"Erhem," the judge cleared his throat, "I believe Mr. Wright is correct. It's up to the defense when to stop examining the witness."
"Thank you, your honor," Phoenix said. He shot a cocky glance over at Payne, who quietly growled and glared in return.
"All right then, Firedancer?"
"Yeah?"
"Please, continue."
Firedancer took a deep breath. "Okay. Well…"
"I took the elevator down to the first floor again and when the doors opened, I saw all these bits of crystal on the ground."
"HOLD IT!" Phoenix shouted, "How did you know it was the Crystal Heart?"
Firedancer scratched his neck, thinking back. "Uh… it's kinda hard to miss."
"Hmph," Dan grumbled. "Freaking metropolis made out of diamonds and naturally every pony's able to immediately identify each and every one of them."
"The Crystal Heart is no mere stone," Sambra said, as if a more obvious statement could not have been made. "It's a conduit for the natural magic of all Equestria, the magic of the environment itself. It's older than the Empire itself, unfathomably powerful. No simple gem could take its place, nor could it be mistaken for any different jewel."
"Yeah," Spike added. "Twilight actually tried to make a replica of the Crystal Heart the last time we were here. It, uh, it didn't work out well."
"Yessssss," Sambra said. "So you see, the Crystal Heart is too powerful, too important and unique to be imitated or mistaken for-"
"We get it," Dan stopped him. "Your pet rock is special; there are many like it but this one is yours. Seriously, saying "the Crystal Heart is special" is the same thing as saying "the special heart is crystal." If it's that important, why hasn't anypony tried to figure out how it works?"
"Hmm," Lightning Claw thought aloud. "You know, he actually has a point."
"Do you mock the Crystal Heart?" Sambra glared.
"Well, at least we didn't break it!"
"Guys," Phoenix pinched his brow, "examination? Still going on?"
"Sorry Nicky," Dan said.
"So, you're pretty sure it was the Crystal Heart that was shattered on the floor?"
"Yeah," Firedancer said. "It was there when I started my patrol and by the time I was heading for dinner, blam. Bits and pieces."
"I see," Phoenix said. "Continue."
"I looked up and saw King Sombra right in front of the entrance to the mall and the Crystal Heart was broken right in front of him."
"HOLD IT!" Phoenix shouted again. (This is the last part of this testimony so I should probably try to get all I can out of it.) "How far away was Sambra from you?"
"Umm…" Firedancer thought for a minute. "Pretty far. But I could still tell it was him. And the Crystal Heart was broken all over the place, right in front of us. There was nopony else around so I guessed he used some kind of powerful telekinetic spell."
"Wait," Phoenix held up a hand. "Why did it have to be a powerful telekinetic spell?"
Firedancer gestured with his hoof to the ground. "Vice Grip installed a lot of new stuff when he built the mall. He hooked up the Crystal Heart's pedestal to all sorts of cables so that it powered the mall, too. It can't be detached easily and only from the base so that the mall doesn't lose power. To break it down, you'd have to be really strong so I just figured…"
"So," Phoenix continued, "If the defendant broke the Crystal Heart, he could only do so if he had used a powerful magic spell of some kind? Would that be accurate?"
Firedancer shrugged. "Unless he has an invisible anvil or a cannon or something."
"The presence of such devices can be ruled out by this courtroom as such items would have undoubtedly trigged the mall's metal detectors if used," the judge declared. "At any rate, you can continue."
"Yes, your honor." (Helpful as always, judge.)
Firedancer concluded his testimony. Phoenix noticed Payne was almost at the edge of his seat, either eager to call his next witnesses or make another witty remark.
"The defense has no further questions, your honor," Phoenix said.
"Does this mean I can sit down now?" Firedancer asked.
"Yes, you can take your seat…" Phoenix said, always grateful for the support and professionalism from others during the proceedings.
"Hmm hmm," Payne chuckled and stood up. "As you can see, your honor, despite a couple minor details, the evidence still indicates that King Sombra is indeed guilty of destroying Crystal Empire property."
Dan decided to stand up, too at that moment. "For the record judge, if the Glass Heart pissed me off, I'd probably break it, too."
"Crystal Heart," Sam sternly corrected.
"Whatever." Dan sat down again.
"That's a very astute observation, Mr. Dan but it does not justify the damaging of such a sacred artifact," the judge said.
"Was worth a shot."
"While one of the allegations was resolved, it does still appear that the other charges remain in question," the judge said. "The prosecution may proceed."
"Thank you, your honor," Payne said. "For its next witness, the prosecution calls fourth two explosives experts to testify as to the remains of the Crystal Heart itself! I call to the stand the dynamic duo of dynamite demolitions, Blast Powder and Blast Fuse!"
The judge, jury and defense team turned their attention to the courtroom doors. Silently, they awaited the entrance of the two mares. And they waited. And waited. And the doors remained closed.
"Um…" Payne wiped sweat forming on his brow. "Uh-uhhh… th-the prosecution calls Blast Powder and Blast Fuse!"
The doors did not open.
"Um… please?" Payne pleaded.
Dan stood up again. "HEY! Is anypony out there?"
The judge furrowed his brow. "Does there seem to be a problem with the witness?"
"Give us a minute!" a high, female voice called from behind the doors.
"Ah… okay," the judge said. The court waited an awkward moment for the next witnesses to prepare themselves.
The doors to the courtroom slammed open. "Hi! Sorry about that," a unicorn mare said, trotting in.
"The guards outside said we couldn't take our gear into the courtroom," a pegasus mare following her said. "Something about all our demolition equipment being "unsafe." Whatever that means."
"Yeah," the unicorn agreed. "Like anypony can't handle the aura blast of a crystal-fiber explosive. They're practically foal's toys!"
"Um… crystal-fiber explosives?" Phoenix asked. "Like a bomb made out of crystal?"
The pegasus winked at Phoenix. "Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "pop rocks."
Both mares looked at Phoenix with sultry eyes. "You got a name, handsome?"
"It's Dan," the other biped said.
"And… I'm Lightning Claw," the indigo alicorn said, blushing.
"I'm Spike!" the baby dragon said, jumping up to grab attention.
"I'm Sam," Sombra said in an uninterested tone.
Phoenix noticed the two gray mares were still looking at him, batting alternate eyelashes seductively. "I'm… Phoenix Wright. I'm a… defense attorney."
"Oooooh, lawyer," the pegasus said. "Anyhows, I'm Blast Fuse."
"And I'm Blast Powder!" the unicorn introduced.
"AND YOU'RE BOTH MY WITNESSES!" Payne shouted from across the courtroom. "You're not supposed to fraternize with the defense!"
"Ah, keep your mane on, Payney," Blast Powder said.
"Yeah, we're just making friends," Blast Fuse added.
"You can make friends with the guilty party after you PROVE THEM GUILTY!" Payne roared, his voice cracking. "Now please, can we get to the proceedings?!"
"This is highly irregular," the judge announced. "And I can't count how many times I've said that. These witnesses are testifying simultaneously?"
"They are, your honor," Payne said. "These sisters are special. They can telepathically link themselves as well as timed explosives. It makes them especially precise when it comes to sabotage. As such, it's not necessary for them to give separate testimonies and because they both witnessed the crime, it would be inappropriate for one of them to be absent."
"I… see," the judge said. "I suppose a double testimonial wouldn't be able to be doctored easily at any rate. Is there any problem you see, Mr. Wright?"
Phoenix narrowed his eyes. (Two testimonials at the same time… can't say I haven't seen that before. Telepathically linked ponies that both saw the same crime. Is it still possible one of them could've seen something the other didn't? Maybe something they didn't share telepathically?) "I have no problem with this, your honor."
"Understood," the judge said. "Mr. Payne, you may proceed."
"Very well, ladies," Payne said, slicking back his mane. "Please go over exactly what you saw during the time the Crystal Heart shattered."
"Oh, yeah. We're finally on!" Fuse and Powder high-hooved. "You guys are about to get blown away!"
"An-and why is that?!" Payne asked, suddenly nervous.
The sisters grinned at him and said simultaneously, "Because our testimony is gonna be the bomb!"
"Ha!" Dan laughed. "It's cute because they still think it's the 90s."