//------------------------------// // Prologue: A Realisation // Story: Getting Cozy With Diamond // by deadpansnarker //------------------------------// It would be a slight understatement to say that Diamond Tiara didn’t get much sleep that evening. Not for once, caused by her mother’s constant commands and demands of her to act more ‘refined’ in public (in other words: stop ‘pretending’ you’re not better than everypony else. A year later, Mrs Spoiled Rich had still never quite got over Diamond’s radical shift in personality that fateful day outside the school when the older pony had been verbally eviscerated. Ouch.) Neither was her ongoing insomnia caused by her father’s sky-high expectations involving Diamond’s future role as the sole inheritor of the entirety of Barnyard Bargains. Or her guilt over her beloved veteran butler’s declining health, no doubt exacerbated by more than a decade of demeaning tasks and unnecessary acrobatics, mostly at her behest.   Gently dabbing the many beads of sweat filtering down her brow, the pink filly resisted the life-long urge to pull the nearby cord which would promptly summon hired help. I’m gonna have to deal with many crises throughout my life, both personally and professionally. Might as well start learning to cope on my own now. She clambered out from underneath her plush bedclothes, and trotted over to her walk-in bathroom. Once inside, she began filling up her glass with water for much-needed refreshment, as well as stare at her bloodshot expression with genuine fear that this perpetual restlessness might already be making her age prematurely long before her time.  What do I do? What do I do? The question was hardly a simple one, especially for a filly so young (regardless of how mature she was). Pushing her innermost feelings to the darkest depths of her ailing mind would appear to be the simplest option, if she hadn’t actually tried that tactic already to minimal success.  She had no idea why she felt this way. The wretched individual who kept intruding into her thoughts like an uninvited parasite was hardly one of her best friends. Or even a casual acquaintance. They’d had a single meeting in the most unpleasant of environments ages ago, and honestly it hadn’t gone so well.  Also, in analysing recent events, the rendezvous didn’t exactly achieve anything like the desired effect, either. So why, if she’s so beyond redemption and such an intrinsically wicked filly do I… Diamond splashed some of the cold moisture intended for oral hydration upon her face and stared at her uncertain reflection some more... ...And the more she gazed in earnest, with a thousand different experiences of her own almost-capitulation to the twin vices of selfishness and corruption playing through her mind like Bad Movie Night… ... The more her initial hesitation crumbled into fragments of dust and her resolve strengthened into a mineral as hard as her namesake might suggest. It’s gonna be difficult, some might say impossible, to even get this plan set up considering all her crimes... let alone find out if it works or not. But I’ll never know if I don’t try, not to mention the fact that my conscience won’t give me a moment’s peace until I do. So starting from tomorrow, I’m gonna talk to Daddy about everything I’ve been feeling lately, then take it from there.  “You happy now, brain? I’m gonna do everything you asked. Maybe I could… I dunno… be allowed to get a bit of shuteye now?” Diamond Tiara narrowed her eyes at her alternate self on the other side of the mirror, before taking a long swig of water and pulling out the plug. As she watched the clear liquid within swirl clockwise down the drain and through the pipeline, she couldn’t help but think her hare-brained scheme was destined to turn out the same way. Metaphorically speaking, of course. My mind is made up, though. As soon as I rise with the morning sun, I’ll have three things on my agenda. One, to eat a hearty breakfast. Two, catch the early train to Canterlot. Three… to start the ball rolling on reforming Cozy Glow. For good this time.