| Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 4 | |
|---|---|
 ~A Timely Arrival~ | |
| Date added | January 30, 2022 |
| Duration | 2:28:46 |
| Transcript | Available |
| Part of | My Little Ace Attorney: Elements of Justice |
| ⇐ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 3 |
⇒ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 5 |
During the 30-minute recess, Athena and Twilight take stock of the trial's progress thus far. Athena feels particularly ashamed for making false accusations against Zecora and having Twilight and Princess Luna bail her out of her mistakes. Phoenix appears to offer Athena words of encouragement, comparing her plight to when he made similarly false accusations against Fluttershy during Rainbow Dash's trial. When Scootaloo and Turning Page enter, Turning Page confirms what Luna stated earlier: after his fight with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon resulted in their dresses getting ruined, Diamond's mother Spoiled Rich demanded monetary compensation from Turning Page's mother Fair Devotion. He reveals that Diamond herself accompanied Spoiled to Turning Page's house, which Athena believes is when she planted the magazines used to forge the blackmail letter.
When asked for more details about the night of the murder, Scootaloo and Turning Page explain that when they met Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in the forest to exchange the roll of gold silk for Scootaloo's scooter and wagon, Diamond suddenly changed her mind and demanded two rolls of gold silk. Angered, Turning Page attacked the bullies with his sword, and Silver Spoon's glasses were broken in the ensuing scuffle. At Turning's insistence, Scootaloo fled the scene on her scooter, losing the blackmail letter in the process, while Turning distracted the bullies further by throwing Diamond Tiara's tiara into the nearby gorge. As Diamond and Silver went to retrieve it, Turning Page left the scene. When asked why they kept this information to themselves until now, Scootaloo and Turning Page explain Princess Luna instructed them to do so until it was proven the scooter left the crime scene at some point (since the scooter was discovered at the scene by investigators).
Lastly, Private Eye enters to provide Athena and Twilight with a few new pieces of evidence: a photo of the Everfree Forest clearing near the Nightmare Night statue where traces of blood were found – blood identified as the victim's – the missing handlebar from Scootaloo's scooter, and the fang of a timberwolf. Private Eye tells Twilight that these items were provided by a "mutual acquaintance" of theirs; having suspicions of who this "acquaintance" is, Twilight asks Private Eye to request that they forensically test the area of the forest where the handlebar was found.
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Court is called back into session, and Princess Luna confirms that the glass shards found at the crime scene are a match to Silver Spoon's eyeglasses. Both she and Diamond Tiara are brought to the witness stand, and Luna makes it clear to them that, regardless of their wealth and social status, all ponies are equal in the eyes of the law and will be treated and judged accordingly. The two testify that they were in the forest for a school assignment, that they saw Scootaloo and Turning Page running away from the crime scene before they even got there, and that Silver Spoon's glasses breaking was merely the result of her shock at seeing Royal Order's dead body.
During cross-examination, Athena points out that if Diamond and Silver entered the forest at the time they claim, they should have run into Zecora, meaning they must have entered the forest before Scootaloo and Turning Page (which Silver admits to after some pressing). When accused of blackmailing the Cutie Mark Crusaders, not only do Diamond and Silver deny it, but they also claim to have witnessed the murder itself. They testify that, while at the castle ruins for their "school assignment", they heard a clanging noise and saw Scootaloo and Turning Page standing over Royal Order's body. Luna additionally verifies that no one else was present at the scene. When Silver Spoon has a visible reaction to Diamond Tiara's statement about the clang, Athena inquires further, and Silver Spoon says she heard two clangs, not one.
In a moment of confusion, Diamond claims to have witnessed the very moment Royal Order was stabbed, but her statement contradicts the autopsy report, meaning she and Silver did not witness the murder at all. When asked what happened when they approached the body, Diamond and Silver testify that they did not even realize Royal Order was dead until they saw the stab wound in his head. When Athena presents the crime scene photo and points out the bloodstain under Royal Order's head, Diamond Tiara correctly identifies the "bloodstain" as one of the Crusaders' capes. The fact that they knew the "bloodstain" was not actually blood and did not mention it in their testimony leads Athena to the conclusion that when they approached the body, there was no cape under the victim's head and that they themselves put it there.
Based on what she and Twilight learned during the recess, Athena once again suggests that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are behind the blackmail against the Crusaders, and when it did not go the way they planned, they framed Scootaloo for murder in retaliation. However, Luna challenges Athena's claim that Scootaloo left the crime scene with her scooter because it was found at the scene. In addition, the golden silk was free for the taking, yet it was left at the scene, clearing Diamond and Silver of any wrongdoing.
With some input from Twilight, Athena rethinks her theory; she suggests that Diamond and Silver placed the cape under the victim's head to search for the blackmail letter, knowing they would be implicated if it was found by authorities. To support this theory, Athena uses the forensic flashlight to reveal traces of the victim's blood on Diamond and Silver's hooves. Backed into a corner, Silver Spoon confesses that she and Diamond Tiara were indeed blackmailing the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
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In her confession, Silver Spoon admits that after Turning Page ruined their dresses, Diamond Tiara came up with a plan to get back at the Crusaders by blackmailing them for a roll of gold silk and pinning the blame on Fair Devotion by planting the magazines in her house. The events in the forest that night transpired as Athena surmised: they arrived at the castle ruins before Scootaloo and Turning Page to make the exchange, Turning Page threw Diamond's tiara into the gorge, they discovered the body after retrieving the tiara, they searched under the body for the blackmail letter (eventually assuming it was blown away by the wind), and in their state of fright, they left the golden silk behind and went home.
While their confession clears Fair Devotion and Royal Order of blackmail, it does not clear Scootaloo and Turning Page of Royal Order's murder; they still had the opportunity to carry it out while Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were in the gorge. Luna points out the absence of much of the victim's blood, previously believed to have been soaked up by the cape under his head but now established to have been placed there after the murder, meaning the victim must have been murdered in a different location. Luna believes Scootaloo and Turning Page killed Royal Order somewhere else and used the scooter and wagon to transport his body back to the castle ruins in order to frame Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as payback for the blackmail, thus reestablishing their motive to commit murder.
As Athena struggles to rebut, Twilight raises an objection and calls attention to the scooter's bent front wheels; transporting the body via scooter would have been impossible. She believes that after Scootaloo left the scene with her scooter, she crashed into something, causing the front wheels to get damaged and the handlebar to break off. She also presents the handlebar itself, which was found at a crossroads near the forest's entrance – too far away from the crime scene to transport the scooter and wagon before Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon realized.
Even still, Luna argues that if Scootaloo and Turning Page did not kill Royal Order, they had to have run into the real killer at some point due to the limited number of available paths in and out of the forest. Turning Page is certain that he did not see anyone in the forest aside from Zecora, but Scootaloo is not so sure. She testifies that on her way out of the forest, she got distracted by the howls of timberwolves, crashed into something, and escaped the forest on hoof. Sensing the discord in Scootaloo's heart, Athena decides against a typical cross-examination and proposes a brief therapy session using her Mood Matrix computer program.
Luna strongly opposes this course of action, citing Athena's inexperience and impulsive trial decisions. After an internal debate with her friend and rival Simon Blackquill, Athena stands by her decision, acknowledging that she is still a novice attorney but refusing to ignore the painful cries in others' hearts. Luna, recognizing Athena's growth, agrees to let her conduct her therapy session with Scootaloo—under her and the judge's supervision.
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Using the Mood Matrix, Athena analyzes Scootaloo's testimony for irregularities in her emotions and finds that she was angry during her escape from the forest over her scooter getting damaged after going to so much trouble to get it back. Further analysis reveals what she crashed her scooter into: the victim Royal Order, with the scooter lodged in his head. Everyone is initially horrified that Scootaloo may have taken Royal Order's life (albeit accidentally), but further analysis of her testimony reveals that Royal Order was still alive after the crash. Luna theorizes he ended up at the crime scene by teleporting himself there in his final moments of living.
However, Athena brings up the autopsy report, which states Royal Order died instantly from his stab wound. Scootaloo is certain it was Royal Order she crashed into and that he was still breathing after the crash, and Luna stands by the accuracy of the autopsy report. The only explanation for this glaring contradiction, as pointed out by Twilight, is that there were two Royal Orders in the forest that night: the real Royal Order and a cloned duplicate of him!
Twilight theorizes that when Royal Order went to the Everfree Forest to look for Turning Page, he first cloned himself with the magic of the Mirror Pool, passing through Froggy Bottom Bog and getting exposed to poison joke in the process. Both Luna and the judge are skeptical, but the evidence and testimony thus far appear to indicate the Royal Order that Scootaloo crashed into and the Royal Order discovered at the crime scene are two different individuals. Twilight says further testing at the crash site would yield more information, but that needs more time to be completed. With that, the judge is ready to suspend trial proceedings for the day.
Just then, another face enters the courtroom and raises an objection: Sonata.
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Sonata, the "mutual acquaintance" Private Eye mentioned during the recess, and Private Eye arrive to present new evidence that appears to confirm Twilight's theory: a photo of the crash site where traces of blood were found leading to the Nightmare Night statue; the blood is confirmed to be Royal Order's. To further the defense's argument, Athena presents the photo of the Nightmare Night statue, where a large amount of blood was in front of it and a small pool of blood was behind it. Though the blood was determined to not be Royal Order's, the fact that his blood leads to the statue from the crash site leads Athena and Twilight to the conclusion that the blood in front of the statue contains blood from more than one pony.
Sonata confirms this as well; the small pool of blood behind the statue belongs to an unidentified pony (assumed to be Royal Order's killer), but the large pool of blood in front of the statue contains blood from both the killer and Royal Order. Athena believes there was a fight between the two, which resulted in Royal Order's death (his head getting punctured on one of the statue's sharp edges) and the killer getting injured. Then, while the killer hid behind the statue, timberwolves came and devoured Royal Order's body, as evidenced by the timberwolf fang. Meanwhile, the other Royal Order was killed in the nearby clearing, as evidenced by the clearing photo, and his body, the scooter, and the wagon were transported to the crime scene.
As to who moved the body, scooter, and wagon and how, Athena calls attention to the strange mud imprint inside the wagon, believing whoever left it also transported the body. Twilight identifies the imprint as having the same shape as Sugar Stamp's mailpony badge. Sugar Stamp, being a Pegasus, could have flown the body, scooter, and wagon from the clearing to the crime scene. Athena presents the letter from Zecora's mailbox; it had not been opened and was much dirtier than the rest of her mail (meaning it had to have been delivered on the night of the murder), and it bears the royal Canterlot seal (Luna confirms that Sugar Stamp specifically was tasked with delivering it).
With all that in mind, Athena concludes that Scootaloo and Turning Page could not have murdered either Royal Order or his duplicate, and the actions and motives of the mailpony Sugar Stamp are now highly suspect. Luna has no objections to Athena's summation and now wishes to question Sugar Stamp. Despite these lingering unanswered questions, the judge is satisfied that Athena and Twilight have sufficiently proven their case. For the crime of murdering Royal Order, Scootaloo and Turning Page are found... Not Guilty!
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In the courtroom lobby, Athena and Twilight's friends congratulate them for winning the trial, despite feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the questions it left unanswered. Scootaloo and Turning Page join them, and while Scootaloo is grateful to Athena for clearing her name, both she and Turning are worried about Sugar Stamp and what will happen to her if it turns out she was involved in the death of Royal Order or his clone.
Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then arrive, with Sweetie Belle still behaving strangely. Apple Bloom angrily chews Athena out for falsely accusing Zecora of murder (especially after the efforts she made to be welcomed in Ponyville), and after explaining the reasons for her actions, Athena gives a heartfelt apology, which Apple Bloom accepts. Princess Luna then appears, and after offering congratulations to Athena and Twilight, she reveals that the pony whose blood was found at the Nightmare Night statue (presumably Royal Order's murderer) has been identified:
Sweetie Belle.
In a post-credits scene, Private Eye meets with Lawkeeper Equity to update her about the investigation in Ponyville, but Equity's main concern is the ongoing investigation in Manehattan from the first case. After threatening Private Eye with her sword, Equity allows him to continue investigating Royal Order's death and says she will be accompanying him to Ponyville soon but gives no reason as to why. As Private Eye leaves, a framed photo of Royal Order is shown on Equity's desk; Equity appears to be standing next to Royal Order in the photo, obscured by a sun glare.
Trivia[]
- Athena cross-examining multiple witnesses at once is a reference to a mechanic introduced in Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, in which Phoenix does exactly that.
- In the original script for this episode, which had Phoenix as the lead attorney instead of Athena and all three Cutie Mark Crusaders as defendants instead of just Scootaloo, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were much more malicious and petty in their reasons for framing the Crusaders for murder (their dresses being ruined). Given their redemption in the season five episode Crusaders of the Lost Mark, the writers toned down their maliciousness and pettiness and came up with a different reason for them to tamper with the crime scene (looking for the blackmail letter).
- Also in the original script, Fair Devotion had a secondary job as a maker of holiday cards, but this was dropped in the final script as there was no organic way to work it into the story.