//------------------------------// // A Highblooded Turnabout // Story: Alexandrite: Ace Attorney: Turnabout Tidbits // by MaxKodan //------------------------------// “No,” I said. “No way. I’m not doing it.” Buckler Round was one of the most well known and influential ponies in the legal world. He was also my boss. He was also the only one of my bosses I felt like I could talk to normally, and the only one I’d ever dared to refuse anything. Something about him was just approachable, which was something you couldn’t always say about unicorns. “But Lexaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…” He was almost whining. If I hadn’t seen this guy shut down a prosecution’s case with a single lazy sentence, I never would have guessed at his position. “He just wants a peek, y’know!” “Firstly,” I said firmly, “Watch your phrasing. Secondly, I’m not your lava lamp.” I worked away, organizing a filing cabinet. Until I took a case, Aegis said, I’d be more useful giving the interns a break. I made it look like I was cross-checking each folder as I moved it about, so I wasn’t doing the most entirely embarrassing thing a pony with an attorney’s badge could possibly do. “He’s never seen a crystal pony before! You gotta come in!” He swished his way around the desk and was watching me work, a nervous grin on his face. I stuck a folder labeled ‘White’ between ‘West’ and ‘Windfeather’. “Buckler, even if I wanted to, Aegis told me not to stop with this until I was totally finished, and I’m not about to shrug it off for a second.” “Aw, it won’t be that bad.” “If she found out you overrode her orders, she’d kill you. Then she’d make me defend her on the charge. Then when she was declared guilty, she’d kill me. And then she’d probably find a way to get my ghost to defend her for my own murder.” Who the hay had put ‘Medium’ under the W file? “Aegie wouldn’t hurt a fly.” He picked a file out of the drawer I was working on and flipped through its contents. Aegie? “Does she know you call her that?” I asked, snatching the folder away and checking its label. Gouda. Gouda? I began to get suspicious. Had Aegis actually gone through and mixed these files up or something? “Course she does!” And then he hesitated. “You’re not gonna tell her are you?” I sighed. “Look, just, who is this guy you want me to see?” Buckler lit up instantly, which was weird because that was my gig. “He’s a total big wig. Guy has connections in the prosecutor’s office, but he came to visit us on a small matter.” I looked at him and raised an eyebrow skeptically. “If he’s just here on a small matter, how exactly did I come into the conversation?” “Oh.” He shifted his weight and cleared his throat. “Y’know, the usual. Talking about...things. And stuff.” I squinted. “Were you gossiping? About me? With some random pony you just met?” “Gossiping? Whaaaaaaaa—? Don’t be ridiculous, Lexa!” A drawl crept into his voice, and his eyes glazed languidly. It was his trademark. “Oh no you don’t!” I turned fully toward him, ignoring the files for now. “That won’t work on me! Look, I don’t have a lot of this left to do, so if you’ll just wait—” “Miss Alexandrite!” This was a different voice. It was harsh and cold, and it sent a chill like a winter storm down my spine. Aegis Steel stalked past the desk that I was working behind, not even looking in my direction. “Buckler is your superior. If he asks you to do something, you drop what you’re working on and do it.” And then she continued down a hallway and into her office. I stood there, open-mouthed, trying to protest. Then I shot a glare at Buckler, who had watched her go. “Wooooaaaaah~. Sounds like that’s a direct order!” He grinned and turned back to me, but his face fell when he saw the look on mine. “Hey don’t blame me, Little Miss Loudmouth. I was just asking. But an order’s an order, right? Come on, it’ll just take a sec!” I sighed and shook my head. “This is going to be humiliating, isn’t it?” “Humiliating? Not at all! You’re totally spectacular!” He started walking towards his office, and I reluctantly followed. “I’m not sure I like this though, Buckler.” I trotted until I caught up to him. “You still haven’t told me who this guy is.” “Oh, he’s uh, what’s his name…” Buckler paused in the hallway to stare at the ceiling. “Buckler, you’ve already convinced me,” I said, walking right by. “You can stop playing dumb.” “Oh, right.” He hustled back to walk next to me. “Prince Blueblood.” I tripped over my hooves. Buckler, despite his generally slow method of speaking, was remarkably quick to act when he needed to, and he caught the back of my vest by levitating it, along with me. “Prince Blueblood?” I sputtered as he set me back on my hooves. “THE Prince Blueblood?” “Well it could be a reaaaaally good imposter, but I don’t think so.” Buckler reached up and straightened my vest, which had been a bit disarranged by the hurried catch. “That...What is he doing here?” I asked, still trying to process the presence of the royal nephew of a Princess in our office. Buckler shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “He wanted something done, I dunno. Wasn’t something I could help him with. Then the conversation turned to shiny stuff and you got brought up.” “...Shiny stuff?” “When a dude named Prince Blueblood wants to talk about shiny stuff, you talk about shiny stuff.” Buckler, darn him, made a good point. “Most of our shiny stuff involved stabbing or stealing, so then I thought ‘Hey, Lexa’s shiny!’” I stared at Buckler good and hard for a few moments. The worst part was, I could see the way that conversation had gone. Buckler stared right back at me. “Look, Lexa,” he said, “I know this is weird, but it’s not like an insult or anything. Most crystal ponies never leave the Empire, so there’s not really a whole lot of exposure, especially down here in Manehattan.” I grumbled my agreement. I’d picked a pretty unique path, as far as Empire emigrants went. “But there’s not a pony in Equestria who hasn’t heard about how beautiful it is up there.” I grumbled more. I wasn’t about to let him make this a pleasant experience. “And you’re a piece of that, y’know? You represent the whole Empire to this city.” I rolled my eyes. “And you’re doing a pretty good job of it.” ...I noticed, suddenly, that I was shimmering. Mostly this revelation came due to the fact that my cheeks had started burning. It also came because I could see Buckler’s shadow being cast on his door. His door which he promptly threw open. Inside Buckler’s office sat a tall unicorn with his nose stuck so high in the air I was afraid a passing bird might run into it. When the door swung aside, though, he turned and looked straight at me. I was still shimmering. He beamed suddenly and approached me, rather lacking an awareness of personal space. He didn’t say a word immediately, he simply scrutinized me closely. Finally, he nodded in what I assumed was approval and stepped back. “Ah, it is just as I have heard!” He clapped his hooves together and a light of excitement stole into his eyes. “You simply must tell me, what is the secret?” I shot Buckler a glare, and he gave me an apologetic grin in return. He had thrown all of those compliments at me just to shine me up for our royal guest. I’d deal with him later. For now, there was something else at hoof. “Secret?” “Why, yes! The secret to that gorgeous shimmer! I must know how it is done.” I stared at Prince Blueblood, and tilted my head. Did he think that you could just click your hooves and become a crystal pony? “I’m...sorry, but I don’t—” “Hum,” he said, promptly, “So you don’t know. Very well. Come, Mr. Round, we still have business to discuss.” And he turned his back on me. My jaw felt like it had come unhinged, and I turned to look at Buckler. He, however, slipped back into his office and mouthed a silent ‘sorry’ to me before he closed the door right in my face. I sat, staring at the closed door. Somehow, I hadn’t thought my first personal royal meeting would be so…whatever that was. A little resigned, but also a little relieved, I stood and returned to the filing cabinets. I picked up one of the folders I’d found that had been out of place and glanced at the name. ‘Blueblood.’ I stared at this serendipitous piece of manilla with a small amount of apprehension. Could I really…? Pft, of course I could. Glancing behind myself to avoid surprises, I flipped the file open and looked over the contents. Defendant: Prince Blueblood Plaintiff: Bartholomew “Clip” Farthing Charge: Destruction of Personal Property Details: Plaintiff claims Defendant used magic to push over his cart, causing structural damage including the loss of two wheels, heavily dented left door, and heavy cracking on the undercarriage. Defendant claims that he was assaulted and acted in self-defense. Result of Investigation: Defendant’s claim of assault unfounded. He stood too near the roadside and was splashed with mud. Case settled out of court, reparations paid to Plaintiff by Defendant. Attached was a mugshot of the dear Prince, as he had apparently been arrested at the scene, and as I looked it over I smiled warmly. I closed the folder and tucked it, lovingly, back in the ‘B’ drawer between ‘Blitz’ and ‘Bluster’. No words would ever properly be able to describe the photo, but they hadn’t given him the chance to properly clean off. And there was a lot of mud. A LOT of mud. I reached out and grabbed the next folder, checking the name and whistling a quiet melody.