//------------------------------// // Bump, Bump, Sugar Lump... Rump? // Story: The Diamond Tiara Files // by Wildebeest //------------------------------// Cheerilee let out a weary sigh as she leaned against the door of the schoolhouse, casually overlooking her students at play. Every recess it was the same: they’d all dash out into the field together, only to split up into groups of twos and threes mere seconds later, squirreling themselves away into their little cliques. Cheerilee couldn’t help but find it a little upsetting. She felt that foals were growing up too fast these days as it was, but the sight of her students so evenly divided just made her feel like she was teaching a class full of high schoolers. Snips would pair off with Snails, Twist would pair off with Featherweight, Apple Bloom would go off with Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, and Diamond Tiara… Cheerilee heaved another sigh from her gullet. It was Diamond Tiara’s behavior that caused her the most concern. After witnessing her butting in on one of the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ daily meetings for the umpteenth time, Cheerilee decided that it was finally time to put her hoof down. “Are you losers still trying to get your cutie marks?” she sneered at the threesome. “I mean, I almost feel bad for you. Almost.” “Oh, lay off!” snapped Scootaloo. “Just ‘cause we’re getting ours a little later than you doesn’t mean that-” “A little later?” she interrupted. “Silver Spoon got her cutie mark when she was HALF your age!” Moments after she said that, a long imposing shadow was cast over the pink earth pony. She looked behind her to see her schoolteacher looming over her. “Diamond Tiara, can you come see me privately, please?” Diamond Tiara gulped. There was something slightly unsettling about Cheerilee’s tone. She sounded more troubled than angry, and in her eyes Tiara detected a lingering sense of pity. “Um… okay,” she said warily, following her teacher toward the front of the schoolhouse. “What a jerk,” grumbled Scootaloo, glowering at the bully as she and Cheerilee disappeared into the building’s shadow. Just as the two were comfortably inside the building’s shadow, Cheerilee turned around to address her student. “Diamond Tiara, this really has to stop,” she said tenderly. “I know you have trouble making friends, but this isn’t the way to cope with your loneliness.” “I-I was just joking around!” Diamond cried. “Really, I didn’t mean to hurt any of them! Just ask Silver Spoon!” She pointed a hoof out towards the center of the field, trying to direct Cheerilee’s attention to the white- maned filly who was eagerly awaiting her return. Cheerilee sighed and shook her head. “Diamond, this is exactly what I’m referring to.” “What do you mean?” Cheerilee reared, sitting on the moist, grassy turf. Once seated, she leaned forward until her eyes were level with Diamond’s, gently laying a hoof on her student’s shoulder. “Diamond… there’s nopony in my class named Silver Spoon.” Diamond Tiara raised an eyebrow at her teacher. “What are you talking about?” “Diamond, please,” Cheerilee said sternly. “Enough’s enough. If you had done this for a day, it would have been cute. If you had done this for a week, it would still have been cute. But every day for the past four months I’ve seen you talking to this imaginary friend of yours, and it’s really starting to worry me.” A chill crept down Diamond Tiara’s spine. “I-imaginary?” she gasped, the gears in her head creaking and sputtering. “But she… but she…” Cheerilee quickly cut her off with a gentle embrace. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “Believe me, I know how awful being lonely can feel. If you ever need any help, I’ll see to it that you get the counseling you need. But you can’t keep cutting yourself off from the rest of the world like this. Understand?” “Y…yes,” Diamond muttered as her eyes drifted toward the ground. “We’ll talk about this some more after school,” said Cheerilee, releasing the hug and standing back up. “For now, I think it’s best for you to come back inside with me. The school bell’s about to ring.” Cheerilee trotted back into the schoolhouse, leaving Diamond alone after giving her an obligatory pat on the back. Diamond Tiara just stared blankly forward, shocked into a state of speechlessness by what she had just been told. Was the filly she had known all her life never there to begin with? Impossible! she thought. If she wasn’t real, then she never would have been able to... to... Her brain started relaying every moment she had ever spent with her companion, scanning each one for something, anything that would validate Silver Spoon’s existence. The afternoons spent on the playground, the first day of school, the months gone by without anypony saying a word... Suddenly, the silence was broken by a squealy alto voice coming from directly behind her. “What’s the matter, Diamond?” Diamond Tiara whipped around and her gaze was immediately met with the bespectacled eyes of her comrade. “N...nothing,” Diamond Tiara muttered, averting her eyes. “Aw, c’mon, Diamond. You can tell me. I am your friend, after all.” As Diamond Tiara’s eyes crept back up to meet Silver Spoon’s, her bottom lip began to quiver. “Silver Spoon... I can always trust you, right?” Silver Spoon laughed and started to creep closer to her companion. “What in the world are you talking about? Of course you can.” A knot was beginning to tighten in Diamond Tiara’s stomach. An eerie, stony silence had washed over the normally lively schoolyard, and a brief glance over Silver’s shoulder revealed that everypony had vacated the premises. She was alone. “Are... are you sure?” she croaked. Silver Spoon looked at her with the same expression of pity that Cheerilee had shown her earlier. “Are you all right, Diamond?” she asked . “You don’t look so good. I mean, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to respond, but before anything could come out, Silver Spoon gingerly draped one of her forelegs around her shoulder. The feeling of Silver’s fur against hers chilled Diamond to the bone. The warmth one would usually feel from another pony’s touch was noticeably absent from Silver’s fur. She felt dead. No, not even that. ‘Dead’ implies tangibility. She felt… ethereal. “I saw you talking to Cheerilee,” Silver Spoon snorted. “Was that old hag trying to drive us apart again?” “W-well, she said that-” "Let her try. I know for a fact that nothing she can do will ever keep us apart. Ever.” Diamond’s heart started pounding uncontrollably and beads of sweat accumulated on her brow as that last ‘ever’ echoed louder and louder in her head. Ever. Ever. EVER. EVER! EVER! With each repetition, Diamond felt Silver Spoon’s omnipresent form looming over her. In a frantic attempt to escape it, she bolted into a sprint away from the schoolhouse, putting Silver as far behind her as she could. Silver Spoon tried to call after her, but she tuned her out. “It’s all in my head… it’s all in my head…” she whispered to herself, desperately hoping that the words would somehow ease her frantic heartbeat or stop the oncoming flood of tears from escaping her eyes. Unfortunately, she was more focused on escaping Silver Spoon than on looking where she was going, and she promptly crashed into the tetherball pole at ramming speed. “OOF!” grunted Diamond as she crashed back first onto the ground below. After landing, she skidded over a sharp, jagged rock jutting up from the ground, which left her right hind leg with a nasty laceration. The searing pain shooting up through her leg had made it even more difficult to keep the tears locked in, but she tried her hardest, clenching all of her facial muscles and keeping her teeth firmly gritted. While she was still nursing her wound, she looked up to see a certain gray- coated filly looming over her. “Aw, did wittle Diamey-Wimey get a boo-boo?” Diamond Tiara gasped in horror and tried to force herself back onto her hooves, but the pain had rendered her immobile. All she could do was cower in helpless fear and beg to be left alone. “It doesn’t matter how far you run, Diamond,” Silver said menacingly. “You will never escape me.” “G-go away,” whimpered Diamond, shutting her eyes and shrinking into a fetal position. “P-please…” “But you need me,” sneered Silver. “Do you really want to lose the only friend you’ve ever had?” “SHUT UP!” screamed Diamond as tears seeped out from behind her sealed eyelids. She screamed it over and over, in a desperate attempt to drown out Silver’s voice. With every passing second, her words grew more and more unintelligible, until she finally descended into foal-like bawling. Diamond’s absence from class hadn’t gone unnoticed as Cheerilee caught a glimpse of an empty seat in the front row while taking attendance. “Class,” she asked, “has anyone seen Diamond Tiara?” The other colts and fillies looked at each other and shrugged, save Truffle Shuffle, who was lucky enough to have claimed a seat right next to the window. “She’s out there, Miss Cheerilee!” Cheerilee glanced out the window to find Diamond’s quivering form under the shadow of the tetherball pole. Cheerilee gasped. “Oh, dear. Class, wait just a moment. I’ll be right back.” The Teacher’s Handbook doesn’t prepare you for this sort of thing, she thought as she dashed outside to console the crying filly. Upon reaching Diamond’s body, her matronly instinct drew her attention toward the bloodied gash on Diamond’s leg. “Sweet Celestia!” she cried. “Diamond, what happened?” Diamond could only respond with more hysterical bawling. Cheerilee sighed, knelt down, took her by the hoof and gently pulled her up into a sitting position while wrapping her forelegs around Diamond. Diamond returned the hug and buried her face into Cheerilee’s shoulder, letting her tears trickle down Cheerilee’s back. As she felt the warmth of Cheerilee’s body close to hers and felt the faintly audible beating of her heart, Diamond’s crying gradually began to diminish. “Shhhh,” whispered Cheerilee. “It’ll be okay. The nurse’ll get you fixed up in no time.” “Mm-hmm,” Diamond Tiara mumbled, sniffling. As Cheerilee hoisted her up onto her shoulder and began to carry her towards the nurse’s office, Diamond reluctantly let her eyes creep open… only to find that Silver Spoon was nowhere to be seen. You’ll NEVER escape me. Do you really want to lose the only friend you’ve had? Diamond Tiara firmly bit her bottom lip, refusing to let Cheerilee see her burst into tears a second time. Diamond’s scrape, as it turned out, was nothing that the nurse wasn’t used to handling. She only had to carefully wash the area, bandage it up, and instruct Diamond not to put too much pressure on her back leg. “You’ll be fine,” said the nurse. “But if there’s anything else you need from me, just let me know.” Diamond Tiara wiped her face dry with her hoof and tilted her neck up to meet the nurse’s eyes. Diamond’s cheeks and lips were thoroughly drenched, her swollen red eyes still looked moist, and her bottom lip was trembling. “Make Silver Spoon go away.”