//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: The Showing Up of Diamond Tiara // Story: Blooms of a Feather // by Locomotion //------------------------------// Sweetie-Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had been spending the best part of several hours trying to work out the solution to their dilemma, but none of them could think of anything sensible – their only option, it seemed, would be to face the music Diamond Tiara would inevitably play if they didn't submit a new Gabby Gums article by morning. By now, they were overcome with exhaustion and almost ready to give in. But just as they were settling down for a cold and uncomfortable night's sleep, Scootaloo happened to notice a certain scrawny Pegasus colt flying towards them through the clubhouse window. “Oh, great!” she muttered gloomily. “Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, we've got Mr Paparazzi coming our way!” Featherweight touched down on the balcony with a nervous expression on his face. “Uh...hi, girls,” he stammered, almost expecting them to lash out at him the very instant he opened his mouth. It came as both a surprise and a relief when they didn't – indeed, much to his dismay, they barely seemed to notice him at all. “Hi, Featherweight,” mumbled Sweetie-Belle, staring at her front hooves with shame. “Come to take some more embarrassing pictures of us?” “What? No, of course not!” stammered Featherweight, taken aback. “Well, that's what she asked y'all ta do,” retorted Apple Bloom, too upset to even bother mentioning Diamond Tiara's name. “Just take yo' photos an' go – we've a' had it comin' our ways anyway.” Featherweight heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes. “I didn't want to,” he murmured sadly. “I was blackmailed into it.” “Yeah right. Ah suppose...” but Apple Bloom suddenly broke off and stared in disbelief. “What, y'all as well?” “That's right. I knew you three had had enough of hurting other ponies' feelings, so I tried to talk her out of it...” The scrawny young colt paused in mid-sentence as a somewhat errant feeling of helplessness registered in his mind. “But?” prompted Scootaloo at last. Featherweight swallowed hard and pushed his despair as far aside as he could manage. “...she threatened to feature me in the next Gabby Gums unless I kept my mouth shut.” The Crusaders exchanged glances of appal. They didn't know which was worse – Diamond Tiara using his photographs as leverage to keep them writing hurtful gossip articles, or her doing the same with the articles themselves to silence militant Foal Free Press staff! At last, Apple Bloom spoke up; “Right, that does it! If that Diamond Tiara wants a gossip column in the Foal Free Press, she can count me out of it once an' fo' all!” “Me too!” put in Scootaloo defiantly. “Let her publish those photos – I don't care!” “But what about the rest of Ponyville?” objected Sweetie-Belle uncertainly. “Even if we quit, they might not want anything to do with us ever again. If they see those photos Featherweight took of us...” “Ah, stuff the photos!” retorted Apple Bloom. “Ah suggested the Foal Free Press so we could get our Cutie Marks, not help Diamond Tiara mess up other ponies' lives! If this is the sort o' thing she wants ta do with the Gabby Gums stuff, Ah'm quittin' – an' that's an end of it!” Such a bold move on Apple Bloom's part almost brought tears to Featherweight's eyes. Here were three fillies whose reputations were on the line should they quit, and yet she seemed more than prepared to sacrifice hers for the sake of him and the rest of the Foal Free Press. “Apple Bloom's right,” added Scootaloo firmly. “We've hurt enough feelings to last us a lifetime! There's no way I'm gonna let that happen to our former fellow journalists. Besides, if we could only make some sort of public apology, then we can at least get our friends back.” This gave Featherweight an idea. “Perhaps if you three published it in the Foal Free Press?” he suggested hopefully. “Yeah, maybe it would if we din' have Diamond Tiara watchin' over our shoulders.” “Well...that's as maybe,” went on Featherweight thoughtfully, “but suppose you wrote it out and then waited until the very last minute before submitting it?” Once again, the three fillies exchanged glances; but this time, the off-white Pegasus colt could detect the faintest glimmer of hope in their eyes for the first time in several hours. “I think it's our best chance,” remarked Scootaloo at last. “I think it's our only chance,” agreed Sweetie-Belle resignedly. “It won't stop Diamond Tiara from publishing your photos, Featherweight, but it's a start.” Elated at having managed to help them out of their sticky situation at long last, Featherweight gave a small smile. “Don't worry about Diamond Tiara,” he replied. “Loco and I will see that she doesn't get her way...” Featherweight was as good as his word. Early the next morning, he headed for the local print studio to get his latest photographs developed, and met up with Locomotion outside the schoolhouse with minutes to spare before their first class of the day. Before they went in, the red-furred railway enthusiast took a quick look through Featherweight's snapshots, and was more than satisfied to find that the portfolio with which he had been presented contained more than enough evidence against Diamond Tiara. “Nice work, Feathers,” he praised. “Now we'll show her! Just don't let anypony else know about this in case she begins to suspect us.” Featherweight nodded obediently in reply. At that moment, the school bell rang, and the other fillies and colts, among them a visibly satisfied Diamond Tiara, began filing into the schoolhouse. The two colts followed, with the young Pegasus silently hoping that his suggestion to the Cutie Mark Crusaders would pay off while Locomotion smirked inwardly. Not long, he told himself, before that prissy pink prude was exposed. “Remember – not a word to the others,” he whispered to Featherweight. The morning's lesson went by rather slowly for the two colts. Featherweight was still brooding over the Crusaders, and couldn't help gazing upon them every so often, particularly Apple Bloom. None of them paid him any attention, but they all seemed strangely positive – perhaps this meant there wasn't anything to worry about any more, he thought. But if that was the case, then why couldn't he stop? Locomotion, on the other hoof, was keen to pay Diamond Tiara back for making such a monkey out of him and his friends, and kept gazing impatiently at the nearby clock. All he wanted was for the lesson to end, so that he and Featherweight could spill the beans about the whole Gabby Gums scandal. Finally, after what felt like an age, the recess bell rang. “Now for our plan,” murmured Locomotion. He and Featherweight waited and watched until the rest of the class had left, and then they made their way up to their teacher's desk. “Excuse me, Miss Cheerilee...” “Yes, Locomotion?” “...not to sound overly critical or anything,” said Locomotion gravely, “but Featherweight and I have a few complaints to enter about the Foal Free Press.” Cheerilee raised a concerned eyebrow. “What sort of complaints?” Locomotion gave Featherweight a gentle nudge, whereupon the little Pegasus spoke up; “Well, Miss Cheerilee...it's like this,” he began nervously, “Diamond Tiara has...well...Loco and I feel that she's been...well...sort of abusing her own power since she became editor-in-chief. She keeps insisting on...well...'juicy stories' as she calls them, but they're not so much 'juicy' as hurtful.” “How so?” asked Cheerilee. “Every single story she's published is either untrue or it makes a complete mockery out of...whoever or whatever she's writing about, and to cap it all, she's even put in a gossip column known as Gabby Gums, with Apple Bloom, Sweetie-Belle and Scootaloo as its writers.” “Yeah, Uncle Steamer and I were the latest subject of that column,” added Locomotion. “We'd been looking through an old coach, and my uncle was explaining to me what needed to be done to bring it up to scratch, and then Featherweight comes and takes a photo of us both. Now, if it'd been a feature on railway carriage restoration, I'd have been fine – but that wasn't what was in there when I bought a copy from the Ponyville news stand. This was!” and he held up a newspaper cutting showing the relevant article. “From the news stand, you say?” Cheerilee looked as though she could hardly believe her ears. “That can't be right! The Foal Free Press is strictly meant to be a student newspaper.” “We know, Miss Cheerilee,” replied Featherweight unhappily, “but she wanted it to be more than that. Her words were along the lines of, 'The Foal Free Press is too full of namby-pamby stuff, and I'm gonna bring us to glory.' She even insisted that I photograph everything that goes on in Ponyville.” Still unable to grasp what she had just been told, Cheerilee read through Locomotion's newspaper cutting. But the further she read, the more she realised just how right they were. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?” “I couldn't,” admitted Featherweight. “She used my photographs and the Gabby Gums column to blackmail us into carrying on the way we were. If any of us didn't, she would make up some really embarrassing story as payback. She even did the same with the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they announced they wanted to quit...” “...and we have plenty of photos to prove it, thanks to Diamond Tiara's insistence,” interrupted Locomotion. Taking the hint, Featherweight produced a photograph of the confrontation in question, which Cheerilee carefully examined. Sure enough, there were the Crusaders standing directly in front of Diamond Tiara's desk, with the pink-furred filly herself smirking devilishly. Laid out in front of her were three photographs, one of Scootaloo feebly trying to fly herself out of a muddy patch without success, one of Sweetie-Belle in an outfit that made her look like a peacock, and one depicting Apple Bloom at only a few months old. That was all that Cheerilee needed to know. “Right,” she said at last, “thank you for telling me about this, you two. I'll see to this issue immediately.” “That's okay, Miss Cheerilee,” replied Locomotion. “Just doing our bit for the Foal Free Press is all.” “As for you, Featherweight...” Featherweight looked nervously up at Cheerilee. “Yeah?” “...in the light of Diamond Tiara's...er, 'misdeeds', I have a special offer for you...” Locomotion didn't quite know what Cheerilee was getting at, but the smile on her face as she addressed Featherweight told him all was well, so he tactfully decided to take his leave. As he made his way out of the schoolhouse, he noticed an apoplectic Diamond Tiara reading through the morning's Foal Free Press. Curious as to what had grabbed her attention, he listened carefully for what she had to say. “They're not gonna get away with this! I'll publish those photos tomorrow!” she growled furiously. “They've messed with the wrong pony!” Tossing the paper aside, she stormed off back to the schoolhouse, ignoring the smug expression on Locomotion's face as he began to realise what this was all about. “So they've finally decided to stand up to you, eh Diamond Tiara?” he chortled. “Now we'll see who's the wrong pony to mess with!” For the rest of the day, Diamond Tiara was in such a foul mood that she hardly said more than two words to anypony about the Foal Free Press. All the while, she kept thinking about the open letter that she had inadvertently published, and how much of a misery she would make out of the Cutie Mark Crusaders' lives for quitting on her. What she couldn't know was that her chance for revenge had already been thwarted. As evening drew in, the Foal Free Press staff were already hard at work preparing for another day of printing when Diamond Tiara stalked into the room. “Truffle Shuffle!” she shouted. The chubby grey-furred colt, who happened to be sitting nearby, trotted over to her desk. “Yes, Diamond Tiara?” “Get me those photos out of storage, the ones of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!” demanded Diamond Tiara sharply. “Uh...what photos?” asked Truffle Shuffle, seemingly perplexed. Diamond Tiara leered threateningly at him. “You know which ones! The ones I showed them yesterday!” she snapped. “Now do as I say and get them out of the archives!” Truffle Shuffle gave an awkward grin in reply. “Uh...yeah, about that,” he replied, “I...can't very well get them out of storage when they're not there.” “What do you mean they aren't?!” “I'll tell you why not!” Both foals looked up to see Cheerilee, Locomotion and the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing in the doorway. “We've seen all those incriminating photos you insisted on documenting, Diamond Tiara,” the red-furred colt explained triumphantly, “and every last one of them has been destroyed on the orders of our good teacher.” “And I've been hearing stories of you not only blackmailing your staff, but also using the Foal Free Press spread all sorts of rumours around Ponyville,” added Cheerilee sternly. “Is this true, Diamond Tiara?” Diamond Tiara looked away nervously, unsure how to respond. “It's true, Miss Cheerilee,” piped up one of the other fillies in the room. “She said that if we complained about the way she ran the paper, she would feature us in the Gabby Gums column.” “Uh...what Gabby Gums column?” asked Diamond Tiara feebly. “You mean this?!” Locomotion held up his newspaper cutting for everypony in the room to see. “I suppose you realise, Diamond Tiara, that this was meant to be Uncle Steamer showing me what they'd be doing to that old hulk at the carriage works?” “How was I to know?! Anyway, it was those blank-flanks who wrote it, not me!” “Only 'cause you forced us to!” retorted Scootaloo sharply. “You told us, and I quote, 'Gabby Gums is my bread and butter, and I'm not gonna let you goody-two-horseshoes take that away from me'!” “Exactly what Featherweight told me,” put in Locomotion. “And more to the point, he said you'd issued a similar threat to him if he squealed. Pity you reckoned without his own photos – so much for documenting anything and everything in Ponyville, eh Diamond Tiara?!” “So what?!” protested Diamond Tiara. “That paper was just so boring! How do you expect it to sell if you don't liven it up!” “By making fun of others?! I don't know where Pinkie Pie was coming from with the word 'cyber-bullying', but I'd say that probably sums it up! This is not how you run a newspaper!” “Oh yeah?! I'd like to see you do better!” “He already did.” This came from Shady Daze, who was standing next to the printers. “I happened to read that article on the trains at Ponyville Shed, and it was brilliant!” “Well, staff,” Cheerilee surmised gravely, “I guess I gave a little too much authority to a first-time editor. I'm sorry, Diamond Tiara, I have to strip you of your title.” Diamond Tiara seethed with anger as she stepped away from the desk, ignoring the pitying look from Locomotion as he watched Cheerilee take down the intimidating poster of her likeness. “And for the next editor of the Foal Free Press, here is your new editor-in-chief, Featherweight!” The rest of the staff raised a cheer as Featherweight stepped up to the desk, while Locomotion looked on with a supportive smile. Now that he knew what Cheerilee had been talking about earlier, he couldn't have been any happier for the scrawny young Pegasus.