//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - New Scars // Story: Scars To Her Beautiful // by flutterJackdash //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle pulled her all-electric car to the parking space in the faculty lot then powered down the vehicle. Once that was done, she just sat there, staring off into space while twisting her grip on her steering wheel which made it creak. “Are you okay, Mom?” asked a girl directly adjacent to Twilight. Twilight looked at her daughter, Cozy Glow, who was frozen midway in getting her seatbelt off. It’s as if Cozy almost finished that process but noticed her mother’s disturbed look then simply froze. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine,” Twilight lied as she gazed forward again with a thoughtful and disturbed look. “No, you’re not!” Cozy argued as she finally got her seatbelt completely off. “Something is bothering you and I want to know what it is.” Twilight was silent. “Does this have something to do with the truck in front of Sweetie Belle’s home?” Cozy guessed. “Huh?” Twilight looked at her daughter in confusion. “How did you know about that?” Cozy narrowed her eyes at her mother behind her large, nerdy-looking glasses and asked, “Seriously? You were talking aloud to your text-to-speech program while you were driving. I heard everything, at least everything you said.” “Oh!” Twilight looked forward again with a look of realization. “Yeah.” Twilight had to since she was driving at the time. While Twilight’s smart glasses, just like Cozy Glow’s, were capable of overlapping transparent, holographic-like images into her glasses, Twilight actually disabled that function because she was driving. Instead, the glasses audibly vibrated her eardrum from the thick glasses stem so that only she could hear it. Using that system, Sweetie’s text was being told to Twilight using a computerized, synthesized voice. In return, Twilight’s reply, via spoken words, was picked up by her cellphone which was the true computer that her smart glasses were linked to. Her phone took her spoken words and transferred it to digital text before sending it to Sweetie, although that system required verbally announcing her punctuation for the text. “So what’s going on with the truck at Sweetie’s house?” Cozy probed on. “Also, why was Diamond over at Sweetie’s house? I assume you meant Diamond Tiara, the Student Council President who keeps ditching school, including yesterday. Now I know where she went. “Also, you said something about a mysterious and disturbing man over at her place?” Twilight shook her head as she said, “None of this is anything you have to worry about.” “I’m only worried about this because you look worried,” Cozy returned. “So spill the beans. What’s going on?” Twilight sighed, then admitted, “I … I honestly don’t know. She said something about a large mysterious truck in front of her house and some man coming for Diamond who claimed to be hired by her mother, Spoiled Rich.” “Huh.” Now Cozy looked out to the front of the car, too. “This probably has something to do with the recent video that spread around the school about Diamond’s … well, you know.” “I know all too well,” Twilight agreed with a frown. “Whoever did that seems to bear a grudge against Diamond personally, and it seems that person wants to ruin Ms. Tiara’s election, but I have another theory,” Cozy looked out the passenger side window. “Oh?” Twilight prompted as she looked to her daughter still sitting on the passenger side. “Rumor at school is that asshole, Superintendent Neighsay, wants to shut this school down.” Cozy looked to her mother. “What if he hired a hacker to violate Diamond’s rights and privacy simply to have an excuse to shut this school down?” Twilight closed her eyes and shook her head, then opened her eyes again as she said, “Neighsay may not like me or this campus, but he’s a strict, by-the-book kind of character. He wouldn’t condone anything illegal just to get rid of something he finds annoying.” Cozy shrugged, then amended, “Okay, but Neighsay is not the only bigot out there. Someone else might be framing the school just to shut it down. Even if Neighsay himself isn’t capable of or willing to do something like this, other people like him out there might.” Cozy narrowed her eyes at her mother a bit. “Let’s face it, Mother … you might have a talent for making friends, but not everyone fell in line that easily. Some people are scared of you, your friends, and most especially your magical powers. I’ve even heard some religious freaks out there call you all Satanists.” “It’s true that the world isn’t perfect,” Twilight said with bittersweet acceptance. “That’s why my friends and I do everything we can to lead by heroic example in order to prove there is a better way. That’s one of the reasons I became an educator besides spreading to others my love of learning.” Cozy smiled fondly at her mother as she said, “I know. That’s one of the things I love about you so much.” Her look darkened again. “However, we can’t just take all of this lying down. Narrow-minded bigots like Neighsay need a bloody nose every once in a while. To do otherwise is to submit to weakness.” “Positive change can only be evoked with compassion and understanding,” Twilight lectured. “Otherwise we’re just feeding the negative cycle. We have to rise above such petty concerns and spread friendship, not war.” “You would even do that to this hacker who maliciously slandered Diamond’s reputation?” Cozy asked doubtfully. “Yes,” Twilight answered in a heartbeat. “Remember this always, my darling Cozy … nobody is ever beyond redemption. Nobody! Those who attack others and lash out all over the place are the ones in need of compassion and friendship the most.” “Wow! That answer is so like you, Mom. It’s honestly kind of sappy.” Cozy said with a slightly disgusted sneer but nevertheless regarded her mother with a fond look in her rust-red eyes. Twilight smiled as she shrugged, then said, “It may be sappy, but it’s the truth.” She reached over to pat her daughter’s left lap. “Now, go on, then. You’ve got classes to attend and an election to win.” “Okay.” Cozy reached to her side and opened the passenger door. She exited out of the car then spun about to face her mom again. “Don’t be too long in here yourself. You have to get to your own office, too.” Cozy then attempted a cutesy, puffy look to her cheeks as she also put a finger to her left cheek. “You also have to cheer me on to my own office.” “You can accomplish anything you set your formidable mind to, my darling Cozy,” Twilight expressed with a warm smile to her daughter. “Now off you go.” “Later,” Twilight’s daughter bid her before shutting the door and walking off to school. Twilight’s fond smile very slowly faded as her eyes followed her daughter while she walked off. Twilight had a strong instinct that something big was going on beneath the surface of everything here. Sweetie Belle, Diamond Tiara, Scootaloo, the hack job that specifically targeted Diamond, and now some mysterious stranger that came to Sweetie Belle’s place in order to collect Diamond Tiara. Sweetie said, on the phone, that Diamond didn’t want to go with this man. Could it mean that she’s afraid of her mother for some reason? Did it have something to do with that video of Diamond’s purging? Also, why did Sweetie suddenly stop answering her texts? Twilight drummed the steering wheel with both of her pointing fingers in alternating beat. A few days ago, she sent Sunset Shimmer to investigate what was going on here. Twilight knew that one of the results of that investigation was a fight that broke out in Sunset's office. A fight that injured Sweetie Belle and got Scootaloo suspended, but Twilight knew for sure that Diamond was the real target of Scootaloo’s rage, yet Sweetie defended Diamond to the bitter end. Diamond might be so grateful and apologetic about that that she went to Sweetie’s house personally to express that. Maybe she didn’t go with her mother’s blessings? I need to contact Sunset Shimmer again, Twilight decided. Maybe she has more information for me by now. I have to know what’s going on, because something big is going on. I can feel it, and it doesn’t feel good. Twilight felt resolved. Maybe her plan wasn’t enough, but hopefully, it was a start. Diamond Tiara felt miserable as she was escorted to a seat near the back of the trailer. There, she sat on a bench with backrest and was secured to it with her seatbelt. She looked out the window to her right to take one last look at Sweetie Belle’s home, quite possibly for the last time in her life. There, she saw Sunset Shimmer make her way to the front yard and stare off to the trailer with a frown on her face and her fists clenched to her sides. She looked at the trailer with a face full of regret. Diamond put her hand on the window as she gazed back at Sunset with a matching frown. She wished so much for Sunset to know that she felt grateful for Sunset’s mere attempt to help Diamond. It was nice to know there were some people in this world that cared for her. Shortly later, while the engine of the truck which hauled this trailer revved up, Diamond saw the front door of the Belle house fling open. Diamond felt greatly startled to witness Sweetie Belle herself scramble then stumble out of the house. “DIAMOND, NOOOOOO!” Sweetie Belle screamed after the truck as she crawled along the ground desperately. “PLEASE DON’T GO! DIIIIIIAMONNNNNND!” Sunset looked back at Sweetie, greatly startled by this new development. Shortly later, Sweetie’s mother bent down and scooped up her daughter into a hug from behind. This didn’t stop Sweetie from reaching out to the truck desperately. Darn it! I’m pretty sure both Sweetie and Sunset are going to blame themselves for this, Diamond lamented inwardly. Worse, what if they blame each other? Especially Sweetie to Sunny. But, this was pretty much inevitable. I don’t know how Mother found me so fast at Sweetie Belle’s home, but however it was done, it probably would have happened anywhere. If I stayed at Sunset’s place, the same thing would have happened. Mother is too rich. Mother is literally named Rich. She can hire as many investigators as it takes to track me down and pull me back. Worse, she can get others who try to protect me in trouble, just like how that pink-haired guy almost did to Sunset just because she had the courage and compassion to try to protect me. This is how my situation always goes down. I’m a curse. A poison in other people’s lives. This is exactly why I kept Silver Spoon at an arm’s distance. I didn’t do that with Sweetie Belle recently, and this is the price for my selfishness. As the trailer started to be dragged off, Diamond saw Sweetie turn around and desperately cling to her mother while bawling on Cookie’s shoulder. While Sweetie did that, Cookie regarded the retreating trailer with a sad frown over her daughter’s shoulders. Diamond reached above her to grab the accordion-style curtain and pull it down to block her view of the outside because she couldn’t stand the sight of it anymore. As it turned out, this trailer was delivered to the front of Canterlot High, but Diamond was not allowed to walk onto the campus yet. Instead of that, Diamond Tiara felt like a living doll considering the sheer number of times she was dressed and redressed in several dozen fancy outfits, secretly against her will. In addition, she was forced to pose in front of a green screen while a lady with large, thick glasses and white hair took a bunch of pictures of Diamond while occasionally spouting how “shimply shtunning” Diamond was. All of this was simply exhausting and soul-crushing to Diamond. This was yet another reminder of how she wasn’t in control of her life, and perhaps never would be unless she decided to end her life. That was one place her mother wouldn’t likely follow. There was a lot of movement and activity about her, but Diamond moved on autopilot while cooperating with her orders absently. All the while, the intense desire to end it all weighed heavily on her. Very few in the trailer seemed to notice or care about Diamond’s disposition, either. The lady with the camera noticed Diamond’s empty and soulless look, about which she promptly complained because it was not “bold” or showing “deh confidence” to match the look the photographer was going for. Diamond kind of recognized the photographer. She suspected she used to be a former student of CHS. The only other woman in the trailer who seemed to notice Diamond’s stress was Coco Pommel, and only the latter woman seemed genuinely sympathetic to Diamond’s plight. “I’m really sorry about all of this,” Coco expressed with quiet sympathy as she adjusted yet another outfit on Diamond. “I wish there was a way I could make you feel better.” “It’s not your fault,” Diamond said in an equally quiet, but also empty and listless tone. “You’re just doing your job. I know that.” Coco frowned as she continued to adjust tiny details to the outfit as she expressed, “Still, I really wish there was something I could do to help.” Coco flashed Diamond a soft and shy smile as she offered kindly, “Maybe, after all this is done, including your time in school, you and I can go get some ice cream or something?” Diamond shook her head as she replied, “Nah. I really have to watch my weight. I don’t want to overstuff or else I’ll get fatter.” Coco actually froze as she widened her eyes with surprise, then regarded Diamond with that same stunned expression as she asked, “Really?” Diamond winced at Coco as she quietly complained, “Why does everyone I tell that to keep saying that?” Coco’s eyes shrank with fright as she cringed and said, “Oh, please forgive me! I didn’t mean to offend you.” “I don’t think anyone else meant to offend me either, but I just don’t understand why everyone is pretending to be surprised by that fact,” Diamond expressed with a confused shake of her head. “COCO!” harshly barked an impatient purple woman with darker purple hair in a gray business dress suit who stood a little ahead of Diamond and behind Coco near the other racks of clothes. A woman whom Diamond recently learned was yet another of Coco’s employers, Suri Polomare. “Are you about ready with that suit yet? I swear, I could probably craft that entire suit in the time it’s taking you to get her into it.” “I’m sorry!” Coco replied sheepishly as she cringed tightly from the admonishment. “I’ll try to speed up right away.” “Well, if you spent more time putting it on her instead of gabbing your mouth like an idiot, you’d probably have it done by now!” Suri said with disgust. Suri sighed in irritation and rolled her eyes. “I swear, you’re so lucky to get hired by someone like me who has the patience to deal with all of your bullshit! If I was anyone else, you would have been fired a long time ago.” Looking at Coco, Diamond noticed that Coco’s eyes started welling up with tears. Suri lifted her coffee cup to her lips as she expressed with obvious disgust, “I pay you to work, not to talk. I don’t know when you are going to get it through that thick skull of yours. I guess I just have to be even more patient with stubborn idiots.” While watching Coco getting admonished and emotionally wrecked, it reminded Diamond of how she, and plenty of other snobby peers, used to treat others like they were less than trash. Without warning, Suri suddenly spat out her coffee then glared at Coco before she said, “Okay, Coco. Come here.” “Yes Ma’am,” Coco replied before immediately racing over to Suri obediently. “What is this?” Suri challenged while shoving the cup of coffee close to Coco’s face which forced Coco to wince and veer her head back. “Um … coffee, ma’am … just like you told me to get,” Coco replied meekly. “Really?” Suri tilted her head to the side as she gazed at Coco with disgust mixed with doubt. “You call this coffee?” “W-Well, I got it from the machine just like you-” Coco stammered nervously. “Okay, fine!” Suri yelped in disgust. “If you are so fond of this stuff, why don’t you try it!” Again, without warning, Suri ripped off the plastic top of the cup then proceeded to splash Coco’s face with the coffee directly. Coco immediately covered her face with her hands and screamed in pain. “Oh, SHUT UP, you big, dumb baby!” Suri ordered harshly in disgust. “You’re fine because the coffee is barely lukewarm, which is precisely my point! “Now, clean yourself up and go get me some real coffee next time!” Coco struggled to calm herself down, as ordered, then ran off while whimpering in her hands, presumably to do as ordered. “I swear, it’s soooo hard to find good help these days,” Suri complained with an exhausted exasperation, then grinned at Diamond. “Am I right?” Suri grinned at Diamond with further confidence. “Yeah, you know what I’m talking about.” “I suppose I do,” Diamond replied weakly under her breath while staring directly at Suri. “By the way, Miss Rich, I so love what you’ve done with your hair!” Suri expressed to Diamond with the kind of fake enthusiasm that Diamond grew all too familiar with. She knew exactly what was about to happen. This was the kind of kiss-ass attitude that usually came before a request of some favor. “Just who does your hair, anyway?” Suri went on. “You simply must give me the name of your hairstylist, mmkay?” Suri requested with a wave at Diamond with her right hand from the wrist alone. Diamond narrowed her eyes at Suri a bit. Yeah. I can tell ya. It’s called several hours bed rest in a bed using Sweetie Belle as a pillow, Diamond was tempted to say aloud. Maybe you should try it sometime. Most people call it the ‘bed-head’ look. I’m surprised you consider it in style. I wish I had a pound of vinegar on my ass. I’d love to see you kiss it then! But, instead of saying that, Diamond simply shrugged instead. She felt too tired and broken to put up much of a fight. “Don’t know?” Suri reflected, then gave a wicked grin, “or are you protecting your trade secrets, you naughty girl?” Diamond wanted to slap this woman just to see if that disgusting grin would survive the process. In fact, smiles actually had survived such tests in a few previous cases with some others who were such determined yesmen. It all felt so soulless and degrading to Diamond. When someone put her on a pedestal, they did not treat her as a fellow human being. Sometimes that human treatment was so rare that Diamond occasionally forgot what it was like. “Okay. I see ya,” Suri went on with a nod while maintaining that grin. “I’m sure you have your reasons for protecting your trade secrets. Fates only know how much of those you have to protect considering your family’s vast fortune. I’m so jealous.” Diamond figured that the last statement was probably the first truly honest thing Suri said to her. “You want to trade places?” Diamond offered with a listless, hopeless voice. “Oh, absolutely!” Suri accepted playfully, but probably also sincerely. “Why, if I had access to some of your resources, ooo my!” Suri placed a hand on her chest as she breathed out with a deliriously happy flutter. “Oh, the things I would do with it! The places I’d go, the people I’d meet in order to hire and fire. Ooo boy … heaven!” “You’re welcome to it,” Diamond offered again with the same depressed tone. Suri looked back at Diamond with a playful grin, then waved Diamond off from the wrist alone again and said, “Well, then how do we go about this? Is there a magic wand you carry in your purse and such? Mmkay?” Feeling tired and so empty from this pointless debate, Diamond responded with a simple shrug. Suri faced Diamond more fully as she said, “Speaking of magic, I heard that CHS has run amok with plenty of that in years past. Less so these days, I think, but in the past it was quite the problem. “I remember, back when I used to attend Crystal Prep, CHS finally ‘won’ a game,” she expressed with literal finger quotes, “by flinging magic back and forth. It figures that CHS would finally win a game by basically cheating. “By the way, back then, your current principal at your school, Miss Twilight Sparkle, used to attend our school but then she turned into a lazy, whiny bitch and switched over to CHS … the nervey traitor! Isn’t that ironic? I guess she thought Crystal Prep was too hard.” Suri rolled her eyes. “So much for being a genius. Am I right?” Diamond said nothing. A well of anger briefly stirred in the pit of her stomach. A part of her wanted to yell and scream at this woman for all of her insulting comments, but she’d probably get yelled at, or worse, by her mother in return. We’re all prisoners here, Diamond privately lamented. “Am I right?” Suri dared to repeat with a grin, hoping that all these comments would wear Diamond down and force her to show some sign that Suri was acknowledged and accepted. That flare of anger welled up in Diamond’s stomach again, and this time she felt she couldn’t ignore it. “Why are you still talking to me, you lowly peasant?” Diamond asked with a rage of fire in her narrow eyes as she glared at Suri. “Do you think that, if you keep bugging me, it will somehow help you claw up to my level?” Suri looked taken aback, then looked down in a bit of shame. “I, ah … just making conversation with you is all. Mmkay?” “Well DON’T!” Diamond snarled at Suri. “You are beneath contempt, and certainly unworthy of my precious time! SHUT UP … you lowly fucking kiss ass … before I tell my mother to smear your dirty brown nose in a porta-potty where it belongs! Don’t you DARE speak to me again as if we’re on the same level! I’m nothing like you, and I’ll be lucky if I remain that way.” “Okay! Geez! Lighten up!” Suri expressed while raising both of her hands in a placating gesture. “I was just trying to make conversation. Don’t need to get your panties in a tizzy.” “Are you still talking to me?!” Diamond growled as she narrowed one eye at Suri further. “How much further danger do you really want to be in today? Keep talking, bitch! Every word you say to me today buries you another foot deeper in your grave! In case you haven’t noticed, I’m in a bad mood today!” “Okay! Gawd! I’ll leave you alone,” Suri promised before turning to leave. “That is the first intelligent thing you said to me!” Diamond barked after Suri. “Keep walking and GET OUT of my sight!” Suri did, vanishing out of sight beyond the racks of clothes. Diamond’s eyes continued to hold her glare of anger in Suri’s departed direction for a few minutes, except her chin wrinkled with agony as her fists shook to her sides. Little by little … I’m losing my soul to my mother, Diamond thought with regret. Would it hurt less if I surrendered to my inevitable fate? I think I tried that most of my life. Every year that I do, I feel more and more miserable. Cookie Crumbles: Bloom? Are you there? Sweetie stared at her mother’s phone in anticipation as she sat up in her hospital bed. She wiped sweat from her brow, and concentrated on regulating her breathing. Apple Bloom: Sweetie Belle? Is that you? Cookie Crumbles: Yes, it’s me. Apple Bloom: You okay? Cookie Crumbles: No, I’m scared for Diamond. Can you please make sure she’s okay when she shows up there? Sweetie accepted a drink from a nurse, smiling politely. “Thank you,” she said. Apple Bloom: You’re hanging out with Diamond? Cookie Crumbles: I am, so what? Apple Bloom: Oh, nothing wrong with that. Just was surprised Scoots was right. You want me to check on her, you said? Cookie Crumbles: Yes. Please? Apple Bloom: If she looks down her nose at me, I’m gonna get upset. Cookie Crumbles: Please be patient with her, okay? She’s not what you think she is. Apple Bloom: Only cuz it’s you asking, Sweetie. Diamond Tiara finally had a moment to spare by herself. She spent that time looking out the window at the campus of CHS. By that point, she saw many students roaming about the front area of the school since it was lunchtime already. As she stared at them, she contemplated the irony of how, just yesterday, she couldn’t wait to walk out of CHS because of all the rumors and stares she was suffering, and now she’d give anything to join them again just to feel a little more included. Sitting here, in this trailer, while watching paid servants roam about the campus while ranting and raving about how great Diamond would be for Student Council President and shouting it out as if Diamond was running for the office of the entire country, Diamond longed to simply be a lost face in the crowd instead of this distant political figure held above and apart from everyone else. Tears welled in her eyes as she thought about Sweetie Belle, one of the few human beings on this planet that actually tried to reach out. For that compassion, Sweetie Belle’s only reward was misery once Diamond was ripped from Sweetie’s company again. And that is just going to keep happening! Diamond thought with inward misery. When am I ever going to learn that’s not my fate? When am I ever going to learn to just accept my lot in life? I’m not meant to be among the common people. Better to say I’m not allowed to! We’re above them, apparently, where I belong. Where I’m stuck. Sweet and Elite. Cannot be beat. Never forget … ... … how much I love, miss, and need you! SWEETIE BELLE! SUNSET SHIMMER! SILVER SPOON! ANYONE! HELP ME! ... Please help me! “Coco PommeeeeeeeeEEEEEEEELLLL!” Svengallop called out with a continuously rising inflection. “Get over here at once!” Since Coco was one of the few in the trailer Diamond actually cared about, primarily because Coco shared that affection in a kind and humane way, Diamond regarded this new altercation with worry. “Yes sir, Mister Svengallop, sir!” Coco cried out as she raced to Svengallop’s side, who was sitting on a swivel chair and gazing down at a digital tablet in his hands with a discerning, hypercritical look to his face which also had his bent right finger on his lips. Upon looking at Coco’s face, he noticed that the woman’s normally yellow skin was instead turned red with a first-degree burn. Diamond choked back a sob upon noticing that. “Coco,” Svengallop began as he sharply gazed up at Coco off to the upper left corner of his eyes while keeping his face directed downward at the digital tablet, “am I to understand that you are the one who dressed Miss Tiara in the business suits?” “I made them, if that is what you are asking,” Coco replied very nervously. “but I did it to Miss Suri’s design and specifications.” “I’m not asking you who designed or made them, I’m asking if you put them on Miss Tiara. A simple yes or no will suffice.” “Um,” Coco folded her hands and hung them low in front of her as she answered meekly, “yes sir.” “Sooooo,” Svengallop said as he lifted his gaze fully at Coco with a wicked sneer, “I have you to thank for this amazing costume display?” “Um … yes sir?” Coco said, still confused and nervous since she still did not know what direction this conversation was going, but her employer seemed to be in a brighter mood. “I did my best. I made sure to examine every detail and adjust it accordingly. I wanted to make her look as presentable and professional for you as possible, sir!” “And you’ve done suuuuuuuch an amazing job of it, too!” Svengallop complimented in such a way that it even put Diamond on edge, for she sensed a hint of dark sarcasm there. “I mean, just look at this!” Svengallop swiveled in his chair to face the wall that was originally on his right. From there, he tapped on his tablet. As a result, a giant screen ignited on the wall of the trailer which, apparently, displayed the picture in question, so Diamond regarded it as well. The image itself did look pretty well done, in Diamond’s opinion. The outfit was sharp. Her poise was strong and confident. The image of Canterlot High seemed to be behind her, except the statue still had the giant horse on it. That effect was digitally added by the green-screen effect, but there was a depth of quality to the picture that made it really hard to discern that that particular background really wasn’t behind Diamond. Up in the upper right corner of the screen was the logo of CHS proudly displayed, and below that was the text that said, “Vote Diamond Tiara Rich for Student Council President, where all the smart money is going!” “I mean, just look at this!” Svengallop invited excitedly. “Bold! Brilliant! Fantastic depth and well designed. Every curve is in the right place. The colors pop and catch the eye. The suit itself is seamless and smooth. Everything is just in the right place!” he cheered. Coco blushed. “You know, you helped to make this happen!” Svengallop cheered as he swiveled about to face Coco again. “Every man and woman on my team has worked together to come up with this simply fabulous display! Thanks, in no small part, to my brilliant management, of course!” “Of course, sir!” Coco agreed. “And may I just say … it’s been wonderful to work on this team. I’m so glad to be a part of it. I so badly needed this job.” “Do you, now?” Svengallop asked darkly as he narrowed his eyes up at Coco behind his round spectacles while he wore a wicked grin, but it was whipped away a moment later as he once again cheered, “Well, that’s what I like to hear! I so love it when a member of my staff expresses their enthusiasm. As you may have noticed, I thrive on my well-deserved attention.” “Yes, sir,” Coco agreed with a soft smile. “I’m glad I could make you happy. That’s all I aspire to.” No! NO, Coco! Diamond mentally complained. Don’t kiss his ass! You’re one of the few in here that’s actually better than this. You’re passionate about your work. “I mean, just look at this fabulous design!” Svengallop spun about to face the image displayed on the giant screen, except this time he seemed to lift some kind of pen at it. As a result, a digital hand symbol appeared and floated across the screen. “The pose is just perfect! The lighting … perfect! The background is just stunning! And, best of all, do you know what I love about this picture the most?” “How much your brilliant efforts have shone through?” Coco guessed. “Ah, no, but I must admit … that’s a good guess,” Svengallop commended. “No. What I love the most is these parts here.” Svengallop used his digital mouse to point at a few key areas on Diamond’s clothes. When he did so, both Coco and Diamond grew startled to realize that the background was displayed right through Diamond. Coco actually gasped when she noticed that glaring flaw. “Tell me, Miss Pommel,” Svengallop now said with a rising bitter tone, “you do know how green screens are supposed to work, right?” “Oh, I’m so sorry, sir!” Coco expressed with deep fright and regret. “I didn’t notice that!” Svengallop spun about to face Coco slowly this time as well as collect his hands in front of his mouth as he gave Coco a hypercritical look. “You didn’t notice that,” he repeated Coco’s words, then gave a tsk-tsk sound. “That doesn’t sound like a very professional answer does it?” “B-but … Suri is the one who designed the outfit!” Coco argued. “And she was the one who told me to put that on her. I’ve only done what I was told to.” “You were also told to put it on properly,” Suri said in a dry tone. “Those collars were supposed to be folded back. You just made Miss Tiara, our billionaire client, look like she has a couple of holes near her neck.” “Ah … I … I just … I wanted to ...” Coco seemed to shrivel. “Save your sniveling excuses, Miss Pommel,” Svengallop said in disgust as he lifted a hand to forestall her. “Let me tell you something so simple that even you might have the wits to understand it, but first … come closer.” He beckoned her to lean closer to her. Nervously, she did so. “Closer,” he bid again. She drew even closer. “Just a little bit closer,” he urged. When she did so, she ended up practically in front of his face, then he said, “Now, Miss Pommel, what I want to tell you is very, very simple. Just two words, in fact. Are you listening carefully?” Coco gulps and nods nervously. Her eyes are small and beads of sweat pour down her face. “Atta girl. That’s a good girl!” He pats her head in an obviously patronizing way, then shouts at the top of his lungs, “YOU’RE FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR … DUH!” “What?!” Coco gasped as she leaned back, both because of her shock and the fact that she just got yelled at, at point-blank range. “But, sir, I was just trying to … where am I going to … please!” Coco whimpered as she started choking up in a sob. “Oh boy!” Suri exasperated with a roll of her eyes. “Here we go again!” “P-p-p-please, sir, I need this job!” Coco begged. “Can’t you give me another chance?” “Oh, my sweet dear,” Svengallop said as he rose from his chair and got right back into Coco’s face. For a moment, he seemed sympathetic as he wiped tears from Coco’s eyes with a brush of a thumb, but then she widened her eyes in shock when he proceeded to lick the thumb that brushed the tear from her eye and appeared to almost orgasmically savor it. He closed his eyes upon doing so and moaned slightly, then said while peeking his eyes back at her, “My sweet, sweet dear … your tears sustain me! Knowing that you, in light of this gross incompetence,” he gestured to the monitor behind him for just a moment, “feel miserable at this very moment gives me strength. It gives me hope and pleasure to know that idiots like you receive their just desserts. “However, such invigorating displays can only be tolerated for so long, and time is money.” After that, he called out in a shrill voice. “SECURIIIIIIIIIITY!” Moments later, a burly pair of men, dressed in security suits, came over. “I want you to take this trash out of the trailer immediately!” Svengallop ordered the security officers. “Make sure you slam the door on her very hard, and …” he added quickly, just as they were about to reach for her, which caused them to pause and regard him. He lingered in silence for just a moment as he gave a sinister smile to Coco before saying, “I will pay you extra if you are extra rough with her upon tossing her out.” Coco’s eyes exploded widely in horrified shock for just a moment before both of her arms got snagged roughly. The security officers lifted her entirely off the ground while crushing her arms painfully, which caused her to yelp in pain. Diamond Tiara’s eyes followed Coco as she was roughly manhandled out the door. Her own eyes were wide with shock as well, for never had she seen such a raw display of cruelty before except for one woman. Coco screamed even harder as she continued to get carried out since the pain she was in increased.She was eventually tossed out of the trailer before the door got slammed hard enough to rattle the entire trailer. “There!” Svengallop said proudly as he adjusted his necktie again. “Good riddance to bad rubbish.” “You know, dear,” Suri said as she walked up beside Svengallop then almost crawled alongside him in a way that could not possibly be mistaken for professional, especially since she also planted a firm kiss directly on his lips, to which Svengallop responded all too willingly. Upon noticing that, Diamond realized that these two were a couple. Upon finishing the deep kiss, Suri’s head shifted back enough to look at her boyfriend, or perhaps even husband, then finally finished her sentence by saying, “You didn’t have to escort her off the premises that rough.” “I was only too happy to,” Svengallop said back to Suri with supreme arrogance. “You know I cannot abide incompetence of that magnitude. Allowing such displays like that to go unpunished would completely ruin the image that I built!” “Yes,” Suri agreed as she pulled back a little bit further, “but, next time, how about we fire employees in such a way that might help us avoid getting sued?” “Oh!” He waved off Suri with a scoff. “Is that all you’re concerned about?” He leaned forward to peck her with another kiss, then bid, “Relax, darling. Everything is taken care of. There is no way a simple peasant like that could afford any kind of reasonable defense that can get past our army of lawyers, so I can do anything I damn well please. Plus, if worse comes to worst, I can just illegally bribe the judge, then we’re off scot-free.” Diamond Tiara gasped, then noticed that she wasn’t the only one in the trailer to have that reaction since Svengallop openly admitted to being willing to commit a crime just to escape punishment of the law. “What are you all staring at?” Svengallop asked his staff around him since he noticed their expressions as well. “So? I meant every word I said. If Miss Pommel dares to try and sue me, not only will she fail, but I’ll sue her in return for all of her,” he paused for a moment to say with finger quotes, “‘false slander.’” He then smiled smugly as he added, “And if any of you dare to cross me, you’ll share in poor Miss Pommel’s fate! “Now, everyone get back to work! ALL OF YOU! Time is money, and we have a stupid school election to win.” Suri chuckled a bit as she shook her head, then said, “A school election. How the mighty have fallen. This is so far beneath you.” Svengallop sighed as he looked at Suri in agreement before saying, “True, but Miss Rich is paying us enough to secure us for the next five years, and money talks, so,” he shrugged, “what else can I do? You don’t need me to tell you that the rich can be eccentric, especially coming from a family who’s literal name is Rich.” “Eh, well,” Suri shrugged carelessly, “as you said, money talks.” She then cast an annoyed sigh. “Miss Pommel might have been annoying, but we do need a new assistant, now.” Svengallop waved Suri off as he assured, “Don’t worry. Everyone else here is replaceable. We’ll find someone eagerly lining up to replace her job in no time.” “Before the election?” Suri asked doubtfully while lifting up an eyebrow. “I doubt we can find one that fast. The debate is tomorrow.” “Hmm.” Svengallop looked momentarily thoughtful, then shrugged as he said, “Well, in that case, hire one of those sniveling brats here are Canterlot High.” Then, suddenly, his eyes flared wide open as he gained a bright idea, then looked at Suri as he said, “Oh, I know! Hire someone popular here at CHS. That way, not only will we get the assistant we need, but celebrity endearment as well. “Ah!” He looked straight up as he announced smugly and proudly. “I’m such a genius! How ever do I manage to keep topping myself?” “You’re just that talented and hard-working, I guess,” Suri figured proudly. His gaze returned to her along with a smug smile as he said, “Damn straight!” Just kill me now! Diamond thought with misery. I can’t believe that people like this are the closest thing to my peers. Diamond looked out the window as Coco Pommel tried to walk away, but she kept stumbling down out of pure pain and misery. Diamond’s eyes watered at this sight. Maybe Sweetie can’t help me, but I wonder if her sister can help poor Coco? Diamond wondered with a shred of hope. Upon thinking that, her eyes narrowed in determination, even through her tears. I just need to get a message to Sweetie or Rarity … somehow. Sunset swept a gaze across the eager young faces of her students in the class. Thanks to Twilight’s digital system, roll-call was unnecessary. All the students had to do was sign in on their own student account on the touch-pad built into each of their desks which, in turn, displayed their presence. By the process of elimination, it also revealed who was absent. Based on that information, Sunset Shimmer noted that Diamond Tiara was absent from class again, except this time it really bothered her a lot more. “Miss Shimmer?” a red-skinned, green-haired student prompted Sunset knew as Fancy Blaze prompted. Upon focusing on him, she noted he raised his hand, which was actually an archaic way to gather attention at this school. What he should have done was … Oh! He did press a button on his computer touch screen to signal for her attention. The digital display of each of the desks in class had his desk flashing red, and apparently that had been going on for the last thirty-seven seconds. “Oh, um … I’m sorry. I didn’t notice that you were trying to get my attention.” Sunset focused on Fancy Blaze. “What can I do for you?” “Well,” Fancy lowered his hand but continued to look upon his professor with concern, “actually, I was wondering what we can do to help you out. You seem out of it today.” Sunset sighed as she leaned back in her seat, then admitted, “Yes. Yes, I am.” She leaned forward and pressed a few buttons on her computer monitor. “But, fortunately for me, I’ve come somewhat prepared for that. I want each of you to silently read the following passages that will shortly be displayed on your monitors. We’ll do this for the next ten minutes, then after that we’ll have a discussion about the topic. Everyone clear on that?” Sunset received a variety of approving responses from her students, if they spoke at all. “Thank you!” Sunset expressed with heartfelt warmth. “I’m glad I can count on you all.” “Sure thing, Professor,” the pink-skinned and haired girl, Aiming Rozen, assured proudly. “Anything for our favorite professor.” With that done, the room quieted, but some glanced up at their professor as she strolled to the window and gazed out at the large semi-truck and trailer parked in front of the campus. Damn it, I failed her! Sunset berated herself with frustration. I swore I’d protect her, too. I swore! Sweetie was counting on me! I was counting on me! How could I let this happen?! Sunset’s recent mind scan of Diamond, regardless if it was willing or not, taught her a lot about Diamond and her situation. It was mostly all Sunset could think about for the last several days. Diamond used to be mysterious to Sunset, but now she knew the girl well enough to realize why she surrendered. She did it for Sunny’s sake. Was it right to just accept that? Was it cowardly to not resist Diamond’s own free will? Would Sunset be any better than Diamond’s mother if she attempted to force the situation? She did not know, but at that moment, all she could think about was standing over Diamond Tiara’s grave and gazing upon her tombstone. She’d gaze upon it knowing that happened because Diamond Tiara eventually did kill herself. Sunset knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that if such an event came to pass, she’d be constantly questioning what she could have done to prevent this awful tragedy. She’d never live that down. Likely that haunting reality would follow Sunset in her dreams, or rather nightmares. A hero’s job is to stand up for those who can’t defend themselves, Sunset thought to herself with a burning passion while she crushed her hidden magic geode on her chest. I accepted that role a long time ago. Me and my friends have. Just how far am I willing to take a risk in order to uphold that promise? What exactly is the right move? Damn it! The only reason I’m armed with this knowledge is that I used my powers without her consent. A move which might have potentially saved her life, but because I also swore to keep her secret … I’m isolated from the rest of my friends. Because of that, it feels like I’m cut off from the very source of my strength. Damn it! What am I going to do? I have to save Diamond from being hurt, no matter who is targeting her. Even if it’s herself. Sunset crossed her arms across her chest. Yeah. That’s it. Free will be damned if it’s used to harm one’s self. It’s my civic duty as a teacher and her friend to protect her from all who seek to harm her. But I can’t protect her from jail, and Miss Spoiled Rich is holding a lot of advantage at this stage of the game. Sunset continued to think. She thought real hard.