First drops of rain banged against the leaves. Diamond Tiara looked at the pony in front of her, who was standing in the middle of the swamp, unfazed by its smell.
“It’s impossible,” she said calmly. “You’re locked in Trottingham. I must be dreaming.”
Curtain Call turned her big, green eyes at her and started to play with her braid. “Of course it is,” she replied. “But who can tell what is a dream? Maybe you’re locked with me and this–” she pointed at the trees, “–is just a scenography? It’s raining, but we are dry. We’re sitting in the mud, but we’re clean.”
“Oh, come on…” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “You’re gonna teach me about what is real? Don’t you remember the pageant?”
“There’s no pageant,” Curtain Call replied, smiling in her usual, a bit unconscious way. “But I prefer to think that there is. You know what’s the alternative…”
Diamond Tiara felt a chill running down her spine. Suddenly, she saw that Curtain Call was now right behind her. She jumped, startled and tried to run away, but her hooves refused to follow her orders.
“Oh, I see that you get the idea,” the filly said. “Who knows, maybe there’s no Ponyville… No Silver Spoon… Just the loneliness and cold walls of the mental hospital…”
Everything around them started to blur. Diamond Tiara looked around in panic, but now she couldn’t even see Curtain Call’s face.
“Insomnia… aggression… I doubt she’ll ever get better…” Midline Shift’s voice was coming from somewhere above her.
“Oh yeah…” Barrel Cortex replied. “I’m afraid she’ll have to stay here forever…”
“Forever…” Pepper’s voice rang in her ears.
“Forever!” Sunshine Rainbows laughed. For a moment, Diamond Tiara caught a glimpse of her, waving her bloodied hoof at her.
“Maybe now you’ll play in a pageant with me?” Curtain Call asked with hope in her voice.
“There’s no pageant…”
“But there can be… You and me will make a lovely play…” Curtain Call appeared in front of her, smiling impishly. “Who knows, maybe we’ll get more ponies to star in it?”
“There’s no pageant!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, trying to push her away.
“Diamond! Are you okay?”
Diamond Tiara’s eyes shot open when she heard Filthy Rich’s voice. She grabbed her pillow and hugged it, tears flowing down her face. She looked around and saw her father standing in the door to her room with worried expression.
“Y-yes…” she replied. “I… I had a bad dream…”
Filthy Rich sat next to her. She noticed that he looked much better than before she’d gone to Trottingham. “Is that…?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. “I guess it’s just because of Zippoorwhill… I talked to her a bit before… She seemed so normal...”
Filthy Rich nodded understandingly. “Sometimes it’s hard to say what’s going on in a pony’s head…” he replied.
Diamond Tiara had never agreed with him so much before. “I sometimes think that… that I’m getting too used to that,” she said.
“What do you mean?” Filthy Rich asked.
“The whole…” She pointed her hoof at the window. “The ponies dying… The atmosphere… Randolph…”
Since she’d returned, Filthy Rich ordered Randolph to walk with her any time when she was going to the town. No foal died since Twist and Alula were found, but he didn’t want to take any chances.
Her father remained silent.
“I’ll go back to sleep,” Diamond Tiara said. “I want to see Silver Spoon tomorrow.”
“I’ll tell Randolph in the morning,” Filthy Rich said. “Goodnight, Diamond.”
“Goodnight, dad,” Diamond Tiara replied. When he left the room, she pulled the blanket over her head and sighed.
She felt that she wasn’t going to sleep that night.
Silver Spoon was sitting at the window of her room, watching the street below. A couple of foals went down the pavement, accompanied by Carrot Top. Silver noticed Carrot’s daughter, Ginger Snap, walking in the group. She was wearing her filly scout uniform, so Silver deduced that they were going camping.
Suddenly, she saw Diamond Tiara trotting towards her house. Randolph was walking slowly behind her, looking around carefully. Silver Spoon began to wonder how’d he help Diamond Tiara if someone wanted to kill her. Maybe he’d scare the killer away?
She got up and went downstairs where she nearly bumped into her mother.
“Where are you going, hon?” Silverspeed asked. She was wearing a brightly-coloured apron. Even though she was rich, she still liked to cook by herself.
“I saw Diamond Tiara coming here,” Silver replied.
“Oh, it’s good she’s back,” her mother said. “I thought that you were going to spend the whole summer in your room…”
“I didn’t sit there the whole summer…” Silver muttered.
“Yeah, you’re going downstairs when you’re hungry… Really, if you had a fridge in your room, I’d forget what you look like…” Silverspeed shook her head. “You really should go out more. Maybe you should become a filly scout, like Carrot Top’s daughter?”
“No, thanks…” Silver Spoon replied, imagining what Diamond Tiara would say if she saw her in a uniform.
They heard knocking at the door. Silver Spoon ran to the hall and opened it.
“Diamond Tiara!” she exclaimed and pulled her friend into a hug. She felt Diamond’s muscles tense, as if she want to push her away. Maybe she doesn’t want Randolph to see that? she thought.
“Hello,” Diamond Tiara said. “Good morning, Ms. Silverspeed,” she added when she saw Silver Spoon’s mother.
“How are you?” Silver Spoon asked. “Better?”
“Yeah, much better,” Diamond Tiara replied absentmindedly. “Randolph, you can go. I’ll be going back about eight.”
“Yes, Miss Tiara,” Randolph replied. He bowed and walked away.
He seems almost invisible, Silver Spoon thought, watching him. Who knows, maybe he’s the killer? No one would suspect him.
“Good to see you back, Diamond,” Silverspeed said. “Do you want something to eat?”
“No, thanks,” Diamond Tiara replied. Silver Spoon noticed that she wasn’t as cheerful as usual; her eyes were half-closed; her fur lost its shine. Maybe it was a side effect of some medicines?
They walked upstairs to Silver Spoon’s room. Diamond Tiara sat on an armchair and looked at the shelves, where Silver’s collection of rare spoons was.
“Any new ones?” she asked.
“My aunt sent me one from Stalliongrad.” Silver Spoon went to a shelf and took a wooden spoon painted in leaf-like motifs. Diamond Tiara looked at it and a faint smile appeared on her face.
“How’s your vacation?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing special…” Silver Spoon replied. “I’m just sitting here, thinking… Even though no foal died recently, I’m kinda afraid… And you know me, I don’t like, umm… company…”
“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara smirked. “And how about DJ Pon3? I’ve heard that she died…”
“That was horrible…” Silver Spoon’s eyes widened. “Berry Punch beat her to death… She thought that Vinyl killed Ruby…” When she looked at Diamond Tiara she saw that she was staring blankly at something in the corner of her room. Silver Spoon followed her gaze, but there was nothing there. “Are you okay?”
“Y-yes…” Diamond Tiara replied. “I mean… That’s really terrible. And what’s with all those ponies in the street? They don’t seem nice...”
“They’re helping the guards to find the killer… But they mostly accuse each other,” Silver Spoon replied. “Zippoorwhill’s father almost beat them when they came to his house… He thinks Berry killed Vinyl because of them…”
Diamond Tiara looked through the window and saw Time Turner and Roseluck patrolling the street. She noticed a sleepy bat pony walking on the other side of the pavement. The members of the neighbourhood watch were eyeing her curiously.
“Mom says that they panic too much,” Silver Spoon said. “She says that the killer ran away to the Crystal Empire or somewhere far away…”
“And what do you think?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Who do you think it is?”
“You’ll laugh… For a moment today I thought it was Randolph…” Silver Spoon replied.
Diamond Tiara gave out a little chuckle. “Randolph? Why’d he do that?”
“I don’t know… In books it’s always the butler…” Suddenly, Silver Spoon’s expression turned somber. “Once I had a dream that it was my dad…”
“But that’s impossible, right?” Diamond Tiara asked. “He’s still in Vanhoover…”
“Yes; and he’s not going to be released anytime soon…” Silver Spoon sighed. Diamond Tiara knew how hard it was for her to talk about that.
“Good,” Diamond Tiara said, looking at the corner of Silver’s room again. For a moment, they were sitting in silence.
“How was, umm… the hospital?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Crazy…” Diamond Tiara smiled. “All those ponies… Not to mention Zippoorwhill… She came there, I talked to her and then… She’s gone. Just like that… And I couldn’t even make myself care… Like… I got used to death…”
“So did I,” Silver Spoon replied. “It’s the town, you know… I just wait for something to happen… Who’ll be next… Will it be me?”
“No,” Diamond Tiara replied. Silver Spoon looked at her, surprised. “I mean… I don’t think the killer would want to kill you…”
“Why do you think so?” Silver Spoon asked.
“Who’d want to kill you, Silver? You’re the best, kindest friend I know…” Diamond Tiara replied, hugging her.
Few hours later, Diamond Tiara was trotting home with Randolph. She noticed that Time Turner and Roseluck were no longer patrolling the street, replaced by Big Macintosh and Applejack. From what Silver told her, the Element Bearers were also involved in looking for the killer. Some ponies were saying that Twilight Sparkle even asked Princess Luna to search the dreams of all the inhabitants of Equestria to look for some clues.
I doubt she did that… Diamond Tiara thought. Luna would surely see–
Hello, Diamond! Curtain Call was trotting next to her as if she was really there, though Diamond Tiara was sure that she was the only one who could see her. She was with her all the time, sitting calmly in the corner of Silver Spoon’s room. I saw kids going camping! Maybe they’ll also want to play in our pageant?
“There’s no pageant,” Diamond Tiara muttered through gritted teeth. Randolph looked at her, but said nothing; Diamond Tiara smiled sheepishly at him.
Oh, come on! Why don’t we go there and ask them? Curtain Call insisted. I’m so bored…
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. I’m not going to talk to you, she thought. You don’t exist.
Oh, please… Suddenly, Curtain Call appeared in front of her. Her green eyes were almost hypnotizing; her mane became an orange blur. A strange thought appeared in Diamond Tiara’s mind. As she walked, it was growing clearer and clearer, till it finally flashed before her eyes.
The outskirts...
Cloud Kicker looked at the moon above her; she could swear that its position was completely different than a couple of minutes before. She faintly remembered the navigation lessons back in the Cloudsdale Academy; she wasn’t sure, but the moon probably wasn’t supposed to do that.
Also, they told us not to drink and fly… she thought, recalling all the beer she’d drunk before she decided to take that flight. Definitely, it was affecting her orientation in the night sky. Not to mention that she already felt how true was an old saying about renting beer instead of buying it.
She took a long, hungry look at the small hut at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Well, Dusk Dancer could wait. She found a strategically placed group of bushes on the ground and landed next to them. She put the safety matches and a can of kerosene on the ground and hid between the bushes to get rid of the beer.
A couple of minutes later she was back. She looked at the ground, searching for matches and the can, but she couldn’t find them. She scratched her head.
“Must’ve forgotten them…” she muttered to herself. The world was spinning around her, which wasn’t helping her to focus. “Or maybe I just…” She looked at Dusk Dancer’s house. “What am I even doing? They’ll lock me with Berry...” She shrugged and took off clumsily, almost losing balance.
It seemed that the way home was going to be long. She had problems with flapping her wings in a coherent way. She brushed against a tree branch and barely avoided crashing into an old oak. For a brief moment she thought about just sleeping it off on some cloud, but all of them were out of her reach. She didn’t want to risk flying too high in such a state.
Another tree appeared just a couple of feet in front of her. She straightened her wings to slow herself down, but even then she rammed into the treetop. Branches scratched her face and a large bough hit her stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs.
“Shit…” Cloud Kicker hissed through gritted teeth. She climbed onto a branch and lay flat on it. “No more flying for me today…”
She closed her eyes and snored.
“Hey! She’s here!”
Cloud Kicker groaned. Bright sunlight assaulted her eyes. She felt as if there was an iron foundry in her head. She even could smell the smoke.
“She’s here!”
Of course I’m here… she thought. Shut up and let me sleep…
“Applejack! Don’t–!”
“Thud!”
The whole tree shook as if it was hit with a pile driver. For a one, blissful moment, Cloud Kicker felt a familiar sensation of flying. Then she hit the ground.
“Wake up!” Somepony caught her mane and shook her brutally.
“Minuette! Enough! Somepony call Front Kick!” Applejack exclaimed. Cloud Kicker recognised her accent immediately.
Cloud Kicker rolled on her legs. Just like every pegasus, she knew that gravity was a harsh mistress, but the effects of her punishments weren’t usually long-lasting. If only the smell of smoke could leave her nostrils alone…
She blinked and looked at the ponies in front of her. Applejack’s hat was missing; she was covered in ashes. Minuette had a long burn on her side, but she seemed unfazed by it. There was also Derpy Hooves with them; when Cloud Kicker looked at her, she felt chill running down her spine – for the first time in her life she saw such disdain in her eyes.
“What the hay…” she muttered.
“Front Kick will explain that to you,” Derpy said. “And pray that Riot Control or Carrot Top don’t get you earlier…”
Cloud Kicker saw the guard walking to them through the grass. He was wearing an expression of worry – and Cloud Kicker knew that a guard with such expression meant bad news.
“Good morning, Ms. Cloud Kicker,” he said. “You’ll go with me.”
“Wait… What did I do?” she asked. “Is it about flying intoxicated? Or sleeping on a tree?”
Front Kick looked into her eyes. She felt that her fur was drenched with sweat. “Someone lit the meadow on fire…” he explained. “Unfortunately, it was in the place where filly scouts were camping.”
Cloud Kicker froze. Then she remembered that she’d left the matches and kerosene at home.
“Some of the foals are wounded… One of them… Riot Control’s granddaughter… is dead,” Front Kick continued.
“Do… do you have the suspect?” Cloud Kicker asked, her throat dry. She didn’t like the looks Derpy, Minuette and Applejack were giving her.
“Well… we found an empty can of kerosene…” Front Kick said. “There were hoofprints on it. We identified them as belonging to a mare who was caught shoplifting in Cloudsdale, a couple of years ago…”
Cloud Kicker shuddered. She remembered exactly a rather unpleasant visit on the Royal Guard station, a short trial and long hours spent cleaning the lower levels of the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. She remembered how she promised herself that it was the last time she’d ever done something against the law.
Something clicked and she felt the hoofcuffs closing around her forelegs.
Cold.
The bathroom floor was cold. Diamond Tiara shuddered. Her stomach was burning; she crawled to the toilet bowl and threw up again. She made sure that the door was closed; last thing she wanted was her father seeing her like that.
She swallowed saliva, feeling the bitter taste of bile in her mouth. Then she flushed the toilet and went to the shower.
“That was awesome!” Curtain Call exclaimed. “We really need to do that again…”
Diamond Tiara looked at her. She could still see her excitement when they were avoiding the members of the neighbourhood watch; how she spotted drunk Cloud Kicker going somewhere and how it gave them the idea; Curtain Call’s mane, flowing as if the filly was a princess; becoming one with the raging fire. How she danced in flames, reciting a poem she probably had made herself.
Scouting is fun, scouting is games,
Scouts are all caring and helpful;
Scout Ginger Snap, she died in flames,
probably she wasn’t careful.
“We’ll do that one more time, right?” Curtain Call asked, looking at Diamond Tiara with hope in her eyes.
Diamond Tiara glared at her angrily and turned the tap. Cold water seeped into her fur, rinsing the ash and kerosene. “This will end,” she replied. “This will end today…”
....What the hell did I just read?
4709796
You mean the chapter or the A/N? If the former, Diamond Tiara lost it almost completely; if the latter, Rumble looks better in the filly scout uniform than he should...
4709833 Oh, and here I thought that Curtain Call was a demon from Tartarus. And I meant the chapter, but he does.
4709836
Hmm, in fact it's an interesting interpretation... A demon looking like a foal trying to complete the cast of Hearth's Warming Eve pageant...
4709869 Hey you're right, it does sound interesting
Not sure how I feel about Curtain Call all a sudden. I guess as a sort of hallucination is one thing, but there's been so much buildup with DT and some sort of thing within her pressing against her skull till she kills somepony. I really liked the setup with Cloud Kicker. Hope we get to see how they burned alive without being able to run away or hearing anypony move along the bushes. After all the buildup for getting to Riot Control's daughter's death, I'd want to see their last moments and what led to the scars.
Given how last chapters were written, almost feels like we'll get just that anyways.
But yeah, is this going to start focusing more on Curtain Call or will DT find some way to go hoof to hoof with her one day? What IS making DT so wild? Thought she still had some innocence in her when she tried not to continue senseless killing. Now that Luna is out on patroling dreams in Ponyville... things might get iffy. Though, if Scootaloo's dream taught us anything, is that Luna can't breach or stay within a pony's dream (mind) for long if some force doesn't want her there. Scootaloo's own fears created a barrier between herself and Luna and even expelled her from her dream. Though, anything the moonlight touches... can potentially be a sort of MGS "!" game over.
Things just got serious. Lets see how this goes!
P.S. You really need to fix your "A" key on your keyboard! xD
Got a few missing "a"'s in there: "She felt a chill down her spine" and a line from Filthy Rich.
Wasn't looking for any mistakes, but it's one of your most recurring bits in this story I've noticed the most.
Riot Control: "This just got personal."
And what did Diamond mean by "This ends today?"
She's not thinking of turning herself in, is she?
Don't do it, Diamond! There are still a lot of characters to kill!
So, her defense is going to be "I was drunk and going to burn down the bat pony's home because she's a bat pony! I have no idea how the Filly Scouts caught on fire!"
Now things have gone from bad to worse. I think that more victims will come later and it will go to adults next.
I forgive you for killing Zipporwhill. But I have to say that Curtain Call being involved with this is quite strange. Then again your Tool stories showed that things can take interesting turns. So who knows? Maybe Curtain Call is actually controlling Diamond Tiara in some way and how could she control diamond Tiara if she only met DT after the third and fourth victims were killed?
By the way what is Curtain Call's race? I don't think you ever mentioned it.
4710049
Generally, DT's ilness progresses: at first it was a feeling, an urge to kill, then there were voices and now she can also see Curtain Call...
Yeah, I sometimes forget my a's, probably because my native language doesn't use articles. The other thing I noticed about my writing is that I sometimes automatically write "door" as a plural noun (ie. "the door were", etc).
4710399
I'd say DT prefers more definite solutions...
4710503
She'd better get a lawyer. Not even a good one, just someone who'll tell her to shut up instead of making matters worse.
4711890
She's an earth pony.
4713722 Yeah, it's certainly ramping up to the hallucinations and "This is who you really are" mental deterioration right, I was just wondering if it'll ever morph beyond Curtain Call. It's pretty cool to see she had such an impact on DT that her subconscious, and all the stories she's heard about the filly, have her dreaming and seeing her so vividly.
May not be your first language but damn if you don't write it well! I'm also really impressed with all the constant updates. Most the times I have to wait weeks if not months before someone decides to release a new chapter, if not totally lose interest in their work before it ends. So, yeah, glad to see some people like you and a few others continue to dish out these chapters for us.
Well, pretty excited to see what happens next.
4713773
Well, I'm quite surprised that I manage to write stories without losing interest in them... I just checked, since last August I published 211,509 words and it doesn't include the unpublished, waiting for proofreading chapters of A Kingdom Divided (about 60k words). And I made a lot of progress in both my writing and my command of English.
Probably the fact that I wait with publishing till I write at least a couple of chapters (usually five) is helping with that. For example, I've recently started writing a story taking place a few years after this one (not a sequel, but rather a spin-off), and I'm planning to write a story connecting them in one continuity.
Curtain Call scares me... More please!
Also, I wonder who's going to be killed by civilians next. It's like that one game where one person is the killer and everyone else is trying to kill people to find out who the murderer is
I still don't know whether or not I want DT to get away with this
I got it now
What dt saw in her dreams she was actually sleepwalking.
The pony who crashed wasn't scootaloo.
It was Alula.
The pony who found dt
It was twist.
Pleasr tell me if this theory is correct pls.
4721874
Yes, it's correct
Before I begin, I just wish to say that I've been following this story for a few weeks now, and I am simply enthralled. Barely a paragraph into the new chapter after a few days away and I'm clutching myself, terrified. I have the desire to continue, to see how the entire story unravels. Yet, at the same time, I don't. I've found that this story draws out a physical reaction of fear from me, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that comes with the knowledge that despite the happy ending I wish for, there is no way that this can end even slightly pleasant.
In reading this story, I am reminded of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, described by the author as a 'Non-Fiction Novel' regarding the horrific and real life murder of a family of four in small American town during the 1950's. In it, Capote three stories throughout the book. The murder, the killers, and the effect of the murder on the people living in the town. Much like in Sleepless, the citizens of the town had changed from trusting, close neighbours to accusing each other. People who had been friends for years were calling each other murderers. Nobody could look at each other in the same way, and everybody was constantly living in fear.
I was into fanfiction a few years ago, but had stopped after reading wave after wave of mediocre stories. Now, four years later, you have not only restored my faith in the potential for fanfiction to be worth reading. I have been inspired to pick up the fanfiction writing pen once more, and it is thanks to you. This story is beautiful, and I cannot wait to learn how it ends.
Thank you, for creating such a beautiful and harrowing story
I apologise for my wall of text, I have a habit of rambling.
Before I begin, I just wish to say that I've been following this story for a few weeks now, and I am simply enthralled. Barely a paragraph into the new chapter after a few days away and I'm clutching myself, terrified. I have the desire to continue, to see how the entire story unravels. Yet, at the same time, I don't. I've found that this story draws out a physical reaction of fear from me, a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that comes with the knowledge that despite the happy ending I wish for, there is no way that this can end even slightly pleasant.
In reading this story, I am reminded of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, described by the author as a 'Non-Fiction Novel' regarding the horrific and real life murder of a family of four in small American town during the 1950's. In it, Capote three stories throughout the book. The murder, the killers, and the effect of the murder on the people living in the town. Much like in Sleepless, the citizens of the town had changed from trusting, close neighbours to accusing each other. People who had been friends for years were calling each other murderers. Nobody could look at each other in the same way, and everybody was constantly living in fear.
I was into fanfiction a few years ago, but had stopped after reading wave after wave of mediocre stories. Now, four years later, you have not only restored my faith in the potential for fanfiction to be worth reading. I have been inspired to pick up the fanfiction writing pen once more, and it is thanks to you. This story is beautiful, and I cannot wait to learn how it ends.
Thank you, for creating such a beautiful and harrowing story
I apologise for my wall of text, I have a habit of rambling.
4739583
Thanks for the comment I like long comments.
I know that feeling, but it's quite rare. In fact, there was only one story that managed to evoke it in me...
Generally, the whole arc focusing on the Ponyville inhabitants reactions started when we were brainstorming with Bootsy and we noticed that Ponyville is a great setting for horror – small town, big scary forest, the ponies seem friendly at first, but in fact many of them are jerks, even in canon (Bon Bon, Cherry Berry...). Then I started writing. When I write, I do some planning, but often I write something that just feels natural in context of the story (for example, Silver Spoon's reaction after Scootaloo hit her spawned the whole series of small hints... Though I'm still waiting for someone to put them together...). First it was Berry Punch and her reaction to Ruby's death (generally, the whole idea with blaming Vinyl started because of my other story, called Creation). Then I realised that almost all of the foals DT killed had some kind of family (canon or not – Cloud Kicker and Alula were together in Sisterhooves Social and I like to think of Twist and Bon Bon as siblings) and I decided that it might be interesting to explore their reactions... It turned out to be even better than writing about Diamond Tiara...
4827803 What a mystery it is you were thinking of.
Oh god...
Wait, so did DT set the bat-pony house on fire AND the meadow, or just the meadow?