Turnabout Storm: Ashes

“With the evidence supplied by the prosecution...”

“I... I didn’t do it...”

“This court finds the defendant, Rainbow Dash...”

GUILTY

“We... lost...”

“Was there ever any doubt?”

“Court is now adjourned.”

My name is Twilight Sparkle, and one of my best friends is about to be banished to the sun.

Ponyville District Court

June 11th, 10:20 AM

“I trusted you!”

On my left is the “guilty” defendant, Rainbow Dash, acting as would be expected for somepony being wrongly declared guilty of murder. On my right is, according to Princess Celestia, the best defense attorney in the universe, and he is not looking too happy either.

“You kept saying ‘I am going to get you out of here.’ You must have said it a million times!”

“I know, Rainbow Dash. I am so sorry.”

“‘Sorry’ doesn’t cut it. Do you know what you have done? Do you understand what is going to happen to me now, now that you have messed up my life?”

I look back to my right, hoping that the lawyer can offer some sort of assurance, but all he can do is hang his head, speechless.

“I thought my life was ruined when Trixie showed those pictures to the court. Now, I see who really ruins pony’s lives.”

And now there is another pony in front of me, a guard coming to take Rainbow Dash away. Before she is finally taken away from not only me, but all of Equestria, she gives me one final look.

In all of her previous low points, I had seen Rainbow Dash still manage to maintain an air of confidence, as if everything was going to be just fine as long as she was still around. This look is different. As she turns around to look at me one final time, all I can see is resignation.

Rainbow Dash is the pony that never loses. In any competition she participates in, she will do anything legal in her power to win it. Just one misstep, doing the wrong thing in the wrong place at the wrong time, and suddenly...

“Rainbow Dash did not kill anypony,” I have to say it to myself, just to keep myself, just to keep myself from breaking into tears.

I look over Phoenix, who is looking right back at me. “I’m sorry, Twilight. I let you and your friends down.”

For a brief moment, I cannot think of anything to say.

I find the need to repeat myself, for my own sake, “Rainbow Dash did not kill anypony.”

Then, silence. There only seems to be one thing left to do, one thing I really can do in this situation.

I begin my spell, feeling the magic flow up through my hooves, through my body, and materializing as a glow around my horn. “Phoenix Wright,” I say as I close my eyes, “your services are-”

“Just a moment there, Twi’.”

My eyes snap open again, my spell fizzling. The voice came from Applejack, who, out of the ponies I’ve seen since the judge handed down his verdict, looks the most angry.

“I promised Mister Wright here something.”

As soon as she finishes her sentence, Applejack slams her hoof into the defense attorney’s stomach. I feel like I’m missing something, some reason Applejack would resort to violence as punishment for the loss of a friend, but right now all I care about is to send Phoenix Wright back to his home where he belongs.

“Unlike you, Mister Wright,” Applejack says as she turns away, heading to the door, “I keep my word.”

Silence once again reigns over the room, only punctuated by the closing exit door. I attempt to cast my spell again, feeling magic wash over me, allowing me to bend reality (or in this case, multiple realities) to my will.

“Phoenix Wright,” The spell is almost done. All I have to do now is target all this arcane energy at the human in front of me, “your services are no longer needed.”

And he’s gone. The only living things in this lobby are now two guards, and me. Phoenix Wright, supposedly an ace attorney, was here. Now, he is not.

The emptiness of the room soothes me in an odd sort of way. I can almost forget that anything bad happened to my friends, and everything is back to normal.

“Rainbow Dash did not kill anypony.”

I have done everything I can do at this point. I leave the lobby and step into sunlight and open air.

Ponyville

June 11th, 10:24 AM

Cruise Control is walking with me, having posted bail last night. Apparently, he was too worried he might be recognized in the courtroom, but could not keep himself away from the trial, and thus resigned himself to listening in the lobby.

“I’m sorry, Twilight. This is all my fault.”

“Why are you sorry?” I ask. I’m not really in the mood to talk right now, but the pegasus has piqued my curiosity, “Did you murder Ace Swift?”

The pegasus looks shocked. To be fair, I did just accuse him of murder. “No! Don’t you remember? I was the one who tipped off the police!”

Well, that was embarrassing. “Right, sorry. I guess I am just trying to forget the case altogether.”

There is a brief lull in the conversation, both of us trying to work up the courage to speak up again.

Cruise Control manages to first, “I’m sorry that I had to play a part in these events. Imagine, if I had the head to not be, well, crazy when I tipped off the police, none of this would have happened. The police would have gotten there in time to have seen everything, and they would know the truth behind Ace Swift's victories.”

“That’s okay,” I reply, even though it really is not. “You tried to let the police know, that’s all that matters to me.”

The pegasus gives me  a half-grin. “I was hoping you would say that. It doesn’t change my decision though.”

Decision? “What sort of decision is that?”

Cruise Control takes a deep breath, his smile vanishing. “I dropped out of The Equestrian 500.”

“You did what?” It's my turn to be shocked, “But, what about your sister? If you win, you could become a big enough celebrity to keep her at Canterlot Hospital.”

The pegasus gives me a folded piece of paper. “I just received this yesterday after I posted bail.”

Taking it from him with my horn, I open it and begin to read:

Dear Cruise Control,

We regret to inform you that on June 10th, at approximately 11:50 P.M. your sister, Miss Doubleyou Control, died in her room at Canterlot Hospital.

At 11:45 P.M., the nurse treating your sister noticed irregularities in your sister’s pulse, followed by a lack of pulse altogether. Recognizing this as the symptoms of sudden cardiac arrest, the nurse immediately notified the proper authorities, who immediately began to administer defibrillator shocks interspersed with CPR.

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, Doubleyou Control passed away minutes later.

We understand that this is a difficult time for you, however-

"Hello, Twilight Failure"

Startled by the interruption, I accidentally release my hold of the letter, my eyes following it as it drifts away, gone forever. Looking back at the pony who interrupted me, the first thing I notice is her ridiculous magician's outfit.

It’s times like these that I really wish I had the willpower to use more vulgar language, the kind Phoenix Wright had used in the courtroom.

“Hello, Trixie. Did you decide to come back just to gloat?”

“Well, Trixie was going to simply leave and let you wallow in...” Hearing her drift away, I almost cheer inside. For once, I get to hear Trixie run out of things to say.

“Wallow in what?” I ask.

“Unlike you, Trixie does not know what failures wallow in. Or have you forgotten it was you who lost in court today?”

My horn begins to glow, the pebbles that were once at my hooves are now orbiting around me like miniature moons.

My horn glows brighter as I become enveloped in my own magic, nearly lifting myself off the ground.

“Miss Lulamoon,” I begin, not caring about Trixie’s widened eyes or the fact that a stray pebble has knocked her pretentious hat off, “From the two times that we have encountered each other, I can tell that you are an arrogant attention horse who has targeted me as the catalyst for your fall from the public eye. Perhaps I am. But that does not give you any excuse to ruin my life!”

I really want to continue casting my spell, but a voice in the back of my head stops me, “You are better than her,” it whispers.

I try to ignore it, instead focusing on the magical energy surrounding me. It speaks again, “If you go through with this, you will kill Trixie. Do you want to break your friends’ hearts when you are banished from Equestria as well?”

Still trying to maintain my hold on my magic, I think of how each of my friends would react if I was suddenly gone. Each of them display different levels of sadness, from Applejack trying to remain strong, still bucking apple trees and running the business side of Sweet Apple Acres, to Pinkie locking herself in her room with Gummy, trying to convince herself to believe that reality simply was not true.

The image that sticks with me the most though, is Fluttershy, who I picture tying up what appears to be a lasso out of bed sheets. That’s when I realize that she would think this was all her fault. Her testimony meant that Rainbow Dash was a murderer, and because of that, I was about to kill Trixie, and be banished as well. To her, it would be all because of her testimony.

I realize that I could not let that happen to her. Even if Rainbow Dash said otherwise, Fluttershy was still my friend.

Slowly, I let go of my spell, the energy flying off into the aether, letting gravity regain its pull on my body. The sudden pull on my legs disrupts my balance, and suddenly I am looking down, making sure that the ground is not moving beneath my feet.

Satisfied that the answer is yes, I lift my head back to its normal position just in time to see Trixie rolling her eyes. “Coward,” she says. “Not only are you in no position to launch a verbal attack at Trixie, given you have been associating with a murderer, but you also lack the backbone to follow those words up with any sort of strength, magical or physical.”

“Rainbow Dash did not kill anypony.” The statement is more for myself than for Trixie. I just have to keep convincing myself of this fact.

I just have to keep myself sane.

“Don’t give me that. Trixie told you during the trial today. Friendship is just a word, it does not keep what happened in The Everfree Forest from happening. In the end, it just shows which pony Rainbow Trash was the most loyal to: Herself.”

With that, Trixie puts her hat back on, and runs away behind a cloud of smoke, leaving me standing alone.

“Twilight! Are you and Feenie done already?”

Of all the ponies I do not want to speak with right now, Pinkie Pie is most definitely one of them. In my head, I hope that if I stay silent and ignore her, she’ll go away.

No such luck, she is already talking again. “So, what did you think about Gilda’s testimony?”

Great. Here I am, standing in front of the pony I want to converse with the least (well, after Trixie, of course) who is reminding me of the events I want to think about the least, which she somehow knows about.

Still, I suppose I should humor her, “It was... sweet, I guess.”

“And then judge was all like ‘GUILTY’ and you were all sad, and then Fluttershy came out of nowhere and was like 'Objection!' and then everyone was like 'what the hay?' and then -”

Fluttershy? “Pinkie, Rainbow denounced Fluttershy as her friend right before the trial, and she ran off. I couldn’t find her, and she most certainly did not ‘come out of nowhere’ after the judge laid down his verdict.”

For the first time in what I am pretty sure is her entire life, Pinkie Pie goes silent of her own volition. Eventually her mouth opens again, and I close my eyes, bracing myself for the oncoming storm of words.

Nothing. I open my eyes again, half expecting Pinkie to have run off. She hasn’t.

“You mean... I read the wrong ending?”

In my head, I tell myself it is just Pinkie being Pinkie, but I still feel the need to ask, “What are you talking about?”

Pinkie’s mane goes flat, as if she were missing out on her own birthday party. Then she says, “When I overslept this morning, I decided I would just finish reading the voice actor script so I could celebrate when Rainbow Dash was declared innocent. But there were two endings! I only read the one where Rainbow Dash was declared innocent because, well, why would you want a bad ending?”

“What is this about bad endings? And why is Pinkie Pie’s mane so... drab?”

Really? None of my friends besides Applejack could make the trial? I can understand Fluttershy, who tried to be there before Rainbow admonished her like that, and I can almost understand Pinkie being Pinkie, but Rarity? What’s her excuse?

“I mean it, Twilight” says Rarity, completely oblivious to my seething. “What in Celestia’s name is going on, Twilight?”

No. I am not going to take this any longer. If three out of five of my closest friends can’t make it to one of the most important events of one of their friend’s lives, even with their excuses of varying effectiveness, I do not think I can manage to speak with them. Almost instinctively, I surround myself with a ball of energy and teleport away.

Library

June 11th, 10:39 AM

“Oh, Rarity...”

Great. Spike is asleep on the job again. I decide to yell at him later. Right now, I need to send a letter. Going over to my desk and telekinetically grabbing a pen and paper, I begin:

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned that friendship, despite all of its wondrous benefits, does not override the law. Just because almost everypony I know believes that Rainbow Dash is innocent does not mean that she isn’t going to be banished from Equestria later today.

A unicorn I was speaking with brought something like this up. She said that there was no magic in friendship, that it was just a word. I was about to counter with the existence of The Elements of Harmony, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that she was right.

Which element constitutes friendship and not just the virtues to follow in the course of everyday life? Can one not simply be honest or loyal to oneself? Or be kind and generous to total strangers, sharing a laugh if you find something in common, yet forgetting all about them soon after?

I know the legend: “When the five [elements] are present, a spark will cause the sixth element to be revealed.” Where does it say that The Elements of Harmony have to be friends? You can’t say that “the sixth element is both friendship and magic because friendship is magic” to rebut that statement, because that statement is incredibly vague and full of holes. Where is this “magic of friendship”? And why didn’t it help Rainbow Dash today?

I have decided that if I’m going to be sending you any more letters, I need to know a little more about the subject matter.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

“Spike, wake up!” As always, I want my letter to the princess sent right away.

As always, Spike is slow on the uptake.

“... Five more minutes?”

I really want to scream right now. Even while trying to restrain myself, I still feel as if a librarian is going to shoo me out the door. “Spike! I am not in the mood right now! Just because you are my number one assistant does not give you the right to wave me off!”

The baby dragon snaps awake. “Okay, okay. Geez.”

Spike takes the parchment, rolls it up, and blows over the side of it. I watch as the dragon’s fire quickly consumes the paper, the smoke drifting through an open window and out towards The Canterlot Royal Castle.

I feel drained, as if the three hours I have been awake so far today have been stretched out into three days. I ask myself: do I really want to wait for Princess Celestia to reply? Will she reply?

“Spike...”

“Yes Twilight?”

“I’m going to take a nap.”

“Oh, so I have to wake up from a perfectly good dream to send a letter, only for you to -”

“Not in the mood, Spike.” My voice is more apathetic than angry.

Hoofstep by hoofstep, I pull myself from my writing desk to the stairs.

Then from the bottom of the stairs to the top of them.

I feel my head hit the pillow, and it finally sinks in. I am probably never going to see Rainbow Dash again. I imagine all the times she’s been there for me, and I her. All those joyous days, gone like clouds in the path of a Sonic Rainboom.

I let out one final cry, one that is muffled by my tear-stained pillow.

“Rainbow Dash did not kill anypony.”