"Morning in Chicago shimmers~!" sang Sweetie Belle, as she exited the Golden Oaks library, as the sun shone down over the small town. "Morning in Chicago shi~ines! And I know for absolute certain, that everything will be-hrk!"
As Sweetie Belle was about to finish her verse, she was abruptly cut off by a streak of blue tackling her, and pinning her to the ground.
"Sparkle," said the mare above her, "Diamond Tiara needs you to come with her to save Equestria. Not that The Great and Injured Diamond Tiara can't handle it by herself, naturally, but she recognises that Sparkle does have some talent to her." And without even waiting for Sweetie Belle to acknowledge what Diamond Tiara had said, the blue magician began to stride off, her mouth clamped around Sweetie Belle's tail, pulling the newest Alicorn of Equestria along with her.
Taken aback by Diamond Tiara's abrupt introduction and disruption of her musical performance, the thought of getting free didn't cross Sweetie Belle's mind. It wasn't until the two were nearly out of the town limits that Sweetie Belle managed to wrench her tail from Diamond Tiara's mouth. Evidently, working as a travelling performer had kept Diamond Tiara in decent shape. Sweetie Belle did manage to scramble to her hooves, and pull her tail from Diamond Tiara's mouth.
"Would you mind explaining what the hay you are doing, Diamond Tiara?"
"Diamond Tiara thought that she made it perfectly clear. Not Diamond Tiara's fault that you can't hear, Sparkle. Diamond Tiara, regrettably, needs your help, Sparkle. Make no mistake, if Diamond Tiara could do this on her own, Diamond Tiara would, but she finds that she needs more brute force than anticipated."
"Brute force...hey! Are you calling me a brickhorn?"
"Maybe Diamond Tiara is, maybe Diamond Tiara isn't. Are you coming or not, Sparkle?"
"I don't know," mused Sweetie Belle, "maybe I had things to do this week, Diamond Tiara!"
"Diamond Tiara checked with the pink abomination. You have nothing planned for this entire week." Sweetie Belle muttered several unsavoury words under her breath, and then nodded.
"Fine, I'll go with you, Diamond Tiara," she said, gritting her teeth and trotting after Diamond Tiara. However, she did pause to send a message back to Spike in the library.
'Dear Spike, gone to save Equestria with Diamond Tiara. Also gone to save Equestria from Diamond Tiara. Be back next week. Sweetie Belle.'
**************************
"Put this on," demanded Diamond Tiara, magically tossing a plain blue cape made from the same material as Diamond Tiara's into Sweetie Belle's face.
"Look, Diamond Tiara, just because I agreed to help you doesn't mean that you get to dictate everything I do. We've been travelling for three days, and you still haven't told me what this 'oh so important thing' you need my help with actually is!"
"Diamond Tiara told you, Sparkle. Diamond Tiara is attempting to prevent the destruction of Equestria, and it needs two competent unicorns to pull off. Now, as Diamond Tiara is here, she is one such unicorn, and Diamond Tiara supposes that you can count as a second."
"Have you forgotten all about the two times you came to Chicago and I had to save you? Once from an Ursa Minor," said Sweetie Belle, with no small amount of glee in her voice, "and once from yourself. I think I've proven myself to you enough."
Diamond Tiara gritted her teeth.
"Diamond Tiara thinks that Sparkle does not understand the meaning of the word subtlety. If this is to work, Diamond Tiara will need Sparkle to not be recognised as an alicorn. Besides," said Diamond Tiara, relaxing slightly,
"Didn't one of your backwater friends teach you a lesson about listening to the expert?"
"I hardly think that you count as an expert in...Whatever we're doing," fired back Sweetie Belle.
"Diamond Tiara is very well acquainted with sneaking into heavily fortified places, thank you very much." Sweetie Belle frowned, but tied the cloak around her neck all the same, concealing her wings. Diamond Tiara looked
Sweetie Belle up and down for a few minutes, before sighing.
"Diamond Tiara supposes that will have to do. Come, Sparkle. The fate of Equestria rests in our hooves. But mostly Diamond Tiara's." Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes, but followed Diamond Tiara anyway.
******
Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara stared up at the building in front of them.
"Well, it's certainly...imposing," said Sweetie Belle.
"Hrmph. Diamond Tiara thinks it is compensating for something," she said, giving a side glance at Sweetie Belle, "Much like her companion."
"I will have you know that I broke the magical measuring device when I was just a filly, Diamond Tiara! I have plenty of magical power."
"Diamond Tiara knows. Diamond Tiara thinks that's what you're compensating with, brickhorn. Now come on, we need to get inside the Fortress of Darkness," said Diamond Tiara, motioning her hoof towards the dark stone castle standing before the two. Sweetie Belle couldn't stop herself from letting out a giggle.
"The Fortress of Darkness? Who names things like that?"
"Lord Umbra, probably, given that it's his castle. Did not Diamond Tiara explain this to you, or did it simply slip past you when you were confronted with The Great and Injured Diamond Tiara's greatness and powerfulness?"
"No, you neglected to mention it at all, oh Forgetful and Clumsy Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle. Diamond Tiara ignored the jab.
"Come on, Sparkle, we need to get inside. The quicker that we can resolve this, the sooner Diamond Tiara can go back to plotting Sweetie Belle's defeat."
"Sure, Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle, her horn lighting up, and the alicorn faded out of sight. "Invisibility spell. It should keep me undetected for at least a few hours while we do...whatever it is we have to do. You still haven't explained that, Diamond Tiara. And how are you going to get in, anyway?"
"Like this," said Diamond Tiara, heading around to the side of the castle, and locating the drainage pipe. Casting a basic 'Repel Dirt' spell on herself, Diamond Tiara began the long climb through the pipes, Sweetie Belle following invisibly, her invisible hooves still making noise as the two sloshed through the plumbing.
"You know, Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle's disembodied voice, "If you actually started studying real magic, we could have both cast the invisibility spell, and just walked right in."
"There are other ways of being invisible, Sparkle," shot back Diamond Tiara.
"And I suppose you're as familiar with them as you are, say, breaking into ponies' houses and breaking the law?"
"The Great and Injured Diamond Tiara never technically committed a crime, Sparkle. She was simply very persuasive."
"Great. The closest thing I have to an intellectual equal and she's a con mare with itchy hooves," muttered Sweetie Belle. "How did you even get into Celestia's school in the first place? They don't accept anypony with a previous criminal record."
"Sparkle, that implies that Diamond Tiara ever got caught," grinned Diamond Tiara, as she cast a beam of light out from her horn to survey the pair's surroundings, while she consulted a roughly drawn map.
"Is that drawn on a napkin, Diamond Tiara?"
"So what if it is? It was all Diamond Tiara had at the time!"
"I suddenly feel less optimistic about our chances of doing this."
As a reply, Diamond Tiara telekinetically grabbed a ball of water from beneath her hooves and threw it at where she thought Sweetie Belle was, and was rewarded with the ball of water plashing over a purple dome that materialised out of nowhere. Except that the dome was not centred over Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara realised too late, but over Diamond Tiara herself.
"Stupid Sparkle," Diamond Tiara managed to mutter moments before her ball of stale water splashed back over her. Shaking the water off herself, Diamond Tiara stalked off, continuing down the pipe. Moments later, she heard the splash of Sweetie Belle's hooves following her, and the two managed to travel in silence for all of five minutes.
"I still think that you're going to get us caught in...whatever this is, Diamond Tiara. You don't even have a basic 'Don't Notice Me' spell on you!"
"Diamond Tiara has done this before, Sparkle."
"Yes, illegally," said Sweetie Belle, and Diamond Tiara sighed. Evidently Sweetie Belle was not going to be letting go of Diamond Tiara's other skill set so lightly. Diamond Tiara, in true showmareship, distracted Sweetie Belle and redirected the conversation.
"At least I have previous skills that are applicable to this situation, Sparkle. Have you never had to creep into a villain's hideout to disable his evil master plan before, brickhorn?"
"Have you?"
"Well, no, but Diamond Tiara sees that she at least has skills which can be applied to the situation. All you have is magic."
"Magic is perfectly applicable to any situation. All it takes is the right spell, and all problems are solved, unlike your fake stage magic!"
"Diamond Tiara performs great feats of magic on stage combined with clever sleight of hoof tricks!"
"Yes, because Levitation is such a fantastic skill that nopony with a horn knows!"
Diamond Tiara made a note to herself. Sweetie Belle had evidently developed a sense of snark and sarcasm. And she got touchy when magic was mentioned. Diamond Tiara grinned, and decided to press that button a bit more. She knew that she really shouldn't be pushing Sweetie Belle this much, especially now, but it was just so much fun.
"Diamond Tiara provides what ponies need: an idol, somepony to look up to, not a coward too afraid to use her own magic to its fullest potential."
Of course, it was right then that the pipes the two ponies were in rumbled.
"That...didn't sound good," said Sweetie Belle, her voice coming from just behind Diamond Tiara.
"No," agreed Diamond Tiara, "it didn't." The two turned to face the direction they thought the rumbling was coming from, and were promptly hit from behind by a literal wall of water. They were swept away, eventually coming up against a solid grate, which allowed the water to flow through unimpeded, while Diamond Tiara slammed hard up against it, legs splayed. A second later, Sweetie Belle smashed into her back, and Diamond Tiara learned a very important fact.
'Huh,' she thought, 'Who knew alicorns weigh a lot more than normal ponies?'
A second later, because of the immense volume of water slamming into both the two ponies and not being able to go anywhere for a second or two, the grate gave way, tumbling outwards, following the curve of the water, and slammed down onto the floor below. Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara rolled out of the way of the stream of water slamming down on them, spluttering and hacking up water. Diamond Tiara managed to stand up first, and produced a goldfish from behind her ear.
"How in Equestria did that get there?" she muttered, before tossing the fish in the direction of the drain in the floor, and finally taking stock of her surroundings. She was standing in the corner of a large open courtyard, likely the central one of the entire Fortress of Darkness, and around her, Diamond Tiara could see beasts, twice as tall as herself, beginning to turn towards where Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle had crashed down.
"Sparkle, your invisibility spell might help now..." muttered Diamond Tiara, backing up.
"Finally decided that...oh. Right," said Sweetie Belle, as she realised their situation. As much as Diamond Tiara annoyed her, Sweetie Belle still counted her as something of a friend. She cast the invisibility spell on Diamond Tiara with a moment of concentration. She followed this up with a second spell that would allow the two of them to converse freely without being overheard.
"Well, now we should be safe. I've cast a spell that should make us inaudible to all of these...things. Diamond Tiara, what are these anyway? They look like..." Sweetie Belle paused for a minute to try and find an accurate descriptor in her head, "they look like demonic griffons, really." Indeed, the creatures stalking around the courtyard were a combination of lion, eagle and what looked like a wolf for a head. Their eyes glowed like hot metal pulled from a fire, and this glow was mimicked down the creature's bodies, tracing along the skin in vein-like patterns. The whole effect made it seem like the creatures had been glued together with magic, rather than being one single entity.
"Nice and easy," muttered Sweetie Belle, as the two magicians crept through the courtyard as fast as they dared, avoiding the long tails of the creatures.
"Diamond Tiara is the epitome of grace, Sparkle," said Diamond Tiara, avoiding another whipping tail, and squeezing under a pair of the demonic griffons. The two had made it to the centre of the courtyard by now, and could see the pair of ominous doors that lead into the fortress proper at the other end.
"Half way there," sighed Sweetie Belle, "it's all downhill from here." She muttered, an old studying trick that Sweetie Belle had picked up - if you told yourself that it was only going to get easier from a certain point, you could actually kid yourself into believing it.
Naturally, Sweetie Belle's spells chose that exact moment to fizzle into nothingness. The two froze, and all at once, every single demonic griffon-wolf monster in the courtyard turned to face them, and
Sweetie Belle gulped.
"Um...Hello?" she said, and Diamond Tiara slapped a hoof to her face.
*****
Lord Umbra, as he insisted his minions call him, was a unicorn of some skill. The utterly boring and peaceful reign of Celestia, the announcement of Cadence's existence and the Return of Luna had pushed the stallion over the edge. It was after this that he had put into motion his dastardly plans. The coronation of Sweetie Belle had simply been the cherry on top. Years of research had gone into this scheme. Learning how to read Tartaric Script, finding obscure books about Tartarus itself, the research of which was strongly discouraged, and building his Fortress of Darkness, which was utterly impenetrable to any would-be invaders.
It should be noted at this point that Lord Umbra is a bit delusional.
As the unicorn groomed his mane, and mentally drafted his letter declaring his intent to take over Equestria, there was a knock at his door.
"Yes?" he hissed, in what he thought was a suitably intimidating manner. The pony entered, shaking with what was undoubtedly fear at his terrifying visage and dominating presence.
"Lord Umbra," began the pony with a stutter, "we seem to have a problem. It seems that two unicorns have managed to infiltrate the Fortress of Darkness."
"What?" roared Lord Umbra, standing up and turning away from his mirror, "what are they doing?"
"My lord, they appear to be fighting off your Fortress guards in the central courtyard," the pony gasped, "and they also appear to be winning."
"How dare they!" yelled Lord Umbra as he strode across the room, past the messenger, and headed for the balcony that overlooked the courtyard. "My Fortress guards are unbeatable, and how did they even discover this place? I have not even declared my intent to conquer Equestria yet. Celestia must be more cunning than I thought to have discovered me so quickly."
The messenger stayed behind for a moment, tears leaking out of his eyes as he desperately tried to stop laughing. The top of Lord Umbra's horn had barely come up to the top of the messenger's shoulders, and the diminutive self-styled Lord of Darkness was bright pink. He might have been evil, but it was so hard to take him seriously.
"Minion, I need the Box of Darkness!"
"Right away, My Lord!" called the messenger, hurrying after Lord Umbra.
Picking up the aforementioned Box of Darkness, the messenger hurried out to the balcony, and placed it down in front of Lord Umbra, who stepped onto it, and looked out over his courtyard.
"You take that back! Starswirl the Bearded was a fantastic mage, who founded modern magic study as we know it!"
"Please, he was a crotchety old stallion who was good at inventing spells, not really a spellweaver himself. All of 'his' spells were tested and cast by Clover the Clever. Diamond Tiara has read the 'Letters of Starswirl', you know."
Sure enough, Lord Umbra could see the two unicorns down in the centre of his Courtyard of Doom. One was blue, and one was purple, and both were wearing cloaks, though the blue one was also wearing a hat, and her cloak was decorated with stars and sparkles. As Lord Umbra watched, the purple one fired off a beam of magic that slammed one of his Beasts of Darkness, summoned directly from Tartarus, half way across the courtyard and into a wall hard enough to crack the stone.
"Clover the Clever was a good spellweaver in her own right, I will give you that, but she never advanced the study of magic forward like her teacher did. Starswirl was unparalleled in the field of magical research," said the purple one, facing the blue unicorn. The blue one rolled her eyes and entire head.
"Diamond Tiara thinks you are far too focused on ancient history to appreciate the greats of the last thousand years. Diamond Tiara has always been a fan of False Perception," said the blue unicorn, pausing to fire a beam of pink magic at a beast that was coming up behind her companion, and forcing it down onto the floor, where it stayed. "Diamond Tiara finds her work on illusion structures particularly fascinating."
"Wasn't False Perception also accused of using her illusions to bewitch rich stallions and robbing them?" shot back Purple, with a blast of ice that froze several of Lord Umbra's beasts solid.
"Diamond Tiara never said she agreed with how False Perception used her illusions, just that they are worthy of respect," replied Diamond Tiara, as the Blue unicorn's name seemed to be, as she twisted around, blasting several of his Beasts of Darkness with a spell that spun each of them around, leaving the beasts too dizzy to be of any use.
"Yes, I can see how you would be drawn to that."
"Really? Diamond Tiara cannot believe that you are so fixated on that one aspect of Diamond Tiara's past. And for the record, bookworm, Diamond Tiara has never used her magic to assist in those kinds of activities. That was all natural talent."
As the two unicorns kept on arguing, Lord Umbra grew more and more incensed.
"Why aren't they worried? They should be cowering in fear at the might of my summoned forces!" declared Lord Umbra. "Minion! Go release the more powerful monsters!"
"At once, My Lord," said the other pony, heading back inside the fortress.
"We shall see how long your flippant attitudes prevail against some of the nastier things that Tartarus can produce," chuckled the vertically-challenged Future Overlord of Equestria.
*****
"Bookworm!" called Diamond Tiara.
"Show-off!" yelled Sweetie Belle, finally descending to Diamond Tiara's level.
"Brickhorn!"
"Narcissist!"
"One trick pony!"
"Liar!" With each name called, Sweetie Belle or Diamond Tiara fired off a spell form their horns, incapacitating another of the many monsters that were still rushing into the courtyard. Sweetie Belle pondered this for a moment in a brief respite while her mouth implied Diamond Tiara's mother was a goat. Where were all these monsters coming from, anyway? Then she felt the ground shake, and by pure instinct raised a shield, which blocked most of the rubble form the explosion. She and Diamond Tiara both broke off their argument for a few seconds as they watched a giant monster scrabble and claw its way out of the new hole in the wall.
"What," said Diamond Tiara, while Sweetie Belle just went wide-eyed. The monster was as tall as the castle, and resembled something like Cerberus crossed with that worm that she and Cadence had encountered on their 'adventure' with Discord.
"Diamond Tiara still thinks that whoever this 'Lord Umbra' is, they are definitely compensating for something."
Sweetie Belle's reply was cut off by a garbled scream from a balcony on the opposite side to where the two had burst through the pipe, and both Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara looked up to see a unicorn stallion with a dark pink mane and bright pink coat.
"Why are you two not cowering in terror? This is the most fearsome beast I have, and it will surely be your demise! You will rue the day that you crossed Lord Umbra!"
As the pink Overlord Hopeful finished his declaration, the beast charged. Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara leapt into action, diving to the sides, and summoning the most powerful magic they could muster at the time. A sleep spell and a freeze spell slammed into the three headed worm dog, encasing it in a giant block of ice, and another strangled scream rang out.
"FINE! I shall take care of this MYSELF!" bellowed the stallion, and his horn pulsed a bright, almost painful, pink. Depleted by the high intensity magic use of the fights, neither Diamond Tiara or Sweetie Belle could manage to overcome the rather powerful knock-out spell, and their vision faded to black, the last thing they heard being Lord Umbra's maniacal laughter echoing around the courtyard.
****
Sweetie Belle came to in a dark, dank room, a chain binding to her wall, and her borrowed cloak still around her body, surprisingly. A glance over to her left told Sweetie Belle that Diamond Tiara was in a similar situation, and was awake. Diamond Tiara's eyes were scrunched up, as if the unicorn out of them was trying to summon her magic.
"Diamond Tiara thinks that she may have underestimated Lord Umbra as a threat. He has blocked Diamond Tiara's magic."
Sweetie Belle saw the golden ring sitting around the base of Diamond Tiara's horn, and pointed it out.
"Magic suppressor, Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle, her own hooves going up to feel her horn. "And he's got one on me, too. Well, so much for this plan." Without thinking, Sweetie Belle gave the chain binding her to the wall a magical jerk, and Diamond Tiara's eyes went wide.
"Sparkle. You just did magic. With a magic suppressor on your horn. Perhaps you are not as useless as Diamond Tiara thought...of course!" Diamond Tiara crowed, "with that cloak on, Lord Umbritches didn't know you were an alicorn, and only gave you a suppressor meant for a unicorn. Truly, Diamond Tiara is wise to have thought to disguise you beforehoof."
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. Diamond Tiara was never going to let this go, now.
"Great. Now is there something that we can do to get out of here?"
"Try and remove Diamond Tiara's suppressor." Sweetie Belle's horn sparked to life, though not nearly with as much energy as normal, and a glow appeared around Diamond Tiara's horn ring. After a few minutes, Sweetie Belle gave up.
"I can't remove them. They must be keyed in so that the only way to remove them is to get the pony who put them on to take them off."
Diamond Tiara pouted, but then brightened, and pulled her hat from her head. After fiddling with it for a minute, Diamond Tiara held out a pair of objects.
"Here, Sparkle. Lock picks. Use them to pick the locks on these chains, and then we can see about getting these stupid horn-rings off."
"And you just happened to have them on you, Diamond Tiara?"
"Diamond Tiara believes in being prepared, Sparkle. This is not the first time that Diamond Tiara has been locked up."
"I'll bet it isn't."
"And whose fault is it that we're here in the first place? If your spell hadn't failed," said Diamond Tiara, as Sweetie Belle levitated the set of lock picks and began to use them on Diamond Tiara's chain, "we wouldn't have been captured. Diamond Tiara has to wonder if you have ever not messed up a spell."
"Just because I have more power than you, Diamond Tiara, doesn't automatically mean I have less control over my magic, you know. I've cast plenty of successful spells."
"And yet, all the important ones seem to fail. Diamond Tiara wonders if Sparkle's victories over Diamond Tiara in the two magic duels were simply flukes." By now, Sweetie Belle had managed to unlock Diamond Tiara's chain, and the showmare stood up, getting feeling back into her legs while Sweetie Belle worked on her own chain lock.
Diamond Tiara sat back down, and pushed her hooves up against the magical inhibitor sitting on her horn, trying to push it off.
"I told you, Diamond Tiara, the only way to get them off is to find whoever put them on, and get them to take them off," said Sweetie Belle, her expression brightening as with a click, her own chain was unlocked, and the alicorn moved over rot the door. A few minutes later, and after breaking a lock pick or two on the more complicated door mechanism, Sweetie Belle had unlocked the door to the two's cell, and levitated the lock pick kit back to Diamond Tiara, who simply glared at Sweetie Belle, before sighing.
"You owe Diamond Tiara a new set of lock picks. Now come on, Diamond Tiara wants to get this thing off her horn." The two began to make their way out of the bottom floors of the Fortress of Darkness, with Sweetie Belle taking the lead, much to Diamond Tiara's regret, but Sweetie Belle was the only one out of the two of them with magic right now.
"Bet you're glad for Diamond Tiara's other skills now, aren't you, Sparkle?"
Sweetie Belle paused mid-stride. Diamond Tiara, as annoying as it was, had a point.
"Fine, I'll admit it, it did come in useful. I still think that it's wrong that you did things like that, but it was useful," said Sweetie Belle, as Diamond Tiara celebrated her victory over Sweetie Belle in the verbal war, "But just this once, Diamond Tiara."
Diamond Tiara was too far gone in her elation at having got one over Sweetie Belle to notice the addendum, and was only reigned by Sweetie Belle pulling on her tail, stopping her from walking straight past another of those wolf-griffon monsters.
"Watch it, Diamond Tiara! Neither of us has real access to our magic right now, and I don't want us to get into another fight."
***********
By sneaking around, a few carefully applied sleep spells, some more helpful tips from that Diamond Tiara had picked up at some point in her past, and much more gloating from Diamond Tiara, the two managed to find their way to where Lord Umbra was supposed to be resting. Carefully creaking open the door with her diminished magic, Sweetie Belle's careful entrance was spoiled by Diamond Tiara barging in and calling at the top of her lungs.
"The Great and Injured Diamond Tiara demands that you remove these stupid horn rings so that Diamond Tiara can give you a beating, peon!" Sweetie Belle slapped her hoof over her face.
"Diamond Tiara, you idiot!" said Sweetie Belle, "I was going to put him to sleep while he couldn't see us!"
There was a snap, a sound which Sweetie Belle recognised as a book closing. Moving further into the room, Sweetie Belle saw a pony sitting on the edge of a large, luxurious bed, placing a book down beside him.
"And who are you?" asked Sweetie Belle
"I'm Minion. Chief Minion, Lord Umbra's only pony servant right now. All the others left when they realised what Umbra wanted to do."
"And why should The Great and Injured Diamond Tiara believe anything that you say, Minion? You could be leading us into a trap as we speak."
Minion sighed.
"I want you two to continue on, take down Lord Umbra," here, the pony had to stifle a giggle, but recomposed himself, "I think he's insane, and the only reason I stayed is to try and prevent him from doing too much damage. He's past that point now, so..." the pony moved over to Diamond Tiara first, and with a twist and a pull, removed the magical suppressor form Diamond Tiara's horn. A moment later, he did the same with Sweetie Belle. Both unicorns had their eyes roll back as access to their magic was restored.
"Lord Umbra should be in the summoning room. It's down one floor, and out the back. Stop the idiot, before he summons the whole of Tartarus and destroys us all." Minion began to head out of the room.
"You know, we can't just let you go, Minion. You were partially responsible for this," said Sweetie Belle.
"I know. I'm making the journey to Canterlot, where I'll present everything I know to help get or Umbra locked up. Whatever that means for me, I'll accept." Sweetie Belle appeared satisfied with this, and let the pony head out of the room.
"It appears that Diamond Tiara has helped you understand that not everything is so cut and dried as you believe, Sparkle."
"Shut up, Diamond Tiara. I said it was okay because it got us out of that cell."
And with that, Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara headed out of the self-proclaimed Lord's rooms, and began to head down to the summoning room.
********
Lord Umbra cackled and laughed as the final pieces were set in place for the summoning. Soon, all of his desires would be made real, and Equestria would be his! As the short pony scuttled about the large summoning room making the final preparations, the glyph on the floor glowing an ominous red, he wondered what his first decree would be.
"Maybe that everypony should only eat asparagus for lunch? Or perhaps that each town must have a temple to me? So many choices," muttered the unicorn to himself, "Or maybe both? Or maybe a temple to asparagus...yes. They can eat asparagus and proclaim their love for me, their Overlord."
Lord Umbra, soon to be Overlord of All Equestria, was brought out of his plotting by a pair of voices ringing down the corridor.
"For the last time, Diamond Tiara, I read Starswirl's unfinished Spell, it switched my friend's cutie marks around, we sang some songs, I fixed the problem, and then I had these."
"Diamond Tiara still thinks that it is a massive conspiracy to deny Diamond Tiara's Greatness and Powerfulness. And Diamond Tiara still thinks that you looked ridiculous in that coronation dress."
"There's no convincing you, is there?"
"No, Diamond Tiara understands what you are saying. Diamond Tiara is simply disagreeing with you on principle, Sparkle."
"Ugh!"
"Oh look, Diamond Tiara believes that we are here."
"The giant ominous doors didn't tip you off?"
How? How had those two unicorns escaped? Lord Umbra paced around the room. He was sure that Minion had chained them both up, and put the power limiters on their horns. The pony had said so himself. Unless...Yes, Minion must have betrayed him! He would have to be dealt with first, when Lord Umbra, future ruler of Equestria, finally assumed power with his Army of Shadows.
*************
Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara lowered their horns at the giant doors to the Summoning room, and with twin blasts, blew them open, or in Sweetie Belle's case, off their hinges.
"Stupid Sparkle," muttered Diamond Tiara, as the two mares walked into the large space, and finally confronted Lord Umbra.
"Snrk..." went Diamond Tiara, and Sweetie Belle raised a hoof to her mouth to try and stop the oncoming laughter.
"Lord...Umbra?" Sweetie Belle said, while Diamond Tiara stuffed her hoof in her mouth.
"Yes!" cried the small pony, "It is I the future Evil Overlord of Equestria. Feel my power, quake before my might, and beg for my mercy, you poor mares. If you beg hard enough, I may just spare you a painful demise in penance for your actions today!"
Diamond Tiara and Sweetie Belle couldn't hold it back any longer, and let loose, falling onto the floor and roaring with laughter.
"This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. He's more pathetic than you were, Diamond Tiara!" said Sweetie Belle, once she could speak again.
"Diamond Tiara resents that. Diamond Tiara was a formidable foe to Sparkle."
"Diamond Tiara, the only thing I took away from our first encounter was that I don't need to be ashamed of my natural talents."
"Diamond Tiara resents being used as a friendship lesson."
A wave of power blasted out from the furious aspiring overlord, blowing both Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara's capes from their backs.
One the rush of power had ceased, Sweetie Belle spread her wings, and opened her eyes, revealing that they were once more glowing with pure power. Diamond Tiara, likewise, was demonstrating a similarly impressive display, though without the wings, and Lord Umbra's eyes widened when he realised exactly who and what he was dealing with. A pink and purple beam of magic slammed into the unicorn, pushing him back up against the wall, knocking him through it, and into the blissful land of unconciousness.
Sweetie Belle then turned her attentions to the inscribed and still glowing runic pattern on the floor. After a few moments of study, another beam lanced from her horn, and smashed the centre of the glyph, throwing the carefully modulated energies off, and destroying the budding portal before it could ever truly open. This also resulted in a large explosion. Diamond Tiara acted first, magically grabbing Lord Umbra with her telekinesis, and bolting form the room.
"Sparkle, we need to go!"
"Right!"
******
Diamond Tiara, Sweetie Belle and the unconscious Lord Umbra lay on the road leading to the Fortress of Darkness.
"See?" said Sweetie Belle, "I told you that the castle was strong enough to withstand a blast like that. There was no need to rush, Diamond Tiara." The castle chose that moment to collapse into a heap of rubble, leaving only a smoking pile, and Diamond Tiara's smirk.
"Shut up, Diamond Tiara," said Sweetie Belle, pointing a hoof at Diamond Tiara.
"Diamond Tiara didn't say anything, Sparkle," said Diamond Tiara, still smiling.
"Don't care. Shut up. Let's just...get this guy to Canterlot, shall we?"
"Yes, your highnessness," Diamond Tiara smiled, and magically grabbed Lord Umbra, and beginning the walk back to Canterlot. "By the way, Diamond Tiara still thinks that Starswirl is overrated."
"Diamond Tiara, half the spells you use everyday were devised and developed by Starswirl. Look..."
***********************
Rarity heard them coming long before she saw them. It was practically impossible to not hear them, really. Not with how increasingly frustrated Sweetie Belle was getting, as well as the rising tones of Diamond Tiara's voice.
"Diamond Tiara, I'm an alicorn. Any magical duel I basically automatically win. I'm not trying to belittle your skill, it's just that I have a huge natural advantage over anypony else."
Their voices were also getting scratchy, Rarity noted. It had been nearly a week since Diamond Tiara had tackled Sweetie Belle that one morning. Had they been arguing for that long?
"That's why Diamond Tiara needs to be an alicorn. Then it will be fair."
"Diamond Tiara, I can't just make somepony an alicorn. I don't even know how I became one, beyond the power of Friendship."
"Then ask Celestia. Or Luna."
"Can't you just accept the fact that while you're a good magician, I'm just more naturally talented at it?"
"No, Diamond Tiara cannot. You are Diamond Tiara's archnemesis, and Diamond Tiara demands a fair rematch."
Rarity could practically hear the eye roll from Sweetie Belle as her friend and the self-declared rival crested the hill.
'By Celestia, they look tired,' Thought Rarity, as Sweetie Belle stepped in front of Diamond Tiara and faced the unicorn. Sweetie Belle and Diamond Tiara both looked dead on their hooves, their coats and manes bedraggled and covered with dust and dirt.
"Okay, Diamond Tiara. This is it. I'm home. You didn't need to follow me all the way here, you know. You could have left anytime."
"Diamond Tiara needed to make her point about that rematch. She has made it. Diamond Tiara will be back, Sparkle."
"I'm sure you will be," said Sweetie Belle, and the two stared at each other for a while, before Diamond Tiara broke eye contact first. She turned away with a flourish, and headed for the train station, her cape swirling around her. Sweetie Belle sighed as Diamond Tiara walked away, and was immediately set upon by Rarity.
"Oh, it is such a relief to have you back, Sweetie Belle!" gushed Rarity, as she pushed the women towards the Spa, "You must simply tell me all about why Diamond Tiara all but kidnapped you."
"Well, okay..." said Sweetie Belle, casting one final glance over her shoulder at Diamond Tiara's retreating form. Diamond Tiara turned back, and gave one final wave to Sweetie Belle, and Sweetie Belle could have sworn that Diamond Tiara mouthed 'That was fun. Let's do it again sometime.'
Sweetie Belle managed a wave back of her own before Rarity shoved her into the Chicago Spa, and into the tender hooves of Aloe and Lotus.