The bailiff , a large unicorn stallion with a gavel for a cutie mark, announced, 'All rise! The High Court of Canterlot is in session, with Princess Celestia of Equestria presiding, in the State of Equestria versus Diamond Tiara Rich! The sentencing hearing will now begin.'
Princess Celestia, her large bejewelled formal crown upon her head, took her seat. It was the sentencing phase of a pony-slaughter case, that had taken place in Ponyville, something that especially displeased the severe but fair jurist and monarch. Murders and other crimes involving loss of life were generally rare even in the big cities like Baltimare and Manehatten, and the last killing of a pony by another pony in Ponyville happened a hundred and fifty years in the past. The killer in that case had become a permanent resident of the Canterlot Sculpture Garden. Still, Equestrian laws had softened a bit since then, this was a case of pony-slaughter rather then murder, and the defendant was a juvenile.
The defendant, Diamond Tiara Rich, a rich young heiress who thought that most other ponies were beneath her, stood smirking beside her lawyer. She was very well connected, and thought that given that she was under-age and genuinely didn't mean to kill anypony, at the most she would get a few years in Foalsom Prison. Perhaps her father would be able to bribe the warden to make sure she was treated well inside. Surely he would want his little princess not to suffer? At least the Rich family lawyer, Golden Dawn, had done what he could and got her convicted of pony-slaughter and not murder. On the left side of the courtroom, Applejack and Big Mac and the surviving Cutie Mark Crusaders stood and glared at her.
Princess Celestia spoke. "Diamond Tiara Rich, you have been found guilty of pony-slaughter in the death of Apple Bloom when you sabotaged her float, causing it to plunge several hundred feet over a cliff. If Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo had not managed to escape just in time, you would have been convicted of three pony-slaughter charges, not one. You also teased and harassed Apple Bloom and her friends for a very long time beforehand, an aggravating factor. In mitigation, you did not mean to kill anypony that day, and then there is your youth to take into account." She paused. I order you remanded to the prison wing of the Canterlot Hospital, where you will undergo genetic modification under the Community Service program designed to render you a more civil and a much more useful member of society, and to assist you in paying your debt to the Apple family. Twilight Sparkle will supervise your change. You will then be released to the Apple family under the conditions of probation to be set by this court. Should you break the conditions of your probation, you will start serving a suspended sentence of twenty years in Foalsom Prison, doing hard labour. Take her down."
As she was led away by the Royal Guards, Diamond Tiara felt like cheering and clopping her hooves together. Surely some strings had been pulled behind the scenes for her after all? Most likely she would end up bucking apples for several hours a day, which was much better then breaking rocks, and could sleep in the Rich mansion in her own bed instead of some hard prison bunk. She was escorted to a sealed room within the prison wing where seriously injured convicts from Foalsom were sent to heal, and Twilight Sparkle looked her up and down.
"You are very lucky, Diamond Tiara. You are going to be the first to test a brand new serum of mine."
Twilight Sparkle prepared the series of fast-replicating DNA and enzyme shots of both pony and Changeling DNA.
The Changeling DNA had been gathered from the many broken changeling corpses that had not survived their magical ejection from Canterlot, due to colliding with buildings. It had taken days to gather them up and bury them in a mass grave, and a couple of bodies had been kept upon to experiment on before they rotted too much to be of any use to anypony. As for the pony DNA, it had been harvested from the dead body of Apple Bloom.
As she injected Diamond Tiara, causing her to pass out, she knew that in the morning Diamond Tiara would assume not only the body, but the actual prior day-to-day existence of the late Apple Bloom. As a bit of a psychiatrist at heart, Twilight Sparkle thought this presented fascinating features for study, and she would chronicle the young filly's adjustment very carefully. It would be an important addition to the annals of the Community Service program. After all, instead of executing a killer or turning the killer into stone, or locking the killer up in prison, surely bringing the victim back would be better?
After rising from a deep tranquil slumber in gradual stages, the new edition of Apple Bloom needed badly to urinate. An earth pony nurse took her to the toilet, and the pony who had been Diamond Tiara looked
in the mirror and proceeded to void the entire contents of her bladder onto the floor in panic. She screamed.
"I'm...no, I can't be!!" Her voice had changed too so she sounded just like the old Apple Bloom, and her flank was now blank. She tried to escape, and had to be held down and sedated.
For the first few weeks in the home of the Apple Family, Apple Bloom was mildly sedated with a tranquilizer to reduce Diamond Tiara's hysteria and panic. Twilight Sparkle confiscated Diamond's tiara and had a red ribbon tied into her mane. "Can you...is it really going to be possible for me to have my sister back as if she never died?" Applejack asked Twilight.
"Well, it won't happen overnight. Apple Bloom will need proper drug therapy for a while, to stop her panicking and fleeing, and just as important, she is going to need constant conditioning from you and Big Mac and the rest of the Apple Family. It might take years, but in time she will no longer need any drugs and she will be an Apple to the core of her being. And if things don't work out, there is a twenty year prison sentence for breach of probation awaiting her."
The new Apple Bloom, her mind still somewhat clouded with various psychoactive drugs (some derived from
Zebrican herbs from Zecora, who was happy to help), was set on a course of intense study. She read
all the Apple family records and Apple Bloom's diary, looked at many photo albums and school yearbooks, watched all of the home movies the Apples had taken over the years, copied all of the old Apple Bloom's speech and mannerisms and simply had to absorb all of the Apple family lore there was to know. She had to read only Apple Bloom's favourite authors and magazines and listen only to Apple Bloom's music, and eat only what the old Apple Bloom would eat. Shortly, she could recognize and name all her new Apple Family relatives and friends, all of whom spent time with her in these weeks providing fond encouragement, even Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. It took nearly a year, but at last Diamond Tiara had a solid working knowledge of the life of Apple Bloom. Gradually, the drug regimen was lessened and finally ceased, after it was decided by Twilight Sparkle that it was no longer necessary.
Applejack sat on an expensive overstuffed sofa next to her 'sister.' 'I really don't hate you any more. I can hear Apple Bloom when you talk now and see her when you move. If you can be my younger sister for me, I'll be a good and loving older sister to you. And one day you will earn a brand new cutie mark to replace that nasty tiara on your flank that you used to have." She kissed Diamond Tiara gently on the cheek. "Now listen here, you're a farm pony now , and an Apple to the core. And you're going to live like one. No more Diamond Tiara snootiness and teasing of blank flanks. Do you understand me, Apple Bloom?"
"Yes."
"Yes what?"
"Yes, Sis. I love you, Sis, and I love being an Apple."
"That's good, very very good. Soon enough you'll be back at school, and you are not to have anything to do with that horrible Silver Spoon." And Applejack smiled, hugged Diamond Tiara and kissed her on the forehead.
The other two Cutie Mark Crusaders helped a lot. Scootaloo grinned. "Welcome back to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The old Apple Bloom was very interested in getting her cutie mark and we will make sure that you are, too." Her smile turned into a smirk. It felt so good, both to have her fellow Crusader back and to help
punish the bratty, blank-flank hating princess-like pony who had so cruelly killed her. She intended to effect maximum humiliation upon her charge, at the same time moulding this pony, the image of her fellow Cutie Mark Crusader, into a perfect functioning replica of her. When she got through with her, Diamond Tiara would not just look like and dress on special occasions like but think, act like and finally even *be* Apple Bloom. Life was good, thought Scootaloo. 'Welcome to 'Crusaderhood,' Di,' she said bitterly.
Diamond Tiara steamed with fury deep inside. She longed to tell the Cutie Mark Crusaders in no uncertain terms where to go but that would be a breach of her probation conditions and that twenty year Foalsom Prison sentence would be enforced, and she really did not want to be locked up there. Foalsom Prison had a very nasty reputation. Life as a Cutie Mark Crusader and Applejack's sister was much better then being a prisoner there.
Her days were now spent, when not at school, either working on the farm bucking apples and bringing in the harvest or doing some silly, embarrassing or dangerous thing to get a new cutie mark-which refused to come at least for now. She was never allowed to say a word to Silver Spoon or spend any time with her real parents. No more was she waited on by servants as if she was Princess Celestia. Now she had to do everything the Apple Family way including cleaning the dishes after a meal. And she was rarely if ever allowed to have any time alone by herself. She knew her old ways were slipping away from lack of use but there was nothing she could do about it.
Galloping away when nopony was looking was not an option. Applejack with her lasso and her dog would soon be out after her, and the Royal Guards too. Fleeing into the Everfree Forest would most likely just get her devoured by hungry timberwolves. Also, she hated the idea of living the unhappy life of a homeless pony with only grass to eat and water to drink and nowhere to shelter from the weather. The Apple Family were not quite as rich as the Rich Family, but they were certainly not poor ponies.
Diamond was an Apple for real now. There was little resistance or defiance left in the former Diamond Tiara. None outwardly, at least. Friends of the Apple family marvelled at how the former aristocratic and bratty Rich heiress had been so effectively made to assume the identity of Applejack's younger sister. Diamond Tiara knew
better to be disagreeable or act up. She had to make the best of being Apple Bloom, as there was an overcrowded cell in Foalsom Prison waiting for her otherwise.
'How do you like being Apple Bloom, sweetheart?' asked Applejack.
'I like it fine, Sis,' Diamond replied automatically.
Diamond had got used to the topics and speech patterns of Apple Bloom, and began to unaffectedly dish about colts, getting her cutie mark, the latest music from Sapphire Shores, and, negatively, Silver Spoon. No onlooker would ever have guessed that she was not who she appeared to be. Diamond, by observation, mimicry, and finally comfortable habit, had on the surface become a brave, saucy at times, sweet full member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. At least when Applejack or Big Mac or Granny Smith was around, or with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, or with her two special friends, Twist and Twinkleshine.
The young fillies often whispered to each other about their past lives. Twist had been a pegasus until she racially abused and attacked an earth pony in her previous school, and was made into an earth pony as punishment. Twinkleshine had been a male earth pony until he agreed to testify about a gang of changelings in Baltimare, and was placed in witness protection as a female unicorn in Ponyville. They cried softly together sometimes when they were alone, because they had lost their old lives and friends forever.
*****
Princess Celestia read the latest probation report on the former Diamond Tiara. Diamond had perfectly assumed the role of Apple Bloom. The new Apple Bloom had adopted all the mannerisms, speech, and attitudes of the deceased Apple Bloom. The Apple Family were overjoyed. It was as if they had their beloved youngersister back. For her part, Diamond had learned to love and obey her new brother, sister and
relatives, and was a hard-working high school sophomare.
Only rarely, when bucking apples with Applejack or doing something around the farm did Diamond feel a moment of hot shame.
But only a moment. Apple Bloom would remind her gently that she was a pretty beloved Apple family member, a new mare on the farm and an Apple to the core. And then Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were one, and she was happy. Absurdly, deliriously happy.