Polishing a Diamond

Diamond Tiara found herself walking home slower than she had ever been before, so much so that if a snail had appeared beside her, it would likely overtake her within minutes. This pace made it easy for the CMC to keep pace with her as they pursued her through town. Not only that, but it was even easier to remain unseen by her with how purely dejected and downtrodden she seemed to be. Scootaloo tried to wave her hoof in front of her face, but Diamond's eyes continued to face forward as if they were fixed on a specific location. Sweetie Belle tried speaking into her ear, but Diamond brushed it off as someone speaking off in the distance. Apple Bloom even tried to move in front of her, but Diamond would find some way to push past the wall of yellow and keep walking as if nothing had happened.

It was then that the Cutie Mark Crusaders knew that the circumstances were much more dire than they had initially thought them to be as they continued their pursuit of the former bully. A few minutes later, the trio of fillies had followed Diamond Tiara to what looked like an accessory shop with living quarters situated in the upper floors. At first, they thought it strange that somepony would live in a store, but then they remembered that Sweetie's sister has the same arrangements. Pushing that thought aside, they each looked inside the windows with Sweetie Belle looking into the left display window, Scootaloo looking through the door window, and Apple Bloom looking through the right display window. After a minute, they saw a new pony enter the room. She had a pink coat with a purple mane and was wearing a teal shirt of mesh and lace with a few gold accessories to boot. They recognized this pony to be diamond's mother and school board president, Spoiled Rich.

Within the shop, Diamond had cautiously and apprehensively handed her mother the report card she had received. She looked at the parchment in front of her with a contemplative look on her face. Aware that there were still customers within the shop and that her husband would be working late again tonight, she motioned for one of the part-time staff to take over as the floorwalker while she took Diamond upstairs to her room, preventing the unseen fillies outside from witnessing any further events. Upon reaching the designated room, Spoiled closed the thick doors and locked them tightly as she motioned for Diamond to sit on her bed.

Spoiled then moved one of the chairs in the room over to the bed as well as a nightstand to use as a table. She then slammed Diamond Tiara's repot card onto the nightstand, causing the filly to jump and give her mother a fearful look as she spoke with a condescending voice. "Diamond, sweetheart. Can you please tell me what sort of report card has letters such as these on them?"

Diamond nervously looked at the paper and saw that she had gotten three C-minuses and four D-pluses. After surveying it for a second, she turned back to her mother and spoke with a shaking voice "A r-r-repot c-card that shows that a student needs to improve?" She asked with an innocent smile that asked for forgiveness.

Unfortunately, this request was one that was vehemently denied as Spoiled struck her daughter across the cheek as if she had been hit by a baseball bat. This had left a searing burn on Diamonds face as she moved to rub it in comfort. "You are my daughter diamond! You must show perfection at every opportunity possible and not fall behind those insignificant lowlifes who you have no business being around!! It was bad enough that you lost the Student Pony Presidential election, but to see your grades falter like this is completely unforgivable!!" Spoiled struck her daughter again in the same spot as before, not only making the pain even worse for Diamond, but also wiping off the makeup that was on her cheek. This in turn revealed a significant bruise on the surface that both Diamond and Spoiled knew the origins to. "Brilliant, now look what you've made me do!" Spoiled inspected the bruise closely. "It's fortunate for you that I was able to stock up on makeup earlier today, and even more so that it is the weekend. After all, I can't have my kin, who are always the pinnacle of achievement, stay home and do nothing with their lives like some cast-off little beggar with no one to love or call family. Speaking of which, this means no dinner for you tonight young lady, and you are grounded for the entire weekend!" Spoiled unlocked the door and left the room before locking it back up, preventing Diamond from leaving at all.

Meanwhile, the Crusaders were still outside the shop contemplating what was happening on the upper floors of the structure they stood before. Apple Bloom was the first to voice her concern. "So what do y'all think's going on up there? it's been kinda quiet for about 20 minutes." The rest of the crusaders shook their heads as they were just as clueless as she was.

Suddenly, the three felt a sort of vibration from their saddlebags and reached in to pull out a strange mirror. This was a new magical item that allowed accessible communication between two or more ponies, but also allowed them to listen to music as they were walking and keep up to date with various news stories due to various enchantments that had been placed on it. The developer of this item had dubbed it the pMirror. Upon answering their respective mirrors, the crusaders received strong words of concern from each of their sisters regarding where they were and why they hadn't come home as of yet. The three apologized fervently as they all promised to be home within a few minutes. They all said their goodbyes, but agreed to meet at the clubhouse over the weekend to discuss what was happening with Diamond Tiara.

As Celestia's sun set over the horizon, signaling the end of another day in Equestria, Diamond Tiara lay in her room, her face and bed stained with tears and running makeup. With her facade now gone, Diamond's face was shown to have an assortment of scratches and bruises that threatened to swell if not treated properly as well as a few minor lacerations on her back and midsection. Looking up at the moon outside her window, she prayed that she could be somepony who could escape the tyrannical rule she was under. With the final tears running down her face, she finally grew exhausted and fell asleep with a look of nothing but forlornness on her face.