Friendship is Shining: Cutie Mark Rising

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Drastic Measures

Twilight Sparkle sat at the table, staring at the milkshake in front of her. She had taken a few sips, but for the most part it had been untouched. Twilight was just not in the mood for it. It was tasty, and her brother meant well, but this was a situation that a delicious sugary treat just could not fix.

Pumpkin Cake and Pound Cake had both finished theirs, and pretty quickly. It was a miracle that neither of them ended up with brain freeze. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom were still drinking theirs. They were actually seeming to enjoy it and feeling a little better, but still pretty subdued.

Twilight took another sip. The normally delicious taste of blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries was absolutely delicious to the little filly. For the moment, she could barely even taste them. Her mind was still reeling from what Shining had said. She had seen what he, their parents, and even Princess Celestia could do with their magic. It had never even crossed her mind as a possibility that there were things magic could never accomplish.

"Alright, Twiley," Pumpkin said as she walked toward the table. "This has gone on for long enough."

Twilight shifted, looking at the yellow unicorn filly.

"What?"

"I'm sorry," Pound added as he joined his sister, "but you leave us no other choice."

"No choice?" Twilight asked. "What are you talking about?"

"We tried to cheer you up," Pound explained. He gave his sister a side long glance and they grinned. "But nothing seemed to work."

"So," Pumpkin continued, "you've forced our hooves. We have no choice but to resort to..."

"Drastic measures!" the twins said simultaneously, as did Pinkie Pie who suddenly appeared behind them.

The pink pony had a bag of flour, and held it above her head. She suddenly upended it, letting the entire contents dump out all over the Cake twins. In mere seconds, the two were covered in a layer of powdery whiteness.

"What was that?" Scootaloo asked.

"Why did you just pour flour all over y'rselves?" Apple Bloom asked.

Twilight stared at the two for a moment. The edges of her lips started twitching to move up into a smile. She placed a hoof over her mouth as short snorts started to escape her. The snorts shifted into a snicker before becoming a giggle. Twilight's giggle then changed into a chortle before bursting into full blown laughter.

"I don't think it was that funny," Sweetie Belle said.

"See?" Pinkie said with a bounce. "Works every time." With that, she bounced away.

"Thanks," Twilight said as she started to calm down, still looking at the flour covered twins.

"You're welcome," Pound said with a smile. He suddenly sneezed, creating a puffy white cloud of flour.

"Just don't get used to it," Pumpkin added. "After all, it's called 'drastic measures' for a reason. Now..." she looked around, "if you'll excuse us, we need to clean up before mom catches us like this."

"Alright," Twilight watched them go, still snickering. She slowly caught her breath and looked around. Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom were all still there, enjoying their milkshakes.

"You know what," Twilight said, "as silly as that was, they're right. We shouldn't let this get us down. It was just our first idea." She stood up, stamping a hoof on the table. "We still have the rest of today, as well as tomorrow and Thursday before Diamond Tiara's cute-ceañera on Friday. That means we have two half-days and a quarter of a day to get you three your cutie marks."

"Two half-days?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well we can't try to get them during school, can we?" Twilight responded.

"We?" Scootaloo asked. "So you're going to try and get yours too?"

"Of course." Twilight shifted. "I just don't have the same time limit since I'm not invited to--"

"Well, well, well," a voice called out, making Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all groan and roll their eyes. "What do we have here?"

A pink earth pony walked toward the table. She had purple mane and tail streaked with white. On her head was a wire crown with several jewels, and on her flank was a picture of the exact same thing. Behind her was a silvery grey filly wearing glasses.

"What do you want Diamond Tiara?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I was just coming in to check on things for my super amazing and, like, totally awesome cute-ceañera being held here this Friday," Diamond Tiara said. "Then I saw, like, the three blank flanks from class just sitting here in the corner looking lame." She looks at Twilight. "Who's this? Another blank flank loser."

The sound of a hoof slamming against a table echoed through the bakery.

"I am not a loser!" Twilight snapped. "And neither are they." She glared at Diamond Tiara, eyes narrow. Bits of magic sparked from the tip of her horn.

"Yeah right..." Diamond Tiara looked at Twilight a moment. "...whatever your name is."

"My name is-"

"Who cares? I mean you're probably not anypony important, like my dad. He is, like, the richest pony in Ponyville."

"Yeah," Silver Spoon added.

"Well my brother is the student of Princess Celestia, and has saved not only Ponyville, but all of Equestria," Twilight stated.

"Wow," Silver Spoon said. "That'-" She stopped as Diamond Tiara put a hoof over Silver Spoon's mouth.

"-is so lame," Diamond Tiara finished. "I mean what kind of loser has to brag about what other ponies have done to make themselves feel big and special."

"...but..." Twilight sputtered in confusion, "but you just..."

"Ugh," Diamond Tiara groaned, rolling her eyes. "Whatever. I supposed if I was a blank flank nopony like you, I would try to make up stories about how cool somepony I know is too."

"I'm not making anything up!"

"What-ever." Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes again.

Twilight Sparkle glared at the filly, her face turning bright red.

"You... You..." she stumbled. "Oooh.... Why don't you just... Go soak your head!"

As Twilight yelled, her horn exploded with a burst of dark pink magical energy.

"He-hey!" Diamond Tiara shouted as she was engulfed by the same color of magic and lifted from the ground. "Wh-what's going on?"

The pink filly squirmed and kicked as she floated in the air, hanging upside down. All the other foals could just look on, eyes wide and mouths gaping. Diamond Tiara continued to float head down, and started to move across the room.

"How are you doing that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I don't know," Twilight answered. "I'm not."

"What-what are you doing?" Diamond Tiara cried out as she saw she was headed toward the door of the mare's bathroom. "I order you to stop this instant. Put me down. This is, like totally unfair."

The door swung open and Diamond's body pressed against it. Her shouting echoed off the walls and could be heard. Several ponies watched, mostly in confusion.

"What?!" Diamond Tiara shrieked. "NO! Don't! Don't you-"

Whatever the filly was going to say next was cut off by her screaming. The scream gave way to a wet gurgling sound, followed by the flushing of a toilet.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Silver Spoon all turned to stare at Twilight Sparkle with their eyes wide.

"You stuck her head in a toilet?" Silver Spoon asked, seeming not to believe it.

"Uhm..." Twilight shifted uncomfortably. "It was an accident?"

Silver Spoon turned and ran to the bathroom. She slammed through the door and to her friend.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Let me die," Diamond Tiara groaned.

"I'll go get your dad," Silver Spoon said. She then left the bathroom and ran out of Sugarcube Corner.

"That was the best thing ever!" Scootaloo squealed, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Scootaloo!" Sweetie Belle scolded. "No it's not."

"It really was an accident," Twilight said. "I didn't mean to. I just... I don't know how to use magic yet, and I got so mad. It just sort of.... happened."

Apple Bloom moved over and put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, giving a gentle pat.

"It's alright," the yellow filly said. "Ah know you would never do somethin' like that on purpose. Even to a pony like Diamond Tiara."

"Thanks," Twilight said with a smile. She suddenly froze, ears dropping and eyes going wide.

"Oh, saddle sores." She started to grab her stuff. "I better get home and tell Shining Armor what happened before he hears it from another pony. He's going to be mad if he finds out that way. We'll all get together tomorrow after school and see about getting our cutie marks."

She then took off, running past the Cake twins as they were coming back down stairs from cleaning up. Twilight ran for the library as fast as she could, leaving behind three conflicted fillies, two confused cakes, and one angry wet Diamond Tiara.

Comments

[SageBrony07]

That was great. Diamond Tiara getting a swirlly. Man though that isn't going to end well.

[Starlight Nova]

What is the Shiny-verse?

[Hopeful_Ink_Hoof]

4295964
It's a series of stories where Shining Armor takes the place of Twilight Sparkle, with said character being his little sister, and all the consequences thereof. It's based on the Twiley chapter of Crisis of Infinite Twilights written by defender2222. The Shiny-verse is a name given to it to differentiate it from the main universe, similar to the Luna-verse or Cadance-verse.

[TheVirginianist]

It's most likely that Twilight will get her Cutie Mark, if I'm not mustaking...

[HB_DS2013]

Finally! DT getting some form of payback in an alternate universe! In all the fics with DT, she NEVER gets her comeuppance. And yet you did it. Here you go.

[SuperPinkBrony12]

4295930 Diamond Tiara should be lucky. If Twily had really tried hard enough she probably could've flushed Diamond Tiara. Heck, she probably flushed Diamond's tiara.

[ShadowLDrago]

4300839

Agreed! So worth it! So Twilight's magic I starting to show itself, nice, she's even younger than Sweetie Belle but her magic is strong enough to lift a filly and give her a swirly.