“Well lookie what we got here. I guess it must be darn tiresome being her, now that she’s all special and such.”

Sweetie Belle’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Apple Bloom’s bitter voice. She sat up in her desk, unsure of where she was or how she had gotten there. Right away she tried to think about what had happened to her, only to come up with nothing. Time felt like it had gone missing, and even though she could see she was in the schoolhouse sitting in her desk, she couldn’t recall when she had gotten there, or how long she had been there.

Was I having a nightmare all this time?

“Come on, AB. We have more important things to do than waste our time with her.”

To her side, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom gave Sweetie Belle glares that they normally only reserved for Diamond Tiara. To see them aimed at her snapped her attention to the here and now very quickly.

“Guys? What’s going on? Was I sleeping in class?”

Apple Bloom sniffed and tossed her head up in an overly dramatic act of snubbing. Scootaloo chose to be a little more straight forward with her feelings.

“Did you hear something, AB? I could have sworn I heard a traitor nearby.” Scootaloo’s words were as sharp as the edge of a knife, and were practically dripping with venom as she glared straight at a confused Sweetie Belle.

“I reckon I heard sumthing, but best we ignore it, Scoots. We don’t associate ourselves with those kinds of ponies.”

Scootaloo’s eyes, which often shone as bright as her smile and sweet as her laughter, held an uncharacteristic coldness in them that made Sweetie feel afraid. She never knew Scootaloo could even look so disgusted at anyone, least of all at her. The past concerns about having had a terrible dream she couldn’t remember were replaced with the sudden and scary reality before her as she saw her friends starts to walk away from her.

Sweetie Belle pushed away from her desk, knocking her chair back as she ran up in front of her two friends and blocked their way out, much to their annoyance.

“Guys, what’s going on? Why are you saying those things to me? I don’t remember... I don’t remember even coming to school today.” Sweetie couldn’t remember anything about the day before. She had a feeling she had been planning to do something with Rarity, but the details were fuzzy. She didn’t understand why she was still in school when all the students and Cheerilee were gone already.

“Move, traitor.” Scootaloo growled, her small wings snapping out behind her to make herself look bigger than she really was. “Don’t try and play dumb with us.”

Sweetie Belle felt the tears coming despite her confusion, but she held them back, refusing to move and lose any explanations for what was happening.

“Why are you calling me that?! I’m... I’m not a traitor. I haven’t done anything to betray you guys. I would never do anything like that. You’re my best friends!”

Both Scootaloo and Apple Bloom looked unmoved at their scared and confused former friend, but it was Apple Bloom who raised an accusing hoof at Sweetie Belle.

“Oh yeah? How’d ya explain that there then?”

Sweetie Belle looked behind her, seeing only the open door to the outside cast in a golden glow. The sun was setting and not a single pony could be seen outside in the vast, empty, silent world.

“Oh please, are you that stupid?” Scootaloo sounded utterly annoyed, slapping her hoof to her own face at Sweetie Belle’s lack of understanding. “She means your flank.Your cutie mark.”

Sweetie Belle gasped, her head turning quickly to check out her own flank as excitement suddenly made her forget that her friends seemed to hate her. And they were right, she had gotten her cutie mark... one Sweetie Belle didn’t recognize.

The mark itself was strange, patternless, and hard to make out despite how closely she was looking at it. The cutie mark looked like nothing at all, and the excitement she had felt froze inside her. She had a cutie mark at least, but it was a shapeless mass of dull colors that she couldn’t understand.

“Wha-what is it?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“It’s the mark of a traitor!” Scootaloo yelled.

“And a dirty liar too! Ya said we’d all get our cutie marks together, yet here ya go and find yurself a cutie mark all on yur own without us! And ya ain’t even telling us how ya done did it!” Apple Bloom sounded just as angry as Scootaloo, tripping over her own words and letting out more of her southern accent than she normally did. Sweetie Belle was shaken from the sight of the hurt and jealousy in the eyes of her friends.

“But... but...” Sweetie Belle’s tears started sliding down her furry cheeks. She struggled between trying to understand what her strange cutie mark was and the sudden realization that her supposedly best friends now hated her for having one. “I swear... I didn’t even know I had a cutie mark until just now! I can’t even make out what is it.”

“Of course you can’t. If you told us what your cutie mark was, then it means we could try and do what you did too and finally get our cutie marks. You’re just keeping it all a big secret.” Scootaloo was practically in Sweetie’s face as she made those accusations. The unicorn had never seen her friend so angry before, and when she looked at Apple Bloom for help, she saw the yellow filly wipe her eyes roughly, trying not to cry.

“But... you guys know me. I would never do that to you. You’re my friends... my best friends...”

“Then tell us how you got your cutie mark!” Scootaloo shouted in Sweetie’s face, and the little unicorn gasped in fright and backed away, sniffing loudly and sinking to the floor.

“I don’t know... I’m not lying... please believe me! I don’t know what my cutie mark is or ho-”

Sweetie didn’t get to finish. From her side, Apple Bloom had shoved her with her hooves, knocking Sweetie Belle against a desk and tipping it over as she fell back with a cry of pain and a loud crash of furniture.

“I won’t have anymore of yur lies! What kind of pony don’t know her own cutie mark! Ya really think so little of us that we’d buy a cock and bull story like that?” Apple Bloom yelled in outrage.

“I really thought we were friends, Sweetie Belle. We all want our cutie marks more than anything, but I guess you wanted it more than we did. I hope it’s everything you wished it would be.” Scootaloo turned away, eyes shutting tight to stop the tears from flowing.

Sweetie Belle sobbed quietly, huddling up on her side. She was too confused to know what to say to her friends, and too afraid to even look at them anymore.

Without another word, she listened as they walked away from her and out of her life. She wanted to call out to them and beg them to forgive her, to trust her in saying that she didn’t know what her cutie mark was or how she had gotten it, but the words never came.

The sun was setting outside and the shadows of the empty classroom grew large enough to blanket the crying filly.

I’m sorry... I never meant to betray you guys. Please come back. Don’t leave me. We’re suppose to be crusaders... we’re suppose to be friends.

It was hopeless. In her heart, she knew they weren’t coming back. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had shown themselves to be so bitter with envy that they now hated her. It had been clear in the cold, distant way Apple Bloom had spoken to her, and it had been crystal clear in the outrage that had been in Scootaloo’s face and voice. Her so-called-friends wanted nothing to do with her anymore.

When she felt like she had cried all the tears her little body could hold, Sweetie Belle got up slowly. She sniffled loudly as her sobbing turned into hiccups.

She took another look at her cutie mark, still unable to recognize the image. There was no shape or pattern to it, no shade of color she recognized, nothing at all that she could understand. Yet it was there, the symbol of everything she had worked so hard with her friends to achieve. Now, ironically, she found herself wishing she were a blank flank again.

What kind of friends were they, if they just... turned on me like that?

They weren’t, Sweetie realized suddenly. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hadn’t really been her friends all along. They had worked with her to get their cutie marks and some free capes, but that was it. She could see that now, obvious as the starless night sky. Real friends would have never acted that way towards her. She always thought they would be happier than anyone else, happier than even she would be, when she finally discovered what her special talent was.

“You guys... you’re the real traitors.” Sweetie Belle roughly wiped her nose with her hoof, and in a moment of frustration, she bucked the nearest desk and broke one of its legs.

“Traitors! Traitors!” Sweetie Belle screeched to the open doorway. Her hot, wet eyes glowing a dim red as her angry replaced love in her broken heart.

I don’t need friends like them... I don’t need dumb blank flanks for friends.

Sweetie Belle’s eyes began to brighten a deep and sickly green as her young heart began to hardened.

“Momma! Momma!”

Diamond Tiara blinked and turned around. She was standing in the main hallway of her home, the white and gold-veined marble floor polished to a shine that came from the light of a setting sun outside, let in through floor-to-ceiling windows that led into a lush courtyard of flowers.

She looked around, unsure how long she had been standing at the entrance to her home, or why she had been standing there at all. She felt like she had been spacing out for hours, and couldn’t remember her plans for the day. She had a feeling she was supposed to have gone out shopping, or have gone to meet somepony, but she couldn’t think of why or who. It felt like she had lost a lot of time, and had forgotten something important that had already happened.

In the main hallway of her home, a grand stairway with gold hoofrails stood in front of her, the steps layered in a thick, red carpet. A crystal chandelier glittered above her, breaking the sunlight into specks of color on the walls. Diamond Tiara felt like she was taking it all in for the very first time.

“Momma!”

Her attention went to the top of the stairway, where a small pink filly ran excitedly by, pushing through one of the doors into the west wing of her mansion; the wing where her father had his private bedroom and study, among half a dozen other rooms for his private use.

The voice of the filly sounded strange yet familiar all at once.

Momma? Who is that filly? What is she doing in my home?

Diamond Tiara rushed up the stairs, her hooves never making a sound as she hurried up to the top and through the doors that she had seen the filly run though. She thought it was a cousin of hers that was visiting, but she didn’t think any family of hers would visit; they hadn’t visited her and her father in years.

“Momma, look! Look what grandpa got me!”

Diamond Tiara stopped once she entered the room. There was supposed to be another hallway, but instead she found herself in an old bedroom that was not supposed to be used anymore. The doors shut behind her, but it didn’t matter; Diamond Tiara’s full attention was on a much younger version of herself, standing eagerly in front a lazy, laid out pony.

“See, momma? This is Crown Jewel! She’s the princess of the Frozen North. Grandpa Stinky got me three dolls for helping him plant lav...lavad...lavender outside!”

The younger Diamond Tiara gave a huge grin to her distant mother. She felt proud to have pronounced the hard, three syllable word, and prouder still to hold up three different style plush pony dolls of the same character.

I remember this. That’s me... years ago.

The younger Diamond Tiara’s mane was shorter, and not topped with her trademark tiara; she wouldn’t get that for several more years. Her flank was noticeably bare as well. To see her old self again, Diamond Tiara had trouble believing she had ever been so... stupid, as a foal.

The pony the younger Diamond Tiara called ‘momma’ didn’t appear to give a damn about what the little filly was showing her.

Ruby Slipper had never been interested in her daughter, as far as Diamond Tiara could remember. She never yelled or even raised a hoof to Diamond, but not once could the older filly recall her mother ever really looking at her either. When she spoke, it with was with a voice that was refined and sweet as a robin’s song, but also far away. She had a coat of the softest shade of pink Diamond had ever seen, but it was contrasted by a mane and tail of bright vivid red. Her mother wore her mane down, loose and full of waves. She couldn’t remember what that mane smelled like. Her tail was a single thick braid with a white silk ribbon braided into it. On her hooves she wore glittery red horseshoes that sparkled in the sunlight.

From out of her wild red mane, a soft pink horn pointed out, polished to a fine shine. It glowed in a purple aura that matched Ruby’s eyes. The magic aura was doing what the present Diamond Tiara always seemed to remember it doing; holding up yet another drink, no doubt her third appletini.

“That’s nice.” Ruby said after giving the dolls a quick glance. She didn’t seem to notice Diamond Tiara’s bright smile start to dim. “Go... play outside with your toys, or something. I have something important I need to think about.”

She’s leaving me and daddy... this is the last time I’ll see her.

The real Diamond Tiara felt herself rooted in place, her legs not moving as she watched her past self lean in closer to her mother.

“Can we play outside momma?”

“I don’t want to get dirty.” Ruby waved her shiny hoof dismissively at her daughter.

“We can play inside and you won’t get dirty.”

“I’m busy.”

“What about after your you’re not busy?”

“No.”

Diamond Tiara ground her teeth together, forced to watch the proud smile on her little face shrink into a small pout as her younger self took up her dolls in her hooves and put them back into her saddle. She heard herself sniffle, watched as she turned around to leave, and felt the outburst coming, even though it had happened years ago.

“I hate you,” both the past and present Diamond Tiara whispered. Even years later, the words felt true to Diamond.

She remembered saying that with a little fear in her heart. What she didn’t remember was the look Ruby Slipper gave her. Not a mean look, not the look of an angry or hurt parent. Ruby Slipper seemed only mildly surprised as she watched the back of her little filly walk away, hurt and dejected once again.

“Hmm, it doesn’t matter,” she said softly, with a hint of wonder in her voice.

Diamond Tiara had had enough. She pushed her way through the doors behind her, trotting quickly out of the room and back into the hallway. The windows showed the sun had set and night had settled in the world, and once Diamond Tiara was through the doors, they closed on her again, fading into the wall this time. She was at the opposite end of the hallway from where she had entered it. It was dimly lit, and down the way she could see her little self peeking through a golden crack in a door, a door which led into her father’s private study room.

This has to be a dream, right? I’m just having a bad dream.

She knew she should have felt worried, even afraid, but those emotions never came as she saw the worried looked on her younger self’s face as she clutched one of her Crown Jewel dolls to her chest and listened in on a conversation she was never supposed to have heard.

“When did she leave?” Filthy Rich’s voice growled from inside the room. The present Diamond Tiara sniffled, biting her bottom lip as she walked silently to her younger self, sitting behind her as she looked through the crack in the door, already knowing what she would see.

“It happened after we dropped Diamond Tiara off at kindergarten. The servants said she came into the house, grabbed an already packed set of suitcases, and left without saying a word.”

Grandpa Stinky...

Diamond Tiara felt the heat in her eyes suddenly rise at the sight of her grandfather, Stinkin Rich. He looked old to her now, but she remembered him looking older still. His mane had turned grey all over, and he had grown a short beard that she remembered would scratch her whenever he would kiss her cheeks. She could recall all the attention he used to give her, the pride and joy in his eyes whenever she would enter the room, more than her own father had in fact.

Hearing his voice again, years after she and her father had lost him, made her cover her mouth with her hoof to hold back a small sob. She had forgotten how badly she missed having him in her life.

“There’s some more bad news, son. She cleaned out her bank account. Luckily she didn’t touch the joint accounts, just the ones in her name only. I won’t go into the number of bits she took with her, but I’m sure you already know how much she most likely has now, and how much of that was tied into Barnyard Bargains.”

“I don’t care about the sun damned damn bits,” her father growled, drinking down a small glass of something dark and most likely strong, “I can make up the bits, sell some of the land we owe if I have to. I want to know who she left with.”

Diamond wanted to know too. This had been years ago and the memories had been fuzzy then, but this was a second chance for the truth.

“What good is that going to do you? She’s gone, and she’s not coming back. You weren’t even happy with her, Filthy. This is a blessing in disguise.”

“It was supposed to be on my terms damn it!” Diamond watched as Filthy Rich’s hoof was trembling from rage, spilling a generous amount of precious whiskey around the shot glass he was aiming for. “She’s humiliated me, and I won’t know a day of peace unless I know just who that ungrateful horse left me for. I deserve to know.”

Through the crack in the doorway, Diamond Tiara could see her grandfather look conflicted, and so much older than she remembered. Her slouched in his chair, watching his only son drink like a fish.

“The carriage driver.”

Filthy Rich laughed without a bit of humor.

Diamond Tiara tried to remember who that driver was, but no face came to mind. Being older, she completely understood the insult her father must have felt. She looked down to her younger self, who seemed only confused. Her front leg reached out to hug the small filly, but stopped short, deciding against that idea.

“The servants said they saw her enter the family carriage. She spoke some words with the driver and then they took off. The driver hasn’t been back since.”

Filthy Rich stayed quiet for a few seconds, just before he threw his shot glass at the wall.

“This is horse shit!” he shouted, and Diamond Tiara could feel her younger self flinch at her father’s raised voice. She flinched as well.

“The driver? The driver?! I’m better than him in every way! I could have given her anything she wanted: bits, gems, airships, summer homes, winter homes. And what will this driver give her? Huh? How is he supposed to meet her high standards? This is a joke!”

Stinkin Rich was already out of his chair and holding his son, just as Filthy started to break down in his father’s arms.

“What am I going to tell my daughter? What do I say when she asks where her mother has gone?”

“We’ll... think of something.” Stinkin said softly, his old face heavy with grief and heartbreak for his son.

“I don’t understand, dad... I’m better than him. I’m better than him!”

Diamond Tiara wasn’t aware that she had been crying until she felt the tears fall onto her hoof. She looked down to see that her younger self was gone.

Raising her head, she saw that the room had suddenly changed around her. She was in her own room, all her familiar things displayed around her. The windows were tightly shut, but there was still enough light to see her younger self sitting in her elevated bed, looking curiously at the real Diamond Tiara, like she had been waiting for her.

“This... none of this is real is it?” Diamond Tiara asked softly as she wiped her eyes with a hoof.

“It comes from your heart. It’s real.”

It wasn’t her voice. The tone was deep and seemed to come from all around Diamond Tiara, vibrating on her bones and in her brain. The small filly on the bed had a calm curiosity in her unnatural eyes.

“Am I... dead? Am I seeing my life flash before my eyes or something?”

Her younger self chuckled, and Diamond Tiara noticed how the eyes of the little filly weren’t just unnatural, they were simply wrong. They had begun to glow green as hemlock leaves, smoking a sickly, poisonous purple at their corners. In the middle of that poisonous glow, the center of the little filly’s eyes held red-orange pinpricks of light.

“You saw what makes you strong.”

Diamond Tiara wanted to take a step back, but she stood her ground. She had a feeling she couldn’t get away from this, and the surreal aspect of seeing and talking to herself made her want to stay.

“Why?”

The filly took a deep breath, as if giving her response some thought.

“To judge you.”

The filly Diamond Tiara stepped off the bed, her pink coat getting darker and her wavy mane slithering around her head, growing and reaching out behind her as the filly’s body grew longer, taller, and thicker.

“Who are you?” Diamond Tiara asked, feeling, strangely enough, unafraid. Even as she saw her young body grow and change from mare to colt, from familiar to terrible, she felt only a strange excitement fill her body.

Diamond Tiara was experiencing something she couldn’t understand logically, but she could feel it as she watched the pony’s shape take its final form. Every strand of fur on her body felt it; she was seeing something that older and more educated ponies would define as sublime.

“I am King Sombra.” The dark stallion growled, smiling with a unsettling grin full of teeth, as he towered over Diamond Tiara. His glowing horn was large and curved in a way that Diamond Tiara had never seen on a unicorn before. Unlike a normal unicorn, he had fangs that could intimidate a timber wolf.

“And you, my dear Diamond, have been judged worthy.” His voice was like thunder in the heavens and the roaring of the earth during a quake. His voice commanded absolute attention. He spoke to Diamond the way she imaged a god would speak. To her credit, she had enough presence of mind to still ask a question.

“Worthy of what?”

“Worthy... of my love. You, my dear, respond to hurt by causing hurt back. Paying pain with pain. Weaker ponies would surrender to their broken hearts, but you break hearts instead, and grow stronger for it. I could use a strong pony such as yourself.”

Diamond Tiara trembled as King Sombra spoke to her. She hadn’t yet realized that she was panting. Her vision was taken up by the intimidating presence of Sombra, feeling his power all around her. His words made her feel good inside, like she was more powerful than she understood. Powerful enough to be noticed by a king.

“You can be pretty and rich and important without hurting other pony’s feelings”

Diamond Tiara hesitated. She couldn’t recall when she had heard those words, but she remembered them, and the pony that had said them to her.

“I don’t know...” she said softly and truthfully. She didn’t know if she wanted to really be the kind of pony that grew stronger from hurting others, but she also didn’t know if she believed other ponies feelings were as important as her own. If she didn’t think of herself, who would?

King Sombra seemed only amused by her hesitation.

“Isn’t this your chance?”

The new voice struck Diamond Tiara’s ears like a whip, despite how slack and lazy the voice sounded. It was enough to make her forget the awe she felt from speaking with King Sombra and turn around. The bored expression of Ruby Slipper greeted her.

“You’ve always been such a boring pony. I wish you had been born a unicorn instead of a common dirt pony. For all your big talk about how much better you are than anypony else, it’s still just words, and words can’t make you special. This is your chance to put some action behind those words.”

The voice was exactly like she remembered it to be, but still sounded different now that she was older.

“You’re not really my mother, but you annoy me as much as she used to.”

“I hear the past tense in that sentence, which would make one think you weren’t annoyed anymore. But that isn’t true is it? The truth is, you see me all the time, even though I am not physically around anymore. It gnaws on you; I can see it in your eyes. Never knowing if I’m off having more fun than you, or if I’m happier without you in my life. The latter is most likely true. I mean, I wasn’t all that happy with you around before.”

Diamond Tiara growled, her nostrils flaring as she stamped her hoof in anger. “I don’t need to listen to you! And I don’t need you. My life is better without you ignoring me. I didn’t lose anything after you left, and I am happier without you in my life.”

She turned to King Sombra, who watched the exchange with unreadable eyes. “Why am I seeing her? You said I was judged worthy.”

“Indulge me.”

Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure how to do that, but she turned back to the image of her mother, looking bored as ever, and felt her heart harden.

“I don’t need a pony like you. My dad doesn’t need a pony like you either. No one needs you, and that is why I’ll always be better than you. It’s better to not need a pony than to not be wanted by anypony. Now go away. I hated you then, and I hate you now!”

Diamond Tiara stomped her hooves down once again, and this time a crack in the floor was made from the impact. The fissure shook the room around her, opening the floor up as the crack spread, snaking its way to Ruby Slipper, who tried to avoid the fissure but missed her footing, falling into the dark recesses of the fissure with an echoing scream.

She didn’t feel the least bit sorry for the mare that she had called mother.

“That is why you are worthy,” King Sombra spoke with all the softness of a tiger’s growl as he wrapped a front leg around the empowered filly, “Serve me. Pledge loyalty to your king. I welcome the shadows in your heart, Diamond Tiara, and I will reward you with power you so richly deserve.”

This is wrong.

Even as her heart hardened and she wanted nothing more than to lash out and destroy something, Sweetie Belle held back the negative feelings festering in her heart. Even with how bad the experience with her friends at been, when they had all but trampled on their friendship, the young filly hadn’t given in to the hate that threatened to drown her.

I don’t want to hate them. They’re my friends... I can’t just give up on them!

The doubt was still there though. They had given up on her, rejected her after she had gotten her strange cutie mark. They had said mean things, but that was because they were hurt inside, as brokenhearted as she had felt earlier.

She didn’t believe that they hated her now. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had been her friends for a long time, and all the experiences and adventures they had had together couldn’t all be pushed aside because of one misunderstanding. She had to have faith in the ponies she laughed and smiled with so often.

The more she thought about this, the better she felt, and the more her eyes reverted back to normal.

“This can’t be real. My friends would never act like that towards me,” she said to herself, looking around the schoolhouse again, and outside to the unnaturally starless night. “This isn’t real. None of it is.” She looked up longer into the sky, noticing how unnaturally black it all looked. The sky was never stark black.

It’s not the sky... it’s something else, something... something...

Something she had sunk into. Sweetie Belle gasped and remembered helping Rarity make Diamond Tiara’s dress, finding her gems, learning how her magic only worked on certain clothing and certain gems, and seeing Diamond Tiara sick and being attacked by a strange colt that she stopped when her magic took out a black sphere inside him, just as it had burned up inky clouds in Diamond’s body...

My magic... I think I understand now. The clothes, no, the fabric and the gems, they’re pure. The gems were flawless, they didn’t have anything bad in them. And those costumes too; they were made without any flaws in the silk. But that means Diamond Tiara and that colt had something flawed... no, something impure inside them. My magic took that away.

The answer was on the tip of her tongue, and the more she thought about it, the more her horn started to glow. The green aura of magic cast a cool glow around her, and when she turned her head to look at her cutie mark again, she saw the unrecognizable mark start to fade in a puff of black smoke.

“It’s a fake! That proves it then! I know what my magic does now and why it only works on certain things. And I know it will work here!”

Sweetie Belle’s smile was as bright as her horn as she felt her magic gather and swell inside it until she felt like she couldn’t hold it in anymore. With quick stamp of her front hooves, she shot her magic out into the sky, light streaming from her horn and piercing through the black night above her.

The world lit up and the shadows were pushed back. She felt herself fall onto a hard ground, and her ears were ringing with the sound of crowd wailing all around her. Sweetie Belle’s head was throbbing at the sudden sense of waking up from a dream that she couldn’t be sure had really been a dream at all.

Above her, a dark cloud of featureless faces were wailing around her, pushed back by the bright light of her small horn.

It was a lie... I knew it!

She was still in Rarity’s shop. The colt that had attacked Diamond Tiara was still motionless on his side. Diamond Tiara was suspended in the air, the wailing faces in the shadows circling around her.

“Get away from her!” Sweetie yelled, and charged for Diamond with renewed strength. She shone her horn at the pink filly, and the wailing faces pulled back. Sweetie was able to catch Diamond on her back before the filly could hit the ground.

Diamond Tiara groaned as she opened her eyes, feeling as sick as she looked to Sweetie Belle.

“Hold on, Diamond. I’m going to get us out of here before it comes back!”

Sweetie had to struggle to keep Diamond Tiara balanced on her back, but adrenaline helped her focus her magic still, keeping it bright and spreading out as much as she could make it. The wailing cloud of pony faces cried in protest as they were pushed away from the two fillies, and Sweetie felt Diamond Tiara start to move.

“Stop... you’re hurting him.”

Sweetie couldn’t be sure she had heard right, but Diamond Tiara didn’t repeat herself with words but with actions instead. She pushed herself off of Sweetie Belle, standing on shaky legs as she pulled away from the unicorn.

The dark cloud rushed around her, making a wall that separated Diamond Tiara from Sweetie Belle, even as the little filly shone her magic on it.

“You don’t understand! Whatever that is, it’s trying to trick you!” Sweetie shouted as the wailing became louder. She couldn’t make her horn shine any brighter, but with the light she could manage, she released it at the dark wall with impressive force, earning a cry of anguish from the ponies that made it.

“Enough!”

The voice boomed as one around them, and the cloud shrank, concentrated into a single shadowy form coming from Diamond Tiara that quickly became the shape of a stallion’s head above her.

The face Sweetie saw was the same face she remembered seeing just before waking up in the schoolhouse. It was the face of the monster, pretending to be a pony, and it filled her with dread. Her horn dimmed to see his glowing eyes glaring at her.

“You’re the one that doesn’t understand, you stupid blank flank. He’s not tricking me, he’s shown me that I don’t need anyone; not Silver Spoon and certainly not you. I don’t need friends, I need power.”

Diamond Tiara smiled as the shadowy form around her thickened, and her eyes began to change and match the eyes of King Sombra.

“I have seen your heart, Diamond Tiara. You have a heart that is strong with pride. You are better than any filly in the world. Serve your king as his... princess... of your own free will, and you will have power that should have been yours by birth.”

Sweetie Belle felt the dread in her heart grow as Sombra spoke, but she kept her magic glowing bright, fighting through the natural response to be afraid.

“He’s trying to use you!” Sweetie Belle cried, “Think about Silver Spoon! She’s your best friend! She wouldn’t want to see you like this! I don’t want to see you like this!”

Diamond Tiara looked at Sweetie Belle while the dark cloud of King Sombra started to sink into her body. Sweetie Belle imaged the light she saw in the filly being blocked and consumed.

“Friends, or power?” Diamond Tiara asked as the smile on her face grew larger and meaner. “I choose power.”

King Sombra laughed and his floating face was pulled in along with the rest of the dark cloud into Diamond Tiara’s body. The wailing had stopped and the windows and doors that had been blocked were now letting in the light from outside. Sweetie Belle’s horn stopped glowing, exhaustion from using so much magic finally demanding that she stop.

A blast of red magic shot out at her horn, encasing it and Sweetie’s head as she screamed in sudden pain.

A second blast of red unicorn magic was sent at the fallen tiara on the floor, picking it up and placing it on top of Diamond Tiara’s head, just above a curved, ethereal horn.

Her eyes glowed with the same power and hate that Sombra’s eyes had shone with. She poured newfound magic into Sweetie Belle’s head, loving how the unicorn filly was crying out in pain as she struggled to keep standing.

“Such a waste. You would have made a good slave, but alas, there is no room in your heart for me. But this filly, she will serve me well. And you, my dear...”

It wasn’t Diamond who spoke. Sombra was using Diamond’s body, channeling his own power through her to lift Sweetie Belle up by her head, pulling the struggling filly closer.

“Snapping your horn would raise unwanted questions. Ah, but if those questions should not be believed...”

Sweetie Belle felt the magic from Diamond Tiara gripping her mind as it travelled down her head, wrapping around her throat like a clamp. Her eyes were shut tight as she pawed at her neck with her hooves, gasping in agony. The possessed face of Diamond Tiara could only keep smiling at the sight. The red magic started to pull back, slow and painful, until it finally faded and Sweetie Belle was dropped to the floor, gasping and trembling.

“Your king has blessed you with a gift. You shall suffer the the curse of knowing. I will allow you to remember what has happened on this day, but no pony who knows you will believe what you tell about my return, or of the events that have happened this day. And when I return to my full power, I will seek you out first, Sweetie Belle. Perhaps then, you will find it in your heart to serve your king.”

Sweetie Belle struggled to keep her eyes open, but the curse had taken its toll. She fell back into the darkness of unconsciousness.

In the back of her mind, Diamond Tiara knew she had made a mistake. She felt the power of the ghostly king filling her up, and pushing other things out because of it. Important things, things she couldn’t quite name, but with them went a sense of control over herself as well.

I just want to have things go my way...

She felt herself slipping, as if ready to sleep and dream. She wanted to sleep and let go of the heaviness in her heart.

“You will have your way and more, my little princess. From now on, you belong to me, and me alone. I will fill your heart with the shadow of my love, and you will serve me faithfully. You will be the catalyst for my return, and the instrument of my will. You will be my Malicious Intent.

Diamond Tiara felt herself smile as she slipped into oblivion.

“Nurse, is there any news?”

“We’ve gotten our tests back. They’re going to be okay.”

Rarity sighed with relief, feeling a huge weight lifted from her. Beside her, Filthy Rich turned his head away, wiping his eyes.

It had been a day since Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara had been brought to the hospital in Ponyville. By the time Rarity had returned home expecting to have found two new friends, her neighbors had rushed her, telling her that a strange pony had broken into the shop and attacked the girls.

She wouldn’t forget seeing the fallen body of her little sister any time soon.

“The doctor and I have some questions that we’re hoping either of you can answer for us.” Nurse Redheart stood outside the room shared by Diamond and Sweetie, both fillies sleeping peacefully and hooked up to monitors showing their steady heartbeats. “We’ve confirmed that the poison in Diamond Tiara’s system is now completely gone. The shock to her system has kept her sleeping, and she is fine of course. I understand the girls were not hurt by the home invader when you found them?”

“Yes, thank Celestia. Why do you ask?” Rarity asked.

“Well, in regards to your sister, she suffered acute mana-fatigue. According to our tests, we’ve concluded that Sweetie’s magic purged the poison in Diamond Tiara’s body. Her magic lasted after her initial casting of the spell, and after the break-in by the home intruder. Is your sister very adept at magic?”

Rarity shook her head, feeling the eyes of both Nurse Redheart and Filthy Rich on her. “No, quite the opposite in fact. She’s never been able to use her magic properly. The poor dear can’t even lift her food with magic. I’ve been trying to help her learn to control it, and she did cast some spells the other day, but she has no real skill. She certainly doesn’t know any healing magic.”

“Oh no, this wasn’t healing magic your sister used. That’s why our tests took so long. Sweetie’s magic purged the poison, it didn’t heal Diamond Tiara’s body, hence why she is still asleep; she needs time to recover from the shock. In fact, as far as our tests can measure, Diamond Tiara has never been healthier. This wasn’t healing magic, it was purifying magic. This is rather uncommon for unicorns because it’s a type of magic that reacts to purity and corruption, going back to the talents of our ancestors. You’re going to want to get a professional to evaluate her, but the reason for her acute mana-fatigue seems to stem from this remarkable form of a magic that, in my professional opinion, saved your daughter’s life, Mr. Rich.”

Filthy Rich sniffled, turning his head away to wipe his eyes again. He had been an emotional wreck when he had arrived at the hospital, demanding to see his daughter right away only to be held back by nurses when he was told they needed more time to give him answers.

“When should they wake up?” he asked, composing himself again.

“That depends on them. Mana-fatigue can take a day or two to pass. Diamond Tiara will wake when her body is ready, which I believe should happen later tonight. You’re welcome to visit them now. Once they wake I’ll present you with the discharge papers.” Nurse Redheart gave both Rarity and Filthy Rich an understanding smile before leaving the two to their families.

“I owe your sister a debt,” Filthy Rich said, looking to Rarity but not making eye contact with her. “I… understand my daughter has not been the most forthcoming of ponies to your sister. I get letters from her teacher from time to time, though I am not always home when they come. Perhaps if I was, I would have realized one of my staff…”

Filthy couldn’t finish his sentence. There was anger in his eyes, though he knew now was not the time to be angry. The disgruntled employee had been caught and would face justice – and the rest of the household staff had been dismissed for good measure.

“I’ll be sure to tell my sister that.” Rarity gave a polite smile, feeling a little upset that Filthy Rich knew about his daughter’s bullying but hadn’t bothered to act or correct it.

“If I may, Miss Rarity, I would like to tell her myself. Should my daughter wake up first, I’ll have her sent home where she can rest in comfort. I personally don’t like these hospitals. The least I can do is apologize in person to your sister for the trouble my daughter has caused her. She gave my daughter her life back, despite the treatment I don’t doubt Diamond Tiara has been giving her. I would be much honored, Miss Rarity, to pay for any expenses that would go towards getting Sweetie Belle evaluated and trained in the use of her magic, so that she might learn how to control this rare form of magic she seems to have. I will also be covering the cost of the medical treatment to both our families.”

Rarity was taken aback by the sudden generosity Filthy Rich was showing her. It was the exact opposite of what she had expected from Diamond Tiara’s father.

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly accept all that. I’m just happy that your daughter and my sister are safe.”

“Please, Miss Rarity. It’s the least I can do. All the bits in my bank accounts don’t hold a penny to the real jewel of my life. What good is my money if I can’t use it for my family? Right now, all the family I have is my daughter, and your sister saved her. I insist that you let me cover these costs.”

Rarity hesitated, but in the end relented to Filthy Rich’s request. Sweetie Belle was going to need a lot of help if what Nurse Redheart said about her magic was true. There was another benefit to the deal though that Rarity didn’t miss. There was now a chance for the relationship between her sister and Diamond Tiara to really start to improve. Once the girls were awake and okay, she would start laying down the groundwork to change the relationship the two fillies had.

After seeing the familiar stallion that was being charged with attempted murder of Diamond Tiara, Rarity was determined to make sure that the bullying that had been going on would end in the only way it really could – with friendship.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was proofread by ArgonMatrix. I couldn't be more thankful for the help - this chapter would have read like crap without it.