Broken Hearts and Diamonds

"For the last time, sit down or I will have to place you under arrest!"

Though the guard's words were clear and stern, his expression showed that he was beginning to lose his nerve. He had been called over to the hospital in Ponyville to deal with some mare who was trying to break in to see a patient. Despite the doctor and nurses telling her over and over again that she had to stay in the waiting room the mare refused to listen.

"Miss, please, calm down!" Doctor Stable said, blocking the door to the hallway where the intensive care rooms were. "He's not ready to see any visitors, he's still unstable!"

"I don't care, I have to see him!" Rarity yelled back.

Rarity had tried her best to hold out until noon, but after a night of tossing and turning in bed without actually sleeping at all she ended up racing to the hospital just after the sun rose. She tried her best to remain in the waiting room but after a few hours she lost any patience she had left and tried barging in to Spike's room. The nurse on duty kept her out, but as Rarity was rejected again and again the situation became extremely tense.

Doctor Stable began to sweat but he eyed a flash of purple going past the window outside. 'Oh thank Celestia, Twilight it here! She'll be able to handle her friend.' he thought relieved.

Unfortunately for him Twilight already had her hooves full. Twilight slowly entered the hospital waiting room rear-end first, and as Doctor Stable stared baffled by the unusual way to enter he soon saw why.

Twilight gritted her teeth as she strained to keep somepony back. Her horn was glowing extremely brightly, almost white from the strain, as she tried to keep somepony from entering but it was a losing battle. As Twilight staggered back another pony began to enter the room. The other pony was having a much tougher time, her entire body surrounded by Twilight's magical aura. But somehow, despite being pushed back by Twilight's powerful magic, the pony flapped her wings and continued to struggle forward, gritting her teeth in determination.

"Cloudchaser, please, calm down!" Twilight yelled. "You can see her soon, I promise, just not now!"

"FOR THE LAST TIME, GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Cloudchaser yelled out. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE A PRINCESS NOW, YOU'RE NOT STOPPING ME FROM SEEING MY SISTER!"

Nurse Redheart burst into the room with four more unicorn guards. Two of them rushed over and helped Twilight finally subdue the enraged Cloudchaser while the other two guards managed to finally pull Rarity back away from the hallway door.

"What do you two think you're doing? Do you really think all this commotion is going to help Spike and Flitter get better? Do you?" Nurse Redheart scolded both mares. "You may not realize it now but you're hurting them even more right now! Look at this, five guards having to be here because of your selfishness, not to mention Doctor Stable, Nurse Coldheart, and myself can't tend to any of our patients. No, instead we're stuck here foal-sitting you two who can't scrape together a little bit of patience!"

Nurse Redheart's little speech worked, and both Rarity and Cloudchaser ceased struggling. Twilight and the guards slowly lowered their guard, freeing the unicorn and pegasus from the magical hold.

Nurse Redheart nodded approvingly. "There, that's much better! Now, we will call you and bring you in as soon as they're ready for visitors, but not a moment sooner. Is that clear?"

Both mares nodded, and the hospital staff returned to their duties. Twilight dismissed the guards, reassuring them that she could handle the two if anything else happened.

Rarity was sitting quietly staring at the floor while Cloudchaser sat a few seats away, quietly crying and feeling absolutely helpless. Twilight walked over to Cloudchaser and held to try to comfort her, but there was little effect on the heartbroken mare.

"That... that scumbag... how could he do that to Flitter?" Cloudchaser asked, looking at Twilight with watery eyes. "He was my first, but he... he raped my sister! And I wasn't there to protect her."

Twilight couldn't find anything to say but continued to hold her. Just then Nurse Redheart came back and approached the three waiting mares. "Well, despite your earlier outbursts it seems that Flitter is going to be fine. She's awake now and in a few minutes you can go in and see her."

Cloudchaser began to cry harder, but this time it was out of happiness. Twilight smiled at the good news. "That's great, Nurse Redheart. Is there any word on how Spike is doing?"

The nurse's smile disappeared. "Not so good. The doctor is running a few more tests, but he hasn't shown any signs of improvement. He's lucky that he threw up or he would be even worse, but that hit he took to the head definitely made things worse."

Twilight took a deep breath, trying to resist the urge to start crying herself. She buried her feelings and remained strong for Cloudchaser, happy that at least Flitter was doing better. "Come on, let's go see Flitter." Twilight said. She and Cloudchaser got up and followed Nurse Redheart, but Rarity was lost in thought.

'Spike.... he's not doing so good? Could I have... no, it wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault! The nurse, she said that it was good that he threw up. I helped him... yes, I helped him when he did. I helped make him better. But Thunderlane was the one who... it's his fault. He's the one who mixed the hoofies into their water, and he brought them over from his house in the first place. And he was the one who attacked Spike!

"Uh, Rarity?" Twilight called out, snapping the unicorn out the argument in her head. "Rarity, come on. Don't you want to go see Flitter?"

"Oh, of course, Twilight dear. Sorry, I got caught up, um, trying to piece together everything that has happened." Rarity said, hopping off of her seat and following the other mares.

Nurse Redheart led them to Flitter's room where Doctor Stable was checking on her condition. Cloudchaser was overjoyed to see that her sister was awake finally, though her movements still seemed slightly sluggish. As the doctor turned and saw the visitors entering he put his clipboard away and approached Cloudchaser.

"She's doing much better now." he said to her relief. "We managed to pump her stomach and then just had to wait until the drugs in her blood worked their way through. We, um... we found traces of semen in her stomach also, so she was definitely sexually assaulted by that stallion."

Cloudchaser stomped her hoof in anger but Twilight wrapped a wing around the furious pegasus. "Cloudchaser, not now." she said. Her words instantly calmed her, and the pegasus nodded silently before rushing over to her sister.

"Flitter..." Cloudchaser manager to squeak out before hugging her sister tightly, a few large tears slipping down her face. The two sisters embraced each other lovingly before Cloudchaser pulled back and lightly tapped Flitter on the head. "Now do you see why I wanted you to be careful with alcohol?"

"Sorry, Cloudchaser." Flitter said. "I just wanted to prove to Spike that I was grown up enough for him. Where is Spike anyways? What happened last night?"

Cloudchaser felt like she had been kicked in the gut but knew it was her duty to tell her what had happened to her. Trying to hold back her own emotions, she had no choice but to tell Flitter the grim truth of how Thunderlane had slipped hoofies into the drinks and then raped Flitter, making her swallow his sperm and covering her with even more, as well as the small hunt of blood that the nurses found coming from her groin.

The news devastated the young mare, and she broke down once Cloudchaser had finished. Twilight felt her heart break for the poor pegasus but knew that there wasn't anything she or Rarity could do right now. Through her sobs of depression Flitter tried to ask the most important question on her mind. "D-did... did he t-t-take... did he my..." was all she managed to ask, but Cloudchaser knew exactly what she meant. She didn't know the answer and helplessly looked at Doctor Stable for the anwer.

"We don't know yet." he said. "We needed to wait until you were awake to get your consent to check if he had violated you down there."

Flitter nodded. "Please check. I... I need to know." she said. Doctor Stable wasted no time and called Nurse Redheart to assist. Closing the privacy curtains around them, Twilight, Rarity, and CLoudchaser could only wait and hope for the best. It was only ten minutes but it seemed like an absolute eternity before the curtains were pulled back and the doctor waved them back over.

"There was some small tearing around the walls that caused the bleeding, but her hymen is still intact." he said. All of the mares in the room sighed with relief; the sick, twisted stallion didn't get that far before Spike intervened.

Well, almost all of them. 'She's a virgin?' Rarity thought. Her mind clouded as she realized that Flitter had the upper hoof now; she had something- well, two somethings that Rarity could never give Spike.

"Twilight, where's Spike?" Flitter asked again. She was dying to see him; she wanted him to hold her after being attacked, she wanted to feel safe in his arms. None of the ponies present wanted to break more bad news to her, but Twilight stepped up to deliver the bad news.

"Spike's... um, he's still in bad shape." she said. She explained to Flitter how Spike had fought with Thunderlane and stopped him from robbing her of her virginity. Twilight hoped that maybe she would be happy that Spike had saved her but of course she felt the opposite.

Flitter broke down crying again, sobbing that he was hurt because of her. Doctor Stable moved in and informed the other mares that she had enough of an emotional rollercoaster for one day and needed to rest, but Flitter spoke up before he could finish. "Can I... talk to Rarity in private first?" she asked.

The doctor nodded. "Of course, just don't take too long." Cloudchaser and Twilight hugged Flitter goodbye, promising to be back first thing in the morning before leaving Rarity alone with Flitter.

Rarity didn't know what she wanted to talk about and walked up to the bed. "Darling, I..." she began to say but Flitter silenced her by placing her hoof on Rarity's shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Flitter said, confusing Rarity. "I guess I wasn't ready to handle that much wine."

"Don't be, dear. It wasn't your fault." Rarity said genuinely. "None of us knew he would do such a monstrous thing to you."

"Well, I wanted to ask you something. I can't ask Twilight or my sister, but you know Spike the best out of everypony who knows him. Am I... do you think I'm good enough for Spike?" she asked.

Conflicting emotions ran through Rarity's mind. She wanted to of course tell her no, but a small part of her was telling her to do the right thing for once and say yes, of course she was. 'Maybe it's time to give up, maybe she does deserve Spike.' She finally made up her mind, taking a deep breath. "I'm sure he would be..."

She stopped as a terrible idea hit her, but an idea that would be more effective than just simple drugs. "I mean, I'm sure he'd be okay for settling for you." she said.

"O-oh, okay." Flitter said, her ears drooping slightly. She wasn't sure if she had heard Rarity right; maybe she just worded her answer wrong? But the answer still stung slightly, and Flitter began to think that maybe Spike did think of her as too immature for him.

Rarity smiled as her words had her desired effects. "Oh, don't worry darling. I know an easy secret that will make you absolutely irresistible to Spike." she said, winking at her.

Flitter's eyes lit up brightly. "Really? Oh, thank you Rarity! You really are the absolute best! What do I have to do?" she asked eagerly.

Rarity patted Flitter on her head. "Shush now, you have to get better first. When you're back home come by my boutique and I will be more than happy to show you." Rarity said.

Flitter reached out and hugged Rarity. "Thank you... thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me. He means everything to me, I'd die without him." she said.

"Yes... yes, I'm sure you would." Rarity replied.

Finally saying goodbye to the hospitalized mare, Rarity met up with Twilight and Cloudchaser who were both talking to two of the guards that responded to the chaos last night. Twilight saw Rarity and waved her over. The guards looked her over and one of them spoke to her.

"Miss, you were at the party last night where the young dragon was attacked, correct?" he asked her.

"It was a formal wine tasting, but yes, I was there." she confirmed.

He nodded. "Perfect, three tests should put that sad excuse of a pegasus away for years."

"I'm sorry, test? What test?" Rarity asked, becoming concerned.

"We need you to come in tomorrow morning to have a sample of your blood taken." he explained. "It will guarantee that the stallion who did this is put away, and also clear you of any suspicion. That scum had the nerve to say that this whole ordeal was your plan."

Rarity felt the color drain from her face. 'That double crossing ass!' she thought angrily. There was no way she could back out of the blood test, and with great reluctancy she nodded. "I'll... be here tomorrow." she said.

"Angel, please? I'm sorry I don't have any carrots that are big enough. I promise tomorrow at the market I'll get the ones you like." Fluttershy pleaded.

The spoiled bunny shook his head and bounded away. "Oh, please don't be mad. I'm really sorry." she said, going after him.

A sharp cracking sound reached both of their ears. Angel looked around warily as Fluttershy dove behind her couch in fright. Somewhat annoyed that his caretaker was an absolute coward, Angel bounced over to her and tugged at her tail and kicked her flank, pointing in the direction the sound came from.

"O-o-okay, I'm g-g-g-going." Fluttershy squeaked, slowly making her way. She saw a faint glow coming from a room... her room. She was now more curious than scared; nothing she had in there lit up. She cautiously opened her door and gasped as she saw that the glow was coming from her Element of Kindness, but before she could zoom over and pick it up the glow died.

"Oh... my." she said, staring at a large crack that cut her butterfly shaped gem in half diagonally.