The next week, DeeTee brings in her A-game. She flaunts herself whenever Stitches comes by. He fails to notice, but she is undeterred. She has a plan: she has Chemistry class with him. She's his lab partner and she's sure she can get some rise out of him during class. All she needs is an opening.
She gets to the Chemistry classroom long before anyone else does. She raced along the corridors, slowing down briefly to pass by a hall monitor or two, to reach the room first. She hates Chemistry, but any class where she and Stitches are together is a worthwhile class. So she waits, watching as her fellow classmates file into the room. At length she sees the object of her affection: Stitchen Time has just entered the building.
Patting the seat next to hers, Diamond Tiara beckons Stitches to the lab bench. He takes the unoccupied seat and settles in. She has eyes only for the colt; nothing else in the room matters. Her concentration is only broken when Doctor Bicarbonate slams his briefcase down on his desk.
"Okay, children," he announces in his weedy voice, "today, we'll be working on acids. I want you all to take the necessary precautions and PLEASE, for the love of Celestia, follow my instructions to the letter! I don't want any accidents happening in here. Again!"
Diamond is only half-listening. Stitches is grabbing the safety goggles and rubber gloves from the drawers in the lab bench. Her eyes never leave his form until Dr. Bicarbonate shakes her from her reverie.
"Miss Tiara, would you please stop making googly eyes at Mr. Time and start on the assignment?"
The whole classroom laughs, with the noted exception of Stitchen. He looks irate that anypony could laugh at that.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, you fuzzballs!" he mutters, "I'd like to see you when the horseshoe is on the other hoof."
"Yeah," DeeTee says, "like none of them have been caught daydreaming."
Stitches nods, and the two start working on some hydrochloric acid. Things go well for a while. The class room is full of the sounds bubbling acid or burning flames from Bunsen burners. Things stay quiet until Diamond Tiara, heedless of Dr. Bicarbonate's instructions, turns up the heat on the acid she and Stitches are working on. He tries to warn her of the danger, but by then the damage is done. Their test tube of acid shatters, spraying the table and DeeTee with acid; Stitches mercifully evades the blast.
"OW!" the filly screams.
"Good Goddess, Diamond Tiara, what have you done now?!"
"It burns…" she moans in response.
Dr. Bicarbonate looks at the wounds caused by the acid. A simple washing out with water and some soap will ease her pain, but she seems inconsolable at the moment.
"Are you all right, Stitchen Time?"
"Yes, sir, I'm five-by-five."
"Help Miss Tiara wash out those acid burns. And do try to be more careful about the heat on Bunsen burner. The next time, it may be your eyes that get splashed."
Stitches nods and carries a sobbing Dee Tee towards the sinks in the back of the classroom. Placing a hoof on the hoofstep to start the sink, he also reaches for some paper towels. He soaks one of the towels and blots Tiara's wounds with it.
"Diamond, you need to flush out the burns. I need you to get some soap on your hooves and message it into the burns. Can you do that?"
Eyes streaming, Dee Tee nods. She stretches her forelegs to the soap dispenser on the nearby wall. She presses the soap button three times, getting a thick soapy bush in her hooves. She then rubs this on her burns; the sting of the cleansing actions causes her to hiss in pain.
"That's good, that's good, now hold still; I'm gonna be swath the area with a wet towel."
Stitches does so, replacing the burning sensation of the soap with the cool sting of water. Dee Tee relishes not only in the relief but on the contact Stitchen Time is giving her. Her plans, carefully planned, are now completely akimbo. Yet, it seems to have worked out in the end.
"Thank you, Stitches," Dee Tee says, "I dunno what I would do without you here right now."
He nods, adding, "That's what friends do, right?"
"Yeah, that's what friends do."
Stitches nods.
"So, not like I care, but, you are friends with Sweetie Belle right?"
"Yep. I'm friends with her, Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, Silver Spoon, and Twist."
"Cool," she lies, "so, out of all of them, who do you like best?"
"'Like best?' You mean, who would I date?"
She nods.
"Well, Apple Bloom is cute but she's a little too much like myself for my taste. Scootaloo is very athletic, but I break a sweat just jogging. Twist is fun, but I can't just can’t see her as dating material. Silver is okay…"
"But?" DeeTee questions.
"Well, she has Snips. I don’t wanna mess up what they have. I have a strict no cock-block policy."
If you knew half the stuff Silver Spoons and I got up to, I bet you'd beg to mount her fine ass. Diamond Tiara thinks.
"So, that leaves Sweetie Belle, right?"
"Yep," Stitches confirms, "Now that filly? I like her. She has an excellent voice and she's so pretty! I've never met anypony so congenial before. And her sister is Rarity, my idol! So, if I had date any filly of those, it'd be Sweetie Belle."
"But why?"
"Humma?"
"Why Sweetie Belle?"
"Why not?" Stitches answers, "Well, that's facetious of me. Honestly, she's somepony who seems genuine to me. Like, there's no pretense in her. She isn't angling for something out of anypony. So, yeah, that's why. And I like her voice."
"What about me?"
"Whadda you mean?"
"Could you date me?"
"Um, well, you're my friend, but, in all honesty, I just don't see it. You- seem like your hiding something, not being your real self. I don't mean to insult, but I keep feeling like your holding back from everypony."
Diamond Tiara's heart falters; she thought he was interested. Instead, she was dropped off in the friend zone.
"That's okay," she lies, "at least you're honest."
Back at home, Diamond Tiara is seething. She vents her bilk to nothing in particular. She wants, more than anything, to strike at something, anything, anypony, but she's already in enough trouble as it is. It isn't enough that all her former glory is getting stripped from her piecemeal. It certainly isn't enough that one the colt she happens to be falling in love with is attracted to that prima-donna, that infinitely inferior whorse, Sweetie Bell.
No, strike that. That is bad enough. Diamond Tiara certainly can't help but begrudge her for it! That little bitch had stolen her last coltfriend from under her snout. She feels enraged that her rival is getting everything she once took for granted.
There was a time when Diamond Tiara's pretty face and old money could get her anywhere. If she could back to that time and do it all over, she would. The bridges she crossed and burned down can't be repaired however, she's spurned too many ponies growing up. As a wise stallion once said, "Money does not buy class" Diamond would give up all her inheritance, all of her possessions and all of her privileges for some honest friends right now. She discovered, shortly after her fall from grace, who her true friends were, herself, and just how deeply she regretted keeping ponies at forelegs length.
"Dee Dee?"
Pearl Tiara has just plodded in. The simple mare was wondering the mansion, as she was wont to do. Diamond had no vitriol left to even insult her big sister. Truth be told, she was feeling rather empty today. Her mind, her heart, her soul all felt devoid of any substance. The very most she could do was fall into her bed and shed quiet tears.
"Hey, Pearl."
"Are you okay, Dee Dee?"
Diamond took a few moments to answer. For all of Pearls failing, she was a good pony with a huge heart. If ever there was an example of what Dee Tee wanted to be, Pearl would be the archetype for it.
"No, Pearl. I am most certainly not."
"What's wrong, Dee Dee?"
"Nothing," Dee Tee sighs, "everything."
Pearl tilts her head, her lavender and violet curls falling over one of her eyes. In a perfect world, Pearl would have made an excellent leading mare or fashion model. Instead, she was granted all the beauty in the kingdom of Equestria and the mind of a five year old foal. She would never grow up, always to be left behind as her family grew up, matured, and moved onward. One could scream at the injustice of it all.
"I don't think you'll understand, Pearl…"
"Why not?" Pearl inquires.
"It's- its colt and filly stuff. Relationship stuff. Hell, even I don't understand it."
Pearl climbs into Diamond's bed, nestles right up to her, and nuzzles her little sister's muzzle.
"I know I'm- not as smart as you or your friends, but I am willing to listen, Dee Dee."
Dee Tee gives a small simper; a full smile would hurt too much at this venture.
"Okay… since I got no one else right now… You see, there's this colt. His name is Stitchen Time."
Pearl nods, like she comprehends.
"And, I really, really like him. He’s the cutest colt to move to Ponyville in- well forever. I mean, Rumble was cute, but Stitchen… *Sighs!* But, he's attracted to somepony else. Do you remember those fillies we saw at Sugarcube Corner?"
Again, Pearl nods, this time with a hint of recognition.
"Well, Stitchen Time is falling for Sweetie Belle, the one who asked if you were my sister. Nothing I do seems to get him to notice me. I'm at wits end. I don't know if I can keep doing this… Do you know what I mean?"
Pearl shakes her head.
"Of course not," Diamond laments, "maybe that's what makes you, you. You'll never understand, but you always try."
Now Dee Tee is crying in earnest. Pearl is confused about her little sister's behavior. She has no clue how to react to this. So, she does what she feels might help. She places a foreleg gently around her sister’s neck.