//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Farm Diamond // by iDeltaVelocity //------------------------------// Farm Diamond Chapter 3 THE LAST THING DIAMOND Tiara wanted after her sudden, and highly unwanted, change in lifestyle was to work on a farm. She wasn’t made for working; she was more of the leading others type, having them look up to her for guidance. But now she was here, and she had to do everything as Applebloom did, which didn’t seem too difficult when she demonstrated to her. The butter-yellow filly launched a kick at the base of one of the trees. From the branches above, some of the apples fell almost immediately. “I can do that!” Diamond Tiara said arrogantly. She trotted over to a tree of her own. This particular one was fairly large with ripe, juicy apples hanging from the branches. Applebloom gave her a questionable look. “You sure about that? Buck’n apple trees ain’t as easy as it looks for beginners.” Tiara waved her off. “Pa-lease, if you can do it, so can I. It shouldn’t be too hard to kick the side of a tree. Anypony can do it.” “Alright, then, go for it.” Applebloom sat on the sidelines and watched Diamond Tiara’s first attempt at harvesting. Tiara positioned herself in front of the tree. She stood on her front legs, reeling her hind legs back. This was it; a perfect opportunity to show that blank-flank at her own game. Putting as much force into the kick as she could, Diamond Tiara launched her legs at the base of the tree. She could immediately feel the vibrations riding up the bark to the apples. Even though it made her legs sore a bit, she couldn’t help but smile, holding her nose in the air. “See? Told you!” Applebloom nodded, clapping her hoofs together. “Congratulations,” she said, sarcastically, “You didn’t manage to get a single apple to fall.” Being told this, Diamond Tiara looked up at the apples in the tree. Clearly, as she was told, not a single one of them had fallen. They were swaying side to side from the vibration given to the tree, but it didn’t look they were going to fall. “You have got to be kidding me.” She tried again, and again, and again, but each time, none of the apples allowed themselves to fall. It was almost as if they’d glued themselves in place. “I tried to tell you,” said Applebloom, “It’s not all to use just strength, but you also gotta use proper technique when do’n stuff like this.” Tiara blinked. “There’s itechnique in apple bucking?” Applebloom smiled. “Yeah, it’s been used in m’ah family for generations. It’s how we managed to get so much in stock.” “That’s kinda stupid,” said Diamond. Applebloom stood, trotting over to the pink earth pony. “Well listen, how ‘bout we try someth’n a bit easier for you? Follow me.” She motioned Tiara to follow her to another part of the farm. Diamond Tiara’s glare followed her enemy as she trotted away. Saying that had rectified that the pink filly was barely strong enough to do anything, which she saw as a challenge. And the last thing she wanted was to lose to Applebloom. She looked back up at the red apples still hanging on the branches, taking note of each and every one of them. “By the end of this day,” she muttered, “I’ll get at least one of you down from this lousy tree, even if it’s the last thing I do.” With that, she followed Applebloom, whilst musing over the apples she couldn’t knock down. They arrived at a corn field not too far from the orchard. The corn had still yet to actually sprout out of their ears. “Some of the stalks in here is all shriveled up and dead,” Applebloom told her assistant. “All we have to do is pick out the dead ones out and put ‘em in that basket over there.” She pointed at a small wooden basket that was set nearby. Tiara couldn’t see the challenge in pulling a few stalks of corn from the ground. If anything, this was much too easy. With Applebloom, she trotted into the corn field and got to work. Despite her earlier claims, however, she found that it was nearly as difficult as kicking a few apples out of a tree. As she trotted through the forest of corn, she failed to see any that had actually gone bad like Applebloom said. Perhaps this was all just a bust, she thought. Within minutes after starting, though, she found one hidden further in. The brown stalk and withering ears made it obvious enough. She scoffed, “This’ll be a piece of cake.” Grabbing the stalk with her teeth, she began to pull. It was much harder than she thought, despite it being a dead plant. She hadn’t even gotten it out an inch before letting go. The roots that were keeping it attached to the ground weren’t letting her succeed in her goal. She angrily stomped her hoof on the ground, refusing to give up so easily. “Come on you stupid thing! Budge already!” She gave it another try. She bit down harder on it. After putting in more effort than normal, she forcefully pried the dead stalk out of the ground. She fell backwards, and some of the dirt had flown through the air and landed on her coat. It was a small price to pay, though. She sat up and gave out a sigh, wiping some sweat off her forehead. “Glad that’s over.” Even though she probably had more pull out, she counted this as a victory. She grabbed the corn stalk off the ground and headed out. When she arrived at the basket, however, her jaw nearly dropped when she saw Applebloom already there with many more in her possession, which far outnumbered the single one Diamond Tiara was carrying in her mouth. Applebloom glanced at her as she trotted forward. “Finally, you’re back. You were in there a longer than I thought.” Diamond Tiara placed the corn stalk in the basket. “What? Is there a technique for pulling corn out of the ground, too?” “Actually, no, you just pluck it out. Not really that hard,” said Applebloom. Tiara could literally feel her frustration rising steadily with each daunting task she had to do. This was too much physical work for a pony of her caliber. She heard laughing in the distance and was about to yell out in anger before they noticed Granny Smith approaching. “How’s the work go’n, girls?” she asked. “Fine,” said Applebloom. Granny Smith glanced over at Diamond Tiara, who had dirt and sweat littering her coat, mane, and tail. The filly simply looked exhausted. “Can’t really say the same for yourself, though, eh?” She snickered, though she wasn’t trying to make fun of the young filly. “What do you want?” Diamond Tiara snapped. Applebloom cast a glance at the overtly-dramatic pony. Granny Smith didn’t seem to mind it, however. “Country life tends to make a pony like yourself crabby. Anyway, I jus’ came over to tell you that I whipped up some delicious lemonade for all your hard work.” She directed their attention to two glasses that’d been set up on a table. “Figured ya’ll might’ve wanted some cool down a bit from the heat.” Her comment was mainly directed at Diamond Tiara. Applebloom nodded. “Thanks, Granny!” Although she didn’t show it, Diamond Tiara was thankful that she could have at least something to refresh herself from hard work. She immediately chugged down her glass the moment she made it to the table. It was sweet. That was all she could make it out to be. It was like any ordinary glass of lemonade she tasted, nothing too special. She looked over at Applebloom. The filly was enjoying her glass as well, though not as much as Diamond Tiara did. “How much more work do we have to do?” asked the pink filly. It was clear that she wanted to get gone as soon as possible. “After pull’n out the dead corn, now we gotta feed the pigs. Then we’ll be done for the day.” Tiara cringed at that. Having to feed a bunch of filthy animals was not high on her ‘things-to-do’ list, yet she knew there was no way to back out of it. Applebloom could only roll her eyes at her reaction. “Oh, stop be’n such a baby. The only thing we gotta do is fill their troughs so they can eat.” “And what exactly do they eat?” asked Diamond. Applebloom answered, “Slop.” Diamond Tiara could feel her eye twitch. Slop. Why am I not surprised? “And what exactly is ‘slop’?” “It’s basically a bunch of scraps of food we mix together. The pigs love ‘em. They’ll eat almost anyth’n.” An exasperated sigh escaped Tiara’s lips. She did not like idea of it, though she knew if got through this without her sanity breaking, she could finally go inside, sleep, and never speak of this day again. “Alright, the faster we do this, the faster we’ll be finished. Where’s the stuff at?” “Slop,” Applebloom corrected, “And we’re gonna have to make it ourselves.” Tiara deadpanned, staring at the scarlet-maned filly with a blank expression on her face. “You’re joking, right? And how do we do that?” “Haven’t you been listen’n to a word I’ve said?” “Not really.” Applebloom rolled her eyes. “Jus’ come on if you wanna get done so badly.” Diamond Tiara groaned, but the desire to hurry and finish this grueling task motivated her to continue—at least for a while longer. She followed Applebloom into the barn. They gathered the ingredients and got started. The “slop” was mainly comprised of chopped apples, some vegetables such as celery, lettuce, potatoes, and broccoli, tomatoes, and treats that Applebloom decided to sneak in. The entire thing looked like a big hodgepodge of different things mashed together inside the bucket in front of them. By the time they were finished, Diamond’s hooves were covered in debris from the stuff. She wiped them off on the towel Applebloom hoofed her, and together, the fillies brought the bucket over to a trough and dumped the slop in. Finally, they were finished and she could rest; though as she looked around, she saw no animals coming over to eat. “So, what happens now?” the impatient filly asked. Applebloom grabbed a small metal rod and struck it against a triangle hanging from the ceiling nearby. “Come and get it!” she called out. Almost immediately the ground around them felt like it was shaking as the sound of hooves pounding against the ground echoed through the air. A trio of pigs ran past the fillies. Unfortunately for Diamond Tiara, though, they ran over a small mud puddle in front of them, covering the two of them in mud, dirt, and dust. Applebloom looked at the pigs as they greedily dug into the slop, in contrast to Diamond Tiara, who looked just about to lash out at any pony around her. Her mane and tail were dirtied along with her coat, which had mixed in with the dirt and mud to make a horrid pinkish-brown colour. Much of her body was covered in mud, dripping off her tail. Applebloom was equally as dirty, but she didn’t seem to mind it as much, seeing as she’s been doing this basically her whole life. “That wasn’t so difficult, was it?” She turned her gaze towards Diamond Tiara. The pink filly was literally steaming, her face red with anger. Applebloom could tell she was using every last ounce of her willpower to keep from doing something violent. Tiara gritted her teeth. “I’m going to take a shower,” she declared. She headed back for the house. “I thought a pony like you would’ve loved mud baths,” said Applebloom. Even though she was trying to be friendly to her archrival, there was a small part of her that loved seeing Diamond Tiara like this. “Taking a dip in a nice, relaxing mud bath is largely different than having the stuff splattered all over you!” Tiara wiped some of the mud off her face and retreated back into the house, leaving a confused Applebloom behind. The hot water did a good job of washing the mud and dirt into the drain. After her unwanted encounter with the animals, all Diamond Tiara wanted was to get clean and fall asleep, and let what happened with today fade into memory. She knew it’d be difficult to forget everything, but one could only hope. She turned off the water and stepped out of the tub. She dried off her mane, which had went through multiple rinse and repeat to get the muck and grime out, and wrapped it in a towel. Clean and refreshed, the pink filly emerged from the bathroom and made her way to the guest room at the end of the hall. Inside, her tiara lay on a desk, still dirtied from when the pigs ran past her. It was easy to clean, thankfully. There was a knock on her door, and she opened it up to see Applejack. “Hey, Diamond. Sorry to hear about your little ‘incident’ with the pigs outside. They always get a bit hyper when dinnertime comes around.” “Can I help you?” Judging by Tiara’s unpleasant attitude, it was obvious she wasn’t in the mood for a subtle approach. Nevertheless, Applejack decided to keep pushing forward. “Listen, I was jus’ wonder’n if it would be all right for you an’ ma’h sister to head out an’ pick up a few things tomorrow.” Diamond Tiara eyed her. “Why can’t you ask just one of us to do it?” “Well I did ask Applebloom while you were washing the mud out. She said she wanted you to tag along also,” said Applejack. Hearing this had confused Diamond Tiara. Why would Applebloom ask such a thing despite knowing they hated each other? Perhaps she was planning something, though that was Diamond Tiara’s initial thought. Maybe she was overreacting. Applebloom might have thought she just needed some help with carrying the ingredients back to Sweet Apple Acres once she got them. She wasn’t entirely sure if it was voluntary, or if her mouth was speaking out of turn, but she accepted the offer. There isn’t really much to do in this house, anyway, she thought to herself. “Well ain’t that jus’ dandy!” said Applejack, “Maybe you two are get’n along after all.” She shut the door, giving Diamond Tiara her privacy. Diamond took this time to think. Taking her tiara, she began to clean it off. She was still wondering why Applebloom had requested this, and she wasn’t sure why she wanted to through with it. Her muscles were starting to ache from the hard work she’d gone through, something she was obviously not accustomed to being a pony of her standards. All she was focused on now was sleeping. Flour Cinnamon Eggs “I guess we can start by get’n the flour,” said Applebloom. She and Tiara set out through the market amongst the crowd of ponies, searching for the stand that was supposed to be selling the flour. Tiara, though, couldn’t stop thinking back to what Applejack said, about her sister wanting her to help get the ingredients. She still wondered why Applebloom would want her to tag along so bad. The option of this being a trick still hung over her head, which caused her to be a little cautious of the scarlet-maned pony trotting alongside her. Though Applebloom wouldn’t do anything bad or humiliating while in the middle of a crowd . . . right? They finally found the flour seller after nearly twelve minutes of searching and hurried towards her. They asked her for a bag and she happily obliged, giving the bag to Applebloom. It looked heavy from Diamond Tiara’s perspective, but to her surprise, the yellow earth pony was lifting it with ease. “Thanks, Misses Daffodil!” Applebloom waved as she and Tiara headed out to get the next thing on their list. “We should to go Fluttershy’s house next to get the eggs.” “Okay, then… What’re we waiting for?” said Diamond. They made their way over to the edge of Ponyville, crossing the bridge and following the dirt path that led to the timid pegasus’ cottage. There were animals up and about, scurrying across the outside, though Tiara didn’t mind being around them that much. They were tamed, much more so than the animals over at Sweet Apple Acres. As they got closer, a white bunny hopped in front of them. The simple sight reminded Diamond of that humiliating day when her dad forced her to hop around metal watering cans while wearing bunny ears. She wasn’t able to live that incident down for weeks. “Hey, Angel… Do you know where Fluttershy is?” asked Applebloom. Angel did a number of hand signs, trying to tell the girls where the pegasus might have been. “Oh just spit it out, fur ball,” Diamond Tiara spat. Angel gave the filly a questionable look. “Bunnies can’t speak,” Applebloom told her, “I think he’s try’n to say that she’s—” She looked back at Angel. “What’re you try’n to say?” Angel facepalmed and pointed over towards the cottage. “I think he’s say’n Fluttershy’s in her house.” “Then why didn’t he just say that?” asked Tiara. Applebloom shrugged. “Thanks Angel!” They trotted past the bunny up to the door of the cottage. Applebloom knocked, and after a few moments, the yellow pegasus answered. “Oh, hi girls. What brings you by?” “We needed some eggs if you got any,” said Applebloom. Fluttershy nodded. “Of course; just follow me.” She led them to the chicken coop on the side of her house. While they waited for her to fetch the eggs they had asked for, Diamond Tiara looked over at Applebloom. “Hey, quick question,” she said; “why did you want me tag along?” “What do you mean?” asked Applebloom. “I mean when your sister asked if I could help get this stuff, she told me you wanted me to come with you.” The butter-yellow filly shrugged. “It’s not really a big deal. I wanted you to come with me so we can get these ingredients together.” “But why…?” “Applejack said if we’re gonna be live’n under the same roof, we have to at least tolerate each other. And that means try’n to get along for a change.” Diamond couldn’t determine whether it was a legitimate reason, if she meant it or not, but she saw that Applebloom was determined to follow through on her promise to her sister, something she never experienced. Fluttershy emerged from the chicken coop and placed the eggs in the saddle bag Applebloom was carrying. “Here you go. What’re you baking?” “Granny Smith and Applejack were gonna be make’n some cinnamon buns tomorrow and they needed the ingredients,” replied Applebloom. That answered Tiara’s question on why they were going shopping. “I’ll be sure to get you one if you like.” Fluttershy shook her head, declining. “Oh, that’s okay. Thanks, though.” With the eggs and flour secured, all they needed was the cinnamon. “Where do you think we should go?” asked Tiara. “I don’t know. Maybe we can borrow some from Sugarcube Corner. Mister and Misses Cake might have some in storage.” Applebloom rolled up the checklist; she and Diamond Tiara began making their way through town on their way over to Sugarcube Corner. On their way, though, they saw two other foals playing hoofball in the streets. Tiara hesitated to take another step forward when she saw them, primarily the cerulean-blue earth pony colt. He looked ecstatic when he spotted her; although the pink filly did not share the same reaction. Applebloom noticed the amount of nervousness coming from Diamond Tiara as the two ponies approached. “What’s wrong, Diamond?” Before she had a chance to answer, however, the colt galloped past Applebloom up to Tiara. She blushed at how close he was to her face. “Hi… Diamond,” he stammered. “What do you want now?” asked Tiara. She was annoyed, as indicated by the deadpanned tone in her voice, but the colt didn’t seem to notice. “Will you leave her alone, Hopper?” the other pony, a pegasus filly, said to him, “I keep telling you, there’s no chance in Equestria.” “Yeah, please, take it from your sister. There really is no chance.” Diamond promptly shoved him away. “What’re you two even doing together? I’d always thought you hated each other,” said Rain Crackle, the pegasus filly. “Well, you see, Diamond—” Applebloom was beginning to explain when Diamond Tiara shoved a hoof in her mouth and cast a glance that reminded her of their deal. “We just figured we’d try to get along for once. We were gather’n ingredients for m’ah sister an’ Granny Smith.” “We can help!” Hopper exclaimed. Rain looked at him. “We can…?” “Oh no,” Applebloom said, “You don’t have to—” Not regarding what she was saying, Hopper grabbed the sack of flour off Applebloom’s back. “Don’t worry! I got it!” He started carrying it. He didn’t get far before the sack got stuck on a root sticking out of the ground. Hopper tugged and pulled as much as he could; it was not too long before the flour sack freed itself from his mouth. It was flung into the air and fell to the ground with an impact, causing the flour to fly everywhere. It when it all finally cleared, Applebloom, Rain Crackle, and Hopper, despite being partially covered by the white powder, saw Diamond Tiara covered head-to-hoof. She opened her eyes, and the first thing she did was shoot a threatening glare at Hopper. The colt backed away, smiling nervously. “You know, now that I think of it, we really need to get back home for dinner. Let’s go, Rain.” He grabbed his sister’s tail and ran off, leaving a confused Applebloom and a frustrated Diamond Tiara covered in flour.