Chapters Apollo Justice sat down on the sofa and sighed contentedly. His apartment was a complete mess, Phoenix and Edgeworth were shooting daggers at each other and he could faintly make out the sound of Ema Skye and Maya Fey bickering over something or other, but at that moment in time, the chaos of the party he was hosting didn't matter. He was so relaxed that he could've fallen asleep while a hurricane took the roof off. Ema and Maya finished arguing, and Ema joined him on the sofa. Soon Apollo had captivated her with witty lines and was enjoying her company. All in all, he was pretty self-satisfied.
Phoenix Wright glared at the man in the magenta suit sitting across from him. They had just settled a dispute, but Phoenix had lost. It was a small argument, the kind that childhood friends such as themselves would have. But something about the smirk that Edgeworth had on his face was irking him. He was in a foul mood, and wanted to take it out on someone in the form of a harmless prank. When he saw Apollo chilling on the sofa and chatting up the ladies who sat next to him, he couldn't resist. He picked up the nearest object, a chicken wing, and flung it across the room. It hit Apollo square between the eyes, covering him in grease, while Phoenix and the people around him laughed so hard they fell off their chairs.
Diego Armando sat drinking his coffee and chatting with Klavier Gavin about the finer things in life. While Klavier rambled on about how he needed to "rock out more, ja Herr Coffee?" his mind wandered to the time he had spent in prison after he killed Misty Fey in Hazakura Temple all those years ago. He was grateful to Phoenix and Edgeworth, who had requested an appeal, arguing that he had assaulted her to save Maya's life, and then killed her in self defence after she attacked him with a dagger. Their case was the truth, and Diego had been taken off Death Row and released a few years later. However, he still used his name of 'Godot' when not with friends, as 'Diego Armando' was 'murdered' 15 years ago. Now he replied to Klavier with little interest, as he observed Miles Edgeworth's shenanigans at the opposite end of the table.
Miles Edgeworth hated awkward social situations between underage girls and himself, but always seemed to wind up in them. Trucy Wright, Phoenix's adoptive daughter, had sidled up to him while he watched her father lob a chicken wing at Apollo and was now attempting to make conversation. It was clear that she admired him in more ways than one, and the 35 year-old Edgeworth wasn't going to have people's rumours and opinions of his interactions with a 17 year-old girl floating about. He was doing his best to deter her, but to no avail. Now it was Phoenix's turn to smirk, which caused Edgeworth to suspect that he had sent her on purpose. He finally drew the line when she produced a set of 'Magic Panties' and dared him to stick his hand in.
Everyone's varying levels of enjoyment at the party gradually died down, and people left one by one, until only Apollo, whose apartment it was, and Phoenix, Edgeworth and Godot, who were helping him clear up, remained. No one felt like talking as they picked up the trash. All of a sudden, there was a bright flash, and a portal of sorts opened up next to the door. The vortex pulsed and glowed as it drew in its targets- Phoenix, Edgeworth and Godot. It slowly sucked them in. Phoenix and Edgeworth were panicking, but Godot remained calm, drinking from his ever-present cup of coffee. Another flash, and all three were gone. In a daze, and unable to register what had just happened, Apollo did the first thing that came to mind. He jumped into the portal after them, right before it closed. As suddenly as it had appeared, it vanished, leaving no trace of itself or the four lawyers it had just sucked up.
"Who are these guys?" a cocky, tomboyish voice asked.
"Girls! You were supposed to focus on the Princesses!" another voice, this one sounding intelligent and well-read.
"Well I certainly see no harm in asking such handsome creatures their business here," retorted a third voice, this one posh and sophisticated.
Phoenix Wright groaned, wondering groggily what the voices he could hear were arguing about. He was sore all over. His mouth felt like it was full of sand. As the voices continued to squabble, a southern accent, a hyperactive squeal and a shy whisper contributed their opinions to the discussion. Phoenix blearily opened his eyes a small bit. His vision was blurred, but to his right there was a magenta shape sprawled on the ground, which he assumed was Edgeworth, and a little ways past him was a red and white blob who could only have been Apollo. He closed his eyes again and worked up the courage to reopen them a few minutes later. When he did, his vision was clearer, and he was in for a shock. He was in a library that seemed to be hollowed out of a huge tree. On the second floor, there was what appeared to be a dragon snoozing in a cat basket. But that's not the strange part. The strange part was the 6 pastel coloured horses staring at him. All fully grown mares.
He didn't want to believe it, but Phoenix was fairly sure that they were the owners of the voices he had heard arguing. As they all began arguing once more, and ignoring the fact that he was awake, he managed to match voice to face. The cocky voice came from a cyan, winged pony with a rainbow mane. She had a gold necklace with a red lightning bolt studded into it. 4 other mares had similar necklaces, however the owner of the intelligent voice had a tiara with a star studded into it. She was a purple pony with a single horn, which Phoenix guessed made her a unicorn. The wings made the cyan pony a pegasus according to Greek mythology. The purple unicorn had a bowl cut mane, which was darker purple with pink highlights. She seemed to be the leader of the group. The posh voice belonged to a white unicorn with an elegantly styled purple mane. The southern accent belonged to an orange pony with no distinguishing features other than the fact that she was, well, orange . Her blond mane was tied back unspectacularly and covered with a cowboy hat. She smelled strongly of apples. The hyperactive squeal belonged to a pink pony with a darker pink mane that was as gravity-defying as Phoenix's own spiky hairstyle. She was constantly bouncing, wiggling her legs so vigorously that she seemed to float into the air, despite her lack of wings or a horn. The shy whisper came from a nondescript pale yellow pegasus with a light pink mane. She was very quiet and shy, hiding from the lawyers behind her mane and whispering and stuttering suggestions into the discussion.
Such was the nature of the company Phoenix found himself faced with upon his awakening. In the corner of his eye he saw Edgeworth stir. Phoenix shakily got to his feet, but it was strange. He felt wrong somehow. He was still fatigued, and had to remain on all fours in order to prevent himself from toppling over. The 6 mares noticed him.
"Oh, you're finally awake," beamed the purple unicorn. "Sorry for the inconvenience. We were practising a summoning spell and it went wrong, because somepony couldn't stay focused for 2 minutes," -she shot a glare at her friends- " Excuse me for a moment," she continued, and trotted over to her friends to resume her discussion about who was at fault.
She introduced them to Phoenix. "This is Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy," she said, pointing to each mare in turn, "And I'm Twilight Sparkle. Pleased to meet you!"
"I'm Phoenix Wright," Phoenix introduced himself, "And, uh, if you don't mind..." -he drew in a breath- "Why the hell am I in a hollow tree with a dragon sleeping upstairs and colourful talking HORSES staring at me? " he screeched.
Everypony stopped what they were doing and stared at Phoenix. Finally Rainbow Dash spoke up, "Did you hit your head or something? Or are you just stupid?"
"Rainbow Dash! How rude!" Rarity commented indignantly. She addressed Phoenix, "Darling, you are a handsome stallion. If you don't believe me then look in the mirror. I for one do not think you peculiar in any way, and I would love to get to know you better. You look simply fabuloooooous ." She swooned and fluttered her eyelashes at this last statement. She wandered off someplace to find a mirror.
But Phoenix had stopped paying attention at the word 'stallion'. "Stallion? " he thought, "That can't be right. A stallion is a male horse, and I'm a human...aren't I? "
True to her word, Rarity returned, with a mysteriously floating mirror trailing behind her. It was surrounded by a light blue aura. A similar aura surrounded Rarity's horn. Phoenix could only assume that she was using magic of some sort.
Phoenix took a look in the mirror, if only to confirm his fears, and nearly died of a heart attack. In place of his usual tall and sturdy build, there was a pegasus stallion, with a dark blue coat and a black mane and tail which were done up in a sickeningly familiar spiky hairstyle. Phoenix stood looking at his reflection, hyperventilating. His vision was blurring and he was in real danger of fainting. But he didn't. Instead he yelped loud enough to wake the dead, let alone Edgeworth, who also seemed to have been ponified, snoozing beside him.
Edgeworth rose to his feet. Unlike Phoenix he was quicker on the draw. The second he saw Phoenix he connected the dots. He joined Phoenix by the mirror, but since he knew what was coming merely by glancing at Phoenix, he didn't scream or panic. He merely sighed at the thought of the nightmares to come. He was a magenta stallion, without wings or a horn. An earth pony was the correct term, if he heard the discussion he had been listening to right. He had a black mane and tall. His fringe had elaborated itself into his mane.
"Brilliant. Just brilliant. " he muttered to himself, "Trapped in the land of colourful talking ponies, with a panicked Wright and soon to be panicked Apollo. "
He decided that he should try to be civil with these mares. After all it was better to get on their good side if he wanted to return to Earth, for he could only assume that this was another world entirely.
"Hello ladies. My name is Miles Edgeworth, however you may refer to me as Edgeworth," -managing to execute a very admirable pony version of his signature charming bow- "and we would be gratified if you would help us get our bearings. The dark blue fellow next to me is Phoenix Wright, and the sleeping dope is Apollo Justice."
The Mane 6 were no match for Edgeworth's charms. While they filled him in on the workings of Equestria (they just assumed their spell had messed up his memory in some way or another), a very fatigued Apollo Justice, who had been awake longer than the other two, but hadn't bothered moving, finally decided to get to his feet. He'd heard the whole conversation, from the argument, to Phoenix's reactions and Edgeworth's charms. From this he had a fair grasp on what was going on, and was aware of his own transformation. He strode up to the mirror like he owned the place. Despite the fact that he knew what to expect, be still jumped a little when he saw himself. Not unlike Rarity, he was a white unicorn, however he was wearing a red vest and his signature bracelet was around his right foreleg. Unsurprisingly, it still fitted him perfectly, thanks to the special alloy it was made of. His brunette mane and tail were spiked, not as if he had been standing in front a jet engine like Phoenix's, but rather as if he had gelled them. It gave the slightly comical impression that he had three horns. He introduced himself to everypony.
Once the 3 lawyers had calmed down, they explained their situation to Twilight and her friends. Though they got some strange looks, and once or twice a snort of laughter would come from Rainbow or Pinkie, they weren't interrupted. At the end of their tale, Twilight said, "That's quite the story. But I think I believe you."
She then outlined what their actions had been before the trio arrived. "We were practising a summoning spell that can reach between dimensions. It's a little hard to explain, but basically this spell, which requires the most powerful magic known to Equestria, the Elements of Harmony, can cut through the barriers that separate worlds and take ponies -and humans too apparently- here. Princesses Celestia and Luna, rulers of the day and night respectively, have to go to another world on a mission with Discord. They can get there on their own, but the problem lies in getting back . So they went to a realm they can return from at will so we could practise summoning them. But the problem is that all six of us need to stay in focus on our targets. Now, who got distracted? Who's the least likely to stay on topic for 2 minutes?" Five heads swivelled in the direction of Pinkie Pie.
"Pinkie, were you focusing on the princesses when we performed the spell?" Twilight asked.
"Oh I was at first, but then I started thinking how cool it would be if the princesses were LAWYERS! They'd be all like 'Objection! That's not relevant.' and 'Hold it! Why were you there in the first place?' and stuff. Then I got super determined to train the princesses to be the best lawyers they could be! And I thought that Luna could be the defense attorney, fighting for the weak and Celestia could be the ruthless prosecutor! So then I thought that to train them to be lawyers I'd have to get the best lawyers! I needed a determined defense attorney and some vicious prosecutors. So then I focused on them instead!" she replied, sounding pleased with herself.
Throughout Pinkie's monologue, Phoenix and Apollo were twitching involuntarily. Phoenix would ruffle or flare his wings, and Apollo would pick up books, quills, paper and on one occasion Fluttershy, with his magic, only to drop them after a few seconds.
"Mystery solved. Ah guess Pinkie was a might overbearin' and distracted everypony else," Applejack sighed.
"Double mystery solved actually, because I have a reputation for never giving up on my clients, and so does my protege, Apollo," Phoenix explained, "And Edgeworth has a...dubious reputation for using any means necessary to get his guilty verdict."
"Wright, keep your gossip to yourself. That was then and this is now. Now I pursue the truth, just like you," Edgeworth responded.
"So, how do we go back?" asked Apollo.
"Ummm...about that...I seriously doubt you can. Travelling between worlds takes a huge amount of energy. Energy we don't have access to," said Twilight awkwardly.
Now it was Edgeworth's turn to panic. "WHAT? But I thought you said those 'Elements of Harmony' things were the most powerful magic you had? If they can call princesses, why can't they send lawyers?" he asked in a daze.
"We'd have to research the spell. Could take years. If you want us to try, get used to Equestria," Twilight answered bluntly, "Plus, you guys would have to read up on magic too for that extra boost of energy," she continued.
There was a lapse in conversation. You could have heard a pin drop, except for one sound. Somepony was drinking coffee.
"Blacker than a moonless night... Hotter and more bitter than Hell itself...that is coffee."
In the commotion following the attorney's arrival, nopony had noticed a teal unicorn with a visor over his eyes, three horizontal red lines that were glowing. His mane and tail were white, and unlike Apollo, he knew what he was doing with his magic, and his ever-present coffee mug was floating in the air, surrounded by a red aura. Oh yes, Prosecutor Godot was calm, collected and cool as ever. He was unperturbed by the fact that he was now a colourful talking pony, with other colourful talking ponies surrounding him.
"We have to do what we have to do to return, then we might as well start now," he said as if nothing strange was happening. "And if we fail, well then we fail. Simple as that," he continued, treating the situation like a trip to the store.
"I agree with the laser face pony. Uhhh, what's his name?" asked Rainbow Dash.
"Some spend their entire lives waiting for me, Diego Armando, to appear. However you may call me Godot," he replied cryptically.
"Why is there a visor on your face?" asked Rainbow.
"I was poisoned some 15 years ago. It turned all my hair white and destroyed my eyesight. Even with these huge goggles on my head, I still can't see the colour red on a white background," was the answer.
"Oh YEAH! This is my GUY!" shouted Rainbow Dash enthusiastically, "He's cool, looks awesome and he hangs on no matter what!"
Inspiration struck Pinkie Pie. Inspiration for a prank, that is. She wanted to be the one to tip the coolest guy around over the edge. "Hey Godot, do you like Apollo's vest?" she asked, giggling slightly "Isn't the red pretty?"
"What vest...? Oh I see. Haha very funny," came the deadpan reply, "Red on a white background."
"All right, so if we have to teach these guys about the different types of magic, I think Edgeworth and Godot should stay here with me. I can teach Godot some unicorn magic and Edgeworth can read up on earth pony magic. Because, no offence Applejack, but you don't know much about Earth pony magic, and neither does Pinkie," said Twilight.
Rarity chimed in, "I will watch over Apollo. His fashion sense is to DIE for."
"I don't know much about pegasus magic, but I think I know more than Fluttershy, who's scared of heights," Rainbow said, cocky as ever, "I'll take Phoenix back to my cloud place and then teach him all kinds of acrobatics!"
"Great. The guy who's scared of heights gets to be a pegasus and has to fly into the sky and learn acrobatics. Not to mention messing with clouds, lightning bolts and the like. Maybe I should go with Fluttershy... " thought Phoenix.
And so it was decided that until further notice, Godot and Edgeworth would stay in the library, Apollo would live in Carousel Boutique, and Phoenix would take to the skies with Rainbow. It was going to be a long ride home...
2: Daily Trials and Tribulations
Apollo was thoroughly sick of Rarity on day 2. She had insisted on him standing there while she designed various capes and vests using him as a model. Of course this involved waiting around for her to decide which fabric to use, and being at the receiving end of her tantrums when things didn't go right. Not to mention getting stabbed and cut by the needle. For whatever reason, Rarity had decided that she couldn't just test the patterns on Apollo, no, she had to assemble them on him too. This was something that worked on her mannequins, but didn't have the desired effect on a live stallion.
All in all, the last thing Apollo needed was a small filly bowling into him and knocking him over when Rarity had given him a break. Sweetie Belle looked down at him, thoroughly confused. As she saw the half assembled cape he hadn't bothered taking off, confusion turned to rage.
"RARITY!" she screeched, her voice cracking slightly, "You won't let me help you but you'll let some random stallion model for you?"
"By all means, take my place. I'm fed up."
"Who are you?"
"Apollo Justice, attorney at law."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"What, no comments? You seemed so chatty before," said Apollo, trying to be as polite and charming as Edgeworth, and failing miserably.
"So, what's your name?" Now that he had picked himself up, Apollo took in the little unicorn's appearance. Yet another white unicorn to add to the list. She resembled Rarity, Apollo assumed she was her sister, since Rarity had talked about one.
Silence. Apollo waved a hoof in front of her face. She didn't even blink.
"Hello?"
Slightly concerned for her well being, Apollo shook the small filly.
"Huh, what? Oh uh...I wasn't sleeping in class, honest!" she gabbled, as sluggish as someone waking up from a two hour nap.
"Wow, she's really perfected the art of zoning out ," Apollo thought to himself.
"Your name, what is it?" he asked.
"I'm Sweetie Belle, and I'm a Cutie Mark Crusader!" she said with glee.
"A what mark what now?"
"I do crusading to find my cutie mark! I really want to be a designer like Rarity, but she never let's me help her. It's so unfair!"
"Excuse me for a moment."
Apollo went to where Rarity was measuring lengths of thread and various ribbons. Apollo could only hope that he wasn't going to have to model the outfits she planned on using them in. She was completely absorbed in her work and hadn't even noticed Sweetie Belle's arrival, or her conversation with Apollo.
"Rarity, what's a cutie mark?"
"It's the symbol on your flank, dear. It represents your special talent and your destiny."
For the first time, Apollo noticed the gems on Rarity's flank. He didn't get what they stood for, but she seemed to be good with fabric and sparkly things.
"Your sister's here, and she doesn't seem to have one."
"Yes, she hasn't earned it yet. Poor thing, she's so desperate to discover it that it's become an obsession of hers. I fear that it may be hazardous to her health. She tries too hard. She doesn't seem to be able to grasp the concept of 'waiting'."
"Thanks Rarity."
"You're quite welcome dear."
Rarity resumed working, and Apollo twisted his neck to see if he had a cutie mark. Indeed he did. It was an eye, with his bracelet surrounding the pupil. It reminded him of his Perceive ability, which he guessed it was referring to. As he looked at it, he felt bad for Sweetie Belle. Here he was, a pony for less than 48 hours and he had his cutie mark while this little filly didn't.
"Sorry about that I was just asking Rarity something," he said, returning to Sweetie Belle
"What did you ask her?"
Problem. Apollo and the others had been told to keep the fact that they were humans a secret, but what pony didn't know what a cutie mark was?
"Ummm...I asked her for a longer break...?"
"Hey! Can I see your cutie mark!?"
Before Apollo had a chance to answer she had rushed up and was staring at his flank. Apollo couldn't explain why, but he felt dirty with her so close to him.
"Hey Apollo! What's your special talent?"
"How do I explain it to someone who hasn't seen it? Um, ok, say something to me, a lie or the truth. It doesn't matter," he said
"Diamond Tiara is my best friend."
Apollo's bracelet tightened, and as she spoke, Sweetie Belle shuffled her left forehoof just the tiniest bit forward.
"Gotcha!
He focused on her, and began Perceiving her movements.
"You're lying, Sweetie Belle. When you said 'best friend', you shuffled your hoof forward. I'm willing to bet that this 'Diamond Tiara' pony isn't your best friend. In fact, she's your worst enemy!"
"Awesome! You're good!"
"That is all, Sweetie Belle."
"Wow! That's amazing! Could you really tell all that just 'cause I shuffled my hoof? I didn't even realize I did that!" she said with excitement.
"That's my Perceive ability. If somepony is lying or hiding something from me, the bracelet I'm wearing tightens, and if I focus and look and listen close enough I can see small, subconscious twitches. Sometimes the nature of the twitch itself tells me the truth, and sometimes just the fact that they were twitching isn't enough, and I need to present evidence to back my claim," explained Apollo.
"Well that was super interesting! I have to try that with my friends right now! We can be 'Cutie Mark Crusader Lie Detectors'!" Sweetie squealed, and ran off to go find Scootaloo and Applebloom.
"Well that was a productive waste of time ," thought Apollo.
"Oh Apolloooooo!" called a sing-song voice with a posh accent, "I have a new idea that I think you'd look positively dashing in!"
"Oh joy..."
~~~
Phoenix clung to the cloud and refused to let go. He was being ravaged by vertigo, and wanted nothing more than to be sick all over his fluffy life raft. He still didn't quite get how he wasn't falling right through it, but basic laws of nature seemed to have been flung out of the window here, so he was rolling with it.
He wasn't enjoying his time in the sky so far. Rainbow Dash was a mistress as cruel and unforgiving as the ocean, calling him a wimp and telling him to toughen up constantly. It wasn't his fault that he was scared of heights. He wasn't always quite this bad, but if falling off a bridge isn't enough of a bad experience, then Phoenix didn't know what was.
"Come on, Nick!" Rainbow called. She had insisted upon calling him by his nickname, because she claimed that 'Phoenix' would 'confuse ponies' because apparently there were actual phoenixes here.
Phoenix had received a similar education on cutie marks, and his happened to be his green magatama, with chains crossed in front of it, and a Psyche-Lock that was split down the middle on the point where the chains crossed. The magatama itself had been tucked under a wing when he arrived. It now hung around his neck on a string, glowing faintly with its comforting light.
Phoenix decided to try again to fly and get Rainbow off his back. He spread his blue wings and flapped unsteadily towards Rainbow.
"Took you long enough! Come on, I have to show you how to move the clouds around. All pegasi are expected to know how," the irritated sky coloured pegasus said, flicking her tail.
Phoenix sat himself down on a cloud, landing heavily with vertigo scouring him mercilessly once more.
An angry shout from below drew both Phoenix and Rainbow's attention groundward. A magenta Earth pony stood dripping wet with a purple unicorn fighting to suppress her laughter. Phoenix hadn't realised that the cloud had been full of rain, which he'd dropped all over Edgeworth, and only Edgeworth, missing Twilight somehow.
"Is there room for two more at this festivity of cruelty or is the party fully booked?" asked Edgeworth, his tones completely deadpan.
"We need to get some stuff from your cloud house," called Twilight. She glanced at Edgeworth, "Well I do. He's just here because I couldn't trust him on his own in the library. I mean, what if he damaged the books?"
"Yet you'll leave the coffee addict who spent the whole morning looking for something to make his Godot Blend #107 with alone without batting an eyelid. You even went and got coffee beans for him!" countered Edgeworth.
"I couldn't help myself, that Godot Blend #107 is good stuff. But hey, that's what you'd expect from a guy whose cutie mark is a coffee bean."
"Cutie mark... I've heard the term several times now, but no one has actually explained it to me," mused Edgeworth.
"Picture on your butt, Edgeworth," Phoenix said from his cloud, trying to provoke more rain from it.
Edgeworth stole a glance. A Logic Chess piece. Simple and to the point.
"Come on, cut to the chase already. What do you need?" asked Rainbow impatiently.
"I need some-"
CRASH
Twilight was cut off as the sky lit up with a flash of lightning and the resounding boom of thunder. At first all eyes were on Phoenix, but he shook his head and pointed a hoof in the direction of a black cloud, which had a gray pegasus with a yellow mane bouncing on it. The lightning had set a tree on fire.
"I just don't know what went wrong!" the gray pegasus exclaimed as she continued bouncing nonchalantly, seemingly unaware that it was her jumping that had caused the problem in the first place.
The four ponies dragged their eyes away from the spectacle. Twilight's horn glowed and she and Edgeworth were momentarily surrounded by her magical aura.
"I'll tell you what I want when we get there. I just cast the cloudwalking spell, so Edgeworth and I won't fall through."
Her horn remained glowing, but Phoenix couldn't tell what she was carrying. He and Rainbow flew overhead, while Twilight and Edgeworth trotted below. Phoenix made the mistake of looking down. He panicked momentarily and found himself plummeting that direction. He had a surprisingly soft landing; Edgeworth wasn't as bony as he looked.
He fluttered back up sheepishly.
"Thanks for the safety net, Edgeworth"
Edgeworth dusted himself off and grunted.
They reached Rainbow's cloud house without incident. The problem of figuring out a way to get the two ground bound ponies up persisted. Rainbow claimed that she wasn't quite awesome enough to carry a pony upwards on her own, but nopony trusted Phoenix to help her.
"I already got this covered," said Twilight. "We'll use this stepladder"
She floated the object into view. Phoenix realised that it had been what she was carrying earlier. Still he just had one comment to make...
"That's a ladder."
"That's what Twilight said. Didn't you hear her?" said Rainbow.
"She said it was a stepladder."
"Does it matter Wright?" asked Edgeworth.
"Wait, I'm confused, there's a difference? Which one is it?" said Rainbow, clearly as confused as she claimed to be.
"A ladder," Phoenix stated.
"Phoenix. You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions," scolded Twilight.
"Why do I feel like I've heard that line before? " thought Phoenix.
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.
