Phoenix Flight lost his ability to fly and his talent in a childhood accident. Now an adult, he attempts to make a name for himself as a defense attorney, but who would hire an attorney without a cutie mark in law?
For a pegasus, losing the ability to fly is devastating. Even more so if you already had a cutie mark in flying. Despite his lack of talent, Phoenix is pursuing a career as a Canterlot defense attorney to help the helpless. The problem is that no one at all would hire a lawyer without a cutie mark in legal ability. No one except the absolutely desperate.
An equine adaptation of the Ace Attorney video game series with original mysteries.
“…and then I went straight from the apartment complex to the carriage and so I didn’t even see the slightest hint of anything out of the ordinary,” the salespony said, wringing his hooves emphatically.
Phoenix Flight, attorney-at-law, squirmed in his seat, trying not to bump into any of the large cardboard boxes piled up on top of the sofa. Everything about this pony was squirmy and it was making his skin feel squirmy too. “So you expect me to believe you didn’t notice the murder at all?”
“Yes, but let’s not talk about me. Let’s talk about you.” The salespony reached over and grabbed a strange wand-like object with gears on the side. “I’ve received some test versions of new technology guaranteed to make it easier than ever to be an earth pony in Canterlot.”
“That’s nice for you, but I’m not an earth pony…” Phoenix tugged the collar of his blue suit.
“Really?” The salespony set his toy down and hopped off his seat, walking over to take a look at Phoenix like personal space wasn’t a thing. He even poked Phoenix in the side. “Ah, I do seem to detect something fluffy under that tacky jacket.”
“Says the guy in purple and green with gold buttons?” Phoenix asked.
“How gauche,” the salespony said. “I’m offering to help and you insult me. Now, I have a device that can make wing holes in any jacket-”
“That’s fine,” Phoenix said. “I like it this way.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Why, just to hover a few inches, you’d have to strip naked, and in Canterlot that’s even-”
“I can’t fly.”
“Oh.” The salespony finally stopped talking for two seconds. “How did it happen?”
“Please don’t make me answer that!” Phoenix half-whined.
“But your cutie mark is a bird,” the salespony said, gesturing to the rising red phoenix silhouette stamped on his yellow flank. “How do you perform your destined talent without wings?”
Just say something like ‘It doesn’t symbolize what you think it does so mind your own business,’ Phoenix. Normal ponies say things like that all the time when strangers ask questions that are too personal.
But every second of silence hurt a little.
“I don’t perform my talent. I’m worse than blank.” The whole sad story spilled out before Phoenix could stop himself.
The salespony clucked his tongue. “Such a pity. But I have a device that-”
“No! No, you don’t!” Phoenix flipped his notebook closed and stuck it back in his jacket pocket. “There’s nothing you can do and there’s nothing anyone can do. I don’t need or want your sympathy. You’re just scum and I’ll see you in court.”
With that, Phoenix Flight bolted out of the box-filled living room out into the fifth floor hallway of the apartment building. He thought he could hear the salespony saying something but he didn’t want to hear it.
In the stairwell, Phoenix Flight glanced out the window, studying the open sky above the crowded Canterlot skyline. It had been well over a decade since the childhood accident that left him permanently flightless, but it still hurt.
Well, no point thinking about it. He had a new job that didn’t require wings or any shred of his old talent. Sometimes he could almost pretend he wasn’t destined to fail as a lawyer.
The salespony’s apartment complex was only a few blocks away from Faerie Law Offices where Phoenix worked. Celestia was lowering the sun and soon the new princess would take over; Phoenix still wasn’t used to the thought of there being two princesses, especially since Princess Luna had only just started making public appearances again.
Mystic Faerie somehow managed to afford the whole first floor of the office complex it was located in, though considering the Faerie family pretty much owned an entire Canterlot colony higher in the mountains, that wasn’t that surprising. The first room upon entering was the lobby, with two leather couches forming an L around a glass coffee table topped with a bowl of rocks. Against one wall was Phoenix’s desk, from which he organized case notes for Mystic Faerie and greeted clients new and old. To one side was a table with a coffee machine and occasionally other things. The other thing right now was a tray of ring-shaped sugar cookies sprinkled with colored sugar; the mare arranging them was a dusty grey-brown with a plum mane done up in a topknot that complemented the purple kimono she always wore. It was a little tight on her; most clothes were, being made for ponies of average weight. Plumpness was almost unheard of amongst unicorns, particularly Canterlot unicorns, but Faerie Dust was one of the rare few unicorns who consumed more calories than was burned doing daily magic.
“Oh, Nick!” Faerie Dust said, turning around when Phoenix entered. “How’d it go?”
“Hi Dusty. It went pretty well. Trying a new recipe?”
“Well, I wanted to play around with food coloring and sugar at any rate,” Faerie Dust said. “But I’m not the interesting part. Let’s talk about you.” She levitated a red cookie into the air and guided it near Phoenix’s mouth. “It matches your eyes. Want?”
“Oh, I’m really not hungry…”
“You never are, but I need to know how good these are, okay? So pretty please, for me?” Dust pleaded, pouting and tilting her head slightly in the way that only mares seemed capable of.
Mystic Faerie’s annoyed expression relaxed slightly as she stood at the door to her office. She was a color reverse of her younger sister, with a lavender coat and a rich brownie-like mane that she wore straight. Her outfits were black and white almost exclusively, except for brown boots on her hind hooves and a green-tinted yin-shaped charm around her neck. “I’m not mad at you, sis.” No comment on Phoenix. “I’m glad that you stopped by and—cookies again? Really? You just baked a batch yesterday. Please don’t tell me you ate all of them already.”
“Um… I gave most of them to our servants…” Faerie Dust stared at the floor.
“Oh… well,” Mystic huffed a little. “Glad you’re learning how to exercise self-control. I hate seeing you unhealthy…”
“I don’t think you should talk about your sister’s weight in front of me…” Phoenix said.
“Oh, Flight! Yes! My office.” Mystic Faerie telekinetically latched onto Phoenix Flight’s shoulders and dragged him in physically, like Phoenix’s legs didn’t work either.
Mystic Faerie’s office was lit by the huge window most of the time; even at night there was a streetlamp right outside, so she rarely bothered to turn the overhead lamp on. The back wall had two bookshelves crammed with legal books, each with about a dozen bookmarks in them. Mystic’s desk was covered with several piles of papers, but each was so squarely stacked that it didn’t even look messy. Sitting in one corner was the office mascot Charley, a decorative house plant with a tall narrow woody stem and puffballs of spiky leaves.
As soon as she shut the door, her face became grim again. “Phoenix. I've done so many good things for you; I've paid your way through law school; I've given you a place to stay, covered medical bills, and now you have an opportunity to train under one of the most prestigious lawyers in Canterlot, and all I asked in return was one little favor. Do you remember what it is?”
"To work for you and you only without pay until my debts are cleared?" Phoenix asked.
"...That was more of an obligation than a favor," Mystic said. "A basic principle of Alternate-Compensation Contracts is service without monetary reimbursement."
Phoenix wondered if he'd ever get used to all the long words involved in legalese.
"I mean, what was the rule I told you?"
“Your sister is off limits,” Phoenix said, staring at the floor. “B-b-but it’s not like we were flirting. She’s just nice and I’m just nice and I’m not trying anything really…”
“Phoenix. Answer me.” Mystic Faerie telekinetically tilted Phoenix’s chin up. “Do you have feelings for my sister?”
Phoenix froze. The minor muscles that still worked in his wings started twitching, and his heart felt like it was being squeezed by small pythons.
“I… I don’t kn-n-n…”
It wasn’t even a lie. But he knew he was only saying it to mislead her.
And because of that, the thought of finishing the sentence, the thought that he might cause a pony to have false notions, made him ill all over. His skin felt hot but his muscles shivered, and he felt like he was going to throw up.
There was nothing for it. One way or another this was going to hurt.
Phoenix took a deep breath and words came spilling out of his mouth like water from a broken faucet. “I think she’s cute but I know she doesn’t like me the way I do and that hurts but I still feel happy whenever I’m around her and please please please let me stop talking!”
The nausea vanished, only to be replaced by a feeling of dread like ice in his stomach. Mystic Faerie’s telekinetic grip slid down from his chin to around his throat and he tensed, expecting an attack. Her eyes gleamed with fury and her lips began to part in a snarl.
Then, with a pained sigh, she dispelled the magic. “Don’t give me those puppy eyes…”
“I don’t know what you mean.” Phoenix wove over to sit in the cushioned chair by Mystic’s desk.
“Okay, okay, you can’t help your feelings. It was wrong of me to ask.” Mystic Faerie caused all the papers on her desk to levitate into the air and rotate like a Ferris wheel before setting them down again in a similar orientation. “Just don’t get too familiar, okay?”
“It’s a little late for that,” Phoenix muttered.
Mystic evidently decided to pretend that she didn’t hear him. “So… anyway. What did you learn today?”
Phoenix shuddered. “That salespony was a complete slimeball; I doubt you needed my powers to learn that. He insists he didn’t see anything, but if you can convince the judge to get him on the stand he’ll fall apart easily enough.”
“That’s invaluable; thank you.” Mystic Faerie finished filling out one paper and slid it into her saddlebag. “It’s going to be an interesting day tomorrow.”
“You’ll do great,” Phoenix said. “You always do.”
“Thanks; I try.” Mystic Faerie headed out of the office. “Dusty, ready to head home?”
“Sleepover at Adorabelle’s house,” Faerie Dust said. “You forgot?”
“…Right. Well, don’t let her keep you up. See you in court?”
“Of course, sis.” Faerie Dust followed her sister out. “Bye Nick! See you tomorrow!”
“…you have a nickname for him?” Mystic Faerie asked as the office door swung shut. Her violet telekinesis surrounded the doorknob and twisted the lock to secure the office.
And like that, Phoenix’s workplace became his home. As part of every Alternate-Compensation Contract, the benefactor was required to give their worker suitable living quarters. Sometimes an apartment was provided, or a room in the benefactor's house, but in Phoenix's case Mystic Faerie had let him sleep in her office. It was a far nicer arrangement than any other house he’d lived in before, even if he had to go to the gym upstairs to use their shower. It wasn’t like his other apartment had had running water either.
First things first, he headed to the small ‘kitchen’ in the back. It had a small fridge, a microwave, and a blender, the latter of which made his life a lot easier. He pulled open the fridge; two vials of clear medicine and one bottle of medicinal chocolate syrup. Pills and powders came out of the cabinet. Most of it went in the blender; he swallowed a few pills as he mixed up his symptom suppressing cocktail. Even as an adult, he still didn’t have his head wrapped around all the complications his wing injury created. From the few times he chose buying food over buying medicine back in the days when he’d had barely any money, he did know that without taking these, he would faint, or hurt all over. He might even catch fire; one of the complications was that wings were normally supposed to be a conduit for the magic emanated by equine souls, and without an outlet, built up magic might randomly do something explosive. He’d never ever missed a dose after that terrifying news.
When the blender’s job was done, he poured the few ounces of liquid into a glass and drank it as fast as he could; its chocolate-cherry flavor wasn’t unpleasant, but nothing could hide the gritty texture. He used to dilute it with milk, but that just meant he had more to drink. Better to get it over with.
That taken care of, he trotted back into the main lobby and carefully took off his blue suit and red tie, folding them carefully and setting them aside. They were the nicest clothes he owned… in fact the only clothes he owned. Fortunately they came from a posh store that put self-cleaning spells on their garments, otherwise he’d be stuck. Only tourists and poor ponies walked around naked in Canterlot.
Then he pulled a legal book out of his small collection and curled up on the couch with it, ready for a quiet evening.
An hour later his quiet evening was broken by the door being thrown open.
“Augh!” Phoenix jumped onto the arm of the couch and perched there like an oversized cat.
“Sorry!” Faerie Dust said, bowing hastily. “I didn’t think I’d scare you that badly!”
“Oh, hi Dusty,” Phoenix said, his cheeks turning red. He jumped off onto the floor. “Is Adorabelle with you?”
Faerie Dust pursed her lips sulkily, tears in her eyes. “Adorabelle ran off to a far away city to solve a murder and completely forgot about our sleepover.”
“Oh. I’m sorry…” Phoenix said.
“Judge Sterling Scales said I was welcome to stay in their house anyway since there’s no getting in Kurain Village this late at night. But it’s not time for bed yet; I want to do something fun to make it up to myself. Want some donuts?”
“Whu- me?” Phoenix blinked.
Faerie Dust giggled. “Yes, you. You’re my other friend, right?”
Phoenix chewed his lower lip. “I’m not a fan of donuts…”
“Pish,” Dust scoffed. “Everyone loves Pony Joe’s donuts and I’m sure you will too. Anyway, I don’t want to go alone.” Faerie Dust’s brilliant violet eyes softened into a formidable begging stare. “Please?”
“Okay, okay,” Phoenix sighed. “Just need to get my jacket back on…”
“You don’t need to hide your wings,” Faerie Dust said.
“Oh, yes I do. I’m sick of ponies telling me how pretty they are,” Phoenix grumbled, looking at his useless appendages. His wings gradiated from light orange near the base to deep red at the tip. It looked spectacular unless you got close enough to realize that the reddest feathers were dry and stiff and shriveled and everything feathers should not be. “It’s like if you had a black eye and everyone kept saying how shiny it looked. Except worse. That, and trying to hold my wings shut all the way with just muscle strength hurts because the only working muscles are the weakest; the jacket holds them shut for me.”
“Oh. I didn’t know.” Faerie Dust levitated Phoenix’s jacket into the air. “Can I do it for you just because it’s quicker?”
“I’d rather you didn’t,” Phoenix said. “I can dress myself…”
Faerie Dust dropped the garments back in place with a sad sigh. “I’m just full of good ideas today…” she muttered, looking down at the floor.
Phoenix dressed himself and sighed. “I don’t mean to sound harsh. It’s an annoying side effect of needing to be so honest all the time. I’m not mad, I promise.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Faerie Dust says, her smile returning instantly. “Ready for donuts now?”
“Whatever makes you happy,” Phoenix said.
He followed Faerie Dust out into the bright lights of the big city.
The heady scent of sugary baked goods greeted the pair as they pushed the shop door open to the tinkling of bells. Streetlight streamed in through the multiple peaked-arched windows, helping the hanging lamps to light the blue and white tiled floor, the round wooden tables, and the long green donut counter with a glass case filled with donuts. Behind the counter were even more racks of donuts. Glazed donuts, chocolate cake donuts, pink frosted donuts with sprinkles, cream filled pastries, berry-studded donuts, and every other glorious flavor imaginable.
It was near closing time, so there were only four other customers in the shop. Two were police officers, one male and one female, both earth ponies, both with white coats- no, on second glance, the male earth pony was tan. He just was also wearing a white jacket, white shoes, and even white pants. They were both sipping coffee and looking half dead.
The other two customers were a green mare with a poofy brown mane and large sunglasses sitting across from a purple stallion wearing a studded leather collar. They were looking lovingly into each other’s eyes and sharing a milkshake with two straws.
“Hey, little Faerie,” Pony Joe said from behind the counter. The brawny tan unicorn smiled at her, then looked absently out the window, worry in his green eyes.
“Hi, Joe,” Faerie Dust said, running up to look at the donuts. “Oooooh, maybe I can have three…” She paused suddenly and looked at Phoenix, her eyes starting to crease with shame.
Phoenix shrugged. “I’m not your sister. Something wrong, Joe?”
Joe sighed and turned back to them. “I’m waiting on a very special shipment of Zap Apple jam, a Sweet Apple Acres exclusive. Applejack was going to deliver them in pony. Hope nothing happened to her or the train…”
“You’re bringing back Zap Apple jam donuts?’ Faerie Dust cried, her eyes shining. “I’ve been waiting for this!”
“Aren’t you allergic to apples?” Phoenix asked.
“Not for me, silly. For you! I know how much you love apples!”
Phoenix winced. “W-well, true, but…”
“Hey, Joe! One apple fritter for my friend Phoenix!” Faerie Dust said.
“Oh, that’s not necessary…” Phoenix Flight said, feeling his cheeks turn red.
“Yes it is.” Faerie Dust looked over her shoulder, an unusually earnest and serious expression on her face. Then it vanished, replaced with her whimsical smile as she turned her attention back to the counter. “And I want… a chocolate frosted cream filled donut with sprinkles, a pink donut with sprinkles, and a… and a… grape-jelly filled donut with peanut butter drizzle.”
“Coming right up,” Pony Joe said, levitating the confections into the air.
“Are you closing soon or can we eat here?” Faerie Dust asked.
“I’m still watching to see if AJ arrives…” Pony Joe sighed.
“Okay,” Faerie Dust said, accepting the donuts in her own pink aura. “You get to pick the booth, Phoenix.”
Phoenix chose one by a window that overlooked an alley between the donut shop and the clothing store next door. Faerie Dust sat across from him and set the apple fritter on a napkin in front of Phoenix. “Now eat.”
“Dusty…” Phoenix said.
“You’re so skinny and I worry about you. And if you don’t it’s just going in the trash since, again, allergic to apples.” Faerie Dust steadily nommed her pink sprinkled donut.
Phoenix stared at the fritter for a while. He didn’t feel like eating, but he never did. Slowly, he lifted the pastry into his forehooves, adjusting its position slightly for a few seconds, then taking a small bite. He closed his eyes; the crispy brown dough, the finely chopped apple pieces, the sugary glaze, and the hint of cinnamon made it taste heavenly.
The two of them kept eating. By the time Faerie Dust was finished with her three donuts, Phoenix Flight was only a third of the way done with his fritter. Faerie Dust didn’t comment on this and just held a mostly one-sided conversation about the various misadventures in the Faerie mansion.
"We're down to a skeleton crew now since Yellow Tail left us, thanks to Sterling Scales's nonprofit giving her a loan to start over in Fillydelphia. Now that she has a baby on the way, she doesn't want the child to grow up in a house where my grandmother reminds the servants day in and day out that they're inferior to her. And then granny acts like it's the fault of the ungrateful servants that we're so shorthooved."
At the halfway point of Phoenix’s fritter, a bright flash caught several ponies’ attention. The green mare screamed.
“Shocking Snap!” Pony Joe roared, stomping over to the potted plant the light had come from. “What did I tell you would happen if I caught you harassing my customers!?”
A blue grey mare leapt out from her hiding place, her silver mane crackling at the tips with electricity and her horn glowing white. A camera thumped against her chest and a mischievous grin sliced across her face. She wore a skinny black dress with silver lightning bolts running down the sides and a flared skirt drawing attention to her flanks. Her cutie mark was of two lightning bolts around a flashbulb.
“Aw, youse didn’t really mean that, did youse sweetie?” Shocking Snap asked in her thick Las Pegasus accent, reaching up to stroke Pony Joe’s chin seductively.
Pony Joe slapped her hoof away. “Out of my restaurant. Now.”
“Youse keep telling youself this little hole in the wall counts as a restaurant,” Shocking Snap snarled as her advances were rejected. She stalked out, swinging her tail. As she passed the cops’ table, their two coffee cups launched into the air in a white burst of magic, splashing all over the female cop’s uniform.
“Hey!” the policemare shouted, standing up.
“Police are losers!” Shocking Snap shouted at them as she slammed her way out of the donut shop.
Faerie Dust and the two civilian customers gasped at the use of the L-word, apparently not desensitized to the worst word in Equestrian vocabulary.
The policemare stood up and assumed a pose like she was about to start a 100 meter dash.
“Please, no, Angel…” the policestallion whimpered.
“Creep needs to pay!” Angel said.
“You’ve got nothing; she just yelled at you,” the stallion protested. “Please don’t start another controversy please please please…”
Angel pulled out of the dashing crouch and stood up straight, snarling. “I hate it when you’re right, Goody Shoes.”
Goody Shoes sighed with relief.
“Ugh, this is a mess…” the policemare said, looking at the ugly brown stains on her light brown police uniform. She turned to Joe. “You have a plastic bag so I don’t get this everywhere?”
“Yeah, sure,” Pony Joe said, ducking behind the counter.
Phoenix kept staring at the door, wondering where Shocking Snap was.
“What a bother,” Faerie Dust said. “Who knew such giant jerks existed?”
As Pony Joe levitated a plastic bag over to Angel, the bell over the door sang out again. A second policemare, this one light gray with a darker grey mane, leaned into the shop. “Was Shocking Snap just here?” she sighed, her brow furrowed.
“Just missed her, Cinder,” Goody Shoes said. “Think she went left. Good luck.”
“Thanks,” Cinder said, a dark shadow on her face. She looked like she’d be very pretty if she wasn’t so sad. She ducked back out.
Angel finished wriggling out of her stained uniform; she folded it and put it in the plastic bag.
Suddenly, the lights flickered on and off, causing Pony Joe to start, then they went out completely.
“Eeek!” Faerie Dust said. “Ow… I bit my tongue…”
Pony Joe walked over to a metal box attached to one wall, about the size of a radiator. He grunted angrily. “Stupid paparazzi… sorry, everyone, but it looks like we’re closing a bit early.”
“What? Why?” the purple stallion said.
“Power’s out. In just this store. And there haven’t been enough lightning storms recently to recharge the backup generator, so-”
“That obnoxious little Shocking Snap! She is so in for it now! Nothing can stop Angel Star!” And with that the white policemare rocketed out of the building.
“Angellll!” her partner cried, taking after her at a much slower pace.
The young couple packed up and said their goodbyes to Pony Joe.
“We’ll wrap this up for later, then,” Phoenix said, folding a napkin around the apple fritter.
“But it better be gone by the morning, okay?” Faerie Dust said.
“Dustyyyy,” Phoenix whined softly.
“Hey, Angel forgot her uniform,” Faerie Dust said, kicking the plastic bag.
“Ah, I’ll get it back to her in the morning,” Pony Joe said, telekinetically moving it behind the counter. “Sorry about this, really. I’ll give you some donuts on the house to make up for it.”
“No, really, that’s not necessary,” Phoenix said.
“More apple fritters!” Faerie Dust said.
“I hope AJ doesn’t worry about me…” Pony Joe said.
As Pony Joe closed up, Phoenix and Dusty loitered around outside.
“You ready for bed now, Dusty?” Phoenix asked.
Faerie Dust looked at the moon and shrugged. “Not really. The night is still young.”
“Nothing’s going to be open this late though,” Phoenix said. “It must be ten o’clock.”
“Or at least nothing nice.” Faerie Dust bit her lip in thought. “Oh, hey, didn’t a new park open that was night themed to celebrate Luna’s return? I’ve been meaning to check it out.”
“A night themed park…?” Phoenix shrugged. “Sounds… diversionary I guess.”
The park was only a few blocks from the donut shop. It was pretty small, just a pond with a circular track around it, but it was breathtaking. The pond was filled with blue, luminescent water lilies, and the air with gently pulsating green glowing moths with heart-shaped wings. Even though there were no streetlamps, they had no difficulty seeing their way.
The two began their lap around the lake, just admiring the wonders of nature in silent awe. One moth landed on Phoenix’s nose, making him sneeze, which amused Faerie Dust greatly.
At regular intervals along the trail were park benches. On the bench farthest from the main gate, there was a grey pegasus sleeping, a pair of saddlebags under his head. He had an electric blue mane and a cutie mark of three white stars.
Phoenix and Faerie paused awkwardly when they noticed him. Then Phoenix sighed and walked over to the pegasus, lightly shaking his shoulder. “Hey. You okay?”
“Whaddya youse want?” he grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. Then apparently he saw Phoenix’s blue suit, because his eyes widened and he started up like he was on fire. “O-officer! I’m sorry! I just dozed off-”
“No no no, I’m not a police officer,” Phoenix said. “I’m an attorney.”
“Youse a… youse a what?” The pegasus blinked sleepily.
Phoenix sighed; it would take to long to explain to someone who didn’t know the concept. “I’m just not a cop. Forget it. You okay?”
“Uh…” the gray pegasus looked around shiftily. “Sure. Why youse wanna know?”
“You got someplace to stay tonight?” Phoenix asked.
“‘Course I do. Headed there now.” The pegasus jumped off the bench and slung his saddlebags on.
Phoenix winced. “Th-that was a lie. Wait a minute.” He pulled out his notepad.
The pegasus eyed him even more suspiciously. “And how youse know that? What are youse, a lie detector?”
“Of a sort,” Phoenix said, scribbling a map. “When normally honest ponies like you tell a lie, I can sense the individual lies. But when somepony’s a chronic liar, I just hate being around them all the time and I can’t tell anything they say apart.”
“Huh.” This information suddenly made the pegasus look less suspicious for some reason. “I knew a gal like that back in Las Pegasus. Crazy filly wit’ no face. She’d just ask a question and then shout at the perp to tell the truth, and if the next words outta his mouth weren’t a truthful answer to her question they’d just suffocate.”
Phoenix winced. “Oh no no no, nothing like that. I’m not nearly that powerful and I don’t think I’d want to be.” He tore the notebook page out and handed it to Twilight Sky. “Sorry I’m not the best artist. The circle is a donut shop and the plus sign is a hospital. The star is where you want to be; it’s a nice shelter where you can sleep and have running water, and it's been there forever. You really, really don’t want to sleep on the streets out in Canterlot; you’re just begging to get captured and sold to work in mines, or factories, or to be used as a guinea pig by mad scientists. Trust me; I’ve had neighbors and coworkers vanish before, back when I lived in a worse part of town.”
“This is crazy,” the gray pegasus said, shaking his head. “Of course Las Pegasus is like that, but Canterlot…?”
Phoenix sighed sadly. “I… I’m sorry. I know you must have dreamed you’d find a better life here, but… but the truth is that everything that happens in Las Pegasus also happens in Canterlot. Las Pegasus just doesn’t bother hiding it.”
Twilight Sky lowered his ears and stared vacantly at the small map.
“Th-that’s not true!” Faerie Dust suddenly shouted, patriotism apparently awakening in her. "Slavery isn't legal! I mean... we do have situations where ponies work for food and shelter instead of for money, but that's highly regulated and you can leave whenever you want!”
“Dusty, I'm not talking about Alternate Compensation Contracts like I have, or servants like you have," Phoenix said, speaking slowly. "I'm talking about the secret stuff that the police would stop if they could find it. Underground organizations and stuff... and stuff based in Las Pegasus, of course, because nothing is illegal in Las Pegasus." He turned to the gray Pegasus. "No offense."
“None taken; thank youse for the map,” the gray pegasus said, smiling sheepishly. “I’ll… I’ll pay it forward someday.”
Phoenix also smiled a little. “Happy to help. Take care, okay?”
The gray pegasus nodded and smiled back. Then he spread his wings, kicked off the ground, and took flight into the night sky.
Phoenix watched him leave, not without a bit of jealousy.
“Did you ever stay at a shelter before, Phoenix?” Faerie Dust asked as they continued their walk.
“I was fortunate enough to always have a job or three after my mom kicked me out of the house,” Phoenix said. “Then I managed to get into Gifted Unicorn Academy night classes on a lottery, then... that... incident... h-happened..." Phoenix paused to take a deep breath. "And th-that's how I met your sister and you know what happened next."
"I'm sorry," Dusty whispered.
"Let's talk about something happier. Um... bought any new action figures lately?"
"Well, I managed to find one at a garage sale last week..." Dusty said.
The rest of their walk around the park ended in mild conversation. Then the two of them headed back toward the law offices.
Phoenix and Faerie Dust had only made it one block closer to the office when they heard sompeony shout. A grey pegasus swooped out of a nearby alley, only barely able to save himself from smashing into a wall by kicking off of it. Then a lariat, nearly invisible in the night, ensnared one of the pegasus’ wings and tightened, yanking the pegasus downward. Something snapped and the pegasus cried in pain as he hit the ground.
Phoenix gasped and hurried to the side of the gray pegasus. It was the one from the park. “Are you okay?” Phoenix asked.
“Whadda youse think?” he shouted back, but there was fear in his eyes. His sides were heaving after the fast flight.
“Don’t waste yer pity sugarcube,” another voice called from down the alley.
Phoenix looked up to see an orange, blonde-maned mare wearing a cowmare hat step out of the alley. She walked over to the downed pegasus and planted one hoof on his back.
“What’s the big idea!?” Faerie Dust demanded of the mare.
But Phoenix was wide-eyed and a little star struck. “You’re… you’re Applejack.”
“Reckon so,” Applejack said.
“I… I’m a huge fan of what you’ve done,” Phoenix said.
“Aw, shucks, what we did with the elements t’weren’t nothing…” Applejack started to protest.
“I meant your apples, but, um, y-yeah, that other part was cool too,” Phoenix said, rubbing his spikey mane and blushing a little.
“And why did you assault this random pony then?” Faerie Dust said.
“Citizen’s arrest. Fetch a cop before Ah’m his next victim,” Applejack said.
Faerie Dust opened her mouth to argue.
“Dusty!” Phoenix said. “Do it. Somepony was clearly in the wrong here.”
Faerie Dust glowered at Phoenix. “But I-”
“The quicker you go the quicker you’ll be back asking questions. Just go. I’ve got this,” Phoenix said, though what he ‘got’ he wasn’t sure.
Faerie Dust’s expression softened and she sped off.
“Y-youse can’t,” the grey pegasus said, squirming in an attempt to get away.
“Lie still you murderer,” Applejack said, pressing down harder on his back.
“…Not here. Back a little ways at… at the donut shop.” Recalling the location seemed to trigger bad memories for AJ; her eyes widened slightly and her gaze became distant as her jaw slackened a little. “M-mind holding him down for me?” she asked, shaking.
Phoenix gently pushed the orange mare over to a wall. “Sit down. It’s okay. It’ll be okay.”
“Thanks, sugarcube…” Applejack sunk to the floor and stared ahead at nothing, eyes moist.
The grey pegasus struggled to his hooves and started leaving.
Phoenix walked over and stepped on the loose tail of the lariat, putting pressure on the pegasus’ injured wing and making him yelp. “Stop running away. Did you really kill somepony?”
“No!” the pegasus protested, looking panicked. “I never hurt anypony! I just found the body. Youse gotta believe me!”
“I do,” Phoenix said reassuringly. “You didn’t seem the type. ...It’s funny, but I never asked before: what’s your name?”
“No time; gotta run,” the pegasus continued, eyes darting around in search for an escape. “Youse know they have jails here? If they catch me I’ll be gone forever…”
“No, no, that’s not how it works here.” Phoenix put a foreleg around the gray pegasus’ shoulder. “You’re from Las Pegasus, right?” The strange pegasus nodded. “You’re not used to a legal system are you?” Head shake. “Then I can explain. My name is Phoenix Flight; I’m a defense attorney. When ponies are wrongfully arrested, it’s my job to help free them again. As long as you’re not guilty you should have nothing to worry about. This should be over in a few days and afterwards you’ll be able to keep living in Canterlot. If you leave now you’ll have to stay on the run and you’ll never be able to prove you never murdered anypony. Understand?”
The grey pegasus’ eyes narrowed. “Sounds too good to be true. Youse freed ponies from jail many times before?”
Phoenix winced visibly. “Um. No. Not personally. Never been to trial. B-but there’s lots more defense attorneys in Canterlot and they all do this lots of times. The point is you don’t have to keep running. Okay?”
The gray pegasus sat down, sighed heavily, and draped a forehoof over his face. “I’m so… tired…” His breathing grew ragged, like he was fighting tears.
Phoenix sat beside him and put one foreleg around the pegasus’ shoulders. “It’ll be okay. I’ll do whatever it takes.” A moment later, he said, “So… you know my name. What’s yours?”
The gray pegasus seemed more in control of his emotions now. “Sky. Twilight Sky.” He took his hoof away from his face.
Alright… Phoenix thought to himself. If I’m going to have anything to offer him, I need information first. Luckily I have two witnesses right here…
“So can you tell me what happened, while the memories are still fresh?” Phoenix Flight said.
“I’m not even completely sure what happened yet…” Twilight Sky said. “But I’ll do my best. I was walking home from my job when a policemare suddenly shouted ‘Hey, follow me, I need help over here!’”
“A policemare…? What did she look like?”
Twilight Sky started into the distance. “Um… in uniform. Grey I think. It was dark; the streetlight was out.”
Phoenix nodded. Right, the power outage Shocking Snap had started probably affected the nearby streetlamps.
“Then what happened?” Phoenix Flight said.
“She ran into the donut shop… I was a bit behind her. It was completely dark inside. When I followed her in I nearly tripped over something, so I bent down to pick it up and…” Twilight Sky swallowed and stared down at his hooves. Phoenix hadn’t noticed, but they were lightly stained with blood. “It… it was her. She was… already dead…”
“Stop. You followed the policemare inside, and then she was dead on the floor when you walked in?” Phoenix Flight said.
Twilight Sky nodded numbly.
“Just how long did it take you to get there?” Phoenix pressed.
“Just a few seconds,” Twilight Sky said, shaking his head. “It was all so fast…”
Phoenix chewed his lower lip. Well, that didn’t seem likely, but Twilight certainly wasn’t lying. “And was there anypony else in there?”
“It was dark, so I guess anypony could have been hiding in there,” Twilight Sky said.
“But did you hear or see anypony or anything that might have indicated how she was killed?”
Twilight Sky shook his head. “Not that I can remember…”
“Okay. Sit tight. I’m going to talk with Applejack and get her side.” Phoenix Flight stood up and started walking over to the orange mare.
Twilight Sky stuck a hoof out and stopped Phoenix. “Sh-she’s wrong. I swear I didn’t kill nopony.” His eyes were full of fear.
Phoenix felt nothing. He didn’t feel ill or disgusted at Twilight Sky’s words. If his intuition meant anything, it meant that Twilight Sky was as honest as a pony could be.
“I believe you,” Phoenix said. “One hundred percent. But if I’m going to help you I need all the information I can get. Okay?”
Twilight Sky slowly nodded.
“Don’t worry. I’ll do whatever I can,” Phoenix Flight said.
He crossed the alley to sit by the side of the shivering, glassy-eyed mare. “Hey. How are you?”
Applejack shook her head without looking at Phoenix.
“The police are going to want a statement from you, which will be important in getting the bad guy caught. Might want to collect your thoughts.”
“Ah know what Ah saw,” Applejack said firmly.
“Could you repeat it to me?”
Applejack looked up and pulled her lips back in a snarl. “You think Ah can’t hear what’s happening less than a holler away? Ah may be country educated but Ah’m not stupid. Ah heard you plan on getting that good fer nuthin’ murderer off scott free.”
“It… it’s not like that,” Phoenix said.
“What is it like?” Applejack snapped. “Ah know what Ah saw. Ah saw that monster holding up that poor girl. Ah saw nopony else in the whole entire restaurant.”
“Nopony? You’re sure?” Phoenix said. “Not under the tables or in the corners or anything else?”
“Ah wasn’t sitting there gaping or nuthin’. Right after that Ah charged in to capture the murdering varmit… though Ah did a poor job of it and he ran a ways away. But while Ah was chasing him we ran all the way around that place and there weren’t nary a soul.”
Again, Phoenix felt nothing. This mare wasn’t disgusting him. If anything, she was beautiful.
And Twilight Sky had testified to the same thing, at least as far as the empty restaurant and timeline went. But he was insistent he hadn’t killed anypony, while Applejack insisted he had.
Phoenix couldn’t detect whether ponies were saying things that were factually inaccurate per se; his instincts only seemed to center around whether the speaker was intentionally speaking something other than what they believed was the truth. Neither Twilight nor Applejack were intentionally trying to mislead him, but one of them had to be mistaken. And it was more likely that AJ would be mistaken about this than Twilight Sky… right?
“Freeze, lawbreaker!”
Phoenix Flight barely had time to turn around before he was slammed into the ground, his hoof twisted behind his head and held in an iron grip.
Faerie Dust cried out somewhere out of his field of vision. “No! That’s my friend! The murderer is the grey one!”
“….Oh.” Phoenix’s attacker instantly released his hoof and hopped off.
“Ow ow ow ow…” Phoenix whimpered to himself, rubbing his ankle. He looked over to see Angel, the cop from the donut place, pounce on the terrified Twilight Sky and cuff his hooves and wings together faster than seemed equinely possible. Twilight Sky howled in pain as she roughly cuffed his injured wing.
“Oh, stop whining; I didn’t hurt you, you crybaby,” Angel said. To Twilight Sky she said, “You have the right to remain silent; anything you say can and will be used against you in court.”
This possibility caused Twilight Sky to look wildly between Angel and Phoenix.
Phoenix scrambled to his hooves and limped over to the pair. “Stop ow stop, I’m his defense attorney s-so you have to talk to him through me…”
Angel Star wheeled around so fast Phoenix had to duck to avoid getting smacked in the muzzle. “Take a hike you scumbag lawyer!”
“Angel…” the other cop, the tan stallion dressed in white, stumbled over, panting heavily. “You’ve gotta stop dashing off like that… We’re supposed to be partners…”
“You’ve gotta start acting faster!” Angel Star screamed at him. “If you weren’t such a slowpoke maybe poor Cinder would still be alive!” She turned and dug her forehoof into Twilight Sky’s neck. “Although we know who deserves the real blame for that…”
“Angel Angel Angel stop stop stop you can’t torture criminals no matter how mad you are or the case is going to get thrown out and right in front of his attorney too…” Goody Shoes whined ineffectually.
“I hate Canterlot!” Angel Star shouted, turning away from Twilight Sky to punch a building instead. “I hate so many laws and I hate lawyers and I hate bureaucracy and I h-hate that she’s gone…” She slid down to sit on the ground, sobbing.
Goody Shoes looked from the still-rattled Applejack to the hoofcuffed Twilight Sky to his sobbing partner and then gave Phoenix a lost look.
“Don’t look at me,” Phoenix said. “So… the victim was Cinder, a policepony?”
Goody Shoes nods. “So, um, are you going to make trouble? Because I need some space to process everything…”
Phoenix Flight took a step back.
“I mean like do paperwork,” Goody Shoes said. “You can stop by the detention center in… oh… You might have to wait until the morning…”
“Just don’t hurt him,” Phoenix said.
“Not unless we have to,” Goody Shoes said wryly.
“Can I have a moment to calm him down?” Phoenix asked.
“If you can,” Goody Shoes said.
“You can come with; I’m not going to whisper secrets to him,” Phoenix said.
The two stallions walked over to the squirming Twilight Sky.
“Hey,” Phoenix said, “I’m sorry this has happened to you but I’ll do my best to end it fast…”
Twilight Sky met his eyes. “Thank you. It means a lot…”
“But…” Phoenix swallowed. “I… I have to leave for now. You’ll be with Officer Goody Shoes and he won’t let Angel hurt you again.”
“I’m more angry for youse’s sake than mine,” Twilight Sky said, looking at Phoenix’s hoof.
“Ah, I shouldn’t whine about this,” Phoenix said, blushing. “A-anyway, I’ll see you in the morning. Don’t worry.”
“Okay. I’ll see youse then,” Twilight Sky said.
“Take care of yourself.” Phoenix turned to Goody Shoes. “And make sure you explain how jail works. Every part of it. He’s from Las Pegasus where jail isn’t a thing; don’t assume he has common knowledge…”
“Okay, okay,” Goody Shoes said.
“I mean it; even if you think he’s a killer…”
“I don’t mistreat criminals; that’s sinking to their level,” Goody Shoes said. He helped Twilight Sky sit in a more comfortable position. “Guess I’ll be seeing more of you then, Ace Attorney.”
“Aw, shucks, no, I’m not that yet…” Phoenix said, blushing and rubbing his spikes.
“We’ll see,” Goody Shoes said.
Phoenix only realized then that Faerie Dust didn’t seem to be around. “Hey, where’s the girl who fetched you…?”
“The dusty-brown one?” Goody Shoes looked around and sighed. “Dang it… she reported the crime so we’ll need a statement. Mind finding her and sending her our way?”
“Okay, fine,” Phoenix said, having no idea where or how to start. Dusty wasn’t the type to wander away after shiny things; if she left it was because she had something she needed to take care of, like…
Oh, duh.
“Which restaurant was the crime scene?” Phoenix asked.
“Pony Joe’s Donut Shop…” Goody Shoe’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh no oh no oh no please tell me she wouldn’t….”
“She may. I’ll hurry.” Phoenix galloped off.
Even a few blocks made him exhausted, but as he stumbled up to the darkened restaurant, panting, he could make out a short, plump pony silhouette wandering around the building.
“Wh-what are you doing!?” Phoenix asked, stumbling up.
Faerie Dust turned to him, her horn lit. “I need to find her…”
“You can’t break into a crime scene or do magic on a crime scene!” Phoenix said. “What happens if they find your magic trace in the area? They’ll be arresting you for murder next!”
“But I have to find her,” Faerie Dust said, tears in her eyes. “It’s my duty as a Faerie. To ensure the dead are heard.”
Phoenix gently folded her into a hug. “I… I’m sorry… but you know…”
“Yeah, I know… Dead ponies aren’t allowed to testify anymore… “ Faerie Dust said. “But if her soul hasn’t moved on yet, she’ll be cold, lonely, powerless, and… and I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t check…”
“We’ll come back tomorrow and find her,” Phoenix said.
“But she’ll be alone all night. If you’d ever been a disembodied soul you’d know how mean it is to make her wait.”
“…Incidentally I have but that’s a story for a different time…” Phoenix said. “But she’ll be fine. Cinder was a cop. She knows how to endure for duty’s sake.”
“Ok.” Faerie Dust turned and shouted over her shoulder, “Hey, Cindy, hear that!?”
“My ears…” Phoenix whimpered, backing out of their hug.
“Nick and I are going to be back tomorrow for you, so hang on! We’ll get you justice!” Faerie Dust turned to Phoenix, smiling again. “Thanks, Nick.”
“And thank you,” Phoenix said as they started to head back to the office.
“What for?”
“Not creating a major incident with law enforcement that would damage my case if not get me tossed out of the legal world completely…”
Faerie Dust booped Phoenix’s nose. “You worry too much.”
The Faerie office couch was so much cozier than any bed Phoenix had owned before. But as much as he would’ve liked to lie there forever, the sun filtering in through the blinds slowly roused him and he slid out from under the cheap red quilt, stretching and yawning like a cat.
Mystic Faerie wasn’t around yet, but that was okay, because visiting hours at the detention center didn’t start until 8 AM. He had a full hour; plenty of time to do chores.
First job, pack away the quilt and pillow in the closet. Next order, medicine. Then getting dressed. Then cleaning the kitchen, then some light dusting, a little vacuuming…
Phoenix looked at the clock. 7:15. He sighed. The possibility of finally defending a client was getting to him.
He had the leftovers of the apple turnover for breakfast, nibbling slowly. 7:25. Where was she…?
He vacuumed the office again just to make all the carpet lines went the same direction. It wasn’t like he had anything better to do…
Oh, he could read some law books. Maybe. He wandered over to Mystic Faerie’s office and looked up at the overflowing bookshelves.
Difficult-looking legal books stood in a formidable row, mocking him.
Then he spotted an uncharacteristically brightly colored book to one side; it was a Daring Do book that Faerie Dust must have left here. Mystic Faerie surely wasn’t into that. He kinda wondered what was in the book…
An hour and a half later he closed the back cover and looked at the clock. Wow. It was super late. Where the heck was…?
Oh no. Mystic Faerie had a court case today. In the midst of the murder last night he’d completely forgotten.
Court started at 8 AM and it was 9 now. Where the heck was Mystic? Had something happened to her? Was her client okay?
He had to get to the courthouse and see. How could he be so irresponsible? Phoenix tossed the offending book onto the couch and ran to the door.
It was locked.
Phoenix had a key, of course, but the keyhole was on the outside. On the inside it had a little button to twist, just like in Phoenix’s old apartments. Unlike Phoenix’s old apartments, the button was sunken into the doorknob. It was no trouble at all for Mystic to twist the button with telekinesis, but Phoenix couldn’t reach it with his teeth or hooves. He could stick his tongue in the hole but his tongue couldn’t grip the button to twist it.
He was locked in his office.
Phoenix wasn’t sure whether to feel panicked or humiliated. Futilely he yanked on the door for a while. Then he walked over to the windows and examined them one by one; none of them opened except the one in the kitchen, which swung out a crack. This was bad this was so bad….
Okay, okay, this was no time to panic. On the other hoof, he literally had nothing else he could do right now.
Phoenix started experimenting with what the heaviest furniture was that he could lift. Mystic Faerie was in trouble somewhere and he had to find her; that’s what he was here for.
Settling for a kitchen stool, he hurled it out the huge office window. Glass flew everywhere in the alley between their office building and the next one over. Mystic Faerie wouldn’t be happy about the window but if he saved her that would make it okay.
Then he tied some kitchen towels around his hooves to protect from glass, just in case the shards got past his horseshoes. He took a flying leap out, and for a moment relished the second of wind rushing through his mane before he landed on the gritty, crackly, glass-covered pavement. None of the shards got through but just hearing the sound of him crushing them made him wince. If only he could fly.
No time for that. When he thought he was far enough away from the broken window he took the cloth off his hooves and tossed them back in the area. None of the glass seemed to be in the heavily trafficked areas; that was a small plus. On to find Mystic Faerie.
Mystic could be anywhere, so even though it seemed like a lower priority, he first galloped toward the courthouse. Mystic’s client would be in trouble if she hadn’t shown up.
The Canterlot courthouse was striking white and black marble on the outside and warm yellow and red wood on the inside. Phoenix skittered across the cream tile floor heading for the courthouse lobby. He had to get to the bottom of this….
…As he ran up to the double courthouse doors, they flew open, and Mystic Faerie and her client stepped out of the courthouse in the traditional shower of confetti given to winners.
Phoenix just stared blankly at Mystic for a full minute before she noticed he was there.
“Oh, Phoenix! What are you doing here?” Mystic said.
“Wh-why wouldn’t I be here!?” Phoenix said. “I’m training under you to be a lawyer and half the evidence you have is stuff I got for you! I thought I was going to be your silent partner.”
“Oh… um, that makes sense…” Mystic Faerie stared into the middle distance instead of meeting Phoenix’s eyes. “I’m sorry; I got held up in Kurain and I only just got back in time to start the trial and I would have come to fetch you if I’d have time…”
“You wouldn’t have needed to if I hadn’t been literally locked in my office,” Phoenix snapped. “What the hay, Mystic?”
“The office needs to be locked at night…” Mystic said, still not looking at him.
“You’re not telling me something,” Phoenix said.
“Sometimes I hate your powers…” Mystic Faerie sighed. “But hey, you got out, right?”
“By breaking your office window,” Phoenix said.
“You did what!?” Mystic Faerie whirled around.
“Broke the whole window…” Phoenix said.
“What the hay were you thinking? Do you know how long and how much money replacing that will take?” Mystic said.
“None because magic…?” Phoenix said hopefully.
“No, Phoenix, it doesn’t work that way,” Mystic said. “I am inches away from suing you for breach of contract, Phoenix Flight. I’m the one who gave you a chance to be a lawyer even though you barely have what it takes and I can’t believe you would repay my kindness this way. How could you do something so foolish?”
“I…” Phoenix stared at the ground. “I thought you might be in trouble…”
“You thought someone or something was strong enough to take out me, a high level unicorn, and that the only pony who could save me was not the cops or my family or anypony except you, a random flightless pegasus, and that’s why you broke my window. If I didn’t know you better I’d say you were making up a weak excuse.”
Phoenix wilted. “I… I’m sorry… please stop yelling at me…”
“I’m not yelling; I’m talking sternly. Yelling is for objections.” Mystic Faerie huffed. “…Look, I’ll give you a second chance. I have a number of things I need to take care of; if you can do them all to my satisfaction you can stay.”
Phoenix nearly wagged his tail. “Oh, thank you, Mystic!”
“You’re welcome,” Mystic said, smiling slightly. “Let’s go to my office and sort this out.”
After saying goodbye to her client, Mystic walked Phoenix back to her office building. Seeing all the broken glass made her wince.
“I’m sorry,” Phoenix said again.
“We’ll sort this out,” Mystic Faerie said.
In her office, she started making up a list of things for Phoenix to do today while Phoenix swept up broken glass. Halfway through, he dropped the broom with a gasp.
“Oh no… I completely forgot Twilight Sky!!”
“Who?” Mystic Faerie asked, since thanks to the broken window she could hear Phoenix perfectly despite her being inside.
“It… it’s a long story. See Dusty and I were at the donut shop together and-”
Phoenix felt like a steel claw was crushing his throat. He wanted to scream but he couldn’t breathe.
“Phoenix.” Faerie Dust walked over to the window, her horn lit, and yanked Phoenix around to look at him in the eye. “Why. Were you. On a date. With my sister?”
Phoenix clawed at his throat with one hoof even though he knew full well there wouldn’t be anything solid there.
“Don’t make excuses!” Mystic Faerie said, loosening her grip but shaking him a little to make up for it. “Answer me. Tell. The. Truth.
“It-it wasn’t really a date…” Phoenix whimpered.
“I don’t care.” Mystic Faerie shook Phoenix again. “You had no right being somewhere one-on-one with my sister.”
“Please stop hurting me… She just asked me to go with her for company. Was I supposed to say no?”
“Yes!” Mystic Faerie said. She dropped Phoenix abruptly. Phoenix fell to his knees, struggling for breath. Fortunately he was on concrete he’d already swept. “And quit your whining! I know I didn’t hurt you that much. Are you a stallion or a baby?”
“Sis?”
Phoenix and Mystic both started. Faerie Dust was by the entrance to the alley, staring at them, her expression confused and sad.
Phoenix felt his cheeks redden as he scrambled to his hooves; why’d she have to see him like that?
“Oh… Dusty. We were just, um, talking about you,” Mystic Faerie said.
“If this is about last night, I can pick my own friends, thank you very much!” Faerie Dust said, puffing her cheeks into a pout. Then she whirled on Phoenix without changing expression. “And where were you? Twilight and I have been waiting for almost an hour!”
“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” Phoenix dropped the broom with a rattle. “I’m sorry Faerie; I have to go meet a friend-”
“Not until you clean up this glass!” Mystic Faerie said.
Faerie Dust’s horn lit up and a wind current swept all the glass into a nearby dumpster. “Let’s run.”
Phoenix didn’t wait to see Mystic Faerie’s response; if she was truly mad she could always telekinetically block him from leaving, so he ran after Faerie Dust.
If Mystic reacted badly to his exit, he never noticed.
Canterlot Prison was a ring of cells with the tall panopticon tower in the center, a concrete structure topped with one way mirrors like a pointless lighthouse. Phoenix and Faerie Dust pushed their way through the bulletproof glass doors into the visitor’s lobby.
The guard on duty knew and recognized them both from previous visits with Mystic Faerie, but Phoenix showed them his round, shiny attorney’s badge anyway just because he loved showing it off. Then they walked through some magical gates that would strip them of any spells that had been cast upon them, and probably were designed to detect dangerous contraband too; Phoenix neither knew nor cared about the details.
The visitor’s room was several booths with prisoners on the other side of magical glass that was permeable by sound but nothing else. Faerie Dust led Phoenix to a booth in the far back, then suddenly stopped short.
“Which is Twilight Sky behind?” Phoenix asked.
“Booth 17.” Faerie Dusty spat out the words, making Phoenix confused, until he looked at booth 17 and saw the reason for her annoyance.
Another pony was already in booth 17; a gray unicorn with a slicked, mouse-filled mane and an impeccable black suit. His cutie mark was a stick of butter sliding out of some hoofcuffs.
“Teflon Slick!” Faerie Dust shouted at him. “What are you doing here?”
The famous defense attorney wheeled his visitor’s chair back, revealing Twilight Sky sitting behind the glass, looking a little ashamed.
Teflon Slick smirked at Faerie Dust. “The same thing as you are doing, I imagine. Offering services to a client in need. Though unlike you, I actually am a successful lawyer and am not just pretending to be one to be like big sister.” He looked at Phoenix. “Or like my mistress.”
“M-Mystic doesn’t own me!” Phoenix said.
“My sister would never own slaves! How dare you!” Faerie Dust said.
“And we were insulted too…” Phoenix reminded Faerie softly.
“…And we’re not just pretending, either!” Faerie Dust said.
“Then why have you never been to trial once?” Teflon Slick asked Phoenix. “Not even for something minor? And you want to try and untangle a murder case as neatly wrapped up as this one? Why? Why endanger the chances of this poor framed pony by making him your crash test dummy?”
“I…” Phoenix hadn’t thought of it that way.
“Because you’re scum!” Faerie Dust said.
“You wound me, Little Speck, really,” Teflon Slick said.
“…Can I at least talk to him? Alone?” Phoenix asked.
Teflon Slick examined his expensive watch. “I can spare two minutes.”
“You have to convince him to let you defend him,” Faerie Dust whisper-shouted to Phoenix. “You can’t let that cheating liar…”
“I know…” Phoenix said. He waved Faerie off and took his seat across from Twilight Sky, who wouldn’t meet his eyes. “I… I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you… it’s been a crazy morning…”
“Mmm-hmm,” was all Twilight Sky said. He probably didn’t believe Phoenix.
Phoenix squirmed. “I’m sorry this happened… If you’ll let me fix it…”
“Is Teflon right?” Sky said. “Youse just a newbie?”
Phoenix took a deep breath. “Y-yeah, I’ve never been to trial before, but I have training and whoamIkiddingyoushouldn’tpickmeI’msorry.” He covered his mouth; even he was a little surprised how honest that was.
“Huh?” Twilight Sky stared at Phoenix in confusion.
Phoenix thought he was going to cry. He had a chance to finally help somepony and he blew it. Maybe he wasn’t ready. Maybe he’d never be ready.
“L-look, you just… you can’t go with Teflon Slick. He’s a snake. He wins by forging evidence and testimonies. You don’t want to win that way, do you?”
“He promised me he’d play fair if that’s what I wanted,” Twilight Sky said.
“And you believe him?” Phoenix said, shooting a glance at Teflon. He shuddered; to his sixth sense, Teflon was disgusting.
“I think I can tell when funny business is going on,” Twilight Sky said. “I’d catch him and he knows it.”
“At least let me give you a third option?” Phoenix said.
“The girl with the weird necklace?” Twilight Sky asked.
“No. Well, actually, yes, since Mystic has the same necklace, but, um, anyway, she’s a much better lawyer than me. Lots of experience. Saves her clients all the time and just does it with logic and law. I’m sure she’ll be willing to take your case.”
Twilight Sky didn’t look confident. “All right. If youse can get her to me before visiting hours are over, I’ll listen.”
“Thanks. I won’t let you down… a second time…” Phoenix said, sliding off the chair.
Twilight Sky went back to not meeting Phoenix’s eyes.
“If you don’t want to chose me, I… I understand…” Phoenix swallowed. “It hurts because this has always been my dream and I finally had a chance and I feel like I blew it but I don’t blame you I can’t I don’t.” Wow, what an awkward thing to say. His cheeks grew red and he snuck off.
“So?” Faerie Dust said as Teflon Slick passed Phoenix to resume his conversation with Twilight Sky.
“He’s open to hearing Mystic Faerie’s offer,” Phoenix said.
“Not you?” Faerie Dust wilted.
“He… he’s right. I have no courtroom experience at all… unless you count being a silent partner which sort of counts but doesn’t really…” Phoenix said.
Faerie Dust’s lips quirked. “And you once shouted objection when you were in court as a colt, right?”
“Ahahaha…” Phoenix rubbed his spikey mane with one hoof. “A-anyway, I really should start small. Petty theft and vandalism and the like. Mystic started that way too.”
“Yeah… I just wasn’t around to see it so I guess I forgot…” Faerie Dust said. “Anyway, let’s run and fetch Sis.”
***
When the two got back to the office, Mystic Faerie was back at her desk, munching an avocado sandwich while she worked.
“Sis!” Faerie Dust said, reaching the senior lawyer’s desk first. “Phoenix has a case you can take!”
“No no no, I’m not the client this time,” Phoenix said. “It’s a pony named Twilight Sky-”
“Ohhhh…” Mystic said, wincing visibly. “You mean the one who killed that cop.”
“Yes!” Phoenix said. “I mean, no! I mean, how did you hear about it?”
Mystic Faerie telekinetically shuffled papers. “Perfect Karma was watching the trial this morning and he told me some details.”
“Is Perfect Karma going to be Twilight Sky’s prosecutor, then?” Faerie Dust said, cocking her head, confused.
Phoenix was confused too. Perfect Karma was known throughout Canterlot for never losing ever. So to keep his own reputation intact, Teflon Slick never faced off against Perfect Karma.
Mystic Faerie sighed heavily. “No, he said, quote, the case against Twilight Sky is so airtight that even Cross Examine can’t possibly fail to get a guilty verdict, unquote. And frankly, he’s right.”
“Except he’s not!” Phoenix said. “I talked with Twilight Sky and he insists he’s innocent, and he’s not lying.”
“And as we all know, you’ve never been wrong before,” Mystic Faerie said bitterly.
Phoenix felt like he’d been kicked in the stomach. He hung his head in shame.
“That’s not fair,” Faerie Dust said. “She was different.”
“But if it happened once, it can happen again,” Mystic Faerie said calmly. “And that means I have to evaluate every source available, and my instincts are telling me I can’t take this one.” Then, after a long pause, “I’m sorry, Phoenix.”
“Don’t lie,” Phoenix said with a shiver.
Mystic Faerie’s expression shifted to impatience. “I’m trying my best. Sometimes ponies say things their heart isn’t in to be diplomatic. That’s not the same as a lie.”
Phoenix didn’t answer.
“So I guess we go tell Twilight no…?” Faerie Dust said sadly.
“If you want, Sis; Phoenix and I have business to talk about.”
“Ok…” Faerie Dust stared at the floor sadly.
Then, in one suddenly fluid motion, she dove at Phoenix and wrapped her forelegs around his neck. For one beautiful moment Phoenix was in her warm embrace; then just as abruptly as she’d done so, she ran off, her cheeks flushed slightly. Phoenix felt his own cheeks growing red too; he touched his neck wistfully and smiled after her.
“Phoeniiiiiiiix!” Mystic growled.
“Wha- hey!” Phoenix said, whirling around. “Th-that wasn’t something I did! You can’t be mad at me for that!”
“Well, you could have pushed her away or told her no instead of doing that moony thing,” Mystic Faerie said.
“M-moony thing…?”
“But that’s behind us.” Mystic Faerie flipped her mane. “Now let’s talk about things you can do this afternoon.” She paused, giving him an icy look. “To make up for the broken window, of course. You didn’t forget, did you?”
Phoenix tucked his tail between his legs. “No…”
“Good.” Mystic Faerie used her magic to tear a piece of legal paper off her notepad. “I made a list of errands for you to run; try to get them all done before I leave at 7 tonight, and there’ll be more tomorrow.”
Phoenix looked over the list; some of them were names of witnesses to track down and interview, while others were books to find. There was also ‘pick up dry cleaning.’ And ‘clean the office toilet.’
Phoenix lowered his ears sadly. “It’s not really law work…”
“You should have thought of that before you smashed my window,” Mystic Faerie said. “Now don’t be whiny; that’s not even three hours of work. But the list won’t get any shorter if you just sit there staring at it.”
Phoenix took the list and left the office, head hanging.
***
Why did law books have to be so heavy…?
Phoenix staggered through the street; two lawbooks were in each of his saddlebags and one was balanced between his two hidden wings. Despite the small number, his spine felt ready to snap, but he couldn’t walk faster than a snail’s pace. The fact that passerby ponies kept bumping into him didn’t help.
“Hey, little bro-in-law, let me help youse out a bit.”
Phoenix stiffened at the familiar voice, but it was too late to dodge. Four hooves slammed into his back as somepony landed on top of him. His legs gave way immediately and his nose hit the sidewalk; he thought he could hear some teen fillies giggle somewhere nearby.
“Aw, sowwy, I thought youse was a big, strong stallion,” Shocking Snap said, twisting her head to look Phoenix in the eyes without getting off his back. “Here, look what I can do.”
Shocking Snap’s face became a blue blur to Phoenix’s eyes; a bolt of blue lightning struck from the spot where she was standing to a nearby lamppost and crawled up it, finally turning back into Shocking Snap at the top of the lamppost. She beamed down at Phoenix. “There, youse see? Now youse don’t got so much to carry. Ain’t I nice?”
Phoenix didn’t feel like feeding the parasprites, so he wordlessly attempted to drag himself upright again.
“What’s eatin’ youse? Why so serious?” Shocking Snap jumped down from the lamppost and landed next to Phoenix.
Phoenix just kept walking.
“Hey, I’m talkin’ to youse,” Shocking Snap said, weaving to block his path. “Anypony’d think youse aint’ fond of yer own sister-in-law.”
“Wonder why that would be?” Phoenix asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm.
“I jist wanted to wish youse good luck.”
“On…?” Phoenix cocked his head, legitimately confused.
“Yer first trial. Word is youse gonna be the defense attorney for that murderous featherpone.”
“Well, word is wrong,” Phoenix said, walking around Shocking Snap. “I don’t want to talk about it and I don’t like you.” The last part just slipped out. Oh dear.
“Huh.” Shocking Snap’s eyebrows went up. “Who’s the lucky attorney then?”
“Teflon Slick.” Phoenix Flight dragged himself farther away, just grateful she wasn’t electrocuting him yet. Maybe Mystic’s threats to stick her with assault charges worked.
Shocking Snap shrieked with laughter. "My old pal Teflon? Youse lost to him? No shocker. Get it?"
"How many times do I have to tell you to buzz off before you listen!?" Phoenix shouted.
"Hey, fine, I can take a hint." Shocking Snap switched to calling as she moved farther away. "Hey, youse see yer good-for-nuthin' brother around, tell him to come home and give his wife the tender love I deserve!"
"Mechanical Flight won't come within ten miles of Canterlot just because you're in it!" Phoenix shouted over his shoulder. "Certainly won't risk it to see me of all ponies."
Shocking Snap struck what was probably a seductive pose. "He don't appreciate what he's missing out on."
Phoenix didn't even dignify that with a response. Just whirled around and got as far as he could from that disgusting liar.
***
The rest of the day was spent doing menial chores around the office. When Mystic Faerie left for the night, Phoenix tried to persuade her to not lock the door, but she just shook her head and sighed and told him horror stories about burglars and slavers until Phoenix withdrew his request. His last thoughts before going to sleep that night were wishes that he could stop being such a doormat.
The office of Tender Lender had a normal enough exterior, except for the tiger-striped sign. Ornate gold and bright colors were visible through the window, which was in need of a wash.
Phoenix pushed his way inside. The interior wasn’t much like a normal loan office. The carpet was synthetic tiger pelt, the couches were midnight black velvet, the desk was faux gold, and there was a punching bag hanging up in one corner.
“Hey, little nephew,” said the huge orange pegasus sitting behind the desk.
Faerie Dust stared with interest at Phoenix’s uncle’s hair; it was the exact same back-spiked hairdo as Phoenix’s, though colored in black. “I can tell you’re related.” She giggled.
“I mean… she’s not mine…” Phoenix Flight stammered.
“The décor is so… elaborate…” Faerie Dust said.
“I just grab whatever I like the best and hope it looks good when I throw it all together.” Tiger Fury shrugged, gesturing for them to sit down. “Tea?”
“Can’t have caffeine; too hyper already,” Faerie Dust said, parroting her sister’s admonitions.
“Cocoa, then?” Tiger Fury offered.
Faerie Dust’s face lit up. “Yes please! Marshmallows if you have any!”
“’Course.” Tiger Fury flew up through a hole in the ceiling to the second floor.
“…Does he have stairs?” Faerie Dust asked.
“That’s his living quarters, so no,” Phoenix Flight said. “Clients have no reason to be there.”
“Does he live alone?” Faerie Dust asked.
“Unfortunately no, but the Don’s out.”
Faerie Dust tilted her head to the side. “Who?”
“Don’t speak of the devil,” Tiger Fury called down from somewhere on the upper floor.
Phoenix made a lip-zipping motion. “He’s right. Sorry.”
Faerie Dust’s face grew pouty; Phoenix knew how she hated not being told things.
“Cocoa coming down,” Tiger Fury called, gently descending from the ceiling with three hot cups on a tray.
“Thanks.” Faerie Dust’s annoyance was forgotten as she tried to fish out marshmallows with her tongue.
“So, Phoenix, got anything to pay on youse’s student loan?” Tiger Fury asked.
Phoenix winced. “I, um, haven’t had any cases of my own yet and my salary for just helping Mystic around is used up for food and things…”
“Look, it’s no big deal,” Tiger Fury said. “Youse can pay whenever; youse family.”
“I didn’t know you had family in Las Pegasus,” Faerie Dust said, probably placing Tiger Fury’s accent.
“Well, not anymore I don’t,” Phoenix said. “Now that Tiger’s moved here.”
Tiger Fury nodded. “Las Pegasus was getting too hot if youse know what I mean.”
“What… what did you do in Las Pegasus…?” Faerie Dust asked, looking worried.
Her fear wasn’t unjustified; Las Pegasus well deserved its reputation as a corrupt crime-ridden Tartarushole.
“Protection,” Tiger Fury said.
“P-protection racket?” Faerie Dust cried, the cup shaking in her hooves.
“From other mobs,” Phoenix said quickly. “Not from himself. Uncle, you’ve got to realize that means something different in most places…”
“Sorry,” Tiger Fury said, rubbing his spikey mane with one hoof. It always sprung back into the exact same manestyle.
“So. Um.” Faerie Dust took a long sip of cocoa. “Th-this is abrupt I guess, but, um… do you know about slavery in Las Pegasus?”
“Yes. Sold some in my time,” Tiger Fury said casually.
Faerie Dust choked on her cocoa.
“Hey, youse have slaves, little miss faerie,” Tiger Fury said.
“It’s different. They live there. They’re family. Not that I’m happy about that either, but selling them around like animals…”
“In Las Pegasus and most of Equestria slavery is more like paying them seven year’s wages in advance,” Tiger Fury says.
Faerie Dust stared into her cup. “I guess I never knew… I just… I just hate all of it but there’s no good way to end it, is there?”
“Not as far as Manehattan is concerned,” Tiger Fury said. “Youse gotta understand; a lot of ponies like having that kinda fallback, like an emergency source of cash for medical emergencies or mob trouble. And loan sharks like havin’ security, and as long as slavery is legal anypony can get security.” He reached over and gently punched Phoenix in the shoulder. “Well, not this one. If I put him up for market I’d get like a nickel for him tops.”
Phoenix laughed weakly.
“That’s not a nice thing to say…” Faerie Dust said.
“It was supposed to be reassuring…” Tiger Fury said. “For complicated tax reasons I usually have to put down that the lender is willing to be sold as a slave if they can’t pay their debt but I only used that privilege a hoofful of times in my career… Don’t look at me like that, missy.”
“It still feels all wrong…” Faerie Dust nervously sipped some cocoa. “Let’s talk about things that aren’t slavery. So where do you like better, Canterlot or Las Pegasus?”
Tiger Fury sighed. “I’m not going to pretend Las Pegasus is a great place. There’s more pain and corruption there than a pretty girl like youse can comprehend. And yet… I felt needed there. Like I could make a difference. Here I just hand out money…”
The conversation lulled.
“Hi, nephew.”
It was everyone’s turn to jump at the strange new feminine voice. A black unicorn mare slid soundlessly from the shadow of a desk where she physically couldn’t have been hiding. Her mane was black, with a half ponytail in the back and bangs in the front partially obscuring her wine-red eyes. Her outfit was a navy blue sailor suit with a red tie and matching skirt; her cutie mark was a purple vial with smoke curling out of it forming both a heart and a skull and crossbones.
“D-D-Donna!” Tiger Fury stammered. “I didn’t realize you would be back so soon.”
“Nothing… interesting to watch…” Donna said, languidly brushing her bangs with one forehoof. “And who is… this… female?”
“Sh-she’s with me,” Phoenix said.
“Oh… touching…” Donna smirked. “Glad to see… you can still… find love… after… well… her…”
Faerie Dust stood up. “How dare you!?”
“Dusty, no!” Phoenix said, standing up and zipping between the two mares. “D-Dusty didn’t mean any disrespect; she’s just a child and doesn’t know what she’s saying-”
“Am not and do to!” Faerie Dust tried to weave around Phoenix.
Ignoring her, Phoenix continued pleading to Donna, “Please don’t torture her with your deadly poisons….”
“Try it and my grandmother will kick you back to Las Pegasus!” Faerie Dust said.
“Maybe… she will…” Donna said. “Of course… you’d still… be dead… hee… hee… hee…” She turned aside, stared at the ground, and chuckled darkly to herself.
Phoenix practically rammed Faerie Dust out the door. This was made easier by the fact that she didn’t seem that resistant.
When they were safely on the street outside, they both stopped to recover.
“She was scary…” Faerie Dust said. “Who was she anyway? Did she call you nephew?”
“That was Tiger Fury’s wife and subordinate on paper, Belladonna Shadowvial,” Phoenix said. The two started walking back the way they came, on their way to the law offices.
“Wife? Why did he marry a meanie like her?” Faerie Dust said.
For a while Phoenix considered how to answer.
“There’s… a third kind of slavery, besides the inherited and bondslaves,” Phoenix said. “It’s harder to get a handle on, but it’s about… when two families want to form alliances, they marry their kids off. You know?”
“Um… I think so,” Faerie Dust said. “But that was a long time ago, right?”
“I have no idea how often it happens today. Apparently it’s kind of a thing in Las Pegasus.” Phoenix kicked an acorn down the street. “Of course it’s legal there because nothing’s illegal there, but here there’s a variation. When the kids are underage, their parent or guardian has the right to sign off on their marriage, so the parents can kind of sell the rights to marry their child. Though to keep it impossible to prosecute, they’ll make the price something intangible, like an alliance.”
“But why would the kids go along with it?” Faerie Dust ground an acorn under one hoof.
“Depends. Sometimes it’s because they’re scared to do anything but obey.” Phoenix looked over his shoulder. “And I know in Tiger Fury’s case it’s a matter of business. He wants to sell protection, but nopony will believe he can protect them if he’s too scared to marry a cute little filly in a sailor suit.”
“A cute little filly in a sailor suit who’s descended from a line of infamous assassins?” Faerie Dust asked.
“Even then.”
They walked in silence for a while after that.
“…Phoenix?” Faerie Dust asked.
“Yes?”
“What you said… about being sold into marriage… was that… was that the story behind her?”
Phoenix stopped cold. The wind blew, wrapping itself around him like forelegs wrapped around him in an embrace, promising to never ever let go….
“No.” Phoenix kicked another acorn. “That was just my own stupidity.”
They didn’t say anything more after that. Walking along, cold and silent. Phoenix struggled to forget, but the memories, painful as they were, were some of the sweetest he’d even known…
Before he knew it, they were only a block from the law offices. Phoenix stopped. “Look… maybe we should… not go to the office together…?”
“This isn’t fair; we’re both adults,” Faerie Dust said. “You shouldn’t have to do whatever my sister makes you; you’re not her slave.”
Phoenix rolled an acorn under his hoof. “I’m a talentless pony and a pegasus who can’t fly. She’s a famous attorney with high profile cases. Many ponies would pay for the opportunity to work for her, but she chose me. I owe her everything.” He sighed. “And I don’t like making her unhappy, but I don’t want you to be unhappy either and I don’t know what to do and sometimes I think it’d be better if we never met.”
“Don’t say that,” Faerie Dust said, reaching over to touch his shoulder.
“Only sometimes…” Phoenix said, lamely attempting to recover. “Hang on a minute. You’re not an adult.”
Faerie Dust stuck her tongue out. “I’m eighteen. It’s not my fault my granny said I’m too immature to be legally considered an adult.”
“That’s kind of a weird concept to me, that a guardian would want to keep their children legally dependant longer,” Phoenix said. “My mom kicked me out as soon as I turned fourteen and she was allowed to call me an adult. Not because I was mature or anything; she just wanted to stop paying my medical bills…”
“I’m so sorry,” Faerie Dust muttered.
“Don’t be; leaving was better than staying.”
The two stood awkwardly on the sidewalk for a moment.
“Maybe I should go…” Phoenix said.
“Mmm-hmm…” Faerie Dust said.
The rest of the day was menial chores around the office. When Mystic Faerie left for the night, Phoenix tried to persuade her to not lock the door, but she just shook her head and sighed and told him horror stories about burglars and slavers until Phoenix withdrew his request. His last thoughts before going to sleep that night were wishes that he could stop being such a doormat.
No. He had to stop thinking about that. It wasn’t his case. He had to just let this go.
It was 7 AM but Phoenix didn’t feel like getting up. There was no heat with the window broken and everything was dark. No sun to greet him.
Phoenix lay in bed, staring morosely at the motionless ceiling fan. He had had a chance to finally be in court, and he blew it.
No. He didn’t blow it. He did the best he could. But at the end of the day, he was just a talentless hack. Talentless.
He felt- or at least imagined he felt- his skin heating up, so he sprang out of bed to mix up his medicine.
When he got there he started in fear. Sometime yesterday, for some reason that was no doubt horrible, Mystic Faerie must have set up a mirror in the kitchen: a floor length one on the side of a cabinet and very avant garde, probably.
But now Phoenix found himself faced with his own reflection, and internally he screamed. He hated how he looked. So scrawny and scruffy. Not to mention his broken wings. And he could almost still count his ribs despite how well the Faeries had been feeding him, a pitiful reminder of the stupid life he lived before the two sisters had rescued him.
During the rest of his morning chores he did his best to ignore it, but after he put on his jacket, morbid curiosity drove him to check again. Well, the worst parts of himself were hidden now. He liked how he looked in a tie. He really liked his spikey mane. And most of all, he liked the shiny faux-gold attorney badge on his lapel, a reminder of everything he’d worked for.
“Only girls worry about how they look in the mirror.”
Phoenix started and whirled around to see an amused Mystic Faerie behind him. “H-how long have you been there?”
“Just now, but I couldn’t resist,” Mystic Faerie said. She levitated another thick list over to Phoenix. “I have another bunch of errands for you; things are going to be slow for a while since I’ve wrapped up my most recent cases nicely, so you shouldn’t find these too arduous. I have a meeting with a window company, though.”
“I’m sorry…” Phoenix repeated.
“Well, here’s your chance to make up for it.” Mystic Faerie pushed the list into Phoenix’s hooves. “Please have lunch ready by noon; I’ll see you then.” She started to duck out, then looked over her shoulder. “Also, my sister said she’d be at the courthouse all day, so if I catch you two back here, no matter what your excuse…”
“But Dusty’s not completely reliable,” Phoenix said.
“Nuh-uh. No. No excuses.” Mystic Faerie snapped her head forward again and left the office.
Phoenix turned and unfolded the list. It was nearly twice the length of yesterday’s. Partly because a good chunk of it was groceries to pick up. Not office groceries, either. Just personal shopping.
Phoenix rested his forehead against the kitchen table. He knew she was within her rights to punish him for breaking the window…
No. Wait. Was she? He’d been locked in and been unable to leave any other way.
Wait. What if the building caught on fire while he was inside? Would she plan on making him pay for the window then…?
Trying to figure it out made him feel ill; it was so much easier and avoided so much conflict to just do whatever Mystic Faerie wanted. But these chores were so menial…
He lifted his head and studied the list. Despite Mystic Faerie’s speech that she wouldn’t tolerate Phoenix and Dusty being together for whatever reason, some of the items on the list were returning and borrowing books from the courthouse library.
Phoenix had a feeling he knew why Dusty was at the courthouse. She probably wanted to make sure Twilight Sky was okay. Watching the actual trial would be out of the question, but it wouldn’t hurt to say hi to Dusty and Sky, would it…?
Phoenix tucked the list into his organizer and set out.
***
Following the directions of a helpful bailiff, Phoenix Flight loitered in the lobby beside courtroom number one. He’d been here several times with Mystic and knew the layout somewhat. The huge, golden double doors were to the courtroom proper, while the smaller wooden doors further down were the defendant’s lobby and the prosecutor’s lobby for the members of both sides to meet with witnesses, supporters, and others. There were guards inside each room, but they were usually pretty casual about letting ponies in and out, except the defendants themselves obviously, so Phoenix was pretty sure that legally he was allowed to walk right in, but socially… no, that would be awkward. Maybe he’d just hang out nearby and wave when Twilight Sky came out.
While Phoenix was staring at the defendant lobby door, it slammed open, making him jump back in surprise. Teflon Slick, his horn alight so he could manipulate the doors, was walking out backwards, the better to continue his argument with Twilight Sky.
“And guess what?” he was saying. “If you try and represent yourself, you’ll crash and burn because you know nothing of court etiquette or laws. You didn’t even know what a courtroom was until I just told you yesterday! But don’t worry; if you hate yourself enough to doom yourself to an isolated, hellish existence, then I can respect that. I’ll think of you when I look at the stars.”
Twilight Sky suddenly stood up, staring at Phoenix over Teflon Slick’s shoulder. “Oh gosh… say you’ll stay and defend me! I’m sorry I turned you down!”
“I knew you’d come crawling back,” Teflon said with a smirk.
“No. Behind you. Get lost, Slick,” Twilight Sky said.
Teflon Slick whirled around and glared at Phoenix. “H-how long have you…? You knew this would happen!?”
Phoenix shook his head numbly. “I don’t even know what’s happening now…”
“Phoenix Phoenix, please come inside, I’m scared to move,” Twilight Sky said, his eyes wide and wild.
“Please, I’m not that trigger happy,” said an all too familiar younger voice.
Phoenix wove around Teflon Slick, who was still stiff with indignation, and joined Twilight Sky in the defendant’s lobby, a nice room with a leather couch, a table with tea, and bars over the window. Except, or possibly including, that last feature, it was pretty much just like Mystic Faerie’s office, except with yellow walls instead of light gray.
The only two ponies in the room were Twilight Sky and a guard. The guard couldn’t have been more than thirteen, but he already had a cutie mark of golden scales of justice. The colt saluted Phoenix happily. “Greetings, ex-prisoner 2100234! Glad to see your brief incarceration hasn’t hampered your employment prospects!”
Phoenix cringed.
“Wh-what’s he talkin’ bout?” Twilight Sky said nervously.
“I was on trial for murder once—one I didn’t commit!—and that’s what inspired my current career path. Sort of,” Phoenix said.
“Oh.” Twilight Sky shrugged. “I can’t judge.”
“Obviously,” Phoenix said a bit too rapidly.
“And naturally, I was his guardian, too!” the guard said, holding out the metal bracelet around his ankle. It matched the one around Twilight Sky’s ankle, except that the guard’s had a red button on it while Twilight’s had blackened fur underneath it…
“Oh no, no, no,” Twilight Sky said, laughing weakly. “Look closer, Flight.”
Phoenix held Twilight’s hoof closer to his face, and he could make out a vague pattern to the blackened markings.
“It’s a tattoo, silly,” Twilight Sky said. “That one’s a snake, I think. Tartarus, if I hadn’t wasted so much money getting dumb pictures on my fur when I was young maybe I could have afforded to live in an apartment and I wouldn’t even be here…”
Phoenix wilted. “I blame myself…”
“Huh? Why?” Twilight Sky cocked his head.
Perhaps sensing that a delicate conversation was now taking place, Justice Bright retreated to a discreet distance, but kept a constant watch on them.
“Because if I hadn’t kicked you out of the park then you wouldn’t have been in the area at all…” Phoenix said.
“Or maybe I’da gotten kidnapped or somethin’.” Twilight Sky shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. I’m just… so glad youse here now. I… I’m sorry I turned youse down before.”
Phoenix shook his head. “I get it. You probably would be better off with Teflon Slick anyways.” He winced; he hadn’t meant to say that. “No, I wouldn’t. Creep wouldn’t believe I was innocent. Said he was gonna plead self-defense no matter how many times I told him not to.” Twilight Sky closed his eyes. “Nopony believes me…”
“I believe you,” Phoenix said.
“Because youse have powers. If youse didn’t and youse just looked at the evidence even youse wouldn’ta believed me. I’m not even sure I believe me anymore…” Sky mumbled.
“Don’t say that.” Phoenix reached out and grabbed his client’s chin, causing Twilight Sky to open his eyes again. “You are innocent. Believe that. Believe in yourself. And today, I’m going to prove it.”
“How?” Twilight Sky asked. “Have youse seen the evidence they have against me?”
Oh. Oh dear. No, he hadn’t. Not one piece. Normal lawyers complained the trial was moving too fast if they only got one day to prepare. He was getting no time at all. He was going in completely blind: no prior knowledge, no tricks up his sleeve, nothing.
Phoenix’s eyes widened, and he felt his skin grow cold. His breathing sped up.
“Ph-Phoenix!?” Twilight Sky said, panic in his eyes.
The floor tilted, and Phoenix felt his vision darken as unconsciousness claimed him.
After what felt like only a few seconds, he was shaken awake.
“Youse okay?” Twilight Sky asked, lifting Phoenix onto a couch.
“Do you need me to fetch a herbal remedy? I got a 92% in my useful plants review in Manehattan!” Justice Bright said, standing at the foot of the couch. He looked much too happy about the possibility of using his skills.
“N-no,” Phoenix said, feeling his cheeks grow red. How babyish that had been…
“Not sick or anything?” Twilight Sky pressed.
“Just a weakling.” Being honest was awful sometimes.
A loud cough drew everypony's attention to the lobby door. A bailiff was peeking in. “Court starts in five. Where’s your defense attorney?”
“Here,” Twilight Sky declared, pointing at Phoenix. “Last minute swap.”
“Oh my… I’m not sure how I feel about that…” the bailiff muttered hesitatingly.
“It’s not your place to judge! You’re just the bailiff!” Phoenix shouted.
“A-anyway, please get ready,” the bailiff said, backing out.
“You sure you want me?” Phoenix asked Twilight.
Twilight Sky sighed. “I already switched last minute once; doing it again would just be ridiculous.”
Same courtroom, with its faux-gold opulent walls; same lawyer’s bench, with a nice table to slam on and cubbies underneath to store evidence, with an identical bench on the opposite side of the courtroom for the prosecutor, minus the defendant’s chair. In between the two, in front of the courtroom door, was the witness stand, a kind of semi-circular section of a wooden cage. Phoenix never understood why it was shaped that way.
Even the prosecutor and judge were familiar; the former, Cross Examine, a unicorn mare with graying hair and a grass green coat and a cutie mark of some scales in front of a book; the latter, Sterling Scales, a unicorn stallion, chocolate brown with a golden mane and a cutie mark of silver scales. Scales tended to be really common in the legal world.
Everything was the same except for the most important part.
Mystic Faerie wasn’t there, and Phoenix was standing in her spot.
And that was why Phoenix felt like he was going to die.
His Honor Judge Sterling Scales banged his gavel authoritatively, hushing the audience. “Court is now in session for the trial of Mr. Twilight Sky. Is the defense ready?”
That’s me. That’s me this time. It’s my turn to speak. Oh my gosh oh my gosh help me I’m not ready
“You… are not Teflon Slick.” The judge looked puzzled.
“Er, ah, yes, I mean no, um…” Phoenix said.
“I know you,” the prosecutor said suddenly. “Phoenix Flight. You’re that squeaky little colt who thought it was okay to shout ‘Objection’ all the time even though you were seven years old, but no one threw you out for disruption because it looked cute. Where’s your strong, masculine voice now?”
Phoenix put his front hooves on the desk to hold himself upright so he didn’t faint again. His voice was failing and he couldn’t answer.
“Phoenix… this is your first trial, is it not?” said Judge Sterling Scales. “Or are you holding the line for Mystic Faerie again?”
“No, it’s just me,” Phoenix squeaked.
“You’re starting with a murder trial right out of the gate?” Sterling Scales’ eyebrows shot up. “Quite an ambitious youth, aren’t you?”
“Or very stupid,” the prosecutor grumbled.
“You’re sure you’re willing to risk this?” Sterling Scales’ voice was gentle, like he was talking to a nervous child. Which he was.
Phoenix bobbed his head up and down. “I’m ready.”
“OBJECTION!!” the prosecutor shrilly cried, banging on the desk. “Your Honor, every defendant is entitled to a competent legal defense!”
“I passed the bar, didn’t I?” Phoenix said, presenting his attorney’s badge.
“True…” Sterling Scales said. “But this is a very serious charge your client is faced with. It’s not something to take lightly. If an innocent pony were banished to the stars because his defense attorney failed to put up a competent fight, it wouldn’t just be a blow struck to that one attorney’s career, but to the integrity of the entire legal system. Not to mention you seem to be very new to this case.”
“I was hired ten minutes before the trial started…” Phoenix said, staring at the desk.
“…Well. That’s another concern.” The judge slammed his gavel again. “To that end, I’m going to take the first few minutes of the trial to establish you fully understand the case. Do you understand?”
“I understand…” That I’m about to faint again. Oh Celestia…
“Stop looking so panicked,” Sterling Scales said. “We’ll start with easy ones. Do you know the name of the defendant?”
Phoenix inhaled. Yeah, that wasn’t hard at all. “Twilight Sky.” Actually that was so easy it was insulting.
“Good to know. Next question. Do you know the name of the victim?”
“The victim…. was Cindy, a policemare, right?” Phoenix said.
“ ‘Cindy,’ the prosecutor scoffed. “What a ridiculous name.”
“…I’ll give it to you though,” Sterling Scales said. “But her full name will be used in this court for future reference.”
“Full… name…?” Phoenix said. He hadn’t heard her called anything but Cindy, had he?
He didn’t even know the victim’s name. He was so woefully underprepared…
“Another question,” Sterling Scales said. “What was the cause of death?”
This was it. The end of the line. Phoenix had absolutely no idea. He was going to get tossed out of court and his client was going to be found guilty and banished to the stars never to be seen again and Phoenix would live with that guilt for the rest of his life—
“Mr. Flight, breathe,” the judge ordered.
Phoenix gasped for air, feeling like he’d been drowning. “S-sorry.”
“Cross Examine, you have a copy of the autopsy report, right?” Sterling Scales asked.
Cross Examine leaned on her desk and folded her hooves like a petulant child. “Just my own.”
“Bailiff, please borrow it for a duplication spell,” Sterling Scales said.
The blonde-bearded bailiff from before took the document while Cross Examine glared at him; then he dashed out of the courtroom, muttering how he wasn’t sure how to feel about any of this.
The need for leaving the courtroom was clear; for obvious reasons, the courtroom had magic dampeners built into the walls. Unicorns could still do telekinesis and other simple spells easily enough, and pegasi could fly, but high level magic or spells with a large area of effect or advanced weather manipulation would cause serious headaches or wingaches respectively.
“But he failed the question!” Cross Examine said.
“Mr. Flight, what evidence do you have?” Sterling Scales asked.
“N-none whatever,” Phoenix said, lowering his ears.
Sterling Scales turned to Twilight Sky. “You know that the state will supply a defense attorney at no cost to you?”
“Wait, really?” Twilight Sky said, his eyes widening. “That creep Teflon lied to me!”
Cross Examine ran her hoof through her mane and laughed. “The blind defending the blind…”
Phoenix felt his cheeks grow deep red. So much for a courtroom debut…
“Knowing this, do you still want to go through with this?” the judge asked.
Twilight Sky looked at Phoenix, then back to the judge. “Yes. Phoenix is the only lawyer who believes me.”
Phoenix Flight smiled weakly at him. “Thanks, Light.”
“Light?” Twilight Sky said, confused.
“Mind if I call you Light?” Phoenix said.
“Uh…guess not,” Twilight Sky said, blinking.
“He believes you because he’s dumb and naïve,” Cross Examine said. “Now can we please get this trial over with? The preliminaries are taking longer than the actual evidence will!”
You think this trial will be over in five minutes? Phoenix thought. I'm not quite that incompetent.
“The bailiff should be back any moment now,” the judge said.
After a thirty second eternity the bailiff ran back into the courtroom carrying two brown envelopes in his telekinetic grip. One he passed to Phoenix Flight. Phoenix flipped the flap open and slid out the autopsy report, scanning it.
“The victim, Cinder Block—“ what a horrible name for such a pretty mare—“died of… a blow to the head,” Phoenix said. “The murder weapon was a metal pipe, a piece of the generator at the scene that was removed in an attempt to fix it. No saliva or magical trace detected so the attacker was holding it in their hooves, and the angle suggests the attack came from above…” Well, that sure sounded like a pegasus. Grounded ponies didn’t hold things in their hooves often, never mind swinging around weapons.
“That’s correct. No further- I-I mean that’s all the questions,” Sterling Scales said, his former training as a defense attorney briefly showing. He fumbled his gavel. “The court accepts Mr. Flight as the defense attorney for this case. Prosecutor Examine, your opening statement.”
Prosecutor Cross Examine looked down at her notes, twirling a lock of mane around one hoof. “Two days ago at 11:14, Officer Cinder was killed by a… th-the defense just mentioned that. Um. It was at Pony Joe’s Donut Shop, and, anyway, a civilian’s arrest was made by Applejack, a Ponyville resident who had business with the proprietor of the restaurant. Members of the Court may remember her as the Element of Honesty and one of the ponies who helped eradicate Nightmare Moon.”
Eradicate doesn’t sound right, Phoenix thought. I mean, something was left behind, right? Princess Luna? What the hay happened there anyway?
“As she was the one who made the arrest and as her honesty is confirmed via artifact, the prosecution sees no need to start with the preliminary detective’s testimony,” Cross Examine said, looking up from her notes. “We would like to begin with the testimony of Applejack, Your Honor.”
Judge Sterling Scales nodded. “Go ahead.”
This was it. Phoenix’s first cross examination. He’d watched Mystic Faerie do this so many times and done his best to learn all her tricks. It was all about finding little lies and contradictions. And for someone as honest as Applejack, any little lies would hurt like thorns in a jacket to Phoenix’s senses. He could do this.
The orange cowpony trotted up to the stand, looking a little intimidated by the audience’s eyes all focusing on her. She stood in the wooden cage of the witness stand.
“Name and occupation,” Cross Examine said.
“Name’s Applejack,” AJ said, smiling. “Ah help run Sweet Apple Acres with my fa—“
“Thank you,” Cross Examine said.
“Hey now, t’aint polite to go around interrupting ponies,” Applejack said, glaring.
Judge Sterling Scales banged his gavel. “We can talk about Cross Examine’s manners another time. Now is the time for your testimony.”
“Y’all hoity toity Canterlotians think y’all can do whatever…” AJ grumbled. “But fine. Anything to put this behind us.” She gave a cold stare to Twilight Sky. “Whadday’all need?”
“Tell us why you were there and what you saw,” Cross Examine said. “Include all details you think are relevant. When you’re done that loudmouth defense attorney will attempt to pick apart your testimony and argue over trivial things.”
“H-hey! That’s not fair!” Phoenix said.
“Call them like I see them,” Cross Examine said, shrugging nonchalantly.
“Oh, quiet up,” Applejack said. “Ah ain’t got all day. Can Ah jist start talkin’?”
“Please,” Judge Sterling Scales said.
“Ah was in Canterlot deliverin’ some Zap Apple jam to my friend Pony Joe,” Applejack said. “When Ah got there, the shop was already closed. Ah knew t’weren’t anywhere near closin’ time, so Ah hung around the door a while, confused. Ah’d finally given up and was tryin’ to take my wares back so Ah could find a hotel or somethin’, when suddenly two ponies rushed past me, a policemare on hoof and that defendant over there on the wing. They ran straight into the restaurant. Ah looked over, and very next thing Ah saw was the defendant holdin’ that poor policemare in his hooves, a bleedin’ wound in her head. Well, course Ah ain’t one to stand by and let such a thing happen, so Ah ran into the restaurant myself. But my attempt to grab him was as if Ah had four left hooves, so he got away and Ah had to chase him all around the restaurant. T’weren’t nary a soul in the place but me and him and the victim, may she rest in peace.” AJ took off her hat and held it over her heart. “Finally the varmint made a break outside. Creep probably thought he could shake me off in the sky, but he didn’t figure what a pro Ah was at the lariat, so I roped him and brought him down.” She turned to glare at Phoenix Flight. “Then this lawyer stepped in…”
“Hey, why are you glaring at me?” Phoenix said. “I helped get the police fetched and I stopped Twilight from running away, didn’t I?”
“And now yer standing there helping him run away legally,” AJ said. “Ah can’t stand ponies who twist words and try to make decent folk out to be liars and murderers out to be saints, so don’t you try any lawyerly nonsense with me, hear?”
Judge Sterling Scales tapped his gavel politely. “Ah… Applejack, was it? Please understand, asking clarifying questions is the job of every lawyer, but if he gets out of hand with wild accusations, I’ll be here to penalize him.”
“Well, yer honor, Ah hope you live up to your title and are an honorable stallion,” Applejack said, nodding to him.
“Th-thank you; I try.” The judge coughed into his forehoof. “Now, Mister Flight, you may begin your cross examination.”
This was it. Phoenix inhaled slowly. Time to do this.
The court stenographer floated a paper transcript of Applejack’s testimony over to Phoenix. He took it and looked it over. Nothing stood out as a contradiction but there were some points he thought needed clarifying, and hopefully through those the truth about what really happened could become clear.
Hopefully.
“So when was it you arrived at Pony Joe’s donut shop?” Phoenix Flight asked.
“Ah went straight there after my train arrived, so reckon it was kinda after 10:50,” AJ said.
That was before the shop was supposed to be closed, but it was much after it actually closed, Phoenix thought. “And how long were you there before the murder happened?”
Applejack just shrugged. “Ah didn’t have a watch; Ah ain’t much for technology. Maybe ten, twenty minutes?”
What an annoyingly large margin, Phoenix thought. Out loud he said, “So you say you left the shop and then the victim and the defendant ran past you. How far from the shop did you walk?”
“Not that far,” AJ said. “When they ran past Ah turned around immediately and Ah could still see the shop.”
“What about the ‘wares’ you were carrying? How bulky were they and where were they?” Phoenix asked.
“Nice try,” Applejack said, “but my wagon weren’t that wide; Ah could easily see the shop door when Ah turned around. The boxes didn’t block my vision or nuthin’.”
“Nice try?” Phoenix said.
“Got any other long shots, sugarcube?” AJ asked.
Do I seem that desperate already? Phoenix thought. He looked down at the transcript again, looking for another questionable point. There had to be something here…
“You say the two dashed past you; did you really have enough time to see both of them clearly?” Phoenix asked.
“Shure nuff sugarcube. Apples have given me eyes like a hawk,” AJ said.
She’s telling the truth. She’s always telling the truth, Phoenix thought. Normally he’d be happy to meet a pony so beautifully honest. Now it was kind of frustrating.
“Y’all don’t believe me, then?” AJ asked the audience.
“I mean, are you sure you noticed any distinguishing features about the two ponies that ran past you?” Phoenix asked. “Because if you just saw two random ponies run past and then were told they were probably Twilight and Cinder, you might just think you saw those two specifically when you really didn’t see anything.”
“Hey, Ah mean what Ah say!” Applejack shouted. “Ah saw both of them clearly. Which do you want me to describe?”
“Well… are you sure the gray pegasus was my client?” Phoenix asked.
“Shure nuff. Ah saw his electric blue mane and three starred cutie mark clearly; they stand out in the dark,” Applejack said. “And you can add that to my testimony.”
“Noted,” Sterling Scales said.
The transcript magically shifted to include the new statement. Phoenix sighed in annoyance.
“You’re absolutely, 100% sure that there was nopony in the restaurant besides you and Twilight Sky and the victim?” Phoenix asked.
“Shure as a gal can be,” Applejack said.
“How sure is that?” Phoenix pressed.
“Listen, sugarcube, you got somethin’ specific to ask then come out and say it.” Applejack crossed her forelegs and snorted in annoyance.
“Fine. Did you check…” Phoenix rubbed his chin. “Under the tables?”
“Those are all one legged tables in the center ; t’aint nuthin’ could hide under them,” Applejack said.
“And as for the booths, nopony could comfortably crouch between the chairs and the legs, expect maybe a child,” Cross Examine said.
“…Behind the counter?” Phoenix pressed.
“Yup. Ran back there three times while I was chasing him,” Applejack said.
“…In the back?” Actually Phoenix had no idea if there was a back, but all food places had one, right?
“Locked,” Applejack said.
“L-locked?” Phoenix said. “Who locks an employee area?”
“Pony Joe’s has some rather… unique security measures,” Cross Examine confirmed, twirling a strand of mane around her forehoof. “The long and short of it is that nopony who’s not an employee can go through the door between the customer and employee areas unless the fire alarm is activated, which it wasn’t, and all the employees have alibis.”
“That’s quite extensive security for a donut shop!” Judge Sterling Scale’s eyes widened.
“Apparently one of their employees is ‘special,’ Your Honor,” Cross Examine said.
“Being a donut maker certainly does sound special,” Judge Sterling Scales said, staring off into the distance. “A chocolate cake donut sounds so good right now…”
“Ahem, if’n y’all’s done?” Applejack asked.
Phoenix felt his stomach flip. He turned to Twilight Sky and whimpered, “I… I’m out of ideas.”
“D-don’t say that!” Twilight Sky said, looking panicked.
“But I don’t think she’s lying,” Phoenix said.
“Nothing… nothing sounded like a lie to me either…” Twilight Sky said.
“But if she’s telling the truth, that makes you sound guilty!” Phoenix told him.
“But I’m not! I don’t know what happened; I really don’t! Youse gotta believe me!” Twilight Sky said.
“I… I do,” Phoenix said. He turned back to the testimony to look it over one more time. There had to be something here. Anything. Any kind of clue.
“Hold it!” he said. “You gave a description of Twilight Sky to prove you saw him when he ran past, but what about the victim?”
“Oh… yeah, the victim.” Applejack rubbed her chin and stared into space. “Well… to be honest, Ah didn’t see much of her. Just that she was grayish, and in uniform. Oh, but what really stuck out was the smell.”
“The… the smell?” Cross Examine said, twisting her face in disgust like she expected Applejack to make a crude joke.
Applejack nodded. “Poor gal smelled of cold coffee all over her. Like she was soaked in the stuff or somethin’.”
“Coffee all over her…?” That sure sounded familiar, Phoenix thought. “Aaah!”
“What is it, Flight?” Sterling Scales asked. “You look stunned.”
“At his defeat, no doubt,” Cross Examine said. “He’s out of ammo.”
“No, no I’m not! Hear me out.”
“Youse figured something out?” Twilight Sky whispered to him.
“Um. Maybe. If I go slowly, maybe I can figure it out.” Phoenix inhaled deeply and straightened up. All eyes in the court were on him and didn’t have the time to run his line of logic through in his head to triple check that it made sense, but he just had to go for it.
“So…” Phoenix swallowed. “That selfsame night, me and several other witnesses saw a certain other cop’s uniform get splashed all over with coffee, one Angel Star.”
Judge Sterling Scales groaned and rubbed his wrist at the mention of her name. “Never, ever try to shake hooves with that mare…”
“Seconded,” Twilight Sky said, looking down and wincing. “Crazy mare nearly broke my foreleg…”
“Angel Star took the coffee stained uniform and set it aside, but she forgot to take it with her when she left the donut shop.”
“The… the donut shop?” Sterling Scales said, blinking. “I’m confused; is that the crime scene?”
“The very same, Your Honor,” Phoenix Flight said. “The event I’m describing took place almost an hour before the crime. Meaning there was a spare uniform soaked in coffee lying around the donut shop to be taken.” He paused. “The, uh, uniform wasn’t found at the crime scene, was it?”
“It wasn’t in the report…” Cross Examine said. “Oh, no, no, no, you’re not suggesting…”
“I’m suggesting that the pony Applejack saw wasn’t the victim at all!” Phoenix Flight said. “It was another pony borrowing the coffee stained uniform to pretend to be the victim!”
“But… but who would do such a thing?” Judge Sterling Scales said.
“Why… the real murderer, of course,” Phoenix Flight said.
“Th-the real…?” Cross Examine stared at Phoenix in confusion.
“Think about it. The reason everyone is so convinced my client must be the guilty party is because the victim was seen running alive inside the restaurant with my client behind her, and was dead a few seconds later. But what if the victim was dead much earlier, and the real murderer just made it look like she was still alive? This changes everything!” Phoenix said.
“OBJECTION!” Cross Examine said. “Th-that’s just speculation-”
“Oh hush,” Applejack told Cross Examine. “Y’all’s fancy lawyer talk don’t mean nuthin’ to me but Ah can still tell you that explanation is a load of ponyfeathers.”
“Why…?” Phoenix said.
“Because Ah still didn’t see anypony inside the restaurant, neither a murderer nor a fake victim,” Applejack said.
“But you left the restaurant unguarded when you chased Twilight Sky out of it,” Phoenix said. “The fake victim could have lay there until you left…”
“Except the victim wasn’t fake.” Applejack’s expression shifted from confrontational to horror. “Ah saw the victim clear as day; must’ve been right after the blow was struck since they weren’t in the restaurant more than a second. Her skull was… cracked right open… and there was blood…” She shook her head rapidly. “Ah-Ah don’t wanna think about it, but that’s the end of it. The poor girl was dead then. And those two were the only ones who ran in, the only ones Ah found, and there weren’t no exits a fake victim could go through without being detected.”
“S-see?” Cross Examine said, rushing to take credit. “Just like I said! Your theory is wild and random speculation and doesn’t hold any water.”
Judge Sterling Scales closed his eyes. “It does sound like you’ve led us on a wild goose chase, Phoenix Flight.”
No! My beautiful theory! Phoenix Flight shrunk back and rested his head in his hooves.
“Well, Mister Flight? Do you have any problem with what Applejack said just now?” the judge asked.
“Just admit defeat; it’s for your own good,” Cross Examine said.
“Do I have any problem with…?” Phoenix lifted his head and thought through Applejack’s claim one more time. Ah saw them clearly and the girl had an injury on her
Phoenix banged on the table. “I do have a problem, Your Honor! The witness claimed that she clearly saw the victim. Your Honor, I was at that restaurant, and the power was out! You couldn’t see anything through the windows! So how could the witness clearly see anything, much less the injury?”
“Wha-?” Applejack reeled in shock.
The crowd muttered to itself, doubting the element of Honesty.
“Th-there’s an explanation!” Cross Examine stammered, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead.
“Then how?” Phoenix pressed, pointing a hoof at her.
“Stop it!” Applejack rounded on him and glared. Her eyes were dry but her voice sounded choked. “Ah tell you Ah can’t remember, what with seeing a poor gal die and having to recall all of it over and over and over and now you’re accusing me of lying and Ah just… Ah just can’t stand it…!”
Phoenix felt his extended hoof shake. Slowly, he pulled it back. “I… I know that feeling, Applejack. I know what it feels like to be accused of lying when you aren’t… it’s… it’s the worst thing in the world…” He stared down at the desk for a moment, ashamed of what he’d just pulled. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean you were lying, because I can tell you’re not. I just… I just thought you’d forgotten something… that’s all.”
Silence met him for like two seconds before Cross Examine, master of tact, shattered it. “And this has all just been a pointless sidetrack, so if we could have the verdict, Your Honor?”
“Yes… I can’t see that knowing will make a difference,” Judge Sterling Scales said. He raised his gavel. “This concludes the testimony of-”
“Hold yer horses,” Applejack snapped. “Ah said Ah’d tell the truth and the whole truth so Ah owe this lawyer here an explanation, so don’t you dare slam that gavel until Ah remember the light source, y’hear?”
“Err… I don’t really have grounds to stop you from testifying on that, no…” Judge Sterling Scales said.
“Thank you,” Phoenix told her.
While AJ thought, Twilight Sky leaned over to whisper to Phoenix. “Youse… really think the light source matters?”
“I honestly have no idea…” Phoenix Flight said.
“That seems to be a theme of youse’s lawyering style,” Twilight Sky said.
“Well that’s part of having the power to know that something is true but not knowing why it’s true…” Phoenix said mournfully.
“Lesse…” Applejack was muttering to herself. “Light… flash of light… light… lightning! That’s it!” She whooped so loud everyone jumped.
“What? What did you remember?” Phoenix said.
“Ah saw the scene when the lightning flashed,” Applejack said.
“L…” Cross Examine blinked.
“Li…” Sterling Scales stared.
“Lightning!?” Phoenix said. “But… but it wasn’t storming last night!”
“And no storm clouds were recovered near the crime scene!” Cross Examine said.
“Well, Ah’m telling ya, it was a bolt of lightning,” Applejack insisted. “Saw the blue line right behind the head of the pair even. Just didn’t put two and two together till now…”
“Wait,” Phoenix said, “was the lightning inside the building?”
Applejack rubbed her chin. “Oh, huh… come to think of it, Ah guess it was. Weird...”
Phoenix’s eyes stayed open, but it felt like the world faded to black as he focused on what it meant. Could it be…?
“Your Honor,” Phoenix Flight said, “this comment has revealed a new suspect to us. One that we cannot afford to overlook.”
“Is this another long shot…?” Sterling Scales asked nervously.
“No, this time everything will be explained, Your Honor!” Phoenix Flight said. “The other pony who could have committed the crime is Shocking Snap!”
There was a surprisingly large amount of murmuring in the crowd; apparently Shocking Snap did have some name recognition. Even the judge and Cross Examine looked uncomfortable.
“Who?” Applejack asked.
“A paparazzi who gained electric powers in a power plant accident,” Phoenix Flight said. “One of these powers was the ability to turn her whole body into electricity and climb up wires. The effect is identical to a lightning strike, but would be indoors.”
“Ah!” Applejack said.
“OBJECTION!” Cross Examine said. “How do you know there were wires in the donut shop that led to the outside?”
Phoenix glared at her. “That’s a dirty trick and you know it. Anyone who’s been in there has seen the generator Pony Joe uses. It has a lightning rod to collect power from storms. Naturally, this means there’s a wire connecting the inside and the outside.”
“Urk…” Cross Examine groaned.
“Your Honor, an hour before Cinder died, she came to the donut shop and mentioned to her colleagues that she was looking for Shocking Snap. Shocking is a potential suspect we cannot possibly ignore, and while that possibility remains, I hold it’s impossible to deliver a verdict!” Phoenix Flight said.
“Agreed,” the judge said. “Cross Examine, Phoenix Flight, you will be given one more day to look into the possibility of Shocking Snap’s involvement.” He banged his gavel. “Court adjourned for the day.”
Cross Examine shot Phoenix a death look as she headed out. The bailiff led Applejack off, possibly to finish the paperwork for officially entering her testimony.
Phoenix slowly sunk to the ground and curled up into a fetal position. “I thought we were done for…”
“We? What’s all this we stuff? I’m the one going to be banished if youse fail,” Twilight Sky said. It didn’t sound bitter though. “Why youse so worried about a pony youse met yesterday?”
Phoenix uncurled a little. “Because I know you didn’t do it. And even if I don’t know you… I still know how it feels.” Phoenix stood back up. “Well… stay strong, and I’ll try and have this wrapped up in tomorrow’s trial, okay?”
Twilight Sky bobbed his head. “Youse really think Shocking Snap did it?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised at all,” Phoenix huffed. “You lived in Las Pegasus; you must’ve heard the stories of all the crimes and heists she’s done, and… and ponies she’s hurt….”
Twilight Sky bobbed his head again. “Rumors here and there… How’d’youse know about her though?”
“She’s… my sister-in-law,” Phoenix said. “I don’t want to talk about it, just… take care of yourself and I’ll try to visit later today, okay?”
“Okay.” Twilight Sky paused. “That was… amazing what youse did there. I’m sorry for doubting youse.”
“Well, I didn’t know I could do that either,” Phoenix said, smiling sheepishly and trying to make it sound like a joke.
“Prisoner 2100273!” Justice Bright ran up. “Ready to return to our helpful correctional facility?” He grinned brightly.
“The one where an inmate said he was gonna bash my head in for not knowing who he was?” Twilight Sky asked as they walked off.
“Oh, Latchkey is all bark and no bite; I assure you our guards are highly trained…” Justice Bright’s voice faded as Phoenix headed in the other direction, toward the court doors.
“Niiiiiiiick!”
Phoenix whirled around in time to see Faerie Dust dive out of the audience box to glomp him from several feet up.
“Dusowwwwwwwwwww!” Phoenix wailed as she knocked him to the ground.
“Oh no!” Faerie Dust scrambled back off of him. “I wasn’t thinking, I’m so sorry!”
Phoenix felt his side carefully. “I think my feathers spared my ribs… the wing might be broken but I can’t really feel it…” He stood up. “Look before you leap next time for my sake please…”
“I just had to catch you before you left! I saw the whole thing!” Faerie’s eyes gleamed. “You were fantastic, Nick! I can’t believe you could pull off such a turnabout!”
“Ah… th-thanks, but it was really just luck…” Phoenix said. “I wish I’d had more time to prepare…”
“Well, now we can have that!” Faerie Dust slung a foreleg around Phoenix’s shoulder. “Let’s go to the crime scene right now! I promised Cindy I’d be back for her after all.”
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.
Faerie Dust was lying in the chalk outline when Phoenix walked back in.
“How goes-”
“Shush!” Faerie said, not moving.
Phoenix winced and said nothing. He looked around the restaurant to wile the time away.
The tables and chairs were all moved around and the floors were swept clean. There were no donuts behind the counter anymore and Phoenix couldn’t help but wonder if the police had taken them all for ‘testing.’ The fireplace had a small pile of soot in it but nothing else; considering how warm the weather was, they were probably old. The generator in the corner was still partially disassembled; the pipe used as the murder weapon had probably been taken back to the department.
Faerie Dust moaned softly.
“Dusty?” Phoenix said, whirling around.
“Don’t… try to… wake me…” Her voice was hollow and emotionless. She opened her eyes and the irises were gone; her body tensed up and her mouth opened in a silent cry. She began to shake.
Phoenix’s heart was near breaking watching this happen and doing nothing, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away.
Slowly, slowly, the color faded into Faerie Dust’s eyes, but they were no longer her sweet lavender ones, but Cinder’s dark red irises. The tension in the brown mare’s body suddenly stopped and the pony flopped limply on the floor.
“Officer Cinder…?” Phoenix asked, walking closer. “Can you move?”
The possessed mare’s lips twitched, then her ears, then her tail. Then her eyelids snapped shut. Cinder was probably getting used to using a physical body again.
Then, softly, she spoke: “G… go…” The voice wasn’t Faerie Dust’s. It was Cinder’s. The sounds were a little more guttural than before as muscle memory returned. “Go… go away.”
Why does everypony want to say that to me today!? Phoenix thought.
Out loud, he said, “Why?”
Cinder opened Dusty’s eyelids. “Just… go. Leave me alone. I’m going to leave.”
“What? Why?” Phoenix said. “After Dusty tried so hard to summon you?”
“Yes, and that’s why I didn’t leave right away. I didn’t want her efforts totally wasted.” Cinder closed Dusty’s eyelids again. “She seemed so sweet… so eager to help… I… I didn’t want her to fail completely, so I thought I’d just stay a little while, so she could say it worked, and she’d know it wasn’t her fault…” Her voice was catching. A tear slid down Dusty’s cheek. “But… but I can’t deal with this anymore. I can’t.”
“Deal with what anymore?” Phoenix asked.
“My job. My family. That… that monster.” Cinder folded Dusty’s forelegs around Dusty’s chest without getting up. Her sobs were louder now.
“You mean Shocking?” Phoenix said.
Cinder just shook her head a little and didn’t answer. Phoenix didn’t know if she was shaking her head to say ‘no, I mean someone else’ or ‘I don’t want to talk about her.’
Phoenix wished he was less horrible at being comforting. He knelt beside her and put a forehoof on Dusty’s shoulder. “I… I…” What? I’m sorry? I can imagine this pains you? I’m sure this is painful? All he could think of was stating the obvious.
So in the end he said nothing at all, just stroking Dusty softly as Cinder sobbed and rocked back and forth with grief, shedding tears that weren’t her own. Phoenix mildly wondered if Dusty was awake for this; channelers were supposed to stay conscious but let the summoned soul have the reigns, but Dusty had a dangerous habit of falling comatose when possessed.
“So what are you going to do?” he asked after a moment.
Cinder was silent for a while.
“Are you just going to leave?” Phoenix pressed.
Cinder pushed Dusty into a sitting position. Her cheeks were still wet but she seemed to be done crying.
“You don’t want to, do you?” Phoenix asked.
Cinder turned away, not meeting Phoenix’s eyes. “What’s the point? To wait years in frozen limbo only to get killed again?” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
“What about Bottle Cap?” Phoenix asked.
“Maybe he’s better off never waking up,” Cinder said bitterly.
“H-how could you say that!?” Phoenix said. “He’s so young and has so much of his life ahead of him and there’s just so much good in this world.”
“What’s the point?” Now Cinder sounded hollow. “It only takes one to ruin it. Shocking Snap’s always done whatever the Tartarus she liked and she has no reason to stop now. I saw her kill me, but nothing else, and my testimony won’t be valid in court. She’ll just get away like she always does and there’s not a moonbound thing I can do!”
Cinder slammed Dusty’s hoof into the floor and bent Dusty’s head. In Cinder’s old body her bangs would have been covering her eyes now, but all of Dusty’s mane was done up in her bun so the effect was lost.
Phoenix took a deep breath. He didn’t like making strong statements about the future when it was out of his control. It always made him nervous, since it could end up being a lie. But maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it’d make him try harder instead of powerlessly whining that he’d done all he could.
“I won’t let her get away again,” Phoenix said, crossing his heart with one hoof. “Whatever it takes. I can’t let this happen again.”
Because injustice to one is injustice to all.
“And if- and when I catch her,” Phoenix continued, “will you stay?”
Cinder slowly inhaled, then exhaled again. “If you could do that for me… I… I wouldn’t know how to thank you.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Phoenix said, putting a hoof on her shoulder. “Now… are you okay leaving Dusty’s body, or do you want a few more minutes?”
Cinder’s eyes flashed with pain and Dusty’s lip curled into a worried expression, but she said, “No, I… I couldn’t impose on her more.”
“You see the spherical bobbles on Dusty’s mane?” Phoenix asked. “They can carry souls. It’s not as nice as having a flexible body to move around, but they’ll keep you warm until she can take you back to her village and get you more comfortable accommodations. There’s a pony up there who’s trying to build metal puppets for souls to stay in; maybe even give them the feel of being alive. If you’re up to experimentation. If they work, then channeled spirits may even be allowed to testify again, since they’d be harder to fake.”
“You seem to know a lot about this,” Cinder said, smiling nervously.
“Ahahaha…” Phoenix rubbed his spikey mane. “I pick up some things here and there, being friends with a channeler and all.”
“I’m sure.” Cinder used Dusty’s hoof to hold one of the hair decorations up to her eye. “Um. How do I get in it?”
This had better go smoothly or he’d be forced to ask Mystic for help, which would require admitting he’d been hanging around with Dusty. At least he had personal experience to draw on. “It’s easiest if you lie down,” Phoenix said, helping her get into a comfortable position. “Try not to move at all… this will feel very scary, like you’re dying all over again, but trust me when I say it’ll be fine once you reach the other side. Well. Warmer, anyway. But if you can’t finish it the first time and you need another minute in Dusty’s body to get your courage up again, that’s fine. You’ll know it’s working if it feels like you’re about to tumble down a slide; let yourself fall and trust there’s a soft landing.” Noticing how still Cinder was lying, and that her eyes were closed, he continued, “Let the numbness happen. Let yourself detach. Slowly, slowly… don’t be afraid, we’re both here for you and we’ll take care of you. Everything will be fine. Stay calm, stay still…”
Dusty’s body lay still and limp for several worrisome seconds. Then she suddenly tensed up as she yawned, sat up, and rubbed her eyes. Her very own violet eyes. “Mmph… how’d it go, Nick?” She pulled on her right hair bauble. “Aw, she stayed with us?”
Phoenix glanced down at the little sphere. There was no apparent difference in Dusty’s accessory that normal ponies could detect; only those with soulsight could sense souls.
Phoenix nodded. “She’s staying, on condition I don’t let Shocking wriggle away tomorrow.”
“Well, you weren’t going to in any case,” Dusty said. “I believe in you, Nick.”
Phoenix let himself smile slightly. “Thanks.”
There was a brief silence as they smiled awkwardly at each other.
“Well,” Dusty said, “I’d better hurry home to Kurain to get Cinder comfortable. We’ll set up an appointment with Dr. Gene tomorrow, after you win the trial of course. I’m sure neither of us will want to miss it.”
“Okay. See you then.” Phoenix wondered if he could hug her goodbye. Well, it wasn’t like Mystic Faerie was watching-
A feeling of dread came over him. “I didn’t do any of the chores Mystic Faerie gave me today! She’s going to kill me!”
“You had more important things to do; she’ll have to understand!” Faerie Dust said. “But if she’s going to kill you anyway, let’s make it worth it.” She wrapped her forelegs around Phoenix’s neck and snuggled her muzzle under his. “Goodbye Nick. I’ll see you soon!”
Despite the goodbye, she made no move to leave. Phoenix stroked her beautiful plum mane with one hoof and hugged her back with the other. “Goodbye Dusty. Thanks for everything.”
Phoenix and Dusty parted ways after that, he heading back to the law offices and she toward the edge of the city for the tram to Kurain village. The sun was starting to set and there was a bronzy calm glow over all of Canterlot. On the way, Phoenix tried to prepare a speech sure to earn Mystic Faerie’s forgiveness, but the closer he got to the office, the surer he was that his behavior was inexcusable. What kind of worker could just ignore his boss’s commands for the whole day and expect to not get fired?
But… but he was here to be a good lawyer, right? Mystic Faerie’s mission statement was all about defending the weak and the underdogs. And he’d done that, right? So she’d probably be happy, right?
Tail between his legs, ears folded against his head, Phoenix nosed open the door to Mystic Faerie’s office.
It was empty. Nopony in sight. There was nothing unusual about the room.
It took Phoenix about thirty seconds to realize why it was in fact unusual that the office was normal.
The window was fixed completely now. Had she just been lying about how hard it would be to replace? But Phoenix would have sensed her lying, wouldn’t he…? Or was that too small a lie for him to detect?
Or was Mystic just a habitual liar and so one more lie wouldn’t be noticeable…?
Phoenix combed his memory to try and puzzle it out, then finally shrugged it off. Maybe a new window fixing spell had been invented since Mystic’s last home repair. She wouldn’t just make him do stupid chores for nothing, would she….?
Then he spotted a note written in Mystic Faerie’s beautiful script on weird, parchment-like paper:
Phoenix,
If you come back to the office and find this note, I’m out looking for you and very worried. Please burn this note to let me know you’re safe and that I can stop looking.
~Mystic Faerie
Now Phoenix felt even worse than before. He was sure he was a horrible pony. He took the note to the kitchen, and after a few minutes of rummaging and hating himself, he found a match and lit the corner of the note on fire. It burned with the pink light of Mystic’s aura and the smoke curled to one side instead of straight up. He dropped it in the sink so that it wouldn’t burn anything down.
Well… he could at least clean the office while he waited. Make up a little for his deviance.
Fifteen minutes later, Mystic Faerie appeared in the lobby in a burst of pink light. Phoenix was in the middle of cleaning the toilet.
“You did that yesterday,” Mystic Faerie said, somehow deciding that was the most important thing to mention, before continuing, “Phoenix, where were you!? I didn’t give you anything to do that should have kept you away all day like that!”
“I was… I was…” Phoenix lowered his ears. “I just wanted to visit the trial, and Light wanted to switch lawyers at the last minute, and I was there, so…”
“…Light…?” Mystic Faerie said.
“Twilight Sky.”
Mystic just stared at him blankly.
“But it worked out great!” Phoenix let the toilet brush clatter to the floor as he gestured along with his story. “I cross examined the witness just like you taught me and managed to draw out important details. It was incredible! And I got AJ-”
“AJ?” Mystic looked a little bewildered.
“The witness. I got her to remember something that blew the case wide open and I got an extension and now Shocking Snap will be taking the stand tomorrow and I finally have a chance to corner her after so many years!” Phoenix had somehow gone from feeling horrible to feeling elated. Maybe he should see a doctor about these mood swings.
“You defended a client without my permission?” Mystic Faerie said.
“Subordinates need permission to take cases…?” Phoenix cocked his head.
“Yes, of course they do!” Mystic Faerie said. “You have other duties you can’t just brush off, a-and I might think I should handle the case, and-”
“You handle every case, Mystic!” Phoenix half-whined. “And on the rare occasion there’s a case you can’t take because you’re too busy you always recommend somepony else besides me!”
“Because… because you’re just a rookie and I need to be with you when you start,” Mystic said. “The client needs to be kept safe first and foremost and I can’t in good conscience recommend someone that-”
“That you think will lose,” Phoenix finished coldly.
Mystic Faerie inhaled slowly, then exhaled. “Yes. That’s it.”
She wasn’t lying.
Phoenix felt his heart sink and his ears lower. “Why did you even spend so much money to get me to work in your office if you don’t think I’m a good lawyer, then?”
Mystic maintained a poker face, but to Phoenix’s senses she was squirming, panicking.
And then it dawned on Phoenix.
“Because I have magic powers,” Phoenix said, swiveling his ears upright again. “Because I can tell you who’s lying and who isn’t so you can build your case.” He started shaking. “This never was about me and my career and my goals. You didn’t do any of this to help me. It was just about you this whole time, wasn’t it?”
“You don’t need to make me sound so selfish…” Mystic Faerie said.
“Were you ever planning on letting me work in court!?” Phoenix shouted. “Or did you just want to keep me as your dependant lackey forever?”
“I would’ve let you defend clients! …If you’d been able,” Mystic shouted back. Then, softer, “But Phoenix, be honest with yourself. You passed the bar by cramming and forgot most of it after. You don’t know how to build a solid case; you just randomly guess that a liar will reveal their lie and that if you poke it, you can build a wild theory about what happened. You faint when you’re stressed and cry when you’re yelled at like now.” She reached over and swiped some tears off Phoenix’s cheek. “Can you imagine what would happen if you broke down like this in court? The judge would never believe your competence and no one would take you seriously. Believe me, Phoenix, if you had any potential at all, I’d work with you, but it’s just becoming more and more obvious what I guess I should have known from the start.” She sighed and pointed to Phoenix’s flanks. “You can’t fight destiny.”
Phoenix instinctively turned to look, even though he knew what he’d see. A useless, dead mark, branding him forever as something that could have been, but never would be.
He shut his eyes to shut out that bright red bird, but it felt like it was burned into his retinas. He couldn’t look at Mystic Faerie. “So it’s… all been for nothing then?” he choked out. “It’s all just been one giant lie? I'm just going to stay here at the bottom, helping you with menial chores, for the rest of my life?”
“Don’t talk like that.” Phoenix felt something on his chin; he opened his eyes to see Mystic guiding his head back around to look at her. She smiled sweetly at him. “You really have been a huge help to me,” she continued. “We make a great team. There's honor in even the smallest things.”
Phoenix didn't find Mystic's enthusiasm infectious. He felt dead inside. Being Mystic's assistant had felt fun and exciting as long as he'd thought it was temporary, a step on the path to a fulfilling career. But doing this for the rest of his life...?
“Wait.” Phoenix backed out of Mystic Faerie’s grip. “Where does this leave Twilight Sky?”
Mystic’s smile faltered. “I… I guess I can go over the case notes one more time…”
“Why?” Phoenix said. “I’m already the attorney for it.”
“Do you really want that?” Mystic Faerie said, concern in her voice. “I mean, if you’re right and he’s innocent… do you really want to mess up his chances of being found innocent? Especially with Shocking Snap involved…?”
Phoenix had felt so close, so confident about his chances. But this conversation was convincing him that he shouldn’t have been confident. He wasn’t sure which impression was right any more…
“I… I’m already the attorney for it,” he repeated. “I promised Twilight Sky I’d save him and I promised Cinder I’d see she got justice-”
“Cinder?” Mystic Faerie said. “The victim?”
Oh dear. Phoenix could see Mystic deducing it. To talk with the victim he’d have to have been near a channeller and the only channeller who would have been messing with the crime scene was…
“Phoenix!!” Mystic lunged at him and seized him with telekinesis and pulled him over to face her. "I told you I don't know how many times and still you never listen to me you weak, pathetic, useless, talentless, naïve, stupid-"
She punctuated each insult by shaking Phoenix back and forth, but he had a hard time following it, because he was struggling for oxygen. His lungs were screaming; his mouth was open but no sound was coming out. He flailed and clawed at his neck, but Mystic Faerie hadn't believed him the last time he'd made that motion.
"My sister is a Faerie, do you understand!? She doesn't need a leech like you who can offer her nothing in return, nothing!" Mystic didn't seem to be loosening her grip. Instead the pressure slid slowly from the front and back of his neck to the sides.
Something shifted. Lightheadedness flooded Phoenix’s brain, and Mystic’s rant grew muffled. The world went dark.
***
When Phoenix woke up, he was lying on his side on the office couch. His hind legs were elevated on a pile of cushions; Mystic was folding one of them. He still felt dizzy, so he didn't attempt to move. "Wh-what happened?"
"Oh! Phoenix! You're up! I'm so glad!" Mystic Faerie seemed rattled. "H-hey, can I get you anything? Water, juice, um... leftover cookies?"
Phoenix couldn't think straight for a minute. He just stared blankly into space. How had things shifted so fast?
"Well... that was a learning experience, wasn't it?" Mystic laughed weakly. "Guess you have really sensitive nerves or something. Your blood pressure just abruptly dropped and I... I was so scared that I..." She shook herself. "N-nevermind. About that juice..."
"J-just ice water," Phoenix said. "With a straw please..."
"Coming right up!" Mystic dashed to the kitchen.
Phoenix's thoughts lined up as soon as she was gone. Mystic hadn't just been hurting him; she had almost accidentally killed him.
Phoenix felt like he had enough ice in his chest to make his own ice water.
Between his medical condition and his crazy life, this wasn't the first time Phoenix had been forced to contemplate his own mortality. This wasn't even the first time he'd found his life in danger from someone he'd thought was kind. But this had been an accident. Hadn't it? Or had Mystic only just barely stopped herself from making a horrible mistake?
No, how could he think that? She wasn't a monster...
But then he remembered her blind rage as she screamed at him and shook her, and he felt terrified all over again.
"Got your water," Mystic Faerie said, levitating a glass in front of his face, with the straw at perfect drinking level. Phoenix took a small sip, then gingerly lifted his head to make swallowing easier; it made his head swim.
"So..." Mystic chewed on her lower lip. She didn't seem to know what to say.
Then Phoenix understood. Under Celestia's reforms, if a worker under an Alternate Compensation Contract was ever physically assaulted by their benefactor, the worker could walk away debt free, leaving the benefactor in the hole as far as money was concerned and also probably with an assault charge.
All it took was one impulsive move from Mystic Faerie, and now the tables were completely turned. Now Phoenix had the power to set the terms of their relationship. Or did he...?
If Phoenix terminated his contract with Mystic, he would have a law degree that he'd earned for free and some mediocre work experience, but he wouldn't have a bit to his name, never mind a home or a job. He didn't want to start back where he'd started, on the streets of Canterlot, And what about his medical expenses?
"I really lost it," Mystic said, hanging her head. "I never should have done that. I... I'm sorry." She swallowed. "What are you going to do...?"
What would even happen to him if he tried to say no now?
Phoenix took another sip of water to calm his nerves. "How about we just talk about Twilight Sky's case?" He'd leave the long-term arrangements of their relationship for later.
Mystic Faerie sighed. "Well... if you leave I have no authority over what you take or don't..."
"I... I don't want to leave, though."
"I don't want to have an associate that will keep a mistake like this hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles," Mystic Faerie said. "If you want to stay, I never want to hear about this ever again. If you insist on telling anypony, get it over with. Report me."
"I..." Phoenix swallowed. "I don't want to take your money. I don't want to stop living here. I don't want you to be in jail. But if I'm going to stay I want help pursuing my goals, not just to help you with menial things or with my special powers."
"I... I certainly can try," Mystic said. Her expression seemed sour. "No promises or anything."
"I don't want to make you do all the work for me; if it's not meant to be then... then I don't know what I'd do."
“Well, if you go into the trial as lead defense, but I have to feed you all your ideas, but you’re the one who goes on record as the attorney who won the case, that's not fair to me, you, or your potential future clients," Mystic said.
"Are you offering to help me or not?" Phoenix said. "Stop playing mind games."
"Well. Even if Twilight Sky is just a hobo off the streets, I suppose everyone in Equestria is entitled to a competent defense... so for this case, I'm willing to be your silent partner. But never, ever do this again, understand? If you want to continue to work here, fine; you can be my silent partner in court. But no more scooping up unpromising cases behind my back. Okay?"
Phoenix nodded. "Thank you." He finished his glass of ice water before he got up the nerve to ask the other thing on his mind. "Um... what about Dusty?"
Mystic looked grim. "Don't press me. Nothing is more important to me than seeing my sister live a healthy, happy, successful life. She's a starry eyed teenager who doesn't know what's best for her. I would do anything to see that she marries in her station. If I catch you confusing her again I don't care if I end up on a star for her."
Phoenix shivered. Gosh, he hoped that was hyperbole...
"But yes, I acknowledge that you two inhabit the same space many times a day for completely innocent reasons," Mystic continued. "Just... try to limit contact with her while I'm not watching, okay?"
"I understand." Phoenix pulled himself carefully into a sitting position, but his dizziness seemed to have passed. "Thank you for finally listening to me." Oh dang. That was a little too honest...
If his honestly annoyed Mystic, she didn't show it. "Well. Take it easy and get lots of sleep; we have a court date tomorrow."
Phoenix was woken up in the middle of the night by being rolled out of bed.
“Ack!” he shouted as he tumbled along, tangled in blankets. He struggled to escape their cottony grip. “H-help! Who’s there?” he called.
“Who do you think?” The voice managed to sound bitter and panicked at the same time.
“…Mech?” Phoenix managed to untangle his head and see the dim sunrise light.
Phoenix was not close to any of his three brothers, but Mechanical Flight, the second oldest, was the only one who never bullied him growing up. He wasn’t more than ten years older than him, and Phoenix was still just barely an adult. Yet since the last time he’d seen his older brother, Mech’s grey coat had turned paler, and his navy blue mane had faded to baby. Even his cutie mark of a trigonometric trajectory formula looked fainter, if Phoenix wasn’t misremembering. His dark blue eyes had bags under them and he held his wings stiffly open at his sides as if to steady himself. It wasn’t working, and there was a definite sway to his body even when he was trying to stand still.
“Are… are you okay?” Phoenix asked.
“No, I’m not okay!” Mechanical Flight said. “I got a message at two in the morning from my wife that you were dragging her into court today.” His voice sounded nasal and he kept sniffling, like he had a cold.
“And… and she sent you here to…?” Phoenix said.
“To try and guilt you into not doing that, I think.” Mechanical Flight leaned against the couch to steady himself while he rubbed one foreleg against the other. “I don’t know why she thinks I can make you do anything. You wouldn’t care if I died, would you?”
Phoenix gave a start at how sudden that was. “Died? O-of course I care. You’re not going to die!”
“Why wouldn’t I?” Mechanical Flight said, pointing accusatorily at Phoenix. “You’re going to make me testify about my wife, right? And I won’t be able to lie because it’s you, right? And then they’ll kill me for it.”
“Why would I make you testify?” Phoenix said, shaking the tangled blankets off. “And who’s going to kill you?”
Mechanical Flight glared at Phoenix. “Because that’s how lawyers win cases; slinging mud on the accused’s characters.” Then, with no verbal transition to indicate he had now switched to answering Phoenix’s second question, he continued, “Wife and mom. Obviously. Stop playing dumb.”
“I can’t play dumb!” Phoenix said.
“Then stop being dumb.”
“I wasn’t planning on making you testify,” Phoenix said. “And if you’re really afraid for your life, why not go to the police?”
“Because they’ll say I’m paranoid and either ignore me completely or send me to a psych ward where I’ll probably ‘accidentally’ be given the wrong medicine and die,” Mechanical Flight replied as though this was all completely obvious. “You’re lucky you don’t need to think much to survive or you wouldn’t be here.”
Was this really Mechanical Flight? Phoenix had always remembered him being so quiet and reserved.
But then, that was before he’d gotten married. Somehow, despite how hard poor Mech was working to try and make Phoenix hate him, Phoenix felt nothing but pain for his older brother.
Phoenix walked over and placed one hoof on his brother’s shoulder. Mechanical Flight curled his lips into a snarl and pulled away, but Phoenix kept talking as though that hadn’t happened. “I know you’re scared. I know what Shocking’s done to you.”
“How? You never notice me!” Mechanical Flight snapped.
“I was there when Shocking was on trial for the assault of Bottle Cap,” Phoenix said, keeping his tone even. “Shocking claimed it was an accident, that she didn’t know that she’d electrify anypony she slept with. And the prosecution called on you to testify that she had, in fact, done that several times before. You swore up and down that that had never happened, that the two of you had slept together many times before and that it hadn’t happened even once. And it was a lie. A horrible, horrible lie. Except the part about you sleeping together before.”
“Don’t feel sorry for me,” Mechanical Flight muttered, turning away.
“If anypony had even taken a cursory look they would have seen the lightning scars on your underside and flanks, while normal weather pegasi would have them on their forelegs from triggering clouds." Phoenix twisted his head to see the soft fur underneath had faint pink branching marks. "You've, um, been together recently...?"
"None of your business!" Mech shouted, but his shout came out muffled. He sniffled a little more.
"You don't have a cold at all, do you?" Phoenix asked. "What about your eyes? Do things look bluer than they used to?"
"What pills I need when I'm with my wife is also none of your business!" Mechanical Flight snapped.
"There's no reason to feel ashamed that you're not aroused by fear," Phoenix said. "It's Shocking Snap who should feel ashamed for using you like that!"
“It’s fine for me,” Mechanical Flight said. “I’m a pegasus. We naturally resist lightning. It’s part of our magic.” He fluttered his wings, nervously fidgeting. “And Mom got me a book of… exercises, let’s say. Or rituals. Actions to perform to force my soul to provide magic that prioritizes healing and pain resistance over other functions. Like flying. Or speaking.” He swallowed. “Some nights I’d lie there unable to move for several minutes, but not with pain or anything. It would be annoying and unpleasant but not painful. So it's all right for me..."
"But look at you!" Phoenix pulled Mechanical Flight's head back to face him. "Look, I may be a moron who barely understands my own medical condition, but I can see the signs of your magic starting to drain away. Even your talent is starting to be affected?" He pointed at Mech's fading cutie mark.
"Not a total loss," Mech grumbled.
"Why are you being so stubborn?" Phoenix said. "If you keep on like this, what happens once you no longer have enough magic to resist lightning? You have to stop protecting her!"
“What do you know!?” Mechanical Flight shouted. Then, softer, “She used to send me angry letters, telling me to come treat her like a wife deserves or else she’d do something desperate, and I always ignored her. Now, every few weeks since Bottle Cap went to the hospital, I come whenever she calls. If she ever hurt anypony else, I wouldn't know how to live with myself, but it's fine for me." He closed his eyes, then slowly inhaled. "So please stop kicking a hornet's nest. She always gets away with every crime she's ever committed before and this'll be no different. I don't... want her to... hurt you t-too..."
Was he fighting back a sob? His voice was so soft Phoenix couldn't really tell.
Phoenix didn’t say anything for a few seconds. Then he wrapped his forelegs around Mechanical Flight’s neck. He didn’t bother fighting tears. Of remorse, of sympathy. “I’m sorry I let you suffer alone so long. I’m sorry I’ve been such a horrible brother.”
“You’re not obligated to do anything; you’re the little crippled colt who always needs our help, not the other way around,” Mechanical Flight said, apparently having recovered his snark.
Phoenix ignored him. “I’ve already promised this to Cinder and I’ll promise the same to you. She won’t escape this time.”
“You can’t do anything,” Mechanical Flight said. “You’re a talentless hack slave.”
“I’m not a slave,” Phoenix said, pulling out of the one-sided hug. “Mystic is just my boss, not my owner.”
"She doesn't pay you and you're too scared to leave her even if she almost kills you, right?" Mechanical Flight narrowed his eyes at Phoenix.
"Wait, what? How the hay did you know that?" Phoenix asked.
"Reddish marks on your neck, right over the carotid sinus, which in you would be hyperactive, thanks to pegasus adaptation to high altitudes and your medical condition," Mech said grimly.
"Why do you know about my medical condition than I do...?" Phoenix whined.
"Like I said, I've been studying pegasus magic," Mech said. "Anyways. You should know only too well that you can't just leave a dangerous situation. No one would help us if we ran."
"That's not true!" Phoenix said.
"You and I both went into this eyes open; you knew how dependent you'd be on Mystic and I knew I was marrying a monster. Nopony's going to sympathize with us if we suddenly decided we weren't strong enough stallions to stand up to a couple of mares."
"Stop saying that!" Phoenix said.
"For a pony unable to lie you manage a lot of denial," Mech huffed.
"Okay... better idea. How about we help each other?" Phoenix said. "I've already promised you, Shocking won't escape this time. You'll never have to worry about her again."
"Until she just bounces out of jail on a technicality, assuming you aren't overconfident," Mech muttered. "And what do you expect me to do for you in return?"
Phoenix blinked. "Um... I mean..."
"Here, let me help you," Mechanical Flight said, a cocky glint appearing in his eye. "Let's start writing your letter of resignation."
"Wait, no....!" Phoenix said.
"What, suddenly it turns out huge life changes are scary even if they're for your own good?" Mechanical Flight said mockingly.
"You have a job and a house that don't depend on Shocking Snap," Phoenix hissed. "This isn't the same thing at all!"
"I already know my limits; I know that Shocking Snap wouldn't hurt me just for kicks and she's only hurting me out of reflex."
"Why?" Phoenix asks. "She torments me and the cops without provocation and then laughs about it."
"Hurting people she hates amuses her but she doesn't hate me." Mechanical Flight sniffled. "I... don't know what to call what she feels about me. But before gaining her electric powers most of her relationships were with older ponies higher on the social ladder than her; she only switched because tricking smart, mature ponies into hurting themselves is harder than tricking dumb, hormonal teens."
Or ponies with martyr complexes... Phoenix thought.
"But we're talking about Mystic now, not Shocking. What's going to happen to you if you cross some imaginary line and Mystic completely flips out, forgets your weakness, and can't or won't revive you next time? Do you think she'll cry, or do you think she'll just rush to hide your corpse before her reputation suffers? Has she ever shown that she's cared about you or your well-being beyond how you can help or hurt her?"
Phoenix thought about all the conversations he and Mystic had over the past few days. He thought about last night, and how Mystic was still trying to manipulate him into setting their relationship back in stone.
Most of all, he thought about that case. The time he'd first met Mystic, when he was still in college. The time she'd said to a crowded courtroom that Phoenix was hopelessly pathetic and utterly worthless.
Ponies had told him at the time that they felt Mystic had thrown him under the carriage in her efforts to win, but at the time, Phoenix couldn't believe that. Because after all, she'd been speaking the truth. At least as she'd seen it at the time.
When she turned around and offered to pay for Phoenix's law school, Phoenix had assumed she'd changed her mind, or at least felt guilty and was trying to make up for what she'd done.
Or maybe she was just like Shocking, and had only realized that he would be easy to manipulate.
"But... but where will I live? What if I can't find work?" Phoenix asked.
"You have a rich uncle with a huge loan office, you live in a city that's brimming with charities to help ponies leaving indentured servitude or alternate compensation contracts, and I have stacks of money lying around that I don't use because I don't ever leave the Rainbow Factory, and even if I didn't my boss dotes on me like a father. You'll manage; you always did before."
Phoenix laughed, rubbing his spikey mane. "Maybe... maybe we should just leave the note and go to the court before Mystic gets here. Every time I talk to Mystic she always tricks me into thinking she's right and I should feel ashamed..."
"You're going to have to face her sometime," Mechanical Flight said.
"I know... but right now Twilight's trial sounds pleasant in comparison."
Twilight Sky and Faerie Dust were chatting in the defendant’s lobby when Phoenix got there. Apparently his worry showed on his face, like every other emotion he felt, because both of them looked alarmed once they saw him. Phoenix was alarmed too; nearly every inch of Twilight’s light gray fur was covered by darker gray tattoos.
“What happened?” Dusty asked.
“What’s wrong?” Twilight Sky echoed.
“It’s not about your case,” Phoenix told Twilight Sky. “Just workplace drama.”
“What did my sister do!?” Faerie Dust said. “If she fired you for taking Twilight’s case…”
“I said it wasn’t about Twilight and I meant it,” Phoenix said. “It doesn’t matter yet; I’m more worried about you, Light. What happened to your fur? Overnight?”
Twilight Sky looked down at his fur at laughed weakly. “What an embarrassing mess… I told you yesterday about my heat-activated tattoos, didn’t I?”
“You have that many?” Phoenix said.
“I was a really, really stupid teenager,” Twilight Sky sighed. “Anyway, apparently all a prisoner’s tattoos need to be written down in the paperwork so they put me in a sauna and took so many pictures and they still haven’t faded yet and I so don’t want to go out like this….”
“If we dump ice water on you, will they go away?” Faerie Dust asked.
“It’s supposed to work that way but it’ll just make them fade a few hours from now,” Twilight Sky said glumly. "Unless I want to just soak in ice water for several minutes until they disappear, and I don't." Then he shook himself. “What am I saying? Why should I care about that when I’m on trial for my life!?”
“You won’t be found guilty,” Phoenix said, “and even if you did, which you won’t be, you won’t die!”
“But starfire is supposed to burn murderers until they become good ponies, right?” Twilight Sky said. “And if you’re already good it just burns you up?”
Phoenix hesitated, trying to translate the laypony’s terms.
“If you’re possessed by a demon or tainted by black magic,” Faerie Dust interjected, “then starfire will burn it away. If you’re just mentally unbalanced and that’s why you’re a killer, it’ll make you calmer. If you’re 100% normal, then…”
“No one knows for sure, really,” Phoenix said slowly. “We only have one known totally innocent pony who stayed on a star for a super long time and was studied carefully when he was acquitted and released… and fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the magic of forgiveness healed the physical damage the starfire had done and even repaired some of the trauma, so we only have his subjective account for what it was like…”
“I read an interview with him in a criminal studies magazine,” Twilight Sky said. “He said it was lonely mostly. Lonely and cold and dead…” He hugged his forearms tightly around his body and shut his eyes. “Let’s talk about you again, Phoenix. Why the long face again…?”
“It’s really nothing to do with you,” Phoenix said.
“But it isn’t to me,” Faerie Dust said, suddenly pushing Phoenix off to the corner. “We’ll be back,” she shouted in Phoenix’s ear to Twilight Sky.
“Ow!” Phoenix whined.
“Okay, spill,” Faerie Dust whispered once they reached the corner. “I mean… I don’t mean to order you, but, but I really want to know….”
“…I... I left Mystic's employ,” Phoenix muttered, hanging his head in shame.
“What? Why?” Faerie Dust looked distressed. “How are you going to pay her back?”
Now more than ever Phoenix wished he could lie. If only he could tell her it was nothing to worry about, or that he'd pay her back somehow.
"I don't..." He attempted to swallow the words before they came out. "I don't need to pay her back." Just stop there, Phoenix. But his mouth moved on its own. "Because I have l-l-legal grounds not to."
"What?" Dusty looked distressed. "What do you mean?"
This was it. He was going to turn Faerie Dust against him, too.
"Because she assaulted me in a fit of rage. She didn't want me dead or anything but she still nearly killed me. Completely and totally by accident," he hastily added.
Faerie Dust stared at him with a dead expression. She opened her mouth, then closed it. Then small tears appeared in her eyes.
"It was because of me, wasn't it?" she whispered.
"Yes," Phoenix said, before he could stop himself. "Dang it, Dusty, can we please stop talking about this now?"
“Talking about what?” Justice Bright asked cheerily.
“Oh stop…” Phoenix told him.
Faerie Dust's shoulders slumped and she stared at the ground.
"I... I'm sorry..." Phoenix said.
"Please don't apologize," she said. She straightened up with a determined expression. "I'm going to ask my sister what the Tartarus she was thinking the next time I see her." She exhaled slowly, seething a little. "Now what about you? Where will you live?"
“We’ll worry about it after the trial,” Phoenix said. “Right now what matters is keeping Light safe…”
And making sure Shocking can never hurt anypony again.
***
The courtroom was completely packed. Shocking Snap’s assault of Bottle Cap had been widely publicized; apparently everypony was eager for round two.
“The shame of it,” one mare was whispering to another. “The poor mare went through so much when she accidentally hurt that poor colt before, and now they’re dragging her into something she wasn’t even connected to. It’s a violation of double jeopardy.”
Her companion nodded.
“Hope that witch finally gets what she deserves,” another hissed.
Two shouting matches broke out on opposite ends of the courtroom and several ponies got out of their seats to watch or support their side.
“Order!” Justice Sterling Scales shouted, banging his gavel. “If anypony thinks they can do a better job than the justice system in deciding this case, let them do it outside the courtroom!”
Gradually the shouting died to a dull murmur.
Unsatisfied, the judge pounded his gavel again. “I said order! Everypony be quiet or I will hold a private trial!”
“Not very decorous, are they?” Faerie Dust whispered to Phoenix.
“Some of them must not have been to any trials before,” Phoenix muttered back.
“Mommy? Why are they allowed to talk?” someone behind Phoenix’s head said.
Kids don’t belong at murder trials! Phoenix thought.
“Ahem,” the judge said. “If I may… court is now in session for the trial of Twilight Sky.”
“The defense is ready, your honor!” Phoenix called.
“The prosecution is also ready.” Cross Examine didn’t look ready; her mane was in disarray from being tugged on and twirled.
“Yesterday, the defense discovered something unusual about the witness’s account of the crime: that there was a flash of lightning inside the donut shop,” the judge reviewed. “In light of this very unnatural occurrence, the defense proposed a solution involving a… well known member of Canterlot’s herd of photographers, and given the strong personal link between Shocking Snap and the victim, the court found this an avenue worth exploring. In any case, I’m uncomfortable ruling on this matter until a logical explanation can be found for the indoor lightning.”
“Sh-Shocking Snap has been briefed on the case and is ready to testify, Your Honor,” Cross Examine said.
“Are you alright, Ms. Examine?” Sterling Scales looked worried.
“She wasn’t happy about being called in at all,” Cross Examine winced. “Let’s hurry and get this over with. She’s a busy mare.”
“Let the first witness take the stand.” Sterling Scales nodded.
The electric blue mare sashayed up to the witness stand and preened her spark-laden mane once she got up. She looked throughout the crowd, a bright smile on her face.
“Name and occupation,” Cross Examine said.
“Shocking Snap; don’t wear it out. I’m the best reporter in all of Canterlot.” Shocking Snap was twisting herself this way and that; it might have looked seductive if it hadn’t been so fast.
“Witness. You seem to be looking for someone,” Judge Sterling Scales said.
“I…. I was wondering where the jury was, Youse Honor,” Shocking Snap said, trying to smile innocently.
“There is none. This is a murder trial and for murder trials the judge’s word is the only word,” Sterling Scales said. “And don’t bother trying to seduce me because I’m happily married.”
Shocking Snap looked like she’d just been told her dog was dead. “Oh…”
“OBJECTION!” Cross Examine screeched. “Stop defaming the witness! Nopony ever said she was trying to seduce anypony!”
“You can’t object to the judge,” Judge Sterling Scales scowled. “…but fair. That will stay off the record.” He banged his gavel. “In any case. Shocking Snap, have you been briefed on the defense’s accusation?”
“Yessir yer Honor,” Shocking Snap said, leaning on her stand and crossing her forelegs in an attempt to recover her composure by posing seductively. “It’s total ponyfeathers. Youse wanna know why?”
“That’s what I was about to ask, yes. Please testify to the court about why this accusation is untrue,” Sterling Scales said.
“Ain’t no problem; here I go.” Shocking Snap swiveled her hips to bring her to face Phoenix. “For starters, I’mma gonna go over this one more time; youse say I stole some police chick’s uniform, wore it to look like Cindy, then raced into the restaurant and zipped away in a flash of lightning? I got that straight?”
Phoenix nodded.
“Well, youse got a huge problem with youse theory and I’d like to take a moment to show youse all.” In a crackle and flash of light, a bolt of lightning leapt from Shocking Snap’s dematerializing body to the ceiling. She reformed once she reached a now-dead chandelier and hung upside down, smiling at everypony. “Youse see what’s at the stand now?”
Everypony turned to look. Shocking Snap’s black dress was draped over the railing.
“Youse see?” Shocking Snap said, zapping back down into her place. “I can’t bring my clothes with me when I travel by lightning. Wasn’t youse huge point that the police uniform wasn’t found in the restaurant? Where’s that leave youse then?”
“Oh dang it, I forgot,” Phoenix muttered, either to himself or Faerie, he wasn’t sure.
“What now?” Faerie Dust whispered back.
“Ahaha!” Cross Examine suddenly cackled, smacking her bench. “Where’s that leave you now, defense attorney?”
“That was mine line; shut up youse has-been.” Shocking Snap scowled at the prosecutor from where she was slowly and teasingly putting her dress back on.
“H-has been?” Cross Examine cried, distressed.
Phoenix was grateful for the distraction while the gears turned in his brain, but all too soon he judge brought his gavel down and brought it to a close.
“That’s enough,” Judge Sterling Scales said. “Well, Mr. Flight? Do you know where the uniform went?”
“Uh…”
“I have a floormap,” the bailiff said helpfully, slapping a diagram of Pony Joe’s restaurant in front of Phoenix.
“Oh… should have asked for that earlier,” Phoenix said, looking down at the restaurant plans. Lots of tables, the generator, the fireplace, the door to the back room… the back room would have been a good place to hide the clothes, but… no, she couldn’t get in there. Employee lock. And AJ insisted they’d run everywhere else in the store; while it was more likely she’d miss a pile of clothes than that she’d miss a body, it didn’t seem a wise thing to gamble on.
Wait. Oh ho ho, there was one place they wouldn’t have run into, and it would also be the perfect place to get rid of the clothes.
“Shocking Snap could easily dispose of the clothes by standing in this spot!” Phoenix said, jabbing his hoof on the map.
“The… the fireplace?” the judge said.
“Wha-?” Shocking Snap cried, recoiling.
“Didn’t think I’d realize it, did you?” Phoenix said, grinning. “Think about it; if she crouched down she could have fit inside the fireplace with no problem. Not only would there be no risk Twilight or AJ would notice or move it- who would run into a fireplace!?- but it left her a very convenient way to get rid of the uniform also. As everypony knows, fireplaces have chimneys.”
“Y-your point?” Cross Examine’s faked confusion ground on Phoenix’s senses like sandpaper.
“Simple,” Phoenix said, letting himself smirk a bit with growing confidence. “If Shocking Snap used the lightning rod to leave the restaurant, she would be on the roof, which is also where the chimney leads to. To get rid of the uniform, she’d just have to set it on fire by shooting lightning down the chimney. Who would find ash out of place in a fireplace?”
“Hold it!” Shocking Snap shouted. “Stop talking about things I coulda done, youse pesky lawyer. Youse haven’t even proved I went back to the restaurant after that dumb donut seller kicked me out!”
“I think I can!” Phoenix Flight shouted back.
“OBJECTION!” Cross Examine cried shrilly. “That’s…. y-you can’t, that’s all! I mean… even if you have evidence that Shocking was at the restaurant, that doesn’t prove she was there during the murder!”
“But I can prove that too,” Phoenix Flight said. Thank goodness for my weird habit of saving random junk. Now I finally remember what this thing is! “The evidence she was there after the murder is… this!” He held out the plastic disk from behind Pony Joe’s donut shop.
“What… what’s that?” Judge Sterling Scales asked, blinking at it.
But Shocking looked annoyed.
“Recognize this, do you, Shocking?” Phoenix asked. “Mind if I see your camera for a second?”
Shocking Snap glowered at Phoenix and Phoenix expected an objection, but she held the camera out.
Phoenix reached over and snapped the piece of plastic over Shocking’s camera lens; it fit perfectly and held on tightly.
“Ah!” Judge Sterling Scales said. “It’s a… a… camera blocker… thingy.” He stopped, blushing a bit at his revealed ignorance.
“A lens cap, yes,” Phoenix Flight said, quickly covering the mistake. “And more importantly, I saw with my own eyes that Shocking Snap had the camera with her the hour before the murder, and the lens cap wasn’t missing then!” He slammed his desk, then pointed at Shocking Snap dramatically. “So, Shocking, how did your lens cap end up at the donut shop?”
“Ah dropped it when I went back the day after the murder to investigate,” Shocking Snap said casually.
Phoenix blinked at her. Now he just felt silly holding his hoof out so dramatically. “Uh…”
“Ahahahaha!” Shocking Snap cackled, slapping the stand in her hysterical laughter. “Youse look so ridiculous! Youse didn’t think of that, youse moron? Oh wow, that was hilarious!”
“Okay, okay,” Phoenix muttered, putting his hoof back on his desk. He felt a warm blush creep up his cheeks. “That… that was when Pony Joe and I were in back, and we heard thunder?”
“Oh yes,” Shocking Snap said. “Youse two grounded punks were fun to mess with.”
The world was cruel when a unicorn was mocking a pegasus for being grounded.
“S-so it turns out you were just wildly speculating after all!” Cross Examine interjected. “Judge, I move that we let this witness retire!”
“This does seem like we just wasted a day over nothing…” Judge Sterling Scales muttered.
“No, stop!” Phoenix said. “We can’t let Shocking Snap leave until we answered the question of why lightning was in the building! Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten!”
“Oh, wanna let me crush youse last hope then?” Shocking asked, winking at Phoenix. “I know where the lightning came from and it sure as Tartarus wasn’t me.”
“Y-you what?” Phoenix said. “No, you can’t… that’s not… it was you! It had to be!”
“Shush youse mouth.” Shocking Snap swiveled around to smile up at Sterling Scales, blinking like an innocent maiden. “May I bring in my evidence, youse honor? I even cleared it with forensics an hour ago like a good girl.”
“Bailiff, please review the paperwork.” Sterling Scales looked intrigued. “Where is your evidence, then?”
“It was too big to carry into the court with me, what with those lead dampeners in the walls and all, but I’ll have them wheel it in.” Shocking Snap dipped her head in mock respect before flouncing out the courtroom doors.
Oh dang. Why had Phoenix thought he could do this without Mystic Faerie? He was so unprepared for this. What did that girl have up her sleeve?
Shocking Snap must have borrowed a cart used to move chairs; even though she definitely could have used magic to push it, she insisted on draping her forelegs over the handlebar and pushing it so she could wiggle her rump as she crossed the courtroom floor.
The device sitting on the cart was nothing Phoenix had ever seen before. It looked like a fishbowl on a metal pole, except instead of having a single wide opening the glass bowl had two small, bottle-neck-sized openings on opposite sides. The pole was in one, and a rubber stopper with a fork stuck through it was jammed in the other. The glass bowl was badly cracked.
“What the hay is that….?” Phoenix asked the defense bench in general.
“I’ve never seen that in my life,” Twilight Sky said, looking baffled.
“It kinda reminds me of a magic wand but it’s too huge to wield,” Faerie Dust said.
The judge looked just as baffled. “What’s this now?”
“This was in the back alley behind the donut shop,” Shocking Snap said. “Youse all ain’t telling me youse don’t know what this is?”
The courtroom cricket chorus performed their hit single.
“Youse are all clueless,” Shocking Snap huffed. “This is a lightning wand. Pegasi in Las Pegasus use them as weapons.”
“Well… not every unicorn is as special as me,” Shocking Snap said, “but yes, youse need a lot of lightning manipulation to make one of these.”
“What about the Electric clan?” Faerie Dust asked. “They’re unicorns with hereditary lightning powers.”
“OBJECTION!” Cross Examine screeched. “Don’t drag any more random ponies into this! You’ve wasted enough of our time!”
“But fine, fine, there’s a small hoofful of nonpegasi who can make something like this,” Shocking Snap said. “Wow, what a great use of our time.”
“S-sorry,” Faerie Dust whimpered.
“But how do you make one of these….? What it is?” Phoenix continued.
“Youse fill the glass sphere with lightning,” Shocking Snap said, running a hoof gently over the cracked globe. “The metal pole is to hold it while you fly around.”
“What’s the fork for then?” Phoenix asked.
“That’s the fun part,” Shocking Snap said, smirking. “It’s also the hard part. I didn’t want to damage the evidence by taking it apart to show youse so youse’ll just have to follow my explanation closely. Youse take a rubber cork and cut it in half, and youse take a fork and cut it in half. The handle sticks out one half the cork and the fork sticks out the other half. Then youse take a little bit of lead welding and use this to stick the two corks halves back together. Youse use this to plug the glass globe up. The lead means youse don’t get the lightning magic just bleeding out, but it’s a conductor of electricity. So when youse stab the fork into somepony they get a couple thousand volts pumped into their body.”
“Yikes!” Faerie Dust said.
“You mean it’s lethal?” Phoenix Flight said.
“Oh yes.” Shocking Snap grinned. “And this baby is what caused the lightning that orange hick saw. Twilight Sky brought it to the restaurant with the intent to kill!”
The crowd started murmuring to each other.
“OBJECTION!” Phoenix Flight shouted. “Haven’t you heard, Shocking Snap? Look at the autopsy report with me. The victim died of a blow to the head—”
“From a pipe. Uh-huh,” Shocking Snap said. “Cool youse jets, I’m getting to it.”
“I’m getting sick of her shutting me down so hard…” Phoenix muttered grimly.
Faerie Dust patted him on the back comfortingly, which only made him feel worse.
“So as youse can all see, the handle’s made of metal,” Shocking Snap said. “There’s a little bit of rubber on the end to keep that from being a totally stupid idea, so it didn’t conduct electricity. But it still conducted heat something fierce. Twilight Sky must have realized it was too hot to handle and dropped it and that’s how the glass bowl broke.” She ran a hoof over the cracked sphere. “So that murderer improvised with a pipe. Then a few minutes later all the lightning escaped from the cracks, and that’s the zap youse little witness saw. Not me. Nuh uh.” Shocking Snap beamed at the judge. “That explanation good enough for youse? Can I go home now? I’ve worked so hard to clear my good name…”
That last sentence sent the crowd into a roar of fury. Phoenix glared at her too. That monster had no good name to save.
“Order! I said ORDER!” Judge Sterling Scales pounded his gavel on the table. “Well, Mister Flight? Do you wish to object to the witnesses’ explanation?”
“I most certainly do, your honor!” Phoenix Flight said. “If what you’re saying is true, why did no one find the weapon except you? How did it get behind the restaurant when the zap was seen inside?”
“How do I know?” Shocking Snap said. “I guess he picked it up between when AJ saw the lightning and when she got inside the donut shop. It would’ve cooled down by then and I guess he wanted to get rid of evidence. They were running all around; he might have managed to circle behind the joint. Anyway, not my problem. Long as it’s possible it’s a longshot better than your stupid ‘maybe another pony was there’ bit.”
“Is she right?” Faerie Dust asked. “Is her story more plausible than yours?”
Phoenix studied the judge’s face. He has his eyes closed and his expression was neutral. “I can’t think straight right now,” Phoenix admitted. “But I don’t want to take any chances. I need to think of something to shoot this crazy theory down right now. Something solid.” He closed his eyes and focused.
“As far as the weapon goes, it really does seem capable of making that flash…” Faerie Dust said.
“That’s not what I’ll cast doubt on,” Phoenix said. He looked at Twilight Sky, then jolted, his eyes wide. “I’ve got it! OBJECTION!” He whirled around to point at Shocking Snap. “Shocking, your explanation is totally faulty, and I will give irrefutable proof why!” He pulled Twilight Sky over, making the stallion squawk in surprise. “Look at all these tattoos! Do you know what these are?”
“Marks of a vengeful cellmate?” Shocking Snap said, tossing her mane and trying to look nonchalant. “I dunno; I’ve never seen those before.”
But despite the nonchalance in her face and voice, a sweatdrop rolled down her temple; even without Phoenix’s powers it wasn’t hard to see she was lying.
“These are special tattoos that were all the rage when Twilight was younger,” Phoenix said. “They have a very special property. They’re heat sensitive tattoos.”
“H-heat…?” Cross Examine asked.
“Sensitive?” Sterling Scales asked.
“Tattoos!?” Shocking Snap shouted, panic in her eyes.
“I see you all know what I’m getting at,” Phoenix Flight said. “These tattoos are invisible until they’re activated by strong heat, like a hot summer day or a sauna… or touching something too hot to handle. The arresting police and everypony else on the scene will testify that there were no pictures on Twilight’s fur the night of the incident! They didn’t appear at all until a run in with some shock shackles! Once they’re activated they won’t disappear for days!” Phoenix slammed on his desk. “So it’s inconceivable your version of events happened, Shocking Snap!!”
The crowd gasped and murmured. Shocking Snap sat jaw-dropped.
“Ha, rendered that brat speechless for once!” Cross Examine cackled.
“Isn’t she your witness….?” Faerie asked her.
Shocking Snap shook her head so hard that sparks flew off of it. “Look, maybe he didn’t touch the thing and just saw the sparks and got scared or something! I dunno! I wasn’t there, okay!? And I found this thing and it demands an explanation, so what story have youse got to explain why it was there, Phoenix Flight?”
“That’s a good question,” Judge Sterling Scales said. “Well, Phoenix?”
I better think this through carefully… Phoenix thought. Did Twilight Sky have it? Was there for a reason unrelated to this case? Or is this evidence….
Phoenix slammed on his desk, to try and gather confidence for another wild guess. “Your Honor! This evidence is nothing but a fake!”
The crowd murmured apprehensively. Someone shouted “I knew it!”
Judge Sterling Scales slammed his gavel down, just once this time. “A fake? Who made it?”
“Who else but the witness, Shocking Snap herself?” Phoenix said.
Shocking Snap bent over the witness stand, apparently relying on a seductive pose to distract from how sweaty her brow was. “Y-youse don’t know nothing! Why would I bring fake evidence?”
“It’s obvious,” Phoenix said. “You knew that a witness had seen lightning at the crime scene, and that it couldn’t have come from a cloud. That flash tied you inescapably to the crime scene, unless you could convince everyone there was another explanation.”
“W-w-well… prove it, lawyer!” Shocking Snap said.
“Proof should be easy to get,” Phoenix said. “All we have to do is… aura trace analysis.”
The crowd murmured in approval.
“…Um, what’s that?” Twilight Sky whispered.
“It’s like hoofprint analysis, but for a unicorn’s magical aura,” Faerie Dust whispered back. “It’s way more accurate and precise than hoofprints, because everyone’s aura is as unique as the souls of the ponies who cast them. The downside is the traces are only detectable for a few days after and if another unicorn picks it up in their aura, it completely overwrites any other aura traces.”
“Ha,” Shocking Snap laughed, weakly at first, then building to a wilder cackle. “That thing’s got my aura traces all over it ‘cause I’ve been carrying it around to use as evidence!” She grinned at the judge. “Sowwy I’ve been such a bad girl, Youse Honor. I didn’t know it’d be an issue…”
“That was really unfortunate,” Sterling Scales said, shaking his head.
“I’m not giving up this point yet!” Phoenix Flight leaned over the bench to examine the lightning wand more closely. “If I’m right, and Shocking Snap assembled this object with her magic, as opposed to just carrying it with her magic, there must be a piece of this that has her aura on it that wouldn’t if she’d only been carrying the completed wand!”
He studied the wand. The rod, the glass bowl, the cork, and the fork broken in half. The rod obviously would have been in the magic aura; so would the glass bowl. The fork was sticking outside…
No, wait. He recalled Shocking’s lecture on how it was made. The fork looked like it was whole because the cork was hiding that the fork was broken in half. And between the halves…
“Your Honor,” Phoenix Flight said. “The defense requests forensic analysis of the fork handle! The handle is separated from the rest of the fork, and the outside of the wand, by a film of lead! If Shocking had only been holding the wand from the outside with her aura, her magic would never have touched the handle inside, but if we find her traces there anyway, it’ll prove she encountered this wand when it was in pieces, making her story bogus!”
“Your logic is flawless, Mr. Flight,” Sterling Scales said, eyebrows raised. “Bailiff, if you would please…”
“N-no… no!” Shocking Snap shouted, suddenly lunging at the lightning gun. “Don’t do that!!”
Justice Bright leapt out from his seat next to Twilight Sky and landed squarely on Shocking Snap’s tail, causing her to halt in place with a yelp of pain. “Sorry to intervene so suddenly, but I must ask you to leave the evidence alone,” he said firmly.
“Why so nervous, Shocking Snap?” Phoenix asked, sure his smugness was all over his face and knowing it was wrong but unable to help it. “You are innocent, right?”
“Th-this… youse… youse can’t….!” Shocking Snap flailed as the bailiff started to wheel the cart away. “I-I ain’t ever got caught for nothin’ in my life!! Nothing, youse weak little scrappy little wingless little FLIIIIIIIIIGHT!”
Shocking Snap whirled around, glowing white with electricity, her eyes suddenly pupilless. The courtroom darkened as wild electrical energy surged in a crackling ball around the blue unicorn. Time moved in slow motion as she leveled her foreleg straight at Phoenix. It felt so surreal that by the time Phoenix realized his life was in danger, he was too frozen in fear to move.
Then, something white blocked his field of view, and a terrible scream filled the courtroom. The lightning flash blinded Phoenix. As he tried to blink away the red spots in his eyes, he heard the crowd gasp.
“Y-you…!” Shocking Snap panted. Her words were hard to make out, because she was struggling for breath. “Stupid… martyr…”
Then the loud thump of a fainting pony.
Phoenix’s vision cleared to see Shocking Snap slumped, unconscious, over the witness stand, the crackle in her mane gone. Then he looked down at the floor and screamed.
Mechanical Flight was sprawled on the floor between his bench and the witness stand, twitching, his pale fur burned along the chest.
“Medic!” Phoenix Flight squeaked as he climbed over his desk to be next to his brother. “Someone, please!”
“Shh-shh-shh,” Mechanical Flight said, reaching out to push Phoenix’s hoof away. “I said… it’s all right… for me…”
A cyan unicorn with a red cross badge swooped in and chased Phoenix back before teleporting the injured couple away, with a promise they’d be cared for and kept in separate rooms and a close eye would be kept on Shocking Snap and yes of course Phoenix could visit but didn’t he want to stay until the end of the trial?
Phoenix was left staring at the empty space they’d been, trying not to cry.
“Well…” Judge Sterling Scales said. “You’ve done admirably for a rookie, Mister Flight.”
“Thanks, Your Honor,” Phoenix said hollowly.
“We all were so caught up with the obvious none of us thought to look past that to anything deeper,” Judge Sterling Scales mused, closing his eyes. “You showed… unusual diligence in pursuit of the truth.”
“Please, Your Honor, I need to see my brother,” Phoenix pleaded Don’t cry in front of everypony don’t cry in front of everypony don’t prove Mystic right you can do this…
“S-sorry. We’ll conclude this trial tomorrow once the forensic results come in and you’re ready, Mr. Flight. Court dismissed.” Sterling Scales banged his gavel with finality.
The customary confetti showered over the defendant’s table, a holdover from the earth pony court system and its rather weird traditions, but no one cheered. Everypony seemed to know this was a somber moment.
Phoenix was out of the courtroom doors the minute they swung open. He pushed his way through crowds of ponies in suits and ponies in civilian clothes. If anyone followed him he didn’t notice or hear.
***
By the time Phoenix made it to the hospital, Mechanical Flight was on his way out. The two entered different sections of a revolving door and started when they made eye contact.
“Oh! You… you’re fine!” Phoenix said, feeling his cheeks redden, like he was now stupid to have been so worried.
Mechanical Flight didn’t even look injured anymore, a mere furless patch where the burn used to be. “I told you I knew how to make it heal faster,” he said, looking mildly annoyed. “I even had some medicine and healers this time. It was bound to get patched up soon.” His voice was muffled by the glass of the revolving door.
“I… I see.” Phoenix waited. Was that really all Mechanical Flight was going to say? After all that had just happened?
“…Could you let me leave?” Mechanical Flight asked.
“S-sorry.” Phoenix stepped out of the revolving door. As Mechanical Flight pushed through to the outside, Phoenix continued, “So… um. What will you do with your life now?”
“Go back to my job, where I always am.” Mechanical Flight’s voice sounded hollow. “Then in a few months when she’s out on a technicality she’ll probably summon me back and want to punish me and-”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Phoenix said. “Will you stop being such a gloomy donkey about this!? You’re always expecting the worst, but what if you’re dead wrong and nothing bad happens, and you’re just bracing yourself for an impact that never comes!?”
Mechanical Flight didn’t seem to be listening. He pointed at a filly playing with a pinwheel. “What’s that?” he asked.
“Uh…” Phoenix stared blankly at Mechanical Flight. “That’s a pinwheel. It’s a child’s toy.”
“That’s it?” Mechanical Flight wryly pointed at his flank. “As soon as I first got this thing I started seeing tons of things that normal ponies need rulers and machines to measure. I see wind velocity, centripetal force, wheel and axle ratios, coefficients of friction, all just by looking. And it’s getting stronger. Now I don’t just see what’s happening at any given moment. I see what’ll happen if the wind picks up or dies down or it starts to rain or the child drops it or someone jostles her…”
“That sounds exhausting,” Phoenix Flight said.
“And if I had to deal with that stupid emotional rollercoaster you put yourself through, going from idealistic to suicidal in seconds flat, I’d lose what sanity I have left,” Mechanical Flight said, his bitterness returning. “The one thing I don’t have to calculate because I can always depend on it is that things will go wrong. Everything. Goes. Wrong.”
Phoenix didn’t know what to say to that.
Mechanical Flight’s expression softened. Now he just looked tired. “I shouldn’t be like this. Y-you… you risked a lot, and helped me even though we've both tried our hardest to ignore each other…” He turned away, and looked like he was blinking tears out of his eyes. “I-I should get back to the Rainbow Factory. If anypony died because I wasn’t there I’d never forgive myself…”
“Ponies don’t die there much anymore, do they?” Phoenix asked.
Mechanical Flight closed his eyes in pain. “I’m not the mechanical genius our dad was. I try to put them back together exactly as he had them but somehow they just still don’t run as smoothly as when he was with us. So I add all these failsafes and most of the time when something goes wrong the machine just stops and we lose some hours, but when the failsafes also fail and things blow up or ponies are ground between the gears it’s just ghastly….” He cringed visibly. Then his eyes snapped open. “Y-y-you don’t need to hear about that…” He shuddered. Then, softer, sadder, “I still miss him. It’s been more than a decade but I still miss him, because I’m just that weak…”
“I miss him too,” Phoenix said, fully aware of the trap he was walking into.
“You are also weak,” Mechanical Flight said.
Phoenix laughed half-heartedly. “Um… before you go back… can we get coffee?”
“…what, like, friends?” Mechanical Flight asked.
“I… I know I’ve not been very nice to you, and I’ve let you suffer alone so long…” Phoenix scuffed his hoof on the pavement. “But… we can only change the future.”
Phoenix Flight and Sterling Scales were walking together up the steps to the courthouse.
“Well, it’s only been twenty-four hours since I left,” Phoenix said. “I don’t really want to try and talk sense into her again… it seems like every time I try to tell her anything she always persuades me to see things her way, and that I’m the bad guy and need to do penance for my sins.” His eyes widened and he looked at Sterling Scales. “Is… is that a spell unicorns can learn?”
“Not a spell per se,” Sterling Scales said, also looking alarmed. “But you know… not all pony magic emanates through horns, wings, and hooves. In some rare cases ponies can cast spells with their eyes or their voices. Ponies with magical voice powers do tend to gravitate towards the legal world… oh goodness… and I’ve judged cases where she’s the defense attorney! If she’s been manipulating me or other judges…” He shook his head. “No, no, I shouldn’t speculate on that without proof… she used to be such a sweet mare….”
“She really seems to think she’s doing what’s best for Dusty by keeping me away..." Phoenix sighed.
"You may know that when my wife passed away, her will included instructions for setting up a fund to help ponies wanting to leave the various legal unpaid employment situations," Sterling Scales said.
"Everypony's heard of the good work you've done," Phoenix said, nodding.
"We actually have an apartment available in our shared living complex, if you'd like a rent-free place while you try to achieve steady employment."
"I have family that have offered to help me; I'd rather not impose if I don't have to," Phoenix said.
"It's hardly an imposition; you seem like a rising star, Phoenix. Your passion for the truth and being a defense attorney reminds me of my own dear wife's spirit; I feel like it's a sign from God."
"Ah, well... I'll be sure to pay you back when I have the chance," Phoenix said.
"Or pay it forward. I have every confidence in you, Phoenix Flight.
The pair pushed their way into the courthouse. “So…" Phoenix said, "I guess I’ll go see how Twilight Sky’s doing.”
“I don’t expect this will take much longer,” Sterling Scales said. “Though Cross Examine is going to be unbearable for the next few days…”
Phoenix offered his condolences before dashing to the defendant’s lounge.
Justice Bright greeted him at the door with a salute. “Welcome back, Mr. Flight! Thank you for helping to right this injustice and bring a much worse criminal to justice in the process!”
“Do… do you literally only think about justice?” Phoenix asked him.
“…Why shouldn’t I?” The teenage colt looked genuinely confused.
“Phoenix!!”
Phoenix Flight wove around Justice Bright to return Twilight Sky’s enthusiastic greeting with a bit of a wince. “I… I’m sorry I dashed off and made you spend another night in jail…”
“Well, I didn’t get stabbed by my cellmate, so no harm done.” Twilight Sky shrugged. His tattoos were already a lighter color than before. “I owe you my life, Phoenix; I’m not ticked about one day. Is your brother okay?”
“Yeah… we had a nice afternoon together. We hadn’t really spoken in years except to yell at each other. It was nice.” Phoenix stared at the floor self-consciously. “So, um, you still don’t have anywhere to go after you get out, do you?”
“Actually Justice Bright hooked me up with a guard job,” Twilight Sky said. “He’s unusually helpful for a cop.”
“What kind of guard job?” Phoenix said, trying to hide his alarm.
“Whoa, what… what’s wrong? Is that another slave catching trick?” Twilight Sky said.
“Kind of. Never take a night shift alone if you can help it and never at any place with animatronics,” Phoenix said.
“That… that’s oddly specific.” Twilight Sky blinked at him. “But no, not a night guard. Mostly at celeb parties checking for unwanted guests. My talent is that I can tell how famous or infamous somepony is just by looking at them so it seemed a good fit.”
“Y-yeah, wow, that does sound like a good match,” Phoenix Flight said.
“Speaking of which, youse fame has gone up quite a bit,” Twilight Sky said. “I guess because Shocking Snap’s case was so well known?”
“Really?” Phoenix asked, his ears perking up slightly at the idea of his reputation increasing. “How famous? You mean I’m a celebrity now?”
“Ahaha, no, not nearly.” Twilight Sky chuckled nervously. “If fame was a fire youse’s has a limited fuel supply. Give it a few weeks and no one will think about youse anymore.”
“Well, hopefully it'll last long enough for me to get more cases," Phoenix said.
“About time for the trial to start,” Justice Bright said. “Let’s go wrap this up.”
As they started out of the defendant’s lounge, Faerie Dust nearly rammed into Phoenix.
“Oof! Dusty!” Phoenix said, pushing the small unicorn away from him. He started; Cinder’s dark red eyes stared back at him from Dusty’s eye sockets.
“I’m so sorry,” Cinder said. “I just didn’t want to be late… But I didn’t want to stop…”
“Stop what?” Phoenix asked.
“Saying my goodbyes,” she whispered. “My brother is at the hospital up the block.”
“G-g-goodbye?” Phoenix said. “You… you’re not…”
“Oh, no, not like that.” Cinder smiled sadly. “I said I’d stay and I meant it. It’s just… after I enter the queue for cloning I don’t know when I’ll see him again.” Tears welled in her eyes and she hugged Phoenix tightly. “Thank you for everything. You… you did the impossible, Mr. Flight.”
Phoenix loosely wrapped his foreleg around her. “I just did what needed to be done,” he said.
“All the same, thank you.” Cinder gently let go. “Maybe we’ll work on a mystery together when I come back.”
“We’re kind of supposed to be on opposite sides…” Phoenix said.
“Everyone is on the side of justice!” Justice Bright shouted.
Cinder laughed. “You take care too, Bright.” She smiled and closed her eyes, her breathing slowing down. Then, suddenly, she collapsed like a puppet with cut strings.
“Aaah!” Phoenix dove to catch her but ended up just falling himself, with her falling on top of him. “Oof.”
“What the!?” Faerie Dust stood up, blinking her violet eyes and looking around in dawning comprehension. “Oh, wow! Cinder took me to the courtroom! Did you get to say goodbye?”
“Yeah, it was very nice of her,” Phoenix said, standing up and brushing himself off. “But I’m glad you’ll be with me to see my first official not guilty verdict.”
“Just the first of many, I’m sure,” Faerie Dust said.
“We’ll see.”
The small party went through the courtroom doors, letting them slam behind them.
***
And this is how my journey as a lawyer begins…
I’ve been preparing and wishing so much for this I can barely believe it’s here.
And to think it only happened because of such strange circumstances…
If Mystic had had her way…
…
…Mystic and I still have a lot of reckoning to do.
