Diamond Rose

This time, Scarlet turned around to give Felicity her full attention. "Excuse me?"

Felicity smiled—a real, wide smile, with a glint of mischief in her eye—and sat down, ignoring the dirt that instantly marred the whiteness of her coat. "If you don't want to stay cooped up in here for the next twelve years, then you'll help me," she said simply. "And in turn, I will help you escape. If that is what you wish, of course."

"Of course," Scarlet repeated, but her gaze was wary as she looked sideways at her aunt. "What do you want from me? I have nothing left to give . . . nor anypony who cares about me anymore." Bitterness edged her voice, almost unnoticeable but still there.

"Oh, I think you'll find that you have plenty to give," Felicity replied. "You have a rare talent, my niece, don't you know? Just take a look at your cutie mark."

Scarlet did just that, frowning quizzically at the thorny red roses on her flank. "I don't know what it means. I was a florist, after all; I always assumed that my mark had something to do with it," she explained, but her mind was already elsewhere.

Bright blood dripping onto ruffled white carnations, spreading rapidly on the snowy petals and staining them vermilion.

A beautiful vase of pink glass shattering on the floor, a wayward shard cutting deep into her flesh and drawing out pain that she did not feel.

Rubies and sterling silver flashing as the dagger flew through the air, slicing through flower stems and aiming straight for the heart . . .

"Precisely," Felicity said, her voice breaking through Scarlet's flow of horror-filled thoughts and memories.

For a moment, Scarlet was terrified, thinking that her aunt had just read her mind.

"Floristry is, in a way, just like killing," Felicity continued.

Scarlet choked on her sigh of relief. She jerked her head up to stare, wide-eyed, at the doctor. "My talent isn't killing!" she retorted quite loudly, the hot air rushing back in full force. "And how are flowers like—like murder, anyway?"

A trace of amusement whisked across Felicity's face but vanished quickly. "Scarlet, Scarlet," she said in a soft, indulgent voice that almost sounded sympathetic. The light pink mare rose to her hooves and began to slowly circle her niece. "Of course your talent is to kill. Don't you remember when you got your cutie mark? I was there, too."

"Don't patronize me," Scarlet snapped. "I don't remember."

She was lying.

She did remember. She remembered every second of that day, and so vividly, too.

But at the same time, she was scared to remember.

And the most frightening thing of all about that moment of truth?

She'd enjoyed it.

She'd liked murdering Cobalt Flash, the colt who bullied her at Hollow Shades Elementary.

She was only ten years old at the time.

"Of course you do," Felicity said briskly, stopping to stand in front of Scarlet. "You have to face it, Scar: you are a killer, and that is all you will ever be to everypony. Which brings us to your task. Once you accept it, the deal is sealed. You can't go back on your words. Do you accept?"

"Yes." Scarlet didn't meet her aunt's eyes.

"I want you to kill a royal guard for me," Felicity stated calmly. "A lieutenant by the name of Steel Point. Twenty-eight years old, and a well-respected stallion in the Guard. This is what he looks like." She produced a picture from a coat pocket and hoofed it over to Scarlet.

Oh, you poor stallion. What quarrel do you have with Flora Felicity?

Scarlet gazed down at the small square photo. The portrait featured a gray pegasus stallion with dashing blue eyes, a windswept black mane with bold yellow stripes, and a strong-looking build. He was fairly handsome.

Steel Point. That was his name.

A streak of stormcloud gray and midnight black and lightning yellow, diving for her through the pouring rain, a crossbow nocked and ready to fire . . .

Anger flashed through her, hot and cold both at once.

Now, she looked Felicity in the eye.

"Okay."

"There."

The neck shackle relented to the tiny golden key that Felicity somehow wielded and fell to the floor with a clank. As her aunt got to work on the magic inhibitor, Scarlet flexed her sore, stiff legs and examined herself for any injuries that could potentially hinder her work.

Did she miss it?

That was the one question she couldn't answer.

"Careful now," Felicity advised, pulling the key away. "The magic will come rushing back all at once. It'll be especially painful, now that you've worn this for more than a year already."

"I do not need to be reminded—ah!" Scarlet gave a hiss of pain as the device on her horn fell away with a clatter. Bright, hot agony rushed to her head, along with all of the magic that had been lying dormant for such a long time. She felt the energy build at the tip of her horn and clenched her jaw, struggling to contain the blast.

Casually, the doctor reached over and placed her hoof right at the sharp point of the curved horn.

Another burst of pain assaulted Scarlet, and she glared up at her aunt, but gradually, the fiery throbbing resided. "Thanks . . . I guess," she mumbled, before turning away to thoroughly inspect her wings. They suddenly felt so much heavier and ached so much more than she was used to.

"Come on. We have to get out of here, now." Felicity helped Scarlet to her hooves and briskly trotted to the door, peering through the tiny peephole. "Eliminate the guards. Quietly."

Wordlessly, Scarlet grinned for the first time in months. A bright, single flare of silver magic shattered the thick wood to splinters; the guards outside jumped away with their spears up, but not fast enough. A quick spell left them both on the floor, sound asleep with only the faintest of pulses.

"They won't be waking up from their comas for a while," Scarlet promised. She snatched up one of the twisted spears and examined the deadly point. "Hmm, I think I'll keep this." A spark from her horn transformed the weapon into a little charm on a cord around her neck, ready to be turned back if she needed it.

"Interesting," mused Felicity. Scarlet twitched an ear toward her to listen as they walked through the dark, narrow tunnel, which sloped upward the further they went. "One year ago, you would have killed those stallions without a second thought. You've changed, Scarlet."

Changed? Scarlet flattened her ears, feeling strangely embarrassed. Was Felicity right? Would she have been merciless on the guards before all of this?

She said nothing until something metal and sharp clanged to the ground by her hoof, creating a long, shallow cut in her fetlock.

"H-Hey, what gives?" she demanded, glowering at her aunt. Crimson blood was starting to well up, and she wiped it away with an irritated scowl.

Felicity only nodded at the object that lay on the stone, prompting Scarlet to pick it up.

Scarlet's magic encircled it, and upon closer inspection, she realized that it wasn't merely a hunk of metal. It wasn't just any knife.

It was the Ruby Star. Her personal weapon.

The hilt, carved from midnight obsidian, was set with a twisted column of embedded red gems and a lunging, fanged, ruby-eyed snake that wound around it, finished off with a single large ruby as the pommel. The crossguard had been carefully cut and etched to look like a pair of wings, shaped like a thestral's but covered with feathers like that of a pegasus. The polished blade itself was made of very rare diamond silver, forged in the volcano of Mount Flameheart in the dragon land, and heavily enchanted to slice through any material with ease. To top it all off, the dagger—its default form—would convert into any other weapon imaginable at a single command.

The clang of the Star hitting the ground was the only sound that broke the sudden silence.

"You!" A wave of impulsive, irrational fury swept through Scarlet, and she lashed out viciously, pinning Felicity against the wall of the passageway with a thump. "Why do you have this? I swore that I would never wield it again!"

"Yes, you did," Felicity replied, unfazed. She met her niece's blazing glare evenly. "And now, for the sake of the Diamond Rose, you will have to revoke your oath."

Scarlet's eyes went wide. She released Felicity, gazing down at the Ruby Star as if the force of her stare could burn it to ashes.

"Fine," she growled. The Star flashed silver and vanished, reappearing as a tiny pendant on her thin rope necklace, clinking against the small spear that was already there.

"But only for the Rose."

Scarlet gritted her teeth, ignoring the pain in her chest that intensified as they neared the end of the tunnel. The Ruby Star around her neck was searing her, forcing her to feel a pain that was supposed to have receded so long ago.

Curse this bewitched thing. Daybreak! Why did it have to find its way back to me? Why couldn't you just keep it, or destroy it, or anything! She hissed, sparks flickering around her horn. Let me go. LET ME GO!

"Scarlet. Scarlet!"

Felicity's shout jolted Scarlet back to the conscious world like a zap of lightning. The pink mare pointed to the diamond-reinforced metal door in front of them. "We're here."

Scarlet smiled, yanking herself away from the thoughts of Diamond and her Fang and the Ruby Star. "Finally." She gathered magic in her horn, preparing for an onslaught to free herself from this hole.

Felicity paused, frowned . . . and gasped. "No! Scarlet—wait—"

Too late.

The doctor heard Scarlet's screech of surprise as her magic beam slammed into the door and was deflected back at her, barely creating even a dent in the enchanted metal. The bat-unicorn was blasted a good twenty meters back, stopping only when she slammed into the rough wall at a bend in the passage. Felicity hurried over as her niece slid to the floor.

"Scarlet, you headstrong filly . . ." Felicity sighed, reaching forward. "Are you all right?"

"Hah . . . haha, hah . . . ha ha ha . . . Just . . . dandy," Scarlet giggled in a demented way that made Felicity want to facehoof. "Right . . . as rain, haha! Speaking of . . . it's raining . . ."

Felicity groaned loudly. "Fine. I'm sorry," she said, and slapped her niece across the face, hard.

A pale gray hoof shot up and grabbed hers, clenching tightly. Scarlet, now clearheaded, stared up at her with killing intent in her draconic eyes.

Felicity smiled sweetly and extracted her hoof from Scarlet's grasp. "We only have so much time before the Royal Guard notices something's amiss and comes to investigate," she said patiently, walking back up the tunnel. After some ungraceful scrabbling, Scarlet scrambled to her hooves and followed her. "I tried to tell you, trying to destroy the door like that won't work."

"Then what will?" By Tartarus, I hate being helpless . . .

"Use the Ruby Star."

Scarlet whipped her head toward Felicity, who kept walking without turning around. Argh, it would be so nice to have an enemy close by right now . . . or a dungeon full of enemies . . . I swore! I swore on the Diamond Crown, and even that wasn't enough!

But . . . She looked grimly, almost murderously, down at the Star dangling from her necklace. If using it means my freedom, and if my freedom will help the Rose . . .

Then, of course.

It was never my choice to make, was it?

Very well.

She lifted the charm from the cord, enlarged the Star to its original size, and stared at it for what seemed like eternity.

Welcome back, old friend.

She uttered two heavy words that she'd said so many times but never thought she'd say again, a name that still brought so much pain flooding back:

"Diamond Daybreak."

In front of her, Flora Felicity froze. An emotion that she couldn't comprehend stabbed at her heart and brought pearly tears to her eyes. She quickly wiped them away before Scarlet could see.

"Et vicissim excitet," Scarlet continued. "Diamond corona per ordinem!"

As soon as she finished the incantation, the Ruby Star started to glow with a silver light so bright that Felicity had to avert her eyes. Not Scarlet, however; she stared into the blinding luminescence, her eyes fixed on the Star as its ruby pommel began to blaze brilliant red.

"Matutinus. Diluculum."

It became a six-bladed throwing star, morphed into a crescent moon glaive, and reverted back into a dagger, until it settled on a different shape, a disc with deadly edges designed to slice through solid diamond like paper. The disc spun faster and faster, drawing white-hot energy from Scarlet's horn, and smashed into the door with the force of a million suns and moons behind it.

"Perdere!"

Destroy.

The door was gone, reduced to a pile of gray ashes.

"Subtle," Felicity remarked, peering at the dust. "Very subtle. Nice work, though."

Scarlet just looked back at her, the Star levitated behind her, and turned away from her aunt. The lethal weapon became a pendant on her necklace once more.

"I did as I promised. I set you free," Felicity said. A breeze blew forth, rippling through their coats and lifting their manes to ride the air. "Now you must keep your end of the bargain."

It was suddenly cold. So very cold.

"Kill him, Scarlet. You were born to. That's why you wear the Diamond Crown, isn't it? That's why Daybreak entrusted the rule of her Diamond Rose Clan to you. That's why . . . that's why the Ruby Star belongs to you."

Finally, Scarlet turned.

Her eyes, filled with frost, flashed. A malevolent smile found its way onto her lips.

"Kill him."