Malum Prohibitum: Ace Equestrian Attorney

by Paradox Theory

Investigation Day One

October 29, 12:00 PM
Canterlot Detention Center
Visitor's Room No. 1

Durum Circa faced away from the wall. "Why are you here?"

Malum sat down, and answered, "I'm here to help you Durum, I want to defend you."

"No, I want you to stay out of this." Durum demanded.

"You know I can't." Malum pressed, "One way or another I'll get to the bottom of this."

"Hmmph." Durum humphed, not turning around.

"What happened this morning?" Malum asked.

"I. . .I was talking with my fiance and friend." Durum answered, a red aura immediately sprung around him.

"Oh right, Heart's ability." Malum reminded himself.

"Malum," Princess Heart spoke up, "I think we'll need more evidence if we are to convince him."

"Alright, I guess we should head to his place then." Malum answered.

October 29th 12:30PM
Circa Manor

Malum stepped inside the Circa manor. A young mare, probably only around 19 or 20 shouted at him immediately.

"Get out of here cretin, this is a crime scene and my home. You wanna stay, have a detective write a slip." She stated, anger clear in her voice.

"Oh, Mora, I've already got that covered." Silver Wings said, handing Mora the slip.

"Fine. My name is Mora Circa. I'm the daughter of the legendary Durum Circa." Mora boasted, taking a pose. "How may I help the investigation?"

"My name is Malum Prohibitum." Malum answered, "And I'm wondering what happened here?"

Mora's confidence wavered, but she recovered quickly. "Earlier today, my father and two other ponies were in a meeting. My soon to be step mother dropped dead."

"What was her name?" Malum pressed.

"Quartz Wine. A rich snooty type." Mora scoffed.

"So, why was your father remarrying anyways?" Malum wondered, finding it odd that Durum would have such family problems.

". . . That's personal." Mora spoke, her voice barely a whisper.

"Alright. Where were you during the murder?" Malum asked, just making sure she couldn't have been involved.

"Me? I was coming here actually. By the time the door got answered, she had already been dead." Mora answered. "Now, I've got to go check in at my new office. See you tomorrow, Lawyer."

Silver Wings scratched behind his head as the three stood there for a moment, before moving into the dining room. "Well here we are. Just ask me if you need my help."

"Before I start looking, I want to know Detective, was Durum planning on retiring?" Malum asked, looking at the Detective.

"I. . .I don't know!" Silver stammered, avoiding Malum's gaze. A red aura sprang up around him.

"Alright, guess I should get looking. . ." Malum sighed, taking a glance around the Dining Hall. Besides the table and a few shelves with expensive glass pieces, there wasn't much to the room. The only thing out of place was a rather old and tattered newspaper.

Scam!
It seems that the murderer of Mrs, Circa has come back a mere two years later. Newbie Prosecutor Durum Circa and family are suspected of keeping the first death hushed up.

Most of the rest of the paper was unreadable, besides a dated photograph of the victims and Durum's family, which told Malum that this occurred only 13-14 years ago.

Malum now had an idea of what was going on with the detective. But he decided to wait and take a look at something else.

The table still had the suspected murder weapon, a glass with a small amount of wine left in it. "Silver, Do you have someone testing this for poison?"

"We've already finished those tests. We've concluded that it's poisoned and that only Durum's and Quartz Wine's magic touched the glass." Silver answered.

"Quartz Wine?" Malum wondered. "Is she the victim?"

"Yes, she is." Silver answered, "And here's the autopsy report. Don't tell anyone I gave it to ya."

Malum nodded. He then saw a piece of crumpled paper under the table, he picked it up and smoothed it out, revealing a will.

The will detailed leaving most of the house to Mora, aside from a few random things for a Bronze Goblet. The only thing that struck Malum as important is the mention of a safe. "Detective, it seems that Durum's will ended up out here."

"But that's impossible, we've already got the will, see?" Silver protested, showing a newer cleaner will. This will gave a good percentage of the property to Quartz as well as Mora. Bronze, however, wasn't mentioned in this will.

Malum nodded and looked at Silver. "Was Durum planning to retire?"

A red aura sprang around Silver as he stammered. "I. . .I already told ya that I don't know! I mean, why would the greatest Prosecutor need to retire?"

"Maybe because today is an anniversary." Malum answered, "The anniversary of not one but two murders that occurred in this house."

Silver gulped and his aura turned orange. "S-so? What makes you think that he'd let that stop him?"

"This will, will, tell us." Malum answered with a smile. "If Durum felt scared or suspicious of someone finding out the truth, he'd be found guilty. So, if he chose not to retire, he'd have to have a will on standby. And it looks like he was in the middle of updating it."

Silver sighed, and his aura turned green. "You're right kid. Durum is getting paranoid."

"Tell me, why the big secret?" Malum asked. "Why hide all of this?"

"You see, back when Durum's wife first died, 14 years ago, a lot of ponies believed he'd done it. But I knew from seeing his eyes it wasn't him." Silver hung his head, "But it was the second case that really rattled him. Another mare died. A friend of the family I think. People wanted to see a guilty verdict, but there was no way to determine a cause of death. But this case revealed that his daughter was the pony closest to both victims when they died."

Malum fell silent, unable to think of a follow up question.

"Silver, was the second mare ever identified?" Princess Heart asked.

"No. She had no records. At all." Silver sighed.

"Thank you detective. I'll take one last look then be on my way." Malum spoke up, before moving into the kitchen.

Malum and Princess heart looked around the kitchen. He saw a bottle of wine that was opened recently, and was the same color that was in the glass.

"We should have the kind Detective analyse this." Malum nodded, handing the bottle to Heart.

"Why are we in here? The crime scene is out there in the dining room." Heart explained.

"Simple. We need a game plan. Circa won't crack easily, and I'll need Silver to let me view the cases from 14 years ago." Malum explained, looking to the dining room. "And you also need to tell me about my mother."

"Right. About her. She hardly had anything on her, except that she stole something from someone involved in the plots. . .I'm not sure what or who, just that it would be bad if what she stole was made public."

Malum hummed. "And let me guess, that item went missing before she passed, right?"

"That's. . .right. . . how did you know?" Heart asked. Malum showed her the letter to Sleuth and a picture of Sleuth's sisters.

"I resemble this mare here," Malum said, pointing to the one on the right, "And Sleuth told me she had one son before she died. I'm guessing that whatever my mother did, she had her sister hide it. Only problem is, I'm not sure who the other sister is."

"Hmm, well, we'll concentrate on this later." Heart sighed. "We have a case to finish."

"Right, let's head over to Durum." Malum said, moving out of the kitchen.

Silver looked over at Malum as he left the kitchen. "Hey pal! Is there anything I can do to help?"

Malum smiled at Silver. "I'd like to know more about the other two murders that happened here."

Silver hung his head. "I'm sorry, but those files are classified until they become relevant, and I'm sure they aren't."

"Then can you analyze the bottle first?" Malum asked.

"I'll see what I can do." Silver answered.

Malum smiled. "Alright, I'll go back to the detention center now. I need to have some words with Durum."

Silver nodded and watched the Lawyer and Changeling leave.

October 29 1:30 PM
Canterlot Detention Center
Visitor's Room 1.

Durum still faced away from the glass. "I know what you want, and the answer is no."

"Durum," Malum hesitated, "I believe you were talking to your fiance and friend. What was it about?"

A dark red aura sprung around him, and he turned to face Malum. "Family business."

Malum sighed. "Again, I believe that. But I want to know, it might help your case."

"You want to know? How about you show me what you learned in court and give me evidence to what my business was." Durum growled. Malum nodded and proceeded to look through his evidence.

"The real item you were talking about was. . . "

"You were updating your will, weren't you?" Malum asked, noting the red aura lessen.

"So what if I was? It certainly isn't suspicious." Durum continued to frown.

Malum shook his head. "It is when you consider this."

"It seems that you've become a little off guard." Malum sighed, holding the newspaper he read this morning. "It says here you were planning to retire, hence the will."

The aura turned to orange. "How does that make it suspicious?" Durum scoffed.

"I think it's your reason to retire that makes it suspicious." Malum explained.

"I'm old, graying, and rich. My daughter is going to become a new prosecutor." Durum explained. "Not suspicious at all."

Malum shook his head. "I think you had another reason to quit. And that reason is this:"

Malum showed Durum the clip of outdated newspaper. "It seems this is the third time a pony died in your home. And I have reason to believe you don't want the past dug up, as the statue of limitations runs out soon. If I recall correctly, any unsolved case remains open for at least 15 years. Which means that you wouldn't have to worry soon. Or would you?"

Durum sighed, and his aura turned green. "You work quickly, and that Detective has looser lips then a whore house."

"So, what really happened all those years ago, if you don't mind my asking?" Malum wondered.

Another red aura sprang up. "I'm afraid I won't say."

Malum nodded, "That's fine. Those cases haven't tied in yet. So back to the current case. Why did you wait so long to rewrite your will?"

"Well, for a couple of reasons. One was that I had no need to. . .the other is that after about 12 years, it was getting pretty outdated." Durum answered.

"I'm guessing Quartz Wine is the reason it got outdated?" Malum wondered.

". . . Yes. . ." Durum said quietly, "Yes it is."

There's more. . .I know it! Malum thought to himself. "I just have one last question Durum. Did you kill your wife and the other mare all those years ago?"

"No. I would never do that." Durum answered. No aura sprang around him, and he seemed to be shaking a little.

"Alright Durum. Your Trial starts tomorrow. I won't fail you." Malum smiled, trying to boost the prosecutor's confidence.

To be Continued. . .

Author's Note:

Welp, another chapter down
Court Record:

Profiles:
Malum Prohibitum. Me, what else can I say?
Princess Heart: A changeling Princess in charge of Changeling Immigration and such. Has the power to show the auras of those who lie.
Durum Circa: A renowned Prosecutor who happens to be accused of murdering his fiance.
Quartz Wine: A Canterlot noble. Was to marry Durum before her death.
Silver Wings: The Detective in charge of this case.
Mora Circa: Heiress of the Circa fortune and the only daughter of Durum.
Bronze Goblet: All I know of him is that he was a friend of the family.
Sleuth: A known thief and apparently my uncle.
Shrouded Blade: My mother, a notorious thief who went missing many years ago.
Evidence:
Attorney Badge: With this, I am allowed to defend in court.
Newspaper clip #1: Recent paper with speculation about Durum's retirment.
Newspaper clip #2: Dated paper about two other murders in Circa Manor.
Dated Photo: Photo Showing the victim of the first murder in Circa Manor. Shows her and Durum's daughter, Mora.
Wine Glass: The victim drank from this glass before death. The liquid contains a poison.
Durum's Will #1: A dated will that had things assigned to Bronze Goblet and Mora Circa.
Durum's Will #2: A recent will that assigns things to Mora and Quartz, but wrote Bronze out all together.