//------------------------------// // Day 1: An Angered Princess // Story: Twilight Sparkle, Ace Attorney: The Royal Turnabout // by Animegx43 //------------------------------// Murder: A very rare and serious crime in Equestria. Due to the peaceful nature of the nation, the idea of killing is hard to imagine and even harder to actually carry out. Ponies die everyday, whether by natural means, unfortunate events and sometimes even accidentally by other ponies. Nonetheless, murder is unacceptable As hard as it is to believe, murder isn't the biggest crime one can commit in Equestria. While attempted murder is also a crime of high calibre, there is only one way it can out weight murder itself, and that is to try and kill one from the royal family. Sadly, a mare named Rarity learned that the hard way. Police entered a room and saw Prince Blueblood of Canterlot lying unconscious on the ground as his head bled. In front of the dying stallion was Rarity, who herself could not imagine what had happened. Due to her low constitution, she fainted from seeing Blueblood's red blood. When she woke up, this was the first thing she heard. "Miss Rarity, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Prince Blueblood". As soon as she heard those words though, Rarity fainted. She was in very big trouble and she needed somepony to help her out of her jam. She figured the best pony to help her was Princess Twilight Sparkle, one of the most powerful and reliable ponies she knew. Sadly, even a princess like Twilight Sparkle was no match for the law. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 8 Ponyville: Golden Oak Library The day after Rarity got arrested, Twilight was at her home in Ponyville's library, doing her daily reorganization of every shelf to make sure everything was where they were suppose to be. Her assistant Spike, a baby dragon, insisted that it wasn't necessary, but Twilight did it anyway. "And finally, How To Have Chords of Steel! The last book!" She said as she finished putting the books away. "I always get a sore throat after reading that one." "Does this mean we can finally get something to eat now?" Spike asked. Oh, Spike. Always thinking with your stomach Twilight thought to herself. "Almost. Now all we need to do is double-check to make sure every book is in place. Let's get started." Spike sighed at what Twilight said. He always insisted that even Princess Celestia wasn't as picky when it came to organization, but Twilight didn't want to take the risk. Right as Twilight was about to double-check her work, Spike breathed out his magical flame which flew toward her until it formed into a scroll. It was a letter from Princess Celestia. While Twilight would normally be thrilled to get a letter from her mentor, the one she sent to Twilight was probably the worst one she had ever gotten from Celestia. The look Twilight had on her face when she read the scroll was ghastly. "Oh no! Spike, I've got some very bad news." She said to him. Spike gasped at what he considered to be the worst case scenario. "Are all the world's rubies and sapphires missing? NOOOOO!!!!" "Spike, your gems are fine." "Oh, thank Celestia! Don't scare me like that!" "It's Rarity. She's at a Canterlot prison! Celestia is being pretty vague with this letter and once us to come to her castle immediately. She wants to talk to me personally about this." "Rarity is in jail? Canterlot's jail? What, did she kill somepony?" No words could describe Spike's face when Twilight told him how close his guess was. The poor dragon had such a big crush on Rarity. He couldn't believe that Rarity would be a murderer. He did have the right idea though, as even Twilight couldn't believe she would do something so bad. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- October 10, 2:00 PM Canterlot Castle Throne room Twilight wasted no time getting to Canterlot to settle the problem. Spike really wanted to come and see Rarity and couldn't be convinced to not come, so Twilight brought him along, although she didn't bring him to see Princess Celestia since she wanted to keep the meeting private. By the very next day, they were in the capital city of Equestria, Canterlot. News about Rarity had spread all around the city. On her way to the castle, Twilight heard Rarity's name being mentioned by a lot of other ponies. Some ponies even saw Twilight, one of their princesses, and remembered that Rarity was a close friend of hers. She felt very nervous knowing that Rarity was the talk of Canterlot, and yet she knew nothing about what happened. Eventually, she reached the castle, easily got past the guards, and met up with Princess Celestia in her throne room. She was waiting for her and looked almost as nervous as Twilight did. "Princess, I'm here!" Twilight said as she walked in. "Now what happened to Rarity!" Celestia felt relieved when her faithful student finally walked into her throne room, but naturally, she was still gravely worried about the issue. "Twilight Sparkle, I see you wish to cut down to the chase." "You're darn right I want to cut down to the chase!" She answered with a raised voice. "My friend is in jail and you haven't done anything to help her out! What exactly is going on here?" In hindsight, she found she probably shouldn't have been so angry at the princess. In fact, she realized right there that it was probably the stupidest thing she had ever done. Celestia herself was even surprised, but she easily forgave her old student as she understood why Twilight was angry at all. After Celestia calmed her down, she began give Twilight more details on what happened to Rarity. "A few days ago, Rarity had checked in at the Gilded Horseshoe, Canterlot's most luxurious hotel." "Yeah, she told me and the others before she left. I'm surprised she got in there. I heard that only the richest and most highly revered ponies in Equestria can get in there." Twilight said. "Even I don't know what she was doing there, nor do the Canterlot Police Department, but it's clear that she was there. At the time, Prince Blueblood, a nephew of mine, was also at the hotel. At some point, he was attacked and fatally injured." "That's awful. He's not dead, is he?" "He's alive, but he's in a coma right now and there's no telling when he will wake up. And Twilight..." Celestia paused, as she didn't want to say what she said next. "Rarity was there at the crime scene." Celestia said exactly what Twilight was afraid to hear. Blueblood was found half-dead and Rarity was with him when he was found. It would be easy for anypony to conclude that Rarity was responsible. Anypony but Twilight of course. "A pony could have a solid gold dress encrusted with jewels, yet Rarity wouldn't literally kill for it. She might be feel tempted, but I know she wouldn't do it." Twilight stated. "Where is she? I want to see her right now!" "She's at a detention center in Canterlot's prison." "That's all I need to know." She said as I began walking out the door. "I need to get her out of their quicker than you can say--" But before she could leave the throne room, Celestia slammed the doors shut with her magic. Twilight could've just teleported out if she wanted to, but it was obvious that Celestia wasn't done talking. "Twilight Sparkle, I know you're upset with what's happening and I can tell you're angry at me, but please listen to everything I have to say." "I'm...I'm sorry, but can you blame me, princess? One of my best friends are in jail and you won't let me do anything. In fact, why haven't you done anything? You can probably do anything you want, can't you?" Celestia shook her head at Twilight's ignorance before she continued. "There are two reasons why I can't simply let Rarity off the hook. The first is the fact that Equestria is a constitution monarchy. While I am the undisputed ruler, along with my sister, certain political decisions for Equestria can't be done by me alone. The Equestrian High Council have a say in those circumstances. "Yes, I've seen them before. What does that have to do with Rarity?" She asked. "Since she's labeled as a killer, the high council, as well as anypony else, wouldn't feel comfortable if she was let free so easily." "But she didn't kill anypony! I heard Prince Blueblood survived!" The princess went silent. What Twilight said brought up the hardest thing Celestia had to say to her, and what Twilight heard was very heartbreaking. "That brings up the second reason I can't help Rarity. She's not just being accused of attempted murder. This was attempted regicide, which is far more serious than normal murder. It is quite possible that she will face Equestria's greatest punishment for it." "B-banishment to the moon?" "No." Celestia answered. "To the Sun." "WHAT!" twilight shouted. "You can't banish somepony to the Sun! That would burn them alive!" It was then that she realized that Princess Celestia knew very well what she said and she meant it. While the punishment is technically banishment, the true nature was far greater than that. She knew that if things went the way they did, Rarity would've had to accept the death penalty.