//------------------------------// // Day 3: Investigation: Hospital Witnesses // Story: Twilight Sparkle, Ace Attorney: Turnabout Smiles // by Animegx43 //------------------------------// February 14, 1:49 PM Ponyville Hospital Entrance After getting very little new information from Pinkie thanks to Hope's choice of words, Twilight and Sweetie Belle took his suggestion and arrived at the hospital to see Apple Bloom, who had apparently woken up at long last. Twilight was relieved that one of her little friends were alive and well, but ever since she left the detention center, she noticed that Sweetie Belle didn't seem as happy as she should have been. "Alright, I'll bite. What's wrong, Sweetie Belle?" "Huh? Uhh...nothing." Sweetie Belle said without looking up at Twilight, which in turn gave the lie away immediately. "Come on. Why are you so down? You've been like this since the trial ended. Help me out so I can help you out." Sweetie Belle didn't feel comfortable, but since Twilight showed no signs of letting up, the filly had no but to speak. "I'm just worried about Scootaloo. I was hoping that the two of us would've been there with Apple Bloom when she woke up, but now we have to find Scootaloo. How am I suppose to break that to Apple Bloom?" These kids have been put through enough as is. Twilight thought. "Listen. Scootaloo will be fine and Apple Bloom is finally up, and right now, she needs one of her friends to be one of the first ponies to see her after waking up. It'll be good for both of your spirits to see each other. So please, for all three of you, keep a smile on your face." "I just wish I had something to help me smile right now." Motivation would certainly have helped, and fortunately for Sweetie Belle, she would get exactly that. After the two walked into the hospital, they heard a familiar voice down the halls, mixed with familiar sounds. They immediately acquired Sweetie Belle's attention. "...down the side...erupting volcano!" A voice sang. "That voice....AHA!" Sweetie Belle said excitedly before running off to find the voice. "It's them!" "Sweetie Belle, wait! Get back here!" The happy filly ran quickly to find the sounds she heard, forcing Twilight to fly after the more energetic filly. Twilight was led to a ward filled with sick and injured ponies, with Sweetie Belle standing right by the entrance. The patients were all laughing and cheering as the ponies in the center of the room brought cheer to them. Twilight then realized why Sweetie Belle was so excited. In the room were the two ponies they had met back at Rocky Road village. The traveling singing unicorn, Coltaire, and the black earth pony filly riding on his back, The Pony of Doom. The Jersey Devils had arrived in Ponyville. "Thank you. Thank you. We'll be here all week." Coltaire announced. "Unless we get kicked out first. We get in trouble a lot." The Pony of Doom said. "Get well soon, guys." After the Jersey Devils finished up their little show and made their way out of the room, they received a round of applause from the patients and nurses, as well as one from Sweetie Belle, even though she missed most of the show. When the filly clapped, Coltaire noticed her and Twilight at the door. "Well well, if it isn't Princess Good-looking. Have you been following me?" Coltaire asked, flirting with Twilight. "Dad! Do you really want your first restraining order to be from a princess?" The Pony of Doom asked. I forget. Which of these two is the parent? Twilight asked herself. "Uhh, no. I live here. Anyway, I guess you two are here for the trial." Coltaire answered. "Yeah, but when we got here, I was told that it was postponed until tomorrow. So, me and Doomy are going to settle down for a little bit and maybe get a gig while we're here. Also, I heard this place has the strongest cider in Equestria." "Aww, how am I suppose to make fun of your drinking when you do it yourself?" The Pony of Doom sulked. "Oh wait. I can make fun of you getting lost and bringing us to this hospital." The cheerful and teasing duo that were the Jersey Devils raised Sweetie Belle's morale, something that she was begging to get. There were a lot of smiles in the hospital, but Twilight didn't want to get distracted. She realized that she had a good opportunity to gain some information. "Hey, Coltaire. Since I've got you, could I ask you a few more questions about the case?" "I suppose so. I don't know where any of the bars are, so I'm in no hurry." I hope he arrives in court sober. With the witnesses for the trial before her once again, Twilight organized her thoughts and mentally wrote a list of questions she wanted to ask. She already learned a few things from the band during their first meeting, so that saved time. So, the first thing she wanted to ask involved a certain pony Coltaire knew. "From what you told me, not only do you two know Pinkie Pie, you also knew her uncle, Shepard Pi. How do you know them?" "We're just old friends. It really isn't anything complicated." Coltaire answered, "Then why did you try to pretend you didn't know him? What kind of history do you have with Shepard Pi?" Right as the Pony of Doom was ready to speak up, Coltaire used his magic to keep her mouth shut. "I'm not comfortable answering that. It's a private matter." Hmm...should I...? Twilight asked as she prepared to cast the magatama spell. Before she finished it though, she stopped channelling it. No, I really doubt I have the evidence to prove he's lying. But I need to know. Twilight thought out her words carefully. She believed that the things Coltaire knew could affect the whole case. She didn't know whether it would help Pinkie or hurt her, but it was still something that she needed to know. "What if I told you that you're making it harder for me to save Pinkie by withholding this information?" As a first, Coltaire gave Twilight a very serious looking glare. "What if I told you that I can't tell you, and if I did, then we would be the ones getting hurt?" "Yeah! Don't screw us over!" The Pony of Doom yelled, but still kept her cheerful look. As defensive as Coltaire had gotten, he eventually mellowed out. "Look, we've joked about doing illegal things a lot, but they weren't all just exaggerations. My history with Shepard Pi isn't something I want others to know about. I'm sorry." In response, the Pony of Doom spoke up. "We aren't bad ponies. We just like doing bad things." Coltaire was sad that he couldn't help Twilight as much as he could, but his daughter lightened the mood for him. While that was all fine and dandy, it still didn't help Twilight's case. At the rate she was going, her only hope was if she could get him to spill the beans in court. "That's disappointing, to say the least. We really could use any help that we can get." Twilight said. "Don't worry about that, Princess." The Pony of Doom said. "We're still on your side and will try and help as much as we can. Lying is allowed in court, right?" I'm starting to wish they got lost on their way here. Twilight thought. She had reached the point in the conversation where she hoped to bring an end to it. As she prepared herself to leave, she realized that Sweetie Belle had already left. "Sweetie Belle? Where'd you go?" "Your filly friend? I think she said something about seeing a friend." Coltaire answered. "She looked excited too. Her friend must have apple pie or something." I guess Sweetie Belle is feeling a little better now. I'm still not sure how we should tell Apple Bloom about Scootaloo, if at all. Since Sweetie Belle had already gone off, Twilight decided to bid Coltaire farewell for the time being. She was far from done with him, but because of how uncooperative he was being, she had no choice but to deal with other commitments. She gave him a little hoofshake, nodded her head, and was off to find Sweetie Belle. "Bye, Princess." The Pony of Doom said. "Until my Dad hits on you again." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- February 14, 2:01 PM Ponyville Hospital Apple Bloom's room "And that's when your sister came in and saved the day!" Much to Twilight's relief, when she walked into the hospital room, the first thing she saw was her little assistant smiling alongside the patient, Apple Bloom. With everything that the children had gone through, especially Apple Bloom, it was amazing that they could be as happy as they were. Twilight was afraid of saying anything, so she allowed the kids to have their fun. But while the children were goofing around, adults had to be serious. When Twilight walked in, she saw another visitor. To keep an eye on Apple Bloom, Applejack was there, and she looked as gloomy as ever. She was still missing her hat as well, making her all the more unlike the Applejack she knew. On the bright side: The hatless mare made it clear that she was no imposter. "Applejack. Hi." Twilight said. "Oh. Um...hi there, Sugarcube." Applejack said, barely having her head lifted up.\ I finally have Sweetie Belle smiling, and now this. I just can't win today. Twilight thought. Since Applejack was there, she found it to be the perfect time to talk about something she's been wanting to talk about since the trial. "You were a huge help at the trial today. I wouldn't have been able to save Pinkie if it wasn't for you." As Twilight tried to thank her, Applejack turned her head away. Twilight tried to give her some well needed kindness, but Applejack turned it down. "Applejack, I mean it. You're the one who made it all possible." Applejack finally spoke up. "I was also the one who started this whole mess. I insisted that I saw Pinkie Pie hurting my little sister and tried to do the same to her. Not only that, but she could still be found guilty because of it." She then turned her head back to Twilight, showing the tears on her face. "I almost lost my sis, and now I'm might lose one of my best friends. It feels like no matter what, I'm going to lose family, and it'll be all my fault." I guess she has the right to be upset. But she doesn't have the right to blame herself for it. I should prove it to her that it's not her fault. After digging through her evidence, Twilight found something to help lighten up Applejack's burden to show that she wasn't to blame., by sharing a picture that would prove that anypony would've been lead to the same conclusion. "Do you remember this photo? The one where we all thought was of Pinkie, but was really of her uncle? This whole time, we've been deceived into thinking that the killer we've been after was really Pinkie. You weren't even the first one to think that it was Pinkie." "Then I've been used. Definitely not a good feeling either." Applejack said. "To think I could let anyone control me with my stubborn ways like that." "But you were able to fight it off. Trust me. When you were against Pinkie, you didn't do anything that would end her case. But when you barged into court today, you saved the day. Pinkie would be proud of you." "Probably. But she'd be proud of me if I bucked a tree, so i don't know if that's saying all that much." Twilight shook her head in disbelief, as she hoped to have settled the issue quicker, but was given a lot of trouble from Applejack. "Take my word, Applejack. We all understand what you've been going through and we've already forgiven you for everything you've done. Now we just need you to forgive yourself." Applejack sighed. "Easier said than done, Sugarcube. But I guess that's something I'll have to keep in mind." Maybe if I could get Pinkie Pie to forgive her, she'll lighten up, even if only a little. The pressure of getting Pinkie acquitted was bad enough as is, but now I have like a tenth reason to make it happen. Twilight was sad that she couldn't make Applejack feel any better. She didn't want to admit it, but it was simply something that she couldn't fix on her own. She had no choice but to allow Applejack to deal with her problem on her own. It was unfortunate, but true. The adults weren't too happy, but as soon as they saw the smiles of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, both of whom were keeping their spirits up, which certainly helped Twilight and Applejack. Before long, another visitor walked into the hospital room. The old unicorn doctor, Auto Ratchet, walked into the room with a clipboard and, as a rarity, a smile on his face. He came in with good news. "Well Apple Bloom, based on how much energy you have, I'd say that at this rate, you'll be able to check out much sooner than we anticipated." Ratchet announced. "Oh boy! I can't wait to leave. The sooner I do, the sooner I can get back to crusad--OW!" The hyperactive filly said before hurting her side. Not only that, but as she was bouncing around, she accidently knocked over an unused IV rack, knocking it into a nearby monitor. Naturally, the monitor broke. "AAH! Apple Bloom! I needed--" The doctor was ready to snap at the filly, but given that she was an injured little filly, he had to suppress the rage. "Oh, forget it. Just try and get some rest." The old stallion prepared to leave as quickly as he entered, but as he walked past Twilight and Applejack, he looked and noticed something. He used his magic to pick it up and showed it to Twilight. "Princess Twilight, is this your book?" "Huh?" Twilight said with a dumbfound look on her face. It wasn't until she saw it that she realized that she had dropped Shepard Pi's journal. Most likely when she showed Applejack an earlier piece of evidence. "AAHH! Thank you! Thank you! That's my most important piece of evidence!" "Ugh. To think a clumsy one such as yourself could rise up to be a fatcat. Please be careful with your things." He scolded Twilight, sounding much like another pony that she knew. But before he handed the book back, he took a quick look at the cover. "Shepard Pi? Hmm. Well, at least you know who's books to read from." "You knew Pinkie Pie's uncle? This is actually his own personal journal." Twilight explained. "THAT GUY WAS HER UNCLE!?" Ratchet shouted, earning him a well deserve hush from a nearby nurse. "Ahem. Well, No. I don't even know a pony who knew Dr. Pi. He was very reserved, but he's provided a lot of service to Equestria's health care." Interesting. I might be able to learn something from this. Twilight thought. "Applejack, would you mind watching Sweetie Belle for a bit? I'd like to talk to Dr. Ratchet for a bit." "I guess so. Doesn't look like she'll be going anywhere." Applejack answered. "Yeah, sorry Twilight. You'll have to try and investigate without me for a while." Sweetie Belle said. "I think I can manage. Just keep your friend safe." Twilight said. Upon Twilight's request, Dr. Ratchet was brought outside of the room to have a private chat. Since Coltaire shared very little regarding Shepard Pi, she hoped that she could learn something about the deceased uncle from somepony familiar with his work. "Alright, Princess. What is it? Because to be frank, if it isn't about the whereabouts of the hippogriff that's been impersonating me, I'm not all that interested." "Please. I'm in desperate need to learn about Shepard Pi. Anything you know about him could help my case. He has a big part in it." Twilight pleaded. "Shepard, huh? Well, like I said, I knew of him, but have never met him before. He worked privately and had very little connection to the outside world. He specialized in medical technology, such as x-rays and radiation. Those and other machinery like the one that just got smashed! Ugh." Or maybe things like that artificial horn. But if Shepard Pi worked exclusively on technology, then that means that something he's given to Pinkie doesn't quite add up. Based on Twilight's findings, Shepard Pi gave Pinkie a number of different treatments to deal with her overwhelming amount of magic. These treatments includes the use of pills, which were outside Shepard's expertise. This raised a new question for Twilight. She decided that she finally found somepony to share the existence of Pinkie's pills to. "Dr. Ratchet, do you recognize this medicine?" Twilight asked as she showed Pinkie's medicine to him. "Yes, those are Anti Magic Purgers. They're made to force excess magic out of young unicorns that can't handle it." Ratchet answered. "Wait a minute! How do you have those? Are you the one that stole them?" "Stole them? These are stolen?" "You're darn tooting that they are. This is specially and carefully made. Very expensive to make and only done so at Canterlot. Even worse, we've had to constantly make more because they're always getting stolen by somepony." Weird. I've never actually wondered how Shepard Pi got his hooves on these pills. A.M.P bottle has been updated. "But now I'm curious." Ratchet said, interrupting Twilight's thought. "Why on earth does Pinkie need such medicine. That stuff is some of the most addictive drugs in Equestria. It doesn't even give you a high or anything." "Well...what kind of symptoms do unicorns suffer from when they have too much magic in their bodies?" "Let's see...severe headaches, unintended magical discharges, or I guess if the magic can't get out, then theoretically, misplaced or misshaped organs. Just to name a few possible worse case scenarios." Taking Shepard's journal back out, Twilight began flipping through the pages. Misplaced organs, huh? I think I found something like that in here when I was reading it last night.. Twilight skimmed through many pages, but found one regarding Pinkie's youth. It included an x-ray that was taken of Pinkie. "Here we go. This says here that this x-ray was of when Pinkie's condition was at her worst. This was taken before she started to take that medicine." "I'm an old and stubborn old doctor, my friend. Let me see it myself." Twilight gave Ratchet the x-ray as he asked. Then, using his magic, he made the unseen image on the x-ray visible for him and Twilight to see. He was also given a medical chart from Twilight to help decipher what was shown. Due to Twilight's lack of understanding in the medical field, she didn't really know what to find. However, almost as quickly as the x-ray image was revealed, Ratchet's jaw had dropped in shock and horror. He looked as if he saw a ghost. While Twilight didn't understand the medical charts, she at least knew that the old doctor believed him. "Th-this is insane! This isn't pony anatomy, it's...i-it's a Celestia damn monster! And yet the body frame is clearly that of a little filly! How can this even be real?" "You clearly have never met Pinkie Pie." Twilight explained. The shock and horror overwhelmed the old doctor. He didn't know what to think of what he had seen. He looked through the pages that Twilight showed him, but it was still a lot of information for him to take in. On the bright side, he became interested in Twilight's case, meaning Twilight could have a potential witness for the trial. "I need to look into this in further detail. I need to find the x-ray of Pinkie we took yesterday. Nurse! NURSE!" Without saying another word to Twilight, Auto Ratchet ran off to study the medical charts in greater detail. Twilight didn't learn too much more, but she felt like she was making progress. With a sense of satisfaction, she decided to put her bottle and journal away. Actually, now that I've got my evidence out, I may as well organize myself a little bit. I'll separate the things I need and the things I don't need and leave the useless stuff at my home. Don't want to lose anything important a second time. For the next few minutes, she organized all of the evidence that she had been using, making sure that only the ones that still served a purpose was with her. Organized evidence makes an organized defense attorney for this organized princess. "PRINCESS TWILIGHT! As Twilight finished up, she heard a voice calling for her. Down the hall, she noticed a green mare with a police uniform on rushing to the princess. Twilight was nervous when she saw the uniform, but the mare didn't seem hostile in the slightest. In fact, she felt bad after seeing the police mare huffing and puffing after making a sudden stop. "Princess...Twilight..." The out of breath mare. "I've been looking all over for you." "Oh, great. Have you guys finally decided to arrest me for tempering with the evidence?" Twilight asked. With how unproductive Twilight had been, the last thing she really needed was for the police to come after her. She would've preferred anything else. So one could only imagine how great Twilight would feel after hearing the best news she had heard all day. One that would lift a gigantic burden from her shoulders. "No, no! Star Cestus sent me." The mare answered. "He's found the missing child."