It was a tragedy. His life was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving his daughter all alone. Who will accept this broken filly, and help heal her shattered heart?
It was supposed to be a formal visit. The Princesses would come, say somethings, and leave. But during Celestia's speech, somepony turned Luna into a target. Before the Princesses could even blink the guards had tackled a pony in the crowds, and a stallion lay dying at Luna's hooves, whispering his last words into his young daughters ear. Then His last breath escaped him, leaving his daughter to cry over his broken body, leaving her alone in a cruel world. And Luna feels responsible.
What happens next? Only time will tell. But I can tell you, that both their lives, will be affected greatly.
[This is not part of the Familyverse.] {I got rid of the Tragedy tag, because there was only one tragedy and I suck at making sad things. I might put the Tragedy tag back up if I fit in another terribly incident, which I'm not saying I will, but I might.}
Diamond Tiara walked along side her father, Filthy Rich. They were heading towards the town square, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were coming to Ponyville to give a speech, and being a very important pony in the town, Filthy Rich had to be there. Diamond Tiara smiled deviously, she might get a chance to talk with the Princesses, this was a once in life time opportunity and she was not going to let it slip by. Her plans were knocked from her head when she saw her best and only friend Silver Spoon, she picked up her pace to catch up with her friend, turning, she waved to her father who waved in return and then strode to Silver Spoons side. The two fillies talked about the latest gossips, their plans for what to do to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, their manes, and basically just boasting. They continued to walk and talk until they came across three very familiar fillies, the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Well what do we have here, Silver Spoon?" Diamond asked her friend.
"It looks like a bunch of blank flanks to me Diamond." Silver Spoon replied.
"Really? 'Cause it looks like a bunch of blank flank losers to me." Diamond Tiara corrected Silver Spoon.
"Why can't you two just leave us alone?" Sweetie Belle asked with a sigh.
"Why would we do that?" Silver Spoon asked in reply.
"Because it would be nice!" Scootaloo shouted.
"Now calm down Scootaloo, there ain't no point in gettin' angry at 'em, clearly they can't help their spoiled selfish selves." Apple Bloom said calmly.
"We are NOT selfish!" Diamond huffed. "We're sophisticated!"
"Sa-fist-i-kate-ed?" The Cutie Mark Crusaders spelled out together.
"What does that mean?" Scootaloo asked.
"Maybe you should check a dictionary. You DO know what a dictionary is right?" Diamond asked mockingly.
"As a matter of fact, we DO!" Sweetie Belle declared. .
"Wow, I'm impressed!" Silver Spoon laughed.
"Me too Silver, I would have thought they were still learning to walk." said Diamond.
"Ha! I learned how to read and write BEFORE I could walk!" Scootaloo proclaimed.
"Said the flightless Pegasus." Silver Spoon recoiled quickly.
"Good one Silver." Diamond praised her friend.
"Yeah, I thought it was pretty good myself." Silver Spoon replied.
"Well I think its time to go, the Princesses will be here any minute now and if we keep laughing at these losers we'll be late." Diamond said.
"Bye, blank flanks!" The two chimed in unison. Then they took off to the town square, leaving the Cutie Mark Crusaders to follow with fallen faces. They pushed through the crowds that were gathering until they got to the front, there they found Diamond Tiara's father and Silver Spoon's parents. After awhile of waiting they heard the trumpets, signaling the arrival of the Princesses. Pushing in between their parents to get a better view, the two fillies looked to the sky and saw the royal chariot gliding through the air, the crowd erupted in applause and cheers. As the Princesses landed, everypony quieted down, Celestia stepped forward and began to speak, Luna walked to her side and put on a smile, Diamond could tell that it was forced, she had seen a lot of fake smiles.
Celestia kept talking and talking and talking, Diamond was getting bored and began looking around the crowd, for no reason really, just so she wouldn't have to listen to Princess Celestia's boring speech anymore, out of habit, she looked to her father and noticed him staring intensely at this one shifty stallion, he was a Unicorn with a smoky gray coat, purple eyes and a blood red mane, his cutie mark was covered by a cape and he definitely wasn't from Ponyville. She looked back to the stage where the Princesses were, then she looked back to the stallion just in time to see him launch a volley of black fire, some kind of spell, at the stage? No they were aiming for something more specific, they were aimed at Princess Luna. Diamond didn't even blink before the screams started, she looked back to the stage but the the Princesses weren't hurt, then she heard the sound of something hitting the ground, she turned, the guards had tackled the stallion, she looked back at the stage but this time looked at Princess Luna's face. Diamond didn't understand, if she wasn't hurt then why did she look so horrified.
She followed Luna's eyes to the body. Diamond jumped onto the stage and charged through the guards, she stopped and threw herself into her fathers warm coat, she looked into his face and saw that he was still breathing, his mouthed moved but his words were so soft that she couldn't hear him, she leaned in and heard him say "I love you.", and then their was silence. Diamond didn't know how long she sat there but she was vaguely aware that Silver Spoon had come to her side, and she was silently grateful for that, tears streaked down her magenta coat and mingled with her fathers blood, suddenly she turned and pulled her friend into a hug and began crying into her soft silvery fur, she wasn't expecting it, but Silver Spoon returned the hug and even cried with her. Then it began to rain and Diamond closed her weary eyes and drifted into the darkness of sleep.
Months had passed since Diamond Tiara's father was taken from her, and she now lived in the Ponyville Orphanage. She still saw Silver Spoon at school, but, things were different, and they'd never be like they were. She sat on her bed and stared at the floor, that's all she ever did at night, everypony would leave her alone, but she wished they would stay. The old Grandfather Clock "chimed", it didn't really sound like a chime, it sounded more like a gong. She raised her head and looked at the door, somepony was coming by to make sure that everypony was tucked in bed and sleeping, Diamond laid down and pulled the sheets over her little body and pretended to be asleep.
The door creaked open and a blue mare with a long, silky black mane looked in, it was Nightingale, she was the kindest pony at this dreadful orphanage, quietly Nightingale exited the room and closed the door, leaving silence to reign in the room. Diamond tossed and turned as she tried to fall asleep, but she couldn't shake the memories of her father from her head, she sat up and crawled out of her uncomfortable bed, sitting down in front of the window she sighed and looked up at the stars, they made her think of Princess Luna and that day that ruined her life. A shooting star flew past and she couldn't help but wish that this was some horrible nightmare, closing her eyes she tried to think of a black abyss, it was something Nightingale taught her, slowly she felt her conscience slipping away before everything went black.
********************************
Diamond woke up to the sound of delighted squeals, rubbing the sleep from her eyes she looked around the room, it was empty but somepony had put her in bed. Lifting herself up, she jumped out of bed and trotted to the door, she pushed it open, walked down the stairs and turned into the main room. All the foals were opening presents and playing with each other, then Diamond remembered, it was Hearths Warming Day! Walking around the piles of wrapping paper, she came to a stop in front of the Hearths Warming tree, there was only one present left and of course it was hers, she grabbed it and began unwrapping it, she pulled the box open to reveal a scarf, a hat and some boots.
She sighed and picked them up, gracefully she trotted over to her corner and sat down, from here she could watch all the foals in the orphanage play, it was actually enjoyable. Looking down at her present she wondered who the donator was and if they would even fit, she took them out and tried them on, they were a little too big but she was still growing. Looking back to the foals, her frown softened, then tears pooled in her eyes and poured down her cheeks, she didn't cry aloud for fear of ruining everyponies Hearths Warming, and instead walked back to her room, her head filled with memories of past Hearths Warming's with her father.
When she got to her room she attempted to calm herself down by thinking of the black abyss, then she started drying her eyes, it was almost breakfast time and she wanted to look presentable, reaching under her bed she pulled out a bottle with an eye-dropper for a top, she filled the eye-dropper and pulled it from the top of the bottle, she put a couple drops in both of her eyes and returned the eye-dropper and bottle to the underside of her bed. Looking in the mirror, she could see that the eye drops were already taking effect, her eyes were no longer puffy and red. Sighing she exited the room and headed back downstairs, maybe today would better then all the previous days.
The dinning room was full of happy laughs and chitchat, Diamond climbed into her seat and awaited the food. As she sat there looking at her empty plate she tried to listen to all the foals who were talking around her, a pink filly named Sweet Roll was talking to her best friend Willow, a white unicorn, about her dream family, as she talked Sweet Roll's boisterous purple mane bounced, it was practically mesmerizing, Diamond quickly stopped listening to that conversation and and let her attention wander to Pipsqueak and Lantern. They were always finding ways to get themselves into trouble, Diamond never could understand why though, clearly putting a bunch of frogs into Miss Free Notes' dresser drawers is going to land you in a world of trouble, but they did it anyway. Today was no different, they were scheming again, they spoke in low voices so Diamond didn't hear much, but she did hear something about snow and Miss Free Notes' room.
"QUIET!" Diamond turned to find the scowling face of Miss Free Notes, she was the director of this miserable little orphanage, for all her beauty and grace she was a villain, she was a tall white unicorn with a white and orange curled mane and her cutie mark was three music notes, which was odd seeing as she never sang. Nightingale walked out of the kitchen pushing a cart with plates, forks and stacks and stacks of pancakes. Miss Free Notes took her seat at the head of the table and Nightingale started handing out the food. Bless Nightingale's heart, she always got us good food, she came from a rich family up in Canterlot but wanted to help those less fortunate than herself, which lead her to the Ponyville Orphanage, the most miserable place on the face of Eqquis. Finally Nightingale passed out the last plate of pancakes and took her seat next to Miss Free Notes, who looked us over and scowled.
"Thank you Miss Free Notes. Thank you Miss Nightingale." We all chimed in unison.
"Alright, lets eat." Miss Free Notes said, her face was still frozen in that permanent scowl. And so the feast began, everypony shoveled pancake after pancake into their mouths and some of them might have even chewed, but still Nightingale was going to have a very hard time cleaning up the mess of syrup. Diamond ate her meal slowly, making sure that she didn't make a terrible mess like all the other foals, soon enough Diamond looked up to find everypony staring at her, she sighed, gripping her spoon tightly, she picked up all the cut up pieces of pancakes and stuffed them in. Everypony cheered, got up, and ran off, probable to cause one shenanigan or another. Then Diamond heard the front door open and the sound of little hooves trotting in, Diamond knew she was coming and ran out to meet her friend, when she got to the lobby, sure enough, it was Silver Spoon.
"Happy Hearths Warming, Diamond!" Silver Spoon exclaimed as she ran to hug her pink friend.
"Yeah, happy Hearths Warming to you too." Diamond said, being around Silver always made her feel better, but she was never truly happy.
"I got you a present!" Silver said through a broad smile. Silver Spoon was a prime example of getting into the holiday spirit, she was practically a different filly. "Here, open it!" She commanded as she gave Diamond a small, thin rectangular box. Doing as she was told, Diamond sat down and began unwrapping her little present, pulling open the box she found a very simple necklace, it was a silver chain with two charms on it, one resembling Diamond's cutie mark and the other was Silver's cutie mark.
"I made it myself!" The platinum coated filly said proudly, taking off her scarf she showed her friend that she had a matching necklace. "I made one for both of us."
"Thanks Silver, its beautiful." Diamond felt like crying but the eye drops were preventing it, so instead she hugged her friend, something she almost never did before.
"Come on, lets go play!" Silver said as she broke free from her friends embrace.
"Alright." Diamond said. "What should we play?"
"Hide and seek!" Silver said, she loved hide and seek.
"Luna, are you absolutely sure about this?" Celestia questioned her little sister.
"Tia, I am absolutely, one hundred percent sure about this." Luna confirmed. "The dreams have been plaguing my mind ever since the incident, and that fillies cries keep me awake. If she can't find happiness then I think the dreams will never stop. I have to fix this Tia, I have to make up to her in some way."
"Luna, it wasn't your faul-"
"Celestia, you know better than anypony that it is my fault, if I had just controlled my jealousy, then the whole Nightmare Moon incident never would have happened, and that stallion wouldn't have targeted me, and that fillies father would still be alive!" Luna yelled. "Celestia, if I don't do this, I don't think I can live with myself." She stated, more calmly then before.
"Alright, I understand. You will have my full support on this matter, and if you ever need help, I'll be there." Celestia finished.
"Thank you, Tia. I will definitely need your assistance." Luna said. "This is going to be a big step for both of us."
*************************************
Diamond laid down and snuggled into her bed, today had been a much better day then every day since she came here. She raised her hoof into the air so that it caught the light of the moon, the necklace Silver Spoon had given her was wrapped around her hoof as a bracelet. As she stared at the hoof-made jewelry, some tears began to form in the corners of her eyes, Diamond didn't care to wipe them away, and let them spill over and roll down her cheeks. She sighed and pulled her hoof back to her body, today had been very tiring so she was intent on going to sleep, closing her eyes she began to think of the all-too-familiar black abyss. Just as she felt her consciousness slipping away, something nudged her arm. Diamond's eyes fluttered open drowsily, looking to her left, she found the also drowsy-looking face of Nightingale.
"Diamond, I'm very sorry to wake you but, somepony is down stairs, and they were looking for you." The blue mare said in a hushed voice.
Diamond didn't really understand what she heard, as she was too tired for her brain to process the information given, but she followed Nightingale out to the lobby anyway. When she got there her drowsiness left her, there, only a couple feet away, was Princess Luna. Suddenly memories of the incident flared up in her mind again, tears began pouring down the sides of her face. Without hesitation, Diamond slid into a bow so low that her forehead was pressed against the orphanage floor. Luna quickly closed the gap between them and raised Diamond's head so they could both see the others face.
"Diamond Tiara, I have not come to see you bowing down at my hooves." She said in the kindest voice she could muster.
"I-I apologize, your majesty." Diamond stuttered.
"Please, do not apologize, as it is I who should be apologizing to you." Diamond was amazed by her humbleness. "Please accept my apologies, I know that it is of little condolence, but please, forgive me."
Diamond was speechless, the all-powerful, all-knowing, Princess of the night, was begging forgiveness of Diamond Tiara, an orphan in a lousy, dreadful Ponyville orphanage.
"I..... forgive you?" Diamond wasn't sure what to say, so she just did as the princess asked.
"Thank you, thank you so much!" Luna cried as she suddenly pulled Diamond Tiara into a hug. Diamond was even more shocked, Princess Luna seemed to be just as shaken up by the death of Diamond's father as she was.Still unsure of what to do, Diamond did the only sensible thing to do, she hugged the princess back, and eventually cried as well.
Luna finally broke the embrace and stared down at the little filly who still had tears in her eyes. Diamond looked up at Princess Luna, she looked terrible. She looked like she was trying to find the words to say, but failing miserably. Finally she decided to speak.
"Diamond Tiara, ever since.....the incident, I haven't been able to sleep. I have been plagued with nightmares......and guilt. Judging from your reaction when you saw me, I would assume that you have not fully moved on either?" Luna looked at Diamond, and the fillies face was enough to confirm her suspicions. "I am not sure if you would want it, but, I think that together we can help each other through this pain, and if its alright with you, I would like to adopt you." Luna finished as Diamond's jaw dropped open.
Instantly Diamond's mind kicked into reverse, back to when she dreamed about being a princess. Her selfish-self came back in a heartbeat. She was about to say "yes" to Luna's proposal when she felt something slid down her hoof. She looked to see what it was and realized that while she was thinking she had moved around quite a bit, and the thing that slid down her hoof was the necklace Silver Spoon had given her. If she agreed, she would have to leave Silver Spoon behind, she couldn't do that to her only friend. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking up to the deep blue Alicorn.
"I....can't." She did it, she said the words she never thought she would. Before Luna could ask why or say anything, Diamond began her explanation. "Its not like I don't want to go with you and get adopted, I just....." Luna put the pieces together when she saw Diamond staring at the bracelet wrapped around her hoof.
"You don't want to leave your friend behind, am I right?" Luna said with the most gentle of smiles. Diamond looked up and nodded. "Who ever said you couldn't see your friend anymore? If I did that I would only feel worse. If I were to adopt you its likely that you won't be able to go visit your friend, but she could definitely come and visit you! Now, I have to leave soon and you have to get some rest, but I'll be back tomorrow night. Just think about my proposal, talk to your friend about it. No matter what you decide, I'll respect your decision. Goodnight Diamond Tiara." She finished in a sweet, almost motherly tone.
"Uh, Goodnight Princess!" Diamond stammered. She was quite unused to princess's wishing her a goodnight. With that said and done Luna turned to Nightingale and Miss Free Notes and inclined her head to them, and in turn they both took a low bow. Diamond hadn't even realized that Miss Free Notes was there, usually she'd be barking orders, but now she was as silent as the rocks that made up her heart.
Luna stopped in front of the door and turned around to look at the three other ponies gathered in the room. "Farewell." She said simply, then teleported away. Then it was time for Miss Free Notes to ruin the moment.
Turning back to Diamond, the nasty two-faced mare was ready to bark her orders. " Well what are you standing around for? Go back to bed!" Without hesitation Diamond turned around and ran up the stairs, down the hallway, back into her room and hopped into bed, as quietly as possible of course.
As Diamond laid in her bed, she thought about the decision she had to make. Should she go or should she not go. She just didn't know what to do. Only a couple months ago she would have dropped everything and went with Princess Luna immediately, but the incident had really changed her heart. She would have to take this up with Silver Spoon, Silver would know what to do, she always did. Sighing deeply, Diamond turned to the window and the full moon gazed back at her, as though Princess Luna was watching and waiting. More tears began forming and she squeezed her eyes shut, thinking of that dreadful black abyss, Diamond felt her consciousness slipping away. But before she succumbed to sleep, she whispered a little prayer.
Diamond woke up as the sunshine poured into the room and attacked her eyelids. Mornings. She never liked them, and now they were worse. Sighing quietly, she remained in bed, it was cold and she was VERY reluctant to give up the warmth in her blanket. Rolling onto her back, she raised her hoof up into the gentle morning light, she was still wearing the necklace as a bracelet. Her ears twitched as the sounds of the other foals' snoring reached them. Mornings. Reaching behind her head, Diamond picked up her pillow and covered her face with it, in an attempt to block out the noise. It didn't work well. Her thoughts drifted back to last night, Princess Luna's offer was still valid, with a simple word, Diamond could leave this orphanage and never come back. Then her thoughts drifted to Silver Spoon. Her very best friend. Even if they could see each other, it just wouldn't be the same.
Wrapping her blanket around her, Diamond hopped off her bed and walked to the window. Her hooves were freezing! Why did winter ALWAYS have to be so cold? Gazing out the window, she could see a lot. In fact, if she squinted, she could just make out the school, way off in the distance. Walking back to her bed, she unwrapped herself, and instantly regretted it. But instead of complaining, she made her bed, and very quietly exited the room and walked down the old, creaky stairs. Now that she was at the bottom, she headed towards the lobby. Carefully, she peaked in, Miss Free Notes wasn't there, that was good. She walked in, and looked to the wall on the left, there was that old Grandfather clock. It was so tall compared to Diamond's little body, that she had to strain her neck just to see the time. It was 7:30. Now that she new the time she turned around and quietly walked back to her room, if Miss Free Notes caught her walking around, she'd be in big trouble. Why? Nopony knew, Miss Free Notes liked to scold ponies all the time, she didn't really need a reason.
Climbing back into bed, Diamond attempted to regain the warmth she had woken up to. Of course the blanket was cold now, so Diamond was even colder, but eventually the blanket heated up. Even though the bed was lumpy, Diamond was so warm and comfortable that she could have been sleeping on a cloud right in front of the sun. But, that wouldn't last long. Suddenly the sound of a ladle banging against a big pot violently shook her from her blissful rest. Everypony groaned as they climbed out of their beds and made a single-file line at the door. Then they all walked down into dinning room very orderly, and took their seats at the table. Soon enough, Miss Free Notes and Nightingale came in. Miss Free Notes took her seat and scowled at everypony, and Nightingale began passing out plates and waffles. When she was done she took her seat next to the scowling mare, who, once again, scowled at everypony.
"Thank you Miss Free Notes, thank you Miss Nightingale." They all said it, but they were really just thanking Nightingale.
"Very good, lets eat." Miss Free Notes said, still scowling, always scowling. That mare probably never smiled in her life, but at least there was Nightingale. Everypony began shoveling the fresh, warm waffles into their drooling mouths. Diamond ate her food with sophistication and grace until she was the last pony eating. Letting out an agitated sigh, she stuffed all the food into her mouth, chewed as quickly as she could, and swallowed hard, making sure everything went down with a glass of water. All the orphans jumped from their seats and charged off, in one direction or another. Diamond got up slowly and quietly walked to her room, when she got there, there were a couple other foals getting their scarves and boots. Quietly skulking over to her bed, Diamond did the same. Her Hearths Warming present was about to be put to use, it was a relatively plain get-up, but it was warm, and she would need that warmth for her own important mission. Now that she was dressed and warm, she walked to the lobby and exited the door.
As she tramped through the snow, the events of last night rose up in her head. Since she had no idea of what to do, she was going to the only pony she knew could help her. Silver Spoon. The trek through the snow felt like hours, but eventually, she made it to the Silver Mansion. Desperately wanting to get out of the cold, Diamond knocked on the door rapidly until the butler opened the door and let her in. She hadn't even taken off her scarf, when a little gray ball of energy came flying down the stairs, coming to a quick stop right in front of her.
"Diamond! Why didn't you tell me you were coming over?! I could have had the chef make some cookies!" Silver Spoon began, and she would have kept going if Diamond hadn't pulled her into a hug and started crying. "Diamond, what wrong? What happened?" Silver asked as she caressed the back of her friends head.
"I-I don't know what to do." Diamond managed to squeak out.
"Come on," Silver started as she ushered her sobbing friend towards the stairs. "you can tell me all about it."
When they got to Silver Spoon's room and made themselves comfortable, Diamond told her all about last night.
"Diamond that's amazing! You could actually be a real, live Princess!" Silver shouted with joy.
"But, I'll have to leave and go to Canterlot. And that means leaving you."
"Nonsense!" The gray filly shouted, throwing her friend off guard. "Think about it Diamond. If you accept this, then you'll become Equestria's next Princess. You'll have a new family. And its not like my family would be unwilling to go to Canterlot! I'm sure that we wouldn't be able to see each other as much, but we could send letters to each other ALL THE TIME! But, if you don't accept it, then you'll probably be in that orphanage for a long time. We never exactly had a good reputation, so its likely that ponies around here would be reluctant to adopt you. And not many ponies really want to move into a little back-water town like Ponyville, so that even lowers your chances." She stopped and looked down at the floor for a while, before looking back up into her friends eyes. " Diamond, I can't decide for you, only you can do that. But I can tell you how I feel, and what I think. I think you should let Princess Luna adopt you. I know that I would miss you, but, I also know how much more special it'd be when we did get to see each other again! And no matter what you choose, I'll support it all the way, because your the best friend I've ever had!" She stated and pulled Diamond into a hug. "Never forget that."
Diamond cried into Silver Spoon's soft fur for a while before she found the words to say. "Thank you, Silver Spoon."
*********************
Diamond laid in bed, thinking of what her friend had told her. Not long from now, Nightingale would come and get her upon Princess Luna's arrival. But who know when the Princess might show up? And apparently that time was closer then Diamond had originally thought, because as she was thinking that Nightingale stuck her head through the door, signaling that the Princess had arrived. As Diamond made her way down to the lobby, it he felt like she was taking a turn at a fork in a road. The road that was her destiny. Her future. Her fate. Entering the doorway leading into the lobby felt like an eternity, but soon enough she could see Princess Luna in all her nightly beauty. Slowly coming to a stop at her hooves, Diamond looked up at the Lunar Majesty, who gazed down in reply.
Diamond waited at the train station, patiently awaiting the arrival of her train. Silver Spoon was next to her, and a couple foals from the orphanage had also come to see her off. Then she heard the train screaming as it flew towards its next checkpoint. She turned to say goodbye to her best friend, but wound up getting tackled in a bone-crushing hug. After what seemed a millennia of getting squeezed to death, Silver finally let go and backed away to a reasonable distance.
"And don't forget to write!" She said. Silver Spoon never could do goodbyes very well, it made it seem like two ponies would never see each other again.
"Okay, I'll write whenever I get the chance." Diamond replied with a very small smile on her face.
Then the train screeched to a halt in front of them, and opened its doors, allowing passengers to flow in and out. Diamond climbed into one of the cabs and took a seat near the window, where she waved to her friend until she couldn't see her anymore. Sighing, she continued to stare out the window until the train stopped at Canterlot. The ride seemed to have only lasted a few minutes, but the clock tower said it was a few hours. When she stepped off the train, she was greeted by a pink mare with a very puffy mane that ended in a curl at the end of each main lock of hair.
"Um, hello? Are you Miss Diamond Tiara?" Her voice was very soft.
"I am." Diamond said.
"Ah, good! I'd hate to be running around asking random ponies if they were you!" She then seemed to notice that she was speaking really loud, and that everypony was looking at her. She blushed and then cleared her throat. "My name is Black Cherry, and I'm here to escort you to the castle." She was a lot quieter this time.
Diamond only nodded, and then followed the strange mare to the castle. As they walked, Black Cherry waved and said hello to a few ponies that they passed by, but Diamond just kept quiet and stuck close to her escort. When the castle came into view, the packs on her back seemed to gain weight. This giant stone structure was going to be her home, one of the Princesses was going to be her mom, the other was going to be her aunt and Princess Cadence was going to be her cousin, which meant that Prince Shinning Armour was going to be her cousin-in-law, which also meant that Princess Twilight Sparkle was going to be her cousin-in-law! The packs on her back got heavier.
"Here we are!" Black Cherry beamed.
Diamond looked up just in time and avoided walking face-first into the gates. That wouldn't have been a very good first impression. Black Cherry identified herself and Diamond to the guards at the gate, and the large metal barrier was soon removed. Waiting just inside the gates were Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. Black Cherry immediately dove into a bow and Diamond followed suit.
"Rise." Princess Celestia commanded. They both rose to their hooves.
"Diamond Tiara, its good to see that you have made it here safely. You have all your things?" Princess Luna inquired.
"I do, your Majesty." Calling Princess Luna "mom" was going to take some time.
"Good." Princess Luna obviously expected that she wouldn't be called "mom" right-off-the-bat. "Come, we'll show you to your room and then maybe we can take you on a tour of the castle. Oh, and by the way, Black Cherry is your personal servant." Diamond's jaw almost fell off. A personal servant. There was no denying it now. Diamond Tiara, was the newest Princess of Equestria!
Diamond's room was huge, it was almost as big as her house back in Ponyville! It had pale pink walls, a big beautiful fireplace, a red sofa in front of the fireplace, red curtains, and a big canopy bed that had red blankets and golden bedposts. And that wasn't the half of it! There was so many wonderful things in her new room that she didn't even know what they did.
"Malady, shall I take your bags, so that you can tour the castle." Black Cherry's voice brought Diamond back to reality. But only for a moment. Diamond removed her bags as though she were doing it in her sleep, and clumsily pushed them in the direction of her personal servant, while she continued to stare at her room. Celestia and Luna couldn't help but giggle at the sight.
"Come now, if we do nothing but stare at your room, the sun will go down and we'll have to save the tour for tomorrow." Princess Luna said still giggling.
Diamond only became more in awe and wonder as she explored the palace. The halls were enormous, the room's were enormous, even the chandeliers were enormous. She walked around with wide eyes as she whipped her head from side to side, she wasn't going to miss one thing. Unfortunately she was only looking to the sides and not right in front of her, and she ended up walking right into someponies leg, and falling on her rump.
"Oops, I'm sorry. I should have paid closer attention to where I was walking!" Diamond Tiara followed the long pink leg until she found a face staring at her. "Are you okay?" The mare asked with concern.
Diamond hoped back onto her hooves, backed up a little, and bowed to Princess Cadence.
"Diamond Tiara, the adoption has already been finalized, you are now a part of this family, so you can stop bowing." Luna's voice trembled a little as she tried hard not to laugh and embarrass the filly.
"So YOUR Diamond Tiara!" Cadence said happily, finally putting two and two together. "I'm Cadence and this is.............Huh? I could have sworn that Shinning Armour was with me. Anyway! We're, like, cousins now! So, whenever I'm over, we can do all sorts of fun stuff together!" The Princess just rambled on about the various things they could do.
"Um, Cadence?" Luna said, grabbing the pink mares attention. "Can we save the plans to climb the Foal Mountains until after the tour?"
"Oh. Right. Of course." Cadence said with a blush. And so the tour continued, until they turned a corner and found Shinning Armour yelling at some guards.
"I don't care if your tired! If you fall asleep on the job, your practically inviting all manner of trouble into this castle!" His face was contorted into this almost evil frown. "If this job's too tiring for you, then QUIT!" He barked as he turned around to follow his wife, but found that she was standing right in front of him.
"You don't have to be so hard on them." Her voice was hard as she spoke.
"Yes, I do. If I'm not, then they'll slack off, and who knows what will happen next." He was trying to maintain his professionalism. Diamond had always been good at reading people, but it was hard to tell what he was thinking. Too professional.
"Shinning, they've been standing in that one spot, all day. They're tired, and all ponies need to rest." Now she was trying to reason with him.
"I agree. But if they DO take a nap on the job. A spy could get in, or an assassin, or even some bumbling fool!" Diamond was starting to like this stallion.
"Shinning-" She started again.
"Nope! Not gonna hear it!" His professionalism slipped for just a moment. "Cadence, if even one guard slacks off, that's putting everypony in this castle at greater risk than they already are." He opened his mouth to speak again, but he finally noticed Diamond who was sitting back listening to every word they said.
"Diamond Tiara, this is Shinning Armour. Shinning Armour, this is Diamond Tiara." Princess Celestia introduced them.
"Hello, sir." Diamond said, resisting the urge to bow.
"Hello." When he wasn't yelling, his voice was really sweet. "Diamond Tiara's a pretty long name, do you mind if I call you Diamond?"
"You know, your name's just as long, if not longer, than mine. So does that mean I can shorten your name?"
"Sure!" He laughed. "You can call me Shinning!"
"Alright. Then you can call me Diamond!" For the first time since she got here, Diamond felt comfortable in her new environment. But nothing ever works out to Diamond's expectations.
"What's going on here?" Everypony groaned when they heard his voice. Diamond looked to her left to see a handsome white stallion approaching. Blueblood. Everypony in Equestria knew who he was. And everypony in Ponyville learned ALL about him after the Grand Galloping Gala a few years back, Rarity was furious. "Oh, is that the filly that you adopted Aunt Luna?"
"Yes. Blueblood, meet Diamond Tiara." Luna said, with almost a twinge of annoyance in her voice.
"Sir." Diamond inclined her head towards him.
"Yes, yes, very nice to make your acquaintance." He looked to his Aunts. "I still don't understand why you adopted some random pony from Ponyville, but if you don't mind, I have other places to be." He said as he walked off.
"Well.........He's a ray of sunshine, isn't he." Diamond said sarcastically. She hadn't planned on making everypony laugh, but she did. She looked up in shock as Princess Celestia herself leaned against a wall to keep from falling over. Then she allowed herself to giggle, and then laugh. She hadn't laughed in what felt like a very long time.
The tour continued and nothing eventful happened. She ate dinner with her new family. And even though she didn't like him very much, Blueblood was also her cousin now. After they ate Princess Luna escorted her back to her room, it was late and Diamond was too tired to stand, so Luna tucked her into bed, and kissed her goodnight. And for the first night in ages, Diamond slept, without that black abyss filling her mind.
Diamond awoke to the sun's gentle rays of light shinning on her face. She had a perfect sleep, and felt completely rejuvenated and ready to tackle the day! The first thing she did was find some paper, a quill and an ink well, and wrote a letter to Silver Spoon.
Dear Silver Spoon
I can't believe that I'm writing to you from inside Canterlot Castle! It's wonderful here,
there's so much to do, so much to see! And my room is massive! I can't explain how amazing it is,
you would have to come here and see it for yourself. I wish that I could tell you all about it, but
there's just to much to tell! I can't wait for you to come visit!
And another thing, I have a personal servant! How cool is that?! And Blueblood is just as bad
as Miss Rarity said he was! I'm not sure if I'm going to like having him as my cousin, but I really
like Cadence and Shinning Armour! I'm so excited to introduce you to them! You have to come
and visit SOON! I miss you!
Sincerely
Diamond Tiara
As she finished scribbling down her name, She folded the piece of paper in half and shoved it into a envelope. Then she ran out the door and straight into Black Cherry, who almost spilled her trays of Breakfast all over her new Princess.
"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" Black Cherry said as she helped Diamond Tiara stand back up. "I'm so sorry Milady! I should have paid attention to where I was going!" As she continued to speak, Diamond couldn't get a word in edge-wise.
"It's al-" Diamond started.
"I mean you could have been seriously hurt!"
"I should have be-"
"I'll be more careful from now on! I promise!"
"No, really its o-"
"Just please don't fire m-" Diamond finally lost her patience. Not that she ever had much to begin with.
"SHUT UP, YOU FOOLISH MARE! STOP APOLOGIZING FOR SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T EVEN DO! JUST SHUT UP AND LET ME APOLOGIZE TO YOU!" Diamond breathed deeply as she tried to calm down. "Sorry for running into you."
There was an awkward silence.
"I'm sorry for making you mad......" Diamond's hoof quickly found her face.
She sighed. "Look, it doesn't matter. Just give me the food, and you can take this note to the post office." She said as she held out the note. Black Cherry didn't say anything, out of fear that she might further upset her new Princess. Instead, she just took the note and gave the breakfast trays to Diamond.
"Thank you!" Diamond said as she quickly dove into her room.
After eating breakfast like a proper lady, Diamond hurried out of her room to go find her adoptive mother. This time, she ran into Blueblood.
"Watch where your going you stupid foal!" He growled at her.
"Well, so-rry!" She exaggerated the word to show her clear disapproval of him. Of course, that rarely helps.
"Listen, You may be Aunt Luna's adoptive child, but your not part of this family, you have no place in this world, and you have no place in this castle! So the best thing for you to do, would be to leave!" He finished with his snout raised in the air.
"Wow, I'm impressed!" He looked at her with confusion. "I thought you couldn't look any stupider! But, guess I was wrong!" And with that said, she raised her own snout into the air, and paraded away. Prince Blueblood and her, would not get along, ever.
Once she had turned the corner, and Blueblood couldn't see her, she just started laughing. Not once in her life had she ever imagined that she would say something like that to Prince Blueblood! As she continued to walk, she just kept on giggling. Then she came across Cadence. Thankfully, she didn't walk into her.
"Oh, Diamond!" Cadence called. "I've been looking for you!"
"Why?" Diamond was a business mare, so she was always straight to the point.
"I was hoping you would take a walk with me through the castle gardens!" Diamond couldn't help but wonder if Cadence was always so happy, and..............smiley......
"Um, sure. I guess." She had been looking for Princess Luna but, she also wanted to know what Cadence wanted.
*************************************
They walked in silence for a while, every now and then Cadence would stop and look at a flower, but they mostly just walked in silence. Finally, they stopped at a gazebo. They both took seats across from each other, Cadence looked at Diamond and smiled. That smile of her's was actually getting annoying.
"So, how do you like it here so far?" She asked.
"It's great!" Was the filly's short reply.
"That's good!" There was an awkward pause. "So, what do you think of your new family?" She then thought about what she said. "Oops! That's probably too sudden! I mean we've only been, technically, a family for a day! I'm sorry for throwing the reality of the situation at you! Oh great! Now I'm making it sound horrible! I'm sorr-"
"STOP!" Diamond shouted. "Just breath already!" She waited patiently as Cadence once again began breathing. "One, ponies really need to stop apologizing to me, I'm not some fragile little filly who needs to have her hoof held. And two, other than Blueblood, I really like everyone here!"
Cadence smiled that now-irritating smile. "That's good. I was worried that you wouldn't like it here, or that you wouldn't like some of the ponies here." She paused. "By the way. Ever since I first saw you, I've been wondering, what does your Cutie Mark mean?"
Diamond sat there blankly. She had never really thought about it. She gazed back up at Cadence, the Alicorn waited patiently. "Well, I don't really know. I never really thought about it." Cadence looked intrigued, then the smile returned.
"It probably symbolizes that your as pretty as a Princess!" She exclaimed cheerfully. Just then Luna strolled by.
"Cadence," She began. "Do you mind if I borrow Diamond Tiara for a moment?"
"Of course not!" She looked back at Diamond. "Well, it was nice talking to you!"
"Yeah, you too." Diamond said as she stood up and trotted to Princess Luna's side.
They walked for a while, silently. It was like walking with Cadence all over again! Maybe it was a family thing. As they walked, Princess Luna began to hum. It sounded pretty, like a lullaby. Well, it would make sense for the Princess of the Night, to know some lullabies. Just about the time Diamond's hooves started to hurt, Luna stopped in front of a pond, and sat down. Diamond sat down as well, and, since Princess Luna wasn't talking, began to study the pond in front of her.
It was crystal clear and big, beautiful Koi fish swam around in it happily. A statue was planted in the middle, although Diamond couldn't tell who the statue depicted. He was a tall, handsome stallion, dressed in armor and holding a sword tightly in his teeth. Their was a plaque at the statues base, but it was too far away to read. Somehow, the life-less shape, made her incredibly sad. She reached her hoof up to her face, and realized that she was crying. She looked at Luna, and saw that her face showed sorrow, nostalgia, and guilt. But before Diamond could ask who the stallion was, Luna spoke.
"He makes you want to cry, doesn't he?" She continued to stare at the statue, and after a short pause, resumed her speech. "His name was Night Blade. He was a soldier under my command............And my best friend. At the time, I controlled the army and all of Equestria's forces, and he was my general. He was the only one who truly cared about me and my night. But, I was not allowed even ONE friend in that life! If it were not for him, we wouldn't have been able to reach King Sombra, and defeat him. I ordered him, to occupy King Sombra's army, long enough for us to defeat him, and he followed my orders faithfully. He held them back, even while his men fell all around him. We arrived in time to fight along side him, but, on my orders, he died fighting King Sombra's army."
Diamond looked from Luna to the statue, and realized why it looked so sad. He was cut and bleeding, he was clearly in pain. But he was smiling.
"I carved that statue hundreds of times, before I got it right. It was the smile that was hardest. I set it up in the gardens, but even with his statue, without him, I slowly lost my sanity. And before I knew it, I was all alone, on the moon. I'm glad that Celestia moved him here, even though I know it's not him, seeing his smile is of great comfort to me." Luna turned to look at Diamond. "But that, isn't why I wanted to speak with you."
Diamond turned away from the statues captivating gaze. "Then why do you need me?"
"Well, the matter of your coronation hasn't been settled yet!" Luna's smile definitely carried sadness, but there was more happiness.
"My-My coronation? As in, my crowing ceremony?" Diamond stuttered.
"That is what a coronation is!" Luna started. "Now, the first thing we should start with is the dress!"
They sat there by the pond, as Night Blade watched over them. Somehow, they got off topic, and started talking about random things. Either way, they missed lunch, and talked till the sky was graced with the many colors of the setting sun.
