When Diamond Tiara is in trouble, the least likely pony steps up to help.
Diamond Tiara's problems run deep, and her pride runs deeper. When Diamond Tiara's 'perfect' life is torn out from under her, the last pony you would imagine comes to the rescue. However, when things get complicated by strange new feelings, other pony's foredeemed ideals, and family troubles on both sides of the fence, the two fillies struggle to understand what they mean to each other while their worlds fall apart around them.
Characters will be added as they become important to the story.
"Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word 'happy' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness." - Carl Jung
Chapter 1
Diamond Tiara laid in her impressive four post princess sized bed. She had her eyes closed, and her breathing was slow and steady. She was completely still, asleep to any observer.
Diamond Tiara wished she could sleep. She was having yet another restless night. Everything was too quiet. However, her house was almost always quiet. Her father was gone on another important business trip. The hired help had all gone home, and the butler was asleep in the servant's quarters that were detached from the actual home. Her mother hadn’t been there since she was a filly... Diamond Tiara was alone in an empty house; Diamond Tiara felt empty.
Giving a small sigh of frustration, Diamond knew from experience that sleep just was not an option in the near future. Hopping out of bed and turning the lights on, Diamond headed over to a dresser and took out the pills that Silver Spoon given her to help with fatigue, Popping an extra for safe measure, as their effectiveness had seemed to drop off recently.
With nothing better to do, Diamond then spent several minutes staring off aimlessly into her dresser mirror. Nights like these were all too common for Diamond, and unfortunately, she knew just what would make her feel better. Taking out her straight razor, Diamond held it in her hoof almost reverently. She had stolen it from her father. He had several so she doubted he even knew it was missing, and if he did notice, he would probably think that the hired help had nicked it. It was a fine thing. Slim with a silver handle. Gently unfolding the razor, Diamond cradled the handle and galvanized steel blade, one in each respective hoof. Diamond Tiara held a certain likeness for the razor; she held in some regard. Of course Diamond had not named the razor or anything else equally silly, but it was still important.
Bringing the razor against her front leg, Diamond Tiara let the sharp edge slowly glide across her offered leg. With a hair of pressure over gravity, the blade went past her fur and lightly and cleanly sliced into her skin. A small, short moan of relief escaped Diamonds in reply of her action. Diamond feelt no pleasure from the act, but the sight of her own blood and the sting of the cut made the numbness recede, even if only temporarily.
Diamond feels the life rush back to her. When she did this, she wasn’t trying to kill herself, quite the opposite really; at least, that is what Diamond always told herself. As Diamond lightly cut into herself again, all of her troubles seemed to fade to the background. The sight of blood brought Diamond into the present, and the pain, while not exactly being pleasant, was reassuring. Comforting.
Deep down Tiara knew it couldn’t continue like this. Her little hobby didn’t really solve her problems; it just provided a momentary respite. Things would get worse and worse, just as they had slowly been doing up to this point. With a slight shake of her head, Diamond Tiara quickly banished such foreboding thoughts. It was better to just enjoy what relief you could find for now.
A third thin red line opened up on her leg. Diamond Tiara leans back in her chair. The euphoric release of endorphins throughout her body, mixed with the buzz of Silver Spoons attention deficit medication kicking in, was finally doing the trick.
Diamond was always careful not to cut too deep. Her natural pink coat hid the small razor thin cuts well. Only if someone touched her leg would they notice the bumps that the scar tissue made. Nopony would ever need to know. Diamond Tiara knew how to keep a secret. It was a family trait; you had to be good at hiding your skeletons. Diamond Tiara was always told to keep shameful things to herself, and she listened well.
Some would probably say that Diamond was crying out for help. It was possible, Diamond reasoned, but not likely. Diamond has been crying out for help for so long that she knew better than to expect a response. She wasn’t a stupid filly; she knew what everypony thought of her. No matter what she did it was always just excused as the behavior of a spoiled brat, typical princess bitchiness, and because of who her father was, she always got away with it.
With a physical show of effort, Diamond Tiara forced all her dark thoughts away. Now isn’t the time to think about family, friends, or life in general. Taking note of the light was shined in from her balcony door, Diamond Tiara realized it was nearly morning, and she would need to go to school soon. But first, Diamond would enjoy the sunrise. It was a small pleasure in Diamonds life, and one of the few upsides to her insomnia. On her way to her balcony Diamond reaches into her daily satchel bag and takes out her cigarettes. Curled up on an outdoor chair, Diamond enjoyed both the sunrise and her cigarette. The smoke filling her lungs along with the morning's cool crisp air.
*******
Apple Bloom looked off into the distance and noticed the sun began to peek above the horizon. Being a farm pony Apple Bloom was quite used to early mornings. Pausing in her work, Apple Bloom took a moment to admire Celestia’s sun in all its magnificence. Taking a quick look around her family’s orchard, Apple Bloom gave a satisfied nod to a job well done. She had been helping her big sis out by checking this section of the orchard for sick trees, and finding none, it was time to get ready for school.
After a quick shower and checking to make sure her homework was in her school satchel, Apple Bloom was ready to go. The walk to school was made short by the amazing day. A cool spring breeze prevailed despite the closeness of summer. In a few short weeks summer break would start. Apple Bloom could hardly wait; she and her friends would finally have the time to really devote to finding their cutie marks.
Apple Bloom gave a small sigh, her lack of cutie mark had always been a depressing issue, but it had been weighing on her particularly heavily lately. It made her feel better that her two best friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, were still blank flanks too. It was an odd feeling to be so happy that her two friends were in the same boat as her. Apple Bloom knew that she should want her two friends to get their cutie marks, but if Apple Bloom was honest with herself, her friend getting their marks before her was a major fear for Apple Bloom. If she was honest with herself, she would realize how selfish and shallow those feelings were. However, Apple Bloom wasn’t completely honest with herself, opting to just not think about it.
Because of her 'early to rise' sleeping habit, Apple Bloom was used to being the first one to arrive at the school house. Recently, Diamond Tiara had been increasingly beating her. Today was no different. Seeing Diamond Tiara sitting in her chair brought Apple Bloom out of her introspective thoughts. Apple Bloom didn’t know or care for the reasons for the change in Diamond Tiara’s usual arrival time, so Apple Bloom did what she usually did in these cases and ignored Diamond’s presence. Taking her assigned seat next to Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom quietly occupied herself with digging through her satchel.
Apple Bloom was pleasantly surprised that Diamond Tiara didn’t take advantage of the current teacher free situation. The unusual occurrence prompted Apple Bloom to take a wary glance over at her school bully.
Diamond Tiara did not even seem aware that Apple Bloom had entered the room. Diamond Tiara’s hollow sleep deprived eyes were fixed forward staring yards beyond where the wall was. Apple Bloom was slightly unnerved by the uncomfortable notion of sharing a room with someone who didn’t know you were there. Suppressing a smirk for the miserable condition her bully seemed to be in, Apple Bloom interrupted the silence with a quick and sharp cough. Diamond Tiara’s eyes dilated as they were brought back to focusing on reality. Slowly turning toward the invading noise, Diamond Tiara gave a scoff of irritated recognition.
“Morning Blank Flank, what a pleasure to see you,” Diamond Tiara’s greeting dripping with sarcasm.
Coming from Diamond Tiara, the insult barely registered to Apple Bloom.
“Mornin’, Diamond,” Apple Bloom returned while rolling her eyes. Seeing as everything was back to normal, Apple Bloom took out her homework to double check her answers before class started.
“Damn, that is last night's homework isn’t it?” Diamond Tiara’s question sounding more like a statement, “I completely forgot about that.”
Apple Bloom gave Diamond Tiara a quick look then went back to her double checking.
“Hey, there is still time before Cheerilee gets here. Let me copy your answers,” Diamond Tiara demanded.
“Umm, yeah, no, that ain’t happenin,” replied an annoyed Apple Bloom.
“Shut up and give it here!” Diamond Tiara yelled as she reaches across to grab the papers off Apple Bloom desk, but Apple Bloom was quick enough to grab Diamond’s leg before she could pull the papers back to her. As soon as Apple Bloom made contact with Diamond Tiara’s leg she instantly dropped the homework and recoiled in pain. Apple Bloom could only stare at Diamond Tiara in confusion.
“Waa? Ya ok?” Apple Bloom asked on reflex.
“Of course I am OK,” Diamond Tiara quickly asserted, “Just keep your stupid dirt farming hooves off me.” Even for Diamond Tiara the insult was surprisingly venomous, but Apple Bloom was a strong filly and could take and give worse.
“Now I have to go and wash you off me,” continued Diamond Tiara while holding her leg.
Apple Bloom could only watch as Diamond Tiara left the room in a hurry. Apple Bloom collected her homework off the ground where it had somehow fallen and went back to checking her answers. The class slowly filled up and Apple Bloom put the bizarre confrontation behind her as her friends proved to be an excellent distraction. By the time Diamond came back into class just before the bell rang and took her seat, Apple Bloom had completely forgotten about the incident.
The school day passed without too much ado. When Cheerilee picked up the homework, Apple Bloom noticed that Diamond Tiara had her head down and was looking away but thought little of it. It was toward the end of the day when Cheerilee decided to seriously complicate Apple Bloom’s life.
“Now, as you are all very much aware, summer break starts in two weeks. You will be partnered up for your summer project. Over the next week you should decide what your summer project will be and confirm with me for approval.” A collective groan was the general reply of the entire class. The last thing that the little filly and colts wanted to think about was doing work over their summer. Cheerilee began to name off partners for their project. Last year Apple Bloom had partnered with Archer on their project, and truth be told, it wasn’t that bad of an assignment just time consuming. Apple Bloom waited patiently for her name to be called. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were paired up and Apple Bloom felt an uncomfortable twinge of jealousy that they we going to work on something without her.
“... and last but certainly not least,” Cheerilee’s sing song voice hummed, “Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara …” Cheerilee’s lips continued moving but Apple Bloom stopped hearing her words. This couldn’t be happening. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara turned slowly to look at each other.
“Horseapples,” both fillies mumbled to themselves.
"There is, after all, a real limit to how much ordinary people can learn and know, and to demand that each and every one of them contribute 'strong opinions' to the great debates of the nation cannot, surely, be wise. It is, in any case, absurd that anyone should presume to define a person's 'dignity' in these terms." -Kazuo Ishiguro
Chapter 2
There were 15 minutes left in class. After Cheerilee dropped her bombshell, everypony had split up with their partners to arrange meet-up times and brainstorm ideas. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara hadn't said a word. Apple Bloom had expected Diamond Tiara to be the first one to complain about the match-up, but as it happens, Diamond just regained her far away look as she stared passed the clock on the wall. Apple Bloom knew this whole thing was going to be a mess and a bother, but there was no sense avoiding it.
"Well, we need ta meet up, ya know where Ah live so when is good for ya?" Apple Bloom asked as diplomatically as possible.
Diamond seemed to be waiting for the conversation and had prepared a statement. With little to no pause Diamond replied, "I'm not going to go to your dirt farm. If we really have to meet, you can come to my house."
"But Ah don't know where ya live..." Apple Bloom reasoned, "and stop calling mah home a dirt farm! That don't even make a lick of sense."
Diamond just rolled her eyes, "It is the biggest home in Ponyville. I'm sure even a idiot like you could find it."
Apple Bloom sighed in frustration, Diamond Tiara was starting to get to her, "Fine, your house then. Ah'm comin’ over tomorrow after school, there's no way Ah am gonna waste my weekend on this."
Diamond initially only sighed in response looking away from Apple Bloom but finally nodded in agreement, "Try and use that pea brain of yours to think of a quick idea; the less we have to do means the less of you I have to see."
"Yeah, ya just make sure that ya do your fair share of work, cuz Ah'm not gonna do yer share."
Momentarily forgetting that she tried to copy off Apple Bloom earlier, Diamond Tiara's snide comeback of, "Like I'd trust a blank flank like you to do my work," lacked any real feeling. Realizing her own mistake before Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara quickly hurried on, "Anyway, I don't want to talk about this anymore. Go bug somepony else."
Apple Bloom was all too happy to oblige and quickly turned and trotted off to her two best friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. As Apple Bloom approached, she heard Scootaloo talk about all the sleep overs they would have and how Rarity wouldn't be able to deny the sleep over because it was a school project. Fighting off the feeling of being left out, Apple Bloom gave a warm greeting which was subsequently returned.
"I can't believe you got grouped with Diamond Tiara, that is the worst luck," Sweetie Belle said an understanding tone.
"Yeah, if she says anything mean, you should punch her right in the face!" added Scootaloo.
"Ah'll survive, but she’s all ready givin me a headache," Apple Bloom accentuated her discomfort by rubbing the side of her head with her front hoof. "Anyway, Ah'll deal with that later, we should go get some ice cream!" The other two fillies quickly agreed and made their way toward Sugar Cube Corner.
Diamond Tiara watched Apple Bloom leave with a deep sigh. This was going to be all so much trouble. Silver Spoon, Diamond's best friend had finished talking to her partner and headed over.
"Hey Tia! I thought that today would never end. You ready to head home?"
Diamond Tiara managed a small smile, "Yep, lets get out of here. I'm dying for a smoke."
**********
Twenty four hours passed far too quickly for Apple Bloom’s liking. In a few minutes a bell would ring and she would be following her least favorite pony to her house. Although it wasn't all bad, the forced contact had seemed to lessen Diamond Tiara from actively going out of the way to bother her. In fact, Diamond Tiara seemed to be doing a decreased amount of everything today. Apple Bloom was fairly certain that Diamond Tiara had not slept in at least one night, and Apple Bloom also noticed that Diamond Tiara had not brought or eaten a lunch the last two days. The absence was noted because Diamond Tiara usually spent some of her lunch making fun of what Granny packed for Apple Bloom.
If Diamond Tiara were a friend then Apple Bloom would be worried about her. Sparing a few glances at Silver Spoon when she was talking to Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom didn't see any worry on Silver Spoon’s face so maybe Apple Bloom was missing something. Either way, it didn't matter. Diamond Tiara was not Apple Bloom's friend, and if Diamond Tiara didn't want to sleep, well, it made Apple Blooms life easier, so she was all for it.
The bell jolted Apple Bloom out of her thoughts. Packing as slowly as she reasonably could in order to prolong the inevitable, Apple Bloom slowly accepted her fate. As Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle passed they wished her luck and gave her an encouraging pat on the back.
Diamond Tiara also seemed to be packing particularly slow. It wasn't long until they were the only two students left in the room. Cheerilee gave them both loving pats on the heads as they walked out.
As soon as they got out of sight of the school building Diamond Tiara stopped and began rummaging through her satchel. In an effort to avoid confrontation, Apple Bloom waited silently and patiently for Diamond Tiara. The wait was short, Diamond Tiara came out of the bag with a cigarette in her mouth and a box of matches in her hooves.
"Ya ain't old enough ta do that!" Apple Bloom accused as Diamond Tiara lit her cigarette.
"Don't be a baby," Diamond Tiara, "and if you tell on me, like a baby, you will regret it."
"Ah'm no tattle tale," Apple Bloom defended, "Cheerilee says those things can kill ya."
"That is what she says..." Diamond Tiara trailed off as she continued walking toward her home, "Why? You suddenly care about me?" The thought put a smirk on Diamond Tiara's face.
"Shut Up."
The rest of the walk went in relative silence. Apple Bloom walked next to Diamond Tiara instead of following her otherwise she had to smell the cigarette smoke. After a bit of walking, they passed through the Ponyville market and into the residences beyond. There wasn't too many rich ponies in Ponyville, so Apple Bloom could guess that one of the handful of large houses was where Diamond Tiara lived. When they finally arrived. Apple Bloom tried not to seem impressed, but the house was more than impressive. Three stories tall and twice as wide as it’s neighbors. The house wasn't a box, but even to Apple Blooms untrained eye, the staggered levels and architecture was in one word, 'classy.' The outside of the house seemed to be made of stone and dark wood.
As the two made their way through the front garden, a pony opened the door for them before they even reached it. The pony wore a strange black and white suit and stood a little too rigidly. If Apple Bloom wasn't trying to hide her amazement so much, the pony at the door might have made her nervous.
If Apple Bloom thought the outside was nice, she was ill prepared for the interior. White marble floors with surprisingly sparse but well placed upper-class furnishings. The walls were covered large painting of ponies that Apple Bloom didn't know. The home didn't look very lived in; in-fact, the house reminded her of a museum that Miss Cheerilee took the class to, but museum aside, it was certainly a beautiful home.
"Mr. French, if you would prepare some food and drink for me and my guest, we will be in daddy's smoking room," Diamond Tiara nonchalantly commanded. The butler-pony bowed and left the room, presumably heading to the kitchen.
Apple Bloom was keeping quite busy trying to suppress her amazement and resentment. Diamond Tiara had seen it before in better actors than Apple Bloom and took some pleasure in showing off. Upon arriving in the 'smoking room' the name quickly became apparent as Diamond lit another cigarette.
"Don't yer parents care that ya smoke?" questioned Apple Bloom slowly, not wanting to ruin the somewhat civil atmosphere.
"They might, if they were ever around. My father is far too busy with very important business matters." Diamond told it straight and truthfully.
"Well, where’s yer mom? She a business pony too?" asked Apple Bloom with the obvious question.
Diamond's response was slightly delayed by her taking a drag from her cigarette, "She’s dead, so I don't think she cares."
Apple Bloom had to fight every instinct she had not to immediately apologize to Diamond Tiara. She refused to feel bad for someone who was always mean to her. After a few awkward seconds, Apple Bloom managed to squeak out, "Oh, I see."
"It is no big deal, shit happens," Diamond Tiara deduced, "it was a long time ago anyway." At the mention of 'long' time Apple Bloom saw that far away look momentarily return and quickly vanish from Diamond Tiara's tired eyes.
"Ah kinda understand too; Ah lost both mah parents a long time ago," Apple Bloom said without thinking. Apple Bloom immediately berated herself. Why was she trying to find common ground? Diamond had no business knowing about her mom and dad. Diamond Tiara was having similar thoughts; she was questioning herself for being open and did not understand Apple Blooms response.
In a puff of smoke, the situation was diffused by Diamond Tiara, "Whatever, it doesn't matter. Lets figure out this stupid project. You have any ideas?"
Several ideas were tossed back in forth. Apple Bloom never really liked Diamond Tiara, but she did at least respect Diamond Tiara's ability to stay on task. Apple Bloom was sure there was no way that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were going to be this focused... Then again, they would probably be having fun. Mr. French came in halfway through Diamond Tiara's second cigarette with a wide assortments of snacks and beverages. Apple Bloom thought it was an amazing amount of choices but was still wary of anything offered by Diamond Tiara. They finally settled on doing a research project over the summer. It fit within Cheerilee's guidelines and the Library was conveniently located between their two houses. They figured that with Twilight's help they could knock out the whole project over a few meetings.
With a preliminary plan in mind, there was little point for Apple Bloom sticking around. Maybe it was the fact that Diamond Tiara, while not being nice, was not exactly being mean either. Maybe it was the large buffet of snacks and drinks that weren't made from apples. Either way Apple Bloom found herself lingering.
If asked directly, Diamond Tiara would adamantly deny having any enjoyment from Apple Bloom’s company, but the fact of the matter was that Diamond Tiara spent most of her time in her home alone. Her only friend, Silver Spoon, would come over sometimes, but Silver Spoon had the kind of parents that were exactly the opposite from Diamonds father. While Diamond's father was never around, Silver Spoon’s parents were always around pushing Silver to do things that she didn't particularly care for. Piano for two hours a day after school was just an example. Diamond Tiara couldn't objectively say which one was better or worse.
If asked directly, Diamond Tiara would also deny being lonely. It was a matter of pride, but it shouldn't be surprising that a young filly would get lonely in a big house filled only with servants. To be honest, their conversations were a bit one sided - Apple Bloom never seemed to run out of things to talk about. Diamond Tiara would just sit and listen. Diamond Tiara found Apple Bloom’s accent to be a bit annoying, and the tone of her voice was particularly grating. But, the company was an appreciated change.
Seeing that Diamond Tiara wasn't being outright hostile, Apple Bloom decided to press her luck and request a tour of the house. Which turned out to be asking quite a lot, but for a different reason that Apple Bloom feared. The house was much bigger than she had imagined, with a basement level and a massive back yard. The pool was big enough that it took a full minute to just walk around. The tour continued going through all the bedrooms and Apple Bloom no longer felt it necessary to hide her reactions, so she was gasping and aweing every few minutes which helped to inflate Diamond’s ego quite a bit.
Diamond had been saving the best for last, her room. She was sole occupant of the house for most of the year, so it only made sense that her room would be the grandest. It did not disappoint. Apple Bloom stared in awe at the sheer number of toys and conveniences Diamond had in her room. Diamond Tiara's own cutie mark was embroidered in nearly everything around her room. Apple Bloom didn't even feel any jealousy over the massive amounts of things showing off Diamond's cutie mark. Diamond was actually acting like a halfway civil pony, and Apple Bloom was more than happy that the situation wasn't turning out to be as bad as she thought it would.
But that was when Apple Bloom noticed something. As Diamond Tiara trotted over to her balcony to show off her amazing view, out of the corner of Apple Bloom's eye she saw something. On top of Diamond Tiara's dresser, in-front of her mirror was a small pool of what looked like dried blood.
A big up to this chapter's celebrity proofreader - Reasonandrhyme A bit rushed, If you like the story, I will continue, and expect a eventual rewrite. thanks - apple blumpkin
note: Equestrian Deadpool recommends to read Filthy Rich's lines in Cave Johnson's voice. I agree. -apple blumpkin
“For twenty dollars I can tell you a lot of things. For thirty dollars I can tell you more. And for fifty dollars I can tell you everything.” –Madame Ruby
Chapter 3
Filthy Rich felt invincible! He had successfully captured a majority share of his latest conquest assuring that his hostile takeover would go off without a hitch. The rival company was a fast growing Firearms LLC that had only gone public a few years ago. The company was on the up and up and fast, but they were pretending to be a bigger fish than they were. They made the mistake of trading their shares on too many different exchanges. The company had issued far too much outstanding stock and did not keep enough safely tucked away. Filthy Rich and his team were able to work around the clock on every major exchange floor buying the legal maximum of the company per day for the last three days. It was a sweet and quick victory, but even if the rival company had been able to act in time, a slower buyout would have been inevitable. It would have taken longer, but there is no limit to the number of futures purchase options that could be bought above market value, so with Filthy's capitol behind him, there was no way to stop the buy up. If the rival company had been more prepared, they could they could have held out for maybe a month against Filthy Rich's conglomerate and outside-inny partners. When Filthy Rich puts his eyes on a prize, he always gets it. Filthy made the rules and the rest of the market accepted it because they didn't have a choice.
It was all a game to Filthy Rich, and one might imagine that a game that you always won would eventually have bored Filthy, but this was not the case. He was already worth more than he could spend in his lifetime, the numbers were meaningless; The red ink or the black ink were the only things that mattered. It had become about his legacy, to expand his own global empire. It was no longer him vs. the world. Filthy Rich had faced the world, and he won. Now, the game was him versus himself. How far could he push the envelope? How could he make the world bend around him? He tested himself every day. The right business decision were child's play to make. However, the biggest limit his empire had was how fast he could make these decisions. There was only so much time in a day. Filthy Rich, in all of his glory, knew that no matter how smart he was, he was the slowest cog in the money making machine that Filthy build around him-self. It was a simple matter of opportunity cost. Every second that Filthy wasn’t working, the company lost money.
Sure, some days were harder than other, but it was moments like these where everything was worth while. Filthy Rich stood at the edge of his penthouse board room. Towering over the city streets, Filthy looked over the sprawling nightlights glowing off of Neighjing's skyline with a certain sense of pride. Very few ponies could say that they ran the world.
Behind Filthy, his elite were celebrating the day’s spoils. He could hear the occasional pop of a Champaign bottle being opened or the clink of glasses brought together in a toast. They deserved to feel good. Filthy called them his elite because they were all the best in their fields, there wasn't a more qualified or complete business team in Equestria. Filthy turned away from the window and toward the center of the room. The room instantly quieted down.
His team was waiting for one thing, something Filthy Rich had become infamous for. Filthy Rich never smiled except in victory. Truth be told, Filthy Rich thought the whole story to be a bit exaggerated, but the story had taken on a life of its own even to the point where Filthy played along. He wasn’t quite ready to give them the smile they wanted yet though, He would make them sweat it out for a little longer.
Trotting up to the head of the giant table that stretched the length of the room. Filthy slowly turned looking from his left to right, catching each of his employees in the eyes. They all held a look of glee and bemused anticipation. Filthy Rich kept a straight face.
“Everypony in this room did their job today, and you all did it damn well!” A roaring cheer went up around to the room as drinks collided, “Today we successfully completed our move for majority share of Colt Firearms. With this addition, we have expanded our weapons manufacturing sector, and we are now produce 4 times as many firearms as our nearest competitor. Our return on sale is approximately 10% over industry standards. That is what I call a celestia damned check-mate, game over folks!” loud cheering accompanied every pause in Filthy’s speech. “Now, I’d like to call each of you up and thank you personally, but I just don’t have the time. However, there are a few ponies that deserve special attention that I’d like to acknowledge while I have your attention.” Pausing to be dramatic, Filthy motions to a cream colored colt in a sharp suit to his left, “put your hooves together for our Acquisitions Manager, Tournaline Sunstone. Without Sunstone, none of this would have been possible. Sunstone laid the ground work for the entire buy up. Keep up the good work Sunstone!” Filthy raised his glass in honor of his employee, “To Sunstone.”
“Sunstone!” Chorused the elated crowd.
“...For he is a jolly good... pony,” a particularly drunk pocket of ponies in the back started to sing, but they quickly lost their gusto.
Filthy Rich, straight faced, continued as he looked around for the next pony to introduce, “ Sparky, Sunset, where are you two?” On queue the crowd parted to show the two Pegasus mares, one blue and the other white. Filthy made his way through the crowd and draped his front hooves over the blue Pegasus filly's shoulder, “this beautiful lady keeps all of us out of jail on a daily bases. I have the pleasure to introduce Sparky Charge, she is our 'go-to-gal' for international trade law, and has spent the last week making sure our ambush buy up of Colt Firearms was as quick and as legal as possible. Oh and careful boys, She might be beautiful and an absolute pleasure to be around, but I can almost guarantee that she is smarter than you," everypony laughed, "But before we toast to her health allow me to introduce Sparky’s partner in crime, Head of Equine Resources, Sunset Spirit, who coordinated her personnel on 5 different exchange floors around the clock and completed the buy up of Colt faster than I thought possible. Now, put your hooves together for this incredible duo. Without them you would still be working right now, so to Sparky and Sunset!”
“Sparky and Sunset!” The cheers and catcalls for the two cute mares were noticeably louder than they had been for Tourmaline. Sparky seemed to take it in stride, but Sunset blushed looking down at hooves in embarrassment.
“Everypony, you have earned a night off, so make sure you have fun because tomorrow, we have a job to do!” Filthy wrapped up and continued to keep his straight face with practiced ease.
The party broke off into smaller groups and Filthy retreated back to his window-side vantage point. Motioning for a runner to come over, a young colt wearing a jacket with the company logo embroidered quickly came up to Filthy.
“Yes sir, what can I do for you, sir?”
“Go tell my driver to bring the cart around, I will be leaving shortly,” Filthy instructed.
“Right away sir,” the runner bowed and made his way to the elevator.
"Leaving so soon Filthy? The party just started!" Hauteur Wreath, Filthy's second in command, greeted with a friendly smile.
"I fear I must, old friend. The company flight carriage is preparing to take off as we speak," Filthy confirmed as he began a slow gait toward the door.
"How about one cider? You never take the time to relax," reasoned Wreath.
"We don't get breaks often Wreath, but since I have the time, I'm going to go see my daughter. She is all I have left, after all," Filthy explained with a hint of banter in his voice, as he pressed the elevator button.
"Fair enough, you never do get to see her do you? Poor filly must be so alone in that house. But, how about I walk you down to your cart?"
"Nope, never enough time," Filthy said with a quick nod and a small sigh. "Anyway, I'm no coltcuddler, so don't waste your time on me," joked Filthy. His hint of banter lost all subtly. "If you were the smart stallion, and I know you can sometimes be. I suggest you talk to Sparky Charge; I hear she might like you."
As the elevator doors opened, the party noticed it looked as though Filthy, as usually, leaving early, so they all quieted down a bit and waved goodbye.
"Well, safe travels, and say hello to little Diamond for me," Wreath said as he waved goodbye.
"Good Luck with Sparky. You are gonna need it," Filthy said as he gave a quick salute to Wreath and his team. Wreath began to turn to walk away just as the door was about to close it sprung back open, The doors revealed Filthy Rich in his signature eccentric billionaire pose with a wide and toothy smile on his face never one to forget. His slightly inebriated ace business team clapped, laughed, and hollered well after the doors had re-closed and Filthy was gone.
The party continued on, much like you would expect a good party to. About half an hour later, Wreath had managed to get Sparky alone and in a quieter corner, and well, all signs were pointing to 'yes'. When they were interrupted by a runner who needed Wreath's attention.
"Excuse me sir, but Mr. Rich's driver asked me to find out when Mr. Rich would be coming down, but I can't seem to find him anywhere."
For a few seconds, Wreath could only blink at the lowly runner. "He left a while ago; He took the elevator."
"I've been waiting for him at the bottom to help him to his car this whole time, he never came out," added the runner.
Wreath didn't know what could possibly explain this, but a sinking feeling took a hold of his stomach. Something had happened.
The party was immediately halted as the 'party goers turned search party' cleared every floor of the building with no sign of their query.
Filthy Rich had vanished.
note: sorry for leaving the cliff hanger from the previous chapter, but i had to get this chapter written early on.
This morning, a frazzled Hauteur Wreath had come to tell Diamond Tiara that her father had disappeared. Diamond Tiara had a bit of trouble wrapping her hooves around the seriousness of the situation, and her first response simply nod in acknowledgement to Wreath that she heard correctly. She agreed with Wreath because her father had disappeared long before. Diamond Tiara never really knew where her father was, so the news was not all that shocking. However, as the day went on, Diamond slowly started to realized why this was such a big deal. Wreath was afraid that they would never be able to find her father; he might never come home.
Diamond Tiara's life wasn't all that affected by the change. Diamond Tiara had a much harder time when she tried to imagine her father always being around. It was hard to miss what you never had. Of course, that idea was hard to explain to the average pony. Wreath had just assumed her lack of reaction was just her being in shock.
Everypony knew of Filthy's disappearance. When one of the richest ponies in Equestria vanishes from his own office, it tends to attract notice. Diamond Tiara was annoyed that everyone felt like they needed to talk to her about it.
As Diamond sat in class and listened to Cheerilee drone on and on, her mind began to wander. For some reason, even with all that was going on, Diamond Tiara began to think about Apple Bloom. Diamond begrudgingly admitted to herself that having Apple Bloom over yesterday wasn't that bad. Diamond Tiara had almost enjoyed herself, and considering how miserable she felt recently, it was a nice change of gait.
Diamond Tiara spared a glance to her right. Apple Bloom's head was down, and she appeared to be sleeping. The sight caused Diamond to give a small smile. Diamond Tiara had no idea why Apple Bloom had even bothered to be nice to her. Diamond wasn't dense. She knew that she bullied Apple Bloom around. Diamond spared another quick glance at Apple Bloom. This time the glance was focused lower at her flank. Blank.
Diamond Tiara didn't hate blank flanks. They were just easy targets to blow off some steam. Also, Diamond Tiara was not convinced that cutie marks even mattered. When Diamond got her tiara cutie mark, she was told it represented what a strong leader she was. Diamond Tiara was all too happy with that explanation, but over time, doubt had crept in.
Behind her, Diamond Tiara heard Silver Spoon trying to disguise her name with a cough, and Diamond Tiara was again brought back to reality. Diamond Tiara turned around to face Silver Spoon who only gave her a look that seemed to say, "really?"
Archer, who sat next to Silver Spoon and behind Apple Bloom, appeared to be trying to stifle herself from giggling, while she looked anywhere besides at Diamond.
A confused Diamond Tiara turned back around and scribbled out a quick note to Silver Spoon, 'what did I do? And Y is Archer laughing at me?'
Diamond folded up the note and turned back around to Silver Spoon, who was still giving Diamond a funny look.
The reply took longer than Diamond expected, but after a few minutes, a tap and a note appeared at her shoulder.
The reply was much shorter than expected, 'Archer caught you staring at Apple Bloom's flank. You were being really obvious."
Diamond's natural pink coat did little to mask her blush. In a vain effort to hide her embarrassment, Diamond adopted a similar pose to the sleeping Apple Bloom. Diamond Tiara didn't know how to handle being accused of such a lewd thing. Diamond knew that any denial would just make her look guilty, so she decided to ignore Archer's snickering. However, Diamond Tiara made a mental note to be more careful where she looked when she spaced out. She would clear it up with Silver Spoon after school; Silver would believe the truth.
*******
Even though she did not sleep well the night before, Apple Bloom was not very tired. Sure, Apple Bloom had spent most of the school day pretending to be asleep, but Apple Bloom had a lot on her mind and needed more time to think.
The evening before, after Apple Bloom saw the blood on Diamond Tiara's dresser, Apple Bloom had quickly excused herself. She had made up a quick lie about losing track of the time, and her sister was expecting her.
To be honest, Apple Bloom didn't really know why the blood had freaked her out so much. After all, there was so very little of it to begin with, and it was dried and old. Living on a farm, injury was part of life. Apple Bloom reasoned that she was already freaked out that Diamond Tiara was being halfway civil to her, which was a much better reason for alarm, and the blood stain was just the last straw.
The thing that frustrated Apple Bloom the most was that she cared at all. Even if Diamond Tiara turned into the nicest pony in Ponyville, that didn't change the past. Diamond Tiara had been mean to her for years. Apple Bloom had started to care, if only just a little bit, and it made her very angry at herself for being so soft.
Apple Bloom had also heard about Diamond's father's disappearance. It was on the front page of the newspaper Granny was reading during breakfast. Apple Bloom's sleep deprived and paranoid mind briefly connected the blood stain and the disappearance, but when asked what happened, Granny had said that Filth was in Neighjing when he disappeared which was on the other side of Equestria.
With her paranoia abated, Apple Bloom couldn't help but feel bad for Diamond Tiara's situation. Apple Bloom couldn't remember either of her parents, but even with them gone she still had her big sis, big brother, and Granny. Diamond Tiara didn't have anypony else.
Apple Bloom had finally made up her mind. She would try and help Diamond in whatever way she needed it. She was unsure what Diamond Tiara needed but for now she would try and be friendly. It was what a good pony would do, but Apple Bloom still felt like it was not what she wanted to do. She would also leave Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle out of this. There is no way that they would understand.
It was Friday, and Apple Bloom did not have a reason meet or talk to Diamond Tiara about their project until next week, so she would just have to get creative.
*****
As the bell rang signaling the start of their weekend, Apple Bloom quickly packed; she knew the way that Diamond walked home now and wanted to be able to run into her there. Before she could make it to the door, Scootaloo called out to her.
"Hey Apple Bloom! Where you off to in such a hurry? Let’s go to Sugarcube Corner and get some cake!”
“Ah can’t, Mah sister needs help with… apples,” Apple Bloom replied back trying not to look guilty. Mentally admonishing herself for lying to her friend, Apple Bloom ran out before anything else could slow her.
Diamond Tiara watched Apple Bloom from the corner of her eye, and briefly wondered why that filly seemed to be in such a hurry to leave everywhere recently. Diamond and Silver Spoon made their way out of the classroom together. Diamond Tiara noticed the goofy little smile on Silver Spoons face and gave an internal groan of annoyance. She knew that she would be able to clear up the miscommunication, but knew that Silver Spoon would get in a few laughs at her expense before that happened.
Once the other ponys were out of earshot, Silver Spoon was the first to break the silence.
“Sooooo, Apple Bloom huh?” Silver Spoon said as nonchalantly as she could considering the impish grin that was plastered on her face.
Rolling her eyes, Diamond Tiara briefly noted that this was the first conversation of the day that wasn’t going to be about her father’s disappearance, and even though she definatly didn’t want to talk about her father at the moment, this conversation was going to be just as painful.
“Shut up Silver Spoon, I was just spacing out,” Diamond Tiara calmly clarified.
Silver Spoon was unperturbed, “Oh yeah? Spacing out thinking about Apple Bloom’s cute little flank?” Silver Spoon teased as she poked Diamond Tiara with a hoof.
“Wow, is that the kind of things that go on in your pervy head?” Diamond Tiara deflected as she took a cigarette out of her pack and offering one to Silver Spoon.
“No thanks, If my mom smells it, I’d be dead,” Silver Spoon politely declined, “but don’t change the subject! I always knew you liked Apple Bloom.”
The sudden jump of topic back to Apple Bloom caused Diamond Tiara to have a small coughing fit as she inhaled on her cigarette.
“I do NOT like Apple Bloom,” Diamond Tiara said a slightly less dignified tone.
“Really? I always figured that was why you picked on her so much…” Silver Spoon trailed off trying to feint deep thought. Regardless of the accuracy of the statement it still brought a light blush to Diamond Tiara’s cheeks.
Before Diamond could refute what a ridiculous statement that was, Silver Spoon adjusted her glasses and pointed down the street, “Hey, speak of the devil, look.”
Sure enough, Apple Bloom was a ways down the road trotting toward them.
As Apple Bloom approached, Silver Spoon leaned in close to Diamond Tiara, “This is your chance, tell her what a cute flank she has.”
Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but blush in embarrassment, but her only response was to push Silver Spoon away from her. Now that Apple Bloom was closer, Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but notice that Apple Bloom looked a little nervous.
“Howdy Diamond Tiara… Silver Spoon,” Apple Bloom greeted.
“Apple Bloom, what a pleasure! Right Diamond? Isn’t it a pleasure to see Apple Bloom?” Silver Spoon gushed with a mischievous grin.
Apple Bloom was a bit nervous about this whole situation to begin with and that nervous feeling was only increasing.
With Silver Spoon’s awkward greeting, Diamond Tiara stood slightly petrified. The last thing she wanted Apple Bloom to know was why Silver Spoon was teasing her even though it was all a misunderstanding.
Realizing that she hadn’t said anything, not even hello, and both fillies were looking at her, Diamond Tiara gave Apple Bloom a half-assed wave not completely trusting her voice and not wanting to give Silver Spoon any more ammunition.
“So, what are you doing in this part of town?” Silver Spoon asked Apple Bloom to do nothing more than break the awkward silence, “seeing how the better half live?” Silver Spoon offers as an acceptable answer to her own question. Diamond Tiara was being uncharacteristically silent, so somepony had to step up to the plate.
Apple Bloom took a quick breath. She was already regretting her idea, but it was obvious that Diamond Tiara needed some sort of help, particularly with the recent developments in her life. Apple Bloom was a good pony, and if somepony needed help she wouldn’t let a little thing like overwhelming hatred get in the way.
Ignoring Silver Spoon’s jab, Apple Bloom addresses Diamond Tiara directly. “So.. what are ya guys doin’ tonight?” Apple Bloom asked with what she hoped looked like a friendly smile but came out closer to a sheepish grimace.
The question immediately struck Silver Spoon as odd. In-fact, the more Silver Spoon thought about it the more odd everything seemed. Silver figured that the flank staring incident happened exactly like Diamond Tiara said, and it was just Tiara staring off into space. Silver Spoon was just giving her a hard time about it in order to distract her friend from her inter-dialog. But, with the way that Apple Bloom was acting and Diamond’s Tiara’s lack of insults, Silver Spoon decided to take a step back and wait for Diamond Tiara to respond.
“uhh umm…” Diamond Tiara momentarily stuttered as she bought herself some more time to think. She definitely didn’t want to admit to Apple Bloom that she had no plans and was going to probably spend Friday night in her room with her sad thoughts, “I haven’t decided yet,” Diamond Tiara finally settled on saying.
“Well, I was going to go drink some apple whiskey if you guys want to come,” Apple Bloom said as nonchalantly as she could with a gesture that said Silver Spoon was included in the invitation.
Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara could only stare at Apple Blooms uncharacteristic offer.
Apple Bloom continued, “Sweetie Belle and Scoots don’t drink, so Ah figured Ah’d ask and see if y’all wanted to…” The truth of the matter was the Apple Bloom didn’t drink either. However, her big brother and sister would drink the stuff, so it couldn’t be all that bad, and it was certainly a good way to prove she wasn’t the immature blank flank that Diamond thought she was.
To Diamond Tiara, drinking with Apple Bloom sounded like a much better night than she had planned, but Silver Spoon’s teasing kept her from immediately accepting. Diamond Tiara also didn’t want to head home in case Hauteur Wreath is still there. Facing the real world was not something she was looking forward to.
While Diamond Tiara mulled over her thoughts, Silver Spoon was the first to get over her shock and answer, “uhh… I can’t. My parents would never let me out… thanks though... I think…” Silver said with a bit of a sigh.
Both fillies turned to Diamond Tiara.
“OK,” Diamond Tiara said in a way that made it seem like it was no big deal that she was accepting an offer from her ‘enemy’. “It sounds like it might be fun… maybe you aren’t so bad after all Apple Bloom.”
Apple Bloom knew she wasn’t bad, but that she was going to be bad in order to do good. She gave a small gulp and a silent prayer that this whole idea didn’t blow up in her face.
Apple Bloom paced the CMC clubhouse trying not to think of all the trouble she would be in if caught. Reminding her-self that she was doing all this for a good reason helped to calm her nerves. She was also nervous about drinking the bottle of Apple Whiskey. Getting the bottle had ironically been the easiest part. It was as easy as going down into the cellar and grabbing a bottle. Apple Bloom supposed it was because her family didn’t think it possible for her to steal anything, or to even be interested in alcohol. Apple Bloom gave a small sigh to help clear her conscience.
Apple Bloom was waiting for Diamond Tiara who went to pick up snacks. It was odd because Diamond Tiara had insisted that she should pick up something to eat if Apple Bloom was going to supply the liquor. It was an oddly nice and unexpected gesture, but Apple Bloom supposed it was just because Diamond Tiara was just hungry.
The clubhouse should be empty all night. Apple Bloom didn’t exactly feel like she was going behind her friends back, but it was easier if she didn’t try to explain what was going on, and of course, she didn’t want to be seen drinking with her ‘worst enemy’.
Apple Bloom’s ears perked up as she heard the familiar sound of hooves lightly clopping up the clubhouse’s wooden ramp. Diamond Tiara appeared around the corner holding a bag in her mouth while looking around the interior of the club house. At first, it looked like Diamond Tiara had something nasty to stay about the clubhouse, but after Diamond put the bag down she just stood in place looking slightly awkward.
Diamond Tiara stood with her mouth open slightly as she searched for something to say. She didn’t want to say anything mean, but mean things were the only thing that seemed to spring to mind.
“Huu, Hi,” Diamond finally decided on a simple albeit awkward greeting.
“Howdy,” Apple Bloom responded, also awkwardly shuffling her fore-hooves. It felt extremely weird to be hanging out in her clubhouse with her ‘arch-enemy’.
Diamond Tiara took in the room and glanced the full bottle of Apple Family Whiskey in the corner on a small table.
“I should have given you more credit, maybe you aren’t such a blank flank after all...,” Diamond Tiara said as she approached the bottle.
“But, Ah am a blank flank...” Apple Bloom self-consciously mumbled to herself but still instinctively checked to see if she got a thief’s cutie mark for her actions.
Diamond Tiara unplugged the cork and gave an experimental sniff. Diamond Tiara, in all her bravado, had never drunk alcohol either. Her dad’s liquor cabinet was always kept under tight lock and key, so she had no idea what to expect. The last thing she expected was for the smell to seem familiar. Late at night, Diamond Tiara’s father would come in and give her a good night kiss and whisper things like, ‘sweet dreams, princess.’ Diamond Tiara always pretended to be asleep to not ruin the moment. It happened like clockwork if her father was entertaining guests or working late into the night in his home office. It was a small thing, but it was something Diamond Tiara loved.
The whiskey smelled like her father’s good-night kisses. This unexpected happy memory caused Diamond Tiara’s eyes to water, and she had to blink away the moisture to avoid tears. But the odd reaction didn’t go unnoticed by Apple Bloom.
“Hey... ya ok?” Apple Bloom said as she approached Diamond Tiara from behind.
“Yeah, yeah... it just smells like... it smells really good,” Diamond Tiara recovered quickly turning back to Apple Bloom with a genuine smile on her face.
“So, you have any glasses?” Diamond Tiara asked looking around the obviously cup less room.
“Mah bro and sis, just drink it from the bottle.”
Diamond Tiara didn’t know much about drinking, but she was certain she had never seen her father drink out of the bottle. Thinking back to conversations she had overheard she remembered that if it was good whiskey you have it ‘neat’, and if it wasn’t good, you had it ‘on the rocks’. Diamond Tiara didn’t know what either of those things meant, but she did know that either way it always involved glasses.
Apple Bloom hid her surprise as she heard Diamond Tiara mumble to herself, although she caught the word ‘uncivilized’, and watched as Diamond Tiara flipped the bottle and took a healthy sized swig. Apple Bloom couldn’t help but smile at the look on Diamond Tiaras face as she brought the bottle back down. Coughing a little, Diamond Tiara passed the bottle to Apple Bloom.
“Warm...,” was the only thing Diamond Tiara came up with to say not wanting to betray the fact that she had never drunk whiskey before. While the smell might have been familiar, the taste was not. She knew that her father liked the drink, so she wanted to like it too. So she suppressed her natural instinct to immediately hate the drink.
Apple Bloom took a swig much like she had seen her siblings do, and to be honest, it looked a lot more natural. From watching Diamond Tiara’s reaction, Apple Bloom was much more prepared and managed to look less silly. Although her face still puckered up a bit at the unfamiliar taste.
They continued on, and surprisingly both fillies began to relax and conversation came more naturally to them. Apple Bloom wasn’t sure how much of that was to blame on the alcohol as she had seen her siblings get plenty wasted on the stuff. While they had only but a small dent in the bottle they could both feel the effects.
As they passed the bottle back and forth, they began nibbling on the baked goods that Diamond Tiara had brought. As it turns out, Diamond Tiara was absolutely famished. The conversation was light at first, and Apple Bloom marveled at the fact that Diamond Tiara talked about Silver Spoon in with the same affection that Apple Bloom would talk about her own friends.
“Shooo, tell me shomething juicy about your friends,” Diamond Tiara asked suddenly with a slight slur.
“Juicy?” Apple Bloom asked, even though she had a strong suspicion what Diamond Tiara meant and wanted to buy time looking for an acceptable answer.
“You know, like a secret?” Diamond Tiara asked as she played with her leftover used muffin wrapper.
Apple Bloom immediately got worried. She didn’t want to say anything that could come back and bite her in the flank... especially something about her friends.
Diamond Tiara noticed the reaction and rolled her eyes, “fine, I’ll go first,” she said as she lay shifted in her chair taking a moment to think.
“Shilver Spoon is absolutely terrified of clowns. If she sees one she will instantly run away,” laughed Diamond Tiara.
Apple Bloom still felt this was borderline gossip, but the alcohol had loosened her tongue enough to play along. After all it was funny to know that Silver Spoon was afraid of clowns, and it was fairly harmless knowledge.
“Well … ya remember when someone wrote, ‘I love Scoots’, on the shide of the schoolhouse? And Cheerilee talked to every colt in the school tryin’ ta figure out who it was?” asked Apple Bloom.
“Yeah, I remember...”
“It was actually Scoots herself that wrote it, and nopony ever shuspected it,” laughed out Apple Bloom.
“Haha, that’s actually a pretty funny thing to do,” surmised Diamond Tiara.
Apple Bloom was briefly worried that Diamond Tiara might use that information against scoots, but tattle telling wasn’t really Diamond’s style.
Sensing Apple Bloom’s train of thought, Diamond Tiara took her turn, “Oh and this really can’t leave your clubhouse, but Silver Spoon has a crush on Featherweight.”
Apple Bloom couldn’t help but share a bit of a giggle with Diamond Tiara at that news.
“Really? I never knew... they never talk to each other...” contemplated Apple Bloom.
“Oh she gets really really shy around him and she always looks for excuses to get away. It is actually really funny to watch,” laughed Diamond Tiara.
Getting up, Diamond Tiara made her way to the balcony.
“So, tell me something about Shweetie Belle, I bet she has all sorts of ‘dark’ secrets.” as Diamond Tiara said the word ‘dark’ she flailed her hooves around in a comically spooky way.
Apple Bloom had to think for a moment. Sweetie Belle didn’t have any dark secrets or crushes that she knew of, so she blurted out the first thing that came to mind, “Well, she still sometimes wets the bed, but that’s about it...”
The cigarette the Diamond Tiara had been pulling out fell out of Diamond Tiara’s hooves as she was jarred from the realization of what Apple Bloom had said before she started laughing hard enough to fall back on her plot.
“You CANNOT tell anyone that!” Apple Bloom responded realizing what a personal and embarrassing thing she had just told Diamond Tiara about one of her best friends.
“Haha, wets the bed...,” continued Diamond Tiara who seemed to be having trouble breathing.
After a brief wrestle with her guilt, Apple Bloom got up and made my way over to the balcony and stood over Diamond Tiara.
“Promise me that ya won’t tell a soul!” Apple Bloom felt the need to at least get a promise... How much a promise meant from Diamond Tiara, she did not know. But she could at least hope.
It took a few more moments for Diamond Tiara to stop laughing, but when she finally did she responded, “OK, OK, I promise. I promise I won’t tell a soul that Sweetie Belle wets the bed!” And her laughter returned full force.
“It really ain’t that funny!” Apple Bloom stated with a little hoof stomp.
After a few more moments, Diamond Tiara brought her laughter under control, “Your right, I’m sorry. I just … I just never would have guessed,” Diamond Tiara took several calming breaths before looking around for her dropped cigarette. Finally spying it all the way down at the ground level, and being too lazy to go get it, grabbed another one out of her pack.
Then she offered the pack to Apple Bloom, “Want one?”
Normally Apple Bloom would immediately refuse, but today isn’t a normal day. After all what is the difference in drinking alcohol to seem more mature to Diamond Tiara, and having a smoke to seem more mature to Diamond Tiara.
“Umm sure,” Apple bloom said as she took the tobacco from Diamond Tiara. “Thanks...,” she added as an afterthought as Diamond Tiara helped her light it.
One small inhale was all it took for Apple Bloom to enter a fit of coughing. Diamond Tiara gave her a knowing smile and patted her on the back. After a few more drags, Apple Bloom seemed to get the hang of it.
“These are super gross,” Apple Bloom commented offhoofedly but continued to smoke it.
“You’ll get used to it,” Diamond Tiara stated matter-o-factly.
Apple Bloom wasn’t at all sure she wanted to get used to it, but held her tongue. All things considered. Things were going better than she ever would have imagined. Although she was hesitant to ask any awkward questions, she knew she would eventually have to if she was going to figure out how best to help Diamond Tiara. The words tasted bad even in her mind, or maybe that was just the cigarette.
The two fillies settled into a comfortable silence as they stared out over the back lot of Sweet Apple Acres. The sun had begun to set over the farm and even Diamond Tiara had to admit it was quite beautiful.
The two fillies continued swapping the bottle back and forth albeit taking smaller and smaller sips as their thoughts and worlds began to swim more and more. As it got darker, it got colder. The two fillies had retreated inside and both had blankets around them as they continued to chat while lying down on the floor.
As with most fillies slumber parties, especially those fueled with alcohol, the topic inevitably turned to colts. Diamond Tiara had admitted to never having a coltfriend, but only after Apple Bloom had admitted to the same thing first.
For some reason, Diamond Tiara still felt the needed to defend the fact that she didn’t have a coltfriend and had entered into a long monologue detailing all the reasons why. Once she covered why they were brutish, she continued into the lack of available colts that were even halfway decent. She had just entered into how they all talked about boring stuff when Diamond Tiara looked over and noticed Apple Bloom had fallen asleep. Next to Apple Bloom was their half empty bottle of Whiskey. Deciding that the sleeping Apple Bloom didn’t need to hear the other reasons, Diamond Tiara’s attention turned to the bottle.
After imbibing a few more swigs, Diamond Tiara fell into her own thoughts as was her normal habit. For the second time, Diamond Tiara reflected and realized how much fun she had with Apple Bloom. Looking over at Apple Bloom passed out on the floor, Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but smile as Apple Bloom lightly snored.
“I’m shuch a shofty,” Diamond Tiara whispered to herself as she fiddled with the bottle. She decided that she liked the smell of whiskey much more than the taste. ‘Maybe, the whiskey tastes better if you have your own glass,’ Diamond thought to herself. Also, the taste did seem to improve the more of it you drank; she assessed as she took another small sip. Having nothing in the room of interest to occupy her attention her gaze eventually fell back on Apple Bloom. After watching her sleep for a few moments an odd thought struck Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but think how adorable she looked. Diamond Tiara knew she was probably what everypony else called ‘drunk’ and decided not to linger on the thought. Instead her thoughts were diverted when she saw Apple Bloom shiver in her sleep.
On an impulse, she decided to ‘tuck’ Apple Bloom in just like her father used to. Grabbing her own blanket, Diamond Tiara draped it over Apple Bloom careful not to wake her. Leaning over Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara whispered, “Shweet dream princess.” Closing her eyes, Diamond Tiara ever so lightly brought her and Apple Bloom’s lips together. Time seemed to stretch on forever, until Diamond Tiara realized what she was doing and how long it really had been going on, much longer than any good-night kiss her father had ever given her. In fact, it had been going on for and inappropriately long time.
Diamond Tiara broke the kiss and bolted back upright. Flustered, Diamond Tiara brought a hoof up to her lips as she stared down on the still (hopefully) sleeping Apple Bloom. To say that Diamond Tiara was confused was putting it lightly. A myriad of thoughts and impulses seemed to be fighting for control over her higher brain functions. Finally, one thought managed to be heard though all the internal commotion. Diamond Tiara wanted to kiss Apple Bloom again.
Ignoring the many different thoughts that all wanted her to stop for many different and good reasons, Diamond Tiara leaned in again. This time with her lips parted slightly and the contact a little more firm. Eyes closed, Diamond Tiara continued the kiss as long as she dared. Slowly sitting back up, she couldn’t help but see the still sleeping Apple Bloom in a different light. As rational thoughts began to creep back into her mind, panic was quick to follow.
“Oh, no...,” was all that Diamond Tiara’s stunted thought-process could articulate.
Diamond Tiara couldn’t sleep at all. She had left the clubhouse shortly after the incident in a rush. However she had remembered to re-cork the bottle. Upon returning home she had been greeted by the house staff whom had been worried that she had disappeared like her father. Miserable louts were probably just worried about their jobs was Diamond Tiara’s first guess. If we all disappeared there would be nopony to pay them. While Hauteur Wreath hadn’t been there, she imagined that she would have to deal with him soon enough. If the staff had noticed she was drunk, they didn’t say anything. Not that they had much of an opportunity to. Diamond Tiara had walked right past them and locked herself in her room. There was a few knocks on her door throughout the night, but Diamond Tiara had simply ignored them. Eventually whoever it was gave up.
As she lay in her big four post bed, she didn’t give much thought to her inevitable conversation with Hauteur Wreath. She didn’t give much thought as to where her dad might be. Even her normal depressed thoughts didn’t enter her mind. The prevailing thought in her mind was:
‘What the hell is wrong with me?’
Diamond Tiara was no fillyfooler. Fillyfoolers were an abomination. She struggled to comprehend what she did as she also tried to justify what she did. Even if, for some god awful reason, she was… that way, there was no way that she could like Apple Bloom of all ponies.
However she broke it down she always ended up stuck at the same question:
‘Why did I like it so much?’
“Arrrgh,” Diamond Tiara arrghed and buried her head in into her pillow, as her frustration reached a boiling point.
Diamond Tiara spent a long time deep in thought without reaching any answers. Her thoughts had turned cyclical and she flat out refused to believe any obvious solution because all the obvious solutions were unacceptable.
Without Diamond Tiara noticing or caring, the sun had risen and birds had begun to chirp. A knock at her bedroom door interrupted her thoughts, but she made no sound or action to answer. However this visitor seemed a bit more insistent than the previous ones as another knock came this time louder than before.
“Go away!” Diamond Tiara shouted, the horse and tired tone of her voice momentarily surprised her.
“It’s me, Spoon. Can I come in?” replied the door. She didn’t seem to know it was locked.
Diamond Tiara had thought it was one of the servants or maybe Mr. Wreath. “Just a second Silver,” Diamond said as she ran to her mirror to fix herself up bit. She wasn’t ready for the sight that greeted her. Diamond Tiara’s eyes were bloodshot, with bags and matted fur under them. She couldn't even remember crying. Her hair was also a frazzled mess and her trademarked tiara lay haphazardly on the floor. “Just another second,” Diamond reiterated, trying to buy more time.
It was a rush job and she knew she still looked a mess, but she hoped that Silver Spoon wouldn’t notice, or at the very least, have the decency not to say anything. As Diamond Tiara unlocked the door and stepped aside as she opened it to let Silver in, Diamond took a deep breath to prepare herself for social interaction.
Silver marched in not even looking at her mumbling something akin to ‘finally’ as she walked past.
“So how was your date with Appl- ,” Silver Spoon began as she turned toward Diamond Tiara, but as quickly as she started her Impish grin turned into a look of unbridled horror, “Holy shit, Diamond Tiara, you look like … shit,” Silver Spoon finished lamely.
Diamond Tiara gave a soft grunt of acknowledgement. “Thanks for mentioning it,” said Diamond Tiara as she made her way back to her bed and unceremoniously flopped back into it.
Silver Spoon followed her and crawled up and laid down on all fours across the foot of the bed.
“You bummed out because of your dad? I know they still haven’t found him, but don’t worry. I’m sure he will turn up soon,” comforted Silver Spoon.
Diamond Tiara looked down sheepishly. She honestly hadn’t put much thought into where her dad could be. Diamond Tiara briefly considered lying, after all it was a convenient excuse, but this was Silver Spoon she was talking to. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon had always told each other everything. However, this time, what Diamond Tiara had done, well it was on a whole new level. Diamond Tiara didn’t know how Silver Spoon would react. Hell, Diamond Tiara her-self didn’t even know how she should react.
Diamond Tiara did however feel the need for some help. Maybe this whole thing was just some weird misunderstanding and Silver Spoon could help her clear it up. Still, it was a lot to risk. Silver Spoon was her only friend. (She wasn’t sure what Apple Bloom was.) If Diamond Tiara lost Silver Spoon, well, she didn’t know what she would do, but just at the thought of losing Silver Spoon, all sorts of dark foreboding ideas flooded into the pink filliess mind.
Sensing the downward turn in Diamond Tiara’s mood Silver Spoon attempted to intervene.
“Hey, hey, what’s going on in there?” Silver Spoon crawled up to lay next to Diamond Tiara and motioned toward Diamond Tiara’s head.
“It isn’t about my dad, it is something else,” Diamond confessed and looked away from Silver Spoon guiltily.
Silver Spoon just sat and waited patiently with a neutral expression.
“Umm, first, you must promise that, no matter what, we will always be friends. Always,” Diamond Tiara couldn’t even look up; instead she just focused on her blankets instead, so she missed the hint of worry that was creeping its way over Silver Spoon’s face.
“Diamond… Yes of course, I promise. You know that,” Silver Spoon hid the slight hurt that Diamond Tiara would even suggest otherwise.
“Ok well last night, I umm… I kind of …” Diamond Tiara trailed off… her voice sounded odd to her. Diamond Tiara had never said what she did aloud before. If she said it out loud it would suddenly make it real. She could keep quiet and nopony would ever know.
Silver Spoon was just waiting patiently… although she was looking more and more worried as the silence stretched on.
Diamond Tiara had to say it; otherwise it would just drive her insane. Silver Spoon wouldn’t leave her, she promised.
“I… IkissedAppleBloom,” Diamond Tiara blurted out, her blush changing the color of her coat darker.
It took a second for Silver Spoon to dissect the confession. When she had finally separated the words in her mind a million questions bombarded her at once… So many questions, in fact, that all Silver Spoon could do was open her mouth and stare at Diamond Tiara in shock.
“I kissed Apple Bloom…,” Diamond Tiara repeated, this time slower and much more ashamed.
“You… wait what?” was Silver Spoon finally eloquently managed.
“I kissed Apple Bloom…,” Diamond Tiara said a third time, this time with a touch of annoyance.
“… twice,” Diamond Tiara amended.
“Twice…,” Silver Spoon mimed, not fully comprehending what she was saying.
Diamond Tiara couldn’t really figure out if Silver Spoon was taking the news good or bad, so she waited for her friend’s shock to dissipate.
In short order, Silver Spoon’s shocked expression faded, and her small impish smile returned.
“My mom would flip her lid if she found out I was in bed with a fillyfooler,” Silver Spoon said as her small smile grew.
“Don’t call me that!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed as she tossed a pillow Silver Spoon’s way.
The pillow and its actions were subsequently ignored by Silver Spoon. She was far too busy formulating her next question.
“So… you aren’t a fillyfooler?” Silver Spoon wanted to clarify before she proceeded.
“No, of course not! That’s revolting!” Diamond Tiara defended leaning down and putting her face in her hooves.
“Well, then why did you kiss Apple Bloom… Twice?” Silver Spoon asked genuinely confused, “was it a dare?”
“It wasn’t a dare… and I don’t know why I did it… at least not the second time,” said Diamond not even bothering to look up from her hooves.
“Well, did you like kissing Apple Bloom?” Silver Spoon asked the loaded question.
Diamond Tiara sat in silence struggling to convince herself that she did not enjoy it at all. It was a losing battle though. Finally she looked up and at Silver Spoon with her red and puffy eyes.
“… yes,” Diamond Tiara admitted it in a soft and quiet voice. Even though Silver Spoon was expecting the answer, she couldn’t help but give out a small gasp of surprise.
“Wow, I mean I was joking when I said, “you always picked on her cuz you liked her,”” Silver Spoon said as she leaned back into the bed, “who knew I was right all along.”
“I do not like Apple Bloom!” Diamond Tiara responded in reflex, and after a long pause continued, “at least I hope don’t.” Diamond Tiara also relaxed and leaned back into her pillow. For the time being, Diamond Tiara was happy that her best friend wasn’t at least running out of the room as fast as possible.
A pregnant silence filled the room. Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but notice that Silver Spoon was fidgeting around on the bed every so often, almost like she couldn’t quite get comfortable. Diamond Tiara tried to ignore it and wait for Silver Spoon to bring up what she was thinking about, but Diamond Tiara wasn’t exactly a patient filly.
“What!? What are you thinking about?” Diamond Tiara said exasperated.
It took Silver Spoon a second to formulate her sentence, “Umm, well, have you ever, you know...” Silver Spoon asked while Diamond Tiara stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language.
“Have you ever wanted to kiss me?” Silver Spoon finally managed to ask with a squeak. She looked apprehensive and extremely nervous.
“Oh!” realization of what she was asking dawned on Diamond Tiara, “Ummm, no. I don’t think so?” was the best answer Diamond Tiara could give.
Silver Spoon tried to conceal her reaction, but Diamond Tiara knew her friend too well. For every two parts of Silver Spoon that looked relieved there was one part disappointed.
The disappointed look on her face faded quickly enough, and Silver Spoon quickly got back to joking.
“Really? Are you sure? Am I not pretty enough for you?” Silver Spoon asked in a mostly teasing manner, “or is my flank not bare enough for you?”
That last comment did get a rise out of Diamond as she blushed.
“That’s just gross, stop being silly. I don’t even know what I like… Everything I feel is … so new and weird,” Diamond Tiara attempted to explain.
Silver Spoon would have continued to tease her friend if it wasn’t for the genuinely terrified look she had when she mentioned her ‘new and weird’ feelings.
Silver Spoon knew her friend needed a good hug and cursed herself for not immediately offering one. The hesitation was only brief, and Diamond Tiara didn’t notice it. As Silver Spoon swallowed the slightly awkward feeling of hugging a fillyfooler, Diamond Tiara had no trouble falling into the warm embrace.
“Thank you for still being here for me,” Diamond Tiara mumbled into the hug.
“Always. Diamond, forever and always,” Silver Spoon replied.
After another few moments Silver Spoon couldn't help her own curiosity,“So, what did Apple Bloom say when you kissed her?” Silver Spoon could feel Diamond tense up at the question.
“Umm, she was kind of passed out…” Diamond admitted sheepishly.
Silver Spoon couldn’t help that her first thoughts were of all the times she had spent sleeping next to Diamond Tiara in the very bed they were in.
“That’s … that’s kinda creepy, you know that right?” Silver Spoon tried her best not to offend.
“…yeah… I know… something is wrong with me,” Diamond Tiara managed a small chuckle to accompany her statement before letting the room return to silence.
The two fillies stayed in the embrace for several minutes until breaking apart when there was a soft knocking at the door. As soon as the hug was over, Diamond Tiara missed it. But she was feeling a lot better. Good enough to call to the door.
“Come in,” Diamond said in much like her normal demeaning tone.
The door opened slowly, almost hesitantly, to reveal Hauteur Wreath. Diamond Tiara steeled herself to the impending talk she was expecting until she looked at Wreath’s face. It had bad news written all over it. Before Hauteur Wreath could speak, Diamond Tiara knew this wasn’t going to be about her staying out and drinking. Although she wished it was.
“I-I’m sorry Tiara,” Hauteur Wreath began and Diamond Tiara’s mind already began to formulate all the things he could be sorry for, but before she could really process the though Wreath continued.
“They found your dad,” another pause as fear gripped Diamond Tiara’s heart. If they found her dad then he should be smiling, why does it look like Hauteur Wreath has been crying?
"Even the finest sword plunged into salt water will eventually rust." - Sun Tzu
Chapter 7
Rainfall Chaser was having a bad day, and it had just gotten a lot worse. When the Royal Guard sent over a messenger saying they had found Filthy Rich’s body, Rainfall Chaser had been crushed. It wasn’t just because it meant that she would most likely lose her job over this mess, but Rainfall had genuinely looked up to and liked the stallion.
News of Filthy Rich’s death weighed heavily on Rainfall’s back. She couldn’t help but feel that was happened was somehow due to a failing on her part. Rainfall was, after all, head of Sun Wire Inc., the private security firm which was responsible for the security of all of Filthy Rich’s holdings.
Rainfall Chaser’s body felt fatigued; the last couple sleepless nights coupled with the long flight she was currently on had begun to catch up to her. It had been awhile since her daily conditioning as a member of the Royal Guard, but she was no slouch and the training had a way of never completely wearing off. She was flanked by two other Pegasus, Raindrops and Thunder Reach. Both pony were younger and faster fliers than Rainfall, but they were both wearing Sun Wire’s signature full black barding. They looked just as tired from flight as Rainfall felt. In her haste, Rainfall had forgotten her shaffron (pony helmet) and crupper (plot armor). This was one oversight she was happy for; her lighter load allowed her to set the pace.
As the trio approached the large estuary near Hoofington, Rainfall put aside her mental draft of her impending resignation letter and put her attention back to the investigation at hand. After a quick fly over, their destination was easy to spot. What looked to be a full platoon of Royal Guards was gathered into one area of the woodland surrounding the water.
As she landed, Rainfall Chaser expected to be greeted by a member of her old major crimes unit, but upon a brief check of her surrounding, she found nopony familiar. That is, until Shining Armor himself came trotting up.
“Rainfall Chaser,” Shining Armor greeted her with a salute, “It has been too long. I wish we could have met again under better circumstances.”
“Captain, no need to salute, I’m a civi now,” Despite the correction, Rainfall still returned the salute. Old habits die hard. “Or should I be calling you ‘Prince’ now?” Rainfall managed to ask with a bit of playfulness despite the circumstance.
“Captain will do just fine. We actually weren’t expecting anyone to come out here. We were actually just finishing up and about to head back to Canterlot,” Shining Armor motioned offhoofedly toward a Pegasus drawn wagon that held an ominous pony sized black bag in the back of it.
Rainfall couldn’t help her investigative training, repeated words like ‘actually’ always set off warning bells in her head. However keeping in mind who she was talking to, Rainfall quickly dismissed the suspicion. After all she had never served directly with Shining Armor, She knew the stallion well enough as he oversaw all of the departments, and she knew his character well enough to call it exemplary. It had to be in order to become Captain of the Royal Guard, after all.
“I’d like to see the body before it gets moved anymore,” Rainfall requested.
“Well, like you said before, you are a civi now. That would be against protocol…” Shining Armor trailed off as he scratched the back of his head, “… but all things considered, I suppose it couldn’t hurt.”
As the group made their way to the wagon, Rainfall Chaser had a better chance to inspect her company. She recognized a few, but had never personally met any of them. They all bore the special armor insignia of ‘Celestia’s own’, a golden phoenix inlaid into their peytral (chest armor). They were the elite of the elite, and they handled all of the ‘delicate’ missions for Celestia. While they certainly had their uses, Rainfall Chaser would not consider ‘murder investigation’ to be one of their specialties. In short, Rainfall had no idea why they were there.
Rainfall, still flanked by her own two agents stood on one side of the bag while Shinning took the other. Rainfall couldn’t help but feel thankful when Shining’s horn flared to life and he used his magic to unzip the bag. She was worried that she might have to do it with her mouth.
The body was most certainly Filth Rich. It was mildly bloated and discolored. They had obviously fished the body out of the lake, but for the fact that the body was still recognizable, it hadn’t been in the water for too long. Of course, it smelled of decay. Rainfall was no stranger to the smell and didn’t even bat an eye at it. Rainfall Chaser couldn’t help but notice that Raindrops quickly turned away from the body and began to breath faster through her mouth. Sun Wire had picked up Raindrops from a weather team instead of the guard; this was likely the first dead body she has seen on the field.
“What can you tell me?” Rainfall asked Shining while keeping her eyes on the corpse.
“Not much yet,” Shinning replied with a sigh, “there is some residual Changeling magic on the body, so that’s our first guess. We will know more after the autopsy.”
Rainfall hadn’t heard anything about any Changeling activity for nearly two years now. Ever since they were defeated in Canterlot, all reports were that those that survived went into hiding and have been licking their wounds.
“He was beaten before he was killed,” Rainfall stated. Rainfall couldn’t help but notice that Shining Armor flinched ever so slightly at that statement. The bloating and discoloration had done a good job hiding it. Rainfall leaned in close to examine the marks closer.
“Like I said, we will know more after the autopsy,” Shining Armor said smoothly.
As Rainfall looked up at him from the corpse, she couldn’t help but notice that Shining Armor stood a little more ridged than he had before. Raindrop couldn’t be certain, as much of the evidence had been ‘washed’ away, but the markings looked a lot more than just a simple ‘beat up.’ They looked like the markings of a Royal Guard interrogation.
Rainfall sensed the small change in the ambiance. The warning bells began to go off again, but this time they were much harder to ignore. Thunder Reach and Raindrops, to their credit, felt something off also and stood tense.
“I think that is enough for now,” Shining Armor said calmly, but gave away his nervousness as he glanced quickly at one of his team before zipping the bag up.
Rainfall didn’t initially respond. All her good sense told her it was time for a tactful retreat, and she was a sensible mare. Putting on her best smile and backing away from the body bag, she took one last look around at all the faces of the Royal Guards.
“Thanks for your help, I look forward to any new information you can find,” Rainfall said as pleasantly as she could.
“Of course, I’ll send along anything that we find,” Shining said with his own smile, the tension seemed to be ebbing away.
“Before we go, why are you here Shining and not back with your wife in the crystal empire?” Rainfall knew the question was a bit presumptuous, but she wasn’t in the guard anymore and could afford to be a little crass with her questions.
“Princess Celestia personally asked me to do this; after all Filthy Rich was a good friend of hers. I just wish I could have given her a better outcome,” Shining Armor said with a genuinely sad smile.
Rainfall didn’t have a good response, so she gave a small nod and took off. Followed closely by her two escorts, the trio began the long flight home. It was already past mid-morning and it would be closer to noon by the time she got to where she needed to go. She had a painfully short list of suspects and proper authorization would be needed before she could investigate any of them. With Filthy gone, Hauteur Wreath would be the one to make these decisions.
Rainfall needed to increase the guard on Diamond Tiara also, so she could leave Thunder Reach and Raindrops there. She already had two pony’s watching her, but given her last failure, she wouldn’t be responsible for another. The last report she had gotten in on the girl was that she had returned home after a night of drinking with a friend. Rainfall couldn’t exactly remember the ‘princess’s’ age, but she remembered her being far too young for that sort of activity. However, it wasn’t her place to judge.
‘Tartarus, now that Filthy is gone. That little filly might be my new boss,’ was a thought that Rainfall couldn’t help but think. There is no sense in telling your possible boss what they can and can’t do…
“Hey chief,” Thunder Reach interrupted Rainfall’s thoughts as he flew alongside her, “What happened back there? And why do I have a feeling I don’t really want to know?”
“Probably because you really don’t want to know,” replied Rainfall as she looked behind her for Raindrops, whom had fallen behind slightly. Raindrops had a bit of a vacant, far-away stare going on, and her normal jasmine colored coat had a slight green tint to it.
“You ok back there Raindrops?” Rainfall couldn’t help but feel a little for the poor filly.
“umm... y-yea I’ll be fine,” Raindrops focus returned as she caught back up to the group.
“Good, because our work has just begun, next stop Ponyville.”
Ignoring the burning in her wings, Rainfall increased the pace. Her lack of knowledge and confusion added to her urgency. She wasn’t sure what was going on, but she knew it was big.
“Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning.” – Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Chapter 8
The tears didn’t come immediately as one would expect. Diamond Tiara’s initial reaction to hearing the news of her father’s untimely demise was felt but not expressed outwardly. She simply crawled back into bed and shut her eyes. Hauteur Wreath presumably left at some point. Silver Spoon, of course, stayed. Time seemed to lose meaning to Diamond Tiara as she lay in her bed. Silver Spoon stayed for a while living up to her name by being the big spoon for Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara heard Silver Spoon talking in between her sobs, but Diamond Tiara couldn’t understand her.
At some point Silver Spoon left, giving Diamond Tiara a kiss on her forehead before leaving. Still no tears came to Diamond Tiara. She kept her eyes closed and pretended to be in a nightmare. A horrible terrible nightmare, but a nightmare that, when she opened her eyes, would be over. There came a point where the conscious act of keeping her eyes closed began to wear on her, and she decided to give up. She knew that she wasn’t dreaming, and the world would be the same when she opened them. Her father would still be gone.
However, as she cracked her eyes open and was greeted by the sun’s waning light. A small part of her couldn’t help but be disappointed. Diamond’s eyes were blurry so she rubbed them with a hoof to clear them. Somewhere far off she could hear somepony crying, and was mildly resentful that they thought they had something worthy to cry over while she had to deal with the loss of her father.
It was only after she had cleared her vision before she noticed how wet her pillow was. The voice she heard crying was actually her own. Once she realized that she was crying, there was nothing that could stop the free flow of tears. She continued crying until the deep of night. The only time the tears stopped were when her body gave out and she fell into brief bouts of unconsciousness.
Sometime the next day, there was a reprise in the tears. The sense of hollow emptiness that had plagued her for month returned stronger than ever. The hired help had been leaving food at her door and cracking the door open to make sure she saw it. Diamond wasn’t hungry. She would only get up to slam the door and lock it. However, the hired help had the keys, so it didn’t do much good. At one point a kindly mare under her father’s employment came in to try and get Diamond Tiara to eat. Diamond Tiara recognized her as the assistant to the chef. Diamond dismissed her promptly telling her that if she ever showed her face in this part of the house again she would never find work in Ponyville.
Days seemed to pass. Silver Spoon finally managed to get Diamond Tiara to eat a little bread when she came over. The tears would come and go, but whenever Silver Spoon was around for whatever reason, Diamond Tiara couldn’t cry. Even when she watched Silver Spoon bawling her eyes out, Diamond Tiara would only sit and be held dispassionately. The workers quickly learned that Spoon was the only pony that could get Diamond Tiara to eat, and some visits seemed too short and too timed around an eating schedule to be coincidence. However, Diamond Tiara couldn’t be resentful for Silver Spoon’s alliance with the hired help. No, Silver Spoon was too special to garner that kind of resentment.
Even Apple Bloom came by several times, but Diamond Tiara never let her past the door. Apple Bloom had even tried to hold a conversation with her from the other side of the door. It was one sided, of course, but Diamond Tiara didn’t tell her to go away. The normally abrasive accent and tone seemed to sound so much better than it should of or had before. The sound of Apple Blooms voice was warm and welcome to the pink filly, and Diamond didn’t listen to the words that Apple Bloom said only the pleasant tone and the chaotic harmony that her accent put on the syllables. Diamond Tiara never told Apple Bloom to leave, but Diamond figured eventually the country filly got tired of talking to her door and the sound of her voice would fade way. It wasn’t as though she didn’t want to see Apple Bloom. But Diamond Tiara wasn’t prepared to deal with that issue yet.
Hauteur Wreath had come by to discuss the funeral. The date was planned and set. It would be an outdoor funeral. According to Filthy Rich’s own request, the outdoor funeral would be during a light rain. The only thing left was to coordinate it with the Ponyville weather teams. Hauteur Wreath gave a dry chuckle as he recounted the conversation he had had with Filthy Rich. Something about everyone standing out in the rain had stuck Filthy as funny. The joke was lost on Diamond Tiara, but she didn’t really care. Wet or dry, the day would be the same. Hauteur Wreath was polite enough not to mention how her room now smelled like an ashtray, so Diamond Tiara skipped her normally brash dismissal of threatening to fire the pony. It was also because she didn’t know if she could fire Hauteur, but even if she could, she wouldn’t. Hauteur was someone that her father had called a friend, and that has to count for something.
As the days went by she would occasionally turn to her old and silent friend. It didn’t have a name, of course; that would be silly. But her father’s straight razor was now even more special to her. It had been his. She wouldn’t cut herself often, only when her emptiness was too much to bear.
However, Diamond Tiara was surprised that when she cut herself it didn’t bring the same relief. She was forced to cut deeper and longer to feel anything. The small rational voice in her head would scream out in dismay at the sight of all the blood that was spilt, but a much bigger voice would curse the lack of salt she had to rub on the wound.
At some point she realized she should be at school. Days had passed since the news. Diamond Tiara was momentarily angry that nopony had reminded her to go to school. The feeling was fleeting, as she quickly realized she wouldn’t have wanted to go anyway. Although, the missed project session with Apple Bloom seemed to continue to mildly irritate her.
On the day of the funeral, Diamond Tiara awoke to find herself, of all things, angry. She was angry at the people who took her father away from her; she was angry at all the stupid ponies she would no doubt see at the funeral; she was angry at her house workers for their audacity to pretend they cared about her.
Silver Spoon had shown up again and helped Diamond Tiara into her morning cloths. The black dress clashed horribly with her light pink complexion. However, she was happy to put on her matching black stocking which were long enough to hide her, now much more obvious, self-mutilation. One less problem to deal with. However, Silver Spoon had seen the wounds; it couldn’t be helped, but this wasn’t the first time she had been caught by Silver. Her bespectacled friend’s only response was to give her typical sad little worried look that spoke volumes. But that’s why Diamond Tiara loved Silver Spoon so much; she knows how to be there for a pony without pushing them away.
Funerals, much like death itself, are sordid affairs. Diamond Tiara is not the first nor last filly to come to this conclusion. The funeral itself took place on a hill side on the outskirts of Ponyville overlooking Sweet Apple Acres. On the walk up, Diamond Tiara wondered if the location had been picked by her father too. He always did have a fondness for the rolling apple tree spotted hills. The weather fit the mood perfectly, a constant light drizzle prattled down from the grey cloud cover onto the black umbrella that Silver Spoon held over the two.
Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but notice two Pegasus ponies following them a few lengths back. They wore all black armor, and Diamond Tiara knew that they were in her former father’s employee based on the large white R on their shoulders. The R was modeled in the same way as the R logo for Rich Industries. They looked like soldiers, and Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but be curious about them. She hadn’t ever seen the like of them before, and Diamond had no idea that her father had hired that type of pony.
While she was curious, Diamond Tiara knew that now wasn’t the time or place for those questions, so she promptly ignored her escort. From a distance, Diamond Tiara spotted the gathering of ponies. Their black cloths and identical black umbrellas looked like a cancerous growth had sprouted on the size of the otherwise green hill.
As they left the dirt road for the grassy hill, Diamond Tiara took note of all the ponies that were waiting for them. The crowd was large, nearly the size of Ponyville’s population, but Diamond Tiara thought that her father deserved better. Nothing was good enough for the filly, and by extension, nothing was good enough for her father. Diamond Tiara was resentful at all those that had shown up, but she was equally resentful to all those that had not. The conflicted nature of these feelings didn’t seem to bother the filly at all.
When Diamond Tiara was close enough to recognize individual faces, the crowd’s whispered conversation ceased, and they all turned to regard Diamond Tiara with faces of quiet solace. Hauteur Wreath was there motioning to the fillies to come to the front, and Diamond Tiara slowly followed the directions meeting the stares of the crowd head on as she walked.
The first pony that drew her attention was none other than Princess Celestia herself. She was hard to miss; her mere presence demanded attention. She stood in the back and off to the side of the crowd flanked by Prince Blueblood and the diminutive, by comparison, Princess Twilight. A regiment of Royal Guards stood behind them out of the way. They all bore their condolences in their mannerisms; Princess Celestia even offered a small nod of sympathy to Diamond Tiara as she passed.
The next group that Diamond Tiara passed was a sea of business ponies. Diamond recognized a few of them from her father’s parties or late night meetings he would have at his home office. Diamond caught glimpses of several more of the armored ponies dispersed through the crowd. Dressed in their black armor, their outfits matched the occasion, and they blended in well.
Toward the front of the group the faces became much more familiar. Citizens of Ponyville and friends of her father stood around intermingled. She saw a group of nobles that had decided to stick together. Fancypants and Fleur de Lis stood over their flock as they watched the two fillies walk by. Diamond was surprised to see Lyra Heartstrings standing amongst them next to her fillyfriend, Bonbon. Since their relationship had gone public, Diamond had thought that Lyra had been excommunicated from that circle.
When Diamond Tiara spotted Apple Bloom up ahead, she couldn’t help the involuntary hitch in her otherwise steady breath. While Apple Bloom’s dress looked cheap and overly simple, Diamond Tiara mentally complemented Apple Bloom’s appearance. Even in such a depressing dress, Apple Bloom still managed to look cute.
Apple Bloom stood with her two siblings and Sweetie Belle, Granny Smith notably absent. Sweetie Belle’s sister along with everypony’s friend Pinkie Pie rounded out the group. The pink party mare was the only one not watching her walk up. Her hair was styled uncharacteristically straight as she looked down at the wet ground. All of them held looks of sorrow, sadness, or pity except Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom wore a face of determination fixed on Diamond Tiara. The look looked similar to one she would have before one of her silly cutie mark attempt stunts. While Diamond Tiara didn’t understand the determined look on Apple Bloom’s face, it was still appreciated. All the looks of pity she had been getting had only served to increase her irritation.
As Diamond Tiara passed the group, she hid her surprise as Apple Bloom suddenly broke from the cover of her brother’s umbrella and joined the two fillies as they walked to the front. The quiet stillness of the walk wasn’t broken nor was Apple Bloom’s look of determination as the, now, trio walked along. Silver Spoon, for her part, attempted to extend the umbrella’s covering to the new addition, but it only served half of its purpose as on both sides, Silver and Apple began to get wet. Neither filly seemed to care in the slightest.
As they reached the front and took their place, the funeral began. Diamond Tiara’s was mildly satisfied that they all had to wait for her however she hadn’t meant to be the last to arrive.
Hauteur Wreath was the first to step up to a covered podium. Behind him, Diamond couldn’t help but stare at the closed ornate coffin or the large picture of Filthy Rich smiling propped up to the side. A fresh wave of anger swept over Diamond Tiara as she saw the picture. It had been taken with the two of them together, and Filthy had been smiling down at his daughter, but the picture had been cropped and blown up. Diamond had been taken out of the picture. Now it looked as though Filthy was smiling down at everyone at his funeral. That smile didn’t belong to the crowd; it belonged to Diamond Tiara, and that very though caused Diamond Tiara to tremble slightly in rage. Both Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon misinterpreted the small tremble, and drew closer to the distressed pink filly to offer comfort. While neither filly understood the exact cause of Diamond Tiara’s distress, the closeness did serve to calm and comfort.
“We are gathered here today to honor and mourn the loss of a truly great pony,” Hauteur began, “Filthy Rich was many things to many ponies. He will be remembered by history as a pony with unprecedented business success. A pony that loved his country, and thru that love, nurtured a better and brighter future for Equestria. Yes, history will remember a hero,” Hauteur paused to let his words sink in before continuing, “We are gathered here today because history will not do Filthy Rich justice. Everypony here today knows that Filthy Rich was so much more, and without him, our lives will be a little more empty.”
Diamond Tiara involuntarily twitched at the word ‘empty’.
“Filthy Rich built and sat atop the biggest business empire in Equestrian history, but he never let the altitude go to his head. He was an Earth Pony in every sense of the word. A more caring friend, a more loving father, a more devout husband, I have never meet,” Hauteur paused again, this time to calm himself as he had begun to choke up.
At the mention of ‘loving father’, Diamond Tiara felt a hoof lay comfortingly across her shoulder, and her attention was momentarily divided as she looked over at the hoof’s owner. Apple Bloom met Diamond’s gaze with a soft, understated smile. Overcoming her momentary shock, Diamond Tiara reflexively leaned into the embrace, resting her head lightly against Apple Bloom. Despite the situation, Diamond Tiara took note that Silver Spoon dutifully shifted the umbrella over her and Apple Bloom leaving Silver Spoon unprotected from the rain.
“Much like history, words themselves fall short when used to describe how Filthy Rich has touched us all. However, to honor a pony who has done so much, we must try, so I’d like to invite anyone who would like to up to say a few words,” Hauteur Wreath concluded as he stepped down took position off to the side, the rain pouring down on him completely forgotten.
Pony after Pony came up to speak on Filthy’s behalf. Diamond Tiara didn’t hear much of it. Sometimes the speech would be a small story of Filthy’s character; sometimes it was speeches of admiration for the stallion. Diamond even remembered seeing Apple Bloom’s sister at the podium, although Diamond couldn’t tell you what she said. Every time Diamond Tiara would begin to actually listen, she would feel anger boil up inside of her, so she instead focused on the warmth coming off of Apple Bloom’s body. Diamond Tiara had been worried that she would end up crying in front of everypony, but much like her time with Silver Spoon, the tears never came.
After what felt like hours, Hauteur Wreath interrupted Diamond Tiara’s slightly meditative state to tell her that if she wanted to say something now was the time, everypony else was finished.
Diamond Tiara really didn’t want to, but she knew that if she didn’t she would somehow feel like she betrayed her father. However, she had no idea what to say, and she certainly didn’t have the foresight to plan a speech. She knew the crowd would only expect her to say how much she loved her daddy, if they expected anything at all. As she made her way to the podium, she heard somepony whisper something about what a brave little filly she was. It only served to infuriate her more. As she reached the too tall podium, she was thankful to find a stepping stool that had obviously been left just for her.
Her first thoughts were to tell everypony what horrible parasite ponies she thought they were, but she quickly decided against it. She knew if she said something like that she would end up having to deal with the consequences for some time to come. It also felt somehow disrespectful to her father, and the specter of the box that now lay behind her fell on her heavily. So, after a few moments of silence as she stared out into the crowd, she said the first thing that came to mind.
“My mother died before I can even remember,” Diamond Tiara paused, suddenly unsure if this was what she wanted to say, but decided to continue, “Daddy rarely talked about her, and I never asked. I could see how much it hurt him to think about her…” Diamond trailed off at the memory.
“When he did talk about her though, I could see how much he loved her; his voice would change, and he would look sad. It was a happy kind of sad though because you could tell he was thinking back to a better time. Now…” Diamond’s voice broke slightly as if she were only now realizing what she was saying.
“Now, there is nopony left to remember the happy times they shared, so I guess she finally is gone,” Diamond’s eyes watered, but no tears fell.
Diamond’s vision left the crowd and fell on the rolling hills surrounding Ponyville.
“Daddy always loved this town. He said it was a simple place and a good place to grow up, but I think it reminded him of mother,” Diamond Tiara paused and briefly looked at Silver Spoon and Apple Bloom.
“I hope he has found her. I hope he is happy again.”
Diamond Tiara stepped down and walled back to her place under Silver Spoon’s umbrella. Both Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon gave her a long consolatory hug. Silver Spoon was soaking wet, but Diamond Tiara didn’t mind. The crowd of pony didn’t give any acknowledgement if her speech met their expectation. Diamond Tiara purposefully paid them no attention, what she had said wasn’t for them, although she could hear a number of ponies weeping to themselves.
The casket of Filthy Rich was lowered into the ground and filled in. The grave was marked with a simple placeholder. A large monument would soon be built over the grave. The procession then made their way back to the late Filthy Rich’s home for the wake. Diamond Tiara walked slowly flanked by Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon and still followed by the two guards.
Just as the ceremony ended the rain was stopped, and Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but contemplate how quickly the day went back to being a typical bright and sunny Ponyville day. The walk home was shared in this contemplative silence by the three fillies.
The wake followed the burial. The house was noisy and full. The hired help and caterers scrambled about making sure all the ponies were fed. Diamond Tiara was set upon by a never ending stream of well-wishers and condolence-givers. She would silently nod, and they would leave only to be replaced by somepony else. With each nod, her anger at the ponies in her house increased. A part of her knew that some of the anger was genuine and some was misplaced anger that was really focused on the ponies that killed her father.
Princess Celestia and Prince Blueblood were absent at the wake, but Princess Twilight had stayed. Diamond couldn’t help but pay a little more attention as she approached accompanied by a Royal Guard.
“My deepest sympathies for your loss,” Princess Twilight greeted, “I didn’t know your father personally, but his reputation as a kind and giving soul has reached my ears on many occasions." Twilight accompanied her statement with a small bow.
Diamond Tiara had no experience dealing with royalty, so her customary nod ended up turning into a sort of half bow in return.
Twilight continued, “Ponyville is my home too. If you ever need anything, my door is always open to you,” Twilight said in a motherly way. It didn’t come off as practiced as Celestia’s motherly tone but it had all of the same warmth.
“Thank you,” was all Diamond Tiara felt comfortable saying as the alicorn princess smiled at her and turned away to give room for the next pony in line to further infuriate her. However, Diamond Tiara didn’t miss the small wink that Princess Twilight shot Apple Bloom’s way as she turned. Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon hadn’t left her side, and thankfully they hadn’t said much of anything either.
Diamond Tiara was curious what that wink to Apple Bloom was about, but she didn’t want to ask. So far, the two fillies hadn’t tried to start up any casual conversation with Diamond Tiara, so Diamond didn’t want to be the first to broach that invisible line.
The never ending stream of ponies that seemed hell bent on trying her patience continued. Eventually she didn’t even feel like gracing them with a nod, and Silver Spoon seemed to get the cue and took over accepting the condolences for her.
Sweetie Belle and her older sister Rarity made their appearance. Diamond Tiara had bought several dresses from Rarity in the past and was familiar with her over dramatic nature, but Diamond Tiara only paid halfway attention to the dressmaker. Diamond was far more interested in the confused look that Sweetie Belle was giving Apple Bloom.
Chancing a quick glance in the Apple’s direction, Diamond Tiara saw that Apple Bloom had the same determined face from earlier and was attempting to avoid Sweetie Belles gaze. Before she had any time to further investigate the matter, Diamond Tiara spied Hauteur Wreath accompanied by a familiar looking blue Pegasus mare and another one of the black armored ponies disappear into her father’s private study.
Sensing a chance to get away from the endless line of well-wishers, Diamond Tiara quickly excused herself them her group, saying she would be right back, and followed Hauteur into the office.
Whatever conversation the three ponies were having abruptly stopped as Diamond Tiara opened the office door and entered. All three didn’t look like they knew what to say, so Diamond Tiara broke the silence.
“What’s going on in here?” Diamond Tiara asked in her most innocent voice.
“Diamond, honey, nothing you need to worry yourself about,” Hauteur said as sympathetically as he could, “you should go back and hang out with your friends.”
“Well, what were you guys talking about?” Diamond reiterated, ignoring Hauteur’s suggestion.
Hauteur Wreath gave an small involuntary exasperated sigh and looked like he was about to repeat himself when the blue Pegasus mare interrupted him.
“Let her stay. she has a right to hear this too,” the mare stated in a no nonsense tone.
The voice clued Diamond Tiara in on the mare’s identity. She was Sparky Charge her father’s top and personal lawyer. Diamond Tiara had never talked to her before and had always stayed out of her way because of the near permanent scowl she liked to carry with her.
“But she is just a filly, and she shouldn’t have to deal with all this,” Hauteur objected motioning vaguely to everything around him.
“Diamond Tiara is the heiress to all of Filthy Rich’s holdings, she has more of a right to be here than any of us. Also while she isn’t on the board of director’s in an official capacity, She does have majority share and voting rights in everything involved, so you might not want to speak to your unofficial boss like she isn’t in the room. Oh and before you go on about her age, she has her cutie mark, so in the eyes of the law, she has the legal right to ownership and will not be in need of guardian, unless she requests one,” Sparky Charge replied curtly. Diamond Tiara already liked the mare.
Hauteur Wreath let out a much larger groan of frustration while rubbing his temple. “Fine, fine,” Hauteur motioned with his hoof to the armored pony, “Diamond Tiara meet Rainfall Chaser, head of Sun Wire, our private security group. She was just explaining how your father’s investigation was going, please continue.”
Diamond Tiara gave the much larger and heavily armored mare a nod of her head in greeting. Before proceeding, Rainfall Chaser gave Diamond Tiara a nervous smile and returned the nod. She was an intimidating mare, especially in her armor, Diamond Tiara found her nervousness with Diamond Tiara to be confusing.
“Err, well, like I said before, our list of suspect is small. First, pertaining to the changeling magic found on the body, it is unconfirmed. Our contacts in the Royal Guard’s intelligence have told us that they haven’t seen any movement out of Queen Chrysalis, and while she isn’t licking her wounds; she is spending most of her effort in keeping dominance over her hive. There has been reports of some fracturing in the hive with smaller mini-hives hiding in small settlements in the badlands just outside of Equestrian’s boarders. It is possible they might have some involvement, and I’ve already dispatched a team to investigate. I’ve also put word out that someone is looking for the services of a changeling that will do some dirty work. If any changelings mercenaries exist, I’m confident we will find them,” Rainfall paused in her report to look back over at Diamond Tiara.
During the course of the monolog, Diamond Tiara’s eyes had progressively gotten bigger and bigger, she had a feeling that she had gotten a lot more than she asked for, and it wasn’t over yet. Noticing that the conversation had stopped and the grown-ups were all staring at her, Diamond quickly composed herself.
“Please continue,” mumbled out Diamond Tiara as she regained control over her facial muscles.
“Err yes, As to the suspicious markings that were on the body, err Filthy Rich. Any mention of them in the autopsy report was absent,” Rainfall Chaser paused looking around nervous as she reassessed her word choices for present company, “While, I have no proof, the markings are too similar to those left from standard Royal Guard interrogations. With your permission,” Rainfall said motioning to Hauteur Wreath, “I’ve looked into the possibility of the Royal Guard being involved. As you know from my last report, every Guard at the sight where the body was found was in the Phoenix Guard, Celestia’s Elite along with the retired Shining Armor,” Rainfall paused to catch her breath, “Getting information on the Phoenix Guard’s activities has been extremely difficult to do without turning too many heads. However, because of Prince Armor’s close ties with Princess Celestia, Cadence, and Twilight, they are all being investigated,” Rainfall motioned nervously to Hauteur again, “under your orders of course.” She followed up the statement by looking again over at Diamond Tiara.
Diamond Tiara was floored, they were investigating the very rulers of Equestria and the Crystal Empire in connection with her father’s murder? Diamond had learned her lesson once and kept her face neutral. However, on the inside, Diamond Tiara felt no small amount of panic. What they were talking about, under the wrong light, could amount to treason. It was little wonder why Hauteur Wreath didn’t want her here. Diamond Tiara mentally swallowed her nervousness though; she was talking with the grown-ups now and wasn’t going to blow it.
“I must ask, because Filthy Rich was by far and away the largest private donor to the crown, was there any monetary motive that could have influenced one of the princesses?” Rainfall asked both Sparky Charge and Hauteur Wreath.
Sparky Charge for her part only shrugged.
Hauteur Wreath managed a better answer, “No, actually quite the opposite. Filthy was planning on increasing funding to both Celestia and Mi Amore Cadenza. The recent unrest along the Griffin boarders was interfering with one of our major trade routes. He planned on more money to go toward the Royal Guard and the Crystal Sentry to help calm those areas.”
Raindrop could only give a small sigh to that news, “That could be motive to anypony, or Griffin, that doesn’t want those area’s ‘calmed’,” Rainfall paused to think over the new information. “I’ll send somepony to look into it, but to be honest Sun Wire’s resources are already stretched pretty thin, we weren’t ever meant to conduct this type of large scale investigation.”
“Anyway,” Rainfall continued, “There might still be motive even if it isn’t monetary, so I’ll keep those teams in the capitols for now. As to Prince Shining Armor, despite the odd reappearance in the Royal Guard and his role in the investigation being over, he still hasn’t left Canterlot for the Crystal Empire. He is being trailed as often as possible because I do think he knows more than he put into any of his reports. Hopefully that will yield some results in time.”
Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure how she felt about having royalty trailed, but she was the filly here, and she assumed that the grown-ups knew what they were doing.
“Princess Twilight has been something of a mystery,” Rainfall continued, “She has been going back and forth between here and Canterlot every week or so. However, She has apparently been doing this since she became an alicorn, so the behavior has been going on for several months. The mystery with her is that we can’t actually figure out what she has been doing. She’s been spotted in the library, and has had several meetings with Shining Armor, Prince Blueblood, and both Princess Celestia and Luna. Nothing out of the ordinary, other than we haven’t been able to figure out what her duties are. In situations like these, I don’t like not knowing anything about a suspect, so I’ve increased the detail following her,” Rainfall Chaser stopped and looked around, wishing she had brought something to drink before doing all this talking.
“Of course, we haven’t discounted the theory the interrogation was done by an ex-member of the Royal Guard either. after all, I had the training and so did many Sun Wire operatives, and we no longer work for Celestia. I have a team looking through all those that are known to still be in their old line of work, but a lot of them have spread out to all corners of Equestria and tracking them down one by one has been slow. I’d also like to look into less likely ex-Royal Guards, but there is already a shortage of ponypower. I’ve considered withdrawing the teams we have in Neijing and Hoofington to support the efforts, but despite their lack of success in finding anything in those areas, I’m still hesitant to pull them out too early. But ponypower has been our biggest bottleneck, so far. I know some ponies that could help, but their services would put me even more over budget than I already am,” Rainfall finished and looked over at Diamond Tiara, “I’m sorry I don’t know more yet, but I promise you that I will find who did this and they will be brought to justice.”
Diamond Tiara was thankful for the promise, but she hardly heard it. Diamond was far too caught up with the word ‘budget’; she could hardly believe that there was a budget involved in finding out what happened to her father, but before she could speak up Hauteur Wreath voiced her thoughts for her.
“Given the circumstance, I wouldn’t worry too much about your company’s budget. Take whatever resources you need. We will worry about the finances later,” said Hauteur.
“I suppose I’m here as the legal counsel in case this whole investigation turns south?” Sparky Charge finally spoke up.
At Hauteur’s nod, Sparky Charge continued, “You are in the grey area on several accounts, but as long as we keep our suspicions to ourselves, there is nothing my team can’t handle.”
Simple enough for now, Hauteur liked simple; not many things had been simple recently.
“Well, I guess that about wraps things up,” Hauteur said while glancing over at the empty chair where Filthy Rich would normally sit and say much the same thing at the end of the meeting.
Before anypony had a chance however, Diamond Tiara spoke up, “wait.”
All eyes were on Diamond Tiara, “So, I’m in charge of all this right?” Diamond Tiara asked while looking at Sparky Charge.
“Yes, sort of anyway,” Sparky replied.
Turning her attention back to Rainfall Chaser, Diamond Tiara asked, “you said you were in the Royal Guard, right?”
Rainfall Chaser gave the little filly a small nod.
“How many ponies are like you? You know, that work in security for us,” Diamond asked.
Rainfall Chaser puffed up her chest and said rather proudly, “Sun Wire has nearly 400 security guards and forty two ‘professionals’. The security guards mainly sit around and watch warehouses and offices, but our ‘professionals’ are all highly trained and good at what they do.”
Diamond Tiara could care less about a budget and felt that Hauteur was thinking too small. Forty Two might be impressive to Rainfall Chaser, but it paled in comparison with most what the ponies on the suspect list had.
“I want you to recruit more ponies,” Diamond Tiara stated.
The ‘boss’ telling you to hire more people was music to Rainfall’s ears. However the statement was coming from a filly, so she didn’t know how to take it, “We are always hiring ponies with the right training.”
“No, I want you to recruit a lot more ponies, and if they don’t have the right training, make sure they get it,” responded Diamond Tiara trying to sound as professional as possible.
Rainfall Chaser began to get a little nervous but asked, “what do you mean by ‘a lot’?”
Diamond Tiara’s surpressed the impulse to say the first large number to pop in her head. She stopped to think for a second, but coming up with a good number on the spot was difficult.
“Well, how many ponies are in the Royal Guard?” Diamond Tiara asked.
“In all of Equestria…” Rainfall trailed off to think, “maybe five thousand?”
“Then start there.”
Hauteur Wreath breathed in so suddenly that he started coughing on his own saliva. Sparky Charge only raised her eyebrow, and Rainfall Chaser stood in still shock.
Eventually, Hauteur Wreath managed to stop coughing, “Diamond honey, that is too many ponies, the budget alo--”
But Diamond Tiara cut him off, “Don’t talk to me about the budget!”
Rainfall Chaser felt obligated to throw some sense into the conversation, “Even if we found that many ponies, we don’t have the facilities to train them.”
“Then build the facilities,” Diamond Tiara said in a huff, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“They are a private security firm,” reasoned Hauteur Wreath, “you are talking about an army.”
“Well, now they are a private army firm,” Diamond said indignantly.
Nopony knew what to say to that. Diamond felt that she still hadn’t convinced them to see it her way, “Sparky Charge, remind me again who is the boss?”
Sparky gave her a mischievous smile, “you are, sir.”
“Then I guess that is settled,” Diamond Tiara said returning the smile.
“But w--” started Hauteur
“I don’t want to hear it Hauteur! You were a friend of my fathers and that will get you far in my book, but don’t presume you can tell me what I can and can’t do.”
Diamond Tiara began to walk out, “you have your orders. I expect an update on your recruitment in a week. Do whatever you need to get it done. Oh and I expect to be informed as soon as your investigation turns up anything,” Diamond finished as she opened the door.
“Before you go,” Rainfall said as Diamond teetered at the edge of the room, “what kind of ponies do you want me to find?”
Diamond Tiara’s mind immediately jumped to Silver Spoon. With 5000 Silver Spoons she could do anything. “Loyalty. Find me loyal ponies,” Diamond said softly as she closed the door.
Diamond Tiara made a promise to herself. She would find who killed her father, and they would pay.
“… an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it’s perfect… As long as something is never even started, you never have to worry about it ending. It has endless potential.” - Sarah Dessen
Chapter 9 – Apple Bloom
As Apple Bloom walked the quiet streets of Ponyville, she found herself lost deep in thought. The little filly had already passed her destination, Diamond Tiara’s house, twice without noticing. Apple would snap from her contemplation only to realize she had passed the house and turn around, only to find herself revisiting her thoughts.
Several days had passed since the funeral, and Apple Bloom had been coming by every day. When Miss Cheerilee had asked for a volunteer to bring Diamond Tiara her missed assignments, Apple Bloom had been surprised when Silver Spoon had volunteered her for the job. At first Apple Bloom had thought that Silver Spoon was intentionally trying to cause her grief, but Silver Spoon had only given her a small sad and disarming smile it return to Apple’s glare.
Sweetie Belle had all sorts of questions for her too. Thankfully, Sweetie hadn’t told anypony else (Scootaloo) about her role at the funeral. She didn’t explain much to Sweetie beyond explaining that this was a much bigger deal than a little schoolyard bullying. Sweetie seemed like she wanted to object but never brought herself to do it. It struck Apple Bloom as odd, that Sweetie Belle actually seemed more worried about Apple Bloom’s wellbeing than Diamond Tiara’s. Not to say that Sweetie Belle didn’t feel bad for Diamond Tiara, Sweetie had a big heart after all.
Every day had been the same, she would show up be escorted to one of the lounges and Diamond Tiara would come down looking the worst for wear, usually wearing a sweater or hoodie despite the warm weather. They would sit as Apple Bloom practically did the worksheet for her. All the while Diamond would sit and listen, but she rarely spoke. Diamond would give short responses and never initiate the conversation, but she was never mean. She really would listen too, which surprised Apple Bloom. If Apple stopped talking, Diamond would immediately look at her to see why or fiddle her hooves together looking nervous.
Apple Bloom didn’t mind the work very much, which was a far different attitude than she had on the matter just a week previous. One of the reasons Bloom felt so weird about the whole situation was that, when she decided she was going to ‘be there’ for Diamond, she had no idea that she would quickly be in over her head. It wasn’t that she regretted her decision or anything. In fact, given the circumstances, she was doubly glad she had decided to help Diamond Tiara. The part was bothering her was that she didn’t know how to handle the whole situation and do what she originally wanted to do.
She had tried to ask her sister thinking that maybe Applejack might have a better idea. Her only response was to say that ‘just being there for a friend is often good enough.’ Then she started asking all sorts of weird questions about why Apple Bloom was even hanging out with Diamond Tiara. Applejack’s confusion over the whole situation was understandable. She had spent a lot of time complaining to her family about the filly.
Apple Bloom’s suddenly stopped, her path blocked by a Pegasus. The first think she noticed about the Pegasus colt was that he was wearing black armor. Apple Bloom recognized his face from the funeral, but she didn’t know his name.
“uhhh, howdy!” Apple Bloom managed her trademarked big smile.
The Pegasus only stared at her before pointing at the house next to him, “Kid, you coming in or what? You keep walking by and it is kinda creeping me out.”
Apple Bloom followed the pointed hoof to find Diamond Tiara’s house.
“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout dat,” Apple Bloom gave a nervous chuckle as she made her way up the walkway. If the pony was some sort of guard, they had probably seen Apple Bloom come in and out a lot recently.
As she approached the front door, Apple Bloom remembered the other reason she was nervous about showing up. It was now a Saturday, and Apple had no real reason for showing up. It seemed like too much of a lie to bring up the school project, and Diamond Tiara would probably be annoyed that she was bringing that up considering they had all summer to worry about that.
Using the old ‘just stopping by to say hi’ excuse seemed equally hollow, but lacking anything better, it would have to do. Knocking on the door, Apple Bloom fidgeted nervously until the door opened, and Apple Bloom was greeted by the sight of Mr. French, the butler.
Mr. French didn’t say anything but he stepped aside to allow Apple Bloom to enter and motioned for Apple Bloom to follow him.
“Master Tiara is with Miss. Spoon at the moment. If you would follow me, I will bring you to her room.”
This was certainly a development that Apple Bloom hadn’t anticipated. She doubted Silver Spoon would be mean to her if Diamond was being nice though. Silver Spoon always seemed like a bit of a follower to Apple Bloom. Still, going up to Diamond room was unexpected.
Mr. French knocked on the door and announced, “Miss Apple Bloom to see you.”
After a few moments of silence and some shuffling it was Silver Spoon’s voice that was heard telling her to come in. After hearing the confirmation, Mr. French opened the door and walked away.
Apple Bloom took in an extra big breath in to steel her resolve before slowly trotting into Diamond Tiara’s large room.
“Ah just wanted to stop by an’ say hi,” Apple Bloom recited as she entered, but her trot slowed down considerably as she took in the surroundings.
The pink room was much the same as it was last time Apple Bloom had been in here. Diamond Tiara sat in her bed, propped up by a large collection of frilly pillows. Her Tiara lay reverently beside her on her night stand. She wore her customary hoodie, which Apple Bloom now reasoned was just something that Diamond Tiara often wore around the house. The small blood stain on Diamond Tiara’s dresser that had alarmed Apple Bloom the last time she was in this room was absent. The object of some alarm had shifted and was now taking the form of Silver Spoon, who was lying across the foot of diamond bed. It wasn’t Silver Spoon’s presence that was disarming but more so the expression on her face.
Silver Spoon sported a large and toothy grin while her eyes seemed to sparkle with mischief. To Apple Bloom, the expression on Silver’s face looked almost predatory. Apple Bloom came to a halt before the two fillies on the bed and waited for some sort of verbal response to her presence.
Finally, Silver Spoon broke the silence, “Heeeeey, Apple Bloom. We were just talking about you.”
Apple Bloom, for her part, didn’t know how to interpret the greeting, and it only served to make the little apple pony more apprehensive. While Apple Bloom’s attention was set squarely on Silver Spoon, she did not miss Diamond Tiara’s blush as she covered her face with her hooves in response to Silver’s awkward greeting.
Before Apple Bloom could think of a response, Silver Spoon continued, “Come on up and relax,” she said as she patted the space on the bed between her and Diamond.
After a brief moment of hesitation, in which Apple Bloom used to push aside the awkward feeling of hanging out with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in such a relaxed setting, Apple Bloom cautiously climbed into the large bed and settled in trying to get comfortable. Sparing Diamond Tiara a quick glance, Apple Bloom noticed a look of slight panic cross Diamond Tiara’s face. While she was still being her now much more quiet self, the far away and disconnected look was gone.
“Diamond here,” Silver Spoon said as she offered a hoof toward Diamond Tiara as if there were some question to whom she was referring, “Was just telling me how glad she has been that you have been helping her out with her school work. Isn’t that right, Di?”
Diamond Tiara maintained her silence, but shot a menacing glare towards Silver Spoon in response.
In an attempt to lessen the awkwardness and satiate her own confusion, Apple Bloom answered for Diamond Tiara, “Oh, yeah that. Ah haven’t done much. Just doin’ what Cheerilee told me to.”
Silver Spoon gave a satisfied humming noise in response. While Apple Bloom felt comfortable letting Diamond Tiara have her silence, this was something that Silver Spoon obviously did not share as she continued to prod Diamond Tiara with another question.
“Diamond was also telling me how much fun she had drinking with you in your club house. I bet she would suuuure like to do that again. Right Di?” Silver Spoon said as her evil grin somehow managed to get even bigger.
Diamond’s glare turned into a slight blush as she finally responded with an exasperated, “Bah!” as she climbed out of her bed and made her way over to a window. Opening it up wide, Diamond Tiara sat down on her haunches and began to smoke a cigarette.
Again, trying to save Diamond Tiara from having to respond Apple Bloom said, “It was a lotta fun. It made me really sleepy though, and Ah woke up with an awful bad headache,” Apple Bloom paused for a beat, “Ah do still have half that bottle though.”
Whatever reaction Apple Bloom was expecting didn’t happen though as Silver Spoon rolled onto her back and giggled to herself.
Apple Bloom knew that she was missing some sort of context that she wasn’t going to get until somepony explained it to her, so she shifted her attention from trying to figure it out to trying to combat how awkward she felt. Eventually the conversation shifted and things got a lot more comfortable. Diamond Tiara even joined in on the conversation. Apple Bloom reasoned that it had more to do with Silver Spoon’s presence than anything else, but none-the-less, Apple Bloom was still happy to see Diamond Tiara come a little more out of her shell.
The conversation bounced around from talking about how boring school was to what kinds of sweets they liked. Apple Bloom was struck by how similar their conversations were to those that the crusaders had. Apple Bloom had always thought that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon sat around coming up with insults and plans to ruin other ponies days instead of talking like normal ponies. The only real difference that Apple Bloom could find was that their talk was a lot more ‘girly’. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo never really cared too much for the ‘girly’ talk, and Sweetie Belle never seemed to mind. As the topic of the conversation shifted to dresses and fashion, Apple Bloom became the quiet one as she had little to add. Of all things, Apple Bloom contemplated if this was the kind of talks that Sweetie Belle would like and wondered if she felt that their friendship was somewhat lacking because her and Scoots never talked about it.
Diamond Tiara would take the occasional smoke break, and Mr. French even came up with a trey of snacks at one point. Apple Bloom had never been allowed to eat in her bed, but surprisingly Diamond Tiara didn’t seem to mind it at all. The initial awkwardness had completely gone away, and Apple Bloom had to admit to herself that she was actually having a lot of fun.
While the initial awkwardness had completely gone away, that is, until the conversation inevitably turned to where all young girl’s conversations eventually go.
“So AB,” Silver Spoon had randomly started calling Apple Bloom by her much more familiar nickname at some earlier point, “is there anyone that you like? You know, like… like-like?”
“Nope,” responded Apple Bloom, “it isn’t like Ponyville has a lot of colts our age, plus it isn’t like it matters, there is no way my sis would let that happen anyway.”
“Well, I wasn’t necessarily just talking about colt, you know…” Silver Spoon corrected offhoofedly.
Apple Bloom gave Silver Spoon a confused and weird look, “whadaya mean by that?”
Silver Spoon took a moment to think of a response. Diamond Tiara’s relapse into not speaking was noticeable.
“Did you know that Di has a crush on somepony?” asked Silver Spoon deciding to ignore Apple Bloom’s question.
“Silver!” Diamond blurted out a look of panic on her face.
“Is it somepony Ah know?” Apple Bloom asked innocently.
“hrmmm, yes, it is somepony you know very well,” Silver Spoon responded her impish grin returning.
“Silver, shut up!” Diamond’s panicked look being replaced with a look of desperation.
Apple Bloom decided to play along, “Oh, is it somepony in our class?”
Silver Spoon gives a slow nod of her head as an affirmative, without saying a word.
“Is it Featherweight? He always does what Diamond Tiara says,” asked Apple Bloom pretending that Diamond Tiara wasn’t next to her and bright red in embarrassment.
Silver Spoon gives a slow shake of her head, “No.”
Apple Bloom brought a hoof to her chin in thought… “Ah give up, who is the lucky colt?”
Silver Spoon pauses for a beat taking in as much pleasure from Diamond Tiara’s plight as she could before responding, “I promised I wouldn’t say, but you will find out soon enough.”
“Oh? How is that gonna work?” Apple Bloom asks in genuine confusion. Diamond’s only response is a small groan.
“Well, I made Diamond Tiara promise me that she would confess her feelings the next time she sees this pony,” Silver Spoon responded with a look that belonged on the face of an evil genius, “and, Diamond Tiara never ever breaks a promise to me.”
Diamond Tiara didn’t have much to stay. Her face was beet read as she glared at Silver Spoon with a look of murderous intent.
“Aww, well Ah am happy for ya Diamond Tiara. Ah’m sure it will go fine, any colt in our class would be stupid not to return your affections,” Apple Bloom said trying to diffuse what looked like a tense situation.
Silver Spoon only cackled maniacally at that before stopping abruptly to look at the clock on the wall.
“Oh shoot, I have my piano lessons in a few, I have to run,” Silver Spoon informed as she climbed out of the bed and began looking through the drawers of Diamond Tiara’s vanity. Pulling out a bottle of perfume, she began spraying herself. “I swear if I get in trouble for smelling like cigarettes because you don’t want to go outside, I am going to be so angry.” Sparing a moment to smell herself, Silver Spoon seemed satisfied.
Diamond’s only response was a small huff and to light up another cigarette this time not even bothering to open up a window.
“You guys have fun. Apple Bloom, make sure she eats something before you leave, and Di, remember, you promised!” Silver Spoon said as she made her way to the door.
Diamond and Apple Bloom both waved as Diamond Tiara dismissed her friend, “yeah, yeah, I promised.”
As Silver Spoon left she was all smiles, but Apple Bloom couldn’t help but notice that as Silver Spoon closed the door, she looked back at Diamond Tiara with a sad little frown. Apple Bloom didn’t exactly know the cause of the frown, but she couldn’t help but think that Silver Spoon was actually a really great friend.
With Silver gone, a silence had settled over the two fillies. Apple Bloom had actually planned on leaving soon, but with Silver Spoon’s departure so close, Apple Bloom figured she needed to stick around a little longer. Plus, Apple Bloom was evidently supposed to feed Diamond Tiara.
Just as Apple Bloom was going to broach the subject of a late lunch, Diamond Tiara surprised her by speaking up.
“Apple Bloom, now that she is gone, there is something I wanted to say…,” Diamond Tiara trailed off. She looked nervous as she ashed her cigarette several times without taking a drag. Apple Bloom gave Diamond Tiara her full attention; the mystery of what she could possibly want to say to Apple Bloom that she couldn’t say in front of Silver Spoon had defiantly peeked her curiosity.
“Umm, how to say this…,” Diamond Tiara said with a dry chuckle as she put out her cigarette.
“I just wanted to say… Recently, you have been...,” Diamond Tiara tried to say, as she fiddled he hooves together, “Oh sod it, I really li…,” Diamond paused again gulped, her throat suddenly dry. “I really… wanted to say thank you, for everything.”
Apple Bloom swelled up with pride. Never in her wildest dreams had she ever expected to hear those words from Diamond Tiara’s mouth.
“Aww, shucks, ya are welcome Diamond,” said Apple Bloom responded, but was quickly confused as Diamond Tiara seemed to deflate and look disappointed.
“That isn’t what I wanted to say,” Diamond Tiara said as she rubbed a hoof against her temple, “hold on, and just give me a sec.”
Apple Bloom waited patiently watching Diamond Tiara take several long breaths and compose herself.
“I don’t know how to say this,” Diamond Tiara said while looking up, her extremely serious expression catching Apple Bloom of guard, “Can you do me a favor?”
“Umm, yeah?” Apple Bloom said as she involuntarily gulped, Diamond Tiara’s nervousness rubbing off on her.
Diamond Tiara shifted around in the bed so that she was sitting facing Apple Bloom as she played with the drawstrings on her hoody; her nervous demeanor being replaced with a look of uncertainty.
“Could you lay down on your back right here?” Diamond Tiara motioned to the space in front of her. Apple Bloom complied although she didn’t bother to hide her confusion at the request.
“OK, now close your eyes,” Diamond Tiara said softy, almost a whisper.
Apple Bloom slowly complied. As soon as her eyes were closed she began feeling extremely vulnerable.
“Keep them closed for a second,” Diamond said softly and kindly. Apple Bloom mumbled her assent although panic at the odd request was quickly bubbling out of control. The silence continued on for a moment before she could hear Diamond moving slightly around on the bed.
With her thoughts running a mile a minute and no small bit of panic setting in. Apple Bloom had just about decided to peek when she felt something lightly pressing against her lips. As an involuntary reaction her eyes shot open only to be greeted by a close up of Diamond Tiara’s face. As soon as realization of what was happening occurred to Apple Bloom her brain seemed to just short out and she lay there in shock.
Diamond Tiara, encouraged by the lack of pushing and screaming, deepened the kiss and applied more pressure. Apple Bloom slowly closed her eyes as she attempted to restart her higher brain functions.
Suddenly, Diamond Tiara shifted again, and without breaking the kiss climbed on top of Apple Bloom pinning her to the bed. The kiss deepened further as Diamond’s tongue probed Apple Bloom’s lips and teeth, begging for admittance. Call it reflex or shock, but with a small confused moan of a noise Apple Bloom slowly opened her mouth and allowed Diamond’s tongue to begin lightly caressing her own.
While Apple Bloom’s moan was one of confusion, Diamond Tiara read it as something completely different and answered in kind with her own small moan of pleasure as their tongues came in contact.
The kiss started slow and delicate, but as time passed, began to change pace becoming much more passionate. Apple Bloom’s higher brain functions slowly returned, and it dawned on her that she was making out with Diamond Tiara on her bed. No longer a stunned statue but a willing participant as her tongue began to move in a coherent struggle against Diamond Tiara. Apple Bloom could feel one of Diamond Tiara’s hoof moves behind her head and undo her bow as the other began caressing the side of her body. In stunned realization, Apple Bloom realized that her own hooves were wrapped around Diamond Tiara’s body and were pulling her closer.
Apple Bloom could taste cigarettes and something else, something almost sweet. The sensations she was feeling were foreign but not bad. Apple Bloom might go as far as to say that it felt good.
But as all things that start must inevitably end, so to must a kiss. Diamond Tiara pulled back slightly out of breath looking into Apple Bloom’s eyes. It seemed she only had to catch her breath because as soon as it was caught Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and began to lean back down.
But the spell on Apple Bloom was broken as she managed to find her voice before her lips became otherwise occupied, “Wait, wait, wait,” Apple Bloom said as she lightly pushed Diamond Tiara back to a sitting position.
With some space to move Apple Bloom also sat up, “w-what was t-that?” Apple Bloom managed despite also being short of breath and extremely confused.
Diamond Tiara didn’t respond and only sat their staring at Apple Bloom with a hungry look about her.
“You just kissed me,” Apple Bloom felt the need to state the obvious as her voice betrayed a small hint of her rising panic.
Diamond Tiara caught the change in Apple Bloom’s tone and her hungry look instantly disappeared, only to be replaced by one of trepidation.
Apple Bloom didn’t know what to say or what to do. Her eyes flickered between Diamond Tiara and the door, her only escape. While Apple Bloom contemplated making a quick exit to get as far away from this confusing situation as possible, Diamond Tiara took notice of where Apple Bloom was looking.
Just as Apple Bloom had made up her mind and prepared to bolt, she took one last look Diamond Tiara’s way and stopped. The look of sadness, worry, and despair in Diamond Tiara’s eyes was something she had never seen in the filly. Years of hurling insults at each other and Apple Bloom had never once seen Diamond Tiara in anywhere near this much distress. Apple Bloom did not know what was happening, but she knew enough to know that this wasn’t something she could run away from, not if she wanted a happy ending for anypony involved.
Once it became apparent that Apple Bloom wasn’t going to run out of the room, Diamond Tiara managed to calm down quite a bit, and as the silence stretched on Diamond felt obligated to break it.
“I wanted to say that I liked you. I promised,” Diamond managed with a small sigh.
For Apple Bloom, the pieces started falling together, and that missing bit of context was finally in place to understand all of Silver Spoon previous comments. Not that that understanding helped Apple Bloom know what to do in this situation in the slightest.
“Ah don’t rightly know what to say Diamond,” Apple Bloom confessed, “Ah want to be your friend though. Ah know that for certain.”
“Just as friends?” Diamond Tiara couldn’t hide the disappointment in her voice.
“umm, Ah dono. Umm, Ah have never thought about this kinda thing before. Is it alright if Ah have some time to think about it?” Time to think sounded great to Apple Bloom.
“Sure, I can understand that, I guess,” Diamond Tiara reasoned that she herself needed time to think it over. “Oh, and thanks.”
“Thanks fer what?” asked Apple Bloom.
“For not running out, for not saying no,” Diamond offered a half smile.
Apple Bloom returned the half smile with a small one of her own. She could still taste the cigarette from Diamond Tiara’s breath.
“Ah think Ah need a smoke,” said Apple Bloom with a wry chuckle.
“The lion cannot protect himself from traps, and the fox cannot defend himself from wolves. One must therefore be a fox to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten wolves.” ― Niccolò Machiavelli
Chapter 10 – Princess Celestia
The price of peace was always blood, and a thousand years of peace carried a hefty blood-debt. A millennium ago, after Nightmare Moon’s defeat and banishment, the thousands of dead, maimed, and missing ponies, at the battle of Canterhorne and others, knew this price. And while time heals all wounds, time also had a way of making ponies forget. In the past three years Equestria had seen its harmony broken too many times. Nightmare Moon return, Discord’s return, a direct attack on Canterlot from the Unseelie Court, and the reappearance of the Crystal Empire and King Sombra, were all reminders of darker times in Equestria’s past. While all incidents were dealt with promptly and had relatively happy outcomes, they still had allowed doubt and fear to creep into the minds of ponies.
Even happier events had upset the balance. Most ponies could easily remember a time when Princess Celestia ruled over Equestria alone, the country’s resolve as solid as Celestia’s solitary authority. Now there was not one alicorn ruler but four. While many ponies celebrated the new royalty, it still served to upset the carefully crafted stability of Equestria. The way the world was had everything to do with the ponies inside of it. If they thought they lived in a Utopia then they did, but if they had begun to think that they lived in a scary place, then that Utopia would quickly come crashing down around them.
Princess Celestia sat in her council chambers waiting for Shining Armor to arrive and give his report. She sat by a window and gazed out over the city that lay below her, watching ponies going about their day.
There was a new threat to Equestria. Princess Celestia had a sense for these things. She wasn’t sure if it came from countless years as its ruler or if there was some innate ability inherent in all alicorns.
As she sat in contemplative silence, she couldn’t help but think about where all of Equestria’s troubles started. Equestria’s problems had the tendency to never really go away, and when she spent time thinking them over, they always seemed to come from the distant past. Princess Celestia figured that that was true of all problems, but given her immortal status, she had a way of being able to track problems for much longer.
It was difficult to think about the past without Princess Celestia thinking about her own role in it. There was a time when Princess Celestia would of been considered cruel. When Equestria was much younger and full of dangers, it had been a necessity. It had taken countless years for her to find balance. If she were too merciful, disorder would arise, but if she was too cruel it would damage the unity and loyalty of her subjects.
As Equestria matured and dangers were removed, the state allowed Princess Celestia to adopt more and more clemency. Her ponies began to forget her actions; her mistakes began to be washed clean. Eventually, Celestia became loved. This is when her sister’s jealousy began.
While every school filly knows the legends of Nightmare Moon, many of the facts have been lost with time. One thing that school fillies don’t know was that when Luna embraced her darker side and began calling herself Nightmare Moon several tense years passed before any hostilities broke loose. The final breaking point had been because of Luna’s jealousy, but it was much more complicated than that.
There had been a fundamental difference between the two sister in how to rule their country. Celestia had begun to be seen as the more benevolent of the two, and the love she received had thrown off the power balance between the two sisters, inadvertently, in Celestia’s favor. While Celestia had been loved, Luna had been feared.
It didn’t happen by accident. Luna had thought it much safer to rule through fear. Celestia remembered many heated debates. The Princess of the Night was no sadist thought. She got no enjoyment from being feared. She simply had argued that it would be the best way to rule. Luna saw ponies to be ungrateful and cowardly and their love as fickle and false. A pony would love on their own will, but fear was something that the princess could control. Luna saw the issue as simple as controlling what one could and not bothering with what one couldn’t.
Celestia was wise enough to find some merit in her sister’s argument. However, the Princess of the Sun felt that ruling through fear should be a last result. While in the stalemate, Luna, through impatience and jealousy, made a mistake against her own protocol. If one is to rule through fear then one must avoid hatred at all costs. It was a rule of Luna’s own creation. When she began to take actions without proper justification hatred had begun to grow.
Soon, the hatred for Luna, whom now called herself Nightmare Moon, had gotten to the point that the ponies of Equestria demanded action. They turned to the one they loved, to protect them; they turned to Celestia. With a heavy heart, Princess Celestia recalled the fact that it had been her to throw the first stone against her sister.
Princess Celestia couldn’t help but compare her memories of her sister from a thousand years ago to the princess whom wandered the castle at night alone and looking lost. She loved her sister dearly, no matter what form or personality she took, but she couldn’t help but think that Nightmare Moon was so much more like her old sister than the idle Princess was now.
The state of Equestria had begun to be filled with much more turmoil again, and Princess Celestia asked herself how the old Luna would have handled this situation. It was a very old habit, and Celestia saw it as a sort of internal check and balance. It happened very rarely, and it always came as a slap in the face, but on occasion, Celestia would find that she and old Luna would agree on something. It was always a rude awakening, because Celestia found that her whole persona was built to suit the state of Equestria. She always has been and always will be the ruler that her country needed her to be.
Her instincts were telling her to tighten the rope. She didn’t look forward to having to be more strict, but the balance of her country hung alongside her ability to keep everything under control. Celestia feared that she might be acting too late and that things were already much more out of her control than she thought. The past thousand years of peace she had won wasn’t always easy. She had, of course, had to make hard decisions to keep that peace every so often. Nothing that caused her need to break her mask of Clemency though. An utopia had to be protected from both outside and internal threats. She had become very good at being able to deal with these threats without breaking the peace and tranquility of Equestria.
Princess Celestia was brought out of her quiet reprieve by a soft coughing. Celestia looked up and saw Shining Armor standing to her side with a sheepish, guilty expression, as if to say ‘sorry for interrupting.’
“I’m sorry Princess,” Shining said with a bow, “I didn’t mean to take you away from your thoughts, but I’ve been standing here for a while.”
“Then I should be one apologizing,” Celestia responded with a small smile, “I don’t often get caught up in my own thoughts.”
“Is everything alright? You looked worried,” Shining Armor asked.
“Just thinking about things long past,” Celestia responded, her serene smile never fading, “but I believe you are here to tell me what I should be worried about today.”
Shining gave a soft sigh to lament being the bearer of what is so often bad news. He magiced up a scroll to read off of and cleared his throat.
“Well, the Griffin tribes are still fighting for dominance in the North East around their part of the Crystal Mountains, and some of the fighting has spilled over onto our side of the range. Reports of trade caravans and supplies on route to the crystal empire being sacked are increasing. There has even been one report of a passenger train being stopped by Griffons and robbed. Because they are fighting each other, they are all putting the blame on their enemies. All I can suggest is to give the caravan’s and railways more protection, short of getting involved in the conflict ourselves.”
Celestia gave a heavy sigh. The griffons didn’t take kindly to any outside interference in their scuffles. Any attempt to ask them to stop would only be met with offence, and even if Equestria did want to involve itself in their politics, they wouldn’t accept any aid in any form. The Griffon’s pride and honor wouldn’t allow any outside help.
“Yes, that is all we can do for now,” Celestia eventually surmised, “By the way, who is expected to come out on top? I imagine we will have to send an ambassador to them when this is all over.”
Shining Armor flipped through several pages of the report before he had an answer.
“Well, there is several groups fighting, but the two favorites right now are a young bloodwing named Gilda and a Lord Halfclaw; we don’t know much about either of them, but my money is on Lord Halfclaw; he seems to have a lot more griffons with him.”
Both names sounded vaguely familiar, but Celestia shrugged it off.
“Very well, increase the guard, but do it slowly… no need for them to think we are building up troops to attack them while they are fighting. I had plans on better protecting those routes anyway, anything else?”
“You mean the plans you were making with Filthy Rich?” Shining asked.
“Yes. Anything new on that?”
Shining set his scrolls down on the table, there wasn’t anything in them about the conversation at hoof anyway. “Not much, some rumors,” Shining said with a small huff before continuing.
“By the way, I’m getting pretty tired of pretending I don’t know that their ‘private security’ is following me around,” irritation was written plainly on his face.
“I’m sorry for the inconvenience. However, I asked you to come back –”
“I understand why it had to be me that handled this. I just need you to know that this is the last time I can come and do this. I have to think about the Crystal Empire now,” Shining interrupted in an irritated tone, but his face soften quickly, “forgive me for speaking out of turn, your highness.”
“I know you feel like your loyalties are split, but you can trust that what is best for Equestria is best for the Crystal Empire. However, I will not ask something like this from you again if I can help it,” Celestia appeased, “But for the time being, please indulge me and try to ignore the ponies following you; their intentions are very similar to your own.”
“I’m just not used to being the one investigated I suppose. I know that their head of security suspects I was lying about something,” complained Shinning.
“That lie could very well keep them out of trouble, so try not to let it bother you. I’ve asked you to do far worse in the past,” Celestia meant her comment lightheartedly, but she still caught the dark expression flash across Shining Face.
Celestia let the conversation die of its own accord before putting it back on track.
“So, what rumors have you heard?”
Shining paused and looked slightly embarrassed; he didn’t like to report rumors, but he hadn’t been able to find anything to support or deny them.
“There has been some whispering from a few of our… less reputable sources,” Shining paused to emphasis the ‘less reputable bit’, “that the ponies responsible for Filthy Rich’s death was a group called ‘The Order of the Alicorn Sisters’ and that they killed Filthy because of some old prophesy that they followed.”
With practiced calm, Princess Celestia gave no outward indication that she was surprised. Inside though the mention of ‘The Order’ left her stunned. She hadn’t heard that name in at least a thousand years.
“Does the name or the prophesy sound familiar at all Princess?” Shining asked.
It took a few moments to find an acceptable answer, but Princess Celestia finally said, “Yes it does. It was a very old and important Unicorn order nearly two thousand years ago. The prophesy had to do with me and my sister’s right to rule. They helped us secure the throne and bring unity to Equestria. However, the prophesy was fulfilled, and the order was disbanded… I haven’t heard any mention of them in a very long time, and even if they were still around, I have no idea why they would target Filthy Rich…”
Shining Armor gave it some thought, “ah well, I’ll still make sure it is looked into, but it sounds like a pretty baseless rumor to me.”
Celestia outwardly gave a simple nod, but internally she was returning to her previous line of thought, and how all of Equestria’s problems had a habit of coming back from that time period.
“You know, maybe you should have Twilight look into it,” suggested Shining Armor, “Recently she has been really clingy, something about her having all the time in the world now and wanting to spend every moment she could with her BBBFF. It might be because she is immortal now, but I can’t help think that something else is going on in that head of hers.”
It was an innocent suggestion, but any mention of ‘The Order’ would only be in Celestia’s private library which had all sorts of things she wasn’t sure she wanted Twilight to be exposed to yet. However, she was a princess now, and there were some very important lessons for her to learn in that library. Perhaps, it was time.
Not getting a quick answer had caused Shining armor to continue to try to come up with reasons.
“She really likes dusty old things, like history, and to be honest, with how much she wants to hang out, it is hard to keep focused on the investigation…” continued Shining.
“OK, I will write Twilight and tell her to research the matter in our next correspondence,” Princess Celestia finally said, “Now I’m sure there is a lot more to talk about in that stack of papers.” Celestia motioned to Shining Armor’s now forgotten reports.
Shining gave an abrupt head jerk to look at the papers as he remembered them. He magiced them back in front of him and continued, “We continue to get reports of strange lights over the San Palamino Desert, but everything is unconfirmed. Also, several Apple carts were stolen in Appleloosa,” Shining continued on.
Princess Celestia continued to half listen and nod her head at the right times. It was a skill she was very good at. The other half of her mind had gone back to the feeling of impending dread that Equestria was in danger. It was a good idea to bring Twilight in on things, at least in a limited regard. She was a sharp girl who had proven herself worthy more times than necessary. Although it was just a suspicion, she could almost feel that whatever threatened Equestria would not be stopped by the Elements of Harmony, and that Equestria would soon become a very different place to live.
