“Hi Mummy, hi Daddy! I had such a terrible dream last… gosh, you seem unusually quiet this morning. Don’t tell me… you made up last night while I was away?”
For a filly that’d not exactly had the most restful of nights, Diamond Tiara was in an unusually chipper mood that morning.
After all, everypony had been so nice to her since she woke up from her nightmare! Silver Spoon didn’t argue back once, Golden Spoon had given her the biggest portion of muesli with extra slices of banana, and Silver Sterling…
Well, Silver Sterling was quite an odd case. She’d seemed on the verge of tears since Diamond had got up, but every time the pink filly had glanced at the mare, she wore a beaming smile almost from ear to ear.
Curiouser and curiouser, Diamond had pondered whilst tucking into her nutritious breakfast. But she decided not to pay the matter too much thought. If whatever happened caused her to be treated like the VIP (Very Important Pony) she truly was, why jeopardise it by interfering?
And when it came for her to be dropped off at Rich Mansion that morning in the Spoon’s wagon… things got even weirder. Silver Spoon had given her the most affectionate of goodbye hugs, and when she’d gone to shake Golden Spoon’s hoof, he’d wished her the ‘best of luck’. Huh?
Silver Sterling meanwhile had continued her bizarre behaviour from earlier, with both her daughter and husband almost having to drag her away in her reluctance to leave. If they want another child around the house so much, why don’t they just have another one? Diamond thought awkwardly, as she bid goodbye to the downcast trio.
Not that she really understood much about the whole icky process of reproduction. From all the whispers she’d heard in the schoolyard though, it sounded pretty confusing anyway. Who leaves fillies and colts under gooseberry bushes? How does a stork carry a full-grown baby across the entire world all by itself? And, where exactly do ‘the birds and the bees’ factor into all of this?
No matter. These were surely questions for another time, one where everypony wasn’t acting like characters from ‘The Twilight Zone’ (one of her favourite mystery comics)...
...And speaking of Twilight, she was there too, but looking quite different than the other day in class. She had on her official Princess robes, and wore the coronation crown upon her regal head. A couple of palace guards were flanked either side, and her stolid expression seemed as unmoving as her parents’.
Okay, something is definitely going on here… Diamond realised all too late, before Filthy Rich uttered those immortal words that would live with her for a long time.
“Honey… we need to talk.”
……………………….
The delicate conversation between father and daughter went exactly as well as you might think.
“No, no, no!! I am not leaving this mansion, and you can’t make me! You and Mummy are going to start loving each other again, I’m going to stay here, and that’s the end of it!”
“B-But sweetheart. Things are never that easy, and Princess Twilight has already decided…”
“I don’t care! She can un-decide then! When I asked her to help me, I didn’t expect this! If I’d known this would happen, I-I…”
“Darling. Please don’t think you did anything wrong for a second. This is on your mother and me, not you. We didn’t listen to you when we argued, you got hurt and we didn’t tend your wounds, you were hungry and we didn’t even feed you. W-We’re failures as parents, a-and n-now…”
“Daddy? Are you… crying?”
“N-No of course not! Don’t you know that a Rich never cries? It’s bad for business to show emotion to the customer, I told you before! I-I just have some dust in my eye, that’s all. Now, shall we pack some of your favourite things together, and put them in your saddle bag? Just think of it as going away to camp for a bit…”
“I’ve never been to camp before, and I’m not about to start now! Besides, where am I even going? You can’t even tell me that, can you?”
“T-That’s Princess Twilight’s area, I don’t have any control over that. But I’m sure it’ll be somewhere nice, and while you’re gone me and Mummy will do our best to make ourselves worthy of being your parents again…”
“B-But Daddy, you already are! You’re just busy a lot at the moment, that’s why you can’t spend time with me. And Mummy will always be Mummy, I’ve learned to accept that. One of you just has to say sorry, you’ll get the servants back, and everything will be just like it was before. So I won’t have to go anywhere. R-Right?”
Filthy Rich stared down with pride at his anxious daughter, silent teardrops streaming down either side of his cheeks.
“Oh, my precious. If only things were that easy, but I’m afraid in the adult world relationships are much more… complex. If I could just say ‘everything will be okay’ and it worked, I would’ve done that a long time ago. But things haven’t been okay for a long time now, and it’s my and your mother’s fault for not seeing that much sooner. It’s only a shame it took something this drastic to happen to get us to realise that, but if we’re fortunate enough to be granted a second chance with you, we fully intend on taking it.”
Diamond didn’t (or couldn’t) say anything in response to this heartfelt recitation. She simply snuggled in closer to her father, as he gently patted her head and continued speaking to her in a soft but assured voice.
“Now, you’re going to have to be a brave filly and go with Princess Twilight. I can’t tell you how long for, but whatever happens we’ll be thinking about you, all day and every single night. And yes, I include your mother in that. She might not show it all that often, but she loves you just as much as I do. She just has a… different way of showing it. If there’s one thing I can promise you, it’s that we’ll be working tirelessly while you’re gone to make this a happy and safe home again. I swear this on our proud family name. Whatever I have to do to make it happen…”
Diamond had by now welled up with as many tears as her devastated yet determined father, and as cliche and embarrassing and so totally unlike her as her next four words were…
It was the only appropriate thing she could think of under such poignant circumstances.
“I love you, Daddy!”
“I love you too, darling! Don’t ever forget that!”
“Of course I won’t, silly!”
“Hey! Don’t forget to say goodbye to the Tickle Monster too! He’s going to miss you as well…”
“W-Wha… the Tickle Monster? You haven’t done that since I was a… I’m way too mature now for… n-no, please stop. Hahahahaha…”
Spoiled Rich, who’d listened in on this entire emotional exchange at the foot of the stairs, predictably rolled her eyes at this point.
“Ugh… typical cornball shenanigans from Filthy… when will he ever learn…”
Twilight Sparkle, who more politely had waited outside the building while farewells were reciprocated, poked her head around the corner to wonder what was happening.
“Listen, I don’t mean to hurry you along at this sensitive time, but I do have other Princessly duties to attend to today, and… Mrs Rich! Are you... crying?”
“D-Don’t be foolish! Rich’s don’t cry… it’s bad for business, you know!” Spoiled swiftly dabbed around her soaked facial area with the back of her finely manicured hoof. “It’s just this new mascara I bought. The wretched stuff reacted to the steam bath I had last night at the spa, and is melting terribly. Last time I invest in that particular product, let me tell you!”
“Are you sure about that? Because I’ve never heard of a…” Twilight stared at the insistent mare quizzically.
“A-Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Look, here they come now!” Spoiled for some reason was desperate to change the subject, and got the perfect diversion when she spotted Filthy and Diamond linked hoof-in-hoof descending the stairs. “So, have you two quite finished with your over-the-top lamentations? You know it’s only going to be for a short while, before one of us sees reason and…”
At this point, Diamond did something quite unexpected in front of everypony there. Most of all, her own parents.
She nodded as an indication to her father she was going to let go of his hoof, before scrambling down the last few steps to give her mother a loving hug.
Spoiled was so astounded by this sudden turn of events she completely lost her train of thought, and her pinkened cheeks uncontrollably turned a deep shade of crimson.
“I-I-I… wh-who… wh-why… w-what is the meaning of this?!”
“No reason. Just to show you that despite everything, I still love you Mummy. And I’ll miss you too while I’m gone.” Diamond’s expression of dedication was clear and genuine, and once more Spoiled’s dodgy mascara began playing havoc with her tear ducts.
“H-Humph. Stuff and nonsense, all this sentimental mushiness. You’ll be back before you know it, and I dare say we’ll enjoy the break. Stop acting like we won’t see you again, and do what I’ve always taught you: maintain good posture, keep a stiff upper lip and remember that you’re better than everypony else. Always follow those guidelines, and you’ll never go astray. Now dear, it’s time to disentangle yourself from my withers, because like the Princess I have things to do today with my job that simply can’t be delayed.”
Yet, despite her protestations to the contrary, Spoiled made no effort to budge Diamond away from her prime position at the Earth Pony’s side…
And indeed, the fond embrace went on for a good few minutes longer than most would’ve predicted.
………….
“Don’t worry, Spoiled. We’ll see her again soon…” Filthy Rich said to his wife, as they waved off their departing offspring in the Princess’s carriage. “You don’t have to hide how you feel. I know you care, even if you don’t like to show it.”
“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.” A defiant Spoiled Rich replied, after she’d put her forehoof down. “But you’re absolutely right in the first thing you said. All you have to do is be more thoughtful, accommodate my needs, try listening to me once in a while…”
“Hey, hold on there just a… those are all things that you should be doing for me!” Filthy turned to face his wife, a frown quickly replacing the emotional look that’d been there seconds earlier. “How can one mare eschew the situation so badly? Maybe if you followed your own advice, we wouldn’t be here right now saying goodbye to our darling daughter!”
“W-Well, you have some nerves talking to me like that, Filthy!”
“And you’re getting on mine, Spoiled!”
“No, I’m not!”
“Yes, you are!”
Fortunately for them, Diamond was already over the grassy hill by this point and so didn’t witness the swift deterioration of her parents' temporary truce mere seconds after she was out of sight.
For if she had, her current state of bewilderment and sadness would’ve been made even worse.
It was safe to say, everypony who’d been gathered at Rich mansion that fateful morning had a lot to think about and work on.
Some even more so than others.