Diamond nestled up in her bed, curled up into a little ball. She hated to say it and she couldn't deny feeling guilty for thinking it, but she was really happy that her bed had survived the crashing ship. Her happiest moment had been when she had it all set up in her tent and was allowed to relax. She'd kept a small lamp lit in her room and spent a few hours trying to... digest Twilight's book.
It felt like trying to digest rocks. The mare was obviously brilliant. There were so many pages on bending theory and ideas. Things that Diamond had never even considered. Not... all of it was safe. In fact, there was a whole chapter on something known as blood bending, a defensive water bending technique to counter poison bending. However, some of Twilight's theories on it were quite frightening and the mare talked adamantly about how she'd best warn Rarity about it in the future. There were charts and tables galore.
The new Avatar had only barely been able to skim the surface, reading a few things here and there about the different bending techniques, before finally closing up and giving herself a small break. She hadn't even gone into the history or discussions about previous Avatars or the Alicorn Amulet. Nothing about Harmony and Discord.
Twilight was brilliant, a genius. Diamond most definitely was not. The mare couldn't help but feel inferior as she glanced over at the book besides her bed. She could hardly believe she once thought she was so smart, so brilliant. That she was destined to be the most amazing Avatar ever. In that one book, Twilight had overshadowed every accomplishment that Diamond had ever achieved.
How could she ever hope to live up to a mare like that? A mare who had single hoofedly defeated a nation and the greatest enemy the Avatar had ever known. In fact, defeating the very evil creature that had destroyed the creator of their very powers. She had so much to live up to and she was beginning to wonder if it was even possible. What if she couldn't? What if she--
Screams stirred her from her thoughts, followed by yells. Then an explosion. She quickly jumped to her hooves and galloped outside the room, looking around frantically.
Her heart caught in her chest when she saw the pony, flame rising from her horn. There was no doubt who that was, no question. They'd all seen the pictures.
Twilight Sparkle, the previous Avatar. The alicorn stood in the middle of the camp, shooting fire out through the tents and scorching the ground where ever she stood. Diamond froze, then her eyes were drawn to the mare's cutie mark. It was her cutie mark. Another spirit.
Her eyes narrowed into slits and she raced at the mare. “How dare you!” she screamed, galloping at the mare. A burst of fire shot out at her, but Diamond dispersed it with a flap of her wings. “My cutie mark is not some tool to be used for destruction!” She flicked her horn forward and grabbed the water from a nearby bucket, forming a blade of ice and sending it spinning at the creature. It went into, and then through the spirit without leaving a mark.
Flames gathered on Twilight's horn, before compressing into a small ball. She sent the ball sailing at Diamond, who jumped aside. It exploded a moment later, sending the alicorn flipping hoof over horn, landing in a painful heap. “O-ow...” she said with a groan. The other alicorn stood over her, horn glimmering with fire. Then a pony leaped in front of her.
“Who are you?” Sunset asked, before turning and bucking out with both her hooves, fire searing at the spirit. They went through it, though it took a step back. “How dare you use my mother's form!” She then whipped back about, flames searing out from her horn and forming a whip, before slashing at the other pony.
“T-the cutie mark, aim for the cutie mark,” Diamond said before getting to her hooves. The other alicorn spread her wings and took to the sky, another ball of flame forming on the tip of her horn. She thrust her horn down, sending it careening at them. Diamond flapped her wings at the ball, trying to disperse it. The ball fizzled a little, but still exploded, sending the two ponies flying back, slightly singed. “Ow...”
Sunset rolled to her hooves and formed a ball of fire on her horn as well, compressing it before sending it hurtling up at the spirit. It exploded, sending the creature hurtling down and crashing into one of the tents. It thrashed about, before tearing the tent apart.
It was then doused in water, before a giant hoof of stone crashed down on it, slamming it into the ground.
“Hey guys, what we miss?” Button asked as he trotted up, besides Luna.
“Not much!” Diamond yelled before charging at the mock-Twilight. The other alicorn exploded out, shattering the stone before forming flames over her horn. Most of the ponies were out of their tents now, either rushing in to help or fleeing to try to get out of the way. She leaped into the air, spreading her wings and darting after the other mare.
The spirit was smacked down to the ground, hard, when a burst of air shot down at it. Prism hovered up above. “Diamond, see if you can get close!”
“I'm working on it!” she yelled, pulling in her wings and diving at it. The spirit looked at her, before flames formed around its horn again. It began turning its head around, sending flame in all directions and alighting the tents. A big ball of fire formed on its head when she came close. It then jumped to the right, sending the ball sailing straight at her. Diamond spread out her wings and went up into a twist, feeling the heat when the ball seared past her, but narrowly avoiding it.
For a moment she felt proud, until she saw the ball sail out and straight into her tent. It exploded, erupting it in flames. Her eyes widened and she turned straight towards it, going a few feet before whipping back around. “Someone put that fire out! The book, it's in there!” she yelled. As much as she wanted to go put the flames out, she had to stop this spirit, now. She dove straight at it, but more fire erupted out, shooting off in all directions, singeing her. She barely managed to avoid being fried, but she kept going, diving in and sending out bursts of air to deflect what she couldn't dodge. Small burn marks formed across her body, but she finally made it in. She leaped into the air, over the alicorn, and sent a powerful burst of air down to stun the creature. She then kicked down, bucking the cutie mark.
Once again the world exploded, though this time she was ready for it. It still didn't make it much better, though, when she was flung back, flying horn over hooves and slamming into the ground with a groan. Her cutie mark was burning, so she imagined that was a good sign. “Ow...” she said with a moan. Once the burning stopped, she looked around and cringed. There were little fires all over the place, some things burned to ash.
Her heart nearly stopped when she saw her tent. Or where her tent had been. With a grunt, she rolled to her hooves and galloped over to it.
It was surrounded in ash. “No no no no,” she said softly, reaching out. Her room didn't have much, just the book and her bed. The former was just a few singed pages, nothing legible. The latter was nothing but a husk.
“Avatar, what was that?” Sunset asked when she trotted up. “It... took the form of my mother, but it fought nothing like her. What--” She was hushed when Diamond raised a hoof.
“The... the book. Your mother's book. It's... it's gone. It destroyed it. That... that fake Twilight destroyed it!” She punched the ground as hard as she could. “WHY?!” she screamed.
------
Silver took a slow, deep breath as she held Twilight's book clasped in her hooves, hugging it tightly. Her eyes glowed yellow for a moment and then the cover changed, turning black and the words 'Diary' forming on the cover. She then let out a soft sigh, grinning down at it. “Don't worry, Twilight. Everything you wanted to teach her will be learned. Just not by the pony you hoped,” she said with a little grin. She stored it besides the jar with the other cutie mark, before putting on her game face and rushing out towards the flaming tents.
“Is everypony okay?” she called out.
------
Diamond sat by the fire, staring into the flames while tending to her burns. “I can't believe it. After all this... it's gone. All of it is gone. Imagine what I could have done with that knowledge...”
“Avatar, as I told you, there is no need to fear,” Sunset said with a shake of her head. “I have read that book many times. Everything in it, I can teach you.”
“I... I guess,” the alicorn muttered. “But it's just not... it's not the same. Reading it, I could almost... it was a connection. It was a way for me to... see into Twilight. To understand Twilight. As if she was right here. As if we could talk. I haven't had anything like that since... since Meadowbrook. I thought that, for just a little bit, she and I could be...” She shook her head. “It's silly, I know. But I kind of thought... learning about her would maybe strengthen the bond. Help me connect.”
“You will learn about her,” Sunset said firmly, reaching out to put a hoof on her shoulder. “I will teach you everything I know. There is nopony who could do it better.”
Diamond nodded. “I... guess.”
“Besides, your bending is atrocious. My mother would never let herself be so lax.”
“... What?”
“Your water bending, for one. So... blunt and crude. Water bending is about grace and poise, smooth, flowing movements. Yours was too direct. I fear to think how your fire bending will be.”
Diamond harrumphed. “My water bending is fine. What do you know about it, anyway? You can't even water bend.”
“So? My mother taught me all of the elements. Even if I can't use them to bend within the traditional sense, it doesn't mean I don't know how they work. Tomorrow I'll show you.” She glanced towards the ash. “Would you like to rest in the village tonight?”
Diamond glanced towards the destroyed tent. Before she could answer, there was a voice from behind her.
“There's no need for that,” Silver said as she walked up behind her. “Diamond, you can sleep in my tent tonight. The bed is more than big enough for two and it... well...” She glanced towards the charred bed, mentally tallying the bit cost. “Isn't on fire.”
The alicorn smiled and gave a nod, before turning to her friend. “That sounds good. Is everypony okay?”
“I think so,” Silver said with a sigh. “I wish we knew where these attacks were coming from, though.” She gasped. “You... don't suppose it was what damaged the ship, do you? If it was able to track you all the way out here...”
Diamond paled when she considered that thought. If it was her fault that the air ship had been destroyed... She shuddered and shook her head. “I... I doubt that's what happened. I mean, this one seemed kind of... I think it was after me. If it had come after me there, I don't think it would have stopped.”
“I suppose that's probably true.” Silver then turned to Sunset and smiled. “Thank you for your help and concern, but we should be fine now. With the Avatar and everypony working together, this should all be cleared in no time.”
The unicorn nodded, before turning to trot away. Once she was out of hearing, the earth pony glanced to the Avatar. “Diamond?”
“Yeah, Silver?”
“Well... I just think...” She frowned and shook her head. “No, never mind. It's silly.”
“What is it? Is something wrong?”
“Well... I was just thinking... I hate to think it, but... I... well...” Silver shuffled her hooves for a few moments before sighing. “Sunset got here awfully fast, didn't she?”
“I'm sorry?”
“Well, when that thing attacked us, she was here so soon. She couldn't have been at the village...”
Diamond's eyes widened. “Y-you aren't... you don't think she could be behind these attacks, do you? I mean, she's Twilight's daughter!”
“Of course! Well, allegedly her daughter. But, no. I more meant... you don't think she's spying on you, do you?”
The alicorn glanced towards the unicorn, disappearing in the distance. “Spying... on me?”
“Yes. If she got here so quickly, she must have been nearby. Maybe... it'll be best if you don't go anywhere alone with her. I mean, we don't actually know she's Twilight's daughter. They claim that, but for all we know they're a bunch of... Discord lovers. Or something. We are near the Spirit World here and you heard what they said about him.”
“That he didn't care about ponies?”
“They said he wasn't evil and he was the guardian of the Spirit World. Maybe... they were on his side. If we're so close to the Spirit World here...”
Diamond shuddered, turning back towards the village again. “I... I guess it's feasible. You don't think they... well... I mean... that book, it seemed like something Twilight would have written.”
“And it got destroyed before you could read it, leading Sunset to 'teach' you all of the things in it. Right?”
Diamond nodded, narrowing her eyes. She then smiled to Silver. “You're right. Don't worry, I'll be careful around her. Thanks.”
“Of course, Diamond. After all, friends look out for each other. Besides, I'm probably just being paranoid. At least, I hope I am.” The earth pony turned and started trotting towards her tent. “Come along, let's get some sleep.”
“Right,” the Avatar said, though she found her eyes drawn back towards the village.
'Can Silver be right? What if this really is all just a trap?'