The reporters noticed Lauren’s hesitation to answer the question. For the average pony, it would just look like she took a moment (around three seconds to be precise) to properly think about the answer she was about to give. But the reporters could see the for them pretty obvious signs.
Now, this on itself wasn’t really a problem. Even Princess Celestia from time to time hesitated with an answer. One just had to be careful not to do this kind of thing too often, lest the politician in question risks being seen as weak or incompetent. Exaggeration? Yes, but reporters loved to “spice things up” as they say.
“I don’t think I’ll be fully able to explain the circumstances today, so I’ll keep this brief, for now. Traveling between worlds is a ...complicated matter to say the least. Of course, this is hardly a problem for someone like Discord, who can change the laws of physics if he feels like it. But for ponies? Even alicorns struggle with a spell as complicated as this one. There are many more factors to consider, such as finding the right world to travel to (although I wouldn’t mind visiting one of the Disney Movies) and much more, but we have only so much time today. I hope my answer could satisfy your curiosity at least a little bit.”
Judging by the expression on everypony’s face, they clearly wanted more information, but luckily didn’t press the issue. Instead, another set of hooves raised into the air and Lauren picked another pony from the crowd.
“Your highness, you mentioned earlier you wrote stories for a living in the other world. Would you mind to elaborate further on that particular topic?”
“Hmm...where to begin?” Lauren wondered to herself before she answered the actual question. “Well...obviously I had to somehow establish a living. Since writing is already my special talent, I decided to write children stories.”
“For a thousand years?” the reporter asked.
Oh yeah. That does seem kind of...dull. To do for a millennium that is.
“It wasn’t like I did it all the time. I...still tried to find a way back.” Oh, I so hope Celestia and Luna didn’t see through my lie. How many times have I lied to them already? Wow, I’m already starting to feel like a real politician. How long have I been in Equestria exactly?
“It became a sort of...routine over time one might say.”
Another pony, another question.
“Did you ever politically involve yourself with those...humans, was it?”
Oh, that would be the day. Lauren thought sarcastically to herself.
“Not really.”
“You didn’t? Why not? Wouldn’t they accept your political expertise?” the reporter asked.
Lauren frowned a little bit. “I guess I should clear things up. When I was sent into the other world, I was also turned into a human.”
The eyes of the pony reporters widened at the revelation. Some of them even began murmuring with each other.
“The effect reversed when I traveled back to Equestria. My best guess at this point is that if you travel to another world, the magic of the world “adapts” you in a way to fit into this world. Of course, this is pure speculation at this point in time.” Wasn’t the original idea with Equestria Girls that the mirror was somehow responsible for the transformation? Well, so far we haven’t been able to fully flesh out the idea and it wasn’t an important point in the movies we released so far.
“In any event, you need to remember I knew nothing about their society when I arrived. I hardly knew how my body worked either.” Lauren shook her head, remembering when she suddenly woke up in a pony body. She still hadn’t gotten over this.
“Over time I manage to establish myself a place in their society. Of course, I never told anyone about where I came from or who I really was, because I had no way of proving who I was. Initially, I didn’t even plan to stay there for long. However, as I already said, traveling between worlds...it’s not easy unless you’re Discord. Because then you just ignore the rules and turn the planet into one giant muffin for good measure. Back on topic, I chose a mostly civilian lifestyle and never got more involved in their politics that I deemed necessary.”
“Does that mean rather than directly, you indirectly influenced the political field?” another mare asked. She sounded like she knew what she was talking about and was older than most of the present ponies.
“Hmm, I guess you could say that.” Not that I really did much, aside from voting and a few other things. Really, the biggest impact I had was with the fourth generation of My Little Pony...I think I shouldn’t tell them that.
“I see…” the mare muttered, taking notes.
“So, who’s next?”
I’m actually starting to enjoy this. Wait, I just admitted to enjoying lying. Maybe I really am a politician…
“Bolt Writer, your highness. How was your social life in this other world? Did you have friends?”
Lauren almost scoffed. “Of course. There’s never a reason to not make any friends. Unless I am misremembering something, friendship is the very thing this nation is built upon.”
“Forgive me, your highness. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Did I really come over as upset? Oh, the wings. I guess I better watch my posture.
Indeed, Lauren accidentally slightly extended her wings, making it look like she took a somewhat aggressive stand. As carefully as possible, Lauren moved her wings back to the sides of her body.
“I’m sorry about this. I didn’t mean to scare you.” I really need to watch out. Ponies express themselves more through their body language than humans do.
“So, any more questions?”
Several more hooves were raised into the air.
“Your majesty, while we’re on the subject of friends...forgive me for being so blunt, but do you mayhaps have a special somepony in your life?”
This question totally caught Lauren off guard. After all, the subject of potential boyfriends or coltfriends as they were called in Equestria, was never an issue with Luna or Celestia. Or was it really? It was one thing to never bring up the subject in a television show for kids, seeing as this wasn’t of any relevance to said show? But real life? That was something completely different.
And because in children’s cartoons certain laws of the physical world do not apply, everypony present could clearly see the blush appearing on Lauren’s cheeks. And of course, she made the mistake to open her mouth.
“I..er...I mean, maybe?”
Why was she so nervous? Why couldn’t she answer this particular question with dignity? After all, back on earth naturally she had been asked how the relationship with her husband was going and whether she planned to have any children or not. It had already been an embarrassing topic back then, but she took it a lot better than today. Was it maybe because all of these ponies were her subjects or that maybe suddenly an entire nation would care about what she said?
The reason didn’t matter. The fact remained that she had uttered those words in a way that made her look like a high school girl, who was talking about her crush with her best friends. This was almost as bad (or even worse) than outright saying that she was married.
Nevertheless, the damage was done. Camera lights flashed, trying to get a good picture of an utterly embarrassed queen, the reporters were now bombarding Lauren with questions and Celestia and Luna mutually decided that this interview was over.