Nocturna Ace Attorney: Equestrian Trials

Nocturna Ace Attorney: Equestrian Trials Trial Day 2

Nocturna and Trixie both sit inside Defendant Lobby No.6, present in the ponyville courthouse. Looking up from the case files, Nocturna looks briefly at the two guards positioned at the entrance door to the court, two royal guardponies. Her investigation yesterday had been fairly informative, but sadly there is still a good bit to find out, and there’s not a lot to go off on in the event of trouble, apart from that one trump card.

“So, how’re you today, Trixie?” Nocturna asks, keeping her spirit up and keeping a smile on her face.

“Apart from being accused of murder, I’m doing fine, thanks. You seem happy about something,” Trixie states, a bit confused.

“Well, I’m confident that, if all else fails, this letter here will get us out of a mess,” She states, hoofing Trixie the note.

“Well, whoever wrote this note obviously hates me for some reason or another..” Trixie says, sighing a bit in sadness. She doesn’t tend to think about it much, but ever since she has tried to change her ways, and take up a more honest magical career, she’s tried to make amends with those that she’s hurt, similar to what she hoped would’ve happened that night, had the murder not occurred, but some ponies wouldn’t accept her apologies, which was understandable but saddened her as well.

“Apparently it was a pony by the name of Moonlit Shard. It appears she’s either an accomplice or blackmailing somepony, forcing him or her to be the accomplice. Either way, she’s involved, and she’s had quite a history with the Equestrian Guard, after escaping the courtroom she was in when she was found out to be the murderer in a case a while back. Why she’s appearing now though is a bit strange..” Nocturna tells Trixie, not noticing her turning a bit pale.

“M-Moonlit Shard?! Noct-” Trixie didn’t get to finish her statement before being interrupted by the Bailiff.

“The defense and the defendant will proceed to the courtroom immediately!”

“Come on Trixie, let’s go,” Nocturna says, walking through the doors, and watching Trixie get escorted to the defendants seat. After a few minutes, The Judge, Redwell, and the observers/gallery arrive into the courtroom. The Judge bangs his gavel to initiate the start of the trial.

“Court will now commence for the trial of Trixie Lulamoon. Are both the prosecution and the defense ready to begin?”

“The prosecution was born ready, your honor,” Redwell states, confidently.

“The defense is ready, your honor,” Nocturna says, evenly.

“Ah, so you’re that new defense attorney I heard about. You seem pretty confident today,” Judge says, a bit surprised.

“Thank you, your honor,” Nocturna states, even though inside she’s pretty nervous.

Alright Nocturna, you got this. You know the facts, you have the evidence, you simply need to piece everything together and find the truth.

“The prosecution may make their opening statement,” Judge says, nodding to the prosecutions table.

“Thank you, your honor. The two victims, 18 year olds Snips and Snails, were murdered in room 13 on floor one of the Hay & Stay hotel in ponyville at 8:00PM, two days ago. According to the autopsy report, they both were killed through a single shot to their hearts. I’ve also been given footage from the night of the crime, that showed the defendant going to the scene of the crime right before the time of the murder. Even though we can’t get a proper magic analysis due to tampering, more-than-likely done by the defendant, I claim this is an open and shut case, your honor,” Redwell tells the court.

“Very well, the court accepts the Autopsy Report and footage as evidence, alongside the murder weapon,” Judge states, banging his gavel.

>Autopsy Report added to the court record<

“The prosecution may call its first witness.”

A blue-furred rainbow-maned pegasus takes the witness stand, and right as she does Nocturna can tell that she doesn't like Trixie.

Tense, seems to be more of angry confidence than nervousness though. Hopefully, she'll slip up quite fine.

"Witness, state your name and occupation," Redwell says to her.

"Rainbow Dash, weather patrol division 2 of the town of ponyville," Rainbow says.

“Please testify to the court what you witnessed the night of the murder,” Judge stated.

Witness Testimony: What I observed

At the time of the murder, I walked by the hallway, heading to the staircase.

Right when I passed by it, BOOM there were gunshots!

Afterwards, I saw Trixie leave that room, and I hid before she spotted me.

“As the court can very well here, this matches up perfectly with what I’ve already said,” Redwell says, expecting the trial to end very shortly.

“While you are correct, the defense has a right to cross examine the witness, if they so please,” Judge states.

“The defense does wish to cross-examine the witness, your honor,” Nocturna says, preparing.

Alright, I know where I need to go with this. There are no clear contradictions, so I need to dig for new nuggets of information.

Cross-Examination

At the time of the murder, I walked by the hallway, heading to the staircase.

HOLD IT!

“So, this hallway you're referring to is the first floor hallway then, correct?” Nocturna asks, verifying the information.

“Yep, the same one the security footage was taken at!” Rainbow says.

Right when I passed by it, BOOM there were gunshots!

HOLD IT!

Alright Rainbow Dash, let’s get a bit more information..

“Can you please tell the court how many gunshots you heard, since you were near the scene of the crime?” Nocturna questions.

“Sure! There were two gunshots, obviously one for each one. Never knew that arrogant plothole could aim!” Rainbow says, laughing a bit.

I've got you now.

“Please refrain from personal attacks on the defendant. In any case, please amend this information to your testimony!” Judge states after banging his gavel.

“Sure thing!”

There were two gunshots, each one taking a life.

OBJECTION!

“Your honor, I’d like you to take a look at this,” Nocturna says, levitating the pictures of the bullet holes to Judge.

“Hmm...there’s one, two....three bullet holes.....wait, three?!” Judge exclaims in shock, realizing the lie in the testimony.

OBJECTION!

Redwell shouts after the crowd goes into a minor uproar.

“So she didn’t hear a third bullet, so what? Perhaps she was distracted and miscounted the amount of firings,” He says, smiling.

OBJECTION!

“I find it hard to believe she would miss the hearing of a third gunshot, especially if she saw my client go to that scene. It appears to me like she has hatred for Trixie, noticeable by how she's been describing it, alongside her tenseness, bearing not a resemblance to nervousness, but of angry confidence! If we take this into account and do a bit of research, I think we could easily find a venomous link between the two!” Nocturna shouts back at Redwell, making him shake his head.

OBJECTION!

"You'll need to provide a better reasoning than that. "Tense in angry confidence"? That is nonsense! I would say any witness would be a bit nervous on the stand. Furthermore, you've shown the court nothing to warrant such a check!"

OBJECTION!

"What about the third bullet?"

OBJECTION!

“There's obviously a good reason for the mishearing, and we simply need more testimony to ascertain that reason," Redwell finishes, bowing.

"I agree with the prosecution. Ms. Dash, please explain why you didn't hear the third bullet!" Judge says, banging his gavel.

Witness Testimony 2: What about the third bullet?

When I initially passed the hall, I actually went ahead to the staircase.

When I arrived, I heard a thud from the hallway

I went back, and then the rest of the gunshots were heard then.

"How did the first gunshot just sound like a thud? That doesn't seem too likely," Judge comments, not too keen on this testimony.

"Simple to explain, your honor. Another magical analysis proved that a noise-cancellation field was present in the room at a recent time. This testimony shows when the field was and wasn't there," Redwell says.

"What about the thud?" Judge asks.

"Simple. When the first bullet was fired, the noise-cancellation field just made it sound like a thud from an impact, instead of the shot itself," Redwell states.

OBJECTION!

"But how could that be? A noise-cancellation field is supposed to eliminate all noises inside of the area it stretches to.." Nocturna says, confused.

"You're correct, it's meant to do so. However, in some cases, it is completely possible for it to actually drown out the noise, instead of canceling it, such as being right next to the field boundary," He says, showing a circle around the inferred borderline. The circle included the room, a bit of the upstairs rooms, and the bottom of the staircase.

>Hotel Diagram updated<

Hmm..I need to see about the staircase..

"Very well, the defense may begin the cross-examination of Ms. Dash!"

Cross-Examination

When I initially passed the hall, I actually went ahead to the staircase

HOLD IT!

"Two questions for you, one, why didn't you tell us this originally?" Nocturna starts by asking.

OBJECTION!

"What does it matter? That line of questioning won't lead us anywhere. The fact of the matter is she's fixing earlier information, and that it matters not. Next question!" He states.

"Fine. My second question is simple: How far up the stairs were you?" She asks.

"How far? I only trotted up around halfway before the thud was heard. I don't see the relevance though," Rainbow says, confused.

Halfway? That’s impossible, she would’ve never heard it then!

"Ms. Nocturna, is what the witness said important enough to add to her testimony?" Judge asks.

"I would say this is very important, and I would like for it to be added to the testimony," She replies.

"Very well, the witness will amend this information to her testimony!"

"Alright," Rainbow says.

I trotted up halfway up the staircase before the thud was heard.

OBJECTION!

“Ms. Dash, lying is very unbecoming of a mare like yourself,” Nocturna starts, shaking her head.

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow asks nervously.

“Take a look at the hotel diagram. As the prosecution has kindly illustrated for us, the condition for being able to hear a thud from the gunshot is on the border of the cancellation field. However, if you were halfway up the stairs, you wouldn’t have heard a sound!” Nocturna shouts, pointing her hoof. Redwell, instead of objecting, remains silent.

“Ms. Dash, what do you have to say for yourself? This is the second time you’ve lied to this court!” Judge shouts at Rainbow, her flinching.

“I..I want to go home now..” Rainbow says, cowering a bit.

OBJECTION!

“You’re going nowhere until told, Ms. Dash. You claim to’ve heard two gunshots and a thud, yet you were in no position to hear such! I think you’re trying to lie because you’re angry at the defendant!” Nocturna shouts again, confidently.

“How could I? I don’t even know her!” She says, obviously lying.

OBJECTION!

“I guess it’s time for me to step in,” Redwell starts, eying Rainbow.

“Hey, what gives?! I thought you were on my side!” She shouts at Redwell.

“I’m never on the side of a witness who won’t stop lying. I’ve done background checks on you, Ms. Dash, and found information about relations between you and the defendant. A long time back, she, as a young arrogant show mare, decided to insult and humiliate your group of six with her performance magic. After disappearing for some time, she appeared once more and enslaved your hometown, with the Alicorn Amulet, and use all of you as slaves. Trying to deny you know the defendant is futile, and I want you out of that stand,” Redwell says, striking a nail in her coffin.

“I agree with the prosecution. I do believe that this witness is better off being scratched from the record and put under surveillance, until the end of the trial today,” Judge states, waiting for approval or disapproval from the prosecution.

“The prosecution agrees, your honor. I request permission to call up my next witness as Ms. Dash is being escorted,” Redwell says.

I would've thought he would keep her here for longer..what's he planning? This only helps me at the moment..

“Very well, the prosecution may call up their next witness!”

"Witness, state your name and occupation for the record," Redwell tells the witness.

"My name is Nightlight, I prefer not to state my last name unless necessary. I'm currently more of a traveler than anything else, doing miscellaneous work as needed," She says, smiling in a fake kindness noticeable by Nocturna.

I can see how forced her smile is. On the inside, she's angry, but about what, I wonder?

“Very well, you may begin your testimony Ms. Nightlight!” Judge tells her.

Witness Testimony:

I was outside of the hotel at the time of the murder

I walked past the window of the late Snips & Snails when I heard 3 thuds

A bit confused, I started walking to the hotel door before seeing Trixie fleeing the scene.

Going to Snips & Snails’ room, I saw the dead bodies and alerted the staff, as I had no phone on my pony.

“Nice and clear-cut, huh, Nocturna?” Redwell asks, smiling. Nocturna simply shakes her head.

“The defense still wishes to cross-examine Ms.Nightlight!” She states, and the Judge nods.

“Very well, we shall start the cross-examination!” Judge exclaims.

Cross-Examination

I was outside the hotel at the time of the murder

HOLD IT!

“Any particular reason for being outside that late in the evening? I can assume there weren’t many ponies out,” Nocturna asks.

“Like I said, I’m a traveler. I was passing by the hotel on my way to my next location, I can only assume fate had it that I heard those thuds,” She replies.

“Alright, carry on then,” Nocturna says.

I walked past the window of the late Snips & Snails when I heard 3 thuds

HOLD IT!

“The window is a bit away from the sidewalk, is it not? Why were you sticking so close to the wall?” Nocturna asks. Nightlight flinches slightly.

“Well..I..” She starts to say.

OBJECTION!

“What does it matter? Maybe she was simply trying to hear about something interesting. It has to be boring never staying in the same town nor city all the time. Hardly enough time to usually hear what’s going on,” Redwell reasons.

OBJECTION!

“Even if she's a traveler, it seems a bit too coincidental that she just happened to be so close enough to hear all three like that," Nocturna argues.

"If..I may say something?" Nightlight interrupts.

"There was a reason I was that close to that specific window, it's because I received information that the defendant was going to that room, and I knew there was bad blood between them," She states.

"Ah, yes, I have forgotten to mention, her travels have led her to Ponyville during Trixie's power-trips, my apologies to the court," Redwell says.

"So I assume you alerted the staff something was amiss?" Nocturna asks.

"Indeed, I did, after I found the bodies. Many staff could attest to that fact," Nightlight says, forcing a hint of sadness.

"Shall we continue the cross-examination?" Nocturna asks.

"Yes, of course," Judge states.

A bit confused, I started walking to the hotel door before seeing Trixie flee the scene.

HOLD IT!

"With our new information, it's safe to assume you knew basically what might've happened, correct?" Nocturna questions.

"I assumed there was a fight, but I never guessed she would murder those two," Nightlight responds.

"Alright. Was my client holding anything, by any chance?" Nocturna asks.

"Holding anything? Hm..yes, actually..she was holding a knife," Nightlight responds. Redwell was taken aback at this.

"Why didn't you bring this up to me before?!" Redwell shouts.

"I originally didn't think it was relevant!" Nightlight responds back, evenly.

"Your honor, I request a recess so that we may analyze this knife, it could prove to be very important!" Redwell says.

"Agreed. We will take a 30 minute recess while the knife is being analyzed, and put this cross-examination on hold until then!” Judge exclaims, dismissing the court with a bang from his gavel.