Luna and the Dreamscape - Episode 4: Filthy Rich

[Bellosh]

All the things Filthy Rich heard were all too outlandish to believe! Was it actually be possible that wealth could corrupt Diamond Tiara to such a monstrous degree when she grew up? And apparently, all of this was possible because Mr. Rich thought giving his daughter control of Barnyard Bargains would be a parenting shortcut? Granted, the thought of passing down the store to Diamond occurred rather frequently, seeing how Filthy technically inherited the family business from his grandfather Stinkin’ Rich. Regardless, something felt extremely wrong about this scenario.

After a moment of confused pondering, Mr. Rich pointed a hoof at Princess Luna, ignoring the need to answer Diamond Tiara. “You!” the stallion stared down the alicorn, or tried to anyway even as his voice wavered; “This is not... what actually will happen in the future, is it? What I’m seeing is just... one of the more extreme possibilities. One with little chance of actually happening, right?” If Luna could assert even a probable likelihood of this future occurring, Filthy dreaded seeing how the rest of Ponyville would transform under the rule of its Queen. As Mr. Rich fretted over the possibilities, he stole a glimpse at Diamond Tiara, and grimaced. No daughter of his ought to turn out like that.....

[RarityDash]

Queen Diamond stood as her father looked at her. She adjusted her tiara, the same one she had always worn and trotted toward him as he spoke with a pony who appeared indistinct to her.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" she asked, looking genuinely confused by the things he was saying. "Aren't you proud of me?"

She smiled a familiar smile at him while looking him in the eyes. "You took the shop your grandfather gave you and built out of it a business empire to be proud of. I only took what you gave me and took things to yet another level. Aren't you happy with all that I've accomplished? Aren't you pleased with all the money I've made?"

"I was following your example the whole time..." she added in a soft voice as she stared at him.

​

[Hippo]

As Filthy fell a gasped, Luna started browsing the buffet table the Queen's servants had laid out. Oh! Look, they have the little grape-sized tomatoes. Luna loved those. Too bad it was only a dream. Luna shrugged and grabbed a few with a toothpick using her magic. After a bite, Filthy asked his fervency. And in response, Luna wouldn't want to beat around the bush, but she had pretty much said all she had planned to up to this point. Everything else would be an extra opportunity to illustrate using the dreamscape as a tool. "What do you mean? You don't like this setup? Your daughter is a Queen. Isn't it every pony's wish and dream to see their kids succeed?" Luna asked back with a slightly unforgiving tone. Though her intention was to only visualize, her actions appeared misplaced. And with Diamond even asking her dad questions of her own, Luna would only wave a hoof forward at him to encourage him to respond, all while she enjoyed her second grape tomato, courtesy of the dreamscape.

​

[Bellosh]

With prompting from Princess Luna, Filthy Rich strove to formulate a response to dream Tiara’s claims. “Didn’t I teach you that getting richer isn’t the most important thing in the world?” the stallion reminded the young mare, no longer sounding so unsure, but not yet his typical assertive self; “What about exhibiting modesty? Or giving back to your entire community? What have you uhhh... done exactly to make Ponyville a better place for everypony, by the way? Surely you save enough of your vast wealth for noble uses, like what your father would do?” In an attempt to give his daughter the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Rich flashed a hopeful smile in Diamond’s direction. Maybe this nightmare daughter possessed a selflessness streak in her somewhere, and didn’t just sat around her palace all day like a spoiled Earth Pony Queen.

[RarityDash]

“Didn’t I teach you that getting richer isn’t the most important thing in the world? What about exhibiting modesty? Or giving back to your entire community? What have you uhhh... done exactly to make Ponyville a better place for everypony, by the way? Surely you save enough of your vast wealth for noble uses, like what your father would do?”

"Oh, Daddy, of course I give back to the community!" Diamond Tiara said with an affected giggle. "I give them the very best thing they could ever hope for, me!"

The Queen of Ponyville flipped back her luxurious mane and gave a little sigh. "They give to me and I give me to them. My beauty, my charm, my radiance. They are graced with the reward of being able to bask in it all! Whatever did you think I had all the beautiful statues of me around town constructed for?"

"You see, Daddy, you're right. Money isn't the most important thing. It's truly never been about the money. Money is just a means to an end. Power is the truly important thing. With power, one's whim becomes law. Hearts are changed. Minds are influenced. A queen, perhaps even a goddess is born!" Diamond continued with a high laugh. "A tiara, a crown, the cute little symbol that appeared on my flank when you bought be that cute little trinket In Canterlot which I've long since replaced with something far more golden and shimmering--it's a symbol of regality, of the privilege I posses over the common and lowly sorts who crowd around on the stream. I was born for this, you see. It was always my destiny to rule. All you did was give me the tools to claim what was always meant to be mine."

More laughter left the mare's mouth as it formed a twisted grin.

​

[Hippo]

Luna was even shocked at the dialog. She wondered how this may have compared to some of the moments she has forgotten of her time possessed by the nightmare. A truly evil speech indeed. Luna's eyes jumped from side to side, hinting at the absurdity that was Filthy's dream daughter. But instead of saying anything that could really counter it, she figured the silence from her and a reaction from Filthy might be enough to illustrate in this messed up dreamscape exactly how wrong it really was. So she took another grape tomato and bit into it.

​

[Bellosh]

This was truly madness! Diamond Tiara’s monologuing dreck could have just as easily out of the vile mouth of Nightmare Moon herself! Nothing about this villainous mayor reminded Filthy Rich of the wonderful (if sometimes frustrating) daughter that he knew and loved. Seeing Diamond grow up into just another snobbish member of the Equestrian elite would have been regrettable to be sure, but the horror of a power-hungry narcissistic mare proved even worse to bear. What really got on Mr. Rich’s nerves was the mare’s laughter, triggering a sort of intense anger that could only arise within Filthy when witnessing a grave moral wrongdoing.

That anger boiled over when dream Tiara ended her monologue with twisted crackling. “THAT’S ENOUGH!!!” Filthy Rich stomped his hoof down, letting his livid disapproval for his nightmare daughter appear on his face for all to see; "Nopony should EVER think of themselves as higher than anypony else! I’m not going to make all the effort in the world to help nurture you just so you can turn into a heartless monster! There’s nothing remotely satisfying about, ugggh, gaining absolute power over everyone... absolutely nothing. .....And I’ll have to be locked up in Tartarus before letting you grow up as well... this."

Filthy Rich was panting by the time he concluded his own monologue, marveling on how he got as worked up as he did just now.

[RarityDash]

At Filthy's fiercely delivered words a sound like thunder resonated in the distance and then the room began to change. The various ponies in maid uniforms began to fade to nothing as everything melted back into the proper shape of Ponyville town hall. Queen Diamond herself began to change as well. She slowly shrank as her age regressed all the way back until she was no older than the real Diamond Tiara was. Standing there in the sparse hall, completely empty save for the two of them and Luna, the small filly looked up at her father.

"Your words hold conviction, daddy, but do you really think they can change me? Do you think I'll become something different just because you want me to?" she asked in an intense voice, rife with anger. "Are you sure you even understand the pony that I am and the things that I need?"

A few tears entered her little eyes as she looked downward suddenly. "I want to please you... I really do... but I'm not you, you know...? And I don't think I ever will be..." she said in almost a whisper, the dream words holding something strangely genuine in them.

​

[Hippo]

And there it was. The nightmare reaction Luna was waiting for. Some ponies were a lot stronger willed than others. And some ponies have nightmares that really would only constitute as a minor inconvenience if it were a waking reality. Regardless, Luna decided that since Filthy's emotion was starting to exhaust, it might be best to end it while it is still fresh in his half-turned on pony mind.

Although, dream Diamond Tiara sure did seem talkative, and wanting to defend herself. It was a pretty impressive dreamscape projection if Luna could say so. But instead, she felt it necessary to disregard it altogether. She stopped her hoof, and Diamond and all of the throne room workings and slave ponies disappeared, like a pull down spring rolling presentation being sprung back into its little casing.

They were back in the middle of the desert. Or maybe they never left. "I see you have seen a little more with what might happen to Diamond Tiara. However, I wish you to understand this is not a lesson but a foretelling. Canterlot would not treat Ponyville with such neglect by empowering such a circumstance. But at the same time, there is a point in which you will have to come to terms as a father and realize your daughter is her own pony, and will eventually make her own decisions that no one but her will be able to reap the benefits," Luna paused. "Or the consequences." Luna jumped towards Filthy and lowered her head to him. "Make sure you do what you can to show your little girl the proper way. But when time runs out, and she is grown, there is not much else you can do." A little bleak lesson Luna did not like to give, but true nonetheless. This kind of dream was not always meant to be a pleasant one, but she is confident the stallion will find safety when he wakes. For life is but a moment, and these dreams the only break from reality a pony gets.

Princess Luna waved a quick goodbye and flew away into the distance, seemingly leaving Filthy in the arid imaginary sun to die of thirst. But then, about a minute later, the entire desert floor disappeared, and Filthy was met underneath with a vastly wide inescapable void.

​

[Bellosh]

Things started getting fuzzy within Filthy Rich’s dream right after his emotional outburst. But even as Town Hall reverted back to a desert, and Princess Luna imparted the moral of her vision just before letting the desert dissolve into a void, the one thing that ate at Filthy’s mind were those last words spoken by the illusionary Diamond Tiara. True, Luna correctly asserted that it was up to Mr. Rich to guide his daughter towards the correct path.

And yet... what does it really mean to guide one’s child? Did a parent have an ultimate responsibility only to ensure that their offspring doesn’t turn out a failure, or did that ultimate responsibility entitle something more? How is failure even defined for this question? Failure to meet expectations? Failure to develop a proper code to live by? Failure to avoid hardship? If merely preventing a child’s failure in life isn’t enough, is it the job of a parent to mold their son or daughter into a reflection of themself? That the offspring adopt the same virtues cherished by their elders? What is to be done if the child rejects a parent’s values?

These questions dwelled in the stallion’s mind as he became aware of a soft familiar sensation enveloping him. That meant he was becoming aware of the waking world again, and that he was starting to wake up. The Moon Princess made her suggested course of action clear: that Filthy Rich stop enabling Diamond Tiara’s undesirable traits and do everything it took so that the filly grows up a model pony of Equestria. That however didn’t stop his mind from repeating the words uttered by the imaginary Diamond, wondering what they meant.

"I want to please you... I really do... but I'm not you, you know...? And I don't think I ever will be..."

*THE END*