//------------------------------//
// Twilight's Interview 
// Story: Election in Ponyville 3:  Destiny at Stake 
// by StormLuna 
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After what she viewed as a successful interview with Amethyst, Sunny headed towards the castle.  While many ponies would be thrilled to be able to interview Princess Twilight, Sunny felt a sense of dread.  She knew about how close Twilight was to the ultimate traditionalist, Applejack.  She began to wonder if she should question her about why she was running.  She thought to herself, "Asking this in her castle may be a mistake but this city has to know.  They have to know what her real plans are." 

When she arrived at the castle she knocked on the door.  Almost immediately she was greeted by Twilight, "Sunny Flames I take it."  

"Yes, I'm Sunny Flames."  Sunny replied. 

Twilight motioned for her to go in before yelling, "Spike, it's time for the interview." 

Twilight led Sunny and the camera crew into the throne room to find Spike there, waiting with a notebook and quill.  Sunny wasn't the least bit surprised.  She knew that when Amethyst brought up what might happen, that it likely would.   

While the crew was setting up, Sunny wanted to at least make some sort of conversation, "Princess Twilight, how is your day treating you?"

While Twilight would normally speak freely with most reporters and news personalities, she didn't feel so comfortable doing so with the famous news personality from back east.  She sighed, "Oh I'm doing alright.  Nothing special has been going on." 

Sunny could tell that Twilight wasn't exactly in the mood to talk, which was something that kind of surprised her given Twilight's role in Equestria.  Once the camera crew got set up Sunny asked, "Well princess, are you ready to do this?"

Twilight replied, "Yes, lets get this over with." 

The camera started rolling and Sunny began, "Good evening Equestria.  I am Sunny Flames and welcome to Politics Equestria.  Tonight I am interviewing Princess Twilight Sparkle from her home in the friendship castle."  The camera then went to where it was showing them sitting across from one another.  Sunny continued, "Princess Twilight, many ponies are likely curious as to why you decided to run when Amethyst has brought about so much prosperity." 

Twilight replied, "Well, here is the thing.  Many ponies may be doing well off but when I first came here, Ponyville was a small community full of traditions that brought the whole town together.  Those were things that I always enjoyed and even after I got my wings and my castle, nothing seemed to change. " 

"Alright," Sunny asked, "I understand how things used to be but why are you going up against a popular incumbent?  Why are you going up against a pony whose economic policies have benefited everycreature?"

Twilight sighed, "Well a large part of it is because I know plenty of ponies who miss the old traditions.  I know plenty who miss publicly funded festivals, traditions like Winter Wrap Up, the small town charm, everypony knowing one another and the quiet nights.  Once Ponyville got casino gambling, there began to be ponies out at all hours of the night and that new end of town feels a lot like Las Pegasus, that place never sleeps." 

Sunny asked, "So I'm taking it that if you are elected you'd want to shut them down?  I take it you'd want to put so many creatures out of work?"

Twilight knew exactly what Sunny was up to.  She knew that she was going to try to trick her into losing a huge part of the electorate and provide Amethyst with plenty to work with in the debate.  She replied, "I never said I wanted to shut those places down.  I do think that perhaps forcing them to close at ten every night might be a good idea.  That way they can still have their casinos and Ponyville won't wind up exactly like Las Pegasus." 

Sunny asked, "You have brought up how you know plenty who miss the old traditions.  If that is the case, then why did Amethyst, a pony who got rid of so many traditions, get over 98% of the vote in the primary?" 

Twilight knew that again Sunny was trying to get her into a situation that would sink her.  She replied, "Well I think it was in large part due to her opponents.  Trixie Lulamoon lacked the seriousness to gain any votes beyond hers and that of her best friend.  Rarity, while she is a friend of mine, I think ponies didn't think that she truly had the know how to be mayor.  When it came to Colgate, she was basically an Amethyst who wanted to be reckless with the town funds and the fact that she is openly racist didn't help her any either." 

"I see," Sunny continued "but still, going up against somepony that popular is going to be an uphill climb.  What are your plans if you were to win this election?  What would you do as mayor?"

Twilight began, "Now I'm sure Amethyst, Sea Swirl, The Ponyville Department of Tourism and Economic Development and the hotels will try to scare everypony into thinking that the return of traditions would kill the town's economy but it won't.  One thing I would want to do is scrap these mages and return things to how they used to be." 

"I see." said Sunny.

Twilight continued, "I would see to it that things such as The Running of the Leaves, creating winter and Winter Wrap Up are restored.  I would also return the Nightmare Night Festival to being what it used to be, a community funded festival instead of some emotionless event funded by private donors." 

"Princess Twilight," Sunny asked "during the last election Iron Will brought up similar things and everycreature knows that if you make the weather cold here for three months out of the year, that will wipe out three months of tourism and thus, leave all the creatures' jobs who are tied into tourism without a paycheck for three months.  How are they supposed to make a living with no paycheck coming in?"

Twilight knew that Sunny was again trying to get her to slip up but took it in stride, "Well given how much Ponyville has grown, I think that we would have enough in the way of tourists coming in regardless of the weather.  That argument may have worked four years ago before our town had grown too big but now, I don't think bringing back the long held, beloved traditions would hurt anything." 

"Twilight," Sunny asked "as you know a huge portion of the population of Ponyville are newcomers.  The percentage of the city's population that has been here since before Amethyst took over is quite small.  Even out of those, a fair amount of them were thrilled when Amethyst scrapped those costly, antiquated events.  Why do you think that all these creatures would want to have to change seasons the old fashioned way?"

While Twilight had done plenty of preparing, this is something that she was not prepared for, it was something she never even thought of.  "Well they might want to embrace old traditions.  They might think it would be doing Ponyville a great service by taking part in such wonderful traditions."

At that point Sunny decided to try and expose Twilight given that she is not a Ponyville native, "I'm curious princess, before you moved to Ponyville, what were your opinions on changing seasons the old fashioned way?  When you were still up in Canterlot and you knew communities did that way, what was your thought on that?"

At that point Twilight knew that Sunny and likely ENC in general was going to do everything they could to sink her.  Despite that though, she figured that she would be truthful, "I'm going to admit, before I came to Ponyville, I thought of such things as ridiculous and wondered why they didn't just use magic to change the seasons like they do in Canterlot." 

Sunny asked, "What was it that caused you to change your views on it and why do you think that creatures who actually work for a living, creatures who own businesses and creatures who never even heard of this event would want to take part in something that involves heavy manual labor."

What Sunny said hit Twilight wrong.  Twilight had been doing a good job of holding it in but this time she just couldn't.  She snapped, "What, you're bringing up creatures who have jobs because apparently I didn't do anything?"  Twilight then calmed down and realized her mistake.  She continued, "I'm sorry Sunny but just because I didn't have a job didn't mean I didn't have any responsibilities." 

Sunny asked, "Ok but could you answer the question please?  I'm certain the voters will be curious." 

Twilight sighed, "I changed my views because I began to understand friendship and how important events that bring ponies together are.  Regarding the newcomers and business owners, like I said before.  They might know about Ponyville's past and want to embrace old traditions." 

Sunny asked, "Princess Twilight, what are your views on economic issues?  What are your views on things such as taxes, public funding and city growth, things involving what businesses to allow in and any kind of cap on growth." 

Twilight had more traditional views on such things but she knew she couldn't just come out and state her true thoughts if she wanted to win.  "Well when it comes to taxes, I think things are fine the way they are.  I know everypony celebrated the eradication of the municipal property tax and that is one thing that I would never restore." 

"And what about city growth and businesses?"  asked Sunny.

Twilight knew that this was going to be a tough one to answer but with this, she couldn't lie, "Well I do think that any healthy community should have a cap on growth.  I personally think that Ponyville has expanded far enough to the north.  If it goes much further, they will have to start clearing part of the Everfree Forest or the Apple Family will have to sell their farm out to private corporations because of pressure from Amethyst." 

"And what of the businesses?"  asked Sunny. 

Twilight replied, "Well I have noticed something about the businesses Amethyst allows in.  Here lately, every single one of them has been owned by unicorns and because of Ponyville's extremely low unemployment rate, they have to bring their own employees in, who all happen to be unicorns.  I don't know if Amethyst is enticing them with special favors or it is completely coincidental but I would reach out to earth pony and pegasus owned businesses and entice them to come here." 

This really piqued Sunny's interest, "You say you would entice companies owned by earth ponies and pegasi to come here.  How exactly would you entice them?  Would this involve giving them city money or something else that would give them an advantage over businesses owned by unicorns and other creatures?"

Twilight again froze.  She realized that she had brought up something that she never should have.  She sat there flustered and rather than snapping Twilight back to reality, Sunny just let her sit there in silence.  After a full minute Twilight finally came to.  She shook her head and asked, "What was that again?"

Rather than Sunny responding, it would be Spike, "She asked about what advantages you'd give earth pony and pegasus owned businesses to come here."

Twilight replied, "Thanks Spike."  She then turned to Sunny and continued, "Well I would give them an exemption when it comes to their business taxes.  I think what Amethyst is trying to do is increase the unicorn population to the point where she will always win and tradition will never return."  Twilight again began to become agitated, "I think she won't rest until Ponyville is populated solely by unicorns, all the farms become factory farms and Ponyville is the biggest city in Equestria.  I don't want to see that happen." 

Sunny felt as though she had got enough out of Twilight so she began to finish, "Well everycreature, we are about out of time but I would like to thank Princess Twilight for so generously offering some of her time." 

Twilight sighed, "The pleasure was all mine."  

Sunny sighed off, "Thank you for watching tonight Equestria.  Up next is Global News, good night everycreature!" 

Once the cameras stopped rolling Twilight had a scowl on her face.  She knew that Sunny had one mission on this interview, to sink her chances of winning.  She wanted nothing more than to go off on Sunny but then began to think to herself, "Be the bigger pony, be the bigger pony, be the bigger pony."  She then approached Sunny and asked, "So when will this be aired?"

Sunny replied, "Well tomorrow I have to do interviews in Vanhoover, on Monday I have to do interviews in Las Pegasus and then I'll get back to Manehattan where I'll have to get all this ready to air.  I would say next Friday evening when we'll do a marathon airing of all these interviews." 

Twilight replied, "Alright, I'll be sure to watch." 

Once Sunny's crew got everything taken down, she wanted to get away from Twilight as soon as possible so without even saying goodbye she ordered, "Alright guys, we need to get to Vanhoover.  Let's get going." 





Twilight's Reaction

Sunny and her crew left and Twilight was furious.  With Sunny being gone she screamed, "I should have known!  I should have known that she would do anything and everything to sink my campaign!  I know she just loves Amethyst but I never thought she would stoop that low and to make matters worse, everypony in Equestria is going to see this.  Not only will it turn some voters against me, it will make me look like a bad princess!" 

Spike tried to comfort her, "Twilight, I'm sure everypony will see that she was treating you bad and maybe it will turn them against her and ENC.  Ponies know how you are, ponies know that only extreme stress would cause you to behave like that." 

Twilight sighed, "I certainly hope so.  I don't want to look like a bad princess."  She then began Twilighting, "What if Princess Celestia contacts me?  What if she orders me to drop out?  What if she was to come out and formally endorse Amethyst?"

Spike again tried to comfort her, "Twilight, calm down.  Nopony is going to think any less of you and Princess Celestia would never go out and endorse a candidate for any office!  That would be a conflict of interest if she did." 

Twilight sighed, "I hope not." 

While Twilight wanted so badly to tell her friends about this, she knew there were certain ones she couldn't.  She knew that Rainbow and Starlight were firmly behind Amethyst and would be happy over it and she knew that Applejack would be angry over her reaction.  All she could do was hope that they wouldn't react too badly when it was aired.