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Diamond Tiara isn't stupid enough to do something like speak back to her mother without a plan. So when her mother calls her upstairs when she gets home after befriending the Cutie Mark Crusaders, there's only one thing she can say:
"Thanks, Mother."
After all, without her, she never could have made those stupid blank flanks want to be her friend.
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Rest assured... If I ever start a 'Diamond Tiara Fakes Reform' group, this story would be at the top of my list to be added.
Still, one thing you DIDN'T mention... How did she fake that 'heartfelt' song about wanting to be somepony different? And, how did she know the CMC would follow her at that exact moment? Well...?
6514814 Diamond probably had the foresight to know the CMC would follow her home after the election, she is an expert manipulator. As for the song, perhaps there was something in there that was the truth, but who knows?
That's my two cents, wonder what the author has to say.
Yeah! Who likes character reformation anyway?
I dunno the phrase "the face goes to fit the mask" comes to mind, that if Diamond Tiara pretends long enough she'll one day find she stopped pretending to be the CMCs friends at some point, that their philosophy became her own along the way, and her desire to be a different pony and not be as snooty and manipulative as her mother was how she really felt.
Love it. Smart, cunning little filly, and her mother is right in her own way - if she'll use more carrot than stick, it'll be just like any succecful person. Surround yourself with good friends, keep others at distance, be assertive, good qualities for life.
This is such a Diamond Tiara thing to do.
Like it.
I like the little hints that DT and her mom aren't really evil after all - that she loves her daughter, that she wants her to marry a nice pony.
Oh wow, this is quite the pisstake on the whole episode. I could almost see the show take it in this direction, though it's unlikely they'd be that subversive and evil. I can totally buy "cutiemark consulting" services, given some of the idiotic consulting services they rich seem to have in this world.
I like this subversion of the episode. It's not very "pony-like" on their part, but I can totally buy it in terms of their characters.
There's the DT we all love to hate.
Too bad the show is hell bent on giving us the saccharine sweet version now.
6515322 Oh, come on... I'm sure she still has some sass and attitude. She'll just channel it now in a less destructive way now, that's all. We can only speculate until we see her again (hopefully, the fact she's no longer a major antagonist won't cut off her number of appearances)...
Hate the idea but it wasn't exactly poorly written or anything, so I'll still like and favourite. It just... isn't a very strong like is all.
6514814
Hehe, thank you! Was sort of a fun idea I had after watching the episode.
She saw them following her around. I mean, its not like they've got cutie marks in spying, right? :V
6514881
NO ONE.
WE ALL HATE IT FOREVER D<
Clearly :V
More seriously, character reformation can be fun, but abrupt about-faces never really sit right with me. And to be fair, they pretty much had Discord pretend to be reformed but still actually be evil for a season and a half, until he actually reformed at the end of season 4.
6514929
Thanks! I had fun with them. Maybe I just enjoy people who are
evilcynically practical more than I should, but I think ruthless but not mindlessly evil people are interesting, and it can be fun to depict things from their point of view and see their perspective on things.6514956
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
6514881
She doesn't need to reform, she just needs to act more constructive and less descructive. Which she does.
6515012
Of course they're not evil! They're just practical-minded business ponies.
And yes, they really do love each other. Too bad it doesn't seem to extend too far beyond that.
6515156
Thank you! Yes, I doubt the show will be quite so cynical about it (though, in all fairness to them, they did have Discord remain evil until the season 4 finale) but maybe we'll still see some of Diamond Tiara's edge return in future episodes.
And yes, cutie mark consulting services totally seems like the sort of made-up service some more unscrupulous types might try to sell to worried parents...
6515322
That's what fanfiction is for, right?
6515858
There's nothing wrong with using your power for
gathering more power while pretending to begood instead of evil!6515873
Eh, evil\good is subjective anyway. But yeah, look at Celestia, NMM and Sombra. Which one is on top and has more power at the long run?
6515876
Its true! Everyone always remembers this:
But it doesn't end well for Dark Helmet.
Of course, he made the mistake of being dumb himself...
I don't want to like this. But I am anyway simply because you wrote it pretty well.
I'm perfectly fine with Diamond getting some long-overdue character development, though I do hope she keeps at least some of her attitude.
6515859
Clearly true, but it's more that I meant... well, by analogy, if you're a Slytherin girl thinking about getting married... go for the Hufflepuff. A little hard work goes a long way, especially if you're standing behind them with a little cunning. Plus, it's going to be important that they're loyal to you...
In the context of this story, that logic almost makes me feel sorry for Littlepip...
6515932
That's the great thing about being the power behind the throne - you have a convenient body shield, but get all the power, and their back is right there, just in case it needs something stuck in it.
And yes, there's no reason why people who are more cynical wouldn't value many of the same attributes as other folks. No one wants to be surrounded by people they can't trust.
6515902
Thanks! I'm glad you liked it!
Yeah, I'd love to see Diamond Tiara character development, but part of the fun of her is that she's a competent, confident, cynical, and controlling person with quite a bit of an edge. I like that she has those attributes, and they aren't necessarily always negative.
I always liked how Paper Promises made use of Diamond Tiara's characteristics and point of view to explain why promises were important (and how money works).
*looks at largely positive comments, then at the vote ratio*
Stirring up the silent majority today, are we?
6515996
No!
...yes.
I didn't think this would be so controversial! Who doesn't love clever, ambitious young fillies plotting with their mothers? It's important family bonding!
An interesting take on the events of yesterday's episode.
6516010
Thanks! I'm glad you found it interesting.
To be perfectly honest, I doubt I'll ever be able to read this story.
Not because I think this will turn out to be poorly written.
But more that, well:
1. I actually think Diamond's turnaround in the episode was pretty well executed, given the limited 22 minute time-span the episodes have, and given what we learned about her. Plus, the songs really helped on that front, with "Light of Your Cutie Mark" actually being a pretty intense song, since the ending of it left me unsure of which direction she was going to take (and I'm still not sure if she was planning to get the money to fix the playground all along, or if she was originally going to try to take revenge, and the events that took place in the minutes between her leaving the clubhouse and her saying, "No mother!" convinced her to change her mind. And I like that).
2. Thanks to said turnaround, I can actually say that I like Diamond Tiara now (which still feels odd to say despite having seen the episode dozens of times by now). Don't get me wrong, I still haven't forgiven her completely, but at least it's understandable why she did the things she did. And if it gets revealed later on that she was faking it, not only will I no longer be able to like her, but my respect for her will go into the negatives, and she will officially become cemented as the worst character on the show.
Prior to this episode, Diamond Tiara's "development" was mostly negative, with her starting out as a generic bully, and then her turning more and more into, well, a full-on bitch. Sure, her appearances in Pinkie Pride and Twilight Time were more tolerable, but those were minor things, and she was still taking advantage of the CMC in the latter.
But this episode put all of her actions in a new light, and I have to admit that it's impressive that it took her until now to completely crack under all the pressure she was under.
In fact, after "The Pony I want to be" ended, I was unsure of how I felt until Sweetie Belle said the words, "Is it weird that I feel bad for her?"
Hang on...I've just read some rumours about this episode online which hold some parallel with this fic... And if there's even a smidgen of truth to them... To say I'll be p*ssed off would be the understatement of the century...
6516204
Oh? Where did you see these rumors? What were they?
Oh wow, talk about controversial.
Personally, I'm in camp Cynical. You get a like and a favourite from me. And a wish for this to actually be what they are gonna do in the show (no matter how unlikely that is).
6516204 Let's just say the two part season finale would have repercussions for all the episodes that precede it, and leave it at that...
6516248
Yeah...
Though on the other hand, they did have Discord create trouble throughout season four...
I'm glad you liked it, though!
6516280 It was more him creating trouble while trying out this "friendship" - sort of being Chaotic Neutral rather than Chaotic Evil, but not quite Chaotic Good yet.
What your story suggests for DT is a complete subversion of everything we've seen in the episode - so far we've witnessed a convincing change from Neutral Evil into basically Lawful Good, and I highly doubt they're gonna go "Syke, she's still completely evil" in a show like MLP.
I have to say, that like:dislike ratio there is bugging me. I personally would not be thrilled if this was the actuality behind DT's reformation, either, but you wrote this very well. You've got a "nicely written, but it would suck if this was true" like from me.
That was some solid proof of how she can go either way. She's got the brains and skills to pull off things like this if she wanted to.
And that bit with Silver Spoon? Probably my only gripe. But yeah, a solid and dark twist to the episode. Though as much as I wish the mending fences between DT and the CMC was more fleshed out in the show, I do believe the change of heart was genuine.
Well, here's hoping at least she keeps some of that attitude from the past to some extent in the future. She's got a very powerful cutie mark it seems. Still wonder if those 5 shines of tear drops that shone the tips of her five points of the tiara was a throwback to Twilight's cutie mark representing the ties she has with the CMC and Silver Spoon.
Lots of New Mane cast material in this Season Finale for the Filly 5. Heh, Diamond Tiara confirmed for S6... Filly 5 became canon? Life is good.
6516490
She's certainly cunning, but yeah, I doubt this is actually what happened in the show-verse.
Still, it was fun to think about (and write). Of course, I've always loved David Xanatos, so maybe that isn't so surprising.
What bothered you about the Silver Spoon bit? Her throwing her away so easily?
6516610 Well, far as the show goes, yeah. Hated how forced much of it felt. The Silver Spoon stuff was a bit much. But as for the story? I'm not sure if your story is before or after they fixed the school yard. Also hard to say how fast Twilight and Filthy Rich managed to get supplies over to the school.
See, if it was POST cutie marks, as this sounds, then Diamond Tiara, assuming this is tuned to be a believable twist, would have already made amends with Silver Spoon when she went to help her and gave Silver that apologetic look as she held up the plank for Silver to nail down. Though with how Silver was hammering I take it they might have been at that one post for a good while. xD
But yeah, covering both show and your fic as I wasn't sure which Silver moment you were asking for and I seem to have left that Silver gripe comment incomplete. Apologies. But yeah, bit of a tiny plot hole I suppose. Especially given that DT and SS are side by side most of the end together.
But if somehow this is just a different take on the episode, then I can see the helping with the 'amending fences' scene as being the "apologize to Silver" moment that her mother advised doing.
A good form of scene interpretation. But I believe Diamond Tiara was being genuine with her change of heart.
Hmm, from the story description, I was sure Diamond Tiara would be pretending to thank her mother for helping her gain the Crusaders' attention so they'd follow after her - since that would be the only way to keep her mother from being angry at her reformation!
I agree with 6516069 that Diamond's reformation was genuine and rather well-executed. Bringing in her mother probably worsened the episode as a whole, but it makes Diamond Tiara's reformation more plausible by showing that she wasn't bullying on her own; she was trying and failing to live up to somepony else's expectations.
6517000
Hopefully someone does a story where that turns out to be what happens, since that would be a much more satisfying story.
I disagree on that point, though.
First, it gave me a new character to direct all my hatred towards, and this time I actually feel good about hating her.
And second, it actually helped the show-don't-tell aspect of the episode. Because, let's face it, if Diamond just included lines about her mother in her song, it would have been much harder to swallow.
6515322 I honestly never liked the fact that I hated her beforehand. It didn't feel satisfying, and she had never been the "love-to-hate" kind of antagonist for me, I just completely loathed her. And for me, just loathing a character never feels right. Her mother, on the other hoof, falls perfectly into the love-to-hate category, due to how snooty and uptight she is.
And, as I said in the first comment I made on this story, I actually like the nicer version of DT, and I hope that this is the version that sticks for the rest of the show.
Though I AM hoping that they do something with her that's similar to what they did with Sunset in that one scene in Friendship Games (I think you know the one): Have her make a new pony who was antagonizing the CMC feel bad about themselves, and then have the CMC calm her down.
6517055 Yes, if they were going to bring up Diamond Tiara's mother at all, showing her was the right decision. What I was getting at was that it would be even better in terms of the episode to have Diamond be bullying for some psychological reason of her own - perhaps because that's what she interpreted her cutie mark to be in - rather than reinterpreting it as due to her mother.
6517080 That'd be a good idea... maybe Silver Spoon could antagonize the CMC next, if we want to use an existing pony?
6517127
Fair enough.
I've sort of had this theory that the reason she focused on the CMC almost exclusively was because she and Apple Bloom actually used to be friends when they were younger, but something happened that caused her to take her aggression out on AB. Which, for all we know, could still turn out to be true, since, as Diamond Tiara herself said in "Light of the Cutie Mark", we don't really know that much about her..
As for Silver Spoon being the next antagonist for the CMC, I don't know.
On one hoof, she did only have one interaction with the CMC, which was when she told them that she didn't have to follow Diamond anymore.
But on the other hoof, we did see in the reprise of "The Pony I want to be" that SS and DT are probably friends again, and since DT and the CMC are friends now, she wouldn't really have any reason to antagonize them.
Although, I do think it would be interesting to have an episode where Babs visits Ponyville again, sees that Diamond is friends with the CMC, thinks that she's just faking it, and DT has to do something to prove to her that she's really changed.
Love that line. It's meaningful to their characters!
aaawww, that's so sweet
I was a huge fan of the episode; thought Diamond's reformation was perfectly executed; I'm still reeling over how well Amy Keating Rogers made the necessarily rushed pace of a 22-minute musical work—but this is a well-written fic that I very much enjoyed reading! What's up with all the people downvoting and not commenting saying what they thought was badly done in the fic?
6520171
Dunno. Its kind of surprising how lopsided the comments are given the voting is so close to 50:50. I'm glad you liked it, though; I had fun writing it, and I had fun with Diamond Tiara's relationship with Spoiled Rich here.
I'm glad you caught the dark echo; I had fun with that. After all, thinking of your standing (if you're smart) doesn't mean being a snooty pony everyone hates.
I suspect Machiavelli is required reading in that household.
Enjoy yer 50/50 :V
I liked this a lot. Is it cannon? Who cares, it's fanfiction. It's well written and it's a neat thoery.