//------------------------------//
// Arc XXVII Episode X: Evidence Evaluations 
// Story: Family Begins With You 
// by Jmaster49 
//------------------------------//

“Ah, shit. This is already screwing with me,” Keiji thought to himself from his seat, “Keep it together man. You got this. Huh? Didn't realize Silver Spoon was here.”

Indeed. Silver Spoon had been present as one of the congregation members sitting in the pews...

Applejack would stand up and speak, “I want justice’ta be served. Our parents loved each other. They loved us. I don’t understand why she’d do somethin’ like this?” she turned to look at the woman, “Do ya realize you killed yer own sister?!”

From where he stood, officer Pale thought to himself. “That sinking feeling is returning. This is absolutely not going to end well.”

Judge Vera slammed her gavel down in order to get everyone’s attention. “Order. Does the defense have an opening statement?”

Surprisingly, Pomme was more than willing to speak. “...I did what I did for a reason, ya’ll. My sista dyin’ in the middle of it was the only thing I regret. I was just gunnin’ fer that Apple boy.”

“You sayin’ what now?!” Granny smith shouted from her end of the room, which caused the judge to bang her gavel yet again.

“Order. Please.” Vera looked at Pomme and asked, “So does that mean you’re pleading guilty to the murder?”

“Keepin’ the Pear family line intact without none’a them Apples messin’ it up is the only thing I plead, Your Honor,” she replied with a devious grin on her face. “However they died ain’t somethin’ I recall.”

Applejack huffed a deep breath as she continued bouncing her leg. Her hand started to twitch idly as Applebloom tried to console her.

“...I’m right here with ya, sis. Don’t worry,” she tried to convince Applejack to calm her nerves, but it was a tall order. Her older sister’s idle motions wouldn’t cease as the stress became harder and harder to overcome. 

“Let’s step back a bit,” Vera shook her head and looked at the jury, “We have several witnesses who corroborate the fact that you’ve been dealing in illicit substances. District Attorney?”

Guttersnipe, acting as DA, would approach the bench to present evidence. First? A baggie that she had put on gloves in order to grab. “Exhibit A: A powderized methamphetamine. Designed specifically to not cause enough mental overdose, but just enough to keep the subject addicted for a lengthy period of time.”

She placed the baggie down on the evidence table and picked up a small container of syringes. “Exhibit B: Needles with her fingerprints on them used in deals towards minors as our anonymous witnesses have corroborated.”

“Ya’ll can’t prove nothin’,” Pomme objected, “And even if ya could, ya don’t even know who that malarkey was goin’ to. Why, that stuff coulda been planted on me for all you know.”

The judge would challenge her statement. “And on what grounds do you base that claim of yours?”

“Well I can’t remember a darn thing,” the woman feigned a voice of desperation and defenselessness, “You can’t possibly book me for somethin’ when I can’t even recall it. What if I was the one who was drugged and ya’ll got the wrong gal?”

But Applejack wasn’t falling for it. As the Element of Honesty, she could tell that the snake of a lady was lying through her teeth in order to lighten her sentence. 

“Sassafrassin’ lyin’ ass piece’a manure,” she thought to herself while shutting her eyes. “I ain’t gon let her desecrate my family like this.”

With her patience running thin, Applejack was about to open her mouth to speak, but was preemptively cut off as Guttersnipe grabbed the last piece of evidence off the table: a VHS CCTV tape.

“Allow me to take you to Exhibit C: Video evidence that we found.”

“...hm?” Pomme raised a brow with a nervous, empty expression on her face. “What sorta video are ya’ll on about?”

Flash Drive had wheeled out a television with a VHS player that Guttersniple pushed the tape into. Once it started playing, it showed a video tape of what appeared to be a woman standing outside of a gas station in the middle of the night selling items of ill towards people that looked like they were of similar age, but were ultimately identifiable due to the grayscale coloration of the footage.

“Ya’ll can’t be serious,” Pomme laughed it off, “That coulda been any ol’ Jane out there. You still ain’t got nothin’ on me.”

Judge Vera stared at her incredulously. “Mm-hmm. So why don’t we review the evidence that we managed to find at your place of residence, shall we?”

“Ain’t nothin’ there. Yer wastin’ yer time,” she insisted.

“A member of the jury was a part of the investigation,” Vera turned to them and called on person in particular. “Mr. Ketsuki. Please provide the court with the information you found.”

Keiji stiffened up as soon as his name was called, having been biting his nails moments prior. “Oh uh…m-me, right?”

“No pressure, boy. You just need to explain what you found. No more, no less,” Vera spoke to him with a relaxed tone in order to ease his nerves. A witness that couldn’t properly explain what they saw due to anxiety was a key factor in why many court cases fell through.

Knowing this, Keiji accepted her words and took a deep breath as he got up. “Alright, so uh…I got this here potion that functions like a blacklight, see?” He held up a bottle of liquid to show everyone what the investigation entailed. “And with it, I was able to trace a compound that she had purchased from an organized crime syndicate here in the city. The compound that we found that you killed their parents with. Got anything to say for yourself?”

“I don’t know what happened,” Pomme continued to deny her involvement. “It was they own fault fer messin’ with our family. Stupid Apple boy dickin’ down my sister and poppin’ out them halfbreeds over there…”

Crash!

Applejack forced her way out of the chair, causing it to tip over as she took a heavy, weighted step towards the restrained criminal. Her fists were curled with so much intensity that the veins on her arms were bulging! 

“Ya wanna repeat that? Go on ahead. Say it again. I dare ya. I triple zippin’ flippin’ dog dare ya,” her voice thundered like a low, rumbling storm--the tension in the room rising as everyone stared at her…