Diamond Cutter Anthology Entries

by Mudpony

Pool Party

"Well, she did give us those peppermints she made," Diamond Tiara said.

"Good memory, Di," Silver Spoon said. "That should totally bump her up one slot, putting her into 'Sorta cool but not really', alongside Alula and Rumble. And with that, we've got everypony in the class." Silver Spoon ran her hoof down the list, just to be sure. "Yup, everypony."

"Okay, now what?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Hmm… I got nothing," Silver Spoon said.

"Me either," Diamond Tiara said.

"Maybe your mother knows of something? She knows everything that's going on in town."

Diamond Tiara nodded, and rose to her feet. With rapid steps, she threaded her way through the pencils and papers littering the floor from their list making, and headed out the door. Silver Spoon followed a step behind. Together, the two fillies made their way to the sunroom.

"I'm bored, Mom," Diamond Tiara complained.

"What was that, dear?" Spoiled Rich asked, without shifting her attention away from the scarf she was knitting for the annual Ponyville Start of Summer Clothing Drive. This particular scarf was red with white snowflakes, and it would soon join three other scarves, four caps, and twelve pairs of thick woolen shocks, all woven by Spoiled Rich as part of her contribution. The the other part was the time she invested as the head of the drive, one of many community organizations she headed.

"Sil and I are boooored," Diamond Tiara repeated.

"Uh-huh. There's totally nothing to do," Silver Spoon added.

Spoiled Rich set down her work and turned her full attention to her daughter. "Well, why not play with your toys? Maybe read a book? Or maybe make that change to your garden you've been planning?"

"We can't read a book together, Mom," Diamond Tiara said. "And reading different books just isn't any fun."

Silver Spoon nodded in agreement. "We've done the other stuff already as well, Mrs. Rich. We even went through Di's closet to set aside things for your clothing drive."

"And there's totally nothing else to look forward to either. No parties, no sales, nothing."

Spoiled Rich furled her brows. "So what you are saying is that your schedule is blanker than a baby's flank? Well, if that's that's the case, whose fault is that? You know what I always say..."

"You don't get to complain if you aren't willing to do something about it," both fillies chorused.

"That's right. Now…" Spoiled Rich reached for the monthly weather report, slid her hoof down to the current week, and nodded. "It's supposed to be nice weather tomorrow. Why not throw a pool party?"

"A pool party?"

"Get some goodies, maybe some entertainment, and invite all the foals whose families can't afford their own pools, and I believe that's all of them, over. Not really their fault their parents aren't successful. Just this once, of course. Provided they're not too unwashed." Spoiled Rich paused for a second. "I'd better book a pool cleaning on Saturday. Can't be too careful with those common ponies, you know."

"I suppose a pool party…" Diamond Tiara started, her voice trailing off as she let her imagination start to paint a picture of the possibilities.

"...Could be fun," Silver Spoon finished, wrapping a hoof around Diamond Tiara. "I'm sure we can get everything planned in time."

"Of course you can, Silver dear," Spoiled Rich said, looking up from her knitting at the two fillies. "You're winners, and winners always find a way. I'm sure your father can give you some bits so you can get everything you need."

"Okay, we'll do it," Diamond Tiara said, firmly slapping her hoof down. "Thanks, Mom."

---

The bits clinked musically as Diamond organized them into four piles. Each was dedicated to a single purpose. The first, and largest by far, was for delicious treats. The second was considerably smaller, and it was for healthier fare. The pile didn't exist because either filly wanted it. If they had their way, all the food budget would go to ice cream, cake, and candy. But then some adult would no doubt object and demand the majority of bits be spent on icky stuff like kale instead. So the trick was to allocate just enough bits to the more edible healthy things to avoid that. The third for decorations, party favors, and towels. It wouldn't do for one of the lesser ponies to get something icky on the family's regular towels, after all. And the last pile, which was also the smallest, was for invitations. To have them printed, rather than for supplies to make them, of course.

"There," Diamond said. "I think that should do it."

"Now we just need to decide who takes care of what," Silver Spoon said.

"I'll take care of the food." Diamond Tiara reached out and, with a hoof for each, pulled the two piles of bits close. "And you can take care of the invitations and party favors. Just give the decorations and stuff to Randolf. He'll make sure everything gets set up."

"Sounds like a plan," Silver Spoon said. "So who all are we, like, going to invite?"

Diamond Tiara rested her chin on her hoof as she pondered the question. Should she invite everyone? No, she decided. She most definitely did not want those blank flanks over, not after the last time. "Just the cool foals, I think."

Silver Spoon looked at her pile of coins, then back to Diamond Tiara. "Uh, will we need this many bits if it's—"

"Any decorations and stuff we have left we'll just save for next time," Diamond Tiara said. "That way, we'll be prepared if we want to have a totally awesome slumber party."

"Oh yeah. Good thinking, Di!"

"Don't be afraid to get some fancy invitations. We want to make sure everypony knows just how awesome our party will be."

"I'll make sure to get the best one invitations ever. Anyone who sees them will be so jealous of us, for sure!" And with that, Silver Spoon swept her bits into her saddlebags and headed out the door.

---

"And here's your invitation," Silver Spoon said.

Diamond Tiara accepted the gilded envelop and whistled. "Wow, you did go fancy with them. You must have bargained hard to be able to get them this nice."

Silver Spoon shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. I mean, I bargained a little, but it wound up not costing all the bits anyway, so I got some extra decorations instead…

"Clown decorations." Silver Spoon's eyes sparkled mischievously.

Diamond Tiara's eyes shot wide open. "You'd better not have gotten any clowns!" she growled. "Never clowns."

"I'm sure Randolf and the maids have got them all set up already," Silver Spoon continued.

"You didn't… not really, right?" asked the wide-eyed Diamond Tiara.

Silver Spoon laughed. "Of course not, silly. I wouldn't do that to you."

Diamond Tiara let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, Sil."

Silver Spoon gave her friend a sly wink. "Well, how about we get ready?"

"No rush," Diamond Tiara said. "It wouldn't do to not arrive fashionably late, even to our own party. I'll just have Randolf greet the guests."

"But… we're, like, —"

Diamond Tiara opened the door. Sticking her head out into the hallway, she hollered "Randolf!" repeatedly. She bopped her head impatiently to the beat of Randolf's approaching hoofsteps. "Faster, Randolf!"

"Ma'am?" Randolf asked between gasps of air, as he did his best fish on land impersonation.

"Please wait out by the pool to greet our guests as they arrive," Diamond Tiara. She waited for him to carry out her orders, but instead he just stood there, breathing rapidly. She raised a hoof to shoo him away. "Go already. And don't call me ma'am!"

Watching him depart, she smiled. "There. Now the guests will be greeted, and we can totally be fashionably late." She bounced forward and threw herself upon her bed. With a deep sigh, she rolled onto her back, letting her head dangle over the edge, and gaven an upside down grin at Silver Spoon.

"But Di," Silver Spoon said, "we're—"

"Fine," Diamond Tiara said, flopping off the bed and pulling upon a drawer. "I guess we'd better get dressed, else we'll stray into unfashionably late." She reached inside and fished out a pair of swim suits. "What do you think will go better with my sun hat, Sil? The purple or the yellow?"

Silver Spoon tilted her head slightly and glanced between the pair. "Definitely the purple. The yellow doesn't work well with your coat. But Di…"

"Purple it is, and of course you can borrow the yellow one." Diamond Tiara tossed the yellow swimsuit over to her friend and started to slip into her own. "You should see all the food, Sil. The Cakes made the prettiest cake, and I got eight tubs of ice cream. All our favorite flavors. And four different types of salad mixes, plus a big pile of sandwiches from that new sub place on Mane Street."

"That much?" Silver Spoon asked. "I don't think I could eat that much."

"Well, you don't have to eat it all, Sil. And besides, with all the swimming we'll be doing, we'll burn off a ton of calories, so we'll need the energy. Speaking of swimming, don't forget your swim cap. Wouldn't want your mane to wind up looking like Twist's."

Silver Spoon caught the cap in her teeth and quickly slipped it on. She took a moment to check the mirror, making sure it wasn't crooked. Satisfied, she went over to her saddlebags and took out her prescription sunglasses. "All set!"

"Me too," Diamond Tiara said, her own cap, a custom piece complete with a tiara on top, in place. "Let's do this!"

The two fillies headed down the stairs, through the hall, and out the door. The only sounds were their hooves striking the wooden floor, well, that or the rugs that covered the floor.

Diamond Tiara looked toward the pool. There wasn't a single pony splashing in or diving into it. Arching one eyebrow, she shifted her attention toward the fence that protected the Rich's manor from the common ponies beyond. Not a single pony stood there, eager to be let in.

"Um, like, where is everypony?" Diamond TIara asked. She wondered if they had all rejected her invitation, but squashed that thought as quickly as it had come. One or two of the more foalish might have dared to reject her, and their reason might even be forgivable, given the short notice, but no pony showing up? There was just no way that was possible, short of the end of Equestria.

"We're it," Silver Spoon said. "You said to invite the cool ponies. As per our list, that's just us, and we're all here."

Diamond Tiara slammed her hoof against her forehead. "That's not what I meant!"

"It's what you said. If you'd wanted to invite the 'sorta cool, but not reallies' or the 'uncool, but not as uncool as blank flanks', you should have said so," Silver Spoon stated, quite matter of factly. "I mean, I wasn't sure if that was really what you wanted, but whenever I tried to bring it up, you always switched the topic or re-assured me that everything was, like, going to be awesome." She shrugged. "So I figured the party was totally just for us and we'd talk about how awesome to everyone else who wasn't invited. You know, like normal."

Diamond Tiara lifted her hoof to shade her eyes from the hot sun that was already starting to melt the tubs of ice cream. Her gaze went to the tables of food, with the two maids standing behind them, ready to serve, before drifting over to the bundles of balloons tied to the poolside furniture and threatening to lift them into the air. Randolf stood post at the gate, waiting for guests that were not coming.

"Mom's so going to kill me."

Author's Note:

An idea I had while watching this LPS short:

And as to the aftermath of this party...

At Randolf's suggestion, he, both maids, and both fillies went out to invite every foal they could find. Which turned out to be a lot. More than Diamond and Sil had planned for, but luckily, many had parents who sent some food along with their foals, turning the pool party into a bit of a potluck. Of course, it didn't all turn out perfect. Diamond Tiara did get into some trouble with her mother, though it was over the quantity of guests, rather than the lack thereof. Also, the CMC did show, and of course, failed to get cutie marks in anything pool party related. And when it was all said and done, the pool cleaning was most definitely needed.

All in all, though, good times were had and fond memories made.