A Name and A Face

My name is Fluttershy. Everypony knows that I'm really, really shy, and I don't have a lot of confidence in myself... but I know what's right and what's wrong, perhaps even better than most ponies do. I take care of animals in my free time, and I have a lot of nice friends that I wouldn't give up for anything... not even the world...

Days for me were average and repetitive. I would wake up, go outside, feed my animal friends, then go back inside to feed more of my animal friends. Often I would also go out and visit my pony friends, too, but that wasn’t every day.

It really was no surprise to me when I saw a black notebook left alone in front of my house. Ponies often stopped by to visit my animals, even more than they came to visit me. I never minded, even when they accidentally left their stuff in my yard. I would simply return it and we would get on with our merry lives.

But this time was… different. The notebook I found was very strange, just holding it in my hooves made me feel a little queasy. I looked at the cover, and my pupils shrank to an inequestrian size.

The Death Note.

When I got back inside, I wanted to have a quick look at the Death Note. It was none of my business, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't plans to hurt somepony or anything like that... to my surprise, when I opened it up to the first page, there were... instructions. Awful, awful instructions...

"The pony whose name is written in this note..." I lowered my voice, barely a whisper. "Shall die…"

I tossed the notebook back into my saddlebag. It could be some enchanted, cursed item; I needed to get it to Twilight right away. I wonder if it's real... I stopped.

The thoughts ran through my head, way too fast, with no sign of slowing down. If it is real, then I need to get rid of it. But if it isn't real, there would be no harm in... I stared down at the ground. Some ponies are truly terrible... whoever made this cursed notebook... I sat down on the ground, my legs trembling too much for me to have even considered standing up. Ponies like that...

My eyes were drawn to the newspaper sitting on the arm of my couch. Angel was peacefully asleep on top of the cushion, snoring surprisingly loudly for a bunny. I would have found the sight adorable if I wasn't intending to attempt...

No. My thoughts turned from a cyclone to a warzone. I don't get to judge ponies... that isn't who I am. No ponies deserve to die no matter what they've done. Even if they're truly the worst, most terrible, evil ponies known in the world...

"Maybe j-just one... to test...?" I shook my way over to the newspaper. Right on the front page, to my hidden delight, was some stallion's mugshot. "Serial Rapist Caught Hiding Under Canterlot Tower" I continued skimming the article until I found more details... "Sentenced to life in prison?" I stared at the mugshot. Despite the black and white photo, I could tell that the stallion was darkly colored- but that wasn't the worst part. The stallion's photo froze with him in... by Celestia, I couldn't help but squeak and shiver. It was the most sickly, disturbed grin I had ever had the displeasure of witnessing.

Just a photo of this depraved son of a timberwolf had my knees wanting to give out under me. I tried to fight off the feelings deep within me. I'm the element of kindness... I should share my kindness with the world... My wide-eyed, terrified stare narrowed into a frighteningly dark one. Wouldn’t it be sharing more kindness to get rid of evil ponies like these ones…? To make it so the world is a safer place, for ponies weak like me?

I found myself doing what I never thought I would. I opened the Death Note and set my eyes upon the instructions.

"The pony whose name is written in this note shall die. This note will not take effect unless the writer has the pony's face in their mind when writing his or her name. Therefor, people sharing the same name will not be affected."

It made sense, I suppose... otherwise, if I wrote some really common name in the notebook, I would end up killing a whole bunch of ponies.

"If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the pony's name, it will happen. If the cause of death is not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack. After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds."

I closed my eyes. Details of the death? What kind of details? How far could that go? If this actually works, and everything is functional...

Just one single criminal, to see how it works… If it does, I’ll take it to Twilight tomorrow and she can tell me what to do with it. I’ll have to rip this page out, before she sees it, though…

The thought struck me as odd. Why would I hide it, unless it was the wrong thing to do? Was I making a really big mistake? I already hated lying to my friends, and avoided it whenever it was at all possible, but I couldn’t possibly tell them I had killed a pony… they would be so worried, and angry, and sad…

I decided to stop contemplating. I could have sat there all night and stared at the instructions, considering how far something like this could go if it was placed in the wrong hooves, but I was too curious not to try it out by that point. I started writing the stallion's name, staring at the photo of his face for good measure (obviously not because it was too grotesque and disturbing to take my eyes off of it).

I stopped after the name. If what the Death Note said was true, then this stallion would be dead in 40 seconds... because of me. A flood of power pushed the building panic back. I slapped my hoof against my face, weakly. Even if he did die in 40 seconds, I wouldn't hear about it until the next day, when the newspaper was sent out.

Lying on my bed, I didn't get a wink of sleep that night. I was too anxious. Did I just kill somepony? More importantly, if I did...

Would anypony find out? Should I continue?

I sat up, suddenly.

Why would I continue? These are ponies' lives... Ending them before they're supposed to end would be... That's murder! If it just worked this one time, I would be a murderer, and it's that simple! But...

I couldn't get caught. There was no way I would get caught. Nopony would ever suspect the existence of such a powerful magic, with the ability to kill anypony with just their name and face. I could get away with the murders of thousands...

But just because I could doesn't mean that I should.

I set the notebook beside my bed and lay back down. My thoughts were still far too wild for actual rest, but I at least managed to relax. I was going to get rid of the notebook the next day, one way or another.

Meanwhile...

Princess Twilight Sparkle was awoken from a dead sleep by the dull glow of her horn. One of the other princesses was calling her, and judging by the time, it must have been something of importance. She sat up in her bed, gave a yawn, and allowed the connection to be made. In her mind, she heard Princess Luna.

"We apologize for disturbing your rest, Twilight Sparkle. This is a matter We could not find an accurate explanation for... We were hoping you might assist us in finding one."

"An explanation? For what?" She spoke quietly, not wanting to wake Spike. "Did something happen?"

As Luna explained, Twilight found herself feeling more and more interested, which almost helped wipe away the haze of her sleepiness.

"So he died of a heart attack, despite not having any problems before?"

"Well..." Luna hesitated. "We do not know if he had "No problems," but he most certainly had no issues with his heart. In fact, Our report states that his heart was in top medical condition."

Twilight thought that through. "And... this was a criminal? I think I saw him in the newspaper today...”

Eventually, Luna's call ended. Twilight was definitely going to do more research on this.

She yawned again; sleep first, research odd heart attack tomorrow.