//------------------------------// // Chapter 87; It Hits The Fan // Story: Working Towards The Future // by Dasponi //------------------------------// Star Shine flew from house to house, dropping off retractions as he went and, on occasion, taking a brief second to explain what had happened and just why he was hoofing things out. He also kept an eye on the ground as he flew around, seeing if he could catch a sign of Shining Armor and everypony else. He had no idea where Diamond Tiara lived so he couldn't just hang around there. It had the added benefit of meaning that he got to visit a wide range of ponies and brought as much attention to the situation as possible. After a short amount of time, and using up most of his copies, he spotted Shining Armor walking through the town. He was flanked by two Royal Guards and following close behind him was the rest of their little ragtag crew with Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and Firefly. Spike was also riding on Twilight's back. Star Shine flew across to the group and landed next to Twilight and walked in step with her. “Oh hey.” Twilight said as Star Shine dropped next to her. “What have you been up to?” she asked. “What's with the bag?” Pinkie asked as she noticed the saddlebag adorning him. “It's a little...ratty.” Rarity commented. It was a fairly old bag and was a little tattered. “Feather Quill printed a retraction and I got Scootaloo to write a little something too. I've been delivering them while I waited for Shining Armor to come along.” Star Shine replied. He occasionally still took a paper out and passed them on to ponies that they passed. He would also occasionally zip down the road and pass a paper along and return to the small crowd. “Aren't you tired?” Rarity asked after Star Shine zipped down the street again. Star Shine certainly looked tired but was holding himself up pretty well. “I'll be fine, don't worry about me.” Star Shine replied, smiling reassuringly. Pinkie Pie disappeared and returned impossibly quickly and holding something in her forelegs. She threw it over Star Shine's head and he saw that it was a band that fitted around his neck and it also had a drink attached to the front with a straw sticking out. Star Shine tasted the drink and discovered that it was water. “That's pretty nice. Thanks.” Star Shine said to Pinkie Pie, who had fallen back in line with the rest of the group. “No worries, you looked thirsty. Don't push yourself too hard, 'kay? You'll be way too tired to do anything and you might pass out or something and maybe something will happen to you while you're sleeping. I don't know what, but something. Anything is possible.” Pinkie Pie replied. Star Shine raised an eyebrow at her. “Wellllll...thanks. Again.” Star Shine said slowly, going back to his drink. He still wasn't quite used to Pinkie Pie's antics. Or the way that the crazy things she said had a tendency to be surprisingly right. For now he just had to worry about how the confrontation with Diamond Tiara might go. As they approached Diamond Tiara's house Star Shine looked around but couldn't find any sign of Rainbow Dash or Scootaloo. “Anypony seen Rainbow Dash?” Star Shine asked, still looking around. “She's not here. No idea where she is but she's not here. Maybe she stayed at home. Coulda been something to do with Scootaloo. Maybe she just didn't want to be here. I don't think I'd want to be around ponies if that happened to me. Well maybe not if I was me. But if I was her. But then I wouldn't be me. Well anyway she's not here.” Pinkie Pie replied. Star Shine raised an eyebrow at her again and turned his attention to Twilight Sparkle. “Hey Twilight, you think you can teleport me to Rainbow Dash's?” Star Shine asked. “Right now?” Twilight replied, her horn glowing a little as she prepared to cast the spell to teleport Star Shine. It wouldn't have been too much trouble to do it. She'd been able to teleport Diamond Tiara easily enough and she doubted the weight involved would really affect her ability to do it. “Not right now no.” Star Shine replied hurriedly, shaking his head before she could do it before he was ready. Twilight's horn stopped glowing and she smiled at him. “Well yeah I can do that easy enough, just tell me when you want me to.” Twilight said. “Think you could come with me so we can get back quick too?” Star Shine asked. His brain was going a mile a minute as he formed and reformed plans. There was something he thought he might have to do it and being able to get to Rainbow Dash and back quickly would make it a lot easier. He was also more tired than he was letting on so he doubted that he would really be able to fly there and back on his own. Twilight pondered the problem for maybe a few seconds before she nodded. She was about to reply when she bumped into her brother's rear. He'd stopped walking. They'd reached Diamond Tiara's house. It was a fairly grandiose building, especially in contrast to the buildings around it. It was at least the size of Rainbow Dash's house if not a little bigger and was richly decorated with a well kept front lawn that even included a fountain. It was a show of extravagance more than anything as most ponies didn't have front gardens. Filthy Rich had simply bought more land than his house needed. By this time there was a small crowd around them. Any group walking through a town would attract attention. A Prince who happened to be captain of the royal guards, two of his guards, and half of the Elements of Harmony could hardly walk through a town without attracting a lot more attention. Twilight backed away sheepishly and let her brother do his work uninterrupted. Even Pinkie Pie was oddly quiet. Star Shine was not quite as quiet and took the opportunity to hand out as many retractions as he could to ponies who hadn't already seen it. Shining Armor approached the door and, ever the dignified class act, rapped on it politely. They weren't in any kind of real hurry or dealing with somepony dangerous so they didn't really need to burst the door down. Which, to him, was a bit of a shame. That always made for a good show. The door was opened shortly afterwards by a white Pegasus who was wearing an outfit much like Firefly's guard outfit. “Can I...can I help you?” the doorpony asked, dropping down into a deep bow as soon as he saw who was at the door. Shining Armor was practically glaring holes through the guy. “Yes you may. You can step aside. We have reason to believe that Diamond Tiara is harbouring stolen property as well as evidence related to a conspiracy she orchestrated and by law, I am here to conduct a search of the house as well as ask her a few questions.” Shining Armor replied formally. He spoke a little louder than he might have needed to. He wanted to make sure that everypony who had gathered around was well aware of what was happening. Even before he finished speaking the gossiping had started amongst the crowd. It had started with Star Shine giving out retractions and escalated thanks to this new revelation. The doorpony didn't know how to react and so simply didn't react. Shining Armor moved him to one side and entered the house after a few seconds of looking at his vacant expression. Filthy Rich came into the hallway as Shining Armor started to climb the stairs. “What in the blazes is going on here?!” Filthy Rich called out, either unaware or simply uncaring about who his guests happened to be. “We're here for your daughter and to search the house.” Shining Armor replied simply. He turned to face the other two guards who were waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. “You take that way, you the other, and I'll take upstairs.” he said to them, motioning where he wanted each one to search. They nodded their understanding and set off to take care of their appointed tasks. “On whose authority? What right do you have to do something like that?” Filthy demanded. Shining Armor sighed. His horn glowed and a letter appeared in front of his face. He used his magic to suspend it in front of Filthy Rich's face. “As you can see, I'm here on the authority of Princesses Celestia and Cadance. Your daughter entered Rainbow Dash's house illegaly and we suspect while she was there she took something belonging to Scootaloo and used it to conspire against her.” Shining Armor explained, giving a brief recap of what was written on the letter. It was just a formal piece of paper outlining the charges and signed by Celestia. He was sure Candance must have played some small part in it and was worth mentioning. “That idiot Firefly said something like that when he quit this morning, but there's no way my little girl would have done something like that!” Filthy Rich cried. “You...you really are that stupid aren't you?” Shining Armor asked, facehoofing. He had tried to maintain his composure and act with dignity, he really really had. Before Filthy Rich had a chance to respond to that, Diamond Tiara came out of her room. She'd been attracted by all of the commotion. “Daddy, what's going on?” Diamond Tiara asked with mock innocence. The same condescending without being outright condescending tone she used with everypony but Silver Spoon. “It's nothing you need to worry about dear.” Filthy Rich replied. “There's been a bit of a misunderstanding but don't you worry, Daddy will fix it.” he reassured Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara smiled at her dad but the smile was soon washed away as she felt a magical field around her. She was pulled out of the room and placed next to the doorway by Shining Armor. “Sorry Filthy, but some things can't be fixed by money. I'M the one who's here to fix things.” Shining Armor said, entering Diamond Tiara's room and completely ignoring protests from both Diamond Tiara and her dad. He probed the room with his magic first to see if there was anything he could find before actually searching properly. Filthy Rich came to the doorway and looked aghast as Shining Armor searched through his daughter's personal belongings. “You can't do this! She's just a little filly!” Filthy Rich said, taking any and all chances to defend his daughter that he could. Shining Armor ignored him and continued to search. He hit the jackpot when he checked her drawers and found Scootaloo's suicide note on top of a diary. Something in him, the instinct of a guard most likely, told him to look through the diary. He certainly had the authority to do so. He did and found far more than he would have hoped to. Diamond Tiara had not only hidden the note in plain sight but she'd also detailed all of her plans down. She really was new at this whole sociopath thing. Or she was just so messed up she felt no need to really hide what she was doing. As Shining Armor looked through the diary he saw that it was the latter that was more correct. It was quite a depressing read. It also served as an actual diary and was full of entries about how Diamond Tiara felt that her dad never paid any attention to her. At first there were some nice things written about Firefly but as time went on, and Diamond Tiara became more and more lost, it became more about what a fool he was and how easy he was to manipulate. Shining Armor felt something he really didn't think he could feel for Diamond Tiara; sorry. She had felt no need to really try and hide anything because nopony ever really cared to pay much attention to her. “Boys!” Shining Armor called, finally taking his eyes off the diary. His guards were stood behind Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich in an instant. They would have entered the room but the doorway was a little crowded. “I have everything I need.” Shining Armor said, holding up the suicide note and the diary with his magic. “Take them both. We'd need Filthy Rich because of Diamond Tiara's age, but I want him anyway.” Shining Armor's horn glowed and shackles appeared on the forelegs of both Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich. “What the heck is this for?” Filthy Rich demanded. “Daddy what's going on? I'm scared. Daddy do something.” Diamond Tiara said quickly. She was really starting to panic. Shining Armor picked Diamond Tiara up with his magic and placed her on his back. He didn't expect her to try and get away and if she did, he could easily grab her again. Filthy Rich was laid across the back of one of the guard ponies, something he highly disagreed with. “Tell me what's going on here, this instant!” Filthy Rich demanded. “Happily.” Shining Armor replied, smirking at Filthy Rich and draining all the blood out of his face. “Your daughter is under arrest for illegal entry, theft and conspiracy.” Shining Armor explained. Diamond Tiara herself was mostly shaking and muttering to herself. Something about how it was somepony else's fault. “And you, Filthy Rich, are under arrest for serious child neglect.”