Dear diary,
I lied. To an inquiry board, no less. About a felony. I canāt say I feel great about it.
The cover story worked well enough. I told them Iād arrived in time, subdued Azl and stopped him before he could get the artifact. That part was true enough,after a fashion. I did keep him from getting it. As far as Equestria is concerned, itās buried in that temple somewhere, where the Sphinx left it. Itās not though. I took it with me. Somehow it didnāt feel safe to leave it behind. I still donāt know what it is, but I think Kite does. Iād rather keep it with her than in a hole somewhere, thereās no telling who was watching us.
Tezza removed the venom from my blood before I transformed. I have that now, too, in a little glass jar. According to her, itās already maturated. Ā All I have to do is drink it, and the process will complete itself. She told me to hang onto it, āIn case of emergency.ā Ā I know better. She just wants the temptation of it near by so that, someday, in some moment of weakness, Iāll try it. Just for the experience. She knows I collect experiences. Itās a pretty transparent ploy. I should frankly get rid of it, I know how dangerous it is.
I havenāt yet, though. Ā In case of emergency.
The bugger of it all is, I can list a dozen different reasons why I lied that all make perfect sense. I didnāt want to draw attention to Malachite, for instance. Sheās already considered an alien presence in Equestria and I donāt want her on record as something ādangerous.ā She grew another tail after this thing. I have no idea why or how, or what specifically caused it, but it happened. That might be excuse enough alone for somepony to try and take her away āfor observation.ā I donāt want to add more fuel to that fire. The fewer times sheās mentioned in an official report, the better.
And there was no harm done with Tezza, either. Trying to make a vivid pony is a serious crime, sheād be looking at a substantial sentence if she were convicted. But she wasnāt being malicious. Azl was, and heās going to pay for it. I was cured before anything bad happened, and Azlās grip on his own vivid pony expired when he wasnāt able to renew her venom. No harm, no foul, the problem is over and thereās no point in dragging out new ones.
I know the real reason, though.
Itās because I made the pony choice. Because I believe in the pony choice. In Equestria, the pony choice works. Here, thatās what we do. We have faith, and we have trust, and it makes amazing things happen. Here, I can bet the safety of our whole nation on my friendship with somepony, and Iāll get a medal for it. But itās not the only choice. Tezza made the coatl choice. She weighed her options and picked the greatest strategic advantage she could find with the highest chance of protecting the most people from the greatest threat, at the least cost. That I didnāt volunteer is not an aspect of that decision; I was a necessary factor in an equation designed to save lives, I donāt get the option to refuse.
Equestria would send her to prison for that. There wouldnāt even be an appeal.
I canāt.
I understand it. I even agree with it. And Iām not supposed to. Itās not the pony way.
I lied, because I made the pony choice, and for the life of me, I think I chose wrong. I bet Equestria on luck, and even though it worked, I donāt want to be celebrated for that. I believe in Equestria, more than any pony I know. I love our people, I follow our traditions, I celebrate our culture. But I think, maybe, running into Tezza again reminded me just how native I went while in her homeland, and this trial, my fake story, has made me realize that I made my choices because I recognized their validity. There is a part of me that belongs to Equestria, but somewhere deep inside, thereās a part of me that belongs to that jungle too. Those people. Equestria would have me feel ashamed of that part. I donāt.
Itās funny, I havenāt spoken the coatl language in months before this little incident. Came back just like that. Accent is a little messy though.
But I can get that back, too.
















