A black abyss stretching as far as the eye could see; a crimson inferno burning in its heart. The girl watched in silent contemplation as the inferno stretched across the black landscape drawing ever closer to her.
This is it... she thought, this is what I deserve... The fire wrapped upon itself, twisting its shape into something much more sinister. A serpent, it seemed, the inferno became; its massive maw spreading open in a threat to devour the girl.
She simply stared as the serpent's head fell towards here, resigning herself to death at the hands of the flaming beast. Moments before her demise; she had only one thing left to say, one last regret still clawing in the back of her mind.
She stared at the inferno, it was all she could see now, all that mattered. "I'm sorry..." she said. "I'm so sorry... Sweetie Belle..."
The flames fell and her body burned; the flames eating her skin until it was naught but ash. Still, she did not allow herself to shed tears or scream in torment, after all, this is what she deserved.
Diamond Tiara blinked her eyes open groggily as she cursed the sun for rising at such an ungodly hour. For a moment she felt relieved that the fire had only been a nightmare, but soon found herself dreading the life of this new day.
She sat up in the backseat of her car as she threw her blankets into the floor. She stared at the dashboard, or more specifically, at the calendar she had placed on it. The date was the first of May, the day she was supposed to start her new job.
It had been five years since she had been in this town and in all that time only one new business had opened. She had applied for a job there at the salon called, Cloches Diamant, hoping that the owner was from out of town. She hoped she could spend her time in this town without running into anyone she knew, a most likely hopeless endeavor she knew, however she was at-least going to make the attempt.
The interview she had been through two days ago was pleasant enough, and she had not known any of the workers that she had met that day, but the woman who had done her interview had told her the owner of the salon had not been in that day and would return by the first.
She sighed as she gathered a few personal hygiene products from her glove box; deodorant, toothpaste, and her toothbrush. She may have been living out of a parked car in the middle of a public park, but it was still no excuse to show up on the first day of work stinking. She left her car, not bothering to lock it. If someone were capable of getting it running they were welcome to it.
All she had to do was make enough money to get it running herself or purchase a new one. She had begged her father for the sixty-eight imperial crown, and she was only now realizing how expensive and elusive the parts were. Still, she loved her car and hoped to keep it if she could, as much as this salon had promised to pay her maybe she could.
The public bathrooms at the park were small and dirty with writing all over the walls. Diamond washed her hair in the sink and brushed her teeth as she absently contemplated what her new boss would be like. Maybe she would be laid-back, that would be nice.
She stared in the mirror, allowing her hair to dry, and contemplated what she saw. Her usually vibrant aquamarine eyes had seemed grayer in past years and today they looked completely lifeless. Her cheeks were hallowed, a sign of how little she had eaten in past months, and her normally purple and white hair was no longer put up, but allowed to lay freely across her back. She sighed as she realized she had not considered herself beautiful in over five years.
Diamond put on her cleaner clothes and went back to her car. She hastily threw her things back into the crown. She considered taking her signature tiara out of the trunk and donning it once more, but decided against it. She had very little of value left and she was not going to risk having it in the open.
She closed the doors and shoved the keys into her pocket as she walked down the street. She smiled at the friendly waves she received from passerby. She had almost forgotten how friendly and close-knit the community was in this town.
Diamond absently fingered the button on her shirt, a spoon made of silver, as she reflected the last time she had visited this road. Five years ago, her best friend had taken her to the bakery she saw at the corner. She smiled at the fact that it was still there even after five years away. She would have gone in just to see if the Cakes were still the owners or not, but she had no time today.
She increased her pace as she saw the salon just a little further down the street. She could barely contain her worry, hoping her new boss would be nice and that she would not have to meet anyone she knew from her past. All she had to do was earn enough to leave and she would be gone again.
She brushed herself off before entering the store, a cute crystal bell hanging from the doorway to signal her entry to the occupants.
"Just a minute." A melodic voice sang out to her as she entered.
Wow, she thought her voice is beautiful... and kind of familiar.
"Sorry, I know they said you'd be here early today, but I wasn't expecting you this early." the woman called again. "You were supposed to start today, right?"
Diamond stared at the sign on the door (employees only) and decided just to answer from where she was from fear of intruding. "Yes, ma'am." she called.
"Oh, please. There's no need for that." the woman responded. "I know I'm your boss now, but I was hoping we could be friends.
"I'd like that." Diamond said, at-least until I leave...
"Me too, so please, call me Sweetie Belle."
Diamond froze. Should I run? No. No, that'd be bad. Maybe she won't recognize me... no she'd figure out my name pretty quickly. Wait! She owns this place. She probably already knows my name. Why did she let them hire me then? Diamond nearly started hyperventilating. Stop, Diamond. No need to panic. You already have the job. Sweetie seems happy and successful. Maybe this is a good thing. The one thing you regret most about leaving when you did is right behind that door. Maybe we could patch things up... be friends even.
"Sweetie Belle?" Diamond almost whispered.
"Yes?" Sweetie asked, as she pushed the door open; a line of boxes cutting off her view.
"Do you remember me?" Diamond asked. Of course she does you moron. How could she forget.
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I haven't even looked at your paper-work yet. I've just been so busy." Sweetie placed the boxes on a table with her back to the other girl as she began unloading hair-care products onto the table. "What did you say your name was?"
"Diamond..." she all but whispered. She studied Sweetie's form, waiting for any sign that she recognized the name.
Sweetie froze and turned her head slowly, facing Diamond for the first time in five years and Diamond noticed something about her that she never had before. Sweetie Belle was beautiful.
Her amethyst eyes shone brightly through her pink and purple locks. Full lips, a bright ruby against her alabaster skin. Her figure a perfect hour glass. The pink dress she wore hugged tightly to her body whilst still being modest in terms of leg and chest exposure. Her two pink wristbands were frilled, accentuating the feminine attire.
Her face was twisted into one of shock, her eyes wide and mouth agape. "Diamond Tiara?" her voice was barely above a whisper as she spoke.
Diamond merely smiled sheepishly and nodded. Crap, crap, crap. "Hey, Sweetie Belle." No. Stupid. Diamond Tiara even waved slightly. Oh, I am just a freakin' genius today...
Sweetie opened her mouth to speak, but made no sound for several minutes. Diamond decided to make the first move.
"You... uh... you look good, Sweetie Belle." Diamond said sheepishly, her eyes scanning the other girl's body.
Sweetie frowned and stepped towards Diamond, placing a hand against her cheek gently. "That makes one of us." Ouch. "Have you been eating?"
"Yeah," she lied, "I've just been trying this new diet." Diamond blushed as she realized how close Sweetie was to her and how soft her hand was on her cheek. Diamond stared at the ruby lips, turned into a slight frown.
Sweetie sighed heavily as she removed her hand from the other girl's face. "Diet or not, you're having lunch with me today." she said as she returned to unpacking boxes. "You look like you're wasting away."
"That's nice of you, but-"
"No buts." Sweetie said firmly. "This isn't a request from an old acquaintance, this is an order from your new boss."
I still have the job? She really isn't going to say anything? Even after... Diamond's eyes scanned the stomach area of her employer's dress, knowing what lied under the fabric. She really is okay with me being here?
"Now," Sweetie said as she continued unloading boxes. "we should probably get started on your training. I know you already have experience in salon work, but this place runs a little differently from most places."
Diamond tentatively opened a box and began unloading it's contents onto the table. "Yes, ma'am." she said instinctively.
"Diamond..." Sweetie said sternly. "It's just Sweetie Belle."
"Sorry, Sweetie Belle." Diamond said as she read some of the shampoo labels. For some reason all of them were in french, a language that Diamond Tiara did not speak. Still, she attempted to read some of the labels aloud. "Pas de chien merde, chiennes l'être aimer, s'il vous plaît embrasse-moi..." Diamond sighed.
"Oh, tu parles français?" Sweetie asked. After Diamond stared at her blankly for a moment she reiterated. "Do you speak french?"
"Oh, no..." Diamond said. "I never actually learned it. I wanted to, but I just never got around to it." Diamond smiled. "It's still beautiful to hear you speak it though."
Sweetie blushed slightly as she mumbled more french. "Je suis heureux que vous pensez donc, jolie dame."
"Yeah..." Diamond said. "I didn't catch any of that." she laughed slightly.
"I said 'I'm glad you think so.'" Sweetie said.
"So the name of the salon... that's in french too?" Sweetie nodded. "What's it mean, 'Cloches Diamant'?"
Sweetie blushed slightly as she shook her head. "Nothing special, Rarity helped me name it."
"Your sister?"
Sweetie nodded. "Yeah, she's the one who helped me start this place up so I thought she could name it. I didn't even know what it meant at the time."
Diamond nodded, even though she did not actually understand. She would have to look up what it meant later. They spent most of the morning preparing the shop to open, placing shampoo by the chairs and sinks and cleaning the dust off of the chairs while Sweetie explained the salon's way of doing things all morning.
"Usually I have two or three girls open so it's done faster, but on Sunday we don't open until noon anyways." Sweetie explained. "So, I thought it would be a good chance to get some one-on-one time to train you. We'll take lunch when the others get in."
"Sounds great, I'm starving," Diamond said as she sat on a chair. Sweetie Belle was a bit of a nut when it came to organization apparently and Diamond was already exhausted. "and tired..." she mumbled.
Sweetie giggled slightly, a beautiful sound that caused Diamond Tiara to blush, and took a seat next to the other girl. "Don't worry, on Sunday we usually only have a couple customers anyways, so you shouldn't be too busy. Plus, we close at six so you can go on home then. I'll probably have Perm and Curls close shop tonight."
Diamond cringed slightly at the thought of going home, but said nothing. I guess I really am working for Sweetie now... Should we talk about what happened? Why hasn't she brought it up? Maybe that's why she wants to have lunch with me... not that I mind the free meal, but do I really want to talk about it? I know we should, but... I don't know how to tell her... I'm sorry just doesn't seem like enough.
"Earth to Diamond Tiara." Sweetie called as she waved a hand in front of the other girl's face. "Stop spacing out now..."
Diamond blinked and looked at Sweetie. "Sorry," she said. "Just thinking..."
Sweetie stood and pressed the back of her hand to Diamond's forehead, her lips curled into a concerned frown. "Are you feeling okay?" she asked. "You're burning up."
Diamond shook her head and stood. "Yeah, I'm fine." she said as Sweetie pulled her hand away. "Come on, didn't you say we only had an hour left until the salon opens?"
Sweetie's frown only deepened, but she relented and went back to setting up the chairs.
There were only three chairs in the salon, but the two girls spent the majority of the morning meticulously arranging the hair-care products at the chairs. Diamond groaned as she finally set the last bottle of shampoo on the counter. "There." she said with a sigh.
"Good job." Sweetie said as she walked out of the storeroom with two brooms. "Now all we have to do is sweep the floors. I've already organized the storeroom and I filled the register before you got here."
Diamond Tiara smiled as she took a broom from Sweetie and began sweeping the floors. "Do I need to fill out any paperwork?" she asked as she swept the corner.
"No, I think everything you filled out in your interview will do." Sweetie said as she swept the other side of the room. "Pay day is every Friday. The standard pay period is Sunday through Saturday and you'll have a one-week hold-back on your check." she explained. "In the mean-time I can provide lunch and gas money for you if you need it. I know that first week without pay is difficult."
"I appreciate that. Thank you." Diamond said. "Speaking of... what are we having for lunch?" She did not mean to sound pushy, but she had not eaten in two days. She was fighting to keep on her feet as she continued to sweep the floor.
"I was going to take you down to that diner down the block, if that's okay with you?" Sweetie asked. "I remember you used to eat there when we were kids."
Diamond stayed quiet after that. Her last memory in that diner, Saltblock, was not a pleasant one. Her father had been trying to buy all of the businesses on the street, and the owner refused to sell.
She had not been in the Saltblock with her father, but eating with Silver Spoon. They had been simply enjoying their lunch when her father had walked in. He had not noticed them when he entered, he had been busy lately working several development deals and he had been worried about money. He had not even spoken to her in weeks at this point.
She remembered approaching her father, just to be ignored as a he started shouting at the owner of the diner, Salty. Salty and Filthy Rich had come to physical blows before the police showed up and escorted them both away.
Diamond frowned at the floor and stopped sweeping long enough for Sweetie to notice. "Hey," she said, catching the other girl's attention, "if you'd rather eat somewhere else, we can."
Diamond smiled and shook her head. "No, that sounds good. I really missed the Saltblock. Is old Salty still the owner?"
Sweetie giggled in an adorable manner while she nodded. "The old man practically lives there." she said.
Diamond could not help but to giggle as well. "It'll be nice to see him again, I think." she said.
"Well, come on. It's almost noon. We can leave now and the other girls will open when they get here." Sweetie said as she took Diamonds broom.
Diamond nodded and grabbed her jacket off the counter as Sweetie put the brooms away.
There was a crisp breeze in the air as the two girls left the salon and walked down the street. The two walked in silence as the awkwardness of the situation returned to Diamond. It had been easy to ignore the darker parts of her past as the two worked, but now that they were doing something as simple as walking to lunch all she could think about is what she had done to the poor girl fives years previously.
It had been nothing more than simple bullying at first, which she believed would be easy to forgive herself for, but then there was the incident. Her eyes glanced back to Sweetie's stomach as she thought about it. Not a day had passed when she did not think of Sweetie Belle and what she had done to the girl, and not a day had passed that she did not wish she could take it back. She wished it had been something she could just apologize to her for, but it was not that simple.
She thought it might be easier if the girl hated her, or showed some kind of resentment. The pure kindness the girl seemed to be radiating did not help things. If anything it made Diamond hate herself even more. She felt a pain in her stomach at the thought.She really did hate herself.
She had hated herself for five years now, and the self-loathing was growing by the minute.
