TICK TOCK went the sound of the ornate clock on the wall of Rich Mansion. You'd think with nine ponies, including the most irrepressible funster to ever dwell in the hamlet they'd be a little more clamour, but the air was staler than the old biscuits that were now being distributed around by an agitated maid, who could only stare in bafflement as a certain baby dragon inquired "Have you got any Gem Crackers, please?"
"That'll be all, Feather Duster..." Filthy Rich had absolutely no idea for the logic behind this impromptu visit from some of Ponyville's most notable residents, but he was quite convinced that it must be of the highest importance. The earnest solemnity running throughout the distinguished party would be palpable to even the most cloth-eared of observers, and princesses don't tend to make random cross-town trips on a dreary afternoon for no good reason.
As soon as the large double-doors to the study were closed by his curtsying servant, Filthy Rich decided that this nonsensical game of 'who among us will talk first' had run for long enough, and that he didn't mind being the loser. "Now then, Princess Twi..."
"Just 'Twilight Sparkle' or plain 'Twilight' is fine thank you, Mr Rich." The unpretentious alicorn was quick to remind their ailing host that such formalities were not necessary.
"E-Er, okay then, T-Twilight." Filthy loosened his tie a little, as the pressure in the room began to get to him. He was missing those astronomically high bills already. "N-Now, you said you had something urgent to discuss with me and my ladywife. Well, we're here now, so if you'd be so kind as to tell us..."
"You didn't by any chance spot my errant miscreant of a daughter pass by on your journey here, did you, Princess?" Spoiled Rich was in typical fine form as usual. "I buy her a nice new dress for the upcoming gala, and she reacts like I'm trying to garnish her in rags! Honestly, I don't know what's got into that child of late. She used to be so compliant, so well-trained, but then she got a bunch of hair-brained ideas about 'friendship' and 'independence' rammed into her fragile mind. I don't suppose, as a member of the royal family, you have the ability to arrest those responsible for this gross subversion of her old personality? Because I can tell you where you can find associates of the main culprits, right here."
Spoiled Rich was of course, referring to Rarity and Applejack when she laid out this spurious claim, as their two little sisters were, from the pompous mare's perspective, a couple of the main instigators behind her now 'out-of-control' daughter's year-long rebellion against her old parenting techniques of coercion and manipulation.
"Now, just a minute you..." "What did you just say?!" Rarity and Applejack respectively were not best pleased at having their siblings objectified for the 'terrible' crime of making Diamond see the error of her ways, and Twilight audibly groaned. The atmosphere was on a knife-edge as it was, she didn't need things to degenerate into an all-out shouting match between the trio, as was previously demonstrated on the rare occasions their paths crossed, usually on market day.
"Look, I didn't come here today to discuss the ongoing feud between you three about your daughter's temperament, Mrs Rich..." Twilight was careful not give too much away when she said the 'd' word there, now she knew the truth. "This is about an even more critical matter. So, can we..."
"What could be more 'critical' than seeking redress for my poor, impressionable filly's gratuitous brainwashing..." Spoiled acted out the role of the tragic heroine with great professionalism, even getting the 'oppressed' pose just right. "The amount of therapy it's going to take to restore my darling to her old self is going to cost an absolute fortune. Filthy, didn't you say earlier that we might have to remove the koi pond from our garden if our spending isn't dramatically decreased? Oh, what price can you put on justice these days, because we have been truly wronged..."
"D-Dear, perhaps it would be best if we listened to Pri- Twilight for a moment..." Filthy Rich was far too timid a stallion to inform his wife of who was by far and away the mistress of superfluity around those parts. "I-I think she has something she wants to..."
"Oh, trust you to take her side, over mine..." Spoiled abruptly turned to rain fire onto her husband, confident she could intimidate him into submission as usual. "That child would have no idea how to act in decent company, if it wasn't for my teachings. I mean, just look at your idea. A day out at 'Barnyard Bargains'? Seeing how the commoners intermingle?! Please! How's that supposed to..."
"Mrs Spoiled Milk Rich! I am not going to ask you again!! We are extremely lucky to have the princess and her friends as guests, and if you can't see what a fool you're making of yourself by carrying on the way you are, then I'm going to tell you to your face! So please, for once in your life, could you give us all a bit of peace and let us hear what they came all the way out here to say. Thank you!!"
Apparently, what they say is true, everypony has a breaking point. A moment where even the most meek and mild of ponies reaches an epiphany that nothing is going to get better unless they put their hoof down and take control of the situation. Fluttershy had one once (although, she took her revelation to somewhat ridiculous extremities) and now Filthy had apparently arrived at his absolute limit.
His distinctly out-of-character rant at his now somewhat subdued wife provoked a variety of reactions from the spectators present. Some, like the aforementioned Fluttershy, went to tremble behind a silken cushion, whereas others like Applejack gave her business partner a firm nod of solidarity in standing up for himself at long last. The only one who didn't seem to care was Spike, who was too busy trying to placate his rumbling tummy while wondering if the Rich's had a secret jewel storage closet he could raid. He'd pay them all back, of course. He must be owed, about what... six years worth of backpay?
"Sorry you had to witness that, Twilight..." Filthy slumped down in his chair, completely drained. The energy expended there in his no-holds barred verbal takedown of his wife had been considerable, and he dreaded to think of what maniacal punishment Spoiled would devise later on for him daring to go off-script with such an unprecedented display of bravado.
"S-So anyway, let's start things off shall we?" Twilight tried to move things on from the little domestic, now with her eyes firmly focused on a seething Spoiled. "Mrs Rich. When you've quite recovered, I'd like to ask you a question..."
"Ask my husband, apparently he speaks for both of us now..." was Spoiled's whispered, chastened response.
"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that..." Twilight was beginning to wonder if she was ever going to get home before Luna's moon rose, at the snail's pace everything was unfolding.
"I said, just ask. I'm not entitled to have an opinion, so I may as well contribute to this farce by doing as I'm told... if that's okay with you, dear?" Spoiled shot a telling look at her husband, who fortunately was so weakened by his recent exertions that he wasn't daunted by her tranquil fury for once.
"Okay, well this won't take very long... well,long-er... " Twilight seized on the opportunity to finally finish one blessed sentence. "All I really want to know is, Mrs Rich, do you recognise this mare?"
Spoiled rolled her eyes at Twilight's simplistic question. "Really dear... is that the sole reason you disturbed me in the middle of my beauty regime, an identity parade? Do I win a prize, if I get the answer right? Go on then, show me this 'mysterious' pony, and then we can all go back t-to..."
Upon being introduced to Starlight Glimmer's visage properly for the first time since her arrival, Spoiled's priggish demeanor changed from snobbish superiority to incoherent lethargy in an instant. "I-It's...y-you... n-no... n-not p-possible..."
Starlight had been keeping quite a low profile up until now, seated purposefully towards the back of the room, splashing little droplets everywhere with her coffee mug in a lightly shaking hoof. But now the grip seemed firmer, the floor was dryer as she'd observed her 'nice' benefactor's behaviour over the course of the meeting, and her account of how she'd treated the precious foal the unicorn had entrusted the wealthy mare with, her face had become ever more ashen.
Meanwhile, Spoiled, in her comprehensive scruntinising of this unwelcome 'blast from the past', had spotted something which had apparently calmed her nerves a little, causing her to release a huge sigh of relief. "...Hang on, I was wrong. It isn't you. For a start, the cutie mark is all wrong..."
"If you're talking about the equals sign, that was a fake symbol put there to fool unsuspecting ponies to indoctrinate them in my old beliefs..." Starlight muttered, with her eyes narrowed. "I am, to all intents and purposes the same unicorn you took the foal off of in Manehattan. Only a little older and wiser, for now I see all this talk of my child going to a good home was nothing but fiction. I mean, you are wealthy as you said, and your husband seems nice, but you... you..."
"I-I can't believe you dredged up this fruitcake from my past. How can you possibly believe a word she says, after she even lied about her cutie mark?" Spoiled, clearly rattled now, was trying to use what little information she possessed of Starlight to get herself out of this incredibly tight situation. "She's a cult member, you know. Believes in stripping all ponies of their cutie marks, because of some weird notion about equality, or something. Absolutely off her rocker. Send her for a psychiatric evaluation, not onto the doorstep of a respectable establishment such as this..."
Starlight paled slightly upon hearing these all-too-true allegations about her less-than-salubrious past, leaving it up to Twilight to speak in her defense. "Ms Glimmer is a completely reformed mare these days, Mrs Rich, so I'd kindly ask you not to bring up a history that she's since made amends for ten times over. She helped save the Crystal Empire from complete annihilation you know, as well as stopped the entire pony kingdom be ruled by a gang of changeling imposters..."
"Absolute tosh and poppycock!" Spoiled sniffed, clearly unimpressed. "That'll be just another one in a whole procession of lies. I suppose she also mentioned that Yakyakisthan is quite warm this time of year, or that the Ponytones have one drop of musical talent. She's a fraud, princess. You've been conned. Now, if you'll all leave without a fuss this very minute, I'll try and make sure this stays out of the media..."
"It's funny, you know..." Starlight spoke as soon as Spoiled had finished her little tirade. "I was just thinking how much you've changed in the years since we met too, and not just in terms of cutie marks. Your attitude seems to be much more haughty and deceitful than the 'grieving mother' I saw in the city that day, and as for your nose, exactly how long have you been sticking it in the air for it to look like that..."
"W-why you... I've never been so insulted in all my life!" Spoiled replied with utter outrage, while adapting exactly the same mannerism as the unicorn claimed with her extended proboscis.
"Well, that's your fault then, 'darling'..." Starlight had clearly had it up to here with her hostess's dire attitude. "You should get out more."
"Are you just going to sit there like a useless brown lump, and let her disrespect me like this?!" Spoiled desperately turned to her husband for assistance. "If you throw these deluded interlopers out, I may be able to overlook your earlier gross indiscretion towards me, and you'll still be allowed to buy that shiny new set of gold clubs you wanted tomorrow, after I've factored in my clothing budget, of course." She added that last part as a little incentive, knowing full well there would be precisely bupkis remaining after she'd thoroughly refurbished herself with gaudy outfits destined to be worn just the once.
Starlight was about to reply with a clever anecdote about how the older mare needed to learn how to 'respect' others first, before she was entitled to the same treatment, but it was never to be heard. For, at that exact moment, the doors to the room swung wide open to reveal a very concerned-looking pink filly, and an extremely apologetic maid standing alongside her.
"I-I'm so sorry, Mr and Mrs Rich. S-She heard her father shouting, and came galloping over. I-I tried to stop her, b-but..." Feather Duster stared down in at the floor that she'd cleaned just that morning ruefully. She hoped that the dole queue wasn't beckoning her name tomorrow... it was so hard to get good work these days.
"So it is true, the Princess and her friends were coming this way, after all. I had to come back to collect my tiara that dropped off while running away from mother, and now I find this going on..." Diamond Tiara entered the room tentatively, while glancing all around with unease. "I-I haven't done anything wrong, honest. I-I'm trying to be a good filly these days, just ask Silver Spoon. Whatever happened, it was probably Snips Or Snails..."
"We believe you sweetheart, and no, they're not here regarding you, at all..." Filthy patted his lap lovingly, and Diamond wasted no time in bounding over there. "In fact, I'm not even sure why they showed up today, because there's been so many interruptions. Grown-ups can be very silly when we all get together, petal. Now, how about we get to the point, Twilight, and no more distractions, please? I have to make the final arrangements for a big deal this evening, that could make or break my company..."
"W-Well..." Twilight stammered, unsure how to proceed with the discussion. She did want to clarify things quickly for the sake of everypony's sanity, but it had been a lot trickier than she'd initially thought with all the outside interference. Plus, there was the added presence of Diamond Tiara in the room now, and obviously something would have to be done for the innocent filly to be excused from this potentially awkward conversation. She turned to her friends for guidance...
...Just in time to see Starlight's horn flare up and Diamond's body levitate as she was about to hop onto Filthy Rich's lap. The two events were connected, evidently. The stunned filly floated a little way to find herself in the warm embrace of the unicorn, as she told the younger pony tenderly: "Oh, my precious child! I'm so sorry about putting you in a home with an abusive mother like this, who almost turned you into another version of my old self! Fear not, because now that I'm back in your life, I'll do all I can to protect you all from harm. Even if that means..."
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" Few things sparked Filthy's ire than seeing his daughter ponyhandled in this informal manner, especially by an individual who was little more than a stranger to the wealthy stallion. He quickly leaped off his chair, and engaged Starlight in a bizarre tug-of-war using an exasperated Diamond Tiara as the rope.
With a blithering maid nearby who wouldn't stop saying 'sorry' over and over again, Spoiled Rich looking like she was about to have a cardiac arrest, most of her friends cheering on different sides in the sudden sporting event which had erupted in the room, and Pinkie Pie wanting to know if there were any more biscuits...
Princess Twilight began to develop a newfound appreciation for Celestia's tough job over hundreds of years, and started to wonder if a pointier new horn and wings were worth having to sort this ever-growing mess out.