//------------------------------// // Subject 88: Princess Problems // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// “Don’t give me that smugness,” Twilight retorted, “We know what you’ve been up to this whole time. And quite frankly, we’re past the concept of hatred for somepony like you.” Whoo. I always liked watching Twilight take control of a situation. Something about it was so satisfying to watch. Neighsay rolled his eyes before he responded. “I suppose I don’t have much choice now, do I?” Oh? Was he actually trying to be cooperative? Even so, something about his words put me off. “What are you talking about?” I asked. “I’m in no real position to hide anything any longer, am I? Staying silent will only make things worse,” he commented under his breath. “Then spill,” Twilight commanded, “No more secrets. No more lies. Tell me everything about what you’ve been doing. And what about the curse that transformed everypony in Ponyville into their costumes?” With a sigh, he began. “Essentially, it all stemmed from my youth. As a colt, I desired to achieve absolute understanding by learning every magic spell possible. Why? So that I may stand out among all of the other unicorns who tried to master magic. That is why I joined the EEA. Not only to oversee the education system, but to achieve greater magical understanding. As for the costumes...that was an unforeseen side effect of something that I had been working on. Some of the Storm King’s magic must have gone awry and caused its own mischief. But, had I not been arrested, I would’ve been able to quell the problem for myself.” While I understood his reasoning, it was a very flimsy one. It did not justify his actions well enough. My eyes narrowed as I glared at the stallion. “...So to do that, you not only tried to create your own militia force? But you also want to try and revive a king that nearly destroyed the world?” He scoffed. “As if you are much better. As the one who killed Svengallop before any sort of trial took place, you should be questioning yourself, mister--” The purple princess interrupted. “Stop right there. First off, you could have easily told us about this long before now. That right there is direct proof that you’re not working for the better interest of all creatures, but rather, only for yourself.” Twilight scoffed. “Hmph. And you might be surprised to learn that I was the one who ordered that in the first place.” Neighsay had to pause, and for the first time, he actually looked uneasy. I guess he wasn’t expecting the idea that the princess could have ordered something so...dark. “...what?! That is completely--how can you call yourself a ruler when you make decisions without any evidence of the court! You let him hold a trial for Cozy Glow, and you do this?!” “I did,” she replied coldly, “because we imprisoned her before she had any chance to prove herself in the past. She was a child, and deserved a second chance if she took it. And she did.” Her face grew a shade darker as she hung her head, “But when we found out what Svengallop had done, I concluded that a trial would be a waste of time. The public did not need to spend any time looking at his annoying, egotistical face. Nor did the families of those affected by his actions need to see him again to relive those traumatic experiences. His body has been cremated into ash, and is locked away in a location that I will never disclose under any circumstance. So if you want to try and play innocent whilst claiming that this officer who actually followed my orders is in the wrong, you have another thing coming.” “I see...then you’re more of a fool than your old teacher was,” Neighsay snapped back. Twilight huffed, and I could sense her magic shift. She was inches away from firing off some kind of spell that would...oh no, I can’t even begin to describe what I felt from her aura. But she managed to hold herself back. I was impressed, honestly. Insulting one’s mentor was just as bad as insulting their mother--or father. “I...ooh...no,” she said with a sharp exhale, “I’m not going to dwell on that. Instead, I want you to explain just why you want to bring back the Storm King.” “It’s...a bit more complicated than that. I don’t intend to bring back the King himself. But rather, before I was arrested, I was running tests on willing ponies who could potentially gain new abilities outside of what their bodies allowed.” He explained in a rather somber tone. “Don’t you understand? The way this world operates is limited on a biological scale. Cutie marks, the division of abilities among the pony races, and non-pony races. But if we could unlock power that those above us have claimed is forbidden, then we can truly advance as a population.” Again, very logical. However, there was a part that I took issue with. “You may not realize this,” I spoke up, “but limits exist for a reason. Not everypony out there can wield such crazy powers without the possibility of going insane. You saw how Chrysalis and Tirek became. Even Celestia fell into it, and it’s clear that her mental state isn’t the best even after holding such power for thousands of years.” “But just how do you know that? Not everypony is incapable of pushing past their limits!” This old unicorn was insistent, though. He got off the bed, and looked up at the sky through the one window that was also barred with anti-magic metal. He sighed. “We exist in such a limbic state in which we can be threatened at any possible moment. If we don’t learn as much as we can, then we’re wasting our time. That’s why I devoted my life to the EEA. Good luck finding someone as skilled as I who can manage it, by the way, hmph,” he said with an added, sarcastic chuckle. Twilight’s head rose after being silent for a while. It would appear that she had finally gathered her thoughts on what to reply with. “...You make valid points. You can talk all you want about wanting to break past limits, but Pale here has proven that he can do so in an ethical fashion.” Both of us were confused. “He has?” “I have?” The purple princess nodded with a satisfied look on her muzzle. “You heard me. Pale. Weren’t you the one who gave Cheerilee the idea to start teaching more Earth Pony-focused lessons along with the help of Tree Hugger, Limestone Pie, and other local Earth Pony magic experts? That is an ethical, and sane way to teach the population new things without resorting to extreme methods. Not to mention the School of Friendship--the same one you tried to shut down all those years ago.” I wasn’t exactly in a position to refute the claim. So I didn’t. “Yes, I did. Though it was mostly thanks to her effort that the ideas took off and really got anywhere.” “Tch. So you were behind it,” Neighsay turned to face us, and retorted out of annoyance from behind the bars. “What even drove you to such a decision? To set an example for the youth on how to kill anyone you wish without any involvement with the court?” “Not like you’ve done any better. You sent Cozy Glow to Tartarus without a fair trial did you not? A child. I’d argue that’s far worse than ending the life of a criminal that selfishly sought to bring chaos to the land,” I raised a brow, “Or do you think that Svengallop deserved to live despite what he did? Grand theft, dozens of murder charges via his gang, and smuggling loads of unknown substances? Not to mention gaslighting and general manipulation--especially on young mares. Does that sound like a pony that deserves to walk free?” He groaned, and rolled his eyes. Looked like I started to irritate the old bat, but I didn’t care. For every attempt he would try to throw something in my face, I could throw something right back. “Grr...of course not. But the fact is that...you are unfit for your job if you think it’s okay to act in such a way. Whether Twilight allowed it or not, what you did was wrong.” I shrugged. “You’re no fit for your job either if that’s the case. But as I said before, I do only what’s necessary for the sake of everyone else. Not myself. But you can’t seem to get that understood. All you care about is yourself.” “That’s not true!” he protested, “Of course I care about everypony else. My ideas are going to save this world from the things that plague it! The hidden lies, the secrets, the hatred that nopony understands! It’s a matter of taking risks that nopony else will! Just as you did when you kissed Daybreaker on Nightmare Night. I’d hate to see the reaction of your marefriend when she finds out.” Seems like we were two halves of the same coin. On the one side, we both shared similar ideals regarding the way the world should be run. The idea that deception was the root of many evils, and the only, true way to combat this was with...truth. Above all else, we could only break through the conflicts and tear down the walls of society if we’re open, and honest with each other. That was the only way to truly make a stand towards peace. Also, I hadn’t spoken to her about it yet, but Cheerilee would know better than to follow crass assumptions. In any case, I felt like I was wasting my time with this stallion now. All that mattered to me at this point, was the safety of everypony else involved. “Look, just...tell us something. Has anypony else been experimented on?” Twilight had also had quite enough of this, and fell silent for the last few moments. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to be in her position at that moment. Now she had to weigh the newly exposed actions of Neighsay as well as factor in just how much that will affect his sentencing. “Ugh...I need some time. But first, yes. Were there any others involved? Be honest.” He sighed, and went on. “Just a few. But they’re not active. The runes I placed upon them expire after one month. After which...certain incidents may occur that the castor has to control. But since I wasn’t out there to stop it, that’s what caused them to malfunction and activate a spell that turned everyone into their costumes on Nightmare Night.” A decent, albeit flimsy explanation for what had happened. Still, it was a whole lot more information than what we knew before. Which was none. I leaned up against the bars. “Who are they?” Neighsay went on and named off about five different individuals and Twilight wrote their names down. I read the list, and recognized some of the names. But the important thing was to find out where they were and stop them before their magical runes malfunctioned within the next thirty days. “...I see,” Twilight tapped the pen against her head, and walked towards the steps of the dungeon. “Come on, Pale. We’re done here.” I took one last look at Neighsay, and shook my head as I followed Twilight back up to the main part of the castle and the opening to the dungeon was locked behind us via her magic. Her gait became a bit more stunted as she started to scribble down in that notebook of hers. Yeesh, she looked battered from all of the work she had to deal with. I knew exactly what that felt like. Not knowing where to turn to next, unable to think of what to do or feel. It...it was maddening. “Ugh!” she groaned and flopped onto a purple velvet living room couch. I guess I didn’t realize, but in the entire time that we walked through the castle, we had returned to her private, residential area. “Gah!” she yelled out once more. Admittedly, I had no clue how to approach her. But it felt more awkward to simply stand there than to say something. “Hey...Twilight? Hello? Twizzlers?” I waved my hoof in front of her face. “Yah! Wha! Ba-kawk!” she made various...noises upon being startled. “Oh, sorry,” she responded as she rubbed both of her hooves against her head, “I’m just...super stressed out now. Between dealing with the griffons, the batponies, Svengallop’s gang members and now Neighsay’s...whatever the heck, I’m swamped and can’t exactly think right.” “I know how that feels, honestly. As if you have no idea what to do in a situation until it’s too late…” I sighed, "But just do your best. You have loads of support from your friends and your ponies." "Thanks, I guess. I'm sorry, Pale. I just need to take a chill pill, and relax with my favorite book while I think about what needs to be done next." I chuckled, and offered her my best smile of confidence. "Hehe, don't sweat the small stuff. You've already proven yourself to be a far more active ruler than Celestia ever was." Her eyes blinked once, then twice. “Oh no...I nearly forgot.” She started to nervously sift through the pages of her notebook. “Haybales! Haybales! Haybales! Waah!” she threw her hooves upwards, and waved them around like wet noodles. “Um…” Yup. Back to the 'no clue how to react' phase. “...I wanted to invite--” Just then, we heard the door to the residence of Twilight shut. There, I saw Celestia in a familiar casual red polo with a floral pattern. Her mane was held back in a ponytail via a yellow scrunchie. “Twilight? I’m here. Oh...it’s Mr. Vestige. How are you, sir?” “I’m doing well, thank you. But how are you?” She trotted over. Even though I had known her for a while now, it was still interesting to see her walking around without her glamorous horseshoes and crown. “I’m...alright. I know you don’t like being praised for your work, but I appreciate the fact that you managed to keep the civilians safe when I...freaked out.” I nodded. “Well, I’m glad you’re better above all else. I couldn’t imagine what’d happen if Cozy went through something similar.” I checked up on her a day ago. The kid was fine after what had happened, but I spent some time away from her recently to let her get used to being around others. “That reminds me,” Celestia replied off of what I brought up, “There’s something you need to tell her. But first--what’s going on with Twilight?” I looked down. Twilight had been passed out from stress the entire time! Just how were we going to wake her? “She looks a bit…” I tapped my hoof against my chin, “...out.” The white alicorn chuckled deviously. “Hehehe...wait right there. I’ll get something that’ll surely wake her up,” she said with a sneer as she left out of the residential door, and went back into the main wing of the castle. All I could do was take a seat on the couch next to Twilight while confused. What just happened in the last ten minutes?