[HICHE] ADKoPD: Episode 20, Turnabout Horn

Objection! Your Honor, this episode was clearly just written to be a Phoenix Wright reference! (desk slam) I demand that this case be dismissed! (finger point) Author, what have you to say for yourself!? (blurred camera scroll) “Um…I liked Turnabout Storm?” Welcome, friends, to Episode 20 of “A Different Kind of Pegasus Device”.

[G-Docs Chapter Link – Turnabout Horn]

If I cop to coming up with the title before the plot because I wanted something Phoenix Wright-based, would it help? Sad fact, the original early state of this episode was lost entirely during the before-mentioned hard drive unmounting, and is the one I am most uncertain about the original placement of, not that it really matters to the story. Speaking of, this time we’re following Rarity on a mission as she takes a break from her anti-stunner fabric project, getting teamed with project partners Medley and Noteworthy, plus Castle, a crystal pony. Please note than nopony else is a unicorn. Their Jumper arrives on the new planet through a grounded Stargate, finding a town with a pink castle nearby. They land and explore, but they’re found by a group of unicorns who seem surprised that Rarity’s horn can use magic and call the Stargate a “Wraith Well”. Uh-oh. Castle quickly cloaks the Jumper before they’re all led to the castle (this may get confusing…) to meet the Three Princesses.

It’s been a while since our last encounter with a past-Gen world chunk, and unless I’m wrong, this will actually be the last new one we meet, also being the last major realm yet unvisited (I have other stories for other stray lore): the G3 unicorns of Unicornia. In G3, Unicornia only features in three episodes, so there are only about five unicorns who are given more than throwaway dialogue, and three of them are right here: the Princesses of Unicornia, Cheerilee (not that one), Brights Brightly, and Whistle Wishes, who are so unique and interesting that they will henceforth be referred to simply as ‘The Three’, but it’s probably Cheerilee who’s doing everything. One of the last named chapters in the whole story, “Greetings from Unicornia”, brings us to Unicornia’s Crystal Rainbow Castle to meet The Three, who tell the Expedition they stand accused of being Wraith agents, as no one else can use the Gate. (This place reeks of being a suspiciously perfect utopia, there must be something Orwellian going on…) Rarity is pardoned simply for being a unicorn, who can’t possibly be guilty, but the others are set to be put on trial against her objections. (Ah, there it is.)

Rarity barely has a chance to be curious if “crystal” in the castle’s name implies Crystal Pony technology before The Three offer her a position as Unicornia’s fourth princess, on the condition she not defend her friends in the trial, probably just to keep up appearances to the public of princesses and magic-using. You see, in G3, Rarity was a pink unicorn foal who had Spike’s voice and Rainbow Dash’s personality, and she had a big role in the G3 special “The Runaway Rainbow” wherein she becomes the fourth Princess of Unicornia, so I’m inserting G4’s Rarity in place of her G3 self’s role. Rarity holds off on answering.

In any Phoenix Wright game, the most exciting part is always the courtroom, but sadly it’s the least-planned part of this story. Day one of the trial is about to start, when someone arrives to help the Expedition: Lily Lightly, the final G3 unicorn with a personality, and the Expedition’s defense attorney…ish stand-in for the legal system in place, but close enough. The tone is set when Lily privately refers to the Princesses as “The Three Who Rule”, an ominous-sounding reference to Doctor Who vampires. She volunteered to help them because her horn also glows, which shouldn’t be possible since she’s not a Princess, leading her to conclude something else is going on and trying to secretly figure it out. Lily’s uniquely glowing horn is borrowed from G3’s “Come Back, Lily Lightly”, but takes the idea and runs with it in a completely different direction. She also assigns Rarity as co-council (no, no one will be channeling spirits mid-trial here). Because The Three will collectively serve as the judge, the role of prosecutor was open, but nopony else in G3 was worth stepping up to fill it, so the position remains unassigned. My only idea was “the photonegative of pink is green”, but the only green unicorn’s name was the unusable ‘Feeling Flitter’—like, how is that even a name? I have 2 Flitters, a Flutter, 5 Shines, a few bug cutie marks, and ice cream, not a lot of choices befitting an Edgeworth or Von Karma role. The only written courtroom scene involves The Three doubling-down that only Wraith are able to use the Gate and references a few things I learned in debate and philosophy classes before the question arises of whether this lasts only one day or drags itself out to two. Whatever happens, the Expedition is about to be found guilty before Rarity stands up and agrees to join The Three if the trial is extended another day.

As The Three try to smother her in fake kindness, Rarity wastes no time in (with difficulty) copying Twilight’s teleportation spell to escape. There’s some important investigation she needs to do without their watchful eyes, and she chooses to only break out Castle to help so as not to arise suspicions. While exploring with Castle (who I try to make a reference or two to “Castle” the TV show with—I’ve only seen an episode or two), Rarity finds out why these ponies are convinced the Gate isn’t usable by just anyone: the planet’s dialing pedestal has been hidden away in a storehouse, leaving no means of dialing the Gate except by Dart or Jumper, as SGA’s Pegasus Galaxy Stargates are digital and can’t be dialed manually. She also finds a magic wand (from G3) that’s clearly Crystal Pony tech, though its purpose isn’t obvious. This leads us into the big lore deal. I haven’t actually hammered out the timeline of when they fly overhead, but, as in “Runaway Rainbow”, there are three colored shooting stars representing the Princesses that fly overhead leading up to a celebration, but I’ve of course added a Stargate twist on it. In G3, the Rainbow Day Celebration restores color to the land every year through the power of four specifically-colored unicorns, and all colors will fade to white if the spell is delayed. In this story, coloring the land is replaced with saturating it with a magical rainbow energy that repels and harms the Wraith, similar to many other such Crystal pony defenses left strewn across the galaxy. As The Three have claimed to be the only magic unicorns, they haven’t had a fourth to trigger the protection mechanism in quite a while, and its lingering effects are fading. If they vanish, then a Wraith subspace beacon being suppressed by the magic field will be allowed to activate again, drawing the Wraith to the planet. The beacon is in some undecided state where it can’t just be destroyed or disabled, so somehow retriggering the mechanism is the only way.

Armed with that knowledge and putting a plan into place to blow the lies all open, Rarity returns to court the next day as if nothing had happened, The Three keeping silent to avoid embarrassment at her escape; also, Lily’s not there. To match Phoenix Wright’s dramatic timing, this will have to be made the third and final day of the trial by splitting Day 1 into two days with an intermission, but heck if I can think how. After some undecided build-up, Lily drops the illusion spell that made her look like Medley, who uncloaks the Jumper floating inside the courtroom. The local unicorns are shocked at Lily’s magic use, and The Three realize their charade is coming apart, so they book it. They bring the dialer to the Gate, but Rarity stops them with this conclusive proof that non-Wraith can use the Stargate and a final “Take that!” Unfortunately, a fourth, white star flies overhead, signaling the ambient rainbow protection has faded completely, and it’s a rush to explain what the mechanism is and activate it before the Wraith beacon can. The Princesses and Rarity try activating it, and are unsuccessful the first time (as in G3), but Rarity has Lily Lightly take her place and the second attempt works, having needed a pink unicorn’s magic (which Rarity had been in G3, but dramatic irony). In the aftermath, The Three are deposed and replaced, with Lily now among the group of four princesses; the G3 unicorns are brought up to speed on the truth behind the Stargates; and Castle manages to get rid of the beacon for good.

“Rarity Investigates!” was still seasons away when I wrote the body of this draft. The initial idea for a courtroom episode was molded by SG-1’s “Cor-ai” (which guest-stars Rarity’s VA Tabitha St. Germain under her former name of Paulina Gillis as a would-be defender who was replaced by the main characters, go figure), where one of the team gets put on trial for who they were, so I figured I’d flip the script and j’accuse all but one of the team for who they weren’t. That’s my idea of being clever. Case dismissed! Join us next time, where the shadow of the Wraith gives us a grim reminder of its presence in “The Honest One”.