Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara are Filly Cure! Magical Fillies!?

Chapters

Wait? What's going on!?
Now, Cuorezzato, wallow in your suffering!
Is that what you really think of me?

Wait? What's going on!?

A rainbow erupted into the sky, howling with a torrent of wind that whipped away at the earth. In the eye of the light storm, two fillies rose towards the sky. Neither knew what was going on and both were powerless to stop it. They had only each other to rely on. As they reached the zenith of the pillar, the rainbow uprooted itself and came crashing to the ground in an explosion of light. Standing in the crater were the two fillies, now poised and their eyes full of determination, balanced on just their hind legs: one clad in scarlet vestments and the other in violet.

"Protecting the light that spreads across the world, Cure Red!" said the filly in red.

"The beacon of hope shines down on us, Cure Violet!" said the filly in violet.

"Together we are Filly Cure!" The two stood together, shoulder to shoulder and unshakable.

"Envoy of deepest darkness..."

"Prepare to be cured!"

The two fillies immediately lost all composure and dropped back down on all fours. They looked at each other and screamed...

Wait? What's going on!?

Apple Bloom shot up in the middle of class, leaning over her desk for support. She left the class stunned as she pulled a paper airplane out of her mane and crushed it between her hoof and her desk. "Diamond Tiara!" Every pair of eyes in the sun-bleached room were fixed on her. She didn't care. "I've had enough of you!" She threw herself onto the prissy and rotten Diamond Tiara. As she expected, Diamond Tiara responded back with flailing and biting.

"Bring it, you hickory-smoked neander-pony!" Diamond Tiara said back.

Apple Bloom landed and Diamond Tiara and the two disappeared into a cloud of dust, flying hooves, and a rain of splintering wood flying in every direction, but that didn't stop the rest of the class from trying to get a better view. Apple Bloom didn't notice the crowd. She didn't notice a chant in her honor headed by her friend Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!

Apple Bloom wound back a hoof.

Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!

Apple Bloom let her hoof fly.

Apple Bloom! Apple Bloom!

Apple Bloom barely nicked Diamond Tiara on the side. Diamond Tiara bit down on her hoof and Apple Bloom growled to hide the pain. She wound back another hoof.

"Girls, that's enough!" Cheerilee commanded. Apple Bloom, still, didn't hear her. "Girls! Girls!" Cheerilee made the unfortunate choice of trying to come between the two fillies. She leapt in just in time to collide with Apple Bloom's hoof, hard enough to bring the teacher down.

Apple Bloom's mind imploded, her mouth hanging open, her legs growing limper and weak. In seconds she fell back onto her rear accompanied by the heart-stopping chorus of oohs and ahs from her classmates. She couldn't think, she didn't want to think, as she watched Cheerilee rise from the floor and rub the welt Apple Bloom had left.

Of course, Diamond Tiara couldn't suppress her amusement. She tried holding her hooves over her mouth to hide the glee on her wide and predatory smile, but one quick glance from Cheerilee told her that there was little point in hiding. "But this isn't my fault-"

"The both of you, detention!" Cheerilee said to the both of them. A drop of blood dribbled down her chin. "And somepony get me an ice-pack, quickly!"

She was alone, Princess Cadance, in her Crystal Palace. She was in a dim corridor far-removed from the courtroom, where she should be, with only a few slivers of afternoon light daring to enter through a stained-glass mosaic. The mosaic tinted the light orange like the beautiful orange alicorn it depicted. Right now she should have been in her courtroom listening to her subjects, but instead she had chosen to wander off on a particularly slow day.

Outside, the Crystal Ponies were living happily without a single care in the world. But inside the castle’s darkest corridor, Princess Cadence felt anything but happiness. Instead, alien feelings of a deep and consuming hatred filled her heart. The sudden sound of chipping glass brought her attention up to the mosaic, where a crack had appeared, blemishing the alicorn’s face. However, as Cadence lowered her eyes she noticed that the wallpaper was peeling as well. Gazing down on her forelegs, she found her brilliant pink coat appeared to be graying. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered to herself. “This feeling is...familiar.” She attempted a calming breath before coughing it back out, feeling as if smoke had entered her lungs.]

"Princess?" Princess Cadance jerked around. It was just a servant. "Princess, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," she lied. Her mane was a mess and her nerves reduced to knots and crossed-wires, but she would never allow herself to show weakness. A princess can never show weakness, that's what she was taught. Princess Cadance calmed herself with a quick swish of a hoof and addressed the servant with a level voice. "Round every able hoof in the castle and have them clean out the royal archives on the first floor. They've been really dusty lately. Do this immediately."

"At once, your majesty, but," he motioned to the mosaic, "what about your mother? Shall I have somepony look into that?"

"No, that can be saved for another time. Dusting the royal archive takes top priority. Don't make me repeat myself."

"At once, your majesty." The servant bowed and gracefully walked away, his nose to the floor; it was a trite formality that Princess Cadance barely tolerated, but he was away. Soon, the rest of the castle staff would be.

Thump. Princess Cadance waited while her heart raced away in her chest. Thump thump. The sound of hooves against marble slowly consumed the castle as one servant told two and two servants told four to gather in the royal archives and dust some moldy tomes that, truth be told, Princess Cadance couldn't care less about. The truth was that she wanted them all to be away from the source of the hate-filled feeling. They couldn't feel it, so they couldn't protect themselves from it. Only after she was absolutely certain that every hoof was downstairs did she take action. She unfurled her wings and kicked off the ground.

Soaring through the castle, the walls and tapestries all blurred together into a single color. This didn't impede her. With how well she knew the castle she could have flown with her eyes closed It wouldn't be hard to fly with her eyes closed. The feeling of hatred was also a distinct guide. A left, then a right and up a flight of stairs. A right, then a left and up another flight of stairs. A left, then another left, and more stairs. She was almost to the top, a place where all the most dangerous secrets are sealed away to never be seen again, or that was the intent. The past always had an ugly way to come back uglier than before. The more Princess Cadance felt the hatred, the uglier the past felt. She coasted to a stop, a tall set of doors now standing between her and the source of the hatred.

Crystals...

Princess Cadance ground her teeth in disgust and forced open the doors with a quick burst of magic. "Still as single-minded as ever? I knew you were a tyrant, but not a coward!" The past was uglier than she remembered.

Aurora Crystals...

"You will not touch them!" Princess Cadance rose her head high, releasing a burst of blue light at the intruder, King Sombra. The beam of light just barely grazed his face, one that was contorted into a vicious and bestial snarl.

Crouching over a locked chest was King Sombra, baring his fangs at Cadance. He was everything she remembered: a foul corrupting smoke streaming out of his red and green eyes, a dark coat that resembled ash, and a mane black as a starless night sky. The single difference between before and now was his broken red horn.

"Aurora Crystals!" he growled with his hooves on the chest. "Mine!"

"How?" Princess Cadance slowly advanced into the room. Her mind, her body, her soul all rejected the phantom before her. Why wasn't he dead? He should've been dead! The princess of love's mind was slowly dissolving to contempt, and contempt was slowly giving way to more hate. Hatred was just in the air. "You are not allowed here!" A wave of magical blue light erupted from Princess Cadance, flowing forward to douse and extinguish King Sombra.

King Sombra roared at the incoming wave, a guttural and feral roar unbefitting a pony, let alone a sentient being. "Aurora Crystals!" Black streams of dark magic flowed out of King Sombra's broken horn against Princess Cadance's wave; the two magics twisted into one another ferociously as black fought to devour blue as blue wanted to crush black, and black won.

Seeing her light fizzle against King Sombra struck a nerve in Princess Cadance. He was the reason for all the pain her kingdom suffered, and he destroyed her magic like it was nothing. "I will personally send you back to the shadows forever!"

The ground began to shake and crack as a light built up at the tip of Princess Cadance's horn. King Sombra recognized the light, the light that banished him away from the world. He didn't want to go back to that. King Sombra bore his long canines at Princess Cadance and pounced. "Not again!" Princess Cadance didn't flinch, not even when he was inches away from tearing her throat open, and not even when a sudden magical force attacked King Sombra, batting him away to the other side of the room.

"You will not harm my wife." Shining Armor, the white prince of the Crystal Empire, stood gallantly while a spear floated to his mouth. He bit down on it and charged King Sombra. Just as he thought he had won, Sombra dispersed into multiple shadows that slinked along the walls and floor like a pack of hyenas. Shining Armor quickly returned to Princess Cadance's side. "Are you okay?"

"I am now." She was still building up the spell. "He's after the Aurora Crystals, protect me so I can send him away for good"

"Aurora what-nows?"

"I'll explain later. Get ready, on my signal," Princess Cadance ordered Shining Armor. "He's coming!"

In the blink of an eye, every one of Sombra's shadows jumped to the ceiling, coalescing back into the terrible tyrant as he came roaring down onto the couple with wild fury and howling indignation. Shining Armor erected a barrier and stopped Sombra from tearing Princess Cadance to pieces. "It's mine!" He smashed his hooves into the barrier, releasing pulses of dark magic with each hit. "Mine!" He struck it again. "Mine!" He raised both his forehooves overhead. "Mine!" He brought both hooves down and crushed the barrier.

"It will never be yours!" Princess Cadance screamed as her horn pulsed with waves of light and magic. "Now!"

Shining Armor jumped up and rammed his spear through King Sombra, who responded by bucking him in the chest. Shining Armor was knocked behind Princess Cadance. He barely raised a hoof, hoping Princess Cadance would help him up, but she didn't move. Her spell was done.

"Begone!" A magical circle appeared behind Princess Cadance. From the circle, symbols and runes flowed out in lines towards King Sombra. "For my country, my subjects, and my mother you will be banished forever!" Princess Cadance watched, anxiously, as the spell worked to surround King Sombra. She forgot to breathe as the spell runes began tying themselves around King Sombra's neck and heels. The spell would drag him down into his own shadow, trapping him inside it and sealing the shadow away in the distant north. He would never hurt anyone again! He would never be seen again! Princess Cadance would have brought new vengeance to the monster that shattered the Crystal Empire! All these thoughts engulfed Princess Cadance, but then they snapped. King Sombra wasn't being dragged down; he was fighting it.

"Not again!" he roared loud enough to shake the room. He lifted one hoof, and broke the line of runes around it. He lifted another and the line broke again. He turned around, ignoring the spell around his neck and the spear through his chest. He inched closer and closer to the box at the center of the room, extending out a hoof towards it. "Not again! It's mine! Mine! Crystals! It's Mine! Lineage! Mine!" It was a mere inch away.

"No!" Princess Cadance screamed.

King Sombra reached the box. Reacting to his desire, the box opened slowly. A bright prismatic light slowly flowed out from the box, growing in strength as the box opened wider and wider.

"What's going on?" Shining Armor said.

The box had opened completely, a torrent of light pouring up into the air, destroying the castle roof so that it might flow into the world. King Sombra, barely able to look at the light, reached his hoof into it. The runes around his neck shattered, and with it Princess Cadance's spell. "Crystals." He touched the pillar of light, and disappeared. The light disappeared. The contents of the chest had disappeared. The hate and tension in the air disappeared. The only thing left was Princess Cadance and her defeat.

"Darling," came Shining Armor's concerned voice. Princess Cadance slowly turned towards him. She was on the verge of tears. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

"No!" Princess Cadance shrieked at him. "How can I be okay!? Sombra is alive and I failed to stop him! I failed to stop the monster that is responsible for my home's misery! He's not just alive now, though, he succeeded in unleashing the Aurora Crystals! Do you know what that means? Of course you don't know what that means, but that doesn't matter! He's out there, probably searching for the crystals, and is going to bide his time and get stronger until... until-"

"Honey," Shining Armor soothingly interrupted her, putting his hooves on her shoulders. "Honey, calm down and take deep breaths. And please, explain what's going on."

Apple Bloom grumbled to herself, sitting at her desk in detention with her forehooves crossed on the table and her head sunk in the groove they made. Every now and then she would sneak a glance at Diamond Tiara, the bane of her existence. Diamond Tiara looked like she could kick a puppy. "It's all her fault," Apple Bloom mumbled to herself. At the front, Cheerilee was talking to her big sister Applejack and Diamond Tiara's father Filthy Rich. Apple Bloom was grounded, little point in thinking otherwise. Applejack would grouch at her all the way home and then Granny Smith would give her the usual stern talking while Big Macintosh would give her the stern silence. At the end of all that Applejack would give her another stern lecture. That was the routine she had grown to expect. "How much longer 'till I can get this over with?"

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack called back to her, anger laden in her voice; the first part of the routine.

"Comin', sis'." It was the start of a very long walk.

"Diamond Tiara, we're leaving," Filthy Rich called back to his daughter. He didn't sound the least bit angry.

"Coming, daddy." Diamond Tiara quickly ran up to her father's side. They lived in the opposite direction of Apple Bloom's home. At least, Apple Bloom sighed, she wouldn't have to look at that soured face for the rest of the day; she had a different sour face to look at, though.

"Girls," Apple Bloom turned around to Cheerilee, "you will remain after class tomorrow as well." Dang it, Apple Bloom thought.

Ponyville was abuzz as usual in the later afternoon. Ponies everywhere grabbing last-minute deals, walking or flying a menagerie of pets, or playing music in the park. If it weren't for Apple Bloom's spat with Diamond Tiara, Applejack would be selling the last bushel of apples and hauling up the stand. Instead, she had to pack up early to get her little sister out of trouble. Nothing too unusual for her, whether it be rubble, journalism, changelings or detention.

Being outside the stuffy schoolhouse didn't make Apple Bloom feel better. Applejack was looking down on her, physically and metaphorically. "Do you have any idea what you just done?" Applejack didn’t give her sister a chance to respond. "You get in a fight in the middle of class and then you punch the teacher!"

"But I meant to punch Diamond Tiara!"

Applejack nearly choked on Apple Bloom's words. "And that's supposed to be better!?"

"Yeah! She started it!"

Applejack stopped dead in her tracks. "Apple Bloom, you can't go around hitting ponies! It's not nice! If you have a problem with somepony you have to tell me or a teacher, and there was a teacher in class anyway. You can't go actin' out just 'cause somepony else started it. You have to think your actions through."

"Yeah, yeah." Apple Bloom wasn't paying attention. She just wanted to be home already.

Diamond Tiara kept her eyes to the ground. By being quiet and seemingly mindful, maybe she could avoid the worst of it; it being her father. He was quiet, as he usually was before he would start on the same old tirade about her behaviour. The tirade wasn't so bad, but the quietness before it made Diamond Tiara want to pull out her own teeth out; she couldn't stand it. "It's not my fault," she stated preemptively.

"You got in a fight," Filthy Rich said with a heavy sigh. "I've told you not to get in fights."

"It was self-defense!" A truth Diamond Tiara knew was hers for once. "She started screaming at me for no reason and then jumped at me. Was I supposed to let her hurt me, daddy?" If she could muster a few tears, perhaps he would leave her alone.

"Diamond Tiara, what have I told you about how to treat others?"

Something about 'do unto others as they would like done unto them'. It was a phrase her father often repeated. "But I didn't do anything this time, daddy, I swear!"

"You swear?" Filthy Rich turned around. His tiny eyes was all the tell Diamond Tiara needed.

"I swear that I didn't do anything to her... this time... today." Careful words twisted around a truth was a mark of a shrewd business-mare. Still, Diamond Tiara didn't like to lie to Filthy Rich. He was still her father. "I barely even looked at her today, really."

"And the other days?" Filthy Rich asked as he unlocked the front door. Keen questions were the mark of a good business-stallion.

"Well, maybe I said a few things to her, things that, maybe, some ponies of lesser understanding, would confuse for an insult." She could dance around words all day, but Filthy Rich could see right through her; she knew that. Words were not his enemy.

"Diamond Tiara, please go to your room for the time being. I will talk to you later."

"Yeah right," she muttered.

"Diamond Tiara..."

"Yes, daddy, I understand, daddy." Diamond Tiara stomped through the house as she made her way upstairs and locked herself in her room. All she could think about was how this was all Apple Bloom's fault.

"And you stay in your room!" Applejack's voice echoed through the farm just before shutting the door on Apple Bloom's room.

Apple Bloom kicked off the covers of her bed. She kept her back towards the door, nothing left to do but stew in the irritating silence of her room. She was used to getting in trouble, but something about this left a bad taste in her mouth. "It's all her fault," she whispered to herself. "Because of her now I'm in trouble."

The rays of light on the floor were slowly thinning. The shadows on the wall were advancing across the room. Apple Bloom could have lit a candle, but sitting in the dark and doing nothing was easier. She could just fall asleep so she closed her eyes, welcoming the end of a rather nasty day, or that's what she thought she would do.

Flash! A sudden light from the window startled her. "Huh?" Apple Bloom leapt out of bed and scrambled to the window, curious as to what was going on. She nearly squealed in delight: light was falling from the sky. "It's a meteor shower!" Apple Bloom gasped in excitement as the colorful trails sparkled in her eyes. "Maybe this day isn't a complete loss."

Diamond Tiara was still in the bed of her dark room. Doing anything else was a pointless task. "This is all her fault," she muttered over and over again. Just go to sleep and find a way to make Apple Bloom pay the next day; that was a good plan. Diamond Tiara reached over to a clock on her nightstand and wound up the key on the back. "And then I'll get to go back to school and get in more trouble. It will be so much fun." She slammed the clock back onto the nightstand.

Flash! For a moment, the room lit up. Another flash, followed by another. Jumping in surprise, Diamond Tiara threw herself out of bed and scurried to the window. "I don't believe it," she whispered to herself as excitement spread across her face. "It's a star shower!"

It was a spectacular show of colors in every color but white flying across the sky; she didn't even know such a thing was possible. She put her hooves together and began focusing intently on a particular violet star. "I can make a wish, right? Oh, what could I possibly want? Revenge?" A vision of a crying Apple Bloom filled her mind, but it quickly vanished. "If I wanted, I could have her begging for my forgiveness in no time flat... instead... I'll wish for..."

"I have to make a wish!" Apple Bloom began fumbling with her hooves. "What to get, what to get!?" She searched her thoughts frantically for some whim to lay before the stars. "Diamond Tiara getting her comeuppance? Nah, too petty. A million bits? Nah, what would I do with all that cash?" She plopped down on the floor, annoyed by her inability to think of anything, until she saw something she saw every day: her own blank flank. "My cutie mark!" Apple Bloom shot back to the window sill and threw her forehooves into the air. "I wish I had my cutie mark!" she yelled as loud as she could into the sky.

A loud thump echoed from the floor under Apple Bloom. "Go to sleep!" Granny Smith yelled from the bottom floor. Another loud thump followed.

Apple Bloom shrugged and looked over to her flank. Blank. "Well this sucks." Another failed attempt she could paste onto her growing list of failures. One day something would have to work, right? That's what she wanted to believe. At least this one had only cost her a minute of her life. "At least it's all pretty."

Stars were falling all throughout ponyville.

Stars were falling in the sky over Sweet Apple Acres.

Stars were falling, and one seemed to be growing in size.

A star was falling towards Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom blinked, and then a star dinged her right on her head.

"What the!?" Apple Bloom stumbled backwards as that pain spread out from her head. Twinkling just below the ceiling was the star. Apple Bloom landed on her back, and the star landed just a few inches ahead of her. She stretched her head backwards, bug-eyed and awe-struck at the smoldering piece. "Did a star actually hear me?" A star was sitting on the floor of her room, or, at least, she thought it was a star. She had every reason to believe it was a star: it did fall out of the sky after all. She had never seen a star up-close until now. It was a reddish colour and seemed to have a small hinge on one side. "It sure isn't pointy like one." It looked like a toy, a disappointing one at that.

Apple Bloom rolled back onto her hooves. Curiously, she stretched out a hoof, closed her eyes, and touched the star. The disk snapped to life immediately, opening up to reveal a mirror on the inside of it. "This looks like something Sweetie Belle took from her sister's room." Even more disappointing than if it was a toy. She kicked the mirror across the room. It hit the wall, and sprang to life again.

"Hey," whined a squeaky little voice from nowhere, "what was that for?!"

Apple Bloom jumped in surprise; a disembodied voice was haunting her. "W-whos'er!"

"Me!" The voice was coming from the mirror.

"W-what?" Apple Bloom didn't blink, didn't move, didn't think as she watched the folding mirror stand straight up on the edge of it's base and, literally, hop back to her with the disposition of a disgruntled child.

"That hurts you know!" She was being scolded by a mirror. "How would you like it if I hit you?" The voice was of a squeaky little boy, hardly mature like her own older brother. "Aren't you going to apologise already? It's only fair!"

Apple Bloom blinked and rubbed her eyes. The mirror was still there, standing in front of her, obviously angry. There was only one logical conclusion. "So, I'm dreamin', right?"

"No, this is real!" the mirror yelled back. "Just like my pain!"

"Apple Bloom!" Granny Smith again. "Go to sleep or I'll put you to sleep!"

Apple Bloom lunged out to grab the red mirror; she shut it closed. "I'm sorry, okay, just quit yellin' before I get into more trouble." The mirror was struggling between her hooves. It felt strange and supernatural for an inanimate object fight so hard while mumbling and cursing her.

After awhile, it seemed to stop moving and Apple Bloom let out a breath of relief. A cloud of smoke erupted from the mirror. It disappeared, replaced by some furry thing. It escaped Apple Bloom's grasp and jumped back a foot, barely landing on a couple of stubby hooves with the grace and poise of a buffalo doing ballet. Whatever it was, it was small, just a little smaller than Apple Bloom herself, with short nubs for limbs. It stood on its hind limbs only, leaving the two forelimbs to wave around uselessly. It had a head that looked like it was covered in flan. It had a cinnamon mane sort of drooping down its yellow body. "W-what? You're an alien!" Apple Bloom started backing away and she quickly hit the wall.

"An alien?" the flan-alien repeated. "I'm not an alien: I'm a pony, just like you."

"You are not a pony," Apple Bloom argued back, pointing frantically at it. It certainly didn't look like any pony she had ever seen. "You don't look like one and you just popped out of a spaceship. You're an alien!" It was the only plausible answer. "You're going to eat my stomach and lay eggs in me until your kind takes over Equestria unless I take you down now!"

"I-I-I'm not an alien!"

"Apple Bloom go to sleep!" Granny Smith screamed loud enough to shake the floor. Apple Bloom clammed up instantly and the flan-mutant turned back into the red saucer with a puff of smoke, shaking.

Apple Bloom quietly tip-hoofed to the shaking trinket. She picked it up and opened it, and where her reflection should have been she instead saw the image of the flan-pony, shaking itself while hiding under a new red blanket. "So," Apple Bloom broke the uncomfortable silence with a low whisper. "What are you?"

"I was once a pony, honest," the flan in the mirror answered back. "But now I'm," he paused and inspected himself. "I'm not quite sure myself actually, but I was once a pony, really. My name is Custard."

"Custard," Apple Bloom repeated to herself. "So, what are you doing inside this mirror thingy?"

Custard crawled out from under his blanket and closed his eyes, thinking to remember something before proudly declaring his title. "I am a guardian of the Aurora Crystals and one who grants power to others through the magic of Filly Cure!"

Apple Bloom shushed the talking mirror. "Not so loud. Also, that didn't make a lick of sense."

"What's not to understand?" he groaned. "I'm a guardian, I give magical powers. Also, I need you to help me collect the Aurora Crystals. How's that?"

"Lousy." Apple Bloom shut the compact mirror. She had to clamp her hooves on the trinket again to keep Custard from forcing himself open. She could hear the muffled yells coming from inside it. "And you gotta quit yelling before I get in more trouble."

"We'll all be in trouble if the bad guys get their hooves on the Aurora Crystals!"

Apple Bloom's hooves loosened up. "What did you say?"

Custard took a deep breath, which Apple Bloom found slightly unnerving for a mirror to do. "You need to help me find the Aurora Crystals before some bad guys do. If the bad guys get them then, well, terrible things will happen."

"You need me to do it?" Apple Bloom wore a wistful smile. "Then the stars really did hear me!"

The door to Apple Bloom's room slammed open, a disgruntled Granny Smith standing at attention. "Apple Bloom," she hissed.

"Going to sleep now," Apple Bloom hastily said as she jumped into bed, hiding the red compact mirror behind her back the entire time.

The next day was bright. Perhaps it was even magical with possibilities waiting around every corner. Apple Bloom bounced from block to block with a smile almost as wide as her face. All that night she slept with the compact mirror under her pillow, she dreamt about becoming a hero. She dreamt about being praised by her family, of being commended by the princesses, of all her friends shouting her name and of Diamond Tiara's jealous face. It was the best dream she'd had in a week. Something incredible was going to happen. She was sure of it the moment she woke up and found the talking mirror was still there. That same mirror was now holding on for dear life in the matted tangles of her tail.

"So, wanna run all that by me again, Mustard?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I would," Custard groaned, "but this bouncing is making me nauseous! Stop it, please!"

Apple Bloom launched the compact mirror over to the top of her head, catching it expertly. Surely she could be an expert dancer with such moves. "Better now?" she giggled.

"A little...and it's Custard!"

"So you gonna explain anythin' anytime soon?" Apple Bloom happily ignored all of Custard's fuming, until the little compact jumped in the air, changing to his other form and landing heavily on Apple Bloom’s back, toppling her to the ground.

"Listen to me!"

Apple Bloom spat out a mouth full of dirt. "I'm listenin'!"

Custard poofed back into his mirror form, much to Apple Bloom's alleviation. "Okay, so, I'm one of the two guardians of the Aurora Crystals. My sister is the second one and we need to find fillies to help us find the crystals before that evil somepony who unleashed them gets his wicked hooves on them. You're one of them. With me and my sister, you and the other filly can become the legendary heroes Filly Cure! Won't that be awesome!?" He was bouncing with excitement on Apple Bloom's head.

"Yeah, it does!" Apple Bloom couldn't wait. Everything else seemed boring in comparison. She pulled herself up and snatched up Custard in mid-air. "So, all I need to do is find your sister? Does she also look like one of these gussy-mare do-hickies? Like you do now?"

"Me and my sister have to take these dumb forms. Staying in our 'true' forms is really hard for some reason... and we're not 'gussy-mare do-hickies'! This is the sacred form of the guardian to stealthily hide in the shadows and observe their marks... like a ninja!"

"A ninja for make-up maybe."

"You suck! Apologise!"

"Alright, alright, sorry." Apple Bloom sighed and resumed her pace with Custard fuming on her head. She was just a block away from the spot where her two best friends in the world, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, always waited for her. "Girls!" she called out excitedly. "You won't believe what happened to me!"

"Did it involve the star-shower?" Scootaloo asked in anticipation. She almost fluttered into the air as she approached Apple Bloom. "Man, that was so cool last night! Did you wish on anything?"

Apple Bloom could explode. "As a matter of fact - "

"Because I wished for something," Scootaloo interrupted her. "Something awesome, if I may add."

Apple Bloom opened her mouth to say something.

"I wished Rainbow Dash would teach me to fly and then she'll praise me with how cool I'll be!" She almost swooned over her own hot air.

"Okay, good for you," Apple Bloom quickly said. "Now I - "

"Oh!" Sweetie Belle quickly cut in. "I wished for a cheese grater!"

The train of thought had crashed. Apple Bloom turned slowly to Sweetie Belle who looked like she had wished for world peace and it had been granted. Sweetie Belle was smiling to herself with absolute content. Scootaloo had to ask, "why?"

"To grate cheese, duh." Sweetie Belle answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Apple Bloom took a deep breath. "Anyway - "

"Why would you wish for a cheese grater? That's dumb!" Scootaloo snapped. "There are so many better wishes out there!"

"Nu-uh!" Sweetie Belle argued back, squinting her eyes at Scootaloo.

"Yuh-huh!" Scootaloo shot back, sticking her tongue at Sweetie Belle.

"Girls!" Apple Bloom finally shouted; she finally had their undivided attention. "Is it my turn yet?"

They both nodded.

"Good, so, I wished for my cutie mark!" She waited for both of her friends to wow in amazement of her genius. It was uncomfortably silent.

"But, you're still blank," Scootaloo said. "So, it didn't work."

"No, it did, well it will!" Apple Bloom reached to the top of her head to grab Custard, but he wasn't there. Nothing but her own bow. "Huh?"

"Are you feeling okay, Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'm fine! I'm just looking for a makeup mirror that fell out of the sky when I wished on the stars!"

"A makeup mirror that fell out of the sky?" Scootaloo said incredulously. Make-up and Apple Bloom did not mix in the slightest. "Listen, as a member of the awesome pegasus pony race I think I can tell you with absolute certainty that those don't fall out of the sky."

"Where'd he go!?" Apple Bloom frantically looked around for the bauble, leaving her two friends to stare worryingly. "Custard! Custard where are you!?"

"Apple Bloom?" Sweetie Belle reached out to her.

"You two go ahead, I need to find that stupid mirror!"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other and shrugged. "See you in class," Scootaloo sighed before she and Sweetie Belle took their leave. They were both a little worried about their seemingly mad friend.

Apple Bloom twisted in every direction and kept her eyes peeled for any slight shade of red. To her horror she discovered that Ponyville was too colorful. Every shade of the rainbow could be found in Ponyville, the single most colorful suburb found sandwiched between the grandiose city of Canterlot and the next unnatural disaster. "Dangit, this is the worst!"

"Worst what?" Custard's squeaky voice echoed in Apple Bloom's ear. She spun around, and from the strands of her tail emerged the red compact of Custard. He opened up to reveal his bored face. "Are you done talking with your friends?"

"What the hay!" Apple Bloom roared at him. "Why'd you hide like that! Now my friends think I'm insane!"

"Hey, c'mon, we gotta keep my existence a secret." There was a hint of worry in his voice. "What if the bad guys find out about me?"

Apple Bloom wanted to argue with him, but she was nearing being late for class. She sighed and let him have his way; it would only happen so many times. "Fine, I guess." She drew out her words. "But, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are my best friends. What if one of them has your sister!? That would be the best!"

"I'll know," Custard said quickly. "I can feel my sister's presence while in this form. In fact I can sense feelings... sorta."

"Sorta?" Apple Bloom cocked an eyebrow.

"Sorta." Custard shut himself up and dug back into Apple Bloom's tail. "And those fillies didn't have my sister."

"Making zap apple jam makes more sense than you." Apple Bloom turned back in the direction of the schoolhouse in a huff and sprinted off. The school bell would ring very soon.

"Good morning!" Cheerilee sung out melodiously to her class. Her classroom was full of hyperactive fillies and colts all scribbling notes on their desks and throwing paper airplanes at each other. "Well, they can't all be good." She pulled out a clipboard. " Alright class, settle down. Class is starting." Not a single change. "I'm starting roll call," Cheerilee said louder. Still no change. "I'm starting roll call! Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom exploded through the classroom doorway, tumbling over to her desk at the front of class. "Here," she called out weakly. "I'm here, Ms. Cheerilee."

Cheerilee thought to herself for a moment. "I'll allow it." Safe. "But don't make it a habit. You're already on thin ice, missy."

"Th-thank you." Apple Bloom climbed up to her desk, panting for breath, but she made it. She rested her head down as Cheerilee called out the rest of the roll, or at least that's what she would have liked to do. A certain talking mirror twitched around in the knots of her tail. Apple Bloom lifted her tail over to her face. "Stop it," she whispered.

"But I can sense her," Custard whispered back. "I can sense my sister. She's in this room."

"Really?" Apple Bloom said aloud earning her the annoyed glare of the two fillies next to her: Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"Shut it," Diamond Tiara whispered harshly at her.

Apple Bloom reluctantly complied.

"Okay class," most of the class turned to Cheerilee. "How about we start our day with a round of applause for the school's junior pony roller derby team!" The applause gathered was weak with only a little over half the class showing any appreciation for the four ponies standing at the front. "Hot Wheels, Grace Lighting, Checkered Flag, Rumble; anything you would like to say?" To Cheerilee's side gathered three fillies and a colt.

Hot Wheels, the leader of the group, didn't bother to look at the class as she addressed them. "It was foals-play." Apple Bloom knew Hot Wheels and her two filly friends from when she tried her hoof at roller derby; they rolled right over her.

"We're too good for our own good," Grace Lightning laughed, looking none of her classmates in the eye. The three of them were hardly bullies, but they weren't exactly friendly.

"We practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced our buns off!" Checkered Flag gasped for air. Hot Wheels and Grace Lightning faux-cool demeanor crumbled under the whispered laughs of the class.

"Don't tell them that part," Grace Lighting groaned.

"But it's true!"

"And I barely did anything," Rumble added. He wasn't with the other three before, Apple Bloom noted. "I was benched the entire time!"

"Get used to it." Hot Wheels took her place at the back of the class. "Season's over."

"That's right," Cheerilee said. "So don't think you can use those tired 'training' excuses to get out of assignments."

"They never worked anyway." Grace Lighting groaned and planted her face squarely on her desk.

"Anything you want to say for the paper?" Truffle Shuffle with the Foal Free Press newspaper group asked her.

"No autographs," Grace Lightning said as she reached for her pencil.

"Nopony wants one," Diamond Tiara commented. Almost the entire class broke out in laughter. Apple Bloom did not; she wasn't the only one.

Cadance reached out for another cup of tea and gulped it down in a single breath.

"So, when can I get that explanation?" Shining Armor asked her. He had been on her about it since the encounter with King Sombra. Neither of them slept that night. Every shadow had become a snarling beast in their eyes, and neither of them, especially Cadance, could find the will to alert the rest of the kingdom. The memories of Sombra and being trapped in a temporal rift by the maddening hatred of the former king were still fresh wounds in the minds of the Crystal Ponies. Cadance was finishing her fourth course for breakfast. "Is there something special about what came out of that chest?"

Cadance placed the salad bowl down on the table gently. She couldn't care about etiquette. She bit her lower lip. She fumbled with her hooves. She wished Shining Armor would stop staring at her. She already had enough troubles crushing down on her. "Darling, when you see a rainbow pop out of a chest and fly into the sky, do you really need to ask if it's special?"

"Unless you have a Rainbow Dash locked in it." Shining Armor laughed.

Cadance did not seem amused. "He is on the loose and you think this is a time to joke? Take this situation seriously as you should, Prince Shining Armor, Captain of the Crystal Empire Guard. Is this not an issue of national security?"

She had cut too deep; Shining Armor was far from happy with her implications. Princess Cadance didn't mean it. She regretted it, she wanted to take it back, she just wanted stop being a wreck, but it was hard. Her every thought was consumed with questions. How did King Sombra come back? How did he sneak into the Crystal Empire? How did he break her spell? Why didn't her spell work? Why couldn't she protect her kingdom!? Why-

"Cadance?"

Princess Cadance came back to reality. "Shining Armor?"

"Cadance, I've never seen you this on edge, not even for our wedding. Cadance, my love, I just want to make sure you’re fine and to see you smile."

Such kind words; such kind and strong words. How she wish such words could solve her problems and worries. "Save the sweet nothings for later, please." It might be all the comfort she can get later.

Shining Armor's eye twitched; she did it again. He calmly put his forehooves together and rested them on the table. "Okay then, later." Later was so far off. "Your Majesty, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, as captain of the guard I demand a full briefing of the the past twenty-four hours with special attention and detail to any events involving," Shining Armor quickly scanned the room to make sure they were alone. "Anything involving him."

At least, now he was serious. She would apologise later. "Yesterday, he attacked the sealed room of the Aurora Crystals." Princess Cadance watched Shining Armor grow more annoyed with her. "The Aurora Crystals are a set of seven magical objects. You can think of them as something akin to the Crystal Heart."

"And he was after these?" Shining Armor asked.

"It would appear that way." The atmosphere darkened. "The Aurora Crystals, like the Crystal Heart, react to the emotions of the user, capable of unleashing dangerous and powerful magic in the wrong hooves."

"How?" Shining Armor leaned over the table. "The Crystal Heart has been nothing but good for the Crystal Empire."

"Because the Aurora Crystals can also react to negative emotions." The devil in the detail that could end everything she worked hard for and everyone she loved. She felt nothing but hatred from the monster that attacked her, and that's all he would need to use the crystals. "They attune themselves to the hearts of the user, and react accordingly. The Aurora Crystals will not distinguish between a good and a malicious heart, and that's why they're dangerous."

"And we just happened to have something like that lying around?"

"Yes." Princess Cadance poured herself another cup of tea.

"A complete secret."

"Yes." She took a sip of tea.

"That not even I, the captain of the guard, was made aware of."

"Yes." Another sip.

"That had never been mentioned before."

"Yes." Princess Cadance's cup was empty, just like Shining Armor's patience.

The last ten minutes before the end of class was a special kind of twilight to Apple Bloom. The end of class was so close, but no one could do anything but continue to listen to Cheerilee's lecture. Apple Bloom wasn't listening. Today, even though the end was near, there was the detention beyond it, one with Diamond Tiara. All day long Custard bothered her about finding his sister, a search she failed at. Custard was no good with so many 'feelings' everywhere and no one had a compact mirror. "Today is a bust just like every day," she whispered to herself.

"Okay class," Cheerilee announced, "with the exceptions of Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara, you're all free to go."

Nearly the entire class poured out in a massive rush, every filly and colt in the classroom stampeding through the doorway; something Apple Bloom wished she could join in at the very least. Anything was better than being stuck alone with Diamond Tiara, even detention alone just so long as it was without Diamond Tiara. She sunk into her seat and planted her face squarely on her desk, her body completely limp. How much longer did she have to endure it?

"Try not to let her get to you," Scootaloo whisper to her as she passed by. Apple Bloom looked up and saw her two friends at the doorway.

"See you, Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle called out before Cheerilee shooed them and Silver Spoon out of the doorway.

"Alright you two," Cheerilee didn't sound particularly happy. "Since you're both here for starting a fight in class, I want you each to write an essay on why fighting is wrong, better alternatives to fighting, and at least one nice thing about the other. That's not too hard, right?"

"That's impossible!" Apple Bloom blurted out.

"There isn't a single nice thing about her," Diamond Tiara added on top. "Can't I just do the no fighting thingy?"

"Wait, I still need to write somethin' nice about you!?" Apple Bloom turned to Diamond Tiara in disgust.

"Oh that's not too hard. There's so much to choose from." There was nothing to choose from as far as Apple Bloom was concerned.

"Just get writing if you want to leave," Cheerilee said bluntly. "And that includes the nice thing from the both of you."

Apple Bloom reluctantly took out a piece of paper from her backpack and bit down on her pencil, ready to begin the painful write-up, or she would, but Custard's insistent twitching was breaking her concentration. She brought her tail back up to her head and whispered, "quit it already."

"But my sister is still in here," Custard whispered back. "The other filly."

The pencil fell. Apple Bloom looked up and saw Cheerilee writing lessons on the chalkboard. "Cheerilee has your sister?"

"Not her," Custard groaned. "The other one."

That couldn't have been right. Surely she had heard him wrong. Apple Bloom slowly turned to the only other pony in the room: Diamond Tiara. "No," Apple Bloom flatly said, expunging the very notion from her mind. "No, you've got it all wrong, Custard. No chance in a pig-pen is Diamond Tiara going to be a Filly Cure hero."

"But I can sense my sister from her."

She wasn't listening. "No." Apple Bloom withdrew her tail. Custard was still bouncing around, but he had to be wrong. Diamond Tiara wasn't a hero, she was a villain.

A very painful hour passed by like a pin through a rock wall. Apple Bloom bit down on her pencil again and began concentrating on her essay. The eraser was sour. Reasons why fighting is bad. Easy! Ponies can get hurt. Alternatives to fighting? Easy! It's best to tell a bigger pony like Applejack or Cheerilee. When it came time to think of something nice to write about Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom was at a loss. She couldn't think of a single nice thing to think about Diamond Tiara, and she thought back to every encounter she's ever had with Diamond Tiara. In thinking about all those annoying memories, Apple Bloom came to the sudden realization about her favourite thing about Diamond Tiara. She always gets what’s coming to her.

She and Diamond Tiara managed to turn in their essays at the same time to Cheerilee. "I can't wait to read about the nice things you wrote about each other." Cheerilee smiled with glee. Apple Bloom already felt nervous.

"Nice, sure," Apple Bloom said with a weak smile. Diamond Tiara only coughed. Her thoughts probably weren’t much nicer.

"In fact, I'll read them aloud for both of you to hear the nice thing you wrote." Apple Bloom's heart fumbled. "Let's see, Apple Bloom's first." Apple Bloom felt ice rush into her veins, and the reaction fro Diamond Tiara wasn't going to be pretty. Cheerilee slammed the essay on the table. "Or, how about Diamond Tiara's." A second later, Diamond Tiara's essay was also slammed into the table. Cheerilee wore defeat obviously.

"Are you okay, Miss Cheerilee?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Just go, detention again tomorrow," Cheerilee sighed. "And actually think of something nice to say. You've got twenty-four hours... just think of one tiny thing."

"Oh, alright," Apple Bloom replied, slightly disappointed in herself. She and Diamond Tiara left the schoolhouse with Cheerilee slumped over her desk. The outside air didn't make her feel better. Yesterday when she left the schoolhouse she was angry, now all she felt was disappointment.

"Finally," came Diamond Tiara's indignant voice, "I can get away from you."

Apple Bloom spun around. "Huh?"

"Like, try to think of something good tomorrow so we can get this over with."

That attitude again, like a swarm of wasps stinging away at Apple Bloom. It's not like Diamond Tiara wrote anything better, not with the way Cheerilee reacted. They were in the same boat together and Diamond Tiara still managed to look down on her. She always managed to look down on her. Somehow, someway, always. "You," Apple Bloom growled. "Like you're better than me..."

"By-ye." Diamond Tiara stretching her back with her rump directed insultingly at Apple Bloom. Another attack meant to lower her. "Have a good day."

A good day will never come with Diamond Tiara a part of it. "Yeah, well," what she would have given to hit her back, "the feelin's mutant!" Apple Bloom shouted back.

Diamond Tiara stopped. "It's mutual, you hay-brained compost collector." She said it with the same air of superiority she always had to have.

"Well at least my personality doesn't stink like compost!"

"At least I don't actually stink like compost!"

Apple Bloom spent a good while staring at Diamond Tiara. They were waiting for the other to twitch for whatever reason, unblinking in some silent and undefined battle. This battle meant little to a bouncing and sentient mirror, jumping up and down on Apple Bloom's head. On Diamond Tiara's head stood another mirror, a violet one.

"Sherbet!" Custard called out from the top of Apple Bloom's head.

"Custard," the violet mirror called back from the top of Diamond Tiara's head. The voice, cool and collected and feminine, nothing like Custard.

Apple Bloom snapped to attention when she realized what was going on. "Wait, then that means..."

"You're the other Filly Cure?" Diamond Tiara gagged. "No way, Sherbet, I did not sign up for this!" She grabbed onto the mirror on her head and pried it open. "Explain now why she's the other one."

"Custard." Apple Bloom groaned as she repeated Diamond Tiara's actions. "Why does she have the other mirror?"

"Ask her, not me," he happily replied with a smile on his face.

"Great." Apple Bloom sighed. She sunk to the ground, watching her shadow grow larger as she did so. She stared at it as it expanded and mixed with Diamond Tiara's also expanding shadow. "Wait, what?" Aren't shadows supposed to shrink the lower you go? Apple Bloom stood back up, and the ground began to be engulfed in shadows. She looked up, but the sky was as cloudless as ever, yet everything around her was getting darker. "What the hay is going on?"

A deep and snarling voice answered...

Crystals...

"Crystals?" Diamond Tiara repeated.

"O-oh no!" Custard began shaking in Apple Bloom's hooves. "I can feel the bad guy. He tried to take the Aurora Crystals."

"Bad guy?" Apple Bloom said. "Wait? The bad guy's here!?"

Aurora Crystals!

The shadows of the floor sprung up and converged into a single mass, writhing out in anger, with some semblance of red and green eyes poking out from it's formless shape and staring in the direction of Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. It let out one menacing bellow, and began surging towards them. Apple Bloom immediately turned tail and ran as fast as her short legs would allow, Diamond Tiara not far after.

"Lead him out of the city," said the cool voice again.

"And what good will that do?" Diamond Tiara argued back to it.

"Just shut up and listen to me for now!" Neither Diamond Tiara nor Apple Bloom was going to argue with that.

The mass of darkness nipped Apple Bloom's and Diamond Tiara's heels as they ran as fast as they could, sparing no attention to where they were actually going. "We're doomed!" Apple Bloom cried out as she felt a fang carry away a couple strands of her tail. The day that started out full of excitement and slowly devolved into mundane disappointment was going to end with her name on a tombstone. "Somepony, help!"

"It's gaining! Stop yelling and move your fat legs faster!" Leave it to Diamond Tiara to insult her with death inches away.

"I'd like to see you do better! You're still behind me!"

"Because you're too fat to get around!"

"I am not fat!"

"Girls," the cool voice again, "don't argue! Move!"

Apple Bloom just breached the outer limit of Ponyville. How much longer did she need to run? Where was she running? "We're going nowhere!"

"We'll lose him in there!" Diamond Tiara motioned with her head at the Everfree Forest.

"Wait, do you know what's in there!?" Diamond Tiara was crazy, she had to be. "I know what's in there! Nothin' nice!"

"The outer edges are still safe, right!?" Diamond Tiara screamed back. "We have to do something, quickly!"

Give it to me!

The shadow roared as it rose over the two fillies forming a malevolent twister, howling with fury. It was rising, higher and higher, extending out of the ground and over Apple Bloom. There was nowhere to run anymore. The twister was falling down right over them. Apple Bloom squeezed her eyes shut and screamed and the twister engulfed her. She was flying now, but not of her own volition. She couldn't see anything with her eyes tightly shut in fear. She didn't want to see the spinning world. She made a painful impact on the floor. Just ahead of her, Diamond Tiara landed. No strength to run, let alone move. Was this it? Apple Bloom feared.

"Don't give up!" It was Custard. "You've got to get up!" How she wished she could. "Didn't you say you would help me and my sister?" How she wished she could take that back. "Don't you want to become a hero?"

"I can't, it hurts," Apple Bloom whimpered. "I want my sister. She'd know what to do."

"Apple Bloom..."

"Sis!" Apple Bloom cried out. "Sis! Help! Somepony, help!" It was the end of the world of Apple Bloom.

"Oh, just shut up and get up. I've seen you rise from worse." Diamond Tiara's voice, just above her. "Or are you too fat to do that."

So, even at the end of the world, Diamond Tiara doesn't change. "I am not fat!" Apple Bloom slowly pulled herself off the ground just to prove Diamond Tiara wrong. "How they hay is a prissy pony like you still standing anyway?"

"I'm tougher than you, obviously."

"I couldn't ask for a finer partner," said the cool voice.

"No fair," Apple Bloom grumbled.

"Uh, girls," Custard called to them, "we still have a problem!" The dark mass was growing. "Now would be a good time to transform into Filly Cure before we're eaten!"

"If we transform into Filly Cure, can we beat that thing?" Apple Bloom asked.

"That and more," said the cool voice. "But you two will need to work together."

A striking ultimatum, one that rocked Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom swallowed the blood and spit in her mouth and turned to Diamond Tiara. "You ready?"

"Of course," she said with a huff. "Sherbet, what now?"

"Just leave everything to us!" Custard and his sister both floated into the air, opening themselves to reveal a spectacular light that erupted into the sky.

"Hold hooves," said the cool voice, "and call out the words: Dual Crystal Shine!"

"I am so going to need to take a shower after this." Diamond Tiara scowled as she extended her forehoof to Apple Bloom.

"You're not the only one," Apple Bloom added as she met Diamond Tiara's hoof with her own.

Magically, without really knowing what they were doing, Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara threw their free forehooves into the air. Their shadow of an enemy was rising once again to crush them, but they did not fear it. They instead both shot their free forehoof into the air and shouted out a single phrase together.

DUAL CRYSTAL SHINE!

A rainbow erupted into the sky howling with a torrent of wind that whipped away at the earth. In the eye of the light storm, two fillies rose towards the sky. Neither knew what was going on and were powerless. They had only each other to rely on. And as the they reached the zenith of the peak, the rainbow uprooted itself and came crashing to the ground in an explosion of light. Standing in the crater were the two fillies now poised and their eyes full of determination, balanced on just their hind legs: one clad in scarlet vestments and the other in violet.

"Protecting the light that spreads across the world, Cure Red!" said the filly in red.

"The beacon of hope shines down on us, Cure Violet!" said the filly in violet.

"Together we are Filly Cure!" The two now stood together, shoulder to shoulder and unshakable.

"Envoy of deepest darkness..."

"Prepare to be cured!"

The two fillies immediately lost all composure and dropped back down onto all fours. They looked at each other and screamed, "Wait, what's going on!?" They both turned back to the growing mass of darkness, too stunned to move as the darkness crashed down on them yet again.

Again, Apple Bloom found herself flying into the sky. What wasn't different was that she still felt in control. No, she didn't feel a thing. The spinning world was in full view for her. A gentle warm touch helped her along, Apple Bloom spun herself around with her hooves aimed at the shadow. She moved with reflexes she didn’t know she had and shot herself down, hoof first. The impact crushed the earth, sending waves across the floor and rending the earth into bits; this was the new power she possessed, and with it she was able to break the shadow. "What the hay!?" The shadow broke into pieces that slunk across the ground, but Apple Bloom could only stare at the crater she made. The only thing more surprising than the hole in the ground, was her new red clothes. "What the hay with this frou-frou gettup!?" She looked down at her puffy red skirt and apron, and just above it a series of ribbons were binding her stomach into something much smaller than she was. "And what's with this girdle crushing me!" she choked as she tugged the ribbons binding her stomach; they were stronger than steel.

The shadowy pieces began spinning around Apple Bloom, shaping themselves with tiny legs that extended from a sunken in body, pointed ears extending from the top of a tiny head; a twisted silhouette of something vaguely feline. Apple Bloom couldn't react fast enough as one of the shadows emerged from the floor to rip her to pieces, but the shadow was stopped. From the sky, Diamond Tiara came crashing down upon the shadow with the force of a thousand tons. Just like Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara was wearing a ridiculously frilly dress with violet colors and complete with a white apron. Unlike Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara was laughing. She didn't have a corset crushing her lungs. No, Diamond Tiara wore her enthusiasm with a toothy grin as she dug her new heels into the shadow.

"I am going to enjoy this!" Diamond Tiara roared as she raised and stomped one of her back hooves into the ground, creating a fissure that trailed forward to disrupt the pack of shadows. "I am going to enjoy this so much!" She sprung off her hooves into the closest shadow and crushed it back into the ground.

"She's acting like a loony!" Apple Bloom turned around just in time to dodge a pouncing shadow. She ducked under it and bucked it into the air. "Just what the hay is going on!?"

"You're Filly Cure now!" came Custard's voice, originating from Apple Bloom's waist. She looked down, and saw the red compact mirror clipped to her apron. "You're now legendary warriors that can fight evil! You said you wanted to be a hero, right?"

"Heroes don't wear girdles!" Apple Bloom argued back. Another shadow leapt at her, but Apple Bloom swerved around it and knocked it back into the ground. She stared at her hoof, it looked no different from before aside from the additional red shoes. Were shoes making her stronger? "Is this really that Filly Cure power you're talking about?"

"Yes!" Custard's simple answer annoyed Apple Bloom. Two more shadows came at her, and Apple Bloom was able to jump over them effortlessly, bucking one in the back and stamping it into the ground.

"This is just too much fun!" Diamond Tiara squealed in glee as she raced from shadow to shadow, pummeling anything she could get close enough to with a hail of hoof-strikes. "Want to race to see who can take out the most?"

Apple Bloom raised an eyebrow. "You're on!" Apple Bloom turned around and knocked one shadow so hard to flew into another. "That's two!" She said with a cocky grin. She watched Diamond Tiara dash into three shadows and, in less than a second, knock out each shadow with a single punch each.

"Three," Diamond Tiara said with a snide grin. "Beat that."

"I will!" Apple Bloom grabbed an unwitting shadow next to her. She swing it over her while jumping into another crowd of shadows. One swing, two shadows went flying. Another swing, three more shadows up in the air. And with the shadow she had been holding onto Apple Bloom slammed it into the ground. "Six!" She turned around to Diamond Tiara; she had eight shadows lying around her.

"Like, learn to count."

"Oh yeah well," Apple Bloom turned around. No shadows. No shadows anywhere. "They're all gone!"

"Looks like I win, of course."

"No, I mean even the ones we beat up!" All the shadows were gone, but a foul wind was picking up. If Apple Bloom concentrated hard enough, she could just barely sense the hate in it.

The shadows, unable to defeat the two separately, were amassing again, taking on a form of a mere half of a pony; a pony with black fur and a blacker mane, with eyes red with rage and spewing out a malevolent purple fog. He was a pony that Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara had only ever seen in textbooks.

"I-It's Sombra!?" He was just like she had heard; a pony that was no longer a pony but a shadow of a terrible tyrant. "Oh shoot, my sister told me about this guy before! He's meaner than a goose laying an egg!"

"Oh, so what?" Diamond Tiara wasn't listening to Apple Bloom and she wasn't showing the slightest hint of fear. All Apple Bloom could see on her was twisted delight. "I'm going to pound you into the ground!" Diamond Tiara giggled and galloped up to King Sombra, planting a hoof into the ground mere inches in front of him to turn around and buck him with all of the strength she had. She drove her hoof deeper and deeper into what she was sure was a nose. "Want more?"

A black pulse of magic erupted from the shadowy mass. Diamond Tiara was sent flying backwards, and she landed face down in the dirt.

"Are you insane?" Apple Bloom asked as she ran up to Diamond Tiara's side. "That thing coulda killed you!"

"And what makes you think that?" Diamond Tiara spat out a rock. In the next second Apple Bloom shoved the both of them into the ground, narrowly dodging a dark beam of magic that barely singed the top of Apple Bloom's mane.

"You know what, you are insane!"

"Just get off me!" Diamond Tiara kicked Apple Bloom away. The two of them stood back up. King Sombra was surrounded in his shadow fog, pulsing like a heart, a pitch black heart.

"Now," announced the cool voice, "would be a good time to use the Filly Cure Shining Wave to send King Sombra back to the shadows," came the cool voice again. Apple Bloom saw the violet mirror dangling around Diamond Tiara's waist.

"Shining Wave?" Diamond Tiara repeated. "Alright then, how do we do it?"

"You've gotta hold hooves," Custard said abruptly, "again! Just do it!"

"Again!? What's with all this hoof holding?"

"Down!" Apple Bloom screamed as she tackled Diamond Tiara again, narrowly dodging another dark beam. "C'mon you spoiled brat, let's just get this over with."

"Oh fine," Diamond Tiara groaned. The two touched hooves, and the same feeling from before that caused the transformation overtook them.

"Resound, Oh Yonder's Glorious Break, Irrevocable Voice!" the two of them called out at once. They faced Sombra with no hesitation, hoof-in-hoof, with their free hooves held up against the dark shadow. Never wavering and unblinking, the two called out their attack against him. "Filly Cure Shining Wave!" Just as the words left their lips, a tiny spark erupted between them, a spark that grew in less than a second into a maelstrom of prismatic light, surging forward into Sombra.

Sombra, driven by his instincts, projected a beam of dark magic from within his shadows to meet their light, but just as the two magics met did he see his darkness falter feebly against it. The light was consuming his darkness, and would soon consume him. With no other options to act upon, Sombra sunk into the floor, his shadows shrinking until there was nothing of him left. The light passed over where he once rose and flowed high into the air before fading away.

Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara stood absolutely still, their eyes transfixed on where their beam of light disappeared. "D-did we d-do that?" Apple Bloom collapsed back down onto all fours. "Is it over?"

"Y-yeah," Diamond Tiara said before toppling onto her back. "What happened to us?"

"You became Filly Cure!" came Custard's high-pitched squeal. In a puff of smoke, Custard appeared over Apple Bloom's head on his 'pony' form.

"Congratulations on completing your first mission." In a puff of smoke, another creature like Custard appeared over Diamond Tiara. A magenta coat with a mane that reminded Apple Bloom of...

"Sherbet," Apple Bloom sighed. "So, you're Sherbet."

"But of course," Sherbet replied while flipping her bangs to the side. The cool voice did not match the form it was attached to in the slightest. "I am Sherbet, one of the guardians of the Aurora Crystals and the one who confers power to Cure Violet. You both did quite well for your first time, but I suppose that's probably because I was here to make sure everything went just right."

"I was the one who told them how to do the Shining Wave!" Custard argued. "Don't take all the credit."

"Yes, yes, good for you, little brother. You told them to hold hooves and saved the day." She was becoming less and less cool and more and more flippant.

"That's right!" Custard said proudly. Apple Bloom realized that of the two guardians, she was stuck with the dumber one.

"Now hold on just a minute!" Apple Bloom yelled out to interrupt the two 'ponies'. "Am I goin' to get an explanation now?"

"Very well." Sherbet cleared her throat. "Based on what I felt when somepony tried to open the seal containing the the Aurora Crystals, it's safe at this point to say King Sombra is out to steal them. He broke the seal but failed in collecting any. Now, the crystals are hiding here in... well, I don't know where here is, but in this town. So, we'll need you two to collect the crystals before Sombra does. I believe that sums it up well." Sherbet punctuated her sentences with another flip of her hair.

"Well I already knew that," Apple Bloom groaned as she turned to look at Diamond Tiara. "But why her!? Why is she a cure filly!?"

"I could say the same," Diamond Tiara grunted in disgust. "Whose idea was it to give this walking disaster magical powers?"

"Oh dear," Sherbet sighed. "I was not expecting this..."

Princess Cadance was back in the room where everything had happened. The fight, the spell, the crystals, the escape. She had ordered the room repaired and the servants and layponies unwittingly did as told. She was back, and felt no better.

"So," Shining Armor was with her. They hadn't left each others side since the day before when they were in this room "What is her majesty going to do as her plan of action?"

He also hadn't stopped talking like that since Princess Cadance snapped at him. "The formal talking is starting to bug me now." Cadance sighed as she placed her hoof where the chest once stood. It was empty now, useless. The end of the day was almost here. "You can go back to just Cadance now, really."

"No, no." Shining Armor feigned repulsion at the notion. "This is a serious matter, that must be handled with the utmost importance." He returned to his stiff 'on-duty' stance and watched Princess Cadance continue to examine the same spot. Very well, Princess Cadance thought.

Princess Cadance returned her attention to the chest. "How did he come back? What's he after?" She spoke her words so softly no one, not even herself, could actually hear them.

"Cadance?"

"Does he want the Crystal Empire again?" She continued to prattle quietly.

"Princess Cadance..."

A nightmare was starting in Princess Cadance's head. Ponies were screaming, crying, even dying as King Sombra rose from a throne built on her b-

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" Shining Armor yelled.

Princess Cadance snapped out of her dream. "What is it, Shining Armor?" She turned back to her obviously disgruntled husband. "This had better be important."

Shining Armor took one long and very deep breath. He was obviously at the end of his patience, but the last thing he needed was to pique his supernatural wife. "Cadance," he was starting delicately, which Princess Cadance knew meant he was afraid to say something. "I get that you're a pretty pony princess with both wings and a horn and the tiaras that you love ever so much, and even if you had none of that, I would still love you."

If only she could live like a pretty pony princess. "Are you trying to butter me up now?"

"No, let me finish. I get that you're all that and because of that, you come with a whole 'nother realm of complications that, if I were with any other mare in the world, I would never have to deal with."

What was he going on about? Because it didn't sound pretty. "Please, get to the point, for our marriage’s sake..."

"What I'm trying to say," he was hesitant, but still going. "Is that I would never trade any of that away, that I'll be there for you to help you take on any problem that will come your way, but how can I when you won't let me!? Secrets, I want us to be past these secrets. For Celestia's sake I was kept out of her own plan to turn my sister into a princess, something I will always recall with pride and happiness. But why couldn't you tell me!? Cadance, I want to be your husband, not just your knight in... shining armor..."

Princess Cadance had suffered many things in her life: the loss of her kingdom, growing up while outliving any friends she made, and being locked away in the mine by a changeling queen. None of that could stand up to Shining Armor's terrible pun. "That was so lame!" She started laughing madly. "That was so, so lame."

"It wasn't intentional!" Shining Armor was laughing too now. "Man, my parents had high expectations for me if they gave me that name."

"Well, I think you surpassed those expectations in spades, Prince Shining Armor," Cadance said as she collected herself from the floor. Shining Armor was one of the bravest stallions she had ever met, especially to make such a terrible pun in the face of a princess. "You're right. You're my husband and have every right to know what's going on. I didn't mean to keep this instance a secret," Cadance looked down at the empty chest, a forlorn look on her face, "but I hoped that it would never come to be that I would have to share it, that I would need to. The Aurora Crystals will react to those with pure hearts with pure wishes, whether they are pure good or pure evil."

"Then we better start thinking up a plan," Shining Armor sighed as he tenderly embraced his trembling wife. "I'll be here for you." She had chosen a good husband after all.

"Alright you," Apple Bloom fumed as she jumped onto her bed, her mane a soggy mess and body a numb pile of scabs. She had parted way with Diamond Tiara less than an hour ago and the entire time Custard hummed some upbeat tune she didn't have the patience to care about. She pulled out Custard from the confines of her tail and forced the compact mirror open. "Explain, why is Diamond Tiara the other cure filly?"

"Filly Cure," Custard corrected her. "And how should I know? My sister picked her, not me."

"Your sister chose a bad one. Diamond Tiara is nasty, sour, mean, sneaky, conniving, stuck-up, and an all-around bad pony to be around!" Apple Bloom continued to overload the mirror with her tirade about how terrible Diamond Tiara is and how it was a bad idea to give her magical powers. "She'll use them to bully everypony even more!"

"Except she can't use them without you," Custard sighed. He saw the look of confusion spread across Apple Bloom's face. "I told you: In order for the Filly Cure powers to work, you both need to work together. You can't become a filly cure without her, and she can't become one without you..."

"It's as I said," Sherbet groaned from the vanity in Diamond Tiara's dimly-lit room. "If you want to continue to be a part of Filly Cure, you'll need to work together with the candidate that my brother chose."

"That bites." Diamond Tiara jumped onto her bed. "So in other words, you're useless."

"Oh don't be like that," Sherbet softly replied. "I heard your wish."

Diamond Tiara shot up. "You are not what I wished for," Diamond Tiara said with deadly venom, enough to send the reserved Sherbet into a bit of a panic.

"I-I did not mean to imply that," she quickly sputtered. "What I mean is that I came to you because of the earnest purity of your wish. I'm here to help you."

"Is that before or after I pound Prince Sombers into the ground for you?" Diamond Tiara grabbed her covers and threw them over her. Of course Sherbert wanted something from her; she knew that since they met the other night.

"Oh dear," Sherbet whispered to herself. She poofed out of her mirror form and floated over to Diamond Tiara's side. "It's true that I need you right now for something really important, but that doesn't mean I don't want to help you with your wish."

"You can't do anything about it," Diamond Tiara said without turning to Sherbet. "Just leave me alone right now, I need to sleep."

Now, Cuorezzato, wallow in your suffering!

The colorful mare threw herself onto the lyre, not landing on her hooves but rather collapsing herself over the remnants. She lifted the broken lyre high. It was unnerving to Apple Bloom, the way the mare rocked back and forth while her face twisted with maddening glee. "It's time," the mare shouted, "for the first exhibit!" A wind picked up, unnatural and otherworldly. It wrapped around the colorful mare, becoming an impenetrable barrier, howling like a mad chorus of screaming that overlaid the colorful mare's loud cackling. Apple Bloom couldn't get close and neither could Diamond Tiara.

"No." Apple Bloom turned around. Sherbert's cool demeanor was breaking apart fast. She was shaking, almost crying, hiding behind Diamond Tiara's back. "No!"

"It's them again!" Apple Bloom heard Custard cry.

Diamond Tiara stomped a hoof. "What!?" she screamed. "What are you going on about!? What's happening!? Are you ever going to explain anything!? Just what's going on!?"

"This lyre is a work of art!" came the colorful mare's voice again. Apple Bloom planted her hooves into the ground as the wind grew louder and stronger. Whatever joke the mare laughed about was over. From deep within her came terrible and powerful words. "Engraved upon it are the hopeless dreams of a broken heart!" The cocoon of wind began to beat, like a heart. Faster and faster, faster and faster, faster and faster until nothing more could be heard but this despairing beat.

Now, Cuorezzato, wallow in your suffering!

Evening was a special time. Blue gives in to a dancing collage of pink and orange and the temperature drops just enough for a chill but comfortable breeze. It's on these perfect moments that Lyra would sit in the park and play her lyre for an audience of passer-bys. This was long after a day of wrestling herself out of bed, long after a day of dealing with her day job, and long after finally losing her cool and quitting said job on foul terms. Perhaps she could play away all her pains? Perhaps she'd make a few bits by playing up the starving artist angle? Lyra arched her back against the bench and laid her lyre on her leg. An open case laid on the floor under her. She plucked a single string, creating a sound that danced with her breath. Her world was melting away, replaced by the notes that would soon play from her lyre. One more pluck…

Music was engulfing the park: simple and light with only the single instrument carrying the tune, but carrying with it a message of hope. Lyra held onto hope that she could buy her own dinner that night instead of continuing to rely on a close friend. The passer-by audience would occasionally pay for their attendance fees, but the park was even more empty than usual today. The coins would clink a little as they hit the floor of the lyre case. One, two, five even? She was gaining enough for afford the cheapest bites of Sugarcube Corner at least, but her routine was coming to an end, and after a certain hour there was no point in encore performances.

"Lyra!" came a squeaky little voice.

Lyra looked up in response. "Sweetie Belle!" she called back. Now there was one reason for an encore. The excitable Sweetie Belle galloped to her bench and hopped on top of it. "You're looking spry, Sweets. What's happening?"

"I came to visit you." It sounded like the simplest thing in the world.

"Aw, I'm touched. You're not with your sister today?"

Sweetie Belle poised herself with the kind of dignity that she learned to copy from her older sister. "Lyra I am a young mare. I can go out on my own leisure and enjoy the finer things in life." Lyra found Sweetie Belle's act incomprehensibly cute so she bent down to rustle Sweetie Belle's mane. "Besides, I wanted to see you."

"Aw shucks, Sweets. I'm touched." Lyra had left Sweetie Belle's mane a mess.

"So, can you play that last song again? I don't think I've heard you play it before" Sweetie Belle began begging, sealing her act with a large pair of puppy-dog eyes that she had had years to practice on her parents.

Lyra laughed at the filly's attempts to break her will. "That doesn't work on me, kiddo. Try harder." Watching Sweetie Belle switch from cute to cross was a favourite of Lyra's. "It's a new piece, so I guess I'm still working on it. You know, changing notes, trying out new stuff, really musical genius kind of stuff."

"That's so-o cool!" That sentence was stretched out over twenty seconds.

"Yeah, I guess. Well, since you are here, Sweets, I'll play that song again. Maybe you can figure out what's missing." Lyra repositioned the lyre in front of her. Watching Sweetie Belle nearly burst with joy was just enough to assuage her ego. At least, she would have, but a slight drop of water hit her nose first. "Huh?" She looked up, and saw pegasi positioning dark clouds up high in the sky. It was rain. "Looks like this show has been canceled due to rain. That's always a problem with these classy outside venues."

"Really? Aw." Sweetie Belle let out a wail of disappointment. "Will I see you tomorrow, at least?"

"Maybe," Lyra sighed. "I kinda have a gig to take care of."

"A gig?" Sweetie Belle repeated. "What's a gig?"

"Something I need." Lyra had just sealed the case protecting her Lyre. She got up from the bench and started on her way home. "See you around, Sweets." And she was off and gone.

"She's so hard to understand sometimes." It was beginning to rain. The longer she stayed out, the harder it would be to hide that she had snuck out. Quickly spinning about, Sweetie Belle smacked right into another pony. "S-sorry." She backed up and looked up to the pony, but all she could see was a hoof. No pony was visible in the darkness of the pony's hood. "Wish I brought a poncho too. Must be nice to have one now."

"Such beautiful art, such beautiful art," the cloaked pony prattled on, over and over again without so much as acknowledging Sweetie Belle. The voice was distinctly that of a mare, and the hooded mare raised a hoof over Sweetie Belle's head.

"Woah!" Sweetie Belle jumped to the side, just escaping being stepped on by the hooded mare. "Well, excuse you. Don't you think you should apologise?"

"Such beautiful art, such beautiful art." The hooded mare continued to ignore her as she continued on. Like a machine, she hooded mare was not impeded by the building rain, but it did knock down her hood. She had a rainbow-like mane, like another pony Sweetie Belle knew, but longer, and, somehow the colors moved, but there was not time to contemplate further. The mare had disappeared over the horizon.

Sweetie Belle picked herself up and dusted off some dirt. "That was weird."

The rain was picking up more and more now. Sweetie Belle had been reduced to the soggy likeness of a mangy dog. Forlorn and wet, Sweetie Belle was ready to go home, but she spotted a familiar yellow dot between her pink and purple strands of drenched mane. "Apple Bloom!?".

"Huh?" Apple Bloom groaned and turned towards the sudden call. Sweetie Belle was bounding up to her rapidly. "Oh, evenin', Sweetie Belle. Er, isn't it kinda late for you?"

"I'm a young mare," she replied with a falsely-dignified voice. "I can go out on my own."

"Do your parents know you're out here?"

"Apple Bloom, you're the last pony that can talk to me about that." Sweetie Belle was tapping a hoof. "Why does everypony act like I can't take care of myself?"

"Sorry, I'm just kinda sore." Apple Bloom groaned again and she stretched out her back. "I just need to go home right now."

Sweetie Belle looked over Apple Bloom, and discretely hidden all over Apple Bloom's body was an assortment of bruises and scrapes that no normal pony could have gotten in one day, let alone the few hours since Sweetie Belle has last seen Apple Bloom. "Was this because of detention?"

"Detention? N-no," Apple Bloom quickly stammered. "This was from... something else."

"Something else—"

"I-it's fine! I just need to get home."

Apple Bloom was very obviously hiding something, and if it were a nicer day Sweetie Belle would have inquired further, but it was not a nice day. It was a storm now, and Apple Bloom looked like she would collapse if she didn't get home. "Want me to join you?" Sweetie Belle didn't wait for an answer. She was already helping Apple Bloom back home, because that's what friends do for each other.

Apple Bloom was on her way through Ponyville. She had a new day ahead of her now, one that could have been filled with possibilities and opportunities. Instead, she had nothing but dread and disappointment ready. From the moment she woke up she saw every sign needed for a bad day; the sun was covered by an overcast of despairing clouds haphazardly put together by whichever pegasus was on-duty. Granny Smith had to shoo her out the door when she wasn't ready on time. A dull ache in her withers seemed to cement the deal, but the worst was still ahead: Diamond Tiara. After that anything seemed better.

The squeaky call of a friend caught her attention.

"Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle calling to Apple Bloom just a block ahead, Scootaloo right next to her. "Hurry up or you'll make us all late!"

The least of Apple Bloom's worries. "I hear ya, I hear ya!" Apple Bloom stomped her hooves down and skidded to a stop right next to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Neither noticed the little red compact mirror that bounced out of Apple Bloom's tail for all of half a second. With a fatigued sigh Apple Bloom greeted her friends. "Good mornin', girls."

"Good morning." Sweetie Belle seemed as happy as ever. "Are you feeling better?"

Definitely not. "Yeah. Thanks for the other day."

"Something happen?" Scootaloo poked her head around Apple Bloom; welts and bruises everywhere. "Woah, hey, did a tree fall on you or something? You look terrible!"

Apple Bloom felt terrible too. She wouldn't say it though. If she could she would just tell them the truth, but the annoying yellow fairy wouldn't have it. "I'll be fine. You try working on a farm sometime scoots, and you'll look worse than me!"

"No way, pass!" Scootaloo huffed and twirled about. The three of them were now on their way to school. "Anyway, after class yesterday, Sweetie Belle made me try her cooking. Ulgh!"

"Hey," Sweetie Belle said with offence, "you weren't complaining before,"

"Yeah, that was before I tried it. Then I tried it." The terrible memories of Sweetie Belle's 'cookies' were threatening to come up Scootaloo's stomach. "Sweetie Belle, stay out of the kitchen because cooking is definitely not your cutie mark."

"I don't care." Sweetie Belle swung her head back, her curls bouncing towards Scootaloo. "One day you'll be begging to eat my cooking. Just you watch."

"I'll have to be in the middle of the desert and have already eaten my hooves and wings before that! Now quit your bellyaching already, right Apple Bloom?" No answer. "Hey, Apple Bloom. Scootaloo to Apple Bloom, do you read me?" Still no answer. Scootaloo turned and Apple Bloom was still next to her with her nose almost glued to the ground and her eyes shut. "Pick up a trick from your dog?" Scootaloo punctuated her sentence with a hard prod.

"Custard!" Apple Bloom yelled out loud, swinging her head back haphazardly.

"Are you hungry?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Apple Bloom realized she was not in bed and that a magical talking mirror was not bouncing on her head. "Y-yeah. I could really go for some custard," Apple Bloom slowly replied. "Hey, Sweetie Belle, think you could make some?"

"Were you not paying attention to anything I said!?" Scootaloo yelled out. Apple Bloom was not paying attention and Sweetie Belle was just happily nodding along. "Oh brother."

The schoolhouse was in-view and there was but a few minutes left before the school bell would ring. "C'mon, girls," Scootaloo said. "Apple Bloom, are you okay?"

"Yah, just fine." Painstakingly Apple Bloom quickened her pace to reach the schoolhouse, the destination in mind being her assigned seat at the front of the class. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo followed just after her, neither overtaking her pace and instead staring at her from behind. Both of them were concerned.

Just at the edge of the doorway, Apple Bloom was nearly knocked to the side by a certain quartet on ponies on wheels.

"One side!" "Watch your back!" "Hurry up, Rumble!" "You all suck!" the roller ponies shouted to one another. Another stumbling block in Apple Bloom's day.

She slumped over to her desk and collapsed over it. Maybe now she could rest, but that thought was interrupted by a quick glint of silver. A sword was suddenly shoved in front of Apple Bloom's face, causing her to bob back and come face to face with its owner,: a gray colt with a blue mane. "What the hay!?" Apple Bloom said to him. She knew him, if only a little. "Lance, what are you don'!" Apple Bloom smacked the sword aside; it was made of rubber.

"I want a rematch, Apple Bloom." He growled at her to seem threatening, but wasn't the scariest thing Apple Bloom had seen all week. Besides, she was too tired to feel intimidated. He went on some more. "A rematch for the humiliation you handed me before."

Apple Bloom stared at him for a moment before realizing what he was was so worked up over. "Oh, from the sword fight we had, when I had the cutie pox?"

"The one where you faked a cutie mark, right?" Diamond Tiara answered. Apple Bloom twirled in her seat to find Diamond Tiara sitting with her hooves under her chin and her lips curling into a sneer. Compared to the bruised Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara sparkled with perfection. She was the other half of Filly Cure and fought with Apple Bloom against King Sombra the other day, but she looked fine. Why wasn't she covered in injuries?

Apple Bloom returned to Lance; he was still leering at her. "Yeah, as she said, I didn't win the fight fair and square. You don't need to challenge me or anything, Lance. You'll win."

"Unacceptable," Lance barked back. "This is for my pride as a fencer and the head of the fencing club!"

"Which you’re the only member of," Diamond Tiara said with a mean-spirited grin. "The only there's ever been, too."

"It still has pride!" Lance shouted back.

Apple Bloom yawned. Lance threw her one last misplaced stare and took his seat as Cheerilee walked into the classroom. She greeted everyone with a drawn out but spirited greeting.

"Good morning, class!" Every student greeted her back. "I hope nopony is late today. We have so much fun stuff to cover it would be a shame if anypony was late."

The door to the classroom shot open as two unicorns came barreling through the door, scampering over to two desks in the back as if it was normal.

"Snips, Snails," Cheerilee said with a sigh.

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee?" Snips and Snails said with the toothiest grins they could muster.

Cheerilee hung her head in defeat. "I'll let it slide today, but please don't make this a habit."

There was a dim light in the royal bedroom. On the corner of the bed sat Shining Armor and at the moment his name would be the last adjective to describe his appearance. A ragged mane hung off his head and his princely white coat was more a sickly gray. No sleep that night, just worry, pacing and planning. In the corner opposite the locked door, almost collapsed onto her vanity was Princess Cadance. The princess didn't look princessly either. Shining Armor cleared his throat. "Did you send a letter to Princess Celestia?"

"Just this morning." Princess Cadance croaked. "I asked them not to let anypony know about Sombra."

"Would it really be terrible if everypony knew?"

"The crystal heart is powered by the positive feelings of the crystal ponies." Shining Armor knew this speech. "That positive feeling that they all summoned in what was the face of certain danger that empowered the Crystal Heart and destroyed King Sombra." Facts Shining Armor knew five times over. "Or, at least I thought destroyed him. However, if the crystal ponies were to lose heart..."

"Then the crystal heart will lose all its power and the crystal empire would be vulnerable to whatever King Sombra has planned, even though he already got in the castle." Shining Armor nearly collapsed, exhausted out of his mind. "Something like that, right?"

"Right." Princess Cadance said.

"So now Princess Twily is out of the loop? Guess she won't be the star of this story." It was a funny thought. Just what was his sister up to these days, Shining Armor wondered.

"This isn't Twilight's duty to handle. It's mine." Those words echoed in her head, ringing louder and louder to engulf her every thought. "Before, it was to test her, a test I'm glad she passed with flying colors because I was incapable of doing anything at the time, but this time is different. I can do something, and I will do something. Twilight has her own matters to attend to, and these are mine."

"And by extension, they are mine as well. So, how will we find them?"

Cadance's head snapped back at the uttering of the word 'we'. "That's a much more difficult question to answer." Princess Cadance sunk back into her vanity. "I don't know, but unless action is taken soon there will be much more pressing matters to deal with. I'm certain he is looking for them as we speak. I have no time to be idle, but I don't know where to start."

"Let's start from the top then. Just how much do you know about the crystals?"

"The crystals react to pure hearts and hide themselves within the heart of the user."

"Ew," Shining Armor gagged.

"Metaphorical hearts, if it makes any more sense. These are all things I remember from what my mother told me, and that was more than a thousand years ago."

"Anything else?"

"Just one." Princess Cadance heart sunk deep into the pit of her stomach. "One way to extract the Aurora Crystal from its host is to break her heart..."

Shining Armor cocked his head. He stared at Princess Cadance, expecting some kind of joke after such a wild statement. All she had for him was silence. "Break their hearts? How does that even make sense?"

"You're asking me how magical crystals older than I am work?" Princess Cadance said with a flash of irritation, leaving Shining Armor too stunned to reply. "It's what my mother told me. The crystals will hide in pure hearts, and the only way to break them out is to break the heart around it. And that's all I have to go on."

To break a heart: it was such a nebulous idea that neither of the two ponies really knew what it meant, but it was not a light phrase. As ill-defined as it is, a broken heart is a terrible pain to inflict on others.

The lunch bell sounded off. Apple Bloom sunk back into her desk as around her students started pouring out into the play-yard, dragging their lunched behind them. Normally she would join them, but today she had someone else to deal with first. Apple Bloom's eyes peeked around to Diamond Tiara; Diamond Tiara was glaring back at her. Custard, as a mirror, was bouncing around in Apple Bloom's tail. She was definitely not looking forward to this.

"Apple Bloom, let's go," Scootaloo called to her.

"Go on without me, Scoots. I gotta talk to Diamond Tiara about something." They were painful words to say, like trying to chew bark, a sensation Apple Bloom learned was rather painful.

Silver Spoon came between Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. "And just what are you planning?" she asked irritably.

"Ignore her." Diamond Tiara nonchalantly rose from her desk. "Let's go, Silver Spoon."

"Huh, wait!" Apple Bloom called out as she shot out of her desk. "Diamond—"

"There's nothing to talk about." Diamond Tiara shut her off and left the classroom with Silver Spoon on her tail. Nothing was left but the air of spiteful animosity and Apple Bloom's irritated huffing.

Apple Bloom grounded her teeth and yelled out, "that spoiled little brat!"

"Apple Bloom," Cheerliee said with a doting tone.

"That spoiled little brat," Apple Bloom whispered under her breath so no one would hear.

"Ignore her." Scootaloo smacked Apple Bloom on her back. "It's lunch-time. Let's quickly finish some sandwiches and plan our next cutie mark foray!"

"Fine," Apple Bloom huffed as she left into the schoolyard with her two friends. It was hard to remain focused when around Diamond Tiara, even with her two friends next to her for moral support. Yet still, If there was one thing she could always count on it was Diamond Tiara finding some way to always make her mad. Always.

The school-yard was as bustling as ever, but instead of the usual fillies on jump-ropes and colts by the tetherballs, nearly every single pony was around the jungle gym, their attention completely undivided.

"Let's check it out," Scootaloo said as she pulled Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle through the crowd. Sitting rather oddly at the front of the jungle gym was a sea-green unicorn mare. Many new this pony by the name...

"Lyra!" Sweetie Belle cracked in surprise. "Lyra, what are you doing here?"

"Heya, Sweets," Lyra replied back to her with a lazy wave. "Just sitting around, you'know?" Next to her floated a bronzed golden lyre, or at least seemed like it was made of gold. All Lyra had to do was play a couple masterful notes on it to have the entire crowd in awe. If it only it was always this easy, she thought.

"That was so cool," came Snips's raspy voice.

"Let me get your picture for the school paper," Shady Daze begged.

"You could play for the Princess," Pipsqueak squeaked.

"Colts, colts, calm down," Lyra laughed. "You're making me blush." She placed both her hooves on the hovering lyre and began playing a rather lively melody on the strings, bringing out a much more enthusiastic response from her crowd.

With the sweet music playing, Apple Bloom found herself in high spirits once again. She was in complete awe of the power of Lyra's music. With each second, she cared less and less about Diamond Tiara complete brush off of her. It seemed so far away and petty now. She just wanted to enjoy the moment, but one pesky nagging inkling in her tail wasn't going to let her. "Ugh," she groaned as she brought her tail to her ears. "Custard, what is it?"

"Something's wrong," Custard whispered anxiously. "I've got this weird feeling going around."

"Weird, like Sombra weird?" Apple Bloom asked back, her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach.

"Nope, definitely not that."

"Then leave me alone," Apple Bloom sighed as she swatted her tail back.

"Alright, kiddies," Lyra announced as she finished her piece. "I'll play for you all later. I got something I need to take care of real quick. See you all later." She rose from the playset and strolled through the crowd as it opened up for her, disappearing into the schoolhouse.

"Wow, she was so cool," Scootaloo gushed. "I-I mean, like, not as cool as Rainbow Dash, but you know. She's still pretty cool."

"I had no idea she was like that," Apple Bloom added. "I've seen her around Ponyville plenty too."

"She likes to play in the evening," Sweetie Belle chirped up. "I got to hear her playing once when I dragged Rarity out for ice cream. Since then I've been hooked on her playing." Sweetie Belle closed her eyes, rising onto the tips of her hooves as if she were floating, and started humming the first melody she heard so long back on that night. Rather, she was about to. A mere second after she started she remembered where she was and fell flat on her face. "Ow," she groaned as she she started chewing on some grass.

"You really like her music, huh Sweetie," Apple bloom laughed as she swatted away a piece of dirt from Sweetie Belle's face.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle chirped.

"Oh no!" Scootaloo suddenly yelled out. "We've only got five minutes to each lunch left!"

Apple Bloom stuffed her face into her backpack and pulled out a peanut-butter and apple sandwich. "Wan' f'ome?" she offered with the sandwich still in her mouth.

"No thanks, I already ate," Sweetie Belle replied, still chewing on the grass.

Shining Armor sat quietly in the royal archives. His was hunched against a wall and his eyes red from exhaustion. Surrounding him was a fort of books, walls high from abundance. He had gone through all these books, one by one, skimming through the words as he looked for keys; keys to the mystery of King Sombra and the Aurora Crystals. All he learned was that the empire had a strange obsession with festivals. "Tell me, Cadance, did the crystal ponies really feel it was necessary to throw a festival because you used the potty for the first time?"

Cadance, from behind another barricade of bulky books, stared daggers back. "The crystal ponies were a jovial and happy race in the time of my mother and she encouraged them to be merry."

"And now?" Shining Armor turned to another book as Princess Cadance prepared her speech.

"Now they are still recovering the wounds inflicted by King Sombra, by years of suffering and then being displaced in time. One thousand years have passed without their knowing and they now have to live in a new Equestria. Why do you think Auntie Celestia outright begged the chairpony of the Equestria Games to select our kingdom as a candidate instead of Cloudsdale? It was to help them get back into the world. To have something to smile about again."

"To be welcomed back into contemporary Equestrian society and insure peace across our land. Is that how the rest of it went?" Shining Armor stacked another book onto a pile. He was considering using it as a base for an artillery cannon of some kind.

"If you know the rest, why did you ask?" Princess Cadance snapped open another book.

"I love the sound of your voice." Most of the time.

Princess Cadance rummaged through a sea of books. Not books from any library, but ancient books about the time before the Crystal Empire was a unified city. Books before the time that she knew her mother came to preside over the crystal ponies. "Aurora Lights, Aurora Lights, Aurora Lights," she repeated to herself in hurried breaths as she skimmed from title to title looking for clues and answers. "I need to know something if I'm going to do something."

"Cadance," Shining Armor called to her from behind a pile. "I'm done searching through the stacks over here."

"And did you learn anything?" Cadance asked hopefully.

"Nothing new." Shining Armor sighed. "Should I get started on the stack by the windows?"

"Leave those," Princess Cadance said quickly.

"Is there something wrong with them?"

"They are," Princess Cadance paused as she looked at the innocuous stack. "They're mostly old photo albums left behind by my mother. I would prefer you not to go through them."

"Painful memories?"

"Painful memories and more. My mother was an eccentric and crazy mare that felt the need to keep pictures of every little thing. For any one festival that was held she had at least a thousand photos and could recite the name of any pony in any picture perfectly." Princess Cadance shut the open book in front of her, heavy hearted. "They're just full of so many ponies I will never see again. The maids and servants, the teachers, the babysitter, my mother."

"So, the babysitter had a babysitter?" Shining Armor laughed at the notion.

"Oh, hah, hah," Princess Cadance groaned. "I was a foal once too. I needed somepony to look after me because auntie sure knew wasn't any good at that."

"Was she the best babysitter a pony could ask for," Shining Armor asked with a catty smile.

Princess Cadance looked at him, first to berate him, before she herself broke out in a smile. "He," she corrected him, "was a meek and toneless individual that wouldn't know fun if it bit his unkempt and ratty mane. I had him wrapped around my hoof."

"Why don't I like the sound of that?"

"Because you're worried you're in the same boat," Cadance joked.

"Okay class," Cheerilee chirped as her class of bored fillies and colts slumped over on their desks. Her smile was unwavering in that regard. "Now, I want you all to put your hooves together for your new music teacher, Ms. Lyra Heartstrings!"

At once the class perked up as Lyra strolled into the room from the front door. "How's it goin' everypony," she greeted everyone with a lazy smile. "How's it hanging?" Most of the class had stood at attention to wave and smile to her.

"I wish I got that kind of attention," Cheerilee joked. "Okay class, since music is an important part of the curriculum and my musical prowess is... less than needed, Lyra here as taken of the job of teaching you all about the magical world of music!"

"Music is magic, after-all," Lyra laughed.

"Oh, today is the best!" Sweetie Belle gushed. "Oh, what will you teach us first?"

"Let's just start with the music scale, filly," Lyra answered her. Her horn came alight with a golden aura and the chalk on the teacher's table came to life and trailed across the chalkboard to draw a lop-sided and uneven music scale. "Close enough. It's just close enough. So, who knows what this is?" Three hooves were raised.

"It's a scale!" A light pink pony in the back of class was bobbing up and down in her seat. "It's used for reading music based on the placement of the notes and, and, and—"

"Slow down, kiddo. Let's get everypony else up to speed first. Your name is?"

"H-Half Note, and I really love music and want to sing and, and and—"

"Noted, kiddo, noted. Alright class, so I your cirricu-thingy mandates that I pass out these worksheets for you all to work on. It's just simple stuff about the scales. Why don't you all start pairing off to work on these together?"

"Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara," rang Cheerilee's voice. "I want the both of you working together."

"What!?" Apple Bloom said.

"Why!?" Diamond Tiara argued.

"Because I want you two to start working together," Cheerilee said with a smile on her unwavering face. "I just know that together you'll be able to do some great things."

Lyra went around, passing the worksheets to everyone, and two-by-two the class began to pair up and move their seats together. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara looked at each other: one sighed in defeat and the other one only groaned and grumbled. Apple Bloom moved her desk to connect with Diamond Tiara's.

Apple Bloom looked down at the paper and then back to Diamond Tiara. "So, do you know know anything about music?"

"No, and I bet you know even less,"

"Okay then, well will you at least talk to me now?"

"What's there to talk about?" Diamond Tiara's eyes glazed over the work-paper.

"I want to know how you got that mirror."

"It's fell into my room and started spouting nonsense. I bet that's the same thing that happened to you, right?"

"Then you saw the star shower too? Did you make a wish?"

Diamond Tiara's eyes snapped to Apple Bloom and a venomous scowl twisted on her lips. "No, I didn't. That's for babies, like you, right?"

"I'm not a baby." Apple Bloom clenched her teeth.

"And, let me guess, you wished for a cutie mark?"

"Is there something wrong with that?" Apple Bloom said while growling.

"Maybe," Diamond Tiara said with a spiteful snear. "Well, it's not like it worked, right? Instead all we got is a couple of dumb talking mirrors."

"Sounds like you did make a wish."

Diamond Tiara's face lost color, a surprising feat for a furred pony. She slowly twisted to Apple Bloom who wore a victorious grin that showed every tooth in her mouth and every bit of chewed apple in-between, and from deep within her-own tail, Diamond Tiara could hear Sherbet laughing at her. "I did not make any wish."

"Okay, fine, whatever you say, but since all we got were 'a couple of dumb talking mirrors', why don't you give me yours? It's dumb, right?"

"Shut up," Diamond Tiara said quickly, "this conversation is over. We've got a worksheet to do and I don't want you ruining my grades!"

"Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara," Cheerilee said at the end of the school-day. Fillies and colts were pouring out, but Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara stayed in their seats just a little longer. "Did either of you think about that nice thing? You're both very bright bright fillies, so I know you can think of one nice thing to say about each other." Neither Apple Bloom or Diamond Tiara looked ready to answer. "Diamond Tiara, why don't you say something nice about Apple Bloom, hm?"

Diamond Tiara gagged at the thought. "She's, uh, like, too nosy for hew own good."

It was an improvement! Cheerilee thought, even if it was far from a compliment. "W-well, Apple Bloom, do you have anything nice to say about Diamond Tiara?"

Apple Bloom groaned at the thought. "She... looks like toothpaste."

"Something you don't use," Diamond Tiara snapped back.

"Do too!"

It was just a slight improvement, Cheerilee thought. "Keep thinking girls, I know you two can think of one nice thing about each other. I know you two can do great things if you both set aside your differences and worked together. I know you can do it. You can't disappoint me, because I know you know you can!" As the words came out of Cheerilee she feared more and more that they would let her down, but it was a teacher's duty to put faith in their students, over and over again. "You two are more alike than you think."

"Yeah, sure," Diamond Tiara said with apathy. "Can we go now?"

"Yes, Diamond Tiara, Apple Bloom, you two are excused." Cheerilee sighed.

Apple Bloom swung her backpack over her shoulders and treaded out of the classroom. Outside, she saw Lyra with Sweetie Belle and Half Note. "Girls!" she called out to them. "What are y'all doin'?"

"These two were trying to get me to play them a song." Lyra threw her back back in a fit of laughter. "It's not done yet, kiddo. Another time."

"But your music is amazing!" Half Note was gushing as she clamored for Lyra's attention and, even more so, her music. "Sweetie told me that you were playing a new piece last night?"

Apple Bloom's tail swung over to her face. "Apple Bloom," Custard's worried voice said, "I can feel bad things again."

"Wha—"

"Ms. Lyra Heartstrings!" came a new voice. A mare with a gray coat and mane that was a darker shade had appeared suddenly out of nowhere to Apple Bloom, but none of the others noticed in the heat of their conversation, and the closer she got the more Custard began to shake deep within Apple Bloom's tail.

"O-oh, good morning." Lyra nervously bowed before the gray mare, keeping her eyes and nose close to the ground to not offend. "S-so, have you made a decision yet about letting me onto the Canterlot choir?"

"I have, but first I would like to hear a demo."

"A-a demo? O-of course!" Lyra shot up. She pulled out her Lyre and was about to start playing the instrument. "I-I don't suppose we could take this somewhere else?"

"Oh?" the gray mare said with an annoyed expression.

"J-just, if it's alright, can we just move over to the park? I mean, it's where I'm most comfortable, so I should be able to play better."

"Well, if you're more comfortable there and can play your best." Just as fast as the mare had started to scowl she was now giving off a pleasant yet eerie smile. "Let us be on our way."

"Lyra, can we come to?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Please," begged Half Note.

"N-no, you two go home." Lyra packed up her Lyra and slung it over her shoulders. "Go, this is important business for me."

"B-but—"

"Go!" Lyra yelled, her temper at its peak. "This is more important than you, kids! Leave me alone and go home!"

Half Note slinked away, torn but in her own way angry. "Well you suck!" she yelled before galloping away, but Sweetie Belle was in pieces.

Lyra had never yelled at Sweetie Belle before. It was different from any mother or father's berating. "L-Lyra?" she sobbed.

"Lyra," the gray mare called, "let's get going. Leave her behind."

"Y-yes!" Lyra lead the gray mare away from the schoolhouse, but looked back once at the torn up Sweetie Belle. She went on.

"Apple Bloom!" Custard yelled in her ears. "We need to follow her! I've got this bad feeling that something bad will happen!"

"You don't say," Apple Bloom sighed.

"Well," came Sherbet's voice. Apple Bloom looked behind her to find the imp of a pony floating. "Let's go, Diamond Tiara. I've got a really bad feeling about this too."

"And why should I care?" Diamond Tiara spat back.

"Because you might get to beat something up again?"

"Well, I guess that's fine."

The park was clear, with few ponies in sight. Lyra rested on the familiar bench where she had played so many evenings away. Just like before, she thought to herself. She had to give it all she had to impress the Canterlot pony. "Alright, here I go." Lyra floated the lyre between her forelegs and began plucking away a sweet and soothing ballad on the strings.

"No," the gray mare responded.

Lyra stopped dead in her melody. "N-no?"

The gray mare looked dully at Lyra. "Try something else."

"Y-yes." Lyra played again, this time a lively tune, one that could have gotten any ponies around to dance.

"No, no, no," the gray mare said again and again. "All wrong. Try again."

"Y-yes!" Lyra plucked the string again, this time with a rapid rhythm laced with the most complex chords she could muster.

"No, this is all wrong. Try again."

"Y-yes!" And this kept going, on and on in a pitiful cycle. Lyra would play a melody, and the gray mare would reject it. Lyra would play another one, and it would be rejected, and with each cycle Lyra's confidence fell more and more. Her rhythm became sluggish and sloppy, she missed notes or misplucked a string, and she never noticed the wicked smile opening on the gray mare with each mistake.

"Can't you play better?" the gray mare asked with the face of a hungry lion that's just found food.

"I-I-I—"

"Lyra is the best player!"

Lyra's head shot up and the gray mare swirled around with the disposition of a dragon spotting invaders. Sweetie Belle popped out of the bushes, covered in spikes and thorns. She brushed herself up and stood tall with confidence that irked the gray mare.

"Lyra is the best music player in all of Equestria! There's something wrong with your ears if you can't see that!"

"And who are you?" the gray mare snarled, closing in on Sweetie Belle. "This is an adult conversation. Little fillies should go home and make hoof-paintings!"

"Shows what you know." Sweetie Belle blew the gray mare a raspberry. "I'm a young mare, and more adult than you if you can't see how good Lyra's music is!"

The gray mare's anger raised with one of her hooves. "I'll crush you," she whispered to herself. Her hoof trembled violently as her mouth spasmed in every direction. The sight was enough to bring Lyra to action.

"Don't you dare touch her!" Lyra threw herself onto the gray mare, but in less than a blink the gray mare had spun around on a single hoof. She struck Lyra down mid flight knocking the wind out of Lyra and with no visible effort. Lyra shot backwards, the world spinning around her before her vision went black and started gasping for breath, but when she finally hit the ground she didn't land on flat land. There was a loud crunching sound when she fell.

"Your lyre!" Sweetie Belle gasped.

Lyra, with what little strength he had left, dragged herself up onto her hooves. She felt around for the lyre as her vision slowly came back. She found it in two pieces. "No." A tear rolled down an eye.

"Well, that's sad. Isn't that sad? It's very sad!" the gray mare said with a sadistic grin, inching closer to the broken lyre with the poise and fluidity of a rag doll. "You can't play without an instrument. Is your heart breaking?"

"I-I can get a new one!" Lyra sputtered back. In her hooves she was trying to piece the fragments back together. It was in two mostly shole pieces. It can come back, right? It can still work, right? It hasn't all been for nothing, right? Lyra finds the shadow of the gray mare consuming her own as she comes face to face to her, breathing frostbitten breath right onto Lyra's face.

"With what money? You have nothing, nothing! Your silly little dreams are over! You are nothing now!" she said less than an inch away from Lyra's face.

"No!" Lyra said back defiantly. She had to. "It's my dream to play in Canterlot, to play for the Princesses!"

The gray mare's lips curled in delight as bits of colored splotches began to break out over her coat. "Well, now your dream is over."

"No-"

"Yes!" The gray mare pulled back, and to Lyra's horror she was no longer the drab gray that she was before. Her pelt was dancing, screeching even, with color. A cacophony of colors that twisted on her fur with no order to guide them. "Your dreams are over!"

Lyra dropped her lyre and her tears fell with them. "I-it's over? It's really all over?" Lyra slumped down. "Yeah, I guess so. I wasn't good enough for Canterlot. I'm not even good enough for Ponyville. I'm a washed-up has-been with nothing to play now."

"No you're not!" Sweetie Belle's voice ranged in Lyra's head. "She's wrong! She's all wrong!"

"Quiet!" the colorful mare said. A sudden gust of wind knocked Sweetie Belle into the air. She landed squarely on her back, painfully, bringing more joy to the colorful mare as she started inching over to Lyra again, drinking in the heartbroken mare's tears with a malicious grin the curled with delight. "You're useless, done, defeated."

Lyra shot up and released a bolt of golden magic against the colorful mare. She has never remembered learning such magic, but she didn't care right now. The colorful mare was stunned long enough for Lyra to abandon the lyre and race to Sweetie Belle's side. "Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Belle, say something!" She was unconscious, but breathing.

The colorful mare's eye twitched behind Lyra. Lyra hugged Sweetie Belle close to her body to protect. "Useless, useless," the colorful pony started muttering to herself. Another surge of ill-wind flared up around her and hammered into Lyra. Lyra held her ground to protect Sweetie Belle. "Useless, useless. You're useless, useless." The colorful mare looked down on Lyra and Sweetie Belle with one eye more open than the other, one nostril more flared than the other, and one side of her mouth twitching more than the other. Another gust of wind tore right into Lyra, and she collapsed onto the ground.

"You monster!"

From nowhere Apple Bloom flung herself onto the colorful mare's face and started striking madly into it. "Who are you? What are you? Why are you doing this? What the hay do you think you're doing!? And get away from my friends!" Apple Bloom, not bothering to see what she was doing, managed to bring both of her hooves down on one of the colorful mare's eye.

"Get off, get off!" The colorful mare bucked about and stomped about before finally throwing off Apple Bloom. "Who are you who am I who are you!" Apple Bloom almost landed on the hard ground, but found that she had been caught by Diamond Tiara.

"I believe we asked first." Diamond Tiara dropped Apple Bloom on the floor. "You don't see many ponies with coats like that, or ponies that can do magic like that without a horn, hmm?" She had a point, the colorful mare was no unicorn, but, just like that, with no horn or incantation or even the slightest movement, another gust of wind surged up from the colorful mare and was barreling right at Diamond Tiara. At the last moment it was stopped by a magical barrier, Sherbet and Custard on opposite sides of that barrier.

"Sherbet, Apple Bloom, Yogurt!" Diamond Tiara shouted.

"It's Custard!" Custard said back all flustered.

"Just make with the light show already!"

Sherbet and Custard both poofed back into their mirror forms and opened themselves up, shooting a series of lights into the sky. Diamond Tiara extended her hoof down to help Apple Bloom up and the moment their hooves touched they called out the magical words that they didn't know were engraved deep into their hearts.

DUAL CRYSTAL WAVE

Light surged up around and enveloped the two fillies, granting them great power and the vestments of the red and violet warriors. The light shattered into a stunning rain of light to reveal Cure Red and Cure Violet: Filly Cure. They both stood on their hind legs and pointed at the colorful pony.

"Protecting the light that spreads across the world, Cure Red!"

"The beacon of hope shines down on us, Cure Violet!"

"Together we are Filly Cure!"

"Envoy of deepest darkness!"

"Prepare to be cured!"

Diamond Tiara collapsed back onto all fours. "Will we do that everytime we transform?"

"Yes," Sherbet answered her.

The colorful pony didn't move in the presence of the fillies. She had become like a statue an unnervingly still one to Apple Bloom. "Think she's ok?" she thoughtlessly asked, but then the colorful mare spasmed to life, laughing more like a hyena than any pony ever could.

"It's Filly Cure!" she screamed with what sounded like joy. "It's Filly Cure, Filly Cure! It's really really Filly Cure!"

"That's not the reaction I was expecting," Uneasiness settled into Apple Bloom as the disturbing and colorful mare continued to laugh. The chaotic swirls of the mare’s coat had started to become even more deranged in their colorful displays.

"No." Apple Bloom turned around. Sherbert's cool demeanor was breaking apart fast. She was shaking, almost crying, hiding behind Diamond Tiara's back. "No!"

"It's them again!" Apple Bloom heard Custard cry.

Diamond Tiara stomped a hoof. "What!?" she screamed. "What are you going on about!? What's happening!? Are you ever going to explain anything!? Just what's going on!?"

"Now, Cuorezzato, wallow in your suffering!"

"Explanation, now!" Diamond Tiara barked at the mirrors, but they didn't respond. There was no need. She and Apple Bloom could see what was happening perfectly.

The wind exploded, and the colorful mare had disappeared. In her place was a towering lyre, larger than the school house with writhing strings that reached out in every direction. A single knotted claw extended out from its side, and what could be considered a pair of eyes that resembled pieces of a heart broken in half, glaring angrily at Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara. It let out a single head-splitting roar.

"What is this! Nopony ever told us about this!" Diamond Tiara said in her shrill and whiny voice, seemingly taking no heed of the situation to Apple Bloom. "Apple Bloom, let's just finish this thing in one blow with the Shining Wave."

A sentiment Apple bloom agreed with. She nodded and held out her hoof to Diamond Tiara, but the lyre monster's claw extended between the two fillies and swatted Apple Bloom into the air. "The hay!?" Apple Bloom cursed as she was sent flying, but the monster's strings wrapped around her mid-flight and slammed her back into the ground. "Ow."

"You’re useless," Diamond Tiara scoffed as she charged right at the monster. She kicked herself off the ground, mad with glee for another fight. She looked up, ready to look the monster in the strings, but it had disappeared. She looked around, left and right, down and, finally, up. There it was. "No fair!" Diamond Tiara couldn't escape in time before the monster came crashing down on her.

"Well, serves you right." Apple Bloom laughed weakly as she brushed some dirt off of her ridiculously poofy dress, but diamond Tiara wasn't completely crushed. Apple Bloom saw Diamond Tiara barely holding the full weight of the monster up, no doubt thanks to the magic of their dresses.

"Serves you nothing!" Diamond Tiara belligerently screamed back, her forelegs slowly giving in to the weight of the lyre monster. "Do something! I can barely move!"

"Comin' at ya!" Apple Bloom dug her hooves into the ground and flung herself forward off the ground. Mid-flight she spun herself to break the monster to pieces with a good hind kick. That's what she wanted to do, but the wily strings of the lyre monsters had managed to catch her at the very last moment, wrapping around Apple Bloom with a grip that would have crushed a regular filly. "Aw, dang!" Apple Bloom was hoisted higher into the air. She couldn't do anything but flail her legs around to try and throw herself out of it's grasp. No luck.

"Why do things never go right for me!?" came the booming voice of an adult mare. The source was unidentifiable.

"What was that?" Apple Bloom looked around, but there were no other ponies in sight. "Where?"

"Why can't I make my dream come true!?" Apple Bloom found the source, the monster.

"Sherbet!" Diamond Tiara yelled from underneath the monster. "Explain, now!"

"It's made from her feelings," Sherbet said. "This monster was made from the emotions that playing pony felt when the harp broke."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Why is it no matter how hard I try I get nowhere!? I'll never leave this crummy town! I'm stuck here! STUCK HERE!"

Apple Bloom felt herself being pulled again but in a different direction. Her vision blurred as the monster began spinning her, around and around. "Diamond Tiara! Heeeeeelp meeeeeee!" Apple Bloom cried out ineffectually. The monster let go, and Apple Bloom found herself crashing straight through one of the many park trees. No filly, let alone pony, could have survived that without a magical frilly dress.

"You stupid thing!" Diamond Tiara, unable to take any more, dug into the very last reservoir of strength she had and began lifting the monster. "I'll crush you! I'll crush you to pieces!" She lifted the monster an inch higher and then slammed it into the ground as hard as she could. "I'm going to crush you into itty-bitty pieces!"

A string of the monster shot upwards and then angled to Diamond Tiara. She was in no position to resist. The strings wrapped around her, faster than the eye could see. Diamond Tiara was lifted into the air, and promptly smashed into the ground. The strings unwrapped from Diamond Tiara and the monster lifted itself back up.

"Dangit, this isn't working." Apple Bloom reached for the compact mirror attached to her waist. She held it up and opened it. "Hey, Custard, how can we beat this thing?"

Custard's dopey face appeared in the mirror. "The powers of Filly Cure work best when in tandem! When your feelings are as one, then you're capable of anything!" Coming from Custard it didn't sound silly in the slightest.

Apple Bloom sighed and repeated the word verbatim to Diamond Tiara. Coming from Apple Bloom, the words sounded like pure nonsense.

"More feelings nonsense!" Diamond Tiara shouted back as she crawled out from her crater. "You want us working together? Fine! Apple Bloom, your hoof, now!" Diamond Tiara held out her own hoof. Was she asking for help? "Hurry!"

Behind Diamond Tiara, the monster was raising it's claw again. Apple Bloom clipped the mirror back to her dress. "I hope you know what you're doin'." Apple Bloom ran forward to meet Diamond Tiara, hoof to hoof. She reached the edge of Diamond Tiara's crater and grabbed her hoof. "Just what are you-"

Diamond Tiara began spinning Apple Bloom around her.

"-doin'!?" Apple Bloom screamed as the world rushed past her. She felt Diamond Tiara kick off the ground, but the world was too much of a blur to see what happened next. She felt the sting of the monster’s strings whip her body a few times, but the force of Diamond Tiara spinning her had become a barrier, knocking away the strings with the force of a magically-empowered filly with a habit for gorging herself. Then, Apple Bloom heard Diamond Tiara call something out.

"Filly Cure Sub-apple-ic Collider!" Diamond Tiara shouted as Apple Bloom was smashed into the Cuorezzato. The grain along it's spine cracked. "What do you know, working together does work!"

"This is not working together!" Apple Bloom was pulled out of the new indenture by Diamond Tiara, but not long after Diamond Tiara had started spinning her again.

"What are you talking about?" Diamond Tiara squealed with delight as she once again swung Apple Bloom, this time upward to shatter the looming claw of the monster. "See, look how useful you are now!"

"Hows about I show you!" Apple Bloom twisted around and grabbed down on Diamond Tiara's hoof. "It's your turn!" She swung Diamond Tiara sideways, but Diamond Tiara turned at the last moment, turning Apple Bloom's ram into a kick, one that shot the Cuorezzato upwards.

"Yeah, right," Diamond Tiara chided as she once again turned the tables on Apple Bloom and threw the unsuspecting filly upwards. "Bon voyage!"

"I'll bon voyage you when I get back down there!" Apple Bloom yelled back as she flew up into the air. She caught up to the Cuorezzato in no time.

"I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't do it!"

"I'm so sorry, Lyra," she sighed a little as she put her hooves on the broken monster. "But, I have to bring this thing down." At the apex of her flight, she dragged the monster below her. "Filly Cure Apple Turnover!" she screamed as she began her descension. Each second was bringing her closer to the ground, faster and faster, with more and more force, until she finally hit, cracking the monster into two pieces barely held together by a single string. "Is it over?"

"Not yet." Diamond Tiara extended her hoof out. "The Shining Wave. Let's finish this."

"I hope things end well..."

"Resound, Oh Yonder's Glorious Break, Irrevocable Voice!" Powerful light began to condense in front of the two. "Filly Cure Shining Wave!" The light surged out from them, engulfing the lyre monster in a torrent of impenetrable light that rather than exploding in every direction, surged upward to form a pillar of light that before finally fading out. Where the monster once stood was now just a broken lyre.

"It's over?" Apple Bloom started gasping for breath. "It's over! Oh, great granny's girdle that was scary... speaking of girdles, can I please get thing thing off now?"

The red and violet cloths of Filly Cure disappeared off of the two fillies, leaving them as normal fillies that were much more worse for wear.

"Ugh," Diamond Tiara groaned as the sores began to settle in. "This might be more trouble than it's worth."

Apple Bloom wasn't paying attention to Diamond Tiara. She was pulling herself over to the unconscious unicorns. "Sweetie Belle, Lyra, please get up."

Sherbet floated over to Sweetie Belle. "I can still sense life in the little one. The other is also still with us, but her light is becoming dim."

"Light? Dim! Is she dying!?" Apple Bloom threw herself onto Lyra. "Ms. Lyra, please, wake up!"

"She's not dying, Apple Bloom." Sherbet calmed her down, or tried to. Apple Bloom was only becoming more panicked. "It's not that she's dying, but her heart is broken."

"Sucks for her," Diamond Tiara said with little sincerity. Seconds later, she was tasting dirt, on the ground with Apple Bloom over her.

"Do you even listen to yourself!?" Apple Bloom's trembling hooves were not enough to keep Diamond Tiara pinned. She quickly was thrown off.

"So what do you want me to do? Sing songs? Spout cliches with fake understanding? Act like things get better? How old are you? Four?"

"You... you little—"

"Lyra!" Sweetie Belle's voice rang between the two. They both turned around, and Sweetie Belle was helping up a defeated-looking Lyra. "Lyra, are you okay?"

"Sweets? Is that you?" Lyra slowly stirred back to the waking world.

"Yes!" Sweetie Belle cried as she buried her face in Lyra's chest. "I-I thought that... where did that strange mare go?"

Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were hit with realization. They both jerked around, looking for the colorful mare that had brought so much misfortune down. Who was she, they both wondered. But now she was gone.

"S-she's gone?" Lyra groaned as she got up. Her horn lighted up with a golden aura, and the broken lyre rose from the ground. "She's gone, so I guess I really am no good for Canterlot. I can't do anything with a broken lyre. I really am done."

"N-no you're not!" Sweetie Belle's voice was full of emotion. "You're a really good musician! Even if no one can see it you're really good! But-but if you keep acting sorry for yourself you'll just-just end up no... nowhere..."

"I guess, I guess I am just acting sorry for myself." Lyra looked deep into the broken lyre, seeing her warped image off the glossy reflection. "Sweets, you're pretty smart, you know that?"

"I-I am?"

"Yeah."

Diamond Tiara stared at the scene with nausea. Apple Bloom felt herself being warmed from the inside. "Ya'see," she said to Diamond Tiara. "And that's something Sweetie Belle can do, and something you can't, Diamond."

"Like I'd want to," Diamond Tiara gagged. "Well, I've had my fun. Sherbet, we're leaving, or would you prefer I leave you behind?" She turned around, and limped off.

Sherbet cooly flipped her bangs to the side. "Take care of Custard, Apple Bloom, I'm counting on you. You both did excellently today." She poofed back into a mirror and shot off straight after Diamond Tiara.

"Welp, all's well that ends well!" Custard said in delight. "Another victory for Filly Cure! So, how does it feel to have saved the day, and get no recognition for your hard work?"

"Terrible." Apple Bloom collapsed onto the floor. "This Filly Cure business sure is painful."

"O-oh no!" Custard started to panic. "Oh, oh, Sugar Bell!" he screamed out and then poofed back into a mirror.

Sweetie Belle, unsure if she had been called, turned around. "Huh? Apple Bloom!" She screamed out as she rushed to her friend's side. "Oh no, Apple Bloom! Are you okay?"

"I will be, Sweetie Belle, but, I really need to get home, and I can't move."

The end of the day was here at last and all Shining Armor could think about was collapsing. He had never gone through so many books in his life. "Scholarly pursuits were never my thing," Shining Armor sighed as he abandoned all grace and collapsed in the middle of the hallway. "What I would do right now to find Cadance and just cuddle up in bed."

"Prince Shining Armor," came a stuffy voice. He turned around to greet one of Princess Cadance's various vassals, and stuffed into an equally stuffy dress with far too many poofs that, coupled with her mess of a mane, gave her all the appearance of a disheveled dog. "May I ask you refrain from finishing that thought?" she said with a high-strung voice.

"Good evening, Lattice," Shining Armor groaned. "If you're looking for Cadance then I would love to know as well."

"Actually, this concerns you, Prince Shining Armor." From within the pockets of dress she pulled out a letter and offered it to Shining Armor. He happily obliged by surrounding it with his aura of magic and unwrapping the letter: it was addressed to him from Cadance.

Dearest Shining Armor,

I have decided to act. By the time you have gotten this letter I should have left the castle and be soaring through Equestria. I can no longer sit and wait and sift through books that only repeat what we already know. I must act, because Sombra will not lie still and wait. I wish we could have been together just before I left, but you would have persuaded me to stay, and I would have listened because I do love you, and I know you love me too, but actions must be taken. We have already lost a day to him.

While I'm gone, you will be the acting head of the Crystal Empire. Lattice should be the only one that knows of my leave of absence, but she does not know why. I have instructed her to support you in everyway possible. You can tell them I'm taking a trip to delegate with a foreign land. They must not know of Sombra. The scars he has left are still too fresh and could cause the Crystal Heart to lose power. He has already infiltrated the castle once, and you are still the strongest and bravest warrior I know. Stay vigilant.

I believe in you, Shining Armor, and even if you see this as another habitual secret of the Princesses I can only enact on this hair-brained plan because I know you can take care of the Crystal Empire. You are a prince, Prince Shining Armor, even if you don't have the body of one I know you have the soul of one.

With love, adoration and faith,
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza

Shining Armor carefully folded up the letter. He would rather ball it up and burn it in a fire. He looked over to Lattice who seemed to be waiting for something. "She's gone off to delegate something," Shining Armor sighed.

"Is that so, Prince Shining Armor," Lattice said back with a voice as sour as expired milk. "Well, I have my orders. Does his majesty have any announcements to make, perhaps one that explains this matter of events to his royal subjects so they don't go around asking where they're beloved princess is?"

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" Shining Armor felt a headache coming on.

"Since when has ruling been easy, your majesty?" Lattice replied with a desert dry tone. "There's more to royal affairs than training ponies to jump, polishing spears or standing handsomely next to her majesty like a, what's the word, trophy? Though, a trophy usually implies worth."

"You want an announcement?!" Shining Armor roared loud enough for his voice to carry to every corner of the castle. "Gather the attendants, gather the public! I'll make an announcement that will put every kingdom in the world to shame! My cutie mark will change from a shield to a megaphone!" Shining Armor swiftly turned around and galloped down the hall towards the balcony where Princess Cadance made all her announcements, never noticing the wry smile playing off Lattice's lips. "Wrapped around her friggen' hoof, gah!"

"Well, that wasn't very hard," she chuckled. "Well, I'll make a prince out of you yet."

"Does it hurt when I do this?" Granny Smith asked as she placed some ointment along Apple Bloom's back.

"Y-yes, granny!" Apple Bloom squealed in pain.

"Then it's working."

"I swear, Apple Bloom," Applejack started to admonish her. "You and your cutie mark crusader friends seem to find more ridiculous ways to hurt yourselves every day. Just what was all this for this time?"

"A being a hero cutie mark," Apple Bloom answered honestly.

"Apple Bloom, you don't need a cutie mark to be a hero," words spoken from experience, Apple Bloom knew. "And you sure as hay don't need to put yourself through this kind of trouble. Just settle down and let your cutie mark come to you naturally."

Apple Bloom sighed and dropped her head in defeat. She couldn't tell Applejack about Filly Cure or Custard or anything. "Yeah, yeah, I get'cha."

"Good, now you take it easy while Big Mac and I work on dinner. We'll be sure to cook up something extra yummy to help you feel better."

"Y-you mean it!?" Apple Bloom asked, going sparkly eyed. "Maybe I should—"

"Hold that thought, missy," Applejack caught her. "I'm feeling nice today. Do you want to try that little scheme you're planning on a bad day?"

"N-no, big sis."

"That's what I thought. Now, take it easy, alright?"

"Alright!"

"This Filly Cure business is beginning to bite." Diamond Tiara laid in bed with a poorly-bandaged hind leg. "Agh, this really hurts!"

"C-calm down, Diamond," Sherbet said soothingly. "If you thrash about, you'll only make it worse."

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one busting hoofs!"

"I-I understand, but that doesn't change that you need to rest if you want to heal."

"How can I rest when I'm not healing fast enough!?"

"That was a lame comeback," Sherbet sighed. "Where's your father? Shouldn't there be dinner being made right now?"

"Dad's probably off at work, too busy to pay attention to me," she grumbled.

"I-I see, then just leave it to me," Sherbet replied cooly while flipping her bangs. "I'll have you a delicious meal ready within the hour."

"And what's a stubby little imp gonna make? Pixie dust?"

"Now that one was better," Sherbet sighed with approval. "Just stay in bed. I'll have you feeling better in no time."

"Why, just so I can go and fight again tomorrow? I wonder what I'll get to fight this time? Maybe a sandwich monster! Then maybe I'll get a decent meal!"

"If you've got enough energy to throw back such great insults, then you're already healing. Take it easy, Diamond." Sherbet floated out of the room and down to the kitchen. Diamond Tiara stayed motionless in bed, trying not to let the pain overtake her. Just like any other night, she felt mostly cold and alone.

A dark room, filled with nothing. The only illumination to be had was a tiny light emanating from the center, but for the few ponies standing within its walls that was all they needed. A cloaked pony stood at one end, doing its best to contain some cackling over a joke no one heard before. On another side stood a scarlet mare with with a deep-black mane, and on another side stood a mare clad in lusterless armor carrying a lance.

"So we've made our move?" the scarlet pony started. Her voice was like venom, trying to drip its way into unsuspecting ears, and oh so very feminine. "Good, it's about time."

"The crystals are there, the crystals are there!" the cloaked mare started repeating over and over again, jumping up and down like a filly with candy. "The crystals are there, the crystals are there! All we need to do is find, find, find them!"

"To make the crystals appear, we must break the hearts of those who hold them," the scarlet pony noted with humor. "But, since we don't know who has the crystals, then we'll just need to break all their hearts. Simple enough."

"Stir up too much of a commotion and somepony is bound to be on to us, Astratto, Cantante," came a strict and hardened voice from the mare in lusterless armor. Her tone was low, almost boyish. A far cry from the others in the room.

"A giant harp monster just went rampaging through the home of the national heroes," the scarlet mare giggled. "It doesn't get more auspicious than that. Besides, Filly Cure is there, so we know that the crystals are just lying around in some poor schmuck's heart over there. All we need to do is keep picking them all out till we hit the jackpot. Thats a simple plan even you can follow, right, Giostra?"

"Filly cure?" A fourth voice rang, belonging to a younger mare that stepped out from behind the armored mare. "Filly Cure has been sighted?"

"Filly Cure, Filly Cure, Silly Filly Itty Cure!" Astratto sang out.

"Just leave everything to me," Cantante gleefully sung. "Everything is for the true king right? Ciao."

The scarlet mare left the room. Astratto, the hooded mare, continued to sing and babble inanely. Giostra, the armored mare, planted her lance in the ground as the fourth mare nuzzled next to her. At the center of them all, the sole bit of light in the dark room, was a broken red horn.

Is that what you really think of me?

"Help what?!" Cheerilee roared, the malevolent mist around her growing stronger. "I've done nothing but my best and still life feels the need to throw dirt at me all the time! I hate being lonely, I hate being relied on constantly, and I hate you for always making my life worse! I hate you, Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom had become useless, Diamond Tiara groaned. She should have had them transform before they broke in. Apple Bloom was a sniveling mess now. Only one thing left to do: steal the spotlight. She threw Sherbet straight at Cheerilee, nailing her on the side.

Cheerilee turned, eyes red with anger. "And you!" Diamond Tiara chuckled to herself. This was too easy. "Always acting like the perfect little princess when you're nothing but a perfect little prick."

"Is that all you've got?" Diamond Tiara was stone faced, keeping her emotions in check.

"You're a snot-nosed little good-for-nothing that only cares about herself!"

Is that what you really think of me?

She wanted to stay in bed, or maybe she just didn't have the strength to get up. Wisps of light wanted Diamond Tiara up, but aching pains ept her down. "Would it be so bad to miss one day of school?" she whispered to herself. Silver Spoon was so good at taking notes that Diamond Tiara had no need for Cheerilee's boring lectures. Such a good friend Silver Spoon was, so good that all Diamond Tiara needed to do was sleep the day away and be better tomorrow morning. Everything else could wait.

"Diamond Tiara!" The door flew open and at the threshold stood Filthy Rich. He irritably stomped over to Diamond Tiara's bedside and bit down on her sheets. He threw it out the window. "Do you have any idea what time it is? You're going to be late for school." He sounded extra grouchy this morning. It took him a few moments to notice, but eventually he looked down and noticed Diamond Tiara's awkwardly bandaged body. "J-just what on earth have you been doing? Playing in the Everfree?"

"Exactly, dad." Diamond Tiara fidgeted with the breeze. "That's exactly what I've been doing. So, think you can get my blanket back? Actually, buy me a new one. The old one probably has dirt on it now."

"If you have the energy to give me lip then you have the energy to go to school. Now get out of bed and brush your teeth. If you're not down in ten minutes, you're grounded." An empty threat, but once done fuming he left Diamond Tiara alone in her room. He hurried downstairs, probably to organize some papers or do some other business-related nonsense.

"What a chore." Diamond Tiara rolled, quite literally, out of bed. She landed on the floor with a soft flop. "This bites, bites so hard." A glittering metallic disk floating just above her caught her eyes. "What do you want, Sherbet?"

"You seem to be in need of help," the disk said with a soothing tone.

"You seem to be in need of a face."

The little floating disk released a puff of smoke, and when that smoke cleared in the disk’s place was a strange diminutive ponyish creature with nubs for limbs and no snout. That was Sherbet. "There, now I have one," she said with a chuckle.

"Don't give me lip." Diamond Tiara was now on her hooves and slowly slumping her way to the bathroom. "And as you can see I don't need your help. So go sit next to a tube of lipstick or something." She bit down on a tube of toothpaste and globbed the minty gel onto her perfectly pink toothbrush. She clamped her hooves between the end of the brush, but it slipped out from beneath her hooves and fell to the floor. "Great."

"Diamond Tiara!" Filthy Rich yelled from the first floor. "You have five minutes left!"

Diamond Tiara galred at the floor. "Oh hold your horses," Diamond Tiara said quietly. Sherbet floated over next to her head with the toothbrush rinsed and toothpaste reapplied, sporting a smug grin. "And what do you want?"

"To help you, of course." Diamond Tiara doubted that.

"All you care about is having me fight for your filly curry thing."

"That's not true." Now it was Sherbert's turn to be insulted. "Now open wide so I can make those teeth sparkle!"

"Make me," Diamond Tiara spat back.

A fight had broken out between the two of them, one that shook the floors of the house as a great battle unfolded between filly and fairy. A battle so tremendous that it attracted the attention of Filthy Rich on the first floor. He had a paper in front of him with words written so small that one would need a magnifying glass to read a single line. "Diamond Tiara!" he yelled. The distraction continued. "Diamond!" He ran upstairs and bucked open the door to the bathroom. Diamond Tiara was on her back in the middle of the floor, covered in toothpaste, flashing him a smile of perfectly white teeth.

"Done," she said with an air of smug.

"What are you doing?" Filthy Rich asked, his stone face trembling.

"Brushing my teeth. Now I'll just rinse and we'll be on our way."

"You do that," Filthy Rich said resisting the urge not to laugh. "And, thank you for being ready on time," he said with defeat.

"No problem, daddy." Filthy Rich shut the door. Diamond Tiara hurried to the faucet and started rinsing off stray bits of mint paste. She laughed to herself, hoping today might be a good day afterall. Diamond Tiara pulled out a compact mirror from her mane. "No more talking from you, got it?" No response. "Good." She replaced the mirror in her hair.

Early in the morning in Cheerilee's classroom was always dreadfully boring. Diamond Tiara was always dropped off early because her father believed that it was what the smarter fillies would do. Diamond Tiara never studied. She would instead gossip with her best friend."Morning, Silver Spoon," Diamond Tiara called out.

"Morning," Silver Spoon said back. Her eyes squinted up and she took a little sniff of Diamond Tiara in. "Why do you smell minty?"

"It's cheap shampoo." Diamond Tiara collapsed into her desk.

"You look worse than yesterday." Silver Spoon hopped over to Diamond Tiara's side and studied the sloppily placed band-aids. "What happened to you? Did Apple Bloom and her troupe of terrors do something?"

"Like I would let myself get roped into any of their lame-mane-brained schemes." Diamond Tiara scoffed at the idea of having to spend any more time around Apple Bloom than she needed to; magical forces of a shadow king notwithstanding.

A blue colt appeared next to Silver Spoon. Diamond Tiara knew him, Shady Daze, as a part of the foal free press. "You look like a dog took a bite out of you keister and spat it back at you." Shady Daze's unnecessary commentary irked Diamond Tiara. "What in all of Ponyville happened to you? Maybe it'll make a good story for the Foal Free Press!"

"What's the matter? Running out of stories with your baby paper?" Diamond Tiara never got over being replaced as Editor-in-Chief. So much power was now wasted. "I'll be glad to do an interview and tell you everything you're doing wrong."

"We're better off without your yellow journalism." Shady Daze turned and left with an air of stuck-up pride for his work, pride Diamond Tiara believed was not deserved. Not long after Shady Daze's partner appeared/

"Good morning!" Truffle Shuffle yelled as he pranced into the school house on surprisingly graceful hooves. A stack of papers had to have been magically balanced on his back. "Shady, I've got a new funny comic that's sure to bring in the readers! We'll be back to number one in no time!"

"That's the stuff I like to hear, Shuffles!" Shady Daze ran up to Truffle Shuffle and helped him with the papers. Every morning Truffle Shuffle would appear exclaiming whatever dumb idea he had for the paper at the top of his lungs, then he and Shady Daze would go to their own little corner of the classroom to whisper back and forth. Like clockwork, this was a part of every early morning for Diamond Tiara; a monotony that ground at her nerves. If there was one thing that becoming a Filly Cure had done for her, it was break up this painful monotony. Having an outlet for violence was also a boon.

"How childish." Diamond Tiara sunk into her seat and collapsed on her desk.

"You still haven't explained what's with all the bandages." Silver Spoon poked a particular bandage on one of Diamond Tiara's back legs. Diamond Tiara nearly jumped through the ceiling, howling with pain.

"I fell," Diamond Tiara said through pained words. "I fell, okay!"

"Okay, okay, jeez." Silver Spoon backed off.

Diamond Tiara turned her attention to the clock. It would soon announce the start of class and then a parade of punctually-challenged fillies and colts would storm through the doorway and scramble for their seats.

"Get out of my way!" "Me first!" "I want through!"

It was already starting. Diamond Tiara grimaced at the sound of three particular fillies that, surprisingly, had made it to the classroom on time for once. Apple Bloom and her two friends were fighting to get through the doorway for whatever reason. The three of them had so much energy it disgusted Diamond Tiara. After some awkward struggling, Apple Bloom mustered the strength to squeeze between her two friends and shoot herself face first into the classroom, landing on the floor face first. Apple Bloom picked herself up and said to her two friends, "hah! Now you gotta do my chores for a week."

"No way we can do that!" Scootaloo argued back as she fell to the floor with noone to support her. "That would kill us! I call a do-over!"

"Can't you make it just a day?" Sweetie Belle started begging, tidying up her wind-slicked mane.

"I guess just one day will be more than enough for you two," Apple Bloom said, laughing.

Apple Bloom turned and noticed Diamond Tiara staring straight at her. "Diamond Tiara," she said with little emotion other than contempt. "Is there something you want from me?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all," Diamond Tiara said back, her voice dry as a desert. The two of them said nothing more as Apple Bloom took her spot between Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara. Cheerilee was terrible at picking seats.

Class would begin in five minutes. The stampede of foals started in four minutes. Six minutes later, everypony was in their seat waiting patiently for Cheerilee to announce the start of class. Eight minutes later, Cheerilee was nowhere to be found.

"What gives?" Diamond Tiara said to herself. She was enjoying the extra minutes of peace but it was entirely unlike Cheerilee to ever be late. The rest of the class was becoming restless over the sudden absence of their precious 'Miss Cheerilee'.

Thirteen minutes after the class had started, Lyra ran in through the class door, collapsing in exhaustion on the floor. "G-good morning, fillies and gentlecolts! So, uh, I bet you're all wondering where Cheers- er, Miss Cheerilee is? So, Miss Cheerilee has caught a bug, a bad bug! So while the Mayor is scrounging up a proper substitute, I guess I'll be the full on teacher for the day with promise of a pay bonus if I do a good job. So, think we can all get along?"

"No!" Half Note shouted from the back.

"Groovy," Lyra said with a sigh. "Looks like my new lyre is a little further off."

"Miss Cheerilee is in trouble." Diamond Tiara overheard Apple Bloom whispering to her friends. "We've got to investigate and find out what's what." The three of them got closer together. Diamond Tiara put her hooves to her ears in anticipation of what came next. "Cutie Mark Crusaders, Private Investigators, yay!" They said it loud enough to disrupt the entire class.

"Uh, girls, a little quieter next time?" Lyra winced. Diamond Tiara pitied her. Lyra was out of her league.

In all of the Crystal Empire, Shining Armor and Lattice were the only ones privy to the absence of their beloved princess's presence, and only Shining Armor knew the true reason behind that absence. He was the only one that knew that Princess Cadance left to find King Sombra, because they were the only ones that knew that he had managed to infiltrate the kingdom's castle despite the presence of the magical barrier manifested from the Heart Crystal. Shining Armor sat still as a corpse's heart with his eyes ever present on that magical stone. It shined brilliantly, but was that enough? "Why?" Shining Armor repeated over and over again, the words falling into oblivion on the edge of his lips. He was surrounded by hundreds of smiling and singing crystal ponies, their coats all as brilliant as the happiness in their hearts. The crystal Empire was a spotlight of jovial tiding begging neighbors into its doors for merriment but leaving any with evil intent shunned from this sacred land. What happened? "What?"

"Are you done gaping?" Lattice was the other pony that knew of Princess Cadance's absence, but not why. Instead she seemed to prefer nagging at Shining Armor about courtly affairs with her stale muzzle and beady little tired and cynical eyes. She would follow Shining Armor everywhere but the bathroom, which was slowly becoming his favourite spot. "I suppose since you were not born here that the sight of the Crystal Heart is one of magic and intrigue, but believe me it gets boring rather quickly."

"Lattice," Shining Armor turned and cut her off before she could say any more, "has the Crystal Heart ever been broken?"

Silence but without the sense of foreboding that Shining Armor expected. Instead Lattice looked at him as if he was touched in the head. "Broken? If it were ever broken we wouldn't have one! It's not some mechanical contraption built by fallible pony hooves. Are you daft?"

Shining Armor started rubbing his temples. Lattice treated every question he had like it was common knowledge and always his fault for not knowing, nevermind that he had been living in the crystal kingdom for less than a year. He rubbed his temples a little more. "Then how did it come to be?"

"Well, that's a much better question, but the same can be said for your elements over in the sister's domain. Does anypony know how those things came to be?" Lattice had a point, but Shining Armor found she always did. Lattice was like a wife without a single benefit. Shining Armor also pictured some evil enchanter in a mystical workshop, creating all these magical artifacts for the purpose of causing headaches for everyone.

"Okay, let me try again. Has the Heart Crystal ever failed to keep out evil?" Silence again, but this time with the sense of foreboding. Shining Armor's heart sank as Lattice's coat began to dull. She was recalling something painful, that was obvious.

"I suppose our Heart Crystal failed us with Sombra."

Shining Armor's heart almost stopped. Did she know?

"The day he appeared he did so without so much as a single bit of warning. I suppose our heart crystal didn’t stop him then."

He had done it before. Shining Armor wanted to kick himself for not realizing that King Sombra had done all of this before. The dark specter of the Crystal Empire knew some secret to piercing the Heart Crystal's defences. He could do it over and over again. As many times as he wants. The Crystal Empire wasn't safe in the slightest, and he and Cadance didn't realize just how unprotected it was. "Cadance, you need to hurry back."

"Pardon?"

Shining Armor realized his snout was an inch off the floor. He pulled himself back to attention. "Oh, just reminiscing about Cadance. I just love, love, love her... you know?" Lattice wasn't any brighter. "But, you know, we don't have to worry about Sombra anymore! He went and blew up! Yep, we all saw it, right over there, I think?" He nudged in some random direction he wasn't totally sure of. "The kingdom is safe!" That was a big fat lie, but Lattice's coat started to regain luster. She was buying it!

"Yes, I suppose it's a good thing he's gone. Even with what was lost... there is hope for a brighter future."

"That's right!" Shining Armor mentally patted himself.

"And that bright future starts with your announcement and speech." Shining Armor mentally kicked himself. For some reason Lattice's soat was also back its translucent glory. She enjoys her job too much, Shining Armor noted.

"Yes, I'll announce the Princess Cadance's absence, it will be a big deal and maybe the Crystal Ponies will make it into a funfair! You know, I've been working on my flugelhorn."

"Are you taking this matter lightly?"

"Of course not." A deep sigh and then surrendering to the cranky mare's will. Shining Armor turned and started off into town.

"Where do you think you're going?" Lattice again.

"To converse with my subjects, duh? C'mon, how am I supposed to make a speech to get the masses riled if I don't know what the masses want? Speeches were always Cadance's job before."

"And you just stood next to her pretty like a - "

"Don't say it!" He knew what was next. "Give me a chance to prove myself, okay? I'll show you I'm more than a trophy."

"For all our sake let's hope so." Lattice pulled up next to Shining Armor. "Well, you wanted to talk to them, no?"

"And you intend to come with me?" She nodded. This day wasn't getting better. Another sigh, another surrender. Shining Armor left into town, Lattice next to him every step of the way with her beady little cynical eyes, but just before the Heart Crystal disappeared from view he took one last glance at it.

The bell rang, signalling the end of class. Finally, it was over, Diamond Tiara thought to herself. Lyra for all the musical 'genius' she claimed to have had was totally ineffective at trying to be a real teacher. "You ready to go, Silver Spoon?" Silver Spoon nodded in agreement. "Then let's go."

"Like, what do you want?" Diamond Tiara snapped back at Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom squinted her eyes. She wasn't enjoying this interaction any more than Diamond Tiara was. "I was just askin' how you're feelin'."

"I'm fine, thank you." Diamond Tiara took one step forward. Whatever it was she had done, she had done it wrong as howling pain started shooting up from her hoof. "I'm totally fine." Diamond Tiara ignored any pain to save face. She and Silver Spoon left the classroom, but barely out of earshot she could hear Apple Bloom getting chastised by her friends.

"Why are you concerned about her?" Diamond Tiara overheard Scootaloo question.

"Whatever Diamond Tiara did I'm sure she deserved it." Sweetie Belle added. Diamond Tiara wished she let her get crushed by the lyre monster.

No more could be heard, but nothing more needed to be. For Diamond Tiara, this changed nothing about how she felt about those three anyway.

"Diamond Tiara, you're limping." Silver Spoon's voice suddenly pierced its way into Diamond Tiara's head.

"It's fine, don't worry about it."

Silver Spoon started examining Diamond Tiara's leg. "It's not fine." She looked worried.

"It is, so drop it," she said, raising her voice. Silver Spoon took the hint. Silver Spoon went quiet, but she was obviously annoyed. The less Silver Spoon knew the better, probably. Diamond Tiara only looked like a dog's chew toy, and that was thanks to the protection of the stupid dress she had to wear, but Silver Spoon could end up in far worse condition if she ever saw that strange colorful mare.

"Diamond," came a little whisper in Diamond Tiara's ear. Sherbet whispering something into her ear. "I think I feel it on our left."

Diamond Tiara looked around. The color almost drained from her face when she saw her: a mare covered in a cloak with few exposed limbs, but what was exposed did not have a singular colored coat. It was the colorful mare. She disappeared into an alley "Silver Spoon, head on home alone," Diamond Tiara ordered. Silver Spoon was about to argue back, but one look of absolute order from Diamond Tiara was enough to stop that.

"Are you sure?" Silver Spoon asked. Diamond Tiara was absolutely sure.

"My dad ruined my blanket this morning and I want to pick out a new one alone." Diamond Tiara quickly said. "Go home. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Alright then." Silver Spoon, somewhat reluctantly, went on ahead, away from Diamond Tiara whose eyes were dead set on the location of where the colorful mare from before ran off to.

"What are you going to do?" Sherbet whispered into Diamond Tiara's ears. "You can't fight without Apple Bloom."

"You little imps sure put the dumbest rules on using these powers. Why don't you go fetch that little mud-for-brains so that I can pummel that colorful nuisance’s brain into the grounds for the trouble her stupid monster gave me."

"I won't leave you alone!" Sherbet was arguing back. "That pony can make Curezzatos!

"I can barely say quor-ah-sato, but if you go get Apple Bloom it won't be a problem. Stop arguing and get moving!" Diamond Tiara grabbed the magical compact mirror out of her mane and threw it as far as she could. That should take care of that pest, now it was time to deal with another. She'll track the mare and when Apple Bloom shows up they'll transform and Diamond Tiara would crush the colorful mare's face.

Diamond Tiara swiftly ran into the same alley the colorful mare disappeared into. It was leading into the outskirts of ponyville, away from buildings and closer to the everfree forest. Diamond Tiara quickly spotted a bush just at the edge of the city and she dove into it. "Where?" Diamond Tiara whispered to herself. "Where is she?"

A scream echoed from Diamond Tiara's right. Wasting no time Diamond Tiara bolted off towards the scream. That was her best chance. The scream repeated periodically, guidning Diamond Tiara closer and closer to the edge of town. Just next to the Everfree Forest, she found the colorful mare crouched over a blue mare. "Now, surrender to me the Aurora Crystal!"

"Somepony, help me!" the blue mare screamed.

Diamond Tiara swallowed hard and yelled as louad as she could. "Hey, muck for brains!" Diamond Tiara yelled at the colorful mare. "Remember me?" Where's Apple Bloom?

"I-it's Filly Cure! The fillies who cure things!" Does she love saying the obvious?

"Are you gonna fight me without some dumb monster this time? Huh? Huh!" Where was Apple Bloom? Where was Sherbet? They needed to get here right away. "You know you're no match for my magical powers, so you should just run away with your tail between your legs! Compared to me you're just a bug for me to crush!" Just keep talking and keep stalling.

"But, but, but, butts! Filly Cure needs two butts! You have only one!" Was this thing even capable of making sense, Diamond Tiara wondered as the urge to hit it in the face grew. "With only one, the filly can't cure! The filly can't cure! This filly will not be cured!"

"Shut up, you're annoying!" Wrong thing to say, Diamond Tiara thought to herself. This thing was getting under her skin better than she could get under it.

"Fight?" The colorful mare echoed. "You want to fight?" Before Diamond Tiara could realize, the colorful mare was right in her face. "I'll give you a flight!"

Diamond Tiara couldn't react in time. The colorful mare attacked Diamond Tiara with the strange magical wind from before, and this time Diamond Tiara wasn't protected. Nothing caught her fall. She landed on the cold hard ground and shrieked as the pain wracked her entire body. "You," Diamond Tiara growled with the last of her strength. "When I get my hooves on you, I'm going to... I'm going to rip you to pieces."

"Poor poor pretty filly cure. You can't do anything without the other pretty filly. You're useless."

"Say that to my face!" Diamond Tiara forgot her injuries and threw herself at the focus of all her rage right then. She wound back her hoof and drove it forward, straight into the colorful mare's sickeningly wicked grin. The mare barely moved, not that Diamond Tiara cared. The longer it was standing the longer she could pummel it. "I'll make you regret calling me that!" Another gust of wind threw Diamond Tiara off, kicking her hard to the ground. "Don't you dare think less of me!"

"This isn't any fun without the other filly." The colorful mare forgot about Diamond Tiara and turned back to the now unconscious blue mare. "Nothing I can do to this one now. Pain and suffering is for those that are wakey wakey. She needs breakfast!"

"Shut up and fight me!" Diamond Tiara screamed.

"No, I will not shut up and fight you! I will shut down and flight me!" More annoying nonsense. Diamond Tiara, with only adrenaline left to push her, threw herself one last time at the colorful mare. She was going to knock out one of its teeth at least, but in the blink of an eye, the mare disappeared. Diamond Tiara flew past where it once stood and landed face first in the dirt. It didn't taste good.

Diamond Tiara could barely raise the upper half of her body. "I'm alive, and in pain," she said to herself. "Where are those stupid imps with stupid bloom? I almost died because of them!"

"If you have strength to yell you're not dying."

"Sherbet!" Diamond Tiara twisted around and collapsed onto her back. There was Sherbet floating over her. "Where are the other dimwits! Do you have any clue what almost happened to me!?"

"Who you callin' a dimwit!" Apple Bloom was close-by. Diamond Tiara lifted her head slightly. She could see the pink bow getting closer. "You go chasin' after that freaky mare and then blame me for your condition? What's wrong with you?"

"How about the fact that I have to deal with the slowest pony in Equestria when the bad guys show up? I saved that mare over there, but does anypony thank me? Nope." Good deeds are never rewarded, that was one of Diamond Tiara's credos. "So forget this!" Apple Bloom jumped back a little. "Take Sherbet, give her to one of your stupid friends! I've got better things to do then get hurt all the time!"

"Are you for real?!" Apple Bloom squealed in delight. Of course she was happy about this turn of events. "Oh boy! Should it be Scootaloo, or Sweetie Belle? Oh who am I kiddin' Sweetie Belle can't fight monsters! Oh, this is going to be the best now! C'mon, Sherbet, let's get you a better partner!"

Sherbet was stupefied. "W-what?! I never agreed to this."

"Well who wouldn't! Let's get this mare to the hospital," Apple Bloom pointed at the unconscious blue mare, "and then get the real Filly Cure goin'!"

"B-but - "

"No time for butts! We've got to get another one for Filly Cure!"

"That joke," Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes, "is terrible."

When Princess Cadance was around there were fewer things that Shining Armor enjoyed more than strolling through town with the love of his life. Without Cadance, under the constant threat of an attack by a vengeful pony with no heart left, very shadow had become a monster in his eyes. He was on full alert, but unable to concentrate long before his eyes would shift to another spot.

"Prince Shining Armor, you do know the end of the day is coming and I have yet to hear a word out of your mouth when it comes to your announcement to the populace? Are you intentionally shirking your duties?"

Protecting the Crystal Empire was Shining Armor's sole most important duty. "Perish the thought. In fact, I'm mentally combing over it as we speak. Just watch, after tonight you won't have a doubt in your mind about my abilities." He said with total calmness. It was also a complete lie that just might get Lattice off his back for a moment. Shining Armor doubted that he could ever give a speech good enough to impress this crusty old mare anyway.

"It's Sombra!" a child screamed.

Shining Armor jumped in the direction of the voice, his horn glowing with magic. "Where? Where!?" he screamed.

"It's Sombra!" A child was giggling. Actually, more than one. Shining Armor turned around and there were a couple of colts jumping on his shadow. "Look, it's like Sombra!" one of them giggled. He looked up to Shining Armor. "Where's the princess, evil king!" A mother soon appeared, wearing a face mixed with apology, embarrassment and anger at the child.

"Please, don't mind him," the mother begged. "Come on, you two." She grabbed the two colts and whisked them away hurriedly. Shining Armor stared blankly at his now empty shadow.

"And what was that outburst about?" Lattice's tone could turn the oceans to sand.

"J-just being cautious." Shining Armor's heart was racing, pumping so fast it hurt. He let off an awkward smile that he knew wouldn't fool Cadance. "The safety and well-being of the citizens takes top priority, right?"

"You have a point." Words Shining Armor hadn't heard from Lattice yet. "Though, to joke like that around the captain of the guard no less! Somepony needs to give those foals a good lesson!" The crusty old mare was becoming even crustier. She pursed her lips and squinted her eyes at the colts.

"Er, now, now. It's not so bad." It's still a little bad. "I mean, it's a good thing, right, that the children think back on Sombra as, well, a joke." A joke with a very real punchline. "No need to get all worked up." Nopony could possibly be as worked up as Shining Armor, and it took every ounce of concentration to hide it.

"Your taste in jokes is terrible. Now then, enough lollygagging. You have subjects to address, a speech to give, politics to deal with. You're the acting ruler of the Crystal Empire. Start acting like it."

The pressures of Sombra on his right, and the scrutiny of Lattice on his left. Plenty of rest for the wicked, but that was the last thing Shining Armor was. "Okay, okay, mom," he joked.

"Don't ever call me that," Lattice said venomously. She looked ready to bite his head off.

"S-sorry." Shining Armor was driven back a little. "Let's just go back to the castleand get comfy." The two of them started on their way. Shining Armor was full of doubts over the entire matter. He never once in his life fancied himself in the position of prince. He fancied himself plunging a spear through some gruesome monster’s hide and receiving medals from princesses for acts of carnage vindicated as heroism. Unfortunately, gruesome monsters are few and far between, and the truly gruesome monsters are usually the one's you'll never be prepared for, let alone solved with a spear. Between Queen Chrysalis and King Sombra, all the knightly training in the world had become bunk. Both had managed to make fools of him, and now Shining Armor had to become a prince? What did a prince do? There was no real example of princehood back in Canterlot. With no example to follow, what could he do.

"You know," Lattice said all of a sudden, "your shadow could somewhat pass for... his."

"My shadow?" Shining Armor looked down. His shadow didn't look out of the ordinary. A rather big and broad shadow. Shining Armor was very proud of his physique and to cast a large shadow was in itself a reward. "Hardly. A large shadow is a sign of heroism." That's what his childhood taught him anyway.

"Both big ponies with... horns. There aren't naturally any crystal ponies with horns."

"Unicorns are everywhere in the rest of Equestria. Horns are a dime in a dozen."

"Well, from the point of view of a crystal pony, you're another large oddity like, well, him."

Shining Armor stopped. He looked around, all around him. He looked in every direction. The crystal ponies were inching away from him. So slow he couldn't notice till it was pointed out to him. "Lattice."

"Yes?"

"I'm not feeling well." His heart was sinking.

Diamond Tiara laid in bed, rubbing her sore leg. "Bites, bites, bites," she cursed over and over again. No one else was home: no Sherbet, no Filthy Rich. He was probably busy at work, like always. She could just cry to herself in peace without anyone around to bother her. "That last one really hurts." She touched her leg and winced. Tears started streaming down. "Never trust an imp that can turn into a flying saucer when she offers you magical powers. They just want to use you."

An hour passed where Diamond Tiara just sat still in bed. The room was dark and quiet, just like any night. Noise isn't ever an issue in this household. Diamond Tiara, deep in unconsciousness, rubbed her stomach and whispered, "Daddy, make me a sandwich." She didn't dream of sandwiches that night.

"Good morning, class. You can all call me Night Shade."

Diamond Tiara stared at the front of the class, one eye twitching. The blue mare from before was standing at the front of the class, shining them all some big fake smile to try and gain their adoration, not that she would need to worry about that. These fillies and colts would shower anypony with unconditional adoration. Lyra was unable to properly control the class, so Diamond Tiara could sleep easily that entire day, but what was this teacher capable of? Time to find out. Diamond Tiara ripped out a piece of paper from her notebook and started writing in it. "Something juicy," she whispered to herself as she wrote on the paper.

"Until Miss Cheerilee gets better I have been contracted by the Ponyville board of education to instruct you all until her return."

"What's wrong with Miss Cheerilee?" Apple Bloom was raising her hoof to get attention. Diamond Tiara thought of using Apple Bloom in her little experiment, but that was too obvious, plus the class still thinks shes responsible for throwing a stupid paper plane at her. Whoever that pony was, Diamond Tiara would make her pay.

"Such business is not for good little fillies to dwell on, especially when we still have the rest of the day to learn." Shutting down Apple Bloom with such a weak attempt? Diamond Tiara expected Apple Bloom to sit down quietly... for now. Eventually Apple Bloom would press the subject again and again. She was predictably persistant.

Diamond Tiara's eyes snapped over to a new target. Yes, he would do nicely. Diamond Tiara folded up the piece of paper carefully. At some point, the teacher would pass by the front row of desks and Diamond Tiara would make her move.

"Now class," she was beginning some lecture-drone, and the class was already losing interest. She was walking around the class as she lectured to make sure she got everyone's attention. Diamond Tiara saw her chance. She held the little paper note up with a hoof and flicked it with another. The paper note when soaring over the teacher's head and landed on Lance's desk. The seeds are now sewn. Diamond Tiara propped her head against a hoof and waited for the show to start.

"Who dares write me a letter of challenge!" Lance screamed aloud, playing his part perfectly. "Show yourself to me so we may fight honorably!"

"What is this about?" And now Miss Night Shade was a part of the play.

"After school behind the classroom is no place for an honorable duel!"

"What pony would want to fight Lance?"

"I see hearts on the note!"

"Is it a love letter?"

Diamond Tiara praised herself for her genius. Now the juicy bits were going.

"Filly? Apple Bloom! Do you finally accept my challenge!"

"Like hay I do! Go sword some other pony!"

"No, it's you I will sword!"

"K I S S I N G!"

This was perfect! Diamond Tiara laughed so hard inside that she choked on it. The new teacher lost control and was obviously out of her league. Now Diamond Tiara could take it easy. She closed her eyes and got comfortable on her desk. The rest was smooth sailing.

"Class," Night Shade said, "that is enough!" She stomped her hoof on the ground, and silence followed. That was unexpected. "Good, now then. Let's continue with the lecture on old world art and culture. Diamond Tiara, no sleeping in class."

Diamond Tiara's eye twitched. Her genius, stomped away in an instant. "This is what I get for saving you," Diamond Tiara scowled under her breath.

"Shining Armor, get your firmly toned butt out here this instant! Don't act like no one notices! I guess the least a trophy can do is polish itself!"

Lattice had been banging on the bedroom door for an hour now. She was persistent, Shining Armor had to give her that. That persistence was wasted. Shining Armor wouldn't open the door for the end of the world. What speech could he give when Shining Armor wasn't even sure if he was wanted within the Crystal Empire. He had given up an entire life back in Canterlot for his love Cadance. Without the slightest hesitation he gave up his home, he gave up the glory, he had given up the glorious spotlight. Restoring the empire was Princess Cadance's duty, and to be there for her and take part himself in the restoration of a brilliant land was something he took pride in. But now what? What if the crystal ponies fear he will turn into another King Sombra. "I am not Sombra. I'm nothing like him."

"Either you open this door or I'll make sure you share something with him, the afterlife!" Lattice sure knew how to yell at him, just like his wife. "Open the door! Or the Princess will come home to find her trophy dented beyond repair! You have till three! One! Two!" Shining Armor magically undid the lock. "Three!" Lattice bucked the door open and the hinges exploded off the wall. "Just what do you think you're doing!?"

"Please tell me why in all of Equestria, or your Crystal Empire, did Cadance stick me with the single most annoying vassal of them all!" Shining Armor yelled at her from across the room. "Seriously, can you do anything other than just yell and nag! You're cutie mark must be a battleaxe for all the crud you put me through!" Lattice began backing away. "You want a speech? Here's one: you're a nuisance! You do nothing but complain! So go complain to somepony else! I'm not hearing it anymore!" Shining Armor's horn gave off a bright glow as he formed a barrier within the room that pushed Lattice out, an act that had left her shaking and aggravated. "What do you have to say now!" She made some angry face, mouthed some angry words, and banged angrily on the barrier, but not a single sound pierced his barrier. "I'm sorry, I can't hear you!" he said through the barrier, taking some snide joy in Lattice's helplessness.

She continued to bang on the barrier. The barrier held perfectly. Nothing she did bothered Shining Armor. Stronger ponies have tried to crack Shining Armor's powerful barrier magic. They all failed. Lattice was less than a fly on the wall at this point, which gave Shining Armor the peace he needed to sit on his haunches, stare out the window, and convince himself he was nothing like Sombra, the evil and malicious king that watched ponies suffer from his castle. Sombra was the king that reveled in making others suffer. Sombra, the monstrous tyrant whose mere shape gave the crystal ponies fear and he delighted in it. Shining Armor was none of these things, right?

Lattice was still pounding on the barrier an hour later, an impressive feat. Each beat was weaker than the last. Poor thing must have gotten hungry. Another hour later, Shining Armor dispelled his barrier. Lattice, ready to strike it, tripped over forward and landed on her face. "You," she moaned weakly, "how dare you act this way towards aristocracy."

"Am I going crazy?" Shining Armor quickly said.

"As sure as I bake a mean custard pastry."

Shining Armor didn't respond. He turned and stared at Lattice. "You do?"

"I do!" Lattice shouted back.

Shining Armor didn't respond.

Lattice sighed. "What's your problem, trophy... Shining Armor?" No response out of him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not turning into King Sombra, right?" Shining Armor asked on one quick breath. His eyes were bloodshot and his mane a mess.

"Okay, maybe you're more crazy than I thought. What in all of Equestria would make you think you're anything like that evil-to-the-

"They were ready to run away from me, and not the kids: the adults. Like they were scared of me. I haven't done anything, I've done nothing but try to fit myself in as a member and citizen of this kingdom. I don't want to be treated like a stranger here, Lattice. I gave up everything back home for here. If I don't have a home here then..." what was his home now?

Five more minutes! Just five more minutes and the torture that was Night Shade would be over. She was worse than Cheerilee in every way, Diamond Tiara painfully learned. Twice as demanding, twice as authoritative, and nothing they did seemed to have anything to do with class. She had them on a whole new subject studying ancient pony art. Ancient pony art was boring! Diamond Tiara had seen macaroni art from foals half her age that was more interesting, but in four minutes, it would be over, and Diamond Tiara could go home and fume by herself in peace. In three minutes she could run out of this building as fast as she could. In two and a half minutes she could be far away from this battleaxe of a pony. "In two minutes," Diamond Tiara whispered to herself, grinding her teeth, "I can be free."

"Diamond Tiara?" Silver Spoon nudged her. One minute later the bell rang.

"And with that, I suppose class is dismissed." Every filly and colt in the room got up, unable to stand another second, shot out of their desk.

"Everypony hold it!" Apple Bloom shouted as loud as her hillbilly lungs would let her. "Now, I know y'all want to get out of here and back home to start playin', but I was thinkin' that maybe we would do somethin' a little more special and visit Miss Cheerilee seeing how she's all sick and stuff."

Such a sweet and kindly gesture for their teacher and Diamond Tiara couldn't expect less from Apple Bloom. She also couldn't care less. She wanted to go home. "How sappy."

"Uh, Diamond Tiara." Silver Spoon again. Diamond Tiara knew where this was going.

"You want to visit her, don't you?" Silver Spoon was too nice for her own good sometimes.

"I won't force you," Silver Spoon said, pouting her lower lip, a technique Diamond Tiara taught her. She was also better at it. "If you don't want to go I can go by myself alone."

Diamond Tiara knew she was too nice for her own good. "Fine, I'll go. But you owe me."

"Double chocolate caramel with my family's imported Saddle Arabia dried melon bits?"

"Silver Spoon," Diamond Tiara licked her lips, "you know the way straight to a filly's heart." Diamond Tiara wouldn't admit it, but she would have gone with Silver Spoon for just a regular sundae. "Okay, let's go."

"You're all welcome to visit your teacher, but don't forget you have homework due tomorrow, dearies." Night Shade reminded them all. Diamond Tiara couldn't care less about that while the rest of the class begun their chorus of whining.

"This new teacher bites," Silver Spoon whispered to Diamond Tiara. "Can't wait to get Miss Cheerilee back."

Within a few minutes the class was slowly marching to Cheerilee's house. The sight of children walking so hurriedly on their own through Ponyville was rather unheard of. No one feared for them. One of the most magical mares in all of Equestria lived in this town. Everyone always felt safe. Until now.

"Did you hear about what happened in the park the other day?" The hushed whispers and gossip was starting, Diamond Tiara noticed.

"It was found all torn up this morning."

"Someone said they saw some kind of monster rise up in the park."

"I asked Twi - I mean, Princess Twilight about it. She said she didn't have a clue."

"What, really?" There was something about knowing something more than 'Princess' Twilight that Diamond Tiara enjoyed.

"She said she investigated it but couldn't find a single clue about what happened."

"So you think there's somepony more magical than Princess Twilight?"

"Princess Celestia? Princess what's-her-moon - Luna?"

"I heard that that one green mare was spotted there beforehoof."

"The one always with the candy mare, Bon Bon?"

"Her name is Lyra. I heard she's been having financial issues."

"Starving artist types."

"Think she did something desperate?"

"You're wrong." The whole class stopped. Sweetie Belle had stopped and was shouting at some of the gossipy ponies, a couple of frumpy looking mares that had nothing better to do but say mean things about someone behind their back. Sweetie Belle looked tense, angry almost. As angry as a filly with cotton candy mane can look. Diamond Tiara had never seen her like that. "Lyra would never do such a thing, so don't you go spreading lies like that. It's not nice."

"Why don't you go back to playing with your friends. Let the grown ups talk to themselves in peace." The world of adult conversations was supposedly sacred and to be undefiled by children. Diamond Tiara hated that notion, and she could see Sweetie Belle did too.

"What would you know, you weren't there!" Sweetie Belle began screaming.

"Oh, and you were?" The 'adult' mares asked back. Diamond Tiara almost bursted out laughing.

"I was! I know who did it too! It was this mare that had fur that never stayed one color!" The adults were beginning to look intrigued. "She was talking to Lyra and then started saying nasty things to her! And then she started using magic without a horn! Look for a pony with, like, every color in her fur and can use magic without a horn! That's who did it!"

The two mares looked at each other, and started laughing. "Oh, don't worry, we'll find her. Remember to check under your bed and closet." Of course, like an adult, they didn't take Sweetie Belle seriously. "Fillies these days with their imagination."

"At least I have one and don't spend all day saying mean things!" Now the adults were angry, and Apple Bloom was rushing to Sweetie Belle's side.

"C'mon, weren't we gonna visit Miss Cheerilee? Don't make a scene." Apple Bloom pulled Sweetie Belle away from the gossipy mares.

"But if they say things like that and everypony believes them, Lyra will never be able to get a new lyre."

"It'll be fine. I believe you. Lyra would never do something like that. She's way too cool for that."

"Maybe she ran off to Canterlot? She wasn't in school today anyway. Who knows." Diamond Tiara added in offhandedly. The next thing she knew, Sweetie Belle was yelling at her.

"You're just like those adults, saying mean things and thinking you can get away with it when it's not nice!"

Gossip was easily one of Diamond Tiara's favourite past-times.

"Thinking you're better than anypony else."

Something Diamond Tiara delighted in knowing.

"When really you're just a bully that thinks only of herself!"

Diamond Tiara had been called worse and didn't lose her cool over it.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, quit it." Apple Bloom was trying to restrain her enraged friend.

"Why's she even here? She doesn't care about Miss Cheerilee the same way the rest of us do. She and, and Silver Spoon too. Why are they even here when all they do is ruin everything? They're both the worst ponies ever!"

"What did you say?" Diamond Tiara stopped and turned around. "Why don't you repeat that to my face? What happened to all that not talking bad about others behind their back!"

"It doesn't count with ponies like you."

Diamond Tiara could've punched her in the face. She might have done so if she had the strength. Now it was Silver Spoon holding back Diamond Tiara. "Let go of me."

"Ignore them. We're here for Cheerilee," Silver Spoon whispered.

"They're insulting you," Diamond Tiara almost growled.

"And I don't care," Silver Spoon answered her.

"Fight, fight, fight, fight." Oh great, Diamond Tiara groaned. The ring of fillies and colts was taking its place with their barbaric and selfish chanting. As much as Diamond Tiara would have loved knocking some sense into Sweetie Belle for once, she didn't want to give the rest of them any kind of satisfaction. That was supposed to belong entirely to Diamond Tiara. "Fight, fight, fight, fight!"

Silver Spoon came in closer to Diamond Tiara. "You know what, let's just leave. This is going terribly."

"No, you wanted to see Cheerilee, and if Dumb Belle over here doesn't like it she has to deal. Besides, I don't want to fight her with a crowd. Too many witnesses."

"Fight, fight, fight!" The ring was complete, and thirsty for somepony to knock the other one clean.

"Rip her to pieces, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo was the worst of them all. "Teach her who's boss!"

"Scootaloo, don't make it worse!" Apple Bloom yelled. "No fighting, no fighting!"

"I hope you're happy." Diamond Tiara sneered at Sweetie Belle.

"Not really." Sweetie Belle replied in a squeak. She was useless in front of a crowd. She closed her eyes and tried to become smaller. She raised a hoof, not to hit anyone, but to shield herself.

Diamond Tiara, stepped forward, and that was her worst idea of the day. She over-extended herself and felt pain shoot straight up her hooves. She blacked out for a moment and collapsed on the floor. The entire audience gasp.

"Diamond Tiara's out in one blow!" some colt shouted out.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes and before her was a winded Diamond Tiara. She didn't remember doing that/

"Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle! Sweetie Belle!"

Sweetie Belle tried to stop them, but with no luck. "But, I, wait, no - "

"What in sam's hill is goin' on here!"

Everyone froze. This was a voice familiar to many, and especially familiar to Apple Bloom. "Oh no: sis."

"Apple Bloom!" Applejack had appeared, not looking happy in the slightest. "Apple Bloom, why are you out here with all your classmates and - Sweetie Belle? Diamond Tiara? Oh nelly, this better not be what I think it is."

"It's not!" Apple Bloom started fidgeting around. "Nothing happened! These ponies are all crazy! I swear! Sweetie Belle didn't even touch her! You know Sweetie Belle! She's too, uh, sweet to hurt anypony on purpose. This is all a big misunderstanding! This is not what it looks like, I swear!"

"Sweetie Belle didn't hurt her, Miss Applejack." Even Silver Spoon was trying to convince her. "Diamond Tiara hasn't been looking well since this morning. She just collapsed."

"Is that so." Applejack looked at the both of them. If both Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon were trying to tell her the same thing, it had to be true. "Well, then, I guess if what you both say is true. But what in tarnation are all y'all doin' out here without a chaperone?"

Apple Bloom answered. "We're on our way to visit Miss Cheerilee, but then Sweetie Belle overheard some mares and got all mad and then Diamond Tiara said something and then all this and," she took a deep breath, "and then it looked like they were gonna fight and then - "

Applejack put her hoof in Apple Bloom's mouth. "Okay, I get it." She sighed and took a deep breath. "Okay, well if y'all are gonna go visit Cheerilee y'all are gonna need a chaperone, and that's me. Anypony that tries to start another fight is goin' home."

The class let out a conjoined groan as they huddled behind Applejack who decided to play mother goose. Diamond Tiara was still face first in the dirt, mentally cursing herself. She felt a hoof grab one of her own. "Well that sucked." She struggled to maintain balance. "Sorry, Silver Spoon. I didn't mean for all that to happen."

"I'm not Silver Spoon." That was Apple Bloom's voice.

Diamond Tiara's head shot up. Apple Bloom was holding her hoof. Diamond Tiara pulled hers away, nearly falling over in the process. "What are you doing?"

"Diamond, I was just - "

"Get away from her." That was Silver Spoon's voice. She appeared just behind Apple Bloom and almost pushed her away. "Don't you think you and your friend have caused enough trouble? Diamond Tiara's hurt you know. Put a leash on that candy-maned barbarian."

"Silver, I'm just trying to say - "

"Say what!?"

Apple Bloom took a deep breath. "Would you let me finish? I wanted to say sorry. Sweetie is just really worried about Lyra. She didn't mean to start nothin'."

"Fine, you've said your apology, now leave us alone." Silver Spoon stared daggers at Apple Bloom, who could only ease away uncomfortably in silence. "The nerve of some fillies." She turned to Diamond Tiara, her venom being replaced with worry. "Are you okay? You just collapsed out of nowhere! I almost had a heart attack."

"I just over-extended myself. Silver Spoon, I'm sorry. I think I got you in trouble."

"No more than usual." Silence, and then they started giggling.

"Hey, it's not my fault the world isn't ready for us," Diamond Tiara said with absolute confidence.

"The world isn't ready for you anyway." Silver Spoon wrapped one of Diamond Tiara's hooves around her neck. "You want to go to my place for sundaes?"

"No, we're going to see Cheerilee, if only so I can stick it to Dumb Belle later. And then I'll have two sundaes. One for me, and one for my leg."

"Your leg can eat?"

"A pony of my caliber can do anything!" They both started giggling again.

The rest of the walk to Cheerilee's house was uneventful. With Applejack leading the pack of fillies and colts, the town gossips were unusually silent. No pony dared earn the ire of one of the best friends of the new 'princess'. That was what Diamond Tiara chose to believe. It was fear inspired honesty, the most common kind.

At last, they were at Cheerilee's house. Applejack trotted up to the front door and gave it a quick knock. "Miss Cheerilee, you won't believe who came to visit you. Three guesses, and it ain't me." Applejack gave her own joke a chuckle, but there was no answer. "Uh, Miss Cheerilee?"

"Nopony's home!" came a sudden horrible scream from the other side of the door. "Nopony is home!" It was somewhat hard to distinguish, but Diamond Tiara could hear Cheerilee in that voice.

"Uh, Miss Cheerilee, you're home." Applejack tried knocking the door again, obviously unsure of how to respond. "L-let me tell you who's here, your class. They all came to visit. They were all looking forward to seeing you and makin' sure you're okay. You can come out, just for a second, right?"

"N-no, I-I can't come out. Just, leave, just leave!" Her voice was growing shakier.

The students were starting to grow nervous. Some looked like they could even cry. They weren't expecting this. Even Silver Spoon wore a confused and disheartened look.

"C-c'mon, Miss Cheerilee, it'll only take a sec - "

"Go away!" Cheerilee screamed with a terrible and raspy voice. "Go away! Leave me alone!"

"I-I see. Okay then. You... you have a good day." Applejack turned to the class and gave an awkward smile. Everyone looked ready to burst out crying. "Who wants to come to the farm for fritters?" Bribery and distraction, a shrewd business tactic, Diamond Tiara mused. It worked: the class became alive again at the prospect of fritters. Diamond Tiara found this pathetic. "Y-yeah. Last one to the barn is a rotten egg. C'mon, let's go. Please Granny don't kill me for this."

"Well, this bites," Diamond Tiara said as she tried to unhook herself from around Silver Spoon. "Wonder what's her deal."

"I hope she's alright." Silver Spoon couldn't care less about fritters. She was above them, Diamond Tiara knew. "I guess all that's left is to go home." The both of them sighed and turned towards Silver Spoon's house. Apple Bloom was in front of them. "What do you want now?"

"Can I speak to Diamond Tiara alone?" Apple Bloom asked with the biggest, fakest, most awkward grin Diamond Tiara had ever seen. "It's important."

"Why alone?" Silver Spoon got closer to Apple Bloom to protect Diamond Tiara. "Why Diamond Tiara?"

"It's, uh, important. It's, uh, curing related?" The terrible smile only got worse.

"Silver Spoon, it's fine. Why don't you go on ahead. I'll catch up."

"In your condition?" Silver Spoon pointed out.

"I said I'll catch up. Let me listen to what this loser has to say so I can be on with my day." Silver Spoon looked ready to argue, but then sighed and gave up. She gave a nod of affirmation, and went on her way. "Okay, what is it?"

"Was the loser part necessary?" Apple Bloom felt it necessary to dawdle on unimportant things.

"Yes, it was. So, what is it?"

"Well, Custard and Sherbet have been bothering me non-stop since we got to Cheerilee's! They said that they feel something evil inside there."

"So what happened to replacing me?" Diamond Tiara grew haughty and Apple Bloom sighed.

"Sherbet won't cooperate." Apple Bloom became annoyed. "She said she'd only let you use her magical power."

"As I thought."

Sherbet popped out of Apple Bloom's mane, still in the form of a little compact mirror. She opened herself and started yelling at Diamond Tiara. "Then why did you let her take me! What was the point of all this?"

"So I can finally have some peace and quiet. Why else? Seriously, do you ever let up on doting on me?"

"You're... unbelievable," Sherbet said with exasperation.

"So, evil magic stuff’s happening inside Cheerilee's house, right? Something new to beat the stuffing out of?"

"Most likely!" came Custard's annoying little voice from inside Apple Bloom's tail. "Filly Cure gets in there and beats up the bad guys!"

"Sounds like fun, we'll meet back here tonight." Diamond Tiara had a lot of pent up anger she could start letting out.

Shining Armor's breathing was strained. Sweat poured down his face and turned his mane into a matted mess. He closed his eyes, gripped a spear in his teeth, and threw himself forward. The hit connected and the spear stuck cleanly into the training dummy's wooden body.

"Have you had enough of this?" Lattice sat against a wall at the base of the arena, bored almost witless. "You've been at this for hours and quite frankly I'm beginning to find this a little disturbing. Heck, it was just plain creepy to begin with."

"I'm sorry, but training drills are the only way I can clear my head." Shining Armor magically brought another spear over to his mouth to grip. He would practice the under-belly lunge technique now. Perfect for when he felt the need to rip out a monster's stomach. It's almost a shame he never gets to use it. Considered far too barbaric and violent to use against other ponies and sentient beings. Superfluous to the job of protecting. Now he was protecting himself from the insanity of isolation. He sprinted forward, ducked down and used the momentum to slide under the dummy and impale the spear into underbelly. He was flawless.

"The citizens are beginning to get worried. They're wondering why their beloved princess has closed her doors on them and hasn't addressed them at all for two days now."

"Then why don't you make a speech, Lattice?" Shining Armor pulled out the spear from the dummy's underbelly. "Why don't you give them that precious peace of mind?"

"Because politics."

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate politics?" Shining Armor jumped on the the dummy's back and stabbed his spear into the dummy's back.

"The populace will begin to worry if the princess's nigh-lifeless and strict retainer with nary a funny bone in her body were to suddenly announce her departure. One that she never formally announced for reasons I imagine only you know and will not tell."

"Lattice," Shining Armor rolled to the side and shot the spear into the dummy's side. "I'm actually amazed that you know how un-fun you are."

"It takes practice to become as much of a killjoy as I, Shining Armor. Understand the resources that are available to you in that Princess Cadance appointed me as your counselor."

"Okay, so you say that they won't like it if somepony as absolutely soul-crushing as you - "

"You're too kind."

"As soul-crushing as you delivers the message. So what about me? Not sure if you noticed, but I'm becoming a paranoid wreck simply because I think they're comparing me to Sombra just because I'm a unicorn like him."

"And locking yourself up in this castle to put a spear into some wooden doll is helping?"

"Did Sombra spend a lot of time in the castle?" He dared to ask it. Even after so long, for many crystal ponies any subject about King Sombra was off-limits. Few could stand to recall the trauma of his reign.

"He did," Lattice said in a quick breath. "He was almost always in the castle. Either locked up in here, or standing on the balconies to watch us suffer. Whenever he did leave the castle it was usually to make us suffer more. If you want to prove you're as different from Sombra as possible to them, then I suppose the thing to do would be to be out there, making them happy."

"Happiness, huh?" Shining Armor dropped the spear. "I wonder what will make me happy?"

"You're a bona fide prince now. For the rulers of state, the people's happiness becomes the ruler’s happiness. Their pain is your pain. Their lives are your life. A good ruler, nay, a good prince is one who is of the people, Shining Armor. You must become of the people."

Shining Armor started off towards the castle.

"Where are you going?"

"To do some reading."

"It's nearly dusk! The moon will be up in minutes! Do you mean to tell me you're putting off your speech again!"

"Yes!" Shining Armor shouted back from the archway in. "Yes I am!"

It was nightfall now. Diamond Tiara waited in her room patiently. Sherbet sat on her bed in her imp form making some face that could be recognized as anger, but Diamond Tiara was always under the impression that Sherbet really needed a new face. "Your father's not home. I see no reason why you need to wait just so you can sneak out like some hormonal adolescent."

"I'm practicing for when I'm older." It was getting close to the appointed time. She didn't care if she left Apple Bloom waiting.

A creak was heard from the bottom floor. "Diamond Tiara, are you still up?" Filthy Rich called from below.

"Quick, hide." Diamond Tiara shut off all the lights and leapt to her bed. She quickly wrapped herself up and began feigning sleep. Sherbet floated still, completely stunned by the sudden action.

The sound of Filthy Rich's steps echoed upwards. The doorknob turned, and he peered into the dark room. "I guess you're already asleep." There was a hint of disappointment in his voice. He crept into the room, as quiet as he could so as not to wake Diamond Tiara. He was by the side of her bed, looking down on the most precious thing in his world. "My sweet little princess," he whispered as he moved a lock of her mane out of her face. "I'm sorry I couldn't get home sooner again. I've been trying to get home sooner but... well, I guess I'm just not trying hard enough." He knelt down and kissed her on the cheek. "You're the toughest little girl in the world, like a diamond. I know you'll do great things. Dream some good ones, my little pony." He let out an exhausted sigh, but smiled to himself. "Hey, I don't remember buying this one." He picked up a pink plush toy the mimicked something only vaguely equine with a mane that mimicked the swirls in cheap ice cream. "Maybe I should let up on the presents a little." He put put it down and crept out of the room, quietly.

The room was dark and silent again. Diamond Tiara threw off the covers. "Sherbet," she said with an agitated groan, "if you just cost me any new toys then I will rearrange your face personally."

"I've always wanted somepony to do my make-up." Sherbet poofed into a little floating compass and hid herself in Diamond Tiara's mane. Diamond Tiara swiftly moved to her bedroom window and quietly lifted it. She was smiling to herself and even humming, for tonight she could ignore the pain.

Even at night Ponyville is considered one of the safest places in all of Equestria to be about sneaking around. Diamond Tiara must have heard this passed around a hundred times thanks to their 'Princess' Twilight Sparkle. This is also the town that has been attacked by Ursa Minors, Parasprites, a dragon that still lives in that very town, vengeful princesses, vengeful moon ponies, vengeful street performers with magical amulets, a spirit of chaos, a changeling invasion, and an army of pink clones that nearly reduced the town to rubble, and this was all just the top of her head. Even before Sombra and whatever that colorful pony was, Ponyville was easily the most dangerous places in all of Equestria, which made sneaking out all the more fun.

Apple Bloom was waiting by the side of Cheerilee's house. "You're late. I've been waiting here for thirty minutes."

"Do anything useful in that time?" Diamond Tiara climbed up to the nearest window. "It's not even open yet."

"I've never broken into somepony's house before." Apple Bloom was useless.

"Great, now what?" Diamond Tiara groaned.

"Leave it to me." Sherbet poofed out of Diamond Tiara's mane. She floated over to the lock and her little stubby arms started glowing. The lock of the window clicked open.

"We can do that!?" Custard yelled out like a buffoon. The three girls shushed him down.

"We have more magic than just bestowing powers to Filly Cure, though none of it seems to involve fighting. Sorry girls, but when a fight starts up I'm pretty... useless."

"It's all right, Sherbet." Apple Bloom patted the little imp on her head. "You're plenty useful."

"Since when were you two so friendly?" Diamond Tiara slipped into Cheerilee's house.

"You did leave her with me for a day." Apple Bloom slipped in after. "Okay, so, where's the source of the bad magic voodoo?"

Sherbet poofed back into a mirror and hid herself in Diamond Tiara's mane. "It's everywhere, absolutely suffocating."

Cheerilee's house was dark. Darker than the night. Darker than black. It was a kind of dark that wanted to eat everything in sight. Vision was useless here. Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom were blind. "What do we do here?"

The two of them tried to feel their way around. Still unsure of where to go, until they heard something. It sounded like a wail.

"I'm a good pony."

It was Cheerilee's voice.

"I work hard like anypony else."

She was crying.

"I'm not lonely."

That sounded like a lie.

"Please, somepony, it hurts."

What's going on, Diamond Tiara thought to herself. She always knew that there was some secret pathetic side of Cheerilee that she hid from others, but this was something else entirely. What should she do? Just what was going on here? Diamond Tiara was too confused to do anything. Unfortunately, before she could come up with something, Apple Bloom acted first.

"Miss Cheerilee!" she shouted out loud. "Miss Cheerilee, are you okay?

"I have a bad feeling about this." Diamond Tiara tried to follow after.

"Miss Cheerilee!" Apple Bloom yelled again, over and over again.

"Is somepony there?" Cheerilee responded to Apple Bloom's cries. "No! Go away! Go away! Leave me alone!"

"Miss Cheerilee, it's me, Apple Bloom! What's the matter? Miss Cheerilee!" Things were about to go very bad, that was Diamond Tiara's instinct. Apple Bloom found a door to the room in the darkness, Cheerilee's voice coming from behind it. "Miss Cheerilee!" She turned the doorknob, and rushed into the room.

Diamond Tiara did not follow immediately. "Sherbet, can you give me the slightest idea of what's going on here?"

"I can tell you one thing, there is a malevolent aura coming from that room. It's the same aura I felt when the Aurora Lights were released, and the same one I felt on the day you first became Filly Cure."

"This is bad." Diamond Tiara ran into the room.

"Miss Cheerilee," Apple Bloom crept closer to Cheerilee, "it's alright." In this room, there was one small candle that illuminated from a nearby vanity. Apple Bloom was edging closer and closer to a disheveled mess of a pony, to Cheerilee. "Miss Cheerilee, what was all that about? Everypony knows you’re a good pony."

"G-go a-away, Apple Bloom, g-go away." Cheerilee was shaky, wide-eyed and red-eyed. This was far from the composed Cheerilee either of them knew. This was a pony on the verge of something, perhaps desperation. "L-leave me, a-alone."

"Miss Cheerilee?"

"I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE YOU STUPID LITTLE BRAT!" she suddenly snapped back. Apple Bloom was taken aback, shocked to silence. "What are you even doing in my house? Are you sneaking in! You obnoxious little piece of failure I am so tired of dealing with you!" She was standing up now, advancing on Apple Bloom. Her eyes, they were leaking some kind of mist that swirled behind her. "Every single day it's some new headache from you that I have to deal with! You make my life a nightmare sometimes! And then you try to play sweet with me? 'oh, Miss Cheerilee, you're my favourite teacher. You're the best, Miss Cheerilee' I HATE IT!"

"M-m-miss Cheerilee, I j-just wanted to help y'all," Apple Bloom said while on the verge of tears.

"Is that all you've got?" Diamond Tiara was stone faced, keeping her emotions in check.

"You're a snot-nosed little good-for-nothing that only cares about herself!"

"Is that what you really think of me?" Diamond Tiara snidely replied back. This mist around Cheerilee was growing stronger.

"You're the worst little filly that, in my entire life, I've ever had to deal with!"

You're the toughest little girl in the world, like a diamond.

"You're going to amount to nothing with your snot-nosed attitude!"

I know you'll do great things.

"I wish you'd die and get out of my life!"

Dream some good ones, my little pony.

Diamond Tiara chuckled to herself. This was too easy. "Some teacher you are." She said right back.

Cheerilee exploded, screaming in anger as mist poured out of her in a terrible storm that threatened to devour her. "Apple Bloom!" she screamed out. "It's curing time!" No response. "Apple Bloom!" Diamond Tiara scowled and felt around. She found some soft little thing. "Apple Bloom!"

"Yeah?" came a meek cry from the soft thing.

"Stop listening to her and listen to me!" Diamond Tiara struggled to keep her cool as the mist from Cheerilee started ebbing toward the. "Right now stupid Sombra is inside her! You want to save Cheerilee, right!?"

"Y-yeah," Apple Bloom answered again with that meek tone.

"Then get your act together and take my hoof!" Diamond Tiara extended out hers.

"Y-yeah!" Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom joined hooves. Sherbet and Custard floated out of the two ponies respectively. They opened up and light shot straight through the roof. Darkness and Light was now pouring out of the top of Cheerilee's house.

DUAL CRYSTAL SHINE!

The pillar of light died down, and in the wake of the darkness stood two fillies, one in violet, and one in red. "Protecting the light that spreads across the world, Cure Red!"

"The beacon of hope shines down on us, Cure Violet!"

"Together we are Filly Cure!" The darkness came swirling around the two of them.

"Envoy of deepest darkness..."

"Prepare to be cured!" A wave of shining light emanated from the two fillies. The darkness around them was shined away. Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom stood poised and ready. For Diamond Tiara, so long as she was Cure Violet, the pain was gone. She wanted to make the most of it. "Well, now that the speech is over, what do I get to beat up today?" Cheerilee stood, convulsing with rage and anger, her eyes pure white and pouring with mist. "So, we get to beat the Sombra out of you? Oh, I can live with this."

"We're here to save Miss Cheerilee, not hurt her," Apple Bloom said while dropping onto her hooves. "Don't go too hard on her."

"Hurt her, save her, all the same thing. I don't see any other way to get that thing out of her."

"The shining wave!" Sherbet yelled out from her clip on Diamond Tiara's frilly dress. "It has the power to expunge evil from good."

"It will expel the evil Cheerilee from the good Sombra?" Diamond Tiara launched herself into the sky. The possessed Cheerilee had just lunged at her and crushed the spot where Diamond Tiara once stood. "That makes perfect sense, just like everything else you've ever said since we first met!" Diamond Tiara flipped around and dive-bombed at Cheerilee. "Tiara kick!" She crashed right into Cheerilee's side. Cheerilee didn't budge.

"Little brat!" Cheerilee screamed as the dark mist knocked Diamond Tiara away. Cheerilee jumped forward and bit Diamond Tiara's leg and slammed her down. She raised a single hoof. She wanted to crush Diamond Tiara's head.

"No!" Apple Bloom shot herself like a cannonball into Cheerilee's side. She just barely got Cheerilee to budge off. "This isn't like you!"

"Not like me?" Cheerilee repeated, hissing the words like a venomous snake. "What would you know! Every day with you brats is another day of my life lost! Another day lost and another day closer to my own miserable end! I hate you!" The dark mist formed spears that surged at Apple Bloom.

Diamond Tiara pulled herself up and deflected every shot with just her hooves, faster than the eye can see. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of this." She kicked off the ground and in seconds was behind Cheerilee. "Eat this!" She threw herself at Cheerilee and threw out a multitude of punches. "Go down, go down, go down, go down!"

"I'll crush you!" Cheerilee spun around and smacked Diamond Tiara upward, destroying anything that was left of her roof. "I'll crush you into little stupid pieces you selfish ungrateful brat!" Cheerilee hunched down, building strength in her hind legs. She was going to spring upwards, but something caught her.

"Cheerilee, stop!" Apple Bloom cried. "This isn't you, it's Sombra!"

"This is exactly what I've always thought!" Cheerilee grabbed Apple Bloom and threw her up at Diamond Tiara. "I've hated you all forever!" She hunched down and shot herself upward.

"What do we do?" Apple Bloom whined as she and Diamond Tiara began their descent. "Do you really think she hates us?"

"I don't care," Diamond Tiara responded curtly. She grabbed Apple Bloom's hoof. "And if you really want to save her I suggest you do the stop caring to? Or do you want Miss Cheerilee to drown in her own little pity party?"

"You know I don't!" Apple Bloom yelled back.

"Good, then I suggest you start clenching those teeth!" Diamond Tiara started spinning Apple Bloom around. "Sub-apple-ic Collider!" Diamond Tiara spun around and smashed Apple Bloom right into Cheerilee. The three of them rocketed downwards and exploded the ground beneath them on impact. Cheerilee's house was almost completely gone. Diamond Tiara pulled herself up and swung Apple Bloom around again. "One more! Sub-apple-ic Collider!" Cheerilee went rocketing off, out of what was left of her house. "Easy enough."

"You're the worst, absolutely evil, the last filly in the world who should be a curing filly!" Apple Bloom continued to whine and cry some more. Diamond Tiara didn't care.

"Shut up and give me your hoof again. This is our best chance for the Shining Wave!"

"Fine," Apple Bloom said with an irritated sigh. She and Diamond Tiara joined hooves and the power within them started welling up immediately.

"Resound, Oh Yonder's Glorious Break, Irrevocable Voice!"

The possessed Cheerilee was waking up, her face portraying something more beast than pony now.

"Filly Cure Shining Wave!" The tink spark of light came, and was followed by the stream of light, pouring out of the filly's hooves and engulfing Cheerilee. The light torrented into the sky and evaporated. Cheerilee lay on the ground, unconscious. This mist was gone.

"So the key was to blast her to smithereens? Who came up with these powers." Diamond Tiara sighed. She knew what was coming next. The cloths were beginning to vanish away, almost as easily as they came. In the blink of an eye she was bare again, and the pain came surging back like a tidal wave.

"Miss Cheerilee, Miss Cheerilee!" she heard Apple Bloom cry out. What a worrywort. Everything would be fine, Diamond Tiara guessed. Cheerilee would be fine. Diamond Tiara knew she herself wouldn't. She passed out.

"Miss Cheerilee! What? Diamond Tiara? Diamond Tiara! Diamond Tiara!"

"Shining Armor, what are you doing?" Lattice said with her usual toneless and spiritless voice.

"As you can see, this is a book-fort. No girls allowed I'm afraid," Shining are replied matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry Lattice, but I'm afraid you'll need to wait for me to finish my business in here." The library was only sparsely lit and completely devoid of any other pony than Shining Armor and Lattice. Shining Armor was back in his book fort from when he was helping Princess Cadance pour through these dusty old books. He added a few trebuchets in case he was attacked by crusty old mares.

"Prince Shining Armor, I demand to know when you decided to lose your mind!" Lattice still had no sense of humor.

"It must have been the day I decided to hook up with my sister's babysitter. You know how sleazy that sounds?" He had a book in front of him, one possibly detailing events from a thousand years ago. "I'm sure that's the concept for some R-rated movie I snuck into one time."

Lattice looked ready to pop a blood vessel. If she had, Shining Armor would have considered it a victory. "Prince Shining Armor, I am only vaguely aware of the new modern norms of contemporary Equestrian culture, but are you trying to insinuate that your courtship with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, crown princess of the Crystal Empire, is something written by gutter-minded culture-trash written for the sake of despicable and pathetic stallions, no, colts, like you so obviously are?"

"Of course not." Shining Armor had to correct her on this. "The culture-trash you mentioned would at least have the sense of realism to not make the babysitter a princess. I mean, seriously, Lattice, she would have been a cheerleader or the nerd with glasses that you wait half the movie to take off the glasses. I just got really lucky."

"You're a moron! No, swine! A creature of substandard being! Unfit for the princess, unfit for the throne, unfit for the country! You'll lead us to our ends! The Crystal Empire is doomed! Doomed! We're all going to follow a blind herder off a cliff! We'll be mocked for all of history!" Shining Armor never knew that Lattice could be so dramatic.

"Great, will you leave me alone now?"

"Of course not." Nothing could ever be that easy. "Now, what are you really doing?"

"Trying to brush up on my history is all. You know, it gets a lot more difficult to find more about the history the farther back you go."

"Our scholars had very little time to record our precious history when King Sombra rose to power." Lattice knocked aside the pile of books serving as the gate and invaded the book fort. "They've been working hard to try and fill in the blanks, but many of them are nervous wrecks and probably would be happier in an insane asylum."

"Usually when a king rises to power via a coup he'll overwrite the history in his own image." Shining Armor shut the book and tossed it aside.

"I suppose King Sombra didn't have time for that. Too busy casting down misery on us all. As for a coup, perhaps if there was one then we would have been able to prevent it. One day, he appeared, the former princess disappeared, and before we knew it everything had changed. He wasn't something we saw coming, he was something that simply appeared almost solely to make our lives miserable."

"Gotta admit, the guy sure was to the point. Equestria has had it's own share of usurpers, but they all sure liked to talk and gloat and that might be the only reason it still stands."

"How nice for the Crystal Empire to get the only competent monster." Lattice wasn't enjoying this subject. Shining Armor had had enough talking about Sombra anyway.

"Tomorrow morning, I'll give the speech and make the announcement."

"Did the trophy get his soul-searching over with while I wasn't looking?"

"Sure, let's go with that." Shining Armor turned and helped Lattice up. "Reading all of this history, I know I want to help keep the empire smiling and happy. That's what Cadance wants, and it's also what I want. I want this kingdom to shine like before. So, think you're still willing to help me, Lattice?"

"I'm still putting up with you, aren't I?"

Shining Armor chuckled. "Indeed you are. Thanks."

Does it hurt here?

Diamond Tiara's eyes wavered on the edge of consciousness. She could feel something wrapped around her and some kind of warmth spread across her chest. Someone was talking to her. She couldn't recognize that voice in her state.

You're in terrible shape, but don't worry. I'm here for you.

It was such a warm voice. Female. Diamond Tiara felt the warmth being spread along her leg now. The pain was just fading away now. She could almost stand the thought of standing! "Thank you," she barely said with her weakened voice.

You're a surprisingly strong little filly if you've been livin' with this, but you gotta take better care of yourself.

"I know, mom," Diamond Tiara said with with a comforted smile on her face. In response, she heard some giggling.

Sorry sweetie, but I ain't your mom.

Diamond Tiara's eyes shot open and she shot herself upward to take in the area. House wasn't her house. Wooden beams were exposed, quite tacky, and the walls were colored with shades of yellow, very unfashionable. She looked around. She was on a bed, and spreading some kind of mushy substance on her leg was Apple Bloom’s older sister, Applejack. "What am I doing here!?" Diamond Tiara's face flushed red with anger. "What are you doing!"

"Hey, hold your horses. If you move around too much then you'll pull something and undo everything I did." Applejack spoke calmly while gently pushing Diamond Tiara back down onto her back. "You calm now?"

"Hardly." Diamond Tiara was growing angrier by the second.

"Fine. Well, Apple Bloom showed up with you on her back and begged me to give you the zap-apple treatment."

"Zap apples?" Diamond Tiara looked closely at the mushy stuff Apple Bloom was spreading. It was rainbow colored.

"Yep! Zap-apples. High in nutrition, gives you a kick of energy, and pretty damn effective in relieving pain and rejuvenating the body. Coulda prolly made a mud bath out of it if it weren't so darn tasty on toast." Applejack started wrapping up Diamond Tiara's leg much like her chest was. "By tomorrow morning I'm sure you'll be back to terrorizing my little sister, unless you actually had a change of heart and, you know, feel grateful for what she did for you in swallowing her pride and bringing you here?"

Diamond Tiara responded with a heart-felt, "no way!"

Applejack sighed to herself. "Well gee, how nice of you." Diamond Tiara felt the bandage around her leg being bound too tightly. "Especially after you got her in trouble not too long ago."

"I didn't throw that paper airplane! It was some other numbskull." Diamond Tiara was growing more infuriated. No one ever believed her when she told the truth. "Apple Bloom is the one that started spazzing out and attacked me."

"I'm sure you're telling the truth." Applejack didn't believe her in the slightest. "Anyway, you're all good now. Just, be a little more careful. I have no idea what you fillies are doing and I'm going to hope it's just more cutie mark crusader schemes that you got involved with, I'm sure against your will. I don't want to see this as a recurring thing."

"Whatever." Diamond Tiara had no control over when monsters attacked.

"So, should I get your dad to pick you up?"

"No!" Diamond Tiara screamed in panic. "He cannot know that I snuck out. I'll get home on my own. Thanks for everything. Bye." Diamond Tiara tried to jump off the bed, but she misunderstood what little strength she had. She landed on her face on the floor. "Ow."

"Hey, don't go hurtin' yourself again." Applejack scooped Diamond Tiara up. She placed the filly on her own back. "I've only got so much jam, and if you went and snuck out I have to tell your father, no if ands or buts!"

"I am so tired of hearing about butts today!"

Applejack didn't want to know where that came from. "C'mon you, let's get you back home."

Just outside the doorway, Apple Bloom was waiting. When she saw Applejack and Diamond Tiara she galloped up to them. "Is she okay now?" She wasted no time.

"Yeah, she's back to her usual cranky self. C'mon, we need to get her back home, and you need to go to bed, now."

"But - "

"No buts!" Applejack had become staunch. "The both of you decided to sneak out for whatever dumb reason, and now you both will pay the price. No dessert for a week, Apple Bloom, and an early curfew!"

"No!" Apple Bloom began to cry. "But this week Granny Smith is making her famous double-story with homemade honey whipped cream marble screw cake! Vanilla and chocolate! Vanilla and chocolate! You can't do this to me, sis! You can't! I'll die! It's vanilla and chocolate!"

"You can at least go down with dignity." Applejack hurried Apple Bloom into her room. "And if you sneak out again I'm boarding up your windows! You won't see the light of day if I can help it!"
The last thing Diamond Tiara heard out of Apple Bloom's mouth was an elongated and overly-dramatic 'noooooooooo'. Diamond Tiara now knew a new way to torment Apple Bloom: with cake. She was sure Silver Spoon could make something better.

Diamond Tiara rode Applejack through Ponyville. It was just a little past the dead of night. The sun would probably come up in a few hours. Diamond Tiara started forming alibis, anything she could do to dodge blame, because no one would believe she snuck up to fight her possessed teacher via magical powers from an annoying pair of imps. She could blame Apple Bloom, even Applejack was convinced it was her fault in some way. The safest bet.

"Just what did you fillies do to get yourselves all banged up?" Applejack was becoming inquisitive.

"Ask Apple Bloom." A bad answer, Diamond Tiara knew. Apple Bloom didn't have the mental faculties to come up with decent lies. Applejack accepted it though. Everything rested on Apple Bloom. They were doomed.

"Here we are." Diamond Tiara's house, a large two story house that was almost a mansion. But, any bigger, and it would be too much for just two ponies to live in. Applejack knocked on the door. What were the chances of Filthy Rich being up this late.

The door opened almost immediately. Filthy Rich now looked the part in regards to the first part of his name. "Diamond Tiara! Oh, Celestia, Diamond Tiara! Thank the princesses you’re safe!" He rushed over to Applejack's side and scooped her up into his chest. It was soaked with cold sweat. "Do you have any idea how worried I was?"

"Well, I was supposed to get back before you realized so you wouldn't be so worried." Diamond Tiara hugged herself close to that filthy smelly chest of her father's. "I didn't mean to worry you."

"You are in so much trouble, my little pony," Filthy Rich said between his sobs.

"I know, daddy," Diamond Tiara answered him, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Applejack was starting to look obviously uncomfortable. "Well, uh, I'm glad to see that everything's alright over here, so, I've just gotta get home now. Er, see you at our next shipment, Mr. Rich."

"Yes, thank you, Applejack." Filthy Rich carried his daughter into their home. "Thank you." He shut the door. He carried Diamond Tiara upstairs. She was sound asleep in his arms by the time they reached her bed. "You... are going to kill me one day." Filthy Rich was far too exhausted to be angry. He wished he wasn't, but this was a good alternative. He could yell at her tomorrow. He brought the sheets up and tucked Diamond Tiara in. "Hm, where's that toy?" He started scrambling around, looking for the odd magenta doll. He didn't find it. "I must be losing it in my old age." Giving Diamond Tiara one last look of paternal love, he then quietly left the room. Not even a mouse could wake up.

Several minutes later, a certain magical mirror pushed itself out of Diamond Tiara's mane. In a poof of smoke, Sherbet emerged, tears streaming down her eyes. "I knew that there was love in this house, I just knew it. Diamond Tiara, you manipulative little brat, have you nothing to say about the true and honest love between you and your father." Diamond Tiara didn't respond. She really was asleep this time! "Well, you've done a good job tonight."

"Daddy," Diamond Tiara whispered in her sleep.

A new day was beginning in the Crystal Empire. Every pony in the city had been gathered before the crystal castle, eagerly expecting an announcement that they had been told was of great urgency. What was going to happen? That was the question on all the crystal ponys’ minds. It was also the question on Shining Armor's mind. He surveyed the courtyard from within the shadows of the doorway. "No turning back now," he said to himself.

"You're not getting cold hooves on me now, right?" Lattice was just behind him, sporting that same sour look she always did. "You cannot back out of this."

"Lattice, Lattice, Lattice," Shining Armor said with a faux tone of assurance. "I gots this."

"Never before have I been so sure that no, you do not ‘gots’ this at all."

"Then prepare to be amazed." Shining Armor stepped into the light of day. The murmuring amongst the crystal ponies ceased quickly. The prince was on stage, but where's the princess? Shining Armor was going to have to amaze himself now. "My dearest citizens, I, Prince Shining Armor, come to you bearing a message. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza has left on official duty as a delegate for the empire to foreign shores." The murmurs arose again. Shining Armor strained his ears to try and hear anything. He couldn't make out a word. He had to continue. "So, by decree of crystal empire law," they were settling down, "I, Prince Shining Armor, am now acting ruler of the Crystal Empire." The murmurs exploded. Whatever they were saying, they were being loud and indiscrete about it.

"Doing good so far," Lattice said to him.

"What do you mean? They're all talking."

"They just found out their beloved princess is away, of course they're going to talk about it."

She had a point. Shining Armor cleared his throat. "And so," they didn't stop talking. Shining Armor cleared his throat and said louder, "and so!" They were all still talking. Shining Armor's horn lit up. "And so!" he said with his magically-enhanced voice that shut out all of the crystal ponies’ petty little whispering. "And so I come to you all, knowing full well I am an outsider. I am not a crystal pony by birth. While the power of the crystal heart can temporarily make me one, I would soon revert back to being a unicorn. However, when I chose to come to the Crystal Empire I did not do so without consideration. I chose to come here knowing this was a land still recovering from its terrible trauma. I came here with the full intent of helping, because I came here knowing that this is now my home. I may be welcomed back into Equestria with open hooves, but this is my home now, and I want my home to be a happy one. I am your prince, it is only by your sovereignty, not mine, not Princess Cadance's, but yours that I may continue as your prince, and as such I will devote my life to you all, because that is my duty, my right, and my will as your prince. Let's all step forward into a new tomorrow!" Shining Armor went quiet. The crystal ponies became quite noisy. Shining Armor turned around and returned to the shadowed halls of the castle. He took one look at Lattice. "Water, I need some, now."

"Of course." Lattice stepped aside and a pitcher was already prepared behind her. "Speeches tend to make ponies thirsty, I know." Shining Armor bolted to the pitcher, ignored the little dainty cups, and started chugging down the water. "You did well. I would grade your performance with a B. Got a little cheesy at the end but your heart was in it, that's good."

Shining Armor emptied the pitcher and stared into its empty abyss longingly. "Since when did you become my teacher?"

"Since I took this job. Really, must you argue so much?"

"Yes." Shining Armor was drinking out of a nearby vase of flowers. "This one has good flavor."

"I'll relay that message to the head chef."

The voices outside weren't dying down. Shining Armor wasn't sure if he wanted to ignore them or not. Now, only time would tell him what the crystal ponies would really think of him.