“Diamond Tiara? Diamond? Oh, where has that filly got to now…?” Twilight might’ve cursed in her frustration over the so far fruitless search, but just stopped just short in case the ‘impressionable’ youngster might be listening nearby. “Look, I’m sorry I snapped at you there, but I can’t allow that sort of behaviour in my castle! Spike is a dear friend of mine, and doesn’t deserve that kind of treatment. But I promise, I’m not mad and I won’t shout at you. Just… tell me where you are…”
Having scouted the majority of the ground floor and not seeing her go back upstairs, Twilight arrived at the conclusion that her missing charge must be in hiding. Unfortunately because of all the cracks and fissures in the crystalline edifice, there were plenty of obscure nooks and crannies for the filly to take refuge. Places where a growing alicorn would find it a pretty tight fit to squeeze into, wings notwithstanding.
That’s it. I’m taking a break. This is like searching for a needle in a haystack. Twilight ruefully couldn’t produce anything better than the biggest cliche possible to describe her gargantuan task. Whilst taking a breather from the hunt on her throne though, she pondered if there might be some truth to it. Hmm. Haystacks? Farms? Maybe I could enlist Applejack’s help. After all, she always seems to know where Apple Bloom is, and… what’s that noise?
Twilight’s ears pricked up upon detecting a nearby sound, but this time it wasn’t any kind of scream. The tone resembled more of a sniffle, followed by a sob, then a distinct weeping…
Oh Celestia! How could I have been so stupid?! Twilight almost facehoofed herself repeatedly there and then, quite unable to believe her own obliviousness. She’s under the table! How could such a smart pony like myself not check the most obvious location in the entire palace first? Once again, my penchant for overthinking everything has cost me precious time. Well, I won’t waste a second more.
Twilight quickly got up and ducked underneath the large table. It was a bit grimy and mucky down there, as apparently Spike’s daily cleaning regime hadn’t extended to wiping the bottom of the magical furniture. But not too far away trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, there fidgeted an unmistakable shape with a tiaraed head curled up.
“Diamond! At last!!” Twilight exclaimed in relief, having at last tracked down her elusive ‘prey’. “Did you hear what I said? You can come out anytime you like. I won’t raise my voice, or get cross. You’re a bright filly, and you know what you did was wrong. We can talk about it if you like, or…”
“J-Just… leave me alone!” Diamond’s sharp response, accompanied by a strangled sob, was so out of the blue Twilight almost bumped her head on the table in shock. “You don’t want me. My parents don’t want me. Nopony wants me! I t-tried so hard to be better, to be a good daughter and friends with everypony. B-But I guess whatever I do, I’ll always be the c-class b-bully that nopony l-l-likes…”
Diamond didn’t (or couldn’t) utter another coherent word. She simply put her soaked head in her sodden hooves and cried and cried until her eyelids were red raw with tears.
Twilight simply didn’t know what to do. She’d never been confronted with such a sad pony before. The blubbering just didn’t seem to stop, and she began wishing for an easy solution like an off switch.
No, that’s not fair. I can totally understand why she feels so isolated right now, having been dragged away from everything she knows without a clue as to what’s going to happen next. Plus, she thinks everything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours is her fault. What can I possibly say to make her feel better? Before becoming ruler of Equestria, I was allegedly the Princess Of Friendship! If I can’t cheer up a stricken child, how did I even receive that honour in the first place? Think, Twilight, think…!
Then, it hit her.
“Budge up!” Twilight crouched down as low as she possibly could to crawl under the table to Diamond’s location, leaving behind a trail of feathers and a slight groove in the material with her horn.
(Not to worry. With a bit of careful polishing, such minor scratches would surely buff themselves out.)
“H-Huh?” Diamond finally halted her waterworks long enough to stare at the kneeling alicorn with surprise. “W-What are you doing?”
“Simple. If you won’t come over to me, I’ll come over to you. Even if it gives me a major backache later, your health and happiness will always be of paramount importance to me.” Twilight smiled at the gobsmacked filly, whilst wondering in her head if Spike could administer one of his patented massages later to ease the spinal pain.
“P-Para-what?”
“Oops. My apologies. I have a bad habit of using long words to others who may not know what they mean. Basically, what I’m trying to say is: your wellbeing matters more than anything else at the moment, and if there’s anything I can do to improve your mood…”
“Y-You can’t. Nopony can. I’m completely hopeless. The Crusaders did their best to reform me, but I can see now they were just fooling themselves. A-And the really worse thing is, I fooled myself even more. For even thinking I was a new pony, a-and I’d use my skills for good instead of following Mummy’s example. B-But like you just saw for yourself, it’s pointless. I’ll always be another version of her. N-Now I can’t please anypony: Mummy hates me for ignoring her lessons, and Daddy hates me because of what I did in the past. That’s why they’re fighting all the time… because of me. E-Even Silver Spoon’s parents let me go earlier without telling me what was happening. If I thought I’d be welcome anywhere it’s Silver Manor, b-but I suppose they’ve already said ‘no’ to having me after my p-parents g-got r-rid o-of m-me…”
“Now hold on just a second!” Twilight frowned with concern at the filly’s tragic predicament, wanting… no, needing to put her straight on a few misconceptions. “First of all, I hadn’t even discussed Mrs Sterling or her husband taking you in! The thought may have crossed my mind, but when she mentioned they were going away to Las Pegasus next week for the summer holidays, I thought it might be a bit awkward if you joined them. I mean, being so far away from your parents, if they wanted to visit…”
“O-Oh yeah. Guess I forgot about that.”
“And as for everypony ‘hating’ you, nothing could be further from the truth! Your Daddy adores you, anypony with a father can see that! Your mother too, and as much as I may disapprove of her methods I can kind of see her intentions. She’s just going about them the wrong way, but that’s another story. They’re fighting with each for many reasons, some of which are relating to you while others aren’t. I’ll repeat what I said earlier though, and I cannot stress this enough: none of it is your fault. From what I saw, they’re going to work their tails off in winning you back: hardly a sign that they want ‘rid’ of you. Also, you might’ve done bad things in the past, but everypony can see you’re trying your hardest to change now. In any case, you are the pony you choose to be. Even I made mistakes before, but I learned from them and moved on eventually. While doing my best never to repeat them, of course.”
“M-Mistakes? T-The Princess Of Friendship?”
“Yes, plenty. I’ve fallen out with my friends, lied to them, tried to steal something that wasn’t mine, lost my temper for the silliest reasons and almost went completely crazy through Twilighting everything!”
“T-Twilighting?”
“...I’ll tell you about it some other time. The fact is, nopony is perfect: we all have stuff we need to work on and improve. Wouldn’t life be dull if there weren't any goals to achieve? Besides, I’d be out of a job: What good is a Princess, without any creature to help? Are you saying you want me to be unemployed(!)”
Giggle… “I guess not.”
“Oh good, you’ve started smiling again! I was beginning to forget what that looked like. Now, if it’s not too much trouble Diamond, I’d like to make a humble request.”
“You… want to make a request… of me?”
“Indeed. Can we take this conversation to a more spacious area please? All this bending and squatting down is giving me the most awful cramp. Would that be okay with you?”
“Oh right. Sorry Princess Twilight, I was so busy listening, I didn’t realise…”
“It’s fine. I’m just more used to ponies bowing at me, than the other way around(!)”
Chuckle…”I think I’d prefer other ponies bowing to me, too.”
“There’s that beautiful grin again! I wish we could see more of it. But if you ever feel the need to cry again, don’t let me stop you. Showing your emotions is always healthy. Just remember: I’ll always be here if you need somepony to talk to or confide in. Do you understand me, Diamond Tiara? Always.”
“R-Really? Even after you’ve moved to Canterlot?” A dusty Diamond Tiara emerged from under the table first, blinking slightly as her eyes adjusted to the natural light.
“Really, really. I am here for any creature who needs me, and since becoming sole ruler you’re my first ‘test subject’. If I can help you, every creature else should be a breeze! Put it this way if you like: we’re assisting each other. How does it feel, then? To be a true pioneer?” Twilight came out next to tower over the filly once more, a bit dirtier than before but none the worse-for-wear.
“Pio...huh?” Diamond scratched her head in confusion, for the second time in almost as many minutes.
“You know what’s a shame? That you’re not staying with me. Wouldn’t that be convenient: I could give you the undivided attention you need, as well as maybe sharpen up your vocabulary a bit. And you’d give me the chance to see what it might be like looking after a filly of my very own. As hard as it sounds, if I can manage a day around Ponyville with Flurry Heart I think I could handle just about anything. But it could never happen, naturally. Because…”
It was at this juncture that Twilight’s head should’ve been swimming with all manner of excuses and reasons as to why having Diamond Tiara hang around for a while would be a terrible idea.
She could think of absolutely none.
And as she stared down at the nonplussed pink filly adjacent to her, she found herself on a whim asking her young charge something which would embark both ponies on the biggest adventure of their lives.
Yes, even for Twilight.
What if? What if?
“Hey, Diamond. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”