A Diamond in the Rough

by DarkShockBro

Screwed Up

A Diamond in the Rough: Chapter 9
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After I swore vengeance against all of the blank flanks who had ruined my cute-ceañera with their false accusations, I went back into Sugarcube Corner only to find the place deserted and Silver Spoon waiting.

Once she saw me, she said, "Diamond…I'm really sorry."

I waved my hoof, then said, "It's fine. I can recover from this. But, dang, those were the stupidest things I've heard. The day Apple Bloom becomes the mayor is the day Twist becomes the most popular girl in this school."

"Hah! Good one, Diamond. I have heard some pretty dumb things, though."

"Is that so? Where?"

"I remember when I was working as a sous chef for a really run down restaurant. One day, the bust boy said that he would become the manager, when he could barely walk ten paces before tripping!"

I laughed. "What an idiot! Well, I've got to go home. You're a good friend, Spoon."

"Thanks, Diamond!"

With that, I left.
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It was pretty dark out, but I memorized my route home, so it didn't affect me. I could walk home in my sleep now. When I entered the mansion, I called out for dad, but I got White Handkerchief instead.

He said, "Yes, malady? Do you need anything?"

"Do you know where dad is?"

"I'm afraid he had to go to a business meeting."

"Again? What for this time?"

"Some…stocks we were purchasing suddenly plummeted in value and your father believes it was a result of corrupt business actions. We don't want to lose money, so your father is at the negotiation table."

"Really? Why didn't he bring me along?"

"I know you are a great leader, malady, but his business conferences allow absolutely no minors to participate. Please accept my apologizes."

"It's cool. It isn't your fault the rules are stupid. Later."

As I left, I pondered who really did create the rules of business. Did Stinkin' Rich have any part in it? But, that thought process took me nowhere, so I just did a little homework and went to bed, once again, vowing vengeance on Apple Bloom.
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Cheerilee began to crack down, and the lessons became tougher over the span of the week, so I was unable to taunt Apple Bloom much. She's been getting stupidly lucky lately, and it brought my blood to a boil.

But, soon, I found someone who I was able to take out all of my pent up rage on. A small colt, with a body paler than Sweetie Belle's, a brown mane, slightly smaller than the first pony I ever bullied, Featherweight, and a brown spot on one eye, went up to me.

He said, with a British accent, "Hi, I'm Pipsqueak! And you are?"

"You're name is Pipsqueak? Ah ha ha ha! Oh man, your parents must have hated you! Get lost, shrimp!"

"I'm sorry, but could you answer my question?"

"I'm Diamond Tiara, the best pony in this school! Don't forget it, alright shrimp?"

"Cool."

"Oh, and did another bully beat you up? Your eye looks swollen with that stupid spot on it!"

"No, this is natural."

"You…have no idea what I'm trying to do, do you?"

"Not really. I'm only about 8."

"Yeah, I'm in fifth grade. Leave now."

"OK!" he said, simply walking away from me.

That was weird. I did feel better though, so I suppose that confrontation wasn't entirely useless.
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After that strange event, I walked home for the weekend, and simply tried to relax all of my stress away by focusing much more on my saxophone, singing, and dancing than I did, almost any other weekend I've been though up to this point. I really felt relaxed going into next week.

But, that relaxation soon turned into pure bliss when I figured out at the beginning of that week Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were going to participate in the next talent show, at the end of said week!

I wondered what would be the best way to make absolutely certain that their experience on stage would be an absolute nightmare, and in the middle of the week, just as the bell rang, I decided I would bring my video camera to the talent show and tape them!

Since Apple Bloom was right by me when I came up with my brilliant idea, I said, "Hey, Blank Flank. How would you like it if I recorded your performance for the talent show?"

"Don't ya dare."

"Ah ha ha! Blank Flank, you should know me better than that by now. I'm going to make your time on stage miserable!"

"Well, we ain't gonna fail, so quit dreamin'!"

"Prove it. I'll be there, with my camera!" I concluded, giggling like a maniac as I walked out the door.

The next day, before school, I said, "Hey Spoon, guess what I'm going to do for the talent show?"

"Another song?"

"Nope, I'm going to bring my video camera, and record the entire performance of those Blank Flanks!"

"Wow, that's pretty cruel, but after what they did to you, I don't really blame you too much."

"Meh. I'll see you at the talent show, Spoon!"

With that, we finished the next two days of classes easily before finally going into the big night.
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The first two acts were absolutely abysmal. Snails and his obese blue bodied, brown maned friend Snips failed performing a magic act, and two other ponies said poetry…on rolling skates.

Dear Celestia, why did I not go on stage again? Oh…right, I wanted to see and record the Cutie Mark Crusaders fail!

Sure enough, once I had started recording, the CMC came out wearing…dear Celestia, everytime I think I see the worst things ever to be put on a pony, like Cheerilee's braces and mane, someone outperforms them. Their costumes were horrid! And the singing; they picked Scootaloo, their worst singer to lead the song! There wasn't even any background music! It was perfect! Perfect blackmail, that is! Once they finished their song, with props collapsed all over them, everypony in the audience started laughing at them. After the laughter ended, I left, with all of the wonderful, wonderful footage on tape. They should have known not to crash my party without expecting consequences!
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I went into that weekend in a complete state of ecstasy, and that feeling carried into next week. Unfortunately, early on, another pony 'introduced' herself to me. This one was a filly unicorn with a gray body and a blond mane.

She said, "Hi, I'm Dinky Hooves! I'm new here!"

"Hooves? Wait a second, aren't you related to that mare with those crossed eyes and who crashes into everything? So, I'm guessing you're very clumsy right?"

"Hey, don't make fun of my mother!" She was making this way too easy for me.

"And doesn't she have a muffin addiction?"

"Hey! Stop it!"

"Relax, I wasn't even done yet! How come you are a unicorn, and she is a peagsus? Did she mingle with an earth colt?"

"Gah! Leave me alone!" and with that, she left.

Truth be told, I didn't mind Derpy Hooves, Dinky's mother, too much. She was a little amusing to watch crashing into stuff and bothering other ponies. I also remember doing an imitation of her, in front of her, that was intended to be insulting, but she actually complimented me on it. True, she was pretty slow mentally, but I always liked ponies that could laugh at themselves when confronted with their flaws and I especially liked ponies who complimented me.
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Anyway, after that obvious overreaction, I made it to class, and then, after the lessons, when Cheerilee was out the door, I showed Apple Bloom the tape I had recorded all of their blunders on.

Apple Bloom's face distorted into one of pure fear, and she said, "You really were serious. You…monster!"

"That's right. I now have blackmail against all three of you. I don't remember seeing anypony in this class watching you three, so I could tell Miss Cheerilee to show the tape to the class…if I wanted."

"Give me that tape!"

She was mad.

"Why should I?"

"Because nopony is that cruel to me or my family! Now hand it over!"

She then proceeded to jump on me. She began to punch me, and since I didn't want to get in trouble or cause Apple Bloom to get sent to the hospital, I was very defensive. It took about a half a minute, I'd say, before Cheerilee rushed back in the room, and broke the right up between us two. I hadn't nicked Apple Bloom at all, but she made a relatively large cut in front on my forehead.

After the fight stopped, Cheerilee said, "Alright, fillies. Tell me what happened, this instant."

"I don't know, Miss Cheerilee! I was just talking to her, and all of a sudden, she just jumped on me and started attacking me! I didn't fight back, I swear!" I defensively claimed.

"That's a lie! She did!"

"Apple Bloom, you were not injured at all, so Diamond could not have fought back. Detention. Right here. One month."

"What? She has a tape of our talent show performance, and she's gonna use it as blackmail!"

"Diamond, is this true?"

I actually decided to tell the truth about this, somewhat. "Yes, I have that tape, but I swear I wasn't going to use it as blackmail!"

"I see. My decision is final. Diamond, you may go."

"Thank you, Miss Cheerilee!" I said, giving Apple Bloom my worst evil grin before leaving.
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However, when I got home, something very interesting happened. When I walked in, I suddenly got this strange idea to call my mother about the blackmail I had.

So, I called her up.

"Hello? This is Glamour speaking."

"Hey, Glamour."

"Oh dear, you again?"

"I've actually got some interesting news for you. I managed to get some blackmail on Apple Bloom and her two friends. Video blackmail, about their failure to sing and act properly on stage."

"And what do you intend to do with it?"

"I'm not sure, honestly."

She laughed. "Ah, you humor me so. Let me tell you something. If you aren't assertive when it comes to making decisions, that 0.1% chance that you'll actually do something with your life will fade away into complete nothingness. Goodbye, parasprite."

I heard a slight sigh, and then the phone disconnected. My mother actually gave me advice, and I continued to think about when and how to reveal that blackmail.

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However, my thought process was cut short two days after Apple Bloom got detention.

It all started with a field trip.

This was the first field trip I had actually been through, so I was legitimately interested as to where we would go to. Turns out, we were going to the Canterlot sculpture garden, which was very, very cool.

Once we arrived, Cheerilee said, "I want to start our field trip here in the world-famous Canterlot sculpture garden. That one over there represents Friendship. Alright my little ponies, this one represents Victory."

And of course, the 'crusaders' had to spoil this tour by being themselves.

Scootaloo started the carnage by saying, "How cool would it be to have that for a cutie mark?"

Then, Apple Bloom said, "Cool, if you were actually victoryful at somethin'."

Sweetie Belle responded. "That's not a word!"

Then, Scootaloo countered Sweetie Belle. "What are you, a dictionary?"

Cheerilee put a...temporary stop to this nonsense by shouting, "Girls! Now this is a really interesting statue. What do you notice about it?"

Apple Bloom said, "It's got an eagle claw!"

Scootaloo followed with, "And a lion paw!"

Finally, Sweetie Belle said, while flapping her arms, "And a snake tail!"

Cheerilee, again, halted the madness by saying, "This creature is called a draconequus. He has the head of a pony and a body of all sorts of other things. What do you suppose that represents?"

And, once again, it didn't last, because Apple Bloom instantly replied by saying, "Confusion!"

Then, Sweetie Belle said, "Evil!"

And Scootaloo finished off by saying, "Chaos!"

Sweetie Belle was the first to 'call her bluff' by saying, "It's not chaos, you dodo!" Ouch, that insult made me proud! And I'm not even kidding, that was pretty good!

Then, Scootaloo responded, poorly might I add. "Don't call me things I don't know the meaning of, and it is too chaos!"

"Is not!"

Finally, Apple Bloom said, "You're both wrong!" and then they fought with each other. You know, at least I learned at an early age that fighting gets you nowhere, but these three were up at each other's throats over a stupid point! I didn't even have to imply anything to get them fighting!

At long last, Cheerilee's fuse had run out of space, and she broke up the fight by saying, "Actually, in a way, you're all right. This statue represents Discord, which means a lack of harmony between ponies. In fact, you three have demonstrated discord so well, that you're each going to write me an essay explaining it."

It's a shame I can't play a trombone, because then would have been the perfect time to play the ultimate "'ail' theme.

But…they still didn't listen, and Apple Bloom ignited the feud again by saying, "It's confusion!" and then the two others countered with their own cryptic, politically correct explanation of a statue! Ugh, I bet they didn't even do the stupid essay.
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After the field trip, I noticed many…odd things were occurring in Ponyville. Rabbits had stilt legs, the apple trees had abnormally large apples, it was raining liquid chocolate, and there was popcorn everywhere. Those are mirages you see after inhaling ecstasy, and yet, they were really happening. I could literally gulp down the chocolate milk, and it tasted like chocolate milk.

But that wasn't even the bad part. No, no, no. The bad part started later on in that day, when my dad came running home in one of the worst states I've ever seen. His mane looked worse off than Twist's, he was convulsing, and his face was one of pure fear.

When he finally managed to catch my breath, he said, "Diamond, come with me, please."

"What is it, Dad?"

"Just follow me, you need to see this, for yourself."

"Sure enough I followed him, only to see the core of Ponyville was in even worse shape than the outside. The floor had been revamped to a pink and white checkerboard that was heavily undulated, pies were rising, and I think the town hall was levitating and upside-down.

But, that wasn't even the worst part. After about five minutes of looking, dad and I came face to face with a flying pony, motor boating her lips, with a green propeller hat, swirly light-purple eyes, a body that had my color, and a mane with my colors, except it looked especially messy. She clearly was anything but sane, and seemed to be the epitome of chaos. She also, looked very similar to my mother. After assuring myself that wasn't the case, after about an hour, after I had made it back home, my dad told me the entire story, which he was an eye-witness to.

He said, "Diamond, we need to talk about that flying pony."

"Do you know her?"

He sighed deeply, and then said, "Only too well. She is now being checked into a mental hospital."

"What are those?"

"Those are places where the mentally sick are kept under watch so that they do not bother other normal ponies."

"Why is this important, Dad?"

He sighed, even deeper this time, as he told me the absurdly unpleasant truth, which was, "Diamond, that pony was once your mother."

"What? I don't believe you, I just don't flanking believe you! That abomination can't be her!"

"It is. Discord, the thing who caused all of this insanity, when released from his statue, released a wave of energy that took hold of poor Glamour and turned her…into that."

"No! Why does my life suck so badly! I need to see her, where is she?"

"Here are the directions. Good luck, Diamond!" is what I imagined he said, because he handed me the directions and I blanked out after being told that disgusting monster was my mother!
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I ran as fast as I could, and demanded to the receptionist that I speak with Glamour Tiara, my mother.

Unfortunately, she said, "We do not have 'Glamour Tiara' on our list."

"Then who was the most recent pony who checked in!"

"Her name is Screwball."

"I need to see her, now!"

"Very well."

With that statement, I hurried over to Screwball's room.

When she saw me, she said, "Hi! Like my propeller? It makes 'brrrrrr' noises!"

"Mom, it's me, Diamond Tiara, your daughter!"

"Wow! I have a daughter? Cool, let's play hide and seek!"

"This isn't funny, Mom! I don't want to play hide and seek!"

"OK, what do you want to play?"

"Let's play the memory game. I tell you something, and you have to tell me if you remember it. If you don't, you get a point. 3 points, and I'll leave…"

At this point, I was choking every word that came out of my mouth.

"OK, let's begin!"

"First off, do you remember how I got the tiara that's on my head?"

"Uh, you bought it?"

With a sniffle, I choked out, "One point for you..."

Then, I said, "Second, do you remember this colt?" showing her a picture of dad.

"Nope! Never seen him in my life!"

"That's your second point…" I said, with water forming in my eyes.

Finally, I said, "Third, do you even remember your actual name?"

"Of course, silly! It's Screwball!"

That did it. I began crying. I couldn't believe what Discord had done to my family!

I finished our meeting by screaming, "Fine! Three points! You win! Happy? I'm not!" and then I ran out, still crying, barely hearing a cheer escaping from Screwball.

Discord wasn't a monster. He wasn't even a thing. From then on, he was evil incarnate to me.
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Next chapter: Diamond is crushed by the loss of her mother to Discord, and begins to wonder if even going to school is worth it, carrying all of this pain on her back. Will Diamond manage to recover from this latest traumatic moment? And will there be more canon events? Find out, next time!

Comments

[doorcf]

wow this filly is getting it hard, but it seems that the loss of her mother only made her worse (Season 2 episodes)

WHAT WILL CHANGE THAT BRAT?

[Delicious]

Eeeehhh... I think I like Screwball better, she made it through an entire scene without pissing somebody off. Still sucks for Diamond though...