//------------------------------// // Who I Am. // Story: Changing Ways // by DerpyStarlet //------------------------------// "Lady Tiara, your father's been waiting for you," I hear as I walk into my mansion. My small smile drops and I let out a groan, I open the door wider and turn to look at my guest rather than my Butler. "Hurry up, Snails. It's getting cold." I keep the door open just long enough for her to slip in, then I shut it quickly. "Sorry," she says, I just sigh and finally turn to my Butler. He raises an eyebrow at me and I stare back boredly, silently thinking how I should go about this. "Is your guest staying long?" "At least the night. Probably a couple." I respond simply. "I don't think Mister Rich would be too keen on that." He says with caution. "We don't pay you to think. Prepare the bedroom beside mine, Butters. The one closest the stairwell, not the one on the other side. I'll speak with father." I instruct, he looks a little surprised at my use of his nickname, but then he gives a slight bow and walks away with a small smile. "Butters? Is that his name?" Snails asks, reminding me of her company. "No, it's a nickname. I'll tell you later. For now... you remember the rules?" I ask, she nods hastily. I nod once, "good girl, I have to go talk to my father, shouldn't take too long." I tell her, she nods stiffly and I leave her be. I make it to the study without trouble, and without running into anymore staff. I knock on the door and hear a muffled reply inviting me in, I don't hesitate to accept. "Diamond, please tell me what I've heard about you isn't true." I hear my dad say as the door closes silently, he doesn't turn. "Well, Daddy, that depends a whole heck of a lot on what you've heard," I reply annoyed at him beating around the bush. "I heard that you chased one of our tenants out last night," he turns to meet my gaze with his weary one. "Hardly, she was already leaving. I just gave her my opinion," I scoff. "Tiara, what have I told you about this?" He asks exasperatedly. "Don't antagonize your customers... but this is different," I insist. "How is it different?" "She is an antagonist! She left her foal!" I fume, slamming my hoof down aggressively. I blink in surprise as I realize my breathings labored, I'm literally panting. I compose myself and start towards the door, I don't think I have anything else to say here. I open the door, but my father stops me. "Diamond... about our situation... I don't want you thinking your mother is the villain in all of this." He says. "She is, though. The bad one is the one that splits, the good one stays." I reply, my hoof hanging off the door handle. "I don't think that's such a healthy view," he argues. I look him in the eyes and open the door wider. "Yeah, well, it's healthier than pining after her everyday, hoping she'll come back." I slam the door for emphasis. I wipe my eyes lamely, he really needs to dust the study... I make my way slowly towards my guests room, then I see one of the staff. "Hey! You!" I flag him down, it's one of the younger servants I don't recognize. He immediately looks scared, which kind of annoys me for some reason. "Y-yes, Lady Tiara?" He asks. "Have you seen my guest?" I ask. "Yes, Lady Tiara." He nods. I wait, tapping my hoof impatiently for several seconds. "Well, where is she?" I swear, you have to spell everything out for these younger servants... "Oh! Yes, of course, she's in the kitchen." He finally answers. "Oh, right, dinner." I say, only now noticing my own hunger. "As you were," I say, waving my hoof at him absently. I direct my course to the kitchen, but as I near it I don't hear standard kitchen sounds. Curious, I open the door and find something very different from the usual going ons of my families kitchen. "What's going on?" I pull on a cooks apron and he notices me, his eyes go wide. "Diamond Tiara!" I turn at the sound of my name just in time for my face to be covered with dough. ~~~~~~~ I look after Diamond Tiara idly, trying to think on what I should do next. I'm constantly reminded of what's happened though, and it distracts me from any plans. Diamond Tiara is very much the same pony, but... she's almost the opposite of who she was. Where she used to bully us and be cruel, she's not cruel anymore. She still says demeaning things and reminds us how stupid we are, but it has none of the malice it did before. In fact, she tended to be very defensive of us. She even managed to push Star out of the way of a falling pot, but it was what her eyes said that was the most curious. They spoke of, irritation, rage, and a slight bit of fear. It wasn't toward us, but I can't imagine what it was towards. I make my way down the hall, in search of the kitchen. It comes to mind that I'm hungry and I haven't eaten yet. Not recently, anyways. I peer into a room once I realize all the doors look identical. There aren't any sort of identifiers as far as I can tell, the room I look in happens to be a bathroom. A maid that happens to be cleaning inside looks up and I recognize her. Or, rather, she looks familiar. She definitely recognizes me, though. "Oh? You've come back? You're the colt from this morning, right?" She asks. "F-filly..." I say in an almost whisper. "What was that?" "I'm a filly." I say a little more assuredly. She stares for a second before smiling sweetly. "Of course, forgive me, ma'am." She bows slightly. "Oh, um, it's Okay. You don't have to bow..." I say awkwardly. "Is there any way I can be of service?" She asks. "Actually, Yeah. Where's the kitchen? Oh, please." I make sure to add the please, lest I forget my manners. "Are you hungry? We could have one of the chefs make something for you, then bring it up to your room." She offers. "No, that's fine. I'd rather do it myself. You really don't have to do that." I say. "Are you sure? The chefs are quite talented." She coaxes. "I'm sure." "Very well. Follow me." She says, walking past me abruptly and into the hallway. She waits for me just outside the door and I follow eagerly, she continues walking and I keep pace. Eventually, we enter a door similar to all the others, but with a strong smell of food on the other side. I gawk at their kitchen, it was so neat. Everything was pristine, nothing out of place. At least, as far as I could tell. "The young misses is feeling a bit peckish." The maid says, gesturing to me. I smile nervously, everyponies eyes now on me. “hehe… I’m just gonna stay out of your way, okay?” I say, moving towards the fridge slowly. “Do you… want us to make you something?” one of the cooks asks. “No, no, I’m fine.” I say. Smiling nervously as one of the cooks tilts a head slightly. “Are you sure?” he asks. “Yeah, no, I’m just gonna make some…” I glance into the fridge and pull out some things. “Cheese… on bread… with… sauce.” I say grabbing some items at random that look good. “You mean Pizza?” one of the Chefs asks. “No. wait… yes? Uh, I guess so…” I say, not entirely sure how to make pizza. “Well, if you’re trying to make pizza… first off, you want to make the dough, not use that.” the guard says, tossing the frozen loaf back into the fridge. “No, I want to make it,” I say as the chef offers a hoof to take the cheese. “Well, might I suggest something? how about we use Mozzarella, I think it would work better.” he says, I nod and he replaces the cheese with something else as well. “How about this, you can make it, but I’ll help you with how to make it.” the chef says, still holding the cheese. I smile up at him sheepishly. “Uh, yeah. I think that’d be good. To be honest, I don’t know the first thing about making a pizza.” ~~~~~~~ “...And then I started to toss the dough, and I was getting pretty good at it, they were all complimenting me and I was so confident. Then you walked in and I heard your voice and I turned, but I accidentally swung the dough and-” I can hear Snails making some form of apology or explanation as I pull dough off my head. "Hey snails?" I interrupt whatever she was saying. "Yeah?" She asks, waiting patiently. "Shut up." I tell her, tossing a huge wad of dough back her way. She fumbles with it for a second before finally stabilizing it with her Magic. She sets it down and turns to me. "Are you mad?" "What? No, of course not, it was just a mistake." I say. The room is strangely quiet. I look up from taking bits of dough off my face and find everybody staring at me oddly. "Celestia... just, carry on." I say, waving a hoof. They get straight back to it, but with less enthusiasm than I remember. Whatever, I've got my own problems. I see a Butler preparing a sponge and bucket and walk over to him. "What are you doing?" "I was going to clean up the mess, Tiara." The Butler bows, I scoff at the gesture. "No need, just go... do whatever it is you do in your freetime. Actually, what is it you do in your freetime?" I ask, he looks taken aback by the question. "Er... I draw, miss Tiara." my eyes open a little wider in surprise. I guess I never bothered looking at them as anything other than just Butlers, I was never concerned about who they were aside from that. "Huh." I say, tapping my chin in thought. There's a lot about the ponies I've been around for years that I don't know. "What's your name?" I ask curiously. "Cerulean stroke." "Well, Cerulean stroke, go take a break." "But, lady Tiara... the mess..." he says, unsure of what to do. "I've got it." I say waving him away. He trots off in confusion as I grab the mop and start cleaning up the mess. It doesn't take long. Soon I'm watching Snails make a pizza as one of my chefs guides her through the process. I don't help, but only because I don't want to interrupt anything. Pretty soon they're putting the pizza in the oven, from what I saw it looks delicious. "Whew. Cooking is pretty tough." Snails admits. "Well, having a talent in it might make it easier. And proper wear." The chef says, briefly glancing at her dress. "I'll admit, there are more practical outfits..." she says sheepishly. The two continue talking and I tune them out. My thoughts fall to earlier in the day. ~~~~~~~ "You know, that plan is so outrageous, it might Actually work, Scootaloo." Applebloom comments. "I dunno, Twilight and I did the math and even have the needed dimensions, but things could still go wrong. Oh, and by the by, I need somebody which could build the ramp." Scootaloo says. "Well, shoot, I can do it. It'll be a nice break from dresses. Back to familiar territory." Applebloom says. "Say what you want, we all know how much you like making dresses." Scootaloo teases. "Just because there are times when it's OK, doesn't mean I like it. Besides, it's not like I like studying." Applebloom had emphasized the last bit to counter Scootaloo. "At least I'll admit it." Scootaloo shrugs. "Speaking of denial," Sweetie Belle pipes up, "has Anypony noticed that Cheerilee has been acting a bit weird lately?" "I noticed." Snails says quietly. "What do you mean weird?" Star asks. "I dunno, she's just acting weird. Usually it's when you're involved Star. I asked her about it and she just said she's fine." Sweetie Belle explains. "What do you think it could be?" I ask. Something doesn't sit right with me about that, it sounds like Silvers work, but I can't be certain. "I think she's just a little stressed about work. Maybe she needs a party." Sweetie suggests. "If it happens around Star, maybe it involves Star?" Scootaloo says. I nod and turn to look at her, but my gaze catches something I hadn't expected to see. A big bulky stallion in a suit, silver spoons cutie mark was stitched into his sleeve. I'd only barely seen him before he walked into a building down the road. I didn't think anything of it, until we got closer. There had been noise coming from inside, but as we get close to the building all the sound disappears. Nopony else seems to notice, so I don't bring it up. Twitcha twitch. I jump and push Snails out of the way of a stray vase. Looking up there's a window sill full of vases. I might have found it weird, but unimportant, if not for what I'd seen just seconds before. Thank Celestia Sweetie Belle is enough like Pinkie Pie to have some of her Pinkie sense. Even if I don't think she knows it. "Are you Okay?" Scootaloo asks, rushing to our side. "I'm fine, just a little dirty." Snails says, dusting herself off. "That was really uncanny," Star points out. "I'm sure it was nothing, wrong place, wrong time." I tell her, hoping I sound convincing enough. "Well, good thing you noticed it when you did. That could have really hurt her," Applebloom says, motioning to Snails. "Yeah, don't mention it," I say, getting up and taking a glance at the window. There isn't a big suited pony in sight, but I bet he's still there. I turn away and continue on with the group, a little more wary of my surroundings. ~~~~~~~ I saw him a couple more times, as well as another pony with Silvers cutie mark on his suit. I tried to steer us away, but without drawing the groups attention to them. Silver won't do anything direct, but she is very capable of manipulating things to end how she wants them to. My only advantage is knowing some of her tricks. It's likely she knows that and is switching it up a little... "Diamond?" My head jerks up and I meet eye to eye with Snails. She blushes and backs up at how close we were, after respecting my personal space she speaks up again. "The pizza's ready" she says, floating a plate into my view. "Thanks" I say before grabbing the plate in my mouth and setting it on the table. "You looked pretty deep in thought," she notes. "It's nothing" Silence. I take a bite of my pizza and turn to Snails, she's staring at me intensely. "What are you doing?" I ask, scooting back a bit. "I'm not sure... usually I can read ponies, with a few exceptions. You aren't one of them... well, you weren't. Now I'm not so sure anymore." She says before finally turning and taking a bite of her own pizza. I take a bite of mine, I keep a wary gaze on Snails though. "Why am I here?" She asks quietly. I ponder the question for a second. "Where else would you be?" I ask her. "I don't know... but why here. Why you? I don't mean to sound rude... but you were a bully. Why the sudden change of heart?" Snails asks. I take a bite of my pizza as I digest the question. How best to explain this... I swallow and set the pizza down, searching for the right words. "Would you believe I wasn't always a bully?" I ask. "I don't think anyone's always a bully. They had to become that way somehow, they weren't just born cruel." Snails says. "You'd be surprised..." I whisper. "Well, I wasn't. In fact, that's when I was happiest. Back when... well, we'll get there. But it was back in Canterlot." I say, reminiscing about my childhood. Snails leans closer and I glance at her. I turn to her to tell her the story properly.