My worst enemy...
Fanfic by Englishwitch
Chapter 5
Filthy Rich watched in silence, walking behind Applejack. Diamond Tiara kept looking over her shoulder at him, pleading with her eyes but he had nothing else to say and she’d run out of pleadings. All she would do now is repeat herself.
They were taken past the barn and along the dirt road by the orchard west orchard down to the far end of the Apple farm.
Apple Bloom tried one last time to speak with her sister. “Applejack-”
“Nnnope.” Applejack stated flatly.
She was taking them toward another barn like structure, Apple Bloom knew it well, the cow shed. The cattle lived down there, eating the grass of the hills around the farm and the outskirts of Ponyville. In return the Apple family got all the milk they could store. Which meant as well as apples the farm had a good side business in milk butter and cheese, which they mostly they sold to Sugar Cube Corner.
It was often thought to be one of the quietest spots in Ponyville. The most exciting thing that had ever occurred was when Twilight had levitated the towns water tower through the shed and magically milked all the cows at once to calm a grumpy Ursa Minor.
“If y’all are gonna act like animals then y’all are gonna be treated like animals.” Applejack pushed the two fillies cowshed. “You’re lucky Moorial has taken all the cattle to their family reunion or there’d be nowhere for y’all to sleep but under the stars.”
Diamond Tiara looked at her dad, tears in her eyes. “Daddy, please.”
Rich bit his lip. “Applejack, maybe-”
AJ shook her head. “Rich, you agreed. It’s for their own good.” she said sternly.
Rich sighed and nodded his head.
Applejack turned back to the two young ponies. She pointed a hoof at one of the empty sleeping stalls. “Get in.”
Apple Bloom looked at her. “C’mon sis, you-”
Applejack looked down at her. “I said, in.” She pushed Apple Bloom with her hoof. With this little encouragement Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara stepped into the stall. With a nudge of her hoof Applejack slid the stall door to a close and closed the latch, locking the two fillies in. The latch could be opened on both sides of the gate but it was out of the fillies reach. A full grown pony would easily be able to reach it, or even jump over the stall door but the little ponies were too small. Unless, of course, they worked together with one standing on the other’s shoulders.
“Big Mac’ll be along in a little while to give you some food and sleepin’ bags. If y’all behave yourselves he might give you some books and games too. If y’all can keep behavin’ I’ll let y’all out in the mornin’.”
Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof. “You can’t do this” she looked to her father. “Daddy, tell her she can’t do this. Make her let me out.”
Rich bit his lip again. Applejack decided to step in before his resolve failed. “C’mon Filthy, let’s go get some grub.” She ushered him toward the door as quickly as possible.
Outside the cowshed and out of earshot of the two fillies Applejack sighed and wiped her forehead with the back of her hoof. “I don’t like it anymore than you do Rich, but it’s for their own good. They done wrong and they should be punished, you agreed to that.”
Rich nodded. “I know, but to lock them up like that.”
Applejack set off back toward the farmhouse. “They ain’t really locked up. They can reach that latch any time if they can learn to work together. They might not ever learn to be friends but they need to learn to tolerate each other at least. If they can do that to get outta that stall they might jus’ be able to do it to share a bedroom for a few weeks.”
Rich agreed but looked doubtful. “And if it doesn’t work?”
Applejack shrugged. “Plan B.”
“And what’s plan B?”
Applejack shrugged again. “I’m still workin’ on plan B.”
...***...
Diamond Tiara beat at the door with her fore-hooves, she screamed like a banshee for her father to come back and let her out.
“DAAAAADDDDDEEEEEEEEE!”
Apple Bloom slammed her hoof on the ground. “Oh shut up before you get hurt.” She bellowed over Tiara’s screams.
Diamond rounded on her, glaring at Apple Bloom as though she was trying to set her alight with the power of her stare. Apple Bloom had seen a The Stare in action, Diamond Tiara’s look was weak by comparison.
“and how am I supposed to hurt myself hitting a door?”
Apple Bloom raised a hoof threateningly, “I never said nothin’ about you hurtin’ yourself.”
“You wouldn’t dare. You’d get in trouble.” DT tried to sound brave but she still edged away from Apple Bloom, all of six inches in the tiny space of the stall.
“Maybe I’ll jus’ lie. an’ say you fell. Seems easy enough. If you can do it, anypony can do it.” Apple Bloom growled in a low voice. She turned in a huff and strode the other side of the stall. “You stay over there, an’ stay quiet.” she said over her shoulder.
Diamond turned her back to the filly. “Gladly.” she called back. “the less time I spend looking at you, the better.”
Apple Bloom rounded on her. “What did you say?”
Diamond Tiara faced Apple Bloom. “You heard me. This is all your fault. You and your stupid family. I wanted to stay in a hotel, or with Silver Spoon. But daddy wanted to stay on your dumb, smelly farm. If mommy was here she wouldn’t let daddy do this. If she hadn’t been away in Manehatten on business she would have us in a nice place. With room service, and no stupid farm pony chores at stupid hours of the morning.”
“This is what real life is like.” Apple Bloom yelled back. “It ain’t all daddy buyin’ you pretty things. Some ponies have got to work for a livin’.”
“Stupid ones.” DT sniffed. “Smart ponies get the dumb ones to do the work for them.”
Apple Bloom snorted and smirked. “Then you gotta be the dumbest, smart pony I ever met. Ya don’t do any work and y’all can’t even get us dumb ponies to do it for ya.”
Diamond Tiara opened her mouth, closed it again, opened, then closed again. Finally she huffed and turned her back on Apple Bloom. “I don’t need to explain myself to the likes of you.” she said in a haughty tone. “you....you worthless farm pony hick.”
“Spoiled brat.” Apple Bloom snapped back.
“Blank flank.”
“Better a blank flank than lookin’ like ah got a piece of cheap costume jewellery on my butt.”
Diamond gasped and stared at Apple Bloom like she’d been slapped. “You take that back.”
Apple Bloom shook her head. “Ah won’t!”
“I said,” Diamond launched herself at Apple Bloom. “take it back.” Apple Bloom reared up on her hind legs and grabbed Diamond in mid-leap. With a twist of her body she slammed the prissy pony into the ground and pinned her. Diamond struggled, growled and tried to kick but Apple Bloom had the strength advantage and held her down with ease.
“I won’t.” Apple Bloom growled into her opponents ear. “ ‘cause it’s true.” Diamond struggled underneath her but Apple Bloom held her fast. Now that she had her long-time bully in this position she had a lot of things to get off her mind.
“Y’all pick on me just ‘cause I’m a blank flank, or ‘cause my family lives on a farm. An’ right now I don’t know why I let you get away with it for so long. Y’all are a weak, lazy, ungrateful, spoiled baby of a brat. You ain’t got no earth pony instincts, y’all ain’t done nothin’ for yur’self your entire life. Y’all go on how good your fam’ly is, your mom, your dad, even your great-great gran’daddy Stinkin’ Rich. You know what ah don’t hear? How good you are. What have you ever done? Y’all tradin’ on your family name without doin’ nothin’ to earn it, hold it up or make it better. Ah don’t know why I ever let you get to me Diamond Tiara, ‘cause now I get a good look at y’all, all I see is somepony to feel sorry for.
“You ain’t nothin’ but your cutie mark; a cheap imitation of a good thing. Y’all might look good from a distance but when ponies get close they see how nasty you are.” She finally climbed off the pink filly. “I’ve hated you and been afraid of you, heck I even been jealous of you, once. Right now I just pity you. ‘Cause that’s all you deserve.” She strode over the the far corner of the stall and sat with her back to Diamond Tiara.
The rich filly picked herself up in silence. Her first instinct was to attack apple Bloom while the filly’s back was turned. How dare she say those things. She couldn’t talk to her like that. It was horrible, insulting, cruel and.....true.
Apple Bloom heard sniffling behind her. Somepony was crying and trying not to be heard. In the small space of the stall there was only one candidate; Diamond Tiara was crying. She tilted her head slightly to look out of the corner of her eye. Sure enough, Diamond had retreated to her corner of the stall and had lain down to cry. Her head was resting on her hooves, her cheeks were already becoming tear stained. As much as she was trying to be quiet her short gasps and quiet sobs were as loud as a thunder storm in the deathly silence of the cowshed.
I ain’t gonna feel guilty. Apple Bloom thought to herself. She turned back to face the wall, putting Diamond Tiara out of sight, but not out of sound. She deserved to hear all that. It’s all true anyway. Ah won’t apologise. It’s no worse than anythin’ she’d say to me. It’s about time somepony told her the truth. Diamond Tiara continued to sob. She does sound real upset though. Maybe I did go just a little overboard. Ah heck, Apple Bloom why do you have to be the good pony? Diamond Tiara don’t apologise for nothin she ever says. I guess that’s what makes you the better pony. If Y’all don’t apologise, then that makes you no better than her.
She started to turn toward Diamond.
“Oh come on!” Diamond Tiara stomped her hoof on the ground. Apple Bloom whirled to face her. The tears and sadness were gone from her eyes, only annoyance remained. “That always works.”
She was fakin’. Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. Of course she was fakin’. A few fake tears and I bet her daddy melts like warm butter. “That’s exactly what I’m talkin’ about.” she managed to keep her tone calm and neutral, trying not to tell in her tone that she’d been taken in by the act and had been on the verge of apologising. “you ain’t nothing but cheap tricks and nasty feelin’s. That’s why nopony likes you.”
Diamond Tiara gasped and looked shocked. “Ponies like me, more than you anyway. Look at all the ponies who came to my cute-ceañera.”
“Y’all mean, all the ponies who went to a party where there’d be cake and icecream.” Apple Bloom responded promptly. “Pinkie Pie throws so many parties that ponies just turn up to them. They don’t pay no mind to who’s party it is, or what it’s for, s’long as it’s a party. It could have been a party for Pinkie’s pet alligator and ponies would still come.” She stared Diamond Tiara in the eyes. “Face it, the only pony who seems to be able to stand you is Silver Spoon.”
Diamond stared, open mouthed. “Tha....that’s not true.”
Apple Bloom just shook her head and turned her back to Diamond again. “Keep tellin’ yur’self that.”
...***...
Big McIntosh moved with a surprising lightness of step for a pony his size. He carried two saddlebags over his back as he approached the cowshed. He couldn’t hear any sounds coming from inside but didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad one.
He walked silently into the shed, heading straight for the one stall with the door closed.
Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara were still trapped but they hadn’t beaten each other senseless, which Mac saw as a slight plus. They were sitting at opposite ends of the stall with their backs to each other. Both fillies looked half asleep with boredom.
The sound of Mac unstrapping the saddlebags caught their attention.
“Big Mac,” Apple Bloom rushed up to the stall door. “can y’all get us outta here?”
Big McIntosh barely glanced at his sister, he’d been warned not to by Applejack. He was big but too soft in the heart, one look at Apple Bloom’s puppy-dog eyes and he wouldn’t be able to refuse her. “Nnnope.” He opened one saddlebag and tossed in a single blanket and pillow.
Apple Bloom put on her most adorable face, hoping Big Mac would look at her. “C’mon, please? We’re bored, and we can’t stay in a cowshed all night, it’ll be cold. We ain’t got nothin’ to eat.”
Mac lowered in paper bags, holding identical food of daisy sandwiches, a slice of apple pie, a bottle of milk, a couple of apples and even a couple of peaches each.
“What if we need to go to the bathroom?” Diamond Tiara snapped.
CLANG
Mac dropped in a small metal bucket, which had a wooden seat tied to its top and a foul smelling chemical slopping around in the bottom. A home-made chemical toilet.
Diamond Tiara had to lean against the stall wall to stop herself fainting. Even Apple Bloom was shocked at the sight of the thing.
Before either filly could get over their shock Big Mac dropped in the last couple of items, two books and one roll of toilet paper. “G’night.” he drawled. “AJ’ll see y’all in the mornin’.”