The Interview

Canterlot was drawing closer, and my heart was getting closer and closer to my throat.

I had never been so fucking scared in all my life, and I have had my fair share of fights, stick ups and even assaults.

But this scared me more.

It wasn't a simple robbery, or a beating you had to endure for five minutes.

One wrong statement, and they could steal us of all our futures. Lock us in a correctional facility or even worse, chain us in Tartarus.

My whole life would be gone, all our efforts to escape our personal hell would be in vain.

I'd never see my family again, I'd lose the feeling of true freedom. The ability to pack your bags, book a flight and fuck off to another country.

And that scared me half-to-death.

"Dude, you've been staring out the window for ten minutes and you have not said a word. What's wrong?" Armstrong asked, tapping my foreleg.

"I'm scared, Armstrong." I muttered, not breaking my glare at the closer approaching city walls.

"We've got this nailed man, don't even worry." Armstrong sighed, sitting beside me.

"But I am worrying. I'm having the closest thing to a anxiety attack right now." I mumbled.

"If we do what we said before, we'll make it." Barrel said from across the car with a mouth full of a iced doughnut.

"Yeah... Yeah. We can do it." I said, feigning hope.

But I really knew what to expect, and to be very honest, I think the other three did as well.

Canterlot was now very close, as the city walls towered higher and higher over the train as we neared. And I was practically shitting myself at this point. Plus, this fucking headache was not helping in the slightest.

As the train started to pull into Canterlot Station, we had to go through about five security checks and two magical barriers.

I don't blame them after The Invasion and the return of-

...Oh shit.

That hasn't happened yet, has it...?

My thoughts came crashing down when the brakes were applied harshly, causing a deafening screech that startled me.

The train was now parked, and we had gone down a separate track that does not lead to Canterlot Station, so we must have changed tracks at some point.

All four of us were stood awkwardly in the car, starting at the magically sealed door.

"They gonna let us out? Because I have no problem being locked in a train car filled with food." Armstrong said, trotting off to grab a cake.

"Um, no water, Armstrong? It'd be awful to have all this food and no fucking water to wash it down with..." I said sarcastically.

My snide soon ended, as the door was thumped upon twice, reverberating across the entire car.

All four of us immediately jumped out of our seats, but continued to stare at the door in complete silence, not breaking eye contact for even a split second.

"Yeah...?" I shouted sheepishly, expecting anything.

"Wakey wakey!" That familiar gravelly voice shouted through the door.

"We're up, damnit." Barrel shouted back.

After Barrel said that, the multiple magical locks lowered and the door slid open slowly.

I swear we were greeted by half of the Canterlot Defence Force. There were a lot of stallions, armed with spears, magical swords and even experimental crossbows.

That's new.

The captain stepped forward and motioned for us to follow him.

"No funny ideas, yeah? These guys don't buck around." He said, staring at us.

"Yeah, because attempting something would be a great idea..." I said, full of sarcasm.

"Glad we understand each other. Follow me." He said as he turned around.

The armed guard he had parted slightly to allow all four of us to walk right behind the captain. As we got closer, some guards dropped back and surrounded us.

We were being guarded by some serious armour, so at least nothing could attack us.

After a few minutes of walking through the restricted areas of Canterlot, we arrived at the base of Canterlot Castle.

Oooh boy.

The captain was not phased by arriving and started trotting up the steps. We decided the best thing to do would be to keep following him, so we did.

All four of us didn't say a word to each other, as we decided prior that it would be for the best. 'You have the right to remain silent' and that sort of thing.

We walked through the big arch doors and ended up in the communal corridor and stairway of the castle. We continued to walk through the corridor until we nearly reached Celestia and Luna's throne room.

Which was heavily guarded, again, which I may add.

The captain stopped and turned to us for as the guard tightened their positions around us.

"You are about to be in the presence of the two most powerful beings in Equestria. No sudden movements, do not speak unless spoken to and speak with full honesty, and you'll keep your head. Got it?" He said, looking me dead in the eye.

I nodded slowly and the others followed. These guys didn't scare me.

Those two did.

The door slowly opened and revealed a elegant looking throne room, surrounded by stained glass windows archiving main events in our timeline of My Little Pony.

We walked forward slowly and I stopped looking at the windows to realise that they were both sat on their thrones.

My barrel was tightening, and this was not good.

We walked close enough to see them both just sat down, casually. Not a worry in the world.

The captain and the entire guard we had bowed simultaneously, which was quite impressive, until it revealed that me and the others hadn't bowed.

"Oh shhhiii-" I whispered as I nudged the others to follow my lead and bow.

"Your highness, your guests are here." The captain said with his best regal voice.

Which sounded like complete shit.

"Excellent, please show them their accommodations they shall receive during this transaction." Celestia replied back, simply.

"Of course." The captain replied and motioned us to walk back towards the way we came in.

As I went to turn around, I noticed Luna stood beside Celestia and to be honest, she scared me more.

But I looked into her eyes, and she looked directly into mine. Those eyes, I saw them before... In a...

In.. A dream...

That I had... On the way here...

That lucid dream....

Oh fuck.

This was not good.

I nearly started to hyperventilate as I turned around and the others looked at me to make sure I was okay. I was far from it.

Once we excited the throne room, I was nearly having an anxiety attack. I needed to get to where we were staying, fast.

We walked back into the corridor and walked upstairs towards what I could guess as the guest rooms.

After we ended up in a long corridor with multiple rooms, we were split up and escorted towards our own rooms.

"You'll have no contact with your friends until the interviews are complete. I will knock when the interview is about to begin." One guard said to me as he let me in my room.

I simply nodded and he reacted by shutting the door and locking it.

I looked around my room and it was very plain.

Nothing very fancy going on, and it was a single bed, not a double.

I made a beeline for the bed and collapsed on it. But that seemed to make the anxiety worse. I needed to find something to do and take my mind of it, no matter what it was.

There was a small window in the room and as I walked closer towards it, a green aura became visible around the entire window.

I bet they didn't want anyone jumping for freedom, or if they were not Pegasi, jumping for the floor.

Fuck that, suicide is cowardly.

I paced in my room, trying to think of something else.

I just hope the lads were coping better than I was.

I looked around again and I noticed the small chandelier in the middle of the room and I noticed that it was being powered magically, not electrically or naturally.

I climbed the bed shelter and inspected it further and I noticed that it was networked to the rest of the lights in this entire wing.

Something similar to a short circuit and a direction arc could fluctuate the magic on the window and damage it.

After all, I could use it to prove a point.

After bending the chandelier into the correct angle, I noticed the magic would ebb to and from the light.

With perfect timing and a conductor to reroute the magic, a magical short circuit would occur.

After ten minutes of searching, I found the supports of the bed were the same material, so I decided to break a shard off and use it as the conductor.

I set myself up and got a timing going in my head. After a few seconds perfecting the timing, I touched the conductor across the magic flow.

The conflicting magic welded the conductor to the flow-ways nearly instantaneously, luckily I was able to let go as it burned.

After the conductor had been welded, it looked for a path to return down and the closest option was the window's magic.

Magical energy flowed from the tip of the chandelier and started fluctuating the magic around the window.

Seizing the opportunity, I bucked the nearest chair straight at the window.

SMASH!

Result. It put the window right through, leaving no glass shards around the edges, so now escape was there if it was needed.

I drew the curtain slightly so that the wind blew them around, making it obvious that the window was open.

After that, my anxiety eased quite a considerable amount.

Plus the breeze coming in was very calming, so I decided to lay on the bed and contemplate what was needed for the CMQ.

I needed to fit the Crystal Core, obtain spacesuits or an air-right spell of some sort, and do a metric shit-tonne of test flights.

I do not want to go the way of The Challenger...

But once that is done, we could finally focus on getting home as we would have a high-tech advantage and start looking for where we would do.

Mirrors would be a good start I would assume.

As my thoughts trailed off on where the Equestria Girls Mirror would be located, there were three slow knocks on the door.

My brain then decided to cease to function, and my anxiety was back tenfold.

I got up off the bed, straightened my mane out and stood up straight as best I could.

"Come in." I said, trying not to quiver my voice in absolute fear.

The door opened and two guards immediately stood three metres in front of me, armed with enchanted spears.

I stood my ground, I didn't want to back away because that might have shown that I was easy to manipulate.

First to enter was everyone's favourite purple slut; Sparkle.

She walked in without a care in the world and a slight bounce in her step, levitating a scroll and quill in her magical grasp.

She levitated one of the chairs over to her and sat on it behind the guards, not saying a word or even shooting a look at me.

I however, was staring at her the moment she walked in until she was shifting in her seat.

Next to enter was Princess Celestia, to which I stopped staring, and inclined my head slightly, suggesting a faint bow.

She walked in elegantly and stood proud above Sparkle, smiling ever so slightly but keeping the neutrality that Alicorns tend to have.

The next pony to walk in made my blood run cold.

Luna.

She walked in, instantly noticing the 'open' window and stood beside Celestia, whispering something into her ear before returning to her neutrality.

"Name?" I heard faintly while trying not to look into Luna's eyes.

I shook all other thoughts out of my head, no matter how daunting or just scary they seemed.

"Sorry, say again?" I said into the room.

"Your name." Sparkle said plainly, not taking her eyes off the scroll.

"Circuit Boost." I replied, with the same amount of dullness in my own voice.

"Occupation." She quick-fired at me.

I needed to try and keep up with her pace.

"Engineer and inventor." I replied, glancing over the other princess as I said it.

"City of residence." Sparkle said next.

"Ponyville Outskirts." I said with emphasis on the outskirts part.

"Age." Sparkle said, repetitively.

"Twenty-one." I said, staring at Sparkle.

This is when her eyes finally left her scroll.

"Twenty-one...?" She asked me again.

"Yeah, there an issue with my age?" I added.

Her eyes glazed over me again and then they returned to her scroll.

"Country of origin." She asked. Now she wanted the juicy bits.

"Minotauria."  I said simply.

Sparkle gasped and even Celestia's eyes widened.

"Did I hear that correctly?" Sparkle asked.

"Yes, I was raised in Minotauria." I replied, with confidence.

She swallowed and shifted in her seat before continuing.

"Cutie mark, brief description." She asked.

I cleared my throat, making her look up.

Once she looked up, I twisted my body slightly so that my blank flank was visible.

"Yeah..." I said plainly.

"I see." Sparkle added before scribbling more notes than usual.

I decided to look out the window that was still letting in a calming breeze.

"So, now that the unpleasantries are out of the way, we can start to discuss what happened the other day." She said, sitting up.

"Then please continue." I said, trying to remain stoic.

"May I ask what you were hoping to accomplish by causing a disturbance in Ponyville that day?" She asked, walking closer.

I grinned slightly. If Luna has already invaded my dreams, it's highly likely that she already knows.

"It's simple, it was all a ruse too allow my accomplishes to raid Golden Oaks Library and steal the Discord-Summoning spell that Princess Celestia granted to you." I said, smiling simply.

"Wait, you stole a scroll from me?" Sparkle nearly shouted, and I remained in my seat, not even flinching.

"Steal is a strong word, I'd like to say borrowing without permission. It is back where it was now, Discord made sure of that." I said, staring straight ahead, avoiding eye contact with Luna and Celestia.

"But what would you want with Discord? You do know that he has been reformed so he would be useless for your dark plans?" Sparkle said, with an elevated voice.

"If gaining our Cutie Marks is a dark plan, I hope your ready to charge the entirety of Equestria. Standard magic cannot assist in Cutie Mark magic. But we were willing to give Chaotic magic a chance. But as you can see, no dice." I said, still remaining neutral.

I had to keep my cool, no matter what.

"So what's that huge contraption that you and your friends were hiding in earlier?" She added, circling me.

"That is a project that is to help us gain our Cutie Marks, as we have a fair idea of what they are." I said.

"I know of three individuals that have been searching for their Cutie Marks for years, how are you so certain of yours?" She asked.

"Science. Notes and observations, Sparkle. Surely you should know that. And those 'three' have not picked up the signs before them." I said, contentedly.

"So what do you think they are?" Sparkle asked, levitating her scroll towards her again.

"I'd rather not disclose it, as I could be wrong. Superstitions and all." I replied.

"Superstitions and supernatural things are not real." She deadpanned.

But I knew she was lying. The episode of the Poison Joke proved her wrong. But I better not mention that at all.

"Then call it belief." I said simply.

"So what does that contraption do then?" She questioned.

"It allows you to touch the sky." I said, making sure I wasn't lying.

"Touch the sky?" She asked, confused.

"I'll explain or even show you once it is finished." I said, looking at her for the first time.

She looked right back at me before walking towards the princesses and gathering in a circle. Before I could even eavesdrop, a field was cast by Celestia that rendered them soundproof.

All I could do was sit, wait and twiddle my hooves.

After a few minutes, the field was lowered and Sparkle walked back towards me.

"After discussion with the other Princesses, we have decided to excuse the incident. We have already spoken with your friends and all of your accounts line up." Sparkle said, solemnly.

I nodded my head and bowed afterwards.

"Thank you. I do apologise for the commotion and interruption we have caused, and we will refrain from doing so in the future." I said, still bowing.

"I shall hope so. A train is waiting for you to return you to Ponyville. The guards shall escort you once we are finished." Sparkle said, opening the door and allowing the Princesses out.

I nodded once again. But I wasn't stupid, they were on to us. I bet Luna convinced them to stop it now, and allow us to carry on, considering what she saw in the dream we shared. So we had to be dead careful now.

I mean, why else would they let us go scot-free and even let us continue our project?

All I care about, is that we were not thrown into a prison or executed. But kinda know that isn't the pony-way of life.

Although we gave them free-will, so anything can happen.

The three princesses walked out in single file and shut the door.

"Just wait here for a few moments, then we'll escort you to the train." One of the two guards said to me.

"No worries." I replied back.

I got up out of the seat and approached the window to look out of it.

"Woah, ease away from the window." One of the guards said, slightly lowering his spear.

"Come on mate, they worse part of it is over. Why would I jump?" I just want to see the view." I said, defending my position.

He then realised that he was being a bit too overprotective and raised his spear back up and stood strong again.

I however, looked out the window.

And it was a pretty fucking good view over Canterlot. I absorbed the view for a while before one of the guards cleared his throat.

"We can leave now." He said.

"Then let's go." I said.

One of them opened the door and all three of us walked out of the room. I was then escorted back down the corridor, down the stairs, out of the castle and towards the actual station in the middle of Canterlot, and not the secret one.

As we got closer I could see three familiar figures already waiting there.

"Thanks guys, I can handle it from here." I said.

They nodded but stayed in position. I suppose that was to stop us doubling back and returning.

I trotted closer to the lads a cracked a weak smile.

"Take it we are not dead, unless the train is going to derail, Nathan Drake style..." I smirked.

"Or unless you're Tomb Raider... She makes wood explode..." Barrel sniggered.

"I suppose we should get back... We got a lot of tiding up to do." I said with an exasperated sigh.

We all climbed aboard and the train started up. I just knew that the Princesses were now on to us. At least they didn't lock us up.

Or lop our heads off.

Next Chapter: Skimming the River Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes