[I am unsure what to make of the mare in front of me. She is dressed in a black hood and cape, and a white porcelain mask covers half of her face. I am curious to ask why she wears it, though out of respect I decide not to in favor of conducting the interview. During the course of it, the mare seems to be trying to impress me as cool, calm and collected, but as time goes on bits of Lyra Heatstring's real personality bleed through.]

So, can you start by telling me how you first came to know of the entities known as Displaced?

Well, that took actually quite a while. After I met my master, I spent most of my time supporting her like every good servant is supposed to do. You know, basic stuff like collecting information about valuable targets and potential enemies, clean up around the palace occasionally, tailing the Element Bearers and document their daily lives. . . ehrm, sorry, I tend to derail quite a bit. I am just so happy to share the glory of my beloved master with the world. As it where, I had been in the service of my master for a good few months before I became aware of this whole Displaced thing. Mostly because I was tasked to help with the creation of a tool that would allow two or more Displaced to visit each other more freely than they normally could. We worked in her laboratory one day and I asked out of curiosity why we where going through all those trouble with all those highly unstable runes and enchantments. This caused my master in all her benevolence to enlighten me regarding all this Displaced business. I admit all those things she told me, about there being an endless amounts of universes for an endless amount of possibilities was a bit overwhelming and even unnerving at the beginning, and I don't pretend to understand even half of it, but I have not graduated Celestia's School for gifted Unicorns to be floored too easily, nu-uh. Besides, it only takes only one short gaze at my master's dark glory to see that she came from a whole other world originally.

I see. Given the general opinion of most Displaced, have you ever come under fire for your choice of, um, employment?

Oh, have I ever?"

[Lyra puffs her chest out proudly.]

You can bet your flank on that. I mean, I am a cultist in the service of a demon queen after all. After I came out about that, almost no "proper" shop would service me anymore and I had to resort to my masters' grace just to get something to eat for months. Not to mention, most of my family burned all bridges and family ties to me instantly and quite frankly, they can go buck themselves hard! Well, all but uncle Lucky Charm. That old neighrish stallion and I still write each other now and then."

[Lyra sees to calm as she slumps down in her seat.]

Hardest part though was keeping my marefriend from trying to murder my master because "she was an evil bitch that brainwashed me into this". Not that Bonnie was that far from the truth but still, you know what I mean right?

You were brainwashed? And you were aware of it? Don't you find that a little unsettling?

[Lyra nods firmly at my question.]

Unsettling? Maybe just a bit. See, when I first met my master, I guess you can say I came off as a teeny tiny bit forceful. We traded blows and you can't really fault somebody if their default combat spell is also capable of brainwashing, right? Besides, I pretty much gave in willingly as soon as I noticed the subjugation element of the spell.

[Upon saying this, the mare cannot seem to suppress a smirk at my nonverbal reaction.]

I guess you can say I was a very, very broken mare at that time and saw this as some kind of bizarre sheet anchor. But please, don't tell my master. To this very day, she believes she completely subjugated me with that spell on her own. As for your other question, yes, I am aware because she released me from the spell when she thought she was about to perish, not wanting me to stay "chained to a dead tyrant for the rest of my life". It was a really sweet gesture and pretty much what made me stay loyal to her in the end.

I suppose that was selfless of her, I will admit. Now then, on to another topic. You mentioned that no "proper" establishment would take you in, but what about "improper" establishments? Did the fact that you were affiliated with a Displaced, a relatively dark one may I point out, have an effect on them as well?

Hmm, when I say "proper establishments", I mean mostly those open during daytime and run by ponies. You know, Barnyard Bagains, Hayburger and so on and so forth, all those goody two horseshoes places. As much as we as a species love to preach about friendship and harmony, we unfortunately tend to be a judgemental bunch deep inside. I lost count about all the doors that where slammed into my muzzle back then. But as you said, my affiliation to my master opened quite a few new, ehrm, doors for me and most of them lead me to quite some good things. I mean, I was pretty used to visiting bars at night or even buying some bootleged stuff in a shady alley when I could not afford it legaly and stuff but being able to freely roam the infamous Night Bazaar under Baltimare without the fear of being stabbed, pummeled, robbed and left to die, all because of my masters protection was something else. I mean, I was there once before, when I was looking for soul gems for a little pet project. I didn't make it three steps before I had to run for my life as all kinds of thugs like diamond dogs, griffins, zebras and even other ponies gathered around me. On my next visit, I was treated like a normal customer. Some shopkeeps still creeped me out a bit out but they practialy threw all the soul gems I ever wanted at me, for almost nothing! I even got a black one, and those things have been banned since, like ever.

I see. I have a question. You said that your master sort of, half brainwashed you. A lot of ponies, among other beings, would see that as a reason to mistrust Displaced in general, including those that have shown neither a want or need for acts that would have then been considered "evil". Can you give any insight on that? By that I mean have you ever heard of any instances where a Displaced or those affiliated with Displaced were abused?

Well, that´s a whole other bushel of apples. Lemme see. . . ah! I think I remember something. It was something that happened to a Displaced my master told me about named Vera. She was something called a "Dragonborn", if my memory serves me right, it was. Well, point is, she could use pretty impressive combat magic, enchant items with lots of useful effects, make potions and even transform materials like iron into silver and gold. But physically, she was very weak, and I am talking Unicorn yearling weak and sadly, she fell into the hooves of a pegasus crime boss called Wicked Will who used her as some sort of attack animal after beating her into submission. He forced her to make weapons and armor for his goons and got rich by having her turn all the ore from an iron mine he owned into gold. I only met her once, when my master brought me along to bust her out of Wicked Will's villa. That poor girl was such a demure and good natured soul even after all the abuse. I highly doubt she had been able to harm a Parasprite even if she had too. Wicked held her in a very dark and dirty cell in his basement, forcing the poor thing to wear an iron gag all the time because she could do something with her voice, or so the guards watching her claimed. That day was one of the few moments my master really reveled in slaughtering all the way through Wicked's henchponies and to that sick buck himself.

[Lyra's expression and tone becomes noticeably darker.]

. . . And so did I. We broke both his wings and three of his legs before tossing him out the window of his five story apartement.

[Lyra tsk's in a slightly annoyed fashion and sits up a bit straighter]

Sorry if that made you feel uncomfortable. It's just. . . ponies call my master evil and shun me for following her. But the moment another pony abuses and almost cripples a lost, frightened teenager for life, nopony gives a buck, and you know why? Because she wasn't "us". It didn't matter if she didn't hurt anypony, willingly or not. They didn't care if she was separated from everything that she ever knew and loved. They didn't care one damn bit that she was tortured and abused within an inch of her life! No! It didn't matter because she was one of "them"!

Weren't the Princesses, or anypony with the authority or ability to put a stop it, made aware of what was going on?

No. At least not until we where through with Wicked Will. There had been a few members of the Guard that had been on Wicked's pay list and covered up most of everything he did. Afterwards, the Princesses made a surprising effort to help Vera recover.

Weren't they upset that you had effectively taken the law into your own hooves in dealing with Wicked as opposed to letting them handle it?

They weren't upset. They were pissed. Well, the nobles surrounding them like flies were anyway. They tried so very hard to get the Princess to lock us up and throw away the key. They didn't care what Wicked had done, they still had it out for us. Bless Celestia for not listening to them. Don't get me wrong, she was still disappointed, but she seemed willing to forgive us for overstepping our bounds, and from there helped Vera recover. I mean, after they convinced my master to let them since she was convinced they would turn on her the moment we left. Vera was treated to a few of the rarest healing techniques known to ponykind, to heal both her body and mind. She lives in the border regions of the Dragonlands these days now, or so I've heard anyway. Something about her sharing the same soul as the big flame throwers.

That is good to hear at least. . . . Final question. I'm sure that you have heard stories about incidents regarding other Displaced individuals, like "The Monster of Hollow Shades", and the "Jack of Blades incident", among others, such as the one that led to the partial leveling of Manehatten. In your own opinion, are there any Displaced that you feel have earned their mistreatment?

Yes, I heard quite a few stories like that. Lived some of them too. My master was the catalyst for the whole Mourning Star fiasco after all. That sunburn stayed with me for a year afterwards. Anyways, yes, I think that out there, there are some Displaced who deserve the flack they get, and then some. Jerks who get high on their power and abuse it in every way they can, that is a definite no go. Just like my master used to tell me, "You just don't kick every puppy or set fire to every orphanage you come across, just because you can". But that doesn't mean that ponies get to use that as an excuse to treat them like garbage either.

[Our interview concludes soon after. I thank Lyra for her time, and she in turn thanks me for the opportunity to tel somepony about her experiences without receiving bias or judgment. Shortly afterward I take my leave of her, wishing her luck with her line of employment.]

Author's Notes:

Very special thanks to Schroedingers_Katze for suggesting her story, Overlady - Loot Equestria.
Just so everyone knows, I am going to be conducting the interviews a bit differently from now, meaning that I will PM the person who made a suggestion to have a conversation and basically have a rough draft of the next installments. See, I realized that trying to write their characters from what I think their perspective is as opposed to their own was a mistake on my part, so hopefully this change will help make the story feel more natural as a result.
Until then, I thank you all for your time.