//------------------------------// // Subject 221: Suri's Problems // Story: Interviews With Equestrians // by Jmaster49 //------------------------------// At the agency. Corkscrew continued to interview Suri Polomare… Alright, so the general gist of it was easy to understand, right? Grogar had started to attack and now ponies all over town slowly started to get inflicted with some sort of negativity bug that caused them to more or less shut down. I got that much. But Suri had been oddly...uncooperative in regards to what happened to her specifically. What did I mean? Well… With a pencil clenched between my wintips, and a notepad at the ready, I started with the questionnaire process. “Okay--when did you feel the sensation overcome you?” “Um...well…” The earth pony mare’s eyes darted around the room. It was like she could see something that I couldn’t, and it completely distracted her from me. “I-I...I can’t say.” “Huh?” I cocked my head to one side and tried to reason with her. “What do you mean by that?” The next time I blinked, Suri had lowered herself beneath the table. All I could see was the top of her mane poke up from over the edge with a violent state of constant vibration. She was scared out of her skin it seemed. “...It’s coming. I know it is.” “...No one’s going to hurt you, miss,” I did my best to calm her down, “But I can’t help you if you don’t level with me, ya feel?” “D-do you promise to not tell anyone?” she responded with a shiver, “If it finds out, then I’m as good as dead. I won’t ever be able to show my face in public again. Even more than I already am!” Yeesh. Was this how hard it was to deal with witnesses on a daily basis for Pale and Quick? I was usually behind the desk most of the time, so it felt awkward to be in this position. But there was no time for jokes. I had to pick this up for the sake of everyone involved. So I tried to reason with her with a subtle avoidance of the main issue. “What do you mean by that exactly? You’re not giving me a lot to go off of here. Who or what is going to hurt you?” I asked, “What do you think they’re going to do to you?” “They’re gonna...I can see it now…humiliation. Everything I’ve worked hard for...destroyed. Put on a show for all the world to see…” I started to write down the major details, and encouraged her to continue. “Okay, I hear that. What else?” “...No one cares…” Her eyes started to drift in random directions, as if she couldn’t focus on anything. She essentially started to space out. “With my family gone and the fact that I know I’ll die alone, it’s not worth it. I should just end it all now…” I froze. The pencil slipped out of my feathers and hit the floor. I could have sworn that my wings were fully expanded and had become stiff as boards. Did she just admit to the fact that she wanted to take her own life? There had to be more to it. I needed to listen some more before I made any reckless choices. So I took a deep breath, and felt my wings fold back into place. “Okay...I’m gonna ask you a few more questions, alright?” I spoke slowly so that I wouldn’t set her off. Suri sat back in her seat--upright. Her response to my question was a slow, quiet nod which essentially gave me the grounds to carry on. “Alright. First thing’s first...why exactly do you feel this way? I mean, I can somewhat venture a guess, given your history--but I wanna hear it straight from the pony’s mouth. Can you do that for me?” Suri tapped her hooves together akin to a nervous foal that had to fess up about a broken vase. “W-well, you know about what happened once I lost my career thanks to my...less than admirable actions. I had to start doing lots of odd job around Manehattan and other places just to make ends meet.” She rested her head on the table. “Some of which that I’m especially not proud of.” I couldn’t imagine. But I certainly got somewhere with this. Come on, there had to be more. “And now this thing--you refer to as ‘it’ for the time being--it’s causing you to witness your potential worst future?” The mare said nothing for a moment. It wasn’t until I heard a few sniffles that she finally spoke up. “Oh what’s the point? We’re all gonna die at some point anyway. Better to just accept it now than try and avoid it.” “NO!” I stood up, and slammed my hooves down on the table, which elicited a shriek from the mare. “AH! PLEASE DON’T HURT ME!” she screamed, and raised her hooves in front of her face to defend herself. Dammit, Cork. Me and my knee-jerk reactions. Calm down. “Ahem,” I cleared my throat and sat back down in my seat. “My apologies. I meant to say that that is a very unhealthy way to think. The future is absolutely not written. It’s ours to decide. No matter what some corrupt bastard tries to tell you.” “B-but...how can you be so sure?” she asked with tearful eyes, “Everything in my life has gone to crap at this point. I have nothing and nopony left to live for. What is even the point?” “Like my grandpa used to say, ‘you only miss the clouds you don’t try to fly to.’” Her sniffles softened, and she scooted a bit closer to the table. “...What does that mean?” I rubbed a hoof behind my head. “Honestly? Not sure. I’m sure he was probably half-asleep when he said it. But it doesn’t make it any less valid: If you don’t try, then you always fail. Maybe instead of sulking, you should try to go out and rekindle what you lost. You never know who’s out there that may find you interesting. You just have to try. No matter what. And you’ll always have the support of those of us who are still with you.” “Really? Well, when you put it that way…” Suri let out a sigh, and finally explained herself. “I guess I feel as if I’m trapped because of my mistakes. And this thing--this beast in my head wants me to give in to that despair so it can spread and cause more mayhem.” I sat back in my seat, and folded my arms--er, hooves. “Does that sound like something you wanna let happen?” “Well, no...of course not,” she replied, “But I don’t know how to stop it.” And there was my answer. I got up from my seat, and headed towards the door to leave the interrogation room. “Maybe not. But now that you’ve explained to me what the problem is, I think I do.” “Hey wait, um...is there any way you can get rid of this nightmare in my head?” she pointed to herself. “Oh yeah. We’ll need to call in the experts for that. Sit tight.” I left the room, and locked it behind me. Before Quick Draw could say anything, I popped off with a request. “Quick, I need you to--” “Relax,” Quick interrupted me, “Already done. They’ll be here soon.”