After finally leaving Zecora's hut and making her way out of the Everfree Forest, Diamond Tiara kept her mind dark. If she didn't think about her problems, then her sides wouldn't conflict and cause her to stress out so much to the point of destruction. That was something she had easily learned from her own actions. What had been going through her mind when she started destroying Zecora's belongings? Reasons of why she was doing it, regret of her actions? I don't know, I don't know. No, keep your mind dark, Diamond Tiara. It was so difficult to push away all her thoughts and lock them up until she could release them. But now she knew she couldn't face the problem, her own personality, alone. She needed a pony with insight into her own thoughts and heart, to find a way to solve the problem. But what pony could do such a thing? Things like that didn't happen.. or did they? It dawned upon her that a normal pony may not be able to solve her problems, but a certain pony would be able to.

But there was no way a filly would be able to gain access to Canterlot Castle to see Princess Luna. Twilight Sparkle did when she was a filly, probably, but she was Celestia's student. She had special privileges that could not be matched by other ponies. Diamond Tiara kept her mind solely on Princess Luna and how to see her, barricading her worries. How did Princess Luna see other ponies if they could not get into the castle? Any kind of royal event where she would be was still a while away, and Diamond Tiara could've fallen into a pit of darkness by then. The princess of the night.. helping ponies through their fear.. that was it. It had to be. Princess Luna got to ponies and spoke with them through dreams, probably nightmares. So if she was able to summon Princess Luna, then maybe she could help! Yes! Diamond Tiara burst through the exit of the forest, being blinded by the light that could not touch the floor of the forest. Honestly, maybe glasses would be in order after these events because her vision was blurry and screwed up.

It wasn't early, though. The sun was setting, and it seemed much brighter since she had been in darkness for so long. Diamond Tiara trotted through winding paths to find her home, where she could finally get the answer to her problem. It was only a slim chance that Luna would visit her, but surely she could sense the great urgency Diamond Tiara was feeling.

"Diamond Tiara, where have you been-" Filthy Rich began to say. From the look on his face, he was about to give a lecture about curfew and staying safe.

"Not now, Dad!" Diamond Tiara retorted at her father, instantly running up to her room. Darkness had fallen over Ponyville and the rest of Equestria, the town quiet and peaceful. It was funny how scary the darkness seemed when it really was not all that bad. Ponies didn't like it because you couldn't see anything, therefore having less power over the surroundings and being less aware. But with Luna commanding over the darkness, it all seemed less scary. Someone was watching over them, making sure they were safe. Celestia ruled the day, but the night was Luna's home. The stars in her flowing mane truly reflected it.

Diamond Tiara had a nice, warm shower and made her mane frizz out and dry. It felt good to get the dirt off her hooves and let the grime flow down the drain. She wished her problems could do the same thing. After taking care of all her pre-sleep to-do's, she could finally clock out for the night. Laying down on her bed made her realize just how much she ached. Running through Everfree Forest had been quite the workout. As soon as her head it the pillow, her entire body relaxed and she gave off a little smile. Yes, the comfort of her bed felt so good. She had insomnia and usually couldn't sleep for a few hours, but tonight it was bliss. She relished the feeling.

You are not worthy of your name, Diamond Tiara.

"W-what?! Come out!" Diamond Tiara yelled out, backing up into a wall. The figure did show themselves, but it was the pony she had last expected. Princess Luna was there, but she wasn't in her normal blue color. Everything, including her irises, were the darkest black imaginable. It was almost as if the night itself had molded with Luna and become the shadow of night.

You have disgraced your family with your ways. You are nothing more than a shell of a worthless pony who can't decide if she wants to be powerful.

You must take what's yours, or I will take you away. I will force you to become what you don't want, and there will be nothing you can do.

"H-how dare you! I thought you were supposed to help ponies, not rip them to shreds! How could you say such things to me?!" Diamond Tiara yelled, leaning against the wall. Luna was not speaking, and yet her mouth was moving. It was almost as if her ears had stopped working and the words were directly sent to her mind. The scariest thing, however, was not that Princess Luna was not herself. It was not that she had nowhere to run. The more frightening thing Diamond Tiara discovered was that Luna's voice was the exact voice she had heard the day before in her mind. Was Princess Luna, the princess of the night, driving her insane? Was she tormenting her?

"It is not I who is bothering you, Diamond Tiara. Far from it. It's just an illusion. A clever trick of the eye, if you will."

Diamond Tiara looked at "Luna" and saw a figure stepping out of her body, as though Nightmare Moon herself was becoming a separate being. But the figure that formed was not Nightmare Moon - it was Luna, the normal Luna. The Dark Luna faded away, becoming nothing more than a memory. "P-Princess Luna, I need your help. I-I've been disturbed by these voices in my head, they're not going away.."

Princess Luna smiled. "Diamond Tiara, what you are talking about is exactly what Zecora described. You are at war with yourself because ever since you received your cutie mark, you believed you had to be mean and try to have authority over others. But now you want to be someone different. What you need to do is let all the anger and sadness you've built up go. Nothing's blocking you from becoming somepony new except your own emotions." She finished simply. Diamond Tiara knew Luna would be blunt, but not this blunt. She was always the problem.. go figure.

"So.. how do I get rid of the emotions? How do I let them go?" Diamond Tiara asked. She knew it was a silly question, but because she hadn't done it and nopony would know how... she had to ask before Luna left. "Do I just ignore them?"

"No. Ignoring them will only bottle them up until they cannot be held any longer. What you need to do, Diamond Tiara, is look back through your memories of all the instances you showed who you did not want to be. For example, the first time you made fun of Apple Bloom for not having a cutie mark. These kinds of memories are somewhat haunting you." Luna explained, sitting down. The scenery was changing - it was the memory of the first time she had seen Apple Bloom's blank flank. The Diamond Tiara in this memory was snobby, mocking Apple Bloom with Silver Spoon by her side.

"How could I have done such a thing..? Why did I think that would work?" Diamond Tiara buried her face in her hooves. She had been such a fool, more than anypony knew. It was so terrible to think that only now she could come to her senses.

"You see, Diamond Tiara, you are being haunted by these old feelings and memories. You need to do what your past self could not do - come to your senses and make things right with those you have wronged. Only then can you let go of all your bottled up emotions, knowing that they have been discarded and do not matter."

"But I've tried! That's how this all started!"

"You need to truly mean it. You have a much bigger purpose now, because your cutie mark is not as important as you think it is. You're very much alike to Apple Bloom and her friends, thinking it means so much more than it really does. It will not be easy to make amends, but you have to try." As Luna spoke the last words, the scenery began to blur and fade away. Diamond Tiara fell, fell, fell through darkness until the sun made her crawl under her covers.

Her cutie mark was not as important as she thought she was.. that was so similar to what the voice said, except it mentioned her and not her cutie mark. Was her cutie mark creating these thoughts? Was the "princess" side of Diamond Tiara always thinking those kinds of things? She shivered, not wanting to think about such things. She needed to make amends and let go of her anger...

Diamond Tiara anticipated it going horribly wrong.

Author's Note

I'm planning on one or two more chapters before I finish off this story. It is my first fanfic, so it's not perfect. Criticism and suggestions are welcome, just make sure you're actually helping me and not hating. Thank you for all your positive feedback. <3

Oh, and kelp is cool. No, I did not want to write couplets for all of Zecora's lines in the last chapter. Yes, I intentionally made the line about kelp because I'm dumb like that.