//------------------------------// // Subject 59: Anarchist's Judgement // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// Alright. It was time. Neighsay’s trial was set to begin today. I had already gotten on the train to Canterlot. A simple, quiet train ride led me all the way up the mountain city once more. On the way there, I hoped that Celestia would appear. I had a few questions for her, mainly regarding Sunset’s family. Thankfully, my prayers were answered. When I got off the train, the first pony I saw was Luna as she greeted everyone that stepped off. I noticed her, and she must have been able to tell exactly who I wanted to see, because I felt her use telepathy on me. “Sister is inside. Go.” Well, there was my solution. I raced to the entrance of the castle where I could sense Celestia was standing. She also served as a greeter, but I could tell that she secretly wanted to get this over with as fast as possible what with the unamused expression in her eyes. “Tia,” I said casually, “I need to speak with you.” She looked up at a nearby clock. “I’ve got a few minutes to spare. What did you wish to discuss, Pale?” I started walking, and she followed me off to another corner away from the small crowd that started to pour into the castle to attend the trial. “It’s about Sunset’s parents. Have you been able to find out what happened to them?” The alicorn sighed, and sat down. “Well, how do I put this? In a nutshell, her parents left her alone at an early age to join the Canterlot military. Neighsay himself was also a part of it, in case you were wondering. They didn’t exactly abandon her, per se. They simply wanted to fight for the safety of Equestria.” Well that made a bit of sense. Before Twilight came along, the world was rampant with monster attacks. Even after she arrived in Ponvyille, things were still a bit dangerous. It was only after she became a princess, did things sort of appear to calm down--on the surface anyways. “I see. So they were all part of the same group...did they kick the bucket?” Another sigh, and the tall alicorn slumped over with her hooves against her cheeks. “I…” I put a hoof on her shoulder. My blue eyes focused with a gaze that had a mix of adamant, and fear plastered all over them. “Celestia. I am a stallion of the law. I will keep confidentiality. But please. I need to know all that I can. Come on. The time for secrecy has long passed.” “Alright, alright,” she responded with her eyes shut. “To make a long story short, Neighsay thought of a way he could make them stronger despite the monster attacks. And it worked...somewhat. Ultimately, they went missing and their bodies were never recovered. Until...years later. They were both found dead together in the dragon lands.” Her eyes opened, strained with anger, “That file we looked at...it detailed everything. Had I known about this, I would’ve...gh...rrrgh!” I flinched. The simple auditory frustration that came from the mare of the sun unnerved me. It was so...unlike her to get this way. But I stayed quiet. The last thing I’d want to do is set her off and burn the entire city down. After a minute or two, she finally calmed down. She rubbed her horn, and shook her head to relieve what I could only assume to be aching pain. “...Apologies for my outburst. The...compulsive side of me was nagging again.” I gave a dismissive eyebrow raise. “More like Daybreaker. You really need to come to terms with who you are,” I commented, “Your sister Luna did so a long time ago. You just need to start forgiving yourself before you move on.” No response for a while. I could tell that my words registered on some level, but now wasn’t the time. Celestia rose from her spot on the floor next to me, and trotted towards the throne room. “It’s almost time to begin, detective. Let’s hope you’re more prepared to comprehend this than I.” Hmph. I wasn’t out to prove anything to anyone. I just wanted to know the truth above all else. That’s all that mattered to me. Let’s begin. I took my seat, and waited silently for Twilight to begin her opening words. The trial for this session had a smaller audience than the last. Mostly pony residents compared to other races. Neighsay himself was seated in a stand that was next to Twilight’s throne with not a shred of remorse on his face. Just what was his intention? “I’d like to apologize for how abrupt this was,” Twilight stated with a stoic expression towards the audience, “but this had to be done once I found out about it. Our own former Chancellor Neighsay has been exposed for performing experiments on ponies and hiding it away without getting approval from Celestia, Luna, or myself. Neighsay,” she turned her head to look down at the unicorn, “What do you have to say for yourself in front of the public?’ From where I was seated, I could see the unicorn sigh and shut his eyes. It took him a moment, but he finally opened his mouth to give the princess a response. “I did what I did for the sake of Equestria. Too often we have faced threats that only the Elements of Harmony or the alicorn princesses could handle. But I thought: What if everypony could be capable of fighting back against monsters and beings like Tirek and whatnot? So...I looked for volunteers. I sought out anyone who was willing to help, and they joined me of their own free will. I did not manipulate any of them.” The crowd mumbled and murmured as usual. I myself had to think about this critically. Sombra was also panned for misunderstanding regarding the experiments he tried to conduct. After all, he tried to cure a disease and it worked, only for it to accidentally help create the batpony race. In a way, I could somewhat understand his reasoning. But the key difference between him and Sombra was that Sombra clearly acted out of the desire of his heart to do something good for all while Neighsay’s actions were selfish, and only served to fuel his own ego. What Twilight said next only supported this thought of mine. “Is that so?” she asked with quite the air of authority. Daggers glared right at the old unicorn. “If that truly is the case, and you were doing what you’ve been doing to help Equestria, then why did you go out of your way to conceal these acts? The fact that you’ve kept this hidden from the rulers of this land only serves to make you more suspect. So please, Neighsay, explain yourself.” His explanation was slow and deliberate. As if he was trying to come up with the best way he can get himself out of trouble, rather than provide good reasoning. “You see...I knew none of you would approve of what I had in store, so I specifically made sure to hide my intent. That way, when I showed you the results, they would be irrefutable, and I could start mass production.” “Production of what?” she questioned. “Just what do your experiments do to these ponies?” “...In short, the point of it was to overclock their capabilities so that they may become stronger and be able to fight for a longer amount of time. Is that so wrong?” Twilight levitated some files from behind her throne. “Maybe no by itself, no. But what makes it wrong is when you prey upon parents of small foals who are desperate to protect their children by any means. So while they may have joined of their own free will, you actually lured them in under the guise of being able to keep their kids safer if they listen to you.” Her horn lit up, and she magnified the documents so the members of the court could see. In a huge screen displayed in front of us, it would show the names of many different ponies. These included: Sunset Shimmer’s parents. Silver Spoon’s father. Trixie Lulamoon’s mother. A pegasus that may have had possible relation to Cadance. And loads of other ponies who had went missing several decades ago. This shocked the crowd. Neighsay was silent. I suppose it was hard for him to deny the validity of these claims when the evidence was made public for all to see. Twilight carried on. “Neighsay. Did you or did you not specifically target parents with the intent to exploit the concern they had for their children in order to carry out these experiments?” “Well...I…” Twilight teleported off of her throne, and leaned in close to the unicorn’s face with an angry snort. “Answer. The. Question.” The old bastard shivered in his seat and leaned back. “I...may have...tried to make it a bit more approachable?” Twilight looked down. From where I sat, I could see quite the creepy, unhinged grin make its way across her face. “Hehe...oh really?” She levitated another document with her magic, and magnified it. “Is that why...you asked my parents to join you at some point?” The document read: Night Light and Twilight Velvet: Declined. Everyone in the crowd around me let out sharp gasps. Rightfully so. This was something not even I was aware of. He had even begged for Twilight’s parents? That was on a completely different level. Neighsay choked up, and could barely get any words out for a moment. It took a lot of hard stares for him to finally come up with something. “Well...you see...how was I to know that they would eventually give birth to the eventual Princess of Friendship that would be promoted to Princess of Equestria? You...can’t fault me for that.” “No...but I can fault you for being selfish,” Twilight said in return. “You have undermined everything that Equestria stands for with these actions of yours.” She turned to face us all. “Ponies of the jury and congregation, take a moment to consider the weight of this pony’s actions amongst yourselves. We will continue in a few minutes when we bring in a guest that has suffered directly as a result of his actions.” I noticed Twilight look at someone. Her eyes lined up with Trixie’s as she shot her a wink. The blue unicorn also winked in return, and teleported out of the courtroom. Just what were these two planning?