//------------------------------// // Diamond Tiara: Tiara's Lament // Story: The Diamond Tiara Tales: Applespanked // by Jenohart //------------------------------// The road that lead away from the Ponyville school was devoid of any other ponies. Made sense, considering she was essentially skipping half a day of school. Normally she would've taken some pride in distancing herself from the rest of her classmates who were even now suffering under the cruel apathy of Ms. Artichoke. Today though, it just made her feel... lonely. Diamond Tiara trotted down the well worn dirt road at a slow pace. Gone was her usual poise of smug superiority, replaced with a tired, almost defeated slouch. Her profanity laden outburst had taken it's toll on her. She wasn't really all that upset over her failed scheme, she actually had back up plan. She could've easily fallen back on it, but she just felt really frustrated all of a sudden. She had been feeling that way for some time now, ever since her cutesenera when Applebloom and her new friends upstaged her. Sure it was only a brief moment before the three idiots slinked off to some dark corner where other evil, wretched and blank things lay, but it marked a change in things. One that she couldn't ignore. One that slowly began to eat away at her. She stopped momentarily to gaze back at her cutie mark; a diamond-studded tiara, just like her name. It didn't stand for being rich and snobby, or having lots of nice things, or even any speciality in metallurgy or jewellery. No, her special talent was being a social Queen. Ever since the day she got it, she had learned how to manipulate other ponies, curl them around her hoof and lead them by the nose. She had always been able to get her way, because she was always able to make it so that everypony would agree with her, willingly or not. The cutesenera she had put down to as a fluke. She had gotten careless and slipped up, nothing more. It may have been her first big failure, but the next day she still had everypony eating out of her hoof. Everypony slips up on their own special talent every now and then, no big deal. But it kept happening. Every now and then, for just short moment, it would all go wrong for her, and it always had something to do with Applebloom. The day the yellow filly got a false cutie mark she had called her out on it- correctly too, but nopony listened to her. In fact, Ms. Cheerilee actually forced the class to take lessons from that stupid farm filly. So she decided to get revenge using her own talents. She followed her father to Sweet Apple Acres at the start of Zap Apple Season and sowed the seeds of discontent between Applebloom and her precious Granny. It had gone so well, the foal and her lackeys had struggled so hard to stop the old mare from showing up that day. But when the day came and that story was told, it captivated the entire class. That wretched filly and her stupid grandmother managed to turn the entire class- and even her own father against her. She died a little that day. Not because of having to wear a bunny outfit and prance around like an idiot (some small part of her actually found it kinda fun), but because she had somepony else beat her in her own special talent. Not just anypony, but a blankflank. Not just any blankflank, that blankflank. Her, of all ponies. Of all the foals she had butt heads with. Of all the foals she had mocked, beaten and humiliated. Of all the foals that she once called a friend... Diamond Tiara shook away the small buds of tears that dared to show themselves and picked up her pace. Those times were in the past. She didn't need her anymore, that filly was a pawn and nothing more. They were all pawns, and she was the Queen. She had no need for more pawns. She needed a better, more reliable piece. One that could stand as tall as her, yet still be on her side. She needed... "... I don't care if that cud-bag is busy, you send the damn package and tell him it's for Silver Spoon!" A familiar, yet almost alien voice snapped her out of her cycle of self-pity. It wasn't often that she heard her best friend sound so angry. Looking up, she saw the grey filly walking on the other side of the road, clearly having just come from Ponyville proper. The aggitated filly slammed her flip-up cellphone close and placed it back in her pristine white saddlebags. Those were new, must've be the latest fashion. As she stared at the saddlebags, the other filly finally noticed her presence. "Oh, DT! I didn't expect you to be done so quickly!" The grey filly quickly trotted up to her friend's side and fell into step with her. "Are you done already? Isn't it only second period right now?" "Yeah," Diamond Tiara sighed. "The stupid paddle broke." "Oh! Well, I brought some replacements just in case. I've got some metal ones, some studded ones, I even managed to get a riding crop-" "Nah, I just don't feel like it anymore." Silver Spoon knew something was wrong. She moved in front of the other filly and put a hoof to stop her. "What's up DT?" The purple filly sighed again. "It's just... my heart's not into it. I've lost my edge, Silver Spoon. I can't keep doing this." "W-What!? You don't mean-" "I do, Silver Spoon. I don't think I can be Queen anymore." Without lifting her gaze from the ground, Diamond Tiara took her namesake object in her hoof and carelessly dropped it on the road, pushing past her best friend to continue walking. Silver Spoon stood still in shock. It couldn't be happening, her best friend had abandoned her special talent and sounded like she had given up on life. She had to do something. She wasn't going to let her closest friend walk away from her life like this. She quickly grabbed the tiara and galloped after her. "Diamond Tiara wait! Don't do this!" She quickly caught up to the filly, still cantering at a slow pace. "Diamond Tiara, please! You don't have to give up like this, there's always another way-" "What's your special talent?" The unexpected question brought both of them to a halt. "Huh? Well... it means I'm good with money-" "And have you ever doubted it? Even for a second? Thought, "maybe that isn't what my cutie mark really represents?" " "...Sometimes." Silver Spoon eventually said. "We all do, every now and then..." For a brief moment the little filly's mind wandered back to a particularly embarrassing moment several months ago when she lost a large sum of money to her business rival Limpieza de Sangre. It had taken several lucky breaks on the Equestrian stock market for her to earn enough bits to get back in the game. “But you can’t let that stop you DT, you just need to have confidence in yourself.” Diamond Tiara sighed. “I wish I could be as strong as you. I just feel like everything I do ends in failure, like I can’t do anything anymore." “I know how that feels,” Silver Spoon said, trotting to her best friend’s side and offering the discarded headpiece back. “But you don’t need to give up. Trust me, things will get better, and you don’t have to suffer through this alone. I’ll always be here for you.” Diamond Tiara looked at her jewel encrusted crown. It was one of many, but this particular one was one she had worn for the majority of her young life. Her keen blue eyes could make out several small dents and scratches from times long passed. Back when she hadn’t met Silver Spoon, when she didn’t even have her cutie mark. Back when her only friends were other blank flanks… That’s it! “You’re right Silver Spoon,” she said as she took her rightful crown back, but held it in her hoof instead of replacing it on her head. “I’ve been focusing too much on my failures.” In the tiara she saw her past, marred with mistakes and failures, most of them involving a particular yellow filly. And that was just it, all this time she had been obsessing over one particular thing (or more specifically, one particular pony) and it had worn her down. She thought she was working towards her one true goal in life, when all she was really doing was beating a dead horse. “I can’t get caught up on mistakes of the past, I should be looking to the future.” She turned to her grey friend. “Thanks for making me realize that, BFF.” Silver Spoon smiled warmly, happy to see her friend’s mood finally lifted. “Anytime DT.” The two fillies proceeded down the road to Ponyville, Diamond Tiara still holding her namesake in hoof. “So, what are you going to do now?” “Well, I was thinking of trying something new. I’m sure Appleblank can find somepony else to bully her for a while.” “That sounds like a great idea!” Silver Spoon responded happily. She suddenly remembered something she had picked up a while ago. Reaching into her saddlebags she pulled out a piece of paper advertising a job offer and showed it to her friend. “I heard the school newspaper staff need a new editor-in-chief to run the paper!” “Huh? What am I suppose to do with a job like that?” “Well, the paper has always been unpopular and struggled to make any sales. The only reason it’s survived this long without turning a profit is because it’s subsidized by the school.” “So?” “Don’t you see? With your social skills you could make the paper into something ponies would want to read! You’ll be influencing ponies on a whole new scale! This is a chance to put your special talent to use on something big!” “Hmm…” she turned the idea over in her head. On one hoof, she had no experience in running a paper. On the other hoof, this did seem like the perfect opportunity to use her special talent to achieve something and get back into her element. It’ll be fine, she thought, putting her old tiara into her coiled mane. She rummaged around in her perfectly styled coils for a few minutes (Huh, I should really clean it out more often) until she retrieved another, almost identical tiara. The only noticeable differences were that this one was in much better condition and if one looked closely into the main gem one could just make out an emblem that appeared to be three “J”s crossed like a six-pointed star. I’ll just do what I always do; blackmail other ponies into doing all the work for me!