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A Chaotic Conundrum In Canterlot's Courtyard2,014 words
Mischief To Be Made1,774 words
Devilish Discordian Deals To Be Done.2,697 words
Twilight's To Be Taunted And Teachings To Be Taught2,233 words
Lessons To Be Learned2,122 words
Friends To Be Fooled2,732 words
Cottages To Be Crashed1,738 words
Princesses To Be Preturbed2,584 words
Worst Pony To Be Established 1,970 words
Petulant Parents To Be Pondered3,406 words
Students To Be Stupefied2,362 words
Deer To Be Discussed2,989 words
Shoo Shoo Be Doo To Be Sung1,662 words
Intermission: Crusaders To Be Confused2,038 words

Petulant Parents To Be Pondered

By the time she and her mother had left the house, it was well past noon and bright and sunny. Her mother decided to slip on some white faux-leather shoes before she stepped out the door for some reason Diamond couldn't fathom, but she didn't question it because she wanted her time with her mother to be free from questions and anything resembling a argument.

It was so rare she got to spend time with her, really, and she didn't want to taint her visit with a bad memory.

She felt slightly plain walking next to her mother, with her platinum-blond hair straight and perfect and her coat recently shined and her hooves flawlessly clean, but she didn't think to much of it as they walked down the road; after all, this wasn't anything formal.

Her mother was quiet, though, which made her slightly...well, concerned wasn't the word for it, because she simply expected a conversation.

"Hey, mom?"

"Hmm?" Dazzle hummed without looking down, continuing to walk forward at the same pace,

"How was Manehatten?" Diamond asked politely.

"Oh, it was wonderful." Dazzle replied distantly, and promptly said nothing else.

Diamond's smile dimmed a little.

They walked for about fifteen minutes without speaking to each other, and it soon enough they were in the middle of town, close to the mayor's office.

It was quiet day, Diamond was starting to realize, and most ponies were probably either spending time at the park or spending time at their homes. She and her mother had only seen a few other ponies since they left the house, and none of the those that she had saw was of her own age or anything close to it.

She really wanted to talk to her mother about the thing that was tormenting her, but every time she looked at her she just felt awful for even considering bringing it up. Her father she could dump her problems on when it could help her, as could Silver Spoon, but her mother...

Of course she was comfortable with her mother, it just was that she didn't want to make it seem like she had any problems.

Diamond frowned slightly when she saw her mother started to walk at a slower pace than before, before finally stopping altogether to turn to her halfway. She had a smile on her face that made her look like she was only trying out a smile because she had seen other ponies do it, but Diamond just knew better than that.

"Sweetie, is there anything you want to talk about?"

Diamond Tiara, quite suddenly, found herself startled. If she was asked that question by her father, she wouldn't talk about meeting the Princess because even he would have to many questions to make admitting that worth it. But, she guessed, she would talk about Discord and how he made her say awful things to her only friend and how he has been a terrible tutor.

But this was her mother, and Diamond didn't want to associate her currently awful personal life with her sweet, kind parent who understood her better then any other pony she knew. She didn't want to make her worry.

So, she did what she did in these sorts of situations.

She lied.

"No, mom." she said quickly, "I'm fine."

Her mother's smile widened slightly. "Oh, I don't doubt it. What is this about a tutor your father was talking about?"

Diamond wondered if she knew already, about everything, and suddenly felt very, very foolish.

"He's from Canterlot?" Diamond replied weakly.

Dazzle's big smile stayed the same; shiny ivory teeth perfected from two different magical treatments shined in the evening light, each tooth as white as the wool of her scarf.

"How is school, anyway?" she said after a few moments, voice the same light tone she had kept since Diamond had first seen her.

"It's going to start soon." Diamond said.

"Oh, is that so?" her mother said, raising a eyebrow, before turning back to continue walking down the street.

Diamond Tiara tasted something sour in the back of her throat, but she didn't know why.

Diamond had expected something to go wrong as soon as she walked out of her house.

As such, the 'Closed For Martisorrel' sign that hung cheerfully from the from door of the spa written in neat writing and graced with a little half-drawn flower off to the side didn't confuse her so much as made her upset in a sort of obscure way. Really, she could only guess that it was probably some sort of holiday that was probably fun enough for the ponies who stayed open for Hearths-Warming Eve to close up shop to celebrate. For all she knew, there was probably cake involved or something.

"Ah, drat." her mother said when she saw the sign, as if the door would answer her, "Well, so much for that. Hmm."

Her mother didn't sound remotely disappointed, which, for some reason, did not surprise Diamond. Maybe it was because she had already went to the spa earlier, or it was because her mother already looked like she had went to a spa within the last day or so.

"Hey, mom?"

Her mother blinked, as if startled. "Yes, dear?"

Diamond had many questions for her mother. Some of them involved how Aunt Suri was doing, or what she did in Manehatten. But she didn't ask any of the questions on her mind.

"I'm sorry the spa is closed." she said, hoping that the unneeded apology would get her back into her mother's good graces.

Her mother frowned at her words, and patted her shoulder lightly.

"It's not you're fault, sweetie. How about the next time you come with me, we can go to the nicest spa in Canterlot instead of this little hokey place. Won't that be fun?"

Diamond smiled, but it wasn't a wide smile. Truth be told, she liked Aloe and Lotus. Diamond knew that they were not from Equestria, but she thought their accents were pretty and just thought of them in the same way she thought of ponies who lived in Canterlot; different, but just enough to make her want to know more. Besides, she had been to the nicest spa in Canterlot, two years ago on her ninth birthday. While it was nice, she liked the Ponyville spa even better, because it was still good and the sisters knew her by name at this point. Sometimes they let her take one of those expensive shampoos they had around for free.

But her mother didn't know that, and she wasn't going to bring that up.

"It would." Diamond muttered. "Thank you, mommy."

Dazzle smiled lightly at the filly, and started to turn around slowly,

"Oh, it's no big deal. Come on, we'll stop and have a nice lunch on our way back."

Diamond really didn't feel all that hungry, but if her mother wanted to do something, then she wasn't going to say no.

"Okay."

Le Petit Cheval was one of the most expensive restaurants in Ponyville, and was open only a few days of week and usually catered to ponies who were stopping through the town on their way to Canterlot. It was usually only ever open during the week for a few hours as a feeble attempt by the owner at trying to not resemble a pretentiously overpriced restaurant that wasn't made for the ponies of Ponyville. Nopony saw it as anything else, though.

It was all white marble and delicate woodwork, like a chunk of Canterlot that tumbled off the mountain and ended up in the middle of town. Usually, the only time Diamond saw ponies going into it was during a holiday or in the aftermath some sort of special event, like a wedding. Really, most ponies in Ponyville would prefer to take bushel of Apple-family apples and cook something at home than take the same amount of money then, say, eat a few pieces of lettuce lightly sprinkled with some sort of vinegary liquid and hope that their smiles to the waiters looked genuine.

Diamond didn't particularly like the place, because the food really wasn't worth the trip to the place and a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich was just as good as whatever dainty dish of overpriced food that could be served to her there. But she knew that her mother loved the place, for some reason, because she made a point to eat there whenever she came to Ponyville and had to find something to eat outside the house. She said that it was because it was one of the few real bastions of civilization in Ponyville, but Diamond assumed it was because her mother was used to eating at places like this.

The inside of Le Petit Cheval was about ten degrees cooler than it was outside, and it wasn't especially hot outside, so Diamond tried to not shiver as she and her mother walked inside, hoping that she would adjust to the change of temperature. Her mother didn't seem to bothered by the chill, but she was also wearing clothing, so Diamond wasn't sure if she should bring it up. The interior did not look especially welcoming, either; it resembled its exterior, all marble and shine , not a single scuff or mark anywhere. The white tile floors were pristine and the dark wooden benches and seats were neatly polished. It didn't even especially smell like anything, which was, in Diamond's mind, not the greatest quality for a restaurant.

Then again, her mind wandered, it was possible that they were simply the first ponies to come into into the restaurant all day, because the pony at the front desk took a few moments to wake up. Groggily, the dark grey stallion looked at the two of them with a slightly confused look in his eyes, like they weren't supposed to be there, until he snapped out of his daze and straightened himself out and nodded to her mother.

"Hello, welcome to Le Petit Cheval. May I have your full name and reservation number?"

Diamond noticed that her mother rolled her eyes at the stallions words, as if he was talking about something frivolous, like how much money she could spend in a day.

"Sweetheart, we don't have one." her mother said smoothly to the stallion, giving him a big, winning smile.

The desk stallion stared at her mother like she was going to say something else, but Diamond knew that her mother was simply waiting for the stallion to respond. It took a little too long for the stallion to figure that out.

"Uh, mame, I am sorry, but I cannot let you in without a reservation." the stallion said feebly, looking away from Dazzle for a few moments before turning back to her.

Dazzle shook her head and frowned slightly. She sounded sympathetic, almost, but it was certainly not for the stallion. "I don't see anypony inside."

The waiter stallion visibly gulped. "Mame, I am sorry, but there is a group coming in shortly, and-"

Diamond's mother interrupted the stallion with a wave of a white-clad hoof. "Sweetheart," she said, sounding non-judgemental but ultimately final, "I walked here to have a nice lunch with my daughter. I don't know who you believe yourself to be, but I know what I am and what you are. If you do not get the two of us seats this very moment, I can assure you that your manager would love to know why you refused to seat the wife of the owner of one of the largest companies in Equestria, or why you were asleep on the job."

The stallion, stunned, took a few moments to reply. Diamond felt only a little sorry for him.

"Would the madam prefer a closed booth or table?"

"Booth." Dazzle answered swiftly.

The stallion nodded immediately and, noticeably trembling slightly, motioned for the two of them to follow him.

Diamond suddenly realized that she wasn't so hungry anymore.

The food was decent enough; she settled on a salad and a glass of water. Her mother did the same, but didn't seem too interested in her food so much as paying attention to the waiter pony who was serving them. He was a bit more dignified than the one at the front counter, or at least was more prepared for ponies to actually eat food, and simply took their orders and refilled their glasses every so often.

Dazzle wasn't a very talkative eater, but neither was Diamond, so the both of them were pretty much fine with not saying anything to each other. There was some light music playing, but Diamond wasn't really paying attention to it, preferring to stab at her plate with her fork and spear a slice of tomato or two whenever she thought she needed to try and keep up appearances that she was hungry.

She was wondering what she was going to do about Silver Spoon; she needed to talk to her again soon, explain what was going on and stuff, and maybe try and get some stuff done on that summer project. Diamond, grudgingly, needed to talk to Discord about that, if only because he was probably one of the oldest things on the planet and, if anything, she could probably trick him into doing most of it.

Diamond was in deep thought when she saw a pair of well-dressed ponies walk inside, accompanied by a waiter. In her daze, it took Diamond a few moments to recognize them, but when she did she felt a wave of surprise.

Big Macintosh was one of the more identifiable stallions in town, especially because he was so big, but somehow, somewhere, he had found a tuxedo that fit him. His light flax-colored hair was brushed and his hooves looked like they had been shined and smoothed down recently. It took Diamond only a few seconds to realize that the stallion must be on a date.

His date, though, was just as surprising to Diamond as seeing the workhorse in a tux; it was Miss Cheerilee, looking almost unrecognizable to the filly in a blue dress and hair styled into little pink curls. Diamond knew that her teacher, hypothetically, had a social life and was a living, breathing pony that existed outside the schoolhouse, but seeing her on a date in the middle of an otherwise empty restaurant was a bit of a shock. She was pretty and didn't look as stressed as Diamond normally thought of her as, but she chalked that up to makeup.

The duo were seated at nearly the opposite side of the room, and while they were talking too quietly for her to hear what they were saying they were both clearly happy. Diamond thought it was a little funny that they kept looking at each other so much that they didn't notice that they weren't the only ones in the room, but her own thoughts were interrupted by her mother letting out a little quiet laugh.

"Now, who would have thought. Cheeriloser and the farmer's boy. That's adorable." Dazzle said quietly, before looking at her daughter and speaking just loud enough for her to hear, "Are you ready to leave, dear?"

Diamond, between the mild shock of her mother's words and the mild headache she was getting, just said "Yes."

While her mother was going through her purse, Diamond took a quick glance at her teacher and her date, and felt her stomach drop when she saw that while Big Mac was looking at her mother with the same neutral look most ponies associated him with, a stark contrast to the happy look he was sporting a few minutes ago, Miss Cheerilee looked like she had spotted a dead rat in a place she couldn't reach, and all she could do was look at it.

Diamond had seen a look like the one her teacher was sporting before, when Sweetie Bell once caught her feeding Twist wrong answers during math, but Cheerilee was not looking at her, but her mother.

Diamond Tiara felt very, very tired for some reason, and was starting to regret this whole trip, because nothing was going well. She watched her mother ignore the looks she was getting from the couple on the other side of the room, tipped the waiter, and stepped out of the booth without another word. Diamond followed her mother out of the restaurant without another word, and never did work up the will to turn around and look at Miss Cheerilee and see if she was still glaring at her mother. She was a little scared of what she could have seen.

On the way home, Diamond decided to ask her mother a question, and had no idea what her mother's response would be.

"Mom, did you know those two ponies?"

Dazzle shrugged lightly. "I went to high school with them. Why?"

"The..." Diamond paused, not wanting to reveal to her mother that Cheerilee looked more then a little angry at her, "mare looked like she knew you."

Dazzle stopped walking quite suddenly, turned around, and gestured for Diamond to do the same. She had a soft smile on her face, but there was something about how she narrowed her eyes that Diamond wasn't sure what to make of.

"Sometimes, Diamond, there will be ponies who will tell you not to judge others."

Diamond nodded; one of those ponies was her father.

"What I want you to know is that you have every right to judge other ponies. You have to know who to talk to and what you need to do to get ahead in life, so you don't get stuck with ponies for friends that won't get anywhere. That mare in there is one of those ponies I stayed away from because she didn't know that and kept associating with weird ponies, and the stallion she was with is slow in the head. When you get to high school, though, you'll find your way in with the good ponies."

Diamond processed what her mother just told her, and while she mostly agreed with it, she felt slightly at ill ease about what she had told her.

"Okay, mom." she replied, making Dazzling Tiara's smile grow a little wider. "I'll try."

When they finally ended up home, her mother had the servants set up her bags to be easily carried out of the house in the morning, as she was heading up into the Crystal Empire for two weeks, to visit a friend. Diamond couldn't go, of course, but she herself probably would have declined to join her on the trip.

She wasn't feeling too good, in all honesty; the day had been a rough one, after all. Between the talk with Silver Spoon and what Discord told her, she was already a little light-headed, but the incident in the restaurant made her feel slightly nauseous, because Miss Cheerilee's glare reminded her of what the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave her from time to time. Diamond didn't know why that made her so light-headed, but she did know that she liked her teacher and that she never knew that her mother used to be so mean to her.

Diamond Tiara, before she fell asleep, decided that enough was enough, and that she was going to talk to Discord the next day. She suddenly felt like she needed to get that history project done, along with a second opinion.

She didn't know about what, though.

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