“Miss Tiara,” an unexpected call came into the area from an intercom near the door to her room. “Your mother is home. She is requesting to see you in the study room.”

“What?!” Diamond exclaims while still sitting on her bed. Watching her, I notice a deep-seated look of horror and fear in her eyes.

Apparently I'm not the only one to notice, but I might have gleaned the fuller implications.

“Why are you so surprised?” Scootaloo asks Diamond with a questioning shrug. “Doesn't she live here? I don't see why it's so surprising to expect to see her in her own home.”

“Well her father does live here, but he frequently travels abroad,” Sweetie Belle informs us. “In all this time that I have stayed here, I've only seen him once. Even then, that was a video conference call.” Sweetie looks at Diamond. “As for her mother-”

“My mother is a professional brown-noser,” Diamond says with irritation as she crosses her arms in a huff. “And yet, at the same time, she uses every opportunity she can get to remind other people how 'rich' and 'important' we are. It's as if she's desperate to get everyone in high society to accept her.”

“There is a pretty common streak of arrogance among our social class,” Silver agrees. “However, Spoiled seems different. Most members of the upper class seem more comfortable with their station enough that they don't feel like they have to brag about it all the time. Instead, they just keep their noses in the air and do whatever they feel like doing. Fancy Pants is a good example of that.

“Your mother, however, comes off as secretly scared of rejection.

“Personally, I think it's because she wasn't nearly as wealthy before she married your father, or so I've been told. Neither you nor I were born back then.”

“Miss Tiara? Are you there?” the gentleman on the intercom asks when there seems to be an unusually long pause.

Diamond looks down as she sighs in annoyance, but I can tell that she's using that reaction to mask her terror. Being the keen observer I am for subtle body language, I notice how she also wrings her hands nervously.

Just recently Diamond told me that losing to me during the Student Council election was a great source of frustration for her, but I now calculate an eighty-one percent chance that it's her mother that is really pushing Diamond's sanity over the brink.

I wish I could take vicious pleasure in that fact, but I'm surprised to feel emptiness and sympathy instead. The most likely reason for that is this situation feels a little too familiar.

How ironic. I came here to her home in order to observe her for weaknesses so I could use them against her later. It never occurred to me that she might become too relatable in the process.

But whatever! I still don't care!

Fuck you, Little Miss Prissy! I'm still going to destroy you someday! I just need to build you back up in the meantime so you will eventually really feel me twisting the knife in your back!

“Everyone, stay here,” Diamond commands us as she rises from her bed then makes her way to the exit of her room. “I'll deal with her. It's important that she sees none of you.” She pauses when she touches the doorknob. While still holding it, she looks back at me. “Especially you. Mother never forgave you for stealing my seat as Council President.”

I narrow my eyes at her slightly.

“I didn't steal anything!” I explain, even though I privately think about all the information I had my minions dig up then reveal to the school to secretly dirty her reputation during the election. “I won that election fair and square!” Boy, I'm a great liar! “The students chose me because I was better at convincing them. That's all.”

“And you've done a great job at it since, too,” Diamond tells me in an admiring tone. “To you, it isn't just a position for status and ego. You actually do care for the students. You worked very hard to make the school a better place, and you really listen to the people you lead. You're a great leader, Cozy Glow. I will vote for you in the next election.” She faces the door and looks down with regret. “But my mother will probably never see it that way. Some people are just too stuck up to see reason.”

Diamond takes a deep breath, releases it, then gazes forward at her door with a fragile look of resolve in her eyes.

“Now, if you'll all excuse me.”

Diamond pulls open the door, leaves the room, then shuts the door behind her.

Leaving the rest of us to hang around in awkward silence for about half a minute.

That silence is finally broken by Scootaloo, who easily seems like the boldest one among our group.

“Is anyone else here feeling . . . uncomfortable?” Scootaloo asks while rubbing her right arm which obviously verifies her current emotional state.

“What do you think, Silver Spoon?” Sweetie Belle probes the rich girl with a slight edge of hope in her voice. “You've known Diamond Tiara and her mother the longest. Should we be concerned right now? Do you think her mother is the real reason she wants to kill herself?”

For ten seconds it does not seem like Silver is going to say anything, but then she announces as she focuses on the exit door, “I really doubt that these actions are based off of just one thing in her life. She probably contemplated and attempted suicide for all sorts of reasons which built and stacked on top of each other over time.”

Silver looks down to the corner with a look that has a hint of pain in it.

“Diamond doesn't like to talk about her mother too much. It took me years to finally notice that pattern. I used to think Spoiled was normal but, as I got older, I noticed how she was different from the other adults around me.”

While Silver's face remains directed cornerwise down, her eyes shift to look back at the exit door sharply.

“While hidden within a hedge maze near one of my homes, I overheard her mother yelling at her for small social slights.

“Whenever my parents disapprove of any of my behavior, they just calmly tell me that it is improper. In my life, it's as if my family considers it taboo to reveal any emotion whatsoever, but Diamond . . .

“I was still just a little kid at the time, and so was Diamond.

“For the very first time in my life, I found myself grateful that I have family members that don't show any emotion at all as opposed to the explosive roar that Spoiled gave to my friend.”

Silver looks down with a sigh.

“Only now is it occurring to me how much all those years of earlier abuse was destroying her from the inside. After all of that, it must have seemed as if any change had a strong possibility of being an improvement, and death is the ultimate change in life.”

Returning to the chair again beside the bed, Sweetie Belle presses her crossed arms into her belly. She doubles over a bit while looking very worried, then she asks, “Do you think she's going to yell at her right now for inviting us into her mansion?”

Silver Spoon sighs, looking reluctant to admit the truth, but she eventually says, “That is a very distinct possibility. Everything I have ever known about the woman suggests she has no tolerance for her daughter hanging out with 'low-lifes', as she calls you.”

“That's so mean of her!” Sweetie complains.

“It makes me angry!” Scootaloo growls as she smacks her left fist into her right open palm. “Now I just want to rush right up to her and punch her in her stupid little face!”

“That's Assault and Battery,” Silver warns Scootaloo seriously. “Trust me, Spoiled would have no qualms pressing charges against you to the fullest extent of the law, and there are plenty of cameras in this household to help her case against you.

“Normally she considers the lot of you beneath her notice, but if that changes, it won't be the good kind of attention. Not unless you suddenly become, and remain, far more wealthy than she is.

“Hypothetically, if that ever happens, then prepare to get your ass kissed over and over again instead.”

“Cameras . . . that's a good idea,” I declare as I peer sharply at the exit. “That's what we need right now. We should record proof that Spoiled is abusing her daughter. Armed with that evidence, Child Protective Services would leap at the opportunity to come to her defense by getting Diamond away from this monster!” I narrow my eyes at the exit. “I need to make sure that Diamond gets a restraining order against her own mother.”

I bite the tip of my thumb for a moment as even more vicious ideas swim through my head.

“It wouldn't stop there, either!” I realize aloud. “Spoiled Rich is President of the School Board! I bet that status would be difficult to maintain if everyone knew that Spoiled abuses her own child.

“Just look how fast everyone turned their backs on Sunny when similar evidence came up against her. Now I know for a fact that Sunny is innocent of her crimes in my heart, but this bitch would totally deserve everything she gets!”

“Filthy Rich might even divorce her if he found out that she has been abusing his daughter all along,” Sweetie Belle adds.

“What if he already knows and doesn't care?” Scootaloo checks with worry. “Worse, what if he's part of the problem?”

Sweetie Belle shook her head and said, “Nah-aw. I don't think so. Everything I have ever seen or heard about him says he's not that bad of a guy, although he can be a little greedy and money-grubbing at times.

“The worst thing about him is the fact he's too busy to hang around his daughter that much. I think that's also why he's so unaware of how his wife treats his daughter, but if that changes . . .” Sweetie Belle left that idea hanging on purpose.

“Then it's totally Divorce Town for Little Miss Bitchy!” Scootaloo concludes with evil satisfaction as she smacks her left fist into her right open palm again.

I grin at Scootaloo, secretly amused by how she put that.

“Better still, Diamond would be taken away from her mother,” Sweetie Belle reminds. “If Diamond gets away from the most destructive influence in her life, she might actually recover . . . eventually. It's hard to heal from an injury if it keeps getting damaged, however.”

“That all sounds well and good, but how exactly are we going to gain this video evidence?” Silver Spoon challenges us.

“Leave that to me,” I tell them as I bend down, scoop up my purse, then carry it to Diamond's computer workstation. From there, I turn on her machine. “Diamond Tiara gave me her network password earlier. I might be able to use it to get inside their system.”

At first Silver Spoon looks intrigued, but then doubt crosses her mind.

“Wait a second. She typed it up on your cellphone herself. You shouldn't know the password,” Silver corrects me. “Besides, even if you did have the password, it does not lead to her family's administrative account. You only got the guest password.”

“I've got a few tricks up my sleeve,” I admit, although I'm a bit loathe to reveal that. Revealing even that much is dangerous information because it tips them off that I could be a hacker, but I have to do this. This is important. This mission is one of the key cornerstones of my entire life's ambition.

“It's true that I only got the password to their guest account,” I agree. “That's not good enough to get access to their internal security system such as their cameras, for example.”

I pause for a moment as I observe I am blocked by another password on Diamond's computer. One of them leads to Diamond's own account, but I notice that another leads to Silver Spoon’s.

“Silver, come here,” I instruct her. “Type in your password and log into your own account on this computer. While you do that,” I reach for my cellphone and start fiddling with it, “I'll bring up another program on my phone.”

Now very intrigued, Silver Spoon approaches the computer, bends down, then types in the password. While she does that, she asks me, “What exactly are you up to? My account on this computer has just as many locks on it as the guest account on their Wi-Fi.”

“I don't actually need this computer per se,” I inform her. “It's just useful to me so I can upload the program I have on my cellphone, unless you all want to crowd around my tiny screen.”

“What are you getting at?” Scootaloo asks curiously behind me.

“Do you all remember how I uploaded a video of my mother recording me near the time I first learned to play the violin?”

“Yeah,” Sweetie confirms, then adds, “By the way, I still can't believe you only had two weeks of practice before that recording! You really are amazing!”

“Well . . . I'm basically going to do the same thing with this computer,” I tell them. “I will display and record the video footage that I will gather on this little puppy here.” I pull out of my purse something else I was reluctant to reveal, a tiny spherical object.

“What's that?” Scootaloo asks.

“A gift from my mother. I call it, ‘Eye in the Sky.'”

Using my cellphone, I activate the device. The sphere splits apart a bit which reveals a camera. The sphere also starts to float off my hand.

“Cool!” Scootaloo exclaims when she witnesses it. “What is it?”

“A drone,” I answer, “Unlike other drones, however, this one is not using spinning propellers to cause it to hover. Instead, it is using advanced magnetic technology. That is why this drone, unlike many others, is silent. Plus, with its tiny size, which is able to fit in the palm of my hand, it can be difficult to spot, too.”

“Oh man! You are so lucky to be adopted by Twilight Sparkle!” Sweetie says happily. “That gives you access to technology decades ahead of the rest of the world.”

“Dude! She should totally sell this stuff!” Scootaloo suggests enthusiastically. “The hover technology on this thing alone would be worth a fortune!”

“That's the plan,” I say as I reach down to open a window on the internet of Silver Spoon's guest account within Diamond’s computer. From there I log into my account which has a satellite link to my drone. After that, I bring up a video screen that displays everything the drone is seeing right now.

“There. Now you can all see what's on my cellphone,” I announce as I stand up straight. “Silver Spoon, quietly open the door.”

She does so.

I navigate my hover drone quietly out of the room. They all see what it sees on Diamond's computer.

“My mother may be the inventor, but I know how to market her products,” I tell them as I continue to pilot the drone using my cellphone. “I've already applied and established a patent on some of her inventions. Others are pending. When those are secure, I'll get to work putting her stuff out in the market.”

“You'll need an investor to help get you started,” Silver Spoon realizes, then eagerly announces, “I want in! Something this good could easily return ten times my initial investment.”

“Significantly more than ten times, according to my calculated projections,” I correct Silver. “You haven't seen the kinds of stuff my mother has come up with. Some of it is unlike anything in the world right now. It borders on magical.”

In fact, some of it is magical.

“Well then, I definitely want in!” Silver even more firmly declares. “You need our money to get these ideas off the ground, and you have something that surely would be a safe bet.”

“Let's discuss this later,” I tell her. “Rest assured that I am quite interested in your investment, but right now I'm trying to focus on saving your friend.”

“If you pull this off,” Silver begins as she looks at the computer screen which shows the drone continuing to fly through the hallways of the mansion, “I'll owe you a lot of favors for this act alone.”

“Me too!” Sweetie Belle agrees.

“Me three!” Scootaloo chimes in angrily. “For years I have despised Diamond because she was a bully, and I fuckin’ hate bullies, but I'm starting to realize who the real culprit might have been all along.”

That's a good point! What if it turns out that everything that I once despised about Little Miss Prissy was actually her mother's fault all along?

I have no trouble holding grudges. If it turns out that this woman also deserves to be on my enemies list, I will oblige.

That does leave my feelings about Diamond a little more complex, though.

I've got to admit, some things I've already learned about her tonight have given me a lot to think about. More and more, I can't help shake the feeling that Diamond is a little too relatable to me.

Eerily so.

“Okay, so we got video footage here,” Silver remarks. “That's not going to mean much in court without audio to back it up.”

“It's got audio when I enable it,” I tell them. “At least, this model does. Years ago, it used to lack this feature.”

In fact, this is the very drone I used to spy on Diamond Tiara on the playground five years ago when she was trying to defend her Student Council President seat but ultimately lost it to Pip. Back then, however, it did not have an audio microphone. Mother has been tinkering and upgrading the thing over the years.

Better still, it is a directional microphone. It is the kind that can pick up audio from a great distance away within a narrow field, but there is one catch to it. This drone can only pick up sound that the microphone is directly aiming at. It's deaf to everything else unless I adjust it to a cone setting but that, in turn, reduces its range.

That's going to make recording Diamond and her mother's conversation a little more tricky on my part because I can only aim the microphone at one of them at a time unless they are directly standing next to each other. I really doubt that will happen, so I'll need to be quick on my fingers to aim the microphone at whomever I think will be talking.

I request Silver's help to navigate my way to the study room. She happily obliges.

As she does so, I feel grateful that I have this resource, which prevents aimless wandering. Even now, I'm galled by the possibility I might be missing important bits to their conversation.

Not only that, but I have to hide the drone from other servants who pass in the hallways. I do this by shifting the drone to the upper corner of the ceiling and wait for them to pass. I aim my camera at each one as I watch them go around the corner, then aim the camera where I plan to go to make sure the coast is still clear. If it is, I advance the drone.

When my drone arrives at the destination, I am confronted by a new problem, a closed door.

Honestly, I had anticipated this, but I don't have much of a plan around this.

I attempt to spy the camera of my drone through the keyhole, but ultimately come up with nothing useful. Besides, the zoom mic won't pick up anything useful like that either.

I need a way to get through.

I attempt a bit of a bold plan by having the drone bump into the door three times which simulates a knock on the door.

“I'm here!” Diamond announces from within the room.

“Wait! That was Diamond!” Sweetie realizes as she squeezes my left shoulder. “We can hear them in there?”

“At short range, this thing can hear in a broad cone,” I tell the others. “But afar, it can only hear in a narrow beam.”

“If we can hear Diamond in there, then where is her mother's voice?” Silver wonders.

We stand in perplexed silence for three seconds, then I widen my eyes.

“She's not there yet!” I realize aloud.

I quickly shift the camera to scan both directions of the hallway. It's still clear for the moment, but I realize that is going to change soon.

I grin.

This is quite fortuitous. Not only does this mean I haven't missed any of the conversation yet, but it also means Spoiled will come and open the door for me.

I zoom the drone at the other end of the hallway towards the upper corner of the ceiling. From there I silently keep looking back and forth between both ends of the hallway.

“I get it!” Scootaloo says brightly. “If Spoiled isn't in the study room yet, then she will arrive shortly. My guess is you're going to wait for her to open the door for you then quickly zoom in before it shuts!”

I smile deviously as I say, “Now you're thinking like a strategist! Keep it up, Scootaloo, and it may improve your life.”

“Nah.” Scootaloo folds both of her hands behind her neck. “Strategy like this is for eggheads like you.

“Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against you guys. You especially. I think both you and your mother are really cool in an egghead sort of way, but there is no way I'm deluded enough to believe that I'll ever catch up to you guys.”

“That's a wise strategy,” I agree. “Don't reach for the impossible, but also don't give up reaching at all,” I encourage her while also being a touch condescending. “Just do the best you can. You'll achieve far more with effort rather than a lack of it.”

“She's got a point, Scootaloo,” Sweetie agrees. “Besides, you came up with some pretty brilliant ideas once in a while.”

“Not as often as you,” Scootaloo counters. “You're the brains and I'm the brawn. That's the deal.”

I notice, through the reflection of the computer monitor, that Sweetie Belle shrugs lightly behind me.

“I suppose that arrangement has worked out for us for the most part, so far,” Sweetie Belle admits before going on to say, “Applebloom has way more stamina than I do as well. You and her both remind me of Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack. Both of you are good at physical activities. Meanwhile I can't keep that up if I tried on that level, so I have to do something to keep up in my own way.

“You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize that I actually relate to Twilight more than my own sister Rarity, even though I really look up to her.

“My sister's passion for fashion has kind of rubbed off on me, but only insofar as being more self-conscious about what I'm wearing. Making the outfits, however, well . . . I'm not totally inept at it, but I can't do much more than basic crochet, even though my sister claims that crochet is, 'Knitting's poorer cousin', but I still love it! I used to be pretty bad at it too, if you recall, but in time I got pretty decent at-”

“Will you please be quiet!?” Silver Spoon complains to Sweetie Belle.

“Why? It's not as if anyone near the drone can hear us,” Sweetie points out.

“Yes, but you're being distracting,” Silver counters. “When Spoiled Rich comes, we may have only one shot at-”

“Ooo! There she is!” Scootaloo frantically and literally points out.

“I see her,” I acknowledge as I narrow my eyes in focused concentration on Spoiled’s approach.

I feel sharp tension in the room. My own heart starts beating fast as well. The risky moment is about to approach, and it might lead to important results whether I succeed or fail.

I realize, as I have my camera focused on Spoiled, that I haven't seen her often before. That feels like a major oversight on my part.

Spoiled is wearing a loose, sleeveless, purple blouse on her upper torso. For leggings, she is wearing form-hugging khaki pants. She is heavily decked in jewelry from necklaces, rings on each finger, earrings, diamond pins in her hair, diamond-encrusted wristwatch, and a purple jewel on her belt buckle.

In short, she is wearing anything it takes to remind others that she is rich and “important”.

Supporting that image, she is also extremely snooty to the point of being snide about it. She walks with her nose so far into the air that I'm surprised she didn't slam into the door due to her limited field of perception.

Furthermore, it actually looks like she used plastic surgery to make her nose even more pointy and upraised, kind of like a rhinoceros.

I shake my head in disbelief about this. It's as if this woman is trying to emulate a cartoon antagonist. Someone who is so obviously annoying and wicked that little kids would easily be able to tell.

Oddly, part of me feels a bit afraid of what I'm discovering. What if it turns out that this woman is the true embodiment of everything I once hated about her daughter Diamond?

I spent a good portion of my life loathing Diamond and preparing for my revenge. It's scary to think that I've been aiming at the wrong target all along. If so, so much of my life would suddenly lose its definition.

I didn't want to believe it, no matter how strong the evidence was. Hating Diamond Tiara is simply part of who I am. That should be my other cutie mark. Diamond's face in a circle and crossed out. Just call me the “Diamond Tiara Buster”.

“Come ooooooon!” Sweetie Belle says with a lot of tension in her voice. One of her hands continues to squeeze my shoulder hard.

I ignore it because I know my moment is about to come. I focus very hard while doing some quick mental calculations. I know what the maximum speed and acceleration of the drone is. I estimate that the other end of the hallway is fifteen feet across.

This is going to be close, but I can make it! I just have to gun it at the right moment.

The door is not locked, so Spoiled simply touches and turns the doorknob. I have my drone book it the moment she touches the doorknob. I quickly see the door seem to zoom up to the camera when the camera flies off to it. The crack at the upper end of the door barely opens for me as I have my drone fly right over Spoiled's hair.

I have the drone spin around to face Spoiled while the drone continues to float off backwards, carried by its own momentum.

Via the camera, we see Spoiled briefly pat her hair because she felt something whoosh by it. She pauses at the doorway as she wonders what caused it. We even see her lean back and check both ends of the hallway.

After a moment she shrugs, probably thinking it has something to do with the sudden change of air pressure when she opened the door combined with the air conditioning in the mansion. The change in air temperature from one room to another might have been the cause of the whoosh, in her likely estimation.

“YOU DID IT! YOU DID IT!” Sweetie Belle cries excitedly behind me. She literally hops up and down in excitement while patting my shoulders several times.

“Way to go!” Scootaloo cheers. “That was awesome!”

“Did Diamond notice?” Silver Spoon asks cautiously.

Realizing Silver Spoon has a good point, I turn the camera around in search of Diamond Tiara. I eventually locate her sitting across the room. A large number of bookshelves are behind her. She is sitting at the base of them while looking up at my drone with wide, startled eyes.

Seeing her notice my drone causes me a brief moment of panic, but then I remind myself that Diamond is the least threatening of the two.

“She did notice us?” Scootaloo gasps.

“Oh no!” Sweetie cries out fearfully.

“Calm down you two!” Silver commands. “Diamond is not the problem here. As long as she does not give away our position, we're good.”

“But Diamond doesn't know we sent the drone!” Sweetie points out fearfully.

“Relax,” Silver instructs. “Diamond is no dummy.”

Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and I all pass Silver a dry look simultaneously, each of us thinking about her recent attempt at suicide.

Silver waves us off. “Okay, point taken, but I also think she has other things on her mind right now. Besides, she knows who you live with.” Silver nods to me. “It should be enough for her to put two and two together.”

“Then Diamond is the only one in the room who knows she's being observed,” Scootaloo figures. “Is that going to change our plans?”

“Not much,” I respond, though I am a bit irked by this development. Diamond being aware of the observation might indeed modify her behavior.

Although, on second thought, this could turn to my advantage.

“Are you recording this?” Silver checks with me.

“I have ever since I spotted Spoiled coming down the hallway,” I answer.

“Just in case,” Silver leaves to retrieve her own phone off of Diamond's bed. With it, she returns and aims the outside of her phone towards the computer screen. I glance at her phone for a quick second. I notice that she is recording the image on Diamond's computer screen.

Good. That will give me a backup.

Mere seconds after that happens, Scootaloo and Sweetie decide that is a good idea. They leave to retrieve their own phones. Very soon all four of us are recording this conversation.

I have the camera linger on Diamond for a while until she seems to forcefully pull her gaze away from my drone. There is a tight look to her lips.

I inwardly sigh in a bit of relief. It appears that Silver Spoon did not misjudge her “friend”. It looks like Diamond will protect our secret . . . for now.

I redirect the camera to aim at Spoiled Rich.

She is opening a glass cabinet directly across from her daughter. Within it, there are many bottles full of liquor. She pours herself a cup in a bell-shaped glass on a stem. Her fingers clutch it from the bottom end after the cup is about eighty percent full. She lifts the glass up to her lips and sips the liquor.

Meanwhile nobody says anything. I double-check by aiming the camera, and therefore also the microphone, back and forth between Diamond and her mother. Neither is saying anything, but I calculate a seventy-eight percent chance that Spoiled will be the first to speak between them. I think that is their proper protocol.

Spoiled actually finishes her cup and she still doesn't say anything. I suspect she's waiting to build tension on purpose, and meanwhile might be preparing a speech in her head.

At the other end of the room, Diamond is waiting patiently but obviously very nervously. She keeps sparing very quick glances at my drone but she never has her attention linger on it.

For a moment I tried to imagine how I would feel in this same situation. It's hard to judge since I did not grow up with Spoiled like Diamond has, but my envy for Diamond's life is quickly draining as I behold this scary woman.

Spoiled pours herself another glass of some brownish liquor. She finally turns around to regard her daughter but still does not say anything. She just keeps giving Diamond the stink eye but otherwise holds her tongue, for now.

I have the drone look at and even zoom up to Diamond's face.

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo asks me nervously.

“Oh!” Sweetie Belle moans sadly. “Look at her face! Diamond is sweating nervously.”

“Do you blame her? I think I would be too with that woman,” Scootaloo said back. “Unless I pin her to the floor and keep smacking her back and forth.”

“Is she always like this?” Sweetie Belle asks aloud, probably at Silver.

Both Silver and I look back at Sweetie Belle. Silver is the first to ask, “Who are you talking to? Me?”

In response, Sweetie nods at Silver.

Silver looks back at the computer screen. I can see the glare of the computer screen reflect off Silver Spoon’s glasses.

“I never got that close with Spoiled Rich,” Silver Spoon admits while she twirls a finger in her white hair that hangs off her right shoulder. “Not that I complained about that. Everything I did learn about her told me to keep my distance from her. The few times I did spot her looking at me, I could just feel her harsh judgment over me. Sometimes I couldn't even figure out what I did wrong, making it feel like earning her ire was simply unavoidable.

“I could tell she had to bite her tongue on several occasions to avoid yelling at me. She looked like she had to remind herself that I was not her kid, and she was glad for that. Little did she realize that I felt the same way.

“If she ever complained to anyone about me, she only did it to my parents. She spoke over me as if I wasn't in the room, like I was beneath her notice.

“One time, while she was doing that right in front of me, I felt Diamond squeeze my right hand.

“I'll never forget it.

“I looked at her. She gazed back at me with a look of embarrassment and apology. I figured that she must have known how I felt because she suffered it all the time.”

“Man!” Scootaloo says while shaking her head and looking back at the computer screen. “The more I learn about her, the more I want to kick the shit out of her!”

“So . . . here we are again,” Spoiled Rich finally began. I quickly aim the drone at her so the mic can pick her up better. “How many times is it going to be, Diamond Tiara? How many times must I remind you to never hang out with confused, insignificant low-lifes?”

“What?!” Scootaloo exclaims in fury. “Why I oughtta-”

“Just shut up and listen!” Silver interrupts. “Focus on the scene. Remember, our phones are recording us too, except for Cozy's. Don't speak over Spoiled.”

Scootaloo bites her lips. She does look like she is going to cooperate, but she is trembling with rage.

“I just-” Diamond began for a moment, although faintly since my drone isn't aimed at her. I almost change that but her mother interrupts.

“DID I give you permission to speak?!” Spoiled barks harshly.

I aim my camera at Diamond as she meekly says, “No, mother.” I see (and record) her cringing painfully as if she was physically struck.

I aim the camera back at Spoiled.

“Know your place, you pathetic little urchin,” Spoiled commands.

I hear Sweetie start to whimper sadly behind me.

Spoiled Rich looks at and swirls her glass. She pauses again for ten seconds in silence, then shakes her head as she says, “I can't believe how much I have to put up with you. My daughter, of all people, hanging out with losers and wretches. How you make me sick!”

She flashes a focused, angry stare at her daughter.

“How many times are we going to have this conversation, Diamond Tiara? How many times will it take before I can get through to you? We don't associate with their kind. It is not how we move up in the world.

“Don't forget that, Diamond Tiara.”

In the next instant, all four of us jump, startled, when we see Spoiled chuck her glass across the room. I do my best to follow it, but I'm about a second and a half too late.

At the other end of the room, Diamond is cringing tightly. The glass apparently shattered near her position, but it did not strike Diamond directly. At most, some of the liquor splashed on Diamond's dress.

“EVER!” Spoiled Rich roars at her daughter so loudly that the camera easily picks that up despite not aiming directly at her.

Gods, even I am shaking!

This feels way too familiar, but I don't know why.

Another long pause of silence passes in the study room, broken first by Diamond.

“Permission to speak, mother?” Diamond requests meekly.

I aim the camera at Spoiled.

“Permission denied!” Spoiled says harshly. “I have no interest in whatever pathetic excuse you have for yourself. You're giving me a headache, Diamond Tiara! You're giving me wrinkles and making me old.”

Spoiled reaches up and massages her temples on her head by pressing her pointer fingers on each side and rubbing them in a circle.

“You're driving me to an early grave, you ungrateful little wench!” Spoiled goes on. “Do you know how many times I had to repair our family's damaged reputation because of you? Do you want to know how many times I had to excuse your sorry behavior? Every single thing you DO,” she slams the counter behind her, “affects our reputation. The others look at me with disgust because they know I can't even reign in my own daughter’s behavior. If I can't do that, then why should they trust our family business either?

“Everything you do, or don't do, affects us, Diamond! Do you even care that the others look down upon us for your bad behavior? Are you actually TRYING to send us to the poor house?”

I almost steer the camera back at Diamond until I witness her mother quickly walk across the room. I aim the camera back at her as she crosses the room. She stands in front of her tightly cringing daughter then reaches a hand down to box Diamond Tiara's ears. Diamond yelps, “Ow-ow-OW!” as her mother pulls her up by the ears painfully.

“I can't stand the sight of you!” Spoiled yells. “Just look at you! Sleeping in the company of the enemy! You do know that is Cozy Glow up there? Do you realize how much money she cost our family during your failed election? Do you know how much face she cost us in the eyes of our peers?”

“YOU'RE HURTING ME!” Diamond wails painfully.

“GOOD!” Spoiled screams back. “That is what you GET for being a pathetic loser!

“I have half a mind to disown you for good, Diamond Tiara!”

Diamond flashes her mother a pained but also angry look.

“Change my mind, Diamond Tiara!” Spoiled dares as she yanks her daughter back and forth by her boxed ears.

I am shaking harder, but I manage to zoom the camera up closer to this abuse. I am really starting to lose it when I notice blood start to drip down the hand that is boxing Diamond Tiara's ear very hard.

“That's IT!” Scootaloo cries out. “I can't stand this any longer! I have to go rescue her!”

“NO! Stay here!” Silver says as she reaches to grasp Scootaloo's left arm as the angry girl is about to pull away and leave.

“What are you doing?! Let go of me!” Scootaloo demands.

“You don't understand, mother!” Diamond wails desperately. “I need them! They saved my life! They are my friends!”

In response, Spoiled Rich slaps her daughter so hard that Diamond Tiara crashes to the floor in a heap. She might have even lost consciousness for a brief moment.

My mind breaks.

Instantly I feel so much pressure in my skull that everything else gets muffled except for an intense ringing in my ear. My vision starts to blackout. I grow dizzy. I don't feel my phone in my hands anymore. It likely dropped.

I wave unsteadily as I start to fall backwards in super slow motion.

I kind of hear the startled scream of some of the other girls, most notably Sweetie Belle, as I start to fall backwards.

But this scene gets wiped away and replaced with, of all things, a flash of red and blue intermittent lights on my face.

Police lights.

I am drowning in darkness. I feel its pressure all around me. From within that darkness I hear angry screams and shouts from those who sound vaguely familiar but also unlike anyone I ever heard before. Whoever they are, they clearly really hate each other.

“I'm ready to get down now,” a very young sounding version of me cries out in the darkness. She sounds approximately nine years old. Maybe younger. “Please let me down! I'll be a good girl! I promise! I won't be scared anymore. Just please . . . somebody help me!”

The angry shouts rise in the darkness again. They swirl around me in a cacophony. The words themselves are unintelligible, but the emotion is very clear!

HATE! Pure, unbridled, passionate loathing! It swirls around me. It starts to penetrate within me, becoming a part of me.

“Let me down! Let me down! Let me down! Let me down!” the young voice repeats in my mind over and over again.

I shrivel in this darkness. Within it, I feel like a little kid again. Lost. Crushed. Feeling unwanted and unloved.

And . . . something else. Something menacing. Something . . .

. . . EVIL!

Light spills onto my face, momentarily blinding me. The light is coming from a door that just opened, and a figure is standing there. It is a tall male figure of some kind. He's leaning against the door frame. He's apparently too drunk to stand up straight at that moment.

As if to confirm that theory, a bottle falls from his hands and spills onto the floor.

I don't know who this is, and yet this monster feels very familiar to me.

Whoever he is, I know he is here to hurt me. Hurt me in ways that also really confuse me.

He stumbles into the dark room I am in. I'm trying to hide in the shadows, but he's coming right for me.

As he moves away from the light beyond the door, his menacing shadow stretches across the floor towards me. Shadowy, claw-like hands reach towards my frightened and vulnerable self.

But, along the way towards me, the shadow morphs and twists, gaining a life of its own. It even crawls up from the floor, becoming a 3D shape in its own right, although it continues to be as black as shadow.

The sole exception to this is menacing eyes that open in that inky black cloud. They glow in the dark! They see in the dark! They pierce me, gazing menacingly into and through my very soul.

The eyes almost look like sideways slits, much like a reptile. The irises themselves are red which stands out well against a sickly green glowing background. Two dark purple wisps of smoke follow after the eyes like a pair of ribbons floating in water.

The black cloud hovers inches in front of my face as I cringe back as much as my body will allow me. I witness, in horror, as a gaping maw opens up in that black cloud. It appears to salivate. Saliva drips down two long fangs.

“Gooooood! I can taste your fear! Your hatred! Your loathing! It is . . . delicious!” the menacing creature before me says as he almost purrs in pleasure. The voice spoke as if from a whisper, and it sounded like multiple voices speaking in complete unison.

“Who . . . who are you?” I ask in a very young sounding, meek voice.

“Oh, you'll know that very well.” He gives a dark snicker. “In due time. For now, just know that I am your KING! Your master!”

Black crystal suddenly shoots out of the ground and slams into my chest, knocking the wind out of me. I can feel myself hyperventilate, or at least I am trying, but air refuses to squeeze in my crushed stomach.

“HATE me!” the dark entity commanded. “Fear me. Love me. Serve me. Make yourself more mine every . . . single . . . DAY!”

I want to ask this entity what he wants from me, but I can't speak. I can't breathe!

A black wispy tendril drifts up and brushes lightly across my throat. I am deathly afraid he's about to slice it open. I sense the temptation, but he restrains it.

“Open your mouth!” the inky dark demon commands me.

For a brief moment I shut my mouth even tighter, but then I realize I feel too afraid of him to refuse to cooperate. If I don't obey, he might hurt me even more!

So, reluctantly, I slowly open my mouth, eventually doing so widely.

“Yeeeeeeeeesssssss! That's it! Good! What a good little sssslave you are!

“Now,” a reddish horn grew above his floating, glowing eyes in the dark. “be sure to swallow it all!”

Then, without warning, he quickly stabs his horn into my mouth.

I close my eyes and scream! My scream echoes in the dark.