Chapter 1-Diamond and Silver Friends
Sweetie Belle was not feeling happy at all, as both her friends were away. Scootaloo was undergoing a week of flying training up in Cloudsdale, and Sweetie hoped very much that the nasty myth she had heard about the Rainbow Factory was untrue, the myth that said that if you failed your flight tests you were rendered down into rainbow colors. She felt sure that Princess Celestia would never allow such a horrible thing to happen.
Meanwhile Apple Bloom was sick as well with horse rot, a disease which in the distant past had caused horses to bite and scratch most of their skin off, unicorns being affected the worst of all as they could use their telekinesis powers to scratch a lot better than with hooves. Nowadays, treatment was easy, and was just a case of taking pills and staying in quarantine in a special room of balsa wood for two days; a room that would be burnt after the healed pony left said room to kill the spores. At worst, Apple Bloom would get a few scars from scratching.
Sweetie sighed as she saw two very familiar ponies approaching, one a purple pony with a cutie mark of a tiara, the other a grey one with a silver spoon mark that actually shone in the sun.
Oh great, the two ponies I least want to see right now, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. No doubt they’ll take advantage of me being alone to say something horrible or worse. I remember when they tricked Derpy Hooves into eating a cupcake that had meat inside, road kill from a squashed rabbit that tried to cross the railway track when the train was coming. Because they were young and their father was Filthy Rich, they got away with a telling off given to them by Princess Celestia. Adult ponies could have ended up with a month in Foalsom Prison for that little stunt. Poor Derpy was scared to eat cupcakes again for two days and had nightmares for weeks.
Sweetie stiffened as the ponies came close and Diamond opened her mouth.
“Hello, Sweetie Belle, we would like you to come home with us and hang out for a bit.”
“Why? So that you can trick me into eating road kill like you did to Derpy? Friendship may be magic, but you and I are not friends.”
“We’re sorry for being so nasty to you, and maybe we can help you earn your cutie mark.”
“Really?” Even if they are serious, and maybe Princess Celestia scared some niceness into them, I’m not sure that I want to get a cutie mark with them. What if it ends up being one just like theirs, one that marks me out as a spoiled brat?
“How can you do that? And how can I trust you? I know you blame me for your father making you sing to the watering cans after you insulted Granny Smith.”
“You don’t know how frightening it is to be told off by Princess Celestia herself. We’re on parole now, any more nastiness and our parents told us we would be disowned and end up having to work for a living. And that is something that we really do not want.”
They came up to her and Diamond said “Bump, bump, sugar lump, rump. You’re one of us now. Let’s go back to the mansion.” Sweetie walked along with them slightly worried but trying not to show it. She had been to the mansion once, when Diamond had her cute-cenara and invited her just so that she and Silver could mock her for being a blank flank. It was, she had to admit, an amazing place.
They led her into the dining room where a plate of cupcakes were laid out. “Go ahead, have one,” Diamond said, sweeping one into her own mouth with a hoof. Silver did the same. Not wanting to be needlessly offensive, Sweetie nervously bit into one, half expecting it either to be rotten or worse still, filled with meat.But instead it turned out to be a tasty cupcake. "Come up to my bedroom, I don't let just anypony up here," Diamond said. Her bedroom had two big posters, one of Princess Celestia, the other of Princess Luna, an ornate bed, a number of teddy bears and all manner of girly things.
They chatted together, played a game of Monopoly which Diamond won and generally had a good time together. The next day Sweetie met with her friends. Scootaloo came flying down to her. "Hi Sweetie, I passed my flying test, I can fly now. How have you been?"
Apple Bloom, came up and hugged her with her forelegs. "I'm so pleased to be better. They had to put me in a straitjacket so I coulden't scratch and it nearly drove me crazy. But otherwise I would have been covered in scars. What have you been doing, Sweetie?"
"Oh, only hanging out in the lap of luxury with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon." Scootaloo and Apple Bloom stared at her and their mouths dropped open. "They're very nice ponies when you get to know them. Maybe they want to be my friend because I'm Rareity's sister?"
"Don't trust them, you know what they did to Derpy and she's never been the same since," snapped Scootaloo. "They're up to no good, they want to scam you in some way or get you into trouble. If you must hang around with them be careful."
"Don't worry, I will."
The next afternoon, after school Scootaloo and Apple Bloom decided to follow Sweetie Belle and check on her to make sure she would be fine. Once she got to the mansion as before Diamond offered Sweetie a cupcake which she bit into without hesitation. "This cupcake tastes salty..." Diamond and Silver grinned as Sweetie Belle fell to the ground, and started to drag her away. Outside, seeing this as she hovered in the air, Scootaloo started looking around for an open window so she could rescue her friend from whatever horrible fate was planned for her.