Quick Shot soon found Diamond Tiara, she and Scootaloo were in Scootaloo's bedroom, just playing with her Wonderbolt action figures. He paused for a moment to take in the adorable sight, before he cleared his throat and made his presence known.
"Uh, h-hello M-Mr. Twister," Diamond gulped. "I was uh... just playing with Scootaloo before bed."
Quick immediately worked his face into a smile, as he approached his newly adopted daughter and gave her a hug. "Hey now, there's no need to be uneasy. You're part of the family now." He decided to leave out the part about the agreement he and his wife had settled on. It was probably best NOT to put more pressure on an already troubled filly.
"S-so, does that mean I have to call you 'Dad', or 'Daddy', or 'Father'?" Tiara asked in a nervous tone. Quick was definitely bigger than Filthy Rich, and probably more powerful too.
"Only if you want to, Diamond. For now, Mr. Twister works just fine," Quick replied in a friendly tone of voice, rustling Diamond's mane with a hoof just a little. "I must say, after all the stories I've heard about you from my daughter, you're a bit... different from how I imagined."
Diamond nervously massaged the back of her neck with a hoof. "Well, what can I say? I'm a changed filly now, have been for some time. I kind of owe it to Scootaloo and her friends."
"That's my daughter for you, she really does take after her mother," Quick playfully remarked, before he adopted a more serious tone. "Now, I know you've been through a lot, Diamond Tiara. But you still have school to go to tomorrow, as does Scootaloo. So it's time for both my little ponies to go to bed."
"Aw, do we have to?" Scootaloo whined. "Can't we stay up for just a few more minutes? I've got so much I want to show Diamond Tiara now that we're sisters."
Quick only chuckled, shaking his head. "There'll be plenty of time for that tomorrow, my sweet little angels. But not tonight. If you'd like, I could tuck you fillies in though, would you like that?"
Normally Scootaloo would hate the idea, but it had been a long time since her father tucked her into bed. She actually missed the old days when he was home to do it more often.
Still, Scootaloo firmly protested "No way!", before reluctantly climbing into her bed and pulling back the sheets. Maybe next time.
Tiara felt tempted to accept Quick's offer, sorely tempted in fact. But as the filly opened her mouth to announce such an intention, she suddenly clammed up. "I don't need to be tucked in like some little filly! Just because I'm adopted doesn't mean I have to do the whole 'pity me' routine! I've still got my independence! I'll show my ex-mother just how well I can be without her, no doubt she expects me to come crawling back to her and beg like some common peasant because I can't manage a non-luxurious life. Well that's not gonna happen!" When she opened her mouth again, the pink coated lightly responded with. "Thanks but no thanks, I'll tuck myself in." And despite some initial difficulty, she did just that.
Despite being turned down on the tuck in offer, Quick still opted to give both his fillies a kiss on their foreheads. "Goodnight and sweet dreams, my little ponies." He sweetly called, before he turned off the light, exited the room, and closed the door. "I think I could get used to having Diamond Tiara as a daughter. She's as headstrong as Scootaloo is." The stallion thought to himself, as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom. After almost two weeks on the road, it was nice to come home and sleep in a normal bed.
Diamond found herself in what appeared to be a field of flowers, all of them in the most bright and beautiful shades of blue, yellow, pink, and white. A gentle breeze blew past, and Celestia's sun shone brightly. It was as happy and peaceful as could be, a paradise without equal. The filly romped about without a care in the world, giggling and rolling in the flowers to her heart's content. It never seemed odd to the filly, that she was all alone. It just meant she didn't have to share this wonderful, relaxing landscape with anyone.
All of a sudden, as she picked herself and lightly brushed the flowers out of her mane and tail, Tiara's cornflower blue eyes fell upon a very familiar figure. It was an earth pony stallion with a coat a recognizable brown in color. His light azure eyes and black mane and tail styled so formally, stood out amidst the field of flowers. He even wore a dark blue collar with white sleeves around the neck, and a red tie. And while all those features could've technically belonged to anypony, the stallion's cutie mark of three money bags, left little clue as to who he was. Diamond couldn't believe it! Was it really him?! It seemed almost too good to be true!
But against her better instincts, Tiara rushed towards the stallion that was (or at least had been) her father, fully intent to embrace him in a hug once again. "Dad!" She happily exclaimed, running as fast as her little legs would let her. "Is it really you?! Please, tell me it's really you! I just had the most horrible nightmare, in which you died, and Mother dumped me off and left me to be adopted! Oh, it was horrifying, and so real! But it wasn't, right?! It was all just a vivid nightmare, and none of that stuff happened, right?! Please, tell me I'm right! I need to be right! I can't bear the thought of losing you!"
By the time Diamond had reached Filthy, she was all but in tears and those followed a short time later. Normally she would despise crying like this in front of her dad, rich ponies didn't cry, especially not to the extent she was shedding tears. But considering what she'd been through, and what she'd "dreamt", the pink coated filly was badly shaken up and needed confirmation that everything was okay.
Filthy didn't say anything at first, even as his daughter sobbed and sobbed to her heart's content. But he also didn't make any motions to soothe her, not even a gentle stroking of her mane with a hoof. It was only once Tiara's sniffles had died down and the water works had ceased, that the rich stallion finally spoke. When he did, his voice seemed to echo everywhere, leaving no doubt as to the words he'd spoken. "Diamond, why?" He asked in a sad tone. "Why didn't you just leave me alone? You knew I was tired, you knew I was in no position to play. But night after night you stayed up, waiting for me, just so you could play with me. You brought about my untimely end."
"No! That's not true! It was a cere... cere... whatever it was Doctor Stable said you died from!" Diamond blurted out in protest! "I didn't kill you, nopony did! Please, tell me this is all some kind of joke!"
"It's no joke, Diamond Tiara! You killed me with your playfulness!" Filthy called out, his voice echoing loud and clear. "It's all your fault!"
"Stop it! Don't torment me like this!" Tiara pleaded, tears beginning anew! Why was her dad being so cruel to her when she most needed his comfort?
Suddenly, before Diamond's eyes, Filthy began to fade! In the distance, a small flame popped into view and soon it grew. It grew, and grew, and grew, spreading rapidly until a raging inferno lurked just over the horizon! Even as he was fading, Filthy could be seen clearly walking towards the flames, and he kept repeating over and over again. "Your fault."
"Dad?! Dad! Dad, please, come back!" Tiara pleaded, as she watched Filthy Rich disappear into the roaring fire that was now consuming the flowery landscape. Her words fell on deaf ears, in the blink of an eye Filthy was gone, and the happy landscape of flowers was now replaced by burning fire and choking smoke! "DAD!" The pink coated filly screamed at the top of her lungs, just before the heat and suffocating smoke overcame her and she collapsed!
"DAD!" Diamond screamed, as she shot up in her sleeping bag like a rocket, a cold sweat dripping down her entire body. Panting heavily, the filly slowly regained her bearings and realization struck her, it all been a dream. A really, really bad dream. Even amidst the sweat, the pink coated filly started to cry, pretty soon her cornflower blue eyes were stained with red rings. "It wasn't my fault! I didn't kill my father!" She mentally convinced herself. But how could she know for sure that was true, when she didn't know what a cerebral hemorrhage was? What if, somehow, something she'd done or hadn't done had contributed to her father's death?
Tiara was crying so much, she almost didn't hear the bedroom door be swung gently open, and a sweet sounding voice softly called. "Is everything alright, Diamond Tiara?" Almost in an instant, the familiar face of Dizzy Twister presented itself before the crying filly.
Diamond just cried and sniffled, as she shook her head before her adopted mother.
"Oh, did somepony have a bad dream?" Dizzy cooed, bending down to inspect the filly. "It's okay, everypony has nightmares."
Diamond just croaked in a raspy voice. "I didn't kill my father."
"Of course you didn't, Diamond," Dizzy said in a sweet but firm voice. "Why would you even think that?"
"It was... it was... b-because of my nightmare. I saw my dad, my birth one," Tiara explained. "He said I killed him because I kept staying up late to play with him. But I didn't kill him. It was that cerebral hemorrhage, whatever that is."
Dizzy quickly scooped up the crying filly, gently rocking her back and forth a bit. "A cerebral hemorrhage is an internal problem, it wasn't caused by anything you did," She said to her crying daughter. "If you want, you can ask Miss. Cheerilee tomorrow, after school, I'm sure she can tell you what a cerebral hemorrhage means. That'll make you feel better."
Tiara just sniffled, as the tears slowly ceased. "T-thank you, Mo.... Mrs. Twister." She quickly corrected. It still just didn't feel right for her to be calling Dizzy anything else, not even considering who her previous mother had been.
"How would you like to sleep with me, tonight, Diamond?" Dizzy offered to her filly, sensing that Diamond might still be a bit shaken up.
"A-are you sure? I... wouldn't want to be a burden for you and your husband." Diamond sniffled, her voice super raspy from all the crying she'd done.
"Oh of course, it's no trouble," Dizzy replied, as she carefully set her daughter down on the floor and lightly led her by the hoof. "Come on, my room's just down the hall. And don't worry about my husband, he's a pretty heavy sleeper, I'm sure he won't mind. After all, our bed's pretty big."
"You really don't have to do this, Mrs. Twister. I can sleep in my sleeping bag no problem, it was just one nightmare." Tiara insisted, though part of her longed for a chance to again feel a warm and loving embrace at night.
Dizzy would hear none of such an argument, her mind was already made up. "It'll only be for tonight, my little Diamond. I just want you to be well rested for your first day of school with a new family, that's all," The two arrived in Dizzy's bedroom (which she shared with her husband) a short time later. "It's not exactly princess sized, but there should be enough room for you to squeeze in next to me," Dizzy whispered, as she led Tiara to the foot of her bed and then climbed in and carefully pulled back the sheets. "Come on, come curl up with me. I promise, no harm will come to you while you're by my side."
Reluctantly, Tiara obeyed. As she snuggled in next to Dizzy, she had to admit it felt nice to feel loved and cared for again. Ever since she'd turned five, her old mother had been quite adamant about not letting her daughter sleep in her parents' bed at all (and Filthy had reluctantly sided with Spoiled on the argument, particularly since Diamond had been doing it a lot up to that point). And perhaps because of that, it didn't take the filly long to drift off to sleep. No more nightmares plagued her that night, now that she truly felt safe and warm.
Meanwhile, in her bedroom, Scootaloo suddenly woke up. She had heard some screaming a few minutes ago. She hated to admit it, but that screaming did scare her a little bit. She noticed Diamond Tiara wasn't in the room any more. “Did Mom take her to sleep with her and Dad?" She thought. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous over it. She tried to ignore this and went back to sleep. "What should I be worried about? Mom and Dad love me. It's not like Diamond Tiara is going to stop them from loving me….right?"