//------------------------------//
// Diamond Pups United School Goers! 
// Story: Sweetie Pup 
// by GrimInk 
//------------------------------//

	When Sweetie Belle first set eyes on the Diamond Dog town, she couldn't help but let her jaw hang open just a little bit. She had honestly expected to see row after row of caves, filled with mine carts and other digging tools. Instead, when her new friends welcomed her to the town, Sweetie Belle was greeted by wooden buildings and torches. A large cave, easily as large as Ponyville, had been cleaned out, and an entire town had been built within in it.
"Welcome Diamondville," Maya said, as she and Daise each grabbed one of Sweetie Belle's front paws and started pulling her through the town.
Killer, given his smaller stature, had to run to keep up with them, but he didn't object or hint that he disliked being slightly ignored. Sweetie Belle, looking over her shoulder, got the feeling he was actually kind of used to it.
Sweetie Belle also didn't want to admit it to her new friends, but she was still having trouble adjusting to running on two legs rather than four. It was a very alien sensation for her, and she found herself tripping over her own paws several times. Maya and Daisy, thankfully, didn't seem to notice, or if they did notice, then they were being very polite and pretending that they didn't care.
"That's Diamond Chow Corner," Maya said, pointing to a building that looked suspiciously like a bakery. "They make all sorts of great food in there, most of them spiced with various jewel dust."
The pony in Sweetie Belle remembered how Spike the dragon enjoyed eating gems, but she wasn't aware that creatures aside from dragons did it too. Then again, Maya had said 'spiced' with jewels, which couldn't be all that bad.
As they lead her through the town, Sweetie Belle caught the eyes of several other Diamond Dogs. It actually kind of scared how similar this town was to Ponyville At times, she swore she recognized several diamond dogs. There was a white Dog with a blue Mohawk and purple goggles, a pink Dog with excessively puffy fur and bright yellow eyes (who was jumping up and down and almost appeared to teleport everywhere), and other Dogs that shared similar qualities to other ponies that Sweetie Belle knew. It was almost as if this town, which was situated beneath Ponyville, was an alternate version of it.
Up ahead, sitting on a mound of dirt, with other Pups playing around it, was a small red building, which Sweetie Belle figured must have been the school house.
"Oh shoot we're late," Killer grumbled, as he noticed that the pups in the yard were all younger than them, "come on girls, we have to hurry, otherwise Mami is gonna chew our ears off! And this time it might not even be figuratively!"
Sweetie Belle wanted to ask who Mami was, but Daisy mouthed the word 'teacher' to her before she could. After that, everything made perfect sense.
Of course, much to their horrible luck as Killer put it, there was an adult Diamond Dog waiting at the entrance of the school, her arms crossed and eyes locked in a frown.
"Late as usual?" She said, her voice a bizarre cross between a whisper and a growl. Sweetie Belle couldn't help but tilt her head when she saw this Diamond Dog; she had yellow fur with sky-blue eyes and wore a pink vest. On top of that, she sounded just like Fluttershy.
"Sorry Mami," Daisy, and Maya said, flattening their ears against their head.
Killer, on the other paw, was much too excited to sit still. "Mami, look, we found someone new!" He barked, hopping from paw to paw, pointing at Sweetie Belle.
Mami raised an eyebrow and gave Sweetie Belle a once over, and then her entire demeanour changed. Her frown was replaced with a smile. "What's your name, sweetie?"
"Actually," Maya said, jumping into the conversation, "her name, out of sheer coincidence, is Sweetie."
Mami raised her eyebrow again, but did not make any comment, instead, she just motioned for Sweetie Belle to go inside. "I need to give these three a very stern talking to. Go find yourself a seat, okay Sweetie?"
Sweetie Belle nodded, and weaved around Mami and entered the classroom. Over her shoulder, she could hear Mami growling at her friends, but the noise inside the class was too loud, so she couldn't quite make out what was being said.
The classroom, as should have been expected, was a classroom. Students were sitting at desks, books lined the shelves, and a chalkboard decorated the front. The teacher, however, didn't have a desk; instead, at the front of the class was a bright blue beanbag chair. As she entered, several students quieted down and started staring at her. It felt awkward, having so many eyes gazing in her direction, but Sweetie Belle did her best to ignore them. She looked around for any available seats, and noticed that there were four, at the back of the classroom.
Desks were arranged in five rows of five seats; the row at the back of the classroom was occupied by a single Dog, and when Sweetie Belle saw him, her heart dropped.
Sparky looked up and met her gaze, and he flattened his ears against his head and immediately looked down at his desk.
This is bad, she thought, Sparky might recognize me! But it could also be good! He bit me, and that's the only thing I could think of that could have transformed me, so maybe he would know how to change me back!
Sweetie Belle immediately made a b-line for the desk right next to Sparky, where she sat down violently and did not stop staring at him.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Sparky asked, when he realized that her gaze was still locked on him.
"Debatable," she growled.
Sparky whimpered a little, and bit his lower lip. "We'll talk after class."
Sweetie Belle nodded, and then proceeded to sit in silence. After a couple more minutes, Daisy, Maya, and Killer all walked in, their ears flattened and hanging their heads in shame. They completely ignored the rest of the class, and made their way to the back, where they took their seats at the three remaining desks on Sweetie Belle's right. Daisy sat in the seat closest to her, and Maya sat in the farther one. Killer sat between them both.
Then Mami walked in, a friendly smile plastered across her face. She immediately plopped herself down in her beanbag chair, and then started to scratch her ear with her hind leg. This action got a quick chuckle out of the class, and Mami looked relieved.
"Good morning, class," she said.
"Good morning, Mami," all the Diamond pups answered.
Sweetie Belle would have said it with them, but the last time she had been on the surface, night had only just fallen. So why were they all wishing each other good morning?
"I have a few announcements to make today," Mami said, "first is that any student caught coming late to my class three times in a row will have a note sent to their parents," she growled, frowning and looking directly at Killer and the others. This earned a quick chuckle from the rest of the students. "The second announcement is that we have a new student joining us today. Please give a warm paw to Sweetie."
Sweetie Belle didn't know what to expect, but she wasn't surprised when every student in the room turned around in their seats to stare at her again. "H-hello," she said, raising a paw and waggling her fingers in a nervous wave, "my name is Sweetie. I'm new."
"Why don't you come up to the front of the class and tell us a little bit about yourself, Sweetie?" Mami suggested. "Come, come, don't be shy."
Sweetie Belle swallowed the spit in her mouth, and made her way to the front of the class. Everybody wouldn't stop staring at her, and it was making her very nervous.
"So," Mami started, "can you tell us where you're from? Or a little bit about yourself?"
"Well," Sweetie Belle started, "I'd rather not tell you where I'm from. I… I ran away."
Nobody said a word, nobody breathed. It was as if an creepy silence had fallen onto the class.
"But anyways," Sweetie Belle continued, trying to put on a happy face, "my name is Sweetie, and, uh, I guess I like singing." She giggled a little, trying not to show how nervous and scared she was.
"Why don't you sing us a song?" Mami asked.
Sweetie Belle's eyes widened and she bit her lip in surprise. She really hadn't expected that. Nopony had ever asked her to sing before. Suddenly, her stomach seemed to fill with butterflies, and her knees felt weak.
"I really only know a few pony folk songs," Sweetie Belle whispered, blushing, "nothing really special."
"That's fine, we would still love to hear it," Mami smiled, clapping her hands a little. "Go ahead."
Sweetie Belle took a deep breath, and tried to remember the lyrics to a song that Pinkie Pie had once sung around town, something about smiling a lot. Given her current situation, it was the only thing she could think of to calm herself down. After a few flat lyrics, Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and imagined she was surrounded by her pony friends: Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Rarity, Applejack, everypony. As their faces smiled in her mind, she found herself calming down more and more, and finally she was able to sing without being scared.
It was the first time that Sweetie Belle had sung anything in front of a group of complete strangers, yet, when the song was over, she felt relaxed. Taking a deep breath, Sweetie Belle opened her eyes.
Everyone's was smiling and applauding her singing. The feeling of being able to share her singing with others, Sweetie Bell had never been able to feel it before, but now that she has, she liked it.