Glowing in Everglow

Diary of Diamond Tiara
Ever since they helped me out in understanding my destiny and my true talents, me and the Cutie Mark Crusaders has been inseparable. They were the forgiving sort, not holding the fact I used to bully them against me, for which I was forever grateful. I become especially close to Sweetie Belle, who which after we came of age decided to move to Manehattan in order to further her music career. I decided to help her out in that endeavour. I wanted to escape the influence of my father and mother, stop relying on their wealth and make something of myself, to build a fortune of my own so I could finally get out of my parents shadow. This would eventually succeed as me and Sweetie did all we could to get her noticed by the Manehattan big wigs. She managed to become quite a success thanks to both her beautiful singing voice and my talent in getting my way. I would eventually became her manager. Sweetie would go on to be an idol to many, a pop star of humble origins who eventually matched Countess Coloratura in fame. The both us had become unbelievably wealthy by relying on just our talents without any help from the outside world.
But despite our fame, we kept in touch with the other Crusaders, who all managed to find success in their own right. Scootaloo becoming a daredevil who performed daring death defying stunts on her scooter, following in the hoofsteps of her idol Rainbow Dash. Applebloom had taken up an apprenticeship with Zecora and soon the entire town of Ponyville relied on her remedies. Myself I kept in touch with my best friend and long-time girlfriend Silver Spoon, who I eventually managed to convince to move in with me in my penthouse in Manehattan. All was going well.

This was until Twilight disappeared, together with the statue of Cozy Glow. Twilight would soon come back, but as a different mare. Equestria would soon be under the rule of Empress Midnight, a horrible tyrant who's shadow reached even to Manehattan. Transforming the formerly free city into a police state. When Sweetie Belle heard that her sister had been turned to stone, she took it hard, though it did result in Sweetie inheriting Rarity's fashion empire, making her even wealthier than before.

This was when the war with the Crystal Empire happened, Midnight ordered a draft of the citizens of Manehattan, one that me and Sweetie only managed to dodge by promising to provide clothing for the soldiers using Rarity's old fashion empire. I did not like contributing to the war effort in any way, and neither did Sweetie, but it was better than dying in the trenches of war, like so many others. Plus I couldn't in good conscience fight against Princess Cadence on the side of a tyrant. The war with the Crystal Empire would eventually end, Cadence and Shining Armor captured by Midnight's forces and never seen again. The fate of Princess Flurry Heart was unknown, vanishing completely together with Tirek and Chrysalis, who surprisingly had been fighting on the side of the Crystal Empire. Whenever Flurry and the two former villains had been captured by Midnight or not was unknown, but if the three had indeed escaped, they could be Equestria's only hope. However ironic that might be.

It was only after the war that I was visited in my penthouse by a familiar figure, the former Princess Luna, but there was something wrong with her. She carried darkness with her, spreading throughout her body like an infection, trapping her in-between her regular alicorn form and Nightmare Moon. She told me she didn't have much time, that she would soon be claimed by her darker impulses, but before she was completely gone, she wanted to do something to stand against Midnight. She told me there was only one artifact that could hope to stand against Midnight now that the Elements of Harmony were gone, the Bell of Grogar. But unfortunately the Bell had been locked in Discord's realm of chaos after the defeat of the villain trio many years ago, inaccessible without Discord himself, but Discord had been turned stone by Midnight when she first came to this world and was always kept under heavy guard in the garden next to Midnight's Tower in Ponyville, same place where she kept all other creatures she had turned to stone.

Luna left shortly after giving me this information. I talked this event over with Sweetie, we both came to the same conclusion, we had to do something, but we could not risk acting in the open. Sweetie got an idea from a story her sister Rarity once told her, when she and some of friends had all assumed a superhero identity in order to help people anonymously in order to teach Rainbow Dash a lesson about humility. That hero was called Mare Do Well and her secret identity had been Twilight, Pinkie, Applejack and Fluttershy all working as one to contribute their skills to grow the legend of one pony. As a result, the public believed Mare Do Well had super strength, powerful magic, a powerful danger sense and the ability to fly. If Mare Do Well was to appear again and oppose Midnight, the citizens of Equestria might gain some much needed hope, all while we worked on unpetrifying Discord, go to his realm of chaos and claim the Bell of Grogar. Sweetie Belle said she was in possession of the original Mare Do Well costumes, yet another thing she inherited from her sister.
Soon after, Luna would be claimed by the corruption infesting her, Nightmare Moon joining the ranks of Midnight and Daybreaker, forming a trio of tyrants that from that point onward would be known as the Triumvirate.

We brought in Applebloom and Scootaloo on our plan. Applebloom was thinking of moving away from Ponyville anyway, in order to get away from Midnight's obsidian opire which had replaced Twilight's old castle. We began our career as a superhero by rescuing those dissenters imprisoned by Midnight's regime from the local prisons, each of us alternating taking up the mantle of Mare Do Well to protect the people. We quickly built a name for ourselves, Mare Do Well quickly becoming the most wanted figure in the land. Yet I knew that eventually we needed to make a move against Midnight's obsidian spire in order to rescue Discord. I wasn't too optimistic about our chances of success, but we had to try. But to have any chance, we needed someome on the inside, someone familiar with defenses of Midnight's tower and the garden surrounding it. We needed to contact the local resistance, if any except us were left.

Even if we were to receive help, we would need a way to undo the petrification spell. Fortunately Applebloom knew just the trick, a brew that would turn stone to flesh and reverse the enchantment.

Eventually our activity would draw the attention an anonymous informer, giving us the details of the guard's patrol routes and various traps litered about the tower. Unlike most of the statues of Midnight's petrified enemies, Discord's statue had been mived to the very heart of the Obsidian Spire for security reasons. Whoever our informer was, they were high up in Midnight's council. Our informer even warned us that some of the things we would see inside the tower would eclipse our worst nightmares. They were right. We were not prepared for the horrors that would await us in that accursed tower.