A Diamond in the Rough

Chapter introduction ‘Wandering and Alone’

A Diamond Tiara in the Vogonverse

She looked around herself for a moment, and everywhere she looked everything pointed to the same thing. It pointed to the fact that something was most certainly wrong. It wasn’t wrong like how she had been put into a class with a bunch of common ponies. No, this was more than it. It just wasn't right. This couldn't be right. This wasn't Ponyville, and she had no clue what was going on, but this wasn't right. Diamond Tiara walked forward with her shimmering dress, the tiara she shared her namesake with, and a feeling of massive anxiety. She breathed out. Somepony would help. They had to.

"What the fuck is that man?!" a voice shouted.

Her ears, which had been turning in various directions in the hope of hearing a familiar voice straightened. She turned toward the voice and saw a small red ember of light in the darkness. That ember moved, as if it was being held in place by an unseen force. She watched it bob, nearly in place for a few moments. A memory of one of her daddy’s cigars made her consider what it could be in that direction. Somepony was smoking, but it hadn’t sounded like her father. She looked toward where the voice had come from and squinted in an attempt to see.

"Looks like some rich fuck got tired of his fuck toy! Hey cutie! Needa place to stay?!" another voice shouted.

She shook her head violently. She didn’t like the sound of the voices.

"Look at her man... Damn... looks like an old prom photo... You know what happens at proms don't ya little girl?" one of the voices asked.

It sounded closer and she took off. Sounds of something hitting the pavement, something like paws, large paws, slapping against the pavement, and it was getting closer. She turned a corner and looked at the strange rectangular thing in front of her. It sat on a weird rock pad, and above it was another, and another, and another rectangular thing. She heard the sounds getting closer, and before she could say a word something grabbed her wrist, covered her muzzle, and pulled her into the darkness. Her ears where flat against her head, and she breathed out in a shaky breath. She could feel her tail flickering with an uncertain nervousness.

She watched as two strange looking creatures ran past where they were. Whatever had her wrist and muzzle let her go and backed away."It's not smart to hang out in the open like that," he said.

"Thank you... What... What were they going to do?" she asked.

She looked toward the colt that saved her and noticed that he looked like those things, but he didn't act like them.

“They'd rape you, rob you, and then kill you for your organs and sell them on the black market. What are you doing here? The Stacks aren't a friendly place," he said.

“I'm... I'm lost. The last thing I remember was being in my house, in my bed, and then suddenly I'm here... I want my daddy," she whimpered.

He gave her a small smile, touched her hand and shook his head.

"I can't help with that, but I can give you someplace safe to stay for the night. It'd at least be away from animals like that," he said.

She nodded, following him into the darkness. The area looked littered with strange carriages that had been abandoned long ago. Most of them looked rusted, unusable, but he lead her to the center. There was a mound of them, each stacked over the other. They worked their way in toward the center. She saw him pull out a key, unlock a door, and open it. She followed him in through the door. It had been some kind of carriage, but she could tell that it led into something else. She followed it until he flipped a switch. A few scattered lights came on, and she noticed a small rectangular thing like she had seen earlier.

"Welcome to the Casa de Luna," he said

She looked at the small rectangular box sitting there. It was just like the ones she had seen earlier, but unlike them it didn’t seem to be completely covered with rust. He opened a door and made a gesture for her to step inside. She squeezed past him, since the space around the rectangular box wasn’t very large, and found herself inside of a small home. He flipped another switch, and it turned the lights off outside of the box and let the ones inside of it glow. She watched as he walked over toward a stationary bicycle and began to pedal.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

He smiled and kept pedalling.

“Well, the batteries I have to run the electricity won’t charge themselves, and I need to keep them charged if I’m going to go to school and do a little work on the web today,” he replied.

“Do some what?” she asked.

He grinned, shook his head, stopped peddling and walked over toward a cabinet. He opened it, pulled out a plastic lunch box with a picture of something she didn’t know, called Wall-E, on the front and opened it. He pulled out a small flat box looking thing, a pair of goggles, and a set of gloves. He pressed a button on the flat looking box and the button lit up. He then pulled out a cord and hooked into the back of it. She then watched as he placed it on a small, completely flat, black metallic thing. The flat looking box made a small ding. He then took a small piece off of the goggles and plugged it into the box. Once that was done he took a small piece off of the gloves and did the same thing.

“Console complete,” a strange voice said.

“Who said that?” she asked.

He smiled at her, and held out the goggles. She looked at them, put them on, and then she felt something slipping over her hands.

“Gloves have resized for new user,” the voice said again.

Her vision cleared up and suddenly she was inside of an expansive looking building. It was quite breathtaking, and inside of it there was thousands of people like the colt. One of them stopped, looked at her, and then shook his head.

“New kids and trying to get away with their avatars looking all alien,” he said as he walked past her.

“I’m not the alien you are!” she shouted.

“Yeah, yeah, tell it to someone who has to listen to you,” he said.

The field of vision died and she felt the goggles being removed.

“What was that?” she asked.

“That was my school. Good old Ludus 100695823, southern sector of planet Ludus contained within the outlying public school sector of the Innovated Technologies Department of the Government,” he replied.

“What?” she asked obviously confused.

A gentle smile crossed his lips before his stomach growled. He walked toward another cabinet and opened it. She saw him pull two cans out. He smiled at her.

“I don’t have a lot of choices, but I hope that you like SpaghettiOs,” he said as he pulled a cord on the side of the can.

It began steaming for a moment before he nodded, peeled the lid off, and handed her the can with a spoon. She sniffed it. She could feel her muzzle crinkling a little from the slight smell, but knowing that he was so willing to share what he had she took a bite.

Her sense of smell had lied to her. There wasn’t anything wrong with this! She took another bite and could taste cheese, tomato, and pasta. Another bite revealed some strange spice she didn’t know existed, and before long she finished off the warm can.

“I guess that you’re pretty hungry, would you like another one?” he asked.

She nodded, and he handed her his can. She began eating when she noticed that he was walking toward a seat with his gloves and goggles.

“Why aren’t you eating?” she asked.

“I didn’t get to do any grocery shopping. It’s fine, but I’ve got to check my email and see if any one needs me to do some scrub work on a website, or if there’s anyone needing a reconditioned Digital Assistant,” he said.

“Here,” she said offering the can.

“No, seriously it’s okay. It’s not the first first time that I’ve gone without for a while. I’m just glad that I had something offer,” he replied before he slipped on his goggles.

She walked over, her hooves making almost no noise on the worn carpet in the home. She took a set opposite from him, and had to adjust her tail so she could sit comfortably. As he continued to work she noticed that he was moving his hands in small patterns. Sometimes it was making little circle movements with his fingers, other times it was stretching and flexing part of his hand. It almost seemed random until she really followed what he was doing.

Each movement he made with his hands he would turn his head, almost as if he was looking at something. Finally he coughed a little.

“Mr. Furgerson, yes I’ve got the Soundwave Digital Assistant. No, unfortunately I’m not able to accept food vouchers. I understand that times are tough, but Mr. Furgerson there’s only two groceries in any major city that accepts the vouchers, and we both know that a mere fifty credit voucher won’t do much more than get someone in the door. Yes, fifty credits. Okay, I know, and I’m sorry that I can’t accept them. No, I promise if you have any trouble with him contact me and I’ll make sure to customize his administrator status. It should work as is, and you did say that you wanted him mainly untouched. Right, thanks for your purchase Mr. Furgerson,” he said.

He made a few hand movements in the air, and then he pulled off his goggles and gloves. She watched him press his thumb to the small flat box and that part glowed red for a moment.

“Credits received, Fredrick you now have two thousand, six hundred, and twenty-five credits in your account,” the box said aloud.

“Thanks GLaDOS,” he said.

“You are welcome Fredrick. We do what we must because we can,” she replied.

“GLaDOS, activate the view screen,” he said.

Diamond Tiara heard something buzz for a moment, and she turned to see a black looking screen that had been hidden away in a corner. When she looked at it the screen seemed to light up a little and then a strange looking thing appeared on it. It looked like nothing she had ever see before. There was a massive red eye in the center of a white head that had no mouth. The head moved back, then it appeared to move around on the screen for a little bit before appearing to look at him.

“Is she a new test subject?” the female sounding voice asked.

“GLaDOS this isn’t Aperture Laboratories,” he replied.

“Awwww, I wanted to have some fun with her. Maybe have her hunt for some cake,” GLaDOS said.

“GLaDOS the cake is a lie, and you know it,” he said shaking his head.

“What are you talking about, what is that?!” Diamond Tiara asked.

“That is my digital Assistant GLaDOS. I saved her from deletion… Ummmm.. I saved her life,” he said.

“My old owner never gave me free reign to speak and act, so I might have erased some of his emails,” she said.

“What?” Diamond Tiara asked.

“You don’t know what any of this is?” he asked.

“I know the words, but not what they are. It’s… weird,” she replied.

“That’s okay. Look, an email is like a letter. The emails GLaDOS got rid of were really important ones. Debt collection emails if I remember correctly, and her owner was taken into indentured servitude by the Glossman Corporation. They were going to delete her, but I managed to download her from his open site before they did it. When I realized what had happened I undid the locks he had on her,” he said.

“I’ve been very happy,” GLaDOS said, “Fredrick, do you want your friend to have administrative privileges?” GLaDOS asked.

“You don’t have any place to do do you?” he asked.

She shook her head. There was Ponyville, but this wasn’t it, and for some reason she had a feeling that it was actually gone. She closed her eyes trying to will the tears back.

“No,” she said.

“GLaDOS, she needs Administrative privileges. I also want her to learn how to operate the console. I’ve got just about enough to get a second console and still get the everyday stuff we need,” he said.

“Very well, I will mark this down as a Huge Success. Does my new Mistress have a name, or shall I call her Mistress?” GLaDOS asked.

“My name is Diamond Tiara,” Diamond Tiara said.

“Wait, are you serious right now? That is your name?” GLaDOS asked.

“Yes, what kind of name GL-aaaaa-DOOOSSSS,” Diamond Tiara shot back.

“She has an attitude. Are you sure you want to be around that?” GLaDOS asked.

She looked at Fredrick who shook his head.

“You were making fun of her name GLaDOS. I guess that we should go over sleeping arrangements. Mi casa es su casa, but bedding is a bit of an issue. There’s a twin bed just down there,” he pointed toward a short hallway, “I know it’s fine because it’s the one that I’ve been using.”

He placed his hand on the table they had been sitting at.

“This table is supposed to fold down into a three quarters bed, and up those stairs is a full sized bed. Now, the entire trailer is fine, but the bed up there isn’t that good. I haven’t been able to find a replacement mattress, because those things are far too large, and too expensive to try and carry back here,” he said.

“I can sleep here,” she said.

He shook his head.

“Go ahead and take that bed. I’ll set this one up, and make sure that it works. If it does then we might trade beds,” he said.

She nodded, walked back down the hall, and heard the sound of her hooves clearer when she stepped from the carpeted floor to a tiled one for a second. The sound of her hooves stopped when she stepped into the small bedroom. She looked at the door pulled it out of the wall. It slid slowly, and then the magnetic strip caught the opposite strip and it finished shutting.

She pulled off her dress, then her bra and panties. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be. She was the daughter of Filthy Rich. She was supposed to be going to Manehattan this weekend. She was going to get to meet Saphire Shores, and she was going to get to hang out with Silver Spoon. Instead she was in the home of a colt she didn’t know, in a place that was strange to her, and none of it made sense. She pulled the blanket back on the bed, laid down, and pulled it up over her shoulder.

She stopped fighting after a minute and the tears began to stream down her face.

Author's Note

(And we have our first chapter of Diamond in the Rough. Somepony had to end up at the stacks, and I figured why not Diamond Tiara. Again, thanks for reading and commenting.

LF)