One, Two, Frighty's Coming After You
Don’t stop running. Can’t stop running.
“Diamond Tiara…”
She knew if IT got her, then it would not be over…
“Diamond Tiara…”
… It would be worse.
“Diamond Tiara!”
Bright light.
Diamond Tiara felt like she had been trudging through mud all day. She hated mud. Mud was icky and hard to get out of fur and hair. Anytime she tried to think her head spun and pounded. Thoughts kept going in circles, rethinking the same thing over and over again just to forget it all the moment after she thought it.
Mud was icky.
She heard a voice in the darkness. Someone tempting her to open her eyes. But Diamond Tiara did not want to open her eyes. If she did then there would be light and light was so searing it made her eyes water and her head hurt more. She tried to fight but the voice only became louder and more demanding.
“Diamond Tiara!”
The young filly’s eyes snapped open and, just like she expected, the sudden exposure to light caused her eyes to sting until they went blurry. Slowly she lifted her head to face her school teacher, Ms. Cheerilee, who looked back at her student with a small frown.
Diamond Tiara heard snickering all around her, from her fellow classmates. A certain trio of fillies was the loudest of them, barely holding back full on bouts of laughter. She turned her head around groggily, trying to find the source of their amusement. It too her addled mind a few moments to realize that she was what they found funny. It took her another moment to realize that the fur on the right side of her muzzle was matted down with wet saliva. She had been drooling in her sleep! Now everyone was laughing at her! No one was supposed to laugh at her, she was Diamond Tiara! She was the richest filly in town!
With a single glare at the rest of her students, Cheerilee silenced the classroom before returning her attention to the filly in front of her. “That’s the third time you’ve fallen asleep in class, Diamond Tiara!” She noted. “And that’s just this morning. This has been going on all week!”
“Sorry, Miss Cheerilee.” Diamond Tiara mumbled.
“It’s alright.” Cheerilee said, smiling warmly. “It’s time for recess actually, so why don’t all of you get outside and have some fun!”
The colts and fillies sprung up in joy, cheering and shouting. Each raced for the door, all wanting to be the first to go outside and play. All but Diamond Tiara stayed behind, firmly still in the spot she sat with Cheerilee before her. Silver Spoon slowed at the door to spare one last glance towards her friend before following all the other foals outside.
“Aren’t you getting enough sleep at home?” Taking a spot next to Diamond Tiara, Cheerilee laid down in the soft straw and hay that covered every inch of the school house floor. Immediately Diamond Tiara swayed until her head rest against Cheerilee’s side and for a moment the school teacher feared that Diamond Tiara had succumbed to sleep yet again. It was only when she saw that the filly’s eyes were still open that the mare knew that this was not the case.
“N-no.” Diamond Tiara admitted with a shaky voice, as if saying so would make her break. She could not deny that some part of her actually did when she admitted it. She was Diamond Tiara; she should never have to admit she had problems. She should not even have any problems to admit to!
…Not problems like this at least.
“Why?”
“Bad dreams.”
“Have you talked to your parents about this?”
Cheerilee felt a shudder jolt through Diamond Tiara before she shook her head. “They’re in Manehatten for a business conference. They’ll be gone for the rest of the week.”
Cheerilee sadly nodded. She understood that due to having the most successful business in Ponyville, with many branches across all of Equestria, the Riches were often too busy or away to deal with their daughter. She knew that they cared for her, spent time with Diamond Tiara whenever they could and she herself truly wished that they would be able to do more for her. Diamond Tiara would most likely be much better behaved if it they could.
“What about Amethyst Star? Isn’t she staying with you while your parents are gone?”
“I can’t talk to her about it! She’s my foalsitter!”
Cheerilee sighed. She really wished that Diamond Tiara would open up to others more. This very conversation was one of the most personal they had ever had and she was one of the few that Diamond Tiara would open to, if only because the teacher-student relationship demanded it on occasion.
She had hoped that Amethyst Star would be able to help on that front. She was Ponyville’s top babysitter and all of the foals loved her. She was also the only one besides the Apples that the Riches would trust to watch their daughter for multiple days, one of the few that actually could stand to do it really. Also, given Diamond Tiara’s current relationship with a certain member of the Apple Family it was easy to see why they did not ask for them to watch her more often.
Simply putting Diamond Tiara and Apple Bloom in the same room for any length of time was an accident waiting to happen. And everyone knew that when the Cutie Mark Crusaders were involved the word accident was symphonious with massive collateral damage. For some it was getting to the point where they were as desperate for the Crusaders to get their cutie marks as the Crusaders themselves were. Though her students would forever have her love, patience and understanding, Cheerilee was starting lean towards that group herself.
The school teacher mulled over the several things she could do in a situation such as the one she faced now. She could keep Diamond Tiara until school let out, but there was no way she would be able to stay awake the whole and it would leave her wide open to the other students to repay her bullying in kind. As much as Cheerilee disagreed with how Diamond Tiara would belittle her fellow students, she would never subject any of them to a fate such as that.
The only other option would be to send her home in order to get some rest. Diamond Tiara’s grades were good enough that she could afford to miss a few days of school. She would be away from the other students as well, a relief for everyone on all fronts. Yes, that was it. A day of rest and everything would be right as rain.
“Why don’t you go home and rest up a bit, Diamond Tiara?”
The filly looked at her, surprise clearly written across her face. “But what about school?!”
Cheerilee smiled as she stood up. “Well, I can’t very well teach somepony who keeps falling asleep. I’ll send Silver Spoon over with your homework afterschool.”
Diamond Tiara tried, and failed, to suppress a yawn as she got up to follow her teacher out of the schoolhouse. Outside of the building the other children were going about their usual recess business. Snips and Snails were by the jungle gym, going over the latest magic routine from one of Trixie’s show they had heard bout. The Crusaders had taken up their usual spot at the lunch table, drawing up plans for how to get their cutie marks. No one came near them, like always, not inclined to get wrapped up in whatever craziness the three could, and most likely would, make.
She wondered when someone would just go up and tell them what their special talents were. To Diamond Tiara it was so obvious that it was pain inducing. Or was that just the lack of sleep?
She could feel their stares drift towards her as she left the school, but frankly she was too tired to care. Diamond Tiara figured that many of them would be jealous of the fact that she got to go home early, in fact she could hear Scootaloo as she tried to pull the sick routine right at that moment, yet she would rather be anyone else just to be rid of the aches that were all over her.
Giving no further thought of her school or classmates, Diamond Tiara slowly made her way down the dirt path that led from the schoolhouse to Ponyville.
Author's Note
Pay no attention to the Luna tag, for now anyway. It'll be important later on.
Three, Four, Lock the Door
Author's Note
Sorry to make you all wait so long for so little. I don't usually let new episodes influence my work that I star before the episode airs (or is otherwise incompatible), but Crusaders of the Lost Mark gave me a few ideas to mull over for the story. Next chapter will be longer, probably even forming the bulk of fic.
Three, Four, Lock the Door
In all honesty, Diamond Tiara could not remember any of the details of the walk to her home. It could have been because of how tired she was, the routine of having walked that same route hundreds of times or some combination of both, but she simply could not remember any span of the time spent going from the school to her home. With a shake of her head she stopped thinking about it and made her way through Ponyville.
Right now thinking only made her head hurt.
Diamond Tiara was proud, immensely so, to say that her family had the largest home in all of Ponyville save for the princess’s castle, of course. There were many rooms filled with enough finery to impress anyone and a garden that hosted a variety of beautiful plants from the far corners of Equestria. It even had a gate and fence to keep out unwanted visitors, a necessity in a town such as Ponyville where the ponies close knit familiarity with one another came at the cost of the concept of privacy. Second was that it was a dedicated home, unlike the homes most other ponies of Ponyville that lived in which doubled as a place of business. Other ponies acted like they did not care about wealth, but Diamond Tiara had heard many speak with envy about how they wished they could have a home like her family’s and she smiled with satisfaction every time.
Briefly she thought about greeting her neighbor as she passed by, but decided against it. It was not something she would normally do anyway, plus the family next door had been grouchy as of late and she did not want to be at the receiving end of some sort of breakdown. Who could say as to why, but perhaps they had trouble sleeping too?
It did not surprise Diamond Tiara that the house was empty when she got home. It would be a while before the maid came to make sure everything was clean and orderly before the filly returned from school or her parents finished work. Amethyst Star was scheduled to return later, after Diamond Tiara was supposed to get leave school but now that would not happen since Miss Cheerilee sent her back early. Despite this, Diamond Tiara was certain that she could take care of herself until them. Not like the Crusaders who seem to go out of their way looking for trouble.
Unfortunately, the fact that no one else was home meant that she had to do everything herself. At least getting a cup of milk was not too hard. She quickly grabbed one from the kitchen and made her way up to her bedroom.
Her bedroom. If a pony’s home is their castle, then to Diamond Tiara her bedroom was her treasury. A place to recline, relax and, most importantly in the current moment, rest. Here no one judged her. Here there was no one to put into place.
It truly was a treasury too. Across from her four post canopy bed was a vanity with a flawless mirror and drawers full of jewelry that had either been handed down in her family or had been bought just for her. Diamond Tiara instinctively adjusted the tiara that rested upon her head. Her own contribution to the Rich Family collection someday.
Sadly she could never sleep with it on, so she made her way over to her vanity and set the tiara on the stand that she had singled out just for it. Normally she would brush her hair before she went to bed, but she skipped that since she only planned to be asleep for a few hours and awake in time for dinner.
Then she saw it, the newest addition to her treasures. A bracelet made from gems all the way from the Crystal Empire. Her parents got it for her on a recent trip up to the north, something about expanding the business even more. Diamond Tiara remembered when it arrived in the mail. She had been so excited! Crystal Empire gems were all the rage now and any pony who was any pony was wearing some.
There were so many colors as well, making the bracelet like a rainbow. Red, blue, magenta, even this strange little black one, the only one like it on the whole piece. Such a shame that an occasion to show it off had not presented itself; she would be the talk of the town then!
Diamond Tiara downed her milk quickly before she trotted over to her bedroom door to make sure it was locked. After she had drawn the curtains to a close in order to darken the room she literally hopped into bed, sighing at the soft and comfy touch of its high quality fabrics. Then it hit her just how exhausted she was. Her head throbbed and her legs ached. But Tiara did not worry. Cheerilee said that she would be better after some rest.
The filly shut her eyes and kept them like that until she drifted off to sleep.