Light of a Diamond

Chapters

Heart of Stone
Heart of Pyrite
Heart of Glass
Shattered Heart
Heart of Diamond
Heart-to-Heart
(Epilogue) Hearts of Gold

Heart of Stone

The oaken door latched shut behind her as the last of her classmates filed out. Diamond Tiara looked around at her twenty or so classmates that had accompanied her to “Twilight Time” with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. All of them moped down the street to their respective homes.

“The princess should be ashamed,” a voice said next to her ear. “Look – Rumble is so depressed that the clouds he flies near are turning grey! No princess should be allowed to get away with hurting so many young ponies like that.”

Diamond Tiara stood on the doorstep to Twilight’s library. She didn’t move, and she didn’t reply to Silver Spoon’s comments.

“And telling us to leave? I mean, we’re practically the next best thing to royalty, right Tiara?” Silver Spoon turned to her and waited for a moment.

“Right?”

“It doesn’t matter now!” Diamond Tiara snapped. Silver Spoon’s input was nice sometimes, but sometimes she just didn’t know when to keep quiet. Spoony had no idea how bad it was going to be for her when she got home to mother. Grounded for weeks, certainly, but for blowing an opportunity to associate with a princess? She could kiss her allowance goodbye forever, for one, and she would probably be given menial chores to do every day, like she was “some common pony”. Her mother had a way with twisting actions and words that just sent a chill down her spine when she thought about it.

A single, tiny drop of rain hit the side of her muzzle.

Silver Spoon just slanted her head. “What do you mean, Tiara?”

She glared back at Silver Spoon. “Leave me alone!” With that, she turned away and started off for her own home. It didn’t take her long to find herself inside the iron fence of one of Ponyville’s largest and most decadent manors, especially since the Rich family lived reasonably close to the center of town. Phrases that her mother had uttered about being “close to the center of things” briefly swam about as she paused in front of the door.

She knew what would be on the other side. The door was now the only thing standing between her and her mother’s endless disappointment and ire. She took a hesitant breath. If she didn’t open the door, then she wouldn’t have to greet her mother, she wouldn’t have to tell her how she blew her golden opportunity to associate with Princess Twilight Sparkle, and she wouldn’t be grounded for a small eternity.

She sighed.

As much as she wished that things would stay normal, and that she could forget that Twilight Time ever happened, time was marching on with or without her. She would have to open the door eventually. She decided against a smile. Anything incongruent with Princess Twilight Sparkle’s upset dismissal of her and Silver Spoon, alongside the rest of the class, might just give her mother the idea that she was trying to play her. The last time that she had done that, when Spoiled Rich realized it, she had been torn between delight in her daughter’s manipulation, and her four or five most favorite punishments.

She held out a hoof and turned the ornate brass handle on the door to her home. As it swung open, she laid eyes on the harbinger of her demise. Her dread of the moments to follow stole away her will, and a deep chill set in her bones. If she had other options, she might have given way to the urge to run. She didn’t, though. She was her mother’s daughter, beholden to the expectations of Equestria. Even if she ran, she had no way to escape her mother’s wrath.

“Hello, mother.”

As expected, Spoiled Rich was standing in the foyer, as she did often when her precious daughter returned from school. “Hello, dear. How was Twilight Time?” The words were soft-spoken and accompanied with a smile, but they were anything but warm.

Diamond Tiara’s throat locked for a moment. This was exactly the moment that she didn’t want to happen. One deep breath later, she forced the words out. “The princess cancelled it.”

Her mother’s smile was gone.

She continued a little more. “She was angry that nopony was there to learn anything.”

“And you just... let it happen? Surely you tried to convince her to let at least a few of you stay?”

Diamond Tiara hung her head. “No, mother.”

“Diamond Tiara.” Cold and sharp, her mother’s words bit hard. “Do you mean to tell me that you no longer have the good graces of Princess Twilight Sparkle, despite having such a wonderful chance to both earn them and show her that you’re more deserving of them than the rest of the class?”

A gulp. “Yes, mother.”

“Have I not told you about the importance of associations with ponies of high status?”

She closed her eyes. “You have, mother.”

“Is the princess not a pony with an extremely high status?”

She could feel the daggers in her mother’s glare. “She is, mother.”

“And you cast all of that aside.” It clearly wasn’t a question. “You should never have let it come close to falling apart. You must always think several steps ahead. Subtle moves work far less conspicuously than direct manipulation, but they won’t work unless you make them soon enough. Clearly you did not.

“Common ponies don’t think far ahead. Common ponies don’t understand how important it is to have relations with significant ponies. Common ponies don’t put in the effort that it takes to form these relations. Clearly, you are thinking like a common pony.

“If you are thinking like a common pony, then you can spend the next few weeks acting like one.” Her mother took a moment to give her a look of disgust. “Go to your room.”

The next two weeks passed about as poorly as Diamond Tiara had expected. Any hope she had that her father might not go along with any punishments that her mother had planned out were dashed when he came home from work the first night with Randolph in tow. He told her that her allowance was suspended and that Randolph would be providing her with chores to do every day when she got home from school. To set the punishment in full motion, her mother laid out the details of her grounding at dinner, complete with a threat of taking away every one of her tiaras with no exception, even during school time, if she failed to comply with the entirety of her punishment, and “worse”, if she continued beyond that.

It took most of her energy to let out a barely-audible whimper and clear her plate of salad.

Helping Randolph was easily one of the most pointless pursuits in all of Equestria. Most of her chores involved dusting rooms, and those that didn’t involved wiping down the various smooth surfaces in the house that might collect smudges, smears, or spots. At the start of the second week, Randolph started assigning her to rooms that she had already cleaned. Then it was beyond pointless; it was just insulting.

There were still opportunities to blow off steam during school, though. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had a hoof in messing up Twilight Time, and she had no qualms with reminding them of that fact from time to time. Even so, their reactions stopped providing her with much satisfaction after the second or third time, when it looked more like eye-rolling than embarrassed squirming. After that, she and Silver Spoon reverted to teasing them about their endless lack of cutie marks, which never failed to elicit some form of satisfying response.

Telling Silver Spoon about her punishments was hard, mostly because she didn’t have a lot of time after school, and absolutely nopony else could know. Silver Spoon was a liability for the second fact, but after a couple of days of indirectly emphasising it, she was reasonably certain that it wouldn’t slip out of her friend’s occasionally loose-hinged jaw. The effort that it took was annoying, but it was refreshing to have at least somepony on her side.

Heart of Pyrite

It had been four months since Twilight Time, and only in the previous week had Diamond Tiara’s father reinstated her allowance. Nothing, not even Tirek’s rampage, persuaded her parents to lessen any of her restrictions.

She scoffed. It took one brief moment for her parents to waste weeks or months of her life, and what could she do? She had nopony besides Spoony to confide in. For the few parties and gatherings that her mother dragged her through in the last few months, she dared not say anything against the façade that her mother expected of her during such social events. When she wasn’t at school, she was alone – most of the time – though occasionally Randolph would come by with another small task for her to complete. Spoony had offered to stop by, but Diamond Tiara replied that her parents wouldn’t have it.

Now relieved of her burdens, she walked to school as she would any other day. Despite the lack of active punishments, though, she didn’t feel any lighter.

It wasn’t her, was it? Was she the reason for her own dissatisfaction?

No. She was doing everything she could to meet her parents’ expectations. Her parents just had ridiculous expectations, was all. They were why she was unhappy.

Probably.

She shook the thoughts away as the schoolhouse became apparent, along with the ringing bell. She would figure it out after school.

The bell rang again. Diamond Tiara let out a long breath.

“Hold on now, my little ponies,” Cheerilee called. “Tomorrow is a very special day, and those of you wishing to participate might want to stay a few minutes longer.”

She sat up straight. It couldn’t already be the election for class president tomorrow, could it? A small, sly grin spread across her as she realized what this meant.

“As you know,” Cheerilee continued, “Diamond Tiara has been our class president two years running! Even so, we hold an election every year in case a new pony wishes to run.”

Diamond Tiara payed less attention as her teacher explained what it meant to be class president. That she already knew: expected to regularly attend school board meetings at least occasionally, be a role model for the rest of the class, make sure new ponies “feel welcomed”... though anypony could technically do anything the class president was expected to do even without the title. This would be a solid step out of her recent rut, though; coming home with the news that she once again crushed any competition in the class election would definitely warm her mother’s perception of her. Right now, that was exactly what she needed.

The first step to winning was to take out as much competition as she could before they even consider competing. She looked around, and saw that about half the class was looking at her expectantly, which was a good start. She flashed a confident smile. Several of her classmates quickly turned back to Cheerilee’s elucidation. So far so good.

As per the usual end of her explanation, Cheerilee held up a simple piece of paper with a few bold words and several lines across it. “If you would like to be a candidate in tomorrow’s election, please come up and write your name on the sign-up sheet here.”

She wasted no time in walking to the front of the classroom in the most confident gait she could pull off. Grasping the pen in her mouth, she wrote her name on the top line in practiced, flourished letters. With that, she turned and walked towards the front of the school, where Spoony waited. Anypony close to her path took a step back as she walked by. She glanced briefly rightward where several ponies stood. Out of them, Dinky made an “eep” and stumbled back farther.

“You’re totally going to win again,” Spoony said as they walked down the school’s front steps. “I don’t think anypony is even going to consider running against you this year.”

It did feel nice to have at least one thing that her mother would appreciate. “It would be silly. Nopony could ever win against me.”

“Nope. The Cutie Mark Crusaders didn’t even stick around.”

Diamond Tiara’s ear twitched. “You don’t mean to suggest that they would have a chance at winning if they did stick around, do you?”

Spoony scoffed. “No, of course not! They’d lose by at least as much as anypony else… but they’d probably be loud and annoying about it.”

She nodded. “True. Someday they’ll have to understand that trying hard doesn’t mean anything.” She knew that from experience, which she had gained plenty of recently.

“Mhm,” Spoony continued. “Some ponies are winners. Some ponies just aren’t. Some ponies—” Spoony rolled her eyes, “—are just losers.”

Diamond Tiara nodded, and they continued in silence for a short while. The Cutie Mark Crusaders tried and tried, and it would have been admirable if they ever got anything from their efforts. It might even be a boon if they took up the challenge of running against her, because they would probably take the place of anypony else that might consider trying, and then they would end up messing it up somehow, like they did for the rest of their plans.

Like they did for Twilight Time.

They didn’t even stay to sign up, though, so that wasn’t likely. She would have to ask her mother if anypony else signed up when she got back from the afternoon’s school board meeting. her mother would understand, too. Waiting around as if expecting somepony to sign up might actually cause them to do it, and anypony willing to stand up to her like that would probably be annoying and a sore loser.

Spoony’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Tiara.”

She looked around briefly and realized that they had indeed reached their usual point of departure. “See you, Spoony.” They resumed their walk home in separate directions.

In twenty-four hours she would be walking home with the good news.

Diamond Tiara sat down to a bowl of her father’s rich bean and carrot stew. It helped that the carrots were purchased from the Apple Family, and the ingredients were sourced from other farms around Ponyville.

Her mother had only just returned from the school board meeting, and while she wanted to ask about the election, her mother and father were catching up on each other’s days. Her father’s jokes occasionally elicited a chuckle from her mother as his topic drew towards the present, though not before a detour through his recent cooking mishaps. Even with the money to hire a cook, he still insisted on cooking up dinner himself at least once a week.

As her bowl’s contents grew scarce, she listened intently when her mother recounted the details of the board meeting. Apparently the school grounds were “in need of improvement”, and the board had been debating how best to go about it. None of them agreed on anything.

In a break in the conversation, Diamond Tiara decided to ask her question.

“So, mother, did anypony else sign up for class president?”

Her mother considered the question for a moment, which puzzled her, as it should have had a straightforward answer. “Yes and no. The little one from Trottingham did sign his name, though I would barely call that a signature. Even for an outsider, he’s a remarkably poor candidate for anything.” Her mother sniffed. “Hardly what I would call a good role model for the students.”

Diamond Tiara smiled. Pip Squeak had plenty of self-esteem issues that she could exploit, and nopony really took him seriously, which was probably an effect of all of the wild fantasies that he regularly indulged in during recess. He was also a blank flank, barring any last-minute miracles. Most notably, he was also the pony whose blunder got everypony kicked out of Twilight Time. Even if that weren’t a good tool to use against him in the election, it served to make her desire to win personal.

“Thank you, mother. I don’t think I’ll have any trouble winning this one.”

“Oh! When you win, dear, I think I know what we can do to improve the school’s grounds.” Her mother returned a warm smile. “I think we could convince them to put up a modest statue of their long time class president by popular choice. They couldn’t say no to both of us. Besides, think of all of the new foals who would look upon it and aspire to be just as great as the pony whose statue it is. Not that they’ll all succeed, but the other parents love that nonsense.”

“I think that sounds wonderful,” her father said, “and I think I could find a few bits to spare if the school can’t afford it.”

A statue. She didn’t know why, exactly, but the thought of having a statue of her put up in her honor made her stomach tingly. Tingly in a good way, for once. She fought the urge to beam like an idiot in front of her parents, as that wouldn’t help anything, and took another spoonful of her stew.

A few minutes later and Randolph was back in to clear the table. Her father hadn’t made anything for dessert, not that there was much room after the stew, so dinner was over. Her mother departed promptly, but her father held back for a moment.

Randolph, dishes and silverware in tow, latched the kitchen door behind him, leaving Diamond Tiara and her father in the dining room.

“I know how your mother gets about these things, Tiara. I want you to have a good time tomorrow. Remember, it’s just an election.”

She turned to her father with a raised eyebrow. It was an election for a significant title – namely the only title that the school had to offer that wasn’t associated with the Foal Free Press – so why would her father try to play it down? Unless he thought that she was nervous...

“I’m fine, father.” She rolled her eyes. “Really.”

Her father chuckled. “Of course you are!” Then his face reset, and he held quite a serious look. “I’m not talking about how you feel. I’m referring to what you do. Don’t get so caught up with it that you lose sight of everything else that’s important.”

She sighed. This was one of those times that her father shared his experience or wisdom or whatever for her own sake. As far as she was concerned, they were of questionable reliability, especially after his advice that she shouldn’t let her fear stand in her way a while back.

“You know what I mean, too,” he continued. “You are looking for a way to earn your mother’s approval?”

She froze up. The idea of trying to shrug it off tempted her, but he was uncannily correct this time. He probably wouldn’t let it go anyway, even if he wasn’t.

“I don’t want you to take this any further than you have to just because you think you have to earn anything from us.” He took a hoof and ruffled her mane behind her tiara. “Your mother doesn’t necessarily show it well, but we’ll always love our little princess.” With that last line, almost purposely cliché in its delivery, he turned away and left the room.

Diamond Tiara now sat alone.

Pip Squeak would be a laughingstock by the end of the week, and her mother and father would put up a statue of her on the school grounds when she won. Even so, she should have been reassured by what her father had said.

If only she could believe him.

Diamond Tiara was up with the sun the next day. The election was still her salvation, and she had to be ready to squash Pip Squeak in any way that she could to make sure everything went in her favor. She bolted down the stairs and scarfed down a bowl of oats that Randolph had waiting for her. After that, she was out the door, barely pausing to say goodbye to her father as he prepared for his own day.

First, she had to meet up with Spoony. If nothing else, she wanted to tell her friend about the statue. The early morning air presented a mild chill as she cantered along the streets. It wouldn’t be long before the preparations for fall began.

Spoony was waiting at the intersection, and waved as Diamond Tiara came into view. If the smile was any indication, her friend was excited about the election.

“Hey, Tiara,” she said when they met, “are you ready for you big day?”

“Yes. Even better, my mother is going to convince the school board to put up a statue of me on the school grounds when I win!”

Spoony blinked. “Whoa. That is so awesome!”

She nodded. “And do you know who the competition is?”

Spoony’s grin deflated a little. Evidently she did not. “Awww, somepony else is running too?”

“Pip Squeak is.” A thought occurred to her. Given… everything, really, about Pip, he would probably ruin his own chances at election, with little or no effort on her part. Perhaps that was what her mother had been hinting at the night before. “It’s probably almost the same as nopony else running.”

He would make a good Cutie Mark Crusader for that reason.

“You are just as likely to win.”

She could see the schoolhouse after they turned the last corner, and let out a smile. Several of her classmates were already there, playing outside while they waited. All of them would be voting for her soon enough, just after she enumerated every reason that Pip Squeak would amount to nothing more than a disappointment as class president.

“AHRGGG!”

Diamond Tiara stomped her way out of the schoolyard. She could barely believe what had just happened. Not only had she somehow lost the election when the stupid Cutie Mark Crusaders used their inexplicable and undeserved political sway with the class to elect a crayon-brained low-life who spent more time in his pirate-fighting fantasies than in Equestria, but Spoony just went and threw her under the carriage as well. If she didn’t need the title for her mother’s approval, she probably wouldn’t even want it if her class going to make decisions that dumb.

Once she could no longer see the schoolhouse, she paused to kick a clump of grass. The crumpled blades just sat there, about as uncaring as before.

“It’s not my fault!”

It was Spoony’s. Maybe even the Crusaders’. If Spoony hadn’t tried to help and mess up everything, she could have held off the Crusaders and their worthless campaign. But if the Crusaders hadn’t agreed to help the snot-blowing driftwood that was Pip Squeak when it came to intellect and decisions, it would hardly have mattered what Spoony said.

She would have won, but other ponies got in her way and ruined everything. Now she had to face her mother’s ire once again, as if she were responsible for her peers’ bumbling.

Her clump of grass still didn’t care. She looked towards the heart of Ponyville, about where her home was. Even if she didn’t tell her mother, she was doomed. Her mother was on the school board, and they had another meeting that evening to discuss the election. There was absolutely no way her mother wouldn’t find out by the end of the day, so she might as well not get caught lying.

That line of thinking had become far too frequent for her taste.

She left the stupid grass clump to its apathy. A few minutes later, she found herself surrounded by buildings. She had gotten herself into a reverie, brought on by a haze of anger and trepidation. She wasn’t sure which was stronger.

The door to her home once again stood before her, the only thing between her and her mother’s wrath. The urge to scream still hadn’t left her completely, and staring at the door only made it worse. She would have liked to smash it down, too, but if she did those things in public, she might as well jump into a stream at night and hope for the worst after what her parents would put her through.

She pushed through the door. This time her mother wasn’t waiting. There were a few boxes of what appeared to be party supplies sitting in the foyer. Now she was doomed. If her parents’ desires weren’t going to come crashing down on her, their expectations certainly would.

Her mother’s voice drifted in from the parlor. “Diamond Tiara? Is that you, dear?”

She closed her eyes for a moment. As jittery as she was, she still had to get it over with.

“Yes, mother.”

She took a couple of steps towards the parlor, which already boasted a few extra decorations. Her mother was overseeing Randolph while he hung a few more.

“What are you making that face for? That is not the face of a winner.”

She figured that she looked angry. She was angry, too.

“It isn’t.”

Her mother spared a glance at Randolph, who then exited the room. Lucky for him that was an option he had.

“What do you mean?” she hissed. “Do you mean to say that I prepared all this—” she gestured around the room “—for nothing?”

The first thing that came to mind found its way out of her mouth before she realized. “Sorry, mother.”

Her mother’s expression turned from bewilderment to outright fury, just as expected. “You— you actually lost to that transplant from Trottingham? That colt could barely count his hooves, let alone his votes, and you lost? Tiara, you have to keep your social standing in mind, and that certainly doesn’t involve losing to him. The only worse outcome that comes to mind would be losing to those blank-flank crusaders, who flaunt about their low social standing as if it’s a good thing!”

Her anger was building up. She wasn’t going to just stand and take it. Pushing back, though, meant far worse.

“Mother—”

“You should never have let yourself lose!”

“I haven’t lost yet!” she shouted. Her volume surprised her. She didn’t mean to shout it, but she was already in deep, so what did it matter? “Pip Squeak only got elected because he made promises that he can’t keep about making things better around the school. He’s got maybe a couple of days before they realize that he’s worthless, and demand that he be removed from office.”

She paused, partially to catch her breath, and also to take in her mother’s reaction.

Her mother stood quietly, slightly slack-jawed.

“And when they do,” she seethed, letting every drop of anger possessed by her into her voice, “I’ll be there. I’ll become president again, and I’ll make sure they never think anything of him again.”

They both stood in silence for a moment before her mother replied.

“Fine, then. If you think you can make something of this failure, do. For now, go.” Her mother pointed a hoof at the front door. “We’ll see just how much hope you have left after the next board meeting.”

She turned away and walked out the door. Her anger was still present, fueling her determination to exact some form of revenge. There was also something else; something eating away her resolve.

Fear.

Heart of Glass

The water trickled softly below Diamond Tiara as she set her forehooves on the edge of the bridge, and the day’s waning light gave her surroundings a warm glow. Sweet Apple Acres lay only a little farther down the road, and some of the apple trees lined it.

Before, she would have thought it was a pretty sight, and Spoony would have agreed. They would have spent a few minutes enjoying it, discussing anything that came to mind. That’s what they used to do.

Now it was little more than a spot on the other side of town where she probably wouldn’t have to worry about anypony – especially her parents – interrupting her thoughts. She still hadn’t figured out just what went wrong.

After Pip’s massive blunder at Twilight Time, how could anypony vote for him? The idea that he would almost certainly say something equally stupid in front of the school board should have been uplifting at least slightly, but even if he got himself kicked out of office, that wouldn’t change that she had already lost to him.

Spoony’s vote could be chalked up to spite, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had no idea what they were doing pretty much ever, but for every other classmate to vote for Pip over her suggested that they actually thought he was a better choice. But he couldn’t be ‘better’; he had no skills or talents to speak of. He was completely useless. Unless they had simply figured that he wasn’t the worst choice.

It was definitely time to put that line of thinking away.

She looked down at the stream again, and her reflection looked back. It wasn’t the face of a winner. It wasn’t an expression of anger, either. What she saw in the water looked gloomy. It spoke of her loneliness and depression. What it didn’t say was why.

What was the source of her recent failures? She was the same Diamond Tiara that she always was. Her parents asked the same of her, and she was pretty sure that she hadn’t been cursed or anything. She had run into trouble with her parents before, but never for this long, and it had been with her parents, not with anypony else. Now she didn’t even have Spoony to count on. About the only pony who didn’t despise her was Randolph, and he didn’t really count, because he was amicable towards everypony anyway.

At that thought, her vision blurred, and she watched as her reflection sank lower on the bridge. A wave of her despair came down, crushing her chest as tears began to pour. She had created so many problems for herself, and now all she could do was cry.

Her tears of hopelessness continued to flow. With every sob, she felt her control on the world she knew slip. She didn’t have anypony to turn to, no matter how lost she felt, not even her lifelong friend.

The sun had nearly set when she finally lifted her head. She wiped the remaining tears away as best she could, and took a shaky breath.

She didn’t know what to expect the following day, let alone when she got home for dinner, and it wasn’t likely that the answers would be presented to her by one of the princesses.

Why didn’t the Cutie Mark Crusaders have this problem? For all of their embarrassments and failures, she had been suffering the consequences. Even if Pip was removed from office, and assuming that she were reinstated, the Crusaders wouldn’t have lost a thing, but she would still have lost a significant portion of her mother’s approval.

As much as she despised even the thought of it, she had to admit that there was a possibility that something that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were doing that she wasn’t might be responsible for it. If she could identify it, maybe she could figure out something to turn her life around.

First, though, she had to go home for dinner, where she would find out just how upset her parents were about the election. It wasn’t impossible that punishments would be postponed until it had been completely resolved, and if she had straightened everything out by then, they would probably be tolerable. Throughout the following day, at school, she would observe both the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and Pip Squeak. If the Crusaders didn’t yield anything, she should at least be able to build an arsenal of things to use against Pip, which she could use against him when his wild promises started to fall through.

Now that she had at least a modicum of a course of action, she wasn’t feeling quite as crushed.

The early autumn chill had set in, so she decided it was time to make her way home. Before she started, she carefully wiped away any remaining evidence that she had cried from her cheeks.

Before the sun had ample opportunity to warm the ground, Diamond Tiara started for school. It may have been earlier than she usually departed, but she didn’t want to linger and provide her parents with any more chance to scorn her than they already had. Her father seemed a little upset about her loss to Pip when he heard about it over dinner, though his audible reaction consisted of little more than a sigh. Her mother’s effortless expression of disappointment left her feeling… empty. And, really, that was one reason why she was already on her way to school.

At least they had forgone most punishments until after a moderate grace period. They hadn’t decided on an exact length, but it would be numbered in days. Her allowance for the week was to be withheld, and half would be returned to her if she was reinstated in time. After that, her parents had left to have a private conversation, presumably to determine exactly what the list of her punishments would include if she was not reinstated.

She let out a long breath and put the thought out of her mind. With the chill, the walk to school was enough to distract her, mostly. Force of habit almost had her wait for Spoony at their intersection, before she realized that there wouldn’t be any point. Spoony wouldn’t wait.

That thought did a better job of slowing her than her habit, as a lapse in her attention found an odd bump in the road for her to lose her balance on.

Spoony wouldn’t wait. In her mind, she had placed Spoony alongside the rest of the ponies that she resented. Ponies like the Cutie Mark Crusaders and, as of late, Pip Squeak. Ponies that they had resented together. Had everything really changed that much?

She picked up her pace. The sooner she made it to the schoolhouse, the better. She could find an out-of-the-way seat where she could observe without attracting unnecessary attention. If the class figured that she sabotaged Pip’s efforts, they would blindly defend him, and she would have an even harder time of replacing him if, at that point, it were even still possible.

When she arrived at the schoolhouse, she saw that Pip was already there, outside, talking to a couple of their classmates, and from what she could make out, he was hammering away at a single issue: their playground.

As Diamond Tiara climbed the steps, she couldn’t help but find it amusing. He practically sang his intentions to request new equipment from the board, and on that note alone, he was elected over her, which was one of the more baffling aspects of the previous day’s event.

He didn’t even realize he was singing his own resignation. She knew the school’s budget. He’d be hard-pressed to convince them to purchase anything, let alone the grandiose toys that he rambled on about. His best bet would be to set up fundraisers or secure donations, but then, it was Pip. As soon as the most obvious route had been denied to him, he wouldn’t have any other ideas. Once that happened, it appeared that he didn’t have any plans beyond those for the playground, so his presidency could be short.

There were unoccupied seats, sure, but several of them were left empty for a reason. Snips and Snails held seats near the rear corner that she would have preferred. Sitting next to them, though, would be a swift and permanent end to any social standing that she had left. One of the seats to the side of Pip’s usual spot was often vacant, though there were quite a number of reasons that sitting there would be a bad idea.

She glanced at her usual choice, at the front of the class. She had moved around a few times before, though she had always been sitting next to Spoony. Giving up on that one, she settled for the leftmost seat a couple of rows from the back, just far enough away from Snips and Snails. Unless the potential mass shift in placement affected even the ponies who cared little for seating arrangements, Sunny Daze would be to her right. That was acceptable.

She heard a few of her classmates chattering away as they approached the door. Before long, there would be enough activity that she shouldn’t have to worry about anypony paying her too much attention, though as per the usual for Pip, she already had enough information to convince her classmates that he would inevitably fail. Now she just had to wait for an opportunity to use it against him, and that would come just as soon as he met with the board for the first time, later that day.

Throughout the day, Pip had been stirring the excitement of his peers with his promise of new playground equipment. At every word, Diamond Tiara tried hard not to visibly cringe where anypony else could see. His single-issue focus, while almost a blessing for her situation, was nothing short of short-sighted. She almost felt sorry for him, but nopony was forcing him to run for class president; he ran voluntarily.

While she had expected Pip to spend the day making a fool of himself, she hadn’t planned for the new heights that he had reached with his new title and position. Recess was only a little short of true mental torture, as he had even dredged up a soapbox from somewhere to stand on, hoping to more easily address a larger portion of the class. Even on the box, his head barely peeped out above anypony else’s. Worse, his entire plan was to ask the school board to replace it. She couldn’t imagine how naÏve he had to be to believe that it would work. The idea of telling him, potentially loudly, that there wasn’t any chance of them taking him seriously, let alone conjuring the money for the new equipment at his request, was sorely tempting.

She did her best to put him out of her thoughts after the first hour, though while he had many of the students riled up, at least a few others had been rolling their eyes at his enthusiasm.

The idea of observing the Cutie Mark Crusaders seemed stupider than ever, now that she wasn’t in whatever altered state of mind she had been in at the bridge the evening before. Still, she had run out of luck, or so it seemed, and she didn’t want to risk having no further ideas if things continued to get worse. At first, it was nothing short of pointless. As self-contained as they were, she realized that one thing she especially wanted to understand – how they interacted with others – was one thing they were less likely to do than any of her other classmates. None of them had the Crusaders’ knack for avoiding the severe consequences of failure, though. As such, they spent the entire day talking amongst themselves, and yielded nothing helpful whatsoever. It was as if they knew.

Aside from her marginally successful attempts to gather information, one other thing weighed on her mind. Nopony had noticed – or remarked on, at least – her change in seating. Not even Spoony. It made sense that the rest of her class had presumed that they had split apart after Spoony confronted her during the election, and subsequently voted against her. But Spoony had made no acknowledgement of her existence. She doubted that Spoony would hold out for long, though. There was no way Spoony didn’t hurt as much as she did about the divide, and once Spoony’s indignation wore off, she would show it.

Altogether, on top of the things that she had ostensibly been taught by Cheerilee that day, school had been reasonably productive, if somewhat painful. Even by her low expectations, she had a chance to figuratively catch her breath. Being ignored by every one of her classmates was an unsettling change, but at least she didn’t have an opportunity to dig herself any deeper.

At least, not until after the bell rang. She didn’t waste any time on her way out, as it had become evident that she wasn’t going to benefit any more if she stayed any longer. Going home wasn’t appealing, but sticking around while Pip found more ways to waste his breath on the same dumb thing wasn’t any better.

“Diamond Tiara?”

She had only made it a dozen paces out the front, and somepony had finally taken notice of her. A mix of relief and dread swirled around inside her as she turned to see who had spoken. Her relief was promptly crushed, chewed, and then swallowed by her dread when she realized that it had been Apple Bloom, with the two other Cutie Mark Crusaders skidding to a stop behind her. There were a number of ways that this could go, and she was pretty sure that none of them were good.

“What do you want?” She didn’t spare any resentment from her voice, but refrained from giving them any ideas about her defeat.

“Nothin’ much. We just want to talk to you,” Apple Bloom replied.

This was already weird. “Talk?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Scootaloo confirmed.

“Not right here,” Sweetie Belle added, nodding to the nearby cluster of ponies that had gathered around Pip already. “We could hang out at the clubhouse?”

“What, so you can gloat without ruining your reputation?” she shot back.

“No!” Apple Bloom said, and rubbed the back of her neck nervously. “We don’t wanna gloat at all. We kinda wanted to… um...”

“Apologise,” Sweetie Belle finished.

What anger that was present within her dissolved into bewilderment. What could they possibly be sorry for? Electing Pip Squeak? They definitely would be sorry about that later, but it was a little too soon for that just now. Their playing ‘nice’ so soon after directly and successfully opposing her smelled of treachery, but she couldn’t yet put a hoof on what it might be.

“Fine. You can talk, but I’m not going to your stupid clubhouse.” It wasn’t even an option. Short of getting in the good graces of a princess, little would satisfy her mother as a reason to “hang out” with blank flanks of the degree that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were.

She started walking back to her house, though she planned to take a less direct route that would afford them more privacy, both for the purpose of avoiding any chance that she’d have to explain their conversation to her mother, and to potentially satisfy the Crusaders’ desires to apologise in a less-than-overtly-public setting, not that they had earned it.

The Crusaders glanced at each other, and followed.

“So, um, how have things been since yesterday?” Scootaloo said after a moment, rather nervously for such a stupid question.

“How do you think they’ve been? You all cost me the election and—” She caught herself before she could mention Pip. “And why do you even care?”

“We’re just tryin’ to be nice to you for once, Tiara,” Apple Bloom replied.

She stopped, turned towards the three Crusaders behind her, and stomped a hoof down. They flinched. “Well this doesn’t sound like an apology, so why don’t you just get to what you really want to say.”

“We were worried for you,” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle added. “After what Silver Spoon said, and you stormed off, we figured you could use a friend... or three, to talk to.”

“But that was before we saw you on the bridge,” Apple Bloom continued, nervous fidgets and all. “You looked pretty upset.”

Diamond Tiara stopped breathing for a moment. They… saw her cry. The topic at hoof was already precarious. She needed to push it back towards them.

“So, what, you followed me after you back Pip Squeak into presidency? Were you trying to earn your cutie marks in spying?” She made sure that her tone of voice was sharp enough to carry a healthy amount of accusation.

“No—” Scootaloo started.

“Blackmailing?” She cut back.

“No!” Apple Bloom insisted. “We didn’t mean to, but you were kinda on the bridge closest to my family’s farm. You know, where the clubhouse is. When we saw you sittin’ in the back of class today, we put two and two together and figured that things might not’ve gone so well for you back at home...”

Diamond Tiara fought hard to keep her blush under control. The Cutie Mark Crusaders displaying any form of insight directed at her was the most embarrassing thing that she could imagine at the moment.

“We know you aren’t all bad, Tiara,” Apple Bloom continued, “and judgin’ by the fact that you weren’t shoutin’ at Pip all day today, I’d say you’re tryin’ to be a different pony.”

“And we got worried about you,” Sweetie Belle said, “and we want to help.”

Diamond Tiara stood for a moment, dumbfounded. This couldn’t happen; not in a thousand years. Her mother would blow up if she even heard of what they just said to her, let alone if she took up their offer of assistance. Even if they earned their cutie marks the next day, they’d spent so long flaunting their blank-flank status around, they had probably permanently stained their social status in her mother’s eyes.

And how could they even presume to help her? They had no idea what the problem really was, and there they were, offering their help as if they knew best.

She hadn’t realized how angry she was until she opened her mouth to yell at them.

“You don’t know anything! You can’t help me to— You just can’t help me! Why would I even want your help anyway? The help of the same little ponies that were responsible for making me lose the election. It must be nice. Ponies are so used to your mistakes that you can mess up any way you like and nopony bats an eye, and when you do, I get to suffer for it!

“You even get to spend all of your free time playing around with any idea that comes to mind. Nopony cares who you’re supposed to be! If I step a single hoof out of line, I could lose everything! Just imagine what follows when I lose the election to Pip Squeak!”

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were cringing, quite taken aback. Sweetie Belle looked like she just wanted to curl up on the ground and cry. It didn’t matter, though, and she didn’t wait for their response before she turned and briskly stomped away.

Diamond Tiara slipped through the iron gate and the front door of her home. It appeared that her mother had recently departed for the board meeting, and her father had yet to come home from his work. As such, there was little to disturb the silence in the house aside from her hoofsteps as she made her way to her room. When she got there, she flopped onto her bed and considered her confrontation with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

What bothered her the most was that Apple Bloom wasn’t wrong: she had been trying to be a different pony; trying the same thing that got her into the mess would never work to get her out. She just hadn’t realized it.

Just because she wanted things to change didn’t mean that they would. Unlike the lucky Cutie Mark Crusaders, with all their freedom to explore who they really were, she had very few options that her mother would approve of.

Shattered Heart

The house was nearly silent, save for the faint ticking of her bedroom clock and her own breathing. Diamond Tiara wrapped herself up in her blankets and savored the darkness and stillness of her room.

She had one, maybe two hours before her mother was due to return from the board meeting. That was how long she had to think of a way out.

Her best bet was to continue with her plan to remove Pip from office. She reminded herself that she could straighten everything else out after she solved the first problem.

Could she, though? Ever since the Twilight Time mess, every slip-up she made seemed worse and worse in the eyes of her mother. Also, the election didn’t just go poorly: she hadn’t seen the consequences of quite a few of her actions coming and, as a result, everything seemed to be unraveling. Further, just that her foresight had failed her at all was deeply disturbing.

Even if she fixed everything now, would that be enough? Her mother barely seemed to trust her to keep the situation in check. Maybe she was right. Supposing that she went through with her plan, what was to stop her from making worse mistakes in the future? Her best guess was that her parents wouldn’t approve of her like they used to until she regained the good graces of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Reaching that high was why she had fallen so far in the first place.

She turned, loosening her blanket wrap, and glared at her cutie mark. Wasn’t this what her special talent was for? Standing above them, steering their words and thoughts towards fulfilling her wishes? Wasn’t she supposed to be good at getting other ponies to do what she wanted?

Was she even sure that she knew who she really was?

She took the emptiness that followed that question as an answer.

At first, soon after Twilight Time, she figured it was Pip’s fault, or maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders’. After her parents’ reactions when she lost the election, she had wondered if they were part of the problem. No, the problem wasn’t that she was fighting her classmates or her parents. It was a far more hopeless endeavor: she was fighting herself.

She sank deep into her blankets as she felt her mood darken. It wasn’t the same hopelessness that overcame her on the bridge. This time, the back of her mind simply suggested that she give up. What else could she do?

After skulking in her room for the better part of an hour, Diamond Tiara gave in to her thirst and set out for the kitchen to find a drink. As she made her way down the stairwell, she noted how lifeless everything was. She had been home alone plenty of times before, but it wasn’t an exciting experience anymore.

She thought back to Spoony’s remark moments after Twilight Time, when Rumble had darkened a couple of nearby clouds with his mood. If she were a pegasus, she was pretty sure that she wouldn’t even need clouds to start with to darken her own.

She paused. When she had seen other ponies in positions of disappointment or hopelessness, she and Spoony had simply written them off as ‘weak’. Now, in such a similar position herself, she had doubts. Maybe they weren’t “weak”. Going off of her own experience, ”stupid” might fit better. Surely she would do better?

Her mother was right: small changes could have significant effects if one made them early enough. She might have been able to avoid the whole situation if she had been paying attention before everything fell apart, but she hadn’t been. Now, despite her best efforts, her failure still plagued her. Was that really any better?

She started for the kitchen again, but movement outside a nearby window caught her eye. She peeked through it, and saw Randolph pushing freshly-applied mulch around the flowers behind the house with a garden rake. She wasn’t quite alone.

About a dozen more steps found her in the kitchen, where she selected a bottle of apple juice. The kitchen didn’t have good seating options, so she carried it with her to the parlor.

She sank into a soft cushion and popped the bottle open. A few large gulps quenched her thirst, though the sweet drink did little to improve her mood. Putting the half-empty bottle on the table beside her, she flopped onto the arm of her chair.

“Ugh.”

Since she had no idea what to do with herself, she let her mind wander. It didn’t take long for it to wander to the bottle of apple juice sitting right in front of her. Apple Family apple juice. Almost every apple in Ponyville came from one of their trees.

One of her classmates lived there. She wondered if Apple Bloom had a helping hoof in the bottle of juice in front of her. Wouldn’t that be fitting? One of the blank-flanks that her mother so openly despised being at least partially responsible for a significant portion of the Rich Family’s drinks, though her father had said that “hard cider” wasn’t for young ponies. She wondered if that applied to making it, too.

An image of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trying their hooves at juicing apples and making a sticky mess floated through her mind.

Was that really all they did? Float from one idea to the next without any idea which might yield a cutie mark? How could they keep their heads on straight if they were really that desperate to find out who they were? She was having a hard enough time herself—

No...

Could she really admit to herself that she wasn’t any better than one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders? She couldn’t be, though. Her family had a higher status than any of theirs, and her allowance was definitely bigger, assuming they even had allowances.

But even with her cutie mark, she was just as lost. ‘Getting other ponies to do what she wanted’ had been her understanding of it until recently. If that had been the case, though, the election would have gone her way.

In that light, it was pretty hard to deny. In fact, it probably qualified her as worse. They didn’t even have their cutie marks: a solid, if pathetic, justification to be lost if ever there was one. She’d had her mark for over a year now, and only recently had she realized how clueless she really was. The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ quest for their cutie marks was more of a purpose than she had at the moment.

She spent the next few minutes emptying her bottle of juice and indulging in some self-pity.

As she got up to dispose of the bottle, she heard a door open. She made her way back to the kitchen. Randolph was there, washing up at the sink.

“Randolph?”

He dried his hooves on a towel and turned to her. “Yes, Ms. Tiara?”

She offered him the empty bottle. “Please take care of this for me.”

“Of course.”

She turned to leave, but Randolph’s voice held her back.

“Is there anything else you require?”

“No,” she replied, uneasy. “Why would there be?”

“You are upset.”

Her father liked Randolph. In part, it was because Randolph was a good friend of Stinkin’ Rich – her grandfather – but her father had always said that Randolph was more clever than he’d let on. She had always figured him to be a kooky old wisecracker, but he was right on the mark this time. She briefly considered testing how kooky he really was and telling him that she was fine, but it would get really awkward if he called her on it. If nothing else, she could tell him that she didn’t want his help or advice.

“Maybe.” She cursed herself for digging another hole. Now she had to think of something to say. “What makes you think that?”

“Your harsh tone suggests that there’s plenty you don’t want to talk about, Ms. Tiara. Given that I have barely said anything to you, and that which I have concerns your mood, I reason that you don’t want to talk about what you find to be an embarrassing and upsetting predicament.”

She huffed. “Then you shouldn’t be surprised that I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Of course.”

She stomped off, but before she left the room, Randolph spoke once again.

“I just thought that I could, perhaps, offer some perspective.”

Something about how... hopeful he sounded kept her from taking the last few steps. She turned back towards him. “What do you mean?”

“Your father dealt with a similar problem when he was your age. His father, Stinkin’, had pushed him to be a retail pony. Your father has a knack for the retail market now, but at the time, he hated it. The idea of moving objects around for money was pointless to him.

“It took him a few months to find his voice, but he spoke up about it. He told his father that he’d rather invest in ponies than lifeless objects. You can see how far he’s—”

“Are you saying that I should blow off what my mother says?”

“Not at all, Ms. Tiara!”

“Keep your stories. I have real problems to deal with.” She turned and made for the door.

“I only meant that you should tell them—”

She wasn’t quite upset enough to slam the door behind her, but she wasn’t gentle about it. She made her way back to her room and considered the day before her.

Pip would almost certainly be vulnerable as soon as the board meeting finished, but exploiting that fact later the same day seemed a good way to come off as petty and jealous. She’d have to wait until school the next day.

When her mother came home, she would lay out her plan, simple as it was.

She exhaled.

She would show her mother that she still could come out on top: that she was still worth something.

A faint sliver of the sun finally peeked over the horizon. Any other time, or any other pony, and the picture outside the window would probably have been greatly appreciated for its beauty alone. Diamond Tiara, however, had spent nearly an hour sitting in her bed, staring out the window. To her, the sun’s rise was nothing more than an indication that she could get ready for and go to school without raising any eyebrows.

She let the blankets fall down around her and slid down the side of her bed.

Her mother hadn’t said much after the board meeting, but reported that Pip performed exactly as expected. Her father had picked up the conversation at the table, but neither she nor her mother had much interest in talking.

Sleep had been scarce. Even though Pip’s doom would be sealed by just a few words from her, ‘confident’ miserably failed to describe how she felt. She’d given up on sleeping after she awoke for the third time, opting to simply wait for the sun to rise.

Numb. That’s how she felt while she prepared for school. She didn’t think about what she was doing, she didn’t pay any attention to her breakfast, and she hardly noticed the morning chill when she stepped outside.

The walk to school seemed exceptionally long, as though the path she normally walked had been stretched out, along with the air she breathed. Something in the back of her mind asked what she was doing.

Like so many times in the past few weeks, she didn’t have an answer.

She knew what she thought she wanted to do, what her mother wanted her to do, but part of her didn’t seem to believe that she was actually going to do it. If she did it, she knew that Pip would be a laughingstock, to be embarrassed for weeks to come. She knew that her classmates wouldn’t really accept her as class president, even if she won back the title. She knew that the confrontation with the Cutie Mark Crusaders that would surely follow would force her to publicly shame them for backing such a worthless candidate. Was that the source of her doubt?

Since she hadn’t spent much of the night sleeping, she had thought a little about what Randolph had said, but that had left her questioning even more so what was best for her.

She shook the thoughts out of her head. Even if she wasn’t sure of it, it still was for the best, regardless of any doubts that his words may have given her, right?

Frustrated, she put her thoughts on hold until she got to the schoolhouse. When she arrived, the first thing she noticed was that Pip wasn’t there.

That wasn’t something that she had planned for, though it would make things easier. She could call him out for the useless dolt that he was and then rhetorically ask why he didn’t show up the day after the board meeting. He wouldn’t be there to defend himself, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders couldn’t save him if they tried.

So what if it would be compounding Pip’s shame? He had earned it, right? She silently cursed herself for asking more stupid questions. For all the effort she put into knowing how best to convince her classmates that she should be president, she had spent an awful lot of it convincing herself.

Behind the schoolhouse, in the yard, a few other ponies had already gathered. Now all she had to do was start a rumor or two about what had happened at the board meeting – based on fact, of course – and everything would be set for her to crush Pip out of office when school let out. Perhaps even as early as recess, if her classmates were as interested in their playground equipment as they had let on.

Her plan hadn’t worked quite as well as she had hoped, but that wasn’t to say that it wasn’t working well. A short conversation with a less-than terrified Dinky was uncomfortable, but whispers of the results found their way back to her ears after a few minutes. Pip had showed up mere seconds before the bell rang, but he looked rather subdued when he flopped onto his desk.

While Cheerilee's presentation on Mustangia’s trade embargo against Equestria during an early period of Celestia’s monarchy contained interesting bits of politics, it failed to fully capture Diamond Tiara’s attention. She couldn’t help but glance around every so often as inconspicuously as she could, to see what her classmates might be thinking.

Pip didn’t change much. So far as she could tell, he was trying not to show it, but something was on his mind. One time, when she glanced at the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom had been looking right back at her. They both turned away promptly, but it had been an unsettling reminder of the last conversation that she had with them.

All the while, at the front of the class, sat Silver Spoon. Spoony never turned away from Miss Cheerilee throughout class.

It hurt. More than she wanted to admit.

She could apologize. At the same time, showing “such weakness”, even towards a pony of near equal social standing, almost certainly would make its way back to her mother and ruin everything anyway. At least then it wouldn’t be her fault that they weren’t friends.

She sighed softly to herself and brushed her guilt to the side, along with the plethora of other things she didn’t want to think about. She knew that at some point she’d have to sort them all out, but it wasn’t that time yet.

Cheerilee announced recess. It took her a moment to realize that Cheerilee had wrapped up her lecture a few moments ago.

Now it was time to see if the rumors had circulated enough to instigate Pip’s fall on their own. If all went well, during recess or after school, she would need to do little more than make an appearance while the class was upset with him. Make a suggestion that they remove him from office, maybe even make a promise she was better than him. She did tell them that before they elected him.

As she stepped out into the schoolyard, she quickly noted that while most of her classmates were minding their own business, Pip was in conversation with a couple of them, and nopony in that cluster looked cheerful. For the time being, she didn’t wander into the middle of things. If he gathered enough of a crowd, then she’d move in.

There wasn’t a lot to do without functioning playground equipment, though. She didn’t expect it to take long.

Picking up a nearby discarded issue of the Foal Free Press, she sat down and buried herself behind it. It was from last week, but she didn’t need everypony watching her stand around, waiting for an opportunity. That would be awkward.

A couple of minutes passed, during which she took a few peeks at Pip’s situation. Dinky and Rumble were in the cluster now, but Pip didn’t look any worse for it. A few more were nearby, watching.

Soon. Their classmates continued to gather. Recess would be the beginning of Pip’s end of office, and by the end of the day, they would be begging for her to take back the position. Then…

Then…

She’d go home and tell her mother that she had won. But then what? Her life didn’t go anywhere after that. Even if her mother forgave everything – which wouldn’t happen – she couldn’t resume the life that she had before. Not now that she had already lost everything. If she were handed it all back again, she would still remember. She couldn’t live in blissful nescience like she had before.

Diamond Tiara lowered her paper slightly and looked out towards Pip, now surrounded by their classmates.

This could be a turning point in her life. She could make things better for herself.

He might hold his own now, but a few words would be all it would take to crush him, beyond hope that even the Cutie Mark Crusaders could save his position.

And it would mean nothing.

Her heart was pounding. It would be easy. Was that what scared her?

For once, nopony here expected anything of her. Was that obscurity – the worst thing that could happen to a socialite – or was it freedom? A new chance?

Things could go back to the way they were, where she had already figured she wouldn’t fit back in, or she could try something new, and risk upsetting her mother and releasing a monster that Tartarus held no comparison for if she didn’t find another way to work things out.

The minutes slipped by one after another as she watched the crowd around Pip Squeak. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had joined him, and nopony seemed overly upset. She just watched as he conversed with them, though, still locked in her own fight.

Could she ever hope to win Spoony back if she held to her old ways? It didn’t seem likely.

At this point, she had one choice: to please her parents and endure the scorn of everypony else in her life, or to start anew with everypony else and endure the scorn of her parents.

She held her breath.

The bell rang.

Her chance had passed.

Heart of Diamond

Diamond Tiara jumped. Was school over already? Recess was only moments ago, wasn’t it? The clock stated that it had actually been hours, but it felt like it had been minutes.

It didn’t help that she had directed almost all of her focus on maintaining something that resembled steady breath and steady hooves.

Everypony around her seemed concerned only with getting out and enjoying the rest of their day. She sat in place while they milled around and chattered. As far as she was concerned, going home could wait. She dared not think about what might come of her actions, or rather, lack thereof, when she dutifully informed her mother of the day’s events. She could lie about it, but that wouldn’t help her in the long run. It would take her mother a day or two at best to find out.

She wasn’t simply terrified; part of her was jittery with excitement. While stalling made her feel more of a coward than anything else, she had effectively made a decision, even if the Tiara-of-that-moment could blame it on lack of time.

The schoolhouse was nearly vacated. Staying in her seat any longer would probably lead to an uncomfortable inquiry from Cheerilee, so she got up, pointed herself in the direction of the door, and numbly walked out. Nothing had ever elicited this level of anticipation from her. Not even the statue that she had been promised less than a week earlier.

Nothing had elicited this kind of dread before, either. While the last few days had been full of it, now she felt the culmination of all of it. Everything that she had thought, said, and done in the last few days had lead to her decision, but she still didn’t know what to do next.

Her classmates had dispersed somewhat when she made it outside. Pip was nowhere to be seen, and while she was a little curious what his crowd had thought at recess, she couldn’t spare it much thought. She had more imminent things to think about. Namely, how she could make anything of herself now. She hadn’t specifically rejected her parents’ ideals, but she couldn’t go through with their wishes. In the immediate future, the former may become necessary, but if she told them… what would happen to her?

“Hey, um, Tiara?”

The voice sounded like Scootaloo’s. Sure enough, a quick glance showed that the troublemaking trio of Crusaders was following her like her own personal raincloud. This couldn’t end well… could it?

“You’re probably still upset about the last time we talked...” Sweetie Belle said.

“... and we noticed you watchin’ Pip Squeak durin’ recess, but you didn’t do anything,” Apple Bloom finished. “We put two and two together.”

“You’re going to be in big trouble, aren’t you?” Sweetie Belle asked, a touch of concern in her voice.

Diamond Tiara stopped. It almost wasn’t a choice. A potent mix of her fear and surprise gripped her from inside. They weren’t even slightly upset that she had yelled at them.

They were also right, but why did they care so much?

“What’s it to you?” She asked sharply. Maybe not as sharply as she imagined it.

“Look, Tiara,” Scootaloo said, “you’ve teased and bullied everypony for years. I’m not going to say that that Tiara didn’t earn every bit of trouble coming your way.”

“But since you’re tryin’ to change and all,” Apple Bloom continued, “we want to help, ‘cause the new Taira probably doesn’t deserve any of it.”

“We know there’s not much we can do,” Sweetie Belle said, “because Rarity says it’s between you and your parents—”

Diamond Tiara turned to Sweetie Belle, horrified. “You told your sister?”

“I didn’t mention you specifically! I promise!”

She put a hoof to her forehead. This was just great. Any tiny chance that she had of surviving her situation had just vanished. Her mother would hate her for associating with blank flanks, her father would be disappointed that she had become such a failure, and the school would undoubtedly know all about it within a week.

All of Ponyville would probably know by then, too. Any trouble within the Rich family – given their high social standing in both Ponyville and Canterlot – would be desirable gossip content.

That thought didn’t make her feel any worse, though. What was the difference if a few more ponies knew about it? She still had to confront her mother about it, and she had already earned the worst possible outcome from that a while ago.

“So what? Do you think a conversation with my parents is going to fix anything?”

All three of the Crusaders shifted their weight.

After a moment, Apple Bloom said, “It works for us.”

“It doesn’t work that way in my family! You’ll probably somehow make things worse.” Another thought pushed its way into the front of her mind. At recess, she had stalled, nothing more. It wasn’t some grand act of repentance. “And why are you so convinced that I’m trying to change?”

“We’re not convinced that you’re trying that much,” Scootaloo replied, “but you are changing. The Diamond Tiara we used to know would have made a huge scene after Pip’s meeting with the school board.”

“We were a little worried that you might try and go after us, too,” Sweetie Belle said.

She took a deep breath to stave off the dizzy feeling that was building in her. Now that she couldn’t please her mother, it had become much more clear how everypony else felt about her.

She struggled to keep her legs from shaking as she realized that her recent troubles had been in the making for a long time. Nopony had helped her when they finally manifested because she had driven them all away.

Even Spoony.

She hadn’t simply become a failure in the last few days. She had been a failure for years, possibly even her whole life, and she hadn’t realized it until something hadn’t gone her way.

“But… why?” She could barely keep her voice steady. “After years…”

“Years of actin’ the same,” Apple Bloom said. “That’s how we know you’re different.”

Scootaloo turned away slightly. “And as weird as it sounds, we felt bad for you.”

She finally lost her struggle to maintain composure, and a tear slid down her cheek. It was only the first. She would have rather just about anything else happened, but she was now crying in front of the Crusaders.

As her tears continued to flow, she managed, “I don’t know what to do...”

She was lost in herself, and Sweetie Belle was hugging her. Then Scootaloo and Apple Bloom joined in. She was now the center of a large embrace, and had no idea how to respond. It was uncommon enough for her to share an actual hug with Spoony, let alone her own parents.

Yet now three ponies had deemed her enough of a friend to be worth trying to comfort… and as embarrassing as it was, it was working. She couldn’t help but appreciate that they were there for her, even if only in that moment.

A moment later, the Crusaders broke off of the embrace, and she was left to herself again, reassured, perhaps, but still rather embarrassed.

“Things can’t get any worse for you if you talk to your parents, right?” Sweetie Belle asked.

At that moment, no part of her was less than certain that things could get worse. “They probably—” she started.

“We’ll still be your friends,” Apple Bloom said over her protest, “at least, if the new Diamond Tiara’s here to stay.”

As she considered Apple Bloom’s words, it became clear that she had no experience with this level of friendship, which made weighing it against everything else she had been dealing with nigh impossible.

Still, if they were promising not to hate her, no matter what happened with her parents, that was at least three fewer angry ponies that she had to worry about.

“If you want, we’ll even come with you. Your parents don’t scare us,” Scootaloo said.

Habit, more than anything, elicited a frantic response from her. “No! I’ll take care of it on my own… I guess.”

“I was joking,” Scootaloo replied, a slight grin now on her face. “But if you don’t, it would be a great opportunity to make up for some of your teasing… and help a friend.”

She let out a long sigh. “Fine. You win. I’ll talk to mom and dad. I’m going to have to tell them that I ruined my chance to reclaim presidency from Pip Squeak anyway.” She gave the Crusaders an uncertain smile. “What’s a little treason on top of that anyway?”

There was a moment’s pause as they considered her words, then Sweetie Belle said, “If you’re really that worried about your parents, when I talked to Rarity earlier, she said that there are rules for parents, and that they aren’t allowed to go too far with their punishments. I don’t know what happens if they do, or what exactly ‘too far’ is, but they get in big trouble.”

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom glanced at each other, then at her. The silence lingered.

“That's… not really comforting, Sweetie Belle. Besides, my mother’s special talent could have been ‘going just far enough’.”

“I guess it runs in the family,” Scootaloo said.

She winced. Apple Bloom gave Scootaloo a sharp nudge.

“Ow— Uh... what I mean to say is that you’re a tough pony, Tiara. I’m sure you will be able to stand up for yourself.”

“Thanks, I guess?” she replied. “But I’m not sure how to convince them to just let me be, or if I even can.”

Apple Bloom put a hoof up on her shoulder. “You should give yourself a little more credit, Tiara.”

“Besides,” Sweetie Belle added, “maybe when your parents realize that you aren’t the pony they thought you were, they’ll be more understanding.”

She rolled her eyes, but the Crusaders continued.

“They can’t deny it or try to stop it from happenin’, either.” Apple Bloom nodded to the other Crusaders. “This right here proves that. Whether your mother likes it or not, you’re talkin’ to us, and even takin’ us seriously for once.”

“Which is something that the old Tiara wouldn’t ever do, no matter what her parents thought,” Scootaloo finished.

“But regardless of who I am, my parents have their own opinions on what I should do.” She shook her head. “It’s what I should do when they disapprove, not if they disapprove.”

“Well, even if you’re convinced things aren’t goin’ to improve, you should always try,” Apple Bloom said. “And so what if you fail? Just think of everythin’ that won’t fall apart if you do, and try somethin’ else after that.”

“We do it all the time to earn our cutie marks,” Scootaloo added. “Since your point of failure is your family, you can’t really count on that, but what about friends?”

“Also, if things don’t work out, you can talk to Princess Twilight,” Sweetie Belle said. “She’s the Princess of Friendship, after all, and I’m pretty sure you can be friends with your family.”

Just thinking about talking to Princess Twilight Sparkle threatened to make her blush. Asking for help after she had made a fool of herself in the Princess’s own home was one of the most embarrassing things she could think of doing at that point. “I’ll... keep that in mind.”

“As for friends… I didn’t really have any, aside from Silver Spoon, and you all saw how that went.”

“That’s hogwash!” Apple Bloom said. “All you gotta do is apologise to her.”

She scoffed. “All? She’s furious at me!”

“Hurt, more like,” Apple Bloom responded.

“Apparently, you’d be surprised how forgiving ponies can be when you aren’t still insulting them,” Scootaloo said. “Just look at us, talking to you, and you haven’t even apologised yet!”

Nopony spoke immediately after, and the pause drew out.

When she found her voice, barely, she managed to say, “I am sorry… for all the teasing I did.”

It was rather liberating, but followed by a healthy dose of embarrassment. Putting her feelings out for scrutiny was something that her mother hadn’t just warned her not to do, but something that she had already taken to heart to avoid doing on her own. Even though it seemed appropriate in the moment, it still felt awkward.

There was nothing she could do to keep from blushing this time.

Rather than mock her about any of it, though, Scootaloo briefly wrapped a leg around her in another small embrace. “See? You’re already on your way to fixing everything up between you and Silver Spoon.”

“Gee… Thanks.”

None of the Crusaders responded immediately.

She could no longer ignore the growing feeling that she should get back home before her mother became upset. Well, more upset.

“I guess I’d better go now,” she said. “The longer I keep mother waiting, the less likely it is that anything good will happen.”

“Good luck,” Apple Bloom said.

“Not that you’ll need it,” Scootaloo added.

“And remember that they’re your parents. I don’t think they actually hate you,” Sweetie Belle finished.

She shook her head slightly and turned towards the heart of Ponyville. Towards her home, and her future.

Heart-to-Heart

She was ready for this. She had spent the walk home running through everything that she or her parents could say, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders had even provided her with the small glimmer of hope that even if the imminent conversation went poorly, she may still have options.

Yet now that the iron gate to her home stood before her, it seemed even more ominous than when it was decorated for the darkest of Nightmare Nights. Diamond Tiara could almost hear her mother call out her name in a voice dripping with cold disappointment.

She tried to relax her body. If her mother really did call out, she was poised to jump all the way to Canterlot. A few long, slow breaths steadied her. It wasn’t “now or never”, because “never” wasn’t an option. She was going to start another chapter of her life regardless of the outcome of this conversation. She couldn’t fail this time. Not completely, at least. That had to count for something.

She pushed the gate open. This was it: no more obstacles, no more worries. It wasn’t quite as easy as it sounded, so she focused her thoughts on getting to, and then through, the front door.

Her mother wasn’t waiting, which was less of a surprise after all that had happened in the last few days. Randolph, however, was.

“Ms. Tiara, you may find your parents in the parlor.”

Parents? Father was home already?

She nodded, took a step, then glanced back at Randolph. Were her parents waiting on her, or had Randolph told her for her own sake? Before she managed a question, Randolph gave her a slight smile and slipped out of the foyer with more grace than she normally expected from somepony whose age was written in question marks.

She pushed her uncertainty aside as best she could and continued onward.

When she entered the parlor, though, she didn’t find the harsh expressions and righteous attitude that she normally encountered. Her mother sat in a chair across the room, and closer to her side, and her father occupied the sofa from behind an issue of The Hoofington Post that proclaimed “Royal Guard Refutes Rumors of Infiltration of Restricted Archives”. From behind it, she heard him talking.

“... even though you did cut ties with your mother, you still carry a lot of her values.”

“I’ve told you already, that’s what I grew up with, and all the stress of carrying everything you’ve been ignoring hasn’t helped anything!”

“Barnyard Bargains is doing better—”

“—better than our family.”

Filthy hid behind his newspaper. “Perhaps.”

Things didn’t seem right to Tiara, especially since her father was already home from work. Still, she had to start somewhere. “I’m home, and we need to talk.”

Her mother jumped slightly, and her father sat up in a hurried manner.

“Tiara!” he said.

From the looks of it, they hadn’t been expecting her... but it was already well past the time she normally arrived from school. If both of her parents had expected to be busy, they would have warned her, like they always did. Granted, she may have taken off rather quickly that morning, but so far as experience had to offer, Randolph didn’t mind any time of day, and it wouldn’t have been the first time he had been the one to inform her of guests, gatherings, or anything else that she had to keep in mind when she came back from school later that day.

Not that there were any ponies other than her parents in the room at the moment. Father coming home early was uncommon, but not unheard of, though that plus the tense mood of the room didn’t bode well.

She tried not to shiver at the thought of the moments that were surely soon-to-follow, but given how much she had to have been on their minds recently, the idea that they planned on putting her back in line didn’t seem unreasonable.

“I, uh, think you’re right, Tiara,” he father replied, looking her almost in the eye.

“Indeed,” her mother said, whose glare remained directed at her father.

She did her best to ignore the chill that ran down her spine. She had planned for this, hadn’t she? No matter what, she would not let them hold her back. Still, her father lacked his usual air of confidence, and her mother’s glare was, for once, directed at somepony else.

Whatever it was, they could fight it out after she was done. If she was going to get any traction, she couldn’t let them start this conversation like every other one, in a way that always seemed to end up with them talking to her rather than with her.

Right on track, her father started another one of those ‘talks’.

“I know you’ve had a hard time these last few weeks—”

To her surprise, though, her mother beat her to a scoff and rebuttal. “‘Know’ is a strong word for somepony who wasn’t even there for most of it.”

“I already told you I’m sorry, but—”

“Mother, father,” she said as she realized that she had to seize her moment before they got any momentum, “I can’t even count the problems that being your ‘perfect little daughter’ has caused me anymore. Just trying to meet your expectations has nearly ruined my life.” A little dramatic, perhaps, but she figured that the truth behind it was justification enough.

The shift in mood was subtle, but the following silence was reminiscent of the unknown after one of her first forays onto a frozen pond in winter as a little foal, when she had heard and felt a deep cracking noise around her. This time, though, her parents weren’t on her side, and it had been a long time since either of them had reassured her that anything was going to be okay.

The silence continued far longer than she had expected. Why weren’t they defending themselves or trying to shut her down? Was her mother avoiding looking at her out of... shame? It dawned on her that, perhaps, between the three of them, none of them actually knew what to say next.

The silence lingered for a couple of seconds longer before her father finally spoke.

“That... has been a point of, uh, contention, lately, between me and your mother.”

“Your father and I come from families with… different values, and it seems that they come into conflict when he spends more time working than everything else put together.” Her mother’s glare was back, but it didn’t carry the intensity that it had before.

“And your mother turned to the questionable parenting methods of her mother to make it easier even though she moved to Ponyville to put that behind us.”

Her mother appeared subdued, but quietly remarked, “I would not have if he had spent more time with his family.”

“I think we’ve… uh, mostly resolved our conflict,” her father said. “And I’m sorry.”

Diamond raised an eyebrow. Just because her father had said it didn’t mean either of them—

“I apologise for the expectations that we... that I placed on you. If you have listened to a single thing that I have tried to teach you, you should understand the outside social pressures that demand certain standards… though my way of achieving them has been unfair to all of us…”—her mother gave a reluctant sigh—“especially to you, Tiara.”

But they couldn’t actually be sorry. It… had to be something else.

Right?

Had she ever heard her mother use such a soft tone of voice?

And did it matter if they were sorry? Pity wasn’t what she had come for. Would anything come of their words? What had she come for? She hadn’t even made any demands yet. What was the plan now?

Her parents were looking right at her.

Diamond Tiara blinked, and realized that she had been scrutinizing their response for more than a minute… and they still hadn’t said a thing. The next realization simultaneously twisted up her insides and released most of the tension she had built up in her posture: They were waiting – possibly even hopefully – for her reaction.

This wasn’t anything like what she had expected. “You hated me yesterday, and now you’re… sorry?”

Her father flinched. “Tiara,” he said, with a slightly dumbstruck expression, “we have never hated you.”

“But what were all the punishments for? Why were you so upset when I lost the election? Why aren’t you ever on my side?”

Curiously, her mother was shrinking back a bit.

Her father continued. “I told you directly not to get too wound up about the election for class president. The situation had already become… complicated, but your mother and I have had several discussions recently. If we were upset, it wasn’t with you specifically.”

“There has been agitation on both sides during our… ‘discussions’,” her mother added with a small roll of her eyes.

Her parents’ responses didn’t help her to untangle her rapidly jumbling thoughts, which might even have been easier if they weren’t being so much more pleasant than usual. Their mildly worried expressions a moment later suggested that some part of her own had informed them of her dissatisfaction.

From the back of her mind, she wondered just how much of what they had just said was true. If it was all true, then perhaps it was time to lay out her demands. If it wasn’t… then it was probably time to make her demands anyway.

“So, am I just supposed to just accept your apology and move on?”

After a brief pause, her mother replied, “if you want to.”

“That is to say,” her father quickly added, “you aren’t supposed to do anything specific. To put it plainly, we made a few mistakes a while back, and in the last couple of days, we’ve been working to resolve them… but a consensus has been somewhat difficult to reach. I thought that I had made this at least a bit clear when I talked to you before the election.”

Diamond Tiara thought back a bit. She did remember that her father had said something about her not needing to win the election, and that she hadn’t much believed anything else he had said after that.

“Does this mean that you won’t get upset with me if I make choices that you don’t agree with?” In a nutshell, that was what she wanted, wasn’t it? Even the Cutie Mark Crusaders could make mistakes without suffering needlessly at the hooves of their parents.

Her father squirmed a little. “Well, uh… I think that depends on why we disagree. We plan to avoid making the same mistakes, but that doesn’t mean that we are going to give you free reign.“

She tried not to roll her eyes too dramatically.

“Alright,” her father relented. “We won’t hold you to any standards that would be unreasonable to ask of most other foals your age.”

“Fine,” she replied. “That’s good enough… for now.”

There was a subtle release of tension in the room following her words, as though some spell that kept them in the room had been broken. Given the headache that she had from trying to understand everything that had transpired over the past couple of days, she didn’t plan on lingering.

“I’m going to go find Randolph,” she said. Her mother frowned.

Before dinner or not, if they were serious about what they had just said, she was getting a cookie. At least this once.

Dinner had been awkward. She wasn’t surprised, really. At least Randolph hadn’t tried to patch things up as they ate in uncomfortable silence; there probably wasn’t anything he could do.

When Diamond Tiara woke up the next morning, everything seemed clearer. She didn’t have to go to school, as it was the weekend, but she did want to talk to a few of her classmates. Informing her parents that she was going out for a while was uncomfortable mostly because she wasn’t entirely sure if she was asking for permission, or simply letting them know. They didn’t object, at least.

It was definitely going to take some time before things settled. Before she trusted them again. They probably knew that, too.

When she was properly away from the house, she took a breath of the cool mid-morning air. Only days ago, she would have been making her way through the morning chill to Spoony’s house. Her one and only friend. Today, she had a different destination in mind.

Or she would, if she knew where one could find the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a Saturday morning. The back of her mind, full of now-obsolete habits, jested that she would only need to follow the stench of failure, but she was pretty sure that it would just lead right back to herself.

With a roll of her eyes, she noted to herself that she’d have to try and clear out all of her witty remarks, comebacks, and… probably especially the bundle of lies that she knew would cause some damage in the wrong ears. It was a shame, though, since there were a few that she had never gotten to use that she was almost proud of.

Back to thinking on her problem, she knew Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo would probably be accompanied by their parents if she went knocking on their door, and Apple Bloom might be tied up in some farm thing. That was assuming that they were still at home.

So far as she knew, the only places that they usually hung out at were Sugarcube Corner, and their clubhouse, with their clubhousebeing the most likely, given how many strange things they did, and how infrequently she had seen them elsewhere. They had to be plotting somewhere.

She resolved to check their clubhouse, and if they weren’t there, try to catch Apple Bloom’s attention if she was outside. Failing that, Surgarcube Corner seemed like it would be a great next stop for multiple reasons.

As she walked towards Sweet Apple Acres, she considered the unlikeliness of her present action. She almost found it amusing that she hoped to find the Cutie mark Crusaders to thank them as friends. Days ago it was different, but even yesterday morning felt as though it was from another time altogether. A week ago could have been from another life.

And here she was, walking through the stands of Ponyville’s iconic Apple trees. No school trip. No parents prodding her. She was there for entirely alien purposes, and, for once, not a single hair stood on end, no vein was ready to pop, and no stupid bunny suit waited for her to put it on. This was her trip, and she wasn’t afraid.

That was what she wanted to thank the Crusaders for.

Admitting that she had fallen that far, and that the they had played such a brief yet important role in her recent past would be embarrassing, even though they already knew.

They already knew the first part, at least.

She arrived at the clubhouse, but it appeared to be unoccupied. She took a quick look inside to be sure. Her disappointment mixed with the idea of getting a treat from Sugarcube Corner, leaving her with the all-too-familiar feeling of an empty heart. No Spoony, and no Crusaders. Without anypony to enjoy it with, she wasn’t convinced that she would actually follow through and buy herself anything.

With any luck, she’d simply run into one of the Crusaders on her way over. They weren’t gone, she just hadn’t found them yet. Still, she figured on swinging closer to the Apple Family house, just in case Apple Bloom was nearby.

Even before she could see anything beyond the next dozen trees in front of her, she made out Apple Bloom’s voice. What Apple Bloom was saying was unintelligible. When she made it out of the trees, in view of the house, a dog started barking. Tiara almost let her hoof up to her forehead. She had completely forgotten that they had a dog. Now everypony there would take notice of her.

Sure enough, Granny Smith stuck her head out of a window a moment later... and waved. She was somewhat thankful that the cool air kept the heat out of her cheeks, but doubted that the same could be said for color.

The barking was closer. As soon as she realized, something fluffy and wet pushed against her, hard enough for her to lose her balance. “Whoa—ooph!”

“Winona!” Apple Bloom called from somewhere up above. “Calm down. You’re gonna lick her to death.”

The assault ceased promptly. Diamond Tiara tried not to think too hard about her partially damp coat as she pulled herself off the ground. “Ugh… Get some disinfectant, or at least hot water.”

Apple Bloom rubbed the dog behind its ears. “It’s not that bad. Anyway, what’s up, Tiara?”

“Well, I was hoping to talk to you girls...” She didn’t really want to have to repeat herself, though. “Together?”

Despite neither Scootaloo nor Sweetie Belle being at their homes, Apple Bloom took little time to find them. Now they sat around one of Sugarcube Corner’s less conspicuous tables, each with a large sundae before them. Diamond Tiara was the only one of them who had to consider her toppings, as apparently the Crusaders came often enough that they only had to ask for ‘the usual’.

“Did you talk to your parents?” Sweetie Belle asked shortly after they settled in.

“How’d it go?” Apple Bloom added.

“Dey idn't gwound you,” Scootaloo said through a mouthful of her ice cream. Fortunately, she swallowed before continuing. “So it couldn't have been too bad.”

“Uh… well, I talked to them last night, and it didn’t exactly go as I planned,” Tiara said. “Things went… better, I guess.”

She tried not to shrink back too much at the round of their cheering that followed, but they were turning a few heads. “It doesn’t mean that everything between us is fixed now… but, they might get better over time.”

“So you got all the bad stuff out in the open, right?” Apple Bloom asked. “I remember Bic Mac and Applejack didn’t wanna talk to each other for a couple‘a days once until Granny made ‘em talk out their problems.” Sweetie Belle quietly asked Apple Bloom a question that Diamond Tiara couldn’t make out, but the reply gave her a reasonable guess as to what was asked: “I think it was two barns ago, the one we got next to the house was due for a good cleanin’, and Big Mac got rid of a few too many ‘potentially useful’ tools.”

Not quite sure why she felt compelled to know, Tiara asked for more. “What happened after?”

“They tried to yell at each other from what I heard. I think they forgot all about it a week later.”

She sighed to herself in relief. Sure, the Apple Family was well-known for their close bonds with each other, but their advantage aside, it did relieve her to think that it was at least possible for some ponies to repair their relationships, even if it had only been broken for a few days.

This still prompted an interesting thought: the Cutie Mark Crusaders had been the recipients of her teasing for far longer than she had considered her relationship with her parents ‘broken’, yet here they were.

“There’s still so much I don’t understand,” she said.

Sweetie Belle raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Well… every time I think about how I used to be even a few days ago, I feel like I’m looking into the life of somepony else. I don’t even know if I know how to be me… whoever that is.

“And my parents weren’t angry or upset at me like I thought they would be. Father said that they had talked about it for days already, but I didn’t notice any change in how they acted.”

She took a breath, careful not to let it imply that she was done.

“And then there’s you. I still don’t understand why you’re willing to set aside everything I’ve done over the last few years; why you’re here, talking to me now… or why I want to say ‘thank you’, as a friend.”

“When did you become so sappy?”

Scootaloo got a sharp nudge from Sweetie Belle.

“You’re welcome... I think,” Sweetie Belle replied.

After a just a moment of silence, Apple Bloom asked, “That was you sayin’ thanks, right?”

Diamond Tiara hadn’t been counting the number of times she’d embarrassed herself over the last several days, but the number almost certainly rivaled her allowance. Or at least, the allowance she used to have. She wasn’t clear on what was going to happen between her and her parents with those details.

To answer Apple Bloom’s question, she said, “Yeah, that’s why I wanted to meet with you girls today. I don’t think I’d have made it work without knowing that at least somepony supported me… even if it was only you three.”

Sweetie Belle’s smile vanished. “Hey!”

“No no I don’t mean it like that,” Tiara hastily added. “I mean… nopony else cared....” Not even Spoony.

The silence lingered long enough for the Crusaders to shift uncomfortably.

“What’s on your mind, Tiara?” Scootaloo eventually asked.

She sighed. She’d come this far, why not a little farther? “Well, um… Spoo— uh, Silver Spoon and I… aren’t exactly friends anymore, and it’s my fault.”

“Weren’t you listenin’ before when we told you that you aren’t the same Diamond Tiara that we used to know?” Apple Bloom pushed her sundae aside and continued. “So far as we’re concerned, This Tiara didn’t spend all her time thinkin’ up new ways to bully us. This Tiara’s tryin’ to make the best decisions she can. The old Tiara who made all of those bad choices is gone. I bet that’s why you feel like you’re lookin’ at somepony else’s life.”

“I gotta admit,” Scootaloo added, “you changed pretty quick on us. It’s still a little weird for us, too..”

“I think if we can see that about you, Silver Spoon could,” Sweetie Belle said. “She might forgive you if you talked to her.”

Diamond Tiara looked down to her hooves. The Crusaders probably wouldn’t think that she found them interesting for a long time, but it gave her a moment to come to terms with what she had just heard. She could apologise to Spoony, but would it help? No… that wasn’t that right thought. She should apologize to Spoony, even if it didn’t help. If she could improve her relationship with her parents, rebuilding her friendship with Spoony would be relatively simple.

“Okay, then. I still have one more question.”

Rather than ask what it was, the only sound that came from any of the Crusaders was Scootaloo’s attempts to get the last of her sundae out of the bottom of her dish.

She continued after a moment. “I don’t really understand how Father could be telling the truth when he said that they were talking about my problems for days, as if they were already on my side that whole time. All I’ve seen them do is talk about how much to punish me....”

And at the time, that seemed like a bad thing. Now it was starting to make sense. She continued eating the ice cream in front of her, feeling a bit sheepish for not putting those thoughts together before.

“I don’t suppose you were trying to see the worst in that?” Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle added, “It does sound like the kind of thing that would be bad, but doesn’t that fit together? Your parents might have been talking about in a good way. Well… in a less bad way.”

“I don’t know,” Diamond Tiara said. “It’s all been a lot to take in, but I think things will make more sense soon. Maybe I was a little bit upset with them at the time, which might have… changed how I looked at things.”

She looked down at her own sundae to see only another bite or two of ice cream remaining, half melted into a puddle at the bottom of her dish. Now that she had covered everything that she had in mind, the conversation seemed to be drawing to a natural close. Some part of her mind presented the next most important task of the day: talking to Spoony.

The last of her sundae disappeared, and so far as she could tell, so had theirs, even though she hadn’t noticed them eating much. There had been several things on her mind, though.

“Thanks, girls. I think you’ve helped a lot, actually... again.”

“Don’t worry about it, Tiara,” Apple Bloom replied, getting up off of her seat. “While it is kinda nice to hear our former bully makin’ up for everythin’, we like helpin’ out whenever we can anyway.”

“Yeah, especially that first part,” Scootaloo added in a rather cheerful tone.

Tiara turned to glare at Scootaloo, whose slightly smug smile reminded her that while everything may have been forgiven, it had not been forgotten. And now the tables had turned.

She tried to sidestep out of Scootaloo’s attention, but her hoof met her chair, and let her know all about it. When she had recovered, she said, “I, uh… should probably get going. There’s something else I want to do today.”

They engaged in another round of goodbyes, and she made her way through Sugarcube Corner. Behind her, she heard the Cutie Mark Crusaders conversing again, ending in a collective “Yeah!”.

She hadn’t quite yet made it to the door when something gave her a tingly feeling. A really tingly feeling. At her hooves, she noticed her own shadow cast before her, despite the sunlight coming through the front door. The few ponies in the building gasped, and she turned around to see what was happening.

She winced at the very bright white spot right about where the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood a moment ago. Something told her to run, maybe get help for her friends, but at the same moment, the light died down. The Crusaders were still there, and they looked a bit disoriented.

And they had cutie marks.

The next gasp startled her, because it was hers.

Ponies were milling about Ponyville now, in preparation for the cute-ceañera that Pinkie Pie would promptly be throwing for the Cutie mark Crusaders. Diamond Tiara made her way through them, her desire to talk to Spoony still in mind. The Crusaders’ marks perplexed her about as much is it could perplex a pony whose mind had recently been stretched like hers. Getting marks simultaneously wasn’t unheard of, but the similarity in their marks, while still being unique, was curious.

She still wanted to talk to Spoony, though. She had promised to attend her friends’ cute-ceañera before she left.

Before long, she stood before a very familiar door. This time, unlike her own door the day before, she wasn’t afraid. She had come to fix what she had broken.

She knocked. Hoofsteps – Spoony’s – followed a few seconds later. The door opened. When they looked each other in the eye, Spoony’s expression remained neutral.

All she had to do was apologise.

“I’m sorry about everything, Spoony, especially what I said after the election.”

Author's Note

The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ marks here are the same as those in the show. The Epilogue will provide a slightly different interpretation.

(Epilogue) Hearts of Gold

The Cutie Mark Crusaders’ cute-ceañera had been underway some time now, and all of their friends and family had congratulated them extensively for earning their cutie marks. When the enthusiasm started to die down, and the Crusaders had found themselves a moment of peace, Princess Twilight took the opportunity to ask them what they thought about their new cutie marks.

“We’ve spent an awful lot of time fussin’ and frettin’ ‘bout gettin’ our cutie marks, but when we stopped and helped Tiara, we weren’t feelin’ lost ourselves,” Apple Bloom responded.

“And we feel lost a lot…” Sweetie Belle added. “When we think about ourselves and getting our cutie marks, things tend to get frustrating.”

“That’s why we decided to help ponies like Tiara,” Scootaloo said, “instead of just thinking about ourselves.”

Twilight smiled. “I’m very proud of you girls, putting aside your self-imposed quest – and perhaps dislike – to help somepony else; some of our greatest accomplishments are realized when we help others, as you have probably noticed.” She clapped her hooves together a few times with enthusiasm. “It’s a great way to make friends, too!”

“I do like having a Tiara that’s nice,” agreed Scootaloo. “All she needed was somepony to tell her that there was a better way... once she started looking for one.” Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle nodded.

“But now that Tiara’s problems are fix— well... under control, how do we help other ponies? Who do we even help?” Sweetie Belle asked. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Well…” Twilight considered the question for just a moment. “Do you three still want to have Twilight Time? I’m sure everything you learn will help you when you’re trying to help others, and we can discuss what your cutie marks mean to each of you as well.”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders chorused, “Yeah!”