Children of Equestria

Chapters

My Reflection
(Not) My Town
Their Plans
Her Fall
Somepony Else's Problem
Your New Friends
Her Past
Their Interrogations
My Way
Their Fates
Our Confrontation
Your Funeral, My Trial
Her Issues
Our Addictions
Their Choices

My Reflection

Babs awoke and looked into the ceiling of the old Granny Smith’s room. She thanked Luna for a good sleep. All she dreamed about was Diamond Tiara sitting in some dark, empty hall, but after her usual set of nightmares it was a very welcomed change.

She got out of bed quickly. She’d seen lots of deaths – last time a year ago, when a filly from a neighbouring room in the camp hanged herself – but something about staying in Granny Smith’s room for too long seemed wrong. She shuddered and left the room, not looking behind her.

She trotted downstairs and saw Applejack, Big Macintosh and Apple Bloom sitting at the kitchen table.

“Hello Babs,” Applejack said. “How are ya?”

“Good,” Babs replied. “I’m much better since I’m here with ya… Thank ya…”

“After everythin’ y’all suffered…” Applejack shook her head. “Well, Ah don’t praise ya for what ya did, but…”

Babs felt a pang of pain in her heart. Unneeded. Black sheep of the family. She looked at the floor beneath her hooves.

“Ya’re a wise filly, Babs,” Applejack said. “Ah think ya’ll never do that again, won’t ya?”

“Yeah, sure…” Babs muttered, blowing her mane from her eyes and sitting at the table with the rest of her family. She thought of her plans and sighed.

“So, what are your plans?” Apple Bloom asked. “Maybe ya’ll stay here and help us with the harvest?”

Babs froze. “M-maybe,” she said, pretending to be very interested in the casserole in front of her. “But first I have to go to Manehattan for a while. See the parents… Finish somethin’…”

“Stay with us for at least one more day,” Apple Bloom said. “Scootaloo just came back from Canterlot; we’re gonna meet her in the evening…”

Babs thought about her last meeting with Scootaloo. What happened later almost wiped that memory, but she could still recall some details which didn’t sound pleasant. “How’s Scootaloo? She’s still with that racer, what was his name?”

“Rumble,” Apple Bloom said. “Yes, they’re together, but they hardly see each other. She’s in the Royal Guard Academy in Canterlot.”

Babs sighed. So, Scootaloo fulfilled her dream. She hoped their ways would never cross.

“Sweetie Belle will soon go on tour,” Apple Bloom said. “It seems that it’ll be some time before we meet each other again…”

Diamond Tiara sighed and looked at the food in front of her. When she came back home she learned that old Randolph decided to retire. She wished he could go back. The new butler couldn’t get anything right.

“So, what are you planning to do now, Diamond?” Filthy Rich asked, looking at her. “Of course, you can stay here as long as you want, but the doctors say that you should…”

“…reintegrate with the society,” Diamond Tiara finished. “It’s a bit hard when the society doesn’t want to reintegrate with me.”

“Don’t worry, Diamond,” Filthy Rich said. “Soon, they’ll all forgive you…”

“He’s lying,” Silver Spoon said. She was sitting on the table, just next to Filthy Rich, waving her hooves in the air. Diamond Tiara sent her a nasty glare.

“What are you looking at?” Filthy Rich asked, also looking at Silver Spoon, or rather through her.

“Nothing,” Diamond Tiara replied quickly. “This new butler is really terrible…”

“He’s learning,” Filthy Rich said. “By the way, did you hear that Babs Seed is in town? You two were friends once, weren’t you?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen her,” Diamond Tiara replied, trying not to look at Silver Spoon, who was now blowing her mane from her eyes, in a way similar to Babs.

“I’ve heard lots of things about her… Jet Set…” Filthy Rich paused. “I’ve heard she killed someone but they couldn’t prove it…” He shook his head.

Diamond Tiara froze. “She didn’t,” she said quickly. “You know dad, I can recognise a murderer…”

“Are you suggesting that I can’t?” Suddenly Filthy Rich shuddered but quickly regained his composure. “Oh… I see your point.”

“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara sighed. “I wonder what would the doctor say about the fact that I’m joking about that…”

“That wasn’t funny,” Silver Spoon said. She was now standing next to the butler who stood by the door.

“I know,” Diamond Tiara muttered through gritted teeth.

“What do you know?” Filthy Rich asked, looking at her unsurely.

“I know what would ponies in town say if they heard me,” Diamond Tiara explained. She spoke in a low, raspy voice, imitating Cherry Berry, “She’s a psycho! We need to burn her!”

The butler chuckled, but Filthy Rich didn’t laugh. “It’s a small town,” he said. “Most of the ponies lost a friend or a relative. I, myself, lost you for ten years. Silverspeed…”

Diamond Tiara could see Silver Spoon’s ears perking up when she heard her mother’s name. “What happened to her?” she asked.

“Well…” Filthy Rich threw nervous glances around. “It was when you were… umm… in Trottingham… You’re an adult, you need to know… We somehow… got together…”

“What?!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, trying to ignore Silver Spoon speaking something quickly. “H-how long?”

“Almost till now,” Filthy Rich said. “In fact, we had a little argument about you… Like I said, she never really came to terms with what happened. She’s now in Vanhoover… She said that she needed time…”

“I… I don’t know what to think about it…” Diamond Tiara looked at her breakfast and sighed. “I’ll be in the garden, dad…” She stood up and left the room.

“So,” Silver Spoon said, sitting on a tree branch. “We’re, like, sisters now?”

“No,” Diamond Tiara replied, lost in her thoughts. She was resting herself against a tree trunk, her face hidden in her hooves.

“Admit it,” Silver Spoon jumped off the tree, landing next to Diamond. “We’re already like conjoined twins… And now your dad and my mom…”

“Shut up!” Diamond Tiara shouted, glaring at Silver angrily. “You know how you sound now? Like Curtain Call!”

Silver Spoon shuddered. “Don’t say that name!” she exclaimed. “Stay with me… Bad things happen when she’s here…”

“Bad things will definitely happen if you keep doing that,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I lost ten years of my life… Everything here is wrong… And you just had to appear and make that even worse!”

“Hey, I can go away if you don’t wanna see me…” She heard Babs’ voice behind the fence. “But first I’d wanna know why…”

“I wasn’t talking to you,” Diamond Tiara said. She saw Babs climbing on the fence and soon she landed on the grass next to her.

“Then to who? Silver Spoon?” Babs chuckled. “I must say, for a moment I felt flattered. I thought the sight of my flank gave ya a wet dreams…”

“Never gonna happen,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I was talking to Silver… It seems that while I was away, our parents, as my father said…” She sighed. “… ’got together’…”

“Well, life goes on…” Babs said, sitting next to Diamond. “I was out for not even three years and everypony looks at me as if I infected my beloved cousin with syphilis. Guess ya have it even worse…”

“You don’t even know…” Diamond muttered. Babs tried to wrap her hoof around her, but she shook it off.

“Anyway, I came here to tell ya that we’re gonna have a small party today,” Babs said. “Scootaloo with her coltfriend, Mr. Quick Finish, Sweetie Belle with Mr. Dorky Loser, Apple Bloom with… Well, Apple Bloom, and me with ya.”

“What?” Diamond Tiara exclaimed, looking at Babs unsurely.

“You know… A party,” Babs spoke slowly and clearly. “Pub, cider, colts…”

“B-but I…”

“Oh, ya don’t like colts? Don’t worry, I’m open-minded. But in case we’re not lucky, I call dibs on Apple Bloom…”

“No, it’s not that!” Diamond Tiara was looking at Babs, her eyes wide in horror. “I mean that I… I…”

“Oh, I get it. It’s ‘I’m a murderer, everypony will get torches and pitchforks to lynch me’ all over again?” Babs sighed. “Listen, ya’ll never get better if ya don’t start to talk to ponies… Show ‘em that ya’re okay…”

“I… I’m not sure if I can…” Diamond Tiara lowered her gaze and sat on the grass.

“Don’t worry, I’ll help ya,” Babs said, offering her hoof to Diamond. “If somepony tries to hurt ya…”

“Okay…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “But, Babs…”

“Yeah?”

“No colts… I… I don’t think I…” Diamond Tiara gulped.

“You prefer fillies after all?” Babs asked. “Ya don’t have to answer if ya don’t want.”

“No… I don’t think I like any…” Diamond said. “Maybe I was always like that, or maybe it’s because of the meds…”

Babs nodded. “Nevermind,” she said. “In fact… I’m not gonna look for a date either. Last three guys who…” Now she shuddered and lowered her head, hiding her eyes behind her mane. Diamond Tiara stood before her, unsure if she should ask, when Babs raised her head, blowing her mane from her eyes. “So… I’ll come to ya at six, okay?” she said.

“Ya invited who?!” Apple Bloom exclaimed.

“Diamond Tiara,” Babs replied calmly. “Yeah, I know, ‘she wanted to kill me,’ blah, blah, blah. Listen, AB…” She trotted closer to Apple Bloom. “Ya… claim that you forgave me, even though I did lots of bad things… Why didn’t ya forgive her?”

“Ah did!” Apple Bloom replied. “Ah just… Ah don’t wanna see her around…”

“Like most of the town,” Babs said. “Even if she wasn’t crazy, she’d get crazy because of how ya treat her…”

Apple Bloom sighed. “Fine,” she said. “But if y’all make trouble…”

Babs looked at the brown colt standing next to Sweetie Belle and thought that he was probably the luckiest pony on earth. She’d faintly remember him from one of her visits in Ponyville. Over the last couple of years he got rid of his propeller beanie, but his mane, ridiculous outfit, and a 20-sided dice he had for a cutie mark were saying exactly what kind of nerd he was. “Button Mash,” he introduced himself to Babs.

Sweetie Belle, on the other hoof, looked absolutely fantastic in a silk dress with a saddle. A pair of sunglasses was resting on her horn. Babs wasn’t into pop music, but she heard that Sweetie’s first album got quite popular, bringing her lots of money. She caught herself trying to guess where Sweetie kept her wallet.

When Babs turned her eyes on Rumble, her heart fluttered in her chest. He didn’t change much over the last three years; he’d gotten a bit more muscular, but overall looked pretty much the same. Scootaloo was standing next to him; her mane was short, as usual, and she was wearing a flying suit, similar to the one sported by Rumble.

Babs knew almost nothing about fashion, but she felt that their appearance clashed with Sweetie Belle’s more formal attire. Then she thought about her own outfit – when she was released from the boot camp, she was given back her piercings and a leather jacket. However, they didn’t gave her back her balisong knife. Babs thought that she had to buy a new one as soon as possible – without a familiar item in her pocket she felt slightly off.

Diamond’s arrival caused mixed reactions. Rumble said nothing, but it could be seen that he didn’t feel comfortable. Sweetie Belle looked at Babs and at Apple Bloom who shrugged. Button hid behind Sweetie; from what Babs heard, he and Twist were having the biggest collections of comic books in Ponyville. After Twist’s death, Bon Bon gave her comic books to Button who, however, never truly recovered from his friend’s loss.

Scootaloo surprised Babs. “Hello, Diamond,” she said. “It’s nice to see you…”

“It’s… It’s nice to see you too, Scootaloo…” Diamond Tiara said, avoiding Scootaloo’s gaze. “I’m sorry that I wanted to kill you…”

“Don’t worry about that,” Scootaloo said. “You weren’t yourself…”

“So… Where are we gonna go?” Apple Bloom asked. “Are we headin’ to the pub?”

“Sure,” Scootaloo replied. “Do you know that they don’t let us drink in Canterlot? It’s a torture…”

“I don’t drink anyway,” Rumble said. “The team–”

“Yeah, we know, Mr. Sportspony,” Babs muttered. “How’s that chick, Tornado Bolt?”

“She got better,” Rumble replied. “She has now third best track time in the team…”

“Interesting,” Babs deadpanned. They trotted down the street. It was a cold evening and Babs thought that taking her jacket with her was a good idea. “And how about ya, Sweetie?”

“Great!” Sweetie said. “I’ve recently talked to Neon Lights. He’s going to produce my next single…”

“Is he still alive?” Babs asked. “With the amount of drugs he was takin’…”

“He stopped taking drugs and prays to Luna five times a day. He says that he’s clean…” Sweetie said.

“Artists…” Babs muttered. “I still think Vinyl Scratch was better…”

“I think that’s just nostalgia,” Button said. “Neon has a better equipment and, actually, his style is much more pleasant. Well, maybe Vinyl’s brother…”

“Equipment!” Babs exclaimed. “Vinyl would make better music than Neon even if she used a phonograph with wax cylinders instead of records!” She looked around and saw that Diamond Tiara was lagging behind. “Diamond! Come on! What d’ya think about our battle of the DJs? Who was better?”

“I don’t know,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I’ve never listened too much Neon Lights…”

“Good for ya,” Babs said, giving Button a nasty glare. “I’m tellin’ ya, if it wasn’t for that crazy cunt with a lead pipe, no one would even hear of Neon today…”

“Maybe…” Button shrugged. “By the way, do you believe in the revelations of that doctor? The one who said that there’s a monster under Canterlot who uses ponies to feed him?”

“I call bullshit,” Babs muttered. “He made it up to spread a message about tolerance… With rather poor effects.”

“But Twilight really doesn’t want to talk about what happened there,” Sweetie Belle said. “Even when Rarity asked her…”

“Maybe she ran away first and is ashamed of that…” Rumble turned to Babs. “She doesn’t look very brave if you ask me.”

Apple Bloom glared at Rumble angrily. “She’s not like that,” she said. “She’s faced worse things… Ah believe Dr. Stable.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on?” Diamond Tiara asked quietly.

“Ah can show ya Dr. Stable’s article later,” Apple Bloom said, trotting closer to Diamond. “It seems that we’re here…”

The pub wasn’t very crowded. Lyra was sitting in her favourite chair, watching the patrons with a bored expression. Minuette levitated her cider and took a sip.

“So,” she said. “You wanted to talk, didn’t you?”

“Yeah…” Lyra muttered absentmindedly. “I’m kinda worried about Bon Bon. Since Diamond Tiara came back…”

“Oh no, not this again…” Minuette put her cider on the table and rolled her eyes. “I’m done solving your problems. Well, not yours specifically; I speak about the town in general. Live and let live, Lyra. You want to adopt her or lynch her, I don’t care. I won’t give you a hoof with either.” She waved her hoof. Lyra winced when she saw an ugly scar on it.

Minuette looked at Lyra, then at the scar and chuckled. “Too bad Octavia moved out,” she said. “She was the only pony here who appreciated my crappy puns.”

“I’m not asking you for help,” Lyra said. “I also think that we should leave Diamond alone. I’m just afraid that Cherry Berry…”

“Can we not talk about her?” Minuette sighed. “Since that accident with Berry we prefer to ignore each other.”

“I’m afraid that she may try to hurt Diamond.” Lyra leaned closer to Minuette. “How it goes with ‘live and let live?’”

“There are guards for that,” Minuette said dryly. “Two of them, not counting Riot Control who, as I heard is quite bored since he’d retired, and Scootaloo who’s still learning, but I guess she knows some of the tricks.”

Lyra sighed. “Why do I even talk to you?”

“I don’t know,” Minuette replied, taking a sip of her cider. “It was you who invited me here…”

Lyra looked at the door of the pub and froze. “Minuette, do you think Cherry Berry will come here today?”

“Of course,” Minuette said. “She proudly trots the path set by her cousin. Why are you asking?”

“Well,” Lyra said, watching the group of young ponies walking through the pub and sitting at a large table in the opposite corner of the room. “It seems that we may have a problem…”

Diamond Tiara sat at the table between Babs and Scootaloo. She looked at the others unsurely and leaned to the former. “You know, I’ve never drank alcohol in my life…” she whispered.

“Oh…” Babs scratched her head. “Don’t drink too much then. Ya’re showing the ponies that ya’re normal, remember about that.”

“Okay,” Diamond replied. “I’ll take a small cider, I guess…”

“Diet coke,” Rumble said. Babs looked at him with disdain.

“Small cider?” Silver Spoon whispered into Diamond Tiara’s ear, completely ignoring the fact that the space between Diamond’s and Scootaloo’s chairs was too small for her to fit. “What about me?”

“You’re nine, my lady,” Diamond deadpanned.

Silver Spoon made an expression indicating that she was about to throw a tantrum. “I’m as old as you! Remember that I’m a part of your mind!”

“So you’ll get drunk with me…”

Scootaloo turned to her and looked at her unsurely. “Sorry, Diamond, but I’d rather not get drunk with you… I guess you’d be an interesting drinking buddy and all, but…”

“Also, you’re not gettin’ drunk, remember,” Babs said. “Besides, a small cider is not that much. I could drink one when I was thirteen and nopony would notice…”

“Yeah, right…” Sweetie Belle muttered. “You vomited all over the floor in our clubhouse. Not to mention my hooves…”

“So it was ya?” Apple Bloom asked, glaring daggers at Babs. “Applejack made me clean it…”

“You know that I’d rather not know that?” Button asked, looking nervously at Sweetie Belle’s hooves. “It’s just… eww…”

“Button, don’t be a pussy,” Sweetie Belle said, earning surprised glares from everypony at the table. “What? My father is a hoofball coach, I know how to, umm… Motivate the others…”

“Nevermind…” Apple Bloom facehoofed.

“B-but still…” Button looked at Sweetie Belle’s hooves.

“You spend too much time with my sister,” Sweetie Belle said.

“I agree. She asked me when we’re getting married…” Button shuddered.

“They are a great couple,” Silver Spoon said to Diamond Tiara. “Though I think the colt should be the head of the family, not the, umm… other side of it…”

“Just like your father was?” Diamond Tiara whispered.

“That was low…” Silver Spoon furrowed her eyebrows. Diamond also thought so, but at least it was enough to make her shut up.

Sweetie Belle, being the only unicorn in the group, went to the bar to get the drinks and soon came back, levitating the cider, cola for Rumble, and some fancy cocktail for herself. Diamond Tiara took a sip. She shrugged – there wasn’t anything special about the taste. Just a sparkling drink with a faint apple flavour.

“Yeah, I know what ya think…” Apple Bloom said, looking at her. “Just wait till the cider season…”

“See?” Babs turned to Diamond Tiara. “We’re here for, like, five minutes and Apple Bloom already invites ya to taste her cider… I wonder where it’ll end…”

Rumble smirked. “I hope it won’t end with her tasting her, umm… cider…”

“Pervert…” Scootaloo muttered, poking his wing.

“That’s not what you said last night…” Rumble deadpanned. Scootaloo blushed and poked him once more, this time much stronger.

Diamond Tiara took a sip of her cider. For the first time in her life she understood why alcohol was invented – the company of some ponies would be unbearable while sober.

“So, how’s Canterlot, Scootaloo?” Apple Bloom asked. “And Ah swear, if ya say that it’s a silly place, I’m gonna throw that cider at ya…”

“What can I do?” Scootaloo asked. “It is… Though I really liked when they sent me to patrol the cave where bat ponies live. It’s a nice change after dealing with all those…” She waved her hoof and spoke in a mock accent, “’Ms. Guard, that’s impossible that this hoofband ended up in my son’s saddlebags…’” She sighed. “Bat ponies are completely different.”

“What d’ya mean?” Babs asked. “They don’t let their kids steal from the shops?”

“No. They simply tell me to fu– I mean, to go away.” Scootaloo replied. Everypony laughed.

“I’d feel like at home there,” Babs said, wiping her eyes. “Back in my days…” She paused, seeing that everypony looked at her. “What? Do I sound old when I’m sayin’ this, or what?”

Button was the first to break the awkward silence. “I guess it’s not the place to recall your past, umm… sins,” he said, avoiding Babs gaze and making a move as if he wanted to hide behind Sweetie Belle.

“Oh, come on…” Babs muttered, downing her cider. “At least I was doin’ somethin’ instead of wankin’ in my room like ya…”

“Babs!” Sweetie Belle furrowed her eyebrows.

“Ah think Button is right,” Apple Bloom said. “Your ‘something’ hurt a lot of ponies…”

“So what?” Babs exclaimed. “I paid for that… And don’t forget that I… I got hurt too…” She lowered her head. “I think I’ll get another cider…”

Diamond Tiara watched Babs walking to the counter. Then she turned to the rest of her companions. Rumble was whispering something into Scootaloo’s ear, Button was focused on his cider, and Apple Bloom was exchanging worried looks with Sweetie Belle.

Babs had just come back, when suddenly a lanky colt appeared seemingly out of nowhere, took a camera, took a photo of Sweetie Belle and disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared.

“What the fuck was that?” Babs asked, putting her cider on the table. “Can I get him and beat the crap outta him or are ya gonna whine that I hurt somepony?”

“It was Featherweight, I think,” Sweetie Belle said, running her hoof down her mane. “I’m not surprised actually…”

Babs opened her mouth to say something, but Diamond Tiara was faster. “Well, I’m not surprised either. A famous singer, a famous racer, and…” She sighed. “…a famous serial killer walk into a bar…”

“Sounds like a beginning of a crappy joke,” Babs muttered. “Though if it ends with that guy gettin’ strangled with a film from his camera, I may even laugh at it…”

“He was always an asshole,” Rumble muttered. “He could at least say hello… I don’t get why you let those guys take photos of you, Sweetie…”

“My manager says that it’s important to show up in the papers from time to time…” Sweetie said.

“He was an asshole…” Babs muttered philosophically and laughed. “Now he’d be the butt of the joke…”

“Rarity always says that it’s a shame that Octavia moved out,” Sweetie Belle said and sipped the remains of her drink with a straw. “She could appreciate a bad pun… By the way, maybe I could convince her to play on my second album…”

“Ask her what’s the best method to play with a G-string…” Scootaloo chuckled. “I doubt I’d have an occasion to meet her, unless she likes to play with A-minor…”

“Scootaloo, please…” Apple Bloom shook her head.

Suddenly, Diamond Tiara felt something weird. She’d just finished her cider when she noticed that everything around her was moving in slow motion. She could see Scootaloo laughing, but she couldn’t hear her – her voice disappeared in a stream of incomprehensible whispers.

“Ya okay?” Babs’ voice sounded as if they were underwater.

“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara replied. “I… I need to go to the little filly’s room…” She stood up and trotted to the toilet.

She stood in a dark corridor, resting her hooves against the sink and looked at her reflection in the mirror. The whispers died down. She noticed that her eyes were bloodshot and started to wonder if it was some side effect of the cider. Then she blinked and saw that her reflection was replaced by the image of Silver Spoon. She was staggering slightly; her mane was in a mess. Her glasses were slightly askew and she was blushing.

“H-hello…” Silver Spoon said, giggling. “You were right, DT… I’m so…” She hiccupped. “W-wasted…”

“Oh, come on…” Diamond Tiara sighed. “I got my own hallucination drunk… I wonder what’d the doctor say about that…”

“Nothing wise, probably…” The voice changed. It was sharp and cold; each word pierced Diamond Tiara like dagger. “They never say anything wise. Look at yourself, Diamond Tiara. They held you in the nuthouse for ten years and you can still see us. Not to mention me… I’ll get old and never see the world outside…”

Diamond Tiara looked into the mirror. Her vision was blurring around the edges, but she could see that her reflection changed. A pale coat, a braided, orange mane, and piercing green eyes – Curtain Call was looking back at her, smiling menacingly.

“I’m bored…” she said in a melodic voice. “Let’s go out and play…”

“No!” Diamond Tiara shouted and threw her hoof in the air. “I don’t want to do that again!”

The sound of breaking glass woke her up. She realised that she was lying on the floor. Her hoof was aching. She looked up and saw Babs and Rumble staring at her unsurely.

“Are ya okay?” Babs asked. “Ya were here for so long…”

“Y-yes…” Diamond muttered, trying to get up. “I… I think it was the cider…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have drank it… With your meds…” Rumble said.

“M-maybe…” Diamond Tiara shuddered. “Rumble, it’s a girl’s bathroom…”

Rumble blushed. “Oh come on…” he said. “I’m here only to help you…”

Babs looked into Diamond Tiara’s eyes and blinked. Then she turned to Rumble. “I think I’ll manage to carry her just fine,” she said. “Ya can go…”

“I’ll help you,” Rumble insisted. “I’m stronger…”

“Wanna check that?” Babs growled. “Maybe she wants to…” She looked at the stalls.

“Oh, yes…” Diamond Tiara said quickly. “You’d better go, Rumble…”

“Okay…” Rumble shook his head and left the bathroom.

Babs helped Diamond Tiara up and looked at her hoof. “We’ll have to get ya to the doctor…” she said. “What’s goin’ on?”

“Did I kill somepony?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen any bloodied corpse around…” Babs replied. “And ya weren’t alone long enough to get outta there… Let’s go to the hospital… Did ya really have to punch through the friggin’ mirror?”

Diamond Tiara lowered her head. She didn’t want to tell about what she’d seen. Even to Babs.

The party was over – Sweetie and Button decided to go to his house, and Scootaloo wanted to go for a walk with Rumble. Apple Bloom joined Babs. They went to the counter so Diamond Tiara could pay the barmare for the mirror and quickly left the pub, almost hitting somepony with the door.

Cherry Berry dodged the door and went into a pub, looking back unsurely. Then she turned around and saw Lyra and Minuette sitting at their favourite table. “Was it that little killer with Apple Bloom and her cousin there?” she asked.

Minuette only sighed.

(Not) My Town

“New policy, my ass…” Babs muttered, seeing a colourful group of prostitutes standing on the pavement. The only thing that changed since she had last been in Manehattan was that they were now standing in some distance from the railway station. She approached them and to her surprise, she noticed that most of them were younger than her.

“Hey, ya!” one of them, a violet pegasus in a cheap dress who looked like she was fourteen shouted to Babs. “What’r ya lookin’ at?”

“I’m lookin’ for someone,” Babs replied. When she walked, she “accidentally” moved her jacket in such a way that two coins inside clinked. The mares didn’t know it was the only money Babs had, so they raised their heads.

“Fuck off,” the pegasus said. “I ain’t like dat.”

Babs spat on the pavement. “I wouldn’t touch your skinny ass with a ten-foot pole,” she said. “Have ya ever heard about a girl called Nightcap? She’s a dark blue unicorn…”

“Never ‘eard of ‘er,” said another prostitute, a skinny yellow unicorn with missing front teeth. “Hey, girls, I ‘ave a feelin’ she’s an undercover guard… Let’s beat ‘er!”

“I could knock the rest of your teeth out with three hooves tied,” Babs muttered. “Nopony heard of Nightcap? I’ll pay.”

Suddenly, someone started to push themselves through the small crowd. The yellow unicorn got pushed away; she fell on the pavement, yelling curses.

Another mare approached Babs. She was a unicorn, and, if Babs wasn’t mistaken, she was about sixty years old. Babs shuddered when her imagination presented an image of her with a client to her.

“I apologise for these cunts,” she said, pronouncing the last word as “coonts”. “I am trying to teach them some manners, but as you can see, some of them, like Carnation, can’t even get their h’s right…” She slapped the yellow filly in the ear, causing her to yell another quite impressive stream of swears. “Anyway, my name is Old Celly… After our princess, you know…”

“Oh… Okay…” Babs muttered, stunned. “H-how come I’ve never heard of ya?” She pointed at the younger whores. “I used to stand here when some of ‘em were shittin’ their diapers… Nightcap was my friend back then.”

“Oh, I used to work in more… elegant places,” said Old Celly. “Anyway, I’ve heard of Nightcap. A good girl, not like those walking contraceptives adverts.” She gave a violet pegasus a nasty glare. “She’s not in business anymore. She married a donkey.”

Babs staggered. “W-what? What donkey?”

“Big, silent… He worked in a bar.”

“Okay, thanks…” Babs said, trying to put those pieces of information together. “D-do ya think she still lives in her place?”

“She never said anything about moving out,” Old Celly said. Suddenly, she turned to the yellow unicorn called Carnation and with a reflex no one would expect from an old mare, she knocked her in the back of the head.

“My ‘ead!” Carnation shouted. “What was dat for?”

“That was for thinking that our guest is a guard,” Old Celly said dryly. “You should now apologise. Also, it’s ‘head’ and ‘that’, not some argot…”

“I’m sorry,” Carnation said to Babs with an expression suggesting that if they met in a dark alley, one of them would end up with a knife between the ribs.

“I’ll go now…” Babs muttered, thinking that she was lucky that her short career in the entertainment business happened before Old Celly started to rule the streets. “See ya later, girls…”

“So, you’re going back to Canterlot tomorrow?” Diamond Tiara asked.

Scootaloo nodded. They were sitting in Sugarcube Corner – Diamond Tiara thought that some sugar would definitely help her battle the remains of her hangover and accidentally met Scootaloo there.

“I only came to Ponyville for a weekend,” Scootaloo explained. “I still have lot to learn… But maybe soon I’ll help with some case. Nothing big, probably, filling in paperwork while the rest works, but it’s better than sitting in class.”

“Is it hard to become a guard?” Diamond Tiara asked. After spending ten years seeing only doctors and her own hallucinations, she was interested in every aspect of life.

“They wouldn’t let you…” Scootaloo said. “But yeah… You have to learn lots of things, not to mention stuff such as running, flying, shooting, fighting… Even archery and spear fighting, as if we were the guys from Celestia’s palace.” She took a bite of her cupcake. “After the martial arts training I got so crazy that I was looking at everypony assessing if I could beat them easily…”

Diamond Tiara chuckled. “And what did you figure out?”

“I’d have problems with Apple Bloom and Babs, though in their case it’s rather strength than technique… With Rumble… Well, it’s the other kind of wrestling…” She laughed.

Diamond Tiara blushed when she understood what Scootaloo had in mind.

Scootaloo shook her head. “We need to find you a coltfriend, Diamond…” she said. “Maybe Featherweight? You two would really match each other…”

“Thanks, I’m not interested…” Diamond Tiara waved her hoof. “Also, why Featherweight? Was I that terrible to you when you were a foal?”

“Yes. Even without the killing.”

“Why do you hang out with me then?” Diamond Tiara asked. “You, Apple Bloom, Sweetie… I thought you’d be the first to…”

“It was ten years ago,” Scootaloo replied. “You changed… And I guess we changed too. But I guess it was Babs who, umm… convinced us.”

Diamond Tiara shook her head and chuckled. “But really… Featherweight? After the first date he’d start to write a series of articles… ‘My Life with The Sleepless Killer’, or something like that.”

Scootaloo almost choked on her cupcake. “I can totally see those headlines… ‘Diamond Tiara eats hay’,” she said in a dramatic tone. “I can assure you that every day in the morning Diamond Tiara takes a sh–“

“Don’t be gross!” Diamond Tiara laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. “Also, how’d he know that?”

“Dunno, maybe he’d install a camera there?”

“Eww… I think I lost the appetite…” Diamond Tiara looked at her raspberry pie and sighed.

Suddenly, the door to the Sugarcube Corner opened and a young, dark unicorn wearing a guard helmet entered the bakery. “Hello, Scootaloo,” he said, looking at Diamond Tiara unsurely.

“Hello, Chocolate Donut,” Scootaloo said. She knew him from the academy – he was a few years older than her and after he graduated, he started to work in Ponyville with the new commander, Front Kick. “What’s going on?”

“We just found a body,” the guard said. “The boss thought that you’d want to see how we work…”

“What?” Scootaloo’s eyes widened. Diamond Tiara shuddered.

“Someone murdered, umm… a photographer,” Chocolate Donut said, still looking at Diamond Tiara. “His name was Featherweight…”

The neighbourhood was even worse than three years before. Babs looked at the buildings, wondering how much longer it’d take before they collapse. Some foals were looking at her curiously. She knew why – even though it’d been through various misfortunes, her jacket still looked quite expensive. Whoever had bought it in the Griffon Empire probably hoped that it’d last for ages. It did, though not worn by them. There were also the earrings – all of them were only gilded, but the foals couldn’t know that.

They, however, could easily see Babs’ muscles. She didn’t grow much since she was sixteen, but two and half year of working in the desert toughened her. A bunch of lanky misfits stood no chance against her.

She trotted into the staircase, smelling of mice and piss, and went upstairs. She stood in front of the scratched door and knocked.

The only sound Babs could hear at first were cries of a foal. She started to think that Nightcap had surely moved out, but then she heard trotting and the clinging of the latch, before the door opened.

“Babs!” Nightcap exclaimed. “What are ya doin’ here?”

“I’m back…” Babs said, pulling her friend into a hug. “How are ya? I missed ya so much…”

“Well…” Nightcap muttered. “Everythin’ kinda changed…”

“Yeah… I’ve heard somethin’ about ya marryin’ a donkey…” Babs shook her head. She noticed that Nightcap’s flat looked much cleaner than before. Luckily, the old chest of drawers still stood in the same place as before. “I guess that means no more ‘horizontal recreation’ for us?”

“I guess Vinnie wouldn’t like it…” Nightcap said, pointing at the mule filly sitting in a tall chair and watching Babs with large, black eyes.

Babs felt a pang of envy, but it quickly disappeared. “Hello Vinnie…” she said. “Who’s the father?” she asked Nightcap.

“Well, actually her name is Vinyl…” Nightcap smiled sheepishly. “But Raz thinks it’s silly.”

“You married Raz?” Babs exclaimed. “Geez… I’ve never thought this old loner would–”

“He’s really nice once he starts to talk,” Nightcap said. “He has a new job now… Well, it’s still not enough to get us outta here, but at least I don’t have whore myself anymore…”

“Yeah…” Babs sighed. “Actually, I only came to get somethin’…” She trotted to the old chest of drawers and pulled the lowest one out. Behind it, taped to the bottom wall of the chest were two 500-bits coins. Babs took them and put one of them in her pocket.

“I forgot to tell ya,” Babs said and gave the other coin to Nightcap. “It’s for ya… Little Vinnie can’t stay here… Or she’ll be like… like me.”

“I can’t take it…” Nightcap said. “If it comes from some crime…”

“I made it by honestly whoring myself.” Babs sighed. “Also, ya didn’t have any issues with robbin’ our clients… And did Raz ever tell ya what we were doin’ together?”

“It was long time ago,” Nightcap protested. “I changed, Babs. And I hoped that you’d change too…”

“I changed,” Babs replied. “I… I have to thank ya for what ya did. If I didn’t get arrested, I’d probably already be dead. Take it.” She gave the coin to Nightcap. “Not for yourself, for Vinnie. Make some good use from it. And tell her that auntie Babs was a good pony…”

“Wait!” Nightcap exclaimed, seeing that Babs trotted to the hall. “What are ya plannin’ to do?”

Babs didn’t reply.

Scootaloo braced herself. In every novel she’d read there was always a young guard whose only role was to enter the crime scene, look at the corpse and throw up, seeing how horribly mutilated it was. She didn’t want to be that guard.

She had a good training. During classes, they watched a post mortem once or twice. Some of her colleagues threw up. Some left the morgue and never came back. Scootaloo spent that time wondering what’d be for dinner.

She also remembered the race in Hoofington. She was seventeen and took part in a couple of races as a junior, since Tornado Bolt was injured. The track in Hoofington was old and it had no bounds made of clouds. One of the local pegasi, even younger than her, crashed into a wooden fence and a broken pole pierced through his stomach. She landed next to him, trying to save him, but could only watch him bleeding out.

It was then, when she had definitely given up the dreams about becoming a racer and applied to the Royal Guard Academy.

She wondered if it’d be different this time. After all, she knew Featherweight. She’d seen him alive just the day before. The thought that he was now dead was unbelievable.

Chocolate Donut opened the door. Front Kick was already there, standing above the body of the pegasus.

Scootaloo took a look. The body wasn’t mutilated. Featherweight looked normal, except of the row of bruises on his neck and his blue face. Scootaloo shuddered – his eyes were wide open, staring back at her. The whole room was demolished – it seemed that he fought before death. A couple of damaged cameras were lying on the floor, along with the films and spilled chemicals.

“What happened here?” Scootaloo asked.

“It seems that someone strangled him with one of those films…” Front Kick said. “Do you know who could it be?”

Scootaloo opened her mouth, but she felt that the question wasn’t addressed to her. Chocolate Donut cleared his throat. “He was a paparazzi. I’d say lots of ponies…” he said.

“Exactly,” Front Kick said, looking at the body. “But who of them would go that far? We have to check those films… Maybe Sapphire Shores didn’t like when he caught her snorting coke…”

“That still leaves lots of ponies…” Scootaloo said. “Hell, I’m sure I’m on one of those photos…”

“Did you kill him?” Front Kick asked.

“Of course not! He took a photo of Sweetie Belle when we were in the pub yesterday,” Scootaloo replied. “But he left it alive.”

“According to the necrophile, he died before noon,” Chocolate Donut said.

“Don’t call Dr. Tulp that,” Front Kick scolded and turned to Scootaloo. “Who else was in the pub with you?”

Scootaloo scratched her head. “There were lots of us… Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle… Rumble, Button Mash, Babs Seed, Diamond Tiara…”

“Diamond Tiara!” Chocolate Donut exclaimed. “She could’ve done that…”

“She couldn’t,” Scootaloo replied. “She says she got sick after our party, then she went to the doctor and then she was with me in Sugarcube Corner…”

“I’d say it’s quite a tight schedule, a murder wouldn’t fit…” Front Kick chuckled. “But can somepony confirm that?”

“Filthy Rich, his servants, the doctor, and I,” Scootaloo said.

“We’ll have to check Filthy Rich and the servants,” Chocolate Donut muttered. “Though they’ll probably say that she was at home.”

“I believe her,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah…” Front Kick shook his head. “But remember that you’re not working on this case. Also, if not Diamond Tiara then who else?”

Scootaloo furrowed her eyebrows, trying to recall the events of the night before. It wasn’t easy – Diamond Tiara destroying the mirror was the most clear memory, but the rest somehow faded. There were mostly stupid conversations about sex… Something about Octavia and puns… Jokes…

“Oh shit…” Scootaloo muttered.

“Loosening of the muscles after death,” Chocolate Donut said. “They teach about it in the academy…”

“No, it’s not that…” Scootaloo slammed her forehead. “Just after he took a photo of us… We talked that it’d make a good joke. You know, a famous singer, a famous racer, and a famous serial killer walk into a bar and so on…”

“A joke…” Front Kick muttered. “So, what’s its point?”

“Then Babs said something like…” Scootaloo scratched her head, trying to recall it exactly. “’If the joke ended with him being strangled with the film from his camera, I’d laugh at it’, or something similar.”

“That Babs…” Front Kick scratched his chin. “Do you think she’d be able to kill somepony?”

Scootaloo hesitated. She thought about Babs. She’d been arrested for stealing and trying to hide some gun, but was it everything she’d done? There were gossips. The guy who’d raped Babs had been one of the most important ponies in Manehattan and Lightning Dust had decided to kill him soon after that. “Yes,” Scootaloo said. “I think she’d be able to kill. The problem is, she has an alibi. She went to Manehattan in the morning.”

Babs patted the pocket of her jacket. On her way, she went to the store and bought a new balisong knife. Now it was resting in a place where she could reach it easily, together with the rest of the money. She felt much safer, walking through the streets, especially since it was slowly getting dark.

She sighed, seeing her old neighbourhood. The buildings had been covered with a fresh layer of paint, then, of course, sprayed with graffiti. Only in a few places the old scribblings survived – Babs laughed when she saw that “The Sleepless Killer will be back” had been changed into “The Sleepless Killer is back”. She looked around, checking if there were no ponies nearby, took her knife and scratched “And she’s the cutest killer I’ve ever met” below.

“Hey, ya!” She heard. Quickly, she turned, back, her knife ready, and saw a lanky yellow filly approaching her.

“Ah, it’s ya,” Babs muttered, trying to recall the filly’s name. “Carnation. Already back from work? If ya wanted to attack me, ya screwed up. The element of surprise was your only chance.”

“Fuck off,” Carnation said in a monotone. “If ya ‘ave to know, Old Celly beat da crap outta me and then I sucked an old, smelly guy’s cock. All I wanna do is to go ‘ome, throw up, and catch some sleep before my dad smashes my ‘ead against da wall again…”

Babs approached Carnation and wrapped her hoof around her. Carnation froze and tried to back away, but Babs held her firmly. “Seems that we’re neighbours,” Babs said. “I don’t remember ya…”

“I’d moved in only recently,” Carnation said and sighed. “I’m da only one in da family who brings money ‘ome.”

Babs nodded. During the hardest times, she also was in such situation. But unlike Carnation, she had a loving family.

They trotted to one of the blocks together and went upstairs. When they reached Babs’ floor, she stopped. To her surprise, she saw that Carnation stopped too.

“So, where’s your flat?” Babs asked.

“It’s dis one,” Carnation replied, pointing at the nearby door. She sighed and wiped her eyes.

“No shit…” Babs muttered. “It’s my flat…”

Carnation scratched her head. It was greasy and Babs backpedalled, wondering if she caught lice when she’d hugged her. “I only moved ‘ere a few months ago…” she said in the same monotone as before.

“Shit… D’ya know somethin’ about the previous owners?” Babs asked. “Apple and Tangerine Seed. He has only three legs and she looks almost exactly like me…”

Before Carnation could reply, the door of the flat busted open. A yellow stallion with bloodshot eyes looked around the corridor, spreading the wave of alcohol smell around. Finally, his eyes rested on Carnation. “You!” he screamed. “What are ya doin’ ‘ere, cunt? C’mon! Get inside and gimme da money!” Not waiting for an answer, he punched Carnation. She fell on the floor, blood dripping from her nose. Before she could stand up, he kicked her in the stomach, causing her to throw up on the floor. He was just preparing another blow, when Babs caught his hoof.

“Who da fuck are ya?” he growled.

“Former owner of this house,” Babs deadpanned. “I don’t like what ya’re doin’ here.”

“Fuck off!” the stallion shouted. “Former owner, my ass…”

Two minutes later, the stallion was lying, groaning, at the lower floor. At least one of his bones was broken, but Babs didn’t care. He was bigger than her, but years of drinking turned him into a wreck. Defeating him wasn’t a reason to be proud.

“Are ya okay?” Babs asked, helping Carnation up.

“What da fuck ‘ave ya done…” Carnation cried. “He’s gonna kill me…”

Babs shook her head. She looked at the stallion. He was wounded, but definitely he was going to get better. Then, of course, he’d relieve frustration in the same way he’d always did – by mauling his daughter. “Ya have to run away,” Babs said. “D’ya have money?”

“Ten bits I made today.” Carnation blushed.

“Ten?” Babs rolled her eyes. “Fuck!” She reached to her pocket. Luckily, when she’d bought a knife, she’d been given some changed. She took fifty bits and gave them to Carnation, who grabbed them and hid them immediately. “Ya’d better find some other job,” she said. “I wouldn’t even let the guy look at me for ten bits…”

Carnation sobbed. “I know…” she muttered. “Dad always says I’m pathetic… And I killed mom…”

“Ya did?” Babs asked.

“Sh-she died when I was born…” Carnation said. They trotted downstairs and stopped next to the stallion, who moaned, holding his injured hoof.

Babs wasted no occasion to kick him in it. He screamed and started to mutter curses under his breath. “It’s not your fault,” Babs said to Carnation. “C’mon! Go to him and tell him that…”

Shuddering, Carnation approached her father. She looked at Babs unsurely, then turned back to him. “It’s not my fault dat mom died,” she said in a cold, emotionless tone. “Y-ya ‘ad n-no right t-to beat me…” Suddenly, before Babs could react, Carnation positioned herself above her father’s face. A sharp stench of urine filled the staircase. “Ya’ll never see me again…” she muttered.

“O-okay…” Babs’ jaw dropped. “Let’s go… We woke up all the neighbours… Someone will probably go and check what’s goin’ on soon…”

They left the block and stood on the pavement in some distance from it. Carnation was staggering slightly; a fire was burning in her eyes. “S-so, what’ll ‘appen to me now?” she asked.

“Dunno…” Babs muttered. “D’ya have any friends ya can go to?”

Carnation thought for a moment. “Y-yes,” she replied. “I ‘ave.”

“So, ya’re in a better situation than me,” Babs said. “I have no idea where my family lives now… Couldn’t they write to my cousins or what?”

“Well, I’ve ‘eard dey live with their daughter and ‘er ‘usband now,” Carnation said. “A large flat near Bridleway…”

“Well, it’s better than nothin’,” Babs said. “See ya, Carnation. Take care.”

“Take care… Umm… I ain’t get your name…”

“Babs,” Babs replied. “Babs Seed.”

“I didn’t kill anyone!” Diamond Tiara shouted.

“Are you sure?” Chocolate Donut asked, watching her room curiously. “Did you, umm… take your medicines?”

“Of course!” Diamond replied. “Listen, idiot, if I killed somepony, I’d remember that!” She shuddered, trying desperately not to cry. “It’s… It’s like riding a cart, but with somepony else pulling it. When I… I could see everything, but I couldn’t do anything about that…” She fell on her bed, sobbing.

“We’ll check everything…” Chocolate Donut said. “Your father and servants are agreeing that you were here in the morning…”

“Maybe because I was here in the morning?” Diamond Tiara deadpanned. “Am I arrested? Because if not, then I don’t want to be questioned like that. I didn’t kill anypony… recently. I’m mentally ill and I know about that… Why can’t you understand that?”

“We’re just checking every possibility,” the guard said.

“And one of those possibilities just happened to be me?” Diamond Tiara sighed.

“We had to check that,” Chocolate Donut said. “We’ll inform you about our proceedings. Until then, don’t leave the town.”

Just after he left the room, Scootaloo entered it. “So, how was it?”

“Bad,” Diamond Tiara muttered, sinking her face in the pillow. “Once it all ends I’m leaving Ponyville…”

“W-what?” Scootaloo asked. “Why?”

“You see how it looks like,” Diamond Tiara said, sitting on her bed. “No matter what I do, everyone who looks at me sees only a murderer.”

“I don’t,” Scootaloo replied, straightening her wings. “Sweetie, Babs… Even Apple Bloom. We understand that you weren’t yourself…”

Diamond Tiara sighed. “And those who don’t see me as a murderer, constantly remind me how weak I am! For you, I’m either a killer, or a sick pony! Y-you speak to me as if I had cancer… No bad news... I live in a glass bubble filled with compassion…”

“Chill out, Diamond…” Scootaloo said. “It’s just because of Donut… Rethink it when you’re calmer. Everything will be okay…”

“’Everything will be okay’?!” Diamond Tiara shouted. “You’re doing this again!” She lowered her voice. “It’s not my town anymore… I… I want to go somewhere else… Start everything from scratch…”

Scootaloo nodded. “Well, you’ve spent so much time locked in the hospital that…”

“I fucking know about that! I was there!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed and groaned, pulling her blanket over her head. “If you have nothing more to tell me but obvious things, get out. I want to be alone.”

Scootaloo opened her mouth to say something, but then her wings drooped. She was thinking for a moment, then she trotted out of the room and closed the door.

“I told you to kill her when we had a chance,” Curtain Call said. She was sitting on the windowsill and watching Scootaloo leaving the mansion. “Now she can fly… It’ll be hard.”

“I’m not killing anyone…” Diamond Tiara muttered into her pillow.

It was almost 9 PM when Sunflower finally appeared. For a lack of a better idea, Babs was walking around Bridleway, looking for any sight of her parents or sister. When she saw Sunflower, going home with saddlebags full of groceries, she ran to her immediately.

“Sunflower!” she exclaimed. “There ya are!”

Sunflower stopped in the middle of the pavement and looked at Babs with her eyes half-closed. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“They released me…” Babs replied. “I wanted to see mom and dad… I’d be here earlier, but it wasn’t easy to find ya. Ya could’ve sent your new address to Applejack…”

Sunflower sighed. “Listen Babs… Do you know why we didn’t?”

“Why?” Babs asked. For a moment, she remembered the dream about drowning she had on the train.

“Can you imagine how much you hurt mom and dad?” Sunflower asked, her voice shivering slightly. “They couldn’t stand the neighbours… Someone said that you killed somepony…”

“What? They never proved that…” Babs replied, trying to hold back tears.

“See? Not ‘I didn’t do that.’ ‘They never proved that’… What the hell have you done, Babs?” Sunflower asked.

“B-but I changed…” Babs said. “I’m not gonna do that again… I’ll go and apologise to ‘em… They’re my parents, they’ll give me the second chance…”

“No, Babs,” Sunflower said coldly. “You’ve had a second chance, a third chance, hell, even a fourth chance… Do you know that I’ve never told my husband that I have a sister?”

“So, that’s what it’s about?” Babs asked, approaching her sister. “I knew it… Ya’re afraid that a sister like me would ruin your oh-so-perfect reputation?! I’d like to remind ya that ya taught me to steal in shops!”

“Not so loud, Babs…” Sunflower said. “Unlike some other places in this town, ponies here call the guards when they hear noises…”

“Fuck off…” Babs muttered. “Fuck all of ya!” She turned back. “If ya want to find me, I’ll be in Ponyville. With my real family…”

She galloped away, hoping that no one would see her tears.

Babs sat on the bench at the railway station and looked at the clock. It was still two hours to the first train to Ponyville. She felt a bit dizzy – after she’d left her sister, she wanted at first to get drunk and collapse somewhere, but then she remembered that she’d have to get on the train. After a short pondering, she went to one of the few shops opened at night and bought three packs of cigarettes. Then she went to the park and smoked them in two hours.

Few minutes after she finished the last one, two bat ponies saw her throwing up bile under some tree. She drank cherry wine from a plastic cup with them and, slightly tipsy, started to wander aimlessly through the streets. She could hardly recall what happened later. She remembered beating the crap out of some punk who tried to mug her. The feeling was almost therapeutic. Then, if she recalled correctly, she drew a couple of dicks on the walls in various places in the town, peed into the fountain, broke a street lamp with a stone… Each of those acts was like a punch to the face of the town that created her, fed her, and when it saw how she changed, rejected her.

Babs sighed. She thought about two kids whose future she wanted to change that day. Vinnie, Nightcap’s daughter. A mule among the ponies. What’d happen to her? Babs had no doubts that Nightcap wouldn’t let her grow up to be like any of them.

There was also Carnation. Babs had no hopes about her father. She had to shape her future herself. What would she do with the fifty bits Babs had given to her? Would she start a new life, without ponies beating her or using her teenage body to satisfy their needs?

“Help!” somepony next to Babs shouted.

She raised her head, trying to shake off grogginess. “What’s up?” she asked.

“Some whore OD’d in the toilet!” the blue stallion with glasses replied.

Bad feelings overwhelmed Babs. She stood up; her moves were slow, as if she was trying to walk underwater. She followed the stallion. Some other ponies, passengers and the workers of the station walked with them.

The door to one of the stalls were opened wide after the pony inside collapsed on them. The floor was covered in stale vomit. An empty syringe was lying below the sink. The filly was lying on her back, her eyes staring at the ceiling.

Babs approached her, shuddering. The smell was almost unbearable; most of the ponies didn’t enter the toilet, too afraid of getting their hooves dirty. Babs started to wonder how many of them ever spent a night with a prostitute. She sat on the floor next to the body and touched it. It was already cold and began to stiffen. Babs watched it, recognising the yellow fur, blank flanks, stains of blood on the nose, and missing front teeth. She stood up, knowing well that the crowd was watching her. She stared again at the syringe under the sink, then back at Carnation’s body.

“Fuck!” she shouted, hitting the door of the nearby stall. The old plywood gave up immediately, splinters piercing her hoof, but Babs didn’t care. She kicked the door, breaking it in two.

“Fuck!”

Author's Note

Trivia: at first Carnation was supposed to appear only in the first scene of this chapter, but then an idea of that subplot appeared in my mind.

Their Plans

Diamond Tiara looked through the window of the carriage, watching the first snowflakes falling to the ground. She sat back on her seat and opened her saddlebags, checking if her cap and scarf were inside.

The train was moving swiftly through the plain between Ponyville and Canterlot. Diamond was watching the other passengers, her eyes half-closed. Some of them were unicorns from the capital – she recognised them immediately, seeing their expensive clothes. Their faces were mostly hidden behind the newspapers they were levitating. She also recognised a few familiar faces from Ponyville. It was always strange to her how they’d changed over the last ten years.

“It’s cool our dad helped us finding a flat,” Silver Spoon said. “No one knows you in Canterlot…”

“It’s my dad,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I guess it’ll be a bit small for you…”

“Don’t worry about me,” Silver Spoon replied, stretching her hooves and watching the snow behind the window. “At least you won’t be lonely there…”

“Scootaloo lives nearby,” Diamond Tiara said. “But thank you for caring about me…”

Suddenly, she heard somepony sneezing behind her. She turned her head quickly and saw a blue unicorn mare with a large scar on her hoof. She blew her nose and smiled at Diamond Tiara. “Hello,” she said. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t want to sneak on you like that.”

“Hello, Colgate… umm… Minuette…” Diamond Tiara replied. “Where are you going?”

“You can call me Colgate if you want,” Minuette said, sitting next to Diamond Tiara. “I’m going to visit Dr. Stable. Knowing him, I won’t be back till the Hearth’s Warming Eve...”

“Really?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I thought you and Octavia…”

“That’s an old story,” Minuette replied. “Berry and Vinyl are long dead. We hold no grudge against each other. Not to mention that Octavia is much better pony than some of…” She pointed her hoof in Ponyville direction.

Diamond Tiara sighed. She lowered her voice to a whisper. “Only when I read about Berry, I realised how big consequences my deeds had…”

Minuette shook her head. “It’s not your fault, Diamond… I’ve heard the whole story. I guess Berry would do something like that anyway. That mare was a ticking bomb.”

“Still, she didn’t deserve what happened to her…” Diamond Tiara said.

“And with these words you prove that you’re not a monster ponies like Cherry Berry want to see you.” Minuette wiped her eyes.

“You speak like my friend, Babs,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “She also says that I’m not a monster…”

“She’s right,” Minuette said. She sneezed again and shook her head. “Good thing I’ll live with a doctor…”

Diamond Tiara thought about Babs. In fact, they hadn’t seen each other for a while. A month ago, Babs came back from Manehattan in a foul mood, cursing everypony around to Tartarus. Then she went back to Sweet Apple Acres. According to Apple Bloom, she was getting up even earlier than Big Macintosh or Applejack, bucking apple trees so strong that they were almost devoid of bark after she was done with them. Diamond Tiara had visited her for a few times, but Babs barely ever talked to her.

Babs didn’t even say anything when Diamond told her that she was going to move to Canterlot. Scootaloo, however, couldn’t wait for a moment when Diamond would become her neighbour. Diamond Tiara wasn’t sure if she really meant it, but she decided not to think about it much.

Diamond learned about it just a few hours later. When her train arrived to Canterlot, she spotted Scootaloo waiting for her on the platform. She was wearing a warm flying suit and an aviator hat. The platform was already covered in snow; Diamond quickly put her scarf and cap on.

“Hello, Scootaloo,” she said, stepping out of the carriage. “Nice hat…”

“Thanks,” Scootaloo replied. “It was the first thing I found in my closet when I saw what the weather team prepared for us today…” She looked at the sky and sighed. “I swear, I’m gonna fly to them and ask them what they were thinking…”

“Can you do that later?” Diamond Tiara asked. “It’s cold…”

“Sure…” Scootaloo trotted through the hall of the station and led Diamond Tiara to the taxi stand. Most of the ponies there had apparently gotten the memo from the weather team, since they were using sleighs instead of wagons. Diamond and Scootaloo went to one of them, and soon they were travelling through the dark streets of the capital. At least the interior of the sleigh was warm. Scootaloo took off her aviator hat and ran her hoof through her mane.

“So, you live with your classmate, right?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo replied. “She’s kinda my fourth cousin twice removed. Her name’s Archer.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “If you have some problem, you can always visit us. Archer often pulls all-nighters, so she won’t mind…”

“How’s she like?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I don’t really remember her from school… She and Sun Glimmer moved away quite quickly…”

“You’ll see…” Scootaloo muttered. “I guess each of us has a weird cousin… Apple Bloom has Babs and Sweetie has–”

“Babs isn’t weird…” Diamond Tiara blushed when Scootaloo looked at her. “Do you still think she killed Featherweight?”

“Of course not,” Scootaloo replied, sighing. “She has a good alibi – Carrot Top saw her on a train. Still… It had to be either one of us, or someone who was in a pub with us…”

“Am I suspected again?” Diamond Tiara smiled. “I won’t tell anything without a lawyer…”

“Of course not.” Scootaloo chuckled. “Chocolate Donut told me that they still wonder about it…”

“If this was a novel, I’d say that it was Button Mash,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Why?”

“He’s simply the least likely to kill somepony,” Diamond Tiara replied. “It’s always the least likely character. Or a butler.”

Scootaloo laughed. “I must tell that to Donut. I guess he and Front Kick would arrest all the butlers in town…”

“Starting with mine,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “He’s surely guilty of something…”

“Excuse me,” the pony pulling the sleigh said. “We arrived.”

Scootaloo and Diamond Tiara paid him and left the taxi, trotting towards an old tenement house. They went upstairs. Scootaloo produced a key. “Our flat is the one on the right,” she said, pointing at the wooden door full of dents and scratches. “I guess the one of the left is yours. If you want, you can drink tea with us.”

Diamond Tiara nodded. Of course she’d seen her new place earlier, but she’d never been in Scootaloo’s flat before.

Scootaloo slowly approached the door to her flat, carefully listening for the noises. “Seems that Archer is home,” she whispered and pushed the door open.

Suddenly, something small hit the opened door, leaving another gash in it. Diamond Tiara jumped back, startled and looked at the short arrow that bounced off the door and fell on the floor of Scootaloo’s flat. When Scootaloo trotted forward, she followed her, picking the arrow from the ground.

“Archer!” Scootaloo exclaimed, entering the corridor. “What the hell are you doing?”

Diamond Tiara followed Scootaloo and saw a blue mare sitting at the table, littered with parts of various stripped-down crossbows and firearms. If it wasn’t for lack of wings and blue coat, she’d be indistinguishable from Scootaloo. She was holding another crossbow in her mouth – a model with a grip on the side, allowing shooting it with pony’s tongue. Babs once told Diamond Tiara that there were attempts to build similar guns, but all the prototypes were aptly named “Dentist’s Best Friends”. Earth ponies still had to sit or stand on hind legs while shooting with their hooves.

“I’m thorry…” Archer said. She spat the crossbow out and continued, “I wanted to tell you to watch out, but then it went off…”

“That’s what Rumble said when… Nevermind,” Scootaloo muttered. “I swear, Archer, one day they’ll fire you from the academy… Or you’ll kill somepony accidentally.”

“What exactly are you doing?” Diamond Tiara asked, looking at the parts scattered on the table, as well as several spanners, hammers and other tools. Three different bows were hanging on the walls. “Also, I have your arrow…”

“It’s not an arrow!” Archer exclaimed. “Bows shoot arrows. Crossbows shoot bolts.”

Diamond Tiara raised her eyebrows. “Okay, I have your bolt,” she said, putting the bolt on the table.

“Okay…” Archer looked at the table. “We’re studying for a practical exam… We have to learn recognise all this stuff… A propos, Scootaloo, what’s that?” She asked, picking a random piece of metal.

“It’s an extractor from Souvenir from Manehattan,” Scootaloo replied. “Some group started to copy Equestrian Army submachines, but their inventions were shooting everywhere except the place they were aimed at, and had a nasty habit of losing the bolt which then could hit the shooter and remodel their face… Did I pass?”

“I have no idea…” Archer muttered, watching the extractor. “Do you know that guards in Canterlot only use bows and crossbows?” she asked Diamond Tiara. “Those rich ponies are really conservative…”

“You’d better learn it quickly,” Scootaloo said. “Since you’re going to fail the safety part forever…”

Suddenly, Archer looked at Diamond Tiara more exactly and gasped. “It’s you!” she exclaimed. “I’ve read everything about you!”

“W-what?” Diamond Tiara asked, looking at Archer unsurely.

“About the murders! It inspired me to become a guard, actually… If I was there, you wouldn’t have had it that easy…”

Diamond Tiara said nothing. Archer also silenced, seeing her expression. The silence was getting awkward. Archer’s half-conscious smile was making it even worse.

Finally, Archer stood up. “Do you want some tea?” she asked.

“No, thanks,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I have to go home and unpack my things… See you later...”

“Wait!” Archer exclaimed. “You live next to us?”

“Yes, she’s our neighbour,” said Scootaloo dryly. “Chill out, Archer.” She turned to Diamond Tiara. “Sorry, Diamond,” she said. “Archer is sometimes a bit too direct…”

“I’m still here, cousin…” Archer deadpanned.

Diamond Tiara didn’t listen. She quickly left Scootaloo’s flat, went to her place, locked the door and threw herself on the sofa. An empty room only made her feel worse – the world started to spin around her. She quickly opened her suitcase and found a pack of her pills. She took one of them and went to the bathroom to pour herself a glass of water. Then she came back and lay back on the sofa, waiting for the ringing in her ears to stop.

“Are you alright?” Silver Spoon asked, sitting on the floor next to the sofa.

“You’re a part of my mind,” Diamond Tiara replied. “Try to guess…”

“Oh come on,” Silver Spoon muttered. “I just want to hold a conversation… What bothers you?”

Diamond Tiara sighed. The pill started to kick in and the whispers silenced. Even Silver Spoon became more blurred. “I thought I’ve seen everything…” she muttered. “But now I have a fan…”

“So?” Silver Spoon asked. “You’ve always wanted to have fans…”

“But not for that!” Diamond Tiara shouted. “That’s disgusting… It’s even worse than ponies who pity me...”

Silver Spoon yawned. Diamond Tiara raised her head and sent her a nasty glare. “Am I boring you?” she asked.

“No, I just found it interesting that ponies who pity you piss you off, while you still pity yourself…” Silver Spoon replied, watching her hooves.

Diamond Tiara sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Okay, I’m pathetic…” she said. “What can I do about that?”

“The same thing you planned earlier,” Silver Spoon replied. “Walk out more, meet ponies, read books, make up for the last ten years…” Suddenly her voice changed. “Or maybe we should start to do everything again? We’d be even more famous…”

Diamond Tiara turned her head so quickly that one of the muscles in her neck sent a jolt of pain to her brain. Her eyes widened when she saw that Silver Spoon was no longer with her; instead Curtain Call was watching her curiously.

“Those pills…” Curtain Call muttered. “You need to stop taking them. They prevent us from being truly together… Cider was a good idea, you know. Who knows, maybe Silver would also be with us? She runs away…”

“N-no…” Diamond Tiara stuttered, shivering. “I’m not going to kill anypony… Get out...”

“Or what? Will you break another mirror?” Curtain Call chuckled. “Face it, Diamond Tiara – you can’t survive without me…”

Diamond Tiara grabbed the glass of water and threw it at her. The jingling startled her. She looked at Curtain Call and saw that she was gone; only the shards of glass lying on the floor were a proof that something happened.

Diamond Tiara yawned – a final symptom that her meds started to work. She wasn’t sure if it wasn’t what caused Curtain Call to disappear, but she didn’t think about that. She lay on the couch and soon she fell into a shallow slumber, occasionally interrupted by shudders and whimpers.

Babs was lurking in the shadows. She made sure Apple Bloom was asleep. Neither Applejack nor Big Macintosh were at home, so she didn’t have to worry about them.

Babs smiled to herself. She remembered Granny Smith telling her once that she hoped for Big Macintosh and Fluttershy getting together and giving her a couple of grandchildren. Granny didn’t live to that moment, but Big Mac and Fluttershy eventually did became a couple. Babs wondered what they were doing – probably they were sitting together, not talking to each other.

Applejack, as she told Babs, went to Pinkie Pie for a party. Probably hoping that Caramel would be there too.

Babs chuckled and shook her head. She’d never think any of her cousins would ever find time for dating, and now she and Apple Bloom were the only single ponies in the family. She shrugged – it meant that she wouldn’t have to be afraid that somepony would see her.

She quickly trotted downstairs, carefully avoiding all the creaking boards. She cursed under her breath, seeing that it was snowing. On one hoof, it meant that Applejack and Big Mac wouldn’t be coming back soon. On the other, her traces would be perfectly visible. Babs shrugged and took her jacket from the hanger. Then she wrapped a white scarf around her neck and looked at herself in the mirror. A brief thought that she looked like a pegasus warrior from the first Griffonian War ran through her mind, making her laugh. She checked if her knife and money were in her pockets and left home.

Taking shortcuts through the fetlock-deep snow, she reached the railway station. She hid in the building, waiting for the night train from Hoofington to come. Luckily, the ticket counters were closed and those few ponies who were waiting for a train weren’t interested in looking at her. Despite that, she hid in the corner; she didn’t want to take any chances.

Finally, she heard the sound of the steam engine and screeching brakes. She trotted to the platform and, hiding her face from the cold wind, started to look for a familiar silhouette.

The mule recognised her first. “Hello, Seed,” she said. “Long time no see…” She chuckled and reached her saddlebags with her hoof. “I have ten minutes before the train goes to Fillydelphia…”

“Hi, Ice Nine,” Babs muttered. “Not here…” She pointed at the siding. “No one will see us there…”

“It’s fucking cold…” Ice Nine muttered when they were walking through the snow. “I liked our desert better…”

“Stop whinin’,” Babs replied. “With your name ya should be used to low temperatures…”

“Fuck off, Seed, okay?” Ice Nine sighed. “Do you at least have the cash? I’m not gonna be freezing my ass off all night for you…”

“Of course,” Babs replied. “Do you have it?”

“Yes. Just what you wanted.” Ice Nine opened one of her saddlebags and took some small object wrapped in a piece of cloth. “Small, easy to conceal and get rid of, not used before, and it’s not some shitty souvenir that may poke your eye out. Caps included.”

“Thanks…” Babs took the money and gave it to the mule. “Three hundred and fifty, as I wrote ya…”

Ice Nine counted the money and smiled, hiding the coins. “If you want, I have some cool pills I can give you. They give a great kick to the brain…”

“I’d rather not have my brain kicked, thank ya,” Babs muttered. “See ya, Ice Nine.”

“Take care, Seed,” Ice Nine said. “Whatever you’re planning to do…”

Author's Note

For those who don't know, these are Archer and Sun Glimmer. They surely look familiar...

Also, Ice Nine, a mule first seen in the epilogue of Manehattan Blues was first called Jailbird, then, briefly, Cat's Cradle. You may guess who's her godfather...

Her Fall

“... so I showed her the scars, saying that I’m not gonna give a hoof to anypony. But she didn’t get it…”

Octavia chuckled and put her tea back on the table. “Well, I’m not surprised, actually…” she said. “Those scars really look awful. Don’t you want to have them removed?”

Minuette shook her head. “I’d rather keep them,” she said with a sigh. “You see, they remind me of how stupid I was…”

“You were trying to help…” Octavia muttered. She reached for her tea, but hesitated and put her hoof back on the armrest of her chair. “There’s nothing stupid with that.”

“Yeah… Though my idea sucked…” Minuette replied. She looked around Octavia’s place, wondering how nice and cosy it was. The wind was blowing outside, but the fireplace was making the house a much more friendly place. Even though it was still a couple of days till Hearth’s Warming Eve, everypony was in a holiday mood.

Dr. Stable entered the living room, levitating a bottle of wine. “Do you want some, Minuette?” he asked. “I bought it in Hollow Shades…”

“Hope there’s no blood in it,” Minuette said, smiling. “Octy, aren’t you bored of that tea?”

“Well, I can’t really drink wine…” Octavia replied, patting her stomach.

Minuette looked at it unsurely. Then she looked a Dr. Stable. Her smile widened and she hid her face in her hooves. “You’ve got to be kidding me…” she muttered.

“Kid-in-me? I have to remember that.” Octavia chuckled.

Minuette sighed. “I just… I didn’t expect that…”

“Well, I guess nopony did…” Octavia said. “Beauty Brass was shocked.”

“A propos,” Dr. Stable sat in his armchair. “She visited me at the hospital today, and said that Jet Set and Upper Crust invited us for a Hearth’s Warming Eve dinner. You’re invited too, Minuette…”

“A dinner with those freaky nobles?” Minuette chuckled. “I guess it’ll be fun…”

Octavia shook her head. “I know them… They’ll ask me to play something. But I guess leaving poor Beauty Brass alone with them wouldn’t be a good idea…”

“Yeah, sure…” Minuette muttered.

Even though the Hearth’s Warming Eve was close, the guards in Ponyville didn’t have time to sit at home with their families. Chocolate Donut was sitting in his office, surrounded by large stacks of photos he’d retrieved from Featherweight’s films. Front Kick entered the station and cleared his throat, seeing that his companion hadn’t noticed him.

“I’m kinda busy here, boss,” Chocolate Donut muttered. “We really need somepony else to help us… Maybe we should make Scootaloo our trainee?”

“Not yet,” Front Kick replied. “Are these all the photos he made?”

“Unfortunately not,” Chocolate Donut said. “Whoever killed him destroyed some films…”

Front Kick levitated one of the photos, depicting a group of young ponies drinking in a pub. “Hmm… Sweetie Belle, that future Wonderbolt, and Diamond Tiara? Front page material… But, of course, it’s not Diamond Tiara. I remember it. I, myself, figured out her pattern...”

“Though you caught her a bit late,” Chocolate Donut said. “I think it’s from the party Scootaloo told us about… It’s her wing, here...”

“I see,” Front Kick replied. “And I see Babs Seed sitting next to Diamond. But I guess our killer isn’t here. If they were, they’d destroy that one too.”

“Yeah…” Chocolate Donut muttered, looking at the stacks of photos. “This guy had the photos of almost all celebrities in Equestria… Did you know that Neon Lights is in rehab again?”

“Exactly, Donut,” Front Kick muttered. “Almost. Make a list of ponies who appear in those photos. The one who isn’t here may be our killer…”

Chocolate Donut sighed. “Who’d be stupid enough to destroy every single picture of themselves? They’d expect us to make such a list…”

“Still, I think blackmail was involved,” Front Kick said. “I checked this guy’s bank account. Somepony paid him two hundred thousand bits. Three times, every two months.”

Chocolate Donut sighed. “Boss, you don’t know how much those guys are paid… Maybe he caught Princess Luna on jaywalking? That’d be a hit...”

Front Kick didn’t laugh. “I checked other records. None of them is even close to those three transfers. Our killer did something really nasty and Featherweight took photos of it…”

Diamond Tiara looked into the mirror. She examined her reflection, making sure that it was really hers. With a sigh, she turned to the door, preparing to leave the flat. However, before she could open it, somepony knocked.

Diamond Tiara shook her head, trotted to the door and opened it to see Archer, resting herself against the door frame and flipping her mane nonchalantly.

“Hello,” Archer said. “Scoots told me to check on you.”

“I was about to go to you,” Diamond Tiara replied. “It’s still a few hours till our train arrives – just enough for Babs to see the town.”

“Yeah, Babs…” Archer muttered. “Where’s she?”

“She should be here soon.” Diamond Tiara looked into the corridor, as if she expected Babs to appear. She didn’t see her, but the door of the opposite flat opened and Scootaloo stood in it. “By the way, where are you going to spend Hearth’s Warming Eve?”

“With Apple Bloom in Sweet Apple Acres,” Scootaloo said. “It’s better than staying here… You know, Archer finds cooking recipes in a toxicology textbook…”

“It’s still better than your cooking…” Archer muttered.

“My cooking is fine.” Scootaloo raised her hoof. “At least it doesn’t taste of grease…”

“Yeah, it’s fine…” Archer said. “But how long can you eat pasta?”

“You know, when we’re back, you can eat with me from time to time,” Diamond Tiara said. Archer’s eyes widened; she smiled unconsciously. For a brief moment, Diamond Tiara thought of spiking her food with arsenic.

“What’s going on with Babs, anyway?” Scootaloo asked, causing Diamond Tiara to shudder. “Where’s she?”

“I don’t know,” Diamond replied. “She should be here soon…”

Archer turned to Scootaloo, smirking. “I think I know why are you in such a hurry, Scoots,” she said. “The two reasons wait for you in Ponyville, both wear the Wonderbolts’ flying suits, and their names start with R…”

“Oh, come on…” Scootaloo muttered.

“I was always wondering…” Archer said. “If you and Rumble are together, and Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane are together…”

“They’re not,” Scootaloo interrupted her quickly.

“Oh, I forgot. Rainbow Dash is too cool for relationships. One day she’ll simply divide into two smaller Rainbow Dashes…”

“Have you ever wondered, cousin, why everypony runs away from you?” Scootaloo deadpanned.

“I guess it’s because of my awesome personality,” Archer replied. “Also, Diamond likes me. Don’t you, Diamond?” She asked, wrapping her hoof around Diamond Tiara.

“Umm… yeah…” Diamond Tiara muttered, shaking Archer’s hoof off. She wasn’t sure what to think of Scootaloo’s cousin. She definitely was… overwhelming; that was a good word. Babs could be overwhelming too, but, unlike Archer, she knew how to tone it down when Diamond was around.

Just when Diamond Tiara wondered how to politely tell Archer to leave her flat and let her wait for Babs alone, she heard somepony climbing up the stairs. One look was enough for her to recognise the distinctive mane and a black leather jacket. “Babs!” she exclaimed. “Where have you been?”

“I kinda got lost,” Babs replied. “The taxis in this town are crazy…”

“It’s great that you decided to introduce your friend to us, Octavia,” Upper Crust said. They were walking through the crowded market between stands full of food, jewels, gifts, and other things ponies absolutely needed to have before the Hearth’s Warming Eve. A group of little foals was standing at the corner of the street, singing songs. Jet Set was smiling politely but Octavia noticed that he was throwing nervous glances at his wife from time to time. Minuette, on the other hoof, didn’t even pretend that she was interested in anything.

“So, who are you exactly?” Jet Set asked. “I think I remember you from Princess Cadance’s wedding…”

“Yeah…” Minuette muttered. “I’m just a humble dentist, though I indeed know Cadance… And I don’t really remember the wedding… You know, I kinda woke up in some creepy cave with Lyra and Twinkleshine…”

“Oh, I remember it,” Upper Crust said. “It was terrible… And now those caves are inhabited by bat ponies…”

“I always say Celestia should do something about them.” Jet Set shook his head. “Soon there’ll be more of them here than in Hollow Shades…”

“Yeah, I know somepony who had a great idea…” Minuette muttered, piercing Jet Set with her gaze. “Her name’s Cloud Kicker. If she behaves, they’ll release her from jail soon…”

“Minuette!” Octavia hissed.

“What?” Minuette asked. “It’s the same bullshit like saying that unicorns are better than, let’s say, earth ponies…”

“Earth ponies…” Jet Set sighed. “They always think they know everything better…” He looked at Octavia. “Not all of them, of course.”

“Maybe because they do,” Minuette said. “There’s that proverb I like: ‘a unicorn levitates it, a pegasus flies to it. An earth pony invents a ladder’. It’s a slow process, but earth ponies will rule Equestria one day…”

“Good,” Jet Set muttered, watching one of the ponies in the crowd, wearing a long cloak with a hood that was making her face invisible. Something about her seemed familiar. “Maybe they’ll find a way to deal with bat ponies…”

Minuette shook her head. She turned away, watching the stand with gingerbread and other baked goods, when suddenly a loud bang nearly deafened her. She heard Octavia’s scream, as if it was coming from a great distance. She turned back, hearing another two bangs in a rapid succession. Octavia was lying on the ground next to Jet Set. The snow around them was quickly getting red. Minuette froze; she saw a pony wearing a cloak with a gun attached to their hoof with a strap. Before Minuette could react, the pony looked back at her and ran away, undisturbed by anypony.

“Octavia!” Minuette shouted, running to her friend. “Shit… Octavia! Don’t be dead...”

Octavia raised her head when Minuette sat next to her. “I’m okay, I think…” she muttered. She looked around and retched, seeing Jet Set’s blood. Behind her, Upper Crust screamed, holding her husband’s body in her hooves.

“W-who the fuck was that?” Minuette asked. She examined Octavia and saw that while the bullets were aimed at Jet Set, one of them grazed her flank. “How’s the baby?”

“I… I don’t know…” Octavia muttered, panting heavily, her voice drowning in Upper Crust’s cries. “Oh Celestia…” She grabbed her stomach, suddenly getting pale. “I hope it’s okay…”

“Don’t move…” Minuette whispered, shuddering. The ponies were running around them; it seemed that the killer disappeared before someone could tear their cloak off. Foals were screaming, but Minuette didn’t care. Octavia was much more important. “Everything will be alright…”

Diamond Tiara, Babs, Scootaloo, and Archer were walking through snowy Canterlot, watching the shop windows. Even the usually pragmatic Archer livened up a bit seeing the jewellery store. Diamond Tiara couldn’t take her eyes away from it – recently she started to draw her own projects again and was looking for a possibility to start working as a jewellery designer. Only Babs was silent. She was trotting slowly behind the rest of the group.

“Seems that there’s some commotion in the market,” Scootaloo muttered, seeing a large crowd of ponies surrounding one place in the middle of it.

“I guess two mares are fighting for the last piece of cake,” Archer muttered. “We’d better not go there – dunno how about you, Scoots, but I like the shape of my nose…”

“Is it coroner’s carriage?” Scootaloo asked, watching the black vehicle standing near the centre of the crowd. “Also, I can see the guards there…”

“Oh, come on…” Archer muttered. “It’s nearly the Hearth’s Warming Eve… I don’t want to watch any crime scenes…”

“Since when don’t you like crime scenes?” Scootaloo asked. She saw that Babs was walking towards the group. “Hey, Babs! Where are you going?”

“I wanna see what happened,” Babs replied.

Scootaloo shrugged and followed Babs. Archer and Diamond Tiara went with them.

“I’d rather stay behind,” Diamond Tiara said. “I’m not sure how I’d react…”

“Okay, no biggie,” Archer muttered. “Excuse me, I’m a guard!” she yelled when they reached the crowd. Several ponies made place for her and Scootaloo. Babs tried to follow them, but got stuck between ponies.

Charge, the guard who was leading the investigation was one of Scootaloo and Archer’s teachers from the academy. He saw them and quickly trotted to them.

“You’d better not go here,” he said. “Technically, you’re civilians…”

Scootaloo looked at the crime scene and, to her surprise, saw Minuette being questioned by some guards. She was sitting next to crying yellow unicorn mare, gesturing widely and apparently yelling at the guards.

“Somepony was shot here?” Archer asked, watching a large patch of red snow.

“I can’t tell you,” Charge said. “You’d better go away…”

“This sucks…” Scootaloo muttered when they were pushing themselves back through the crowd. “We’ll soon be guards…”

“Don’t worry, cousin,” Archer said. “I think I have a plan…” She guided Scootaloo to the coroner’s wagon. A younger guard, Archer’s friend called Riot Shield was standing next to it, hiding from the cold wind and smoking a cigarette. Scootaloo noticed that Babs was following them. For a moment she considered telling her to go back to Diamond Tiara – they couldn’t be there even though they were guards in training and Babs was definitely a civilian.

“Hello, Riot,” Archer said. “What’s going on?”

“Some freak shot one of those rich guys, Jet Set,” Riot Shield replied. “I feel for anypony who’ll have to put the witnesses’ testimonies together. Apparently it was an earth pony with a horn, wearing a cloak hiding her wings, who shot three times at the guy and disappeared. Not to mention that we have at least twenty descriptions of how the killer looked like…”

“Three times?” Archer asked, furrowing her eyebrows. “Failure drill? Twice to the chest and once to the head?”

“More like failed failure drill,” Riot Shield replied. “One shot to the chest, one that grazed the victim’s leg and a flank of a mare walking next to him, and one that tore his ear. Definitely not an ex-soldier...”

“But definitely someone who’d heard of that technique,” Scootaloo said. “Maybe some military fan…” She looked at Archer briefly. Suddenly, she shivered. “Or someone who spent a lot of time among the ex-soldiers…” She turned her head, but saw that Babs wasn’t with them; instead she went back to Diamond Tiara.

“Hmm… It kinda makes sense,” Riot Shield muttered, blowing the smoke from his cigarette.

“You can tell it to Charge,” Scootaloo said before leaving. “And remember, you haven’t seen us…”

“You?” Riot Shield asked. “Who are you?”

Archer only smirked at him before following her cousin.

Author's Note

You didn't think Babs forgot about this guy, did you?

Also, I guess Minuette has several different version of "how I got these scars" story...

Somepony Else's Problem

The pageant was getting to an end. Sweetie Belle, who played Princess Platinum, finished singing The Heart Carol with the crowd and the rest of the cast and went backstage to take off her costume.

“That was... even better than when I played that role,” Rarity said, clapping her hooves.

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh added, wrapping his hoof around Fluttershy. Babs, who was standing next to them, only rolled her eyes. She looked at Filthy Rich who was standing not far away from them; as he told Babs, Diamond Tiara didn’t want to come to a pageant – apparently she was afraid that it would trigger some kind of attack.

Babs sighed when Scootaloo joined her. For a few days between their travel from Canterlot and Hearth’s Warming Eve, she had a feeling that Scootaloo was watching her almost constantly. She also caught her once whispering about something with Apple Bloom. When they saw her, they immediately changed topic.

“That was awesome!” Archer shouted, appearing seemingly out of nowhere. Babs smirked seeing her. It seemed that she’d already put her hooves on a bottle of booze. She put her hoof on Babs’ back and laughed. Babs shook her head. Seriously, she was supposed to be a guard?

“Wait till we go back to the Sweet Apple Acres,” Apple Bloom said, walking to them, still in her Smart Cookie’s outfit. “We prepared a small party…”

“Well, Ah guess it’s not as small since Pinkie decided to help us…” Applejack shook her head.

“Cool!” Archer exclaimed and started to run to Sweet Apple Acres.

“Is she always like that?” Apple Bloom asked Scootaloo.

“Usually,” Scootaloo replied, watching her cousin falling face-first into the snow. “But you wouldn’t want to see her when she’s serious…”

They waited for Sweetie Belle to join them and trotted towards the farm. Sweetie looked around, furrowing her eyebrows. “Have any of you seen Button?” she asked.

“No, and I haven’t seen Rumble either,” Scootaloo replied. “I guess they went somewhere to get drunk. Possibly debauching my cousin…”

“She’s already debauched,” Sweetie Belle muttered. “Though she wasn’t always like that… I remember that she was friends with Sun Glimmer…”

“Well, it’s called ‘reaching puberty’ and it happened to all of us…” Scootaloo said. “Except Babs…” she finished, lowering her voice to a whisper.

“What d’ya want from her again?” Apple Bloom asked. “Since y’all came back from Canterlot, ya seem weird…”

“I just have a feeling…” Scootaloo muttered.

“Chill out, Scoots,” Sweetie Belle said. “It’s Hearth’s Warming Eve. I don’t know what you want from Babs. She’s kinda like Diamond – a bit lost.”

“Yeah, sure…” Scootaloo shook her head. They saw the lights of the Sweet Apple Acres shining brightly in the winter night. Rainbow Dash and Thunderlane were already there, circling above the farmhouse. Scootaloo joined them. The wind chilled her wings, but she didn’t care; she spotted Rumble talking with Button Mash between the apple trees and landed next to them.

“Hello, Scoots,” Button said. When he saw her, he jumped, startled and smiled sheepishly. “Rumble and I were just–”

“Later,” Rumble interrupted him. “It’s getting cold in here, don’t you think? We’d better go inside.”

Babs looked at the remains of a cake in front of her and sighed, rubbing her stomach. Next to her, Sweetie Belle and Archer were singing a drunk rendition of Fiddlesticks’ “Barn Door”. ‘Drunk’ was, however, mostly on Archer’s part. Sweetie Belle either was better in holding her liquor, or she was just able to sing well, despite her tipsiness. Babs, however, couldn’t take her eyes off Archer. For some reason, she had a feeling that she was only pretending to be drunk. A few times it seemed to her that she caught a glimpse of Archer throwing curious glances at everypony around.

There were lots of things worth looking at. It was past midnight, so almost everypony loosened up a bit. The only calm ones were Fluttershy, Big Macintosh, and Twilight, who was almost nodding off, even though she didn’t drink. Next to her, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were chatting loudly about things that made even Babs blush. There were definitely things she didn’t want to know about Thunderlane.

Speaking of him, he was now telling some very interesting story about being a Wonderbolt to everypony who wanted to listen, which in this case meant Rarity and Applejack. Babs wasn’t sure, however, if Applejack was paying attention to what he was saying – Caramel was sitting with them.

Looking for Scootaloo, Babs spotted Rumble and Button talking in the darkest corner of the room. She facehoofed mentally. No wonder Scootaloo became so annoying – her coltfriend definitely preferred the company of other stallions. An idea appeared in Babs’ mind. She remembered that when she was younger, she was even better in pretending to be drunker than she really was. Too bad, one of the ponies she managed to cheat that way died in unexplained circumstances a few days before, but Babs didn’t care about it. She stood up and trotted staggeringly to Rumble and Button. When she approached them, she wrapped her forelegs around their necks, smiling widely.

“Hello, faggots,” she said a bit louder than she usually talked, before lowering her voice to a theatrical whisper. “If ya two need some time alone, I can give ya a key to the barn…”

Rumble looked at Button, then turned to Babs. “Fuck off,” he muttered. “We’re just talking.”

“Talkin’, right…” Babs chuckled. “I know your talkin’...”

Suddenly she heard Apple Bloom clearing her throat behind her. “Ya’d better go to sleep, Babs,” she said. “Ya and Archer definitely had enough…”

“I had enough?” Babs asked, deciding to stay in her role. “Please, girl… I can drink much more than ya… Wanna see it?”

“No,” Apple Bloom replied coldly. “Could ya stop behavin’ like that? Ah sometimes think Scoots was right…”

“Oh, I forgot… Ya’re the responsible one…” Babs muttered. She realised that it wasn’t only a play. It wasn’t alcohol that caused her to say that; the cause definitely was deeper. “Ya don’t even go on dates ‘cause ya only care about the farm… And I? My own family rejected me…”

Apple Bloom sighed and pulled Babs away from Rumble and Button. “Ah’m sure they’ll change their minds,” she said. “If they see that you changed…”

Babs shook her head. “But did I change? D’ya think I changed, cuz?”

“Ya did,” Apple Bloom replied. She released Babs, seeing that she was able to walk on her own. “Ya’re wiser and Ah’m sure ya’ll never do that again…”

“Sure…” Babs muttered. They trotted out of the room. “Still, I’m nothin’ like Diamond Tiara…”

“Diamond is on meds,” Apple Bloom said. “Ya deal with everythin’ yourself.”

“Yeah… maybe.” Babs shrugged. “Goodnight, Apple Bloom… And sorry for that…”

She trotted upstairs and went to her room. She was about to throw herself on the bed, when she saw something moving behind the window. She took a knife from her nightstand, opened it, and went to the window. She pushed the knob and cold wind ruffled her mane. She had to blink, but she saw a silhouette of a pegasus landing on the windowsill.

“What the hell ya want?” Babs asked. “D’ya like watchin’ me sleep or what?”

“I just wanted to talk to you in private,” Scootaloo replied, closing the window and stepping into a circle of light. “Put that knife back, please.”

Babs wanted to say something snarky, but she put the knife on the nightstand and sat on her bed. “So, what d’ya want?”

“Did you kill that guy?” Scootaloo asked.

“W-what?” Babs shuddered visibly. “How can ya accuse me of that? I was with ya all the time! I don’t even know him!”

“You weren’t with us all the time,” Scootaloo said calmly. “You said something about the taxi…”

“Yeah, sure…” Babs muttered, glaring at Scootaloo angrily. “I went to Canterlot to kill a guy I don’t even know…”

“I don’t know why you wanted to kill him,” Scootaloo said. “But I’m sure you’ve heard about failure drill or Zebrican drill?”

“Yeah… So what?” Babs asked, sitting on her bed. “Lots of ponies were in the camp with me… Not to mention that half of the war novels mentions it…”

“But those ponies weren’t caught with a Souvenir from Manehattan hidden under their jackets…” Scootaloo replied.

“I can’t even shoot it!” Babs shouted. “I made a mistake… I shouldn’t have helped her hidin’ it…” She lowered her head. “Why are ya accusing me?”

Scootaloo sighed. “I worry about Apple Bloom,” she said. “I… I don’t want to believe that you did that… But if you did… What have you done with the gun? You tossed it into the sewer? Unless it falls on the head of that monster from Dr. Stable’s story, somepony will find it. Do you know what Apple Bloom will do when you’re caught again? This time it won’t be a boot camp, Babs.”

Babs was sitting in silence for a while. “Ya speak as if the boot camp was easy…” she said eventually.

“That’s not the point,” Scootaloo interrupted her. She approached Babs, watching her hooves and the knife lying on the nightstand carefully. “Listen Babs… Have you read the newspapers? There was a pregnant mare with that guy… She’s in the hospital now; they’re trying to save her baby.”

“So?” Babs asked. “Is it my baby? I’m sorry, Scoots, but I’m not in a mood to talk. I’ll think about it...”

“What’s here to think about?” Scootaloo asked. “You either did it or not.”

Babs yawned. “I’m tipsy and tired,” she said. “I’ll tell ya tomorrow… Honestly.”

“Yeah, sure…” Scootaloo muttered. She opened the window and flew away.

Babs was lying in the darkness for a few minutes, hoping that she wouldn’t come back. She tried to steady her breath, but something was botching her attempts to do so. Finally, she got up from her bed and took her knife. She opened a drawer and took a hoofband from it. She put it on her leg and hid the knife behind it. She looked out of the the window, but Scootaloo wasn’t around. The sounds of the party got quieter. Babs opened the door and, walking near the wall and avoiding the creaky boards, went to the stairs. Carefully checking if nopony was around, she trotted downstairs. She picked her jacket and left the house, galloping through the snowy orchard.

Diamond Tiara couldn’t sleep. She turned in her bed. The Hearth’s Warming Eve party was over; she lasted only to the moment when the servants announced that Silverspeed arrived. Before Filthy Rich went to greet her and came back to the table, Diamond Tiara was in her room.

“Why didn’t you want to meet my mom?” Silver Spoon asked. She was sitting next to Diamond Tiara’s bed, patting her mane. “Also, we didn’t stay for dessert.”

“I don’t want to see her and you know well why,” Diamond Tiara replied. “She will never forgive me…”

“You’ll never know if you don’t try,” Silver Spoon said. “Go to her and try to talk to her…”

“I don’t want to interrupt them,” Diamond Tiara muttered, sinking her face in a pillow. “Your mom and my dad are happy together… I think. I’m like a fifth wheel of a carriage...”

“That what you think… What she tells you…” Silver Spoon whispered into her ear, causing Diamond Tiara to shudder.

“She doesn’t speak to me anymore…” Diamond Tiara covered her head with a blanket.

“Are you sure?”

Diamond Tiara froze. She looked around. Silver Spoon was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Curtain Call, but Diamond Tiara knew that she was hiding somewhere there. The last words definitely weren’t said in Silver’s voice.

She tried to look for her pills, but then she realised that she left them in the kitchen. To retrieve them, she’d have to walk through the living room, where Filthy Rich and Silverspeed were talking. There were also servants… Diamond Tiara didn’t want to risk their lives.

She lay back on the bed, trying to calm down. Her muscles started to shiver; she couldn’t feel her hooves. She gritted her teeth, trying to focus, but something was still off; the room was spinning around her and her vision was blurring. She didn’t want to risk staying at home with all those ponies. She opened the window and pushed herself through it, thinking that it was much easier when she was nine.

She shuddered when her hooves touch the snow. Walking through the garden, she couldn’t get rid of an unpleasant thought that this was how it all started – from a walk in the middle of the night, ended with smashing Pipsqueak’s skull with a rock. The hole in the fence was still where it used to be. Diamond somehow managed to get through it and trotted down the street.

Her breath became more steady; her vision sharpened. The droning noise disappeared. Diamond Tiara, however, didn’t want to go back home. She decided to take a short walk first, making sure that she was okay. She wandered through the empty streets. The light in some of the houses was still on, despite the late hour.

Diamond Tiara turned into some side street, wondering if her friends were sleeping. Then she caught herself on thinking about them as “friends”.

“Merry Hearth’s Warming Eve!” somepony shouted in a raspy, alcohol-filled voice.

“For you too!” Diamond Tiara replied, seeing the dark silhouette of a pony emerging from the darkness.

Suddenly, a strong blow to the head caused her to collapse on the snow. Before she could get up, another kick almost rendered her unconscious. Her vision blurred again. Her ears were assaulted with white noise; she wanted to get up and show that pony what fate awaited for those who dared to attack her. However, she could only whimper, when the pony dragged her to a cellar door next to one of the houses.

“You don’t even know how happy I am to meet you…” She heard a voice she recognised as belonging to Cherry Berry; she was now opening the cellar door. “A Hearth’s Warming gift…”

Diamond Tiara wanted to scream, but a kick to the stomach had made her barely able to breathe. Cherry Berry kicked her again, pushing her down the stairs into some dark basement. Then she walked behind her.

“Now you’ll feel what Ruby and Berry felt…” Cherry Berry muttered, staggering slightly. She raised her hoof to punch Diamond, when somepony switched on the light in the basement.

Diamond Tiara blinked. The room was full of bags of sugar, boxes of candies, and some barrels and cases. Cherry Berry looked at the other set of stairs, allowing to enter the basement from inside of the house. Bon Bon was walking downstairs. She was wearing her pajamas and a nightcap.

“What the fuck are you doing in my basement, Cherry?” Bon Bon asked.

“Language, Bonnie…” Cherry Berry muttered. “We have a guest…”

Bon Bon stopped, seeing Diamond Tiara panting on the ground, her coat wet from the snow. Her eyes widened. “What have you done, idiot?!” she exclaimed. “Are you crazy?”

“Oh, come on…” Cherry Berry hit Diamond Tiara again and pinned her to the ground. “She killed your sister, remember?”

Bon Bon shuddered. She approached Cherry Berry, trying to pull her away from Diamond Tiara. “Killing her won’t bring Twist back,” she said. “I don’t think Twist would want that…”

“We don’t have to kill her…” said Cherry Berry, placing her hoof on Diamond Tiara’s neck. “How about blinding her and breaking her spine? We’d never have to worry about her anymore.”

Diamond Tiara closed her eyes, trying to hold back tears. She heard somepony’s hoofsteps and thought that Cherry Berry managed to convince Bon Bon. She started to shiver. Deep inside her head, Curtain Call opened her eyes and started to whisper something into her ear.

“Cherry, stop it!” Bon Bon shouted. Diamond heard a slap and Bon Bon’s surprised moan. Then she felt that Cherry Berry caught her with her hooves.

“I wonder how you’ll like the rest of your life… Hmm, maybe I should cut off your tongue too?” Cherry Berry forced Diamond Tiara’s mouth open. “Sitting alone in the darkness for the next sixty years…”

Suddenly, her voice changed into gurgling. Diamond Tiara felt that something warm and sticky sprayed on her face before Cherry Berry released her. She screamed, feeling a strange force taking over her body. She opened her eyes and darted forward, tackling Cherry Berry.

She didn’t care about the fact that Cherry Berry was now bleeding out from a large wound in her throat. All she wanted to do was to follow Curtain Call’s whispers; to beat, mangle, and kill. Her hooves were hitting Cherry Berry’s face, breaking bones, gouging her eyes, and changing it into unrecognisable pulp.

Babs picked up her knife and turned to Bon Bon, who was cowering on the ground, holding her face with her hooves – a split second after Babs slit Cherry’s throat, she kicked Bon Bon just in case. Now she stood above her, aiming the bloodied knife at her. “I should let Diamond kill ya,” she said. “Or maybe I should blind ya, deafen ya, break your spine, rip your tongue out, and cauterise your cunt? Ya’d still be alive… Unable to see or feel, but alive…”

“No! Please!” Bon Bon screamed, trying to crawl as far away from Babs as possible. “I didn’t want to hurt her!”

“Oh really?” Babs asked. “I haven’t heard you protesting too much… Though I almost got late to the party…”

Behind her, Diamond Tiara backpedalled from Cherry Berry’s mangled body and sat on the floor, shaken by dry heave.

“Please!” Bon Bon shouted, trying to hold Babs’ hooves. “I didn’t want that!”

Babs sighed. Then she delivered a powerful buck to Bon Bon’s stomach, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to throw up on the floor. She smirked and spat on her. “Consider this your lucky day, cunt…” she muttered and trotted to Diamond, who was staring at her hooves in disbelief.

“Bonnie?” they heard a voice from the upstairs.

“Shit…” Babs muttered and helped Diamond Tiara get up. “We need to get outta here…”

They ran out of the basement and galloped through the town, hiding in some dark nook. Babs took a hoofful of snow and started to wipe blood off of herself and Diamond Tiara. They still needed a bath, but at least the stains weren’t as visible as before.

“W-what happened?” Diamond Tiara asked, looking around groggily.

“We need to run away,” Babs said. “There should be a night train to Baltimare soon…”

“R-run away? Why?” Diamond Tiara asked. “She wanted to kill me…”

Babs hesitated. She thought about Scootaloo and the bloodied corpse on the basement floor. “Nopony would believe it was a self-defence…” she said. “We’re unharmed and she…” She paused, seeing that Diamond Tiara sobbed.

“D-did I kill her?”

Babs’ ears perked up. “Yes,” she said quickly. “I heard ya and I wanted to stop it, but ya were already attackin’ her…”

“No!” Diamond Tiara cried. “I didn’t want that…”

“Shh… We need to go to the station,” Babs said. “I won’t leave ya. If we’re lucky, they won’t call the guards till they find a better explanation than ‘we kidnapped Diamond Tiara and she got crazy’... That’s our chance. We’ll wash ourselves in the bathroom and get on the train… D’ya have any money?”

“Yes…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “But I have no meds…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of ya…” Babs said. She gave Diamond Tiara her jacket to cover some of the blood stains that didn’t want to get off her coat. “Let’s go. We can’t stay here…”

Diamond Tiara followed her silently.

Author's Note

If I were to divide this story into parts, that'd be the end of the first one. Though, of course, the pace of the updates won't change.

Your New Friends

They didn’t get to Baltimare. It was Babs who noticed the guards walking towards the train in Hoofington. She woke Diamond Tiara up and before the guards reached their carriage, they left it and hid in the darkness.

The railway station in Hoofington was probably bigger than the town itself. After all, it was the place where tracks from Canterlot were splitting into two lines, one leading to Fillydelphia and the other to Baltimare. Thus, the small town on the eastern border of the Everfree Forest was a hub joining freight and passenger lines of the whole country. Babs, who spent her childhood in Manehattan, found it easy to hide in a maze of side tracks, carriages, and platforms, especially since it started to snow again.

Diamond Tiara, on the other hoof, was trembling – unlike Babs, she had no clothes. She was also off her meds and she couldn’t get rid of the memory of Cherry Berry from her mind. Her vision was fuzzy – all she could see was the distant lights of the city and Babs, walking through the snow, uttering curses under her breath.

Diamond Tiara stopped, panting heavily. Just a few minutes ago, pleasant warmth inside of the carriage almost helped her forget about everything and fall asleep, but now she was fully awake. The guards were nowhere to be found, but she know that they were after her. Maybe I should turn myself in? she thought.

“C’mon!” Babs shouted. “We need to hide somewhere!”

Diamond Tiara ran forward, focusing only on Babs. At least she didn’t have to walk through the deep snow, but rather the path made by Babs. When Diamond Tiara realised it, she stopped again. “Babs! We’re leaving hoofprints!”

“I know, okay?” Babs muttered. “We need to find some place where there’s more ponies. Our hoofprints will mix with theirs...”

They resumed walking through the snow, tripping from time to time. It was getting colder; first snowflakes were falling from the sky. Diamond Tiara thought that they were going to cover their hoofprints and started to wonder if the guards had already noticed them. Maybe they had dogs? Then even the snow wouldn’t help them.

“I have a feelin’ that we’re gonna feel like at home here...” Babs muttered, stopping.

Diamond Tiara raised her head and stared at some old, abandoned building, made of yellow bricks. There was no door and all the windows were broken. There were some holes in the roof made of tar paper, but it didn’t seem like it was going to collapse soon. Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to say something, but couldn’t think of right words to describe it.

“What?” Babs asked. “We had a similar warehouse in Manehattan...”

Diamond Tiara followed Babs inside. The interior of the building was littered with rubbish and smelled of urine, but at least it provided a cover against wind and snow. A couple of large, fat cats looked at them with disdain as they trotted to some cleaner spot on the floor and sat there. Babs looked around – among the rubbish there were some charred pieces of wood she could gather to make a bonfire. Diamond Tiara was still shivering, but Babs was worried – what if somepony would see the fire? She went to Diamond Tiara and gave her her jacket.

“Thanks,” Diamond muttered. “But what about you?”

“Meh, I’m used to cold,” Babs replied. “Ya wouldn’t believe how cold nights are in the desert... Are you okay?”

“No.” Diamond Tiara closed her eyes and lowered her head. “I... I killed again... And now we have to run away...”

“Don’t worry...” Babs said, wrapping her hooves around Diamond. Her stomach grumbled, but she knew that it had to wait till tomorrow. Another thing was worrying her. “And how’s your head? The medicines...”

“I can manage...” Diamond Tiara replied. “But I don’t know how long...” She shuddered, hugging Babs. Soon, she was asleep, breathing calmly.

Babs knew that she wasn’t going to do the same. She had plans to make. She had to watch out for the guards.

And, what was even more important, she had to watch out for Diamond Tiara.

“So, Ms. Bon Bon...” Front Kick looked deeply into Bon Bon’s eyes. “You’re saying that somepony dumped that body into your basement, right?”

“Y-yes,” Bon Bon replied blankly. She was sitting at the table in her kitchen, still shaking despite a cup of tea she had. In the living room, Chocolate Donut was talking with Lyra, while in the basement, Dr. Tulp, who had been woken up only fifteen minutes ago, was examining the body, accompanied by Scootaloo and Archer.

“And that they saw you and beat you?”

“Yes,” Bon Bon muttered, avoiding his gaze.

“Did you know them?”

“Yes. Babs Seed and Diamond Tiara,” Bon Bon said. “They killed Cherry Berry.”

Somepony knocked on the kitchen door. Front Kick sighed and went to open it.

“Excuse me,” Archer said, walking into the kitchen, not even bothering to ask Front Kick for permission. “Dr. Tulp said that–”

“Maybe we’ll talk in the hall?” Front Kick said dryly, looking at Bon Bon. Technically she wasn’t a suspect, but he didn’t want Archer to spill something about the details of the investigation in her presence.

“So,” Archer said when they went out of the kitchen. “Dr. Tulp says that it’s a big load of horseapples...” She looked at Front Kick unsurely. “I mean, he didn’t exactly say that... Nevermind. Anyway, me and– Scootaloo and I checked out the street and there are, like lots of traces there. Mostly Cherry Berry’s, but also some leading from Diamond’s house. I checked that myself. Diamond Tiara went for a walk...”

“To the point, Archer...” Front Kick muttered.

“Okay...” Archer sighed. “Diamond Tiara was walking here and met Cherry Berry. The snow not far away from here is trampled, but then it looks like somepony dragged something heavy to this basement.”

“So, Diamond Tiara dragged Cherry Berry here?” Front Kick asked.

“Nope!” Archer exclaimed, grinning. “The hoofprints show that it was Cherry Berry who dragged Diamond Tiara here. Also, Dr. Tulp says that Cherry Berry crushed her hoof while beating somepony.”

“Diamond Tiara was attacked?” Front Kick asked.

“Yep. Scootaloo said that Cherry Berry was fu– I mean, she wasn’t happy that Diamond came back here. Then Seed came here... Her trace led us from Sweet Apple Acres, y’know... Scootaloo was suspecting that she murdered that rich scoundrel in Canterlot and confronted her about it...”

Front Kick raised his eyebrows. “What now? Or no, you’ll explain it to me later. Tell Scootaloo to stop helping Dr. Tulp. She’s Diamond Tiara’s friend so the lawyers may make problems with that...”

“Yes sir!” Archer saluted. “Fucking lawyers...” she muttered under her breath.

Front Kick shook his head. Then he remembered that ten years ago, when Diamond Tiara first started to kill ponies, he was quite similar. He sighed and went back to the kitchen. “Ms. Bon Bon,” he said. “Would you like to rethink your statement?”

“Heartstrings knows nothing,” Chocolate Donut said. They were back at the station. Archer and Scootaloo were with them, together with Apple Bloom, who was sitting on the chair, her face pale, and silent Filthy Rich, accompanied by Silverspeed. “When she woke up it was already over.”

“Bon Bon said a few very interesting things about Ms. Cherry Berry...” Front Kick muttered, sighing.

“Ah don’t understand one thing...” Apple Bloom said. “If it was self-defence, then where are they now?”

“We informed guards in Hoofington to look for them on a train,” Front Kick said.

“A train?” Apple Bloom asked. “Why would they run away?”

“Because Babs went nuts and killed that guy in Canterlot, that’s why,” Scootaloo said bitterly. “And now she’s dragging Diamond Tiara with her.”

“What?” Apple Bloom asked. “Why?”

“We don’t know yet,” Front Kick said. “The guards from Canterlot are looking for anything connecting her to him. But from what I’ve heard, they found the gun in the bat ponies’ district.”

“Ah’m gonna kill her...” Apple Bloom muttered. “She said that she changed...”

“What’ll happen to Diamond?” Filthy Rich asked, his voice hollow. “D-did she...”

“Again, we don’t know yet,” Front Kick replied. “Dr. Tulp has to make an autopsy, the hospital laboratory has to check the blood samples... But it seems that Cherry Berry was killed with a knife, similar to one Babs Seed owns.”

“And that’s the only reason why you’re here,” Chocolate Donut said to Scootaloo. “You can’t help us with the investigation officially, but, after all, you and Archer figured out Babs before the guards from Canterlot did. You know her best... What do you think she’ll do?”

“She’ll try to get to some big town and disappear,” Scootaloo said. “She won’t ask anypony for help – she doesn’t trust anyone. If Diamond Tiara gets in her way, she’ll stab her and dump a body in some ditch...”

Silverspeed cleared her throat. “But what if Diamond snaps?” she asked. “You talk about her as if she was innocent, but remember that it’s mostly because of her meds. Does she even have them?”

“No,” Filthy Rich said. “She left them at home...”

“If Diamond snaps, we’ll find them even faster...” Front Kick shook his head. “They need food, shelter... Even if they get to Baltimare, I doubt any of them have friends there or knows the town...”

It was an early morning. Citizens of Hoofington were still sleeping after the Hearth’s Warming Eve. Babs looked behind the corner and, finding that nopony was there, she trotted through the street. “Stay there,” she muttered to Diamond Tiara. “I’ll be right back...”

She looked at a sign above the door of the building in front of her. “Daktari’s Potions and Remedies”. She started to wonder if, apart from zebra medicines, they had something more conventional.

Diamond Tiara sat in the nook and rubbed her temples. She sneezed – even though Babs had warmed her with her own body, she caught cold.

“Bless you,” Silver Spoon said. She had a blue scarf around her neck and Diamond Tiara smirked, seeing that her friend was better prepared for winter than she was. Curtain Call was with her, dressed in a red coat that was clashing with her orange mane. She watched Babs as she was checking out the shops.

“I don’t like it,” Curtain Call said. “I don’t like Seed. She has a knife and she killed that bitch.”

“She saved us,” Silver Spoon observed. “If it wasn’t for her, Cherry Berry would kill us and Bon Bon would make candies of us.”

“Bon Bon doesn’t make candies of foals,” Diamond Tiara said. “She only looks like that.”

“We wanted to kill Cherry Berry ourselves,” Curtain Call whined. “And then we’d feed that other bitch’s liver to her. And Seed let her live.” She spat on the snow. “We should kill her before she kills us...”

“Not so fast,” Silver Spoon said. “She saved us! We can’t kill her like that... We should vote, or something...”

“Did I tell you why I don’t like democracy?” Curtain Call asked. “Okay, I didn’t, since we haven’t had an occasion to talk... But anyway, before we decide, we’ll wake up with Seed’s knife between our ribs.”

“Shut up, both of you!” Diamond Tiara shouted. “We’re not voting anything. I’m not gonna kill her.”

“Why not?” Curtain Call asked.

“Exactly!” Silver Spoon added. “Who gave you the right to be in charge here?”

Diamond Tiara sighed and rolled her eyes. “That’s because it’s my body and you two are just... just...”

“What?” Curtain Call asked, leaning closer to Diamond Tiara. “What we are?”

“You’re just...” Diamond Tiara tried to remember what she wanted to say, but for some reason her mind didn’t want to work the way she wanted it to.

“See?” Silver Spoon asked. “We’re in charge of your body in the same way as you are. So stop telling us what to do!”

“I think it’s time for me to rule for a while,” Curtain Call said to Diamond Tiara. “Though I must admit you’ll be useful... We’ll kill Seed... eventually. Now she sees it coming.”

“I watched her when you slept,” Silver Spoon said. “She was watching us with her hoof on a knife. We need to make her think we’re not with you. Then we’ll kill her.”

“She’s useful for now,” Curtain Call observed, watching if Babs wasn’t coming back. “She knows where to find food and how to avoid guards... But once she outlives her usefulness...” She made a gesture as if she was cutting her own throat.

“And then we’ll finish off Scootaloo...” Silver Spoon laughed.

“Diamond?”

Diamond Tiara looked around nervously, before her eyes rested on Babs. She was carrying a red coat, very similar to the one Curtain Call was wearing, and some canned hay, bread, and cheese.

“The pharmacy here doesn’t have your meds,” Babs said. “I broke into a grocery. And I think this may be good for ya...” She gave Diamond the coat. “Will ya manage to not kill me for a few more days?”

“Yeah...” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I think so...”

Behind Babs’ back, Curtain Call smiled maliciously.

Author's Note

At some point I automatically added "my precious" to Curtain Call's dialogue... :facehoof:

Her Past

Scootaloo cursed under her breath and went back to the large pile of the photos. Since she and Archer were Diamond Tiara’s neighbours, they couldn’t help in investigation. However, Chocolate Donut had a task for them. He gave them Featherweight’s photos and told them to look at them and note everything they’d find suspicious.

“Hey, he even had photos from the races!” Archer exclaimed. “Rumble, Tornado Bolt... And here, the Wonderbolts during a training...”

“Archer...” Scootaloo shook her head. “We’re supposed to look for clues, not the Wonderbolts’ photos...”

“I know,” Archer replied. “By the way, it seems that he wasn’t into sport. There are only a few photos of the Wonderbolts...” She sighed. “The rest are from some parties, meetings, and celebrations. Boring.”

“You don’t say...” Scootaloo muttered. She flipped through the photos Archer threw on the desk. Indeed, Rumble was there, taking a sharp turn. Next to him, Tornado Bolt was trying to overtake him. Scootaloo felt a pang of jealousy. If she was faster, maybe she’d try to become a Wonderbolt too?

She put the photos back and took another stash. This time, they were pictures from some gig. Most of them were depicting the crowd, though Featherweight had apparently tried to capture the stage. However, the last photo was different: it was overexposed, and Scootaloo could barely recognise some corridor and silhouettes of two ponies on the other end of it.

Archer looked at the photo above Scootaloo’s shoulder. “Seems that he screwed it up...” she muttered.

Scootaloo looked at the photo more exactly. “Or maybe... The killer tried to destroy the film, but this photo survived?”

Archer scratched her mane. “It’d be easier if we knew who’s in it,” she said. “For me, it may even be Princess Celestia and that guy who sells donuts on our street...”

“One of them seems to have wings,” Scootaloo muttered. “Maybe both of them...” She threw a photo back on the desk. “I’m not sure... Maybe it’s just an ordinary photo?”

“Still, it’s better than nothing...” Archer said, eyeing the empty kettle on the desk. “Maybe I’ll make more coffee?”

Scootaloo only nodded, coming back to looking at the photos.

“They’re not gonna come back here...” Front Kick muttered, looking at the old warehouse next to the railway station in Hoofington. “Seed is too clever for that.”

“Still, the local guys keep an eye on that place,” Chocolate Donut said. “They also said that in the morning after the Hearth’s Warming Eve somepony broke into a pharmacy and grocery store. The hoofprints are similar to Seed’s.”

“They couldn’t run away too far...” Front Kick said. “They’re getting desperate. Sooner or later somepony will catch them trying to find food.”

Chocolate Donut shook his head. “I wouldn’t wait for that, boss,” he said. “Seed has a knife and, since the pharmacist said that the only thing that was stolen from him was the money, Diamond Tiara is still off her meds.”

“So, soon we may find them both...” Front Kick winced.

Another guard approached them. “We’re checking all the freight trains,” he said. “We think they could hide in one of the carriages since we observe the passenger ones. We’re also looking for them in the town.”

Front Kick nodded. Even though Hoofington wasn’t much bigger than Ponyville, it had much more guards. The large amount of passengers and goods travelling through it attracted thieves. “And what if they get out?” he asked.

“Well, there aren’t many places where they may go,” the guard replied. “They won’t go back to Ponyville or Canterlot; their only choices are Fillydelphia and Baltimare on the east, Dodge Junction on the south, and Hollow Shades on the north.”

“I don’t think they’d choose Hollow Shades,” Chocolate Donut said. “If they wanted to go there by hoof, they’d have to cross the mountains. Also, they’d be too visible in a town where everypony has fangs and a pair of wings...”

“Exactly,” Front Kick said. “That leaves three towns. Four, if we assume that they may come back to Canterlot, hoping that we won’t look for them there... Let’s go to the station. We need to inform the guards everywhere...”

The sun was slowly setting behind the horizon. Babs stood on the pier and looked at the rusty steamboat. According to the boards on its side, it was named “Rotten Herring” and its owners were Fritter, Fritter, and Lulamoon. Babs smirked. Lulamoon and both Fritters either had a peculiar sense of humour, or no delusions about the condition of their ship.

“Do you think it’s safe?” Diamond Tiara asked. Babs looked at her. For the whole day, Diamond Tiara didn’t say a word. Even when Babs told her that they couldn’t go back to the warehouse.

“It shouldn’t sink,” Babs replied. “Besides, we’re not gonna stay on it for long. It goes to Baltimare, but once we see the forest on the both banks of the river, we’ll leave it and go south to Dodge Junction. We’ll stay there till Spring, maybe longer...”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “How are we going to leave it?”

“Most of the river is covered in ice, except of the path made by the icebreakers,” Babs muttered. “If we manage to leave the boat unseen...”

Diamond Tiara had no further questions. They trotted through the pier, hiding behind some crates waiting to be loaded. The snow there was almost black; even the air seemed to be filled with soot, making it hard to breathe. Babs stopped and caught Diamond before she walked past her. She put her hoof on her mouth and pointed at the griffon pacing on the deck and smoking a cigarette. The very sight made Babs want to smoke again. They waited till the griffon threw the butt of the cigarette into the river and went under the deck. Then they approached the ship and quickly trotted through the gangplank.

“What now?” Diamond Tiara whispered. “She may come back...”

“Follow me...” Babs rushed to the stern of the ship. There was an open trapdoor there, leading to the coal storage. She looked into it, closed her eyes and jumped on the large hill of coal, hoping that Diamond Tiara listened to her. .

The landing on the coal was harder than Babs thought. She rolled from the pile, muttering curses under her breath. She opened her eyes and saw Diamond Tiara, her red coat now dirty and ragged. They stood up and trotted deeper into the dark, interior of the boat. It smelled of steam, hot iron and wood – the ship’s main cargo.

“We’ll stay here,” Babs muttered, sitting between two heaps of wood. “I don’t think somepony ever checks it out...”

Diamond Tiara sat next to her, her eyes half-closed. She lowered her head, hiding her face in her hooves.

“What do they say?” Babs asked.

“W-what?” Diamond Tiara’s eyes shot open. She looked around nervously.

“I can see what’s going on with ya...” Babs muttered. “Once, my friend, White Dove, ate some mushrooms and she spent the night walking like a zombie, mutterin’ somethin’ to herself. while I was lookin’ after her. Ya look pretty much the same.”

“Well...” Diamond muttered. “Nothing in particular. There’s just Silver here... She seems to be enjoying it... I don’t.”

“Yeah...” Babs said.

“What happened to your friend?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“She was okay,” Babs replied, shuddering. “That is...”

“What?”

“She’s dead,” Babs said, her head drooping. “Can I leave ya here for a moment?” she asked. “I wanna take a walk...”

“Sure,” Diamond replied. “I’m gonna go to sleep anyway...”

Babs nodded and disappeared between the stacks of wood. Diamond Tiara looked blankly at the wall.

“You could’ve mentioned something about me,” Curtain Call said, shaking her head.

Diamond Tiara said nothing. She closed her eyes and lay on the floor, curled in a fetal position under her coat.

“She’s tired,” Silver Spoon said. “Give her a break, Curtain.”

“Yeah...” Curtain Call muttered. “Though it’s no use. Soon they’ll turn the engine on and this whole place will be so loud they’re never gonna sleep...”

Silver Spoon shrugged. “I doubt Babs ever sleeps. She’s plotting something.”

“You don’t say!” Curtain Call exclaimed. “It won’t last long... Once we’re safe in the desert...”

Silver Spoon nodded, grinning maliciously. However, her expression softened when she looked at sleeping Diamond Tiara. She lay down next to her, nuzzling her gently.

“Goodnight,” she muttered.

The roar of the engine deafened Babs. She stayed in the shadows next to the boiler room. She took off her jacket and wiped sweat from her forehead. She could see the reflections of the fire; a couple of dark silhouettes were running in the hot, smoky room with shovels.

Babs yawned. Despite the noise, she wanted to go to sleep right there. However, she couldn’t stop thinking about Diamond Tiara.

It wasn’t a crush. Diamond Tiara definitely wasn’t Babs’ type, not to mention that, as far as Babs knew, she wouldn’t be interested. It was similar to what Babs felt towards White Dove, at least before the young filly went too far in her admiration: care, compassion, a kind of a link usually connecting a mother with her daughter.

Babs slammed her forehead with her hoof. I’d be a bad mother... she thought. Not that Diamond is a good daughter, but I’m even worse...

Suddenly, she heard some noise behind her. Before she managed to turn around, somepony grabbed her and pushed her at the wall. She tried to fight back, but the assailant’s hooves clenched on her throat.

“What are ya doin’ ‘ere?” The voice was a husky whisper, but it definitely belonged to a mare. Her accent reminded Babs about Carnation, causing her to shiver despite the high temperature. Even though her eyes were wet from the smoke, she saw the attacker’s wings. She started to wonder what the pegasus was doing in such a claustrophobic place.

“I... I just...”

“It’s you!” the mare whispered, her accent suddenly disappearing. She pulled Babs further into the dark corridor and released her.

“Seed! What the fuck are you doing here?”

Babs blinked, looking at the pegasus mare. She was skinny, yet muscular. Her mane was cropped short and her fur was covered in soot, making it hard to guess not only its original colour, but also the mare’s cutie mark. Her wings didn’t look healthy: some of the feathers were missing; they were also covered in burns and Babs thought that she had to constantly hit the pipes with them. Yet, something about her seemed familiar.

“Lightning Du–”

“Shh!” Lightning Dust silenced her. “In case you don’t know, I’m Feather Duster now.”

“Feather Duster? Really?” Babs shook her head.

“Shut up!” Lightning Dust hissed. “What are you doing here?”

“I... I’m running away...”

Lightning Dust’s hooves started to shake. “Running away! If the mafia got me as I expected, I’d be turning in my grave like a fucking paddlewheel! What the fuck have you done again?”

“I killed the guy because of whom I got raped,” Babs replied. Seeing that Lightning Dust was about to snap again, she added, “And one crazy mare, but I was savin’ Diamond Tiara from her! Diamond’s with me, by the way...”

“You in a nutshell...” Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. “I kill a guy to save your flank, pretend to be a retarded stoker for three years, and what has it taught you? Fucking nothing, that’s what...”

“B– but...” Babs sobbed. “I tried... I really tried... But even my parents don’t want to see me anymore...”

“Frankly, I’m not surprised,” Lightning Dust deadpanned. She noticed the tears on Babs’ soot-stained face and sighed. “Listen, I don’t give a fuck what you’re doing here. For me, you can even take over this barge and go to Zebrica. Just... Just don’t pull any stunts again, okay?”

“We’ll leave the ship soon,” Babs said. “I... I’m sorry, Dust. I didn’t want to...”

“Yeah. It just happened,” Lightning Dust muttered. “Where do you hide? In the cargo hold?”

Babs nodded.

“Watch out for Gilda,” Lightning Dust said. “She sometimes takes a walk around the ship, looking for thieves.”

“Who’s Gilda?” Babs asked.

“A griffon bodyguard,” Lightning Dust replied, looking around nervously. “A complete shithead... She– Hide!”

She turned around when Babs disappeared behind a pile of coal. A griffon Babs had seen earlier approached Lightning Dust, frowning.

“What the fuck are you doing here, dweeb?” she asked. “Get your sorry ass back to work!”

“Takin’ a leak, ma’am,” Lightning Dust replied in a slow, slightly slurred voice. “I wanted to do dat in da boilin’ room but da guys say I smell...”

“Feather Duster, huh?” Gilda asked. “Bad news: they’re right. I’d tell you to use the toilet like the rest of those idiots, but I guess you don’t even know where it is.”

“Nope,” Lightning Dust said. “Mommy said I ain’t smart...”

“Yeah...” Gilda rolled her eyes. “It’s a mystery to me how you even learned to talk, retard... Get back to work, or I will do what your parents should have done when you were born: put you in a bag with a couple of bricks and throw you into the river.” With these words, she turned back and went to the stairs.

“Yes, ma’am!” Lightning Dust exclaimed. “I’ll snap your neck one day, bitch,” she whispered, before turning to Babs, “See? That’s how my life looks like since I started to help you... Babs?”

She looked behind the pile of coal, only to find out that Babs had already been gone.

Scootaloo’s eyes shot open. For a moment, she was looking at the ceiling, trying to remember where she was. Then she realised that she was sleeping on a mattress at Sweet Apple Acres. She started to regret that Rumble wasn’t with her.

She tried to remember the dream she had. It was somehow connected with Featherweight’s photos – not surprising, since she’d spent most of the day looking at them. All she could recall was the overexposed one, with two ponies standing next to each other in some corridor. Maybe that was it? Scootaloo wasn’t sure, but something was telling her that it could be it. She turned in her bed, trying to fall asleep, but the caffeine was still buzzing in her veins. Archer’s cooking could be considered a murder attempt, but when she made coffee, she made it to twist the parts of the brain Scootaloo had no idea existed.

Her mind started to work faster. She remembered some small events, pieces of the bigger puzzle. Many elements were still missing, but she could already guess what the picture would be and she didn’t like it. She focused on the photo and thought about Archer. Again, she’d have to ask her for a favour.

She started to wonder how to do that. The atmosphere since Babs’ escape was rather bad; Apple Bloom was walking like a hungry tiger in a cage, ready to snap at anyone. Applejack was similar, though she was able to control it better. Sweetie and Button had an argument right after the Hearth’s Warming Eve and Scootaloo had a feeling that Babs was only one of the reasons for it.

She thought about Archer. With her greatest talent being making herself easy to ignore by other ponies, she was perfect at finding useful pieces of information. Just what Scootaloo needed to fill in the gaps. She closed her eyes, her plan ready, hidden safe and sound in the depths of her mind.

Scootaloo wanted to smile. Yet, something was preventing her from doing that.

Their Interrogations

The clerk in the Hoofington port’s office was an old mare sitting at her desk in the middle of a small, comfy office littered with papers. Front Kick sat on the chair in front of her. “Good morning,” he said. “My name’s Front Kick, from Ponyville Royal Guard. We’re looking for two suspects who may have hidden in one of the boats. I need to know if there were any, umm... incidents recently.”

“Well,” the clerk said. “Winter is a rather slow season for us. Just icebreakers and one boat with firewood to Baltimare, just yesterday.”

“Baltimare, you say?” Front Kick asked. “Did it come back?”

“Not yet,” the clerk replied. “According to the schedule, it’ll come back tomorrow.”

Front Kick nodded. “Who’s its owner?”

“Let me see...” The clerk took a large book and opened it, looking for something. “Its name is ‘Rotten Herring’ and its owners are Apple Fritter, Lavender Fritter, and Trixie Lulamoon.”

“Thank you,” Front Kick said. “If we need something more, we’ll contact you...” He stood up and left the office.

“I checked the owners, boss,” Chocolate Donut said.

They were sitting in the cafeteria in the Royal Guard station in Hoofington. When Front Kick was looking at the modern building, he couldn’t get rid of a memory of the station in Ponyville, an old, smelly building with furniture remembering times when he and Riot Control were looking for the mysterious Sleepless Killer. This has to change, he thought.

“Apple Fritter and Lavender Fritter are sisters. Ex-farmers, they’ve never been accused of anything. Trixie Lulamoon used to be a travelling magician. I think you remember her, boss...” He gave Front Kick a piece of paper with a mugshot of a unicorn mare.

“Charged with assault, casting dangerous spells, and kidnapping the whole town.” Front Kick nodded. “Released, since she was under the influence of the Alicorn Amulet. Princess Twilight Sparkle herself testified that...”

“They settled in Hoofington, since it’s Lulamoon’s birthplace, bought that old piece of junk three years ago, and ship goods to Baltimare and back,” Chocolate Donut explained. “No drugs, no smuggling, all the papers in order. They hire a captain, a pilot, three ponies to carry all the stuff, three stokers and a griffon bodyguard. I checked her. Two years in jail for assault and battery. Do you think Seed could know her?”

“We’ll see,” Front Kick replied. “Our friends in Baltimare were informed to check that boat. Once it’s back, we’ll interrogate the crew. By then, we’ll talk with the owners – maybe they know if one of their workers used to live in Manehattan?”

“I’ll check it,” Chocolate Donut said. “Do I have to talk with all of them?”

“No, one will do... But not Lulamoon – she knows how to talk with the guards...”

The first days after Hearth’s Warming Eve were rather slow and Button Mash hoped that he’d be able to catch some z’s while pretending to work at his shop with comics, action figures, and role-playing games. Most of the ponies who were interested in those already got what they wanted and were home, enjoying their newly-acquired gadgets. Unfortunately for him, just when he arranged the items on the counter in such a way that he couldn’t be seen by the clients and sat in his armchair, the door opened.

“How can I help you?” he asked automatically, getting up. At first he didn’t notice anypony in sight. Then, a blue earth mare appeared next to him, startling him.

“Hello,” she said. “How are you?”

“Fine, thanks. You’re Archer, right?” Button asked.

“Yes,” Archer replied. “You know, I’ve heard from Scootaloo that you have a shop here and I wanted to check it out.” She smiled. “And I’m looking for some nerf crossbows. Scootaloo’s getting pissed when I shoot crossbow at home, you know...”

“I can imagine,” Button muttered. “We have some right there.” He pointed at the shelf.

For about ten minutes, Archer was checking out various crossbows. Button decided to go back to his armchair, but when a foam bolt whistled past his head and knocked the Mane-iac plushie off the counter, he suddenly felt more awake.

“I’ll take this one,” Archer said, walking to the counter. “By the way, how’s Sweetie? Haven’t seen her in a while.”

“Sweetie?” Button asked. “She’s... okay, I think. She’s going to be recording her new album soon.”

Archer nodded. “Yeah, long distance relationships suck...” she muttered. “Had a guy in Vanhoover, you know. Once I got a bit drunk with some cute, little painter... Canterlot’s full of those. She wanted to show me her pictures. Didn’t get shit from them, but... Well, you may guess what happened...” Archer chuckled. “Turned out, she lived in Vanhoover earlier. Had a painting of my coltfriend in her kitchen. Found it while making pancakes in the morning... Can you believe that?”

“Well... That’s an interesting coincidence,” Button muttered, looking around as if he was looking for an escape route. “Sweetie and I...”

“Sweetie and you what?” Archer’s ears perked up. “You know, I broke up with my coltfriend right after that. With her... well, three months later.”

“N-nothing,” Button replied. “We’re fine, thanks. That’ll be forty bits.”

“Thanks,” Archer said, resting her hooves on the counter and getting close to Button. “And one more thing... How often do you see each other? I was visiting my coltfriend every month, but it seems it was too rare...”

“Well, I only see Sweetie when she’s in Ponyville,” Button replied. “I don’t really go to her shows... I have to work, you know...”

“Yeah... Too bad,” Archer said. “See you, Button.” She put the crossbow in her saddlebags and trotted out of the shop before Button could say anything.

Scootaloo landed in front of Carousel Boutique and stretched her wings. Even though she loved flying, cold days like that one were discouraging her from it. She trotted to the door and entered the boutique, taking off her aviator hat. For a moment, she thought that she’d have to give it back to Archer one day.

“Hello, Scootaloo,” Rarity said. “What do you have there?” She winced. “You know, if you want some new cap, I can make it for you. This is just...”

“No, thanks,” Scootaloo interrupted her. “It’s not even mine. And I really like it...”

“It’s impossible that you don’t have your own cap!” Rarity exclaimed. “It can’t be like that...”

“I just wanted to talk to Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo said. In fact, she had quite a few winter caps. She’d simply borrowed Archer’s aviator hat once and never gave it back. Archer never protested anyway.

“Sweetie’s upstairs,” Rarity said. “She’s preparing to leave.”

“Okay, thanks.” Scootaloo trotted past Rarity and went up the stairs. She stood in front of Sweetie’s room door and knocked.

The door opened, revealing a room littered with dresses, coats, scarves, sheet music, and various other items. In the middle of it stood a large travel bag. Sweetie Belle was standing behind it, looking at the mess in her room. “Sorry,” she muttered. “It fell when I used my magic to open the door.”

“No problem,” Scootaloo said, entering the room and trying carefully to avoid stepping on something. Sweetie levitated some heavy box that flew past Scootaloo’s head and landed in the travel bag. “Geez, it seems like forever since we’d last met and now we’re going to part again...”

“Yeah,” Sweetie muttered. “I barely see you... or Button, for that matter.”

“Really?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought he visits you when you’re on tour... I think I saw a photo...”

“What photo?” Sweetie turned to Scootaloo. Her magic faltered and a dress almost slipped from its grasp.

“Of you and Button, after some show,” Scootaloo replied, smiling innocently.

“Oh yeah, that one.” Sweetie nodded. “In the corridor leading to a backstage? Yes... That was the only time he saw me singing...”

“Too bad he doesn’t have more time...” Scootaloo said. “Rumble at least visits Canterlot quite often...”

Sweetie looked at the mess in her room. “Sorry, Scootaloo, but I really have to pack it all... But I’ll go to Sweet Apple Acres later and we’ll talk more before I leave...”

“Okay, no problem,” Scootaloo said and left the room.

Before she left Carousel Boutique, Rarity gave her a really nice wooly cap.

Apple Fritter’s carriage arrived at the Royal Guard station in Hoofington exactly at half past three. Looking through the window, Front Kick saw two almost identical yellow mares. One of them, with a green mane, talked for a moment with the second, whose mane was lavender, and trotted to the building. Apparently she told her sister not to wait for her, since the carriage rode away.

Two minutes later, Apple Fritter was in the office the commander of the local guards lent to Front Kick. “Good afternoon,” she said, looking around nervously. “Did ya call me?”

“Please, sit down, Ms. Fritter.” Front Kick pointed at the chair. “I wanted to ask if you haven’t seen anything strange while checking the boat before it left to Baltimare?”

“Ah haven’t checked it,” Apple Fritter replied. “We trust our crew in that matter. Maybe Trixie did it, since she stayed in Hoofington during Hearth’s Warming Eve. Lavender and Ah spent it with our family in Ponyville.” She sighed. “Not the best Hearth’s Warming Ah remember. My cousin apparently murdered somepony...”

“Wait... Babs Seed is your cousin?” Front Kick looked at Apple Fritter more carefully. He realised that Apple Fritter’s country accent indeed was similar to Applejack’s, though a certain Hoofington drawl could be heard in her voice.

“Yeah... We’re second cousins once removed,” Apple Fritter replied. Seeing his expression, she continued, “That is, I’m the granddaughter of Granny Smith’s brother. Babs’ father, Apple Seed, is my second cousin.”

Front Kick decided not to delve into it. “Have you... seen her after the murder?” he asked.

“What?” Apple Fritter exclaimed. “Ah’m not like that. Ah’d never help her. Ah barely ever seen her, y’know.” She leaned closer to Front Kick. “Just between ya and me, Ah always knew she’d end up like that. Tangerine’s blood. It’s Babs’ mother... Looks the same, talks the same... Raised both kids to be spoiled bi– brats.”

“We’ll check that,” Front Kick said dryly. “Can you tell me something about the crew? I’ve heard that one of them was in jail...”

“Ah still can’t understand why Granny liked Tangerine so much...” Apple Fritter muttered. “The crew? No, Gilda’s good... for a griffon, of course. Ah personally chose every single worker... Except of Feather Duster. It’s some relative of Trixie’s... Poor girl... She’s over thirty and she wouldn’t find her way outta paper bag.”

Front Kick nodded. “We’ll talk with them once they’re back,” he said. “Until then, I want you and your sister to not leave the town...”

First thing Scootaloo noticed after landing in the snowy orchard was a snowpony standing next to an apple tree. At the first glance, it looked like a normal snowpony. However, when Scootaloo came closer, she saw a piece of paper pinned to its side, with “Totally Innocent Bystander” written on it in a messy hoofwriting.

“You’d better move outta here, cousin...” Archer’s voice was coming from behind her. Scootaloo took off, deciding that watching the scene from above would be safer.

Apple Bloom jumped from behind an apple tree with a stick in her hooves. She stood on her hind legs, aiming the stick at the snowpony.

A foam bolt flew between the snowpony’s ears and hit Apple Bloom’s chest, causing her to lose balance and fall on her rump. Archer spat the nerf crossbow out and laughed.

“I’d watch out,” Scootaloo said, when Apple Bloom got up and joined them, laughing. “One day you’ll aim too low and your Totally Innocent Bystander will become Totally Dead Bystander...”

“But it’s not this day!” Archer exclaimed, picking up her crossbow. “How was Sweetie Belle?”

“She’s packing her stuff,” Scootaloo replied, looking at Apple Bloom unsurely. “What’s for supper?”

“Ya want to eat supper already?” Apple Bloom asked. “Archer wanted to show me how to shoot a snowball off my head...”

Scootaloo shook her head. “Archer, didn’t you hear that those toys are for foals who are older than three?”

“You’re no fun, Scootaloo...” Archer chuckled. Scootaloo, however, noticed that her eyes focused on her and her muscles tensed.

“Well, my sense of humour was brutally murdered with your casserole...” She paused seeing that Apple Bloom froze. “What’s wrong?”

“Babs,” Archer replied.

Apple Bloom nodded. “Ah still can’t believe she did that... She knew she’d go to jail for that... And still...”

“We can’t understand that either,” Scootaloo said. “But she can’t hide for long... Soon we’ll catch her...”

“Yeah...” Archer muttered. She gave Scootaloo a meaningful glare and looked at her crossbow. “You know, AB, if we’re gonna shoot the snowball off your head, you’ll need some glasses or something... You know, it’s all fun and games till somepony loses eye...”

“Ah have goggles in my room,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah can look for ‘em.”

“That’d be great,” Archer replied. When Apple Bloom went to the farmhouse, Archer went closer to Scootaloo. “How was Sweetie?” she asked.

“Strange,” Scootaloo said. “At first she didn’t know about any photo, but when I said that it was Button with her, she quickly said that it was the only her show Button attended.”

“That’s indeed strange.” Archer scratched her head with a crossbow. “Because the cutie says that he’s never been to any of her gigs. Also, I had a feeling that he felt uncomfortable around me...”

“Archer...” Scootaloo shook her head. “Everypony feels uncomfortable around you... Especially Button.”

“Hey, I was nice to him!” Archer exclaimed. “He seemed more uncomfortable than usual. Reacted poorly to long-distance relationships. If you ask me, I’d say that there was somepony aside from his Daring Do in her Crystal Cave, if you catch my drift.”

Scootaloo winced, which convinced Archer that she caught her drift. “Are you sure? You know... I don’t feel comfortable thinking that about my friend...”

“Our deduction says so,” Archer replied. “Seems that Apple Bloom’s coming... Don’t you want to shoot it?” She raised her crossbow.

Scootaloo smirked, for a moment forgetting about Button and Sweetie. “Sure...”

Chocolate Donut looked at the griffon in front of him unsurely. He had nothing against griffons, but he felt that any jury would imprison her for ten years for her expression alone. She glared at him angrily and lit up a cigarette. “You don’t mind,” she stated rather than asked.

“Ms. Gilda, right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Gilda replied, blowing smoke into his face. “What do you want?”

“Do you know a pony called Babs Seed?” Chocolate Donut asked, trying not to cough.

“Who? Never heard of her. Maybe she was in jail with me?” Gilda shrugged. “No idea. All those cunts there were the same. I don’t remember their names.”

“She killed at least two ponies in Ponyville and Canterlot.” Chocolate Donut showed a photo of Babs Seed and Diamond Tiara to Gilda. “They may travel together. Have you seen them?”

“This little shit looks familiar...” Gilda muttered, looking at Babs' photo. “Manehattan, three years ago. I had nothing to do with what was going on there at that time, by the way. I ran away from there after my friends disappeared and then pigs shot my cousin. She was on the news. Never seen her, though.”

“How about the other one?” Chocolate Donut asked.

Gilda inhaled the smoke, tossed the cigarette butt into the water, and looked at Diamond Tiara’s photo. “No idea.”

“Okay... Have you seen anything strange on your way to Baltimare?”

“Nothing stranger than a burst pipe. Also, that retard, Feather Duster was going bonkers. She disappeared on the way back here,” Gilda said. “I still don’t know what to say to the boss. She liked that shithead.”

“Who’s Feather Duster?” Chocolate Donut asked.

“One of the stokers,” Gilda replied, rolling her eyes. “A dirty, drooling moron who couldn’t even manage to get to the toilet in time. Only thing she was good at was shoveling the coal.” She shook her head. “To think about it, she seemed to be afraid of you guys. But who knows what was going on in her brain... I think she went out at night to have a wank and drowned. We wanted to call you just after reaching Hoofington, but you came to us first.”

“Thank you,” Chocolate Donut said. “Don’t leave town until we check that.”

Gilda whispered something that sounded like “fuck you” and flew away without even looking at him again. Chocolate Donut only shrugged and left the boat to tell Front Kick about what he’d learned.

My Way

“Well, I kinda didn’t think this through...” Babs muttered, looking through the porthole at the forest on the right bank of the river. According to her plan, they were supposed to leave the boat as soon as she’d see it, but it was harder than she initially thought. Sure, there river was mostly covered in ice, except of a path made by the icebreakers, but still it meant that she’d either land in the cold water or on ice that could snap under her weight. The steamboat was moving slowly, taking them further from Dodge Junction.

“What are we gonna do?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Are we going to Baltimare?”

“Of course not,” Babs replied. “The guards will be already waitin’ for us there...”

“How about snapping her neck and telling the guards that she kidnapped us?” Curtain Call whispered into Diamond Tiara’s ear. “She has no idea what to do...”

“I’d wait,” Silver Spoon muttered. “She’ll figure something out.”

“All we have to do is to stop this ship, even for a brief moment,” Babs said. “I’ll talk to Dust...”

“Yeah, because she’ll totally help us,” Curtain Call muttered.

“Shut up,” Diamond Tiara hissed.

“What?” Babs asked.

“Not you,” Diamond Tiara replied, trying to tune Curtain Call and Silver Spoon out. “It’s just...”

“What does she say?” Babs looked at Diamond Tiara unsurely. “Ya still don’t have your meds... And I doubt they have ‘em in Dodge Junction...”

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill you.”

Babs shook her head. “I think I have an idea,” she said. “Wait for me and don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”

She listened for a moment if nopony walked to them and trotted down the narrow path leading to the boiling room. The roar of the engine and the hissing of steam was deafening. Babs was staggering – she hadn’t had a proper sleep since they’d left Ponyville. It was hard to fall asleep when Diamond Tiara was around – at first, Babs could occasionally hear her talking with somepony invisible. Then, Diamond noticed that Babs was listening to her and since then she started to hide that from her, which only made Babs more suspicious.

Babs blinked and wiped sweat from her forehead. The innards of the ship were a dark maze of rusty pipes, broken cogwheels, valves and other junk. Babs could already hear the shouts of the stokers. She knew that Lightning Dust was there, but she also knew that the pegasus wouldn’t help her. She didn’t tell anypony about them, but Babs was sure that she reached the limits of her kindness.

A jolt of pain woke her up. She realised that she’d knocked her head against a low-hanging pipe. Her forehead started to itch and she realised that a patch of her fur was now slightly charred.

An idea appeared in Babs’ mind. She looked at the floor, littered with various pieces of scrap metal and other equipment. There was even a piece of rope there – Babs took it with her, since jumping from the deck of the ship on the ice wasn’t something she’d like to try. She was, however, looking for something else.

Finally, she found it – a spare piece of pipe, lying forgotten on the floor. She picked it up and hit it against the large, low-hanging pipe, the sound drowning in the roaring of the engine.

Nothing happened. Babs groaned and looked at the pipe more exactly, looking for weakened, rusty spots. She then stood on her hind legs, and hit the pipe, using her own weight to make a blow stronger.

She backpedalled when the hot steam bursted into her face. Its pressure made the hole bigger and soon the whole place was filled with the vapour. Babs cursed under her breath, rubbing her face and trying to see something. Tripping over the garbage, she retreated to the corridor leading to the cargo hold. She heard that the engine slowed down and the stokers’ rapid hoofsteps.

Babs turned back and sprinted to Diamond Tiara, who was sitting hidden behind a stack of wood, just as she’d left her. “Let’s go!” she exclaimed. “We have to run before they get what’s goin’ on!”

Diamond Tiara looked at her and gasped. “Babs! Is everything okay?”

Babs felt that her face was itching. She blinked – while her eyes were intact, she felt that her eyelids had suffered much from the burns. She clenched her teeth, trying not to cry. “I’m okay,” she muttered. “Let’s go!”

They galloped to the ladder and climbed on the deck. Babs noticed that the paddlewheels stopped and there was nopony there. She took the rope and tied it to the railing, realising that it was too short – they could only climb halfway down the ship’s starboard, then they’d have to jump.

“Go,” Babs muttered, looking around. “I’ll keep an eye on the crew...” She took her knife from her pocket. She hissed, feeling the cold breeze on her burned face.

Diamond Tiara caught the rope and closed her eyes, sliding down. She reached the end of the rope, pushed herself off of the side of the ship and released the rope.

Her back hit the ice, knocking the wind out of her. She heard a crack and wanted to get up to her hooves, when she felt as if somepony touched her back.

“Crawl,” Silver Spoon muttered. “Remember what Ms. Cheerilee told us about ice breaking under a pony’s weight?”

Diamond Tiara didn’t remember that, but since Silver Spoon knew about that, it meant that this information was hidden somewhere in her brain. She took a look at the ship – even though its engine had been disabled, it was still going with the flow while Babs was struggling with the rope. Diamond Tiara didn’t have time to watch her – she saw that Curtain Call was awaiting her on the river bank, and started to crawl towards her. She shuddered when the ice touched her skin, but only gritted her teeth. When her hooves touched the snow, she got up and ran to Curtain Call.

“If Babs continues like that, we won’t have to kill her...” Curtain Call muttered when Diamond Tiara turned to look at the ship disappearing slowly behind the trees. She saw a dark silhouette crawling through the snow. “I’m surprised she didn’t drown, her thick skull should pierce through ice like a stone...”

“Yeah...” Silver Spoon suddenly appeared on the other side of Diamond Tiara. “Remember Ruby? Her squeals before she died...”

“Screw Ruby...” Curtain Call muttered. “Remember Alula? She wasn’t that brave with swamp in her lungs...”

“Oh yeah...” Silver Spoon chuckled. “And Twist... She only managed to catch a glimpse and bang! She was choking on her blood. Also, Diamond, why did you think she was me?”

“Stop it...” Diamond Tiara whimpered, covering her ears. “I didn’t want to kill them...”

“If they hoped that I drowned, tell them to fuck off.” Babs patted Diamond Tiara’s arm.

“How did you–” Diamond Tiara saw that Babs was limping and had a nasty burn on her face.

“Ya were talkin’ to yourself,” Babs replied, giving Diamond a worried look. “How many of ‘em are there now?”

“Two.” Diamond Tiara muttered. “They’re saying that... that...”

“Don’t listen to them,” Babs said. “We need to get to Dodge Junction quickly. They must have a pharmacy or a doctor’s office there...”

Diamond Tiara nodded. Babs got up and started to trot deeper into the forest. “C’mon!” she exclaimed. “If we want to get to Dodge Junction quickly, we need to move.”

“What about your face?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“It’s okay,” Babs replied. “It doesn’t hurt.”

Diamond Tiara sighed and followed Babs through the snowy forest.

The hall of the Canterlot General Hospital was empty. Minuette’s hoofsteps echoed through it, startling her. She took a deep breath and scolded herself mentally. It was just a hospital.

She didn’t like that place. She remembered all too well how she’d been transported there, nearly dead from blood loss, with large gashes in her hoof and side. Seven years later, the only reminder of those events were the scars on her foreleg. For all those years, Dr. Stable had been recommending her his friend who was one of Equestria’s best plastic surgeons, but she’d always been refusing. Eventually, she’d agreed on having the scars on her side removed, but her hoof still looked like after Berry had attacked her.

That, however, wasn’t why Minuette came to the hospital. She trotted to one of the rooms at the end of the corridor and looked inside, not sure if she could enter.

“Come in,” Octavia said. She was lying in bed, barely moving. Her voice was quiet, but Minuette noticed that it was a bit stronger than when she’d last visited her friend.

Minuette sat at the chair next to Octavia’s bed. “How are you?” she asked.

“Better,” Octavia replied. “Much better since I learned that the baby is okay...”

Minuette sighed with relief. “Where’s Stable?” she asked. “I think he should be here with you...”

“He was here all the time, but he had to go back to work.” Octavia straightened in her bed. “He panics more than I do...” She shook her head. “One could think that it was him who was shot, not me...”

“Well, we’re all worried,” Minuette said. “For a moment I thought that you were dead. I hardly remember anything. Just that filly shooting at Jet Set and the psychologist trying to calm me down. It was like Berry again...”

“Did they catch her?” Octavia asked. “I’ve heard they know who she was...”

“Applejack’s cousin.” Minuette sighed. “She murdered Berry’s cousin and now half of the country is looking for her.”

Octavia shook her head. “What happened to those kids? How old is she? Twenty?”

“The newspapers said she’s nineteen,” Minuette said.

“I’d give everything for some newspaper...” Octavia muttered. “The doctors say that I should avoid stress... I’ll die of boredom sooner... My husband talks to me as if I was dying and the baby isn’t exactly talkative...”

“I can bring you some,” Minuette replied. “That Babs... I’ve seen her a lot in Autumn.”

“Let me guess...” Octavia smirked. “There was always evil hidden in her eyes?”

“No,” Minuette replied. “In fact, she seemed quite normal...”

Babs collapsed on the ground. There was much less snow there, since they were coming closer to the desert surrounding Dodge Junction, but still it meant landing in the mud. The burns on her face were aching. “It looked closer on the map...” she muttered.

“Come on,” Curtain Call said. “There has to be some shelter here...”

“Come on,” Diamond Tiara repeated. “There has to be some shelter here...”

Babs stood up slowly and limped behind Diamond Tiara. It felt strange – after walking through the forest she was hungry and exhausted, while Diamond seemed to grow stronger with every step. “We’d better watch out,” she said. “There may be guards there...”

Diamond Tiara sighed. “So what? Are we going to sleep in the forest?”

“Well, there are cherry orchards around Dodge Junction...” Babs muttered. “I was planning to hide in some remote barn...”

“If there’s even one there,” Diamond Tiara muttered. “Not everypony puts them in random places, like Apples...”

“Hey!” Babs exclaimed. “D’ya have some problem with my family?”

“I’m just stating a fact,” Diamond Tiara replied calmly. “Also, I’d like to remind you that your family disowned you. They threw you away like a rotten apple...”

“Fuck off,” Babs muttered. “Ya think I won’t beat the crap outta ya? I didn’t yet only ‘cause I know it’s because of your meds.”

“Yeah, right...” Diamond Tiara chuckled. “You’re afraid of me. Well, not only me. You’re afraid of everything, even that dead guy... Even of yourself... Aargh!” Diamond Tiara fell on the ground face-first when Babs hit her in the back of the head.

“Never insult a pony ya can’t see,” Babs muttered. Instead of going further, she waited for Diamond Tiara to stand up so she could still trot behind her.

“You just had to provoke her,” Silver Spoon muttered to Curtain Call. “She’s strong. If we don’t surprise her, we’re dead.”

“Shut up.” Curtain Call helped Diamond Tiara up. “She might be stronger but she has to sleep sometimes. Once we find some barn, we’re gonna think about it.”

“Do you think there’s a barn here?” Silver Spoon asked.

“There has to be,” Curtain Call replied. “Or else we’ll have to deal with that bitch forever... In Tartarus...”

Babs barely remembered the last twenty four hours. They didn’t find a barn; just some old, smelly cottage near the road. Diamond Tiara promptly lay on the ground, wrapped in her coat, and fell asleep. Babs, however, couldn’t join her – she had to watch out for the guards who could be travelling down the road and, what was more important, she had to watch out for Diamond Tiara. She knew that one didn’t get “The Sleepless Killer” moniker for nothing.

Now, however, she was on the verge of passing out. She curled in the cleanest corner of the cottage, holding her knife in her hooves. Closing her eyes, she hoped that if Diamond Tiara woke up, she’d hear her.

When she woke up, she realised that her hopes failed her. Judging by the sun’s position, it was long past midday. Luckily, Diamond Tiara was still sleeping in the same place as before. There was, however, another problem; when Babs tried to get up, a dirty, aquamarine hoof pushed her at the wall.

“You think you’re very clever?” Lightning Dust asked. “I’m glad I still can fly here from Baltimare in just a few hours and you should be glad too...” She sighed. “Guards are looking for you, imbecile...”

“Tell me somethin’ I don’t know...” Babs muttered, glaring at Lightning Dust angrily. “Why are ya even here? Got bored of bein’ a retarded stoker?”

“You’re not only dumb, you’re also deaf,” Lightning Dust muttered. “Guards are looking for you. They want to interrogate the crew... Including retarded stokers.”

“So, you’re basically savin’ your ass?” Babs asked.

“No, I’m saving your ass... again. Way to go, kid... Damaging a ship and hiding here, where everypony can see you? And you fall asleep!”

“I haven’t slept in forty eight hours...” Babs groaned. “I have to take care of Diamond...”

“So, I guess you’ll need my help...” Lightning Dust said.

Diamond Tiara slowly opened one eye. She looked at Lightning Dust and sighed, turning in her makeshift “bed”.

“Dammit...” Curtain Call cursed. “Now there’s two of them...”

Their Fates

Scootaloo yawned, looking through the window of the train. The station behind was Canterlot, but she wasn’t going to leave the train there. On the opposite seat, Archer was solving a crossword in her newspaper.

“A form of dungeon only accessible from a hatch in a high ceiling?” Archer asked.

“Oubliette,” Scootaloo replied. “It was on my word of the day calendar last week.”

Archer nodded and wrote the word into her crossword. “Why are we even going to Baltimare?” she asked.

“It’s simple,” Scootaloo said. “Sweetie Belle’s New Years’ Eve show.”

“Is it why you told me to take a crossbow?”

“Louder...” Scootaloo muttered. “There’s a lot of ponies in this carriage who didn’t hear you yet...” She shook her head.

Archer looked around, but saw that nopony was listening to them. Not many ponies were travelling anywhere just a few days after the Hearth’s Warming Eve. “You’re overreacting, Scoots... The thing is, I have a feeling that we’re gonna get in trouble. After all, the whole Baltimare is looking for Babs now, huh?”

“Yes, but it has nothing to do with that,” Scootaloo said. “We’re just going to a show...”

“I can shoot her drummer,” Archer muttered. “Sweet Celestia, this guy is fugly...”

“If everything goes well, you won’t have to shoot anypony.” Scootaloo sighed and lowered her voice to a whisper. “We’re going to catch Featherweight’s killer...”

Archer smirked and patted the bag lying next to her on the seat, where she kept her crossbow. “That’s something I approve of, cousin,” she said. “Let’s do this...”

The train kept going through the snowy plains.

Lightning Dust sighed and looked around the old barn full of empty crates and remains of rotten cherries. The sweet smell was permeating the air. “Okay,” she said. “I guess we’ll have to set some house rules...”

“More like barn rules...” Babs muttered, chuckling. She was sitting on a crate, watching Diamond Tiara lying on her coat. She saw Diamond had bags under her bloodshot eyes, yet she hadn’t seen her sleeping since they’d met Lightning Dust. She wondered if it was healthy.

“Rule one: Babs doesn’t play a smartass...” Lightning Dust deadpanned. “Anyway, one of us has to go to the town to get food and meds for Diamond... We can’t guard her all the time...”

“Yeah, goin’ to the town will be easy...” Babs said. “After all, only three of us are wanted...”

Lightning Dust approached her. She was only slightly taller than Babs, but when she looked into her eyes, Babs backpedalled. “One more remark and I’ll add a nice bruise to that collection of burns... Where did you get that? Steam from the boat?”

“Yeah...” Babs muttered, scratching her face. The burns were itching and she could barely contain herself from screaming.

“How typical of you...” Lightning Dust shook her head. “Putting your hoof between the door... Touching the pipes to check if they’re hot... Doing first, thinking later. If ever.”

“Fuck off,” Babs spat. “Don’t ya remember what happened to me?”

“What that has to do with anything?” Lightning Dust asked, rolling her eyes. “Also, rule number two: no swearing, rule number three: no playing the victim. You seem to forget how much shit you did in your life, starting with–”

“So, I deserved that, right?” Babs ran to Lightning Dust, tears welling in her eyes. “You think it was my fault that those guys–”

“I didn’t say that,” said Lightning Dust coldly. “That is only his fault. His death is my fault. Mugging ponies... Drug delivery... Murder... Those are your fault. Think about it, Babs. And don’t tell me that you had no choice.”

“I hadn’t!” Babs exclaimed. “It’s a jungle, Dust. Only the strongest survive...” She inhaled the air to add something, but before she could open her mouth, she was interrupted by Lightning Dust’s hoof hitting the burnt side of her face. The pain stunned her; she fell off the crate and hit the ground, groaning. She got up and charged at Lightning Dust blindly. The pegasus took off, somersaulted above Babs’ head, and hit her in the back of the head, sending her on the ground again.

“Stop it!” Diamond Tiara screamed. She tried to get up, but then her legs gave up and she collapsed back on her coat. Her eye twitched; she tried to move, but her hooves were stiff.

Babs rolled on her back, rubbing her face and muttering curses under her breath.

“The strongest, huh?” Lightning Dust panted. “I’m sorry, Babs, but I had to use an argument you’d understand.” She offered her hoof to Babs.

“Blow me.” Babs stood up by herself and trotted, limping, to the other corner of the barn.

“No way,” Lightning Dust muttered. “You didn’t deserve such a pleasure.”

Babs said nothing.

“I’ll look after Diamond till the night comes,” Lightning Dust said. “Then I’ll go to Dodge Junction to look for those meds and you’ll be checking if Diamond doesn’t want to kill anypony.”

If Babs heard that, she didn’t show that.

“It was really nice to meet you too...” Lightning Dust sighed.

Diamond Tiara could barely catch a breath. She rolled on her back; it felt as if Curtain Call was sitting on her chest.

“Let me tell you one more time,” Curtain Call said. “You’re getting up only when I tell you. Got it?”

“I... I thought you wanted to kill Babs...” Diamond Tiara muttered.

“But not when this featherbrain is watching,” Curtain Call replied. “Have you seen what she did to Babs? She’d change us into a red and pink spot on the floor in no time.”

“So what are we gonna do?” Diamond Tiara asked, trying to free herself.

“We’ll wait till the night...” Curtain Call whispered into her ear.

With a silent click, Babs opened her knife. She remained motionless in the corner of the barn, trying to be as quiet as possible. Lightning Dust had left only recently and she could still come back at any moment. Diamond Tiara also wasn’t making any sound. Babs clenched her hoof on her knife and slowly lifted her head.

Two’s a company, three’s a crowd, she thought. But I’d rather be alone...

She turned her head to check out the rest of the barn. In the dim light she saw the silhouette of Diamond Tiara still in the same place where she’d been before. Babs looked carefully if nopony was lurking in the shadows and got up.

Fuck Lightning Dust, I’m goin’ to Hayseed Swamps. Babs took the first step. The ground and rotting hay were muffling her hoofsteps, but she had to be careful. Diamond Tiara looked like she was sleeping, but Babs knew that insomnia was one of her symptoms. Also, Diamond’s hearing was perfect.

Babs stopped few feet from Diamond Tiara and took a deep breath. Then she jumped forward, rising her hoof and lowered it, stabbing the lying lump, covered by the red coat.

She almost tripped, feeling much less resistance than she expected. The knife’s blade nailed the coat to the ground. Babs looked at it and felt her innards freeze when she saw several straws of hay protruding from below the fabric. She reached to retrieve her knife, when a powerful kick sent her rolling on the floor. She smashed the old crate and skid to a halt. Every breath was like a needle piercing her side. She was sure some of her ribs were bruised, maybe even fractured, but she had no time for checking them.

She darted to the side and saw her own knife swinging inches from her. She didn’t wait for another attack; letting out a powerful scream, she tackled Diamond Tiara. The knife fell out of Diamond’s hoof. Babs felt that she had an upper hoof; she could feel that Diamond was not even half as fit as her. She could thrash and smack her with her hooves as much as she wanted; Babs’ body survived much worse.

It didn’t mean, however, that Babs was going to let Diamond Tiara beat her. She headbutted her, feeling her burns explode with pain. However, when she raised her head, she smirked, seeing blood pouring from Diamond Tiara’s nose. She raised her foreleg and hit her again, feeling Diamond’s teeth cracking under her hoof. Panting heavily, Babs punched Diamond again and put her hoof on Diamond’s throat.

“I’m done with ya...” she muttered through gritted teeth. “See ya in Tartarus, psycho...”

Diamond thrashed, trying to catch a breath.

“Don’t worry...” Babs whispered. Her vision was darkening; the wounds she’d received were taking their toll. “Soon I’ll send Lightning to ya... Ya’ll have eternity to talk...”

Diamond Tiara thrashed, causing Babs to release her for a moment. Before Babs managed to grab her again, she caught a breath and landed a surprisingly nasty right hook on Babs’ temple. Babs staggered, but held Diamond firmly, leaning closer to her.

“Ya’re right...” she panted. “Pests like ya need to be killed quick...”

She turned back and reached for her knife. Before she could grab it, she felt Diamond Tiara sliding from under her.

Then, Babs screamed. Her vision blacked out completely for a moment. She collapsed on the ground and lay there in a fetal position, trying to catch her breath.

Diamond Tiara spat on the ground. A mix of snot, blood, and saliva was running down her face. “You didn’t think being kicked there only works on colts?” She chuckled. “Oh wait, you know something about that...”

Babs tried to get up, only to almost throw up, when the world started to spin around her. Her mouth was completely dry. Diamond Tiara limped towards her. The knife was out of her reach. Diamond Tiara stood on her hind legs, ready to crush Babs’ skull under her hooves.

Babs closed her eyes, thinking about White Dove and Carnation. Would she see them again? Or maybe she’d have to spend the eternity with Golden Sunset, Raspberry, Jet Set, all those ponies and griffons she’d killed? She didn’t exactly believe in afterlife, but that perspective scared her. Just having to look into their dead eyes would be too much for her. When she thought about it, she realised that it wouldn’t be better even if she met White Dove and Carnation.

She felt a cold wind. So, that’s how dying feels like? she thought. Then she heard the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Another sound of a hoof hitting something and everything went silent.

“Babs, you okay?” Lightning Dust asked.

Babs opened her eyes and groaned. “I’m okay...” she tried to roll on her stomach, only to bite her lip when she lay on her injured ribs. “Or maybe not... How’s Diamond?”

“I think I knocked her out...” Lightning Dust poked Diamond Tiara with her hoof. “But she’s breathing. I have meds for her. When she wakes up, she might be a little hazy... I have no idea if we can give them to her just like that, but I guess we’ll have to try.”

Babs nodded. Her vision was darkening again. The pain between her hind legs was unbearable.

“I also took some things useful if we’re going to stay here... I even thought about your burns.” Lightning Dust continued. “Bandages, antibiotics, vitamins...” She looked at Babs. “It seems that painkillers will be useful...”

The show was great. Even Scootaloo, who didn’t usually listen to that kind of music, loved it. After all, Sweetie Belle was her friend. Archer, on the other hoof, liked everything she could dance to, so she enjoyed it greatly. Now they were trotting through the crowd of ponies.

“Where are we going?” Archer asked.

“First to the cloakroom to retrieve your bag,” Scootaloo replied. After a few attempts of pushing herself through the crowd, she took off, causing her cousin to utter something that sounded like “unfair”. Not that it made it any easier; several other pegasi already got that idea.

“And then?” Archer asked, when she finally found a way through the crowd.

“Next stop, backstage,” Scootaloo replied.

“We’re gonna meet Sweetie Belle and find a few new uses for my crossbow with her?” Archer laughed.

“I guess Button wouldn’t be happy about that...” Scootaloo said. Not that he’ll be happy after what we’ll do tonight... she thought.

“Oh, come on.” Archer rolled her eyes. “I’ve met him. I’m sure he enjoys such stuff...” She suddenly made a serious expression. “Yeah, that... And he seemed so cute...”

“Exactly.” Scootaloo sighed.

Archer took her bag and they went out of the building. They circled it and stood in the dark backyard, hidden in the shadow of the wall. The air smelled of rubbish and alcohol.

They were waiting for ten minutes. Archer took her crossbow out of her bag and loaded it. She grabbed it with her mouth and aimed it at the ground, making sure that the safety was on. She knew the plan – it was their last resort.

Suddenly, Scootaloo patted Archer’s back and pointed at the dark silhouette approaching the club’s backdoor. She prepared a torch, her hoof on the switch.

“Now,” she whispered, turning the torch on and blinding a pony in front of them. He covered his eyes with his hoof and backpedalled. Archer aimed her crossbow at him.

Scootaloo smiled grimly when she saw who he was. She expected it, but still it was a shock for her. “Hello,” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “Don’t move. You know Archer can be a bit trigger-happy sometimes.”

The pony said nothing, looking at Scootaloo, his mouth agape.

“Now you’ll tell us...” Scootaloo’s voice faltered, “Why did you kill Featherweight...”

Our Confrontation

Lightning Dust landed on the windowsill and immediately ran downstairs to Babs, who was sitting on the sofa, reading some book about growing cherries. Cherry Jubilee was sitting next to her, silent, while Diamond Tiara was sleeping, curled next to the fireplace.

“What’s goin’ on?” Babs asked, raising her head from the book. “By the way, there’s some interestin’ stuff in here. Once we run away, I’m gonna start growin’ cherries. Applejack would have a heart attack...”

“Soon, you’ll have lots of time to think about it,” Lightning Dust replied dryly. “The whole town is full of cops.”

The book fell on the floor. “What?” Babs asked. “H-how?”

“You tell me...” Lightning Dust turned to Cherry Jubilee, whose face went pale. “You don’t have anything to do with that, do you?”

“Of course not!” Cherry Jubilee exclaimed, shuddering and glancing nervously at Babs. “I didn’t leave house since you arrived...”

“Then how do they know we’re here?” Lightning Dust started to pace around the room. “We need to get out of here...”

“But how?” Babs asked. “Not everypony of us can fly, you know...”

Diamond Tiara woke up and trotted to them. “What happened?” she asked.

“The guards are on us,” Babs replied quickly. “Lightning says that the whole town is full of them.

Diamond Tiara froze. She saw Silver Spoon walking from behind the sofa. “What to do?” she muttered to her.

“You will know,” Silver replied.

Suddenly, they heard knocking at the door. Lightning Dust looked at it, while Babs grabbed Cherry Jubilee’s shotgun resting against the sofa. Their guest knocked once more.

“Cherry?” They heard a voice from the outside. “Are ya here?”

“It’s Cornflower,” Cherry Jubilee whispered. “She’s my friend.”

“Cherry?” Cornflower asked unsurely. “Are you okay? I haven’t seen ya in, like, three days...”

“Tell her that you’re sick,” Lightning Dust whispered.

“I’m okay!” Cherry exclaimed, and faked cough badly. “I’m just a little sick... I’ll visit you once I get better.”

“Are ya sure?” Cornflower wasn’t going to give up easily. “I can help ya... Cook ya something... Or maybe ya need some meds?”

“No, thanks, really...” Cherry’s voice faltered. Some tears escaped her eyes. “I’ll manage...”

“Are ya crying, Cherry?” Cornflower asked. “Nevermind. I’m coming in...” They heard a sound of a doormat being pulled to the side and the ringing of the keys.

“Crap...” Babs muttered. She got up from the sofa and sat on the floor in front of the door. Lightning Dust turned her head to her to see that she had the shotgun with her.

“Babs, don’t...”

“Don’t worry, I’ll only invite her inside...”

The door opened and Cornflower, a grayish mare with honey-coloured mane wearing a brown hat stood on the porch. Suddenly, her eyes widened when she saw Babs aiming a shotgun at her.

“Come inside...” Babs muttered through gritted teeth. Cornflower took a tentative step forward. Suddenly, she turned around and started to run away. Cursing, Babs pulled the trigger.

Most of the pellets hit the door frame, throwing a wave of splinters around. Some of them, however, hit Cornflower’s flanks and hind legs, causing her to scream and collapse, rolling on the ground. Babs lowered her gun.

Lightning Dust wanted to say something, but had to catch Cherry Jubilee who passed out, seeing her friend getting shot. Diamond Tiara also staggered and rested herself against the couch.

“Before ya start to yell at me,” Babs said coldly, closing the door and pushing a nearby chest of drawers to barricade it. “She was going to call the guards...”

“Yeah, and now we have a dying pony on our front lawn,” Lightning Dust replied with a sigh, trying to bring Cherry Jubilee back to consciousness. “You could’ve as well put a banner here, saying ‘here we are, come and get us!’”

“Should I go and bring her?” Babs asked.

“Too late,” Lightning Dust replied. “Your shot will lure everypony in the town here...” They heard rapid hoofsteps from the outside.

Babs ran to the window and rested the shotgun against the sill. “Don’t move or I’ll shoot!” she shouted.

“Drop the gun and get out!” some stallion shouted. “We’re surrounding you!”

“We have a hostage!” Babs shouted back. “Don’t go anywhere closer or we’ll shoot her!”

“Don’t make your situation worse, Babs!”

“S-scootaloo?” Babs loosened her grip on the shotgun. “Who cares... Don’t go here! I’ll shoot ya...”

“Babs!” Lightning Dust hissed. “You’d better let me negotiate...”

“And what will ya ask for?” Babs asked. “An airship? Did somepony ever get an airship?”

“Do you want to spend you whole life in prison?”

“No,” Babs replied. “What’s the difference? Whole life or twenty years...” Suddenly, she aimed and fired, missing a guard by about two metres. She quickly reloaded the shotgun and pointed it at the ponies outside again. “One more such try...”

“Let us at least help that mare!” Scootaloo was almost begging her. “Do you want her to die because of you too?”

Before Babs could reply, Lightning Dust pushed her away from the window; Babs fell down, but didn’t let go off the shotgun. “We agree!” Lightning Dust replied. “Take her and get out!”

“Who are you?” the stallion, who was apparently the commander of the guards surrounding the house asked.

“Lightning Dust,” Lightning replied. Next to her, Babs stood by the window again. “And who are you?”

“We keep the owner of this house hostage, remember!” Babs added.

“Front Kick, from Ponyville Royal Guard,” the stallion replied. “Is Diamond Tiara with you?”

“Yes,” Lightning Dust replied, looking at Diamond Tiara, who was sitting next to half-conscious Cherry Jubilee with a blank expression. “She’s taken her medicine and should be safe...”

“What do you want?” Front Kick asked.

“Freedom,” Lightning Dust replied. She knew that it couldn’t be done, but it was always worth trying.

“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” Front Kick said. “You’re all wanted for murders. Release the hostage and we won’t add abduction to that...”

Babs gulped, clenching her hooves on the shotgun. “Diamond Tiara did nothing wrong,” she said in an emotionless tone.

“The judge will tell...” Front Kick replied. “If you won’t release the hostage, we’ll have to storm the house...”

Babs walked to the sofa where Cherry Jubilee and Diamond Tiara were sitting and aimed her shotgun at them. “Just try!” she shouted. “I’ll shoot them both!”

“Babs... Are you crazy?” Lightning Dust whispered. She tried to approach Diamond, but she stopped, seeing the barrels aimed at her.

“Maybe,” Babs replied, swallowing her tears. “Ya see yourself... We can’t negotiate with them...”

“Then we’ll need to surrender,” Lightning Dust said. “It was nice to be free for three years, but my time came. I’ll open the door and no one will get hurt, okay?”

“No!” Babs shouted. “I... I’d rather die than go to jail... It’ll be faster...”

“C’mon, Babs...” Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. “You’re a wise filly... Just think about it... You’re only nineteen... So many things can happen to you...”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Babs exclaimed, her hooves shaking. “I... I just can’t...”

“Babs, please...” Lightning said in a soft voice. “I killed a guy so you could live... Don’t waste this...”

Babs shuddered. The shotgun in her hooves lowered a few centimetres. Suddenly, they heard a squeak of the door opening.

“Babs, NO!” Lightning Dust exclaimed, seeing Babs galloping towards the door.

Diamond Tiara blinked. In front of her, she saw Babs Seed talking with Lightning Dust. Next to her, Cherry Jubilee was watching them, paralysed by fear. Diamond felt her mind getting clearer; she could finally move her hooves without the feeling as if she was wading in a syrup. The static blocking her hearing disappeared. She could easily hear the voices of the guards outside. Scootaloo was among them... She blinked once more and saw that Babs was aiming a shotgun at Lightning Dust. She had to do something...

“You will know what to do,” Silver Spoon said. She was standing by the door. Next to her, stood Curtain Call – but not the Curtain Call from visions created by Diamond Tiara’s sick mind, but rather the one she’d first seen over ten years before – a small, scared filly, whose only desire was to play with her peers.

“Let’s go, Diamond,” Curtain Call said.

Diamond Tiara stood up. The rug muffled her hoofsteps. She walked out of the room, unseen by Babs, though she had a feeling that Lightning Dust saw her. As quietly as she could, she creeped through the hall to the door. There, she pushed the chest of drawers. Babs was too busy yelling at Lightning Dust to notice.

Diamond wiped sweat from her forehead. The chest of drawers was heavy, but it wasn’t only that. Something strange was happening with Diamond’s body; she wasn’t sure if it was some effect of her meds or maybe it was a sign of them wearing off.

Finally, the piece of furniture was moved out of the way. Diamond Tiara took a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Babs, seeing Diamond Tiara walking towards the guards, ran to the door, shouting something. She stood on hind legs. All her world was falling apart around her; all she could do was to give up and let it bury her under the debris. She held her breath and blinked to get rid of the tears from her eyes. Then, seeing that Diamond Tiara was about to walk next to the puddle of Cornflower’s blood, she aimed the shotgun at her.

Archer was faster. Seeing the silhouette of Babs in the dim hallway, she darted forward with the crossbow in her mouth. She held her breath and aimed in a split second. Her teeth clenched around the trigger. The string started to move forward, pushing the bolt out. It flew between Diamond Tiara’s ears and hit Babs Seed’s chest.

Time slowed to a crawl. Babs looked at the bolt, surrounded by quickly spreading spot of blood on her fur. She took a step backwards and lost balance, collapsing on her back and dropping the shotgun.

Several guards darted from behind the bushes, following Archer, who dropped her crossbow. Two of them tackled Diamond Tiara, while the rest, including Scootaloo, ran to Babs.

“Babs!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Oh no...”

Babs coughed, spitting some blood. She looked at Scootaloo and smiled widely. Her breath was heavy and slow, each inhale causing bright red, foamy blood escaping her wound.

“Babs!” Scootaloo put her hoof on Babs’ wound, trying to stop the bleeding. “What will I tell Apple Bloom?”

“That...” Babs said in a raspy whisper and coughed. “... her cousin...” Another cough. Scootaloo leaned closer to her to hear the next words exactly. “... screwed up...” Babs’ body went limp. Her green eyes remained open, staring at the ceiling. Scootaloo couldn’t bring herself to look into them.

“I... I’m sorry...” Archer whispered, watching Scootaloo swallowing her tears, holding Babs in her hooves. “I didn’t want to...”

“It’s okay...” Scootaloo said, her tone bearing no emotions. “You did what you had to...” She looked at Babs once again and closed her eyes, her hoof shaking.

Diamond Tiara approached them, escorted by one of the guards. She was crying openly. Archer walked to her and hugged her.

“I didn’t mean to end it like that...” Diamond Tiara sobbed. “She... I don’t remember half of the things that happened...”

“It’ll be okay,” Scootaloo said in a tone suggesting that she didn’t believe her own words.

“Hey! Where’s that third one?” Chocolate Donut exclaimed. He was standing in the living room, where the guards were telling Cherry Jubilee, sitting on a stretcher and wrapped in a blanket, that Cornflower’s state was stable.

“Broken window in the kitchen,” another guard said. “She ran away in that whole commotion...”

Front Kick banged his hoof against the wall and sighed. “Just great... Now all we have is a corpse...”

Scootaloo hid her face in her hooves.

Author's Note

The epilogue will be up tomorrow.

Your Funeral, My Trial

Octavia stretched her limbs and turned a page of her newspaper. Lying in bed was a torture for her, but the doctor had told her not to overexert herself. She was looking forward to the delivery; now all she could do was to lie there, barely able to move. The only thing her belly was good for at that moment was to rest newspapers and books on it.

Not that she wasn’t excited. She was reading most of the books aloud to her baby. She also asked Dr. Stable to bring a gramophone to her room so she could spend days listening to classical music. Octavia didn’t believe in half of the things she’d read about in the guides for young parents, but it didn’t hurt to try.

The door opened and Dr. Stable walked into the room. He looked at the newspaper Octavia was reading and shook his head. “You should avoid stress,” he said.

“Oh, come on.” Octavia looked at him and smiled. “I’m okay. Also, my grandmother gave birth to my mother in an air-raid shelter. I can manage a daily dose of bad news...” She turned back to her newspaper. “Did you hear that this filly who shot Jet Set was killed in Dodge Junction?”

“Minuette mentioned something about that,” Dr. Stable replied. “Swiped that Wonderbolt-killer from the first pages...”

“Poor girl...” Octavia sighed. “She was just nineteen...”

“Poor?” Dr. Stable exclaimed. “She could’ve killed you!”

Octavia shrugged. “I don’t know... After what happened to Diamond Tiara, I look at it a bit different...”

“Yeah,” Dr. Stable muttered. “By the way, they caught Diamond Tiara too... I wonder what will happen to her...”

Diamond Tiara sobbed. Two guards were sitting on her both sides, watching the coffin with flat expressions. Behind her, Sweetie Belle was sitting alone, hiding her face in her hooves. Scootaloo was sitting in the first row, together with Apple Bloom, Applejack, and Big Macintosh. Archer was also there, hiding behind Scootaloo. Other Babs’ friends also appeared: a muscular donkey and a blue unicorn mare with a foal.

“Excuse me... Can I talk to Diamond?”

Even though Diamond Tiara didn’t hear that voice in ten years, she recognised it immediately. She turned her head to look at the young, orange mare with green mane, wearing a black outfit.

“Two minutes,” one of the guards said, still watching the coffin.

“Hello, Diamond.” Sunshine Rainbows whispered. “Are ya okay?”

“Not really,” Diamond Tiara replied and sighed. “Babs is dead and I may end up in prison or the hospital again...”

“Yeah...” Sunshine replied and looked at the coffin. “I knew her, ya know?” Since the guards were listening to them, Sunshine decided to spare Diamond Tiara the circumstances of her meeting with Babs. “It’s kinda weird when I have to prepare somepony I knew...”

“I can imagine...” Diamond Tiara muttered. She remembered way too many funerals of her friends.

“It got easier after the first three,” Sunshine said. “But still... Didn’t expect her to end up like this. Well, maybe a bit.” She sighed. “I’m not good at it, am I? I wanted to say that it’ll get better. Y’know, don’t give up and such stuff...”

“I know,” Diamond Tiara replied. “But thank you, Sunshine. Take care.”

“See ya later, Diamond,” Sunshine Rainbows said. “Hopefully in better circumstances.” She walked away slowly, her hoofsteps echoing through the funeral parlour.

“Was she always that weird?” Silver Spoon asked. She was sitting on a bench before Diamond Tiara’s resting her hooves at its back.

Diamond Tiara only nodded.

“Here comes trouble...” Silver Spoon muttered, looking at the gate.

Three ponies were walking towards the front row of the benches. One of them, a red mare resembling Big Macintosh a bit trotted to Archer and pushed her off the bench. “What is she doin’ here?” she yelled.

“Sunflower...” Applejack stood up.

“She killed my sister!” Sunflower exclaimed, shaking Archer brutally. “What is she doin’ here?”

“Sunflower!” Apple Bloom shouted, pushing her cousin away from Archer. “That’s not the time and place for that... Babs wouldn’t want to–”

“Well, thanks to her, we won’t know what Babs wanted and didn’t want to do!” Sunflower leaned closer to Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom looked into her cousin’s eyes coldly. “And where were y’all when she got outta the boot camp?” she asked. “Did ya let her go back home?”

“That’s not important...” Sunflower muttered.

“Still, Babs spent a few months with us,” Applejack said. “And it’s interestin’ that her own family didn’t want to see her...”

“Maybe because she was a–”

“Sunflower...” Babs’ mother put her hoof on her daughter’s shoulder. “Enough. Babs wouldn’t want us to argue now...”

Sunflower looked at her mother angrily and trotted with her to the bench on the opposite side of the funeral parlour.

“Well, at least they didn’t start a fight,” Silver Spoon said with a disappointed expression.

Diamond Tiara said nothing, looking at Archer, who was standing next to Scootaloo, her head hanging low.

A few weeks later, Diamond Tiara was sitting in the middle of the courtroom, watching her lawyer, Twinkie Defense, as she was talking to Dr. Midline Shift. The jury was listening to them, interested. Some older mare looked at Diamond Tiara and, to her surprise, Diamond saw tears welling in her eyes.

“So, what happens if my client stops taking medicines?” Twinkie Defense asked.

“Well, she starts to hallucinate,” Midline Shift replied. “She’s also getting aggressive and may attack a pony, trying to kill them.”

“Can she control that?”

“No. I’m actually surprised that she didn’t kill anypony while running away with Ms. Seed...”

Several members of the jury nodded. One of them levitated a notebook and wrote something in it. Diamond Tiara closed her eyes. Babs was dead, but she was alive...

Don’t give up...

“It seems that they’ll let you go home,” Twinkie Defense whispered, sitting next to Diamond Tiara. “Just take your meds and don’t get into trouble... like Babs...”

“I’ll try to,” Diamond Tiara replied.

The coffin was slowly lowered to the ground. Scootaloo watched it with grim expression and turned to Archer, only to see her cousin slowly walking away. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I can’t...” Archer replied and sighed. “It was far too easy... To just pull the trigger...”

“She was trying to kill Diamond,” Scootaloo said.

“I know,” Archer muttered and turned around. “I know and still...” She shook her head. “I’ll be in the nearest bar...”

A different courtroom and a different judge. This time there was no audience, just a few Royal Guards. Archer was sitting in the middle of the room, sweating profusely as she looked into the faces of the fellow guards.

Archer felt a taste of bile in her mouth. She understood why she was there. She knew well that she deserved it; it was actually a relief for her, but the feeling was overshadowed by something else.

She knew exactly what she’d hear soon.

“According to our reconstruction of the events, Babs Seed was armed and clearly had an intention to kill Diamond Tiara,” the judge said. “Therefore, you had the right to use any means to prevent that. We won’t be pressing any charges against you.”

Archer looked at the floor. She stood up automatically and left the room without looking at anypony. She trotted down the court corridor and walked out of the building. She sighed and walked along the street of Canterlot. It was a cold, January afternoon, and soon she started to shiver. Ponies were walking around her, but Archer didn’t care. She thought that she probably had to go home, to Scootaloo now, but she didn’t want to.

Until Babs’ funeral, Scootaloo was keeping herself together, but later it was like everything collapsed on her: Rumble getting arrested, a bitter fight with Sweetie Belle, Apple family experiencing yet another loss... Archer wanted to make her happy, but for the first time in her life, she was failing at it.

She stood in the middle of the bridge and rested herself against the barrier, looking into the water. She leaned forward, raising her hooves, and closed her eyes.

“Archer?”

Archer opened her eyes and looked at the colt who called her. “Hello, Button,” she said. “What are you doing here?”

“I was just taking a walk,” Button replied. “After Sweetie and I...”

“Yeah, that sucked...” Archer muttered, getting off the barrier. “In fact, everything sucks recently...”

“What exactly were you doing here?” Button asked, looking at the barrier.

“About to do something stupid,” Archer replied. “Let’s go, Button.”

“Where?”

Archer sighed. “Anywhere but here...”

The first lump of earth fell on the lid of Babs’ coffin with a hollow thump. Soon, another followed, slowly filling the grave. Sunflower stood above it, motionless, her face showing no emotions.

Gilda stood in the dark alley of Baltimare, motionless, listening to the hoofsteps behind her. “If you wanna rob me, you can try, punk,” she said, blowing smoke from her cigarette. “But don’t cry later...”

“I won’t.” Lightning Dust landed in front of her and raised a balisong knife. The blade stopped an inch from Gilda’s throat. “Nice, isn’t it? Belonged to Babs Seed, but she won’t need it anymore...”

“Feather Duster?” Gilda smirked. “Almost didn’t recognise you. Did you take a shower?”

“That’s ‘Lightning Dust’ to you,” Lightning Dust replied. She reached her hoof to Gilda’s beak and grabbed her cigarette. She sniffed it and threw it on the ground, smashing it with her hoof. “You know, I only smoke when I’m stressed. Like three years ago...”

“Are you gonna tell me your life story?” Gilda asked, looking at Lightning Dust and trying to assess if she could catch her off guard.

“Only this one. You see, three years ago, I really wanted to smoke after my now deceased friend changed some griffons into minced meat in an old warehouse...” Lightning smirked grimly, seeing that Gilda’s face became even paler than usual. “You know what was funny? None of these griffons had cigarettes.”

Gilda gulped. “What do you want?”

“It’s funny that I assumed that they had to smoke, you know?” Lightning Dust pushed the knife closer towards Gilda’s throat. “Then I thought that there has to be someone with them... Someone who quenched her cigarette on the fur of a dying filly... Repeatedly.”

“I... She was already dying,” Gilda said quickly. “Completely out of her mind... I couldn’t do anything...”

“So you used her as an ashtray?” Lightning Dust clicked her tongue. “Really, Gilda?”

“I... I dream about her every night...” Gilda’s voice was shaking. Her eyes widened. “Every... fucking... night... I wish I could help her, I really do! But it was too late when I came there... I yelled at them... Ran away from there... Like a coward...”

“Really? I really wish I could believe you...” With these words, Lightning Dust swung her knife upwards, leaving a long wound on Gilda’s face. Gilda automatically raised her wing to defend herself, but then Lightning Dust hit the base of her wing with the knife.

Gilda screamed. Her left wing went numb and fell down limply. Lightning pulled the knife out, causing her to scream again and collapse, pressing the wound with her claws. There wasn’t much blood on the blade – it didn’t hit any major vessel, but the torn nerves meant that Gilda would never fly again.

“See you, Gilda,” Lightning Dust said in a monotone voice, closing the knife and hiding it in her saddlebags. “I hope you’ll dream about that filly till the end of your life.”

“F-fuck you...” Gilda muttered, swallowing her tears.

Lightning only shrugged and flew away.

The funeral ended. The crowd slowly dissipated, leaving only Sunflower sitting by the grave, hiding her face in her hooves. Sunshine Rainbows approached her and sat next to her. “Are ya okay?” she asked.

“Do I look like?” Sunflower gave Sunshine a nasty look.

“Oh...”

“Go away,” Sunflower muttered. “Just... leave me alone...”

The hot wind was blowing, causing the waves of sand to hit against the tent’s fabric. The zebra stallion inside yawned. He had to spend the whole day there, waiting for suitable candidates, but barely anyone came. He was just thinking about leaving his outpost, when somepony moved the fabric aside and entered the tent.

The zebra smirked. The mare in front of him was not only a pony, but also a pegasus. The Zebrican army needed an air force, but pegasi were scarce. “Good afternoon,” he said.

“Hello,” the aquamarine mare replied. “I’ve heard I can join your army here.”

“Well, it depends if you can fly...” he said.

She only smiled. “I flew all the way from Equestria,” she replied.

The zebra nodded and grabbed a pen. “What’s your name?”

“Feather Duster,” the mare replied.

He wrote the name in the documents. It was probably fake, but he couldn’t care less; most of the ponies joining the Zebrican Army to fight the rebeliants were outlaws or wanted criminals. The army couldn’t be picky. “Any particular reason why you want to join?” he asked.

“No, not really,” Feather Duster replied. “Just running away from something...”

The snow melted, changing the streets of Ponyville into muddy rivers. Diamond Tiara trotted through them, trying not to get her hooves dirty. On her way from the railway station, she saw Bon Bon who was walking slowly, her saddlebags full of groceries. Even though the bruises and cuts on her face disappeared, Bon Bon still was limping, staring at the ground beneath her hooves. Her mane, usually neatly curled, was messy and unkempt. When she saw Diamond Tiara, she froze, but soon approached her.

“I’m sorry,” Bon Bon said, avoiding Diamond Tiara’s gaze. “It was Cherry... I didn’t know she’d–”

“It’s okay,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I’m sorry too... For your sister... And for what Babs did to you...”

“Poor filly,” Bon Bon said half-heartedly. “I mean, she was a psycho, but still–”

“I’m a psycho too,” Diamond Tiara interrupted her.

“But you’re different,” Bon Bon replied. “So much different than her...”

Diamond Tiara stared at Bon Bon blankly, not sure what to say. Babs, as far as Diamond Tiara knew, didn’t see her dead friends telling her to murder somepony. But on the other hoof, she witnessed Babs shooting a pony in cold blood... And then she was almost killed in the same way. Had Archer been a bit slower...

Bon Bon wrapped her hooves around Diamond Tiara and hugged her. Diamond Tiara froze and wanted to push the older mare away at first, but Bon Bon quickly retreated herself. “See you later, Diamond Tiara,” she said. “Take care...”

For a moment Diamond Tiara stood in the middle of the path, watching Bon Bon walking away. Then she shrugged and walked towards her home.

To her surprise, she saw that the gate was open. She pushed it and walked through the garden, to the door. Diamond Tiara looked around, at the naked trees and dry grass. She knew that in a few weeks everything would be green, but now it looked just like she felt. She raised her hoof and knocked.

“Diamond Tiara!” Filthy Rich exclaimed, opening the door. Diamond walked inside and hugged her father. They walked to the living room.

“It’s so good to see you back,” Filthy Rich said. He thought for a moment before asking, “How are you?”

“Better,” Diamond Tiara replied. They had seen each other earlier, soon after Diamond was found, but they didn’t have much time to talk. Diamond’s constant medical examinations and the trial weren’t helping them in getting together. During their short meetings, Filthy Rich carefully avoided the topic of Diamond’s escape with Babs. “I... I’m sorry, dad,” Diamond Tiara said. “I was... you know, without meds, panicked... She told me that I killed Cherry...”

“I understand that,” Filthy Rich replied. “I don’t blame you, Diamond. I keep telling you that you’re not a bad filly...” He smiled. “You’re the best daughter in the whole world and nothing will change this.”

Diamond Tiara felt tears escaping her eyes. “Thank you, dad... I don’t think I deserve this...”

“It’s okay, Diamond,” Filthy Rich replied. “Now, you’re finally home and we can spend some time together... That is, until you go back to Canterlot. I’ve heard Octavia Melody said she is going to give a small recital ‘once her daughter will be responsible enough to stay with her father’...” Filthy Rich chuckled.

“Well, I didn’t decide what to do yet,” Diamond Tiara said. “I think I’ll visit Curtain Call in Trottingham one day... She’s still in the hospital and I know how she feels...”

Filthy Rich nodded. “That’s a good idea. But now, you should stay a bit with your old dad... Do you want something to eat?”

Diamond Tiara nodded. Soon, the servants brought the supper and for a brief moment she could focus on food, forgetting about all her problems. After she ate, she went to her room, saying that she was tired and wanted to catch some sleep.

She closed the door, turned off the light and lay down on her bed. The soft light of the moon was casting shadows on the walls of her bedroom. Diamond Tiara looked at it and closed her eyes, thinking about tomorrow.

There were so many things to be done.

---THE END---

Author's Note

Well... 5 months IRL, 10.5 years in-universe, 5 stories and nearly 127k words later, we're in Diamond Tiara's bedroom again. That was quite a wild ride and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did :twilightsmile:

Her Issues

“Babs? Are ya okay?” Apple Bloom asked.

Babs only lowered her head, focusing on the food in front of her completely. Technically, she could answer that yes, she was okay. She hadn’t eaten so well in almost three years, she had a cutie mark that looked very similar to Daring Do’s one, and she was what most ponies considered the best age of their lives – nineteen, a magical number joining the innocence of a teenager with all the privileges coming with adulthood.

Yet, nothing was okay. Babs was anything but innocent. Just twenty four hours before, she’d received an official document stating that she was now free to leave the boot camp near Appleloosa where she’d spent almost three years for assault, robbery, and possession of an unregistered firearm.

It could be worse. Her lawyer, a young idealist called Twinkie Defense who’d decided to help her for free proved that she hadn’t known what Lightning Dust – Equestria’s most wanted criminal – had done with the submachine gun Babs had tried to dispose of, saving her from prison. However, the lawyer didn’t know that the deeds Babs had been sentenced for were only a tip of an iceberg. In fact, those who knew were either dead or decided to keep their mouths shut.

“Babs?” Apple Bloom looked at her cousin unsurely.

“Yes, I’m okay,” Babs lied. My cutie mark should be in lying, she thought. Who knows, maybe the one I got is also a lie? A compass on her flank had appeared in the boot camp, when she managed to find it after she’d gotten lost in the desert with a couple of other “guests.” Babs thought that she was just lucky. She shrugged and took a large slice of an apple pie.

“What are ya gonna do now?” Apple Bloom asked. “Are ya gonna come back to Manehattan?”

Manehattan. That name brought memories. Fantastic days when she didn’t have to worry about anything, hanging out with her friends and robbing those who were stupid enough to go out at night. Nightcap… Babs started to wonder what happened to her. Then she shuddered when she remembered White Dove and a couple of griffons, who were probably still lying somewhere in the cemetery not far away from the old warehouse. Tears welled in Babs’ eyes when she remembered what had happened just a few days later when the members of a local mafia kidnapped her.

“Maybe,” she replied, trying to remain calm. “I guess I’ll stay here for a couple of days…”

“Applejack will be happy,” Apple Bloom said. “She’s not the same since… Ya know, first she’d almost lost me, then ya… And then Granny died…”

Babs could help but sob. She’d learned about Granny Smith’s death a couple of months after it happened. She was told that it was the post’s fault, but she knew that the guards were carefully checking every letter. Especially, when a young criminal was making trouble.

“I’ll go for a walk…” Babs said, rising from her chair. “I’ll be back by the evening.”

“Maybe Ah’ll go with ya?” Apple Bloom asked.

“No, thanks…” Babs said. “I wanna be alone for a moment… Maybe I’ll go and visit Granny…”

“Oh… Okay…” Apple Bloom muttered and started to collect the dishes from the table.

Babs trotted to the door and left the house. She looked back at it and sighed, walking down the path leading to Ponyville.

Unneeded. Nopony in the Apple family told her that, but she was unneeded. Her whole family was ashamed of her.

At first she wanted to stay in Appleloosa, with her cousin Braeburn. He didn’t even recognise her. Sure, they lived on opposite sides of Equestria and seen each other only during family reunions. Sure, he’d last seen her when she was eleven. But for Babs, it was like a stab in the heart. She turned around and ran to the railway station.

When she was leaving the camp, the guards gave her some money for a ticket. She chose to go to Ponyville, to her favourite cousin. And there she was – Apple Bloom gave her food and told her that Applejack and Big Macintosh were soon going to be back from the orchard, but Babs could feel that something between them changed. She felt that she was no longer Apple Bloom’s favourite cousin. She was met with cold distance, like someone with an infectious disease. Truly, she was a bad apple.

She lowered her head, letting tears fall on the path. Her mane was hiding most of her face, so she could cry freely, not worrying about the others.

“Hello Babs! You didn’t say that you were back! How are you? Have you already visited Apple Bloom? Are you–”

“Pinkie Pie,” said Babs slowly, looking into Pinkie’s eyes. “I swear, if you make a surprise ‘Babs is back from the boot camp’ party, I’ll kick ya to the next Friday…”

Pinkie Pie stopped mid-jump and stood in front of Babs, her mane flattening slightly. “Well, if you don’t want…” she said. “You look sad…”

“Thanks for tellin’ me that,” Babs muttered. “I didn’t know what happened to me…”

“It doesn’t have to be a party,” Pinkie Pie said. “If you want to talk…”

“Maybe later, okay?” Babs sighed. “I stayed at Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Okay,” Pinkie said, her mane going back to its usual state. “I have to go! I’m preparing a ‘You’re not crazy anymore’ party for Diamond Tiara and–“

“Wait!” Babs exclaimed. “Diamond Tiara is here?”

“Yes!” Pinkie Pie replied. “She just came back to Ponyville… Three days ago? I think so… It was when I ate those blue cupcakes and I felt a bit funny, so it had to be three days ago… Or maybe it was–“

“Okay, I get it,” Babs muttered. “See ya, Pinkie…”

She trotted down the path which soon changed into a street. She looked around. Ponyville was almost the same as she remembered it. Some of the houses had new roofs or fences, but the atmosphere was friendly as usual. Well, maybe not as friendly… Babs thought when she saw Lyra and Bon Bon sitting on a bench in front of their house. Lyra probably hadn’t noticed her, but Bon Bon was eyeing her curiously. Babs saw that another mare, pink with yellow mane and cherries as her cutie mark, was sitting with them.

“…another little brat comes here…” Babs heard her when she was walking next to the house. “Soon this town will be full of criminals.”

Babs stopped mid-step and turned to the pink mare who paused. “Cherry Berry, I suppose?” she asked innocently. “I was just wonderin’ how’s your cousin…”

“Shut up!” Cherry Berry shouted. “We don’t want you here…”

“Don’t worry, I only came to see DJ Pon3’s grave,” Babs deadpanned. “Maybe ya know her? What was the name of that crazy pisshead who killed her? I think I know… Berry Pu–“ She dodged a flower pot flying in her direction, followed by a stream of abuse. “I’ll surely tell my mother what ya think about her…” Babs muttered, running away from the mare, who was now standing at the fence, waving her hoof at her.

In a much better mood, Babs trotted to the park. There weren’t too many ponies there, even though the weather was sunny. Autumn was about to start; the first red leaves were falling from the trees. Babs walked through the grass, inhaling deeply. Both Manehattan and the boot camp had something in common – she was always surrounded by other ponies there. Here, she was finally alone.

Almost alone. She was just going to the bridge, when she saw a pink silhouette of a pony lying on a bench, looking at the sky. Or maybe she was sleeping? Babs wasn’t sure. She trotted to the pony, stood above her, and blew mane from her eyes.

The pink pony – young mare around Babs’ age – opened her eyes, startled. She shuddered when she saw Babs and tried to shrink herself.

“What’s goin’ on?” Babs asked. “Ya killed somepony or what?”

The mare let out a whimper and made a move as if she wanted to run away.

Babs chuckled. “Chill out, Diamond,” she said. “Frankly, I don’t give a fuck about what ya did. I even forgive ya for tryin’ to off my cousin.”

Diamond Tiara sat on a bench. “I… I’m so sorry…” she stammered. “I… I was…”

“I know who you were,” Babs said, sitting next to here. “Listen, as I said, I don’t care. Ya’re not a monster, Diamond. Don’t let old cunts like Cherry Berry tell ya otherwise…”

“B-but I killed them…” Diamond Tiara said, shuddering and trying to sit as far from Babs as it was possible. “P-pipsqueak, Ruby, Alula…”

“…Twist, Zippoorwhill, Ginger Snap, and Silver Spoon,” Babs finished. “Dunno where have you been for the last ten years, but they wrote about it in the newspapers. They’re dead and ya can’t change that. But trust me, ya’re not a monster. Ya didn’t want to kill ‘em.”

“What do you know about that?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Have you ever killed anyone?”

Babs froze. She remembered Golden Sunset, choking on her own blood, spilling on the pavement. She thought of the first griffon she gunned down during the shootout, and the others she’d shot when they were lying on the floor, bound and unarmed. “Maybe…” she said.

Diamond Tiara looked at her unsurely. She leaned closer to Babs, her blue eyes widening. For a moment, Babs thought that she was going to kill her. “I… I still see her…” she whispered.

“I guess it’s normal,” Babs said casually. “Ya don’t wanna know what I see in my dreams… I think it scared away even Luna…”

“Not in dreams…” Diamond Tiara whispered. “Silver Spoon… I see her even now… She’s there.” She pointed at the grass by the river. “She’s still nine…”

Babs froze. She started to regret that she’d talked to Diamond Tiara first. “Ya should talk to your doctor about that…” she said slowly. “But… Ya don’t wanna kill me? Or anyone else?”

“N-no…” Diamond Tiara sighed. “And I don’t want to talk with the doctor… They’d lock me up again… As long as it’s Silver, it’s okay… She only plays… Sometimes talks… When it was Curtain Call…”

Babs didn’t want to know who Curtain Call was and what’d happen if she suddenly appeared. “Okay…” she muttered and sighed. “That was your secret… Wanna know mine?”

Diamond Tiara nodded, throwing nervous glances around. Babs thought that she probably had to watch her surroundings constantly, avoiding ponies like Cherry Berry.

“When I was sixteen, I was a bad pony,” Babs said. “I did lots of stupid things. For example, I was muggin’ rich bitches like–“ She looked at Diamond Tiara and decided that finishing that sentence wouldn’t be wise. “Anyway, one of ‘em had a pepper spray. She used it, I took a knife… There were no crazy visions or anythin’ like that. At one moment I was coughin’ my lungs out, then she was lyin’ on a pavement with a knife in her carotid artery. They caught my friend for that. It still haunts me…”

Diamond Tiara shuddered and looked at the place where, according to her, stood Silver Spoon.

“What’s wrong?” Babs asked.

“F-for a moment I thought I saw…” Diamond muttered.

Babs shook her head. She wanted to tell Diamond about Golden Sunset’s friend, but decided that risking the sudden visit of mysterious Curtain Call wasn’t worth the feeling of catharsis she felt after confessing to that. “I have to go,” she said. “We’ll meet later, okay? Take care, Tiara…”

“See you, Babs,” Diamond Tiara replied absentmindedly. She stayed on the bench, watching Babs disappear in the distance.

“What will happen now?” Silver Spoon stopped prancing and stood in attention by Diamond Tiara’s side.

“No idea,” Diamond Tiara replied.

Diamond Tiara tossed and turned in her bed. She put her hooves on her ears, but it didn’t help much. The muted whispers were ubiquitous. Even though she tried, she couldn’t just tune them out.

Of course, thanks to the medicines she was taking, she knew that the whispers weren’t real. This, however, didn’t make them any less annoying.

“Let me guess,” she whispered. “You won’t let me sleep till I get up and go to kill somepony?” She turned and saw Silver Spoon lying on her bed next to her. Her mane was hanging freely and her glasses were lying on the nightstand.

“Don’t do that,” Silver Spoon said. “They only wait for that…”

“Thanks for telling me what I already know…” Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes.

“I’m a part of your mind. I can’t say anything you don’t know,” Silver Spoon replied. “For example, you don’t know how would I look if I were nineteen. That’s why I look like I’m nine.”

“Why do I even talk with you?” Diamond Tiara asked, knowing well what the answer would be.

“Other ponies don’t want to talk with you.” Silver Spoon sat on the bed and put on her glasses. “Some of them ignore you, some of them would drown you in the river if they could.”

“I just love this town…” Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth. “Sometimes I think that they could use an another couple of missing children…”

Silver Spoon’s eyes widened. “Don’t let her talk you into that!” she exclaimed. “We can’t see her, but she’s still there… You surely caught a glimpse…”

“Don’t worry, Silver,” Diamond Tiara said, yawning. “A hoofful of pills a day keeps Curtain Call away. Or something like that.”

Silver Spoon nodded and lay back on the bed, closing her eyes. Diamond Tiara, however, felt that she needed to know something else.

“Silver?” she called.

“Yes?”

“How does it feel to be dead?”

“I have no idea,” Silver Spoon replied groggily. “After all, you don’t know that either, do you?”

Our Addictions

Somepony knocked on the door. Diamond Tiara opened her eyes and looked at the door. “Come in…” she said in a raspy voice.

The door opened and Filthy Rich entered her room. He looked around and sighed; the room looked just like it used to when Diamond Tiara was nine. Of course, he’d bought a bigger bed for her, but he’d never gotten rid of her toys, drawings, and other belongings.

Diamond Tiara didn’t want to change that either. She had nothing new to put in her room and she didn’t want to see it empty. The very idea was making her shudder. She remembered her room in Trottingham, empty, with soft walls and without a knob in the door. Through the wall, she could hear Curtain Call’s – the real Curtain Call’s – screams. Sometimes, Curtain Call also talked in her head and then she could hear her voice twice.

From time to time, the nurses were visiting her. Each of them was looking at her as if she was a wounded animal. Diamond Tiara knew why – she’d attacked at least two of them. She couldn’t recall their faces; ten years since the day Silver Spoon died in her arms in the middle of the scorched filly scouts camp was a continuous blur of events, voices, and faces. Diamond Tiara couldn’t tell what was real and what was only a product of her mind.

Filthy Rich looked at his daughter who was now sitting in her bed, scratching her head. One of her hooves was covered in bandages. “Is everything okay, Diamond?” he asked.

“Yes…” Diamond replied. “I’m just… My head hurts…”

Filthy Rich shook his head, but soon he smiled. “I remember my first hangover…” he said. “Though I have to say that you were less drunk than I was back then… In fact you didn’t seem drunk at all when Apple Bloom brought you here…”

“I wasn’t drinking much…” Diamond Tiara replied, trying to recall the details from the night before. “In fact, I’ve only had one cider…”

“Well, it seems that Apple Bloom’s cousin rubs off on you…” Filthy Rich muttered, shaking his head. “I’ve heard you punched the mirror in the pub…”

“Yeah…” Diamond Tiara shielded her eyes from the light. “Dad, I have to go to the doctor…”

“Something’s wrong with your hoof?” Filthy Rich approached her. “The bandages look okay…”

“No, dad…” Diamond Tiara sighed. “It’s… It’s my head again… I saw… something in the mirror. The voices…”

Filthy Rich sat on the bed next to her and scratched his head. “Voices?” He furrowed his eyebrows. “B-but the doctors said you were healed…”

“It never fully heals…” Diamond Tiara muttered. “I know that the voices aren’t real… I can tune them out, control that… But yesterday I was close to losing control… Who knows what’d happen then?”

“I’ll go to the hospital,” Filthy Rich said. “You can stay here.”

“Okay, dad…” Diamond Tiara lay back in her bed and sighed. “I swear, I’m not drinking again…”

“Good to hear that.” Filthy Rich smiled. “By the way, how was the party?”

“Great, actually,” Diamond Tiara replied. “Apart from that incident with the mirror… But I finally could talk to other ponies… I even joked with them! It’s like I have friends again.”

“I’m so happy to hear that, Diamond…” Filthy Rich said, closing the door. “You don’t know how happy I am…”

Just like the night before, Babs left her bedroom just after waking up. At first she couldn’t figure out why she didn’t hear the usual morning noises, but then she looked at the old clock in the hallway – it was barely 4 AM.

Babs scratched her head. Part of her wanted to go back to bed and sleep for a few more hours. Then she remembered the nightmare that had awoken her and suddenly felt that her bed was the most unwelcoming place in Equestria.

Babs had heard much about ponies who dreamed about traumatic events that had happened to them, but in her case it was never a literal flashback to that day at the mafia boss’ house. The nightmares were different every night. There was, however, one thing they all had in common – an overwhelming feeling of helplessness.

Before she’d woken up, Babs dreamed about being in the desert again. She was trapped in a quicksand; somepony was trying to help her out, but she couldn’t reach them. Her hooves couldn’t move; she tried to scream, but her mouth was full of sand.

“Luna, why are ya doin’ this to me?” Babs muttered. She felt that her fur was drenched with sweat. Some leftovers of the cider from the day before wanted to get out of her system, so she decided to go to the bathroom.

About twenty minutes later, she left the bathroom in a much better mood. Her mane was still wet after the shower, and a rush was chilling her to the bone, but she didn’t care. She trotted to the kitchen and looked for something to eat. Soon she was at the table, munching a toast with apple jam and sipping a cup of black coffee.

“Now I only need a cancer stick and I’m good…” she muttered to herself. Too bad, it was impossible to find any. Nopony in the Apple family smoked. Babs didn’t smoke either – she’d stopped in the boot camp, since fifty bits for a smuggled cigarette was too much for her. The first year was terrible, then she got used to it.

Babs could, of course, buy cigarettes – she was an adult and she doubted that Applejack or Big Macintosh would say something if they saw her smoking. She, however, didn’t – she was broke and she didn’t want to ask her family for money she knew she’d spend for cigarettes.

Apple Bloom knew about her addiction – she even found a pack of some terrible, cherry-flavoured cigarettes at the bottom of her drawer. She’d bought them a few years before, smoked two, and decided that she’d rebel in a different way. After smoking a half, Babs could easily understand why.

Babs chuckled – she thought that Applejack would be more concerned about the fact that the cigarettes were cherry-flavoured.

“Babs?”

She turned to look at the stairs. “Hello, Big Mac,” she said, seeing her cousin. He took a toast and sat at the table next to her.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

“Eeyup.” Babs smirked and took a sip of her coffee.

“Y’all drink too much of it.” Big Macintosh pointed at her cup and sighed. “Remember that heart problems run in the family…”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Babs replied. “Workin’ already?”

“Eeyup.”

“I’ll help ya once I get back from Manehattan,” Babs said. “I won’t be there for long… I want to stay here with ya…”

“Eeyup.” Big Macintosh took a large bite of his toast.

“Sometimes I think that ya quietly laugh at all of us…” Babs shook her head.

“Why would Ah do that?” Big Macintosh asked, smiling sheepishly. “It’s good ya want to start to work, Babs.”

“Yeah…” Babs lowered her gaze. “If the camp taught me somethin’, it’s that hard work helps to forget… Have ya ever wanted to forget about somethin’, cousin?”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh replied.

Babs sighed. “Let me guess… The day ya heard I was arrested?”

“Nope… That is…” Big Macintosh finished his toast and stood up. “Your uncle and aunt’s deaths… Granny’s death… When Apple Bloom got hurt… And when ya… When this guy…” He sighed and wrapped his hoof around Babs.

Babs felt tears welling in her eyes. Part of her wanted to stay there, while the other part wanted to run as far as possible. Yet another part wanted to go to the orchard and buck the trees till she’d collapse.

She drank the rest of her coffee watching Big Macintosh walking away to the orchard. Then she went back upstairs to pack her belongings.

She didn’t want to be helpless again. But to achieve that, she had to do one more thing her cousins would rather forget about.

For the first time in years, Diamond Tiara trotted through the town without fear.

She didn’t care about her hoof. If somepony was whispering upon seeing her, she didn’t hear that. The headache passed and all she wanted to do was to go out and enjoy herself.

She was just coming back from the hospital. The doctor said that it was probably some side effect of alcohol and her meds, and that she shouldn’t be worried, unless it’d happen again.

Diamond Tiara didn’t worry. She looked at the ponies around and felt different. Free. Free not only from the small room on the third floor of the clinic of Trottingham, but also from everything else. She had no feelings towards other ponies, regardless of their gender. She didn’t crave alcohol, drugs or any other substance apart from her meds. For the last ten years her life depended of other ponies: doctors, nurses, all the hospital staff… Now, she was finally independent.

Diamond Tiara sighed. Despite the doctor’s words, she could already hear the false notes in his voice. She knew what caused it. It wasn’t her illness, but rather the cure.

Getting her out of the dark room with soft walls was one thing; getting that room out of her was a completely different thing.

“It changed,” Silver Spoon said. “The town, I mean. Some ponies aren’t jerks anymore… Some are even bigger jerks than before…”

“I guess that’s how life goes,” Diamond Tiara replied. “I don’t know; I spent more than half of it in a hospital.”

“Don’t ask me about that.” Silver Spoon rubbed her temples. “I’m still a bit hung over, but if I recall correctly, I’m dead longer than I was alive…”

Diamond Tiara sighed. “I’m so sorry, Silver Spoon…”

“Don’t worry…” Silver Spoon approached her and Diamond Tiara almost felt her touch on her skin. “Also, you’re tired of apologising…”

“How do you…? Ah, yes, you’re a part of my mind, right?”

Silver Spoon appeared in front of Diamond, and took off her glasses. “That’s elementary, my dear Tiara. I’m a part of your mind and you can’t do anything about that…”

For a moment, Diamond Tiara had an impression that Silver’s mane changed from its usual colour to orange. She blinked, but when she opened her eyes, Silver was nowhere to be found. Diamond raised her eyebrows. She’d gotten used to the sight of her friend and it felt weird not having her by her side. After a while, however, she shrugged it off and trotted home.

Babs desperately waved her hooves, but it didn’t help. Something was pulling her deeper and deeper towards the bottom of the ocean. Her lungs were begging for air, but she knew that one breath would kill her almost immediately. The pressure of water was slowly crushing her, cracking her ribs. She thrashed, but it only made a terrible pain in her hooves worse. Finally, she opened her mouth, salty water filling her lungs immediately…

“No!” Babs screamed, waking up. She realised that she’d fallen asleep on a train, while listening to the monotonous sound of wheels. Some mare was looking at her unsurely. “What d’ya want?” Babs barked.

“You were screaming in your sleep,” the mare replied. She had an orange mane and a carrot as her cutie mark. “I wanted to wake you up…”

“Don’t worry, I woke up myself just fine,” Babs muttered. “I don’t need your help.”

“Are you sure?” the mare asked.

“Yes, I’m fu– I mean, I’m sure,” Babs said. “I just had a nightmare, not a big deal…”

“I had nightmares too,” the mare said. “After my daughter died in a fire… She’d be more or less your age now…”

“Excuse me, but I have enough of my own problems.” Babs sighed and turned to the window. “I don’t wanna talk, okay?”

“It’s still hard for me…” the mare said, as if she didn’t hear Babs. “Her killer is free again…”

Babs groaned. “She was killed by Diamond Tiara, right?” she asked. “Then keep in mind that Diamond is my friend. She’s sorry for what she did and she’d definitely feel better if ya all forgave her. Now I’d prefer to get to Manehattan undisturbed.” She turned to the mare, but saw that she’d walked away. “Fuckin’ small towns…” she muttered to herself. “If I threw a stone anywhere in Ponyville, I’d probably hit someone whose friend or kid Diamond killed… While I don’t even know the names of most of my victims.”

She lay on two seats and fell into a shallow slumber again. This time she had no nightmares. A few hours later, the sound of screeching brakes woke her up and the conductor told her that they were in Manehattan.

Babs got out of the carriage and looked at the railway station. It didn’t change much. Some of the benches were more damaged and darker that she’d remembered them, there was some new graffiti on the walls, and she recognised some new faces among the homeless ponies, but the building itself remained the same. Even when she went to the toilet, she found an old scribbling on the wall of the stall, claiming that Babs and Hedgehog had sex there four years before, with a detailed list of things they did to each other.

Wonder what that son of a bitch is doin’… Babs thought. Hmm, maybe I should introduce him to Sweetie Belle? She’d probably need a bassist…

On a second thought, she decided against that. Hedgehog’s bass skills were only a bit better than his sex skills. He’d probably just have a short affair with Sweetie which would end with him running away with as much of her money as he could carry. The paparazzi would get crazy.

Babs left the railway station and stood in the middle of the pavement, inhaling deeply and watching the buildings, the ponies, and the orange afternoon sky above the town.

“Hello, Manehattan…” she said aloud. “Missed me?”

Author's Note

I wonder if someone gets how I invented Hedgehog's name and why he plays bass (it's a really obscure reference).

Their Choices

Babs bit her lip, trying not to scream. The painkillers wore off and now she turned on her bedding, panting heavily. Each breath felt like a branding iron being put to her chest. The itch on her face was also unbearable; she couldn’t help but moan, scratching her forehead with her hoof.

“You okay?” Lightning Dust asked. She was sitting in the middle of the barn, watching Diamond Tiara, whose breath was uneven; from time to time she was moving frantically. Babs and Lightning had given her the medicines, but they weren’t sure about the effect – Diamond Tiara didn’t attack them anymore, but she still was either sleepy or half-conscious, unable to talk coherently.

“No,” Babs replied. Her vision was blurry and when she tried to get up, she staggered and collapsed again.

Lightning Dust approached her and put her hoof on Babs’ forehead, causing her to hiss. “You have a fever,” Lightning Dust said. “We’ll either have to change this place into a hospital or take you and Diamond to one.”

“No hospitals,” Babs whispered, feeling that her throat got dry. “I’d land in prison in no time…”

“Well, maybe it’s time to take responsibility for your actions,” Lightning Dust said, going back to her place and giving Diamond Tiara a worried look.

“Just like ya took responsibility for yours?” Babs asked, covering her head with her jacket. She shivered and changed her mind, trying to wrap herself in the jacket as tightly as possible.

“My case was different,” Lightning Dust replied. “I wouldn’t do that if it wasn’t for some little fuck who had to run away from the hospital because she couldn’t get that the guards would soon get this guy.”

“Yeah, right…” Babs sighed. “Mafia and the guards, they’re all the same.”

“They had all the evidence,” Lightning Dust said. “Including what they’ve gathered… umm… from you. I guess you know what happens to guys like him in prison… He’d be there, but you just had to…”

“I?” Babs tried to shout, but her voice was a coarse whisper. “Ya could’ve left it to me.”

“If you like being dead…” Lightning Dust shrugged. “I’ll tell you the truth, Seed: if I were to kill that guy today, I wouldn’t do that.”

“Great,” Babs muttered. “At least I wouldn’t have to put up with ya…”

“I can leave at any moment,” Lightning Dust said. “I can’t go back to that boat, but I’m sure there’s always one more town a little further down the track…”

Babs’ reply was interrupted by a fit of coughing.

“See?” Lightning Dust asked. “You won’t survive without me. Also, we can’t stay in that fridge.”

“But where can we go?” Babs asked; her breath was heavy and laborious. “Everypony is looking for us… In the swamps it’ll be even worse.”

“I know,” Lightning Dust said, looking at Diamond Tiara who opened one eye and groaned. “Are you okay, Diamond?”

“Moths,” Diamond Tiara whispered. “Everywhere. Silver… Spoon…”

“I guess she isn’t,” Babs said. “Can’t we just, like, light a fire here?”

“If you want to burn this place down or attract everypony in Dodge Junction…” Lightning Dust sighed. “You know, when you feel better we can go to the town at night and hide in some freight train…”

“If I get more painkillers, I can walk,” Babs muttered. “But dragging Diamond Tiara with us…”

Lightning Dust stood in front of her. “Do we really need to?” she asked, giving her a package with pills. “Did she even do something wrong? We can leave her here and drop an anonymous message at the sheriff’s office...”

Babs felt the pill almost getting stuck in her throat. Lightning Dust’s idea definitely was better than killing Diamond Tiara or making her go with them, yet Babs didn’t know what to do. If Diamond Tiara was found in Dodge Junction, it’d be clear that they were nearby. Not to mention that she could tell the guards everything about what happened... Babs was just opening her mouth to tell Lightning Dust about her doubts, when the pegasus raised her hoof, silencing her.

Babs stood, motionless, listening to the sounds coming from the outside. There was somepony there; she could hear the hoofsteps. She looked at Lightning Dust who took off and flew to the door as quietly as she could.

The painkillers slowly kicked in; Babs felt that she could walk again and creeped to the hole in the barn wall. Through it, she saw a light of a kerosene lamp held by somepony trotting towards the building.

With a creak, the door opened; Babs looked there and saw a cream mare with a sophisticated manestyle holding a lamp in her mouth. The mare stopped, seeing Diamond Tiara lying on the floor in the middle of the barn. She put the lamp on the ground and at the same moment Lightning Dust landed next to her, wrapped her wing around her neck, and put in on her mouth.

“No talking,” she whispered. “You can only nod or shake your head, get it?”

The mare nodded.

“Good. Are you the owner of this barn?”

Another nod. Lightning Dust smirked grimly, carefully watching Babs who limped towards their captive and looked into her eyes. The mare gave out a panicked moan.

“Do you live alone?” Lightning Dust asked. “And don’t lie to me. I see that you recognised my friend and know exactly what happened to the last pony with cherries on her flank she’d met. Am I clear?”

The mare nodded.

“Do you live alone?”

Nod.

“Good. As you can see, our friend isn’t in exactly good condition and she can’t stay in your barn. I guess you won’t object if we bring her to your house?”

The mare shook her head. Babs approached her. “No as ‘no I won’t object?’” she asked, glaring at her angrily.

The mare nodded, trying to move as far from Babs as possible, but Lightning Dust held her firmly. Babs sent her another smile and walked to Diamond Tiara. Despite the painkillers, she groaned, trying to lift her on her back. Diamond opened her eyes and slowly got up.

“Can you walk?” Babs asked.

Diamond Tiara nodded and took a shaky step forward. Lightning Dust smirked and turned to the mare. “As you can see, we’re in a bit of hurry. Why don’t you lead us to your house?”

Scootaloo approached the pony in front of her, glaring at him. Her wings spread, she raised her hoof. Archer ran to her and caught it.

“Don’t even try to fly away,” Archer muttered as clearly as it was possible with the crossbow in her mouth. “I may have stopped her from punching you, but I can still shoot you, you know...”

“I’m not gonna fly away,” the young stallion replied, backpedalling. “I... I can explain...”

Scootaloo freed herself from Archer’s grasp and ran to him, pushing him at the wall. “You’ll have lots of explaining to do...” she muttered through gritted teeth. “Tell me, Rumble! H-how long did you and Sweetie Belle...”

“A... a year or so...” Rumble muttered. “I wanted to tell you, but...”

“Then why didn’t you?!” Scootaloo shouted. “I’d forgive you, but now...”

“Scootaloo, stop it,” Archer said calmly and turned to Rumble. “Did Featherweight know about that?”

“Yes,” Rumble replied. “He... He blackmailed me. He had a photo of Sweetie with me... He took it after a show...”

“So you killed him?” Scootaloo asked. “Because it was better than telling me the truth?”

“Am I arrested?” Rumble’s gaze hardened.

“Yes,” Scootaloo replied.

“I won’t tell anything without my lawyer,” Rumble said, freeing himself from Scootaloo’s grasp.

“Fuck you,” Scootaloo spat.

The backdoor of the club opened. They looked at it and saw Sweetie Belle who froze upon seeing them. “R-rumble? What happened?” she asked.

“Didn’t he tell you?” Scootaloo walked to her, pointing her hoof at her. “He forgot to mention it during your...”

“What happened?” Sweetie Belle exclaimed, tears flowing down her face, smearing her make-up. “Rumble, what did you do?”

“The guards will explain that,” Scootaloo hissed. “But what I wonder is, why didn’t you tell me? We were friends... I... I’d understand. But you kept it a secret! If Fea–”

“Scootaloo!” Archer exclaimed. “You’ll finish that conversation in the station, okay?”

“Yes, sure...” Scootaloo muttered. “I must be professional...” She gave Sweetie Belle a long look before turning away. “It’s just so hard sometimes...”

“Just for the record,” Babs muttered to Lightning Dust, “I don’t wanna hear anymore bullshit about me being reckless from ya...”

Lightning Dust looked at the shivering mare, who just opened the door of her house and entered it, turning on the lights. The house was quite spacious, with a large fireplace in the middle of the living room. The red, wooden doors led to the bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen. Lightning followed the mare inside and sat at the table with her.

“I’m talking to ya!” Babs exclaimed. “I don’t know if ya noticed, but we just kidnapped somepony!”

“Yeah, because I wonder what you would do if she walked on you,” Lightning Dust muttered. “Stab her, probably.”

“I...” Babs sighed and looked at Diamond Tiara who sat on the floor in front of the fireplace and looked into the fire. “Diamond! Are you okay?”

“No,” Diamond Tiara replied, still staring into the fire.

Lightning Dust turned to their host. “We won’t be here for long,” she said. “What’s your name?”

“Cherry Jubilee,” the mare replied. “Will you kill me?”

“Not if you behave,” Lightning Dust said. “Do you have any weapons here?”

Cherry Jubilee sighed. “In the kitchen,” she replied.

“Babs, watch out for her,” Lightning Dust commanded. “And you, Cherry, watch out for Babs...” She walked to the kitchen and came back soon with a double-barreled shotgun. “I’ll borrow it for a while,” she said.

Babs ignored her, still trying to make Diamond Tiara speak to her. Diamond Tiara, however, was silent and motionless, not caring not only about Babs, Lightning Dust, and Cherry Jubilee, but also the whole world. Soon, she fell asleep, curled into a ball on the floor.

“Diamond!” Silver Spoon exclaimed.

“Silver?” Diamond Tiara muttered, looking around. They were alone in the living room. Silver was sitting on the rug, her big eyes staring at Diamond. “Where is–”

“She’s gone...” Silver Spoon replied. “And she won’t be back, if you take the meds...”

Diamond Tiara rolled on her back and sighed. “That was awful...” she muttered. “I... I almost killed Babs. And–”

“Oh, come on...” Silver Spoon sighed. “She wanted to kill you, remember?”

“She did?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I don’t remember...” She sat on the floor and sighed. “Guess I’m no good... I can’t even remember anything that happened to me since we ran away from Ponyville.”

“It’s not your fault,” Silver Spoon said. “It was Curtain Call... But she’s gone now and we can be together again.”

“Silver?”

“Yes?”

“Why did you stay with me?” Diamond Tiara asked. “I mean... Ten years ago. I told you to leave...” Tears started flowing down her face. “You didn’t listen. You stayed with me even though I...”

“We’re friends,” Silver Spoon replied. “Friends never leave each other.”

Diamond Tiara nodded. “You’re probably right...”

“I’m a part of your mind,” Silver Spoon said. “If I know that, then, on some level, you know that too...”

“Maybe.” Diamond Tiara sighed and slowly got up. Her cuts and bruises started to ache, but Silver Spoon’s presence was giving her power. She stretched her limbs and turned to the kitchen door. Babs stood there, balancing a cup of coffee on her hoof.

“Ya okay?” Babs asked.

“I think so...” Diamond Tiara muttered. “What’s going on?”

“We need to get outta here,” Babs replied, wincing as she limped towards Diamond Tiara. “Lightning is losin’ it...”

“Like you never kidnapped anypony...” Silver Spoon muttered, glaring at Babs angrily. “Don’t listen to her, Diamond. She tried to kill you.”

“Babs?” Diamond Tiara sat next to the fireplace, smelling Babs’ coffee. “May I ask you something?”

“Sure,” Babs replied, taking a sip of her coffee.

“Why did you try to kill me?”

Babs nearly choked on her coffee. She coughed a few times before replying, “I was defendin’ myself. Without your meds... ya weren’t herself... Why ya think I look like that?” She rubbed her aching ribs.

“Liar,” Silver Spoon muttered through gritted teeth. “She attacked you first. I’ve seen it...”

“Are you sure?” Diamond Tiara asked. “Because I remember some glimpses...”

“I think it’s time for your medicine,” Babs said, shifting her legs. “I’ll go and find Lightning... She talks with our host, ya know... I don’t like it.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, “She’ll betray us to the guards, I’m tellin’ ya...”

Silver Spoon only shook her head.

Rumble didn’t say anything more during the interrogation. Despite his lawyer’s requests, he was locked in a cell in Baltimare Royal Guard Station. Right after that, Archer found Scootaloo sitting at one of the desks, resting her head against a stack of papers in front of her.

“How are you, Scoots?” Archer asked.

“My coltfriend had an affair with my best friend and turned out to be a murderer,” Scootaloo replied, not rising her head. “Try to guess.”

“Yeah, that sucks...” Archer muttered. “Do you want some tea?”

Scootaloo murmured something incomprehensible. Archer took it as “yes” and trotted to the small kitchen at the back of the building. She took a battered cup from the cupboard, put it on the table and poured some water into the kettle. Then she found tea in another cupboard and, hoping that it didn’t belong to somepony important, threw a tea bag into the cup. In the fridge, Archer found a lemon that wasn’t mouldy, so she cut off a slice and put it in the cup after pouring hot water them. She scratched her head, thinking about Scootaloo, and took a hip flask from the pocket of her uniform. She unscrewed it and sniffed the contents, smelling of homemade booze and cherries.

“Nice,” she muttered to herself, pouring the foul cherry-flavoured liquid into Scootaloo’s cup. She then trotted back to Scootaloo and put a cup on her desk. Scootaloo raised her head and took a sip of her tea. She coughed, looked at Archer unsurely, and took another sip.

“Congratulations,” Front Kick said, entering the room. “You’ve caught Featherweight’s killer.”

“Yeah...” Scootaloo muttered and took another sip of her tea.

“Also, we’ve got a message from Dodge Junction.” Front Kick levitated a piece of paper. “Somepony robbed a pharmacy there. Guess what’s missing...”

“Diamond Tiara’s meds?” Archer asked.

“Exactly,” Front Kick replied. “Pack your stuff, girls. You’re going with us...”