It's Christmastime, but Richie has little reason to celebrate. Having recently left home and now living on his own, he has no one to celebrate the holidays with. Being a fan of the new My Little Pony, he has naturally often imagined having his own pony to curl up in bed with -- one to keep his body and heart warm during the wintry holiday season. When the powers that be see fit to fulfill his heart's desire, what happens when the thing Richie wanted most...also turns out to be the thing he wanted least?
Inspired by ROBCakeran53's My Little Dashie and Stepany1234's More Silver Than Gold. I make no apologies for the unoriginal idea (except maybe if it sucks).
Diamond Tiara cutie mark vector for cover art by Hawk9mm
Snowflake vector for cover art by Obsidian Dawn
Took a bit longer than I thought to establish Diamond Tiara's presence in the story. Also, might've channeled some cheesy movie I may not have even seen for certain scenes, but rest assured, the island of "romantic comedy" is now far behind and nothing but pony waters lie ahead.
And to answer the question you most likely have, yes, that IS a reference to Scrubs up there. You're welcome.
That is some bad luck. i.qkme.me/3pnsqd.jpg
Very interesting... and funny.... Very funny... I DEMAND MORE MY FRIEND MOAR!!!!, Or you shall feel my wrath humon
Tsundere Diamond Tiara is best Diamond Tiara
If you've been living under a rock your whole life, the movie Diamond Tiara watches is Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Also, I've noticed that in other MLD-inspired stories, the big "how-did-I-get-here" reveal usually means it's almost over. That is not the case here. We are maybe...a little under halfway through, so more shenanigans and touchy-feely stuff to come.
Dang it... i just repaired that D'AWW meter....
I'll be in tears soon won't I......
And that's that. Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
FYI, Diamond Tiara's nickname of "Dazzle" is derived from her toyline name "Diamond Dazzle Tiara".
i40.tinypic.com/15yqyq.gif
I demand a sequel!
I agree with ShadowOfOrder, and I second SoaringFlight.
Thank you for this story.
Oh, I loved how you used a character like this, one we only saw one side of and completely turned it around on its head good show.
I liked the level of connection that Diamond and Richie end up connecting at.
The Ending was superb that's all I can say.
Thank you again.
Always good to see someone, even a fictional someone, come to understand that Diamond Tiara is best pony ;) She can even make for a "pony in a box" story good.
And adding it to The Diamond Cutters group.
One suggestion: in this last chapter, Trixie's spell to drive them apart should probably amplify a pony's worst nature (or aspects), rather than true nature. After all, Richie is trying to show her that she can be herself, she doesn't have to be mean. But if her true nature is to be mean...
I figured one of these had to exist. I need to read and review this at the earliest opportune moment.
1995064
An excellent call, Mudpony -- glad I thought of it.
Seriously though, it's times like this I wish I had editors.
Judging from the first chapter, I'm predicting this story's going to be...cold. Also, I reached the end as the song got to the point of storing things in a jar.
The anti-parallel has been established. The main from MLD has a partiality towards Rainbow Dash while Richie has anything but towards Diamond. It's so simple and yet it almost feels mandatory. Not to mention that the focus is on humor in place of drama, so the anti-parallelism is further implemented. Also, while the removal of the isolation factor takes away from the emotional aspect that MLD possessed, the fact that Richie is the only known brony in the story so far offers something of a remnant of it that provides a much better setup for comedic purposes. I'd call it a fair beginning. I shall push forward on this frigid journey tomorrow!
I'm sure Diamond really felt something after seeing what happened to her favorite character, Gaston. I'm liking the characterization so far. I look forward to see where it goes from here. There seems to be a bit of indecisiveness with the tense, but it's nothing too distracting.
Chapter 4 never disappoints. You've set up the pins and shot them down with a cannon. What more could the reader ask for? We have visible character flaws on both sides of the argument, so the conflict is made twice as compelling. I suppose this chapter was a bit lacking in the humor department, but I see no reason to say every chapter has to be just as funny as the next. Besides, this chapter had some great lines.
"I'm so glad I've found you again! I'm so sorry for everything I said. By the way, how did you get your cutie mark?"
I think our friend Richie has a disorder involving his attention deficit. Still, I think Summer delivered a pretty good message. It's better than the one from Mare Do Well, anyway.
I just got a fresh wave of snow this past Friday. It was frigid, it was depressing, and it brought everything to a sluggish pace. What I'm trying to say is that It didn't remind me of this story at all.
This story is a wonderful counterpart to MLD. The relationship is initially opposing, the focus is on comedy over emotion, we have a short-term relationship instead of a long-term one, Luna shows up at the end in place of Celestia, none of the Mane 6 are even involved outside of being mentioned offhand, there's focus on relationships with external characters other than just the main two, and the list just keeps going on from there.
Diamond's character seemed to stick to the basic format of fanfiction Diamond Tiara. Starts out mean and antagonistic and ends up agreeable and cooperative if still a bit impish. Nothing wrong with following a good formula, especially when it's done smoothly. Personally, I'm just glad to read a story again that has her go through character development without romance being the driving factor.
Oddly enough, Richie's character seemed to stick to the basic format of MLD brony human. He's a fan of the show, his reactions are natural, he ends up getting attached to the one he's watching and becomes a Papa Wolf over her, and he serves as the perspective for the reader. We don't find out much about him, but since the main focus is on his relationship with Diamond, it's not really relevant. He also provides the main source of humor in the story, which I do believe is important in a comedy.
To express my own perspective on this story, I was actually under the impression that there was actually too much emotion. As both a comedy and slice of life story, I wasn't really expecting to make any attempts to snag the reader's sympathy. I can understand there being a few moments of emotion to counterbalance some of the humor, but they just kept coming from beginning to end. From what I've seen from these other comments, most people seem to be commenting on how sad it is more than how funny it is. I'd say it's divided between the two, and I believe a focus on one over the other would probably be stronger storytelling.
Since this story involved a short-term relationship, the ending was left to inevitably be less sad than the one from MLD. However, I thought this would be for the best since it could allow a more comedic sendoff that would directly oppose that ending. I can honestly say I was a bit disappointed to see it played straight, but it was at least sweet. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting the story's final ending to involve Richie watching a new episode of MLP and seeing something recognizably different about Diamond's character. Instead, the question of Diamond's change in character was left ambiguous, which might have worked better if not for the fact that she's quite obviously changed in some way. The reader's left knowing that Diamond's changed, but we don't know how much. Some readers might enjoy letting their imagination decide what happens next; others might feel a bit unsatisfied. I suppose I'm part of the latter, but only by a little. I generally like open endings, but I find that they work best when they're not already half closed.
I'm always one to appreciate subtlety when an author incorporates it. Don't worry. Your subtle transition from "daddy" to "dad" throughout the story to figuratively represent the growth of Diamond's character did not go unnoticed. Allow me to compliment you on being the first story I've read to not have Diamond call Filthy "daddy" throughout its entirety. I've been waiting to see that.
To sum things up, I thought this story was a cold bar of milk chocolate. Each chapter was just as enjoyable as the next, and there were no nuts to ruin the texture. Its frigidity prevented any of it from being melted, and it gave the overall taste something of a chill that gave it a pleasant, icy feel. Then, before I knew it, it was all gone, but getting another one wouldn't taste as good.
Happy writing!
2039402
Wow, am I blushing. Thank you for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed it.
Bro
I was sitting in the locker room, at the gym, when I finished this. How dare you make me cry and get made fun of by these douchebags
A good story, in any case. Pretty much like Little Dashie, but more meaningful to me, at least (Dash is just the obnoxious tomboy, this offers a bit more insight to Diamond and leaves some sympathy for her character). I always did like Diamond. I commend you, sir, and you get an enthusiastic thumbs up!
I like the explanation about DT's cutiemark
This was so much better than My Little Dashy
THE FEELS : rivers of manly tears.
PS : make me cry more because DT is my favorite carater since COTLM (crusaders of the lost mark)