Horse of the Year

Light Chapter Five: The Interview

It was a few days of staying in the White House’s guest room when Shadow Eyes walked, with an escort, to what the Americans called the Oval Office, and for good reason.

“Am I actually going to get to see him? I doubt he makes time to meet every caller, nor would that be feasible when there is a threat to his life” rambled the mare and the Secret Service agents just walked quietly…

“Shadow Eyes, it is good to see you. I’m sorry that I have pushed you to the side since we got here, but the French Ambassador was adamant about getting to see me” said John and the French ambassador looked at her with curiosity.

“Bonjour, ambassadeur, comment allez-vous cette belle journée?” ‘Hello, ambassador, how are you this fine day?’ said Shadow Eyes in perfect French, or Prench as it was in her world. The French ambassador responded enthusiastically surprised to hear the unicorn that, from the interview at the hangar that was televised, spoke perfect English, also knew his language.

“What do I owe this visit?” asked John after waiting politely for a little bit for the duo to have a conversation in French that he only caught parts of, when Shadow Eyes responded in English voicing her disapproval, things about the war in Vietnam.

“You said I would not want for anything, but there is one thing I need, a house, even if I were to become a citizen, I will not allow myself to be homeless” John nodded before sighing deeply, and asking the French diplomat to leave.

“There is a situation I need to deal with before I can demand a home for you.”

“The attempts on your life” she said with certainty and John nodded.

“Among other things, my Vice President is pushing for some form of aid to be given to the South Vietnamese…” said John and Shadow Eyes gave a confused look and John shook his head. “A war that’s been going on for over a hundred years, one of my predecessors made it a policy to fight communism, a form of government, the theory is that all people are equal and that no man should have more than another. The practical application thereof has continuously fallen short of this and has threatened the basic human rights of everyone that was not rich in those countries. Well North Vietnam is Communist, and has been attacking South Vietnam, which is a republic, in the loosest sense of the word, hence why I am hesitant to lend military aid.”

Shadow Eyes sat in front of a camera again, answering questions about her world, a polite smile on her face.

“So you are from a Monarchy?” asked Walter Cronkite the news anchor for CBS Evening News.

“Not really, with three princesses, all having equal power, albeit having more in certain areas, it is more of a Triarchy” said Shadow Eyes politely, as she grabbed a pitcher of water and glass—she specifically asked for if they were going to interview her—in her magic the green aura enveloping the two items and she poured the drink and took it close to herself and sipped it.

“Are you getting this?” asked Walter surprised and Shadow Eyes chuckled. “I know those of you at home can not see this, but the pitcher and glass were covered by this green aura and on its own it lifted and poured our guest a glass of water”

“I’d ask if this was the first time you have seen magic in person but in some regards it is” said the mare with a polite little smile before motioning that they should move on, Walter cleared his throat and straighten his tie.

“How did you get here?” he asked her and Shadow Eyes frowned and swirled the glass a bit before answering.

“A dark spell, designed to save it’s caster from death, but in exchange it traps them on another world, with no manner of return”

“You speak as if traveling to other worlds isn’t something out of the ordinary” prompted the anchor.

“For the average citizen it is out of the ordinary, in fact the only non-royals that I know of that ever traveled to other worlds are Council of Friendship, and even then it was through the magical mirror and they had a way home”

“So there are things your princesses keep from you? That doesn’t sound like total benevolence”

“Do not mistake a parental nature for tyranny. Princess Celestia has attempted to keep us safe, all while encouraging our own growth, her sister, Princess Luna would rather the crown had more of a hand in the development of the country. It was only Princess Twilight that helped tip the balance in favor of allowing ponies to develop at their own pace.”

“You sound like you admire this Princess Celestia”

“If you ever met her, I have no doubt you would admire her yourself, a being over millennia of years old, and a mother to all her subjects. Willing to forgive ponies of horrendous things, but still punishes them”

“I was told you used to be a criminal on your world, can you tell me about that?” Shadow Eyes regarded him for a second.

“I was, am, a what loosely translates to Dark Mage, however, I am one of a few magic users who have delved into the dark arts and not become corrupted by the very nature of the magic I use” she said finally just as the silence started to become uncomfortable.

“You said earlier that it was a dark spell that brought you here, did you cast it?”

“Not in a million years, I have foals back home, I was on my way home when I encountered another Tenebrosus—sorry, Tenebrous Magus, she was casting the spell out of the blue and when I called out to her she must have been spooked or something because she had to have increased the magic she was using and I got pulled in too”

“You are a mother? But from what you have described you are one of the most worked citizens in your country!”

“I still make time for my family, Princess Celestia, who is literally my employer, may give me jobs and Royal Guards that are at my disposal, but she also lets me take my time on those jobs” said Shadow Eyes as she took another sip from the glass of water in her magical grasp.

“Do you miss your… foals was it? And do you think that they are alright with you being stuck here?” Shadow Eyes took a deep breath and sighed.

“I miss them wholeheartedly, and they should be fine, Bilgewater was almost twenty by the time I left and Meteor Shower… Well I trust Bilgewater with taking care of his sister”

“Many would ask, how even with you saying you made time for family, how you could have been a good parent”

“And many would have asked how a Tenebrosus Magus could have the love necessary to raise a foal” countered Shadow Eyes and Walter looked at her confused before shaking his head.

“Moving on, we can see you are a unicorn, but are all the citizens of your home unicorns?”

“No. There are unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.”

“Earth ponies?”

“Ponies that are neither unicorn or pegasus, they also have a unique bound with the earth, and can grow better than most, and have been at the forefront of our inventive force”

“What is your military like?”

“It is… Our military is primarily split up into three forces, the Royal Guard, the Wonderbolts, and the Royal Navy, within those, there is a further divide between the three princesses, although to fight one is to fight the other two, the divide allows all of our forces to have different jobs without a princess stepping on another’s hooves”

“And where would you be? You said that your employer was Princess Celestia, surely you weren’t expected to fight?”

“I was a soldier, a diplomat, an assassin, scholar, a sword, a shield, a quill, anything Princess Celestia needed, I fought in the Changeling war like any good citizen of Equestria”

“So you were a bad citizen if you were against that war?”

“No, but if you did anything that actively hurt the war effort… Well, I may not agree with Princess Luna on a lot, but I was going to return home to my babies no matter what and I agree when she made it a crime punishable with exile to the badlands”

“So you stifled free speech?”

“Did we? There were still protests, and there were still ponies that refused to fight, there were still those that passively hurt the war effort by refusing to aid us. But those that went out of their way to hurt the war effort, making it impossible to get critical missions complete safely, costing us untold number of lives, both abroad and at home as the Changelings used them to kill our forces. I was also tasked with defending these protest rallies by Princess Celestia, and arrested those that harmed the rally, I arrested two five star generals that attempted to silence the protests and I have arrested protesters that have attacked military installations.”

“I do hope you know you will not have that authority here”

“As long as I am treated with the respect you owe to a fellow human being, I don’t care.”