The CMC Cheer Up Diamond Tiara
by Mudpony
Diamond Tiara sat alone in the classroom. Again, she contemplated going home, and again she dismissed the idea. Home had pictures, pictures that reminded her of Silver Spoon. Home had toys, toys she and Silver Spoon played with. Even the walk home would remind her of her friend. So many memories. This classroom had none, for it was not Miss Cheerilee's room, but the one across the hall.
The nerve of Sil's parents, to go to Southern Prance in the middle of the school year and to take their daughter with them. As if Sil could not have stayed at the Rich Mansion. But Sil's parents had thought of nopony but themselves and had taken her friend away. What did they expect her to do in the meantime, Diamond Tiara wondered. Did they expect her to play with Snips and Snails or to talk to those good for nothing Cutie Mark Crusaders?
And so she sat, in a classroom, in a schoolhouse devoid of other ponies. Lonely and with nopony to lift her spirits. Her head sank down, coming to rest on her forelegs, as she softly sobbed. So alone.
"So how's things been at school, girls?" Fluttershy asked the three fillies who had come to help her take care of the animals.
"It's been about as good as school can be," Scootaloo said.
"We've been learning all sorts of interesting stuff, like how the geocentric solar system works," Sweetie Belle added. "Maybe we'll borrow a telescope from Twilight and try to get astrology cutie marks this weekend."
"How about you, Apple Bloom?" Fluttershy asked. "Any problems? Applejack mentioned something about some fillies giving you girls trouble? I know all about that sort of thing. I know it might seem hard to believe, but the other foals used to pick on me sometimes when I was young. If you ever need somepony to talk about it, you can come to me. If you want to, that is."
"Nah, Diamond Tiara has been too busy feeling down to bother us. Her best friend is out of town. She hasn't been picking on us at all this week," Apple Bloom said.
"Oh. Maybe she's feeling lonely?" Fluttershy asked.
"What do we care?" Scootaloo asked. "All that matters is that she's leaving us alone."
"Well, if she's lonely, maybe she could use a friend," Fluttershy said.
"Ah don't think Ah want her to have a friend if'n it means she'll be picking on us again," Apple Bloom stated.
"Yah, plus who'd be a stuck up enough jerk to want to be her friend?" Scootaloo asked.
"Actually, I was thinking that you three could befriend her," Fluttershy suggested. The three fillies stared at her as if she were crazy. "If she was your friend, she wouldn't pick on you on anymore." More stares. "It worked for Discord. Oh, nevermind. It was probably a terrible idea. I don't know what I was thinking."
"I suppose it might work," Sweetie Belle said, as she imagined the possibilties.
"Wait, Sweetie. You can't be considering this," Scootaloo protested.
"Just think, if it works, she'd never tease us again," Sweetie Belle said.
Apple Bloom slowly nodded her head. "And if it doesn't, we ain't any worse off, are we?"
"And all we have to do is cheer her up. We can do that easy!" Sweetie Belle squeaked.
"That's the spirit, girls. And just think about how wonderful it'll be to have a new friend," Fluttershy said encouragingly.
"But how would we even go about making her our friend?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh. I'm not sure about that," Fluttershy said. She looked away shyly. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at making friends. Not as good as Pinkie is anyway."
"That's it!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "We'll just do what Pinkie Pie would do."
"Sing a silly song?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Build a welcome wagon?" asked Scootaloo.
"No, sillies. We'll throw her a party! That would cheer anyone up," Apple Bloom said. "We can probably get everything we need from Sugarcube Corner and Pinkie Pie."
"Let's go!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shouted.
One hour later, three fillies made their way back to Fluttershy's cottage. Cake was smeared on their coats and, in Sweetie Belle's case, in her mane. Bits of streamers were draped upon them, trailing behind in a festive manner in stark contrast with the fillies.
"Um, I take it it didn't go well, girls?" Fluttershy asked the three fillies, as they slunk in through the door of her cottage.
"It was a disaster," Sweetie Belle said, wiping some frosting out of her mane.
"Oh dear," Fluttershy said. "What happened?"
"We got to Pinkie's," Scootaloo said, "and she was super excited to help us put together everything we needed for the party. But she didn't have any party hats, and so she's all panicking because you can't have a party without party hats. But luckily Apple Bloom had an idea: candy cane tiara hats."
"So Ah head over to Twist's, who made candy tiaras that looked almost real, while the others decorated the cake."
"I made it with a tiara on one side and our emblem on the other," Sweetie Belle said. "Pinkie let me decorate it."
Scootaloo nodded. "And then we all went to the classroom where she was, and put on our tiaras."
"And that's when things went wrong," Apple Bloom said. "We said we'd go on the count of three..."
The door flew open as the three crusaders burst in. "Surprise!" they yelled.
Diamond Tiara flew up into the air and let out a piercing shriek, making it quite clear she was indeed surprised.
Apple Bloom looked at the pony they had come to befriend. "Have you been crying?"
"No. I... I just had something in my eye." Diamond Tiara wiped her eye with a hoof. "It's gone now." She glared at the three suspiciously. "What are you doing here? Come to point out that I'm all alone?"
"We're here--" Scootaloo started, only to be cut off by Diamond Tiara.
"What's that on your heads? Did you make tiaras to mock me? You did, didn't you?"
"No!" Apple Bloom said, denying the charge. "We made them because you like--"
"Smashing your tiaras? Why, yes, I do." With three quick moves, Diamond Tiara hurled the tiaras at the ground. For good measure, she stomped on them, until nothing but small fragments remained. The act done, she glared defiantly at the three fillies. "What else you got? Go on. Do your worst. I know you want to."
Apple Bloom looked down at the ruins of the candy canes. "This wasn't how it was supposed to go." But it took more than one or two setbacks to stop a crusader, and so Apple Bloom met Diamond Tiara's gaze, determined to try again. "That's not what Ah meant. See this? We brought cake for all of us--"
Diamond Tiara cut her off. "Cake to celebrate humiliating me? Here's what I think of that!" With a fast lunge, Diamond Tiara grabbed the cake and sent it hurtling toward the ground. Bits of cake flew in all the directions.
"But... but..." Sweetie Belle whimpered, nearly crying at the sight of the cake she had worked so hard at decorating laying destroyed upon the ground, "we just wanted to make you happy."
"...And that's when she rubbed cake in my mane," Sweetie Belle sobbed.
"And she started throwing bits of cake and streamers at us, so we ran away," Scootaloo said.
"We tried tah be nice, Fluttershy, we really did. But some ponies you jus' can't make happy."
In the school, Diamond Tiara looked around the room. Bits of cake covered the floor, the desks, and the walls. Streamers lay scattered about, some draped across desks, others stretching out into the hall. She smiled. Launching into those blank flanks had felt good. Better than good. Great. She could barely even remember why she had let herself get so down. Silver Spoon would be back soon enough. And in the meantime, she could keep the blank flanks in their place by herself.
She gathered up her things and prepared to leave. The mess she ignored. There was enough evidence to show who was responsible. The emblem had shown the same resilience at surviving a catastrophe as the fillies who created it. The crusaders would be blamed, as they deserved to be.
Humming a happy tune, she slammed the door shut behind her. Who would have thought that it would be those blank flanks that cheered her up?
Maybe they were good for something after all.