Tales of Tiara: Scrooged

Chapters

Verse 2 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past
Verse 3 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Present
Verse 4 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Future
Verse 5 - A New Path
Verse 1 - Silver Spoon's Ghost

Verse 2 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Past

When Diamond Tiara awoke, it was dark. She felt rested though, as if she had slept through the night. A good night's rest, that is just what she had needed is what she told herself. Now she could put all these strange thoughts behind her. And yet she could not. To have seen Silver Spoon again, and in such a state. Had it all been a dream?

She stretched, then wondered about the dark. By feel, she turned on the lamp at its lowest setting. The clock showed that it was nine in the morning. But then why was it so dark? Surely at least some light should be coming in past the drapes.

Stumbling out of bed, she moved over to the window and pulled back the drapes. Outside, all was as if it was the darkest hour of the night, a darkness pierced only by the light of the moon and some stars. This came as quite the surprise to Diamond Tiara, I tell you, for she was sure it was morning, and yet the town was quiet. There were no families taking walks together, no vendors hawking their goods, not even ponies running around with panicked cries; the latter being something the town of Ponyville was quite practiced at.

That lack of panic, as well as the lack of light shining out of the windows from houses made diamond Tiara look back at the clock. Perhaps she had mistaken the time, she thought, only to see the hands spinning rapidly. Nine became ten, which became eleven. Onward the hands spun, past twelve, past one. On and on until at last they indicated twelve once again. Then the clock stopped, not slowly, not deaccelerating. No, the stop was sudden and complete.

Cursing the cheap workmanship of the clock and the need to get it replaced, Diamond Tiara looked once again outside the window. Nothing had changed. Cautiously, she opened the window, shivering as a gust of cold air blew in. She held an ear by the gap, so that she could better hear any hubbub that might be happening. But the night was near silent, the only sound coming from the wind.

Puzzled, she looked again and noted that it did seem to be brighter than it had been before. But it was not the sun that was the source, but the moon. It was becoming brighter, as four stars spun around it, faster and faster, before it all flashed, bright as the sun, and went dark. An evil sound, half laughter, half howl, the type of sound that would send shivers down your spine as if a rusty horseshoe were scraped along a chalkboard, pierced the air. Shuddering, Tiara stepped back from the window.

It was then that a dark smoke raced down past the window, veered directly away, only to spin around again and come swirling into the bedroom, all the while continuing the horrid sound. The smoke coalesced into a smaller space and began to form a shape, a pony like shape. Not a regular pony like you or I, no, but the shape of an alicorn..

As any rational pony trapped with a alicorn smoke monster in a small room with no easy egress might have done, Diamond Tiara scrambled backwards as fast as possible, until she collided with a wall. And even then, she continued to try to continue moving away. Having an alicorn appear in your bedroom will tend to do that to most ponies. Having this particular one appear, I tell you that any pony who says they would have reacted differently than Diamond Tiara is either insane or lying.

"Ah, my faithless subject, is that any way to greet the Queen of the Night? Were you not told of my coming?" the alicorn asked, for it was all alicorn now, no longer smoke, with horn, wings, and a coat as black as the darkest night, while its mane was made of stars and the evening sky. To complete the look, it wore armor made of cobalt. "Don't you know who I am?"

"You... you're Nightmare Moon," Diamond Tiara stuttered.

"Oh, very good. So you haven't forgotten me from my last visit here."

"Have you come to gobble me up?"

"What!? No. Gross." Nightmare Moon spat to make clear her revulsion. "Just gross... That dreadful holiday, it makes a mockery of me, it does. I swear that when I return again, that shall be the the second thing I abolish. First the day and then that one night." She threw back her head and laughed, sending shivers down Diamond Tiara's spine.

"Now... where were we? Ah, yes, we were just discussing if this is the proper way to greet a queen. So, is it?" Nightmare Moon looked pointedly at Diamond Tiara.

"Um, no?"

"No what?" The pointed look became decidedly more menacing.

"No, Your Majesty?"

The menacing look was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Much better. And how should you greet your queen?"

"With a... oh." Diamond Tiara stopped talking and prostrated herself before the Queen of the Night.

"Excellent. Okay, let's get down to business then, shall we? I, the Queen of the Night, will be serving as your Queen of Hearth's Warming Past tonight. Any one question?"

"Hearth's Warming Past? Are we going back to before you were-" A glare from Nightmare Moon encouraged Diamond Tiara to pick her next words with care. "Before you were unjustly banished?"

"Oh no, my dear. Not my past. Yours. And that was two questions. Has the educational system degraded so much in the last thousand years that ponies cannot even count to one anymore? No, never mind, don't bother answering. Don't really care, as I plan to shut the entire system down so ponies will have more time to revel in my glorious night. We're off."

Nightmare Moon's horn glowed, and Diamond Tiara could feel magic working upon her. She tried to cry out, but no longer had the option, for she no longer had a body. Her consciousness was trapped within a cloud of smoke like the one Nightmare Moon had entered her room as. Panic filled her and she lashed out, or would have, if she had a body. The only thing that stopped her from sinking into a complete panic was that she could somehow sense what was around her, almost as if she could see, though it was not seeing like she was used to.

"Relax," Nightmare Moon's commanded from inside her mind. "I am your guide, so do be a dutiful little subject and trust your queen to guide you well."

She felt her cloud body pulled, gently at first, but picking up speed, as Nightmare Moon's own cloud swirled around her, pulling, prodding, and guiding. The distance travelled was short, yet it felt strangely long, as if they had travelled in a world built to a giant scale. Out of her room, down the stairs, and into the living room. As her body reformed, Diamond Tiara breathed a grateful sigh of relief at being corporeal again. A quick check of herself revealed everything was inorder, where and how it should be.

Fiercely determined to let Nightmare Moon have a piece of her mind, horrid monster of legend or not, she rounded on her companion and froze. Nightmare Moon stood with her nose inches from a small filly, barely four or five years old. Diamond Tiara's eyes nearly popped out of her head as she recognized her younger, blank flank self. Her head spun around as the implication of her own self being that young hit her. And sure enough, there sat her father, with a foreleg around a mare, her mother, watching their foal play.

Hesitantly, Diamond Tiara reached a hoof toward her mother, only to have Nightmare Moon push her hoof down. "They cannot see or hear you, my little pony. This is the past and the past cannot be changed. Do you remember when this is?"

"Barely. I was so young. If I am right, then this... this is the last Hearth's Warming Eve I would ever spend with my mother. She was so beautiful, I'd almost forgotten what she was like." Diamond Tiara looked back towards her younger self, then returned her gaze to her parents. "They look so happy. I was so happy. I cannot believe I had forgotten this."

And so the queen and her subject sat and watched for a while, as Tiara's parents watched their filly play. Shortly, the younger Tiara got tired and cuddled up with her parents, demanding they read her a story. Diamond Tiara's eyes welled up and she wiped away a tear.

"Come. It is time to go," Nightmare Moon said, as she got to her feet.

"Please, my Queen, can we not stay and watch a while longer?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Do not test me, little one. We have more to see and we must go." With that, Diamond Tiara again found herself trapped in smoke. Again, Nightmare Moon's cloud pulled and guided her. To the door and outside they went, down the streets, faster than Diamond Tiara had ever moved, and yet again there was that strange sense as if things were taking longer than they should. Into the main part of town they moved, moving swiftly down roads and alleys, turning so often that Diamond Tiara lost track of where exactly in Ponyville they were.

At last, they rushed up a walkway, between the crack under a door, down a hall,and into a room. This room was smaller than the living room she had been in, but not by much. A dining room table sat in the center of the room, and around it sat four ponies. Two were older, obviously a couple, and the other two younger, though obscured by the back of chairs.

"Silver Spoon's home," Diamond Tiara said. "I haven't been here since..." She lapsed into silence.

"So, when is this?" asked Nightmare Moon.

"You don't know?" Tiara asked.

"Maybe I do, and maybe I don't. That is not relevant. What matters is whether or not you know and that your queen asked you a question."

Diamond Tiara walked around the room, getting a better view of the fillies and the food upon the table. "This is the first Hearth's Warming Eve after I met Silver Spoon. My dad had to go out of town on business and so I had to spend the week with Silver Spoon and her family. I didn't want to go at all. But after the first night, I didn't want to leave."

She continued to circle, slowly, stopping occasionally if something triggered a memory. At last, she found herself beside Nightmare Moon again. "Tell me, Queen, what sort of father leaves his daughter with ponies she barely knew for the holidays?"

"One in pain, one without someone he feels he could open up to. Isn't that always how these things happen?" Nightmare Moon replied. "You suffer, and you think she doesn't really care, that you don't have someone who is always there, willing to listen, really listen. And then you are alone," Nightmare Moon spoke quietly. The two ponies sat in silence, each lost in their thoughts, until Silver Spoon's mother brought out a plate with a fruitcake on it.

"Oh, I remember this," Diamond Tiara said, gesturing toward the table. "Silver Spoon's aunt made it every year. It was the worst ever. But watch, I'll pretend to like it."

And it played out just as Diamond Tiara said it would. The eager young filly took a big bite of the fruitcake, ignoring Silver Spoon's attempted warning, and her cheeks puffed out as she almost gagged on the revolting taste. Noticing Silver Spoon's parents looking at her, she swallowed with the gusto of a pony who had not eaten in days and rubbed her stomach, telling her hosts how delicious it was. Viewed with the experience of additional years, Diamond Tiara could see that it was, all in all, about as convincing as a three bit coin, but it definitely deserving of high marks for effort. Silver Spoon's parents definitely were not fooled she could see now, but they played along as if they were. Her younger, more innocent self believed them. Diamond Tiara could not help but smile at the childlike innocence of it all.

"Mommy, can Tia and I play upstairs?" Silver Spoon asked, coming to her friend's rescue, as little Tiara waged an internal war between taking another bit of fruitcake out of politeness and shoving her plate as far away as possible.

Silver Lining looked over to her husband for approval, and with a nod from Sterling Silver, she gave the foals permission. The two bounded out of their chairs and raced off to Silver Spoon's bedroom, skidding around corners in their hurry. Silver Lining just shook her head and smiled, while Sterling Silver reached over and helped himself to the rest of Tiara's fruitcake.

"Heh, he actually likes the stuff. Must be an acquired taste or something," Diamond Tiara said.

"Or perhaps there something to be said for it, and you were just too small minded to recognize it. There is value in most things, even if most cannot see it. Just consider how no pony appreciated my beautiful night, when they should have. They really should have," Nightmare Moon said. She turned and followed the path the fillies had taken, up the stairs and to Silver Spoon's room, and Diamond Tiara followed there.

There, the two fillies sat playing with a dollhouse as little foals are prone to do, alternately arguing and agreeing on the actions of their respective dolls. The dollhouse was brightly colored and almost large enough that both fillies could have crawled inside it. It was opened up, so that the fillies had easy access to the rooms inside, each room decorated with its own wallpaper and miniature wooden furniture.

"A present from my dad. The biggest and best dollhouse he could find in a Canterlot toy store, I guess. Must have felt guilty about not being there or something. Silver and I played with that thing for years, until one day we were feeling a bit destructive and took hammers to parts of it while 'remodeling'. I don't think I've ever seen my father that mad before. He gave the dollhouse away to an orphanage," Diamond Tiara said.

"Custom made, actually."

"Custom made?"

"Yes, he had it modelled after the first house your mother and he lived in. Had it ordered months in advance."

"Oh. I never knew that." Diamond Tiara sat pensively, watching her younger self play while the scene of her father's anger from years ago replayed in her head. "I guess that explains why he got so angry. He never seemed to mind if I broke any of my other toys. Just bought me new ones."

The two little fillies had finished playing the dollhouse in the meantime. Silver Spoon rummaged through a drawer and triumphantly held up a pair of scissors. Little Tiara clapped and the two ponies hopped on the bed.

Diamond Tiara watched with interest and indicated the fillies to Nightmare Moon. "We became blood-sisters this night." She watched as Silver Spoon attempted to cut herself with the scissors. "Safety scissors. No match for foalish determination though."

The duo watched as the young fillies completed their ritual. By the time they were done, drops of blood had splattered on the bedsheets and there was a trail to the bathroom as the two fillies went looking for bandages. Once bandaged up, the two newly bonded sisters resumed their playing with the dollhouse.

Diamond Tiara smiled at the memory playing out before her. "We got so much trouble from Silver's parents for that. I swear she wasn't allowed to have scissors in her room for years after that. But we didn't care. Not in the slightest. Tomorrow, my dad will pick me up and I won't want to go. I'll tell Silver Spoon that I wish I could stay here forever."

"And will you?"

"No, Your Highness, tomorrow I'll... she'll go home. But in this moment, we pledged to be friends forever. And tonight, we'll come up with our signature shake. Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump! It was the happiest I'd been since..." Diamond Tiara stopped, not wanting to discuss the unhappy thought.

"Ah, yes. Happiness ends, the ones you love leave, and then forever alone. Easier to just be alone to begin with. Come. We have seen what we came to see. It is time to go."

Diamond Tiara felt her body became gaseous and the tugging of Nightmare Moon upon it. Rather than give into it, she willed herself to stay here. To her surprise, she found herself staying in place, until she felt a surge of rage from Nightmare Moon and she was jerked harshly away. Determined to have her way, she willed harder, but to no avail. Nightmare Moon's will overrode her own and she found herself pulled along. For a while longer, she struggled, but realizing the hopelessness of the situation, she quit the struggle.

Through Ponyville they raced once more, this time towards the outskirts and then out of town. Farmland lined either side of the road and Nightmare Moon dove underneath a familiar sign, streaming through the keyhole of a house next to a red barn. There, Diamond Tiara found herself once more within her body and facing a rather irate Nightmare Moon.

"Do not do that again," Nightmare Moon commanded. "I am the Queen of the Night, the Bringer of Darkness. You are nothing, an insignificant speck of dust upon the surface of the moon. This night, I rule. When I say we go, we go. Is that clear?"

Diamond Tiara glared back. "Crystal."

"Good. Now, do you know where and when we are?"

Diamond Tiara looked around. She already knew they were at the Sweet Apple Acres. The barn had been enough to tell her that. Though the barn had been rebuilt multiple times through the years, it always wound up looking the same, a signature trademark of the farm. Unfortunately, that same look meant it was little help with identifying the when.

And so she looked around the room, taking in the wooden paneling, the quaint frames with pictures of various Apple family members inside. Hearth's Warming decorations were placed throughout the room, but that was to be expected, she supposed. The previous two times had also been around Hearth's Warming Eve. Applejack sat at the dining room table, drinking a warm beverage, probably tea. And on the ground, a young Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom sat happily, playing with a puppy.

Diamond Tiara brightened at the sight. "This is back when we were still friends, before we had that big fight! We used to pretend to be sisters. I used to love playing over here."

"Sisters again, huh?" Nightmare Night asked.

"Apple Bloom's idea, really. I guess due to the age gap between her and her siblings, plus they essentially were her parents. They had little time to play with their little sister, what with running the farm and all. So whenever my parents brought me over here, she always insisted we make believe we were sisters. It was nice though. And, truth be told, I always wanted a sister, to share things with."

Nightmare Moon harrumphed. "They are not so perfect, you know. They hog the spotlight, refusing to share any with you. And when you complain and try to get a little attention of your own, they shove you away," Nightmare Moon said, bitterness spilling forth with every word.

Diamond Tiara eyed the taller mare. Sisters were a bit of a sore point for her, it seemed. To be expected, based on the history. "Maybe. But I would have liked to have experienced it for myself."

"And you'd probably have had one big fight and decided to hate your sister forever, the same as me," Nightmare Moon lashed out verbally. "We're alike, you and I," she said, prodding Diamond Tiara with a hoof, "alone and full of rage. The difference though, my little foal, is that I am full of rage because I am alone, because no pony appreciated all that I did for them, while you are alone because you are full of rage, because you work so hard to keep them all away."

The two fillies stopped their play, ears perking up at the sound of a door opening. The voice of Applejack greeted the visitor, expressing surprise at seeing him so soon. A hushed reply could be heard, followed by the sound of a cup shattering on the ground.

The sound of that cup's shattering triggered a memory for Tiara and she knew exactly what moment this was. Diamond Tiara's eyes went wide. She turned to Nightmare Moon and begged, "Oh, Queen, take me away from here. I do not wish to be here."

The little filly Tiara got to her feet, cried out, "Daddy!" and raced off into the other room.

With a look of anguish, the elder Tiara was unable to stop her body from following after her younger self. A tear rolled down her face as her younger self's enthusiasm disappeared into a questioning look at the sight of her father, wondering what was wrong.

"Please, let us depart," Diamond Tiara pleaded of her companion. Her father knelt down and held her younger self tightly.

Nightmare Moon shook her head and continued to watch the events unfold, as the little filly's world was brought to ruin. Diamond Tiara could only stand and watch, tears falling, as her father told her younger self that there had been a carriage accident on the icy roads, that her mother was never coming home again. The little filly refused to believe, asking when they could see mother. Again her father explained that mother would never be coming home again, and when he had finished, her father was holding a daughter whose reality had just crumbled.

Diamond Tiara turned away, unable to watch further, only to find herself looking at Applejack, who stood awkwardly by, one hoof holding Apple Bloom. Emotions played on Applejack's face, and Diamond Tiara found she could read them with ease: sympathy over the death, helplessness to do anything about the situation, and painful memories of the loss of her own parents. And so she did the only thing she could, hold on to Apple Bloom, who struggled to get free, wanting to comfort her friend. Only then did Nightmare Moon act, shifting their bodies to fog once more..

"HOME!" The thought screamed out of Tiara's mind instinctively and unplanned, powered by the agony of what she had just relived, made even stronger by the addition of Applejack's pain. She ripped through the air and found herself back within the confines of her room, feeling as if she'd been stretched beyond her limits and then allowed to recoil.

She had barely managed to recover from the trip, to suppress the urge to heave, so that she could give in to the emotions the scene had awakened, when Nightmare Moon poured in through the window and reformed. "Why? Why did you have to show me that?" Diamond Tiara sobbed.

"Did you expect that cake, sunshine, and celery sticks would be all it would take to change your path? That if such a thing were even possible, they would send me to entertain, to be a clown for your amusement? Just how foalish are you?" Scorn dripped off every word Nightmare Moon spoke.

"I'm the Queen of the Night," Nightmare Moon continued, as if that should explain everything. "I came about because somepony felt unloved, unappreciated, and all alone. And in that loneliness, she created me, created me so that I could lash out at the world and make it pay for ignoring her. Did you expect my visit to end in anything but pain and darkness?

"Now, when shall we go next? What are your darkest memories? A funeral or two perhaps?" Nightmare Moon took a menacing step towards Diamond Tiara.

"No, torture me no more, you vile thing! I do not want your darkness, this despair. I want the light!" Tiara yelled and grabbed the lamp. She turned up the setting as far as it could, increasing the light far more than should have been possible, such that the lamp lit up the room as if it were the sun. So armed, she advanced upon the much taller alicorn.

Nightmare Moon's wings flared outwards, covering her face in an attempt to shield her eyes from the intense light. The light would not be held at bay by mere wings and grew even brighter. Covering her eyes with a hoof, Nightmare Moon hobbled backwards on three legs. "No! The light, it burns! Nooo!"

"Yes!" Diamond Tiara shouted in reply, continuing her advance, backing Nightmare Moon into a corner. And still Diamond Tiara advanced, for if there was one trait she had besides wanting to bring misery to others, it was that she was driven. She forced the lamp down upon Nightmare Moon, who had begun to shrink, alternating between screaming and ranting, until at last, the lamp sat on the floor, no longer producing an excess amount of light, and Diamond Tiara was alone in the room once more.

She felt so tired. Not only did her limbs feel as if she had run for hours, but her eyelids felt like they were being pulled down with the weight of a thousand tons. She barely managed to shut the window and crawl into bed before the tiredness overcame her, and the moment her head touched her pillow, she was out.

Verse 3 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Present

Diamond Tiara sat up suddenly in bed, wide awake. The lamp still sat on the floor, and though it no longer flared brightly, it still shed light, at its lowest setting. It was by this light that she could see that it was now one o'clock. Quickly, she slid out of her bed and scooped up the lamp, turning it to its brightest setting. Then she sat on the bed, lamp grasped tightly in her hooves, waiting, determined to be ready no matter what appeared.

But nothing did. The clock's hands did their thing, ticking away the moments of the night. Not in the rapidly spinning way they had earlier, but in the ordinary mundane way that clocks normally do, with a soft tick accompanying each movement.

And so Diamond Tiara sat, waiting, as one became became quarter past. And quarter past became half past. Onwards time went, in its ordinary way, while Diamond Tiara sat waiting with increasing nervousness. By the time the clock neared two AM, she almost dared to wonder if perhaps it had all been a dream. But it was then that the lamp slipped from her grasp and floated up to the ceiling in the center of the room.

There, it flipped upside down and somehow attached itself. It began to spin and rather than the more uniform light the lamp usually provided, it seemed as if it were reflecting beams of light of different colors in all different directions, almost as if it were a mirror ball. The beams danced across the room, darting this way and that, before finally gathering upon a single point: the statue upon the nightstand.

The statue gave a small bow and tipped its top hat to its audience of one, a rather strange occurrence, given that statues are generally not known for their ability to move or their politeness, although in their defense, they never speak out of turn. But besides the movement, there was also the fact that this particular statue had never had a top hat before. Of course, it had never had a cane before either, and it had one of those now as well, so if that, then why not a top hat as well?

Slowly at first, then faster, the statue began to do a tap dance number upon the dresser, the spotlight coming from the lamp following it as it moved from one end to the other and all points in between. At last, it ended it with a flourish and waited for applause.

So strange and silly was it that Diamond Tiara felt obliged to grant its request. The statue straightened, bowed once more, and then jumped off the dresser. Rather than falling down to the ground, however, it stretched and grew. What had been the perfect miniature version of one of Equestria's most famous art pieces turned into something with mismatched limbs, horns, and a serpentine body. Stranger still, it did this all to music and as the transformation completed, sang, "Guess who's back, back again? Discord's back, tell a friend."

It stopped at that and turned to look at Diamond Tiara. His head tilted side to side. "Wait, you don't have any friends, do you? Sucks to be you, I guess. But that doesn't mean we cannot have a good a time! Isn't that right... uh, wait, don't tell me... Carbon Headpiece?"

The whole entrance had been so silly that Diamond Tiara could not help but utter the first thing that came to her mind. "Weren't you supposed to be here an hour ago?" Then she glowered at her visitor. "And my name is Diamond Tiara."

Discord dismissed her objection with a nonchalant hand gesture. "Close enough. Your name, not the time. Always calling things by the same name, that can get so boring. Though I suppose it is better than referring to them by their characteristics, huh, pink pony? And as for the time..." Discord looked over at the clock. "Ah, I see the problem," he said, raising a hand up in the air, index finger extended. "You forgot about Discord Savings Time." And with that, the finger stretched toward the clock and spun it back one hour.

"Right on time! Except nothing interesting is happening right now, is it? And that's no good. I spend all year cooped up as a statue in that boring garden where barely anything changes. This night is my only chance to have some fun. So we'll have to do something about the boring old time, won't we?"

Diamond Tiara nodded in agreement. Some fun certainly sounded better than a painful trip down memory lane.

"But first, we need to fix this room. How can you stand to even be in here? All this grey, where's the fun in that? Where's the color, the variety?" He looked around and shook his head. "How about a memorial?" Discord snapped his fingers and the walls were covered with images of Diamond Tiara's mom and Silver Spoon.

"Please no, not after..." Diamond Tiara pleaded.

"No? A mummorial then?" He snapped his fingers and the images changed to scenes of undead pony mummies. Some sat on thrones, surrounded by ponies with the heads of various animals, others were more scenes out of an old movie, and still others were quite realistic, what one expected to see in a museum. Even the painting of Silver Spoon now featured a mummified version of her. Again Diamond Tiara made her distaste obvious.

"Okay, I know just the thing then. A mammal-mural. But something exotic, nothing close to home." Again he snapped his fingers. The whole room was a single scene now. A small zebra village occupied one wall, and it flowed seamlessly into a grasslands to one side and a jungle to the other. The far wall was a watering hole. "You like it? I threw in some birds and reptiles for free. If you look really closely, there's the ruins of a temple in the jungle. And somewhere out there on each wall there's a grey pegasus in a red and white striped sweater and a blue hat. Pretty awesome, if I do so say so myself."

Diamond Tiara nodded agreeably, being a cunning pony. She figured if she kept disliking, he would just keep changing things. At least with this scene, Silver Spoon's portrait was untouched. Plus looking for the ruined temple seemed pretty interesting. She could always repaint it back to grey later.

Discord stretched over to whisper conspiratorially to Diamond Tiara, "Did you know I've split myself into five hundred and two pieces for tonight? Got to make sure I get enough stories to tell myself for the whole rest of the year, after all. It gets terribly lonely otherwise, all alone in the garden. Never be alone if you can help it, kid-o. And speaking of that, we'd best get going. Freedom is wasting!"

And so Diamond Tiara was pulled from her room, down the stairs, and out of the house, like a parent with a child eager to visit the toy store. Once outside, Discord frowned at the darkness. "Let there be light!" he exclaimed. And it felt as if the entire world sped up, ponies passing by in a blur, until the sun rose and there was light and ponies going about their business.

Together, Discord and Diamond Tiara walked through Ponyville. As they walked, Discord pointed out whatever struck his fancy. If you have ever had the misfortune of meeting Discord, and I hope that that you have not, then you would know that almost anything could strike his fancy at any time, the only guarantee being that they would not hold it for long. What Diamond Tiara noticed though was that most of them involved multiple ponies: the snowball fight in the park, the couple dancing on the street, the carolers singing, and the various families off to visit yet more families and friends. The more ponies in the mix, the more it attracted Discord's attention and the longer it held it.

The other thing Diamond Tiara noticed was that Discord would touch various packages ponies were carrying, and each time he did so, a quick flash of light would occur. Presents, covered plates of food, and whatever might have been in a saddle bag, it mattered not. He touched as many as he could, weaving and dancing between ponies to get at their goods.

"Tell me, Discord," Diamond Tiara asked at last. "What are you doing with the flash and poof?"

"Changing things, of course!" Discord exclaimed. He pointed to a family whose gift he had just touched. "They'll be so surprised when their colt opens the boring gift they got him and pulls out the fancy toy he really wanted, but they could not afford. He'll be happy." Discord leaned over and whispered into Tiara's ear, "It also makes lots of racket and will drive the parents to the moon."

He pointed to another package. "Auntie Swirl's Seaweed Surprise will definitely surprise them when they discover it contains no seaweed this year, but instead oranges and kumquat. Seaweed, seriously, what was Sea Swirl thinking? Even I'm not that cruel. Besides, seaweed never turns out well. Did you know I once changed every house in Vanhoover to be made from seaweed? Not my best idea, the whole place smelled horrid. So I changed them all into igloos instead. Ah, those were the days," he reminisced. "There's limits on what I am allowed to do, of course, but what little chaos I'm allowed to make, I will." He winked slyly.

Diamond Tiara stopped and stared at a house they were in front of. She had not even realized they had been approaching it. Years ago, she had come here often, at least twice a week. Her legs must still have remembered the way and taken her today, she figured. Or had Discord led them here? She tried to remember if either one of them had been leading, but could not recall.

"Interesting place?" Discord asked, interrupting her musings.

"It used to be, for me anyway, but then, you probably know that already," Diamond Tiara said. Hesitantly, she walked up to the door of the house and stopped. "I used to visit here quite often. Since the funeral, I've never been back. At first it was because I didn't know what to say, because the pain was too real. And then... I guess I just buried it, avoided thinking about it."

"Sounds positively boring. Let's skip it. We can go ice skating instead."

Taking a deep breath, Diamond Tiara stepped through the door and into the house beyond. The room beyond looked familiar to her, yet that very familiarity made the differences stand out all the more. Objects that had been moved, others than had been removed, and some new items added to fill the empty spaces. Quite a few new things, as if someone had been determined to fill an empty space, but had never quite managed to do it.

With a pop, Discord appeared next to Diamond Tiara. "Now how did you know you could do that? I didn't tell you, did I?" He paused for a second, with a hand on his chin. "No, I most definitely did not."

Diamond Tiara shrugged. "It just seemed like something one should be able to do in a whatever this is. Being stopped by something as simple as a door would rather ruin the impact."

"Of course, of course. But still quite impressive. Did you know you're only the third sentient being in all the times I have done and am doing this to try that all on your own? Oh, just wait until I tell the rest of me." While he spoke, he busied himself with swapping the locations of various items.

Ignoring Discord, Diamond Tiara wandered deeper into the house. It seemed sad. How something like a house could feel sad she wasn't entirely sure, but that is how it felt all the same, even with some festive holiday decorations scattered about.

A corner of the living room drew Tiara's attention. A shelf stood there, covered in picture frames, toys, a bronzed set of socks, and a few medals, the type foals win no matter how they placed in a contest. Inside the picture frames where drawings obviously made by a child and pictures of Silver Spoon, though Diamond Tiara was in a couple as well. Everything was immaculate and seemed to have been placed with a determined precision. The life of her friend, captured in a shrine, while her spirit roamed the world in chains.

Diamond Tiara slapped Discord's hand away as he reached for the shrine. "Not this. Leave this untouched."

"But don't you see? They are stuck in a moment of time, static. They need to change, like this present," —Discord held up a rather large present, wrapped in silver foil, in one hand—"not stay in the past. They've got another shrine upstairs. Her room, practically untouched, as if she might come back, as if they might forget her if they changed it." With the free hand, he snapped his fingers and the present shimmered, the wrapping paper now seeming to spin, as if it were a belt, with every length equal to a side of a different pattern and color. To Diamond Tiara's dismay, she saw that the gift he had touched was for Silver Spoon. Discord just smiled and said, "You'll thank me later."

"You change that back. You change that back right now!" Diamond Tiara demanded.

Discord put the present back where he had gotten it from and slid over to Diamond Tiara. He put a comforting arm around Diamond Tiara's shoulder.. "I would, except... okay, you got me. I wouldn't. Besides, we have to de-p-a-r-t... Why? Because I wanna."

With a snap of Discord's fingers, Diamond Tiara found herself standing within the barn of Sweet Apple Acres. All around her, ponies were having a good time. And not just ponies, but also some cows, sheep, and various pets. Matter of fact, the only party guest who did not appear to be having a good time was a long haired white cat, who sat upon a bale of hay, hissing and occasionally swiping a claw at whoever came near.

Discord disentangled himself from Diamond Tiara and gestured grandiosely with his arm. "It's a party, get it?" At Tiara's blank stare, he sighed. "Sometimes you ponies are absolutely no fun. But speaking of fun, what do you think about joining this here shindig? You do remember how to party, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Diamond Tiara said. "And I'm sure it'd be lovely, but they can't see or interact with us, remember?"

"Come now, do you really think such a little thing would stop one such as me?" Discord tapped Diamond Tiara on the nose with a finger and then did the same to himself. "Now they'll think we are somepony else. The moment we walk away, we're gone from their memories. So now we're all good to join this hootenanny.

"Now, what to do first... I got it! Let's go play some games. Pin the Tail, that was always fun. I invented that game, you know. Much more fun when you use actual ponies. Do you suppose they'd be willing to play it that way?"

Diamond Tiara did not feel the need to dignify that with answer. Instead, she walked over to a table that was covered in a variety of food, no doubt all involving apples. The Apple family had the blind devotion to all things apple common amongst apple lovers. Diamond Tiara, well, even with being indifferent to most foods, found it hard to be indifferent to apples. She had made the decision to dislike them long ago. She was feeling a bit peckish, however, due to having eaten little at dinner. She selected an item and swallowed it with only a few chews. Reaching for a second one, she felt a tap on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder, she found herself face to face with Apple Bloom, with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle not far behind.

"Hi, Babs! I didn't know you were coming," Apple Bloom exclaimed. Diamond Tiara looked around for Babs, but failed to find her. Apple Bloom giggled. "Oh, silly cuz. I've missed you." Diamond Tiara almost stumbled in surprise as Apple Bloom threw a hug around her neck. Tentatively, Diamond Tiara returned the hug.

And so it was that Diamond Tiara joined in the party. As the evening wore on, she found herself enjoying it more and more. She joined the tea party with Fluttershy and the pets, played party games with the other foals, and slow danced with Twilight Sparkle's pet dragon, who drooled on her shoulder a bit. She even played a few games of "Pin the Tail". Discord won all of those, and though she was pretty sure he cheated, she found she did not mind. At last, the party began to die down and she found herself alone with Discord.

"And how was it?" Discord asked. "You looked like you were having quite a lot of fun."

"I was. This is, like, the best party I've ever been to. Everyone was having such a good time. Why weren't any of my parties even half as much fun?"

"Because, for ponies, laughing with somepony generates more happiness than laughing at somepony. I could get all sciency-wiency and explain why, but your simple mortal mind could never understand the complexities behind it. So you'll just have to trust me that it is so, because I wouldn't lie to you, would I?"

Diamond Tiara's brow scrunched as she pondered this, not quite sure if she believed it or not. For starters, there was one thing that did not make sense if it were so. "Then why do you do what you do? You just laugh at, you don't make everyone laugh," she accused Discord pointedly.

"Ah, but I'm part dragon," Discord said, indicating his more draconic parts. "Dragons don't share."

"Okay then, why didn't anyone tell me it could be like this?"

"Would you have listened if they had, Shiny Rock Head? No? That's what I thought." Discord looked at his arm. "Look at my wrist. Time sure flies when you're not a statue in a boring garden that barely changes from day to day. Couple more things I'm supposed to show you before my time is up and they should be starting to happen just about now. Yeah, that's me, Mr. Chaos, working off a schedule." Discord rolled his eyes. "Pretty sickening, huh?"

With that, Discord booped Tiara on the nose again and tapped himself as well. "Back to really abnormal. Now, let's follow... her." He pointed towards Applejack, who was having a hushed conversation with Big Macintosh. Diamond Tiara watches as Applejack stormed off, leaving Big Mac shaking his head.

Diamond Tiara found herself pulled along in Discord's wake as he followed the farm pony. Out the door and into the orchards they went. It was dark, with much of the night sky obscured by clouds and the ground covered in undisturbed show, yet Applejack seemed to know exactly where she was going. And soon enough, she reached it, a shed on the far side of the orchard.

At the sound of Applejack's approach, the door of the shed opened, allowing light to spill out. The silhouette of a pony stood within the doorway. The shed pony and Applejack greeted each other with a kiss, before retreating inside the shed and closing the door.

"Come on, let's listen in." Discord cupped his hand to his ear and began listening through the door.

"Can't we just look inside?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"And spoil the surprise? I think not," Discord replied. And just to be safe, he tapped the shed, giving it a slight shimmer.

Diamond Tiara gave the shed a test shove with her hoof, but she couldn't pass through it. Sighing, she put an ear to the door as well. Through it, she could hear the ponies within talking. It was muffled, distorted a bit, but Applejack's accent made it clear which one was her.

"Ah just hate hiding this from everyone is all. Ah know some of them suspect something is up. Rarity's been prying with her usual dogged determination and Pinkie's been dropping hints about throwing a big party like they's apples in applebucking season," Applejack said.

"I know this has been rough. Do you think I like hiding it any more than you do, my dear?" the other pony, a stallion by the sound of it, replied. "If it was just you and me, I'd shout it as loud as I could from the highest building in town. I'd put an advertisement in all the papers. I'd get the best seats in the house for a play and sit proudly beside you, hoof in hoof. But it isn't just us."

"Ah know. But Ah don't know how much longer Ah can keep going like this." Silence from within the shed for a bit, before Applejack continued. "My brother almost demanded to know what was going on. Ah'm going to have to start telling ponies something soon. Ah won't... Ah can't lie to them. That's just not who Ah am."

"I know, and it is part of what I love about you. But Tiara... How would she react? I have to think of her first."

Shock raced through Diamond Tiara at the mention of her name. The pony that Applejack has sneaked off to see was her father? Of all the scenarios she might have imagined seeing on this night, never in a thousand years would this one have crossed her mind.

"Ah know she's your daughter, sugarcube, and that you'd do anything for her. Ah feel the same way about my family. But you deserve some happiness too."

Both parties inside the shed were silent, though Diamond Tiara could hear them shifting around slightly, next to each other. The silence continued for a few more minutes before her father spoke again. "I pulled some strings to get her made the director of this year's pageant, you know. I'd hoped that it would lead her to make some friends, to start living again."

"It could still happen. It is Hearth's Warming, after all. If a miracle could happen, this is the time for it," Applejack said, though the tone of her voice made it obviously how likely she considered that. And that was the last that was said within the shed for a while.

Gently, Discord pulled Diamond Tiara away from the shed. "Come," he said. "There is one more thing I have to show you."

"My dad. Applejack. How? When? How could he?" Diamond Tiara asked. She had never considered that, since her mother's death, her father might be interested in any other pony. Parents are supposed to be immortal and unchanging, as reliable as the sun. And for her father to be interested in an Apple, well, that was even more unthinkable.

"It surprises you? They've got quite a bit in common, you know. They both value a good day's work and a well run business. They've known each other for years, been there when the other suffered the worst day in their life. And the families have known each other for three generations now. So, sure, he's a little bit older than her, but I've seen far larger age gaps work." Discord paused and critically eyed Diamond Tiara. "Or is just that it is your father and an Apple? Do you dislike them that much that you would deny your father happiness?"

Diamond Tiara ignored the question, unwilling to deal with something of that magnitude just yet.. "When did it start?"

"After Silver Spoon's funeral. Death tends to make people reflect, especially if it was sudden and unexpected. He'd gone to visit your mother's grave, while she'd gone to visit that of her parents. They wound up talking, sharing grief, then sharing memories."

"That long ago? But why hide it?"

"Because you were in such pain. He didn't want to add this on top of everything else you were feeling. So they decided to wait on making it public until you were better, until you were happy again. Of course, that moment never came, did it? Silly ponies, waiting for change instead of making it happen."

"Why?"

"Why are they dating? Well, you see, when a pony and a--" Discord started to explain, before Diamond Tiara cut him off.

"No, why are you doing this? You're Discord. Okay, you're bored with being a statue, I get that. But why all this?"

Discord stopped walking. "Allow me to demonstrate."

He raised his hand and from the ground a single link of chain arose. "This is a single pony, all by itself." He gave it a tap with his foot. "What happened?"

Diamond Tiara was unsure what exactly she was supposed to see. "It... fell?"

"Yup, it fell. Just it, nothing else. Pretty boring. Now, say we have more than one pony." With a flourish, nine more links rose from the ground, joining the first, all standing on an end, forming a circle. Again, he knocked the first one over with his foot. He looked at her expectantly.

"Okay, they all fell this time."

"Right, I knocked one over and lots of things happened. Less boring. And what happens if one gets back up?" He reached down and lifted one so that it stood up once more, causing all the others to wind up standing back up as well. "Nothing stands alone. It is all a giant pattern, all intertwined. What touches one part touches the whole. Like a stone thrown in a lake causes ripples that reach the far shore. Why do you think I love chaos so much? I change one thing and then everything around it changes as it reacts to what I did. Endless variety and wonder, each time I make a change. Nothing approaches it. You see?"

Diamond Tiara nodded. "Whatever planned this night wants ponies to interact because it makes us stronger. And you, you're fine with this, because it means what affects one pony affects all."

"Indeed. It works for them, it works for me eventually. Win-win. Not as good as a simple I win, but the best I can do for now. So I help set things up."

Discord brushed the air with his hands, and snow flew away from a patch of ground. He extended his hands, spreading out his hands as far as possible, and pulled them up. Chain links rose from the ground, standing unattached as if dominoes, forming the outline of a head. Hers, Diamond Tiara, realized. Even the colors were there, for the links of chain were made of diamonds that matched the color of her coat and mane.

"And later, I'm going to knock them down." With a grin, Discord bent over and selected a single link. Gently, he breathed on it, causing it to fall over. When it did, it knocked over the next link, which knocked over the next, each time with a soft tink sound. At certain points, a link falling over caused two links to fall. In others, multiple links would work together to knock over a single one. New patterns formed and disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Ultimately, they ceased knocking each over, and the links left standing spelled a word: Chaos.

"Glorious, isn't it?" Discord asked. Without giving Diamond Tiara an opportunity to answer, he continued, "Now, let's move on, places to be." With a snap of his fingers, the ground was as it had been before his demonstration, and he resumed his walk.

Back to Ponyville the pair walked, Discord happily talking about whatever struck his fancy, with a pensive Diamond Tiara walking at his side. Upon re-entering the town, Discord once again occupied himself making what little change he was allowed to make, while leading onward into the poorer parts of town, the parts Diamond Tiara avoided. At last, he stopped before a poor specimen of a house.

It was not that it was ill kept that made this house such a poor specimen. As far as maintenance went, it exceeded that of its nearby fellows. Nor was it that its front yard was a mess consisting of an uncut lawn, a weed filled garden, and an old wagon up on blocks. No, the house was well maintained, and the yard the best kept in the entire block. What made the house stand out was its size, or rather the lack therefore. Of all the houses Diamond Tiara had seen in her young life, she had never seen one so narrow. It seemed to be barely wider than its door.

"Why are we stopping here?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Because this" --Discord swept his arms wide toward the narrow house with a flourish-- "is our destination," replied Discord.

"But surely I don't know anyone that would live in such a place. What is the connection?"

"Have you thought that perhaps the importance is in that there is no connection, but that perhaps there should be?" He gave her a little bit of time to ponder that. "Or perhaps, there is a connection, just not one you are aware of. And here she comes now."

Scootaloo walked towards them, apparently heading home from the party. Stopping in front of the house, she glanced over her shoulder. Satisfied that no pony she knew was following her, she slipped up the path and into the house.

Before this night, the knowledge that Scootaloo lived in a place like this would have filled Diamond Tiara with elation, and she would have reveled into using the knowledge to embarrass the pegasus as soon as possible. After the strange happenings of the night so far and the party, tonight she was merely curious as to the life of her classmate, wondering what else she did not know.

"Come on. Or else we're going to miss all of the good stuff," Discord said. He skated towards Diamond Tiara and picked her up with a twirl, sliding toward the door. A split jump later and they were through the door and inside.

Once inside, Diamond Tiara could see that the house's outside was not a clever disguise, magically larger on the inside than the outside. The inside was narrow, with a narrow stairway leading up to a second floor, a hallway barely wide enough to allow one pony to pass through, and room that was barely the size of her bedroom. The room contained a cramped kitchen area, a bar, and a living area. A small tree occupied one corner, with a pile of presents that was to scale, both in quantity and size. That left barely any room for the dining table with six chairs, upon three of which sat Scootaloo and her parents.

"How was the party?" Scootaloo's mom asked.

"Great," Scootaloo said and launched into a recounting of the events of the night. Diamond Tiara listened as Scootaloo somehow made the party sound even better than it had been. Discord though just yawned.

"Okay, maybe we wouldn't have missed any good stuff. Party talk? Bah, we were there, remember? Let's go snoop instead," Discord said. Out of the dining area and into the hall he went, stopping in front of a door under the stairs. "I betcha this is a pantry. Maybe they have some chocolate milk in there. Although it would spoil if not kept cold, so maybe not. Well, there's no harm in checking, is there?" And with that, he stuck his head through the door.

"Ooh, this is so much better. You have got to see this, shiny headpiece. It's a bedroom. They have turned this closet into a tiny bedroom. There is barely even room for anything besides the bed and a picture of Rainbow Dash on the wall, and get this, it is signed," Discord said.

He pulled his head back through the door. "You know, that rainbow one was a real buzzkill. You'd figure with a mane with a variety of colors and her love of practical jokes, she'd be a blast, up for all sorts of things. But nope, friends this, loyalty that, must save home. But here I go, talking my head off again." From up on the stairway, Discord's arms reached down and grabbed his head, reattaching it to his neck. "Let's see what's up here!"

Discord's tail wrapped itself around Diamond Tiara and pulled her up the narrow stairs behind him. At the top, there was a short hallway, with three doorways. Straight ahead, an open door revealed a bathroom. Diamond Tiara could see that, like every other room in the house so far, it was small and felt rather crowded. The other two doors, one to the left, the other to the right, were both closed. Diamond Tiara was swung through the air as Discord faced first one and the other, trying to decide which one to go for.

"Oh, I know," Discord said. Diamond Tiara suddenly found herself thrown up in the air, spinning end over end, before landing solidly on her rump.

"Ouch!"

"Tails it is," Discord exclaimed, sweeping Tiara up in his arms and heading for the door on the right. Once there, he shoved the forward half of Diamond Tiara through the door and stuck his own head through as well.

Diamond Tiara found herself looking into a bedroom. There was barely enough light to see by, coming in from the street lamps outside through the thin curtains that covered a window. A bunk bed stood along one wall and a dresser along another. A few toys lay scattered on the floor, mostly the type colts would play with and all well used. Turning her attention back to the bunk bed, Diamond Tiara counted three ponies, the largest one on the top bunk and two smaller ones sharing the bottom.

"I never knew Scootaloo had three brothers," Diamond Tiara said.

"No reason you should. After all, when is the last time you truly tried to talk to her? And what reason would she have to tell you anything? Or even others, since then the information might wind up back in your hooves?" Discord asked. "You haven't only cut yourself off from others, but succeeded in cutting others off from each other as well. Quite the list of achievements for one so young."

Silence was the only answer Diamond Tiara could give. Downstairs, She could hear Scootaloo telling her parents good night and the closing of her bedroom door. The stairs creaked as the parents headed upstairs.

Discord yawned. "Bored in this room. Time for a new location," Discord said, as he backed out into the hallway. Discord lifted Diamond Tiara up and down a few times. "Okay, ready? Try to land on your head this time," Discord said.

"What? No!"

"Oh, you're no fun," Discord pouted. "Fine, have it your way," Discord said and dropped Diamond Tiara. Together, the duo followed Scootaloo's parents into the room at the other end of the hall.

"So what do you think?" Scootaloo's father asked.

"To be honest, I don't know. On one hoof, that job offer would be a dream come true, for both of us. It is the type of job we've always wanted; we could work together, and we'd be able to afford a larger place. But on the other..." Scootaloo's mother let the last word dangling.

The father nodded. "It would require moving to Cloudsdale. And with Scootaloo's condition, at her age, that would be a real problem. Plus it would mean she would have to leave her friends behind."

"If only we could find another place in town for her to stay. Cloudsdale is close by. We could visit on our day's off. I'd ask my cousin, but you know they have their hands full right now."

"Maybe she could stay with one of--"

"You need to go," Discord said, as Scootaloo's parents continued their conversation. "Our time is up. Almost time to turn you over the last. You were pleasant company, for a pony. Come see me sometime. I'll be playing in Canterlot all millenium." Discord bent down and gently rubbed Diamond Tiara's mane. "Best of luck, silly filly." Discord snapped his fingers, and Diamond Tiara disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Well, time to resume my gnomely duties," Discord said. And then he was gone as well.

Verse 4 - The Spirit of Hearth's Warming Future

Diamond Tiara stood upon a hill in the Ponyville graveyard. She shivered in the chill night air as the belltower start to chime the hour. With the sound of the second bell, the snow around her swirled up into the air, as if lifted by a mighty gust of wind. A howling that sounded like what would come from the throat of the worst beast in Tartarus assaulted her ears.

Looking in the direction of the sound, eyes wide, Diamond Tiara stood frozen as an immense serpentine column of black smoke slithered up the hill. Its horned head was locked upon her, never wavering, even as it shifted from side to side. She wanted desperately to turn and run, but there was something about the serpent's green glowing eyes that held her in place, that made her too heavy with dread to be able to move.

As it drew closer, she could make out more of the face and she could swear that it bore an evil grin and that, had it forelegs, it would have been rubbing them in eager anticipation. Upon reaching the top, it circled Diamond Tiara once, and then again, more slowly. Inspection completed, smoke still coiled around the filly, it swayed before Diamond Tiara.

Never in all of her life had Diamond Tiara been so scared. She had thought she had known as much fear as was possible when Silver Spoon had come out of the painting and again when she had faced down Nightmare Moon, but she knew now that this was not so. Both of those events at once might have added up to the terror she felt now; her heart thumped inside her chest so hard she feared it might explode. It took a few minutes before she realized that nothing was happening, that the unicorn serpent smoke thing was just swaying there, waiting.

"Are... are you the third spirit?" she finally dared to ask.

The head bobbed and hissed, "Yes."

"You won't hurt me?" Diamond Tiara asked. From the spirit, there was no answer, no promise of safety. It just swayed, savoring her fear.

It took another minute before Diamond Tiara could gather her courage enough to speak again. "I don't think you will, not physically anyway. I know you're here to help me, to show me things I need to see. I've seen the past. I've seen the present. I want to change. Show me then, spirit, what I must see."

Another nod and a wicked grin, and the serpent began once again to circle around Diamond Tiara. Slow at first, but each loop faster than the one before. Soon, it was a blur and Tiara could feel her mane and tail rise into the air. She screamed as the wind swept her up and she was spun around the vortex. The screams did not stop until she found herself stumbling dizzily upon the same hilltop.

It was daytime, though the sun was hidden behind thick clouds. Rain poured down and there was no snow on the ground, neither here on the hilltop or down below. She had visited the past, she had seen the present. This then must be the future, she reckoned. She looked at the spirit and gestured for it to lead on.

And lead on it did. The spirit rushed down the hill at a rapid pace, forcing Diamond Tiara to run to keep pace. Whereas before it had been more of a serpentine column of smoke, this time the spirit was a billowing cloud, a broad front sweeping across the landscape. Around her, what little wildlife was active on this rainy night went silent, as if they could sense this unwelcome visitor, invisible to normal sense though it was, such was its aura of dread.

The cloud slowed and began to collapse, ultimately leaving an armored grey unicorn stallion, with black mane and tail, standing beside Diamond Tiara. "No friends," the spirit rasped. He raised a forehoof and pointed ahead, where a preacher rushed through his duties to a crowd of one, a solitary bored pony holding a shovel.

"Is this what I am to see? A pony so disliked that nopony showed up for her funeral? One for whom the weather team did not even leave a patch of sky cloud free? If I continue on my path, that my fate could be like this poor soul?"

From the spirit, there was no answer. He stood still, watching Diamond Tiara, devouring her every gesture, her every facial expression with his eyes.

"Gah!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed, tired of the spirit's lack of communication. "I'll tell you what I believe. No pony could be so alone. Somepony must regret her passing. Show me that pony, spirit."

In response, the unicorn's body fell away into the shadowy cloud, attached to his head. The snakelike being began to circle around Diamond Tiara, making her stomach clench in dread.

"Surely there must be a better way to travel?" Diamond Tiara pleaded.

The spirit nodded affirmatively, but he did not cease his encirclement. And then he laughed. The malice in the laugh resonated through Diamond Tiara, seemingly without end, from all sides as the spirit continued to circle. She wished she could find a place to hide from it, to curl into the smallest ball possible within that hidden place, but she was stuck within the cyclone. Again, she screamed in fright as she was lifted off her feet and spun around with reckless abandon.

The turbulent ride ended when Diamond Tiara was flung against a wall with a bone jarring thump. Rubbing her shoulder, she glared at the spirit, unicorn once again, for a couple of seconds, before taking in her surroundings. She recognized the room from previous visits here with her father. It was the Apple's kitchen. Things were not quite as they had been though. Whereas before everything had been neat and tidy, now it was unkempt. Some unwashed pots, dishes, and cutlery sat next to the sink, the countertop was grimy, and a box of moldy apples sat on the floor.

The scraping of a chair across the floor pulled Diamond Tiara's attention to the living room table as Applejack stumbled toward a cupboard, bottle in mouth. Her hat lay on the table. Like the kitchen, it was considerably worse condition than Diamond Tiara was used to seeing it. In that, it mirrored its owner. Applejack's tail and mane were matted and knotted, while her eyes were bloodshot. Diamond Tiara watched as Applejack stumbled back to the table with a fresh bottle of alcohol.

"The deceased must really have been a good friend of Applejack's, for her to be so torn up, unable to even bring herself to go to the funeral. Was it Twilight Sparkle? Her brother? Or... Apple Bloom?" Diamond Tiara asked. "But surely if it was one of them, more people would have shown up. Her cooky old granny then?"

The spirit just threw back his head and laughed.

The door opened as Applejack busied herself opening the bottle. Big Macintosh entered as she spit the cork out and poured herself a glass, only to shove the glass away and drink directly from the bottle. At the sight, Big Macintosh shook his head and made a half-hearted attempt to grab the bottle. Applejack would have none of it and roughly shoved his foreleg away.

"Sis, you've got to stop this drinking," Big Mac pleaded. "Apple Bloom is worried sick about you and it is affecting her school work. And me, I need you. I can't run this farm by my lonesome." Seeing his words fall on deaf ears, he tried again. "Where is my sister who was so strong when our parents... who wouldn't let me quit?"

"Leave me alone," she slurred and took another swig from the bottle. "You take care of it. Your turn to be the strong one."

Diamond Tiara had never seen Big Macintosh angry before. The stallion was usually calm, stoic, and careful with his great strength. Not this time though. The table cracked as he slammed his forehooves down upon it. "Damnit. You need to quit obsessing over this. It was a year ago. There was nothing you or anyone else could have done. Everyone knows that. Let it--"

The bottle went spinning past his head, shattering upon contact with the wall, as Applejack slammed her own forehooves onto the table. If an angry Big Mac was a sight, it was one that paled in comparison to an angry, drunken Applejack. That sight would have sent the orniest dragon fleeing the area, nay, the country, for his life, without so much as a thought for his horde.

"Nothing?" she roared. "How do you know that? Were you there? Were you me?" With each question, she slammed her hoof into his chest. "Don't you get it? Do you want the truth? 'Cause here it is: Ah could have saved her, Mac! Ah could have. But Ah hesitated, for just a second. Had it been one of my friends, Ah'd saved them for sure. Had it been a complete stranger, Ah'd a done saved them."

Applejack sighed and sat back down, picking up the glass she had poured earlier and downing it in a single gulp. She continued, softly, "But it weren't no stranger.. It was her. And so it took me just a split second to decide if'n Ah wanted to save her. Too late. Ah let her die, Mac. It was my fault."

Big Mac moved over to his sister, his anger gone. She threw her hooves around him, resting her neck on his shoulders, and sobbed, all the while repeating "My fault, my fault."

Aghast at seeing the unflappable Applejack reduce to this, Diamond Tiara turned to the spirit. "Spirit, let us depart this place. This is not what I asked for. You warp my words. This is not what I meant by regret. I meant somepony who missed her, someone who cared. Surely there is somepony who misses her?"

"Oh yes," the unicorn hissed, his body already dissolving into smoke and beginning to circle. Diamond Tiara swore to herself that she would not scream this time, but when the moment came and her feet left the earth, her screams joined the screeching of the wind and the mocking laughter of the spirit.

Diamond Tiara shook off the dizziness and attempted to get to her feet, only to slam her head against a wooden surface. Grumbling, she clambered out from under a desk. She found she could see, but not too well. The lamp sitting on the desk was small and on its lowest setting. The desk itself was the type of thing she expected to find in the offices of her father's stores, cheap business furniture. A quick glance around the rest of the room confirmed her suspicion that this was an office in the back of a store, though it was missing the office chair that usually went with such a room. The landscape outside the office's sole exterior window though wasn't Ponyville, but rather the skyline of Canterlot, lights shining against the night's dark.

"What is it I am to see here, spirit? I see no pony," Diamond Tiara said.

Her companion placed his hoof upon a paper that lay upon the center of the desk. Taking this to mean she was to read it, Diamond Tiara moved closer, so that she could make out the letters in pale light. The writing was sloppy, somehow betraying a world weariness on behalf of its author, and a few words were scribbled out. Squinting, she began to read.

To whomever:

Some will say that I have taken the coward's way out. I would not disagree.

In my life, I have had four loves. It took the loss of three of them to show me the fourth did not matter. And so I have nothing left to love, nothing left to live for.

The first, I still remember the first day I saw her, hair blowing in the wind. I knew then and there that she was the mare for me. We were so happy, life was so full of potential and then she was taken from me by tragic happenstance.

Before she died though, she had given me a most precious gift. I should have smothered that gift in all the love I could give, but to look upon her reminded me of my loss. And so I focused on my work, telling myself that I was doing it all to create a legacy for my child. But the truth was that I was coward.

It was through work that I met the last love of my life. But where I hid from my foal behind my work, I hid from this last love behind my foal. Again, the coward. I hid from life, thinking that would keep me safe.

And then that day, I lost both, in

The sentence stopped there, as if the author could not bear to describe that day. Or perhaps he tried to find the words, but ultimately come up empty. One last line was written near the bottom of the page.

They say nopony should outlive their foal. I agree.

There was no signature.

Diamond Tiara turned to the spirit, who was eying her intently. "Tell me, spirit, where is the poor soul who wrote this note?" she asked.

Green waves emanated from the spirit's eyes and his horn glowed. Through the window in the door, she could make out the storeroom, thanks to a sickly green glow. Diamond Tiara scooted back against the wall at the sight of the outline of a pony, gently swinging.

The glow faded and the spirit cackled. Anger surged through Diamond Tiara. This spirit did mock her, did play with her, and it would not be tolerated. She rushed at him and swung, but he easily avoided her blow and shoved her to the ground, pinning her. And all the while, the spirit cackled, enjoying her misery.

Diamond Tiara struggled to get free, but could make no headway against the spirit who held her. At last, she gave up the struggle. "Again you have twisted what I asked for for your own wicked amusement. But I refuse to believe that nopony was touched in a good way by the pony at the burial. Everypony makes someone happy. Show me someone she made happy."

From the glee in the spirit's eyes, Diamond Tiara knew that this too would not turn out how she hoped. She called out for the spirit to stop, that she had changed her mind, but it was too late. The spirit was in motion and had no desire to stop. Diamond Tiara cried out as once again she was picked up within the cyclone, this time passing out.

She regained consciousness to find herself laying upon a bullseye painted on a wooden floor. She knew this place, she realized, as she sat up. And indeed, she did, for it had briefly been the treehouse of the Sugar Lump Gang, before it had reverted to its previous ownership of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. And those three fillies were here, looking as happy as they had been at the party.

Diamond Tiara turned smugly to the spirit, hope restored. "Hah," she said. "This is what I'm talking about. Nothing gets these three down for long." She paused for a bit. "That always used to infuriate me so much, but now, how I wish I could join them, to always look forward to what the next day might bring. For all their lack of common sense and folly, there is not a regretful bone within them. So what did she do? Did she help them on their never ending crusade? Or maybe she helped Scootaloo's parent with their problem?"

Seeing the spirit smirk, Diamond Tiara knew she was on the right track. "That's it, isn't it? Did she give Scootaloo's parents a job? Or did she offer Scootaloo a place to stay?"

"Yes," the spirit answered, the smirk growing to a smile.

"Which is it?" Diamond Tiara answered, only to grow frustrated as the spirit quietly chuckled. Pouting, she settled in to listen. The spirit had brought her here to see someone made happy. No doubt the answer of how would be forthcoming. She turned her attention to the three fillies.

"You excited, Scootaloo?" Apple Bloom asked.

Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah. The new house is so awesome. You should see my room, it is big. Bigger than big. Ginormous."

"Really?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Yup. You guys will have to come over and see it. My parents say I can repaint it any color I like. It is going to be so awesome."

"Cutie Mark Crusader Sleepover and Painting Party!" Apple Bloom said.

"My brothers each get their own room as well. And with my mom and dad's new job as the house's caretakers, they'll be able to buy me that new scooter I've been wanting."

"Your big brother must be loving that," Apple Bloom said. "After sharing one bedroom with the twins for so long."

"Yeah, he's super excited, almost as excited as me," Scootaloo said. "Oh, and you should see the stairs. It has an awesome railing that is so much fun to slide down."

"Stairs," the spirit chuckled, amused by the word for some reason that Diamond Tiara could not fathom. "Stairs," he said again, clearly relishing the word, before breaking into insane laughter.

"Quiet!" Diamond Tiara yelled at the spirit. "I want to hear what other nice things the mare did for Scootaloo's family. Clearly she did some good in her life."

The spirit laughed again, not the crazy laughter of just before, but a harsh, mocking sound, though thankfully short in duration. For the first time, he said more than a word or two. "Oh yes. Just listen."

"Who would have thought that she could do something so nice," Apple Bloom said.

"Yup, and all she had to do was die. I kind of feel bad for saying this, but I sort of wish she'd died years ago."

"Well," Apple Bloom said, looking sort of ashamed for what she was about to say, "we've all thought that plenty." There was a moment of shocked silence, before all three fillies laughed.

"It is sort of sad though," Sweetie Belle said once the laughter died down.

"What is?" Scootaloo asked.

"I heard that nopony even showed up for her funeral. At least that's what my sister said. She heard it from Paint Pallet who heard it from the gravedigger firsthoof," Sweetie Belle said, unconsciously imitating how her sister gossiped.

"Enough, spirit! Yet again you have twisted everything" Diamond Tiara said, causing the spirit to cackle. When he subsided, she continued, "Take me back to the graveyard. If no pony else will mourn this poor unfortunate, I will. Nopony deserves to be so alone."

"It will be... my pleasure," the spirit replied.

Diamond Tiara clenched her eyes shut, waiting with dread for the moment when the wind began to pick up. When it did not come, she opened her eyes to find a pillar of smoke before her. She followed the pillar up to find the head swaying above her, snake-like. The moment her eyes made contact, the head shot down, mouth opening impossibly wide. Diamond Tiara screamed in terror as the spirit's mouth grabbed her, tossed her into the air, and gulped her down in a single bite.

Diamond Tiara rolled down what felt like a pipe, only to land on soggy grass. Looking around, she could see that she was back within site of the grave, with the spirit beside her. The service seemed to be over, for the minister was rushing off, determined to get out from under the rain.

"Thanks, I guess," she offered the spirit for sparing her the cyclone, though this method of travel wasn't much better.

"Pleasure," the spirit said, apparently back to rationing every word.

Diamond Tiara got to her feet and walked over to the grave, her hooves sinking into the mushy earth, even though she left no tracks. Likewise, she found herself drenched, even as the rain fell unimpeded upon the ground below her. Behind her, the spirit billowed, still a cloud of shadowy smoke other than his head, rather than assuming his corporeal form.

Closer and closer to the grave she got, until at last she could read the writing through the rain.

Diamond Tiara

Diamond Tiara struggled to breath, but felt as if she had been punched in the gut.

"No, not me. Tell me that this is not so. That this is some mistake," Diamond Tiara pleaded, turning to face the spirit. The spirit shook his head. "But this is the future. It hasn't happened yet. I'll change. I'll make sure this does not come to pass. That is what all this was far, right?"

The spirit changed, becoming larger, the green glow of its eyes flaming out to the side. As it advanced upon her, Diamond Tiara took an involuntary step backwards, then another. From behind her, she could hear a strange scraping sound. Realization dawned that she was backing toward her grave, and she tried to dodge to the side, only to find her way blocked by a tendril of shadowy smoke. She lashed out with a foreleg and screamed in pain as green crystals sprouted from the leg wherever it had made contact with the smoke. Eyes wide with fear, she attempted to duck to the sides, only to find that whichever way she attempted to escape was quickly blocked by a tendril of smoky doom. Step by step, she was forced backwards.

"Please," she pleaded, as the sound grew louder.

"Chains..." the spirit said, as the scraping, rustling sound grew more intense.

"Chains?" Diamond Tiara asked, her puzzlement momentarily breaking past the fear and pain. She cast a glance over her shoulder and screamed.

Chains hovered in the air behind her, reaching up out of the grave. Each link of the chains was made of diamond and each ended in a diamond shackle. As if they had been waiting for her to see them, they reached toward Diamond Tiara. With renewed desperation, she tried to dodge from side to side, to escape, but each time found her path blocked by the vile smoke. Renewed laughter mocked her every attempt.

A large bell tolled, so loud that her bones felt the vibration, and Diamond Tiara felt a tug on one of her legs as one of the shackles shut. In rapid succession, the bell tolled again and again. And with each toll, another shackle was in place, around her legs and around her neck. She screamed as she was jerked off her feet, the chains dragging her toward her waiting grave.

"Please. I'll make friends. I'll be good," she pleaded, but the spirit just continued his laughter, as the chains unrelentingly pulled her backwards.

"Dad? Daddy, save me! Daddy! Daddyyyy!" she screamed as she was pulled over the edge and plummeted down into the blackness.

Verse 5 - A New Path

"Iiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Diamond Tiara screamed, as her father slammed against the door one last time, shattering the door jamb as he burst into her bedroom. He scanned the room, looking for some threat to his daughter, some monster that might explain her screaming, but found nothing more than his daughter clenching the sheets.

"There, there, princess. It is okay. It was only a bad dream," Filthy Rich said, embracing his daughter. He rocked her gently, holding her while she sobbed on his shoulder, until at last she calmed down.

Softly, she brushed her hooves along her body. "I'm alive. Unchained. There's time," Diamond Tiara whispered.

"Want to tell me what the nightmare was about, munchkin?" her father coaxed.

"It wasn't a nightmare, daddy. Well, part of it was the Nightmare, but that doesn't matter," Diamond Tiara said to her father. "There's time, daddy. I can change. I can be better. I can make friends."

She threw her forelegs around her father and gave him a quick squeeze. She rolled out of her bed and threw open the curtains by the window., letting the sunshine flood in. "Isn't it a wonderful day, daddy? Happy Hearth's Warming!"

She rushed over to the cabinet and gave her mane a quick brushing, before dashing out of the room, almost forgetting her tiara. Behind her, she left her perplexed father.

"Um, Tiara... when did you repaint your room?" he called after her.

Diamond Tiara skidded to halt. "No time to explain, daddy. Will tell you later though you'll never believe it anyway. Right now, got things that need doing. See you at the play. I'll make sure they save you a very special spot."

At the stairs, the stairs she had walked so many times that she barely even took notice of them anymore, she did not walk. Instead, she threw herself onto the railing and slid down, squealing with delight, much to the amazement of Praiseworthy. He too got an unexpected hug. At the door, she stopped just long enough to throw on a scarf, the most brightly colored one she could find, and she was off.

Down the streets of Ponyville she wandered. To every passerby she offered a greeting of "Happy Hearth's Warming!" She complimented them on their dress. She gave hugs. She even stopped to help a couple of foals make a snowpony.

Reaching her first destination, Diamond Tiara walked up the icy walkway and knocked on the door. The door creaked open, revealing Silver Spoon's mother, Silver Lining.

"Diamond Tiara. We haven't seen you since..." Her voice trailed off.

Diamond Tiara pulled Silver Lining close. "I miss her too. Everyday. I guess that's why I haven't been around here since then. I miss her too much. I'm sorry for that."

Silver Lining wiped away a tear from her eye and hugged Tiara back. The pair stood entwined in silence for a minute, before Silver Lining pulled away. Stepping aside, she said, "I'm sorry, where are my manners? Won't you please come in?"

Diamond Tiara entered, wiping her hooves on the mat.

"Sterling," Silver Lining called out, "We have a guest." She turned to Diamond Tiara and said, "We might have had a break in last night."

"Oh, was anything taken?" Diamond Tiara asked, trying to play innocent.

"I don't think so, just some things moved. LIke this picture, I could have sworn it was over where that one was before we went to bed last night," Sterling Silver answered.

"She probably just moved them last night before she went to bed and didn't remember," Sterling Silver said from the hall's doorway. "I don't think anyone was here, dear. Nothing seems to be missing at any rate. Why don't you invite our guest to the living room? I'll prepare some tea."

"He's probably right, I guess," Silver Lining said as she led Diamond Tiara to the living room, only to stop and point with a hoof. "Sterling!"

"What?" Sterling Silver said gruffly, sticking his head in from the kitchen.

"The package... Sil's gift..."

Diamond Tiara looked at the gift and stifled a gasp. The present Discord had been toying with was no longer cycling through patterns. It had settled on a single one. Quickly, she recovered her composure, hoping no one had noticed.

"What about it?" Sterling Silver asked, intent on the package.

"I always specify silver wrapping. That isn't silver wrapping," Silver Lining said.

"Maybe there was a mix up at the store?" Diamond Tiara suggested helpfully. Gears turned in her head and she had an idea, if she could just make it work. "As a matter of fact, I bet that was it. I think I know just who that is meant for. There's a filly in the play that was telling a story yesterday about a mix up. She probably has your gift. You should come meet her before the play and exchange it with her."

"We weren't planning on going. Don't have tickets or anything," Silver Lining said.

"Don't worry about. I'll arrange it. Consider it a Hearth's Warming Eve present from me," Diamond Tiara said, giving them her cutest, most irresistible look.

Silver Lining started to protest, but Diamond Tiara overrode her protestations. "No, it'll be no bother and I won't take no for an answer. As a matter of fact, I'm going to go take care of it right now."

Diamond Tiara backed out of the room and to the door, all the while overriding any objection the Silvers attempted to make. Once at the door, she browbeat the Silvers into committing to showing up, made it clear how happy she was that they were coming, and then quickly turned and fled the house, before they could think of some new objection.

Pleased with herself, Diamond Tiara found herself humming a Hearth's Eve carol as she pranced down the street, interrupting her humming only to wish ponies well. Those that didn't know her returned her greetings. Those that did were mostly too shocked to immediately reply, but this did not matter to Diamond Tiara.

At the box office, she merrily greeted Time Turner, who was working the box office. His teeth chattered as he replied in kind. She slapped down some bits and paid for a pair of tickets for the Silvers, placing them on will call. Then she raced inside, only to return shortly with a cup of hot chocolate and a blanket. "Wouldn't want the windigoes to get you," she joked, as the thankful stallion sipped the hot drink.

"Thanks!" Time Turner replied. "I'm feeling warmer already."

Another good deed accomplished, Diamond Tiara headed inside, greeting everyone she saw with a merry "Happy Hearth's Warming!" and getting shocked holiday greetings in return. She scrounged up some cardboard and a marker and made a pair of reserved signs. Those she placed upon the seats in the middle of the fifth row, after getting permission from Miss Cheerilee. Then, she talked to the ushers about who the seats were to be saved for.

With a satisfied nod, she returned backstage. She busied herself getting things ready, greeting her performers as they arrived, and always in good cheer. When the Silvers arrived, she asked them to wait off to the side, explaining that the pony in question had not arrived yet. She wound up returning a couple of more times, each time apologizing, saying that the filly should have arrived by now. Finally, Scootaloo entered, trying to sneak in, though without much luck thanks to the parent on either side of her.

Quick as a wink, Diamond Tiara accosted Scootaloo, before she had taken more than couple of steps inside. "You're late," Diamond Tiara accused, beckoning the Silvers over.

"I'm sorry," Scootaloo said from between her parents. "There was, um, things. And then we had to do stuff. And by then, it, well, we got here as fast as we could."

Diamond Tiara glared at Scootaloo for a moment longer, before she could no longer contain herself. She broke into a grin and hugged a dumbstruck Scootaloo. "Quite all right, no harm done. Now, here's some ponies who have been waiting to meet you. Mr. and Mrs. Silver, this is Scootaloo, the pony I was telling you about. Scootaloo, Mr. and Mrs. Silver. Sil's parents. I think they've got a little something for you."

"Ah, um, yes. I believe this is yours," Sterling Silver said, extending the present to Scootaloo.

Scootaloo stood puzzled as to why a pair of strangers were offering her a present until Diamond Tiara nudged her. Taking the present, Scootaloo examined it, the white paper decorated with red wheels, wheels with wings.

"See? It is meant for you, Scootaloo," Diamond Tiara coaxed. "Go ahead and open it."

Scootaloo looked at Diamond Tiara curiously. If it came to Diamond Tiara, it was usually a good idea to look a gift horse in the mouth, as far as Scootaloo was concerned. Still, with four adults, including her parents right here, if it was one of Diamond Tiara's pranks, she'd have a hard time getting away with it. And if it was not, well, the present was bigger than any of the small presents awaiting her at home.

Scootaloo looked at her parents. "Can I?" With her mom's nod of permission, she tore off the wrapping paper, revealing a cardboard box. Opening the lid, she gasped with joy, pulling out a helmet. Not the safety type of helm, but one in the style of the pegasi military of old, completely with a crest. The crest was not solid color, nor the color of Scootaloo's mane. Instead, it was all the colors of the rainbow. Scootaloo hastily tried on the helm, grinning happily.

Diamond Tiara was taken aback for a second. She had figured that the gift was meant for Scootaloo, but had not imagined that it would be this. Still, the events of last night had been strange enough that she had gotten used to recovering from shocks, and as far as shocks went, this one was fairly minor compared to those.

"That'll be perfect for tonight, don't you think? You'll be just like Rainbow Dash when she played Commander Hurricane. And speaking of that, you should go get on your costume. Plus there's a mirror in the dressing room..." Diamond Tiara said.

Scootaloo ceased trying to see her reflection on the door knob. She took a step, before her father cleared his throat. Blushing, she stopped, grabbed first Sterling Silver's hoof and shook it rapidly, and then repeated the process with Silver Lining, all the while spouting a non-stop stream of thank yous. That done, she tackle hugged both of her parents and once and raced off.

"Now then, Diamond, you said--" Silver Lining started, but Diamond Tiara cut her off.

"She sure looks happy, doesn't she? A perfect fit too. I bet it has been a while since you've seen that much joy," Diamond Tiara said to the adults, as she pushed them out the door. "And speaking of her, I think the four of you should have a talk about your daughters."

At the perplexed looks on the faces of the adults, she continued. "Trust me. Call it serendipity, call it luck, call it fate. Whatever. This is meant to be. Now, I've got to go, more things to take care of." With a solid click, the door shut. For good measure, Diamond Tiara locked it, leaving the adults no choice but start talking with each other about what just happened and what in the world she meant. The ball set in motion by the likes of Discord, of all beings, she had no doubt it would turn out fine.

Looking around the backstage area, Diamond Tiara set her sights on her next goal. That goal stood by the edge of the curtain, peeking out at the crowd. She walked over and peeked out as well.

"Sure are lots of them, huh, Sweetie Belle?" she asked.

"Ye-yeah," Sweetie Belle stuttered nervously.

"Relax, you'll do fine. You performed before a big crowd at the talent show, remember?" Diamond Tiara said.

"But I was just a stagehand for that," Sweetie Belle protested. "Scootaloo did most of the singing. This time everyone will be looking at me." She subconsciously tried to make herself smaller.

Diamond Tiara rubbed her chin with her hoof. She smiled and pulled Sweetie Belle close. "I got it. I read this in a magazine. What I want you to do, Sweetie, is imagine the audience clothed."

"Clothed?"

"Fully clothed. In your sister's silliest designs. Big feathers! Long scarves! Fancy hats!" Each item listed was embellished with an over the top gesture, the type Diamond Tiara knew Rarity was prone to making, drawing a giggle from Sweetie Belle.

"Okay, I'll give it a try," Sweetie Belle said, still sounding unsure of herself. She turned to assume her place on stage, but Diamond Tiara stopped her. She reached up and removed the cardboard crown from Sweetie Belle's head, tossing it aside.

"A princess needs a proper crown. I want you to wear this." Diamond Tiara said, as she took her tiara and placed it carefully on Sweetie Belle's head.

"Your tiara?" Sweetie Belle squeaked.

"Only the best for my Princess Platinum," Diamond Tiara said to the stunned Sweetie Belle. "Just for the show, of course. I'll be wanting it back afterwards. It was my grandmother's."

"I'll take good care of it, I promise. Not a scratch." Sweetie Belle bounced happily off toward her position.

"Not a scratch, right? You promise?" Tiara called after Sweetie Belle.

"Uh-huh," Sweetie replied.

Another item completed on her mental checklist, leaving just two things left to do. She reared her up on her rear legs and looked around the backstage area, but failed to find either of the two ponies she was looking for. She did draw the attention of Miss Cheerilee though, who walked over to her.

"Almost ready?" Miss Cheerilee asked. "It is almost time."

"Five more minutes. There's one more thing I need to take care of, then we'll be good to go," Diamond Tiara replied.

She dropped back down to all fours and went to the dressing room, where Twist was helping Apple Bloom into her costume.

"Oh no, this won't do. This won't do at all," Diamond Tiara said, shaking her head sadly.

"Ah'm sorry," Apple Bloom said, "but the costume just don't fit me right."

"Well then, we'll just have to, like, fix that won't we?" Diamond Tiara looked Apple Bloom over, then Twist. "I know, what if we have Twist play Smart Cookie and you be the announcer, Apple Bloom? Assuming you both still remember the lines?"

Both ponies' faces lit up and they cheered, but the cheer had barely begun before they turned toward Diamond Tiara with a suspicious look on their face.. "Yah really mean it?" Apple Bloom asked.

Diamond Tiara pretended to contemplate, before breaking into a smile. "Yes, I think I do. Swap costumes quickly now, before I change mind."

Pieces of clothing started to fly through the air between the two fillies before she even finished the sentence as they rapidly changed. In no time at all, they were ready. Diamond Tiara adjusted a piece of Twist's costume, then sent her on her way, asking her to shut the door on the way behind her.

Diamond Tiara looked at Apple Bloom, who wilted under her gaze. With a sigh, Diamond Tiara began, "There's no easy way to do this, so I'll just say it: I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

"I'm sorry. I've been mean to you ever since my mother died. I guess I was hurting so bad that I needed someone to blame, and I picked you. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair to you. And for that I'm sorry. I hope you can forgive me."

Diamond Tiara looked expectantly at Apple Bloom, who just stared back with a blank gaze.

"It's okay. I understand. All those years... All those wasted years..." Diamond Tiara said sadly, as she turned toward the door.

"Wait."

Diamond Tiara turned to look hopefully at Apple Bloom.

"You really mean it?" Apple Bloom asked.

"For real-real. I want us to go back to how we were when we were young and my father would drop me off to play."

"You mean like sisters?"

"Well, maybe more like niece and really cool young aunt," Diamond Tiara replied mischievously.

"Huh?"

"Yes, like sisters."

Apple Bloom looked at Diamond Tiara, head askew. "This isn't some trick now, is it?"

"If it was a trick, would I do this?" Diamond Tiara reached up and undid the necklace that she had worn since the day of Silver Spoon's funeral. Then, she fastened it around Apple Bloom's neck. "I think Sil would like the idea of it around the neck of a friend of mine once more."

Apple Bloom looked at Diamond Tiara, analyzing. Diamond Tiara squirmed a bit under the gaze, but waited as patiently as possible for Apple Bloom to make her decision. At last she did. "Okay. But I'm not making no promises. We take this thing a day at a time."

"That's all I can ask." Diamond Tiara threw a hug around her new friend, who seemed unsure of what to do with Diamond Tiara's forelegs around her. Tentatively, Apple Bloom returned the hug, loosely at first, then more tightly.

At last, Diamond Tiara broke off the hug and beckoned Apple Bloom toward the door. "I believe we have a show to put on, my friend."

The performance that night was not perfect and the tiara did get a small scratch. The actors were enthusiastic, however, and that more than made up for any imperfections. From the sidelines, Diamond Tiara watched as her classmates performed and the audience enjoyed the show. Silver Spoon and Scootaloo's parents were sitting side by side. And her father? His hoof rested comfortably on top of Applejack's.

There were many other things Diamond Tiara did from that fateful day on, many other lives she touched. She went out of her way to make friends and help others. She even went to Canterlot once a month to read to, of all things, a statue. The only pony who could be said to have more friends than Diamond Tiara was Pinkie Pie, and some would debate even that. No one could be said to be a better friend. When the day of Diamond Tiara's death finally came, after a long and happy life, the entire town of Ponyville attended the funeral, as well as ponies from all over Equestria, brought together one last time a pony who was a friend to all.

Verse 1 - Silver Spoon's Ghost

Silver Spoon was dead and everyone in Ponyville knew it. Truth be told, with all of the events that had happened in Ponyville over the last few years, it was a wonder more ponies had not died unnatural deaths. Fortune had smiled on the town, if that could be said of a town so often in the center of calamitous events. It had only suffered the one loss, but that one loss was of a filly. And so the death of Silver Spoon had been the talk of the town.

Did Diamond Tiara know that Silver Spoon was dead? Yes, she did, even though she had been out of town when it occurred, accompanying her father on a business trip. No pony knew that Silver Spoon was dead more so than Diamond Tiara, other than maybe Silver Spoon's parents, for Diamond Tiara was Silver Spoon's best friend. One could even say that Diamond Tiara was Silver Spoon's only friend, that she had none other, but one should not speak ill of the dead. And so while that would be the truth, I shall not say it.

Silver Spoon had also been Diamond Tiara's only friend. And with Silver Spoon's death, she now had none. I say this because, unlike Silver Spoon, Diamond Tiara was not dead. She was very much alive, at least in the sense that she was a walking, talking, and breathing pony.

Inside, the fire had gone out of her with the death of her friend. Her heart was as cold and hard as a diamond. Even her father's affection, which she so craved before, did nothing to stir the embers. She was without genuine joy, without kindness, without sympathy, and without friends. And if she could have none, then no pony else deserved any either.

It was the day before Hearth's Warming Eve, and Diamond Tiara was at school. Not because school was in session, no, but because it was the final dress rehearsal for the school's rendition of the Hearth's Warming Eve pageant. Each year, one class performed the traditional play. The fillies and colts played the parts. They made the costumes and the sets. They handled the lighting. And one of them directed.

This year, that class was Miss Cheerilee's. And the director? Why that was none other than Diamond Tiara. How had a filly with no friends, who only smiled when she brought misery to others acquired such a key role? Well, it is possible that a influential businesspony had influenced a certain mayor who had in turn influenced a certain school teacher.

And so Diamond Tiara was in charge, and she had done her best to spread as much misery as she could get away with. Where she could, she had picked the worst choices for each role. When Miss Cheerilee had asked if Diamond Tiara was sure about her choices, Diamond Tiara had explained that she was sure they could do it, they just needed to be given the chance. Of course, what she was actually sure of was that they would fail.

Puffs of breath were visible from the ponies within the theater. Occasionally, one would shiver as a gust of cold air passed through the open doors of the building. Whenever one of her fellow ponies complained about the cold, Diamond Tiara would say it was to help the actors get in character, to understand their plight under the assault of the windigoes. The reality was she just liked to see them suffer.

It was for that same reason that this last rehearsal was being held tonight. Diamond Tiara had known that Miss Cheerilee would be busy with her family and so had taken the opportunity to cause some unsupervised mayhem. One last chance to cause misery and insure everything was on course to be a horrible tomorrow.

"Fly higher, Scootaloo, and keep that helm on straight. It keeps slipping," Diamond Tiara called out. "You are Commander Hurricane, not Private Pansy, remember?"

"I'm trying," Scootaloo called back, between gasps of breath, as her ill fitting helm once again slid down covering her eyes. "Gah, stupid helm!" she cried out as she ripped the helm off, sending it spiraling toward the ground. With everypony watching the helm as it bounced, Diamond Tiara smiled and looked for another target.

"Sweetie Belle, you're hiding in the back again. You're a princess. You should be the focus of attention. Just imagine every eye in the place focused on you." Tiara watched with satisfaction as Sweetie Belle shrunk further back. Tomorrow night, Sweetie would no doubt be spectacularly bad. Another one down and on to her current favorite pair of targets.

"Apple Bloom, you need to lose the accent. You are Smart Cookie, not Creamfilled Spongecake. Do try to sound intelligent." As Apple Bloom started to sputter a response, Tiara cut her off. "Ah, yes. Exactly my point.

"Twist, you're the announcer. You need to speak clearly. Haven't you been practicing?" As Twist hid her face in shame, Tiara barely suppressed a laugh.

Two weeks ago, she had swapped Apple Bloom and Twist's roles, the culmination of a month of planning. Since the idea had occurred to her, Diamond Tiara had slowly changed the announcers dialogue bit by bit, adding more sounds that would draw attention to Twist's speech impediment, while priming Cheerilee so that, when the change came, she wouldn't object. The idea had been a stroke of genius and worth every bit of effort.

Rumble took a step toward Diamond Tiara, a scowl on his face, but before he could say anything, she turned on him. "Rumble, Private Pansy. Pansy. Now, I know Scootaloo isn't giving you much to work with, but you need to act meeker." Tiara was pleased as Rumble looked properly flustered, while Scootaloo dropped to the floor, head down, beside her troublesome helmet.

"Truffle Shuffle, you did great as usual. Puddinghead will definitely be the high point of the show this year. If only the others could do as well as you." He blushed under the praise and shuffled his feet, embarrassed to be singled out from all his compatriots, while the others grew gloomier and glowered at Truffle. Even compliments could cause misery, in the skillful hooves of Diamond Tiara.

"And you, Snails. I don't know what we're going to do with you," Tiara said. And that was true. She had picked him for the role of Clover the Clever because he was the least clever foal in the class. However, despite all of her attempts to make him feel worthless, nothing seemed to take; he remained upbeat. Still, she consoled herself, six out of seven was not bad.

She looked over her actors, watched as they squirmed, clearly wanting to ask her something but afraid to do so, afraid to attract attention. She knew what they wanted to ask and it pleased her that they did not do so. "I suppose you all want to get going, don't you? Have parties and such planned?"

Heads bobbed eagerly in response and Snails gave one of his dopey grins. Diamond Tiara sighed, and as if it were the greatest concession in the world, nodded. She had done about all the damage she could do tonight anyway. "Fine. Everyone, that's it for tonight. But I'll expect you all to show up extra early tomorrow before the big show.."

Relieved, the ponies picked up their things and filed out the door, one by one. The last to go was Snails. He stopped at the door, before leaving. "Good night," he offered.

"Bah humbug," Tiara uttered in reply.

Alone at last, Tiara locked up the theater and proceeded to walk home through the chill air, as though the chill did not bother her. She had no need for warmth, she told herself.

Around her, other ponies hurried about their business, moving briskly to minimize their time in the cold. They offered each other greetings of "Merry Hearth's Warming" as they passed, evoking a muttered "Bah, humbug" from Diamond Tiara. Any that approached her, she turned an icy glare upon, causing them to shiver and step out of her path.

When the young foal walking in front of her besides his mom dropped his toy, she casually kicked it under some nearby bushes before he noticed it was gone. She passed as he noticed his toy was missing and pulled his mother to a stop. Moments later, she heard the foal break into tears. It was this, rather than the merriment around her, that brought a smile to her face, and it was all she could do to restrain an evil laugh.

At last, after pushing rudely through a group of carolers, Diamond Tiara arrived at her house, a large building made up of dark grey slate blocks, with engraved stone and windows trimmed with dark wood. If it was dark outside already, it was even darker by the house, as if the very stones devoured whatever light there was.

With a determined stride, Diamond Tiara walked down the stone path toward the door, eager to be inside her fortress from all the foolish ponies and their merriment outside. Arriving at the door, she grabbed the handle, turning only to utter one last "Bah humbug" back toward the street and the town below.

It was when Diamond Tiara turned back that she saw a most peculiar sight. The knocker on the door, a knocker she knew well, was changing. What should have been a base with a large brass key shaped knocker hanging from it shifted. It was a sight that left her unable to look away, unable even to blink, as slowly, the key became a spoon. And not only did the shape change, but the very metal began to shine.

Diamond Tiara gasped, lifting up one hoof to brush her necklace, a necklace that had once hung around the neck of her best friend. Before her, the knocker completed its transformation. What was brass was now silver, and the spoon that had been a key now sported a bright pink heart on its handle. It was a design she knew: the cutie mark of her best friend. Her very dead friend.

With a cry, Diamond Tiara clamped her eyes shut and looked down. Trying to dislodge the vision from her mind, she shook her head. And then slowly, she opened one eye and looked toward the knocker once more, too afraid even to breathe. The brass key was back, as if it had never left. Relieved, she took a deep breath.

"A trick of the mind," Tiara said to herself, as she opened the door and rushed inside. "The cold is responsible."

"Is that you, princess?" her father called from within the dining room.

"Yes, daddy" she called back, examining herself in the hallway's mirror. She lifted a hoof to straighten her tiara and stopped, observing its shaking. "It is just the cold, that is all. It will pass shortly," she said quietly to herself. She stared at it, until it ceased to shake. Only then did she adjust her tiara and proceed to the dining room.

"Are you okay, pumpkin? You look as if you've seen a ghost," Filthy Rich said.

"A ghost? What makes you say that?" Diamond Tiara asked, alarmed. "Everyone knows ghosts aren't real."

Filthy Rich eyed his daughter curiously. "You just look a bit cold. Not to mention a bit jumpy. That is all I meant."

"The cold. Colder outside than I'd realized," she said. For good measure, she put on an insecure little filly face and added, "And maybe I'm a bit nervous about the play. The big night tomorrow."

"Yes, it is a bit nippy out, isn't it? I'll have Praiseworthy throw another log on the fire. Now, sit down, sit down. You're just in time for dinner. You can tell me all about how things are going while we eat."

Dinner was served by Praiseworthy, the family butler, and it was spectacular. It was made from the finest grains, the best grasses, and even fresh fruit, imported by train. For Diamond Tiara though, it might as well have been mashed alfalfa. Eating was something she did to sustain life, not because she got any enjoyment out of it. Oh, she might put on a show of enjoying food if a hungry pony was watching or if she felt it would help her get something she wanted, but it was just that, a show.

With her dinner finished, Diamond Tiara pushed back her chair. "I'm going to bed," she told her father.

"Isn't that a bit early?" her father asked, for it was barely past eight PM. "Aren't you going to any parties tonight? You know how you used to love parties."

Diamond Tiara nodded. She had indeed enjoyed parties in the past. But they were another thing that just were not the same without Silver Spoon. Without her, Diamond Tiara had nopony to appreciate the wit of her snide remarks, and parties had too many ponies intent on having a good time for her to effectively cut down one party goer all by herself.

"No. I'm tired. And I've got to be ready for the play tomorrow," she said, taking advantage of the convenient excuse, while adding a fake yawn for good measure.

"Oh, okay then. I'm going out later tonight. Some last minute bit of business I need to take care of. Sleep well." Filthy Rich held open his arms toward his daughter, and she slipped into them, giving him a hug and a quick peck on the cheek.

"Night, daddy."

She left the dining room and climbed up the stairs, her hooves echoing off the darkly stained wood. Down the hallway she went and into her room, shutting the heavy wooden door behind her. She turned the key to lock her door, as was her habit. This was her domain, her fortress to hide within from the world.

It was the type of room one might expect from a dour, old spinster, not from a filly. Navy blue drapes of heavy cloth hung in front of the window, while matching cloth formed the canopy of her bed. Her bed covers were the same shade of blue. The walls were painted, not in a bright, cheery color one would expect from a pony, especially a young filly, but rather in a dark grey, a grey that not coincidentally matched the color of Silver Spoon's coat.

There were no toys visible within the room, and the dresser had only the barest of what would have expected laid upon it. A single hair brush, a statue, and a single book, a book of sad poems by a long dead poet. And over the cabinet, hung a single poster sized picture: a picture of two fillies, from happier days. The only other furniture was a nightstand, upon which sat a clock and a lamp. On its lowest setting, its light barely illuminated the room, yet that meager light was enough for Tiara. She did not turn it up, to brighten the room. She liked the gloom.

For a while, Diamond Tiara read until she grew bored of the words and returned the book to its place. Beside it, she placed her signature tiara. Picking up the brush, Tiara flopped down upon her bed and began brushing her mane. Every stroke was fast and harsh, as if the knots in her mane were her worst enemy and the brush a whip to use upon them without mercy. She did this without thought, as she had every night for too long now. And all the while, she stared at the picture.

And it was then that things got strange for the second time, for it seemed with every stroke, she heard the rattling of chains. Not of light chains, the soft rustle one might hear if one played with one's necklace, but of heavy chains, the sort of thing one might find in a lumber yard or other industrial area. When she stopped her strokes, so did the rattling stop. And when she resumed them, the rattling resumed as well.

Curious, Diamond Tiara set down the brush and checked outside the door in the hall. Satisfied that nopony was there, she locked the door again and resumed her brushing. Another trick of the mind, she told herself. That the sounds she had heard and the bulges shifting the paintings surface were not real. The brush dropped to the floor with a clatter as her jaw did its best to do the same.

The surface of the painting did indeed some to be moving, as if large bugs were moving behind it. But it was not bugs, for the painting itself warped, the figure within animating, the forelegs within it moving from side to side and also stretching outwards. It was as if a pony was trapped behind a wall of taffee, trying to break through. No, not trying, but breaking through.

Diamond Tiara scrambled backwards, until her head collided with the headrest of her bed. There she sat, caught with no chance of escape, able to do nothing but watch, like the unfortunate victim of an oncoming bunny stampede. Eyes wide as saucers. Not the small children's tea set saucers, but full sized adult saucers.

A chain of silver dropped out of the picture, and then two more, each landing with a rattle and a thunk on the wood of the dresser, knocking the book to the ground. With a suctioning noise, a foreleg stepped through, followed by another. The next thing to burst through was a head. With a slurp, the picture recoiled back, leaving a pony standing upon her dresser. A pony with a dark grey coat, a lighter grey mane, glasses, a necklace, and chains.

For the second this night, Diamond Tiara grasped the necklace around her neck, for it was a twin for the one around the neck of the translucent pony upon her dresser.

"But... but you're dead," she managed to utter. "This cannot be real."

"Can't it?" Silver Spoon asked.

"No. You are not real. Nothing more than an apparition. If I but look away for a moment, you'll be gone. Just like the knocker."

"Then do so, my friend, and see what happens." The pony jumped down from the dresser, dragging the chains behind her. Chains made of silver links, of varying thickness, draped around the filly, weighing her down, and stretching back into the painting from whence she had come.

Now that Silver Spoon was closer to the solitary lamp, Diamond Tiara could see her better. It was not a pleasing sight. Where once her friend had been hale, now Silver Spoon was gaunt and worn. With a shudder, Diamond Tiara looked away, only to quickly look back.

"Still here," the apparition said with a sad smile. "Not just the strange imaginings of a disturbed mind."

"Are you... are you here to stay?" Diamond Tiara asked, a slight tremor, almost hopeful, in her voice.

"How I wish I could be, but no, alas, I am not. Cursed I am, cursed to wander this world unseen, dragging behind me the sins of my life. Every wandering, never resting."

"But why? What did you do wrong? You never hurt anypony."

"Oh, but I did. Every time I uttered a cruel word. Every time I could have extended a hoof in friendship, but did not. Each time I saw something and passed it by, as it was not my problem. Each and every one of those things forged a link in my chains. And just look at how many links I forged in my short life." Silver Spoon's head hung low with these words, regret never felt in life weighing down upon her as much, nay, more so, than her chains.

Suddenly, Silver Spoon looked up, staring intently into Diamond Tiara's eyes. "But I was not alone in those actions. You were there with me for so many."

Gasping in fear, Diamond Tiara tried to merge with the wall behind her. "Is this revenge then? Do you blame me for your suffering? Have you come to kill me like a ghost in some campfire story?"

Silver Spoon's rear legs collapsed under her as she sat down, her mouth open in surprise. She spoke, but with a wavering in her voice, an uncertainty that Diamond Tiara had scarcely ever heard from her. "How could you think that? You're my friend, Tia. Always my friend. My only friend. I would never hurt you." She reached forth a hoof and gently stroked Diamond Tiara's cheek. "No, I come to you not as an vengeful spirit, but as someone who has never stopped caring about you. To spare you the torment that is my lot. It is too late for me, but for you, there is still time to turn away from the path you are on. To shed the chains you are forging.

"For you had as many as I had when I died. And since then, you have added on ever more. Each time I passed you by in my torment, your chains had grown more numerous and longer. Oh, if you could but see what I see, the sight would make you weep. I can no longer cry and yet it almost makes me do so. Oh, Tiara, my friend."

Silver Spoon paused then, as if to gather herself. When she spoke again, the tremble in her voice was gone.

"This night, you will be given the chance to set a new course for your life. But it will not be easy and you will need help to do so. Before this night is through, three visitors you shall have: spirits of past, present, and future. The first will come at midnight. The second at one. And the third at two."

The lamp flickered, as if the power threatened to go out. Silver Spoon looked around rapidly, then groaned as the silver chains started to rattle, beginning to retract into the painting, slowly but steadily. Desperately, Silver Spoon struggled against the pull of the chains, trying to brace herself, but to no avail. Her time was up once again. Still, Silver Spoon fought, as her hind quarters were pulled in. She thrashed from side to side, until at last only her head was left free of the painting. She ceased to struggle then, locking eyes with with Diamond Tiara, and uttered two words as she was pulled fully into the painting.

"My friend."

The room was still once more, the lamp back to normal. Diamond Tiara got up off her bed, brushing her hooves along the painting. Nothing, it was just a normal painting. "Humbug," she tried to say, but the word would not leave her mouth.

Shuddering, and whether drained from her activities of the day or the strange happenings, she crawled into her bed, barely remembered to turn off the lamp, and was instantly asleep.