Turnabout Storm parts 46 and 47 Updated...

Part 46 - Eye of the Storm remains my favorite standalone bonus chapter, detailing what was happening during the recess between Fluttershy's testimony and Sonata's. It showcased everything I was trying to do with the expanded story, from the shipping to the explorations of what was happening around the trial, taking a peek in at everyone from Twilight's friends to Lenora and Cruise Control to Trixie prepping Sonata. As such, it didn't need much in the way of changes beyond the usual cleanup, save one.

At the request of my prereaders, who believed that Fluttershy was acting too naive given what we've seen of her in later seasons, I modified the Judge + Fluttershy section to deemphasize that but emphasize her loyalty to her friends and desire to help them above all else. My view of her at this point is that Fluttershy is not stupid but she occasionally acts naive when she wants to avoid certain ponies and situations she finds awkward or uncomfortable, especially social ones.

We already saw a little of that earlier in Part 35 - Intriguing Turn of Events, when Twilight challenged Fluttershy on her support for Phoenix after being accused by him. Fluttershy initially claimed ignorance, but Twilight wasn't having it, so Fluttershy gave a surprisingly strident defense of him and even called out Twilight on her own double-standards in demanding absolute honesty of Phoenix when she'd been less than honest with him about his summoning. That's who she is, not the naive pony we saw early in the series. Excerpt of the updated chapter follows:

“Really, Mister Your Honor, it’s okay,” Fluttershy told The Judge for the third or fourth time. “I don’t want Mister Phoenix punished for accusing me; not if he was just trying to help Rainbow.”

“Helping one’s client does not justify falsely accusing an innocent person… er, pony, Miss Fluttershy,” The Judge said, a little flustered, sitting behind the desk in his temporary chambers on a seat that was too low for him. He’d had fragile witnesses before, but this yellow pegasus pony took the cake.

He was having a very hard time figuring her out—true to her name, she was incredibly shy and timid most of the time; it had taken considerable coaxing just to get her to come into his office, yet she seemed to become an entirely different pony when it became to defending her friends... which remarkably, now seemed to include Phoenix Wright. The moment he started talking ill about him, she had instantly perked up and become more assertive, defending him at every turn and refusing to allow anything disparaging to be said about him.

Though more than a little bewildered by that, the one thing The Judge had been able to determine from his interview was that she was very honest and earnest, to say nothing of innocent beyond belief. Enough to convince him that she wouldn’t lie, not even to protect her friends—he was now satisfied she had indeed seen a mysterious mare carrying the stick—and didn’t have a mean bone in her equine body.

And THIS is the creature Mister Wright tried to accuse? he thought, his mood darkening for a moment as he realized how ridiculous the idea she could kill truly was, vowing if nothing else he would have words with Mister Wright after the trial concluded. “Nevertheless… this court owes you an apology, Miss Fluttershy,” he told her. “And compensation for unjustly imprisoning you.” He brought a small but substantial bag of bits out where she could see it, plopping it on his desk in front of her.

“Oh! Well, um…” she looked surprised and uncertain at that. “I really don’t want to take money I haven’t earned, Mister Your Honor,” she told him, looking a little embarrassed.

The Judge wanted a fresh mug of the local cider more than ever, wishing he could mix it with a stiff shot of whiskey from back home and regretting having not had the small flask he normally kept under his robe with him when he’d been pulled to Equestria. “But you have earned it, Miss Fluttershy. Both by overcoming your fears to testify yesterday, and then by coming forward with potentially important information today,” he tried again, speaking more fervently. “I know how hard it was for you to be out there, and I can only imagine how hard it was for you to be accused and jailed yesterday on false grounds.” His eyes went dark again at that, deciding then and there that Phoenix Wright did deserve some form of punishment for it.

But Fluttershy only shook her head again. “It was, but… I don’t regret any of it, Mister Your Honor. If it helped Mister Phoenix save Rainbow, that’s all the payment I need,” she continued to insist.

The Judge finally decided that actions spoke louder the words, particularly when it came to this incredibly shy but utterly endearing pegasus pony. “Be that as it may, these are for you, Miss Fluttershy,” he announced, pushing the bag of bits towards her. “These are this court’s apology for being wrongly put in jail yesterday. Please accept them and put them to good use, perhaps buying food for your animals.”

Her teal eyes went wide at that. “Oh! Well… if you insist, then,” she said agreeably, but made no move to accept the bag. “But, um… are you sure… you don’t need them… for yourself?”

The Judge was shocked at the suggestion, his eyes going wide. “Miss Fluttershy! I would never embezzle the court’s money!” he raised his voice without thinking, causing Fluttershy to duck behind her chair just as she had on the witness stand.

“Embez… emb… um w-what?” she asked, her eyes peering over the chair at him. “S-sorry t-to upset you, M-Mister Your Honor…” she quickly added, starting to visibly tremble.

The Judge rubbed his eyes, feeling the headache from his hangover starting to return. “It is all right, Miss Fluttershy,” he answered in what he hoped was a soothing tone, holding up his hands in placation. “There are five hundred bits in this bag. Will that be enough to make up for your time in jail?” he asked.

She looked from the bag to him and back. “Um… y-yes?”

The Judge exhaled with relief. “Then it is yours,” he told her, pushing the bag towards her again. “I ask that you please accept it with this court’s compliments and sincerest apologies.”

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Fluttershy has depth to her character, and hopefully this brings more to it out. My prereaders and I have also been batting around an interesting idea with her that may well appear in future sequels.

As for Part 47 - Trixie's Sonata, I was never quite satisfied with Sonata's initial takedown of Trixie, so I cleaned it up and smoothed it out. Try this on for size:

With that, Phoenix and the entire courtroom turned their attention to the grey unicorn mare now standing behind the witness stand. Finally seeing her close-up where his eyes could focus, The Judge studied her for a moment, almost squinting. “Oh!” he said as he beheld her, clearing his throat as if in surprise. “Have we met before, Miss? You seem familiar,” he inquired.

Sonata gave him an irritated look in return. “Given I have never been to your world or so much as set eyes on a human before yesterday, you can be reasonably certain we have never met, Your Honor,” she said dryly, though The Judge seemed to flinch slightly when he heard her speak in an eerily familiar voice.

Phoenix blinked at that. At least I’m not the only one who notices her resemblance to Mia! he noted in some relief.

“State your name and occupation, witness,” Trixie prompted in even tones, suppressing an eyeroll at The Judge’s question.

Sonata didn’t answer right away, peering over her thin glasses at Phoenix. “So you’re really going to attempt to pin this on me, Phoenix Wright?” she asked, ignoring Trixie and addressing the surprised human lawyer directly. “You’re already zero for two in naming new suspects. Tell me, after I prove myself innocent, what then?

“Will you instead accuse that charlatan and con artist currently standing in the prosecutor’s stall on the grounds that she bears a grudge against your co-counsel and is a weather elemental—albeit a rather feeble one?” she suggested almost lazily, causing Trixie’s jaw to drop open. “You may as well do it now, then. You’d at least have more of the gallery on your side for that.”

Whoa. Trixie did it? Wouldn’t THAT be a twist! Phoenix couldn’t help but smirk, briefly considering but quickly discarding the possibility. He’d faced prosecutors—and even police chiefs—who had committed murder, including the legendary and intimidating Manfred von Karma, father of Franziska and the acclaimed “King of Prosecutors” who went undefeated in court for forty years before encountering Phoenix.

Phoenix had crossed legal swords with him when he’d framed his own prosecuting protégé, Miles Edgeworth, for a murder two Christmases earlier, going to desperate lengths to keep the truth behind a fifteen-year conspiracy hidden. Phoenix had cleared Edgeworth’s name and revealed von Karma to be nothing more than an obsessed and grudge-driven madman who killed Edgeworth’s defense attorney father over a single blemish on his otherwise perfect record, but in this instance… no. Trixie’s certainly grudge-driven, but she’s no murderer, just an opportunist who saw a chance to get back at the pony who ruined her name. She’s little different than Franziska in that sense.

For her part, Trixie acted like she’d been slapped, struck speechless for a moment as Sonata went on. “For the record, I’ve been watching the whole time these past two days of trial and I’m not impressed…”

“Shut up and answer the question!” Trixie finally shook off her surprise. “State your name and occupation for the record!”

Sonata didn’t even look at her, speaking in a tone of pure disdain. “Do be quiet, Ms. Lulamoon. The grown-ups are speaking,” she said like she was talking down to a foal. “You have no business sticking your nose in this case, anyway.”

“Wh-what?” Trixie gaped, a shocked look on her face.

“Uh… ‘Lulamoon’?” Phoenix repeated under his breath to Twilight.

“That’s her real name,” Twilight whispered back, uncertain what was happening. “’Trixie’ is just her stage name.”

“Even to me, it’s a mystery how you managed to get yourself a law license and put yourself behind that stall,” Sonata went on scornfully while a surprised Phoenix just listened, inwardly impressed and struggling to keep a smile off his face as Sonata voiced the sentiments he had wanted to the entire trial. “One can’t help but wonder what stallion—or mare—you must have lifted your tail for to be here.”

Trixie recoiled at the suggestion while Phoenix’s eyes went wide; even Twilight blushed hard at that. “How… how DARE you!” the mare magician finally managed. “I strongly suggest you shut your mouth and remember what we discussed, lest Trixie turns her attention on you!” she threatened, giving her former schoolmate her most intimidating glare.

“The truth hurts… doesn’t it, Lula?” Sonata went on as if Trixie hadn’t spoken, looking completely unconcerned. “You know, it must really wound that vanity of yours, looking in the mirror every morning and seeing nothing but a failed street performer with her reputation in tatters, seeking revenge against the one that ruined it as her only form of closure,” she suggested, to approving whinnies and hoofclops from the gallery; even a previously glowering Rainbow had to suppress a smile at that. “That would be pathetic enough, but targeting Miss Sparkle through her friends over saving her town only makes it even more so.”

“WHY! Y-YOU…!” Trixie was so angry she could barely speak, cold air forming about her again; for a moment Phoenix thought he saw her eyes glow blue. “Y-you’ll PAY for this, Sonata!” she promised, her violet eyes bulging.

“Um… does this pony have something against Trixie, Phoenix?” Twilight asked him quietly in an aside, turning her head fractionally towards him as she watched the scene in some confusion.

“Short answer… yes,” Phoenix replied in a dry tone of voice, wondering what Sonata hoped to accomplish by antagonizing Trixie—regardless of their past, you’d think she wouldn’t want to provoke a prosecutor or else Trixie might go after her next! he thought to himself, thinking he might even be willing to help by giving Trixie evidence of the blackmail schemes Sonata had orchestrated for years.

His answer came quickly. “Pay for this? I think not,” Sonata told the showmare evenly. “You see… I know everything there is to know about you, Trixie,” she announced, closing her eyes and looking down for a moment.

Trixie forced a smile at that. “So what?” she asked, visibly trying to make herself calm down. “That’s actually kind of flattering. Trixie’s name should be known far and wide,” she answered grandly to a series of eyerolls from the audience.

“Oh, really now?” Sonata smiled for the first time, her lazy, anticipatory grin giving Phoenix the impression she was about to drop the hammer on Trixie—hard. “Then surely you won’t mind if we talk about poor widdle Twixie?” she said the last there words slowly, seemingly miming the baby talk Trixie had used against Twilight just before the guilty verdict.

Phoenix didn’t understand why Trixie’s eyes went wide at that. “Let’s start by discussing how ‘Great and Powerful’ you really are… or aren’t,” Sonata continued, her eyes closed and smiling as if savoring a moment she’d been waiting a very long time for. “Better yet… let’s talk about what you really desire. Because unlike everypony else… I know…” she trailed off, almost warningly as she locked gazes with Trixie. “And if you don’t behave yourself and sit there like a good little filly from here on out… I might just decide to reveal it.”

Phoenix listened in some confusion, certain there was something going on at that moment he wasn’t privy to. Looking up at the showmare, he saw her jaw dropped open and eyes wide, even fearful. “But... how could you…?” she asked in an unusually quiet and unsteady voice.

Sonata rolled on, not giving Trixie a chance to reply. “That’s right, Ms. Not-So-Great-Or-Powerful… I know what drives the real Trixie to do what she does,” she began, turning her eyes on Twilight. “And I promise it has nothing to do with her last visit to Ponyville as she has led many of you to believe. That was just the icing on the cake—the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back,” she said, now addressing a surprised Twilight directly.

“Know, Miss Sparkle, that the Trixie you see right now is nothing but a helpless phony taking on an egotistical persona to cover up her pitiful insecurities and total failure to attain any of her dreams,” Sonata announced to the courtroom, her voice dripping with contempt. Trixie seemed to shrink back further and further within herself with each new insult issued, leaving both Twilight and Phoenix bewildered as to what was happening. “Her real talent should be pretending—smoke and mirrors is all she is. And I’m not talking about her sad little excuse for a magic show,” she concluded with an odd emphasis on the closing phrase, giving a triumphant, even gleeful look to Trixie as she took what Phoenix could only guess was a long-awaited revenge. “As I said before… she’s well and truly a pathetic pony. Just take a look at her now if you don’t believe me,” she invited all present, sounding immensely satisfied.

Twilight and the entire courtroom looked back at Trixie and were stunned at what they saw. There was no trace of haughtiness or attitude left in her defeated posture, no anger or arrogance, no fire in her eyes or elemental ice surrounding her—just a devastated countenance, a deep and abiding sadness that confirmed the truth of Sonata’s words. Her head was bowed dejectedly, her lip quivering and downcast eyes watering; for a moment Twilight thought she might break down completely, so total was Sonata’s dismantling of her.

Playing a hunch, Twilight tapped the mystical energies the Magatama had given her—she’d finally figured out how how to block them after the end of Gilda’s testimony, in effect giving herself the power to turn the ability to see psyche-locks on and off—and waited for the mysterious black locks to materialize. When they finally did, she was surprised to see they were only barely holding on, visibly cracking and wobbling back and forth as they strained at their bonds, though they remained intact for the time being.

So… they CAN be broken! That means there’s hope for her yet… she thought even as Sonata went on.

“Oh? Nothing to say, poor widdle Twixie? Have you finally run out of insults and arrogant lies?” Sonata verbally slapped the already-beaten mare magician when she was down. “Strip them away, and what are you, Lula? The answer should be clear even to you, now: nothing,” she pronounced with finality, closing her eyes and appearing very pleased with herself while Phoenix the rest of the gallery looked on in disbelief, stunned at how completely and cleanly she had crushed Trixie’s spirit.

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If you've read the story, you know how Sonata did and where those strangely emphasized phrases came from. It's the kind of thing that doesn't quite make sense at the time you read it (no more than it does to Phoenix and Twilight, anyway), but is supposed to make sense once you've read the later chapter and then come back to it, enabling you to appreciate what Sonata did on a whole different level.

Also... I haven't done it yet, but I'm planning to put in a new graphic here showing Sonata with her dozen psyche-locks. Yes, I know the rule is supposed to be that there are never more than five, but I'm simply going to say that Equestrian magic and time spent in the Everfree bends those rules a bit. Crossover AUs are wonderful things...

The usual thanks are due my prereading team of AJ_Aficionado, Silentwoodfire, and Denim_Blue, who are troopers given I’m typically giving them around 14,000 words to edit a week. As always, readers are invited to take in the updated chapters in their entirity. In the meantime, onward and ever upward...