Perspectives

“Ms. Mint?” I look up to see a butler, he looks like he works in the castle.

”I’m sorry.”

“Uh, yeah. That’s me.” I get up slowly, still kinda sore. Celestia may have healed my wounds and lessened the pain, but there’s still a dull soreness.

”Why are you sorry?”

“Your presence has been requested.” Cloudkicker looks up at the butler suspiciously. Rainbow just looks at all of us in turn, confused at all of our reactions. The butler doesn't have much of a reaction, but I know I look more than a little apprehensive.

”Because I cannot do this for you.”

“O-Okay…” I respond hesitantly, heading towards the door.

”That is… Disappointing, to say the least”

My forward motion is halted as a figure darts to the door opening before I make it very far. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cloudkicker warns me.

”Let me reiterate, I cannot do this for you on my own.”

“I have to.” I tell her, trying to walk around. Her outstretched wing stops me as I attempt to walk past her.

”Explain.”

“No you don’t, just have him tell them you’re not interested.” She pleads.

”Alone, I’m not sure I could convince Ms. Mint to kill me specifically for any reason. The only things I could do to heighten the success rate would not be likely to work. There is, however, some way I could do it. Might I suggest we use SCP-053?”

“It could be the Princess… You can’t just say no to either of them. Besides, she said she’d give me a chance. She wouldn’t lie, would she? She was an element of harmony once, honesty is an attribute." I tell Cloudkicker.

"053? She's... Oh, Yes. She is nearby."

"If she was a portrayal of the elements, wouldn't she have been nicer about all this?" Cloudkicker counters, I sigh and stop pushing against her wing.

"if you would oversee her delivery, I could take out this task. But there are other ways, that's just the simplest."

"They're the elements of harmony, not niceness." I say despondently. I push one final time and I'm met with little resistance. I leave the room and tag behind the Butler as he leads me through the halls. I wonder what they need me for?

"Thank you, Mr. Deeds. That plan is perfect. Let me fetch 053, then you can fetch Starlet."

~~~~~~~

Starlet has a point, but something seems very wrong about this whole situation. I don't know what it is, but something is setting me off. Maybe it's the way the princess acted around her, it's different than I've ever seen her. It's... wrong. I don't know why, it just is.

Different than she's ever handled a "threat", she didn't even treat Chrysalis like this. What even is it that's convinced her that Starlet is such a threat? From what I know of her, She's usually very understanding. The benevolent leader, goddess of the sun, Solar Diarch... and she's worked up over one pony? Something else is going on, something I don't know about.

I can't react until I know the whole story. I glance at Dash to remind me of that lesson. There's nothing keeping me from watching them though. I get up and Rainbow Dash looks at me curiously, she doesn't get up though.

"I'm gonna go see what's going on." I tell her.

"Oh, well... that's Cool, then. Can I Uh... can I stay here? I'd rather not get acquainted with the castle holding cells again so soon. If you're not back in an hour or so I'll come find you." Rainbow responds, to which I nod and head out carefully. I start walking down a hall, pondering where they might have gone.

My ears prick as I hear what sounds like yelling, preceded by a crash. Starlet can wait, it sounds like someone else needs help. I careen down the halls towards where I thought the sound is. I turn a corner and veer at the sight.

Blood. There was so much blood. It was the first and foremost thing out of everything, just because there was so much of it. Red was such a bright and obscene color, making the amount of it splattered against the once pristine white walls obnoxious in its declaration. The clang of a knife hitting the floor echoes through the hallway. I don't remember if the knife fell first, or if I pinned her against the wall first. I'm not sure it matters, the point is that it happened. I looked into her eyes and didn't find what I expected. There wasn't disdain, or hate, or venom. She looked, confused at first. Like she was trying to wrap her head around it. Then she looked scared, there was a sickening fear in her eyes that spoke louder than any words she could have said.

"I... I killed him." She mutters, horrified.

"This way!" I hear distant yells coming down a hallway and my ear swivels to hear. I look at Starlet and she looks down at my hooves holding her down. Her face grows more panicked. I turn towards the voices and immediately curse my distraction, it cost me. I hear the knife scrape the floor as she stands over me, wielding the knife menacingly. I prepare a counter attack for when she thrusts the knife.

She doesn't. She just looks at me in fear, just like before. A second later she collapses to her side after getting hit with a bolt of Magic, the royal guard is here.

"Cloudkicker! Are you Okay?" I turn to find another one of my cousins in the royal guard. I turn back to Starlet and look at her Twitching body in shock. She's a murderer. But, she couldn't be. She just isn't the type... but, isn't that the point, it's always the ponies you wouldn't suspect.

"I'm fine, everything is under control. More so now..." I say.

"A murder. There hasn't been a murder in Equestria for years. Two, precisely. And there hasn't been one in Canterlot for five..." she says, shaking her head. I glance at the body before looking away, I can't handle thinking she did that.

"She's gonna hang, for sure." I turn to my cousin slowly on that.

"Hang?" I whisper, more to myself than anything else.

"Well, there hasn't been a hanging in a while... I think the law on it's different now. Lethal injection, I think it's called? It's different, still a death sentence though..." my cousin says, looking only slightly shaken.

"Death... sentence?" I whisper, clearly more shaken than she is. This isn't right. Not just the fact that She's a killer, but... everything! I should be able to handle this. How could I ever have trusted her?

"Cloud? You alright?" I jerk my head up and look at my cousin, still distracted. "She's in the dungeon. We have three guards posted to look after the body. Everything's good here, we know it was her. You're good here, you should go back to your room." I nod distractedly, Until I remember. A key fact. I need answers.

"N-no. I need to see her." I say Determinedly.

"Cloudkicker..."

"I need to see her!" I demand, she backs up and raises her hooves.

"Fine. But you won't have long. The princess will want her dead as soon as possible. By the end of today, I imagine."

~~~~~~~~

I messed up. I... I don't know what happened. That... that FILLY. She saw, she... I'm not quite sure what happened... I killed that Butler. I know that much, but I haven't heard hide nor hare of any voices aside from my own. Scarlet, Styre... all just silent, even after that... that... that event.

I couldn't let Cloudkicker even be suspected of murder. I realized that when she had me pinned, why would they suspect the mare being held down?

"You." I turn at the sound of her voice. It chills me to the bone, her eyes glare daggers into my soul. I flinch Away and cower at a distance. "I trusted you." She growls. I look through the bars behind her and see the guard behind her looking a little concerned. It can't be for cloudkicker though. Probably one of the rare times the guard is more concerned about the murderer, rather than the pony in there with her.

"Yeah..." I mutter, trying to turn away.

"Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?" She shrieks.

"I'm sorry."

"Bullshit!" I flinch back at her language. She's breathing heavily and erratically. I shudder a little and attempt to look her in the eyes. I... can't. I'm too scared. I hurt her, and she has all the right to hate me. "You've been lying to me since you got here!" Her eyes widen at that. "You owe me answers... or was that a lie as well!?" She returns to shouting at me.

"Oh... n-no, it wasn't a lie..." I quiver hesitantly. How will she react? I just killed a pony, and She's right. I have lied to her. She might think this is a lie.

"Tell me then."

~~~~~~~

"So, what do you think of Starlet?" I ask Twilight.

"I don't know. I can't think of a reason she'd be captured by the Solaris division. Other than being a dangerous Magic user with malicious intent... she doesn't even have a cutie mark!" Twilight responds.

"Could she be hiding it with Magic?" I ask her.

"No, She's incapable of such spells. Also, there's no such magical signature on her. I checked." Twilight says, shaking her head. I Wait a second, a question gnawing at the back of my mind.

"When you first dragged me to Celestia she mentioned that she was glad you found me for her. If you hadn't have found me, would she have sent the Solaris division?" I ask her. Silence. I turn to Twilight, and she looks uneasy. "Twilight..." I warn.

"I don't know HB, Okay? Yes? Maybe? She did think of you as a threat to equestria." Twilight answers uneasily.

"Do you think that's what's happening here?" I ask.

"I don't know, HB... I hope not, for her sake." Twilight answers. I nod half-heartedly. I ponder what she might have done to "those" nine to deserve this. If that is what happened. If so, she got off a little easier than me, she didn't get branded... and if not, then what secret could she hold?

"Let's hurry up and get home, I have some organizing we can do today." Twilight tells me.

"Come on Twilight... shouldn't I be learning friendship with Flutters or something." I grumble slightly.

"Oh, come on HB. You know Fluttershy is busy today. and I kinda left the Library kinda messy, so I need the extra help. I already told Spike he could go see if Rarity needed his help." Twilight explains, not turning to me once. She does turn her head to tell me her last point, "besides, you've organized the books before."

I sigh deeply, as these are all valid points. It's not like I was doing anything today, probably just going to go back to my house or something. Figures something would come up on my day off. Oh, come off it HB. It's not like you're really working at all. I roll my eyes at myself.

"Yeah, Okay..." I say half-heartedly.

Twilight kinda pauses at that, confusing me momentarily. "Okay?" She asks.

"Yeah. Okay. What?" I ask in confusion.

"Oh, Nothing. I guess I'm just used to fighting you on everything." Twilight says hesitantly.

I'm about to comment on that indignantly, but Twilight's saved from my tirade at the last second. "Twilight!" I turn to see Feather flying towards us gently. Mike not far behind, strolling along slowly. Some sort of animal is walking beside him, but I'm at a loss for what it might be.

I turn to Twilight, her eyes locked on to the figure besides Mike. With the look she's giving it, that doesn't seem like a pleasant surprise.

"Uh, Yeah... Feather?" Twilight asks, forcing a small smile at the Pegasus while Also not tearing her gaze from the figure. As it and Mike draw closer I realize what it is. It's a Teddy bear.

And it's moving on it's own.

"You won't believe what Mike found in the Everfree!" she exclaims.

"What's that?" Twilight mutters, her eyes even wider now.

"He found a weird building. Or, What's left of one... anyways, we found this adorable little Teddy Bear inside. It must have an animation spell on it, because it decided to come with us." Feather explains excitedly.

"Yeah, animation Spell." Twilight copies, only barely listening. Her eyes snap to Feather suddenly. "Everfree? Animation spell?" Feather nods and Twilight turns to the bear nervously.

"Do you know anything about taking care of stuffed animals animated by Magic?" Mike asks as he walks up to Twilight.

"Er... there may be something about it in the library." She offers.

"You can come with us, that's where we're headed." I offer, saving Twilight from her sudden onset of awkwardness.

"Okay, Cool." Mike says, scratching the Teddy bear between its ears. It runs Away from him and cuddles up to Twilight. She flinched back slightly at first before realizing it's not going to hurt her. She cautiously looks at its innocent gaze before relenting and petting it on the head herself.

The Teddy bear eventually moves Away from Twilight and looks at me. It seems... pensive. At least it doesn't hate me. It moves around to look at my mark, I move to keep it from doing so. It eventually stops and decides it doesn't care for me. It goes back to Feather and cuddles up onto her leg.

I shiver slightly at how creepy the bear is, but Also at how it acted. It obviously sensed something about me, because it didn't try cuddling up to me like the others.

"Come on, let's get to the library." Twilight says, pulling ahead of the group. I pull up beside her to find a slightly concerned look gracing her face.

"I don't like that look Twilight." I tell her, she glances at me briefly.

"It's Nothing..."

"Don't you, it's Nothing, me. I know darn well when things aren't going how they should! And your face is saying something isn't right about this. Now spill." I command, not bothering with the semantics of the situation.

"That bear doesn't have any Magic on it. I don't know how it's animate, but it's not because of Magic." Twilight explains.

"Twilight. Just because it's not Magic doesn't mean it's impossible. It could just be advanced animatronics." I scoff.

"Animatronics?" She asks.

"Robots, Twi." I say, tapping my skull with a hoof. I quickly place my hoof back on the floor after almost tripping. Months of being a pony and I'm still bad with my hooves.

"I know what it means." She snaps lightly. "But it's not that simple. Take..." she looks around for something before eventually picking up a good sized rock. "Everything in equestria is saturated in Magic, even foals. This rock has infinitely more Magic than that bear does. You, surprisingly, have even more than this rock."

"And you have even more than me, right?" I continue sarcastically.

"Not the point!" She snaps.

"Right, Yeah, Okay. I get it, magic's in everything. But what does this mean?" I ask her, slightly understanding her dilemma.

"It means that... that bear, is foreign to the Equestrian magical field." Twilight continues.

"Well, it is from the Everfree." I suggest.

"Uh-uh, that can't be it. The Everfree is unpredictable, but it still well within the boundaries of the Equestrian Magic field."

"Okay, then what defines the boundaries of the Equestrian Magic field?" I ask impatiently.

"Well, there kind of aren't any..." Twilight says with no degree of uncertainty.

"You're kidding me. There's got to be some sorta boundaries. Like... the atmosphere or something. Where does Magic stop working? Nightmare Moon never escaped the moon on her own, that should mean there's no Magic in space, right?" I tell her.

"More like preventative Magic. If you think about it, HB, Celestia can move the sun and Luna can move the stars." Twilight offers. It takes me a moment to get what she's saying, but when I do I look up.

it's not like I expect to see any stars or anything, and I can only barely see the moon. I still look, dumbfounded at the extent of Magic here.

"Wait, then how is this bear Magic free?" I ask in surprise. I remember our current company and look back at them, but They're too caught up in playing with the bear.

"Exactly." Twilight says, looking at the bear for herself. "It looks like Magic is attempting to interact with it now, meaning it only recently came into contact with the Magic field." Twilight whispers worriedly. I nod hesitantly, understanding her concern now.

We both look back, only to find the Teddy bear smiling at us. I don't think anyone could be prepared for how creepy that thing is.

I just hope it's not as dangerous as it is creepy.