Rainbooms On the Mind

by Kevinltk

Chapter 14: Getting Schooled (Part 2)

“Where is she?” Natalya muttered from her perch on top of the schoolhouse, ignoring the few weird looks she was getting by some lingering students.

After her talk with Cheerilee, Natalya went outside to find no sign of Scootaloo and had flew up onto the building to get a better view of the area. Since she had stayed inside for around ten minutes tops, Natalya doubted that Scootaloo had wandered off too far, especially since the filly said that she would be waiting for the griffon.

While Natalya was not too worried, the filly’s mysterious absence still made Natalya feel slightly uneasy. She then realized that she probably should be a bit more worried; Rainbow would likely kill her if something really did happen to Scootaloo.

Just as Natalya was about to broaden her search by flying up and doing a quick circle around the area, she spotted a very familiar magenta tail peek out from behind a large tree not too far from the schoolhouse. Immediately, she flew right over to the tree, picking out a few choice words for the filly for wasting her time. However, Natalya’s plan changed when she soon heard that Scootaloo was not alone.

“Like, really?” Diamond’s condescending voice rang. “That presentation of yours was so lame!”

“At least it was better than your presentation when you showed off one your tiaras… again!” Scootaloo shot back.

“Um, excuse me? My newest tiara is the best one yet!”

“It looks exactly the same as the last one,” Scootaloo stated flatly. “I couldn’t even tell you were wearing a new one.”

Diamond scoffed. “Well of course somepony like you wouldn’t notice. Only ponies as sophisticated as me and Silver Spoon can truly appreciate its beauty. It has diamonds in it that are like one carat bigger than the last one.”

“Hate to break it to you, Diamond, but nopony cares about what you put on your head.”

“At least Diamond’s tiara was better than that griffon of yours,” Silver Spoon added. “It was such a downer when she talked about her hometown.”

“Well, who asked you, Silver Spoon?!” Scootaloo shouted back heatedly.

Natalya was able to quietly fly closer and land on a thick branch near the top of the tree without alerting any of the fillies to her presence. It was not much of a hiding spot, but as long as no one looked up, Natalya would be able to watch everything.

From her vantage point, Natalya could see that Scootaloo was backed up against the tree with Diamond and Silver, the grey earth pony with glasses that Natalya saw sitting next to Diamond, standing in front of the pegasus.

Although Natalya did not disagree that her talk about Griffonstone was kind of a mess, she could tell that the two fillies were pestering Scootaloo for their own amusement. Sure, she probably should sweep in and break up the argument, but she first wanted to see how Scootaloo handled the bullies.

“Like, seriously, your show and tell was a total bore,” Diamond complained.

“Yeah, all that you talked about was her flying, just like you always do whenever you bring Rainbow,” said Silver. “So lame.”

“Hey, Rainbow and flying is always awesome,” Scootaloo defended. “And just like Rainbow, Natalya is also awesome. It’s not my fault that you two don’t understand how great flying is.”

“Oh yeah, like you’re the expert on flying,” Diamond sarcastically retorted. “Because you have so much experience with it, right?”

Natalya noticed that Scootaloo stiffened up, but her attention was more focused on giving Diamond a baleful glare as her talons dug into the tree branch.

“W-what do you mean by that?” Scootaloo asked warily.

“You can’t fly, duh.”

Scootaloo flinched. “Y-yeah, so what? I know it sucks, but it’s not like it’s going to stay that way. Unlike you two, I know the meaning of hard work, and I’ve been giving it my all to finally get me flying.”

“And how’s that working for you?” Diamond asked with a devilish smirk.

“Uh, well, it’s still a work in progress…” Scootaloo’s gaze dropped to the ground, but a few moments later, she looked back up at Diamond. With renewed confidence, she declared, “But I got Rainbow coaching me, and Natalya has been helping out as well! They’re two amazing flyers, and with their help, it’s going to happen!”

“Oh please, you’re the only pegasus in our class that still can’t fly. There are even foals that can fly! You’re just wasting everypony’s time, and all your babbling about flying is so annoying.” Diamond walked forward and poked Scootaloo in the chest. “Seriously, just give it up!”

Alright, that’s it. Natalya jumped down from the tree branch and deftly used her wings to reduce her speed to a safe level while still landing with a heavy thump that caused all three fillies to jump and quickly turn to her.

“Natalya?” Scootaloo uttered in surprise as a small smile grew on her face.

“Hey,” Natalya casually greeted, turning toward Scootaloo.

“How did you—”

“I got tired of waiting and went looking for you.”

“Oh, uh, sorry about that.” Scootaloo pointed at the other two fillies. “Those two were being jerks and wouldn’t let me go.”

“Yeah, I figured. Just give me a sec while I deal with them,” Natalya instructed before shifting her full attention to Diamond and Silver.

“We weren’t doing anything,” Silver Spoon quickly defended. “Scootaloo was actually the one who was bother—”

“Save it,” Natalya barked, silencing the filly. “I was actually watching for the past few minutes, so don’t even bother trying to lie.”

“Fine, you caught us. Congratulations,” Diamond sarcastically confessed. “We’ll just leave then.”

“Oh, I’m not done with you two just yet.” Natalya stepped toward the earth ponies, almost stomping her foreleg into the ground. “I heard what you two were saying, especially you,” she stated, pointing at Diamond.

“Yeah, so what?” Diamond challenged, even though she and Silver slowly backed away.

“I really don’t like it that you two are picking on Scootaloo because she can’t fly.” Natalya took another step closer to the fillies and raised a foreleg as she flexed her hand, making sure they could see her sharp talons. “I have half a mind to do something about that.”

“Wait, you can’t do anything to us! We’re just fillies!” Silver protested.

“Doesn’t matter to me. All I see are two ponies that are in need of a good lesson.”

“Hey!” Diamond shouted. She was scowling angrily, but the effect was diminished by her quivering legs. “Y-you better not lay a filthy hoof on me! If anything happens to me, my daddy will get you!”

“You think that scares me? You heard what Griffonstone was like. You and your daddy have lived a pampered life while I was fighting to survive. Whatever daddy can dish out, I assure you, I’ve been through worse.”

Natalya slowly took another step forward, only to suddenly let out a roar and lurch forward with her wings fully spread out.

Diamond and Silver yelped and threw their forelegs around each other as they stared up at Natalya with wide, fearful eyes.

Natalya scoffed. “Alright, now that I got your attention, listen up, because I’m going to say this only once: You two are to never bother Scootaloo again. If you do, I assure you, that I will find you and make you pay. Got it?”

Diamond and Silver feverishly nodded their heads in compliance.

“Good. Now, I suggest that you two scram before I decide to give pony meat a try.”

Natalya kept her eyes on the fillies as they hastily got on their hooves and scampered off. With the troublemakers now long gone, she took a calming breath before turning around to the remaining, more important filly. She paused when she saw that Scootaloo was looking up at her with wide, unblinking eyes.

“Uh, you alright?” Natalya asked warily. She could not tell if Scootaloo was looking at her in fear or awe. She really hoped that it was the latter.

Scootaloo mutely nodded in reply.

“Then what’s with that look?”

“Because… that… was… so… awesome!” Scootaloo cried out, clamping her forehooves up to squish her cheeks as she made a squee sound.

Natalya disguised her breath of relief by clearing her throat. “Okay, uh, cool. So how come you were all the way out here? You said you were going to wait for me outside the schoolhouse.”

“Sorry about that,” an abashed Scootaloo apologized. “When Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started bothering me, I tried to get away and hide behind this tree when they got distracted. Obviously, that didn’t work out.”

“Where’s Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then? Aren’t friends supposed to stick by your side and help get you out of jams?”

“We’re planning to do some crusading for our cutie marks later, so I told them to go on ahead to start setting things up, since I was waiting for you. Guess Diamond and Silver could not resist ganging up on me since I was alone.”

Natalya was about to say that taking a swing at one of the fillies would have shut them right up, but she held her tongue when she realized that Rainbow and Twilight would likely disapprove. Instead, she said, “Rainbow told me some spoiled brats liked to bother you. I take it those two were them.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Yeah, they’re a real pain. They think that they’re better than everypony else because their parents are rich and like to rub it in everypony’s face. While they make life for everypony miserable, my friends and I get targeted more because we still don’t have our cutie marks. They’ve had it out for us for what feels like years.

“Actually, now that I think about it, they’ve been worse than usual. Probably because student pony president elections are coming up soon. Usually, Diamond wins because her mom is the president of the school board, but this time around, Pipsqueak is running against her.”

“Pipsqueak?” Natalya recalled the colt that asked the first question during the show and tell. “That tiny dude with the funny accent?”

“Yep! He’s actually pretty popular, and some of the stuff he wants to do if he becomes president are really cool. I hear that he even wants to go up to the school board to get them to fix up the playground. Diamond has a good chance of actually losing, so it’s no wonder that she’s more snippy than usual.”

“Makes sense. I know that I’m definitely not my usual charming self if a competition doesn’t go my way.” Natalya glanced back at the dilapidated playground. “So what happened over there anyway?”

“Oh, all that stuff was broken by a giant centaur named Tirek that almost took over all of Equestria by sucking the magic out of everypony,” Scootaloo replied nonchalantly.

Natalya slowly turned her head back to Scootaloo, her eyebrow raised. “Seriously?”

“Yep. Feels like this kind of stuff happens at least once a season or so.”

“Okay… So, uh, how about that presentation?”

“Oh, you were awesome!” Scootaloo declared with a broad smile. “I got to talk about your awesome flying, and I learned some stuff about Griffonstone. Some of my classmates even told me they thought the presentation was cool.”

“Really?” Natalya asked with a hint of disbelief. “So everyone liked everything?”

Scootaloo’s smile shrunk. “Um, yep!” Her smile wilted even more at Natalya’s scrutinizing gaze. Eventually, she sighed. “Okay, so some of them might have mentioned that the Griffonstone part was kind of iffy…”

“Yeah, I kind of figured. That was one of the things Cheerilee wanted to talk about.”

“We’re not in any trouble, are we?”

“Nah. She thought that it was a bit much, but still thought it was acceptable for you guys.”

“That’s good.” Scootaloo sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “And sorry that you had to do all that extra talking about griffons and Griffonstone. I should’ve known that Miss Cheerilee would want you to talk about griffon stuff.”

Natalya shrugged. “It’s cool.”

“Well, the good news is that despite the weird parts, I think that, overall, my classmates liked us. I’d definitely say that our presentation was a big success.”

Before Natalya knew it, Scootaloo had her forelegs around the griffon’s chest.

“Thank you, Natalya,” Scootaloo said full of gratitude. “I had a lot of fun doing the show and tell with you. And thank you for also taking care of Diamond and Silver for me.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya slowly raised one of her arms above Scootaloo’s head and moved it up and down, her hand barely touching the filly’s mane in a patting motion. “No problem, Scootaloo. And if those two start giving you too much trouble, just let me know. I would be more than happy to set them straight.”

Scootaloo giggled. “Will do!”

“So I guess that you should be heading off to meet your friends?” Natalya asked when Scootaloo let go of her.

“Yeah, we got some good stuff planned for today. What about you?”

“I think I’ll try to do some training by myself. Rainbow said she probably won’t be able to see me until tomorrow.”

“Alright then. Good luck with that, and thanks again for everything!” Scootaloo gave Natalya one last quick hug before running off.

Natalya watched Scootaloo and only after the filly was out of sight did she take off toward the outskirts of Ponyville. When she arrived at the field where she usually trained with Rainbow, she landed on the grass to do a few quick warm-up stretches before returning to the air to start her training.

It did not take long for Natalya to notice that something was wrong as she worked on her diving. The main problem was that she could feel that she was not reaching the same speeds she was achieving during her last training session. Despite not feeling tired, her movements were on the sluggish side, and even her drive to keep going was much lower than usual as each attempt took longer before she mustered the will to fly back up.

Stopping for a break to try and figure out what was wrong, Natalya’s gaze began wandering around. She was by herself, which was not a surprise because, according to Rainbow, hardly anyone came here. Her training back in Griffonstone was always done in solitude, and she even preferred it that way. For some reason though, now she felt a bit uncomfortable, like something was missing.

Then it hit her.

There was no Rainbow flying close by. No Rainbow shouting out encouragements. No Rainbow at all.

Natalya had grown accustomed to Rainbow’s presence during her training. While Rainbow was still not able to come up with anything that would give Natalya a major breakthrough toward the Sonic Rainboom, it still felt nice to have the pegasus’s support. Natalya knew that Rainbow was growing on her, but she did not realize that her friend might have actually become a vital part of her training routine.

I don’t seriously need her around to do my training… Do I? Natalya asked herself. Hoping that it was not true, she tried to shake off her unease and resumed her flying.

Despite her efforts to power through, Natalya saw that she was still not flying up to her usual standards and soon decided that she had to call it quits. She had probably only spent about half an hour of training, but it just was not worthwhile to continue with her half-hearted flying. She convinced herself that it was just an off day, and the next time she happened to do some training alone, things would be better.

When Natalya flew back to the castle, she noticed that Twilight was standing right in front of the main entrance and speaking with a tan earth pony stallion that had a sleek, black mane and was wearing a shirt collar around his neck, complete with a red tie.

Figuring that it was not her business, Natalya stayed in the air and flew toward her room’s window. However, she was soon stopped when Twilight suddenly teleported in front of her in a burst of magenta light.

“Oh good, you’re home, Natalya,” Twilight greeted.

“Something up, Twilight?”

“Actually, yes. Um, there’s somepony here who needs to talk with you.”

“Oh?” One of Natalya’s eyebrows went up with intrigue, and she looked back at the stallion still standing in front of the castle doors.

“He, um, well…” Twilight’s gaze drifted to the side as she tapped her forehooves together nervously. “This might sound weird, but he actually says that you threatened her daughter.”

“Oh.” Natalya's eyes went down halfway into a bored stare. “Let me guess, that’s Diamond Tiara’s father?”

“Uh, yes. Wait, don’t tell me that there’s some truth to his claim?”

“Maybe, but doesn’t matter. I’m not interested in him.” Natalya flew around Twilight to get to her room, but the alicorn promptly teleported right back in front of her.

“Natalya, this is serious,” Twilight stated, frowning sternly. “Did you seriously threaten Diamond?”

“Yes.”

Twilight’s eyes bulged and she sputtered a few times. “W-what? Why?!”

“She and her friend were bothering Scootaloo.”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, at least you have a good reason, but that doesn’t change the fact that you threatened somepony’s daughter. You have to talk to him and tell your side of the story.”

“Somehow, I don’t think he’ll really listen to what I have to say.”

“Trust me, he will. Filthy Rich is a pretty understanding pony. Just talk to him. It will only take a few minutes, and it could very well save you a lot of hassle later on.”

“You’re not going to let me ignore him, are you?”

“That would be correct.”

Natalya let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine, let’s get this over with,” she conceded, allowing Twilight to lead her back down to the castle doors.

“Filthy Rich, this is Natalya,” Twilight introduced as she and the griffon landed in front of the earth pony. “And Natalya, this is Filthy Rich.”

“Sup,” Natalya greeted the stone-faced stallion.

Filthy’s eyebrow rose over the casual greeting. “Um, yes, hello there… Please, call me Mr. Rich. So, Natalya, I take it Princess Twilight has explained why I am here?”

“Yep,” Natalya answered in a bored tone.

Filthy did not reply, as though waiting for Natalya to continue, but after a few seconds he cleared his throat. “Yes, well, is it true that you threatened to eat my daughter, Diamond Tiara?”

“Yep.”

This time, Filthy let out an annoyed huff and frowned. “Natalya, this is a grave matter. You scared my child, and I do not appreciate you making light of the situation. I have half a mind to go straight to the proper authorities and press charges against you.”

“Mr. Rich, please, there’s no need to do that,” Twilight said hastily, stepping in between Natalya and Filthy. “Natalya has a perfectly—”

“Twilight, I got this,” Natalya interrupted, gently but firmly pushing the alicorn back with a wing as she moved back in front of Filthy. “Alright, so I’m just going to take a wild stab in the dark here. Your precious daughter came home in tears and cried over how I, the big, mean griffon, swooped down on her and did the whole threatening to eat her thing.”

“Yes, that is pretty much true…” Filthy cautiously replied, his eyes narrowing at Natalya.

“Well, you’ll be happy to know that she was telling the truth.”

Filthy’s frown morphed into a scowl. “So you are admitting—”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Natalya stated cooly. “But I’m not done yet. Let me ask you this: Did she tell you what she was doing before I did all of that stuff?”

Filthy stared at Natalya for a moment and then quietly admitted, “No, she did not.”

What a surprise, Natalya thought before continuing her explanation. “Well, then you might be interested to know that your daughter and her friend were picking on another filly who happens to be a friend of mine.”

The scowl on Filthy’s face softened. “I see… But you—”

“Still not done yet. Anyway, this friend of mine, Scootaloo…” Natalya noticed that Filthy drew in a sharp breath, and she filed that information away for later. “I did a show and tell thing at the school with her, and I had to stay back for a bit to talk to the teacher. When I found Scootaloo again, your Diamond and that Silver friend of hers were harassing her about our presentation. Granted, our show and tell thing wasn’t the greatest, so a bunch of stuff that they said was actually true.”

“And yet you still saw the need to confront my daughter?” Filthy asked. “Even though she might have just been critiquing on your presentation?”

“Hmm… I suppose you do have a point if Diamond really was just commenting about the presentation… Too bad that wasn’t the case. Diamond went on to insult Scootaloo about her wings and not being able to fly, even telling her to give up on trying. Once she said those things, I had to step in.”

Filthy winced. “I see… While I am still not happy that you threatened my daughter, I suppose that you did have a somewhat good reason for doing so.”

“A somewhat good reason?”

“Now, now, I understand that Diamond’s insults were a bit out of hoof, but—”

“No, you don’t understand,” Natalya accused. She walked closer to Filthy and used her small height advantage to loom over the pony. “Now you listen here, and you listen good. I come from Griffonstone. I’ll spare you the details, but the gist is that we don’t have much going on for us over there. But if there’s one thing we can be proud of, it’s our ability to fly. It’s one of the few things that let us truly be free and let us escape the crud in our lives. Flying is something griffons live for. You do not mess with a griffon’s wings or their flying, and I have no doubt that pegasus are the same.

“You may not know it, but Scootaloo is having trouble with her flying, but I’ve seen how much she has worked for it and how much it means to her. Having someone make fun of her and trying to discourage her is one of the last thing she needs. I like her spunk, and I’m not going to let anyone mess with her, got it?”

Both Twilight and Filthy stared at Natalya, who was breathing a bit heavily after her spiel, their mouths slightly agape.

After a few seconds, Filthy closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. As he slowly let it out, he opened his eyes back up and nodded. “Very well then. Forgive me for not understanding the gravity of the situation. I will concede that you had a valid reason to confront my daughter.”

Natalya only let out an irritated huff in response. She was sure that Filthy did not completely grasp the importance of her tirade, but she still had to give the stallion credit for actually agreeing with her. Dealing with him was not going as bad as she thought.

“However, the fact remains that you had placed a threat on my daughter, and I will not allow you to lay a single hoof on her. Because I now understand the reasonings behind your actions, I am going to offer you a deal. I will drop the whole matter and tell Diamond to not bother Scootaloo again. All that I ask in return is that you agree to stay away from my daughter.”

“Thank you, Mr. Rich,” Twilight promptly spoke up. “That is very generous of you, and I’m sure—”

“Yeah, no deal,” Natalya interrupted.

“What?!” Twilight and Filthy both incredulously cried.

“Natalya, you could resolve this whole thing right now,” Twilight continued. “Why would you turn Mr. Rich’s offer down?”

“Because I know that Diamond won’t keep up her end of the bargain,” Natalya answered.

“Natalya, I assure you that I will sit her down and make sure she does not bother Scootaloo,” Filthy added.

“So how many times have you done that before?”

Filthy blinked. “Pardon?”

“This isn’t the first time Diamond has had a problem with Scootaloo,” Natalya accused. “Scootaloo told me that Diamond has been bothering her for a long time.”

“Well, I suppose that might be—”

“Don’t pretend to be all innocent. I saw your reaction when I first mentioned Scootaloo’s name. You know that she likes to mess with Scootaloo. Whatever you’re doing with Diamond, you’re doing it wrong.”

“Are you saying that I don’t know how to raise my own daughter?!” Filthy fumed.

“Considering how much of a brat she is, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. You can keep talking to your daughter, but she’s just going to go back and bother Scootaloo. Well, that’s not gonna happen anymore, so long as I’m around.”

“Now see here, Natalya,” Filthy protested in a raised voice, glaring at the griffon. “Yes, Diamond has had issues with Scootaloo and her friends, but you cannot just threaten her. She’s a filly for goodness sake!”

“So?”

“It means that she’s still a child! She doesn’t know any better!”

“Doesn’t matter. Look, Ponyville might be all nice and dandy, but there’s a whole world out there, and I can assure you, it’s not always pretty. I’ve seen others get into a lot more trouble for saying the wrong thing. You are very lucky that I’ve been hanging out with Twilight and Rainbow, otherwise, Diamond wouldn’t have been left off with just a warning.”

“Regardless of what you have seen, here, we are civilized ponies, Natalya, and you shall not touch a single hair on Diamond!”

“You know that you can’t protect her forever, and you’re not doing her any favors by fighting all of her battles for her. She thinks that she can do anything, when in reality, it’s the exact opposite. One of these days, her mouth is going to get her into a lot of trouble, so I suggest that she either learns how to fight her own battles or that she learns to shut her mouth.”

“Diamond is smart enough to avoid something like that from ever happening. Yes, there will come a time when I won’t always be there for her, but by then, she will have grown up to be a fine mare who will be more than capable of dealing with brutes such as you.”

“So in other words, you’re just going to wait and hope she turns out alright.”

“She will be more than alright.”

Natalya rolled her eyes. “Yeah, this isn’t going anywhere anymore. I’m done.” She marched right for the castle, ignoring Twilight and Filthy’s calls for her, and slammed the door behind her as she went inside.

Fuming, Natalya headed straight for the kitchen where she hoped that a snack would alleviate the foul mood Filthy put her in. Upon entering the kitchen, she grabbed a box of leftover Sugarcube Corner pastries from the counter and pulled up a chair toward the table in the center of the room.

Plopping herself onto the chair, Natalya extracted a donut and began taking out her anger on the innocent pastry by viciously chomping down on it. Probably not by coincidence, the donut was a very similar color to Filthy Rich’s coat.

Gobbling down her delicious donut in silence, Natalya was already starting to feel better over her dealings with Filthy, even when she knew that it was likely the stallion would be going to the guards about her. She was not worried though; It was not like she had done anything big… yet.

As Natalya reached into the box for another pastry, she hoped that she was not developing a stress eating habit. She was trying to limit her intake of sugar, but it did not help that Sugarcube Corner’s delectable goods were readily available, especially since many of them were free from when Gilda brought them home. Fortunately, after only a bit of time and several sweets later, Natalya had completely calmed down and was slowly nibbling on a scone that was already in her claws.

“Natalya, you around here?” Twilight’s voice called out.

Not doubting that the alicorn was going to give her a lecture about their talk with Filthy Rich, Natalya was tempted to remain quiet, however, she knew that it would just be delaying the inevitable. There was also a good chance that Twilight was not happy with how she handled things, and Natalya did not want to further irritate the pony giving her a free room.

After letting out a long sigh, Natalya called back, “In here, Twilight.”

A few seconds later, Twilight walked into the kitchen, her eyes swiftly focusing on the box of pastries. Her horn glowed and a second chair started moving toward the table at the same time a muffin flew out of the box. Letting out a quiet, weary moan, the alicorn sat down next to Natalya before taking a huge bite out of the floating muffin, letting out a hum as she closed her eyes.

“So that Filthy dude is gone?” Natalya asked.

Twilight let out an exasperated sigh and her ears flicked in annoyance. “Yes, he’s gone…”

“Cool.” Natalya could almost sense the eye roll behind the alicorn’s closed eyelids.

The two of them spent a few moments nibbling on their respective pastries before Twilight stated, “Filthy Rich is not happy with you.”

“Not a surprise there,” Natalya said as she finished off her scone.

“But I did manage to talk him down. He’s not going to do anything.”

Natalya glanced at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. “Really now?”

“Yes, because I told him that you would not touch Diamond.”

Natalya had to restrain herself from slamming her fist onto the table. “I said that I’m not okay with that,” she reminded, trying to not let anger bleed into her words.

“I know, but it was the only way to placate Filthy Rich. You didn’t exactly make things easy when you stormed away.”

“It’s not like he was going to say anything else worthwhile. I bet that after I was gone, he complained about me before demanding you to do something to protect Diamond.”

“Well… You’re not exactly wrong there, but you also missed the part where I pointed out that you made several valid points, even though they could’ve been told in a more diplomatic manner.”

“I don’t waste time trying to sugarcoat things.”

“Yes, I noticed,” Twilight remarked flatly. “You should give it a try though. Finding the right words makes it easier for others to listen to you and not want to call the guards instead.”

Natalya shrugged. “Whatever.” She was treated to an unhidden eye roll from Twilight.

“Anyway, you were right that Diamond has also had problems in the past,” Twilight admitted. “The thing is, Filthy Rich knows that, but he doesn’t do enough to stop it.”

“In other words, he doesn’t want to do anything to daddy’s little girl.”

“More or less. I don’t think the mother is helping either. I’ve met her and she is really stuck-up. I think she’s even encouraging Diamond’s behavior.”

“Oh goodie… so does that mean I get a visit from mommy soon?” Natalya asked with as little enthusiasm as possible.

Twilight shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. It seems like Filthy Rich is the one who gets involved whenever Diamond does something. As long as you don’t do anything to Diamond, you should be fine.”

Natalya scowled. “So, assuming I even think about leaving Diamond alone, what’s stopping that brat from bothering Scootaloo?”

“Well, I did point that out to Filthy Rich, in a nicer way, of course. Since that seemed to be your main concern, I was able to get him to agree that if Diamond does get out of hoof with Scootaloo again, you are allowed to confront her.”

Natalya grinned and punched her open hand with her other hand. “Sweet.”

“Confront her verbally. You are not to lay a single hoof, claw, or whatever else on her!” Twilight pointed at the griffon with a hoof and gave her a stern glare.

“Aww, you’re no fun.”

“Do not hurt her, Natalya! I mean it!”

Natalya made an amused snorting sound and leaned back in her seat. “Relax, it wasn’t like I was actually going to.”

Twilight blinked, and her hoof slowly lowered back to the floor. “Wait, you weren’t?”

“Nope. I know that I’m rough around the edges, but I do at least have some decency.”

“But the way you were speaking earlier… I mean, you didn’t hesitate, and you were speaking with so much conviction. You really had me worried.”

“That was the plan. It’s called a bluff.”

“So basically, a lie.”

“Pretty much. Filthy just has to believe that I’m going to do something and that will maybe spur him to put in a bit more effort to disciplining that spoiled kid of his.”

“But that’s so deceitful and wrong!” Twilight cried out, suddenly standing up as she placed her forelegs on the table. “You shouldn’t have to threaten or intimidate others to solve a problem!”

Natalya gave the alicorn a flat glare. “Twilight, I know that you’re the Princess of Friendship and like to stick with the being nice stuff, but that’s not always going to work. Sometimes, you need to suck it up and go for a more forceful approach if you want to get things done. Be honest, you've had to deal with someone and being all nice and friendly to them didn’t work.”

“Well…” Twilight was quiet for a bit as she searched her memories. Eventually, she slowly nodded. “I do suppose you have a point…” She returned to giving Natalya a stern look. “But that’s only for extreme cases. For all the other times, things can be solved so that everypony is happy if you took the time to understand each other.”

“Yeah, well, you have your way and I have mine.”

“Just try it, Natalya,” Twilight recommended, softening her gaze as she sat back down. “I know that you’ve been slowly accepting friendship, based on what Rainbow has told me about your times together. You’d be surprised how often it works.”

“Yeah, well…” Natalya paused when she saw the pleading look Twilight was giving her. Glancing away, she grumbled, “I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

“That’s good enough for me.”

“Yeah, yeah… So is that everything?” Natalya got a nod in reply. “Good. I think I’m going to head up to my room and chill for a bit.”

“Alright then, Natalya. See you later.”

“See ya,” Natalya replied as she got up and made her way out of the room.

“Oh, Natalya, there actually is one more thing,” Twilight called out, making Natalya glance back at the alicorn. “I just want to say that I still don’t really approve of your methods, but I’m proud of you for standing up for Scootaloo. I’m sure Rainbow would feel the same way.”

Natalya stared at Twilight for a few seconds. Unsure of what to say, she merely gave Twilight a nod in thanks and resumed her walk back to her room.

She had no more plans for today, so she considered going to bed a bit earlier tonight so that she be well-rested for tomorrow. Rainbow would be free again tomorrow, and Natalya could already hear the pegasus badgering her for every single detail of the show and tell with Scootaloo. Natalya was also curious to see how Rainbow would react when she told her about how she dealt with Diamond and Filthy. It was sure to be amusing.

Not only that, but it should be easy to get Rainbow to train with her again, and after the barrage of questions about doing her own Sonic Rainboom during the show and tell, Natalya knew that she had to take things to the next level. She just needed to figure out how.

Natalya was looking forward to tomorrow.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Gustav the dessert chef?

Baldrick. What suprised me was how you managed to get so much cream out of such a small cat.

Griffonstone, twinned with Oxford?

Melchard:Its a right dump.

I get this suspicion that someone might like a bit of Blackadder.

Its a good thing Natalya hasnt seen any stallions she likes, visiting Ponyville, or she might want to move out of The Castle, and into the Hotel Coltifornia.

Theres one trick that would let Natalya achieve her dream, with the help of Dash, and what Pinkie would probably end up naming, or more likely Scootaloo.

Slipstream Drive.

[zalla661]

Now I want the election to happen so Natalya can me Spoiled Rich. That would be glorious!

[Cursed Quill]

you better not lay a filthy hoof on me!

and I will not allow you to lay a single hoof on her.

"I couldn't do that, dude, I'm a gryphon."

You are not to lay a single hoof, claw, or whatever else on her!”

See, she gets it.

[HeartfireFirebrand]

Natalya gave the alicorn a flat glare. “Twilight, I know that you’re the Princess of Friendship and like to stick with the being nice stuff, but that’s not always going to work. Sometimes, you need to suck it up and go for a more forceful approach if you want to get things done. Be honest, you've had to deal with someone and being all nice and friendly to them didn’t work.”

It didn't work with Tirek and won't work here Twilight. Tirek didn't become good, he is locked in Tartarus where he belongs.

[Emperor]

Hah. I forgot about Gustav. Maybe Gilda will have to go meet him, considering he's another gryphon that got out and got into cuisine. Unlike him, though, I imagine she'll actually return home to Griffonstone and stay there, but bringing her talents with her.

Not too surprised that Natalya would threaten Diamond Tiara like that, considering how rough she is around the edges. But considering this is a mostly light-hearted fanfic based in a mostly light-hearted series, of course she wouldn't go much further than that on a filly. Besides, DT will be having a face-fetlock-turn soon enough anyways.