A Minor Retcon & Reconciling CC With Canon · 7:00pm Apr 2nd, 2017
I've just made a minor edit to the chapter 'Divertissement' which changes the description of the painting of Diamond's mother. I wrote that description long before Diamond's mother was shown on-screen, so I've now changed it to match Spoiled Rich/Milk's canon appearance. I remembered that scene when I was writing Filthy Rich's story (about how he fell in love with Spoiled) for the next chapter, and went back to fix it.
This means that canonically in Collapse, Collide, Spoiled is still Diamond's mother. The major difference is that she died before she got to be so nasty a pony (at the time Applejack was a teenager -- as shown in a flashback in the episode 'Where The Apple Lies' -- Spoiled wasn't actually that bad: still snobby, yes, but actually able to show concern for Granny Smith, of all ponies) so Rich's memories of her would not be of a bad mare, just a flawed one.
If I was going to try to reconcile my story with relation to Spoiled Rich and the reasons for Diamond being a bully in canon, I'd suggest two things, with a third thing to explain the difference in Silver Spoon's behaviour:
1 -- Diamond is more susceptible to being manipulated by others (her mother in canon, Silver Spoon in CC) than most due to her personality, and against lower-class and less well-off ponies especially, due to her innate privilege as part of the middle/upper class. Even though Spoiled Rich isn't around in Collapse to turn her against the other foals, CC's Silver Spoon is able to do precisely the same job, and in a pretty similar way.
2 -- If Spoiled in CC died in childbirth while pregnant with Diamond's would-be younger brother, then since canon Diamond has no sibling, Spoiled either didn't get pregnant (or, I suppose, aborted the foal), or her second child didn't survive. Going with the second option, losing a child might explain why Spoiled's nastier side came out stronger between AJ's teenage years and the CMC getting their cutie marks. Something like that hits someone hard, and everyone reacts to trauma in different ways. It's not unheard of for bereaved people to lash out in their grief, and Spoiled already had a less pleasant side to herself hidden away, well before she even had Diamond, so it's a definite possibility.
If Diamond's brother was a miscarriage, then that also presents the possibility that Spoiled lost the ability to have children due to the miscarriage. This is another reason for Spoiled to be upset, even depressed, and for her to lash out, and might explain some of how she behaves towards Diamond in canon. Spoiled expects perfection from Diamond and simultaneously holds her above all the other foals, manipulating Diamond in an attempt to have the 'perfect daughter'.
This would make sense if Diamond is the only child she can expect to have. Spoiled, if she had a miscarriage which also rendered her unable to bear foals, has ample reason to have a downward spiral into depression, which she could very well deal with by lashing out and trying to make sure that her only foal is the best she can be (even if her idea of 'best' is seriously warped, she's not exactly in a good state of mind).
In short, CC's Spoiled died in childbirth while 'canon'-Spoiled instead had a miscarriage and entered a downward spiral into who she is at present in canon.
3 -- Moving onto Silver Spoon: Spoon's mother in Collapse is very obviously mentally unstable, given the examples of verbal and physical abuse already in the story, which is a large factor into why CC's Silver is such a monster. In CC, the dynamic of manipulative mother and bullying daughter is swapped to Silver Spoon, compared to canon. The explanation for canon's Silver Spoon not being so nasty is that Silver's mother has actually gone to get treatment for her mental illness, and is either still in treatment or has gotten better, and therefore hasn't passed her negative traits onto her daughter.
But that's just a theory... A Fanfic Theory. Thanks for reading.
Next chapter is in the works, by the way. See you all soon.
I suppose that's the blessing and curse of stories that are told through this medium, you can go back and make changes to the story when needed.
That all actually makes perfect sense.