• Published 14th Aug 2020
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Interviews With Equestrians - Jmaster49



A look inside the hidden perspectives of the average pony by your average joe. Starting with the imprisonment of Cozy Glow, this pony sets out to expose the hidden problems of Equestria that its residents have a right to know.

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Subject 130: A Nice Hike

After the amazing show that Cozy managed to cobble together and organize in the span of two hours, she was knockout tired. I couldn’t blame her. It must have been very taxing on somepony as strong-willed as herself to manage the stress involved with the demand to contact, and request assistance from so many individuals. Honestly, I did not expect Ember to show up at all. That was completely out of left field for me.

I made sure she got back to her hotel room safely that evening so she would be able to sleep soundly. After which, I returned to my shared room with Cheerilee who lied in bed with a pair of reading glasses as she read from a book on snowball fight tactics. How intriguing.

“Find anything good in there?” I asked as I removed my heavy jacket.

She tried to remove her glasses and hide them from me. “Oh, um...yes. Everything in here is fairly detailed.” That was strange. Why did she try to hide them?

I trotted around to her side of the bed. “Cheery, is something wrong? You can tell me.”

“Well…” she let out a sigh, and took out her reading glasses, “Sorry, I just--wearing these makes me feel old if you can believe it.”

Oh. I understood that quite well. But it was nothing to be embarrassed about. “Pff. The Mayor wears them all the time and she managed to find somepony, didn’t she?”

“I suppose that’s true,” she replied with a fond giggle, “We used to be fretting over the littlest things about each other. I guess it’s grown into a habit that I need to break.”

I went to the bathroom to shower, but I left the door open so that I could continue our conversation. “Well don’t concern yourself over it. It’s fine if you need to wear glasses when you read. In fact, I actually find them endearing.”

From outside the bathroom, I heard her mumble. “...endearing…”

By the time I was finished, it was late. I had a towel wrapped around my lower midsection as I exited the bathroom. I turned my head to find Cheerilee biting on one of the temple tips--the part where it’d rest on one’s ears. My best inference was that she attempted to make herself look more attractive with the gesture, but in the end I found it a bit humorous.

“There’s no need to go that far,” I said as I removed the towel once my flank was dry.

“Oh, um--nevermind that,” she stammered and quickly put them back on her face. Before I could say anything about it, she changed the subject. “Did you notice that a newspony took your picture when Cozy hugged you?”

Oh yes. That was a bit concerning, wasn’t it? A lot of newspaper articles had both supported, and detracted me in the past. “...Yes. I wonder what sort of article they’re going to print. As much as I dislike it, public perception is the key to realizing my dreams.”

“And those are?” she asked and moved some of the blankets. She then patted the side of the bed next to her to sort of beckon me.

I obliged, of course. “You’ll see. But I want this world to change. It won’t be easy, but you’ll be here to see it prosper alongside me.”

“No matter what it is, I’ll be there to support you. Somepony has to, don’t they?” she said with a smirk to tease me, which I admittedly found quite funny myself.

“Oh you...you never cease to amaze. But thank you. I’ll need it.” I put a hoof around her to bring her in closer to me.

“You’re welcome, dear.”

With that out of the way, I could focus on what was coming up next on the itinerary. I had to admit, I was somewhat worried. That newspony had taken a picture of us and it would probably result in another piece written about me. Whether it was good or bad it still unnerved me since my enemies could potentially use it against me.

Blech. Nothing I could do about it. Not for the moment, anyway. For now, I had to focus on the road ahead.

Over the course of those next few days, we spent more time in and around Sire’s Hollow itself. We took ski lessons, snowboarding lessons, and learned how to climb mountains. Albeit, that last one was done with a moderately sized hill, but still. It was quite the experience. Through all my years of work, I had never considered the prospect that an enemy could take shelter within the mountains. But now? I had a new perspective with this hike.

Cheerilee had a bit of a hard time. “I’m alright!” she cried out as she picked herself up and out of the snow for the fifth time. Being a teacher, she never really had much experience with climbing either, I’d imagine. Though I had to admit, it was adorable to watch. Why? Well, she was cute when she was clumsy. Of course, I wasted no time to make sure she was alright.

Cozy on the other hoof, had fared much better. Pegasi were naturally more in tune with obscene weather conditions, so this was nothing to her. Of course, having wings to fall back on in case she took a tumble would help out a lot. It kept me from having to worry too much.

Oh and of course, the leader of the hiking expedition was Double Diamond himself. Quite the skilled mountain scaler, to be honest. Apparently, he had been to the top of the world’s tallest peak--Mount Everhoof. So I guess one could say that we were in good hooves, no? “Stay close, everypony. You don’t wanna get caught in a snowfall.”

Accompanying him was his wife Marble Pie. Oh yes, I remember her. I didn’t get to speak much with her, but I knew she had to be just as good as Diamond if she led the troupe right with him. “Everypony alright?” she asked.

The small group, which consisted of myself, Cozy, Cheerilee, and a few others replied with nods and swift replies. Silence was deadly here in the frigid conditions of hills, so no one was able to go more than five minutes without speaking.

I had to say, it was really fun to scale hills as if they were the biggest mountains in the world.

Then I stopped. One of my ears flicked, and in the distance I could have sworn I heard something. I started to get a bit separated from the group, and Cozy would take note of this.

“Pops?” she called out as she walked down the hill to meet me. “Are you alright? You just kinda stopped.”

I shut my eyes with a quick blink, and reopened them as I faced her. “Oh, it’s nothing. I just thought I heard something.”

She laughed it off. “Haha! Well hurry up. You don’t wanna get left behind, do you?” she asked as she walked back up the hill. “Don’t forget. The tavern in town is making your favorite menu item this evening: deep dish Sire’s Hollow pizza!”

There was no need for materialistic motivation. That being said, I was a bit enticed by the prospect of a new kind of pizza. For whatever reason, it wasn’t that common of a food outside of Manehattan. Probably due to how unhealthy it was. Anyway, I started trotting up that hill once more. “Hey, I don’t need to be bribed or anything!”


Meanwhile…

“Time to put you to the test. Let’s see how to handle what I have in store…”


Soon, we all made it to the top of the hill. It served as a rather nice simulation of a mountain since the hill was large enough to allow us to see far over the horizon. The group ooh’d and aah’d once we had managed to get up there as well.

Cheerilee looked around, then behind us where our tracks had been left in the snow. “Oh my. I can’t believe we came from so far away and now we’re this high up…”

“Yeah, it’s crazy,” I replied, “Never been mountain--er, hill climbing before, but this feels great. The fresh, snowy air, the wind in our faces…”

“The snow!” Cozy chimed in, “I’ve never seen...such a beautiful landscape before.” She wiped her face as she looked out over the horizon. “It’s amazing...and I’m super grateful that you guys are here with me to experience it.”

We both flashed her a smile. Cheerilee would give her a tight hug. “Of course, Cozy. We wouldn’t dare leave you out to try when we care about you so much.”

I rubbed the pegasus’ head with my hoof as usual. “That’s right. Feel free to take in as much of the scenery as you want. It’s not going anywhere.”

For a moment, she accepted the treatment. “Thank you both so much…” She then stepped away from us and started to observe the chilly, mountainous range before us.

That’s when I felt something else. That same eerie presence from before. Except it was much stronger. I couldn’t exactly sense anypony behind it--which only made it that much more concerning. This was not good. A threat was one thing, but an unknown threat was something else. But what was it…

BRRRRRRR!

The ground started to violently rumble beneath our hooves. Everypony started to shake and fell over from the motions around them.

“Woah!”

“What’s going--aah!”

“Double! I thought you said today was safe!” Marble shouted, unable to stand from the shaking.

“I did!” Double replied, “This isn’t normal...something’s...oh no.”

He felt it, and so did I. A nearby mountain had started to lose bits of its snow and it started to coagulate into a large mass.

An avalanche was on its way!

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