Part 35 - Intriguing Turn of Events
Everfree Forest
June 10th, 3:45 PM
Twilight searched the Everfree Forest high and low for Phoenix, to no avail.
Reaching the crime scene clearing to find nothing except a fresh imprint in the dirt and an ominous series of drag marks, she followed them, plunging through the bushes on a southwest heading, discovering a very narrow and rough trail hidden behind the immediate brush line that continued on in that direction. Surprised—that path wasn’t on any forest map she knew—she galloped down it, searching as she went.
Her legs were on fire and her heart was pounding in her chest, but she didn’t relent her pace, desperate to reach the human lawyer before it was too late. No sign of him anywhere! she realized, almost crying, looking frantically for the smaller clearing Cruise had said he left Phoenix in. I pray to Celestia he isn’t— but before she could finish the panicked prayer, she rounded a curve on the narrow trail to discover that she was about to crash into…
Phoenix HIMSELF with Fluttershy beside him!
She skidded to a halt in front of the unlikely duo, her eyes wide and jaw agape. “Fluttershy? Ph-Phoenix?!” she recognized the pair in shock, her saddlebags flying right off her back from the sudden stop. B-but how did she get out? And wh-what’s she doing with HIM? Twilight asked herself in complete and utter confusion.
Phoenix and Fluttershy looked just as surprised as she was. “Uh... heya,” the former managed to get out in a shaky voice, giving her a very tentative wave. Twilight didn’t answer except to stare dumbly at the pair, panting hard and unable to speak. Phoenix Wright was a mess, his suit covered with dirt, leaves and brambles; there were at least two jagged tears in his left pants leg and several visible scratches on his face.
Despite his condition, he closed his eyes and bowed his head to her, putting his hands in his pants pockets in an apparent effort to master his nerves. “Twilight, please listen. I know you really must not like me after what I did today, but I can explain,” he began as Fluttershy stepped forward to interpose herself between them, flaring her wings in front of him like a protective shield.
“Mister Phoenix was only trying to help Rainbow, Twilight. He never meant to hurt me or anypony else,” she said in a quiet but surprisingly adamant voice.
Fluttershy’s… DEFENDING him? Twilight thought in disbelief, her breathing starting to slow. She locked gazes with Phoenix just long enough to see the lingering fear and nervousness in his eyes, leaving her uncertain if she wanted more to hug or throttle him at that moment. “Let’s go back to the library; I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay in this forest,” she suggested between still-ragged breaths with a wary glance at the woods around her, picking the saddlebags back up with her Everfree-enhanced magic and placing them on her back.
“Y-yeah, I agree,” Phoenix said in a dry and slightly fearful tone, his eyes darting about nervously. The three of them immediately left the woods on the same trail Twilight had entered, Fluttershy behind and Twilight in the lead; the two mares instinctively taking a protective formation around the human lawyer as they went out.
Fluttershy’s Cottage
June 10th, 4:05 PM
As anxious as Twilight was to get back to the library and get Phoenix somewhere safe, Fluttershy insisted that they stop at her cottage so she could tend his injuries.
Sitting him on her living room sofa, she gave Phoenix an icepack for the back of his head where Cruise had apparently struck him, offering him a cup of tea to sip while she fawned and fretted over him, sitting beside him and dabbing at the scratches on his face with an herbal balm, constantly asking him if he was all right.
For her part, Twilight kept her distance, drinking some water and finding her emotions oscillating between enormous relief that he was safe to renewed anger at what he had done that morning. She didn’t understand how Fluttershy could have forgiven him so readily, or why Phoenix was suddenly acting so grateful and deferential to her, his manner almost reverent as she attended him.
What the hay HAPPENED back there? Twilight wondered repeatedly, feeling oddly envious of the attention he was giving her friend.
She’d gotten at least a partial story from Pinkie Pie on how he’d ended up in the Everfree. He’d apparently received a ‘call’ from somepony—likely Cruise Control—that said they’d wanted to meet him to offer him evidence, with instructions to come to the forest clearing alone.
Twilight shook her head at that. He went in there by himself with no magic; no protection at all… walking into a likely trap just on the off chance it WASN’T? she thought in disbelief, trying to figure out if he was very brave or very stupid. It doesn’t MATTER! Stallions aren’t supposed to put themselves in danger like that! she protested, the reflexive mental reminder that he wasn’t a stallion holding less and less weight with her. I don’t care WHAT he is! He’s not familiar with this world and still shouldn’t be—
“How are you feeling, Mister Phoenix?” Fluttershy’s demure voice pulled her attention back to the present, now dabbing at a cut above his eye.
He gave her a grateful smile, tilting his head up so she could have easier access. “Better, thanks. This tea is great. Wish I still had those pills, though,” he noted idly, removing his icepack long enough to feel the lump on the back of his head.
Twilight’s brow furrowed at that. Pills? Wait a minute… another wave of worry consuming her, she searched through her saddlebags until she found the pill bottle she’d recovered from Cruise Control.
“You mean these pills?” she asked, showing him the container by holding it up in her aura.
He gave her an odd look. “Uh… yeah? I thought they were aspirin. I had a headache earlier, and they worked great! Can I have more?”
Twilight loudly smacked her hoof into her forehead, exasperated beyond all measure. “Phoenix… this isn’t ‘aspirin’, it’s a heavy prescription painkiller!” she informed him. “It’s only supposed to be taken after severe injury or surgery! The reason it works so well is because the medicine has a strong spell infused; the problem is the side effects—it dulls your wits as well as your pain!” she spelled it out to him.
“Oh, uh… I didn’t know that,” he said with an embarrassed and goofy grin, having the look of somepony—someone, she corrected herself—who was just happy to be alive.
“It’s written right on the side!” she told him, turning the bottle to show him the fine print. For Celestia’s sake! Have you no sense at ALL????
Fluttershy concluded her treatment of him a few minutes later, telling him to keep his wounds clean and use the icepack off and on as needed. With that, Twilight stood up. “Phoenix—would you please step outside for a few minutes? I’d like to talk to Fluttershy. Alone, if you don’t mind,” she asked, her tone of voice making clear it was less a request than an order.
Phoenix looked at her, quickly reading between the lines. “Yeah. No problem,” he agreed, getting up and walking across the living room, ducking his head to exit out the front door and taking his tea with him. When the door had closed behind him, Twilight turned to Fluttershy, who was studying her curiously.
“What’s wrong, Twilight?” she asked, reassembling her first-aid kit and returning it to its normal perch on the kitchen wall by her icebox.
Twilight stared at her normally-timid friend in disbelief. “How can you treat him so nicely after what he did to you?” I mean, there’s kind, and then there’s just stupid!
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked in perfect innocence, turning her teal eyes on Twilight.
Twilight gave her an incredulous look. She’d learned by then that Fluttershy sometimes liked to play dumb as a means of avoiding uncomfortable questions or social situations, but it was far less endearing than annoying at that moment. “You know perfectly well what I mean!”
“Mister Phoenix was only trying to help Rainbow, Twilight,” Fluttershy told her again, getting out a small woven basket from one of her cabinets.
“Help Rainbow?” Twilight echoed, her jaw falling open. “Fluttershy, he lied! He tried to pin the murder on you! You spent half the afternoon in jail because of him, and Rainbow Dash is still a suspect, so whatever he was trying to do didn’t work! How can you forgive him after all that?”
“Because he told me why he did it and apologized,” Fluttershy answered softly but succinctly, as if that was the only justification needed. “And because I believe in him,” she added, turning away and taking flight to gather some garden vegetables from the upper shelves of her pantry, hovering and looking them over in the light of an open window to see which were the best.
“Fluttershy…” Twilight facehoofed again at her friend’s naivety. “He’s a lawyer; you can’t trust anything he says!” she all but shouted, thinking if she’d learned nothing else from the morning’s fiasco, she’d learned that.
Fluttershy shook her head, continuing to gather an armful of produce, holding it in the crook of her foreleg. “He was shaking and crying, Twilight. And I saw his eyes. I could tell he meant every word of it.”
Twilight was caught short. Crying? Phoenix? she thought, scarcely able to imagine such a thing. “Fluttershy? What happened out there?” she had to know, motioning out the window towards the forest, her voice suddenly subdued.
Fluttershy locked eyes with her friend, answering with a single word that made Twilight’s blood run cold. “T… Timberwolves?” the latter echoed, swallowing hard.
Fluttershy nodded grimly as she landed and began filling the basket with the selected vegetables. “Yes. There were four of them, Twilight. If I had arrived only a minute later, he would have already been reborn.”
Twilight was chilled to the bone by the blandly-delivered statement, not certain if she could have handled a full pack of the magical beasts if it had been her there instead of Fluttershy, even with the forest boosting her remaining power. Thank Celestia Fluttershy found him first! She’s only told me about her stare; I’ve never actually seen it in action! she mused, feeling an odd pang of jealousy at the realization that Fluttershy had gotten to rescue a proverbial stallion in distress, not her.
Her eyes went wide at that, then closed in renewed disgust. Dammit, ENOUGH, Twilight! Get those bucking romance novels of Rarity’s out of your head and STOP THINKING OF HIM LIKE THAT! she ordered herself again, trying to keep her ire at the human lawyer kindled. “Well, that explains it then! He was afraid of losing your protection, so he just told you whatever he thought you wanted to hear!” She put her hoof down.
Fluttershy studied Twilight for a moment, not understanding why her normally logical and good-natured friend was so insistent about clinging to her anger and thinking the worst of Mister Phoenix. “We talked afterwards, yes. He feels awful about what he did, and he wants your forgiveness, Twilight. Why won’t you give it to him?” she asked plainly, rising to a different shelf to collect tea leaves from an urn.
Twilight was caught short, not knowing how to explain everything that was going through her mind. “Because… after what he pulled this morning, I don’t trust him,” she finally got out, looking away. And because I don’t trust what I’m feeling for him…
Fluttershy looked down at her from her hover, then across the room towards the front door. Seeing something of interest, she took a short flight through her high-ceilinged living room to one of the big porch-facing windows and hovered in front of it. Grinning at what she saw, she motioned Twilight over.
Peering out the window, she saw Phoenix sitting down on the porch steps with his tea. Remarkably, a dozen or more of Fluttershy’s animals had gathered close around him, studying him curiously. As they watched, a squirrel climbed onto his knee and the human lawyer started gently scratching its ears, speaking softly to it.
Fluttershy smiled at that. “My animals like him. They wouldn’t if they didn’t trust him, Twilight. And they wouldn’t trust him unless he could be trusted,” she noted in satisfaction, returning to the kitchen.
Twilight nearly pointed out that Angel Bunny didn’t, the white rabbit standing off to the side of the porch with his forelegs crossed and a sour look, but that was hardly a fair comparison—Angel didn’t like anypony.
“Fluttershy—look. He’s not from Equestria, okay? I had to summon him from his own world last night because I couldn’t find a pony lawyer who would take Rainbow’s case,” she said, trying a different tact as she followed her friend back into the kitchen. Maybe she’s only being nice to him because she still thinks he’s an actual phoenix? Twilight wondered, deciding not to disabuse her of that notion, not knowing how she would take it. “So he’s not like the… phoenixes here and you shouldn’t treat him like a… like that,” she said, having to catch herself twice from saying stallion, some part of her realizing that she was saying it as much for herself as Fluttershy.
But to her frustration, Fluttershy just shrugged it off, now gathering herbs from her kitchen window planter. “So he’s not from this world. What difference does it make?” Fluttershy asked earnestly, catching Twilight short again. “He’s trying to help Rainbow Dash, just like you are.”
Twilight’s jaw set at that. “And how was he ‘helping’ Rainbow by accusing you, Fluttershy?” she challenged.
Fluttershy looked away for a moment, then back at her. “I think you should ask him yourself, Twilight.” She sat down and gave her unicorn friend a surprisingly level look. “I don’t think you’ll believe it coming from me.”
And you think I’d believe it coming from HIM???? Twilight wanted to scream. “Look—even if I accept that he was genuinely trying to help Rainbow and didn’t want to hurt you, he still did what he did without asking your permission! And that’s never right!” she pronounced, certain she was on very firm ground with her latest argument.
But instead of being convinced, Fluttershy looked confused at that, her yellow brow furrowing. “But… you said you summoned him from his world,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, so?”
“So, well…” Fluttershy looked like she didn’t want to say what she was thinking, but finally worked up the courage to do so. “Doesn’t that mean… that you didn’t have his permission to bring him here?” she suggested nervously, remembering what Twilight had once told her about summoning—how it was generally only done in emergencies when there was no other way to contact somepony or get needed help, and how hard it was on the one summoned when they weren’t expecting it.
Twilight shifted uncomfortably as she sensed what her friend was getting at. “B-but that’s n-not—” she stammered, unable to complete the sentence, surprised at how her own argument had just been turned back on her—by Fluttershy, of all ponies!
“It’s n-not?” Fluttershy asked in her own shaky voice, visibly swallowing as she forced herself to confront her unicorn friend. “But I mean, um, you said that he did it to me without permission, and that was wrong, but, um…” she paused, gathering herself carefully before continuing. “Isn’t that… kind of what you did to him?” she pointed out timidly, cringing a bit as she spoke.
Twilight had no reply.
Fluttershy’s Cottage
June 10th, 4:25 PM
Their talk concluded, Fluttershy went outside to give Phoenix the small gift basket full of her herbs, tea leaves and vegetables, holding it in her mouth as she fluttered over to him. Setting it down beside him, she told him to take the herbs in tea at dinner, promising they would help him sleep and heal.
Phoenix accepted it gladly, getting down on one knee to thank her again for saving and forgiving him, bowing his head and telling her that he thought she was the most kind, beautiful and wonderful creature he’d ever met.
Oh, gag me! Twilight couldn’t help but think, rolling her eyes derisively. Laying it on awful thick, aren’t you Phoenix? she wanted to sneer, doing her best to ignore a fresh wave of jealousy at the attention he was lavishing on her pretty pegasus friend.
Fluttershy’s yellow cheeks visibly flushed at his flattery; she reared back on her hind legs to embrace him, flaring her large yellow wings for balance. His eyes lit up in delight at the offer and he moved to hug her, bending over to accept her embrace. As he wrapped his arms around her, Twilight’s eyes went wide as she watched him caress beneath her right wing with one hand while running through the feathers of her left wing with the other, causing Fluttershy to take a sharp, shuddering breath.
“Eep!” Fluttershy finally found her voice, pulling back from him and giving a startled squeal. Aghast, she stared at him in shock for a moment, her face badly flushed before she turned around and ran inside, her suddenly—and very embarrassingly—stiff wings scraping the sides of the entryway before she got through and slammed the door shut behind her.
Still on his knees, a dumbfounded Phoenix stared after her, turning to Twilight to ask for an explanation.
But far from offering sympathy, Twilight glared at him, her own cheeks flushed scarlet; if she’d had the power she would have been hard-pressed not to yank him off her friend and fling him halfway across the yard. “Let’s just get you home before you get into any more trouble, okay?” she grated out, leading him back to town.
Library
June 10th, 4:53 PM
The instant they entered the library, Twilight pointed with a hoof to one of the lounge sofas, ordering Phoenix to sit down. He hastened to obey, sensing her anger and looking at her in some nervousness as she glared at him anew from the middle of the room.
“Twilight, I-I don’t understand! What happened back there? What did I do?” he asked her, all but pleading for an answer.
She stared at him in disbelief. “What did you do? You touched her wings!” she told him. Seeing his uncomprehending look, she realized he honestly didn’t have any idea what he’d done wrong. Back off, Twilight. He didn’t know about your horn, so why would he know about wings?
She took several deep breaths before continuing. “Look, Phoenix. Pegasus wings are very… sensitive,” she offered carefully. “Touching their wings or flight muscles has certain… implications, so you don’t ever touch them without… their owner’s express permission,” she finally got out, cheeks flushing anew at having to explain such a thing.
He fell silent at that, parsing her statement carefully; his brown eyes widened in horror as understanding dawned. “Wait. You mean when I... that was…?” He got a mortified look. “Twilight—I am SO sorry!” he slumped over on the sofa, his hands clutching his head in shame.
“Tell her, not me!” Twilight bit out, looking away from him.
“I will, I promise!” he quickly replied, sounding genuinely ashamed and chagrined. Abruptly, he looked up as if something else had just occurred to him. “Twilight? Does the same hold true… for unicorn horns?”
Caught off-guard by the question, her cheeks flushed hard again; she could feel her aura going pink and couldn’t stop it, cursing herself for the thoughts and feelings that were causing it. Looking away in anger and humiliation, she didn’t see Phoenix’s reaction, but when she heard him fall silent and shift uncomfortably on the couch, she knew the secret was out. Just bucking GREAT! she swore, resolving to return Rarity’s romance novels as soon as possible—they’d caused her enough embarrassment for one day!
“Here. These bags contain your possessions and evidence,” she announced in an effort to change the subject, sliding her saddlebags across the floor to him with her magic. “Pinkie and I caught your attacker as he came out of the woods and recovered them then,” she added, trying to recompose herself, wondering if she would ever feel anything other than angry or awkward around him again.
“Thank you,” he told her, seemingly as relieved as she was to leave the previous topic behind. Searching through the pouches, he gathered the wallet, medallion, and the small button-studded plastic brick to place back in his pockets. She then watched as he seemed to be searching for one final object slightly frantically, sighing with relief when he found it; her eyes narrowed as she saw him transfer the comma-shaped green gemstone to a hidden pocket on the inside of his jacket.
An uncomfortable silence fell over them both. “Twilight—will you allow me to explain why I did what I did this morning?” Phoenix finally asked.
She stared at him for a moment before nodding once, her mouth set in a thin line. Fine. I’ll give him the chance for you, Fluttershy, she decided. But if he lies again…
He did not, at least that she could tell. Phoenix spoke for ten straight minutes, giving a detailed account of what had happened during the waning moments of the trial and what he had been thinking, apologizing repeatedly for having to take such drastic action and emphasizing how ashamed he was of himself for it. Her emotions still in turmoil, she listened quietly but wouldn’t look at him, sitting well away from him on a rug in the middle of the room, keeping her ears instead of her eyes on him.
Finally, he reached the end of his story. “So, that’s why I did it. I know it wasn’t fair to Fluttershy, and I hated myself for it—I still do. But if I had just sat there and done nothing? Rainbow Dash would have been found guilty right there on the spot,” Phoenix concluded, his voice sounding numb. “Again, I’m sorry, Twilight. It should never have come to that. And it probably wouldn’t have if I’d actually taken your advice and studied.”
“I see,” was all Twilight could manage to say, her carefully neutral tone belying an intense internal debate. All that was just to BUY TIME? she thought in disbelief, not certain if she accepted his explanation. It sounded plausible, and if that had been his intention it had certainly worked with no lasting harm to Fluttershy, but… if he’s capable of a lie like that, how can I believe ANYTHING he says?
The silence between them stretched for nearly half a minute before Phoenix broke it. “So—do you still want to replace me as Rainbow’s attorney?” he asked her.
Twilight was startled, her head coming up in surprise. “H-how did you—”
“Fluttershy told me,” came the simple reply, the human lawyer leaning forward on the couch and resting his forearms on his legs, clasping his hands between them. “Look. I can’t complain if you do—I certainly deserve it after this morning. But I have to warn you: Trixie is one tough prosecutor,” he noted, a rueful tone to his voice. “I underestimated her badly and let her get to me. Despite all my experience, she managed to trump everything I threw at her. In fact, she could have shot down my feather theory right then and there if she wanted to,” he told her grimly, shaking his head slowly.
“She could? But how?”
“Easily. She could have pointed out how completely improbable it was that a large feather remained stuck to Fluttershy while she was flying all over the place trying to frame Rainbow Dash, yet somehow she never noticed and it didn’t fall off in flight,” he explained, shaking his head slowly. “It was an obvious objection, yet Trixie didn’t make it. If she had, Rainbow would now be in solitary awaiting sentencing.”
“Wh-what?!” Twilight looked back at him in shock while standing up abruptly.
“That’s the kind of pony Trixie is, Twilight. From what she said, the only reason she let me do that was to hurt you. To see you suffer while another one of your friends was imprisoned,” he nodded grimly. “She’s going to go all-out tomorrow; doubly so if she’s going directly against you. So if you’d like to take over the defense, I have to warn you about that,” Phoenix informed her, giving her a very level look.
Twilight was stunned by the news. Trixie would go to THAT length just to hurt me? she reeled, her resolve and confidence melting away as all the sorrow, hate and anger she sensed from the black locks came rushing back. “I… I don’t know what I should do…” she admitted, sitting back heavily on her haunches, her eyes glistening. She wanted comfort, needed comfort, needed someone to tell her everything was going to be fine. Because at that moment, she no longer believed it herself.
Phoenix looked like he was considering going over to her for a moment, but didn’t, remaining on the couch. “Twilight—if you really want to defend Rainbow Dash, I’ll step aside. But at least allow me to do one more thing for you,” he offered her, opening his palms towards her.
Twilight looked up at him in surprise, trying to blink her tears away. “Y-you still want to help? Even after I summoned you against your will? Even after nearly dying? Even after I was going to petition the Equestrian Judicial Board to fire you?” she asked in disbelief—nobody could be that noble!
He nodded, standing up straight as he answered as if to present himself, clasping his hands in front of him. “I’ll do everything I can to help someone who is being accused of a crime they didn’t commit, whether that’s as the defense attorney, co-counsel, or just sitting in the gallery and offering moral support.” he told her fervently. “I know for a fact Rainbow Dash is innocent of murder. And I know of a certain pony who knows a lot more than she’s letting on.”
Twilight gave a slow, knowing nod, genuinely touched by his declaration. He really MEANS it! she realized, but quickly shunted the thought aside, still not ready to forgive him. “Actually, I do too,” she began, deciding it was time for answers on another matter. “Phoenix, tell me. That green gemstone thing you mixed in the evidence before the trial this morning? That wasn’t a good-luck charm, was it?” she asked, giving him a sideways look.
“Why do you ask?” Phoenix responded curiously, his hand going to his chin.
She watched him carefully out of the corner of her eye as she said her next words. “Let’s just say I’ve been seeing a lot of locks today.”
Phoenix gaped, stumbling backwards and nearly losing his balance. “Ngh! Locks and… chains?” he suggested weakly, leaning on a bookshelf for support.
Her head shot up at that. “See, I knew you knew!” Twilight rounded on him. “Out with it, Phoenix! What was that thing and what did it do to me?!” she demanded to know, approaching him with head lowered and horn pointed at him, anger at his duplicity taking hold of her again.
His brown eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back from her, holding up his hands as it to ward off an attack. “Okay! Okay! I’ll be honest. Because if I’m not… I bet you’ll see them around me!” He visibly swallowed, reaching inside his jacket with a noticeably shaking hand.
FINALLY, some answers! “I’m listening!” She planted herself in front of Phoenix as he took out his relic.
Taking a moment to gather himself, Phoenix knelt down before her, holding the comma-shaped gemstone in his palm. “You see, it’s called a ‘Magatama’,” he told her, choosing his words carefully as he held it up in front of her. “It’s a tool I use to see if people are hiding deep secrets from me. But don’t get me wrong! I only use it when I’m investigating crimes,” he quickly added.
Twilight blinked at that. “’Deep secrets’?” she repeated, giving it—and him—an askance look.
He nodded. “Think of it as kind of a mystical lie detector. If someone’s lying or otherwise hiding the answer to a question, psychic barriers called ‘psyche-locks’ will appear in front of them, visible only to the Magatama’s owner. They’re a spiritual representation of a lie the Magatama enables its wielder to see; the more locks and chains that surround someone, the deeper and closer held their secret,” he explained, waiting for Twilight to finish processing his statement before continuing.
“Understand, the presence of psyche-locks don’t tell you exactly what a person is hiding or lying about; only that they are lying about something, or otherwise not telling you everything. In order to get at their secret, you have to break the locks using proof and evidence. If you can do so, then chances are the person—or in this case, the pony—will spill the beans.”
Understanding dawned on Twilight like a bright light, several things finally making sense to her at once. “Interesting,” she said. Outwardly, her face betrayed no emotion except idle curiosity, but internally…
This. IS! AMAZING!!!!!! Twilight jumped in glee within her mind, feeling a sudden and very heady excitement flowing through her. And here he said there was no magic in his world? This thing’s power could REALLY help me in my studies and collected surveys! It needs more research done on it though. Her thoughts came in rapid succession, the student and scientist in her emerging for a moment before she caught herself. Focus, Twilight! she admonished herself, remembering something else about the locks he hadn’t yet answered.
“What about black ones?” she asked him, turning her violet eyes back on him as he knelt before her, grateful to have him at eye-level for once.
His brow furrowed in confusion. “Black ones? What do you mean?” he asked her, hand on his chin again.
“There were—” Twilight stopped in mid-sentence as Phoenix raised an inquiring brow. No, I shouldn’t tell him about Trixie. I need to be the one to deal with that problem, she decided, keeping that piece of information to herself.
“Never mind.” She shook her head. “So, do you know how that thing’s power got transferred to me?” she asked instead. She half-wondered if he was still holding something back from her, but—no, if that were the case, I’d start seeing these ‘psycho-locks’ around HIM!
He shook his head, looking relieved. “Not a clue, sorry. The Magatama was a gift from a good friend, and I don’t really know how it works. At a guess, it probably reacted to your magic somehow when you first picked it up,” he theorized.
She nodded, having already guessed as much. What WAS that reaction, anyway? she wondered, flaring her horn to cautiously pick the Magatama up out of his hand. She turned it over and probed it gently with her magic, feeling the odd interaction between its mystical energy and her own aura. It glowed a weak green within her magical grasp but didn’t flash like it had that morning.
This really IS new magic! she realized in delight as she sensed its unusual energies respond to her, hoping she’d have the chance to study it properly later. “Hmm… I’m sure I can figure it out how it works, but the question can wait for now. However I got its power, I need it to help Rainbow Dash,” Twilight told him, letting him have the relic back.
He nodded as he stood back up and returned the Magatama to his inner jacket pocket. “Okay. But now it’s your turn, Twilight. Since I told the truth and apologized, I expect the same from you,” he replied, crossing his arms and turning more serious.
“What? Why do I have to apologize?” Twilight asked, tilting her head up at him.
“Because you’re not a very good liar, Twilight Sparkle. Even without the Magatama, I could tell that you bringing me here from my own world last night was no accident. You summoned me here on purpose, didn’t you?” Phoenix confronted her, his expression turning very stern like he was interrogating a witness in court.
Twilight’s purple eyes widened in shock, her jaw falling open. NO! He knows! I promised the Princess! she panicked, her legs going weak for a moment. She started trying to come up with a denial, but quickly realized there was no point—even if her own guilty reaction hadn’t given her away, he had the Magatama and would know she was hiding something from him when the psycho-locks appeared around her. “I’m that bad at lying, huh?” she asked, her voice wan and beaten.
“Yeah, you’re about as thin as tissue paper,” Phoenix told her apologetically. “I mean, come on—an ‘identification spell’? I know you have magic here and all, but that sounds like something a third-grader came up with. Even as ignorant about magic as I still am, I didn’t need the Magatama to know that isn’t a real spell.”
Okay, so I’m BAD at improvising! Twilight shouted the excuse in her thoughts, blushing in embarrassment over her clumsy attempts to deceive the perceptive human lawyer. “I was told not to say anything. But I suppose I owe you an explanation,” she decided, taking a deep breath to steel herself for a confession, mentally apologizing to her mentor for having to break her word. “Just… please understand that it wasn’t my idea, Phoenix. The truth is that Princess Celestia herself told me to summon you and then play dumb,” she confessed, looking forlorn, her head bowed low in contrition and failure.
She sensed his eyes on her, studying her; she couldn’t help but flush again at his attention. “So you knowing my name, and having that badge prepared…?” he asked her next, and she confirmed his train of thought with a single jerky nod.
“Yes. It all came from the Princess. The summon spell I used only requires a description unique to the individual, like ‘Phoenix Wright, attorney-at-law’ or ‘Phoenix Wright’s favorite Judge’. That’s how I summoned His Honor here. A description like ‘best defense attorney’ wouldn’t work anyway because that’s a completely subjective determination for a spell that requires exact information to cast.
“But all that said, I swear, Phoenix—I had no idea you were going to be a human from another world!” Twilight insisted, turning her conflicted purple eyes back on him. “If I did, I would have had appropriate food and accommodations ready for you.”
To her relief, he stopped pressing her, apparently accepting her explanation. “But how does your princess even know me?” he wondered idly, taking his trademark hand-on-chin pondering pose again.
“I’m a bit sketchy on that detail as well,” she replied, letting a note of exasperation at her memories of Celestia’s coyness creep into her voice. So was THIS the joke, princess? That you knew I would like him? she was starting to suspect. “I found it really odd how she knew so much about you, and how she was boasting about how good you were. Yet, when I summoned you, you acted like you’d never seen a pony in your life before me,” Twilight recalled. “So, somehow, she knows of you even though you’ve clearly never met her.”
“You’re right.” He nodded after considering her words. “Well, I certainly don’t like the fact I was being deceived by you. But I thank you for telling me the truth, Twilight,” Phoenix said, to her great relief.
Twilight closed her eyes, bowing her head in contrition before him. “I apologize, Phoenix. I was just doing what the Princess told me to,” she said. “I’m not just her subject, but her personal student, and either way I can’t disobey her. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel really bad for lying.”
A smile touched Phoenix’s face. He looked for a moment like he wanted to put a reassuring hand on her but restrained himself; Twilight wasn’t sure if she was more relieved or disappointed that he didn’t. “It’s all right. You were just doing what you were told, and she clearly withheld information from you,” he noted. “Looks like we’ve all been guilty of that today.”
“Thank you,” she said gratefully, an awkward silence falling between the two again.
Sensing her discomfort, Phoenix turned his attention back to her saddlebags, beginning to look through their contents. “Hmm… so by the amount of evidence you found, it looks like you had a pretty fruitful investigation…” His eyes widened when he found a piece of torn paper. “AH!!!”
Twilight started. “What’s the matter?”
“THE OTHER HALF OF THE LETTER!!!!” Phoenix shouted, holding it in a shaking hand.
“The other half of the letter…?” she repeated, then her eyes widened and she took a stalking pose, staring at him from a crouch, her forelegs splayed wide on the floor and hindquarters raised like a cat getting ready to pounce. “WAIT, YOU HAVE IT!!??” she shouted back.
He nodded quickly. “Yeah, I found it with Pinkie Pie today!” Phoenix dug through his own evidence until he found the matching piece he was looking for. He gave Twilight his half and let her take hold of it. She pieced the two halves together with her aura, trying to keep her excitement under control as she began to read it:
Full Resignation Letter:
“This is my letter stating my permanent Leave of Absence. After the Equestrian 500 is over, I can no longer work with you. We made quite the team, but I can’t live with the guilt any longer. I can’t keep helping you ruin others’ lives. It saddens me beyond belief that we must part ways, but I must say farewell. Goodbye Ace; may our paths cross in the future.”
She looked up when she was finished, finding Phoenix silent and seemingly deep in thought.
“Someone was quitting their job?” Twilight asked him, still not certain of the note’s meaning.
“Yeah. And I think I know who,” Phoenix answered with a slow, knowing nod.
“Who?” she prompted. "There's no signature on this."
Phoenix opened his mouth only to close it again, shaking his head once. “I’ll tell you once I confirm my suspicion. You said you had someone to talk to as well, right? Well, in light of this letter, I do too. So maybe we should go our separate ways again.”
NO!!!! Twilight wanted to scream, afraid to let him out of her sight again. You nearly DIED because I left you alone and wasn’t there to guide you; I don’t DARE take that chance again! she stopped herself from saying, suppressing her protective instincts long enough to ask him where he would be going.
After he told her his destination was the Hay-and-Stay, she relaxed a bit. That’s close by and there will be plenty of other ponies about. He’s not going to the Everfree this time, so nothing should happen to him, right? she reassured herself, not entirely successfully but enough to assuage her immediate worries over his safety, finally giving him a reluctant nod. “You’re right. I need to interrogate your assailant at Ponyville Detention Center, and visiting hours will be over soon. Come straight back here once you’re done though. You were attacked, after all,” she reminded him in a mild tone, struggling to keep her fears out of her voice.
“You have my word,” Phoenix promised, kneeling down before her for a moment and bowing his head to her; his pose made Twilight feel like she was being treated like royalty.
I’m not a princess, Phoenix! She blushed again, wondering if all human males were so deferential to their mares.
Taking time only to wash his face and put his battered blue suit in some semblance of order, Phoenix left the Library and headed out… but not before Twilight tagged him with a magical tracer while his back was turned, one that would tell her his location and alert her if magic had been used on him. Any unicorn with an ounce of magical ability would sense the tracer and the identity of its owner, but that was fine with her—it advertised that Phoenix was under her protection.
If anything happens to him, I’ll know. And Celestia help anypony who hurts him! she thought, suddenly grateful she didn’t have her full power available when she discovered Cruise Control had attacked him, afraid of what she might have done. Better keep my temper under control when I go see him again, she decided as she watched Phoenix head out the door.
Once Phoenix had departed, Twilight stood there in silence for a minute, mentally reviewing her game plan. “Spike!” she called for her assistant once she was satisfied with her next course of action.
The baby dragon came running from the upstairs balcony, a broom in his clawed hand. “Yes, sir?! Err… Ma’am? Err… Sir-ma’am?!” Spike quickly stood before her, holding the broom like a pike with one hand and making a saluting gesture with the other.
She couldn’t help but grin at that. First Phoenix, and now Spike? A filly could get used to this kind of treatment! “Did you send that appeal for me to take over the defense yet?” she asked her scribe.
“Oh, right! It’s written, but I haven’t sent it yet. Do you want me to send it now?” Spike asked, hoping she wouldn’t be mad at him for delaying it—he’d held on to it in the half-hope she might yet come to her senses and change her mind about defending Rainbow Dash herself.
To his relief, she shook her head. “No… actually, I’m glad you didn’t. Put it on hold for now. I’ll tell you whether to send it when I get back,” Twilight instructed, resolving to make her decision by the time she did.
“Sure. But why?” Spike asked, grateful for her change of heart but still curious.
Twilight’s eyes went distant for a moment. “I'm... just not ready to decide,” she explained somewhat cryptically, then at Spike’s questioning look, went on. “I need to go back to the Detention Center to interview somepony first.”
Spike wasn’t sure what that had to do with it, but recognized from her conflicted expression that she probably wasn’t sure herself. “Alright, Twilight!” Spike said, blinking as he realized he made a slight rhyme, thinking Zecora would be proud of him for it. “By the waaay—” he said with a huge grin on his face.
“Yes?” Twilight turned to her scribe.
The baby dragon cleared his throat and coughed, muttering something under her breath she didn’t catch. Seeing her uncomprehending look, he repeated his action but spoke more clearly through the cough. “Sapphire!” she finally caught.
Huh? Sapphire? Twilight’s eyes widened, belatedly remembering her earlier promise to her baby dragon scribe and friend. OHMYGOSH! I forgot to stop by Rarity’s place and get one for him! she cringed, falling silent and eyes darting nervously as she scrambled to come up with an excuse. “Uh… you know what, Spike? I got something even better than a silly old sapphire!”
Spike’s ear and head ridges perked up, the baby dragon growing even more excited. “Better than a sapphire!? You mean… A R-RUBY?! OR AN EMERALD?!” he said, licking his lips with his serpentine tongue and drooling at the thought of what kind of gem he would be having for dinner that night.
“Nope! Get ready!” Twilight said, keeping her scribe in suspense as she pulled her saddlebags back over.
“My stomach’s ready!” Spike immediately replied, licking his lips again.
Twilight unveiled her ‘Better than a sapphire’ present to Spike with a magical flourish and flash of light. “TA-DAH!! IT’S THIS LAWYER BOOK!” Twilight announced grandly and with a cheeky grin.
Spike lost his own smile as he stared at Twilight with a blank expression.
Twilight flipped through the pages, pretending to be eager and enthusiastic about it. “It was a really good read! So I’m passing this wonderful reference guide on to you, Spike!” Twilight put the book on the ground as she slid it towards her scribe with her hoof. “After all, the only thing better than food for the body is food for the mind, right?!” she tried to sell it, still wearing her huge smile.
But Spike wasn’t buying it, his expression going from blank to angry and annoyed. “YOU FORGOT, DIDN’T YOU!?” he accused her, pointing a single finger talon at her like Phoenix did to witnesses.
Twilight cringed, knowing she wasn’t going to hear the end of it if she stayed there any longer. “Uh… gotta run, Spike! Enjoy the book!” she said as she bolted out of the front door, leaving Spike staring down forlornly at the tome, wondering if he should burn the shameful piece of literature or just stuff the dusty book back on the dark, cold shelf where it belonged.
Either way, he was stuck with it instead of the gemstone he had been promised for dinner that evening. His stomach growling over his forgotten meal, he silently trudged to the kitchen to heat up a package of hay fries.
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
1,103 users online
1,838,719 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Nice one. I was kind of worried that it would be an April Fool's Joke, but I guess not.
Spike in the end
Y U NO KEEP PROMISE TWILIGHT?!
2355754
Godot. The coolest prosecutor of all.
2322978 Edgeworth... You've changed. Goin after younger ladies now?
2316238 Wait a minute... But that would make you MY assistant, not me yours...
Again I see what you did there.
2357348
*whistles innocently*
2363452
Given Twilight said 'my friend's life is at stake' early on, I'd lean towards the former as much as I'd like to say differently. That being the case, I'd prefer to believe Celestia wouldn't actually do it if she believes Rainbow is innocent regardless of the verdict, or would at least have some way to protect her until her innocence is proven.
It is my sincere hope that nobody ends going to the sun for this crime. Sonata appears to be the culprit, but I'm pretty sure we're going to end up seeing what amounts to an unpremeditated crime of passion in the end--and I hope there will be some leniency for it.
2357108
Well, I don't know Phoenix... you're the one who always seems to hang out with adolescent girls.
2392165 Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! Hey, THEY wanna be my assistants so badly; maybe they're after ME?
(idk enough about that topic; i've only played PWAA 1. I'm just making an 'educated guess')
2394440
I haven't played any of the Ace Attorney games, but I've watched the walkthroughs of all five games (except the latest, which isn't available yet) on youtube, so I know all the backstories and cases (and it was Turnabout Storm that got me interested!). Phoenix always seems to have Maya or some other young girl around. Not that I think he's into that; in the case of Maya it's a matter of looking after Mia's younger sister.
Phoenix doesn't actually show romantic interest in anyone over the course of the series, but in my mind there's a very good reason why not. It has mostly to do with the events explored in the third game, Trials and Tribulations, which I won't spoil here. But needless to say, he's been hurt pretty bad.
2395704 Well, all I know for sure is that Phoenix - *ahem* "I" - never said or thought anything of Maya, nor do I think Maya thought anything of me in the first game. Ema, well, she was happy to get her older sister back, but I still don't think she had the hots for me. Sure, she owes me big... I saved her older sister!
Wait a minute... In that case, they BOTH owe me!
2396300
You know, most guys would be happy to have such a problem, Phoenix.
2473447 may I be Pearls?
And this is why, folks, I'm an earth pony.
Captain, I am detecting large quantities of yes in this sector.
hahahahaha
Season 1 happened, that's what!
This might be my favorite scene of all time.
Such glorious weaksauce!
The reversed gender-role concept never ceases to entertain me. Who doesn't want to be rescued by Twilight Sparkle?
This needs to be asked, why is Twilight still hot to have sex with Phoenix during the time she's angry at him for what he did to Fluttershy? Before the accusation, Twilight followed a predictable pattern of 'omg he's so fascinating, I want to mate with him, to 'no I must not think such things', and that went completely uninterrupted by the shock of what happened. We saw her seriously considering firing Phoenix, but the attraction never wavered. I do not understand why.
I think if the impossible happened and a man were transported to Equestria, he would chose Fluttershy above all others. At the end of the day, a man understands female hypergamy (the tendency of women to trade up for mates) on an instinctual level, even if it doesn't apply in ponies in this universe, and feels insecure about a woman with "more." This story actually deals with a variation on that concept later, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Point is, Phoenix is everyman where Fluttershy is concerned.
Different chapter, still awkward!
So that's what she meant in the next chapter. Oops...
I read the next chapter out of turn.
Actually Twilight, yes. Even homosexual men. The more beautiful, the greater the urge to protect them. It's a genetic protection trait since woman are the limiting factor in reproduction.
And now you know.
Twilight really does treat that poor guy like garbage.
But Spike wasn’t buying it, his expression going from blank to angry and annoyed. “YOU FORGOT, DIDN’T YOU!?” he accused her, raising his arms in exasperation and taking a slightly odd expression. “Y U NO KEEP PROMISE, TWILIGHT?”
imgflip.com/s/meme/Y-U-No.jpg
Yaaaaaay!
Genderbend
9146582
Fixed
I was skimming through this part and my idiot brain read that as peeing through the window.