Diamond took a deep breath. She could do this. She didn't have to, but she would. For Daddy's sake. For his own good. Even if he didn't really agree with her methods, the cold hard facts were simply that she was right, and he was wrong. And she would do anything to help.
She currently was standing on the second floor of her family's mansion, facing an impressive set of double doors, which were the only thing standing between her and the one pony who could possibly make or break this problem.
She knocked.
"What?!" A rather grumpy, snooty sounding voice answered immediately, just as Diamond had expected, in just the tone she had expected, too.
Diamond once again steeled herself. "Mother? May I come in?"
There was a pause as Diamond's mother considered.
Diamond held her breath and bit her lip-
"This had better be important, Diamond Tiara." Spoiled Rich responded, after what seemed like forever. "I have a party to attend in less then an hour."
"Oooh, it is." Diamond answered hurriedly, happy for once that she had a problem so important, even Mother couldn't brush it aside.
"Well, come in, and make it snappy!" Diamond gulped at the amount of sheer annoyance in her mother's tone. Her mother had a variety of tones that conveyed said emotion; ranging from slightly inconvenienced to supremely irritated, and it seemed that currently, Spoiled was in the latter end of the spectrum. It must be an important party, indeed.
Still, she was glad that Spoiled was paying attention to her-though she was still dreading the possibility of Spoiled not listening to her, or worse, offering up an insubstantial solution, which seemed to be happening more and more lately, due to she and her mother becoming more and more idealistically opposed.
Diamond tentatively pushed the door open and soon spotted her mother at her vanity, with a vast number of beauty products out and opened. The dress she wore was downright decadent.
Wow, it really must be an important party...
Trotting lightly around the large, luxurious canopy bed, she stopped right behind Spoiled and considered the angle of which she should introduce the situation.
Before she could, though, Spoiled took notice of her presence and gave her a 'I don't have all day' look through the mirror.
Realizing her time was very limited, Diamond Tiara's explanation was rapid and disorganized: "There are some police who think Daddy was doing bad business or something and he's just going along with them even though I know he totally didn't do it and when I told him to be smart he totally blew me off!"
Creak!
Spoiled whipped around. Shock and horror were written all over her face. "Diamond, you should've just come to me in the first place. Mommy will call her best lawyer and-"
"Is that the one who's always getting sued?"
Spoiled's eyes flashed. "Don't interrupt, Diamond Tiara! And not another word about Mr. Howe! He is a very prestigious attorney and he always wins his cases."
Diamond's face crumpled with confusion. "How does that work? Does he only take cases he knows are innocent, or-"
"I said be quiet! Someone's been neglecting her Etiquette lessons. Now let Mommy handle this!"
Diamond thought. On one hoof, getting a good lawyer seemed to be the first step, seeing as, from what little Diamond understood, the duty of a lawyer was, essentially, to stop ponies from being punished. And Spoiled seemed eager to spare no expense in exonerating Filthy. But was a lawyer who was in court as a client as much as he was a defender really the right lawyer for someone innocent like her father?
Innocent. Any sane pony could tell that her father was innocent. But as the police ponies at the front door had proved, some people in the justice business just were not sane.
But despite Mr. Howe's rather spotty reputation, he did have an impressive clientele, with a prosperous firm. (Shared with Dewey and Cheatum, two other attorneys). Mr. Howe, as his slogan said, got the job done.
But would relying on Mother's slimy lawyer just defile Filthy's besmirched name even more? That was the question on Diamond's mind. And anyway, Mr. Howe seemed to specialize in exonerating ponies of bogus tax returns and stock market fraud. (That was mostly the stuff he was paid to represent Spoiled on, anyway).
Besides, Diamond Tiara was beginning to suspect her mother was not as much of a saint in the enigmatic world of stock shares and taxes as she claimed. Since Diamond Tiara, as a relatively young, naive foal, could not comprehend the idea of a defense attorney who defended client of unknown innocence, she decided that meant Mr. Howe must either be a bad lawyer or an incompetent one who didn't know his clients well, and thus would only get Daddy in more trouble.
But I don't know any lawyers other then Mother's and his partners! Mr. Dewey does stuff with ponies getting hurt, and I just don't like the sound of Mr. Cheatum! There's no way I can find a good lawyer and prove my Daddy's innocence in time! Unless...
She gave Spoiled Rich her sweetest, most innocent 'dutiful daughter' look. "Yes, mother."
"Hm?" Spoiled Rich, while her daughter was intensely pondering, had resumed putting make up, ten times faster then before.
"I will do as you say, dear Mother." Diamond Tiara's voice and smile could not have been sweeter, silkier, or faker.
"Well." Spoiled sounded pleased, and turned around to give Diamond a genuine smile. "Perhaps somepony has been paying attention to her etiquette lessons. Run along, now. Tell Randolf that I will let you have a few bits to do as you please with. Just don't go to Sugarcube corner...don't want to risk you mixing with the riff-raff..."
Diamond Tiara's already fake smile became a bit faker. "Yes, mother."
"Good filly. I'm glad to see you're beginning to shake off the influence of those Cuties Mark Crutons, or whatever it is they call themselves-"
(The corners of Diamond Tiara's lips began to tremble the effort of maintaining the smile)
"-Well, Tata, my perfect little gem!" (How Diamond was beginning to loathe that pet name!) And with one last look at her face, Spoiled Rich hurried off to arrange an appointment with Mr. Howe post-haste.
As the little filly watched her mother leave, her innocent 'cutesy' smile vanished, replaced by a much more serious, contemplative one.
She took off, and barely managed to round the corner as Filthy Rich, Silver Cuffs, and the two others came up the stairs.
Saving Daddy was going to take some finesse...and some help...and a whole lot of magic...