//------------------------------// // Subject 37: Trial Continuation // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “First off. I’ve heard everything that’s been said thus far. And it’s true. Equestria does have a problem regarding how things are handled. I for one, know firsthoof despite being so young.” Flurry Heart stood before the crowd, and levitated a paper in front of her. “Okay...first item on the list: Complacence.” Oh? This would be interesting to listen to. “Just why do we princesses act so rashly and fire off magic spells at the first sign of a problem? Because the average citizen is extremely complacent and ignorant of the problems they face. It’s so bad, that the entire Kingdom and Empire are both extremely vulnerable to high level threats.” From the back of the room, I heard Luna whisper something to her sister. To which, the mare of the sun groaned in response while Luna giggled. Flurry continued. “Because of that, society is overly-dependent on us alicorns and the Elements of Harmony. This is why nopony is willing to think logically when faced with threats. It’s always impulse.” In a mock sort of fashion, she mushed her hooves against her cheeks as she mimicked a helpless innocent. “‘Oh quick! Let Celestia handle it! Let Luna take care of it! Twilight! Cadance!’ Bleh, bleh, blah!” she put her hooves down when she finished the little charade. I had to admit it was a bit humorous. “Doesn’t everypony realize that despite having immortal god-like powers, they’re still ponies like us. And like us, they can make mistakes. Nopony in this world is perfect. Whether you’re a pony, alicorn, dragon, draconequus, or some other creature. We all have problems.” I couldn’t believe what I heard. Despite her age, and her tendency to fool around, Flurry was a very well-spoken individual when it came to widespread problems. I was impressed. And so was her father. In the jury stand, Shining now had a look of disbelief on his face, rather than fear. Heh. Guess he never pegged his daughter for the intellectual type. The young alicorn pointed to the back of the room. “Aunt Celestia. Isn’t it true you felt pain and hate for yourself after you sent Luna away?” Everyone in the crowd turned their heads to look at her. “Yes. To this day, I still regret that choice.” Flurry pointed to Luna next. “And Aunt Luna. Isn’t it true you wish you could’ve been there for your subjects instead of hating your sister through the Nightmare facade for a thousand years?” Luna nodded. “Indeed. I only hope that, in time, everypony can forgive me.” Celestia nudged her. “They already have.” “Eh?” “Oh don’t act like you don’t know. I’ve seen the newspaper and movie ads. Ponies like you way more than me.” The blue alicorn blushed. Being put on the spot in such a way had to be embarrassing. “I--you--Flurry Heart, continue! Everypony turn around!” Cork and I had to keep ourselves from laughing. The congregation returned their attention to Flurry Heart. “Thanks. Now I propose a solution: More schools dedicated to combat. Both offensive and defensive. That way, our foals can grow up learning how to better protect themselves rather than relying on alicorns and Elements that may not always be there.” The crowd started to mumble amongst themselves for a moment. The reactions were mostly positive as they seemed to like the idea of everypony being able to defend themselves. Twilight especially loved the idea. I saw purple stars in her eyes for a moment. Until she thought of something. “Oooh...wait a second. Princess Flurry Heart,” she addressed her directly, “I beg your pardon. But this trial has to do with Pale Vestige and his desire to give Cozy Glow another chance. What does that have to do with it?” “Peh,” Flurry Heart waved her hoof in a dismissive manner, “Relax, relax. I’m getting there.” She turned her attention to the crowd again. “Anyhow. If Equestrians were more capable of defending themselves, we wouldn’t have to worry about more individuals like Cozy Glow rising to power. And if we gave Cozy Glow another chance, it would show the world that we are above those villains, and show unrelenting kindness and understanding. That way, nopony else would consider becoming like her in the first place.” Suddenly, a familiar, older stallion cried out from within the jury. “Objection!” “On what grounds, Neighsay?” Twilight questioned his plea. “On the grounds that Flurry Heart has it easy. Of course she can simply fling out words such as that.” Twilight nodded. “Go on.” Neighsay spoke louder so that everyone in the room could hear. “As an alicorn, Princess Flurry is granted many privileges that the average pony does not have. The attendance rate of the most prestigious schools are only a small fraction of the population. Opening more would not only be expensive to maintain, but unrealistic as well. Given how much strain it would put on the Education Association. In the future, please refrain from making claims that you yourself cannot sustain.” Flurry rolled her eyes, but stood firm on her stance. “Sure, sir. But I’ve already thought about all of that. But I’ll save those details for another time. But if we at least start with giving Cozy another chance, we can prove that Equestrians take care of each other. And not just the almighty.” “Please,” Neighsay commented from the stand, “Someone as young and inexperienced as yourself could never understand the ways of the world.” “Shut it.” Shining Armor glared at the older unicorn. Twilight gave a similar response. “Objection overruled. Ad hominem is not allowed in my court.” Neighsay sat back in his seat with a quiet scowl. “As much as I hate to say it, Twilight. He does have a point,” Flurry responded with an unexpected level of maturity. “It’s true. As an alicorn, I am blessed with things the average pony doesn’t get. In truth, I hate it--a little. It’s hard to make friends since I don’t know who’s being true and who isn't. I have all of this OP magical power that I was born with. But I didn’t earn any of it.” Wow. I absolutely did not expect her to go into a side tangent about that. This had my full attention. Flurry pointed a hoof at Twilight. “Princess Twilight earned her right to become an alicorn like my mom did. Through test after test. Trial after trial. She achieved the ability to master all forms of pony magic because she worked for it.” She looked at the floor in shame with a hoof against her chest. “But me? I didn’t. I was lucky. Just like Pale said he was. I know it’s totally like, a different ballpark. But even so. We were both lucky to be born into the lives that we have. Cozy Glow...wasn’t. She didn’t win the magical lottery of the game of life and probably suffered constantly. But did anypony ask? Did anypony ever wonder how she ended up that way? No...we didn’t. We cast magic at a problem, hoping it would go away.” The look on Shining Armor’s face caught my attention above all else. Tears of joy mixed with sorrow as he witnessed his daughter lay down the reality of her life. It was...painful to watch as he sobbed silently. “In fact...you wanna know how lucky I am?” Flurry Heart gazed at the crowd with a determined, forceful gaze. “My boyfriend is a baker that lives in a regular old town. He loves me for who I am, and I love him back.” Pound Cake. Flurry had plenty of tact to not make use of his name in such a crowded setting for his safety. Smart mare she was. She paced the floor as she rattled off her rant. “But here’s the thing. He’s a pegasus while both of his parents are earth ponies. So he’s extremely lucky also, given that he has such a loving household. You may ask why I would bring that up. It’s simple: With how lucky our genetics are, our child is essentially guaranteed to be an alicorn also!” she said with a stomp of her hoof. “AH!” Everyone in the courtroom gasped. Luna and Celestia didn’t show much of a reaction. Wait, were they completely aware of this? Holy shit! Shining Armor simply called out, “Ahem.” Flurry rolled her eyes. “Ugh, if we ever have a child. But you get the point. I am literally the luckiest mare in all of Equestrian history. So when I learned of how Cozy Glow’s life went, I was determined to find out everything for myself so that I may extend a hoof out to her. She was a child. She bucked up hard. But it’s been years since that happened. She’s actually older than I am, and much wiser.” That’s when she looked at me, “So if this regular old guy can have the balls to raise a case like this, then dammit I say we listen to him.” “Language, Flurry!” her father called out again. Twilight’s eyes were shot wide open. The speech from the young alicorn left quite the impression upon her it seemed. “I see...thank you for that...detailed analysis, Flurry Heart.” She gave a salute, and flew back to her seat. “No problem.” “Okay, does anypony else have a few words they would like to add?” “I would…” A rather lanky, purple dragon female rose from her seat. She took a deep breath, and flew to the front of the room. “I’ve known Ember for a long time. But her decision to rally every dragon to fight off Cozy Glow was a controversial one to say the least.” From her spot in the jury, I saw the former dragon lord take the words in stride. She knew that decision would have to come to light at some point. “I will say, it wasn’t her fault. Tirek, Cozy, and Chrysalis were all very dangerous, so we had no choice but to fight. But in doing so, our home was left unprotected and we lost a fair share of our gemstones.” Several members of the audience murmured words of sympathy towards the dragons. “It’s alright now,” she assured us, “we managed to get everything back from those stupid manticores. But we’re just afraid. If someone as crazy and powerful as Cozy Glow gets released again, and starts attacking everything, we don’t want to have to leave our home just to help the ponies with a problem of their own. I’m sorry…” she spoke bravely. But I could tell that those words pained the dragon to say. She didn’t want to come off as mean or rude, but she wanted to act out of the best interest for her home. I respected that. Another individual, a griffon female rose from her seat. Gray feathers. Was that Gabby? “I have something I want to say also!” I watched as Gilda sighed from the jury stands, but Twilight was more forgiving. “Alright, Gabby. You may go next.” The purple dragon took her seat, and the small griffon went before the crowd. “The griffons dealt with a similar problem. Though we kiiinda were worse off afterwards. After that battle, it took us years to get Griffonstone up and running again. Mainly due to the fact that we lacked any real leadership. But all of that changed recently,” she pointed to Gilda. “We elected Gilda as our new leader. We found that she was the strongest, and most capable of returning Griffonstone to its former glory. But it was only thanks to Princess Twilight and her loyal griffon guard Gallus giving us such a great idea from the get-go!” Gilda blushed at the compliment, but refused to comment on it. “Yes, it’s hard. But we all share this world,” Gabby continued, “It’s the only world we have. And if we all band together and take care of each other, I’m sure we can all help each other with our problems. Whether dragon, griffon, changeling, or batpony.” Short but sweet. Gabby knew how to make a statement without overstaying its welcome. Very good indeed. A few more individuals made some statements, and at last, we would be nearing the conclusion. “Members of the jury, given all that has been stated, do you have any further comments?” Shining Armor spoke first. “On behalf of Cadance and my daughter Flurry Heart, I want to say that we should give Mr. Vestige and his word a chance. He has proven himself to be trustworthy in assisting with the batpony and griffon debacles.” Yeesh. I always disliked hearing my name thrown around in such context. But it didn’t stop there. Gilda spoke next. “I heard that he helped find out about those rogue griffons and helped stop ‘em before they caused trouble. He’s cool with me.” Even Ember had something to say. “I’ve heard the batponies and dragons have been getting along well from Smolder also.” Ugh. At least my name would be considered more worthy of trust now with the word of those individuals. With the knowledge that I played a part in such affairs, maybe things would be a bit easier for me. “Even so, I don’t know if he’s qualified for something like this,” Sunburst added. Starlight was next. “I’m still concerned over whether or not she would deceive us into thinking she’s changed when she really hasn’t.” Neighsay scoffed. I could tell that he wanted to say a million different things against my name in that moment. After a minute or two, he selected one. “He’s reckless to try such a thing, given the nature of his past.” I tipped my hat downwards. That was the Achilles’ Hoof that I faced in this mission. Once she had taken note of all sides, Twilight took a deep breath, and came to a decision. “Okay...I will need until the end of the day to discuss the nature of the measures needed. After which, we will all meet back here and I will give a verdict. Court dismissed.” And that was that. Time to take a break, I suppose. I left with Corkscrew, and we both took a walk to the far side of Canterlot near the end of the mountain. We sat on the ground and began to discuss what we could. “Ugh…” I sighed. “I have no idea what could happen from this point.” “Hey, don’t worry, boss.” The pegasus nudged me. “Everything will be fine.” Bless him for being so supportive. But even so, I couldn’t shake Quick Draw and her reasoning. And even he could tell I was troubled. “There’s something else...isn’t there?” I nodded. “Yes…” “Well, talk to me, boss. You know I’m here for ya.” No point in shying away, I thought. Oh well. I told Cork everything. About how time was stopped, and Quick Draw caused it all. As well as her attempts to grab my attention with strange confessions yet attempted to harm me. “Ah...I think I get it now.” I tilted my head. “Do you?” Corkscrew sighed. “Quick’s always...been jealous of you. She’s grown to dislike the fact that she could never be as capable or competent of a leader as you were. So she told me she would start to fake her feelings for you just to get her attention,” he explained and looked away from me. I was floored once again. This entire time...it wasn’t real? Any of it? What other lies has she told me? “I...I can’t say I completely understand, but I think that paints a better picture.” “I’m sorry, boss...I should’ve told ya sooner so something like this wouldn’t happen. But I guess now was better than never…” I put a hoof around his neck. “Don’t fret, son. It’s not your responsibility to manage the feelings of another grown pony. They should be able to sort themselves. Especially in the line of work that she’s in.” “Yeah, maybe you’re right. For now, I guess we should just relax as we think about our next move.” I shook my head. “Nah. Put the case out of your mind for now. In fact, why don’t you go get us some crepes from that bakery I saw down the road.” “Oh okay!” he flew into the air, “Will you be alright all alone, boss?” “Yes, yes. Now go. You’ll be able to slip through much faster on your own.” With a grin, he flew off. Just as I suspected, the entire time we had been watched. Cork was safely off on his own, and I could confront that certain someone. “Alright, come on out,” I challenged them. Neighsay and two other ponies wearing familiar EEA robes--a unicorn mare, and an earth pony stallion--stepped forward. “So, do you think you have a chance at winning?” the old geezer questioned me. “I reckon I do. But it’s not about ‘winning,’ it’s about principles,” I responded with an eye roll, “What are you doing way out here anyway?” “Your friend and I had a lovely chat a moment ago…” he said with a snide gaze, “Didn’t have the spine to keep you out of the court, though.” My eyes shot open. “Wait...you knew about the time freeze? What are you talking about?” Did he play a part in this? He had to. There was no other reason for him to come out and talk to me like this. The smug dastard played it off casually. “Hmph. As if I would personally stoop to such a level. I simply spoke to your friend about what she did. Very peculiar. I wonder why somepony would go to activating a time spell?” he rubbed his hoof against his arrogant chin, “Don’t you think it means that you should give up? Clearly by keeping this going you are only inviting yourself, and those close to you into more danger.” “Aheh!” I coughed, and turned it into a laugh. “Yeah, yeah--no. Believe me, I get the whole suspicious thing you’re laying down. But I’m more than capable of dealing with whatever comes my way.” Plausible deniability. A classic pedestal to stand upon when you knowingly caused something. If Neighsay was a part of this in any way, he could simply be dodging the subject right to my face. “If you say so. I would hope that you would take measures to avoid being ganged up on,” he said with a demonic sort of chuckle. The kind of laugh you made when you were essentially spilling the beans to someone’s face. So it was true. But how? “You...why don’t we settle this like real stallions used to? If you wanna fight, let’s fight.” I could feel smoke leave my nostrils as I huffed. The old unicorn simply laughed again. “HA! As if. I haven’t done a thing to you? Whatever reason could you have to fight me for?” His assistants joined in, also laughing with him. “And even if I was involved with such an incident, you have no evidence to support your claim. Such an accusation would discredit your entire stance would it not? You may be prepared to fight a battle. But we are ready to go to war.” Gah. How annoying. He was correct, though. If I didn’t stack this deck properly, I could find myself having destroyed all of my credibility up to this point. I had to play it smart. “Heh...alright. You got me. I won’t try anything else,” I said with a laid-back smile and lazy eyes. The laughter stopped, and Neighsay raised an eyebrow at me. A suspicious stare that turned into disinterest. “Hmph. Come. We’re done here.” He and his two cohorts turned and left. I heard distant mumblings, but decided not to bother pursuing. I had enough on my mind at the moment, and needed to focus. “Boss!” Cork returned with a plate of the folded, fruit-filled pastries. “You gotta try these. These are great!” “Oh?” I leaned down and bit into one. “Mm! These are good.” He laughed, and offered me some bottled water which I began to drink swiftly. “Haha! Right? Oh, and I ran into this good-looking dark orange unicorn lady with white hooves on the way out. She said something about hoping to meet you in Ponyville when this is all over.” “PBBBBBHHT!” I spat out the water in a massive frontal cone off to my right. “What?!”