The Secrets of Equestria

by Manaphy

Diamond Tiara: An Evening with Lightning

"Thanks for sharing your story with us, Lightning Dust," a mare with a light pink mane said. "We'll get back to you as soon as possible." With a smile and a nod, the mare known as Nurse Redheart left the room and closed the door on the way out. Lightning Dust wiggled under the sheets as she reclined on the bed before stretching her forelegs and letting out a yawn. After that, everything went silent. And to somepony who thrived on noise like Diamond Tiara, the quietness was unbearable.

Diamond let out a quiet sigh as she gazed at the clock in the vanilla colored room Lightning Dust rested in. She was still awake and had her eyes open, but all she did was stare at the window and into the outside world, the chatter of mares and stallions only a faint whisper from within the confines of the hospital room.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Aside from the bed, the window to its right, and the tan-colored woven chairs Diamond and Silver Spoon sat in, the room had nothing that made it stand out or give it character. No fancy colors or a design on the walls to liven it up, only a small lamp overhead to provide a glimmer of light when night came, and an oak desk low to the ground with a few magazines sprawled over it like a collage. The magazines were the usual kinds that adorned waiting rooms or patient rooms, out of date and dull as far as Diamond was concerned. The woven chair pinching on her back didn't help matters, and made her want this checkup to fly past even more. All there was to play was the game of counting every tick of the clock.

Tick tock. Tick tock.

Diamond glanced over to Silver Spoon, who was reading a publication titled "Scientific Inquiry". Her eyes danced from word to word and her face remained expressionless. Diamond let out a quiet sigh. She could always talk to Silver Spoon about what she was reading, but the things she read in books, magazines, or novels may as well be written in a foreign language or in runes. She could still ask her about the blank flanks or what they just went through, but should she interrupt her friend just to talk about something that just happened?

Diamond looked back over to Lightning Dust, still staring at the outdoors with sagging shoulders and a doleful posture. Maybe she could discuss something with her, but what? It's not like they had anything in common. Diamond rubbed her muzzle and raised her eyebrows. Perhaps she could ask Lightning Dust what caused her to act so unusual before the blank flanks left for Princess Twilight's castle.

A spark formed in her mind and Diamond's eyes widened. "That's it," she muttered to herself.

Lightning Dust turned to Diamond and cocked her head. "Did you say something?" she asked.

Diamond nodded to confirm. "I wanted to ask you a question."

"What kind of question?"

Diamond tapped her hoof on the ground. "Why were you acting so weird when it came to sending you to the hospital? Are you afraid of needles or something?"

Lightning shook her head at a quick rate, but not so rapid to where it felt insincere. "Nope, but I have my reasons."

Silver Spoon put her magazine down and crossed her forelegs. "Hold on a second," she said in a commanding tone. "You said that there was nothing you were afraid of about taking you to the hospital. Why are you confessing right now after all the trouble you went through to say otherwise?"

"I was fighting a losing battle with you two, so I figured I'd get it over with." Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. "You and your three other friends can be quite stubborn."

"What?" Diamond shouted at the top of her lungs. She felt a chill run down her spine and her cheeks blushed. She leaped out of her chair and stood as tall as she could. "We're not friends with the blank flanks. We're just, um, what's the word?"

"Acquaintances?" Silver Spoon suggested in an uncertain tone.

"That's it! Acquaintances! Whatever that word means."

Lightning Dust winced a little and recoiled away from the two fillies. "Calm down there, kiddo. I didn't mean to get you all rustled up there."

Diamond growled under her clenched teeth before shaking her head. She took a deep breath and raised her hoof in the air. "Well then, since you've bugged me right there, why don't you just tell us why you were acting so weird back then."

Lightning Dust let out a groan and pounded the bed she rested on with her hooves. Her body visibly tensed up for a fraction of a second before loosening up. Her shoulders sagged. "Fine, I'll tell you."

"So what is it?"

"I'm nervous about who will show up after I explained what happened."

Diamond cocked her head with a befuddled expression. "Huh? Explain what you're talking about."

Lightning Dust took a deep breath. "Okay, so you know how sometimes the Wonderbolts handle investigations and the like?"

Diamond nodded and her eyebrows furrowed. "Duh! Who doesn't know that?"

"Whatever." Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I was a trainee at the Wonderbolt Academy, and I got into some huge trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Silver Spoon asked.

Lightning Dust winced, her cheeks flushing. "I may have kinda, sorta made a tornado in a cloud kicking exercise and nearly injured five of the Element Bearers." She let out an embarrassed chuckle. "Yeah, I went overboard there."

Silver Spoon gasped with a wide open jaw. "You what?"

Straightening herself out, Lightning Dust cleared her throat. "When Spitfire, who was judging the trainees' performance for this session, got wind of the situation, she was furious!"

"Did she kick you out?" Diamond asked.

"She didn't, but I got demoted to permanent wingpony for the remainder of the session. Still, that wasn't the only thing I did."

Diamond let out a deep sigh. "What did you do this time?"

"In the Tirek incident, I and a few other ponies got too eager to play the role of hero and charged at him instead of actually giving the strategists time to think. We accidentally ended up forcing the rest of the pegasi there to follow suit when they had nowhere to run."

Diamond and Silver let out a simultaneous groan and planted a hoof to their face. Diamond couldn't help but think that Lightning Dust made Scootaloo look like Starswirl the Bearded by comparison.

"Spitfire was mad again, and this time she did kick me out," Lightning Dust said in a dour tone. "I was asking for it at that point."

"So when you said you were trying to be the hero in the Tirek incident back at the old castle, you were actually fibbing to us?" Silver Spoon asked in an agitated tone. "That's why you were a bit hesitant to talk with us when we were outside the old castle?"

Lightning Dust bobbed her head. "Yes," she bluntly said.

"You're a bigger idiot than I could have ever imagined," Diamond Tiara sniped.

"Look, the whole point is that I'm concerned that a Wonderbolt, or Rainbow Dash if fate really wants to play with me, sees me again and gives me a verbal lashing."

"Ms. Lightning Dust," Nurse Redheart's voice said from behind the door. "You have a visitor, um, I mean visitors."

The beige colored door swung wide open. Trotting inside were a pair of pegasi with stern expressions and folded up wings. One was a yellow mare with a flaming orange mane and tail and the other was a cyan mare with a rainbow mane and tail. Lightning Dust gawked at the two and rubbed her eyes as she recoiled behind the blanket covering her. Diamond knew who they were, and she couldn't stop herself from sneaking a faint giggle as she stared at Lightning Dust grimacing at the duo.

"Just my luck," Lightning Dust muttered under her breath, but loud enough for everypony to hear. "Spitfire and Rainbow Dash."

Diamond slipped a chortle in before clearing her throat. "You should know better than to tempt fate like that," she said in a playful tone.

"Lightning Dust," Spitfire said, trotting towards her with a stern expression. "I'm not here to scold you or anything. I'm here to help."

Lightning Dust shifted her eyes towards Rainbow Dash and scrunched her face. "Then why is she here?" she asked as she pouted.

"I'm here because Spitfire is showing me the different things a Wonderbolt does," Rainbow said.

"How did—"

"I'm in the Wonderbolts Reserves now." Rainbow cracked a smug smirk that grew wider until Spitfire nudged her, erasing the cocky grin with a serious visage. "It's important to learn how to talk with ponies in an effective manner."

Sighing, Lightning Dust stretched her forelegs and leaned towards the two pegasi. "Okay, fair enough. I'm guessing you're here to ask me about what got me here in the first place."

Spitfire nodded. "Exactly." She reached into the saddlebag she had with her and pulled out a notepad and a pen before sitting down. "Now then, can you tell me a little about the cloaked figure who attacked you?"

"Um, excuse me," Silver Spoon said meekly.

"Is there something wrong?"

"Should Diamond and I leave you three alone?"

Spitfire shook her head. "You don't have to leave at all. Besides, if you have anything that might help this investigation, I'm more than willing to listen."

"I see." Silver Spoon's lips curled into a bright smile and she bobbed her head. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." Spitfire's face formed a warm grin. "Do you mind telling me your name?"

"Silver Spoon, Miss Spitfire."

"Are we going to do this investigation or not?" Lightning Dust asked in an agitated tone.

Shifting her attention towards Lightning Dust in the blink of an eye, Spitfire's eyebrows furrowed. "We've got plenty of time, Lightning Dust," she said in a cold tone.

Diamond flinched, almost falling off of her chair in the process. She quickly readjusted herself, fighting off the shivers in her body, and gazed at Spitfire. Such an attitude rivaled her's whenever the Cutie Mark Crusaders were irritating her, which was often, but something about Spitfire tickled Diamond's mind. Even with her voice at maximum volume and her face devoid of smiles, there was a quality inside of Spitfire that evoked sympathy and kindness.

"But why?" Diamond whispered to herself. She rubbed the top of her head, the sensation in her mind refusing to dissipate. "No, not why, how? Whenever I talk like that, I scare others silly. But when she does it, there's still something about her that's approachable." Diamond's head pounded, her brain turned to mush as she attempted to solve this riddle. "Maybe it's something that Spitfire has that I don't, but what could that be?"

"Um, Diamond Tiara?" Rainbow Dash inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Do you have something to say?"

Diamond trembled ever so slightly, nearly pushing her off of the woven chair once again. Straightening herself out for the second time, she shook her head. "I don't. Just thinking out loud is all."

"Okay then," Spitfire said. She looked back to Lightning Dust and crossed her legs. "Now then, let's start from the beginning. Where were you attacked by the cloaked figure?"

"He attacked me in the Everfree Forest at the straight clearing," Lightning Dust answered. "It was around the place where there was a small pile of pebbles off to the right. One of them has a big crack along the top now."

Spitfire raised her hoof. "Hold on a moment, but you identified the assailant as a male." She raised an eyebrow. "Do you perhaps know who this cloaked figure is?"

Lightning Dust shook her head. "I don't. He just sounded masculine. You know what I mean, right?"

"I see." Spitfire wrote on the notepad in a precise manner. "Did you get any glimpses of the assailant behind the cloak?"

"He could fly, that much I'm certain of."

"Did you see his coat color or his cutie mark?"

Lightning Dust rubbed her muzzle and the room fell silent. Minutes passed by as not a peep was uttered. Diamond looked towards Lightning Dust with a raised eyebrow. Something about her posture suggested that she might know something, but what? She did seem lost as to who attacked her when they met, but did she just forget back there?

Without warning, Lightning Dust's eyes shot wide open and she almost jumped up in the air. "I know his cutie mark!"

"What is it?" Spitfire looked back down to the notepad, ready to write.

"The cutie mark was like a purple fireball thing. It had some elaborate, face-like design on it as well. I mean, that's what I think it looked like."

Spitfire wrote down every last detail of what the cutie mark looked like before staring into Lightning Dust's eyes. "This is a huge lead. We might be able to track down the pony who attacked you now!"

"Wait a second," Diamond interrupted as she jumped off of her seat, her face scrunched up like an accordion. "You never told us that before!"

"I saw no reason to," Lightning Dust said in a hurried tone. "You probably don't know anypony like that, and I was dazed from getting knocked around not too long ago!"

"Oh," with drooped shoulders, Diamond sat back down on the chair. "Carry on, then."

"Well, at least we got some evidence now," Spitfire said. "Now then, why did this figure attack you?"

Lightning Dust rubbed her muzzle for a moment before placing her hoof back on the bed. "Well, it had to do with something called a Royal Goblet."

"The Royal Goblet?" Spitfire's eyes widened. "Lightning Dust, where did you hear about this goblet?"

Lightning Dust leaned away from Spitfire, and her face became taut. "Wait, you know what it's about?"

"I've only read about it in a book. Equestrian Phenomena is its name. Anyway, if I recall correctly, the Royal Goblet is said to be the key to unlocking great power."

Diamond's ears twitched. "Great power," she muttered to herself. "So was that why whenever any of us looked at the thing, we felt something weird inside?"

"Diamond Tiara," Rainbow Dash interrupted, pointing at her with her hoof. "Can you say that one more time loud enough for us to hear it, please?"

"Yeah. Whenever anypony looks at the Royal Goblet, they feel something funny inside of them." A spark formed in her mind. Perhaps she should show them the gemstone she found. Diamond shrugged before leaning over to her saddlebag. She stretched her forelegs out and tilted towards her objective. Though perhaps she leaned a little too much as she wiggled her forelegs, lost her balance, and fell off of her chair. A thud echoed in the room when Diamond landed, her lips kissing the cold, tiled floor.

"Are you okay?" Spitfire asked.

Diamond felt her muzzle ache and all she saw was her saddlebag and the vanilla wall it rested on. She rose back up on her hooves and shook her tail. "I'm fine," she said. "I've had worse." She reached into her saddlebag, her hoof poking at all sorts of items and accessories until she felt it glance a cold, smooth object. "Found it!" Pulling the gemstone from the Royal Goblet out of her saddlebag, she lifted it over her head and waved it around gently for all to see. The gemstone was as lustrous as ever, sparkling with a pristine beauty.

"What's that?" Rainbow asked.

"It's a broken piece off of the Royal Goblet. Will it work as evidence?"

Spitfire rose from her seat and trotted towards Diamond. She gazed at the gemstone and squinted at times. A silent minute passed by before Spitfire blinked and returned to her seat with a confident smile. Did she find something that could help catch the culprit? Or was it something else? Diamond brought her foreleg down, still clenching onto the gemstone, and returned to her seat as well.

"Did you find something?" Rainbow inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"I think I did," Spitfire said. "When I looked at the gemstone Diamond Tiara had, it looked flawless. It shone like a star and I could see my own reflection in it, but there was something off about it once I looked closer."

"What would that be?" Diamond asked.

"If you look at it with your full attention, you may spot the slightest of scratches on it. The mark looked clean and new as well, so I'm willing to bet that it came from the scuffle Lightning Dust had with the assailant."

Diamond lifted the gemstone as close to her eyes as possible. Squinting, she stared at the gemstone's features with all of her attention. Her eyes darted around at a rapid pace. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary. It was just a perfect, uninterrupted sea of a brilliant red. Was Spitfire playing a trick on her? Diamond took a deep breath. "I'll never find it," she whispered to herself, her lips forming a frown.

Only a second after losing hope, Diamond caught the slightest of gray marks up on the top left. It was no bigger than the tip of a pen, but as she gazed at the scratch, it was impossible not to see. One gray, straight line across the gemstone made itself known. Was it from a blade of sorts?

Diamond's eyes sparkled as bright as the gemstone before her and her lips curled into a radiant smile. "I see it! I see it!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. Her forelegs shook as a wave of excitement coursed down her veins. There she was, helping an investigation and becoming one step closer to solving one of the mysteries that today threw at her.

"That's awesome!" Silver Spoon yelled. She almost jumped out of her chair and with the widest grin she had all day, she turned to Spitfire. "Do you think it's enough to analyze and help determine the identity of the culprit?"

Spitfire nodded, garnering wide smiles from everypony in the room.

"Excellent!" Rainbow cheered, flying off of her chair and hovering in the air. She turned to Diamond. "Diamond Tiara, do you mind giving Spitfire and I the gemstone?"

"We'll send it off to Canterlot's Detective Agency for further evaluation, so it will help us a lot," Spitfire added. "So can we have the gemstone, please?"

Diamond clenched the gemstone in her hoof, her face scrunching up. Helping solve a mystery like this made her heart flutter, and she knew this well. However, the thought of having something this exquisite to show off filled her with an indescribable sensation that ran through her body. All that she knew was that it felt exciting, enough so that she couldn't help herself from placing the gemstone closer to her chest. But before she could budge an inch, something pecked her shoulder. Turning to the source, she spotted Silver Spoon's hoof poking her there.

"Diamond," Silver Spoon said in a serious tone, her eyebrows ruffled. "Just give them the gemstone, please." She let out a sigh and gazed into Diamond's eyes. "I know how much things like this mean to you, but we have to give it to Spitfire and Rainbow Dash. I know that you can do it, and I can tell from the shimmer in your eyes that giving it to them is the best decision. Please, Diamond Tiara."

Diamond's vision blurred. She wiped her eyes, bringing the world back to a state of clarity, and extended her foreleg with the gemstone in hoof. "It's yours," she murmured. "You need it much more than I do."

Rainbow swooped down and snatched the gemstone from Diamond. "Thanks, Diamond," she said.

"You're welcome."

Rainbow gave the gemstone to Spitfire, who placed it in a small pocket inside of her saddlebag. "Well, I think we have enough information to proceed with the investigation," she announced. "Thanks for helping out, everypony."

"You're welcome," said Silver Spoon. She turned to Lightning Dust with a smirk. "Looks like there was nothing for you to worry about, right?"

Lightning Dust rubbed the back of her neck, her lips forming a sheepish smile. "Yeah," she said.

"Goodbye, everypony," Spitfire and Rainbow said in unison, waving their hooves as they departed.

"Goodbye!" the other three shouted together. And with that, Spitfire and Rainbow Dash left the room, the door echoing as it closed.

Diamond rose from her chair and looked out the window; the sky lit a brilliant orange. Was it that long since she arrived with Lightning Dust? What if the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been waiting for them for an hour? Or maybe two hours? What if they had something important to tell her? Diamond gulped. With such dire circumstances, she couldn't just leave them to wait forever.

"Silver Spoon, we need to see the blank flanks!" Diamond shouted without warning.

"Good idea," Silver Spoon replied. She waved her hoof at Lightning Dust. "Goodbye, Lightning Dust. I hope you feel better soon!"

Before Lightning Dust could say a single syllable, Diamond grabbed Silver Spoon's hoof and dragged her out of the room. Entering the hallway, which was as plain as the room they were once in, Diamond galloped ahead and Silver Spoon followed.

"There's no need to go this fast," Silver Spoon said, huffing and puffing.

"I'm not letting them forget anything important!" Diamond yelled.

With the constant rhythm of hooves clacking against the tiled floor beneath them, Diamond charged at the exit and slammed the door open. She glanced back to find Silver Spoon falling behind, her panting quite audible. Upon touching the cold, dew soaked grass, Diamond slowed down. She shouldn't push her best friend this hard, and looking back to see Silver Spoon trudging along with a frown made Diamond's heart twinge.

"D-Diamond Tiara," Silver Spoon said, nearly out of breath. "I-I'm sorry for holding you up. I'm s-sorry for not being as fast as you. Go on ahead without me."

"No need to apologize," Diamond replied. Perhaps she was being too cruel to her friend, and while she did want to get to their destination as soon as possible, a buzzing sensation in Diamond's mind kept reminding her to consider Silver Spoon's endurance, or lack thereof.

Diamond trotted up to Silver Spoon with drooping shoulders and a puckered lip. She knew that she went too far this time as something was tugging at her heart. The harsh sensation was like a sucker punch to the gut, but it felt so alien at the same time.

Diamond Tiara felt guilty.

But Diamond had never once felt guilty in her entire life. She knew what it meant, but never had she thought that she'd experience such an emotion. What do ponies do in such situations? How should she make it up to Silver Spoon? Would a sign of compassion work?

Diamond rubbed Silver Spoon's back, the soft coat tickling her hoof. "The blank flanks should be up ahead, so let's trot there together. I'm the one who should be sorry for pushing you like that."

"I forgive you, Diamond," Silver Spoon said as she straightened herself out. She peeked behind Diamond and her eyes widened. "Hold on a second."

Diamond cocked her head. "Huh? What is it?"

"It's the Cutie Mark Crusaders." Silver Spoon blinked, her body started shaking. "They're dashing towards us, and they all have terrified expressions."

Diamond turned around, and sure enough, there were the three fillies galloping towards her and Silver Spoon with wide eyes and pale faces. Scootaloo arrived first and skid across the grass. Specks of dirt flew up into the air and almost struck Diamond's face. Apple Bloom was close behind and merely slowed down upon arriving. Sweetie Belle brought up the rear, huffing and puffing with a sulking body. Maybe she had more in common with Silver Spoon than Diamond thought.

"Hey!" Scootaloo shouted while flailing her forelegs. "We've got bad news!"

"Get on with it, then," Diamond ordered. She formed an apologetic grin and blushed for a brief moment. That wasn't the best way to phrase it in hindsight. "Um, I mean, what's the bad news?"

"That book! The one about Equestria's secrets!"

"Slow down, Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said. She turned to Diamond with a serious gaze. "Now then, there's also some interesting news."

"So what's the interesting news?" Silver Spoon asked.

"First off, Clover the Clever's journal is actually a fake."

Diamond gasped, her mouth gaping. "What? Why the heck would the castle have a fake journal?"

"That's what confuses me." Apple Bloom trotted closer to Diamond. "Apparently, Discord might know why that's the case."

"Great, now how are we going to talk to him?"

"We know just the place and how to get him to show up," Sweetie Belle said. "Just follow us and everything will go just fine."

Diamond clenched her teeth. The thought of talking to the being that had stirred chaos in Equestria multiple times and helped Tirek nearly destroy everything brought a chill down her spine. Even if he was reformed, or so he said, could he be trusted? Would he hurt the five of them?

But she had to talk to him. There was no other choice. "Okay, I'm in," Diamond said. "Are you in, Silver Spoon?"

Silver Spoon nodded, though she had a grim visage. "I'm in."

"Anyway, now for the bad news," said Apple Bloom in a deeper tone than usual. "That book about Equestria's secrets is true. Something horrible is planned to happen." Diamond shivered, feeling as though something took her breath. "Something worse than Tirek."

"Something worse than Tirek?" Diamond repeated. "How is such a thing possible?"

"That's why we should see Discord," Scootaloo said. "He might know something about the book, so let's not waste any time."

The Cutie Mark Crusaders turned towards a small clutter of trees and trotted forwards with stern bodies. Diamond followed from behind, her limbs tightening more and more, with Silver Spoon next to her. Discord may be reformed, if such claims are true, but he's still Discord.

Diamond Tiara gulped. This was going to be far from easy or relaxing.

Comments

[Thunderbolt Sentinel]

I loved this chapter, you did a great job on it.

[Manaphy]

5489885 Thank you!

[kluck]

Nice job

[Manaphy]

5494833 Thank you!