Golden Rule looked through the accounting reports for the many businesses he owned, her white mane cut in a manageable buzz-cut, his gold coat pristine and unblemished, is cutie mark bearing a piggy bank on his flanks. He imperceptibly looked up from his work as a stallion familiar to him was lead into the room.
“I assume you have something important to discuss with me, Filthy Rich.” The businesspony said.
Filthy Rich coughed into his hoof, feeling discomfort as he took a seat. “It’s about your daughter.”
Golden Rule didn’t even react, continuing his work as he spoke. “Go on, Filthy Rich, time is money.”
“Well, she’s been bullying my daughter and so I thought I needed to speak about this with you.”
“No. If that is all you wish to discuss, then kindly leave.”
Filthy sighed. “Look I know it’s hard for a parent to believe their child capable of bad behaviour, but I and several ponies have seen her bullying not just my daughter, but other ponies as well, so...””
“No, I believe fully in what you’re saying, as it corroborates with what Spitfire informed me earlier, as she was explaining why my daughter had to remain after class. He peeked up from his papers to look at Filthy Rich. “My meaning was that I am not bothered by this. Despite what some ponies think, what my daughter chooses to do has no bearing on me or my business.”
Filthy sputtered in disbelief at his words. “What, you can’t be serious...!”
The richest pony in ponyville simply gazed stone faced. “I am dead serious, Filthy Rich, as I always am. I am well aware of my child’s behaviour, but I simply choose not to do anything about as 1) she hasn’t broken any actual laws and 2) it literally affects me not one bit. Even if her behaviour became well known and subject of rumours and backtalk regarding my skills as a parent, it would not affect either my wealth or the businesses I am shareholder with. Do you know how I got to be the wealthiest pony in this small town?”
“I don’t see how that’s relevant...”
“I refuse to perform any action that is wasteful. Waste of time, waste of effort, most of all waste of money. Ponyville was the cheapest place to live with decent schooling, and thus I moved here with my daughter. That is why I buy affordable, decent meals rather than flaunt my wealth with needlessly expensive dinners. That is why I do not buy gifts for my daughter unless I absolutely need to. I simply do not need to do so, and so I don’t. My daughter chooses to waste her time asserting her dominance over others, but it ultimately matters little in the long run, and thus I will not waste effort trying to scold her or punish her.”
“A parent must step in to teach their children right from wrong!” Filthy argued.
Golden Rule placed his hooves together, looking thoughtful. “Like you did with your own child? You do realise she has done the exact same things my own daughter has done, correct? And yet, what do you do? You lavish gifts upon her and pay no mind to anything negative a pony says about her.”
“W-what!? What are you talking about!? MY Diamond wouldn’t...”
“Ask anypony in town, or even her teacher Spitfire, they will corroborate what I say. And yet, here you are, wasting my time and yours attempting to moralise and scold me for how I approach raising my daughter, acting outraged merely because your own daughter was mistreated while ignoring what she did to other children, ignoring your hypocrisy and pretending to have the moral high ground.” Golden Rule clapped his hooves on his desk, his nonplussed expression not changing even once. “Now, do you wish to continue this pointless conversation, or shall you CONTINUE to waste my time? Remember, Filthy Rich, I own a significant portion of your own business, you have no authority over me whatsoever, while I hold everything over you. Return home and think on things, and don’t bother me unless it is something truly important.”
Filthy looked down at the table, pale and breathing heavily, nodding slowly as he got to his hooves and slowly turned to trot away. “Y...yes, Mr. Golden Rule.”
He had many things to think about.
----------------------------------
Snails and Scootaloo sat at a table in the local milk bar, drinking milkshakes, Scootaloo timidly sipping through a straw while Snails drank messily, getting most of his drink onto his face. A hoof slammed on the table, scaring Scootaloo and making her drop her drink to the ground while Snails turned to see who it was, nonplussed. “Oh, hey there, Babs!”
Babs fumed, tatters of a dress she had torn off on the floor, wiping a thick layer of makeup off her face. “Stupid weirdo pony, dressin’ me up like that...and youse! Youse left me hung and dry, I oughta smack the both of ya for that! But...I ain’t, cause we still got a job to do! For Silver!”
Scootaloo whimpered quiet. “D-do we have to...?”
“Yes! You do!” Babs yelled, slamming her hoof on the table. “Come on, I managed to see where the brats are heading, we can catch up to them and REALLY make them pay!”
“B-but I don’t understand why y-y-you’re so invested...” Scootaloo lowered her head, hiding her face behind her hooves. “U-ummm n-n-no offence...”
Snails put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Yeah that is weird, eh?”
“That’s none of your beeswax!” Babs Seed shouted. “Now hop to it or I’ll clobber the both of ya!”
-------------------------------------
Fluttershy lead the trio of fillies past the outskirts of the town into the mountains, leading them up a small mountain path, singing a happy tune obliviously as the three fillies trailed behind her.
“I’m so tired...” Diamond Tiara whined. “Where are we even going? This isn’t even considered a part of town...At the very least she could’ve flown us the entire way...”
“But thith way ith MUCH more fun!” Twist said cheerfully. “You don’t get too many chanceth to explore the mountainthide!”
Sweetie Belle shrugged. “Eh. Walking builds character they say.”
Diamond fumed, muttering under her breath. “You two are so weird...no wonder I bullied you so much...”
The group walked along, dust and pebbles flying around as they step, reaching the end of the trail...and facing an empty plain filled with dirt, large boulders and a small cottage at the centre of the plain.
“We’re heeeeere!” Fluttershy called out, spreading her forelegs widely.
The fillies looked around, wide eyed. “Where the hay are we?”
“We’re at Pinkie’s farm silly!” Fluttershy giggled. “Where else would we go all the way out here? Pinkie lives her all by her lonesome and I think you girls could give her company!”
Sweetie looked around dully. “Oh I heard of this place. Some mean mare lives here. She doesn’t visit the town much and makes everypony unwelcome.”
Twist frowned. “Why would we come to vithit thomeone like that?”
“Oh she’s just a little grumpy!” Fluttershy said flippantly. “She just needs some good ponies to get her to smile! You wait here, I’ll be right back with her!” The yellow pegasus then flew off to the cottage.
Diamond Tiara sighed. “And she leaves us unsupervised...doesn’t she realise we’re kids!? We could get into all kinds of trouble without a grown-up watching us!”
Sweetie Belle looked around the plain. “The fact you care about that aside...what trouble would we get into here?”
“I-I dunno! Attacked by a wild scorpion o-or crushed under a boulder while playing with it, or falling off the edge of the cliff here!”
Twist pondered that, hoof to her chin. “But why would thothe happen anyway? Thurely we’re thmart enough to be careful.”
“It’s the principle of the matter! She’s the adult and we’re the foals, she’s supposed to be here watching us, not leaving us to our own devices!”
Babs Seed’s mocking voice suddenly interrupted the discussion. “I dunno, I can appreciate some alone time without some dumb grown-up butting in.”
Twist eeped, hiding behind Diamond’s back. “B-Babth...”
Diamond Tiara blinked, surprised by the filly’s sudden behaviour. “Are...are you SCARED? YOU!?”
Babs smirked proudly while Twist merely tried harder to hide behind Diamond. “What can I say? The filly’s not as dumb as how she talks. Name’s Babs Seed, you might remember from your cutiecenara? Silver invited me along and well...seeing the look on your face when we humiliated you was worth getting yelled at by my parents.”
Diamond’s lips thinned. “So you’re...Silver Spoon’s ‘friend’? Why are you all the way out here?”
“Silver wanted us to follow you!” Snails answered cheerfully.
Babs glared at the simple minded colt. “Shush! I’M doing the talkin’ here, you simpleton!” She turned her attention back to the group before her. “SO what, without Silver around, you have to spend time with the loser patrol, DT? The idiot who can’t talk right and the braindead statue? Is THAT what you call ‘friends’ nowadays?”
“Why does it matter to you!?” Diamond responded. “It’s not like you or Silver care about me anymore! Not with my ‘useless’ cutie mark!”
Twist whimpered softly, speaking quietly into Diamond’s ear. “DT please...don’t make her mad...”
Babs trotted over smirked dangerously. “Well, see D, I can call youse D right, well it seems youse got Silver in trouble with the teach, and that’s gonna start looking bad for her, and what’s bad for Silver Spoon is bad for me and my friends here, right? Plus, we can’t just let ya get away with what youse did, can we?” She lifted her hoof, a grin forming on her features.
“W-wait!” Scootaloo whimpered softly. “I-I-Isn’t going a bit t-t-t-too f-far...?”
Babs gave the filly a harsh glare, who eeped and jumped back, before pulling her hoof back and tossing around a bunch of large rocks she had picked up at some point. “at least this place is good for one thing.” She sneered, throwing them all at once towards Diamond Tiara...only for the rocks to halt in mid-air, suspended by magic.
Sweetie Belle shrugged, her horn glowing as she let the rocks fall harmlessly to the ground. “Hey just because I don’t care and I have no reason to really like her, doesn’t mean I’m about to let you hurt a...pony I know.”
Babs growled and trotted threateningly towards the unicorn, hoof raised in anger...only to freeze as she heard somepony clearing her throat. All the fillies turned to look at Fluttershy and Pinkamena Pie.
“Oh that’s not very nice to look at your friends, little filly.” Fluttershy said, looking disappointed.
“Fluttershy.” Pinkamena droned. “What did you bring to my farm?”
Babs blinked and smiled nervously. “U-ummm we weren’t doing nothin’, right girls?”
“I thought you were about to hit Sweetie Belle for stopping some rocks you threw at Diamond Tiara?” Snails said, earning a glare. “Oh I’m sorry you asked the girls to answer!”
Sweetie Belle nodded. “Indeed, Babs was being quite violent.”
“SHUT THE HAY UP!” Babs snapped, raising her hoof angrily.
“Oh that’s no good!” Fluttershy said with a frown, flitting over in front of the filly. “Hitting ponies isn’t very nice at all....well, depending on the context, but still!”
Babs gazed up at the adults...tears soon falling down her cheeks as she began to bawl. “I-I’m sorry! I was bullied all ym life and ever since I got here I only knew how to relate to ponies by being mean...I-It’s not my fault, I’m just a victim!”
Fluttershy held her hooves to chest as she gazed at the filly in sympathy...however Pinkamena was unimpressed. “That’s a load of horseapples.”
Babs froze, turning her neck with a loud screeching noise as she looked at the rock farmer. “Ex-CUUUUUSE me!?”
“Oh I’m sure you were bullied and had a hard time before you lived here and all that nonsense,” Pinkamena admitted before continuing, “but you and I both know that that’s not why you’re violent. You came all the way up here to harass three fillies, you WENT OUT OF YOUR WAY to do so. This implies to me that no, you don’t have an excuse, you’re just mean and possibly enjoy hurting other ponies, but I’m not one to make that call, I’m not a psychiatrist.”
Babs glared, furious. “H-how dare you!? Th-that line ALWAYS works on everypony! Who are you to say that to me!?” She tried to deck PInkamena, who merely stepped out of the way, causing the filly to lose her balance and step onto a portion of earth that immediately gave way and dropped her into a pit, out of which said filly was sent screaming and flying through the air as a catapult launched her.
“Oh no! Don’t worry, I’ll save you grumpy filly!” Fluttershy flew off to save Babs, causing Pinkamena to sigh in annoyance, turning to look at the other fillies.
Scootaloo screamed and ran off in fear while Snails looked around in confusion and shrugged.
“Get off my farm.” Pinkamena said.
Snails nodded and calmly walked off, whistling to himself.
Pinkamena turned to the last three remaining fillies. “I meant for you to go too. I can’t stand other ponies traipsing into my farm without good reason, and foals even less so.”
“B-but we came all this way!” Diamond Tiara cried out. “W-we came here to learn how you got your cutie mark! Please just tell us and well go, promise!”
Pinkamena thought about this. “Only if you buy something from my farm.”
“Like...rockth and thtuff?” Twist hesitantly asked, still somewhat shaken from the earlier encounter.
“Yes. I sell many rocks and rock related things. Gemstones, crystals, metals, minerals, rock farming is quite important and lucrative.” She looked at the poorly repaired tiara sitting on Diamond’s head. “Like that. Filthy Rich ordered that from me, it cost him a fair bit. I assume you’re the one he had it made for.”
Diamond nodded slowly. “Y-yeah, I am.”
“Fine then.” The mare dug up some earth, pulling out several gemstones. “Pick something from this pile, I’ll tell you my story, and you can leave.”
Diamond thought, looking over what was held in the mare’s hooves. She pointed at a jasper, a rose quartz and a opal. “Those, one for me and my friends here.”
Pinkamena nodded and handed the gems to the filly. “Very well, that will be on Filthy Rich’s tab. Now I shall tell you my story,” she frowned in annoyance, “though it’s not an enjoyable story.”
“What?” Twist tilted her head. “But everypony elthe we athked all had great, happy memorieth!”
“Not me. The day I got my cutie mark was the worst day of my life.” PInkamena gazed gravely over the fillies as she spoke. “A long time ago, I wasn’t the mare you see before yourselves. I was once frivolous, stupid, annoying and found rock farming tedious, boring and soul crushing. However, my father made the rules and I obeyed, along with my sisters and my mother. Eventually, I stopped worrying about silly things and just focused on doing good work, pushing all frivolous thoughts aside. One day, while exploring our mine, digging deeper to expand it, I heard a loud noise but ignored it in favour of finishing my work. Once I got back topside, a horrendous sight greeted me.”
“Nightmare Moon?” Twisted asked.
“A storm?” Diamond put forth.
“Just let her tell us.” Sweetie Belle suggested.
“What greeted me was literally that, a greeting: my family called me over to have...a party, with cake, balloons and streamers and confetti.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad.” Sweetie Belle said.
Pinkamena glared at her, gritting her teeth. “It was AWFUL. It was stupid and pointless and they just wouldn’t shut UP. They kept bothering me with pointless, nonsensical songs and acting so childish! They weren’t like that before! Whatever happened while I was underground, it changed them! Changed them into something ridiculous! They soon suggested we quit rock farming in favour of...of...of ‘spreading laughter’ throughout Equestria! That’s not a plan, not a source of income, that’s just...DUMB! I couldn’t abandon the farm, our family liveblood, for something so thoughtless! So, I cut my ties with them and let them leave, and took on the farm myself, eventually moving everything here near Ponyville as they had untapped earth rich with crystals, gemstones and metals, particularly ones rich with magical properties.” She pointed to her cutie mark, a jagged boulder shaped like a frowning or angry face, depending on how you looked at it.. “This appeared after I took control of the farm. It represents my talent for rock farming and how other ponies let you down and you’re better off alone. Now get off my farm, I have work to do.”
---------------------------------
The three filles walked back to Ponyville from Pinkamena’s.
“That was depressing.” Diamond Tiara said. “That was probably the worst cutie mark story we heard.”
“Oh it could’ve been way worthe!” Twist said.
“True, but that doesn’t stop it from being pretty bad anyway.” Sweetie Belle countered.
As they trotted, the trio neared one of the two farms of Ponyville, though this one was closer to the far outskirts than the more famous Apple farm. A purple mare was plucking several bushels of apples from the trees and dumping them into a large, wheeled container, stopping her work as she turned to look at the girls. “Oh hey there!” The mare trotted over to the fillies smiling, only to slowly start frowning. “Wait...where do you girls come from?”
“Umm PInkamena’s place?” Diamond offered helpfully.
The farmer frowned sympathetically. “Oh I hope she upset you three...”
Diamond shrugged. “Well...kinda, not really? Honestly I’m just more confused than anything...”
Twist thougth about it herself. “Yeah, it kinda ith a little confuthing...”
Sweetie Belle shrugged noncommittally.
“What is it you’re confused about?” Twilight asked. “Maybe I can help?”
Diamond Tiara frowned. “Well...we’ve been going around town trying to learn more about cutie marks for school but..it’s all so confusing and doesn’t make it easier to figure out what my mark means.”
“And we don’t know how to get our cutie markth either.” Twist added. “Every thtory we heard wath different...”
“Some stories even made it sound like cutie marks could be bad or not important...” Diamond said in disbelief.
“Well, yeah.” Twilight chuckled, earning a look from the fillies. “Everypony is different, not all of them will have the exact same story or reasoning behind their mark. How they treat that mark is highly dependent on their personality and experiences.” She frowned softly. “Some even outright reject their cutie marks, leading to a mental illness called Cutie Mark Rejection Insanity. Part of growing up is learning to accept your special talent, otherwise you’ll just hurt yourself, but that acceptance doesn’t always mean the same thing. Some ponies can still aim for careers and interests outside of their special talent, and some just let their talent run their whole lives, some just live without worrying one way the other. Someponies have good experiences with their mark, some...don’t.” Twilight smiled. “How about I tell you MY story, maybe that will help you?”
Diamond shrugged. “Sure, go ahead, might as well since we’re here and the day’s almost over with.”
Twilight nodded and turned to show off her flank, which bore an old fashioned soda pop bottle spraying out foam in the shape of a lightbulb. “A long time ago, I wasn’t a farmer, nor had any interest anything beyond studying, books and magic. I believed magic could solve every problem...until well...we had to leave everything behind. I couldn’t apply to the magic academy and we ended up moving here where Dad bought an unused building and he and Mom set to work building a farm. I...wasn’t happy. This wasn’t our home; farming had nothing to do with magic. I kept up this attitude for a while, even after Dad got everything set up, however...we still had no luck actually selling anything. We grew a modest set of fruits and vegetables, but we simply couldn’t compete with the other local farm here which had been here longer and had garnered the trust of the town while we...we were outsiders, essentially. Mom and Dad were still hopeful we’ll turn things around but we weren’t exactly rolling in it and actually had to sell a fair bit of our old stuff just to pay for everything..including some of my cherished books...left with only a book on agriculture and a book on mechanical engineering, I decided I NEEDED to help my family, so while my parents slept one night, I set to work on something.”
“Something?” Sweetie Belle asked, curious.
“Hehe yeah, I didn’t even know what it was going to be myself, I just sorta read my books and winged it...I tried building a machine by mixing various schematics together and then set to work on gathering together ingredients. I wanted to make something only our family could make, no Apples or anypony else. By morning my parents caught me sleeping near my invention, and when I turned it on, it mixed the ingredients I gathered together and filled a chilled glass with a special liquid.”
Twist gasped. “The Thparkle Family Thodie Pop!”
Twilight nodded. “Mhm! The drink was my invention as I had an idea to carbonate a special liquid via some magic theory I heard of once, applying it to the liquid via a machine I built powered by my magic! When Dad tried it, he was so amazed at how different it was, not too mention how tasty! As he smiled at me, asking me how I thought of it all, we saw a bright flash come from my body and we saw...my cutie mark! As a symbol of my inventiveness, it made me realise how much more I could do for ponies beyond study magic, I could create something to help ponies, whether it be my family so we can supply ponies with something, or create something somepony else may need! And it all began with a machine and a drink, which proved to be so popular we began to supply it regularly to the town and eventually to other cities, and so we gained enough income to branch out and expand our farm and our business!” Twilight smiled. “And realising my special talent only came about because I tried to help my parents...I decided to accept farmlife so I could help them even more, and I’ve been happy ever since.”
Twist grinned wide. “That’th a great thtory!”
Diamond huffed. “yeah, yeah, it’s all fine and dandy for you, but that doesn’t help us! It just means we’ll have no idea about our own cutie marks!”
Twilight shook her head. “Okay, you girls, here’s the BIG secret to cutie marks: there is none. You’ll get your cutie mark just by doing what’s natural, not through some big grand event, though some stories make it sound that way. Just experiment a bit, see what you’re good at or enjoy, and you’ll get it.” She gazed at Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark. “But you already have yours, so I’m not sure why you’re confused...”
Diamond looked down, lips thinning. “It’s because I don’t even know what it’s for...all I know is I got it when I put on this tiara...”
“It means whatever you wish it to.”
The filly blinked. “huh?”
Twilight smiled warmly. “You don’t know what it means, which means you can decide. Does it mean just being very good at wearing an accessory, or is it something more? Only YOU can decide that, not anypony else.”
“But...Silver Spoon said it was useless...” The filly looked down, still hurt by her friend’s betrayal.
“No cutie mark is useless, as no skill is useless.” The farmer petted the filly’s head gently. “The only pony who gets to decide that either way...is you. Now, do you WANT to have a ‘useless’ mark?”
“of course not!” Diamond Tiara snapped.
“Then try and experiment, let your friends help you. Having somepony help you isn’t a bad thing, especially when you’re struggling.” Twilight suggested. “You’re not alone with your problems, after all.”
Diamond Tiara looked back at the two fillies behind her, feeling a knot in her stomach. “N-no...I...I don’t...I don’t have any friends...”
“Thure you do!” Twist grinned wide. “You got us!”
Diamond bit her lip as she remembered calling the filly in glasses names, making fun of her speech impediment, her lack of a cutie mark. She remembered how scared Twist was of Babs...was Twist afraid of HER too? Was she only pretending to be nice to her? Or did she feel like she had to, otherwise Diamond would pick on her more? Or...was Twist scared of Babs BECAUSE of the things Diamond had done?
She looked at Sweetie Belle and remembered how she mocked her for falling asleep in class, flaunting her wealth while Sweetie seemingly had nothing, remembering the happy filly who slowly became more and more disinterested in her classmates and everything else...was it because of Rarity...?
No, Tiara realised painfully. Sweetie Belle didn’t become apathetic purely because of her sibling. She became this way because of HER, because Diamond Tiara thought it was fun to pick on the ‘lazy’ filly, not realising it was because she tired herself worrying over her sister. Diamond Tiara’s constant mocking made her give up on happiness. She turned Sweetie into what she was now.
She remembered Silver, her current treatment of someone she once called friend, and Diamond bitterly remembered how alone she was. She wasn’t any different from that filly, she only stopped her bullying cause she was being bullied herself.
Diamond Tiara had no friends. She didn’t DESERVE them. She didn’t even deserve a cutie mark.
The filly ran off, crying, earning confused looks from Twilight and Twist.
-------------------------
Diamond trotted into town, sobbing. No wonder she couldn’t figure out what her cutie mark meant, she had been too busy focusing on having on and using it to make herself feel better than the other fillies and colts, used it to justify being mean to ponies who didn’t deserve it.
So many ponies they talked to today got cutie marks for breaking the mould, or helping their families, or making others happy, or even for believing in their principles hard enough.
But Diamond didn’t HAVE any beliefs. She just wanted to understand her mark so she could feel better, like she always had. She only tagged along with Twist because she made her feel better when she was side, not because she ACTUALLY liked the filly, and she didn’t have an opinion on Sweetie Belle at all. She just wanted to benefit herself, nothing more.
She hadn’t changed at all.
“Well, well, well,” a snide, familiar voice said, “look who it is.”
Diamond glanced up, seeing Silver Spoon flanked by her boyfriend, Snips.
“We got out of detention.” Snips helpfully supplied.
“I think she can surmise that, snookums.” Silver smirked. “However I’ve been thinking...maybe I’ve been going about this all wrong? I mean, even if you don’t have a good cutie mark, there’s more I could do with you than make you my punching bag...after all, you’re pretty wealthy, if only not as much as I am. So, here’s the deal, DT: just do what I tell you to, give me hmmm about 90% of your weekly allowance and I MIGHT consider being friends with you again.”
Diamond looked down. Silver was never going to be her friend, she was just gonna use...and she deserved every inch of it. She opened her mouth to reply.
“Diamond!” A voice shouted out from behind.
Diamond Tiara looked up to see Sweetie Belle and Twist running up to her, their capes flying as they leapt in front of her.
Silver looked unimpressed. “Butt out; this is none of your business.”
Twist shook her head. “We are not letting you hurt our friend!”
Diamond’s eyes widened. “N..No...I’m not your friend, you’re just gonna make it harder on yourselves...just stay out of it and let me face my punishment...”
“Punishment?” Twist turned to the other filly, head tilted. “Diamond, what are you talking about?”
“I...I’m a bad filly!” Diamond insisted. “I...I hurt you! I hurt Sweetie Belle! I...I deserve to be bullied too!”
“Nuh-uh!” Twist argued. “You’re my friend, no matter what! I don’t care if you did bad thingth before, you’re thad and I won’t let you be thad! I promised to thtick with you, and I’m gonna hold to that!”
Diamond stared at the filly in disbelief, turning to look at Sweetie Belle. “What about you....didn’t I hurt you too...?”
Sweetie Belle was still for a moment, before nodding. “yes...however...it’s actually been pretty...fun today. And well...I...” She blushed. “I was worried about you after you ran off.”
Silver huffed as Snails rolled his eyes. “Okay, who the hay are you losers? Do you have any idea who you’re messing with here?”
Both fillies nodded, Twist adding, “Yeah, you’re both mean! And you don’t like Diamond Tiara even though you were betht buddieth before! But you know what!? We don’t care! We’re gonna thtick with her and help her learn her cutie mark!”
Silver Spoon scoffed. “Oh? So what, you think YOU know what her cutie mark means? Please! It’s just a stupid talent for wearing that ugly little crown!”
Sweetie Belle shook her head. “We’ve learned a lot about cutie marks today, and we know they’re a lot more complicated than you make them sound. I ebt you don’t even know what your cutie mark means either and you’re just picking on Diamond cause you’re mad about it.”
Silver gasped, eyes wide in anger as she sputtered. “Why...you...how dare you! Who they hay do you think you are!?”
“We’re the Cutie Mark Cruthaderth!” Twist declared triumphantly. “We’re gonna help each other figure out our cutie markth, and we won’t let anypony bully uth! We got each otherth bacth no matter what!”
Diamond stared at the two filles...her friends, she supposed. Nopony had ever stood up for her like this aside from her daddy, and they did so without any real reason to. And they were gonna help her with her cutie mark, after everything she did?
Diamond Tiara began crying, smiling happily. She didn’t deserve this...but she was happy all the same.
Silver and Snails looked less than impressed. “Look we won’t...” They froze, staring behind the fillies before them, Snails trembling. “U-Uh we’ll settle this later!”
Silver nodded. “Y-yeah! But mark my words, Diamond Tiara, you’re not getting away with disrespecting me like this! Your or your...friends!” She spat the word as she and Snails ran off.
“Huh.” Twist grinned wide. “We thcared them off! How about that!”
“Ahem.”
The trio turned to the voice seeing Filthy Rich standing behind them.
“Who might you fillies be?” The stallion asked, looking over the two standing with his daughter.
“We’re the Cutie Mark Cruthaderth!” Twist replied proudly.
“We’re Diamond Tiara’s friends.” Sweetie Belle explained.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Filthy asked.
“She came up with the name.” Sweetie clarified. “She thought it’d be cool if we had a ‘special club’, and well, I couldn’t think of a better name.”
Diamond Tiara stepped forward. “Nevermind that! Daddy, why are you out here, shouldn’t you be at home?”
“I...” Filthy sighed. “This isn’t easy for me to say but...it’s been brought to my attention that you...that you haven’t been on your best behaviour....that you’ve...well...that you’ve been...bullying other fillies...is this true...?” He looked at her hopefully.
Diamond Tiara opened her mouth, instinctively to deny everything....but then looked at her friends, realising what needed to be said. What had to change.
“I’m...I’m sorry daddy...I...” The pink filly began to cry. “I haven’t been a good filly at all...I’m...I’m a bad girl...”
Filthy gazed down at her, unsure how to react. “I think we need a private talk, Diamond.”
-----------------------
Diamond sat in her room, eating the meagre meal she had been given, confused to her room as she was grounded.
She was happy though, her daddy was happy she made new friends and she promised she was going to behave herself from now on, and she vowed to make her friends promise to watch in case she fell back into her old habits.
As she started working on her report for school, she realised she still didn’t really understand cutie marks, why ponies got them or what her own mark could mean. However, she knew with her friends at her side and a LOT of trial and error, they could at least take steps to figuring it out.
It was time for Diamond Tiara to start anew.