Nightshade

Night had begun to fall by the time a crime scene was established and any investigations began.

It was apparent that Nightshade and Lucky were poisoned, but the circumstances surrounding it weren’t so clear. Misty simply shook her head at the sight and turned to head to her tent. Once inside, she called one of the unicorn mages in to begin reverting her appearance.

"All this effort with disguises and all this time spent for nothing," she said bitterly as the unicorn's horn began glowing and an aura surrounded her.

"It isn't your fault, captain. It was Lucky's job to keep an eye on her... but we see how that turned out."

"I shouldn't have let her out of my sight, we've lost a valuable chance. What was that damned message that made Lucky leave in the first place anyway?"

"Well, according to the communication stone's guardian, nothing has been transmitted in nearly three days, so we are assuming that either he or Lucky was lying... or-"

"Or that somepony else has learned of the communication stone." Misty finished his sentence, eliciting a slight nod from him in response.

"Dammit!" Misty exclaimed, slamming a hoof against the desk in her tent.

"Hold still now, we don't want the spell to turn you into a walking color wheel again," the unicorn said, chuckling to himself.

They continued in silence for a time before a young guard came through the door of the tent. He turned to Misty and quickly stood erect.

"Captain, we've finished investigating the scene and have determined with certainty what took place." After finishing, he continued to stand there quietly for a few moments.

"...Well?" Misty said impatiently.

"S-sorry ma'am." He pulled out a set of notes and continued. "The poison was the cause of both deaths. There was no sign of struggle so we believe it to be a double suicide. L-Lucky's body was found very close to the mare's with traces of the same poison she drank found around his lips. The mare's body shows signs of having been dead for a significantly longer period of time, suggesting she got a stronger dose of the poison than... than Lucky. That is all." The stallion began to turn to leave before Misty spoke up.

"I know he was a friend of yours, but he let his feelings control him, rather than sticking to the mission at hoof. He deserved it."

Without turning around to face Misty, the stallion spoke.

"All due respect, captain, nopony deserves to die like that...." He walked out of the tent.

Misty shrugged off the stallion's comment and turned to the unicorn that was still in the tent.

"How much longer on this spell? I need to make a report of my own."

After her disguise had been removed, Misty trotted to a nearby, much larger tent with a symbol of the moon above the opening. She entered and kneeled.

"My Princess," she said humbly before rising back to her hooves.

"'Tis terrible to think that one can be so filled with despair, she dost forget even the death of a close friend," Princess Luna said softly. "Though thou were quite convincing we must admit. Please, sit."

Misty obeyed and sat down on a cushion on the ground.

"I assume you've heard that my peers are suspecting that somepony has learned of the communication stones?" Misty asked.

"Yes, and it is most troubling to us," Luna responded, looking down defeatedly.

Misty nodded before replying.

"It's a shame. If we were correct in our suspicions about her talent, that mare could have been a valuable asset to us. I just wish we could have been able to confirm it sooner. It’s not often a pony is born with a talent to kill."

Luna looked back to Misty.

"I wonder though, my subject, have we become no better than our enemies? That we would refer to the loss of a life as simply the loss of an 'asset'?" Luna asked, sorrow visible in her eyes.

Misty had no response and looked at the floor, ashamed of her choice of words. Luna continued speaking.

"Perhaps if only I had walked more among her dreams, I could have quelled her dark thoughts, instead of only encouraging them." A tear began rolling down Luna's cheek, but she quickly wiped it away on her foreleg.

Around that time, another guard came through the tent's entrance and quickly bowed to Princess Luna before turning to speak to Misty.

"We searched the mare's house, captain, this is the only further information we found." He gave a small scrap of paper to her. "This letter was on the floor, crumpled up."

"Thank you. Dismissed," Misty shooed the guard away from the tent.

"Read it aloud if you would, we would like to hear the final record of this mare," Princess Luna requested.

"Yes, my Princess." Misty cleared her throat.

“To anypony who finds this: I’ve been thinking about my cutie mark, about my “special talent”. A few have told me that upon seeing what the deadly nightshade did to my parents, I realized the potential of what a plant could do to a pony, and so my talent became the mixing of potions and poisons. That is what I have believed most of my life.

Just because I’m good at something doesn’t make it my special talent though, does it? I know ponies who are reasonably skilled at tasks other than their talent, maybe I’m like them. Maybe potions have nothing to do with what I’m meant to do.

I’ve also met ponies whose cutie mark is a representation of something, rather than directly related to what they do. Even some of the Element bearers are proof of this. Balloons can mean laughter, butterflies kindness, and gemstones generosity.

What does a deadly flower mean, or just a flower for that matter?

Flowers are pleasant in theory. Many look, smell, or taste pleasing to most ponies, but every rose has its thorns. My parents trusted the innocent look and taste of the flower, and ate it. In return it ate them from the inside out.

The petals of a flower draws ponies to it. The same is true for poisonous flowers as well. They lure somepony with the appearance of innocence, and that pony pays the price for falling for it.

I am not only skilled with the use of poisonous plants; I resemble one. My parents loved me, and died because of it. Other ponies hear the story about them and are drawn to my sorrow, but I only hurt them. It won’t be long before I cause something worse to happen.

My special talent is representative of the things me and the deadly nightshade have in common. Other things are drawn to us: ultimately drawn to their demise.

I can’t let that happen to Misty and Lucky.

When a flower dies, it helps the things growing around it flourish. The death of a flower allows other life to thrive. I must make a decision for the good of others.

I must allow my friends to thrive.