Chapter 1
The Canterlot High newspaper offices had seen a lot of drama in the past few weeks. For the vast majority of those students who worked on the paper this was nothing new. When your editor in chief was Diamond Tiara it sort of went unsaid that drama was going to happen on a daily basis. What had been new however was the strange and downright impossible to believe falling out between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.
All of this didn’t matter too much to the current student working in the office. He was dressed in his customary dark green shirt which complimented his cherry red skin tone. A head of dark blue hair with a streak of electric blue darted back and forth as he corrected one of his partner’s stories. His name was Scarlet Scribe and he had the dubious distinction of being in Diamond Tiara’s inner circle.
Scribe sat in a corner of the newspaper office and typed away at his laptop. At fifteen and a half the young Canterlot High student had chosen this for his after-school credit, mostly because it allowed him to remain away from everybody else in the grander scheme of things.
He contented himself as Chief Typist and all-around clean-up man for the school paper. Why? Well just look at who was running the place. Diamond Dazzle Tiara, daughter and heir to the Filthy Rich Empire, she preferred to keep students who she could control working on the paper.
Unfortunately that meant that she needed somebody competent with a fast typing speed, good eye for detail and was willing to do it if it meant being allowed to be left alone. Scarlet Scribe was a teenager with a very simple life goal: to have a small select group of friends that didn’t require him to party and go out a lot. He wanted to excel in a journalistic career outside of the public eye. And he wanted to have a family to call his own that he could be proud of.
He hated confrontation of any sort and preferred to let others do the leading. Mostly a follower, and a hard worker to boot, he had readily agreed to working under Diamond Tiara. She had standards, and those standards must be maintained. No matter the cost.
Snips and Snails may have been good at digging up dirt and getting the low down on what was asked of them for their paper stories, but they were terrible at maintaining any level of competency when it came to writing a cohesive story.
Scribe let out a sigh after removing the pen from his mouth; a bad habit he’d picked up in his youth… well when he was younger at least… frowning slightly he stared at the scratches and barely legible mess that Snails had brought in concerning a supposed contaminated food scare in the cafeteria.
“I pride myself on maintaining an excellent grasp of the English language. Whatever this chicken scratch is, it’s definitely not English.” Scarlet’s mumbled complaint went unheard. Considering he was the only one working at the moment, this meant that he was forced to rely on his limited intuition. The others were either all running errands for Diamond Tiara, trying to get some kind of dirt on some club or other that was founded by the CMC. Or they were persona non grata with DT at the moment, in the case of Silver Spoon.
The lanky teen currently hunched over his desk, brushed a hand through his dark blue hair, and scratched at a persistent scalp itch while he tried to puzzle out the word Snails had put down. “Would it kill them to just type it into their phones as leet speak?” he grumbled to himself.
The door flew open as Diamond Tiara returned, loudly, and vehemently. Once again she made a grand production of barging into the room; it was going to be one of those days. Scribe wisely kept his mouth shut and instantly tried his best to remain invisible. He hated it when Diamond singled him out to vent.
She figured if he was the smartest lackey in her control he was the one to bounce ideas off of, or just plain gripe about the dismal failures Snips, Snails and – to a lesser extent – Silver Spoon excelled at.
“Stop typing so loudly, Scarlet Scribe!” Diamond snapped from her desk, as she plopped down behind it and glared daggers at the empty top.
Scribe cringed slightly and did his best to comply. Having a top typing speed of eighty words per-minute meant his fingers tended to dance rapidly and quite loudly over the keyboard.
“Not a single scheme has born any kind of fruit! Silver Spoon’s tactics against Sweetie Belle failed miserably, but I suppose that’s what I get for trusting someone of her social standing. She betrayed me! And Snips and Snails are too dense to do anything remotely intelligent.
“I can’t believe Sunset Shimmer used them of all people to dish up dirt, so what if they can sneak in and out fast to get decent pics? They couldn’t crash a party if they had both hands on the front door and a road map.”
Scribe ignored the ranting of his boss. He was just about finished his work for the week and he wanted to get this over with. He was starting to get a headache from trying to read Snails’ handwriting, and on top of that he had plans to meet up with his older cousin and her friends.
Scribe felt a chill run down the back of his neck and suddenly felt as though he were being watched. Glancing up nervously to see what he hoped was just his imagination; he noted that Diamond was staring at him intently.
“SS, how many students at CHS know you personally?” she asked in a very sweet tone of voice.
Scribe flinched slightly. “Besides you and the rest of the papers’ staff… Ummmm… Pinkie Pie, I think, but she knows everybody.”
“Hmmm, and would you say that anybody knows you work for me?” Diamond asked batting her eyes in an attempt at being seductive; it didn’t suit her very well.
“I don’t know, I mean Dinky’s information network is kind of supposed to find that sort of thing out. Besides, what does my working for you have to do with…er…Diamond, you’re kind of freaking me out now.” Scribe watched in muted horror as a strange gleam filled Diamond Tiara’s eyes and her mouth turned up in a very unnerving smile.
“SS, Scribe, Scarlet, my friend, my compadre, my confidant,” Diamond began speaking rapidly as she rushed across the room and moved into Scarlet’s personal space, draping a single arm around his shoulders.
“I need you to do me a tiny favor. It’s just a little something that could help give you a leg up once I achieve my personal goals here at CHS.”
Scarlet visibly flinched and, though it was difficult to tell, his cheeks were flushed darker than usual. “I don’t know, Diamond, I’ve been deciphering Snails’ piece for the better part of an hour, and I need to meet up with my cousin shortly.” His eyes fell on an image he kept on his desk of a group of six girls dressed in matching uniforms.
“Oh! You won’t have to do it right away; the stupid club that those dunder-headed girls created won’t be holding their next meeting until Friday, from what we know about it so far. And since none of my closest confidantes can actually get into one of these shindigs to suss out what I need.” Diamond grinned as she once again brought her face within inches of Scribe’s.
His blue eyes widened and he swallowed nervously at the very close proximity of his boss. Diamond Tiara wasn’t exactly homely after all, and since his current life’s goals meant that he preferred keeping very limited company with those in his social circle… this was decidedly uncomfortable and exciting all at once, because no pretty girls were ever this close to him before now.
Awkwardly he glanced down, trying in vain to focus more on the last few lines of Snails’ piece. He needed to get his head back on straight before he even thought to try and speak up about this plan. It didn’t sound like a very good plan, even if nobody knew him personally or the fact that he worked for her, he was still not much of a social butterfly. He was more like a social boulder, you know, the kind that preferred to remain in the shadows and not the center of attention.
“I know you’re smarter than you pretend to be, SS, don’t leave me hanging!” Diamond snapped as she pulled him back to face her by the chin. Her nails dug into his cheek and left a noticeable mark there.
Scribe nervously swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling very dry. “I really, really, really, don’t want to have to spy for you. Can’t I just stay in front of my computer and type the stories?” he pleaded.
Diamond’s eyes flashed briefly in rage, but she was quick to realize that yelling at Scribe never got her anywhere. And it had led to the very problem she now faced with Silver Spoon. She knew the inner workings of her minions quite well, her talents led to getting them to do anything she asked of them. Scribe was the most independent, but he could still be convinced to obey, it was only a matter of using the right method.
Leaning back slightly she shifted her shoulders in a defeated gesture and her lips slowly started to tremble. Shifting ever so subtly on her feet she managed to turn her profile to Scribe, and slowly pushed her yellow jacket off of her shoulders to reveal the delicate pink flesh underneath.
Today she was wearing a very expensive sleeveless top; the straps to her cherry red designer silk bra became visible. Diamond smirked when she caught Scribe’s eyes briefly flick over to her shoulders. Boys were terribly easy to manipulate, especially habitual loners who kept to themselves.
“If you really won’t help me, I guess I’ll just have to try a different angle. Or maybe Snips and Snails will succeed this time. Oh! I do wish there was a big, strong, competent person I could trust. Someone with an eye for detail and a willingness to do anything if it meant helping me out, but I guess all the smart minions are taken.”
Diamond let a stray tear fall from her one visible eye. The other not facing Scribe held a hard edge to it; she’d learned long ago how to cry on command. Tears always meant someone was going to do what she wanted, it never failed.
And her looks were genuinely quite attractive for a girl of fifteen. Her chest wasn’t as developed as she’d like, but it was only a matter of time. Considering how well-endowed her mother was even before the corrective surgery.
Scribe made a kind of sick whimpering sound in the back of his throat and his head dropped. “Ok, I’ll do it, DT, I’ll crash the party.”
“Thank you, Scribe!” Diamond broke into a thousand-watt smile and wrapped Scribe in an awkward embrace. She glanced down at the page Scribe had been struggling with for the better part of thirty minutes.
“Ugh, you’re my best follower, Scribey, you really are, but I don’t understand how you can possibly make any kind of sense out of Snails’ handwriting.”
Scribe chuckled as he nervously ran his hand down the back of his neck. “Ummm, it’s a gift.”
Diamond rolled her eyes, more at Snails’ incompetence, than Scribe’s comment. “For someone who shares a name with them you’d think he’d be able to know how to spell Escargot,” she muttered as she turned and went back to sit down at her desk.
Scribe silently thanked Diamond for figuring out that last word for him and quickly finished typing up the final draft of the story set to be published in the next issue of the school paper.
“I would have figured that out… eventually,” he muttered under his breath.
Now he just had to save, send to Vice-Principal Luna’s account so she could look it over and make sure it was good enough to print, and then he could shut his computer down and get downtown to meet up with his cousin before it got any later.
Once again his eyes strayed over to the picture as he took in the six older girls and he let out a sigh. He didn’t relish explaining this to SC, but he had the sneaking suspicion she’d want to find out about it.
It was a new development in his status at CHS after all and could interfere with the unspoken mission he’d agreed upon when they’d met that final time after the Friendship Games.
Diamond Tiara sat in her room going over some last minute homework. She was currently seated behind her desk in her underwear, this was because tonight was the annual charity dinner at the Daily Gazette and she didn’t want to wrinkle her dress before she left. Her mother wouldn’t approve of it and Diamond tried her best to always do anything that would meet with Spoiled’s approval.
Her mind was not on her work at the moment unfortunately, it was still whirling after everything that had happened of late with Silver Spoon. She was understandably upset; Menks Spoon’s daughter had been her closest friend since middle school, the only one she could trust in.
The only one she relied upon to take some of the edge off of being Spoiled Milk Rich’s daughter. The Rich family legacy was a huge burden that Diamond was forced to uphold. Some days it was more bothersome than it was worth.
Feeling something on her cheek she brushed her hand over it. Liquid. Wet. In close proximity to her eye. Furious she grabbed a tissue and wiped it, her makeup would be ruined if she let herself break down now.
A sterling silver picture frame sat on her desk. The image showed her, Silver Spoon and Scarlet Scribe back when they were much younger. Lily Breeze had taken it, she always walked around with that silly camera of hers wanting to emulate her favorite photo journalist. Diamond couldn’t bear to look at it anymore. She slammed the frame face down on the desk in frustration. She regretted it almost instantly.
Broken glass littered the desk, the frame having shattered due to the force of her action. Hopping up to her feet she would have summoned one of the servants, but she didn’t need them seeing her in this condition. Also her mother frowned upon any lower class bearing witness to her unclothed state.
With the way this unnatural heat wave had been descending upon Canterlot of late Diamond had taken to lounging about her room either in her underwear or one of her many tastefully made bikinis.
Rushing over to a different corner of the lavish and opulent sized room she fetched the emergency tantrum clean up supplies. Brushing the fragments of glass into the dust pan with the small hand broom she noticed the picture had been damaged. One corner had torn at the edges. The corner with Silver Spoon’s smiling face.
Diamond recoiled once more from her emotions. She would not let this get to her, she would not! But as she stared at the symbolic gesture of a shattered friendship her shoulders started to tremble and defiant tears splashed onto the torn photo.
“Diamond Tiara!”
Flinching at the sudden outburst Diamond Tiara glanced up to see the one person she did not want to right that moment.
Spoiled Milk Rich stood in the doorway to her daughter’s room. As usual she was dressed in the most elegant of dining attire, an immaculately groomed appearance of professionalism and power. Her makeup was done to accentuate her beauty and the pride she took in her appearance was quite apparent.
Her light purple hair was done up for the evening to frame her picturesque face, if her nose didn’t have that odd curl to it at the end she might have looked the picture of elegance, beauty and grace.
“You’re crying!” Spoiled’s observation was flat. “You are also not ready for the dinner. Why are you alone in your room in your underwear acting miserable and improper for a Rich?”
Diamond bit back the retort she wanted to say. She adored her mother, really she did, but she couldn’t stand her. Her attitude was the result of proper breeding and her own educational exploits at Crystal Prep Academy.
Abacus Cinch may have seemed harsh to her students, but she was nothing like former Headmaster Sombra. When her mother attended Crystal Prep it was even stricter when it came to decorum and reputation.
Fighting against her emotions Diamond glowered at the picture in front of her. This was all stupid Silver Spoon’s fault! And those three Cutesy Mark Crustheads. But especially Sweetie Belle, who could do no wrong.
“Diamond Dazzle Tiara! I asked you a question.” Spoiled was many things, patient with emotional outbursts was not one of them.
Doing her best to compose herself Diamond Tiara glanced up at her mother. She noticed some of the hard edge in her mother’s expression soften, however little it consoled her to see that her mother at least did care about it.
But the mask was quick to return. “It is unimportant mother. Simply an emotional upset that I shall deal with as soon as I return to school in the morning. As I didn’t want to wrinkle my dress, I chose not to wear it while working on some last minute homework assignments.”
“I see.”
Was that hesitation in Spoiled’s tone? Diamond couldn’t be sure.
“Wash your face and restore your makeup to its proper placement. And get dressed. We shall be departing for the charity gala in thirty-four minutes.” So issuing her demands Spoiled turned to leave, this time she did hesitate, her hand on the door.
“Should you have need of my counsel, I shall be open to whatever you wish to discuss, your grades have been slipping of late Diamond Tiara. You are a Rich and as such you are expected to maintain certain standards. I expect better of you in future.”
Diamond watched her go. Once Spoiled was gone and she was certain she wasn’t listening at the door she let out a primal cry of pure rage. “Stupid Silver Spoon!” she shouted at the picture. “Stupid Sweetie Belle and her stupid club! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”
Hurling the frame into the trash bin by the desk she grabbed the picture and stared at it, willing it with her mind to burst into flames. Naturally as she did not possess any magic this did not happen.
Her gaze narrowed briefly as it fell upon the expressionless image of Scarlet Scribe. The boy rarely smiled in any photos, Diamond never could understand why. “You had better not fail me, Scribey. I have to have proof of what I know about their precious little club. I have to expose it for the perverse degenerate filth it is. No one at CHS will be happy if I have to be miserable.”
Crumpling the photo in her hand she went to the bathroom to wash her face and fix her makeup. It was time to put on her happy little girl routine for the uncultured masses that worked for her mother’s paper. Even if inside, though she would deny it to her dying day, her heart was breaking.
Spoiled Rich rejoined her husband deep in thought. Her daughter had never exhibited such weakness before. CHS was doing the same things Crystal Prep had done to her when she was a student… only differently.
“Is everything alright with Diamond?” Filthy asked from behind his paper.
“I’m not sure.” Spoiled’s eyes shone with renewed determination. “I intend to find out, however. I refuse to allow my daughter to suffer the same fate I did.”
Filthy glanced up in surprise. He put his paper aside and moved to embrace his beautiful wife. “We have given her the best of everything, we even allowed her to keep those friends of hers, even though the Spoons aren’t exactly within our social class.”
“Menks and Buffet Spoon are perfectly within the circles we deemed worthy. Just because their bank book isn’t as impressive as ours is no reason to think of them as lesser members of society,” Spoiled berated her husband. “I believe I shall have a talk with Principal Celestia.”
Filthy eyed his wife with a nervous smile. “Is that absolutely necessary?” he inquired.
Spoiled rose one elegant brow high at his comment. “Is there a reason you think I shouldn’t be concerned for our daughter’s well being?”
“Oh it’s nothing like that!” Filthy was quick to deny the accusations of his wife. “It’s just… every time you call a meeting of the School Board, he has to come over.”
“Mister Discord is not some monster to be feared you know. He is the head of the Board of Regents and the liaison the Board has with his honor Mayor Tirek. Just because you don’t appreciate his sense of humor is no reason to be inhospitable.”
Spoiled’s clipped tone brokered no further argument. “Besides, I merely wish to discuss this as a mother who is concerned that her daughter is not receiving all of the care and attention she should be from her teachers. She will be head of the Daily Gazette someday, as well as the CEO of Rich Enterprises.”
Filthy nodded reluctantly, his expression souring at the reminder. “A son…” he started to mutter only to instantly clam up at the deadly glare from his wife.
“Women are equally as capable as men!” Spoiled snapped, “I refuse to push out another one for the sake of your male ego. We were blessed with the perfect heir on our first try; do not make me regret my decision to stay with you. Not after the last incident.”
Filthy squirmed slightly. “She was merely a dalliance my love.”
“She was a twenty-three year old intern!” Spoiled snapped, “You’re just lucky you’re married to the newspaper mogul of this little town, otherwise the scandal would be enough to see you brought up on charges.”
“It was perfectly consensual and you know it!” Filthy retorted. “They all are.”
“Do not test me! Not tonight, now go summon the car. We have a dinner engagement to attend.”
“Of course, dear.” Filthy sighed briefly as he got to his feet and straightened his dinner jacket. Striding calmly from the room he made his way to the nearest servant.
Spoiled sighed briefly and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “The things I put up with to maintain a semblance of normalcy.” A brief frown marred her otherwise perfect look. “I do not know what has been bothering you Diamond Tiara. I assure you that your mother will see to it that it goes away if necessary. After all, mother knows best.”
“You are far too easily manipulated, cousin.”
Scribe sighed. “I know, SC, you’ve told me that millions of times before, but working for Diamond lets me do what I like without having to… socialize.” Scribe shuddered as he uttered the hated word.
His purple skinned cousin adjusted her glasses. “You’re also easily controlled by your dick.”
Scribe flinched at the bluntness of the girl he attempted, poorly, to emulate when he was younger. “I do not have a thing for Diamond Tiara.”
“No, you just have a thing for sex with powerful rich girls.”
Scribe glanced around in nervous apprehension, he adored his cousin, but her blunt manner of speaking her mind often led to very embarrassing situations. “C'mon, Sugarcoat! It isn’t like that at all!” he snapped.
Sugarcoat smirked knowingly as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Relax, my ‘friends’ aren’t even within the vicinity of the entrance yet, let alone close enough to hear me.”
“Doesn’t stop everybody else from hearing you,” Scribe complained as he slumped in his seat next to SC. As usual she was dressed in her Crystal Prep uniform, preferring the functional approach to anything remotely fashionable. Her entire wardrobe mostly consisted of the purple jacketed, with matching skirt, and leggings ensemble.
Scribe preferred a simple design himself, dressing primarily in a dark green buttoned up number with a pair of tailor made jeans. Considering he was approximately six feet and four inches tall, and still growing, it was a necessary expenditure of his limited spending allowance.
He hadn’t gotten any jobs yet, outside of his work on the school paper of course, and that didn’t pay anything. And he couldn’t touch most of his portfolio money until he was at least eighteen.
“What others become aware of while shopping at the mall does not concern me, nor should it concern you, it’s their problem if they eavesdrop.” Sugarcoat unfolded her arms and glanced briefly towards the entrance.
“I suppose you’re right, but it’s still embarrassing.” Scribe removed his hands from his pockets and glanced briefly at his watch. “They’re nine minutes late.”
“I know.”
“Why do we hang out with these people again?”
“Because our parents insist on social interactions to maintain proper touch with the rest of the world and these are the only people I have deemed worthy enough of being considered acquaintances.”
Scribe shook his head. “Aunt Brisque has a weird way about what she considers socially responsible upbringing.”
“And your insistence on attending that mediocre excuse for higher education continues to concern me, and the rest of our family, Scribe.” Sugarcoat glanced pointedly at her red skinned cousin.
Scribe let out a sigh. “We both know I couldn’t make the grades to attend Crystal Prep. Canterlot High was the second best accredited school mom would even think of allowing me to attend when Cinch turned me down.”
Sugarcoat mutely conceded the point as the rest of their group finally arrived.
“Twelve point eight minutes late,” Scribe informed under his breath.
“Punctuality is a word Indigo Zap doesn’t appear to subscribe to,” Sugarcoat whispered back.
“Hey, SC, SS, I see you’re both here, right on time, as always!” the peach skinned girl with the shock of blue hair greeted with a friendly smile. Or what passed for one at Crystal Prep these days.
“They totally live in the mall,” Sour Sweet chimed in as the others joined them. “Because they’ve got nothing else to do!” she snapped in her typical sweet then harsh and abrupt tonal change of speaking.
Scribe brushed the comment aside. “You are twelve minutes and eight seconds behind the agreed upon scheduled meeting time.” He had a bad habit of emulating Sugarcoat’s speech patterns when they were together.
“I had trouble getting my parking spot, alright!” Indigo Zap shot back at the younger teen.
“I merely bring it up because the film is slated to start in fifteen minutes and we have yet to acquire tickets or popcorn,” Scribe noted calmly. He’d grown up around these girls; he knew their eccentricities and habits by now.
“Our tickets were bought and paid for on the ride over,” Sunny Flare indicated by holding up her phone to show the receipt.
“And who needs fattening junk like popcorn!” Indigo Zap added as she marched straight for the theater.
“It’s totally high on carbs and junk,” Sour Sweet stated. “But we want it anyway because we just love stuffing our faces until we burst so that our figures will fill out and be completely ruined!”
Lemon Zest just kept bopping her head to the beat on her headphones and didn’t bother commenting.
Scribe shrugged and followed alongside of them. “The things I put up with to appease mom’s concerns about social crap.”
A sudden thought crossed his mind and he glanced beside him to find Sunny Flare walking nearby. “Ummmm, is it typically important to have a specific type of outfit for a party?”
Sunny Flare furrowed her brow at the unexpected comment. “That depends, dearie, what kind of party is it?”
Scribe shook his head. “I have no idea, but it’s kind of like this…” and he proceeded to explain about what Diamond Tiara expected of him.
Sunny Flare smirked with a hint of deviousness as she turned to the others. “Girls, little Scribey needs a makeover for a party.”
“I—what?” Scribe blurted in stunned disbelief.
“Our little Scribey is all grown up,” Sour Sweet said with a sickeningly sweet smile. “If you think I’m going to put out now that you’re old enough, think again!”
“Huh?” Scribe blinked in confusion at the atypical comment from the pale gold skinned girl.
“Even for you, Sour, honey, that was a bit much,” Sunny noted slightly dispassionately.
“Come on; let’s just enjoy the movie already!” Indigo interjected. “We can play dress up with Scribe after it’s over.”
“But I don’t.”
“You will be getting a new outfit for the party,” Sugarcoat informed bluntly. “If you’re planning on crashing uninvited it’s better to dress in an outfit that others won’t recognize you in, blend in and the masses will assume you belong.”
Scribe whimpered slightly. “I don’t like the sound of this.”
Lemon lifted her headphones when she noticed everybody else laughing at Scribe’s misfortune. “Hey, what’d I miss?”