Sometimes, we just need somepony to praise us, to acknowledge that we’re there. Sometimes, the ones that seem closest to us are rather the ones furthest away. Maybe this is upsetting to some, and many times; we can take it in the wrong way. Just like one little filly, who grew up alone, isolated, and distant from the rest of the world.
“Diamond Tiara! Get down here right this instant!” Spoiled Rich called out to her young daughter. The clambering of tiny hooves were heard throughout the large mansion-like house in the middle of Canterlot.
A small baby-pink filly emerged from the bottom of the tall staircase that resided at the heart of the lukewarm room. She looked up, and into the turquoise blue eyes of her mother, and gave her a small smile.
“I’m here, Mother. Have you and Father decided on where I’ll be going to school?” she asked. Spoiled Rich gave her an affirmative nod, and looked over to the dining table where her husband, Filthy Rich was sitting.
“Your father and I have made the decision of sending you to the Ponyville Schoolhouse,” she grumbled, as Filthy came over besides his wife.
“The… Ponyville Schoolhouse? Why?” Diamond Tiara asked her parents with a confused look. Spoiled frowned.
“Because apparently, your father thinks it would be good for you to get a taste of… normal life,” she said. Diamond Tiara looked over to her father with a slightly raised eyebrow.
“What do you mean, father?” she asked. Filthy Rich beamed in pride, as he took out some charts, and showed them to his daughter.
“You see, for our entire lives, we have been living a life of pure luxury. With servants, maids, housekeepers, and we’ve never really been able to appreciate the life of a lower class,” he began excitedly, before looking over to Spoiled. “And that’s why I’ve made a very important decision! We’re moving to Ponyville!”
“WHAT?” Spoiled yelled, whisking her head over to the light brown stallion. “We’re moving away from Canterlot?”
“Yes! Isn’t it wonderful?” he asked, starting to jump up and down like a foal. Spoiled clenched her teeth.
“But that means we’re going to have to communicate with… insignificant lowlifes!” she exclaimed. Filthy frowned.
“But we’re going to be experiencing such a wonderful thing! We’ve obviously got the money, so why not? It’ll be fun! Diamond Tiara, what do you think?” he asked, looking over to his daughter.
Diamond Tiara looked between her parents, realizing the final call was up to her. She knew that she was very good at getting ponies to do as she pleased, so whatever she decided would be easily countered by her parents.
“I think we should move to Ponyville, Mother,” she said finally. Spoiled gasped, and leaned in close to her daughter’s face, until their muzzles were touching.
“What? Honestly, Diamond Tiara! I was expecting better of you!” she scoffed, as Filthy beamed.
“Great! Pack up your bags, and meet me at the train station right away!”
“But Father! I can’t go in there! It’s filthy!” Diamond Tiara exclaimed. Filthy Rich gasped.
“Are you using my own name against me?” he asked, as Diamond Tiara grumbled something under her breath.
“Father, please! You can’t expect me to go in there, and… talk to those… foals! They’re a nuisance!” she exclaimed. Filthy groaned.
“You’re turning out more and more like your mother, you know that?” he whispered to himself. Luckily, the baby-pink filly didn’t hear him.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, Dia!” he said quickly, using his old nickname for her. Diamond Tiara rolled onto the floor of the moving train cart, and pouted.
“Please, Father? Pretty pretty please can I not go in the foals cart?” she begged, using a little trick she had picked up along the years. It seemed to be working well.
“Oh… alright then, Diamond Tiara. You can go sit over there, while I go check out what’s on the sweet cart!” Filthy said, before beaming, and galloping over to the attendant nearby.
Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes at her father’s childish ways, and quickly trotted up to the large seat behind her. With a deep sigh, she sat down, and thought about what was about to come.
She had never really been exposed to life outside her house. For her entire life, she had been homeschooled by her father. Her mother was always too busy to teach her anything.
She didn’t really have any friends besides her parents, and the occasional ‘hello’ she got from somepony walking by the house. She had never said ‘hello’ back, that was something low-class ponies did.
Her mother didn’t teach her math, or science, but she did teach her one thing.
Spoiled Rich always told her that she was better than anypony else, because she has something that they didn’t. Money.
Spoiled was the kind of pony who didn’t like talking to anypony who were in a lower position than herself. She would gladly talk to the Princesses, which had happened on more than many occasions. And she would definitely talk to bosses, or famous fashion designers, or singers, but never to a simple shopkeeper, or assistant.
She believed that everypony should stick with their kind, and that making friends was quite a pointless rally. Spoiled had told all of this to her daughter, during the time when she should have been reading her a bedtime story, or singing her a lullaby.
Diamond Tiara had grown to believe what her mother had said. She truly did think that everypony should stick with their own kind.
She had always noticed how her mother seemed so happy the way she was. Even though she didn’t really have any friends. She didn’t believe that ‘friendshipping’ was an excuse for being the best you could possibly be, popularity wise.
As a young filly, Spoiled was always the most known in her class. She was the popular one. She didn’t socialize with others, and she definitely didn’t go around helping them. Whether or not they needed it.
Diamond Tiara grew up exactly like her mother, only with a few minor changes. She didn’t go to school. Spoiled Rich thought that she might start to make friends with some of the other ponies there, ponies of a lower class. Spoiled thought that this might change her own family status. Imagine her daughter being the cause of why other ponies stopped talking to her!
Spoiled was… well, spoiled!
And Diamond Tiara didn’t like it one bit.
The bell rung to signal the little school ponies to enter the class. Spoiled and Filthy Rich trotted behind Diamond Tiara, as she entered the school. They both held their heads up high, snorting as they saw any other parent or sibling.
Diamond Tiara noticed all the other kids looking at her in surprise. Never did they expect a pony with such high-class parents in a small town like Ponyville.
“Diamond Tiara! Put your head up!” Spoiled snarled, as the young filly instantly pulled her head up, and closed her eyes to signal power.
She marched past all the other fillies and colts, who were all talking to their parents. Diamond Tiara went to the very back of the room, making sure her parents didn’t follow her the entire way. She noticed they were at the front, talking to the teacher.
She began to look around at all of her classmates, one in particular catching her eye.
It was a young honey-yellow earth pony filly, with a shock of brilliant amaranth hair resting on her forehead. She wore a big crimson colored bow, and had beautiful gamboge eyes. There were three other ponies crowded around her, an orange mare with light freckles and a blonde mane, a big red stallion with a light orange mane, and an older mare with a light green coat, and an ivory mane.
The orange mare spoke up. “You sure you’re gonna be alright, sugarcube?” she asked. The young filly nodded, as the older light green mare gave her a rough noogie.
“Oh, quit yer bamblin’! She’s gonna be fine, arentcha now, Applebloom?” she asked, leaning in low to the filly, who Diamond Tiara presumed to be Applebloom. Applebloom nodded again.
“Yeah, Applejack! Like Granny said, I’m gonna be fine!” she exclaimed, going over to the orange mare, who’s name seemed to be Applejack.
“Eeyup,” the red stallion said in a deep voice. Applebloom hummed slightly.
“See? Even Big Mac thinks so!” she said.
Diamond Tiara looked upon the small family, observing all of their movements, and exclamations to one another closely.
“Look, Ah’m mighty sorry, sugercube, but y’all know how these things go! It’s yer first day of school!” Applejack said, putting her arm around the filly again. “And Ah’m just being a good big sister, and helping her little sister out in her time of need.”
“Don’t need it, ya know!” Applebloom suddenly said, before being pulled in by Applejack again.
“Anyhoo… are y’all hot in here? ‘Cause I am! Need some water?” she asked, frantically looking around, glancing every now and then at the little yellow filly. Applebloom sighed, and shook her head.
“Applejack, Ah’m gonna be fine!” she exclaimed once again. Applejack gave her a small smile, and finally nodded.
“Oh, alright then, sugercube. Have fun,” she said, before kissing the filly’s forehead. Big Mac and the old mare both did the same, before exiting the classroom with one final wave.
Diamond Tiara hadn’t realized that she had tears in her eyes. She quickly wiped them away, and looked upon the young yellow filly.
She seemed so pleased, so happy with what had just happened, despite her family’s ways of saying farewell.
Diamond Tiara couldn’t stand to see this. Why didn’t her family treat her in that way? Was she any different than that little filly?
Diamond Tiara instantly brightened up upon seeing her own parents starting to make their way over to her. She grinned. Maybe they would be nicer for once, and actually give her a proper goodbye.
Spoiled Rich instantly came up to her, and pat her on her forehead. Diamond Tiara giggled cutely, before being set back down into reality.
“Well, we’ll be off, Diamond Tiara,” she said, before leading her husband out the door in one swift motion.
Diamond Tiara instantly backed away. Not even a goodbye, nor any loving gestures?
She looked back at the yellow-coated filly, who was busy humming to herself, and putting some pieces of paper in her desk. Diamond Tiara then looked back, her eyes resting on her flank. More importantly, her cutie mark.
She looked back up to Applebloom, curious to see what her special talent was. Probably something to due with apples, she presumed.
Diamond Tiara scrunched her eyebrows in confusion as she noticed no mark on the filly’s flank. She… was a blank flank? She didn’t have a cutie mark?
Diamond Tiara looked back upon the crystal crown on her flank, remembering what her mother told her about it.
“Only somepony who was meant to rule over others could have a cutie mark like that,” she had said. What Spoiled had meant, of course, was that Diamond Tiara had the gift of getting other ponies to do what she wanted.
Diamond Tiara looked back at the filly, who was now sitting in her seat, reading a book. Her eyes narrowed into a sharp glare.
“Why should she get all the attention from her family?” she mumbled to herself. “She isn’t any better than me! Nopony’s better than me!”
Diamond Tiara held her head high, snorted once, before marching over to Applebloom, who turned her head and gave her a confused look.
“Hey… Blank Flank!” Diamond Tiara instantly spat out. Applebloom’s eyes widened in shock, as she gaped at the pink earth pony filly.
“Wha… what?” she stuttered out. Diamond Tiara just snorted once again.
“I said… hey Blank Flank!” she repeated, stretching out each symbol to pour salt in the wound. Applebloom scrunched her eyes up, as Diamond Tiara realized she was beginning to hurt the filly’s feelings.
Oh, but who cared about feelings?
“I’m Diamond Tiara, you know… the filly with a cutie mark!” she said again, flipping her mane. “I also own five companies across Equestria!”
“I don’t exactly… uh… know why y’all are telling me this…” Applebloom said quietly. Diamond Tiara shrugged.
“Just thought I would let you know what a real filly’s life is. Oh! And did I mention that I have a cutie mark?” she said once again. Applebloom sighed.
“Yes… what was it again? Diamond Snort… you did mention that,” she said shaking her head a little. Diamond Tiara took a step back as the filly quickly changed her attitude. Where did that come from?
“Hey! Mind your tone, Blank Flank! Only I’m supposed to be the one insulting ponies around here!” she said quickly. Applebloom rolled her eyes.
“Whatever…” she said, turning in her seat back into her first position.
“Hmph!” Diamond Tiara quickly said, as she snapped her head back up, closed her eyes, and marched to the back of the classroom once again.
She felt awful.
First, the filly had a loving, caring family… and now she had an attitude to go with it?
Diamond Tiara wanted to make sure Applebloom was never left alone. Any friends she would ever make would get the same treatment...
It just wasn’t fair.
“Hey, I’m Silver Spoon,” a new voice chimed in from behind her. Diamond Tiara quickly spun around to face a dark grey mare with a silver mane and glasses. She was giving her a smug grin. “I saw you talking to the blank flank over there!”
Diamond Tiara instantly changed her expression to one of surprise, and then into one of glee.
“Yeah! I’m Diamond Tiara,” she said. Silver Spoon nodded.
“That’s a nice name. Want to be friends?” she asked. Diamond Tiara shrugged.
“I’ve never really had one before, but yeah, sure!” she exclaimed, giving her new friend a hoofbump.
Diamond Tiara quickly looked back over to Applebloom, to see her talking to a taller ivory mare with red curly hair and glasses. They looked like they had just become friends. Diamond Tiara nudged Silver Spoon in the rib, and told her to look at the duo.
“She’s another blank flank!” Silver Spoon exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Diamond Tiara instantly nodded.
“Yeah, I know! And they look like new friends!” she said. Silver Spoon’s eyes suddenly widened.
“Hey, have you had your cute-ceañera yet?” she asked. Diamond Tiara shook her head.
“No, not yet. I mean, I got my cutie mark about a month ago, but my parents haven’t had the time to throw me a party yet,” she said glumly. Silver Spoon clapped her hands together excitedly.
“Awesome! That’s perfect!” she said happily. Diamond Tiara’s eyes widened in shock.
“Excuse me? How is that great?” she asked in an annoyed tone. Silver Spoon rolled her eyes.
“No, I didn’t mean it in that way, silly! I meant, that maybe you can have your cute-ceañera sometime in the next week, and then invite everypony to it! Including the blank flanks!” she said. Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow.
“How in Equestria would that help with anything? I’m really beginning to doubt this whole friendship nonsense,” she said with a slight glare. Silver Spoon shook her head.
“I don’t think you understand, Diamond Tiara! When we invite everypony, those blank flanks will be so unhappy that they don’t have a cutie mark to show off at the party! After all, isn’t that what a cute-ceañera is?” she explained. Diamond Tiara hummed, and nodded.
“Oh! Yeah! Oh yes! This is perfect!” she said. “I’ll go and tell my parents about the party right after school!”
Silver Spoon nodded, as the two both went to both sides of Applebloom, and took a seat.
“Hey again, Blank Flank!” they both said together. Applebloom’s head shot up like a rocket, before her eyes narrowed at the two fillies again.
“Not this again…”
