//------------------------------// // Episode 8: When a Diamond Glitters // Story: My Little Pony: The Days of New Equestria (Season 1) // by ScorchingFlamesInc //------------------------------// The castle doors opened. "Phew. What a day," Leo wiped his brow. "You said it," Chrysalis put down her bags. "Want to know something funny?" Tirek asked. "Both Chrysalis and I are far older than the two of you... and we're going to school and getting homework." "You're bringing this up now?" Cozy said. "It takes time before things come to reality," Tirek replied. "Well... it's probably best," Leo shrugged. "The four of us are going to the School of Friendship, and learning everything about friendship has pretty much became a major goal for the three of you." "He's got a point," Chrysalis agreed. "Yeah... well, I'm going to grab some bits and head out." Leo turned to go upstairs. "Where?" Cozy asked. "I'm going to get a malt. Do any of you want anything?" "Nah," Cozy declined. "Maybe later," Tirek confirmed. "I'm good," said Chrysalis. "Ok. Suit yourselves," Leo said before disappearing in the large hallways. "You know, I'm going to be a bit busy too," Cozy began to walk away as well. "And what are you going to be up to?" Tirek asked. "I'm going to have a picnic with those six former students of Twilight's... the ones I was trapped with?" "Right. Right," Chrysalis nodded. "I took it upon myself to prepare the food," Cozy explained. "Who knows? Maybe my new cutie mark will focus on cooking?" "We haven't really discussed her cutie mark so far during the show, haven't we?" Chrysalis questioned to Tirek. "Eh... no," Tirek shook his head. "Well, you may need help," Chrysalis offered. "You may be a very bright filly, but even though you were an alicorn that worked with us, you'll need supervision." "But what about Leo?" Cozy asked. "He's old enough to go out in town and buy malts on his own," Tirek answered. Cozy tapped her chin in thought. "Oh, alright," she agreed after a few moments, showing no sour mood. "That's the spirit!" Chrysalis tousled Cozy's mane. "It is always nice to help somepony prepare for an occasion with her friends, isn't it, Tirek?" And yet you're the one that thought friendship was a disease... Tirek said in his head. "Tirek?" Chrysalis spoke the centaur's name again. "Yes. Yes, it is," replied Tirek. ... Intro... ... I trekked through town, sipping my chocolate malt through the straw. I tell you, Ponyville is a great place to hang out that. Even though someone like me keeps on getting mesmerized looks from others... but I've managed. I was nearing the castle. I turned a corner and... "Ah!" I felt my heart jump when I nearly collided into a pony. I nearly dropped my malt, but my magic stood strong. I immediatly recognized the mare. There was no mistaking the light purple coat, the darker purple mane with a white streak, and the tiara that was placed neatly on the mare's head. "Whew..." she placed her hoof over her chest. "You scared me." "Same here..." I wheezed. "Hey..." the mare (Diamond Tiara, of course!) put her hoof down. "You're that alicorn, aren't you?" "I was kind of expecting that recognition..." I said. "But yes." "Yeah... I feel the need to apologize. My friend and I were among that crowd that surrounded the castle you were in. We were excited to hear of an alicorn stallion." "Oh no. No need. Twilight took care of the problem, as you recall." "Yeah..." she rubbed the back of her head and chuckled. She then held out her hoof. "I'm Diamond Tiara." "Leo." I gave her a hoofbump. "Hey." Diamond Tiara pointed behind me. "What's that?" I looked behind me and saw my phone on the ground. It must of flew out of my saddlebag when I jumped. "That..." I lit my horn and levitated the device to us. "Is what you call a phone." "A..." Diamond tilted her head. "...phone?" "I can show you, if you're interested." "Well, I was going to meet up with a friend..." Diamond began. "Will it sound weird if I offer for you to come with?" Well, I am not one to go with strangers... I thought to myself. But Diamond Tiara seems trustworthy to me, especially since she turned a new leaf at some point... "I can come with," I shrugged. "My folks at the castle probably won't get worried as long as I'm not gone too long..." I wonder what they're up to... I pondered. Marketplace... "Is that everything?" Chrysalis asked, saddlebags full. "Just let me see..." Cozy looked over the shopping list. "Hmmm... yep, we got everything." "I find it nice that you're even buying specific things as your friends requested." "Well, having friendship is good. Making your friends happy is better." "Well, that is true," agreed Chrysalis. "Hey, did you notice on how not all of the looks we got were good ones?" Cozy brought up. "Yeah, I did... I guess some ponies are still skeptical about us." "Well that's disappointing. But golly, it was bound to happen." Chrysalis gave Cozy a surprised look. "Sorry..." Cozy chuckled. "Old habit." "Don't worry about it. Between you and me, I sometimes have the urge to swipe a taste of love when walking past couples... but I stood strong." "Hey, is that Leo?" Cozy pointed to a table, and Chrysalis looked. Indeed, Leo sat at a table nearby, on his phone, and two mares on either side of him. "Should we see how he's doing?" Cozy asked. "Nah," Chrysalis declined. "He seems to be having fun." "But we don't know who those two are," Cozy pointed out. "They seem trustworthy, and it looks as if they're not just interested in him, but his phone as well. Let's leave him be and get the picnic ready." "Yeah. You're right." And so the two left Leo and resumed their trek back to the castle. Leo... I'm going to get this out of the way... if I haven't seen the episode where Diamond Tiara changed her ways, I'd be so confused on why she was suddenly nice... in a genuine, not "pay attention to me" way. As of now, I showed her and adult Silver Spoon the basics of my phone. For the time I was with them, I told them everything, from my past to the events leading to today. I even told them that I knew of their past. "So wait... you're *censored* years old?" Silver Spoon asked. "You don't look that age. You look as old as us." "Yeah, well I guess when you have an overwhelming amount of magic inserted in you and you become a pony, anything can happen," I replied. "You humans have very interesting devices..." Diamond admired. "Oh we do. My folks are duplicating my phone and selling the clones at a marketplace. They're opening soon, though it's later then their intended time." "So who's here with you?" Silver asked. "Ok..." I set my phone face-down. "...promise you won't be skeptical or anything?" "Depends on how extreme it is," Diamond admitted. "Ok..." I inhaled. "Were you told that I live with the three villains that attacked Equestria years ago?" Diamond and Siver were briefly quiet. "Well... we didn't know that," Silver said. "Though we were told that those three saved Equestria." "Considering our past, we were actually among the majority that forgave them for their misdeeds and believed that they truly redeemed themselves," Diamond said. That sort of surprised me. On one hand... I mean hoof... they were changed mares. They weren't like the way they were as kids. But on the other hoof, even redeemed characters have moments of undid development. Granted, I wasn't there when Chrysalis, Tirek, or Cozy had slip-ups, but still. "Well... I do," I shrugged. "What's it like?" Diamond asked. "Well, they aren't like the way they were back then... they're like a family." "Speaking of family..." Silver began. "How long until you think you can return home to yours?" I sighed. "I... don't know." "Well hey, at least you got some family and friends to be here for you," Diamond assured. Something I never thought I'd here from her. "Hey..." I began. "Let's continue exploring some of the basics of my phone." "Oh! Try that game with the mining and crafting!" Silver said. "It's hard without hooves but I'll see what I can do..." And Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon huddled close to me again. ... ... Chrysalis and Cozy were hard at work, preparing sandwiches and other things such as apple slices. "This is a lot to work with," Chrysalis says as she puts daisies on a sandwich. "Well, when you have six friends of different creatures, you have a lot to do when it comes to preparing a picnic," Cozy states, before using her magic and suddenly causing an apple to fall apart, in eight perfect slices, with the core also seperated. The doors to the kitchen opened. "Hey," Leo greets, heading for a cupboard. "You're busy with making friends today, aren't you?" Cozy asked. "You saw me with them?" "We did," Chrysalis admitted. "Yeah. I ran into a mare on my way back here. After some talking, I went with the mare to meet up with her friend. All I did with them was show them my phone." "Did you mention the business Tirek and I will open?" asked Chrysalis. "I did." Leo took a bite out of his apple. KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!!! "Who could that be?" Cozy wondered. "I'll get it," Leo volunteered. He left the room, still levitating the apple with him. Leo... I opened the door to find Diamond Tiara standing in the doorway. She looked a bit worried, and had a fake smile. "Diamond? What-" "Hey, could I talk to you for a second?" she asked. "Um... sure," I say before stepping outside and closing the doors behind me. "So... didn't you tell me you knew about my mother?" "Yes..." "Well, my mother is visiting Ponyville today. When you left, she came along and caught a brief glimpse of you. She got excited that I was finally friends with somepony who was not a 'nopony'." "She still acts snobby, huh?" "Yeah. Whenever she tries to visit, she tries to get me to change my preference of friends... and choose ponies that are our level of rich. But when she saw you, she got all excited. And even when I told you you weren't rich, she wouldn't budge. Long story short... you're coming to dinner." "Seriously?" "It's just going to be thirty minutes, you'll be fine." "Can't we find a way out of it?" I asked. "She'll just reschedule. That, or have us go by force." "No faking sick either?" "Again... she'll reschedule. And if you don't come over and keep rescheduling, she'll eventually get tired of waiting. There's no way out of it." "So she won't take a hint that I can't go? No way out?" Diamond shook her head. I sighed. "Fine. I don't even know why I'm overreacting anyway. So, she's snobby. It's only thirty minutes, and all I need to do is be polite." "Great." Diamond nodded, still having her slightly worried expression. "I'll see you at 5:00." And so she turned and left. As for me, I re-entered the castle. I returned to the kitchen. "Who was there?" Cozy asked. "Well let's just say I have to go to dinner tonight... if that's alright." "Well, there's not much for you to do," Chrysalis said. "Who are you going to visit?" "The mother of the friend I made today. There's no way out of it either." "Anything we can do to help?" Cozy offered. "No thank you," I declined. "And... done," Chrysalis closed the basket. "Want me to come with, Cozy?" "No thanks." Cozy shook her head and grabbed the basket. "Everyone's wanting to go on their own today..." Chrysalis smiled. Fifteen minutes later... Cozy Glow trotted through the forest with the picnic basket. "Alright... Treehouse is up ahead... hopefully I'll be on time..." Cozy heard a few noises echo in the trees. She gulped. "Better go faster just in case..." Cozy picked up the pace. For seconds, she did well, running without any issues. And then she tripped on a branch. "AH-OOF!!!" Cozy landed on the dirt with a THUD!!! The picnic basket slid forward. When Cozy lifted her head, a bunch of squirrels dashed to the basket and whisked it away in one fell SWOOP! "Hey! Get back here with that!" Cozy yelled as she got up and dashed after the rodents, bursting through the bushes. ... ... I had my hair folded down. I don't know why. Spoiled Rich/Milk (I don't know if she's divorced) saw me, but I wasn't sure if she saw the hair or what she thought of it. I didn't want to deal with any critiques from her, so I took the stretch and folded my mane down. I knocked on the door. When it opened, Diamond was in the doorway. "Hey, you made it. And you... folded your hair?" "I'm not taking risks," I replied. "Well, Mother is at the table along with a few maids and butlers around... some mine, some hers. Since she knows you're coming, she's expecting you." "Alright... let's get this over with..." I muttered. Soon, we entered the dining room. There were maids and butlers, but none were seated. There were only two ponies who were seated: Silver Spoon, and Spoiled herself! The only minor differences to her in the show and her now was that her eyes appeared slightly more baggy and her mane was slightly grey. Other than that, she looked the same. And when she saw me, I saw a rare sight that many bronies consider rare... she smiled a non-snobbyish smile. "Well hello there. You must be Leo, the alicorn stallion that my daughter was lucky enough to befriend," she greeted. "Um... yes I am," I say. I found it odd that she was only slightly snobby... though it's probably to give out a good impression to me, and it's a little hard to control for her. "Well, Diamond Tiara, you finally found somepony worthy enough to come here," Spoiled said to her daughter. I already felt the snarkiness rise. "Now let's seat yourselves, shall we?" "Yes, Mother," Diamond replied, sporting a smile to hide her possibly annoyed feelings. We took our seats. "These are very comfortable seats..." I admire. "Why thank you," Spoiled says, appearing to take pride in the chairs. Wait, doesn't Diamond live here? So why take pride? "So... I take it all the maids and butlers here are to serve us or something?" "Certainly! Speaking of which, where is that butler with our appetizers?!" Appetizers? This is going to be a long dinner... Cozy... Cozy Glow stumbled through the bushes as she kept searching for the picnic basket. If she didn't find it soon, she would probably have to go without food. "Why am I even looking for it anyway..." Cozy muttered. "It's just food... but I promised a picnic! So they'll get a picnic..." Minutes later, Cozy poked her head out of the bushes. She opened her eyes. There, resting neatly on the ground, was a picnic basket. "Bingo..." Cozy muttered. As soon as she said that, squirrels began crawling down the tree behind the basket and appearing out of the bushes. They surrounded the picnic basket... "Hey!" Cozy popped out of the bushes and called to the squirrels. "Shoo!" Immediatly, the squirrels caught sight of Cozy and huddled closer to the lunchbox. Cozy sighed. "Are you all that hungry?" she asked. "Hungry enough to sniff out food and steal someponies picnic basket?" The squirrels all tilted their heads. Cozy knew they didn't understand her. "I can't talk to animals like Fluttershy... but if you can even understand a word I say... please just let me have that basket! I promise, I'll come back and give you some of your own food to make up for it." The squirrels didn't move. "Well..." Cozy scratched the back of her head. "I have a feeling that considering you're very hungry squirrels, you're not going to react kindly to what I'm going to do..." Seconds later... "GAAAAAAAHH!" Cozy shrieked as she flew through the forest with the picnic basket, a horde of squirrels chasing after her. "These episodes are getting ridiculous!" she exclaimed. I'm... going to pretend I did not hear that. Leo... The food I was served was good. Of course those hired to cook were very good at it, but it was still worth a thanks. And as for Spoiled... I know Diamond said she was as snarky as she was in the past, but so far, Spoiled's been tame aside from the more major slip-ups. I've learned a few things, such as the fact that Spoiled was... divorced. Most of me saw it coming. It was starting to get annoying. "You!" Spoiled pointed at a nearby maid. "Get some more juice!" "Right away, miss..." the maid says before leaving the room. "I would like to thank you for inviting me," I say. "Not a problem. Again, I am so grateful that Diamond is finally making friends that have worth," Spoiled admired. "Not like those 'noponies' that she befriended, resulting in her attitude completely changing." I looked over at Diamond and Silver. "Well, I guess I'm honored," I say. "Even though I'm not rich or royal." Spoiled laughed. "Don't be silly. Of course you're rich! And royal! Every other friend of hers is a poor fool. With the exception of Silver Spoon, of course." "I'm telling you, I'm not rich." I sit up a bit firmer. "What, you only have me here because you think I'm royal? Not because you want to get aquainted with your daughter's friend?" I'm serious. Am I overreacting? I don't even know what's washing over me! "I find it shocking that over the course of twenty years, you can't move on from the fact that Diamond has her preference of friends!" I continue. "Because she's not friends with an alicorn... she's friends with a creature from another world, turned into an alicorn. I live with three reformed villains in the Ponyville castle. And I look far younger than I appear to be! So I'm not rich, not royal, and I have the right mind to do this!" Without thinking, I used my magic to lift my glass of juice. I brought it over to Spoiled... and splashed it on her face. Everyone gasped. I got out of my seat. "Again... thanks for dinner..." I say before turning. I heard no voices as I left the kitchen, and made my way out of the house. Upon leaving, I felt shaky and nearly lost balance. I let out a huge exhale of air. "Oh jeez..." I gasped. I then heard the doors open behind me. I turned my head. Instead of Spoiled or a butler, it was Diamond and Silver that left the building to join my side. They didn't appear to be satisfied. "I'm sorry!" I apologize. "I... don't know what came over me!" "Are you kidding?" Diamond suddenly appeared to be... happy? "That was AWESOME! She's had that coming for years." "After all, if you don't change for the better, it ends up coming back to bite you in the flank!" Silver exclaimed. I was reminded of Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy. I chuckled. "I mean... I don't know what happened, but I snapped." "And the reaction was hilarious!" Diamond said. "After you left, she turned beet red and yelled at the butlers to clean everything up. When she wasn't looking, we got out." "You may want to return home," Silver pointed out. "So... we're good?" I wondered. "We're good," Diamond and Silver both said. A thought then came over me. I wonder how Cozy's picnic is doing... Cozy Glow... Cozy took a bite of the daisy sandwich, a bit dirty and unkempt. She sat in the Treehouse of Harmony, with her six friends near her. "Again, I'm sorry that you had to go through that on the way here," Ocellus said. "Don't worry about it..." Cozy smiled. "Remember this... never anger hungry squirrels. And if you do, hope that the faint roar of a Timberwolf a mile away scares them off." They all laughed. "Though, if I'm going to be honest..." Cozy lowered her sandwich. "Those squirrels were pretty desperate for food. I could have let them have it, or at the very least, shared, but I was just so desperate to have lunch with you all that I tried to bargain with them... it probably would have been great homework if I was generous. And a better way for my picnic plan to play out." "Well, giving your food to squirrels, even though they're wild animals, would have definitely been generous... depending on if they're going to abuse your generosity or not," Sandbar said. "This is something Professor Rarity taught this to all of us: There will be those that use their generosity against you, or take advantage of it. But there will be many who appreciate what you give or share." Cozy lightly chuckled. "I'll remember that." She took another bite of her sandwich.