Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Take Stock

"How is it?" asked Twilight, looking up from her desk.

"A little better," Starlight replied, unconvincingly. She walked up to the desk, and sat down on the first chair she found. "So, uh..." She swallowed, and tried really hard not to hear her own words. "How did she get out?"

Twilight's expression was uncertain as she studied Starlight's face. "I went and checked the statue. The other two are still there. Either that was the real her and she did escape somehow, or someone wants us to believe it so much they went through the effort of removing her from there." She aimlessly shuffled the pages on her desk for a moment, only out of the need for a pause in her speech. "I don't know if it had to do with the Behemoth, which it very well might have, or if someone helped her. I do know she was not alone though."

Starlight snapped to attention as she heard that. "How do you know?"

"We checked the house for the stallion she was replacing. All the food was gone, and she hadn't been there long enough for that. Not unless she was starving. We're still trying to figure out her movements before she got to him." Twilight sighed, pausing again. "That's not the main thing, though."

"What is?" Starlight pressed on.

"Someone else was here," Twilight said, bluntly. "Chrysalis was a distraction. One they probably wanted to get rid of in the first place." She looked down at her desk. "Six scales were stolen from the storage room."

Starlight barely held back a gasp. "Do you think it was... anyone here?"

"No." Twilight still didn't look at Starlight. She seemed deeply focused on her thoughts. "We're the only ones here who know how to open that door and deal with the spells around the perimeter, and no other unicorn here would be able to do that good of a job that quickly. Whoever we're dealing with managed to work around all our security measures and figured out how to do it in just a couple days."

Starlight fell back into her chair, thinking. "This is bad. Really bad."

"I expect you to understand why we'll be keeping the exact details of the theft a secret for now." Twilight finally looked to Starlight again.

Starlight nodded. "It would just spread useless panic if the info got out." She bit her lip. "As long as whoever has them doesn't start to blow up cities with them yet."

"Someone that good at magic wouldn't need scales for acts of terrorism. They might contact us, sooner or later."

"Or sell them to someone else."

"Maybe," said Twilight. "The only thing we can do for now is focus on the info we have."

Starlight swallowed again. "I... She asked me for help. Do you think she wanted out of the whole thing?"

"She might have," Twilight agreed. "For one, I'll actually do what she suggested. We're adding extra security to the laboratory. More guards, mandatory checks on all workers, I won't bother you with the details right now."

"I want to help," Starlight blurted out.

"You're not in a condition to," Twilight sternly replied. Then her tone grew softer. "It's for the best, for all of us. You need time to recover."

After a moment, Starlight weakly nodded. "I understand." But her tone didn't appear particularly convinced.

Twilight sighed again. "Starlight?" She waited for the unicorn to look at her again. "It was not your fault, not any more than it was mine. You couldn't have stopped it."

Starlight's breathing had gotten a little heavier. She softly nodded, and blinked twice, but again there was little evidence to suggest she truly believed what she was hearing.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

It's really the best way to react to that incident. Take stock, learn from the experience, and move forward. Though this unsolved mystery will likely bother Twilight and Starlight both. I just hope Twilight doesn't overcompensate in the security measures.

[Speckle]

10681871
I'm just glad that she believed poor Chrysalis during the whole thing. Stella is the true threat in this equation.