April 4, 12:40pm
Auditorium No. 6
Backstage

It was a 40-minute walk to the school and to the backstage for Phoenix. When he arrived, he saw his friend accompanying a few police ponies, who are investigating the scene. He also saw Twilight having a chat with her 5 friends; Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack.

"Hm? Oh, Nick's here!", Maya suddenly called and she made an approach to Phoenix then gave an angry pout, "Nick, you ditched us earlier, leaving without telling us! How could you!".

"You weren't seeing other women, were you, Mr. Nick!?", Pearl butted in as she also made her approach and rolled up her right sleeve for combat, "You better not be cheating on Mystic Maya!".

"No, I wasn't seeing other women. I just went to see Sonata and did a little run to find Aria.", Phoenix replied casually, not really giving the full details.

"Mm... You have to be sure about that!", Maya said, still fumed before giving a plastic coffee cup to the lawyer, "Pinkie said it's on the house. She gave one to Mr. Edgeworth too. And she made sure it doesn't have any side effects to us.". Phoenix, stunned and confused, gladly accepted the coffee cup.

"YO NIX!", Rainbow Dash's voice boomed in excitement as she took flight and dashed right to Phoenix, but her flight had faltered as she flew into some hanging wires and the wires broke, causing small electrical explosions before she fell on the floor, all tangled in the wires.

"Ms. Dash, I have had it with your carelessness!", Edgeworth scolded as he pointed at the fallen rainbow Pegasus, "This crime scene is off-limits to you now!".

"Oh, give me a break!", Rainbow Dash growled as she struggled to free herself, "Nix, you're my lawyer! Tell him off for me!". However, Phoenix chose to go on Edgeworth's side.

"He's right, Rainbow. If you won't behave, that always happens.", he replied casually, taking a sip from the coffee cup and looked at Edgeworth, "So... Have you guys found anything new here?".

"Not yet. The murder weapon is still missing.", Edgeworth replied, glancing at Phoenix, "Nevertheless, we can't just assume the killer must've thrown Aria against the wall, in haste to kill her. There's no bloodstain on the wall to prove that fact.". Phoenix completely agreed with that.

'He's right. The killer must've disposed the weapon when they left the scene after committing their crime.'

As he was deep in thought, he heard a door creaked opened and saw an exit door of the backstage opened just a crack. And the same Unicorn filly with green features, the one he encountered earlier, was watching them with a timid look. Phoenix stiffened a bit after she saw the filly.

'It's her again... I've seen her before, but she ran away for some reason... Wait, could she be...'

The filly noticed Phoenix looking at her. She gasped and closed the exit door with a slam, alerting everyone and everypony else. Faint hoofsteps were heard on the other side of the door, meaning the filly must've ran away.

"H-Hey, wait!", Phoenix called, now coming to his senses and followed the filly, to the confusion of his three friends. Twilight was a bit curious so she decided to follow too.

The chase continued as Phoenix followed the filly down stairs and saw her walk out the school through the back exit door. "Phoenix!", Twilight called as she managed to catch up with the human lawyer, "What's going on? Who was that filly?".

"I don't know... But I think I can make a guess that she must be Willow Breeze, Aria's friend.", Phoenix as he walked to the back exit door to continue following the filly, "I know she might not have something to do with all this, but her reaction says otherwise. I mean... If she has nothing to do with the case, she wouldn't have such a scared reaction like she's hiding something.". Twilight mentally connected the dots and got what Phoenix is talking about.

"Wait... Are you saying she might be a suspect?", she guessed, earning a nod from Phoenix, "But... She's a filly! And further more, she's Aria's friend. What would be her motive to attack Aria?".

"Not that I'm sure. That filly does look like the type who can't hurt anyone.", Phoenix agreed, opening the exit door, "But we have to find out what she's hiding and find out about it quickly before she runs off again.". Twilight agreed with a nod and she followed Phoenix out the door and down a passageway, looking around for the filly. They suddenly heard some scurrying noises, as if somepony was trying to look for something in a messy area.

And that guess was right.

Because they both saw the filly rummaging through some garbage bags, somehow in haste of looking for something. Her teal magic aura was lighting up and she was seen taking out a white plastic bag from the rest of the garbage bags. That's where things took a turn. Phoenix saw it wasn't just a plastic bag, but a plastic bag holding or was wrapped around something solid, and he could make out the shape of a small mallet in the plastic bag. And the weight of the mallet must be heavy as he noticed the filly was having a hard time holding it in her aura. But what else he noticed made his blood turn into ice.

He could see a dry bloodstain on the plastic bag.

Right when the filly turned to leave, she let out a yelp as she saw she was cornered by Phoenix and Twilight. She dropped the plastic bag she was holding up, the bag made a faint hammer bang-like sound as it hit the ground. Phoenix was already thinking ahead; the mallet in the plastic bag must be the murder weapon. And the filly was planning to escape with it.

'No way... She's actually... If she has the murder weapon, then...'

He shared the same worried expression with Twilight, who also knew where this leads. The filly didn't move. She was stiffened in fear as she was caught red-hoofed. "Twilight, get back to the crime scene and get one of the police here! Quick!", Phoenix didn't hesitate to even think about what he just said. Of course he didn't want to do this, but it was confirmed the filly did had something to do with the case.

"I'm on it!", Twilight said as she took flight and went back to the crime scene. The filly remained silent with a guilty expression, to which Phoenix finds suspicious.

'She's not panicking...? Does she even know what's gonna happen when the police get here?'

The police arrived a minute later and they arrested the filly with no hesitation. The investigation continued further after finding new evidence; the bloodstained mallet, which was assumed to be the murder weapon, that was wrapped in the plastic bag. The said evidence was going to be analyzed to see whose blood and whose hoofprints or magic aura were on it. However, despite that he was supposed to be relieved he had found a new lead, Phoenix felt guilty and heartbroken that he actually accused a filly to be the real culprit.

Back at the prison cell holder, Sonata was waiting patiently on her prison bed. She heard a few police ponies having a conversation about arresting a filly. She mentally prayed that they're not talking about Aria.

To her relief, it wasn't about Aria.

But to her sudden shock, it was somepony else. Somepony she also cared about.

"Knock knock, inmate.", a police stallion greeted with a small smile as he unlocked the prison cell door, "You're free to go now.". Sonata was a bit surprise.

'Already...? I wonder what Phoenix did earlier to prove my innocence...'

Sonata got up and walked out of her prison cell before looking at the stallion with a questioning look, "Pardon me, but can you tell me what's going on? Why am I suddenly let out?".

"Well... We found a new suspect for the case.", the stallion replied, frowning a bit, "And sadly, there's solid evidence to prove her guilt.". With that, the same filly, who got arrested earlier, walked into the cell room. Sonata was suddenly in deep shock and great concern after acknowledging the filly.

"W-Willow Breeze!?", she exclaimed as she looked at the filly, who had a guilty look, "What happened!? What are they talking about, that you're a suspect of this case!?". The filly, now revealed to be Willow Breeze, stayed silent for a bit.

"... I'm sorry. I had to.", she replied in a sad whisper. The police stallion escorted Sonata out the prison cell holder, leaving Willow locked up.