Perspectives

    "Bye!" I call behind me as I leave work for the day. I think I hear a response... I don't know, I'm not really paying attention to them. My mind is on something more concerning to me, one of the earlier customers. A Griffin, very recognizable. It helps that he's the only Griffin in town, but even if he wasn't I'd know his face anywhere. Because even after he left, I saw his face frequently. Whenever I had a second to think, he was what I thought about.

    His face lingers at the forefront of my thoughts, and despite any attempts to tell myself otherwise... he is pretty cute... OK, really cute.

    Even now I can see him, looking at me with nervous eyes and a slight blush... Wait, what? I snap out of my fantasy in confusion, that doesn't sound right... He's a Griffin, strong and valiant! Right? Fierce and brave! Right? Never wavering, a man of action! ...Right?

    Where did that even come from? I open my eyes and I can still see him, He's not looking at me though. He's talking to that dragon, Spike. That wasn't my fantasy, He's Actually here. I find He's much closer and look at my hooves in shock, they were pulling me towards him almost unconsciously. He turns to me and my heart tongue catches in my throat, my eyes go wide. I'm nailed to my spot by his gaze, what am I doing?

   "Oh, Uh, hello... you're the girl from the cafe, right?" He asks. My tongue goes dry as I try to answer.

    "Y-yeah." I answer, trying to calm my racing heart.

    "So, Uh..." he trails off. He must be really confused by why I came over here... I don't even know why!

    "Sorry, I'm sure you were doing something. I just thought I'd say hi again," I laugh nervously, trying desperately to sneak away.

    "No, It's fine! It's fine... so, Uh..." he trails off and I continue trying to sneak away. Spike nudges him and he glances at him briefly. I pause, did they share a look? The type of look two best friends might share? This is great! I don't know Spike that well, but I know Twilight. If he's Spikes friend then I can meet him through Twilight! She'd gladly help... maybe. Actually, would she?

    I don't have much more time to think on this because he speaks up.

    "I'm Mike, what's your name? I don't think I caught it." He says politely.

    "F-feather Scribe" I stutter, holding out a hoof expectantly. He reaches out with his claw hesitantly and bumps it against my hoof. His claws feel surprisingly soft, but cool, sending a shiver of pleasure down my spine.

    "Hey, Feather. We were gonna go to a picnic with Twilight in the park. You want to come?" Spike asks.

    "Yes!" I yell excitedly then I calm down. "I mean, yeah... sure... sounds cool..." I shut my wings, which had flared open rather embarrassingly.

    "Okay..." Spike says awkwardly, "come on, let's go." He says. We head in the direction of the park. I struggle to not brush against Mike as I walk, he doesn't seem to notice.

~~~~~~~

    "H.B." I turn at the sound of a familiar group of rambunctious fillies.

    "Hey, girls." I offer a wan smile as they come closer. They've got their wagon filled with various foodstuffs.

    "Are you grocery shopping? You said your house still needed real food, right?" Applebloom asks.

    "No, I did that earlier. Most of it anyways..." Spike and Mike kinda halted all that stuff I was doing.

    "Then what's with all the food?" They ask, pointing at my filled saddlebags. I blink and look at the similarities between our loads and squint at them.

    "I could ask you the same thing." I scrutinize.

    "What, this? We're having a picnic in the park! Cloudkicker and Starlet entrusted us with the task of getting food." Sweetie Belle exclaims proudly.

    "Oh, fan-f-f-fetting-tactic..." I mumble.

    "Something wrong, H.B.?" Applebloom asks.

    "No, other than Twilight sent me on the same errands for the same reason." I grumble. Bookhorse apparently had research today she had to finish before she could join us at the picnic we'd constructed to changes that one mares mind. Twilight had agreed, then given me the suggestion I get the food and she'd get the other stuff. I have a feeling she really kicked me out because she didn't want me to see her research. If she doesn't want me to see it, chances are it involves me. And if it involves me and she doesn't want me to know... well, let's say I'll be more than a little ticked.

    No. Bad H.B. if Twilight was conducting research on you, she would tell you. She's your friend and she knows you hate it when she does stuff that concerns you and doesn't tell you. Chances are she genuinely had research to finish and she was politely suggesting you were in her way.

After all isn't that all you're good for around here? Getting in the way?

   Shut up, Gothbunny! But, there is a little truth in that. Sometimes it seems like that's all I do. I'm hardly a contributing member to society.

    "H.B.?" Scootaloo asks.

    "Huh?" I look back up at them and remember I was having a conversation. "Oh, did you say something?" I ask.

    "Yeah, I was just saying that we should combine our picnics! I'm sure Kicker would agree, and Starlet!" Scootaloo says excitedly.

    "What about misses Lyra?" Applebloom asks.

    "Eh, you and I both know she's not the important decision making pony in the group." Scootaloo says, waving a hoof half-heartedly. Applebloom taps her chin before shrugging.

    "Uh, girls, I don't know if-" I don't get to finish because I'm cut off by they're deadly cute eyes.

    Oh, no. Oh nonononono! Fet, H.B., we're going critical! Crisis situation, initiating Defcon 4, no, 5. Attempting to cut off visuals to negate visual stimuli. Attempts failed. Incoming audio transmission, brace yourselves!

    "Pleeeeeease?" We've lost control of the situation... individual H.B. is down, I repeat, individual H.B. is down. Negotiations have failed, defeat is imminent.

~~~~~~~

    "So, uh, H.B.?"

    "Yeah, Spike?"

    "Why did you invite them to the picnic?"

    "Because I'm bad with kids." H.B. hangs her head and Spike just looks at her curiously. I ignore her momentarily and turn to Mike. He seems to want to ask me something, but  he seems just as distracted by something else. I look at the Crusaders, who offered to make the sandwiches in hope of earning their cutie marks. Twilight is talking animatedly with the new pony I don't know. Feather Scribe was her name, supposedly she's a fairly new author. Sterling and inspirational, that's what Twilight called her writing. Cloudkicker is on my right side, eyeing the new mare that's joined our group. Lyra is on the other side, talking to Mike animatedly about her club, not really realizing he isn't listening to her at all. I nudge her, she looks at me.

    "What?" She asks.

    "Might want to tone it down a bit, Lyra. Looks like you lost him," I point at Mike who turns over to us.

    "Oh, yeah, sorry. I just... have a lot to think about."

    "Oh, wow, sorry. I, uh... guess I can get a little excited at times." Lyra looks over at H.B. who gives her a deadpan look, Lyra averts her gaze to Cloudkicker. Cloudkicker hasn't turned her gaze away and I can see her wings twitching.

    "So, you wanna tap that?" I ask her in a whisper, she glances at me for a second before turning back.

    "Oh, gods, yes. Do you see that choice piece of flank?" Cloudkicker says, I chuckle at her response.

    "Well, it looks like you've got competition." I say, pointing out Mikes wandering gaze that seemed infinitely stuck locking onto Feather.

    "Hmm... well then, I guess it's just a matter of waiting."

    "Kicker..." I warn.

    "What? Is a threesome so bad?" She responds innocently.

    "No, but Mike won't go for it. I don't want you pestering him about it." I say, jabbing a hoof for emphasis. I nurse the hoof afterwards because I'm still sore and some of the cuts still hurt.

    "Hey, be careful." Cloudkicker says, laying a hoof on my withers. "I promise I won't pester him... too much." She adds as an afterthought.

    "What about your rules?"

    "What about them?" She asks in confusion.

    "One of them was that you don't sleep with friends, right?" I point out.

    "That's for first friends, not friends of friends. Besides, you would know that the rules are less than concrete, they're like suggestions." She points out.

    "Right, well, go easy on him." I say.

    "Okay. And I know you're just looking out for him, but you can't tell him not to accept. Just like you can't keep me from asking." Cloudkicker says, pointing out Mike and Feather talking animatedly as Twilight slips away. I smile at the sight, a small and slightly sad smile. Then I perk up, there's no reason to be sad.

    "I know, I just don't want you to annoy him about it. He's very... faithful to his beliefs." I say, smiling as Twilight walks up to us.

    "I think I'm starting to see some sort of ulterior motive to this picnic," Twilight says, glancing at Mike and Feather.

    "Well, we weren't a part of whatever that may be. All we know is the Crusaders brought H.B. back with them and then our picnics were combined. It's not a bad idea, though." Lyra says.

    "It's a shame Bonbon couldn't make it." Twilight offers.

    "Eh, she's out making the big bucks. She's got better things to do than sit around and just hang all day." Lyra says.

    "But Lyra doesn't. So she can sit around and hang all day!" I giggle and Lyra sits up.

    "Hey, I-! Actually... screw you, I'm sure I have better things. I just... need to think a sec..." Lyra says sourly.

   "Oh, lighten up! You're just waiting, I can understand. After all, I'm waiting so I can get back to work too," I tell her, wincing as I flex a hoof in example.

    "Ouch. Yeah, I guess." She says sympathetically.

    "Okay, we have the sandwiches made!" Sweetie Belle announces.

    "It would have been easier if H.B. didn't keep on squishing them." Applebloom mutters.

    "I am right here." H.B. exclaims incredulously. "It's not my fault I have shaky hoof syndrome..." she says indignantly, but she hangs her head a little.

    "C'mon girls, leave H.B. alone. The important thing is, she tried." I say, H.B. doesn't Thank me, however. She does the opposite, she shoots me a small glare.

    "C'mon, let's dig in." Twilight says from beside me. We divvy up the sandwiches and sides between everybody present and slowly chat dies down.

   "So, Starlet. Where are you from?" H.B. asks. I think about it for a while.

    "Whinneighsota." I say before taking a bite and watching her eye twitch. I swallow and laugh, H.B. growls slightly and I stop laughing.

   "No, I'd rather not say. But I'm sure you know for a fact I'm not from whinneighsota, being from there and all." I tell H.B. she looks away from me and just eats silently.

    "So... Feather." I say, "what do you do again?" I ask, smiling sweetly even though I remember clearly.

    "I'm an author." She says after swallowing the bite of sandwich she had taken.

    "And what have you written?" This, I didn't know and was genuinely curious about.

    "Fantasy, my most... well, known novel is about a pony who travels between world's. It's called Fragments." She says excitedly.

    "Wow! That's Cool."

   "What do you do?"

    "What?" I ask in surprise.

    "What do you do?" She repeats politely. I look back at my blank flank and sweep my tail up to cover it. Her ears lilt and I it looks like she regrets the question a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to..."

   "No, it's fine. I just... wasn't expecting it. I..." what do I do? All my hobbies from before are inadequate because I don't know how to do any of them now. I can't write, draw... I can still read though. "I like to read. And learn. In fact, I love it. Without a real... talent, I like to learn about all sorts of things in hopes of finding what I'm truly good at." I tell her, cheering up once more.

    "Hey, that's just like us!" Sweetie says.

    "You two don't like reading." Scootaloo points out.

    "Yeah, but we like learning. And we're always looking for our talents!" Applebloom points out.

    "It's almost like you were always a crusader!" Sweetie Belle says, I smile even wider and a small blush plants itself on my cheeks.

    "That's her!"

    "Subdue her!"

    I try to turn towards the shouting, but before I can I feel immense pain. It engulfs my body and I cry out, collapsing back away from the food and onto the grass. I writhe in agony before I can feel myself being restrained.

   "Hey!" I hear Cloudkicker yell, but I'm unable to pay attention properly, I'm on the verge of blacking out, but it's almost like I'm being forced awake. I feel a ring slipped over my horn and hoofcuffs placed on my hooves. The pain subsides, leaving me hurting all over, but it's not a squirming pain. The pain is throbbing now and I whimper as some ponies pick me up.

   "What are you doing?" I can see Cloudkicker getting ready to leap to my rescue.

    "Starlet Mint? You are under arrest by Princess Celestia," I can't say anything as I slip from consciousness.