Dove The One You're With—Part I
“Diamond?”
Okay, the order goes cauldron, kettle, saucer. Right? Diamond Tiara double-checked the instructions Mr. Silver had given her earlier that morning. Right.
She’d never made tea before (this wasn’t tea, but it involved dunking flowers in water, so close enough) but she remembered Silver Spoon saying that the tea had to be in the cup before the water. She’d bite her face off for screwing up something even resembling tea. Bad way to kick off a scrying session.
“Diamond Tiara, did you hear me?”
On the other hoof, if it got Silver’s attention, messing up might be worth it. She’d understand a first-timer mistake. Diamond glanced at the tiny hill of chamomile, lavender, and hibiscus petals at the bottom of the mini-cauldron beside her hooves. Not worth it. If Silvie came in grumpy, Diamond would need to calm her down, which might stir them up even more, and they might never get to talking about…
Menace raised his head from the kitchen tile and blinked slowly, his wings splayed out at his sides like a snow angel. The blue and white sweater vest Fluttershy had given him matched the panic room carpet.
...About the stuff they needed to talk about. No time to screw around, Di. Get it together.
“Diamond!”
Although getting it together would be much easier if certain ponies would go away and leave her alone. “I’m listening, Mother. Go on.”
Seconds ticked by before Spoiled eased back into her lecture. Or scolding. Diamond hadn’t listened enough to know which one; not that it mattered, one eventually turned into the other.
“Finer than tea leaves, but thicker than sugar grains,” the instructions said. Taking a pestle in her jaws, Diamond went to work grinding the petals into a semi-fine powder. Like beach sand, almost.
Under the scrape and grind of stone on cast iron, the voice of Spoiled Rich talked. And talked. And talked. She’d been going on like this for the past ten minutes, occasionally pausing for an awkward cough here or a stutter there. Her spiel paused every few minutes to check if Diamond was paying attention or glare disapprovingly or whatever. Who knew? Who cared?
Figuring out her stepmother ate time. Pretending to listen ate time. Diamond glanced at Menace, who’d laid his head back on the carpet. Tempus pecunia est. The family motto rang ominously in her head. Time is money. Spoiled blew through money like it burned a hole in her wallet. If she wanted to talk, let her talk. It wasted less time and effort than it’d take to argue.
For now, Diamond staved her off with a steady feed of small nods and the occasional “yes, ma’am.”
Against her instincts, Diamond’s ear swiveled back to the one-sided conversation.
“…yet, the fact of it is that life—er… that is, life…” There was a pause and a rustle of paper. “The way of life is that it is made up of meetings and pairings—partings! Meetings and partings.” Diamond looked over her shoulder in time to see Spoiled slide a bit of paper into her robe pocket. She’d prepped a speech.
Good. That meant she wouldn’t need much commentary from Diamond. Speaking of which, time for another nod: slow and methodical, as if Diamond was contemplating something very serious. It seemed to satisfy Spoiled. Most adults didn’t need more than a small concession to their authority. Adult speaks, foal listens. Adult instructs, foal does. Repeat until graduation.
Splashes of pink, white, and lavender speckled the black iron in a mini pastel galaxy. Fitting for a wish. Diamond tilted it to show Menace while she knelt to scratch the black rainbow feathers in his neck. He tilted his head at the cauldron and scratched at his sweater vest.
“You’ll like Silver when you see her.” Diamond kissed the top of her pigeon’s head, which made all his feathers fluff up. “I know she’s gonna love you, too. Silver has good taste.”
Cauldron done. Hardest part over; time for the kettle. Thank goodness the panic room came with its own kitchenette, or this would be a lot more complicated. Diamond set the cauldron in the sink, flipping the faucet on. She watched the flower particles drift in the water, swishing it to dislodge stubborn bits stuck to the sides before she transferred the water to the kettle.
Silver Spoon’s kettle, elegantly crafted from the same stainless steel used for surgeries and sporting a long thin spout, matched its owner to a T. Scrying spells required a personal item of the contact’s, so what better to use for transferring the water? For insurance, Mr. Silver had let her borrow a silver saucer from his kitchen for the scrying vessel itself. If this didn’t grab Silvie, nothing would.
Gently, Diamond Tiara gripped the kettle’s handle in her teeth, one hoof steadying the bottom as she brought it to the saucer on the floor. This needed concentration and precision. She tilted her ears to filter out background chatter, lifted the kettle up to pour… and realized she had no background noise to filter.
She only heard pouring water. Spoiled had stopped talking, and Diamond got the sinking suspicion that she’d stopped a while ago. Her eyes slowly slid upward.
Frost practically rolled off Spoiled Rich’s shoulders as her glacial stare bore down upon her. Yet when she spoke, it didn’t sound cold at all. No false-sense-of-security warmth either. Just…. kinda flat, like a popped buckball. “What are you doing?” A question that implied other questions: “You haven’t heard a word I’ve said, have you?” or “Why is this more important than listening to me?”
Diamond blinked up at her stepmother as the last drops fell from the kettle spout. She chewed the handle in her mouth, feeling more than a little stupid. “Um. Shcryin’.”
“Don’t speak with your mouth full, it’s impolite.” Spoiled’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Of course, it’s also poor manners to ignore somepony when they’re talking to you.”
A blue sheen the same shade as Diamond’s cutie mark skimmed the surface of the water. The last three drops fell, rippling outward from the center in perfect circles, a radar reaching through Equestria for Silver Spoon’s magical signature. Powdered petals swirled across the reflective surface.
Diamond set the kettle down and breathed hard. “I said I’m scrying, Mother.”
“Since when do you know how to perform scrying magic?” Spoiled might have sounded impressed if she weren’t so confused.
“I asked Mr. Silver to show me how. I-I’m trying to talk to—uh, Silver Spoon’s in Canterlot right now, but I wanted to show Menace to her. She… um.” Diamond glanced away and wrapped her tail protectively around the saucer. “She doesn’t know I have a new pet. I wanted to surprise her when she got back, but I decided to show him to her now, instead.”
The ice softened all at once, and it worried Diamond more than the glacier stare had. “Oh.” Spoiled’s ears swayed back and forth, processing this new information. “Oh. Well. I see. That’s…” She cleared the frog in her throat. “I suppose that’s understandable.”
Seven deluxe milkshakes and a banana split churned in Diamond’s stomach. Maybe breakfast at Sugarcube Corner hadn’t been such a great idea. She knew she ought to be relieved that Spoiled didn’t get mad or yell at her or use it as another excuse for a lecture but… she should have been mad.
The muscles in Spoiled’s muzzle sloped downward, though she still smiled. A strange but familiar expression. Where had Diamond seen it before? “So Silver can see your bird while she still has the chance.”
Diamond studied her stepmother’s face and clenched her teeth. Fluttershy.
That was the same stupid pathetic face Fluttershy wouldn’t quit giving her yesterday, except Spoiled’s face never learned how to do sympathy. A changeling newbie who'd learned the definition of compassion five minutes ago.
The queasy stomach churn boiled over and hardened like leather. You know what? Forget smiling and nodding. What did she have to be scared of, anyway? Spoiled couldn’t break the pet contract now.
“Actually, no, Mother.” Saying that never got old. “Silvie is going to see Menace personally when she gets back home next week. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”
As if on cue, Menace scratched at his sweater vest and snagged his left foot on a thread. Untangling his claws before he unraveled the whole thing, Diamond noticed the sweater had rumpled in the struggle. Good thing he had Diamond here to fix it before it slid off his neck.
Still nipping at one of the buttons on his back, Menace wobbled off to flop back down on the carpet. Every few seconds his foot scratched at the crochet.
“It’s been a… weird week. I needed somepony to talk to, that’s all.” Diamond checked the scrying saucer. Nothing so far.
Spoiled’s overly pointed nose poked over the water, her reflection wrinkled and wriggling in the silver. “Somepony to talk to?” Her voice rose to a fever pitch. “Somepony to talk to?!”
Was there an echo in here?
“Diamond, what in Tartarus do you think we’re doing right now? We’re in the middle of a conversation.”
“No, you’re in the middle of a conversation.”
Diamond froze. Did she just say that out loud? One glance at her stepmother’s reflection in the bowl sealed it. Horseapples.
“Excuse me, young lady?”
No going back now. “I don’t want to talk to you.” Diamond lashed her tail and ducked to the side before Spoiled could reach for her. “No. I’m busy talking to Silver Spoon.”
She hadn’t quite frosted over again, but at least that phony-baloney Fluttershy smile was gone. Spoiled waved her hoof over the silvery eddies and shifting petals in the saucer. “Where is she, then?”
“I only just started. Give it a chance to work first.”
Mr. Silver’s warnings haunted her like bad credit: “Might.” “No promises.” “She’ll contact you IF she can.” “There’s a good chance she’s not even home.”
Being home didn’t matter, right? Scrying connected water with water—even water mixed with other stuff. Still, Silver could be walking through a yard with no fountains or puddles, or at a garden party with no punch bowl. She could sit in her family’s big fancy mansion in a room with rugs too expensive to risk a spill, surrounded by relatives who’d drop everything to help Silver in an instant and loved her very much.
Meanwhile, Dad was caught in a work emergency miles away, and Mom…
Mom had her reasons.
Ugly, envious feelings Diamond had tried to leave behind came roaring back in full force. It wasn’t fair. Even without her parents, Silvie still had an army of other Silvers to back her up in a crisis. And who did Diamond have?
Spoiled Rich eyed the clock, then the rippling water, unimpressed. “How long do you plan to wait, Diamond? An hour? All day?”
“Maybe. If I have to.” Diamond flattened her ears. “It’s summer vacation. I have all the time in the world.”
“You do, maybe.”
Menace flapped weakly with a sad little coo. His toes had gotten tangled in the sweater threads again. Diamond scooped him up and held him close, still glaring at Spoiled.
Undeterred, Spoiled crouched beside her. “You really want to spend the time you have left with your bird waiting around for Silver Spoon to show up? Is that how you want to remember his last days? Maybe his last hours?”
Ignoring his grumblings, Diamond unstrung Menace’s foot. He still looked so cute in his little vest. Soon he’d be able to show it off to all of Ponyville. Menace shifted in her hooves limply when she set him down on the counter. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Menace knows how to wait.”
“Diamond. Sweetheart.” Spoiled’s patience wore thin. She scanned the crumpled notes in her robe pocket, but Diamond Tiara had gone off script and they’d be worthless now. She never really knew what to do when Diamond had the audacity to be her own pony.
Unclenching her teeth, Spoiled sighed again—specifically, one of the cooldown sighs Dr. Belfry taught. “I don’t want to fight,” she slowly said, “but Diamond, we need to talk about this. Us. I’m not—it’s just a talk. Is that really so bad?”
For one stupid second, Diamond considered the possibility. Who knew when Silver Spoon could get back to her, and wasn’t somepony better than nopony?
Spoiled rested her hoof on Diamond’s withers. “After all, you should be able to talk to your mother about these sorts of things.”
The world went red, all steam and thorns. Diamond stiffened. Liars knew liars. This wasn’t a lie. It was something worse.
No. No, ma’am. Spoiled Rich did not get to roll in at the last second with last minute sniffles and get to be all sad with hugs and heart-to-hearts. Where were those hugs when she lost the class election? Or when she got kicked out of the school newspaper? Or when Carat Cut attacked her for no reason at the wedding?
Diamond shoved the hoof off her shoulder. “My mother lives in Applewood.”
Spoiled’s pained flinch was nothing short of satisfying. “Listen, I understand how hard this is for you. I don’t want to have this conversation either, but—”
“Don’t, then!” Diamond wheeled around so fast that Menace flapped away in alarm.
He stumbled through the air and dropped straight down onto a loveseat in a cloud of feathers. After a moment, his black head poked over the armrest, dizzy but fine. Just fine.
“You don’t really care about my pigeon, and you don’t care what I have to say. You just wanna hear yourself talk.” Stomping back to the saucer, Diamond sat hard on her rump. “Not like there’s even anything to talk about, anyway.”
Still unable to leave anypony alone for two seconds, Spoiled followed her. “Diamond, Menace is—”
“Fine. There’s nothing wrong with my bird; he needs some rest, that’s all.”
“Celestia help me.” Spoiled ran her hoof down her face and kept it there. “Are you really doing this? Still?” She rubbed the slope of her muzzle. “What is this, denial? Some sort of—what do they call it? A coping mechanism?”
Careful not to spill the water, Diamond pulled the saucer into her lap so that she could see her face in the silver. “This is me trying to do a scrying spell, and I’d like to focus on it, thanks. We can talk later.”
The rings in the water came slower, farther and farther apart until none came at all. Little bits of petal swirled in a steady ebb and flow until they settled into fuzzy blobs of color at the bottom of the saucer. It reminded her of the way the world had looked that time Diamond tried on Silver’s glasses. If she squinted, Diamond could make out shapes: red drapes, a crowd shifting in the background, and buffet dishes around the edge of the saucer. She must have connected to a punch bowl or something.
A familiar shade of grey appeared over the rim, the color almost indistinguishable against the silver saucer. Silver Spoon pricked her ears, stretching her neck over the water. She called to somepony out of view. After a moment, a white unicorn with a yellow mane joined her. He lit his horn and the water began to clear into a solid image of Silver Spoon and…
Diamond tilted her head. That pony looked kind of like Prince—
The image broke with a splash. “What—hey!”
Spoiled lifted the saucer up and out of Diamond Tiara’s reach. “I tried doing this the nice way, but fine.” Dark spots of water dripped across the tile on the way to the sink.
“HAY! What are you doing? Give that back!” Diamond rushed after her, scrambling to snatch the saucer. Above her head, Silver’s confused voice bubbled as if underwater.
Staring Diamond in the face, Spoiled Rich tipped the saucer in the sink. Petals, water, and all. “Diamond Tiara. Your pigeon is going to die.”
“I…”
It all unraveled so fast. Diamond didn’t even know which thread to grasp. All she could do was sit and watch as the only chance to talk to her best friend gurgled down the sink.
“I’m sorry, Diamond, but that’s the fact of it.”
“You…” Diamond Tiara cradled the empty saucer. Wet bits of lavender and hibiscus stuck to her shaking hoof. “You’re a liar,” she whispered.
The saucer went flying before Diamond realized she’d thrown it. A streak of silver cut through the kitchenette and struck a cabinet so hard the panic room echoed. Spoiled stared at the dent in the wood, mere inches from her nose.
This would mean a grounding. Two weeks minimum, probably a month. Maybe even worse. Dad would be so disappointed. It might even mean no pageants until next season; say goodbye to Nationals again. Diamond Tiara didn’t care.
“You are a LIAR!”
The indent in the cabinet went deep enough to fit the edge of Spoiled’s horseshoe. She brushed her hoof over it, frowning. “So much for handling this maturely. After your little brawl with Silver Spoon, I’d have expected you to know better by now.” She shook her head at the upturned saucer and set it properly on the counter. “Ruin all the walls you like, but it won’t change a thing. You need to face facts.”
“You mean the facts you pulled out of your butt? It’s not true just because you say it is, and—” Diamond braced her hooves against the tile and swallowed hard. “A-and I bet you’re just mad ‘cause I said you’re not my mom. So who’s the pony here who can’t handle the truth?”
If it affected her, Spoiled didn’t show it. She walked past Diamond, out of the kitchenette, and settled on the ottoman beside the loveseat. Her robe pooled over the yellow upholstery in waves of paisley silk. “So. I’m a liar, am I?” A flash of purple tail twitched under the robe. “I suppose Fluttershy is a liar as well, then? Did I slip her a bag of bits under the table for a diagnosis? Everypony can see the animal isn’t well. Look at him.”
Menace slowly blinked at her from the opposite end of the loveseat. The struggle of climbing out of the accent pillows had taken a lot out of him. His neck lolled so far back his head touched his shoulders while he tried to bite the buttons on his sweater. Privately, Diamond wondered if Spoiled had seen him eat anything that morning.
Actually, Spoiled shouldn’t have let him come out of the cage, either. He needed rest and a quiet place to recover, but Spoiled wouldn’t even let him have that. Diamond glanced at the dented cabinet. I didn’t help much, either. He’d been dozing quietly on the carpet before Diamond woke him.
Menace fidgeted as Diamond gathered him up. She coaxed his neck upright, kissed the top of his head, and put him in his cozy nest at the bottom of the cage. “He doesn’t act like a dead bird to me.”
“Yet.” Spoiled solemnly nodded to herself. “Pretending it won’t happen will only make it worse when it does. It’s only a matter of days.”
“That’s not what Fluttershy said, Mother.” Diamond closed the door and pulled the velvet curtains around the cage to block out the light. “It’s a concussion. Fluttershy also said that birds can shake it off after a few days, and he’s already lasted this long, hasn’t he?”
Menace had more fight in him than the Celestial Guard; he’d take on a hawk if anypony’d let him. More than ever, Diamond knew this handsome little pigeon belonged in her family. Unlike other ponies she could name. “If she thought Menace was about to die, Fluttershy would have said so.”
“Fluttershy wanted to leave you a glimmer of hope, and furthermore she thought…” The sentence trailed off into discontented muttering. Spoiled brushed molted feathers off the loveseat cushion and took a seat for herself. An open spot sat beside her for Diamond. “She thought this sort of discussion would be better left between family.”
“Not much to discuss; you already decided he’s doomed.” Diamond’s eyes widened. “You thought Menace was going to die from the beginning, didn’t you? This whole time.”
No wonder Dad kept staring at Menace so weird. As predicted, Spoiled set her bird up for failure, just not in the way Diamond had thought. And back at the wedding… “She’s just a filly,” Spoiled had told Dainty Dove. “She’s not ready for it.”
“That’s why you tried so hard to get the dove keeper to take him back, too.”
“Also because the creature looked like the plague with wings.” Spoiled wrinkled her nose at the birdcage, but her heart wasn’t in it. “...But that is the main reason, yes.” Her eye glanced at Diamond and then away. “You’ve… had a difficult year, Diamond. Some of that might be my fault. A lot of it, maybe. I didn’t want to help make it any harder.”
That actually almost sounded like an apology.
Diamond Tiara pricked her ears, taking a small step toward the loveseat.
Which probably meant a trick. Probably. Maybe. …Possibly?
She stayed put, carefully eying the spot left open for her beside Spoiled.
Spoiled brought her eyes up without glancing away this time. “You deserve a pet that’s not… that. At the very least, you deserve something that’ll last the week.” She gave a sad sort of half-chuckle. “Pity’s sake, how does that look? I get you a pet and it keels over the second we bring it home.”
Only Spoiled Rich could see a pigeon on his (supposed) deathbed and still make it about herself. Diamond humphed, lashing her tail. “Sounds about right to me. Whatever happens, I brought it on myself. Remember?”
Spoiled rubbed her forehooves awkwardly. “Alright, I shouldn’t have said that. But Diamond, I only—”
“What do you know about the kind of pet I deserve?” Diamond snapped. “You don’t know the first thing about Menace II Society. You glanced at him for two seconds and decided he’s garbage before you ever got to know him. Dad knew him half the time that you did, but at least he petted him.”
Even after Menace had slapped Dad’s hoof, he never said a bad word about him. It had probably been to spare Diamond’s feelings, but he still gave him a fair chance. It wouldn’t surprise her one bit if Spoiled had been rooting for Menace to die from the start just so she wouldn’t have to put up with a gross bird in the house. It’d be the perfect way to spite Diamond for picking a pet she didn’t approve of; it would serve her right for making decisions on her own.
“I’m not stupid. I know Menace isn’t a normal dove. I know he doesn’t feel good—he’s really hurt and he might… he might not get better. That doesn’t mean he’s doomed.” Diamond angled her ears towards the birdcage. Menace must have gone to sleep; he’d grown quiet. Softer, she added, “It doesn’t mean you can just give up on him and throw him away.”
Spoiled ran both hooves through her limp mane. It still looked so weird without all the mousse holding it up. “That’s not what I meant. Optimism’s one thing, but we must be realistic.”
Standing still next to this mare for too long got Diamond’s hooves all hot and fidgety. She shoved off the armrest and began to pace. Moving felt better. Moving meant going somewhere, even if it was only a circuit around the loveseat.
Realistic: another of Mom’s loser words. The grown-up way of saying you’re likely going to fail anyway, so don’t even try. “I’m sorry about what I said before; you’re not a liar. You’re a quitter.”
The loveseat creaked under Spoiled’s weight, and Diamond heard her approach from behind. Without turning her head, she shifted away from Spoiled’s hoof before it could touch her. “When there’s a problem, you don’t throw your hooves up and go home, you push through it. You push until you win.” Diamond turned to face the mare in her house and stomped her hoof. “My real mom knows that. She taught me to push through, no matter what it takes to get there, because she’s not a quitter.”
Spoiled gave her a slow, sad blink. Her gaze settled on a hairline crack jutting through the pearly pink of Diamond’s right forehoof. “Yes, Diamond Tiara. So I’ve been told.”
That… that wasn’t fair.
It wasn’t.
The injury in Vanhoover had been an accident. It wasn’t Mom’s fault. If Diamond had just practiced more, if she’d skipped lunch for an extra hour of training, then she wouldn’t have hurt her hoof on that last jump. If she’d practiced her jumps, she wouldn’t have had to go to the hospital. Dad wouldn’t have had to get so upset. If Diamond hadn’t hurt her hoof, Mom would still be here instead of all the way in Applewood. Mom would have taken Menace to every single vet in a fifty-mile radius until they found somepony who could help. Mom would do everything possible; she would have tried instead of throwing in the towel before the first bell. She didn’t know the meaning of the word “quit.”
In the northern corner of the panic room sat the drum set Mom had given her for Hearth’s Warming. The one she’d sent by mail instead of coming to town in person like she’d promised. It got busy in Applewood, and as an agent, Mom juggled lots of clients. She had tons of work and didn’t need to waste her time hanging out with a filly who couldn’t even make a simple jump…
Diamond shook her head. No. No, Mom just had work pile up. That’s all. She didn’t like visiting Ponyville, but was always happy to see her.
“My Mom…” The room became wet and blurry, and something wet slid down her cheek. I want my Mom. But Mom had no patience for losers, and only babies and losers cried when things didn’t go their way. No wonder she never wanted to visit Ponyville. Diamond Tiara wiped her eyes and sniffed. “My mom only pushed me ‘cause she knew I could do it.”
Spoiled rubbed her fetlock. She opened her mouth, then thought better of it.
After a quiet moment, Diamond added, “My mom doesn’t think I’m stupid, either.”
“What?” Spoiled’s ears twitched, then wilted. “I don’t think you’re—”
“Yeah, you do! You’re always breathing down my neck, acting like I’m too dumb to do anything by myself without messing up.” Diamond swung her hoof towards the birdcage. “The one time I can pick something out for myself, you decide I don’t know what I’m doing and try to fix it behind my back without even telling me why. You could’ve told me from the start you thought Menace was going to die.”
Spoiled gave a frustrated little huff. “For all the good that would have done. You don’t listen to a single word I say—even on a good day. You wouldn’t have believed me if I’d tried.”
“No, because you’d still be wrong. But like, you still could’ve, like, trusted me enough to…” Diamond slumped on the carpet. She didn’t want to fight anymore. It didn’t get her anywhere or make anypony feel any better, especially not her. Why couldn’t Spoiled go back upstairs and leave them alone? “I dunno why you’re even down here. You don’t even like me.”
Spoiled drew back, clutching her hoof to her chest. “Diamond Dazzle Tiara, what a thing to say! I love you.”
Diamond slumped harder, watching her own tail twitch limply on the carpet. “Tch, right. Since when?”
She felt Spoiled’s iron-hard stare without lifting her head. Maybe Diamond had said too much, gone too far. (What else was new?) Yelling, scolding, and fussing never felt good, but the real danger came when ponies got quiet. Right now, her stepmom had gone dead silent.
Too late (as always), it occurred to Diamond that she’d never seen Spoiled Rich truly angry; not the kind where adults forgot that they were dealing with foals. Spoiled’s anger never peaked above a six. What did her eights look like? Or the tens? It wasn’t like she could go to anypony else for help; Dad was miles away and Randolph could be on the other side of the house for all she knew. Nopony would hear them all the way down here, anyway.
In the corner of her eye, Spoiled sat again. “Young filly—”
“I’m sorry, I just—”
“—come here. Right now.” Her tone meant business.
Maybe if Diamond cooperated and apologized again, Spoiled would only bite half of her head off. Avoiding sudden movements, she came to stand beside the loveseat. If this counted as close enough, maybe she wouldn’t have to—
“Sit.” On the bright side, she didn’t seem angry. Upset, maybe, but not in her usual sputtering offended way—this felt quieter. Focused.
Diamond pulled herself onto the ottoman. She still didn’t sit next to her, but it must have been close enough because Spoiled didn’t complain.
Lowering herself to Diamond’s eye level, Spoiled Rich sprawled across the loveseat like a sphynx, absolutely still save for the slow blink of her eyes. “Luckily, you’re right: I don’t like you. If I liked you, I wouldn’t bother coming down here.”
Diamond blinked. “Um. What?”
“It’s a beautiful Saturday morning in the midst of Gala season. I could be preparing for the Pommelway wedding next month, or at the spa getting a steam—Cadance knows I need one—or shopping for a dress, or sleeping in. There are hundreds of places I’d rather be besides an overblown basement with a dying bird and a daughter who can’t stand me, but…” Spoiled steepled both hooves and breathed.
Diamond glanced at the sweet freedom of the stairs. For a second, she wondered if Spoiled was done, but no such luck.
“Let me put this another way. Diamond, if I weren’t in your hair, would you like staying down here?”
This had “trick question” written all over it. Sidestepping the question wouldn’t work, and any chance of charming her way out vanished the second she’d thrown the saucer. If Silvie were here, she’d advise treading lightly. “I’d like it a lot better than I do right now?”
Wrong answer. Spoiled flicked her tail and waited.
“I… I dunno. Yes? Maybe?” It’d be a lot more peaceful.
“Oh? So you like sitting down here in the panic room watching a hurt pigeon sleep and limp over the carpet?” Spoiled crossed her forelegs, leaning into the cushions. “Nopony’s forcing you to be here, you know. All he needs is rest; Menace doesn’t need your help for that. Wouldn’t you rather be visiting with those scruffy Crusader friends of yours, or that filly who hangs around graveyards?” She shrugged and motioned at the birdcage. “Do you enjoy any part of this? Do you like seeing Menace this way?”
Menace hadn’t made a peep since Diamond had put him to bed. The velvet drawn around the cage felt less like bed curtains and more like a funeral shroud. She missed him making a racket, biting her mane, and falling over his own feet. Was he hurting? Or scared? Menace usually got quiet when he was scared.
Diamond rested her chin on the armrest. “No. I hate it.”
“If you hate it, why are you doing it?”
“Well, I can’t leave him down here all by himself! What kind of monster leaves their friend in the hospital all alone? He needs me.” One of Diamond’s ears flicked upwards. ….Wait. She lifted her chin defiantly. “It’s not the same thing. I don’t need you; I’ve got Silver Spoon to talk to. Or I did before you ruined it.”
“You need to talk to somepony who’s here,” said Spoiled.
“I don’t want you.”
“Too bad, I’m what you’ve got. You don’t want to be down here, I don’t want to be down here, and neither of us likes it. There’s nothing TO like about it.” Spoiled closed the distance on the small couch, close enough so that the ties of her robe bumped Diamond’s tail. “I came to be miserable down here because I love you, not because I like you. If I only liked you, I’d have slept in and let you tough it out on your own.”
Diamond Tiara couldn’t remember the last time she’d gotten two I-love-yous in the same week from Spoiled Rich, much less the same hour. It felt weird. Not wrong, just… weird. “That’s dumb,” she said. “Love’s supposed to be warm and nice and stuff. Since when does love make you miserable?”
A sharp bark of a laugh popped out of Spoiled’s mouth. “Since always. Liking something is easy and cheap. You like vacation spots, saddlebags, and cute colts at the dance. It’s fun for a few months, sure, but when the party ends, everypony goes home. Believe me, Diamond, when it comes to love—actual, real love—you stay, even when it’s not fun anymore. Don’t get me wrong; love is wonderful, but it’s still work. Hard, thankless work. Yes, sometimes it’s hugs and cuddles, and sometimes…”
Spoiled’s limp hoof lifted to the birdcage and flopped in her lap. “Sometimes it’s two ponies and a dying pigeon in a basement.”
“You didn’t want to work for Menace.” Who still wasn’t dying and didn’t have an expiration date stamped on his foot. “You didn’t even want to try.”
“You’re the one that loves him, not me. Believe it or not, I’d rather prevent your misery if I can. I don’t care about the pigeon, I care about you.” The little speech crinkled inside Spoiled’s pocket as she shifted on the couch. “I’m just… not always good at it.”
I noticed. Hopefully, all this family bonding hadn’t woken Menace up. Diamond hopped off the ottoman to check on him. “Is that why you didn’t say anything at the wedding?”
Perplexed, Spoiled Rich furrowed her brow.
She didn’t remember a thing. What a surprise. “Uh, last Wednesday? The one where Menace fell in the cake?”
“The Lace-Snapshot wedding?” Spoiled tilted her head and blinked again. The loose mane framing her head and bags under her eyes made her look like an owl. “I don’t understand. Are you still upset I took you along? I’m sorry, but I didn’t think it would be such a big issue. You’re always so eager to join your father at work.”
Dad’s office also wasn’t duller than rainy-day recess, and ponies actually bothered talking to her. “No, not that—I mean, I didn’t like that part either, but I mean when I was standing with you by the buffet and… you know.”
From her stepmother’s expression, she clearly didn’t.
“When that mare with all the jewelry came up to us and she started being mean to me.” Saying it out loud now, it sounded tiny, foalish, and stupid. The same way Diamond had felt then. “And you just stood there and let her do it.”
It took a few seconds of mental backtracking, but she finally put the pieces together. “You mean when Carat Cut asked why I brought my foal to…” She chuckled. When she noticed Diamond’s face it died down, but she didn’t lose the twinkle in her eyes. “Oh, sweetheart, that didn’t have anything to do with you.”
Diamond’s cheeks burned. “Mother! It’s not funny! That unicorn looked at me like I crawled out of a dumpster and puked on her shoes. Like she’d stepped in a pile of manure.”
Spoiled clicked her tongue. “Come now, Diamond, being upset is no excuse for crassness. Besides, Carat Cut didn’t say one cruel thing about you.”
“No, but she meant them. I know when somepony’s attacking me—I heard it in her voice, the way she stepped around me, and…” Diamond snorted. “Well, you heard her! You were there.”
“I did, yes, but I don’t see what you expected me to do about it. I’m not about to drop everything because you don’t like somepony’s tone.” Today’s society pages lay on a coffee table near the loveseat. Spoiled pressed her lips at the sight of it. “You’re always so eager to prove yourself a grown-up, I presumed you knew the correct way to handle the situation. Presumed too much, perhaps. What were you thinking, being so rude to the mother of the bride in front of the entire wedding party?”
Following her stepmother’s gaze, Diamond sneered at the full-color snapshots of waltzing old money. A smaller article below captured a wedding cake in mid-explosion, the onlookers’ faces twisted in horror and delight. “I was thinking that standing up for the foal you apparently love so much is more important than some dumb invitation to the next garden party.” Her eyes snapped up. “Bet you wouldn’t let Caramel or Roseluck treat me that way.”
“Of course I wouldn’t, and you know well why not.” She narrowed her eyes at Diamond’s dismissive tail flick. “Like it or not, young miss, we don’t all get to march around getting our way all the time. Not everything is about you.”
“Yeah, I know. Carat Cut really wanted to get to you, not me.” Diamond already went through this song and dance with Silver Spoon’s snooty Manehattan friends. It was a flimsy excuse then and a worse excuse now. Ponies caught in the line of fire still got an arrow in their haunch; it didn’t matter who the real target was. “That still doesn’t mean you couldn’t have—”
“Lace,” Spoiled interrupted.
“What?”
“It had nothing to do with you or me—though I’m sure kicking us down a peg would’ve been a nice bonus. The only ponies in Carat Cut’s crosshairs were Lily Lace and Snapshot.”
It took Diamond a second to remember Snapshot had been the groom. Nopony mentioned him much at the reception, though she remembered his funky green beard and shaggy fetlocks. “You mean she was blowing off steam because she didn’t like the groom?”
Spoiled shook her head. “You need to understand that my job doesn’t work the same way your father’s does. I work for clients, they don’t work for me.”
What did that have to do with anything? Mom worked as a talent agent with dozens of ponies for clients, and none of them treated her like their personal outhouse. “But why does that mean they get to treat you that way? There’s always new clients, right?”
“I suppose there are.” Spoiled Rich arched an eyebrow. “In the meantime, what do you suppose happens to Lily and Snapshot’s wedding?”
Diamond Tiara considered this and frowned. “But Carat Cut can’t cancel a whole wedding just ‘cause of that, right?”
“Because Carat found an excuse to fire the mare in charge of the chefs, floral arrangers, band, seating arrangements, and schedule? She most certainly can and she would.” Spoiled growled under her breath. “Mare’s been tackier than a tabloid since Canterlot Prep.”
“You went to school with her?” That made sense. Though Diamond had only really known Spoiled Rich after she moved to Ponyville, Spoiled probably never left Canterlot before then. “Was she a huge nag back then, too?”
“Language!” Spoiled flicked her tail. “But yes, pretty much.”
“Not so loud, Menace is trying to sleep.” It didn’t sound as if she’d woken him up. Diamond couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or not. Normally Menace freaked out if somepony sneezed too loud near him. She should check on him.
Spoiled followed Diamond to the birdcage. “I’m sorry if Carat Cut hurt your feelings, but Lily Lace shouldn’t pay for it. She’s a flighty airhead, and her groom’s got the manners of a goat—and a beard to match—but they still deserve a beautiful wedding. A pony only gets one of those.” She thought about it. “Only one if I did it right.”
Diamond Tiara hardly heard her. With all the commotion, Menace should have heard something. Why was he so quiet? Peeking under the velvet, she couldn’t see him anywhere. Did he fall asleep on a higher shelf? Diamond fiddled with the pull cord. Pulling back the curtain could wake him up, and he needed his rest. I’d better not look.
“In this case, who knows,” Spoiled continued, eyeing the cage. “I don’t know what it means when a dove nosedives into a cake, but I can’t imagine it’s anything good.”
“Shhhh! You’ll wake him up.”
“Don’t shush your elders, Diamond.” She flicked her ears, considering Diamond’s idle hoof on the pull cord. “I could check on him if you want?”
“…okay.”
Some pet owner she’d turned out to be. Diamond couldn’t even have the nerve to check on her own bird. She didn’t know how to feel about a lot of things her stepmom had said this morning, but Spoiled had been right about one thing. If (and still IF) these were Menace’s last few hours, he shouldn’t spend them alone. He needed Diamond sitting next to him, not fighting about weddings. She’d grabbed a Power Pony comic from her room to read to him—the trade collection with the Cuckoo Glock arc. It had a mechanical bird in it; Menace would have liked that. Now he might not ever get to see it.
The curtains rustled. “He’s gone,” Spoiled said.
Diamond’s heart dropped into her stomach.
“Oh! Oh no, no, it’s not that.” Spoiled pulled back the curtains to reveal an empty cage. Nothing remained of Menace except feathers and pigeon poop. Strange clouds of blue and white fluff rolled along the blanket lining the bottom.
The unlocked cage door swung wide open with a bump of Spoiled's hoof. “I mean he’s gone.”
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Heads up for the second half later this week
Wait, what? Is Menace a pigeon-phoenix hybrid or something?
There's no way Menace opened the cage by himself and flew out while no one was looking. So either one of the hired hooves let him out by mistake, or something else is going on.
Poor Diamond, and poor Spoiled. Also, for all the pain and awkwardness and anger, I loved this mother-to-daughter talk they finally, finally ended up having here.
9301524
I think that's the remains of his vest. Menace didn't seem to agree with Diamond that it looked good on him.
Now they have to find Menace somewhere in the house or in Ponyville can't imagine Spoiled Rich will enjoy that even if she's trying to improve.
9301879
Aw, shoot. So much for that theory.
And then they find Menace on top of the statue in Ponyville, where his last feather falls out and he plunges to the ground... bursting into flame!
HE WAS A TROLL PHOENIX ALL ALONG!!
Not much of a bar to clear, Diamond.
You know it just got real when mom takes away your spellphone.
9301976
She sure won't. Menace didn't get his name by accident.
9301879
Poor Menace is a feathered Will Smith who thinks he's Ice Cube and got forced into Carlton Banks' wardrobe.
But yes, these two ponies needed a serious talk, more than anything else. Unfortunately, Diamond's been burned too many times to play along with an attempt to be nice; she sees through platitudes, won't tolerate being talked down to, and hates being pitied. All of which are the most common ways adult approach children, especially adults who aren't used to them. Spoiled had the right idea with a blunt and honest approach.... unfortunately she's also still Spoiled Rich.
9304926
Ed, what are we going to do with you, young man?
9304445
Ha, fair.
UNDERSTATEMENT OF THE F*CKING YEAR!
Also... darn it, I have a short list of ponies I don't want to sympathize with, and Spoiled is near the top (She was at the top, and then Best Gift Ever made me hate Flim and Flam more than her).
FINALLY! It’s about time you two sat down and actually talked about how you both saw some event! That’s how you show understanding, show why you understand, and explain what you don’t!
Communication actually helps!
Alot of communication happening right now
Definitely some real emotions here, Spoiled Rich loves Diamond, it is true, she is aware that she is not the best at showing it. Diamond is young and doesn't understand these sorts of things, which makes sense. I do definitely feel bad for Spoiled here, but in the sense that she isn't so much a victim - but is unable at expressing herself the way she probably intends to. Diamond losing a pet is going to be a lesson she's going to have to learn...unless the Menace just happens to be a Phoenix in disguise.