Four Yellow

Diamond Tiara kicked her feet impatiently. The plush couch she was sitting on was comfortable- -far more so than her parent’s precision selected and horrendously ugly designer furniture- -but she just could not stop herself from feeling agitated and uncomfortable.

She still had no idea what had happened the night before. She did not want to know. It had taken almost six hours of clinging to Silver Spoon and crying- -and throwing things at Pick in embarrassment whenever he tried to approach- -before Diamond Tiara had finally regained her composure and begun to think logical. She had initially agreed to see a doctor, but on further consideration, she had realized that doing so was a mistake. Ponyville General was a small hospital, but had one of Equestria’s finest mental health facilities- -but Diamond Tiara knew that there was no way she could possible go there. The scandal of her being seen entering a hospital for psychological help would be too great. Not only would Spoiled never forgive her, but there was a strong chance that it could ruin her chances of successfully taking on Rich Corp from her father if she was seen as mentally incompetent.

So, she had elected for the next best thing- -and someone who probably could find out what was wrong with her better than any other in Equestria.

After what seemed like forever, the large crystalline door to the waiting room opened. A pair of ponies stepped in. One was a pale pink unicorn with long, bicolor hair; the other was a violet alicorn who towered above her friend.

“Diamond Tiara?” said Starlight, faking a smile and looking at a clipboard suspended in her magic. When Diamond Tiara saw that look, and the way Twilight Sparkle could not meet her eyes, she knew that something was wrong.

“Finally,” snapped Diamond Tiara. “What were you doing back there, making a cake?”

“Science takes time,” said Twilight, mildly defensively.

“Well, I’m a busy pony. Are you going to tell me what’s wrong with me or not?” She realized that she was being rude, but she could not help it. Inside, she was panicked, and the look on Starlight’s face was making it worse.

Twilight and Starlight looked at each other. “Now,” said Twilight. “You know neither of us are doctors.”

“But you are a Princess. The smartest Princess. And Starlight is the only pony better at magic than you are. Apparently. I can’t go to a doctor, Twilight. Not like this, not now.”

“It’s actually a good thing you came to us,” said Starlight. “I don’t think this is something an ordinary doctor would have picked up on.”

She produced an x-ray film and passed it to Diamond Tiara. It was annotated heavily in Twilight’s distinctively overly perfect hoofwriting.

“Am I supposed to know what this means? If I did, I wouldn’t have come to see you two now, would I?”

“It’s your brain,” said Twilight. “We ran a galadonium tracer MRI an contrasted a magic backfield to expand the topographic recognition- -”

“What she means is…” Starlight sighed and put down her clip board. “Road apples…the first time I get to play doctor with Twilight, and I have to do this…” She pulled up a chair and sat down across from Diamond Tiara. This only made Diamond Tiara more agitated. “The scan picked up something.”

“What kind of something?”

“We’re not entirly sure what they are,” said Twilight. “I’ve never seen anything like it, or read about it an any scholarly journal or text.”

“What do you mean ‘they’? What ‘they’?”

“That’s hard to explain,” said Starlight. “The closest thing I can think of is…worms.”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened. She recalled the device in her salad, the threatening monstrosity that had tried to get to her- -and successfully gotten to Silver Spoon.

“What- -what do you mean worms?”

“They aren’t actually worms. But they’re some kind of parasite. Your symptoms- -hallucinations, paranoia, headaches- -it’s because they are burrowing through your brain.”

“What…what?!”

“And they’re still moving,” said Twilight, darkly. “I back-traced them based on their rate, and…”

“Were you exposed to something? Something unusual, about six years ago?”

Diamond Tiara froze, and she immediately understood.

“The desert…” she whispered.

Starlight and Twilight looked at each other, but Diamond Tiara did not explain further. She did not think it would help her case to describe how as a child she had become telepathically linked to a population of sanguivorous cacti deep in an as-of-yet unnamed desert.

Diamond Tiara looked up at Twilight. “Can you remove them?”

“Well…” said Twilight, looking away. “Yes. I have a spell that could.”

“Then do it. I’ll pay whatever it takes.”

“I wouldn’t charge you, Diamond Tiara,” said Twilight, mildly offended.

“It’s not that simple,” said Starlight. “Whatever these are, they’ve linked to your synaptic pathways. They serve a critical conductive function.”

Diamond Tiara stared at Starlight. “You know, I can see why you live together,” she said. “You two are probably the only ones who can understand each other when you talk.”

“What she means is,” said Twilight, “they are part of you. If I removed them…”

“And you survive the process somehow.”

Twilight glared at Starlight. “…then you would lose a substantial part of what makes you, you. I don’t know if there would be any Diamond Tiara left.”

“What do you mean?” Diamond Tiara looked to them, and neither spoke. “Tell me! TELL ME!”

“It’s progressive,” said Starlight. “You had a psychotic break. And I don’t think it’s going to be the last. I don’t think…”

Starlight could not finish the sentence, but Diamond Tiara already knew. She felt tears of anger welling in her eyes, and looked down at the floor to try to hide it.

“Buck,” she said, ignoring the fact that there was a Princess in the room- -not that it mattered any more. “Buck…”

The electric light hissed to life as Diamond Tiara stumbled into her family’s cellar. She had done her best to hide her tears from Pick and Silver Spoon, but they clearly knew that something was wrong. In the cold and lonely damp of the basement, though, she was free to let her tears run down her face, ruining her obligatory makeup. Not that she cared.

Despite Twilight’s continual insistence that she should see a real doctor, Diamond Tiara knew that there was no use. She was dying. The worms were continually digging into her brain, and she almost feel them, cutting through her and replacing her own mind with theirs- -if they even had a mind. She had always know they were there, on some level, but never once had she realized that what she saw as a minor element of her being would betray her like this.

She felt sick, angry, and confused. She hated herself for allowing this to happen, for being too weak and too stupid to stop it before it had gotten this far. This seemingly perpetual, unquenchable anger toward herself was only overtaken by the profound waves of sadness that occurred to her when she thought about what she was going to miss. She would not last long enough inherit her father’s company, or for Silver Spoon to get transferred back from the Royal Guard, or for her relationship with Pick to finally progress to where she wanted it to- -they would leave her, and she would be alone. The inevitable slow descent into insanity was terrifying, but it was something she could face. The loneliness associated with it was not.

There were too many emotions running through Diamond Tiara’s damaged mind, and she only knew one way to manage them. She paused in front of a rack and stood on her hind legs, pulling down a large bottle of cider. She snapped the cork off with her teeth, and did not even bother to appreciate the smell or taste before downing half a bottle.

This only made her more angry- -the fact that she had resisted doing this for so long, but now was succumbing to weakness- -and she shattered the bottle on the floor. Foamy fluid splashed across the dark stones, and Diamond Tiara immediately pulled down another bottle, opened it, and began to drink as she wept.

Silver Spoon walked through the front room of the house that she had virtually grown up in. Beside her was a red-maned pony who was one of the few in Ponyville that, according to public opinion, was an equal to her in terms of beauty. Not that Silver Spoon really thought of it in this way, of course; physical appearance was important to her, but it had never really been an aspect that she defined herself by.

“Are you sure you don’t want to stay for tea?” asked Silver Spoon. “Diamond Tiara just got some of the most amazing stuff from YakYakistan, but s he’s more of a coffee mare, and I’ve been dying to use it.”

“No thanks,” said Twist, inadvertently putting slightly too much emphasis on the second word to avoid saying “fanks”. Even with her braces removed, her lisp had remained throughout her teenage years and taken a great deal of effort to control. “I just wanted to bring over the revised seating chart.”

“I’m sorry she wasn’t able to get to the planning committee meeting this morning. She hasn’t been feeling well.”

“Oh, that’s okay. For all the work she’s done for the Prom, she deserves a break. I just hope she feels better, though. She was so excited about this, it would be terrible for her to have to miss it.” She leaned in close to Silver Spoon. “Rumor has it the colt she’s bringing is real exthotic.” She clapped her hooves over her mouth, but Silver Spoon just smiled understandingly.

“Well, thank you,” said Silver Spoon, opening the front door. “And say hi to Snips for me.”

“I will,” said Twist, smiling. As she turned away, she added. “As soon as I convince him to cut that darn mullet…”

Silver Spoon waved, and then closed the door.

“She seemed nice,” said Pick. His cloaking field slowly broke apart and decayed, making him seem as though he was slowly flashing back into existence.

“You know, you don’t need to do that,” reminded Silver Spoon. “Twist is a really nice pony.”

“Yes, but I’m not an idiot. I realize that I appear…unusual to you surface-ponies. And I don’t want to scare a pregnant lady.”

Silver Spoon raised an eyebrow. “You could tell?”

“Of course I can. I can smell everything within a two hundred arshin radius.”

“You can smell when a mare is pregnant?”

“Of course. That ability has saved the lives of a great many morlock stallions. Our mares become a bit, well, cannibalistic when gravid.”

“What does it smell like?”

“Not pleasant. Not much does up here.” He looked to the door. “Still, it’s weird to think that a mare our age is having a child. It’s just…weird.”

“I know, right? But we’re adults now. Well, Diamond Tiara and I are. You’re still seventeen.”

The room fell silent at the mention of Diamond Tiara’s name. Both of them immediately felt the awkwardness of having to face the metaphorical elephant in the room.

“So,” said Pick. “What exactly happened last night?”

“I don’t know,” said Silver Spoon, taking a seat on a terribly ugly red couch. Pick crawled up next to her, a task that was difficult because of his vertically compressed body. “We were sleeping, and I heard a noise on the roof. I thought it was just the storm, but then I went up to check…and she was just there, standing on the edge. Just staring down at the ground. I thought…I swear to Celestia I thought she was going to jump.”

“Don’t say that,” said Pick. “Diamond Tiara would never do that.”

“You didn’t see her. The look in her eyes…I’ve never seen her like that. Not even when she was on the cider.” She looked at Pick. “I thought your drone was supposed to be watching her,” she snapped.

“It was,” said Pick. “But somebody reprogrammed it.”

“Reprogrammed?”

“It was set into standby mode. Just scanning the same spot, over and over again. It was manually reset.”

“Manually? By who?”

“There are only two ponies within a five thousand mile radius who would know how to reprogram a morlock drone. And I didn’t do it.”

“You can’t be saying…”

“She’s the only one that knows how.”

“But why would she do that?”

“Why would she climb up onto the roof during a thunderstorm?”

Both of them fell silent, knowing that they had answers to neither question.

“I’m worried,” said Silver Spoon. “But I guess I always am, aren’t I? Because I’m the only one who’ll actually bother to worry for her. But this…”

“I’m worried too,” said Pick. “But she’s Diamond Tiara. She’s the strongest pony I know. She can look my mother in the eye without flinching, and you saw her during the incident back when we were kids.”

“And I’ve seen her crying into her pillows when she thinks nopony’s watching. Or when she took a bottle of cider every day just to get out of bed and her parents didn’t even care. She is strong, more than I ever could be, but…I still worry.”

Pick leaned close to her and wrapped Silver Spoon in an incredibly awkward hug. Silver Spoon could not help but release a small snort of laughter. “What are you doing?”

“I have been told that hugs make everything better,” said Pick. “At least for you surface-ponies.”

“You’re really bad at it. But…thanks.” Silver Spoon hugged him back, and found that it did make her feel a little better.

“I knew it,” hissed a voice from behind them. Both Silver Spoon and Pick turned sharply to see Diamond Tiara standing in the doorway to the front room. Her hair was disheveled and her tiara askew. In one hoof she held a nearly empty bottle of cider, and from the red in her eyes, Silver Spoon could instantly tell where that cider had gone.

“Diamond Tira,” said Silver Spoon, pushing Pick away. “You’ve been drinking…”

“What were you doing with Silver Spoon, Pick?” said Diamond Tiara. “What did I tell you about touching her?”

“Touching her- -we were just hugging!”

“I’ve heard that one before.” Diamond Tiara stumbled into the room, bringing with her an intense scent of apples. “Just hugging, just sleeping, no. I see the way you look at her. The fact that I’m fat and ugly and look like a pig, and she’s the one you really want. Don’t think I can’t tell.”

“Diamond, what’s wrong with you? Why would you say that?”

“That’s not her talking,” said Silver Spoon. She could tell that Pick was hurt- -despite how he acted, he actually took his relationship with Diamond Tiara very seriously. “It’s the cider.”

“Luna’s rump it’s the cider,” swore Diamond Tiara. She approached Pick, holding the bottle out in front of her. He responded by climbing a wall and taking refuge on the crown molding, out of her reach. “I can’t believe I trusted you. I loved you, Pick!”

“You- -you what?” said Pick, his eyes widening. “Diamond, I- -I love you too- -”

“My own shi- -”

“Diamond Tiara!” cried Silver Spoon, stepping forward. “Pick is our friend! I’m your friend! What happened? I don’t understand why you- -”

“SHUT UP!” screamed Diamond Tiara. She punctuated her statement by hitting Silver Spoon hard in the face.

Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened, and she stepped back, as if she was not sure what she had done. Pick dropped from the ceiling, interposing himself between Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. His technetium dial shifted into a defensive format, glowing with white energy. “Now you’ve gone too far,” he said. He was not yelling, but the tone in his voice was somehow far worse. “You do NOT hit friends! Not Silver Spoon!”

“It’s alright,” said Silver Spoon, standing up and rubbing the already growing bruise on her face. “It’s not like I can’t take a punch.”

“That light…” said Diamond Tira, staring at the glow of Pick’s dial. Her eyes widened and she jumped back, terrified. “No…it’ can’t be…”

“Diamond?” said Silver Spoon.

“You- -it was you!”

“Diamond, what’s wrong!”

“It was you all along…the unicorns couldn’t touch YOU. You- -you poisoned me!”

Pick and Silver Spoon looked at each other, and then at Diamond Tiara.

“It all makes sense now,” said Diamond Tiara, her words becoming so fast and frantic that they ran into each other. “You- -you wanted me out of the picture so you two could be together!”

“You’re not making any sense!”

“YES I AM!”

“Come on, Diamond,” pleaded Pick. “You’re scaring me! We’re your friends!”

“No- -NO! You’re not! Get- -get away from me!” Diamond Tiara fumbled across the floor toward the door, and then struggled to open it before sprinting out into the road. Pick immediately moved to chase after her, but Silver Spoon held him back. He looked up at her, and then buried his face into her shoulder. This time, he was crying.

Overhead, the gray clouds continued to slowly drift. The wind was cold and damp, and Diamond Tiara hardly noticed. She was not even wearing a jacket, but she did not care. The cider had made her numb to the ending of the fall season and the oncoming winter. That and her sadness.

She was sitting in the moist grass, leaning against an old stone building. This particular building, as she understood it, was an equipment shed for the town cemetery. Few ponies ever came out to the cemetery, and even the pair of gravediggers never seemed to use this particular shed. Diamond Tiara had discovered years ago that nopony ever came here. When she had been younger, it had been where she had come to sneak cider where ponies would not see her and start to talk, and where Spoiled would not be able to scream at her for giving the family a bad name.

Now, it seemed to serve the opposite purpose. Diamond Tiara had run out of cider, and the empty bottle sat among the foggy and half-buried remains of its predecessors that nopony had bothered to ever clean up. As the high from the sweet, fizzy drink began to fade, so did Diamond Tiara’s paranoia. She was still panicked and confused, but she realized that she had done something horribly wrong. More than anything, she was ashamed for having slipped again- -and, worse, for having hit her first and for a long time only friend.

In her mind, it was still likely that Pick and Silver Spoon had been together, perhaps since the very beginning. Perhaps they had only been humoring her; she certainly did not deserve a relationship nearly as much as Silver Spoon did. The fact that she was not worth loving had been a fact she had internalized long ago when she had just been a filly.

Now, they almost surely hated her. But, perhaps, it was better that way. That way they would not miss her when she was gone, or have to watch this madness slowly overtake her. They did not need her, and when she was locked in the best mental asylum that money could buy, they would at least have each other.

She looked out for a long time at the treeline of the Everfree Forest, watching the fall wind blow the fading leaves free from the overnourished and enormous trees. She was not sure how long she just stared, wondering what would happen next, until she realized that it did not really matter. Nothing did anymore.

Diamond Tiara shivered, and then put her head down into her front hooves. As she did, her heart suddenly thumped into her throat. Her eyes widened as she looked down at her right hoof and saw that the radiation burn she had received the day before was now completely healed- -just as it had been from Lucy’s spell.

Almost instantly, Diamond Tiara smiled. Then, as quickly, she broke into laughter, standing and cackling to the cold cemetery and empty field between her and the forest. Her laughter rapidly decayed into something that was just as much happiness terror, and as the tears rolled down her face the implications of what that meant surfaced to her mind.

That was it. The solution. A way out. If what she had seen was real- -the unicorns, the implants, the strange landscape, Lucy- -then it meant that she was not insane, and not dying. Of course, that was much, much worse in some ways. Insanity was a desperate state with no way out, but it had been a convenient escape, a way to rationalize the world. If what she had been seeing had been real, that insulation would vanish.

The choice was not especially good, but it was the only one. She just needed to prove it, to justify that she was not insane. Exactly how to do that, though, was unclear.

Looking into the Everfree Forest gave her the necessary inspiration. It stood to reason that it wherever Lucy was had a Ponyville, then features of her world might reflect back to the real one. She had to find the skeleton of the unfathomable sky-beast, the one Lucy had shown her. She was not sure what she might find in that place- -a skeleton, a crater, something else- -but she knew that she had to go, to try to discover what was actually happening to her.

She turned back, setting her course to her house- -and realized suddenly that she could not possibly go there, not with what she had done. There was no way Pick and Silver Spoon would even look at her; in fact, they were probably making out right now. That left Diamond Tiara in a difficult position; even as a full-grown mare, entering the Everfree Forest was a dangerous proposition. There was no way to go alone safely. She needed to bring somepony with her, and her friends were running in short supply.

Several hours later, four ponies approached the Everfree Forest, two walking in the front and two bringing up the rear. In the front, Sweetie Belle looked to Scootaloo.

“You sure look happy,” she said.

“I am,” said Scootaloo, her words paced as though she had been waiting to tell her friends all about her day so far. “Guess who came from Rainbow Dash’s dress fitting?”

“Um, Applebloom?”

“What? No. Me. ME. Scootaloo.”

“Yeah, I know that. I was joking. My sister does good work, though.”

“Definitely! You should have seen her! Even incomplete…she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. I almost cried, except I would never cry in front of Rainbow Dash.”

“That explains your wings. I figured they were stiff because you were trying to fly again.”

Scootaloo looked back at her atrophied, useless wings and blushed when she realized how erect they had become. “Crap…I hope Rainbow Dash didn’t see that. Or do I…?” She smiled. “You know, I think I’m going to go for it.”

“Go for what?” said Applebloom, stepping forward from the rear.

“Well, you know what they say about the Pony Prom,” said Scootaloo slyly. “The dance is great and all…but the real fun happens after…”

“Please no,” said Sweetie Belle. “Scootaloo, you can’t be serious…”

“It’s Prom tradition! I’m totally going to taste that rainbow. What about you two?”

Applebloom blushed, her unusually colored werewoad blood rendering her face an odd color. “I- -I don’t thing mine and Tender Taps’s relationship is to that point yet. I mean, I know I kind of need to hurry, but…I don’t know…”

“Trust me, it’s not that great,” said Sweetie Belle. “Don’t rush it.”

“How would you know?” asked Scootaloo, poking Sweetie Belle in the shoulder.

“I- -um- -I- -” sputtered Sweetie Belle. “I- -Rarity told me!”

Applebloom and Scootaloo stopped walking and looked at Sweetie Belle suspiciously. They then shrugged. “Yeah, sounds about right.”

“She certainly would know.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What about you, Diamond Tiara?” asked Scootaloo.

Diamond Tiara continued to walk behind them, but it was obvious that she had not been paying attention. She was pale and disheveled, as though she had not slept or eaten in days. Her eyes were darting around, almost always looking to the same spot, and periotically looking over her shoulder and muttering to herself.

“Diamond?” said Applebloom. “Are you okay?”

“Not real they’re not real…” whispered Diamond Tiara. Then her eyes immediately flicked toward Applebloom. “What do you want?”

“You’re the only one here who actually has a coltfriend,” said Scootaloo. “I was wondering if you’re gonna- -”

“I don’t have a coltfriend. Not anymore,” snapped Diamond Tiara. “And I’m not going to the Prom. Not anymore.”

“But Diamond Tiara!” cried Applebloom. “You put so much work into it- -”

“Not. GOING,” hissed Diamond Tiara. She pushed past the others. “I don’t even care. I only set up the prom to maintain my social standing. It’s not like I was actually looking forward to it or anything.”

“But my sister was working on a dress for- -”

“Have her scrap it. I’m not going to need it anymore.” Diamond Tiara looked immediately over Applebloom’s shoulder, and her eyes widened. “Now are we going to keep talking about pointless stuff, or are you going to help me?”

“With what, exactly?” asked Sweetie Belle.

“There’s a spot. Near the Castle of the Two Sisters. I need to get there. As soon as possible.”

“Why?” asked Scootaloo.

“She doesn’t have to explain if she doesn’t want to,” said Applebloom. Her sudden defense of Diamond Tiara shocked the others slightly, but the acquiesced to her will. Together, they entered the forest. “I need to go to Zecora’s anyway,” said Applebloom, mostly to Diamond Tiara. “I don’t keep mah skin this soft with apple-butter alone if you know what I mean.”

“You actually cover yourself in apple-butter?” said Scootaloo, looking over her shoulder.

“Yeah. So what?”

“Didn’t know you had it in you,” snickered Sweetie Belle. “And I didn’t know Tender Taps was into- -”

“Do not make me come over there!” threatened Applebloom. “I will bite you! Hard!”

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo laughed as Applebloom playfully lunged forward toward them. Scootaloo’s useless wings buzzed loudly beneath her long rainbow-dyed mane as though she were trying to fly away.

Together, they entered the forest and proceeded deep amongst the dark trees. They kept laughing and joking, mostly to offset the uncomfortable ominousness that always came when entering the forest. Here, the clouds moved much faster and the ground had a much more potent smell as the world operated by default without pony intervention.

Eventually Applebloom fell back from the others, walking along side Diamond Tiara. Diamond Tiara did not appear to notice; instead, she just kept staring at the same spot between the trees. Applebloom looked at the same spot, and although she did not see anything there, something felt off. That had been happening a lot since she had first gotten sick. Sometimes things that should have seemed ordinary just felt wrong.

“Hey,” she said to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “You two go on ahead. Diamond Tiara and I’ll catch up.”

“Do you need to rest?” asked Scootaloo, clearly- -like many- -not entirely aware that werewoadism actually worked in quite the opposite way.

“No,” said Sweetie Belle, ushering Scootaloo forward. “This way, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle walked down the overgrown path and disappeared around a bend. Diamond Tiara looked up. Although she had not been focused on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, she was aware that the nature of the group had just shifted.

“Why did we just stop?” she asked.

“Because I need to talk to you,” said Applebloom.

“No, we need to find the skel- -the thing I need to find.”

“Diamond Tiara, I know about what’s happening to you.”

Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened. “How did- -”

“Because Twilight asked me to talk to you.”

Diamond Tiara swore under her breath. “I knew I should have gone to a real doctor…no confidentiality with a Princess…she’s probably told half the town by now…”

“She’s just trying to help.”

“By ruining my reputation?! Nothing’s wrong with me. I’m fine.”

“No. Something is. I can tell. I think we all can.”

Diamond Tiara stared into Applebloom’s mildly luminescent eyes. “It’s not your problem.”

“You’re our friend. It’s all our problems.”

“So, what? What do you think you can do for me?” Diamond Tiara could feel the sarcasm creeping into her voice. “Go on some little adventure, maybe, learn a little lesson and, oh, I don’t know- -get the parasites that are eating my brain out?”

“No,” said Applebloom, slightly hurt. “What I mean is…you know the reason Twilight asked me, right?”

“Because Applejack was too busy?”

“No. Because I know what it’s like to have a terminal disease.”

“Terminal?” said Diamond Tiara, momentarily rising from her single-minded stupor.

“Yeah. I don’t make a fuss about it, but I’m dying. Not quickly, but I probably won’t make it to thirty. The potions stop me from getting sick, but…I’m getting worse. It can’t be helped. At first, you know, I was angry. Angry and sad, and afraid. It just wasn’t fair, why this was happening to me. It just wasn’t right, and I tried to figure ways out of it. But there ain’t none.” Diamond Tiara looked away, and Applebloom took that as a sign of understanding. “But you know what? I accepted it. It’s not okay. It never will be, but I still have mah sister and brother, and mah friends…and I just try to live every day the best I can, to enjoy it while I can. I’m sorry this happened to you, but- -”

“I’m not sick,” said Diamond Tiara, her voice dripping with fury. “NOTHING is wrong with me. I’m not like you.” Diamond Tiara turned away, moving toward where she fully intended to prove herself correct. “I’m going to be fine. I won’t die. I won’t let myself.”

“Some things just aren’t in your control…”

“No. Some things aren’t in YOUR control. But this is in mine- -I don’t care what Twilight says, I’m right, and I’m not insane or broken. I’m FINE!”

Applebloom frowned. “I don’t know what you’re trying to prove,” said Applebloom, her compassion partially replaced by annoyance. “You’ll deny it. I know. I did. But you can’t escape it. And you can’t do this alone. You have friends, Diamond Tiara! Let us help you!”

Diamond Tiara spun around, a retort planned involving how she did not actually need friends- -but the world around her suddenly seemed to shift and buzz, flickering slightly before collapsing away completely. Diamond Tiara immediately found herself somewhere else.

It was dark, and the sun was hidden behind a thick canopy of ancient trees. For a moment, Diamond Tiara thought she had gone again to Lucy’s world, but realized that it was not quite right. The world was dark, but she could see gray clouds through the blowing leaves of the trees above. The darkness was not intrinsic, but a property of this grove somewhere deep in the Everfree Forest.

Diamond Tiara stepped across the mossy, damp ground, and realized that something smelled strange, like mixture of herbs and metal. She lifted her hoof, and realized that she was covered in a thick, stinking fluid.

“Eew! What the hay is this stuff?” she said, trying to brush it off of herself.

That was when she saw the figure lying in the center of the grove. A small, inanimate body with a pale yellow coat and red hair.

Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened. “Ap…Applebloom?”

There was no answer. Applebloom did not react, or even move. In fact, she was not moving at all. Diamond Tiara could not see her breathing.

All Diamond Tiara wanted to do at that point was to turn and run as fast as she could away. Instead, though, she found herself walking toward Applebloom robotically. She felt herself breathing faster, and when she finally got close enough to see the state that Applebloom was in, Diamond Tiara realized what the sticky substance that covered her forelegs and chest actually was: Applebloom’s equivalent of blood.

“No!” cried Diamond Tiara, picking up her friend. Applebloom was cold, and Diamond Tiara could feel where parts of her skin was converted into hard, bark-like plates. She did not move, and continued to stare into the distance with blank eyes. “Come on Applebloom, this isn’t funny!” Diamond Tiara put her hoof against Applebloom’s neck, and did not feel a pulse. She was not breathing either. “No, come on! COME ON!”

Diamond Tiara did not know CPR, but she started to shake Applebloom as though doing so would wake her up. It failed, and Diamond Tiara set her down. “You…you weren’t supposed to…to do this. Not yet, even if you are…”

She looked around, trying to find Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, hoping that maybe if they got Applebloom back to Ponyville in time, they might be able to do something- -but she had no idea where she was. Somehow, she had moved impossibly deep into the forest, to a place where no pony might ever find her.

A terrible thought suddenly occurred to her. She had no memory of how she had gotten here, or how she had become covered in Applebloom’s sap. That meant that there was a possibility that she had- -

Diamond Tiara shook her head. It was the only logical conclusion, the only one that made sense, but Diamond Tiara refused to accept it. She was now panting and sweating, and the only sound that came from the numerous moisture-rotting trees was the sound of her own heart throbbing in her ears.

“I didn’t- -I didn’t mean to,” she said, trying to apologize to Applebloom, even though it was obvious that she could no longer hear. “I- -you were just trying to help me.” Tears started to flow from Diamond Tiara’s eyes, and she could not tell if they were from sadness or fear. “And I did this. I DID THIS. I’m sorry, Applebloom, I’m…”

She could not take the strain anymore. Her fight or flight response was running at maximum, and there was no way to fight something that had already happen. Crying, she turned and ran, leaving Applebloom’s still body lying in a pool of green-brown werewoad sap. On some level, she wished she was brave, that she could have taken her back and admitted it, to have let the Apples lay her to rest properly beside her parents- -but then they would KNOW. All she knew was to get away.

So she ran, as fast as she could. As she did, the world seemed to flash by her- -and started to flash differently. The trees would sometimes seem so much straighter and more orderly, and sometimes, she caught glimpses of what looked like snow- -except in reality, all that surrounded her was the blowing limbs of the dark trees, judging her silently as they passed into their cold dormancy.

The throbbing in her head began to become painful, and the color seemed to seep from the world until everything became as bland and dark as the now tempest cloudy sky overhead. The cold fall wind whipped through the trees, and Diamond Tiara could have sworn that she heard voices on it, speaking as though they were standing behind each tree.

Then, suddenly, Diamond Tiara broke into a clearing. She had never been to this part of the forest before, but somehow she recognized the area- -and realized that it had been something that Lucy had taken her through on the way to the skeleton. This time, though, it was not simply a clearing surrounded by trees. It was quite occupied.

Standing in the center was a single, monolithic structure. It was large, extending higher than the surrounding trees, and its material seemed to be somewhere between metal and stone without being especially similar to either. Its form seemed nearly organic, but at the same time brutally utilitarian toward some unknown purpose.

Diamond Tiara stopped running and stared, slowly approaching the object. There was no telling how long it had been there. It could have been ancient, something left behind millennia ago in this area of the forest where no plants seemed to grow.

Then she froze. Standing around the base of the object was a circle of ponies. All of them were pale and tall, their bodies surrounded by colored displays of magic suspended in the air, relaying strange messages and information in a complex and unreadable language.

They did not initially seem to notice Diamond Tiara; they were too focused on the object that they surrounded, and the spell they were performing. Slowly, Diamond Tiara stepped backward, trying to return to the tree line.

Suddenly, the unicorns closed their spells. Diamond Tiara stopped walking. They all turned toward her, slowly and simultaneously, until every one of their unblinking eyes was on her. For a long moment, they just seemed to stand there, watching Diamond Tiara as she watched them.

Then they moved, and Diamond Tiara screamed. She was already shaking and tired from having fled Applebloom’s remains, but once again the adrenaline surged through her body and she shot into the forest once more.

She leapt over fallen logs and stumbled through the mossy ground, completely ignoring where any sort of path might have been and sprinting aimlessly though the weeds and vines beneath the oversized trees. Thorns scratched her legs and tore into her hair, and she was getting covered in mud, but she did not care. All she needed to do was get away.

The unicorns were persistant, though. When Diamond Tiara would look to either of her sides, there was just enough light left in the forest to see them moving behind the trees. While she had to keep her eyes on the ground to avoid rocks or gulley drop-offs, they never looked away from her. Likewise, although she was thumping and splashing loudly in her rush, they were perfectly silent. Their motion made no sound, not even hoofsteps, and the thick trees did not seem to impede their motion at all.

Something passed overhead, casting wide shadows on the ground. Diamond Tiara squealed, not wanting to look up and see whatever that was. She twisted, hurting her ankle badly but managing to avoid a rocky area and cutting to the side to try to escape.

In her mind, this seemed to confuse the unicorns- -and for a moment, she got past them.

She felt a slight glimmer of hope, and looked back to see if they were still following. Then she turned back to where she had found a path- -and several ponies dropped from the sky directly in front of her. Diamond Tiara skidded to a stop, and watched in horror as the what she had thought had been unicorns retracted their wings beneath their uniforms. It was only then that she saw the similarity, how they looked so much like thinner, paler versions of Princess Twilight.

More appeared beside the ones who had cut off Diamond Tiara’s escape. They did not seem to arrive from where they had been running, but rather seemed to emerge from ether around their comrades. In seconds, Diamond Tiara was surrounded.

One of the closest ones turned toward another of them, his dead eyes never looking away from Diamond Tiara. He spoke, and Diamond Tiara winced at the sound. It seemed to buzz, and what came out seemed to be both Equestrian and something else that Diamond Tiara could not even hope to understand.

“I think she is cognizant of us,” he said- -or possibly she; his voice was very nearly female-sounding.

“That should not be possible. The most recent surgery should have corrected the perception flaw…”

“Surgery?” asked Diamond Tiara, trying to sound brave. “What- -what did you do to me?!”

The alicorns’ eyes widened. “I think she can hear us.”

“This is unprecedented.”

“She must be retrieved.”

The alicorns looked toward each other, then paused before slowly turning back toward Diamond Tiara. “Confirmed.”

They started to move forward, and Diamond Tiara tried to back away- -only to realize that she was surrounded.

“You- - you stay back!” shouted Diamond Tiara. “Do you have any idea who I am?”

“Diamond Dazzle Tiara Rich, born to Filthy Stinkin’ Rich and Spoiled Rotten-Rich on January sixth year 994 at Canterlot Private Hospital,” said a salmon-colored alicorn. “Of course we know. We were there.”

“You do not need to fear us. Further surgery is required. It is best if you understand that we are not real, but hallucinations caused by your current illness.”

“No- -NO!” cried Diamond Tiara.

The world suddenly seemed to shake, and something loud rumbled in the distance. The alicorns seemed surprised and stepped back. Diamond Tiara screamed as her head started to ache unbearably, and the world seemed to shift around her, its colors and lines merging and being driven apart by the sudden migraine.

“She’s in flux,” said an alicorn, sounding suddenly frightened. There was a flash of light as his magic interface appeared around him.

“This close to the pylon? That’s not possible.”

“What- -what are you doing to me?” moaned Diamond Tiara.

“Divert more power. Bring her back.”

“I can’t. We’re losing her.”

Their voices drifted away, and suddenly Diamond Tiara felt herself falling. For a moment, she was not sure where she was or what was happening- -but then the world instantly flashed back into crystalline perfection as Diamond Tiara splashed into a pool of water.

She gurgled and splashed, and then immediately pulled her head above the liquid and gasped, spitting the foul-tasting fluid out around her. She looked up, and her heart fell as she saw the blackened sky filled with dying, multicolored worlds. Towering out of the black water around her were tall stone buildings that Diamond Tiara did not recognize, their stone bricks appearing as ancient as their structures seemed precarious.

“Where…what happened?” asked Diamond Tiara. Of course, nothing answered. The only sound was the distant trickling of water coming from an unknown source.

Diamond Tiara looked down at the murky pool surrounding her. It partially reflected the sky, but was otherwise nearly opaque. She could not see the bottom, but could feel it beneath her hooves. The water did not appear to be especially deep, but something about being inside it made Diamond Tiara extremely nervous.

As far as she could tell, her pursuers had vanished. In fact, she was now quite alone. Or should have been alone. Somehow, she was not so sure.

So, she began to make her way through the water. Ripples passed out from her across the dark surface, rebounding of the waterlogged and mossy bases of the stone-brick towers and the few ancient drowned trees that accompanied them. Doing so was not easy; the surface beneath Diamond Tiara felt like it was stone, but in some places it dropped off suddenly or became silt and she would fall slightly and be forced to swim.

As she moved, the became conscious that the towers were assembled in such a way that she was probably passing down a street. At the same time, she was becoming increasingly agitated by the silence surrounding her. Something seemed wrong in the way the water moved, and how its inky darkness would suddenly shift in unusual ways. Something was wrong.

Diamond Tiara suddenly bumped something wet and bloated floating in the water. It was cold, wet, and large, and for a moment responded only by slowly drifting away just long enough for Diamond Tiara to wonder what it was- -before it quickly vanished beneath the surface of the pool.

Now Diamond Tiara was sure something was wrong. She started running, which in torso-high water only resulted in her flailing. Bristly lake-weed rubbed against her lower limbs as she passed a final drop-off and was forced to swim. It felt gross, and every time it touched her she wanted to scream.

Behind her, something rippled in the water as something large nearly broke the surface. Diamond Tiara let out a short cry that was quickly interrupted as what she had taken for plants suddenly gripped her and dragged her struggling beneath the surface.

The suddenness had given Diamond Tiara barely enough time to take a proper breath, and the instant she was taken below the surface she was sucked into impenetrable darkness. Some of the water entered her mouth and nose; it tasted disgusting, like rot and metal.

More things reached out for Diamond Tiara, grabbing her and pulling her deeper into the hidden structure of whatever ominous submerged structure leant its support to the towers above. Although it was impossible to see anything at all, whatever was grasping Diamond Tiara felt familiar- -like hooves.

Then, around her, lights began to appear. White beams that cut through the darkness, leaving trails of light. Diamond Tiara struggled, but she was already running out of air and did not even know where the surface was. Her lungs were burning, and she suddenly took a breath.

Water flowed into her throat and lungs, and Diamond Tiara immediately coughed. It took all her will to try to keep some air in, but she knew that she was drowning. She was surprised by how much it hurt.

Just when her body was beginning to grow weaker and she was seriously considering taking just one more breath, Diamond Tiara felt one more set of hooves on her front leg. These, though, felt far softer, and pulled in the opposite direction.

Diamond Tiara opened her eyes, wondering who had reached her- -and an immense beaming pair of blood-red eyes stared directly back at her.

Then, suddenly, Diamond Tiara toppled to her side into a pile of damp leaves. She coughed hard and spat a reddish-brown fluid into the leaves that both looked and tasted like rust. For a long time, she just continued to cough and gasp beneath the darkening gray sky. Something inside her felt wrong. It was more than just the drowning- -making the jumps was destroying something inside her, and she was not sure just how many more she could do.

Slowly, she sat up and looked into the distance. She was at the edge of Ponyville, lying in a field beyond the town where children had likely been playing until they had been called home for dinner or had just gotten too cold and went home. Diamond Tiara stood, trying to stabilize herself. She was soaked, but it was impossible to tell if it was from the wetness of the leaves or from the pool of dark water elsewhere under a different sky.

Either way, she felt horrible. Reality seemed to be pulling itself apart in her mind. She could no longer tell what around her was real, or exactly how to predict how the world would operate within even the next few minutes.

It was not clear to her just how long the world would last, or her within it, and she was not sure what had happened in the Everfree Forest- -but she was all-too-clear on one thing that she had done. Slowly and limping, she began to make her way into town.

The sun had already gone down when Diamond Tiara reached what had once been her house. She had considered returning to Rich Manor, but had become too weak. Never before had she actually thought of that enormous mansion as a place of sanctuary, but at this point, it was surely just as welcoming as the house where Silver Spoon and Pick were no doubt enjoying each other’s company.

She knocked on the door with her radiation-scarred right hoof, and then leaned against it. For a moment she hoped that there would be nopony there, and that she could just collapse on the stoop in peace. Instead, though, the door opened after several minutes. Diamond Tiara looked down to see Pick staring back up at her through his helmet.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, trying to sound snide- -before collapsing on him.

“Diamond!” he squeaked, nearly being crushed. “You- -you’re so cold! And moist!”

“Don’t act like you care,” said Diamond Tiara. She did not try to get off him, though, and let him help carry her into what should have been her house.

Silver Spoon entered the room. “Pick, who was at the- -Diamond Tiara!” She cried out and immediately moved to help Diamond Tiara

“I’ve got her,” said Pick. He was not nearly strong enough to hold her, but made up for his lack of strength using the energy field from the technetium dial in his chestplate.

“What, no fat joke?” muttered Diamond Tiara.

Pick did not respond, and instead moved Diamond Tiara to the front sitting room. He set her gently on the floor in front of the fireplace and adjusted his dial. A concentrated beam of energy burst forward into the wood of the fire, igniting it instantly. Behind him, his drone appeared carrying a blanket and a towel.

The heat of the fire reminded Diamond Tiara of just how cold she was, and she started to shiver violently.

“Diamond Tiara!” said Silver Spoon, her voice nearly cracking. “What happened?”

“Oh like you- -you care.”

At that time, two more ponies entered the room. Diamond Tiara looked up to see Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. They were initially drawn by the sound in the front room. Diamond Tiara looked over her shoulder and remembered what she had done to Applebloom. Seeing just the two of them made her burst into tears

“Diamond Tiara?” said Sweetie Belle, realizing something was wrong while Scootaloo still remained largely oblivious. “What’s wrong?”

Diamond Tiara did not know how to respond, but she did her best to suppress her sadness, trying not to think of how their trio would now always be a duo. She wiped away any tears she had produced and looked up at Sweetie Belle, who was about to no longer be her friend.

“It’s Applebloom,” she said. “I…she…”

“I what?”

Applebloom appeared behind the other two Crusaders, her pretty green eyes smiling as she heard her name. Diamond Tiara gaped. Although Applebloom was wearing a jacket indoors, the injuries that Diamond Tiara had seen on her were gone. They were not just gone; there were no scars or bandages or marks of any kind. The injuries were gone completely.

“You- -you- -you,” stuttered Diamond Tiara. She could not bring herself to say that Applebloom had been dead, but she HAD BEEN. It was not an illusion or a hallucination; Diamond Tiara had held Applebloom’s cold remains in her hooves. She had even been covered in Applebloom’s sap-blood, although it had now all been washed away by her near-drowning.

Applebloom immediately looked concern when she saw Diamond Tiara’s shock, and the look of terror on her face. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she said.

“What happened?” said Pick.

“We got separated in the forest,” said Applebloom. “I came back here to get help, and Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle spent the better half of the day looking for you. We thought you were lost, and were about to round up a search party- -”

“You were dead.”

Applebloom blinked, and the ponies all looked at her. “Ah don’t feel dead,” she said, dumfounded by the accusation.

“I saw it! You- -you- -”

“She’s been here,” said Silver Spoon. “She’s been here the whole time.”

“How- -how…” Diamond Tiara trailed off, and then slowly turned back to the fire. “Of course,” she said. “Of course.”

The ponies looked at each other again. “Diamond?” said Silver Spoon. “Something is wrong. Do you need anything?”

“How many?”

“Excuse me?”

“How many ponies are there in this room?”

No living soul answered, apart from the drone. It clicked out the number seven.

“I thought so,” whispered Diamond Tiara, staring into the fire. The glowing radiant heat covered her body, but she did not feel warm. She doubted she ever would again.

Night fell once again, and once again, Diamond Tiara did not sleep. She retired to her study, where she simply sat in an armchair, staring into a new fire as it crackled and glowed. Her fur had dried from the hellish water she had nearly drowned in, and now she reeked of something like ammonia and ash. She could smell it, but at this point, she did not care.

Beside her on a table sat two containers. One was a glass bottle of cider, the other a plastic bottle of pills. Both of them were nearly empty. Beside them sat her tiara. None of them were helping.

The light cast by the fire produced long shadows on the walls. These shadows deepened strangely, extending far longer than they had any right too. In their dark wake, the room was beginning to tear, its walls breaking open just enough to partially reveal whatever was beyond. Sometimes the shadows grayed, and sometimes things seeped through, pooling invisibly but perceptibly upon the ground or attempting to writhe their way though. Diamond Tiara could see them, but ignored them. They either were not real or did not matter. Instead, she stared blankly into the fire.

There was a knock on the heavy wooden door. Diamond Tiara had already crossed the room before she realized that she had risen from her chair; it felt as though her mind were lagging a substantial distance from her body. For a moment, she paused, waiting for her body to catch up. Another knock fell on the door. It was soft and almost imperceptible, but at this point, it was one of the only real things in Diamond Tiara’s life that bound her to the true Equestria.

She crossed the remainder of the room, her hooves creaking on the wooden floor. Then, slowly, she opened the door. She had expected to see Silver Spoon or Pick, or even one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even though they had returned to their respective homes hours earlier. Instead, there was nothing save for a cold, dark hallway.

Diamond Tiara stared for a long moment, and then shut the door. She turned away, only to hear more knocking on the door. This time, the force was so great that it seemed about to tear the door off its hinges. Whatever it was did not click like the sound of keratin against wood; whatever was knocking was not doing so with a hoof.

Somewhere deep inside herself, Diamond Tiara felt afraid. She knew that she should not open that door, that if she let what was on the other side through, she might not be able to return it. Despite this realization, she found her body moving toward the wall as her mind waited indecisively in the center of the room.

This time, she opened the door even more slowly, and this time, there was a pony standing behind the door. Inches away from Diamond Tiara’s face was the half-formed face of Pick’s drone. It stared at her with its two reddish glass eyes and its half-machine face. It was clicking out data, but not anything meaningful. It was simply repeating the programming equivalents of the number “four” and the color “yellow”.

Other than clicking, it was doing nothing. As such, Diamond Tiara stared at it for a moment and then slowly closed the door. She paused for a moment before speaking.

“How long have you been there?” she asked the living darkness.

“We’ve always been there. Since the beginning. And before,” said the salmon colored alicorn standing back-lit by the fire.

“If you’re trying to scare me, you’re not good at it,” said Diamond Tiara, not turning to face him. “Running around invisible? Please. It’s not like I haven’t dealt with that before. My coltfriend does it all the time. Saves me from having to look at his ugly face.”

“I’m not invisible,” said the alicorn. The cadence and accent of his voice was strange, as though he only had the vaguest idea of how to speak. His words lacked much of the electric buzz that they had held before, but hearing him speak made Diamond Tiara’s head ache. “None of us are. Rather, your kind are simply unable to see us. Usually.”

“Usually?”

“Sometimes there is pain. During the more invasive surgeries. Strange, sudden, inexplicable. Most ignore it. Some die.”

Diamond Tiara turned around. The alicorn was still standing perfectly still. In a way, he really did look something like Twilight, although his features were even more pronounced. He was taller and thinner, reminding Diamond Tiara of the one time she had seen Princess Luna, except that he was nearly skeletal with substantially larger eyes. He was coming in much clearer than before, and Diamond Tiara was able to better see the black uniform that covered his wings and narrow torso. It was unusually harsh in appearance, as though it should have been uncomfortable- -and probably was for any other pony save for one of his kind.

“Who are you?” asked Diamond Tiara.

The alicorn paused for a long moment, and then released a tiny sigh through his nose. “A predictable response.”

“Answer me.”

“It is not a question that can be easily answered. I am Harvestor.”

“What kind of a name is that?”

“It is a shortened version. My actual name is much longer and involves designation concerning my rank and parameters of my creation, but I do not believe that those elements of my identity are critical with regard to the current situation.”

Diamond Tiara looked at the alicorn. As far as she could tell, he did not blink. Since he had started talking, he had not moved. Even his mouth only barely moved when he spoke, even though his words reached her clearly.

“Why are you here?” she asked at last. “Why me?”

Harvestor paused, considering his response. “I am here because it was determined that intervention was required, and as the researcher assigned to you specifically, I was tasked with first-contact. As to why, you, specifically, are failing, we are not currently aware.”

“Failing? What do you mean failing?”

Harvestor’s eyes shifted just slightly. “It may have been a mistranslation. Your language is comparatively primitive and difficult to speak.”

“You’re not actually speaking it, are you?”

Harvestor’s pupils narrowed. They were not completely round. “You are perceptive. No, I am not.”

Diamond Tiara looked up at him, and then crossed the room. She took a seat in her chair and grabbed the bottle beside her. She took a long swallow, and Harvestor waited patiently. Diamond Tiara knew that her hair was a mess and not adorned with her appropriate headgear, especially since by Equestrian convention Harvestor was probably royalty. At this point, however, she did not give a buck.

“So,” she said. “You’re assigned to me?”

“Yes. My genetic code has been rewritten to be twenty percent similar to your own.”

“Why?”

“To ensure genetic compatibility. That is not important.”

“You’re an alicorn.”

“That is your word for us, yes. I am.”

“Does that make you a Prince?”

“No. I am Harvestor.”

“And the others? How many of you are there?”

“There are thousands of Harvestors. Or, if you mean my kind, we outnumber your population one hundred to one.”

Diamond Tiara gaped, but tried to suppress her surprise. “You mean for every pony in Ponyville- -”

“No. I mean for every pony in Equestria.”

The room fell silent, save for the crackling of the fire. Diamond Tiara could hear her own breathing. Harvestor did not seem to breathe. “That’s not possible.”

“I assure you, it is.”

Diamond Tiara looked him in the eye. “There are only five alicorns in this world. Celestia, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, and Flurry Heart. If you’re right- -”

“Your alicorns are unique. They do not originate in the Blue Glow. They were created by artificial means, save for the Newborn. They are the primary objects of our research.”

“Artificial?”

“Another mistranslation, perhaps. All alicorns are artificial. None of my kind have ever been born. As are the alicorns in your world. Or, at least, so we thought…”

“Then where did you come from?”

“We were manufactured.”

“You’re a liar.”

Harvestor looked confused. “You would not know that.”

Diamond Tiara lifted her hooves and focused. The space around them grayed and shifted painfully until the scars and implants appeared- -except, strangely, on the hoof that Lucy had healed. Not only had the radiation burn vanished, but so had the metal that had been imbedded in it. This time, though, Diamond Tiara could truly feel the metal cutting into her skin. It hurt, badly.

“You did this to me, didn’t you? You weren’t just researching alicorns. You were doing things to us. Experimenting.”

“Correct.”

“Why?”

Harvestor paused. “Because you intrigue us. Your society is a microcosm of our own, and your biology unique.”

“You mutilated me,” said Diamond Tiara, leaning forward, calmly. “I don’t even care that much…but you did it to my Silver Spoon. I can’t forgive that.”

“The modifications are not made directly to you. Rather, they exist in the same space as you. It is not something you would have the capacity to understand.”

“Oh really?” said Diamond Tiara, smiling. She clicked her hooves together and the space beside her distorted. Pick’s drone flashed into existence, summoned by her call, and dropped to the ground. For the first time, Diamond Tiara saw Harvstor take a step back. The white corona of morlock energy that surrounded the drone was apparently harmful to him.

“Now,” said Diamond Tiara, “I don’t know what you are. For all I know, I’m brain damaged and hallucinating you. This drone can’t see you, but I can. And I’m not in a good mood.”

“Again, a predictable response. I would not be here unless we intended to communicate with you. This is actually unprecedented. The last mortal to be aware of our existence died over one thousand years ago.”

“Died? Of what?”

“That is not important.”

“Okay, then.” Diamond Tiara was speaking slowly and cautiously; she was not sure if she was speaking to a hallucination or not, and was almost certain that Harvestor was at least somewhat hostile. The way he did not move or blink was unnatural, and the accent in his voice was just inconsistent enough for Diamond Tiara to believe that he was using it to hide the peculiar and oddly threatening monotone that made up his true voice. “You clearly went through a lot of trouble to talk to me. I realize that I’m the most important pony in Ponyville, but if you could just hide- -”

“We cannot. And you are not. You are, however, unique.”

“I don’t know if I want to be unique. I just want you to leave me alone.”

“That is not possible.” Harvestor’s eyes tilted just slightly. “At present, your settlement is currently undergoing a dimensional collapse.”

“And I’m supposed to know what that means?”

“No. If you were expected to know, I would not have to be here.”

“Then what is it?”

“We believe that increased traffic into your region in response to the birth of Protothebe- -”

“Proto what?”

Harvestor’s e pupils narrowed again, and his voice dropped. “Don’t interrupt me,” he hissed, his tone changing completely.

“I will interrupt you if I want to. This is my house.”

“No, it is not. Primitives like you cannot truly own property. You and this house belong to ME.”

Diamond Tiara leaned forward and did her best to pronounce the morlock audio commands that allowed Pick’s drone to operate. It was just a scanning unit, and not really designed to fight, but Harvestor did not seem to know that. In fact, he seemed rather afraid of it.

“You don’t like this, do you?” said Diamond Tiara, smiling. “Or…yes. Maybe being HERE is what you don’t like. A little afraid, maybe, now that I can see you?”

“Perhaps,” admitted Harvestor emotionlessly. “But I suppose it is not of consequence.”

“Why?”

“Because Ponyville is collapsing.”

“Collapsing? What does that even mean? Where is it- -” But she already knew.

“We do not know. We have constructed systems to use the energy of the Blue-Lit Machine to stabilize the gap, but it is failing. We do not know why you, specifically, are sensitive to the phenomenon. We posit that you were exposed to something esoteric and not native to Equestria. You are in a state of flux, and despite our best attempts, we have not been able to stabilize you.”

“Can you stop it?”

“Yes. However, you would not survive.”

Diamond Tiara paused and looked up at the alicorn. He had no inflection and had shown no sign of emotion except when he had apparently grown angry. It was quite clear that he was not joking.

“If you think you can take me, bring it. I don’t care if you’re Celestia herself, I’m not going to- -”

“I do not like being compared to her. Not that it matters to you. But no. I- -and we- - have a substantial investment in you.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

Harvestor’s eyes moved up just slightly, looking at something beyond Diamond Tiara. “Hopefully this new surgery will pacify you better than the last.”

Diamond Tiara looked up to where Harvestor looked up, and realized that she could not move. She thought she had been reclining in a chair, but now realized that she was held into place. Dark shapes moved behind her, and she saw that Harvestor had never been alone. She could not see what they were doing, but she could feel the grinding of their picks and tools against the inside of her skull and hear the sound of their drills.

Then she awoke with a start. She was not lying in a chair, or in her bed, but beneath her kitchen table. Her fur was matted and hard from the pool of semi-dried vomit and tears that she found herself lying in.