Diamond Tiara stretched out on her bed quietly. The pink pony’s gaze drifted upward to the large crystal chandelier that hung overhead. When the light hit it just right an array of colors would spill across the ceiling in a dazzling spectacle that would rival those in the northern most parts of Equestria. Unfortunately, it would be at least an hour before the sun was at the right point in the sky for that to occur. She sighed thinking to herself and thought that, maybe she’d have to write Princess Celestia a letter, and make a formal demand to push forward the time when the sun was at that point in the sky and hold it there for an hour longer so that she might enjoy the pretty colors, especially on days like today.
She hadn’t expected to find what she’d found, Miss Cheerilee, floating, not moving, not breathing. Diamond Tiara had called for help in pulling her out of the water dead. As Randolph did so the young filly noticed Miss Cheerilee’s large expressive eyes were dilated and that her face was frozen not in fear or worry but, a crazy calm. It was clear, even to Diamond Tiara, that she’d made her peace with the world before departing it and left it with no regrets. Still, it left many questions for the young filly, the kind of questions that she would have to ask her father when he came home.
Slowly the pink pony rolled over onto her side and sat up. She grabbed her glass of lemonade from her cherry wood nightstand and sipped it through a silly straw. She looked out her window that looked over the gardens and the large hedge maze that existed just on the other side of the large swimming pool. Diamond watched as the pool pony cleaned the leaves and dead bugs out of it. He should have been done an hour ago but, had been otherwise occupied, with what she did not know but, her father would know of it. “But, what would that matter,” muttered Diamond Tiara as she sat the now empty glass down on a coaster.
If she told her father, the current pool pony would just be replaced by another, possibly more incompetent pony that would mess up the ph-balance of the pool and cause her to get some sort of a rash after swimming in it. Even worse she might even get out of the water and smell like nothing but chlorine or have weirdos swimming in her pool without permission. Besides, he was sort of cute, not Rustin Beemer cute, but cute. He could stay for now. She wasn’t in the mood to swim anyway.
Diamond Tiara continued to gaze out of her window, the sounds of bees buzzing among the hydrangeas and gloxinias were rather loud as they busied themselves with their pollen collecting. The young filly wondered what sort of flower Miss Cheerilee would have wanted but shook the thought from her mind. It was pointless to continue to dwell on it any further. She was dead and the matter was out of her hooves.
There was a faint knock at her door prompting Diamond Tiara to scowl slightly, “Who is it,” she asked flatly.
“It’s me,” said a familiar voice.
“Oh,” said the young filly as she got up and trotted over to her bedroom door, “I’d forgotten. “
When she opened the door Silver Spoon was waiting with a puzzled look on her face, “Forgotten? How could you forget? Today is the day that Scootaloo is going to attempt a 1080 on her little scooter thing and when she fails we’re going to let her know just how big she messed up!”
“I know,” said Diamond Tiara flatly, “It’s just that today has been, well weird.”
“What do you mean ‘weird’,” asked Silver Spoon somewhat concerned as she trotted into her friend’s room, “What’s going on?”
Diamond Tiara just kind of looked toward the window as she walked toward her bed. Silver Spoon looked about her friend’s room. Something really was different. The posters were still framed and hanging in their normal places. The Arabian rug was still on the floor and as gorgeous as ever. None of the marble tiles were chipped, none of the stuffed animals were missing and from what she could tell every single piece of jewelry was in its normal spot. Silver Spoon’s heart began to pound as she repeated her question, “What’s going on,” this time with a tremor in her voice.
“Well, the pool guy was late,” said Diamond Tiara quietly, “Also, Miss Cheerilee is dead.”
Silver Spoon’s mouth dropped and her eyes widened, “What?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“When did this happen? Heck, how did this happen?”
Diamond Tiara shrugged, “Sometime last night. I woke up and I just saw her floating there dead. There was nothing we could do.”
“Do you think it was the pool guy?”
“Why would the pool guy do it? He’s just lucky I don’t feel like telling my dad he was late.”
The two fillies stood silently. The air was thick as Silver Spoon tried to think of something, anything to say. Yet, the only thing she could think of was what would happen to the two of them? Would this mean that they would have to go to boarding school now? What would happen if they got split up? As she thought about the possible futures she began to tear up. It was then Diamond Tiara spoke, “I’ll visit her final resting place regularly,” she said quietly, “You know, you never really appreciate the little things until something like this happens. I mean death right in my face like that.”
“Do-do you think we’ll have to go to different schools now?”
“What?”
“Well, I mean we don’t have a teacher now. We’re going to have to go somewhere else come Monday right?”
Diamond Tiara’s face scrunched up questioningly, “What in the world are you talking about. Of course we have a teacher.”
“But, you said Miss Cheerilee was dead.”
“Yes,” said Diamond slowly, “My pet fish, Miss Cheerilee.”
Silver Spoon blinked, “Your fish?”
“Well duh. Remember? I kept her bowl on a coaster so it didn’t make marks on my furniture. My glass of lemonade is on it now.”
“Oh, I didn’t know you’d named your fish Miss Cheerilee.”
“I always name my goldfish Miss Cheerilee,” her face ticking a bit oddly.
“Because you like her so much,” asked Silver Spoon.
“No, because I like saying, ‘Miss Cheerilee is dead’ every other month," said Diamond Tiara crossing her back legs, "I just had never seen a dead fish before; Randolph has always gotten them before I woke up and flushed them down the toilet. Like I said you learn to appreciate the little things.”
“Oh,” said Silver Spoon feeling a bit relieved, “So, do you want to come to Sugar Cube Corner with me to make fun of Scootaloo?”
“Of course I do,” said Diamond Tiara with a smile, “But first I need to stop by 'Miss Cheerilee’s grave' and 'mourn.’ That lemonade went right through me.”
