| Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 8 | |
|---|---|
 ~A Winding Route~ | |
| Date added | November 26, 2022 |
| Duration | 2:02:41 |
| Transcript | Available |
| Part of | My Little Ace Attorney: Elements of Justice |
| ⇐ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 7 |
⇒ Crusading for a Turnabout - Part 9 |
In the courtroom lobby, Athena briefly gets chewed out by her friends for threatening to step down as Sweetie Belle's lawyer but states she had no choice given Sweetie's prior refusal to testify. She also suspects Fair Devotion, Sugar Stamp, and Private Eye to be involved in some sort of conspiracy/cover-up, considering how Fair guided their testimonies earlier and her and Sugar's reactions when Sugar and Royal Order's affair was brought to light.
Sonata arrives with the results of the investigation Athena sent her on: the blood on the trees between the statue and the forest clearing belonged to Royal Order, the magazine in Diamond Tiara's house was used to make the anonymous tip that led to Turning Page's arrest (the source of the tip has yet to be identified), and the clone Royal Order's missing armor has been recovered – with a large dent in the body plate's left side believed to have been made by a "long, wedged object". When informed of Private Eye's unethical actions, Sonata believes he would not do such things without good reason.
Zecora then enters, and Athena asks her to identify the flowers on the boulder outside the Mirror Pool. She also points out the shelf in her hut on which she kept the healing potion before it was stolen, as well as the potion's high demand from the local hospital. Finally, Turning Page enters, and he cryptically asks Athena to help his mother "no matter the cost". Just before the trial resumes, Scootaloo confirms she heard two clangs on the night of the murder while Zecora only heard one and that Royal Order was not wearing any armor when she crashed into him.
************************
Court is called back in session; despite Princess Luna's reservations about having Sweetie Belle testify, Athena is determined to find the truth. Sweetie testifies she was at the Nightmare Moon statue on the night of the murder, was wounded by a timberwolf, used two pieces of Royal Order's armor to make a clanging noise and scare them off, hid behind the statue and passed out for an indeterminate amount of time, and eventually made a tourniquet for her wound and went to Zecora's hut for a healing potion.
During Athena's cross-examination, Sweetie reveals she went to the Everfree Forest after finding Scootaloo's confession note to Rarity, upon which she was drawn to the statue after hearing a deep, loud metallic clang. However, Athena objects to Sweetie being able to make a tourniquet without blood from her wound dripping everywhere, and when asked to demonstrate making a tourniquet, Sweetie is unable to, leading Athena to believe someone else did it for her. In addition, she incorrectly identifies the shelf where Zecora kept her healing potion.
Athena believes Silver Spoon made the tourniquet and stole the healing potion for Sweetie Belle, since she was also in the forest that night and has some medical knowledge. Despite Sweetie's objections, Silver Spoon is recalled to the witness stand to explain.
************************
Both Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara take the stand. Their testimony is much the same as it was the day before: during a blackmail exchange, Turning Page tossed Diamond's tiara into the nearby gorge, and Silver's glasses broke as they went to retrieve it. However, as was discovered in the previous day's investigation, only one of the lenses in Silver's glasses broke, meaning she could still see through the remaining lens. Plus, Silver Spoon stated the day before that she heard two clangs while Diamond Tiara only heard one.
Athena explains that, given the timeline of the night's events, the second clang must have been caused by Sweetie Belle scaring the timberwolves away at the statue. And if Silver Spoon heard the second clang and Diamond Tiara did not, Silver must have been closer to the statue than Diamond was and not in the gorge as she claimed. Athena believes Silver Spoon chased Scootaloo and Turning Page through the forest, followed the trail of Royal Order's blood at the crossroads, found Sweetie Belle unconscious at the statue, and used her minor medical knowledge to make a tourniquet and treat her injury.
Silver Spoon admits to following Scootaloo and Turning Page instead of accompanying Diamond Tiara into the gorge, but she denies helping Sweetie Belle. Before disproving Silver's claim, Athena addresses the anonymous tip and reveals the letters in it were cut out of the magazine found in Diamond Tiara's home. At first, Diamond appears to be the one behind the anonymous tip, but based on the discarded Hearts and Hooves Day envelope found under the magazine in her trash, the magazine could only have been thrown away the day AFTER the anonymous tip was delivered, thereby clearing Diamond of suspicion.
Only Silver Spoon had the opportunity to throw out the magazine in Diamond's home, and after some pressing, Diamond admits that Silver was carrying a magazine when she visited Diamond's home the day before. However, Silver could not have sent the anonymous tip either because she was at a doctor's appointment at the time it was delivered. With some additional pressing, Diamond reveals that when Silver visited her home, she had a bloodstained scratch on her coat. Athena believes Silver Spoon was the one who broke into Carousel Boutique and was attacked by Rarity's cat Opalescence.
************************
Because all of the boutique's doors and windows were locked, it was originally believed that only a unicorn could gain access via teleportation. However, Athena points out that, due to the specific lock in the boutique's front door, anyone could enter and lock the door when they leave as long as the door is left unlocked in advance. The only pony who could have done so was Sweetie Belle.
Athena theorizes that Sweetie Belle left the boutique's front door unlocked before the previous day's trial, and Silver Spoon, at Sweetie's instruction, entered the boutique to retrieve something, whereupon Opal scratched her. On her way out, she engaged the front door's lock, making it appear as if the boutique was locked the whole time. Athena even suggests they test the blood left on the boutique floor and see if it matches Silver Spoon's.
Backed into a corner, Silver Spoon confesses to breaking into the boutique and stealing the magazine, thus tracing the source of the anonymous tip to Sweetie Belle. When asked how she could have delivered it without being seen, Athena remembers there was a period of time two days before when Rarity asked Spike to check in on Sweetie Belle; she believes Sweetie had Spike send the anonymous tip to the police station with his magic fire breath during that time.
At this juncture, Athena moves to prove that Silver Spoon indeed helped Sweetie Belle on the night of the murder. Traces of blood were previously discovered on Silver's hooves – blood originally thought to be Royal Order's. However, it has now been established that Silver never touched Royal Order's body. If the blood on her hooves matches Sweetie Belle's, it would confirm definitively that she treated Sweetie's wound – and, by extension, confirm Sweetie's elaborate scheme to frame Diamond Tiara. In the face of such overwhelming evidence, Sweetie Belle breaks down on the witness stand with a scream of tears.
************************
Athena and Princess Luna ask Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon to finally tell the truth, despite the repercussions they will face for their actions later. They explain that, after Sweetie was attacked by the timberwolf, Silver followed a trail of blood at the forest crossroads and found her nearly unconscious behind the statue. She dressed Sweetie's wound with a tourniquet and stayed with her until she regained consciousness. Being too far away from a hospital for Sweetie to receive proper medical treatment, Sweetie suggested getting a healing potion from Zecora's hut.
As they walked home together, they started talking about Silver's friendship with Diamond Tiara, and Silver admitted to being jealous of the Crusaders, wishing her and Diamond's friendship was more like theirs. However, she does not want to break off her friendship with Diamond out of fear that she would not have any other friends left. Although Sweetie was grateful to Silver for helping her out of the forest, she was still bitter over the role Silver played in blackmailing her and her friends.
The next day, Sweetie Belle heard about Scootaloo's arrest and was unwilling to talk to anyone or cooperate with the investigation out of fear of also being arrested. Even still, she wanted to help Scootaloo in some way, so she made the anonymous tip and had Spike send it to the police station (offering to set him up on a date with Rarity in return).
When that was not enough to get Scootaloo acquitted, Sweetie roped Silver Spoon into a scheme to get Diamond Tiara blamed for the anonymous tip, partly as payback for her blackmailing scheme. When Silver refused, Sweetie told her it was time to separate from Diamond for good, even threatening to tell Diamond what she said about their friendship and Zecora for stealing the potion if she did not go along with it. Fearing serious punishment, Silver Spoon agreed. Everything else happened exactly as Athena theorized.
Princess Luna conveys to Sweetie Belle the tragic irony of her actions: in her attempts to get back at Diamond Tiara for blackmail, she herself resorted to blackmail. Realizing this, Sweetie Belle hangs her head in tearful shame.
************************
Despite all that has revealed thus far, Luna points out that very little has been learned in regards to Royal Order's murder itself. However, Athena points out that Sugar Stamp testified earlier to seeing Zecora and Turning Page heading toward each other while flying over the forest, yet she did not see Silver Spoon. This, coupled with Private Eye's confession to falsifying evidence to support Sugar's testimony, means that none of her testimony can be accepted as truth.
To solve the mystery of how Royal Order's body was moved from the clearing to the castle ruins, Athena takes a moment to mentally review the case's facts:
- The blood Sonata found in the clearing is unmistakably Royal Order's blood, but it does not prove his body was there.
- The blood on the trees between the statue and the clearing is also Royal Order's, but it must have been placed there by someone else.
- If no blood was found on the ground, it had to have been moved from the statue to the clearing via unicorn levitation.
Considering all of this, Athena concludes there was never a murder at the clearing to begin with, which means... THERE WAS NO CLONE.
Despite everything heard and revealed up to this point, Athena now believes Royal Order never cloned himself at all—that it was a faulty theory based on premature information and too convenient circumstances. She suggests that when she and Twilight proposed their clone theory in the previous trial, Private Eye was listening and informed Sugar Stamp after the trial, after which the two created false evidence and false confessions to make things line up with that theory.
Luna refuses to accept Athena's new theory after she went to such lengths to prove her original one, and demands proof to support it. To that end, Athena presents a photo of the Mirror Pool entrance, showing where flowers have bloomed on the boulder that kept the pool sealed. According to Zecora, these flowers only bloom during the day, meaning the boulder could only have been moved during that time, possibly as recent as right after the previous trial. And only one pony could have done so: Private Eye.
However, Luna points out that the Royal Order found near the castle died instantly, and Scootaloo testified that the Royal Order she crashed into was still breathing afterward. The only explanation is that Scootaloo was mistaken about what she heard the breathing coming from, with Luna suggesting only a child would be able to hide behind Royal Order's body. This suggestion causes Athena to make another, horrifying revelation, and she calls Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle back to the stand to confirm a couple things.
************************
First, Silver Spoon reveals that, while chasing Scootaloo and Turning Page, she saw Zecora headed her way and jumped in the bushes to hide, meaning she was the small shadowy figure Zecora testified to seeing. In addition, Sugar Stamp's testimony about seeing Zecora and Turning Page while flying over the forest can no longer be trusted. This begs the question: after the blackmail deal went sour, where did Turning Page disappear to? Luna appears to come to the same terrible realization as Athena.
Secondly, Athena asks Sweetie Belle why she specifically targeted Turning Page in her anonymous tip to the police when she could have just as easily implicated Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon. Sweetie explains it is because of what she overheard someone saying right before she passed out behind the statue.
With this information, and as much as she does not want to believe it, Athena believes she has finally identified Royal Order's true killer: his son, Turning Page. Even though he was found not guilty in the previous trial, Athena concludes it is the only explanations that fits. Turning is small enough that he could reasonably hide behind his father's body after Scootaloo crashed into it (meaning it was his breathing that Scootaloo heard), and he even has signs of bruising on his right side caused by the crash.
At this point in time, Fair Devotion objects to Athena's line of reasoning and announces that SHE killed Royal Order, sending the courtroom into an uproar. Athena objects in return, saying Fair's sudden confession cannot be taken at face value until they hear one last testimony from her. Luna, at a brief loss for words, agrees with Athena, and the judge orders Fair Devotion to testify for the final time.
Trivia[]
- Sweetie Belle's breakdown animation is similar to that of Cody Hackins in the Ace Attorney case Turnabout Samurai.