Troubled Mind
-*-Celestia-*-
“Are ya’ll sure we should be doing this right now?”
Rarity rolled her eyes as she put the mirror she had been using down. “Oh come now Applejack, Pinkie Pie said Cain needed to have some fun for a bit before they start doing all those ‘freaky weaky’ magic tests on him, and I happen to agree.”
Celestia listened with half an ear as she watched Cain race by, managing to dodge an attempt by Fluttershy to beat him with a pillow. Rainbow Dash succeeded, but then promptly got a return on it when he sent it whirling back.
Sitting next to her on the bench they were occupying was Twilight, who was nose deep in several books and scrolls, one of which was a detailed analysis of the spell they had tried on Cain earlier, and how it went.
“AHA!” Twilight finally said after examining the information of the spell in detail, then noticed she was alone as everypony else had left. “Uh… Girls?”
“Hello Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Luna announced, walking up to her and her sister as she pulled her eyes away from the ongoing pillow fight. “Have you determined why the spell failed?”
“Yes, its fascinating really. The spell was originally created to destroy evil spirits. Then it was modified to exorcise possessed ponies. Then Starswirl the Bearded...”
Princess Luna turned out most of what her sister’s student was saying, because she already knew of such things. She had been around when that spell was made after all.
“... In conclusion, I have the hypothesis that the reason the spell didn’t work was because you forgot to compensate for the mind fusion.”
Celestia hummed softly at hearing this. “I see… do you think Queen Majesty’s body split spell would work?”
Twilight perked up at this. “Oh, I’ve heard of that spell! I've read scrolls mentioning the spell in the restricted section of the Royal library, but I never found anything else. I have a few theories of course but…”
Celestia saw Luna’s eye twitching slightly, chuckling to herself as she moved a wing to brush across her student’s back. “Luna knows about the spell, just as I do.”
“And I also know what you’re thinking sister. That it is far too dangerous to use, let alone on one so young.”
Twilight frowned, glancing between them before settling on Luna. “Why is that? What I’ve read has hinted that its a difficult spell, a tier 12 I believe, but why would…”
Celestia answered, her smile fading. “Queen Majesty’s body split spell is meant to separate two aspects from a pony that contradict each other. It was originally meant as a means to try to reform villains, by removing their bad traits, though I’m sure you can imagine how well that worked.” Twilight nodded, shuddering a bit before Luna continued.
“Our records show that even when it worked, it was a painful experience, and that the negative beings it created were uncontrollable. A pony made up purely of cruelty ended up killing Queen Majesty. That is believed to be one of the reasons that led to ponies separating into the pegasi, Earth pony and unicorn tribes, since there wasn’t a strong leader to unify pony kind anymore. But I am not sure, since it was long before me and my sister were born.”
“And… when it didn’t work?” Twilight asked, though the look on her face told them both she already had a good guess of the answer.
“If the pony didn’t die, they usually became either insane, or withdrew into themselves and became incapable of interacting with the outside world. Only two cases had no adverse effects afterward.” Luna seemed sad she had brought on the topic.
“What were those two cases?” Twilight asked, curious.
"One of them was a pegasus mare that was quite strange, to the point the spell just couldn't find two aspects that contradicted each other enough to split it in two. And she was already a bit weird, so no pony noticed anything different."
“And the other case?”
“It was an Earth pony pony that had double personality, since the two personalities had learned to tolerate each other, the spell just didn't work as there wasn't enough conflict."
“Then why did Princess Celestia suggest that spell?”
“Because Cain is not an aspect of Diamond Tiara, but something that was introduced to her mind by Discord. Therefore, she would not have that many problems if he was removed.”
Luna looked at her sister “Only if it works. If it doesn’t...”
Celestia looked back “Unlike our first try, this isn't a spell meant to remove a ghost, but one to separate a pony in two. Due to Diamond Tiara merging with Cain, it should work as long as the spell isn’t used too late.”
“But… what would that do to Cain?” Twilight Sparkle asked, remembering how she had chosen to save both Cain and Diamond Tiara, not destroy one of them like Discord wanted.
Luna then looked at Twilight Sparkle. “The reason why I don’t like that spell is because I am not quite sure what would happen to Cain if we try it.”
“I am confident that he should survive it.” Celestia said, wait, did Luna just stick her tongue out at her? No, it must have been her imagination.
“SHOULD?” Twilight Sparkle gasped, her eyes wide as her jaw fell open at Luna’s uncertainty and Celestia’s apparently disregard for Cain’s life.
“What about using the Elements Of Harmony?” Twilight was wondering why their usual solution to defeat evil wasn’t used this time.
“I am afraid that since Cain isn’t evil it wouldn’t work well.” Luna looked annoyed at her sister
Celestia shook her head. “The Elements might also have an adverse effect due to the presence of Strife… or simply because it was Discord’s magic that brought them into her.”
“Are you sure there’s no other way?” Twilight asked, her eyes drifting over to see her friends dogpiling Cain, who was rolling amongst the pillows, laughing his head off.
Celestia dipped her head in thought for a moment, drawing on her knowledge of magic that she had accumulated over the ages. “There might be a few, but they either take too much time to pull off, or would require us to spend a week studying Cain’s essence within Diamond Tiara.”
“The only other option would be to see if Discord would reverse it, and I have no doubt he wouldn’t do so without us handing Equestria into his claws.” Luna growled, her gaze shifting towards the royal hedge maze where his statue rested.
“Wait if… we get Discord free and then blast him with the Elements Of Harmony? Wouldn't the healing wave caused by that also cure Diamond Tiara?”
“I am afraid that wouldn’t happen. The only reason that worked the last time was because Discord had used his chaos magic to affect a great part of Equestria itself. And again, it might end with Diamond Tiara turned to stone.”
“And… what would happen if we just let the mind fusion to continue?”
While Celestia was about to answer, Luna glared at her, Celestia remembered that this was somewhat personal for Luna, and let her sister be the one to answer.
“We would end with a pony that isn’t Cain, Strife or Diamond Tiara, we would be basically be destroying the three of them.”
“No…. no.. no no… there has to be a way…” Twilight Sparkle said nervously and started to pant hard. “I… I can’t do this! I can’t destroy a pony to save another, much less destroy three ponies like this…”
Luna looked around, sensing a presence watching them, her sister did the same just a moment later.
“Well, aren’t you going to come here and say hello? It’s quite rude to eavesdrop you know.” Luna suddenly declared.
“Oh, you well know me well enough to know I don’t care Princess Moonbutt, or should I call you Big Snooty?”
The royal pony sisters and Twilight looked surprised at the rude language Discord was using. Then noticed that for good or bad they seemed to be the only ones able to hear him, otherwise Cain and the others would have reacted.
Twilight Sparkle still tried anyway “Applejack, Rarity? Pinkie Pie, Cain, anypony?”
“They can’t hear you, this is a private matter between the four of us.” A ghostly image of Discord appeared before the three mares. and focused on the moon princess “Oh Luna, don’t think I haven't noticed you doing your own plan behind your sister, quite ingenious I must say.”
Celestia looked at Luna in shock “Your own plan?”
Luna shifted about, wilting a bit under her sisters questioning gaze. “Its a safeguard spell to make sure Diamond Tiara isn’t trapped in nightmares anymore.”
“Oh really? And how come I can't get rid of it if that’s the case?”
“It also has three layers of the Discord’s proof spell my sister put in the Elements Of Harmony, in case you got free again.” Luna replied tersely, clearly growing agitated by Discord’s presence.
“Wait, wait, you both know a chaos proof spell? How come I wasn’t taught it?” Twilight Sparkle was not pouting, no sir, she was an adult mare, not a little filly that was acting childish because she was denied a chance to learn a new spell.
“Because the spell is quite draining. The only reason me and my sister can do it without needing to rest for long is because of our connection to the sun and the moon.” Celestia said, giving her sister a knowing smile. “And while we will talk later about why Luna didn’t inform me of her plan, I trust that she did so for a good reason, like certain pests eavesdropping.”
“Oh, no arguments and fights because your sister went behind your back? that’s so boring! You two think you are so mature don’t you? Well, I will have none of that!”
Then there was an explosion of pink smoke, Celestia and Luna coughing as it slowly cleared. They looked around, then noticed that the ground looked a lot closer than it did before. And that Twilight was looking down at them.
“Discord...” Celestia growled upon realizing she and Luna had seemingly been transformed into fillies.
Luna looked herself over and seemed thoughtful. It seemed like she was trying really hard to not jump around in happiness.
“How? I thought he wasn’t free yet?” Twilight Sparkle was confused, age changing was quite a powerful spell. One even she couldn't do.
“Oh, I am more free than you think. How else could I have affected both Diamond Tiara and your friend Applejack? The Discord that's imprisoned in the form of a quite handsome statue is not all of me. Also, all that information Cain knows has to have come from somewhere, don’t you think?”
“Wait… you mean that all this time… you’ve just been playing with us?” Celestia asked, a shocked look on her face, while Luna just hit her hoof with her face in frustration. It was getting harder and harder to think like adults for the two of them.
“Of course! Granted, I am way more limited now, and the magic of the elements hurts me if I try something too bad. But Cain, Orange Jack and turning you two into fillies isn’t exactly evil.” He chuckled, which soon devolved into chortling as he held a talon to his lips. “Although its VERY entertaining.”
“What about Strife torturing Diamond Tiara?” Twilight Sparkle asked, trying to find out both loopholes and limitations about Discord’s current abilities.
“Oh, that wasn’t me, that was Cain, remember?”
"And you making me choose between Cain and Diamond Tiara?"
"Test of character."
"Tag, you’re it!" Luna cried out, booping her sister’s nose before running off.
Twilight looked off in the direction Luna had gone, jaw hanging open as he tried to process what was happening."W-Wha… Luna? What are you doing?"
Celestia seemed to struggle for a moment before letting out a pained sigh. "I am sorry Twilight but… its up to you now.” An evil grin spread across her face as she shouted “Wait for me ya cheater!" Celestia then ran after her sister, unable to keep resisting the forced childish impulses.
"No, I can't do this alone! What I am supposed to do now?"
Discord snapped his claws and put a fancy crown over Twilight's head "Enjoy the new workload, Princess Twilight, guahahaha!"
With that, Discord snapped his claws again, vanishing from view as the faces of Cadance, Cain, and her friends appeared before her.
“Um...Twi?” Rainbow Dash asked, looking rather perplexed as she glanced towards the royal hedge maze. “Why are two little fillies that look like the princesses playing tag?”
Twilight’s ears twitched, several hairs popping out of place as she summoned up a sound proof bubble around her head.
Even with that, several birds flew off from the nearby roofs as Twilight screamed “DISSCOOOORDD!”
-*-Cain(Diamond Tiara)-*-
It took us all the better part of an hour to hunt down and catch Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. While Twilight was just not powerful enough to change them back, and the princesses themselves seemed unable to, at least Twilight was able to cast a spell to return their minds to normal. But after she cast the spell on Celestia, Luna booped my nose and ran away. I admit that they then had to expend half an hour chasing me and Luna, as I couldn’t help but join in her game of hide and seek.
Needless to say, I got a stern talking to from Twilight, even if Celestia said she hadn’t seen her sister happier in weeks.
Still, with both Celestia and Luna as little fillies, they couldn't move the sun and the moon, and they legally couldn’t be rulers, so that left poor Twilight in a bit of a pickle.
"What I am supposed to do? Even if I learned the old spell to move the sun and the moon, that one took the power of the entire Council of High Mages to do it! Plus, what will happen when everypony finds out no one is in charge?" Twilight Sparkle started to hyperventilate and teleport around nervously while she walked in circles.
“Um, hello? Third Alicorn over here…” I said, pointing at Cadance who was watching it all with an amused, knowing smile on her face.
Celestia then shouted "STOP RIGHT THERE!" with enough force that it nearly threw Twilight into a nearby wall. Then, in a much softer tone, she said "I know this seems like a bad situation, but I have a solution."
“Does no one else realize there’s a Pink Princess Pony right here next to me?” I asked, waving my hoofs in the general direction of Cadance. “Am I the only one who remembers this?”
"Really?" Twilight asked hopefully.
"While me and my sister are currently not powerful enough to move the sun and the moon on our own, if the three of us combine our power together we can still move them.” She said, offering her an encouraging nuzzle, though I had the feeling it didn’t have the same effect thanks to the whole ‘size of a filly’ bit.
Luna nodded. “You are the most powerful unicorn I have ever seen, and while our power is reduced, the sun and the moon still recognize us. Your power is all we need to bridge the gap."
“Cadance, Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Sparklebutt. Celestia, Luna, Sparklebutt, Cadance.” I droned out, pointing to each in turn even as they continued ignoring the two of us sitting off to the side.
“Oh relax Cain, I’m actually thankful they’ve kind of forgotten I’m an Alicorn.” She said, giggling as she added “I haven’t learned how to raise the sun or the moon yet, so I wouldn’t know what to do anyways.”
I nodded in understanding, tuning back into the conversation only to see that Twilight was busy hugging Celestia, gushing and otherwise acting silly as Celestia tried to break free.
"Twilight…" Celestia started to say, but then Twilight started to tickle her, the Princess of the Sun soon devolved into a fit of giggles as the rest of the Mane Six did the same to Luna.
“Uh… Cadance? What the heck did we miss?” I asked, looking to her and finding she was similarly confused.
“I-I’m not sure… but I sense a low amount of Chaos Magic around Twilight and her friends… Discord must be trying to mess with us some more.”
I growled, looking about the room for that damned spirit, but seeing no sign of him. “Can you do anything to fix it?”
Cadance’s brow furrowed in thought. “Well, I can try a Tier five dispel… anything lower than that wouldn’t work.” She closed her eyes, horn gathering energy before she let loose a sphere of magical energy, which expanded to encompass the entire room and let my head feeling a little itchy.
It took a moment, but soon a blue aura faded away and everypony was able to calm down. "Uhh... what just happened?" Twilight asked.
"Oh, I tried to cast a calming spell… but I messed it up." Luna announced, face blushing a deep red. "Sorry?"
“Oh, so it wasn’t Discord…” I muttered, then shook my head as I decided it was time we got back on track. “Right, well as interesting as it is to wonder who's going to be raising the sun and moon, I think we should be figuring out how to return the Princesses to normal.”
“Ah agree. And Ah think Ah know just what’ll do the trick. The Elements fixed everything else that Discord changed last time, so they should be able to do it again.” AJ said, with the others nodding in agreement.
"The vault only opens with Alicorn Magic… but neither of us have the power to open it any more." Celestia said, gently touching her much smaller than usual unicorn horn.
Cadance seemed to decide this was a good time to make everypony else aware she WAS in the room. “Um, Auntie Celestia? Couldn’t I open the door? You showed me once before, remember?”
“Oh… that’s right, I did show you that spell.” Celestia murmured, frowning as if she was having trouble recalling it. “I believe it was nearly a year ago, just after I changed the spell so Discord couldn’t pull the same stunt like last time.”
“Well then what are we waiting for? Let’s go grab those Elements and zap the Princesses back to normal!” Rainbow Dash said, rearing back and more then ready to go zooming off to the Canterlot Tower, where the Elements resided.
"Umm… well… does it have to be right now?” Luna asked, drawing stares from everypony. She scuffed the ground with a hoof, looking down as she added “I-I wouldn't mind staying like this for a while."
Just as Princess Celestia was getting ready to no doubt explain to Luna WHY they shouldn’t remain like that for longer than absolutely necessary, I felt myself being yanked away-
-*-Diamond Tiara-*-
Diamond Tiara blinked, looking at the two fillies that looked like younger versions of the princesses, then blinked again. "Uh… this isn't a dream, right?"
"Discord did this, and none of us are powerful enough to undo the spell." Luna remarked, even as Celestia sent her a low intensity glare.
“Oh… well aren’t you going to do something about it?” She asked, glancing between the two of them, rather amazed they hadn’t been changed back already.
“We would,” Cadance began, “But Luna is reluctant to change back… and she’s also run off again.”
“Oh by Epona…” Celestia said, dashing off after the sound of giggles as she tried to drag her sister back.
Twilight simply placed a hoof on her head, groaning as she said “Come on girls, let’s go get her again…”
As Twilight and her friends galloped off, that left Cadance and Diamond Tiara alone in the hallway. They looked at each other for a moment, before Diamond said “So uh… I really like your mane?”
-*-Cain-*-
Back in the void space again huh? Oh what wonderful fun, its always a laugh riot when I’m slapped into this place. Sighing, I took a look around, finding that the room looked much like the grand entry hall of Diamond’s home, only instead of a door and windows, the front wall was taken up by a large, currently blank screen.
I glanced about, looking for a certain annoying part of myself, and quickly found him poking the wall nearby, Woona doll still in hoof. He was still stuck as a filly, but now there was something different about it.
“Strife… are you wearing a dress?”
“I was bored.” Strife replied, moving away from the wall and heading towards one of the corridors nearby. He… or she didn't seem bothered by the fact he was a filly anymore, or that he was in a dress.
I followed after him, going at a gallop until I was right alongside him. “And you decided to… hold on, is that a horn too?” I peered at his head, noticing something that hadn’t been there before. A small, spiral unicorn horn.
“Yes, yes it is. Got a problem with that?” He growled, glaring at me as his nostrils flared a bit. “I felt like I being a cute little unicorn princess, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.”
I stopped, looking him in the eye for a moment before a knowing smirk spread across my face. “You’re just doing this to irritate somepony, aren’t you?”
“Pretty much.” Strife horn glowed and I found myself wearing a cute pink dress. Not bad, a bit long for me, but maybe with a few slight adjustments… I shook my head, pulling my attention back to Strife.
“Surrender to the filly side, we got milk and cookies!” He sang out, smirking as he threw a platter with both my way. I ducked as it sailed over my head, landing with a crash and clang somewhere behind me.
“Why are you doing this? Aren’t you supposed to be all the things I… oh by the gods, I know I wonder about my gender sometimes, but please don’t tell me I have been suppressing the desire to be a little pony filly!”
“No, is just that Diamond Tiara’s been really nice with me, unlike you.” Strife said and stuck his (I still couldn't think of him as female) tongue out to me.
“So you really don’t mind being female anymore?”
Strife shrugged, not at all bothered by the question. “Have you ever considered that you just don’t repress the bad parts of you, but what would be considered socially unacceptable? Or what you think your family won’t accept? You’ve never bothered trying to see anyone about some of your thoughts because you think dear Mother wouldn’t accept such.”
I frowned, thinking about what Strife said. I recalled how Mom had shrugged or pushed such suggestions that I might possibly be trans, or at least something outside the gender norm aside. Along with these thoughts, came memories when I was younger, having wanted to be pretty and wear dresses, and felt that only girls were pretty.
But… these weren’t exactly things I was suppressing. I wasn’t even sure about such thoughts, considering that I was Autistic and it could just be that I was wired even more weirdly than I’d thought I was. Besides, I was young. I had plenty of time to figure that sort of thing out.
Why was Strife fixating on something so inconsequential?
“Oh, are you finally catching on? Took you a while little filly!” Discord’s voice said in a mocking tone, appearing in a flash of white light where Strife had been standing but a moment ago.
“Discord? What the heck are you doing here?”
Discord found a pillar to lean against, smiling as he said “Oh nothing much… must I always have real reason for why I do anything?”
I snorted, stomping a hoof on the ground. “You may be the Spirit of Chaos, but even I know that you don’t do anything simply because. You always have a reason, even if its not what we’d think it is.”
“True. Ouch!” Discord said as he was hit by a rock, one thrown by Strife, who was still a unicorn filly, but no longer in some frilly dress.
“Go away ya big bully!” I noticed that the Woona doll was floating over Strife, and was wearing a Sailor Moon costume. Why exactly-? You know what, I think I’m better off not asking.
“Oh, is that the way to treat your beloved Dad? Besides, aren’t you forgetting something? Something about avoiding conflict so I don’t become more powerful?”
Wait… what was that Discord said? The first part, not the rest.
Strife closed his eyes for a moment, and when he opened them he seemed more calm. “As I said before, you are the worst dad ever!”
Okay, I’m not hearing things. “Why are you calling him Dad?”
Strife seemed to have heard me, since he glanced my way, but Discord’s attention was no longer on me, but upon Strife.
“Oh, I’m hurt that you would think such… but then again, you’re not much of a son either. I mean really, becoming best buds with Diamond Tiara, the filly Queen Bitch?”
Strife looked at me, then to Discord, then his horn glowed and there was a weight on my back. I turned and noticed I was now a pegasus. Why the heck did I have wings?
Ignoring Discord, Strife walked around me, looking me over and up and down and making me feel like I was one of Rarity’s latest fashion show cases.
Then he looked back at Discord, and said in a very obnoxious voice “Oh Look! I’m a unicorn, Cain is a pegasus and Diamond Tiara is an Earth pony, we are like the new cutie mark crusaders, that’s like, so totally awesome!”
I just stared at both of them, still trying to process several key things I’d heard them say. Well, that and I didn’t really have a clue as to what the heck was going on.
Discord growled, snapping his claws, removing my wings and Strife’s horn.
“And that’s why you’re the worst dad. Because you’re a big. dumb. bully.” Strife was back as his normal (For being a filly at least) tone of voice.
“And you are trying to change the topic.”
“Fine. Cain, Discord is our father.”
I sat there for a moment, brain not quite caught up with everything, until my ears registered exactly what Strife had said.
“WHAT?!”
Strife brushed his mane back into place as I gaped at him. “Well, technically he’s our creator, but eh, same difference.”
“Oh, finally!” Discord grinned “So, aren’t you gonna give Daddy a hug Cain? Is not like you would exist if it wasn’t because of me you know!”
I was confused, Strife and Discord must be lying, I was a human, not Discord’s creation. I mean, what about my memories? There was no way he could have created them... could he?
Discord seemed to sense this, chuckling as he said “Those aren’t real memories Cain… they’re all made up!”
Made-up memories? But… they didn’t feel made up… or fake even. Everything I knew felt real, like I had experienced it myself. There was no way that they could be fake!
But then… how the heck was I able to know Chrysalis was going to try and take over Canterlot? Discord hasn’t shown an ability to see into the future… otherwise he would have known he was going to be beaten the second time!
“Look into your heart Cain, you know it is true!” Discord said using Darth Vader’s voice.
“Really? That's the best you got dad? A quote from a movie that's decades old and has been referenced to death?” Strife looked at him with… was that disappointment?
Hearing that, I looked deeper inside… and knew that Discord had to be lying. Discord may be all powerful… but there was no way he could have created everything I recalled, every memory inside my head. Sure, he could probably create an entirely new personality, but a whole new person with even a small lifetimes worth of experiences.
Because… to accept what he was saying as truth… no, it wasn’t something I could do. I wouldn’t… I couldn’t accept such.
“Nice try Discord… but your tricks aren’t going to work on me. I don’t know what you’ve done to get Strife to believe them, but I’m not falling for it.”
Discord rolled his eyes, letting out a groan as he said “Come now Cain, surely if you’re other half is willing to accept it, surely you can.”
“Yeah Cain… it’s not like its the end of the world is it?” Strife said, giving me a worried look as I glared at both of them.
My head was starting to hurt, as was my heart. Discord didn’t sound like he was lying… and I could see honesty in Strife’s eyes. But… there was no way… no…
“No… no… nononononono NO!”
-*-Diamond Tiara-*-
Diamond Tiara and Cadance had wandered off to her quarters, figuring that they would hear from Twilight or the other Princesses when they had managed to track Luna down again… and figured out how to proceed in helping Cain out.
Then all of a sudden, she felt her mind being pulled inward, and before she knew it, she was back inside the mindscape. A quick look around informed her that she wasn’t alone.
Cain was staring at the ground, an aura of swirling emotions around him as Strife looked on in concern, while Discord sat on a couch eating popcorn.
“What’s going on?” Diamond Tiara asked
“Cain knows what he really is… but he can’t accept it.” Strife was hugging the Woona plushie, and he seemed sad. “He’s starting to pull the negativity out of me… he might blow his top soon.”
Diamond Tiara glared at Discord “What did you do?”
“Oh, I just told Cain the truth.” Discord said, smirking as that earned a visible twitch from Cain. “Perhaps Cain forgot that sometimes, the truth hurts. Guahahaha…”
“Shut it Discord…” Cain growled as black and red energy started to spark around him. Diamond Tiara took a step back at hearing the venom in his tone. It was almost like she could literally feel the building fury within him!
“Ohohoho, well, I think my work here is done. I hope you three have fun!” With that, a bright flash filled the room, and Discord vanished.
Even without his presence, Cain didn’t seem to be calming down. If anything, she could swear she now felt a cold wind blowing through the hall, a pained whisper carried along it.
‘Not true… Not possible… I am me… ME!’
“Uh...Diamond? I don’t know about you… but I really think we should try and do something right about now!” Strife called out as the wind started to pick up speed and intensity. The Woona doll tried to take off, but Strife clamped his hooves around it as he clung to the rug.
“But what the heck am I supposed to do?” She asked, looking to Cain as her mind raced. An idea popped into her head, but she wasn’t sure if it would work. “Strife, try giving him the doll! I’ll be back with help!”
Strife’s jaw fell open as Diamond started to concentrate on returning to her body, but now wasn’t exactly the time to argue as he crawled over, ignoring the powerful emotions flowing through and around Cain as he wrapped his hooves around him, pressing the doll to his side.
Then Diamond Tiara was back in Cadance’s room, shaking her head at the momentary dizziness. “Diamond? Is everything okay?” She looked up, seeing that Cadance was no longer across from her, but was instead standing next to her, a hoof on her back.
“No… not at all. I need your help Princess Cadance!” She said, tears starting to well up as she felt a new emotion welling up from within her soul.
‘Pain… Cain is in pain.’
Without giving the Princess any warning, she threw herself at her, wrapping her hooves around Cadance. A moment later, she felt Cadance sitting down as she wrapped her up in a hug. Almost immediately, Diamond could feel all of her worries fading away… but it wasn’t she that needed this hug.
With a deep breathe, she delved back into the mindscape. Cain was still looking at the ground, but the wind hadn’t slowed down. If anything, it had picked up speed.
“There you are! I hope you’ve got something up your sleeve, because this isn’t doing anything!” Strife shouted over the raging storm.
Not sure if she’d be able to scream over the howling currents, instead she steadfastly made her way closer, joining Strife as she wrapped her hooves around Cain.
‘I hope this works.’ She thought to herself as she concentrated on pulling him out of this mindscape, and into the embrace of somepony full of love and warmth...
-*-Cain-*-
One moment, it felt like my world was falling apart around me, the cold harshness of reality beating me down as I wrestled with what I had been told. It couldn’t be true… it just couldn’t...
And then… I felt a pair of hooves wrapped around me, holding me tight against something soft and warm. It felt nice, like my mother hugging me when I was a little colt... little colt? But I… no… everything was too confusing right now, and I had no desire to face what was now gnawing at my mind.
Whether it was truth or fabrication, I wished only to stay far, far away from it.
Opening my eyes, I saw a coat of pink fur, and looking up, I saw the concerned gaze of Princess Cadance, and along with it a glimmer of motherly love.
I felt a tear forming at the corner of my eye, and I buried my head into her chest, just taking comfort in her presence.
“T-Thanks Cadance… I-I needed this.” I mumbled, shaking a bit as I used her as an anchor to regain control of the roiling storm that was my emotions.
“Its alright Cain… though you should probably be thanking Diamond Tiara. She’s the one who told me she needed help… I take it something terrible has happened?”
‘Ugh.’ I thought, not wanting to even vocalize what had been told to me, my mind still wrestling with itself over it. “Y-You could say that…”
Cadance seemed to get the idea, and held me tighter as she said “Well, whatever it is, just remember that you have friends who can help you deal with it. You aren’t alone Cain… whatever troubles you have, you’ve got friends willing to face them with you together.”
Sniffling, I felt myself calming down as I nodded, her words helping to soothe my soul. ‘She’s right… the others can help me. The Princesses, the Mane Six, even Strife and Diamond Tiara… they’re all here for me...’
“Oh for crying out loud!” A voice shouted out, before the ghostly form of Discord appeared above our heads. “I break Cain’s spirit and he just happens to end in front of a silly princess of love? This is just getting ridiculous!”
Cadance leveled her eyes at Discord, clearly not welcoming his intrusion, or his admission. Her horn began to glow, gathering energy before letting loose a giant sphere of magical energy that struck Discord’s form, causing him to writhe in pain.
“Fine! If you want your privacy that bad, I’ll go somewhere else!” He declared, quickly scattering to the four winds before Cadance could try anything else.
Cadance let out a hmph at his retreating form. “And good riddance to bad rubbish.” She then looked down, catching sight of my widened eyes. “What?”
“You just sent Discord packing… just like that?”
“Tier seven dispersal field, that’s the best I can do so I am glad it worked.” She said, letting out a sigh as she sagged a bit. “Cain, I have a feeling that Discord is behind whatever is bothering you. And I can sense its weighing heavily on your heart.” She bent her neck down, nuzzling me softly as she said “I know it might hurt to think about… but I’m here for you. Whatever is ailing you… I’ll do my best to help lift your heart from it.”
She pulled away, her expression serious but radiating compassion as she added “If nothing else… do it to save yourself the pain keeping it buried will bring you.”
I looked away, uncertain if I could do what she was asking. I didn’t want to think about it… it caused my entire being to hurt… and I wasn’t even sure if it would do any good.
Did she really care about me that much? Did she really wish to help alleviate the pain inside… or was it just her nature as the princess of love?
‘Listen to pink flanks Cain. You and I both know its bad for us to dwell on these sorts of things… especially when we keep it to ourselves.’ Strife murmured to me, reminding me that I wasn’t the only one who had to deal with the feelings.
‘Guess I don’t have much choice…’ with a heavy sigh, I looked up at Cadance and asked “Can I still hug you while I share?”
Her giggle was warm and kind, as she set me against her side and draped a wing over my back. “Of course Cain. I would be happy to.”
Smiling back at her, I took a deep breathe to steel myself, before slowly explaining to her just what was causing me such pain.
-*-Twilight Sparkle-*-
Twilight watched the young royal pony sisters chasing each other, it seemed that both had forgotten the need of going back to being adults and were just having fun. She wasn’t sure if Celestia’s mind had changed back, or if she was just humoring her sister. Aside from Pinkie Pie, everypony else was just watching from afar.
‘I wonder, when was the last time they both had a chance to relax like this?’ She thought to herself as she informed one of the Guards to keep things quiet, knowing that if word got out of the palace that Discord was even partially on the loose, Canterlot would go to the dogs.
A surge of magical energy from the other side of the palace caught her attention, especially when she recognized the signature of its caster. “Girls, can you keep an eye on them? I have to go check something!”
“Wha- wait darling, this is rather sudden!” Rarity tried to say, but Twilight had already teleported away.
Appearing in the northern wing of the Palace, it took her a moment to orient herself. She hadn’t been to this section all that often, and thus she had opted for teleporting to as close to the surge as she could.
Lighting her horn and setting off at a gallop, she murmured “Alright… I just need to pinpoint the spells origin and I’ll-GYAH!”
Twilight had been in such a rush to find which room Cadance had cast the spell, that she didn’t even notice that Cadance was heading down the same hallway, a foal riding along on her back as they unintentionally played a game of chicken. Only in this case, no one swerved away.
“Ugh… Twilight?” A voice spoke up, and as Twilight’s head stopped spinning from the impact, she realized who the foal was.
“Diamond? Cain? What’s going on?” She asked as she pulled herself up, Cadance doing the same as she brushed them both off. She looked over, seeing that the little filly didn’t seem any worse for the wear… though she was wearing something that hadn’t been there before. A silver pendant bearing the sigil of the Lunar Throne.
“I could ask you the same question… but I still have about three Pinkies singing ‘Hello my baby hello my honey’ around my head, so I’m a little preoccupied at the moment.” Cain said, rubbing his head and swatting at the imaginary Pinkies.
Cadance quirked an eyebrow up at this, but Twilight just shrugged, giving her a ‘don’t ask’ look. Deciding she probably didn’t want to know, she instead explained “We were actually looking for you and the Princesses. We’ve got something important we need to discuss with them immediately.”
-*-Diamond Tiara-*-
Diamond Tiara relaxed slightly when she could feel everything in her head calming down, it seemed they got Cain to Princess Cadance in time. Still, the room was a mess, all the furniture was broken, and the giant screen wall was cracked.
The filly looked at Strife, did he look… smaller? About the size Diamond Tiara herself had in that school related nightmare.
Diamond trotted over, picking Strife up and gave him a look over. “Are you okay?”
Strife squirmed in her grasp, glaring at everything as he said “Not really, everything hurts. And I got turned into a pint sized brat.”
Diamond Tiara then noticed something else “Since when are you a unicorn?”
He shrugged, giving her a bemused look. “I dunno, I just woke up as one after the whole you facing your fears deal.”
Shrugging, not seeing much importance in the change, she instead turned the conversation to something a bit more pressing. “Can you try talking with Cain, to see if he is alright?”
“I can try… but I think he’s barely keeping it together.” Strife closed his eyes and his small horn started to glow with blue magic. She sat back on her haunches, not sure what else she could do.
In fact, she found herself wondering if there was anything that she could even do… it seemed like everything was falling upon the Princesses finding some way to separate Cain and Strife from her… but something at the back of her mind left her wondering if they would even be able to do so.
“Cain says he’s fine for now… but I know him well enough to know that he’s trying not to think about it. He’s not suppressing it… otherwise I’d be the one worrying about it. But he’s not acknowledging it either.” Strife said, shrugging as he sat plopped himself on what was left of the couch.
-*-Celestia-*-
Celestia almost crashed into Luna when her sister stopped running and looked to the palace. Seconds later, every unicorn could feel a big explosion of powerful magic. And then Twilight Sparkle teleported away without giving so much as a word of what she was doing.
"It looks like somepony just used a Tier seven dispersal field, it must have been Cadance." Luna said, then sat down. "I hope my safeguard spell is able to help those little ponies.”
Celestis blinked “Wait, were you just pretending that you wanted to stay as a filly in some kind of master plan?” If that was the case, Celestia was going to have to wonder if Luna had been taking lessons from Discord.
Luna shook her head, eyes focused elsewhere as she replied “I wasn’t pretending, and yes this was part of my plan. Be honest big sister, had it not been because of your sense of duty, wouldn’t you be enjoying being a child again a lot more?”
“I admit it has been a big stress reliever.” She said, pawing at the ground with a hoof as her cheeks briefly tinted pink. “So what does exactly your safeguard spell do?”
“The more in Harmony Diamond Tiara is with the other two, the more my spell can help them to fight off Discord. And since the spell was set in Diamond Tiara’s mind with her consent, it does have a powerful effect there.”
“Her consent?”
“She agreed to let me help her in any way I could.”
“But you didn't tell exactly what that help would be, right? That’s very sneaky of you little sister.”
Luna smiled deviously at her sister. “I learn from the best, sister dear. You yourself have been rather sneaky when it is required or it strikes your fancy.”
“Duly noted.” Celestia said, sighing as she started heading out of the Garden, Luna following along a moment later. “Well sister dear, as much fun as this distraction has been, I think its time we get down to more serious matters.” She stopped, staring up at the Palace wing Twilight had teleported to.
“I have a feeling that we don’t have time to waste.”
-*-Cain-*-
Twilight, Cadance and I met the Princesses on the way back to the gardens, quickly filling them in on what had occurred. Celestia expressed sincere doubts about the idea that Discord could have created me… considering how detailed my memories were, she just couldn’t see Discord spending that much time or effort for such a fabrication.
Which didn’t exactly leave me feeling any better. If they figured Discord didn’t do it, or wouldn’t do it, there were decent chances that he had in fact done it, just to spite the expectations.
However, despite the urgency I felt about getting things moving, Celestia’s next words had my jaw dropping in utter bewilderment.
“What do you mean we’re waiting til tomorrow to try and separate us?!”
Celestia easily weathered my gaze as she explained.
“For starters, to perform the mind separation spell, both Luna and I will need to be in our normal forms. Thus, we need to return ourselves to adulthood before attempting the spell. Its dangerous enough in general, surely you don’t wish us to perform it while underpowered.”
I grimaced, nodding as my head went through all the lovely possibilities of what could happen if it went wrong.
“We will also need time for Twilight and ourselves to recover. Should the spell fail, we will have no choice but to attempt using the Elements. And while you might think they might be the ultimate weapon against evil and a fix it all, the truth is that in this case we don’t know what will happen when we use them.” Luna continued, as Twilight nodded to confirm such.
“And…” Celestia said, stopping and looking around, and if fearing someone was listening. Her face gaining a sad look to it , “I believe it would be beneficial for Diamond Tiara’s parents to spend some time with their child… in case we aren’t successful.”
I moved my mouth open to protest… but closed it as I thought about it. She’s right… if none of this works, the three of us will merge… and who knows what we’ll be like after that. DT’s body would still be the same… but would she still be Diamond Tiara in heart and mind?
“Alright… I guess I can wait a while longer anyways. Its not like I got much choice in the matter.” I mumbled, glaring at the floor rather than anypony around me. I was angry that I had to wait… but I understood why it was necessary.
I felt something soft nuzzling against me, and turned to see that Luna had pulled me against her. “I am sorry that we must make you wait. Know though that once we are ready, we will use every ounce of our power to help save you from your fate.”
Celestia nodded. “Yes, now if you’ll excuse us, we will need to summon several of the best magicians in Canterlot. We will need all the help we can get to reverse the spell Discord cast on us.” She turned to Cadance, giving a small smile as she asked “Would you be kind enough to escort Cain to the quarters we assigned to him and Diamond’s parents? They’re in the East wing near the observatory.”
“Of course!” Cadance quipped, turning that warm, dazzling smile upon me and making most of my worries melt away. “Come along Cain, I can give you a bit of a tour along the way if you’d like.”
“That sounds good…” I said, having trouble pulling my eyes away from her as Twilight and the Princesses headed off, Cadance turning and leading me down a different hallway as we trotted off to go check in with the Riches.
Time quickly flew, and I don’t think I actually absorbed half of what Princess Cadance told me about the Palace, not that she seemed to mind. My head was still preoccupied with what Discord had told me. I tried not to think about it, but its one of those things that you just can’t push aside no matter how hard you try.
I thought my home, the old trailer I lived in with my mom and sister, and our two cats. I recalled the tone of Spot’s meow and how it made my moms ears hurt whenever he wouldn’t shut up.
I remembered the time I’d lost control in third grade, and was standing on a desk threatening to throw a chair at the principal. I could picture Strife laughing himself silly at the memory of that scared shitless look on the poor guy’s face…
Those, and many others, were as clear as day to me, and felt utterly real. Could Discord have really created those all on his own?
‘You know Cain, I’m surprised this is bothering you so much. Weren’t you the one who would sometimes wonder what existence really is?’
I rolled my eyes at Strifes statement as we reached the doors to our room, Cadance knocking lightly as we waited for them to let us in. ‘Yeah, well philosophizing it is different from having it be hanging over your neck.’
“Oh hello Princess I-Ah, Diamond!” Silver Tongue exclaimed as the door was opened, pulling me into a hug which I didn’t resist, though made no move to contribute too.
She seemed to sense this, holding me at hooves length as she asked “I take it you’re Cain right now?” I shook my head in the affirmative, and she sighed.
“I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up. Princess Celestia only told us that they had performed a spell to try and help you both. She promised to inform us once she knew if it had been successful at all.”
“Who is it honey?” The voice of Filthy Rich blew in from an open balcony nearby, where I could see the edge of a newspaper and a chair, but little else.
“Princess Cadance was kind enough to bring Cain back to our rooms.” She called back, giving a friendly smile and a slight bow to the Princess of Love. Cadance returned the gesture, taking a moment to pull me into a hug, whispering to me that everything would be alright in the end.
I gave her a smile, trying to latch onto her confident assurance even if I wasn’t sure it was well founded.
“I should probably tell you what’s been going on, and what’s still planned.” I said, rubbing the back of my head with a hoof and looking away from Silver Tongue. “I think an abridged version would probably be best though.” After all, there was no need to tell her that Discord had changed the Princesses into fillies.
Relaying what I figured was most important, I quickly finished with a sigh. “And so, both Celestia and Luna think its best that you spend the rest of the day with your daughter… since if we aren’t separated tomorrow… we’ll be squished together into a whole different Pony.”
Filthy Rich had come in during my explanation, and the two shared a pained look with each other. I could see some tears forming in Silver Tongue’s eyes, leaving a sick feeling in my stomach at having to deliver such news to them.
“Here, give me a sec and I’ll let you three have your privacy.” I said, closing my eyes as I focused inward, pulling Diamond Tiara out of whatever it was she had been doing moments before and sliding her into the driver seat.
When I opened my eyes, I was in my foal form again sitting on a ruined couch.
“I take it this is from what happened a little while ago?”
It didn’t take long for Strife to pip up. “Eyup. The place is kind of trashed after that miniature meltdown you had.”
A scowl spread across my face, not exactly pleased to hear that. “Yeah well, try not to sound too pleased about it. I’m not exactly proud of how I reacted.”
“Hey, I’m not happy about it either. It almost gave Mister Chaos what he wanted. If it hadn’t been for me and Queen Brat, Discord would probably be free.” Strife replied, giving my head a good thwack with a hoof.
I groaned from the smack, even if it hadn’t been that hard. “Was that really necessary?”
“Yes.” He replied, as if it was silly of me to even ask.
“Ugh.” Was all I said as I laid down, covering my face with my hooves. I was feeling exhausted from everything that had happened today, and really wasn’t in the mood for any of Strife’s shenanigans. “I’m taking a nap. Wake me up when Diamond’s done visiting her folks or something important comes up.”
If Strife had anything to say, I didn’t hear it as I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breathe and allowing my mind to drift off into blissful rest.
-*-
A few hours passed, during which I thankfully wasn’t visited or bothered by anything. A dreamless sleep was exactly what I had needed. What I didn’t need though was to wake up and find myself sitting in the playground outside Ponyville Elementary.
“Oh great, now what?”
Strife walked past me, nomming on a lollipop as he said “Beats me. Diamond said something like ‘I want to show you something, in case I forget when we merge’. I think its supposed to be important.”
That piqued my interest, and I looked around as I tried to see if there was anything interesting going on. As it just so happened, I saw a familiar carriage approaching the school, and sure enough, out stepped Diamond Tiara, albeit without her namesake. She looked a bit taller than she had been when I had seen her in the memories of her time at that Canterlot school.
“I know you’re worried my little princess, but you’ll do fine. This school isn’t like the other one.”
“You keep saying that Mamma… it doesn’t make me feel any better.” Diamond Tiara replied as she looked up at her mothers face poking out of the window.
“Just please give it a chance.” Silver Tongue hugged her daughter, and I could somewhat feel the hug.
“Okay Mamma.” Diamond Tiara put on the mask of indifference I knew she usually wears and walked into the school playground. It was still early, so most of the foals were playing or chatting with each other before the school bell rang. As she looked about, Diamond Tiara spotted a familiar silver filly sitting by herself.
“Oh please, how stereotypical can you get?” Strife complained, but he was still looking on with interest. I gave him a bonk on the head before turning back to the scene playing out.
“Hi… uh…” DT said nervously after approaching the silver earth pony filly. “My name is Diamond Tiara and this is my first day here.”
The silver filly looked at the new pony with what it seemed lack of interest yet replied politely “Hello, my name is Silver Spoon.”
Diamond Tiara nervously sat next to the other filly then asked another question “Are you new too?”
Silver Spoon looked around at the other fillies before shaking her head. “No, I’ve been attending this school for a week already.”
Diamond Tiara opened her mouth, only to close it, as if she realized she was gonna say something that could be taken the wrong way. I was amazed to see the bully that usually went against the Cutie Mark Crusaders acting so differently in front of the filly who would become her best friend.
They sat there, silent for a few minutes, neither seeming to look at the other, before finally Diamond Tiara spoke up.
“Um… I know it might not be any of my business… but why are you sitting by yourself?”
Silver Spoon fiddled with her glasses for a moment. “W-Well… I just don’t feel all that comfortable around the others…”
“Oh come on! I can’t believe she was a mini Fluttershy!” Strife seemed angry about this, then I notice it was more like he was angry with himself, if that made any sense.
“I tried to talk with some of the others… but no one really understands most of what I’m talking about.” She added, looking rather irritated, but at whom, I wasn’t sure.
Diamond Tiara frowned, noticing that Silver Spoon seemed to be relaxing a bit. “You don’t seem to be having any trouble with me.”
“Well… you seem different.” Silver Spoon replied, looking Diamond over with an almost critical eye before giving her a soft smile. “Maybe its how you're holding yourself.”
Diamond didn’t say anything at that, instead shifting a bit on the bench she was sharing with the filly. She did however look Silver Spoon over in kind, noting that she was holding herself sort of how her mother sometimes did.
It was then that Diamond Tiara noticed something. Silver Spoon had a cutie mark, while she didn’t. It was the image of a silver spoon with a small pink heart in it.
“Uh… what does… your cutie mark mean?”
“Oh that?” Silver Spoon replied, looking down at her flank. She didn’t look all that happy about it. “It means I’m very picky with my food.”
Diamond Tiara quirked an eyebrow up at that, briefly glancing at her own blank flank and asking “You can get a cutie mark for that?”
Silver Spoon frowned at DT’s response, no doubt taking offense at that. “Daddy calls it being a food critic.”
Diamond’s mouth formed a round ‘o’ before she offered a tentative smile. “That sounds much better than what you first said. More refined and special.”
Silver Spoon opened her mouth, seeming to be ready to make a retort, but then stopped, registering what Diamond had said. “Oh… t-thank you… that… that’s very nice to hear.”
Then they heard the sound of the school bell and ran inside the school with the other fillies. It was then than Diamond Tiara finally realized how SMALL the place was, the whole Schoolhouse seemed to only have space for a single classroom. From outside it seemed like it had two floors, but the second was probably just the attic.
Then the teacher called Diamond Tiara by name and after her to introduce herself. At least most foals didn’t have their cutie marks yet, and no pony was rude to her. Maybe she could get used to this.
Then it seemed like the memory had become a sort of montage, showing DT becoming close friends with Silver Spoon and trying and failing to become friends with other fillies due to the fact she wasn’t like them. Not many foals their age wanted to talk about high society after all.
As the first week passed by, more and more ponies won their cutie marks, making Diamond Tiara start to feel more and more insecure. She recalled how most of the foals back at the school in Canterlot had had cutie marks...something they had enjoyed commenting on all the time.
Until one day…
“Today we are going divide the class in two groups for an exercise in teamwork.”
Half the class groaned, while a few chattered excitedly, wondering what exactly Miss Cheerilee had in mind. I could see that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon weren’t that excited about it either.
“This year’s Summer Sun Celebration, the theme for the town’s parade is the founding of Equestria. I want all of you to break up into teams of five and come up with an idea for a float to enter into the parade. There won’t be a grade on this, but I still want everypony doing their best so you can all learn the value of working together.”
That didn’t sound so bad, but as I quickly saw, most of the foals already seemed to know who they wanted to work with, leaving Diamond and Silver Spoon alone with three other foals. Another Earth Pony, a Pegasus, and a Unicorn.
“I’m surprised that those three aren’t the CMC. Would have been amusing if they’d had to work together before they became their little dinky club.” Strife remarked. This time, I hit him with a nearby book to shut him up.
The other three started talking about ideas, but didn’t seem all that into it, which I noticed seem to be annoying DT a bit. Silver Spoon was sort of stuck in the middle, looking between her friend and the three foals they had to work with, unsure of how to proceed.
Finally, after about five minutes of this, Diamond slammed her hoof on her desk and declared that if they had to do this silly little project, then they were going to do it right. It wasn’t long before Diamond had the three wrapped around her hooves and was busy organizing what float the group would design and who would be responsible for what.
“This is reminding me of the school paper episode… how she took charge with that. Do you think-” I began, turning to Strife who seemed to be ignoring the scene.
“What, that her Cutie Mark involves being a leader, rather than just wearing a silly little tiara? No, why on earth would I think that?”
I rolled my eyes at that, deciding to ignore Strife for the rest of this little diversion unless I absolutely needed to.
Things briefly ground to a halt when, after deciding they would do a float on the Unicorn Tribe, the only actual Unicorn in the group said she should play the role of Princess Platinum.
“Hey, if anypony should be the Princess, it should be me!” Diamond declared, stomping a hoof for added emphasis. Silver Spoon chimed in with her support, but the Unicorn tried to comment on her not being a Unicorn…
“Do you think I care if I don’t have that little twirly bump on my head? I’ve seen how actual nobles walk and I know how they talk. Unless you can say the same, I expect you to drop it so we can get started on this.”
The foal looked like she wanted to argue the point, but the glare she was getting from Diamond Tiara shut her up. I walked around them, watching as they got everything, down to the tiniest detail, figured out.
The memory shifted suddenly, with us outside the Filthy Rich’s study. Both Strife and I were being pulled along behind an excited Diamond Tiara, who burst into the room and shouted “Mamma! Daddy! I’m going to be a Princess!”
Silver Tongue and Filthy Rich looked up from their work, flashing her smiles as Silver Tongue asked “Oh? And aren’t you already our darling little princess?”
“Yes. But I’m going to be Princess Platinum for the float we’re entering into the contest.” She said, pulling a folder out and laying everything out for them to see as she explained the project to the two.
“Well, I suppose you’ll need a crown then won’t you.” Silver Tongue replied after hearing everything, Diamond Tiara being a little out of breath considering she had sort of sped through it all.
“Well duh Mamma, of course I’ll need a crown, but we already-” She began, until Silver Tongue pulled a wrapped box out from behind her chair, placing it in front of Diamond, who was gazing at it with apprehension. “M-Mamma? Is… is that what I think it is?”
“Mmm… why not open it and find out.” Silver Tongue replied, and we watched as Diamond Tiara carefully, almost reverently, undid the wrapping and lifted the top off the box.
“So… this is when she got it.” I murmured softly to myself as she slowly pulled out her namesake- a dazzling diamond studded tiara.
“Yes, that's why she is so attached to it.” Strife said, taking out the same tiara out of nowhere and putting it over his head. I had to admit, still looking like a unicorn filly, with that dress and tiara, Strife looked rather cute.
I briefly wondered how I would look wearing that myself… before shaking my head at such thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for that.
“Hey! There is nothing wrong with being a mare you know. Specially around here, in case you forgot, the main protagonist, the leaders and heroes are all female. Well save the few times Spike does something useful!”
“Yeah whatever, let me see how this ends.” I focused on the memory to avoid thinking about our continued fusion and its likely end results.
Diamond Tiara squeed and bounced about in joy as she placed the tiara on her head, glomping both Silver Tongue and Filthy Rich before they managed to calm her down and remind her she had a project to work on.
“A good Princess always attends to her duties after all.” Filthy Rich said, to which Silver Tongue nodded as she settled back down in her chair.
Diamond Tiara stopped running about, let out a cough, and straightened up. “Of course. And I shall do so immediately. If you’ll excuse me Mamma, Daddy, I’ve got some work to do.”
Diamond Tiara did her best not to go racing out of the room in excitement, but couldn’t contain her excitement and soon was galloping through the door, off to gather the rest of her group. The soft chuckling of Silver Tongue and Filthy Rich followed us as the scenes shifted again and again.
Diamond Tiara and her group worked hard, and when the time for the parade came, theirs was the most well made float, and under Diamond’s watchful eye, they didn’t even mess up the small dance number Silver Spoon had come up with. And they even sang Unicornia’s old national anthem properly!
When the various entries into the contest were lined up, it was rather clear who the winner was. Mayor Mare smiled as she undid the envelope, and declared in a loud voice
“And the winner is… Team Unicornia!”
Diamond Tiara, who was standing next to her mother, started beaming as she bounced up and down. “Look Mamma! I won I won!”
“Oh that’s wonderful dear, but don’t you mean we? You didn’t do it alone after all.” Silver Tongue asked, a bit of a chiding look in her eyes.
“Yeah… but if I hadn’t pushed the group so hard we wouldn’t have won!”
Silver Tongue nodded, leaning down and nuzzling her side. “Of course my little princess. I knew you had it in you… you’re a born leader.” There was a small flash past Silver Tongue’s head, and she turned and smiled as she said “And would you look at that…”
“Huh?” Diamond Tiara began, twisting her head to see what her mother was talking about. When she saw the image of a tiara emblazoned on her flanks, her eyes went wide, a whirlwind of emotions rushing by in an instant before a smile that could challenge Pinkie’s spread across her face.
“My Cutie Mark! My Cutie Mark! I got my Cutie Mark!”
The view faded out from there, and Strife seemed to vanish for a moment, before reappearing ahead of me, and manning a camera. Diamond Tiara was sitting on a stool, giving Strife a nod. He looked to me, glaring as he said “Not a word.”
“Hi Cain, that was how I won my cutie mark. I wanted you and Strife to see it in case… well in case we do merge and I somehow forgot about it. Its one of my happiest memories… even if I didn’t understand what it actually meant.”
“I was an idiot back then, thinking my cutie mark meant I was superior to everypony and I had the right to boss them around. You could say Canterlot helped pushed that idea into my head… but I shouldn’t have assumed that.”
“A good leader doesn’t just tell people what to do, and doesn’t bully them. A good leader leads by example... without the two of you, I would never have realized how much of a jerk I have been. I could have gone without the torture, but by talking to Luna I understood Discord also had some of the fault with that. ”
Strife gagged, rolling his eyes as he watched and filmed this little confession of sorts.
“What I am trying to say is, I might not have wanted for all of this to happen, but thank you and Strife for helping. I don't’ know exactly what will happen, but I think of you two as friends and I don’t want either of you to be destroyed.”
Strife faked vomiting up the contents of his stomach, only to cringe and try to squirm away as Diamond pulled him into a hug. She waved a hoof over to me, obviously wanting me to join in.
I didn’t even have to think about it as I walked over, wrapping my hooves around both of them and taking comfort in their presence. It reminded me that I wasn’t the only one at stake here… that my life wasn’t the only one hanging in the balance.
“Come on guys… we should get some sleep. We’re going to be very busy tomorrow.” Diamond said as Strife finally manage to tug himself free, summoning a sponge and scrubbing himself all over.
The room shifted again, or rather the perspective shifted. I was seeing through Diamond Tiara’s eyes again, and was staring up into the loving face of Silver Tongue.
“Good night my sweet princess… and her special guests.” She leaned in, placing a kiss on our forehead before turning and heading out of the room, giving us a soft smile as she closed the door behind her.
‘Gug, too much mushy lovy-feely crud. I’m gonna be sick all night long’ I heard Strife whining as I shifted about, getting comfortable in the rather large bed.
“Oh hush you.” I muttered, soon lying on my side and taking in a few deep breathes, gazing out the window at Luna’s moon as it slowly made its way across the night sky.
So much had happened today, it felt like it was a jumbled, rushed mess as I tried to sort it all out. A failed attempt to separate us, Discord gaining enough strength to start messing with things even while sealed… the ‘truth’ he had shared with me.
I sighed, shaking my head at it all as my head started to hurt. Trying to think about it all would just make it harder to fall asleep, and I was already stressed enough without overthinking everything. That’d probably just give Discord more fodder to play with anyways.
I nuzzled into the pillow as I pushed all the fears and worries I had out of my mind, recalling something my grandmother had often said. ‘You can only face the problems of today, so don’t fret yourself over the future.’
With those words floating around in my head, I closed my eyes, and softly drifted off to sleep… but just before the darkness took me, a chilling whisper brushed across my ear.
“Oh, don’t think you have won yet Cain, after all, betrayal is the most devastating loss you can experience. And the closer your friends are, the more it hurts when they finally abandon you.”
Shivering, I curled myself up within the blankets, mind trying to block out the words as the sandman finally cast his spell, and I slipped off into a turbulent slumber...
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I am so disappointed.
Also...
Rubbish, maybe?
Well then. *Adds to Read Later*.
Before I begin reading, though, the most jarring thought from reading the description is "Why would you name your son after a murderer?"
5322142
Ponies eat radish, so think of it as pony's slang. Being vegetarians, they must care more about veggies than we do.
5322304 I can't speak for the author, but I would answer simply, "Not everybody holds the faith that puts such meaning to the name."
Here. Have a dislike for that very obvious advertisement in the feature box.
5322388 What are you even talking about?
5322730
Maybe the story got into the feature box for a few minutes?
5322304
That wasn't the only person ever named Cain.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cain_%28disambiguation%29
5322814
I saw it there too but I have no idea what he means by advertisement.
5322825
Well, of course she isn't. A) She is a unicorn B) She is not used to farm work C) She lacks training in that type of work.
And everypony got angry about the Gabby Guns thing.
5322819
Some people hate stories being featured and quickly downvote them, thats the whole reason the "Featured" group exists. It automatically adds any story that was featured. But it doesn't include stories that were featured ages ago since that system didn't exist back then.
See here:
http://www.fimfiction.net/stories?order=date_added&bookshelf=1
*One Massive Readathon later...*
Huh, Strife causing Cain to spill the beans was part of the plan all along? Whoda thunk?
Still that takes some mad skilz to make someone doubt they ever existed...
Here's to hoping Discord's plot will be foiled next chapter. Same Bat Time, Same Bat channel!
X3 yeah I saw it in featured for a while
5322304 I am aware of that, yes. Would not they be named after the murderer too, though?
Also, you're talking my comment too seriously. I was stating what I had thought after reading the description. I was not, as people annoyingly seem to assume, actually making a position on anything. Goodness, does nobody understand the distinction between thoughts and beliefs anymore?
EDIT: Drat, I replied to myself.
5322879
Even Strife is disappointed at how unoriginal Discord has been acting.
5323122
To be fair, read ahead, you will find out Strife might not be just part of Cain's mind cause SPOILERS.
5322926
The Apples are not fancy ponies. For all we know, the apple fritters are leftovers from the other day. When you are a hardworking farm pony, you don't waste food.
5322142
In the process of fixing those both now.
5322304
I was born with red hair, and when my mom saw that the first name that came to her was Cain. The doctor also questioned it, but frankly it was better than Kyle (about four of my moms friends had had kids around the same time, and named their boys kyle.)
5322388
My story has been featured every time it has been updated for about...five chapters or so. So your very late to the party. But hey, feel free to judge the story JUST because its on the feature list. Nothing at all wrong or silly about that.
5322848
Are you referring to Sweetie Belle or Diamond? Because if that line was in reference to Diamond, I think your getting ponies switched up.
5322926
That was the first thing that came to mind honestly.
5322879
So, did Mister Obama say hi to you?
5324050
A part of me wants to throw that in as a link now for that line...not sure if it would make things better or not.
5325044 Except when Discord is involved, of course
5322814 The story was in the feature box for a few minutes. That's how I found it.
I have to say, my preferred ending would be the soul merge. It's actually rather heartwarming, for some reason.
Is it bad that I am hoping for fusion?
5327813
Depends on your moral/ethical standpoint.
5327813 5328911
It would also depend on what the end state for said fusion was no doubt.
5329219
That is kind-of irrelevant, because we won't know the end state until the fusion actually happens >_>
Unless you want to play cheater and tell us of course, lol, which I don't want :D
5325081
I am getting ponies switched out, sorry.
It's a pretty entertaining read. Strife isn't quite as intolerable at least, even if dark and edgy evil side is done to death. I don't understand why Cain's so upset with not being real. I wish I could not be real. But I guess he was designed that way, heh. The Autism drop in the middle seemed out of place, could be delivered better if Cain actually got ready to throw a chair in DT's body.
Wait what?
Woona. <.<~
that struck Discord's form, it writhing in pain. There are other ways to word it but eh...
--
Overall, I like this chapter!
5378458
Fixed
5350412
What does Autism have to do with Chair throwing?
5406756
It's a silly stereotype. The "autistic" antihero gets mad and overreacts, throwing a chair at whoever messed up his narrow worldview. It's a reference to how people with autism have extreme mood shifts, since they don't express the build up to explosive rage, and how they lack the social sophistication to realize that throwing a chair is unacceptable behavior, and also their general inability to sympathize with other people in general.
5410552
That would actually explain why I threatened the principal with a chair while standing on desks back in the third grade...
5437028
5439141
I would first like to comment to some varying extents, the last half of your first comment ends up being partially answered in the form of Strife. I would like to add that further reading may make things more interesting to you.
I would like to state that you are substantially right- A major chance was wasted there. When I was writing that chapter at the time, I had not considered such a possibility. I was still working largely on what both felt/sounded good to me and the vague outline I had.
I was also trying to get myself to be WILLING to write the story. I have a tendency when it comes to my stories to get bored or distracted quickly, which can leave me being rather unwilling to work on things. Especially when ideas for stories that might interest me more at the time pop up in my head.
So, in the end, the Mind Delve chapter was the best I could come up with at the time.
5475590
Truth in Television!
5479107
To be fair, if they'd not over reacted over a stupid stick figure drawing and hadn't previously taken my Pikachu plushie I'd brought to school, it would have all been avoided. But this was the...late 90's or so, and in a small town that hadn't had a diagnosed case of autism yet, soo....
Fun fact though, while the Principal was scared shitless (a bad thing around me at the time) the vice principal had no problem using his authority to talk me down into not throwing it and cooperating.
5479360
img1.derpicdn.net/img/2014/9/2/713545/medium.png
Oh... shit. That's, no joke, exactly how I am! I'm not proud of it... much like Silver Spoon in that moment. Not being able to eat the majority of foods most consider delicious is just... RRRGGHH!!
For instance, I can't handle sauce! Any kind, you name it, I can't eat it without recoiling. Same goes for beans and... er... I'll end my endless list right there. Freaking sucks.
Aw crap, I can see myself being similar to Silver Spoon. With the picky eating part. That's about it... I haven't seen the show in a while (in fact, hardly watched it), but I'll have to look more into her other personality traits... before I can make any more "I'm like so and so" assumptions. Great, now I'll be on wikis the rest of the week doing just that.
Took a break partway through this chapter to scratch my head, since the story's becoming a bit of a task to follow. I'm sure if I looked, some of the following is probably explained in the comments, but a CliffsNotes might help.
Why was autism and transgenderism dropped in our laps abruptly and without preamble when Cain's already dealing with frequent trips to a shared mindscape, a three-mind merger, and the question of whether or not he's a real human spirit or a chaotic construct (which I don't buy) with a split personality and a surprisingly detailed stack of memories? What other disadvantageous or challenging attributes will manifest? Lazy eye? Chronic indigestion? An allergy to carrots? Dastardly split ends? Unusual taste in sarcastic t-shirts? To what end? Does making Cain more complicated help or hurt the immersion? Since I scrolled down here mid-chapter, I'm inclined to say "hurt."
Why is Diamond's father so adamant that she become a better pony, but folds and fires household help at her angry whim? Why was her mother stuck in Prance for three years without leave? Why didn't her family visit her? Is Prance on another planet? Is being in the Equestrian Diplomatic Corps that joyless and restrictive?
How does Discord have so much power if most of him is sealed in stone? Why is its strength so inconsistent? Does filly Luna and Celestia add anything to the story, or was it just a bout of boredom manifested in written form? At this point, can anything happen? Will Rick and Morty suddenly pop into the story before sheepishly portaling their way out?
Ya know, I'm actually like Silver Spoon as well. I think I'm the pickiest person on the planet(maybe not). Like, I can eat corn in a can, but not corn on a cob. I can eat pizza, but I don't eat mac and cheese. I eat some vegetables raw, but never cooked. I can go on if anyone asks me.
I'm also a bit shy, but don't talk about all that fancy stuff. But I do talk about things that not a lot of people my age would be interested in.
Well, since we have that reference going anyway.....
I always kind of thought it signified that she was born with a Silver Spoon in her mouth.
7604766 A Cutie Mark signifies what one's specific talent happens to be, not the circumstances of their youth.
7920711
Because a Diamond Tiara is so obvious and can only be interpreted one way. Sure.
That came out of nowhere... Why? Why was this here? This is not needed. For fuck's sake, why out of the blue like this? I know that sometimes this trope can be used brilliantly to explain a lot of stuff, but not like this.
I'm too deep into the story to let go and bail, because it IS genuinely interesting, but this kills off so much of my experience that I feel revolted. This is not a good way nor time to establish what should've been a main trait.
Oh my God, why? Bloody hell, just... Why?
10743818
Please see the authors note that is now in the story description. I'd honestly recommend you just drop reading it, as its not worth the time.