Phoenix Wright: Anon-a-miss
Author's Note
I had to write this once I got the idea for it. The videos are music remixes of the original soundtrack. Sorry I couldn't find shorter versions of them. Please make a comment on any mistakes you notice; I will try to edit them as soon as possible.
Phoenix Wright: Anon-a-miss
"Hello Ms Shimmer, I'll be your defence lawyer today. I'm Phoenix Wright." Phoenix said as he introduced himself.
"Please you have to believe me, I didn't upload those posts," Sunset pleaded.
"If you plead not guilty, you will receive a larger sentence if found guilty."
"I know, but I didn't do it, you have to believe me."
"I do, I was just making sure you realised what is going to happen," Phoenix explained to his client.
"All the evidence they have is right there, It includes some of the schools most obscure files, like the computer sign-in sheet for the library or the email log between student accounts and other email addresses," The police officer told him.
"From this evidence, I can see that you were likely framed. I will try to reveal the real culprit, but it will be a difficult job since almost no one else has access to the secrets that were posted. If we have everything, then let's get this trial started," Phoenix told Sunset.
10th December 7:00 AM District Court Courtroom No. 1
The judge slammed his gavel to quiet down the crowd. "The court is now in session for the trial of Sunset Shimmer," he announced. "What does the defendant plead?"
"Not guilty, your Honour."
"Very well, is the prosecution ready?"
"The prosecution is ready, your Honour," the prosecutor told him.
"The defence is ready, your Honour," Phoenix declared. Hm, Phoenix thought, Legal Ace is the prosecutor, I better not show weakness, or he'll be on me in an instant.
"Legal Ace, please give the court your opening statement," the judge requested.
"Thank you, your Honour, the defendant, Sunset Shimmer, has accessed the anon-a-miss account from her phone. The prosecution sees no reason to doubt the facts of this case, your Honour." Legal Ace told the court.
"I see. Thank you, Mr Ace. Let's begin then. You may call your first witness to the stand," the judge told him.
"The prosecution calls police investigator Shining Armour. Witness, please state your name and profession to the court."
"My name is Shining Armour. Sir! I work as the head technology officer at the Canterlot Precinct."
"Officer Armour, please describe to the court the details of what occurred."
"Very well, sir! On the 1st of December, an online account by the name of Anon-A-Miss was created. Its first post was the details of an embarrassing childhood nickname for a student at Canterlot High School. The account then went on to produce multiple posts revealing different secrets for each student, before the company Myspace froze the account. The police were involved, and I was sent to the school to investigate what happened."
"Now officer..."
"Yes?"
"You immediately arrested Sunset when arrived at the school, correct?" Legal asked him.
"Yes, sir!"
"Can you tell me why you did that?"
"I had hard evidence that she was the culprit."
"Hmm, Officer Armour, testify to the court about this "hard evidence" please," the judge ordered.
WITNESS TESTIMONY
-Sunset Shimmers Arrest-
"As soon as the phone call came in, I headed to CHS. The student's there thought that Sunset Shimmer was anon-a-miss. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and, Sweetie Belle claimed to have seen her access the account. After that, I immediately arrested the defendant, Sunset Shimmer."
"Hm, three witnesses, you say. Very well, Mr Wright, you may begin your cross-examination."
"Y-yes, your Honour," Phoenix told him. "I would like to begin my cross-examination."
CROSS-EXAMINATION
-Sunset Shimmers Arrest-
"As soon as the phone call came in, I headed to CHS". Nothing wrong with that, Phoenix pondered.
"The student's there thought that Sunset Shimmer was anon-a-miss". Innocent before proven guilty is a joke, Phoenix thought.
"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and, Sweetie Belle claimed to have seen her access the account."
"HOLD IT"
"Yeah?"
"You said that you arrested Ms Shimmer because you had hard evidence."
"Did... did I say that? me?"
"Yes you did" Phoenix, Ace and the Judge told him.
Phoenix slammed his arms down onto the table in front of him. "Exactly what about the other student's claims is "hard evidence"?"
"Officer Armour, do you have any other evidence that Sunset Shimmer is anon-a-miss."
"Y-yes I do, your Honor. Sorry I got things a bit mixed up in my testimony, sir. There was something I should have told you about first."
"Very well, Officer. Let's hear your testimony again."
WITNESS TESTIMONY
-Hard Evidence-
"When I arrested Ms Shimmer, she gave me her phone to prove she wasn't anon-a-miss. When I accessed her phones history, it showed that the anon-a-miss account was accessed once on December 2nd. Sunset Shimmer used her phone to cyber-bully CHS students." The courtroom was abuzz at that proclamation, and the judge slammed his gavel to keep order. "How do you like that? That's my hard evidence."
"Hmm... before we begin cross-examination, I have a question for you Officer."
"Y-your Honour?"
"Why didn't you testify about this vital piece of evidence the first time!?"
"I'm really embarrassed I forgot about it, sir."
"Nevermind. Defence are you ready to cross-exam?"
"Yes, your Honour."
CROSS-EXAMINATION
-Hard Evidence-
"When I arrested Ms Shimmer, she gave me her phone to prove she wasn't anon-a-miss". Why would she do that if she genuinely was anon-a-miss? Phoenix questioned in his mind.
"When I accessed her phones history, it showed that the anon-a-miss account was accessed once on December 2nd".
"OBJECTION"
"Officer armour, there's one thing I want you to clarify for me here. The anon-a-miss account posted many secrets, yet it was only accessed once from the phone?"
"Yes, however, the phone's history could be deleted just not altered or created."
"Mr Wright could you not waste the courts time," the judge scolded him.
"Sorry, your Honour, please continue."
"Sunset Shimmer used her phone to cyber-bully CHS students."
"OBJECTION"
"What is it this time?"
"I would like you to clarify something for me, please. How are you certain that it was Sunset who did it?"
"Nobody else would be able to get past the password on that model of phone."
"Did you have Sunset unlock the phone for you or was it already unlocked like it is right now?"
"I-it was already unlocked." The courtroom filled with noise at this proclamation.
"Order! Order! Order! The defence has a point. An unlocked phone would be accessible to anyone."
"OBJECTION"
"The arrest of the defendant happened several days after the secret was posted. It is possible she removed her password from her phone."
Damn you Legal Ace, Phoenix thought.
"This possibility strongly suggests that Sunset Shimmer is anon-a-miss."
"I suppose that's the obvious conclusion, yes."
Darn, this isn't good, Phoenix thought as he pondered his next move.
"The prosecution would like to call its next witness. These poor, innocent girls saw Sunset access the anon-a-miss account. The prosecution calls the three girls to the stand."
"State your names for the court."
"Apple Bloom, yer Honour."
"Sweetie Belle, yer Honour."
"Scootaloo, yer Honour."
"Good you may start your testimony."
WITNESS TESTIMONY
-Apple Bloom/Scootaloo/Sweetie Belle-
"Mah friend Scootaloo texted me to meet her in the library. When ah got there ah met up with the other two girls. We saw Sunset Shimmer using one of the library computers. She was using the anon-a-miss account!"
"Scootaloo texted me to meet up in the library. We saw Sunset using a library computer. She was using the anon-a-miss account."
"I texted the other two to hang out during lunch at the library. When I got there, I saw Sunset head upstairs to use a computer. I met up with the other two, and we headed upstairs. We saw Sunset using a computer and on it was the anon-a-miss account."
"The defence may start its cross-examination."
"Yes, your Honour."
CROSS-EXAMINATION
-Apple Bloom/Scootaloo/Sweetie Belle-
"Mah friend Scootaloo texted me to meet her in the library." That's a normal way of communication, thought Phoenix.
"When ah got there ah met up with the other two girls."
"HOLD IT"
"Where did you meet up?" Phoenix asked her.
"We got together in front of the library, next to the chairs. All the computers are upstairs, and they don't like loiterers, so we went up when we were together."
"You said you had your phones so why did you need to visit the computers?" Phoenix pushed hoping this was the hole he needed.
"There are some things, like editing, that you can't do on a phone."
"What were you editing?"
"OBJECTION"
"That has no relevance to the case."
"Sustained, Mr Wright could you please finish your cross-examination."
"Yes, your Honour."
"We saw Sunset Shimmer using one of the library computers." Nothing I can do to refute that claim, Phoenix thought.
"She was using the anon-a-miss account."
"OBJECTION"
"If you saw her using the account, why didn't you take a picture of it."
"Ah didn't think of that. Ah'm sorry."
"The defence may continue its cross-examination."
"Scootaloo texted me to meet up in the library. We saw Sunset using a library computer. She was using the anon-a-miss account." Nothing wrong with that Phoenix thought, on to the third girl.
"I texted the other two to hang out during lunch at the library."
"OBJECTION"
"The witness is lying. This directly contradicts a piece of evidence that was submitted to the court."
"What is this evidence, Mr Wright?"
"The computers in the library have a record of who used them and a time when they used them. Sunset Shimmer has never used the computers at lunch before!"
"I'm sorry I meant during one of our free periods, it was next to lunch, so I think of it as lunch."
"I maintain that it was impossible for Sunset Shimmer to have been in the library at that time. She has a perfect attendance record and none of the freshman free periods happen at the same time as the senior free periods as this schedule can tell you."
"Why would the witness lie about this."
"Simple, it's because anon-a-miss is not one person it's three and those three are anon-a-miss," Phoenix accused the girls. The court was in an uproar over this announcement, and the judge slammed his gavel down.
"OBJECTION"
"The defence should not make baseless claims," Legal Ace accused.
"I would like to see his evidence. Objection overruled," the judge announced.
"We know from Applejack that she only told her family that nickname until the night of November 30th, when during a sleepover Applebloom mentioned it. This means that any one of the girls could have spread it including Applebloom."
"That doesn't explain why the anon-a-miss account was accessed on December 2nd," Legal Ace argued.
"But it does if you consider that the defendant's phone was unlocked, allowing Sweetie Belle or anyone else to take it during the sleepover that night and posting the embarrassing pictures that the girls took earlier that night," Phoenix explained.
"That means that it still could have been anyone at both events, leaving Sunset Shimmer as a suspect, nobody else could have gotten the large amounts of secrets that were posted."
"Not individually no, but these email logs to the anon-a-miss account show that several other students sent the account emails. Initially, they were seen as people who threatened the account, but since we don't know what was in the emails that the account received. It's possible that it was the secrets of other students. Rarity also testified that Sunset was in the bathroom at the time of the post, meaning that her and the 4 other girls couldn't have posted anything, but Sweetie Belle could have."
"That still doesn't rule out Sunset Shimmer."
He's right it doesn't, thought Phoenix. "The defence would like to examine the phones of the witnesses."
"OBJECTION"
"This is unprecedented; you cannot ask for evidence during a trial."
"This will allow us to end this case finally. Objection overruled. Could the witnesses please hand their phones over to the defence."
"Sure here ya go," Scootaloo said as she handed over the phone.
"Could you unlock this for me, please. Please note that this phone is password protected, unlike the defendants."
"Okay." Scootaloo unlocked her phone as was asked. Phoenix opened up Mystable on the phone and saw that it immediately opened up to the anon-a-miss page.
"As the court can see, the phone opened up right to the anon-a-miss page. What do the witnesses have to say about this."
"FINE," Scootaloo shouted exasperated from the witness stand. "It was us; We're anon-a-miss. We just wanted to spend more time with our sisters and in my case my idol."
"The defence rests its case."
"Mr Wright, you have done it again." This court finds the defendant NOT GUILTY. This court is adjourned, please leave."
When Sunset was released, 5 girls ran up to her. "Sunset we're sorry that we didn't believe you."
"I would like to apologise for falling for the trick and for Sweetie's behaviour. My sister should never have acted that way."
"Girls I forgive you, you hurt me, but I would be a hypocrite if I didn't give you a second chance. I'm just glad that in the end you saw reason and realized it wasn't me."
"You can thank that awesome lawyer for that; I've never seen that much action in a boring legal case."
"I was just doing my duty in ensuring that everyone gets a fair trial."
"Sunset we were going to spend time together after the trail, would ya like to join us?"
"Sure, let's go."
The 6 girls walked off leaving Phoenix to start his next case.
