"What? You're just going to end it there? We still had fifteen minutes left in our segment!"

Illesio, quite reasonably, was rather put off, to say the least. Clear Sight was still laughing as hysterically as when he started, the radio crew were still reacting to the sudden magical manipulation of their equipment, and Resolve Spirit was just finishing wiping the laughter-induced tear from his eye.

"You've just ruined a perfectly good radio show and thrown off the CBS schedule by a large margin!" Illesio complained to Res, the only unoccupied pony in the room, who chuckled when he heard the acronym.

"Yes, but those at the Canterlot Broadcasting Services know what they're doing, and will fill in the gap quite nicely," Res assured her. "I'm thinking something by...Sapphire Shores or Countess Coloratura? I can never remember her name," he added as an afterthought.

In response to her exasperated gestures, he raised a hoof, saying, "We also cut the program short for more commercial reasons. Because everypony Equestria round was listening to the radio when we came on, this cliffhanger as it were will do no harm at all. In fact, it will be the only thing people can talk about for the next week, until our next segment comes on. Everypony will have theories by now, and every media company kingdom wide will already be writing articles. See?" He tapped his temple. "Subtle genius."

"But, but--the, how..." Illesio was having trouble talking for several reasons. For a start, she had just listened to two of the most famous ponies in Equestria casually go over their increasingly improbable past, which included a pony with future sight and a penchant for eccentric insight, a very likely royal family, the personal intervention of Princess Celestia, and the only earth pony to ever attend a school for unicorns ever.

For second, as much as she hated to admit it, she was teeming with curiosity: what new twist had happened to the three of them? As strange as their storytelling methods were, they had somehow managed to carry a subversively interesting narrative, and she found herself already calculating how long her week would seem, with all her work.

And third, Equestria's most eligible bachelor was nearly up in her nose, staring at her with a sly grin on his face...no, no, she didn't want to let her mind loose...

Res, of course, was wondering why Illesio had ceased to function in any meaningful way and resorted to an accurate imitation of a paraplegic goldfish, and waved a hoof in front of her eyes. "Excuse me?"

Illesio started violently, and hastily cleared her throat. "Nothing, nothing, sorry...I guess--"

"So sorry, beg your pardon," Res said, and crossed the room to slap Clear Sight on the back multiple times, in a only moderately successful plea to relieve his friend of a severe case of hacking up a lung, a serious case brought upon by the continued hysterical laughing he had submitted himself to.

A few moments later, Clear Sight regained a semblance of comprehensibility, and sputtered through some final relapses, "Ask your doctor if you are right for hysterical laughing. Side effects may include coughing, mania, subsequent regret--" before giving up as a particularly violent spasm rocked his respiratory system like a performance of Songbird Serenade.

Res crossed back over to Illesio, who wore an more bewildered expression, if that was even possible, and resumed the conversation: "You were saying?"

"Oh, uh," replied Illesio, "I was just thinking of something that you said...every media company would already be writing articles. That's true...but I haven't been contacted yet. If they really wanted me to write an article about it, they would have gotten a pegasus here by now, but..." she frowned. "I guess they're more concerned with getting an article out as quickly as possible. Contractually, I'm free for the rest of the day."

She blinked. "Wait, that means the first day off work in...almost three years," she mused, astonished. "Has it really been so long?"

Clear Sight, now fully recovered, picked up his head and shot Res a wild, unreadable look that he knew all too well.

Illesio was too busy recalling the last time she had a day off that she didn't notice the furious mental battle between the two of them.

The radio crew had already packed up and left.

Finally, Res sighed, and Clear Sight flashed him a Cheshire grin, before returning to a completely serious, apathetic expression.

As she broke out of her reverie, Illesio said, "Yes, it really has been three years. How time flies when you're working. I'll, uh, see myself out, then."

She was just thinking to herself, what in Equestria will I do with the time? when...

"Actually, I was thinking."

Res appeared next to her, and immediately her vision was filled with falling rose petals and unsettlingly romantic lens flares.

"Since you don't have any plans, as far as I can tell, how about I give you the grand tour of the facilities here? You can write an insider's article tomorrow."

He extended a hoof. "What do you say to that?"

She didn't say anything.

She took the hoof in stunned silence.

Clear Sight followed along after the two of them, still serious, but chuckling. "It's like a bad romcom," he said.

And they disappeared down the hallway.

--<480>-------Meanwhile, at the publishing offices for the Canterlot Journal, yep that's its name-------<482>--/

Straight Facts was having a bad day.

The radio event of the decade, planned months beforehand, had somehow never been communicated to the actual interviewees. Management is a tricky job, she knew that from experience, but when your subordinates don't tell the most exciting ponies in Equestria they're having a spot on a national radio station like CBS, particularly for a previously agreed on compilation of the most hidden and secretive details of their past?

That was just unacceptable.

Of course...she couldn't complain about the way it turned out. A second spot already confirmed for next week, massive amounts of publicity for the Canterlot Journal, and endless amounts of gossip fodder and overanalysation of passing comments, perfect for articles...on the whole, it was a positive outcome. Definitely, it could have been worse. Much worse.

But she still was angry with Illesio. Her job as a journalist was to get to the truth, no matter how much she had to dig, and the fact that she wasn't able to get them to spill more was an underperformance on her part. Never before had she acted so...so out of character.

"Something's up," Straight Facts said to herself. "Maybe she's having a hard time in her personal life. Maybe...she needs some time off."

That's a good idea! Who knows what might happen if you let her back now! She could be a vicious psychopath who just recently snapped and is waiting to get her revenge on her one enemy: you! her mind clamored at her.

As the head of a journalism company, she was used to this sort of mental thought process, and, hardly acknowledging it, she pushed that thought into the back of her mind. Not all the way back. That might come in handy if things go south.

"Shut up," she growled at herself. "Illesio is one of the least likely people to be a psychopath. She's determined, ruthless, uncaring about other's...feelings...delights in...abuse, scandal...the toppling of powers..."

Suddenly she felt like lying down.

Illesio deserved the day off, after all.

---------"Huh, now that I put it that way,"---------/

Author's Note

you can tell- by the hole in the window- made by an AK round---
great song

yeah, this is getting pretty weird, mostly because I keep doing this without a clue as to what goes on next in the story, its all adlib

also cause this only took me 2 hours

Cheers, the reason Illesio's out of character is because sh--
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