Investigations: The Chess Master's Turnabouts

Chapters

Sebastian's First Turnabout (1-1)
Cozy Glow's Turnabout of Freedom (1-2)
The Angelo's Turnabout (1-3)
Part 2: Motive behind the mask of manipulation
Answers after the Turnabout (2-1)
Invitation to a turnabout (2-2)
Turnabout at the Mansion (2-3)
The turnabout of the Hibana Ruby (2-4)
Memories, Trauma, Secrets and the turnabout to reveal them (2-5)
The Turnabout She Deserved (3-1)
NCN: Spooky Staring Statue
NCN:Part 1- A Vision to the turnabout
Might as well just get this over with
Part 1: Start to a Story set in stone.

Sebastian's First Turnabout (1-1)

Author's Note

Spoilers: Post Ace attorney investigations 2 and Post the end of the end (Series Finale) [This story will be written assuming you already seen these two]

Content warning: Pony on Earth, Murder mystery (Only random background character death, nothing too gruesome, don't mind the death tag) , Mentions of Abuse , Phycological Trauma and Trauma Recovery, head canon where cozy glow had a tragic backstory that explains why she was evil, Cozy glow redemption , Sebastian Debeste sympathy

Sebastian's First Turnabout (1-1)

Sakurai Garden Park-Statue Center

6:30 a.m. 26 June

A security officer is now seen walking down a path in a large park, filled with all sorts of beautiful sights , but he isn't interested, as he had seen these thing before. Besides, there really was no time for sightseeing, he was on his shift.

As he walked towards the statue center of the park, he heard some noise from the trees nearby, wanting to make sure no one broke in, he walked towards the source of the noise.

There, standing next to a tree, was a man carrying something in his hands.

Suddenly, the security officer , wanting to get a better look, suddenly stepped on a twig, making a snapping sound that cut through the silence.

The man turns around and sees him, in his officer's uniform, and panics. he suddenly screams and rushes forward towards him.

Meanwhile, in the same park, just nearby where the two young men spotted each other, is a statue of a pegasus. This pegasus is seen in a position of mid flight with a worried expression on her face.

Expect this wasn't actually just a stone statue, but an actual living, breathing magic Pegasus, with a magic spell cast on her that turned her to stone.

She was Cozy Glow, and she was absolutely confused .

If you were to ask her what being turned to stone was like, she describe it like some sort of limbo state. While physically speaking she was immobile , frozen and unable to move, Mentally she was somewhat aware of her surroundings.

It's like being tied down with rope. While you can't move, you can still see, smell, feel and all that. In Cozy's case, she was stuck in a cycle of waking up, being aware of her surrounding and falling back to a sleep like unconscious state.

Something were different each time she was awake, sometimes her allies who were petrified with her, Tirek and Chrysalis, would be awake along side with her, though their conversations were usually short . Sometimes she would see another pony walk by, or come tend to the nearby plants, which were always green , like the trees and hedges .

But one thing always stay the same, she would wake up in the same place with the same trees and the same building nearby. The Canterlot Gardens, with Twilight Sparkle's Castle always nearby.

So you can imagine the initial shock and panic follow by the calm down and confusion that she experienced when she woke up to find herself surrounded by trees that don't have green leaves but instead pink flowers blooming on their tops, and statues rather than grass surrounding her. Said statues depicting some weird thing that not even Cozy had seen before. She realized that Tirek and Chrysalis weren't nearby either, making her even more confused.

"Where am I? Where are Tirek and Chrysalis? Did Twilight decided to move me to another place? If so, why go through the trouble of separating her from the others? What is with these trees? And what in the name of Celestia are these other statues depicting?" Were some of the many questions floating in her head .

Suddenly, snapping her out of her thought process was a loud scream followed by the noise that sounded like something hard had hit something just as hard. In front of her, she can see somepony emerge from the pink trees and falling down the ledge . Expect she looked closer and saw it wasn't a pony at all, but some weird hairless ape creature .

Looking down onto the ape creature was another ape creature , and that was all Cozy glow saw before she faded back out of consciousness. All the while the man panics before he pauses and then smiles, remembering someone was coming and hatching an evil plan in his mind.

Sakurai Garden Park-Main Gate

3:45 p.m.- 26 June

To say Sebastian Debeste was nervous would be an understatement.

It of course make sense why he would be nervous considering this would be his first actual investigation, with a real crime mystery, a murder no less, and no one to guide him. He would have to find the truth being this himself.

It's been 4 years since that terrible incident because his father, it was nothing but pain, regret and self reflection for Sebastian. Learning that your life was a complete lie, that all this time you were manipulated like a pawn , controlled and betrayed by those who you thought loved you , and being left trapped, lost and scared in the dark, figuratively and literally.

But then Miles Edgeworth and Kay Faraday came along and helped him, and soon he slowly began to regain himself. His father purposely made him an idiot so he wouldn't have the common sense to question anything. But with the help of Miles mentoring him he slowly learned . It was fun and torture for him to slowly learn and slowly be independent.

He now wanted to be his own person in life, to be his own prosecutor and to prove to himself he is more than what his father wanted him to be. He believes in himself to truly become the best prosecutor in this district, knowing that to be a prosecutor was all about finding the truth and making sure criminals get punished for their crimes, and where everyone gets a fair trial.

And now he stood in front of Sakurai Garden Park Gates, the scene of the crime where the murder took place last night. He slowly began to worry.

What happens if I mess up? What if I wrongly accuse an innocent person? What if I can't solve it? No! Don't say that! Calm down. Remember what Edgeworth told you. You can do this.

"Excuse me?" Sebastian looked at the source of the voice and saw a police officer looking right back at me. "I'm gonna have to ask you to leave. This is a crime scene and we are currently undergoing investigations."

"Ah! Um.. Officer sir! Um.. You see, I can't leave, I need to-" Sebastian was cut off when the officer told him bluntly " Listen, I don't care what a kid like you has to do, you need to leave now."

"K-KID!! Officer! I'm not a kid, I'm a persecutor , ah I mean procrastinator, um I mean-" Sebastian was stuttering , one of the effects of his father's manipulation was that he never got around his vocabulary well. Always mixing up his words and lagging behind in a conversation. While he improved thanks to the help of Miles and Kay, he still had the habit of saying the wrong words when he panic.

"Listen kid, I don't care what you are." The officer told him bluntly "I'm bring you to the police station and calling your parents , right now'

"But, Sir I-" He was cut off again "LISTEN KID, I DON'T CARE!"

"What's going on here?" Both me and the officer turn to see a man wearing a white trench coat, white fedora, white slack jeans and leather boots, his face has the lock of someone who is lay back and chill. Yet Sebastian can't help but feel like something is off, like he's forcing this appearance or something.

"Detective! Sir! Listen I caught this little brat here and-" Sebastian had enough of being push around "HEY! I'm not a-" But was cut off again "Detective? How many times do I have to tell y'all, I'm not just a "Detective" I'm detective Frozen Glare, Ya see"

"Ya see , I don't care. I-" The officer was cut off

"Now I think you should care, you Savant." The man, who Sebastian assume to be a Detective named Frozen Glare , had stated with a hint of irritation.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME!?"

"I called you a savant, what bout it, mate?"

"Um, guys?" Sebastian tried to get their attention, but they just kept arguing

"Listen, I ain't a Savant, I'm a Jack, and you a punk!"

"A punk better than what you got"

"What are you implying!?"

"DON"T IGNORE ME!" Sebastian cried out, but they did in fact, ignore him.

Ugh, what am I suppose to do right now. I'm suppose to investigate, yet these two are arguing!

Just then , he remember something that Edgeworth had taught him.

Listen Sebastian, as a prosecutor, you must be able to stand up to anything they throw at you. Use hard logic and solid evidence to prove your claim in court .

Sebastian remember he had something to prove he wasn't a kid. He readied his voice before...

OBJECTION!

Both the detective and the officer looked at Sebastian , who was now presenting a piece of paper in one hand while pressing his other hand against his collar in such a way that both of them could see a shining badge on his collar.

They both instantly recognize the badge as a prosecutors badge.

"I'm Prosecutor Sebastian Debeste!" He proudly exclaimed, "And this an official permit to investigate the murder of Mason Darrenson!"

The officer and detective looked at each other and Sebastian, the officer's previous anger now replaced by shock and fear as he realized how much trouble he was in since he had essentially tried to kick a prosecutor off of his crime scene because he thought he was a child.

The detective calmly took the permit and read through it before saying "Heh, looks like you really are the prosecutor assigned to this case. "

Sebastian looked at the him before saying "So, does this mean I can investigate the crime scene, you know, without being rudely interrupted ?" he glared at the officer, who looked down in what Sebastian thought was shame, but was actually fear as to what he might do to his salary.

"Yes you can, though I think the real question is, should you? "

"Huh? " Sebastian looked at him with confusion

"As far as I'm sure, you don't need to investigate this since we pretty much already have the killer caught and in questioning " The detective told the prosecutor, causing him to go wide eyes at him.

"WHAT!?" Sebastian couldn't believe it. Had they already solve this case without his help?

"ya, so i suggest you just leave this place since there isn't anything to investigate anymore ,Here's the case file I'm suppose to give ya, now you can return back to your office ." He handed a case file over to the prosecutor

But then , he had another flashback to a lesson that his Themis Legal academy teacher had taught him.

Listen, one way or another, the truth will always find a way to make itself known. The only thing we can do is fight for the knowledge we hold and everything we have. We must make sure to investigate every single suspicious thing while always be willing to stand up to what is right. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Sebastian took a deep breath before telling the officer "I want to make sure you didn't miss anything. Can you please tell me everything you know about the case?"

"Heh sure, why not," The detective said in a calm manner.

Testimony: How it happened.

-The victim, as you know was one Mason Darrenson. He was a security officer who was making his rounds through the park.

(Note: Some error happened so the image might not load properly, you can click on the error message and click the link to see the actual image )

-This park has several different part to it. Here is a drawing of the entrance to the Grounds of Statues, where you can see stairs and a ledge

-At 6:35 p.m. Mason was pushed down the ledge and killed on impact as he landed on the floor.

-A witness called the police, who arrive at the park 10 minutes later, and found one Emmie Blight there.

-Naturally, we arrested her.

"And that's that, Satisficed now, Prosecutor?" The Detective said.

"... Not quite. Can you repeat that one more time?" Sebastian asked, he felt something was off with what the Detective said, so he decided to look at his case file again to make sure.

"Alright, whatever floats your boat." For some reason, his voice sounds forced, like he secretly wants me to leave while trying to sound as polite as possible.

Rebuttal

-The victim, as you know was one Mason Darrenson. He was a security officer who was making his rounds through the park.

-This park has several different part to it. Here is a drawing of the entrance to the Grounds of Statues, where you can see stairs and a ledge

-At 6:35 p.m. Mason was pushed down the ledge and killed on impact as he landed on the floor.

OBJECTION!

Sebastian presented the paper he had decided to bring along with him. He didn't just bring his permit to investigate, he also brought his case file along with him, which included an autopsy report of Mason Darrenson.

"Detective, it appears you might need to take a second look at the facts." Sebastian said

"What you talking about?" The detective was definitely giving off a feeling of I want this to end as fast as possible , just leave please what could you be talking about!?

"I have here a copy of Mason's autopsy report , which clearly states here that the cause of death wasn't from the fall off the ledge... But instead from "Blunt force trauma on the head" with a bruise on his back being describe as a " post mortem injury most likely cause by the already dead body being dropped onto a hard surface"

"In other words," Sebastian Debeste pointed his baton at Frozen Glare before exclaiming his point "The fall was after he died, the real cause of death was the victim being hit in the head by a heavy object!"

The detective reacted to his claim with a yelp of shock. "N-now , hang on just a m-minute. Even if the cause of death was different, it doesn't change the fact that Emmie is the killer." The detective seemed to calm down, but still looked irritated "Y-ya! She was the only one there at the park!"

"Um, Couldn't there have been other people at the park? Maybe someone killed Mason and ran away, leaving Emmie there to find the body?" Sebastian questioned .

To which the Detective shook his head before saying, "Sorry sir, but there's decisive evidence that shows that Emmie killed him"

"HUH! D-Decisive!?"

Testimony: Decisive Evidence

-One look at this photograph should show you this decisive evidence we have.

(Note: There is an error for some reason so I can't upload the image, just imagine the words AMI BLIGHT written in red with a grey background)

-As you can see, just before he died , he wrote a dying message to tell us who his killer was.

As we can see, he wrote down Emmie's name before death.

"And that proves that, now why don't you return back to your office and leave the hard work to us?"

At this point he's not even trying to hide that he wants me gone as soon as possible, but why? Also, there's something off with this picture I'll need to look at the file again just to see.

During rebuttal , Sebastian can present the Case file on either the 2nd or 3rd statement.

OBJECTION!!!

"I'm sorry detective," Sebastian Said with a smug look on his face "But you have yet again made another mistake."

"W-what are you talking about now!" He sounds angry , and fumes are flaring out his ears at this point.

" As you can see in this case file I have, I once again direct your pretention- I mean attention to the Autopsy report. " The prosecutor then showed the detective what he was talking about when he pointed at one sentence written on the report. " Victim, while only dead from blood loss in a few minutes, lost consciousness instantly the moment he was hit. This means that there was no way that he could have written this dying message!"

"W-What, but it's his blood and it's the girl's name!!" The Detective was screaming at this point.

"Sorry, but there's another problem!" Sebastian flipped through the file again and landed on another page before pointing at " Suspect Name: Emmie Blight, Look at the spelling, E-M-M-I-E B-L-I-G-H-T, Now lets look at the photo of the "Victim's" message."

"!!!" The detective saw exactly what he was talking about.

"I see you see it too, if this message is written by the victim, then he spelled the girl's name wrong!"

"W-WHAT!!!" Detective Frozen Glare looked stress "B-But I-"

"In fact, I have a question for you detective. "Sebastian was now glaring at Frozen Glare. " Does Emmie even have a motive for committing the crime? is there anything that shows That Mason and Emmie even knows each other? Anything that allow Mason to know her name , or for Emmie to want to kill him?"

"Um, w-well I-" This time , it was Sebastian who cut him off " you don't , do you?"

"Um, W-well , N-no but- "

"Listen Detective" Sebastian sniped at him " As a prosecutor, it's my job to find the truth and bring the real criminals to justice. There's a good chance that Emmie is innocent of this, and I want to investigate to make sure myself that the real killer gets caught."

"B-but , there's a witness to the crime" He blurted out, practically trying to convince Sebastian there isn't anything to investigate and that he should leave. "Y-ya! He saw her at the park!"

"In that case," Sebastian made his request to the detective " I would like to have a word with the witness,"

The Detective looked like he was about to burst out in annoyance, before he suddenly stopped and smirked , a hint of relieve and happiness in his voice as he said "He's in the police station , go ahead."

Sebastian was about to walk away towards the police station, but then he realize , this is exactly what he wants, after some thinking, he decide not to give in to his suggestion. "Very well then , why don't you bring them from the station over here while I investigate?"

The Detective looked at Sebastian with wide eyes and a completely shock expression "Wh-WHAT THE HELL KIND OF DEMAND IS THAT!!?? WHY DON"T YOU JUST LEAVE ALREADY!? "

Because It's obvious that for one reason or another you want me to not investigate the crime scene, You're clearly trying to cover something up. You were willing to arrest the first suspect without looking at the evidence more toughly (*thoroughly) . It's like you want this case close as soon as possible, and I'm not gonna let you arrest someone without a fair trial . was what Sebastian thought , but he didn't say this out loud.

he wanted to make sure the Detective couldn't interfere with his investigation, so he tried something he see Edgeworth do every time he wants a detective to do what he wants.

"Listen, consider this correction for your mistakes, on account of arresting a person without checking everything closely. Unless you want me to cut your salary . " Sebastian just notice the officer from before twitching at the mention of salary. He decides to try to play his cards with the officer as well.

"Officer Sir," The officer perked up towards him "This detective is going to the police station and bringing both the witness and the suspect over here while I investigate this. You should follow him and make sure nothing goes wrong , alright?"

The officer, knowing the potential trouble he could be in, immediately accepted his request. Before the detective could protest, the detective grabbed onto his arm and was practically dragging him out the gate and towards the station.

At that moment , he understood why he was called Frozen Glare, he was giving him the sharpest glare he had ever seen. It felt like a sword sharp enough to cut through titanium.

Once they left, Sebastian immediately went to the crime scene to start his investigation.

Cozy Glow's Turnabout of Freedom (1-2)

Sakurai Garden Park-Statue Center

4:00 p.m. 26 June

Cozy Glow felt herself slowly regain consciousness, a feeling she felt before , akin to someone having just woke up from sleeping. She honestly didn't know what to expect . After the events that transpire last night, she wasn't sure what see would see the next time she regain consciousness.

A part of her was hoping that what see saw was just a dream of some sorts, assuming you can even have dreams while being in stone. That she would wake up to see the same green grass, the same crystal castle nearby, with her two fellow petrified allies next to her. That what she saw would just be some random one off experience or illusion .

Another part of her worried that all that time alone in the dark would have cause her to go insane and hallucinate. That her mental health had deteriorated to the point that she began to see and hear things no one else can. That one day she see weird ape creatures and pink flower trees and the next she see talking objects competing in a challenge or plants with faces fighting undead zombies . I mean, after all...

... T̸͕̃h̶͊ͅi̶͓̾s̴̱͋ ̵͚̃w̷͘͜å̷̬ŝ̷̮ṇ̴͘'̶͎͋t̸̺͊ ̷̦̂t̶̗̕h̶̰͛ĕ̵̼ ̴̞͒f̷̹͠ī̵̻r̴͈̔š̸͔t̷̖̏ ̷̲͘t̴͚̿į̷̀m̶͕̉ḛ̸̈́ ̷̕͜s̷̺͠h̴͈̒e̵̯̅ ̶̪̄ẘ̴̹a̶̛͜s̴̤̀ ̸̬̚ḽ̴̓o̴̭̅c̴͖͆k̴̬̈́ḛ̴̾d̷̝͗ ̷̲̃u̸̥̎p̴̖̈́ ̴͉͆ś̷̲o̷̢̓m̴̬͘ê̵͖ŵ̵̙h̴̻͆e̶̙̋r̸͑ͅe̵̯͒ ̶̼̈́d̴̰̽ả̸͍r̶̫͊k̴͙̈́ ̸͖̀,̴͉̄ ̷̺͒ḩ̵͗ȩ̴̀l̸̛͚p̵̡̊l̶̗̐e̶̤͆ș̷̓ș̴͝ ̷̉͜,̴͍͐ ̶͚̔ṯ̸̑r̵̖̎a̷̾͜p̶̤̊p̵̬̄é̵̱d̵̨̍ ̷̟͐ȃ̵̱ṉ̷̒ḓ̷́ ̷̟͝ą̸̂ľ̷͜ǫ̵̃ń̸̲é̷͍,̴̗̊ ̷̗͋b̴̠́ë̷͔f̶̩̌ò̵̩r̷̜͐ë̷͙́ ̸̥͒s̸̳̍h̴̩̽ȇ̸̝ ̸͇͋w̷̲͂e̵̖̽n̸̯͊t̸̥͗ ̷͔̃c̵̮͌o̶̟̽m̴̮̾p̴̭͗l̶̲̈ĕ̷͉t̸̼͝e̶̡̓l̵͕̾ỳ̵̮ ̸͖̌i̵͇͊n̷̪̓s̷͉͑a̷̖̽n̶̰͐ẹ̸͑ ̷̢̐.̸̛̝.

Yet when Cozy Glow woke up and looked at her surroundings, the 3rd part of the young Pegasus mind seemed to be correct, this part suggesting she, while in her stoned state, really was separated from her allies and relocated somewhere else. Moved into a land of bipedal ape creatures and displayed as a statue among other statues. A decoration in a park or garden among unique pink flowering trees , as something these creatures could look at during their free time.

As she looked around, she was that it was no longer night time, but now day time. Luna's moon among the shining stars in an ocean of a dark sky now replaced by Celestia's bright Sun with fluffy clouds floating among a bright blue sky . The trees were still blooming beautiful pink flowers in it's branches.

The most prominent change she noticed was that , where there was only one of those ape things before, and it had only appear in the middle of the night just before she slept, now there were a lot of them. All walking around the place and inspecting and looking at every single edge and corner. Where the person from last night had collapse in front of her now lay a tape outlining his position with some red stain nearby.

One thing she took notice was that most these creatures seem to be wearing the exact same clothing. More specifically, what appear to be police uniforms , with a vest that had some writing in it, the top part had symbols that Cozy didn't recognize at all while the bottom had clearly written 'POLICE" on it. (Keyword : most)

One of these "thing" stood out from the rest. It wasn't wearing a police uniform , but rather some sort of red academic uniform, with a white cravat and a black coat worn like a cape, that is to say, they didn't bother to put their hooves through the sleeves.

Wait, that's right, they weren't ponies, looking at them now, she concluded that what they have were some sort of arms like the ones on griffins or dragons , with their claws looking less pointy and more stubby.

Cozy also notice that it had some sort of badge on it's collar, a red gem with gold and silver surrounding it, shining amidst the sunlight. He held in his hands some sort of wand too. Was this person some sort of conductor ? What could a music conductor be doing walking among police ?

Cozy could only look on with interest as the brown maned (Haired? Feathered? Furred ?) ape talked with the police and examine the park , as if he was looking for something. Could he be looking for something he lost? Could he be searching for clues or hints ?

Cozy glow didn't know what to make of the situation, she decided to just watch as everything unfolds around her, silently observing the events from an outsiders point of view. After all...

It wasn't like she could do anything about it, she was trapped in stone forever...

... or was she?

Switch POV from Cozy Glow to Sebastian Debeste.

Sebastian Debeste had just manage to get the Detective out of the way, and now he could finally investigate the crime scene and find the truth, just like how Miles Edgeworth had taught him, remembering what he learned about investigating, he began to look for clues and evidence that the Detective could have missed.

He decided to look at the statues first. From the Sakurai Garden Park pamphlet he had with him, the park was created by Sakurai garden inc and was designed to be the best park for everyone. The park was really a few different types of parks merged together, one of which was a statue park right in the center of it . As he looked at the statues , he couldn't help but feel that one of these statues was off, like there's something about it that didn't sit right , but he could put his finger on it. He decided to check the statues later and directed his attention elsewhere.

He drew his attention to where the body was found, but couldn't really find anything of interest , as all he could find was the tape outlining where the body was and a blood stain clearly showing where he bleed out. Along with the message , of course.

The prosecutors next move was to investigate the trash cans. He reasoned that the culprit might have tried to hide important evidence inside the trash. He began to look inside the trash bins for clues.

At first, he couldn't find anything inside the first 2 bins, all that digging only amounting to dirty gloves. However, when checking the 3rd bin, he noticed something sticking out from the rest of the trash, he took it out and took a closer look.

It was a chisels, one with the initials E.B. Imprinted onto it.

"that's odd," The prosecutor thought to himself "Why would someone throw away a chisel into the trash? it clearly isn't broken. Also who would bring a chisel to a park in the first place? Unless.."

Sebastian immediately looked over to the statues nearby... A silence hung in the air as he process the implications of someone trying to steal the statues.

He decide the best move was to keep investigating first . After all, This chisel alone wouldn't be enough to claim anyone did anything.

He then remembered that the victim had been pushed down the ledge . Sebastian looked up to see Sakura trees blooming above. He decided that if there were any more clues he could find, they most likely be there, above the ledge, hidden among the trees.

He decide to walk up the stairs , past the statue center gate and into the pathway to inspect the patch of Sakura trees . Looking at the ground, he notice something glowing in the shadows of the trees, he went over and found a small glowing charm of sorts.

Sebastian isn't sure what this glowing thing was, but it gave him some sort of ... mystical , spiritual feeling, that's when he notices a note next to the charm.

Dear Sebastian, This will be an important tool to help you find the truth, keep it safe with you. The bishop

Sebastian was shocked at this. Who was this bishop? why did he or she leave a charm for him in a crime scene? He wasn't sure what to do, so he took a moment to think . After some consideration on whether this "Bishop" could be trusted and what the charm could be, he decided to go ahead and keep this Charm with him.

He then found his next piece of evidence not in the shadows of the trees bit instead in the small patches of sunlight poring through the gaps in the Sakura flowers. Under some of the cherry blossom petals was something shining in the sunlight. Walking over, he immediately found a silver chess pawn .

He looked under the pawn and saw dried up glue at the base of the silver chess piece. It suggested that this pawn was glued to something before it broke off and ended up here, looking at the other parts of the pawn , the prosecutor found small traces of a red liquid, most likely blood, he will send this to forensics testing later, but he had the suspicious that this was the victim's blood.

He also spotted another shinning object nearby. It was another chisel , but this time it had the initials A.R on it. It also had a unique design , as it, it was all black, even the metal, and there was some random pieces of metal attaches to it by a red string around it

Just as he was about to leave the trees, he accidentally stepped on something that made a loud crumbling noise. He looked down and, buried under a small patch of Sakura petals, was a piece of paper . He immediately looked at the piece of paper and read what was written on it.

His blood immediately froze.

Dear Blight,

Meet at the park , 6:45 a.m. Bring the chisel. You know what to do.

From , Angelo.

...

Sebastian wasn't sure what to think of this letter, it clearly states that Blight was told to come here around the time of the murder by someone named "Angelo? " And to make things worse, it clearly told her to bring a chisel with her... The prosecutor remembered the chisel he found in the trash. Pulling it out once more , just to double check.

Yup, it still hasn't change, a chisel with the initials E.B. on it "Emmie Blight" he murmured under his breath, realizing the true implications that this chisel and letter had on Emmie's involvement with the crime.

Just then, he heard the sound of a rusty gate swinging open, he turn to look and found the officer walking towards him, with a woman in their custody. She was wearing a regular button up shirt with blue jeans and regular shoes . She had blonde hair and an annoyed look on her face.

"Office sir!" Sebastian ran up towards him, but stopped when he noticed "Hey, where's the detective?" . The officer laughed and told the prosecutor .

"Turns our that the witness was already done with questioning and went home, so that fool of a detective has to go get him again, he's already on his way to where the witness lives." The officer gestured to the woman he brought with him " This is Emmie Blight, the "original" suspect" The officer explained " If you have any questions, go right on ahead."

As soon as the officer left , he and the woman walked towards where the statues were. Blight immediately spoke up " So, is it true?"

"Huh?" Sebastian looked at the woman with confusion

"When The officer was bringing me here, he told me what happened. Is it true you found out more to this case and release me from detention?" She was speaking in a voice that was hard for the prosecutor to read so he wasn't sure how she felt or how he should respond.

What was this woman thinking? I only ask the detective to bring her here as a way to get him away from the crime scene since it was obvious he was trying to cover up something about the murder. Did she know I only want her testimony? does she think I think she's innocent, when I really just want to double check if she was the culprit or not? Does she think this release from the detention center will be permanent instead of temporary ? that she was removed of all suspicion of the murder , when in reality, if she turns out to be the killer I sent her right back? How much does she now?

...

...

Sebastian didn't want to make her mad or give her false hope , so after some thinking, he spoke out his carefully crafted statement " If you want to refuse someone of a crime, you need to have solid evidence to do so. You were arrested on a baseless accusation and the evidence you was contradictory , I want to hear your side of the story to further understand this case."

"Um, You said refuse someone of a crime, I think you meant Accuse." Emmie corrected Sebastian, guess focusing on what you should say makes you focus less on whether you said the right words.

"Accuse, huh?" he repeats , as if to properly reboot his memory vocabulary file "Yeah, that's what they did to you!"

...

"Anyways, you said you wanted to hear my side of the story?" The woman asked, to which Sebastian decided to answer by quietly nodding towards her.

Then, completely catching Sebastian off guard, the woman suddenly threw her hands up in the air and scream "FINALLY, SOMEONE ONCE TO LISTEN TO ME !!" She turned to Sebastian and continued "Do you have any idea how frustrating it can be when you get wrongly accuse of something and no one even listen to you at all !? I just accidentally stumbled onto the crime scene and then the police just came out of no where and arrested me! They kept saying that they had plenty of evidence to prove it and how I should just confess, but I ain't confessing to a crime I didn't commit! Man, It's great to speak with someone who's actually rational about this! Thank you Mr... Uh... "

"Debeste, Sebastian Debeste"

"Right! Thanks, Mr Debeste"

"Right... So, anyways, I would like to hear your side of the story now , please. "

"Alright! This is everything that happened... "

Testimony: My Side of the story.

-So, basically I was just walking around when I stumbled across the you-know-what .

-I was absolutely shocked to see that terrible sight before me that I couldn't move , I was stunned.

-Suddenly, a police officer yelled at me and arrested me for a crime I didn't commit.

"And that's that. There nothing for me to tell you ,really" The woman perked up towards Sebastian, who just looked down as if deep in thought, which in fact he was.

Alright, that's , not really helpful, but it's better than nothing. He decided that he's going to have to press this testimony for as much information as possible.

"You wouldn't mine I cross examine that statement, would you?" Sebastian asked. To which the response was

"Sure, why not?"

Rebuttal

-So, basically I was just walking around when I stumbled across the you-know-what

HOLD IT!

"You were arrested at 6:45 a.m. , is that correct?" Sebastian questioned

"Um, yes...?" She asked , clearly not knowing where this was going.

"Why were you out this late at night ?"

"!!! Um.. w-well, I-" She looked like she was panicking and stuttering. "We'll, I just couldn't sleep for some reason and felt like I should take a walk around the park."

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK*

Suddenly, from Sebastian's Point of View, everything around him except for Emmie Blight herself went black, then white lines appear out of nowhere and cut the floor into square tiles. Half of the tiles went white and the other half remained black, making the floor look like a chess board . Then the sky started glowing a deep blue, giving the whole area a blue hue to the surrounding, which Sebastian saw had suddenly become an endless void with only him and the witness there.

As a shocked Sebastian watched, a series of large chains appeared out of nowhere and began to noisily coil around the woman, followed by two large red padlocks materializing in front of them.

"Ya! T-That's why , I just wasn't feeling sleepy that day, heh..." She claimed again, but Sebastian wasn't listening— he was staring in alarm at the mysterious locks and chains before him.

"WH-WHAT!? WHAT ARE THOSE!?" Sebastian screamed out of shock before the mysterious new locks that had just decided to appear out of no where.

"What are what?" Emmie Blight just looked at him with a confused expression on her face.

"Those!" Sebastian proceeded to point at the locks, thought without knowing he's the only one who can see them, from everyone else's Point of view he's pointing his baton at basically nothing "Those Locks and Chains, you don't see them!?"

"Um... No? I don't see any locks or chains anywhere." Emmie explained, unsure of what he was talking about.

"I-Wha, you don't see them?" Sebastian asked, to which the woman responded by simply shaking her head.

"Ok, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE!? Why can't she see those locks literally right in front of her? Unless she really can't see them. But them WHY can I SEE THEM!? " Sebastian wasn't sure what to say, he was left speechless, and inside his head he was debating what he should do in regards to the events that had unfolded before him, unsure of what was going on until...

...he noticed, The magic green charm. It's vibrating a bit ! Sebastian also took noticed of a strong mystical, magical energy pouring out the gem and into his body, as if the gem was giving him it's spiritual magic, and he felt some sort of mystical aura around him, the gem and the locks.

THE GEM! that's what was going on. This gem obviously has some sort of magic to it, and he now had the power to see locks and chains that no one else can see. It was then that the prosecutor noticed that the locks and chains appear to be surrounding Emmie Blight, or more accurately, her heart.

Maybe these locks show that she is hiding something from me? these things appear when she said she she came to the park because she couldn't sleep. Maybe that's not actually the reason why she was here that day? She did sounded nervous when I pressed her on that.

Ok, looks like if I'm going to have some answers I'm going to have to break these locks , but how? They aren't physical, so I don't think Kay's lock picking lessons will help. Sebastian really wondered why Kay decided to show him how to pick a lock in the first place. Maybe I'm suppose to break them using logic?

Sebastian then remembered something that Edgeworth had taught him a long time ago. Edgeworth told him that he have to analyze people and engage—no, gauge the situation if he wants to be a good investigator. He remember giving mock trial lessons on how to analyze someone and how to approach a situation, and how to extract information from someone. What did he called it again? Ah right, Logic Chess.

The conducting prosecutor decided that he was going to have to use what Edgeworth taught him if he was going to unlock whatever secret she was hiding.

"Um... Prosecutor Sir? A-are you ok?" Sebastian looked up to see Emmie looking at him with a confused and worried expression.

"Hun. OH! Ya, sorry about that. It's nothing, I'm fine" Sebastian tried to reassure her, but inside he was silently preparing himself to question her. "Alright, let's see what your hiding, Blight!"

"TAKE THAT!"

————————

My goal right now is to try and expose whatever Emmie is hiding

Remember what Edgeworth taught you. Pay attention to their reaction, and extract the information.

She probably going to try hard to hide her secret, maybe too hard.

I'll focus on what she's saying , and react accordingly . Here we go!

LOGIC LOCKS-BEGIN

>Why did you come here.

"Is there any reason in particular that you decided to go to Sakurai Garden Park in the first place?"

"Well I mean , like I said, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go to a place where I could just have a relaxing walk, so I immediately went here, to the Statue Center, of course. "

> [Pawn] Any reason in particular to choose here?

Wait and See

" "Immediately walked to the statue center" Was there any reason in particular you decided that here of all places was the best place to have a relaxing walk?"

"U-um, Ya. This Sakurai Garden Park. T-the park designed to give a relaxing time for anyone who comes here. I e-especially like the statue center, which is why I immediately went there first. But then, well you know ."

> [Pawn] Why do you prefer the statue center?

Wait and See

"Anything special you can tell me about the statue center that made you prefer it to the other parts?"

"oh, there is a lot to tell you about" Emmie looked like an enthusiast about to tell someone every single detail about the thing they love. " Sakurai garden parks was suppose to be the best park ever, so Sakurai inc went out of their way to make special statues that were relaxing yet interesting, enjoyable for adults and children alike"

[ Pawn] So that explains the weirdness of the statues?

> Wait and see

"..."

" So they went out of their was to commission statues that were goofy and silly enough for young children while interesting and educational enough for adults. Let me tell you, Sakurai really went all out with the ideas . A cute little Pegasus foal statue for children to look at with a summary of the Pegasus mythology written for adults to read. A colorful bouquet of flowers in the hands of a ridiculous looking man , which is funny for kids but had a deeper meaning that adults appreciate...."

[Pawn] Ok I think that enough about statues.

> Wait and see

"..."

"They even wanted these statues the finest quality possible , so they went out of their way to hire the best Statue making company they could contact, Hazel Art Emporium. The company well know for having the best possible artist working together to make complete masterpieces in just a few days. They are well known for their friendliness and cooperation with those around them and just looking at the statues shows their craftmanship"

[Pawn] These statues were only made in a few days?

> Wait and see.

"..."

"So anyways , that's why I really like the statue center. I guess I just have a love for statues huh."

"Yes, you certainly know a lot about this park, or more accurately, this part of the park. You have a lot of information on these statues and their background.

"heh, Do you now believe I decided to immediately go here as soon as possible?"

"Yes I do." Sebastian said to Emmie "And I believe this will be an important clue." He thought to himself.

> Why were you out late ?

"Why where you here as late as 6:45 in the morning." Sebastian questioned

"Well, Like I said, I couldn't sleep, so after laying around my bed for a few hours I decided to leave the house and walk around. Is there a problem with that?"

"Well, Sort of," Sebastian said, the woman looked at him odd waiting for him to be more specific "there isn't anything wrong with walking around because you couldn't sleep, but walking around here specifically ..."

" Here specifically? " Blight questioned "What's wrong with being in a park in the first place?"

> [Knight] Here's what's wrong!

Wait and See

"This should explain what's wrong"

Present Sakurai Garden Park Pamphlet

"This is a pamphlet given by the park staff that details everything about the park, " Sebastian paused to emphasize the next point "Including the time the park is open and close. The park should be close by 6:45, so how were you able to enter it when the gates should be locked"

"Wh-WHAT!? Wait, the park actually closes? " She questions

> [Pawn] You didn't know the park closes?

Wait and see

"Emmie, you didn't know that the park closes around that time?"

"Well, ya. I mean, I never been here before so I didn't know what time the park closes. The gate was open so I thought you could just waltz in here anytime."

"??? Wait, the gate was open?" Sebastian couldn't help but feel like that didn't line up right.

"Ya, it was. I just swung the thing open and walked into the park. I heard some amazing things about it and never been there before so I thought I could, ya know..."

> [Knight] The gate should have been locked

Wait and see

"I'm sorry, but the gate was not open, it was locked as it was suppose to be."

"Oh , and what told you that , huh?"

Present Case File

"Now that looks like a lotta papers, mind telling me which one I'm suppose to read"

" Crime Scene Details"

"As you can see here, there's a line written that shows the gate was close. " Sebastian pointed to a sentence on the paper and read it out loud "Police went to the park but found the gate locked, and since the security guard was "Unavailable" They resorted to breaking down the lock forcefully. "

"Um... I have a question I would like to ask"

"Um... Sure Mr's Blight, what is it?"

" Which gate does this piece of paper mean?"

"Um, the main gate. The one with SAKURAI GARDEN PARK written over it in big words."

"Oh, so that explains it... I didn't use that gate, I used the side gate."

"T-the Side gate!?" Sebastian then remembered , " Hey wait, that's right, there were multiple gates here in this park, the main gate isn't the only way in or out. You mean to tell me you got here via one of the smaller gates?"

"Yup, that I did."

"Huh, Guess the guard forgot to lock a gate up..." Sebastian murmured under his breath

"Whelp, That should solve it , huh? "

"Huh?"

"You were wondering why I was here when the park should have been close, but now you know that I didn't know a single thing about this park and that I thought the gate was open meant I could be there. There's no more issues, right?"

Maybe it's time to use that clue I have.

> [Bishop] *Call out her earlier rant about the statues*

[Pawn] No, no problems at all.

Sebastian , mimicking what Edgeworth does, proceeded to put on a smug look on his face as he moved his baton around , " I'm Sorry, but there is a problem that has unknowingly presented itself. You were trying to hide something from me, but you were trying too hard. " He explained " Earlier you went on a huge rant to try and convince me there was nothing suspicious of you immediately walking to the statue center, and somehow not realizing that you had essentially told me that you knew a lot about Sakurai Garden Park."

Sebastian immediately pointed his baton at her "You knew everything there is to know about the statue center, including the statue's creation and design background. But the problem is, you also just told me that you didn't know that the park had a closing time as you had apparently never been here before , and you yourself also said you used the side gate to enter instead of the main gate where they give you the pamphlets. The ones that not only have the closing and opening times, but also any info on the statue center, including what you already knew. "

Emmie had shock looked on her face as she realize how cornered she was right now. Sebastian pushed onward " How could you have known so much about a park that you apparently know so little about! "

"!!! I-U-um, w-well, I, you see-" She was practically stuttering for an excuse.

Sebastian decided to help finish her sentence "You knew so much because...

[Pawn] You did research on a computer before coming here!

[Pawn] You had already been here before!

> [Pawn] You had an ulterior motive!

[Pawn] You don't actually know anything!

"It's simple really, you didn't come here to "Just have a relaxing walk" There was another reason why you came here, Wasn't there? A motive that could explain why you know so much of the statues but not the closing time."

"!!! I-UM, No! T-that's not true, I-I ... Um, I didn't actually know anything!!! " The woman was sweating bullets , twitching nervously as she tried to make an excuse and practically blurted out the first thing she thought of "Y-ya, all that talk of H-Hazel Art Emporium and all that , I-I just m-made it up! Ya, I-"

Sebastian Cut her off before she could finish " No, you didn't make that up, I did research myself about the crime scene" Always be prepare . Gather and research everything you can about what your gonna jump into. Thanks for that advice Kay " Everything you said was true, so obviously you did your research "

"Um- OK FINE, I w-wanted to come here so I, um w-went to my laptop and did my r-research and-"

"And forgotten the time it opens and closes, even when it's literally written on the websites front page win big red letters?" Sebastian questioned , Emmie looked like a nervous wreck.

"Um-I, w-well... ACK!! NOOOOO!!! " Emmie screamed, and suddenly, before Sebastian's own Eyes...

*CLANG*

One of the red locks broke.

"Hey! It worked! It actually worked! O Holy Mother , this is amazing! " Sebastian was squealing inside, before he calmed himself down "Right, it isn't over yet, there's still one more lock on her. I'll need to focus"

"She looks like she has some fight left in her, she must be willing to hide her true motives"

"This could be important to solving the murder though, I'll press her on what her true motives are, this won't take long!"

>What are your true motives?

"There is a reason why you were here at the crime scene and it might connect to the crime at hand. Why don't you make this easy for both of us and-"

"L-listen here Prosecutor!!" Emmie was acting more aggressive now, she was screaming at him in a defensive tone. "Why I was here last night and me stumbling onto the body are two different things! I just decided to come over here on my own accorded . Huge coincidence!!"

>[Knight] Your own accord?

Wait and See

"I'm sorry, but there is evidence you didn't come here on your own accord" Sebastian said, to which Emmie flinched at those words

"there's evidence!? What!?"

"Yes , and here it is!"

Presents Mysterious Letter

"This!" Emmie immediately recognize the letter and froze up "Is a letter that is sent from some one named Angelo to someone named Blight, telling them to come here at 6:45 a.m. I don't think it's a "Huge coincidence" That it's your last name and exact time of arrival is written here."

"I- that proves NOTHING! That could have been address to anyone named "Blight" It could have been an old letter that was given to someone else years ago! Read that letter out to me and let me know what it said right now "

"Um , ok? " Sebastian relented , he read:

Dear Blight,

Meet at the park , 6:45 a.m. Bring the chisel. You know what to do.

From , Angelo.

...

"Ha! See , It's like I said, the letter is too vague for you to conclusively say that this is address to me! This could be referring to some other "Blight" The woman made big air quotes when she said that, in the most snarkiest tone Sebastian has heard. " That came here at 6:45 at some other day!"

"the chances of someone else with the same name coming here at the same time some day in the past is really slim, don't you think?" Sebastian inquired, to which Emmie replied with a simple

"Improbable, yes, but not impossible."

she just gave Sebastian a grin as she said "You have no way of proving that letter is mine."

> [Knight] There's more

[ Pawn] You're right

wait and see

"No, there's more evidence that connects you to this letter," Sebastian's statement wiped Emmie's smile off her face

Presents Chisel (The one with E.B initials on them)

" As you heard, the letter had told "Blight" to bring a chisel with her, and in my investigation I came across-" Sebastian showed the chisel to Emmie... "-This!"

... And all the color from her face faded away "Wh-WHAT!? I-Um, t-thats not mine!"

"There's your initials E.B Emmie Blight written on them"

"O-once again, a stretch but not impossible for s-some to have the same i-initials as-" She was cut off again by what Sebastian said

"Fingerprints!" or more accurately, what he blurted out , "I will sent this to the lab for paralysis! Ah! I mean analysis ! We can see whether the fingerprints match with yours!" the mention of fingerprints catches Emmie off guard, she slowly realize there was no way out now.

...

"Heh, Alright, you got me" She said, her panic demeanor suddenly replaced by a voice of calm acceptance of defeat. "I'll tell you everything I know"

*CLANG*

Sebastian looked as the final lock broke, without any locks, the chains slowly uncoil and disappear away too. The chessboard void was enveloped by a light, and soon Sebastian found himself back where he and Emmie were before, the statue center area, near the statues.

Switch POV from Sebastian Debeste to Cozy Glow

In all honesty, if Cozy Glow wasn't cast in stone, she probably find some popcorn and eat them while she was watching the scene right before her eyes. To the young Pegasus , what see was seeing was both entertaining and interesting to her.

Cozy glow had pieced together what was happening around her very easily. some crime took place here, the conductor was actually the prosecutor in charge of the case, named Sebastian Debeste, and he was investigating the crime scene. He had called someone who was involved with the crime , one Emmie Blight, and started to interrogate her. All cozy glow could do is be amazed at how the prosecutor manage to call out Emmie's lies and corner her in her attempt to hide her secret from him. It felt like something straight out of a crime drama.

Now, Emmie had accepted defeated and was now ready to tell the truth to Sebastian. Cozy glow was curious as to what the girl was hiding.

" What were your true motives when you came here last night?" The prosecutor asked. To which the blonde haired just responded " Maybe it makes sense if I start from the beginning"

"You see, Mr Debeste, I love my family."

Sebastian gave a confused look , "what did family have to do with-"

"I'll get to that soon, this will be short. Anyways, I care for my family, I would do anything, ANYTHING to help them if they are in need of help. So, imagine how hard I tried when My family ended up in some financial trouble, and how desperate I became when nothing I could legally do to earn money was paying the bills. "

Sebastian looked like he was putting the dots together in his head , a chisel in a statue park and a girl desperate to earn money, and then the long, lock of hair sticking out from the top of the head suddenly turned from a question mark to an exclamation mark, as if a visual cue to show what he was feeling.

"Your telling me you..." Sebastian didn't need to finish the question.

"Yes, A man offered some quick cash as long as I help him with his "Jobs" ,and while initially I refused, as breaking the law was bad and I hated the thought of doing so, my family's stability comes first," She used her hands to make air quotes when she said jobs , which Cozy learned what they were from Tirek, who had fingers. Both she and Sebastian could piece together what these "Jobs " were.

"And the reason you were here last night was because of..."

"Yup, Someone was gonna pay a million dollars if we stole a specific statue from this place, I got that letter you have from my partner-in-crime , the plan was to chisel out one of the statues and give it to the shady dealer. "

Cozy didn't know what dollars were, but 1 million definitely sounded like a lot. Sebastian, on the other hand, couldn't believe his ears when he heard how much she was going to get "I'm sorry, 1 MILLION DOLLARS!! Who would pay that much for a statue!? Why hire thieves to steal a statue for that much when you could just ask someone to make an exact replica of that statue for much cheaper and without any legal trouble!?"

"THAT'S WHAT I TOLD HIM TOO! " Emmie told him "But whoever he was, he was really addiment that we give him that specific statue, no replicas or copy. He even told us that we should be careful when it came to chiseling and caring the thing, he treated the statue as if was some irreplaceable , valuable gem or something."

"Um, I , ok, just gonna quickly ask this real quick, what exactly was your plan of this thievery?"

"well , since I'm caught, might as well tell you everything I can. One of the gates had a busted lock so guards had no choice but to keep it open till repairs, we would use that gate to sneak into the park and steal the statue before the guards came and caught us. My partner side he would be inside the park hiding in the trees until I came, so I got there and went straight to the statue center but then, well you know.."

Sebastian seemed to have a face of Understanding, before he quickly asked another question.

" And which statue specifically did he wanted you to steal?"

Suddenly to Cozy glow's shock and horror, the girl proceeded to point straight at her. "That one, of the little Pegasus over there"

Then catching cozy off guard even more, The prosecutor walked towards her . If she could, she would fly far away from this place as soon as possible, a feeling of fear and dread surrounding her mind as the large and unfamiliar creature was approaching her.

"Golly, these things look more bigger and scarier up close!"

Sebastian was now standing right in font of and looking straight at Cozy, with Cozy unable to move . As far as Sebastian was concerned , he was just examining a statue to see what was so important about it, but to Cozy, it felt like a large creature, like an Ursa major or a Chimera was looming over her, about to eat her while she can't move at all, only able to call for help , only for no one to hear her.

...

This feeling of dread and fear, of being helpless and trapped alone with no one helping you...

... why did it feel so familiar...

... like she was in this same position before, with a big scary monster looming over her, as she was helpless and alone in darkness...

... like a moment of nightmares and trauma...

... her mind kept screaming at her , overwhelm with emotions, but her body unresponsive...

...

... Suddenly, waking Cozy glow up from her trauma nightmares was a feeling of something touching her check. She looked over and saw that the thing wasn't hurting her, just looking at her in curiosity ...

Cozy glow snapped out her panic attack and clamed down onto her emotions, she eventually calmed down as her realize this thing was not going to hurt her

Sebastian was trying to understand what was so special about this statue, he touched the statue just to get a closer look, and felt some weird spiritual feeling, akin to the one from the magic charm he had. It was as if this statue has some sort of magic to it, which would definitely explain what was so important about this statue, until he realize that the shady dealer would have somehow known that the statue was magic.

Suddenly , a bright light slowly formed from where Sebastian had touched Cozy. From Cozy's perspective, she was suddenly enveloped by some bright light that surrounded her, it felt like , well, a cozy glow of magic had surrounded her. She felt comfortable around the glow and also felt a magic surge into her. Then , just as Suddenly as it had began, it abruptly ended and Cozy glow felt herself fall onto the floor .

From Sebastian , Emmie and the police officers' Perspective, the statue had suddenly been absorbed by some blinding light that floated higher and higher, glowing brighter and brighter as a magical , mystical feeling surrounded them, then the glowing statue had stopped glowing and fell onto the ground, expect instead of a stone statue of a Pegasus, Sebastian and Emmie looked to see what looked like a cute looking young pony with wings, pink skin and curly blue mane.

Cozy slowly woke up from that very brief moment of being absorbed by magic , she groan in pain from being dropped from the sky and proceeded to rubbed her hoof against her head...

...Wait, what?

Cozy glow realise what she was doing and looked on her hooves, she could move them. She could actually move them. She then looked at the rest of her body, all of them freed from stone, she could even flap her wings and fly now.

She was free. She was actually free form her stone prison.

She didn't know how she should react, this was too much at once, to finally be free from her stone prison, to finally move and fly again after Dear celestia knows how long she was trapped in stone. She wanted to make sure that this was real so she began to fly using he new wings , and then touch and hitting herself with her hooves , once she felt actual pain, she realized it was all real.

"Golly, I really am free"

Cozy glow looked around her and immediately came into direct line of sight with the Humans who were watching her the whole time.

...

"Um.. Golly, Hi there," Cozy glow said in the most friendly tone she could muster.

There were 3 different reactions to Cozy glow

The police officers, once convince Cozy Glow wasn't going to hurt them or cause trouble, surprisingly , immediately ignored the magic talking Pegasus and went back to investigating , as if this sort of random shenanigans was ok with them, that a magic talking flying pastel colour pony was somehow less important than the investigation.

Emmie Blight gave a more realistic reaction someone would give to seeing a real life Pegasus, staring at it with shock and surprise, silent for a few seconds before she calm herself down and murmured out a simple, "So that's why he was so persistent about stealing this specific statue."

Sebastian Debeste gave the most realistic reaction anyone would have to this situation. Reports would say the scream was so loud some of the nearby glass actually had some small crack as a result.

"WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTT!!!"

Author's Note

1) I'm sorry for any Out of character moments, I want to write a good fanfic and I know the way to do so would be to write the characters with the same personality as they would in canon, but this is post AAI2 Sebastian Debeste, and there were times I rewrote some parts because I worry I written him too professional , as if he's not Sebastian at all but Edgeworth in disguise , and times where I worry I written him to idiotic, like his redemption during AAI2-5 meant nothing at all. I'm sorry if at any point during this story you think the character interactions, reactions and actions were too out of character.

2) Ya, Cozy Glow's now free from stone, let the next chapter start off with a lot of questions

3) I decided to give Sebastian the Logic locks ability because it makes sense for Edgeworth to teach Sebastian Logic Chess, but I also want to hammer in the point of both some magic entity influencing the crime scene and Sebastian having grown up to be his own person in life. And yes, it's a mix of Physic Locks and Logic Chess.

3-1) On a related note, here are what the chess pieces mean.
Pawn- Basic remark
Knight- Present Evidence
Bishop- Use Clue
Rook- Combination of using clue and presenting evidence
Queen - Multiple Path

4) As for what Cozy saw Sebastian wearing, it was confirm by Capcom that Themis Legal academy uniform for the prosecutor's course was once blue before it changed to red. I head canon this change happen while Sebastian was retaking the course, so he's wearing a red Themis uniform. The Cravat should be obvious why he wears one, and he hasn't let go of his habits of wearing a coat like a cape, though he no longer felt comfortable wearing the special red coat he "Earned" , so he choose a black coat that he had just laying around.

The Angelo's Turnabout (1-3)

Author's Note

So apparently there is a problem when displaying images so from this point onward click on the error message [Upstream response of unknown length not supported] and click the link given.

The Angelo's Turnabout (1-3)

Sakurai Garden Park - statue Center

5:00 p.m 26 June

Sebastian Debeste never would have ever imagine himself screaming at the top of his lungs so loudly that he actually cracked some nearby glass, nor would he imagine that he would scream at all while investigating a murder . Then again, never would Sebastian have ever imagine himself coming face to face with a magic talking pony with wings.

Seeing that what he thought was just a statue of a Pegasus was actually a real Pegasus trapped in stone, seeing the Pegasus be free from stone right before his eyes, and seeing it fly move around and talk, in the same language he spoke, no less, had left him speechless and shock , all he could do was stare at the thing with wide eyes.

Once he finally collected himself , his first reaction was to give his vocal chords the exercise they would have usually got in a week or two , before stumbling backwards out of panic and falling onto the ground as a result.

"Wh-WHAT!? I- wha- What is going on right now!?" Sebastian Debeste screamed in his panic state. "Is-is that a talking horse!?" He was pointing his baton at Cozy Glow with fear in his eyes, clearly shock by the events that had just transpired and wasn't really thinking straight, saying things out of impulse.

"Hey! I'm not a horse, I'm a Pegasus Pony" Cozy Glow corrected him with an annoyed air.

"Oh! Okay! A talking pegasus pony! That explains everything!" Sebastian retorted, still freaked out over the creature in front of him. "L-listen, whatever you do, p-please don't hurt me, I had no idea you were that statue and.. well, I um,-"

The curly blue maned pegasus was amused by his reaction "Golly, and here I was being afraid of him earlier when he came close. Alright, what should I say to him?" Cozy glow then extended her hoof towards Sebastian and told him in the most reassuring voice she can "Don't worry, I won't hurt ya."

Sebastian calmed down a bit at her reassuring voice, he stood back up and regain his posture , he looked at Cozy Glow, and realize that she wasn't going to hurt him. He was still a bit shocked that he was face to face with a magic talking hor- ur Pony, but he decided that the best thing to do here was to just calm himself down first.

After taking a few deep breaths, he decided to try and have a conversation with it.

"Um, ok- so, " Sebastian breathed in before... "WHAT ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU? WHY WERE YOU A STATUE A FEW MINUTES AGO? WILL YOU HURT ME? WHAT'S GOING ON? "

"Golly, " Cozy said "You sure do have a lot of questions, then again, your a prosecutor, so of course you would ask a lot of questions."

"How do you know I was a prosecutor?" Sebastian asked

"Well, look here , I think we gotten on the wrong hoof here, so how about I answer your questions and introduce myself, then you do the same, OK." The filly was speaking in a cherry tone that unnerved the prosecutor for some reason .Nevertheless, Sebastian thought about it for a few minutes and decided it was best to just go with it for now, so he nodded.

"Ok, So, my name is Cozy glow, I'm really just your average regular equestrian Pegasus, nothing special about me ..." That caught Sebastian's attention.

"Equestrian?"

"You know, Equestria, the country I'm from, the land of the three tribes of ponies ," Cozy glow said as if it was common knowledge, but Sebastian just looked her in the eyes and said something that Cozy Glow would never have expected.

"I'm sorry, but as far as I know , there is no such Country called Equestria populated by talking ponies on this planet." His statement made her go wide eye with shock "We are currently in Japanifornia, a city in the United States . "

"The United States?"

"It's the name of the country we're in right now," Sebastian told her "Is there not a United States on the map of the world they give you?"

"N-no! The map they taught us at school had a lot of country names , but not one called the United States."

"Well, why don't you tell me a few more country names and I'll see where this "Equestria" might be"

"Um, Ok then. Well of all the countries and cities on Galia that I know, theres Maretropolis, Griffonstone, Yakyakistan, The changeling Kingdom, Mount Aris, where Hippogriffia is, Seaquestria, -"

"HOLD IT! Sorry for the interruption, but did you say "All the countries and cities on Galia " ?"

Cozy nodded "Yup, that's what I said, it the name of this planet, no?"

"Um , sorry , but no. As far as I know, this planet is called Earth. And also, no offence, but all those country names sound like something from a children's cartoon. I mean, Yakyakistan? Seaquestria? "

" Golly, really, you never heard of those countries before?" Sebastian shook his head, which made Cozy a bit nervous "Um, Why don't you tell me what countries you know ?"

"Alright, there's the Kingdom of Kura'in, Zheng Fa , Borginia, Germany, Cohdopia, Allebahst ..."

"Um , Sebastian " Sebastian stop and looked at Cozy , who gave him a confused look " I don't recognize any of those names. Like, at all."

Sebastian soon had the same confused look on his face. "Wait, really? Not even the Kingdom of Kura'in?" This time, it was Cozy who shook her head.

"B-but wait a minute!" A theory had appeared in Sebastian's head " If you said the name of this planet was Galia ..."

"And you said it was Earth," Cozy glow continued " while giving me a list of Countries I don't recognize ..."

"... While the list of Countries you gave I also didn't recognize ..."

"Oh, buck, All this time I thought I was just moved to a different country , one of two-legged apes, but if he's telling the truth then that means, I'm not just in a different country , I ... " Cozy glow's own sentence in her line of thought was interrupted, or more accurately, finished by Sebastian debeste suddenly screaming...

" YOU'RE FROM A DIFFERENT WORLD !!!"

The realization that Cozy glow was ripped from her own world and somehow teleported to another world has slowly sunk in for both the young filly and the prosecutor. The filly looked unsure on how to react to this news.

On one hand, it meant she was now in a whole new world with a new set of rules and a different kind of logic to follow, and the idea of being lost in an unfamiliar world scared her. On the other, it meant that she was now far away from Equestria, free from her stone imprisonment with no way for any of the ponies to find her and lock her up again.

Sebastian Debeste was already unsure of what to think about the Pegasus filly, but soon he saw the look on her face. He remember that Edgeworth had told him that he should think rationally and not let emotions or personal opinion overcome him, that he should make his decisions base on facts and logic.

He had let him emotions of irrational fear take over , the worry of what the Pegasus could do to harm him, but looking at her face of uncertainty, he realize that she , like him, had emotions as well, and he realize that the filly herself might feel fear over being in an unfamiliar world, more fear than Sebastian might have for being in front of an unfamiliar creature. He also realize that aside from flying and talking , it hasn't really done anything to hurt him yet. Looking at it with a calm mind now, he realize how harmless this Pegasus could actually be.

Neither one of them really knew what they should do. Sebastian wanted to apologize for his earlier reaction and calm Cozy down, while she was still debating if being moved to a whole new world was a good thing or a bad thing. The awkward silence finally ended not by either the human or the pony speaking, but by...

"A magic Pegasus from another world, guess 1 million dollars really wasn't a ridiculous amount after all..." Oh right, Emmie was still here. Sebastian and Cozy just gave her a disapproving look, as if what she said was inappropriate for the situation, which in fact it was.

Suddenly , Cozy glow looked to something behind Blight , she pointed towards it and ask Sebastian who they were. Sebastian looked at where Cozy was pointing with her hooves and saw...

... Detective Frozen Glare, walking to the gate, with someone following him closely behind.

"He must be the witness" He thought.

Sebastian wasn't sure how the Detective or the witness would react to seeing a magic flying Pegasus, sure ya, The officers and Emmie didn't scream in panic like how he did, but given that it was the dark age of the law, these police might have too much on their hands to really care about Cozy, and Emmie probably the type of person to be ok with this sort of things. If Sebastian's reaction was anything to go by, they could have a similar, or more extreme reaction to seeing Cozy.

Not wanting to put this already distress filly in a more troubling situation, and feeling a bit sorry for his earlier reaction, he told Cozy to hide behind him. Which she did, immediately opting for the space between the prosecutors coat cape and his back. Cozy knew that if he was asking her to hide from theses people it could mean it would be bad if they saw her, so she did just that.

The sound of a rusty gate can be heard opening as the detective and the witness walked into the statue center. The detective having the most annoyed expression on his face while the witness had the most casual look on his.

The witness himself was dressed rather oddly, in that he looked like a 19th century British gentleman, including a bowler hat , fancy suit and tie and a simple black slack pants. He even had a fancy walking cane with him...

Wait, it wasn't a cane at all, it looked like a cane, but it really was just a wooden stick , after all , it didn't have a handle on it. It just had the shaft , a plastic ferrule and a golden collar, but no handle, for some reason. That was weird.

The detective took the gentleman over to where Sebastian and Emmie were standing, the detective saw the first to speak. "We're here, Aaron".

The gentleman, who's name was Arron apparently, screamed " Huff, first off all, we already been through this , I am not some mere "Aaron" that you speak of, I am Arron Rivera! "

Frozen Glare rolled his eyes " *Sigh* Sorry Arron Rivera"

"Hmpf , I'll let it slide this time," While he looked the part , if his tone and speech was anything to go by, he was anything but gentlemanly " And secondly, now that you're here, would you FINALLY tell me why I'm here? Do you realize how rude it is to just knock on my door and tell me I have to go somewhere on such short notice!? "

" *Sigh* Why don't you go ahead and ask him!?" Detective Frozen Glare pointed at Sebastian.

"Alright, then. I'll ask you why I was brought here, and make it quick. I was enjoying a book and the story was getting interesting..."

"Alright, so here's the deal. You witness a murder last night and-"

"Ah, yes. That dreadful sight. I would never have imagined seeing such horrible thing , It's a good thing that horrible girl is locked up in-" Arron immediately lock eyes with Emmie, and said eyes turned wide .

"Wh-What!? What are you doing here !? Why is there a murderer not in prison!?"

"That's why you're here. " He turned to the prosecutor. " Everyone deserves a fair trial and a chance to prove their innocents, and besides, there isn't anything that conclusively proves she killed him"

Sebastian felt a tug behind him, he turned to see a shocked Cozy. Cozy glow knew a crime had taken place before, but she didn't know what crime specifically, now knowing it was murder sent a shiver down her spine, and she reflectively tugged on Sebastian's shirt.

"Hey, Cozy, what's wrong? You alright?"

"I- I.. I" The filly was stuttering a but " I recognize him." Sebastian's own confused look made her elaborate "While I was a statue, I can see and hear everything around me, last night, I saw him push someone in an officer uniform down the ledge"

Cozy glow's fear wasn't just because there was a murder here , but also she witness it and now had a felling of dread not just because she learned what she saw truly was , but also that a murderer was right in front of her. Sebastian's attention was also on what the filly just said, he looked at Cozy, unsure of what to think.

"BUT I SAW HER!! I SAW HER THERE IN THE PARK, SHE MURDERED HIM!!" Arron screamed towards Sebastian, snapping his attention back to him.

Sebastian looked at the witness , unsure what to think of what Cozy said, if she was telling the truth, then that would mean...

No, Sebastian decided whether he was the real killer or not as yet to be seen, for now he calmly told him that " If you were to just give me your testimony, then you can leave ."

"But I ALREADY GAVE MY TESTIMONY! WHY DON'T YA JUST HEAR WHAT I SAID FROM THE POLICE!?"

As loudly and aggressively as he was being, Sebastian wasn't going to give in to his intimidation " Listen, you got 2 options, either you simply repeat what you already said, or you waste even more of our time by screaming at me . Your choice. "

The gentleman-clothing-wearing jerk was about to say something before he stopped and heard what he had said before deciding " Hmpf, fine. But once you hear what I have to say, you'll regret both wasting my time and letting her go" He said it with an extra mocking tone towards Emmie, who just rolled her eyes and scoff at him

Testimony: What I saw

I was simply taking a stroll through the streets of the city. I happen to walk past the park.

-I happened to glance through the gates of the park, when suddenly I saw it. Oh that most dreadful scene.

-A poor man's dead body, and that woman, standing there, looking at what she had done.

-After recovering from the shock, I dialed the police on my phone. They arrived soon after.

"And there, you listened to my testimony." He spun his stick/cane around " Now , go and arrest that witch and we're done here!"

"Not so fast , I'll need to cross examine you first before I can reach a conclusion"

" How lowly of you , you're just wasting our time. "

"Wow, he's self absorbed" Sebastian heard Cozy said. "He really thinks he's above everyone, huh?"

"Oh, We'll see about that! Arron!"

Rebuttal

I was simply taking a stroll through the streets of the city. I happen to walk past the park.

-I happened to glance into the park, when suddenly I saw it. Oh that most dreadful scene.

HOLD IT!!

"You "happened to glance into the park" ?" Sebastian questioned

" Hmpf, of course someone as lowly as you would questioned something so obvious," His voice had an air of superiority as he said " Very well then, I'm entertain your small brain" Sebastian felt offended by his remark, but kept in to himself .

" I was walking by the park and was looking around myself, taking in my surrounding as you would on a walk around the streets. It was there when I looked to my right and through one of the small side gates of the park, I saw..."

-A poor man's dead body, and that woman, standing there, looking at what she had done.

HOLD IT!!

'There are many ways that I can press this...'

"Describe in more detail what you saw, more specifically ...

What Emmie was doing
> Where Emmie was
When did you see this

... Where , from your position , was Emmie standing. "

"From my point of view, the girl was position to my right."

" Alright, Can you add that into your testimony?"

"Hmpf, very well, if that what your lowly mind wants. Whatever gets this over with faster"

"He... really likes to say lowly a lot." Sebastian once again heard Cozy said.

From where I was standing, the girl and the body would have been on my right.

OBJECTION!!!

Presents Sakurai Garden Park Pamphlet

" Listen here, Aaron"

"How many BLOODY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU PEOPLE !? It's Aaron Rivera!"

"Listen here , Aaron Rivera," Sebastian's voice was now a bit annoyed " There are two contradictions that you have presented to us."

"Hmpf, what kind of contradiction has your lowly mind found that my higher intellect somehow didn't noticed?" He gave a tone of self absorbed arrogance.

" You said that you had more important things to do, so logically you wouldn't waste our time. All you had to do was say the truth and you be on you way home, yet you choose to say a lie that requires further attention and testimony ."

"Oh, and what is this lie you speak of?" He still had an arrogant tone, but it had a hint of worry in it.

" When I asked you during your testimony, you said it yourself that you looked to your right and through one of the small side gates of the park, before you witness the crime"

Arron gave Sebastian a confused look as he continued, "You also claim that from where you were standing, the woman and the victim were on your right, but both these statements combine with a piece of evidence creates a contradiction."

"Oh, and tell me, what is this "Piece of evidence" you speak of?"

"This pamphlet that park staff give you , this is the Evidence!"

"Now that a pamphlet with a lot of parts, which one am I suppose to look at?"

> Park Map

"Look here , where you can see a park map."

"Hm, yes, and pray tell, how does this map contradict my statements?"

"Simple, your first statements mean you looked through a small gate, meaning you must be standing near one of these small gates when you saw and then reported the murder." Arron looked at him as if he was getting bored and subconsciously asking where he's going with this, " We can exclude the 3 gates at the bottom as there is no way you can see the crime scene from there, leaving two gates for you to be at, the one by the playground, and the one by the flower garden."

"However," He stated, " This is where the contradiction arises, you can't have seen crime from the gate by the playground because that would mean the playground equipment would have blocked your view, leaving the gate by the garden as the only gate where you would have seen everything happen."

"But, if you saw the crime from that gate, the woman would have appeared on your left, yet you said earlier that she was on your right," once Sebastian said that, Arron finally realized the mistake he made " How do you explain this !?"

"AAAAACCCKKK!!!" He stumbled back and stuttered "I-well-I um..."

"Wait a minute!" Emmie says, "This contradiction, what does it mean!"

"It can only mean one thing, Emmie, " Sebastian pointed his baton " You , Aaron Rivera, lied to us , you lied about...

> Where you were

What you saw
How you saw it

"You lied about where you were when you witness the crime, you weren't by the gate at all!"

"A-alright then! You lowly Prosecutor, " He looked like he was scrambling for an answer, "where the bloody hell was I then !?"

TAKE THAT!

Sebastian points to a part of the map , where he points is represented by the brown square in the picture, the one right above the white circle that represents Emmie and the Victim.

"B-But that's - " Before Emmie could finish, Sebastian simple nodded towards her

"Right, where the killer was when he pushed the victim down the ledge"

"A-ARE YOU LOWLY HUMANS REALLY ACCUSING ME OF DOING SUCH A TERRIBLE THING AS TO MURDER!?"

"Unless you have a better explanation for this contradiction, then-"

"IS THIS EVEN AN IMPORTANT CONTRADICTION TO FOCUS ON ANYWAYS!?"

"Huh ?" Sebastian and Cozy had the same thought "What does he mean?"

Testimony: Irrelevant Details

I had just witness a murder, the shock of seeing such a horrible thing has left me stun that my brain was dazed.
The events of that dreadful night might have clouded my memories, especially when the first thing I did was panic and immediately called the police.
However, as unreliable as my memory may be when it comes to certain details, they are all irrelevant and unimportant.
Whether she was to my left or right, or which gate I saw her from, I definitely remember seeing that girl hit the security guards in the head.

"Golly, you must be really careless if you're just gonna slip up like that," Cozy thought .

"And that's that" He said "Now why don't you just let me go home now."

"Um, sorry, but I'm not letting you go anywhere when your testimony has a giant contradiction!"

"Hmpf, you and your so called contradictions. This is a mere waste of our time."

"Oh, we'll see about that once I show you the mistake you made. A mistake so obvious I don't need to present any evidence. I'll just press that statement and we're done here."

Rebuttal

I had just witness a murder, the shock of seeing such a horrible thing has left me stun that my brain was dazed.
My memory of that dreadful night might have clouded my memories, especially when the first thing I did was panic and immediately called the police.
However, as unreliable as my memory may be when it comes to certain details, they are all irrelevant and unimportant.
Whether she was to my left or right, or which gate I saw her from, I definitely remember seeing that girl hit the security guards in the head.

HOLD IT!

"This is were the contradiction lies, Aaron Rivera"

"Hmm, pray tell, what could you possibly mean?"

" You said you definitely remember seeing that girl hit the security guards in the head, Right?"

"Why must you lowly creatures repeat everything that I say, yes I said that."

"Well, that's the problem, it was impossible for you to see her hit him on the head, and that's because the guard was hit on the head while in the trees."

"Meaning..?"

"It was dark during that time, if someone was inside the trees, it would have been impossible to see them. The killer hit the guard in the head while they were both in the trees before his unconscious body fell down the ledge."

Aaron immediately realize how badly he had put his foot into his own mouth "!!! AACKKK!"

"Exactly, If you were just a witness, you wouldn't have even known that his cause of death was being hit. How did you know!?"

"U-um w-well I urk ..."

"I'll answer that question for you, You knew how he died because..."

> You were there in the park.

You hear the cause of death somewhere

"I highly doubt that you heard the cause of death from the police, so the only explanation is that you were there in the park, within the trees themselves !!"

"!! OH-oh yeah!?" Arron was sweating bullets right now "P-prove it!? Prove I was there in the trees!"

Sebastian pulled his conductors baton and pointed it at him as he claim "I can do better that that, I can show that you, Aaron Rivera, were the one to kill him!" He was caught off guard by Sebastian's remark.

"You were there, inside the park, hiding in the trees, when suddenly the guard noticed you, if not by seeing you, then by hearing or smelling you. When he spotted you, you panic and hit the guard over in the head and pushed him down the ledge." Aaron was extremely unnerved by how accurate Sebastian was describing the events that had unfolded .

"After recovering from the shock , you remembered that Emmie was going to come into the park, so you wrote a message in the victim's blood to trick police into thinking she killed him, and further making her look guilty was making a police call so they would arrive the exact time she would have stumbled across the body."

"Wha-WHAT KIND OF NONSENCE ARE YOU SPOUTING!!! OF COURSE YOU LOWLY CREATURES WOULD THINK OF SUCH CRAZY THEORIES, THERE ARE MANY THINGS WRONG WITH YOUR THEORY!!" While he tried to sound like a superior gentleman scolding a servant or an average citizen hearing a ridiculous nonsense, he instead sounded like a cornered criminal trying to find an exit out.

"Firstly! You claim that I know this wrench , and knew she was coming here to the park! You even said I wrote that bloody message! Do you have anything that proves so!?"

"Well I-" The prosecutor was rudely cut off …

"And Secondly!" … by Arron screaming " What motive would a high class gentleman such as myself would have to murder a guard like him!? In fact, what reason would I have to be in a park after it closes anyways !? lowly humans such as yourself obviously wouldn't know that I would much rather spend my valuable time doing something else!"

"Wow, he's annoying " Sebastian thought "But not to worry, I'll just show him the evidence and wipe that smug grin off his face."

The piece of evidence that shows he wrote the bloody message is...

TAKE THAT!

Presents Photo of Bloody message

And the piece of evidence that shows he knew Emmie was coming was...

TAKE THAT!

Presents Mysterious letter.

The piece of evidence that shows his motive is ...

TAKE THAT!

Present either Black Chisel or Mysterious Letter

And finally, the evidence that shows he's the murderer is ...

TAKE THAT!

Present Silver Chess Pawn.

"Now, before I show you my evidence , tell me ,what is the woman's name ? Also how do you spell her name? "

"Wh- WHAT THE BLOODY HELL KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT, YOU STILL HAVEN'T ANSWER MY... Ugh fine! Her name is Amy Blight, A-M-I , B-L-I-G-H-T, There, are you happy now."

"A strategy I'm all too familiar with, and looks like you just fell for the hook, line and sinker." Cozy mumbled.

"Tsk, tsk," Sebastian had Edgeworth's smug look on his face "You have fallen right into my trap"

"W-What do you mean, fallen right into your trap!?"

" The real killer wanted to pin the blame onto Mr's Blight, without knowing that the victim was instantly knock out, as shown in the autopsy report . He used the victim's blood to write the Emmie name onto the ground as a faked dying message. But the problem was, they misspelt her name , not as E-M-M-I-E, but instead as A-M-I !"

Sebastian saw the most shocked and surprise look on Aaron's face as he continued, "Whoever the killer is , he obviously doesn't know how to spell her name. So-"

"N-Now wait just a moment, wh-whats not to say that she herself wrote her name wrongly to throw the blame off herself!?"

"That wouldn't make any sense, she herself was caught in put in prison because of the message. Why take that risk when she could have simply just ran away from the crime all together."

"W-Well I-I don't know, lowly human such as her tend to make stupid d-decisions."

"Well, by that logic, you're a "lowly hoo-man" as well." Cozy glow said to herself in amusement , though she said it so loudly everyone heard, and while everyone else paid it no mind, and Sebastian gave Cozy a quick glance, the comeback hit Aaron so hard he actually had to take a few seconds to restart his brain or something.

"Really Cozy"

"Hey , come on!"

"*Sigh* Look, you see," He said, ignoring the gentlemen-by-looks-only blue screen of death moment and continued " This ties in to the another piece of evidence, the reason why you knew her name and that she was coming here, hence why you faked a final message because of ... " Sebastian shows the letter to everyone, causing Aaron to go wide eye "This!"

"Th-That's..."

"This is a letter sent to Blight by someone named "Angelo" , telling them to bring a chisel and come to the park. I had found out that Emmie along with her partner in crime was planning on stealing one of these statues for some money, and that according to Emmie, her partner was already waiting here in the park, where she would have meet him . "

"I-I..."

"Wait!?" The detective screamed "She was planning on what!?"

"*Sigh* Yes, it's true," Emmie said dejected "My family fell in debt and I couldn't find anything that pays enough , so I took up an offer."

"Anyways," Sebastian continued "While I was investigating the patch of trees where the killer would have been, I found this letter . It clearly shows that the true killer of this crime is the accomplice, who was hiding there before being spotted by Mason, and killed him out of fear."

"Wh-Well, I- um, y-you see,"

" After killing Mason, he knew that Emmie was coming here, so he wrote her name into the ground to make her look like she was the killer, but misspelt it because he only knew how her named was spoken, not spelt."

Cozy glow grinned behind Sebastian's Coat, "What a "lowly " mistake that they made." She said to herself.

That triggered some anger within Aaron, without thinking he screamed " How many times to I have to say, I'M NOT LOWLY!" Apparently Cozy said it too loudly again , this time everyone heard, though they had assumed Sebastian had said that.

"Wow! really Cozy? Wait... "

"Hey, I said that the real killer made a lowly mistake, I never said anything about you!" Sebastian tried to hide Cozy from him and the detective by going with the assumption he really was the one to say it.

"Unless of course, you're the "lowly" killer of this case," Aaron realized how badly he had metaphorically put his foot into his mouth and literally put his hands onto his mouth.

"Oh who are you kidding, of course he's the culprit, and you got the evidence to prove it!" Cozy glow said much more quietly, so that only Sebastian heard her from behind his back.

" Yes I do, " He responded to Cozy , before screaming "and this black chisel and silver pawn is the evidence proves it!" As soon as Aaron saw them in Sebastian's hand, he reflexively yelped backwards and tightly held his cane.

"Wh-I wha-um, that, I um...- I never , ummm..."

HOLD IT!

"Now slow down there, Prosecutor," The detective said, "How do I know that all these are actual evidence and not something you pulled out of thin air or something..."

" All of these pieces of evidence I found in the patch of Sakura trees where the murder took place, If you doubt my word, then you're also doubting the sight of at lease 15 police officers! Who saw me investigate!"

"*Huff* Fine! What do those things prove anyways"

"I'll tell you what they prove," Sebastian looked at Aaron, who looked like he was having a panic attack "It proves that You were the murderer!"

"Wh-How did- how Those- I..."

" This chisel had the initials A.R. on them, Aaron Rivera, even if you claim the possibility that it's someone else with the same initials, we can run a forensic analysis test to see if there are any fingerprints or blood that belongs to you or the victim or not."

" YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!" He panic and try to do anything he could to stop the prosecutor from taking his chisel

Sebastian asked "Why can't I do that? The law said that all pieces of evidence should go to forensic analysis ."

"I-um, T-the law also s-stated that ,uh, it's i-illegal to take a-another person's p-private b-belongings without t-their permission , " He wasn't thinking straight and was just saying the first things that came to his mind.

"So, you're saying this is yours?"

"Yes!" Then common sense caught up, "Wait, I-I didn't mean , uh .."

"Oof," Cozy glow was watching everything unfold around her behind Sebastian , "One slip of the tongue , like a mistake in a game of chess, you just sealed your fate..."

"Then why was your chisel here in the-"

"OK FINE!!! YOU GOT ME, I WAS PLANNING ON STEALING A STATUE WITH AMY, BUT THAT'S ALL I DID, IT WAS ME WHO SAW AMY KILL HIM AND-"

OBJECTION!

" There is still the matter of this silver pawn," Sebastian pointed his baton at him," a pawn that will checkmate your king in this game of chess!"

"WH-WHAT IS THAT MERE PAWN GOING TO DO!?"

"From the games of chess that I've played, you'll be surprise ... " Both Sebastian and Cozy thought at the same time.

"This pawn has dried up glue at the bottom, showing that it was glued to something. I believe that it was a part of the murder weapon and broke off when Mason was struck in the head. Now tell me, what are you holding ?"

"Wh- I'M HOLDING A CANE OF COURSE!"

"If that a cane, then where's the handle?" Everyone who was listening to this , which consists of Sebastian, Cozy Glow (who peeked over Sebastian's Coat) , Emmie, Detective Frozen Glare, Aaron and about 5 police officers immediately looked at the cane that the lying gentleman was holding . Low and behold , the Ferrule, shaft and collar was there, but no handle. Where it was suppose to be was instead a few clumps of dried up glue.

"Um, w-well, t-the handle broke off , o-of course, b-but it has nothing to do w-with-"

" It has everything to do with this," He interrupted " I believe that this silver pawn was the handle, and that this cane of yours that your holding is in fact, the murder weapon!"

"Ack! W-well..." He was pouring a river from his head.

"I politely ask you to give us your cane, we'll be able to see if this pawn was from that cane, and if either of them has the victim's blood on it."

"Wh-I NO!" He screeched "I-I'M NOT GOING TO-"

" Listen here, I'm giving you two options. One: You try and fight until the end, even though struggling even more will just waste more of our time, or Two, just surrender the cane to us. If you aren't the killer, then there will be no problems at all. Unless of course, you are the killer..."

"ACK!"

"So why don't you just give up now, because I move this silver pawn to B7 and with this checkmate, no matter which way you move your king, you are now more cornered than a circle!"

"Golly , More cornered than a circle, now that was good."

"I-I-I, Ugk A-aa..."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

...

"This, this wasn't how it was suppose to go. "

"... if only I was just more careful, maybe he wouldn't have saw me."

"Maybe, I wouldn't be here ..."

Amber Lights Apartments- Room 619- Living Room

June 26-9:30 p.m.

*RING* *RING*

*BEEP*

"Hey , Is this a Prosecutor... Sebastian Debeste ?"

"Yes, that's me .Who is it?"

" It's Ema Skye, forensic investigator. Just wanna call you that the results are in."

"Results?"

"The silver pawn did in fact come from Aaron's cane, and both of them had some of Mason's blood. The pawn also matches the wound on his head. The chisel also has some splashes of blood along side Aaron's fingerprints. Just thought I let you know."

"Oh thank you very much , I should expect them to be ready in court soon?"

"Yes, the evidence is in a locker at the police department. Someone will be there just before the trial to give them to you."

"thanks , Mr's Skye ... By the way, How's Aaron? ... and Emmie?"

"Aaron's in detention right now, contemplating his life choices. As for Emmie, from what I heard, she was sent to 6 months in prison for attempted thief, but she's actually happy there, knowing her family's alright."

"Y-yeah..."

"Hey, that was really nice of you to give Emmie's family the financial aid they needed . Though with the extreme bills that the landlord was giving , I imagine this won't last long..."

"Don't worry, that greedy criminal will pay for this, I actually check the law book and apparently the extra bills he's charging Emmie's family along side many others are illegal. I plan a lawsuit and a court trial on him."

"Heh, going the extra mile huh. Alright , that's all I have to say. Bye."

"Bye..."

"BEEP"

...

"Um, Sebastian?"

Sebastian turned around to see Cozy Glow , the filly looking at him with a confusing stare. "Yes?"

"Who were you talking to?"

Part 1 Completed : Start to a Story that was Set into Stone

To be continued in part 2: The Motive behind Masks of Manipulation.

Part 2: Motive behind the mask of manipulation

https://www.deviantart.com/yonderj/art/Cover-art-2-891537268

Answers after the Turnabout (2-1)

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Living Room

June 26-7:30 p.m.

Sebastian walked back into the unfamiliar apartment room he was now living in. And with recent developments, it was about to feel even more unfamiliar.

After it was revealed that his father was a criminal, and he used his power to manipulated cases and hide the truth , replacing it with his own "truth" and verdicts he created, it cause just as much emotional conflict and term oil in Sebastian as it had cause chaos in the prosecutors office and police force.

He couldn't stay in his old home, not anymore. Not after the amount of pain it caused by reminding him of Po- of Blaise. So ,for a couple months, Justine had taken him in, just as a temporary place to stay. It was nice and all, she and John were welcoming, but it never really felt like... home. That was to be expected, of course, he knew it was temporary and he'd lived with Po- with Blaise his entire life. But it was still hard.

Then Kay announced that she had gotten her own apartment, and she'd be moving in soon. Sebastian had gotten a call from Mr. Edgeworth, who informed him that he'd already spoken with Kay and that she'd be willing to have him as a roommate, if he wanted - Edgeworth knew about his housing situation and had been helping Sebastian look for a solution.

It was really nice of them to help him, and he really appreciated it. He could have stayed with Kay as her roommate, but then Kay soon started a romantic relationship with a detective named Ema Skye, and Sebastian soon started felling either guilty he was in the way of their relationship, or left out when they had something planned together and he either stayed back at the apartment or had him third wheel the whole day.

He especially felt something inside him . It was a feeling he had when he stayed at Justine house. Ever since Blaise arrest, he wanted to prove he was capable and independent, and staying with Justine, while she and John didn't mind, he felt a guilty feeling of freeloading. And now that Kay was more focus on Ema, he soon felt as if Kay wanted to be left alone with Ema, and that same guilty feeling came back.

Once he got his badge, he now became a prosecutor and now had a source of income. He moved out of Kay's apartment and bought his own room in a different apartment complex building. He had just finished unpacking all his stuff into his room a few days ago, and he just starting to get use to it.

And now he was going to have to get used to another new thing in his life, living with a magic pony as a roommate.

It was a few hours after he had caught and arrested Aaron for his crimes. All that was left to do was to tie all loose ends and the case would be close. He expected these loose ends to be proving his point in a trial or wrapping up an investigation. He didn't expect that one of these loose ends was dealing with a magic Pegasus freed from stone.

Sebastian wasn't sure what he should do with Cozy. She was essentially an alien from another world that was once a statue owned by a park. He actually wasn't sure what he could even do about her. However, after thinking and hesitating a bit, he decided to let her stay with him.

Yes, it was a weird choice for him to make. But he thought about it and talked with Cozy a bit. He looked at the situation from Cozy's perspective, and he decided to imagine a reverse situation, where he was the one who one day suddenly found himself in a world to magic talking ponies, and realize that Cozy was essentially a lost girl in a whole new world, and decided he should help her . And that the best way he could help was by giving her a place to stay.

Cozy decided to take Sebastian's offer. It wasn't like she had any other choice. She was in another world with no way back home, not like she wanted to go back anyways. She had no where else to go, and she didn't know anything about this world or it's inhabitants. This was the only choice she had.

Sebastian immediately hid Cozy in his coat, he needed to return to the prosecutors office first to do his work. He and cozy went to the office, which luckily, since it was about to close soon , not a lot of prosecutors were there in the building, let alone in the hallways where they could see him with a pony. He got to his office, locked the door, and got to work on some papers. All the while Cozy was observing the office she was in . There were many thing around her that she knew what they were and others which see had never seen before, she would have asked about them, but looking at Sebastian sorting papers on his desk, she decided he was too busy to ask. So she just sort of, flew around the office until it was time to return home.

The walk to the prosecutor office from the park, and later to the apartment was as insightful to Cozy as it was awkward for Sebastian. Sebastian was worried that people would have freaked out over her, as he did, and there would be chaos , panic and trouble. So he was trying to keep Cozy hidden behind her coat as much as possible, which was hard as Cozy kept poking her head out to see and observe the new environment she ended up in. She was fascinated by the neon lights of Japanifornia streets, the unusual sight of high tech technology she never seen in Equestria such as cars and smart phones, walking on two legs wearing all sorts of stylish clothing, it made her feel even more like an outsider to this new world.

When they finally got to the apartment, Cozy glow immediately flew onto his couch and lay down to rest. Sebastian close and locked the door before looking at Cozy, who simply looked back. He decided to ask if she would like to eat, he himself was a bit hungry .

"Sure, what do you have to eat?" Cozy glow looked curious as to what these creatures had for their meals.

" Well... " Sebastian looked into his fridge to find a few apples and some instant noodles. " I've got apples and instant noodles, if that interest you?"

"I'll have an apple, please." Cozy glow said. She was actually decently surprise to hear he had apples, the fact she was in a whole new and different world, yet the inhabitants ate the same food she did. Then again, there were also just as many familiar things in the office she was in as there were things she never seen before. She didn't know what instant noodles were, and given the situation she was in, she didn't feel like taking the risk of trying something new .

Sebastian immediately went to the kitchen and pulled some apples from the fridge and washed it, before he used a knife and cut it very carefully. He didn't want to accidentally cut his hand like last time. He immediately place all the apple slices onto a plate and went back to the living room. He saw Cozy Glow there flying around the place, exploring her new environment. Sebastian placed the plate of apples and Cozy immediately flew over and picked up an apple slice.

Sebastian was surprise when Cozy picked it up using just her hooves. It was as if the slice stuck onto her hooves as if it was metal and magnets. Then again, she was a magic talking pony. Maybe picking things up using her hooves and them sticking onto them is normal?

...

"Um, so..." Sebastian wanted to talk with Cozy , he sat down onto the nearby chair, watching Cozy eat her apple slice.

"Yeah?" Cozy asked, chewing in her apple slice.

"Um... Are the apples ok?"

"Well, they aren't as good as the apples they've serve back at Sweet Apple Acres , but it's ok enough for me."

" Sweet Apple Arches?" Sebastian questions.

"Golly! you don't- oh right." Cozy glow realize " Sorry, for a moment I actually forgot I'm in another world, heh.

"It's ok. Why don't you tell me what this "Sweet Apple Acres" is?"

" Golly, sure! Basically Sweet Apple Acres is an apple farm owned by the apple family, a family of earth ponies well known for making the BEST apples in Equestria."

"Um..." Sebastian said "Like I said before, I don't know anything about your world, I have a few questions, so I hope you don't mind I-"

"Golly, Of course not" Cozy gave Sebastian an innocent look. " Go ahead, ask away."

"Ok, Cozy," the prosecutor asked his first question to the flying filly " One of the things I immediately noticed was the weird Chess Rook mark you have over there."

"Hmm? " Cozy immediately realise what he was talking about. "OH! You mean my cutie mark." Cozy looked over to her Cutie mark.

"Um, yeah... I was wondering what is it. I mean, the rest of your skin is peachy pink and yet there a rook mark there and It just, ya know, stands out."

" Whelp, I guess I'll tell you. A cutie mark is basically a magic mark that appears on your flank when you discover your special talent. Every pony had a different special talent and it shows in your cutie mark."

"OH! I get it!" Sebastian then looked over to Cozy's flank "So, since your fruity mark is a rook, does that mean your special talent is playing chess and using strategies that utilize the rook piece like castling ?"

"Um, I said it's called a cutie mark, not a fruity mark."

"AH! Sorry, a habit of mine, sometimes I mix up words." He gave Cozy an apologetic look, Cozy simply smile, as if holding back an amused laugh before she said

"It's ok, and also, yes you're right. I happen to be a really good chess player."

"R-really," Cozy nodded " W-well, maybe you would like to play chess with me someday ?"

"Hmm," Cozy asked "You actually play chess?"

"Y-yes, I learned how to play chess from Miles, and I've been learning a few tactics myself."

"Miles?" Cozy was curious who he is.

"Ah right, Miles Edgeworth, he's my mentor , who taught me everything I knew about prosecuting, and sort of my ... dad"

"You're dad? "

"Um, sorry, I don't kind to talk about it..."

"Um, ok..."

...

"Anyways! " Sebastian changed the topic quickly "I noticed you describe the Apple family as "a family of Earth Ponies" and you called yourself "A Pegasus Pony" Earlier at the park. I also remember you called Equestria the "Land of the three pony tribes" Are there different types of ponies?"

"We'll, yes! You see, there were three pony tribes that lived on Galia, the earth ponies, unicorns and Pegasi ... " Cozy glow then proceeded to explain to Sebastian what she learned at school. The history of how Equestria was founded, the three different pony tribes , and their different type of magic. When she was talking about pegasi, it made a thought appear in Sebastian's head

" W-wait a moment," Sebastian asked, to which Cozy pause her explanation and looked at him , asking what he wanted to ask .

"You're a pegasus , right?"

Cozy simply nodded "Um, yes. I mean, I have wings .. so-"

"Does that mean you can move clouds and control the weather ?"

"Well, I mean, back in Galia I could do that, but I'm not sure if that works here. I'm not sure if my magic can work in another world. "

"Yeah," Sebastian said "While in your world Pegasi are the one controlling weather and moving clouds, here the clouds move on their own and the weather just random. Maybe your magic wouldn't work here?"

" Wow! Really!? The weather here just does whatever it does!?" Sebastian nodded.

"Wh-WHAT, don't you have any magic here in this world!?"

"Sorry, but no." Cozy glow immediately went wide eye and she took a stalking pose, staring at him from a crouch, her forelegs splayed wide on the table and hindquarters raised like a cat getting ready to pounce. She basically looked at Sebastian with absolute shock

"Wh-WHAT!? A-are you telling me that this is a world without MAGIC!?"

"Well, Sorry but there's no-" Sebastian was going to tell her there was no magic n this world, he himself had never seen magic before in his life, and everything around him was given a scientific explanation. But then he suddenly remember the charm he had found during the park

Before he could think any further, Cozy glow suddenly yelled "Wh- REALLY!? Y-your world has no magic in it, th-then how do you grow plants if you don't have earth magic , or get to one place from another quickly without some kind of spell, or talk to each other if you can't-"

Sebastian interrupted Cozy by stating " As you know, Cozy, you're now in a completely different world. Here, the rules and logic that we follow are different. Here, Magic is seen as completely fictional, while in your world , it is a real and common thing. Surely you must noticed the differences when we were walking down the streets?"

"Um, yeah, I guess that makes sense..." Cozy wasn't sure what to say. Inside she was thinking about the implications of a world without magic. The kind of world she tried to turn Equestria into when she tried to steal all the magic from Equestria and banish it to another realm.

...

"Um, so..." Sebastian wanted to break this awkward silence , he decided to try and ask Cozy about something else...

"Huh, OH! Golly, sorry about that. Must have dazed off for a while." Cozy glow smiled back at him "What did you say?"

"I was asking something else I had in my mind."

"And that is ?"

"Why were you trapped in a stone statue in the first place?"

"!!!" Cozy glow had to take a moment to think of what she was going to say. She decided that telling him the truth of why she was trapped in stone would cause some trouble, and that was the last thing she wanted. After thinking about it , she decided to lie to him in the most vague way possible.

"Well, some Unicorns cast a spell on me that turned me to stone. I'm not sure why? After all, I'm just an innocent little filly..."

If only Cozy paid lest attention to looking cute, she would have seen Sebastian shock face. As soon as she said she was just an innocent filly, from his point of view, he saw...

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK*

Five red locks around her, showing she is hiding something.

"Wh-WHAT!?" Sebastian could believe his eyes , his mind began to wonder if he was hearing this right. As soon as she said she was harmless, locks appear. The same locks that he saw when Emmie was hiding her secrets, could Cozy be hiding something too. Sebastian began to worry about what she could be hiding, given the implication because of when the locks appeared.

But before he can think about it any further

*RING* *RING*

!!! Sebastian was snapped out of his thoughts by the sudden sound of a ringing cell phone. It seems as though the charm had an on/off switch that allowed Sebastian to choose when he saw the locks or not. As soon as he focused on something else, in this case a ringing phone, the blue void chessboard disappeared and he found himself back at his apartment.

He immediately went over to answer the call.

Meanwhile Cozy was absolutely surprise to hear some ringing coming from some weird looking device on the table. She curiously looked at the thing that Sebastian had picked up.

*BEEP*

"Hey , Is this a Prosecutor... Sebastian Debeste ?" Cozy was suprise to hear a voice come from the small box thing.

"Yes, that's me .Who is it?" Sebastian answered.

" It's Ema Skye, forensic investigator. Just wanna call you that the results are in."

"Results?"

"Oh thank you very much , " Sebastian thanked the mysterious voice " I should expect them to be ready in court soon?"

"Yes, the evidence is in a locker at the police department. Someone will be there just before the trial to give them to you."

"thanks , Mr's Skye ... " Sebastian then had a look on his face as if he was curious or concerned about something , he asked " By the way, How's Aaron? ... and Emmie?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Hey, that was really nice of you to give Emmie's family the financial aid they needed . Though with the extreme bills that the landlord was giving , I imagine this won't last long..."

"Heh, going the extra mile huh. Alright , that's all I have to say. Bye."

"Bye..."

"BEEP"

...

"Um, Sebastian?"

Sebastian turned around to see Cozy Glow , the filly looking at him with a confusing stare. "Yes?"

"Who were you talking to?... And also, what is that?" Cozy glow used her hooves to point at his phone.

"Oh, yeah. You see, since this world is without magic, we humans use technology to help with our tasks. This-" Sebastian pointed at his phone "-Is a phone, it's sort of a communication device that allows people to talk to each other no matter how far they are... You say something into one phone and it comes out on the other."

"R-really?" He nodded " Sebastian, are you sure there is no magic in this world, I don't know about you but a device like that sounds magical to me."

"Trust me..." He told her "This doesn't use magic at all. Just some metal wires and electricity "

"Electricity?" He nodded again. "How could you possibly use electricity if you don't have magic?"

"Oh, simple. We make our own electricity, and not using magic. We have these power stations that produce electricity using turbines and a fuel source."

"I- wh- h-how do, Oh you know what , forget it. " Cozy glow has given up on trying to wrap her head around how this world works and just decided the best way was to just go with it.

...

" Anyways," Cozy asked " who were you talking to??"

"Oh, I was talking to Ema Skye, she's a detective and forensic investigator , she just called to talk about the case we just tackled. "

"I get that part, she mentioned Aaron and Emmie and the evidence. But what I don't get is the part of Emmie's family."

"Oh, right. While I was in the office I decided to help out and investigate Emmie's family, I finished some paper work that will give her family financial help so they can finally pay off their debts, which I found out were illegal , so I plan to sue the landlord after I prosecuted Aaron.

"Golly, now that real nice of you, but can you actually go to court and do that ?"

"Well, no, " She looked a bit confused. " You see, it's usually a lawyer, not a prosecutor , who sues someone . I can't go to court on behalf of the plaintiff, only a lawyer can. Which is why I contacted a lawyer to look into the landlord. "

"Really? You asked someone else to sue the landlord?"

"H-hey! I was doing all I could do to help out! This is the best way to help her without breaking the law in any way. "

"Alright fine, Sorry. By the way, who did you called ?"

" The brother of my best friend, a lawyer named Kristoph Gavin."

"Um, Ok."

"Anyways, it's getting late, I have a trial to attend to tomorrow so I think it's best if we go to sleep now."

"Um, ya... I guess. One problem though, where am I sleeping?"

"Oh, yeah. Haven't thought that far yet. Hmm..."

Amber Light Apartments-Room 619- Bedroom

June 26- 10:45

In all honesty, while it wasn't great, it was technically the best option they had. Both Cozy and Sebastian didn't feel comfortable with sleeping together so they both agree to sleep on separate beds, the problem was the bedroom only had one bed. So as a compromise, Sebastian took one of the two pillows he had and placed in on a table . Cozy was ok with this, and soon they both drifted off to sleep. They hopes it would be the rest they needed after such a long and eventful day.

They were wrong.

Dream world -Sebastian Debeste's Dream

time is irrelevant here

"W-where am I?" Sebastian asked himself as he found himself walking down a dark hallway that seemed to go on forever.

"Hello, is anyone there!" He asked hoping someone would answer. He then looked to the ground.

"What do I do now?" He thought to herself. Just then he saw a light in the distance. He immediately decided to approach the light. Soon, He found himself In front of a mysterious door that was dark blue, with star like sparkle covering it and a glowing crescent moon . It made the door look like a piece of the night sky itself was cut out and used to make this door. With no other options, he decided to open it.

Soon, he found himself inside some sort of fancy looking room. After looking around and taking in his surroundings, he realizes he is in a castle throne room of some kind. A large fancy hall with windows that had sunlight shine through it. he also notices that the room seemed to be cut in half, one half having a nighttime style design while another had some sort of daytime aesthetic To it. Two thrones on each half , and banners , one side showing a crescent moon shining with the stars in a dark blue background, another side had the sun shimmering with the clouds on a yellow-orange background. He also realized that the large carpet had the insignia of a crescent moon with the sun inside of it.

"Wow, now this is a castle throne room," he said, mesmerized by the sight before him, "but where is this place?"

"Thou find thyself in the castle of the two sisters, Sebastian"

"!!! H-huh !" Sebastian immediately turned to the voice and came face-to-face with...

Another magic pony, except unlike Cozy, who was about as small as a cat, this one met him at eye level. Her mane was flying majestically as if some kind of wind was blowing on it. The mane itself looked like someone turned the night sky and stars into hair and glued it onto the pony. She was wearing some kind of armor that looked like it was made form a magic blue metal. Sebastian also realized she had both a unicorn's horn and Pegasus feathers. Her eyes looked directly at him and Sebastian had some sort of fearful feeling inside of him, like a villager coming face to face with the royal monarch of the kingdom.

"W-Who and What are you!?" Sebastian was caught off guard again.

"Now, that's no way to talk to a friend who helped you with finding the truth. You still have my magic charm after all."

"Magic Charm! What are you-" Sebastian immediately realize what she was talking about "y-you're the bishop!"

" 'The Bishop' is merely a nickname, but it is what you shall refer to me as until you learn of my true name. " The bishop simply stated.

Sebastian looked at her with confusion. He noticed among the skin she had as dark as night was a weird spot. As if blue ink was spilled onto a black background and a white crescent moon was painted over. He realized it was essentially in the same spot as Cozy's rook cutie mark.

" You know, It's rude to simply stare at a princesses flank like that."

"ACK! Sorry, I just noticed your-" Sebastian realize what she had said. "Wait, did you said you were a princess !?"

" Cozy glow would have told you this but she was interrupted, " Bishop immediately explained herself " You see, I am an Alicorn. Alicorns were the perfect combination of all three pony tribes. They had the magic of earth ponies, pegasus and unicorn combined. Because of that, they were essentially the perfect choice to rule Equestria."

Sebastian had a look of understanding, "Oh! I get it, so since you have all three pony magic including wings and a horn then that makes you- Wait, You're royalty !?" As soon as Sebastian realize he was essentially speaking with a monarch he proceeded to bow down.

Bishop chuckle amused at what he was doing, "Rise, Sebastain, while it is true that I am a princess, here I am a mere guardian."

"G-guardian? But this is your palace, is it not?" Sebastian questioned after he rose back up , to which she explained...

" This is a mere illusion of my palace," His confused look made her continue "You see, This is a dream"

"W-WHAT!?"

"Perhaps it is best if I start from the beginning" Sebastian nodded to her request.

" Imagine two glass tanks, each tank having an ant farm. One farm is full of yellow ants and one is full of red ants. One is full of dirt and one full of sand. Now imagine a crack in the glass of the tanks , as first only small enough that sand and dirt crossed over to the other farm, but sometimes being big enough allowing the ants to cross from one farm to another."

Sebastian didn't know where Bishop was going with this, but nodded anyways to show he understood so far.

"Now imagine the glass tanks as different worlds, one named Earth and one named Galia, the yellow ants as Earth's creatures such as human, the red ants as Galia creatures such as ponies, the dirt as technology, the sand as magic, the glass as a magical barrier, and the crack as a portal that opens and closes at random points on both worlds and can be of any shape or size. That's what is happening"

Sebastian now understood what she was saying.

"Yes, I once ended up here 4 years ago, I have since adapted to life here in Japanifornia, and now Another one of my kind has ended up here, you can see my intention with Cozy Glow. "

"Yes, as a princess, you would understandable care for the well being of your subjects as well as another one of your kind. "

"And especially concerning she is a young filly, unlike a full grown Alicorn such as myself. I wish her the best chance of survival here, which is why I have entered your dreams to ask of you a favor."

" Yeah, sorry princess but I still don't get the dream part..."

"You are now sleeping now, and I am using a spell to communicate with use through your dreams."

"........... OH! So this is a dream, I'm sleeping , and your using magic to talk to me in my dreams. and also to... ask me a favor?"

" Yes, I ask of you, Sebastian Debeste, to take care of Cozy Glow and become her guardian of sorts."

...

"Excuse me Princess, WHAT!?"

" Is there a problem?"

"Um, YEAH! No pretense but she's a magic talking pony with wings and weather parole! And essentially an alien from another world! that can cause a lot of problems and the last thing I want is to put either one of us in any danger or double!"

" I believe when you said pretense you mean offence, when you said parole the correct word was control and when you said double, it should have been trouble."

"ACK! Sorry your highness, I-"

"I am fully aware of your habit of mixing up words, thou shall not worry about it. But back to the main point, you claim to be incapable of taking care of her yet you choose to let her live with you in your apartment."

"I planned it to be temporary, until I find a way to sent her back. I can't take care of her forever. What about her family and friends! "

"You might have to give up on any hope of sending Cozy Back to Galia."

"W-What do you mean? She was brought here by a portal, can't we sent her back through another portal?"

After a few seconds of silence, Bishop spoke.

" the thing is, this isn't a new thing. These portals have been opening up for a long time now, and many things from Earth have been poring into Galia, and vise versa. The Kura'in channeling technique actually originated as lost Equestrian magic before slowly transforming into what Kura'in has today, and many of the technological devices Equestrians have used were modified Human devices. Though the portals were small enough that only items have ended up in the other world. The odds of a portal large enough to bring a creature into the portals is very rare..."

Sebastian finished her sentence " But if you and Cozy are any indication, very rare and impossible are entirely different things..."

"The chances of finding a portal when they could appear anywhere on earth, let alone one big enough to take Cozy back home, is nigh impossible. Trust me , I learned that the hard way."

Sebastian had to take another second of silence to take in the fact that Cozy was essentially trapped here for the rest of her live.

"And besides, Cozy herself might not want to go back home."

"?? What do you mean by that?"

"You'll find out eventually..."

...

"Honestly, I'm not sure if I should even be with Cozy Glow right now. I mean, I randomly found her while I was investigating a murder, and only let her stay until she can go back home, which is apparently never gonna happen. I finally came around with becoming a prosecutor and now I have to deal with taking care of a Pegasus when I don't even know the basics of taking care of a young girl, let alone a filly with flying powers."

" There is a reason why I gave you the magic charm. It allows you to see the locks a person heart. Showing the secrets they hide. What was the one thing she said that made you see locks on her heart?"

"When she told me she was an innocent filly who never harmed anyone..."

"Listen Sebastian, There is a piece of advise I must give you , and remember this close to your heart. "

Sebastian nodded and listened closely to what Bishop had to say.

"There is always a motive behind the mask of manipulation..."

Sebastian looked at her with confusion, to which she explained further. " People don't do things just for no reason. There is always a reason behind every action. Now is not the time, but soon you will be able to question Cozy about her secret. When you break her locks, I want you to remember that whatever she tells you isn't the whole story, that there is more behind what she says. There is always a motive behind everything, and once you find the whole truth, you might see... "

"... That you might just be the best person to take care of her."

Sebastian still had some questions about this, but before he could ask, suddenly he heard an alarm clock ringing in the distance as the room began to fade and Bishop along with it.

"W-WHAT IS HAPPENING!?"

"Calm down Sebastian, you are only waking up from your slumber, I'll speak with you soon when the time is right. Farewell for now, Sebastian" She said before vanishing. The room around Sebastian also vanished and he began to wake up.

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Bedroom

June 27- 7:00 a.m.

Sebastian slowly opened her eyes and began to get up.

"Well, that just happened." He said rubbing his eyes. He then looked down and saw Cozy Glow still sleeping.

He sighed, knowing full well that it was going to be a long day today.

Author's Note

So yeah, Nightmare moon, under the nickname of The bishop, is now here. More characters will be added and will appear in the story soon.

Invitation to a turnabout (2-2)

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Bedroom

June 27- 8:30 a.m.

Sebastian wasn't sure what he should do once he woke up. The information given to him left him with more questions than answers, and he really wanted to learn the truth of what was going on.

All he knew was that there were two worlds, one of magic and one of technology, separated by a magic barrier that sometimes had crack in the form of randomly appearing portals, and that magic and technology has already leaked from one world to another. He also knew that two ponies had ended up in his world from theirs through the portal and that it was next to impossible for them to return back home. Now he was tasked by a princess to help take care of Cozy Glow, and he had no idea what he should do.

He also had the question regarding Cozy's psyche locks, and the advice of a "Motive behind the mask of manipulation". However, he decided that any questions he had would be answer soon, and he should focus on what he should do now. after completing his daily routine of brushing his teeth, showering and changing into new clothes , he looked over to the pillow where Cozy was still sleepin-

*YAWN*

Nevermind, she was waking up.

Cozy Glow woke up in an unfamiliar bed. Upon realizing this, she jolted up, glancing around the room before remembering, oh, she'd moved in with Sebastian yesterday. After a couple more seconds of looking around the room, she settled back against the pillow with a sigh.

She then noticed Sebastian looking at her. "EEP! H-how long were you standing there !?"

"Only a few seconds, I came to check in on you. You ok?"

"Y-yeah, feeling good today... You?"

"I just woke up, brushed my teeth and had a shower, so I say I feel ready for the day."

"Oh, ok."

"Anyways, do you want anything for breakfast, there's cereal and milk in the fridge and some apples left over from last night. You never finished the slices . There still some on the plate. I also have some bread and eggs if you want some toast."

"What flavor cereal do you have?

"Well, I got one box of Caramel cereal and one chocolate Cereal."

"Golly! That sounds delicious, sure , I'll have that. "

"Alright, you can help if that's what you want."

"Sure!"

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Kitchen

June 27- 9:00 a.m.

Sebastian and Cozy immediately went into the kitchen where they prepared there respective breakfast. Sebastian quickly pulled out two bowls from the kitchen while Cozy glow took a carton of milk and the cereal boxes out of the fridge, using her hooves, somehow. Sebastian will never understand how that works.

Cozy sat down on the table and began to eat her cereal, Sebastian sat down on the chair and did the same thing. He looked over to the young filly who was already filling her bowl with cereal and milk, he did the same and the two started eating. Cozy glow had to admit, while the apples back at Equestria were better than the ones here, the cereal tasted better than anything she ever had.

Maybe it's because of the fact that she has never eaten anything sweet or delicious while locked up in Tartarus and turned into stone. Maybe it's just because of how tasty the extra Chocolate Cereal was, or maybe it was some sort of odd feeling she had...

... like a nostalgic feeling. A blissful and happy memory,

... like revisiting your childhood home or playing with your old toys...

... remembering the childhood happiness you once had...

... before it was taken away by something bad...

...

Anyways, whatever the reason, She soon found herself no longer using her spoon but now drinking the milk and eating the cereal straight from the bowl, as in she put her mouth into the bowl and started eating.

"The cereal really is delicious, huh Cozy Glo-"

"!!!"

Sebastian had looked at Cozy hoping to start a conversation, only to see her eating the cereal straight from the bowl, he decided to talk to Cozy about how she was eating , only for Cozy glow to suddenly fall backwards down the table with the bowl, along with some cereal and milk spilling onto her.

Cozy glow was so engrossed with her actions that Sebastian's words had surprised her, she didn't even realize what she was doing until Sebastian snapped her back to reality, it like being so focus on something that when something else happens it catches you off guard.

Cozy glow immediately groaned in pain and took off the bowl from her head, finding herself drenched in milk and Chocolate cereal. Sebastian immediately got up and went to check if Cozy glow was alright.

"A-are you Okay!?"

"I-I'm fine..."

"W-What happened ?"

"I don't know, " Cozy shook some milk off her hooves "I guess I was so focus on eating that I accidentally ... leaned back to much... I guess?" Cozy glow shrugged.

"Heh, Choco crunch is a delicious cereal , after all, " Sebastian said before he leaned down and grabbed Cozy, " Here, let me help you clean that off."

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Bathroom

June 27- 9:30 a.m.

Sebastian, in all honesty, had no idea if what he was doing was right. It has already been establish that when it comes to taking care of a filly, he had absolutely no idea if what he's doing was right or not, so he was a bit nervous on if he should carry Cozy Glow to the bathtub and clean her off. He didn't know a single thing about washing an equine or properly cleaning wings , he didn't even have any products designed for pony let alone magic ones.

Nonetheless, seeing Cozy Glow completely soaked in milk, he felt like a simple towel wouldn't do, unless of course she was ok with her feathers being sticky and smelling like milk chocolate for the rest of the day. She was stuck as a stone statue for who knows how long so she should have something to cool down with anyways.

"Ok, Cozy, " Sebastian told her, "I going to clean you with a bath, but if I'm being honest, I don't really know how to bathe a pony, or how to properly clean the feathers of a wing. So... yeah" Sebastian gave an awkward laugh.

Cozy just shrugged "It's ok, you'll just need to help remove any cereal stuck on me and clean me up in places I can't reach. Just be careful. Wings are the most sensitive part of a Pegasus and are really important to us."

Great, more worry for Sebastian ,at lease now he knew he had to be extra careful with her wings. He immediately turned on the water in the bathtub . Once he felt the water level was high enough , he turned off the tap and Cozy immediately jumped in.

She began splashing around and playing with the water. Sebastian took the shower head and started washing Cozy clean. He was washing milk off of her body and using his hands to pluck out cereal from her hair. He then went over to her wings, and taking her advice into account, he first told her he was moving onto her wings now. Cozy glow nodded to him, as if telling him he can touch her wings now.

When he heard from her that the wings were the most sensitive part, he realize he wasn't kidding when her wings suddenly popped open to full length as soon as he touched them. "S-Sorry, it-it just happens as a sort or reflex..."

"It's ok Cozy, I'll be careful with your wings, I promise."

He tried to be as careful as he could when removing stuck cereal from her wings without accidentally plucking off a feather. His method of doing so was to locate a piece of cereal and move the feathers out of the way first before brushing the cereal off the wing. This method of doing it also caused Sebastian to see the skin under the feathers,

and that's when he noticed something...

In some part of her wings, the skin was slightly darker than the rest. While some parts were the same Peachey pink as the rest of her body, some parts were slightly darker, like the same skin under a shade of blue and black, there were also some faint white lines across some part of her wings.

They looked like fainted bruise marks and scars.

Sebastian wasn't sure what to say, he decided to clean up her wings first before he said anything. After cleaning the last of cereal off of Cozy's mane and wings, he could have ended things there, but he knew that bathing with water alone wasn't enough, and she would still smell like chocolate milk . He wasn't sue if human shampoo can be used on a pony, then again, she wasn't any ordinary pony...

"Um... Cozy ?"

"Ya, Sebastian?"

"Um... So, I don't have anything shampoo for ponies , but I also don't want you to smell like chocolate milk for the rest of the day, so I wanted to ask if it's ok for me to use human shampoo on you..."

...

The awkward silence , only disturbed by the sound of water , was killing Sebastian inside. As far as he was concerned, Cozy glow looked like she was staring at Sebastian as if that was the most ridiculous thing she ever heard, In reality, Cozy Glow was thinking inside her head whether trying shampoo from another world was okay or not.

"Um, what in your shampoo..."

"Oh!" Sebastian wasn't expecting that, he immediately picked up the bottle and read the label. "Um... sodium lauryl sarcosinate, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), and sodium laureth sulfate (SLES)."

"Sounds like the same ingredients in a mane and tail shampoo I have back home. Sure, you can use that on me..."

Sebastian placed some shampoo onto his hands and started washing Cozy Glow's body. He got a good look at her body. Her cutie mark wasn't just a rook. Apon closer look, Sebastian could see the simple black lines that gave the rook more design and style.

He went over to the rest of her body ,expecting to see the same regular pink skin for the rest of the body. Instead, to his shock, he saw some faint marks on her skin. Like a pink background with faint purple lines, they looked , again, like faded bruises and scars. All along her body, faded so much he didn't noticed them until he took a closer look and really focused on her skin. It unnerved him.

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Living Room

June 27- 10:00 a.m.

Cozy Glow was now drying herself off with a towel. Sebastian had a lot of questions in regards to the marks and decided now was as good a time to ask about them.

"Hey Cozy" Cozy looked up towards Sebastian.

"Yeah Sebastian" She said in a cheerful , innocent tone.

"D-did," Sebastian wasn't sure how to appropriately say this. " did something bad happen to you before?"

"Golly, what are you talking about?"

"Um... W-while I was bathing you, I noticed t-that there were many marks on you..."

Marks?" She was now confused.

"Y-yeah, marks, they looked like faded scars and bruise marks , and I was wondering about them."

"Huh? I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe I got them from some minor injury , I flew into a bush to help get a kite back, I sometimes fly into things by accident, I-"

"Sorry Cozy, but I doubt that." Sebastian stated his point. " I seen images of injuries from my prosecutor course lessons from Themis, and those marks are too focused. A minor hit or scratch from a small incident would leave no marks at all, or at worse a small spot or line. While I only noticed by taking a closer look, that was because of how faint the marks were. The spots and scars were quiet large."

"Really ? I'm sorry but I don't really know what you're talking about..."

Sebastian wanted to know what was up with those marks, but Cozy statement made him decide to just drop the conversation He felt as if now wasn't a good time to press this. "Um, alright..."

Cozy's Mark remembered in a mental note

The next few minutes was complete silence. Sebastian still had some questions in his head. He decided to ask Cozy Glow what seems like a normal question, one with a simple answer and no problems at all.

"So, can you tell me anything about your family ?"

...

Silence, Sebastian was getting ready for work so he wasn't looking at Cozy Glow, when the silence went on, he asked again. "Um, Cozy glow? You okay? I ask if you can tell me anything about your family?"

Sebastian looked up to see Cozy Glow suddenly having an unnerved look on her face. She wasn't looking at her, but instead down , as if trying to avoid looking at Sebastian . She bluntly stated "Why do you ask?"

"I'm simply curious." The human grunted as he returned to his standing position . "You haven't mentioned them once since you were here , and I would think that would be the first thing you bring up when lost in a new world."

Cozy slowly let out a deep sigh for a moment. "...why do you care?"

"I care about you and want to know more about you, if that's alright?"

"No, It's not..." That surprised him.

"W-well why, Is there a problem with your family?"

Cozy glow stayed silent. Sebastian looks at her and sees she's lost in thought, as if something is bothering her and she has all her focus thinking about it. He notices how uncomfortable the filly looks right now, as if what's bothering her is a sensitive topic to her.

"Um... Cozy? "

Eventually, she lifts her head. "Yes, Sebastian?"

"You alright, you look lost in thought there..."

"Um, y-yeah I'm fine... I guess..."

...

"If you really don't want to answer, then I understand. From the sound of it... there seems to be something your not comfortable talking about your family. Is there..."

...

"Hey, so.. um"

"OH Golly, sorry about that. So , what is it?"

Well , she sure bounce back quickly, Sebastian was a bit relived, worried that the topic of family would have offended Cozy somehow.

"I have an idea, and I want to here your thoughts."

"Sure, what is it?"

Sebastian went over to the Closet and pulled out a red coat a golden masquerade mask and a cyan mask with blue and purple mask.

"Um... Sebastian," Cozy looked confused," What are those?"

"You're disguise."

"Disguise ??"

"Well, I was thinking. Whether I should bring you with me to the prosecutor's office or leave you here in my apartment, " He began to explain " On one hand , bringing you along would mean risking someone seeing you and the chances of them having an extreme reaction is very high. They could overreact and their emotions could get the better of them, and the last thing I want is for you to get in danger."

Especially with Kay or Klavier.

"On the other hand," He continues " I don't think It's a good idea to let you stay here in the apartment unsupervised . You know nothing about this world , something might happen and you wouldn't know what to do. Maybe you end up in a situation where you put yourself in danger because of your lack of knowledge on how this world works. So I made a choice."

"Golly! You really do care about my safety , don't you," Sebastian nodded, Cozy continued, "So, what is your choice?"

" You're gonna follow me around wherever I go, and this" He raised the coat and mask "Is my solution to the problem of people seeing you. And also where you're give constructive criticism. "

"How is a coat and two masks going to help me exactly?"

"You'll wear the coat like a cape and hood, hiding your appearance, the mask is to hide your face."

...

"Um ... May I ask how ?"

"Like this..."

(Note: My art skills aren't the best so ... yeah.)

Sebastian proceeded to tie the coat into a makeshift cloak, that was the perfect size for Cozy surprisingly, he also had Cozy glow wear the masks, completing her look.

Cozy glow immediately flew to the nearby mirror to look at her new outfit.

...

"Golly, I was thinking I look ridiculous, but surprisingly , this really is a good disguise"

Cozy turned to Sebastian who smiled, "Thanks Cozy. It was really lucky I just so happen to have all this stuff lying around. The idea to turn my old coat into a cloak took some time. Heh"

"Just out of curiosity, where did you get these?"

"Well, the two masks were something that I had for some years now. Me and my friend swent to a theme park and won these as prizes at some of the carnival games..."

"And the coat?"

"It... " Sebastian paused, and Cozy felt a bit of discomfort in his voice when he continued " ... was a special reward from Themis..."

"You already mention this "Themis" twice now, what is it?"

"Ah, it's an academy for people who want a future in law. It's full name is Themis Legal Academy, and it has three course, Defense attorney, Prosecutor and Judge course. The jacket is a ... gift... from the school..."

" A gift? Golly! The school went out of their way to gift you something? What did you do to get this?"

"Um... Nothing I-"

"Now, Now, Surely you must have done something to earn this, school don't just give out gifts to their students..."

Stop

"Why, I bet you got this jacket for being top of your class , haven't you?"

Please just stop

"You probably worked so hard on studying to become a prosecutor that the school rewarded this to you for your skill and cleverness..."

Cozy Glow I beg you, please

" You were probably The Best at Themis , weren't you"

Cozy glow really meant no harm when she said any of that, but suddenly she looked at Sebastian who was crying a river of tears right now. He was absorbed in misery and Cozy could see it straight on his face. She was confused why Sebastian was crying when all she did was give complements to him, so she immediately went over to comfort him.

"Hey, Sebastian, you alright?"

"Y-yeah! I-I'm fine."

"You didn't look fine a few minutes ago, you started crying, is everything alright..."

" Yes, everything's fine..."

...

"A-anyways!" Sebastian changed the topic before he starts crying again. "W-we need to go right now, I'm running late to the prosecutors office, s-so come on!"

...

"Um... Okay."

With that out of the way, Cozy and Sebastian immediately left the apartment and moved to the prosecutor's office building.

Prosecutor's office-Room 1223- Sebastian's office

June 27- 4:30 p.m.

Well, the good news was that the disguise worked , nobody really paid attention to Cozy Glow, who seemed like a simple doll sitting on top of a cabinet, or a table, or Sebastian Debeste's shoulder. This meant that whenever people were around, she would just stay in one spot, be completely still and no one would really care about her, hidden in plain sight. Especially given how much stuff there was in Sebastian's office. She could easily be hidden with one of Sebastian's other decorations, such as next to the flower pot, or Sebastian "Steel Samurai" Statue that Edgeworth had given him.

Even when Sebastian was walking anywhere she would be sitting on Sebastian's shoulder and most wouldn't really care, and the few who did immediately lost interest the moment Sebastian lied and told them he won a doll at a prize and it was designed to sit on your shoulder, which was apparently a real thing, they actually ran into a kid with the same kind of doll, and it was a pretty interesting conversation to say the least.

If you though there was going to be bad news, then you be wrong. Nothing bad had happened the whole day, but that didn't mean anything interesting was happening.

Neither Cozy Glow nor Sebastian felt comfortable striking another conversation. The last few attempts at talking with each other went badly , with one of them getting emotional followed by an awkward silence. So for the rest of the day they decided to remain quiet and do their own respective things.

Luckily , Sebastian had a bunch of books that Edgeworth had given him to help with his vocabulary, and Cozy Glow immediately started reading those. Sebastian was actually impressed with her reading abilities, and Cozy immediately took interest in the books, wanting to know more about the world she was now in.

So Sebastian simply did his paper work with Cozy Glow flying around and reading whatever books he had, sometimes asking Sebastian what a certain word meant, starting a conversation with Cozy that ended Cozy learning a new word and their relation smoothing out to a comfortable position in contrast to the awkwardness back at the apartment.

She was now leaning against the cupboard, reading a book. The position was because the filly was told by the prosecutor about his friend Kay Faraday, and beside the cupboard was the most comfortable position where she could hide from any potential Great Thief looking through the window. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Cozy immediately went back into hiding , after which Sebastian opened the door.

"Guten Afternoon , Herr Debeste!"

"What? " Cozy deadpanned inside her head, what did she just heard?

"Oh, afternoon Klavier, How are you doing today?" Sebastian was happy that it was his best friend form Themis , but a bit concerned for Cozy

"Ah, I'm good , thanks, just wanted to ask my best friend some questions, Ja."

"Ah, sure thing Klav. "

"Okay, first, Herr Edgeworth wanted to ask you why you were late when you're usually on time, but he busy with some work, he wanted to ask you when you come by for the usual game of chess and tea at this time, but you have yet to arrive. Everything alright?"

Crap, I was so focused on Cozy I actually forgot that! Before Klavier got more suspicious, Sebastian made an excuse on the spot.

"Oh, um, s-sorry about that, I guess with all the p-paperwork I forgot... heh..."

"Ja, guess that makes sense, my Freund, especially given your first trial is coming up... Would you like me to help with-"

Klavier was interrupted by Sebastian "A-ah! No, It's alright, Just tell Dad I- ACK!" Sebastian realize his slip of tongue

"Heh, still calling him Dad, Herr Debeste, you know you can't say that word in the office..."

"Ah, sorry I-"

"It's ok."

Cozy was slightly amused at this point, Sebastian wanted to get this over with, the longer he was here, the longer he noticed Cozy, and if being his classmate at Themis was any indication, he will tell everyone about Cozy as soon as he finds out...

" Anyways, another question I would like to ask... Have you seen Kay Faraday?"

"???" Sebastian was confused, this was not what he expected " Um... No, why? Has something happened to her?"

"Ja, apparently she went somewhere at 7:00 p.m. yesterday and told Fraulein Skye She would be back by 11 :00, yet she had yet to show up even now. She's gone missing into the dead of night."

This shocked Sebastian, who's scream shocked Cozy , luckily Sebastian's "WHAT!?" was at least 3x louder than Cozy's "EEP!"

"Ja, Fraulein Skye started panicking at the possibility that her girlfriend might be in danger or worse, so we're launching an investigation into her whereabouts, that's the reason why Edgeworth is busy at the moment ."

Sebastian was in absolute shock , his mouth went wide with an eerie feeling of worry sent shivers down his spine. "H-How , When, What, Why..."

"I have as many questions as you , Herr Debeste, but for now, I shall have to go back to investigations, talk to you soon."

"And with that, Kalvier left. As soon as the door close, Sebastian locked the door up and sat down, silently thinking about the news given to him...

...

"Sebastian?" He looked over to Cozy "Are you okay?"

"Oh! Y-yeah! I'm fine..."

"I can tell you're not alright... I also know how you feel... "

... Sebastian simply sighed, Cozy tried to comfort him by placing her hooves onto his shoulders.

"It must be saddening to hear a friend you care about missing... But hey, don't worry, things could be better..."

"They COULD be," Sebastian stated "But will they?"

"Of course they will!"

...

"Heh, Thanks Cozy..."

"So um, another question... Was that the Klavier Gavin you talked about?" He nodded

"Golly, when you said he speaks weird, I wasn't expecting That..."

"Heh, ya, he's trying to speak a different language to make himself more attractive but ended up only using a few words he barely understands the meaning of..."

" So , About that part where you apparently play chess with your dad every afternoon..."

"Um, ya?"

"I remember you mentioned this once at the apartment, you learned Chess before from your dad Miles, right?"

"Y-yeah... It's his favorite past time and he decided to play some games with me and teach me how to play."

"Do you want to play some games with me?"

"... Sure, why not. It's almost break time, and I have a board here, give me a moment."

Just then , a loud grumble can be heard. Both of them stood in awkward silenc before Sebastian spoke up...

"You want to eat first?"

"Sure..."

Sebastian took out lunch from his bag, which consist of apples for Cozy Glow and a sandwich for him. He then proceeded to arrange the chess Pieces onto the table nearby before he and Cozy played some games of chess while eating.

Prosecutor's office-Room 1223- Sebastian's office

June 27- 6:30 p.m.

"And Checkmate"

"Golly! You really are good at chess , huh"

"Thanks Cozy, you're really good at Chess too, guess it really is your special talent, huh?"

"Yup!"

Sebastian and Cozy were both enjoying game after game of Chess, having played 34 rounds together, both of them proving to be experts at the game, and equally balance in skill. So balance in fact, that when Sebastian took the scorecard...

"And that's 17 to 17 !" He said, writing into the paper he used to keep scores " This is every Chess match so far, every time one of us wins the other evens out the score."

" Wow, really?"

Sebastian nodded. Both of them looked impressed with the game of Chess. Suddenly, a knock at the door , Cozy put her mask back on and hid into the top of Sebastian's desk, after which Sebastian opened the door. There greeting him with a concerned look is Mile Edgeworth himself.

Sebastian spoke first... "AH! Edgeworth, Sir!"

"Sebastian," Edgeworth was glaring at Sebastian with such a scary face that even Cozy herself felt shivers down her spine " may I ask why you didn't come to the office break room during lunch time?"

"AH! W-well..." Damn it, he was so focused on playing Chess with Cozy Glow he didn't come down to eat with the other prosecutors like usual... "Um, W-well, I had s-some extra paperwork and d-decided to complete those first before-"

He was cut off " Lunch starts at 5:00 and you're telling me you took 1 and a half hour to complete it?"

!!! Was he really that focus on the games with Cozy, then again, they did play 34 rounds... "A-ah , w-well, you see..."

"What I see is someone who's acting strange , or out of character ," Edgeworth stated his point " I know exactly how you tick, you always follow a schedule of sorts, and never break it unless something happened that effected your life in a big way that you had to reschedule your usual routine."

"AH! Well..."

"Don't think I don't see the chess board behind you, or the fact that the pieces appear to be in an endgame position, in fact, from where I'm standing, that game has already ended with a red checkmate.

(Note: The chessboard Sebastian has is red vs blue instead of white vs black)

!!! Sebastian quickly glance over to the chess board .

"I also see two tupperwares of food scraps on the same table, I don't think you would eat two separate meals into the office and eat them on a table with a chess board in your own office and not in the prosecutor's break room. Sebastian, what is going on here?"

"Um... W-well, you see Mr Edgeworth, I-"

"SIR!"

Suddenly, another, more scruffier voice screamed down the hall, Cozy saw someone wearing a green coat walk towards Edgeworth.

"SIR!"

"What is it , detective gumshoe?"

" Detective Frozen Glare wanted to talk with you , SIR, about Kay's disappearance ..."

"..."

Edgeworth seemed really deep in thought, on one hand Sebastian was still acting odd, but on the other he had really cared about Kay and wants any chance of making sure she's safe. He decided he talk to his adoptive son later and focus now on the whereabouts of his adoptive daughter.

"Fine, I'll talk to him..."

Edgeworth walked off, and Sebastian immediately locked the door.

...

"So... that was the Edgeworth you talked about?" Sebastian nodded

"Yeah, my mentor and my adoptive father..."

"Golly, well, guess it makes sense for him to be your mentor, if that scruffy person hadn't come around chances are he would have caught us right then and there..."

"Y-yeah. Um, I'll go clean this place up and go back to the paperwork now..."

"Sure."

Dream world -Sebastian Debeste's Dream

again, time is irrelevant

"Today was quite an... interesting day, to say the least..."

Sebastian was once again in the same palace, the Castle of the two sisters, and was looking over to Bishop, who was sitting on the moon throne, with the sun throne complete empty .

"Interesting to you, awkward and stressful to me..."

"Oh don't say that, Sebastian... I asked you to take care of Cozy and I say you did alright..."

"Alright? Alright!? How was it alright !? I had no idea what I was doing and now I screwed up!"

"Well, you gave Cozy something to eat that she enjoys , made sure she was clean, played Chess with her and had a good time, talked to Cozy every time she reads a book and learns a new word, slowly teaching her about your world while learning about hers , and kept her safe from potential harm by giving her a disguise..."

" But what about the conversations earlier in the morning that ended with awkard silence, or the time Edgeworth almost caught us!"

"You simply wanted to speak with her and had no idea that it was a sensitive Conversation for her, and you can't fault yourself being busy playing with Cozy to go down and eat with the others..."

"I... guess you're right." Sebastian had to admit , she had a point. Sebastian was worried about screwing up badly , but so far Cozy Glow was okay living with him. For now , at least.

...

"Perhaps you are wondering about what you should do next?"

"Y-yeah, I am. How did you- wait, right... You can visit my dreams, you can probably read my mind too or something ..."

" I could tell what your thinking just be the look on your face. No magic needed, " Bishop cleared her throat " as of the matter of what you should expect, Allow me to inform you of something."

Sebastian looked at Bishop with an eyebrow raised as she continued "Tomorrow, after Aaron Rivera's trial, you will be given an invitation, I recommend you accept it."

"... Wha-What does that mean!? I will be given an invatation, to what?"

"You'll find out soon enough... "

"I-You're not gonna answer my question are you?"

"Nope!"

*Sigh* "Alright, I'll keep that in mind..."

District Court- Prosecutor's Lobby

June 28, 3:30 p.m.

It was Day 2 since Sebastian became Cozy's caretaker, and today, things went better than yesterday. Today started with no incident or awkward conversations, no knocks on the door since he arrived at the office, no one giving him even a glance while he and Cozy walked / flew down the streets, everyone being too busy to care about Sebastian's "Doll" at the police station when he came to collect evidence, and there was a perfect spot for Cozy to hide in the courtroom during the trial of Aaron Rivera.

There was even some good news that came after the trial, Sebastian wanted to protect Cozy as much as he could, so when address the issue of the "statue" , he was as vague as possible of it's whereabouts and whether the thief was successful. As such, even when Aaron was clearly charged with attempted thief along side murder, the manager himself came to him and told him how he'll just get Hazel Art Emporium to make another statue to replace the "stolen" one.

Cozy and Sebastian was just about to leave the courthouse, talking ( more like whispering ) about their next game of Chess or about the similarities and differences between their worlds, when suddenly...

"Wait a moment! You!"

They turned around to see a man who was calling out to them. Cozy thought he looked like a fancy gentlemen, like the ones you see in the high court of Canterlot, while Sebastian thought he looked like a businessman, running a company with a high net worth. In reality, he was a simple, humble servant, though you can't really fault either of them for their assumption, a black suit and tie with black slacks and fancy shoes was a pretty versatile outfit for any professions.

Golly! What does he want? She whispered

I don't know , Cozy, but he seems really addiment on getting our attention... Sebastian told her.

"Excuse me , Mister," He said, "But you wouldn't happen to be a mister Sebastian Debeste, would you?"

Sebastian wasn't sure how he should respond, so he decided to be as honest as possible with him, since he still didn't know who he was " Yes, I'm Prosecutor Sebastian Debeste, and you are?"

"Ah, sorry, where are my manners," He extended out his hand showing he had a letter in it , "My name is Paul Light , a servant working for the Mikado family , and I was told by my master to bring this letter to you, here you go."

Sebastian immediately took the letter and opened it, he pulled out a piece of paper and read it

"To Sebastian Debeste, You are invited to the annual party at Mikado mansions on Sunrise Streets , which starts at 7:00 p.m. The ticket that comes along with the letter shall act as your invitation. Signed , Mikado..."

Sebastian and Cozy was unsure of what to think of this, they never heard of Mikado family or their mansion, and why invite him of all people, if they had servants , they should be very rich, what connection could they have to a simple prosecutor like him?

Sebastian was about to give the letter back to Paul, after all, he was suspicious of why he of all people would be invited to a rich person's party, combined with the fact he never even heard of Mikado in the first place. There was also the matter of potentially putting Cozy Glow in danger, regardless of whether this invitation was legitimate or not. But just before he refused, he remembered Bishop's words last night...

...

"Cozy Glow, what do you think?" He whispered, Paul didn't hear, but Cozy did.

"Golly, you're asking me? I honestly don't know what to think about all this ... but if you want, then sure, we'll go to this "Mikado" party "

...

He turned to Paul , who was still waiting for a response, he told him :

"Alright, I accept the invitation."

Meanwhile:

Miles Edgeworth created a new chat

Miles Edgeworth change the chat name to "Sebastian is hiding something"

Miles Edgeworth added Klavier Gavin , Ema Skye, Justine Courtney, John Marsh , and Detective Gumshoe

Miles Edgeworth : So can we all agree that Sebastian is hiding something from us?

Klavier Gavin changed the name to "Herr Debeste why are you SUS"

Klavier Gavin : Yes, yes he is...

Ema Skye changed the name to "Sebastian is acting weird"

Ema Skye: My scientific analysis says he was acting weird when he came to collect evidence...

Justine Courtney : What in the name of the goddess of law happened?

Turnabout at the Mansion (2-3)

Mikado Mansion- Main Hall

June 28- 6:19 p.m.

Sebastian has never felt more like an outsider ever in his whole life.

Once he and Cozy returned to the office, he went to the computer to research more about this "Mikado Mansion" and the family that owned it. They found that the Mikado family is a very rich family who runs Mikado Marvelous Moonstones , a multi-billion jewelry company , and their mansion , worth over one million dollars, is located on a piece of land that they also brought and own with their vast wealth. They also learn that the party that Sebastian was invited to was an annual anniversary party to celebrate the companies founding, with those invited to be high class and had a major contribution in the companies success.

Which is why Sebastian felt off when he of all people was invited to a party celebrating the founding of a company he never even heard of before, still, there has to be a good reason why he was given an invite, so he decided to go there anyways. Having clocked out from the office earlier than usual, and dressed as formal for a fancy party as much as he could, he decided to go to the Mansion to see if the invite was legit, as well as what the reason is for him to be invited to a part like this should the invite be legitimate . Cozy tagged along with him as well.

Once he reached the Mansion, which looked as expensive and fancy in person as in the online photos, he gave his ticket to the security guards , who confirmed the invite as legitimate, and soon he found himself inside the main hall , surrounded by a few people who was giving Sebastian a weird look.

"As if it didn't feel awkward enough already..." Sebastian thought.

Looking around, he came to the logical conclusion that the other people here were acquaintances of Mikado, there were servants, which included Paul Light, the one who gave him the invite, all of whom wore the same butler or maid uniform, which mean the other guest, wearing fancy clothing, must be they're probably all super-rich and important.

"Golly," Cozy whispered into Sebastian, the other guest didn't hear " just looking at this hall already tells you that you don't really fit in ..."

"Thanks for adding onto the nervousness, Cozy... " Sebastian took a deep breath, "It's ok, I think I know how to act first class enough to not say or do anything embarrassing..."

"Are you Ok Sebby?" Cozy glow asked him, "You look like you're about to cry..."

"I-I'm fine, Cozy, Ok..." Sebastian told his concerned friend, the pegasu- I mean doll flying in a hidden space near him... "I'm going to try and blend with these people a bit..."

"Um... while they have similar meaning, the word Mingle would be a more suitable word than blend..."

"Right, sorry, ok here goes nothing..."

Sebastian looked around the room and decided to talk with the most casual looking person in the room first. He still wore a fancy suit and tie, but his look was lay back and chill.

*Sigh* " Guess I do deserve a little break from all the trouble at Core Cavern Co..." The man plays around with his glass of what appears to be liquor ...

"Um... Good Afternoon , Sir... Nice to meet you here..."

"Huh?" The man turns his attention to Sebastian "Oh, good morning, haven't seen you around here before... nice to meet you too, Mr..."

"Debeste, Sebastian Debeste ..."

"The best , huh?"

"Ah! D-don't get the wrong idea, I'm not calling myself the best or something like that, it's literally my sir name..."

"Ah! Well that is one interesting surname, Name's Richard , Richard Core. " He extends his hand forward, and Sebastian politely returns the gestured with his own hand shake...

> About Richard

"So...May I ask what is your connection with Mikado..."

"Well," He took a quick drink from his glass " The Core and The Mikado family have been very close, while Core Cavern Co is but a humble mining company, it is because of us that the Mikado family became so rich in the first place , as such our families are close . "

"Oh, okay , that makes sense..."

" Well, what about you?" He asked "I never seen you before , is this the first time you've been invited to this ?"

"Ah.. Um, yeah. I'm new here... " Sebastian was a bit nervous.

"Heh, it's alright, everyone has their first time doing something, so what you get invited for?" His lay back attitude stood in extreme contras to the fancy atmosphere .

"Um... Well, not sure, really... I was just doing my work when Paul Light came to me and gave me an invite..." Sebastian told him, he realise how ridiculous it sounded, but it's the truth...

Richard didn't believed it though "Really ? You don't even know what you did to get an invite? " Sebastian shook his head in honesty , to which Richard chuckles " I think your lying here, you see," He explains " to get an invite personally delivered to you by one of Emiko Mikado servants is a special honor which means you are a very important person , and Paul Light is Emiko Mikado personal and most loyal assistant, meaning you must be extra special..."

Sebastian now felt even more suspicious and nervous

Why did This Emiko went out of her way to send Paul Light just to make sure I got an invite, I'm not really that important , right ?

> Trouble?

"Sorry it I'm coming out as rude for asking," Sebastian really hope he wouldn't cause trouble by saying this " But I overheard you mentioning trouble with your company just now ..."

"Oh? I guess I did , huh..."

"So, what are these troubles that you were talking about?"

"I guess there's no harm in telling you ... the news has already hit the papers anyways..."

Newspaper Article received by Sebastian from Richard

" Miner's Minerals Mysteriously and Maliciously Moved directly to Black Market " Sebastian read out.

"Golly," Cozy Whispered " now that's a sensationalist title if I ever heard one..."

"Core Cavern Co is one of the biggest mining companies in the world..." He explained " ... And as such we produced the most minerals out of any company there is..." He then looked dejected as he explained " Minerals that were discovered to be illegally sold to the Black Market."

"Wha-WHAT!?"

"Many people pay good money for these gems stones, and those on the Black Market are cheaper than the one commercially sold, and that's because those on the black market were stolen from the company."

"Someone was stealing your gemstones and selling them cheaper than normal price illegally!?"

"Not just anyone was stealing these gems, evidence was found that whoever was doing this was someone on the inside, giving these people exactly what they want, and that's why it's causing quite a stir in the company..."

"Golly, someone stealing a companies produces and selling them cheap for a quick bit ... that sure would cause a lot of trouble..." Cozy said, Sebastian nodded in response " Yeah, it's honestly a bit shocking to say the least ..."

"We don't know who's behind it, but as the CEO of my family's company, I'm gonna give them hell when I find out..."

"No kidding, Whoever's behind this is making a mockery of your company."

...

"Anyways, sorry about bring the mood down like that, party hasn't even start yet, pretty sure you can walk around and explore the place until it's time to gather here in the hall, the only rule is guest are only allowed on the 1st floor, the only stair up the 2nd floor is blocked by the servants, so go grab some food at the dining room or something"

"Golly, he really is laid back and chill, even when angry about his company ..."

"Yeah, anyways, we should explore the place until the party starts... we still have about 30 minutes..."

Sebastian took out the map of the mansion that came with the letter he was given, and took a look...

Mansion Map added into pocket

"Ok, let's see here... Were in the main hall right now, and there is several places we can explore here ... Hey Cozy, where should we look first?"

"Judging from the floor plan, this place is pretty big. " Cozy then gave her suggestion "Maybe we should look around for the other guests and talk to them..."

"I guess it would be a good idea to socialize a bit before the party starts" Sebastian said.

Mikado Mansion- Library

June 28- 6:27 p.m.

"Golly, this library is pretty fancy, " Cozy said "though not as great as the one back at the Friendship School..."

"Still can't believe your world has an entire school dedicated to friendship ... " Sebastian remember Cozy bringing up Twilight's School of Friendship before " And yeah, this library is pretty impressive..."

"Look like no one's here, let's explore the place... "

> Examine Bookshelf

"Seems like just a regular bookshelf , full of different books to read..."

"Golly, look at all of these book"

"You really have an interest in Book, huh Cozy"

"It's something I picked up back at the school of friendship... Twilight , before she became headmare and princess, was a librarian , she loved books, and during the friendship lessons encourage us to read books, I spend most my time in the school library"

Cozy Glow flew over to grab a book from the shelf, she grabbed onto a book and pulled it out quickly...

... along with one of the shelfs, which flew out the bookshelf and smack right onto Sebastian...

"OW!"

"Dear Celestia ! Are you okay!?"

"I'm Fine !"

"Golly..." She turned back to the bookshelf "What happened..."

"Let me take a closer look myself..."

...

"Ah! I see the problem," Sebastian explained "This bookshelf is pretty old, it's already breaking apart, some shelfs have already broken off and are being supported by the other books..." He turned to Cozy " This Shelf was supported by the books beneath it, so when you pulled the book out quickly, the shelf came with it..."

" Golly, this place must be really old, huh?"

"I mean, the website did say this mansion was owned by the Mikado family for 3 generations..." Sebastian turned to place the shelf back into the bookshelf when he noticed "Huh?"

"What is it?"

"Look over here..."

Cozy looked at where Sebastian was looking at ... and she saw it, there on the back of the bookshelf was a hole.

The hole itself wasn't much of a surprise, the bookshelf was pretty old and broken so a hole at the back would make sense, what caught their interest was the blackness behind the hole where there should be a whiteness of the walls of the room.

Curiously, Sebastian reached out to the blackness, expecting the blackness to be the wall dirtied , he expected his fingers to be stopped, for his hands to press onto the wall, he didn't expect what had actually happened.

His fingers went through the hole and just kept going, his fingers passed through the hole , as if it was empty space there. Soon Sebastian found his whole hand inside the hole... and felt something touch his hand. He pulls it out and sees it's a yellow wire.

"So, there's space hidden behind the bookshelf and a yellow wire..."

"Golly, this is interesting to say the least..."

>Examine Painting

"Golly, this seems like a really beautiful painting, whoever painted this must be a professional"

"Yes, it is a pretty painting of a pretty rose indeed... Huh?"

"Yes Sebastian ?"

"The painting is slightly askew , here let me just..."

Sebastian went over to readjust the painting so it was displayed properly, the painting was soon perfectly lined and angled...

... before the painting fell down and landed onto the floor

...

"Well, that just happened..."

"Hey! Look" Sebastian looked to where Cozy was pointing and saw..

... That behind the painting was a hidden switch.

"Golly, a hidden switch huh? That's not something you see everyday."

"Wait! Cozy , don't you see! "

"See what?"

"The wire the switch is attached to..."

Cozy looked , and sure enough, she can see the wire attached to the switch was yellow, the same yellow wire she saw earlier from the bookshelf...

Sebastian and Cozy looked at each other and nodded in mutual understanding before he flipped the switch...

*Click*

The bookcase proceeded to sink into the floor, revealing a hidden passage .

" A secret passage..."

"Golly, a hidden passage in an old mansion is , like, so cliché ... "

"I wonder where it goes..."

" ... Well, only one way to find out. You'll stay here in case someone comes in here or the door automatically shuts, I'll just go see where it leads and tell me..."

"Um... Ok, don't let anyone see you, Cozy..."

"Ok!"

Cozy soon walked into the passageway, Sebastian simply waited there for a few minutes . Soon , he saw Cozy flying towards him from the darkness.

Suddenly, the door closed on them. It appears as though the door close automatically after a few minutes...

Cozy suddenly screamed for help and Sebastian immediately tried to flipped the door open again, but there was some problems...

The door didn't open until another minute or so... and when it did open, Sebastian saw Cozy , curl up on the floor , crying her eyes out...

Sebastian immediately went over and hug her, trying to reassure her. She eventually calmed down.

...

"Cozy glow... is everything alright?" Concern was clear in his voice

"I-I'm Fine..."

No you're not Cozy, I know for a fact there is something wrong here, this isn't the first time you acted like this... You sometimes curl up in fear before... why are you afraid, is something wrong?

Cozy Glow's Nyctophobia noted

"So... what did you find there?"

"Oh, well, there was a set of stairs that looped back around itself, it seems to be a secret passage to the 2nd floor of this place, with the other side being a door hidden behind a painting that leads to some random room that had a window and a box on a stand. The box was incased in glass... "

"I... See"

Okay, not sure what that means , but I'll just go with it for now...

Secret Passageway noted

Mikado Mansion- Media Room

June 28- 6:35 p.m.

Sebastian walked into the media room first, he figure that if anyone was going to be there it would make sense for them to be enjoying whatever entertainment they have...

Sebastian and Cozy expected the people here to be mature professionals, and for them to be having casual conversation while drinking and playing a simple game, so they were surprise when they saw two children singing karaoke in front of the TV .

The two kids singing appears to be a yellow haired young man with a simple black shirt with a Hufflepuff scarf and simple shorts , and he's singing the Minecraft parody song "Fallen Kingdom" with a orange haired girl wearing a white jacket and long orange skirt.

"Golly, those two sure know how to sing a song, huh... "

"Yeah, and it's a really popular and great song too, I'm honestly tempted to join them..."

Soon, a 3rd person comes out of another door, which according to the map would be where the closet is, a girl with long black hair and wearing a simple maid outfit. The maid soon noticed Sebastian and immediately stepped back in shock before walking forward with a simple smile and politely greeting him.

"OH! Hello there, my name is Mari, I am one of the maid here, at your service. How may I help Mr... "

"Sebastian, My name is Sebastian"

" How may I be of service , Sebastian?"

> The party

"Well, I would like to talk about the party... "

"Oh? What about it?"

"Well, you see, I'm new here... This is the first time I'm invited to this party , I would like to ask what I should know about it?"

"Oh!" She said "There's nothing you should really know about... just be polite and don't do anything bad and you'll be fine..."

" WOOAH!!" The purple haired guy scream as the girl sang in the background "I GAZE ON INTO THE BOUNDLESS SKYLINE!!!" As she sang she accidentally took a step back and tripped on something, landing onto the guy behind him. They both went silent for a moment before they laugh together , stand up and continue singing.

"Are they allowed to do that?"

"This is the Media room, it was a room made for this... anywhere else no, but here, yeah."

"Golly, they really are having a lot of fun, huh..."

> About Yourself

"So," He asked "What can you tell me about yourself?"

"Oh, well, there nothing much to talk about me... I 'm just a simple maid cleaning this mansion up for my master and serving all guest as they please..."

" And why did you choose to become a maid here..."

"There's no real reason in particular why I choose to be here, I'm just a loyal maid working here for what it's worth, honestly..."

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *CLANK*

" Three Locks, of course, but what secret are they hiding?" Sebastian mumbled

"Excuse me, Sir, what about Locks?" Mari asked

"Ah! Nothing... It's nothing..."

"You alright there, Sebby?" Cozy Glow whispered

"Ye-yeah, I'm fine...."

Suddenly, the door suddenly burst opens, a butler wearing a simple red suit immediately looked at Mari and called her... "Mari!"

"Ah! Connor! "

"We need some help here, can you spare us a minute?"

"Ah! Of course! I'll help..."

Mari and Connor immediately left the room, Sebastian suddenly felt a tug on his coat. He looked over and saw the children from earlier tugging at his coat.

"Hi there!" The girl cheerfully says with a childish grin

"Um... Hello?"

"HAHAHA " The boy laughed "You look funny..."

"Golly, what are their deal here?" Cozy whispered

"May I ask who you are..."

" My name's Simon Mikado" The boy response

"And I'm Lucy Mikado" The girl follows up on

"And we're the Mikado twins" They both greeted at the same time with a cute face on.

"Golly, they really think that's gonna work?"

"What do you mean , Cozy?"

"I know a manipulator when I see one, those two look like cute , harmless and naïve children, but I know for a fact they are using their cuteness to manipulate you, under that mask is a smart and devious mind..."

Sebastian would like to ask Cozy why she thought that, but suddenly the girl perked up again "Hey Funny looking man" She said in a childish tone, "Can you help? We wanna play with something in the closet, it the microphone on the top shelf, we can't reach it and we wanna sing using that," She then made the cutes face as she said "Please~"

Sebastian was very wary of what she said... Cozy Glow said they were manipulators but Sebastian wanted to be sure Cozy wasn't mistaken... He decided to comply with what they asked.

He walked into the closet, but heard footsteps running towards him, he turned around and since he hasn't entered the closet, instead just standing by the doorway... he saw the two children just standing there silently , smiling at them. He takes Cozy's warning into account , suspects that they might try to lock him inside the closet, and looks for the nearest thing to block the door.

"You know as much as I do what their trying to do..." Cozy whispered

"Yeah, lets just use something to block the door first" He whispered back.

He looked over to a box nearby, checking the contents in such a way as to still block the door from closing with his legs. Simon and Lucy looked at each other and whispered...

"Is this guy for real!?"

" I know right, just walk into the closet already so we can lock you inside, god !"

Meanwhile, Sebastian and Cozy was discussing the contents of the box he was holding ...

" Sebastian this box is full of magnets, what could be so interesting about them?"

"Nothing," Sebastian explained "I'm pretending like I think the microphone might be here so they don't suspect I'm looking for something to block the door ."

Box of Magnets noted

"... Golly, that's actually smart..."

"The microphone isn't there! It's further inside!" He heard one of the kids scream.

" And they brought the bait, time to pick up another random box..." Sebastian knelled down to pick up another, but then due to the positioning and angle, he notices that Cozy Glow's makeshift jacket hood had something on it...

"Hey Cozy, why is the jacket dirty?"

"What in Celestia could you be talking about?"

"There some gold dust on the normally completely red jacket and I sure know it wasn't there before..."

Gold dust noted

"AH! Well..." Cozy panicked and looked around the room hoping for something to throw Sebastian off the topic, "H-Hey look, " She completely ignored Sebastian's remark about the gold dust "There are a couple of step-ladder there... maybe you can use one to block the door"

"Cozy," Sebastian said "That's a ladder, not a step-ladder..."

Cozy pretended to go along just to get Sebastian to forget about the topic " Golly! There's a difference?"

"Yes there's a difference... A step-ladder has an A-frame that help it be place anywhere, while a regular ladder is longer but has to lean against a wall..."

"I still don't see why it matters though, I mean, their basically the exact same thing, you still use them to clime up to places you wouldn't normally be able to reach..."

"Well, it's like apples and pears , their fruits that you eat, but their also different in their taste , texture and all that. Ladders and Step-ladders are similar in some aspects but different in others."

"If apple Bloom heard that she knock your teeth out," Cozy offhand comment at Sebastian's use of apples and pears before returning to the topic at hand " But still, They do the same thing, right? I think you should stick with the basic facts of the matter."

"As a prosecutor I was trained to be thorough in my investigations, any detail that seems minor might actually completely flip a case on it's head. "

"Huh, guess you're right, Sorry it's just..." Cozy explained "As a Pegasus any time there is an out of reach area I can just fly up there, I don't need to use a ladder or step-ladder, so I guess I never bother with the differences... Heh..."

"Understandable," He told her "Still, you do have a good point about using this to block the door..."

Thanks to where the ladder was relative to Sebastian and the door, he was able to pretend he was looking for the mic when he was setting up the ladder in such a way that neither Simon or Lucy realize what he was actually doing. He could now walk deeper into the closet without fear of the twins trying to lock him inside.

They fell right for the bait, not even a few minutes after walking further into the closet the twins tried to trap Sebastian and Cozy inside, only to be stopped by the ladder.

"Close the door and lock in inside already!"

"Somethings blocking the door!"

"AHEM!" Sebastian made himself known to the two kids.

...

In the awkward silence, the sound of another door openingcould be heard, Mari walked back into the Media room with Connor , who saw Sebastian inside the closet and Simon by the door...

"What is happening here?" Connor asked

"O-Oh! H-Hey there Conny" Lucy says in the most innocent tone she could muster, " My brother and I were, um... well..."

"Sebastian , what did they do?" Mari asked

"They asked me to help bring out a microphone from the closet and tried to lock me in..."

"H-Hey! That's a dirty lie!" Simon accuses

"And that is a dirty handprint your leaving on the closet door, Simon " Connor points out. "I'm telling your mother..."

"NO!" Connor left the room , the twins ran after him..."

"I-I'm really sorry about that, they can be quite troublesome sometimes..."

"It's ok. " Sebastian said, before he and Cozy left the room.

"Well, that just happened" Cozy commented

"Yeah, no kidding, thanks for pointing out their fake cuteness façade, how did you manage to find out about them?" Sebastian asked

"Let's just say the same tricks don't work twice..."

"Um... Okay?"

"Anyways, let's go see where else we can explore..."

Mikado Mansion- Dining Room

June 28- 6:48 p.m.

Walking into the dining room, Sebastian was meet with fancy people in high class suits chatting and minding their own business, eating and drinking casually with each other. Anyone who saw Sebastian just ignored him as another guest, as he himself took some food from the main table , secretly giving some to Cozy.

He remembered the conversation they had about eating meat, and how ponies were exclusively vegetarian , thou she understood some creatures ate meat, namely the dragons and griffins , so it wasn't as horrific or terrifying as one would expect...

The main table all served those small mini foods on toothpicks you see at a fancy party. He made sure the ones he gave to Cozy were the ones with no meat at all.

"Hey there, nice to see you again." Sebastian turned to see Richard looking at him , with the same glass , though a different drink was inside it.

"Hey there , Richard... You doing good there?"

"Yep, I sure am..."

"Cool..."

"Who is that ?" He hears someone say "And why is he talking to Richard?"

"To you think they might be a new elite member or something?"

"If they are , hope they end up better than Aubrey..."

Sebastian decided to walk over and have a word with them. "Excuse me? I don't believe we meet before ... "

"No, no we haven't ... name's Sunny Sakurai, this is my best friend Kelsey Hazel "

"Hello there!"

"Sakurai ? Are you of any relation to Sakurai inc?"

"Ah, so you heard of my family's company I see... yes , you're talking to the future heir of the compony, already part time CEO helping my father with the business there..." Sunny then takes a closer look at Sebastian "Wait a minute, You're that prosecutor, aren't you? The one that dealt with the murder at one of my parks?"

"Ah! Yes, that would be me," Sebastian extends his hand to him "Prosecutor Sebastian Debeste, nice to formally meet you..."

Sunny shakes his hand "And it's nice to meet you too..."

"So you were the one helping uncover the truth behind that statue thief , weren't you?" Kelsey chimes in... Sebastian nods

"Well, it's nice to meet you in person, " He says, "Trust me, after my mother attended the trial, she wouldn't stop talking about it, I was curious for some of the minor details myself "

"Ah! Sure, I'll be happy to fill you in on them, but first, I would like to ask about some things myself"

"Sure, what you wanna talk about?"

> Company relation?

"What is the connection between Sakurai inc and Mikado Marvelous Moonstone... "

"Connection?"

"You know, anything between you and Mikado, your family helping each other, buisness companies partnership?"

"OH! Yeah about that, " He explains "There is no connection"

"What?"

"I'm best friends with Kelsey over here, and it's his family, the Hazel family of Hazel art emporium, that has ties with the Mikado s "

"And since you're best friends with hi as well since Sakurai and Hazel has an equally strong connection..."

"Yeah, I'm just sort of his +1 ."

"Oh, ok..."

"Hey" Kelsey butts in "Before you get the wrong idea like so many other people have, he repays me by letting me be his +1 during the Deiji parties "

"Um, ok ... Noted"

" "Before you get the wrong idea like so many others " Golly he must not want people thinking he's a freeloader or something..."

> Better than Aubrey?

"While I was talking with Richard, you mentioned...

"To you think they might be a new elite member or something?"

"If they are , hope they end up better than Aubrey..."

... What do you mean by "Better than Aubrey" ?"

"Oh, you don't know? Aubrey is one of the company elites , and there have been rumors floating around about her background..."

"What rumors?"

"There were rumors that Aubrey, despite working at a great Company, has a less than great living situation."

" They say she lives in poverty thanks to what her family is doing, and she was making sure all the money she earned was going to support her family..."

"Golly, now that sound like something we don't wanna hear more about"

Aubrey's situation noted

Anyways , is that all you have to ask?

Yeah, now what do you want to talk about?

Well, I heard that apparently during the trial the witness and defendant was working together to steal the statue, what exactly did they plan?

Well you see...

And soon, Sebastian, Kelsey and Sunny talked about the trial that for a few minutes before suddenly

*DING* *DING*

"What was that?"

"Golly, sounds like it came from the Main Hall..."

"Alright, let's go..."

Mikado Mansion- Main Hall

June 28- 7:02 p.m.

Sebastian walked out with Cozy Glow nearby, other guest walked into the main hall from other places as well.

"Excellent! It's nice to see you all here... "

Everyone turned to the source of the voice. Sebastian soon saw her, a beautiful looking white haired girl wearing pink roses on her hair and a floral dress, and of course, everything was completed with beautiful jewelry such as gems, silver and pearls.

"Look! It's her... Emiko Mikado!" Sebastian heard some of the guest say.

Emiko looked around her, her eyes landing on each and every one of the guest at her Mansion, she had a look of recognizing and smiling at everyone, but once her eyes locked onto Sebastian, she had a brief moment of surprise before it returned to her usual smile...

"If I could please have your attention for a moment, everyone..." She said in a beautiful and welcoming tone, " I would first like to thank you all for once again coming to the annual Mikado Party, a special event to celebrate the day my great grandfather founded the Mikado Marvelous Moonstone ..."

"That's her... Emiko Mikado herself." Sebastian was silent . No, the whole hall was silent... "I don't know what it is , but she has some sort of powerful aura around her... Like the whole room just went more tense ..."

"Now, I can see a few familiar faces here, certainly..." She turned her gaze towards Sebastian... "However, I would like to take a minute to welcome our special guest for tonight's event."

She then gestured for Sebastian as if telling him to walk forward, " Sebastian Debeste, Please introduce yourself..."

"AH! Um..." Sebastian was caught off guard by this, but he quickly calmed down and regain his composure, not wanting to make a fool of himself in front of important , rich people. "Hello there , Everyone. I-It's nice to meet you all..." Smooth "I'm um... Sebastian, Sebastian Debeste, and it a pleasure to be here with you..."

...

... Hmph...

"That went well..." Sebastian sighed, He didn't know how these things work so he just tried what he thinks might be a good introduction ...

"Heh, don't worry bout it, some people can be stuck up sometimes..." Richard tried to reinsure him.

"... Anyways, now that that's out of the way , it's now time to get to the main event, " Emiko said "As you all know, today we are to celebrate the day my great grandfather Hibana Mikado founded the Mikado Marvelous Moonstone company... " Everyone clapped their hands .

"For those who attended this party before, you know exactly what we will be going here, but for those who are new here or have forgotten, we have a series of events that will take place , starting with the ritual of The Hibana Ruby... "

"Um... I'm sorry ,ritual?" He asked...

"Well, you see..." Richard explained "It's part of the Mikado family Tradition, the believe that the spirit of the dead will reenter the world of the living to bless their descendants through a medium, The idea is that the spirit of the deceased will enchanted the Hibana Ruby , allowing spiritual magic from the Twilight Realm to help bring fortune to the Mikado family bloodline "

He then explained the ritual to him " the Ruby is locked in a box , which will be taken from the vault to the center of the hall where we all stand in a circle around it , the box opens revealing the ruby and we all surround it and remain silent as the spirit enchants the Ruby... "

"Oh, " Sebastian remembered , before whispering "Hey Cozy Glow, wasn't this the ruby you had a special interest in? " Sebastian remembered how he was researching about Mikado with Cozy , and how interested she was in the ruby when they got to that part of the website, which makes sense, She was a magic Pegasus from another world , of course she would have an interest in a suppose magical ruby, though it did lead to a more complicated conversation than explaining computers to her since he had told her magic never existed in this world...

"Yeah, " She whispered "I thought you said there was no magic so I got curious, I guess it was just a sense of seeing something familiar again, not sure , really."

"Hey Richard, how does this ritual work exactly?"

"Oh, it's simple, everyone just need to surround the gemstone and knell down for a few minutes, Emiko and her servants does the rest of the ritual..."

"Golly, that doesn't sound like a ritual, that sounds like a moment of worship..."

"Um... Alright then."

Sebastian knelled down on the floor, with Cozy hiding near him, Richard knelled down next, soon, everyone, staff member and guest knelled down, Paul Light soon arrived down the stairs with a chest, which Sebastian assumed to be where the Ruby was kept,

"Hey, it's that box!"

"Hmm? What box?"

"The secret passage in the library, it lead to a room on the 2nd floor, that box was inside...

"Really! Oh..."

Everyone knelled down as Emiko opened the box, supposedly to start the ritual , when all she did was screamed.

"What's wrong !?" A maid had asked

"Th-The Ruby... THE HIBANA RUBY ISN'T HERE !!"

"WHAT!?" She stood up and looked into the box, sure enough, the ruby wasn't where it was suppose to be...

"The.. the ruby.. it... it was-"

"... STOLEN!!"

"It can't be..."

Soon everyone who was knelling down suddenly stood up and looked into the box, all of them with shock on their face...

"What is the meaning of this!?"

"the hell!?"

"Dear god, who would do this !?"

"Everyone Please !!" Emiko shouted " You all need to remain calm!"

"The gemstone... stolen?" Sebastian was thinking hard "This Manor has top notch security, only way in or out of the mansion grounds was a gate, everywhere else is blocked off by a wall..."

Sebastian realize the implications "Does that mean... the one who stole it... is here in this Mansion...?"

"I know who did it..."

Everyone turned to the one who said that, a pink haired woman with a maid dress. Richard spoke towards her "Rosemary, what do you mean?"

"I know who stole the Hibana Ruby." She stated "There's only one person it could be..."

...

"You're the thief...!" She pointed, everyone turned to look at who she was pointing and gasped "... Paul Light!"

...

"Wha-WHAT!?"

HOLD IT!

Emiko screamed, "what are you saying Rosemary!? No way that Paul could have stolen the gem!"

"Oh? And what is that ?"

"Be-Because he's loyal! No way someone as kind and hardworking as him would-"

OBJECTION!

"I'm sorry Emiko," Rosemary stated her point "But unfortunately for you, fact are facts, and he is the only one who could have stolen the gem..."

"Wha-What do you mean!?"

"I shall explain"

Testimony: It could only be Paul

Me and Henry were making sure all the guest here was following the rules of the annual party, no one allowed on the 2nd floor without expressed permission. Guest are only allowed to wander the 1st floor.
Since you can confirm the gem was there when you checked at around 6:40, that means the gem could have only been stolen between then and 7.
You , Emiko, were the only other person upstairs, everyone else was down here on the 1st floor, since this staircase is the only way up or down the floor..
You asked Paul to go grab the box from the spirit room , and that's when your "Most loyal servant" stole it, it's the only possibility...

HOLD IT!

"N-now you listen here! I am not the thief! "

"Yeah right, Paul! You were the only one who could have stolen it, no one else had the opportunity"

"Just because I carried the box that had the gem doesn't make me a thief!"

"So you say, but there is no one else who could be the perpetrator of this crime... I swear on my honor as a maid. Look, if you have a rebuttal, an actual rebuttal with solid evidence to prove your innocents , then go ahead "

"..."

"Yeah, that what I thought, now if you'll excuse me, I'll need to call the-"

OBJECTION!

Everyone turned to look at the source of the scream, and saw Sebastian with his baton pointing at Rosemary...

"Excuse me, Rosemary... Was it?"

"Yes, what is it, Sebastian"

"... If you don't mind, I would like to be given a chance..."

"... A chance?"

"A chance to provide a rebuttal against your case... "

"!!!" Rosemary was surprise someone actually had something to say, but she decided to give him the chance, she believed she was 100% correct, and that this will be a waste of time, but if it meant embarrassing a guest, then she was more than happy to oblige " Very well then , humor me..."

Rebuttal

Me and Henry were making sure all the guest here was following the rules of the annual party, no one allowed on the 2nd floor without expressed permission. Guest are only allowed to wander the 1st floor.

HOLD IT!

Sebastian asked her " So you made sure no one went up this set of stairs here?" He pointed to the stairs in the main hall.

"That's not all, I pride myself in being very observant, I kept track of where each guest went during the party... For example, you talked with Richard in the main hall before you entered the library at 6:27 , left the library at 6:35 , then you entered the media room until 6:48 , then you entered the dining room until it was time for the ritual...

" Wow , you really are observant, huh"

"It's part of my job..."

Rosemary's Account noted

Anyways , let me get back to it...

Since you can confirm the gem was there when you checked at around 6:40, that means the gem could have only been stolen between then and 7.
You , Emiko, were the only other person upstairs, everyone else was down here on the 1st floor, since this staircase is the only way up or down the floor..

Present secret Passage

(Note: if present secret passage before you press her for her account, Sebastian will say " The contradiction is right here, but I fell like I need to press her on something first before I make my move " )

OBJECTION!

"Tsk, Tsk" Sebastian said " You pride yourself in being observant, but I'm afraid you weren't observant enough."

"Wha-What!? Are you saying I'm not observant!?"

"If you were, you would have realise that there is actually a second way to reach the 2nd floor..."

"And what in god's name was that supposed to mean !?"

"You are a maid working here for years now, if you were truly observant, so you should know every single small detail of every single room in this mansion... " Sebastian stated his claim "Including the odd quirk that this mansion has..."

"Odd quirk?" Rosemary was confused by what Sebastian was talking about.

"I'm talking about the hidden secret passage , of course." Everyone looked at Sebastian with confusion, so he explained further "There is a hidden secret passage in the ground floor library, which is hidden behind a bookcase and leads to a small staircase, which in turn opens into a room on the 2nd floor , the exit hidden behind a painting on that room..."

Everyone gasped, Emiko Exclaimed "A secret passage !? Are you serious ?!"

"Dead serious, " Sebastian explained

"Wha-There no way! Your bluffing!" Rosemary accuses

"I'll show you the passage myself if you don't believe me..."

"Wha- You're not joking, are you..." Sebastian shook his head.

"With all due respect , Miss Emiko Mikado, but how did you not know about something like that in your own home ?"

" I never go inside if I can help it, because it was painful for me to be there after the ... incident" Sadness tainted her voice as she said that... "Still, if what you say is true, then there was indeed another way for the thief to walk upstairs"

"Wait a minute!" Another butler said "How do we know that you weren't the one who stole it!?" He pointed at Sebastian

"What do you mean?"

" I mean how do we know we can trust you to not have stolen the Ruby yourself, and playing this detective role just so we wont suspect you!"

"That... Can be proven with this piece of evidence"

TAKE THAT!

Present Rosemary's account

"Rosemary herself is my evidence proving I couldn't stole it"

"What!? " Rosemary exclaimed "How could I of all people have proven your innocents."

"Let us remember what You told us"

"You saw me leave the library at 6:35, if I had truly stolen the gem , then why did Emiko confirm the gem was still in the spirit room when she checked at 6:40..."

"AH!" She realized "Oh you have got to be kidding me !"

"Yes, since the gem was there after I left, this proves I didn't used the passageway to steal the Ruby myself, someone else did!"

"ACK!"

"Paul Light isn't the only suspect in this thief, we still have to consider other possibilities first!"

HOLD IT!

"Other possibilities! Who else could have used the passageway!?"

"That an easy answer " Sebastian then asked Rosemary " Rosemary, since you took note of what I did, you surely must know the movements of the other guest as well, tell me , between 6:40 and 7:00, who else entered the library and lounge ... "

HOLD IT!

"The lounge!?"

" The library has two doors, one to the lounge and one to the Main hall, anyone could go to the lounge and then the library unseen by Henry and Rosemary" Sebastian pulled his baton out and pointed at Rosemary "Now tell us, who was there in the loundge and library at 6:40 to 7!"

"Heh- yeah, about that" Rosemary said. "I don't know ..."

"... What?" Sebastian asked

"There was a problem at the kitchen, some of the equipment broke and I was there from 6:37 until 6:58 ... it was a serious situation that required all maids and butlers to help fix it... Henry was the only one here watching the stairs and he made 100% sure that no one went up the stairs, but he didn't observe everyone's movements... So..."

"Y-You have got to be kidding, Right?"

"Unfortunately no, " Connor said "Remember when I went into the Media room to ask Mari for help? We only came back to see what the twins did when we needed to get some tools from the closet..."

"So, basically, Henry can confirmed that no one used the main stairs, but we don't know who could have used the library passageway..."

"Yeah..."

"Wh-Well, there's a contraption there!" Sebastian said "How did you know I left the media room and entered the dining room at 6:48!"

"I believe it's contradiction not contraption , and there's a window between the kitchen and dining room, it's hard to miss that unusual outfit you wear, no one else here wears green and red you know..."

"Ah, " Sebastian faced palmed " Why did I think this was going to be easy?"

"Trust me," Cozy whispered "Nothing is ever just "That easy""

" *Sigh* Fine, we can still work with this. " Sebastian said, "Emiko, I would like permission to check the room where the Ruby was stored, I believe that there might be evidence we can find there."

Sebastian and Cozy was expecting Emiko to give some kind of protest like how disrespectful to the spirit it would be to check the room for evidence and was getting ready for a rebuttal to whatever she said, but then Emiko agreed "Very well then, with my permission and under my supervision and that of two of my servants, you may investigate..."

"That was..." Sebastian was surprised to say the least "Unexpected"

"Golly, "Cozy pointed out "First she sends you an invite when you didn't even know who she was, then she introduces you as the "Special guest " , and now she's more than happy to let you investigate? Something up, and you can fell it too, can you?" Sebastian nodded

"We might as well go along with it," Sebastian whispered to her , " A thief is on the loose and It's best we not look a gifted horse in the mouth ..." Sebastian turned to Emiko, "Thank you, Emiko, Please show us the way."

"Alright, Paul, Connor, follow me, Everyone else, you are all to remain here until further notice, I have informed the guards to have this place on lock down so don't even think about escaping..."

Sebastian immediately went upstairs , guided by Emiko, he went to the spirit vault where the gem was last seen...

To be continued...

The turnabout of the Hibana Ruby (2-4)

Mikado Mansion- Spirit Vault

June 28- 7: 17 p.m.

Walking up the stairs and down the hall on the 2nd floor , Sebastian, with Cozy flying nearby and hidden by her disguise and Sebastian's coat, with Emiko in front and Connor and Paul Light following closely behind them, soon stopped at a door unlike the other doors he saw while he was exploring the mansion. While every other door was a simple wooden door ,this door had some paper glued to it and a few charm hanging on nails that were , well, nailed to the door. The design of the charms and writing on the paper gave Cozy a feeling like she was staring at the entrance to a vault of forbidden magic, while it gave Sebastian a mysterious, demonic felling.

Emiko carefully inserted three keys into the three locks that the door had, and soon the door opened, to which Sebastian saw a room with paintings covering the walls and a large window allowing moonlight to shine through to show a pedestal in the middle of the room...

"Yep," Cozy said, "It's the exact room where the secret passage in the library led to..."

" So this ," Sebastian gestured to the room "Is the Spirit Vault where you saw the Ruby at 6:40?"

"Yes," Emiko said " It is..."

"Hey," Sebastian asked "Are you sure you're okay with me investigating this place. It's

"Well, let's find us the evidence..."

Sebastian decided to investigate the pedestal in the middle of the room first. It was a simple wooden pedestal with some carvings on it, ranging from butterflies to vines to earth and spirit orbs.

Pedestal info noted down

"Huh?" Sebastian took notice of a pink feather on the ground next to the pedestal, it was Cozy's feather, with some golden dust on it...

"Cozy glow," Sebastian asked " why is your feather here, next to the pedestal, with more gold dust on it?"

"Oh, w-well," Cozy sounded like she was nervous for a split second, but her cute , childish tone returned very quickly "Well, like I said, I ended up here after taking the secret passageway and I guess my feather just fell out while I was exploring, this is an interesting room after all." She tried giving Sebastian an innocent smile but had briefly forgotten she was wearing a mask.

"That kinda explains it..." Sebastian said "But there still something wrong with what you said..."

"Oh, and what would that be?"

Sebastian was about to answer, but he looked up to see Emiko and Paul giving an estrange look to him "I'll talk later, there still watching..."

Pink feather added as extra info to Pedestal noted

Sebastian then noticed something else "Huh?"

Sebastian didn't noticed it, in fact if not for him being knelled down thanks to Cozy's feather, maybe he would never have noticed it, but next to Cozy's feather was a piece of pink hair "um... Emiko?"

"Yes, Mr Debeste?"

"Why is there Pink hair next to the pedestal?"

"Pink hair?" Emiko was confused "Let me see..."

Sebastian showed Emiko a strand of pink hair next to the pedestal, so thin she had to use a magnified glass she had on her , but once she saw it, there it was, a pink strand of hair...

"that's odd," Emiko said "There shouldn't be any pink hair here, or any hair at all." She explained " To ensure perfect spiritual energy for the Ruby, we cleaned the room at certain times and made sure it was spotless and clean. It's actually the reason why I can confirm the Ruby wasn't stole at around 6:40. This hair must have appeared here after that."

Cleaning Time noted

"So this pink hair belongs to the thief?" Sebastian suggested

"Most likely" Emiko stated her opinion.

"Pink hair?" Connor murmured under his breath

"Yes Connor?" Emiko asked "Does this pink hair remind you of something?"

"I..." Connor hesitates "Need to be sure before I make an accusation first..." The uneasiness in his voice makes Emiko back down for now.

Pink Hair added as extra info to Pedestal notes

Sebastian decides to go to the window and open it, it was getting hot here so he decided to open the windows for some air ventilation.

"Huh, that's odd" Cozy pointed out "Why is the rest of the window frame plastic but the window latch is metallic ... "

Once he took a closer look, Sebastian realise that Cozy was right, the rest of the window was plastic, yet the only metal part was the latch keeping it close.

"Oh, that," Paul had heard Cozy but assumed it was Sebastian who pointed that out, the mask Cozy was wearing muffling her voice so no one could tell it was hers, "Mari was cleaning the place one time when she accidentally broke it, she couldn't find another plastic latch so she used a metal one...'

"Expect for the fact that we did have plastic latches and they were right next to the metal ones. " Emiko mentioned "Mari is a good maid of mine, but she can be very unobservant sometimes. "

"I'm still surprise how it broke it the first place," Connor admitted "It should have been next to impossible to accidentally break the latch the way it did..."

Sebastian unlatched the window and open it, embarrassing himself in the process when he though they opened outward when they actually opened inward . He opened one of the two window frames and as the cool and refreshing strong winds entered the room, Sebastian enjoyed a breath of fresh air.

... Or at lease he would have if not for the fact that he noticed a piece of black fabric fly into the room.

"Hmm, " Sebastian took the fabric and gave it a closer look, "What is a piece of fabric doing out there?"

"Probably just trash," Connor stated " This probably isn't important..."

Sebastian went over to open the 2nd window frame, but that when he noticed...

"Hey guys," He says, "There's more black fabric here, and some of it is covered in gold dust..."

"More? And what do you mean gold dust?" Sebastian gestured to Emiko a piece of fabric stuck to the door frame , once again with gold dust around it . Sebastian was really starting to be suspicious about what this gold dust meant...

"Hey, look there..." Emiko pointed at a spot under the fabric, where a brown substance appear to be scratched into the plastic itself.

"Now that's interesting... Do you think it could be connected to the thief or not?" Paul asked .

"We don't know for sure, but I wouldn't hurt to keep this in mind..." Sebastian simply stated

Window Frame noted

Sebastian now turned his attention to the paintings. Each one of them showing a different person , mostly elderly people but some middle aged or even young children .Each one of them wearing a different outfit and having a different background showing some of these pictures were taken from different points in time, the oldest being of a 19th century gentlemen , with the plague at the bottom saying :

Founder of Mikado Marvelous Moonstones: Hibana Mikado 1945-1991

"Ah yes," Emiko sighed "My great grandfather Hibana, founder of the company, and whos spirit was to live on within the ruby..."

" these paintings, " Sebastian asked "Are they of members of your family who ... um... " How to say it without sounding disrespectful "... passed on"

"Yes, they are... " Emiko looked a bit sad, Sebastian looked down unsure of what to say next. Cozy however, wanted to check something

"Psst, hey Sebby," Cozy whispered to him, snapping Sebastian out of his thoughts

"Um, yes?" Sebastian asked

"Is it ok if you can check the wall near that painting?"

Sebastian wasn't sure why Cozy had asked that, but he trusted her enough to try and see what she was talking about. Taking a careful look at the wall around Hibana's painting, which was the largest painting of them all, he noticed a hidden panel lined with some off colors, as in a different shade of white lined a square on the wall, Sebastian pushed it and soon the entire wall swung open like a door. Luckily , none of the painting fallen off the wall.

"In the same place as I remembered, " Cozy told Sebastian

"Woah!" Emiko exclaimed " That is incredible... "

"Sebastian," Paul asked "Is this the secret passage that you mentioned earlier?" He nodded "Huh, guess you weren't bluffing after all..."

"Hmm, what's this." Sebastian noticed something on the floor , and ended up picking up something in his hands...

Cyan Fabric noted down

"Hey, " Emiko said "what is that?"

"It appears to be a piece of cyan fabric, beyond that I'm not sure..." Sebastian turned to Cozy Glow

"Huh ," Cozy said "That wasn't there before..."

"Paul? Connor? What are your thoughts?"

" Well if you ask me," Paul Light politely said " I think that a piece of fabric in a secret passage is a clear clue to solving this mystery. Who do you think it belongs to?

"No idea..." Sebastian said "Definitely not mine, that's for sure"

"Yeah," Emiko laugh "That outfit of yours really has no blue, it's all green or red.. " She the turned a bit serious "Then again, no one here wore anything using cyan fabric."

"Wrong. Madam Emiko..." Everyone turned to see Connor with the most serious look on his face

"And what do you mean by that?" Sebastian asked

"I think we should go back downstairs, we have a thief to catch and an important heirloom to take back after all..."

"Wait!" Emiko shouted "You know who stole it!?"

"Pink hair and Cyan fabric," Connor stated "I know someone who fits that description... "

"Connor," Paul looked stunned "You couldn't possibly thinking of ... Her, are you?"

Connor, Without giving a response, turned and walked to the stairs.

"H-Hey , wait up!" Emiko ran passed the door and towards Connor.

"Madam Mikado," Paul Light called out to her , running out the room as well...

"H-Hey!" Sebastian shouted "W-wait up!, Don't ignore me!" He and Cozy ran/ flew out as well...

Mikado Mansion- Main Hall

June 28- 7:31 p.m.

When Sebastian and Cozy finally caught up with them, they were all standing at the top of the stairs. Once Sebastian ran up next to them , Connor, Paul and Emiko looked over.

"Ah, there you are, where were you?" Emiko asked

"Well *Huff* ," Sebastian was breathless from the running. "You guys- left me *Puff* back at the vault so I *Wiess* Ran after you but *Huff* Might have gotten lost"

"Oh, sorry about leaving you behind like that..." Connor apologized

" *Huff* It's *Puff* Ok" Sebastian was panting from running from trying to keep up with them. Who knew two butlers and a rich CEO could run so fast. Faster than Sebastian across the halls down the stairs, then again, he gotten lost for a bit through out the halls so he could have gone in circles a few times.

"Regardless," Emiko said "Now that you're here, we can make the announcement"

"What announcement?" Sebastian had managed to catch his breath. He really hated being left out in a conversation.

"Well," Paul explained " After Connor ran out the room, we manage to catch up with him before he went down the stairs and told everyone of what we found. You see, there is someone who has pink hair and wore cyan fabric ribbon, and Connor jumped to the conclusion they were the thief, and while it seems likely , we wanted Connor to calm down first before things went off the rails."

"Oh, Okay," Sebastian said "Who is it?"

"Aubrey Quartz," Connor explained.

"Well, we might as well get this over with. Now that your here, there no reason for us to wait here any longer." Paul said .

"Very well, " And with that, all 4 of them walked down the stairs. As soon as they walked to the center of the hall, everyone had their attention towards them. The whispering and murmurs were only for a few seconds as they were cut short by

"Attention Everyone!" Emiko announced, everyone went silent "An investigation into the thief has revealed some interesting clues, and I would like some of you to walk forward with testimony. "

"Testimony? What does that mean?"

"Did they find out who stole the ruby?"

"What is going on here?"

"Now, " Emiko declared " Can Aubrey Quartz please step forward?"

"Aubrey!? Why her?"

"Are they saying she stole it?"

" It's clear Connor made them think she stole it! She's innocent!"

"I don't think so... Maybe they have actual solid evidence beyond biased to prove she did it?"

The gossip suddenly came to a stop from the sound of loud footsteps, emerging from the crowd, everyone could see a woman walk up to the center of the hall. She wore a simple black long skirt with a white jacket and a look on her face that said "I'm trying to look calm but inside my anger is beyond hellfire "

... Oh, she also had pink hair that was tied with a cyan ribbon.

"Golly," Cozy whispered "You can see how angry she is, can you?"

"I learn reading faces from Edgeworth, Cozy" Sebastian stated "And yes, I can see she's holding back some anger, then again, with what she has on her hair, no wonder Connor though she did it."

"Hello, there everyone," She said "Madam Emiko, Connor..." She said his name with some hint of hatred.

"Aubrey" Emiko says " Do you know why you have been called to testify ?"

"No, I don't, " she stated "Not a single clue as to why my testimony is needed"

"I see, " Paul says , before giving his suggestion " In that case, let's allow Connor Bound some of our time to fill you in"

"Hmm?" Connor asked "You want Me to tell her?"

"You're the one who wanted to confront her about it, it's only fair," Emiko told him

"Well, I'd better just come out and say it," Connor then told everyone in the hall what's going on " After the investigation , we believe you, Aubrey Quartz, Might be involved in the thief..."

...

"... You do, hm?" Aubrey had an irradiated and mocking tone in her voice. "And tell me , is there actual evidence that proves I stole it, or is it your personal biased hatred towards me acting up again?"

"Well actually," Sebastian chimed in " There's actual evidence that proves you took the secret passageway and was inside the vault at one point."

"Oh really? And what is this evidence you speak of?"

Present either the cyan fabric or Pedestal info

TAKE THAT!

"While we were investigation the spirit vault, we found cyan fabric and pink hair inside" He heard the gasp followed by whispers and murmurs " As the only person here with both pink hair and a piece of clothing , namely your ribbon, with cyan fabric, you're currently under suspicion of the thief of the Hibana Ruby!"

"... Interesting"

"Golly , she's really good at holding back anger, but surprisingly bad at hiding it. She didn't over react , but She said that one mundane word with a spiteful tone .

"Cozy glow, " Sebastian asked "When were you this good at reading and observing other people's emotions ?"

"It's part of what I do " She gave a simple response

"I'll keep that in mind..."

Cozy Glow's Observations Noted

"I suppose you would like to rebuttal against these accusations?" Paul asked

"Oh most certainly," Aubrey said "I'm no thief, of course, so I'll happily give a rebuttal to your accusations."

Testimony: I'm innocent

So apparently all you have is a piece of cyan fabric and pink hair, and just because I have a cyan ribbon and pink hair, it makes me the culprit?
While they seem like solid evidence, that cyan fabric and pink hair could belong to anyone.

-Is there anything to prove their even connected to the thief ? they could be there in the vault for another reason.

-And while yes, I was in fact in the lounge at the time of the crime, me taking the secret passage is only a possibility, you have nothing to prove I actually used it.

Besides, I'm sure my good friend Sunday, who was also at the lounge , would love to confirm my alibi.

"I see," Emiko said "you and Sunday were in the lounge together for the entire time window that the ruby could have been stolen, which means you can each vouch for each other's innocence"

"Ha! " She exclaimed "do you see now why I can't be the thief?"

Connor sighed " Fine, I guess you weren't the thief"

"Hmpf," Aubrey stood proud and tall " I think I'm done here."

OBJECTION!

"not quite," Sebastian asked "I hope you don't mind , but I would like to cross-examine your testimony."

"Cross-examine?" Aubrey was a bit confused "First , isn't that what a defense attorney suppose to do? You're a prosecutor right? " She pointed out his prosecutor badge on his label.

"And secondly, I just proved my innocents , didn't I ? This isn't a Court Room, you know. You can't just cross-examine me like this."

"I'm afraid she's right," Emiko says "I don't see a reason we should do this..."

Sebastian wasn't sure what he should say, Cozy however, Knowing what to say to get people to do what she wants, whispers something into Sebastian.

"Listen Emiko," Sebastian decides follows Cozy's instructions " The reason we have cross-examinations in a courtroom is to make sure a testimony is perfectly valid and doesn't contradict any of the evidence. Your most precious Ruby was stolen, surely it wouldn't hurt to be extra sure that she isn't lying, would it?"

Emiko looked deep in thought for a few seconds "Aubrey, I understand you might be slightly annoyed at this, but you must understand the situation, I hope you're okay with this."

"Ugh, Fine" Aubrey said "Just know you're wasting our time."

Rebuttal

So apparently all you have is a piece of cyan fabric and pink hair, and just because I have a cyan ribbon and pink hair, it makes me the culprit?
While they seem like solid evidence, that cyan fabric and pink hair could belong to anyone.

-Is there anything to prove their even connected to the thief ? they could be there in the vault for another reason.

Present Cleaning Time

OBJECTION!

"I'm afraid there is , in fact, something, or someone, who can prove the fabric and hair has to be connected to the thief"

"Oh," Aubrey asked "And what would that be?"

"Emiko Mikado Herself told us about a schedule that every maid and servant follows when it comes to the Ruby, it was also the thing that made Emiko sure the thief had to have happen after 6:40 p.m. " Sebastian explained

"And that would be?" She was slightly warry at this point

"A schedule cleaning time in which the spirit vault is swept until it is spotless, which means the hair and fabric must have arrived there after 6:40, in other words , they must have been left behind by the thief"

"And that concerns me , how? "

"Pardon?"

Testimony: I'm innocent pt 2

So the fabric and hair has to have come from the thief, you still haven't prove that the hair and fabric is mine. They could belong to anyone.
Not only that, but you also have yet to show actual decisive evidence.

-Yes I was in the lounge , but can you prove I actually pressed the button behind the painting and opened the bookshelf?

And not to mention that Sunday still has my back, you still have to address my alibi , ya know?

"And that's that" Aubrey proudly pointed out "Go ahead and cross-examine me again, you'll be sorry for waiting out time here."

"Oh we'll see about that..."

Rebuttal

So the fabric and hair has to have come from the thief, you still haven't prove that the hair and fabric is mine. They could belong to anyone.
Not only that, but you also have yet to show actual decisive evidence.

-Yes I was in the lounge , but can you prove I actually pressed the button behind the painting and opened the bookshelf?

Present Secret Passage

OBJECTION!

"Excuse me Aubrey, But did you say, "pressed the button behind the painting" ?"

"Um, yes?" Aubrey was confused "And that's important, Why ?"

"Can I ask-"

"I Don't know, can you?"

"Ack, Sorry about my grammar, I - "

"It's okay." Paul said "But back on point, what did you want to ask her."

"Ah! Aubrey," Sebastian proceeded to ask the same question but corrected his mistake "May I ask, how did you know that the secret passageway opens by a button behind a painting."

"Ah!" Aubrey realize her slip of the tongue

"Hey , he's right!" Emiko said "Sebastian only said there was a secret passage between the library and spirit vault, he never once mentioned how to open it!"

"Ah, well, I knew because-" Before she could give her excuse/ reason, Connor cut her off

"It's because you were the one who stole the ruby!" He screamed "You knew exactly how to access the spirit vault without being seen because it was part of your plan!"

HOLD IT!

"Just because I know about the secret passageway doesn't mean I used it!? " Aubrey screamed

"What are you talking about !?"

"Allow me to explain."

Testimony: The Passageway

You claim that I used a secret passage as part of my plan. And just because I know about how to access it means I must have use it. But unfortunately for you, that isn't true.
This isn't the first party I been to, I discovered the passageway at a previous party, never told you bout it cause I thought you already knew about it, your house after all, Emiko.
You haven't proven that I actually used it today.
Furthermore, all you done is prove that I Could have used the passageway, but the Means to commit a crime isn't everything. You haven't given me a motive to steal the Ruby.
And with Sunday as my alibi, opportunity is out the question as well.

"Can we wrap already," Aubrey sounded annoyed "It's clear how much of a waste of time this has become."

"You can see it to, can you Sebby" A quiet whisper only heard by one

"Yeah, Cozy, though with the way she sounds, it's clear she wants this to end as soon as possible , she'll be trigger by anything that she can claim is a waste of time .I'll press her on that and only that single statement. There will be consequences if I waste her time. "

Rebuttal

You claim that I used a secret passage as part of my plan. And just because I know about how to access it means I must have use it. But unfortunately for you, that isn't true.
This isn't the first party I been to, I discovered the passageway at a previous party, never told you bout it cause I thought you already knew about it, your house after all, Emiko.
You haven't proven that I actually used it today.
Furthermore, all you done is prove that I Could have used the passageway, but the Means to commit a crime isn't everything. You haven't given me a motive to steal the Ruby.

HOLD IT!

"So you claim that there is no motive you have for stealing the ruby?"

"Yes," Aubrey stated "I have no reason to commit such a crime , none at all"

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK*

"Four locks, " He murmured "Alright Aubrey, " He told her "If that is your stance, then I'll show what your motive is..."

TAKE THAT!

She seems very persistent on her claim that she has no motive. If she truly has no reason to steal the Hibana Ruby, then there should be no problems, however...

"What do you mean "Show what my motive is" !? You got nothing to show!"

Her unusual behavior , almost as if she wants to switch topics and not talk about the possibility of a motive. If I stay silent, then she will change the topic immediately.

At the same time, she will keep insisting that there is no motive for her. If I keep attacking , she might get annoyed and choose to fain ignorance

My strategy should be to make sure we stay as on topic as possible, stay silent when she's most aggravated and keep on pressing when she tries to put an end to this. An opening will reveals itself soon.

I'll focus on what she's saying , and react accordingly . Here we go!

LOGIC LOCKS-BEGIN

> You have a motive

"So are you still insistent that you have nothing that could motivate you to steal the gems?"

"Wh-What in the world are you talking about!?" She was fuming at this point "I have no reason to steal anything!?"

[Pawn] Yes you did

> Wait and See

"..."

"I mean, the only reason someone would like to steal something is because they want that thing but can't pay for it, right?" She casually asks " I don't need to steal, I'm perfectly fine financially speaking."

[Pawn] You could be a kleptomaniac

> [Knight ] Fine financially?

Wait and see

"Perfectly fine financially? I'm sorry, but there's evidence to suggest otherwise."

"Wh-What are you talking about!?" She was taken off guard "What evidence!?"

(Note: you can present two evidence, each leading to two paths, one path gives a clue needed to complete the 2nd path)

Path 1: Present Aubrey's Situation

"There were some rumors , you were living in poverty thanks to what your family is doing, and all the money you earned was going to support your family-"

"Lies! Slander! My family is the greatest family you can ask for! They aren't some pack of drug takers! How dare you!"

{Pawn} I never said they were drug dealers

> [ Pawn] Please calm down

Wait and see.

"P-please calm down!"

"*huff* Sorry ," She took deep breaths, her previous angry demeanor replaced by a more calmed down expression. "It's just, I hate when people treat dirty lies as the truth. I hate those rumors and would do anything to get the liars to shut their mouths"

> [ Pawn] Do anything to get them to shut up?

Wait and See

"So , you would do anything that will prove you aren't living in poverty, and your family isn't as terrible as the "Lies" make them out to be..."

"Yes, anything ..."

This could be a useful clue...

Path 2: Present Aubrey's Profile

"It's simple really, " Sebastian pointed his baton towards Aubrey's clothes "While everyone else here is wearing a fancy suit or a beautiful dress of high class, your wearing a simple jacket and dress."

"Well, I didn't know there was some kind of dress code here, I just wore what I felt like wearing."

"You didn't know there was a dress code?"

"Yeah, exactly."

>[Rook] You should have known

Wait and see

"I'm sorry, but I highly doubt that you forgot something like that..."

"Oh really, well I suppose you would like to show some prove?"

Present Secret Passage.

"It's simple , really. Remember what you said earlier when I pointed out you knowing how the secret passage works."

"This isn't the first party I been to, I discovered the passageway at a previous party, never told you bout it cause I thought you already knew about it, your house after all, Emiko."

"This isn't the first time you've been here before. Yes, if it was your first time here, not knowing what to wear and wearing whatever you feel like wearing would be okay, but Even if there is no dress code, I doubt you would wear something like that when you saw all these people wearing high class fancy clothing..."

"Ah, Well," She was nervous "Y-Your s-simply overthinking this. It is as you say , there is no dress code. Yes, I have been here before, but I simply like to wear the jacket because it is more comforting than a dress, you see..."

Maybe it's time to use that clue...

>[Bishop] What about the rumors?

Wait and See

" I don't think you would feel comfortable wearing that jacket if it means conforming the rumors you clearly hate ."

"Wha-What are you talking about now!"

"Remember what you said earlier."

"There were some rumors , you were living in poverty thanks to what your family is doing, and all the money you earned was going to support your family-"

"Lies! Slander! My family is the greatest family you can ask for! They aren't some pack of drug takers! How dare you!"

"So , you would do anything that will prove you aren't living in poverty, and your family isn't as terrible as the "Lies" make them out to be..."

"Yes, anything ..."

"You clearly hate the rumors claiming that your family is in poverty. You would love anything to prove they were lies, and by that same logic, you would hate anything that suggest the rumors are actually true, " Sebastian soon made his point clear "Even if you find the jacket comforting, it suggest to others that you are too poor to afford an actual dress for the event, were by everyone has some kind of high class clothing, you stand out too much!"

"!!! W-well, I-"

"Even if there uncomfortable, from the tone of your voice earlier , wearing a dress for a few hours would be better than letting people spread "Lies" about your financial situation behind your back 24/7. And given how you're apparently a Cavern Core Co elite, you should have no problems buying a dress of your own." Sebastian pause before he said "Unless of course, you can't."

"Um, w-well, t-tha, I- um..." She desperately tried to find an excuse " T-that's not true, w-what you wear doesn't necessarily show what you have, a super rich family might decide to wear regular clothes sometimes, th- there is no rule that says you must wear the most expensive clothing you could afford. "

"In that case, you wouldn't mind if you show us something expensive you have , maybe let us see some expensive items you have in your bag-"

"NO! I won't let you see what's inside my bag!!" She realise how loudly she scream "Um! I mean-"

"W-Why did you overreact," Sebastian questioned" I'm simply asking to see an expensive item you have, I'm not actually going to touch it, I just want you to show everyone here what you have as prove your not poor, I'm even letting you choose what you want to show, so why are you so afraid of people seeing what you have in your bag?"

"Um , w-well, you see-" Before she could finish , a loud voice startled them both, it was because it came out of no where and was completely unexpected to them, for Aubrey it was because she was to focus on an excuse for Sebastian, for Sebastian, it was because the magic charm made him see nothing but a blue hue chess board void, so the voice from his point of view came straight from thin air, but he immediately recognize where it came from and who the voice was.

"It's because you stole the Ruby and hid it in your bag !"

"AH!" *CLANG* One of the locks broke .

"Connor!" If not for the charm, Sebastian would see an annoyed expression on Emiko face. "What did I say about jumping to conclusions like this! I know you and Aubrey had some beef , but be more civil with this!"

"Ye-yeah! T-the truth is, T-there's some really embarrassing stuff there, a-and I don't want anyone seeing that, but it's nothing I stole!'

"So how much do you think you need to press her before she can't faint ignorance anymore ?" cozy asked

" I've already proven that she has something to hide, she's now trying to make us think what she's hiding isn't important to this whole incident. I'll show what's she's hiding is connected to the crime here. "

"Hey, here's some advice for you, knowing her, she will most likely jump at any opportunity she can to excuse herself."

"So I should try to make sure she doesn't get that chance?"

"No, trick her into a trap, manipulate her to say something contradictory to her own statements. You don't get more suspicious than that..."

"Alright then, let's uncover the truth , now!"

> What is inside the bag?

" There is some embarrassing stuff inside the bag?"

"Yes, it's , um, well-"

" A poor excuse to hide your poor thief of the Ruby to pay off your poor family?"

"Connor!"

"No! It's not! It's private stuff, I rather keep them secret!" She held her grip on her bag tighter .

"Private stuff that you don't want anyone else to see? " Cozy whispered "Could you be talking about..."

[Pawn] Embarrassing Personal Hobbies?

> [Pawn] inappropriate Girl Stuff?

[Pawn] Shameful Personal Secrets?

" ... inappropriate girl stuff?"

"!!! Cozy!"

"What! Maybe here 12 years old is too young, but back in equestrian we were talking about this, in private with our friends of course, but still..."

"... *Sigh* Fine, sorry about that Cozy." After apologizing, Sebastian prepared for something he might soon regret.

"... Sorry if I'm coming out as rude or blunt with this, but could the embarrassing things be... Girl stuff?"

"Wh-what!?" She was caught off guard by that.

"I'm just asking what could you possibly be hiding. If it's not that, then what is it?"

"Oh, um..." Aubrey was in full panic to try and get the suspicion off of her, so she took the first opening she saw "No, it's just, that was exactly why I don't want people seeing my bag. Some embarrassing girl ...thing, yeah know"

She fell right for the trap "Hey Sebby," Cozy whispered something into Sebastian's ear, he soon realise , and gave a slight smirk at her plan. He played his part.

"In that case, why not just give the item to Emiko?"

"Huh!?"

"Emiko herself is a girl, so showing her something like that shouldn't be weird or embarrassing, and it's her Ruby that was stolen, so she would never do anything that could decrease the chances of it being stolen. If your most expensive item is this "Girl stuff" Then Emiko can confirm it without presenting it to everyone here in the hall, showing that you truly had no motive for the crime."

Aubrey looked irritated, but before she could object to his statement , "Very well then, let us not waste any more time, come on Aubrey, give me your bag..."

"!!! E-emiko! No!"

"And why is that? You're wasting time by refusing, just give it to me and we'll be done here." Her tone was filled with annoyance

"Because checking my bag would be a waste of time! Why are we even asking questions like this!? The rumors started 5 years ago! How do they have any connection to the Ruby being stolen!? If I really was poor, then I would have stolen things before, but I didn't, and your telling me that suddenly I go ahead and steal the Ruby !?"

Hmm , interesting, so the rumors started 5 years ago, this could be a useful clue, but what can this clue prove?

> [Rook] She stolen before

[ Rook] She is actually poor

[ Rook] She planned to steal the Ruby

"You claim you never stolen anything before? I'm sorry , but after telling us the rumors started 5 years ago, that fact combined with this evidence says otherwise."

Present Newspaper Article

"From what I heard, around 5 years ago was when Cavern Core Co, the company you worked at, was dealing with a case of mineral embezzlement.'

"Mineral Embezzlement..? Oh, that incident."

"Yes, some of the minerals mined by the company were stolen and sold to the black market. According to the news, Someone on the inside apparently diverted the trucks to sent the minerals to criminals, the self driving cars having there original destinations replaced with new ones, where the rocs were never found again."

"Oh for god's sake!" Aubrey was fuming at this point "We're suppose to find out who stole the gem, your wasting your time asking pointless questions ! What does 500 millions tons of minerals being sent to the middle of the forest 5 years ago have anything to do with this one gem being stolen now!?"

> [Rook] That makes no sense

[Rook] Show what connects the two thieves

[ Rook] Show why it isn't a waste of time

"What you said makes no sense"

"What are you talking about now, Sebastian Debeste !?"

" What you say doesn't make any sense at all, and this proves it.

Present Newspaper article again

"This is a newspaper article detailing the whole incident , and this is the part I want everyone to focus on."

Point at interview log

"In an interview with Richard Core, CEO of the company himself , he said..."

"About 3-6 hundred million tons of minerals, just gone without a trace. We don't know exactly how many were lost but it's a lot."

"We have no idea where the trucks went , the electronic records were erased ."

" No one knows exactly how many minerals were stolen, or where they went. Yet just now you said..."

"What does 500 millions tons of minerals being sent to the middle of the forest 5 years ago have anything to do with this one gem being stolen now!?"

"So , may I ask, how did you know that the exact number was 500 million tons? or that they disappeared into a forest?"

"ACK! W-well, I-"

"Aubrey..." Richard voice had a tone of shock and disbelief "The mineral thief happened only a month after you were promoted into tech administrator. Were you the one who..."

"N-No! I didn't-"

"Look at how nervous she is, you can't tell me that isn't the look of a caught criminal. "

"I, um ,ju- I um ..."

"What does any of this prove anyways!?"

"It shows us that you have a motive for committing this crime. "

"Nonsense! A motive you have yet to prove beyond rumors, and only a possibility as to how I got from the lounge to the vault. You still have to deal with Sunday as my alibi, ya know."

"Very well then, can Sunday please come forward. "

Sebastian soon heard footsteps , turning off his magic charm, returning to the hall from the void of blue chess, Sebastian soon saw a girl in a simple black dress , she looks rather tired and sleepy.

"Sunday, dear, please go ahead and tell everyone the truth" When she said truth, she had an odd shift in tone.

"... No"

"Excuse me," Her voice sounded more focus and confused.

" I'm... Sorry ... for what I'm about to do, but ... please just understand, it's for your own good... " Sunday's words caught everyone off guard.

"Wha-What!?" Aubrey was caught off gurad by this.

"Sunday, dear, " Paul asked "What are you talking about?"

"... Aubrey, she- " Sunday soon started crying "I agreed to help with her plans"

"Plans?"

"Well, maybe "agree" might be the wrong term."

"???"

"Aubrey and I, we were childhood friends, when no one else, not even my parents, loved me, she was there to make me happy." She began to cry , sadness tainted her voice " I always thought our friendship was real, that she was like a sister I never had, but then she...'

"Started to turn to a life of crime, and threaten me to cooperate." Aubrey eyes wide in shock, everyone in the room gasped

"Sunday! You ..." Aubrey was throwing a death glare at her.

"I cared for her, loved her, never forgotten what she did, the last thing I want was for someone I cared for to be a criminal, but she- *Sniff* said if I didn't help her, I..." She collapse , crying down rivers of sadness.

"I- Um," Aubrey was in to shock "She Lying!?" No one listen to her

"Sunday, You poor soul..."

"She said I had to," *sniff* to lie , Lie about her being at the lounge to give an alibi, and to... not tell a soul she was planning on stealing the Ruby."

"!!!"

"What!?"

"She planned on doing what!?"

"How could she! What a cruel girl!"

"Sunday," Aubrey said "How could you, " she looked betrayed " we're friends !"

"Friend don't hold each other at knife point, we used to be friends..."

She looked at Aubrey dead in the eyes " but not anymore"

"I...." Aubrey soon snapped "How dare you!?"

She pulled out a small cheap looking pocket knife and tried to attack Sunday, but Connor was already ready for Aubrey trying something and immediately restrained her , the fast motion causing her bag to fall to the floor, where a few pieces of papers came out.

Emiko immediately grabbed a small looking note while Richard grabbed a letter. Aubrey saw and tried to rush over to Emiko and Richard to stop them from reading the papers, but Connor still had her restrained.

"What does the paper say!?"

"Unbelievable..."

"No way, all this time, it was..."

They both glared right as Aubrey

"I want an explanation !"

"Please tell me you didn't actually..."

Aubrey didn't say anything, she just stared at them in silence. The silence was deafening , an air of tension that stabbed at everyone in the hall, cut off by a quite chuckle , that slowly became more and more louder, until Aubrey was now full on laughing. She had a mental breakdown , and her laughing echo through out the halls, haunting it with a sinister voice...

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!"

"..."

"So what are you all expecting now?"

"An explanation? Answers? An apology?"

"Doesn't matter what I say, you all won't believe me."

"... No one has ever believed me."

"..."

"When something was wrong, I tried to tell them, warn them about the bad things that were going to happen."

"..."

"No one listen , they all say I'm just a young kid lying for the sake of a joke. That They were the adults who knew everything and I was too young to know what's safe and what's dangerous..."

"Then the bad things happen, they suffer because they never listen to my warnings...

... But their suffering is also mine."

"My family never listen, and now I suffer in poverty for what they did."

"And thing got worst..."

"Stop doing drugs, don't drink that stuff..."

"No one listen, saying it's there house, there problems,"

"They forget they also forced me to stay there."

"..."

"I never wanted to do this, ya know."

"I hated every second of it."

" I loved you, Sunday, And hated forcing you to to this."

"I'm sorry for what I did to you, Connor, and I wanted to make it up to you as soon as possible."

"..."

"... My family gave me no choice, I was practically forced to do this..."

"I never wanted to steal the minerals and sell them"

"And I wish I never needed to plan to steal the Ruby..."

" You wouldn't listen when I say this, but I'll say this anyways..."

"From the bottom of my heart, I'm sorry..."

"..."

"heh, it's funny you know."

"Force to Go through all that trouble, and at the end of the day, not only was the heist a failure, but I got caught for everything I did..."

...

HOLD IT!

"Um," Paul Light address this as politely as possible "I'm terribly sorry if it is an inappropriate time to address this, but... what do you mean " not only was it a failure," ?"

"Heh, You wouldn't believe me , you wouldn't listen to me at all."

" After reading this letter basically outright confirming you were behind all these mineral thief, I sure as hell lost all trust in you," Richard bluntly stated.

"You have an entire piece of paper here detailing your plan to steal the Ruby. " Emiko showed the paper she was holding "What do you mean, it was a failure?"

"After taking the secret passage from the library to the vault, I opened the box to take the ruby, but the thing was... The ruby was already gone..." Gasps and murmurs soon echo the hall.

"What are you talking about!? " Connor looked mad "You basically admitted to steal the Ruby, why do you think you can still hide the Ruby even after your confession!?"

OBJECTION!

"I didn't say I stole it," Aubrey corrected him "I said I planned on stealing it, but it seems as though the plans went sideways."

"Oh please! The only way into the vault is either the regular door or the secret passage! " Connor said "The only other person who could have stolen it was Paul, and he is practically out of the question ."

"But it's the truth, " She said " It really was already stolen by the time I was there..."

"I don't believe you, at all..."

"Heh, no one believed in what I said," She chuckled " and look where we are now, go ahead and think me as the true culprit, I'll just watch as the real thief who somehow stole it before me gets away with it..."

" What is she trying to do here?" Sebastian was confused "She admitted to planning to steal the Ruby, why claim it was already stolen. She was the only other person who could have stolen it, or could she?"

"Something feels wrong here, there's something off here, " Sebastian had a feeling " This isn't the whole story..."

" I just can't shake the feeling , a suspicion this isn't the end... I feel like I need to thing this case over one more time..."

[REVISUALIZATION]

Let's review what we have so far...

Aubrey basically admitted that she planned on stealing the Ruby, she just didn't actually steal it. Her argument is that the ruby is already stolen.

The problem is that the ruby could only be stolen between 6:40 and 7:00 leaving her as the only suspect.

Yes, there was Paul, but as Aubrey herself said "No motive..."

Aubrey insists that the Ruby was stolen by someone else before she arrived , but that would mean there would be a third way to steal the Ruby, is there?

> There is another way

There isn't another way

The ruby wasn't found in her bag, and there wouldn't be any place she could hide the Ruby in the mansion. At lease not without risk of someone accidentally finding it. And the way she acts , it seems like she really is honest with this.

There might actually be a 3rd way to access the spirit vault.

But what exactly is that third way?

Window Frame

Of course, the only other way into the vault that we haven't talked about is the vault window. But then again, we immediately ruled that out because the window was locked.

The only way the thief could enter through that window was if it was unlocked, but when we investigate the room, the window was lock, and there's no way to open or close the latch from the outside...

Or is there?

Metal latch on a Plastic Frame window

Just like Edgeworth taught me, every single detail must be accounted for when making a case. Every suspicion nook and cranny could contain something that can make or break a case.

When examining the window frame, one detail just stood out more . In spite a plastic frame, the latch was made of metal.

Emiko said Mari used the metal latch to replace a broken one, in spite the fact there were plastic latches next to the metal ones.

She chalked it up to Mari being unobservant , but could that really be the case?

Connor even pointed out during our investigation

"I'm still surprise how it broke it the first place, It should have been next to impossible to accidentally break the latch the way it did..."

Could that mean Mari breaking the latch and replacing it with a metal latch instead of a plastic one on purpose instead of an accident and a mistake?

But I think I might be getting ahead of myself.

As Edgeworth also taught me, I can't just jump to conclusions, I first need to actual evidence that the metal latch could make a difference. In this case, it should be to allow someone to open the window from the outside. How could a metal latch allow someone to do so?

Box of Magnets

When me and Cozy were in the closet, I picked up a box of magnets, maybe that can be used to open the window?

I mean, it could be possible, someone could use the magnet to move the metal latch through the plastic frame. But did someone actually did that?

Window Frame

There was a piece of black fabric attached to the window, along with some stretch lines and rust...

The fabric could be ripped from whoever opened the window, and the scratch and rust could be from the magnet .

This would mean someone took a magnet from the closet, used it to open the window , stole the gem and then used the magnet again to reclose the Window.

This also explains getting around the problem of the vault being on the 2nd floor, meaning the window is above ground, there were ladders in the closet .

But that leads to the main question, who stole it?

Mari's Profiles

The maid who replaced the plastic latch with the metal one, who was in the media room , and therefore had access to the closet, most of the time , and who wore black fabric as part of her uniform...

But Mari being the thief creates one problem. Where did she hide the Ruby?

The maid uniform has no pockets to hide the gem in, and because of the time window of 6:40 to 7:00, combines with the problem at the kitchen, she only had a limited amount of time . Enough to steal the Ruby , sure, but then she need to hide it almost immediately after she came back to the media room. And she has to put back the ladder and magnet.

So where could the gem be?

Mansion Map- Point at the Closet

The Hibana Ruby is hidden in the Closet

Of course, it the only place that makes sense .

A place where no one could accidentally find the Ruby, and what better time saver than to visit only one place instead of two.

If the Ruby is inside the Closet, then we know who stole it, right here, right now!

"..."

" I had just about enough of this! " Emiko screamed " Connor, keep her restrained, it's clear Aubrey is the only one who could steal the gem. Lets see you try to hide where it is after the police is done with you!"

HOLD IT!

"Emiko, wait," Emiko looked over to Sebastian

"What?" She sounded a bit irritated.

"I know where the Ruby is" Sebastian felt all eyes on him "or at least, I have a theory as to where it could be..."

"Really," Emiko said "tell us where?"

"Can someone go ahead and investigate the Closet attached to the Media room?"

"!!!" Mari was shocked

"The Closet, very well then, Paul, Henry , please go and search the closet"

Mari stayed silent. Her expression is hard to read, she seems oddly calm about the whole situation. Paul and Henry went over to the closet to search for the Ruby.

"Well, what now?" Cozy asked

"I like to take this extra time to ask some questions to some people."

Sebastian went over and talked with Sunday first.

"Hey Sunday," She turned around to see who was talking to her.

"Oh, it's just you. How's it going?"

"It's going fine, I'm actually Here to ask you the same thing."

"Ah, well," Sunday paused, she wasn't sure how to respond "to be honest, I don't know. Aubrey and I have been best friends, A part of me still cares about her, she's forced to do all these bad things because of her family, and went ahead and not tell me about all of this. Maybe she didn't want me involved in her family situation, so she simply asked for my help with stealing stuff, without even telling me what I was doing."

"You didn't know you were helping her with stealing thing"

"After I just found out, I tried to get her to stop, I knew there was something wrong, but it's hard to question things when a knife is pointed at you..."

"Why did you betray her and tell the truth?"

"Well, as her friend, I wanted to help her as much as I can . I knew something was forcing her to steal, but especially with a knife pointed at me, I can't really help outside helping her steal things, but as you also know, I hate doing anything illegal, but I don't have another choice. "

"So you thought betraying her at this moment would help her with her family situation ?" Sebastian was still confused by Sunday's actions, even though he understand her motives.

" I prayed for someone, anyone, to show me how I can help my friend , both from whatever was causing her to steal as well as getting her to stop her sudden and illegal ways, someone who called themselves the Bishop told me what I should do, I was just following instructions and hoping for the best." Sunday admitted

"!!! D-did you say, the bishop?" Sebastian was surprise to hear her of all peo- I mean ponies brought up.

"Yeah, " She said "Really seemed like I could finally get out a troubling situation without hurting my friend. Guess I was wrong " She sighed

"Hey, Do you know who this bishop is?" Cozy asked

"Ye-Yeah," Sebastian was unsure if he should tell Cozy about her , " Let's just say I met her before," Hopefully that was vague enough that Cozy didn't realise who Sebastian was talking about while also being acceptable enough of an answer for Cozy glow.

"Golly," She said "She sounds important, do you think I'll meet her soon?"

"Oh, um," (Quick think of something ) "You'll meet her eventually..."

"Um, ok" Sebastian couldn't tell from her mask, but Cozy sounded a bit wary.

Sebastian then went over and talked to Emiko , he had something up his mind he wanted to say to her...

"Excuse me, Madam."

"Yes, Sebastian?"

"Can I ask something? It's a question I had in my mind since I arrived here..."

"Oh, of course, after helping us with what has happened, I suppose I owe you that much. What do you have on your mind?"

"Actually, that's the problem, my question is, why am I even here?"

"Hmm, what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, why was I even invited here in the first place? This party is celebrating the founding of your family jewelry company, yet I myself have never heard of Mikado Marvelous Moonstones, the fact I was given an invitation letter was surprising to me, even more so when it was personally delivered by Paul light, your most loyal servant."

"Ah! That, well..."

"Also, I find it odd that you would call me tonight's "special guest " when we never even met before, and on the day I get invited here, your most beloved Ruby get's stolen. I know there's more to this , why was I invited here?"

...

*Sigh* She sounded dejected "She told me this was going to happen sooner or later, I guess I shouldn't be surprised "

"Who told what?" Sebastian was even more confused at this point

"The moon spirit, of course, " She began to explain " My family believed in many spiritual, magical and mystical things, what most don't know was that these things actually stem from a now long forgotten religion "

" A long forgotten religion, huh, "Cozy murmured " Sound a lot like what I read about ancient Equestria and it's magic practices.

Emiko continued " Whenever a spirit directly contacts you, It is usually to pass on something of value to you . A moon spirit visited me in my dreams and told me that something bad was going to happen and I should follow it's advise."

"Visited you-" Because of his conversation with Sunday, his brain still had The bishop in his mind , it didn't take him long to connect 2 and 2 together in his brain "In your dream!?"

"Yes, and as instructed, I followed all of it's advise, including sending an invite to you an invite, and look what happens now, someone tried to steal the Hibana Ruby, and you caught them before they can get away with it."

"What did this spirit look like," A strange look from Emiko made Sebastian quickly added "J-just for curiosity sake, o-of course!"

"Well, she had dark skin, a nighttime motive to her, hair that looked like the night sky , with small star-like sparkles all over her hair, and a crescent moon located on her body..."

"Yep, it's the bishop, go figure..." Sebastian thought in his head before he *sigh*

"Golly," He looked over to see Cozy Glow deep in thought.

"Yeah Cozy? You alright, " he whispered

"Huh, Oh," She quickly looked back at him "Nothing, just lost in thought."

"What were you thinking?"

"Well, the way she describe this moon spirit, no matter how hard I try to invision what she might look like , I always end up with the image of Princess Luna. the way she described it, it's pretty similar to the way ponies would described princess Luna and how she looked..."

"Princess Luna?" Sebastian never heard of her before "Who is she?"

"Well, princess Luna is one of the princess of Equestria ruling alongside her sister, she-"

"Madam Emiko!!" Henry ran out from the media room, "We found the ruby!" He soon show Emiko ...

Hibana Ruby noted

... A gold circle , with a bright shining Ruby in the middle...

*Gasp* "The Hibana Ruby!"

"It's the Ruby, it really was hidden in the closet!"

"Incredible, simply incredible."

Emiko quickly took the Ruby from Henry and placed it into the box. "Our most presious and important gem has been founded and returned ." She turned to Sebastian "Thank you for your help with this..."

"Hey, I have a question, I hope you don't mind but," Connor asked "How did you know the closet was where Aubrey hid the Ruby?"

"heh , um, well the truth is, Sebastian was a bit nervous to say this "Aubrey didn't hid it there"

...

"What?"

"Well, there's no easy way to put this, but..." Sebastian was nervous, building up courage to say something he knew would result in a large amount of backlash " it's because Aubrey wasn't the one who stole the Ruby..."

"..."

"But ," Connor said, dumbfounded "Aubrey, she-"

"Confessed that she planned on stealing the Ruby, but someone else stole it before her, and I believe that someone else is... " Sebastian was readying himself "The maid, Mari..."

"I'm sorry , What!?"

He quickly explained "Remember when we were investigating the vault and we checked the window frame, you yourself said that Mari broke the latch by accident, but said it should be impossible for her to do so. Unless she did it on purpose "

Mari was getting more nervous as he continued "she then replaced the broken latch with a metal one, in spite the fact that the window frame was plastic, and the plastic latch was right next to the metal ones, Emiko , you assumed it was her being unobservant, but what if she did it on purpose too..."

"Sebastian , " Emiko was beyond confused " what suggested that she did all that on purpose instead of by accident, and how does it prove she stole the Ruby?"

" Here's what happen, someone grabbed a ladder and a magnet from the closet. Using the ladder to reach the window on the 2nd floor, and the magnet to open the latch from the outside. " Mari is sweating bullets , Emiko and the others looks less annoyed and more interested in where this was going.

"Using the magnet to move the metal latch and open it passing through the plastic frame, they opened the window, stole the Ruby, and using the same trick, closed the latch to make the illusion that no one could used the window." Everyone was surprised with the theory he was presenting.

"Remember when we investigated the window frame, there were scratch mark, rust and back fabric. The rust and scratch marks were from using the magnet onto the frame. " Emiko, Paul and Connor connected two and two together, and realise where this was going, looking straight at Mari, who was having a small panic.

" Someone who wore black fabric that ripped off the window frame, who was in the media room most of the time, and who replaced the plastic latch for a metal one..." He pulled out and pointed his baton " Mari, after you stole the Hibana Ruby, you hid it in the closet, didn't you!?"

"!!! I, wha," Mari was shocked, caught off guard

"Mari," Paul asked "Is this true..."

"..." Mari stayed silent, she was refusing to answer.

" Listen Mari, if you want to insist that your innocent, then go ahead and refute my claim, otherwise, we are going to have to arrest you for also trying to steal the Ruby."

...

"Heh, sorry, but I can't let you do that.."

"Excuse me," It was now Sebastian's turn to be caught off guard.

"What exactly gives you the right to do this," She stated "What gives you the right to do any of this?"

She took a step forward, asserting her point even more "This isn't a crime scene, the police aren't even here yet, you're not a prosecutor or an investigator right now, your just a guest here , invited to a party. You think when a crime gets committed you have the right to jump in and solve the case ?"

"Um-I-"

"Shut up, you worthless idiot." Mari's words stabbed him right in the heart, he step back in surprise as everyone in the room gasped

"Wha-What?"

"Yeah, you heard me, a worthless idiot, that's who you are. You always been useless, you know. Every single thing you do is wrong. Your stupidity makes you screw up pretty much everything yo try to do. The only reason you were a prosecutor was because of your father and his influence..."

"!!!" Sebastian didn't want to talk about it "P-Please stop..."

" Stop? stop what? Telling you the truth? That you are an idiot who doesn't have basic logic, someone who only got this far not by their own skill, but by depending on others, who is so blind they didn't realise all their achievements they earned weren't real, who's only use is to be a worthless pawn that others can manipulate for their own benefit?"

Sebastian was starting to cry at this point "Oh, what, you gonna cry, cry for your parents? Oh that's right , you don't have any. Your mother is gone, your father is in prison, and the closest thing you have to a parental figure is your mentor Edgeworth, who you promise to that you would improve and learn from, yet here you are , being the same self absorbed idiot you were."

"That-That's not true!" This was attacking the most personal part of Sebastian's heart, his emotions and insecurities, he starts to cry , bending his conductors baton , his voice tainted with a mix of sadness and confusion.

"Oh really, you're still self absorbed in your own world where you believe what you say is true, backing it up with "Shining logic" that's so full of holes it makes swiss chess look solid, all the while being manipulated by someone who you believe would never do such a thing, and even more pathetically, rather than your birth father Blaise, it's a horse."

"Wha-What do you mean!?"

"I'm talking about Cozy Glow of course, you goddamn idiot. God are you that stupid!?" Sebastian and Cozy was taken off guard by this

"What!?"

"Guess it should be that surprising, after all, if your such an idiot you couldn't realise your father manipulated you for his own benefit, then it would be hard to imagine you finding out by yourself that the Pegasus filly next to you isn't as cute and innocent as she claims to be. She looks like a cheerful, sweet little filly , but she's really just a manipulator who controls others for her own benefit. Just like your father."

"she-She's lying." Cozy whispered to Sebastian. Though her distraught is heard clearly

"Heh, but it doesn't matter now. You won't be making any more stupid decisions anymore, after all, how can you do something that ruins everything," She pulled out a kitchen knife she somehow hidden in her sleeves, "When your but a corpse"

She lunge forward, Sebastian immediately dashed out the way to avoid being stabbed, but tripped and fell onto the ground. Mari loomed over him with a knife in her hands, but before she could stab him, the front door burst open. Mari turned to look as two policemen jumped her and tackle her to the ground.

"Freeze, this is the police!" Soon , a group of policemen rush into the hall.

Memories, Trauma, Secrets and the turnabout to reveal them (2-5)

Dream Realm- The Doors of Dreams

Time is unknown here

Sebastian was hoping this wouldn't happen, he really hoped so.

After the whole ordeal at Mikado mansion, he and Cozy were extremely tired and were hoping to get some well needed rest. For Sebastian, it meant hoping that Bishop would spare him at lease one dreamless night as in one of the books his mentor/ kind-of-adopted father , Miles Edgeworth, had gave him, it said sleeping peacefully gives you more rest than a sleep with a dream. So after having a small mental and emotional breakdown from what Mari said and almost dying, followed by giving his testimony to the police, he would think the bishop would be kind enough to let him have tonight just for once.

Apparently not, and making things worst, rather than the usual castle throne room, or "the castle of the two sisters" as she always put it, the prosecutor found himself floating in the middle of space... well, floating might be the wrong words since he was lying down and now standing on an invisible floor underneath him , and all around him is the endless void of the night sky, a lilac tinted void with stars shining around him. Also around him, seemingly standing on the same invisible floor are doors.

"Where am I?" He murmured, no response. He seriously wondered where the Bishop would be, wondered why the change of scenery from the castle to an endless void of doors in the night sky, and most importantly, what he was supposed to do. He really was hoping it wouldn't be anything confusing or complicated.

...

After no response for what he felt was a good minute or two, he decided the best thing to do was explore the new space he was in, which isn't saying a lot when said space was just an endless void of night sky . He would describe it as being in a glass box floating in space, and the glass was so clean and see-through that he might as well be standing on an invisible floor.

The only other interesting thing of note were the doors everywhere, once again appearing like they were standing on an invisible floor, and even more interesting was how some of them appeared and disappeared seeming at random. With nothing better to do, he began to examine each and every door.

After examining enough door, he began to pick up on a few pattern. Every single door was unique, no one door was exactly the same as the other. Sure, there were doors that were similar, whether in having the same color , design or anything else, but every door was at lease noticeably different from the others. The only difference being each door having the same design pattern to them.

Said design pattern being a large icon located at the center of a square on the top half of the door, and smaller icons surrounding it. Sebastian looked at all the doors, and put together that each door belongs to someone, and the icons reflect who that person is. The large icon sometimes being the person's face or a logo they are connected to while the smaller icons showing things reflecting their past or personality.

Some of the doors were clearly of people who Sebastian had never met before, one had a face of a girl long purple hair and pink stripes, surrounded by socks, swords and angel and evil motifs, while another had a pickaxe as the main symbol with different types of rocks and gems engraved onto the door.

Then there were the doors Sebastian instantly knew who they belonged to. He came across a door with Klavier's gavineer logo surrounded by guitars and music motifs, he swore he heard Klavier's voice and some guitar music behind it. One of the doors straight up had Edgeworth's face ( or at lease a simplified cartoon version of it, Sebastian still recognizes that hairstyle and cravat anywhere) surrounded by smaller faces. Sebastian recognizes his own face along side Kay , Justine, Gumshoe and Franziska, though he's unsure about the others... Who was that spiky haired blue suit person?

The more he though about it, the more confused he became. Why were there doors representing a different person that were appearing and disappearing randomly, and why in an endless void. More importantly, what was he suppose to do here. The fact that he couldn't open any of the doors wasn't really helping at all.

Suddenly , he spots something shining just off his Peripheral vision, turning to look, he sees a glowing star flying around him. The star then flies away. Sebastian doesn't know why, but he has a feeling he needs to follow the star, so he gets up and runs after it, as he runs, he passes by more and more doors, all placed across an endless void of stars and skies, all of them hiding some kind of mystery behind them, but Sebastian payed them no mind, he continues to follow the star, until it stops at a door .

This door was peachy pink in color, with feathers lining the door frame, and a big chess rook engrave in the middle upper part of the door, several other , smaller thing engrave into the door surrounding the rook, these include a bell, a centaur, some bug-horse looking thing, a goat/ ram creature, and also at the base of the door are some small cyan crystals .

Suddenly, without warning, the door swung open really fast, Sebastian saw Cozy glow fly out the door , before it closed back and slammed shut with a loud bang. Sebastian immediately looked over to cozy glow, who looked panicked and distress, she was breathing heavily as if she ran/ galloped/ flew for her life, behind her, he could here what sounded like screaming and yelling and banging on the door. As if someone on the other side was screaming at her. Sebastian could barely make out a few words. But those few words immediately cause Sebastian to be shocked beyond belief.

"Yeah, that right, run and cry !"

"None of us want to be friends with a worthless loser like you!"

"Get out of my sight you worthless brat!"

" No one loves you, you hear!"

Sebastian immediately turned his attention to Cozy glow, who's curled up crying in fear and panic, Sebastian immediately ran over to comfort her.

"Cozy Glow, a-are you okay!?"

"Why... just why..." She cried

"Cozy glow?"

" I don't understand, why..."

"Cozy glow, is everything alright?"

" Everypony just wants to hurt me, or yell at me, or just ignore me..."

"Cozy," Sebastian honestly tried his best to comfort Cozy and see why she was crying, but she kept on ignoring him...

" it doesn't matter whatever I do, good, bad or even nothing at all... Nopony cares..."

"Why are you crying?"

"Why do they always do this, I thought they loved me, but my friends and family, they all..."

Sebastian decided to do something more than try to call cozy glow's name, he did what always calms him down when he's having an emotional breakdown. He precedes to hug her.

"EEP!" As soon as he hug her, she immediately pushed him away. "Pl-please don't hit me!" She became even more panicked and proceeded to back up against one of the doors and looks as if she's getting ready to be hit, only to momentarily calm down and put her hooves down , and then calms down completely when she saw Sebastian there...

It felt like a moment where you were jump scared by a monster, only to see it's just someone in a costume, because as soon as she realize the only thing in front of her was Sebastian, she slowly calmed down .

"O-oh, it's just you Sebastian... I - um.. Good morning" She forced a happy smile, but Sebastian could tell some of that panic is still there, albeit slowly fading away.

"Um, hey there Cozy, is, um everything okay?"

"Um... Yup, everything's perfectly fine." She smiled again, before she took a look at her surroundings and realise where she was. "Golly, where are we..."

"That's what I wanted to know too, I just kind of woke up here and then found you..."

"Golly, looks like were in quite a peculiar situation, aren't we Sebby?"

Before any one of them could continue, a small noise directed their attention back to the floating star, which immediately flew to an opening among the doors , and drew in size until it became a large glowing star , causing both Sebastian and Cozy to cover their eyes . When the light faded away, they looked back to see a large golden gate where the star once was in the opening.

Sebastian and Cozy turn to look at each other, knowing well what they should do, before they both walked through the gates.

Dream Realm- Recreation of the Canterlot Gardens

As soon as they stepped through the gates, they are greeted by a pleasant surprise and a beautiful change of scenery, the endless void of space and door were no longer there, instead they saw a beautiful garden with some kind of castle off to the side. As the gates close quitely behind them, Sebastian stood there in awe of the beautiful garden he was now in. Cozy glow had a different reaction.

"Golly, back here, huh..."

"Cozy glow," Sebastian asked "What do you mean, back here?"

"This... " Cozy glow hesitated a bit "...Is the Canterlot Gardens, I've been here before, it's the personal gardens of the princess, right behind their castle..."

"So that's what the castle over there is..."

"Yes," She explained "That is the canterlot castle where princess celestia and luna rule all of Equestria, or at lease where they used to rule before they retire, the castle is twilight's now."

"Twilight, as in the headmare of the school of friendship you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes, and also the princess of friendship and celestia's personal student..."

"Woah..." Sebastian took a moment to process the new information he learned about this other world, and to say he's interested would be an understatement, then again, if his interest in what Cozy told him during their conversations were anything to go by...

"Anyways, we got nothing else to go, so why don't we explore this place." Sebastian suggested "I mean, I know you already been here before but I am furious as to what your world looks like."

"Um, I think you meant to say curious as to what my world looks like..."

"Ah! Yes, curious, yeah..."

"Anyways, sure, I'll show you around..."

Time skip: Unknown amount of time as it's the dream realm , and time is a foreign concept, but to Sebastian and Cozy it felt like a few minutes

As Sebastian walked and Cozy flew through the garden, their eyes dazed apon the statues placed all around the area. The trees and bushes were placed in such a way that it looked like an artistic landscape. The beautiful flowers all around the garden, of all colors and sizes. It was a magnificent garden you expect to see as part of a palace. Which is exactly what it was. And it was completely empty except for them.

The whole place had a deep-rooted silence to it, broken only by the faint sounds of hustle and bustle from the city. It unnerved Sebastian and Cozy, the duo simply walking around the garden , striking a conversation whenever possible, but mostly it was silence between the two.

The quiet and stillness only grew deeper as they approached the back corner of the garden, deep under the shadows of the willowy trees that guarded it. They came to sudden stop in front of the final statue, one they stared at for a long time.

There technically was nothing special about it. It was white, like all the others, and made of what looked like the same type of stone, but unlike the others, which generally only had one subject, this one had three.

The first was what appear to be some kind of hybrid between a horse and a bug , with a queen motive to her. Sebastian reconized her as one of the faces on the door Cozy came out of, and Cozy knew who she was, the queen of changeling, Queen Chrysalis, who refused to reform when given the chance. Her face was frozen in an ugly snarl as she seemingly tried to leap at her adversary.

The second was a centar . Once again, the prosecutor reconized him from Cozy's door, while the pegasus filly knew who she was looking at. It was Tirek, her pen pal. His figure flinching back and face turned away as it was, he looked almost...afraid.

The third, dwarfed by the other two and almost unnoticeable, was a small pegasus filly.

With curly hair.

And a rook cutie mark.

And an expression of sheer horror on the face clutched in her forelegs.

The filly may have been made of stone, but Cozy knew her own face when she saw it.

And Debeste knew as well.

The same statue that was in Sakurai park, the same statue that Cozy glow was freed from. He knew it when he saw it.

And this triggered a lot of emotions inside both of them

"Um, hey..." Sebastian was a bit nervous all things considered "Cozy, i'm sorry to ask, but is that you?"

"..." She gave no response, instead the pink pony slowly lowered herself to the ground and sat down, staring into her own statue, her own eyes.

"Cozy glow?"

"I- Sebastian, I..."

"Cozy, I ... have a lot of questions about this," He gestured to the statue of the trio " I know you were a pony that was once trapped in stone, but why were you here in the gardens, and who are those two, and why are you 3 together , when I found you, it was just you..."

...

"Golly, so that what's going on..."

"Cozy glow?"

"Oh, sorry, just lost in thought, " She gave a simple smile towards him "What did you ask, again?"

"I- nevermind " Sebastian decided not to push her about this.

"Hey Sebby," Cozy asked "Are you okay? You seem nervous for some reason"

"Oh, that, um well..." Sebastian was nervous because of the fact that this was a dream but, there was something else bothering him. He decided now would be a bad time to say what it was thou "It's nothing..."

"Golly , you sound hesitant," Cozy made a cute face towards him "Come one , Sebby, You can trust me with anything, after all, I'm just a sweet little filly trying to help."

"That's actually what bothering me, Cozy" Sebastian did have a question, and decide now would be just about as good a time as any to ask.

"Golly, what do you mean..." She sounded confused

"You keep saying your an innocent little filly, and you even look and sound the part, but there were many things that gave me an uneasy feeling about you..."

"Oh? Golly, that sounds odd, what could those "Things " be?"

" Well, " Sebastian trailed off "There were many things, but the one that really stuck with me was what Mari said..."

"Golly, you're really worried about that?" Cozy Glow said "That shouldn't bother you at all! I mean , come on, she called you an idiot yet you're the smartest prosecutor I know..."

"Heh, thanks Cozy," Sebastian really was flattered that someone was saying nice things about him, in a way he knew that those nice things were legitimate and not bribed by his "Father"

"But ," Sebastian didn't allow the conversation to go off topic "That's not the only thing she said, she also said some things she shouldn't have known..."

"What, about your father?" Cozy asked

"Y-yeah..." Sebastian was always uncomfortable whenever the subject of Blaise was brought up, but nonetheless, he kept steady "And about you, why did she call you a manipulator?"

"Golly, that's what your worried about, " Cozy put on an innocent smile, "well then guess what, Sebby, your fears are unfounded, what she said about me isn't true at all!"

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *Raddle* *CLANK*

"As much as I would love to believe you, the five locks around your heart say otherwise"

"Well, Cozy, there were some other things that I noticed as well, and there are a few things I want to talk about, if you don't mind , of course..."

"Um... Why not" She seemed a bit warry of the situation. Sebastian was hesitant to approach the topic, but he really didn't have any other choice...

"TAKE THAT!"

Cozy glow keeps on the appearance that she's a sweet little girl who would never hurt anyone, and as convincing as she appears, appearances can be deceiving

... Learned that the hard way...

There are several red flags with her, and I need to confront her about them, a part of me hopes this leads no where...

but I need to confront her about these things... and I can't let her change the topic...

LOGIC LOCKS-BEGIN

> Suspicious behavior

"Cozy glow , I don't mean to sound rude, but these past few days, you have been acting suspicious lately."

"S-suspicious? Golly! I have no idea what you're talking about. what could I have done that is considered suspicious?"

> [Queen] Well...

Wait and See

(Like with Aubrey, you can present multiple evidence leading to multiple paths)

Path 1: Present Gold dust

"Remember back when we were at the closet at the mansion... "

"Hey Cozy, why is the jacket dirty?"

"What in Celestia could you be talking about?"

"There some gold dust on the normally completely red jacket and I sure know it wasn't there before..."

" ... I took notice of gold dust on the jacket, and when I asked you about them, you were acting very suspicious . You basically tried to reflect the question by-"

"I think you meant to say deflect ... "

"Deflect, huh, yeah! that's what you did, you tried to deflect the question by exploring it and-"

"Exploring?"

"Ack, um, wait, I think the right word would be ignoring... Yeah, ignoring the question and instead reverting attention to the ladders..."

"Um... Sebastian, I think it's diverting attention to the step-ladders"

[Pawn] There's ladders ,not step-ladders

[Pawn] Ack, sorry!

> [Pawn] Regardless...

Wait and See

"Ok, my habit of mixing up words aside, as I'm not going to let it derail the conversation, why were you so nervous about the gold dust?"

"Darn it! Thought I can avoid talking about this..." Cozy cursed under her breath , she took a deep breath before saying "Golly, me nervous? It was just gold dust after all, I'm not even sure where it came from!"

"Not sure where it came from? I doubt it. You know as well as I do that the gold dust most likely came from this"

Present Hibana Ruby

"It came from the Hibana Ruby, didn't it?"

"!!! A-and what makes you say that!? Do you have anything to prove that the gold dust was from the Ruby ?"

Present Window Frame

" Simple, the gold surrounding the Ruby flaked of and the dust ended up stuck to other things as well, not just your coat. There were gold dust on the same window frame, and as we know , with Mari being the true thief, it's not hard to see the dust on the fame coming from her... also remember that a small amount gold dust ended up on Emiko and Paul Light's gloves after taking back the Ruby..."

"W-well what about the inside of the box, there was no gold dust there!"

"It's simple, really, the inside of the box where the Ruby was usually kept is yellow on the inside, not hard for gold dust to be left unnoticed there, we never got a good look inside the box anyways."

"W-well, what to say I got that gold dust from the Ruby anyways!? I could have gotten the dust from other golden things in the mansion..."

>[Pawn] Not likely

[Pawn] I suppose that's possible

Wait and See

"There weren't that much golden items in the mansion anyways... Are you sure the gold dust could have come from them?"

"I mean, there's nothing that proves it must have come from the Ruby , right?"

"I'm sorry Cozy, but there is something that at lease suggest that the gold dust is from the Hibana Ruby..."

Present Pedestal Info

"Next to the pedestal in the spirit room were a few pink feathers, which were covered in gold dust. Your feathers..."

"!!! Um , well..."

Also, remember that little problem I mentioned earlier..."

"Cozy glow, why is your feather here, next to the pedestal, with more gold dust on it?"

"Oh, w-well, like I said, I ended up here after taking the secret passageway and I guess my feather just fell out while I was exploring, this is an interesting room after all."

"That kinda explains it... , But there still something wrong with what you said..."

"I never got around what that something was because of Emiko, Paul and Connor being there in the room, but I been wanting to ask, how exactly did your feathers come off."

"Well, they just do, ok. Sometimes a few feather fall off my wings , no issue at all."

"I don't believe you..." Sebastian stated " You yourself said this a few days ago... "

"Ok, Cozy, I going to clean you with a bath, but if I'm being honest, I don't really know how to bathe a pony, or how to properly clean the feathers of a wing. So... yeah"

"It's ok, you'll just need to help remove any cereal stuck on me and clean me up in places I can't reach. Just be careful. Wings are the most sensitive part of a Pegasus and are really important to us."

"Remember you said how wings are the most sensitive part of a Pegasus, I doubt that a few feather falling off of you would be "no issue at all" ."

"I-um..." Cozy was getting a bit nervous "Look, I'm from a different world with different rules and logic, ok. I know it seems weird to you , but you're looking into this too much, how does a few fallen feather prove I wore anything?"

> [Pawn ] Wore ?

Wait and see

"I'm sorry Cozy Glow, but did you say, wore anything?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I never said anything about wearing anything. Why did you say I was trying to prove your wore something when I was really trying to prove the gold dust was from the Hibana Ruby, unless of course, you did wear the Hibana Ruby..."

"!!!" A shock expression "W-well, I um, well ... "

"Given the fact that the Hibana ruby was a medallion , I wouldn't be surprise you tried to wear it around your neck, which would be exactly where the gold dust was."

"Um... I - well-"

Sebastian pulled out and pointed his baton "You tried to wear the Hibana Ruby, that was when your feather fell and you got gold dust on you, didn't you!?"

"EEP!"

*CLANG* The left most lock broke

"So, I'll ask again, did you wear the Hibana Ruby?"

"I-" Cozy relented "Ok fine! Yes I wore the Ruby, but how exactly does this connect with what Mari said."

"Well it connect to what she said by..." Sebastian took a second to think "Um... Well..."

"Exactly," Cozy stated "Me taking the Ruby and wearing it means nothing at all, I was curious about the amulet and wanted to take a look about it and its so called magic abilities, being a magical creature in a world that supposedly had no magic in it, you can't really blame me for being a little curious, can you?" She made a cute, sweet little innocent filly face towards him, and he relented

"No, no I can't, " He sighed and admitted " you were just curious, and besides, you didn't actually stole the thing, just touched it..."

"Exactly," She proudly said "anything more suspicious about me you want to talk about?"

"Actually, yes, I have some other thing to ask you..."

"Golly, there's more " the charms giving Sebastian sharper senses caused him to noticed some small level of irritation " I mean, sure , whatever, go ahead, what else you want to talk about?"

Path 2: Present Cozy Glow's Observation

"I notice that you made some pretty ," He paused "odd choices , sometimes."

"Golly, what kind of odd choices ?"

"Well, " He trailed off " Back at the mansion, you made a few specular remarks..."

"Specular? I think you mean peculiar, and on that note, what could I possibly have done~ ?" Her cute voice trailed off.

"Well, when Emiko's twin children were trying to trick us to trap us in the closet, you said this:"

"Golly, they really think that's gonna work?"

"What do you mean , Cozy?"

"-and after the whole ordeal, you said :"

"Let's just say the same tricks don't work twice..."

"Now what could you mean by that specifically?"

...

"Golly, you're really making a big deal out of that? I don't understand why?"

"Um, come again," Sebastian was confused

"Oh please~" She said "All you've shown that I know things when It comes to manipulators, that doesn't mean that I myself an one, I mean, the truth is, the only reason I know so much is because I'm a professional in psychology, of course." She gave him a cute smile.

>[ Pawn] You're a what?

[ Pawn] What does that even mean?

Wait and See

"Professional in psychology ..."

"Yup," She said " And that's cause I'm a prodigy of my field, of course. "

"I still don't follow," Sebastian was slightly wary. He had a feeling of uncertainty about what Cozy said .

"Aww," Her ears , once perked up, now flopped down, she look slightly disappointed "Come on Sebby, I used my skills in understanding the emotions and behavior of others to help you, and this is how you say thanks to a friend who help avoid being locked in a closet."

"W-well, I mean- I"

Cozy glow simply giggles, her cute, sweet demeanor offsetting Sebastian's train of thought " It's ok, Sebby, I guess I was a bit forward with my words, weren't I"

[Pawn] You were too forward

[Pawn] Don't derail the conversation...

> [Pawn] I didn't mean that...

Wait and See

"Um," Now it was Sebastian sweating nervously " Look, Cozy, I think you have made the wrong presumption, I-"

"Presumptions?"

"Ah! sorry, I think the word was assumptions, yes , I didn't say you were forward , it was the way you worded it, you were-"

"Oh!' She made a cute smiled "I see~ , you were amazed, weren't you!"

Sebastian had a feeling she was doing this on purpose as some kind of clever chess strategy to throw the conversation off topic , he had a feeling she was cutting him off and saying these things just so he would somehow forget what the conversation was originally about, but he wasn't going to let that happen.

"Cozy , listen I-"

" You really shouldn't have, I mean , you were pretty amazing too, you know!"

"R-really!" Neverminded, looks like he really was going to let her derail this, "Y-you really mean that?"

"Golly, of course I mean that, I mean, come on, you were the one who caught Aubrey and Mari lying , not to mention that whole thing with the box of magnets was simply brilliant ."

"I- Thank you Cozy , I really appreciated hearing that " And he really did, after all the times he heard compliments and received praises and rewards thanks to Blaise influence, I was nice to hear a genuine compliment from a friend about something he actually did rather than it being a lie to his face because of whatever his father did behind the scenes.

"Hey, are you ok, you look like your about to cry..."

"Ack! Sorry, It's nothing you should be worried about..."

"Nothing to be worried about?" She looked confused , before she made a reassuring smile, " Sebby, "I'm a psychologist, go ahead , tell me what's wrong, I'll help." Her tone of voice was that of a sweet , kind girl...

[ Pawn] That's nice of you , Cozy

> [ Pawn] Not so fast, Cozy

Wait and See

... and if not for the fact that from his point of view , there was still an endless blue tinted chess void with chains and locks surrounding her, Sebastian would have fallen right into Cozy's plan to forget about the conversation and derail it. Cozy almost manipulated the pieces into her favor, but Sebastian caught himself at the last second.

"Not so fast, Cozy Glow!" He exclaimed, pointing his baton, which was so sudden that Cozy was slightly taken aback by it.

"I see what you're trying to pull here, but unfortunately, your attempt at reverting, Ah! I mean diverting !" the ahoge on his hair turned from a question mark to an exclamation mark, which has happened before , but this time it happened faster than usual that some of the gel flicked off.

"y-yes, diverting the conversation away from the original topic, and I won't let you!" He quickly regain his composure.

Cozy, on her part, once she recovered from the shock, huffed in annoyance, she really thought she could manipulate the conversation away from talking about her actions , but it looks like her excuse was not accepted

" Golly! Don't scream like that ever again." She sounded annoyed. " Also, I just wanted to help you . " She shoots him a cute smile, " I'm your friend, after all. Can't you trust me with all your personal problems?"

"not when there's still the problems concerning you and your actions to deal with..."

"My actions?" She perked up "Golly, what could I have possibly done, I mean , for the twins, little sweet me simply decided to help you avoid being trapped, using her skills in phycology, of course." She smiled.

"Cozy, remember , this was what you said to me back then , and I quote..."

"Let's just say the same tricks don't work twice..."

"From that line, I can only assume that you had experience with manipulators beforehand, and-"

"Beforehoof..."

"What?"

"It's beforehoof, you're trying to say that I had experience with manipulators beforehoof, which I don't"

"Ok, Cozy, first off, you're the one with hooves, I have hands, so it's different ... what's the word, thermology, yeah thermology. " Sebastian repeats, as if to properly file it in his memory. " And secondly, there's another moment I would like to talk about, remember back when we were accusing Aubrey of the crime, you said..."

"Golly , she's really good at holding back anger, but surprisingly bad at hiding it. She didn't over react , but She said that one mundane word with a spiteful tone . "

"Cozy glow, When were you this good at reading and observing other people's emotions ?"

"It's part of what I do "

" Golly, you really remember that? Now that's impressive," She paused "But I don't really see how that proves anything, I already said I'm a psychologist, all that shows is i have a knack to see what makes other people tick..."

"It's not what you said, but the way you said it... the vibes I got from you... I felt less like a psychologist evaluating a patient's condition, and more like someone who's .... playing chess against someone, who's reading their every move and their state of mind to try and strategize, manipulating the pieces on the board as they wish..."

"Wh-Where is this even coming from!?" She was ... shocked, annoyed, angry, she looked like she didn't want this conversation to continue, " "manipulating the pieces on the board" Is there anything that actually shows I'm going that!?"

[ Bishop] Your reaction to Simon and Lucy Mikado

[Bishop] Your reaction to Aubrey

> [Bishop] Your reaction now

"Yes, there is something, " He stated "And that's what you are doing now!"

"Wh-what!?" Cozy was taken aback. "What do you mean, "Doing now!?"

"Just a few minutes ago," He reminded her "you tried to manipulate the conversation away from talking about your actions," He pointed his baton " Remember all the times you dodge the question, tried to sway me with comfort and complements-"

" Compliments "

" Sorry, *Ahem* anyways, my point, you yourself have just tried everything in your power to avoid the topic , It's clear that what you're doing is a little bit suspicious , isn't it?"

...

*CLANG* The right most lock broke

"Golly, that's really good observation." Cozy remarked " But the question was, what does it even mean?"

"What do you mean, "What does it even mean?""

"I mean, what does this prove exactly ? So I have experience with manipulation, it doesn't mean I'm actually a manipulator..."

"What!? What do you mean by that!?"

"I'll put it a different way, just because I know how to emotionally and phycological manipulate doesn't mean I'm a manipulator. If anything, it just proves more that I am just a sweet filly who wants to help you out, I help out others with their problems through knowing about psychology. that's how I have my experience."

"... B-but, you-"

"Sebby, we won't talk about this anymore, I just wanna help, and you should know better that to look a gift pony in the mouth..." She shot her a cute face "please~"

Sebastian sighed "Fine, I won't talk about it, " Cozy sighed in relief "instead I'll talk about something else that has been bothering me " She tensed up again, slight hints of general anger shown as she slightly grid her teeth, while still trying to keep her cute innocent filly look to her. "Golly, there's more" She said "What could possible be there to talk about?"

"Well..."

Path 3: Present Mari's Profile

"It has something to do with what Mari said earlier..."

"Golly, this again? Look, Mari didn't know what she was talking about, she called you an idiot yet your really competent, and she called me a manipulator when I'm just an innocent filly, she has no evidence that proves what she's saying is beyond nonsense."

"I'm sorry Cozy, but there is proof what she said isn't random ramblings."

"Oh really? What is this 'proof' exactly?"

(Note: You have to break the two psychic lock first before you can pursue this path.)

>[Rook] What you claim to do here...

Wait and See

" It's what you did literally a few minutes ago . At first, there was no reason for me to believe that what Mari said was true, but now, you confused that you have experience with manipulation, and-"

"Confused that i what?"

"Wait, no , not confused, confessed, yeah! You confessed that you had experience with manipulation, and the way you tried to avoid talking about what you did has put into question your reaction when I question you about this."

Present Pedestal info orGold dust or Hibana Ruby.

"When I ask you about the gold dust back at the mansion closet. If you really were just an innocent filly, then there would be no reason for you to act so nervous when confronted about it. " Sebastian remarked.

He emphasized "You could have just said you were curious and took a look at it right then and there, instead you felt the need to hide the fact you wore the Ruby. " He pulled out and pointed his baton "If you were just curious and wanted to have a look, I wouldn't have minded all that much, but with what I know now, it is clear why you tried to hide the fact you wore the Hibana Ruby."

Sebastian couldn't tell what Cozy glow was feeling, her facial expression was hard to read, but Sebastian had a feeling she was either angry or panicking.

"Cozy Glow, you were planning on stealing the Ruby as well, weren't you?"

"!!! What!?" She suddenly cried out, which actually startled Sebastian a bit, but he quickly stood back up.

" You wanted to steal the ruby and uses its magic for yourself, but when you put it on, you found out there was no magical abilities that actually existed there... So you placed it back. That's what happen, right? "

"H-How can you know all this!?" Cozy immediately put her hooves to her mouth "I mean... Golly!" She forced a smile "Is that really true? I mean, what reason would I have to steal it?"

"Your reason for stealing the ruby is the same reason why we're even having this conversation, what Mari said, and going by that, you planned on using the Ruby for your own benefit, weren't you?"

"H-how in the world did you even find out about- I mean, Golly, that's um... quite the tale you have there~"

"Cozy glow," Sebastian said, " You can drop the act now, it's clear what happened that day. You went through the secret passage, saw the ruby, tried to use it, but when you saw there were no magic inside, you left it and came back to the library. "

"C-conjecture!"

"Then why did you take an unusually long amount of time to check out the passage, if anything, it sound only take a few seconds to inspect the passage and the room it leads to, especially since you're a pegasus with wings."

...

Cozy glow stayed silent. It comes out to Sebastian as creepy and off putting, the silence was deafening , the air around them was tense and heavy, until finally, after a whole minute, the tension was cut by a noise.

"Hehe..." It was Cozy glow, she was slowly giggling to herself , but soon, it turned to chuckles and then outright laughter. "hehe... Ha... HaHahahaha Ha Ha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

"Cozy Glow," Sebastian was beyond shocked "Wh-What are you-"

"Heh," She stopped laughing " So, this is what is comes down to... Honestly, given the reason why I'm here, it shouldn't be that surprising... "

"Wha- What shouldn't be that surprising?" Sebastian was nervous about the whole situation.

"You taking a few loose treats and piecing together the truth thru assumptions and theories backed by only a few pieces of barely relevant evidence," She laughed " Honestly, I guess my secret was going to be revealed sooner or later, after all, if anything, this is just another prison . "

"Secret! P-prison!? Cozy glow, what are you talking about?" He screamed in confusion.

"Golly, you're really curious about this, aren't you? " She chuckled, her voice sounded like that of a cute , sweet girl but tainted with a sinister and cruel tone "Well, guess there no turning back now, if you gotten this far then i guess it was only a matter of time before you find out the whole truth, I might as well tell you ."

*CLANG**CLANG**CLANG* The rest of the locks broke .

"Cozy glow," Sebastian asked "I'm confused, why are you laughing!? What do you mean secret and prison!? What's going on!?"

"Heh, you're the one in the dark? Well, I guess I'll just tell you now," She stated " I mean, golly, you really live up to your name sake as the best if you manage to get this far, it's clear it's only a matter of time before you find out the whole truth, I might as well tell you everything..."

"Ok, first off, what do you mean 'Secret', "

"Golly, really?" She sounded unamused "that's what you're gonna ask me? It should be obvious given you were the one who found out about it."

"I-I'm sorry" Sebastian shuddered "I'm still confused, it's hard to wrap my mind around this, I mean , just looking at you , it's hard to see you as someone with a secret and a motive to steal something"

"Oh really? " She asked, and when Sebastian nodded, she had a look and a tone of voice that sounded genuinely surprise "Golly, I mean, I thought you would have already figure everything out by now, I mean, you gotten this far."

"There's still a lot of questions floating around, " Sebastian admitted

"Well, how about I answer your question with another question , do you remember how we first met?"

"I- um," He had no idea where this was going, but he felt like just going with it anyways, "Y-yeah, you were a stone statue , and somehow you were freed around the time I was there,"

"And remember when you asked why I was a stone statue?"

(Ah, that's right, the very same question that made me see your locks the first time around) "Yeah, and then you said a group of wizard unicorns turned you into stone. You also said you had no idea why."

"And do you believe me?"

"Um, not really," He said, " No offence, but honestly, I can't help but feel doubts and uncertainty in your story, maybe it's because of my prosecutor's witz, but I doubt that in a world that has 'the magic of friendship' An 'innocent filly' would be turned to stone like this, if anything, being turned into stone sounds like a punishment for someone who- !!!!"

It finally hit him. It's a habit he still has to focus and get lost in his own thoughts he sometimes forgets important things, like what had started this conversation in the first place...

"the Pegasus filly next to you isn't as cute and innocent as she claims to be. She looks like a cheerful, sweet little filly , but she's really just a manipulator who controls others for her own benefit."

"... So Mari was telling the truth, wasn't she?"

"Golly, I mean, is that even a question, I mean, why else would I have wanted to steal the Ruby, before realizing there was no magic and leaving it there."

"Why... I don't understand..." Sebastian was at a loss for words , he really had no idea what to ask, so many thoughts were spinning wildly in his mind. So he said the first thing that crossed his mind once he regain posture . " I still don't understand why did you do all this?"

"Golly, you still don't get it, what is there to not understand?" Cozy asked

Sebastian had a lot of questions, but amidst the confusion, he voices the most concerning " I just don't understand , you're a young filly, a CHILD basically! Not only that, but a child from another world, a world that might as well be a stereoscopical children's cartoon, with-

"Stereoscopical? I think you meant stereotypical ..."

"Y-yeah! that the word," He paused before he continued " A stereotypical children's cartoon, with all kinds of magical creatures living in harmony and magic, a princess and even a whole school dedicated to friendship. " He voices his confusion "I just can't wrap my mind around the idea that in such a world of happiness, someone, let alone a child, would end up being this manipulator who would steal magical artifacts for her own benefit!"

" Golly, that's what you think?" She sounded surprised , if only a little "Maybe it's because I never gave all the details, after all, any time we talked about my world I only gave a few small details, so let me give the full picture," She begins to explain. "The reason why I was a manipulator..." and her explanation shocked Sebastian to his core " was because it was what I was taught to do."

"W-What!?" Sebastian was even more confused " B-but from what you told me, y-you were learning all about friendship when you were in twilight's school! Are you saying that these 'friendship lessons' taught you how to manipulate!?"

"Golly, Sebby, took the exact world right out my mouth, " She smiled "Yes, that is what I learned."

"Oh, " Sebastian said, having his question answer, was satisfied with being given an explanation, until only a few seconds later his brain finally caught up on what she said "Wait, WHAT!? "

"What is it Sebby?"

"I- wha, you said it yourself you were learning all about friendship, FRIENDSHIP , at the school, isn't manipulation, like the complete oppression of that!?"

"Ok, first, it's opposite, not oppression, it was funny the first few time, but now your screwed up vocabulary is annoying me, please get that fixed," She bluntly said, her cutesy tone completely replaced with a cold , serious voice, "And secondly, I wasn't lying when I said I was learning about friendship, but the thing was, I don't know about your world, but in my world, friendship isn't magic at all, it is instead, power."

"P-power!?"

"Yes," Cozy said "Power over others, to bend their will to your own, to manipulated their actions and to control their emotions like pieces on a chess board, " She laughed "Which fun fact, is what my cutie mark actually is."

"Excuse me what!?"

"while it does show a chess rook, and I am really good at chess, it isn't the only talent I have represented here, ya know ..."

"I-wha, no this still doesn't make any sense, I'm still confused ! Wh-why did they turn you into stone in the first place! I mean, yes, manipulation is bad, but I don't think It's bad enough to warrant being turned into a stone statue , especially if it was what they were teaching you..."

"Heh, yeah," Cozy admitted, "the manipulation alone didn't warrant being petrified, it had more to do with me almost taking over all of Equestria and becoming it's empress."

...

"Excuse me Cozy, WHAT!?"

"Oh, guess I didn't mention that, oops," She gave a silly smile, which was like a mix of Golly Jolly cuteness mixed with the sinister smirk of a killer.

"Cozy, please tell me you're joking," it was hard to describe Sebastian current emotions beyond a blurry mix of different emotions, the most prominent being shock and fear.

"Do you really think now would be a time for jokes?" She stared him dead in the eyes with a glare of seriousness.

...

"Why, just... Why!?" That was all he could blurred out "Why did you want to take over all of Equestria ! From what you told me , there's just no reason, no motive for you to try to take over Equestria. You said it yourself, you were very close to Twilight herself and was happy with your current position in the school of Friendship. There's no reason for you to throw that all away like that."

"Why, Why!? You think I don't have a motive, well then, let me spell it out To you, power, that's what, I want more power, more control, that's why."

"B-but why!? Why do you -" he was interrupted

"Dear celestia," she sounded frustrated "Can you just shut up about this ! Why, why , why! Is that all your going to ask, stop asking about the why of the story, it's getting Annoying, I'll say it only once, and no more, I just want to rule Equestria, control the world as I please,"

"Wha- are you saying you basically have no motive !?"

"Well, when you put it that way, then yes!" She stated " I don't have a motive for wanting power, there's no real reason behind what I did, I just wanting to be Equestria's Empress, I just want to rule Equestria , that's it, the end!"

*BANG* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *Raddle* *CLANK* *Raddle* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK* *Raddle* *Raddle* *CLANK* *CLANK*

Sebastian went wide eye with what he saw, complete shock was what the next few seconds were for him. He honestly had no idea why, when he was absolutely confused, when his mind basically went blank with all the emotions and information mixing wildly inside him, did his default question to ask amidst his shock was just why, over and over he kept asking Cozy why did she do this, or do that, but he never knew why , when he didn't know how to process the situation or what to say next, did his mind drew up the why question over and over again, but now he remembered.

"There is always a motive behind the mask of manipulation..."

The bishop's advice to him, he kept it within his subconscious, close to his heart, like how he promises her, and he kept asking why because he kept wanting to know, about her motive behind her manipulation, and as soon as he recovered from the shock of what he saw he knew what he had to do, but then he realized something.

The 7 lock around Cozy glow...

... Were black.

Not the usual red locks he saw before, but instead black locks instead. And now that he was focusing on the black lock, He realized. it isn't just a change of color either. These locks—they FEEL different from the other one he seen before. Filled with anger and hate, despair and sadness.

Sebastian wasn't sure what to make of these locks, a different color and giving off a different feeling to him. Not of someone who's lying to hide a secret , but of a tragic event hiding deep within the shadow, so hidden that not even the person in question knows that their hiding something.

Still, Sebastian realise that he really doesn't have a choice. Once he took a few deep breaths, he composes himself, and readies to break these mysterious black locks.

"Cozy Glow, " He asked "I hope it wouldn't bother you, but I would like to ask some other questions, if that doesn't bother you?"

"Heh, I guess why not. I mean, it doesn't really matter, anyways..."

"TAKE THAT!"

Alright, let's read this situation carefully...

I clearly need to break those lock and uncover her true motives, but the dread these new black locks give me tells me that a direct attack would not be the best option.

Besides, Cozy glow basically stopped the motive conversation topic dead in its tracks, so pressing her on that wouldn't be an option.

Not to mention I only been asking the why, not the who, where, what and when.

I'll ask her to tell me everything about what she did to get trapped in stone, and move from there.

let's to this!

LOGIC LOCKS-BEGIN

Further details...

"Is it ok if you can tell me more about your whole 'taking over Equestria ' thing?

"Sure, I mean, you'll find out eventually, so there's no reason not to tell you...

[Queen] What do you mean by that?

Wait and See.

Path 1: What do you mean by that?

"What do you mean by 'I'll find out eventually' ? Actually, as a matter of fact, why did you just tell everything to me. " He said , confused "I don't really understand why you decide to just confess the truth to me about who you were back at Equestria. "

"Heh, that should be obvious, you know..." Cozy glow explained "Why do you think this is here?"

Because of the magic charms effect, from Sebastian's point of view Cozy glow was pointing her hooves towards empty space in the void of endless blue tinted chess board floor, but Sebastian also knew that Cozy couldn't see what he saw, the conductor immediately remember where they were, and pieced together that the cute manipulator was directing towards the statue of her and the two other creatures...

"I modesty don't know, " He answered. "Why is there a statue of you here with whoever those 2 are?"

"um, modesty? "

"AH! Um, sorry, i think it was honesty, yes, honestly I don't know ."

"Heh, maybe you don't know now, but I imagine it would be soon ."

"What are you talking about?"

" You know exactly what I'm talking about," The filly takes a step forward " you're a smart one, even when you keep mixing up your words, you were able to find the truth behind something even when there very few evidence. It's clear that as soon as you found enough loose strings, you would have piece things together yourself, so I figured, if it was only a matter of time before you found my secret, then I'll let my secret be revealed, but on my own terms." She pointed back to the statue " It's clear whoever send us here is giving you all the clues to find out about all I did back at Equestria, and as soon as you found out about what I did back there, then that's when it really begins... "

"Um... what begins?"

"My punishment, of course, I mean Golly, that should be obvious, I mean, I'm a villain, and golly geez was I a feared villain at that, got locked in tautarus , then turned to a stoned statue , but clearly for me specifically that wasn't enough of a punishment, so whoever is behind this clearly wants to make me specifically suffer something far worse, and is making sure you know exactly what I've done, after all, what kind of jailer doesn't even know what their prisoner did?"

[Pawn] Prisoner?

[Pawn] Tautarus?

> [ Pawn] Punishment?

Wait and See

"I'm sorry, but you think that this is a punishment? That you were brought here to be given a fate more worse that being trapped in stone?"

"Yeah, I mean, it's a world without magic, filled with strange creatures and technology far ahead of Equestria , just getting lost in a whole new world is terrible enough, imagine being faced with the dangers of this unfamiliar world."

"Yes, this world is full of dangerous things, but so is your world, and I don't know about you, but from what you told me, criminals on the streets are nothing compared to wolves made of wood or poison flowers that play some kind of platonic joke on you."

"Um, I think you meant an ironic joke, you're talking about the poison joke flowers I told you about , right?" Sebastian nodded, to which Cozy continued "And Well, both of them can be avoided by just not going to the Everfree forest, meanwhile I remember you saying you don't know when someone might attack you."

"Well, the dangers of both worlds aren't the only flaw with your treasoning as to why-"

"My treasoning? You meant reasoning as to me being a prisoner here, right?"

"Yes! That's what I meant, and that flaw is...

Present either Sebastian's profile or Cozy Glow's profile

TAKE THAT!

"Now I'll just ask one simple question, if this was truly was a punishment for you, then why can you still fly?"

"Well, that- !!!" Cozy's ears perked up as she realize she didn't have an answer. "I.. um.. well-"

"Exactly, the fact that you still have the ability to fly means you still have your pegasus magic, including your weather manipulation, if this really was punishment, why let you have the ability to essentially flood the whole city in a few days?"

"W-well, m-maybe I can't control the weather here, I mean, in my world the clouds have to be moved by the pegasus , maybe my magic only works on those clouds in my world. Who knows?"

"Even if your weather magic doesn't work, your flying magic clearly does, and your ability to fly away really fast is potentially something you could use to escape , if you want to imprison someone, wouldn't you make sure that they don't have a chance to escape?"

"W-well that exactly what you did, made sure i couldn't escape, right?"

...

"Right?" Cozy repeated

"Um, actually, no , I didn't even know about this , which brings me to my point, just like you said before 'what kind of jailer doesn't even know what their prisoner did?' If someone wanted to imprison you in another world, they would tell the jailer all about who you are, yet I wasn't even informed about Equestria, everything I know is actually from what you told me. In fact, if you remember when I found you, you were still a stone statue in a park, and it was only when i touch you that you were free, and the fact of the matter was you could have easily flew away at that moment, and there was nothing stopping you from flying away at any other time either."

"Wh- WHAT!? You're serious, you didn't have anything that stopped me from just leaving you, all this time, I could just up and leave !?"

"I mean, think about it, if someone, er... somepony wanted to trap you in another world as punishment, they would do everything to make sure they didn't escape punishment, wouldn't you? "

"Well, Golly, you're right..."

"So far, there was at least 10 opportunities for you to avoid your 'punishment' , you were freed from stone in an open area of a park, and so far I never did anything to even hurt you in any way. If this really was punishment, then the per- er pony who did this to you should have freed you in a place where you can't escape, or even remove your magic altogether, and told me what's going on exactly, yet that wasn't what happen."

"Wait, so all this time, I wasn't banished from Equestria, Twilight or whoever send me here , didn't send me here as punishment."

As the thought sunk into Cozy, she stood silent.

"... Don't be ashamed, " The prosecutor reassured "Sometimes, I also jumped to illusion without thinking , and present theories that have no logic or even evidence to back them up."

"It's conclusion, not illusion and no, that's not what I'm thinking about, kind of..."

Well, looks like a good idea to end this path right here.

At lease I found out that she had assume that she was here as a punishment.

It seems like making random guesses and convinces herself it's the truth without any logic put into it.

So, in other words, she's like a young child who, like me before, let's their childish naivety and kid logic to make conclusions that don't really make sense.

I should take note of this.

"Hey, um Cozy, is it ok if I ask something else?"

"Huh, Oh, sure, what is it?"

"Well..."

Path 2: Wait and See

"..."

"So, what do you want to know more about?"

[ Pawn] what was your plan exactly ?

[ Pawn] Who did you manipulated?

> [ Pawn] How exactly did it happen?

"I'm interested in what exactly what happened with your plan to 'taking over Equestria' ?"

"Golly, getting right to the heart of this, aren't you, well, my plan was really simple, I would seal away all the magic from Equestria and then rule it."

"And, Um... how did that go?"

...

As Cozy Glow explained the details of her plan, Sebastian felt a sense of shock and fear, to hear the malicious details of her evil plan, his emotional side was slowly causing him to cry as he hears the seemingly innocent filly describe everything terrible she did in a joyful tone, that part of him would have asked Cozy to stopped right then and there. That is, until, he remember the earlier situation with cozy glow assuming she was here as punishment. That made him see her plans less emotionally and more logically, and that's when a few questions popped up.

"Wow. " Sebastian murmured " Cozy glow, that sounds like..."

"A genius plan?" She proudly asked

"No ,it sounds like something that just makes no sense at all! " He said "Cozy glow, can I ask, what exactly was your goal with this."

Cozy Glow frowned in thought, and folded her front hooves. "Shouldn't it be obvious? It's to be powerful, of course "

"Yeah, but for what?"

"So that everypony would listen to me and love me, of course "

"Creating fights between others doesn't make everyone love you, though! think about it, people can't really spare time for love if they're panicking or worried about each other, anyway! And it sounds like you have things backwards; you made friends, who are by definition ponies who listen to you and love you, and then used them to get power so you could make strife and get more power, just to get more friends?"

Cozy glow was taken back by Sebastian's logic , she actually took a moment to think for a moment "Golly, when you lay it out like that, it does sound kinda silly! But let me tell you, there's more to it."

"But ," Sebastian is still confused, and states his next point " What is there to expand on, you started out with friends, then lost them by being a jerk. Then when you had power, and from what you're saying you just used it caused even more trouble with that, and then lost anyway! " He made his point "and what makes less sense is how you create strife between people, to throw away all of Equestria's magic and seal it away, wouldn't it also include you own pegasus magic?"

"Golly, of course not, I specifically made sure that I was the only pony with magic, of course."

"Yeah, the only one with your Pegasus magic, but you yourself taught me about all the different types of magic, if your plan succeeded , then what of the earth pony magic, who will grow the crops, and who will move the sun and moon if the princesses can't do it."

"I-" Cozy glow couldn't really think of a good response, she hadn't actually thought that far. "Um... well..."

"Exactly, and to make it even more strange, this whole plan was completely unnecessary , you were already in a powerful position , you were close to twilight, and everyone already loved you, you had as much power as a little filly could achieve, all you had to do was keep being nice to everyone, yet you decided to throw that away for the sake of more power?"

"..." Cozy glow was left speechless, she realize she hadn't though that far with her first plan...

No answer came as Cozy lowered her gaze. She really hadn't considered any of those things.

"This is what I mean. For all your planning and scheming, none of that ever occurred to you. You always assumed everything would go exactly how you imagined it."

"Are you saying I'm stupid?" Cozy growled.

Sebastian shook his head. "It's not about being stupid," he replied. "You're a very smart child, Cozy. No other filly could have done what you did. But that's the thing, you're still a child."

Child...

"Wh-what does that mean!?"

"It means you have the skills to excommunicate ( he meant execute) your plan, but the plan itself doesn't make sense, to me anyways. " He explained "At lease, it doesn't make sense if we are to assume that your only goal with the plan was to make more friends and get more power..."

"Wh-what !?"

"Cozy glow, earning friends and gaining power is only a fraction of your true goal , the only way your plan with the school of friendship would make any sense is if there was another reason behind all of this, and I'll find out what that reason is!"

"I - Golly, you really are persistent with this idea that I have some ulterior motive, aren't you..."

( The locks around you tell me there definitely still more to this...) "Yes, I am, now you're gonna tell me a bit about yourself, if you don't mind."

"well I mean, i don't really have much of a choice, do I."

"No, cozy, no you don't"

"Golly, well, what do you want to know?"

Ok, Sebastian, think this through, Cozy glow has done some partible (terrible) things back at Equestria, and insist her only motive for committing these crimes was for the sake of power, yet these locks and the bishops words tell me there's actually another reason beyond wanting to rule Equestria, I need to understand her true intentions, but she's being defensive about it. I been given a chance to ask her a single thing about her past that she hasn't told me yet, what would have the most chance of revealing some other motivation for her crimes?

[Queen] Ask about where she lived

[Queen] Ask about family

[Queen] Ask about her life back then

[Queen] Ask directly about her motives

Path 1: Ask about where she lived

"Let's start with where you live, if that's ok with you?"

"Golly, sure, " Cozy screwed up her face, thinking. "Let's see... I was born in a small town called Dialass"

Dialass... So that's where she lived, I feel like I should take note of this

"And how was life back there?"

"It was..." She hesitated a bit "Alright, I guess. It's a small portside city near Emerger , and I lived in a simple small house..."

"And what can you say about the house?"

"Well, we have a living room, dining room, kitchen, bedrooms, and ... yeah that's it."

[Pawn] Ask about living room

[Pawn] Ask about dining room

[Pawn] Ask about kitchen

[Pawn] Ask about bedrooms

> [Pawn] Ask about other rooms

"Is that really all the rooms, or are there other rooms you left out."

"Golly, nope, not a single room at all, those are the only rooms we have, hehe... " She chuckled nervously.

"Really, then why are you so nervous all of a sudden?"

"N-nervous, me, golly, you make it sound like i have something to hide, I already told you everything "

"Cozy," It's just a boring house you used to live in, if there was nothing for you to hide then you should just tell me everything about your house, nothing wrong with that? Right?"

"I... Um... well, oh, i just remember, the basement, " She gave a goofy smile "Golly, guess I forgot, but really, it's just a boring old basement in the house, there's nothing special about that..."

"If there's nothing special about the basement then why did you not mentioned it the first time around..."

"I really don't know, guess it slipped my mind"

> [Knight] Present evidence

wait and See

Sebastian shook his head "Maybe you don't know, but I do."

"Wh-what?"

Those black locks were shaking slightly just now, it's clear that some part of her is trying to hide something from everyone, including herself. Maybe something bad happened in the basement and her mind sub continuedly (subconsciously) is hiding that problematic (traumatic) memory from her to try and protect her emotionally, and i have something to show what that is...

Present Cozy Glow's Nyctophobia

TAKE THAT !

"You say you simply forgot about the basement, but that's not the reason you decided to hide the basement from me. There's a reason you were nervous before, and It's not the first time..."

"First time? Golly, what are you talking about?" She sounded genuinely surprised and curious.

" Remember back at Mikado Mansions, when you were inspecting the secret passageway, and the door automatically closed, locking you inside the dark passage. You suddenly screamed . When I got the door reopen, you were crying on the ground curled up."

"Ah!" She looked away from him, a look of mixed emotions of nervousness, worry and some hint of embarrassment there "W-well, you see, back there, i ... um- well..."

"Can I ask, why did you suddenly screamed out of nowhere? There was nothing inside the passage, so what made you so scared as to scream then curl up on the floor."

"Golly, you're asking some really difficulted questions, but-" she gave a forced smile, emphasis on forced "I don't know what your talking about."

You ... aren't really lying when you say that, your own mind is hiding something from even yourself, so of course you yourself wouldn't know. But I think I do.

"Cozy glow, the reason you panic wasn't because of something happening in the darkness of the secret passage, but what the darkness reminded you of." He emphasized his point "Something bad happened before, and it was so traumatic that anything that so much as slightly reminded you of it caused you to panic. You left out the basement because something bad happened there, and your mind blocked that detail out."

"I- Golly, t-that's a really interesting story, but that's all it is, a fake made up story, unless you have something to prove something bad really did happened, then-"

"If that's what you want" the prosecutor cut her off "then allow me to ask you a question about this..."

Present Cozy Glow's Mark

"Remember back when you accidentally spilled cereal onto yourself, and I was helping to clean you up, I had noticed a few marks on you, they were all over your body, on your wings, everywhere, they looked like scares and bruises." He gazed straight at her "Like i said before, there's no way that those scars could come from some small accidental scratch or bump. So, How did you get those?"

"Golly, that's obvious, I mean, I'm a villain, I tried to take over Equestria, of course the heroes were going to give some resistance. And trust me, when your in a fight against the magic of three princesses, and the elements of harmony themselves, you're gonna get some scars."

Is that really where the scars came from?

[Pawn] Agree

> [Pawn] Doubt

Wait and See

The prosecutor shook his head "Sorry Cozy , but I doubt that's where your marks came from." He pointed his baton "My classes at Themis told me about different types of wounds and the scares they leave, I'm not sure what kind of marking that magic would leave behind, but from what you told me, they wouldn't be any different looking from the bruise from being hit. And the marks you have look nothing like the wounds from a fight, from what I've see , their too focus and on specific locations. They don't look like the marks of a struggle or a fight, they look like the telltale signs of... physical abuse..."

"!!!" Cozy glow was left speechless , she paused as if to think about something, Sebastian didn't noticed and asked her...

"Cozy glow, is this the reason why you... huh?" Sebastian turned and saw cozy turned away from him, she looks genuinely sad, lost in thought for some reason...

"Um... Cozy glow?"

Cozy glow is just laying on the ground with her hooves covering her head, just there on the ground.

"Cozy?"

"n-no..." Cozy glow's breathing quickened as if something heavy emotionally had fallen on her, and tears began to show on her eyes.

"COZY GLOW!?" Sebastian screamed out of concern and worry for Cozy, and also partly out of confusion. Cozy glow's response was something he didn't expect.

"p-please don't hit me!" She seemed distressed and crying, the black locks shake violently, and Sebastian suddenly had a headache.

...

"Stupid brat,"

"P-pops"

"I knew you were an idiot, but I didn't think you'd be that much of a failure. I can't believe I thought you could do this."

"P-please..."

The clicks of a lighter can be heard as a flame came to view.

"Please don't hurt me!"

...

"AAHH!!" He snapped out of his nightmare in a cold sweat, gloved hands grasping helplessly at the air. Sebastian's arms dropped against the ground, soon wrapping around his knees as he brought them closer to his torso as he breathed heavily.

He was in complete panic, a brief memory like a nightmare that left him breathless. Slowly, he calmed down and regain his posture, He ran his fingers up his sides, his cheeks, and through his hair. They were shaky as they fell back to the floor , grasping what felt like grass as he slowly stood up.

"Golly, are you ok?" He turned to look at Cozy, a genuine hint of concern on her face as she stared at Sebastian.

"I-I'm fine, Cozy..."

Wh-what just happened...

Path 2: Ask about family

"What can you tell me about your family back at Equestria?"

"... W-well, t-there was me, and my mother and father..."

I-is that, hesitation in her voice. Now that I'm thinking about it... this isn't the first time I ask about her family, that time she gave complete silence, maybe somethings going on with her family?

"You... don't have any siblings?"

"N-no, I was an only child..."

"I see, as an only child myself, I understand how lonely it can be..."

"Yeah, It feels lonely without anyone around to play with you."

"So not even your parents play with you? Do they even love you?"

"I... O-of course they do! They love me , their love is just in their own special way! "

!!!

"Pops loves me, he just shows it in his own special way, it isn't abuse!"

...

Sebastian immediately snapped out of his memory, and return focus back to Cozy glow.

"Tell me, Cozy," He said calmly, "how are your parents now?"

Once again, Cozy hesitated, but she smiled and replied, "They're fine!"

Sebastian stared blankly at her and muttered, "Just...fine?" Cozy nodded. The prosecutor took a deep breath and softly said, "You don't have to hide anything from me, Cozy."

"Well..." Cozy hesitated a bit, looking suddenly sad. Sebastian listened carefully as Cozy took a deep breath and continued, "The truth is... My father ... disappeared a long time ago. "

"Oh, really?" Sebastian gave his sympathy, "I'm sorry for your loss, I understand how painful it could be to lose a parent..."

"y-yeah, I really miss him, somedays I wonder if he'll ever come back..."

...

My mother ... I miss her, pops said she just disappeared ...

"i-i... "

Sometimes I wonder when she'll come back...

...

The prosecutor took a deep breath to hold back some of his tears before he looked back to the Pegasus, " From what you told me before, you weren't actually from ponyvile, but you came from another city before you ended up at Twilight's school. Can I ask was there any reason in perpendicular you chose to go there?"

"what led me there? " She smirked "Golly, that should be obvious, it was where twilight's castle and her school was, everypony knew about twilight and her friends, it should be no surprise i chose to move there." She then tried to hold back a small laught " And also its particular not perpendicular, ya know."

"Ok, pre phase (rephrase ), Why did you felt the need to leave your home, did something happened there?"

"Nope." Cozy replied. "No reason in particular for me to leave"

The black locks shaking suddenly says otherwise, Cozy

Sebastian forced a smile and said, "Care to expand on that?"

A slight hint of uneasiness in her tone, almost perfectly disguise under a fake cheerful tone, as the pink pony said "Well, one day I decided to go to ponyvile, things back at Sunshiney was boring and i heard about Twilight's school, and I was really interested."

[Bishop ] i guess that makes sense

> [Bishop ] Hold it

Wait and See

"Hold it!" Sebastian noticed something wrong. "D-did you said Sunshiney ?"

"Y-yeah, i-is there a problem?"

"Cozy glow, If I recall correctly, you said that you were born in a small town called Dialass"

"!!!"

"So, why were you suddenly in some place called Sunshiney?"

The black locks raddles a bit as the pegasus surrounded by them seemed to be thinking hard, before she sighed and shrugged.

"Golly, i honestly don't know..." She said "All I remember is that I grew up in the town of Dialass with my family, and then I remember packing my bags and leaving some place. For some reason , I was sneaking out of there, passed a few ponies who were speaking some gibberish, all i remember was flying out a window and doing through a tunnel. I also remember a large stone sign with words ... "

The way the locks raddle, and the tone of her voice... She isn't hiding anything, at lease not on purpose, she seems confused and uncertain, and there's a clear answer to the contradiction. She's remembering two different memories she's confusing into one.

At one point , she was in Dialass with her family, living in a simple house there.

And in another memory, she just packed her things and snuck out of what she thought was her house...

The confusion is surrounding the incorrections (inconsistencies) when she thinks of these two memories as one.

Maybe I should ask for further details...

[Pawn] sneaking out of there?

[Pawn] ponies who were speaking some gibberish?

>[Pawn] large stone sign with words?

"Can you tell me about the large stone sign with words?"

"W-well, I don't remember clearly, but I can remember what the sign said."

"And that was?"

"Am... di fat... Denas Howl when? I don't really remember..."

"!!!" Sebastian was shock at what he heard "C-can you repeat that , what did the sigh said?"

"I said, 'Amdifat Tinas Denas Howlwhen,' why , do you know what that means..."

"Cozy glow, " He hasn't fully processed what she said, or maybe he wasn't sure how he felt about it, but he decide to tell her.

Sebastian had never told anyone else about it, but because the fond memories he always have of his mother, which he remembers more strongly with love than the nightmares of Blaise, and because his mother was Welsh, his Welsh was actually more fluent than his English , and what Cozy glow said...

"Cozy, " Sebastian took a deep breath "Amddifad Dinas Heulwen means Sunshine City Orphanage in Welsh."

...

"Wh-WHAT!?" As soon as his words were processed, Cozy gave just about as expected of a response as anyone would. "Wh- No."

"Cozy Glow?'

"No, no, no, no, no, NO! An orphanage... but , that would mean... No, that's impossible"

"What's impossible?"

"Sebastian ,you clearly made a mistake, you can't just assume something from my world is a language from your world!"

"Cozy, " Sebastian rebuttal "It's clear that there are several things similar with our worlds, such as you knowing what an apple is and the both of us speaking the same language." He made his point " If we're speaking the same language, then maybe other languages are also the same between our worlds, " Sebastian pointed his baton "Is it really that far a stretch that you're world has at lease a language similar to Welsh?"

"I- Um well..." Cozy had nothing to counter his argument

"Is everything alright, you look like you're have a panic attack"

"No, why was I in an orphanage That doesn't make any sense, unless..." She looked like a realization just hit her, and her own world was crumbling down... "D-did they..."

"Cozy ?" The black locks slowly raddled, and the feeling of sadness increases.

" No," her breathing was quickening again, "There's no way they abandoned me... they loved me... right?"

Sebastian felt a small headache as the locks began shaking more and more.

...

The-there's no way pops hates me, he l-loves me

...

"Wh-what?"

" Y-yeah, I-I'm not worthless, and I-I can prove it... I -I can... show her I'm not an idiot...."

I-I'm not an idiot, a-and I can prove it

... and then maybe... I'll finally prove to pops I'm culpaple (Capable)

... maybe I... can get his approval...

"B-but then... why, why did she... I..."

Look at you... Useless, worthless and a complete idiot

No wonder your parents hated you

One ran away , and the other just couldn't care less...

"AAAHHH!"

Both Sebastian and Cozy felt an emotional pain on their heart, unknowing they both cried in sadness, as the black locks cracked.

The pain was too much, and Sebastian immediately lost focus. He now found himself back at the gardens, both of them stood back up and wiped the tears off their face , but then they realize that the gardens were fading away. Soon the statue , flowers, hedges and even the grass they were standing on faded away, and they founded themselves floating on a void once again...

-but this time they weren't alone...

"Well well look who it is..."

They both looked towards the source of the voice, and Cozy instantly froze up.

There, was a Pegasus with pink skin and a white main. She had a feeling of imposing, towering over you kind of aura with her, the only other time Sebastian felt that aura was with...

And that's when he notices, the mare's shadow formed a familiar shape.

"M-mom," Cozy was paralyzed.

"P-pops..." Sebastian could only murmured in response.

"Heh, you really are such a fool, y'know." the voice was distorted and demonic like " If I really did love you , then why did you even try to conquer all of Equestria..."

She took a step forward " You're worthless, you didn't deserve any love, you didn't even deserve to call yourself my daughter."

"Mom..." Cozy whimpered

"I left you at the orphanage because that's where you belong. But instead you keep telling yourself that you're worth something, that you can earn back my love if you become more powerful, and look where that led you. "

Silence

"......Hah. I really wonder... Why you're such an idiot, y'know? If you really wanna take over all of Equestria , you'll have to try a little bit harder, y'see... Gotta use your head, y'know? ...Honestly, you really are a useless idiot."

"N-no, stop..."

"You're first plan was completely and utterly flawed, and for your second plan , you were manipulated by that draconequus discord, maybe if you weren't such a worthless pony, you would have known he was disguising as Gordar, but instead you backstabbed him without even knowing who he really was, and the plan just left you even worst off, trapped in stone forever, since being decoration is all filly like you will even be able to achieve..."

"N-no!" She began to panic as tears formed in her eyes "I can't fail! I can't be forgotten! I can't! I can't! I ca—"

"Why even bother?"

The prosecutor and Pegasus turn to the source of the new noise. There were a few fillies and colts who looked about the same age as Cozy Glow. Their shadow make the outlines of the people who were Sebastian's friends , whether at the office or back at Themis...

"She has a point, you really are worthless..." One of them said "So why do you keep on trying?"

"Wh- Sunsword, wh-what's going on, why are you all..."

"It should be obvious," One of them responded " we're putting you in your place..."

"B-but we're friends, I-"

"Hah, we we're never your friends..."

"!!! What, b-but..." She began to cry.

"We never cared about you, we were just friends because of what you gave us, but now that you have nothing, we have nothing to gain from being around some idiot like you."

"Get out of here Cozy, we don't want a loser like you bothering us anymore."

"N-no... I'm not..."

"You are a complete failure ..." A new voice came from behind them, turning around to see a unicorn with a lilac coat, a purple and teal mane and tail, who's shadow made Ema Skye's outline.

" You're such an idiot," a pony with both wings and a horn, with a dark purple main and a purple coat , who's shadow made an outline of Edgeworth , said " looking at the achievement I made using the magic of friendship, yet you lack the basic knowledge to emulate them."

"T-Twilight..."

"You don't deserve a happy ending, fillies like you deserve to be sent back to tartarus," A rainbow mane blue pegasus stepped forward, her shadow making the line of Kay .

"Cozy glow," Everyone's distorted voice said.

"GET OUT!"

And then the ground beneath broke, and they found themselves falling further and further down...

...

???-???

...

"What just happened..."

"You unveiled her traumatic memories and darkness secrets, is what happened."

"..."

"You two aren't so different, you know..."

"..."

"All you wanted was your father's approval, all your life you looked up to him, you tried your hardest to prove your not an idiot , and all he ever did in return was manipulate you more and more. All your friends and your good grades, basically your happiness, were all because of his influence , and would have otherwise just ignore or even bully you..."

"..."

"Similarly, Cozy just wanted her mother's love, but she never loved her back, all her friends only bother with her because of her mother's influence, manipulating her for their own gain, and throwing her away when she's done..."

"..."

"The difference is you at lease have some people like Klavier who's friendship is real, while it was all of Cozy's friends who betrayed her at the last minute. Not only that, but when you were betrayed by your father, you had Edgeworth to pull you out the dark, while no one helped Cozy when she was abandoned."

"..."

"She grew up believing the only way she could have happiness is to manipulate other, since all her life she was manipulated by ponies who thought they loved her. she saw friendship as a tool to better herself, and arriving at Ponyvile and seeing all the thing Twilight and her friends did with the magic of friendship only hardened her resolve."

"..."

"After your father's arrest, you felt betrayed by everyone, and had shut yourself away from other people, then Edgeworth came and lent you a helping hand, gave you the resolve to face your father, the one who had truly betrayed you . He taught you how to rely on yourself rather than to try to gain approval from others. He showed you what being a prosecutor truly meant

Cozy glow had no one to show her real friendship. She only saw the fake façade of manipulation..."

"..."

"She might seem like an evil villain, and she certainly done some terrible things, but take a closer look and you can see she's just a lost child who needs the same light you were given."

"..."

" I'm giving you a choice... you know what to do..."

" ... Bishop..."

" I'll do it."

"I'll give Cozy what she deserves..."

Part 2 Completed : Motive behind the mask of manipulation

To be continued in Part 3: Echo of the Past, Endure the present, Envision a brighter Future

The Turnabout She Deserved (3-1)

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Bedroom

June 29 - 9:30 a.m.

Cozy felt herself falling further and further into the void, all around her were the same painful words echoing through the void. Soon, she landed, and jolted awake right at that moment.

She gasped awake and found herself on the floor. It looks like her nightmares were so vivid that in her desperate scramble to escape the voices she ended up falling out of the table with a loud crash, tears already beading up in the corner of her eyes, the nightmare was vivid enough that the details of it were burned into her. The crying Pegasus sniffled and scrubbed at her face with her hooves , every time she blinked he would see that scene replay over and over again.

...

She had those nightmares before, but back then , she didn't know what those nightmares were. So the feeling of anxious and the tears of sadness were something she just brush off and forget.

But not now, not when the memory of THEM were coming back to her.

The pink Pegasus was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't register the surprised yells when she had fallen out of her makeshift bed nor did she hear the footsteps thundering their way to the room. Swallowing dryly , Cozy's head shot up when his door slammed open with so much force that the door bounced against the wall, a cries of alarm finally piercing through her hazy thoughts.

"Cozy glow!" Sebastian screamed " Are you okay?"

Standing in the doorway was Sebastian himself, the prosecutor staring at her with clear concern.

Cozy glow immediately backed away and closed her eyes in fear. The rook was in varying stages of panic. The memory of the nightmare was still fresh, and now that Sebastian knew what she did, he would have surely gotten some kind of punishment. She knew that there was a window and a door she could fly through, but she had backed herself into a corner, and so her only option was to silently panic as she worry about what the human was going to do with her.

"P-please, don't hit me " Her voice cracked and tears began dripping down on the floor below her.

Cozy Glow's inner thoughts were interrupted by sudden and tender touch and tapping on her forehead and soon something going across her mane. At first, she tensed up at the touch, but then after a solid minute of comfortable and calming touches, she realise this wasn't any kind of physical punishment. If anything, it was the opposite. Sebastian had crouched down and gave her as tight of a hug as she dared. "Cozy Glow, listen to me, You need to calm down, " he whispered and began stroking her back.

Soft, gentle strokes and pats on the head with sweetie gentle cuddles instead of strikes or punches.

She slowly opened her eyes to see Sebastian looking there with a look of him clearly trying to comfort her instead of hurt her.

"Shhh, Cozy. Everything's fine, don't worry!" He soothed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She took a few deep breaths to calm herself from her panicking state before she gave a simple nod. It took her a while to calm down enough to start processing her new situation. "W-what are you... " she finally managed to croak out.

"It's ok, " He reassured "There's nothing to be afraid of."

Cozy glow slowly began to calm down. taking her chance, she began to fly until she was at Sebastian's eye level. The rook then asked the knight a question she had in her mind.

"What happened last night?" She addressed her confusion.

"I'm not sure how it happened," He stated "But we had a shared dream, or in this case, a shared nightmare."

"A s-shared nightmare? So, you saw..."

"Yes, everything . The gardens with your statue, your confession of what you did back at Equestria, everything."

Oh... so he knows now.

Well, since he'd already know the things she'd done to get sent here. That meant there was no need to get nice with him anymore .

"Ok, Cozy," Sebastian said " Today is going to be different from the usual routine we had for the past few days. For starters, it's the weekend now, so I won't be working at the prosecutor's office. Secondly, I hope you don't mind, but I need you to wear this from now on."

Sebastian then proceeded to pull out a collar . It was a simple red velvet color with what looked like a strong strips of leather attached to it. It looked like a leash. Cozy glow looked at it, she knew what he was asking him to do.

"You want me to wear this leash so i don't fly away?"

"Yes," He explained "the reason why I gave you a disguise was because if people saw you, a magic talking Pegasus, they might get worried and panic, and after what happened at the Mansion, I decided to not allow you to wander off alone ."

(Obviously to make sure I don't get the chance to take over the world.) Whelp there goes that plan , now that there was something stopping her from leaving, she couldn't just go ahead and fly away now. Cozy looked at the leash and sighed. Sebastian took the initiative to put the leash on her.

"Anyways, I want to go to a few places first . So put on your disguise, we're going outside for a moment."

"*Sigh* Sure."

As Cozy glow flew to the living room, Sebastian murmured something to himself.

"I hope this shows you the true meaning of friendship , just like how Edgeworth showed me what being a prosecutor meant."

Streets of Japanifornia

June 29 - 11 : 00 a.m.

Cozy glow had tried to fly away from Sebastian, but the leash was too strong, and Sebastian wasn't letting go of her easily, which basically made escape impossible, as she can't fly far from the prosecutor.

As soon as they stepped out the apartment, she had tried and failed at lease 11 times , after which she was so tired she gave up and opted to sit on Sebastian's shoulder. She tried to thing of some ways to escape, but decided to bide her time for now.

As they walked down the streets of Japanifornia, however, Sebastian asked something Cozy did not expect.

"So, I hope you don't mind asking," He asked after a few minutes of walking. "What's it like being a Pegasus?"

"W-what? I-" Cozy was confused. "Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious, I guess," He admitted "It's actually surprising how we talked about Princess Celestia and Luna, and twilight's school and all the creature in Equestria, yet i never asked about you ."

"Probably because you were never interested in me."

"Oh, no," He corrected "I am interested in you, It's just we never got around to that part yet. Must have been nice to be able to fly wherever you wanted," Sebastian continued, "Soaring through the sky and looking down on the landscape below you."

"I guess," Cozy replied. "Not that I'll ever get to do that again..."

The prosecutor quickly changed the subject. He tried his best to keep up the conversation the whole way, telling her a little about himself and just trying his best to talk with the Pegasus.

Cozy stayed silent for most of the time, sometimes giving few-worded replies. She just didn't know why he still bothered with this getting-to-know-each-other charade. He knew what she did, if anything, he should care less about what she felt .

Gourd Lake Nature Park

June 29 - 11 : 45 a.m.

"We're here!"

Sebastian stopped in front of what appear to be the entrance to a park. The sign on the stone brick read "Gourd lake nature park."

"Gourd lake?" She was confused by the odd name.

"Yeah," Sebastian explained "From what Kay told me, the name is because this lake use to be a place people grew gourds, also the lake is in the shape of a gourd. "

"What's a gourd?"

"It's a type of fruit."

"Oh, ok," With one question out her mind, she asked the next question that she had "And why did you bring me here?"

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"Um... Ok," She was wary of this.

Soon, the two walked down the road lined with trees, until they reached an opening where there were a few benches and tables, and a few food stands to the side. The most notable thing was the large lake in front of them . Cozy glow looked at the beautiful sight of the lake with awe.

"Golly," She murmured

"It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is."

Sebastian turned to Cozy, "Gourd lake is a beautiful place to visit, but the sight loses it's charm after a few visits. " He took Cozy and turned "Besides, you can enjoy the view later, there's somewhere just as beautiful I want to visit."

"Golly, somewhere just as beautiful?"

"You'll see..."

Gourd Lake Nature Park- Hidden Opening

June 29 - 11 : 50 a.m.

"Woah," was all that came out of cozy's mouth.

"I know, my reaction as well," The prosecutor admitted. "I guess being a 'great thief' also includes being able to find all the hidden beauty in the world, and then taking them, of course..."

"Wait, Sebastian, why did you bring me here? I know there's no way it's just to view some pretty sights with you."

"Well," Sebastian answer "The reason why I brought you here is because it's a perfect place for us to play."

"P-play?"

" it's an open area with fresh air , surrounded by dozens of trees. No one will find us here , we can do anything here that we couldn't do in a closed space like the apartment, all without someone finding us and panicking over a magic talking filly ."

"Oh, I see, " She sighed "So , what games are we playing? I'm sure it's going to be a lot of fun," She sarcastically trailed off.

"Well, if you think frisbee is fun, then sure, " Sebastian pulled out a frisbee disk from his bag.

"Frisbee?"

"You don't have frisbee in your world?"

"Oh, no, we do have that, it's just..." She asked "Why are we playing frisbee?"

"Well, so far we always been confined in a building, and the only time we've been outside is moving to another building , so I felt like we could have some fun under the sun for a moment and just relax and weave some flesh air."

"Um, Sebby , I think it's inside a building , not confined in a building (At lease for you, for me that choice of wording would be apt) Also, I think you meant breath some fresh air."

"Ah! S-sorry, You , see I-" Cozy didn't listen to what he said, instead lost in thought as she begins to think to herself.

(There's no way he just wants to have fun with me. There's obviously some kind of catch somewhere. )

"Cozy?"

"Oh! Sorry, I guess I was dozing off... "

"It's ok," He said, before he went over to a random pole that was sticking out of the ground for some reason. Her movement was now limited to the whole opening, as the leash stopped her just shy of the trees.

Sebastian shouted, "Get ready!" Just as she turned to face him, Cozy saw the frisbee flying towards her, reacting quickly, she grabbed the frisbee in her hooves.

"Nice Catch, that was really amazing Coz- AHH!' Sebastian felt the frisbee hid his face .

"Hey, what was that about!?"

"Well, that's how frisbee works, maybe you should pay more attention to-" Sebastian immediately through the frisbee back, only for Cozy to catch and throw it back, only for Sebastian to be ready this time and catch it.

"Oh it's on!"

40 minutes later

The feeling of playing a fun little friendly game had given Cozy a happy feeling as the fresh air rushed through her. Even with the leash, It was arguably the most fun and happiness for Cozy, and just as much to Sebastian. But soon they started getting tired, and they both decided to take a break and rest up .

"Golly, i never had that much fun in a long time..."

"Yeah, hopefully you enjoyed that as much as i have."

A silence follow, which gave Cozy some time to calm down from the rush and think slowly, but before a thought popped in her head, a loud bang shot through the sky.

*BANG*

A bright flash of light , a loud thunder, and a downpour. It had started to rain heavily.

"Golly," Cozy said.

"D-darn it!" Sebastian immediately untied Cozy, "Looks like were going to cut our time here short, we need to leave, now."

They began to run , out the opening , through the trees, to the exit of the park, all while the rain began to increase in intensity, more raindrops began to downpour onto them. they soon get to a street where they have to cross the road to get back to the apartment, but the rain is literally poring on the streets.

"O holy mother, this storm is terrible."

Cozy Glow shook her head and sighed. "Hey , is it ok if I can try something,"

"Um, sure..."

"Alright, let's see what I can do..." She said, and began to stare intently ahead and up into the sky. Within moments a area of lessened rain formed in front of them.

"Woah, Cozy, are you doing this?" He asked.

"Pegasus weather control. Of course, I'm not that good at it yet. This tiny little area is all I can manage, and I can't even make it stop, just lighten up." Cozy explained "I have more control if I'm directly touching the cloud, but you wouldn't allow that, would you?"

"Nope." He said, before he ran to the other side of the road. "It's still pretty amazing, though. "

Cozy glow didn't think it was amazing, all Pegasi could do it with enough practice. She did felt an odd feeling when Sebastian complemented her, though.

She suddenly realized that he wasn't walking back to the apartment building, he took a different turn.

"Um, where are we going?"

"I want to buy something first before we head back to the apartment. If you don't mind."

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Living Room

June 29 - 1:00 p.m.

They had just gotten back from the apartment. Sebastian had made a quick stop to what appears to be a bakery and placed the box he got from there on the table. He quickly placed the box onto the table and went over to Cozy, taking off her wet cloak , before he quickly went to the bedroom.

Cozy, out of curiosity, went over to the box, she still didn't know what was inside, but the smell must meant the food was delicious.

Suddenly, Sebastian came back wearing a new set of clothes, and giving Cozy glow a towel.

"Here," He said and handed her the towel.

"And why did you give me this?"

"So you can dry yourself off," Sebastian said "I don't want you to get sick from any of the rain."

"You... really have no idea what you're doing, are you?"

"Hey! I'm trying, ok!" He was starting to cry a bit.

"*Sigh* Thanks I guess," Cozy took the towel and wiped off all the cold raindrops off her.

Sebastian clapped his hands. "Now, before anything else happens , I'd like to ask if you're hungry."

Cozy shrugged and mumbled something non-committing. It was true that she was hungry. She hadn't eaten anything since this morning, and even then, it hadn't been much. But she wouldn't admit that to Sebastian . He'd probably force her to make her own food.

"Well, if you ever get hungry, then you can go ahead and eat the Swiss rolls I brought for you over there," He gestured to the box he brought on the table.

Cozy looked wary, he brought the food for her? And what is a Swiss roll anyways?

As if to answer her mental though, he answer, "Oh yeah, you probably don't have it in your world, a swiss roll is a type of sponge cake filled with cream in a spiral shape."

The prosecutor opened the box, Cozy was a bunch of bread logs of different color , slice up into different pieces, he picked up a swiss roll , before he wolfed it down in seconds.

Cozy awkwardly picked up one of the smaller slices from the same slice as Sebastian. Taking a small bite of it, she couldn't stop her eyes from widening. It actually tasted really good!

"See?" Sebastian smiled. "Eat as much as you like, but try not to make yourself sick. There's no shame in leaving some for later." She got started on the next roll . "In fact, I brought 8 different logs with 5 rolls because I didn't know which one was your favorite.

Cozy carefully took another bite. There's no way he would give her something nice. There had to be a catch somewhere...

Maybe she was about to get poisoned? Something that only started working after you've ingested enough.

"But if you're still hungry afterwards, I can get some ice cream in the freezer."

Yep. It's poison alright.

Why else would you ever give a prisoner ice cream?

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Living Room

June 29 - 4:00 p.m.

Later that afternoon , both of them sat in the sofa watching the somehow-not-magic box, while sharing the swiss rolls.

Sebastian wanted to try and bond with Cozy, while Cozy tried to stay as passive towards him as possible. Since things like Chess and food were off the table, he tried was looking for something that they can both enjoy, without much input from either of them.

And thus, Cozy Glow was introduced to the wonderful action cartoon that was The Steel Samurai. It had everything that interested and entertained her. The story, the action scenes, the characters, both good and evil , and even the random comedy scenes, even if sometimes she didn't really understand what was going on . Cozy found herself chuckling every time one of the humans on the screen did something entertaining.

She was about to reach for another swiss roll when she stopped and realized something.

She was actually enjoying herself!

Something was wrong here...

"What is going on...?" She asked out loud.

Sebastian responded "Well, at this point in the story, the steel, Nickle and silver samurai found out that the golden shogun was --"

"No, I meant this! Why do you keep acting like this? Why are you being so nice to me?"

Sebastian didn't say anything as her expression changed to dead serious. He muted the sound on the television and moved to sit down on the table, in front of her.

"I'm being nice to you because you deserve it, Cozy Glow."

...

For once in her life, Cozy was completely speechless.

She had always had a response to everything anyone had ever said to her and yet now she didn't know what to say.

"Wha... What...?"

She desperately racked her brain for anything that could possibly explain what Sebastian's motivation were, but no answer came to her.

"Because you deserve it," the prosecutor repeated, as if it was the surest thing in the world.

Cozy couldn't believe what she was hearing!

Why was he saying that? What reasoning could he possibly have?

"You... You don't know what you're saying! Do you have any idea what I've done...? I'm evil!" A though hit her "O-or maybe you somehow forgot what you learned last night."

"Cozy," Sebastian placed a hand on her," Last night , I learned the whole truth, not just what you did , but why you did it." He made his point " You've done some terrible things, stealing magic from Equestria twice, manipulating others, and maybe even more i haven't learned yet, " He made his point, "I'm not going to deny the fact that you committed some serious crimes, but I also know for a fact that you're not evil, Cozy. You're just misguided."

"What!?" Cozy Glow rose from the couch in fury. "No I'm not!" she screamed. "I'm the villain , I deserve a punishment, The Princess of Friendship said so herself!"

Sebastian was actually shocked and took a few inches back , but he stood his ground , "And where is the princess of friendship?" He gestured around the room, before he made his point "Exactly, no where, This isn't about what Twilight, or what any of the Equestrians think of, Cozy. This is about what i think of you! And I'm telling you, I think you're not evil! Just lost."

Cozy just couldn't understand what was happening.

Was this her true punishment all along? To be patronized by this other worldly creature for the rest of her life?

She looked up when she felt a hand on the back of her head. The prosecutor looked at her with the same warm expression he'd given her ever since they met.

"The real reason why you did all this... It has something to do with this, doesn't it?"

Present Profile of nightmare entities.

TAKE THAT!

"It's about your mother, and your old friends, isn't it?"

...

Cozy frowned, but didn't answer.

"I understand how you feel." Sebastian's voice was filled with sympathy

"N-no, you don't!" The Pegasus filly retorted.

"You wanted the love of your mother, who you looked up to, yet she didn't love you back, worst , she manipulated you for her own gain." Sebastian said.

"Your friends never actually cared for you, they just wanted to use you, pretend to be your friend because of what you gave them, and when you no longer have anything, they turn their backs on you."

"Shut up! You don't know anything about me!" A large sob came from the rook marked filly. "Just shut up..."

"You lie and manipulate everyone you met, and claim that the only reason is for power, but the truth is you did all that was because you believe that power would bring you what you desperately wanted. The love nobody ever showed you..."

Tears began to flow from Cozy's eyes. She hated it. She hated this feeling that Sebastian made her feel.

"All you ever wanted was love and happiness, but all your life you were surrounded by cruel ponies who sought to hurt you for their own gain, you grew mistrustful , worry others will do the same, your afraid of feeling that same pain again, but you also ended up believing that the only way to be happy was to manipulate and be powerful , you only saw the fake mask of friendship , and believed that that's what friendship was, a mask for power. And seeing all the accomplishments Twilight and her friends have, and all the power she earned, even becoming a princess herself, only strengthened your assumption as fact. "

Cozy was silent, Sebastian took a deep breath.

"I know the pain you felt, when someone who you thought loved and cared you was actually using you, or when your own parent who you looked up to never even loved you, no matter how hard you try. The feeling of being betrayed, lost in the dark."

"S-shut up!" Cozy was holding back rivers of tears at this point " Y-you don't know how I feel at all ! Y-you never went through the same thing as I did!"

Sebastian stood up from the couch "I know you're scared, Cozy. You're scared that everyone you meet will betray you, like your friends and your mother, so you try and get even with them before that happens. But you also rebel (Revel) in the attention they give you when you manipulate them. It's the only meaningful interaction with others you've had for a long time."

Slowly, He moved to Cozy and hugged the filly . "I know you think you have to be evil because that is the only way to be happy, but I'm telling you, it doesn't have to be that way..."

She ended the hug and looked straight into Cozy's eyes. "Real friendship exists, yes there are evils who will use you, but there are also good people who genuinely want to be friends . I know you don't trust me yet, but I promise you that no matter what happens or what you've done up to this point, I'll always be there for you."

With one final embrace, Cozy Glow broke down. All the emotions that had been bottled up inside of her came pouring out . She desperately clung to Sebastian and cried until she ran out of tears...

Dream realm- shards of memories

One minute you're sleeping on your makeshift 'bed', the next minute, you find yourself in an endless void filled with floating crystal shards . What would you do?

For Cozy glow, as she stared endlessly at the floating crystal shards. Absolute confusion is a perfect description of what she felt.

"Golly, Where am I?" Was all that came out of her mouth

"Thou see thy deepest depths of the dream realm, the place where all dreams find their origin, the roots of all subconscious thoughts of the night, the shards of memories."

Cozy tensed up and turned to the voice. Every pony in Equestria will recognized the Canterlot royal voice anywhere. There were only two people in the world who had that voice, And given the circumstances, she knew who it was that called out to her.

"Princess Luna?" She asked the voice .

"No," The voice had a hint of irritation and anger, "I am not princess Luna."

"T-then who are you?"

"Thy mare that shall help the with thy problem"

"M-my problem?" She was confused, what was she talking about?

Suddenly, a wooden chair appeared out of thin air, "Take a seat," The voice greeted. Cozy realizes she doesn't have a choice, so she listens to the voice and sits down.

The voice echo's through "So, Cozy Glow, May i ask a few question to you?"

"Golly, as if I have a choice?" She said "What do you want?"

"Well, first i would like to ask, what do you think of Sebastian?"

"I-" Cozy put a hoof on her mouth, she took a moment to think "Well, he's ... confusing, I guess?"

"Oh, in what way, exactly?"

"Well, all ways really," She explained "He's a really competent and smart prosecutor which makes the impression of a genius, but he also has moments of utter stupidity , especially with mixing up his words sometimes, emotionally he's either brave or a coward, but most confusing was how he treated me nicely even after knowing what I did?"

"He gave an explanation , didn't he?"

" 'I'm not going to deny the fact that you committed some serious crimes,' He said." Cozy made her point "He's a prosecutor, his whole job is sending criminals to jail by exposing their crimes in trial. Even if... " Cozy was uncomfortable with the topic, so she took a few seconds before saying "... that... had made an impact on him, I doubt he would just up and be nice to me like that."

"Oh Cozy Glow," The voice said "You have no idea how much it impacted him."

One of the shards were brought in front of her, a memory was playing , the shard soon got absorbed , and Cozy found herself in a large , mostly empty room with a witness stand and a few chairs , and several humans in it.

Cozy was completely stuck in shock as the scene played before her.

She recognized what looked like a younger Sebastian on the far left, and he seems to be crying, the conversation between him and the grizzly bearded man on the large golden throne like chair was what stuck out the most to her.

"N-No way...! But, I tried real hard... I tried my best, Pops! I went to the school you told me to go, reached the top of my class, just like you told me to! Just look at this jacket! Only someone who graduates at the top of his class gets to wear it! I did everything you told me to do! That's how I got to be the best at the academy! I even won all those awards, just so I could be like you, Pops...!"

OBJECTION!

You really are... such an idiot, y'know. Y'know those gold stars you got on your tests, I made the teachers give them to you. Every speech and debate contest, all of the judges were my friends. Y'know, Sebastian. Even your own friends were just with you cause I told them to. If you weren't even able to notice something like that... ...you're really not worthy of being called my son. Don't you think?

Ah... ah... ah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WAAAAaaaaaaaahhh!

...

"Doesn't that seem familiar to something we've seen before?"

...

Cozy was standing in shock at what she saw. Sebastian himself... was...

"Do you understand now why he was being kind to you?" The voice asked "Just like you with your mother, all that he ever wanted was to earn his father's approval, he tries his best, but at the end of the day, his dad only saw him as a pawn, while his friends were only with him because of his fathers influence."

"So... " Cozy said back. "That why he- "

"That's right," The voice replied. "He knows what you've been through, in fact, he almost would have went down the same path as you, feeling like everyone betrayed him, locking himself away from everyone, but then he was saved by him..." the scenery around her faded back into white, all expect a single person, with black hair, wearing a red suit and a cravat.

"He helped pulled him out of the darkness, showed him what being a prosecutor truly means, and now, he wants to give you the same light he was given. " The voice too a deep breath "He knows exactly what you felt, nay, are feeling now, and wants to be the same light that Edgeworth was to him. So, let me ask another question, do you believe you deserve it?"

"... To be honest, " Cozy admitted "I still believe that he would just be wasting his time."

"Oh?" The voice asked "And why is that?"

"Because ..." Cozy explained "Even if I wanted to redeem myself for all the crimes I've done, I'm just beyond redemption no matter what."

"Oh? And why is that?" The voice asked

"Because of this," She gestured over to her cutie mark, "You know exactly why "

There was a moment of silence, Cozy stared over at the mark, remembering exactly how she got it. It was days after everyone betrayed her, when she began to be mistrustful of everyone, worrying that they'll betray her , while also wanting to prove she wasn't useless, being influenced by what everyone did, she began to manipulate just as she was being manipulated.

The memory of when she got her cutie mark was a bit blurry . She remember a few bullies who torment her and other kids, she remember using words and controlling situations until she had everyone on a string on her hooves, and how she turned the tide against the bullies. Thinking back, it was no different then what she did back at Twilight's school, she also remember some details she didn't remember before . As she recalled the memory she realized it was when she was while she was in the orphanage .

She was well aware of the significance of her cutie mark, knew all about the rook and how useful it was when used properly in the game of chess. Two rooks working together were even more powerful than a queen, and she knew just how to make her pieces move to weave traps and make her opponents make mistakes. Both in her games against Sebastian and in the game of life.

It was clear. Her only useful talent was to manipulate, there was nothing else for her. It was her destiny to control others. For a while, she was happy with her destiny, believing that the only way to be happy was to be in power and to exploit, she had no problems being the villain of the story, even sing a song with Tirek and Chrysalis about how it was good to be bad. But now, after what Sebastian said, she realise that she was now looking at her mark not in joy , but in hate.

"Thou have made a grave mistake ," The voice echo, interrupting Cozy's thought process. She looked away from her mark and back to the void

"Golly, me, making a grave mistake," Cozy asked "What could that mean."

"Just like how Sebastian needed someone to show him the true meaning of being a prosecutor, he will soon show you the true meaning of your mark."

"Golly, so it isn't manipulation?"

At that moment , everything began to fade away, the crystals, the chair, everything. A white light emerged and began to absorb Cozy, who cover her eyes with her hooves in response

"W- what's going on?" Cozy asked in a worried tone.

"Calm down Cozy , you're just waking up. I'll speak with you soon ." The voice said before vanishing. The room around Cozy also vanished and she began to wake up.

Amber Lights Apartment- Room 619- Bedroom

June 30 - 9:49 a.m.

Cozy slowly opened her eyes and began to get up.

"Ugh, weird dream." Cozy said rubbing her eyes. She heard Sebastian's voice behind the door, and took a few second before she flew over to him.

"Oh, good morning Cozy," Sebastian greeted with a smile

"Good morning, Sebastian" She smiled back, she had no idea why, but she had a feeling it really would be a good morning today.

Meanwhile:

" Chat name: Sebastian is acting weird "

Detective Gumshoe: I didn't say anything until now because it was 1:00 a.m. at the time and I didn't want to disturb anyone sleeping , but Sebastian was at the police station being interrogated.

Detective Gumshoe: I could explain why, but the case file summarizes everything well enough.

Detective Gumshoe sent case_file_ML-16.pdf

Ema Skye : Ok, pardon my language, but what the actual f

Miles Edgeworth : Excuse me, what is 'Mikado Marvelous Moonstones' and what is this anniversary party that Sebastian was at?

Klavier Gavin: It's a multi billion dollar jewelry company run by generations of the Mikado family, the party is celebrating the day their company was founded.

Ema Skye: And your telling me he was invited there, not even as a minor guest or a +1, but the honorary guest of the party!

Miles Edgeworth: And on the day the family heirloom was stolen, and he just went ahead and investigated the crime scene while the police were still on their way.

Justine Courtney: And he solved the case, bringing not one, but two thieves to be punished for their crimes, all while finding where the Ruby was.

Ema Skye: And they he almost gets murdered by one of them.

Justine Courtney: That is not unlike something that you would do, Edgeworth.

Miles Edgeworth: W-what!?

Detective Gumshoe: Sorry sir, but I'm going to have to agree with her, that does sound like the kind of situation you would end up in.

Ema Skye: not gonna lie, that's true.

Miles Edgeworth : I- show me proof of that !?

Detective Gumshoe: The Hasakura Temple incident with 'that man'

Ema Skye : The there was the whole thing with Ernesst Amano and the embassies of Allebahst and babahl.

Justine Courtney: Then there was Blaise, followed by the whole Di-Jun Huang thing.

Miles Edgeworth: Ok! so Sebastian's decision during the party might be out of the question!

Miles Edgeworth : But I think were ignoring the fact that he was invited there at all!

Ema Skye : And as an honorary guest too.

Detective Gumshoe: And that's the weirdest thing so far?

John Marsh: No, it isn't

John Marsh: The weirdest thing is him buying 8 flavors of swiss rolls from the local bakery.

Justine Courtney: ...

Klavier Gavin: ...

Miles Edgeworth : ...

Detective Gumshoe: ...

Ema Skye: ...

John Marsh: What?

Justine Courtney: John, how did you ...

John Marsh: Mom, you know how I said I was hanging out with my friends today?

Justine Courtney: ...

Justine Courtney : So that were you decided to hang out

John Marsh: Yeah.

Miles Edgeworth: What flavor did he buy?

John Marsh: Velvet, Apple, chocolate, vanilla, hazel, lemon and green tea

Ema Skye: Yup , definitely the weirdest.

Klavier Gavin: And Herr Debeste buying some swiss rolls is SUS, why?

Klavier Gavin: It's his favorite food.

Ema Skye: First off, STOP POSTING ABOUT AMONG US! You're being even more annoying that usual now!

Klavier Gavin: Hey, if my fans mostly consisted of fans of the game, then what can you do?

Ema Skye: Anyways, secondly, he hates apple and lemon rolls,

Ema Skye: said to me one time that they would stop existing and he wouldn't care.

Detective Gumshoe : Ok , what is even going on with him? it's getting confusing.

Miles Edgeworth : I have an idea.

Justine Courtney: I'm listening

Miles Edgeworth: What if Sebastian is hanging out with someone else...

NCN: Spooky Staring Statue

https://www.deviantart.com/yonderj/art/NCN-Halloween-Cover-899190065

NCN:Part 1- A Vision to the turnabout

Author's Note

So, basically, life was super busy. And with so much going on , I barely had any free time to work on the story

It's been three months and I haven't even really started with the next chapter

It's probably until next year that I will finally have enough free time to start working on the story again.

I already had this story on hold for months and I don't want to keep you waiting possibly another 3 months or so for the next chapter.

And adding onto this, I reach that point in a writer's progression where I look back on my earlier works and want to change some things to improve, meaning once i have free time again, I'm not even gonna work on the next chapter immediately.

Probably also make most of you mad that I'm unpublishing some chapters to edit before republishing them.

So, with so much going on, I decided to do something special.

You see, in the recent ace attorney games, there are new DLC cases called asinine attorney.

They are basically non-canon to the main story, "what-if" short story scenarios .

I has decided that inspite being a few week late for one, and a few weeks early for another

To make a Halloween and Christmas special that shows the misadventures of everyone's favorite prosecutor and filly in an alternate timeline where certain things have changed.

Both for your enjoyment while I finish the next chapter, and to tell you all that I'm not dead nor have given up on this fanfic.

So with that out of the way...

NCN:Part 1- A Vision to the turnabout

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*BZZT* *BZZT*

Welcome, amazing readers of Fimfiction/Wattpad/Ao3, to Rosestory's courtroom theater!

Today's is a tale of the most peculiar kind:

As said before, this is a "what if" story that happened in another timeline, different, but still not unlike our own.

"How peculiar could it be?" you might wonder, and to that, you will soon know.

But please don't take this too seriously -- just simply relax and enjoy the holiday fun. And now, it's time for some Non-Canon Nonsense (NCN) !

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Star shining Town- ???

October 31st- ??? p.m.

"My heart~~~ it screams for your love"

"But my mind~~~ it screams for your blood! ~~"

In the middle of a town , there was a wooden platform that had been set up.

Standing on top of the platform are what look like two demons, but are actually just two Rockstars dressed up as monsters each using their 'weapons' (musical instruments) to play a beautifully harmonious yet deeply demonic melody.

Said melody was perfectly coupled with the voice from the clocked woman in the middle, her voice enchanting and angelic, but her clothing and the lyrics of her chanting like a dark enchantress.

"Please forgive me my love!"

"I wish that we could be like the stars above~"

From start to finish , she sang of vampires and tragedy, of bloodthirst and lust.

And as she finished, fires suddenly erupted from the ground , all around her were immediate up roar in cheers and claps in joy.

Hidden within the trees, a pair of eyes watches the 'monsters' play out their musical 'ritual', he scowled , and gets ready to retreat back to the forest shadows when he notices something in the distance.

He immediately does a double take, making sure his eyes wasn't playing tricks on him.

After a few seconds, the creature narrows its eyes, gazing its vision , and retreats to the darkness of the forest , preparing something special.

Star Shining Town- Concert Hall

October 31st- 7:35 p.m.

"Golly," I said, once the show had ended "They really know how to put on a show, don't they?"

"Yeah," The human besides me remarks "He always has a knack of impressing others with his talent."

"Still hard to believe some of the stunts he and his band can pull, you really need to see them to believe em."

...

My name is Cozy Glow, most ponies know me as the demon filly who almost took over Equestria , twice.

You probably think that now that I'm free from stone, i would try to take over Equestria a third time, not even stopped by the fact I somehow ended up in another world.

However , the truth is, I've abandoned those ambitions long ago.

I no longer have any motivation or desire to take over the world, not when I finally have what I actually always wanted.

I made my decision long ago, I never want to return to Equestria ever again, I want to stay here in Japanifornia.

But enough of that, right now isn't a time to lament about the past, now is a time to have fun .

For now, that means sitting down here with Sebby and just relaxing while I listen to the surprisingly good music.

You see, one of Sebastian's friends is a Rockstar named Klavier, and he had been asked to perform some music at a fair for the town's Nightmare Night .

"Um... Cozy," Sebastian turned to her , "It's Halloween, not Nightmare Night."

"Well, it's very similar to Nightmare night, so I see no difference in calling it that."

"Yeah, you got a point , I guess," He paused for a moment "Still weird how many similarities there are between our worlds, we even have some similar holidays."

"Yeah, pretty weird..." Cozy placed her hoof on her mouth for a moment "Still not as weird as the fact that creatures you regularly see in Equestria are considered mythical in our world while some of the common animals here were nothing more than ancient text back in my world."

"I still find it surprising you assumed that Missle ,the shiba inu that we have at the police department, was a subspecies of some powerful extinct 'diamond dog' that could summon an Earthquake with it's bark," Sebastian noted

"And I find it odd that in Greek mythology, Pegasus is refereed not to a species, but a single creature who was born from the blood of a snaked maned - er haired monster who turned others to stone. " Cozy paused "I still don't understand the medusa statue you brought for me"

"w-well," Sebastian retorted "I wanted to know more about you since it was my first time seeing a winged talking horse, so i searched online for info and the statue was one of the first things mentioned, so I though-"

"Golly, no need to be defensive, " She said "You didn't know much about Pegasi and saw that statue while researching, I don't really fault you for buying the thing, I just mean it really only ended up collecting dust on the shelf next to ... THAT picture."

"O-oh," Sebastian paused "That picture," he repeated

"Still don't know how your dad has those picture of Rainbow Dash." Cozy said "In fact his whole reaction to me was just odd"

"I-" Sebastian was ready to defend his (adoptive) dad , but took a moment to process what she had said "I guess your right."

"I mean, there's that and the fact that everyone else's reaction towards me was expected, but he had no reason to just trust me suddenly after one day like that."

The prosecutor pulled out his baton and started conducting as if it helps him think "All he would say is that he had a few words with 'that man' "

They both thought back to that day when they both decided to reveal Cozy to Sebastian's friends.

Kay and Klaiver had some fairly positive reactions to her, which was expected. Kay's enthusiasm and Klavier being an easy going Rockstar meant they were ok with Cozy being a pegasus from another world, in part because of her cuteness and since Sebastian himself was ok with it.

Klavier even jokingly said he would write another song about it, while Kay wondered if she can bring Cozy along as a co- Yatagarasu , which... wasn't exactly helped by who she had experience with sneaking in vents and stealing already.

Ema's reaction was more hesitant, confusion and fear, also understandable, she was a woman of science, and Cozy being a literal living mythological creature that could control the weather had Ema off guard, though she eventually accepted the otherworldly creature.

Edgeworth's reaction was the most unexpected, at first, he was shocked , but after looking at Cozy for a bit, he then went ahead and ask her a bunch of questions about her, later, he stood from his seat , took a file from a drawer, and left.

Unfortunately, a picture from the file was dropped on the floor, and everyone looked at the picture, before instantly laughing their socks off.

They were pictures of Rainbow Dash, element of loyalty herself, doing some of the most embarrassing things she had ever seen.

After the initial laughing by everyone in the room, Everyone realized and pointed out how odd it was he had pictures of another pony.

He came by the next day to say he's ok with Cozy glow , and then he started treated her as if another friend or colleague.

"When I tried to press him for more details he just changes the topic or deflects the question" Sebastian muttered

"He looked like he was 'saddled with unnecessary feelings' every time you asked him about 'that man'"

"You can tell?"

"Is it really that surprising I can pick up of even the smallest tells that tell me what a pony- er person feels, or did you forget why I was stoned in the first place?"

"I- ... good point."

"Thank you , everyone, " Klavier took the mic and address the audience, causing Cozy and Sebastian to turn their attention to him "Now, we shall take an hour break, before we give you our grand finale!"

The curtains closed on the stage, and everyone soon left the concert venue and went about their own business.

"Well" Sebastian looked on his watch " It's almost 7:40, we might as well head to the town center fountain first and meet up with everyone else"

"Yeah, " Sebastian , with Cozy resting on his shoulders , they both begin to walk towards the town center.

"So, just out of curiosity, how are the concerts in your world like?"

"Oh, well, " Cozy though for a moment, "the truth is, I never really been to a concert before, this is actually my first music concert experience, and Golly am I glad it got to be this amazing," She smiled cutely , before continuing "But from what I hear from professor Pinkie pie, musical concerts at Equestria was no different from the musical concerts here- Hmm?"

"Yes, Cozy?"

"W-what is that?" The prosecutor followed the direction of her hooves, and his face immediately shared the same confusion and concern as his cute flying friend.

They were looking at a weirdly shaped shadowy creature hidden within the trees of the forest, it had two glowing eyes , one white a smaller than the larger blood red eye, that pierce right through their hearts. The thing stared at them with its cold dead eyes , which started to unnerve the duo.

Soon, something long quickly emerged from the shadows before quickly retreating back, the creature then winked at them before retreating back into the forest. The long thing was some kind of limb, an arm or a tentacle, it was too fast to see, but one thing was for sure, it left behind something for them.

Cozy and Sebastian turned to look at each other with a worried expression on both their faces .

"Did you see-" Sebastian started

"Creepy glowing eyes-" Cozy continued

"and a grey arm or tentacle-"

"Leaving something there-"

"Before it left." They both finished

They went silent for a few seconds while thinking about what they had just saw. Cozy soon broke the silence "Should we see what it left?"

"I... honestly don't know," Sebastian said "But i get the feeling we should..."

Both of them walked to the edge of the forest lining, where they saw a piece of paper covered with a weird grey ink, Sebastian took the paper , with Cozy looking over the shoulder, but as soon as Sebastian opened the folded up paper-

One moment, Sebastian was with Cozy, now he found himself in this stormy town, and wasn't sure why he was suddenly transported here, it was raining heavily, like the town was under a waterfall, he turned around to see a stone cabin and felt a strange urge to check it out.

looking into the window, he saw Within this cabin, two creatures were having an argument, both looked the same, they were cyclops, one eyed giants that Cozy learned about during her lessons back at Twilight's school and told Sebastian one time. One of them, a larger one with gold rings on his horns, was screaming at a smaller one with silver rings while holding a paper with Beholder's Bank being the only word he could read.

He slowly listen to the argument that the two were having, he couldn't hear everything clearly, but all he heard was the male voice yelling about 'cheating on me' and 'went behind my back' while a female voice said that he 'never loved her' and 'always stayed locked in with his research'

Suddenly, the large male drew his sword and attack the girl, a struggle broke out, after which the girl ran into another room, and the man followed.

Sebastian felt the need to turn to the back of the cabin to try and help the girl, so he ran around and turned to another window, and looked inside-

-just as the man plunged his sword into the girl's chest.

Sebastian was in absolute shock , he had just witness a murder right before his very eyes, the cyclops stood there for what felt like a few minutes , before what sounded like a door being kicked, as more cyclops , this time in guards uniform, ran in and arrested the murderer.

"Sebby?"

"Sebastian?"

Cozy paused, thinking for a moment, as soon as Sebastian picked up the paper, he suddenly went still and blank in the face, it immediately made cozy worried that something happened to him, so she had been trying to get his attention , but nothing had worked, with no other option, she went into his ear and shouted as loud as she can.

"Dad Debeste!"

Sebastian immediately snap back to the real world, shock immediately caused him to jump "HUH, wh-I-"

"Finally," Cozy faced him "Do you realise how worried you made me, you can't just touch the paper and then become unresponsive like that! Golly, please, don't do that again!"

Sebastian looked confused "Um... do what again?"

"Golly, you don't know?" She said in a sarcastic tone

"I... don't ," He explained "As soon as I took the paper , a flash of light , my mind sorta became unresponsive , all I could do was watch..."

"Watch, watch what!?" Her tone became one of legitimate worry for Sebastian, reflecting what she felt now.

"I-it was horrible, I-I saw ... a wife and her husband having an argument, they were both cyclones, no - cyclopes, the one eyes creatures you talked about one time, the husband turned violet, he pulled out his sword and ..." He couldn't hold back his tears, he started crying.

"Golly, is it that bad?" She placed a hood on his back in an attempt to comfort him , which worked

"Sorry, it's just, it was like I was there, actually witnessing a murder right before me and i couldn't do anything about it..." Sbeastian realise he was still holding the paper and opened it

Beholder's Bank

"W-what the!?" he really couldn't believe his eyes, it was the same financial report that the monster had shoved in his wife face. he immediately read the rest of the paper, of which he only made note of a few

Purchases

Floral Special : 170 v

Market Meat: Romantic Chicken with lemon: 120 v

Knife- 5 ls wide-12 ls long : 35 v

Pearl Shiner : 135 v

Climing Rope Lenght- 300 Is : 15 v

Empty book: x3 : 90 x 3 =270 v

>Financial report noted

'So that was what the argument was about' He thought, looking at "The wife was cheating on him'

*BING*

He felt his phone buzz in his jacket. Instinctively, he pulled the phone out checked it.

Family Groupchat

Kay Faraday: I'm at the fountain like we scheduled, were are you all?

"!!!" Sebastian immediately placed the paper and his phone in his jacket , let cozy sit on his shoulders and sped to the town center fountain

Star Shining Town- Concert Hall

October 31st- 7:38 p.m.

Meanwhile, back at the concert hall, The Gaviners decided to go visit some of the nearby attractions while on the hour break, Klavier Gavin and his crew left the stage and went to whatever fair attraction interest them, they were going to take full advantage and enjoy the most out of the fair.

Klavier soon made a beeline towards the some of the carnival games that they had. He soon runs into Ema Skyes at one of the carnival game booths. He decides to walk over to her.

"Excuse me, but what exactly wann zur Hölle are you doing right now, Fräulein Detective?"

"GAH!!!" Ema turned around, and immediately faced Prosecutor Gavin , her shock replaced almost instantly with an annoyed look.

"Oh, it's the fop," Ema muttered under her breath "Hey Gavin, you startled me, just her proving that this game was scientifically impossible."

"Ah, that's good to know, " He remarked

"What are you doing here anyways? Don't you have a Halloween Concert to attend to?"

"Well, My dear Fräulein , our schedule allows us for an hour break before our Großes Finale, and I thought to just have some fun, which bring me to ask, exactly which games aren't rigged?"

"Well, if it'll make you leave me alone, try the rope ladder one, due to scientific physic, the uneven pressure you exert on the rope ladder will guaranty that you'll lose balance if you put your hand and legs on the ladder rungs, but will be a very easy win if you hold the side rope of the ladder , also make sure you're applying equal pressure with your right foot and left arm, then move your left foot and right arm at the same time. Then do the same thing with the opposite limbs."

"Ah, Danke! Fräulein, " He turned abound

He then walked around looking for the ladder climbing game when suddenly he notices some movement near the tree line, he looks over to see... something moving in the darkness, just within the trees, what look like a few tentacles wave in the wind like vines,

Then in a quick motion that caused the Rockstar to flinch in shock, they quickly emerged from the bushes and then just as quickly retreated back, in a flash.

For some unknown reason, Gavin felt a sudden urge to go to that particular spot inspite what he saw causing the logical side of his brain to tell him how bad of an Idea this was.

He soon saw a piece of paper covered in some grey ink, against his better judgement, he decided to open the paper and-

A flash of light, followed by a loud crashing noise,

The shape of a lightning formed in the sky

It was a stormy night, it was raining so heavily the raindrops poured down onto the town like a waterfall, the clouds covering so much of the night sky that not even the moonlight can shine through, in other words, if not for the street side lamps, or the candle light shining from the windows of the cabins that line the road, it would have been pure darkness.

A creature is seen walking down a road, this creature was a giant, one-eyed monster who resembles a dark gray goat with a humanoid upper body, and two goat horns on the side. His whole body was covered with some kind of coat or a robe, he had a brown backpack behind him.

It (he?) walked down the dirt road , with the nearby lights as the only indicator of where he was, he walked in this dark town until he reached a stone cabin in the far end of the road. The creature had a look of confusion, The door had been left open.

'Why is the door open,' it sounded like the creature's inner thoughts 'I thought I told Vicky to lock the door, I have the keys with me...'

The cyclops walked inside, and his jaw dropped to the floor, he was his whole house in disarray, the furniture flipped over, tings broken on the floor, the cabinets opened, the whole place was messy. It instantly hit the man, someone had broken into his home, and chances were , the burglar was still here, and his wife could be in danger.

He immediately drew his sword from his sheath, ready to protect his home from the intruder (or intruders) he held his sword close, the blade still socked from blood from hunting animals in the forest earlier. He then immediately entered the next room at his top speed with determination!

Determination that immediately died when he saw what was inside the next room,

his own wife, Vicky

Dead, in a pool of blood

Time felt like it paused completely, utter shock and despair felt down to the bone for him. He probably stood there in shock for what felt like minutes until-

*FREEZE!*

"W-what is-" The creature was cut off by a voice

"This is the Gazing Guards, Ivan Stone , you are under arrest on the charges of the Murder of Vicky ' Stone ' Timm

Klavier snaps back to the real world, he was absolutely flabbergasted at what he just witness, he was extremely concerned and weirded out, he looked at the paper he opened.

Murder Weapon

Errimend Hammer's Silver Sword:

Standard Hunter T-127

25 ls wide

65 ls long

>Sword Drawing noted

Klavier took a note of the paper, then took a moment to calm down, to breath, and think clearly about what just happened.

After a while, he came to a realization, 'Of course, who else to ask about something like this than her!' He immediately walked to the direction of when he thought he last saw them.

Star Shining Town- Fountain

October 31st- 7:43 p.m.

"Kay!" Sebastian had ran all the way to the Fountain and was out of breath from running "Sorry we're late, we saw something in the forest and- Um... Kay?"

"So," Kay said , she was looking straight at their costume "Phantom of the Opera?"

"O-oh, y-ya," Sebastian smiled "It is ' debeste' movie that I had ever seen, or at lease the only good one..."

"Ah," Kay turned to Cozy Glow "and what exactly are you suppose to be?"

"Can't you see," She grinned and unveiled her wings, the usual featherily bird like wings seemingly replaced with bat like wings , and her teeth now had sharp fangs "I'm a bat pony."

Kay was confused "A what?"

"A bat pony, " She repeated "Bat ponies are one of the pony tribes, and are basically like a night dwelling star roaming version of the day loving, cloud moving Pegasi, there are even myths that some Pegasi turn to Bat ponies at night ."

"So , basically a vampire pony."

"Yup," She flew around her, "So what do you think?"

"Well, it certainly looks pretty and amazing, also somewhat scary, I'm sure, but there's something I don't get at all."

"What is it, kay?"

"I get the fabric on the wings, the fangs and even the red contact lenses, " She pointes to her flank, then her head ," but I don't get covering your ' Cutie mark' with make up and replacing the rook with three bats , or the hairstyle change."

Cozy causally plays with her hair a bit, she had gotten rid of the usually curly cute look for a long mane that curls at the tips , and covers some parts of her face, it even looks like she could hide behind her mane should she wish to.

"Well, that's mostly because it's actually based on a real life vampire pony. A kind Pegasus turned apple sucking monster."

"Oh, really," She asked warily.

"Hey, at lease it isn't as 'on the nose' as yours," She points her hoofs at her

"Yeah, I mean," Sebastian starts, "The great thief who steals the truth in the name of justice deciding to dress up as amethyst shadow, the Jammin Ninja side character who uses dark magic in the name of stopping evil."

"Hey, that's exactly why she's my favorite side character, and besides, " She smirks "You should see what Dad's got "

"What does he-"

"I didn't expect you to expose yourself out in the open like this, Cozy" They heard Egdeworth say behind them.

"Well, it's Nightmare Night- I mean Halloween, so I thought that no one who saw me would think that I was an actual- Woah!"

They all turn to see Edgeworth, and Cozy and Sebastian's eyes immediately widen.

He was wearing a full steel samurai costume, not just the steel samurai mask, but also a red sarong , and even the steel samurai chess plate with all the tube like things stickling out.

"Woah, Dad, I didn't expect you to have this" was all Sebastian could say.

"I knew you were a huge fan of the show, but I didn't think you actually have a full body cosplay of all things," Cozy commented

"Well, you see," the chief prosecutor explained " A 'friend' of mine used to work as one of those steel samurai mascots, he got fired , but somehow, he kept the suit, and he decide to give it to me," He clarified " I usually have it on display just for show, but I decided now would be a great time for it to be used practically."

"Wow, that is a strong floral scent," Sebastian noted, "I don't think you need to wash the costume so intensely like that, or at lease with so much detergent "

*Sigh* Edgeworth explained "When something smells, it's usually the B-"

"Hey guys," Ema walked in, interrupting Edgeworth , "Sorry I'm late, was too busy disproving the science behind one of the carnival games, and told everyone how impossible the game actually was. Then the fop came around and I lost track of time"

Everyone turned to look at her, She was wearing a Silver Science Shinobi costume, made sense, if her girlfriend was going as her favorite Jammin ninja character then so was she, and while a villain, it made sense that Silver would be her favorite character, in a show of magic and mythology, filled with stereotypical ninjas, the sight of a realistic, true to the facts scientific fighter would definitely stick out to her.

"Alright," Kay said "So now that everyone's here, where are we going now?"

"Well..." Edgeworth made a suggestion "I heard there was a Halloween magic display happening soon, there might be something that interest you, Cozy."

"Oh! Golly, yeah, that was what we were going to check out after gathering at the fountain, " She did one of her happy cute face "Well, I guess that's the only thing we can do, so let's go."

Sebastian and Cozy wanted to bring up the paper again, but decided not to mention it for now.

Star Shining Town- Show stage

October 31st- 7:55 p.m.

"Hello everyone!" The announcer spoke into the microphone as people were sitting down. "And welcome to tonight mystical spectacle ! On this night of magic and monsters, of tricks and treats, tonight we give you the most brilliant of spells and illusions cast by our most amazing of mages and wizards!"

The audience clapped their hands, expect for Cozy , because she had hooves instead. So she clopped those instead.

(Note for some of you, get your mind out the gutter, I didn't mean it like that.)

"First off, be amazed by the sight of... Trucy Wright!"

"What!?" Edgeworth exclaimed, shocked

"what's wrong, Edgeworth?" Sebastian asked "You look as if something bad is happening," Soon what looked like a vampire girl in a dark blue gown emerged from the curtains.

"Happy Halloween, everyone," She smiled "Now tonight, on this night of fright, I'll be giving you tricks of bright, and treats to bite~"

At the sound of 'treats to bite' A sudden rumbling sound , causing people to turn to Kay.

"Sorry, I haven't exactly eaten yet, heh ," She rubbed the back of her head with her hands.

"Um.. yeah, it's been 3 hours since we last ate and some of us are feeling a bit empty stomach," Cozy said, she was also getting a bit hungry.

"Well, in that case, why don't we buy some food from one of the stalls, then come back here."

"Oh! Sure, me and Ema will go get snacks, you guys can stay here and enjoy the show." Kay stood up, inspite having just sat down

"Alright," Edgeworth said, slightly nervous, Which didn't go unnoticed.

"So!" Trucy smiled "First , watch as I use my vampiric magic to taint these pure creatures of innocence and light, and transform them into entities of darkness and shadows!

She turned to the host backstage 'oh holy mother did I really just say that!?'

The host whispered back 'just do your magic, girl' Phoenix Wright was in the background , was laughing slight, to which Trucy pouts.

Trucy first pulls out what looks like a white feather, she snaps her fingers and the paper flashes in a blaze, before a dove appears out of nowhere, she then shows off the bird to everyone, before she announces she shall now 'taint its soul' before a flash of red flame erupts and the dove is replaced by a crow.

Everyone in the audience began to cheer at her, all expect one.

"Um... Cozy?" Sebastian was a bit confused "Why aren't you clapping? Aren't you amazed by that?"

"No, I'm not," She said bluntly "By all accounts I should be amazed, since this is supposedly a world without magic, and even back Equestria no one could just turn a dove into a crow, but all of that WOW gets thrown away when you know exactly how the illusion works."

"Wait, you know how she can turn a dove into a crow without magic?"

Cozy took it as a chance to explain in detail " Golly, It's simple, the feather she pulled is actually flash paper, which is an extremely flammable paper that creates ... well... a flash that many magicians use to hide some quick slight of hand trick, "

She pints her hooves at her "look closely at her hand movements, she hid the dove in the cloak and used the flash to pull a string tied to the bird, and on the second flash , pulled on another string hiding the dove and unveiling a crow. She has what looks like a flint and steel in her gloves, to create a spark when she snaps her fingers. Look closely, Before lighting the feather with her 'magic flame' she has her hand her her sleeves."

"Wow, that's honestly still impressive, to pull of a trick would require some talent, even if it does feel... disentranced? No... disenchanting to know it isn't real magic," Sebastian sighed "How did you even know about how it works?"

"Well, I may~ have learned a thing or two from a former magician Unicorn."

"Um...please elaborate?" Edgeworth asked

"Well..."

Meanwhile:

Star Shining Town- Food stall

October 31st- 7:55 p.m.

"Wow," Ema was baffled "Just ... wow!"

"I know, right!?" Kay returned "I still can't believe the nerve of that creepy pervert to try and flirt with us like that! Who does that 'Larry Butz' think he is!?"

"At lease we got the popcorn and drinks," Ema sighed "Come on, let's go"

Undenounced to them , however, a pair of glowing eyes was staring at them from the tree lines

"Wait, so let me get this straight," Sebastian repeated what he heard from Cozy "Your guidance counselor , Starlight Glimmer, used to be a manipulative cult leader of a small village who planned to remove everyone's cutie marks, and mind control them to her ideology of Equals."

"Golly, by saying things like that, you make her out like some 2-dimentional villain, but from what I know, there was some traumatic event that cause her to believe that to have a cutie mark, or a 'special talent' was a bad thing, never manage to find out what exactly it was though."

"Excuse me, but how did we go from talking about the magic show to talking about this 'Starlight Glimmer' "

" We saw Trucy's transformation trick and Cozy mentions how a unicorn named Trixie used to perform these tricks before she became co-counselor for the school of friendship. The conversation went from how eerily similar magic tricks are in our worlds performed by our own street magicians-"

Cozy continued where Sebastian was "To the love tension between Trixie and Starlight, how their so in love with each other yet are blind to them, to who Starlight glimmer was."

"Ah," Edgeworth crosses his arms and taps his shoulders, "I see, thanks for reminding me."

"You know, it's kind of odd, " Cozy commented

"What is?"

"Two gay lovers who are blind to the other's romantic feelings for them, instead mellowing down to an awkward friendship of tension and drama." The Pegasus narrowed her eyes at Edgeworth, Sebastian instantly knowing what's up.

Edgeworth notices the weird looks that the two are giving him and starts to get nervous "W-what are you two-"

"Miles! Just who exactly is 'that man' ! ? "

"W-WHA-" He reels back in shock for a moment before he composes himself "W-why exactly is this so important to you?!"

"Well, because every time 'that man' is mentioned, you always look away to your right before quickly turning back to us,"

Sebastian continued "You get nervous and are going a hard job at hiding it, clenching your hand tightly on your sleeve and tapping your leg sometimes"

"And you always give an indirect answer every time this gets brought up." She finished.

"I-NGOOH!" Edgeworth starts to visibly sweet a bit, a very uncommon sight "Look, I-"

"Hey guys!" Kay and Ema walk up to them, and Edgeworth uses the opportunity, successfully though not discreetly, to change the topic

"Ah! Kay, Ema, there you are, I see you brought the popcorn" Edgeworth smiled, slightly wavering. Cozy narrowed her eyes at him

"Hey guys, " Kay smiled back , she passed a large sized caramel popcorn tub to Edgeworth, and Ema passed a box of apple juice to Cozy, a bottle of lemon tea to Edgeworth and a soda to Sebastian. Ema gives Kay her favorite orange pop while she passes her their shared salty popcorn.

"So , what were you guys talking about?" Was asked out of curiosity

"Well, we were pointing out how odd Edgeworth was acting when-"

"Cozy," Edgeworth interrupted "Please, can we drop the conversation , the next act is happening

"Golly, sure," Cozy and Sebastian decide to drop it for the time being and just enjoy the rest of the show. Ema slightly chuckled at the hilarious antics , and opens her popcorn box, ready to eat, when she suddenly notices some weird note in the popcorn.

"Ugh, probably just that Butz trying to give a cheesy love note or something, so annoying," Ema sighed, she knew what was written in the note , and how stupidly lovey dovey it would be, and how hard she would cringe at it, but her curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to open up the note just to see exactly what cheesy love poem was written in-

As soon as Ema opened the paper, a bright flash of light blinded her, before she found herself in a dark void. At first she began to panic, but then a set of lights turned on, she soon found the source of the light, a mysterious door suddenly appeared, and the word 'AUTOPSY ROOM' glowed above them.

Ema felt that she was here for a reason, and decides to enter the room, there, laying on the bed , was a dead body, but it wasn't human. No, the body was that of a cyclops, one large eye in the head of a goat, with a humanoid , fur covered body.

She immediately wanted to nope out of the room, but found the door behind her had vanished. She looked over the body lying on the examination table, and sighed. She was a forensic investigator in training and a detective anyways. She might not be a coroner, but she at lease seen and knows the basics.

She gets down onto the body and begins taking notes, writing them down apon a piece of paper. she was worried that the fact it was a different species would make things considerably difficult, but cyclops and human anatomy, at lease in the body, seems very similar

Cause of death: Large amounts of blood loss from stab wound in the chess. Wound size no more than 4 ls (Note, what is an ls measuring unit???)

Extra notes, bruises clearly caused before rigor mortis . Signs of a struggle?

As soon as she finished writing her notes on her paper, a sudden bright flash of light blinds her, and-

Ema found herself back at the stadium. Sitting with her popcorn box on the same seat. She felt the paper in her hands and immediately opened it up.

She was absolutely shocked by what she saw on the paper. It was the autopsy notes she had just written.

>Autopsy report noted

Ema turned to her left, where Sebastian, Kay , Edgeworth and Cozy are, she immediately wanted to tell them about what just happened when a burst of flame erupted from the main stage. Everyone cheered at the performing pyrotechnics .

Ema , for whatever reason, felt like it wasn't the right time to tell them about the note, so she decided to put the paper back in her pocket and tell them later.

Behind the tree lines, a low, distant chuchle can barely be made out.

'Now all I need to do is bring them there, hopefully this plan works... hehe'

To be continued...

Might as well just get this over with

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Part 1: Start to a Story set in stone.

In the ace attorney games, you must complete the case first before you can see the cover art made for that case as the art may contain spoilers for the case. Since as an extra layer of fun, I'm writing this fanfic like it's a novelization of a game, I'm also making some cover art of each part. Only view this after you read the whole part.

Cover art: https://www.deviantart.com/yonderj/art/Cover-art-1-890625125