Just This Once Everypony Lives

"Well..."

"What about we start with the beginning?"

The interviewer is an older unicorn mare, orange fur and curly mane of gold and ginger.

"The beginning of whom, ms. Shimmers?"

"You, of course. Who else?"

"Moonrise, in, ehm, in order to understand my tale, you must know that we are a group, just as much as we are individuals."

"I don't doubt that, but currently you are in the room with me."

The interviewee is an Alicorn with cobalt blue fur with mane and tail of metallic luster.

"I, heh, I am currently in five places at once. I have many chores."

"Currently there are no other individuals of your collective in the room with me," Shimmers says with a wry smile.

"Touché... All right, my birthname is Steele Glint, but please, call me Ockham."

"So, mr. Ockham, why don't we start with the childhood of Steele Glint?"

"You really want everything? I am a deep pony — when, when you get me going I can really talk — do you have enough paper for that?"

"Taking dictation will not be a problem."

"Oh, okay then. Please — if you have questions or if I, if I start to ramble — stop me when you need... I was born in 1892, to a baker and an, an engineer. My childhood was relatively normal, my, my parents were loving and kind, and I was a very smart foal."

"What is your original tribe?"

"I, I was born Equus. Good question," Ockham fans his wings "this, this is exactly what I meant. You, you are a good journalist ms. Shimmers."

"Thank you."

"I, I was a smart foal — growing up in Manemark — I went to, to public school. Public school is not a place for smart foals, and I was bored. Bored out of my skull every day for ten years. My grades were bad and my work ethic worse. Outside of school I played games and read books. It was only after finishing High School that, that I had some kind of personal epiphany.

"I got into university, despite my low grades, and, and, and... Did you go to journalism school?" — Shimmers nods — "It's like coming home, when, when you find your calling. Mine was mathematics with a minor in natural philosophy. It was right about the time that, that physicists were beginning to wonder at the speed of light.

"I, I, I got my degree in, in... Well it's actually not that important what I got my degree in, but, but — suffice it to say — I graduated cum laude.

"The real trouble started when I got involved in some research into magical physics."