Sticks and Stones

by CowgirlVK

Will never Hurt Me

Beep! Whoosh! Beep! Whoosh!

Diamond Tiara sat holding her mother’s hoof. No longer was her mother’s face artistically painted. Her mouth wasn’t scowling, her fur was tight against her bones, wrinkled and clammy. Her cheeks were pale, and her body was nearly unresponsive.

Diamond could hear her father outside talking loudly with the doctor. She’d had a stroke. A stroke that had nearly shut down her entire body.

Beep! Whoosh!

Her mother’s chest rose and fell as the respirator forced the dying mare to breathe. It was just her. Just Diamond Tiara. Nopony else had dropped in for a visit. Nopony else had sent flowers. There wasn’t even a balloon tied to the headboard like she had seen in many of the other rooms. Not even a card sat propped up on any of the tables. Never, never in her life had she felt so alone as she did at that moment.

Her head snapped upright as the door opened. Filthy Rich sighed and walked over to his daughter sadly. “How is she?” he asked.

Diamond Tiara wiped away a tear from her swollen eyes. “She’s—” A sob choked her. Taking a deep breath, she continued. “Nopony cares about her, do they? Nopony cares about us! Not even the Spoons!”

Filthy Rich only sighed. “There there,” he soothed, “I don’t think the Spoons know yet. I’ve sent a note, but it isn’t likely they’ll get it anytime soon.” He had no other words to comfort the filly. Spoiled Rich was a bully, one that even surpassed his daughter in her cruelty. Nopony ever wanted to spend time with her. Her only “friends” were as stuck up as she was, and to take time out of their day to visit a smelly, cold hospital... nope, not them. There were other places they needed to be.

And so the small family was alone, alone with the beeps and the whooshes of the machines that kept her spoiled heart beating.

“She’s gonna die! My momma is going to die!” Diamond Tiara said to herself.

“There there, she might pull through,” Filthy said absently.

“Did the doctor say so? Come on Daddy! I’m a big filly, you can’t fool me!”

The stallion winced. “No,” he said truthfully, “No.”

The young, almost mare’s namesake tiara fell of her head, clattering to the floor as Diamond fell to the ground in a mess of sobs. “No!” she wailed, “No!”

------------------------

“Oh that poor filly!”

Apple Bloom sat just out of eyesight around the kitchen corner listening in on her big sister’s conversation with Muffins.

“Yep, so that’s why Filthy wasn’t able to come by today to discuss jam sales,” Muffins said in her high-pitched sort of way.

“Thank ya’ for tellin’ me,” Applejack said.

No sooner had Applejack closed the door than Apple Bloom had rounded the corner. “What happened?” she asked.

The orange mare sighed. Removing her stetson, she guided her younger sister to the couch. “Ya know Diamond Tiara?”

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. “Of course!” she stated.

“Do ya know her ma?” Applejack asked again.

Apple Bloom glanced back at her marked flank. “Ah’ve seen her.”

Applejack sighed, “Ya see, last night during one of their parties, somepony... angered Mrs. Rich. She ended up giving herself a major stroke. Not that ah’m surprised, the mare—” She stopped herself. “Was a tad upclass.”

The smaller yellow filly nodded, “So, Mr. Rich won’t be coming by ta pick up our batch of jams taday afterall.”

Despite the fact Mrs. Rich got on Apple Bloom’s nerves, she couldn’t help but be slightly concerned. “Will she be alright?”

Applejack shook her head. “She’s not expected ta last the night.”

The sisters sat in silence for several moments, Apple Bloom hugging her sister’s forehoof like a lifeline. “Ah don’t suppose Diamond will have many visitors. She ain’t exactly liked,” she noted.

“Ah don’t suppose there will be,” Applejack affirmed.

Apple Bloom sighed, then lept to her hooves and dashed for the kitchen.

“AB?” Applejack asked, startled by her younger sister.

But she was on a mission. Apple Bloom found her saddle bag, a jar of jam, and three leftover fritters from lunch. After dropping them in her bag, she galloped up the stairs to her room, blowing past a very confused Applejack.

Once up in her room, the filly found a piece of paper and a crayon and drew a simple “Thinking of You” sympathy card. After signing her name, she dropped it in an envelope and dashed back down the stairs, once more blowing past her sister who was on her way up the steps.

Back in the kitchen, Apple Bloom collected her bags and dropped the note in with her other items. She was just about to go out the door when Applejack caught up with her. “Whoa there Nelly!” the elder mare said, catching her sister around the torso.

“Come on sis! Ya said yerself she probably didn’t have many friends ta make her feel better,” Apple Bloom complained.

Applejack nodded, “That ah did. But ya ain’t goin’ without a pie.”

Apple Bloom smiled, then nodded. As she and her sister worked, her mind raced back to the earliest she could remember. If it hadn’t been for the Rich family, they’d have lost their farm a hundred times over. Filthy Rich had always been there to buy a bag of apples or to loan them the money they’d need to repair this, that, or the other.

Apple Bloom nearly giggled when she thought of the time Filthy Rich made Diamond bounce around in that bunny costume. Though she’d felt so silly, she knew that Diamond felt completely humiliated. It’d given her so much satisfaction at the time, but now—Apple Bloom’s stomach churned. “Are ya sure one pie will be enough, Applejack?” Apple Bloom asked.

“If they need more, we can bring it,” Applejack pointed out.

“Big Mac can polish off a pie all by ‘imself!” the younger sister stated.

“There’s fritters in that bag, right?”

Apple Bloom nodded.

“Well AB, then all they need is shoulder ta’ cry on, just like Mr. Rich was there for us when Ma and Pa died. Ya’ go on ahead, I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Alright Sis,” Apple Bloom said, “See ya’ then.”

Tightening her pack to her back, she galloped down the road to pick up her friends before the three of them stopped in to be there for their newfound friend in her time of grief.

----------------

Nothing had changed over the past three hours. Her mother still looked drawn, her father looked absent, and Diamond Tiara felt sick. The food was horrible, and the smell wasn’t much better. Not that she was exactly hungry.

She held her mother’s non-tethered hoof, rubbing it back and forth on her own cheek. “Come on, Mother!”

Beep! Whoosh! Beep!

No change. The pink filly brushed a stray piece of mane from her face. Her tiara no longer lay where it had fallen. The nice nurse, Redheart, she believed, had managed to scoop it up and put it on the table where it wouldn’t get damaged, not that Diamond really cared at that moment.

Knock! Knock!

“Enter!” her father said listlessly.

Diamond assumed it was just another nurse or doctor swinging by to check on her mother.

“Diamond?”

The pink filly didn’t move, her head stayed down, her eyes closed.

Something hard but warm settled on her shoulder. “Diamond?”

It didn’t matter. It really didn’t matter. All that mattered was her mother, and she was leaving her.

“Diamond.” This time it was firmer, and it was pulling Diamond’s listless self towards it. Now it was important. She looked up into the face of her former victim, Apple Bloom.

“Shh,” the youngest Apple sibling soothed, rubbing her hoof up and down on Diamond’s back.

Diamond Tiara looked up as she felt herself encompassed in warm hugs. Not only was there Apple Bloom, but Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were there as well. None of them spoke, allowing Diamond to take it in.

“We are so sorry!” Sweetie finally said, breaking the silence.

“Why?” the spoiled filly asked, “Why do you even care?”

They all pulled back somewhat shocked. “Diamond, we can never forget everything you ever said to us,” Scootaloo said.

“You really hurt us,” Sweetie added.

“But, if we left ya alone right now, we would be hurting you worse than how you hurt us,” Apple Bloom finished.

Now it was Diamond’s turn to be stunned again. “Wha-What?” she stuttered.

Apple Bloom stood and walked to the door. Retrieving her saddle bag, she pulled out a neatly tied up cloth bundle from out of it. “Just a bit of somethin’.”

Diamond hesitated, blinked, then tentatively removed the wrapping paper.

With a gasp, Diamond Tiara put a hoof to her mouth, new tears springing to her eyes. “A pie!” she exclaimed.

“That’s not all!” Sweetie then disappeared and came back with a bunch of balloons, which she tied to the vacant rocking chair in the other corner.

Scootaloo then disappeared and came back with a big card. “It isn’t much, but nopony deserves to be alone.”

BEEEEEEEEP!

All five of them looked up as the machine flatlined.

“NO!” Diamond screamed.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom both had to hold her back as the nurses and doctors swarmed the room. But they could do nothing. Spoiled Rich was gone.

----------------------------------

It wasn’t a large funeral. Nopony wanted to attend. Pinkie had been there, Mayor Mare had done the ceremony, and a few other ponies around town were sprinkled through the oversized room.

Silver Spoon sat beside her, holding her best friend close as Diamond Tiara sobbed.

Now it was over. The town shrew was gone, and the now motherless filly sat in her room, watching the town move and bustle around.

The way home had been horrible! She figured most of them had meant well, but the few of her mother’s “friends” who had shown up had such heartless words to share that Diamond wished they had stayed home. Nothing but sneers and jests met her from those ponies.

Her mother’s ways were wrong. Stepping on other ponies was no way to get to the top. If she wanted to lead, being a bully was not the way to go.

Nopony cared for Spoiled Rich. Tolerated, maybe, but love? The whole town had known she was dying. They all knew she had passed, and yet, so few came, so few cared.

Her mind trailed back, way back. Sticks and stones will break my bones—the old schoolyard chant. She paused there, grimacing as she thought of a way to change the end. “But my words… can both help and hurt me,” she said aloud. “They can hurt everypony!”

Author's Note:

Diamond’s home story has been reacted to in many different ways. Some shrug, others don’t care, still others love it.

There are many types of bullies in this world. Trolls, Gang Leader, Snake, Victim Card Bullies who pretend to be the victim so they can hurt you worse, and the Pay it Forward Bully, which is what Diamond Tiara has been shown to be. Spoiled Rich is hard to tell, we have only had one appearance. But it is evident her motive is wealth and popularity, and she doesn’t care how she gets it. There might be some pain in her past, but as far as we can tell, she just loves to hurt people.

In my heart of hearts, I’ve wondered how losing her mother would affect Diamond, and how the town would respond to it. It’s obvious her only ‘friends’ are those who are just as cold as she is. So it’s not any doubt that with the exception of maybe Pinkie Pie (Who BTW; provided those balloons), they probably wouldn’t care that Spoiled was gone. Gossip and heartless comments would have been the only words out of their mouths.

So, I hope you enjoyed this story. If you did, please check out my other works.

Cowgirl Out.

Comments

[Vanilla Mocha]

Very touching story.

[CowgirlVK]

7012590 Thank-you. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

[Vanilla Mocha]

7012600 You're welcome ^^

[CowgirlVK]

7012667 Despite my idealist nature, I'm very much a realist. I've written tragedy since- forever. I suppose loosing Rusty, my pet turtle was the trigger into the genera. That's just the first I've written on here. Before MDP, all I ever wrote was tragedy.

And you are right, the drugs and stress didn't help. I could see this being how in real life the events would take place. AJ has the southerner's POV on death. Always go to a funeral, and always support the family. No matter who you are, you pull over, and if you know the family, you bring food. This is what is instilled into us. I wanted to show that in the story. But on the flip side, I wanted to show how the crowd Spoiled would treat her passing. I've seen this, friends to your face, assassins to your back.

[Fluttercheer]

I haven't read this story yet, but I saw that you call Derpy "Muffins" in it.
I assume you saw her getting credited as "Muffins" at the end of the 100th Episode and that's why you thought it would be appropriate and the right choice.
Calling her like this is unfortunate and you shouldn't do this.
That she's mentioned like this in the credits has a long and tragic history that led up to that and running with it and calling her that way too is supporting all the wrong people, people who don't use their right of voicing their opinions to change the world for the better, but instead to blackmail others and to force them into submission so that they get it their (hateful) way.

[CowgirlVK]

7014310 I never liked the other two names. The fans know who I'm talking about, and if I can avoid using bad taste words... I will. Muffins is what I chose, and I'm not changing my choice. As the author, that's my choice.

[Fluttercheer]

7014405

The problem with you using "Muffins" is that you, indirectly, support the activities of mail terrorists who are so entitled to think they have the right to write Hasbro and even Amy Keating Rogers herself and tell them what they should do because they didn't like what they saw/heard in an episode, because their pressure from four years ago which still lingers in Hasbro's mind is the only reason why Hasbro demanded that her name gets censored for the credits of the 100th Episode.
And this mail terrorism happened because of hating on a disabled character even, which makes it worse, because it carries the message that a disabled character can't be shown on TV and must either be hidden or changed to "normal".
Regardless of cartoon character or not, imagine how that sounds:

"You are disabled, you can't be shown on TV!"

That I criticize that name choice is not aimed at your decision as an author how to write your stories, it's aimed at the moral complications that calling her "Muffins" brings up, both in regards to disabled characters/people on TV as well as a serious case of blackmailing, terrorizing and harassment of people who make a TV show.
In the same way you feel your artists' rights violated by me telling you that you shouldn't use "Muffins" as name for her, Amy Keating Rogers and the rest of the team at DHX felt violated in theirs when the haters complained and made Hasbro making them change the scene.
If you want to keep calling her "Muffins" in your stories because of your own artists' rights, you unwillingly support the violations of other artists' rights and that on a far bigger scale than it would be if you would call her "Derpy" again in your stories.
I can assure you that DHX isn't happy about it that Hasbro forced this censorship of Derpy's name into the credits of "Slice of Life" either.

and if I can avoid using bad taste words... I will.

"Derpy" is no bad taste name. It's a different word for "clumsy" and refers to and describes Derpy's clumsyness:

http://de.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=derpy&defid=6512926

http://de.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Derpy&defid=8190658

Which is completely appropriate in a society that always names its children according to their talents and/or specific characteristics.
If you heard anyone saying that "Derpy" means "mentally disabled" or "retarded", then this came from a hater.
Those haters unfortunately like it to spread around the wrong meaning of her name in order to justify their assault four years ago.
There is no reason to be worried about unfortunate meanings of her name, because those meanings are all made up by people who need to construct themselves an argument against Derpy and her name.

[CowgirlVK]

7015320 I've written it how I've written it. I won't argue this topic with you. It was one line in the story, of almost no consequence, or impact to the story. I could just as soon take the entire line out and it not effect the story in little way. The name IS in the credits of the show, so it's the name I chose for this story. I as the author had that choice. It's only a stink if YOU make it such. I respect you have a difference of opinion, but I don't have to follow your advice.

[Fluttercheer]

7015542

It's only a stink if YOU make it such.

As far as I can recall from human history, a stink never became less of a stink by ignoring it.
Blissful denial makes you not see a problem maybe, but it never lets the problem go away.
That Derpy is called "Muffins" is no childs play, even if some bronies like to pretend so because they see the censoring of her name as trade-off for it that she can stay in the show, it's a serious issue and I do think I laid out the reasons for that well enough.
And it's now time to do something against it that the fandom starts supporting this terrible censorship before Hasbro goes nuts completely and demands the censoring of her name when it's actually mentioned in the show again too (the credits are luckily not canon, so this is nothing more than a first warning sign, one that should be taken seriously, though).

I respect you have a difference of opinion, but I don't have to follow your advice.

With all due respect, but what gives you the conviction that not following my advice and just sticking to call her "Muffins" would be the right thing to do, as opposed to stay loyal to her true name so that Derpy's haters won't get more power again?

[Godiswithus3]

I like this fic. The scene between Diamond and the CMC was a sweet touch. I had good feels from it. And the moral you display is correct. Living a life to hurt others and you will eventually die alone. That is a very depressing dilemma to think about.

[CowgirlVK]

7015733 Thank you for the compliment. It's not something we like to think about, but it is real life.

[Jarvy Jared]

7015655 You do you, pal, and how about you not harass the author for going the route of deciding which name to use.

There's nothing romantic nor honorable in what you're saying. It's just over-analytical without any analysis or any good amount of conclusion.

If you wish to imply that, by deciding to call Derpy "Muffins" instead of Derpy, that the author supports oppression, you had better have the facts to back that accusation up. As far as I can tell, you've brought none to the table. Kindly step off your soap box and ruminate a bit more before you start getting mad about something as simple as a name dictation.

[Fluttercheer]

7022043

If you wish to imply that, by deciding to call Derpy "Muffins" instead of Derpy, that the author supports oppression, you had better have the facts to back that accusation up.

And if you wish to imply that I said she approves of oppression, you had better the facts to back that accusation up too.

Kindly step off your soap box and ruminate a bit more before you start getting mad about something as simple as a name dictation.

Getting called out and insulted for trying to encourage others to support a good cause and to make the right decision.
I'm struggling with deciding if I should call this a general trait of humanity or of bronies.
Thanks for the advice, but considering what bullshit gets supported with censoring her name, I feel very comfortable on my soap box.
Sorry, not sorry.

[CowgirlVK]

7022043
7022165

Please, both of you. Fighting over this won't change opinions. It will only add numbers to this story's comments section. This is an argument that won't be won by either side, it will only flame tempers, and disrupt harmony. And thus, dissuade members of this community from reading the comments, and perhaps answering questions they have had over the story. If you wish to argue, take it to another page.

I appreciate in both of you that you are willing to speak out for what you believe in. But other people have other opinions and it's often best to just agree to disagree and carry on with our lives.

[Fluttercheer]

7022208

Oh, I'm definitely not starting a fight with him, don't worry. My mood is way too good for it to ruin it with a fight and I have way too many things I still want to do before Season 6 starts to have time for that.
But I was also attacked here and defended myself against an unfounded accusation and I fear I will have to continue to do so if he makes more accusations.
Not keeping you from deleting comments here if he chooses to continue to talk crap about me, but if he does, I will answer accordingly.

[Jim Hoxworth]

7015655
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