The streets of Ponyville
Diamond walked home alongside the CMC after a day at the park. She stifled back a sob, despite spending time with her friends she still wasn't able to put the fact out of her mind that this was her first birthday without her parents. She supposed she deserved the karma she'd been dealt, after all the crap she'd put anypony she considered beneath her through (Which was everypony who wasn't as rich as her and her family) and been the kind of pony who frightened others. Derpy had been right to get a restraining order against her, after Diamond called her daughter a worthless orphan and sent her home in tears, and Diamond honestly wouldn't have been so surprised to hear if others considered the same thing.
In fact, she truly believed others considered that for what she'd called their kids. She remembered each and every nasty nickname or insult given out, from calling Pipsqueak a "Nightmare Worshipper", to calling Twist a geek who got dumped by a Mudpony and reducing her to tears. Little did she know it, as much as Diamond was trying to force a smile on her face to hide her pain, the Cutie Mark Crusaders did notice something was off, even if they quite couldn't put their hooves on it.
"Ya alright, Di?" Apple Bloom asked, using the nickname she'd come up with for her friend as of late. If Diamond were in a happier mood, she would have smiled at it's use. She found it kinda cute actually.
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." Diamond lied, and the CMC all shared looks between them. They didn't believe her for a moment.
"You sure as hay don't look fine." Scootaloo disagreed with a shake of the head. "You've been acting like someone kicked your favorite puppy."
Diamond, under her breath mumbled something along the lines of how she probably deserved that happening to her, making the CMC only grow more concerned by the moment. Nearby, Sweetie overheard a conversation between Bon-Bon and another police officer that was along the lines of "...So, he's our stallion? Better keep this quiet for as long as possible otherwise speculations will start on why we haven't captured him yet. Ugh, the press in Manehatten, Tartarus the press here are going to have a field day with us and call us incompentant idiots before this is all over."
Sweetie was curious, but brushed it off for the time being as it was probably none of her business. Still, she couldn't help the thoughts nagging at the back of her mind which went along the lines of "What if this was related to the Rich Family murders?"
"Diamond, if somethin's bothering ya, ya can always tell us. We're your friends Di." Apple Bloom tried to reassure, only to be greeted with a snarl from Diamond which made Apple Bloom take a step back. The expression on Diamond's face was heartbreaking as she let out a small sob not caring if anypony saw it.
The orphaned filly then screamed "NOTHING'S BOTHERING ME YOU STUPID BLANK FLANKS, SO LEAVE ME ALONE OKAY!?!" letting out all of her pain and frustration at her own situation and ran off sobbing as she threw her beloved tiara into a mud puddle nearby left from last night's storm. The CMC could only watch the whole scene with eyes widened. They knew of what Script had planned for the party, they just hoped it would be enough.
Script Residence, a half hour later
Diamond trodded home, looking a truly pathetic sight as she sobbed and wiped away her tears, but they just couldn't stop coming. She thought bitterly towards herself, here she was, the last of the Rich Family and it's heir who was supposed to uphold it's high standards and yet she'd been reduced to a wreck her life in tatters all because of one damn pony she didn't even know the name of. Diamond, still sobbing opened the door only to be greeted by the shock of a party horn being blown and confetti landing on her it's happiness contrasting with her mood.
Diamond, once she'd recovered from her shock gaped. The whole living room of the house had been decorated for a party, walls lined in pink and white streamers and party balloons everywhere with presents on the table in front of the couch. And that wasn't counting the banner, with it reading "Happy Birthday Diamond Tiara!" in big bold letters with her Cutie Mark on either side of the banner.
But the biggest shock of all was how many ponies had turned up for the party. Of course, there was Script, Potion, Uncle Caesar and Silver, but the real shock was Ms. Cheerilee along with the rest of her class and the Mane Six as well along with Potion's friends from school, Chocolate along with another pony she didn't know, one with grey fur and a dark blue mane.
Diamond was sobbing again, but this time they were happy tears. She couldn't believe this many ponies actually cared about her, but she didn't know why.
"Why... Why did you all show up? I don't deserve this!" Diamond sobbed. "Not at all!"
She was then embraced from behind by Raindrops who said kindly to her "Now I wouldn't say that, you've been trying to change and you're well on your way to becoming a better pony."
Diamond sniffed out "T-The kind I want to be?"
Raindrops smiled.
"Yes, the kind you want to be, and if I may be so bold the kind you always were but just needed a little guidance to get you there." Raindrops told her and Diamond smiled and snuggled into Raindrop's warm yellow fur even as the tears continued to flow.
"M-May I call you aunt?" Diamond asked nervously and Raindrops giggled as she said "Technically I'd be your first cousin once removed but yeah, you can call me that if you like."
Then there was another voice, and one of the last ones Diamond expected to hear at this party. Smiling at Diamond was a certain grey furred pony with a blond mane and oddly set eyes with bubbles for a Cutie Mark. Diamond gaped, it was Dinky's adoptive mother Derpy Hooves.
"Raindrops is right you know, you're becoming a better pony. Not perfect... But better." Derpy told Diamond, who was too stunned to speak. Here was one of the last ponies she expected to be nice to her.
"H-How can you say that, after what I said to your daughter? I sent her home in tears!" Diamond exclaimed in disbelief.
"I... Maybe it's just I'm a forgiving kind of pony who's too nice for her own good, or maybe it's just because Script has faith in you... I don't know but the point is I'm willing to try and be friendly to you." Derpy said reluctantly. Now before anyone thinks this was completely out of the blue about Derpy possibly forgiving Diamond just because Script has faith in her, Script was always one of the few ponies to ever be kind to her and not call her all sorts of rude nicknames others called her behind her back when they thought she wasn't listening (Or maybe they knew she was, Derpy had long given up caring.) because of those eyes of hers. Script may have been a jerk half the time, but even he knew there were certain lines you just didn't cross.
"I... I... I don't know what to say." Diamond stammered before she ran off towards the backyard. She needed time to think on this for herself. Everything going on right now at once, it was just too much for her right now.
"I'll go after her, see if she's alright." Silver said at once, and ran after her friend. Perhaps going unseen by anypony except by Fluttershy, Caesar followed after her as well. Meanwhile, Potion had pulled his own father aside (A definite sign that his confidence was improving. The old Potion never would have done THAT.) to a area of the room out of earshot.
"W-We need to talk." Potion stammered, quite nervous from the conversation they were about to have. "I need to know something... I need to know why you never pulled me out of school or at least spoke up in my defense against Golden Coin and his gang. You KNEW I was being bullied and yet at times it never seemed you cared one jot about me!"
Script sighed long ang hard, and hung his head. He should have known this conversation was coming sooner or later. Honestly, if Potion hated him after this he wouldn't blame him. It's be another thing on his long list of failures as a pony.
"You're right, we need to have this conversation, son. As for why I didn't pull you from school, I... I was selfish. I... I suppose maybe I wanted you to grow that confidence for yourself, or maybe I knew that if I stood up for you the bullying would only get worse, and it'd happen behind my back when I wasn't around. Tarterus, it already probably was!" Script muttered, recalling the incident at the Hay Burger. He got ready for the yelling of "I hate you!" from Potion or something along those lines but it never came.
"I... I understand. Maybe you're right and that I needed to grow that confidence for myself without outside help, but I... I just don't know. I don't hate you dad, you had your reasons, some of which I can understand actually." Potion said, and embraced his father in a hug some long standing questions of his finally answered. It was while father and son were hugging, Twilight walked up with a certain decoded letter in one of her hooves.
"What is it? Kinda interrupting a father-son moment here?" Script snapped rudely even as Twilight shuffled her hooves nervously.
"I... I have something you need, no WANT to see." Twilight replied hesitantly and held out the letter which was taken. Twilight looked on as it was read, waiting for the inevitable explosion that was to come after Script had finished it.
"I need you to do something for me. My rightful earnings have been held away from me from far too long, I need them now! Get rid of the Rich Family, and as for their daughter... Well, I'll deal with her."
Love, Caesar.
Script let out a low guttural snarl, almost animalistic in nature making Potion squeak and Twilight take a step back. Script's eyes narrowed as he said one thing and one thing alone.
"Where's my daughter?" He asked, inwardly frightened for her safety but not letting it show. Most of his feelings being on display right now was outright rage.
"I... I think I saw her and Silver heading out to the backyard a few moments ago." Twilight responded nervously, rather afraid of Script and what he might do. And he certainly did something rather rash even as Twilight quickly ran out the front door to find the nearest police pony as she'd seen Caesar himself earlier. Script had turned on his hooves and marched right towards the backyard. That damn bleeding (And he would be, if Script got his hooves on him.) lawyer wasn't getting anywhere near his daughter, not now.
A few minutes ago...
Meanwhile Diamond and Silver were outside in the backyard talking. Silver had thought it a good idea to get Diamond's mind off all of the things going on right now by getting her up to speed on the latest gossip. Currently, Diamond was receiving a full explanation of the "Paintball Chase" incident as it had been started to be called.
"Wait, so Script actually teamed up with Rainbow Cr-Sorry, Dash and his arch-nemesis to deal with some local punks, paintball style and rushed in with silly string only to get pelted?" Diamond asked in disbelief at her adopted caretaker's stupidity. Potion did tell her that his dad didn't always think with his brains and let his temper control his actions sometimes, but this took the cake.
"I know!" Silver exclaimed with a laugh. "What a idiot, right?"
Diamond smiled, she and her friend may be trying to grow nice but that didn't mean they couldn't still be a bit on the sassy side if they wanted to.
"Nice as he is, even I have to admit that was kinda dumb." Diamond admitted, somewhat embarrassed by Script although she had to admit it was also kinda sweet if him to try and get back at Golden Coin for what he did to Potion and nearly driving the young Bat-Pony to suicide.
"Kinda?" Silver asked dryly. Diamond frowned, she was getting the distinct feeling they weren't alone out here. She heard some nearby bushes being rustled from behind her.
"Who's there?" She shouted and all that resulted was Big Mac and Ms Cheerilee running out of the bushes, with Big Mac being covered in kiss marks. Diamond and Silver blushed collectively. They now knew how Potion felt when he wanted to remove some scarring image from his brain.
"Right, well. That was... awkward." Silver blushed and Diamond nodded before saying "To say the least. I'll now have that stuck in my brain forever."
Then, as they were so focused on their shared mentally scarred minds, they didn't notice somepony creep up from behind and knock them out with blows to the head...