Ace Attorney: World Tour-nabout

A few more guards came shortly after to get a statement from each of us outside the now empty Concert Hall, but they mainly focused on the ponies in the band and the security guard. I saw Twilight talking to one of the guards before walking over to us.

"I'm so sorry, you guys. I know you didn't want your birthday spent giving testimony for a murder, Apollo."

"It's fine, Twilight. Any news?" I ask.

"Yeah. If there is a silver lining in all of this, the A/V pony regained consciousness. He'll have a bandaged head, but he's perfectly fine otherwise."

"Well that's good...Any details about the murder?" Athena asks.

"They're pretty tight-lipped, even with me."

"So what about...Octavia...was it? When is her trial?" I ask.

"It's the day after tomorrow. The Equestrian Council, from what I was able to pry out of that guard, sees it as a pretty open-and-shut case. There were only four ponies backstage at the time besides the security guard. Two of them were hit on the head and one of them was locked in his room. Octavia seems to be the only one who could have committed the crime."

"But will she get a lawyer?" Athena asks.

"Yes, we guarantee a lawyer, but chances are she'll get a pro bono lawyer who will probably get her to plea bargain."

"But that's not right. I don't think she did it! Her heart cried out to me when she was arrested." Athena says passionately.

"What?"

"Oh, I have a gift of detecting emotions in voices. I use it, combined with my buddy Widget, to try and psychoanalyze witnesses."

"Pretty Purple Pony!" Widget says mechanically.

"Shut it!" Athena says aside.

(Welcome to "Widgets Say the Darnest Things, Folks)

"Guys...I've told Octavian about your prowess.. I'm not trying to pressure you, but ...."

"You want us to take on her case, don't you?" I ask.

"She's not guilty...I can tell that even without psychoanalysis...and  besides, no pony deserves to be banished."

"Where to?" Athena asks.

"The sun...or the moon if she's lucky"

"THE SUN!" Athena exclaims.

"Will you guys do this? If not, I can always send you back to your world."

"Count us in." Athena says.

"I'd thought you say that. Here, put these on!"

Twilight uses her magic and gives us two plastic pink hearts.

"What....are...these?" Athena asks

"They're Equestrian Attorney Badges."

"You have to be kidding me." I say, hopeful but not expecting much.

"Nope."

"You expect us to wear these? Are there any less feminine ones?" I ask.

"Sorry, the newer and more refined ones are all at the Canterlot University of Law. This is the best I could do."

(I might as well hand Jean Armstrong my man card)

"Wait...how did you know that we would be needing thes...." I ask.

"I'll teleport you guys to the detention center. "

Twilight aims a blast of magic at us, and the world goes white for a minute.

June 20

Detention Center

(It's funny how similar our two worlds look. Even the detention centers look alike.)

"These are Apollo Justice and Athena Cykes. They would like to defend Octavia Melody." Twilight says.

"We'll get the defendant." A generic guard says.

"I have to go now, only the lawyers and those involved the Justice Department can visit defendants.Give me a call on this walkie talkie when you want to come back.

"We could just walk there..." Athena says.

"It's too far, and it's getting pretty dark, besides, only attorneys can visit their defendant."

(Why is she being so pushy?)

"Ok, see ya Twilight." I say.

Twilight teleports again, leaving us alone in a foreign jail

(This is never good...)

"Excuse me...I was summoned because I heard that there were two lawyers here to see m...."

We turn to see a grey earth mare staring at us.

"Yeah, we're the lawyers. I'm Athena Cykes, and this is my co-council Apollo Justice.

(Hold your...horses....ugg...I'm already thinking in horse puns....Is seniority not practiced anymore?)

"Oh...Sorry, I just wasn't aware that two...humans...wanted to defend me."

"Is that ok?" Athena asks.

"Yes, don't get me wrong; I was just taken aback at the presence of humans in Equestria."

(She probably was in shock when we first encountered her. Makes sense why she reacted the way she did.)

Who are you?

"So can you tell us your name and a bit about yourself?" I ask, trying to assert my dominance as the lead attorney.

"My name is Octavia Melody, and I'm the cellist for the Melodic Minors. We're a rock-orchestra fusion band which was going to tour around the world. The Griffin Kingdom, Saddle Arabia, Maretania, Belgymkhana, Barcepona...Trottingham.......we were going places..."

"Wow. How long was the tour going to last?" Athena asks.

"Pretty long...in fact, most of the band didn't want to have an indefinite tour."

"Why? Sounds pretty fun!" Athena says.

"Others had their family and friends. Level, our stage manager, has a sister in Manehattan that he's just getting back on terms with, so he objected to the tour."

(I thought Level was an A/V person...Hmm...Does that mean he was the one who fired Vinyl?)

The Band

"What was your relationship like with with the rest of the band?" I ask.

"It's fine...I mean, we have our ups and downs, but we all get along fine"

(Ahh!...my bracelet's killing me. That can only mean one thing, Octavia's lying.)

Would you say that again? Sorry, my hearing's a bit dull." I say.

"Your hear--- mmmph" Athena says as I put a hand over her mouth.

"Sure...."

"It's fine...I mean, we have our ups and downs, but we all get along fine"

"Octavia, the first rule of being a lawyer is 'Always trust your client'. But that goes both ways. I have to trust you, and when you mentioned  that "we ALL get along", your hoof shook. I can tell that the relationship wasn't all rainbows and cupcakes."

"I'm sorry.... You are most right: The band was not as unified as it used to be."

"Why didn't you tell us that in the first place? Athena asks.

"It's kind of personal...but I apologize from keeping the truth from you."

(Makes you wonder what else she's hiding...)

Band's History

"Can you tell us about the history of the band?" I ask.

"Yes. The band was actually formed out of necessity, as two groups were set to play at a concert with only one timeslot. Level, Frederic, and I were a classical ensemble. Vinyl and Neon were a dubstep duo. That night, we formed the Melodic Minors. We started to tour Equestria. Then, things started to go wrong. Level broke his femur when he got hit by a taxi when visiting his sister in Manehattan. I called in a favor and got Concerto to fill in for him."

"But why is he a stage manager and not the violinist?"

"I don't know...Perhaps he got tired of performing or perhaps he wanted to focus more on his talent, technology. Anyhoof, the band's chemistry was knocked off balance and hasn't been the same ever since. Here's an article with some more details if you need it.

Violinist Injured, Band Suffers Article added to Evidence

(Kinda reminds me of when I took a hiatus during the Cosmos Space Station trial...)

Your Movements

"Lastly, could you tell us your movements before and after the crime?"

"Sure. I was practicing my cello behind stage when Level came to tell me about the soundcheck. As I was finishing getting prepared for the Concert, Concerto texts me asking for me to come to his dressing room. When I get there, he's lying on the floor with a wound on his head."

She shifts her position; now she looks tense.

"I was too shocked to move. Until...he opened his eyes. He got up and started yelling at me. He said that I would pay for this, that I would never play in any orchestra again...but then....the pipe....started to float."

"Float? How?" I ask.

"I do not know...it did not look like unicorn magic because it normally has a sheen. This was clear, no sheen, it looked like it was floating.The pipe then started to strike Concerto, hard. Again and again and again. I think that's when I screamed. The pipe hit the floor, and then the band showed up."

(So it looks like someone is trying to frame Octavia...Wow, am I really turning my head into the exposition chunnel?)

Lead Pipe Added into Evidence

Octavia's Cell Phone Added into Evidence

"I know it sounds fraudulent, but it is the truth!"

"So will you allow us to be your attorneys?" Athena asks.

"Of course! Thank you ever so much."

(Finally a relatively normal defendant...besides the fact that she's a pony.)

Suddenly a guard walks into Octavia's side of the room.

"Sorry, it's 9:00. Visiting hours are over."

"We'll come back and see you tomorrow, Octavia, after we investigate some." Athena says.

"Thank you." Octavia says before following the guard back to her cell.

"So, what do you think? Can we trust her?" I whisper

"I think we can, although I detected a few emotions differing from her testimony's tone."

"But don't our witnesses normally have that?" I ask

"Yeah, but why lie to us about the band's in-fighting and stuff?" Athena replies angrily

"Maybe she was ashamed of it?"

"Perhaps. We'll be sure to chisel away at her testimony once we have some evidence."

I grab my walkie-talkie from my pocket.

"Hey Twilight, we need to come back. Do you have a place for us to stay?"

"Yes. I think you'll find it quite comfortable."

We are again surrounded by a sheen of white light, and when we reappear, all I can do is gape.

"Welcome to Canterlot Castle!" Twilight says.