//------------------------------// // Denouement // Story: Diamond Hard // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// Diamond stared at Silver Spoon from her side of the kitchen table and asks her, “So, what sort of crazy adventure are we gonna have next?” Silver widens her violet eyes from behind her sky-blue temple-less glasses, “What do you mean?” Diamond chuckles slightly, “Well, I had that crazy adventure when my dad got drunk and talked to me about marriage… “she blinks. “And then, my mother literally paid us to get married in a church!” Silver nods, “Right! So, in theory, now both of your parents are satisfied, and my parents haven’t seen me in years!” Diamond frowns, “S-so, is that it then? I mean, no more escapades?” Silver smiles wickedly and stares up to the upper right with her pupils, “Oh, I don’t think I’d say that?” Diamond's eyes widen, “Oh, dear! What have I done?” Silver giggles lightly, “What? We haven’t done a prank in a long time! It’ll be fun!” Diamond sighs, “Do we haveto?” Silver adjusts her eyes to the pink mare and sighs, “Well, not if you don’t really want to? We can just sit here and stare at each other?” before staring intently at Diamond… Diamond looks at Silver with wide eyes, “Uh, what are you doing?” Silver smiles and says, “Why, whatever you want me to, dear wife! I mean, we wouldn’t wanna do anything fun or interesting like a prank, now would we?” before visibly suppressing some giggles… Diamond stares at Silver intently, “You’re roping me into this, aren’t you?” “Why, whatever would give you that idea, sweet wife?” Silver says before grinning mischievously… Later, in Filthy Rich’s office in downtown Ponyville… Filthy smiled underneath his bushy black mustache as he widened his blue eyes, “Your mother is still on the crapper, you know?” Diamond tries in vain to suppress a snicker, “Oh?” Filthy widens his eyes, “Oh, yes sweet daughter! Why, wherever did you get the idea to send your mother a box of chocolates laced with laxatives?” Diamond widens her eyes in panic, “It was Silver Spoon’s idea!” Filthy giggles silently, “Well, I must say it was a nice touch! Keep up the good work!” Diamond frowns, “Uh… Okay!” Filthy chuckles and grasps the big glass bottle of bourbon from underneath his desk and sets it on the table before him and the pink earth mare… Diamond widens her eyes, “It’s 9:30 in the morning!” Filthy then fetches two tumblers from underneath the desk and hooves a scoop from his mini-fridge on the right side to put two ice cubes in either glass before looking up at his daughter and frowning, “Well, there’s no law that says we have to wait until 10, is there?” As Filthy pours bourbon into the glass on his right, Diamond says, “Dad! I think you might be an alcoholic?” Filthy lifts the bottle so as not to pour and stares at Diamond with a wide serious look in his eyes, “Oh, I know I’m an alcoholic! Would you care for a cigar, dear Diamond Tiara?” before moving the bottle to pour whiskey into the other tumbler… Diamond normalizes her eyes and says, “Uh, sure dad! I’d very much like a cigar!” At that point, Diamond Tiara knew that for the sake of her family and togetherness, she would need to endure things… She would need to drink the harsh whiskey and smoke the powerful cigar just like she would occasionally have to do things to satiate her overbearing mother… But somehow, that was all okay now… Because by this point, she had a sweet loving silver mare who cared about her that she was going to meet later… And as she took that first stout odoriferous draw from the cigar that fateful morning, and braced herself for the bitter flavor of the amber liquid in her tumbler, she knew that she was finally okay in her prestigious life. Because despite everything she had ever achieved, she also knew that it was meaningless without the gray mare beside her… And that is what makes a Diamond Hard life worth living... (The end...)