Chapter 4

     The Tiara's spent the night in their old lakeside property. They hadn't visited it in almost ten years since Diamond Tiara was terrified of water. She was always so afraid of getting her mane wet that she never learned to swim.

     The property had nothing more than a small wooden shack on a pile of rocks. Whatever these letters were saying, it must have been really important for the Tiara's to trade in their pleasant life in the suburbs for this, even if it was only temporary.

     There was a bed on the top floor big enough for both Mr and Mrs Tiara. Diamond Tiara got to sleep on the couch. She kept complaining about it being cold, so she got Fluttershy's blankets in addition to her own. This left Fluttershy to sleep on the ground with nothing.

     Fluttershy lay on the dusty wood floor, shivering as she watched the rain outside pound on the cracked glass windows.

On Diamond Tiara's left hoof was an old digital watch. Fluttershy stared at it.

11:59PM...

     Fluttershy realized it. It was her birthday in one minute. The Tiara's had forgotten almost every single year, but Fluttershy had never forgotten it.

     So there she was, shivering on the icy cold floor, without so much as a blanket to comfort her. She was cold and alone.

A tear rolled down Fluttershy's cheek, and Diamond Tiara's watch began beeping to show that it had turned to Midnight.

     "Helloooo!" Shouted a sing song voice from outside. "I said Helloooo!"

The Tiara's were all awakened by the intruder. Mr. Tiara started walking down the stairs with a baseball bat in his left hoof. Mrs Tiara was hiding behind him for protection.

     The door opened and closed again.

"Hello," Said a pony with a white coat and a curly violet mane. "I'm Rarity. You probably already know that from the letters."

"I command that you leave at once!" Mr Tiara cried. "You are breaking and entering!"

     Mr Tiara gripped the baseball bat in his hoofs.

Rarity walked towards Mr Tiara. Her horn was glowing, a sure sign that a unicorn was about to do something with her magic.

"Dry up Tiara, you great prune!"

     The baseball bat changed to a bright cyan, then grew limp and soft. Before he knew it, Mr Tiara was holding a long piece of fabric instead of a weapon.

Rarity set down the purple umbrella she had been using and walked towards Diamond Tiara.

     "Oh my!" She said, "It's worse than I thought. We need to get you a makeover pronto Fluttershy!"

Diamond Tiara looked annoyed. "I'm not Fluttershy. And what do you mean I need a makeover!?"

    Trembling, Fluttershy stepped forward. "I'm F-Fluttershy."

"Oh good," Rarity said. "And I gotta say, I love the natural look. What's your secret?"

"Er," Fluttershy stuttered, "Shampoo?"

"Well, you can tell me all about it on the train."

"Train?" Fluttershy glanced back at the Tiara's nervously.

    "And I almost forgot," Rarity said, "Happy Birthday! It's not every day that a young filly turns eleven."

Rarity held out a box with a ribbon on it.

     Inside was a diamond necklace with a green emerald in the center. The rest of it was made of silver.

"T-thank you!" Fluttershy said. She had never had a necklace, or any sort of jewelry for herself.

"Now, let's get going!"

"You can't take her!" Mr Tiara shouted.

"Take me where?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity was shocked. "To Hogwarts! Where else?"

"Hogwarts?" Fluttershy replied.

Rarity let out a sigh. She held out a letter with her right hoof.

     Fluttershy recognized the red wax stamp and the green ink address. It was the very same letter that she had been receiving for weeks. Now it was in her hoofs, and there was nothing the Tiara's could do to stop her from reading it.

She tore open the envelope and pulled out a thick piece of parchment.

Dear Miss Fluttershy,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School for Talented Ponies.

"Why me?" Fluttershy asked.

"Because you're special!" Rarity replied. "Haven't you ever wondered what that mark on your flank is?"

Fluttershy glanced back at the pink and cyan butterflies on her flank. Then she noticed Rarity's rear. She had what looked like three blue diamonds on her flank as well. 

    "You are too?" Fluttershy asked.

Rarity nodded.

     "She won't be going!" Mr Tiara shouted. "We swore when we took her in we'd put a stop to all this rubbish!"

Fluttershy gasped. "You knew all along?"

    "Of course," Mrs Tiara said. "My perfect little brother being who he was. My parents were so proud. I was the only one who saw him for the freak he was. Then he ran off with that Starlight girl, and we knew you'd be the same. Just as strange, and abnormal. Then they went and got themselves blown up, and we got landed with you!"

"Blown up?!" Fluttershy shrieked. "You said they died in a car crash!"

"A car crash?" Rarity was appalled. "A car crash killed Starlight and Caramel? That's an outrage! That's a scandal!"

"She won't be going!" Mr Tiara insisted.

"Oh yes she will!" Rarity shouted. "This girl has had her name down since before she was born! She will attend Hogwarts School for Special Ponies, and she will do so under the finest headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen. Professor Celestia!"

     "I won't pay to have some crackpot old mare teach her gibberish!" Mr Tiara scoffed.

The room went silent. Rarity approached Mr Tiara and faced him nose to nose. Her horn began glowing.

"Never insult Professor Celestia in front of me."

     Mr Tiara swallowed nervously. He knew he had made a mistake insulting this mare. Even though he was at least 6 inches taller than Rarity, he was shaking with fear as she stared him down.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of jewelry clanging together. Rarity looked and saw Diamond Tiara removing Fluttershy's necklace from the box.

     Rarity directed her horn at Diamond Tiara, and watched as her violet hair changed colors.

"Green hair!?" Diamond Tiara screamed.

Mrs Tiara screeched in horror.

     "My baby!" She cried, as she ran over to feel Diamond Tiara's newly acquired green hair.

Mr Tiara's face turned bright red.

"What have you done to my daughter!" He yelled.

"Let's go," Rarity said, "Unless you'd rather stay."

     Fluttershy looked back at the Tiara's. Mrs Tiara was frantically trying to brush away the green in Diamond Tiara's hair, and Mr Tiara looked like he might have a heart attack.

     Without hesitation, Fluttershy walked out the door with Rarity.