Twilight Sparkle: Hey! You're a human aren't you? Phoenix Wright: Yeah, I'm a human... *beat* WAIT, WHAT!?
Just when you thought the Laytoncrossover was weird.Turnabout Storm is a fan crossover between Ace Attorney and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic by NeoArtimus; uploaded to PWaaMLPfim. This fan work, instead of using a written format as it was first conceived as, shows itself as a movie using the Visual Novel style the Ace Attorney series is known for, with added voice acting.Rainbow Dash, best flier in Ponyville, is accused of murdering the Pegasus Ace Swift, the favorite to win an upcoming race called the Equestrian 500 that Dash is also set to compete in. Now that she faces punishment for what would be the first murder in a long time during Celestia's reign, one of her best friends, Twilight Sparkle, sets out to find a lawyer to represent her. After all of her attempts to find one end fruitless, she makes one last try by casting a spell to summon the greatest defense attorney in Equestria, but she accidentally calls for the greatest defense attorney period, and said attorney turns out to be a confused and non-equine Phoenix Wright — At least, that's what Twilight claims to be the reason how Wright ended up there.Now Phoenix finds himself stuck in a strange world, one where candy coloredtalking hors...err... ponies are the norm of the day, and the creatures of myths are just some other species — Yet one where justice still must be served, where the innocent can still be punished, and where they still need the light of someone who trusts and believes in them, someone ready to do whatever it takes to save them.Thus starts Phoenix's journey to adjust to this new world, and search for the truth behind this strange new mystery he's been wrapped up in. Trailer here. Series here. note Part 3 - Phoenix was uploaded months before Part 3 - Twilight, but since the latter was supposed the be released before the former, NeoArtimus recommends watching the series in the order provided by the playlist. Please be warned that all the parts are very long, with most episodes being as long as most movies. Expect an Archive Binge.
"I will submit the eviden... ehh... examples, your Honor":
Acceptable Breaks From Canon: Inevitable. The series was already fully written before the airing of Seasons 2 and 3 of Friendship is Magic (also known as Retroactive Discontinuity, a subset of the above trope). Thus, there were bound to be some contradictions between the canon of the show thus far and what's in this series. Although it also manages to avoid this at times; Trixie's overall behavior in this work is eerily similar to her demeanor in the season 3 episode Magic Duel.
Accuse the Witness: Phoenix accuses Fluttershy of the murder just so he can buy more time. He isn't proud about it... not that this would be the first time he's ever done this.
The Ace: Ace Swift, naturally. He's won every single athletic competition he's ever competed in, but there are rumors that this might have less to do with actual talent and more with underhanded tactics. Those rumors are completely true.
The Judge notes how a certain pony has been staring at him for a while, and decides to not speak to him about it because he's afraid it might cause some sort of paradox. The pony is Doctor Whooves, whose "official" fan voice is done by the same person that voices him.
Phoenix:(Oh please don't tell me this is going where I think it is…) Twilight: You see… I'm in need of a really good defense attorney. Phoenix:(And it does go where I think it is...)
All Part of the Show: After it turns out Phoenix Cannot Tell a Joke, Pinkie Pie instead cracks up at his Equestrian Attorney badge, assuming he was just softening her up for it.
Always Murder: Yep, even in a Sugar Bowl, Phoenix still can't avoid having to defend somebody accused of murder.
Angrish: Phoenix, right after falling square into one of Trixie's traps.
Phoenix: B-but-she-stole-I-ah-uh…
Animation Bump: Whenever the series shifts into the courtroom scenes, the characters are animated almost as they would be in Ace Attorney, whereas in Investigations and Lobby scenes, they are mostly static vectors.
Appropriate Animal Attire: Played with. After Nick damages his suit jacket while on an evidence hunt, he grouses that it'd look unprofessional to come in to court with his only suit of clothes ripped. Pinkie Pie points out that he could always just show up without a suit; since clothing is strictly optional among ponykind, she utterly fails to comprehend Phoenix's horror at the thought of being in court naked.
So this is the part where I would say Part 5 is canceled... and you all would be like all "OH NOEZ" and I would be like "APRIL FOOLZ", then you would be like "obvious AFD joke is obvious" or "U got me lol". But I think I've teased you enough, so let's just pretend I did that :)
Arbitrary Skepticism: By Phoenix after he gets told why lightning makes the sound when it hits the ground in Equestria. He himself is the one that notes how he just pulled this off.
Phoenix:(I'm no meteorologist, but I'm pretty sure lightning doesn't work like that. Then again, I keep forgetting I'm in a land full of magical talking ponies who can manually change weather...)
Any appearance of an Ace Attorney character uses sprites from the series proper. For the latter half of the series, the characters started using the HD sprites from the iPad versions of Ace Attorney whenever they are compatible.
The second day of the trial features much smoother animations for the ponies.
Asshole Victim: Ace was trying to blackmail Rainbow Dash into dropping out of the race, and her case is hardly the first or the worst. With Rainbow Dash, he just threatened to spread embarrassing pictures around. With Cruise Control, Ace threatened to have his comatose little sister pulled off of life support. It's more than implied that anyone involved in the Equestrian 500 had their lives ruined by him.
Princess Celestia made Twilight summon Phoenix knowing with full confidence that, notwithstanding getting pulled into another world, he would never allow an innocent to get punished.
Phoenix using Gilda's temper to get her to slip up in the witness stand in Part 4. He says that he learned this trick in lawyer school as a way to get information from liars.
Pinkie Pie's fourth wall break. See below for details.
His phone ringing in a place where they shouldn't exist.
Trixie in Part 4, after the judge allows Fluttershy to testify despite having already declared Rainbow Dash guilty.
Blackmail: Ace and Sonata are guilty of doing this to Ace's competition. Sonata even manages to blackmail Phoenix into not talking about this.
Blatant Lies: With Bad Liars come even worse lies. Twilight's explanations for her "misspeaking" in how she knew Phoenix's name and how she got her hooves on the Equestrian Attorney Badge supposedly within 20 minutes of Phoenix's arrival are almost transparent in this regard.
Bloodless Carnage: A slight variation; Phoenix notes how there is no blood whatsoever at the murder site.
Brick Joke: The Equestrian Attorney Badge. Phoenix's reaction to it from Part 1 is somewhat ironically mirrored by Pinkie Pie in Part 3 - Phoenix. The difference is that Phoenix thought it was awful that he had to wear it, while Pinkie Pie thought it was hilarious.
The Judge has huge bunny ears already, but he gets this status cemented by being selected by Twilight's magic as the best human judge.
Butt Monkey: Phoenix. He's a Butt Monkey no matter where he is. He may in fact have reached Cosmic Plaything levels, considering he was summoned because he was literally the best defense attorney in the universe. Except that is a lie — he was summoned under direct orders from Celestia.
"(Of course I know how to make cupcakes; what does she think I am, a hobo?)". Fast forward to Phoenix's looks seven years later...
Twilight seeing black Psyche-Locks, which would not show up to Phoenix in his canon until years later.
Cannot Tell a Joke: Pinkie should know better than to ask Phoenix for jokes.
Chalk Outline: Of the tape variety; used to mark where Ace Swift's body was found. Given the rarity of murders in Equestria, Twilight has no idea what the meaning of the tape is. She doesn't like the explanation.
Character Portrait: One of the many elements used just like in Ace Attorney, greatly helped by the existence of many sprite-style "vectors" for the Friendship is Magic cast. Unlike the actual series however, they are only completely animated during courtroom episodes.
Children Are Innocent: Used to Phoenix's disadvantage. Nick is allowed to cross examine Apple Bloom, but is warned that pressing too hard and hurting her feelings will result in a massive penalty. Phoenix skirts the line multiple times, but ultimately keeps his cool.
Complaining About Not Knowing the Wonderbolts: invokedRainbow Dash gets quite upset at Nick when he asks her who the Wonderbolts are. Never mind that it's his first hour in Equestria.
Pinkie gets quite upset when she realizes she still hasn't thrown a welcome party for Phoenix.
"WHY AREN'T THERE MORE PENS!? TELL ME, WHY AREN'T THERE MORE PENS!!??", Rarity being Rarity.
Cruise Control is constantly chastising and screaming at himself for committing petty mistakes, such as calling Twilight "ma'am" and therefore implying that she's old.
Composite Character: Sonata, who's a mix of Mia's appearance, Apollo's Hyper Awareness, Adrian Andrew's job type, the ruthlessness of Manfred Von Karma and pre-Character Development Edgeworth, and Redd White's propensity for blackmail.
When Fluttershy meets Phoenix, she assumes that he's an actual phoenix and comments that when he'll rise from his ashes into a beautiful flaming bird. She's learned from her experience in "A Bird In The Hoof".
When Apple Bloom is told that a lawyer's job consists of a lot of arguing, she says she can't wait to tell Scootaloo. In "Stare Master", they had a debate over the possibility of an "arguing" Cutie Mark.
This isn't the first time Phoenix had to accuse someone he knows is innocent of murder to buy time without getting Played for Laughs.
Trixie also knows her handful of antics too. For instance, she does the typical "hold on to the evidence until a contradiction is found" trick so popular within Ace Attorney prosecutors.
Courtroom Episode: The work is pretty much this for the Friendship is Magic cast; some ponies even get to do detective work.
Crack Fic: It's Ace AttorneymeetsMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magic people! Even the author herself thought it was too much of an Audience Alienating Premise like to reach popularity.
Phoenix: What's her problem, Twilight? She can't honestly think someone can control weather. It's ludicrous! Trixie: You have to be the biggest imbecile Trixie has ever laid eyes on! Judge: Mr. Wright... that's a Pegasus's job here in Equestria. It's… sort of what they do. Phoenix: Mmmph... uh... what...?
Crusading Lawyer: This aspect of Phoenix is throughly utilized. His belief that the innocent need someone who's there for them when times are grim are what made him decide to take such a weird case in the first place. This is also exactly why Celestia suggested to get his aid.
Everything regarding Phoenix Wright when Celestia tells Twilight to summon him. She's very vague about who Phoenix is supposed to be besides a great defense attorney, she doesn't even mention he's neither a pony nor from Equestria!
For some reason, neither Phoenix nor Twilight are willing to explain their respective encounters with Sonata and Cruise Control. (This may be intentional as to avoid repeating information the viewers already know).
Played with: Fluttershy is initially intimidated by Phoenix, but she opens up to him after she assumes that he's an actual phoenix who is due to molt soon.
Played straight with Apple Bloom. The Judge thinks she's just about the cutest thing he's ever seen, and he becomes very protective of her while she's on the witness stand.
Darkest Hour: Part 4. Phoenix ripping apart Gilda's testimony was just a Hope Spot. Instead of exonerating Rainbow Dash, they're just back to where they started. With no other suspects and no evidence that can be used to disprove the prosecution's line of reasoning, Phoenix and Twilight can't do anything but watch as the Judge declares Dash guilty.
Deus Exit Machina: The "High Council of Equestria" decides that Princess Celestia would be unable to serve as an impartial judge during the trial, thus ensuring that Phoenix and Twilight will have to actually work to prove Rainbow Dash innocent.
Every single word Pinkie Pie says to Sonata. In classic Pinkie fashion, she's completely oblivious about it and Phoenix eventually silently begs her to stop.
Gilda in Part 4. Everything she says just makes her look less and less credible. However, Phoenix is well-aware of her temper, and uses it to his advantage.
Trixie took the case as an opportunity to get revenge on Twilight, so she basically wants to get one of her friends killed because Twilight humiliated her before… Yep; Trixie seems to have taken retribution lessons from Von Karma. Part 3 - Twilight reveals that it's a lot more complicated than that.
Rarity wants Phoenix to sue the post office for making her miss the trial.
Rarity: That will teach them to put out more pens!
Gilda wanted to frame Rainbow Dash for murder for the events of "Griffon the Brush-off". She even admits she took it way too far after confessing, and she's not proud of it.
A Dog Named Dog: Inverted: when Fluttershy hears Phoenix's name, she jumps to the conclusion that he's an actual phoenix who's in his "shedding his feathers before bursting into flame" stage. Nick tries to correct her, but as Twilight points out, at least this way Fluttershy is actually talking to him.
Phoenix pulls 2 verbal versions of these in Part 1, first when he first sees Twilight and later when she tells him that the trial is scheduled for tomorrow morning.
Done again in Part 2 when he sees that the good old Judge from all his cases is presiding the trial.
Dramatic Lightning: During the introduction of Part 1. In an interesting twist, the lightning isn't there just for dramatic effect, it's the actual murder weapon.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Phoenix gets a lot of crap thrown at him by the ponies, in particular for his "lousy" performance the first day of the trial. At least in this case most ponies don't know about his accomplishments during his career, unlike in his world, where he tends to get even more disrespect.
Eccentric Mentor: Twilight points out how Celestia isn't acting very princess-like when she tells her to summon Phoenix. Not to mention, a mentor that gets her student to summon a being from another world without even pointing out that little fact doesn't exactly fall in non-eccentric territory.
Evil Counterpart: Smug Snake Sonata is apparently the Ponyverse's version of Mia, only she advocates blackmail instead.
Evil Gloating: Ace Attorney prosecutors have always been prone to gloating, but Trixie's Large Ham mixed with her personal agenda against the Mane 6 make hers almost ooze this.
Evil Twin: Pinkie suggests the possibility of an evil twin of Rainbow Dash nopony knows, Wob Niar, was the real culprit. Phoenix insists on it being a stupid idea, but being Pinkie, she sticks with the idea.
Eye Scream: Pinkie has a rather disturbing theory about Sonata's eyeball Cutie Mark.
Never said word for word, but Trixie tells Phoenix to do this several times.
Cruise Control actually thanks Twilight for utilizing this trope in regards to the Blackmail done to him by Ace.
First-Person Smartass: Par for the course of Ace Attorney, anyone with the POV will inevitably become this, that meaning Phoenix Wright and Twilight Sparkle.
Fission Mailed: In Part 4, Rainbow Dash is declared Guilty. All seems lost, until Fluttershy barges into the court room and allow Phoenix to buy time thanks to her testimony. However, Phoenix realizes that he's treading on thin ice, and that one misstep will seal Rainbow's fate.
Fun Size: Spike isn't exactly what Phoenix expected when he heard he was a dragon.
Furry Confusion: A minor example; Rarity asks Phoenix to show her designs to the ponies that live in his world, only for him to say that ponies in his world aren't quite as talkative and intelligent as those in Equestria. Rarity gets quite puzzled by this.
Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Phoenix, obviously. It gets on Trixie's nerves after a while. He even briefly muses that his cutie mark would be a pointing finger.
Trixie: Don't point that ugly sausage of a finger at Trixie!
Hidden Depths: Phoenix sees Fluttershy as just a meek, cowardly and naive little pony until he sees her Beware of the Nice Ones and Mama Bear side when she saves him from the timberwolves.
Hoist by His Own Petard: Phoenix manages to earn Fluttershy's trust on the night before the trial. This comes back to bite him in the ass by not letting him use her shyness as an excuse to extend the trial another day.
Humans Are Special: Humans are regarded in Equestria for their strong sense of justice, so much that they based their law system on the human one.
Hyper Awareness: It's Sonata's special talent, and the Apollo Justice part of her status as a Composite Character. This came in handy for her blackmailing activities.
Twilight: But with [Ace's] streak of success he gained a few skeptics, thinking that all his victories were a result of cheating and other dubious methods.
Phoenix: I'd probably think the same if I saw someone winning at everything they do. *cough*
Pinkie exploding in laughter after seeing Phoenix's badge, calling it the most ridiculously girly thing she's ever seen. Coming from a pinkpony…
Nick calls Twilight a "Talking Horse" shortly after first seeing her; she is quick to correct him (doubling as a small Comically Missing the Point moment from Phoenix's perspective).
Twilight: Excuse me! I am not a horse; I happen to be a pony. Phoenix: OH! Okay! A talking PONY, that explains everything!
Rainbow gets really upset at Phoenix calling her an Earth Pony.
Fluttershy mistakes Wright as an actual phoenix; he almost invokes this, but is interrupted by Twilight.
Ice Queen: Sonata. As Phoenix said, it's almost like she threw daggers out of those eyes.
Identical Stranger: Sonata looks almost exactly like Mia would look in pony form.
Idiot Ball: You'd think by now, Phoenix would have known better than to not go into dangerous areas alone or confront someone he knows has a dark secret but also has the upper hand if it happens.
I Have Many Names: A variation with Derpy, who is inconsistent with what her name actually is. She insists her name Derpy Hooves if you call her Ditzy Doo and vice versa. Asking if it's Derpy OR Ditzy will get her upset and insist she's Bright Eyes, but call her that and she'll revert to the other two.
Imagine Spot: Phoenix's less than useless mental image of what would Edgeworth do if he was the one in his place. The mental scars call for a lobotomy.
Dash's quick excuse to leave the visitors room when Phoenix's asked her about what she was hiding from him.
Rainbow: Um… well… uh-oh, looks like visiting hours are over! Catch ya later, Nix!
Phoenix: Hey! No they aren't! There are still five minutes left!… She's gone…
Spike after Twilight catches him calling her a total nerd.
Spike: Oh!? You're back Twilight! I-um… uh… I was just on my way to… um… organize those awesome books my intelligent and smart friend reads! Uh… later!
Twilight realizes Cruise might know more than he's letting out after she gets told that no one outside of those involved in the case or present in the courtroom audience should know who the victim is, yet he already knew about Ace's death.
Used by Phoenix to expose one of Gilda's lies. Gilda claims she never saw the dead pegasus, despite the fact that she was never told he was a pegasus.
I Never Told You My Name: Twilight addresses Phoenix by name before he properly introduces himself to her. When he calls her on it, she hastily claims that she had cast a Namedar spell on him when he first arrived, but it's still clear that something's up.
Insane Troll Logic: Pinkie's logic behind the the Wob Niar theory. She's an Evil Twin of Rainbow nopony knows about, then it's obvious nopony has ever heard about her.
Pinkie: Didn't you catch the "nopony knows about" part? You're a pony, and you don't know. See?
Nick gets called out quite a few times for not using the word pony. At first is for calling Twilight Sparkle a horse (see I Am Not Weasel) and the next time is for using the word guy instead of pony. He doesn't seem too amused by this.
Phoenix: (Well, excuse me; I didn't take "Hooked on Ponyics")
During Twilight's conversation with Derpy Hooves, she gets corrected every time she gets Ditzy Doo's name wrong. Although it's more due to Bright Eyes changing her name around rather than any mistake on Twilight's part.
Insufferable Genius: Trixie gets this aspect of herself shown. According to Sonata, she was the best in her class when it came to magic, giving some justification to her massive ego. She does have great abilities, but she has cared more about showing them off than on improving them.
Intercontinuity Crossover: Unless somehow human Large Ham lawyers cross magical talking equines can be considered reasonable under normal circumstances.
Twilight: (Seriously...? "Twilight Snarkle"? Really...? That's the best one you can come up with?)
Ironic Echo: Earlier in Part 3 - Phoenix, Phoenix says something about "keeping your pace" and says how he doesn't present all his evidence in one go. Later on, Sonata says something similar, about "keeping her hand" and why she didn't tell the cops about the B&E earlier.
Is It Something You Eat?: When Pinkie hears Phoenix talking about Psyche-Locks, she wonders if they are some sort of breakfast cereal.
Trixie: This particular storm cloud bore hoof markings of the rainbow colored loser in the defendant's chair. Rainbow Dash: I'll show YOU who's a loser, you two bit fraud!
Trixie, full-stop. The fact that she gets Phoenix to genuinely hate her and makes him forget about first-person snarking and call her a fool right to her face should say a lot.
Ace Swift. BIIIIIG time.
Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Nearly every development, good or bad, helps Phoenix and Twilight along with their investigation and trial or becomes a Chekhov's Gun.
Jump Scare: So, Twilight and Pinkie are minding their own business, talking about this friend of Pink-
Cruise Control: AAAAH!
Just Doing My Job: The Judge tells Twilight that regardless of what his feelings on the matter or the people involved in the case may be, it is his duty to be impartial and judge fairly based on the testimony, evidence, and the arguments of both attorneys presented in the trial.
Just Think of the Potential: Upon learning what the Magatama is, Twilight immediately starts thinking of abusive applications before reining herself back in.
The Judge has his moments; it helps that he sounds like he was being voiced by BRIAN BLESSED. Especially when he says "OBJECTION OVERRULED!" in exactly the same manner that he does in Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3.
Phoenix makes an off-hand comment about The Steel Samurai while investigating and remarks how amazing it is that it became so popular with the Periphery Demographic. Sounds familiar fourth wall?
While Pinkie's humming the Pursuit ~ Cornered theme, Phoenix comments that it sounds really familiar to him.
Leitmotif: All characters have one, much like in Ace Attorney. Taken a step further by making each witness have different Cross Examination and Objection! themes representing them.
Like a Fish Takes to Water: Unlike Phoenix, the Judge adjusts to being in Equestria almost instantly, and is thrilled to explore it and meet its inhabitants.
Judge: Aren't these ponies just wonderful, Mr. Wright? They've done nothing but show me a good time!
Living Lie Detector: Phoenix with his Magatama of course, but Twilight after getting into contact with it becomes an even more literal example.
Long Title: Twilight's summoning spell book Super Spectacular Stupendous Spontaneous Summoning Scripture Signals and You, which also doubles as an Alliterative Title.
Loud Gulp: Nick gets more than a little worried after hearing that dragons exist in Equestria and Twilight's assistant happens to be one.
Twilight: Don't be so shy, Spike loves company. Phoenix: *Gulp* (I really hope there isn't a double meaning to that!)
Magic Misfire: Twilight claims this to be the reason why Nick got summoned. Naturally, Trixie called her out on it.
Mathematician's Answer: When Gilda is asked what was she even doing in the middle of the forest.
Trixie: We already know what Gilda was doing there. She was observing the crime.
Mood Whiplash: Just as in Ace Attorney the overall mood gets whiplashed constantly between comedic, serious, and suspenseful.
Part 2 has all the mood swapping culminate straight into near Tear Jerker territory when Nick accuses Fluttershy of the murder to buy more time.
Gilda's tearful confession about badly she screwed up when she let her sense of pride cause her to try and frame Rainbow Dash for some sweet taste of revenge that never happened is contrasted by her outright threats to Phoenix for getting her to show her emotions like that.
Motor Mouth: By Pinkie Pie when explaining how to make cupcakes to Phoenix.
Ms. Exposition: Twilight plays this role. She gives Phoenix basic information about Equestria, makes remarks about found evidence, and explains to him any new information that gets brought up. Sometimes the exposition is common knowledge for Friendship is Magic fans, other times it serves to give insight on new elements. There are moments she wishes that Phoenix did some research on his own though.
Taken straight from Ace Attorney. Like in the games, any characters Phoenix doesn't know have their names shown as "??????" in the dialogue box until he learns their name.
Phoenix calling Rainbow an Earth Pony. Turns out her first incarnation was an Earth Pony, and also the complete opposite of this Rainbow.
Twilight makes allusions to earlier generations of My Little Pony throughout Part 3 - Twilight.
Naïve Newcomer: Phoenix, who is completely clueless about the workings of Equestria. This gets him in trouble quite a few times.
Narrative Shapeshifting: A minor case; Rainbow imitated Fluttershy in a mocking voice in the Detention Center, complete with her mane style changing to Fluttershy's.
Near Villain Victory: It wouldn't be Ace Attorney without the prosecution having Phoenix completely on the ropes at least once. And, in true Ace Attorney tradition, the near victory is foiled by a Big Damn Heroes moment.
Never Say That Again: During the first half of Part 3 - Twilight, any mention of Phoenix causes this on Twilight.
Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer shows Phoenix intimidating Fluttershy into silence. He's actually the only one she'll talk to.
New Superpower: After Twilight touched the Magatama she gained the ability to see psyche-locks. Twilight is perturbed when she sees them for the first time around Cruise Control when questioning him, and that she was the only pony who could see them; and later she sees black ones around Trixie. After getting an explanation about how the psyche-locks work, she gets mentally excited and already started plans on research on it, but after the trial of course.
Fluttershy's testimony ends up making the prosecution's case air tight. Rainbow Dash is not happy with Fluttershy over this.
Phoenix tearing apart Gilda's testimony turns out to be this. As Trixie points out, he just proved that three separate people didn't hear the second lightning bolt, and not only did the defense's arguments hinge on the second bolt, they never actually fully proved the second bolt even occurred. Only Fluttershy's timely entrance saves the day. She even lampshades Phoenix's blunder.
Trixie: Trixie asks the court, what makes more sense? The victim's body being blown several feet, or the victim being struck by a second bolt that none of the witnesses heard or witnessed?
Because of Trixie's ego and personal grudge against the Mane 6, she cares about making Twilight and her friends squirm more than anything. As a result, she lets Phoenix get away with things like casting suspicion on Fluttershy. Phoenix himself points out that she could have secured a conviction and denied them a chance to gather more evidence by shutting down this line of argument.
Gilda seems to do this as she completely discredits a lot of Trixie's theories by trying to frame Rainbow Dash. Unfortunately, all it does in the long run is confirm that three separate witnesses didn't see or hear the second bolt of lightning which the defense's case was riding on.
No Indoor Voice: Cruise Control has some indoor voice, but the majority of his speech is loudly yelling at himself.
Non Sequitur Distraction: When Phoenix meets Fluttershy for the first time, she becomes considerably less shy after mistaking Phoenix's name as his species. Twilight just tells him to roll with it, because she's… you know? Talking to him?
The Not So Harmless Punishment: Upon first hearing that the punishment for murder in Equestria is banishment, Phoenix immediately thinks it isn't as bad as in his own world. That is, until Twilight goes into more detail…
Phoenix: What is the punishment? Twilight: Banishment… Phoenix: Well that doesn't sound so bad compared to — Twilight: …to the Moon, or even the Sun.[...] Phoenix: (And forget what I just said…)
Not that Trixie is stoic, but her general immunity to shock evaporates when Apple Bloom reveals a key piece of information she completely left out of her pretrial preparation… and then explains that she didn't tell Trixie earlier because…
The guard ponies that rarely bat an eye in MLP? Two of them have broken down entirely, pleading for Phoenix to take Pinkie Pie away from them, who spent merely a half-hour talking to them.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Cruise Control only acts like a loud, self-scolding doofus as a facade, being part of his "perpetual loser" status Ace Swift blackmailed him into. It was he who gave the anonymous tip about the forest meeting, but since he gave it in his goofball persona, it wasn't taken seriously.
Phoenix reacts this way when he realizes the trial is the very next day.
Trixie expresses this a lot whenever Phoenix points out a contradiction. As expected for Ace Attorney prosecutors.
Phoenix losing all of his evidence. It got better, though.
Trixie says that her horoscope told her purple is her unlucky color, referring to Twilight. Who then points out that her magician suit is purple, causing her to briefly look terrified.
Trixie: Leave him alone! You're the one who's dead meat if you lie again! Phoenix: (How cute, she's sticking up for me.) Trixie: Besides, Mr. Wrong is Trixie's! He shall feel the GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie's wrath before this trial is over! Phoenix: (Or not...)
While he's generally a goofball, Cruise Control drops it for a few seconds to tell Apple Bloom that older siblings always care for their younger siblings. It's later revealed that that side of him is his real personality.
To a lesser extent, but still very serious, every time Trixie drops her Third-Person Person act. Serious enough to the point where Twilight discovers she has black psyche-locks.
Original Character: Quite a few of them. The victim Ace Swift for starters, his assistant Sonata, and the rest of the racers, like Cruise Control and Lenora.
Our Slogan Is Terrible: Phoenix is shown complaining about the ridiculous slogan Maya came up with before he got dragged away.
"Wright & Co. Office: Defending you like it's nuttin' baby!"
Pamphlet Shelf: Parodied; Twilight gives Phoenix a "'detailed' encyclopedia" on the different species of ponies; it's literally three bullet points long. Justified in that the book is meant for very young readers. This gets brought up again a little later, when Nick mistakenly calls Rainbow Dash an Earth Pony.
Phoenix: (It's kinda sad I couldn't get down a book with twelve words.)
Pink Is for Sissies: After his unsuccessful attempt at using his world's Attorney's Badge to show to the guards that he's an actual lawyer, Twilight hands Nick the Equestrian Attorney Badge. Turns out it's a pink heart-shaped badge, and Phoenix, well…
Phoenix: A… heart? (I feel my masculinity going… going… gone.)
Made even worse when Pinkie Pie cracks up laughing at the sight of it, calling it the most ridiculously girly thing she's ever seen.
Plot Triggering Death: Were it not for the death of Ace Swift, and subsequent accusation of Rainbow Dash, Phoenix wouldn't have been summoned to Equestria in the first place.
Fluttershy tried to call out to Rainbow Dash when she was running away, though being Fluttershy, she called out Rainbow Dash in her whispery voice. Things might have turned out differently had she made her voice louder.
Phoenix not being able to explain to Twilight Sparkle why he's accusing Fluttershy at that moment caused more than a few problems. However, it seems not to be as bad, since it allows Twilight and Phoenix to split up and gather twice as much evidence than if they did it together.
Actually inverted in Part 3 - Twilight when Apple Bloom lets Twilight know that she saw Rainbow Dash moving the storm cloud to the Everfree Forest, and that RD told her not to tell anypony about it. Had this come out in court, it would have been much more difficult (if not impossible) to extend the trial.
Cruise Control went to tell the cops about how something "big" was going to go down in the forest. However, he was in his cocky personality and wasn't taken seriously, and thus the murder happens.
From Nick's part right after he discovers that Trixie knew about Rainbow's possible motive.
Phoenix: Dammit! She knows! Twilight: Phoenix! Language!
He says it again after discovering he's lost in the forest and with all his evidence stolen.
In Part 4, Gilda not only says "damn" (which causes Twilight to give Phoenix the stink-eye for some reason) but also extends her middle talon at Phoenix during her final rant. She also slips in a "crap", but in quite different circumstances.
Gilda: Maybe the real reason I got angry... was because I missed my irreplaceable friend... and I'm doing a pretty crappy job at getting her back...
Prophetic Names: "(With a name like Applejack, I guess she was set up at birth to be put in that apple business.)"
Apple Bloom when begging Twilight to take her as investigator assistant.
Pinkie, after Phoenix tells her that they are not looking for oatmeal in Ace's room.
Rapid Fire Interrupting: Trixie to Phoenix while she's explaining Ace's cause of death, stopping all of his attempts to say what he thinks about the events.
Judge: The prosecution's logic is very sound, so I must overrule the defense's claims. Phoenix: B-but… I didn't get to say anything!
Rapid Fire No: Rainbow Dash, when Phoenix first meets with her again in Part 3 - Phoenix; and Phoenix in reaction to mistaking Applejack for a certain other character he knows.
Reading Ahead In The Script: Pinkie knew where she and Phoenix were headed to after leaving Rarity because she had read the script beforehand. At least she had the courtesy of not reading too far into it to avoid spoilers.
Real Dreams Are Weirder: Pinkie comments that she had a dream where she commanded the sweets army in a war between sweets and vegetables.
Phoenix: (Freud would have a field day with Pinkie Pie.)
Record Needle Scratch: In the trailer Phoenix confronts an unseen witness with his usual Hot Blooded attitude, cue an intimidated Fluttershy on the witness stand.
Invoked with the "Wright a Bad Ending" contest, where fans were invited to write what would have happened if a certain Big Damn Hero hadn't appeared.
Red Herring Twist: Despite all the evidence that seemed to point to the contrary, Gilda is not the guilty party.
Remember the New Guy: The High Council of Equestria, who according to Twilight are in charge of keeping check of political decisions, and in this case, making sure that an impartial judge precedes the trial of the crime.
Retired Monster: Sonata originally intended to be this, though Phoenix wouldn't let her.
Rainbow Dash blurting "Hey!" when meeting Phoenix and Twilight right before the audience, startling them.
Sarcasm Failure: After Pinkie comments that Phoenix would represent the element of Hair Gel, he gets so baffled by it that the only inner snark he manages to utter is "(No comment…)".
Schmuck Bait: Trixie managed to make Phoenix explain a hole in her case by using a little of prosecutor logic.
Screen Shake: Straight from Ace Attorney. When the POV character gets shocked, surprised, crashed into, or just anything shocking happens in general, the screen shakes along.
Sharp Dressed Man: Phoenix's 3 piece suit gets all sorts of praise from Rarity.
Sherlock Scan: Sonata is really good at this; Pinkie Pie does leave her drawing a blank though.
Shocking Voice Identity Reveal: Subverted twice. Phoenix confused Sonata with Mia thanks in part to the identical voice, and Applejack with Lotta due to the thick accent.
Shoot the Dog: Accusing Fluttershy of the murder out of sheer desperation.
Shrinking Violet: Fluttershy's shyness is taken Up to Eleven in Part 2. She attempts to hide under the witness podium whenever anyone addresses her, except Phoenix, due to her thinking he actually is a phoenix.
Shutting Up Now: Pinkie after Phoenix begs her to keep her trap shut around Sonata. She still manages to keep talking.
After assuming that Wright is an actual phoenix, Fluttershy innocently comments that him being soon to molt explains why he looks so homely and sick. Nick only wonders if that was just a plain insult. You know you are a first class Butt Monkey when even Fluttershy can mock you without even knowing it.
Apple Bloom: Hey Twi, look! A ladder! Twilight: That's a stepladder... Apple Bloom: So? What's the difference? You need to stop judging things based on narrow-minded cultural assumptions.
Super Cell Reception: Phoenix recieves a cellphone call from a "concerned friend" in the middle of his investigation. You know, while in the middle of a completely different world.
Super Dickery: Just as in Ace Attorney, the opening scene is misleading, making it look like Rainbow stroke the killing blow.
Phoenix: Why did you say it didn't scare you? No one asked you if it did.
Take That: Part 3 - Twilight poked fun at the previous generations of My Little Pony; Twilight saying that the ponies there are too embarrassing to mention, and Spike mentioning that they seem too frolicky for his tastes.
Taking You with Me: Sonata says that if Phoenix reports that she had a part in Rainbow Dash's blackmail, she will report that he and Pinkie Pie committed the crime of break and entering into her hotel room.
Tap on the Head: Cruise Control knocked Phoenix out with one of these in the middle of the forest, in order to take away almost all of his evidence and leave him in the middle of it.
The Tell: Twilight notices that whenever Trixie's out of her Third-Person Person act, it means she's either flustered or trying to keep a secret.
In a quite indirect example: What is one of Phoenix's last lines before being summoned to Equestria?
"Unfortunately, sunshine and smiles don't pay the bills."
Phoenix tells Twilight that most of the prosecutors from his world are stuck up and arrogant. Twilight reassures him that nopony in Equestria is like that... and then Trixie shows up.
Tension-Cutting Laughter: The massive laughter coming from the courtroom after Dash's Embarrassing Old Photo is shown almost makes one forget the fact that she was going to be declared guilty just a few seconds ago. Of course, this being Ace Attorney, Mood Whiplash strikes again quickly.
Third-Person Person: The GREAT and POWERFUL Trixie, of course! It gets on Phoenix's nerves rather quickly. She does break out of it when angered or flabbergasted sufficiently, which perplexes Twilight.
Thoroughly Mistaken Identity: Phoenix does this twice; first mistaking Sonata with Mia, and later and more amusingly, mistaking Applejack with LottaHart.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Among all the ponies Phoenix has met, only Rarity praises Phoenix's hair style and, minus the whole "pens" thing, has been generally pleasant towards him.
Title Drop: Not for the work itself, but for the series involved:
Phoenix:: Sorry, but I don't believe you, my little pony. Not for a single solitary second.
Sonata: I don't know what kind of trials and tribulations you've been through, but you're not changing my opinion.
Title Theme Drop: A remix of the My Little Pony theme in the style of Ace Attorney's "Pursuit" themes plays when Phoenix places suspicion of the murder over Fluttershy.
Token Human: Discussed, since Phoenix is the first human to ever lay feet on Ponyville after all. Twilight says he should be honored; Phoenix only feels like a weird minority, and remarks he's not a five-year-old girl.
Took a Level in Badass: The judge is actually able to point out perjury, not to mention he stands up to the prosecution quite well in Part 4.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Trixie was originally introduced as a kind of Anti-Villain; stuck up and kind of rude, but not openly antagonistic. Here she's become openly antagonistic, and wishes to destroy the Mane Six seemingly in retribution for the Ursa Minor incident.
Trrrilling Rrrs: Trixie occasionally trills her own name, particularly after calling herself "Great and Powerful."
Trilogy Creep: Part 3 was divided into 2 parts for the purpose of making Simultaneous Arcs, thus adding to what was a four part series; and then there's Part 5.
Villainous Breakdown: Gilda keeps losing her cool whenever Phoenix points out a lie in her testimony, and when he finally proves that she was trying to frame Rainbow for the murder, she's reduced to stammering and begging for someone to bail her out...then she goes into a Villainous BSOD and quietly confesses.
Wall of Blather: Rarity gets carried away when she gets the idea of making a new suit for Phoenix. She ends up blathering to herself while Phoenix and Pinkie discuss where to go next.
Wham Episode: The black psyche-locks Twilight mentions to Phoenix at the end of Part 3 - Phoenixare revealed to belong to Trixie, and which become a bit more complex than their canon appearance because of some of the things Twilight says after their reveal. Considering that Part 3 - Twilight was supposed to be out first it, it can come as more shocking.
"The suspect the defense accuses is the witness... Fluttershy!"
Here's one for Ace Attorney fans who saw Part 3 - Phoenix first: When Twilight is talking to Phoenix about psyche-locks, she asks him "What about black ones?". For those who don't know the context, black Psyche-locks means the person is so desperate not to admit the truth that their locks won't break; they will continue to lie in the face of conclusive evidence to the contrary.
What If?: A contest held by NeoArtimus encouraged fans to create an alternate conclusion to the series had no one come to save the day when all seemed lost, the winner becoming the "official" Downer Ending to the story.
In Part 2: Twilight's reaction to Phoenix accusing Fluttershy of murder. Let's just say she was so ticked off at Phoenix doing this that she objected to the defense just to call out Phoenix for slander. Even PHOENIX calls himself out on it.
In Part 4: Rainbow Dash's scathingly furious reaction to Fluttershy's earlier testimony, even asserting that she never wants to she her again. Fluttershy runs away in tears, Phoenix admonishes Rainbow for doing that, saying she took it too far.
Just what would a professional and level-headed attorney like Edgeworth do in Phoenix's shoes? Let's just say the mental image kinda backfired on Phoenix.
Phoenix also asks himself what Mia would do in a similar situation, several times recalling a conversation with her to gain resolve. It also helps him get over his suspicion that Sonata is somehow Mia reincarnated — Mia would never resort to underhanded tactics like Sonata does.
Like prosecutors from the Ace Attorney universe, Trixie has one. On the rare occasions where she is caught off-guard, her wizard's hat flies off her head, revealing her horn, before settling back down again, all while Trixie clenches her teeth.
Gilda screams/roars loudly, with several of her feathers falling off of her, when presented a contradiction in her testimony.
Rainbow Dash's reaction to Gilda, having taken Phoenix's instructions to keep silent way too seriously.
Twilight does a brief one when she sees that Phoenix is cross-examining Gilda of all people.
Wrong Context Magic: Phoenix introduces one of these with his spiritual powered Magatama. The interaction of Twilight's magic with it yields... interesting results.
You Can Talk?: The nearest Phoenix's ever been to speaking with an animal is cross-examining a parrot, so he doesn't take very well the fact that he's holding conversation with a purple pony.
Phoenix Wright himself gets to do this, albeit an indirect variation, to Trixie.
You Have Got to Be Kidding Me!: Nick's reaction to "cloud ballistics". He decides to not speak it up to avoid more troubles than he already has for not doing the research on Equestria.
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Trixie happily proceeds to take up Phoenix's desperate ploy to place Fluttershy under suspicion, even offering him a free ticket to her next performance.
"No matter how far you run, no matter how long you hide, the finger of justice will never lose sight of you."
; uploaded to PWaaMLPfim
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