Meanwhile, Diamond Tiara hurried away from Sweet Apple Acres, her emotions running high. She had known that Scootaloo's growth hadn't been natural; she knew that she had taken something. Yet, even though she knew all this, after witnessing it first-hand it still shocked her. This had gone beyond outdoing Diamond Tiara; Scootaloo was on course to outdo the entire nation of Equestria. Naturally, Diamond Tiara had a plan, but in order to act it out, she needed the help of her father. She smirked to herself as she envisioned her plan, acting it out in her mind. Scootaloo wouldn't see it coming, and once Diamond Tiara had ousted her from the picture; all the ponies would worship the pink filly instead.
She took a sharp right turn and sprinted up a separate path, towards a building quite unlike the others. The buildings in Ponyville all followed a similar design, straw roofs, and basic wooden frames and so on. However the house that Diamond Tiara approached, a building that appeared to resemble something from Canterlot. The walls were of the finest crafted stone, stretching high into the sky. The windows looked like they had been taken from Canterlot Castle, they were huge observation windows, minus the stained glass designs that the castle had. Peeking through those windows would reveal the lavish interiors, typical of such a wealthy family. Of course for Diamond Tiara, such an elegant house and its interiors were something she had experienced from birth, so it had become commonplace for her. Any other pony would be picking their jaw up from the floor at the sight of the house alone, never mind the expensive swing set, or the personal drinking well that adorned the front lawn, there was even what one could call a small forest nearer the top of the garden.
Diamond Tiara hurried towards the front door, there wasn't a moment to spare. Her father would be home soon, and once he was, it would be impossible to act out her plan until the next day. That couldn't be allowed to happen; she needed to complete it today, as soon as was possible. She pushed a hoof against the front door and slid open, revealing a semi-lit hallway. Excellent, her father had left the door unlocked, like he did most days. It was surprising that they weren't burgled on a regular basis, considering the amount of times the door was left in this state. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her, leaving it so that that the lock wasn't fully in place. She crossed to the stairs, situated to the left of the hallway, and quickly left the ground floor. She passed onto the first floor, and from there, she shot up to the second floor.
She was making excellent time, but that wasn't too hard to do, seeing as though she had only just begun. Her tiny little hooves made for her father's room, wherein she would find exactly what she was looking for. Her father's room wasn't like most bedrooms; it felt more like a study than anything else. He had a lectern against the back wall of the room, in front of a window. His bed was positioned against the left wall, the back of the headboard pointing towards the door. Above the headboard hung a picture of Filthy Rich and his daughter, being showered with bits from the sky. On the floor was a plush emerald coloured carpet, whilst on the areas of the wall that weren't covered by bookcases, there were patches of a slightly browner emerald colour. Somewhere inside this room, lay the solution to her problems, and knowing her father's line of work, they would most likely be hidden.
You see, Filthy Rich was a businessman, and businessmen make their money from various deals and the pay-outs and losses that come with these deals. Rich had made most of his money through ownership of businesses in Canterlot, Fillydephia, and Las Pegasus. He'd endured roaring success, and as such began to expand his business empire. It was at this point that he started taking on more risky investments, and most of these often fell below board. It was these illegitimate investments that Diamond Tiara was interested in. Recently her father had been delving into business deals in the name of science. Namely the ability to get more for your bits. He'd started out making small investments into the R&D sector, with little to no results, until a couple of weeks ago.
A small business had come up with a solution; use a variety of chemicals to create a new compound. Add this compound to any plant based food, and you would encounter a bumper harvest of a different kind. The food would grow beyond its normal capabilities; you could end up with a tomato as big as a watermelon, or an apple the size of a stallions head. It was revolutionary, something that nobody else would have accomplished. So naturally Rich had bought a case of the samples, hoping to release them into circulation as soon as possible. It was only after he had bought the samples that they decided to tell him that they hadn't been put through all the clinical trials yet, the only remaining tests were the ones related to the actual effect of the compound on the ponies that would ingest it. Rich accepted that the trials were important and took the samples back to his home, where they would be kept until they were declared safe.
Diamond Tiara scanned the immediate area, looking for anything that stood out to her. The bookcases were the first port of call, it wouldn't be unlike her father to hide them in a hollowed out book. So off she went, tearing down book after book, skimming through it and tossing it aside once she discovered that it contained no secrets. Given her small stature, the main problem she faced was trying to reach the upper most shelves of the bookcases. Naturally she had the genius, yet dangerous, idea of slamming herself against the bookcase, in the hopes that there was a decent sized gap between the bookcase and the wall, so that it would teeter back and forth and eventually fall over. Diamond Tiara took a few small steps back and then jumped towards the bookcase, swinging her rear around so that it connected with the bookcase. The target did in fact teeter, as she had predicted, but it came to a rest shortly after.
As she was not satisfied that her plan was to blame, she twisted it a little. Instead of just hitting it once, she would hit it repeatedly, and hopefully that would bring the bookcase down to its metaphorical knees. So she began again, working herself into a rhythm or jumping, hitting the bookcase, checking if it looked likely to fall, and it didn't she would repeat. After a while of slamming the bookcase with her bottom, it had become understandably sore, so she abandoned the idea for now. Instead she turned her attention to the rest of the room, namely the bed. It was a well-known fact that one of the most commonly referred to places when it came to hiding things, was underneath one's bed.
Leaving the disappointing bookcases behind her, Diamond Tiara made for her father's bed. She crouched down as low she could get herself and pulled the trailing bedcover over her head, pouring over the secrets that it held. Or rather that's what she would have done of the underneath of her father's bed hadn't been completely bare. There was nothing under there, except a whole lot of dust. Disappointed, she slid herself out from under the bed, opting to climb atop it instead. Once on top she lay herself flat, lying face down into the quilted surface. So far it was proving to be an uneventful search, two misses so far, and she was sure there were more to come. Though she wasn't about to let that suspicion come true, all she needed to do was think things through a bit better. She needed to be in the mind-set of her father, think as he would have and the answer was bound to show up sooner or later.
She rolled over and stared at the ceiling, trying to think of any clues that could lead her to success. Her father didn't really do much outside of meeting her every demand and working so that he could fulfil her every demand. There was nothing he loved more than money and his daughter, though Diamond Tiara liked to think that she was his number one. Her eyes darted to the picture that hung above his bed, the one that showcased his two loves of this world. At first she dismissed the thought that the picture was the answer she was looking for, it was far too cliché. But as she glanced around the rest of the room, looking for anything that might prove her wrong, the picture started to look more and more reasonable. Deciding to indulge her burning curiosity she got to her hooves and made her way to the picture. She stared into the eyes of her painted self, her eyes glancing from that to the image of her father.
"Just what secrets do you hold...?"
Her hooves reached out, trembling in anticipation as they touched the gilded frame. She slowly eased the picture away from the wall, lifting the thread at the back up and over the hooks. She was excited now, the painting dropping further and further towards the bed. She could almost taste her, such a sweet flavour. A black line appeared above the top of the frame, getting thicker and thicker with each passing inch. Her eyes widened in surprise, the painting dropping faster now, her curiosity now replaced by a burning lust for revenge. She fully slid the painting away, casting it aside and just staring at the wonder before her. The black surface of the safe stared back, unmoving and unemotional. Its silver handle gleamed with an air or temptation, almost beckoning for it to be used and Diamond Tiara was only too happy to oblige. Her hoof greedily slammed down the handle, yanking it towards her to coax the door open. The weight of the door held it steady as it opened, not swinging open with the urgency that she had wanted. Once it was open enough, Diamond Tiara cast her gaze inside of it. Papers, small parcels and most importantly several glass vials filled with a clear liquid, adorned the inside. Diamond Tiara took the papers and the vials, laying them out on the bed.
She sifted through the documents, looking for any indication that these were the concoctions that she was after. Her eyes skimmed over every word, checking every little detail for the few words that would seal the deal. As she approached the final few sheets, she found the words that she was looking for. Printed there in black and white, were the details for an experimental substance, contained within several vials. Diamond Tiara’s eyes lit up as she read it, drinking in her success. If this had been any other time, she might have found some of her friends to lord it over with for a while longer. She envisioned herself, savouring the fact that a little filly had managed to outsmart her father with such simple wit. A sudden knocking at the front door of the house soon put a stop to those thoughts. Assuming it was her father at the door; the successful filly jumped into action and began to clean the place up. She crammed the documents back into the safe, leaving the vials on the bed for now. She closed the door to the safe and reset the lock, putting the painting back up afterwards.
She scrambled down from the bed, clutching some of the vials in her teeth, whilst the others were held in her mane, or in her hooves. She retreated to her bedroom and stashed the chemicals under her bed, which didn’t exactly scream that it was the best hiding place ever, but she was under incredible pressure. Afterwards, she galloped downstairs, regaining a little of her composure with each step, her smooth, calm demeanour returning soon after. She paused for a final moment, just before she opened the door, now fully composed.
“Good afternoon, Fa-” she began.
“Uhm, hey, DT, are you ok?” came a noticeably younger, more feminine voice.
“What are you doing here, Silver Spoon?” asked Diamond Tiara.
“Well, class finished and I thought I would come see how you are, seeing how you left the class early.”
Diamond Tiara couldn’t afford to explain her reasons for leaving, nor could she explain what she had found, or at least she couldn’t explain it here. She didn’t want to share her proposal with anyone but herself, but she couldn’t afford the risk of Silver Spoon drawing more attention to her plans. She grabbed the grey filly and pulled her inside the house, closing the door behind her. Without saying a word, she led Silver Spoon upstairs, this time ignoring her father’s room, and heading straight for her own. Once inside she closed the door, and slid herself under the bed, though not before she gestured for Silver Spoon to take a seat on it. It wasn’t long before Diamond Tiara joined her on the bed, clutching several vials close to her chest.
“You can’t breathe a word of this to anyone, understand?” questioned Diamond Tiara.
Silver Spoon simply nodded.
“Did you happen to notice something different about Scootaloo, when she burst into the classroom?” continued Diamond Tiara.
“Yeah she was…”
“Bigger?”
“Yeah, I take it that wasn’t my imagination then?”
Diamond Tiara shook her head. “She’s been messing with something, I don’t know what, but it’s causing her to grow.”
“How can you be sure? How do you know she isn’t just growing up really fast?”
“Oh don’t give me that. You sound like those teachers, always dancing around the issues and making it simple so that everyone can understand. You and I both know that it is physically impossible for any pony to grow that much in such a short time. I even saw her growing with my own eyes, and there was something about it, something that felt unnatural…”
“But what does this have to do with anything? What are these vials for? Where did you get them?” asked Silver Spoon, concerned.
“Where I got them isn’t important. What is important is what I want to use them for.”
“What’s that?”
“I want to use them to level the playing field. I don’t know when Scootaloo will stop growing, but what I do know, is that it’ll take attention away from us. So I propose that we both take this experimental growth formula and get on her level. How does that sound?” explained Diamond Tiara.
“Experimental growth formula, are you insane? Listen to yourself! You’re proposing that we swallow this stuff and then outgrow some filly? So what if she takes attention off us? She’ll only have crowds around her because she’s a freak. If we outgrow her, what does that make us? That makes us freaks too, and whilst we’ll still have attention, it’ll be nothing like it is now.”
Diamond Tiara smiled, staring into the vials before her. “I can see where you’re coming from; you never did have quite the same popularity as I did. But even if you’re opposed to the idea, I can’t let you leave, at least not until I’ve experienced the effects of these solutions. You’re going to sit and watch me drink all seven, and then we’ll see just how wrong you are.”
With that said Diamond Tiara popped the stopper off the first vial and poured it into her waiting maw. The second followed soon after, her hooves already grasping for the third. She tossed the vials aside as she finished with them, a small pile building up in front of Silver Spoon. Soon the pile consisted of five vials, with the sixth just about to join. Diamond Tiara had spared no speed when it came to downing the contents of these vials. The seventh eventually joined the pile, and Diamond Tiara signalled the conclusion by letting free a tremendous and uncivilised belch. Contented, she sat back, resting against the pillows at the head of her bed. She placed a hoof on her slightly bloated stomach, to which it gurgled in protest. She felt something building in her gut, the chemicals all mixing together in her stomach spreading throughout her body. A strange sense of empowerment spread through her every limb, causing them to tingle, before it faded to nothing. She placed her other hoof on her stomach and watched Silver Spoon.
“And now, we wait and see…”