Part 11 - Eyewitness Account
—————— WITNESS TESTIMONY ——————
— I’ll tell you all what I saw… if it’s okay with you… —“It was 8:30 at night when I went outside to feed some of my animals—the chickens and the other ones. I had just finished feeding my chickens when I heard a lightning bolt in the distance, and it scared me. Right after that, I saw Rainbow Dash flying fast out of the forest like something was chasing her. I called out to her, but I don’t think she heard me. I looked up but saw nothing following her… and later the police ponies arrived. They spoke with me, and I went off to bed at 10:30PM.”
As Fluttershy finished her statement, Trixie gained a gleeful grin. “HAHAHAHAHA! If that isn’t an airtight testimony, Trixie doesn’t know what is! And by Rainbow Trash’s own friend, no less!”
“FLUTTERSHY!!!” a shocked Rainbow Dash shouted from the defendant’s box, a look of betrayal on her face.
Fluttershy finally noticed Rainbow Dash sitting off to the side. “Oh! Hi, Rainbow Dash!” She greeted her friend with an oblivious smile and friendly wave of a wing.
“Very well, Mister Wright. Your cross-examination, if you please?” The Judge waited.
“Did you see anything odd there, Phoenix?” Twilight asked.
He turned the testimony over in his mind a few times, only to finally shake his head. “Not really. Trixie’s right; it’s kind of airtight,” he reluctantly admitted.
“Then what do we do?” Twilight asked, wondering how he would handle their latest setback.
His answer came from long experience. “Press it. Poke holes in it until it isn’t airtight anymore,” he told her, adjusting his mental strategy accordingly.
Twilight grinned. “That’s the spirit! I just hope Fluttershy isn’t lying about anything,” Twilight said, a worried look passing over her equine features.
I actually hope she IS lying so I have something to work off of! Phoenix didn’t say, though he couldn’t honestly imagine that she was.
—————— CROSS-EXAMINATION ——————
It was 8:30 at night when I went outside to feed some of my animals—the chickens and the other ones…”
“So you say you went outside to feed your chickens and ‘the other ones’. What other ones?” Phoenix asked first.
“Oh. Um… I’m taking care of a lot of exotic animals right now,” Fluttershy explained with a fresh smile that was doing its best to break through his bad mood.
“I see. And how did you acquire them?” Phoenix followed up, trying to get her to elaborate more, remembering his strategy—the more details she gave, the more things he had to pick at until he found something.
“A zoo in Fillydelphia is, well, renovating, and they needed a place for all the animals to stay while they do it,” she explained. “They heard about my talent with animals somehow, so they came to me and asked me to take care of them. And of course I said yes, since they had lots of birdies and critters that I’ve never seen before, and I always like to meet new animals!” she added with a wistful look.
“How long have you had these animals?” Phoenix asked, feeling his cuteness meter start to spike again.
“Three days now,” Fluttershy replied with another smile, turning her teal eyes back on him, seemingly doing her best to melt his heart anew.
“Is it hard taking care of them all?” Phoenix wondered, asking more out of his own curiosity than for the sake of the case.
Trixie stopped Phoenix before he could say anything further, and for the first time she mimicked Phoenix by raising a foreleg and pointing her hoof at him. “And just what, pray tell, does this have to do with the murder?” she demanded to know.
Phoenix put his hand behind his head, wearing a goofy grin. “Well… I kind of like animals too, and—”
“Stop going off topic, you incompetent orangutan!” Trixie berated him.
Phoenix felt a growl building in his throat, his better mood instantly ruined. I really, REALLY hate you Trixie, you know that? he told her with his thoughts, suppressing a sudden image of the mare magician hogtied and gagged with her own cape and hat. I better keep note of these exotic animals though. There’s something about it… he decided before continuing with the cross-examination.
“I had just finished feeding my chickens when I heard a lightning bolt in the distance and it scared me.”
“You heard thunder while you were in the chicken coop?” Phoenix asked.
“Well, it was lightning,” Fluttershy clarified.
“No, Fluttershy. Thunder produces the sound, not lightning,” Phoenix corrected her with a shake of his head.
“Wrong again, Mister Wrong!” Trixie said, in her now-familiar mocking tone.
“For the last time, Trixie, my name is Wright! Would you please stop calling me Wrong?” a completely fed-up Phoenix asked.
Trixie smiled like she’d been given the perfect opening. “Certainly! Just as soon as you stop being wrong!” she countered, to scattered snickers from the audience.
“Actually, here in Equestria, lighting is what produces the noise when it strikes the ground,” Twilight informed him gently as he tried and failed to come up with a witty retort.
Phoenix felt his cheeks flush and fists clench at having his ignorance of Equestria exposed again, doubly so for it coming from Twilight, who he couldn’t be mad at. “Ngh! That wasn’t what I wanted to ask, anyway. What time was it when you heard it?” Phoenix asked, forcing himself to relax.
“8:40 PM, on the dot,” Fluttershy responded instantly.
Both Twilight and Phoenix were surprised to get such an authoritative answer. “That’s quite exact. How are you so sure?” the latter prompted, leaning forward and propping his hands on the rail.
“It’s the time I finish feeding my chickens every night!” she replied brightly. “I always feed them at 8:30, and it always takes ten minutes.”
“Feeding chickens… at night?” Phoenix repeated with a glance at Twilight, not sure what to make of the statement. “Why would you do that in the dark?”
“To get them a midnight snack! I couldn’t send them to bed without one; what if they starved to death while they were sleeping?” Fluttershy said, shaking in fear at the thought and her cheery smile quickly replaced with a look of sheer worry.
“Oh, my! I never realized the importance of midnight snacking!” The Judge commented, resolving to start eating them himself.
“That’s our naïve Fluttershy,” Twilight noted in an aside, her tone one of embarrassed amusement.
And that’s my clueless Judge! Phoenix replied with his thoughts, careful not to say it out loud. “Are you positive it was lightning you heard and not something else?” he asked.
Her response was a jerky nod. “I’m sure it was lightning, because the sound of lightning really frightens me! I remembered getting so scared when I heard it that I nearly dropped all of my chicken feed!” Fluttershy recalled.
“This lines up perfectly with the time of death, and when the initial lightning bolt was set off,” Trixie noted, and knowing she was right, Phoenix moved on.
“Right after that, I saw Rainbow Dash flying fast out of the forest like something was chasing her. I called out to her, but I don’t think she heard me.”
“So you’re saying you saw Rainbow Dash fleeing the forest right after the lightning?” Phoenix wanted to make sure.
“Yes! I thought there was a ferocious creature chasing her, judging by how fast she was flying,” Fluttershy insisted, leaving Phoenix to reflect that he hadn’t actually seen a pegasus fly yet and still had a hard time believing they could, even for all he’d already seen.
I’ve watched Saturday morning cartoons for eight-year old girls that were less fanciful than this place! he couldn’t help but think, then wondered what Maya’s eight-year old cousin Pearl would think of Equestria. “What did you do then?”
“I called out to her at the top of my lungs to see what the problem was,” Fluttershy remembered.
“And she just ignored you?” Phoenix asked, sparing a glance at Rainbow Dash in the defendant’s box, who looked to him like she just wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out.
“Yes, but I don’t know why. I yelled so loud, at the top of my lungs, like this:” Fluttershy inhaled sharply and let out her loudest shout:
“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?!” she called out in a barely audible voice.
The entire gallery facehoofed with a series of loud smacks. “Yeah… I haven’t the faintest idea how she didn’t hear that,” Phoenix deadpanned, thinking that no matter how cute or endearing Fluttershy was to him, it didn’t change the fact that she was hopelessly naïve and more than a little oblivious. To say nothing of the fact she’s currently taking a wrecking ball to my DEFENSE! “So, you didn’t see anything chasing Rainbow Dash?”
“No, I didn’t. I watched the forest until the police arrived, but I didn’t see or hear anything come out of it except for Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy confirmed.
Phoenix fell silent, his brow furrowing in concentration.
“What is it, Phoenix?” Twilight asked.
“I think I just found a contradiction,” he told her in a quiet voice.
“A contradiction? You mean, Fluttershy is lying?” Twilight asked in disbelief, scarcely able to believe she was capable of such a thing.
Sensing Twilight’s doubt, Phoenix chose his words carefully. “I don’t know if she’s lying, but something she just said is impossible.”
“Impossible?” Twilight echoed, but before she could ask what he meant, Phoenix addressed The Judge.
“Your Honor? Can you please instruct the witness to amend that statement to her testimony?” Phoenix requested.
“Hmmm… I don’t see why, but I trust you have a good reason. Witness? Please add your previous statement to your testimony,” The Judge instructed, making sure to keep his voice quiet and gentle, far below the usual volume he spoke with while in courtroom.
“Um… okay,” Fluttershy acceded, finally not ducking for cover at the sound of another voice.
“I didn’t see or hear anything else come out of the forest that night…”
“You didn’t hear or see anything else come out of the forest that night? Fluttershy, are you absolutely sure about this?” Phoenix asked, leaning far forward over the rail, looking to Twilight as if he was getting ready to pounce.
She gave him a puzzled look. “I’m sure, Mister Phoenix. Not a peep or pony came out of that forest until the police came and spoke with me. And afterwards, I went to bed and was asleep by 10:30 PM,” Fluttershy said, smiling again by the end of her statement.
“Eep!” Fluttershy hid from Phoenix, startled by his sudden outburst.
“Mister Wright, please don’t frighten the witness,” The Judge admonished.
Phoenix felt chagrined at seeing Fluttershy’s reaction, giving another goofy grin. “Right… sorry. But there’s a contradiction in this testimony, Your Honor!” he informed The Judge.
“What contradiction? Everything she has said meshes with the evidence to a T!” Trixie insisted.
“No, there’s one thing that isn’t right.” He shook his head. “Fluttershy—you said you watched the forest until the police force arrived, correct?” Phoenix restated.
This made Fluttershy a bit scared, causing her to hide under the table again. “Y-yes, did I do something wrong? I’m sorry if I did…”
“Uh… no need to be sorry,” he told her, deciding at that moment her endless apologies were less endearing than annoying. “But one last time: you didn’t hear or see anything come out of the forest that night other than Rainbow Dash?” Phoenix asked again.
“I didn’t see or hear anything else come out of the forest that night,” she swore in her trademark tinny voice.
With that, Phoenix turned back to The Judge. “Then there’s clearly a contradiction here! Actually, two!” he corrected himself.
“Please explain what these contradictions are, Mister Wright,” The Judge instructed.
“Fluttershy should have seen someone else leave the forest, Your Honor! Namely, the previous witness—Apple Bloom!” Phoenix announced with an upraised arm.
“Oh my! You’re right!!” The Judge realized while Trixie was caught so off-guard that her magic misfired again, sending her pointed hat shooting back into the rafters.
“But, but… I d-didn’t see Apple Bloom! I-I promise!” Fluttershy hid under the table again.
Phoenix didn’t really think she was lying, and he also didn’t want to scare or push her like this, but he knew he had no choice—something didn’t add up, and for Rainbow’s sake he had to find out what.
“Promise or no, you had to have seen Apple Bloom if you were really watching the forest all night! The prosecution even confirmed that there’s only one way in and out of the forest! And that entrance is right by your cottage!” Phoenix recited.
“Ngh!” Trixie couldn’t believe it, sensing her victory slipping back out of her grasp.
“I don’t understand—why would Fluttershy lie like this?” a bewildered Twilight asked, increasingly concerned for what would happen to her if she was.
Phoenix spared his unicorn co-counsel a glance. “I don’t know, but we’ve got to pursue this issue, otherwise we’re cooked!” he told her grimly before turning his attention back to Fluttershy, who was cowering behind the witness stand.
“I-I don’t know why, but I didn’t see her…” she insisted, looking more and more uncomfortable and afraid the harder Phoenix pressed her.
His heart went out to her; he hated doing it to her, but he did not—could not—relent. “It’s not just that; there’s another thing, Fluttershy—you also stated you heard nothing as well. Earlier, I was told lightning makes a noise when it hits the ground in Equestria,” Phoenix recalled.
“Yes, that is correct, Mister Wright!” The Judge agreed.
“Then why didn’t Fluttershy mention hearing the second bolt of lightning?” he asked, pointing a finger at Trixie. “Fluttershy says she watched the forest until the police arrived, and they witnessed the third bolt take down a tree firsthand. The second lightning bolt is now unaccounted for by no less than two witnesses!” Phoenix went all out.
“I only heard one bolt of lightning, though,” Fluttershy said timidly, her eyes darting all over, looking ready to run but having no place she could flee.
“Maybe she couldn’t hear it for the same reason Apple Bloom couldn’t—the sound was muffled at that distance by the forest!” Trixie suggested, glaring at him.
“She stated the first bolt of lightning scared her, from which we can conclude that every bolt of lightning could have been heard clearly from Fluttershy’s cottage! It’s very apparent that this witness is afraid of lightning!” he proclaimed. And everything else, for that matter…
“Yes, it’s true, lightning scares me! It is so loud and scary—like that voice you just used, Mister Phoenix!” she said, cowering behind the stand again.
Phoenix mentally promised to apologize for his rough treatment of her later. Maybe if I ask for a tour of her cottage so I can see all her animal friends, she’ll forgive me? he could only hope. “There you go, Trixie! She would have remembered the second bolt of lightning frightening her if she had heard it!” he concluded triumphantly, hands on his hips. “Also, let’s not forget, Apple Bloom didn’t mention hearing this lightning either, even though she should have been able to, being far closer to the scene than this witness!”
“The defense has a point,” The Judge said, nodding thoughtfully.
“Ha! And Trixie thinks the defense has nothing!” Trixie dismissed The Judge’s statement with a toss of her head.
The Judge looked taken aback. “Excuse me?”
She ignored him, addressing Phoenix directly. “So what? So she didn’t see Apple Bloom; what does that prove? Do tell, Mister Wrong! Trixie is all ears!” the showmare said, mockingly conjuring up a hearing funnel to some laughs from the audience.
Phoenix slammed his hands on the table in exasperation, freshly infuriated at her for not taking him seriously. “It questions the credibility of your witness, and thus casts doubt on whether her testimony can be trusted! You said it yourself; there’s only one way in and out of that forest!” he glared at her.
“Remember another thing! Anything beyond what Apple Bloom said after the time she heard the lightning bolt is irrelevant!” Trixie immediately countered, leaning over the rail to glare back.
Phoenix’s fists clenched. “You can’t say that this is irrelevant information when your second witness didn’t see your first witness leave the forest!” he insisted, pounding his fists down on the rail for emphasis and causing Fluttershy to cower even more behind the witness stand.
“Then tell The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie WHAT it means!” Trixie shouted as she brought a hoof down hard on her own rail, a sharp and sudden breeze scattering her papers, which she quickly plucked out of the air and reorganized. “Trixie knows one possibility, but that’s up to you to say, Mister Wrong! That is, if you have the horse apples to!” the mare magician goaded, restacking her papers.
Though not immediately understanding what the phrase meant, Phoenix got its meaning by the context and felt his guts clench, knowing only too well what the possibility she referred to was… and suddenly getting a very ugly idea of how he might use it. “I… I can’t.”
“Heh! Though so,” Trixie dismissed him. “Trixie took you for an idiot, but not a coward, Mister Wrong. If you really intend to do whatever is necessary to prevent an immediate guilty verdict, you’ll use it!” she goaded.
“What is she talking about, Phoenix? You know a reason Fluttershy didn’t see Apple Bloom?” Twilight asked, looking at him curiously and hoping she didn’t have to explain to him what ‘horse apples’ meant. In fairness, despite all the issues he’s had, he does seem to have a pair!
Phoenix hesitated, suddenly unable to look her in the eye. “I-I do, but… I can’t say it.”
“Why not?” Twilight asked, confused.
He shook his head sharply, refusing to even entertain the strategy that both Trixie and his own mind was still trying to suggest. It was obscene, it was wrong, it was the antithesis of everything he stood for as a Defense Attorney… and it just might yet be my only chance! a voice inside him warned. “I just can’t, Twilight. I’ll be safe and use the other contradiction as my stead for now,” he told her, terrified of what she’d think of him if he explained what he had in mind.
Shoving the scheme as far from his thoughts as he could, he turned back to Trixie. “Fine, forget that! We can’t overlook this second bolt of lightning, though! It could have been the real cause of death, making this all just an accident!” Phoenix reasoned.
Trixie gave a heavy sigh, as if she was being forced to suffer fools. “Didn’t you hear Trixie earlier?”
“Huh?”
“Lightning from pegasus-generated storm clouds doesn’t hit the same spot twice in Equestria as a safety feature. Combined with the fact that the victim’s body was found directly under where the first bolt struck, that means that only the first bolt could have killed him, because the others would have hit elsewhere!
“But even ignoring that, the odds of a stray bolt of lightning hitting the victim by chance are highly improbable, especially since he was wearing a lightning-proof suit that offered almost perfect protection against it,” the mare magician told him with a smug and satisfied grin.
Before replying, Phoenix turned to Twilight again. “I remember her bringing up this ‘lightning-proof suit’ before. What exactly is it?” he asked, hoping she could elaborate.
“Rather than just explain, it would be easier to show you.” She surprised him by somehow projecting a picture of Rainbow Dash wearing one with her horn, producing a lifelike image almost akin to a hologram. “It’s what the pegasi wear when working with weather. Or in this case, a modified version designed for large scale races where they may encounter dangerous weather conditions,” she detailed quickly.
Though very surprised and impressed by the display, and wanting to know how she was doing it—he also noticed Rainbow Dash perked up from the defendant’s seat at seeing herself modeling the sleek suit—he forced himself to remain on topic. “How, exactly, does the suit work?”
“It’s a two-piece outfit with several protective enchantments on it. The spells cast on the fabric make it an effective insulator that protects pegasi from being harmed by lightning and other dangers,” Twilight described, now not just projecting a still picture but a moving one of Rainbow Dash flying overhead.
How is she DOING that? he almost desperately had to know, but wondered if she’d just answer ‘magic’ when he asked. Seems to be the answer to everything around here! “Then how could lightning have killed him if he was wearing this suit?”
“Because its protection isn’t perfect. It’s a two-piece suit, with the smaller piece worn on the head and the larger one worn over the rest of the body. But there are some narrow gaps between the two pieces that the suit does not cover—namely, certain parts of the neck, which are exposed when a pegasi is standing or walking as opposed to flying,” Twilight answered, hesitating before switching to a picture of Rainbow Dash standing proudly in the suit with her chin in the air, showing a narrow gap just below her chin from the front, which Phoenix assumed went all the way around her neck.
“A precisely aimed bolt could still kill him through one of those gaps, which is what Trixie is basing her claims on,” she further noted, freezing the image while Phoenix studied it.
“If your co-counsel is through showing off her magic, are you satisfied, Mister Wrong?” Trixie asked in some annoyance, though Phoenix thought he heard a note of outright jealousy in her voice as well.
“Are you, Mister Wright?” The Judge prompted as well, having taken furious notes of his own during Twilight’s explanation.
Phoenix mulled it all over before answering. “But this means it’s still possible for a random bolt to hit him in one of the exposed spots!” he asserted, turning back to Trixie and pointing a finger at her.
The showmare gave a slow, scornful shake of her head. “I’m surprised you haven’t realized it yet, Mister Wrong.”
“Huh?”
“You have been babbling about Trixie’s witnesses not seeing the second bolt of lightning so much that you seem to have overlooked the simplest and most likely explanation: that this second bolt in fact doesn’t exist at all! Trixie will inquire with the pegasi who gave her these Cloud Ballistics reports to ask if there is any way they could falsely record a lightning strike; Trixie assures you,” the showmare stated, annoying Phoenix further by seemingly taking every opportunity she could to say her own name. “But even if we take your silly theory into consideration? The odds of Ace Swift being struck down by a random bolt of lightning are far too low to be believable without having some sort of concrete proof!” she concluded.
The Judge nodded in agreement. “The prosecution’s logic is very sound. The chances of a random lightning bolt killing the victim are too small to hold water in this court without any proof, considering the protection he was wearing. OBJECTION OVERRULED!” he announced with another sharp rap of his gavel, to Phoenix’s sinking heart.
“No!” Phoenix exclaimed. Every time I make an objection she has it refuted just like THAT!
“Ha! Too bad, Mister Wrong!” Trixie rubbed it in as The Judge favored her yet again. “You’re running out of chances. So what are you going to do now?” she goaded again, knowing as well as Phoenix did that he had but one remaining option left to him.
He could only pray that even if it worked, that Twilight and Fluttershy might one day forgive him.
Stats
Page generated in 0.033 seconds
Total duration
648 users online
743,286 hits today, 2,004,447 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
OBJECTION!
FUCK THE RULES, I WRITE THE LOGIC!
Let's see what I could find:
Make that seen.
1.“Fluttershy should have sees someone leave the forest...the previous witness, Applebloom!” Phoenix announces.
2.“And everything, for that matter...” He adds saying through his mind.
Make that italic.
3.Trixie said, already know what he had in mind.
You might want to make that knowing.
That is all for that chapter! Onwards and upwards!
Trixie, i am beginning to hate you even more than I did from the show!
154648 Allons-y!
155101 Someone is going to wish they NEVER gave her the ability to practice law in Equestria.
I'm loving this, but at the same time it's so frustrating!
Smart move, he is a fairly nice guy, but he's still the Judge, snarking at him probably isn't a good idea.
Reading this just gives such a thrill of adrenaline, something I don't think I've had while reading since the last book of Harry Potter.
YOU. ARE. AWESOME.
So the actual thing is called thunder then? And the sound is called lightning? This is a potato- po-ta-to moment if ever I saw one.
Also, Phoenix could argue that Fluttershy was not watching the forest the entire time, and therefore someone or something could have left or entered the forest, meaning that it was possible for someone else to commit the crime. Especially in the time frame where Fluttershy was frightened by the, ahem, THUNDER (idc what you call it) and was not focusing on the forest entrance.
Secondly, as neither witness heard the thunder of the second bolt, and the thunder only happens when the lightning strikes the ground in this world, that means the lightning never struck the ground, meaning it must of hit someone who was not in direct contact with the ground-another pegasus, perhaps?
Ouch.....
Snitches get stitches!
Couldn't a zoo relocate animals into another zoo? Particularly one in another city? I know, suspension of disbelief and all that, but I'm still having a hard time with this one. Chalk it up to the original video, I guess...
How very idiosyncratic.
Not to mention convenient to the plot!
She feeds her pet chickens at night. So she can — so she can watch you weave then breathe your story lines. L2Corey Hart newbsauce!
It's crazy, but you know the wings on the old Japanese Zero planes? They could fold up too! Check it out...
2.bp.blogspot.com/-4SX2JLZM4oM/VJgVTcy6AbI/AAAAAAAAIPs/fkM_nxBx8Hg/s1600/Airfix%2BB5N2.png
Impossibruuuuuuu!
Yeah yeah, the pegasus wings are a bit too small. They still look fine to me. Moving on...
Why would you assume that she was? Wouldn't it be more reasonable to assume she is simply mistaken? Or maybe there's just a lot they don't know?
She kinda reminded me of Discord there for a second!
And has been previously mentioned by another user, this shot had to be made in the dark.
Does he really hates Trixie that much? She isn't the worst prosecutor in his career.
9896771
No, but she unquestionably got under his skin the most, both because he was sleep-deprived and because she figured out quick how to push his buttons. It doesn’t help he gave a horrible performance that gave her plenty of ammunition to use against him, either.
9904294
On the plus side, this one don’t have a whip lol