Spike felt horribly out of place as he strode through the extravagant mansion. It was tall and spacious, much like the hallways in the castle he was familiar with. Tall windows stretched to the vaulted ceiling, giving the feeling of being outside. The walls, when not dominated by windows, were colored a tan color and portraits of many kinds of ponies hung gracefully. Some were simple, like the dark brown colored painting of an earth pony in a straw hat and suspenders. Spike paused at the painting and had the suspicious feeling he had seen the stallion before.
"That's my great granddaddy," Diamond chirped up from behind, "Stinkin' Rich." The pink filly trotted up proudly, despite the dried mud stuck to her legs, and swept a hoof up at him.
"He was the first Rich here," she explained with a bit of excitement, "Before Ponyville was settled, he came here to open a variety shop for travelers. He was right to do so, because when he started selling the zap apple jam from the Apples, he set up the business Daddy runs today!"
Spike scratched his chin, studying the painting. Diamond's explanation jogged his memory to remembering that Twilight had read about him before coming to Ponyville. There was a picture of him in the book that Spike had seen. "Yeah, he was also rumored to have dated Granny Smith too, right?" he asked, remembering a conversation between Twilight and Applejack had when the zap apple harvest began.
Diamond Tiara cringed at that and said, "Ugh, thank Celestia he didn't go any further. Imagine me being related to Applebloom," At that, the filly shivered and stuck her tongue out, apparently disgusted. Spike tilted his head at her and felt confused.
"You don't like Applebloom?" he asked, "She's actually really nice."
"She's a spoiled little blank flank!" Diamond bit back angrily, "Her and her stupid friends are all just jealous of me and Silver Spoon!" She started huffing heavily and began to snarl, but realized she was doing this in front of Spike. Taking a deep breath and counting to five slowly, Diamond felt herself calm down and smiled again.
"Sorry about that," she replied sweetly, "I do have a tendency to get angry. Daddy says it's because his side of the family is short tempered."
"Uh... right," Spike answered in an unsure tone. Returning his gaze to the portrait of Stinkin' Rich, he tried to imagine the smiling farm pony getting angry like that. Somehow, the calm grin and tired eyes of the portrait made it very hard to do so.
"C'mon, Spike," Diamond ordered as she started marching again, "We still have to get you cleaned up before Daddy comes home." The young drake rolled his eyes, but still followed her down the large hallway. Why he was doing this, even he couldn't figure out. Sure, Diamond was just trying to be nice, or so he though, but she really wasn't the kind he had become friends with. All of the ponies in Ponyville he knew were nice and friendly, smiling at each other and always having something nice to say. This filly, however, definitely had some very thin skin and a harsh opinion. Still, a free bath was a free bath, and Spike liked baths.
Diamond Tiara, however, mentally bucked herself in the face for that outburst. Yes, she loathed Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, but a mare always controlled her emotions, especially around guests. Outbursts like that had cost her friends in the past, two to be specific. The only one she had left was Silver Spoon and that was because she defended her from a bully who broke Silver's glasses. Diamond shook off the memory of that day and continued forward, peeking behind to see if Spike had gained interest in anything else. His green eyes scanned the building, but he often stopped at suits of Royal Guard armor that stood in neat and orderly rows down the hallway. before Diamond could explain, however, a new voice echoed down the hallway.
"Diamond!" came the voice of a mare, thickly accented. Both Diamond and Spike turned to see the source and it turned out to be a mare with a tan pelt and sandy blonde mane. She wore an apron and a white hat similar to the tiara on Diamond's head. Diamond groaned a bit as she approached, but held her ground.
"Oh my goodnezz!" the mare almost shouted, "Mizz Diamond! Vhat happened to zee? You are a terrible mezz!"
Diamond rolled her eyes and replied, "Hello, Nanny Sweetums."
"I told you, dirt and grime iz terrible for your coat and mane, young mizzy! Vhy, look at yourzelf. Such a mezz," Nanny reprimanded. She continued to look over Diamond until she noticed a small blob of purple and green behind the pink filly.
"Oh, and who might zis be?"
"Oh, um, hi! I'm Spike," the young drake said with a little wave of his hand, "Diamond said I could come in to--"
"Diamond, vhy iz he here?" Nanny Sweetums cut off, eying the pink filly suspiciously.
Diamond gave a rather dramatic huff before replying. "He's here to get cleaned up and have a snack. He's my guest today."
"But I zought you et mizz Zilver Zpoon vere busy today?" Nanny queried.
"Silver is doing something else right now," Diamond snapped back, clearly annoyed.
Nanny Sweetums nodded at that and said, "Vell, if he iz your guezt, zen he is velcome. I vill drawn zome vater for you to clean up in. Mizz Diamond, I'm zure you know where it iz. Mizter Zpike, please follow me."
Spike sighed contently as he rubbed the mud from his scales. The water was perfectly warm, like Nanny Sweetums had known him her whole life. Bubbles of many colors surrounded him and clung to his scales, giving him a nice and clean feeling. In truth, Spike took less than a minute to clean himself off, but he was just enjoying this now. The baths at the Golden Oaks Library were nice, but this was better in every way.
The washroom, as Nanny called it, was rather large and spacious, easily the size of Twilight's loft and contained a variety of interesting things. The room was a pure white, almost as white as the castle in Canterlot. Near the door sat an ornate sink shaped to resemble a variety of seashells. Spike could easily name them since Twilight once had him quiz her on seashells, requiring he had to learn them all too. To the right sat a large wooden armoire stuffed with silken towels and other washroom essentials, each with exotic names Spike was sure cost a lot more than what he normally used.
The tub he was in was a magnificent porcelain with brass knobs and pipes, polished to glow brighter than the tub. The tub sat on marble floors and to the left sat a wonderful panoramic view of the Everfree forest. Spike just sighed again and settled in. He could get used to this.
A little tickle under his nose got his attention and he saw the bubbles had gotten on his face. Sitting up, they stuck to him and formed a rather long beard. Picking it up, he chuckled at it. He remembered being interrupted by Twilight once while in the middle of a bath and coming out with the bubble beard, not even realizing it was there. All of her friends were there and thought it was funny, even Rarity.
Spike stopped there and felt a twinge of sadness. Oh, that's right. Rarity rejected him. Slumping back into the tub, Spike let the beard fall away, feeling a horrible sadness creep back into his chest.
On the other side of the mansion, Diamond Tiara was having a much rougher time.
"Zis is not good!" Nanny Sweetums wailed as she vigorously scrubbed Diamond's mane, trying to get a clump of mud out. Diamond yipped at how hard she was scrubbing and tried to pull away, but Nanny refused to let go, making it hurt a lot worse. Diamond sat in her tub within her own washroom, a pink room with pictures of supermodel mares surrounding her. Diamond wiggled her hooves weakly, trying to reach the other end of the tub as Nanny pulled harder.
"How in Equieztria did you manage to do zis?" Nanny queried, finally feeling the clump of mud break, "Did zat Zpike character do zis to you? If he did, I'll-"
"No, he didn't, Nanny!" Diamond almost shouted, "I fell into the river and Spike saved me and my tiara."
Nanny gave a skeptical look at Diamond's head and replied, "Iz zat zo?"
"Yes, now will you please stop pulling my mane out?!" Diamond shrieked. Nanny Sweetums acquiesced and let go of Diamond's mane, satisfied. Sloshing around in the bubbles, Diamond raised her hooves up to her crown and massaged her scalp, hoping to ease the pain.
"Diamond, you are not... interezted in zis young dragon, are you?" Nanny queried.
"No!" Diamond shouted back, glad she wasn't facing Nanny.
"Are you zure? You've never brought a ztallion here, much lezz a drake."
"I'm just trying to be friendly!" Diamond almost wailed, not liking this conversation. "Daddy said I should try to make more friends, and that's what I'm doing."
"Of courze, my little flower. It iz admirable you would, but he iz a bit outzide ze normal realm of poniez."
"So?"
Nanny smiled at the little filly she had cared for since she could barely walk. "Juzt be careful. Friendzhips with coltz can give ze wrong mezzage if you are around him too much."
Diamond just sat there quietly, fuming to herself. She knew what it could mean, but why did Nanny bring it up? Diamond was just thanking Spike for rescuing her and her tiara, nothing more. Where did Nanny draw a line between a thank you and that? Spike wasn't even officially her friend yet, not like Silver Spoon, which reminded her of something.
"Is Silver Spoon here yet?" Diamond asked.
Nanny scratched her chin and said, "You know, I thought I heard a knock at ze door. I vill go check." Diamond waited until the door shut behind her to let out a long sigh. She loved Nanny Sweetums, but sometimes she just smothered her too much. Diamond's mother was actually very distant from her daughter, away on business almost every week. She was always in search of new products or business ventures, leaving Diamond with her father a lot. Filthy was a great father, of course, but he was always tired and never spent a lot of really meaningful time with his daughter.
Diamond sunk lower into the water and blew some bubbles with her mouth, thinking about her parents. She always wished her mother would give her a bath like this, or that her father would take a day off to just spend time with her. As she thought, images of Applebloom smiling with her sister and brother popped into her head, along with Dinky Hooves and her mother and Silver Spoon with her father. Diamond scowled angrily and slapped the water with her hooves, splashing it onto the side of the tub.
Still, she did have Silver Spoon, who was the best friend she could ask for, as well as Nanny Sweetums. Now, she possibly had a new friend in Spike. Life wasn't all that bad, except it was also Hearts and Hooves Day and she had no date again. That overtook her mind and Diamond sulked about that for a bit.