The Tiara weighs Heavy

Cherry Bomb and Snowflake were trapped in a rather prison-like classroom with no windows and a locked door. This entire room was devoid of anything that was useful to break out. Cherry Bomb turned towards her friend and whispered, “Do you think that Diamond Tiara will just get expelled? Or do you think they're doing something worse?"

Snowflake looked rather worried and added, “I hope she's just getting expelled. I'm worried they might use "the room" on her.”

“The room?”

“Yeah, you remember what happened to Onyx? She used to be very sweet and shy, but then she became a bully out of nowhere. I am certain they used the room on her.”

Cherry Bomb blinked looking a bit confused then said, “Uh, no, I don’t buy that for a second.”

“Well, I heard the teachers use this thing called "the room" to forcefully change rebellious fillies into rich snobs.”

Cherry Bomb wasn’t really believing what Snowflake was saying and replied, “Isn’t that just some old superstition being passed around for ages? I mean, this place just does that to you. And why haven’t they been using it since Diamond came here? Almost every filly I know has been much more rebellious since she started doing her cutie mark crusader meetings.”

“I'm not sure, but think about it: since Diamond Tiara came here, this place is a lot different; I bet there were just too many fillies to use it on."

Cherry Bomb tapped a hoof to her chin as she whispered, “If this chamber does exist, they’ll use it on her!”

“If they can change her to become a bully or something worse, it’ll destroy everything we're trying to do here!”

“We can’t let that happen!”

Cherry Bomb and Snowflake flew to the door and tried bucking it down, but it was useless the door was sealed shut as if were enchanted or barred.

The little white-coated filly grumbled, “Seriously! What is with these doors!?”

Cheery Bomb smirked, “They won't stop us. Now listen, I have a way to get us out, but…um…” She paused, looked around rather nervously, and added, “Well, uh, there’s a talent of mine that most would say is rather dangerous.”

“Like what?”

“Well, it's going to cause a lot of attention.”

Cherry then removed some oatmeal from behind her mane and stuck it to the door with wires and a fuse. Then she lit the end of it and ran back as Snowflake followed suit.

Snowflake's eyes lit up, realizing what Cherry was making, and cried, “Is that a bomb!?”

“Yes, it’s a bomb! I found that this tasteless oatmeal makes a great explosive.” She then turned to see Snowflake looking terrified and scoffed, “What, you thought I chose my name for no reason?”

Snowflake stepped back, “I thought you chose it because it sounded cool, not because you actually like making bombs!”

“Relax! My explosives are made to do stuff like demolition and clearing rubble. I’m not gonna hurt anypony.”

“Well, it better not blow up the entire school!”

“Don’t worry; it won’t blow up the whole school. Maybe just half the school or, if you wana, blow up moons.”

The pegasus was becoming quite concerned as Cherry Bomb burst out laughing, “You should see your face; no, it’s just going to take out the door, I swear.”

She jumped back, turned to Snowflake, and said, “Now, after we blow these doors open, we need to find Diamond Tiara. Do you have any idea where this chamber is?”

“If it exists, it’s somewhere on the third floor in the far back of the school.”

Cherry then pressed a button, and it exploded, ripped the door open, and slammed it on the other side of the hall. The two fillies flew through the halls, and then they saw a ton of foals all out of the classroom, looking concerned. Some shouting, “Hey, what’s going on!?”

Snowflake paused, not knowing what to say, and then Cherry Bomb flew over, shouting. “What is happening? I’ll tell you what’s happening! We’re rebelling! Whose sick and tired of this boarding school!?”

Everyone looked at each other awkwardly, and there were hushed murmurs. The filly began shouting louder, “Better yet! Who was the only filly ever to defy the teachers!”

“Diamond Tiara.” many started to mumble.

“That’s right! And right now, she is being expelled not because she broke the rules but because she wasn’t going to become what they want her to be! Now she needs our help!”

Some of the fillies started to look more angry and fiercer with some stomping their hooves and shouting, “Yeah!”

“So, we're going to scour this school until we find Diamond and free her, then shut this place down; who's with me!”

“We are!” Cherry Bomb threw her wings out, laughing as she soared off, throwing bombs left and right with the rest of the fillies, causing havoc and scouring the entire school. As they headed up the stairs and coming up to another room, hearing a filly crying and pleading for help, it was Diamond Tiara. The fillies all charged the doors, but they were locked, and they started shouting, “Diamond Tiara! Diamond!”

Cherry Bomb took a bomb and threw it, but the black crystal surrounding them absorbed the blast, “Buck, seriously, what are these doors made of!?”

Snowflake ran to the doors and shouted, “Diamond, listen! Don’t let them change you! You’re our friend; every filly here cares about you! You can fight whatever they’re doing to you!”

Cherry threw her hooves in the air, “Come on, everypony, start calling to her! Diamond!”

“Diamond!”

“DIAMOND!”

Diamond! Diamond! Diamond!

She could hear her name reverberate across the darkness; a chorus of voices was making it through, hearing the hundreds of little fillies crying out to her. The voices continued to shout and sounded faint, but she concentrated on them. Knowing full well that she had to focus on the voices. Diamond Tiara looked back into the darkness, facing it with a glare. She was not going to back down, not now! Not ever! She took a stance and stomped her hooves down, and then a light started to shine brighter and brighter! The light enveloped the darkness almost completely and engulfed everything around her!

“I have to escape!”

“I have to escape!”

“I HAVE TO ESCAPE!”

Diamond gave her spell one last push, sending the light out from her horn as it exploded outward. She was then suddenly thrust out from the shadows as the entire room was engulfed in light, and the black crystal prison that surrounded her exploded into millions of tiny shards as she was sent into the boardroom. She then saw that the entire room was covered in dark black crystal, and the older mares were now trapped in it. She then turned to see Onyx now trapped in the dark crystal forming over her body, and then the crystal began to grow and take shape, taking the form of a massive black crystal-like alicorn creature as it towered over her with its eyes a piercing green emerald. It opened its mouth, revealing jagged spiked teeth as it laughed, “You may not be as powerful as an alicorn, but this will do nicely.”

She turned towards the teachers and her mom, “Now these miserable pieces of horseshit have tried to turn us into one of them for years, but they had no idea that we were the ones running things, keeping the other students in line and scared!” the creature then turned its attention to Diamond and shouted, "Until you showed up!”

At that moment, Diamond threw her wings out, readying to take flight. The creature just continued to laugh as it reared its head and raised massive wings made of the black crystal as it gave a cackling laugh, “Now we will take over this school and make all of you our slaves and start a new kingdom, a kingdom of Onyx!”

The crystal began to enclose the teachers, forming small shell-like prisons, and despite them deserving their fate for everything they’ve done and what they were going to do to her, she had to stop this. Justice will come for them, but not like this! Diamond then sent out a beam of energy, exploding the crystal around them and throwing the adults into a massive magical bubble. She burst through the doors, seeing the horde of fillies outside and quickly gathering the rest into a bubble of magic. Then, she started flying through the halls as the black crystals gathered around her. She flew out a window as the entire school was encased in a shell of black crystal. Some of it did cling to the fillies and the older mares, but it dissolved in her magic as she flew back down towards the train station, with the train just pulling in with the conductor gawking.

Diamond landed on the platform and gently placed every pony down safely; she then turned to the teachers and shouted, “Get a full accounting! Make sure everypony is here!”

“R..right!?” the teachers did their jobs checking over the accountability. Once completed, she rushed over to Cherry Bomb and Snowflake and hugged them. “Thank you! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to break free.”

Snowflake laughed, “Hey, don’t worry about it; we got your back.”

Cherry Bomb nudged Diamond and added, “Don’t sweat it! Now go out there and kick that monster’s butt!”

She then turned to her mother, who was quite shaken by everything. She turned to her daughter, who just glared at her as she threw her nose up. “You think saving me is going to change anything?”

“No, I don’t really care if it does; I may have saved you, but trust me, Mother. You are going to answer for what you did to me.”

Standing on the platform, she turned to see a brown-coated earth pony with a black mane and blue eyes, his little suit and tie flapping in the wind, running towards her, throwing her into a hug as he cried, “Diamond!”

“Daddy!”

They hugged each other right before Spoiled, who stood there as he asked, “Darling, you’re an alicorn; why didn't you tell me!?”

Diamond blushed as she flapped her wings a little as she didn’t fully know why she didn’t tell him in her letter about being an alicorn and said, “It’s a long story, and I wanted to surprise you.”

“Well, it’s sure a surprise! My daughter is a princess!”

“Dad, I would love to catch up, but there’s a monster coming, and I have to stop it; get everypony on the train and get out of here!”

Filthy was now concerned and snapped, “What, no, I’m not going to leave you to fight a monster by yourself.”

“Dad, I can handle it, trust me, but right now, you need to tell the other princesses about what’s happening. I have to keep it busy until they come.”

Filthy cursed under his breath and then shouted, “Right!” He turned his attention to the students and teachers and shouted, “Everyone get on board now! Get a move on!” the crowd started climbing into the train. Diamond watched until everypony was on the train. Then her mother was the last to get on board, looking back towards her and whispering, “Good luck.”

“I don’t need your luck,” Diamond growled under her breath; she took the little “Cutie Mark Crusaders” Cape and threw it around her shoulders, tying it around her neck before flying off towards what's left of Coldstone Academy to face the dark crystal alicorn.

Diamond Tiara flew off toward where the school used to be, which was now a field of glossy black crystal that covered every inch of land and consumed the building. On top was a massive crystal-like alicorn smiling gleefully. The little filly flew right up to it, making it laugh, “I was waiting for the other princesses, but you!? You seriously think you can defeat me!?”

Diamond threw her tiny wings and lit her little horn. The filly knew deep down she didn't have a chance. “Yeah, I can!”

The two then came at each other in a clash as the massive black crystal pony who marched forward huffed and snorted as it was shooting out crystal shards at her; she could deflect the magic, but not having practiced using her magic, she could barely keep up. Then, the creature started to form a shell of obsidian encasing her body as it morphed and grew around her like a parasite. Diamond could feel that dark, cold energy from before seeping into her and realized it was trying to encase her into it like it did Onyx. But she wouldn’t let it happen to her! Instead, her horn glowed, and the crystal formed into a glassy shimmering structure around her body like a suit of crystal body armor. Diamond exploded out from the dark crystal casing and sent a beam of energy into the creature’s chest, sending it flying.

The little filly was now showing off her new crystal armor with her wings spread out, and I gleamed in the sunlight smirking, seeing she could actually wound it, and cried, “See that! Don’t underestimate me!”

The creature scoffed, “Lucky shot!”

She then was slammed with a blast of magic, sending her flying across fields and rivers, slamming into some trees, and colliding into the dirt below. Then, the creature started crashing over the foliage above and continued to shoot shards of black crystals at her. Diamond quickly flew through the trees, using them to help hide herself as the beast laughed, “You are out of your league, little filly. All you had to do was shut up and join us, and this wouldn’t be happening!”

“What are you talking about!?”

“You, the teachers, my parents, everypony! All of you made me into this!”

She then lunged at her, slamming her out of the forest into an open field as it started to form black crystals across it, and then Diamond saw it was crying, and it screamed, “I just wanted somepony to look at me!”

Diamond flew towards it, hoping to talk to Onyx and get her to break free from this monster’s control as she said, “Onyx, I’m looking at you.”

“What are you doing!” the creature snapped, and then she heard Onyx’s voice for the first time coming out from the prison of obsidian as she looked up and said, “We need to work together; this is what we want!”

“No, it’s not,” the little filly flew over and shouted, “Onyx, I was in your shoes; I thought I had to bully ponies and control others to feel special, but you can change like I have. Please listen to me; you’re not alone!”

“Shut up!” she slammed her horn into Diamond, knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying through the air. The filly then crashed into another field, groaning being so glad she came up with the idea to make her own body armor, or she would be in serious trouble. Onyx flew downward, landed beside her, and scoffed, “If you’re anything like me, you don’t deserve to be an alicorn.”

“I know that the cutie mark crusaders they deserve to be alicorns, not me.”

“Then why are you fighting me!? Why not just give in? I can give them and everypony a form like yours! We can all be alicorns!”

Diamond stared at the behemoth and saw how it twisted that logic, wanting nothing more but to use them to feed off their hatred, envy, and greed only to be slaves to this thing and said, “Because all that thing is doing is feeding on pain and turning us into monsters!”

The creature stopped for a second and started to scream as she saw the crystal dissolving in the chest. Onyx’s face peered out, and she saw fear in her eyes as she cried, “Diamond, is that you?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Diamond, I’m scared. I don’t know what’s happening…I accepted the deal, but I just wanted to be a princess like you! I didn’t want this!”

“Shut up!” the voice suddenly returned. It was the more ferocious-sounding one, and it rose up with its wings spread out, sending shards of obsidian in all directions as it screamed. “You made the deal, and now I own your body and soul, little brat!”

Diamond stood up, throwing up her last stance, trying to hold on, but she was about to pass out as the monster glared at her. “You don’t stand a chance, little one. I’ve been going easy on you simply because I was hoping eventually to consume you. But you're making that prospect harder than it needs to be! Listen, I’ll make one more deal. I’ll let this little one go in exchange for your body.”

The filly let the crystal dissolve around her face as she spat out some blood, looking right at those glowing green eyes. Then she threw up her wings, puffed out her chest, and said, “You’re right. I know I don’t stand a chance, but they do.”

“Who are you talking about!?”

The creature looked around, now completely surrounded by Princess Twilight, Celestia, and Luna. They all sent beams of magic at it, and the beast cried out in pain, its black crystal form falling apart as it laughed, “You can’t stop me! Once I consume these three, nothing can!”

But as it was distracted, Diamond flew towards the beast, ripping out the obsidian shards with her bare hooves, and saw Onyx in the heart of it. The little pink alicorn grasped her hoof and tugged at it, with the filly crying, “I'm sorry, Diamond. I'm so sorry.”

“I know it’s okay. Just concentrate on breaking free from this thing, okay? We’ll make it through this, but you need to let go!”

Onyx nodded and closed her eyes, chanting, “This isn’t me, this isn’t me!”

With a final push, Diamond ripped Onyx from the crystalline form and the two fell back onto the grass below as the creature started to lose shape with the obsidian pieces falling all over. As the beast crumpled into pieces, laughing, “You can’t destroy me; I am immortal and will return one day….” It then stared at Diamond Tiara and said, “You, I will find you one day, and you will pay.”

The form dissipated into rubble and dissolved into dust as it was scattered to the four winds. The other alicorns flew downward, and they all turned to see Onyx bawling her eyes out. She hugged Diamond, who held her close and wrapped the red cloak of the cutie mark crusaders around her. She looked at the other princesses as she started to feel lightheaded and weak, barely able to keep conscious, and said, “Thank you, take care of Onyx,” before collapsing and blacking out.