During the day, Diamond was trying her best to make life hell for the three who liked to call themselves the Crusaders. Given that estrus was in the air, it wasn’t hard. “Hey, Apple Bloom,” she said teasingly yet again. “Guess whose butts aren’t wet!” She and Silver did their special butt dance, and laughed calculatingly, to make Apple Bloom’s own quivering thighs the more acute. “Get outta the way,” Scootaloo said butting in in front of Apple Bloom. That made Diamond snarl, though she didn’t let it show. Scootaloo was always defending her friend, like Diamond Tiara couldn’t get to Apple Bloom at all. But Apple Bloom could defend herself just fine, so why was she so quick to whimper and flatten her ears whenever Diamond Tiara came around? “Why don’t you make me?” Diamond sneered at the filly, she and Silver moving to block their path from... wherever they were going. “Don’t listen to her, Scootaloo!” the third of the group said in a bright soprano that rivaled Diamond’s own. Except Sweetie Belle got to sound nice, while Diamond could only sound whiny. It was so unfair! “She’s just trying to get you to fight,” Sweetie said, with a frustrated, disapproving stare at Diamond. “Oh Sweetie,” Diamond said as sweetly as she could, “I’m just saying hi to my good friends! I just was curious if you’ve gotten pregnant yet?” When Sweetie didn’t answer, Diamond pressed further, saying, “Come on, you lifted your tail for a stallion, didn’t you? You had some nice big thing just sliding inside you. Were you surprised when he squirted? When he did that to you?” “It’s none of your business!” Sweetie said hotly, “And it didn’t work! So stop teasing me about it.” “I’m not teasing!” Diamond said in shock. “I’m just curious when you’re gonna end up fat and pregnant as a little filly, because you were too dumb to keep your tail down.” “I’m never going to do it again!” Sweetie said vehemently. “It was only one time! And it felt pretty good, but it was a mistake. I’m not gonna do it again, until I’m ready!” Silver kind of wanted her to back away, but Diamond persisted saying, “What about you, Apple Bloom?” in a syrupy voice. “Everypony knows farm fillies can’t control themselves. But maybe you did it with the pigs on accident?” “Ah’m givin’ you the counta three to step aside,” Apple Bloom said quietly, “Or ah’ll show you a farm filly who caint control herself.” “Oh please,” Diamond sneered. “You wouldn’t dare—” “One.” Diamond scrambled aside. “Fine,” she said vehemently as they passed by, “I wasn’t even getting in your way. You were getting in my way! Come on Silver, let’s go.” “That was pretty, like, low,” Silver said quietly once they’d walked along. She was such a party pooper she wasn’t even participating in the taunting anymore. “Bringing up the thing with Sweetie Belle and the colt,” she added. “Hey, if Sweetie wants to take it, she has to risk getting caught,” Diamond said haughtily. “It’s not like he forced her to do it. She has it lucky!” “But it’s Sweetie Belle,” Silver pressed. “You know how she is. So like, weak and easy to ...hurt.” “Well I bet she wasn’t feeling so Sweetie Belle when she got him to squirt inside her,” Diamond said resolutely. “She’s just as bad as any other pony. She didn’t even take the pill. She just tried to have his foals, just like that!” “It’s not all that hard to just like, let a foal happen,” Silver cautioned. “She just made a mistake. We can get her for being dumb, but that colt thing is like, too far. Any of us could make a mistake like that.” “Not me,” Diamond said sniffing. “I always take my pills, and I always know exactly what to do.” She looked aside then, wondering if she should tell Silver, but no, Silver wouldn’t understand. She’d just say Diamond was being stupid like Sweetie Belle. But with Diamond, it was different. She was in control, and she was going to do it the way she wanted to. This had to be like, the greatest stallion ever. Diamond Tiara couldn’t even get under his skin! Her most biting insults, he just laughed off, and when she tried to tear apart his character like she’d gotten so much practice at with those cutie mark blanksaders, he just called her “such a precocious filly” and started asking her about her favorite foods, or what she liked to do. It turns out they were both into fashion! Diamond always liked to wear the prettiest dresses with the most expensive fabrics, and he totally understood why she deserved that. He didn’t even seem like a pony, he just kept coming and being in her, and making her feel so very good, and... One time before he fucked her, Diamond asked him about foals. “Hey, before we get started lameicorn, do you—” she cut off confused, as she hadn’t even intended to really ask, just was bantering at him like she’s supposed to. She was surprised at how... curious she was about it. Like, she genuinely wanted to know. “So you like fillies,” she said in a rare moment of candid honesty, “But what would you do if a filly went and like, made a foal?” “Like, inside her,” Diamond clarified. “Like, y-your foal,” she clarified further, gulping. And instead of disapproval, he just smiled benevolently at her! “We haven’t talked about... us,” he said gently. “I didn’t think you would be so special to me when we started. I was just looking to mess around, have some fun and move on. But you, you are something special dearest Diamond. If you were to bear my foal, I think I might have to marry you!” “You can’t though, I mean, I’m just a filly—” she said in frustration. He put a hoof on her chest to silence her. “You’re not just a filly,” he said. “You’re better than all the other fillies combined. I would move mountains for you, dearest Diamond. If the world wants to reject our love, we will simply have to reject the world. Have you ever seen the lands outside Ponyville?” “Y-yeah?” Diamond asked, blushing up a storm. It didn’t help that her undersides were craving him so much it wasn’t funny. She wanted to turn around and shove her bottom in his face. (He loved mounting her from behind, by the way.) But she was also dreadfully curious about what he was saying, why he was... pretending to be so nice to her. He was pretending, right? “I mean, our class goes on field trips,” she said. Oh good job Diamond, way to go making him think you’re so mature. “I—I mean, I’m a filly so of course I go to s-school,” she said uncomfortably, “And they have field um... outings. Once we even took the new train to the White Tail woods! Did you know there are deer there?” Diamond got lost talking with him, about all the places she’d gone which were... not many, admittedly. She confessed to him about how she wanted to not be a pony, and how majestic and pure the deer were. And he asked her so many beautiful questions like, what she would wear to the wedding, or if she ever thought of travelling beyond Equestria. It was so exciting just the thought of it, that they’d run away from a bunch of stupid ponies, and live an exciting life having adventures. Adventures, and... Foals... When he did penetrate her that night, Diamond Tiara didn’t think she’d ever orgasmed harder in her life. She was crying out heedlessly at the feel of this beautiful stallion, beautiful above her, and beautiful inside her. Even his seed felt better she loved— she... Diamond Tiara made the worst mistake she’d ever make in her entire life: a friend. She’d never had a friend before, never trusted anypony to not stab her in the back, but he was so different from the other ponies. He understood her even more than Silver and her daddy combined. She started hiding what they talked about from daddy, just telling him that this guy liked dirty talk when he was having sex. She and her stallion made such beautiful plans together, such stories of passion and freedom. And then, even before the month was out, he had to leave. But he said goodbye! He was the best... pony she’d ever known. He didn’t even leave her without a word, leaving only her daddy to pick up the pieces. No, he looked her seriously in the eye and said that he was going to have to go soon. That she belonged here, in Ponyville, and he couldn’t take that away from her. He had... a dangerous life to lead, and he just didn’t think she was committed to it. Well, she’d show him how committed she was. She’d show him good! All she had to do was stop taking her pills and a-and all their dreams would come true. And it felt so good when he orgasmed inside her. It wasn’t just weird slimy stuff. It was a magic that could change her forever. When she stopped taking her pills she was so anxious and didn’t think she was ready, but as soon as she started feeling hot squirts inside her, Diamond Tiara knew it was really happening, and she never felt more ready than ever before. She was in heat, and now she wanted to be, even relished it. She wasn’t just feeling her belly filling with his seed; it was potent, powerful. It was changing her into a mother in there. Before anypony even suspected, it would be too late, and they’d be together forever. She was gonna leave this town far behind, and be the best mother ever, and he’d be there right with her the whole time. Every squirt he made in her was a promise. She fantasized, no she felt it all squirmy inside her, and she imagined in her a tiny egg being penetrated by the little wiggly things. She imagined his climaxes inside her were swelling her belly, and making her pregnant right then and there. Diamond hadn’t realized how flippant she was about ejaculation until she stopped taking her pills. It seemed so much more important then, so much more precious. As she stared up at him adoringly and he pumped his seed inside her, Diamond Tiara’s body was a precious treasure, that he was filling with potential every time they made love. Diamond started spending time looking at her belly again, wondering at its contents, how it could take a stallion inside and... how even deeper inside was a special place that she could hold a foal. She wondered what it would be like. Would she be able to feel it happen? Was there a foal in there already? She had been at one of daddy’s garden parties once where a pregnant mare was attending, and the foal was so far along that the little colt-to-be could press his hooves against Diamond’s, right through the pregnant mare’s stomach. No, not through her stomach. Through her womb... She was so ready. She was so ready to have his foal, and to throw her whole life into his hooves. He would take her to a magical land far away from the hatred and the endless bitter struggle of pony against pony. She should have told him. She should have told somepony instead of just hinting at it, and getting even more excited when he ejaculated into her, fantasizing about that magic goo squirming its way up inside her and transforming her into a beautiful mother, just like her... just like Diamond Tiara’s— And then he left anyway. One day they were cuddling afterward, with Diamond speculating on what to name the little darling. And the next... he was gone. Gone back to Canterlot. He didn’t say goodbye! He didn’t even say goodbye! Again!! She really cried this time. She cried... a lot. Okay she cried so hard that the servants left the house to wander the estate so that they wouldn’t have to listen to her screaming. It was their fault! It was her fault! How had she been so stupid? Her estrus never came back, the teasing whispering desires fading from her crotch, and her head had never felt clearer, and that was terrible because she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She hoped—she wished that it was just the heat period coming to an end, but anypony could tell it was still going strong. She started feeling really nauseous too, like food had a weird taste to it, and there was a weird unsettling feeling all the time, in her... ...stomach... If Silver wondered why Diamond suddenly stopped teasing the Crusaders about their potential pregnancies, she didn’t say anything. If Silver wondered why Diamond stopped reaching out to anypony at all, she also didn’t say anything. But Diamond wasn’t exactly the easiest pony to get along with these days. She felt so betrayed, and why would Silver be any different? Why would anypony be different? Kind words just felt like silvery lies, and she responded with nothing but honest straightforward hatred, trying to figure out how her friends, her supposed friends were waiting to trick her. She didn’t want to be tricked, but there was nothing she could do! They stole her stallion from her without a trace, and now she had nothing! She was as... as low as Apple Bloom ever was, and nopony even realized it! Diamond couldn’t even find solace in the other stallions anymore. (And certainly not the mares.) Oh they kept doing her, and kept making her bend over so they could put their penis in, but she didn’t even have estrus to buoy her lust anymore. It was just like before, more like a chore than that wild week of undeniable passion. Just painful stretching, and having to orgasm by herself, and... she started to feel really weird about ejaculation. Like, when the stallion shoved her down and started ejaculating, Diamond wondered if... that was okay for a foal? Wouldn’t she be like, covering her foal in stallion goo? She tried to imagine a tiny little baby pony in there just washing away in that bitter goo and... and it wasn’t a very fun thing to imagine. But she presented for stallions anyway, because... because she had to do something and maybe it was good for the foal? The stallion goo that ended her estrus sure was! She had to keep some semblance of normality, so nopony would know how terribly she’d failed. Diamond Tiara looked one morning at her tired, tear stricken face in the mirror, having to clean herself up again as usual, from her temper tantrum the night before. She didn’t trust the servants to see her like this. But she looked at the young filly in the mirror, so full of life and potential, and so drained of it, and just couldn’t find it in herself to deny it anymore. She was... so pregnant it was ridiculous. She hadn’t taken her pills, and she was feeling funny in her... in what must be her womb, even though it felt like it was just her stomach acting up. She was gonna swell up now, and... and make a foal, and be like that pregnant mare she saw at daddy’s garden party. And she didn’t want to! But instead of throwing another temper tantrum about it, Diamond just sighed, and turned on the sink, wiping her muzzle with a moist cloth until the crusty tear leftovers were gone, and she looked slightly presentable. Her hair looked terrible. Her... her hair looked terrible. Somehow that was just... terrifying. She had to push off of the sink and stand there trying to catch her breath. She was fine everything was fine and—and there was no way she was ever going to live this down. All that work all her life building herself up and tearing down her enemies, and now her enemies could just destroy her with ease. She could see it now... “Oh hey, look! I think Diamond is getting fatter!” “You can almost see her cu҉tie mark now!” “What do ya think a stupid whore cutie mark’d look like anyways?” “Hmm. How about... a diamond tiara?” “Ha ha, you said it, Sweetie!” “Nopony even likes you, Diamond. How did you get a stallion to do it in you?” “Ten to one she had to pay all her money for it. Nopony is rich enough to make anypony like her!” “Ah reckon nopony likes you much at all. Ah reckon nopony would stop us even if we kicked you!” “What a great idea Apple Bloom! I’ll make sure she can’t get away!” “I want to kick her first! I want to kick her be҉lly!” “Easy now, Sweetie. Ya gotta wait in line just lahk the rest of us.” Diamond punched Apple Bloom’s face in the mirror, to dispel the horrible evil imaginary foals circling around her with murder in their eyes. She ignored the cracks that spread out from her hoof. Just another mirror that had to be replaced. Then, she sank down on her haunches and started crying again. Why did he just disappear like that? Her stallion. Her... her friend. She just couldn’t make a foal inside her now, but there was just nothing she could do. Diamond had done the worst possible thing. And now her life was just about over. The noise of approaching footsteps alerted her, and Diamond tried to compose herself, and stand up and pull herself together somehow. “Missus Tiara,” the butler Yancy said politely, opening Diamond’s bedroom door, “If you are ready, you are to be prepared to accompany Mr. Rich today, on his business trip to the Manehatten cannery.” And now Diamond wanted to laugh and sigh at the same time. It was so crazy how she... even though she just had this foal inside her, life was still poking her in the flank like usual. “At once, Yancy,” she said haughtily, standing up as if she were tall enough to reach his withers. He didn’t give her a friendly look back, but she suspected that had more to do with her...huge temper tantrums, than her dismissive attitude towards him at this point. That’s right Diamond was even lower than the butler now. Things just couldn’t have possibly been worse for her. She wore her pink dress with silk white lace, to look nice for the northerly cultured Manehatennites. Her daddy smiled as she accompanied him confidently, coldly, and not vulnerably. She wasn’t even going to think of what she was so scared about inside her. She could deal with it later, after daddy’s business had been taken care of. It could be Future Tiara’s problem, and Present Tiara was going to just pretend that it had never happened, and there was nothing odd about her at all. Sure she had to take seconds at brunch, despite feeling like she was going to throw it all up, but it was just because she was hungry, like any normal growing filly would be. She was licking the salt shaker because... because it just tasted good. Nothing wrong at all! As the train pulled away and Ponyville receded from her vision, Diamond Tiara couldn’t help but feel a little troubled that today was a school day. But daddy said that it was very important she be with him for this, so Diamond was determined to do whatever she had to do to redeem herself in his eyes. He was so disappointed in her recent behavior, and she couldn’t even tell him why, because that would mean he’d find out she disobeyed him and specifically did what he told her not to. She just had to be upset by herself, and poor daddy had to suffer from that, so Diamond was going to do whatever she could to mend her reputation at least with him, if not with anypony else. She treated the service on the train like she should have been treated, and they quickly stopped asking if she needed any help. Well, Diamond didn’t need any help, because their scones made her want to puke and that was the truth, and it was their fault not hers. And certainly not the fault of the foal inside her! She just sat there in the private train car daddy had reserved, for her and daddy and his two bodyguards. Diamond actually didn’t know these guards, but daddy switched them around sometimes, so they were probably just new. They seemed to already know about her though, and refused to so much as respond to her needling them, or insulting them, or any other way she knew to provoke a response from somepony. Daddy wasn’t much to talk with. He just told her to be patient, and that they would be there soon enough, then went back to reading his book. Diamond had learned that you never interrupt daddy when he’s reading a book. So she just reared up to hook her hooves on the window to the train, watching the verdant green countryside passing by as it chugged and clacked along the tracks. The wind was in her hair, not enough to disturb her hairdo of course, but just enough to feel pleasant as it ruffled through her fur, bringing smells of summer and bountiful harvests. She was so bore-e-e-ed! The only ponies who came into their private car were the train attendants, and Diamond almost regretted teasing them, because they weren’t even checking to see if she wanted more peanuts or water anymore. So she just had to lay on her belly and sit there, lashing her tail and waiting for the train ride to be over. She... if there was a foal inside her, she’d be laying on him right now. That probably wasn’t good. She lay on her side then, trying not to draw attention to that slim pink belly of hers, which concealed a secret that made her different from every other filly in her class. A dark thought occurred to her that if Sweetie Belle had gotten pregnant, at least Diamond Tiara wouldn’t be the only one in class with a big belly. Sweetie let her feelings get the best of her too, but she didn’t even take the pill and nothing happened. That darned unicorn was so gosh darned lucky, she didn’t even know how lucky she was. So that meant Diamond was just... going to have to get big, and all swollen and with a foal kicking inside her, and nopony else in her class would be that way. They’d laugh at her and humiliate her and... and maybe even worse, because that’s what happens when ponies get to be above you. They just hurt you more and more, unless you hurt them first. She’d just have to find a way to respect her for being pregnant. It wasn’t that she was to be singled out, it meant that she was special. Yeah, when they found out, Diamond would pretend she was proud of it, like she wanted it to happen and didn’t get tricked at all. They’d think she was so brave having a child at such a young age, but Diamond knew that daddy could pay for it, and she didn’t even care if she stopped getting presents or rewards as a consequence. She’d keep making stallions feel good, and very rarely mares, and that would make sure her foal had a good life without wanting anything or ever being lost and alone. That would be way better than some dumb dollhouse. It was like Diamond had a real live doll, that was going to appear inside her and grow bigger until it was a full sized foal and— And then come out... Diamond had to guess she’d just... get like... stretchier or something. She had eleven months to find out, so she’d just have to keep an eye on her ...place when she did. It was a good thing in fact, because if Diamond was going to have an easy time pushing out a whole big foal through her vagina, then stallions would soon be no trouble at all! She hoped they wouldn’t mind if her parts got all... big and stuff. But maybe they liked that? Diamond really didn’t know. All she knew was she got squirted in, in season, and shouldn’t have stopped taking her pills. She would have taken them too if not for the heat, that stupid estrus that just clouded her brain, and made everything about having a foal seem like the greatest thing in the world. She went from a skilled operator to a patsy pushover, just because of some season thing. Why did she make a friend? It was kind of impressive really. Diamond had to admit the forces compelling her to be with foal were formidable indeed. If she were a magic... estrus...breezie, she’d be really proud of how cleverly she got into Diamond’s head, and made her do stupid things she’d never do out of season. It scared her for being so helpless, but it also made her feel like she was part of something powerful. She was being moved by an incredible force of nature that could not, and would not be denied. There was a foal in her belly, and it was going to get bigger, and be born, and she would really truly be a mother, and no pony in the whole world could do anything to stop it. Maybe she... if she pretended that she wanted it, then ponies would respect her and leave her alone, and she’d get by just fine on her own. Just Diamond Tiara, her beautiful foal, and all that money for everything else. With a hiss and a clunk the train arrived, Diamond jumping up and running for the door before anypony else could. She wanted to run around as soon as she could, and uh, also something else started to really bother her. No sooner had Diamond gotten her freedom from the evil boring train, that she locked herself up again in the toilet room. She carefully moved her panties to her ankles, and tilted her hips forward, biting the bottom of her dress up, and then sighing with relief as she let go. She was peeing a lot more too these days. Just drinking too much or something. Nonetheless, none of that golden stream cascading from her foal place her... somewhere near her foal place or, something. Some brainy school thing she was supposed to memorize. None of her pee got any of her clothes even the slightest bit, and she made sure to wipe off like, twice before even thinking about cinching her panties back around her round little rump. A rump that had a... a thing in it, a growing something that a stallion put in there, and then he disappeared. It was kind of... mysterious? She wondered what happened to him. She didn’t tarry long though. She trotted her pregnant butt out of the toilet and accompanied her daddy down the bustling streets of the living city they called Manehatten. Diamond Tiara always wished she could just stare at all the lights and the buildings, and the horns and cabs, and ponies just... doing so much stuff with each other, but she had to stay aloof for daddy, so ponies wouldn’t think she and he were a couple of podunk yokels from Ponyville. Whatever podunk, and yokel meant. The streets they navigated were not familiar to Diamond, but she’d only been to the city three times so far in her life. She just stuck close to daddy and made sure not to lose him, especially in these narrow alleyways and big dark warehouses. There weren’t as many ponies back here and the ones that were looked at her like... like the way she would look at other foals, and she really really didn’t like being looked at that way. It was making her nervous and she—she realized she didn’t know exactly why they were even on this business trip. “Daddy, where are we going?” Diamond asked sweetly. “Just some business to take care of,” he said dismissively. “Come along, we haven’t got all day.” And that sure didn’t make her feel better. What was daddy getting up to? Her birthday wasn’t until all the way before next spring, so it couldn’t be a surprise like that. Why was he having her tag along with him then? Was there a stallion involved? Diamond hoped not. She was so done with stallions, just wanted to have their money already and stop this stupid having a foal thing. “Alright, here we are,” daddy said suddenly, walking right up the steps into a building that... well, it didn’t have a sign. They must have been getting a shipment of... something? Diamond followed him in curiously, but the warehouse they walked into was silent, and completely empty. Nothing in here but broad, open dusty stone floors and a little bit of light going in through the windows, some of them broken, with spider webs in the corners. One of the guards stayed to guard the door, and the other stayed with Diamond as she looked around in confusion. “Why are we here, daddy?” she asked looking up at him. “There’s nothing here. Is somepony going to be delivering something?” Her daddy looked down at her with an unreadable expression. “Goodbye, Diamond,” he said simply. And Diamond Tiara barely registered the guard moving behind her before pain exploded in her vision, as something kicked her in the back of the head. She never felt anything more painful before! Before she could recover, she was falling, for ...a while... Diamond’s head was hurting so bad. Why was her head hurting—it was waking her up! She couldn’t sleep with a headache like this. She was all cramped and twisted and—and Diamond panicked when she opened her eyes and saw only cloth. She was—this wasn’t her bed! She was in a– a sack! “Let me out!” she screamed. “Help!” “Say one more word,” a mare’s voice cut in dangerously close to Diamond’s head, “And I’ll cut your throat open, and eat you.” Diamond had never let anyone besides daddy shut her up before, but she figured hey there’s a first time for everything, right? Gotta start somewhere, after all. It was easy to be polite for the nice mare because Diamond was shaking too hard to speak anyway. They were—they were moving! They were in a carriage? She couldn’t see out the thick burlap. Diamond couldn’t believe she’d been... she’d been foalnapped! She read stories about this before, the rich heiress captured by evil thieves. They would try to make daddy pay a ransom for her! She had to escape she had to The mare hadn’t been lying... Diamond didn’t know what to do, and tears started pouring down her face. “I said, shut up!” the mare shouted again. Diamond couldn’t shut up! She couldn’t keep the horrible sounds coming from her mouth as she sobbed—something struck her in the head again, in the same place it hurt so much! she— She didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to sleep forever and let her poor head heal, and let everything happen without her. She was still in the sack. She barely cracked her eye open and just saw the sunlight filtering in through the cloth. It was too much. It was just too much. She was a damsel in distress. She was a... a bargaining piece, just another kind of money. Daddy would be so mad when he found out she’d gotten... something... hadn’t he been there though? Diamond’s head was hurting. She didn’t want to think. She just... she just waited for her captors to get wherever they were going and let her out of this horrible sack. Except... it didn’t seem like they were moving anymore? Well good. Diamond needed a rest... anyway... She woke up again, feeling... a little better. She still didn’t feel like she was moving, and actually she felt kind of... comfortable? She was lying on something soft, underneath the sack. Maybe a... storage room or something? They did let the foalnapped foals out of the sack, right? But... no she was outside, not in a storage room. Diamond could feel the whisper of wind teasing at the bag, and the sun shining down overhead was filtering in through the thick fabric. Maybe she was in their... yard or something? What kind of a foalnapping was this? Diamond didn’t want to get eaten so she still didn’t move for a while, but there was just... nopony coming or anything, and she just sat there with nothing happening at all. Her thoughts inevitably turned towards ...escape. The bag was cinched firmly shut and tied. Diamond couldn’t even squeeze her hoof out the opening. She pushed at it trying to stretch it open to no avail. She sat up and—aggh! Her head was hurting so bad. Diamond had never hurt this much before! She hoped she didn’t need the hospital. She hoped she wasn’t dying. She started to breathe a little harder as she struggled with getting out of the cloth bag. It wasn’t just strenuous, but Diamond also had to move very carefully or the pain would explode in her head again. She hoped... she hoped she wouldn’t take too long to get better. The adventure stories said you got knocked out sometimes, but they never said it hurt this much! The bag proved too difficult for Diamond Tiara’s hoof, but by stretching it and scrunching forward, her slimmer muzzle managed to pop through the small egress of the bag. That... that was as far out as she could get. She didn’t know what to do now, and her mouth was full of nasty fibrous burlap. Hemp, from the taste of it. Diamond preferred wheat. ...waaait a minute. Diamond wiggled more and managed to get her teeth to close down on the burlap, and she did the only thing she could think of. She chewed. It... took a long time, and tasted really bad. Diamond didn’t think she was ever going to make any progress, when a strand from the rope broke loose, and she redoubled her efforts. It... still took a long time. The sun moved a long ways before Diamond made it out. Why did this stupid rope have so many strands! She could get them better by unravelling it slightly with her lips but... but still it fought her stubbornly. Finally she just shoved her hooves in there, and the last few strands snapped, spilling golden sunlight into her cloth prison as Diamond Tiara pulled the mouth of the sack wide open. She crawled out as fast as she could. It had to have been hours, and nopony had checked on her. Where were they? Maybe they were on another heist? She had to find out where she was if she was going to start thinking about escaping and finding a guard... a... maybe she wouldn’t find a guard. But somepony like that. Diamond pulled the sack down past her aching head, rumpling around her haunches, and what she saw made her struggle even more, until she was entirely out of the sack. She pushed up on her front legs and... what? She looked around, and ... what? ... As far as Diamond Tiara could see around her, there was nothing to be seen but wind whistling over endless grassy hills. The world receded around her in all directions, an unfathomable distance, that her mind couldn’t even register. The grassy fields stretched on and on, and in the center of them was a lost looking little filly in a pink dress with white lace. Where was the city? This wasn’t a hideout! This wasn’t... anything! How could the entire city be gone? She was just there! Wasn’t she? She... where had they taken her? Why?! Why did daddy say... goodbye... Diamond Tiara for better or worse was all alone in the world. Nopony in sight, not a farm, nor a hamlet. No Ponyville, no Manehatten, no kidnappers, no daddy, just... Diamond Tiara. She shrunk down on her belly her—her foal belly she... she just didn’t know what went wrong! Diamond was so very confused about all this, it didn’t even register to her that she was crying, until her cheeks started to get wet. And then she was crying, crying hard. She didn’t have to hold back, because there was no pony to even hear her. No evil mares threatening her, no nobody. Diamond could scream as loud as she wanted and it would just get swallowed up by that whispering wind. Were any creatures, pony or otherwise, roaming the plains that night, they may have happened upon a most peculiar thing in the darkness. A burlap sack discarded in the middle of nowhere, which appeared to be quivering all on its own. Not shivering from the cold on this warm summer night, but from fear and disarray. Nothing would emerge from this burlap sack all night, and it would be long past midnight that anything inside of it would sleep, the muted sobs fading into an exhausted silence as the surface of the cloth bag began moving slowly up and down, to the tempo of a sleeping filly’s breath. Diamond Tiara awoke late into the morning. She didn’t want to wake up, again. She didn’t want to wake up ever. She was... She was so hungry!! Diamond struggled up she—she was in a rough cloth... right, the burlap sack. Oh no, the field. She groaned and touched her... her head was still hurting. It was like a big bruise back there. She never had a bruise that big before. She just... tried not to touch it. Diamond Tiara climbed out of the sack, standing on her four hooves and really looking around for the first time. It didn’t look like anything was here, but she was in a valley of sorts. It looked like if she walked to that ridge over there, she could see over it, and maybe find the city again. And... do something. Find Daddy, make him say why he said that. Make him... show him the ponies that hurt her, and... and he’d do something about that. Daddy always protected her. With something vaguely resembling a plan in mind, Diamond started to stride forward, kicking the burlap sack off her hind hoof... on second thought she turned around and took the sack in her teeth, throwing it over her back and then striding forward. It might come in useful later. Diamond had never... been where it was this silent before. She had always been lonely, but she’d never been left alone. Here she was just walking in the tremendous quiet, and there was nopony to look up to, or watch warily, or cajole or coerce, or anything like that. It gave Diamond Tiara complete freedom to ruminate on her thoughts. And... when she did, Diamond found it so puzzling that she was having a hard time thinking about much of anything. Was her head hurt? That was probably it. All the worries that she had to fight back when she was alone, on these fields they just weren’t there. It was too... open for that. She wasn’t alone with a pony at the door, or alone with expectations of what was going to happen tomorrow. She was just... alone. And alone, she found less of total despair, and more of just... neutral diffidence. The more she walked, the more she was just walking, and not doing much of anything else. Then, the one thing that did get through her haze started getting more and more insistent. Diamond Tiara was hungry. She was hungrier than she’d ever been before. Even before daddy, there was at least regular meals. But now Diamond Tiara had to have gone without eating for a whole day! And she was starving! She was... not a very healthy filly, certainly pudgy and out of shape. Her hooves were aching, not an hour into her travel. And if going without food made you hungry, going without food, and walking made you really hungry! It was just eating a hole inside her, just carving out a hole right inside her ...belly... Diamond stopped walking and stared forward in shock. She turned with nervous worry and looked at her own belly. It was... it just looked normal. But there was a foal in there, all planted and everything, just like the book said. And it’s not like a foal isn’t going to have to eat too. Diamond knew full well she’d be eating for two pretty soon, and now that she thought about it, it was going to be really soon, because a foal wouldn’t wait until he got big before needing to eat. He would need to eat a lot more just to get big in the first place. And since Diamond was the only pony who could eat for her foal... Diamond was in trouble. She was in big trouble. She started to trot and then stopped. She didn’t want to overexert herself. She—she had to eat something fast, or she’d—she’d hurt her foal! “It’s not fair...” Diamond said tearfully, kicking angrily at the grass underneath her feet. Her ears perked as she spoke, sounding so loud in the silence. There was nopony to talk to, but... “Hello?” Diamond said out loud. No answer. “I’m hungry!” she stated. There was nopony to hear her, and nopony to answer. Diamond realized she could... talk all she wanted, and nopony would hear her... “So like, then he went to battle the evil princess Luna, who had gone evil again, and only he could stop her. I wonder why he left me? It must have been like, an emergency. He didn’t want me to come so he must have totally been trying to protect me and the foal. And like, it totally didn’t work because here I am in way danger and hurting my foal and we’re so hungry...” Diamond Tiara continued to chatter on to nopony at all as she trotted. It helped, it really did! She could say her darkest most bitter thoughts, how terrible the gnawing hunger was, and how she wished there was a restaurant or somepony serving something, or maybe like in her adventure novels it would be nothing more than a quaint little farming hamlet, with a bubbling pot of savory stew just full of carrots and barley. “And they’d totally give me some, because they’d think I was a lost princess, because of my crown—” Diamond stopped talking and just fell on her haunches. She... she hadn’t even thought about it. All this danger and trouble, and... Diamond Tiara didn’t even notice that she woke up without something. Her dress was getting filthy, and the sack on her back was scratchy and sweaty, and... whoever foalnapped her, of course they would take her tiara. It had to be worth like, a million bits. Maybe that was why they foalnapped her and just left her out there? They just wanted the tiara on her head, and then they could toss her away like... garbage. The tiara that Silver had... that Diamond never could pay her back for that... “I am going to have the heads of those foalnappers!” the unornamented Diamond Tiara declared angrily, stomping her hoof and trying to rise to all fours again. She wobbled when she did though, and her joints were hurting so much. Every muscle in her body was just achy and pained. Her head wasn’t even the part about her that hurt the worst anymore. And she was so very hungry! She just wanted to take a bite out of her–of her own leg, or even a tree or or something. She couldn’t keep going like this. None of the trees had fruits even, and the rest of the area was just grass, grass, grass. At least the grass smelled nice. Enticing, even. But that was kind of bad too, because it reminded Diamond Tiara of food, and she couldn’t get any food. And she couldn’t... the only way to get food was over the ridge, so she had to keep climbing. It was the only way to stop getting hungry. She continued to put one hoof before the other, not because of determination, or desperation, but just the simple despair that not moving her hooves would make her even hungrier than moving them, finding help and being saved. At last Diamond reached the top of the ridge. It had taken so long to get here. Diamond had never walked so far in her whole life. She was just glad to reach... no actually she wasn’t quite there yet. Diamond subsequently had the unpleasant experience that when you reach the ridge, you realize you cannot see over it until you have travelled over it entirely and started going down. Diamond could see the valley behind her casting long shadows in the afternoon sun, but before her was just a stupid dumb unseeable hill that she couldn’t get over. But she had nothing else that she could do so she kept going. And it was easier since the hill wasn’t as steep anymore, but... it still seemed so long until Diamond walked all the way across the crest and saw the landscape beyond it. More and more grassy hills stretching on even further. Diamond cut back a sob at the sight of it, her heart both leaping and sinking because she saw none of that endless wasteland of grass, but only the one coiling trail of smoke coming up from a distant location. It was far... farther than she had walked already... but... she could get there and and stew and... and food. She was so tired... why was she sitting down? She had to get the food! She had to... she just had to rest for a second... Hunger awoke Diamond Tiara for the first time in her life. It was not an experience she ever wanted to have again. No sharp pain, just a thin wail of despair that echoed in her ears even as she felt it in a hard cold knot in her stomach. Not an attack, but an annoyance more annoying than anything in the world, so annoying that she woke up in the middle of the night just, just craving pizza. Wait, why pizza? Oh, Diamond Tiara would kill for pizza. But why specifically pizza? With lots of cheese, so much cheese and... and buttery salty crust and... Diamond Tiara was really hungry. That’s when she realized where she was. Diamond stuck her head up, out of the grass that she’d flattened when she flopped onto her side in an exhausted heap. It was a moonlit night, one full of stars overhead, so many stars. Diamond wasn’t paying any attention to that though, because there was a star on earth that she had to pay more attention to. There was that glowing light of a cheery fireplace, far, far in the distance. Diamond struggled to her feet. She had to. She had to reach that house. She started walking, one hoofstep after another, just shuffling along. She didn’t even care about the darkness or the night. That distant light was beckoning her like a moth to a flame. Oh, she hoped they would have potatoes in the stew. With lots and lots of carrots dropping into it by the slice. And sprigs of parsley and fennel, and hearty barley. There would be lots of hay too; Diamond didn’t even care how it was cooked. Just cheap fried hay washed down with delicious stew. She... she was really hungry.