Collapse, Collide

by Zombificus

Family

Diamond met Cheerilee coming back from Dinky's house. She approached Diamond a little unsteady on her hooves and her cheeks were tinged with a faint but constant blush. She was drunk. Diamond frowned, puzzled: to bump into Cheerilee so close to home meant that she couldn't have come from anywhere else. She'd gotten drunk at Diamond's house, which meant her father had probably broken out the wine -- Cheerilee seemed a wine sort of mare -- and they'd probably been drinking together. She wasn't sure what to make of that.

It was great that her father was comfortable enough with Cheerilee to drink with her, and she liked Cheerilee at least as much as he did, but everything seemed to be pointing less to him coming out of his rut than it did to him... well, rutting Cheerilee. That was an image Diamond didn't really want to focus on, but the point stood. He seemed happy again, was socialising and even drinking again, but she had no way of knowing how much of that was real progress.

If he was truly getting better, and falling for Cheerilee while he was at it, then that was great, but if he wasn't as recovered as he seemed, was just using this as a crutch... That would be something else entirely. That kind of relationship had already happened once, and the fallout from that month-long train-wreck had set him back years. He didn't need that again -- deserved better than that, he and Cheerilee both -- but the stage was set just as well for a tragedy as it was a romance. Diamond hoped to the princesses that this thing between them -- whatever it was -- worked out well. Diamond was all too aware that if it didn't, it could ruin the only genuine friendship he'd had in years.

All of this hit her in a wave upon seeing Cheerilee ambling towards her with a big grin on her rosy face, completely unaware of just how much effect her appearance had on Diamond's thoughts. Despite it all, Diamond's face lit up at the sight of her. Making a beeline for her teacher-turned-mentor, she called out a heartfelt greeting:

"Hey, Cheerilee!"

Cheerilee stopped just in front of her, beaming cheek-to-rosy-cheek. "Hi, Diamond!"

Though she already knew the answer, Diamond had to ask: "Have you just come from Dad's?"

Cheerilee nodded her head vigorously, then stopped, looking more than a little bit dizzy from the act.

"Yes, I have. I suppose you've come from one of your friends' houses?"

Diamond nodded. "Dinky's. I walked home with her until she was home, then I left. I didn't really stick around long, but we did spend a while at Auburn's together, after we walked Copperwing home from hospital, so it's not like we didn't get to hang out. How about you? Did you have a good time with Dad?"

Cheerilee's expression seemed to glaze over with joy as the schoolteacher answered, staring off into space with a smile that looked suspiciously lovestruck to Diamond's eyes.

"Frankly, Diamond, 'good time' is a bit of an understatement: I haven't had fun like I did tonight in... well, in years! It was a really wonderful evening... Just a shame all my paperwork had to cut it short."

Despite her misgivings, Diamond couldn't help the urge to push the fledgling relationship along.

"Why don't you talk to Dad about meeting up sometime you can stay longer? I'm sure he wouldn't mind you staying for dinner if you wanted to."

Cheerilee simply beamed at her. "One step ahead of you, Diamond. We've already made plans to meet up tomorrow and decide on a good time to do something together."

"That's great!" Diamond grinned to match Cheerilee's smile, then let her face soften into a more serious look. "You know, Cheerilee, I'm glad he's got a friend like you."

Cheerilee's expression turned thoughtful.

"And I'm glad to have a friend like him. I know both of us are very glad to have a friend like you, Diamond."

"Me?" This wasn't a direction Diamond had expected this to go, and the filly found herself at a loss for words. Cheerilee, on the other hand, wasted no time in proudly explaining her statement.

"Your father adores you, Diamond, and I can certainly see why. And anyway, didn't you ever wonder why I was so determined to help you? I always knew you were a good filly, deep down, and I can't tell you how proud I am -- how proud your father is -- that you've finally had the chance to bring that good to the surface. You've become a wonderful filly over this past month, just like we always wanted you to be."

Eyes brimming with tears, Diamond approached Cheerilee and wrapped her forelegs around her in an embrace that the mare was quick to return. Diamond held onto he teacher for a long few seconds, and then, releasing Cheerilee, backed up to look her in the eye.

"I learned from the best."

"Oh, Diamond..."

Cheerilee blinked tears of joy from her eyes, her voice cracked by emotion. Shaking off the grip of her shock, she pulled Diamond into a second, tighter hug. Cradled against the mare's soft fur, Diamond felt safe, at home. The scent of Cheerilee's perfume, soft and sweet, wafted into her nose, soothing her. To her surprise, Cheerilee's hoof began to stroke her mane in a gentle, caring rhythm. As Diamond snuggled closer to Cheerilee, in the light of the setting sun, their colours seemed to blend into one.

*

Copperwing woke with a smile on her face. She couldn't remember the dream she'd had, but the fuzzy warmth it had left in her heart was all the evidence she needed to conclude it was a good one. Looking bleary-eyed around the room, she saw that Diamond was gone, but her scent lingered in the air above the bed and in the covers pulled up under her chin. The smile grew: clearly, Diamond had gone to the trouble of tucking her in without waking her up. It felt good, knowing that she had somepony who cared about her, who'd go to the effort to do the little things.

Sitting up, she shrugged off the covers but pulled the contented feeling around her like a blanket. The thought of Diamond carried her out of bed and across the bedroom floor in a daze, so wrapped up in her feelings for the other filly that she didn't notice the figure in her doorway until she had nearly run into it. Eyes snapping open in an instant, she sprang back a step or two and saw that Auburn was standing there, a similarly startled expression on her face.

Before Copperwing could so much as open her mouth, Auburn closed the distance and spoke, quietly:

"Copperwing, can we talk?"

Copper frowned, let out a sigh. She didn't need this right now.

"Talk about what?"

Auburn had the decency to look ashamed, at least. That was something, Copperwing supposed.

"I wanted to apologise. What I did to you was really shitty, and I want you to know that I really am sorry. If I could go back and stop myself from being such an ass, I would, but-"

"You can't." Copperwing cut in. "You can't change what happened, and you can't just say sorry and expect things to go back to how they were. Sorry to disappoint you, but that's not how the real world works. You're going to have to earn my trust back if you want it at all."

"I know that. I want to be better, I want to make things right. But you've got to let me try, okay?"

Copperwing sighed. "...Okay. Okay. You've got a chance; don't waste it."

"I won't."

Copperwing sent her a questioning look, but Auburn met it with a steady look. She held Copperwing's eyes until she felt she'd made her point, then, with another apologetic glance, turned to leave. Before she could depart entirely, however, Copperwing called after her.

"For what it's worth, Auburn... I hope you're right about that. I want my little sister back."

Pausing in the doorway, Auburn turned to Copperwing, wiped the surprise off her face and nodded. For a moment, Copperwing spied an uncharacteristic flash of determination in her eyes, but then she turned away and, with a few long strides, vanished from sight.

*

Diamond had expected her father to be in a good mood when he answered the door, and sure enough, the door swung open to reveal a stallion looking years younger than the one she'd left that morning. A big, coltish grin was plastered on his face, and as he led the way into the house, his steps had a youthful spring to them. Clearly, Cheerilee was a positive influence on his mood -- or at least Cheerilee and alcohol was.

The moment they entered the house proper, Diamond could smell the rich scents of pizza wafting in from the kitchen. She glanced up at her father and he met her questioning eyes with a smile.

"I had the staff cook up your favourite, since you've been doing so well lately. I'm so proud of you, honey, and so is Cheerilee."

Diamond beamed up at him -- "Thanks, Dad!" -- then, turning more thoughtful, but no less happy, she added: "You know, I bumped into Cheerilee on my way home."

"Oh, yeah?"

Her father tried to hide his curiosity, but his eager tone of voice betrayed him. Diamond grinned: it was almost cute, in a puppy-dog sort of way way.

"Yeah. She said you were both proud of me, but I wasn't sure if she was just saying that... Well, not until she hugged me. Still, it's nice to hear it from you, too."

As they entered the dining room and approached the table, Rich slowed down to give his daughter a loving glance and a reassuring pat on the withers.

"It's nice to be able to tell you. You don't know how many times I thought I'd lost you, when you were growing up. Having the real you, having you safe and happy... It means the world to me."

Not knowing what else she could say to that, Diamond simply replied -- "Thanks, Dad," -- and slipped into her seat at the dinner table.

Across from her, Rich took his own place. After a few distracted moments when both father and daughter were preoccupied with locating the proper cutlery, he glanced at her from the other side of the table, a serious look on his face and a softness in his words.

"You know, Diamond... if your mother could see you now, she'd be prouder than words can say."

Diamond's food froze halfway to her mouth, and she stammered, completely caught off guard by what her father had just said.

"You... You think so?"

Covering her trembling hoof with his larger, brown one, Rich replied: "Absolutely."

Caught by surprise yet again, Diamond resorted to her time-honoured refrain: "T-thanks, Dad." This was the last thing she'd expected to hear tonight.

Rich smiled back at her and simply said -- "Don't mention it." -- before turning back to his food. Diamond, on the other hand, had no option but to sit still and let the conversation filter through to her brain.

Once she'd gotten over the immediate shock, the mention of her mother gave Diamond an idea. She wasn't overly keen to spoil her father's good mood by bringing up the past, but he'd already brought her mother up on his own and her idea seemed to be her best chance of answering the insistent questions Dinky and Auburn had planted in her head. She glanced up at him, then back down at her hooves, then back again. Steeling herself, she looked into her father's eyes and asked:

"Dad? Can I... Can ask you about Mum?"

He blinked at her, obviously surprised, but although Diamond scanned his face for the telltale pang of pain, she didn't see it. He smiled a little sadly, but the mention of his late wife didn't seem to have brought him the grief it had done the last time Diamond asked, all those years ago.

"Of course, Diamond," Rich answered, smiling softly. "What did you want to know?"

Diamond realised abruptly that she hadn't actually planned this far ahead. How to word this?

"When...uh... When did you realise you loved Mum?"

Diamond held her breath, waiting for her question to be brushed off with some useless half-answer, or some truncated version of real events too general to be useful. She needn't have worried: again, Rich blinked at the question, but this time his melancholy smile grew full and genuine and he leaned over the table eagerly, pizza forgotten in his hoof, to answer.

"Now that's a story and a half, and not just in entertainment value. We, uh, might be here a while." Diamond moved as if to protest, but Rich hastily continued before she had the chance. "Now, I'm not saying no, but you'd better eat while you listen or your food's going to go cold."

Diamond's look of defiance turned to one of mock admonishment as she nodded to Rich's own abandoned meal.

"Says you."

Rich, looking at his pizza as if seeing it for the first time, chuckled. To the music of Diamond's giggles, he made a show of taking a comically huge chunk out of it, then set it back on the plate and leaned back in his seat.

"Is that good enough for now, Little Gem?"

Though the nickname sent a flush of embarrassment across her face, Diamond had to concede that his pizza-eating efforts were, for now at least, 'good enough'. Chuckling, Rich clapped his hooves together and sat up straight.

"Now," he said, grinning. "Without further ado: storytime."

*****

Author's Note:

First chapter of 2017! It only took me until nearly the end of March. With luck, the next one won't take four months.

Editing this one, I had the overwhelming urge to rename it 'Shipping', but I think I'll save that one for a future chapter.

If you have anything to say or any questions in need of an answer, please leave a comment and I'll reply ASAP. Looking forward to bringing you a new chapter sooner rather than later.

Thanks for reading!

Comments

[superfun]

Will this ever be continued?

[LordOfCringe]

My lord this was great. Shame it was never finished.

[Mocha Star]

Love this and hope it's not dead, if it is it was a great ride.