Phoenix Flight: Ace Attorney: Welcome to Turnabout!

by Magic Step

The First Crime Scene Investigation

Pony Joe’s donut shop had three layers of crisscrossing crime tape enthusiastically wrapped around it like it was a giant Hearth’s Warming gift. The proprietor was wandering nearby, looking forlorn and lost.

“Hello again!” Faerie Dust said, flouncing over to Pony Joe.

“Store’s still closed,” Pony Joe grumbled. Then he let his expression soften slightly with a sigh. “Sorry; I’ll let you have some free Zap apple donuts to make up for it...if I ever get any.”

“No, we’re here for the crime scene,” Faerie Dust said. “Phoenix is the defense attorney!”

“Ahaha, more or less,” Phoenix stammered, rubbing his spikey mane. “I was hoping to look at the crime scene…”

“Sorry; the police showed up in a hurry and said they needed a few uninterrupted minutes.” Pony Joe sighed. “I just want to go back to work…”

“A few minutes doing what?” Phoenix asked Pony Joe.

“I dunno. Looking for the lightning’s spell signature I guess? Is that something lightning does?” Pony Joe looked at Phoenix.

“Don’t look at me; I never worked weather.” Phoenix shrugged.

“I don’t think it does…” Faerie Dust said.

“You weren’t at the trial this morning, were you?” Phoenix asked Pony Joe.

“I saw most of it, then I had to run and pick up an important sprinkle shipment,” Pony Joe said. “You’re really a newbie, aren’t you?”

Phoenix Flight winced. How do I make ponies stop pointing that out?

“Oh, also,” Faerie Dust added, “when you left the shop with us after the power went out, did you ever return to the donut shop before now?”

“I mean, yes, but I didn’t really get any closer to it than I did just now.” Pony Joe sighed heavily. “I just don’t ever know what to do with myself if the shop’s closed…”

“I’ll try not to drag this out,” Phoenix said, cringing. “More than I already have, I mean.”

“Don’t feel guilty; what’s one more day if it means getting poor Cindy her due?” Pony Joe shook his head. “I can’t believe she’s gone…”

Faerie Dust sighed sadly. “Do you know why she was so keen on following Shocking Snap around?”

“Yes,” Phoenix and Pony Joe said simultaneously.

Faerie Dust whirled around to glare at Phoenix. “You knew the whole time and you never told me!?”

“S-sorry!” Phoenix said, backing off several steps. “I guess I… kind of thought you knew? It wasn’t exactly small news…”

“Is that the truth?” Faerie Dust demanded.

“Urg… you sound like your sister…” Phoenix whimpered. He cleared his throat. “And I just didn’t want to tell you because I feel like you already hear so many stories about how horrible my life is and I didn’t want to tell you another one and I don’t want to say this in public please don’t ask me more!”

“W-woah, calm down Nick!” Faerie said, starting back. She put a hoof to her chin and stared down. “I… I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have gotten angry…”

“You didn’t do anything bad except demand I tell the truth which I hate.” Phoenix winced visibly. “I’m sorry; I wish I was more polite…”

Pony Joe tactfully backed out of the fight, looking awkward. He headed around the side of the donut shop.

“No, no it’s fine.” Faerie Dust sighed. “So, um… want to avoid this subject then?”

“No, you should know this,” Phoenix said. “It’s not a nice story though. There was… a heavily publicized incident where Shocking Snap seduced a teenage colt by the name of Bottle Cap.”

“Teenage? How old?” Faerie said, looking disturbed.

“Fifteen, I think. In the range where some parents give them legal rights but his didn’t,” Phoenix said. “Shocking claimed it was consensual but, well… you know her lightning powers? Well, they’re tied in with her mood, and when she gets ‘excited’ then she lights up like a storm cloud, and, well… short version is the colt’s in the hospital, comatose.”

“That’s horrible!” Faerie Dust said. “How is Shocking Snap not already in jail!?”

Phoenix sighed. “Well, in court, she wove a story about how she had no idea that would happen and she was just as upset about his injuries as his family was and everypony was cruel to pile so much guilt on her when she already felt so guilty. The jury bought it because they didn’t know her that well.”

“Th-that’s so unfair!” Faerie Dust stomped one hoof in rage, tears dripping from her eyes. “And you couldn’t do anything about it?”

“Nopony else sees the world like I do.” Phoenix sat down and folded his forehooves around his body like he was warding off past chills in the present day. “Her lies were so horrible they made me want to vomit, but I couldn’t prove anything. All I had was hearsay. Hearsay that the original speaker denounced in court under oath. And that just made me sick for even more reasons…”

“And now she might get away with murder on top of that?” Faerie asked, her voice choked.

Phoenix’s expression became determined. “Not if I can stop her.”

There was a scuffle inside the donut shop, and Goody Shoes and Angel popped out, still debating.

“I mean, come on, you don’t like Shocking any more than I do,” Angel said.

“We can’t pick which suspect to prosecute based on who we like the least,” Goody Shoes said.

“Hey, does this mean we can go inside?” Faerie Dust asked.

“Yeah… we’ve collected everything, gone over everything carefully,” Goody Shoes said. “So… feel free to look around the crime scene. We already removed any important forensic evidence, took all our pictures, and did all the important analysis; you can even use magic there if you want, Miss Faerie.”

“Perfect!” Faerie Dust said.

“We really appreciate it,” Phoenix said. “So… if we find evidence you overlooked, will you be here for us to run it by you?”

“The paperwork process is now streamlined enough that you don’t have to do that unless you need it analyzed forensically,” Goody Shoes said. “Just make sure you register it all before trial starts. Some attorneys even do it the day of.”

“Especially when they want to play dirty,” Angel Star said, glaring at Phoenix.

“H-hey! I didn’t say anything!” Phoenix said.

“Whatever,” Angel Star said. “Back to the precinct!”

And with that, she sped off, taking the straightest path possible and just leaping over anything in her way.

“Angel!” Goody Shoes wailed in dismay as he dashed off to try and keep up with her.

“I don’t envy the police…” Phoenix shook his head.

“Let’s hurry in; Cindy must have been waiting forever.” Faerie Dust slammed her way into the donut shop.

Except for the chalk outline and the lack of ponies, the donut shop seemed eerily unchanged. The outline wasn’t very distinct.

“Why doesn’t it look much like a pony?” Faerie Dust said, circling the outline.

“Because she was found crumpled up, and not sprawled out with each limb separate… is what I’m guessing,” Phoenix said. “Well, that or the pony on duty didn’t really know what they were doing.”

“You know why chalk outlines are always drawn at crime scenes, Nick?” Faerie Dust had a twinkle in her eye.

“So they know where they victim was even after the body is removed for autopsy or, hopefully, treatment,” Phoenix said.

“Nope!” Faerie Dust reached over and booped Phoenix’s nose. “It’s for the spirit channeling, silly!”

“You channel using chalk outlines of the victim…? Isn’t it supposed to be a pentagram or something?” Phoenix said.

“That’s demonic cults.”

Even the mention made Phoenix shudder and wish he had some salt to toss over his shoulder.

“So… um…” Phoenix watched as Faerie Dust sat by the outline and closed her eyes. “Anything I should be doing?”

“A little quiet might be nice… just for a little bit,” Dusty said. “Come inside again in ten minutes. I’d call for you if the channeling worked, but… you know…” She opened her eyes and stared into space for a moment. “I guess I could write a note telling Cindy to call for you, but I don’t know if she’d obey it.”

“I don’t feel right leaving you alone about to be possessed by the spirit of someone we don’t know that well,” Phoenix said, sitting next to her.

“I really need quiet though and just having you near me puts my thoughts elsewhere,” Faerie Dust said. “When I know whether I have anything or not… whether Cindy’s here or not… I’ll call you back in, but until then find something else to do. Please?”

“All right,” Phoenix said, reluctantly standing back up. “Just… be careful.”

Faerie Dust nodded and closed her eyes again, her horn lighting up.

After having waited so long to get into the donut shop in the first place, being thrown out again was beyond frustrating. Phoenix shot a worried look over his shoulder as he exited the restaurant. Maybe he should try looking around the back to see if any clues were around. If Faerie shouted for help, he hoped he’d be close enough to hear her. Any channeling could go horribly wrong…

The back of the restaurant was crowded with boxes. Cardboard boxes, wooden shipping crates, plastic boxes, brown boxes, green boxes, boxes with donut related things written on the sides, boxes with ‘fragile’ and ‘this side up’ written on the sides, and some boxes with fish related things written on the sides that might have been from the exotic aquarium store up the street. Apparently said aquarium store was too cheap to pay for the disposal of its own boxes. Or someone dragged their boxes over here just to make the pile higher.

Pony Joe was in the middle of them, apparently counting them. He turned around when Phoenix approached. “Oh, hey. I got the all clear to clean these up, finally; police looked at it every which way and said there was no way Twilight Sky or anypony else could have been back here since that jerk Algae piled all his boxes right against the back door.”

“Oh… so… there’s… nothing to find back here?” Phoenix said, feeling disappointed.

“Sounds like not. But if you want to look around I’ll wait for you,” Pony Joe said.

Phoenix gnawed his lower lip; it really didn’t sound like there was anything to be found here. What had he expected? Police weren’t incompetent; they would have already picked all the evidence up. “No, go ahead. I’m just giving Dusty some alone time to… well, try and channel Cindy.”

Pony Joe whirled around. “Your friend’s a channeler? Cindy can come back!?”

“Ohhhhh I dunno about that,” Phoenix said. “I mean, in theory, but in practice I think the estimated wait time for a new body is all the way up to seven years now, since it often takes months or years to grow empty shells and they can only do one at a time. Cindy might not think it’s worth it.”

“No, civil servants who died in the line of duty are higher in the triage, aren’t they?” Pony Joe said, looking excited.

“I don’t know; they change the legislation constantly because resurrection is so new and no one knows how to handle it ethically. Look, don’t get your hopes up,” Phoenix muttered. “We don’t even know if she’s still around. She may have moved on to her eternal destiny soon after she was killed, and if she did she’s gone for good.”

“Poor Cindy…” Pony Joe said. “She has to come back. Her brother will need to see her when he wakes up…”

“Her brother?” Phoenix said.

“Yeah. Bottle Cap.”

“Wh-wha?” Phoenix said.

“Oh, sorry, I thought you knew,” Pony Joe said a little sheepishly. “That’s why Cindy spent all her free time hounding Shocking, of course. Never wanted anyone else to suffer like he did…”

Phoenix felt a little numb at the thought. Now Cindy was gone too. How could anyone have let Shocking Snap get away with everything for so long? How could he?

He shook his head. No. No point regretting the past now. Not when he had such a chance in the future.

A crack of thunder made him start and stare at the sky. There were no clouds at all. “Shocking!” he yelled at the rooftops. “I know you’re up there! Stop hiding, you coward!”

No response. He whirled over to Pony Joe. “Did you see where the bolt went!?”

“No, I was looking at the boxes; sorry,” Pony Joe said. “But you’ll see her in court, right?”

“She’d better show up,” Phoenix grumbled.

“Oh, hay, look at this.” Pony Joe levitated a small black object into his telekinetic grip.

Let me see,” Phoenix said, looking down at the item. It was a strange plastic disc with a very short black string attached and a lightning bolt on it.

“This Shocking’s?” Pony Joe said.

“I want to say yes, but I don’t know what it is…” Phoenix said, staring at it with his head cocked. “Can I have it though?”

“Sure; hope you get some use out of it,” Pony Joe said.

Phoenix slipped the plastic disk into his saddlebag. “I’d better check on Faerie Dust now.”

“I’ll be here cleaning if you need anything,” Pony Joe said.

Author's Note:

...Let me try and make it up to you with two chapters today.

Comments

[Magic Step]

8720006
Yes, it is an AU. Hope it's not a turnoff...

[HB_DS2013]

Will magatama exist in this universe?

[HolyCross9]

I'm guessing that AJ won't be making any future appearances.

[Magic Step]

8748583
Yes, but rather than being an amulet that lets anyone who holds it see Psyche-Locks, it will instead be an amulet that just enhances natural abilities, which in Phoenix's case is lie detecting and will manifest similar to Psyche-Lock vision.
This way it doesn't make the entire court system pointless.

[HB_DS2013]

8748703 Cool. Do all lawyers learn how to be lie detectors?

[Magic Step]

8748760
It's a gift that you either have or you don't. So he has it, his dad had it, at least one other lawyer had it, and AJ could probably have it if she was properly trained, but other than that it's very, very rare. There probably aren't any other lawyers in Equestria currently with this gift. That's because if this gift was fairly common then it could probably be scientifically studied, verified, and used as proof positive in the courtroom, but I'd rather make Phoenix work to prove what his instincts tell him instead of just having him say "judge, he's lying. Please hold him in contempt of court and make him testify again."

I'm not a huge fan of Apollo Justice (either the character or the game) so I have no idea if a ponified Apollo will ever appear at this point, but if he does he probably will also have this gift.

[HB_DS2013]

8749033 Sounds about right.

[Magic Step]

8752828
No, medical devices. A pony's natural magic allows them to use their hooves for limited tactile telekinesis, but one of the side effects of Phoenix's broken wings is that the magic that should be powering his wings to make them capable of supporting and propelling a very nonaerodynamic weight in defiance of physics may instead go into his hooves and supercharge his tactile telekinesis against his will, effectively suctioning him to any surface or object he interacts with. The horseshoes are designed to counteract this effect.
...I just made that up in response to your question.