My Little Ace Attorneys

It had been several months since the attorneys had arrived in Equestria. They had gradually blended in and grown accustomed to their new home. Godot enjoyed the library, reading quietly and drinking his coffee. One couldn't help but note how interested Twilight seemed in him. Yes, that interested. But he paid her no heed as he went about his work. He only had one true love, and she died a long time ago.

Apollo was no longer a living mannequin for Rarity, and if she approached him with needle and thread, he pushed her away with his now quite competent magic. In other news, he had spent several days apologising and answering questions for the press after the Cutie Mark Crusaders had assaulted a member of the Royal Guard, leaving him too stunned to prevent them from interrogating Princess Celestia, who was visiting the library. When asked to clarify their reasons, they had stated that Apollo taught them lie detecting and they wanted to test it out. Thankfully, no charges were pressed, Celestia being as good natured as she was. Just a bit of embarrassment on everypony's part.

Edgeworth was having a great time, engaging in battles of wit and logic with Zecora. The two were now good friends and he could frequently be found locked in heated games of chess with her. The pair even had a riddle contest once. Needless to say, Zecora won. Just about everything she said was a riddle anyway. She had years of practice. Still, Edgeworth put up a good fight, and cracked a lot of her riddles before he gave in.

Phoenix had conquered his fear of heights, and no longer felt as if the world was spinning whenever he stretched his wings. In fact, he had actually grown to love the sky. He enjoyed observing the world from a different perspective, seeing ponies go about their business. Rainbow landed him a spot on the weather team, and he flew about, manipulating the weather as if he had done it all his life, and Rainbow praised him as a natural. Knowing the arrogant pegasus, this was a major compliment.

The weather factory produced surplus, like all major organisations. These were left to their own devices, and to work on their own. Of course, there was nothing to stop Phoenix from, grabbing them, and he flitted about, taking delight in dumping snow, lightning and various other weather phenomena on Edgeworth whenever he passed by. The best part? Edgeworth couldn't do anything about it, since Phoenix was in the sky.

~~~

"What is this?"

"Please, get away!"

"Oh I'm not going anywhere..."

"Somepony help!"

"Hang on, I'm coming!"

"No! I'm too late!"

"Call the police!"

"Who was that? What happened here?"

"I saw something..."

"What did you see?"

"I don't want to believe it..."

"But surely I couldn't have just seen them...?"

~~~

News spreads like wildfire in Equestria.

'Two zebra ambassadors murdered!'

'Chieftain furious!'

Such things were being hawked at every news stand. But the murder itself was nowhere near as shocking as the identities of the suspects.

Everypony was in the barn at Sweet Apple Acres, the perfect party venue, telling stories, sipping hot drinks and just generally having a good time. Shenanigans aplenty were to be found, as Rainbow and Pinkie set up pranks on every corner. Apollo managed to singlehandedly trip all but two of them, earning roars of laughter from humans and ponies alike. Godot disarmed the rest, to Rainbow and Pinkie's immense disappointment.

For all their merriment, Applejack presented a serious question, "Where in the hay is Twilight?"

She had been on a trip to the Grasslands, where nomadic zebra tribes roamed. She should have been back by now.

Her question was answered almost as soon as she had asked it. A distraught Twilight Sparkle burst through the door, clutching several newspapers. She flung them at her friends.

"Hiya Twilight! What's up?" Pinkie asked excitedly, through a mouth full of newspaper.

"We were um...waiting for you, and uh...you never came back from your, um, errand. But that's ok! Whatever you were doing I'm sure it was very important!" stammered Fluttershy.

"Idon'thavetimeforthisjustreadthepapers!" yelled Twilight, and promptly fainted where she stood.

Applejack and Phoenix wrapped her up in a blanket and put her on a pile of soft straw, before joining the others with the newspapers. They read through the details of the incident, shaking their heads in disapproval. The native Equestrians were far more shocked by it than the humans. Murder was so rare in Equestria, in contrast to Earth, where it was almost an everyday occurrence.

But when they reached the section on who the suspects were, there was a collective gasp.

"Ah'm gonna track down the treacherous varmin' who accused 'em of the crime, and ah am gonna rake 'em across the coals, ya hear me?" snarled Applejack.

"This is awful! This is terrible! This is THE WORST POSSIBLE THING!" exclaimed Rarity.

"Oh...oh my," whispered Fluttershy.

"Well, I suppose now is as good a time as any to enter the Equestrian courtrooms."

All eyes were on Phoenix. He continued.

"I mean, I got my badge back already at home, and murder is my specialty. Anyway, I get a lot of cases where the accusation is way off the mark, and from your reactions, I'd wager there is no possible way either of them did it," he stated.

"Where's the detention centre?"

Stunned silence. Applejack whispered to Edgeworth, "Ah forgot. Y'all are lawyers, ain't ya? But still, ain't he in over his head a little?"

Edgeworth sighed, before responding, "Good luck dissuading him. I was accused of murder once, and even though I drove him away, he always came back. He wanted to defend me, his archrival! He was so persistent, eventually I gave in. And do you know what? He cleared my name. Not only that, but he solved a case from 15 years before that, that had police stumped. And by doing that, he cleared my conscience, of something deep, that I won't speak of. He's a genius, and though I'm loathe to admit it, I've never beaten him legitimately. I won a case against him once, but that was because he willingly lost. Trust me, there are no better hands, er, hooves to place the lives of the suspects in than his."

Edgeworth finished his long winded speech and waited. Applejack was silent for a while. Eventually she nodded.

Addressing Phoenix, she said, "All right sugarcube. If ya think ya can do it, then go fer it. Just don't be afraid to back up if it gets too taxin',"

Godot spoke up, "You're on, Trite,"

Phoenix winced. The use of that name, meant Godot was in a hateful, prosecuting mood.

No further explanation was needed.

~~~

The next day, Phoenix and Apollo entered the train. The suspects were being held in the Canterlot detention centre. Twilight was with them. She was panicking, blowing into a paper bag to try and regulate her breathing, with little success.

As they disembarked, and began to walk towards the detention centre, Twilight could be heard muttering things such as 'What if Phoenix isn't as good as they say he is? What if they refuse to have him defend them?'

She listed all the possible ways things could go wrong. They began sensibly, but quickly spiralled into nonsense, such as 'What if a changeling takes Phoenix's place and gets a guilty verdict?"

As they entered the visiting area and waited for the suspects to show up, Phoenix began to get a little nervous.

He'd dealt with all sorts of things in the courtrooms, from parrots, witnesses refusing to testify, being hit on the head with a fire extinguisher and getting amnesia, to whips and flying cups of coffee.

He'd defended all sorts of people. Actors, police officers, delusional thieves, magicians, and of course Maya, his trusted spirit medium assistant.

But still.

It wasn't every day you offered to defend Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.