Unpolished Diamond

by pokerninja2

All the Buzz

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

As she did every morning, Diamond forced herself out of bed, turned the clock off, and got ready for the day. It being a school day, she grabbed her tiara, and put her saddlebag on. She made her way outside and found Silver Spoon waiting to walk to school with her.

“Hey,” Diamond greeted her friend. “Ready to go?”

“Yup!” Silver answered. The two fillies started walking to the schoolhouse. A moment of silence passed between the two friends, though a realization that Silver Spoon had broke the silence.

“Hey,” she said. “I just remembered - today is the day Zipporwhill is coming to our school!”

“The new student?” Diamond asked. “Oh right, I forgot.”

“Well, hopefully we can start on a good note,” Silver said. “Then we could probably be friends.”

“I'm still surprised that she was bullied enough to... drive her out of her old school," Diamond sighed. "I mean, how bad could it have been to make her do that?"

"Probably much worse than what we were doing," Silver said. "It's kind of scary to think about."

Both fillies shuddered as they kept thinking about it.

"But enough about that," Silver said, trying to change the subject. "We should do our best to make her feel at home, and I'm sure the other Crusaders will help too."

“Yeah,” Diamond said. “Oh look, we’re here.”

The conversation had distracted them so much that they hadn’t realized that they were already at the school. Early as usual.

“So what should we do?” Silver asked.

“You wanna take a trip to Sugarcube Corner?” Diamond suggested. “I always have some bits on my saddlebag.”

“Sure,” Silver answered. “We’ve got time, anyway.”

The next hour was spent at Sugarcube Corner. The two friends ordered what they usually did — Diamond got a small strawberry ice cream and Silver got a chocolate milkshake. As they ate their treats, they began talking about how great it was to be Crusaders, what with all the games and the great feeling of helping other ponies find their special talents.

"As much fun as it is, I do have a few concerns with our whole crusading system," Diamond said.

"Like what?" Silver asked.

"Well... think about it," Diamond explained. "We have six whole members, twice the amount the club had a few days ago. Back then, it made since for everypony to go together, but now that our numbers have increased, I think it'd be smarter and more efficient if we all split in teams and help different ponies at the same time."

"Sounds like a great idea!" Silver said. "Plus it would help clear that piling... pile of letters. There's probably dozens of foals who haven't gotten help yet. We really need to bring this up with them after school."

"Sounds like a plan," Diamond said as she finished her ice cream. She looked at the clock and saw it said 7:11 AM.

"We should get going," the pink filly said.

"OK," Silver said, slurping up the rest of her milkshake as fast as possible.

"Sil, don't do that!" Diamond said. "You'll get a-"

"GAH!" Silver squealed in pain as she held her hooves over her head.

"...brainfreeze." Diamond finished.

It only took a moment or two for Silver to recover, and after leaving a tip on the table, they made their way back to the shcoolhouse, being right on time. Inside, they met up with the other Crusaders and went to their classroom, where Cheerilee was awaiting her students. One could tell that she had a happy announcement to make, with the giant, toothy smile on her face.

“Alright, everypony, take your seats,” Cheerilee said. “I have an important announcement.”

“Is it more extra credit?” Pipsqueak asked, raising his hoof. He was always deemed the teacher’s pet.

“No, Pipsqueak,” the teacher corrected. “But, we ARE having a new student join us today!”

The foals began talking amongst themselves in excitement. Some questions then began flying around.

“Is it a he or she?” Sunny Daze asked.

“Does she have a special talent yet?” Dinky Doo asked.

“Is he an earth pony, pegasus, or unicorn?” Rumble asked.

“Where’s the pudding?” Snails asked to nopony in particular. He was always credited as the class clown, though it was questionable if it was intentional or not.

“She’s in the principal’s office right now,” Cheerilee said, trying to calm the class down. “I’ll go ahead and get her.”

When she left the classroom to get the new student, the class was buzzing with conversation. All the tension led up to Cheerilee opening the door, with a small, white pegasus buzzing beside her. She was pretty much everything Twist had described, from the glasses to the cutie mark to the oversized tiara on her head.

“So THAT’S Zipporwhill,” Diamond thought to herself. “Twist wasn’t lying when she said she was small...” She quickly stopped her train of thought. “What am I THINKING!? I don’t wanna bully another pony for being different! Not again!”

Diamond looked around the room to see what the other foals thought. On her left, she saw Sweetie Belle, gazing at the new student with a smile on her face. Diamond could tell the unicorn couldn’t wait to get to know her. On her right, Silver Spoon also had a smile and was clapping her hooves. On the other side of the room, she saw Snails… drooling? Weather he was thinking about lunch or was was attracted to Zipporwhill’s apparently good looks was a mystery that was best unsolved for the sake of Equestria.

“Alright, students,” Cheerilee called. “This is Zipporwhill. Do you mind introducing yourself to the class?”

“Sure!” Zipporwhill said. Diamond could deduce she was apparently of Native Equestrian descent, given her interesting accent. Definitely a rare in Ponyville.

She began buzzing around the room, spewing out facts about herself. “My name is Zipporwhill! I’m a pegasus, and my special talent is taking care of pets! I just love love love LOVE pets! Dogs, cats, birds, turtles, snakes, you name it, I love it! I also LOVE the Pony Tones! I’m their biggest fan! I even have an autograph from one of them! See?” She held out a picture of the Pony Tones, with “To Zipporwhill” being upon it. Apple Bloom noticed that it was Big Mac’s distinctive hoofwriting.

“Well, you sure are an ENERGETIC filly,” Cheerilee commented,

“Thank you!” Zipporwhill said happily. “It’s because my mom and dad run a coffee shop, and I have three cups of coffee every morning! No more, no less.”

“Very… interesting…” Cheerilee said. “Well, take a seat, please.”

“Aye aye, captain Cheerilee!” Zipporwhill saluted, causing everypony in the room to giggle a bit. She buzzed over to the only available seat, which just to her luck was next to Twist. Once the class settled, Cheerilee began writing on the board.

“Wait, Twist?” Zipporwhill whispered. “You’re in this class? I mean, I knew you went to school here but I didn’t think we’d be in the same class. This is crazy!”

“Yup,” she answered quietly. “Thith ith gonna be a fun clath. Everypony ith nith to each other, Cheerilee ith the beth teacher ever, and—”

“Twist, Zipporwhill,” Cheerilee called. “Please be quiet. You’re disrupting class.”

“Thorry,” the filly in question said. Cheerilee turned back to the blackboard.

“But don’t worry,” Twist whispered a little quieter. “Nopony will bully you here.”

Zipporwhill smiled and rapidly nodded.

---

A few hours passed until it was finally time for recess. In a matter of seconds, all the foals rushed outside to play outside and get their minds off of the excruciating learning. Zipporwhill was the last to exit, and looked around. She could see a playground built specifically for the school, complete with a slide and swings, and on the other side of it was a hoofball field. Being the energetic filly she was, she buzzed over there first, hardly able to wait to finally let all that caffeine-powered energy out. When she arrived, she quickly took notice that only colts were playing, but that didn’t stop her. She went ahead and buzzed over to Pipsqueak, who was waiting in his position as defender.

“Hey,” Zipporwhill greeted the abnormally small colt. “Can I join? I don’t really care whose team I’m on, I just wanna have fun! Maybe I can be a defender with you, or maybe-”

“Uhh, sorry, Zipporwhill,” Pipsqueak interrupted. “But both teams are full. Maybe next ti-”

“PIP!” Snips called out from behind. “QUIT TALKING TO YOUR MAREFRIEND AND STOP RUMBLE!”

Pipsqueak looked around, and noticed that Rumble had the ball and was carrying it directly to the goal. “Sorry,” he said while running off to help his team. “Gotta go!”

As he ran off, Zipporwhill looked around, a little upset about the rejection, but her spirits flared back up when she noticed three fillies playing on the swings by the playground, looking like they were having a good old time. The pegasus buzzed over to them, making sure not to accidentally get hit.

“Hi Zipporwhill!” Dinky Doo greeted.

“Hi girls!” the pet-loving filly greeted back. “Can I play with you?”

“Uhh, sorry,” Sunny Daze answered. “But there are only three swings.”

“I could get off if you want,” Peachy Pie offered.

“No, that’s alright,” Zipporwhill said. “I’ll… just go somewhere else.”

“Well, alright,” Peachy said. “See you later.”

With a sigh, Zipporwhill began buzzing around. She thought about going down the slide, but other than climbing up and sliding down, what more could she possibly do? On top of that, she almost never walked - she always preferred to be airborne. Surely there was more to recess than this. At her old school, everypony was doing something different, but here, the foals seemed to just hang out in their own groups. And since she was new, she hadn’t had any time to form any relationships with anypony. The only pony she knew was Twist.

“Wait,” she thought to herself. “Twist! Maybe she’ll play with me! We’re great friends, after all!”

She then began buzzing around, searching for her messy-maned friend. She quickly found her… playing four-square with other fillies.

“Oh no,” Zipporwhill thought. “Even she has friends of her own! And look at how many there are! There’s like six of them!”

She, at first, thought about ditching the idea altogether. But after some thought, she figured she might as well try. Given how the rest of her recess was going, she doubted it, but she did have hope. Twist was her neighbor — her friend, no less. Certainly SHE of all foals would be willing to play with her.

“Hey Twist!” Zipporwhill called, hiding her doubt behind an energetic smile. Unfortunately, she had decided to come out of a bush, completely hidden from the crusaders, so everypony in the game was caught off-guard. Scootaloo, in particular, was so shocked she accidentally bumped the ball into Silver Spoon’s head, knocking off her glasses.

“Ah don’t think this is yer game,” Apple Bloom snickered.

“I get startled easily, alright!?” Scootaloo said.

“Here you go,” Zipporwhill said, handing the knocked-off glasses to the knocked-down Silver Spoon.

“Thanks,” Silver said, putting them back on.

“Anyway, hey Twist!” Zipporwhill said.

“Hi Thipporwhill!” Twist said happily. “Can I introduth you to my friendth?”

“Sure!” the white pegasus said.

“OK,” Twist said, clearing her throat. “That’th Apple Bloom,” she called, pointing to the farm filly.

“Howdy,” she greeted.

“Thith ith Thweetie Belle, and that’th Thcootaloo,” she said, pointing to the two respective fillies.

“Hi Zipporwhill!” Sweetie said.

“‘Sup.” Scootaloo said, her tomboyish nature kicking in.

“And theeth two are Diamond Tiara and Thilver Thpoon!” the candy cane filly finished.

“Hi,” Diamond greeted. “Twist has told us so much about you.”

“She… she has?” Zipporwhill asked.

“Yeah, like how you liked pets, how you always wear a tiara, and how you were made fun of for being small, and—” Diamond said before being interrupted by Twist.

“Thee dothen’t need to know that,” Twist whispered.

“Oh, I see how it is,” Zipporwhill said. “So you’re just gonna be my friends because you feel sorry huh? Is that it? HUH?”

“I… I’m thorry, Thipporwhill,” Twist said. “I didn’t know you’d—”

“Well I have news for you!” Zipporwhill said, a little angry. “I’m not buying your pity! I don’t need anypony’s pity! I don’t need yours, or yours, or ANYPONY’S. No pity! NONE!” With that, she buzzed away.

“Thipporwhill!” Twist called. “Wait!” She looked at her friends, giving a face that said ‘What were you thinking!?’ before running off to catch her friend.

“Well that’s JUST great,” Scootaloo said. “Now we probably lost our chance at having a new friend!”

“Not to mention we probably soiled our friendship with Twist,” Silver Spoon pointed out.

“OH NO!” Diamond thought. “If I had just kept my fat mouth shut everything would have gone fine! I can’t believe I just bullied somepony again...”

“I-I’m sorry, everypony!” Diamond said. “I was just… I didn’t know that—”

“It’s alright,” Sweetie said, putting a hoof around her shoulder. “We forgive you.”

“NONE of us could have known,” Apple Bloom said. “Not even Twist.”

“Speaking of which, we better go find her,” Scootaloo said.

So the fillies left their place at the four-square game and searched the entire school grounds for the two fillies. They eventually found them near the dumpster behind the school. They could hear Zipporwhill crying, with Twist behind her. The Crusaders decided to approach them slowly.

“I-I told you,” Zipporwhill said through tears. “I don’t n-need anypony’s pity.”

“Well, you look like you could use a friend,” Sweetie said in her warm voice.

“W-well what if T-Twist didn’t tell you I was bullied!” Zipporwhill asked. “Huh? HUH? Ever think of that? You all would probably think I was just another regular filly that you’d pay no mind to! I don’t see you hanging out with any of the OTHER foals!”

“I’d still be your friend,” Diamond said from behind, wiggling around the group to get closer to Zipporwhill. The white pegasus glanced at her.

“It really wouldn’t matter if I knew you were bullied or not,” Diamond said comfortingly. “All that matters is that you’re, y’know, you.”

“Ah agree,” Apple Bloom said, backing her pink friend up. “While Twist did tell us you were bullied a lot, we would have been yer friends regardless.”

“A friend of a friend is always a friend to me,” Sweetie added.

“But… but you just have pity for me,” Zipporwhill said, still having watery eyes. “A-and you-”

“Look,” Scootaloo interrupted. “I don’t really like these kinds of moments, so I’ll make it snappy. Even IF Twist didn’t tell us you were bullied, she would have told us you were her friend at SOME point. That’s all we would need to know to be your friend.”

“Not only that,” SIlver chimed in. “Twist didn’t just say you were bullied. She also told us about how great you were with pets, how unique of a flier you were, and how nice of a filly you were.”

“Basically we’re sayin’ that you’re wrong,” Apple Bloom said. “And we’d probably be yer friends regardless.”

“Do… do you mean it?” the white pegasus asked.

“I KNOW they do,” Twist consoled.

Zipporwhill wiped a tear from her eyes, then realized all that she had just done. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I probably shouldn’t have flown off like that.”

“It’th alright,” Twist said. “Tho you wanna play with uth now? We thtill have time before retheth ith over.”

“WOULD I!” Zipporwhill said as she buzzed happily as if nothing ever happened. She quickly followed the other fillies to the four-square court, though Apple Bloom held Diamond Tiara back. She looked back and saw the farm filly giving her a warm smile.

"That was mighty nice of ya to offer to be Zipporwhill's friend," Apple Bloom said.

"Oh come on," Diamond blushed. "All of us went up to-"

"But yer the one who started it," Apple Bloom interrupted. "Ya'll were so quick to make amends with her after ya said somethin' ya didn't even mean. Ah'm proud of ya, Di."

"Thanks," Diamond smiled.

"Hey!" Scootaloo called from behind. "Are you two slowpokes coming or what?"

Both fillies giggled and went back to the four-square court.

---

“Great!” Sweetie called. “You are now solemnly sworn in, here this day, in witness of your fellow friends and sisters as a Cutie Mark Crusader! And here’s your cape!”

Once school had ended, Zipporwhill and the Crusaders became fast friends, so much so that they decided to let her join the Crusaders. It was actually Twist who suggested it, and the others quickly agreed, considering the white pegasus was the candy cane enthusiast's friend and all. Zipporwhill sat still as Sweetie hooked the cape around her neck, and she instantly took off the ground, hovering around and admiring her new look.

“Tho how doth it feel to be a Cutie Mark Cruthader?” Twist asked.

“It feels GREAT!” Zipporwhill said. “Now I’ll get to help OTHER ponies get their cutie marks, and helping ponies is always fun! Especially cute little baby foals! Those are fun to help!”

"And Ah like yer suggestion of splittin' into teams and helpin' multiple foals at once," Apple Bloom commented, putting a hoof around Diamond's shoulder.

"Thanks," Diamond said. "I just thought we could be more efficient about our crusading."

"Well thank goodness," Scootaloo said. "These letters have been piling up for months!"

"But we only started helping ponies last week," Sweetie Belle commented.

"It's an exaggeration," Scootaloo said.

"So who decides the teams?" Zipporwhill asked as she practically bounced off the walls. "Are we doing Team A and Team B, or Team A, Team B, and Team C? Since we have seven members, we can't split evenly, so maybe we... should..." Just then, the normally energetic white pegasus yawned, and donned a drowsy look.

“I think all that coffee has taken its toll,” Silver pointed out with a giggle.

“Don’t worry,” Zipporwhill said, yawning again. “This happens every day.”

“Hey girls, anypony else feel kinda… cramped in here?” Scootaloo asked.

“Hmm… now that you mention it, this clubhouse DOES feel a little small now,” Sweetie Belle said.

None of the other Crusaders could argue. The clubhouse was really only made with Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle in mind, and in just a few days their numbers more than doubled. There was just barely enough room for everypony now, even if Zipporwhill being airborne gave the girls some more wiggle room.

“Yeah, Ah think we’ll need to do some rebuildin’ and renovatin’,” Apple Bloom said. “This clubhouse is gettin’ pretty small.”

“Well it IS the weekend,” Diamond Tiara pointed out. “We could probably get started now and be finished by the time school starts.”

“Maybe, but we’re ALL gonna need to help,” Scootaloo said. “We should probably get Applejack and Rarity too.”

“Hold up hold up hold up,” Zipporwhill said. “Did you just say Rarity? As in, THE Rarity? One of the Pony Tones!?”

“Yeah, she’s my sister!” Sweetie Belle said.

“OMC OMC OMC!” the pet enthusiast cheered as she was practically bouncing off the walls. “I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M FRIENDS WITH A SISTER OF THE PONY TONES! YOU JUST HAVE TO TAKE ME TO HER SO I CAN GET HER AUTOGRAPH!”

“Y’know, Big Mac is also mah big brother,” Apple Bloom said.

“WHAAAAT!?” Zipporwhill said, eyes as big as dinner plates. “I’M FRIENDS WITH TWO SISTERS OF THE PONY TONES!? I’M SO EXCITED I COULD JUST-”

Just then, Zipporwhill crashed on the ground and began snoring.

“What the hay was THAT about?” Apple Bloom asked.

“I dunno, but I sure ain’t drinking coffee for breakfast,” Diamond said. Everypony had a good laugh over that.

Author's Note:

Zipporwhill was especially fun to write here, all that energy allows her to talk on... and on... and on............ and on...............

It also looks like Diamond is becoming better and better at being a friend and a Cutie Mark Crusader... really wish they would have given her development like this in the show instead of dropping her after season 5

Anyways I've been trying to find editors / proofreaders with little to no success. Hoping to find one soon so I can make this writing as best as it can.

<cheesy goodbye line here>