Perspectives

"What? Why!?" I yell, the guards just ignore me, probably because they know who I am. Well then, they should know they've bucked with the wrong mare.

"Hey! I'm talking to you!" I yell, the guard swings around with his wings outstretched, wielding a spear.

"Back up civilian! This doesn't concern you!" The guard yells.

Or they're just stupid. I rush forward and weave my way around the spear, taking the guard by surprise. I knock his hoof and then attempt to hit his helmet before he gets his wits about him. He blocks my hoof and knocks me back, distancing himself while he regains his composure.

"I said this doesn't concern you," the guard threatens, not letting his eyes leave me.

"Thunder, she's subdued. Let's just go." One of the other guards says.

"Fine," he says, turning with a snort.

"No you don't!" I shout, rushing forward once more, I barely notice another guard intervening. I manage to halt my forward motion and avoid blunt force trauma to the head.

"Stop if you know what's good for you." The guard threatens.

"Tell me!" I demand.

"Kicker! Stop." I pause as I hear a familiar voice. I hadn't picked her out in all the action, but now that I've heard her I know who this is. This is the princesses personal division of the gendarmerie, saved for special projects. So then, why do they want Starlet?

"Tell me what's going on." I command her, she shakes her head briskly.

"You know I can't do that. Now stop, before I do something I really don't want to." She says. I back off. They take off, but they don't take their gaze off me until they're a good way away.

If that's the gendarmerie, and not just any division, but the Solaris division, then there's no way I could have taken them. I did manage to take ONE pony by surprise ONCE. The chances of getting an opening again are nil. I'm good, but not nearly that good. I wouldn't want to anyways, even if they're specially trained to work solely for the good of their mission. If I try to interrupt that... well, they will disregard and or demolish any obstructions.

"W-what?!" Lyra asks, I don't hesitate in taking off after their cart. I hear a commotion behind me, but I don't pay it any attention. My mind is focused on getting to Canterlot castle as fast as possible.

"Hey! Kicker!" I groan, but don't slow down. If Dash is serious about talking to me, she'll catch up. "Yo, Kicker! They're looking for Starlet!" Dash says as she pulls up beside me.

"You don't say..." I grunt.

"Oh, so... you know?" She says, looking ahead and seeing the cart. "Is that her?"

"What do you want Dash?"

"Well, first off I'd like to know why the royal guard was looking for Starlet." Dash says, crossing her hooves.

"Well, if I knew that I probably wouldn't be tailing them." I growl.

"Right... well, look. I promised AJ I wouldn't pester her or you about earlier, but I do want to talk." Rainbow says.

"If this isn't talking, I don't know what you want."

"Look, I'm just trying to figure something out. Help me out here."

"Get to the point, I'm kinda busy." I say.

"Right, so... you attacked Starlet-"

"If this is about me being a hypocrit for making assumptions about ponies and nearly ending their life for it, I'm not in the mood..." I warn.

"What? No! This doesn't have anything to do with flight camp. I mean... the situation is similar... very similar... Actually, I guess I do kinda want to say that. Just, not now. In fact-"

"The point, Dash" I say pointedly.

"Right. I don't think you were wrong. Or, not wrong, but I don't think you made an assumption. Well, you did, but I don't think it was entirely wrong. Or... something" Rainbow finishes lamely.

"What are you trying to say Rainbow? That I'm right? Because one, that's a very evasive way of doing so. Two, I'm not. She is a regular mare." I say with a little more force than was necessary.

"I know. It's just... there was a reason, there's always a reason you do what you do. I just don't know what it is." Rainbow explains.

"Are you trying try to ask why I thought she was a changeling?" I ask, suddenly understanding her ramblings. Rainbow nods excitedly, motioning to her nose like a filly. I sigh, but try to keep my flying pace.

"Look, maybe Applejack was right, boss. This mess is our problem," I say. Rainbow stares at me for a long while, I just turn my gaze to the quickly retreating cart.

"Of all the..." Rainbow grumbles something incoherent. "fine, but hurry up. We're losing them." Rainbow says, pulling along beside me. I look at her in confusion.

"You're coming too?" I ask.

"You're my friend, she's yours, and a friend of a friend is my friend too. That, and I have some concerns." Rainbow says.

I don't argue, her company is welcome. There's a certain relief in having Rainbow Dash with me, even if she can't really fight as well. She exudes this sort of air, it feels like confidence. It also makes you feel a little better about yourself. It's slightly empowering.

~~~~~~~

"Oh no. Oh, no no no. This is bad. This is very bad. What could they want with her? That's the gendarmerie, Solaris division nonetheless!"

"Twilight! What does that even mean?" I ask her, barely holding it together myself.

"The gendarmerie? Those are the ones who uphold the law, right?" Lyra says thoughtfully.

"What? Like police?" I ask her.

"Wha- Oh, right. You're new to equestria, right? No, we have police. They're more of a specialty task force, sent to uphold specific laws and such... or to take out special assignments for the well being of Equestria. Within Equestria though, they don't really leave the country at all." Lyra explains.

"What's the Solaris division?" I ask, but Twilight answers me instead.

"The Solaris division, gendarmerie. Celestias special task force of commission officers, The Gendarmerie is technically a fourth branch of the armed services, but in practice it has a strong tradition of independent operation, and their members only serve as soldiers in times of crisis. Not the Solaris division. Hoof-picked by Celestia, these soldiers are called in to act in the name of protecting and preserving harmony in Equestria. That was the watch commander and her squad." Twilight explains.

"And that means..."

"That means that for some reason, Starlet was a threat to the order and harmony in Equestria." Twilight says.

"Twilight... this sounds awfully familiar-" H.B. says.

"I know what it sounds like! I just... she wouldn't... not again..." I look between the two, lost.

"But, she hasn't done anything wrong!" I exclaim.

"No, but there isn't much I could do. Maybe..." I see Twilight pull out quill and scroll, Spike standing off to the side. Feather is looking visibly shaken and huddling next to me. I lay a wing over her subconsciously, she gasps and looks at me. I scoot closer and she leans into me, I try to think of what I could do. Nothing comes to mind. Besides, she told me to stay out of the public eye. Meaning, I can't really interfere. Let's hope she can dig herself out of whatever hole she's dug herself into.

"So... was Pinkie right?"

"Huh?" It was applebloom that had spoken.

"Pinkie?" Lyra asks.

"Pinkie said she was a spy. Was she right?" Applebloom asks.

"no, the Solaris division wouldn't be called for this if she were a spy..." Twilight says.

"Are you saying Starlet is more dangerous than a spy?" Lyra asks in shock.

"Potentially. See, a spy would still go through normal means of trial, but the Solaris division works directly under Celestia. Who is above the normal justice system, though she rarely executes that power." Twilight says, measuring her worry.

"When was the last time she used that power?" I ask. H.B. glances at her, Twilight stumbles on her answer.

"It's... hard to say." She answers. Does that mean it was a long time ago? "Their operations often remain under the public eye, so as not to cause panic." She explains.

"Well, we just let Cloudkicker run after them. What will happen to her?" Lyra asks incredulously.

"Could you have stopped her?" Twilight asks pointedly, Lyra rubs her neck slightly. "That's what I thought. Besides, Cloudkicker has tremendous knowledge and pull with the guard. She must have known who they were. She's not oblivious to the danger, just ignorant.".Twilight snorts, gaining control of the situation once more.

"No wonder she and Rainbow get along so well." H.B. says half heartedly.

"You guys don't give her enough credit. She sees the danger, but she still heads into it!" Lyra says excitedly, the revelation tempers her excitement a little.

"What about Mike?" H.B. says suddenly, turning to me with an accusatory glare.

"M-me?" I ask in shock.

"You're the one who's known her the longest." Lyra reasons.

"If anyone had an idea what would be happening, it should be you." Twilight points out.

"I-i..." I can't deny those facts, but the whole situation has left me equally confused. Feather steps to my rescue, thankfully.

"Hey, girls! Leave him alone, can't you see He's confused by this too." She nuzzles me quickly and my wings puff out for some reason. She stiffens and pulls away slightly, I mouth my thanks and she just nods quickly.

"Yeah, Sorry, but I don't know." I look at the small group and stand abruptly.

"Where are you going?" Twilight asks.

"A walk." I say with a sigh.

"I'll go with you." I smile as Feather stands up too.

"I'd like that." I say softly.

~~~~~~~

"Ow..."

"Well well, look who's decided to wake up." A voice says, I look up and find two stallions dragging me. They're dressed in the armor of the Royal guard. Immense pain washes over my immediate fear, I hold back tears as the jostling sends jolts of pain through my body. I can't even pinpoint any specific pain because it's washed into an overall pain that seems to numb other feelings.

"I... I didn't do anything." I cough, attempting to clench my gut as pain jolts through my body. The guard behind me hits me in the back with something and I spasm slightly before going limp. Pain is blinding me, the light from outside blurs as my head spins.

Finally, we stop. I feel myself being tossed onto the floor and I finally clench my gut. I gasp, the tumble took the air out of my lungs. I look up weakly and see something that freezes me in fear. It's Celestia, and she looks... a weird cross between anger and disgust. I whimper as I try to look down and away.

"No! Look her in the eye! Challenge her!" I hear Styre yelling.

"No, let's try and reason with her," Stia argues.

"She doesn't look very fun..." Joy says.

I don't do anything, I'm not any of them, I just want this to be over...

I feel Magic lift me me up, I scramble to my feet and try to hold onto the ground. I tuck my legs in as I leave the ground and float towards Celestia. I look at her, the look of disgust never leaves her face. I notice, however, that Luna's in the room. She doesn't even attempt to move or intervene, though. I can feel my brain being picked apart by Celestia and whimper again, she ignores me. I feel a surge and Luna leaps to attention.

"SISTER-" Luna starts yelling.

"SILENCE!" she cuts off, "you will soon see." Celestia says annoyedly. I'd probably be actively fighting this if I weren't so sore, or bound by the Magic currently holding me. And if I was Styre, or maybe even Scarlet...

I feel myself being torn from my body by the magic and finally being freed of the pain. This brings both relief and fear. This is it, she's gonna finish me off.

"Seven?" Luna asks loudly, I open my eyes and see her gawking at me, then she turns away. I follow her gaze and my eyes meet with a gaze I hadn't expected to see. Styre is looking at me in shock, at first, then anger.

"You couldn't do anything other than cower?! Our life was on the line and you were gonna accept it?!" Styre yells.

"On the contrary, your life wasn't on the line. I gave you a voice, do not make me regret giving you a say in your fate." Celestia warns.

"Oh, well la-tee-frickin-da. What am I supposed to be, thrilled?" Styre asks, Celestias anger flares.

"Styre? Quiet." I turn to see Stia stepping forward to talk.

"And you must be the base personality." Celestia assumes.

"No, the base is the one still in the body" Stia says matter of factly.

"I was under the assumption she was just the one in control at the moment." Celestia frowns darkly.

"No. That would be her," Stia points at me and I cower away, Celestia ignores me and turns to Diz.

"I see there is one stallion in the mix." Celestia points out, gauging his reaction. He doesn't react, she turns to Scarlet and her mood darkens significantly. She turns back to Stia with a dark look.

"I will make this brief. My sister has decided that you should be given a chance... I'm obligated to provide one to you now. If I find that you are threat to Equestria AT ALL, you will be terminated. Do I make myself clear?" Celestia asks bitterly.

"Crystal." Stia says neutrally.

"Good, now, how did you get here?"

"We don't know,"

"Might I remind you that your existence relies solely on your cooperation." Celestia warns.

"I do not know and I have nothing left to say on the matter." Stia insists.

"... I don't like you. Make no mistakes, I think you're all threats." Celestia says, narrowing her eyes at each of us in turn.

"Then why give us a chance?" Styre asks.

"I wouldn't. You've killed a pony, you've shown you're mentally unstable, as well as impulsive. But my sister has demanded you be given a chance. So that's what you get. A chance." Celestia states venomously, heavy emphasis suggests that the amount of chances is not up for negotiation.

"That was self defense!" Styre argues.

"The point still stands, you're capable of murder." Celestia says, flaring up her horn once more. "I will not leave your mental instability unattended, though." She says as she uses her Magic on me again. This time the Magic feels restricting, like I'm trying to be squished into a

hole too small for me. I hear strained cries of distress from the others, Starlet seems to be very confused. It doesn't look like she's feeling the same thing. Then she lurches violently and I know she's not feeling the same thing, she's feeling something much worse. Suddenly, the doors slam open as Celestia's magic flashes.

~~~~~~~

"No, we're not going in there!" Feather insists.

"What? It looks interesting. You've lived next to it practically all your life and you mean to say you've never gone in?" I ask, slowly getting closer to the ominous forest.

"Of course not, no pony goes into the Everfree!  Not willingly! And certainly not for a stroll!"

"No one?"

"Well... there's that zebra. And twilight and company... but thats it!" She insists. Good enough for me.

"See, they're fine." I say.

"Something always happens! And that's if you take the path, not just waltz in unawares." Feather argues.

"Look,  you don't have to go. I'm taking a walk to take a break from that... town." I'm really trying to take my mind off what happened. I promised I would lay low and thinking about it might cause me to break that promise. "Besides, I was a bo-" I pause, do they have boy scouts in equestria? "I won't get lost, I know what I'm doing." I say decidedly.

"Oh..." Feather takes a glance at the forest, then the town. "Alright, but only because I'm afraid something will happen if I leave you." She says, moving a little closer. I don't object.

We head deeper into the forest, and the forest slowly starts getting darker. I start to see that the tree cover is too thick to fly through, which would make any sort of escape much harder. I try not to show how scared this fact makes me, because I don't want to look weak in front of feather. I hadn't thought much of the forest until I entered it, now it sends a sort of unease through my body. I wouldn't admit it to her, but I'm glad she didn't leave me.

"Wait. What's that?" I look at where feather is pointing. It looks like some sort of... building. Or, at least, the ruins of a building. I take the lead and head towards it. It looks like it was maybe a more modern building than the ones I've seen. It is made of actual bricks, that's why I could recognize them as ruins. I walk in and look around, there's no roof, but most of the walls are intact.

"Watch out!" Feather pulls me back before I can fall into a giant hole in the floor. I fall back with her, staring wide eyed at the Hole.

"Uh, Thanks."

"No problem," she gets up and brushes some dust off her coat. "What is it?" She asks, I follow her to the edge.

"It's a hole."

"I know, but why is it here? I can't think of any reason there would be a hole in the middle of a building. Especially not one this deep." Feather says, squinting to see the bottom of the hole.

"How deep is it?" I ask, unable to see a bottom myself.

"I dunno..." she picks a rock up and drops it down. We watch it until it disappeared and then listen to hear it land. We don't hear anything.

"Wow... that's... that's pretty deep." I say, she just nods uneasily. I look at the whole for a while more, then I look around the room. Various papers line the floor, along with various other debris. I spot something on the ground, lying on some papers. I pick it up and turn it over in my claws. It appears to be a turtle made out of some sort of green stone. Maybe it's... jade?

"Mike! Come look at this!" Feather exclaims. I tuck the turtle into my feathers subconsciously and turn towards feather. She's leaning over what looks like a stuffed bear.

"What is it?" I ask, strutting over. I look at the Teddy bear, it's a little beat up, but otherwise looks fine. I reach down to pick it up.

It blinks at me.

~~~~~~~

"Starlet!" I lift my head slightly at Cloudkickers voice. I can't summon the strength to get up, but my ears perk a little at her being there.

"Cloudkicker? You know this mare?" Celestia seems equal parts surprised and annoyed. I see a shadow fall over me as Kicker places herself between me and the sun goddess. I look up weakly, cloudkickers outline protecting me.

"She's my friend! What have you done to her!?" Cloudkicker snarls.

Celestia looks at Cloudkicker unamusedly for a while before answering. "I helped her," she says, disgust barely apparent in her tone.

"Your guards could've killed her! She's hurt!" Cloudkicker yells. Celestia looks at Cloudkicker calmly, but I can sense a strong anger boiling up. Her Magic seizes me and lifts me up, it starts burning into my skin. I can feel it pulling at my wounds, pain shoots through my body. I feel paralyzed in pain before... relaxation. The burning leaves a warm radiance in it's wake and the pain subsides to a soothing pulse. I still feel a little sore, but I'm not in horrible pain. I get up and shake the tiredness out of me, looking at Celestia with a little reservation.

"Damn Magic..." cloudkicker mutters. I walk up to Cloudkicker and she immediately lays a wing over my back protectively. "You Okay?"she asks quietly, I nod hesitantly. My gaze doesn't move from Celestia. She has a decidedly neutral gaze, no doubt only because Cloudkicker is here.

"What did you do?" I ask, taking note of the lack of ghostly figures of my other personalities. I can't even hear them.

"I healed your wounds," she says shortly.

"Not that... before..."

"Before the intrusion? I kept my ponies a little safer." She narrows her eyes slightly and I nod, backing away slowly.

"You are free to leave, Starlet. We have rooms ready for you and your friend. Here are tickets for the first train back to ponyville tomorrow morning. Please, have a pleasant stay." Luna says, Cloudkicker takes the tickets for me. I smile graciously at Luna and she returns the smile. We turn and leave the throne room, I let out a deep sigh as soon as I escape Celestias judging glare.

"Uh... so... can we stop by the holding cells? I left something, or, rather, somepony, there." Cloudkicker asks, I chuckle lightly and nod.

~~~~~~~

I jump back in fear. Screaming.

"What is it?" She asks.

"It moved!" I yell, she stares at it. It turns it's head and looks at her.

"Oh, wow, that's nifty. It must have an enchantment on it. I've heard of animation spells, but never really seen one." Feather says, inspecting the Teddy bear up close. It doesn't seem to mind. She pokes it with a hoof and it just stares at her. Her hoof hangs in front of the Teddy bear. After a second it pokes her back.

"It's creepy," I tell her, rubbing my claw as if to get rid of some unforeseen residue.

"I dunno, I think It's kinda cute." She says, I just roll my eyes and look around the room again. There are a couple other objects on the floor, but after seeing the bear, I'm not sure I want to touch anymore.

"Hm... maybe we should head back," I suggest. Feather gets up and nods, her previously concerned expression returning.

"Yeah, this place does give me the creeps." She heads towards the door and I follow. A brown blur runs past me and I almost stumble back, looks like the bear didn't want to be left. "Aww, Hey there little guy. Mike can we keep him?" Feather turns to me, the bear perched atop her back. I ponder the question briefly.

"Sure, I don't see any harm in that." I shrug, wondering slightly why she asked for my permission.

We make our way out of the forest, I guide us because remember the path. We're a good ways into the journey back when I hear a voice.

"I trusted a Teddy bear, when I should have let it be." I look around quickly for a source to the voice.

"Did you hear something?" I ask Feather.

"Hear something? No. Did you?"

"I... I think so?" I brush it off, this forest really is unnatural. It's just the forest getting to me. I hurry our pace to get out faster, I don't want to spend another minute in here unless I have to.

~~~~~~~

The small tinkling sound of a bell sounds in the throne room. Celestia sits on the throne, Luna gone to take care of their guests accommodations. A pony walks through the throne room doors in traditional butler garb. He is aged, but he's very energetic. Nevertheless, he maintains a composed demeanor as he approaches the throne. He has a White coat with light brown mane, and eyes a darker brown.

“Good morning, Princess, how may I be of service?” The butler asks.

“Hello Mr. Deeds. It is good, but it is not quite morning.” Celestia points out.

“It’s always morning somewhere.” Mr. Deeds replies.

“That it is,” Celestia chuckles. It has been a long while since she’s heard him say that. It has been quite a while since she’s had a need for him, but this seems to be a special occasion. “I need to ask you to do something.”

“What is it?”

“There is a pony staying in this castle. One by the name of Starlet Mint.” Celestia says, making sure that her guards are all posted outside the doors and not inside. She turns her head back to Mr. Deeds and looks him in the eye. He doesn’t look unnerved at all, he just waits patiently for her orders. “I need you to make her kill you.”