The Filly with the Purest Heart

Ponyville Hospital had never seen such an influx of visitors as it had this particular night. With Rainbow Dash, Lyra, and Rarity having been present in the waiting room, waiting for Fluttershy to finally awaken from her coma. Pinkie Pie had quickly arrived at the hospital as well, and before long had joined them. She was certain that something bad had occurred, due to the ominous power of her Pinkie Sense, and upon arriving in the waiting room, her suspicion was confirmed. It had now been ten minutes since the party pony’s arrival, before two additional ponies had also admitted themselves among them.

Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon quickly trotted in, and upon seeing the crowd that had already gathered around them, they knew that Mrs. Cake’s words from earlier were now all too true.

“So it is true, Fluttershy really is in pain!” cried Sweetie Belle as she fell to the floor, her mind wallowed with despair.

“Oh no, what could have actually happened to her?” asked Silver Spoon, as she noticed the grim look on all of the other ponies present in the room around her.

“Sweetie Belle, what are you doing here?” asked Rarity as she had since approached her sister, and began to try and comfort her.

“Sis, me and Silver Spoon were looking for Diamond Tiara, we tried searching all over Ponyville for her, but we were not able to find her anywhere.” urged the little unicorn filly as she managed to regain her composure and stand back up on all of her hooves.

“Looking for Diamond Tiara, why, whatever do you mean my dear?” asked Rarity with curiosity as the words spoken by her little sister have seemed to surprise her somewhat.

“We had even looked at Sugarcube Corner, that is where we met Mrs. Cake, she told us that Pinkie Pie ran off towards the hospital, she said that Pinkie might know where Diamond Tiara is!” insisted Silver Spoon as she was worried about Fluttershy indeed, but not on the level that she was worried about her childhood friend.

“Oh, well, now that you mention it, I have not seen her today.” said Pinkie as she approached Silver Spoon with an air of sadness about her.

“You haven’t seen her today, oh, I see, well sorry for bothering you.” sighed Silver Spoon as a few tears began to well up under her eyes.

“Oh don’t cry girls, I am sure that she is somewhere safe, there is nothing to worry about.” said Rarity as she tried to now comfort both of the distressed fillies before her.

“Yeah, I agree with Rarity, she is surely fine, why, my Pinkie Sense has not told me about anything bad happening to her after all.” declared Pinkie Pie with a high level of confidence in her voice.

“Pinkie Sense, not that again.” thought Silver Spoon as she was not convinced of this strange power that she had heard a lot about recently.

“I believe you Pinkie Pie.” said Sweetie Belle as she truly did believe in the party pony’s unusual talent.

“Anyway, what happened to Fluttershy?” asked Sweetie Belle, who was still awaiting an answer, from her sister mainly.

“I will tell you after we get back home, now quiet down.” insisted Rarity as she could begin to hear a series of hoof steps galloping towards them, from the direction of the admittance hall.

“GIRLS!” yelled a voice from towards the direction of the admittance hall of the hospital.

“Umm, did anypony else hear that?” asked Lyra as she thought that she was loosing her mind again.

“I heard it too Lyra, who the hey is that, it kinda sounds like...” began Rainbow Dash, before a familiar purple unicorn had suddenly trotted her way into the waiting room.

“Now Twilight is here too, the whole crowd is showing up today!” said Lyra who was surprised that word had spread about Fluttershy as quickly as she assumed it did.

Twilight was not alone either, within a few more seconds, another filly had also arrived in the waiting room, although her facial expression suggested a feeling of fear and confusion, even beyond the rest of the ponies present.

Diamond Tiara stared with wide eyes, right into the faces of Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon, who were only standing a mere few feet in front of her. She did not even register the other ponies in the room, as her gaze was fixated upon her two classmates instead.

“Hey, there is Diamond Tiara, see, I said that she was going to be okay!” cheered Pinkie Pie as she began to hop around the waiting room with joy.

Diamond did not pay Pinkie any mind, instead subtly approaching the two fillies that her gaze could not tear away from.

“Oh, Diamond Tiara, you are here too huh, I see.” stammered Silver Spoon as she began to stare at her forehooves, the look on Diamond’s face had began to make her feel uncomfortable.

“Diamond, we were so worried about you, me and Silver Spoon looked all over Ponyville for you, but no matter how hard we looked, we could not find you at all!” exclaimed a surprised Sweetie Belle, who had not yet picked up on the mental state of the filly standing before her.

“I found her, or rather, she found me on my way to the hospital, I told her that she needed to head home, but she would not listen to me!” shouted Twilight as she was rather surprised by the amount of ponies who were already present in the waiting room, not realizing how long it must have been since Fluttershy had arrived at the hospital.

“If I had know who was here prior to, I would have went home like you said, Twilight.” rebuked Diamond as she gave a menacing glare towards Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon.

“Tiara, wh... What?” asked Silver Spoon with a hurt tone in her voice.

“After what you pulled today, you are the last pony that I wanted to come across.” began Diamond as she was now puffing out air from her nostrils. “I knew that you and Sweetie were looking for me, I saw you periodically throughout the day, but I was able to fool you, and stay out of your sights, at least until now.” continued on Diamond Tiara as she began to make her way back down towards the admittance hall.

“Diamond wait, we are not your enemies, why are you acting this way, what happened to you?” pleaded Sweetie Belle as she could not comprehend the reasoning for Diamond Tiara’s sour mood.

“The next time I see you blank flanks, you are going to get what you deserve.” cautioned Diamond Tiara in a low, quiet tone, just loud enough for Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon to hear.

With those words spoken, Diamond Tiara quickly galloped her way out of the waiting room, and down the admittance hall. Before long, she had arrived at the doors that led to the exit of the hospital.

“I am sorry about Fluttershy, but if those two are there, then I am afraid that I have no business being here!” thought the estranged filly to herself as she began to trot her way back home.

“Wait, I just realized, this whole time I have been so fixated on those damned fillies, that I forgot about my tiara!” yelled Diamond as she had suddenly put one of her forehooves on her head, but she could not feel the tiara at all.

With a panicked look in her eye, she began to race back towards Rich Estates, confident that her tiara must have fallen off somewhere around there. “I will find you my precious tiara, you are my only friend now!” exclaimed Diamond as her left eye began to twitch uncannily, and a mischievous smirk now donned her face.

The ponies that remained in the waiting room were all staring at each other with looks of confusion, after the scene that Diamond Tiara had just made.

“Horses, what was wrong with that filly, sheesh.” said Lyra as she had only heard negative things about Diamond Tiara since the Rich Family arrived in Ponyville.

“She doesn’t seem like a loyal friend to me.” declared Rainbow Dash, who was upset with the way that Diamond had treated Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon.

“Don’t let her words get to you darling, she is just having a bad day, let it go.” soothed Rarity to both Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon.

“Maybe I should throw her a party, yep, that might cheer her up!” squeed Pinkie Pie with an upbeat tone as usual.

“I don’t know about that right now Pinkie, but forget about it for now, what happened to Fluttershy?” asked Twilight as she was now staring at each of her friends present, with a worried look in her eyes.

“Well, you see...” is all Rainbow Dash could get out of her mouth before Nurse Redheart had trotted into the waiting room, causing the pegasus to go silent.

“Huh?” questioned Twilight as she turned around and saw the nurse standing in front of the hallway that led to the operating quarters.

“Fluttershy is awake, but she is feeling rather weak at the moment, we request that everypony return home for the night, however, feel free to come and visit her in the morning.” declared Nurse Redheart as she took some time to look upon all of the ponies that were present in the room before her.

“What, we cannot see her right now, what kind of horse apples is that?” asked Rainbow Dash with an upset demeanor.

“Yeah, we saw how fragile she was earlier, we just want to make sure that she is okay!” yelled Lyra who was also rather upset at what the nurse had just told them.

“I am afraid that this is the only way, it is as you said, she is in a fragile state of being right now, and will need the night to recover from whatever was ailing her.” went on the nurse with no sign of wavering in her voice.

“N...no, I am going to see her, and no one is going to stop me!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she began to leave her seat and approach the nurse that was preventing her from seeing her most cherished friend.

“Rainbow, that is enough, we will listen to the nurse, if she says that everything is okay for now, then we have to trust her, I may not know what happened to her personally, but we need to trust the doctors for the time being.” commanded Twilight as she had a look of sympathy in her eyes, trying to calm Rainbow Dash down.

“But Twilight, you don’t understand, I saw what happened to her, how much pain she was in, it was unbearable to witness!” cried Rainbow Dash as she put her face in her forehooves and began to sob quietly.

“Oh Rainbow, please don’t cry, everything will be okay, let’s just listen to the nurse, please.” insisted Twilight as she had to make an effort to wipe away a few tears as well.

“But I... I... I understand.” admitted Rainbow in defeat as she began to wipe away the tears from her eyes, before staring back at Nurse Redheart, wanting to hear what the nurse’s response would be.

“Thank you for understanding us, we do not want to upset any of you, we are only doing what is best for our patient at the moment, please try to understand this, you will be able to see her very soon.” said Nurse Redheart as she began to trot back down into the operating quarters. “Everypony take care now.” finished the nurse cheerfully as she waved all of the ponies a good night before disappearing completely down the confines of the hallway.

“See ya in the morning nurse!” laughed Pinkie Pie as she began to hop happily around the room again, in an effort to try and cheer Lyra and Rainbow Dash up.

“I agree with Twilight darling, if they say that Fluttershy is in a stable condition, then what harm will it do to wait until the morning, that is what would be best for Fluttershy.” said Rarity as she put one of her forehooves gently around Sweetie Belle.

“Okay, but first thing in the morning, I am flyin’ my flank over here to see her, and nopony is going to stop me then!” declared Rainbow Dash as a small smile started to form on her face.

“See, that is better Rainbow darling, now we should begin to focus on other things now, and take our mind off of this for a while.” began Rarity as she noticed the time that was displayed on the clock above her.

“Besides, it is getting late, I need to take you two fillies home.” said Rarity as she turned her attention to both her little sister and Silver Spoon.

“Oh, okay.” said Silver Spoon who was rather confused by all of the events that had transpired around her thus far.

“Alright fine, let’s go.” said Sweetie Belle as she was still upset that she would not get to see Fluttershy tonight.

“I will see you girls tomorrow morning, I want all six of us there to greet Fluttershy, someone be sure to let Applejack know about this too.” said Rarity, who began to leave the waiting room, with Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon following right behind her.

“Don’t worry Rarity, I will make sure that all of us are here tomorrow morning to see Fluttershy together.” declared Twilight as she, and the remaining ponies in the waiting room, waved off Rarity and the two fillies.

“Be careful okay.” said Twilight as she watched the three ponies exit down the admittance hall, and walk out through the doors that led outside of the hospital.

“Well, if this is all said and done, I better get back home to BonBon then, she is sure to be worried sick about me, and I can tell her that Fluttershy is going to be alright!” chimed Lyra, who began to leave her seat as well, heading towards the same direction that Rarity and the two fillies had taken earlier.

“Alrighty, see you soon Lyra, take care, and remember, if there is anything that you ever need to talk about, just let me know.” said Rainbow Dash as she gave Lyra a hug, and gently stroked her mane for a few seconds before letting her go.

“Bye Ms. Sparkle, Bye Ms. Pie, I hope that you two have a good night as well.” said Lyra with a gentle tone as she began to trot out of the room.

“Bye, Lyra.” said Twilight quietly as she turned her attention to the two remaining ponies in the room with her.

“Well, I am going home too, I will see you girls first thing in the morning!” said Pinkie Pie with a cheer as she began to hop out of the hospital.

“Wait Pinkie, I wanna come with you, I guess I will see you later Twilight.” said Rainbow Dash as she began to follow the party pony out of the waiting room.

“Rainbow Dash, I will follow you and Pinkie, can you two at least tell me what happened to Fluttershy while we head home?” asked Twilight as she quickly galloped towards Rainbow and Pinkie, with a look of yearning in her eyes.

“Well, I saw what happened first, but the next bad thing that happened to Fluttershy, only Rainbow and Lyra were there for that.” said Pinkie as she started to head out of the exit of the hospital.

“I can tell you what I saw, then Rainbow Dash can tell you her part.” continued Pinkie as she waited for her two friends to catch up with her.

“Listen to what Pinkie tells you first, then I will tell you about what went down at the flower shop.” said Rainbow Dash as Twilight was now trotting right beside her, the two ponies following Pinkie Pie away from the hospital.

“Thanks Dash, thanks Pinkie.” said Twilight as she was eager to hear of what had caused Fluttershy to end up in the hospital in the first place. Despite this, she could not get the thought of the Contortionist out of her mind, but she did not feel like bringing him up to her friends at the moment, especially when she was not quite sure of his involvement in all of this. For now, she would have to wait until the morning, until she got to see Fluttershy in person, or at least she hoped.

“But what about Diamond Tiara, will she be alright, would she even be in any kind of mood to let me escort her home?” thought Twilight as she began to listen to Pinkie’s account of the events concerning Fluttershy.

Diamond Tiara had finally arrived at the gate that surrounded her father’s property. She knew that her parents were not home, and that only the staff that her parents had hired awaited her. This seemed to anger Diamond slightly, but not as much as having met Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon at the hospital.

“Still no sign of my tiara, I should have paid closer attention to when it fell off earlier today, now I am never going to find it!” yelled Diamond Tiara as loud as she could, but still making sure to also be as quiet as possible.

“Those worthless parents of mine, never around to be with me, always off somewhere doing something stupid, I hate them, I hate those blank flanks, and maybe, I even hate you Silver Spoon!” cried Diamond Tiara as she kicked at the gate door around her father’s property, not caring if she broke it or not.

“Heh, it actually came loose, who cares, I hope somepony breaks in and trashes this place, it would serve my stupid dad right!” thought Diamond to herself as she took the broken, rusty lock that she had kicked off of the gate door, and placed it next to the intercom that sat on a cobblestone pillar.

The intercom sat right beside the gate door itself. It was used to call upon the butler and gain permission to enter the property. However, seeing as she lived in the mansion itself, Diamond Tiara felt no need to even bother with the intercom in the first place.

“No need to call the butler, after I broke my way in.” thought Diamond to herself dismissively as she approached the front door to her father’s mansion, and began to knock on it.

“Coming, just a second.” said a muffled voice from behind the door, Diamond could hear hoofsteps getting closer to the door, before she finally heard the doorknob turn from the other side.

After the door was unlocked from inside, the door was pushed open, revealing a butler standing in the doorway, and looking down at Diamond.

“Thank sweet Celestia, you are finally here, I was so worried about you Diamond!” cried the elderly butler as he attempted to put his hooves around the little filly, all the while trying to wipe the tears of joy from his eyes.

“Yeah, I bet you missed me, about as much as my parents do, please Goldenhoof, don’t give me none of this foolishness tonight, I am tired, I am going to my room, and I DARE you to get in my way.” snapped Diamond as she held a seething look of hatred on her face while she stared at the confused butler before her.

“Uhhh..... Okay Ma’dam as you wish, I will leave you alone.” said Goldenhoof as he wiped the rest of the tears from his eyes, and instead stared at Diamond with a look of betrayal, as he tried to hide the fact that her words had really hurt his feelings.

“It’s not like she could even be bothered to care about anypony’s feelings anyway.” thought the butler to himself as he watched the angry little filly trot up the stairs to her room.

“I wonder how she got in without calling me on the radio first, oh well, no sense in worrying about it right now, because Mr. Rich is certainly not worried about it.” thought Goldenhoof to himself as he secretly held a hatred for Diamond’s parents as well, all because of the way they treated their poor daughter.

Goldenhoof had since locked the front door of the mansion, and had turned off all of the lights in the first floor, before trotting upstairs to finish his cleaning for the night. He made sure to stay clear of Diamond Tiara the whole time, not wanting to upset the filly any further.

Diamond Tiara had finally arrived in her room, once again uncaring over her missing tiara. Only rage filled her mind as she began to lay on her queen sized bed, which was surrounded by a soft lavender veil that went all around the space of the bed itself.

She would close the veil around her bed when she did not want to be seen, or disturbed by any outside force. She could only see the feint outline of the environment outside of the veil itself, but she did not mind, she would rather be in the confines of her bed, than be out in the world that had angered her so much this day.

“Applebloom, you put all of your friends up to this, didn’t you, you stupid, worthless, farm pony.” said Diamond Tiara to herself, in a rather loud tone, not trying to be discreet about her anger anymore.

“I hope you die, I really do, hehe, I hope it is painful, but most of all, I hope that I get to see it!” yelled Diamond again as a manic look began to overtake her face. She then laughed with a twisted sound, a cackle that almost sounded demonic, and not from that of a filly.

Before she could ramble any further on her bed, she heard a whisper from somewhere within her room, and not to far from the bed itself. Something was whispering, her name.

“Dia...mond...Tia...ra..”

This quickly changed the filly’s mood, as she was no longer angry at the moment, but instead, she was now fearful, fearful of the dark unknown.

“Did I.... Just hear somepony whisper my name?” thought Diamond Tiara to herself, as she tried to look through the veil around her bed, but she could not see through it well enough to make out anything from the outside. That, combined with the lack of light in her room at the moment, made it impossible to see if anypony had indeed ventured into her private quarters.

“Nah, I am just hearing things, and I am not going to let them distract me from how much I hate those stupid, worthless, Crusaders, who in my opinion, should not even be allowed to live!” yelled Diamond Tiara one final time before she suddenly began to realize the gravity behind the words that she had spoken.

“Wait, am I really saying this stuff, about wanting those blank flanks dead, what, no......what..... Why am I saying this?” thought Diamond to herself as she suddenly felt an urge to open the veil around her bed, as if the temperature from within the veil was starting to roast the little filly alive.

She opened it as quickly as she ever had before. Though, it seemed to do little with calming her down.

“This is not right, I know I am angry about it all, but.... B..but.... Applebloom, she is so nice, and cute....and my first friend.” stammered Diamond Tiara as a knot began to form in her throat. She could almost feel her stomach rising up and coming through her windpipe, as if she was going to vomit all of her bad feelings out.

Then came the thoughts of all of the pictures, that Diamond Tiara knew were hanging around her room. Pictures of her jewelry, Silver Spoon and herself, pictures that she had drawn herself, and one final picture, one that, for some reason, she could just not bring herself to take down.

A picture of a four-year old Diamond Tiara playing with a four-year old Applebloom. Playing in Sweet Apple Acres. Playing and having fun.

“What....what happened to those times, why pretend to like me again Applebloom, after all of those years where you did not acknowledge me before.” cried Diamond Tiara to herself as she could only slightly remember the memories of her and Applebloom in their early childhood, playing together on the farm, without a care in the whole, wide world.

“We.... We used to get along, almost like sisters, but you, you stopped caring about me, you forgot about me, just as my parents have now forgotten, just AS SILVER SPOON HAS NOW FORGOTTEN!!!!!” yelled Diamond Tiara with all of the energy that she could muster.

Tears were now beginning to roll down the filly’s face, as the image of Applebloom’s own face, the image of her smile, was beginning to form in Diamond’s mind. It was too much for Diamond Tiara to handle.

The very fact that she had wished death on this innocent farm filly had began to make her sick. The very thoughts themselves caused Diamond to fall under absolute guilt and despair, as all that she wanted at the moment, was to know that Applebloom herself was alright. No, she wanted to make sure that all of the Crusaders were alright.

“Wait, no, please no, these are just words, I don’t want anything to happen to her, or her friends, please Celestia, noooo!!!” yelled Diamond Tiara as she was now clutching her chest. The area around her heart was beginning to hurt badly.

The pain almost caused Diamond Tiara to pass out.

“Dia...mond...Tia...ra” whispered the feint voice again, as despite the agonizing pain and grief that the filly was in at the moment, the haunting sound that she had just heard seemed to pull her out of it.

“Is, is anypony there?” asked Diamond as she shakily reached for the lamp beside her bed. She turned the lamp on, with the light illuminating the whole room.

Diamond Tiara stared on, as her eyes were widen with despair, fear, and an even more primal emotion that she could not even begin to register. The source of these whispers, she had wished to have never seen them. The sight before her, it caused her to vomit profusely onto the bed sheets around her.

“Diam...ond...Tia.ra...” continued on the whispers, as the filly herself could now see the source of them.

Sitting in front of the closed door, the door of her room, staring right at her, was Applebloom.

A skinless Applebloom.

She had the same eyes, the same facial structure, and even through the whispering, Diamond could make out the same accent from this being as well.

“App... Applebloom?” babbled Diamond Tiara, as despite the absence of skin or fur, she was certain that the creature sitting on the other side of her room was Applebloom. An Applebloom that was staring right into her soul.

“Ah’ love you.” said the skinless filly in the same accent, no, the same voice that Applebloom herself would have used.

This made Diamond Tiara loose it, she continued to vomit the contents of her stomach out onto the bed, and even the floor around her.

“Ah’ wanna’ be together with ya’ Diamond.” said the abomination as it began to crawl, almost like an infant, towards Diamond’s bed. Although it crawled slowly, Diamond Tiara could feel her pulse growing weaker, the closer the entity got to her.

“I want to be with you too, Applebloom.” insisted Diamond Tiara as fear had began to turn the rich filly insane, as if the skinless foal before her was really Applebloom. She no longer cared anymore, for as far as she was concerned, this thing was Applebloom.