//------------------------------// // Donut Break // Story: Phoenix Flight: Ace Attorney: Welcome to Turnabout! // by Magic Step //------------------------------// The heady scent of sugary baked goods greeted the pair as they pushed the shop door open to the tinkling of bells. Streetlight streamed in through the multiple peaked-arched windows, helping the hanging lamps to light the blue and white tiled floor, the round wooden tables, and the long green donut counter with a glass case filled with donuts. Behind the counter were even more racks of donuts. Glazed donuts, chocolate cake donuts, pink frosted donuts with sprinkles, cream filled pastries, berry-studded donuts, and every other glorious flavor imaginable. It was near closing time, so there were only four other customers in the shop. Two were police officers, one male and one female, both earth ponies, both with white coats- no, on second glance, the male earth pony was tan. He just was also wearing a white jacket, white shoes, and even white pants. They were both sipping coffee and looking half dead. The other two customers were a green mare with a poofy brown mane and large sunglasses sitting across from a purple stallion wearing a studded leather collar. They were looking lovingly into each other’s eyes and sharing a milkshake with two straws. “Hey, little Faerie,” Pony Joe said from behind the counter. The brawny tan unicorn smiled at her, then looked absently out the window, worry in his green eyes. “Hi, Joe,” Faerie Dust said, running up to look at the donuts. “Oooooh, maybe I can have three…” She paused suddenly and looked at Phoenix, her eyes starting to crease with shame. Phoenix shrugged. “I’m not your sister. Something wrong, Joe?” Joe sighed and turned back to them. “I’m waiting on a very special shipment of Zap Apple jam, a Sweet Apple Acres exclusive. Applejack was going to deliver them in pony. Hope nothing happened to her or the train…” “You’re bringing back Zap Apple jam donuts?’ Faerie Dust cried, her eyes shining. “I’ve been waiting for this!” “Aren’t you allergic to apples?” Phoenix asked. “Not for me, silly. For you! I know how much you love apples!” Phoenix winced. “W-well, true, but…” “Hey, Joe! One apple fritter for my friend Phoenix!” Faerie Dust said. “Oh, that’s not necessary…” Phoenix Flight said, feeling his cheeks turn red. “Yes it is.” Faerie Dust looked over her shoulder, an unusually earnest and serious expression on her face. Then it vanished, replaced with her whimsical smile as she turned her attention back to the counter. “And I want… a chocolate frosted cream filled donut with sprinkles, a pink donut with sprinkles, and a… and a… grape-jelly filled donut with peanut butter drizzle.” “Coming right up,” Pony Joe said, levitating the confections into the air. “Are you closing soon or can we eat here?” Faerie Dust asked. “I’m still watching to see if AJ arrives…” Pony Joe sighed. “Okay,” Faerie Dust said, accepting the donuts in her own pink aura. “You get to pick the booth, Phoenix.” Phoenix chose one by a window that overlooked an alley between the donut shop and the clothing store next door. Faerie Dust sat across from him and set the apple fritter on a napkin in front of Phoenix. “Now eat.” “Dusty…” Phoenix said. “You’re so skinny and I worry about you. And if you don’t it’s just going in the trash since, again, allergic to apples.” Faerie Dust steadily nommed her pink sprinkled donut. Phoenix stared at the fritter for a while. He didn’t feel like eating, but he never did. Slowly, he lifted the pastry into his forehooves, adjusting its position slightly for a few seconds, then taking a small bite. He closed his eyes; the crispy brown dough, the finely chopped apple pieces, the sugary glaze, and the hint of cinnamon made it taste heavenly. The two of them kept eating. By the time Faerie Dust was finished with her three donuts, Phoenix Flight was only a third of the way done with his fritter. Faerie Dust didn’t comment on this and just held a mostly one-sided conversation about the various misadventures in the Faerie mansion. "We're down to a skeleton crew now since Yellow Tail left us, thanks to Sterling Scales's nonprofit giving her a loan to start over in Fillydelphia. Now that she has a baby on the way, she doesn't want the child to grow up in a house where my grandmother reminds the servants day in and day out that they're inferior to her. And then granny acts like it's the fault of the ungrateful servants that we're so shorthooved." At the halfway point of Phoenix’s fritter, a bright flash caught several ponies’ attention. The green mare screamed. “Shocking Snap!” Pony Joe roared, stomping over to the potted plant the light had come from. “What did I tell you would happen if I caught you harassing my customers!?” A blue grey mare leapt out from her hiding place, her silver mane crackling at the tips with electricity and her horn glowing white. A camera thumped against her chest and a mischievous grin sliced across her face. She wore a skinny black dress with silver lightning bolts running down the sides and a flared skirt drawing attention to her flanks. Her cutie mark was of two lightning bolts around a flashbulb. “Aw, youse didn’t really mean that, did youse sweetie?” Shocking Snap asked in her thick Las Pegasus accent, reaching up to stroke Pony Joe’s chin seductively. Pony Joe slapped her hoof away. “Out of my restaurant. Now.” “Youse keep telling youself this little hole in the wall counts as a restaurant,” Shocking Snap snarled as her advances were rejected. She stalked out, swinging her tail. As she passed the cops’ table, their two coffee cups launched into the air in a white burst of magic, splashing all over the female cop’s uniform. “Hey!” the policemare shouted, standing up. “Police are losers!” Shocking Snap shouted at them as she slammed her way out of the donut shop. Faerie Dust and the two civilian customers gasped at the use of the L-word, apparently not desensitized to the worst word in Equestrian vocabulary. The policemare stood up and assumed a pose like she was about to start a 100 meter dash. “Please, no, Angel…” the policestallion whimpered. “Creep needs to pay!” Angel said. “You’ve got nothing; she just yelled at you,” the stallion protested. “Please don’t start another controversy please please please…” Angel pulled out of the dashing crouch and stood up straight, snarling. “I hate it when you’re right, Goody Shoes.” Goody Shoes sighed with relief. “Ugh, this is a mess…” the policemare said, looking at the ugly brown stains on her light brown police uniform. She turned to Joe. “You have a plastic bag so I don’t get this everywhere?” “Yeah, sure,” Pony Joe said, ducking behind the counter. Phoenix kept staring at the door, wondering where Shocking Snap was. “What a bother,” Faerie Dust said. “Who knew such giant jerks existed?” As Pony Joe levitated a plastic bag over to Angel, the bell over the door sang out again. A second policemare, this one light gray with a darker grey mane, leaned into the shop. “Was Shocking Snap just here?” she sighed, her brow furrowed. “Just missed her, Cinder,” Goody Shoes said. “Think she went left. Good luck.” “Thanks,” Cinder said, a dark shadow on her face. She looked like she’d be very pretty if she wasn’t so sad. She ducked back out. Angel finished wriggling out of her stained uniform; she folded it and put it in the plastic bag. Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off, causing Pony Joe to start, then they went out completely. “Eeek!” Faerie Dust said. “Ow… I bit my tongue…” Pony Joe walked over to a metal box attached to one wall, about the size of a radiator. He grunted angrily. “Stupid paparazzi… sorry, everyone, but it looks like we’re closing a bit early.” “What? Why?” the purple stallion said. “Power’s out. In just this store. And there haven’t been enough lightning storms recently to recharge the backup generator, so-” “That obnoxious little Shocking Snap! She is so in for it now! Nothing can stop Angel Star!” And with that the white policemare rocketed out of the building. “Angellll!” her partner cried, taking after her at a much slower pace. The young couple packed up and said their goodbyes to Pony Joe. “We’ll wrap this up for later, then,” Phoenix said, folding a napkin around the apple fritter. “But it better be gone by the morning, okay?” Faerie Dust said. “Dustyyyy,” Phoenix whined softly. “Hey, Angel forgot her uniform,” Faerie Dust said, kicking the plastic bag. “Ah, I’ll get it back to her in the morning,” Pony Joe said, telekinetically moving it behind the counter. “Sorry about this, really. I’ll give you some donuts on the house to make up for it.” “No, really, that’s not necessary,” Phoenix said. “More apple fritters!” Faerie Dust said. “I hope AJ doesn’t worry about me…” Pony Joe said. As Pony Joe closed up, Phoenix and Dusty loitered around outside. “You ready for bed now, Dusty?” Phoenix asked. Faerie Dust looked at the moon and shrugged. “Not really. The night is still young.” “Nothing’s going to be open this late though,” Phoenix said. “It must be ten o’clock.” “Or at least nothing nice.” Faerie Dust bit her lip in thought. “Oh, hey, didn’t a new park open that was night themed to celebrate Luna’s return? I’ve been meaning to check it out.” “A night themed park…?” Phoenix shrugged. “Sounds… diversionary I guess.” The park was only a few blocks from the donut shop. It was pretty small, just a pond with a circular track around it, but it was breathtaking. The pond was filled with blue, luminescent water lilies, and the air with gently pulsating green glowing moths with heart-shaped wings. Even though there were no streetlamps, they had no difficulty seeing their way. The two began their lap around the lake, just admiring the wonders of nature in silent awe. One moth landed on Phoenix’s nose, making him sneeze, which amused Faerie Dust greatly. At regular intervals along the trail were park benches. On the bench farthest from the main gate, there was a grey pegasus sleeping, a pair of saddlebags under his head. He had an electric blue mane and a cutie mark of three white stars. Phoenix and Faerie paused awkwardly when they noticed him. Then Phoenix sighed and walked over to the pegasus, lightly shaking his shoulder. “Hey. You okay?” “Whaddya youse want?” he grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. Then apparently he saw Phoenix’s blue suit, because his eyes widened and he started up like he was on fire. “O-officer! I’m sorry! I just dozed off-” “No no no, I’m not a police officer,” Phoenix said. “I’m an attorney.” “Youse a… youse a what?” The pegasus blinked sleepily. Phoenix sighed; it would take to long to explain to someone who didn’t know the concept. “I’m just not a cop. Forget it. You okay?” “Uh…” the gray pegasus looked around shiftily. “Sure. Why youse wanna know?” “You got someplace to stay tonight?” Phoenix asked. “‘Course I do. Headed there now.” The pegasus jumped off the bench and slung his saddlebags on. Phoenix winced. “Th-that was a lie. Wait a minute.” He pulled out his notepad. The pegasus eyed him even more suspiciously. “And how youse know that? What are youse, a lie detector?” “Of a sort,” Phoenix said, scribbling a map. “When normally honest ponies like you tell a lie, I can sense the individual lies. But when somepony’s a chronic liar, I just hate being around them all the time and I can’t tell anything they say apart.” “Huh.” This information suddenly made the pegasus look less suspicious for some reason. “I knew a gal like that back in Las Pegasus. Crazy filly wit’ no face. She’d just ask a question and then shout at the perp to tell the truth, and if the next words outta his mouth weren’t a truthful answer to her question they’d just suffocate.” Phoenix winced. “Oh no no no, nothing like that. I’m not nearly that powerful and I don’t think I’d want to be.” He tore the notebook page out and handed it to Twilight Sky. “Sorry I’m not the best artist. The circle is a donut shop and the plus sign is a hospital. The star is where you want to be; it’s a nice shelter where you can sleep and have running water, and it's been there forever. You really, really don’t want to sleep on the streets out in Canterlot; you’re just begging to get captured and sold to work in mines, or factories, or to be used as a guinea pig by mad scientists. Trust me; I’ve had neighbors and coworkers vanish before, back when I lived in a worse part of town.” “This is crazy,” the gray pegasus said, shaking his head. “Of course Las Pegasus is like that, but Canterlot…?” Phoenix sighed sadly. “I… I’m sorry. I know you must have dreamed you’d find a better life here, but… but the truth is that everything that happens in Las Pegasus also happens in Canterlot. Las Pegasus just doesn’t bother hiding it.” Twilight Sky lowered his ears and stared vacantly at the small map. “Th-that’s not true!” Faerie Dust suddenly shouted, patriotism apparently awakening in her. "Slavery isn't legal! I mean... we do have situations where ponies work for food and shelter instead of for money, but that's highly regulated and you can leave whenever you want!” “Dusty, I'm not talking about Alternate Compensation Contracts like I have, or servants like you have," Phoenix said, speaking slowly. "I'm talking about the secret stuff that the police would stop if they could find it. Underground organizations and stuff... and stuff based in Las Pegasus, of course, because nothing is illegal in Las Pegasus." He turned to the gray Pegasus. "No offense." “None taken; thank youse for the map,” the gray pegasus said, smiling sheepishly. “I’ll… I’ll pay it forward someday.” Phoenix also smiled a little. “Happy to help. Take care, okay?” The gray pegasus nodded and smiled back. Then he spread his wings, kicked off the ground, and took flight into the night sky. Phoenix watched him leave, not without a bit of jealousy. “Did you ever stay at a shelter before, Phoenix?” Faerie Dust asked as they continued their walk. “I was fortunate enough to always have a job or three after my mom kicked me out of the house,” Phoenix said. “Then I managed to get into Gifted Unicorn Academy night classes on a lottery, then... that... incident... h-happened..." Phoenix paused to take a deep breath. "And th-that's how I met your sister and you know what happened next." "I'm sorry," Dusty whispered. "Let's talk about something happier. Um... bought any new action figures lately?" "Well, I managed to find one at a garage sale last week..." Dusty said. The rest of their walk around the park ended in mild conversation. Then the two of them headed back toward the law offices.