Diamond of Desire

by GaryOak

Chapter Two — Vision

Chapter Two
Vision
===============

Twilight paced around her new library. Three empty book crates were stacked in the corner. She kept telling herself not to worry about Spike, that he needed some time to deal with the stress of losing his old home and moving into a new one. Deep in the rhythm of consulting her checklist, finding the referenced book, and placing it on its corresponding shelf—sometimes by magic, sometimes manually for exercise—Twilight had for a while found it easy to put Spike at the back of her mind. But now that it was almost dark, she could not wait any longer.

“Maybe it's worse than I thought,” she said to the empty room. “Thought, thought, thought,” her echo said. Twilight flinched. She had not realized how empty the castle could feel without her friends.

Twilight ruffled her feathers and looked toward the door. Spike might be in a worse way than she thought, and she had to check on him. Her hooves clopped on the crystal floor as she cantered toward the door, already forming a mental checklist of the most obvious places to look for him.

Before she could reach it, the door flew open, and Spike strutted in. Twilight immediately knew he was not the same dragon who had left the castle that afternoon. Something about how he walked seemed off. His gait radiated an arrogance that reminded her of Trixie or Sunset Shimmer.

Considering his size, the way Spike swaggered about—all that was missing was a diamond-tipped golden cane—swaying his arms and body this way and that would have been comical if it had not been so sincere. “Sorry, Twilight,” he said with palpable sarcasm. “I'd have been back earlier, but I hadn't eaten all day, so I stopped at the Hayburger.”

Twilight arched an eyebrow. “But I thought you didn't like the Hayburger.”

“Eh, what can I say? I needed some junk food to celebrate.”

If Spike was not so sure of himself, Twilight would have been sure he had come unhinged. “Celebrate what? I thought you needed fresh air.”

Spike shrugged. “Well, I had to say something to get out of this stuffy castle and the slave labour you call stocking shelves. Why make me climb when you can just use magic? Honestly.”

Numbness crept into Twilight's legs. Spike's words were the last things she expected to hear. “What in Equestria are you talking about? We're a team, and this is a big job. I did a lot of the work by myself because you walked out on me, and I only operated at about thirty-five percent efficiency without your help. We're a team, Spike. Magic or not, I need you. Now snap out of this... this... whatever this is!”

Spike leaned against a table and gave an exaggerated yawn, batting at his open mouth. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Nice ladder, by the way. It's about as useless as I am around here, considering you've got wings and all.”

“Look, I know times have been hard recently,” Twilight said in the calmest tone she could manage. She sat beside him. “I can understand if you're feeling frustrated. To be honest, I'm making getting this library up and running such a high priority because it's all I can do to not feel too horrible about what happened to Golden Oak. I feel like it's my fault; Tirek was attacking me, after all. If I didn't teleport where I did, the library might be still standing. The least I can do is this.” She gestured at the sparsely shelved walls.

“Yeah, well you do that.” Spike stretched and made his way to the bedchambers. “Meanwhile, I've got a date tomorrow afternoon. That's all that matters now.”

“A date?” In a flash of magenta, Twilight disappeared and rematerialized in front of Spike with a magical pop! “With who?”

Spike laughed. “Why, with—”

The door behind them burst open.

“Rarity?” Twilight said.

With a snort, Rarity galloped into the library and skidded to a halt at the nearest table. She wore saddlebags, and dozens of hairs stuck out of her mane at odd angles.

“There's my lady! Couldn't wait till tomorrow, huh?” Spike bounded forward, his arms outstretched.

Rarity narrowed her eyes at him. “Explain. Now!”

Twilight’s confusion grew as she watched Spike come to a full stop. “Okay, enough. Can somepony please tell me what's going on?”

“That's what I'm asking him!” Rarity pointed an accusing forehoof at Spike.

Spike looked like a marionette, his body slouched over and arms dangling at his sides. “So, uh, I guess the date's off?”

“What do you think?” Rarity opened her saddlebags and pulled a huge object from them. It gleamed black.

Twilight's jaw fell open when she realized it was a diamond. She sensed incredible energy pouring off it, silently reverberating around the room. Rarity shied away from it as she placed it on the centre of the table, then took a few steps back. Twilight noticed how much dimmer the room had become, except around the diamond. The light it gave off was black, yet it somehow lit the area around it like an oil lamp while plunging the rest of the room into darkness. It tugged at Twilight's mind magnetically.

“Spike,” Twilight said, turning to him. As dark as the room had become, the situation had grown much clearer. She regarded him sternly. “Did your absence this afternoon have anything to do with this?”

Spike nodded. He glanced at the diamond, then winced and closed his eyes. “It... it was in my head, Twilight.”

Twilight looked at the diamond, and then at Spike. “Rarity?”

“Mine, too. Twilight... I'm afraid.”

Magic gathered in Twilight's horn. She stared at the diamond with hard, focused eyes, and projected a magenta bubble around the three of them. “We should be safe under here. Spike, what happened?”

“I don't know,” he said, shuffling his feet. He did not meet Twilight's gaze. “I was working this morning, and then I suddenly had to find it. I knew if I did, Rarity would fall in love with me.”

Rarity sat beside Spike and shivered. “When he showed me that diamond, I don't know what came over me. It was like something else was controlling me, making me feel things I didn't feel—sorry, Spike, dearest. But when he left me alone with it, I heard a voice in my head.”

“It promised you what you wanted most, didn't it?” Spike said glumly.

“How did you know?”

A long sigh shuddered from Spike's throat. “Because it promised me your heart.”

Rarity embraced him and patted his head.

“So, it talked to you?” Twilight said, unable to remain tactful. A talking gem. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.” She put more power into her protective barrier.

“It had such a beautiful voice,” Spike said. “A voice like that could never be wrong about anything.”

“Oh, yes it can.” A gruff tone underscored Rarity's voice. “It showed me a vision. I was Equestria's greatest fashionista, just like I've always dreamed, but it came at a terrible price. I'd stolen designs, lied to the press and my friends, snuck into other boutiques. My heart was as black and wretched as that diamond. The worst part is, I was in love with that vision until I'd realized who I’d hurt to achieve my dreams. And it felt so absolute—like a prophecy.”

Twilight studied Rarity's face. She looked sick. Twilight glanced at the diamond. It thrummed innocently on the table, its anti-light washing over the magenta barrier. “So, not only can it show visions to others, but it has a mind of its own, and it can talk. A sapient, mind-reading gem...”

“It can fly, too,” Spike said. “I never told you how I found it.”

An apple-sized lump formed in Twilight's throat.

Spike closed his eyes, covered his mouth with his palms, and exhaled into them. “I was digging all day in the badlands. I knew kinda where it was, but not exactly. I kept trying, but I never found it—it found me. It came out of the ground—blew a hole right through it. Then it just came to me.”

“Stand back,” Twilight said, “I'm lowering the shield.”

Spike threw his arms in front of her. “Don't!”

“I need to run some tests.”

Rarity's ears flattened. “'Run some tests?' I have a prognosis for you: It's evil. Get rid of it. Now.”

“Ooh, ooh, I'll just bury it!” Spike made a pitiful show of trying to flex in front of Rarity, but the unicorn's eyes were glued to Twilight.

“I have to measure the extent of its power.” Twilight flared her wings. “How did it know about Spike's crush on Rarity?”

“Oh, please, I think all of Equestria knows that,” Rarity said.

Spike stared at his feet and grumbled something.

“And how did it know about your fashionista aspirations?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Everypony knows that, too.”

“Yes, but how did the diamond know?” Twilight could not keep the irritation from her voice. “It has some form of telepathy. Also, how did Spike not get freed from its influence until you snapped him out of it, but you realized something was wrong without anypony's help?”

“Point taken.”

The barrier flickered and disappeared. Twilight advanced until she stood at the table, staring down her muzzle at the diamond. No feminine whispers or grand visions probed her mind. She ran through her mental index of spells. Concentration hardened her expression. She needed something that could probe it but not damage it. She decided on a spell that worked somewhat like magical sonar.

She took a deep breath and fired a narrow beam of energy at the diamond. She concentrated on her horn, using it like an antenna, waiting to listen for the ping.

Nothing happened.

Twilight shook herself. She tried the spell again, this time turning her attention to the diamond itself. The beam dissolved when it drew within an inch of the diamond, unable to make contact. Twilight rubbed her muzzle.

Rarity approached as close as she dared. “Well?”

“I don't understand,” said Twilight. “It looks like it can negate magic, too. Or, at least—” She levitated the diamond, and found she had no trouble doing so. She placed it back down. “—some magic. Or the magic it chooses to.”

“Hey, Twilight?” Spike's voice was a good distance behind her. She turned and found him standing almost against the shelves, his right arm raised. “Would knowing where the diamond came from help?”

“I think so. If it's from Tartarus or something, that'd at least help my research. But how would we figure that out?”

“Rarity can, I think,” Spike said. “Her magic lets her find gems, right? What if she can find out where gems come from?”

Twilight turned to Rarity, whose eyes had focused on the diamond. “Can it be done?”

“I think so.” Rarity's horn shimmered. “It should be close enough to my normal magic to work.” A wave of light-blue rippled from her horn, washing away the darkness in its path. It enveloped the diamond.

For a moment, the library's lighting returned to normal. Dark lightning crackled along the diamond's surface. In a flash of black, Rarity's magic shot back from the diamond in a shock wave. Breath caught in Twilight's throat as she projected her own magic, generating a magenta dome from her horn.

“Aah!” Rarity leapt toward Twilight and clung to her.

The blast hit the shield, and electricity played across its surface. Seconds passed before the dark magic faded, and Twilight lowered the barrier. The diamond’s blackness once again filled the room.

“Well... I don't think that worked,” Rarity said, her voice giddy. She let go of Twilight and planted her hooves on the ground, staring at it to steady herself.

“I think you two should get some rest,” Twilight said.

“What about you?” Rarity asked.

Spike darted to Twilight's side. “Yeah, we can't just leave you alone with this thing.”

Twilight could not help but give Spike a fond smile. “I know it doesn't seem smart, but this diamond is dangerous. How dangerous, I don't know. I may need to run some more aggressive tests, and we've seen how it responds to prying magic. I was lucky to get that shield up in time. I think I can handle myself if I'm alone and it does that again. Try not to worry about it.”

Spike and Rarity exchanged glances, then retired upstairs, leaving Twilight alone with the diamond. She narrowed her eyes at it and silently cursed, for most of her books were still packed away. Proper research was more or less impossible. It was time for hooves-on testing, and this time, she did not have anypony but herself to worry about. Magic crackled at the tip of her horn. She gathered enough power to make her horn shine like a beacon against the blackness. After observing the diamond's resilience, she knew this blast would not make a dent in it, but may be strong enough to penetrate its defenses. She prepared to fire.

Put that thing away. You're impressing nopony. The words sliced into Twilight's consciousness like a white-hot dagger.

She gasped. Her grip on the magic slipped, and her gathered energy exploded like a magenta firework. The blast sent her tumbling head over hooves until she landed on her rump a dozen feet from the diamond's table. She rubbed her forehead, trying to ease the headache that had just appeared.

The voice was as beautiful as Spike had described. Each syllable radiated power. And now that Twilight was aware of the diamond's capabilities, she heard the voice's underlying deadliness. “You. What do you want? Who are you? What are you?”

Ah, Princess Twilight Sparkle, it said within Twilight's mind. We are alone at last. I have longed to meet you for quite some time. You are a remarkable pony—once a unicorn prodigy, and now an alicorn princess.

Twilight stood and bared her teeth at the diamond, her wings flared. “You didn't answer my question.”

I am a diamond.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes.

My purpose is simple. I can sense what anypony—or dragon—wants most of all. That one thing they desire above all else. I can show them the fullest extent of their potential. The diamond remained unmoving on the table, but it gave a sinister thrum. The darkness it radiated grew thicker, forcing Twilight to approach it in order to see it. Your potential is greatest of all, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Did you think your ascension has come to an end already? Hardly.

“What do you mean?” Twilight tried her best to sound guarded, but her curiosity bent her tone.

Friendship is but a fraction of your true kingdom. Ponyville? A mere hamlet. Your crown is minute compared to the other crowns in Equestria. They can be yours, too. You need only reach out and take them.

Twilight's eyes widened as fog swirled within the diamond. It surged forward and enveloped her, blotting out all remaining light.

* * *

Twilight blinked and coughed. Then she screamed. She no longer stood in her castle library; she sat in the throne of Canterlot Castle. Her head felt heavy. It took her a moment to realize something weighed it down. She reached up to grab the object. She nearly screamed again. Her hooves wore the gilded regalia of Princess Celestia, and in them, she clutched what was unmistakably Celestia's bejeweled tiara.

She looked to her left and right. The seat Twilight rested upon stood alone in the vast throne room.

“Your Highness.”

Twilight nearly leapt out of her coat. Celestia, seemingly having appeared from nowhere, kneeled before her. She dropped the tiara. “P-P-Princess Celestia! I can explain!”

Celestia chuckled and gave her that same warm smile Twilight had seen so often over the years. Her sunburst-golden magic encircled the tiara and placed it on Twilight's head. It still felt too heavy for her neck. “There is nothing to explain, Twilight. You have finally done it. After all these centuries of searching, after so many tests, my work is finished. The burden now rests on you, Twilight Sparkle, to take up the mantle that is your birthright. I, Celestia, hereby abdicate—effective immediately.”

Abdicate. The word sounded absurd coming from Celestia's mouth. Twilight's mind churned. Could this truly be her destiny? Was this really Princess Celestia's end game? On one hoof, Celestia had never hinted at any plans for Twilight; she had merely taught her the values of friendship and how to hone her magical abilities. Yet, on the other hoof, Twilight's transformation into an alicorn had come as no surprise to Celestia, as if she had planned for it to happen.

The most rational part of Twilight's mind reminded her this was a vision conjured by the diamond and not reality. It felt plausible, but wrong at the same time. “I don't understand, Princess Celestia—” She insisted on emphasizing Celestia's honourarium. “—there's only one throne here. What about my friends?”

Celestia rose to her full, impressive height. Even from her perch on the throne, Twilight felt miniscule compared to her. Celestia's expression remained neutral as she said, “They've gone and fulfilled their greatest dreams and now live happy, revered lives throughout Equestria. Ever since you six filled the diary's pages, you realized the truth: That diary—and Ponyville—were two of many stepping stones across the river of destiny. You had not reached the far bank, Twilight Sparkle. You had to continue, and continue you did. You studied harder than you ever had before. Meanwhile, your friends went their separate ways to make their dreams reach fruition.”

“No... this is wrong... all wrong...” Twilight shook her head. “I can't rule Equestria. I'm the princess of Friendship, of Ponyville. I rule alongside my friends, not over them.”

“Surely you did not think you would be so close forever?” Celestia shook her head. “Eventually, your callings had you drift apart. Think of them as ruling their own provinces of this kingdom—your kingdom.”

Celestia's words struck Twilight hard enough to make her forget the difference between the real and unreal. “But—but—”

Celestia's eyes flashed a vibrant shade of teal. “Once you discovered your true purpose, you pursued it. This truth compelled you to do nothing less than consume all knowledge until the day you were ready. Today.”

A numbness in Twilight's chest crept its way through the rest of her. “There's no reason for us to have separated like that!”

“You gave them reason enough, my former student.” Celestia's voice was no longer solely her own. It bore the fierceness of another. “You abandoned your friends to achieve your ends, but what does it matter? The experiences you shared and the lessons you learned are still within you and your friends; they are none the worse for wear. In fact, they are the happiest they have ever been, and you are no different. Your dedication has earned you the thing you have desired for most of your life.”

The throne room shimmered around them as Celestia walked away with long, determined strides. “Remember, knowledge is power, and you now have more than enough to rule in my stead for as long as you wish. Equestria is in your hooves now, and your hooves alone. Perhaps you can visit your friends soon, when you have a break from our new royal duties, or perhaps they will attend your coronation ceremony. The subjects will love that, and you get all the free cake you can eat. Hah!”

Twilight slumped in her throne. She was alone. This fact hit her like a slap across the face. She had never aspired to rule. The diamond was mistaken. She was being shown not her desire, but what the diamond thought it was. Yet it was all so plausible, so real. Was the diamond really right? Could it see something she could not? “No,” she said, sitting upright. “No. No!”

She loosed an anguished scream, and the black fog returned, consuming the world around her.

* * *

A panting Twilight opened her eyes. She lay flat on her back. The blackness from the diamond filled the room with its smothering smog. Spike and Rarity's aghast faces looked down at her through the haze.

Spike knelt and shook her. “Twilight! Twilight! Are you okay?”

What the diamond had showed her still gnawed at her heart. She said nothing.

Rarity batted his arms away. “Of course she's not okay! Why else would she have screamed? That horrid, wretched diamond made you see things, didn't it, Twilight?”

“You heard me all the way from the bedchambers?” Twilight propped herself up with her forelegs. Her stomach felt woozy. “Once you two left, I was about to probe the diamond again, but it talked to me.” As she spoke, she had to fight the bile creeping up her throat.

You don't need them. You have only had a taste of the greatness that awaits you.

Twilight shook her head, resisting the urge to punch herself in the temple to silence the diamond. In a flash of magenta, she shoved it back inside the saddlebags Rarity brought. “Did anypony else hear that?”

Spike and Rarity shook their heads.

“Did it speak to you just now?” Rarity asked.

Twilight frowned. “So it is telepathic.”

Rarity helped Twilight back to her hooves. “What did it show you?”

“I...” The idea of abandoning her friends to rule Equestria alone made Twilight dizzy. She clutched the table. “I don't want to talk about it. This is far beyond anything I've ever heard of, even compared to some of the stuff I've read about Starswirl the Bearded. Maybe not as powerful as some of his spells, but this...” She eyed the saddlebags and shuddered.

Rarity used her magic to whisk several books from the shelves and stack them under Twilight, who gratefully plunked down on the makeshift chair. “A diamond that speaks and makes others see things. Is it possessed?”

“I don't know.” Twilight rested her muzzle in her forehooves. “It can float, talk, and brainwash ponies by showing them what they want to see. All I know is it's beyond any of us—and likely full of dark magic.”

Spike hopped up on the table and sat beside Twilight, his arms folded. “Oh, like the black energy coming off it wasn't a clue?”

“It tricked you, didn't it?” Twilight quipped. “Whatever this is, I think only Princess Celestia can help us.” She sat up. “Rarity, get the others. We're going to face this as a team. Whatever it is, we can overcome it together. And Spike, please send Princess Celestia a letter informing her of our arrival—we're going to Canterlot.”

Comments

[Dark Star2014]

Okay, bad idea here, Twilight. Showing the high Princess of the land a diamond that show your desires but twisted. Something tells me Celestia has some desires she wants hidden and this Diamond will twist them out of portion.

--

All in all, a very good story here. I can't recall what part of a story forced this kind of thing though, it's similar to facing a dark mirror, one that shows not just your desires, but your darkest, most vile thoughts. It's not sentient, but it is...its yourself. Can't wait to see more.

[GaryOak]

7584675
I started this fic so long ago, I may have actually written that line before that episode came out. Either that, or I unknowingly made the line similar. Good catch!
7585875
Hopefully this one delivers!
7585761
I'm glad the first chapter grabbed your interest! I'm really excited to see what everyone thinks of the next few chapters.
7606207
Thanks for the comment! The next chapter will come up on Tuesday. The mirror from the Crystal Empire definitely helped me come up with this idea, but I take it in what I think is a pretty neat direction.