The Tiara weighs Heavy

Ten years later…

“Diamond!”

A blast of crystal was shot at a tall alicorn encased in dense crystal armor, her long pink and white mane flowing over her head and her wings spread out. The mare was fighting the massive black crystal creature, her nemesis Obsidian. It towered with a dark crystalline body, now much more monstrous with spikes sporting from its body. This time, Diamond faced it off as she fought against it, her magic surging through her as she shot magic at it and continually sent it at it, sending it backward with her magic. She had a lot more training this time since her previous battle with the creature and could effectively keep it at bay without over-exerting herself.

Diamond flew downwards with a smirk on her lips and said, “Hmm, guess you haven’t changed a bit, Obsidian!”

“You haven’t either!” the creature hissed in return as it lunged out at her, sending another barrage of crystal at her, and Diamond Tiara could dodge out of the way nimbly out of the way. The mare flew upwards, evading the blasts and heading towards the skies. And she threw her wings out, aimed her horn downward, and sent a blast of energy at the creature, causing the dark crystal to crack and splinter. She then saw a massive hole where it’s beating dark heart was and then took the opportunity to ram her horn into it, sending a blast of magical energy and shattering it into hundreds of tiny pieces as the dark crystalline form screamed and started to disperse int the air like before and the last thing she heard was, “I will return!”

“Yeah, I heard it all before.” Diamond scoffed as she threw her head up with a confident smile as the crystal-like armor around her body dissipated and revealed her tall, slender pink body, her wavy white and purple mane, and a red cape fluttering in the wind with the sigil of the cutie mark crusaders emblazoned on it.

The alicorn threw out her wings and flew back to Ponyville, where she saw the crowd cheering her on as she approached. She waved a hoof and exclaimed, “Hello, my fellow ponies! Obsidian has been destroyed, and there is nothing for you to fear!”

This caused another loud roar from the crowd as Diamond Tiara approached her old home, which was now completely renovated into a massive school. The building was similar to Twilight’s School of Friendship, and in the central tower was an enormous flag wag overhead with the “Cutie Mark Crusader” sigil on it. As Diamond flew down, she was greeted by tons of foals of all ages going to and fro from the school, and many looked up as she landed. Diamond raised her head, flashing them all a smile, and they all started to cheer, “Diamond!”

“Hello, everypony!” the mare cried back as she flew down and started to talk to each of the foals, all of them talking about their day or what they learned. It was quite surprising to see so many foals attending. She then came to see Cheerilee, who was middle-aged and had wrinkles under her eyes. The older earth pony looked up upon seeing her and then said, “Diamond, it’s so good to see you!”

“Cheerilee!” Diamond exclaimed. She threw her hooves around her and asked, “How was school today?”

“Oh, it was wonderful! We were going over a lesson on the dynamics of crystals and diamonds today!”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, it’s pretty fascinating how the atoms formed within certain elements could affect the hardness of different crystals.”

“That does sound interesting. Maybe you can give me a private lesson later. I could use some work on my crystal armor.”

“Of course!”

Diamond continued down the way to see Scootaloo teaching a lesson about the history of the Wonderbolts. Sweetie Belle was performing a music lesson with a ton of foals, some playing different instruments or singing, and lastly, she saw Apple Bloom teaching foals about making potions and seeing a flask explode. Diamond couldn't help but giggle, and she didn’t want to disrupt their private lessons. As she went up to the “headmaster’s” quarters, she found her Father sitting there neck-deep in paperwork, and he got up and cried. “Diamond!”

“Daddy!” she flew over, and they hugged each other closely as the stallion kissed her on the forehead. “So you had to face off that Obsidian creature again?”

“Sadly, the creature has a grudge since I denied it years ago.”

“Well, hopefully, this will be the last time you have to fight it.”

Diamond rolled her eyes, “I doubt it; that thing seriously doesn’t know how to give up.”

She then trotted through the room, seeing the dozens of photos on the wall of her friends with the hundreds of students who had passed through these halls. It was awe-inspiring and filled her with pride, knowing she had helped so many fulfill their destinies. She stood there mesmerized for a moment, then said, “I still can’t believe this is real.”

“Yeah, I couldn’t see us running a school together a decade ago.”

“Me neither,” she said, then threw her wings back and held her head up. I just wish Mom were here…”

“Really?”

“I miss her dad,” Diamond replied through clenched teeth as she held back her anger; she was still angry. Spoiled, left without a word, and they still had no idea where she was; despite all the abuse and manipulation from her, there was a part of her that still loved her and missed her. Diamond, deep down, wished her mother could change and become better and that one day she could see her and they could be a family again. But that was probably wishful thinking. Even after all these years, she probably hadn’t changed all that much. However, she still dreamt of seeing her again and finally bonding as a mother to daughter. No manipulation, no gaslighting, just being able to talk face to face and just learning to know each other.

Just then, somepony burst through the doorway, and she turned to see an older Cherry Bomb alongside Snowflake, both flying through as the red-coated pegasus slammed her into a wall and wrapped her wings around her, “Diamond your back!”

Diamond grunted as she looked back and said, “You didn’t see me come flying in earlier?”

“Sorry, I didn’t," Cherry Bomb admitted.

Snowflake scoffed, “Of course not. You were too busy cloudbusting anyways. Uh, there's something we gotta tell you. " She then turned to Diamond, who was busy dusting herself off and said, “First off. are you okay?”

“I’m fine; Cherry Bomb here did more damage to me with her flying lessons than old Crystal Head.”

The red-coated pegasus gave a triumphant Woot! Woot! “That’s right, nothing can beat our Diamond!”

“Alright, that’s enough now. You didn’t burst into my dad’s office just to embarrass me, right?” Diamond asked, eyeing her friends.

The two then gave each other worried looks, and Snowflake whispered to Cherry Bomb, who nudged her friend back; they then turned back to Diamond as the red-coated pegasus growled, “It’s your mom; she’s back.”

There was a long, sullen pause as the atmosphere suddenly felt rather tense. Diamond clenched her teeth and looked downward, feeling so many different emotions. Hearing about her mother overwhelmed her, as she shouted, “You saw her! You actually saw her!?”

“Yeah, she’s at the door and hasn’t moved a muscle.” Cherry Bomb proclaimed with a salute. “We can chase her off if ya want?”

Filthy Rich was about to say something, but Diamond held up a hoof and placed it to her chest, “no, I will confront her.”

She turned to her dad, who gave a nod of approval, “Go and see her; you need to do this.”

“Right, it's time to figure out where she’s been,” Diamond snapped as she took off and flew through the school's halls. She then came to the front doors, opened them, and saw her mother standing there. The mare’s purple mane now faded, with wrinkles having grown under her eyes. Her mane and coat were soiled with milk stains and smelt rancid. She looked up at her daughter, her eyes filled with sorrow and pain. Diamond Tiara stood there looking down at her this time and whispered, “Mother.”

“Diamond I…”

She held up a hoof, and then Diamond stepped back and cried, “Shut up!” The filly stood there looking livid as her nostrils flared and snapped, “Where the hell have you been!”

Her mother stood there with tears in her eyes, feeling them swell and fall down her cheeks. “I…I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to leave. After what happened at Coldstone Acadamy, I was so ashamed of my actions that I went back to my parent's dairy farm and have been there for the past few years when they passed…I didn’t want anypony to know where I was, so I changed my name to Spoiled Milk.”

“Ten years, it’s been ten whole years…”

“I know; I should’ve come to see you sooner. I'm just amazed at the princess you’re becoming.”

Diamond continued to glare at her and said, “Why did it take you so long!? Dad sought you out, and you didn’t bother even talking to him!”

“I wanted to, but I wasn’t ready, Diamond. I admit it took a lot of self-reflection, but I finally realized I was wrong the way I treated you…sending you to boarding school, encouraging your bullying all of it. I'm sorry.”

Diamond remembered the words she told Onyx a decade ago about the first step to redemption, which began with an apology. Still, this time, she had to be the one receptive. She looked into her mother’s eyes, wondering if this was some form of manipulation or if she should believe her. The worst part of her just leaving hurt a lot, and it hurt her dad too; she shook her head and said, “I’m not ready to forgive you, not after leaving us the way you did, but talk things over with dad if he’s willing to give you a second chance maybe I will too.”

Spoiled Milk nodded with tears in her eyes as she slowly walked into the school, and Diamond escorted her through the halls. With the mare’s eyes widened in disbelief, she looked around, saw the teachers preparing their lessons, and whispered, “This used to be my manor?”

“Our manor is now the Cutie Mark Crusader Star Acadamy.”

Spoiled Milk sneered a little, “You named it that!?”

“Yeah, and I’m proud of it!” Diamond exclaimed, showing off the red cape over her back. Spoiled eyed her but kept silent as they went upstairs towards the “Headmaster’s” room, and there, upon opening, it was Filthy Rich still with Cherry Bomb and Snowflake, who were all chatting. They all turned to see Spoiled standing there, looking timid. Diamond cleared her throat and asked, “Snowflake, Cherry Bomb, can you give my dad some privacy.”

They then left the room, Diamond closing the door behind them as they went downstairs and waited for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, Spoiled was trotting downstairs, and she looked up at her daughter and whispered, “Best of luck.”

“Yeah, you too, Mom," Diamond muttered under her breath. She then watched her trot off as Filthy Rich came down, looking rather sullen. She turned to him and asked, “So, how did it go?”

“Well, we will remain divorced, but she was surprisingly cordial. She apologized and told me she wanted to try to make amends…Diamond, I've never seen her like this. At the very least, I think she is regretful of her actions.”

Diamond looked back across the lobby, seeing the shadow of her mom disappearing in the distance with the setting sun, and said, “I see; well, if you think she’s changed, Dad, I will accept her back, too.”

Cherry Bomb flew over and shouted, “Okay, enough moping around! Let’s go have a victory celebration at Sugarcube Corner! Did you all forget Diamond just faced off against a monster!?”

Snowflake flew over laughing, “Yeah, the Cursaders and Silver Spoon probably think we got lost or forgot; let’s not keep them waiting.”

Diamond gave a nod as she trotted off with her friends and her father toward Sugarcube Corner; the mare felt much more confident now and felt a weight off her shoulders. Despite not forgiving her mother for everything she felt deep down, she was trying to make amends, and one day, they could be a family again. Until then, she will continue striving to be the best princess she can be, not just for herself but for her family and her friends.