Grow up, Diamond Tiara!
“But daddddy-”
“No ‘buts’, Diamond Tiara!” Filthy Rich said sternly. “You’re not a school filly anymore. It’s time for you to go into the real world! Be thankful I’m giving you a secretary job and not something worse. And if you fail to show up on Monday, then I would be forced to kick you out of this house!”
Diamond Tiara, now 24 year of age, grumbled to herself as she wondered the streets of Ponyville. After returning home for her usual morning spa visit, she meant her father where he informed her that she was going to be working as a secretary at Barnyard Bargains with no questions asked. That didn’t sit well with the pampered pony, and she had gotten into a fight with father, ending with her storming out of her house.
“What’s daddy’s problem?” the pale magenta pony grumbled angrily. “I only been out of school for 12 years, can’t I live a little?”
The spoiled rich girl stopped when she saw that she was near the market place, namely an opened stand that sold mirrors. She walked up to the stand and looked in a heart-shaped vanity mirror.
Expect for the obvious height she had gained in the last few years, Diamond Tiara hasn’t changed much since her school days. She still wore her mane in that same style she wore it in since she was a filly. She also has on the tiara she had since she was a little girl. About the only difference that any pony could see was the necklace, matching her tiara coloring, with costume jewelry on it, and an overload of make-up on her face.
She smiled at her own reflection, feeling like there was nothing wrong with her, and walked away, oblivious to the glare she was getting from the stand worker. Diamond wondered the market place, looking for a news stand so she could buy her favorite magazine, Gabby Gums, a gossip magazine she had personally funded after leaving school.
Diamond was close to the news stand when she saw a certain pony walking. She smiled as she waved to her friend. “Oh, Silver Spoon! Over here!”
The gray earth mare looked to her right, and put on a (forced) smile as she waved back to the other mare. Diamond trotted up to her friend, a snobby smile on her face.
Though Diamond failed to see it, her friend had changed quite a bit. Silver no longer wore glasses and her mane was much shorter then when she was a filly. The mane was also hidden by a red bandana, and she has exchanged her necklace for a pair of safety goggles that hanged from her neck. Finally, she wore a saddle pouch with numerous tools in it.
Diamond reached her friend and her smile suddenly vanished when she realized Silver Spoon was in the company of one of her least favorite ponies. It was none other then Sweetie Belle, and like Silver Spoon, Diamond failed to notice the changes that had occurred to her schoolyard foe.
Sweetie Belle’s mane was slightly longer then when she was a filly, only now wasn’t curled like before. Instead it was straighter with a large section curling around her face, and partially hiding her right eye. She also wore a gold necklace with a phoenix stone, the rarest gem in all of Equestria, embedded in the center of the necklace. She also had a pair of saddlebags, simple in design, on her back.
Finally, there was the pony’s cutie mark, which was weird (To Diamond Tiara). It was a pink musical note, inside of a transparent head-like design. Diamond snickered under her breath at the cutie mark, finding it ridiculous, and failing to the notice the glare sent her way by her supposed friend.
“Listen SS, I should be going. I promise I would help the magic teacher at the Twilight Time Center, and I don’t want to be late,” Sweetie commented calmly and kindly.
Silver just nodded kindly and took a couple of steps back as Sweetie activated her magic, taking off both her bag and necklace in one go. She placed the necklace in the bag and set the bag beside her. The white unicorn suddenly changed, transforming into a robot-like creature on two feet, and then into a strange chariot form. Diamond didn’t even pay attention to the strangest, as the transformed pony magically put her bags onto her being and sped away, leaving a small cloud of dust in her wake.
“UHG, why do you hang out with such a freak, Silver?” Diamond asked in a snobby tone, but quickly changed the subject before the earth pony could respond, “I had a rough morning, so let go get the latest Gabby Gums!”
Silver sighs and looked at her friend seriously. “Sorry, Diamond, but I have a large order that needs filling, and with Rumble out of town-”
Diamond began to pretend to gag, rudely interrupting her friend. Silver just watched friend theatrics with a lazy eye. “What do you see in that freak?” Diamond asked in snobby tone. “He’s just worthiness and you can do some much better. Now, come on, let’s go.”
The snob began walking into the market, blissfully unaware that her friend wasn’t following her. She got about 15 steps ahead when she finally realized that somepony was missing. She grunted angrily and turned around. Silver hadn’t moved from her sport, and that made Diamond angrier. She began to tip her hoof impatiently. When that didn’t work, she stormed up to Silver, ready chew her ear out.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Silver suddenly said, catching her friend by surprise.
“Can’t do what? Diamond demanded slightly.
“I can’t continue to cater to your fantasies,” Silver sharply said, causing Diamond to glare at her. The gray mare saw that her friend was about to speak, and beat her to the punch. “In case you haven’t noticed I have a job now! A job, I would like to point out, that you nearly ruin because I have to drop everything I was doing because you couldn’t afford a ticket to Manehatten so you could get your stupid magazine, which I would to add isn‘t even sold here anymore! If it wasn’t for Rumble, I would have lost one of my company’s oldest clients!”
“You done?” Diamond asked offhandedly, clearly not hearing half what her friend just said.
“Good-bye, Diamond Tiara,” Silver said flatly, clearly irritated by her friend’s behavior.
The gray earth pony then walked away before her ex-best friend could say anything. Diamond watched her friend walk away, feeling more irritated then shocked. She just turned up her nose and began to walk, no real goal in mind.
“What’s her problem?” she asked angrily after a short time of aimless walking. “It’s not like I asked her to drop anything that was really important?”
“If you asked me, it’s you who has the problem,” A voice said offhandedly.
Diamond looked to her right and groan when she saw that had somehow wondered to the stand run by her most hated ponies in town. That would be the Apples, and the pony who just spoke wasn’t even a pony, but some sort of weird robot thing. Diamond, however, didn’t care what the thing looked like, but wouldn’t let its words go unchallenged.
“And just who do you think you’re talking to?” the snob pony asked commandingly.
The robot named Steel Hooves just shrug and went about setting on the stand. “I think the question here, is who do you think you are?” the robot calmly asked as he continue to set up his stand.
“Ha! That’s easy!” Diamond said confidently. “I’m the princess of Ponyville!”
Steel finished setting up the stand and looked at Diamond curiously. Diamond, for her part remained rather confident in her word. Steel just sigh after a minute of stare down and transformed into his pony form, to the unimpressed pony in front of him. She didn’t even bother to take in the pony’s appearance, thinking it was a waste of her time.
The now transformed pony then took an apple from the stand, and said, “If there’s a royalty for Ponyville, I would have to say it’s…the Apple family, and I don’t just say that because I’m part of that great family.”
It was clear that Diamond didn’t like that answer, as she glared at the hybrid pony. Steel didn’t even flinch as he took a bit from his apple, chewing on it slowly just to annoy the overgrown filly in front of him. He swallowed the chucks on food and began to tip his chin in thoughts.
“Well, let looks at the facts. While the town may recognized Princess Twilight Sparkle as their official princess, if it wasn’t for the Apples we wouldn’t have a Ponyville, and while we can’t forget the things Princess Twilight have given use, like the Twilight Time Centers all throughout Equestria, we can’t deny the simple facts, either,” Steel explained calmly.
“Ha, right!” Diamond exclaimed confidently. “It was my family that started Ponyville. So there!”
Steel just rolled his eyes as the immature mare stuck her tongue out at him. He finished off the apple and threw away the core, without taking his eyes off the pony who was smiling smugly.
“And no pony is denying your family part in helping to make Ponyville what it is today, but without Granny Smith, rest her soul, and her zap apple jam, then your family would have nothing special to sell, and you probably wouldn’t have what you have today,” Steel said calmly.
“What do you mean?” Diamond snapped sharply.
Steel just sigh and went behind the stand, and began to put on an apron. “Can you just think about what would happen if Granny Smith never discovered the Zap Apples trees in the first place? Where do you think you’re family would be then?” Steel asked curiously.
Diamond opened her mouth to respond, only to freeze when she realized she didn’t have anything for a come back. Steel, despite knowing better, couldn’t help but smile a little, as he finally said something that the immature mare couldn’t turn around on him.
“And just between you and me, you’re family isn’t all that impressive,” Steel said a little smugly.
That snapped Diamond out of her stupor and she sent a glare at the hybrid pony. Again, it didn’t scare Steel. He decided to say something before the immature mare could say anything else.
“Well, I remember one of my trips to Manehatten, and meetings with several well-off ponies,” Steel said, the smugness in his voice gone. “It was boring, but I did learn that ponies I meant made a sizable income, some that easily rivaled your father’s own company.”
“If you have something to say to me, you stupid freak, say it!” Diamond snapped angrily.
Steel looked at the pony front of him, his face completely devoid of emotions and when he spoke his voice was eerily calm, “What I’m trying to say, Diamond Tiara, is that you’re a filly who never grew into a mare, and you only have yourself to blame.”
Diamond stared at the pony’s face, feeling fear…for about a second. She composed herself quickly and turned her nose up at the freak of a pony.
“Whatever...” was the immature mare only response as she turned around and began to walk away.
Steel watch as the filly who never grew into a mare walked like she was the queen of the universe, and couldn’t help but feel a bit of sympathy for her. He knew that the filly was about to be in a world of hurt, and every time some pony tried to help her she snubbed them and acted like everything was fine.
“Poor filly, she’s about to enter a world she could never hope to live in,” Steel said with pity, and went about doing something stuff with the stand.
Author's Note
This was susposted to be a stand alone story, when I first starting thinking it up, but I wanted a pony to put DT in her place, and felt that no pony from the show would do something like that, so I twiched the story and made it put of my CMCT idea.