| Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 3 | |
|---|---|
 ~Striped Sonnets~ | |
| Date added | November 4, 2021 |
| Duration | 2:31:53 |
| Transcript | Available |
| Part of | My Little Ace Attorney: Elements of Justice |
| ⇐ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 2 |
⇒ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 4 |
On the morning after the previous episode, Athena, Twilight, and their friends gather in the courtroom lobby and wait for the trial to start. Twilight informs Athena that she was unable to find out who the trial prosecutor is. Scootaloo and Turning Page arrive, and Turning tells Athena and Twilight that he does not care if he himself is found guilty as long as Scootaloo is proven innocent and that he is even prepared to take full responsibility for the crime if the trial does not go in their favor. When Athena asks Scootaloo and Turning Page who the prosecutor is, even they will not reveal who it is; the prosecutor has sworn them to secrecy.
When the rest of the group, including a reluctant Sweetie Belle, arrives, it comes out that Sweetie lied about not feeling well the day before and did not want to help Scootaloo because of her actions (stealing the gold silk from Carousel Boutique to give to Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon). This causes considerable tension among the group as Sweetie Belle is suspected of hiding something and Rainbow Dash gets aggressive trying to get her to confess. Before they can discuss this further, the court bailiff announces that the trial is starting.
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Court is called to order, and the judge from Phoenix's world once again presides over the trial at Princess Celestia's apparently personal request. To everyone's surprise (especially Twilight's), the prosecutor is Princess Luna. She explains that, despite the defendants' young age and one of them being a good friend of hers, she is duty-bound to uphold Equestria's laws and serve justice.
Luna explains the case's details: Canterlot royal guard member Royal Order was murdered in the Everfree Forest on the night he returned home to Ponyville. According to the autopsy report, he died instantly upon receiving a stab wound to his right temple, though he also sustained several additional stab wounds after death and a large bruise on his left side before death. At the time of his death, he also suffered weak knees from coming into contact with poison joke. Luna submits a photo of the crime scene as evidence.
Detective Private Eye is called to the stand as Luna's witness, and he testifies that, upon returning home after serving his guard duties, Royal Order went to look for his son Turning Page in the Everfree Forest, where he was ambushed and subsequently murdered. In her cross-examination, Athena learns that Turning Page's mother Fair Devotion told Royal Order where Turning had gone, having learned herself from a note Turning left. It is also determined that there was no time for Royal Order to make any detours on his way to the forest (aside from a possible 30-minute window from teleporting partways past the forest's entrance). Private Eye suggests further that Royal Order's assailant took advantage of his poison joke-afflicted state to catch him off guard, knock him down, and kill him. When asked what was used to knock him down, Private Eye suggests Turning Page's wooden sword, which Luna believes broke in half during the attack.
Athena objects, saying the sword broke during another incident by Turning's own account, but Luna argues that Turning's word alone is insufficient without proof. As for the murder weapon, Luna presents Scootaloo's scooter, whose broken-off handlebar is stained with the victim's blood. After hearing Private Eye's summary of how the murder happened, Athena notices a contradiction: if Royal Order was struck on his left side, he would have fallen onto his right side, making his right temple inaccessible to stab. Luna even hints that it would be difficult for a small foal to stab an adult stallion in the head.
Just as Athena believes she has blown a hole through the prosecution's case, Luna counters and suggests Royal Order fell onto the murder weapon after being struck, making it possible that the murder was accidental. She also suggests that Turning could have planted Royal Order's blood on Scootaloo's scooter to implicate her in the murder. Even though such a scenario would lessen Turning's punishment and completely exonerate Scootaloo, Athena refuses to accept it and asserts that both Scootaloo and Turning Page are innocent.
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With the accidental murder scenario ruled out, Private Eye suggests that, after being knocked over, Royal Order reacted in such a way that exposed his right temple, allowing his murderer to stab and kill him. As Athena struggles to disprove this theory, Luna tells her she is futilely fighting "on the wrong side". This hint gives Athena the clue she needs, and she presents the crime scene photo; the tape outline of where the victim's body was discovered indicates he was lying on his left side, contrary to the prosecution's claim of the murder's series of events. After thinking it through, Athena concludes that the victim's body must have been moved after he was killed.
However, Luna suggests yet another possibility: that the victim was struck on his left side, fell onto his right side, stood back up, and was then stabbed in the right temple, causing him to fall dead onto his left side. The judge agrees with Luna's theory, and Luna tells Athena that if she alleges the body was moved, she has to prove the victim was not killed where his body was discovered. Athena believes Luna is giving her another hint, and when she looks at the crime scene photo again, she notices the absence of any of the victim's blood, thus giving some credence to her theory that the body was moved there from somewhere else. In order to disprove Athena's theory, Luna calls her second witness to the stand: Zecora.
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On the witness stand, the rhyming zebra testifies that she was the one who discovered Royal Order's body and reported it to the police. At the time, she was tending to her plants when Scootaloo and Turning Page passed by on their way to the Castle of the Two Sisters. Some time later, she heard a strange sound and headed toward it, spotting a small figure in the shadows along the way. Eventually, she discovered the body with blood around its head. When Athena argues that there was no blood around the body when she and her friends were investigating, Luna presents a second photo of the crime scene with both the victim's body and what appears to be a pool of blood underneath it. She also presents the Cutie Mark Crusader cape that was seized and examined by police, completely covered in the victim's blood. As it turns out, the "pool of blood" Zecora saw under the victim's head was the cape soaking up his blood, and Zecora mistook it for blood due to its red color.
With another of her theories shattered by Luna's expert prosecution, Athena ponders heavily on the version of events Luna has established. She asserts that, if Royal Order stood back up after being knocked over, Scootaloo would not have been able to stab him in the head because of their height difference (made doubly impossible by the fact that Scootaloo cannot fly). Luna argues back that Turning Page could have done so with his unicorn power of telekinesis. Twilight believes Luna is attempting to shift all blame onto Turning Page with this line of reasoning, but Luna neither confirms nor denies.
In Athena's cross-examination of Zecora, she learns that the poison joke near her home were planted there recently. In addition, when Scootaloo and Turning Page passed by, Turning's sword was perfectly intact, contradicting his claim that it broke during his confrontation with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. When asked why she did not follow Scootaloo and Turning to make sure they were okay, Zecora claims there was no indication that they were in danger up until she heard the strange sound, which she describes as a loud and metallic clang. On her way toward the castle, she saw a figure in the shadows that looked like a small, four-legged creature; she called out to it but was drowned out by the howl of timberwolves. Eventually, she discovered Royal Order's body and the Crusader cape under its head; close examination of the corpse indicated it had no pulse. However, Scootaloo and Turning Page were nowhere to be found. After this, Zecora left to inform the police (corroborated by a report from the police station).
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Unable to find a contradiction in Zecora's testimony, Athena turns to Twilight for ideas; Twilight has one but is hesitant to go through with it after having suffered through a similar situation once before. Unfortunately, Athena is desperate, and with no other apparent options, she casts suspicion on Zecora as the true murderer, suggesting Scootaloo and Turning Page fled the scene after knocking Royal Order down and Zecora discovered him still alive, killed him with the scooter, and falsely reported to police that he was dead when she found him. While Athena has no evidence to support her claims, the judge cannot deny the possibility.
Zecora naturally and categorically denies these allegations, but even members of the gallery start to suspect her. In her booming Royal Canterlot Voice, Luna silences the courtroom and angrily admonishes both Athena for hurling baseless accusations instead of following basic courtroom protocol as well as the gallery for acknowledging said accusations.
As she calms down from her emotional outburst, Luna argues Athena's new theory by establishing Scootaloo and Turning Page's motive. She brings up the letter in which an unidentified blackmailer demanded a roll of gold silk in exchange for Scootaloo's scooter and wagon as well as Scootaloo and Turning Page's subsequent theft of the gold silk from Carousel Boutique. Athena believes the blackmailer was Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, but Luna disagrees, believing the letter's addressing of the Crusaders as "blank flanks" to be a deliberate misdirect. The letter was written in letters cut out of a magazine, and Luna presents two magazines with letters cut out of their pages; analysis reveals that the letters in the note match those cut out of the magazines. What's more, the magazines were found in Royal Order's home.
Athena and Twilight refuse to believe Royal Order was the blackmailer (especially since he was in Canterlot at the time Scootaloo's scooter and wagon were stolen); Luna instead implicates Royal Order's wife Fair Devotion. She explains that, after Turning Page's confrontation with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara informed her mother Spoiled Rich, who demanded compensation from Fair Devotion for the fillies' ruined dresses. Fair Devotion, fearing that Spoiled's influence as president of the Ponyville school board would get her blacklisted from substitute teaching, concocted the blackmailing scheme to get her hooves on Rarity's gold silk, which she could then sell for a large sum of money and pay off Spoiled Rich.
Luna even suggests that Fair Devotion and Royal Order were working together on this scheme and that Royal Order's real reason for going into the Everfree Forest was to make the exchange. Thus, Scootaloo and Turning Page's motive for committing murder could be as simple as negotiations going sour or Turning becoming furious when he learned what his father was doing. And since Scootaloo was incapable of carrying out the murder due to her inability to fly, Luna is willing to drop all charges against her if Athena concedes that Turning Page alone is guilty.
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Turning Page finally speaks up, prepared to confess to everything as he had promised to do before the trial started, but Athena vehemently objects. When asked straight out who he and Scootaloo met with on the night of the murder, Turning says it was indeed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as Athena claimed. When Luna assures Turning that everything will be all right, Athena realizes that Luna was intentionally giving her hints and helping her along throughout the trial. Realizing they share the same goal of saving Scootaloo and Turning Page, the two decide to figure out once and for all who the blackmailer is: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as Athena claims, or Fair Devotion and Royal Order as Luna claims.
Based on Scootaloo, Turning Page, and Royal Order's movements on the night of the murder, Athena concludes that Royal Order could not have teleported into the forest as was suggested earlier or else he would have appeared in front of Scootaloo and Turning Page. Before continuing, she retracts her earlier accusation toward Zecora. The judge is about to hold Athena in contempt for making a false accusation, but Luna objects, acknowledging Athena's legal inexperience, and leaves this decision up to Zecora. Athena sincerely apologizes to Zecora for accusing her, and Zecora accepts her apology, understanding that she was simply doing what she thought was best for Scootaloo and Turning Page. The judge decides not to punish Athena, allowing Athena to scrutinize Zecora's earlier testimony.
During Zecora's observation of the forest for a short while after Scootaloo and Turning Page passed her, she saw no one else pass by. With all possibilities ruled out, Athena concludes that Royal Order could not have been involved in the blackmail scheme, thus eliminating any motive Scootaloo and Turning Page would have to commit murder. Luna commends Athena for her excellent and compelling rebuttal, but it does not clear the defendants completely. In an attempt to clear up any remaining details, Athena suggests that Scootaloo and Turning Page testify themselves, but they exercise their right to remain silent. Besides that, Luna claims there is no proof that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are even involved.
This time, Twilight raises an objection and presents the shards of broken glass that were found near the crime scene the day before, which came from a pair of eyeglasses. She points out that none of the ponies involved in the case wear glasses, but Silver Spoon does. When Luna argues there is no way to prove who the glasses belong to or when they were broken, Twilight turns to Zecora; she had been looking for rare flowers in the area where the murder took place, and while she did see the glass shards that night when she discovered the body, there were no shards earlier that day. Therefore, the glasses must have been broken sometime that evening. Furthermore, Twilight is certain that if the glasses are examined, they will match Silver Spoon's eye prescription.
Both the judge and Luna agree with Twilight's summation, and with Twilight's support, Athena is confident enough to press forward, even after all the mistakes she made during the trial. They assert once again that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are behind the blackmailing scheme and that they planted the magazines used to forge the blackmail letter in Royal Order's home to throw everyone off their trail. Twilight and Athena call Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to the witness stand to explain themselves, and Luna agrees, revealing that the fillies are already in the witness lobby waiting to be summoned. With that, the judge orders a 30-minute recess for the glass shards to be analyzed, and court is adjourned.
Trivia[]
- This episode features pseudo-3D character models for the Ace Attorney characters instead of the pixelated sprites featured in previous episodes. The character models were lifted from Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice and re-textured to have a "2.5D" look to fit the animated My Little Pony environment.
- Athena's reluctance to deal with a rhyming witness is a reference to Marlon Rimes, a central character in the Ace Attorney case Turnabout Reclaimed, who delivers some of his witness testimony while rapping.