Endless darkness surrounded Diamond as she walked, a creeping dread growing in her heart. Her eyes cautiously scanned the voided landscape, searching for even the slightest trace of life. The air was cold, colder than a winter breeze yet as still as a held breath. No sound reached her ears, not even the sound of her hoofsteps as she continued her march. There was nothing in this world. Save for her, it was devoid of life of any kind. A sad and lonely world.
Yet she felt like she was being watched; as if something from within the infinite darkness had her in its sights. In its sights, and deciding what to do with her. That was what had her on edge; the uncertainty of her situation. What was watching her? What were its plans? And most importantly, can she stop it?
A faint ticking caught her attention, stopping her dead in her tracks. It started out faint, but slowly grew in volume by the minute.
Tick-tick.... Tick-tick.... Tick-tick....
What's that? she thought, slowly scanning her surroundings.
She tried to track it, but it seemed to be coming from all around her. A frozen lump fell into her stomach as a new sound accompanied it; the clip-clop of hooves. Only they sounded wrong somehow. They sounded hollow and vaguely metallic, as if the pony in question had cans stuck to the bottom of their hooves.
Clink-clonk *Tick-tick*.... Clink-clonk *Tick-tick*.... Clink-clonk*Tick-tick*....
Fear's frozen hand closed in on Diamond as she stared into the darkness, the sounds gradually getting louder as whatever dwelled in the void slowly closed in on her. Her breaths came out as shaky pants as her fear grew within her. Whatever was coming was dangerous, every fiber of her being was screaming that at her as she stood, unable to do anything but tremble.
Clink-clonk.... Clink-clonk....Clink-clonk....
Tick-tick.... Tick-tick.... Tick-tick....
Her breaths turned into desperate gasps as her fear threatened to tear her apart from the inside out. She frantically looked around, the darkness becoming suffocating as the sounds of her pursuer added weight to her surroundings. Then her eyes widened as a new addition was added to the chorus of sounds around her, a childish high pitched giggling. It was then that her body remembered how to operate her legs and with little care for direction, she ran. She ran as far and as fast as her legs could take her, silently hoping that it was away from the source of the sounds that stalked her. Her lungs and legs burned as she ran, her laughing pursuer seeming to slowly close in on her. Her heart was hammering against her ribs from the terror and strain of her situation.
Suddenly, a figure appeared in the distance, forcing her to slow her pace from a full gallop to a trot, then to a complete stop. It was then that she noticed that the sounds had stopped, but the dread that had a stranglehold on her didn't leave. If anything, it seamed to have doubled in intensity as the figure before her started to walk towards her. As it did, details became more noticeable, the darkness seeming to be repelled by the being as they silently approached her. First she noticed it was a pony, a foal to be precise. Then she saw it had a dark blue coat with a black mane and tail. Long lashes gave the strong possibility of it being a filly, but the detail that held Diamond's attention was the violet eyes that locked with hers. A pair of amethyst orbs that seemed to literally glow in the dark as they gazed into her very soul. Diamond's pupils shrank to pinpricks in her wide eyes as the filly closed the gap between them. Her fear seemed to please her, for as she grew closer, the filly's smile grew, becoming toothy by the time she was in front of her. It was then that Diamond noticed two chilling features about the filly; she had seams where her joints should be and instead of a coat, her body was encased in a blue painted metallic casing like an ancient doll.
Gripped in a vice of fear, she was powerless as the doll filly leaned forward, her mane tickling her cheek, her muzzle just inches away from her ear.
"Don't worry," the filly whispered, grin coloring her tone. "Tinker's found you.
With that, the silence was shattered, the ticking from before having returned with a thundering vengeance.
TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK-TICK!
Diamond screamed in terror as she shot into a sitting position, tears streaming down her face as with shaky breaths she took in her surroundings. A soft queen-sized mattress, plush silk sheets, and designer furniture that cost as much as most of the houses in Ponyville stood out to her in the gloom of the moonlight that slid past the drapes covering her bedroom window. Her room.
A dream, she thought, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves. It was just a dream.
With an exhausted sigh, she slumped back into her pillow, the view of her ceiling helping her to organize her jumbled thoughts.
What the hay was all that about? Why did I dream about that weird doll I found? Maybe I should cut back on the sweets before bed.
With that, she rolled to her side and tried to salvage what little sleep she could get, thoughts of her nightmare forced to the very back of her mind.
***
It was a bright and shiny day in Ponyville. Birds filled the air with their songs as they soared through the cloudless sky with all the freedoms of a Pegasus. It was a glorious day, perfect for enjoying a picnic in the park or a swim at the nearby lake. It made Diamond want to hunt down Princess Celestia and buck her teeth out. After spending an hour trying and failing to get back to sleep the night before, she decided to kill time with some studying. While it did help her get over her nightmare, it didn't change the fact that she was now forced to get through the day with only three hours of sleep under her belt.
Somepony please end me, she thought with a groan as she stared at the board at the head of the classroom and ignored the mocking beauty of the view out the window to the left of her desk.
Diamond watched with sleep blurred eyes as Miss Cheerilee lectured the class on the dullest topic in the rich filly's life; math. Not because it was difficult or she didn't get it. It was because it was too easy for her. Out of all the foals in her class, she had the highest grades in math. Equish and Science were a bit of a challenge for her, but years of living with a business pony and access to the best tutors money could buy made her a number processing machine. What took most of her classmates an hour to solve, she could do in her head in a matter of seconds. As a result, one of the ways she tried to redeem herself to her peers was by tutoring them when she had the chance. Though, it seemed that the only fillies that could actually keep up with her were Silver Spoon and Sweetie Belle.
"Pst, DT," Silver Spoon whispered from her right. "Are you okay?"
"Hm?" Diamond asked, heavy eyes turning towards her friend. "Yeah, just couldn't get enough sleep last night."
"More problems with your mom?" Silver frowned.
Diamond mirrored her friend's expression and shook her head in the negative.
"No. We haven't talked since I stood up to her last month. I had this really weird dream and it kept me up."
"Really?" she asked, brows raised. "What was it about?"
A shiver ran down her spine as memories of her nightmare crept up on her.
"I-I'll tell you at recess, okay?"
"Okay," Silver smiled, tone cautious.
With that, the two turned their attention back to their teacher's lecture. Or at least, Silver did while Diamond let her mind wander.
What was with that dream anyway? she thought ideally as she propped her head up on her desk with her right foreleg. It felt so real. Ugh, maybe I should tell Daddy about that freaky room I found when he gets back from the Crystal Empire. That doll could be worth something to the right pony I guess.
A chill shot down her spine as memories of the doll ran through her mind.
Though I don't know who would want that thing. It's so creepy!
A trace of movement out the window caught her attention. What she saw turned her blood into ice. A dark blue filly was staring at her, forelegs bracing her against the window, her long black mane covering half of her face like a messy glob of ink. Her purple eyes bored into Diamond, as if she was looking into her soul. Her coat shined unnaturally in the unobstructed rays of the midmorning sun. But what made Diamond scream and fall out of her chair was the filly's smile; toothy and full of pure obsession. The same smile the filly had in her nightmare. Then, just as suddenly as she appeared, the filly disappeared in a literal blink of an eye as Diamond laid on the floor, wide-eyed and panting as she stared at the window.
"Diamond Tiara, are you alright?" Asked Miss Cheerilee as she trotted to where she laid.
"Y-Yeah," she stammered, pulling herself to her hooves. "Just slipped is all."
Miss Cheerilee didn't seem completely convinced, but didn't pressure her. Though she did let her know that if there was anything she wanted to talk about, she was available during recess and right after school. As Diamond retook her seat, she saw Silver giving her a concerned frown.
Recess, she mouthed before she gave the head of the class her attention, now much more awake than she ever wanted to be.
***
"So, what the hay was all that about?" Applebloom asked, the shade of one of the playground's trees keeping the now quintet of fillies cool.
"Yeah," Scootaloo frowned. "Ya look like ya saw a ghost or something."
Diamond shivered at the thought. Freaky dolls were one thing, but ghosts? Forget it! She'd rather work on Sweet Apple Acres for a week than deal with the dead!
Shaking her head of such thoughts, she looked at her gathered friends one-by-one before telling them about the hidden room she found, and the nightmare it may have inspired.
"So, now you think this doll is stalking you?" Sweetie asked around a sandwich held in her magic.
"Yes," she said with a nod, only for doubt to creep into her features, her breath quickening. "No? Maybe? I don't know!"
"Diamond, relax," Silver Spoon exclaimed, rubbing a hoof into her friend's back reassuringly. "Deep breaths. Deep breaths."
Slowly, the rich filly started to get her nerves under control. Once she finally had a grip of herself, she flashed her oldest friend a tired smile.
"Thanks," she sighed.
"Anytime DT," Silver smiled.
For a moment, the five fillies sat in silence, both to give Diamond a chance to catch her breath fully and digest what she told them. While none of them wanted to admit it, the fact that this whole thing had Diamond so rattled put them all on edge. Scootaloo was the first to find her nerve and break the silence.
"You said there was a poem, right?"
Diamond nodded, brow rased.
"Do you still have it?"
Again, she nodded then reached into her mane for the slip of paper she found. This wasn't a common method of carrying things for her, as the magic that allowed ponies to store things in their mane and tail was very unreliable. It was mostly done when ponies forgot their sattle bags and could only be used to store small objects like bits or memos. Their was also the risk of said objects falling out if the magic is over used.
Once she extracted the paper from her mane, she passed it over to Scootaloo. She gave it a quick once-over then hoofed it over to Applebloom.
"Okay, that is kind've creepy," she said with a faint shudder.
"Yeah," Applebloom muttered, eyeing the slip of paper cautiously as she let Sweetie Belle take it in her magic grip.
They watched as Sweetie held the paper in her hooves to read and saw how her expression shifted from curiosity to unease. Silently, she passed it to Silver Spoon, a poorly concealed shudder running through her the whole time.
Silver Spoon read the paper then gave it back to Diamond Tiara, a frown decorating her muzzle.
"Yeah, whoever wrote this should get their head examined," Silver sighed urging a still shivering Sweetie Belle to sit next to her. A gesture that was eagerly accepted by the ivory Unicorn.
"Tell me about it," Diamond sighed as she returned the poem to her mane. "At least you guys didn't see the thing. It makes that look like a page from Daring Do."
"If it's enough to give you nightmares like that," Sweetie trembled, moving a little closer to Silver. "I'll take your word for it."
"Anyway," Diamond sighed, eager to change the subject to anything other than the creepy thing laying in her house. "Do any of you want to hang out after school?"
All at once, her four friends flinched then gave awkward expressions. It was the only hint Diamond needed that she wasn't going to like what they had to say.
"Uh, well," Scootaloo said, sheepishly. "Applebloom and I have an appointment with a colt named Truffle Shuffle today."
"Yeah," Applebloom added. "Poor guy needs help figuring out what his Cutie Mark means."
Diamond nodded in understanding, having once been in the same situation not too long ago. She turned her attention to the two remaining members of the group, both looking even more awkward than the rest of their group.
"SIlver and I are going to be helping each other with our homework," Sweetie mumbled, a light blush coloring her muzzle.
"Well, that's not a problem," Diamond said, brow raised. "I can help."
"Its Equish and Science," Silver said, Face slightly red and eyes unable to lock with Diamond's.
"Oh," Diamond frowned, defeated.
Makes sense, she thought bitterly. Silver's a Science nerd and Sweetie, well, there was a reason everypony called her Dictionary.
"Sorry Diamond," Applebloom frowned, an action that was mirrored by the rest of the the members of the group.
"N-No its fine," she said behind a sad smile. "I get it. You all have your own things you've got to do. Don't worry, I'll find something to do."
"Are you sure?" Silver asked, worried. "We can reschedule, right Sweetie Belle?"
Sweetie nodded, worriedly eyeing Diamond.
Diamond shook her head.
"No, seriously, I'm fine."
***
Sugarcube Corner was a mass of activity like usual. Ponies from all over town filled the sweetshop, all eager to satisfy their sugar craving. Diamond was one such pony, only while most of the customers were there purely for the treats, she was there due to a lack of options. With all of her friends preoccupied with their own little misadventures she had a large amount of time to kill before she had to head home. A trip she was not looking forward to. Ever since she stood up to her, the relationship between Diamond and Spoiled had become strained at best and suffocatingly uncomfortable at worst. It was for that reason that she sat in one of the corner booths in the back of the shop's main room, half of her tenth strawberry milkshake sitting within hooves reach. With an annoyed groan, she rested her head on the table, letting the cool surface ease a growing headache the stress of her day had given her.
I wish things didn't have to be so complicated.
"Hey," an unfamiliar male voice said. "Are you okay?"
Sluggishly, Diamond turned her head to face the speaker, wether to tell them off or give an honest answer, she wasn't completely sure. She was even less sure when she saw who was talking to her. Staring at her with concerned emerald eyes was none other than Ponyville's resident dragon, Spike. In one of his claws he had a blue milkshake with what looked like crushed sapphires sprinkled atop it. For a moment, Diamond just stared at him, not sure if she was really seeing who she was seeing.
What are the odds? she thought with a tired sigh.
"No," she groaned, deciding that lying or being rude wouldn't do her any favors. "I'm not."
"Oh," Spike said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head. "Uh, do you mind if I take a seat?"
"Go ahead," she sighed, raising her head enough to take a drag from the straw in her shake.
Spike took the seat, his drink letting out a dull clink as he put in on the table. For a moment, the two sat in silence, the only deviation being a slurp when one of them took a drink from their shakes. Before long, Spike decided to break the silence.
"So, do you want to talk about it?"
"Why?" she said, tone just short of snapping at him.
"No reason!" he flinched, claws put up in a placating manner. "You just look like you need somepony to talk to."
She glared at him, then deflated with an annoyed sigh.
"Sorry. And you're right. But you don't have to sit and listen to me whine all day."
"Why not?" he shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. "I've got nowhere else I need to be today."
"What about Princess Twilight?" she asked, brow raised.
A sheepish blush covered his face as he looked away.
"She, uh, forced me to take fridays off."
"Forced you?"
"She says I spend too much time in the castle and that I need to spend some time relaxing."
"Makes sense," she shrugged. "Even daddy has to stop every few weeks to breath."
The two chuckled a bit at that.
"So," Spike smiled, resting both of his claws on the table. "What's bothering you?"
Diamond sighed.
"Fine. If you really want to know, here we go."
With that, she told him about her woes. She told him about how straining her relationship with her mother had become recently. She told him about how distant she felt towards her friends and how she didn't want to be possessive of them. Every grievance revealed was a weight taken off of her shoulders, something that made her feel more relief than she thought possible. She even showed him the poem that came with her more recent stress bringer.
"And to top it all off," she groaned. "I found this creepy doll that gave me a really bad nightmare last night."
"Wow," Spike gawked, drink now long since empty as he watched the frustrated filly vent the last of her frustrations. "That's pretty bad."
"Tell me about it," she groaned, gently laying her head on the table.
Spike thought for a moment, then, with a faint smile said, "How about this? Whenever you're friend's are too busy to hang out with you, head over to the castle and hang with me."
Diamond leveled a skeptical glance at the young drake.
"You think I can just waltz into a princess' castle at a moment's notice? Besides, I didn't exactly make the best first impression on Princess Twilight."
"Eh, don't worry about it," he grinned. "Unless you tried to take over Equestria, Twi's not gonna hold a grudge against you. Besides, it beats just wandering around all day, right?"
She thought about that for a moment, then, with a soft smile said, "You know what, why not?"
With that, she held out a hoof to him.
"I don't think I've formally introduced myself. I'm Diamond Tiara."
"Spike," he smiled, shaking her hoof. "Nice to meet you."
"Likewise."
***
The soft ticking of a grandfather clock filled the air as the room's soul occupant labored over her homework, a task that normally took next to no time at all had eluded her for over an hour. With a sigh, Diamond spat out her pencil and stared at her incomplete problems. It was just too hard to concentrate what with all the things that happened that day and her lack of sleep. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get her mind to quit wandering to one of two directions. The doll that haunted her dream and the Dragon that gave her a helping claw.
"Ugh! I CAN'T DO THIS RIGHT NOW!!!" she growled, slamming her forehooves into her work desk.
Suddenly, the ticking of the clock seemed to echo through the room, its pendulous beat lulling the tired filly's mind. Her eyelids grew heavier by the second, her resistance crumbling.
Tick-tick..... Tick-tick...... Tick-tick......
Her thoughts turned into jumbled blurs as what felt like minutes passed before sleep finally claimed her, her head thumping into her desk. Seconds later, a figure stepped out of the shadows, her blue metal shell gleaming in the gloomy dim light of Diamond's room.
"Sleep my friend, let your troubles fade," Tinker Toy whispered as she hoisted the unconscious pink filly onto her back. "Tinker will finish what you started. Tinker Is very smart. She knows numbers."
As the doll pony talked, she approached Diamond's bed. Then, with ease, she gently slid Diamond into her bed and tucked her in before she returned to the desk.
"Now than," she grinned. "What can Tinker do?"