//------------------------------// // Loneliness. // Story: Polishing a diamond // by RoyalUnicornJohn1994 //------------------------------// Enough to say, Diamond didn't sleep all that good through the entire night. If anything, she only slept a couple hours at most. It was all the fault of that thing currently sitting on her father's forest! Yes! It had caused her nightmares! How did it dare do that to her!? to HER!!?? Diamond removed her covers of the bed in a flash, threw away to pony-knows where her plush pony, and went to the bathroom. After all, no pony should see her as bad as she was at that moment when she would embarrass other ponies in public... or whatever the tartarus that thing out there was. Once she was in there, Diamond clapped her hooves twice, as loudly as she could. Few moments later, a couple of maids entered the room with many beauty kits, all of them ready for the long process of putting the "Mistress" as beauty as she could. Diamond didn't need to say a thing. As soon as she closed her eyes, the maids rushed to work, each one with expertise on their labor, years of practice giving them the experience to give the mistress the look she desired in almost a couple seconds. As soon as Diamond opened her eyes, her usual self greeted her, her trademark smug smirk on her face as she turned towards one of her maids. "... TOO SLOW!!" Diamond shouted, startling the maid, who only meeped in response. Diamond's smirk grew at that. She loved that look of fear on other ponies' faces. Now in a respectable look, Diamond started to make her way outside, ready to give that... thing a piece of her mind. Of course, her cursed stomach decided to make things harder for her when it started to rumble and give her a slight tummy ache, almost demanding her to feed it. Diamond huffed in annoyance, giving a direct 180 and walking towards the dining room. As always, nopony was there, no signs of her father, or her mother (thankfully). Seeing as she had the whole room for herself, Diamond walked towards the biggest seat on the table, which was coincidentally then one at the end of the table. Once there, she sat comfortably in the seat, wiggling her rump to find the most comfortable place. Moments later, she sighed as she finally found herself perfectly comfortable... except for one thing. "I'M HUNGRYYYYYY!!!" Not a moment later, a dozen of both, servants and maids flooded the room, each one of them with an specific purpose. The table was cleansed of any impurities it may have had (if any), other servants dedicated themselves to put a clean and purified dish in front of her, among with the regular spoons, forks, knives and an empty glass. Once done that, they retracted to the far side of the room, standing at attention for any need of the young mistress. Almost as if on synch, the kitchen door opened to reveal another dozen of workers, this time a chef and cooks, all of them with a dish of their own, ready to be served. "Bonjour, Mademoiselle! Let me show you the options for today, if you would like." The chef, a somewhat chubby pony twice as high as her and dressed in a too fitting chef suit, walked forward, before motioning to the dozen of ponies behind him. "We have a delicious Salad, mainly made of fresh Romarish lettuce, slices of the most mature tomato, the most succulent pieces of apple freshly picked from Sweet Apple Acres." The chef ended his description with a kiss to the air, while the cook took off the lid, revealing what would have been a piece of art for the culinary entrepreneurs. But not for a five-year old filly. "Blergh! NEXT!" Almost as if hit by a train, the chef flinched in surprise as his eyes widened. Composing himself as much as he could, the chef motioned for the next cook, who revealed yet another piece of art, once again being rejected by the young filly. Dish after dish was rejected by the young filly, making each and every cook feel like losers as they retracted with their ears lowered. Finally, after a few moments of the final dish being rejected, the chef sighed loudly, seeing each and every creation of his being rejected. "Oh, have mercy on us, dear Celestia." The chef said before turning towards the young mistress. "Miss Diamond, if you don't like any of the dishes we have brought you, then what would you like?" Diamond didn't need to be asked twice. "I want a glass of warm milk and the jar of cookies." She said in a firm tone, not even bothering to look at the chef, finding her hoof rather interesting. "Wha- But Mistress, the Master said that you should have a healthy breakfast-" "But Daddy isn't here, and you have to obey me. Or is he around?" Seeing as it was a lost cause, the chef nodded as he motioned for the cooks to go back to the kitchen, one of them returning moments later with the things she had asked. "You know? I think I'll eat this on my room." Diamond said, completely ignoring the troubles the servants had passed through when making the table respectable. After a few moments after she left the room, the chef couldn't hold it anymore. "BWAAAA!!" With a loud shout, the chef let out a torrent of tears. Unlike this time, he could finally let go of his anger and sadness. "Oh, don't worry about this, Doughnut. Your cooking is delicious, and you guys do a good work." One of the maids walked towards him, putting her hoof on his back in a comforting way. "Yes, we do! But that spoiled foal just won't appreciate any of the things we do for her! I swear sometimes, I wish I could just strangle her!" "We all do, sometimes, Doughnut. We all do." Diamond pushed herself away from the door, having listened to the conversation just seconds ago. Yet, she didn't feel anything but embarrassment for them. If they didn't appreciate their works, then why were they there? It was such a privilege to work for her and her father, so why complain? Diamond shrugged as she picked the jar of cookies, with her mouth, the glass of milk carefully held on one hoof, and left for her room. Having enjoyed until the last cookie in the jar, Diamond merely sighed in satisfaction. The sweet taste of cookies! They were the best a filly could ask for! Having finally disposed of the last cookie, Diamond walked towards the window, more out of habit than anything else. It was then that she remembered what she had originally got up for. She would give that thing a piece of her mind! Once again, she opened the door to the backyard. With a firm step, she stepped closer towards the small forest. Suddenly, her ears perked as she heard that... things speaking. "Oh, thanks, little guy. But I don't exactly eat acorns." Diamond's curiosity picked up as she tried to walk as quiet as possible towards the place. Once she was close enough, she peeked her head through the bushes, noticing the thing, still with that blanket she had given to it, looking intently towards a squirrel, which held in its paws a small amount of berries. "Oh, thanks. I'm starving." The strange being said before taking the berries from the squirrel. Diamond watched as the human petted the squirrel, showing a gentle smile towards it. The squirrel merely chirped in a happy way, at least until the thing stopped. "I don't have anything to offer you in return, but if you need something, just tell me." The squirrel nodded before turning around, ready to leave, but its sight suddenly focused on Diamond. The squirrel shrieked in reply before rushing away. Diamond huffed in annoyance, now walking towards the thing. "How did you do it!?" The thing shrieked in response, turning around quickly. It was the first time Diamond could see clearly the thing's face. Instead of looking a lot like her own, it seemed to not have the need for a muzzle. Instead, it seemed more like the face of some sort of monkey. "How did I do what? And good morning, by the way." The thing said before turning around, moments later turning back, with some berries on its... claw? "Do you want some?" Diamond's face scrunched as she denied with her head, seeing how the things moved the berries towards its mouth, where it started to chew on them. Diamond shook herself as her angry glare returned. "How did you attract the squirrel?" The thing turned to her with a curious expression on its face. "I've been trying to get them to do it, and they won't listen to me!" The thing turned to see a small group of squirrels at the other side of the pond, pondering on the question. "I'm not sure. I think they heard my stomach growling or something, and I haven't given them reason to be afraid of me." The thing motioned to the squirrels. "Maybe it was because I asked them?" Diamond blinked in surprise at the answer. Then, she turned towards the squirrels. "HEY YOU, COME HERE!!" The squirrels shrieked in fright, all of them running towards the nearest tree, instantly hiding on the upper sections. "Uhh... I don't think that's how things are asked, you know?" The thing said, gaining Diamond's attention. "Hey, I told them to come here! I asked them!" "No, you yelled at them. It's different." Diamond's eye started to twitch. Nopony... NOPONY dared to say to her no. "It's not different! They're in MY house!" Diamond said as she hit lightly the ground with her hoof. "Your house?" The thing said in a somewhat mocking tone. "A child of your age with a house that big? Please, excuse me if I find that difficult to believe." "Of course it is MY house! All the servants in there do whatever I want!" As Diamond ended her rambling, she suddenly noticed the thing looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, a spoiled little child. Now everything makes sense. I can almost bet your father is something the likes of a millionaire or an extremely lucky businessman. However, he's too busy all the time to spend some with you, and instead, he spoils you with all the toys you can ask, and a house full of servants who do whatever you want, but none of them say anything to you, giving you full chance to even abuse them. Ain't that right?" Diamond's glare was replaced with a look of surprise (if not terror) when the thing ended his speech. "You have been spying ME!!!" "Nope. it's just not the first time I've seen this. Trust me, there are half a million children out there with the same position, if only slightly different." Diamond was at a loss of words at that. Other fillies and foals were like her? "So what if I'm like this?" Diamond asked as she recovered her glare. "Does that makes me a bad pony, according to you!?" "Bad? Heavens, no. It just makes you alone." Her eyes dropped to the ground for a few moments, remembering her friend, Silvie. "... I-I'm not alone! I have a friend!" Diamond said with smug tone, looking at the thing for another thing to say. Instead, it started to look around, seemingly searching for something. "Excuse me if I digress, but I thought that by this moment, You'd have at least another one of your kind with you to show me around." Of course! That was the main reason she went there first! How could she have forgotten about that! "Oh, I will! My friend isn't around, but I will show you! I mean, I will show you to the rest of the world! Yes! That's what I'll do! You'll see! I'll show you how much of a bad pony I can be!" Much to her surprise, that earned a few chuckles from the thing. "How many times I have to tell you this? You're not a bad... uh, pony." "You're only saying that so that I won't tell on you!" "Nope. I'm saying that because you aren't bad." "How do you know!?" Diamond asked, tears almost spilling from her eyes. Why were tears on her eyes? The thing merely motioned to the blanket covering him. "You could have let me frozen to death last night." Anything else Diamond was about to say died on her throat as she ran towards her house. A couple of maids were walking by a corridor, just minding their own labors of cleaning all the stuff the master of the house had. Why did he have so many seemingly useless stuff? They didn't knew, but as long as they were paid, the master could have as much useless stuff he wanted. Suddenly, both maids stopped their works as they heard hooves on the end of the hall. There, as fast as she could, came the daughter of the master. For some reason, she seemed to be crying. However, even if they wanted to, none of them moved. Besides, the young mistress didn't even acknowledged them, she just rushed past them, still crying. "I wonder what happened to her." One of the maids said in a hushed tone, breaking the tense moment in the air. "I don't know. But quite frankly, I don't care. The master pays us to clean, not to babysit that spoiled little filly." The second maid said, earning a silent nod from the first one, who turned back to her work. Diamond tried to drown more tears coming from her eyes, as she reflected about what the thing had said. She would never admit it, but... what it had said was right, and the couple of maids she had just passed by confirmed it.