"Why do you ask me about a library, a meaningless, nothing library?" Tirek asked as he backed away from the cage. "You make it sound like I killed somepony, which I did not."
I couldn't believe how Tirek had been behaving during this whole interview. To him, the Golden Oak Library was more than just a library, it was a home to Princess Twilight. Part of me wanted to tell him about how Twilight was feeling that day when I saw her being consoled by her friends. But no. I had to remain professional.
"I wouldn't say that, Tirek," I replied. "But, that library was a home to Princess Twilight and you took it away from her all because of magic you probably weren't going to hold on to for very long. But, let me ask you this, do you value life in even an ounce of your soul?"
Tirek raised an eyebrow and felt as if I was being impractical, which in reality, I wasn't. He was probably just assuming that I was attacking his actions.
"Life? Do you think that I value life?" he remarked. "No, I never valued life to begin with, colt. I value power and power alone. My goal is to rule over these pathetic creatures like yourself and thanks to Princess Twilight and her friends, that is a goal that I will never fulfill."
"I don't know how to say this, Tirek," I replied. "But, perhaps it is best you remain here in this prison you now call home. I, for one, think that you were probably given a chance that not only could have given you freedom, but also a chance to live, avoid being killed in the most gruesome fashion for your actions."
I then turned around to see Lock Up motioning for me to finish up the interview as quickly as possible.
"Life doesn't matter to me, colt," sneered Tirek. "Power does and not you, not that worthless brother of mine not even the princesses can make me change my life. If I am to one day die for my crimes, then I will die with no regrets."
"Just as you did to the library," I said, writing down what Tirek had just said. "I don't think you understand this, Tirek, but trees have lives of their own."
"Why do you keep bringing up the library, you fool?" asked Tirek. "Stop it!"
"No, I am not going to stop it," I answered. "Because the Golden Oak Library will symbolize everything that you had done to Equestria and the lives you had destroyed or even damaged for life. Princess Twilight may have a castle to call her own, but not even a magnificent castle can replace what that library brought to her."
"Are you here to interview me or preach over something so meaningless that I don't care about?" Tirek said. "If you are, then I suggest that you leave me alone."
Tirek was right, I should leave because there is no way that somepony like him was going to listen and understand the consequences of what he had done. I had already written down what I had planned to publish in the article that I was going to work on when I came back.
"Then, you will get your wish," I said, rising to my feet. "But, remember this, that one day you will come to see the error of your ways, Tirek and you will one day regret your actions. You will see."
Tirek didn't listen to what I had to say and instead showed his back to me in a rude manner. Sighing heavily, I walked away from the cage and back towards Lock Up, feeling in a sense, defeated at being unable to get Tirek to be remorseful for his actions. How could I, a simple reporter from Manehattan, be able to get a monster to show any empathy for stealing magic from everypony to satisfy his own needs? If he can't listen to reason, then he will never listen to anything.
"I am done here, Lock Up," I said. "He can stay in there forever if he knows what is good for him."
"Oh, he won't be going anywhere," he replied as I climbed into the chariot to take me back to Manehattan. "I have direct orders from Princess Celestia that if Tirek does escape again, then he will pay for the escape with his life and his life alone."
I didn't say anything to back up this statement and instead motioning for the guardsponies to make their way back to Manehattan. Leaving the darkened prison behind, all I could do was think of the article I was going to write about this interview with a soulless villain. Eventually, I returned to my apartment and slowly walked up the steps into my apartment. Finally, I went inside and collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted and wanting to just curl up into a ball and never come out of it. This was a draining experience that I knew was not going to go away anytime soon.
But, I had to face it eventually and the sounds of knocking broke my solitude.
"Coloratura, I wasn't expecting you to show up," I said as the singer-songwriter walked into the apartment. "I guess you are probably wondering how my interview went?"
"Yeah, you look as if you had been hit by a train or something," she remarked. "I take your interview was draining."
"Yes, it was," I said as I walked back towards the kitchen to get myself some water. "I tried to make him seem remorseful for what he had done, Coloratura. But, he just won't listen to reason."
"A creature like Tirek?" asked Coloratura. "Of course, he won't listen to reason and he never will listen to reason. All that matters now is to tell Equestria the story that Tirek has no regrets for what he did. So, what do you think you will do now?"
"I don't know, Rara," I sighed, walking back over towards the sofa and sitting back down on it. "I just don't know. Perhaps I can get Twilight's side of the story over what had happened and get that interview I was denied a while back."
"That is if she wants to, Scoop," advised Coloratura. "But just try and get over what you had done here. You've done your duty and now its time to move on to the next best thing."
I knew Coloratura was right, but I couldn't exactly move on right away from this interview. It was going to take time to absorb and who knew what the next few days would bring as I wrote this story?
…