//------------------------------//
// Inner Rage 
// Story: Money can't buy Diamonds 
// by lilinuyasha 
//------------------------------//

	“Why?” Filthy scrambled for the words to say, but all he could manage to choke out was the question.
“Why what? Why are you bothering me with this?”
“What changed? You’re not...the same.”
“Of course I am. You’re the one that’s changed.”
“The furniture. Let’s start there. Why did you make changes to the manor without telling me?”
“I was tired of the original color scheme. It was so drab and dreary. We needed something to spruce up the place.”
“I hate orange. You know that. You know damn well I hate that Celestia Awful color.”
“Oh, you do? I must have forgotten. I swear it looked more red in the store.”
“My office. Why did you change my office?”
“Oh, the girls and I have started having a book club.”
“I told you before I left not to change anything in there. You’ve known for years how important my study is to me. You got rid of that imported desk, you made everything orange, and a lot of my prized possessions are gone!” Filthy huffed, attempting to keep his demeanor. 	“Where are they?”
“I did some spring cleaning and sold quite a few things. I might have accidentally thrown a few things in there.”
“Accidentally? That doesn’t just happen! The photo, Spoiled. Of me and my grandmother. Where is it? What did you do with it? Why did you do it? What did I ever do to you?”
“So many questions. I just simply don’t know, dear.” Spoiled gave him a devious smirk.
Diamond Tiara listened to the conversation from her bedroom. She had opened it before bed for the cool air, but wound up getting far more than she bargained for. She lay there, her eyelids heavy, but desperate to listen to this conversation. Maybe if she just closed them and listened...Her plan was to no avail, however, as these voices slowly dulled out and she found herself slipping into the realm of sleep. It couldn’t be that important, anyway, could it?
“And Diamond.” Filthy continued. “Why have you been telling her I hate her?”
“That wasn’t me. That must have been somepony else. I have no earthly idea where she would get such a notion.”
“And the letters. Why have you been hiding them?”
“Hiding them? We haven’t gotten any letters.”
“I took the trash out the other day. I saw one of my letters in there,” he glared at her. She stared back, her face suddenly showing a look of anxiety. She’d been caught.
“That must have been an accident.”
“An accident that happened 11 times? No. No, you’re intentionally sabotaging my life here, and I don’t appreciate it.”
“That’s crazy talk, you know that. That’s absolute rubbish. Now, let’s go to bed, shall we?” she said nervously.
“No.” 
“No?” Spoiled’s look of fear and anxiety returned.
“No.” An unknown anger boiled inside of Filthy. His “Wife” and her apathetic and snarky stance on these matters. He wasn’t going to tolerate it anymore. He had never done anything this drastic before, and anger managed to get the best of him. “You’re not sleeping here tonight. Go sleep with whomever escorted you home tonight. I’m not having this shit.”
Filthy stared at her wide-eyed. She had never heard him use that kind of language other than an occasional instance where he hurt himself fairly bad. 
“Filthy, I-”
“Don’t. Just go. I’m leaving tomorrow. Come back then.” Filthy huffed, storming his way into the estate, slamming the door behind him. 	Spoiled stared at it for a short while, trying to contemplate what had just happened. She sighed heavily. No sooner than she had turned around to head off to her escort’s estate, the porch lights turned off, leaving her nearly unable to see in the darkness, with no moon to guide her. Luna must be slacking.
Filthy, on the other hoof, after slamming the door, tried to keep himself composed. He couldn’t stand to go back to his room, in that awful color. Knowing that, and feeling more defeated because of it, he trotted over to the couch he slept on the previous night, seeing the blanket still haphazardly strewn on it. He sighed, tears welling up in his eyes. Then...then he layed down and cried until he fell asleep.

***

Filthy awoke to the sound of a sharp rapping at his door. He checked his watch, finding it well after noon. He wasn’t used to ever sleeping this late. He groaned and trotted off to the door, attempting to make himself seem presentable, presuming that Spoiled was at the door begging for forgiveness. instead, he was pleasantly delighted to open the door to an old friend and his wife.
“A little birdy told me you were in town, Filthy. Why didn’t you drop by?” Filthy smiled to himself.
“How are you, Fully Loaded? Garnet Gem?” he asked, turning both to his friend and his wife, respectively.
“I believe we’re doing fine, Filthy.” Filthy thought of correcting him, but to be honest, he was one of the few people that was allowed to call him that. “Better than you seem to be doing at the moment.”
“...why do you say that?”
“Well...There’ve been some rumors going about town. Since you haven’t actually been here, I figured you might want to hear them.”
“I suppose that’s fair, yes.”
“Well...it’s not pretty. Are you sure you can handle it?”
“Yes. It’s nothing I probably don’t already know.”
“Well...ok. If you say so. Lots of ponies have spotted Spoiled at a lot of the regal’s events with that ole lawyer Pennybags.”
“Pennybags? Wait, isn’t he the lawyer that-”
“The very one. Once or twice would be nothing to think about, but over the course of the year and a half you’ve been gone, they’ve been spotted together at least once or twice a week. I’m sorry to say, Filthy, but-”
“Enough. I’ve noticed it. I just...” His lips quivered, “Nevermind. I leave in a little bit. I should probably get ready.”
“Oh. Well, I’ve got another something else that may interest you.”
“What is it?”
Fully Loaded looked over to his wife, who smiled at Filthy and reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a small, wrapped package.
“What’s this? What’s the occasion?”
“You’ll see.”
Filthy, a confused look on his face, unwrapped the present, revealing a picture frame. He flipped it over to reveal a picture he recognized. The picture of him and his grandmother at his first Hoofball game. Tears of happiness welled in his eyes and he stared in shock at Fully loaded, who could only smile at him.
“I...how...I...”
“Oh, Filthy,” started Garnet, patting him on the back, “your wife held a yard sale a few months back. He decided to drop by, and, well...we saw that most of your stuff was there. We couldn’t believe it, honestly. We thought that maybe you had died, seeing your fancy desk you were so proud of. Then we saw that picture in a discount pile and...we knew something was wrong. You love that picture.”
“I...”
“Filthy,” started Fully, getting a solemn look on his face, “Seeing that we thought you had passed on, I made sure to purchase what I could. I always did enjoy your desk. Unfortunately, we couldn’t buy everything. I saved, what I could, I guess.”
“I can’t thank you enough for saving this photo,” Filthy managed to say, hugging on Garnet, “What else did you manage to save?”
“Your desk, of course. Some other furniture items, a few desktop accessories, like your inkwell and a few other trinkets. I mean, we bought what we could. I don’t know what’s missing or not. But we’re certainly happy to give all of it back to you.”
“I...” Filthy whimpered, gratitude filling his heart to the point of tears, “I’ll let you keep most of it for now. At least until I get this all settled out. I think this picture is enough for now. I...” he continued, before grasping Fully into a friendly embrace, “I can’t thank you enough. Why don’t you come in for a while? Let’s catch up. I have some time yet.”
“That would be splendiferous!” Garnet added, stepping inside the estate.

***

Diamond Tiara wiped some sweat from her forehead. 
“This is hard work!” she griped.
“Well, we’re almost done.” Scootaloo added, hoisting up another plank.
“We do much more than this at the farm. Quit yer complainin’.”
“How can you stand to work like this?” Diamond asked, “Why don’t you just have other ponies do the work for you?”
“Some of us can’t afford everything in life, Tiara.”
“Well, I know, but still.”
“AND...Done.” Sweetie Belle yelped. The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Diamond Tiara stood back and admired their...whatever it was.
“You think it’ll do?”
“Well, it satisfies all the grade requirements, I guess. So...Let’s call it finished, girls!”
“Yay!” they all cheered.
“Now we just have to get it to the schoolhouse.” Applebloom said.
“I’ll leave that up to you girls. I need to get home to make sure I see Father before he leaves.”
“Oh yeah, he leaves today. Well, have fun. We’ll see you at school tomorrow!”
“Bye! See you girls later!” she said, waving them off. She happily trotted towards town square on her way to the house, with a small pep in her step. She stopped by Sugarcube Corner on her way, picking up a small order she placed earlier that morning.
“Well hello, Diamond Tiara! Are you doing well today?” asked Mrs. Cake, giving her a joyful smile.
“Yes, Ma’am! How are you? How are Pound and Pumpkin?”
“Oh, they’re just napping upstairs, along with Mr. Cake. Here to pick up your order?”
“Oh yes. They’re father’s favorite.”
“Well, tell your father I said hello, will you?”
“Of course.” Diamond said, leaving the bits on the counter, taking the box. “You have a wonderful afternoon!”
“You too, Diamond.”
Diamond strutted out the door, a smile on her face, heading towards the estate. She spotted a familiar figure in the distance, sitting outside, having tea with a stranger. Since it was on her way, she trotted closer, recognizing her mother with that same pony she saw the other night. Diamond trotted over her way.
“Oh, Hello, Mother!”
“Oh! Diamond!” Spoiled looked surprised. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, is that your daughter?” asked the stallion across from her.
“Yes. Diamond, honey, what are you doing?”
“I was heading home to see father before he left. Would you like to join me?”
“I’d love to, honey, but...I said goodbye to him earlier, and Mother has some important business to attend to. Why don’t you run along? I’ll be home later.”
“Oh. Ok...” Diamond said, a little dismayed. What could be so important that it couldn’t wait? Diamond pretended to trot off, sneaking around the cafe, hiding behind a bush to listen in on the rest of the conversation.

***

“...and then Garnet says, ‘But Fully, your hat’s in the kitchen!’” Filthy, Fully, and Garnet bust out laughing, catching up on recent events since his departure. 
“Oh, I’ve certainly missed the pleasure of your company, Fully.” Filthy said, wiping a tear from his eye from laughing so hard. “I should be able to come home, soon, though, don’t worry. My work is almost done.”
“Oh, that’s good. I can’t wait to have you back. That awful desk is taking up too much space.” Fully winked.
“Father?” rang a small voice from outside the living room. 
“Diamond! I was wondering when you would return.” Filthy hopped off the couch, trotting off towards her, embracing her in a hug.
“Well, I think that’s our cue to leave. We’ll visit you another time, Filthy. Be sure to write, you hear?” Garnet smiled and winked at him. Filthy gave them both a gentle nod of recognition as they trotted out the door. He turned his attention back to Diamond.
“I’m glad you came back, Diamond. How did the project go?”
“Well, we finished. That’s about as declarative a statement as I can make.”
“Well, that’s good, I guess. Why don’t we sit down? My carriage should be here within the hour.”
“Oh, of course,” Diamond added, taking a seat next to her father on the couch. “I got these for you,” she added, handing him the box she got from Sugarcube Corner earlier.
“Oh? Sugarcube Corner?” he asked, opening the box. He couldn’t contain his smile as he looked inside to see his favorite-Zap Apple strudels- in the box. “Oh, you shouldn’t have, Diamond. I’ve been so busy I didn’t even think of getting any.”
“Well, I can always eat them myself...” Diamond said, playfully taking the box from him.
“Oh, Don’t you dare.” He snatched the box back from her, giving her a sarcastic look of anger. They both laughed. “Well, I have some time. Why don’t we just have one? And only one.” Diamond smiled at him.
“Sure,” she said, flashing him another one of her adorable smiles. After getting some small serving plates from the kitchen, they both dug in, talking and laughing, her pointing out a mess on her father’s face, him nudging her occasionally, making it hard for her to eat it. They ate. They laughed. They talked, like it was the last time they’d see each other. Deep down in his heart, Filthy had a fear, a deep-rooted and seemingly justifiable fear that it would, indeed, be one of the last times. After they finished eating, he closed the box on the pastries, making sure to save some for later. The trip back to Canterlot. The office. They probably wouldn’t last long, to be honest. He gave Diamond a hug.
“I love you, Diamond,” he stated, making sure he knew he said it before he could potentially lose her.
“I love you too, Father.”
“Hey, Diamond, There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you...”
“Yes?”
“Listen, your mother and I-”
Filthy couldn’t finish, however, as a soft knock at the door alerted him that his carriage had arrived.
“I guess you have to go now, huh?”
“I guess. But I’ll make sure to try and visit soon, honey. Definitely sooner than a year and a half,” he smiled at her. Filthy trotted off to the front door, grabbing his bags, and his favorite photo, opening the front door.
“Good afternoon, sire. Are you set to leave?”
“Of course. Let me just say goodbye first,” he said, throwing his bags in the carriage, trotting back towards the front porch. “Hey, Diamond? You know I love you, right?”
“Yes, Father.”
“No matter what Mother tells you, don’t believe her. I do love you. i think about you every day.”
“Ok, Father. Hey...I have a question before you go,” she stated, giving him another hug.
“What is it, Honey?”
“Well, I was on my way back from Sugarcube Corner and I heard mom talking. She just used I word I don’t understand.”
“Oh. What did she say?”
“I just want to know...What’s a divorce?”
Filthy felt his heart drop into his stomach as the finality of these past few days was finally being realized.