//------------------------------//
// Staring into Space 
// Story: Diamond Tiara and the Hand of Phoe 
// by Mudpony 
//------------------------------//

Normally, evenings in Ponyville are a quiet affair.  All that one would hear are the usual night time sounds: frogs croaking, insects doing their thing, the occasional hoot of an owl, that sort of thing.  Some nights are slightly noisier, with the distant howls of timber wolves, the crash of thunder, or perhaps, loudest of all, the sound of a big Pinkie party in full swing.  This night though, the very ground shook with the sounds of explosions while flashes of brilliantly colored light tore through the night sky.  With the exception of Granny Smith, who had nodded off early in the display, there was not a single soul asleep within a day's walk of town.

Ponyville was welcoming back one of its own from Canterlot with a week long celebration.  The fireworks display was the contribution of one Trixie Lulamoon, who had insisted that it was the least she could do, after the events earlier in the year.  Apparently, she felt she had a lot to make up for, as she had pulled out all the stops, providing the largest fireworks show in Ponyville's history.  And so the ground shook, displays took shape in the sky and faded away, only to be replaced by new ones, each series more impressive than the last, as the show built toward its grand finalé.

One pony though did not react.  She just sat there, staring into the night sky, without so much as a blink.  She did not even bother to straighten her headpiece, which sat ever so slightly askew.  Most ponies would not even have noticed, but Diamond Tiara was not most ponies, especially when it came to her prized possession.  At last, she sighed and turned to her best friend.

"It's just not fair, you know?"

"I know, right?  So totally not fair," Silver Spoon said.  Her right foreleg shot out to point out a particularly impressive firework as she let out an awed gasp and clapped her hooves together.  As the colors and the boom of the firework faded away, she turned toward her friend.  "Which not fair thing are we talking about?"

Diamond Tiara snarled.  "This!  All of this!  Why does she get to be a princess?  She's just the town librarian, for Sun's sake."

"Well, she did save the town a few times."

"Yeah, from things she probably caused.  All those things never happened before she got here."

Silver Spoon furrowed her eyebrows in thought.  "She's Princess Celestia's student."

"And that's another thing.  She is just a student, but because she's lucky enough to get Princess Celestia as a teacher while we have Miss Cheerilee, she gets to be a princess?  Is someone going to make us princesses when we graduate?"

"Probably not," Silver Spoon conceded.

"And all because we're stuck in this town, rather than living someplace special like Canterlot.  No chance of us getting a princess as a teacher."

"It's just not fair."

"You're absolutely right, Sil.  It isn't."  With a sigh, Diamond Tiara turned back toward the display, once again staring into space and pondering the injustice of it all.





"I've got it!" Diamond Tiara said, slapping down a newspaper in front of her friend.

Silver Spoon glanced down and frowned.  "An apple eating contest?  But I thought you hated apples?"

"Huh?  Oh."  With an embarrassed grin, Diamond Tiara flipped the newspaper over and pointed to a small article along the side.  "That!  The article on the Llamtec exhibit.  It says one piece, the Hand of Phoe, is supposed to be able to control destiny.  We just have to use it and we'll be princesses too, just like we should be."

Silver Spoon quickly read the article.  "What's a hand?"

"Beats me.  Probably just some made-up word.  You know how mystical stuff always gets funny names in stories."  Diamond Tiara shrugged.  "Doesn't really matter what it's called though, long as it makes us princesses."

Silver Spoon frowned.  "I don't know, Diamond.  Doesn't that, like, seem sort of unlikely?  I mean, if the thing worked, there's no way they'd just have it out in the open right, right?  They'd, like, totally lock it up."

"Maybe they just don't know how to use it.  Or their need isn't strong enough or something."  Seeing her friend still was not buying into the idea, Diamond Tiara tried again.  "Look, it is at the Ponyville Museum just this weekend, as part of this princess party thing.  This is our only chance.  It certainly wouldn't hurt to try, right?  And if it doesn't work, we can go have milkshakes."

"Well, maybe, but—"

"My treat."  Diamond Tiara stretched the last word out tantalizingly.

Silver Spoon's face scrunched up, trying to resist, and then she smiled.  "Why not?  Let's do it!"





"Gah!" Diamond Tiara muttered as she wandered down the street toward the diner.  "Why'd they have to put the thing in glass case?  How are we supposed to use it if we can't even touch it?  And can you believe how ugly it was?  It was like some misshapen monkey's paw or something.  Whatever it came from must have been completely hideous."  She continued to fume as she walked.

Silver Spoon said nothing in reply, walking silently at her friend's side.  When Diamond was in a mood like this, it was best to just let her get it out of her system, rather than draw attention and risk having her ire turned upon oneself.  One certainly did not do something as foolish as block her path.  Only an idiot would do something like that.  An idiot like the unicorn filly doing just that.

"What do you want?" Diamond Tiara snarled at the foolish pony who dared to stand where Diamond wished to walk.

Sweetie Belle shrunk back.  "I was wondering if, um, maybe you'd seen my sister's cat?"

Diamond Tiara looked at the unicorn filly, one eyebrow raised.  "And why would we have seen her stupid cat?  Shouldn't it be, like, at her house or something?"

"I was cat-sitting for my sister and thought she would look cute with ribbons in her hair, and she...  See, there was a window open and she clawed at me and then..."  Sweetie Belle glanced down at her hooves, before looking up, her desperation evident within her eyes.  "Well, she sorta ran off.  I've just got to find her before my sister finds out."

"Well, we haven't seen her."  When Sweetie Belle did not immediately vacate the area, Diamond continued.  "Hello?  That's your sign to get out of our way.  We've got more important things to do than help fix your mistakes."

"Yeah.  There's like no way we'd spend all day watching some animal, unless it was like really cute," Silver Spoon added for good measure.  "And didn't have fleas."  She shuddered at the thought.

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle said.  "There's no way my sister would let her have those."

Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.  "Yeah, whatever.  Just get out of our way already."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sweetie Belle said, stepping aside.  "If you see—"

"Yes, you are."  Diamond Tiara flipped her mane and, with her nose in the air, walked past the properly chastised unicorn.  As soon as Sweetie Belle was out of earshot, she turned to Silver Spoon.  "Come on.  We've got to find that cat."

"Huh?"

"That silly filly gave me an idea."  Diamond grinned and, had she not been standing on four legs, would have rubbed her forelegs together with glee.  "We'll let the cat go in the exhibit and while everypony is trying to pet it, we'll use the hand thingy and become princesses."





"Okay, stupid cat, do your thing," Diamond Tiara said, setting down the now ruined sweater in which they had bundled up the cat once they had found her.  The cat though made no move, beyond righting herself and crouching low, hissing softly.

"Worthless beast!  We didn't get you out of that tree for nothing.  Do something useful already!" Diamond Tiara muttered, reaching out a hoof to prod the cat.  

Opalescence's paw shot out, claws extended.  Diamond Tiara yelped in pain, one of her forelegs bearing the proof the cat's unhappiness at its treatment, and stumbled backwards into the pedestal upon which the hand sat.  The pedestal rocked from side to side, coming ominously close to tipping over.  Silver Spoon dove forward to catch it, only to find herself slipping on the sweater.  Flailing to catch her balance, she slammed into the pillar as well.  With a loud thump and the breaking of glass, the pedestal hit the ground, sending the hand sliding across the floor.

Opalescence flew up into the air at the sound and landed facing in the opposite direction, her feet already moving.  Hitting the ground, she took off, racing around the room, trying to find a way out, only to find no means of egress.  Ponies screamed and reared up in panic at the white ball of fur racing between them.  Giving up on the ground level, Opal hopped up onto the tables displaying pottery and other items that had managed to survive the centuries.  As if the spirit of an angry civilization determined to reclaim their possessions, Opal knocked pieces to their doom.  Museum employees threw themselves at the white tornado of destruction in desperation, succeeding only in causing further destruction.

Diamond Tiara hobbled to where the hand lay and scooped it up with her injured leg, ignoring the pain from the wound and the blood that trickled down from it.  "I wish to be a princess!" she hissed at the relic.  She turned her head and looked expectantly at her side., but found it the same as always, wingless.  A quick brush of her forehead left a small streak of blood, but revealed no horn.  "Come on, make me a princess!" she growled.  When it failed to comply, she let it drop to the ground.  "Bah.  Should have known something that ugly would be totally worthless."

Wish a disappointed sigh, she looked around the room and gasped.  Some pony had wisely chosen to open the door, letting the crazed cat out.  Bits of glass lay everywhere, tables were overturned, pegasi hovered in the air, and Big Mac was being held up in the forelegs of Mayor Mare who staggered beneath the weight of the stallion.

Silver Spoon stumbled to her feet and shook her head in disbelief at scope of the destruction.  She whistled softly.  "Sweetie Belle is going to be in so much trouble."

Diamond Tiara nodded.  "If only the stupid thing had worked.  Then we could have pardoned her or something."  She took another look over the devastation their actions had caused, then shrugged.  "Oh well."

"Milkshakes?" Silver Spoon asked.

Diamond Tiara looked around the room another time, then gave another nod.  "Milkshakes."

The two fillies turned and made their way to the door, taking care not to step upon anything.  On the ground behind them, the blood upon the Hand of Phoe faded away, and just for a second, the Hand of Phoe radiated a soft pink light, unnoticed by anypony.