Adventures of Equestria

Chapter 6: Diamond in the Rough

Two weeks have passed since Spike's knighting ceremony. Life in Ponyville has begun to calm down as the final repairs to the city are completed. Once Twilight and the others came back home, Spike is greeted with another party put together by Pinkie Pie, but everyone was wondering how she was able to put it together while she was with them in Canterlot. The party got a little wild which resulted in several crazy consequences. Mayor Mare's mane got dyed yellow, but some believe that this is her true mane color. Twilight hit the hard cider so hard that she was found the next morning wearing a green polka dot two piece bikini; while floating in the center of an inflatable pool full of liquid chocolate. Rainbow Dash sadly woke up the next morning in jail charged with reckless destruction and public nudity. Luckily, Fluttershy was able to get her bailed out and the charges drops, but Rainbow had to agree to stay away from any alcoholic drinks for three months. Next, everyone agreed to never tell what happened to Fluttershy that night, yet they say Pinkie Pie was the evil mastermind behind it. The only clue was that Fluttershy couldn't sit down straight until she went to the hospital. Apple Jack woke up to the surprise of having a new tattoo with the word *HONESTY* and the symbol of her cutie mark on her left bicep. She was so happy about her tattoo that she went around sporting the new art work. After the start of the party, Spike and Rarity dance the night away, and they watched the sunrise together on Ponytail Hill. As for the other ponies, they end up in funny unique positions, but Pinkie Pie took the grand prize because she was found in the middle of the city. She was wearing a party hat and sexy underwear sleeping in the city's center fountain that was for some unexplainable reason gusting strawberry soda.

Yep life in Ponyville has returned to normal and the people going about their daily lives.

"HEY WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!"

"DON'T HIT MY BABY!"

"HEY YOU FUCKING KID! YOU'RE GOING TO FUCKING KILL SOMEPONY WITH THAT DAMN SCOOTER!" a bystander yells out at the speeding orange pegasus.

Scootaloo slightly turns her head back calling out, "Sorry! I didn't mean to get that close!" She hears another scream coming up ahead of her; she turns around to see another mare dead ahead. The school girl Pegasus turns to avoid a head on collision. Once again avoiding another accident, she looks at her watch and mutters, "Shit! Gotta go faster!" She flaps her wings faster speeding up even more. She rounds the corner to see Ponyville Junior High. "Yes!" She smiles licking her lip as she powers through the front door still racing her scooter. Scootaloo races down the empty hallway. Once she spots her locker, she comes to a wailing stop leaving a ten foot long tire mark on the floor. The young Pegasus quickly stores the scooter in her locker while grabbing her books. Thanks to her training on the track team, she dashes quickly down the hall using her increase stamina to her classroom.

Just mere seconds, she flies into the classroom sliding on her covered uniformed pants' legs. While extending her arms out on each side, she shouts out just as the bell rings, "SAFE!" The class erupts in laughter seeing their classmate's fancy entrance.

"Well done Scootaloo!" Ms. Cheerilee exclaims. She looks at her homeroom student with her arms crossed and a displease expression on her face. She goes on by saying, "However, you won't be safe from detention if you don't get to your seat right this second!"

"Sorry ma`am," Scootaloo replies getting to her feet and heading toward her desk.

Once in her seat and the classroom falls silent from laughter, Cheerilee smiles once again looking at her students, "Alright, now that everyone is here, I wanted to inform you that the school festival is being pushed up to next week since all the cherry blossoms will be blooming. So we need to decide what our class will be doing for the festival, are there any ideas?"

Peppermint Stick yells out, "Let's do a Maid Café!"

Diamond Tiara says in a snobby royal tone of voice, "We should build a royal court like Canterlot, and I'll be the royal queen."

Snails and Snips say in unison, "A swimsuit café!"

Scootaloo raises her hand suggesting, "We can do a Nightmare Moon Haunted House!"

Feather Wig calls out while holding his camera and focusing on the flag, "How about a photo booth studio?"

After his statement the flash goes off, triggering another wave of suggestions from the other students.

"A Cider Tasting Station!"

"A fashion show for the newest fashions from Manehattan's Fashion Runaway!"

"A karaoke bar with a singing contest!"

The suggestions continue on until Cheerilee calls for quiet, and the room responds by falling silent. "You all are providing great ideas, but we can't do them all. That being said, I will divide you all into three groups in order to run an event." She picks up her green grade book with the picture of her cutie mark on the front and back cover; Cheerilee reads over the information and says "The best way to decide is by selecting team leaders for each event." The students watch as she grabs the digital blue marker then makes a box divided into thirds with following the word in each box: *Events:*, *Team Leader:*, and *Team Members:* labeled in each row.

Once she finishes, she turns back around and says, "Alright, we will vote for each event suggested and the three highest events will win." The magenta colored mare reads off a list of the suggestions and takes a tally of the votes. After twenty votes, Cheerilee writes down the winners. "Alright the winners are: The Maid Café, Cider Creation and Tasting Station, and Nightmare Moon's Haunted House. The leaders will be Sweetie Belle for the Maid Café, Apple Bloom will lead the cider tasting, and Scootaloo will head the haunted house."

"WHAT!" Diamond yells drawing everyone's attention. "WHY WOULD YOU LET THOSE BLANK FLANKS LEAD THESE GROUPS?! PLUS IT IS NOT FAIR THAT THOSE THREE GET TO DO WHAT THEY WANT, AND WHY WASN'T MY IDEA SELECTED?!"

"I'm sorry Diamond that your idea didn't win, but," Cheerilee's voice grows angry, "I will not tolerate you calling your classmates names!"

Diamond's face grows red with frustration as she growls out, "Then why did you make them leaders? It should be me!"

The class watches as Cheerilee walks forward then leans back on her desk. She closes her gradebook and crosses her legs; she holds the book up in her hand and says, "Since the class is being divided up into three, I took the three students with the highest grades and put them in charge, and that happened to be Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, even though I almost reconsidered it because of her display this morning," she states while glancing at the orange Pegasus making her give a nervous laugh. Cheerilee turns back to face Diamond and finishes with, "and Apple Bloom, so they are the group leaders."

The snobby earth pony yells back, "I WON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM THOSE BLANK FLANKS!"

Apple Bloom's yellow face starts to run red with anger while tightening her fists on the top of her desk. Just before she lashes out against her classmate, Cheerilee calmly states, "Very well Diamond, you don't have to be in their groups," Diamond begins to smile until Cheerilee says, "Instead you will be with the detention group, so you can help with the cleanup."

Diamond's mouth drops hearing Cheerilee's statement just as the bell, to signal the end of homeroom. Everyone gathers their things before leaving the room; to head to their first period class. Diamond gives a mean glare at Cheerilee; while she is writing up Diamond's detention form at her desk. "Diamond don't you have a class to get to, or would you like to make your detention a week longer?" She looks up at the powder pink filly walking out of the classroom. Diamond mutters to herself what Cheerilee could only make out to be a string of curse words.

The three maturing young fillies walk down the hall together with smiles on their faces. Apple Bloom complains, "You know Diamond is working my last nerve with that blank flank shit!"

"Don't let it get to you Apple Bloom," Sweetie Belle comments with a smile, "Ms. Cheerilee gave her want she deserved. Besides we have to focus on planning and running our festival events."

Scootaloo jumps in with her hands behind her head, "Yeah, who knows maybe this festival will be the key to us getting our cutie marks."

Apple Bloom's expression softens thinking about what her friends have told her. She looks over at her orange colored friend and asks, "By the way, how come you were almost late for homeroom?"

Scootaloo smirks getting ahead of her friend; then she turns around while walking backwards, "Well, I had to run to find Rainbow Dash."

The girls give a puzzled look and fall silent while looking at the gleeful expression on their friend's face. They knew whenever she went to see or talked about Rainbow Dash; she would have smiles on her face. However there was something even more cheerful in her eyes, they keep studying her face until Sweetie Belle breaks the silent and ask, "Alright you went to go see Rainbow, but why do you look like you're about to burst out with untold joy?"

Scootaloo's smile grows even bigger as she explains, "Ok, you remember the battle that Rainbow and the others had against the dragons over Ponyville?"

"Who could forget that mess? My hands are still aching from all the apple trees we had to uproot then replant," Apple Bloom complains rubbing her thumb over the palm of her hand while looking down. After a couple more rubs, she looks back at Scootaloo and inquires, "What does that have to do with you almost being late?"

"You see, Rainbow and I talked about how dangerous it was when the fighting started, and how we were a weak point for the enemy to use against our friends." Scootaloo pauses seeing the still confused look on their faces; she goes on with, "I convinced her to start training us as cadets for the Wonderbolts, so if another battle comes up, we will be able to fight. Doesn't that sound awesome?"

"No! Scootaloo, what makes you think that our sisters are going to let us fight in a battle?! After the fight with the dragons, Rarity was jumping and screaming at anything that would come out at her. While she was staying at our parents' house, I heard her at night making crazy sounds. One time, I sneaked up to her door to hear her saying Spike's name over and over again." Apple Bloom and Scootaloo eye each other with a sinister grin while Sweetie Belle goes on, "Plus she was grunting as if she was in pain or something. I was about to wake mom and dad, but she stop after a couple of minutes."

"Sweetie Belle, I don't think that she was in pain, but… never mind. Scootaloo, what makes you think that we would be any good at it?" Apple Bloom questions the smiling Pegasus.

Scootaloo spins on the ball of her heel while walking forward, "We won't know until we try. Besides after that crazy attack, I don't want to just be a wall flower. I want to fight!" She finishes with squeezing her fist in front of her face.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle exhale while holding up their hands with a sweat drop on their foreheads. Sweetie Belle then comments, "Alright we'll go with you, but we can't forget that we have a festival to put on."

The three line up as music magically begins to play. They start to skip and sway their tails left and right in sequence with the music, but before the first chorus line, the school PA cries out, "Miss. Scootaloo Pacer report to Principal Rule's office immediately!"

The girls stop in their tracks hearing the intercom's message. They look at Scootaloo with another strange expression, and Sweetie Belle asks with a worried tone, "What did you do?"

Scootaloo crosses her arms; then closes her eyes trying to think of an answer that would result in her being called to the office. A minute passes, and her eyes spring open as her mouth drops to answer the question; however, the intercom goes off again, "Attention! Miss. Scootaloo Pacer will report to Principal Rule's office at once!" Scootaloo looks at the intercom and curses under her breath. She tells her friends to head to class and that she will meet up with them later.

Three minutes later, the orange Pegasus arrives at the front office. She opens the glass door and walks into the round shaped reception area. On the floor, a carpet is stitched with a green tree, a white cloud, and a gold star picture that represents the school's emblem. Three chairs are pushed up next to the glass window on both sides of the room. In front of her, a brown oval cedar desk is occupied by a tan stallion unicorn. He scans over several papers through his small rectangle frame glasses; then uses his magic to send several files to the cabinet. After reading the papers, he turns to his computer to quickly type up some documents. Scootaloo walks up to the desk and says in a nervous tone, "Um excuse me, I was called up here to see Mr. Rule."

The stallion says without looking away from his computer screen, "Please be seated; the principal will be with you in a few minutes."

She turns around to go sit, but the moment her butt touches the seat, "Ms. Pacer," a deep voice calls out. She looks to her left to see a black stallion Pegasus. He wears a black suit with a white tie standing at the back door motioning her over to him. She quickly gets up and follows Principal Rule to his office. When they enter the room, Scootaloo smells the soft rich scent of pine trees along with the burning incents filling the room with a mixed of a pine scent. On his walls, he sports the medals, ribbons, and rank of Major from the Wonderbolts. On the left side of his office, he displays several degrees starting from bachelors to doctoral in education and medical practitioner. She looks at his desk to find a bonsai peach tree along with pictures of his family, friends from the military, and last a picture of Cheerilee and him.

Scootaloo gives a smile remembering the day that Mr. Jay Rule came to Ponyville to take the spot of principal. A couple of weeks later, the girls heard strange rumors. The word was that Ms. Cheerilee was seen with somepony who was new in town. According to information from the grapevine, Cheerilee knew Jay during their time in college; and they even dated at once. The relationship broke off when he went into the service. Thirteen years later, they meet once more and the sparks seem to fly. Now the word on the street is, Mr. Rule has been seen shopping around in jewelry stores for something. Every time somepony presses either of them for information; they clams up like no tomorrow. In short, every pony says that he is going to propose sometime soon. Scootaloo's mind begins to wonder off to what their wedding is going to be like.

"Ms. Pacer," Jay's voice booms breaking her out of her daydream. Scootaloo swallows beings shocked back into reality as he continues, "Do you know why I called you in here this morning?"

She tries to lighten the mood by giving a smile and saying, "Because I am such a hard working student, and you want advice on how to plan your wedding with Ms. Cheerilee." Mr. Rule's rock hard face shatters her efforts along with the smile on her face. She lowers her head and replies with a remorseful tone, "It's because I rode my scooter into the school hallways this morning."

The black Pegasus states with a stone cold tone of voice, "Bingo you're right on the mark, but there is more to it. It seems when you came to a stop at your locker, you left a pretty good size tire mark on the floor. Just before you got here, I had talked with Ms. Cheerilee about your grand entrance into homeroom. Now putting all that together, my guess is you were trying to beat the clock, right? So tell me, what were you doing that caused you to run late today?" Scootaloo explains about the meeting with Rainbow Dash, and the cadet training she was going to give them. She adds that it might help them gain their cutie marks. Jay listens to the story carefully; then he falls silent for a couple of minutes thinking over her words. After a minute he says, "I see, Lt. Dash would be a good instructor for you in that field. I saw her at the academy and once more during the fight for Ponyville. Yes she would make a fine teacher."

Jay stands up then walks over to the window looking out at the clear blue sky; then he asks, "Scootaloo, I was told that you look up a lot to Rainbow Dash; am I correct?"

"Yes sir, she's like a big sister to me," she quickly voices while wondering where the conversation is going.

"I see, and you plan on trying to follow in her hoof prints. You want to join the Wonderbolts?" he questions. Jay's black wings slightly adjust by opening and closing; while his red colored tail moves left and right.

The question causes the filly pegasus to slightly weep as she looks at her own wings. She lowers her head remaining silent for a couple of minutes. A small tear runs down her cheek, and Jay repeats his question to her. She works up her voice to reply, "I don't know if… that is will be possible sir." She looks up to see a why expression on his face; she answers with, "You see Mr. Rule, I can't fly. I can walk on clouds just like any other pegasus, but I just can't fly."

*Hum* the black stallion goes looking at his student with an inquiring look. "You have never been able to fly at all?"

"Just a couple feet off the ground."

He goes back to his desk and pulls out his tablet. Jay powers it on, and then he scans over the e-book. He rubs his chin feeling the small amounts of stubble. Jay mumbles something to himself then gives a quick glance up at the orange student. After a couple more minutes in silence, he puts the pad on his desk. Jay looks back at Scootaloo interlacing his fingers and says, "After thinking about this issue, I have decided not to inform your parents about this, but I would like to meet with them on another matter. Nevertheless, I have to come down hard on you about this infraction. After school, you will help the cleaning staff."

"But sir, I have track practice today," Scootaloo objects.

Jay's face keeps that rock like expression and stone cold voice, "Its either the after school cleanup for today or two week OSS! Make your choice."

Scootaloo gives a wild smile, "Where is that broom at? I can't wait to get started!"

"Good! Now head to class you've missed enough already," he replies. Once she is gone, he picks up the phone dials a quick set of numbers and waits. A couple of seconds later, a voice gives a quick greeting; then Jay says, "Hello, I like to meet ASAP if possible."

Scootaloo meets up with the girls in gym class; she runs into the locker room to quickly change out. She comes running out in a white t-shirt with the school's emblem printed on the top left side of the breast pocket and blue gym shorts. The coach blows the whistle just the second she gets into the line next to her friends. The coach announces, "Today's activity is dodgeball! Magic, flying, and increased strength is permitted, but keep it within reason. Is that understood?!"

"Yes sir!" the class responses in unison.

"Good," he replies, "Now divide up into teams of three any pairing will do, but be sure that you think about your team make up. It will affect your play style."

Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom quickly pair up with each other. Diamond, Silver Spoon, and Zipporwhill form another team while the other students quickly pair off into five more teams. Once done, the coach stands in the center of the gym. He uses his magic to bring in fourteen balls into the center. Next, he points out his finger sending out twenty-one beams of yellow energy to hit each student. Lastly on their shirts, the number three appears in green within a yellow box; then he points at the balls making each of them glow a dub yellow color. "Alright here are the rules, your goal is take out the members of the other teams. Each member can get hit three times; once your hit zero, a freeze spell will activate stopping you cold. Be warned, friendly fire is activated. In other words, you can hit your teammates, and their number will go down. Last team standing will get an auto pass for today's class. Alright! PLAY BALL!"

The students rush towards the center for the balls; Scootaloo, Featherweight, and Rumble are the first ones to reach the center. They each grab two balls and throw them at the opposing teams. Scootaloo successfully hits two other students, but Rumble is able to score two hits on Pipsqueak knocking him on his butt. Featherweight takes his two balls and flies up into the air towards his other two teammates. He gives them the balls then dives back down for more. By that time, Scootaloo and Rumble have grabbed more balls; while the other students rush to get the remaining glowing orbs. With that, the balls start flying left and right.

"Sweetie Belle incoming!" Apple Bloom shouts as they race to Scootaloo. "Use your defense spell! Scootaloo duck and roll!"

She nods sticking out her hands with a ball in each. Scootaloo cartwheels then goes into a midair backflip just as Sweetie Belle's horn and hands glow transparent green creating a protection dome. Sweetie Belle leaves a hole opened at the top for Scootaloo to enter. After the orange pegasus lands inside, she hands off the balls to Apple Bloom with a satisfied smirk. Several balls hit the dome making the pink-violent mane filly call out, "We don't have much time; this dome is going to crack any second now!"

"Right! Sweetie Belle, you provide cover for Apple Bloom; while she takes down the others! I'll do my best to keep you supplied with dodge balls!" Scootaloo exclaims. She watches the others students hit each other, and the sky above is lit up with several yellow orbs flying back and forth.

Sweat runs down Sweetie Belle's forehead as she struggles to keep the shield up. "You want to split up! Are you sure that is… Yikes!" she squeaks hearing a crack form in the shield.

"There's no time to argue!" Apple Bloom yells. She gets into position to defend Sweetie Belle after she lowers the barrier. "Scootaloo meet us near the bleachers!"

"Right!" she replies. Scootaloo gets into the runner's starting position.

The white unicorn adds, "Aim for the other unicorns first!" Another crack sounds out making them all look to their left. Sweetie Belle swallows nervously, "Alright here we go! On Split! Three! Two! One! SPLITTT!" The barrier comes down, and Scootaloo takes-off flapping her wings for more speed. She heads for a ball on the other side of the gym. Apple Bloom fires a ball at Button Pusher making him freeze solid as the number turns to zero. Sweetie Belle uses her magic to stop then grab a ball heading towards her. She sends it flying back at Firelock sending her number down to one. "MOVE IT!" She orders as they go running off to their rally point.

Diamond's team leans against the wall with smirks on their faces while Snips, Snails, and Truffle Shuffle stand in front. Snails controls the fading in and out transparent protection barrier. Several balls hit the barrier, but when the shield is up nothing is able to get through. Truffle Shuffle grabs a ball, and Snips stops incoming then returns fire at the other student teams, yet he either misses or the ball flops to the floor before it reaches the target. Then, Snips tries the same trick as Sweetie Belle. Instead, he aims higher up at the pegasus' teams. Diamond laughs along with Silver Spoon and Zipporwhill. The powder pink curry mane filly leans forward then says, "That's it boys! Keep those nasty balls from us, and we will give you a special prize." She leans back saying to her friends in a low voice, "Yeah, a special straight kick in the ass! While, we get an easy passing grade." The three fillies laugh in response as they watch the other teams struggle against each other.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders join up at their rally point letting the other teams target each other. Scootaloo crouches down doing her best to catch her breath. Sweetie Belle puts up another shield every once and awhile to stop any incoming ball attacks; then she magically grabs it and throws it back. Scootaloo looks another then points in the direction of Diamond's team, "What in Equestria are they doing?"

Her friends look in that direction, and Sweetie Belle's face sours as she states with an annoyed tone, "They're cheating! They are using Snips' team to do all the work for them. Typical Diamond, she makes someone else do all the work, and she takes all the credit!"

At first, Apple Bloom's face is filled with anger at her class bully, but an evil grin peers through when she thinks up a way to get rid of Diamond's so called bodyguards. She squeezes the reserve ball in her hands then says, "Don't worry, I got an idea to get them, namely Snails, to drop his barrier." She rolls the ball towards their classmates. Apple Bloom yells out, "SNAILS! STICK IS DOWN TO ONE! TAKE HER OUT!"

He sees the ball rolls up in front of him. "Really!" he exclaims with a smile on his face. Snails drops the barrier and runs out to grab the ball; then he looks around for his mark but fails to find her.

Before Diamond or Snips can call him back, Apple Bloom yells at the top of her lungs, "SNAILS IS OPEN! GET HIM!" Like laser guided missiles, balls come flying in from every direction. Snails screams in horror, but the balls find their target. Before anyone could bat an eye, the freezing spell kicks in locking up the young unicorn. Snips drops the new barrier and rushes over without thinking. Apple Bloom screams out again, "SNIPS IS OPEN! GET HIM!"

The light blue unicorn is halfway to Snails before threeballs make contact with him, "Oh rats…"

Diamond looks over to Apple Bloom's team; she sees a smile on the yellow filly's face knowing the next words that are going to come out of her mouth. Her eyes fill with dread when she hears Apple Bloom scream, "TRUFFLE AND DIAMOND'S TEAM IS OPEN! GET THEM!"

Diamond mutters out a curse word or two as the retrieved balls are thrown at the four. The strike hits the gray colt first and freezes him up. The coach then yells out, "TEAM FOUR: SNIPS, SNAILS, AND TRUFFLE SHUFFLE ARE OUT! SIX TEAMS ARE REMAINING!"

Diamond and her group run to get into a covered position, but Zipporwhill is taken out when she tries to fly off into the air. She comes crashing down when the Pegasus lock on and get three good hits. Silver Spoon is the next one to fall. She is cornered next to the eastside bleachers, but she is able to takeout one of her attackers. Before the freezing spell takes her, the coach's voice rings out through the gym, "TEAM SEVEN: PIPSQUEAK, CARAMEL COFFEE, AND LICKETY SPLIT ARE OUT! FIVE TEAMS REMAIN!"

Diamond continues her mad dash to get away from the flying orbs, but two balls make contact with her. The number on her shirt goes down to the red colored number one. She is able to find cover a second later just as the other teams start to aim at each other once again. She looks up from her cover position to see Apple Bloom smiling at her. Diamond grits her teeth when the yellow filly turns around and shakes her butt and tail in her direction. "Damn you Apple Bloom, this is all your fault!" the pink filly curses. Luckily, she spots a ball in her hiding spot; she picks it up then hurls it. The back facing girl is hit in the back of her head. "Ha! You like that! You blank flank bitch?!" Diamond taunts.

The red mane girl freezes in place as the world around her seems to slow down. She slowly turns around with fire in her eyes. She orders, "Sweetie Belle, cover me! That bitch just crossed the line!" The girls smile knowing what to do. Sweetie Belle puts up another dome barrier; while Scootaloo goes and grabs another ball. Apple Bloom takes the ball in hand and tosses it up in to the air without breaking eye contact with the spoiled girl. As if everyone stops to watch the three girls in action, the ball starts to come down while the yellow girl jumps up to meet the ball. In midair, she twists her body sideways into a powerful spin, and at the perfect second, she gives the ball a super power kick sending it in Diamond's direction.

The pink filly is frozen in place watching Apple Bloom's attack. The ball soars in and makes perfect contact with her face. The attack sends her and the ball still spinning in her face soaring to the wall. *BOOOM* rings out as her body comes in contact with the wall. Diamond's body is imprinted in the wall. Moments later, the ball falls down before Diamond's body breaks from the wall heading to the ground. The freezing spell kicks in, mere seconds, before she hits the ground. "HEY DON'T GO OVER BOARD! TEAM THREE: DIAMOND TIARA, SILVER SPOON, AND ZIPPORWHILL ARE OUT! FOUR TEAMS LEFT!"

Apple Bloom lands with perfect grace with her back turned towards Diamond. She mutters to herself, "How you like that you bitch?!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle give a high five with smiles on their faces. The others students glance at the three fillies then over to Diamond then back at the girls. The sounds of low whispering make the girls' ears perk up. A second later, they quickly put their backs to each other to see the remaining players surrounding them on all sides. "This is not good," the yellow filly claims closely scanning a third of the students watching her.

"You think?!" Sweetie Belle comments scanning over the players looking at her. "They're scared that you're going to use that move on them again if you get a ball."

"No sweat! We can take them!" Scootaloo cheers on, but when she looks up to see the flying students and the nine to ten glowing orbs they are holding. She swallows and says with a sight lump in her throat, "Or maybe we should consider a tactical retreat."

Just as she finishes the line, nine balls come flying down, and Sweetie Belle shouts out, "TOO LATE!"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo put their arms over their heads, and shut their eyes bracing for the impact from the balls. Surprisingly, nothing happens. They peer open their eyes to see Sweetie Belle's barrier protecting them. "I hope, one of you has a good plan up your sleeve," the unicorn calls out holding her glowing hands in a bracing position.

*CRACK!*

*CRACK!*

*CRACK!*

The three fillies hear the sound echoing inside the dome as balls come crashing in. After each hit, small growing cracks start to form along each side of the wall. "Ok! Ok! We need… we need…" Apple Bloom mumbles tapping her finger to her lips.

"We need to get out of here!" Scootaloo declares with shock in her voice. Another wave of balls hit the shield, enlarging the, already widening, damage marks.

"We can't Scootaloo! The second we run…!"

"This is all your fault Apple Bloom!"

"WHAT!"

"You had to go and show everyone that move of yours!"

"Look who's talking! You're the one who went speeding all over the place!"

The Earth pony and Pegasus continue to argue as the shield nears its breaking point. Sweetie Belle closes her eyes doing her best to focus on the defense spell. ~Remember, a spell is only as strong as the one casting it,~ Sweetie Belle recalls from Twilight's tutoring. "You must find the catalyst to draw strength from and bring out the true power of your magic," she whispers to herself. A soft sound begins to emanate from within her. At the same time, she feels growing a surge of power. Within the blackness of her sight, Sweetie Belle sees a small burning light, but the strikes from the incoming balls cause her to struggle to keep focus on her goal.

All the noise from the outside world begins to fade. The noise is replaced with a growing sound from within. The sound continues to grow stronger; until it becomes a flowing melody within. The young unicorn feels the song within moving to her throat, and she starts to softly hum out.

(A/N play 1000 Words FFX-2 instrumental in background)

Meanwhile on the second floor of the gym in the view room, Principal Rule along with another pony stand watching the match, and they sees the bind the girls are in at that very moment. The unknown unicorn comments, "Oh my, that young filly, she is brewing up something big."

Jay looks over at his companion with a questioning expression, "What do you mean?"

The unicorn smiles, "Her magic, I can feel it growing more powerful by the second. Ha! She must be close to finding her catalyst. She just needs to keep focused."

Sweetie Belle feels the melody fulfilling her whole being. The light within burns brightly while she continues to hum softly. The words begin to take form alongside the music. Her hands starts to glow brighter feeling the growing magical power. ~The lyrics are starting to become clearer! I can hear myself singing the words.~

(A/N end background music)

Just as the first word start to move past her lips, "SWEETIE BELLE! DO YOU HEAR ME?! WE GOT TO MOVE!" Scootaloo shouts while shaking her. The white unicorn shrieks in shock as her eyes spring wide open and the defense spell comes clashing down. Three balls quickly make their way towards them. Scootaloo dodges the attack, but the dazed Sweetie Belle is knocked down and frozen after the three simultaneous hits. "Shit!" the orange Pegasus snaps dashing away from her fallen friend. She spots Apple Bloom making her way to cover; she grabs up a discarded ball while rushing over. "APPLE BLOOM WATCH OUT!" Scootaloo cries out seeing the sister Earth ponies Bolt and Hairpin Turn come dashing up from behind.

Apple Bloom looks behind her to see the two fillies quickly approaching. She tries to take control by doubling back, but the move fails when Bolt flings a ball at her classmate. Apple Bloom's number goes to the red colored one, yet that is changed in a second when the fired ball is caught by Hairpin. Apple Bloom watches as the scene unfolds in slow motion. The ball is thrown at her, and she tries to dodge the attack with a backflip. In the end, the ball strikes her left side activating the spell and freezes her in the midpoint of the dodge.

Scootaloo throws the ball at Hairpin freezing her, but her victory is short live when she feels two hits from the back. The attack knocks her off balance; then makes her fall sliding along the floor. The last strike comes from Bolt flipping over her to deliver the final hit in the center of her back.

"TEAM ONE: APPLE BLOOM, SWEETIE BELLE, AND SCOOTALOO ELIMINATED! THREE TEAMS REMAIN!" the coach yells out.

The two men in the viewing box smile watching the rest of the game unfold. It ends ten minutes later, when the coach yells out, "THE WINNER IS TEAM FIVE: BUTTON MASHER, BLADE RUNNER, AND MICRO BITS ARE THE WINNERS!"

"Wow! You have some impressive students here Jay, but I have to give it up to those three fillies. If the others hadn't turned against them, they might have won the match."

Jay walks over and opens the door; he directs him out, "You might be right, but I didn't ask you here for that. Were you able to get the scans of Scootaloo?"

"Yes, but it is going to take me some time to figure out why she is not able to fly. Normally in cases like hers, her inability to fly would be linked to some type of trauma that occurred in her past, but after just watching her, I didn't see any sign of that," he comments with his hand under his chin stroking his short black trimmed beard while walking alongside the black stallion. A few minutes later, the men arrive at Jay's office, and the thinking unicorn takes a seat near the desk. Jay prepares two cups of coffee then hands one cup off to his guest.

Jay sits down behind his desk with his wings folded to his back and his tail swaying loose on the left side. He takes a quick drink of the hot hazelnut flavored coffee. "I reviewed her medical records, and I found nothing related to trauma."

The unicorn takes a sip of his drink and adds, "What about her parents?"

"I didn't find anything there either. Both of her parents are serving in the royal guard air core, and I checked their service records and saw no reports of Sergeant Pacer having any medical trouble during her pregnancy," Jay replies.

"Well this is an interesting medical mystery," the unicorn states with a smirk on his face.

After the coach handed out the grades for today, the students head to the locker room to change out and get cleaned up. The sounds of showers echo in the room along with a small amount of chatter among the girls. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo are sitting in front of their lockers chatting as they finish getting dress in their school uniforms.

"We really kick some ass today," Scootaloo says with a smile while pulling her shirt over her head. She pushes her wings through the slots in back of her shirt and gives her damp mane a quick shake.

"You got that right; until everyone went after us," Apple Bloom comments while putting on her shoes.

Scootaloo smirks putting on her suit jacket, "Yeah, like I said earlier, it was your fault that they all turned on us after you busted out that wicked kick ass move. That reminds me, where did you learn that move anyway?"

Apple Bloom puts on her jacket and picks up her backpack; then turns to her friend while shutting her locker, "I saw Zecora doing that move and others in the mornings at the farm."

The white unicorn picks up her bag then shuts her locker, and she comments, "Wow! She must like coming around in the mornings."

"Huh," the yellow filly sounds out while crossing her arms, "Now that you mention it, she's been there late at night as well."

Scootaloo puts on her backpack and inquires, "What do you think she is doing? Did she fall for one of the farmhands?"

Apple Bloom shakes her head no, "I don't think so. Most of the new hires go straight to work and she does her practicing near the house."

The girls start to make their way to the door, while Sweetie Belle says, "Well, maybe she's helping Garble. Didn't you tell us, after we got back from Canterlot, that you saw them working together?"

"Yeah," Apple Bloom replies, "but he only does it once or twice a week. Other than that, Garble is either with Big Mac or Apple Jack during most of the day."

"Maybe we should look more into it," Scootaloo suggests.

Before the others can add anymore comments, the girls' attention is redirected when they hear a snobby voice call out, "Where do you blank flanks think you're going?!" The girls roll their eyes quickly recognizing the owner of the voice. They turn around to see Diamond with her friends standing next to each other with sour expressions on their faces. The Cutie Mark Crusaders give a simple shake of their heads with smirks on their faces and turn back around to walk away. "HEY! I TALKING TO YOU FUCKING BITCHES!" The girls keep making their way towards the exit. Not wanting to be ignored, the powder pink filly walks up to them and grabs hold of Apple Bloom's tail making her stop in her tracks. She gives it a painful tug while saying, "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?! IS YOUR MIND JUST AS BLANK AS YOUR FLANK!"

Diamond gives the preteen's tail several more painful tugs. Apple Bloom keeps facing forward and says in a cold harsh voice, "Listen very carefully, let go of my tail."

Diamond's face grows sourer and gives several more tugs while saying, "No, you will listen to me! What the hell was the big idea, you half brain piece of shit?! I had that 'A' all wrapped up, but you had to butt your nose in."

Sweetie Belle looks back at Diamond seeing her reddening face; then she looks at Apple Bloom and sees the same type of red coloring. "Diamond let her tail go right now!" Sweetie Belle commands.

Unfortunately, Diamond replies with another tug on the captured tail while saying, "Shut up Sweetie Belle! How dare you kick a fucking ball into my face! If it had left a mark…"

Apple Bloom replies with a low growl in her voice, "The spell the coach put on us healed all the damage afterwards, so you have no reason to be mad at me!"

Diamond yanks the tail once more making the preteen yep a little in pain. "That doesn't matter you kicked a fucking ball in my face, and caused us to get a low grade! I will not stand for this! Because of you three, I got detention, humiliated in front of the entire class, and a low grade!" Diamond gives another painful tug of the red colored tail. As a result, some of the hair snaps and break lose. She continues to shout and complain, "YOU HEAR ME, I WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!"

Apple Bloom cranes her head to the left looking slightly behind her while her fist tightens. Once again in a low growling voice, "Fine. You don't have to stand for it." Swiftly she spins around with her right hand soaring through the air while shouting, "I'LL KNOCK YOU ON YOUR FUCKING ASS!"

Diamond's eyes widen seeing the attack coming right for her, but she is once more frozen in place with fear. Apple Bloom aims straight for her face, yet before the attack can make contact with its target, her fist is stopped by a transparent green energy. Scootaloo grabs her hold of her friend as they watch Diamond release the captured tail and fall to her butt on the cold tile floor. "Apple Bloom, she's not worth getting suspended over! Besides, look at her now," Sweetie Belle states then points to down at the fallen girl. The three of them bust out laughing seeing the floor tiles are wet as a puddle forms around Diamond's lower section.

The laughter draws the other girls over to the scene. Once they see the state the fallen Earth pony is in, they burst out laughing. They stand in a circle around her pointing, mocking, and laughing. Diamond's fear changes into anger and hate for everyone present. She looks at everyone laughing and her anger hits a flash point when she hears the sound of snapshots going off. "Hey! Hey! What's going on?!" The female Pegasus coach questions while making her way through the surrounding students. She gasps when she sees what is happening. The coach orders out in a booming voice, "I WANT EVERYONE OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!" The students start to disburse while the coach extents a hand to the wet girl. "Come on lets get you cleaned up. Do you have an extra pair of clothes?"

Diamond nods yes and heads for the shower to wash off. While she is bathing, her mind continues to shout out, ~They are going to pay for this every single one of them is going to pay for this! Those blank flank shitheads most of all, they are going to pay!~

At the treehouse, Twilight sits in her new brown colored reclining chair reading a book that she received from Celestia on binding spells. She turns to page 394 with the new chapter label: Art of Sealing by Star Swirl the Bearded. The new chapter page shows the art work of the circle sealing spell formula and below the picture is the introduction paragraph. Twilight scans over the intro paragraph while muttering to herself the words written in the book. She lazily turns the page then grabs for the glass of fruit flavored tea. "Ah its still makes no sense why the binding spell started to weaken so quickly," she softly states between reading lines and sipping more tea. Another hour later, the purple alicorn gives a bored exhale when she reaches the end of chapter. She sets the book down and picks up the lukewarm cup of tea and takes up quick drink and says, "Well, that turned up nothing new. Maybe, I going about this all the wrong way."

Twilight reclines in her chair and lets the taste from the tea sit in her mouth, she starts to close her eyes and let her ideas float in her head. Her ears perk up hearing the sounds of footsteps coming towards her. She opens her eyes and tilts her head to the left to see Spike walking up wearing blue jeans with a purple shirt looking down at his clipboard with a confused look on his face. Twilight sits up and calls out, "Hey Spike, would you find the book on advance magic formulas please."

The purple dragon looks up from his notes on the clipboard with a confused expression. He stops walking and moves the board to his right side while questioning, "Why do you need that book?" its up and calls out, ""to the left to see Spike walking up wearing blue jeans with a purple shirt looking down at his

"I'm still trying to figure out how the binding spell on Garble weakened," Twilight responds before she stands up with her book and cup in hand.

Spike shakes his head while watching her put the new book on the wooden unicorn statue table. She makes her way to the kitchen with Spike following behind her while saying, "Twilight, why are you still worrying about that? From what AJ has told me, Garble has been good as gold even better. She says that he is a great help on the farm."

Twilight washes out her cup in the sink and exhales, "Spike that's not the point." She pauses drying the cup then puts it into the cabinet. Twilight turns to face her distant relative, "I casted that spell using alicorn magic, so if it weaken that much, especially when it was designed for a dragon, then it raises some serious red flags."

Spike leans against the counter folding his arms, "What are you getting at Twi?"

She lowers her head, "Spike either my magic is weakening or there is something or someone with magic equal to an alicorn. Plus, the guards assigned to watch him just left without any good reason."

"And that factors in, how?" Spike questions.

"While we were in Canterlot, I got a lead on the guards, and asked them, 'why they left their post?'. They both gave some bullshit story about how they needed to return to the capital. Plus, they said that they were under direct orders. When I inquired about who gave them those orders; they couldn't remember. My guess is, someone used a memory spell or even something stronger." Twilight pauses putting her hand under her chin, "Now that I think about it, if you add those factors in, then maybe, the two events are linked by the same person."

"Twi, I think you're overthinking this. Look on the bright side, Garble is on his best behavior and helping us." Twilight starts to object, but Spike moves the clipboard in front of him then says, "Other than that, Twilight there something I wanted to go over with you. I was doing an inventory of the vault and there was something a little off."

The purple alicorn raises an eyebrow, "Spike, what do you mean by there is something off?"

"I was checking over the items inside the vault, and I found a couple of things missing and some things not on the list. I wanted to see if you might know where the items are." Twilight nods and Spike reads off the items in the vault. "The Tome of Time," Spike starts from the top of the list.

"I returned it to Celestia last week," she replies.

"I found an odd looking red, green, and black crystal," the purple dragon details out.

Twilight gives herself quick a pat on the forehead, "Ah, I forgot about that! Cadence sent that to me to study after some explorers found it during an expedition of the Crystal Woodlands, but I got sidetrack."

Spike gives a quick smirk; then he shakes his head as he continues down the list, "Ok next, the Alicorn Amulet is missing, did you…"

Twilight cuts him off shouting, " THE ALICORN AMULET! WHAT THE FUCK! IT'S MISSING!" Spike's wings unfold in shock from Twilight's reaction. Before he is able to respond, he is chasing behind her as they make a b-line to the vault. Once they get inside, Twilight looks all throughout the trophy styled vault room, and after twenty minutes of searching, she is able to confirm Spike's report of the missing item. "Spike send a letter to Celestia and Luna to contact me at once," the purple alicorn orders.

The clock hits noon and third period lunch is starting. The students from second period lunch make their way out; as a new group of students start filing in. Apple Bloom and her friends stand in the lunch line waiting to get their food. Scootaloo holds her hands in praying position begging, "Sweetie Belle, please lend me your notes for English class." Sweetie Belle folds her arms with her back to her friend sweeping her tail back and forth in annoyance. "Come on Sweetie Belle, I'm begging you. I'm on my knees here!"

Sweetie Belle turns around to see her pegasus friend on her knees. Scootaloo keeps begging her to say yes. The young unicorn rolls her eyes, and she finally replies, while some of the other students watch them, "Alright Scootaloo! I'll loan you my notes, but you got to get them back to me by the end of the day!" The pleading girl jumps up with giant smile on her face. Before drawing Sweetie Belle into a tight hug, Scootaloo thanks her over and over again.

Apple Bloom giggles watching Scootaloo's display of appreciation. She turns around to see that the line has moved up; she signals to the others that they are next. They enter the food line room, and they each grab a green lunch tray and set it down on the three silver horizontal bars. The girls slide their trays down the line one after another while filling up their plates and picking up selected dishes. Apple Bloom gets eggplant lasagna, a single cheese burger, a slice of apple pie, and mixed vegetables. Sweetie Belle decides to grab a Caesar salad, a naked hot dog, a slice of red velvet cake, and a bowl of fruit. Lastly, Scootaloo grabs two chilidogs, a bowl of fruit, mixed vegetables, and a pink cupcake with a candy red hammer. After the girls have their food and cups of water, they make their way over to the table at the far right end of the eating hall. Once they sit down, they dig into their plates. Apple Bloom declares with a smile, "Oh weeee! This is some good eggplant lasagna!"

Her friends give her a queer look watching her stuff another fork full of the dish into her mouth. They glance at each other for a minute then back at Apple Bloom attacking the plate with fury. The smile on their faces grow until they burst out laughing drawing her attention. "What?!" Apple Bloom questions with her mouth and cheeks covered with red sauce. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle do their best to fight the laughing fit, but the sight of the red sauce covered mouth is too much. They can no longer bare the comical sight and breakdown into another laughing fit. Apple Bloom finally realizes the reason why they are laughing; then she joins them laughing out loud.

The joyful time is interrupted when the girls hear, "Oh my gosh!"

Apple Bloom looks up as Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo turn around to see Diamond and Silver standing behind them. Apple Bloom uses her napkin to wipe her mouth then asks, "Is there something I can do for you or are you just here to grab my tail again? Because if you are, I'm sorry but I'm not into you like that. Ah hell why beat around the bush, you're just not my type Diamond." This gains a couple of chuckles from the girls as they cover their mouths to stop from laughing.

Diamond's face starts to turn beat red watching the girls laugh. She quickly recomposes herself, and she says with a smug tone, "Oh I forgot, I was talking to the pigs of the school. Listen you nasty oinkers! Keep your sloppy ass eating habits and laughing down. Some ponies are trying to enjoy a respectful and civilized lunch."

Scootaloo's expression starts to sour, but it changes to a sinister smirk while turning to face her friends. Their expressions change as well when she turns back to face their classmate. They hear her say with an equally smug tone, "Please pardon our rudeness Madam Piss Her Pants. We, uncultured ponies, are just so confused by your civilized rules."

Sweetie Belle jumps in next positioning her arms in a mocking fashion, and she adds with the same smug tone, "Quite right! You must forgive our rudeness! Your world is full of such strange customs including your bathroom etiquette."

Apple Bloom jumps in just as if on cue, but her natural talking is coated with the smug snobby tone, "Yes such great differences," she pauses seeing the beat red color start to work its way back into Diamond's face. "Please tell me why, when you have the need to piss, is it your custom pee with your underwear on? Also I like to know, is it normal to pee into big smelly puddles on the floor?!" The last words make the three of them burst out laughing.

Diamond feels the blood rush to her face, but to make matters worse, she hears a couple of snickers from Silver Spoon. She feels her anger explode tenfold, but she once again calms down as another sharp comeback sparks in her head. She displays a confident smile and fires back with, "Well it is a good thing that you all are pigs; because ponies, in my civilized world, would never accept a flightless pegasus, a mud loving unicorn, and most certainly an Earth pony who doesn't even know the truth about her worthless parents!" The three of them stop laughing almost instantaneously. They shoot Diamond a death glare. Seeing the look on their faces, she displays a pleased smile; she turns around and walks away while laughing, "Look who is laughing now!"

"HEY YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Apple Bloom shouts making the whole lunchroom fall silent. Diamond turns around with a smug look on her face. Just then, the yellow filly's plate with the remaining eggplant lasagna slams into her face. The food and sauce goes flying in all directions and over her. The whole world seems to freeze at the very second.

The next words that come screaming out of Sweetie Belle's mouth, "FOOD FIGHT!" The whole room erupts with food flying in every direction. Within a split second, the students sitting at the table to the left of Apple Bloom's table; throws their salads and steaks at the pegasus sitting at the table in front of them. A yellow green mane colored filly gets hit in the back of the head with a cupcake; from the boys at the table behind her. She turns around with a burning death glare at the colt; he points laughing at the mess in her mane and clothes. Without a second thought, she grabs her plate of lasagna and takes off. She comes rushing down like a dive bomber. The boy is distracted by throwing food at other students; at the last second, he sees the oncoming attack but it is too late. The young filly smashes the plate of food in the center of his face. He falls backwards knocked out by the force of the delivery.

The yellow Pegasus points and laughs, "How do you like that! You smartass!"

The fallen colt's friends try to shake him back to consciousness, but their efforts are proved useless. The brown unicorn turns around with an annoyed expression looking at the flying filly doing her best to avoid the flying food. "HEY!" he shouts while his horn glows brown. Several plates of food hover around him. The girl looks down, and he sends everything fly at her, "How do you like this?!" She dodges the plates with ease. Once the last plate flies pass her, the teenager hovers laughing at her accomplishment. Until *SMASH*, a plate of food clashes into the center of her face. She is knocked for a loop and comes falling down to the ground.

A few students turn their table over in front of them to make a makeshift cover for themselves. The group of three colt Earth ponies and two filly unicorns, each take turns throwing food blindly over the edge of the table. They laugh with each throw not caring whether or not they hit anyone or anything. The gray colt among them is next up to throw food; however, after his throw, he gets a quick look at several unicorns pushing a wave of what could only be pink strawberry milk straight at them. "Guys, we got a problem!" he tells the others while covering his head and pointing over his shoulder.

The others look up over the barrier; and they are shocked to see a growing wave of pink liquid being control by the unicorns. Three of them duck behind their cover, but the silver white mane colored unicorn filly keeps standing watching the other unicorns continue advancing towards them. Her friends yell for her to get down. Instead, she points her finger at the food stand full of cakes and other desserts. She wraps her silver color magic aura around the sweet multiple colored food; then she swings her hand at the ponies controlling the milk wave while calling out, "You can't have milk without cookies and cakes!" The food finds its marks covering the students with frosting, bread, and pies. They easily get tripped up, slip and fall, or crash into each other losing control of the wave.

She turns to look at her friends with a smile, but they press up hard next to the table. She gives a confused look; then turns back around to see the wave come crashing on them. They are soaked from head to toe and dyed by the liquid. The other unicorn states, "Well we have the milk where are the cookies?"

Diamond is doing her best not to throw up at the stomach turning smell of eggplant soaking into her clothes. She spits out most of the fragments that got into her mouth; then she looks at Apple Bloom and her friends throwing food at other students while laughing. Sweetie Belle throws up barriers to block incoming food while Scootaloo uses some martial art moves to kick or dodge incoming attacks. Diamond growls with hate feeling the food sauce soak into her clothes even down to her underwear. She grabs a glob of the food that is still on her; then thrusts it at the yellow filly while her back is turned. It looks as if it is going to make a direct hit, but the lite-green shield stops it.

Apple Bloom remains unaware, but Sweetie Belle's face tells another story. Anger and disapproval is painted all over her face, but a smile quickly replaces the expression as several more plates of eggplant lasagna hover up around her. "Bon Appetite you spineless BITCH!"

The food flies at the powder pink filly, yet she runs to escape the plates. She dives over a tilted table escaping the white unicorn's attack. The flying plates hit other students in place of Diamond. However, the young filly doesn't escape scot-free, three other students fling globs of banana pudding at the hiding girl leaving her sticky and sweet smelling.

Snips and Snail manage to get hold of the pie cart; the boys laugh tossing pies of all flavors in any direction. A certain smell takes hold of Snail's scent dawning him to the sweet treat. The orange unicorn sees his favorite, "Blueberry pie, my favorite," he states reaching out for it. Sadly, Snips grabs hold of the dessert getting ready to get to fling it at an unsuspecting classmate. "NO!" he cries out grabbing hold of the slightly warm pan.

Snips cries back, "Snail, what are you doing? Let go!"

"NO! It's my favorite. I want it!" Snails retorts while pulling against his friend to take possession of the dessert.

"Snail!" Snips grunts pulling on his end.

"NO! Let go!" the orange unicorn whines.

The boys' tug-of-war continues for a few more minutes until Snips steps on something that makes him loose his footing and slip. He loses his grip on the pie, and Snail suddenly finds himself tugging against nothing making him fall backwards sending the pie flying overhead.

*SPLAT!*

The whole world around them seem to freeze with a united gasp seeing who the fruit pie hit. The unicorn, standing next to Principal Rule, gives a loud echoing clap while looking at his friend with the pie still stuck to his face. Snails walks up with a gulp and asks, "Uh Principal Rule, may I have some once you are finished?"

Jay's fists tighten while his wings are fully unfolded behind him. A wave of calm and control fills him up, then the black pegasus removes the pie dropping it to the floor. He steps forward while grabbing a napkin to wipe off his face. Once finished, he says in a booming voice, "Ms. Apple Bloom Apple, Sweetie Belle Swann, and Diamond Tiara Rich will go to my office at once! As for the rest of you, you have twenty minutes to clean up this mess, or so help me; I will suspend every single one of you for two weeks! GET TO WORK!"

Rarity and the other Element of Harmony holders, except for Pinkie Pie, arrive at Sweet Oaks library twenty minutes after Spike's call. He greets his friends in the main sitting area with a warm smile on his face, but the girls know that his smile was really for a certain white unicorn; who also gives a sweet smile back at her dragon boyfriend. The couple haven't had much time to see each other since Spike was doing double duty. He still held his position as Twilight's assistant, and he was talking with Sylvia about which dragons would be worthy of joining the Dragon Knights. Before anyone can sit down, Twilight walks into the room with a grave look on her face. She looks at her friends with some show of relief, but when she takes count, she says, "Spike, I told you to call everyone."

"I did Twi," the purple dragon replies.

"Then where is Pinkie Pie?"

Before Spike answers, the pink mare walks in while eating a cupcake with food stains covering her cloths and in her pink mane with her usual smile. Apple Jack calls out, "Pinkie what happen to you? Was there an accident or something at Sugar Cube Corner?"

She finishes eating her cupcake licking the frosting from the sides of her mouth and fingers. Once done she says, "Nope, I just finished lunch, but it was a real tasty fight. Oh by the way, Apple Jack, Rarity make sure that you and your family members don't go overboard. Anyway Twilight, what did Princess Celestia and Luna say?"

"What! Pinkie how did you…" Twilight starts with a puzzled look.

"Oh! She wants me to come to Canterlot at once right? Well I better get going and good luck, bye girls. La la la!" the pink Earth pony says while skipping out the door.

Twilight gives a quick shake of her head then looks at her friends asking, "How does she do that?!"

"Ah, don't worry about it Twilight, it has to be her Pinkie sense or something, but what was with the emergency call?" AJ questions sporting her soiled covered overalls.

"Right, like Pinkie said; I was talking with Celestia and Luna about a major problem." Twilight sits down folding her hands together with a sad look on her face. "First, it seems that there was a robbery from my vault."

Fluttershy says in her soft compassionate voice, "Oh dear, Twilight were you or Spike hurt during the robbery? Oh, what about Owlish and Flame?"

Twilight shakes her head no, "None of us was hurt, but the item that was stolen can cause a lot of damage."

"Twilight!" Rainbow calls out, "Just stop beating around the bush! What was stolen?!"

The alicorn looks up with an annoyed expression, "The Alicorn Amulet!" The girls gasp hearing about the stolen item.

Rarity questions, "Twilight are you absolutely sure that the amulet is missing? Maybe it was misplaced or…"

Twilight shakes her head, and Spike speaks out with his arms crossed standing behind his girlfriend, "Sorry sweetheart, but I personally checked the whole vault even before telling Twi. Add to that, Twilight nearly tore the whole place apart looking herself."

Rainbow gets ready to say something, but AJ jumps in first, "Spike, how would someone get into the vault?"

"Come with me," he orders. They follow him downstairs pass Twilight's remodeled lab and other study. Then, they make their way down a long wooden decorated hallway. At the end of the hall, stands a steel vault door with a simple door handle. The purple dragon stands to the side and motions to the door, "Here, give it a shot AJ."

The orange Earth pony gives a queer look, "This looks pretty simple. In truth, it looks like anyone can just walk in." Spike smirks and motions for her to give it a shot. She swifts her tail left then right and grabs the handle. A powerful shock surges through her hand then up her arms making her scream. The shock then sends her flying backwards down the hall into Rainbow Dash. The two friends crash into the floor was a powerful thump. AJ's mane and tail hair are standing up on end. In the blink of an eye, the orange earth pony rushes at Spike grabbing him by the collar of this white button up shirt. "WHAT THE HELL SPIKE! ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!" Spike giggles looking at his friend, and she tightens her grip still shouting, "WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUCKING FUNNY?!"

He shakes his head, "I would never have imagine you with a spiky mane." She girts her teeth getting ready to punch the purple dragon, but he says, "Hold on AJ. Twilight, would you like to explain?"

The purple alicorn gives a slight smile seeing the look of her friend's mane and tail. "AJ this is my fault; the vault is enchanted with a protection spell. For right now, the only ones who can get in are Spike and myself." AJ lets go of the purple dragon's collar and looks at her friend with a pissed off expression. "That is what leads to the second problem. Either someone was able to find another way into the vault, or my magic is weakening and the thief was able to break the spell." Twilight leans against the wall scraping her nails through her mane with a look of frustration. "AH! This makes no sense! First, it was Garble's sealing. Now, it is the vault's protection spell." She folds her legs up close up to her locking them sliding down the wall; then she wraps her arms around them. She places her head in to the triangle area as she gives off a small sob.

Jay walks into his office wearing a white suit, a black tie and shirt, with white shoes. His mane is restyled in a single braid. The black stallion sits down behind his desk with a stern look on his face; he opens a draw and pulls out four folders and stacks them on his desk. The schoolgirls watch in silence, as if they are not there, while he goes through three of the four folders writing a note at the end in the blank area. Apple Bloom looks as closely as she can at what is written at the top of the blank page, and notices that the name labeled there is *Pacer, Scootaloo*. She blurts out, "Oh shit!"

Jay looks up from his writing in a split second and says in a stern deep voice, "Excuse me?! What did you say?"

Apple Bloom frantically waves her hands in front of her with a wacky look on her face, "Oh shot! Its nothing sir! Nothing at all!" He gives her a raised eyebrow; then he looks back down at Scootaloo's folder.

Sweetie Belle leans over, and asks quietly with her hand over her mouth, "Whatcha you see?"

Diamond frowns looking at the friends whispering to each other, "Mr. Rule, they're talking about something."

Sweetie Belle quickly counters, "No! We are not!"

"I bet they are saying something about me," Diamond adds with a pouting look and tears running down her face.

"LIAR!" Apple Bloom shouts back.

"ENOUGH!'" Jay commands while slamming his fist on the wooden desk. The school girls freeze up hearing his booming voice. He finishes writing in Scootaloo's folder; then he looks at them and says, "I don't know what the problem is today, but starting a food fight while we have a visitor on campus. Miss Apple, I am very disappointed with your actions, and Miss Swann, you amplified the situation by yelling out to start the fight."

"That's right! She should pay for bullying me," Diamond adds with a smug tone.

"Miss Rich, I did not ask for an Amen. Besides, according to the recounts from the staff, they said that you were saying very harsh things to Miss Apple and her friends. One comment was dealing with the fact that her parents are not around. In my judgment, I believe that you were trying to provoke her."

Diamond shoots up out of her chair screaming at him, "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY SAYING THAT YOU THINK I WANTED TO BE HIT IN THE FACE WITH HER FOOD!"

"Sit down, Miss Rich!" Jay orders in his stern cold voice. The powder pink filly with a beat red face sits down a couple of seconds later. "Now Miss Swann, Miss Apple, although your actions were linked to emotional distress, and Miss Swann wanted to help. I cannot nor will not approve, so you two will stay after school and along with Miss Pacer will pick up trash and help with the end of day cleaning. I will also be contacting your families about this incident." The girls nod in response, and Jay says, "Alright you are free to return to class."

As Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom get up to leave, Diamond Tiara gets up pointing back at the two fillies as they make it to the door, "WHAT THE HELL?! IS THAT IT! THEY ONLY HAVE TO DO CLEAN UP DUTY! NO! I WON'T STAND FOR THIS! I WANT THEM CHARGE WITH ASSULT AND BATTERY!"

Jay folds his hands looking at the young mare turning a darker shade of red. "Of course that is your right, but first off you will sit down, and watch the type tone you take with me," the black stallion fires back. His and her eyes are lock on each other and he orders once again, "Sit down Miss Rich that is an order!" She puffs out her lips flopping in the chair with her arms crossed. "You may go girls."

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom walk out of the office into the lobby. They spot a blonde colored mare with a brown colored mane. She is dressed in a black uniform with a silver badge, black duty belt with her gun, radio, handcuffs, ASP baton, OC spray, and two extra magazines of ammo. On her shoulders are the patches with the picture of a tree and written around it City of Ponyville Police Department. On her flanks, her cutie mark is the symbol of a badge and gun. A message comes over the radio, and she uses the shoulder receiver to reply. Apple Bloom walks up to the police woman and calls out, "Hey Officer Ryder, how are you doing? And what brings you here?"

Sharon smiles, "Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle. I am doing well, but what are you two doing here? I hope you aren't up into some crazy shenanigans again."

"Well," she replies while rubbing the back of her head with a look of guilt on her face, "We kind of started a food fight."

Sharon laughs while folding her arms, "Oh girl! AJ is going to have a field day with you when you get home, and I shudder to think what Granny Smith is going to do."

"Yeah me to, but I think once they hear the reason why I started it; then she'll let me off with a warning," the yellow filly replies.

"I wouldn't count on that, but I will still wish you good luck. You two better get to class before you're late, and tell AJ that we are still on for Thursday," Sharon replies. They both nod and head out of the office while talking among themselves. The police woman watches the two girls as they make their way down the hall, and she thinks to herself while seeing a superimpose image of her and AJ walking together in school, ~Jacks, you and your sister are just alike. Especially, when it comes to food fights. ~

Back in Mr. Rules' office, Jay pulls out a stapled five page paper with 98 written on and places it on his desk in front of Diamond, "Miss. Rich, do you know what this is?"

Diamond looks down at the paper, "It's a paper with words on it."

Jay narrows his eyes, "Do you think this is the time and place to be smart with me, Ms. Rich. Now, tell me do you know what this is?"

Diamond exhales while rolling her eyes; then she glances down at the paper, "Yeah, this is my paper from history class."

Jay picks up the paper while getting out of his chair, and he walks about the room. "Yes, and from the grade you did quite well on it. Tell me, what did you write about?"

Diamond folds her arms leaning back into the chair. She watches the black stallion set the paper down and pour a cup of coffee. "I can't remember, it's been too long."

"Oh come now Ms. Rich," Jay comments pouring hazelnut creamer with some sugar, "It has been two weeks, and according to your teacher you haven't had any other major papers since then." Diamond remains silent, and he turns to look at the silent filly and says, "Ms. Rich, you should be able to tell me about your paper on Star Swirl the Bearded."

Diamond gives her principal an untrusting glance then she says, "You have read my report, so why do I need…"

"Because I want to hear the abridge version from you," Jay jumps in.

"He was an advisor to Princess Celestia. He did a great amount of research in the field of magic and science-technology. He disappeared, one day without any trace, and it is still a mystery today," Diamond recites out.

Jay sits back down in his chair then takes a long drink of the hot liquid. He taps the bottom of the cup on the desk three times then says, "It sounds like you have been paying attention in your history class, but I asked for you to give me an overview about your paper. Last I checked, your paper was not over any of those topics, so your paper is about what?"

"Mr. Rule, I don't understand what you are trying to get at. How bout, you save us both the headache, and tell me how my paper about Star Swirl the Bearded has to do with the fact that I got assault and battered by Apple Shit!"

"Control your language," Jay orders then pulls out another binder with Diamond's name. "In truth, I was planning on calling you here regardless because of a more pressing matter that has arisen." Jay places his hand over the paper and taps his index finger. "Miss Rich, your paper is being reviewed because it may have been plagiarized."

"What?! You're out of your mind! I wrote that paper, all on my own, with help from no one," Diamond retorts slightly shifting in her chair.

"I see, then why can't you tell me what you wrote in this paper. You should be quite proud. You made a very high score, and I would believe that a student who worked so hard on this would want to boast about what she wrote," Jay fires back watching the young filly closely for any more signs of guilt.

"Yes, but I am very modest."

"Ms. Rich, you might want to try and sell that to someone else before you spin that story at me," Jay quickly retorts in a monotone voice.

"No… no… I meant," Diamond stutters as her mind races to find the right words, "I meant, when it comes to my academics, I don't like to brag; that way I… I… I won't discourage my fellow classmates."

Jay remains silent with narrow eyes looking at the preteen student. After a couple of seconds, he opens and flips through Diamond's records to see that most of all her grades were high marks, but her final test scores were below average. ~Hum…,~ he thinks to himself, ~ she isn't lying about her scores, but her test scores are worrying me.~ He turns to the guidance counselor reports, but he doesn't see anything related to testing issues. "Ms. Rich, I am going to be straight with you; I got a report that this paper was plagiarized and it was seen by another teacher in the high school. I ran your paper through the Turn-It-In system, and it popped for plagiarism."

She retorts with a worried tone in her voice, "That's impossible, I wrote this paper! What makes you think that you can trust this system?! I've heard the thing pops on every signal paper that is put into it."

Jay leans back into his chair, "Trust me Ms. Rich, the system is very reliable. Besides, we have strict guidelines when it comes to the results from this system. We have a default setting percent at 48%, and your paper spiked at 92.5%."

Diamond begins to sweat while her mind races for answers, and after a couple heartbeats, she is able to counter with, "There is only one explanation for this, someone stole and copied my paper."

Jay shakes his head, "That is impossible Ms. Rich, according to the database, the paper with this content was originally turned in eight months ago."

"That's not possible!"

"I'm afraid so and unless you were given the same assignment eight months earlier; then you would have not been able to turn in this paper. That leads me to ask, where and who did you get it from?"

Diamond crosses her arms with a sour look on her face, and replies with a sour tone, "I am the one who wrote that paper! I didn't get it from anyone!"

Jay's voice grows cold when he says, "Ms. Rich this is your last chance; I have given you every opportunity to come clean with me. Do you think, I would have called you in here if I didn't know the truth from the start? Now, I mean it this is your last chance to save your tail, where did you get this paper from and who sold it to you?"

Diamond pounds her hand on the desk with a burning red look on her face, "I didn't buy no paper or plagiarize this," she points at her paper, "This is my paper, and I wrote it!"

Jay exhales shutting his eyes then presses the button on the intercom system, "Please send her in."

"What? Send who in?" Diamond questions looking as the principal reaches into his desk. Jay pulls out two thin three ring binders with papers inside.

Jay opens the binders and writes Diamond's full name on the first page of each binder. Sharon walks into his office; and Jay says, "Ms. Rich, this is our school resource officer Sharon Ryder." He hands her one of the binders and continues, "She is going to escort you to your locker; then home."

"WHAT! WHY?!" she shouts shooting up from her chair.

"Since you refuse to confess, I have no choice but to start an academic audit of all your work while you attended this school. According to protocol, I have to send you home for the rest of the day, but you may return in the morning. Please make sure that your parents get that binder it lists all your rights as a student along with other vital information. I will be calling tonight to inform your parents about this and to set up meetings for all of you to attend."

"No, you can't do this! This isn't fair!"

"Yes it is Ms. Rich, Officer Ryder will escort you home have a safe ride and enjoy the rest of your day," Jay states standing up and motioning for her to leave his office. Diamond's face is beat red, but her eyes start to fill up with tears until she breaks down crying while leaving the office with Sharon.

AJ and others make their way back into the living room, but the orange mare has a sour expression painted on her face and the others give off sight giggles glancing at the state of her mane. Once they are in the sitting room, Rarity grabs hold of AJ's hand, "Don't worry darling, I'll help you fix this mess." The white unicorn takes her to the couch and sits her down.

Rarity walks over to her purse and grabs her portable make up and style kit. "Well you can thank your boyfriend for this mess," AJ replies flopping to the floor as Rarity sits behind her on the couch.

She runs her fingers through AJ's wild shocked mane and says, "Oh my, Apple Jack, your mane is so soft, and what is that sweet smell?" Rarity starts to run her comb through the blonde colored mane and states, "AJ, I half way expected that your mane would have split ends and large tangles, but what conditioner are you using? You must tell me please."

As Rarity continues to comb down the wild mane, AJ replies, "It's something that Zecora gave me."

"Oh really do you think you can get some for me? And…"

"AHHH!" Rainbow cries out interrupting Rarity. "Hello can we focus here! We have bigger things to worry about than mane conditioner!"

Twilight walks in the room from the kitchen carrying a snack tray with a steaming pot of tea sitting in the center. "Rainbow is right," the alicorn princess comments setting the refreshments at the center table.

"Thank you!" Rainbow replies.

"Please Rainbow Dash, I know we have to focus on who stole the Alicorn Amulet, but I knowing about great fashion products is a must as well. Besides, you might want to ask for a bottle yourself; even from here I can tell that you mane is crying out for some TLC," Rarity fires back at the impatient Pegasus while she continues to work on AJ's mane.

Rainbow rolls her eyes then Fluttershy says, "Um Twilight…, I don't mean to be nosey, but if you don't mind… I mean you don't have to unless you want to… but I think it would help if you…"

"UHH!" Rainbow Dash grunts out loudly making the shy yellow Pegasus jump for a little bit and hide her face behind her wings, "Spit it out!"

"Tell us what the Alicorn Amulet is?!" she quickly blurts out.

Rarity then adds, "Yes dear, tell us more about what the amulet is, but if you ask me it's not a very stylist item. Although with the right dress and shoes…"

"Um Rarity, I don't think that we are here to talk about how to make that thing fashion worthy!" Apple Jack jumps in with an annoyed expression, but a second later she yelps in pain feeling her mane being tugged, "Watch it Rarity that hurts!"

"Yeah Fluttershy is right on cue," Rainbow states giving the shy mare a strong pat on back making her exhale. "Outside of what Trixie did, we know close to nothing about the Alicorn Amulet." Rainbow then moves over to where Twilight is sitting and sits on the arm rest next to her friend; she places her right arm on the alicorn's left shoulder. "So Twi, can you give us the four-one-one on what the hell the thing is."

Twilight gives Rainbow a sideways glance, then looks back forward at the others, "Well Spike and I did find some information about the amulet, but I don't know how useful it will be." The girls give her an intense look waiting for her to tell what she knows. "Well to start with the Alicorn Amulet was created by a medieval cult," Twilight starts drawing confused looks from the four mares.

"It sounds like they were doing evil things in that cult," Rarity comments.

"I wouldn't really call them an 'evil' cult," Twilight replies.

"Then what would you call them; because, I wouldn't give the label of a friendly cult," Rainbow counters.

"Let me explain without all the interruptions," Twilight begs, "I promise this should answer most of your questions." The girls nod and listen closely to the story. "During the Era of Discord, ponies, dragons, and others throughout the world were victims of Discord's chaos, and Celestia and Luna were away searching for the Elements of Harmony. During that time, a cult of unicorns joined together to try and come up with a way to destroy Discord; history records their name as the Cult of the Horn. They believe that the power of the alicorns before Luna and Celestia was the key in controlling and ultimately defeating Discord. According to legend, this cult had met with some of the elder dragons, who were alive, during the time before Discord's rise to power."

Twilight pauses and takes a drink of tea while Spike continues the story, "The unicorns went to my ancestors to discuss ancient magic that had been lost during The Fall of the Council. From what I was able to find out, the ancient elders possessed tomes of lost and forgotten magic. The cult was able to convince the elders to give them one of the tomes. Legend claims that, the tome possibly have the spell to end Discord. The elders granted them access to the library, but the unicorns' efforts were fruitless. By that time, the followers of Discord got word of the cult's plan, but Discord blew it off when he ordered his followers to find the alicorn sisters, and stop them from finding the elements."

Spike sits next to Rarity; then looks at his girlfriend's work with a grinning expression. He gives her a tap on the shoulder and shakes his head left to right while doing his best not to bust out laughing. Twilight picks it up from there, "After Discord ordered, his followers to find the alicorns, Celestia and Luna had found the Elements of Harmony. They along with all their allies went forward to challenge Discord. The united forces, of all races, overpowered Discord's army; then Luna and Celestia faced one-on-one with Discord. Needless to say, they defeated him, and he was sealed in stone. News of their victory spread across the globe, and people everywhere were happy to hear that Discord had fallen. However, the Cult of the Horn was not happy about the news; they believed the whole mess could have been prevented if the alicorns didn't become so lazy in their duty, and let the council fall. From then on, they were committed to finding a way to stop Discord if he was ever able to escape. The years went by, and the world was in a relative state of peace. Until innocent dragons, unicorns, pegasus, Earth ponies, and others started showing up dead. The reports showed that their bodies were mutated, their blood had be completely drained, and things so horrible that no pony should be force to recall. Add to that, the rate of kidnappings skyrocketed from every part of the world. Luna and her elite guards were called in when the authorities started reporting that people from high ranking offices started missing, and things went from bad to worse when the King of Dragons, Ashkore the Great, reported that a group of unicorns were caught trying to kidnap his daughter."

Fluttershy looks at the purple dragon and asks, "Ashkore the Great? Spike wasn't Ashkore the name of your dad?"

Spike nods his head and says, "Yeah, he was my great-great-great grandfather. The girl that the cult tried to kidnap was my aunt. King Ashkore threaten that if the cult responsible was not dissolved; he would have seen to it personally. In turn, that would have led to war. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna agreed with the king and started plans to end the cult. They were able to make massive crackdowns on the cult and its members. According to historic records, the cult's membership went from two million down to fifty or less. From there, many believed that the remaining members would disband, and the cult fade into nothing. Their hopes were dashed because the cult didn't break apart. In truth, the remaining members vowed that they would get revenge on the princesses, my family, and the world for the injustice, they felt, was done to them."

Twilight jumps in, "Nearly fifty years later, a small number of kidnapping started again; the ones that took notice said that it was nothing out of the ordinary until the bodies of the victims were discovered. The reports were sent to Luna, and, right away, she recognized that the mutation matched the work from the Cult of the Horn. Luna launched another full out search for the cult members, but she found the original surviving members were either dead or unable to recall who the new members were."

"Ha! Sounds like bullshit to me," Rainbow comments getting up to get more tea.

"That is what Luna said, but nevertheless, she continued her search for the cult; while Celestia was handling things with the dragon empire. A few months later, things took a turn for the worst when the providence of Swampy Plains was destroyed in an unexplained explosion. In truth, the cult was the cause of the explosion. It was the result of them completing the Alicorn Amulet. Celestia and Luna went there together to face the cult once and for all. When they arrived, they saw one of the male unicorn members wearing the amulet, but he was completely out of control. Luna and Celestia reported that the stallion's horn was glowing with a black aura, and he had black wings." Twilight takes another drink of her tea while everypony listens for the next line from the alicorn princess. She exhales then says, "He was an alicorn."

"WHAT! THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Rainbow Dash shouts flapping her wings to push herself in midair. "THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A MALE ALICORN! NEVER!"

"Calm down Rainbow, besides we really don't know that. Anyway, it took everything that Celestia and Luna had to stop him. The battle lasted for four straight days and destroyed nearly everything within twenty miles. Once things settled down, they were able to get the amulet from his charred body. They also got a hold of a lone survivor from the cult. She told Luna that he was the fifth person to be bonded to the amulet."

Twilight sees her younger brother fixing his mouth to say something and lets him continue on, "Princess Luna interrogated the sole survivor for weeks. Finally, she broke, and told her about the research log they kept from the creation of the amulet. According to the log, the amulet is controlled by negative emotions of the wielder. The stronger the hate, darkness, and other negative emotions in one's heart. The greater the control of the amulet the wielder has."

Rainbow chimes in, after swallowing a pineapple bite from the snack tray, "From what you and Twilight are saying, we are going to have one hell of a fight on our hands."

Apple Jack then adds, "Plus this explains why Trixie was able to stay in control when she faced Twilight."

"It does indeed, but how did Trixie get a hold of the amulet in the first place? Also could she have stolen it again?" Rarity questions while using her magic to pull out another brush and spray bottle.

Spike quickly explains, "Well according to legend, the princesses took the amulet to the Castle of the Two Sisters and stored it there, but it went missing after Nightmare Moon destroyed the castle. From there on, we have no way of tracking it until Trixie used it against Twilight, and that is where the story mostly ends. Without any more information to go on, I'm with Rarity on the possibility that Trixie is the one behind this."

Rainbow quickly counters with, "Well that sounds all well and good but there is one teeny-tiny little problem." The sky blue Pegasus twirls her index finger while saying, "The so called Great and Powerful Trixie is locked up."

Fluttershy softly asks, "Rainbow how do you know that?"

"Well, a good buddy of mine is on Manehatten PD. He heard about the trouble Trixie caused while here in Ponyville, and told me the tricky unicorn got herself mixed up in an embezzlement scheme. As a result, she has, just recently, been sentenced to five years in prison, and before then she has been locked up for the last six months. In short, Trixie has an air tight alibi," Rainbow expresses.

"WHAT IN TARNATION! RARITY, WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY MANE?!" AJ yells looking into the hand mirror. She sees her mane styled in a classic 18th century French shape with a bun at the top with a small amounts of her hair spouting from the top. The rest of her mane is curl upward into the shape of a bigger bun.

"Why Apple Jack your mane looks wonderful," Rarity fires back.

"Well I don't! Put my mane back to the way it was this instance!" the orange pony orders.

"But AJ…"

"NOW!"

"Will you two stop your belly aching! We have more important things to worry about then caring how your mane looks!" Rainbow calls out; after folding her arms with an annoyed look on her face.

"You are one to speak Rainbow. Your mane has nothing but split ends; it needs some serious TLC!" Rarity fires back.

Rainbow walks over with defiance in her eyes, "Oh yeah miss prim and proper stick up her ass, what are you going to do about it!"

Rarity stands up with the same look in her eyes, "I wouldn't know where to start with that mess you call a mane. Not to mention your clothes, did you have trouble getting dress because…"

"Say one more fucking word about me, and so help me," Rainbow injects while her fist tightens.

"So help you what!" Rarity fires back closing the gap between them.

"BOTH OF YOU STOP!" Spike yells in his booming voice. The seven foot dragon stands towering over the foot and a half shorter mares. "Rarity go put AJ's mane back to the way it was. Now!" Rarity opens her mouth getting ready to argue, but the purple dragon places his finger over her mouth stopping her from speaking, "Don't argue Rarity! Just do it!" He then turns to the Wonderbolt officer and says, "Rainbow don't you dare threaten Rarity like that again. Come on, we are all friends here; the last thing we need to be doing is fighting among ourselves. I want you both to apologize and put this shit to bed!" They look at each other with eyes still full of distaste; a low growl comes out the purple dragon's mouth watching to the two women. His growl turns into a roar loud enough to scare Fluttershy and make her run and hide behind Twilight's chair, "NOW!"

Rarity and Rainbow jump in fear into each other's arms. Spike smiles seeing the two quickly make up with each other. He turns to Twilight who has a sour look painted on her face. Spike gives a questioning expression while scratching his head. Twilight points behind the chair where Fluttershy is hiding. He looks to the see the yellow Pegasus shaking in horror; Spike walks behind the chair to quickly comfort his shaken friend. Once Fluttershy is calm, Spike addresses everyone, "Now that we have gotten past these silly problems, we can focus on figuring out a plan to find the amulet and protect all the innocent ponies. Does any pony have an idea?"

AJ is seated back on the floor getting her mane redone, "Well, Spike since you are proposing the questions, what should we do?"

Spike crosses his arms while allowing his tail to swing from the left to right with a hard expression on his face. After about a minute of silence, he looks at the girls and says, "Let's be realistic about the situation, we don't have time to waste trying to figure out how the vault was broken into. We have to focus on what the person, who broke in, is going to do with the Alicorn Amulet. With that being said, we need a swift and proper plan of action, in the case, the thief decides to come back to Ponyville, or attack somewhere else using the amulet's power. Twilight, head back to Canterlot and see if there is a more powerful protection spell that we can use to protect the vault. Also ask Princess Celestia if there is any more information about the amulet. Lastly, ask her what kind of mission Pinkie Pie is on and why. Rainbow Dash, you need to inform the military about this security threat and have them send additional forces down this way to increase our defensive strength. Apple Jack no one knows Ponyville or the surrounding area better than you. See if any pony saw anything weird since things have settle down and quietly have the local guards start setting up the defenses. Fluttershy talk with Mayor Mare about preparing the evacuation procedures and safe house locations. Rarity and I will meet with Sylvia and the other dragons who want to join the Dragon Knights. Everyone make sure you keep your element close to you just in case things start to get hairy." They each nod agreeing to go along with Spike's plan. Just as a smile comes to his face, "Awesome! Good luck everypony!"

They start to get up and gather what they need; when Rainbow Dash calls out, "Hey Spike, what's the big deal? Why are you and Rarity sticking so close together?" The other girls take notice of her comment. They give the white unicorn and purple dragon a sinister happy expression.

"Oh! Look at the time!" Spike blurts out. He grabs hold of Rarity, and he easily picks her up while she protests for him to put her down. "There's no time to waste! LATER!" He shouts running out the door and taking off.

Diamond and Sharon arrive at her house. The Rich estate is located fifteen miles outside of Ponyville. The mansion is settle in the backdrop of the well styled display garden. The artist shaped hedges are lined up alongside the three pool size fountains placed throughout the estate. At the tip of the horseshoe shaped driveway, the four story mansion stands with majestic pride. The window seals are gold trimmed and sparkles under the sunlight. From a distance on the flat roof, two helicopters can be seen waiting to be used. Sharon's patrol car passes through the security guard post; then races up the driveway to the overhead front door. When the patrol car comes to a stop, an old grey earth pony with a white colored mane dressed in a black and white butler uniform stands at the front door. The butler walks up to the backseat door getting ready to open it.

Sharon gets out of the car and calls out to elder gentlecolt, "Hello sir, may I get your name?"

He looks at the police officer and says in a raspy tone of voice, "My name is Walter Cleancolt. I am the head butler of the Rich Estate."

"Is Mr. or Mrs. Rich here at this time?"

"Not at this time, I have talked with Mr. Rich about Miss. Rich's early return, and he gave me permission to take custody of her. If need be I will have the onsite attorney to verify his orders," Walter counters.

Sharon holds up her hand, "No! That will not be necessary." She opens the backdoor allowing Diamond to step out then hands the binder to Walter explaining, "Principal Rule stated this binder must be given to Ms. Rich's parents. Also she will be permitted to return to school in the morning." Diamond walks into the house. Sharon gives a quick salute then gets back into her car and drives off.

Inside Diamond throws down her backpack while snapping her fingers ordering out, "Send word for my personal yacht to be made ready to sail off when I get finished changing. Plus, I want to have lunch and dinner served onboard."

"I'm afraid that is not possible Ms. Rich," Walter conveys while walking behind her and grabbing her backpack.

"What? Don't tell me that my yacht is back in the repair harbor!" Diamond exclaims. "Fine, it doesn't matter; I'll just use daddy's yacht. I like his better; in fact, Walter tell daddy I want a new yacht for my summer gift."

"That isn't possible Ms. Rich."

Diamond turns around looking at the elder colt with disgust in her eyes, "Don't tell me that all the yachts are in the repair dock."

"No ma`am. According to the latest reports, all three vessels are up and operational."

"Then why the hell, do you keep telling me that what I'm asking for is not possible!"

"I'm under orders from Mr. Rich to not let you off the estate or outside the main house until their return this evening. He also instructed me to have you escorted up to your room." The elder butler states while walking pass the growing red face young mare. "If you would please follow me ma`am, I will have the kitchen staff put together a food cart and bring it to your room. Please follow me Ms. Rich."

Diamond is burning beat red at the end of Walter's explanation. She storms over to one of the closest phone and dials her father's office. The stallion, on the other end of the line, informs her that her father is busy with a client. "Listen to me you lowlife hourly worker, I am Diamond Tiara Rich your boss's daughter. He can meet with whomever later. Tell my father that I'm on the line, and I need to speak with him at once!"

The stallion secretary rolls his eyes and puts the spoiled girl on hold. He makes contact with her father, and a couple of seconds later; Filthy Richard Rich picks up the line. A second before Richard could say anything Diamond shouts out, "DADDY I WANT YOU TO FIRE WALTER! HE IS MAKING UP SOME LIE THAT YOU SAID I COULDN'T GO ON MY YACHT OR LEAVE THE ESTATE! I KNOW HE IS LYING, SO I'M CALLING THE GUARDS RIGHT NOW TO…" The ranting foal stops when her father cuts her off. After a couple of seconds of listening, Diamond cries out, "BUT DADDY, I DIDN'T!" Her words fall silent again when Richard start speaking again, and once he is halfway through his sentence, Diamond screams out, "DADDY LISTEN TO ME, I CAN EXPLAIN!" Richard gives a quick retort and Diamond fires back, "DADDY IT WASN'T MY FAULT! I DIDN'T CHEAT! I PROMISE!"

Richard's last statement sends the young filly over the edge, "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME! YOU CAN'T LET THAT LOWCLASS PRINCPAL COME HERE! YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND, HOW IT WILL LOOK IF MY FRIENDS AND EVERYONE ELSE IF THEY FOUND OUT THAT HE CAME TO MY HOUSE! I WON'T STAND FOR IT YOU HAVE TO…" Everyone around her hears her father shouting back thought the phone telling her that he will do no such thing, and he orders her to give the phone to Walter.

Diamond throws the phone to the oak wood floor while stomping off towards the front door on the bright red center carpet. Walter gathers up the phone and hears Richard shouting on the other end. "Um sir, it is me, Walter sir." Richard's voice calms down and he poses three questions to the elder butler. "Yes sir, to the first two questions, but for the third question, Ms. Rich is walking towards the front doors." Walter listens to the new instructions and quickly hangs up; then he dials another number and relays the information to the person on the other end.

Diamond reaches the large birch wood front doors and pulls them open. In front of her stands two security guards dressed in grey long sleeve shirts with dark navy blue pants, and black military boots. The male and female guards step up to the young pony and grab hold of her arms. They easily lift her off the ground and walk back towards Walter. The young girl kicks and screams with everything she has, but in the end they manage to get her to her room. With blood shot eyes and a tearful filled face, Diamond stares with rage and hate in her voice she states, "You will all pay for this you bastards! I will make you all pay for this!" A second later, her door slams shut as she continues yelling out loud.

The clock strikes five o'clock and the sky is painted in a bright radiant orange as the sunsets in the west. The Cutie Mark Crusaders walk off school campus tired and sore from today's events. Scootaloo carries her scooter in her backpack as she flexes her wings in and out. "Damn my wings, arms, and legs are killing me! I can't believe Principal Rule made us clean up all the hallways, kitchen, and gym locker room."

Sweetie Belle giggles and replies while rubbing her shoulders, "Yeah, you think after all that we would get our cutie marks in cleaning." The unicorn and Pegasus laugh at the idea. A second later, Sweetie Belle looks over at Apple Bloom with her ears and tail down while her arms are crossed over her chest as if she is deeply lost in thought. The unicorn puts her hand on her friend's shoulder and says, "Hey Apple Bloom what's the matter?"

"Yeah, you have been looking that way since the lunchroom brawl. You look as if you have lost your best friend," Scootaloo adds looking at her yellow filly friend.

"What Diamond said is still bothering me," Apple Bloom starts off then looks up at the evening sky with a puzzled look on her face. "I know I shouldn't give two fucks to what that snob said, but in truth she did bring up a vital point. I really don't know anything about my parents, or what happened to them and the same goes for Apple Jack and Big Mac. I remember a while back, I overheard AJ and Granny talking about how an anniversary was coming up in a couple of days, but that's all I could get before Big Mac caught me ease dropping."

"Hum…" Sweetie Belle voices as her right hand is under her chin in the pose of a thinker. "An anniversary… that does sound quite a bit misleading. Maybe this time, she was going to reveal the truth?"

"If so, that was all blown to hell when the dragons attacked," Apple Bloom replies as the girls make their way pass the park and playground. They leave the sidewalk and head on the playground. Since it was getting close to six o'clock all the younger foals were back home with their parents leaving the playground empty. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle hop onto the swings; while the yellow farm mare sits on top of the monkey bars. Apple Blooms lets her tail swing in between the gap of the bars while she lays back looking up at the sky.

Scootaloo calls out slightly swinging back and forth, "Hey Apple Bloom if you want my opinion, I would just say fuck it!"

Sweetie Belle quickly jumps in, "Scootaloo that is the harshest thing I have ever heard you say! We are talking about her parents!"

"No…no! I don't mean that! I mean about what Diamond said! Look the day we have to listen to what Miss Crybaby says is the day we have to fight for our lives!" Scootaloo counters.

"Oh Scootaloo! You and your imagination! You have been listening to way too many of Rainbow Dash's stories. What makes you think that we would ever have to fight Diamond?"

"I don't know! Call me crazy, but I have this feeling that she is going to try and start shit again with us."

"The only thing I'm going to call you is a doctor!" Sweetie Belle fires back. "Let's get real, this is Diamond Tiara Rich we are talking about here. She couldn't start a pot of boiling water even if the water was in the pot and on the stove."

Still looking up at the ever growing darker sky, Apple Bloom spots the first star of the night then says, "I don't know Scootaloo may be on to something there." Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo both give her a queer look just as she uses her gymnastic skills to balance herself perfectly upside down. She vaults upward, then she lands perfectly on the ground in front of her friends. "Think about it, in less than a year, we will be in high school; knowing Diamond, she is going to use her money and status to bribe others to follow her. As for those who can't or won't follow Diamond, she is going to make our lives a living hell. Our sisters risked their lives to protect us and everyone here from the dragon attack. We need to do something. AJ and the girls have the Elements of Harmony, and their friendship binds them together. The thing that binds us together is not only our friendship, but us being the Cutie Mark Crusaders. I think the CMC shouldn't just be for those ponies who haven't gotten their cutie mark, but for everypony who wants and needs a friend."

Scootaloo hops out of the swing and holds her hand in the center, "I'm down for that! Plus when every CMC member whenever sees someone being bullied by Diamond or any other pony, we will stand by their side and let them know that they are never alone."

"Right!" Apple Bloom adds smacking her hand over Scootaloo's.

Lastly Sweetie Belle gets up looks at her friends, "I still think you two are blowing this out of portion, but…" the young unicorn wraps her hands around both of theirs with a smile on her face, "with those ideas as our goals, I will always be there for you, other friends, and any other pony that needs us. Cutie Mark Crusaders forever!"

All three shout in unison while lifting their hands into the air, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS FOREVER!"

The girl's attention is drawn towards someone clapping in the distance as he makes his way closer to the girls. "That was a pretty moving speech," the stallion states while still slowly clapping. "What do you think Z?"

"Quite moving indeed, but do they know what time it be?"

The girls turn around to see Big Mac and Zecora walking up them. "Big Mac, Zecora what are you two doing here?" Apple Bloom questions.

"First, answer Zecora's question," the red stallion replies.

Scootaloo looks at her watch and shouts, "OH SHIT ITS 6:45PM!"

"WHAT! MOM AND DAD ARE GOING TO KILL ME!" Sweetie Belle cries out rushing off the swing set and grabbing her bag.

"YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE! I HAVE TO GET HOME NOW! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!" Scootaloo shouts as she tries to pull her scooter out.

"HEY!" Big Mac shouts making the girls look at him. "I have my truck here, so I'll just take you home. Come on lets go."

The girls quickly jump into the back of Big Mac's F350 black four door truck. Once they are all in, Big Mac pulls out of the parking lot and drives off. Twenty minutes later after dropping Apple Bloom's friends off, the truck pulls into the farm house garage. Apple Bloom hops out of the back of the truck and turns around to see Zecora and Big Mac talking with each other. She shakes her head and heads in through the kitchen door. Inside, she sees Garble reading a book at the table; while AJ works at the stove cooking up dinner. Before she can get her older sister's attention, Granny Smith walks into the kitchen and says, "Apple Bloom, I got a call from Principal Rule today. He told me that you started a food fight because of something that Diamond Tiara said. Do you care to explain?"

After a very long and tiring dinner, Apple Bloom finishes showering and flops on to her bed. A text message comes up on her cell phone.

Told mom and dad what happened, I'm grounded for a week. SB

Ditto, mom took my scooter and grounded for two weeks. SL

Granny tore me a new one for starting the fight; she didn't ground me, but I have to do extra chores around the farm and house without pay. AB

Lucky! LOL! SB

Yeah! :D! SL

Back at the Rich estate, Diamond's parents arrive at home around a quarter to eight. The pre-teen filly is on her laptop reading over the lines for the upcoming school play. She recites the lines for Princess Celestia's character. She knew she was a shoe in for the role after helping fund the theatre department. Halfway through the read out, she hears her cell phone go off with her dad's ringtone. She picks up the phone and hears him tell her that she needs to come downstairs. Diamond rolls her eyes and gets ready to head down.

In the main living room, Richard sits in his armchair still wearing his tailor-made three piece green suit. Ruby Rich, his wife, is a well-endowed red mare with silver-white mane and tail. She is sports a form fitting short purple business dress. Richard gets up and pours a small shot of cider whisky for him and his wife. They sip the drink allowing the favor of the drink to fill their mouth.

"Rick, I just have a hard time understanding how our daughter could do such a thing," Ruby states after taking another sip of her drink.

The brown stallion leads up against the French designed couch that his wife is sitting on, "Believe it Ruby, Principal Rule was very straight forward and convincing about the evidence that he presented to me over the phone."

"That still doesn't mean that there is any proof to what he said that Diamond did," Ruby counters.

"I know, that's why I invited him here to explain and show us, in-person, the evidence that he has against her."

"WHAT! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Diamond shouts out. "DAD YOU CAN'T HAVE HIM COME HERE! THINK ABOUT WHAT THE OTHERS WOULD THINK IF THEY FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS HERE!"

Ruby looks at her spoiled daughter, "Diamond relax if there is nothing to hide; if he is going to be blowing a lot of hot air, we will just get him fired for not doing his job."

"Unless, you are hiding something Diamond," Richard adds examining her reaction.

Walter walks into the room, "Sir your guest, a Mr. Jay Rule, is requesting entry to the estate."

"Tell the guards, NO!" Diamond quickly replies.

"Diamond enough," Richard orders then looks at Walter, "Tell the guards to let him in, Diamond go upstairs change into something more proper." The powder pink filly huffs and turns around to go to her room.

Jay is escorted into the main foyer by one of the guards; halfway in, Walter comes up and states, "Good evening, Mr. Rule and welcome to the Rich Estate. I'm Walter Cleancolt, head butler and coordinator of the service staff. Mr. and Mrs. Rich are waiting in the parlor. Please follow me sir."

Jay nods in response and follows his guide into a large room with a luxurious brown carpet and oak wood painted walls. The room is decorated with three large European style couches, two pool tables, and a fully stocked bar with many different types of fancy liquors. The walls are also decorated with paintings ranging from family portraits to what could be replicas of famous artwork. In the far left corner of the room, an eight chair long table is occupied by Diamond and Ruby. Richard is behind the bar fixing a drink when he sees Jay with Walter. The trillioniare earth pony calls out, "Ah Principal Rule! Welcome please come have a seat. Would you like a drink?"

"No thank you, Mister Rich," Jay replies. Before sitting down on the opposite side of the table, he sees Diamond giving him a mean hard look as he sets his briefcase next to the chair. He then looks at Ruby with a questionable expression on her face; he extends his hand, "Please forgive me, good evening Mrs. Rich," Ruby reaches out and shakes his hand, "And I hope you are doing well Ms. Rich."

Diamond snorts in response as Richard sits next to her, "Diamond don't be rude. My apologies Principal Rule this whole thing has got everyone's tension a little high."

"I can understand that Mr. Rich. That's why I'm hoping that we can put this matter behind us very quickly."

"From our conversation earlier today, you told me that Diamond had turned in some forged work."

"Yes, her report on Star Swirl the Bearded was flagged as a hot paper."

Ruby then chimes into the conversation, "Do you have the paper with you? If so, I would like to look at it myself." Jay nods and reaches for his briefcase. He opens it up and pulls out the paper; then hands it over to Ruby. She takes the paper and quickly reads over it. "From my stand point, Diamond did a great job on this report. I fail to see how this could constitute cheating," she states handing the report over to her mate.

Jay reaches in his case for another paper, "Then you might want to read this report." He hands her the essay, and sees the growing confusion in her eyes while she reads. "I know, that's the same look I had when I had read it, myself."

She hands the report over to Richard, and he reads them side by side, "Principal Rule is this some kind of joke? You handed us just another copy of Diamond's assignment."

"I wished that was true, but look at the formatting and style of the second paper," Jay directs the parents. They look closely, while the ebony Pegasus explains, "You see the second paper is written in the format for a college student. Plus, the sources cited are from books and databases that our students don't have access to yet. I also took the time to talk with Ms. Rich's English teacher, and he told me that Diamond's writing skills don't match this form of writing."

"That is quite odd," Richard states while rubbing his chin as he scans over the papers.

"Indeed and it is part of a very large and troubling issue that the education department is going through."

Ruby folds her arms and inquires, "What do you mean, Principal Rule?"

Jay interlaces his fingers and takes a long deep breath then slowly exhales, "Mrs. Rich, have you heard about the major cheating scandal that hit several universities around Equestria?" She shakes her head no. "What about you Mr. Rich?" He also shakes his head. "Ok, I'll start from the beginning. Nearly eight months ago, a rumor started to float around about term papers being sold over the internet for a selected price. Students overloaded with work decided to buy these papers then turn it in for a grade. The students would either pay up to hundreds of dollars in cash, or they write or steal another paper that could be used and put onto the market. The student responsible for the building of the dark enterprise tried to pass it off as a market plan project in his business class. The professor, at the time, was so impress by the plan that she talked to the student about ways to extend and spread the market. Since the professor was suffering from growing financial burdens, she made a deal with the student to feed information about future projects and papers that would be coming up in classes from all fields of study. The partnership was pulling in a great deal of money from the dark enterprise that it spread to the grade school levels."

"Principal Rule it sounds like a syndicate," Ruby exclaims looking back down at the copied paper.

"You're right Mrs. Rich it was a crime syndicate because they didn't stop at just selling reports and projects. If a student was unable to pay for their purchase or they got the wrong thing, the members would inform their higher contacts, and the student would have two choices. Either they would have to write ten or more reports free of charge, and let their real work suffer. Or the professors and teachers involved, would make sure the student was expelled and blacklisted from all schools, colleges, and universities," Jay explains to the ever-growing worried parents.

"Dear Celestia, they sound completely ruthless," Richard proclaims.

"Sadly, that was the tip of the iceberg," Jay states lowering his head feeling a wave of sadness wash over him. "The syndicate student members decided to expand their business into the field of testing and entry exams. They bribed and blackmailed a number of testing officials to gain access to the test questions and answers. As you can guess, this new product sold like crazy to millions around the country. Everything came crashing down when the author of a paper was murdered."

"WHAT!" Diamond's parents shout in unison shooting up out of their chairs.

"This has to be some mistake!" Ruby adds.

"What happened to the author?" Richard questions trying to calm her down.

"The student was blackmailed to write the paper, but, at the same time, he tried to inform the college administration board. Sadly, the syndicate got word about what he was doing, and they extracted swift and deadly vengeance. They were so bold that they took the paper with the encrypted information. The police were baffled for weeks about why the student was murdered, and other students, involved, were scared into silence. The police didn't received a break in the case until another student came bursting into a police station claiming someone was trying to kill her. It was later known, the victim was the younger sister of the murdered student. The police put a hard focus on the members pointed out by the student. Once the syndicate and their dark network was exposed, the truth about the extent and mass of the syndicate was made known. The scandal was so far reaching that over three thousand students were arrested and expelled, hundreds of professors were also charged and fired, and five university presidents were forced to resign in the wake of the scandal. The secretary of education was downright disgusted when he found officials and employees in his office were bribed into aiding the syndicate. Would you mind if I have a glass of water?" Jay humbly request.

"Of course," Ruby replies while getting up to head to the bar. "What happened next?"

Jay is about to start back up, as Ruby sets the water in front of him. He takes a quick drink then says, "The secretary was boiling mad, and believe me you don't want to see this unicorn mad. He went on tour and stopped at all parts of Equestria to call a meeting of all school directors, leaders, etc. He laid out the facts of the syndicate and the murdered student. He said that the extent of the syndicate was too wide and deep for us to take quiet and swift actions, so we're ordered to inform our students about the events."

Richard picks up Diamond and the copied paper then questions, "Principal Rule everything you shown and told us is quite jaw dropping, but how does this relate to Diamond?"

Jay takes another drink of water then replies, "After the syndicate was broken up, officials did everything possible to tear down the dark market, but we weren't able to get rid of everything. As a result, the secretary ordered if students came forward and admitted that they purchased or used a brought a syndicate product; they would only receive a note in their file. On the other hand, if we find the information first, and they refused to tell us about it then we are to show no mercy."

Ruby quickly jumps in, "WHAT! BESIDES THIS PAPER, WHAT OTHER PROOF DO YOU HAVE THAT DIAMOND IS LINKED TO THIS!?"

"Does Ms. Rich have a computer or laptop that she does her work on?" Jay asks. Richard nods yes and orders Walter to bring her laptop. The butler comes back with the electronic device a minute later. Richard starts up the computer and looks back at Jay waiting for him to tell him what's next. "Go under her internet search history and look for a web address named ," the black Pegasus orders. Richard keeps a stone face when he finds the site, but he sees that he can't open the page. "Let me guess, it says that the page wouldn't open," Richard nods yes, "Ok type in KE54E4PQ54UIE99T12AN63DP69A915Y65FU88C82K54E6955R5557S."

Richard mouths the digits Jay told him; then he sees the page open up. "Ok now what?"

"Look under purchase history and you should find what you're looking for," Jay states.

Richard clicks the tab and pulls up the history, "Ruby, take a look at this."

His mate looks at the screen and is sicken with the information, but her shock is increased when she points out, "Richard look at the card information that was used."

The brown stallion's eyes bugs out when he recognizes the card number information. "Daddy this is a lie! He made all this up!"

"Be quiet Diamond," Richard growls out.

"Listen you just don't understand, I…"

Richard cuts her off snarling out, "No Diamond it's you that doesn't understand. The card you used was my official business card. Right now, we are in the middle of doing taxes. How do you expect me to explain to my accountants that my, official business, card was used on an illegal site?"

"Mom, tell him to…"

"Diamond, SHUT UP!" Ruby yells at her daughter making the powder pink pony start to tear up.

"Principal Rule, what did you mean by no mercy?" Richard questions.

"After the audit, if there is enough evidence is found to prove cheating and syndicate involvement, then she will be expelled and not be allowed to attend another public school or university," Jay states in a cold tone of voice.

Diamond gets a smirk on her face while crossing her arms, "Huh! That doesn't matter; I'll just go to private school. When you think about it, it would be better since all teachers in public school suck ass!"

"DIAMOND!" Richard and Ruby shout in unison looking at their daughter.

"It's not quite that simple Ms. Rich. The private schools were hit pretty hard as well even worse than the public schools. Since private schools require a charter from the Department of Education, they may refuse your entry based on the deal they made to stay open," Jay counters.

"Principal Rule, please tell me is there another way so that Diamond isn't forced out of school?" Ruby pleads.

Jay keeps his stern expression and replies, "Yes, as her parents if I have given you sufficient proof of Ms. Rich's bad acts, then you can sign a waiver that confirms that she did cheat on her schoolwork. In return, she will have to repeat the whole year in summer school."

"What! I'm not going to summer school!" Diamond protests.

"Be quiet!" Rudy orders, "What else will she have to do?"

"In order to speed things up and stay with her class, she will have detention for the rest of the school year, and she will be banned from all afterschool clubs and activities."

"What! No way! You can't do this to me! I was set to play Princess Celestia in the upcoming play!" Diamond argues with her principal.

"I'm sorry Ms. Rich, but this is part of the deal. Maybe next year after your evaluation, you will be able to apply for another role then." He looks back at her parents and says, "This is the best I can do under these conditions. Will this be acceptable?"

"Yes," Richard plainly states.

"What!" Diamond exclaims.

"Do you have any paperwork needed to make this official? If so we can sign right now." Ruby questions

"MOM!" the young girl screams again.

"Of course," Jay reaches into his briefcase again to pull out another set of papers, "Once these are signed the audit on Ms. Rich will be change into an inquiry, so we can get an idea on what we need to work on with her."

"NO!" Diamond cries out again, but everyone still ignores her cries.

Richard takes the papers and does a quick scan over them, while taking out his pen getting ready to sign, "Principal Rule, my wife and I would like to be kept updated about Diamond's progress throughout this situation."

"Yes, we can set up a standing appointment, and I can send a weekly report to you to review," Jay replies.

"Excellent," Richard states signing the paper.

"STOP! LISTEN TO ME!" Diamond screams at the top of her lungs while standing up and slamming her hands on the table. "THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL THAT I'M GOING TO SUMMER SCHOOL NOR ARE YOU TAKING ME OUT OF THE PLAY! I HAVE A FUCKING SOCIAL IMAGE TO KEEP UP, AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET SOME POOR BROKE ASS FUCKER DO THIS TO ME!"

Richard looks at Diamond with a frown and says, "I don't know who you think you are, but I will not let you make terms for this deal." Richard stands up to tower two and a half feet over his daughter; then he growls out, "Go to your room, we will discuss this tomorrow!" Diamond tries to stare him down, but in a booming voice he yells. "NOW!" Diamond screams in fear and runs out the room. Richard flops in the chair feeling ashamed of his actions. "I'm sorry you had to see that. Um, is there anything else that is needed?"

"No Mr. Rich, I have everything I need to get the ball rolling," Jay states taking the paper from Ruby.

"No thank you Principal Rule," Ruby replies. "Can you stay and have a drink with us?"

"No, I better not. Its already hitting 2145hrs, and I have a fiancé waiting at home for me." Jay replies packing everything up.

"Oh that's right you're engaged to Diamond's homeroom teacher. Maybe next time, we can have that drink and you should bring Cheerilee with you," Richard states walking with Jay and Ruby to the door.

"I'll let her know and thank you for agreeing to take this deal. I didn't want to expel your daughter or any student, but I will be the bad guy if I need to," Jay replies standing in the doorway.

Richard extents his hand to Jay, "You were doing what was best for Diamond, and in my book that makes you the good guy so thank you for caring so much to help our daughter."

"You're welcome Mr. Rich," Jay states with a smile while shaking his hand.

"Please call me Richard," he replies with a smile.

"Call me Ruby," she states when Jay goes to shake her hand.

"And call me Jay, well have a goodnight," the school principal replies before walking out the door.

Diamond walks into her room face burning red with anger toward everyone downstairs. She slams the room door as hard as possible; then she kicks an item into the window cracking the glass. Afterwards, she makes her way over to her table and flips it sending everyone on it flying to the floor. "AHHHHH! I HATE THEM! I HATE THEM! I FUCKING HATE THEM! AAAAHHHHH!"

"Damn Diamond if you yell any louder, you would break the glass," a voice calls out from the bathroom.

"WHO THE FUCK…" Diamond starts to shout before she see Silver Spoon come walking out the bathroom in her sleepers. "Silver how the fuck… ah it doesn't fucking matter. My fucking parents and that piece of shit principal just fucked me over." She then walks over to the bed and flops down on it.

"Hum," Silver replies sitting on the other side of the bed. "So what are you going to do?"

Diamond lies back looking up at the ceiling, "There is nothing I could do. I have no power to stop or change what happened."

"But what if you did? What would you do?" Silver inquires.

"Ha, that's simple; I would get revenge on all of them. First, I would put my parents in their place by teaching them that they should listen to me not the other way. Then, I would go after Principal Rule; I would find what he cares about most and destroy it. After them, I would destroy that worthless school with everyone in it. They would pay for laughing at me. Lastly, I would go after those fucking blank flank bitches!" Diamond states holding her fist up to the ceiling.

Silver nods her head listening to her friend then she asks, "What would you do after that?"

Diamond sits up giving her friend a queer look, "I don't know, why?"

Silver stands up to look outside, "I mean if you do those things; I'm sure you are going to draw and make some enemies. What are you going to do about them?"

"Hum… if I had the power, I would show all of Equestria that it is unwise to fuck with Diamond Tiara."

Silver Spoon smiles at herself in the glass hearing Diamond's response. Silver slightly turns her head, and her eyes quickly glow green, "Then do I have a deal for you, Diamond."

Chapter 7: Diamond's Dark Dilemma

Author's Note

I don't own MLP

A/N: Hey everypony please read the message at the end of the chapter very important other than enjoy the chapter.

First thank for reading everypony. My betas and I were talking and came up with the idea to turn this story into an audiobook on Youtube. I am still going to keep posting , but we to try and experiment with the idea. Leave a comment and let us know what you think about this idea. We need at least 50 yes to do it. Thanks again everypony and remember comments are magic.