Broken Hearts and Diamonds

Twilight couldn't remember the last time she was this happy. It didn't matter to her that she had been woken up in the middle of the night; she now felt whole again. She had her closest friend back with her; Spike was finally home.

She had been furious when she was woken up by somepony banging on her door in the middle of the night. The last few days had been a living hell for her; between watching over and waiting for Spike to get better and having to research the broken Elements of Harmony, she barely had time to go about her normal duties in the library and had almost no time for relaxing or sleep. Tears of happiness poured down her face as she saw her number one assistant standing next to Princess Luna, and in a very unprincess-like way she tackled Spike and embraced him in a big hug, showering him with kissed all over his head.

Princess Luna eventually stepped in and helped Spike pry himself loose from Twilight's grip, gasping for breath. Twilight was shocked when Luna sent Spike upstairs to bed. She argued that it was almost morning and that he had just gotten home, but Twilight quickly went silent as Luna sternly glared at her.

"He's still weak and needs his rest." she said wisely. "I also need to speak to you in private, not to mention Spike's been up all night while I interrogated him."

"You what?" Twilight gasped in surprise. "What did you have to interrogate him for?"

Luna waited until Spike had trudged his way upstairs before she explained how she had woken Spike up and her long talk with him about the events that took place during Rarity's party. Twilight wasn't sure she liked how the conversation was turning out, and she finally asked the question that was on her mind.

"Princess Luna, you don't... you don't think Rarity had anything to do with that, do you?" she asked.

Luna nodded gravely. "B-but, how could she have? They found the drugs in her body, too!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Yes, they did." Luna said. "But the hospital staff and the guards only looked at whether the tests came back positive or not. Her levels were much too high, even without her throwing up or even if she drank twice as much as Spike and Flitter did."

Twilight felt her stomach drop by the news. "No... no, that's impossible." Twilight said in denial. "There's no way Rarity could do such a thing. Why would she? What would be her motivation to do that?"

"That I do not know." Luna admitted. "But all the evidence that is here shows that Rarity is not as innocent as she says that she is."

"Well, there's no way that Rarity is responsible for what happened to the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight protested. "Not even Discord could corrupt them. How could one of the bearers disable them all when the Master of Chaos failed to do so?"

Once again Princess Luna shrugged. "I do not know that either, but I've been certain that Rarity was the pony that started this whole mess with the Elements ever since you showed them to me. Do you still have them here with you?"

Twilight nodded, rushing off to retrieve them. She brought them back and laid them out on the table in front of Princess Luna who picked up the Element of Generosity. Her face became sullen as she saw the almost black cracked gem. "Yes, it's her." Luna confirmed.

"How can you tell?" Twilight asked.

Princess Luna sighed sadly. "Back when my sister and I wielded the Elements, I had control of Honesty, Loyalty, and Generosity, while Princess Celestia controlled Laughter, Kindness, and Magic. When I started becoming jealous of my sister my Elements began to crack and clouded over until they became black, just like this. Once Celestia banished me to the moon the Elements managed to repair themselves since my corruption was no longer effecting them."

"So, there's a way to repair the Elements?" Twilight asked hopefully.

Luna nodded. "Yes, but there is a price." she said.

Twilight didn't like the tone of Luna's voice when she said that. "What do you mean, a price?" she asked nervously.

Princess Luna looked at Twilight grimly. "For the Elements to be fixed, the source of the corruption must be eliminated until a new bearer for it is found. When I was banished you and your friends became the new wielders of the Elements of Harmony, and that is why you never saw them broken before."

"Won't everything be fixed if we can find out what caused Rarity to corrupt her Element and help her?" Twilight asked hopefully.

"No, I'm afraid not." the princess of the night replied. "The only way to fix everything now is to remove Rarity and find a new pony to wield the Element of Generosity."

Twilight gasped in shock. "Replace Rarity? No! There must be another way to fix them!" she said, unable to even imagine having another pony take Rarity's place.

Princess Luna shook her head. "If there is another way, I do not know about it. I can only say for sure that the only option I know of is the same suffering I had to endure; she will have to be banished to the moon and stay there until another bearer can be found."

Twilight began to protest but another knock at her door kept her silent. She opened the door and stumbled back as Princess Celestia walked in, flanked by six armed guards. "P-Princess Celestia! I need to-" Twilight said.

"I know, Luna told me everything already." Celestia said. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but my sister is right. We don't have any other choice. I'm here to take Rarity into custody and see if she's willing to tell us how this all happened, but no matter what happens I have no choice but to banish her to the moon."

"No!" Twilight cried out. "Princess, there must be some other way to solve this! Give me some time, a week at most! I'm sure I can do some research and find another solution to fix everything."

Celestia shook her head. "I'm sorry, Twilight, but this isn't open for discussion. We're headed to Rarity's house now to settle this once and for all. We cannot afford to have Equestria's strongest defense disabled like this."

"But..." Twilight started to say again, but stopped when she felt Luna place a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Twilight." Princess Luna said somberly. "It's beyond our control. It must be done."

The three princesses followed the six guards through Ponyville as they all headed to Carousel Boutique. It was thankfully still early enough where most ponies were still sound asleep. If they were awake, no doubt the entire town would be rushing over to see what was going on. Celestia ann Luna wanted this to be done quietly to avoid unneeded attention, Twilight mostly to save her friend the embarrassment of being publicly humiliated. Luna kept Twilight slightly behind Princess Celestia to ensure that she didn't interfere with the arrest. To Twilight's horror the guards didn't even knock to see if Rarity would give up without a fight. Instead, one of them kicked down the front door with one powerful strike of their hind legs, and four guards stormed the building while the other two kept watch over the front and rear exits. The princesses waited outside anxiously, wondering if Rarity would be escorted out with dignity or dragged out in humiliation.

The minutes ticked past and the four guards emerged from the building, but to everypony's surprise they emerged alone. One of them walked up to Princess Celestia and threw a quick salute. "Your Highness, we searched everywhere but the target isn't home." he reported.

All three alicorns were caught off guard and went inside the boutique to see for themselves. Just as the guard reported, there was no sign of Rarity. Her bed was still neatly made and she wasn't working on another dress downstairs. Twilight was absolutely stumped; she couldn't think of a single place Rarity would be that called for her to stay overnight without telling somepony. With no leads Celestia had no choice but to return to Canterlot, but she left four of her guards with Twilight and Luna just in case Rarity did reappear. Luna took up Twilight's offer to stay at the library until Rarity was found, mostly to make sure Twilight didn't tip off Rarity that she was being hunted, accidentally or intentionally.

As Luna and Twilight neared the library they both spotted a pegasus knocking frantically on the door. The pony sensed the approaching group and turned to them, racing up to them like a demon was on her tail. "Twilight! Oh, Princess Luna. I'm sorry for the rudeness, but have either of you seen Flitter? Please, please tell me you know where she is." Cloudchaser pleaded.

"No, I'm sorry, I haven't seen her at all lately." Twilight said. "Shouldn't she be at home?"

"Yes, but she's not there!" Cloudchaser said frantically. "I have to work the night watch this week and when I got home an hour ago she wasn't home!"

"Calm down, I'm sure she left early for work or something. When was the last time you saw her?" Twilight asked.

Cloudchaser only paused for a second to think. "Yesterday... yeah, yesterday. She was taking something back to Carousel Boutique to return it to Rarity."

Luna and Twilight looked at each other in horror. "Did you see her come back from Rarity's?" Twilight said nervously.

Cloudchaser shook her head. "No, she never came back. I assumed that she was having an outfit refit or something so I didn't think much of it. Do you think she's still over at Rarity's? Maybe she spent the night there."

Twilight felt sicker than she had ever felt before. "Cloudchaser, you better come inside. We need to talk."