llewellyn refused to have anything whatsoever to do with an heir who would wed below her station? Did I not open my home to you and your younger siblings, when their Head of House declared you all Outcast? Have I in that time ever given reason for you to mistrust me, or have your sisters ever raised the smallest Objection to my Person?
Sir Duncan, I see you snickering in the galleries. If you would be so good as to share the source of your merriment? Surely it must have nothing to do with that Favor you owe me, or the extra Insurance that I took care to secure against your clumsy yet inevitable attempt at betrayal?
Yes, your worships. I am aware that my status as a non-person means that nothing I say can be taken as Testimony or Evidence by this august Body. Rest assured, Sir Duncan, for I retract my accusations. Your Secret is safe for another day, though who knows how long that may be.
But I digress. I stand before you all today not to point fingers, but to beseech that you search your souls for that spark of humanity which you say separates you irreproachable people from depraved Creatures such as me. By the Writ and Tenets of this Court, a ruling may yet be overturned or put into question if there is sufficient Opposition to it. Even now all is not lost. There is a Remedy that; if taken swiftly enough in the intervening moments following the Change, may restore me to human form and allow me a place among you again. As is mandated, the cure has been broken into multiple fragments, which are now making the rounds amongst you courtesy of our incorruptible bailiffs. All you need do is obtain a piece and; if enough of you are sympathetic to my Plight, you would set me free.
Lords and ladies, judges, and jury - that is the basis of my Suit. I implore you good people, who were once my peers and now homo-superior, to prove that superiority and do the right thing.
...
Senator Simmons? Can I not count upon our long years of friendship? Lady Llewellyn - surely you will oblige, given our association? Sir Duncan, I know that there is bad blood between us and that you have no reason to aid a rival; yet if you cannot do it as a friend, will you not consider extending clemency as an enemy and having me bound evermore in your debt? Et tu, Baron Black? Reverend Reynolds? Do none of you truly wish to see me exonerated and returned to your midst? Really?
...
Ah. Bless you, dear child. Bailiffs, let them through. You've taken my fangs and claws. I pose no threat to you. The people have spoken, and my fate is sealed. Everything else is a foregone conclusion. Humor me just this one time -
Your name, my dear?
That's...a nice name. Now, if you really are sure about what you are doing, pop that fragment in your mouth. Take care not to swallow it. May I trouble you for a kiss? Pass the cure from your tongue to mine -
You're afraid of me, I know. I'm a furry and furthermore a lion. I could harm you, and that is the truth. You have no reason to trust me. But if in spite of that, you do...
...
Thank you, sweet child. Thank you.
Lords and ladies, members of the Press - does it surprise you that a child is willing to do what you all will not? I see for myself now the true nature of humanity and can honestly say I would have nothing to do with it. Though you may have forced me to this Fate, I will embrace it and make it my own. But I wonder...can you all say the same?
Because just as you have cursed me, have I also damned you all.
No, your worships. This is neither threat nor hyperbole. For there is one minor Detail of the Drug and its Remedy which perhaps this Court is unaware. During the early stages of insemination, it is highly; HIGHLY, infectious.
We have been sharing a room. You have been breathing my Air. Some of you have even been in close Contact with me; to pluck my mane and assault my Person. You were all infected as early as the opening Address of my little speech, even if you weren't aware of it. That Remedy, and its mouth-to-mouth transmission...that would have been the only thing that would have saved me - and in turn, saved you. By their selfless decision this child alone has been spared our fate, but I fear the same cannot be said of any of us here...
Clutch at your pearls all you like, Lady Llewellyn. Are they starting to chafe? A pony's neck is ever so much thicker than a human's after all. My, my...to think you have been hiding such Indiscretions milady? A brony? I never would have guessed.
Although I suppose that would explain a certain Incident at my manor stables, come to think of it...
Senator Simmons, may I be the first to compliment you on that magnificent tail-brush you are currently sporting? It really is your color, as I'm sure you know. Clearly there is no longer need to speculate upon the family problems you and your wife are experiencing, now that we all see which direction you truly swing. I would commend you for coming out of the Closet, had you not needed to be so shamefully dragged out of it.
My dear Sir Duncan, I extend my heartfelt Apologies and recant all the unkindness I have dealt to your Person. Frankly, I could have devoted my energies to other matters since I clearly do not loathe you as much as you seem to loathe yourself. How long have you been this way, I wonder? Is your name really `Duncan'? How much did you have to pay an unlicensed surgeon to accommodate you?
Easy now, Baron Black. Where are you off to in such a hurry? Ah...the antidote fragments, I see. You always were the smartest one among us. Well, I wish you all the best but you may want to hurry. There's only enough cure for one person and I see Reverend Reynolds has been coming to the same conclusion as you...
Dear me, such violence. Show some decorum, good people...you're acting like wild animals.
And to the rest of my viewers, watching this live circus from the comfort of your homes - know that this is only the Beginning. This was not a closed session, but a public spectacle. Already there has been a leak and some will have managed to have fled the courthouse. How many will they infect? How long before all of you are able to look into a mirror and see yourself for what you truly are?
We do not merely `exist' among you. We ARE you, and soon you will begin to realize how true this claim really is.
With that, the defence rests. If only the same can be said of you.
--
What we have just witnessed is the only known recorded footage of He Who Must Not Be Named; better known as the first furry of our times. He thought he was doing the right thing back then by forcing people to confront their darker natures and find shared similarities with each other. He played his hand, but it did not go the way he hoped. For he had underestimated the xenophobia of mankind and their willingness to dehumanize everything that is unnatural and different. He would never have foreseen the consequences of his stunt; the era of kennel captivity and species segregation. Despite his claims to the contrary, he still believed in the good of human nature and could not have predicted the culls, the mandatory drug trials or the arrests that would follow.
He was right about one thing, however: We vastly outnumber them, and we are strong.
Ever since that day I have wandered the roads spreading his story, retelling the tale in slave camp after slave camp of how one fur acting alone flung an entire nation into upheaval not just for themselves, but for their dream of a united community free from persecution and prejudice. A lesser man would have been tempted to selfishness; to clutch at that one fragment of the cure afforded him. Instead, he gave it away - choosing to save the only person who had not forsaken him in his hour of need though it would have been easy to keep it for himself.
Long did I ponder on what his intent had been on that day and whether there had been some greater purpose to it all. Weary months have I spent fingering this very syringe I carry with me at all times on my person; in which resides the dreaded elixir itself. Would he have approved of the choices that I am making, or would it be an insult to his memory to squander that precious cure he saw fit to bestow? That, I do not know. What I do know however, is that I would not be able to live with myself if I do not at least try.
So, bear witness good friends, furs and countrymen - to my rejection of humanity and commitment to our cause.
This pain that accompanies the transmutation of bone and sinew... It is like nothing I have ever felt, or ever wish to feel again. How much worse it must have been for each and every single one of you; from whom the freedom of choice was taken without so much as a by-your-leave. How much worse would it have been for our mutual ancestor; the very first to be forcibly Turned and shunned by his own kin?
Those bigots faced a lone representative of our kindred back then; one that nonetheless took the fight to their ivory towers and made them remember that no one is exempt from the consequences of their choices. Let us show them what it is like to face a horde of us, united by a common goal in the bid for our very survival.
Think of them cowering in their beds without the protection of fur or claw, trusting in their prejudices to hold back the tide but always haunted by the memory that it was just one - only ONE of us - that nearly brought their fragile society to its knees.
Yet here they face the Pack in all its avenging glory: an army of bronies, of twinks, of fursuiters and cubs. Too long have we spent in the shadows ashamed of what we are and content for whatever scraps the neurotypicals would toss our way. Today we liberate a world from the shackles it has placed upon itself and honour the memory of He Who Must Not Be Named; the very first of us all - but by no means the last.
Now, who's with me?
