Chapter 9: Silver Colored Diamond

Diamond Tiara walked around Banyard Bargains, the Rich family emporium. In the old days prior to the Fall, back when she was still a filly, she looked at the store like nothing more than the place her father managed and owned. She quite never understood why her father had so little time for her or why on Equis did he have so much respect and adoration for the Apple Family as a whole. To her, Applebloom and her family were nothing more than peasants, rube; lowly farmers that should be kissing her father's hooves for letting them sell their produce at the well respected and profitable store.

But now? She no longer thought that. Fall or not, this is what she was being prepared for by her father and in a minor way by her mother. This was her family's legacy. Banyard Bargains was all that remained of her family aside from her. And only now she came to understand the full weight of actually owning the damn thing and came to a simple conclusion: it was hard.

Managing the bills, proving new resources, haggling and fighting for contracts with farmers, lumberers, factories, and others to gain the right to sell their products, propaganda campaigns, checking with the employees, checking that everything was working and was well stocked, diverting funds to pay for previously made loans (thankfully frozen and heavily diminished once the Rise liberated Equestria), securing merchant spots, having to put up with ever-shifting resource price change.

The paperwork.

Diamond Tiara sighed in defeat. If only she could go back in time she would smack her younger self for going on her usual shopping sprees while she neglected her studies. More so she would bleed her own ears out until her old bullying died out. She had been a naive, spoiled brat to the core; there was no denying that. Only now she understood that despite her work was hard, it was nothing compared to the kind of dedication and hard-work the Apple Family, and pretty much every farmer out there had to put into maintaining their crops and livelihood. She also understood that is was HER shop that depended on the produce provided by those she once belittled. It was a matter of simple logic.

No produce = No business.

Diamond Tiara sighed again, eyes landing on the portrait of her parents proudly hanging from the wall atop the cashier. Filthy Rich was smiling while Spoiled Rich looked serious and slightly condescending as ever. If she had to confess, she would easily say that she felt closer to her father than she had ever felt towards her mother. A mare that from the get-go had pushed to be a less-than-honest pony. Her intentions were good, in a way, but her methods were not. Her father, on the other hand, did his best to teach her through example and when push came to shove, force her to do learn many a lesson. Her smile faltered a little when she remembered the few times she had rejected her father wanting to spend time with her just so she could party with her 'friends'.

Looking at her father, Diamond felt the coldness of his absence but also felt a surge of pride knowing all he had done and his crucial part on the eventual liberation of Equestria.

"Everything is almost ready, Tiara," Silverspoon said stepping out of the main office a story above. "You okay?" She asked seeing the expression of her friend.

"I'm fine, Spoon. Just remembering the past a little," she said never parting her gaze from her father's smiling face. "Gosh, I was such a nasty little brat back then, wasn't I?"

"No doubt about that, Tiara. But, then again, so was I," Silver Spoon said while walking down the wooden stairs. "I still can't believe this and the Apple Household were the only places Spike didn't burn down."

"The fire burned half of it though, thankfully it was only the storage area and unloading zones," Diamond Tiara replied with a chuckle. "Hey, Spoon, do you miss being around the camps?"

"Hmmmm, sometimes, yeah. Polishing weapons and armor, tending to the younger ones, learning how to cook was really fun for me, and training when we were old enough. I miss tending to the changeling nursery chambers. Changeling grubs are sooooo cute!" She gushed holding her cheeks. "Do you miss it too?"

"Ha... not with your same enthusiasm, but yeah, I do... Hard to believe we finally grew up there." Diamond Tiara said folding her arms.

"I hear you. At least we grew up in relative safety, Tiara, thanks to Mister Dad," Silver smiled looking at the picture while she stood next to her friend.

"Yeah... all thanks to dad," finally looking away from the picture, Diamond Tiara turned to see her friend. "Everything ready up there?"

"Yup, everything's in order, clean, and ready to receive the new owner tomorrow morning," Silver Spoon looked around for a moment. "You sure you really, really, reaaaaally want to do this, Tiara?"

"Never surer," Diamond replied without hesitation. She then turned to the exit and grabbed a rather hefty looking rucksack. "Applebloom will take care of the place better than I ever could now that their farm is thriving more than ever before," Diamond stopped near the exit and waited for her friend to reach her, also carrying a similar rucksack. "We have to hurry if we want to reach the Crystal Empire by tomorrow morning along with the festival."

Silver Spoon smiled. "Ready to become a Scaled Guard and make Mister Dad proud?"

Diamond Tiara took a last glance at her father's picture and smiled. "Ready!" She then pushed Silver out of the way and ran out the exit. "Last to reach the train station's polish both armor sets for a month!"

"Why you no-good cheating mare!" Silver Spoon yelled before darting after her friend.

Both childhood friends laughed all the way through to the train station.

End.

Author's Note

Special thanks to anyone that read this!