DIamond is a spoiled child, and everypony knows it. However, a human arrives into her life, changing it forever.
For as far as everypony knows, Diamond Tiara is a bully, and not only toward her classmates. She has formed a reputation in the whole Ponyville about it. Soon enough, it becomes apparent that not only her classmates are cautious of her. Still, what makes a bully a bully? Is it family issues? Foolishness? Or is it loneliness? Diamond starts to discover what being a bully really means when she spends a weekend without her friend Silver Spoon and instead, she finds a friend on something not of her world.
"Did you see those blank flanks faces? They had no price!" The pink filly said while trotting cheerfully toward her house. Her friend, a grey filly , just nodded while giggling along her friend.
These two ponies, under the names of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, were gossiping about their day, not to mention the fact that they were already planning their next move against their declared enemies: the cutie mark crusaders.
Diamond's home finally could be seen on the far side of Ponyville. She just squealed at the idea that soon she would be at her home, where she could control everything she desired: the maids, the servants, the butlers... everything.
"Let us go, Silvie! When we get home, we can-"
"I-I won't be able to go to your home today, Diamond."
Diamond turned around in shock at her friend's words, only to see her friend with a look of embarrassment. It could only mean one thing.
"What do you mean, Silvie?"
"My parents want to go in a vacation trip, a 'family trip'." Silver stated with an annoyed look.
Diamond knew it: it would be just another boring weekend without her best friend (not to mention the only one). Her ears flattened against her head while her head hung low.
"It's okay, Silvie. When you get back, we'll be able to spend some time together." Diamond said in a depressed tone.
The two friends kept walking the rest of the road in an uncomfortable silence. None of them said a thing, until they reached Silver's house. It was then when Silver finally spoke.
"I'm sorry, Diamond." Silver said before turning around, heading toward her house.
Diamond was left alone in the street, wondering what to do next.
The huge house of Mr. Rich was full with paintings, sculptures, libraries and such other things. Nothing too pleasing to fillies, as Diamond could verify. Looking at paintings during the whole day proved to be boring to death. The sculptures proved a similar point when Diamond didn't even find a particular shape on them. Last thing was the library. Filled with books of every kind, except the ones Diamond liked. She wanted a book with drawings, illustrations, something which helped her to visualize what she was reading. During months, her father tried to get her to read some of the books inside of it to no avail. Diamond would simply negate if the book was all words and not even a single image.
Giving up, she headed to the comfort of her room. That was the only place where she could find something to distract her. But on this particular day, not even her pony dolls could comfort her. She didn't like to be alone. She longed for a friend who could play with her, who could read with her, who could be with her.
But Silver was gone for an entire weekend. And she wouldn't even let anypony else to be with her if she didn't want.
Sighing, she made her way to the window, holding close her favorite doll: a pony princess who resembled much to her.
Once in the window, she put the doll at her side, while her chin rested between her forehooves. The sight behind the window wasn't of much comfort, either, for she immediately spotted several animals on the ground. Not that she cared about them, but it was uncomfortable to her the sight of lovely couples of them running all over her backyard.
It looked like every single animal had a friend to play with. Diamond turned around and spoke to her doll.
"Looks like it's only the two of us, Princess Diamond." She said in a depressed tone, eyeing her doll intently, hoping that it would give her an answer.
Nothing.
Diamond almost felt like crying, when suddenly something outside caught her attention. All the animals were running away in the same direction, seemingly scared for something.
Without a moment to lose, she took "princess Diamond" and ran downstairs, foalish curiosity filling her. Finally getting to the yard, she tried to see something between the shadows of the small forest her father kept in there, supposedly for her to play. Suddenly, a tall shadow caught her attention, which in the instant she focused on it, hid behind a bush. She started to inch closer, until she could clearly see the figure of the shadow behind the bush.
"Is anypony there? Answer now, or I'll tell my father that-"
"You can talk?" The tall figure asked to her, causing Diamond to huff in annoyance.
"Well, of course I can talk. I'm a pony!" Diamond assured with her typical demeanor.
"That's the why I'm saying it."
Diamond tried to focus on the figure as she wondered what it meant. Was it some kind of retard? Why wouldn't it know other ponies could speak?
"From where I come from, ponies don't talk. They just do these... horse noises?"
"What do you mean by that!? You're not a pony? You can talk like me!"
"That's the why I'm confused. I'm not a pony. I'm a..."
"A... what?"
"... A human."
"What's a human? Let me see you!" Diamond demanded as she inched closer, trying to look as menacing as she could. Everything was under her control, after all. Suddenly, the figure took a step back, trying to cover itself with the bush.
"... I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because... I need clothes. I'm totally exposed."
Diamond's cheeks became red, as she wanted to see what it was talking about.
"B-But you have fur... you're not naked, are you?" Diamond asked, still a little nervous at the mention of something exposed. To her surprise, something peeked from the bush, revealing something strange, resembling to that dragon's "Spike's" claws. However, she also noted the lack of fur that the arm seemed to have. Its skin seemed only covered by few hairs on it, but for the most, the skin of the creature was completely bare.
"Now you see?" The figure said before retracting its arm into the bush. "Now, I need something large to cover me. I don't want to be naked all day."
However, the figure could only watch in surprise as the foal ran toward the house in a hurry, yelling to her father. That could only mean trouble.
Mr. Rich's gaze remained focused on the paperwork in front of him. It was a rather tall tower of paper the one which laid in front of him. He had been working on it for hours, and it still was a lot left. With a huff, he resumed his work. That was until the door of his office was thrown open, revealing his daughter, who had a panicked expression.
"Daddy, daddy! There's something outside!" The filly said, entering to her father's office. Her father, Mr. Rich turned shocked to her.
"What is it Diamond?"
"There's something outside! I don't know what it is, but it's unnatural!"
"Unnatural?"
"Yes! I was playing with my dolls and-"
"Oh, right. So it's something that you saw while you were playing?" Mr. Rich asked with a mocking tone, causing his daughter to give him a look of disapproval.
"It wasn't thing of games! There's really something outside!"
"Diamond, look. There's nothing out there. There are ponies everywhere. There's no way a monster could get in."
"But-"
"Diamond... it's okay. Relax. There's nothing out there." Her father tried to assure her, but she didn't believe in him at all. However, her father seemed confident on his answer. "Now, go out and play, I need to go back to my job." He turned around and continued reading all the paperwork stacked on his office. Diamond turned with her head low, trying to hold back tears.
"Of course... always with your job."
Many hours later, Diamond still was sitting on her room, watching through the window toward the small patch of forest in the yard. Now she was afraid to get out, due to that thing on the forest. What if it tried to foalnap her? What then? Would it eat her?
Thoughts filled her mind as she contemplated the outside. Suddenly, she caught sight of the creature's silhouette. The wind blew strongly through the trees, causing the creature to start shaking. The weather seemed to change, becoming slightly colder.
"Yes! If it dies, then I can show him to daddy, and then he will believe me!" She thought to herself.
Turning toward her window once more, she saw once more the creature, but something seemed wrong to her. Was it the grass? Maybe the water near of the lake? Maybe the shaking creature?
Diamond suddenly thought about it, discovering something disturbing to her: she didn't want it to die... Maybe... Maybe if it was alive, it could be more convincing for her father?
Yes, that was the main reason for the blanket she was bringing with her...
Right?
The creature was shaking in cold, trying to get warmer. However, naked and in the outside, there was nothing it could do. It started to prepare for a very long night.
Suddenly, a voice was heard near.
"Hello!? Are you in there, you... you... whatever you are!?"
It soon recognized that voice. Getting on its feet, the creature peeked from the bush it was hiding in. The pony seemed to notice it. Suddenly, the pony threw a blanket toward the bush. Slowly, the creature analyzed the blanket. Obviously, it was far too small to cover him completely, but it would do for now. Suddenly, he turned to see the pony leaving. Covering himself with the blanket, he dared to take a step out.
"Hey!" The pony turned her head, looking at him. "... Thanks."
Finally, Diamond could see the creature completely. It was taller than her, maybe even taller than her father... In a closer note, she wasn't a good calculator, but the thing was as tall as Celestia! She instantly got afraid of it and ran inside.
Maybe it would look a lot less intimidating in the morning!
Enough to say, Diamond didn't sleep all that good through the entire night. If anything, she only slept a couple hours at most.
It was all the fault of that thing currently sitting on her father's forest! Yes! It had caused her nightmares! How did it dare do that to her!? to HER!!??
Diamond removed her covers of the bed in a flash, threw away to pony-knows where her plush pony, and went to the bathroom. After all, no pony should see her as bad as she was at that moment when she would embarrass other ponies in public... or whatever the tartarus that thing out there was.
Once she was in there, Diamond clapped her hooves twice, as loudly as she could. Few moments later, a couple of maids entered the room with many beauty kits, all of them ready for the long process of putting the "Mistress" as beauty as she could.
Diamond didn't need to say a thing. As soon as she closed her eyes, the maids rushed to work, each one with expertise on their labor, years of practice giving them the experience to give the mistress the look she desired in almost a couple seconds.
As soon as Diamond opened her eyes, her usual self greeted her, her trademark smug smirk on her face as she turned towards one of her maids.
"... TOO SLOW!!" Diamond shouted, startling the maid, who only meeped in response. Diamond's smirk grew at that. She loved that look of fear on other ponies' faces.
Now in a respectable look, Diamond started to make her way outside, ready to give that... thing a piece of her mind. Of course, her cursed stomach decided to make things harder for her when it started to rumble and give her a slight tummy ache, almost demanding her to feed it.
Diamond huffed in annoyance, giving a direct 180 and walking towards the dining room.
As always, nopony was there, no signs of her father, or her mother (thankfully). Seeing as she had the whole room for herself, Diamond walked towards the biggest seat on the table, which was coincidentally then one at the end of the table. Once there, she sat comfortably in the seat, wiggling her rump to find the most comfortable place.
Moments later, she sighed as she finally found herself perfectly comfortable... except for one thing.
"I'M HUNGRYYYYYY!!!"
Not a moment later, a dozen of both, servants and maids flooded the room, each one of them with an specific purpose. The table was cleansed of any impurities it may have had (if any), other servants dedicated themselves to put a clean and purified dish in front of her, among with the regular spoons, forks, knives and an empty glass.
Once done that, they retracted to the far side of the room, standing at attention for any need of the young mistress. Almost as if on synch, the kitchen door opened to reveal another dozen of workers, this time a chef and cooks, all of them with a dish of their own, ready to be served.
"Bonjour, Mademoiselle! Let me show you the options for today, if you would like." The chef, a somewhat chubby pony twice as high as her and dressed in a too fitting chef suit, walked forward, before motioning to the dozen of ponies behind him. "We have a delicious Salad, mainly made of fresh Romarish lettuce, slices of the most mature tomato, the most succulent pieces of apple freshly picked from Sweet Apple Acres." The chef ended his description with a kiss to the air, while the cook took off the lid, revealing what would have been a piece of art for the culinary entrepreneurs. But not for a five-year old filly.
"Blergh! NEXT!"
Almost as if hit by a train, the chef flinched in surprise as his eyes widened. Composing himself as much as he could, the chef motioned for the next cook, who revealed yet another piece of art, once again being rejected by the young filly.
Dish after dish was rejected by the young filly, making each and every cook feel like losers as they retracted with their ears lowered. Finally, after a few moments of the final dish being rejected, the chef sighed loudly, seeing each and every creation of his being rejected.
"Oh, have mercy on us, dear Celestia." The chef said before turning towards the young mistress. "Miss Diamond, if you don't like any of the dishes we have brought you, then what would you like?" Diamond didn't need to be asked twice.
"I want a glass of warm milk and the jar of cookies." She said in a firm tone, not even bothering to look at the chef, finding her hoof rather interesting.
"Wha- But Mistress, the Master said that you should have a healthy breakfast-"
"But Daddy isn't here, and you have to obey me. Or is he around?"
Seeing as it was a lost cause, the chef nodded as he motioned for the cooks to go back to the kitchen, one of them returning moments later with the things she had asked.
"You know? I think I'll eat this on my room." Diamond said, completely ignoring the troubles the servants had passed through when making the table respectable.
After a few moments after she left the room, the chef couldn't hold it anymore.
"BWAAAA!!" With a loud shout, the chef let out a torrent of tears. Unlike this time, he could finally let go of his anger and sadness.
"Oh, don't worry about this, Doughnut. Your cooking is delicious, and you guys do a good work." One of the maids walked towards him, putting her hoof on his back in a comforting way.
"Yes, we do! But that spoiled foal just won't appreciate any of the things we do for her! I swear sometimes, I wish I could just strangle her!"
"We all do, sometimes, Doughnut. We all do."
Diamond pushed herself away from the door, having listened to the conversation just seconds ago. Yet, she didn't feel anything but embarrassment for them. If they didn't appreciate their works, then why were they there? It was such a privilege to work for her and her father, so why complain?
Diamond shrugged as she picked the jar of cookies, with her mouth, the glass of milk carefully held on one hoof, and left for her room.
Having enjoyed until the last cookie in the jar, Diamond merely sighed in satisfaction. The sweet taste of cookies! They were the best a filly could ask for!
Having finally disposed of the last cookie, Diamond walked towards the window, more out of habit than anything else. It was then that she remembered what she had originally got up for. She would give that thing a piece of her mind!
Once again, she opened the door to the backyard. With a firm step, she stepped closer towards the small forest.
Suddenly, her ears perked as she heard that... things speaking.
"Oh, thanks, little guy. But I don't exactly eat acorns." Diamond's curiosity picked up as she tried to walk as quiet as possible towards the place. Once she was close enough, she peeked her head through the bushes, noticing the thing, still with that blanket she had given to it, looking intently towards a squirrel, which held in its paws a small amount of berries.
"Oh, thanks. I'm starving." The strange being said before taking the berries from the squirrel. Diamond watched as the human petted the squirrel, showing a gentle smile towards it. The squirrel merely chirped in a happy way, at least until the thing stopped.
"I don't have anything to offer you in return, but if you need something, just tell me."
The squirrel nodded before turning around, ready to leave, but its sight suddenly focused on Diamond. The squirrel shrieked in reply before rushing away. Diamond huffed in annoyance, now walking towards the thing.
"How did you do it!?"
The thing shrieked in response, turning around quickly. It was the first time Diamond could see clearly the thing's face. Instead of looking a lot like her own, it seemed to not have the need for a muzzle. Instead, it seemed more like the face of some sort of monkey.
"How did I do what? And good morning, by the way." The thing said before turning around, moments later turning back, with some berries on its... claw? "Do you want some?"
Diamond's face scrunched as she denied with her head, seeing how the things moved the berries towards its mouth, where it started to chew on them. Diamond shook herself as her angry glare returned.
"How did you attract the squirrel?" The thing turned to her with a curious expression on its face. "I've been trying to get them to do it, and they won't listen to me!"
The thing turned to see a small group of squirrels at the other side of the pond, pondering on the question.
"I'm not sure. I think they heard my stomach growling or something, and I haven't given them reason to be afraid of me." The thing motioned to the squirrels. "Maybe it was because I asked them?"
Diamond blinked in surprise at the answer. Then, she turned towards the squirrels.
"HEY YOU, COME HERE!!"
The squirrels shrieked in fright, all of them running towards the nearest tree, instantly hiding on the upper sections.
"Uhh... I don't think that's how things are asked, you know?" The thing said, gaining Diamond's attention.
"Hey, I told them to come here! I asked them!"
"No, you yelled at them. It's different."
Diamond's eye started to twitch. Nopony... NOPONY dared to say to her no.
"It's not different! They're in MY house!" Diamond said as she hit lightly the ground with her hoof.
"Your house?" The thing said in a somewhat mocking tone. "A child of your age with a house that big? Please, excuse me if I find that difficult to believe."
"Of course it is MY house! All the servants in there do whatever I want!"
As Diamond ended her rambling, she suddenly noticed the thing looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, a spoiled little child. Now everything makes sense. I can almost bet your father is something the likes of a millionaire or an extremely lucky businessman. However, he's too busy all the time to spend some with you, and instead, he spoils you with all the toys you can ask, and a house full of servants who do whatever you want, but none of them say anything to you, giving you full chance to even abuse them. Ain't that right?"
Diamond's glare was replaced with a look of surprise (if not terror) when the thing ended his speech.
"You have been spying ME!!!"
"Nope. it's just not the first time I've seen this. Trust me, there are half a million children out there with the same position, if only slightly different." Diamond was at a loss of words at that. Other fillies and foals were like her?
"So what if I'm like this?" Diamond asked as she recovered her glare. "Does that makes me a bad pony, according to you!?"
"Bad? Heavens, no. It just makes you alone."
Her eyes dropped to the ground for a few moments, remembering her friend, Silvie.
"... I-I'm not alone! I have a friend!" Diamond said with smug tone, looking at the thing for another thing to say. Instead, it started to look around, seemingly searching for something.
"Excuse me if I digress, but I thought that by this moment, You'd have at least another one of your kind with you to show me around."
Of course! That was the main reason she went there first! How could she have forgotten about that!
"Oh, I will! My friend isn't around, but I will show you! I mean, I will show you to the rest of the world! Yes! That's what I'll do! You'll see! I'll show you how much of a bad pony I can be!" Much to her surprise, that earned a few chuckles from the thing.
"How many times I have to tell you this? You're not a bad... uh, pony."
"You're only saying that so that I won't tell on you!"
"Nope. I'm saying that because you aren't bad."
"How do you know!?" Diamond asked, tears almost spilling from her eyes. Why were tears on her eyes?
The thing merely motioned to the blanket covering him.
"You could have let me frozen to death last night."
Anything else Diamond was about to say died on her throat as she ran towards her house.
A couple of maids were walking by a corridor, just minding their own labors of cleaning all the stuff the master of the house had. Why did he have so many seemingly useless stuff? They didn't knew, but as long as they were paid, the master could have as much useless stuff he wanted.
Suddenly, both maids stopped their works as they heard hooves on the end of the hall. There, as fast as she could, came the daughter of the master. For some reason, she seemed to be crying.
However, even if they wanted to, none of them moved. Besides, the young mistress didn't even acknowledged them, she just rushed past them, still crying.
"I wonder what happened to her." One of the maids said in a hushed tone, breaking the tense moment in the air.
"I don't know. But quite frankly, I don't care. The master pays us to clean, not to babysit that spoiled little filly." The second maid said, earning a silent nod from the first one, who turned back to her work.
Diamond tried to drown more tears coming from her eyes, as she reflected about what the thing had said. She would never admit it, but... what it had said was right, and the couple of maids she had just passed by confirmed it.
Diamond was a total disaster. All those minutes in the morning getting her mane done, her face and her mane, she even had a hooficure! But at the moment she saw herself on the mirror, she got terrified at the visage:
Her eyes were red, clear signal that she had been crying for a while now, her mane was a disaster, from when she had just barged into her room and buried her head on the pillow as she cried, and not only her eyes seemed terrible, but also her face! It had streaks of tears running down it, and it made her look terrible!
This wasn't her! She was better than this! She was Diamond Tiara, the one who bullied everypony and got away with it, causing the whole town to respect her and bow to her will (except those damned crusaders)! By Celestia, she was the daughter of the richest pony in the town, maybe even a huge part of Equestria (except for Canterlot, maybe).
And yet... she felt... alone, as the thing outside had said...
Stupid Silver's parents! Why did they had to have a family trip right at that moment, when she could use Silver's support!? And stupid Silver, why couldn't she say something!?
Also, stupid of HER parents! Why couldn't they be with her!? She needed somepony right now!
Somepony to get that thing away! That thing made her cry! It needed to go, and at that very moment!
Filthy Rich was having a relatively successful day at that moment. There was a delegate from an important industry back in Canterlot, and if he played his cards well, then maybe he could do a contract worth thousands, even millions of bits! Oh, the things he could do with all that money!
"So, Mr. Rich, that would be all from my part." The pony in front of him declared, looking at him with an interested, yet polite look. "Anything to say?"
"It would seem everything is in order, Gentlepony. Although... there is something else I want to discuss with you, if you don't mind."
That seemed to catch the pony's attention, whose ears perked up and his eyes widened slightly.
"Oh? And what would that be, Mr. Rich?"
"I'd like to make you an offer you won't be able to refuse." Filthy said with a somewhat evil smirk, sliding the piece of paper towards the pony.
That was it. It only needed to be signed, and hello millions of bits! Oh, more money to make even more money! He would be millionaire soon, maybe even richer than Celestia herself!
If only...
Suddenly, the door swung open loudly, startling the couple of ponies.
Both ponies covered their ears, Diamond's shout strong enough to even make the glass shackle under its might. Once the shout finished, both ponies slowly uncovered their ears, still with a slight ringing to them.
"Mr Rich, what is this!?" The businesspony shouted in rage. After all, there is nothing else more annoying than loud noises.
"Oh, that is just my daughter, who isn't supposed to be here." Filthy said, straining with the last words, and giving a potent glare towards Diamond.
"But, Dad! There is a monster outside-"
"Diamond, that's enough."
"- and he made me cry, and-"
"I said enough, DIamond..."
"- and you need to get rid of it, and-"
"ENOUGH!!" Filthy's voice boomed in the place, finally making Diamond stop. "Diamond Tiara, that is enough! I'm settling off a very important deal here, and I don't have time for any of your games right now!"
"But, dad, this isn't a game, there's really a mons-"
"I said enough!!" Filthy said with a hard stomp on the ground. Even when age weighed down on him, the stomp carried enough strength to leave a dent on the ground. "I mean it, Diamond. Either you leave right now, or you get grounded."
"But dad-"
"No buts. Leave now, I have a very important business here."
"But-"
"I said. No. Buts." Filthy said in a strained voice. Diamond had only seen the look he was giving her only once before, and it meant trouble. Yet, as scared as she was, anger seemed to peak over her.
"It's always the same with you, dad!" Diamond said with a glare of her own. "It's always the same! You have time for nothing else but business! It's always business with you! Always business! What about ME!? Don't you care about me!?"
"Diamond-"
"Don't you!?"
The silence filling the room was beyond uncomfortable. It almost felt as if the oxygen of the room had vanished, and the temperature had dropped suddenly. It was suddenly stopped with a throat clearing. Turning around, Filthy noticed the business pony staring at him with an amused expression.
"I think my time here is done, Mr Rich. I thank you for your time." The pony said, picking up some paper sheets off of the floor. At that phrase, Flithy's rage seemed to subside some.
"What? So soon? But, good pony, we haven't done the arrangement we were planning!"
"There is no need to, Mr Rich. You see, the way a business pony manages its industry is demonstrated in his home. If that's how you deal with your family, then I'm not sure it's a good idea to make business on the foreseeable future."
Filthy could only watch in slight horror as his greatest business opportunity started to leave the room. Yet, he knew better than to simply beg. It was far below anypony his class. The only thing he could do was just accept his defeat.
"Good evening, Mr Rich." The pony said before shutting the door behind him, leaving father and daughter inside the room.
Diamond didn't really understand what had happened. But she didn't need to. All she needed to know was that her father, despite not seeing him, was burning once again with rage. But this time, he didn't have to hide it.
"Diamond... Tiara..." At the mention of her name, Diamond's ears dropped. There had been only one time her father had said her name on that way, and it was one time she'd rather forget. Yet, the memories of the punishment started to surface once more, causing the slowly growing fear on her heart to explode outwards.
Her whole body started to shiver, her forehead started to get damp with cold sweat, and she could easily listen to her heartbeats on her own ears. Time seemed to freeze as she finally turned around.
On the outside, Filthy seemed to be as calm as ever. But after living with him for a couple of years, Diamond knew better. He was livid.
"Do you know just how much money that deal could have meant?" Filthy asked in an extremely strained tone. "It could have been a good start..." His voice sounded curiously sad, but it returned with a burning anger. "... And you just go and ruin it!"
"But Dad-"
"Not another word from you, Diamond Tiara. Go to your room, and think about what you have done!"
"But-"
"And you're grounded for a week! No dinner for you!"
That was the last straw. He didn't listen to her, he didn't pay attention to her, he didn't care for her!
"I hate you..."
If her father had listened to her or not, she didn't care. She wanted to be nowhere around him at that moment. Unconsciously, she ran to her room. For the rest of the morning, all that could be heard from inside Diamond's room was her crying.
Once again, the sun was setting, and the hues of orange, red, pink and even purple started to decorate the whole sky. Trees started to take orange and golden tonalities, giving them a beautiful sight only a true artist could replicate on a canvas.
Yet, for a filly, it was just the end of a very long and tiring day. It was enough having that thing out in the garden, doing Celestia knows what exactly, but now, her father seemed to be quite angry with her.
Stupid adults...
Her father already had more money than... well... than anything, and if she could still live in that house, then everything was fine, right?
Instead, her father seemed to want more money, for whatever stupid reason he wanted to. She didn't care, and she would never. Why did he want all that money?
Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of chatter, not from her house, but from the garden. Leaning over the window, she finally saw why.
"Are you sure they're around here?" The thing was once again out, being followed by a small group of squirrels, one of which seemed to be pointing towards somewhere on the ground.
"Alright, let me see." The thing said before peeking out from the small forest. Moments later, it finally walked outside, seemingly searching for something.
"Yes! If he finally comes out, then somepony else can see him!" Diamond thought, cheerful at the prospect of having the thing gone from her house.
Without a moment to lose, she dashed out of her room, ready to finally tell on the creature outside. Almost instantly, she saw a maid with a duster on her mouth.
"You there!" The maid was startled by the shout, turning around quickly to see the maid. "I want you to see outside!"
The maid looked at her curiously before putting the duster on the floor.
"I'm sorry, mistress, but I have work that needs to be done. If there is a problem with the garden, your father has a gardener." She said simply before returning to her work.
However, Diamond would have nothing of that.
"No! You have to see now!" The maid grunted in annoyance as she moved towards a vase with a clear sheet of dust on it.
"I really have to get to work, Miss Diamond, please-" Whatever she was going to say was interrupted by Diamond grabbing one of her legs, pulling on it.
"You have to see there-"
"- Wait, miss Dia-"
"- Come on!"
"- Miss Dia- !!!"
Both female ponies stared in shock as the maid tripped, tipping the column where the vase sat. Almost as if the world slowed down, the vase slipped from the top of it, becoming just another victim of gravity. In matter of mere moments, the vase found its destiny on the ground, where it shattered with a loud crashing sound.
Almost as if Discord wanted to, Diamond's father was just passing around, just in time to see his daughter lounging at the maid, causing a very expensive vase to be broken.
And there he was thinking maybe Diamond would finally have learned her lesson...
Both ponies stared in chock at what once had been a beautiful vase. However, the maid was the one whose shock was more noticeable.
"Oh no." Diamond got up from the floor, instantly noticing the look of sheer panic from the maid. "Oh no... oh, Celestia, please, NO!"
Diamond watched curiously as the maid got up, instantly going towards the remnants of the vase, all the while saying the same thing.
"What is the problem?" Diamond asked, actually curious and somewhat concerned. "It was just a vase."
"Not any kind of vase, my daughter." Both ponies froze at the third voice, instantly looking at the owner of the house. While Diamond knew she was again in troubles, the maid almost instantly ran towards her boss.
"I'M SORRY!!! I'M SORRY!!! PLEASE, DON'T FIRE ME! I NEED THIS JOB FOR MY LITTLE FILLY AND-" The maid froze when her boss simply put a hoof in front of her.
"There is no need to apologize, I saw everything. And while I will have to replace that, I'd appreciate it if you don't go around there breaking anything else."
The maid sighed in relief before turning around, noticing that the remnants of the vase were still on the floor. With an apologetic smile, the maid rushed away to find something to clear it. Yet, as she passed by Diamond, she couldn't help but glare at the filly.
Diamond merely rolled her eyes. It wasn't her fault that the vase had broken. She was just trying to-
"Dad! It's just good you're here! I was just trying to-"
"Stop Diamond, just... stop." Filthy interrupted his daughter, earning a groan from her.
"But, Dad! There is a monster on-"
"Diamond! Just... Enough." Filthy said, sighing in annoyance. "And here I was thinking you learned your lesson." He said before turning around.
Diamond didn't knew what to do! She had to do something to make her dad turn around. It was then when she remembered the squirrels on the garden.
"Uhh... I don't think that's how things are asked, you know?" The thing said, gaining Diamond's attention.
"Hey, I told them to come here! I asked them!"
"No, you yelled at them. It's different."
That wasn't something she had to do! She never asked for anything!
...
"Please?"
Filthy's ears twitched as he turned around, looking at his daughter carefully.
"What did you say?"
"Please. Dad, I swear, there is something out there! It's scary! Please?"
Filthy couldn't actually believe what he was hearing. His daughter was saying please! She would never say it unless...
Diamond couldn't believe it! She said it! And her father had almost instantly ran towards the window!
Yes! She would actually get that creature back for everything it had done to-
"What's supposed to be outside, Diamond?"
Diamond's victory smirk was replaced with a look of horror as she turned around as fast as she could, fearing the worst. Her fears were confirmed as she confirmed what her father was seeing: nothing. The creature was gone! And her father hadn't seen it!
"What kind of monster am I supposed to be seeing?" Filthy asked with curiosity, turning his sight everywhere, trying to see something. After a few moments, his landed on something.
"Is this your monster, Diamond?" He said, pointing to a black spider on the lower part of the window. Seeing as Diamond didn't give him an answer, he smirked at his daughter's innocence. "Aw, don't worry dear. I'll make somepony remove it in no time."
With a small laugh, he turned around and left, thinking all that ruckus was caused by a spider he knew wasn't dangerous. At least, Diamond had said please.
Still with her face on the window, Diamond groaned loudly as her father left. Somehow, it seemed as if the whole world was against her.
Once again, Diamond sat at her window, watching nothing in particular, but rather having thoughts filling her head. Thoughts about the thing on the yard. Somehow, it had managed to avoid her father's gaze, even when he had clearly been on the open part of the yard. And just a minute later, he wasn't there. It was almost as if he had sensed something coming and proceeded to hide.
Her eyes drifted towards the lower part of the roof of the house, where the gardener of the house was talking with the big black spider her father had seen, which just seemed to first glare at the gardener, and then offering him a flower, and then finally detaching something from somewhere on the roof (almost like a cocoon) and started to march away from the house.
She wasn't a fan (or hater) of spiders, yet she started to wonder where the spider would go. Where did ugly things like spiders and other things go to? Maybe to the Everfree? To another part? Maybe even to Tartarus?
And speaking of ugly places, from what kind of horrendous world would that thing might have popped up from?
It was then that an idea popped up in her head. She didn't know, but maybe there were other ponies who might know! Maybe even know how to send it back, so it could finally stop harassing her with his annoying being.
With that thought in mind, she ran from the window, ready to know more about that creature.
After a few moments, she found herself in a place she usually avoided at all costs. After all, a place of such reputation as the Castlle's library wasn't at her level. In fact, she wondered again why she should enter that place.
... Oh, right. The thing in the backyard.
She grunted in annoyance. Once again, that thing managed to harass her in public, just because she needed to find more about it. Would there be no ending to his annoyance, even when he wasn't even present?
With a practiced ease, she lifted her snout to the air, giving herself the image of something unreachable, even when she was shorter than most ponies roaming around in the street. Even when she couldn't hear quite well, she could pick pieces of conversations as she passed by.
"... is she even doing here? Thought she was at her..."
"... Why is she walking towards..."
"... of business she has with the Caste library?"
Ignoring most of these questions, she finally arrived at the door. The more she stared at it, the more she felt curiously nervous of entering. She might become bored to death! Library were such boring places! Those weren't for foals! Those were for old ponies who couldn't lift their heads off of those boring books!
"Let's get this over with." Diamond thought with determination as she proceeded to push the door open, hearing a panicked shriek when the door slammed onto the wall.
Curious as to what had just happened, she entered and pushed back the door, seeing the small purple and green lizard who thought he deserved the title of Twilight Sparkle's number 1 assistant.
"Welcome to the library." Spike said in a strained voice as he peeled himself off of the wall, noticing with wide eyes the dragonly mark on the wall.
After a few moments, Spike shook himself off of his stupor, and turned around to see the pony who might've accidentally smashed him. His eyes widened a second time as she noticed the pony, or rather filly, standing in front of him. Despite being close friends with the CMC, he had had the good luck of not having to deal with this filly most of the time.
Yet, there she was, looking at him with a despiteful glare, standing in the library of his- rather Twilight's castle.
"Uhh, is there anything you need help with?" Spike asked, being cautious of her. He knew she couldn't do anything to him, but he'd rather not have an angry filly with him.
"... Ugh! Listen, you purple lizard! I need a book!" Diamond said, pointing an accusatory hoof at him, almost as if he had done anything bad to her.
Spike shrunk once more, feeling rather short in comparison to the filly in front of him.
"... A-Allright... What k-kind of book?"
"One about monsters!"
Spike's uneasiness vanished once he heard that phrase.
"... Monsters?"
"Yes! Are you deaf, or something? I need a book about monsters!" Diamond said slowly, almost as if talking to a baby. Spike, on his part, didn't understand what the heck she was talking about.
"... I don't understand. Are you looking for a book with stories about monsters? A guide? A bestiary? Something like-"
"Whatever it is, just bring it here now!" Diamond shouted, finally annoyed at the small lizard, who just seemed as scared as ever.
That was taking way too long! At that moment, she should've already find something about that thing and left that boring place! Why was he taking so long?
As she looked at him again, he saw the lizard almost shivering in what she could assume was fear. That was one look she liked more: Ponies being afraid of her! It made her feel great.
Yet, she assumed the lizard was too afraid of her to even get to work. How would she get out of there if he wasn't doing what he was intended to do? What could she do to-
She groaned in annoyance as she remembered the situation with her father.
Diamond once again straightened up and looked at the lizard with an even stare.
"You will bring me all the books you have about monsters, please?"
Even when the annoyance was evident on her voice, the mention of the "p" word was enough to get Spike working again.
"Huh? Oh, uhh... Yeah, just... let me..." Spike said as he turned around towards the guide where they had the locations of all the books, still trying to wrap his head around the fact Diamond had said please.
Almost immediately, he started to rush through the pages of the book, looking for anything that might be of her liking.
"You didn't answer me before. Are you looking for anything like a story, as a hobby? Or maybe more for some like a homework? I didn't know Ms Cherilee had something to do with monsters and all that stuff... Maybe I should convince Twilight to let me go to that school one of these days, then."
As Spike continued his talking, Diamond started to look around in boredom. Watching as row after row of the shelves was filled with books. Only books. It was everything that place had.
"Aha!" Diamond turned around, startled by the shouting of the dragon. "I think this one will fit to your assignment." Spike said as he started to walk towards a shelf, pulling a rather big book from it, taking in on wobbly legs due to its weight, towards a table.
"There you go!" Spike said as he puffed his chest in triumph, ready to get her thankings.
"Mhm." Spike's only response was an unamused humming as Diamond simply passed by him, climbing to the chair in order to get back to reading, completely ignoring him. He merely groaned in annoyance as he turned around to leave.
"How rude." Spike muttered as he vanished from sight, leaving Diamond completely alone. She, on the other hoof, groaned once again, looking at the rather large list of creatures included on the book, some of which she had never heard of before.
It was going to be a rather large day.
A loud groan was heard from the depths of the library as a book was slammed shut by an annoyed filly.
"SO BORING!!" Diamond almost shouted as she ended up stopping her reading, finally bored to death. And it had only been five minutes or so since she started!
It had been far too long, and she hadn't found anything about the creature on her backyard! Not a single thing! How could that be possible? The book said it contained every creature on the planet!
With a newfound annoyance, she hop off of the chair, starting to look around for the lizard who was supposedly in charge of the library. Fortunately for her, the "lizard" was fast asleep on the exact place where she had found him first.
"Hey! Wake up!" Diamond shouted, startling the little dragon, falling off from the pedestal, the book following closely with a loud thud.
"Oww... what is it?" Spike groaned as he lifted the book off of him.
"I... I..." Words died on her throat as she realized that she didn't exactly know why she came.
"You... need help?"
Diamond wanted to deny it, she wanted so badly to say no and demand him to do her bidding! She wanted it so badly!!
"... Y-Yes, please..."
Spike finally finished lifting the book back to its place, and turned towards the filly, who seemed to be bothered by something. She had been rude with him, but he couldn't deny his help towards a lady in distress. That's what heroes, like the ones from his comic books did, right?
"... Alright, what do you need help with?" Spike said, crossing his arms, looking at her intently.
"... I-It's... I c-can't find... anything on that stupid book about the creature I'm looking for." Spike nodded as he walked with her back to where the book was.
With a slight twitch on her ear, Twilight suddenly turned around, looking at something non existent.
"Somepony just insulted a book... "
Finally at the book, Spike, turned the pages towards the index.
"So, what is this creature you are looking for?" Spike asked as he turned towards the filly, who stared at the book with annoyance.
"Some kind of creature that's bald, it stands in two hooves."
"Bald?"
"Yes! Like the head from that old pony on the park!"
Spike nodded as he looked at the index, almost instantly flipping through pages and pages. Finally, she could have some answers!
"Is it this one?"
Diamond turned towards him with a gleeful smile, only to be replaced by a frown as she looked at something that didn't resemble at anything to the one on her backyard, unless it was some kind of ugly (even uglier) kind of "chupacabra".
Diamond denied with her head, Spike nodding as he looked for another one, this one being also different, and though it had some resemblance on the way it stood, Diamond doubted seriously it was an "ahuizotl".
"No! That's not the one! It was different! To start with, it didn't have hooves on his... hind legs? And it doesn't has a muzzle!"
Spike nodded as he started to turn pages, each and every one of his depictions not having anything in common with the creature she was seemingly looking for. Suddenly, she stopped him.
"Wait! Go back!"
Spike turned back some pages, instantly landing on the figure of a minotaur. However, the book had images of many of them. While not considered "monsters" per se, there were entries about minotaurs with different colors of skin and fur, the most common being dark blue, red and even brown.
"This one!" Diamond pointed towards an image of the text, where it pointed towards yet another creature called "satyr".
Spike started to turn the pages, looking for the creature on the book. After a few seconds, the title of the creature came in front, and Diamond grinned as she started to look at the creature, only for her grin to vanish, giving away a frown.
"That's not it, either!"
Finally having enough, Spike groaned in annoyance.
"What do you mean? It coincides with the description you gave! Bald in some parts, stands on two hooves?"
"Yes! But the creature I'm looking for doesn't has that much fur, and doesn't has hooves on its... hind legs?"
Spike looked at her with a frown that screamed annoyance. He knew she didn't knew what she was looking for, and that wouldn't be that helpful. What kind of creature that stood on two legs, had no hooves and was bald would resemble a satyr?
It was at that moment, some clicked on his mind.
"This kind of creature you are looking for has hands, almost resembling to my claws?" He said as he showed her his claws. "It doesn't has hooves, but it has something resembling hands on its hind legs, no muzzle, but rather a small nose, and its eyes on the front part of its head?"
Diamond's eyes widened in shock. It fit the exact description the lizard had just given her.
"H-How-"
Whatever she was about to say was interrupted as Spike shut the book closed and hopped off the table.
"What you are looking for isn't on any kind of books Twilight has in here about monsters." Spike said, much to Diamond's demise. "And I'm afraid to tell you that there's definitely no books in here about those creatures you speak of." Diamond's ears flattened in anger and demise as she turned to him.
"Then, where can I find about them, you good for nothing, Lizard?"
A nerve was stroke on Spike's mind as he turned around, anger reflecting on his eyes.
"I. Am. Not. A. Lizard." Spike said, each word carrying an immeasurable amount of anger on them.
Diamond sighed. It looked like she would achieve nothing with insulting him. It seemed as if almost everypony was losing respect to her whenever she showed up in the streets. It was so much different in her house, where everything she said was done, almost immediately.
The memory of her parent when she literally pleaded for him to see through the window resurfaced once more. It was on that occasion, at least recently, when her father had listened to her.
"Ugh! Listen, can you please tell me where to find more about them... dragon?" Diamond said, still with a bad tone, more annoying than pleading.
However, it seemed to be enough to appease Spike. He merely turned around, took a piece of paper and wrote something on it. After a few moments, he stretched his hand with the paper on it, not before giving Diamond a harsh glare.
"You really need to work on your manners."
Diamond didn't need any lecture, and even moreso when it came from a dragon maybe around her age. She simply stuck her nose up like always, taking the paper on a hoof, and turning around.
"You're welcome." Spike said in an annoyed tone as she closed the door.
Finally with that done, Diamond turned her hoof around, at the piece of paper, noticing on it a name and an address on it.
"Ugh! Another egghead!" Diamond said annoyed as she looked at the name. At least, she would try the "p" word more frequently. it seemed like a more effective method for making other ponies do her bidding quicker.
With that in mind, she started to walk again, this time with an address on mind, and a name that even she knew was that of a mare commonly known as somewhat crazy with rumors of an ancient creature.
Turning the paper around, she groaned once more as she looked at the name on it.
Diamond stared in disbelief. The paper in front of her marking the address of the pony who supposedly could tell her more about that thing at her backyard, and it was telling her she was at the exact location! The one of the crazy pony!
Of course, everypony in that little village was crazy, not to mention the flower ponies, who always made a huge theater of a small situation. And then, there were some other ponies and even some fillies who could be classified as crazy.
But this one! Ugh!
It was the house of Lyra Heartstrings, the local crazy obsessed with non-existent creatures type of pony. Of course, a pony of her class had never had the necessity to deal with those kind of ponies, and she had hoped to never have the need to do so.
Yet, that purple lizard had sent her there, just right towards the crazy pony's house! Oh, she would be sure to make that lizard suffer later, and then... whatever her father wanted to do with him. What was it called? Leather or something like that?
Whatever. She would solve it later. After all, she had some work to do. Even if this pony was actually crazy, if she had answers of how to get rid of that thing, then she would find them, even if she had to squeeze the answer out of said pony!
Without looking where, Diamond made the paper a small bundle and threw it away, her eyes gazing at the door with a fiery determination, reflecting as clearly as Celestia's sun shone upon the land, that she was determined to end that matter once and for all. And finally, that creature would go out of her house!
And then... things would go the way they were. Everything would go back to what once had been the perfect place.
Diamond knocked on the door, suddenly realizing the sudden quantity of ponies looking at her.
"What is She doing here?"
"What kind of business she might have with Lyra?"
"This can only go so bad."
She didn't care what others thought of her, but she was ultimately uncomfortable with all the stares. It wasn't something she hadn't experienced before, but she had been receiving stares all the day! First when she went to the library, and then at that moment!
That day could not actually go worse... right?
Firmly, and quite loudly, she knocked on the door, with the actual Diamond Tiara mark on it (almost ripping the door off of its hinges). This, in turn, only served to cause the stares to intensify, causing Diamond to get even more peeved.
"What are you all staring at!?" Diamond asked, turning around suddenly, causing most of the unfortunate ponies out there to ran away, startled and scared of the little filly.
Diamond smirked once more, seeing in satisfaction at the scene. That was until the door behind her opened, revealing a disgruntled Lyra Heartstrings.
"What in the hay are you doing here?"
Aside from the fact that she was crazy, Lyra was also hated by Diamond from the fact that she seemed to be the only one in the whole town to be crazy enough to defy her. Her! Of all ponies!
Diamond turned around, still with the harsh glare she used on most ponies.
"It's not of your concern whatever I am here for, you dumb mare!"
The answer to that was a harsh slamming door that, if not for the door's limits, would have sent Diamond away. In that instant, Diamond's head was filled with every kind of thoughts about bullying and maybe even making her dad sue that pony. The nerves of her!
At that moment, she thought about turning back and getting home as fast as she could so her father would teach that pony a lesson! And so, that pony, and nopony else would ever dare to yell at her!! EVER!!!
...
Unless, of course, that thing in her backyard dared to yell at her. If that was the case, then she wouldn't have any kind of defense against it.
"Ugh!!" Diamond groaned loudly as she knocked once more in the door. It wasn't even three seconds before the door swung open again.
"You again!? What do you want!?" Diamond's eye twitched... after all, it wasn't every day she was yelled at.
"... As much as I don't want to do this... I-I... I need you help."
Lyra's expression went from angry and annoyed to that of surprise for a moment. Yet, it returned to neutral, with a hint of curiosity.
"... And what is that thing you need MY help with? Unless it's music, which I assume it's not, then there is nothing I can help you with." Lyra said before making a movement of closing the door, until the small hoof of Diamond stopped her.
"...please..."
"... What?"
"... P-Please... I just..." Diamond groaned as she tried to think about what to say. "... There is that stupid homework Cherilee assigned to us... and it was about an investigation of sorts... about strange creatures."
Almost unnoticeable, Lyra's ears twitched at that, almost knowing what she was getting to.
"... A-And... Well, those three stupid blank flanks already took the good ones out there! And I was left with nothing left! I can't be defeated by them!" The door was finally opened fully again, and Lyra looked no less angry than before, but she also seemed curious. And besides, the last part seemed true, at least with the past of the crusaders and her.
"And what can I do for you, then? You know I'm a musician, not some kind of zoologist."
"Well... I went to the library, looking for something... and there was this book that mentioned something about a strange creature... some thing that stands on two legs, has this weird... clawy hooves on them-" Suddenly, the hoof of the pony was thrust into her mouth, silencing her.
Looking up, she saw the anger on the pony's face was gone. Instead, there was only seriousness on it.
"Say no more. But I've got bad news for you. What you are looking for is nothing good. And it doesn't exist, even! Trust me, I know."
Diamond spat the hoof out of her mouth, looking at her with shock.
"W-What!? B-But... the lizard said-"
"Sorry, but I can't help you." Lyra said before closing the door harshly, not saying another word.
Diamond was in shock again. The nerves! Seriously, the nerves!!
"... Urgh! I should have known this was a loss of time! Why did I even bother to come!?" Diamond turned around, only to face dozens of eyes looking at her with curious eyes. "And what are you looking at!?"
Almost everypony ran away at the shout, too fearsome of the richest pony in town's daughter. Upon seeing the street empty, Diamond sighed, starting to think she wouldn't be able to get rid of that thing on her backyard. She'd have to live with it always on her backyard! What if it ate her!?
"Psst!"
Diamond's ears twitched, upon hearing a small voice.
"Psst! Over here!"
Diamond turned towards the voice, leading her to seemingly a cellar door, partly open, revealing a pair of eyes looking at her, narrowed, every now and then, looking at the sides suspiciously.
"I heard you! Come with me! I know what you want!"
Having few to almost no chats with her dad, Diamond had never heard the no.1 rule for a foal: never go with strangers.
As soon as she got close, the door opened fully, and a bag was thrust into her, cutting off any sense of sight. However, she could hear things, like a harsh slam behind her, as well as the sound of hooves hitting wood, almost as if the pony was going downstairs.
Finally, after a few moments, the bag was lifted from her head, Diamond groaning in annoyance as she noticed her mane had been slightly damaged due to the bag. Once that had been taken care of, she turned around, only then noticing she was in some kind of basement, at least judging from the lack of light, only provided by a single lamp above her.
Suddenly, a chill ran down her back as she heard giggling behind her.
"... Finally... ehehe..."
"H-Hello?" Diamond asked with nervousness on her voice, and the giggling didn't help at all. After a few moments, the giggling pony talked again.
"Ehehe... Finally... after all these years..." Diamond finally saw the pony, and it was nopony else than Lyra. Upon seeing her, Diamond almost started to sweat. This version of Lyra was creepy, her wide smile, the giggling and the almost maniac look on her face didn't help.
"W-What do you m-mean?"
"... Diamond Tiara... I've been waiting for this moment for years." Lyra said with that maniacal grin, her horn lighting up. Suddenly, a knife was revealed in front of Diamond, causing her to freeze up. She started to remember all the times she had been mean to her, all the times she had bullied her and other ponies... did that mean-?
Before she had more time to think, the knife was thrust in her direction, Diamond's eyes almost popping out of her skull as she saw the knife flying at her. At the last moment, she closed her eyes, waiting for the unavoidable. That was, if the unavoidable had come.
Just as she opened her eyes, she saw the knife lodged right at the side of her head, almost cutting down a whole part of her mane. Yet, another thing she noticed was the red ribbon the knife was cutting through. Just a slim line of red held the ribbon together.
Diamond noticed it just in time to see the ribbon snap in half. At that moment, many lights lit up, some kind of horn sounded and many other ribbons started to slide back into the darkness. Just as the last ribbon vanished, a huge sign was lit, revealing a wide-smiling Lyra.
"Welcome!" Lyra stood up on her hind legs as she fired a few fireworks around, only then noticing it was some sort of exhibition, like those in the fairs she sometimes went to. Lyra continued. "Welcome, to the one and only... hooman museum!!"
Diamond, still in shock, merely watched with wide eyes at the unicorn, which was starting to tremble from the effort of holding herself in two hooves.
"... W-Well? Y-You l-like it?"
Almost instantly, the shock on Diamond's face was replaced by a glare, one that could turn anything to ice.
"ARE YOU KIDDING!? YOU ALMOST KILLED ME BACK THERE!!"
"Oh, you mean the knife? I-I thought it would add some... excitement?" Lyra said as she returned to four hooves, her horn lighting up, moments before a notepad floated towards her. "Note to self: forget about the knife. Maybe a cannon?"
Diamond's eye twitched as she looked at the mare, who started to talk to herself, muttering something about laser beams, or something like that. She huffed as she started to look for a way to get out of that demented mare's place. That was, until her eyes caught sight of a picture on the wall, of a sickly yellow color, and its borders almost falling apart with a few chunks of paper already missing.
However, it wasn't the paper itself what caught her attention. It was the image.
"That's it." Diamond said loud as she walked towards the image, which was locked inside something resembling a glass box. The shout she made snapped Lyra away from her muttering, turning towards the small foal.
"Oh, you're interested in that picture? It's the mayor proud of the museum, and I researched many spells to prevent it from decaying." Lyra said as she got closer. Finally, as she stood next to it, Lyra made a pose to show off the picture. "I give you... the last and only remaining picture of a hooman!"
Diamond stared in awe at the picture. Aside from a few details, it was exactly the same creature roaming around in her backyard. She almost lost herself looking at it, until something Lyra said clicked on her mind.
"Wait, what do you mean 'the last and only'?" Lyra turned to her, still smiling, not as creepy as before, but the excitement on it was noticeable.
"Oh, that's because these are the last vestiges of them." Lyra said, waving her hoof at the whole place. "Everything you see in here, everything was made by hoomans."
Diamond almost ran towards some items in a shelf, containing something strange that she had not seen before. Her foalish curiosity made her stretch her hoof towards it.
"DON'T TOUCH!!" Diamond almost jumped at the scare, as she turned around, looking at a seemingly scared Lyra, who after realizing what happened, smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. It's just that many of these things are old. Very old."
"How old?" Diamond asked as she turned once again to the shelf.
"Too old. Some of these things are way from before the unification of the pony tribes. Some say these things are even older than Celestia and Luna themselves."
Diamond went wide-eyed at that phrase.
"Then, if these things are so old, why the hoomans hasn't made some new?" Diamond asked with curiosity. There must have been other hoomans out there... right?
"Because these things were used by the last hoomans who ever existed." Lyra said as she pulled a book from a shelf. She floated it towards Diamond, who stared at the picture of a snowy mountain on it. "That was the last place where the hoomans were seen before they went extinct." Lyra said with a sigh.
"Extinct?"
"Oh, right. You foals don't know these words. Extinct means that they no longer exist." Diamond couldn't wrap her head around it. If they didn't exist anymore, then why was one at her backyard?
"Hey?" Lyra turned around from her reading as the filly in front of her sported one of the biggest grins she had seen. "What if I told you... that there is one at my backyard?"
Lyra stared in shock at the little filly in front of her, trying to rationalize what she had said. Why would a filly say something like that? Once again, that little filly had done some bad stuff in the past.
"I'm sorry to say that i'm not totally convinced of what you're saying, little filly." Lyra said, her shocked expression going away to give place to another angry glare. "After all, it's not funny to make fun of other ponies' hobbies, you know?"
Diamond was about to retort, but her eyes fell upon the human's picture, a flash of the creature on her backyard passing through her mind as she reminded herself of why she was there.
"No, I-I'm not making fun of you! I promise! It's true! There is a hooman living in my backyard!"
Lyra stared at the filly in front of her with a curious stare, trying to see anything that could bring out the hoax she was trying to make. Of course, she became confused as she realized that the filly didn't seem like she was hiding something.
"Alright, let's say I start to think you're telling the truth..." Diamond almost smiled as she thought she had won, once again. However, Lyra pointed a hoof at her. "... But... Tell me, Diamond Tiara... Do you have any proof?"
Diamond's ears, formerly perked in giddiness, suddenly flattened in her head as her eyes widened and her pupils contracted. Why? Simple: she had no proof. How could she have been so dumb!
"Err... ehehe..." Diamond pawed at the floor as her eyes looked anywhere but the mint mare. "... Well... you see... the thing is..."
"You do not." Lyra said in an amused tone, causing the filly to flinch at her tone.
"Of course not! I just found it yesterday! I didn't know what it was!"
Diamond stared as the mare nodded her head softly with an amused expression on her face. But she knew better, she knew the thing in her backyard was truly a hooman!
"Look, if you don't believe me, then come to my home, so you can see it in pony! It's a real hooman, I'm telling you!"
Lyra groaned lowly, knowing she wouldn't get the filly off of her if she didn't comply. Still, she had her doubts about what to do, and what that filly actually wanted.
"What do I get out of this?"
Diamond groaned internally. Her father had told her about some ponies like that, and therefore, needed some kind of... motivation.
"Ugh! What do you want?" Diamond asked, giving a serious stare at the mint mare.
Lyra tapped a hoof softly against her chin as she pondered on what to do. Her eyes roamed around the room as she came to an idea.
"Hmm... If you're saying the truth, then I want to bring the hooman here so I can study him, and then expose it to the world! It would be the greatest scientific discovery of the world, of the century, maybe even the millennium!!" Lyra clapped her hooves excitedly, sparks literally shining in her eyes along her huge smile, while Diamond simply stared at her with an annoyed look.
"... Mares. So, you gonna come with me, or what?"
Lyra's smile vanished at the filly's tone, but ultimately, turned to her with a serious tone.
"Alright then. Let's go and see this human of yours, if it even exists."
"Of course it exists! I'll show you! I'll show everypony I am right!" Diamond turned to Lyra, seeing her with a flat stare. "I-I mean... heh... of course! Let's go, then!"
Lyra rolled her eyes as she started to walk, not knowing exactly what to expect. One part of her thought the filly was just toying with her, like she usually did. The other part, however, started to think about the filly's reactions when she saw the picture: it was surprise, and shock. If she hadn't seen that creature before, then why did she had that reaction?
So many questions.
After a while, and after many suspicious stares and mumbling from the other ponies, both Lyra and Diamond had made their way towards the filly's house, not too far away from the town itself, but still somewhat retired. Diamond insisted constantly that they should hurry, for the creature may still be there.
Lyra couldn't help but smile at her energy. There was a time when she was such as, if not more energetic than that filly. She had always been good at music, but... mythical creatures had always been her fascination. One could ask her mother about how many times the little filly had came back home covered in tree sap and foliage due to her endless search of such creatures.
Lyra turned once more at the filly guiding her, who had stopped once more in her tracks to look at her with a cute glare.
"Move faster! Maybe we can see him sooner!" Diamond said as she turned around to keep running.
Lyra sighed. In many ways, she had been like that little filly, excluding the rich and snobbish part, which was, what she thought, the main reason of her dislike for her.
"Hurry up! I wanna get him with you soon!"
"C'mon! The sooner we find him, the sooner we can show it to the world!"
Lyra smiled as she stopped in her tracks, gaining a confused look from the filly.
"Last one in your house is a mule!" Lyra shouted before rushing past the filly, leaving her wide-eyed.
"... Hey! Wait for me, you dumb mare!" Diamond shouted as she started to run, too.
"It's over here, c'mon!" Diamond shouted as they were once again in her house, with Lyra running behind her, panting heavily.
Even if Lyra had rushed first, she was a musician, for Celestia's sake, and even if Diamond was a filly, she was still an earth pony, and Lyra was at a huge disadvantage at her unicornish race, comparing it to the others.
In the end, Lyra had lost, and Diamond somehow hadn't even bothered to yell at her, or to gloat on her victory, like she was usually known for. Instead, she had run past her, telling her the hooman was right ahead.
As she had said, Diamond didn't even bother to enter the house or announce her arrival, and instead, ran towards the hind part of the building, towards what Lyra could assume was some sort of forest made for a foal. It wasn't that big, but big enough to hold maybe a small tea party between half a dozen of foals.
"It's right here! Look!" Diamond said excitedly as she pointed at the small forest, where Lyra could clearly see some sort of huge figure.
Lyra stepped forward, her eyes widening in wonder as she asked herself if this was what she had been waiting for all her life. Could it be!?
With a shaky hoof she set aside a branch, revealing the huge figure in front of her, which as soon as it noticed it was being watched, turned around and roared at them.
Lyra's eyes widened in shock, while Diamond shouted and proceeded to hide behind her. However, after a few seconds, Lyra's eyes half-closed in a flat stare at the creature in front of her.
"Harry?" The bear stopped its roaring before its eyes opened and looked intently at the mint mare. "What are you doing here? Didn't Fluttershy told you not to wander too far away from the forest?"
Much to Diamond's surprise, the Bear shrunk back in fear at the mint mare's words. After a few moments, the bear whined softly before taking some berries off of the ground, literally eating them all in a single chomp, and running away at surprising speed.
"Is it gone?" Diamond asked softly from behind the mare. After a few moments, the mare nodded at her, at which the filly suddenly ran ahead towards where the bear had ran off to. "Yeah! You run away! I'll tell Daddy if you ever show up again around here!"
"Tell me what, Diamond?"
Both females turned around at the sound of a male voice, Diamond smiling at seeing her father had come once again, and Lyra getting nervous at seeing the elder male in front of here.
"Miss Lyra? Whatever are you doing here?" Filthy asked, eyeing curiously the mare. Before Lyra could answer, Diamond rushed back.
"She's with me!" Upon seeing her father's confused stare, Diamond turned towards the small forest. "There is this creature called hooman down there, the one I was telling you before, but as you couldn't see it, I brought an expert on them!"
"An expert, huh?" Filthy asked with a raised brow at the mint mare, who started to sweat nervously.
"Yes! But it's better now, if you are here! Now I can show you both!" Diamond said as she ran towards the forest once more, setting aside the branch once again, revealing the remnants of what once had been a bunch of berries and acorns.
"What!?" Diamond shouted in shock, earning the attention of both adults on the back. Almost as soon as Diamond entered the forest, both ponies followed, only to notice the filly frantically looking around. "Where is it? Where is it!? It was here!!!"
Filthy moved his head softly, while Lyra looked at the filly with a confused stare, seeing the filly running around, looking for something. Yet, Diamond didn't stopped looking, but at one moment she turned to them, with a disheartening look.
"... But... But... It was here! ... I can swear... it was here..."
Lyra turned to look at Filthy, who was looking at his daughter with a strange look. Seeing as there was nothing left to do, Lyra turned around.
"W-Well... I have other things to do... so... If you excuse me..." Lyra said before rushing away.
Filthy watched the mare run until she got lost from sight, before turning at his daughter once more, who was almost at the verge of tears. Something upon his heart moved.
"Oh, dear." Filthy said before stepping forward and hugging her, to which Diamond didn't move. Yet, she didn't ran away.
After a while, Filthy let go of her, to which Diamond simply sat on the ground.
"I have to go, Diamond. Still work to do, darling." Diamond nodded softly, much to Filthy's displeasure. But maybe she just needed some time alone. And maybe a mental doctor, on a note aside.
As Diamond heard her father go away, she found herself questioning if it had been like a dream? The creature had been so real to her. Yet, as she started to think, she realized she had never once touched the creature, except for the blanket, she really had no interaction with it.
Maybe it had been really a nightmare?
"Hello!"
Diamond's ears perked, and her eyes widened as she heard a slight rumble behind her, coming from the bushes, and a voice she was starting to think she wouldn't listen again.
After a couple seconds, the head of the hooman poked from behind a bush.
