//------------------------------// // Day 2: The Trial Part 3: Coffee Causes Chaos // Story: Twilight Sparkle, Ace Attorney: The Royal Turnabout // by Animegx43 //------------------------------// Due to the poor testimony done by the witness, the royal guard Giant Hand, he needed to revise it and tell what really happened. Discord was very confident with what the witness had to say, which made Twilight worried about what was about to happen. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Testimony: Why I didn't hear the prince-- "Actually, I have a confession. I wasn't at my post the entire time. I got a little tired thirsty. I figured nopony would dare try to cross Prince Blueblood, so I left to get a coffee. When I got it, I came right back to my post, which was when I found out what happened." --End of Testimony-- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The captain of the royal guard left their post?" The Doctor asked as he shook his head. "Shame on you." "Yeah, how could you?" Twilight asked. "I thought it's suppose to be a great honor to risk their lives protecting royalty." Giant Hand hesitated with his answer, cringing as he was thinking. "There is no honor with working for Prince Blueblood. We sometimes assign the job of watching over the prince as a form of punishment. When that can't be done, we simply take turns. If I had a choice, I'd pass my turn to somepony else." Is working for the prince really that bad? Twilight thought with disbelief, but she quickly shrugged it off when it was time for her cross-examination. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --Cross-examination-- "Actually, I have a confession. I wasn't at my post the entire time." HOLD IT! "Is working for Blueblood so bad that you risk leaving him alone?" Twilight asked. "For him? You have no idea. We're treated more like butlers than actual guards. My last subordinate who worked for the prince had to give him a sponge bath or be dishonorably discharged." Every single pony in the courtroom shuddered in disgust by what they had heard. The Doctor, Twilight, and even Discord felt sympathy for the captain's fellow guards. I'm going to have Princess Celestia raise her guard's salary after hearing what I just heard. Twilight thought to herself. "Alright. Continue." "I got a little tired and thirsty." HOLD IT! "How long were you standing outside the hotel room? If you were tired and thirsty, I assume you were there a long time." Twilight asked. Giant Hand thought about the question carefully as he didn't want to answer incorrectly. "I woke up, got ready, and stood out to watch the door from 9:00 am until I left my post. I was able to stay out longer because I packed a small lunch with me." So That means he was on guard duty the entire day. I guess it would've been impossible for anypony to break in with him so close to his boss. So the attacker definitely broke in when he left. Twilight thought. "I figured nopony would dare try to cross Prince Blueblood, so I left to get a coffee." HOLD IT! "Here's an important question. What time did you leave to get your coffee?" Twilight asked. "Hmm...I don't know." Giant Hand answered. OBJECTION! "I can answer that one." Discord said. "When Giant Hand met up with Red and found the prince and Rarity, with the former being half-dead, they recorded that the time was 2:15 PM." Ah ha! For once, Discord has done something right. Twilight thought with a smile. Since we can't get the time of the crime due to no autopsy report, we can narrow it down instead. "That's right! So..." Giant Hand said as he continued to think. "I remember being out for about fifteen minutes before coming back." Twilight was satisfied with the information she was given, as it at least offered more specific details of the crime, namely an estimated time. However, she still had another question and hoped to get an answer just as easily. "Captain, can you tell me where you got your coffee?" OBJECTION! "Twilight, please don't tell me you think his coffee is suspicious." Discord said. "Could the entire trial change because he got it at the hotel or at a Star Swirl Bucks?" "Discord, please just let me question the witness." Twilight asked. "Fine, but only talk about the important stuff." As Discord was forcing Twilight to change the subject, she began to suspect something, but he never said anything before until Twilight asked about the coffee. With how solid this testimony is, I don't think I can find any contradictions. If there isn't one, then why would Discord interrupt me now? Twilight asked herself. "Twilight, aren't you going to finish talking to this guy?" Spike asked. "I want to, but I think Discord is trying to stop me from doing it. In which case..." More curious than ever, Twilight banged her hooves on the table and asked her question. "I really am going to know more about where you got your coffee. I think this will change the case." "You think this will change the case? Fine." Discord said as he magically makes a mug of coffee appear out of thin air. "You really want his coffee? Here it is!" Completely out of the blue, the coffee Discord made was thrown across the room and landed on Twilight's head, scolding her with hot coffee. She was surprisingly quiet after getting splashed by the hot coffee and having the mug hung on her horn. Should I shout in anger for having my horn be used for ring toss, or scream in pain from first-degree burns? Twilight thought. Noticing the chaos going on, the Doctor banged his gavel to get order. "Will the prosecution refrain from literally making attacks on the defense?" The Doctor asked. "Anyway, I'll allow for the defense's request. Will the witness revise their testimony about how they got their coffee?" As requested, Giant Hand changed his testimony to answer Twilight's question. "Actually, I got my coffee at the Star Swirl Bucks across the street from the hotel." HOLD IT! "So you went across the street? Couldn't you of gotten a coffee at the hotel?" Twilight asked. "Fifteen bits for a hotel coffee? I may be captain of the royal guard, but I'm not made of money. On top of that, with Proposition G3 practically passed, I'll need to save all the money I can." Giant Hand explained. Proposition G3? Ugh, whatever. Wait, fifteen bits for a coffee? What a rip. Twilight thought angrily, but she dismissed the thoughts after realizes that none of it were important details. "Alright, I won't question why you went across the street, but can you at least tell me what happened while you were gone?" "I'm afraid not." Giant Hand answered. "Aside from saving thirteen bits on coffee, nothing special happened. I even kept the eye out at the hotel just in case." "And even then, you saw nothing?" Twilight asked. "After my coffee, I turned back and as I went into the hotel, Commissioner Star Cestus caught up to me after hearing some anonymous tip about the prince. You already know the rest from there. Until then, nothing happened that I can remember." "You see, Twilight? You wasted a testimony." Discord said, mocking Twilight. "Only you would've found coffee suspicious." Sure enough, Twilight couldn't find anything in the witness's testimony. There was nothing odd about his trip to the coffee shop and sounded like just a typical trip. However, after thinking it over carefully, she realized that being an ordinary trip across the street was exactly what was wrong. OBJECTION! As soon as Twilight objected, Discord began to laugh uncontrollably. "Miss Sparkle, did you actually find something odd about the witness getting coffee?" The Doctor asked. "No, the coffee has nothing to do with anything, but there's another problem with this testimony." Twilight answered. "Just now, Giant Hand claimed that he didn't see anything when he looked back at the hotel." The Doctor thought about what Twilight said, and while he didn't notice anything at first, an epiphany struck him. Discord, being so confident in himself, didn't notice anything. "It appears that the defense has found a flaw in the witness's testimony for a second time." The Doctor said. "What? I don't see anything." Discord said. "Fine. I guess we have been pretty vague." Twilight admitted. "Just a minute ago, Giant Hand said that he didn't see anything strange when he went to get coffee. If that's the case, why the hay did he not see climbing up the ladder and up to the hotel room?" Once again, Giant Hand's eyes popped out of his helmet in surprise. He insisted that he saw nothing, but sure enough, he should've seen everything. OBJECTION! "Maybe he couldn't see anything." Discord said with a slightly worried look. "The coffee shop obviously didn't face Blueblood's room." OBJECTION! "I think it's safe to say it was. Otherwise, Giant Hand wouldn't need to look back." Twilight argued. "Witness, was your room facing the coffee shop?" The Doctor asked angrily. "Y-yes. It's how I knew it was there." Giant Hand admitted. For the first time all day, Discord was thrown into a bad spot. He had started to sweat when such a huge oversight was found and couldn't use his silver tongue to mess with Twilight's case. When the audience noticed the prosecution's loss for words, they started to make an uproar, but they were quickly silenced by a single bang of the Doctor's gavel. "Witness, what you just revealed contradicts with all the facts we have. Explain yourself!" The Doctor ordered. "I hope you aren't hiding any more secrets." "B-but I'm not!" Giant Hand explained. "During my entire time out of the hotel, I didn't see the ladder, nor did I see the attacker. Heck, I never even...oh..." A thought occurred to Giant Hand as he pondered about the missing ladder, which Twilight, Discord, and the Doctor noticed by the sudden silence. "I just remembered. Back when I saw Rarity and the prince, I didn't see the ladder hanging by the window either." The ladder wasn't at the window either? What could that mean? Twilight thought to herself. After thinking of a possible answer though, a horrified expression appeared on her face. "Figured it out too, my little pony?" Discord asked with his smug smiled back on his face. "Your honor, I think we've gotten all we can get from this witness. If I may, I'd like to call the first one back for a second." "I suppose the cross-examination has gone on for long enough." The Doctor said. "Does the defense have any objections?" Twilight came to the same conclusion about the mysterious as Discord and it was a bad one for her. She didn't want it to be brought up, but she knew that it was going to happen anyway. "No, your honor. No objections." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few minutes later, after Giant Hand left the witness stand, Star Cestus was brought back up to the stand to clarify what would completely blow away the contradiction Twilight worked so hard to find. "Red, we need to ask you something about the stepladd--oh, I mean the "ladder" that was found at the crime scene." Discord said. "Sure, pal. What do you need to know?" Star Cestus asked. "Just a minute ago, the prince's guard told us that he didn't see the ladder against the room's window when he went out, and he didn't see it when he was in the room either. Care to explain why?" "Oh, of course!" Star Cestus said. "We didn't actually find the ladder standing against the hotel. It was actually lying down in the grass. I guess the attacker foolishly knocked the ladder down when she entered the room. The reason we knew it was used on the prince's hotel window was because of indents found in the grass and the height of the ladder. In short, we are 100% sure that the ladder was used there." Twilight slammed her hooves on the table in anger when she heard the new information. Damn it! I thought I had it! There's no way the ladder would've fallen if it was positioned like it was, but without proof, it's the only explanation! "Twilight, you don't look so good." Spike said, worried about her friend. "OF COURSE I'M NOT GOOD!" Twilight snapped. "I finally found a problem with the testimony and Discord fixed it!" "I don't know. It still seems fishy, doesn't it? I use our ladder at home all the time, but I've never let it fall over on me." There wasn't much left for Twilight to fall back on, but she knew Spike had a good point. The idea of Rarity breaking in with the ladder and then letting fall was too suspicious to ignore. "Does the defense have anything to say about what the commissioner just said?" The Doctor asked. "It's just as Spike said." Twilight answered. "It seems too odd for Rarity to let the ladder fall over after climbing up. My theory is that somepony else climbed the ladder, committed the crime, and left after removing the ladder. That's the only way this crime could've happened without Giant Hand seeing the ladder." OBJECTION! "Perhaps Rarity accidently allowed the ladder to fall and trapped herself as Giant Hand left the scene. That would explain why Rarity was at the crime scene when the door to the room was locked. There's simply no other way." "The prosecution does have a valid point." The Doctor said in agreement. "Can the defense come up with any proof that another pony was at the crime scene?" [i[Think think think think...EUREKA! Twilight thought. "As a matter of fact, there is still a possibility of another pony being at the crime scene. And this is my proof!" TAKE THAT! Twilight presented to the court the gold bar Discord produced, the one used to knock out Blueblood in the crime. "Twilight, that's evidence used to prove Rarity was the culprit. Why would you use it against yourself?" Discord asked. "Actually, I don't think it's enough to say Rarity was the one who used it." Twilight argued. "Did you forget that the magic residue from another unicorn was found on the gold?" "I have to admit that I did forget." The Doctor said. "The reason Rarity was suspected of being the attacker is because you found her magic and hoof prints on the gold bar, but if that's the case, then whoever the other magic belongs to is equally suspicious." The Doctor went into a deep thought to think about Twilight's proposal. Twilight was slowly turning the tables again, much to Discord's misery. "In fact, I think the concrete proof still lies with that ladder. If we can leave prints on a piece of metal, then surely there will be marks of some kind on the ladder, and if it there's any that don't belong to Rarity, it will prove that she didn't do it." Both Discord and Star Cestus had a funny look appear on their faces. They felt a sense of doubt and confusion with Twilight's idea, almost as if they hoped Twilight wouldn't suggest that. "Very well. Commissioner Cestus, please have the ladder analyzed for any other prints." The Doctor asked. "We already sent everything we found to the forensics and they examined every piece of evidence carefully. We didn't find any kind of prints on the ladder." Star Cestus explained. "Well, that's a shame. I guess this means Miss Rarity really...wait, none? Not even the defendants' own hoof prints?" "I'm afraid not. We found no prints to show it was handled, no magic to show it was levitated, and as far as we know, it was a ghost who used the ladder. It's quite a mystery." While the court was working hard to solve the mystery of Prince Blueblood's attacker, a new mystery was born about the markless ladder. Theoretically, any pony could've climbed up and use it. "Eh, it doesn't really change anything in the long run." Discord said. "The ladder was clearly used, the hotel room was locked from the inside, and yet Rarity was found inside." "Hmm...there are still some unsolved mysterious, but everything you said is true." The Doctor said. "Since nothing has actually changed the current facts, I think it's about time I give my verdict since I can't see there being anything that can prove the defendants' innocence." No. It can't end now. There's still too many questions that I need answered. Twilight thought, worried about the upcoming verdict. There must be somepony that can tell us more. "Will the defendant, Miss Rarity St. Germane please come to the stand for her verdict?" That was when it became clear. There was indeed still another pony who hasn't said anything about the case, and she called to the stand by the judge himself. Among the many mysteries was why Rarity was at the crime scene if she wasn't the one who committed the crime. Since the verdict was ready to be handed down, this was Twilight's last chance. "Your honor!" Twilight said as she banged her table with her hooves. "Since we're already calling her back out here, I'd like to ask Rarity about the crime from her point of view." The Doctor shook his head in disagreement. "Request denied. Without any proof or alibi, anything she would say would be unreliable." "Please, I beg you! I know she's been hiding something from me as well, and maybe if I can figure out what that is, we may be able to find something that can turn this whole thing around." Discord shook his head in shame and began wagging his finger at Twilight. "Oh dear Twilight. Still trying to save your friend when it's obvious that she's a criminal mastermind." After thinking the idea over a second time and looking at the expression on Twilight's face, the Doctor felt a change of heart. "Very well then. I suppose she has the right to some last words. Bailiff, bring the defendant in so we may hear her story." OBJECTION! "Your honor, I don't know about you, but I don't want to waste more time here then I need to." Discord complained. OBJECTION! "The judge has already allowed me to do it." Twilight argued. OBJECTION! "I see it as nothing as a waste of time. There's no reason for me to let you play with any more dead-end details. At least...not without a dagger hanging over your head." The court went silent. Not even the audience had anything to say, nor did they want to say anything. Twilight herself was worried about what Discord was suggestion. She was particularly worried about the idea of literally having a dagger over her head. "Hmm...dagger over..." The Doctor said to himself before understanding the meaning. "Oh! You mean there should be a penalty of some sort." "Fine. If I'm wrong, I'll let the judge hold me in contempt." Twilight said. "Pff. What's the point of that?" Discord asked. "The trial is almost over anyway, so it would barely be called a punishment. No, I've got a much better idea." Yeah, I have the feeling that I'm dead now. Twilight though with unease. "With a snap of my fingers, I can make anything reality. I propose that if Rarity can't say anything that can avoid a guilty verdict, I can use my magic on you. Tell me Twilight, do you think you can live the rest of your life without your horn and wings?" "My...MY HORN?!!!" It was indeed a very scary proposal for Twilight. If she wanted to hear Rarity's testimony without Discord interfering, she would have to give up her horn and wings. I can live without my wings. I'm still breaking them in, but my horn? Magic is my whole life! Twilight thought, having second thoughts about the idea. "If you had to give up your horn and wings, would that mean you can't be a princess anymore?" Spike asked. "It would definitely mean I can't live my life the same way again. Magic is my special talent. If I gave it up, my cutie mark wouldn't mean anything anymore. It's...definitely not something I expected to happen at the trial today." OBJECTION! To the shock of everypony in the court, Rarity herself ran to the stand and objected to the idea Twilight gambling with her magic. "This will NOT do!" Rarity said angrily. "A unicorn values their horn like it's their own lives, and Twilight of all ponies would value it above her life! I'd sooner take a guilty verdict then to let you take that away from her!" Discord chuckled and wagged his finger at Rarity after making her comment. "There you have it. She pleads guilty. I'd say it's time to end this trial." "So it seems. Does the defense have anything to say about this?" The Doctor asked. Suddenly, there was a smile on Twilight's face. Discord was at Twilight's throat, Rarity was asking for a guilty verdict, and the judge was ready to hand down a verdict, and yet Twilight was smiling. It was quite a shock to Discord. "You're on." Twilight said. "Excuse me?" The Doctor asked. "I said I'm accepting Discord's challenge. If I can't find anything in Rarity's testimony, I'll let him take away my horn and wings." "Oh...well...I didn't expect to hear that." The Doctor said. "Hmm...does the prosecution have anything to say?" Discord began laughing like the maniac he was when Twilight accepted his offer. "A chance to send one of Twilight's friend to the Sun and mutilating Twilight herself after the way she talked to me? How could I possibly turn this down?" "Twilight, are you sure this is a good idea?" Spike asked. I know this isn't a good idea, but it's still worth doing. Here I am trying to help Rarity, then she comes and tries to save me by sacrificing her own life. I can't let a pony with a heart like that down. I'm more then willing to lay risk my magic to save my friends. It's why I have it in the first place. More than prepared for the worst case scenario, Twilight was able to make the trial continue to give Rarity the chance to prove her innocence. Twilight didn't know if she would succeed or not, but with Rarity's life at stack, she didn't care.