Call me Hot Scoop, one of Equestria's premiere up and coming journalists. Then again, you probably know who I am already since we have met before. But, I can assure you that what has happened since we seemingly last met was when news arrived that Canterlot had been attacked by the Storm King, a rather demonic creature who was bent on ruling not just Equestria, but every nation on Earth.
The Storm King was eventually defeated, but the damage was done. Ponies were traumatized, some were killed and rather than being put to death, Tempest Shadow was surprisingly offered a chance to not only atone for her actions, but also be trained to become Twilight's captain of the royal guard.
But Tempest's chance at redemption was not without scrutiny. Our kingdom's minister of defense, Instant Justice, had been ordered to find the leaders responsible for aiding the Storm King in attacking Canterlot. What followed was a clear case of revenge and treason which led to his recent hanging. Some ponies thought of him as a savior while others thought of him as a murderer of innocent Storm Creatures who had nothing to do with the invasion at all.
Then again, all of the blame and focus had to come from one pony who felt Instant Justice needed to die for his actions…Princess Celestia herself.
"Your highness," said a guardspony as he opened the door to Celestia's study. "The journalist is here for your 9:00 interview."
"Send him in," she replied and I made my way into the study a few moments later. This wasn't the first time I had interviewed Celestia personally. There had been other occasions, but this seemed to be completely out of the ordinary. "Welcome, Hot Scoop."
"Princess, it's good to see you again," I said, bowing to her. "More importantly, how are you feeling?"
"I've been recovering along with the rest of my subjects and equals. Before I begin this interview, I want to let you know that everything I said will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Is that understood?"
Nodding silently in reply, I sat in front of Celestia and took a deep breath as I prepared to start the interview.
"Now, Princess Celestia," I began, looking down at my notes. "As you know, your ex-minister of defense was executed for treason. Are you aware of why he did what he did?"
"Yes, Hot Scoop," she answered, her eyes looking briefly down at the floor. "I want you to know that I am not a murdered nor am I a tyrant. I had given Instant Justice an order to find and capture the leaders associated with the Storm King and bring them here for trial. After my sister and my niece accompanied me to the Storm King's homeland, we realized of the danger that the Storm King truly was to Equestria and had there been a trial like we wanted, we would have presented all that evidence which would secured a fast conviction."
"Indeed," I murmured. "Who exactly were these leaders you were seeking?"
"They call themselves associate judges of the Storm King according to the evidence we had obtained in the Storm King's homeland. These judges clearly had been ordered to devise laws that would strip all other non-Storm Creatures of their rights."
Looking down at the evidence, containing pictures of the four judges, I couldn't help but see just how evil these guys were. They had deep in their eyes a sense of evil that would make your spine tingle with fear.
"Clearly, I want you to understand, Hot Scoop, that I don't like to kill," Celestia continued firmly. "But, when my subjects are physically harmed, I am sometimes left with no other choice but to legally execute. In the case of Instant Justice, what he did warranted his execution. I didn't want to kill him, Hot Scoop, given how loyal his service was to the kingdom. But, he went behind my back and that is something that hurts me more than seeing my subjects being tortured."
"Was Instant Justice ever like this?"
"Backstabbing?" remarked Celestia, her eyes widening with shock. "No! He was never like that, but he was a very devote family pony who care deeply for his wife and son. There are other ways of dealing with your grief that don't involve revenge. But, he just was too far gone, Hot Scoop. He wasn't going to rest until every single creature associated with the attack on Canterlot was dead, including Fizzlepop Berrytwist herself."
At that moment, Celestia got up and walked towards the window that looked out towards several parts of Canterlot that were still under repair from the damages of the invasion.
"That's the pony who is known as Tempest Shadow, am I right?"
"Yes, that's the one. She ran away after she lost her horn and returned to make our lives miserable. But, she too went about it the wrong way, Hot Scoop. She outright abandoned her family and her homeland just so she could get her horn back!"
She turned sharply at me and a seething moment of anger seemed to boil up inside of Celestia for a brief moment, before she closed her eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to control her bottling anger.
"However," she sighed, taking a deep breath. "After all is said and done, Fizzlepop is just as much a victim in this as everypony else was."
"Not everypony agrees, your highness, if you don't mind my saying."
"Of course everypony's not going to agree with me, Hot Scoop," sighed Celestia again, sitting back down in her chair. "That's unfortunately one of the drawbacks of being a ruler or even a leader for that matter…not everypony will agree with you."
"So, do you think that you'll ever recover from this attack?"
"Yes, but in time, Hot Scoop. Instant Justice's actions have further opened the wounds of a healing kingdom and I fear that the healing process will take a lot longer than normal. Clearly, Instant Justice failed to find the four judges and I don't if we will ever find them now. The Storm King is dead, but one wonders if they will ever be found."
Immediately, I could tell just how upset that Celestia was. Still, one could only wonder if Equestria could truly recover from something just as traumatizing as the Storm King's invasion.
Just from this whole interview in general, I didn't see a Princess of Equestria, I saw a traumatized pony, like all the others who had been affected by all of this. Judging from this interview, I could only imagine to myself one particular question, "What's next for our kingdom to endure?"
…
THE END
