Turnabout Storm Parts 59-60 Updated... · 2:46pm Oct 15th, 2018
With Part 59 - Of Mares and Men seeing some hefty additions to the attorney misconduct board scenes.
Before, the hearings were too short, and a major figure was not heard from--The Judge. Now, he has some very pointed things to say about both Phoenix and Trixie's performance during Rainbow Dash's trial, and Fluttershy makes a plea on Phoenix's behalf as well:
Delta Requiem nodded slowly, even thoughtfully. “Very well, Miss Sparkle. Thank you for your statement. Are there any other witnesses who wish to speak up on Mister Wright’s behalf?
“Um… may I?” A quiet and shaky voice offered from behind them; Phoenix was surprised to see Fluttershy timidly raising a hoof. “If that’s okay, Missus Your Honor?”
Delta and the other board members looked amused at that. “This is not a court of law, so please just refer to me as ‘Lady Requiem’, Miss Fluttershy. And yes, you may.”
“Oh! Okay…” she gathered herself carefully before gliding down to the floor in front of the board bench, cringing slightly as the seven-member board looked down at her, waiting, some with curiosity and others with a noticeable measure of disdain.
“Um, it’s just that, well… I don’t want Mister Phoenix punished for what he did to me, Missus—I-I mean, Lady Requiem. He was trying to help Rainbow, and that’s all that matters to me. He didn’t mean to hurt me or anypony else, and he already said he was sorry for it. So, please don’t punish him for it?” she asked tentatively, catching herself from retreating behind her bangs a few times, forcing herself to stand tall and address the board.
Delta stared at her silently for a few seconds; Phoenix could tell she was considering her next words very carefully. “Miss Fluttershy, your willingness to forgive Mister Wright does you great credit, and that there was no lasting harm to you is noted. But the fact remains that by his own admission, he knowingly and falsely accused you,“ she said slowly with a glance around at the other board members, who gave nods of agreement back.
“But—” Fluttershy tried again, only for Delta to shake her head.
“I’m sorry, Miss Fluttershy,” she said more gently, “but I do wish you to know that I read the trial transcripts and I think what you did there was a very brave and noble thing. I thank you for coming forward, both then and now, as I can tell how hard it was for you. Be assured that our ruling in this matter will be just and fair, and that your words and actions will be given due weight.”
“Oh. Um... okay...” Fluttershy conceded, stepping back as she realized she couldn’t get any more traction than she already had, Phoenix giving her a grateful smile and nod.
“Next, I would like to hear from the presiding judge of the trial. I understand you wish to address the board, Your Honor?” Lady Requiem turned to The Judge in the first row of the gallery.
“I do,” he confirmed, stepping up to the podium dressed in his judicial robes again instead of the Bermuda shorts and suspenders he was wearing for the trip up. “I would like this board to know that Mister Wright has been a fixture of my courtroom for some time back on our own world. His tactics are very... unorthodox, and when I first hear his theories, I often consider them insane."
Phoenix winced at that. Could you sugarcoat it any less, Your Honor?
“If they are, then why have you not sanctioned him before?” One of the other board members, a bespectacled unicorn stallion, asked.
“Because too often, even his wildest theories bare fruit... as they did here. Though I would never have thought this possible at the point the accusation was made, Mister Wright was correct in that the feather was significant, even if not in the way he initially suggested. It is for that reason I tend to give him a bit more leeway than other lawyers in my court, simply because I have seen him uncover the truth in such unlikely fashions repeatedly... though I often find it aggravating the circuitous route he takes getting there,” he said, his expression turning both exasperated and annoyed for a moment.
“His trial record is amazing, but not without blemish; my experience is that he tends to bluff and bluster his way through cases far more than I am comfortable with, to the occasional detriment of his client and witnesses alike,” The Judge concluded.
“I see. So this is not the first time he has falsely accused an innocent witness?” Lady Requiem read between the lines.
“It is not,” he confirmed with a reproachful look at Phoenix. “As this was the second occurrence in as many cases, I saw fit to sanction him this time. Miss Fluttershy also requested of me not to punish Mister Wright, and though I was not unmoved by her plea, I simply do not feel I can allow him to make wild accusations with impunity regardless of the eventual outcome of the case. Though I have borne first-hand witness to his many courtroom turnabouts and can also speak readily to the many crimes he has solved and falsely accused defendants he has freed, I have also seen the damage his tactics can do when he trains his fire on the wrong target, as he did at least twice in this latest trial.”
“Well said, Your Honor,” Lady Requiem was nodding slowly, as were the other board members. “Then this board asks directly: as Mister Wright’s longtime judge, what would you have us do in this matter?”
The Judge turned to look directly at Phoenix as he spoke. “Make clear to Mister Wright by means of severe censure and other measures that these tactics are not acceptable, regardless of the outcome of the trial. That rules of law and standards of conduct must be followed for confidence in our judicial systems to be maintained, and to drive home that regardless of the circumstances, he must prepare fully and properly for each case rather than try to blindly blunder his way to victory,” he finished, his pointed words causing Phoenix to grimace.
You know, usually I think he’s completely dense, but then he turns around and comes up with something like this... he thought, raising his opinion of The Judge by several notches at that moment.
My reading on The Judge is he's actually smarter and more observant than he appears; he tends to play dumb a bit either for amusement or because he likes getting back at grandstanding attorneys, of which his courtroom sees far too many. There’s even some hints of this in the games, where often at the end he pulls out some surprisingly eloquent commentary. The rest of the chapter had minimal changes and clean-up, as I was already quite satisfied with most of it, particularly the ending where I teased and walked right up to the edge of Twilight x Phoenix, which was a favorite section of prereaders and commenters alike.
As for Part 60 - Drop the Bass, I also didn't do much other than the usual clean-up, as I rather liked what I did with Sonata's trial, having Vinyl Scratch as prosecutor and foreshadowing Octavia as a future and far more worthy opponent of Phoenix. For those that don't know and haven't read TLaTU, the events of early in the chapter regarding Twilight potentially sleepwalking/doing something with Phoenix she doesn't remember get explained more fully in The Lawyer and The Unicorn; in its central arc trial (Titled "The Heart's Turnabout") you'll find out exactly what happened those nights and why neither she nor Phoenix remember it.
Sorry for the delay on these two, but I spent a week in pain and found my creative energy at low ebb for it. Thanks go, as always, to my prereading crew of AJ_Aficionado, Silentwoodfire, Denim_Blue, and James CyberLink for both pointing stuff out and loading the parent Google Docs with suggestions and asides that are always enjoyable to read.
