| Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 1 | |
|---|---|
 ~The Crusade Begins~ | |
| Date added | May 1, 2021 |
| Duration | 1:33:24 |
| Transcript | Available |
| Part of | My Little Ace Attorney: Elements of Justice |
| ⇐ Turnabout Theatre - Part 3 |
⇒ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 2 |
In the prologue, a pony runs through the Everfree Forest, being pursued by a timberwolf. As the timberwolf closes in on the pony, shots are shown of Zecora's home and the Castle of the Two Sisters. The timberwolf pounces, and following a shot of the Nightmare Night statue of Nightmare Moon, the pony is shown lying dead on the ground in a pool of their own blood, with a moderately-sized hole in their head.
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One day after Coco Pommel's trial, Phoenix Wright, Athena Cykes, Apollo Justice, and Trucy Wright are happily conversing with Twilight Sparkle and the Mane Six at the Castle of Friendship, with Athena showing off Widget to Twilight and Fluttershy and Apollo introducing Applejack and Rainbow Dash to his "Chords of Steel" vocal exercises. Phoenix, feeling that his top priority is to take care of his law business, believes he, Athena, Apollo, and Trucy should go back to their world, much to everyone else's disappointment. Saddened but ultimately understanding of Phoenix's decision, Twilight prepares to send her human friends back home.
Before she can do so, however, Apple Bloom bursts into the throne room and alerts everyone to an emergency outside the castle: Scootaloo is being arrested by royal guards under suspicion of committing murder in the Everfree Forest the previous night. Her friends all doubt this, but when Scootaloo claims she wasn't in the forest, Phoenix sees three Psyche-Locks appear around her, indicating she is lying. A young colt arrives to defend Scootaloo, attacking the guards with a toy sword. When Phoenix jumps in to keep the situation from escalating, the colt attacks him and makes off with his magatama, prompting Athena to give chase.
Athena catches the colt just outside the Everfree Forest and retrieves the magatama. Before the colt can fight back, he is called away by his mother's loud, disciplinary voice. The others catch up with Athena shortly after and explain that Scootaloo has been taken into custody. When Apple Bloom repeats Scootaloo's claim that she didn't go into the forest the night before, Athena senses uncertainty in her voice, and she volunteers to take the lead on proving Scootaloo's innocence, feeling this case will require her psychology skills. Twilight puts in an appeal to the Equestria High Council to have both Athena and Apollo be given attorney badges so that they can serve as lawyers in Equestrian court. Phoenix, Twilight, and Apple Bloom all assist Athena with the investigation.
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Inside the Everfree Forest, Phoenix recalls his encounter with timberwolves the last time he was in Equestria. The group stops by Zecora's hut to see if she knows anything about the murder (with Twilight warning the others to avoid the nearby poison joke plants), but Phoenix points out the state of Zecora's mail, indicating she has been away from home for quite some time. One of the letters in Zecora's mail bears the royal Canterlot seal, meaning it was sent by Princess Celestia or Princess Luna.
At the crime scene near the ruins of the Castle of the Two Sisters, the group meets Canterlot investigator Private Eye, who was assigned to this case by Princess Celestia for unknown reasons. Private Eye states that while Scootaloo has no apparent motive to commit murder, all the evidence incriminates her. He also reveals the identity of the victim—Royal Order, a member of the royal guard and the father of Turning Page, the young colt from earlier—and the cause of death—a stab wound to the head. Private Eye explains that Royal Order got home at 9:30pm the night before but was drawn out of the house soon after for some reason, leading to his death, and Turning Page's whereabouts around that time are unknown.
Right next to where Royal Order's body was found are Scootaloo's scooter and wagon; the scooter's left handle is broken off and stained in Royal Order's blood (matching his stab wound), and the front wheels are warped and unable to roll. According to Apple Bloom, the scooter was in perfect condition up until she and Scootaloo each went home at 3:30pm the day before. Inside the wagon are two Cutie Mark Crusader capes (the third cape is being examined by police), a roll of gold silk, and a strange hoof-like imprint in dried mud. The group also finds shards of broken glass from a pair of eyeglasses near the crime scene.
Private Eye also mentions to the group that a small pool of blood not belonging to the victim was discovered behind the statue of Nightmare Moon. He also gives them a diagram of the Everfree Forest and a diagram of the crime scene. On their way to the statue, Athena talks privately with Apple Bloom in an effort to get her to open up about what she's hiding.
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At the Nightmare Moon statue, Athena and company find the small pool of blood behind it that Private Eye mentioned; at Phoenix's suggestion, Athena shines her forensic flashlight on the blood and discovers traces where a blood trail was previously wiped away. They follow the trail to the front of the statue where, to their complete horror, there used to be a massive blood splatter. The group quickly determines that whoever lost this much blood is most certainly dead, and because the blood doesn't belong to the victim, they wonder if this case has two victims instead of one.
Turning Page returns to confront Athena and Phoenix in Scootaloo's defense; he only stands down when Twilight steps forward and assures him that Athena and Phoenix are working to prove Scootaloo's innocence. Athena questions Turning Page and learns that he and Scootaloo initially didn't interact much and only became friends the day before when Turning Page defended her from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon's bullying, after which Scootaloo gave him a ribbon in gratitude. It was during this incident that the toy sword his father made for him broke.
Before Phoenix can question Turning Page about his whereabouts the night before, his mother Fair Devotion appears to reprimand him again for wandering off, and she refuses to answer any questions about her husband's murder after already being questioned by the police. As Turning Page is dragged away by his mother, Athena assures him that they'll prove Scootaloo's innocence. Before they leave the Everfree Forest, Phoenix makes a note of how many minutes apart each area of the forest is from each other.
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While on the way to the detention center where Scootaloo is being held, Apple Bloom wants to stop at Carousel Boutique and pick up Sweetie Belle. When Phoenix catches a glimpse of Twilight's castle in the distance and Athena expresses some jealousy that Twilight gets to live there, Twilight gets upset and asks to take a brief detour before heading to the detention center.
She shows the others to the ruins of the Golden Oak Library, which was destroyed just a few months prior during her battle against Lord Tirek. She says that even though she got a castle out of that battle, she would've preferred getting her old home back, and that the title of princess is something she never wanted. Athena sympathizes with Twilight's dilemma, comparing it to the path her own life took that led to her becoming a defense attorney.
Twilight apologizes to her friends for this emotional distraction, and the group continues on toward the detention center.
Trivia[]
- The scene of Apollo coaching Rainbow Dash in his "Chords of Steel" exercises is a reference to Rainbow Dash coaching Fluttershy on how to cheer at the beginning of the MLP episode Sonic Rainboom.
- The episode makes multiple references to the cancelled MLP fan game My Little Investigations, such as Scootaloo being the primary suspect, her ribbon being a key piece of evidence, and the use of some of the game's musical cues.
- As revealed in the director's commentary for the episode, the original version of the script had all three Cutie Mark Crusaders fall under criminal suspicion at the same time instead of just Scootaloo.
- Also in the original script, Phoenix was in the lead attorney role instead of Athena.
- Private Eye bears a strong resemblance to Hershel Layton, the main character of the Professor Layton series of video games.
- Phoenix Wright telling Private Eye that he reminds him of someone is a reference to the crossover game Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.
- The song featured in the closing credits is an English cover of "Message" by Rei Yasuda, the first ending theme of the Ace Attorney anime adaptation.