Diamond Tiara did not return to school for an entire week. While most of her classmates forgot about her absence toward the fourth or fifth day, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Sweetie Belle in particular, became increasingly worried. One day, Cheerilee asked the three rambunctious fillies to stay after class.
“Crusaders, can you all hang on for just a moment?” she asked. They had some idea of what was likely going to be asked of them, and shot each other uncomfortable looks. “Girls, I need you to go visit Diamond Tiara.” The Crusaders seemed visibly uneasy.
“I know you’ve had your troubles with Diamond Tiara in the past. I also know you’ve been working with her to improve her character. This absence of hers is concerning to me, and I think you three are the best way for me to figure out what’s going on.”
“Well why don’t you send Silver Spoon? She’s been Diamond’s friend for, like, ever!” Apple Bloom protested.
“Silver Spoon is on somewhat of an independent streak right now—you know; finding herself like you helped Diamond Tiara to do. The two are still friends, but I don’t think Silver will be the right pony for this job,” Cheerilee explained.
“Miss Cheerilee, you saw what happened last week, right?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Yes, I did, Sweetie Belle, which is precisely why I want you to be one of the ones to go visit her. Her feelings toward you are important and they seem to be a key factor as to why she hasn’t been coming to school. It’s between you two, so I don’t want to get too far into it, but if there are unresolved problems between my students, it could be detrimental to the both of you in class. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” Sweetie Belle answered.
The Crusaders left the schoolhouse to head straight to Diamond Tiara’s mansion.
“It’s Sweetie Belle that Diamond has a crush on,” Scootaloo kicked her hoof, “Why do we have to go along to talk to her?”
Apple Bloom sighed, “Well, we’re kinda-sorta her friends, too. If more than one pony shows up, maybe it’ll show her that other ponies care about her. Plus, it’ll lessen the blow when Sweetie Belle turns her down.”
“Yeah… turn her down…” Sweetie Belle said. The three were quiet for a few seconds as they walked, then Scootaloo stopped in her tracks.
“Sweetie Belle. You are not thinking what I think you’re thinking.”
“A little,” Sweetie admitted. Apple Bloom’s mind clicked as well,
“Don’t tell me you’re actually considering… y’know, going out with her.”
“I don’t know!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, “I mean, she’s not so bad once you get past—”
“The fact that she tormented us for so long?” Scootaloo interjected.
“The too-good-for-the-rest-of-y’all attitude she has?” Apple Bloom added.
“But she’s changing that, girls,” Sweetie argued, “This is her first real try at expressing herself since we helped her after the election. Just saying ‘yes’ could really help her out.”
“But what if it’s all a trick? She could just be back to her old ways, waiting to set up a date with you then snapping pictures of you looking all sad when she doesn’t show up,” Scootaloo said.
“I don’t want to believe that. I want to believe she’s really changed and that her feelings are real!” Sweetie Belle fired back, shaking her head.
“And what if it don’t work out?” Apple Bloom asked, “What if y’all date n’ break up—how’s that gonna mess with all of our friendships?”
“Yeah, she may like you, but I’m not ready to just turn over and accept her completely just because she’s got the hots for one of my friends,” Scootaloo stomped her hoof. Sweetie opened her mouth to reply, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth.
Scootaloo scoffed,“You’re just going to have to put your feelings aside and say ‘no,’ Sweetie Belle. It’s better for everypony.”
“Not for me,” Sweetie Belle said under her breath.
The Crusaders plodded along in relative silence on their way to Diamond Tiara’s place. Apple Bloom asked about when their next writing assignment was due and Scootaloo reveled about how Rainbow Dash complimented her new scooter trick yesterday. Sweetie Belle gave short, curt replies, killing all energy in the conversations and returning the three to quiescence.
They arrived at the Rich mansion where Randolph, the family’s butler, was outside trimming the hedges in the front courtyard. He noticed the three fillies and bowed to them,
“You are here for Miss Tiara, I presume?” he asked politely. The Crusaders nodded, hardly bothering to even make eye contact. “I’ll fetch her right away. Please, this way.”
Randolph beckoned the ponies into the mansion. They still had their heads down, but their eyes widened as the ground they were staring at began staring back at them. They were standing on an impeccably polished white marble floor. In the reflection of it, they not only saw themselves but also the opulent foyer of the Rich household. This caused them to begin to look up from the floor and survey the luxury in reality. As their eyes slowly scanned back and forth, Randolph returned with a small, pink passenger, who froze when she saw who her visitors were. Randolph bowed and took his leave.
There were several meters between the Crusaders and Diamond Tiara. Although there was nothing physical separating them, neither party could move past the tension, keeping them firmly on opposite sides of the foyer.
“Hey, Diamond Tiara. It’s been a while,” Scootaloo called across the room. Diamond Tiara glared at her, looking as if she wanted to say something, but after a few seconds her gaze broke and she looked off at a random object in the corner.
“We, uh, brought all the work n’ stuff you missed,” Apple Bloom said, pulling out various papers and handouts from her saddle bag, “It’s a lot, so we could help you finish it if you want.” Diamond Tiara nodded, but the Crusaders weren’t sure whether she simply nodded in affirmation that she heard Apple Bloom, or that she was accepting the offer to study with them. She stole a couple glances at Sweetie Belle, but every time she did, her cheeks dyed redder. Another bout of awkward silence came between the four.
“Maybe,” Sweetie Belle started, “Maybe I should take it from here, girls.” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo looked at Diamond Tiara, then Sweetie Belle, then each other and nodded.
“We… hope to see you at school again, Diamond,” Scootaloo said. She meant it, though the tone of her words betrayed their meaning. With that, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom left the mansion and waited outside for Sweetie Belle. The front door had barely clicked shut when Diamond Tiara finally spoke up,
“You’re here to reject me, aren’t you?” she snapped at Sweetie Belle, “There’s no way you’d ever like me—not after everything I’ve done to you and the others. I don’t even know what I was thinking. After you guys helped me figure out who I really wanted to be I was so happy. I was so full of emotions I hadn’t felt in so long, and some I had never felt before, I just didn’t know where to put them all.”
“So they all came to me…” Sweetie Belle said, just loud enough for Diamond Tiara to hear.
Diamond nodded her agreement, “But it’s more than that. I meant all the stuff I said last week at school. I really do like your mane and your eyes. You’re always so upbeat, always looking at the brighter side of things. It gives me hope even on really bad days in a way that no other pony has ever been able to do. I just thought if I was with you… maybe I could feel that warm feeling every single day. But that’s too much to hope for.” Diamond Tiara hung her head low, barely keeping the tears from welling up in her eyes. With all her words exhausted, she retreated to a room to the right of the foyer. Sweetie Belle stared at her own reflection deep in thought, processing everything Diamond had just said to her. Then she followed her into the other room.
It was a small parlor with two large, luxurious chairs facing a fireplace that had the last of a couple logs still lightly flaming inside it. Diamond sat in one of the chairs, sobbing into one of the arms. Sweetie Belle climbed up into the other.
“You’re right,” Sweetie said, “I am here to reject you.” Diamond Tiara choked up, ready to release another tirade of crying. “But that’s not what I’m going to do.”
This caused Diamond to slowly lift her head and turn toward Sweetie Belle. She wore an expression that searched for every sign that what the unicorn had just said was real. “Wh-what?” she stammered.
“Apple Bloom and Scootaloo want me to reject you. They’re not quite… ready to see you as a different pony, even if they’re trying to be. They think you and I dating would just put a wrench in, well, everything really. I don’t see that, though. I see you, Diamond Tiara, and most importantly I see who you want to be, and honestly, that’s a pony I don’t hate,” Sweetie Belle said. Diamond Tiara’s breathing deepened.
“You mean,” she gasped.
“I’ll go out with you,” Sweetie smiled. Diamond Tiara leapt from her chair over to Sweetie Belle’s and hugged her tightly. Sweetie returned the favor.
“At least for now, though,” Sweetie Belle said, putting a hoof on Diamond Tiara’s chest and looking into her eyes, “We have to keep it on the down-low, especially around the other Crusaders. We can tell them soon, but it’s definitely better to ease them into it.” Diamond nodded enthusiastically in reply.
The two fillies sat in the same chair for some time. Now that the tension between them had broken they opened up a number of conversations about, well, everything. Sweetie told Diamond what it was like having Rarity as a sister, and Diamond told Sweetie about the various luxuries she had and insisted Sweetie just had to try them out one day. A knock came at the front door that took Sweetie and Diamond out of their stupor.
“Oh, jeez, I totally forgot! I should have been out like an hour ago!” Sweetie Belle panicked.
“Should I make some excuse for you?” Diamond Tiara offered.
“No,” Sweetie shook her head, “You’re supposed to be super-sad right now. If you come out they’ll suspect something’s up. Don’t worry—I’ll think of something.” The little unicorn began scampering to the front door.
“Sweetie Belle, wait!” Diamond Tiara called. Sweetie looked back with her magic surrounding the doorknob.
“Thank you,” Diamond whispered just loud enough for Sweetie to hear. Sweetie smiled in reply and made her exit.
Outside, two indignant Crusaders tapped their hooves.
“What in tarnation took you so long, Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Oh, you know. Rich girl drama. She’ll be fine. I just had to calm down all that crying,” Sweetie sighed as if she had just been through a major ordeal.
Scootaloo raised an eyebrow, “I didn’t hear any crying.” Sweetie Belle was about to defend herself when Apple Bloom unwittingly did it for her,
“Scoots, that house is like a bajillion square hooves. I doubt you could hear anything even if you were in the next room over.” Scootaloo shrugged in response.
“Come on girls, the sun’s going down. We’d all better get home,” Sweetie got everypony’s mind off of anything Diamond Tiara-related before any more questions were raised.
“Yeah, you’re right. Good work back there, Sweetie Belle,” Apple Bloom said as she patted Sweetie on the shoulder.
“Once DT gets over this, she’ll be back to kinda-sorta being our friend again in no time!” Scootaloo added. With that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders parted ways for the evening. As Sweetie plodded home, she felt an odd mix of elation and crushing dread fill her chest.
“Why do I feel like I’ve just made a huge mistake?”