“All hail Princess Tiara!”
Diamond Tiara smirked at the ponies whom she had commanded to praise her, standing above all the other foals in the playground. They all looked up to her where she stood, on top of the slide. She was above them all, and so she had claimed the slide as a sort of castle or throne. With the idea of being on a throne, it was obvious that her cutie mark obviously meant that she was born to be a princess. After all, what else could it mean?
Little foals gathered around the slide, most of them sighing. They all wanted to slide down the slide and have fun with their friends – Not pretend the slide was some sort of power throne for the school house bully. Feather Weight, on the other hoof, stared rather blatantly at the ‘princess’. It didn’t take long for Tiara to notice. “You there, peasant! What are you staring at?”
Feather jumped, fluttering his wings as he realized he was being called out. “O-Oh, u-um…”
Silver Spoon nudged Feather towards the base of the slide, keeping ground control for Diamond. After all, there was only room for one princess on the ‘throne’. “Speak up, peasant!”
“W-well,” Feather stuttered out, “I was just thinking-“
“Did I give you permission to think, knave?!” Tiara huffed angrily, stomping her hoof down. “I ought to throw you in the dungeon for this!” She ignored the whispered mutterings of the foals around her about how they didn’t think the school had a dungeon. She glared at Feather. “I’ll give you one more chance, because I am a kind and loving princess.”
“Yeah right,” a few kids said to themselves.
“Well,” Feather said hesitantly, “I’m just not so sure… Well, I’m not sure you’re supposed to be a princess.”
Diamond was speechless. Her? Not be a princess? How could he even suggest that?! “I’ll give you one more chance, your last one, because I’m almost certain you have to be out of your mind to believe such a thing! How could ANYPONY THINK that I’m not a princess?!”
Feather weight glanced around. The playground had gotten rather quiet. Word had spread among the foals that Feather Weight, the shyest of all of them gathered, was actually standing up to Diamond Tiara! They all watched in anticipation, some even making bets of who would win – Most of which bets were on the side of Tiara.
He took a deep breath, looking Tiara in the eyes seriously. “Well, look at the facts. You’re not an alicorn, for one.”
The foals gathered nodded in agreement. Tiara rolled her eyes. “Well, Twilight Sparkle wasn’t an alicorn to start with either!”
“But Twilight at least had a horn.” Her eyes widened. “Even Cadence had only a horn, before she learned what love truly meant. You, on the other hoof, don’t have anything but a tiara.”
“Y-You’re just making this up,” Diamond said. “I can easily become an alicorn, just you wait!”
“Well, that’s only one of the problems.” Feather was on a roll now, smiling as he worked out the logical maps in his mind. “You’d also have to be the princess of SOMETHING. Twilight is the princess of friendship, Cadence is the princess of love, Celestia is the sun princess, and Luna is the moon princess. You can’t just be a princess for the sake of being one. There has to be some sort of deep reason behind it all!”
The wind blew around the playground as they all thought over his small speech in silence. Birds chirped, and there was a storm being formed in the sky above. Diamond Tiara was, once again, speechless. “M-My cutie mark-“
“How DID you get your cutie mark,” Snips spoke up, standing next to Feather. “I mean, we’ve never actually really figured out what your cutie mark means.”
“Yeah,” Snails called out. “What’s it mean, Diamond?”
Diamond Tiara looked at the rapidly shifting tide in the crowd. She wasn’t used to this. Ponies all feared her, not turned against her. Why was this happening all of a sudden? She scrambled to think back to when she had gotten her cutie mark. She had gotten her great great grandmother’s tiara, and when she had blown some of the dust off of it and put it on her head, her cutie mark appeared. That meant she was destined to wear the tiara, right? I mean, her cutie mark matched it perfectly.
“Well, Tiara?”
She turned back to the gathered foals. “I-It was my great great grandmothers, s-she must’ve been a royal or something!”
“Well…” Diamond Tiara and everypony gathered turned to look at none other than Silver Spoon. She was smiling brightly, unsuspecting anything amiss. After all, this was the great Diamond Tiara, the one who had befriended her when nopony else here would. She had to like her, at least a little. “Why not ask your dad? He’s the one who gave it to you.”
“Yeah, Diamond, ask your dad!”
“Go ask him! Get the story!”
“We’ll be waiting here tomorrow!”
Cheerilee came out and told everypony to come back inside. Diamond slid down the slide, her face a mask of happiness, but inside, turmoil reigned. Would her father tell her good news, or bad news? What was her true meaning of being here? What if… she wasn’t anything special?
*~*~*~*~
“Hmm,” Filthy Rich said, a pipe in his mouth and a book open before him. “You want to know where the tiara came from?”
Diamond nodded. “Please, daddy? I really want to know what my cutie mark means, and it matches my tiara…”
Filthy closed the book, putting it on the desk. “Very well… Sit on down, and I’ll tell you.” Diamond did as her father asked, worried beyond belief for the story coming. Was she really special? Was all of this just a foalish little fantasy??
“It all began back before Ponyville really began. In Canterlot, your great great grandmother, Gold Dust, used to work in the castle.” Tiara smiled. Surely, if she worked in the castle with such a name, she had to be highborn. “She was very close to Celestia, as I remember.”
“Close enough to have a high rank, daddy?” Diamond smiled brightly.
“Oh, not at all, Diamond.” Her smile shattered along with her hope. “She was just a servant, a duster.”
Diamond bit her lip very lightly and nodded. Her father didn’t notice. “See, she had learned she was very good at cleaning. She had started dusting off some of the old armor plates in the armory at a young age, and one day had wandered into the princess’s chambers and started dusting the crown and tiara. Just like that, her cutie mark appeared. She collected a few tiaras that she dusted and shined. That tiara of yours was one of hers. My mother told me that story plenty of times, often telling me that it was how it all started out – from hard, unwanted work. It’s how I have my barnyard bargains now!” Her grinned brightly.
“T-thanks for the story daddy.” Diamond stood quickly. “I-I have a bit of homework I forgot about, I should go do that.”
“Alright, Tia. Make sure you do it good! After all, hard work is how it all started.” Diamond ignored him, running out of the room to her own. They lived in a bigger house, with a bigger yard, bigger and better everything. It was a bit of a run, honestly, but she went as fast as her little hooves could carry her – She knew her father always hated to see her cry.
*~*~*~
Diamond Tiara bravely stepped hoof onto the playground. She knew everypony in the class had been staring at her the whole time, ever since she had walked in that morning. Some watched her, trying to see if she was shook up, or if she was just her usual self. Those who looked hard enough saw that she was quite different. Her insults didn’t hold their usual edge, like that of a knife, and her eyes lacked that malicious glare. But there was one thing nopony missed – Tiara had left her namesake at home.
She quickly looked around the playground. Nopony was outside yet. She had gotten out as fast as she could. With a deep breath, she made a mad dash to the back of the school. Children flodded out of the building behind her, but not one saw her run.
She sank down against the back of the school, sighing in relief. She couldn’t face them – She was just a cleaning mare. Nothing more, nothing less. She didn’t deserve that tiara in her room. She didn’t deserve to think of herself as better than these ponies. In fact, she didn’t deserve to think herself as anything but pitiful, at this point. She was absolutely nothing special. She deserved to just be alone for the rest of her life.
“Tia?” She jumped as Silver Spoon came up to her.
“H-How did you know I was back here,” she said timidly, surprised to be so scared of her own friend. She stood quickly, angry. “I-If you tell anypony I’m here-“
“But why are you back here? Everypony is waiting for you to get on your throne.”
Throne. That word felt like a dagger in her back. Suddenly, Diamond began to cry. She just bawled, her friend watching her in shock. She stumbled over her words, trying to explain everything to her friend, but mostly making small noises and sobs. “I-I-I asked d-daddy about w-who used to own the tiara, a-and he t-told me h-how my g-g-great great g-grandmother u-used to be a cleaning l-lady, a-and s-she learned it by dusting t-tiaras! I-I’m doomed, S-silver, I-I’m doomed to be a peasant the rest o-of my life, a-and everypony here w-who I’ve ever mistreated will s-see me as DIRT.”
She gasped as she was grabbed and brought into a tight hug. “Don’t you dare say those things about yourself,” Silver said. “Just listen to how you sound, right now.”
Tia sniffed, calming down slightly. She realized that she was stuffed up, and her eyes must be puffy and red. She sounded like a little filly throwing a tantrum – but it wasn’t quite her usual one, she realized. She threw many a tantrum, but now she realized she wasn’t worried about her future – she was worried how everypony would treat her after… well, after everything. “S-silver, h-how could you like a p-peasant like me? I-I’m nothing compared to who I thought I was…”
“And that matters?” Silver sat down, holding her friend’s hoof. “You said she learned her talent was dusting, right? And she learned that through dusting?” Tia nodded, sniffing. “Well then, she had a very important job. Dusting needs to happen too, you know?”
“Y-You’re just trying to make me feel better…”
“Isn’t that what friends are supposed to do?” Silver sighed, looking at her friend. Diamond could tell she was concerned, and she had to smile at that. Her friend actually cared. “I’ll tell you a secret, Diamond. My cutie mark? It’s not saying that I’m a good provider, giving away life on a silver spoon. I like to collect antiques. They interest me. It’s my talent.”
Diamond couldn’t believe it. “Really? Just… collecting things?” She brushed the few remaining tears from her eyes.
“Yep. At first, I was really surprised. I hated it for awhile, but I grew to love it – It was something I love doing, after all.”
“I hate dusting, though…”
“Think of it like this, Tiara. Do you know how Diamonds are made?” Thinking about it, Tia realized she didn’t. She shook her head softly. “Well, Diamonds are made from stuff like carbon, or coal. See, when a lot of pressure is placed on carbon, it starts to push itself inward. Then, all of that carbon in one place melds together under heat and pressure, forming a diamond.”
“H-How does that help?...”
“Well, your name is Diamond, isn’t it? What if this is when you shine the brightest – when you’re put under all this pressure?”
Diamond’s eyes widened. Her friend simply smiled at her and patted her hoof. Suddenly, the world didn’t seem nearly as bad. Her friend was there, and always would be to help her out. “M-my time to shine?... I-I’m nothing special, really…”
“You befriended that weird girl who likes antiques.” Silver hugged her tightly, smiling. “You’re more special to me than even the highest up princess.”
Diamond hugged her friend back tightly, for once feeling like she wasn’t just faking affection as a princess might. She hugged her friend, and sweet Celestia, did she like it. “Come on,” Tia said, smiling. “Let’s go tell the others who I really am.”
And so, the two friends walked onto the playground, both smiling. One smiled at her friend, knowing she had just helped her out of a troubling situation, and feeling better for it. The other stood, proud, not of her high rank, but of her low one. She held her head high, knowing that even if she was meant for dust…
Diamonds always shined the brightest right after becoming special.
Author's Note
One-Shot
