I Prefer Show Tunes

by Harmony Charmer

Chapter 9: Breaking Character, Part 2

"...I was little when I first moved here," Diamond told the group. "I was about five, maybe six. My parents had gotten into a pretty big split and my daddy brought me here to get me away from my mother. I don't know what it was about exactly, but I know that my mother was upset that he was doing work outside of Manehatten when she had just set up a shop for her designs and dresses. I don't get to see her a lot since... well, I don't enjoy her company."

Sweetie suddenly realized that she had never seen Diamond's mother around Ponyville or heard any mention of her whatsoever. Who exactly was Diamond's mother, anyway?

"When I first moved here, Daddy told me that I shouldn't tell anypony where I live or anything about him. I didn't know why, since he was always so popular around everyone else, but I did what Daddy asked me to because I didn't want to go against his wishes. I went to school and was introduced to the class by our kindergarten teacher. Everypony was really nice to me and I was happy about being able to make new friends after losing some of mine in Manehatten. Still, I kept Daddy's promise and didn't tell them where I lived. No one could come here and I had to spend some afternoons by myself."

Diamond put on a more thoughtful expression. "Then, when I was about eight, Daddy started to give me an allowance." She smiled a bit. "I was so happy that I could finally buy things on my own accord without having to ask him and I wanted to see if my friends got the same treatment." She frowned. "But, when I asked about their allowances, the amount they were given was significantly less grander than my own. It was then I realized why Daddy wanted me to keep him a secret."

She looked at the group, her eyes searching their faces. "We were rich. Daddy had properties and businesses all over Ponyville and Manehatten. If one fell through, he could easily replace it with another. He didn't want me to be treated differently from the other kids, so he told me to keep it a secret."

"Guess that's gone out the window," Scootaloo commented.

Diamond spared her a harsh glance, as did the others, but she didn't dwell on it. "I only bought things whenever it made sense for me to buy them. I didn't want to splurge and buy random trinkets when none of my peers could afford it, so I made it seem like I was saving up money. I kept all the extra money Daddy gave me in a piggy bank. I don't think he knew how much money normal foals were given..."

"How much did he give you?" Apple Bloom asked, curious.

"20 bits," Diamond's immediate reply was. She looked at them in unappreciative manner as they all gaped at her. "Well, how much do your parents give you?"

"AJ sometimes gives me ten bits every two weeks for farm work," Apple Bloom told her. "And that's on a good two weeks."

"Rarity gives me eight a week if I've been good," Sweetie added.

"I get mine from dropping off newspapers in the morning," Scootaloo confirmed. "I get three bits a day, three days a week. Rumble has the rest of the week."

"My mom doesn't give me an allowance," Button admitted. "I usually gotta ask Sweets to pay."

"How chivalrous," Silver Spoon muttered.

Diamond looked at Silver through the corner of her eye a bit angrily, but she continued on with her story nonetheless. "Well, it worked well, because nopony knew about how much money I was really getting. I just hid it all away and took the money from the previous week for the next week. Daddy always wondered why I put so much money in the donations box for the chapel at the end of every month... And everypony thought I was just tithing."

"But you were actually getting rid of unneeded money," Apple Bloom realized. She furrowed her brows in thought. "Wait, so is that how the chapel got a—"

"New wing, yes," Diamond affirmed. She sighed a bit. "I still drop off money there every now and again, just out of habit."

"Huh." Apple Bloom didn't know what else to say.

Diamond looked on thoughtfully once more. "I went on like this for awhile, and I was fine with it, for the most part." She put on a hard look. "But, then Silver Spoon moved to Ponyville."

Silver Spoon nodded, her face shadowed over by a sadness that was unknown. "I moved here from Canterlot with my mom. Daddy had to keep his business going and he didn't want me to go back and forth between him and Mom, so he decided he'd come visit whenever he had the chance."

Sweetie arched a brow. "I don't think I've ever seen your dad come down here... Who is he?"

Silver shifted awkwardly. "You probably don't see him because he wears disguises so no one can recognize him... He got stopped by Spike once, but he had no idea that he was on his way to see me, so nopony knows."

Sweetie blinked in surprise. "Wait, Spike met him? When?"

Silver was about to answer, but Diamond cleared her throat, interrupting her. "Anyway... When Silver first moved here, everypony saw her moving in with her mother into her mansion and they all wanted to be friends with her. At first, I thought they were just being nice to her, just like they were to me." She frowned again, but this time it was more angry than it was melancholy. "But, they weren't being nice."

"They wanted to be friends with you because you were rich, didn't they?" Button asked, looking at Silver.

Silver nodded, her gaze downcast. "Whenever we first went out to Sugarcube Corner together, everypony ordered the most expensive things on the menu. I didn't think anything of it, since I thought everypony must have had money like me and Mom did." Tears sprang to her eyes. "They... They all left and stuck me with the bill... Mom yelled at me for hours because of it. She told me that I was being irresponsible, offering to pay for my class, but I didn't." She wiped her face. "I just thought they wanted to be my friends, not get a free meal..."

Diamond put a hoof on Silver's shoulder and she looked to the Crusaders. "It's OK, S. That was years ago."

Silver nodded in acknowledgement, but her tears continued to fall. "I know... It doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt sometimes..."

"Celestia, that's awful!" Apple Bloom exclaimed. "Ah can't believe they did that to you!"

"Is that why you rub it in everypony's faces when you two go off to do something none of us can afford to do?" Sweetie questioned, suddenly intrigued. "Is it because they all used you?"

Diamond nodded, shame taking over her posture. "It just made me so mad, seeing them hurt Silver like that. She didn't deserve it."

"Yeah, but acting like a plot back isn't gonna fix anything!" Scootaloo protested. "Why didn't you just tell your Mom about what happened?"

Silver's eyes grew wet once more. "Because if I tried, they would all make fun of me... Call me names..." She wiped her eyes again. "Four Eyes... Stuck up... Snob..."

"So, you just kept quiet about it," Sweetie confirmed. "All so they wouldn't turn on you?"

Silver nodded, unable to speak.

Sweetie was horrified. "That's terrible!"

Diamond pulled Silver into a hug and held her for a moment in silence, then continued on with her story. "I couldn't stand to watch Silver be treated so terribly by our peers, so I decided to tell her about my wealth. She was so relieved, but she felt so bad because she knew that she couldn't hide her wealth anymore and that she'd be miserable because of it." She took a deep breath. "So, I told her that instead of trying to hide her wealth..."

"...You should flaunt it," Sweetie finished, her eyes wide.

Diamond nodded. "So, the next day, we went to the school and I told everypony about my money." She looked disgusted. "They were all so happy to know that they had not one, but two rich classmates they could abuse." She scoffed a bit. "They gave us so many fake compliments... It was revolting."

Silver, having finally managed to calm down to a degree, sat up. "One colt came up to us after school that day, asking if we were going to Sugarcube Corner." She blinked back tears. "He had been the one to threaten me when I told everyone I couldn't pay for them anymore."

Diamond's disgusted face turned in shame, as it had before. "I... I shoved him into the mud and laughed at him. Like, really laughed at him. Like Ponyacci had just made the best joke in all of Equestria." She had tears come to her eyes. "I told him that... that we were too good to pay anything for such peasants. "

"They stopped bothering us for money after that," Silver told them. "But... They kept making fun of me, and they started to make fun of Diamond, too."

Diamond grit her teeth. "It made me so angry... I couldn't help that I was born into a wealthy family. They all wanted something from me, and it wasn't friendship." Tears began to run down her face. "And when I wouldn't give them that, they all treated me horribly. Treated both of us horribly."

Sweetie's jaw dropped. "So you started being horrible back."

"Horrible enough that they didn't want to be horrible anymore," Diamond whispered. "At first, it was just an act, to get them to stop... Sometime along the way, I don't know when I stopped acting and when I became horrible."

Sweetie made a sudden realization. "That's why you felt bad for me. You saw that I was trying to do something by myself so I could be good at it and when everyone got mad at me for it, it reminded you of when everyone hated you, didn't it?"

Diamond nodded. "I had become like the very ponies I despised. I... I manipulated all of you for my own benefit, not caring how you felt." The tears came rushing out even more now. "I got so caught up in trying to outdo you that I didn't realize how much damage I was causing. I didn't care how much damage I was causing. I just wanted to..."

She broke out into sobs.

"I just wanted to be good enough."

"You weren't trying to be better than everypony," Sweetie breathed out. "You were just trying to be good enough at something so no one could say that your talent came from your wealth."

Scootaloo stepped up. "But... What is your special talent? You have a cutie mark, so you have to have a talent for something."

Diamond finally stopped sobbing and looked up at the Crusaders. "I got my mark because of my wealth. I'm... I'm not special." She looked at the tiara on her bedstand. "The diamonds in that tiara aren't even real..." She looked at Button. "But, you already knew that, didn't you?"

Button flinched. "I just said that because you were being mean to me and Sweetie."

Diamond sighed. "I know. And I deserved to hear that, because it's true." She picked up the tiara from her stand. "Rhinestones look like diamonds from a distance, but one you get up close and personal, you can tell how cheap they look. They're not special or worth anything... So why should anyone bother admiring something that's not special?"

"Everypony is special!" Sweetie protested. "Everypony knows that!"

Diamond looked at her. "Easy for you to say. You're already good at something and everypony knows it. You can sing, Sweetie Belle."

"Yeah, I can sing, but that's hardly a talent when literally everypony in Ponyville bursts into song at any point," Sweetie amended.

Diamond blinked. "How can you say that? You have a talent, Sweetie Belle!"

"Yeah, but I'm not the best at it," Sweetie told her. "And I'm fine with that. I don't wanna be better than everypony. I just wanna be good at something and be myself."

"You're... fine with being yourself, even if it means you're not the best?"

Sweetie nodded. "Yeah. There's always going to be somepony better than me at something and I'm fine with that." She smiled. "It just gives me another reason to keep being better."

Diamond didn't say anything for a long moment. "Are you saying I don't have to be the best?"

Sweetie arched a brow. "Who told you that you had to be the best?"

Diamond blinked, unsure what to say. Finally, she just looked away. "...No one. No one did."

"So..." Scootaloo said, finally breaking through the silence. "What now? Where do we go from here?" She frowned. "I mean, I get you had a hard time and I understand why you acted like you did, but..."

"Ah'm havin' a bit of a hard time forgiving you for what you did," Apple Bloom finished.

"Yeah..." Button concurred. "I mean, I feel bad for how you two were treated, but you've been... pretty awful to us, even when we didn't even do anything to you."

Sweetie frowned at her friends, but she nodded in sad acknowledgement. "I'm sorry, Diamond, but... We're gonna need some time to really forgive you for what you did." She looked at Silver. "For what both of you did."

Diamond nodded. "I... I understand. I know I can't excuse my behavior."

"Neither can I," Silver agreed, speaking for the first time in awhile. "I want to make it up to you. I want to make it up to everypony."

"I know it's gonna take more than just an apology, but..." Diamond smiled. "I guess we'll just have to start there, won't we?"

Sweetie smiled in return. "Yeah. "

"So... Do you still want us to leave?" Scootaloo questioned.

Diamond looked to the door. "You better. Daddy will be home soon, and I don't think he's gonna be happy to see you all here unannounced."

"Here," Apple Bloom said, giving the key that Randolph had given her to Silver. "You're gonna need this."

Silver nodded. "I'll just tell him I snuck in when no one was looking. That way Randolph doesn't get in trouble."

Diamond looked at her in confusion, but her expression faded as she watched the Crusaders leave. "I'm sorry. Really."

Sweetie stopped walking for a moment, but she didn't look back. Finally, she just said, "I know."

The Crusaders left, leaving Silver and Diamond alone to ponder over their actions.

Author's Note:

"Can you imagine how embarrassing it must be to be... not special?"
-Diamond Tiara, Call of the Cutie

I'm not sure if I'll put the next chapter and the epilogue together or have them separated. Guess I'll figure that out later.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

You know, this is coming out only a few weeks before "Crusaders of The Lost Mark", which could possibly pan out in a light kind of like this.

[howard035]

You know Button's mom doesn't give him an allowance because she spends all that money on video games for him instead. Chivalrous indeed.

[SingABrightSong]

6462099 Huh, I'm thinking the same thing, actually.

[Starlight Shine 27]

Hm, let's see..... I'm saying that in this fic, Diamond's mom is Suri Polomare, or maybe Spoiled Rich, and Silver's dad is Hoity Toity. Eh. :/ ( fimfiction needs shrugging emojis)

[Ded account]

i love the explanation of her rude ness