Diamond Tiara didn't really look up from the ground as she grumbled her way from Fluttershy's house.
It was a long walk from the edge to the Everfree to her own house, as her grandmother saw it prudent, some time ago, to have her family's estate built as far away from the unnatural death forest as possible. However, because of Ponyville's expansion since the time it was mostly earth-pony only, this meant that her house was actually near the exact opposite side of town.
But, this gave her time to think, and stew over the mess that was going on around her.
There was the ugly, stupid, evil thing that kept telling her to do stuff because he wanted too, and nopony could stop him otherwise because there's no actual way of disciplining it. Worse, the stupid thing managed to get her daddy to let it do whatever it wanted to her, as if actually thought her dad had any way of controlling it.
And it just kept telling her the stupidest things, like that she was evil, or that Silver Spoon really didn't like her. Or that she was just like him, and that it just wanted her to be just like him.
Diamond grumbled when she thought about that...farce in the library. He said she was bad. And he got Silver Spoon to say so to, even though it was through her, which just made it worse.
Even those stupid Elements of Harmony couldn't help her, or, worse, didn't want too. She had seen Sweetie Bell and Applebloom being picked up from school by two of them, and sometimes she saw the blue one with the rainbow mane hang out with Scootaloo. Twilight Sparkle was the one that she knew the most about, but all she really knew about her was that she was the princesses student who works in a library, for some reason. Sometimes her daddy went over to the library to very carefully look over the tax codes she kept, because, Diamond didn't believe it at first, apparently they were the only two ponies in Ponyville who kept copies of them! Diamond also remembered that her father occasionally dropped the unicorn's name when it came to finding a way to improve her grades, but, like many things he said, it never bore fruit.
But all that was just petty stuff compared to what happened today. She met the Princess of Equestria, somehow managed to exchange more words with her in some hick's house then most ponies would get to do in a lifetime in Canterlot, and, for some reason, the more Diamond thought about her, it made her angry.
The Princess knew that Discord was a freak, but she let him wander around and let him torment her! Diamond knew that Discord was a bad person, she had seen Discord's statue when he was imprisoned and knew that it was the Princesses that did that to him. Diamond knew that there were a hoofull of creatures that would always be in a cell for the rest of their lives, because of things that they had done. She didn't get why the Princess, who knew perfectly well that that freak was messing with her, didn't turn him into stone and just be done with it. Was it that if you rob a few caravans you deserve to get sent to some far-off prison, but if you manage to turn Equestria into a chaotic landscape twice you get a pardon for ten thousand years of chaos?
...
No, Tiara thought, that's just stupid. The Princess must have had a good reason to let him be. He sure wasn't reformed, or whatever he was supposed to be, but, then again, he hadn't screwed up Ponyville as badly as he did a year ago since he was freed.
But the worst thing, the worst thing, really, was that the Princess didn't even mention anything about that. She just stared at her oddly, like she was one of those odd paintings you could see in one of those weird modern-art galleries, like she was trying to figure out what she was looking at while pretending to know exactly what she was seeing at the same time. And all she did was just talk about her family Seeing the Princess giving her a look like that just made her inexplicably mad, and the fact that the Princess took the time to track her down only to leave her with nothing like a single reassurance was just...!
Diamond, about halfway to her house, had to stop walking so she could breath. She wasn't going to be a idiot and tell other ponies about what she was thinking, because, really, she was being horrible, being angry at the princess for no reason.
She was going home and was going to sleep, or something, because she didn't want to do anything and she didn't want to see Silver Spoon again for real this time.
But, her mood changed when she entered her house, and heard a voice that made her freeze, because she hadn't heard it for a very long time and it made her very, very happy.
She didn't run to the sound where the voice was coming from, nor bounced, nor skipped excitably.
She did something like a mix of all of the above, because she realized that she had actually forgotten that her favorite pony in the world was coming to visit!
When she got down the hall and turned into the living room, she let out a little squeaky sound of happiness and ran up towards the wonderful, beauteous mare who was standing besides her father, who happened to be her mother, to try and give the tightest hug she was capable of.
"Oh, darling!" her mother breathed out, sounding slightly exasperated, "Where have you been!"
Diamond, who was in the middle of squeezing one of her mother's legs, looked up at the mare who looked almost exactly like how she expected to look like when she was older (if she had a purely blond mane and a horn, anyway), and grinned weakly.
"I was visiting Silver Spoon, mom!"
Her mother looked down on her, the slightest bit of confusion tainting her otherwise regal expression.
"Who?"
"Her filly friend, Dazzle." Filthy Rich spoke up lightly, pointedly, like he felt as if he was the only adult in the room and was trying to sound as pleasant as possible, "Tin and Copper's foal."
A flash of recognition passed over Dazzle's face, and smiled gently at her child.
"Well, isn't that just great." she replied, vaguely affectionate. "And is that a..."
She motioned behind Diamond with her free hoof, and it took a few moments for her to realize that she was pointing at her cutie mark, so she stopped hugging her for a few moments to turn around slightly.
Dazzle, after a few moments of observation, eventually broke out into a smile, which caused Diamond to sigh in relief.
"I think it suits you." she said mildly, causing Diamond to nod ever so slightly in agreement. She glanced at her mother's own cutie mark, two white pom-poms crossed over a gold tiara not quite different then her own, and let herself laugh a little.
Her dad, however, looked slightly concerned, bordering on upset, and gave his wife a questioning look.
"Dazzle, she had her mark last time you visited."
Diamond Tiara blinked once, and suddenly remembered that, yes, her mother did see her with her cutie mark, close to the time of her cutecenera, even if it was just for a few days, and suddenly felt a little confused and a little worried about her mother's memory.
Dazzle, for her part, frowned lightly and patted her daughter on the head.
"Oh, sorry sweetie, I'v had a long day, and I just got back from Manehatten, and I-"
"How's aunt Suri doing?" Diamond asked, trying to brush her mother's forgetfulness behind her. She could, after all, relate.
Dazzle grinned lightly, and momentarily, Diamond felt a bit of good cheer.
"She's doing well, dear." Dazzle said distantly to her daughter before turning over to her husband, "Wouldn't you know it, she's actually mentoring a mare!"
"Well, that's expected, I suppose, after all this time. How good is she at sewing?" Filthy replied, sounding as if he had to force some surprise in his voice.
Dazzle let out a little breath for air, in exasperation. "Oh, she's such a sweet little thing, really, but she really isn't all that, ah, efficient. You know how your sister is always so afraid when it came to calling out other ponies when they make mistakes. Really, I had half my mind to mention it to her, but I wouldn't want to tell her that she needed to remind her understudy about her place. She's always been such a tender mare, you know. "
Filthy raised an eyebrow, but his voice didn't change in tone. "Understandable."
Dazzle nodded just enough to make her hair bob slightly. "Speaking of which," she paused, giving her husband a pointed look, "Where is the, ah, help? Where's that one jenny that was always heavy-hooved with the clothing iron?"
Diamond watched as her father breathed in deeply. "Matilda decided to retire after getting married." he said slowly, "Dustpan is still here every Tuesday as well, and Ravioli is still available to cook every weekend. William is working full time as well, but is off today to see his daughter's wedding. We still have four gardeners, but Mossy Fields retired and his son has taken his place."
Dazzle raised a eyebrow, and looked down at the carpet. "Really, the donkey managed to find a partner at her age? Huh."
"It was a lively wedding, Dazzle, I assure you." Rich replied, sounding slightly sour, but Diamond had an inkling that he didn't sound so put off because of the topic. Diamond actually remembered the wedding, because Pinkie Pie put it together and she and her father might have been the only living creatures in town who were not invited.
"Oh, I have no doubt." Dazzle replied, winking at Filthy almost flirtatiously.
His stony expression didn't change, but that didn't seem to bother her a bit.
After waiting a few moments to gauge his reaction, she shrugged and turned back to Diamond, who was waiting patiently beside her. "Diamond, dear, would you like to go visit the spa with me later?"
Diamond looked down on her mother's flawless pink hooves and up at her father, noticing that his left eye was twitching slightly. Diamond knew that he spent the Family Fun Budget for this month during the two hour or so stay Silver Spoon and herself had at the spa a few day's earlier, and it wouldn't get her in his good graces to go get the deluxe treatment at Aloe and Lotus's twice in the same week.
But her mother didn't know that.
Giving her father her best puppy-eyed look for a few moments, the best apology she could think of at the moment, she quickly turned back to her mother, who was in the middle of adjusting her hair.
"Of course, mommy!"